POVERTY/FOOD SECURITY - 2007

(January to December 2007)

Compiled By Human Rights Documentation∗

Indian Social Institute, Lodi Road, New Delhi – 110 003, (India)

Rally taken out seeking poverty-free society (21) BHUBANESWAR: Seeking poverty-free society, hundreds of activists here on Friday took out a rally that marked culmination of a three-month long campaign, Ganamukti Sankalpa Yatra. The campaign, started by a voluntary organization, Awareness, targeted to reach out to 1.5 crore people in 30 districts of the state. Addressing the rally, AWARE secretary Kailash Mishra called upon the people to make the State distress f ree by uniting 40 lakh poor families by the end of 2007 and 12 crore families of country by 2012. He said, "even after 60 years of our independence, Orissa sti l l continues to be the poorest state in this country. About 47.15 per cent of its population is l iving below poverty line and the infant mortality rate is the highest in the country." Among others, who addressed the public gathering, were former chief secretary Sahadev Sahoo, Rabi Behera, Krushna Nayak, S. K. Dehury and J. K. Kanungo. (The Hindu 13/1/07)

Tsunami kidney sales prompt TN to step up work on h ouses (21) CHENNAI, JANUARY 14: Shaken by reports of tsunami affected women of Ernavur, in suburban Chennai, selling their kidneys to overcome financial constraints, the state administration has ordered an inquiry and hurriedly convened a meeting of the Rehabilitation Department to speed up construction and allocation of permanent housing for those displaced by the December 26 calamity two years ago. One of the reasons cited by the fisherwomen, who sold their kidneys, was that since the temporary shelters were about two kilometers from the sea it was not feasible for them to sell fish on the seafront like before. Many of them also complained that their husbands refused to go to sea because of the distance, whiling away their time drinking, putting pressure on the women to pay back debts and take care of the family. “During an inquiry by the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), we found that about 35 women of Tsunami Nagar have sold their kidneys. The RDO spoke to about 16 women. The Chennai police has started a quiet investigation as we do not want the kidney brokers and touts to be alerted,’’ Thiruvallur District Collector Ranvir Prasad told The Indian Express. When RDO Sangeetha visited Tsunami Nagar several women came out openly, pouring out their problems and the reasons why they sold their kidneys. Several complained of ill-health following the surgeries. While they were promised Rs 1 lakh for their kidneys by touts, they were finally paid only Rs 40,000, they told the RDO. While the temporary shelters are located in Ernavur, the tsunami affected families, about 2,000 of them, hail from Chennai. Taking the problems posed by the location of temporary shelters seriously, the state’s Special Rehabilitation Commissioner convened a meeting yesterday, deciding to speed up construction of permanent houses and their allocation. The list of beneficiaries was also prepared. “The house allocation would be completed soon and by February the affected fishermen and their families would move into their new homes,” Ranvir Prasad said. During a People’s Tribunal on housing rights headed by Miloon Kothari, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, which held a hearing in the city on January 12, Maria Selvam, the leader of the Meeanavar Sangam (Fishermen’s Association) reiterated that at least 25 women had sold their kidneys for Rs 40,000. A few of the women who had sold their kidneys also deposed before the Tribunal. Maria Selvam expressed apprehensions about more women queuing up before touts, awaiting their turn to sell kidneys. (Indian Express 15/1/07

Rs 100 cr for urban poor (21) Bhopal : As much as Rs 100 crore will be spent to uplift the urban poor in the State capital. The project named Madhya Pradesh Urban Services for the Poor (MPUSP) funded by Department for International

∗ This is a collection of previously published news and v iews from the print as well as the electronic media, whose reference marked at the end of each news items. Department of Documentation and Library (DDL) of the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi neither claims to the veracity of the f acts in the news nor subscribes to the views expressed.

Development (DFID), Britain wil l be carried out in four cities of the State - Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur over the next five years from 2006 to 2011. A total sum of Rs 359 crore would be spent under the project in the four cities. The information was given during the inaugural session of three-day workshop commenced hereon Monday at Hotel Jehan Numa Palace. The workshop was attended by Mayor Sunil Sood, MiC members, BMC Commissioner Manish Singh and Bruce Pollock, team leader of MPUSP. The workshop was organised to chalk out plans for implementation of the project funded by the DFID. During the workshop, two teams were constituted for successful implementation of the project. The first team will prepare plans to improve the efficiency of the officials of the BMC while the second team will prepare plans for providing infrastructure and developing the slums. The Mayor said that the benefits of the scheme commenced for the poor should reach to them. He urged the BMC officials present on the occasion to ensure effective implementation of the project meant for the urban poor. BMC Commissioner affirmed that technical expertise is must for effective implementation of such proposal and officials possessing technical knowledge could only ensure success. MiC members, including Shahid Ali, Kailash Mishra and Jamal Akhtar, along with BMC chairman Ramdayal Prajapati, BJP and Congress corporators were also present on the occasion. (Pioneer 16/1/07)

Weav ing misery: Poverty-struck workers struggle to surv ive (21) Berhampur : Orissa witnesse s several national and State level handloom exhibitions during the winter season, particularly in the month of January. No one, however, seems to care about the plight of the poor weavers, who languish in rural areas from where most of these handlooms originate. On January 10, Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy inaugurated the Mega National Handloom Expo in Bhubaneswar and stated, "After agriculture, the handloom sector is viewed as the rice bowl for the second highest Indian population." On January 7, Ganjam District Collector Sanjay Singh inaugurated the District Level Handloom Exhibition here. The Assistant Director of Textiles (Berhampur) organised the exhibition, which is sponsored by the Development Commissioner for Handlooms, Government of India, on the eve of the Pongal festival. Various cooperative societies from seven zones participate in the expo. A total of 48 stalls have been opened to promote handloom. Out of these, a stall of the Kontaikoli Weavers' Cooperative Society Ltd enjoys the distinction of being one of the societies that is surviving against all odds. The society, located at Kontaikoli vil lage, 16 km from Berhampur, was established in 1942. Dasarathi Senapati (56) has been running the organisation tirelessly, despite the odds and poverty, since 1971. Senapati, himself a poor man, is the secretary of the society. Along with his three daughters, a son and his wife, he weaves chadars and sarees at his loom and at the end of the day, receives Rs 60, which comes to an average income of Rs 10 per head of the family. Senapati said that in such a situation, the young people of the village are migrating to Surat and Mumbai in search of jobs in the factories there. One of his sons is now working in a factory in Mumbai. Another son, who left for Mumbai in search of employment, has been missing since 2003 and his whereabouts are not known…….. (Pioneer 16/1/07)

Tsunami v ictims’ kidneys are sold overseas (21) Chennai, Jan. 22: The kidneys sold by poor, tsunami-hit fisherwomen for some quick money find their way not only to recipients within the country, but also to some patients from abroad, according to sources in the CB-CID, the state police wing which has started investigations into the kidney scam. While the CB-CID sleuths have so far not made any arrests over the trading of kidneys, sources indicated that a number of top hospitals in the state were involved in the racket. The foreigners, for instance, relied on these hospitals to get their kidneys. "These hospitals have patients from abroad waiting to receive kidneys. The foreigners reach Tamil Nadu on tourist visas and get admitted to some of these hospitals. Relying on a strong network of brokers across the state, the managements of these hospitals are ready with the kidneys by the time a patient arrives Afrom overseas," sources said. Foreigners pay heavily for the kidneys, somewhere between Rs 4 lakhs to Rs 5 lakhs, against the Rs 2 lakhs which people from within the country are usually charged. However, the donor normally gets only around Rs 40,000 from the broker, the sources said. The foreign patients who come to Tamil Nadu seeking kidneys are mainly from Malaysia and the Gulf, as the organs were cheaper and easier to get here, the sources said. Sometimes the donor is taken to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to make the donation there, they added. Crime branch sleuths have been questioning a few brokers for the last three days and have been trying to zero in on all brokers dealing in the kidney trade. "We are trying to find out details of a few brokers who have been very active in the medical field over the last two to three years. There is a broker in Tiruchy who reportedly managed to get over 100 kidneys for patients in hospitals in Madurai during the last two to three years," a CB-CID official said. "Once we get details of such brokers, our job will be easy," added an official. The city

police has found that at least 30 women from fishing hamlets in coastal Chennai have so far sold their kidneys. "This is not a phenomenonlimited only to the city. Brokers seem to have convinced poor women from all over the state to part with their kidneys to make some quick money," the official said. The police has also found that most of the hospitals involved have managed to make and keep convincing records of kidney transplants. "All the donors are shown either to be relatives or servants of the patient, though the donor may not have even seen the recipient," an official said. (Asian Age 23/1/07)

Congress promises to redefine poverty (21) Chandigarh, Jan. 29: The Congress promises to redefine poverty to include over 10 lakh or 25 per cent of all Punjabi families within the ambit of Below Poverty Line (BPL) benefits, if voted to a second term in office. "We are already in touch with the Centre to review norms employed to redefine poverty in progressive states l ike Punjab and will push this through as a priority in the coming five years," chief minister Amarinder Singh declared, while releasing New Horizons-New Vision — the Congress manifesto — ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections on February 13. According to the chief minister, "The norms for defining poverty cannot be identical in relatively affluent states like Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Bihar, Orissa or We st Bengal. We have recognised this and will endeavour to extend BPL benefits to more deserving families in the state." Taking on the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combination at its atta-daal game, Capt. Singh promised flour at Rs 2 per kg and pulses at Rs 20 for all antodaya (poorest of poor) families, and similar concessions, including a one-time Rs 50,000 house-building grant for BPL families. If given a second chance at governance, the party will ensure food benefits to the poor through the issuing of food coupons, which will be exchangeable at any shop across the state. (Asian Age 30/1/07)

Pov erty defies rural-urban barrier in India (21) New Delhi : The problem of poverty in India is not only a rural phenomenon. The level of poverty in the urban areas, considered to be rich in job prospects and opportunities, is up to 27 per cent against 23.6 per cent in the rural areas. Despite a sharp decline in overall poverty in the country in view of the implementation of schemes like 20-Point programme over the years, the challenge of poverty alleviation continues to be acute. According to Statistics and Programme Implementation Minister GK Vasan, the number of poor has reduced by 60 million in the past 20 years. "The poverty declined from 37.3 per cent in 1993-94 to 27.1 per cent in 1999-2000 in the rural areas and from 32.4 per cent to 23.6 per cent in urban areas during the period," Vasan said. "In the aggregate, there has been a 10 per cent point reduction in the poverty ratio from 36 per cent to 26.1 per cent during 1993-2000, and thereby reduced the number of poor by 60 million," he said. The poverty ratio was as high as 56.4 per cent in 1973-74 in the rural areas, which came down to 37.3 per cent in 1993-94. It is a sharp decline in the overall poverty," he added. The Minister, who on Thursday inaugurated the conference of State Planning Secretaries in the Capital, the annual average growth in population reduced to 1.95 per cent in 1991-2001 against 2.13 per cent in 1981-91. The target for the reduction in population growth in 2001-11 is estimated at 1.62 per cent. The literacy rate has gone up to 64.84 per cent in 2001. At present, 66 items are included in the list of 20-Point programme, and the Ministry has devised a four-tier monitoring mechanism at the block, district, state and central levels. It will start functioning from April 2007. "There is a need to initiate necessary steps to set the monitoring committees at the block level. It is equally important to encourage the participatory monitoring by the panchayats and non-government organisations," Vasan said. As per the Ministry's a ssessment of 20-Point programme during April and November 2006, most of the projects are doing well, except the schemes like village electrification, Indira Awas Yojana, constructing houses for the economically weaker sections of society and primary health centres. These schemes progressing poorly. "Since the monitoring of projects holds key to the success of any programmes, all the State Governments have been requested to send the monthly progress report. Similarly, the state level committees have been asked to meet twice a year. The district level committees would meet quarterly and the block level committees monthly," a Ministry official said. (Pioneer 16/2/07)

Not enough healthcare for urban poor: Report (21) NEW DELHI FEBRUARY 23: Around 180 million urban poor in India continue to reel under lack of basic healthcare facilities despite tall claims made by successive governments. A study by Assocham points out that there are only 1,083 family welfare centres where the country’s urban poor can get themselves diagnosed and treated. According to the study, at least 300 more urban family welfare centres need to be set up every year to cater to 215 million urban poor in 2020. According to the study, about 30 per cent of urban dwellers are poor, who constitute 25 per cent of the total number of poor in the country. This

population is growing at twice the pace as the rest of the population. In 2005-06, the government had allocated Rs 13,735 lakh for revamping of urban family welfare centres. However, the amount is inadequate for the number of poor in urban areas today. To deal with this problem, Assocham has suggested that the government should enhance its allocation towards these services by at least Rs 6,000 lakh in the next few years. (Indian Express 24/2/07)

Food security under strain (21) New Delhi, March 4: Food security is coming under renewed strain with the growing shortfalls in foodgrains and vegetables production. Availability of land for farming is also going down because of population pressure and the need for land for other economic pursuits. Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar sees increased productivity as the only way to ensure food security and farmers' well-being. This assumes significance in the backdrop on the ongoing controversy over land acquisitions for SEZs and growing realty activity coughing up agricultural lands in and around the cities. , At the recent ICAR Krishi Mela, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said, "Foodgrain production must be increased by about 90 million tonnes by 2020 to meet the domestic demand. This is a big task in the face of land fragmentation and degradation. Developing countries are experiencing a new trend of shrinking size of land holdings through fragmentation, hence, a growing number of small holdings. In India, almost 81 per cent of farmers have land holdings of less than 2 hectares, covering 36 per cent of cultivated area." According to projections made by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, India needs to increase its foodgrain production from the present level of 200 million tonnes, to 236 million tonnes by 2010 and 294 million tonnes by 2020. Demand for rice will reach 100 MT by 2010 and 122 MT by 2020. Similarly, the demand for wheat will be 80 MT by 2010 and 103 MT by 2020. A big task will be to raise the production ofpulses to 21 MT by 2010 and 28 MT by 2020. Demand for coarse serials wil l not be quite compelling. The demand will be 35 MT by 2010 and 41 MT by 2020. With rapid urbanisation, milk consumption has also been growing drastically. While milk production was 75 MT in 2000, India's population will need 103 MT of milk by 2010 and 143 MT by 2020. Demand for meat and eggs will rise to 8 MT and for fish to 12 MT by 2020. Demand for vegetables will grow from the present level of 85 MT to 113 MT in 2010 and 150 MT in 2020. Production of fruits needs to be raised to 56 MT by 2010 and 73 MT by 2020. If these figures are further translated, productivity of rice needs to be raised to 33 per cent by 2010 and 56 per cent by 2020. Wheat productivity has to go up by 35 per cent in 2010 and 62 per cent in 2020. Productivity of pulses needs to be more than doubled by 2020, to 116 per cent. Similarly, milk productivity shall be raised to 136 per cent by 2020. ….. Asian Age 5/3/07)

Double agricultural growth to tackle pov erty: Monte k (21) New Delhi, March 7: Decline in poverty in India is less than what the government had targeted, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said today. Ahluwalia said the real solution to the poverty problem is doubling agricultural growth from the current 2 per cent to 4 per cent. He added that mechanisms that can absorb people in other sectors of the economy also need to be devised simultaneously. He was speaking at the launch of a book titled Ending poverty in South Asia: Ideas that work by the World Bank. Ahluwalia said these two measures, undertaken simultaneously, could solve almost 80 per cent of the problems faced on the poverty reduction front. The deputy chairman pointed out that fears of the pitfalls associated with liberalisation, raised 20 years back, have proved to be unfounded. Ahluwalia, however, admitted that over the year “decline in poverty is less than what the government had targeted (or wanted)”. According to him, this poses larger issues of having the right technology with a framework of market support systems for diversification. The book provides 110 case studies of organisations and mechanisms in India and other parts of South Asia. It describes success stories l ike self-help groups in Andhra Pradesh, ITC’s e-choupals and the experience of milk cooperatives like Anand. While case studies like this help in combating poverty and empowering people, Ahluwalia said it is not always possible to replicate success stories l ike this in all parts of the country. Each model has pros and and cons, he said, and it is important to capture both sides of the picture in order to work towards a viable format to tackle the poverty problem. On the question of whether the government should appoint teachers in schools, Ahluwalia said the government has the responsibility of delivering services to people. According to him, any failure of government policy, such as that associated with teachers failing to deliver the result, can be tackled through better managerial control. He however, did that the government is not doing enough to monitor the outcomes of its initiatives. (Indian Express 7/3/07)

