Jindal Prize for exceptional work instituted

The Sitaram Jindal Foundation would give five prizes annually for contribution to development in five streams

Sopan Correspondent / New Delhi

In what could be termed as the “Nobel Prize” for the NGOs and the civil society groups, the Sitaram Jindal Foundation has instituted the Jindal Prize for five streams which will be given annually from this year.

The first of its kind in the country, prize for each category will carry a cash award of Rs one crore, a memento and a citation. Moreover, if in the interest of promoting the cause further the circumstances so warrant the Foundation could review and increase the size or the number of Prizes, the Foundation announced last month in New Delhi.

The five streams chosen by the Foundation include Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation, Health including drugless healing, education with emphasis on moral upliftment, science, technology & environment and peace, social harmony and development. The streams have been chosen due to their impact in bringing about positive change in the society.

Emphasising the need for concerted efforts for human welfare, the Sitaram Jindal Foundation had been rendering service for improving the quality of life of the deprived and lower strata of the society for over 40 years now and as many as 110 villages had been adopted by the Foundation for integrated development in Karnataka state and a number of hospitals, colleges, schools and vocational institutions had been set up in and around Bangalore.

Addressing a news conference, S.R. Jindal of the Foundation said that the Prize scheme has been formulated after critical screening of various aspects so that there is no scope for favoritism. The awardees would be selected by the Jury, an independent body comprising of nine eminent persons having vast experience and specialization in their respective fields. He added that the decision of the Jury would be final and binding without recourse and it is endowed with authority to select the awardees, independent of any role or involvement of the Foundation or the Trustees.

An individual or organization having contributed towards welfare of Indian citizens would be eligible for nomination subject to the condition that the contribution should be of exceptional nature, the achievement be transparent and open to public scrutiny, the underlying activity carried out had no commercial purpose or profit or political motive and the nominee should not be an employee, family member or close relative of the Jindal Group or its sister concern and the Foundation, Secretariat or any other person(s) associated with the prize scheme. A foreign national who had contributed in India towards the welfare of Indian citizens would also be eligible for the nomination, he informed.

Jindal Foundation would invite nominations annually to be considered for award of the prize and only the work or contribution nominated in writing by a nominator would be eligible for consideration and self-nomination would not be taken as valid entry. Any person of repute can propose any one (individual or organization) except himself and a person would be entitled to make only one nomination in any given year. The whole process for selection of the nominees would be undertaken in a transparent manner and all nominations would remain confidential except in so far as they are discussed within the Jury, Screening Committee and the Secretariat.

He observed that the Scheme will find due support and cooperation and that the Jury, an independent highest body, will be able to secure confidence of the people by contributing the “Honour” on deserving persons for their outstanding contribution towards human welfare”.

Founded by Sitaram Jindal and his wife Jamnadevi Jindal way back in 1969, the slogan of the founder is the guiding force for the Foundation.

"I believe that industry is a self-generating economy. I wish industrialists could contribute their mite for the upliftment of the less fortunate by adopting 1 to 100 villages each as per their capacity besides doing other welfare activities instead of indulging in vulgar display of wealth and wasting it in cocktail parties vis-à-vis five star culture," the Founder had said, words which are still relevant and serve as a guiding principle for the industrial houses.
sopanstep@gmail.com

जातीय हिंसा से दहलती जिंदगी

• रीता तिवारी
  सत्तर साल के चंद्र प्रकाश दहाल ने कभी सपने में भी नहीं सोचा था कि उनकी दुनिया रातों-रात इस तरह बदल जाएगी. पूर्वोत्तर का मेघालय कहे जाने वाले मेघालय के पूर्वी गारो पर्वतीय जिले के अपने गांव में दूध-दही और पकवानों के साथ पुराने साल को विदा करने वाले दहाल ने नए साल में खुशियों की उम्मीद लगा रखी थी. लेकिन नया साल उनके लिए अपार दुख लेकर आया. इस इलाके में गारो और राभा जनजातियों के बीच भड़की जातीय हिंसा ने इस उम्र में उनकी जीवन भर की पूंजी को लील लिया. पूंजी के नाम पर दहाल के पास तीन गाएं और चार बकरियां थीं. इनका दूध बेच कर उनका खर्च मजे में चल जाता था. लेकिन नए साल की पहली सुबह भड़की हिंसा और उसके बाद हुई आगजनी में उनका मकान तो जल कर राख हो ही गया, उसके साथ गाएं और बकरियां भी जल कर मर गईं. अब असम के ग्वालपाड़ा इलाके में बने एक अस्थायी शिविर में रह रहे दहाल को यह नहीं सूझ रहा है कि आगे जीवन कैसे चलेगा.

दहाल इस शिविर में अकेले नहीं हैं. इन शिविरों में रहने वाले उनके जैसे हजारों लोग नववर्ष की उस मनहूस घड़ी को कोस रहे हैं जिसने उनसे उनका सबकुछ छीन लिया. नववर्ष की पूर्व संध्या पर इन दोनों समुदायों के शुरू हुई हिंसक झड़पों में दस लोगों की मौत हो गई और लगभग 50 हजार बेघर हो गए हैं. उसके बाद कई दिनों तक दंगाग्रस्त इलाकों में कर्फ्यू लगा रहा. अब हालात नियंत्रण में तो हैं. लेकिन यह कभी भी बिगड़ सकते हैं. आखिर इस हिंसा की वजह क्या थी? अभ तक जो वजह सामने आई है उस पर सहज ही भरोसा नहीं होता. नए साल की पूर्व संध्या पर राभा जनजाति के लोगों ने अपनी कुछ मांगों के समर्थन में बंद बुलाया था. लेकिन उनका आरोप था कि गारो जनजाति के लोगों ने बंद का सरेआम उल्लंघन किया है. इससे नाराज राभा युवकों ने गारो जाति के लोगों पर हमला कर तीन की हत्या कर दी. उसके बाद जो हुआ वह सोचर दहाल आज भी दहल उठते हैं. इस दंगे में गारो जनजाति के लोग राभा लोगों पर भारी पड़े. उन्होंने राभा-बहुल कम से कम आठ गांवों को फूंक दिया. असम के ग्वालपाड़ा जिले, जो पूर्वी गारो जिले से सटा है, के उपायुक्त पी.सी.गोस्वामी बताते हैं कि मेघालय में रहने वाले राभा लोगों को सबसे ज्यादा नुकसान हुआ है. उनके दो सौ से ज्यादा घर जला दिए गए हैं.

असम और मेघालय के सीमावर्ती जिलों में गारो और राभा जनजातियों में बर्चस्व की लड़ाई और इस पर अंकुश लगाने की मेघालय व असम सरकार की गुहार से चिंतित केंद्र सुरक्षा बलों की 19 कंपनियां उस इलाके में भेजी है. केंद्र में पूर्वोत्तर मामलों के संयुक्त सचिव शंभू सिंह की अगुवाई में गृह मंत्रालय की एक टीम भी उपद्रवग्रस्त इलाकों का दौरा कर चुकी है. मेघालय के मुख्यमंत्री मुकुल संगमा प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह से मिल कर मेघालय के हालात के बारे में बता चुके हैं. वहीं मेघालय के एक वरिष्ठ पुलिस अधिकारी बताते हैं कि अब तक सौ से ज्यादा लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया है. केंद्रीय टीम ने प्रभावित क्षेत्रों के दौरे के बाद कहा है कि जातीय झडपें सुनियोजित नजर आती हैं. केंद्रीय गृह मंत्रालय ने दोनों राज्यों की सरकारों से 35 राहत शिविरों में शरण लिए लगभग 40 हजार लोगों की सुरक्षा सुनिश्चित करने को कहा है.असम में जातीय हिंसा की यह कोई पहली वारदात नहीं है. वहां पहले भी निचले असम और कारबी-आंग्लांग समेत विभिन्न इलाकों में जातीय हिंसा की घटनाएं होती रही हैं. इसी तरह राभा और गारो जनजातियों के बीच भी पहले कई बार हिंसक झड़पें हो चुकी हैं. लेकिन असली सवाल यह है कि आखिर इस बार की हिंसा की मूल वजह क्या है? बिना किसी ठोस वजह के इतने बड़े पैमाने पर हिंसा फैलने की बात न तो केंद्रीय गृह मंत्रालय के गले उतर रही और न ही असम-मेघालय सरकारों के. असम के एक वरिष्ठ अधिकारी कहते हैं कि इस मामले की साझा जांच की जरूरत है. दंगो के पीछे का सच सामने आए बिना भविष्य में ऐसी घटनाओं पर अंकुश लगाना संभव नहीं है.

