HDI: India going up, but not that fast

Sopan Correspondent / New Delhi

But on the gender inequality index, India has turned out to be the worst even among the neighbouring countries with an average ratio of 0.617

Even as gender empowerment continues to be a nig hurdle, which needs to be substantially addressed, India has gradually moved from the low bracket to the medium bracket on theUnited Nations-Development Programme (UNDP) sponsored Human Development Index (HDI). In the ranking among the comity of 187 nations, India stood at 134 in the HDI report, which was released in the first week of November.

Keeping in view the growth story of India, no doubt the country is shining and is expected to become the world's third largest economy by 2030. But would this be enough for a country, which has a population size of more than 125 crore. Certainly not, as for the real development of the country, the human side of development is a must. This will include reducing inequality, improving health and education and enlarging and empowering women participation.

The UNDP's study on HDI, which is mostly measures for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development, such as a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living, ranked India at the bottom of the middle level nation with rank 134. The HDI measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development, which included a long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth, knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate and a decent standard of living, as measured by Gross National Income per capita based on purchasing power parity in terms of the US dollar.

Despite criticism and controversies around it, HDI continues to get support from many for being an excellent tool for measuring development, as it encompasses both economic and social indicator.

Even as India has been ranked 137 among 187 countries in terms of HDI-2011, it is found that ranking of any particular country is not comparable over years because of changes in methodology and the number of countries covered, between 1980 and 2011, India's HDI value increased from 0.344 to 0.547 for 2011. This is no mean achievement. An index below 0.5 is treated as low human development, and above 0.8 as high human development and, in between, as medium human development. India has moved from a low level to medium level of human development.

The latest HDI report has, however, pointed out that India's HDI of 0.547 continued to be below the average of 0.630 for countries in the medium human development group and below the average of 0.548 for countries in South Asia.

If an attempt is made to see how India fares in terms of certain key parameters constituting HDI, among select countries, in particular its neighbours, it is found that the country is much lower than that of China and Sri Lanka, but only a shade better than those of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

If we take out the income element, that is the economic element and consider only the social element in terms of 'non-income HDI', India's position improved from 0.547 to 0.568, but similar index for other countries improved much more significantly. That would mean, in terms of social dimensions, India relatively lagged behind these countries. This is evident from studying some individual components of certain social indicators. To understand the phenomena one can see the table given in the midst of the article.

The life expectancy at birth at 65.4 years in India is comparable to Pakistan, but turned out to be lower than those of Bangladesh (68.9 years), Nepal ( 68.8 years), Sri Lanka (74.9 years) and China (73.5 years). The mean years of schooling at 4.4 years was lower than even those of Pakistan and Bangladesh, but much worse compared with Sri Lanka (8.2 years) and China (7.5 years).

It must, however, be added that in terms of expected years of schooling, which measures the number of years of schooling that a child of school entrance age can expect to receive if prevailing patterns of age-specific enrolment rates persist throughout the child's life, India stands out much better compared with Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, and also does not compare that unfavourably with other countries.

This shows that education facilities that are made available and expected to be made available in India would better take care of the growing young population in the country and make them skilled enough to reap the demographic dividend in the coming years. What is most surprising is that as regards the gender inequality index - which is a composite measure reflecting inequality in achievements between men and women in three dimensions, namely reproductive health, empowerment and labour markets - India turns out to be the worst with an index of 0.617 (higher the ratio, higher is the inequality). This compares unfavourably with Pakistan (0.573), Bangladesh (0.550), Nepal (0.558) Sri Lanka (0.419) and China (0.209).

In terms of female labour force participation at 32.8 per cent, India fared better than Pakistan (21.7 per cent), but not so with other countries: China (64.7 per cent), Sri Lanka (34.2 per cent), Bangladesh (58.7 per cent) and Nepal (63.3 per cent).

The maternal mortality rate at 230 per lakh of live births in India is worse and equally so in other compared countries with the exception of China and Sri Lanka.

In terms of improving education and health, while India has not fared very poorly compared with some of its neighbours, policy makers must pay serious attention to enlarging the role and participation of women, besides empowering them and addressing concerns such as maternal mortality.

