This old age home is a hell, will make you sick

Gautami /Shimla

Although human rights activists had raked up the appalling conditions in state-run old age homes, the government is yet to shed its callousness

Situated in Basantpur, 55 km away from the Shimla, the government-run old age home is a veritable hell.

Mentally-ill and completely bed- ridden Kedar (55) cramped inside a dingy room spent his time by playing with his night soil, while Krishna Devi (40), another person with severe mental illness blabbers continuously without any pause.

Kedar died on June 18 in the same appalling conditions while government was showing its true indifferent nature even after the issue was raised up in the media by a public welfare trust, Umang Foundation and a congress MLA Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu raised a question in the state legislative assembly on 5th April. Another inmate Hari Ram physically disabled and hearing impaired, is missing fro the Home since 1st July. Krishna's mental sickness hasn't let her roommate Gandharku Devi sleep for nights together. Now Gandharku has also become mentally sick.

Now, Ajai Srivastava, a noted human rights activist and chairman of Umang Foundation who is determined to fight for their rights, has written a letter to the chief secretary of the state demanding a judicial probe in this matter otherwise he would file a PIL in the High Court. Mrs. Urmila Singh, Governor of Himachal Pradesh, after going through the media reports, showed her concern and has sought a report from the state and the government was forced to institute an inquiry which in progress.

A visit to the old age home at Basantpur, established in 1964 and run by Himachal Pradesh State Social Welfare Board was horrendous and shocking. Gross Human Rights violation and extreme negligence on the part of the state government was clearly visible in the home.

The old age home has become more of a torture home for those lonely people who don't have anyone to support them in their last days of life. 19 such people are forced by the destiny to live in filth and then die a disrespectful death where their bodies are burnt by putting on wood, without performing religious rites, a RTI query revealed.

"Mujhe Haridwar ke kisi ghat par chhod do kyunki wahan marne par koi mera antim sanskar toh kardega. Yahan se toh nark hi jayenge," (Drop me on some ghat in Haridwar. Someone would at least perform my last rites there. I will directly go to hell, if I stay here) wailed fragile Jaiwanti whose spinal cord has almost twisted. The thought of dying without proper last rituals hovering over inmate's mind is increasing psychological pressure and trauma tremendously.

Hari Ram, a physically disabled and hearing impaired, is missing from the Old Age Home since July 1, 2012. According to other inmates, he used to ask them to drop him to his one known person living in Junaga village as he believed that the said person would perform his last rituals at least. Hari Ram also regularly used to send some amount from his old age pension of Rs. 330 to him for his last rituals.

The home with dingy 20 rooms has pathetic sanitation system with no safe water even for drinking purpose. Constitutional rights like Right to Life, Right to live with dignity and Right to die with dignity are being violated each day in the old age home. Frequent untimely deaths are being observed in the home because of the dreadful living conditions. The government had lodged 16 disabled persons in the old age home, although many of them are not old. The home is not meant for them as there is no specially trained care giver for them.

"Extreme violation of Human Rights can be seen in the old age home. We have raised this serious issue in the media but government has indifferently rejected all the allegations", exclaimed Ajai Srivastava, who personally visited the place with his team. He said after he highlighted this issue in the media; a question was raised in Vidhan Sabha by Congress MLA Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu. But in her reply, the minister for social justice and empowerment Mrs. Sarvin Chaudhary refuted all allegations.

"We were forced to file an application in the High Court to seek immediate admission poor mentally sick inmates in to mental hospital as the minister had stated in her reply in the assembly that there are no inmate with mental sickness in the Home. The court ordered to shift three severely mentally sick persons including Krishna, who was diagnosed to be a severe patient of TB, to local state mental hospital", Ajai Srivastava added.

He also said that the state has not followed mandatory guidelines of High Court for mental health checkup of all inmates of old aged home in the state. After the efforts of the Foundation, government started old age pension of Rs. 330 of the inmates.

With in such appalling conditions, lives Sonam Bahadur (42), who lost both his legs after he fell into a furnace, has designed an indigenous method that doesn't let him confined to a single place. "I just try to motivate people and make them forget all their problems. That is all I can do, I guess," shares Sonam with a spark of liveliness in his pale eyes. He says," We have not even provided with disability certificate by the authorities that could give us a legal status of being disabled to avail facilities meant for us."