मेघालय में दस शिविरों की सुरक्षा के लिए पहले केंद्रीय अर्धसैनिक बलों के 500 जवान भेजे गए. बाद में वहां केन्द्रीय बलों की पांच अतिरिक्त कंपनियां भेजने का फैसला किया गया. गृह मंत्रालय के अधिकारी असम और मेघालय की सरकारों के लगातार संपर्क में हैं और उनसे सामान्य स्थिति बहाल करने के लिए तत्काल कदम उठाने के लिए कहा गया है.मेघालय के मुख्य सचिव डब्ल्यू.एम.एस. पैरिएट कहते हैं, ‘मैंने असम के मुख्य सचिव से बात की है और उनको दोनों दंगाग्रस्त इलाकों में साझा पुलिस गश्त का प्रस्ताव दिया है.’ पैरिएट कहते हैं कि अगर असम सरकार हमारा प्रस्ताव स्वीकार कर लेती है तो दोनों राज्यों (असम और मेघालय) की पुलिस संयुक्त गश्त के तौर-तरीके तय करेगी.

इस बीच, असम सम्मिलित महासभा और निखिल राभा जातीय परिषद नामक दो संगठनों ने असम-मेघालय सीमा पर गारो व राभा जनजातियों की बीच हुए इस जातीय संघर्ष की जांच केंद्रीय जांच ब्यूरो से कराने की मांग की है. राभा जातीय परिषद के महासचिव बाणीकांत राभा तहते हैं कि इस संघर्ष के बाद अब तक असम मेघायल की सरकारों ने इसके शिकार लोगों के हित में कोई ठोस कदम नहीं उटाया है. उनका आरोप है कि असम व मेघालय सीमा पर कुल 41 गांवों में बड़े पैमाने पर आगजनी व लूटपाट हुई है. इन संगठनों ने हिंसा में मरे लोगों के परिजनों को दस और गंभीर रूप से घायलों को तीन लाख रुपए की दर से मुआवजा देने की मांग की है. राभा कहते हैं कि सीमावर्ती इलाकों में परिस्थिति अब भी विस्फोटक बनी हुई है. लेकिन राज्य सरकार ने इस ओर से आंखें मूंद रखी है.
असम सम्मिलित महासभा के कार्यकारी अध्यक्ष मजीउर रहमान भी यही आरोप दोहराते हैं. उन्होंने दोनों राज्यों की सरकारों से इस जातीय हिंसा में मरने वालों की सही तादाद और कुल नुकसान का आकलन कर उसे सार्वजनिक करने की मांग की है. इन संगठनों का आरोप है कि पूरे मामले में पुलिस की भूमिका मूक दर्शख से ज्यादा नहीं है. अगर उसने समय रहते कार्रवाई की होती तो हालात इतने नहीं बिगड़ते.

Problems galore in Land Acquisition Bill

Acquisition of fertile land raises more questions than it answers

Sankar Ray / Kolkata

In the late 1940s, Bankim Mukherjee, a legendary peasant and trade union leader, was traveling in a boat in eastern Bengal (now Bangladesh). The boatman casually lamented that poverty forced him to sell his operational holding of a little more than an acre. Mukherjee, one of the first Leftist legislators of pre-independence era and an ace orator-parliamentarian asked why he wasn’t putting efforts to keep a wolf from the door. The boatman replied, “If I earn more and have some savings, I shall again buy land and begin cultivation.” Mukherjee told this in an interview to a well-known poet-cum-reporter Golam Quddus.

The umbilical relationship between a peasant and the land is an axiomatic reality. During the agitation of farmers in Uttar Pradesh in August 2010 over the 165 km land acquisition for the Yamuna Expressway, a direct road link between Noida and the Taj Mahal city Agra, I remembered the yearning of a boatman on the mighty river Padma, forced to sell his land. Chief minister Mayavati, wriggled out of the situation by increasing the rate of compensation. It was markedly higher than what the CPI(M)-led Left Front government paid for land acquisition at Singur for the abortive Nano car-project.

True, the colonial LA Act, 1894 is outmoded and not in sync with welfare objectives of Indian democratic polity and its replacement has become long overdue. But the sudden eagerness to recast the law was not out of penchant for the farmers. It happened to meet the requirements for nearly 200 projects under Special Economic Zone (SEZ). An SEZ is a `foreign territory’, apparently for the purpose of duties and taxes, but labour laws are not applicable there. The new bill therefore is suspect.

Former rural development secretary, D Bandyopadhyay who is also the architect of ‘Operation Barga’, the USP for the CPI(M) for over three decades, opposed the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill of 2009 tooth and nail in an article in Mainstream. The new act demolishes even the semblance of welfare.

He wrote that a law is amended generally to bring in improvement or to be in conformity with some important judicial decisions. The Land Acquisition (LA) Act of 1894 does require revision to conform to the current-day situation. So far, there could not be any objection. But the way the amendments have been made looks as if we are going back on time. “In the amendments suggested, all beneficial, pro-poor and pro-rural areas points have been omitted,” he noted.

There is another point, which Bandyopadhyay, thinks “sinister and dangerous.” He goes on to elaborate his resentment. “It relates to any project of general public use (not public purpose) undertaken by ‘a person’ for which he has purchased or negotiated to purchase 70 per cent of the land and the remaining 30 per cent would be acquired by the state. The definition of a ‘person’ is ironic. It says, a ‘person’ means a company, association of persons, a body of persons whether incorporated or not. It means basically the corporate sector has been given a free hand in acquiring whatever land they like, a part of which will be through negotiations but the more difficult part would be through state intervention.” Obviously, the amendment tramples the very spirit of the Directive Principles of State Policy of the Constitution.

Lastly, where is the exit route? What happens if the project is dropped? The Tatas are still in possession of nine hundred and ninety-seven acres were acquired for setting up a small car factory. They abandoned the project in October 2008. What happens to the land? “The law is silent. In the early 1950s, the West Bengal Government gave 750 acres of prime land between the GT Road and the main Eastern Railway line in the district of Hooghly for setting up an automobile factory by the Birlas. In 50 years, the company could not use more than 300 acres leaving 450 acres fallow. Is it not a national waste that a prime land amounting to 450 acres could neither be used for agriculture nor for any industrial purpose for half-a-century? The new law should provide for a simple exit policy for return of the acquired land to the original owners if the project is abandoned, or the scope of the project is changed,” Bandyopadhyay argues.

New Food policy required

Sopan Correspondent / New Delhi

There could be a possible steep rise in the food prices during 2011 as per the alert issued by The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) to the developing countries.

The FAO said that with the pressure on world prices of most commodities not abating, the international community must remain vigilant against further supply shocks in 2011. India is no different in the backdrop of the global scenario.

The central government has already made it clear that there is need to increase farm production and productivity if the National Food Security Act was to be implemented. To provide food at subsidised rates to the BPL (below poverty line) and APL (above party line) families, at least 65 million tonnes of foodgrains were required for the buffer stocks.

At present, the government has a policy of promoting various zones for different crops to meet the future requirements of the country. While Punjab would continue to be the main producer of wheat, deliberations with the State government, experts, research organisations and farmers' groups would be initiated to find a replacement for paddy. This would be done to ease pressure on the groundwater requirement. The government would ensure that the replacement crop provided better returns to farmers.

The farm sector already suffers from shrinking of farm land and also labour shortage after the implementation of the NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme). These have to be overcome and the yield per area increased to meet the growing demand.

Suggestions have already been made about the need for the second green revolution based on modern technologies and specific solutions to various problems faced by the farm sector. Though agriculture contributed to just 17 per cent of the national Gross Domestic Product, it was the biggest security net of the common man in the country.

Experts want an income orientation to agriculture through higher productivity per unit of land and assured and remunerative marketing opportunities. In addition, prevailing mismatch between production and post-harvest technologies should come to en end. Grain storage facilities have to be created on a large scale without delay, they argue. States like Bihar, which by-passed the Green revolution earlier, have to be targeted in a big way given the food scenario in the country at present with appropriate incentives in technology, infusion of funds and other modern inputs.

