my old good days of MSW ,from a paniya coloni......
Web space of Semichan Joseph MSW
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Sunday, 17 July 2011
NREGA: Breaking new ground
ARUNA ROY AND NIKHIL DEY
The NREGA, the flagship programme of the UPA government, was revolutionary in its promise of inclusive growth, the right to work and the dignity of labour and a rational, participatory relationship with the State. And it has mostly delivered…
Photo: Bata Dungarpur
An opportunity for rural renewal: An NREGA project site in Rajasthan.
Suddenly the NREGA has become a buzz word. It stands vindicated by the mandate of the people in its most basic evaluation in a democracy — the general elections. Basking in the glory and security of post-electoral analysis, it is actually the b est time for those who support the basic philosophy of the NREGA to focus on what it has done and what it has not, by its own parameters.
The first and the primary focus should be to examine its impact on the human resource base of rural India. Has it energised, mobilised, empowered, and delivered to India’s poorest and most marginalised rural people? Secondly, has it provided those who were “not shining” a measure of dignity, tangible economic benefit, and a motivation to participate in local action? This is the crux, for, something as vast and ambitious as the NREGA can only succeed in bringing about change if millions of workers become its true advocates and monitors.
Let us begin with the most persistent charges of endemic corruption. Notwithstanding negative propaganda and the prominent reportage of corruption, NREGA stands apart from employment and poverty alleviation programmes in significant ways. It is the first national programme of consequence which has woven transparency and accountability into the mundane fabric of daily interaction of people with government. The cases of reported corruption have shocked the intelligentsia. The rural worker might often be the victim but will still offer critical support, not only because it has provided wage income, but also for facilitating disclosure, which helps identify and fight pilferage. In fact, in many cases, scams have been exposed by the workers themselves. NREGA gives an opportunity to break the feudally enforced silence of its victims. Through transparency and social audit measures, it allows anyone, anywhere to be part of the monitoring of the delivery system. The other programmes appear to be clean only because no one knows what goes on! The NREGA gives a further opportunity to realise the Constitutional sovereignty, the power of the people. What the political establishment would do well to understand is that the vote was not a blind endorsement, but the expression of a fragile hope of a rational participatory relationship with the government.
New claims
The NREGA has opened up a unique legal space for the poor, with a consequent, legally-mandated obligation on the administration to deliver. In fact, implementation rests on the simple philosophy that ordinary people will go to great lengths to procure their entitlements, given the space to do so. Apart from systemic corruption, we are all aware of the chronic inefficiency, unwillingness and incapacities of the bureaucratic system to deliver entitlements for the poor. The persistent argument was that in this context implementation would be impossible. The NREGA sought to create real opportunities and legal spaces, with the belief that people will begin to push to overcome bureaucratic and political resistance. The electoral endorsement over, it is a good time to begin to examine this aspect of bottom-up implementation. Does the rights-based approach really work?
Total Transparency: The Janata Information System (JIS) in Vijaypura Gram Panchayat.
The Act has a number of “trigger mechanisms” designed to activate and establish people’s entitlements. One such trigger is the right to have a Job Card. The Act mandates that anyone who applies at their Panchayat for a Job Card must be given one within 15 days. Without a Job Card, people cannot even apply for work, nor corroborate the records. It is a “license” and “pan card” of the wage worker’s family, with a record of days of work and wages received during the year. There are many States where large numbers of people have demanded, but not received, Job Cards. In many Panchayats, the Job Cards are in the control of implementing agencies. Publicising the Job Card as a record of individual entitlements, to be updated by the authorities, and kept in possession of the workers, would ensure the NREGA is monitored by its workers.
Crucial accountability
The application for work and the dated receipt are crucial to trigger the demand for work. The receipt is also the basic record for claiming unemployment allowance if the work is not provided within 15 days. States like Rajasthan have fared well in providing Job Cards, and providing work within 15 days, but resistance to giving dated receipts has become a massive problem. No State has effectively activated this important mechanism. Nevertheless, it has worked when workers groups have got organised.
In the 30 years of existence of its precursor, the Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Act, there is no recorded instance of payment of unemployment allowance. The NREGA has already recorded payment of unemployment allowance to large numbers of workers in chronically poorly-administered areas. The successful people’s struggles for the payment of unemployment allowance — in Barwani District of Madhya Pradesh, Raichur of Karnataka, Bolangir, Navrangpur and Kalahandi of Orissa, Latehar in Jharkhand, Sitapur District of UP — has been a breakthrough in accountability, and an inspiration to other workers struggling for entitlements. The payment of unemployment allowance emanates from an administrative lapse, and is eventually deducted from the pocket of erring officials. It is not a freebie doled out of the government exchequer. Like the Right to Information Act, this has created an important mechanism for enforcing the right while holding the bureaucracy accountable.
The wage under NREGA has been another trigger and indicator of its success. The wage rate, the measurement system, and the timely payment of wages have all become part of the entitlement package. Thanks to NREGA, minimum wages have, for the first time, become a real factor in determining the lower limit for market wages. There are many ongoing struggles for the payment of minimum wages; and adopting a transparent measurement system for every work-site is a management challenge that has thrown up many grassroots solutions.
Bottlenecks
Wage payments through NREGA have initiated the biggest “financial inclusion” drive, with the requirement that all wage payments be made through banks and post offices. The engineers, the accountants, and the post offices have been unable to cope, and late payments have begun to cripple the Act. Students and Academics, working together with workers’ organisations in Khunti District in Jharkhand, have operationalised the entitlement in the NREGA to get Rs. 2,000/- per worker paid to over 300 workers as compensation for delayed payment under the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act. The Khunti payment, made last month, has once again demonstrated that the solution to the vexatious issue of late payments lies in the entitlement framework.
The uneven implementation in different States has shown that where people’s struggles have gained political and administrative respect, the NREGA has shown tangible results on a massive scale. It is that battleground of struggle that could well determine the future of the political discourse in this country.
The Government of India has transferred adequate money to the States and Districts to make timely wage payments. Shri C.P. Joshi, the current Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, was reported to have talked about his party prospects in the polls being negatively affected because of late wage payments in Rajasthan. As Union Minister now, if he were to exercise his administrative and political will to ensure compensation is paid to those receiving delayed wage payments, the lethargic bureaucratic system will find a way to respond. Chronic delays in wage payments during the drought in Rajasthan became a political issue, and the delays were wiped out. Innovations and mechanisms respond to a bottom-up demand, but do so best when the political establishment puts pressure.