Milky way to progress

Sant Bahadur/New Delhi

Annual average increase in milk production over the last 10 years has been 3.5
million tonnes per year, there is a need to reach an average of 6 million tonnes

Dairy sector in India has acquired substantial growth momentum from 9th Plan onwards, producing 121.8 million tonne milk during 2010-11. Per capita availability of milk reached 269 grams per day in 2010-11. This has not only placed the country on top of milk producing countries in the world, but also demonstrated sustained growth in the availability of milk and milk products for the burgeoning population.
Demand for milk is increasing rapidly in the country. This is primarily due to increasing population and growing incomes accruing from the multitude of central schemes launched for livelihood and employment generation. If we go by the emerging trend, the demand for milk is likely to be about 155 million tonnes by the end of 12th Five year Plan (2016-17) and in the range of 200-210 million tonnes in 2021-22. Annual average increase in the production of milk over the last 10 years has been around 3.5 million tonnes per annum whereas there is a need to reach an average of 6 million tonnes per year over the next 12 years to meet the ever increasing demand.
Dairying has become an important secondary source of income for millions of rural families and has assumed a very important role in providing employment and income generating opportunities. Milk production and marketing system in India is unique. Most of the milk is produced by small, marginal farmers and landless labourers. About 7 crore rural households are engaged in milk production, the majority being small and marginal farmers and landless. About 1.45 crore farmers have been brought under the ambit of 1.45 lakh village level dairy corporative societies. As dairy cooperatives ensure inclusiveness for small holders, especially women, it is desirable that they retain the present 50% share of the marketable surplus handled by the organised sector.
The Government has launched an ambitious programme for increasing the productivity of milch animals and thereby increasing the availability of milk in the country. The National Dairy Plan is a Central Sector Scheme. The outlay of the first phase of the project, for 2012-17, is estimated to be about Rs 2,242 crore. Out of total project outlay, Rs. 1584 crore will come from International Development Agency (IDA) as credit, Rs. 176 crore as Central Government's share, Rs. 282 crore as share of implementing agencies and Rs. 200 crore from NDDB and its subsidiaries for providing technical and implementation support to the project.
Rs. 715 crore of the National Dairy Plan funds will be spent on breed improvement and Rs. 425 crore on animal nutrition. Rs. 488 crore will go for strengthening of village based milk procurement system and Rs. 132 crore for project management and learning.
This scheme is aimed at meeting the projected demand of 150 million tonne in next five years by productivity enhancement, strengthening and expanding village level infrastructure for milk procurement and provide producers with greater access to markets.The objective of the NDP is to help increase productivity of milch animals and thereby milk production to meet the rapidly growing demand for milk in the country and provide rural milk producers with greater access to organised milk-processing sector through a scientifically planned multi-state initiative.
It is a six-year plan to be largely financed through the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank, and implemented by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) through End Implementing Agencies (EIAs) located in states. Funding will be through a line of credit from IDA which along with share of Government will flow from the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries to NDDB and in turn to eligible EIAs.
EIAs comprise State Government, State Livestock Boards, State Cooperative Dairy Federations, District Cooperative Milk Producers Unions, subsidiaries of statutory bodies, ICAR institutes, and veterinary/dairy institutes and universities and any other entity decided by the National Steering Committee to be set up under the National Dairy Plan. The EIAs will be eligible for funding under various components based on eligibility criteria which will comprise geographical, technical, and financial and governance parameters. Pattern of funding under the scheme will be 100% grant-in-aid for nutrition and breeding activities.
The NDP-I is to be implemented in States where the respective Governments commit to undertake the necessary regulatory, policy support to prepare an environment for successful implementation of the scheme. The focus of the scheme will be on the areas with higher potential in 14 major milk producing states, namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. These states contribute to 90% of milk production in the country. However, in terms of benefits the coverage of the scheme will be countrywide.
Village-based procurement system will be expanded by strengthening existing co-operatives and facilitating the setting up of producer companies or new-generation co-operatives. About 13 lakh milk producers in 23,800 additional villages are expected to be covered. Alongside, capacity building, training and education programmes will get due prominence to promote technologies and improved practices at the village level.
In terms of overall benefits, the NDP will put in place a scientific and systematic process which is expected to take the country on the path to improving the breed of milk producing animals in a consistent and continuous manner. It will make prudent use of country's resources, lead to reduction in methane emissions, improve the quality of milk being marketed, help strengthen regulatory and policy measures to provide an enabling environment for future growth of dairy sector and contribute to improving the livelihoods of small milk producers who form the backbone of India's milk production system.