`A nation of billionaires with billions of poor' (2 1) BHUBANESWAR: The inequality between the rich and poor in India is widening due to neoliberalisation policies that are being followed by successive governments, said noted development journalist P. Sainath here on Tuesday. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the release of the Oriya translation of his famous book, 'Everybody Loves a Good Drought', Mr. Sainath said, "we are now more inequal even than during the colonial era. The inequality has become more critical due to present economic policies and model of development." He said India had become a nation of bill ionaires with having bil lions of poor people. "Though the country has ranked sixth in terms of having billionaires' population, the country has lagged behind in human development index. Currently its rank is 126th in providing health, education and sanitations," the Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu said. While millions of school children were outside the schools, the country had some of the costliest schools in the globe, Mr. Sainath said. Criticising the model of development being followed by different governments, he said, "the impact of the process would be terrible for a state like Orissa that has a sizeable tribal population. Still thousands of people are migrating to brick-kilns in Andhra Pradesh every year. The migration has only increased over the years." There would be huge stress on the country if the inequality was allowed to become wider, he warned. The reputed development journalist said he was working on his next two books on dalits and agrarian crisis in the country. Mr. Sainath's book, which was based on economics of poverty in some pockets of Orissa, was translated into Oriya by Abhaya Singh. The translated book, `Marudi Padile Sabhinka Mauja', was released by former Lok Sabha Speaker and veteran socialist leader Rabi Ray at the ongoing Bhubaneswar Book Fair here. Mr. Ray said those who were in power must take note of the book to mend their approach. "Time has come to adopt pragmatic approach rather than being swayed away by the wind liberalization," he said. Among others noted Oriya novelist Bibhuti Patnaik and educationist Sarbeswar Das spoke on the occasion. (The Hindu 7/3/07)

Empty promises lead to starvation deaths in north B engal (21) Kolkata : Many of the starvation deaths in north Bengal could have been averted had Government agencies taken the matter more seriously and implemented various welfare schemes in the closed tea gardens of the State. Despite repeated assurances from Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who recently floated the idea of tea tourism to boost the failing tea economy and a recent visit by Governor GK Gandhi, tea garden workers continue to live in extreme poverty. With the State Government turning a blind eye to the grim situation, the West Bengal adviser to the Commissioners of Supreme Court Anuradha Talwar has threatened to take the matter to the Supreme Court. Talwar, who has been actively associated with the anti-land grab movement in Singur, felt that the Government agencies had failed to implement various schemes to uplift the socio-economic condition of the poor . The social activist told the media of her views after a thorough inspection of the closed gardens. According to unsubstantiated reports, Jalpaiguri district alone witnessed 106 starvation deaths in 2006. Going by the condition of the workers of a particular garden Ramjhora Tea Estate, more than 150 people have died in the last five years . More than 50 of the dead were children, reports indicate. The local administration however gives a much lesser number and say most of the deaths had occurred due to disease and not starvation. Many tea gardens have been closed due to stiff competition from Sri Lankan producers as well as those from South India. What has added to the problem is a set of local businessmen who had bought over the loss-making tea estates from their original owners and resorted to fill ing the market with adulterated tea (in some cases by blending the leaf with tea barks) leading to a decline in demand from traditional markets. This led to the closure of a number of tea gardens and the workers, most of whom belong to the tribal community, having migrated to the area during the Raj from Jharkhand (erstwhile Bihar) and who have no where to go, have been dying of starvation, local RSP leaders claim. According to the social activist the Government should have, by this time, ensured community kitchens and taken special care to implement the 100-day national rural employment guarantee scheme. "But things have been taken too casually. I would request the Supreme Court to ask the State Government to implement the schemes more seriously," she said. (Pioneer 8/3/07)

ILO warns of "feminisation of poverty" (21) NEW DELHI: More women than ever before are in work but a persistent gender gap in status, job security, wages and education contributes to "feminisation of working poverty," according to a new report by the International Labour Office (ILO) issued on the occasion of International Women's Day. According to "Global employment trends for women brief - 2007," the number of women in the labour market — either in work or looking actively for work — is at its highest. In 2006, the ILO estimated that 1.2 billion of

the 2.9 bill ion workers in the world were women. Stil l the number of women remaining unemployed is higher than before (81.8 mill ion), and more than ever before they are stuck in low productivity jobs in agriculture and services or receiving less money for doing the same jobs men do. The share of working-age women who work or are seeking work actually stopped growing or declined in some regions, partially because more young women are pursuing education rather than work. The report says women must be given the chance to work themselves and their families out of poverty through creation of opportunities that help them secure productive and remunerative work in conditions of freedom, security and human dignity. Otherwise, the process of feminisation of poverty will continue and be passed on to the next generation. The report shows that today more women are in wage and salaried employment (47.9 per cent) than 10 years ago (42.9 per cent). However, the poorer the region, the more likely that women work as unpaid contributing family members or low-income own-account workers, in a higher proportion than men. From an unpaid contributing family worker or low-paid own-account worker to wage and salaried employment is a major step toward freedom and self-determination, says the ILO. However, in the poorest regions of the world the share of female contributing family workers in total employment is sti ll much higher than men, with women less likely to be wage and salaried workers. In sub-Saharan Africa as well as South East Asia, four out of 10 working women are classified as contributing family workers compared with two out of 10 men. In South Asia, six out of 10 working women are classified as contributing family workers, but again only two out of 10 working men have this status. In the Middle East and North Africa, the figures are three out of 10 women and one out of 10 men. (The Hindu 9/3/07)

Protests over PDS: Cops fire in Bihar, 2 dead (21) PATNA, MARCH 16: Two protesters were killed today when police opened fire on a mob demonstrating against alleged irregularities in distribution of ration coupons meant for below poverty l ine (BPL) families in Matihani, Begusarai district. Bihar recently replaced ration cards with coupons, which poor families could exchange for grain and kerosene at any fair-price shop. This was meant to prevent fair-price shops from turning people away and diverting stocks to the open market for profit. The shops were to get stocks only against the coupons they submitted. The idea is the brainchild of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and is to be replicated in other states. However, there have been allegations that many well-off families had found place on the Bihar government’s new BPL list at the expense of really poor ones. Across the state, there have been several protests against the list. In Matihani, a crowd of some 1,000 people had gathered at the block development office, where coupons were being distributed. Some of them started demonstrating, alleging that many genuinely poor families had been struck off the list. One Neelam Devi, who was leading the demonstration, was allegedly beaten up by police. The mob then went on the rampage and started pelting stones. Police lathi-charged the mob, and then opened fire. Two men, identified as Diso Jha, 60, and Baleshwar Shahu, 55, were killed in the firing. Half a dozen others, including two women, were injured. The crowd then damaged vehicles and set ablaze a part of the block development office. They blockaded the road and refused to let the bodies be taken away by the authorities. Director-General of Police Asish Ranjan Sinha said, “We had to open fire to protect life and property.” He said it was yet to be determined how many rounds were fired. The Bihar Government has announced a judicial inquiry into the firing. It said will make a statement in the Assembly tomorrow, while the Opposition said it wil l stage a protest. Leader of the Opposition Rabri Devi said the government was anti-poor and demanded compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the families of the dead, besides government jobs for their kin. The Opposition had demanded that the BPL list be scrapped, but Kumar had refused. He held the previous RJD government responsible for the discrepancies. (Indian Express 17/3/07)

Officer, retd Armymen in Bihar BPL list, Dalit land less are out (21) PATNA, MARCH 18: Last Friday, two persons were kil led and at least six persons were injured when police opened fire at people protesting irregularities in preparation of the below poverty l ine (BPL) list in Matihani block in Bihar’s Begusarai district. The coupon scheme is Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s brainchild to streamline the public distribution system (PDS) for the poorest of the poor and plug leakage which, according to a Planning Commission study, is estimated to be over 50 per cent in the state. Under the scheme, every BPL family is handed coupons to obtain subsidised grains and kerosene oil from the local PDS shop. Part of the coupon is to be kept by the PDS shop-owner — this will be the basis for his allotment by the government next month. But an investigation by The Indian Express in Patna district, including Sadisopur where nearly 500 people stormed the local Urdu primary school building on March 1 and looted coupons — shows that genuine BPL families are being left out of the scheme because of irregularities in the BPL list which decides who gets the coupons. While names of the genuinely poor

have been struck off, many from the above poverty line have made it to the list. Consider these: • Basgit Chowdhury, a resident of Kanhaulee village of Sadisopur panchayat, figures in the corrected BPL list. A retired Armyman, he lives in a pucca house and draws a pension of Rs 2,500. Yet he has been awarded a score of just 1 point in the BPL survey — in effect, he is one of the poorest of the poor. Like Chowdhury, Madan Prasad, who too retired from the Army and lives in the village, is also in the list. Both say they never petitioned to be included in the BPL list. “I don’t know how my name has made it to the list. This shows how faulty this new list is,” Chowdhury told The Indian Express. • In the same village, Jagannath Ram, a Dalit, has scored 21 points and fallen off the BPL list — he has been placed in the APL list. The state government has fixed 13 points as cut-off to divide BPL and APL families. Ram is landless, l ives in a thatched house constructed on government land and can barely manage two meals a day. Had Ram’s family been the only one left out, it would have been considered an error. But here, the entire Dalit settlement of some 200 landless families has been struck off the BPL list. • Manoj Kumar, a state government gazetted officer who hails from Sadisopur and is presently posted in Sasaram, figures in the BPL list. “My uncle visits this village once in Madan Prasad, who too retired from the Army and lives in the vil lage, is also in the list. Both say they never petitioned to be included in the BPL list. “I don’t know how my name has made it to the list. This shows how faulty this new list is,” Chowdhury told The Indian Express. • In the same village, Jagannath Ram, a Dalit, has scored 21 points and fallen off the BPL list — he has been placed in the APL list. The state government has fixed 13 points as cut-off to divide BPL and APL families. Ram is landless, l ives in a thatched house constructed on government land and can barely manage two meals a day. Had Ram’s family been the only one left out, it would have been considered an error. But here, the entire Dalit settlement of some 200 landless families has been struck off the BPL list. ……… (Indian express 19/3/07)

On hunger strike against BPL irregularities, woman dies (21) Patna, March 19: Protests against bungling in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list reached a turning point on Monday after a woman sitting on an indefinite hunger strike against the irregularities died here. According to locals, 50-year-old Anar Devi of Patori Panchayat was on an indefinite strike since March 14. Earlier, local villagers had locked the block office in Saharsa district in protest against the irregularities. A large crowd gathered outside the block office and raised slogans against the local administration following the death of Anar Devi. However, Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) Gajanand Mishra denied that Anar Devi died due to hunger. “Claims that she died of hunger is wrong as food particles were found in her stomach during the post mortem,” Mishra told The Indian Express. Asked about the alleged bungling, Mishra said they have received complaints from across the district. “And process of eliminating the undeserving persons is also on,” the SDO said. The District Magistrate could not be contacted despite repeated efforts. (Indian Express 20/3/07)

4.3% drop in pov erty, rural poor numbers falling fa ster: Plan panel survey (21) NEW DELHI, MARCH 21: The number of poor Indians declined by 4.3 percentage points in the five years from March 2000 but there are sti ll 24 crore people living in acute want in an economy that has grown at nearly 8 per cent over the period. A survey done by the Planning Commission showed on Wednesday that poverty as measured by the mixed recall period — a method in which consumer spending for items such as clothing, footwear, durable goods, education and health expenses are collected from a 365-day period — had declined to 21.8 in 2004-05 from 26.1 per cent in March 2000. The National Sample Survey report also reveals that the decline in poverty was comparatively much steep in rural areas where the percentage of people living below poverty l ine fell to 21.8 per cent in 2004-05, from 27.1 per cent. In urban areas, the proportion dropped to 21.7 per cent, from 23.6 per cent in the same period. In Delhi, a tenth of the population, or 16 lakh people, was living in penury. However, based on the uniform recall period (URP) method that collects consumption data using a 30-day recall period for all items, poverty fell from 36 per cent to 27.5 per cent over the 11 years beginning fiscal 1993-94. The report does mention that URP is a more precise method to measure poverty estimates across the country, whereas the data based on MRP cannot be used as a good yardstick to compare poverty estimates between time periods. Figures based on URP consumption show that in absolute terms, 30.17 crore people were living below poverty line — 22.9 crore in rural areas and 8.08 crore in urban areas in March 2005. Going by the MRP data for the more recent April 1999-March 2005 period, Orissa was the poorest state with 39.9 per cent living below poverty line, followed by Jharkhand (34.8 per cent) and Bihar (32.5 per cent). In absolute terms, the number of people living below poverty line was 4.58 crore in Uttar Pradesh followed by Bihar (2.9 crore) and Maharashtra (2.6 crore). With 3.8 per cent people living below poverty line, Chandigarh was at the

top. (THE INDIAN EXPRESS 22/3/07)

UP tops in BPL population (21) New Delhi : Nine States sti ll continue to have majority of families l iving under the below poverty l ine. A Poverty Estimates for the Year 2004-05 released by the Planning Commission on Wednesday indicated that Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal top the list of States with high poverty-stricken people. According to the estimates, Andhra Pradesh has a BPL population of 126.10 lakh people. In Bihar the 369.15 lakh people live below poverty line. In Karnataka the BPL population is 138.89 lakh. In Madhya Pradesh it is 249.68 lakh. Relatively prosperous Maharashtra has 317.38 lakh people under BPL category. In Orissa it is 178.49 lakh. In Tamil Nadu the BPL population is 145.62 lakh. In Uttar Pradesh BPL population is as high as 590.3 lakh and in West Bengal it is 208.36 lakh! In contrast to these nine States, the estimate released on Wednesday showed that there was a decline in overall number of poverty-stricken people in 2004-05 in comparison to 1999-2000, with official data showing poverty declined by 4.3 per cent during the same period. According to the released estimate, poverty in India has declined to 21.8 per cent in 2004-05 from 26.1 per cent in 1999-2000. The decline in poverty was comparatively much steep in rural areas where the percentage of people living below poverty line fell to 21.8 per cent (2004-05) from 27.1 per cent (1999-00). In urban areas, percentage of people living below poverty line fell to 21.7 per cent (2004-05) from 23.6 per cent (1999-00), according to the NSS estimates based on the Mixed Recall Period (MRP)-consumption distribution data. (PIONEER 22/3/07)

'India to hav e 200 m urban poor by 2020' (21) NEW DELHI: India might be adding to its number of bill ionaires but slum population in urban cities is increasing rapidly with nearly one-third of the urban population being poor. An independent study by NGO Urban Health Resource Centre (UHRC) has found that nearly 30% or 90 million people living in urban areas are poor and according to UNHABITAT, the number is likely to touch 200 million in 2020. Experts believe that a major contributing factor is rapid urbanisation, and new states — like Jharkhand and Uttarakhand — or cities with SEZs are likely to be the worst affected in the coming years. The study, that has analysed data collected by the National Family Health Survey-2, points out that development indices such as infant mortality and maternal health are also low in urban areas. The study in association with Centre for Advocacy and Research cites a combination of causes for the gap in physical health and well-being in cities that have premium healthcare facilities. One of the reasons for the lack of health, sanitation and awareness is the "hidden" settlement like workers l iving near construction sites. "Services like drinking water and toilets do not reach this population," Siddharth Agarwal, UHRC executive director said. (Times of India 30/3/07)

Jharkhand's pov erty, legislators' salary soar (21) Ranchi : Ironically the poor are becoming poorer and the public representatives are becoming richer in Jharkhand. The official figure of poverty and increased salary of legislators in past six years indicates that nothing has been done to curb poverty in the State. However, in the tenth five-year plan (2002-2007) there was target to curb the poverty by five per cent. The report of Rural Development Ministry says that the number of poor families have increased by one lakh during this period. In 2002 the total number of families living under below poverty line were 23.5 lakh, which has gone up to 24.5 lakh families in December 2006. Concurrently in the last five years, the salary of legislators and ministers has been doubled. And there is move to further increase the salary. Five years ago, a legislator was getting Rs16,000 per month and now they get Rs 34,400 per month. A minister gets Rs 39,500, which was Rs 18,000 five years ago and the Chief Minister was getting Rs 19,000, which has been increased to Rs 42,500. If the reliable sources are to be believed there is move to increase the salary of legislator to Rs 40,000 per month. (PIONEER 6/4/07)

Father poisons daughter to death in Bengal (21) BURDWAN (WB): Driven by poverty, a daily farm labourer in West Bengal's Burdwan district poisoned one of his daughters to death and was himself in a critical condition after consuming poison, police said on Saturday. Sanatan Majhi of Ketugram was not getting any work as he was ill and was finding it difficult to run his family of two daughters, wife and himself. According to an FIR lodged by Sanatan's wife Jyotsna with the police on Friday evening he took his elder author Jaya (4) with him and went to a sweet shop. After purchasing some rasogollas he mixed poison with it and asked his daughter to eat it and also

himself consumed them. Jyotsna found both of them in a critical condition. They were rushed to Katwa Sub-Divisional Hospital where Jaya was pronounced brought dead while Sanatan was admitted to hospital in a critical condition. Jyotsna said here husband had become sullen and dejected as he was finding it very difficult to find work due to his il l health and was always short of money (TIMES OF INDIA 7/4/07)