Orissa: A package of lies

Odisha government’s ‘special package’ for rain affected crop loss is grossly misleading in its quantitative and qualitative coverage.

Bimal Pandia/Bhubaneswar

A half page advertisement, placed prominently in all major newspapers of Odisha, regarding Chief Minister’s declaration of special relief package to farmers affected by low-pressure induced rain has generated more condemnation than kudos. While the academics debate about it at their levels, nature ravaged farmers are getting a sense of a big letdown.

“As you can see, I have lost the whole crop. But now I get to know that the package is not for me,” says a bemused Annada Mishra of Bankia village in Sonepur district while he was trying his hands at salvaging operation fully knowing that “the cost of the salvage operation will be more than the value of the salvaged crop”. While Annada, a big farmer, is peeved because he is entitled to a maximum compensation of only Rs 2,000; Anata Bariha, a small farmer of Dhatuk village in Balangir district, is dumbfounded as the so called package is barely a fraction of what he did spend on his now ruined crop. “I am being told that I will get only Rs 1,200 compensation. I had spent Rs 20,000 for raising this now ruined crop,” informs Ananta.

To cover so less and so few

The farmers believe that the package rubs salt on their wounds. They have reasons to believe so. While announcing the package, Naveen Pattnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha, did mention that crop loss of more than 50 percent have been reported from about 12 lakh hectares of land. Ironically, this package will cover only a fraction of those affected. Even if all affected land is covered and all of it is irrigated, for which highest compensation will be paid, still total compensation that the government will be required to pay will be a mere Rs 480 Crore – barely half of the so called Rs 900 crore package.

But, neither the entire land is irrigated nor will all affected land provided compensation. Odisha Agricultural Statistics claims that irrigation potential has been created in 47.5 percent of the state’s total cultivable area. But, as per a very conservative estimate only 81 percent of the potential is being utilised. That means about 20 percent of land presently enlisted as irrigated is in fact not getting any irrigation cover. Thus effective area under any sort of irrigation is only 38.5 percent of the total cultivable area.

If 38 percent of the 12 lakh hectares of land supposedly identified as rain affected are irrigated, the maximum possible total compensation - assuming an unrealistic supposition that all land holders are eligible for compensation for all of their holdings - for irrigated lands will be Rs 182.4 Crore only (4,56,000 hectares getting compensation @ Rs 4,000 per hectare) and the maximum total compensation for non-irrigated lands will be Rs 148.8 Crores only (7,44,000 hectares getting compensation @ Rs 2,000 per hectare). Even in the best possible scenario, where all affected land becomes eligible for compensation, the government will spend only Rs 331.2 crores on compensation. But the best possible scenario is not at all a reality. Due to land holding pattern and the ceiling laid out in the so called ‘package’, only a fraction of land identified as rain affected are likely to be eligible for compensation. Big and medium farmers will be entitled to a maximum compensation for one hectare only.

As per the 2001 population census 83 percent of 42,34,000 farming households in Odisha are marginal and small farmers who own only about 40 percent of the total land. In other words, about 17 percent of big and medium farmers own about 60 percent of the lands. Thus the ceiling will eliminate scope of compensation to as high as about 40 percent of affected lands which belong to medium and big farmers.

Further, the December rain mostly caused losses in low lands where farmers normally go for late duration crops. Ownership of such low lands mostly lies with the big and medium farmers. This kind of pattern is more prominent in western-southern parts of Odisha.

‘Why did you prompt us to take up high-cost high risk crops?’

While the very basic claim of the ‘Rs 900 Crore special package’ is hollow and misleading, the compensation ‘package’ itself is atrociously humiliating to farmers. The ‘package’ is a mere implementation of ‘Calamity Relief Fund (CRF)’ norms. Section 3(e)(i) of the CRF norms which lays out norms for more than 50 percent of crop loss stipulates, “assistance to small and marginal farmers for agricultural crops, horticulture crops and annual plantation crops @ Rs 2,000 per hectare in rainfed areas, Rs 4,000 per hectare under assured irrigation area.. (a) No input subsidy will be payable for agricultural land remaining unsown or fallow. (b) Assistance payable to any small farmer with tiny holding may not be less than Rs 250”. The CRF norms are not ‘special packages’.
“This compensation for a hectare is awfully ridiculous and unacceptable,” says Ashok Pradhan, Convener of Paschim Odisha Krushak Sangathan Samanyaya Samiti (POKSSS). The Samiti has started a massive farmer movement in western Odisha now. “The crop loss happened at the last stages. We have almost made all expenditures required for raising and harvesting a crop,” informs Murari Prasad Purohit, leader of POKSSS and questions, “Now we are spending at least Rs 12,000 for one acre (Rs 30,000 for one hectare) of paddy. What is the value of a mere Rs 800 compensation for a loss of Rs 12,000”. Even the banks and cooperatives provide crop loan @ Rs 9,000 per acre for rainfed paddy. “This compensation at best covers less than nine percent of the loan amount,” points out Bijay Dishari of Mukhiguda village in Kalahandi district.

Farmers naturally feel aggrieved. “The government wants us to go for high-yielding and high-cost cropping practices to feed a growing population. But it does precious little to cushion our losses. We have not only made losses, we have lost income for a whole year and more,” adds Bijay. “Why are our farmers being asked and encouraged to go for high-cost cropping practices,” questions Saroj Mohanty, a noted farmer activist. “In the long term, total cumulative output from a high-cost method invariably equals that of a traditional and low cost method,” Mohanty adds. Increasing natural disasters, pest attacks and untimely supply or shortages of inputs are growingly affecting high-cost. Burden of shouldering such losses has squarely fallen on the hapless farmers. “We were better off growing our crops traditional way where cost of production was very low,” says Daktar Bhoi of Darlipali village in Balangir district. He too echoes Mohanty, “Why did you lure us to take high cost crops which not only increased our risks but also increased our losses. We are worst off now”.

While farmers having crop loss of more than 50 percent rue their fate, farmers having lesser crop loss complain why their losses are not been taken into account at all. They too will fail to recover costs, let alone make profits. Those who have harvested something find no takers for their discolored produces. The package does not even make a consideration for those.

As magnitude of losses keep on increasing owing to vagaries of nature and the government continues to be found more and more wanting, farmer’s woes continue to mount. While other state governments have acted differently, Odisha government’s indifference has peeved the farmers adding to further frustration which does not augur well for the future.
sopan.oriya@gmail.com

Needs, comforts and luxuries at same price

All sold at Rs 65: Onion (1 kg) petrol (1litre) and Beer (1 bottle)

All citizens – irrespective of their earnings – are a worried lot. Food inflation was above 15 per cent at the end of January. While the vegetable prices soared by 67.07 per cent on annual basis, onion became expensive by 111.58 per cent. Prices of eggs, meat and fish went up by 13.58 per cent year-on-year while cereal prices, too, went up marginally by 0.53 per cent. Fuel and power also became dearer by 10.87 per cent year-on-year.

Besides vegetables, fruits, milk and other protein-based items have gone out of reach of the lower middle class and the middle class is finding it difficult to adjust themselves in this high price regime.

Watching the current trend of price rise, RBI has raised the March-end forecast of headline inflation to 7 per cent from 5.5 per cent earlier. Reserve Bank of India's Deputy Governor, Subir Gokarn has said that oil, food price rise is likely to impact inflation outlook in 2011.

The farmer continues to be burdened by debts, both from banks and other institutions. Imperfections in agricultural marketing and lack of post-harvest food management infrastructure, such as efficient transport, cold chains, agro-processing units etc have largely contributed to the problem. This deficiency is apparent also from the huge difference between farm-gate prices and consumer prices. Besides, poor post-harvest handling of farm produce leads to substantial, albeit avoidable, losses, estimated at over 30 per cent in the case of perishables like fruits and vegetables. At the time of sowing, farmers are seldom sure of what will be the fate of the season’s output. Such flawed and knee-jerk policy reactions seem to stem partly from a lack of a reliable mechanism for foreseeing production and hence likely prices of crops. The government, both at the Centre and the states, has failed to act.