No pyar with IPR

Sopan Correspondent/ New Delhi

Thousands protest against damaging provisions in the EU-India free trade pact

Over one and a half thousand protesters took to the Delhi streets recently crying "Europe, hands off our medicine" as they voiced their opposition to the EU-India Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) that is currently being negotiated between the European Union and India. The BTIA, or Free Trade Agreement (FTA), in common usage, is being negotiated since 2007 and while voices of analysts, activists and people whose lives will be directly affected have risen in protest, the determination on both sides to reach "an ambitious agreement" continues unabated. The EU-India Summit, held on 10th of February, was to see the culmination of these ambitions, activists feared.
Protesters carried a giant medicine pill through the streets of Central New Delhi, the powerful visual imagery highlighting India's role as the "pharmacy of the developing world" which faces a severe challenge from EU's demands to include harmful intellectual property (IP) provisions in the FTA. "No pyar with IPR" (no love with IPRs), rhymed some of the banners.
Affordable medicines produced in India have played a major role in scaling up HIV treatment to more than 6.6 million people across Asia, Africa and Latin America. The EU has repeatedly asked for intellectual property rights (IPR) commitments that will make India commit to standards that go way beyond its TRIPs commitments made at the WTO. This, analysts feel, will severely undermine the producing and marketing capabilities of the generic medicine industry in India which produces medicines at low cost for the world, and will threaten the access to cheap medicines worldwide. Indian generic medicines currently cater to the treatment of critical diseases such as HIV/AIDS and cancer. In a press release by several health groups on the 10th, Intellectual property enforcement measures, data exclusivity on medicines and investment protection are cited as some of the major damaging provisions that threaten access to medicines in India and the world.
Data exclusivity in medicines will prevent the use of trial data submitted by multinationals that are generally used to grant marketing licenses to smaller generic companies for similar drugs. Under enforcement measures, the EU wants to bring in third party liabilities, exposing active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturers, drug distributors, and treatment providers to the risk of patent enforcement. The EU also wants 'provisional injunctions', where courts are given powers to issue orders to prevent suspected but not yet proved infringement. Medicines can also be seized on a mere suspicion or allegation of patent or trademark infringement. In the past the EU has imposed so called border protection (enforcement) measures against Indian drugs in transit which were going to non EU countries through the EU. Now it wants to legalise such illegal activities through the FTA.
Further, its investment provisions will compel the Indian government to recognise IPRs as an investment and therefore protect EU companies' IPRs (including data) under the investment protection clauses. This will erode the government's policy space to prevent aggressive use of such IPRs in the interest of public health and access to medicines. All these provisions can severely undermine the access to medicines for the worlds' needy especially the poorer. Though the Indian government has announced it will not give in to TRIPS plus demands from the EU, TRIPS plus demands seem to be very much on the table at the negotiations.
The EU-India Summit was to announce some kind of an understanding or perhaps set the broad terms of the agreement. Not surprisingly, protests by patient groups from India and far corners of the world such as Africa, reached a crescendo friday morning. Protests by health groups took place not only in Delhi but across the world, in Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, and in several African countries all of which fear loss of access to crucial and cheap medicine supply from India. A day earlier, activists delivered coffins to the office of the European Delegation to India.
The patients groups were joined by farmers' groups from northern India, dairy farmers from south India, small retailers, students and activists from all over, all of whom are severely worried about the impact of this FTA on the lives of ordinary people, including on their access to jobs, incomes, medicines, food, finance and natural resources……the list seems endless but these concerns seem to be increasingly validated by the numerous reports and analyses pouring in.
Provisions in this FTA include liberalisation of India's goods and services sectors including sensitive sectors like agriculture, retail, banking and key industries such as cars. Projections show that in opening up goods trade to the EU, India stands to lose more than it will gain. Boosted by high European agricultural subsidies which cannot be negotiated under the FTA, the EU is estimated to increase trade by 321 and 150 million USD in agro food and in products of animal origin in 2020 (compared to 2006). In comparison India is estimated to gain only 83 and 1 million USD worth of trade. In cereals EU will gain 133 million USD while India will gain 1 million USD (CEP II-CIREM Study 2007).
Even in industry, projections show that European goods will enter the Indian market in vehicles (1802 million USD by 2020) whereas the Indian industry will gain only 87 million USD in 2020. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers has come out with strong words of protest against the proposed tariff reduction in the FTA. But EU's penetration into Indian market will be across all industry and manufactures where EU is to gain 7947 million USD by 2020. Only the textile, leather and garments sectors will benefit visibly in India and these gains may not even be realised due to EU's high standards and other technical barriers.
The service sector is supposed to be one of the key attractions for India, including under Mode 4 which is supposed to promote the movement of Indian professionals to the EU. But again EU's multitude of barriers poses a significant obstacle, unlikely to be removed by the FTA. On the defensive front, analysts fear that EU's demand for entry into retail will threaten jobs in informal sectors and its full access to India's banking and financial services will leave India open to systemic risks from unfettered capital flows and regulation, and compromise financial inclusion in the country.
Not satisfied with this, the EU wants much more than what India has committed in its past agreements, even with developed countries such as Japan. Apart from TRIPS plus commitments in the IP chapter, the EU also wants market access for its investors and investment protection at very high standards and access to India's government procurement market which the Indian government uses as a policy tool for addressing development inequalities by giving preferential access to women, marginalized communities and SMEs. The vast multitude of EU's demands in sensitive segments can severely threaten India's policy space including its development policy instruments.
During the Summit however, leaders gave out no more than a broadly optimistic statement without going into specifics. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said "there are obviously some problems but we are confident that those problems can be resolved and will be resolved. Both of us have reaffirmed our commitment to an agreement as early as possible of the broad based trade and agreement." The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said the negotiations are going well but also mentioned "we value substance over speed". The European Commission President José Manuel Barroso seemed more optimistic and named Autumn 2012 as the target period to seal the deal. Leaders from both sides are now to supervise the negotiations closely so that an early agreement can be reached. However the failure to come out with something substantial at the summit is perhaps an indication that EU's corporate lobby and large retinue of resource persons are not getting all they want from India. With the Eurozone crisis, EU's market has lost some of its appeal for Indian producers and EU is hardly in a position to absorb Indian workers at the cost of jobs at home.
With global consciousness on critical development concerns around this FTA picking up pace rapidly, there is also increasing pressure on both sides not to make monumental mistakes that will threaten India's development and will be a major face loss for EU. But it is clear that pressures must be kept up if the world is to get its cheap medicines, Indian farmers are to hold onto their land and production, and small retailers are to retain their businesses. If the society as a collective does not join the thousands protesting around the world, then in this labyrinth of shadowy deals and aggressive bargaining, people's voice may be lost for ever.