Bihar's anti-graft drive gets real

S Jha/ Patna

Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand have shown intent to confiscate properties of "corrupt" babus and use them for public purposes…

Time appears to be running out for corrupt babus to use their ill-gotten wealth to create assets. While Anna Hazare led campaign against corruption and for strong Lokpal find many takers, state governments are fast arming themselves with legislative provisions to confiscate properties of corrupt babus.

It all started with Bihar, a state which many people earlier used to condemn for deep rooted corruption, leading others to show corrupt bureaucrats are not spared. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had stated earlier that the idea to confiscate properties of babus and convert them into schools had dawned upon him during his Vikas Yatra in the state. He had recalled that people used to come to him during the Yatra, complaining of corrupt babus and their "palatial" houses, which used to be the envy of the whole neighbourhood.

The move of the Bihar government to confiscate a palatial house of an IAS office, who had been accused of corruption, in one of the posh colony of the state capital had turned out to be show-off achievement of Mr Kumar. Not only the incident hit the national headlines, other state governments too started taking note of the iniative.

While the Bihar government was turning houses of babus built by the ill-gooten wealth into schools, Anna Hazare too had touched the chord with the masses at large on the issue of corruption and need to recover loss to the exchequer due to the graft cases from the tainted officials. This appear to have hastened the process in replicating the Bihar iniative and in span of about six months a number of states, including Himachal Pradesh, Odhisa, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand, joined the race to crack the whip against corrupt babus.

Meanwhile, the case of the IAS officer's palatial house, which was apparently valued for about Rs five crores, was handed over to the state human resource department to run a school in the premise following a cabinet decision of the state government. The three-storey house on Bailey Road in Patna belonged to suspended IAS officer Shiv Shankar Verma, which was also raided by sleuths of the special vigilance unit earlier and had seized assets worth Rs 1.5 crore. The Bihar government has put in place a mechanism under which such cases are tried in special courts and after the conviction of charges the assets of the convicted officials are confiscated by the state.

Even the Odhisa government appeared to have taken the cue from Bihar and confiscated a property of a corrupt IAS official and converted that into a health dispensary. While the Odhisa government has confiscated properties built by ill-gotten wealth of two IAS and one IPS officials so far, applications for attachment of properties of a number of accused persons have been filed in different courts in 197 cases out of which orders have been passed in 80 cases. The Odhisa chief minister had made the intention of the state government very clear by saying that he intended to use such assets for public purposes.

The Himachal Pradesh Assembly too has passed a resolution in a bid to curb corruption by making provision for special courts to attach and confiscate property amassed by corrupt means. The HP Special Courts (Attachment and Confiscation of property) Bill 2011 will provide for constitution of special courts for speedy trials in certain cases and attachment and confiscation of property accumulated by resorting to corrupt practices.

The Madhya Pradesh government too had earlier this year approved a bill to set up special courts for speedy trials of corrupt public servants and to confiscate properties earned through corrupt means.

The Uttarakhand Assembly too passed a legislation to constitute Lokayukta in the state which has been given the power to confiscate properties of the corrupt officials and others.

It's quite clear that the state governments are very well queuing up to be seen taking strong action against the corrupt. As the Parliament in its Winter session is likely to consider and pass a Bill for constituting Lokpal at the Centre with an enabling provision for Lokayukta in states, it appears quite clear that the building and showcasing assets built through ill-gotten wealth may not be a luxury for the corrupt anymore.

Area of darkness amid opulence, splendor

Sopan Correspondent/Pune

Antagonism against girlchild is not at all a North Indian phenomenon, even in pockets of rich Maharashtra girl-child is considered ‘unwanted’

India is often considered a society in paradox. Though people at large worship mother goddesses, they do not hesitate to go to any extent to avert birth of a girl child in their families. This paradox has led to a situation where the sex ratio in the 0-6 age group at the national level came down to 914 in 2011 from 927 a decade ago.

Maharashtra despite being the richest state in India appears to be the same story when it comes to the status of sex ratio. As per the 2011 census Maharashtra had child sex ratio in the age group of 0-6 years of 833, number of girls per 1000 boys, which was a sharp fall from the figure of 913 in 2001. Clearly the antagonism against girl child is not at all a North Indian phenomenon.