The NREGA also assures an adequate, realistic provision for administrative expenses. At the current six per cent of total costs which has been allowed for administrative costs, there is no legitimacy in citing a shortage of staff or resources for bureaucratic delay. In Rajasthan, for instance, the over 7,000 crores spent on NREGA last year amounts to a massive Rs. 450 crores available for administrative expenses per year. This kind of money and resources can, in fact, help gram Panchayats become properly resourced to better carry out their overall responsibilities. It can also help ensure that there is no excuse for the failure to carry out all transparency measures and put an effective grievance redressal mechanism in place.
Biggest contribution
Transparency and accountability to the poorest and the weakest is in fact the biggest potential contribution of the NREGA to the entire governance system. The NREGA is an outstanding example of how the RTI Act can be woven into the fabric of the delivery system and the whole legal and governance paradigm. The entire expenditure on works and workers — 94 per cent of the total amount — is required to be put on the website of the NREGA, with every transaction revealed in detail. This can easily be increased to 100 per cent. Using this Management Information System (MIS), Vijaypura Gram Panchayat in Rajsamand District has begun to build a Janata Information System (JIS) painted on the walls of government buildings in the Gram Panchayat. The boards reveal the details of the number of days of work provided and payments made in the year to every Job Card holder in the Panchayat. Also painted on the walls are the list of works sanctioned, the expenditure on labour and material, and item-wise expenditure on material in each work in the Panchayat, including exactly how many bags of cement, sand and trolleys of stone were procured, and at what rate in the Gram Panchayat. This is like a web wall which reveals to every interested visitor all that they want to examine.
What can be done in one Panchayat can be carried out in the 9,189 Panchayats of Rajasthan, and the hundreds of thousands of Panchayats in India. The walls in Vijaypura Panchayat provide details of 976 families given employment in 2008-09, where two thirds have completed 100 days, with an expenditure of 91 lakhs. The Sarpanch is a Dalit youth from a poor family, elected in a general seat, and the Panchayat is proof of how well an Employment Guarantee programme can be implemented, in terms of people’s entitlements, transparency measures, worksite management, and many other innovations.
Larger impact
If the millions of financial transactions of the NREGA can go on their web site, there can be no justification for not following the example and putting almost every financial transaction of government — receipt or expenditure — on the web sites of the relevant department or agency. Proactive disclosure is a requirement of the RTI Act, and is a good example of the larger potential impact of the NREGA on governance.
The NREGA is India’s first law to codify development rights in a legal framework, and like the RTI, it has begun to set an example in a global context. Apart from the law, and a set of guidelines, there is a strong and immediate need to formulate rules to operationalise provisions in the Act; which includes guaranteeing grievance redressal in seven days, social audit twice a year, and mandatory transparency and proactive disclosure. Properly incorporated and enforced, a comprehensive set of operational rules could strengthen the entitlement framework, fixing responsibility at every level. Once again, it would enable bottom-up pressure for implementation, which should be matched by a strong political mandate. Today, the NREGA has millions of workers’ unresolved and un-addressed grievances and problems to be dealt with. A response system could not only radically improve the NREGA, but can impact and transform the whole face of rural governance.
Interacting with government officials in Rajasthan.
Is the NREGA an administrator’s nightmare or a redistribution of income and power? A social safety net or a step towards the right to work, to prevent migration, and even boost local market economies? For those who cannot think beyond the pale of the free market economy and the business model manager, it is indeed a nightmare. For years, simplistic management solutions to poverty, with the poor as an input to be managed, have failed. We cannot see ordinary people as active participants and empowered citizens. That is why there is difficulty in understanding the practice and logic of democracy and difficult, therefore, to understand the realistic detailing and complexity of an Employment Guarantee initiative.
Inclusive growth
Independent India has to acknowledge the critical role the NREGA has played in providing a measure of inclusive growth. It has given people a right to work, to re-establish the dignity of labour, to ensure people’s economic and democratic rights and entitlements, to create labour intensive infrastructure and assets, and to build the human resource base of our country. For the first time, the power elite recognises the people’s right to fight endemic hunger and poverty with dignity, accepting that their labour will be the foundation for infrastructure and economic growth. The entitlements paradigm is still to be established in many States in the country. Second generation issues like the expansion of the categories of permissible works needs to be taken up with labour and the deprived continuing to be the central focus. The improvements must be to strengthen, not divert from these basic tenets. In the midst of the current economic slowdown, there is enough evidence that this kind of commitment can work to help reduce the slowdown.
The political class would do well to understand that the most important solution is an assertion of its will to respond to people’s voices. The many wise, creative, and innovative initiatives emerging from theory and practice have a future only if they are owned by the people and implemented with justice. The NREGA can give people an opportunity to make the entire system truly transparent and accountable. Properly supported, people’s struggles for basic entitlements can, in turn, become the strongest political initiative to strengthen our democratic fabric.
Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey are activists with the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS). Email: arunaroy@gmail.com, nikhildey@gmail.com.
Corrections and Clarifications
In the Sunday Magazine (June 21, 2009), the lead article "NREGA: Breaking new ground" was continued on page 4. The continuation indicator on page 1 was inadvertently omitted
The NREGA, the flagship programme of the UPA government, was revolutionary in its promise of inclusive growth, the right to work and the dignity of labour and a rational, participatory relationship with the State. And it has mostly delivered…
Photo: Bata Dungarpur
An opportunity for rural renewal: An NREGA project site in Rajasthan.
Suddenly the NREGA has become a buzz word. It stands vindicated by the mandate of the people in its most basic evaluation in a democracy — the general elections. Basking in the glory and security of post-electoral analysis, it is actually the b est time for those who support the basic philosophy of the NREGA to focus on what it has done and what it has not, by its own parameters.
The first and the primary focus should be to examine its impact on the human resource base of rural India. Has it energised, mobilised, empowered, and delivered to India’s poorest and most marginalised rural people? Secondly, has it provided those who were “not shining” a measure of dignity, tangible economic benefit, and a motivation to participate in local action? This is the crux, for, something as vast and ambitious as the NREGA can only succeed in bringing about change if millions of workers become its true advocates and monitors.
