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.

Posco causing plight, needs to be scrapped, says Medha

Sanjaya Jena / Bhubaneswar

She argues that the Rs 52,000-crore South Korean steel project has in the last few years only heightened the woes of the local villagers

Noted social worker and Narmada Bachao Andoaln leader Medha Patkar believes that the 12-million-tonne Posco-India project at Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district must be scrapped forthwith as it has brought enormous woes to the local people.

Ms Patkar, who was recently in Odisha capital Bhubaneswar to deliver Harichachadra Buxipatra Memorial lecture, argues that the Rs 52,000-crore South Korean steel project has in the last few years only heightened the plight of the local villagers. The people of three panchayats - Dhinkia, Gada-Kujanga and Nuagaon - have been subjected to unabated 'state repression, police atrocities and other hostilities.

"The police atrocities have violated the constitutional rights of people. It must stop immediately and action taken against the erring officials," she says.

Ms Patkar, who is also the national convener of National Alliance of Peoples' Movements (NAPM), is also equally surprised over the state government forcibly trying to impose its will on the people despite the gram sabha opposing the project and no formal memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the investment existing.

"Orissa has become one of the most favoured destinations seeking investments or rather naked loot of its rich mineral resources in the name of development causing severe misery and impoverishment to the people. The Posco project violates the Forest Rights Act and many other constitutional rights of people," she contends.

The renowned social activist's 's observation comes amidst reports that the state government has been deploying heavy armed police forces in Dhinkia area to neutralize resistance against construction of a eight km long coastal road that seeks to connect Paradip with the proposed project site.

Ms Patkar maintains that any project opposed by the local people must be stopped forthwith. "In a welfare country like India, neither the state government nor the state government should go against the will of the people. Any such attempt will be considered fascism," she observes.

Land acquisition across the country has created a serious situation of social unrest. Hence, the government must ban acquisition of agricultural land for non-agriculture purpose for at least 10 years, she demands.

Ms Patkar, while welcoming the new land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation Bill introduced in the Parliament, maintains that it is a 'watered down version of the draft Bill which was put out for public comments by the ministry of rural development.

She says provisions in the Bill aim at industrialization and urbanization and fail to recognize the rights of those already displaced in the name of development.

"The Bill does not address the issue of land alienation and hence would not bring any relief to indigenous people. The Bill will legitimize the profit motive of the private corporations," she observes, adding, the Bill if made Act will fuel unprecedented land acquisitions in the country leading to conflicts never seen before.

Ms Patkar has a clear stand on the Jan Lokpal Bill. "The Jan Lokpal Bill has set a lot of political churning in the country in the last six months. It is quite encouraging. A strong Lokpal Bill is only a tool to fight the larger corruption and make the governance structure more accountable and transparent," she points out.

The observations made by Ms Patkar have added strength to the people who have carrying out a relentless battle against the forcible land acquisition in Odisha. Besides, it has sent a warning across the political and bureaucratic classes that the movements against displacement are land acquisition cannot just be suppressed by use of force.

Kalam bets on Koodankulam safety

S Remadevi/Koodankulam

Former President's visit has changed the tone of the discourse but protesters still sticking to their guns

10 suggestions by Abdul Kalam

1. A four lane highway should be constructed connecting Koodankulam and the area covering 30 km around it like Madurai, Tirunalveli, Kanyakumari.

2. World class hospital with 500 beds capacity, and mobile health services for locals shall be provided.

3. 10,000 jobs shall be given for the people living close to the area.

4. Bank loans at 25 % subsidised rate must be given to youth.

5. Basic amenties like green house, multi-storeyed apertments and playgronds shall be given.

6. Motor boats, cold storages and small lodging zone must be built for fishermen.

7. 10 lakh litres of drinking water should be provided by desaltination of sea water.

8. Five schools with hostel facility shall be established covering CBSE, State government syllabus.

9. All villages must be connected with Broad band internet connectivity.

10. Disater management center and protection forces must be established.

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam has achieved what the central government's assurances failed to do. The former president's claim that the controversial Koodankulam plant was safe and there is nothing to worry seems to have cut the ice with the villagers who were protesting against nuclear installation.

Soon after Abdul Kalam's certificate, the Congress and the centre government intensified its attack on the civil society organization spearheading the agitation.

Kalam had recently visited the nuclear power project site and endorsed the foolproof safety measures put in place. After the visit, he told mediapersons that people should have faith in the government and there was no cause of worry. His endorsement had changed the tune of the discourse and a large section of the people was carried away by the benefits of the plant.

Kalam suggested the development of surrounding villages and creating 10,000 jobs.

Tamil Nadu government has been moving cautiously as it does not want to be seen as working against the public sentiment. Chief minister Jayalalitha had attacked the centre for not coming clean on its commitment on allaying security concerns of the people, though the state government is in favour of the plant. DMK chief M Karunanidhi, who has warned against going ahead with the project without addressing people's fears, said, "Kalam is a former president and thinks before he talks. The Centre should take his views into account and the panel constituted by the Centre should also consider his statements".

Kalam said, "Don't have even nano-sized doubt about the nuclear-plant".

Kalam's suggestions to the Centre included development of the region where the plant is located, including construction of a four-lane highway connecting Kudankulam and the villages situated in a 30km radius with Madurai, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari; a world-class hospital with over 500 beds; mobile medical facilities to locals; creation of 10,000 jobs for villagers living within the 30km to 60km radius of the plant; and bank loans for youth with 25% subsidized interest rates.

The former president also suggested creating infrastructure facilities like construction of green houses, multi-storeyed housing complexes and playgrounds. Kalam also outlined the reasons of the protest thus: "local residents' truthful questions, dynamics of geo-political and market forces and the people, who are not thinking that the nation's interest is more important than their interest."

However, a section of the protesters still hold on to protest even though the government has been at pains to drive its point home. Earlier, a15-member panel constituted by the Centre met in Chennai and took a decision to interact with the agitators at the earliest.