Will the people continue to bear the high prices or will the government and policy makers act? Will there be a long term thinking or merely knee jerk reaction? Will there be another Green Revolution or the per acre yield continue to be what it is? These are the tough questions which the people are asking now. It was time the government came out with appropriate response and solution.

Health cover for all Indians

Sopan Correspondent / New Delhi

Given the rising cost of health in the country and the inability of the poor to avail private and expensive health services, a health insurance scheme that will cover every Indian has been conceived.

Officials said a committee of experts appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and headed by prominent cardiologist K Srinath Reddy, also the chief of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), is working on a public-funded scheme, likely to be introduced in the 12th Five Year Plan, starting in 2012-13. “We are looking at a scheme where people will pay premium depending on their income,” said Planning Commission member secretary Sudha Pillai.

A system which the government could be looking at is in Karnataka where Dr Devi Shetty has pioneered the business for democratizing heart care in India. He heads the world's largest and also the cheapest heart care institute called Narayana Hrudayalaya. He has proved that a low cost health care model can also be profitable. He has made possible the world’s largest heart and cancer hospitals, a specialty hospital for all the plastic reconstructive surgery, an institute for organ transplant, a hospital and also training and research institutes. Dr Shetty is also the pioneer in the field of health insurance in which a very low premium for the poor can help them avail the facilities at the world-class health system.

In the government model, the plan is that entire premium for those below the poverty line could be paid by the government itself. For the better off, the government’s contribution will diminish. This scheme is likely to cover not only hospitalisation expenses, but also treatment undergone at listed hospitals. Most private health insurance schemes cover only hospitalisation.

There is already a health insurance scheme under the Rashtriya Swasth Bima Yojana for BPL families. Close to half of 6 crore BPL families are covered under this scheme. In the next step, all those enrolled in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme will be covered, followed by women enrolled in over 10 lakh angwanwadi centers around the country. According to the National Sample Survey Office, an Indian spends 80 % of his health expenses on buying medicine. The high cost of treatment makes health services unaffordable to many. Presently, over 90 % Indians are not covered by any public or private health insurance.

MFIs: Market forces muddying the system

Sankar Ray / Kolkata


Success stories are fading away as profit-greedy operators have taken the centre-stage....

Gonuguntla Mariamma was born into a poverty-stricken agricultural labour household in Andhra Pradesh. Her mother died of severe malnutrition when Gonuguntla was eight year-old .She had to drop out of school to look after the household. .Matters worsened when she was married off to a relative with a ten-member household when she was ten. They had two acres of dry land that depended wholly on monsoon. She craved for an alternative for sustenance and approached the local Mahila Mandal (Women's Association) in her neighborhood, learned to sew and bought a sewing machine with micro-credit of Rs 3400 to buy a buffalo and then a seasonal loan of Rs 1700 for grass and fodder. All this helped her keep from an wolf at the door, although one buffalo died. Refusing to be disheartened , she went ahead in her war against poverty and he overcame it. With the help of her husband the dry land is now a small orange orchard. Today Gonuguntla owns four buffaloes, one calf, and 17 goats. She has a telephone and a television. She can sign her name, count money, and read a little.

But success stories like Gontugunta’s ’s are fading away as profit-greedy operators posing themselves as welfarists are into the micro-finance arena . . India’s rapidly progressing micro-finance industry is in a grave crisis . The principal reason for this is high rate of interest with an average minimum of 28 per cent per annum. An additional deterrent is hyper-activity of vested political interests in the way of smooth repayment mechanism . Nearly Rs 1700 crores are blocked due to breach in repayment in AP alone. Accusations of coercion against micro-finance operators or loan-recovery agents are true as over 100 loan recipients committed suicide.

Public anger against exploitative trends is expanding. It was evident during the recent initial public offering by SKS Microfinance, India’s largest for-profit microlender, with the backing of like George Soros and Vinod Khosla, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems.

Obviously the expectation that the Nobel laureate Mohd Yunus-scripted model of Grameen Bank will open up new possibilities of micro-finance in areas where the national banking network has failed to reach –for whatever reasons – is probably ending up in a myth.

Signs of collapse are manifest at many places. After all, Soros is not expected to wear the robe of benevolence unlike Prof Yunus. Public anger is spreading against exploitative aspects of micro-finance in contrast to welfare objectives based on which the Grameen Bank saga was built. SKS founder chairman Vikram Akula defends the high rate of interest. The break-up of 28.3 p.c, interest his concern used to charge, spelt out by him is as follows : the cost of funds -8.5, salary and incentives for staff- 6.4, overhead and administrative costs 4; loan-loss provisioning 1.5%, ; a corporate tax 2.8%) and profits 5.1%.

But doubts remain. How could the company slash the rate to 24 p.c. Questions are raised against the Financial Inclusion Network and Operations (FINO), set up by the ICICII as a provider of an electronic technology services ostensibly to help micro-credit system. It runs through a network of some 10,000 bandhus (friends) to convey welfarist and human message . These bandhus are human ATMs where no electronic teller machines exist as each bandhu carries a small, handheld biometric device for transactions with clients, who access banking services through smart cards. Balance transfers, deposits and withdrawals are through the smart card system.

FINO was to create a platform to facilitate "technology-enabled financial inclusion," claims Rajiv Sabharwal, ICICI Bank executive director. But implicit objective was money-spinning. Which was why it roped in investors like including ICICI Bank (19 p.c. stake ), Intel Capital and IFC (15 p.c each ), Life Insurance Corporation (8 p.c. ) and public sector banks (22 p.c. together). It had never addressed the economically weaker sections which are under the yoke of usurers.

The international jamboree of micro-finance organisatiuons – the Global Microcredit Summit –is scheduled to take place 2011 in Valladolid, Spain between 10 and 17 November next year. Over 2000 delegates from 100 countries are expected to attend and deliberate there. Sam Daley-Harris, chief of national host committee in Span set out the motto of the summit. “When Prof. Yunus lent a grand total of US$27 to 42 desperately poor Bangladeshis in 1976, it turned out to be much more than just an economic transaction. One of the 42 borrowers was Sufia Khatum, a stool maker who struggled to survive on 2 cents a day. That was all that was left after she borrowed money from the money-lender to buy the bamboo to make her stools and then sold the finished product back to the money-lend at a price he set. The price he set barely covered the cost of the bamboo. Her profit each day—just two cents. As Prof. Yunus has said, he was ashamed to live in a country where people could work so hard and only make 2 cents a day.

But with her loan of less that US$1 from Prof. Yunus, Sufia Khatum was able to pay off the money lender, buy her raw materials, make her stools, and then sell the stools to the highest bidder. Her profit soared 60 fold, from 2 cents a day to $1.25 a day. Prof. Yunus talks about how surprised he was that such a small amount of money could make 42 desperately poor people so very happy. It freed them from the money-lender. It freed them from debt bondage. And I would add it unleashed the human spirit. It is not only a story of economic transformation but of spiritual transformation. This is the story we must tell and must contrast with those going down the profit maximizing fork in the road.”

Does FINO or SKS have even the semblance of this commitment. Absolutely no. There are valid criticisms against Grameen Bank model. One of them is that it appears to offer a capitalist answer to development without asking for increased aid. Another criticism is that microfinance’s inaccessibility to people below the poverty line. But there are some positive elements as well. Some 67 p.c of its deposits belong to women who were benefited by substantial financial empowerment. On the other hand, the model that dominates in India is stripped of welfare objectives. It has been hijacked by profiteers.

Nonetheless. there are really micro-experiments operating in southern Bengal and western parts of India. The interest rate is within 20 p.c, much below the usurious 120 p.c. which thrives on political backing. Kolkata-based Durbar Mahila Samanway Samiti, an NGO working among sex-workers and their offprings, runs a successful micro-finance scheme, USHA, a cooperative of 7000-plus sex-workers.It transacts Rs eight crores a year and got award from the state cooperative department.

There is no room for pessimism. But the path is tough and meandering.

MFIs: Devils or contributors to rural prosperity

Amitabh Shukla / New Delhi

Policy makers are trying to regulate microfinance institutions so that they can become engines of progress

The Microfinance institutions operating in the country have come under an intense scrutiny, something which had not happened ever since they started operating in the country a few years ago, replacing the traditional money lenders in several places.