Let us begin with the most persistent charges of endemic corruption. Notwithstanding negative propaganda and the prominent reportage of corruption, NREGA stands apart from employment and poverty alleviation programmes in significant ways. It is the first national programme of consequence which has woven transparency and accountability into the mundane fabric of daily interaction of people with government. The cases of reported corruption have shocked the intelligentsia. The rural worker might often be the victim but will still offer critical support, not only because it has provided wage income, but also for facilitating disclosure, which helps identify and fight pilferage. In fact, in many cases, scams have been exposed by the workers themselves. NREGA gives an opportunity to break the feudally enforced silence of its victims. Through transparency and social audit measures, it allows anyone, anywhere to be part of the monitoring of the delivery system. The other programmes appear to be clean only because no one knows what goes on! The NREGA gives a further opportunity to realise the Constitutional sovereignty, the power of the people. What the political establishment would do well to understand is that the vote was not a blind endorsement, but the expression of a fragile hope of a rational participatory relationship with the government.
New claims
The NREGA has opened up a unique legal space for the poor, with a consequent, legally-mandated obligation on the administration to deliver. In fact, implementation rests on the simple philosophy that ordinary people will go to great lengths to procure their entitlements, given the space to do so. Apart from systemic corruption, we are all aware of the chronic inefficiency, unwillingness and incapacities of the bureaucratic system to deliver entitlements for the poor. The persistent argument was that in this context implementation would be impossible. The NREGA sought to create real opportunities and legal spaces, with the belief that people will begin to push to overcome bureaucratic and political resistance. The electoral endorsement over, it is a good time to begin to examine this aspect of bottom-up implementation. Does the rights-based approach really work?
Total Transparency: The Janata Information System (JIS) in Vijaypura Gram Panchayat.
The Act has a number of “trigger mechanisms” designed to activate and establish people’s entitlements. One such trigger is the right to have a Job Card. The Act mandates that anyone who applies at their Panchayat for a Job Card must be given one within 15 days. Without a Job Card, people cannot even apply for work, nor corroborate the records. It is a “license” and “pan card” of the wage worker’s family, with a record of days of work and wages received during the year. There are many States where large numbers of people have demanded, but not received, Job Cards. In many Panchayats, the Job Cards are in the control of implementing agencies. Publicising the Job Card as a record of individual entitlements, to be updated by the authorities, and kept in possession of the workers, would ensure the NREGA is monitored by its workers.
Crucial accountability
The application for work and the dated receipt are crucial to trigger the demand for work. The receipt is also the basic record for claiming unemployment allowance if the work is not provided within 15 days. States like Rajasthan have fared well in providing Job Cards, and providing work within 15 days, but resistance to giving dated receipts has become a massive problem. No State has effectively activated this important mechanism. Nevertheless, it has worked when workers groups have got organised.
In the 30 years of existence of its precursor, the Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Act, there is no recorded instance of payment of unemployment allowance. The NREGA has already recorded payment of unemployment allowance to large numbers of workers in chronically poorly-administered areas. The successful people’s struggles for the payment of unemployment allowance — in Barwani District of Madhya Pradesh, Raichur of Karnataka, Bolangir, Navrangpur and Kalahandi of Orissa, Latehar in Jharkhand, Sitapur District of UP — has been a breakthrough in accountability, and an inspiration to other workers struggling for entitlements. The payment of unemployment allowance emanates from an administrative lapse, and is eventually deducted from the pocket of erring officials. It is not a freebie doled out of the government exchequer. Like the Right to Information Act, this has created an important mechanism for enforcing the right while holding the bureaucracy accountable.
The wage under NREGA has been another trigger and indicator of its success. The wage rate, the measurement system, and the timely payment of wages have all become part of the entitlement package. Thanks to NREGA, minimum wages have, for the first time, become a real factor in determining the lower limit for market wages. There are many ongoing struggles for the payment of minimum wages; and adopting a transparent measurement system for every work-site is a management challenge that has thrown up many grassroots solutions.
Bottlenecks
Wage payments through NREGA have initiated the biggest “financial inclusion” drive, with the requirement that all wage payments be made through banks and post offices. The engineers, the accountants, and the post offices have been unable to cope, and late payments have begun to cripple the Act. Students and Academics, working together with workers’ organisations in Khunti District in Jharkhand, have operationalised the entitlement in the NREGA to get Rs. 2,000/- per worker paid to over 300 workers as compensation for delayed payment under the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act. The Khunti payment, made last month, has once again demonstrated that the solution to the vexatious issue of late payments lies in the entitlement framework.
The uneven implementation in different States has shown that where people’s struggles have gained political and administrative respect, the NREGA has shown tangible results on a massive scale. It is that battleground of struggle that could well determine the future of the political discourse in this country.
The Government of India has transferred adequate money to the States and Districts to make timely wage payments. Shri C.P. Joshi, the current Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, was reported to have talked about his party prospects in the polls being negatively affected because of late wage payments in Rajasthan. As Union Minister now, if he were to exercise his administrative and political will to ensure compensation is paid to those receiving delayed wage payments, the lethargic bureaucratic system will find a way to respond. Chronic delays in wage payments during the drought in Rajasthan became a political issue, and the delays were wiped out. Innovations and mechanisms respond to a bottom-up demand, but do so best when the political establishment puts pressure.
The NREGA also assures an adequate, realistic provision for administrative expenses. At the current six per cent of total costs which has been allowed for administrative costs, there is no legitimacy in citing a shortage of staff or resources for bureaucratic delay. In Rajasthan, for instance, the over 7,000 crores spent on NREGA last year amounts to a massive Rs. 450 crores available for administrative expenses per year. This kind of money and resources can, in fact, help gram Panchayats become properly resourced to better carry out their overall responsibilities. It can also help ensure that there is no excuse for the failure to carry out all transparency measures and put an effective grievance redressal mechanism in place.
Biggest contribution
Transparency and accountability to the poorest and the weakest is in fact the biggest potential contribution of the NREGA to the entire governance system. The NREGA is an outstanding example of how the RTI Act can be woven into the fabric of the delivery system and the whole legal and governance paradigm. The entire expenditure on works and workers — 94 per cent of the total amount — is required to be put on the website of the NREGA, with every transaction revealed in detail. This can easily be increased to 100 per cent. Using this Management Information System (MIS), Vijaypura Gram Panchayat in Rajsamand District has begun to build a Janata Information System (JIS) painted on the walls of government buildings in the Gram Panchayat. The boards reveal the details of the number of days of work provided and payments made in the year to every Job Card holder in the Panchayat. Also painted on the walls are the list of works sanctioned, the expenditure on labour and material, and item-wise expenditure on material in each work in the Panchayat, including exactly how many bags of cement, sand and trolleys of stone were procured, and at what rate in the Gram Panchayat. This is like a web wall which reveals to every interested visitor all that they want to examine.