K Balu, former director of Nuclear Waste Management Group at Barc and a member of the committee, told TOI, "We have with us experts constituted by the Union government and we will meet whomsoever the Tamil Nadu government wants us to meet in Tirunelveli on Tuesday. It is very unfortunate that even when someone like Kalam says he personally inspected and is satisfied with the safety of the nuclear plant, it has failed to convince the protesters. It is necessary for us to find out what are the issues they are afraid of."

But many comments supporting Kalam's view on the Kudankulam nuclear power project have been posted on social networking sites and web portals. "The public perception appears to be changing. I can see that a lot of people, who had angrily reacted to the government on the issue, are changing their views now. They believe Kalam is a credible leader and scientist," said a Chennai-based software professional S Nagaraj. "Dr Kalam has received hundreds of mails appreciating his intervention at the right time," said Kalam's adviser V Ponraj.

Meanwhile, Udayakumar, anti-nuclear activist, has termed the allegations against him as baseless. "Rumours are being spread to discredit people's movement. We have been working here for more than 10 years. It is true that the movement gained momentum in the last few months. Following the Fukushima nuclear accident that took place in March 2011, the fishermen have awakening near a nuclear facility and are now demanding their right to live peacefully. The most recent trigger was the announcement of a mock drill when the public were asked to cover their face and mouth and run for cover following an alarm. The long list of do's and don'ts released by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India has finally enlightened them of the perilous situation."

Another protester said, "The government has failed to instill confidence in us. The plant is unsafe. The safety analysis report and the site evaluation study have not been made public. No public hearing was held. It's an authoritarian project that has been imposed on the people. There have been serious lapses in the environmental impact assessment. A report commissioned by the Russian government reveals that there are 20-25 defects in the reactor design."

Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Church, which has been on the forefront of the movement against the plant, is slowly distancing itself. There has been pressure on the church also not to play an active role.

On September 22, the Tamil Nadu government passed a resolution urging the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the central government to halt work at Koodankulam till the people's fears are allayed.

According to NPCIL officials despite the resolution, the Tamil Nadu government is keen on knowing the project progress as it would ease to a major extent the state's power crunch. NPCIL officials told that the state government had written to the company to take necessary measures to increase the power generation at the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) located at Kalpakkam.

Damn the controversy

Sopan Correspondent/Kochi

A film, its ban in Tamil Nadu, and mild earthquake in Kerala's district have added fuel Mullaperiyar dam row

The controversy over a film 'Dam 999' has brought Mullaperiyar Dam back to the fore. A recent tremor in Idukki has triggered fears among residents of the district who feared that the dam would collapse.

The issue has been a bone of contention between the Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Although the dam is situated near the source of the Periyar river in Kerala, Tamil Nadu has been operating the dam, thanks to an agreement between the then Travancore government and Madras Presidency during the British for 999 years.

The Periyar National Park is located near the dam. The dam's purpose was to divert the waters of the west-flowing Periyar River eastwards, since it caused widespread floods in the Travancore region, by constructing a masonry dam and diverting the water from the reservoir by way of a tunnel across the watershed and the Western Ghats to the rain shadow region of the Theni Sivaganga District and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu.

About 60,000 ha in Theni, Madurai, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram, and Dindigul districts in present day Tamil Nadu were intended as beneficiaries of irrigation waters from Mullaperiyar. Water is brought through a 1.6 km long tunnel till the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border and then flows through open canals to Churuliyar river which feeds the Vaigai dam in Tamil Nadu. From there a network of canals take the water to the fields.

The dam's reservoir level is the main cause of worry for Kerala. Since 1970, Kerala has argued that the dam having outlived its life of 50 years is unsafe to maintain water at 46.3 metres - the full reservoir level - and it should be restricted to 41.45 metres.

In 1979, the Central Water Commission was asked to look into the matter; it suggested reduction of water level to 41.45 metres as an emergency measure along with other measures to strengthen the dam.

The government of Tamil Nadu has proposed an increase in the storage level of the dam from the currently maintained 136 feet to 142 feet. The Kerala government has opposed this move, citing safety concerns for the more than hundred year old bridge and especially for the thickly populated districts downstream.

In 1998, all Mullaperiyar-related cases were transferred to the Supreme Court which, in its order of February 2006, observed that the dispute is not a 'water dispute'. It allowed raising the reservoir level to 43.28 metres and directed Tamil Nadu to carry out the strengthening measures suggested by cwc, and restrained Kerala from causing any obstruction.

In March 2006, Kerala's Legislative Assembly passed the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation Amendment Act, 2006. The amendment empowered Kerala's Dam Safety Authority (KDSA) - a body mandated in 2003 by the original Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation Act-to evaluate safety of all dams in the state. It also has the power to advise the government to suspend the functioning or to decommission a dam if public safety demanded. Twenty two dams constructed during 1895-1963 including the Mullaperiyar dam were brought under KDSA's jurisdiction. 41.45 metres was fixed as safe height for Mullaperiyar's reservoir. Tamil Nadu took the matter back to the Supreme Court. It filed a petition on March 31, 2006 to declare the Kerala act as unconstitutional.

In July 2009, the Kerala government has claimed that with the building of a new dam, 1,300 feet downstream of the present Mullaperiyar reservoir, the safety of the people of Kerala can be a assured from the existing high-risk structure, which can fail at any

time , endangering lives, according to news sources.

People in Kerala feel that the 1886 deed should not be continued since it was forced upon the Travancore ruler. People in Tamil Nadu feel that Kerala is eyeing extra water from the Mullaperiyar reservoir to generate electricity. Power generation at the Idukki reservoir, downstream of the Mullaperiyar dam will come to a halt if the reservoir level is increased from 41.45 metres to 46.3 metres, Sadasivan points out. The Kerala government, however, maintains that the Idukki project was designed after discounting the 46.3 metres water storage in the Mullaperiyar dam.

जल, जंगल और जमीन का जनादेश

यात्रा मार्ग से ........