Reducing pov erty unwittingly (21) What has India's economic boom in the last 15 years done for the poor, especially the rural poor? The boom in stock markets and urban real estate has added bil lions to the wealth of those already well off. But what about the poor? This question is typically answered using data on income and education. But this misses a critical fact. The economic boom has hugely benefited two categories of people who were once poor, and may stil l seem poor. One is farmers within a 50-kilometre radius of any major city. The second is poor urban migrants who have encroached on public land. Urban land prices have skyrocketed. This has hugely raised rural land prices too. For its SEZ in Maha-Mumbai, Reliance Industries Ltd has offered farmers Rs 10 lakhs per acre. Moreover, 12.5% of the acquired land will, after being developed, be returned to each farmer. For its Haryana SEZ, Reliance has offered Rs 20 lakh per acre, but is finding buyers scarce. Builders offer up to Rs 3 crore per acre near Gurgaon, and Rs 1 crore for land along the Delhi-Jaipur national highway. Even at these prices, many farmers are not selling. Romantic pastoralists believe that farmers are wedded to farming. But a recent NSSO survey shows that over half of all farmers want to leave farming, if possible. Clearly, farmer reluctance to sell is based mainly on the expectation of even higher prices, an expectation that is constantly fulfilled. The priciest farmland is in the green belt of Delhi. The price there has risen to an astronomical Rs 10 crore per acre. The boom in land values may not have reached all remote areas, but has reached most parts of India. Land prices have skyrocketed in the mountain states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Land within a 50-kilometre radius of any major city is now worth lakhs per acre. So, the economic boom has converted millions of small and marginal farmers into lakhpatis, and a few into crorepatis. Now, single-cropped land yields an income of maybe Rs 10,000 per year, and double-cropped land maybe Rs 25,000-30,000. So, many families (typically with five to six members) owning one or two acres are below the poverty l ine. Even so, their assets are becoming valuable thanks to the broader economic boom. Many farmers who sold their land for lakhs blew up the money on high living and cars, and were soon left with very little. Yet hundreds of millions did not sell, and are now sitting pretty. I know a property dealer in Ghitorni, in Delhi's green belt, who used to be a marginal farmer and stil l owns one-and-a-half acres. This is now wor-th Rs 15 crore, making him richer than most of this newspaper's readers. (Times of India 14/4/07)

Plan to seek corporate help in training BPL youth f or jobs (21) New Delhi : With the private sector refusing to accept caste quota, the Government has decided to engage them in an innovative scheme to help millions of job seekers falling under Below Poverty Line (BPL) category. A new scheme, mooted by the Rural Development Ministry, proposes to rope in major business houses to provide training and placement to rural youth, mainly under BPL category, in their industries. Upbeat by the initial response, the Ministry has set in an ambitious target of providing employment to nearly 4 crore youth under this scheme. The scheme is non-coercive in nature. Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has written to many of the industrialists to take pro-active measures to induct rural youth in their organisations by giving them a short-term training in an average payable jobs from Rs 3,000 to Rs 8,000. Singh's letter is based on an internal asse ssment by his Ministry that almost one crore skilled people in the initial payable group from Rs 3,000 to Rs 8,000 would be required each in construction, textile, manufacturing and service sectors. "The first response has come from Dr Reddy's Laboratory who has started training 7,000 BPL youth in the first phase from Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Bihar and Rajasthan," Singh told The Pioneer. Dr Reddy's Laboratory is a multinational Indian pharmaceuticals company with its headquarters in Hyderabad and branches in 30 countries. The laboratory would induct more people in consecutive sessions, he said adding that the Ministry wa s paying Rs 3,000 and the host is spending Rs 1,000 on each candidate for training. The Rural Development Ministry has also signed an MoU with the Ministry of Textiles for the skill training and placement of 5 lakh BPL youth in the first phase. The training would be given at various centres of the texti le manufacturing units. "For the construction sector, Larsen and Toubro contacted the Ministry for such training and placement but it was demanding Rs 20,000 from the Ministry for each candidate, a senior official of the Ministry said adding that his proposal was rejected on the ground of high charges. ……. (Pioneer 17/4/07)

Who said beggars can't be choosers? (21) NEW DELHI: Poverty, age and disability are not the only grounds for begging. At least that is what a new survey of beggars just conducted in the Capital has revealed. The surveyors even found four post-graduates supplementing their monthly salaries by going round begging over the weekends! Conducted for the Social Welfare Department of the Delhi Government by Delhi University's Department of Social Work, the survey has thrown new light on some interesting aspects of begging and beggars. Of over 5,000 beggars surveyed on the streets of the Capital, four turned out to be post-graduates, six graduates and 796 having studied up to the secondary level. The survey revealed that begging attracts even those who are able-bodied and educated. Conducted across different areas of the Capital, the survey showed that the total earnings from begging ranged from Rs. 50 to 500 a day, with most beggars opting for it in the face of little earning capacity, poverty, infirmity, destitution and age. Of those surveyed, 799 men and 1,541 women were able-bodied but sti ll continued with their chosen profession because they did not find alternate career options. "Most beggars were found outside temples and other places of religious significance, where alms are given more readily. The respondents said they made more money on weekends," said an official. "The survey," said Social Welfare Department Secretary D.S. Negi, "has indicated that most of the beggars are drug addicts and are not part of any organised gang." Referring to the Government's proposal to make Delhi free of beggars, Mr. Negi said the Department was continually working to rehabilitate the homeless. "We have made provisions for providing vocational training to these people in 11 homes run by the Government." Seeking a more humane rehabilitation programme for the beggars, Head of the Department of Social Work of Delhi University Sneh Lata Tandon said: "Beggars are irked by the fact that begging is considered a crime under the Bombay Beggary Prevention Act. They complain that when they are picked up, they are arrested instead of being given an opportunity to reform." "The Government should work out a plan for putting them into institutions where they are given vocational training depending on their requirement and handicap. Even the people who give alms need to be educated that one-time charity does not help them; instead they should be motivated to give help to institutions, which in turn empower and educate the beggars," she said. (The Hindu 27/5/07)

Pov erty forces people to ferry coal to Ranchi (21) Ranchi : Rupayia Mahto begins his journey for Ranchi in the midnight from Pataratu on his bicycle loaded with 1.5 quintal of coal on it. He reaches Ranchi the next evening, completing the 45 km journey in nearly 18 hours. He has to move on the dangerous jig jag steep roads with hill on one side and hudred feet deep ditch on the other. By sell ing the coal he earns Rs 300 to Rs 400. He ferries coal twice in a week and earns between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 per month. "We pick up coal from closed and abandoned mines of Central Coalfield Limited (CCL) and sell it in Ranchi," said Rupayia. Poverty is the main reason for doing such risky jobs. The people who ferry coal face risk to life in two ways. First some of them meet with an accident during the journey and many suffer from tuberculosis. On the steep road these people push coal-laden bicycles with their chest holding the handle with hands. If someone loses balances then he will fall into the deep ditch causing death. One can see people ferrying coal in Ranchi and Patratu roads, Ranchi and Patna roads and at other places. Thousands of people are engaged in the business. Kishna Mahto ferries coal from Rajarappa colliery which is 60 km away from Ranchi. In the 60 km journey these people have to cross the dangerous Ramgarh valley. "We know the risk in ferrying coal from Rajarappa coll iery. Every year more than 20 people die due to TB and an equal number die of accidents. Despite knowing the risks we have no option to engage ourself in this business," said Mahto. This business is totally illegal as the coal is extracted illegally from abandoned or live mines. "We overlook such business due to many reasons. Most of the people engaged in ferrying coal are poor. The real culprits are mafias who engage such people," said an official of CCL to The Pioneer. Some people who suffer from TB are stil l engaged in this business. "I am the only bread earner of my family. Till I am alive I wil l continue to ferry coal," said Somnath Baitha who is in his forties. He ferries coal from Rajarappa colliery to Ranchi. Asked is he was getting treatment for TB he said, "I an under treatment in Ramgarh government hospital. Doctors have asked me to rest and get better treatment in Ranchi which I cannot afford". These people sell coal at half the market price to brokers in Ranchi. "The brokers bargain with us in the name of illegal coal sale. We never get the market price. We need a market where we can sell coal and get money," said another person in this business. In Jharkhand 54 per cent population live below poverty line (BPL). The State produces less than half food grains of total consumption and the land is not ferti le due to being hilly area. (Pioneer 29/5/07)

Central grant for urban poor (21) JAIPUR: Jaipur city will get Rs. 22 lakhs every year for the next three financial years for raising the standard of life of the urban poor under an agreement signed by the State Government with the Union Ministry for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation here on Tuesday. The agreement is aimed at reducing the number of slum colonies in the Pink City. State Secretary (Local Self Government), Manjeet Singh, signed the agreement with the Union Housing Ministry's representative, Alkesh. Mr. Singh said a special cell under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) would be constituted for implementing the programme with the objective of creating basic amenities for the urban poor. Experts from the fields of finance, information technology, social welfare and livelihood will be appointed to the cell. Mr. Singh said the State Government had already received Rs. 22 lakhs for 2007-08 under the agreement. (The Hindu 14/6/07)

Vandana files PIL against agri ministry (21) New Delhi, June 13: Scientist and activist Vandana Shiva has fi led a PIL in the Supreme Court against the ministry of agriculture for allegedly endangering India’s food security by importing 72 million tonnes of sub-standard wheat in 2006. The PIL alleges that the imported wheat contained dangerously high levels of pesticides much beyond "permissible l imits". When the first consignment of five lakh tonnes of Australian wheat arrived at Chennai port on April 25, 2006, it was tested by the Chennai Port health authorities and the regional plant quarantine station. Both found it unfit for human consumption. The Forum for Bio-security and Food Safety also pointed out that the wheat shipment contained 14 weed varieties, 11 of which were foreign to the country. Instead of rejecting the cargo outright, tests were again conducted four days later (May 2) at the Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, where the consignment was cleared for delivery to Food Corporation of India (FCI) warehouses. The CFTRI cleared the shipment, stating that the pesticide residues were within "permissible limits".The PIL alleges that "since the samples reached four days after the grain reached the port, it is possible that whatever residues were present in the grain had diffused".The imported wheat was tested to contain the pesticide fenitrothion and mycotoxins, both of which adversely affect human beings, the environment and the whole human health chain, Dr Shiva alleged. The first bids for the five lakh tonnes of wheat had been made by US companies, according to the PIL. But the quality being offered by the Americans was so bad that it was disqualified. It was only then that the Australian Wheat Board’s bid was considered. The PIL also questioned the ministry of agriculture’s decision to allow giant corporates l ike Cargil India, ITC and Continental, and flour mill owners to buy food grain directly from farmers. This has resulted in a bizarre situation where corporations are buying large quantities of wheat from outside the registered mandis without paying the minimum support price, while wheat procurement in the Central pool has steadily declined. These corporates have been allowed to buy wheat at below BPL prices from the FCI under the nomenclature of "transport subsidy" to escape WTO action. They have then exported this wheat. Thus, wheat exports have registered a massive increase, from 29 lakh tonnes to 132.2 lakh tonnes, during the last five years, according to the PIL. On the other hand, wheat procurement to the Central pool has declined from 20.6 million tonnes in 2001-02 to 14.8 million tonnes in 2005-6. Dr Shiva said, "By importing wheat at Rs 1,000 per quintal, which then went up to Rs 1,300 per quintal, the government has ended up spending an additional Rs 66,000 crores, but was not willing to pay Indian farmers a higher price for their products." She claims the government is out to create a market for the major players in the global agro business rather than facilitate its own farmers. "This year also they have bought only half the grain required for the PDS system and have already put up tenders to import three million tonnes of wheat," Dr Shiva said. M.K. Mishra, secretary in the ministry of agriculture, insists the amount of wheat to be imported has sti ll to be decided upon and it is the department of food that will decide the exact quantity. "We have already bought 73.7 mill ion tonnes of wheat from the farmers, but sti ll need to build an adequate buffer stock," said Mr Mishra. He maintains the procurement this year was "one-and-a-half to two tonnes higher than what had been anticipated".The MSP being offered to farmers this year was Rs 850 per quintal, higher than what had been offered in 2006, he said. When asked why standards had been lowered for the import of Australian wheat, Mr Mishra said, "Some relaxation on two-three items was made, but this was all done within permissible limits. Nothing undesired was allowed to enter the country." Mr Mishra also claimed that the sampling procedure being followed in the country is quite satisfactory. "We have our own standards and checks and balances, which are quite adequate," he explained. When asked why Indian corporates were being allowed to corner a great deal of the wheat being produced locally, he added, "Food habits have changed. People across the country, including the south, are buying more wheat today.

People are eating more bread. All this wheat is going to the flour mills," he said. (Asian Age 14/6/07)

Bihar threatens legal action against rich figuring in BPL (21) PATNA, JUNE 22: Finding it difficult to prepare a genuine list of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, the state Government has threatened legal action against those ineligible figuring in the list. Rural Development Minister Baidyanath Prasad Mahto has urged Above Poverty Line (APL) families who figure in the list to volunteer and withdraw their names or be prepared to face legal action. “All District Magistrates and other officials have been asked to spread this message among the masses”, the minister said. Despite a massive exercise undertaken by the new Government in the state, large-scale complaints about undeserving families figuring in the list have been received. This had jeopardised the implementation of the Government’s coupon scheme for the Public Distribution System (PDS). Earlier, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had announced a second correction exercise to make the list complaint free. That l ist is scheduled to be published by end of July. However, despite the best efforts it has been found that undeserving people are stil l making it to the list and therefore the Government resorted to its latest measure. Rural Development Minister Baidya- nath Mahto however insisted otherwise. “The new exercise to correct the list is sti ll on. We have issued the notice with regard to the previous BPL list in which many APL families figured,” Mahto said. He said so far out of the total 8,463 panchayats in the state, the corrected BPL list has been endorsed by the gram sabha in 840 panchayats. In the remaining panchayats the list is l ikely to be endorsed by the gram sabha by July 31. Gaya’s BPL list will take longer since it had the maximum number of irregularities, he said. How faulty the earlier BPL list was can be gauged from the fact that til l May 20, a whopping 1,44,22,578 complaints regarding inclusion and deletion of names had been received across the state. While struggling to prepare the BPL list, the minister also attacked the Centre for disregarding its demand for raising the number of BPL families in the state from the present 65 lakh to one crore. (Indian Express 23/6/07)

50. No means of livelihood, father seeks death for daughters (21) MULUK GRAM, BOLPUR (BIRBHUM), JUNE 24: Abdur Rauf, 71, of Mulukgram near Bolpur in Birbhum district, wants death for his two disabled daughters, who have been deprived of adequate support from the administration. A jobless Rauf has requested President APJ Abdul Kalam to permit euthanasia for them. Two years after writing to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee seeking his “permission” for mercy kill ing of his daughters, all he got was assurances of help. In a letter posted to the President this weekend, Rauf said he and his family need around Rs 3,000 per month to survive. After several applications, one girl has been offered a disabil ity pension of Rs 500. “The social welfare officer, who came for inspection, said two people from the same family can’t be given support,” Rauf said. Having lost hope, Rauf has stopped demanding any assistance. He has a new demand. “I want death for my daughters. After I had written to the CM, I was assured assi stance. But, there’s been no medical assistance or pension. I was issued a job card over a year ago, but offered only seven days work. Once I am gone, my daughters won’t survive ,” says Rauf, who is undergoing treatment at the Bolpur Subdivision Hospital for a leg injury. His daughters, Fatema (41) and Regina (36) are suffering from spastic paralysis and are bed-ridden. While their mother Ansara is away taking care of their father at the hospital, the sisters l ie in the veranda of their mud-plastered hut. There’s no one at home. At times, Tanzila, Rauf’s eldest daughter, who was married years ago, drops in to see her sisters. Biswanath Chowdhury, minister in-charge of women and child development and social welfare department said he was not aware of the case: “I wil l definitely look into the case and see what can be done for the family.” (Indian Express 25/6/07)