What can be done in one Panchayat can be carried out in the 9,189 Panchayats of Rajasthan, and the hundreds of thousands of Panchayats in India. The walls in Vijaypura Panchayat provide details of 976 families given employment in 2008-09, where two thirds have completed 100 days, with an expenditure of 91 lakhs. The Sarpanch is a Dalit youth from a poor family, elected in a general seat, and the Panchayat is proof of how well an Employment Guarantee programme can be implemented, in terms of people’s entitlements, transparency measures, worksite management, and many other innovations.
Larger impact
If the millions of financial transactions of the NREGA can go on their web site, there can be no justification for not following the example and putting almost every financial transaction of government — receipt or expenditure — on the web sites of the relevant department or agency. Proactive disclosure is a requirement of the RTI Act, and is a good example of the larger potential impact of the NREGA on governance.
The NREGA is India’s first law to codify development rights in a legal framework, and like the RTI, it has begun to set an example in a global context. Apart from the law, and a set of guidelines, there is a strong and immediate need to formulate rules to operationalise provisions in the Act; which includes guaranteeing grievance redressal in seven days, social audit twice a year, and mandatory transparency and proactive disclosure. Properly incorporated and enforced, a comprehensive set of operational rules could strengthen the entitlement framework, fixing responsibility at every level. Once again, it would enable bottom-up pressure for implementation, which should be matched by a strong political mandate. Today, the NREGA has millions of workers’ unresolved and un-addressed grievances and problems to be dealt with. A response system could not only radically improve the NREGA, but can impact and transform the whole face of rural governance.
Interacting with government officials in Rajasthan.
Is the NREGA an administrator’s nightmare or a redistribution of income and power? A social safety net or a step towards the right to work, to prevent migration, and even boost local market economies? For those who cannot think beyond the pale of the free market economy and the business model manager, it is indeed a nightmare. For years, simplistic management solutions to poverty, with the poor as an input to be managed, have failed. We cannot see ordinary people as active participants and empowered citizens. That is why there is difficulty in understanding the practice and logic of democracy and difficult, therefore, to understand the realistic detailing and complexity of an Employment Guarantee initiative.
Inclusive growth
Independent India has to acknowledge the critical role the NREGA has played in providing a measure of inclusive growth. It has given people a right to work, to re-establish the dignity of labour, to ensure people’s economic and democratic rights and entitlements, to create labour intensive infrastructure and assets, and to build the human resource base of our country. For the first time, the power elite recognises the people’s right to fight endemic hunger and poverty with dignity, accepting that their labour will be the foundation for infrastructure and economic growth. The entitlements paradigm is still to be established in many States in the country. Second generation issues like the expansion of the categories of permissible works needs to be taken up with labour and the deprived continuing to be the central focus. The improvements must be to strengthen, not divert from these basic tenets. In the midst of the current economic slowdown, there is enough evidence that this kind of commitment can work to help reduce the slowdown.
The political class would do well to understand that the most important solution is an assertion of its will to respond to people’s voices. The many wise, creative, and innovative initiatives emerging from theory and practice have a future only if they are owned by the people and implemented with justice. The NREGA can give people an opportunity to make the entire system truly transparent and accountable. Properly supported, people’s struggles for basic entitlements can, in turn, become the strongest political initiative to strengthen our democratic fabric.
Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey are activists with the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS). Email: arunaroy@gmail.com, nikhildey@gmail.com.
Corrections and Clarifications
In the Sunday Magazine (June 21, 2009), the lead article "NREGA: Breaking new ground" was continued on page 4. The continuation indicator on page 1 was inadvertently omitted
Thursday, 14 July 2011
kalam the inspiring hero ....
Born on 15th October 1931 at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, specialized in Aeronautical Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology. Dr. Kalam made significant contribution as Project Director to develop India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully injected the Rohini satellite in the near earth orbit in July 1980 and made India an exclusive member of Space Club. He was responsible for the evolution of ISRO's launch vehicle programme, particularly the PSLV configuration. After working for two decades in ISRO and mastering launch vehicle technologies, Dr. Kalam took up the responsibility of developing Indigenous Guided Missiles at Defence Research and Development Organisation as the Chief Executive of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). He was responsible for the development and operationalisation of AGNI and PRITHVI Missiles and for building indigenous capability in critical technologies through networking of multiple institutions. He was the Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development from July 1992 to December 1999. During this period he led to the weaponisation of strategic missile systems and the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in collaboration with Department of Atomic Energy, which made India a nuclear weapon State. He also gave thrust to self-reliance in defence systems by progressing multiple development tasks and mission projects such as Light Combat Aircraft.
As Chairman of Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) and as an eminent scientist, he led the country with the help of 500 experts to arrive at Technology Vision 2020 giving a road map for transforming India from the present developing status to a developed nation. Dr. Kalam has served as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, in the rank of Cabinet Minister, from November 1999 to November 2001 and was responsible for evolving policies, strategies and missions for many development applications. Dr. Kalam was also the Chairman, Ex-officio, of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C) and piloted India Millennium Mission 2020.
Dr. Kalam took up academic pursuit as Professor, Technology & Societal Transformation at Anna University, Chennai from November 2001 and was involved in teaching and research tasks. Above all he took up a mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting high school students across the country.
In his literary pursuit four of Dr. Kalam's books - "Wings of Fire", "India 2020 - A Vision for the New Millennium", "My journey" and "Ignited Minds - Unleashing the power within India" have become household names in India and among the Indian nationals abroad. These books have been translated in many Indian languages.
Dr. Kalam is one of the most distinguished scientists of India with the unique honour of receiving honorary doctorates from 40 universities and institutions. He has been awarded the coveted civilian awards - Padma Bhushan (1981) and Padma Vibhushan (1990) and the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (1997). He is a recipient of several other awards and Fellow of many professional institutions.
Dr. Kalam became the 11th President of India on 25th July 2002. His focus is on transforming India into a developed nation by 2020.
As Chairman of Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) and as an eminent scientist, he led the country with the help of 500 experts to arrive at Technology Vision 2020 giving a road map for transforming India from the present developing status to a developed nation. Dr. Kalam has served as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, in the rank of Cabinet Minister, from November 1999 to November 2001 and was responsible for evolving policies, strategies and missions for many development applications. Dr. Kalam was also the Chairman, Ex-officio, of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C) and piloted India Millennium Mission 2020.