पी.वी. राजगोपाल

आंध्रप्रदेश में कई परेशानियां है लेकिन इस बात को अनदेखा नही किया जा सकता है कि यहां की कई खुबियां भी हैं। अगर आप कहीं बाजार से गुजर जाएं तो आपकी नजर किसी फल वाले दुकान में जरूर पडे़गा । जितनी सुन्दरता से केले के पूरे गुच्छे को आकर्षक ढ़ंग से बांध कर रखतें है वह अन्य राज्यों के तुलना में भिन्न है । आंध्रप्रदेश मुर्तियों का भी राज्य है इतने सारे मूर्तियों को दुसरे को प्रांतों में आप नही देखेगें। सभी नेताओं की मूर्तियां बड़े तादात में हर शहर में दिखाई पडे़गा । कहीं कहीं तो ऐसा लगेगा जैसे कहीं मूर्तियों की बगीचा बना दिया हो । वैसे तमिलनाडु और केरल में फलैक्स का ज्यादा प्रचलन है तमिलनाडु में तो इस हद तक की हर व्यक्ति शादी मे,ं जन्म दिन में और मुंडन कार्यक्रम में भी अपना अपना फलैक्स बनाकर बाजार में लगाते हैं । आंध्रप्रदेश के दलित आंदोलनों में कारण करीब करीब हर शहर में अम्बेडर भवन है, और अम्बेडर जी की मूर्तियां है । मूर्तियां अकसर प्रेरणा के स्रोत बनते हैं लेकिन अगर उसकी रख रखाव ठीक से ना हो तो मूर्तियों के साथ असम्मान जैसा दिखाई पड़ता है । देश भर में कई जगह गांधी जी की मूर्ति का सही रख रखाव नही होने के कारण बहुत खराब हालत में दिखाई पड़ा । मूर्तियों की स्थापना और रख रखाव को लेकर एक अच्छी समझ बननी चाहिए । किसी भी शहर में किसी भी समूह के माध्यम से मूर्तियां लगायी जाय ? इसकी रख रखाव की जिम्मेवारी भी उन्ही पर निर्धारित होना चाहिए । जैसे राष्ट््रीय झंडा केे लिए कुछ नियम निर्धारित है वैसे ही कुछ निर्धारण मूर्तियों के लिए भी होना है ।

तमिलनाडु और केरल के तुलना में हमारे सभाओं में पुलिस और खुफिया विभाग की उपस्थिति न के बराबर रही । तमिलनाडु और केरल में खुफिया विभाग के तौर तरीके से थोड़ी सी असुविधा होती थी । लोगों की समस्याओं से अधिक उन्हे यात्रियों का फोटों खिचनें का शौक था सीधे सीधे बात करके जानकारी लेने के बदले यात्रियों के बारे में इधर उधर पुछने की भी उनकी आदत थी । इस कारण से मुझे एक बार उनके तौर तरीक के बारे में लेख भी लिखना पड़ा । लेकिन आंध्रप्रदेश में नक्शल प्रभावित क्षेत्र हो या तेलंगाना आंदोलन से प्रभावित क्षेत्र हो कही भी पुलिस खुफिया विभाग ने यात्रा को लेकर कोई खलबली नही मचाई । आम जनता को अपनी बात कहने की आजादी इस प्रांत में शायद अधिक है । इसी प्रकार यात्रा के स्वागत में अधिकतर बैठकें सरकारी भवनों में ही की गई । जहां बैठकर निरन्तर गरीब लोगों ने सरकार के बारे में शिकायत दर्ज कराई । मुझे केरल प्रांत के कासरकोड शहर की याद आयी, जहां हमारे पहुंचते ही खुफिया विभाग और पुलिस विभाग के लोग दौड़कर पहुंच गये । फोटो खिचने लगे साथ चलने वाले विदेशी मित्रों के पासपोर्ट मांगने लगे । उनके लिए आम जनता की समस्याओं से ज्यादा मतलब इस बात से है कि कौन आता है कौन जाता है । देश की सुरक्षा के ड््रामा में लगे हुए इन कर्मचारियों को इस बात की तनिक भी फ्रिक नही है कि आम लोग जिन परेशानियों को लेकर चर्चा कर रहे है । इससे पूर्व जब मै कासरकोड शहर का भ्रमण करने आया, उस समय जिला कलेक्टर से मिलकर निवेदन किया था, कि वे आदिवासियों की भूमि की समस्या जल्दी हल करंे । समस्या तो साल भर में हल नही हुए लेकिन कौन समस्याओं के बारे में पुछने आते हैं ? इस बात को लेकर फ्रिक जरूर है । यही हालात छतीसगढ़ जैसे प्रांत में भी है । लोगों के समस्या हल करने में सरकार को बिलकुल रूचि नही है । लेकिन समस्याओं पर चर्चा करने वालों को नक्सली समर्थक घोषित करने में पूरा तंत्र लगा हुआ है । ऐसा लगता है कि किसी को भी नक्सली समर्थक कहने से वह अपने जिम्मेवारियों से बच जायेंगे ।

आंध्रप्रदेश में एक खूबी यह रही कि इस बार यात्रा में मार्क्सवादी, गांधीवादी, अम्बेडकरवादी हम सब लोग एकजुट हुए । इस बात पर भी हमारी सहमति बनी कि वादों से उपर उठकर सबकी ताकत आम जनता की समस्या हल करने में लगनी चाहिए । प्रेरणा कहां से मिली है इस बात को लेकर लड़ने के बदले प्रेरणा को लेकर हम क्या कर रहें हैं, उस पर ध्यान देने की जरूरत है जिस देश में 40 प्रतिशत लोग गरीबी से पीड़ित है वहां हम अपने अपने प्रेरणा स्रोतों को बहस के द्वारा सबसे अच्छा साबित कर भी दिया तो गरीबों को क्या लाभ होने वाला है । उन्हें तो इस बात की फ्रिक है । कि उनका अगला भोजन कहां से आयेगा । आस पास के दादाओं से कौन बचायेगा ? सर्वधर्म समभाव के बारे में हम अकसर यही कहते हैं कि प्रेरणा किसी भी गुरू से मिली हो, या किसी भी भगवान से लेकिन सवाल यह है कि आप करते क्या हो ? समाज में नफरत और अंशाति फैलाते हों या शांति और समानता ।