51. AP loan-recovery firm blamed for death (21) hyderabad, June 24: Months after the Supreme Court came down heavily on private banks for deploying musclemen to recover dues, the Hyderabad police have registered a case against Elite Financial Services, a city firm having a tie-up with ICICI Bank, for allegedly causing death due to torture of a defaulter. Yadaiah’s wife has accused Elite Financial Services, which has an arrangement with ICICI Bank to recover “bad debts”, of torturing him in their “custody”, leading to his death yesterday. While the police are waiting for the postmortem report, a case of “wrongful confinement” and “culpable homicide not amounting to murder” was registered against Elite Financial Services, located at Ameerpet in the city, today. Yadaiah, a resident of Yapral in Rangareddy district, was an electrician in the Government Medical and Health Sciences Department. According to Punjagutta Inspector G Narasaiah, ICICI Bank had

handed over Yadaiah’s “case” to Elite Financial Services for recovery of the money owed by him. Around 9 am on Friday, one of the executives from Elite, Raju, reportedly came to Yadaiah’s house. When his wife Sunanda said he was away for work, he took a photograph of Yadaiah. Later, the executive, along with some others, allegedly picked up Yadaiah from his workplace in Sultan Bazar and took him to their office. Around 12.30 pm, Sunanda says, Yadaiah called her up and told her to arrange Rs 15,000 at any cost. According to her, Yadaiah sounded scared. “He said that he would not be allowed to leave unless he returned the money, and then he hung up,” Sunanda has told the police. Around 2 pm, Sunanda received a telephone call from Maitri Hospital in Sanjeevareddy Nagar informing her that Yadaiah was dead. “The version of Elite employees is that he had convulsions in their office and collapsed, and that he died after being shifted to hospital. There was an injury on Yadaiah’s forehead,” Inspector Narasaiah said. Based on Sunanda’s complaint, the police have registered cases against Raju and the management of Elite. Apart from Sunanda, Yadaiah is survived by three children. (Indian Express 25/6/07)

52. Centre moots another scheme to eliminate povert y (21) New Delhi : The "garibi hatao" mantra is back on the Government's agenda. On the line of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Centre is planning to launch another nationwide programme, focused on eliminating rural poverty. The ambitious scheme under the Rural Development Ministry, would be known as National Rural Poverty Elimination Programme (NRPEP). According to the sources in Ministry, a draft policy has already been prepared, which advocates development of entrepreneurial skills among the rural masse s. "There is a need to introduce a window for skil l upgradation and placement-based programmes so that the BPL youth, inclined for movement or new permanent wage employment, are integrated with the mainstream of economic activity without any dependence on subsidy," the draft policy says. It however does not clarify if the scheme would totally be Centre-sponsored or cost be shared by the States. The draft policy, which runs in to 73 pages, clearly mentions the importance of such a programme on the nationwide scale. "The challenge of eliminating rural poverty by 2015 is a monumental one, necessitating a paradigm shift in terms of policy responses. There is a compelling and pressing need to launch a highly focused, objective oriented and a flexible programme by the name National Rural Poverty Elimination Programme (NRPEP) in a manner more appropriate to the local context and the current needs of the poor," the policy document states. The proposal would be finetuned after taking suggestions from different stakeholders, but it is yet to be decided whether it would require passing through Parliament or launched by executive order. According to the officials in the Rural Development Ministry, while the NREGS is aimed at offering low-wage employment to people below poverty line, the NRPEP would be a way forward towards self-employment. "In its existing form, while one initiative attempts to address a specific requirement, there is always another variable that pulls the BPL person back into the poverty trap. A scrutiny of such circumstances today reveals a far from dignified quality of life for about 22 crore rural Indians thereby leaving the impression that the growth processe s have not touched a vast majority of the rural population," the policy document says. Though there is already an existing programme for self-employment known as Swarn Jayanthi Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), the Government has noticed certain failures in the scheme, especially in respect of special projects, which have displayed a poor record in implementation. As an alternative, it is necessary to launch a new programme that will, while building on the strengths of the SGSY, launch a comprehensively ordered effort to eliminate rural poverty," the programme document says. (Pioneer 26/6/07)

Rich get richer quicker: 1 lakh Indians dollar mill ionaires (21) MUMBAI, JUNE 28: The strong growth in the stock market and real estate prices is swelling the ranks of millionaires in the country, which had 1,00,015 high networth individuals (HNWIs) last year, a 20.5 per cent increase in the number and second only to Singapore with a 21.2 per cent surge. A high networth individual has financial assets (excluding primary residence) exceeding US$ 1 million (Rs 4.1 crore). Indian had 83,000 dollar millionaires in 2005. Releasing these figures, the latest World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini attributes India’s rapid wealth creation to its continued strong expansion, with real GDP growth of 8.8 per cent last year. The economy is driven by a robust 9.1 per cent private consumption, up from 6.6 per cent in 2005 and strong manufacturing and service sectors, it says. Double-digit growth in the number of HNWIs was also recorded in Russia, the UAE, South Africa, Israel and the Czech Republic, apart from recovering Asian economies like Indonesia, South Korea and Hong Kong. Together these emerging economies made up the top 10 fastest growing markets globally for HNWI population. China, with GDP growth of 10.5 per cent last year, saw a 7.8 per cent increase in the ranks.

“Strong economic growth and a robust performance in many of the region’s stockmarkets worked together during 2006 to drive wealth creation in the Asia Pacific Region,” said Pradeep Dokania, managing director of Global Private Client at DSP Merrill Lynch. “The globalisation of wealth creation has accelerated,” said Bertrand Lavayssière, group director of Capgemini Financial Services. “If 2005 was characterised by a flow of investment to international funds from HNWIs, 2006 ushered in a new era whereby emerging economies leaped ahead with direct foreign investment, strong domestic demand, and hefty stock market gains.” The wealth of the world’s HNWIs increased 11.4 per cent to $37.2 tril lion in 2006. Their number in the world rose 8.3 per cent last year to 95 lakh and the number of ultra high net worth individuals (Ultra-HNWIs) grew by 11.3 per cent to 94,970. An Ultra-HNWI is a person whose financial assets exceed $30 mill ion (Rs 123 crore). Asia was home to some of the fastest-growing markets in terms of HNWI population, occupying five out of the top 10 spots globally, a repeat of its 2005 performance. The HNWIs globally shifted more money into property investments, at times liquidating some of their alternative investments to fund these real estate opportunities. “This trend was most dramatic in the Asia-Pacific where 29 per cent of HNWI assets were held in real estate, up from 16 per cent in 2005,” the wealth report says. (Indian Express 29/6/07

CPM to start campaign on ‘anti-poor’ UPA policies ( 21) Bangalore, June 28: The CPM would launch a nationwide campaign to create mass awareness about the "anti-poor" economic policies of the UPA government, party’s politburo member and Rajya Sabha member Brinda Karat said here on Thursday. "There is no substantial difference between the economic policies of the then NDA and the present UPA governments. Both are tailored to suit the needs of the World Bank and imperialistic forces, at the cost of the toiling masse s," Ms Karat told reporters during her one-day visit to the city. In her view, the UPA government’s single, biggest failure is to contain the prices of essential commodities, which has made the day-to-day life of common man miserable. "Picketing of central government offices in August will be the beginning of a series of mass awareness campaign," Ms Karat said. "We are also opposed to the proposed Micro Finance Institution Regulatory Bill, which is aimed at stifling the financial powers of the self help groups. The bill proposes to make it mandatory for the SHGs to deposit their money in private companies instead of banks. Then the SHGs will have to pay a heavy interest to secure loans against their deposits. And in the event of these companies closing down their business, the government will not stand guarantee to the hardearned money of women belonging to the weaker sections of society," Ms Karat explained. Asked what prevented her party from withdrawing support to the UPA, Ms Karat said, "What is the guarantee that the UPA’s successor will not follow the same policies? And if that happens, what is the point in withdrawing support? At least, we can try to control and restrain the UPA, as it is surviving on our support. Moreover, we would not like the communal forces to gain ground." She said, "The Left would like to work with the newly-formed UNPA on certain issues, but there is no question of formally forging an alliance because its economic policies are almost similar to that of the NDA and the UPA. We would l ike a political formation to emerge based on alternative economic policies." In another programme, Ms Karat said that her party was opposed to the privatisation of midday meals programme in the state. (Asian Age 29/6/07)

Mixed progress on removal of poverty and disease: r eports (21) JAIPUR: Three citizens’ reports on the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, released here on Saturday, presented a mixed picture on the progress of the targets for removal of poverty and disease by 2015 at the halfway mark this year. The reports, bringing out constraints and concerns in attaining the MDGs, were prepared under the aegis of the U.N. Millennium Campaign by Jaipur-based Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in collaboration with the Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants’ Society (CECOEDECON). Noted economist V.S. Vyas, releasing the reports, said civil society organisations should take the MDGs to the people at large and call upon the State Governments to keep their commitment by achieving the goals by 2015. He described the citizens’ reports as the products of a unique collaboration between academics and voluntary bodies. The overall aim of MDGs, adopted in 2000, is to reverse the spread of poverty and disease by 2015. The eight goals are backed by a plan of action that sets out 18 quantifiable targets. The focus of the three health-related goals, as of the MDGs in general, is on poor tropical countries. Prof. Vyas said the three reports would help the policy planners identify and analyse key indicators requiring urgent attention. The reports have asse ssed progress in the fields of health, education, poverty alleviation, sanitation, drinking water, immunisation and maternal and child health in the three backward States. IDS Acting Director Surjeet Singh said though poverty had reduced over the past few years in Rajasthan,

Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, there were major regional and social group gaps. “There is a great divide between urban and rural areas and across the genders,” he said and added that poverty was declining relatively faster in the villages. Dr. Singh said low nutrition levels among women in the three States had led to their lower body mass index and high maternal mortality ratio. Institutional deliveries are recorded at 32 per cent in Rajasthan, 30 per cent in Madhya Pradesh and 16 per cent in Chhattisgarh, against the national average of 41 per cent. Though there was a marginal increase in the enrolment of children in schools, the three States have fared poorly in drinking water supply and sanitation. In Rajasthan, only 45 per cent of the households get drinking water through pipelines and merely 31 per cent have access to sanitary toilets. (The Hindu 8/7/07)

Pov erty drives labourer to sell baby for Rs 1,200 ( 21) Jajpur : In a shocking incident, a poverty-stricken tribal youth sold his two-day-old son to meet the expenses required to take his wife's body to his place for cremation as she died after delivering the baby. Bipin Gagarai of Sahupur village in Salijanga gram panchayat under Sukinda block in Jajpur district sold his baby to a person of Berhampur for Rs 1,200. According to sources, Bipin, a daily wage labourer, was residing in the Sector 7 area of CDA, Cuttack since 1995. On Sunday night, his wife Gurubari gave birth to the baby at their hut. However, she suffered from bleeding, which continued unchecked. Owing to dearth of money, Bipin could not take her to a hospital and consequently she breathed her last on Monday. "After Gurubari 's death, I thought to carry her body to my village for her last rites. I had not even a single penny with me to bear the transportation charge. I did not know where to get the money from to meet the expenses. I got in touch with one of my friends at Marakat Nagar and expressed my desire to sell the baby. He arranged a buyer, another daily wager of Berhampur in Ganjam district, for me whom I sold the baby, my third child, for Rs 1,200." Bipin has now with him a son (7) and a daughter (3). "It is difficult on my part to feed the two children. How could I maintain the third one in such abject misery," he rued.As news of the child sale spread, Jajpur Collector SK Singh asked the District Welfare Officer to inquire into the case. " We are trying to identify the person who purchased the baby," DWO Sivaji Bhuinan said. (Pioneer 9/7/07)

Foodgrain production shows record growth (21) New Delhi : After a year of farm crisis and farmer's suicide, food production estimate has come as a silver lining. Foodgrain production this year has touched an all time record of 216.13 mill ion tonne. Wheat production is up by over five million tonne compared with last year. Significantly, the news comes at a time when Government has just placed an order of importing 5,11,000 tonne of wheat at a much higher price than what farmers earned as minimum support price (MSP). Releasing the fourth advance estimate on Thursday, Agriculture Secretary PK Mishra said that production of soybean, sugarcane, cotton and maize scaled new production high this year. Wheat has also registered significant high growth touching 75 million tonne as against less than 70 million tonne in 2006. Pulses, prices of which skyrocketed last year, also registered marginal growth mainly due to higher production of gram. However, wheat production comes at the cost of mustard, production of which has declined by about one million tonne compared with last year. The two crops are taking in the same agro-climatic region and increase acreage of one lead to proportional decline in the other. Also, increase in area under cotton cultivation led to decline in groundnut production. The focus on increasing wheat production seems to have paid off. Sensing a better price after a year of shortfall, farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat sowed more wheat than last year. For the same area of land, more food was produced this year than the previous due to better quality of inputs. Yield went up from 2,619 kg/hectare to 2,671 kg/ha. Agri-scientists contend that about one-third of production could be added due to better quality seeds, soil management, irrigation and fertilisers. Rice also registered marginal increase at 92.76 million tonne but production of coarse cereals like jowar and bajra declined. Poor production of oilseeds could partly be offset by import of palm oil. The increase in production may not immediately east the housewives budget. The prices that went up and stayed at that level rode on the back of shortfall speculation. Until l the Government releases va st quantities of wheat in the domestic market, prices will not come down but are unlikely to climb any further. Expenses incurred on buying pulses, except gram, will continue to pinch the layman. Excess production of sugarcane is not being greeted enthusiastically. After inflation panic and expecting a shortfall in sugarcane production, the finance ministry banned sugar exports. (Pioneer 20/7/07)

Nitish upbeat as experts v indicate his stand on Cen tre’s poverty criteria (21) Patna, July 23: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is happy that his stand on poverty has been vindicated

by national and international experts after a three-day international conference on poverty at Patna. Armed with the “consensus statement” of the seminar, Kumar now wants to build pressure on the Centre to fulfil his demand for a higher allotment of foodgrain and kerosene oil under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). “Independent experts have vindicated my stand. Now, I will send copies of the report of the seminar to Chief Ministers of all states as well as the Prime Minister. The Centre can reject my demand but how can it set aside the opinions of renowned experts on the issue?” Kumar told reporters on Monday. Kumar said he will also meet the Prime Minister and urge him to accept his genuine demand. By sending the report to heads of all states Kumar also hopes to rope them in for his fight with the Centre. The three-day symposium on poverty in which even members of Central organisations participated has termed the methods of the Planning Commission for estimating poverty as “deeply flawed”, a fact Kumar has been harping on for a long time. “The prevalent Central, Planning Commission methods for estimating the incidence of poverty using the inherited poverty lines are deeply flawed on various grounds. This effectively makes much poverty invisible,” reads the consensus statement. It talks about taking new contexts, constraints and patterns of consumption into consideration. Taking on the Centre, Kumar said household survey on a 13-point index fixed by the Centre for determining BPL families had yielded a much higher figure of the poor in the state while the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) data is much lower. “What is the point in carrying out a BPL census when the Centre does not recognise it and uses the NSSO figure to decide allotments of foodgrain and kerosene oil? The census is carried out on the directive of the Centre and therefore the Centre should accept it and decide the allotments,” Kumar argued. He is questioning the Centre’s criteria since the BPL census in Bihar has yielded a much higher figure of rural poor families than 65 lakh decided by the Centre based on NSSO figures. Kumar feels that there are at least one crore BPL families in the state and the Centre should make allotments based on it. (Indian Express 24/7/07)

Pov erty makes their future uncertain (21) TIRUNELVELI: Three Dalit students from below poverty line families in the district have scored high marks in the Plus Two examinations and secured seats in government medical colleges on merit. But uncertainty prevails over their continuing higher studies due to abject poverty. The meritorious students are N. Mallika, R. Muthupandi and S. Esakki, all hailing from Vasudevanallur, a small town about 75 km from here on the Tenkasi–Madurai National Highway. Mallika, daughter of E. Natarajan, labourer in a stone quarry in Kerala, bagged the first rank in her school with 1,126 marks. Mallika applied for medicine since she had scored 193 in physics, 196 in chemistry and 192 in biology and got a seat in Tirunelveli Medical College. Similarly, Muthupandi (1,084 out of 1,200) and S. Esakki (1,093) have got seats in Tuticorin and Kanyakumari government medical colleges. But their hereditary property of poverty has kept these three students away from entering the medical colleges. “While Muthupandi’s parents are working in a brick kiln, Esakki lost his father, M. Santhiyagappan, only in December 2006 after a prolonged illness for about 17 years,” said Veerapuththiran, an advocate in Vasudevanallur. The Hindu 25/7/07)