Dr. Kalam took up academic pursuit as Professor, Technology & Societal Transformation at Anna University, Chennai from November 2001 and was involved in teaching and research tasks. Above all he took up a mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting high school students across the country.
In his literary pursuit four of Dr. Kalam's books - "Wings of Fire", "India 2020 - A Vision for the New Millennium", "My journey" and "Ignited Minds - Unleashing the power within India" have become household names in India and among the Indian nationals abroad. These books have been translated in many Indian languages.
Dr. Kalam is one of the most distinguished scientists of India with the unique honour of receiving honorary doctorates from 40 universities and institutions. He has been awarded the coveted civilian awards - Padma Bhushan (1981) and Padma Vibhushan (1990) and the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (1997). He is a recipient of several other awards and Fellow of many professional institutions.
Dr. Kalam became the 11th President of India on 25th July 2002. His focus is on transforming India into a developed nation by 2020.
Saturday, 9 July 2011
an introduction to NABARD
NABARD is set up as an apex Development Bank with a mandate for facilitating credit flow for promotion and development of agriculture, small-scale industries, cottage and village industries, handicrafts and other rural crafts. It also has the mandate to support all other allied economic activities in rural areas, promote integrated and sustainable rural development and secure prosperity of rural areas. In discharging its role as a facilitator for rural prosperity NABARD is entrusted with
1. Providing refinance to lending institutions in rural areas
2. Bringing about or promoting institutional development and
3. Evaluating, monitoring and inspecting the client banks
Besides this pivotal role, NABARD also:
• Acts as a coordinator in the operations of rural credit institutions
• Extends assistance to the government, the Reserve Bank of India and other organizations in matters relating to rural development
• Offers training and research facilities for banks, cooperatives and organizations working in the field of rural development
• Helps the state governments in reaching their targets of providing assistance to eligible institutions in agriculture and rural development
• Acts as regulator for cooperative banks and RRBs
• Extends assistance to the government, the Reserve Bank of India and other organizations in matters relating to rural development
• Offers training and research facilities for banks, cooperatives and organizations working in the field of rural development
• Helps the state governments in reaching their targets of providing assistance to eligible institutions in agriculture and rural development
• Acts as regulator for cooperative banks and RRBs
Some of the milestones in NABARD's activities are:
• Refinance disbursement under ST-Agri & Others and MT-Conversion/ Liquidity support aggregated Rs.19452 crore during 2009-10.
• Refinance disbursement under Investment Credit to commercial banks, state cooperative banks, state cooperative agriculture and rural development banks, RRBs and other eligible financial institutions during 2009-10 aggregated Rs.12009.08 crore.
• Through the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) Rs.12387.54 crores were disbursed during 2009-10. With this, a cumulative amount of Rs.86939.74 crore has been disbursed as on 31 March 2010 covering irrigation, rural roads and bridges, health and education, soil conservation, drinking water schemes, flood protection, forest management and the Bharat Nirman Project (BNP).
• Under Watershed Development Fund with a corpus of Rs.1102 crore as on 31 March 2008, 513 projects in 14 states have benefited.
• Farmers now enjoy hassle free access to credit and security through 906.40 lakh Kisan Credit Cards that have been issued through a vast rural banking network.
• Under the Farmers' Club Programme, a total of 54805 clubs covering 104648 villages in 587 districts have been formed, helping farmers get access to credit, technology and extension services.
Overview
NABARD is set up by the Government of India as a development bank with the mandate of facilitating credit flow for promotion and development of agriculture and integrated rural development. The mandate also covers supporting all other allied economic activities in rural areas, promoting sustainable rural development and ushering in prosperity in the rural areas.
With a capital base of Rs 2,000 crore provided by the Government of India and Reserve Bank of India , it operates through its head office at Mumbai, 28 regional offices situated in state capitals and 391 district offices at districts.
Contact NABARD
It is an apex institution handling matters concerning policy, planning and operations in the field of credit for agriculture and for other economic and developmental activities in rural areas. Essentially, it is a refinancing agency for financial institutions offering production credit and investment credit for promoting agriculture and developmental activities in rural areas.
NABARD TODAY
• Initiates measures toward institution-building for improving absorptive capacity of the credit delivery system, including monitoring, formulation of rehabilitation schemes, restructuring of credit institutions, training of personnel, etc.
• Coordinates the rural financing activities of all the institutions engaged in developmental work at the field level and maintains liaison with the government of India , State governments, the Reserve Bank of India and other national level institutions concerned with policy formulation
• Prepares, on annual basis, rural credit plans for all the districts in the country. These plans form the base for annual credit plans of all rural financial institutions
• Undertakes monitoring and evaluation of projects refinanced by it
• Promotes research in the fields of rural banking, agriculture and rural development
• Functions as a regulatory authority, supervising, monitoring and guiding cooperative banks and regional rural banks
Functions of NABARD
Credit functions of NABARD
NABARD's credit functions cover planning, dispensation and monitoring of credit.
This activity involves:
• Framing policy and guidelines for rural financial institutions
• Providing credit facilities to issuing organizations
• Preparation of potential-linked credit plans annually for all districts for identification of credit potential
Developmental and promotional functions of NABARD
Credit is a critical factor in development of agriculture and rural sector as it enables investment in capital formation and technological upgradation. Hence strengthening of rural financial institutions, which deliver credit to the sector, has been identified by NABARD as a thrust area. Various initiatives have been taken to strengthen the cooperative credit structure and the regional rural banks, so that adequate and timely credit is made available to the needy.
In order to reinforce the credit functions and to make credit more productive, NABARD has been undertaking a number of developmental and promotional activities such as:-
• Help cooperative banks and Regional Rural Banks to prepare development actionsplans for themselves
• Enter into MoU with state governments and cooperative banks specifying their respective obligations to improve the affairs of the banks in a stipulated timeframe
• Help Regional Rural Banks and the sponsor banks to enter into MoUs specifying their respective obligations to improve the affairs of the Regional Rural Banks in a stipulated timeframe
• Monitor implementation of development action plans of banks and fulfillment of obligations under MoUs
• Provide financial assistance to cooperatives and Regional Rural Banks for establishment of technical, monitoring and evaluations cells
• Provide organisation development intervention (ODI) through reputed training institutes like Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD), Lucknowwww.birdindia.org.in, National Bank Staff College, Lucknow www.nbsc.in and College of Agriculture Banking, Pune, etc.