Koodamkulam conundrum deepens

Shanti Priya/ Chennai

‘There is a concerted effort to discredit our movement’

The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) that has been fighting against the Koondankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu was in the thick of controversy after the PMO charged that certain western funded NGOs were behind its agitation. The Prime Minister himself led the attack when he said that NGOs in the US backed the agitation. Sopan Correspondent spoke to SP Udayakumar, chief of the organisation. Excerpts

What do have to say about the allegation that your outfit is being supported by the US and Scandinavian NGOs? Prime Minister and his senior colleagues have attacked NGOs working against the power project.
Totally false. We haven’t received any funds from any national or international NGOs. The government’s move is to discredit our movement. Narayanasamy said the centre has cancelled the FCRA of three NGOs. Who are they? The government should examine their accounts to see how they spent the money if there was suspicion that they supported us. Without evidence, they are raising wild allegations. I have sent legal notice to the Prime Minister. It’s unfortunate that such allegations are being raised against an organisation that is working for public cause. When the government makes such serious allegations it should also provide some proof.

There is an allegation that your organisation is funding fishermen who have not been going for fishing to ensure their participation in the agitation.
It is not true that the agitating local villagers are not engaged in any gainful work. They “boycotted” fishing only in September for 12 days. After that, they have been engaged in fishing, running their shops, beedi rolling and all their routine livelihood activities. They stay away from work only when there is a major event.
They all support the agitation through small contributions. Ours is not a high profile protest extravaganza like the ones organised by the Congress or the BJP. We don’t offer biryani or liquor or other expensive inducements. We just provide drinking water. We don’t hire expensive halls to stage our meetings or protests; instead we have made a modest “pandal,” which was a one time investment. We also have our own sound system. Therefore we don’t have major recurring expenses.
Ours is a simple Gandhian struggle. The Congress and the BJP don’t know how to wage such a struggle — that is why they are making such wild allegations. Whenever we travel, we hire a taxi. We don’t live in luxurious hotels and don’t eat luxurious meals. We strictly adhere to Gandhian principles. The Congress knows only rich Gandhis.
People do contribute. To give you an example, at the rally in Chennai, we were short of funds and people immediately chipped in and collected Rs. 41,000. At the protest location, we have a committee of 20 people which handles our finances. We are more than willing to share our accounts if anybody wants to see them.