आंध्रप्रदेश के विशेष आर्थिक क्षेत्र और उससे जूड़ विस्थापन पर मैंने अलग से लिखा है । लेकिन भूमि सुधार को लेकर वारंगल जिले में जो उससे जूड़ अच्छा काम दिखाई उसके बारे में यहां लिख रहा हूं । वारंगल जिला एक समय नक्सल प्रभावित इलाका रहा है, लेकिन अब नक्सल प्रभावित गांव में ही भुमि सुधार का उपयोगी काम हो रहा है । जिला कलेक्टर श्री राहुल और संयुक्त कलेक्टर सुश्री करूणा ने मिल कर कुछ गांव के दीवारों में जमीन से संबंधित सब जानकारियों को लिखने लगे हैं । हर व्यक्ति इस चार्ट को देखकर समझ सकते है कि किसकी भूमि कहां और कितना है । अगर कोई ऋटि हो तो सुधारने के लिए आवेदन दे भी सकते हैं । कलेक्टर कार्यायल में ही भूमि सेल की स्थापना की है । कुछ वकीलों को इस काम में मद्द करने और उनके शिकायतों को देखने के लिए नियुक्त किये हैं । आम जनता के समस्याओं के प्रति संवेदनशील इन वकीलों से मिलकर और उनकी बात सुनकर सुखद आश्चर्य हुआ । हर जिलों में जरूर ऐसे वकीलों की टोली मिल सकती है । जिला प्रशासन से प्रोत्साहन मिलने से कई लोग इस प्रकार काम करने के लिए सामने आयेंगे । जिला प्रशासन के मुखिया जब आम लोगों की काम में रूचि लेने लगते हैं तब उनके नीचे काम करने वाले तमाम कर्मचारी भी रूचि लेने लगते हैं । वारंगल में करीब करीब यही हो रहा है । जिस तहसीलदार के कार्यालय का हमने भ्रमण किया वहां तमाम कर्मचारी आम जनता के प्रति संवेदनशील दिखाई पड़ा । जानकारियों को सुलभ कराने में और आम जनता के समस्याओं पर चर्चा करने के लिए अगर सरकारी कर्मचारी तैयार हो जाय तो आधी समस्या वैसे ही हल हो जायेगी । इसके विपरित अगर प्रशासन के मुखिया स्वंयम बहुराष्ट्रीय, राष्ट्रीय कंपनियों के दलाल जैसा व्यवहार करना शुरू करे तों पूरी प्रशासनिक ढ़ाचा उसी ओर मुडेंगें । वारगंल में एक और अच्छा काम हुआ है । प्रशासन ने वन विभाग व राजस्व विभाग को साथ बैठाकर आपसी विवादों को सुलझाना शुरू कर दिया है । विभागों के आपसी विवादों के कारण जमीन जोतने वाले कई लोग परेशान है । वन विभाग निरन्तर इन्हे परेशान कर रहे हैं और इनके खेतों में वृक्षारोपण कर रहे हैं । जिला प्रशासन के संयुक्त प्रयास से एक तरफ राजस्व विभाग के जमीन पर बसे हुए लोगों को सुरक्षा मिली है तो दुसरी ओर वन विभाग के जमीन पर बसे हुए लोगों को भूमि स्वामित्व मिला है तो दूसरी ओर वन विभाग के जमीन को जोतने वालों को फसल बचाने का मौका मिल जाता है । अगर यह प्रयोग वारंगल के कुछ गांव में हो सकता है तो देश के हर गांव में हो सकता है । जब देश के 70 प्रतिशत लोग खेती के काम में लगे है तो किसानों की समस्या हल करने के लिए इतना तो प्रयास हर सरकार को करना ही चाहिए । मध्यप्रदेश जैसे प्रांत में लाखों एकड़ जमीन विभागीय विवादों में फंसा हुआ है । जो वारंगल के कलेक्टर कर सकते हैं वही काम मध्यप्रदेश के कलेक्टर से भी कराया जा सकता है । मुझे यह डर जरूर लगा है कि जैसे जैसे आदिवासियों और दलितों की समस्या हल करने के में तभी आगे बढ़ेंगे । वैसे ही वारंगल के ताकतवर लोग उन्हे हटाने के अभियान में भी जूड़ेंगे । इस खतरे से मुक्ति तभी मिलेगी ? जब हर दल के नेता इस बात के लिए कमर कस लेंगे ? कि अब हमें सिर्फ बड़े लोगों को ही नही बल्कि वंचितों को भी न्याय दिलाना है । जिस देश के न्याय व्यवस्था निरन्तर सिर्फ पैसे वालों के लिए ही काम करेंगे, उस व्यवस्था को बदलना ही सही तरीका है । सवाल सिर्फ यह है कि इस बड़ी चुनौती को स्वीकारने के लिए कौन सी पार्टी तैयार है ?