Even economic prosperity, as is the case with Maharashtra, could not be of any help for improvement of conditions for births of girl children. Maharashtrian society sadly goes one step ahead, as the state government found to its shock, that those girl children born against the wishes of their parents were condemned to lives of "unwanted" and even named so.

So, a field survey in the Samara district of Maharashtra, revealed that 222 girls under the age of 18 years were named "Nakusa".

The Marathi word Nakusa means unwanted. Parents of such girls revealed that they did not name their daughters Nakusa right away. It was only after a girl child was born to them when they already had two of them that they took recourse to naming the third and fourth girl child as "Nakusa". Nakusa was not the only name which disgraced these unwanted girls, as they were also named "Dagadi" and "Dhondi" in Marathi, which meant a stone.

Interestingly, Satara happens to be one of the districts in Maharashtra, which has much better sex ratio than the overall state average. Satara had a sex ratio of 995 female against 1000 males in 2001. The ratio slightly declined to 986 against 1000 males in 2011. This is in contrast to overall sex ratio of 925 females per 1000 males in Maharashtra.

In place of taking pride in such a good sex ratio the survey, which was conducted by district health officials, revealed that over 200 girls aged below 18 years of age were living their lives with stigma owing to being called Nakusa.

However, the parents of Nakusas had a change of heart after a long period of time. The people found out that their daughters were not really so "unwanted", though they had condemned them to lifelong stigma.

The health officials of the Satara district too stepped in to impress upon the people there that they need to liberate the girls in the region from lifelong stigma.

So, what a better way than giving them a new name. Thus, over 200 Nakusas were named "Aishwaryas", "Shantis", "Aashas", and so on. These earlier Nakusas too apparently had a sigh of relief as they rejoiced to their new found identities and sense of being loved and owned by their respective families.

The renaming efforts assume significance given that these Nakusas were found to have low self-esteem and would have themselves not wanted to have girl child after their marriages.

The local officials are of the view that there are more girls living such lives after being condemned to be "Nakusas" and to bring them out of their man made stigma they would continue with their surveys.

The idea, as they said, is to spread awareness and convince people that the girls too should be welcome to the society as are the boys.

Old wine in new bottle? Rural job plan revamp on cards

Sangita Jha/New Delhi

Minister Jairam Ramesh has indicated improving quality of work and creating durable assets for better farming in the country

The Centre is getting ready to unveil a revamped Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The move has come after six years of the flagship scheme being in existence on which the Centre spends about Rs 40,000 crore a year. The flagship scheme is showing signs of not only largescale financial irregularities but also of questionable quality of works being executed. Six years clearly happen to be a long time to reflect and effect a course correction, which appears to the motives of the Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh.

The minister has spelt out that the reforms in the MGNREGA would be of more administrative in nature along with steps to ensure that more durable assets are created. He lamented recently that focus on the part of the Gram Panchayat happens to be more on sanctioning projects for building roads, which crumbles in less than two years' time, thus wasting the money.

Mr Ramesh, while informing that NREGA.2 is on the anvil, clearly stated that the approach need to be changed to give more focus on works to be undertaken for development of land and watershed. "States and Gram Panchayats should avoid choosing road building works, which will be undertaken through the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna," Mr Ramesh said, while speaking at a seminar which was called to brainstorm over the future outlook of the MGNREGA.

Clearly the focus is on the capacity building at the Gram Panchayat level, as spelt out by Mr Ramesh when he said that each Panchayat in the country would have one junior engineer to help in the technical aspects of the making of project as well as execution. The cost will be borne by the Central government. Further, the revamped version of the flagship scheme will entail a list of projects prepared by a local level committee that will seek help from hydrologists and engineers, instead of the current ad-hoc planning.

The Centre has already made it mandatory for the social audit, which has to be done at a state level once in two years. The Centre has also put in place a scheme called "Land to Lab" under which the local youth are being enrolled to keep a check on the ways the funds meant for the MGNREGA are being spent along with a monitoring of the quality of assets, while they have also been mandated to popularise the scheme to generate demand for the works from the people in the rural areas.

The Centre has already asked the CAG to audit the spending under NREGA in 12 big states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Odhisa and others. Mr Ramesh has also asked the CAG, while giving him details, of instances of flouting of the norms by state governments. He has told the CAG of states spending in access of the legal entitlement of 100 days and overcharging the Central government, with Andhra Pradesh alone doing it to the extent of Rs 500 crores in the last financial year.