Hole in PDS leaves poor in lurch (21) New Delhi : There seems to be a major hole in the country's public distribution system (PDS) meant to help the poor by providing them with wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene at highly subsidised rates. The state of public distribution system in the country is so bad that only 24.4 per cent rural poor get rice from the PDS outlets, while only 11 per cent of the targeted population receive wheat. Rice and wheat are the two staple foodgrains the Government of India makes available through PDS outlets. The other two items supposed to be available at the PDS outlets are sugar and kerosene. Among the rural poor, 15.9 per cent do manage to get their share of sugar from these outlets, while 73 per cent households receive the kerosene oil. These facts, revealed by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in its report on 'Public Distribution System and Other Sources of Household Consumption' for 2004-05, puncture the Centre's claim over streamlining the PDS system in the country as an effort to help the poor. "The PDS outlets do not seem to be the main source of getting subsidised foodgrains for the poor. The poor quality of stuff and unavailability are the two major reasons due to which the PDS outlets are sti ll not the natural destinations of the poor even in the rural areas. It is a matter of concern," an official at NSSO, an agency under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, said. The NSSO findings suggest that the urban poor do not feel like visiting the PDS outlets. It is only 13.1 per cent and 5.8 per cent urban poor, who procure rice and wheat respectively from the outlets. Even in the case of sugar, the urban poor have to depend upon other sources. The PDS outlets cater to the needs of only 11.5 per cent of the

urban poor. The States where the consumption of rice from PDS was found to be most common are AP 62.2 per cent, Karnataka 58.5 per cent, Kerala 34.6 per cent, and Tamil Nadu 78.9 per cent. The States where the PDS outlets hardly attract any buyers in the rural areas are Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal where the percentage of households consuming rice from these outlets stands at only 9, 1, 4.4, 5.8 and 12.8 per cent respectively. The Centre launched the ambitious PDS scheme to ensure availability of minimum quantity of foodgrains to the families l iving Below the Poverty Line. It was intended to benefit initially about six crore poor families in the country for whom a quantum of 72 lakh tonnes of foodgrains was earmarked annually at the rate of 10 kg per family per month. The allocation was increased from 10 kg to 20 kg from 1 April 2000. This was increased from 20 to 25 kg per family per month from July 2001. From 1 April 2002, this allocation has been further increased from 25 to 35 kg per family per month. The Central Issue Price (CIP) for BPL families is Rs 4.15 per kg for wheat and Rs 5.65 per kg for rice. This is about 45 per cent of the economic cost of the Food Corporation of India. The increased level of allocation of foodgrains for 6.52 crore BPL families is over 195.6 lakh tonnes per annum. (Pioneer 13/7/07)

Inv est on roads to alleviate poverty, says UN study (21) New Delhi : The annual report of United National Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) reveals that India should invest in developing road infrastructure rather than poverty alleviation programmes because a million rupee spent on the former leads to seven times the poverty reduction as compared to poverty alleviation programmes. The Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2007 reveals that in India "poorly targeted and governed, anti-poverty programmes could not match the simple effectiveness of building roads". In its second chapter on "Sub-regional Performance, Challenges and Policies", the report says that efficacy of poverty-alleviation programmes reveals a similar trend in China also. It says: "The logic is simple: roads are the arteries that go where poor people live, improving their l ives in concrete immediate ways: reducing the cost of input and outputs; saving precious time that the poor can spend on farm or household work; increasing the availability and accessibility of education and healthcare services in rural areas; boosting the productivity of agriculture by enabling shifts from subsistence to high-earning commercial farming; spreading access to employment opportunities in urban areas, increasing rural wages and income." Infrastructure, the report says, helps in reducing poverty because it promotes general growth, which in turn benefits the poor by improving their incomes and quality of life. The report says: "Together, rural roads and electricity improvements had a significant impact on poverty reduction in India, China, Thailand." However, the countries are increasingly becoming aware of this direct relation. In South Asia, only 65 per cent of the rural population lives within two kilometres of an all-weather road, far less than 95 per cent in East Asia. The report strongly recommends development of infrastructure, especially roads, highways and electricity. The Government, the report says, should pump in money in developing infrastructure like roads, especially in the rural sector. The report says clearly that even if the private sector does not come forward to initiate this, the Government should. In Asia's developing countries, the private sector financed less than 30 per cent of infrastructure investment, much of it was concentrated in a few countries in East Asia. (Pioneer 6/8/07)

500 million hungry people in Asia: FAO (21) NEW DELHI: “There are 820 mill ion people in the developing world, representing 17 per cent of the total population, who suffer from under-nourishment,” said the Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, Jacques Diouf, here on Monday. Speaking on ‘Agriculture Cannot Wait’ at the 60th Anniversary Lecture of India’s Independence of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dr. Diouf said there had a been a major divergence in hunger reduction performances across regions and countries. In Asia, progress had been remarkable. In India, the share of hungry people had been reduced from 39 per cent to 20 per cent, while China reduced the prevalence of hunger from 46 per cent to 12 per cent of its population. Still , more than 500 million of world’s hungry lived in Asia, corresponding to almost two-thirds of the total of the developing countries. One in four persons in India was hungry, while one in five persons in China was suffering from hunger. He said in most food-insecure countries, agriculture was crucial for income and employment generation. Numerous studies had shown that the impact of economic growth on reducing hunger and poverty depended as much on the nature of growth as on its scale and speed. The strategies for reduction of hunger must have programmes and investments focussed on hunger “hot spots.” The twin-track approach must include interventions to strengthen the productivity and incomes of the hungry and poor, while the other was to respond to immediate needs of the poor and the food-insecure. Investments in agriculture and rural

development must be increased, while equal importance should be given to private sector investment including by small farmers themselves. “In an era of globalisation, poor and food-insecure countries must be allowed to benefit from international trade. The international community must step up dramatically its efforts and stand up to its commitments to make hunger history.” “Simply, the hungry cannot wait and agriculture cannot wait,” he said. Later, Dr. Diouf met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He is also scheduled to call upon President Pratibha Patil. (The Hindu 7/8/07)

Rs 240 cr WB-aided project mooted for pov erty allev iation in NE States (21) Shillong : The Central Government has proposed a new Rs 2.4 bill ion World Bank-assisted poverty-reduction and livelihood development project for the eight North Eastern States, especially in the hilly areas inhabited by large impoverished tribal population.The project aims at empowering community institutions, local skil ls and capacities, improving community-based natural resources use and management practices, and providing critical community infrastructure, thereby creating livelihood opportunities and family income. The new programme, North Eastern Region Livelihood Project (NERPL), has been drawn on the valuable learning from a similar IFAD-supported programme in the six hill districts of Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya, which has been successfully implemented since 1999.Last year, a UN monitoring panel reviewed the six-year-old North Eastern Community Resource Management Project (NERCRMP), which noted "a marked positive change in the socio-economic condition of the tribal communities.""The NERCRMP effectively demonstrated how a visible socio-economic transformation of a community could be achieved through the active participation in decision-making and execution of plans drawn up by the people," the project leader, Moses Chalai told The Pioneer.He said the project encouraged the most vulnerable people to take control of their l ives by helping them improve their capacity to manage their natural resources they have in a way that conserve the environment and create sustainable livelihood avenues. "From a mere passive receiver of Govt funds, the villagers have become the managers of funds, and they are doing it well at that," Chalai added. The Ministry for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) apparently requested IFAD for expansion of the NERCRMP programmes to other northeastern States, but the latter could not commit more funds, as it had already launched a new livelihood project in the five districts of Meghalaya.The DoNER Ministry then approached World Bank and the latter agreed to fund the project. In Feb-March this year, the World Bank sent a preliminary mission to Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland and an appraisal Mission would soon be launched. There are 86 districts in the seven North Eastern States. Six districts were covered under the IFAD-assisted NERCRMP. The proposed project wil l target selected villages and beneficiaries in the remaining 80 districts in the seven North Eastern States. The proposed project will be implemented in four phases through a Society on the pattern of the North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Society, which was set up for the implementation of the IFAD-assisted project. (Pioneer 10/8/07)

Workshop on right to food on Saturday (21) Bhopal: A workshop on Right to Food, organised jointly by the MP State Human Rights Commission (MPSHRC) and the MP Academy of Administration, would be inaugurated by Governor Balram Jakhar on Saturday. Speaking to mediapersons on Thursday, Chairman of the MPSHRC Justice DM Dharmadhikari said that after a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Supreme Court by food campaigner and senior advocate Colin Gonzalves, a number of changes have been made in law to ensure availability of food to everyone. Justice Dharmadhikari said that the Right to Food is being equated with the Right to Life and would then be a fundamental right. He added that a demand has been made through the PIL to ensure availability of 35 kg of food grains to each Below Poverty Line family. The workshop on Saturday would be attended by campaigner for food rights Colin Gonsalves and would be addressed by Additional Chief Secretary Vinod Chowdhury and Principal Secretary Women and Child Development Prashant Mehta. The closing ceremony of the workshop would be attended by Food and Cooperatives Minister Gopal Bhargava. The closing comments would be delivered by Principal Secretary State Human Rights Commission Dr AN Asthana.(Pioneer 24/8/07)

Suspected starvation death in Capital (21) NEW DELHI: In what is su spected to be a case of hunger death, a young woman was found dead inside her house at Kalkaji here on Saturday under highly mysterious circumstances. The body of 37-year-old Neeru -- who along with her sisters Poonam (40) and Dolly (43) -- l ived in a one-room accommodation in Kalkaji was found inside her house in the morning. The Police Control Room received a call from a

neighbour of the deceased around 10-30 a.m. saying that foul smell was emanating from inside a room in their neighbourhood and the door was closed from inside. When the police team reached the spot and tried to break open the door of the house, one of the sisters opened the door. “When the door was opened we found that the two sisters were sitting beside the body of Neeru. The exact cause of death will be known after post-mortem report is received,” said a police officer, adding that Dolly and Poonam had also been admitted to a nearby hospital owing to signs of weakness. The police said that the three sisters had been living together in the house for the past several years and their parents had died more than a decade ago. Their father had sought voluntary retirement from Indian Army and later worked with Delhi Transport Corporation as well. Poonam, a Commerce graduate, who had been working with a private company in South Extension, had lost her job around six months ago. Dolly is a Post-Graduate while Neeru had studied up to Class 12. “The three did not interact much with the neighbours and their cousins, who live close by,” said a police officer. The neighbours claimed that they had even approached the police a month ago and told them that the three remained indoors for weeks together but the police did not took notice of it. (The Hindu 26/8/07) Only 30% poor in UP, Bihar benefit from poverty eli mination schemes (21) New Delhi: The Centre's poverty elimination programmes have not benefited at least 70 per cent rural households in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar - a lucid reflection of the lopsided efforts of country's poverty alleviation schemes. Those having been benefited by the poverty elimination programmes were not poor. Such startling observations have been made in the report of the Planning Commission's 'Working Group on Poverty Elimination' during the 11th Plan. "About 70 per cent of the households in the lowest two quintiles of per capita consumption had not received any coverage under the poverty elimination programmes," the committee headed by R Radhakrishnan has said in the report. Referring to the state of poverty in Bihar, the report says that the "implementation of poverty alleviation programmes in Bihar presents more or less the same picture as in Uttar Pradesh." "The percentage of beneficiary households and average size of benefit appear to be biased against the poor," the report says. The report rips apart the Government's claim over taking the benefits of poverty alleviation schemes to the poor in the State. "Not only higher percentage of households from big peasant and landlord classe s were benefited under the scheme, but also the average size of benefits was higher for these classe s," the report adds. How do the poor villagers look at the implementation of such schemes at the grassroots level? The report says: "The villagers in general said that they had to depend on some middlemen for getting the benefits of any of the Government programmes. They had to pay bribes for getting the schemes sanctioned. They complained about harassment at the hands of Government officials. The people saw them as inaccessible, inefficient and corrupt." In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, a major chunk of population lives below the poverty line. An official estimation puts the BPL population in Bihar at 4.25 crore, while in UP over 5.29 crore people live below the poverty line. According to the findings of National Sample Survey Organisation report on "Employment and Unemployment Situation in India" for 2004-05, only 537 out of every 1000 households were found to be employed in agriculture and non-agriculture activities, while the rest were labourers. In UP, the situation was found to be a little better. 678 out of a total of 1000 households were engaged in some kind of agricultural and other activities, while the rest were labourers. In terms of literacy rate, UP have 580 literates out every 1000 persons, while in Bihar only 537 persons out of 1000 are l iterate. Against this backdrop, the committee has recommended to increase public expenditure on education and health facilities, especially in the remote areas of UP, Bihar and other States as well. "Special efforts should be made to reach the hardcore poor. Provision of access to wastelands to rural poor households and groups of the poor with adequate financial support should be the part of the poverty elimination strategy," the report has suggested. (Pioneer 29/8/07)

Pov erty worry rules at CMs’ conclave (21) NEW DELHI, September 14: Vice-president Hamid Ansari said on Friday that defeating poverty remains the biggest challenge for India and called upon the states to pursue the goal of equitable distribution advocated by Mahatma Gandhi. “Dadabhai Naoroji had said ‘The greatest question before you — the question of all questions is the poverty of India. It is the rock ahead.’ A century later, the rock continues to exist,” Ansari said at the Chief Ministers’ conclave organised by the India Today group. Finance Minister P Chidambaram said: “There is no doubt in my mind that in my lifetime we can abolish abject poverty if we can sustain our high growth levels for another 20 years.” (Indian Express 15/9/07)

Shabana on hunger (21) Mumbai: “What if my mother is going to bed hungry, what if my daughter, what if my spouse, is going hungry? Then you realise how chil ling it is,” said actor-activist Shabana Azmi, before leaving for New York for a “hunger free” campaign with a special protest event to be staged on September 25. Talking to The Hindu, Ms. Azmi emphasised the need to make “hunger” an “emotive issue” and not limit it to figures. “One in four children goes to bed hungry every day. This needs to become an emotive issue,” she said, adding that the government must work to put enough food on the plate, instead of merely working on lofty ideas. The U.N. Millennium Development Goal of reducing hunger by half by 2015 is nowhere near being met, the development organisation Action Aid, which Ms. Asmi represents, points out. In fact, hunger has become more desperate, Ms. Azmi said. With 35,000 people dying of hunger every day and governments failing to meet their commitment to halve hunger, Action Aid hopes to discuss the issue in a major way at the 62nd UN General Assembly. Large infrastructure projects such as Special Economic Zones will result in greater displacement and more hunger, she said. One has to look at “whose development and at whose cost.” (The Hindu 25/9/07)

World Bank pledges a record $3.5 billion to aid poo rest nations (21) WASHINGTON: The World Bank on Thursday pledged a record $3.5 dollars to aid the world's poorest countries as it cut the interest rate on loans to big developing countries. The lowering of loan rates was a concession by the World Bank as it stepped up efforts to get some of the big borrowers such as China and Brazil to contribute to poverty-fighting efforts. The bank said it was seeking to contribute more than double the $1.5 billion it had pledged two years ago to the International Development Association (IDA), its arm which provides interest-free loans and grants to the poorest countries. "By boosting its IDA pledge by over 100 percent, the World Bank Group is putting its money where its mouth is," said Robert Zoellick, the World Bank president. "This should help us gain momentum as we urge donor countries to increase their commitment to help the 81 poorest countries, especially in Africa, through an ambitious IDA 15 replenishment," he said. Zoellick cited the example of South Africa, which had already pledged an increase of over 30 percent to support IDA. The World Bank said its board of executive directors also took "a second important step" Thursday, approving the biggest simplification and reduction in loan charges in nine years for the 79 creditworthy low-and middle-income countries that are clients and shareholders of IBRD. The reduction takes the controversial loan rates to levels last seen in 1998, before rates were raised in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis. In a teleconference with reporters, Zoellick said the World Bank executive board had decided to lower by about a quarter percentage point the rate it charges. "A number of middle-income countries have been raising this issue almost seven, eight, nine years," he said. The World Bank highlighted that, for the first time, the amount pledged to IDA is also being funded "substantially" from the income of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The IFC is a World Bank affi liate that promotes private-sector development through investment and advisory services. The Bank said it plans to expand private-sector investments in developing countries. The goal of $3.5 billion is expected to be contributed equally by IFC and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), another World Bank affiliate. About 39 of the 81 countries eligible for IDA assistance are in Africa, and the number of poor in the region has doubled over the past two decades, the World Bank said. The talks for the fundraising campaign, known as IDA 15, began in March and are expected to conclude in December. (Times of India 28/9/07)

‘India losing food security’ (21) New Delhi, Oct. 2: The birth anniversary celebrations of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi here virtually turned into an occasion for protests by farmers and farmer organisations at several places, including Rajghat and Jantar Mantar. Environmentalist and Navdanya founder Vandana Shiva called for "Anna Swaraj" on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. She expressed fear that the country was losing food security to the national and multi-national corporations. About 100 volunteers of Navdanya rall ied to Rajghat with sugarcane stems and wheat plants and offered the same at the samadhi as a mark of protest against the government’s policies which, they alleged, are taking farmers to the brink. Farmers from western Uttar Pradesh joined those at Rajghat after a five-day walkathon, titled Anna Swaraj Yatra. Farmers, who have successfully resisted the Ambanis’ takeover of their land at Dadri, walked by foot to Rajghat from Dadri. About 40 farmers from Medak district of Andhra Pradesh staged a rally from Jantar Mantar to Rajghat and returned to Jantar Mantar where two of the farmers have been sitting on hungerstrike demanding "Kisan Azadi" and a fair price for their sugarcane. Another group of farmers under the banner of Federation of Farmers’ Associations of Andhra Pradesh visited Gandhi Samadhi with

a big banner which carried a picture of a dead farmer hanging to a tree branch after committing suicide. "Our Father of the Nation had given us the message of Gram Swaraj and he has also said that the moment we are dependent on somebody else for food, we are slaves. That is nothing but the self-sufficiency in food, Anna Swaraj," Ms Shiva said. She was critical of political parties using the name of Mahatma Gandhi. "Nobody can steal Gandhi’s name even while allowing our farmers to die of hunger," she said. Addressing farmers at a gathering where former Prime Minister and Jan Morcha president V.P. Singh spoke, Ms Shiva praised the movement of "Chulha Bandh" by Bundelkhand farmers, who on an individual basis, refrained from cooking for a day. (Asian Age 3/10/07)