• Provide financial support for the training institutes of cooperative banks
• Provide training for senior and middle level executives of commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks and cooperative banks
• Create awareness among the borrowers on ethics of repayment through Vikas Volunteer Vahini and Farmer’s clubs
• Provide financial assistance to cooperative banks for building improved management information system, computerisation of operations and development of human resources
Source : http://www.nabard.org/
1. Providing refinance to lending institutions in rural areas
2. Bringing about or promoting institutional development and
3. Evaluating, monitoring and inspecting the client banks
Besides this pivotal role, NABARD also:
• Acts as a coordinator in the operations of rural credit institutions
• Extends assistance to the government, the Reserve Bank of India and other organizations in matters relating to rural development
• Offers training and research facilities for banks, cooperatives and organizations working in the field of rural development
• Helps the state governments in reaching their targets of providing assistance to eligible institutions in agriculture and rural development
• Acts as regulator for cooperative banks and RRBs
• Extends assistance to the government, the Reserve Bank of India and other organizations in matters relating to rural development
• Offers training and research facilities for banks, cooperatives and organizations working in the field of rural development
• Helps the state governments in reaching their targets of providing assistance to eligible institutions in agriculture and rural development
• Acts as regulator for cooperative banks and RRBs
Some of the milestones in NABARD's activities are:
• Refinance disbursement under ST-Agri & Others and MT-Conversion/ Liquidity support aggregated Rs.19452 crore during 2009-10.
• Refinance disbursement under Investment Credit to commercial banks, state cooperative banks, state cooperative agriculture and rural development banks, RRBs and other eligible financial institutions during 2009-10 aggregated Rs.12009.08 crore.
• Through the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) Rs.12387.54 crores were disbursed during 2009-10. With this, a cumulative amount of Rs.86939.74 crore has been disbursed as on 31 March 2010 covering irrigation, rural roads and bridges, health and education, soil conservation, drinking water schemes, flood protection, forest management and the Bharat Nirman Project (BNP).
• Under Watershed Development Fund with a corpus of Rs.1102 crore as on 31 March 2008, 513 projects in 14 states have benefited.
• Farmers now enjoy hassle free access to credit and security through 906.40 lakh Kisan Credit Cards that have been issued through a vast rural banking network.
• Under the Farmers' Club Programme, a total of 54805 clubs covering 104648 villages in 587 districts have been formed, helping farmers get access to credit, technology and extension services.
Overview
NABARD is set up by the Government of India as a development bank with the mandate of facilitating credit flow for promotion and development of agriculture and integrated rural development. The mandate also covers supporting all other allied economic activities in rural areas, promoting sustainable rural development and ushering in prosperity in the rural areas.
With a capital base of Rs 2,000 crore provided by the Government of India and Reserve Bank of India , it operates through its head office at Mumbai, 28 regional offices situated in state capitals and 391 district offices at districts.
Contact NABARD
It is an apex institution handling matters concerning policy, planning and operations in the field of credit for agriculture and for other economic and developmental activities in rural areas. Essentially, it is a refinancing agency for financial institutions offering production credit and investment credit for promoting agriculture and developmental activities in rural areas.
NABARD TODAY
• Initiates measures toward institution-building for improving absorptive capacity of the credit delivery system, including monitoring, formulation of rehabilitation schemes, restructuring of credit institutions, training of personnel, etc.
• Coordinates the rural financing activities of all the institutions engaged in developmental work at the field level and maintains liaison with the government of India , State governments, the Reserve Bank of India and other national level institutions concerned with policy formulation
• Prepares, on annual basis, rural credit plans for all the districts in the country. These plans form the base for annual credit plans of all rural financial institutions
• Undertakes monitoring and evaluation of projects refinanced by it
• Promotes research in the fields of rural banking, agriculture and rural development
• Functions as a regulatory authority, supervising, monitoring and guiding cooperative banks and regional rural banks
Functions of NABARD
Credit functions of NABARD
NABARD's credit functions cover planning, dispensation and monitoring of credit.
This activity involves:
• Framing policy and guidelines for rural financial institutions
• Providing credit facilities to issuing organizations
• Preparation of potential-linked credit plans annually for all districts for identification of credit potential
Developmental and promotional functions of NABARD
Credit is a critical factor in development of agriculture and rural sector as it enables investment in capital formation and technological upgradation. Hence strengthening of rural financial institutions, which deliver credit to the sector, has been identified by NABARD as a thrust area. Various initiatives have been taken to strengthen the cooperative credit structure and the regional rural banks, so that adequate and timely credit is made available to the needy.
In order to reinforce the credit functions and to make credit more productive, NABARD has been undertaking a number of developmental and promotional activities such as:-
• Help cooperative banks and Regional Rural Banks to prepare development actionsplans for themselves
• Enter into MoU with state governments and cooperative banks specifying their respective obligations to improve the affairs of the banks in a stipulated timeframe
• Help Regional Rural Banks and the sponsor banks to enter into MoUs specifying their respective obligations to improve the affairs of the Regional Rural Banks in a stipulated timeframe
• Monitor implementation of development action plans of banks and fulfillment of obligations under MoUs
• Provide financial assistance to cooperatives and Regional Rural Banks for establishment of technical, monitoring and evaluations cells
• Provide organisation development intervention (ODI) through reputed training institutes like Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD), Lucknowwww.birdindia.org.in, National Bank Staff College, Lucknow www.nbsc.in and College of Agriculture Banking, Pune, etc.
• Provide financial support for the training institutes of cooperative banks
• Provide training for senior and middle level executives of commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks and cooperative banks
• Create awareness among the borrowers on ethics of repayment through Vikas Volunteer Vahini and Farmer’s clubs
• Provide financial assistance to cooperative banks for building improved management information system, computerisation of operations and development of human resources
Source : http://www.nabard.org/
MSW @ Don Bosco Kannur
An integrated MSW from Don Bosco Kannur
| Eligibility for Admission Candidates who have passed a science degree, with not less than 60% or any other bachelor course, with not less than 50% in aggregate. Those who are awaiting results also can apply. Admission Procedure - The selection is based on an entrance examination, group discussion & interview. Duration - Two years, with four semesters. Number of Seats - Thirty (30) Specializations - Medical and Psychiatry Community Development Human Resource Management.(only one college offer MSW HR in Kerala ) Scope Molding Social Service Professionals for: Corporate Sectors NGOs & Govt. Departments Hospitals & Schools Service Agencies Equipping them for: Social Work Research Teaching Profession. Specialties Integrated competency training programs Extensive practical exposure. Concurrent Fieldwork. Block Placement Rural Camps Job Placement Exposure programs in cities Seminars and interaction with social activists. Awareness Campaigns and Surveys on relevant issues For more details …… 0490 2426014, 0490 2426557 Fax: 0490 2420773 E-mail: info@dbang.in website : www.dbang.in |
MSW OFFERS GOOD SCOPE
India is as an economy is growing at a tremendous pace. All sectors of the economy are growing rapidly. As you know such growth also impacts the population in many different ways. Society will have to face new problems like migrant labor, urban poverty, child labor, illiteracy, AIDS and exploitation of women, just to name a few of the problems that come with a growing economy. Though the government has huge resources at its command, it is handicapped due to other priorities to tackle these problems. This where Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) step in to contribute their resources in tackling these social issues. An MSW degree will enable you to be employed in government, private or NGO sector.