While a section in the government dubs them as modern money lenders, charging rates of interest unheard of in the banking sector, a section of cooperatives, farmers’ group, NGOs working at the grassroots level seem to indicate that they have brought in money in the rural sector and have helped a large number of self help groups.

Villains contributing to rural distress or institutions which have helped alleviate rural poverty that is the question dominating the policy makers, government, Self-help groups, NGOs and civil society activists now.

The public outcry led to a situation where the Andhra Pradesh government brought out an Ordinance pushing the microfinance institutions in the corner, a situation of extreme distress which they had never experienced in the recent past. Suicides of farmers in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Vidarbha (Maharashtra) were the reasons from the Ordinance along with political populism and pressure generated by the political parties.

A senior government official said that subprime lending or the loans extended to people with poor repaying capacity is one of the primary reasons for the defaults. He said this is followed by coercive methods, often humiliating, which have led to suicides in some cases.

Vijay Mahajan, President of the Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), a group comprising all the large companies in the sector, argues that 80 per cent of the microfinance institutions are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India as non-banking financial companies and they have to submit monetary statement to the banking regulator.

Mahajan, who is also the Chairman of Basix, counters the allegations leveled against the microfinance institutions but also promises that certain things need to be looked into by the companies and they were already doing that. He points out that some fly by night operators and those institutions not in the organized sector, have brought in a bad name to micro credit and even the organized players would help the government bring them to book.

The top officials of the MFIN have been meeting the government officials to put forward their demands and seek a solution to the crisis in which they find themselves.

Due to the crisis, triggered by the AP Ordinance, the finance ministry plans to introduce a new legislation for the nation’s microfinance industry, Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written statement to the Rajya Sabha. The new rules brought loan collections in Andhra to a near halt, leading to a plunge in shares of the largest micro-lender.

The Micro Finance (Development & Regulation) Bill, 2010, will be developed in consultation with the central bank, Meena said.

The Reserve Bank of India a few weeks ago appointed a sub- committee led by Y.H. Malegam to study the nation’s microfinance companies and recommend ways to make their interest rates “reasonable,” Meena said. The Malegam committee will submit their report in three months, he said.

At a function in New Delhi, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee too made it clear that the idea was not to strangulate the MFIs, but to regulate it so that the interest that they charge is not exorbitant and the method of realisation, under no circumstances is quick.

How these MFIs differ from the concept of Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus of Bangladesh is that they work for profit unlike the not-for-profit model and work like a normal corporate entity and see giving micro credit as a business. While Yunus’ model is based on a mechanism to lift people out of the poverty cycle, the model of the MFIs is based on profits and they see it more as a business rather than anything else.

Sensing that the noose is tightening around them, the prominent microfinance companies have agreed to reduce the interest rate to 24 per cent effective, initially to the borrowers in Andhra Pradesh. They have also decided to switch to the monthly recovery system from the weekly system which causes tension in the households.

The sops offered by the MFIs do not stop here. They have decided to announce a scheme of restructuring loans of their highly indebted borrowers, share the credit history of their borrowers and create a common database and affirmed that they do not and will not use coercive policies.

Besides, they have decided to expose the unregistered entities pretending to the MFIs and promised to take strict action against their own errant staff for any violation of the MFIN code of conduct.

The other promises of the MFI’s include setting up of a telephone helpline to record complaints, establish regional Ombudspersons, set up an Eminent Persons Group to probe into the suicide allegations and bring in more transparency in the entire system.

Now let us see why the MFIs are needed in a poor rural setting, more so in our country. It is amply clear now that more than subsidies poor need access to easy credit. We have already seen that absence of formal employment has made most of the rural poor what is called non-bankable. The result is visible. The moneylenders come in the picture and this cycle forces the poor to borrow from them at exorbitant interest rates as high as 100-200 per cent in some cases. In fact the loan taken by one generation continues to the other due to the high rate of interest.
As the MFIs chipped in, the experience of the last over ten years, has shown that providing finance to small entrepreneur and farmers – the poor - is productive. Given loans at market rates, they repay their loans and use the proceeds to increase their income and assets. This is an eye-opener and least surprising since the only realistic alternative for them is to borrow from informal market at an interest much higher than market rates. There are several success stories around the country how the livelihood of people have changed due to timely and easy credit, how women have become self-sufficient by running cottage industries with the help, how the unemployed turned small-time entrepreneurs and how the rural economies of a particular area has changed for the good.

Community banks, Self-help groups, NGOs and grassroots savings and credit groups around the world have shown that these micro loans can be profitable for borrowers and for the lenders, making microfinance one of the most effective poverty reducing strategies.

Not surprising that nearly half of the MFIs working today have come into existence in the last five years as Sa-Dhan, the Association of Community Development Finance Institutions, has pointed out in its handbook. This reflects the high growth of number of MFIs in recent years.

It also points out that the not-for-profit MFIs still dominate in the sector but the non banking finance companies (NBFCs) are catching up very fast.

Lured by the mullah, most of the new entrants in microfinance and the erstwhile not-for-proft MFIs are converting into NBFC and they cover the overwhelming majority of collective outreach and loan portfolios of all MFIs.

Traditionally the southern region was the backbone of the MFIs but Sa-Dhan points out that even as it still retains the leadership in terms of concentration of MFIs, the eastern region has strongly emerged as the next preferred destination while the north-eastern region lags far behind.

Before the big advent of MFIs, the Self Help Groups were there besides the moneylenders. In SHG, credit is linked to savings, there is focus on capacity-building among borrowers and the rate of interest is almost half with option of monthly repayment.

What made matters worse is that in states like Andhra Pradesh, the MFIs chose the easy route of tapping into established SHGs for advancing loans. This was viable in the early stages but, over time, it has led to the problem of multiple lending and excessive debt burdens.

Moreover, MFI credit, for the most part, went for consumption – for family weddings, buying consumer goods instead of income generation. What went to agriculture could not be returned back as returns in agriculture are so low that it is inconceivable that it can service interest rates of around 30 per cent that MFIs charge. In some cases, MFI credit went for commercial agricultural farming and when the crops failed, it led to severe distress in the household, even leading to suicides.

Government feels regulation is needed, it is a must. A delicate balancing act needs to be done in this as not to kill the availability of credit and also not to bring in a new set of moneylenders in the guise of MFIs. Weaving microfinance in and around livelihood seems to be the way out.

Destitutes get a raw deal

Delhi insensitive to destitute pregnant women

Taking a strong exception to Delhi government's delay in creating shelter homes exclusively for destitute pregnant women who some times deliver on the footpath, the Delhi High Court has asked the Centre to coordinate and thrash out the problem.

The court directed the city authorities to earmark at least two shelter homes equipped with medical facilities to cater to destitute pregnant women. It asked the Joint Secretary of Women and Child Development in the central government to co-ordinate with the state government to sort out the problem.

"We cannot become silent spectator waiting for the government to move at tortoise pace and allow the destitute pregnant women to die on streets of Delhi....," said Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna while expressing anguish over a reported incident in which the woman died after delivering a baby in the central business district of Delhi, in July last year.

The observations came following a report filed by amicus curiae, appointed by the court, who had visited city's few shelter homes, run by NGOs. According to the report, these shelter homes were not keen to provide shelter to destitute pregnant women as they only rehabilitated destitute women. The report said the existing shelter homes did not get any fund from the government and no home had been earmarked by it to take care of destitute pregnant women.

The court has initiated suo-motu action on the basis of media reports that a woman died on the city pavement after giving birth to a child due to lack of medical care on July 26, last year. The woman was found to be lying in a pool of dirty rainwater in Shankar Market in posh Connaught Place area after giving birth to a baby girl. With the intervention of the court, the child is in the custody of an NGO and a woman boutique owner, who had rescued the child, was asked to visit the baby fortnightly.

Earlier, the court had expressed concern over the incident taking place despite various welfare schemes of the government for the poor people. "Central government has framed a bouquet of schemes for the destitute people and their children. How then has this incident happened? Such incident should not occur in a civilized society," the court had said.

Credit for livelihood opportunities

The World Bank has approved an International Development Association (IDA) credit of $162.7 million to help improve livelihood opportunities for some 400,000 village households in 17 districts of Rajasthan.

The Bank has also approved a credit of $7.98 million additional finance for an ongoing watershed development project in Uttarakhand that is helping rural communities increase agriculture productivity as well as rural incomes through a decentralized watershed management approach.