850-cr project under Food Security Mission (21) BHUBANESWAR: State Agriculture Department has prepared a project outlay involving Rs. 850 crores for securing the proposed fund from newly launched Central scheme National Food Security Mission (NFSM). A State-level committee headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wil l examine different aspects of the proposal before submitting it to the Centre. The Chief Secretary along with the Development Commissioner and departmental secretaries of agriculture, cooperative, animal-husbandry and planning and coordination apprised Mr. Patnaik about NFSM as well as Rastriya Krushi Vikas Yojna (RKVY) here on Saturday. About 21 out of 30 districts have been included in the scheme. Under the NFSM, cultivation of paddy would be promoted in 15 districts, including Bolangir, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Angul, Nuapada, Nayagarh, Sundargarh and Boudh. And farming of pulses will get a boost in 10 districts, including Puri, Rayagada, Bargarh, Khurda and Cuttack. Whereas in Bolangir, Keonjhar, Nayagarh and Kalahandi districts cultivation of both paddy and pulses would be taken up under the scheme. "The funds to be spent under the scheme would be fully sponsored by the Centre. The NFSM has a provision of Rs. 5000 crores. The more a State will spend, it wil l be able to secure more funds," Director of Agriculture Arabinda Padhee told reporters here. Under the NSFM, the Centre is targeting to increase production of paddy, wheat and pulses through area expansion and productivity enhancement in a sustained manner. The scheme would also help restore soil ferti lity and productivity at individual level. Orissa is among 16 States which have been chosen to get the funding under NSFM. A district, covering more than 50,000 ha in rice cultivation and having productivity less than State’s average, has been included in the scheme. Later replying to queries Agriculture Minister Surendra Nath said the Planning and Coordination Department had been asked to prepare an interim proposal within 15 days to take advantage of the scheme immediately. (The Hindu 7/10/07)

Hunger index: Pakistan, China better off (21) • India’s score on the progress indicator of the Global Hunger Index is 0.496. The country managed to reduce hunger by 8.7 since 1990 whereas the reduction target is 17.6 for the period from 1990-2015 • Libya is at the top of the list with a score of 0.87 this year whereas it had a score of 2.70 in 1990. Cuba has made the maximum progress in eradicating hunger. It has a score of 0.971 on the Global Hunger Index Progress Indicator and has already reduced to 2.20 on the index in 2007 compared to 5.90 in 1990 • “In India, economic growth in the agricultural sector has lagged considerably behind growth in other sectors over recent years. This has had a negative effect on progress in alleviating poverty and hunger in rural areas,” says the report. • The report says the lower castes and certain ethnic minorities continue to be discriminated against in society and are therefore disadvantaged with regard to educational opportunities and the labour market. • The report adds that “... in some parts of India, for instance, male family members eat first and women make do with the leftovers. Children of undernourished and anaemic mothers have a higher risk of being born underweight.” • Moreover, 40 per cent of the world’s underweight children under five l ive in India. More than half of all children with low birth weight are born in South Asia. Ranking India:94 Pakistan:88 China:47 (Indian Express 15/10/07)

Tomorrow, India will march against poverty (21) New Delhi, October 15: Twenty years after the International Day for Eradication of Poverty had been initiated, thousands of people will assemble at various places in the country on October 17 to “stand up and speak out” against poverty, according to the UN Millennium Campaign India Office here. “Around 50,000 people are expected to congregate in Bangalore while 20,000 Dalits will march to denounce their exploitation in Bhopal. Besides, 25,000 people will march from Gwalior to Delhi to meet Government officials and pledge for their right to have a land,” Minar Pimple, deputy director for Asia Millennium Campaign, said. The landless people are expected to reach the Capital on October 26. Launched in 2006, the “Stand up and Speak out” (SUSO) against poverty aims at gathering the maximum number of

people to give a worldwide visibility to the global commitment against poverty. This year, the campaign will take place on October 17, 20 years after the International Day against poverty had been initiated by the French NGO ATD Fourth World, and then recognised by the UN Assembly. “We expect to gather 40 million people across the world this time, and half of them will be in South Asia,” Pimple adds. In Delhi, the Art of Living Foundation is expecting 10,000 people in Parliament Street under the leitmotif that “promises must be kept”. The NGO founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is fighting for a peaceful and poverty-free world. Also, 200 people from across the country assembling at Rajghat will represent the nomadic tribes. Women Tribunal, that demands Government to take into account women’s issues, will gather 300 women at Indian Social Institute. The huge mobilisation aims at putting pressure on decision makers, so that they undertake concrete policies to respect the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). On Wednesday, in Bhavalpur, Pakistan, a 10-km banner, upon which more than three million people have signed to say no to poverty, will be raised. In Nepal, 4 mill ion people are expected to ask the Government to insert ‘poverty eradication’ as a social right in the constitution. In Sri Lanka, 5,00,000 people are expected to form a human chain to observe the day, Pimple said.(Indian Express 16/10/07)

NHRC wants committees to ensure right to food (21) New Delhi, Oct. 16: Doing its bit to forward the theme "right to food", which is the theme of the World Food Day this year, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), on Tuesday outlined the need for constituting committees at various levels to act as watch committees so a s to ensure Right to Food. The Commission, which has a core group on Right to Food, has come out with guidelines for constitution of such committees. NHRC has said that right to food is not only a constitutional guarantee but also a basic human right. The Commission, which monitored the starvation deaths in KBK (Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput) districts of Orissa, on remittance from the Supreme Court, has time-and-again expressed its concern on instances of starvation, large-scale malnutrition and lack of access to agencies and schemes providing food security. The Commission has observed that despite government schemes and Public Distribution System (PDS), being in place, starvation deaths continue to haunt the Indian population. In order to ensure quality execution of right to food, the Commission has recommended constitution of committees, which will monitor the access and availability of foodgrains to the eligible and most vulnerable sections of the society. The very job of these committees will be to see that the schemes are properly implemented and foodgrains are available and distributed properly. It was decided that the committee will consist three members, one each from panchayats, preferably women/SC/STs, a representative of the local NGO or other socio-cultural institutions and a government representative like Patwari or Lekhpal. The committees will perform the functions such as monitoring the availability of food, distribution of foodgrains, see that the schemes are properly implemented and not misused and reporting to the concerned authorities in the state or to the NHRC. They will also monitor the availability of foodgrains at the PDS, will see to it that it is not sold at higher prices than the government prescribed prices and collect data on the number of families living below poverty line in that particular area. (Asian Age 17/10/07)

‘Centre committed to food security’ (21) New Delhi, Oct. 16: Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has said, the government was committed to food security of the people. Keeping in view challenges of growing population and need for food security, two major programmes were launched recently to augment food production and availability. First one is the National Food Security Mission, targeted to push both production and productivity of stable foodgrains such as wheat, rice and pulses in a mission mode. The other is Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna for additional assistance by Central government as 100 per cent grant to incentivise states to take up agriculture development on priority and in a comprehensive manner with definite action plans. With such major initiatives, there will be enough production to take care of the country’s food security requirements, Mr Pawar said. Addressing the World Food Day celebrations observed every year as an International Day on October 16, the founding day of Food and Agriculture Organisation, Mr Pawar said, the Right to Food Approach complements food security in terms of food availability, accessibility and utilisation with human dignity and cultural acceptability. "We have been following a twin-track approach in this regard to strengthen productivity and livelihood at one level and implementing social safety nets for those unable to provide for themselves at another level," he said. The theme for this year is the Right to Food. Mr Pawar said, towards ensuring social safety net for food and nutritional security for the people, states interventions cover the targeted public distribution system. Under this, subsidised foodgrains are being

distributed to poorest of the poor families under Antyodaya Anna Yojna. Under various welfare schemes, more than 50 lakhs tonnes of foodgrains were distributed in 2006. To ensure that there is no adverse impact on food security in the country, the Central government maintains the required buffer stock of foodgrains as per norms, procures foodgrains at minimum support prices from the farmers and also imports wheat when required from abroad. The minister pointed out that the Central issued prices of foodgrains distributed under the targeted public distribution system have not been increased over last six years.(Asian Age 17/10/07)

Need for nutritious diet to all stressed (21) Bhubaneswar : The Orissa Krushak Samaj on Tuesday observed the World Food Day in its office premises here. The organisation felicitated some farmers and scientists for their significant contributions in the field of agriculture in the State. Moreover, the organisation's souvenir was released on the occasion. Inaugurating the function, former Chief Secretary Sahadev Sahu said the World Food Day has a special significance as it aims to ensure food security for the common man. The main problem is that many do not get the foods which are adequately nutritious. Regardless of their number, the people who are suffering from food scarcity should be provided with better quality and nutrient foods, and the State Government should chalk out a plan for food security. Presiding over the meeting, Orissa Krusha k Samaj chairman Purnachandra Mohanty said his organisation would provide all kinds of help to the farmers to improve their productivity. He also sought help of both Government and Non-governmental Organisations for betterment of the farming community. Priyabrata Swain, senior scientist of CIFA, Nanda Kishore Pradhan, agricultural scientist, Malati Devi, noted freedom fighter, Sushanta Kumar Dash, eminent genetic scientist, Rasananda Pradhan, agriculturist and social activist of Bargarh and Sarojini Moharana, popular floriculturist of Ganjam, were felicitated with mementos. OUAT Vice-Chancellor Debi Prasad Ray, APICOL chairman Balakrushna Rath, scientist Balaram Sahu, Sarat Chandra Bhadra, Prof SK Ray, former director Animal Husbandry, and Nrusingh Prasad Tripathy, Income Tax Commissioner also spoke on the occasion. (Pioneer 17/10/07)

Food Security Prog w ill increase agriculture produc tion: Minister (21) Bhubaneswar : Attending the Preparedness Meeting for National Food Security Programme (NFSP) at New Delhi on Tuesday, State Agriculture Minister Surendra Nath Nayak, while expressing concern over the gradual slowdown in food grain production and decline in agriculture GDP growth in the country over the years, exuded confidence that the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) sponsored by the Central Government would help bring the production of food grains to the required level. Citing the upward swing of the growth rate in agriculture in Orissa, which rose from -1.18 per cent during 1995-96 to 0.11 per cent during 2004-05, Nayak said that the rate of growth was slow owing to recurring natural calamities in the State. Nayak further said that the State Government is fully geared up to implement NFSM effectively in the State, as it has floated a robust institutional frame work by constituting the State Food Security Mission Executive Committee (SFSMEC) and Institute on Management of Agriculture Extension (IMAGE) as State level nodal agency and ATMA at the district level. Besides the State government has formulated projected area, production and productivity of rice and pulses from 2007-08 to 2011-12 and has also set a target. A State level general Council headed by the Chief Minister has also been formed to give thrust to NFSM programmes in the State. Nayak further said that Orissa has more than 1000 outlets for sale of seeds, fertil izers and sufficient quantities of paddy seeds, though suitable varieties of pulse seeds are not found, which has discouraged production of pulses. Nayak urged the Union Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar to put stress on area-wise thrust on agriculture production. "Districts like Bhadrak, Cuttack, Puri and Ganjam districts can be targeted for rice, winter prone inland districts for wheat, while rice-fish culture and pond-based farming should be encouraged in the State," Nayak stressed. (Pioneer 17/10/07)

Changes in Krishi Vikas Yojna eligibility norms sou ght (21) CHANDIGARH: Haryana Agriculture Minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha on Tuesday urged the Union Government to include Faridabad, Jind and Mewat districts under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) on wheat crop as these districts had a good potential to increase wheat productivity. Speaking at a meeting in New Delhi, he called for suitable changes in the eligibility norms of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY) so that Haryana could derive the benefits of this scheme. According to an official spoke sman here, Mr. Chatha said RKVY was another welcome initiative of the Centre for holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors. The formation of the State Food Security Mission Executive Committee (SFSMEC) in Hayana would accelerate the growth rate in agriculture sector. The Food

Security Mission in the State was geared towards augmenting production of food grains and generating employment opportunities in the rural areas besides raising the income of the farming community. Under the Mission, special emphasis would be laid on proper management of seeds, ferti lizers and water, he added. Mr. Chatha said gram was the main rabi pulse crop in Haryana but only five districts had been selected for pulse crop under the Mission programme. He pleaded that Mahendergarh district be also included under the NFSM on pulses.(The Hindu 15/9/07)

War of words on food security (21) NEW DELHI: A war of word s has broken out between Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and the Bharatiya Janata Party on issues related to food security, wheat import and the minimum support price for paddy. While the BJP, at a meeting of its general secretaries here on Wednesday, decided to take to the streets to demand a higher MSP for paddy on a par with the Rs.1,000 a quintal MSP for wheat, Mr. Pawar attacked the food-related policies of the National Democratic Alliance regime and blamed the Opposition-ruled States for contributing very little to the wheat procurement scheme. BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar, who has been demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the wheat imports at high prices, on Thursday said a party delegation would soon meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to demand a fair price for paddy growers. The party warned that if this was not done in time — before the sowing season — there would be a shortfall in paddy production with farmers opting for wheat. Also, it was difficult to import rice from the international market. When Mr. Javadekar was repeatedly asked what the MSP for wheat and paddy were during the NDA regime in 2003-04, he said he could not remember the figures. In Mumbai, Mr. Pawar reportedly pointed out that during its tenure from 1999 to 2004 the NDA hiked the MSP of wheat only by Rs. 50; the United Progressive All iance raised it by Rs. 350 in three years. The BJP said that in 12 States, paddy was the major crop. Although it required more water than wheat, 80 per cent of the paddy crop was entirely dependant on rain. If the government failed to revise the MSP for paddy, the party would carry out agitations in different parts of the country. (The Hindu 19/10/07)

‘Pov erty eradication w ill be a major goal’ (21) WASHINGTON: India on Sunday reminded the World Bank and the international community that the end of poverty is not imminent and poverty eradication would continue to remain a major goal for the financial body and the international development community. “...private financial flows often do not flow to the regions which are lagging or the people who are the poorest. Similarly, Trust funds are often focused on particular areas and may not encompass the entire gamut of activities required for the poorest regions,” Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said. “Both of these impact the elements of the service package that the World Bank offers. We feel that these elements would need greater focus from the Bank to ensure its continued relevance going forward,” he said in his statement to the Bank’s Development Committee. On the Doha Round, Mr. Chidambaram said it is crucial for all countries to return to negotiations with a firm commitment to resolve the remaining issues keeping in view the interests of farmers. “The discussions on agricultural issues must keep in view the interests of mill ions of subsistence farmers that cannot be equated with those of other sectors. Only a strong commitment to development and to the poor would ensure a befitting and ambitious conclusion of the Doha Round,” he said. — PTI (The Hindu 22/10/07)

Abject pov erty forces couple to self immolate; w ife dead (21) Keonjha : In a tragic incident a couple self immolated themselves because of acute poverty at Ukhunda revenue village under Jhumpura block in Keonjhar district on Monday. While the wife succumbed to her burn injuries, the husband is sti l l battling for life at hospital. Both husband, Gadadhar Mohakud (30) and wife, Sabita Mohakud (28), had regular quarrels over irregular livelihood and inability to feed their son Ashis (5) and daughter Arati (3). After they put themselves on fire, the couple were shifted to the District Headquarters Ho spital. While Sabita succumbed to her severe injuries on Tuesday afternoon, Gadadhar was sti l l battling for his l ife at the hospital. Shockingly, relatives of the couple expressed their inability to take Sabita's dead body for last rites due to paucity of funds to their village, which is just 30 km away from the district headquarters. Gadadhar's mother, Jema Mohakud is the only Below Poverty Line (BPL) card holder in the family but she stayed away from her son's family. (Pioneer 24/10/07)