MSW will help you to understand the social institutions and the problems confronting the nation, develop an ability to develop and implement programmes to mitigate the problems. NGOs also provide career avenues such as field officers, project coordinators, project managers, and development offices, directors at state and national level. Salaries in the NGOs will depend on their financial resources and many international agencies pay well. Some of the institutions that offer the courses are: Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) offers a two-year programme in social work, Eligibility: Bachelor’s degree in any discipline. A written test, group discussion and personal interview form part of the selection process. For details visit: www.tiss.edu
Delhi School of Social Work offers a full time two-year programme. Admission is open to candidates with a bachelor’s degree in social work with a minimum aggregate of 50 per cent, or a bachelor’s degree in any other discipline with a minimum aggregate of 60 per cent. The selection is based on a written test. For details visit: www.du.ac.in
Madras School of Social Work: MSSW offers a two-year post-graduate programme in social work. The qualification for admission to the programme is a graduate degree in any discipline, with 50 p.c. For details log on towww.mssw.org
Friday, 8 July 2011
Child Rights in India....
Child Rights in India
It is a fact that out of the 300 million children in India, a lot lives in an economic and social environment which could impede the child's physical and mental development. It is the need of the hour that we all gear up to meet the needs of these children in India today, to enable us to see an enlightened and empowered India tomorrow.
In India, the post-independence era has experienced an explicit expression of the commitment of the government to the cause of children through constitutional provisions, policies, programmes and legislation. In the last decade of this century, dramatic technological developments particularly in the areas of health, nutrition, education and related spheres have opened up new vistas of opportunities for the cause of children.
The Government, Non Government Organization (NGO’s) and others have all come together for the cause, primarily focusing on the unique problems concerning the children in India. They include issues related to children and work, tackling the problem of child labor, elimination of discrimination towards Girl Child, uplifting street children, indentifying the special needs of children with disabilities, and providing education to every child as its Fundamental Right.
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights
| Mandate
|
Composition
| The Commission consists of the following members to be appointed by the Central Government for a term of three years: (a) A chairperson, who is a person of eminence and has done outstanding work for promoting the welfare of children. (b) Six members with experience, eminence, integrity, standing and ability in the field of education, child health, care, welfare, development, juvenile justice, care of neglected or marginalized children or children with disabilities, elimination of child labour, child psychology and laws relating to children. (C) Member Secretary, not below the rank of joint secretary. |
Powers
The Commission has all powers of the Civil Court trying a suit and in particular in respect of the following matters:
(a) Summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person from any part of India and examining them on oath;
(b) Requiring the discovery and production of any document;
(c) Receiving evidence on affidavits;
(d) Requisitioning of any public record or copy thereof from any court of office;
(e) Issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses the documents;
(b) Requiring the discovery and production of any document;
(c) Receiving evidence on affidavits;
(d) Requisitioning of any public record or copy thereof from any court of office;
(e) Issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses the documents;
To forward a case to a Magistrate having jurisdiction to try the same.
To Approach the Supreme Court or the High Court concerned for such directions, orders or writs as that court may deem necessary.
Complaint mechanism
The Commission is also required to take suo moto cognizance of serious cases of violation of child rights and to examine factors that inhibit the enjoyment of rights of children.
(a) Complaints may be made to the Commission in any language of the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
(b) No fee shall be chargeable on such complaints.
(c) The complaint shall disclose a complete picture of the matter leading to the complaint.
(d) The Commission may seek further information/affidavit as may be considered necessary.
Source: w.indg.in/primary-education/education-as-fundamental-human-right/ncpcr/national-commission-for-protection-of-child-rights
RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMES IN INDIA
RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMES IN INDIA
Introduction
The rural economy, as much as urban economy, is an integrated part of the overall Indian economy. Any talk of overall development without rural development, particularly in a country where three-quarters of people below the poverty line reside in rural areas, is flawed. Poverty is indeed a global issue. Its eradication is considered integral to humanity’s quest for sustainable development. Reduction of poverty in India, is, therefore, vital for the attainment of international goals.
The important rural Development programs are discussed bellow
Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP)
First introduced in 1978-79, IRDP has provided assistance to rural poor in the form of subsidy and bank credit for productive employment opportunities through successive plan periods. Subsequently, Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM), Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), Supply of Improved Tool Kits to Rural Artisans (SITRA) and Ganga Kalyan Yojana (GKY) were introduced as sub-programs of IRDP to take care of the specific needs of the rural population.
Wage Employment Programs
important components of the anti-poverty strategy, Wage Employment Programs have sought to achieve multiple objectives. They not only provide employment opportunities during lean agricultural seasons but also in times of floods, droughts and other natural calamities. They create rural infrastructure which supports further economic activity. These programs also put an upward pressure on market wage rates by attracting people to public works programs, thereby reducing labour supply and pushing up demand for labour. It encompasses National Rural Employment Program (NREP) and Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Program (RLEGP) which were initially part of the Sixth and Seventh five year Plans.
Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP)
First introduced in 1978-79, IRDP has provided assistance to rural poor in the form of subsidy and bank credit for productive employment opportunities through successive plan periods. Subsequently, Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM), Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), Supply of Improved Tool Kits to Rural Artisans (SITRA) and Ganga Kalyan Yojana (GKY) were introduced as sub-programs of IRDP to take care of the specific needs of the rural population.
Wage Employment Programs
important components of the anti-poverty strategy, Wage Employment Programs have sought to achieve multiple objectives. They not only provide employment opportunities during lean agricultural seasons but also in times of floods, droughts and other natural calamities. They create rural infrastructure which supports further economic activity. These programs also put an upward pressure on market wage rates by attracting people to public works programs, thereby reducing labour supply and pushing up demand for labour. It encompasses National Rural Employment Program (NREP) and Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Program (RLEGP) which were initially part of the Sixth and Seventh five year Plans.
Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS)
EAS was launched in October 1993 covering 1,778 drought-prone, desert, tribal and hill area blocks. It was later extended to all the blocks in 1997-98. The EAS was designed to provide employment in the form of manual work in the lean agricultural season. The works taken up under the program were expected to lead to the creation of durable economic and social infrastructure and address the felt-needs of the people.
EAS was launched in October 1993 covering 1,778 drought-prone, desert, tribal and hill area blocks. It was later extended to all the blocks in 1997-98. The EAS was designed to provide employment in the form of manual work in the lean agricultural season. The works taken up under the program were expected to lead to the creation of durable economic and social infrastructure and address the felt-needs of the people.
Food for Work Program
The Food for Work program was started in 2000-01 as a component of the EAS in eight notified drought-affected states of Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttaranchal. The program aims at food provision through wage employment. Food grains are supplied to states free of cost. However, lifting of food grains for the scheme from Food Corporation of India (FCI) go downs has been slow.
Rural Housing
Initiated in 1985-86, the IAY is the core program for providing free housing to families in rural areas, targets scheduled castes (SCs)/scheduled tribes (STs), households and freed bonded laborers. The rural housing program has certainly enabled many BPL families to acquire pucca houses, the coverage of the beneficiaries is limited given the resource constraints. The Samagra Awas Yojana (SAY) was taken up in 25 blocks to ensure convergence of housing, provision of safe drinking water, sanitation and common drainage facilities. The Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) has extended its activities to the rural areas, providing loans at a concessional rate of interest to economically weaker sections and low-income group households for construction of houses.
Social Security Programs
Democratic decentralization and centrally supported Social Assistance Programs were two major initiatives of the government in the 1990s. The National Social Assistance Program (NSAP), launched in August 1995 marks a significant step towards fulfillment of the Directive Principles of State Policy. The NSAP has three components: a) National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS); b) National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS); c) National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS). The NSAP is a centrally-sponsored program that aims at ensuring a minimum national standard of social assistance over and above the assistance that states provide from their own resources. The NOAPS provides a monthly pension of Rs. 75 to destitute BPL persons above the age of 65. The NFBS is a scheme for BPL families who are given Rs. 10,000 in the event of the death of the breadwinner. The NMBS provides Rs. 500 to support nutritional intake for pregnant women. In addition to NSAP, the Annapurna scheme was launched from I April 2000 to provide food security to senior citizens who were eligible for pension under NOAPS but could not receive it due to budget constraints.
Land reform
In an agro-based economy of, the structure of land ownership is central to the wellbeing of the people. The government has strived to change the ownership pattern of cultivable land, the abolition of intermediaries, the abolition of zamindari, ceiling laws, security of tenure to tenants, consolidation of land holdings and banning of tenancy are a few measures undertaken. Furthermore, a land record management system is a pre-condition for an effective land reform program. In 1987-88, a centrally-sponsored scheme for Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA & ULR) was introduced in Orissa and Bihar.
The Food for Work program was started in 2000-01 as a component of the EAS in eight notified drought-affected states of Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttaranchal. The program aims at food provision through wage employment. Food grains are supplied to states free of cost. However, lifting of food grains for the scheme from Food Corporation of India (FCI) go downs has been slow.
Rural Housing
Initiated in 1985-86, the IAY is the core program for providing free housing to families in rural areas, targets scheduled castes (SCs)/scheduled tribes (STs), households and freed bonded laborers. The rural housing program has certainly enabled many BPL families to acquire pucca houses, the coverage of the beneficiaries is limited given the resource constraints. The Samagra Awas Yojana (SAY) was taken up in 25 blocks to ensure convergence of housing, provision of safe drinking water, sanitation and common drainage facilities. The Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) has extended its activities to the rural areas, providing loans at a concessional rate of interest to economically weaker sections and low-income group households for construction of houses.
Social Security Programs
Democratic decentralization and centrally supported Social Assistance Programs were two major initiatives of the government in the 1990s. The National Social Assistance Program (NSAP), launched in August 1995 marks a significant step towards fulfillment of the Directive Principles of State Policy. The NSAP has three components: a) National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS); b) National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS); c) National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS). The NSAP is a centrally-sponsored program that aims at ensuring a minimum national standard of social assistance over and above the assistance that states provide from their own resources. The NOAPS provides a monthly pension of Rs. 75 to destitute BPL persons above the age of 65. The NFBS is a scheme for BPL families who are given Rs. 10,000 in the event of the death of the breadwinner. The NMBS provides Rs. 500 to support nutritional intake for pregnant women. In addition to NSAP, the Annapurna scheme was launched from I April 2000 to provide food security to senior citizens who were eligible for pension under NOAPS but could not receive it due to budget constraints.
Land reform
In an agro-based economy of, the structure of land ownership is central to the wellbeing of the people. The government has strived to change the ownership pattern of cultivable land, the abolition of intermediaries, the abolition of zamindari, ceiling laws, security of tenure to tenants, consolidation of land holdings and banning of tenancy are a few measures undertaken. Furthermore, a land record management system is a pre-condition for an effective land reform program. In 1987-88, a centrally-sponsored scheme for Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA & ULR) was introduced in Orissa and Bihar.
Conclusion
Although these measures have been successful to some extent in curbing poverty , this model has a very basic flaw. Under this model resources are transferred from urban economy to rural economy just for short term political motives. This is affecting both areas, not letting rural economy develop on its own and hampering growth and investments in urban economy. An ideal approach should include the government, panchayats and key village personals, NGOs and private companies. This will not only help reduce this imbalance but will have a multiplier effect on the overall economy. By aligning the goals of the two parts we can convert this seemingly zero sum game into a win-win situation. It would be a very long drawn and difficult battle with conventions but the reward is worth the effort.
Although these measures have been successful to some extent in curbing poverty , this model has a very basic flaw. Under this model resources are transferred from urban economy to rural economy just for short term political motives. This is affecting both areas, not letting rural economy develop on its own and hampering growth and investments in urban economy. An ideal approach should include the government, panchayats and key village personals, NGOs and private companies. This will not only help reduce this imbalance but will have a multiplier effect on the overall economy. By aligning the goals of the two parts we can convert this seemingly zero sum game into a win-win situation. It would be a very long drawn and difficult battle with conventions but the reward is worth the effort.
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