The funding for the Rajasthan Rural Livelihoods Project will help improve economic opportunities for rural communities, especially women and marginal groups, in 9,000 villages of the state, the Bank said in a release.

The Project aims to help the state government raise income levels for some 400,000 rural poor households in Rajasthan.

"This Project with the World Bank is building on the successful livelihood initiatives undertaken in India to provide mechanisms by which rural households can improve their overall economic well-being," said Venu Rajamony, joint secretary, department of economic affairs, ministry of finance.

"Global experience has shown that while general growth of the economy helps reduce poverty, it needs to be complemented by specific strategies designed to expand opportunities for the poor," said Roberto Zagha , World Bank country director for India.

Both IDA credits provided by the World Bank's fund for the poorest have 35 years to maturity and a 10-year grace period.

Panchayat reservation pangs in Jharkhand

In the three-tier panchayat system in Jharkhand having 53,207 posts, more than 105 posts of Mukhiya that were reserved for the Scheduled Tribes have remained vacant over the years as there were no nominations.

These panchayats fall in the state’s Scheduled areas in traditional tribal dominated districts like Ranchi, Latehar, East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum, Lohardagga, Palamau, Gumla and Simdega. They were reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in accordance with the law in 1978.

Following the notification of the panchayat polls results, the State Election Commission (SEC) has compiled data showing the law has overlooked the considerable demographic change that these panchayats have undergone over the years. This suggests migration of the tribals in large numbers. Within the Scheduled areas (tribal-inhabited areas incorporated under Schedule V of the Constitution) of the state tribals were no longer in the majority. In fact, they were in minority in these panchayats. For example, in Sasang, out of a total electorate of 2,409, there were only 41 tribals. This was the case in several other seats as well.

So now the demand for some groups in the state is members of the majority non- tribal communities in such panchayats must have non-tribal mukhiyas. The SEC, on its part, wants the state government to de-reserve these posts in order to constitute the panchayat by holding polls there afresh.

Women as land owners in Bihar

Economic empowerment improves social status

Sopan Correspondent / Patna

Nearly 30,000 women are part of a silent revolution in Bihar wherein they have become the proud owners of land in the state where they had no say earlier. They belong to some of the poorest sections of society and the initiative of the state government has meant tremendous empowerment to them.

As per the figures, Bihar government has distributed over 14,000 acres of land among the poor and landless women in the last three years. An official said that the state government has distributed 14,722.22 acres of land in the last three years (2007 to 2010). For the first time, land ownership rights of the bhoodan lands were being given to women.

Last year, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had announced that the state government will provide land ownership rights to women from landless families. Several other women friendly schemes like reservation of 50 per cent for them in the three-tier panchayat system, providing cycles to the girl students of the senior classes in schools etc have gone down rather well with the women of the state in the recent past. They returned the favour by voting for the incumbent government in the Assembly elections with an overwhelming majority.

The government has also reserved 50 percent of teaching vacancies in government-run primary and secondary schools for women, giving them an edge and economic empowerment. In districts like Gaya, Nalanda, Arrah, Buxar, Madhubani etc the women owning around half acre of land each supplement their income from the farm produce.

The picture is similar almost everywhere in the state where the women supplement their family income from the land which the state has given to them and provide a new meaning to their life. And with the economic independence, however marginal, they are also seeing an improved social status, and are respected both by their families and their communities. Bihar Bhoodan Yagna Committee president Shubham Murti said distribution of bhoodan land among women had been made possible by the positive approach of the government. The land distribution programme is one of the Bihar government's many women empowerment initiatives. Officials say more such schemes are in the pipeline.

Insurance penetration in rural sector

Industry watchdog comes out with suggestions

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said that rural and social sectors offer huge potential for improving insurance penetration for the uninsured sections of the population. It said that to achieve this, better risk management, innovations on product design and distribution, infusing technology and greater investments was required. It also called for greater engagement of foreign partners in bringing in better risk management practices, innovation in production & distribution, technology and specialized skills.

The industry watchdog was commenting on the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008 which is under consideration by the government.

CII said that insurance penetration to rural and social sectors is marked by high risk and hence more dynamic and efficient risk management systems are crucial while innovation is needed not just in terms of insurance products but also in ways of distributing them. In addition, use of better technologies right from issuance to servicing of Insurance services is also crucial for long term growth of Insurance sector in India.

Insurance industry is witnessing the transformation of insurance agents from mere intermediaries to financial advisors. Greater foreign investments would help in training and skills upgradation of the agents. Well trained agents would be better equipped to convince the customers about the benefits of insurance besides contributing to simplifying the procedure.

India has one of the lowest penetration of health insurance with a majority of people depending on government service which is often inadequate. With the penetration of private health care system in almost all parts of the country, the need is being felt of increasing the cover.

Taking care of healthcare

HEALTH

Govt plans to provide a comprehensive health scheme to 650 districts in 12th Plan

Sopan Correspondent / Hyderabad

The government plans to extend the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke to all the 650 districts of the country under the 12th Five Year Plan.

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said the programme was already being implemented in 100 most-backward and remote districts spread across 21 states. The implementation in these districts will continue till 2012. "Depending on the success of the programme, all 650 districts in the country will be covered under the 12th Plan," Azad said in his inaugural address at the conference of health ministers of the states.

The two-day conference assessed the progress under various schemes and drew up an action plan for the rest of the 11th plan (2007-12) and road map for the 12th Plan. The conference focused on issues like education in maternal and infant mortality rates, population stabilisation, prevention and control of infectious diseases, national vector-borne disease control programme, revised national TB control programme and strengthening of disease surveillance systems. About 25 ministers of health, medical education and family welfare from all the states attended the conference.

Azad said despite the achievements made under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), there were still areas of concern. "The pace of decline in various key health indicators like maternal mortality ratio, infant mortality rate, total fertility rate, death and morbidity due to communicable diseases have not improved as compared to pre-NRHM period," the minister said.

Complimenting the southern and western states for their excellent performance, the health minister asked central, eastern, northeastern and north Indian states to identify the bottlenecks in the implementation of the schemes and improve the performance. "Only then we can press for continuation of the NRHM which is currently up to 11th plan only. We can also convince the planning commission for higher outlay during the 12th plan period so as to achieve the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals)," he said.

He pointed out that the Indian government has provided Rs 53,000 crore to the states under NRHM in the last six years.

"One of the success stories of the last year was progress of polio eradication after the introduction of bivalent polio vaccine. There have been only 42 cases in 2010 as compared to nearly 700 cases in 2009. In the case of TB, we have achieved more than 72 per cent detection rate and 87 per cent cure rate, which are more than the WHO (World Health Organization) recommended levels," Azad said.

Referring to HIV, he said the new annual infections have declined by more than 50 per cent over the past decade while most of the countries are showing increasing trend. Azad said the government was formulating the National Urban Health Mission which would take care of infrastructure needs at district and sub-divisional levels.

The meeting passed a comprehensive resolution for enhancement of the healthcare facilities in the country and also drew a roadmap to meet the same. To bring down maternal and child mortality, it was decided that it would be made mandatory for posting one doctor and one nurse at each PHC by 31st March 2012. In addition, full antenatal care of the pregnant mothers will be ensured, tracking system would also be in place to ensure, safe delivery, post natal care and immunization of children. Blood banks at all district hospitals and blood storage facilities at sub-divisional hospitals would be set up by December 2012 and there would be free delivery services to pregnant women in Government health facilities, so that they do not incur any out of pocket expenses

Recognising the dangers of tobacco misuse, a fact brought out by the latest Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) that 26 per cent of all adults use smokeless forms of tobacco (gutkha, khaini, etc.) all state governments resolved to chalk out a plan for an awareness/education campaign aimed at that segment of the population which is most vulnerable.

The realisation of the problems of the elderly was an important outcome of the deliberations. In view of increased incidence of cases of illness and neglect of elderly persons, especially in towns and cities, state governments and municipal corporations will be asked to allot land for construction of Geriatric Homes and hospital for elderly.

sopanstep@gmail.com

Red-tapism gripping NGOs

NGOs are considered to be an antidote to red-tapism and a paradigm for efficiency. Studies show the sector is slipping into bureaucratic labyrinthine.