Ration war spreads to Birbhum district (21) Kolkata : The Trinamool Congress continued to derive maximum milage from the empty ration shops of Birbhum district. The party youth wing on Monday successfully goaded the enraged Birbhum public to erupt in a Nandigram-like rage burning down half-a-dozen Government vehicles including those

belonging to the police and a local BDO and setting fire to a host of Government offices and ration shops. The incident took place in Luvpur, a traditionally anti-Left belt pocket in Birbhum. The police who were outnumbered resorted to teargas shelling and opened fire in which two men were reportedly injured. Nine cops including the inspector-in-charge was injured sources said leading the police to fire 26 rounds but Birbhum Police Superintendent said only six rounds were fired. The incident went out of control when the police tried to restrain a Trinamool Youth Congress rally protesting a ration dealer-food inspector nexus leading to a perennial shortage of products for the APL buyers, sources said. Reports fil tering in late in the noon said the unrest had spread to neighbouring Nadia district where the locals had started assembling in front of ration shops raising slogans. The ongoing protest against ration bungling started from Bankura district last month when hundreds of villagers had railed into a CPI(M) rally, beat up the leaders for non-availability of food grains leading to a police firing that left 15 injured. Apparently a disconcerted Marxist leadership offered varying explanations with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee blaming the food inspectors for failing to book the hoarders while his State party secretary Biman Bose blaming the rising price of onion and mustard oil across the mandis outside Bengal. "Had the inspectors taken appropriate action on time the disturbance could have been avoided," the Chief Minister had said adding he had instructed the Finance Minister to take appropriate action. Sources said that the ration dealers attacked by the angry mobs were mostly CPI(M) supporters or even local party leaders who were hand-in-glove with food inspectors. The common refrain was most ration shops were out of stock for the last several weeks as the grains were being sold in the black market. Such has been the nexus between the CPI(M) workers and black-marketers that locals complained how each dealer had to pay a huge amount ranging between Rs 7,000 and Rs 8,000 to the local party leaders every month. According to reports ration dealers submit false uti lization certificates to the food inspectors who in turn "oblige the scamsters by allowing them to sell food stocks in black market." (Pioneer 2/10/07)

Ration riots in Bengal (21) Kolkata, Oct. 2: The house of a ration dealer was torched and those of several other dealers attacked as ration riots spiralled in Birbhum district of West Bengal on Tuesday. Angry vil lagers allegedly abducted a ration dealer and torched his house at Nanoor. The situation has become so volatile that ration dealers in Birbhum and Bankura districts have threatened to surrender their dealership licences. "The villagers are baying for our blood and even the police is unable to give us protection. We are left with no option but to close our shops and surrender our dealerships," said a ration dealer whose shop was looted. The public protest against corrupt ration dealers for supplying insufficient quantities of foodgrain started a month ago in Bankura district, where two vil lagers were kil led in police firing when they attacked a panchayat office at Sonamukhi village where a CPI(M) meeting was in progress. The widespread allegation in these parts of the state is that ration dealers have not been supplying wheat and rice for months altogether. The ration rage then spread to neighbouring Birbhum, where a mob of over 2,000 villagers stormed the block development office at Labhpur on Monday, vandalised it, and set fire to several police vehicles. When the police was outnumbered, the Rapid Action Force was deployed. "When the violent mob did not disperse, the police was forced to fire six rounds," Birbhum superintendent of police S.S. Panda said. A protester, Ayub Sheikh, who was hit in the head, later died. Reports coming from the district suggest that the police firing and kil ling of Sheikh added fuel to the fire and the ration riots escalated into new areas. Mayureshwar and Nanoor were the epicentre of Tuesday’s violence. At Kirnahar, in the Nanoor police station area, a mob of over 500 villagers looted the ration shop and then set it on fire. They also looted kerosene oil from a nearby godown of a kerosene distributor. At Lautor and Nimo villages under Mayureshwar police station, rations shops were looted. The district magistrate of Birbhum, Mr T.K. Som, said mobs were launching simultaneous attacks on ration shops in different blocks. "The police is rushing to help as soon as we receive any information, but there are 929 ration shops in the district," he said. Expressing concern over the escalating violence in Birbhum, IG (law and order) Raj Kanojia said: "We are sending additional forces to contain the violence." Rattled by Monday’s attack on the Labhpur block office, IG (western range) Arun Gupta, DIG (Burdwan range) Anuj Sharma and Birbhum SP S.S. Panda met on Tuesday to review the law and order situation and identify vulnerable areas where police deployment needed to be stepped up. The police has so far arrested 29 people for attacks on ration shops. The Congress, the Trinamul Congress and the Socialist Unity Centre of India have started fishing in troubled waters. Trinamul Congress MP Mukul Roy reached Labhpur and claimed that Ayub Sheikh, who was kil led in police firing, was a party supporter. The Trinamul Congress has threatened to disrupt normal l ife in Birbhum on Wednesday. The Congress will also observe a "black day" the SUCI has called a Birbhum bandh on Thursday. (Asian Age 3/10/07)

Violence continues in Birbhum disrict (1) Kolkata: Violence continued for the second day in West Bengal’s Birbhum district on Tuesday, with locals agitating against alleged malpractices in the public distribution system. Ration dealers’ houses were set on fire and road blocks set up in various parts, following Monday’s incident in which one person was killed and several others were injured when the police fired to disperse protesting vil lagers. It is reported the vil lagers also torched a portion of the Block Development Officer’s office, a panchayat samiti office and a police vehicle. There were also reports of widespread looting and ransacking of ration shops. The situation was “potentially explosive,” said M. Sarkar, Additional District Magistrate (General). (The Hindu 3/10/07)

Attacks on ration shops spread (1) Kolkata: The continuing mob violence in West Bengal against ration shop malpractices spread to Burdwan district on Wednesday. One person was killed in the Ketugram area when police fired to disperse vil lagers who attacked ration shops in the locality. This was the second death in police firing on rampaging mobs attacking ration shops. One person was killed on Monday in Birbhum district, where the situation continued to remain tense. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who reviewed the situation at a meeting held at the State Secretariat, issued a statement in which he “strongly condemned” the attacks on ration shops. “I request the people not to take the law into their own hands or be provoked by violence and not to spread rumours,” the statement read. The government was taking action against ration dealers against whom there were complaints of malpractices, the statement added. The Congress and the Trinamool Congress have demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the alleged nexus between the CPI(M)-controlled panchayats and local ration dealers. But such a probe should not be “politically influenced” or “misused,” said Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool Congress leader. “The CBI should investigate where the food is going and why they are not reaching the targeted sections, in spite of adequate supplies being sent by the Central government,” said Manas Bhunia, leader of the Congress Legislature Party. Left Front Committee chairman Biman Bose alleged at a rally that miscreants supported by certain political parties were responsible for the incidents of violence. (The Hindu 4/10/07) Not a grain to eat as riots continue (21) Kolkata : Continuing ration riots in Birbhum, Bankura, Burdwan, Nadia and Purulia districts and a consequent strike by the ration dealers has left almost 11 lakh homes without food. "There is no fire in 11 lakh kitchens following closure of ration shops across the districts," Opposition Leader Partho Chattopa-dhyay said adding the "irresponsible Government is sitting idle and allowing people to perish in hunger." According to reports 976 ration dealers have surrendered their licenses following large-scale violence in vil lages in Birbhum districts Food Department sources said. "About 7.5 lakh APL card holders due to get rice for Rs 6.15 per kg and wheat for Rs 4.65 per kg have not received a single kilo in last one week," sources said. About 3.76 lakh BPL cardholders have also faced the same fate. But the worst hit are Annapoorna cardholders who get 10 kg of free rice in a month. The ration dealers association said they could not open their shops a s people were looting all they had and even torching their houses. (Pioneer 5/10/07)

Mamata launches 'food movement' in Birbhum (21) Kolkata : The 'food movement' that once brought the Marxists to power in West Bengal has now become a potent weapon in the hands of Trinamool Congress vying to wrest power in the State. With the vital panchayat elections round the corner, party chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday formally launched her own brand of "food movement" from Sonamukhi in Birbhum district that saw for the last a few days violent protests against hoarding by ration dealers triggering police fire and half-a-dozen deaths. The movement started even as violent mobs continued to attack ration shops and torch dealers' houses in Rampurhat, Barasol, Nalhati, Siuri, Kharasol Parui and elsewhere. While Banerjee claimed from Sonamukhi her party was spearheading the people's movement that would pave the way for the fall of the Left Government, Birbhum district CPI(M) leaders claimed the Opposition had suddenly stepped up violence with an eye on the panchayat election "to malign the Left Front. Had their complaints been genuine why this so-called spontaneous movement did not take place in the last thirty years." The Government that had come to power with vil lagers' votes was today grabbing their land and even employing hoarders to rob the poor off their food, Bannerjee said. "This movement will not stop until the Government starts a CBI probe," the Trinamool chief warned. "No one has a clue as to where the food meant for distribution among the poor through ration system is gong," Banerjee said claiming the Marxist cadres were hand-in-glove with corrupt

dealers who were hoarding grains. "This wil l be our main poll plank in the panchayat elections," she said. "Our party will launch a Statewide movement on October 8 and 9," she added. Coming down heavily on the role of police, the Trinamool chief linked Nanigram-Singur with the ongoing ration war saying the police were repeatedly being used by the ruling party to fire at "hungry, innocent villagers leading to so many deaths." But people "will revolt" in the ballot boxes "and days are not far when this Government will be thrown out of power," she thundered. The Trinamool chief is scheduled to visit Bonda Serendi in Burdwan district a, a CPI(M) stronghold, where a labourer was gunned down by the police on Wednesday. Earlier Banerjee had accused the Centre of turning a blind eye to Bengal's problems "because they are at the mercy of the Left in Delhi." She said "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is ignoring the popular upheaval because he doesn't want to buy enmity with the Marxists." (Pioneer 5/10/07)

Violence spreads to new areas in West Bengal (21) KOLKATA: The violence raging over the past week in parts of south Bengal against alleged malpractices in the public distribution system spread to new areas on Sunday, threatening to snowball into a major issue with serious political overtones. The State leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) described the violence as a “conspiracy” to destabilise the rationing system through “rumour mongering.” The Opposition parties blamed the government for its alleged failure to check widespread malpractices in the system and demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The disturbances have claimed two lives over the past week in police firing. Another person, stated to be a ration dealer, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in Bankura district on Saturday after a “people’s court” demanded that he pay a fine for allegedly sell ing rice and wheat in the black market. Fresh trouble erupted in Murshidabad and Burdwan districts on Sunday morning when houses and godowns of ration dealers were attacked and set on fire by a mob claiming to be victims of widespread malpractices in the rationing system. An office of the CPI(M) was ransacked and set on fire in the Nababhat area of Burdwan district. The local party MLA, along with several other party workers, were injured in the incident. The situation was brought under control by the police, who have set up a camp in the area. There were also reports of arson in the Khargram area of Murshidabad, where the police had to resort to baton-charge to disperse a violent mob. Parts of Birbhum, Bankura and Nadia districts that had witnessed similar scenes over the past few days remain tense. The violence continues despite an assurance from the Chief Minster last week that stern action would be taken against erring ration dealers and an appeal that people do not take law into their own hands and be misled by rumours. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who visited some of the troubled areas, described the movement against malpractices in the public distribution system as a “movement of the common people.” (The Hindu 8/10/07)

Riots spread in rural Bengal over missing food in r ation shops, CPM target of anger Kolkata, October 9: In the capital, comrades may be all worked up on George W Bush and the IAEA but here, in their electoral bastion of rural Bengal, they are battling an unprecedented breakdown in what was once considered their formidable organisational structure: the party is directly under attack in a string of “ration riots,” violence over food grain siphoned off the Public Distribution System. What started six weeks ago as a local law-and-order problem is spreading and has now touched six districts, acquiring political undertones that’s giving sleepless nights to the party and the government. For, it has brought together the Naxalites and the Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind, the same two groups that pushed the CPM against the wall in Nandigram. Today, Utpal Narasundar, the 27-year-old son of a ration dealer hanged himself after his grocery shop and rice godown were looted at a village near Nalhati in Birbhum. Utpal’s is the third suicide in a fortnight of the riots, the other two victims were ration dealers. Two villagers have been killed in police firing so far. Utpal had taken a loan from a bank to set up his grocery shop and the godown. Villagers angry at not getting ration supplies from the PDS outlet his family owned slapped a fine of Rs 27 lakh on his father Chandra Kishore. He was asked to shell out the money to each cardholder as compensation for the months they did not get their supplies. Fear has gripped several of the 20,000 ration dealers across the state, many of them having enjoyed the patronage of the ruling CPM for decades. Of the 8.35 crore ration cardholders in the state, almost 60% are APL (above poverty l ine). While the government has taken care to ensure that BPL cardholders get their supplies, it’s the APL ones who are angry. Many of them have routinely depended on the open market rather than the PDS shop for supplies but price rise has fuelled the anger: in Birbhum, one of the centres of the violence, for example, APL wheat sells for Rs 6.75 a kg while the open-market rate is Rs 13. Even Food and Civil Supplies Minister Paresh Adhikari has had to admit that there is “large-scale diversion” of grain from APL PDS to the open market. An investigation into the violence shows why the CPM has reason to be worried: •In Barjora in Bankura,

where one of the worst rioting took place, Narayan Dutta, a ration dealer, owns the only two-storied pucca building. He’s a CPM cardholder and his brother is a unit secretary while another brother owns a grocery shop. The party’s district secretary in Bankura, Amiya Patra, openly admits the nexus between the party and PDS dealers: “So far, we have been able to identify as many as seven CPM cardholders who own PDS dealerships.” •In Sian in Birbhum, a district secretariat member of the CPM was beaten up by an angry mob when he tried to defend a ration dealer. •In Burdwan again, Pradip Ta, a district secretariat member, was assaulted for trying to come to the aid of a ration dealer accused of siphoning off the grain. •In Radhamohanpur in Bankura a violent mob ransacked the venue where a CPI(M) party meeting was underway. •Riot-affected areas are also those where there’s a significant presence of Maoists and the Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind: Ranibandh, Barjora, Onda and pockets in Burdwan, Birbhum, Nadia and Murshidabad. In Nandigram, these were the same two forces that got together to force the CPM to call off its SEZ plan. •Police officials say that Naxalite fingerprints are evident in the nature of the violence — torching jeeps, godowns, shops and PDS outlets. And in the method of punishment: imposition of “fines,” considered the hallmark of Maoist groups. •Shrewdly, the Trinamool and Congress, the two main Opposition parties, have not rushed in yet leaving the field wide open for Naxalites and the Jamiat. •Cardholders are increasingly not interested in lifting food grain but, instead, want money as compensation for the months they have not got their supplies. In most places, meetings have been held and huge “fines” imposed on the dealers, many of them forced to give it in writing that they will compensate in cash. (Indian Express 10/10/07)

Mob forces son of ration dealer to hang himself (21 ) Kolkata, Oct. 9: The son of a ration dealer was virtually forced to hang himself by a mob of angry villagers after his family failed to pay money which the mob had demanded even as the ration riots continued unabated in different districts of South Bengal on Tuesday. The government admitted that the people had grievances against corrupt ration dealers and the violence was its reflection. "It is not merely a law and order problem. The government is taking strong action against irregularities and corruption in rationing system," state home secretary P.R. Roy said. This is the second instance of a suicide under the pressure and threats of villagers who are increasingly targeting corrupt ration dealers. The tragic incident took place in Shitalgram under the Nalhati police station in Birbhum. The vil lagers had been tormenting ration dealer Chandra Kishore Narsundar and his son Utpal Narsundar since Sunday when they attacked his house and shop and looted foodgrains. The villagers imposed a "fine" of Rs 26 lakhs as fine for selling foodgrains meant for distribution among the BPL and APL card holders, in the black market. He repeatedly sought police protection but police failed to come to his rescue and left him at the mercy of the vil lagers who were baying for his blood. On Tuesday, the mob returned and again demanded the money. The ration dealer expressed his inability to pay such a huge sum. While his father was pleading with the mob, Utpal sneaked out and locked himself up in his shop and hanged himself. In Paikpara of the same district, angry villagers attacked, looted and set on fire a ration shop and beat up the mother of the dealer. (Asian Age 10/10/07)

Brinda blames Centre for ration riots in West Benga l (21) New Delhi, October 12: Seeking to shift the blame to the Centre for the recent violence in some areas of West Bengal concerning supplies of foodgrain for Above Poverty Line (APL) cardholders in the public distribution system, CPI(M) Politburo member Brinda Karat has written a letter to Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar urging him to increase allocations to the state. “While there may be local factors at play in some of the areas, the main reason for the current shortages in West Bengal is the huge cuts in allocations in foodgrain in both rice and wheat for APL cardholders,” said the letter sent to the minister on Thursday. Karat said that the rice allocation til l March 2007 was 2.29 lakh tonnes per month. In April 2007, this allocation was slashed to just 7,700 tonnes—that is, just 3.36 per cent of the earlier monthly allocation. In April 2007, the wheat allocation was halved to 49,040 tonnes from 98,112 tonnes the previous year. (Indian Express 13/10/07)