आंध्रप्रदेश में बहुत दिनों से तेलंगाना आंदोलन चल रहा है । आंदोलनकारियों का कहना यही है कि संयुक्त प्रांत में उनके साथ न्याय नही हो रहा है ? इसलिए उन्हे अगल प्रांत चाहिए । ऐसा कई आंदोलन हमने पहले भी देखा है । आंदोलन के कारण छतीसगढ़, उतराखण्ड और झारखंड बना । कोई भी साधारण व्यक्ति इस बात को जांच सकते हैं कि छोटे प्रांत बनने से आम लोगों को कोई राहत मिली की नही मिली । इन प्रांतों में लोग कहने लगे हैं कि इससे अच्छा तो पहले था । छोटे प्रांतों में संसाधनों की जिस प्रकार की लूट मची है उसे देखकर घबराहट होने लगती है । विकास के नाम पर जल,जंगल, जमीन सब कुछ छीना जा रहा है । राष्ट्रीय बहुराष्ट्रीय कंपनियों के हाथों में जीवन जीने के तमाम संसाधन सौंपा जा रहा है । कानून और नियम के धज्जियां उठा रहा है । विरोध करने वाले लोगों को पुलिस और गुण्डों के बल पर दबाया जा रहा है । यह सब कुछ विकास के नाम पर किया जा रहा है । मैं अपने मित्रों को सतर्क करने का प्रयास किया हूं कि छोटे प्रांत की कल्पना अपने आप में समस्याओं का हल नही है । छोटे प्रांत के आंदोलन के दरमियान अगर उन वंचितों के जीवन से जूड़े मुद्दों पर बहस नही होगी तो प्रांत बनने के बाद भी सरकार और वंचितों को कुछ नही मिलेगा । प्रांत तो बनेगा ? मंत्री मंडल भी होगें और तमाम सरकारी कर्मचारी भी नियुक्त होंगे आम जनता तब भी आवेदन लेकर हाथ जोडकर दर दर भटकते हुए दिखाई पड़ेगें । जैसे रायपुर में या रांची में हो रहा है, उसी प्रकार राजधानी और एयरपोर्ट के बनाने के लिए हजारों मजदुर और किसानों की कुर्बानी होगी । हवाई जहाज से सूटकेस लेकर उतरने वाले लोग तमाम जमीन खरीदेंगे । उस समय अन्याय के विरोध करने वालों पर अधिक दमन होगा । जैसे आज छतीसगढ़ और झारखंड में हो रहा है । छोटे प्रांत के सपना लेकर लड़ने वालों को अभी से सतर्क रहेना होगा । और जहां जहां नये प्रांत बने है वहां से सबक सीखना होगा ।

बुंदेलखण्ड प्रांत के नाम लड़ने वाले मेरे उत्तरप्रदेश और मध्यप्रदेश के मित्रों से भी मैं बार बार यही निवेदन करता हूं कि आंदोलन के कोख में ही परिवर्तन वादी बीज डालिए, अन्यथा एक राक्षस और पैदा होगा जो पहले से भी खतरनाक हो सकता है । विकेन्द्रीत सत्ता ही अगर हमारी आवश्यकता हो तो सबसे जरूरी ग्राम सभा को मजबूत करने का है । ग्राम सभा, विधान सभा और लोक सभा इसके अलावा और कोई सभा की जरूरत नही है । इसी तीन स्तर पर समस्यांए हल होनी चाहिए ।

आंध्रप्रदेश में दलित आंदोलन ताकतवर रूप में है पूरे 15 दिन के यात्रा में दलित आदिवासी मछुआरे और घुमंतु आदिवासियों के बीच में ही रहने का मौका मिला । कई सभा में दलित संगठनों के और वामपंथी दलों के स्थानीय लोग साथ-साथ उपस्थित हुए । गांधी जी ने जो ताबीज दी है ? उसके अनुसार सभी गांधीजनों को वही जगह काम करने की जरूरत है । पर जिनके बीच होकर हम हम गुजर रहे थे, जैसे गांधी के नाम लेने वाले राजनैतिक दल वंचित और पीडीतो से दूर हो गये, वैसे ही गांधी जी के नाम पर काम करने वाले सामाजिक संगठन भी धीरे धीरे आदिवासियों से, दलितों से, मछुवारों से दूर तो नही जा रहे हैं, गांधीजनों को इन बात पर गंभीरता से विचार करना होगा । समाज परिवर्तन के काम में लगे हुए लोगों को यह समझना ही होगा । हमारे बुद्धि और शक्ति की जरूरत उन्ही लोगों को अधिक है, जो आजाद भारत में आज भी गुलाम हैं । हमारी कार्यशैली में जो कमी है इसी के ही कारण गांधी जी वंचित समाज से दूर होते जा रहे हैं । गांधी जी को वंचितों के करीब ले जाने का दायित्व उन सबका है जो गांधी जी का नाम लेकर समाज में काम कर रहे हैं ।

Callous attitude

The West Bengal govt seems unconcerned even after scores of children died in state-run hospitals. It also shows the poor condition of health care system.

Sopan Correspondent/ Kolkata

Ten infants died at the B.C. Roy Children's Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal's only paediatric referral hospital, on October 26. Twenty-one infants had earlier died in a span of 48 hours in the hospital between June 27 and 28. On October 31, a baby died after birth because carbolic acid was used instead of dettol to disinfect during delivery at the Lalbag sub-divisional Government Hospital in Murshidabad. On October 29, 12 babies died at the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital.

B.C. Roy Children's Hospital authorities maintained that there was nothing unusual about the deaths. Hospital head Mrinal Kanti Chattopadhyay said the crib deaths were due to the "critical condition of the babies when they are admitted". The 360-bed hospital, he added, is ill-equipped to handle the average 50 admissions a day. "At least half the babies admitted to our hospital are referred by district hospitals when little can be done to save them," he said. Explaining the Burdwan deaths, Tapas Kumar Ghosh, Deputy Superintendent of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, said the infants that died were suffering from jaundice, encephalitis and septicemia and were severely underweight.

The spate of deaths shows that healthcare in state government hospitals continues to remain in a sorry shape. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had rushed to the B.C. Roy Children's Hospital soon after the June deaths and promptly promised new equipment and infrastructure. Apart from a state-of-the-art 40-bed Sick Neonatal Care Unit that is ready to function from November, nothing has materialised.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on October 31 sought details about the infant deaths from the state government. "It is a matter of grave concern that so many infants died," NCPCR member Luv Verma said. Quizzed about the tragedies, Banerjee, who is also the health minister, brusquely ticked off journalists, saying, "Do not irritate me."