Mr Ramesh has been candid to acknowledge that the dalay in payment of wages is the biggest challenge for the Central government. "There are instances where payment of wages is delayed to the extent of six months and more. Why will people come forward and seek jobs when we do not pay in time, while the Act mandates that the payment should be made within 14 days of the last day of the work to the concerned person," said Mr Ramesh at the seminar, while announcing that the government is left with no option to accept the fact that cash needs to be distributed in such areas where there is no banking system and post-offices. Thus cash payments in certain areas have become part of the MGNREGA, as the banking correspondent model too has not been able to address the issue of delay in payment of wages in large parts of the country.

The plan is also afoot to accommodate projects with larger time span to the extent of five years, so that more durable assets can be created. It has been noted that a large swath of barren land has been made fertile thanks to the works undertaken under the NREGA in some of the states. Therefore, while the foodgrains bowl of the country shrinking due to urbanisation and the urgency to further improve the foodgrains productions to meet the demand of the upcoming Food Security Act and also of the growing needs from the people, the focus is clearly on making the barren land fertile.

The revamped NREGA is also intended to address the issue of some of the areas where people have already crossed the 100 days legal entitlement. "There are eight per cent households under the MGNREGA who have crossed the 100 days limit. Ways need to be found to address to their demands of jobs and for which a linkage with National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) will be tried, so that skill development too becomes part of the MGNREGA," Mr Ramesh said, while revealing the new focus areas.

The revamped MGNREGA is also likely to address the issue of the minimum wages for which the Union ministry of rural development is likely to move an amendment to the Minimum Wages Act to include NREGA as a separate employment category. The move is to ensure that the MGNREGA wages are not lower than minimum agricultural wages in states. Six states, namely Kerala, Karnatka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajsthan, Goa and Mizoram, have MGNREGA wages lower than the agricultural labour wages.

The Centre has already initiated an approach to use the MGNREGA as a tool to improve the socio-economic conditions of the people in the 60 naxal affected districts in the country, which would soon be joined by 18 another districts, which are included for Integrated Action Plan under the Planning Commission. In fact the Planning Commission member Mihir Shah said at the same seminar that they are in the midst of a process to draw a list of blocks in the country based on multiple deprivation level in a bid to use MGNREGA more intensively to improve livelihoods of the affected people.

In another departure the Centre is taking steps to make the norms of 60:40 ratio (labour and material cost) for a project under MGNREGA applicable at the block level from the existing district level to ensure that more works by using concrete materials could be taken up. However, the Centre has noted with concern the instances of the states overspending on labour wages against the limit of 60 per cent of the project cost. Data of last two years clearly indicate that states such as Andhra Pradesh (86 per cent), Kerala (91 per cent), Maharashtra (84 per cent), Tamil Nadu (100 per cent), Gujrat (73 per cent) have spent much in excess on the wages against the norms.

However, on the flip side the MGNREGA is faced with the challenge of not able to deliver the benefits to the needs due to various issues, as has been highlighted by the fact that only five states, namely Chhatisgarh, Gujrat, Haryana, Assam and Pudducherry, could spend more than 50 per cent of the funds under the flagship schemes in the first seven months of the current financial year, while states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnatka have lagged behind. This is despite the fact that the average mandays achieved under the MGNREGA still remains about 46 against the legal entitlement of 100 days.

Mr Ramesh has clearly his task cut out to ensure that the colossal amount of funds under the MGNREGA is spent as desired under the law. He has to put in place effective mechanism to fill the leakages to ensure that the MGNREGA is not known for as the popular saying goes that it has helped the Panchayat Sarpanch in driving "Pajero and Scorpio" sports utility vehicles.

Good tidings

Shanti Priya/ Chennai

Madurai district in Tamil Nadu used to be the epicentre of caste clashes. Though gradual, situation is changing for the better

Clearly signs are changing, for the better. Madurai, which used to be epicentre of caste clashes in Tamil Nadu, is slowly witnessing a change. Recently, a 102-year-old Dalit woman, Thadagathi, was elected a ward member in Pudukulam panchayat of Madurai district. She was the oldest elected member in the local bodies in the state.