Sankar Ray / Kolkata

NGOs are meant for de-bureaucratisation of public service. They are, ideally, an antidote to red-tapism.

Take, for instance, a programme, taken up by the Lutheran World Service India Trust (LWSIT), to reduce wastage of potable water near the slums of east Kolkata, which was in the interests of economically weaker sections affected by colossal wastage of potable water. Out of 110 roadside taps, LWSIT, found that 74 are without knobs, resulting in uncontrolled flow of water. The LWSIT installed brass taps with a locking system to prevent theft.

Similarly, Pradan, an NGO, appealed to every member of rural household to save a handful of rice every day and at the end of the month, it is sold in order to help the household open a bank account and rid themselves of moneylenders. Small wonder, Pradan got due recognition when its co-founder Deep Joshi got the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2009.

Nonetheless, several NGOs, especially international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), are centres of vested interests, are large and flush with foreign funds. In south Kolkata, an NGO, working mostly in the red light areas, is basically run by an elitist woman who takes away over Rs 25,000 a month but pays staffers anywhere between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,500. On the contrary, Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee too works among sex-workers, is foreign-funded but its work for uplift of the children of sex-workers, and protecting the sex-workers from the police-goon-political honcho nexus is praiseworthy.

Among the pungent critics of NGOs was CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, who in 1984, in an article had indicted the NGOs as “agents of imperialist designs” engaged in softening up poor peasants and workers and dimmed their revolutionary fervour and thus pushing them into the capitalist designs and unwittingly participating in exploitative activities.

The irony of history was that the CPI(M) and its mass fronts – as also its politbureau member Sitaram Yechury – were fully involved at the Mumbai session of the World Socialist Forum 2004, which was almost totally funded by INGOs, especially Ford Foundation. Small wonder, Karat lowered the pitch of his tone after all this.

Perhaps the most principled critic of NGOs in India is Mumbai-based Research Unit for Political Economy which never received funds – foreign or national. Its journal, Aspects of India’s Economy, prior to the WSF 2004, made a dressing-down of not only the NGOs but their indirect beneficiaries among trade unions. It said NGOs bureaucratise people's movements. Pointing out that NGO-led movements, while claiming to represent the people, are led by officers of the NGOs and are not accountable to the people, nor can they be removed by them; so they are also free to act without regard for people's opinions. “Minus foreign and government funding, the entire NGO sector in India would collapse in a day,” it inferred. There is some truth in it but this is not the whole truth.

Nevertheless, NGOs today are a part of life and some are genuinely committed. The NGOs or INGOs have to be accountable and transparent.

sankar.ray@gmail.com

भविष्य पर लगा ग्रहण

अम्बुजेश कुमार/ मिर्जापुर

आप को वो पिंकी याद है, जिसके नाम पर हिन्दुस्तान को आस्कर पर इतराने का मौका मिला था एक तरफ जब सीरी फोर्ट में गणतंत्र दिवस के अवसर पर विदेशी मेहमानों को पिंकी पर बनी आस्कर विजेता स्माइल पिंकी दिखाई जा रही थी तो हमने सोचा की चलो पिंकी के गाँव हो आते है

वहा पिंकी को देख कर उसके चाहने वालो को झटका जरुर लगेगा क्योंकी आस्कर अवार्ड जीतने वाली मिर्ज़ापुर गाँव के रामपुर की पिंकी सोनकर डाक्यूमेंट्री स्माइल पिंकी की मुख्य किरदारा की पढ़ाई छुट गयी है जिसका जिम्मा लखनऊ के एक पब्लिक स्कूल ने लिया था ताकि उसके होठो पर मुस्कान खिली रहे

27 जुलाई 2009 में उसे हरदोई स्थित एलपीएस में केजी में एडमिशन दिया गया उसे १२वी तक मुक्त शिक्षा मिलना तय था एलपीएस के डायरेक्टर सुशील कुमार ने बताया पिंकी की पढ़ाई ठीक से नहीं चल रही है किसी प्रकार वह पहली क्लास में पहुंची लेकिन पिछले नवम्बर में दीपावली के बाद से वह नहीं आयी है उन्होंने यह भी बताया की हरदोई के ही ब्रांच में बसके पिता राजेंद्र कुमार को भी नौकरी दी गया थी लेकिन पिंकी के घर वाके ही उसका भला नहीं चाहते हैं पिंकी के मामा राम सकल उसे समाज में हिरोईन की तरह पेस करते हैं उसके घर वाले पिंकी को स्कूल भेजने के लिए गाड़ी की मांग करते हैं जबकि स्कूल कैम्पस के अन्दर ही पिंकी के पिता को रहने का निवास दिया गया था लेकिन हमेशा ही पिंकी के परिवार से ढ़ेरों लोग आते हैं और पार्टी मांगते हैं पिंकी का परिवार उसी नाम को एनकैश करना चाहता है

पहली नज़र में पिंकी को पहचानना मुश्किल था बनारस से करीब आठ किलोमीटर दूर अहरौरा में रामपूर की घनी पहाडियों के बीच आस्कर विजेता पिंकी को उसके सर पर 20 किलो का बोझा लादे देख कर किसी को भी सदमा लग सकता है कि मुकद्दर ने भी उसके साथ कैसा खेल खेला है दोपहर में जब हम पिंकी के गाँव पहुंचे तो वह घर पर नहीं थी

माँ शिमला देवी अपने दूसरे छोटे बच्चों को सँभालने में लगी थी जबकि पिंकी की बड़ी बहन बर्तन माज रही थी पास में छोटा भाई लालू खेल रहा था पूछने पर पता चला की पिंकी स्कूल गयी है फिर अचानक उन्हें याद आया कि आज स्कूल बंद है फिर बताया गया कि वह कहीं जंगल में खेल रही होगी पूंछा कहा तो कहा पहरी के उस पार कहीं होगी हमने कहा हम ढूंढ़ लेंगे देखा तो ठिठक पड़ी सड़क से करीब दो सौ फिट ऊपर सर पर बोझ लादे वह उतर रही थी साथ में एक और बच्चा था थोड़ा और ध्यान देकर देखा तो हम तकते रह गये अरे! यह तो पिंकी है वह भागने लगी हमने उसे रोक कर पिछली मुलाक़ात की याद दिलायी उसे साब याद आ चुका था पहले थोड़ा सकुचाई लेकिन फिर उसने अपने तक़दीर की रह भटक जाने की असली कहानी सुना डाली

हरदोई से उसे आये एक महीने से ज्यादा हो गया था वंहा मन नहीं लग रहा था क्या के जवाब में उसने कहा कि हमार त लगत रहल लेकिन का बताई हमारे पापा का मन उहा नाहीं लागल सवालों का जवाब ठेठ भोजपुरी में देते हुए उसे कोई हिचक नहीं थी वहां किसी प्रकार की दिक्कत के बारे में पूछने पर उसने कहा कि वहां क्या दिक्कत थी? हमें कौनो दिक्कत नहीं रहल खाना भी मिळत रहल औउर कपड़ो पड़ातो रहली पिंकी के जवाब समाज के सामने कई सवाल खड़े कर रहे हैं

समझ नहीं आ रह था की कटे होंठ का अभिशाप लिए जन्मी इस लड़की की भाग्य की लकीर क्या यही आकर रुक गयी? स्माइल ट्रेन जैसी संस्था का उसे इस सुदूर गाँव में खोज निकालना, आपरेशन के बाद उस पर डाक्यूमेंट्री स्माइल पिंकी का बनना और उसके बाद फ़िल्म का आस्कर अवार्ड जीतना, एक सपने जैसा लगने लगा इस सफलता के बाद भी उसके परिवार की मज़बूरी औउनकी गरीबी को देखकर निशुल्क शिक्षा का प्रस्ताव दिया, उसके पिता को नौकरी दी अब उसके पिता का मन न लगा और वो काम छोड़ कर वापस आ गये हैं पिता की वजह से पिंकी का भविष्य भी संकट में पद गया है अब वह दिन भर जंगल में लकड़ी बीनती है लौट कर बहन के साथ खाना बनाने में मदद के बाद गोबर पठाती है उसने बताया हमारी तो तक़दीर ही बदरंग हो गयी है चाते हुए उसने कहा-

'हम फिर जायिब अमेरिका और फिर कब्बो न आईब '

Will Pinki ever smile again?