Encephalitis taking a huge toll

85 children between 3-13 years died at Gaya's Anugrah Narain Medical College and Hospital. Governments are at sea.

Kumari Chitra/ Gaya (Muzaffarpur)

It is a great irony when Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, now on much-hyped Sewa Yatra in his obvious pan-Indian scheme of things, has started working on health cards of over three crore children between six and 14 years under Nayi Pidhi Swasthya Guarantee Scheme, state health department has little clue on suspected encephalitis/ brain fever/ cerebral malaria in Gaya and Muzaffarpur reporting 137 deaths in last four months. Precisely, over 500 children were admitted in two Muzaffarpur hospitals and one Gaya hospital.

Eighty five children between three and 13 years died at Gaya's Anugrah Narain Medical College and Hospital (ANMCH) and 20 have been still undergoing treatment. Of 390 admissions in Gaya - from Gaya,

Aurangabad, Arwal and Chatra and Palamu Jharkhand), those who returned home are also not without neuro-psychiatric side-effects.

While Muzaffar[ur hospitals have no cases now, Gaya is in thick of news with National Centre of Disease Control (NDCD), Delhi and National Institute of Virology (NIV) teams visiting Gaya's premier government hospital and "fine tuning" diagnosis being offered and most importantly, collecting blood samples.

But it has been part of routine process every year: Central teams come, seldom give their reports. Doctors here are left with little option but to offer symptomatic treatment, which is so predictable.

These patients often come with complaints of acute convulsions (chamki

in local parlance), high grade fever, unconsciousness leading patients to go into coma at times and vomiting in some cases. ANMCH doctors have pasted the line of treatment at entrance of children's wards. Nurses find it comprehensive but not conclusive.

A visit to Gaya hospital shows there are constraints. Only generator for back-up power supply has not been working for days. X-ray machine has also gone out of order. There is no bed-to-bed oxygen point to meet emergency situations. Oxygen cylinders have to be moved from ward to ward manually.

But Gaya hospital administration calls it trifle complaints. They pat their back with death figures and its comparison with global mortality percentage. Dr AK Ravi, head of department of pediatrics at the hospital, good at explaining medical jargons to journos, said: "We reported only 21 per cent death as against global mortality rate of 40 per cent".

He, however, is surely worried that all types - four in all - of encephalitis are not detected and diagnosed. Though Gaya cases were mostly Japanese Encephalitis, Bihar hospitals had no wherewithal to test non-JE cases. Doctors also did not rule out possibility of some Gaya encephalitis cases being similar to Gorakhpur cases, mostly acute encephalitis syndrome (AES), which can be cerebral or bacterial meningitis and other unknown types.

The hospital also blamed NCDC, Delhi, which had already taken 30 blood samples from the hospital, had not yet given its reports. Bihar medical hospitals can only diagnose JE cases with Elisa test of cerebral spinal fluid. The 100 per cent confirmatory test - Advanced Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR - is available only at NIV, Pune. Elisa can test category I and II of encephalitis cases marked by high fever, convulsions and occasional vomiting. Elisa test, however, cannot diagnose Category III case which has same

symptoms with non-JE virus. Muzaffarpur, where 52 patients died of suspected encephalitis this year, might fall in category four, indeterminate type. Of 40 samples collected from Muzaffarpur, no JE case was confirmed. The state government, whose JE vaccination programme is not going great, has readymade excuse to offer - even JE vaccination will not prevent spurt of encephalitis every year. They blame it on low-lying temporal region suitable to encephalitis virus, some of them still not known.

Bihar principal health secretary Amarjit Sinha said there was little the state government could do besides offering symptomatic treatment.

He also did not rule out some AES cases in Gaya and Muzaffarpur but then, there was no evidence in absence of sophisticated test. Bihar hospitals can test only category I and II - which is JE and probable JE - with same symptoms but coming from different tempral regions. The third category has AES that can be cerebral malaria, bacterial meningitis and cerebral meningitis. The fourth category disease can have same symptoms but high degree of acuteness because of presence of non-JE virus.

But one thing was similar in both regions reporting these cases. Almost 90 per cent patients came from poor socio-economic background. In Nitish Kmar's definition, they are Mahadalits (read schedule castes), rearing pigs, living bare-chested amidst flies and mosquitoes. Ask any one about fumigation and DDT spray, they will put the question back to you - What is all this?

Take case of Phulwanti (10), daughter of Surendra Kumar, a small farmer from Atri, at Gaya hospital. "She has yet been able to keep her right hand and leg straight. She also cannot take food properly," said Kumar wishing everything will be alright soon. He said with media intervention and expert teams frequenting the hospital, the level of alertness has surely increased. But they want permanent cure. Another summer, they may complain same problems.

Jhunnu (7) from Arwal has been admitted with similar complaints of convulsion and high fever. Jhunnu has also shown some improvements but his brother Nawlesh is deeply concerned. Nawlesh says doctors have been coming four times these days after frequent media and expert teams visit.

Dr A K Ravi said: "We have been offering best services under limited staff constraints. No patient has gone to any private hospital. There is no sure-shot cure for encephalitis in absence of 100 per cent diagnosis". Dr Ravi conceded that the hospital should be provided wherewithal to diagnose category III cases so that AES can be treated with definite line of treatment. He, however, said Gaya cases had no parallel with Muzaffarpur cases falling under "category IV of

indeterminate" cases. He said most cases came from areas rearing pigs, vectors of JE virus.

Bihar government has approached Union health ministry for a comprehensive study to decode the disease striking Muzaffarpur and adjoining districts since 1995 during or before monsoon. "Litchi plants and mosquitoes present in the region can be studied", suggested Dr Arun Shah, a leading Muzaffarpur pediatrician, also president of Indian Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr Shah said NIV that already ruled out Japanese Encephalitis needed brain tissues to decode any virus or any other type of disease. The NIV team visiting Muzaffarpur hospitals suggested that brain tissues would tell if it is any other viral encephalitis, some kind of meningitis, Ray's Syndrome, cerebral malaria or heat stroke. He added all these diseases had symptoms of fever and convulsions, as being reported in Muzaffarpur.