"Revered as Maruthuvatchi (village doctor conversant with traditional medicine), she has excelled as a midwife, having had a hand in the delivery of nearly 1,000 babies," said panchayat president P Muthuramalingam.

Her rivals were 70 years younger. "My commitment is that I will not take away a single penny of the public money. I have been serving you and I will continue to do so," was Thadagathi's door-to-door campaign theme in Pudukulam, where she arrived as a 10-year-old child bride.

Madurai has witnessed severe caste clashes in Tamil Nadu. Dalits were not allowed to contest or in some cases vote in local body elections by upper caste Hindus. In several villages, Dalit candidates were attacked after they came forward to file nominations. In about five such villages, elections could not be held for nearly a decade. Out of these, in some villages where elections were held elected panchyat presidents resigned under pressure from caste Hindus.

A large number of elected Dalit and women panchayat presidents suffered humiliation at the hands of the vice-presidents and co-members and even government officials. In many cases it was found that the Dalit presidents had to take orders from caste-Hindu leaders and that a substantial number of women presidents were proxies for their husbands or other men of their families. The provision in the Act that the president and the vice-president should sign cheques jointly was often used by the vice-presidents to put pressure on the presidents. In fact, in 1997, caste-Hindu hostility led to the massacre of six Dalits, including Murugesan, president of the Melavalavu village panchayat in Madurai district. Caste-Hindu panchayat presidents who were sympathetic to Dalit causes were also not spared. One such panchayat chief was hacked to death in Coimbarore district.

For rural women and Dalits, most of whom were elected to these posts for the first time, it was an uphill task. Fear of facing hostile people prevented them from even convening the mandatory gram sabha meetings. The police and the administrative machinery only added to their woes. The only redeeming factor was that some departments of the Central and State governments and numerous non-governmental and inter-governmental agencies tried to help them.

The fact, however, remains that no Dalit can expect to win without the support of at least a section of non-Dalits. With Dalits coming to power, differences among them have surfaced in several places.

मृत्यु का सालाना महोत्सव

मनोज कुमार सिंह/ गोरखपुर

नवम्बर की 24 तारीख को संतकबीर नगर जनपद के चार वर्षीय सौरभ ने गोरखपुर के बीआरडी मेडिकल कालेज के एपीडेमिक हास्पिटल में दम तोड़ा तो आंकड़ों के लिहाज से वह 590 वां व्यक्ति था जिसकी मौत इस वर्ष इंसफेलाइटिस से हुई है। यह आंकड़े सिर्फ बीआरडी मेडिकल कालेज गोरखपुर के हैं। अक्टूबर के आखिर तारीख तक भारत सरकार के स्वास्थ्य मत्रालय के अधीन काम करने वाले नेशनल वेक्टर बार्न डिजीज कन्टोल प्रोग्राम ने पूरे देश से एईएस व जेई से होने वाली मौतों के जो आंकड़े जुटाए हैं उसके अनुसार अब तक देश में इस बीमारी से 844 मौतों हो चुकी हैं। इसमें यूपी में सर्वाधिक 462 मौतें हुई हैं। इसमें भी सबसे अधिक पूर्वी उत्तर प्रदेश यानि कि गोरखपुर, महराजगंज, सिद्धार्थनगर, बस्ती, संतकबीरनगर, देवरिया, कुशीनगर आदि जिलों में लोग इस बीमारी के शिकार हुए हैं। आंकड़े बताते हैं कि देश के 16 राज्यों में एईएस और जेई का प्रकोप है जिसमें से चार राज्य सबसे ज्यादा प्रभावित हैं। इनमें यूपी, आसम, बिहार और तमिलनाडू हैं।