Another allegation is that the Catholic Church is behind your agitation. Is it true?
First of all, it is a false propaganda that the Church is supporting us. The only connection we have with the Church is that we live in the parish priest’s house. No church or bishop has given us money. It is a 90 percent christian village and therefore there will be a lot of Christians – it’s inevitable. I am myself a Hindu and there are two more Hindus in our core committee. There is even an RSS worker who is part of the committee. This is a local struggle, a struggle by local community and when 90 percent of them are Christians, you will definitely see them around. And you just cannot term it a Christian struggle because of that and attribute motives. It is not about Christians, Hindus or Muslims, it’s about people. It’s disparaging to identify them with religions.
Ironically, the RSS and the Hindu Munnani raise massive amounts of money in Christian countries.


The Central government has tightened noose around certain NGOs which are fighting against the nuclear plant; activists too have stepped up their fight

SP Udayakumar, heading the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) opposing the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant, today threatened to launch a legal battle against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his charge that he was receiving funds from the US and Scandinavian based NGOs to spearhead the stir.
Talking to newspersons here, the Anti-nuclear activist said that he would issue legal notice to Prime Minister, Union Minister of state for Parliamentary Affairs V Narayanasamy and former Union Minister E V K S Elangovan for their baseless charges.
He said the Prime Minister and Mr Narayanasamy charged him with getting funds from US and Scandinavian based NGOs, while Elangovan had alleged that he had served three months imprisonment in the US after getting convicted in a drug case and received a sum of Rs nine crore from a foreign NGO.
When Mr Narayanasamy levelled a similar charge couple of months ago, he had served him a legal notice, to which, the Union Minister's counsel denied that the Minister charged him with receiving money from foreign countries.
Mr Narayanansamy, in his reply to the legal notice, however, made a fresh charge that he (Mr Udayakumar) was involved in a financial transaction with 'IDEA', a Sweden based NGO, for serving as a counsel for reconciliation.
Denying the charges, Mr Udayakumar said 'we are truthful to our cause and the government should understand the plight of the people. The government should stop ridiculing the stir.' Replying to a question, he said he was consulting his lawyers and would file the case against the Prime Minister, Mr Narayanasamy and Mr Elangovan in Madras High court after receiving replies to his legal notice. Mr Udayakumar claimed that the anti-nuclear stir received support from various political parties, including MDMK,PMK, VCK and Naam Tamizhar Katchi.
Asked what could be the way out for the impasse, the activist said 'closing down of the nuclear plant is the only way out.' The authorities should convert the Koodankulam plant as a gas based power plant, he said.
The deportation of German national, Sonntag Rainer Hermann proves that he was innocent and had not funded the anti-nuclear struggles, the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), which is heading the anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) struggle at Idinthakarai, said.
Hermann was detained by security agencies from a lodge at Nagercoil on Monday night and was deported on Tuesday morning. S P Udayakumar, convener of PMANE told media persons on Tuesday that Hermann was an anti-nuclear activist, who participated in all anti-nuclear struggles across the globe.
He was present during the struggles at Jaitapur in Maharastra and had visited Kudankulam two years ago. However, he was not involved in any funding, he said. "Through such measures, the Centre is trying to prove its claim that anti-nuclear struggles are funded by foreign powers. The deporting of Hermann itself proves he was innocent and had he been involved in such funding, he would have been detained in India," Udayakumar said. "The Central government and Atomic Energy Commission are spreading false propaganda to tarnish the image of agitators at Kudankulam," he charged.
Meanwhile, R S Lal Mohan from Conservation of Nature Trust, Nagercoil, with whom officials claimed the German was associated with, has also stressed that if the government had proof that Hermann supported the agitation by funding Rs 500 crore, it should have detained him in India.
In a statement to the media, Mohan said Hermann was a nature lover and called him a few times to inform him about the dolphins and other nature-related issues. "He discussed the nature and tree planting movement and was an ordinary tourist living on his own money. He was a frugal man living a simple life with the earnings he saved as a computer technologist. He used to spend his retired life in India, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.
He used to stay in low-budget hotels because he couldn't afford expensive accommodation," the release said. Hermann had a high degree of social consciousness and it was wrong to think he supported the anti-Kudankulam agitation, Mohan stressed. He also criticised the way he was handled by the security agencies."