Dr Shah said they learnt from experience that the disease subsided with mercury shooting down. The mystery disease outbreak hit Muzaffarpur first in 1995 and continued to cause deaths in subsequent years. ICMR or any other medical body has not conducted any research on Muzaffarpur or Gaya.

The safest option for state health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey is to play blame game with Centre and seek reports from central teams.

Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar's vision of healthy new generation may well have to wait.

Changing face of Indian Post

Alkesh Tyagi/ New Delhi

Along with its mandated obligation of delivering mails, it also provides the necessary infrastructure for providing economic activities…

Discarding its traditional image India Post is emerging as a socially committed, technology driven and forward looking organization. The huge network of 1, 55,015 Post Offices across India of which 1, 39,144 are in rural areas is the largest postal network in the world. India Post has so far introduced 850 franchised outlets to cater to the demand where it is not possible to open departmental post offices. This network not only helps meet the social obligation of providing essential postal services to all citizens but also provides the necessary infrastructure for providing economic activities in these areas. Progressive use of computers and thus connected network of post offices on a single integrated platform presents an opportunity to India Post to retail products and services of other service providers.

Changed mail profile has substantially increased volume of mail in Business-to-Customer and Business-to-Business segments. Changing economic scenario has enhanced expectations of common man in terms of services and facilities. The Governments and corporate sector have decided to use credibility and huge network of India Post to reach out to the masses.

Some of the services being rendered through post offices are: National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) -The Department of Posts has been given the responsibility to disburse the wages to NREGS beneficiaries through Post Office Savings Bank account. Starting with Andhra Pradesh Postal Circle in 2006, the payment of wages under NREGS is currently operational in 19 Postal Circles comprising 21 States. The scheme is operational through 1, 00,000(one lakh) post offices. Nearly 4.9 crore(5.04) NREGS accounts have been opened up to March 2011(July2011), and the amount disbursed in this financial year (20010-11) alone amounts to Rs. 7300 crore.

The India Post has tied up with State Bank of India to sell its assets and liability products through identified post offices. Initially, the scheme was started in five states; the scheme was later extended to 23 States and Union Territories. The total number of different kinds of accounts opened is 1.04 lakhs and total assets sold up to Rs.17 crores.

The Department of Posts in collaboration with NABARD is providing the facility of micro-credit to Self Help Groups (SHGs) through identified post offices on agency basis. The corpus fund for implementing this project is given by NABARD. The pilot is in operation in five districts involving seven divisions of Tamil Nadu Circle. The revolving fund assistance has been raised to Rs.3 crores. There are 1200 SHGs benefitting from the scheme.

As a tie-up with Reliance Money Limited, sale of gold coins has been launched in October 2008 in selected post offices. Scheme is available in 672 Post Offices in 21 States.

Old Age Pension is being paid through 20 lakh Post Office Savings accounts in Bihar, Delhi, Jharkhand and North East, and through Money Order in J&K, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.

The Department of Posts has been assisting other public authorities under the Central Government in implementing the Right to Information Act (RTI) by providing services of its designated Central Assistant Public Information Officers (CAPIOs). Sub Post Masters at Tehsil level act as the CAPIO for accepting RTI requests and appeals. The Department has designated 4000 Post offices as receipt points for RTI applications and forwarding to public authorities. An RTI software has been got developed to deal with such applications.

The scheme for sale of railway tickets through post offices is presently operative at 170 locations, and will be extended to rural areas also.

Ministry of Statistics and program implementation (MOSPI) has entrusted the job of collecting statistics for ascertaining the Rural Price Index from 1183 post offices across the country with effect from October 2009. Branch Post masters collect prices of 185 to 292 commodities on fixed week days. The data so collected is electronically transmitted to MOSPI. Department of Posts has earned revenue of Rs. 7.33 crores from this activity.

Department of Posts is striving to provide complete solution for delivering the Unique Identification Number to all the residents in the country. The Department of Posts with its vast network of post offices is the only organization in the country that can provide an end to end comprehensive solution to the requirements of the UIDAI in this regard. The mandate of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is to provide a Unique Identification Number to each and every resident of the country.

Courtesy: PIB Feature

Tea Board neglect small tea farmers

Sankar Ray/ Kolkata

More than 86 per cent of small growers in India continue to be outside the ambit of regulations…

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its performance audit report (PAR) on Tea Board of India, the apex monitoring authority on tea economy which is a mix of agriculture and industry, indicted the latter for virtually looking down upon several thousand small tea growers or tea farmers who sell tea-leaves to large tea companies which in turn convert them into made-teas for the market.

"Even after more than five decades of existence, Tea Board has failed to discharge even its basic regulatory role effectively. More than 86 per cent of small growers in India continue to be outside the ambit of regulations by the Tea Board. System of inspection for regulating the activities of various shareholders was weak and non-transparent. Tea Board was not able to ensure submission of business information by stake holders so as to exercise effective control on their activities", the CAG stated in its PAR, submitted to the department of commerce, Government of India. The DoC oversees and monitors the functioning of Tea Board.

Small-growers have a conspicuous presence due to a strong co-operative movement in Tamil Nadu, Nilgiris in particular, unlike in two largest tea-producing states, Assam and West Bengal .There are co-operative factories in Nilgiris to small tea growers with very small holdings sell their produce at remunerative prices. They formed a central organisation of 15 Industrial Cooperative Tea Factories - Tamilnadu Small Tea Growers Industrial Cooperative Tea Factories' Federation Limited (INDCOSERVE). In fact, the Indcoserve and Industrial Cooperative Tea Factories are the largest producers and sellers of tea in Nilgiris with a 17 per cent share in total production in the state.

The Indcoserve set up a network of services for co-operative tea factories along with warehousing facilities in Coonoor, Coimbatore and Cochin. Supply of fertilizers and jute bags for packing of tea, machinery spares, and other inputs to the small tea grower members through tea factories are a part of the network. Small wonder, Tea Board admitted in its reply, 16.904 small tea estates have been officially registered and 75,332 are registered provisionally.