इस वर्ष बिहार और असोम में बड़ी संख्या में इंसेफेलाइटिस से मौते हुईं हैं। बिहार में मगध क्षेत्र में अखबारी रिपोर्ट के मुताबिक 200 से अधिक मौतें हुई हैं हालांकि सरकारी आंकड़ा अभी 64 की संख्या बता रहा है। इसी प्रकार असोम में अक्टूबर माह तक इंसेफेलाइटिस से 250 लोगों की मौत हुई है। इस तरह हम देखते हैं कि इंसेफेलाइटिस का प्रकोप और प्रसार और ज्यादा है और इसका मुकाबला करने की सरकारी तैयारी उतनी ही कमजोर है। यहां बताना जरूरी है कि डब्ल्यूएचओ के गाइड लाइन के अनुसार दिमागी बुखार से मिलते-जुलते लक्षणों वाली सभी बीमारियों को अब एक्यूट इंसेफेलाइटिस सिन्डोम यानि एईएस की श्रेणी में रखा जाता है। जापानी इंसेफेलाइटिस यानि जेई क्यूलेक्स विश्नोई प्रजाति के मच्छर के काटने से होता है और इसके वायरस की पहचान हो चुकी है और इसको रोकने के लिए टीकाकरण बहुत प्रभावी उपाय है। केन्द्र सरकार पिछले पांच वर्ष से प्रभावित राज्यों में जापानी इंसेफेलाइटिस का टीका लगा रही है। यह टीका 1-15 वर्ष के बच्चों को लगाया गया है। चीन से आयात किए गए इस ठीके को लगाने से जापानी इंसेफेलाइटिस की रोकथाम हुई है। गोरखपुर के बीआरडी मेडिकल कालेज में इस वर्ष इंसेफेलाइटिस के 3489 मामलों में से 183 में जापानी इंसेफेलाइटिस की पुष्टि हुई है। शेष मामले इंसेफेलाइटिस के अज्ञात वायरसों के हैं जिनकी पहचान नहीं हो पाई है। अभी सिर्फ दो वायरसों इन्टेरोवायरस 76 और काक्सेकी की ही पहचान हो पाई है। विशेषज्ञों के मुताबिक इनमे से अधिकतर वायरस गंदे पानी में पाए जाते हैं। देश के ग्रामीण क्षेत्रों में लोगों को पीने के पानी की जो स्थिति है, उसके देखते हुए इस बीमारी की रोकथाम में बहुत मुश्किले हैं।

अक्टूबर माह के अंत में केन्द्रीय स्वास्थ्य मंत्री गुलाम नबी आजाद ने गोरखपुर के बीआरडी मेडिकल कालेज का दौरा किया और यहां भर्ती मरीजों को देखने के बाद कहा कि केन्द्र सरकार इस बीमारी से निपटने के लिए मंत्री समूह गठित करेगी। उनकी घोषणा के मुताबिक मंत्री समूह गठित हो गया है। साथ ही उन्होंने यूपी सरकार पर आरोप लगाया कि वह इंसेफेलाइटिस से प्रभावित इलाकों में लोगों को पीने का शुद्ध पानी मुहैया नहीं करा रही है।

इंसेफेलाइटिस के इलाज को लेकर केन्द्र और प्रदेश सरकार में आरोप-प्रत्यारोप का यह दौर नया नहीं है। यदि सरकारों ने आरोप-प्रत्यारोप में अपनी जितनी उर्जा खर्च की है, उसका इस्तेमाल इस बीमारी से निपटने मे लगाया होता तो कुछ हद तक कामयाबी मिल सकती है। लोगों को याद होगा कि मुलायम सरकार के समय राहुल गांधी ने गोरखपुर का दौरा करने के बाद मच्छरों पर अंकुश लगाने के इरादे से छिड़काव के लिए हेलीकाप्टर भेजने की बात कही थी। हेलीकाप्टर आ भी गया लेकिन राज्य सरकार ने उसका इस्तेमाल करने से इंकार कर दिया। इसको लेकर ,खूब बयानबाजी हुई। दो वर्ष पहले यूपी में टीकाकरण के लिए आए वैक्सीन रखे-रखे खराब हो गए और उसका इस्तेमाल नहीं किया गया। इसको लेकर मायावती सरकार और केन्द्र सरकार में खूब आरोप-प्रत्यारोप हुए; राज्य सरकार ने एक्सपायरी डेट के टीके भेजने का आरोप लगाया तो केन्द्र सरकार ने कहा कि यूपी सरकार ने टीकों का इस्तेमाल करने में देरी की। यह स्थिति आज भी बनी हुई है जबकि स्थिति दिन ब दिन खराब होती जा रही है। मुलायम सरकार ने इंसेफेलाइटिस से मरने वालों और विकलाग होने वाले लोगों को मुआवजा देने की घोषणा की थी। एक वर्ष यह मुाअवजा बंटा भी लेकिन मायावती सरकार ने इस मुआवजे पर रोक लगा दी जबकि यह एक बहुत राहत देने वाला फैसला था क्योंकि इस बीमारी से अधिकतर ग्रामीण क्षेत्र के गरीबों के बच्चे शिकार होते हैं। उनके पास इलाज के लिए पैसे नहीं होते।