A SOPAN-STEP EXCLUSIVE

The famous smile of Oscar winning Pinki has disappeared. She has stopped going to school and is back to the daily grind of domestic chores

Ambujesh Kumar / Mirzapur

Pinki hit the headlines when she played the lead role in the Oscar winning documentary “Smile Pinky” which was shown all over the world and became the young child ambassador of hope and optimism. A few months down the line, the little girl is back to square one - abject poverty and helplessness from where she does not know how to bounce back.

Sopan-Step found Pinki Sonkar in Rampur Dhabai village in UP’s Mirzapur district where she is back to doing all the household chores, including carrying firewood on her young shoulders after her moment in the sunshine. Shockingly, she does not study now; education has become a distant dream for her. The famous smile on her face is now gone – forever.

Pinky got admission in Lucknow Public school (LPS) in Hardoi in July 2009 and the institute was supposed to give her free education till Class XII. After reaching Class I and studying for a year, she went to her village around Diwali in 2010 and did not return back to the school.

The Director of LPS, Sushil Kumar lamented that the family members of Pinky treat her as a celebrity and not a child and just want to encash her name for their petty ends and blamed her father and other family members for her plight.

When Sopan-Step found Pinky in her village, located at a hilly terrain, some 60 kms from the holy city of Benares, she was clad only in her underwear and carrying a heavy load of firewood on her head. Her mother Shimla Devi was busy with her other two children Rinki and Talu. Pinky’s elder sister Anju was cleaning the utensils while younger brother Lalu was playing around.

She told us that she was forced to come back from Hardoi as her father, who was given employment in the school itself, did not like the new place. She said she was studying, getting food in the school and was enjoying her life but blamed her father for taking her back to the village.

What a setback for the seven-year old Pinki, the 39-minute documentary on whose life, directed by Megan Mylan, brought her instant fame and world-wide recognition not long ago in 2008. The documentary showed the story of a poor girl whose life was transformed when she received free surgery to correct her cleft lip. Made in Hindi and Bhojpuri, the short film won the 81st Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Then five, Pinki was living with a severe cleft lip in one of the poorest districts of the country. She was not allowed to attend school at her village and ostracised because of her deformity and lived a life of quiet desperation. She kept wondering if she will ever receive the cleft surgery as her parents could never afford it. By chance, Pinki's parents meet a social worker one day who took her to a hospital that provides free cleft lip surgery to poor children each year through The Smile Train program. That transformed her life, at least for the time being.

Not now. She is back to what she was doing. Her entire story now looks like a dream. Her visit to the United States, her celebrity status for a while, the media acclaim – everything is now gone.

“I will go to America and never come back now,” the seven-year old girl said. Pinki recalled how she got admitted in the Hardoi school, her father got a job there but decided to return back to his village, forgetting what she wanted. Narrating her woes, she said that she goes to the nearby forest, collects firewood, helps her mother in cooking and also makes cowdung cakes, used as a fuel.

NGOs : Crisis of credibility

COVER STORY

CAPART has not funded new projects for NGOs for over a year now. It will not do so till new norms for the voluntary sector is finalised

Amitabh Shukla / New Delhi

The institutions of democracy are facing a serious crisis of credibility and confidence. 2G scam, disruption of an entire session of Parliament, role of media in lobbying, insinuation against judges, appointment of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner and the Radia tapes dominated the headlines in the recent weeks leaving none of the pillars of democracy sacrosanct.

Is the voluntary sector far off from the crisis? Isn’t the sector too facing serious crisis of credibility and challenge? Have the NGOs come out clean in the entire episode.

This does not seem to be so. A Chennai based NGO had to face the ignominy of CBI raids as its name cropped up in the 2G scam and was said to be the beneficiary of funds from the state government and lobbied for interest groups. The NGO is not alone. The nodal agency of the government, responsible for giving grants to the NGOs, CAPART blacklists hundreds of NGOs every year for fund embezzlement and irregularities.

The acts of transgression of the Chennai based NGO is quite common and is replicated elsewhere in the country as the malaise has been found to be deep and widespread. With a whopping 3.3 million registered NGOs, India's nonprofit sector raises up to $16 billion in funding every year. Foreign funding to Indian NGOs has only increased over the years. According to the figures of the Home Ministry, in 2008, the total official foreign aid to India was $2.15 billion.

It is actually the fight for these funds. Whoever presents a better picture, does a good social marketing and brings a sob value to their projects, gets a lion’s share, particularly from the international donors. Those for transparency say that a large amount of that money is misused, mostly to support high administrative costs of running organizations rather than on actual projects which are intended for the target beneficiaries. Transparency is an exception rather than a norm in a large number of NGOs and very few submit themselves for account audits and come clean on where and how the funds they receive as donations are spent.

While groups like Credibility Alliance, are working toward increasing NGO accountability through accreditation, field visit to scrutinize the records and membership, they have been able to rope in only a handful of NGOs so far. In the year 2009-10, 147 VOs applied for accreditation with Credibility Alliance. Out of these, 23 VOs were accredited under desirable norms and 10 were accredited under minimum norms. The total number of VOs accredited till October 2010 was a mere 115, suggesting that a large number of organisations do not want any scrutiny and would prefer to operate in an opaque, arbitrary manner as per the whims and fancy of the person who founded it and got it registered.

Not surprising as many as 833 NGOs were blacklisted by CAPART at the end of 2009 after they were found indulging in misappropriation of funds. Andhra Pradesh had the highest number of such blacklisted organisations followed by Bihar and Tamil Nadu. Of the 833 NGOs and voluntary organisations which were blacklisted, 192 were from Andhra Pradesh, 125 from Bihar, 83 from Tamil Nadu, 75 from Karnataka, 72 from Uttar Pradesh, 42 from Rajasthan and 35 from Kerala. In 2008, out of the 34,803 registered associations, only 18,796 filed their reports.

The malaise has reached such proportions that for many NGOs symbolize a ‘dirty word’ which is best avoided. They are seen as a tool of laundering money, embezzling donations and presenting a lofty-ideal picture to the outside world. No wonder the private trusts, corporate foundations, corporate social responsibility projects etc prefer to have their own set-up, own staff, their own model of projects, development and disburse funds through them rather than through the NGOs. For instance the Azim Premji Foundation, which got a whooping over Rs 8000 crore from its founder, has its own organization to conceive and execute the educational programmes.

“We are facing a severe crisis. Some NGOs have brought in a bad name for the voluntary sector. The image of those doing genuinely good work is also tarnished in the process,” said Abhay Pandey who runs Nav Srijan Sansthan in Bihar’s West Champaran district, a project to teach 20 children every year which he is doing in his individual capacity with the help of some well-wishers.

Wasn’t it time that all VOs and NGOs, which are registered under the Societies Registration Act undergo mandatory scrutiny of funds and subject themselves to something like the Right to Information. Making transparency mandatory is the need of the hour rather than hiding behind a cloud of secrecy.

A change in the institutional structure is taking place in the country, particularly in the developmental field where the move is to decentralize down to the lowest levels of panchayat. The panchayats at the village level are gradually becoming more important in all decision and policy making and development at the grassroots. They are deciding the developmental agenda and governments at the Centre and the states are also giving them control over financial resources to meet the objectives.

It is here that the NGOs have the big task of facilitation and also build capacities. The involvement of VOs in implementing development programs in partnership with the government has become key to this agenda. The involvement of local community, local activists, those who are well entrenched in the society is a must for any positive outcome. If funds for these grassroots organisations, those who understand the nerves of the local community dry up, hundreds of thousands of people living below poverty line will lose all hope.

Undoubtedly, there are hundreds of VOs, NGOs and individuals who have and continue to contribute effectively in the development process. They work with commitment, transparency, vision and a set goal. Why should they suffer from the deeds of the black sheep who are mushrooming all over. Wasn’t it time to separate the rice from the husk. Wasn’t it time to get our act together and bring in a system wherein regulation and control is transparent and effective.

The country may not need 3.3 million registered organisations. Even a few thousand would do. They needed to be weeded out on the basis of parameters set up in consultation with the voluntary sector itself, policy makers and government agencies. The stench has to be removed to make VOs and NGOs more vibrant and effective and restore the confidence of the common people and the donor agencies in them.
ashukla.mail@gmail.com