In contrast, DoC concedes, "In Assam, most of the small growers do not possess the required land documents to establish their ownership. Because of this reason, as against, 69,000 small growers in Assam, as of date, only 3943 growers have been registered with the Tea Board.

Rather, the situation is slightly better in northern part of West Bengal, the tea-growing segment of the state . Small tea growers in north Bengal have made an all-out effort to form self-help groups and subsequently, co-operative societies to set up bought-leaf factories in order to generate better financial resources. They formed a body, United Forum of Small Tea Growers Association which submitted a proposal to the Tea Board for setting up a bought-leaf factory under a co-operative ownership.

However all this is in a very rudimentary stage. There are about 28,000 small tea growers producing 225 million kg of tealeaves on an average a year. The Indian Institute of Plantation Management, Bangalore and Tea Board organised a workshop for the small growers a couple of years back. It was agreed that new bushes produce good quality teas, provided proper adoption techniques are imparted to the growers. Self-help groups the UFSTGA envisions, is of Kenyan model.

Tea Board secretariat is sympathetic towards small-growers but large estates that dominate the Indian Tea Association and Tea Association of India are a hindrance to self-reliance of small growers. This powerful lobby wants to keep buying green leaves at low prices and mint high profits using the under-utilised capacities in in-situ factories in large tea estates. Tea Board has granted financial assistance to the state governments of Assam, West Bengal and Tripura for a survey for enumerating small tea growers. The reports are awaited. Hopefully, Tea Board will submit a plan for a comprehensive development of small tea sector in view of the growing demand for the non-alcoholic and medicinally strong beverage in India and abroad.

End of an era as the doyen of tribal culture dies

Vasavi Kiro/Ranchi(Jharkhand)

Noted tribal scholar and leader has passed away on September 30, leaving behind a dream for his friends and followers - to unite bring about social harmony which used to be the hallmark of tribal villages and to sing and dance together just as the forefathers did a few decades back.

'Je nachi, se bachi,' (one who dances, will survive) Dr Ram Dayal Munda often said whenever he discussed about art, culture and tradition which is fast disappearing in this age of consumerism. Traditional villages, not only in Jharkhand but in other states of the country as well, villages met at one place where they would share their joys and sorrows of the day and often play the musical instruments and sing.

In Jharkhand, this place is called 'akhra' where the tribal and non-tribal villagers would gather in the evening after day's hard work. If two villagers are at angry with each other over some matter, they would reconcile there and join each other in songs and dance.

This tradition, however, started witnessing hiccups after industrialization and consumerism started replacing the traditional values of the society, thereby breaking the society where villagers shared their joys and sorrows with each other. Ram Dayal, unhappy with the erosion of values, had thought of a way to save the culture. It was through songs and dances at the 'akhra'-the common place of the village.

Born in Deori near Tamar of Jharkhand in 1939, Munda in 1963 went to the US to study at Chicago University, Ram Dayal was an associate professor at department of South Asia Studies in Minnesota University when the then Vice-Chancellor of Ranchi University Dr Kumar Suresh Singh decided to open a Post-Graduate Department for Tribal and Regional Languages at his varsity. In 1982, Ram Dayal left USA, where he taught for nearly 17 years and decided to come back to Jharkhand. He set up an akhra at the Tribal and Regional Language department of Ranchi University with sakhua and karam trees in the middle.

His dream was to modernize the akhra in the Jharkhand villages equipping them with facilities like computers, library and meeting halls. He has donated Rs 95 lakh from the Rajya Sabha member's area development fund to Ranchi district which will develop his idea of setting up a modern akhra at Tagore Hill and make it into a cultural centre for Jharkhand.

Ram Dayal, after coming from the USA, played a very important role in separate Jharkhand movement. It was then that separate statehood movement had picked up tempo in Jharkhand. With his close associate Dr Bisheshwar Prasad Kesri, also a professor with Tribal and Regional Language department of Ranchi University constituted All Jharkhand Students' Union (AJSU) in early 9180s. The students' body later played a very crucial role in the separate statehood movement of Jharkhand.

Then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, after visiting Jharkhand, had asked tribal leaders to present a report on why a separate Jharkhand was necessary. With Ram Dayal as its chief architect, the report paved the way for the new state.

Ram Dayal, though a scholar and probably a world leader of indigenous people-he took part in the annual conventions of Permanent Forums for Indigenous People at United Nations and voiced the issues related to the indigenous people, had no political acumen. Though Jharkhand People's Party, a political wing of AJSU had been formed with his leadership, he later fought elections as candidates from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Janata Dal and Indian National Congress. However, he could never win an election.

Dr. Munda, who also served as Vice-Chancellor of Ranchi University, retired from active teaching in 1999 but his involvement with the cultural mobilization of the people continued which also included his active policy making at the UN Working Group on Indigenous People at Geneva and the UN Forum of Indigenous Issues in New York, in the capacity of a senior official of the ICITP, an all India tribal led and managed movement.

Dr. Munda authored several books including 'Adi Daharm'- a book on tribal religion and was a consultant and participant in important issues of the tribal people of the country. He represented India in the Festival of India in the USSR, and other cultural events in China, Japan and the South East, besides participating at the World Social Forum conferences in India.

For his contribution towards performing arts, Dr Munda was honoured by the Sangeet Natak Akademi (for the year 2007). Later in 2010, he was awarded with Padma Shree award by President Pratibha Patil, who later nominated him to the Rajya Sabha.

United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi had later inducted Dr Munda as a member of National Advisory Council that advises the Prime Minister on crucial issues-a body which is chaired by her.

Dr Munda has left behind his son Ekir Gunjal and wife Amita, apart from thousands of associates and followers in Jharkhand and other parts of the country.n

(The author is a member of Jharkhand State Commission for Women and also a close associate of Dr Munda)