वर्ष 2005 में गोरखपुर में इंसेफेलाइटिस से 1500 से अधिक मोते हुईं तब जेई के रोकथाम के लिए टीकाकारण का काम शुरू हुआ। उसी समय यह बात सामने आने लगी थी कि जापानी इंसेफेलाइटिस के अलावा जलजनित इंसेफेलाइटिस के मामले अब ज्यादा आ रहे हैं लेकिन सरकार अब जाकर इस बीमारी के प्रति थोड़ी सचेत हुई है। जापानी इंसेफेलाइटिस पर रोकथाम आसान था कि क्योंकि इसके वायरस की पहचान हो चुकी थी और यह भी पता था कि टीकाकरण कर इस बीमारी पर बहुत हद तक अंकुश लगाया जा सकता है लेकिन टीकाकरण का निर्णय 2006 में लिया गया। जापानी इंसेफेलाइटिस का प्रकोप पूर्वी उत्तर प्रदेश में 1978 से था। जब इसके टीकाकरण का निर्णय लिया गया तब तक सरकारी आंकड़ों के अनुसार 12 हजार से अधिक बच्चे इस बीमारी से जान गंवा चुके थै। इस तरह की घातक लापरवाही अब यदि जलजनित इंसेफेलाइटिस में की गई तो पूर्वी उत्तर प्रदेश में तबाही आ सकती है।

एईएस और जेई की रोकथाम के लिए कुछ फौरी और कुछ दीर्घकालीन कार्यवाही किए जाने की जरूरत है। पहला यह कि बीआरडी मेडिकल कालेज गोरखपुर को इस बीमारी के इलाज के साथ-साथ शोध के केन्द्र के रूप में आवश्यक संसाधानों से लैस किया जाए क्योंकि पूरे देश में सबसे अधिक मरीज इलाज के लिए यहीं आते हैं। वर्तमान समय में यहां इलाज की ही मुकम्मल व्यवस्था नहीं है। जितनी बड़ी संख्या में यहां पर मरीज आते हैं, उनके लिए बेड व अन्य जरूरी संसाधनों की कमी पड़ जाती है। एक एपीडेमिक वार्ड बना जरूर है लेकिन वह भी पर्याप्त नहीं होता क्योंकि एक समय में यहां 400 से 500 मरीज यहां भर्ती रहते हैं। इतनी बड़ी संख्या में मरीजों के इलाज के डाक्टर व पैरामेडिकल स्टाफ की जरूरत भी पूरी नहीं है। दूसरे अस्पतालों से कुछ माह के लिए डाक्टर व पैरामेडिकल स्टाफ यहां भेजे जाते है। जरूरत पर्याप्त संख्या में डाक्टरों व पैरामेडिकल स्टाफ की तैनाती का है। इस बीमारी विकलांग हुए बच्चों के पुनर्वास व इलाज के लिए भी ठोस पहल करने की जरूरत है। तीसरा कदम इस बीमारी के प्रति लोगों केा जागरूक करने मे उठाना चाहिए। इस दिशा में एक छोटा कदम एक डाक्टर ने उठाया है। डा आरएन सिंह इंसेफेलाइटिस उन्मूल अभियान के चीफ कैम्पेनर हैं। उन्होंने कुशीनगर जनपद के एक गांव होलिया में लोगों को इंसेफेलाइटिस के प्रति जागरूक करने के लिए गोद लिया। यहां पर इंसेफेलाइटिस के कई मामले सामने आ चुके थे। उन्होंने लोगों को सूर्य की किरणों से पीने के पानी को विषाणु रहित बनाने का तरीका सिखाया। साफ सफाई के प्रति भी जागरूक किया जिसका नतीजा यह हुआ कि तीन वर्ष में इस गांव में इंसेफैलाइटिस को कोई दूसरा मामला नहीं आया है। अब गोरखपुर के जिला प्रशासन ने होलिया के तर्ज पर पांच और गांवों में यही माडल अपनाने की बात कही है। इसके आलावा गांवों में शुद्ध पानी के लिए देसी हैण्डपम्पों को या तो हटा दिया जाना चाहिए या उन्हें और अधिक गहरा किया जाना चाहिए। ऐसा करने के लिए एक बड़े अभियान की जरूरत होगी लेकिन अभी सरकार ने इसके लिए कोई पहल नहीं की है जबकि यह कोई मुश्किल काम नहीं है। स्वच्छ शौचालयों का निर्माण व उनका प्रयोग इस बीमारी से लड़ने के लिए बहुत जरूरी है।

ठस दिशा में कुछ प्रयास शुरू हुए है। नेशनल डिजास्टर मैनेजमेंट एथारिटी के उपाध्यक्ष एम शशिधर रेड्डी ने दो बार गोरखपुर का दौरा किया है। अभी हाल के दौरे में उन्होंने एक विशेष प्रशिक्षण कार्यक्रम शुरू किया। इसमें चार सौ मास्टर टेनरों को शुद्ध पेयजल, सफाई, मच्छरों पर नियंत्रण, खुले में शौच की प्रवृत्ति को समाप्त करने का जागरूकता का प्रशिक्षण दिया गया। ये मास्टर टेनर बाद में आशा, आगनबाड़ी कार्यकत्रियों, एएनएम आदि को प्रशिक्षित करेंगे। ये सभी बाद में गांव-गांव जाकर लोगों को जागरूक करेंगे।

जहिर है कि कुछ प्रयास शुरू हुए हैं लेकिन अभी बहुत कुछ किया जाना बाकी है। जरूरत सभी प्रयासो को समन्वित कर प्रभावी तरीके से लागू करने की है ताकि पूर्वांचल के लिए शोक का बनी यह बीमारी को हमेशा के लिए खत्म किया जा सके।

A woman of substance who fought for her rights

Srikant Panda / Keonjhar

Pata Mahakud symbolizes a poor woman's great character and conviction to fight against corrupt officials and get back her due wages

This is a story about prevalence of rampant corruption at the grassroots in implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). It also tells about how a poor woman displayed great character and conviction to fight against corrupt officials and get back her due wages. She not only fought for justice, but finally came out with flying colours by outmaneuvering and exposing sick and corrupt people working in the system.

Dandasenapasi, a village under Dunga gram panchayat in Harichandanpur block, houses 55 tribal families, 52 non-tribal and 11 scheduled caste (SC) families. Mostly the residents of this village are daily labourers. They depend on farming to maintain their livelihood.

Praful Mahakud, a daily wage-earner, aged about 40, lives in this village with his family. He along with his wife and three children are part of his family. All of a sudden good luck making a u-turn leaving them in a wobbly situation as cruel fate snatched their peace and prosperity affecting Praful in a paralytic condition.

As his situation worsened, maintaining his family seemed to be a nightmare, putting his livelihood in jeopardy. His wife Pata Mahakud by stirring up her potential decided to step out in search of employment to support her family in the wake of prevailing situation, plunging into job market instantly in the livelihood programme of MGNREGA to sustain her family in the hour of crisis.

She engaged herself in digging of pond in Sasa village under MGNREGA. She worked continuously for getting a megre amount of Rs 2160 from 24 days of her engagement under the scheme. Unfortunately Pata Mahakud's wage was siphoned off by the contractor of the project.

Describing the incident as unfortunate, Pata said, "When I was absent at my house, one contractor took the post office pass book from my elder daughter and withdrew my wage amount of Rs 2160 without taking my signature from the post office. My elder daughter finally convinced me that the greedy contractor had withdrawn the whole amount without my consent," she added.

Then Pata taking the help of 'KIRDTI', an organization making a relentless effort for the social upliftment of such people in the region, complained before the post master of local post office. Pata knew there is a dual nexus between post master and contractor that paved the way in siphoning of her money. She again rushed to post master and discussed her grievances with him threatening to bring this case before police station and district magistrate.

Finally, lady luck smiled on her as the concerned post master returned her wage of Rs 2160 to Pata in her house. Pata now possesses enough courage and conviction to deal with any precarious situation as she faced earlier in her life showing a good precedent for those who struggle in this ho-hum livelihood programme.