Behind ration riots, Bengal politics (21) BANKURA (West Bengal), OCTOBER 16: With Durga Puja just a day away, festivity knocks on West Bengal doors. But not for some homes in this vast rural belt where ration riots have left a bitter trail of death. Ration shops and PDS dealers’ houses have been set on fire, their rice godowns looted. Three of those dealers, subjected to humiliation and threatened that they would have to pay monetary compensation amounting to lakhs, committed suicide. The Indian Express visited the homes of all of the

three, and it was clear that the violence here followed a definite, political pattern. Panchayat polls due early next year, the irregularity in the PDS supplies have brought various political forces together in a “mahajot” against the CPM: The Kundus’ ration dealership dates back to 1966. But a family trade of 41 years has suddenly become a curse for them. They first got news of the sporadic violence against ration shop dealers in the first week of October from neighbouring villages in Gangajalghati, a traditional CPM stronghold. Soon Baro Kumira was talking the same, alleging irregular ration supplies and malpractices by the dealer. By October 4, the situation had become explosive and villagers started demanding that Kundu be forced to pay each ration card holder money for the 11 months of wheat for which the supplies had allegedly not been made. That day, a mob of about 500 gathered outside the Kundu house. Family members say that panchayat member Shankar Layek of the Trinamool Congress led the charge but the group included people of all political shades —- the SUCI, BJP, Congress and also local anti-social elements. A crowd barged into the house and pulled Kundu out. As scared family members cowered inside, Kundu was abused, heckled and made to concede that he had stolen ration supplies from each cardholder’s quota and therefore would compensate them with money for 11 months’ supply. The date for payment was fixed as October 6. With about 2,250 cardholders under his dealership, Kundu’s financial liability worked out to about Rs 6 lakh. Early on October 6 morning, Biman was found hanging in the cowshed of his family home. The family l ives in shock, and shame. “We have stolen ration supplies,” admits Umapada, “but otherwise we wouldn’t survive. We never returned those who came to l ift their quota of wheat. We wanted to compensate villagers by supplying wheat to those who complained of not getting it, but they would not settle for anything less than money.” Kundu’s elder brother Bidhan keeps pointing out that they are traditional CPM supporters. One of their brothers even won a pradhan’s election on a party ticket. But when the crunch came, not a single comrade came to their rescue. “The mob that turned up before our home even had CPM people in it. We do not know where to look for protection and shelter now,” cries Bidhan. The 27-year-old son of Chandra Kishore Narasundar had just started learning the ropes of the family trade by assi sting his father, who acquired the dealership in 1975. He had 2,650 cardholders registered, of which 1,650 were below poverty l ine, 303 fell under Antodaya and two Annapurna. As ration dealers came under attack in neighbouring areas, Chandra Kishore kept insisting there were no complaints against him over supplies. But on October 5, several hundred people turned up before the ration shop and began to demonstrate against irregular supply. The crowd only dispersed after Chandra Kishore agreed to attend a “punishment meeting” at the village Kali temple ground on October 7. However, at the meeting, the story was no different. A fine of Rs 27 lakh was imposed on the Narasundar family, and the crowd subsequently went on a rampage. They first looted Chandra Kishore’s ration shop and then attacked a foodgrain godown that Utpal had set up with a bank loan. On October 9, Utpal was found hanging from the ceiling of the ration shop. …… (Indian Express 17/10/07)

PDS foodgrains problem due to cut in APL allocation s: Brinda Karat (21) NEW DELHI: Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat on Wednesday said that the problem of shortages of foodgrains in the Public Distribution System (PDS) in parts of West Bengal had occurred because of the cut in the allocations for the Above Poverty Line (APL) population by the Central government. She urged the Central government to enhance foodgrains allocations for the APL cardholders in the State “on urgent and immediate basis,” more so in view of the Puja festival in the State. Reacting to press reports quoting Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on diversion of PDS foodgrains in some parts of the State, Ms. Karat said, “While there may be local factors at play in some of the areas, including leakages in the system, the main reason for current shortages in West Bengal is the huge cuts in allocations in foodgrains, both rice and wheat, for APL cardholders.” On Tuesday, Mr. Pawar said that the allocations for APL population had been ‘rationalised’ on the basis of the off-take in the previous three years for all States, including West Bengal. However, in a letter to Mr. Pawar written on Wednesday, Ms. Karat said that she had been given to understand that the rice allocation to West Bengal till March 2007, was 2.29-lakh tonnes a month, which was slashed to 7,700 tonnes, that is just 3.36 per cent of the earlier monthly allocation. In April 2007, the wheat allocation was halved to 49,040 tonnes from 98,112 tonnes the previous year. Ms. Karat said: “The allocation to the districts has, therefore, had to be drastically reduced. In Birbhum, for example, where there have been shortages, the monthly allocation that was 10,000 tonnes had to be cut to less than one tenth. Since open market prices of foodgrains are high, APL cardholders find APL prices much more affordable and, therefore, a demand for foodgrains from the PDS increases. However, since allocations have been cut, the APL cardholders are unable to get the quotas they are entitled to.” She said that it was in anticipation of such problems that the Central government was requested to stop the cuts in allocations. For this she had written to the Minister

in July 2006 too. The West Bengal Government had also requested the Ministry through their various communications to increase the allocations to the State. “Undoubtedly, the issue of pilferage has to be dealt with but such drastic measures as being taken by Central government punish the poor which include a large number of APL card holders, for no fault of theirs,” she said. (The Hindu 18/10/07)

Alert against foodgrains diversion (21) NEW DELHI: The Union government has asked the West Bengal government to be alert against diversion of foodgrains meant for the Public Distribution System (PDS) reportedly to Bangladesh. Answering questions on Tuesday on the reported “looting” of fair price shops in some pockets of the State, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told journalists: “There have been complaints about some diversion to Bangladesh, which requires the State government to be alert. I don’t know about political agenda but definitely there is anger about diversion [of foodgrains].” He was speaking on the sidelines of a World Food Day conference. The Minister said a representative of the State met him three or four days ago and assured him that the State would step up vigil on the border and ensure that diversions were avoided. Mr. Pawar said the Centre fulfilled “100 per cent” of the State’s requirement for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) population, including the Antyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) beneficiaries. “For the Above Poverty Line (APL) population, we have taken into account the off-take of the last three years and allotted the same quantum completely [to the State].” Union Food Ministry sources told The Hindu that between April and September, the State was allotted 6.53 lakh tonnes of rice for the BPL population, including the AAY category, against which 5.33 lakh tonnes was lifted. The allocation of wheat for the BPL population, including the AAY category, was 4.34 lakh tonnes, against which the off-take was to the tune of 4.02 lakh tonnes. For the APL population, during the same period, the allocation of rice was 46,200 tonnes, against which the off-take was 54,097 tonnes. Against 3.14 lakh tonnes of wheat allocated to the State for the APL population between April and September, 2.86 lakh tonnes was lifted. Against the market price of wheat averaging Rs. 12 a kg, the PDS price was Rs 6.10 for the APL population, Rs. 4.15 for the BPL and Rs. 2 for the AAY. The PDS rice was priced at Rs. 8.30 a kg for the APL population, Rs 5.65 for the BPL and Rs. 3 for the AAY category. The huge price difference was an incentive for diversion, the sources said. (The Hindu 17/10/07)

No diversion of PDS grain to Bangla: Brinda (21) New DElhi:: CPI(M) Politburo member Brinda Karat countered Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s reported statement that PDS foodgrain was being smuggled out of West Bengal into Bangladesh, saying neither the Union Home Ministry nor the BSF or Customs had any information regarding a significant diversion. The Rajya Sabha MP has written to Pawar saying she had spoken to Home Minister Shivraj Patil “who had no such information”. She also spoke to officials of the BSF and Customs Department who also maintained that there was no significant movement of PDS foodgrains across the border. Quoting these officials, Karat said that of the 1,750-km-long border, 1,450 km was already fenced, while remaining area was heavily patrolled. Moreover, the Government had already banned rice export to Bangladesh, Karat added. Meanwhile, the West Bengal Government has decided to revamp all the monitoring committees at the block and shop levels. “On Wednesday, the CM met all officials concerned and in Thursday’s meeting, we decided to revamp the monitoring committees,” said State Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, who chaired the meeting. “The powers of Food Department officials are not being curbed. In fact, we have filled up 900 posts of food inspectors,” Dasgupta said. (Indian Express 19/10/07)

Bengal ration scandal’s high-profile face flaunts C PM contacts… (21) Kolkata, October 22: Ration shop dealers in West Bengal, under attack across the state for allegedly siphoning off food from the public distribution system, launched a statewide agitation today against a crackdown by the state government. Yet, within the CPM, there is no dearth of red faces. For, not only a large number of dealers in the firing line in Bankura, Birbhum and Burdwan — whose licences have been su spended — are CPM cardholders, the man leading the agitation is also the most prominent face of the scandal: his ration shop was sealed in July and he can’t stop flaunting his CPM credentials. He is the all-India general secretary of the Fair Price Shop Dealers’ Federation, Biswambhar Bose, and he claims high-level party patrons: CPM MPs Sitaram Yechury and Tarit Topadar. He even cites Brinda Karat as one of his key mentors. While Yechury was not available for comment, Karat, when contacted, said: “I haven’t had any consultations with him (Biswambhar) for several months now.” She said that members of her party and the CPI did attend the federation’s rallies in Delhi. “They gave me several memoranda of the problems they have been facing,” said Karat. Karat has blamed the Centre for the ration riots claiming

the root cause is the drop in allocation of wheat and rice to APL (Above Poverty Line) cardholders in the state. Consider the alleged irregularities unearthed in relation to Biswambhar Bose’s ration dealership by the state Directorate of Rationing: • Biswambhar Bose owns dealerships for three ration shop outlets in the city’s Salt Lake area. Total ration card strength: over 30,000 when the average for a dealer is between 3000 and 7000. “For a single dealer to have 30,000 ration cards is a miracle, it points to political clout,” says a senior official of the Food and Supplies department. • Trouble began when Bose applied for a dealership for his son for a ration shop in the Mahishbathan area in the outskirt s of Salt Lake which had fallen vacant when a dealer fled after intimidation by local criminals. • During scrutiny of this application, officials found that Bose’s son, Biswajit Bose, had mentioned AE 809 Salt Lake as his residential address on his ration card. • That address belongs to Deputy Director of Procurement and Supplies Asim Bose. • Asim Bose denies that Biswajit Bose was a ever a resident there. And claims he “doesn’t know him at all,” • Officials are now contemplating fi ling criminal cases against the father-son duo — the dealer who issued Biswajit Bose his ration card has been suspended. • Biswambhar Bose refused to furnish stock registers and daily sale records to officials. When pressed, he reportedly produced a “police case diary” of lost documents that was subsequently found to be allegedly fudged. • For, the police case was recorded on February 2, 2007, while officers discovered new registers dated January 29, 2007. How could the new registers be opened before the old ones got lost? Bose had no answer. • An official check found several irregularities in registers and evidence of supplies being siphoned off: several ration cardholders, against whom supplies had been booked, denied having lifted any stock. When contacted by The Indian Express, Biswambhar Bose said: “In Salt Lake, so many people stay as paying guests. What’s the harm if my son’s address i s the residence of an officer? Officially, the officer cannot do so, that’s why he is denying it.” When told about the findings of the official probe, he said: “All are flimsy charges and I wil l explain to you later. Now I am busy in a meeting with Biman Bose, the CPM state secretary, regarding our agitation.”………...(Indian Express 23/10/07)

Concerned for poorest of poor? Set own house in ord er: Cong to Left (21) NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 22: Launching a blistering attack on the Left over the food riots in West Bengal, the Congress today expressed “serious concern” saying that the state government has to urgently address the legitimate concerns of the deprived and the needy. “The riots reflect the enormous deficiencies in the availability, distribution, pricing and regulatory systems in that state. Those who profess concern for the poorest of the poor should immediately set their own house in order,” Congress spoke sperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told a press conference. Arguably the most stinging criticism of the Left from the Congress’s official platform since the two came together to form the UPA Government in 2004, the statement comes at a time when the Left has upped the ante on the Indo-US nuclear deal and the rise in prices of essential commodities. “It is an anachronism to even talk of food riots in a country which is proud to flaunt a booming economy, which rightfully seeks its true place in the community of nations,” said Singhvi. The Congress and the UPA government, he said, are ever ready to extend all assistance and facilitation for the deprived segment. “But the state government can neither abdicate nor transfer its vital role and responsibility in that regard. All other slogans, shibboleths and controversies are secondary compared to the basic food needs of the people of West Bengal,” he said. The party also attacked the BJP and its leader L K Advani for demanding enhancement of minimum support price for paddy. Charging the Opposition with a “complete lack of understanding of agriculture”, the Congress spoke sperson said that during the six years of NDA regime the MSP of paddy increased by Rs 10 per quintal per year. Between May 2004 and now, the UPA has increased the MSP by Rs 300 per quintal. “It shows that Mr Advani’s lament is opportunistic and hypocritical. The BJP’s fake concern is also proved by the fact that just over the last year, this government has increased the price by over Rs 105 per quintal whereas the recommended increase by the Pricing Committee was Rs 65,” said Singhvi.(Indian Express 23/10/07)

Left attacks Cong criticism over ration riots in Be ngal (21) New Delhi, October 23: Stung by the Congress’s attack over the food riots in West Bengal, the CPI(M) today sought to blame the Opposition parties including the Congress and the Trinamool Congress for the trouble. Terming the Congress’s criticism of the Left Front Government as “intemperate” and “il l-informed”, the CPI(M) Politburo said in a statement today: “There are no food riots in West Bengal although some elements who want a mahajot are doing everything possible to incite violence on the issue of ration distribution so as to disrupt the entire system.” The mahajot, in terms of West Bengal political parlance, refers to a likely alliance of the Congress and the Trinamool against the Left Front. While the West Bengal government has taken stringent measures to end corruption in the system, as evident by the

large number of raids and arrests over the last year, the major problem is the huge cuts in allocations to the APL sections by the Central Government bringing it down to just over three per cent of the initial allocation, said the Politburo. Referring to the Congress statement that it is an anachronism to even talk of food riots in a country which proudly flaunts a booming economy, the CPI(M) said: “It is an indication of the total disconnect between the Congress perceptions and the reality of widespread poverty.” Unfortunately, in the “booming economy”, 3,500 tribal children in five districts of Maharashtra have died due to malnutrition in the last year, said the Politburo statement “The Congress would do well to also study the recent report of the National Family Health Service which shows that malnutrition has increased in the last few years. Indeed, India has the highest number of malnourished people in the whole world. This is the reason why the CPI(M) has been demanding a reversal of food policies from the targeted system to a universal system of PDS as recommended by the official committee,” the statement added. (Indian Express 24/10/07)

Ration fury erupts again, cops fire to disperse pro testers (21) Kolkata : Notwithstanding Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's assurance to ration dealers for protecting their lives and property, the public outburst against corrupt dealers continued unabated even on Wednesday with protesters attacking and torching godowns in Swarupnagar in north 24 Parganas forcing the police to lathicharge and fire at the unruly mob. More than a dozen villagers and two cops were injured in the skirmish as the police fired five rounds in the air after a 2,000 strong mob attacked a sub-dealer's house, looted and torched his godown. The incident occurred barely 24 hours after a meeting between the ration dealers' organisations and the Government where both the Chief Minister and Food Minister Paresh Adhikary asked the dealers not to go in for a mass surrender of licenses and assured them of full protection. The State has 20,372 ration dealers out of which about 400 had submitted their resignations and more were in the process of doing so, making the Government helpless in the face of rising demand for PDS supplies. "The Government infrastructure is not so strong as to handle the enormous demand which has increased on account of post-monsoon floods and damage of crops," a senior Food Department official said adding that the Government had to depend on the dealers and at the same time ensure a smooth supply because there was a considerable discontent among the public. Adhikary, however, said that assurances apart, the Government would continue its drive against corrupt ration dealers. The Government's appeal came in the wake of dealers' submitting a memorandum asking for protection against attacks a s also demanding an increase in commission. The Food Minister said, "The ongoing probe against corrupt dealers and providing protection to them were two different issues." The Government, he said, was also looking into their grievances against the inadequate transport system and a low commission structure. A committee headed by Director General of Food Supplies RMP Jamir was looking into the whole issue of providing a smooth rationing system, the Minister, also a Forward Bloc leader said. In a parallel development, unnerved by the public outcry unprecedented in 30 years of Marxist rule, the CPI(M) leadership is reportedly finalising a plan to deal with the cadre-inspector-dealer nexus. While the general refrain is that as in the case of awarding petrol pump dealerships, the PDS dealerships also go to people either close to the ruling party or the local leaders themselves. The State CPI(M) leadership wants to de-link the cadre from the PDS system "as far as possible", inside sources said refusing to comment on the reported close links of a top dealers' association member with Politburo member Brinda Karat. In a related development, Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee renewed her demand for a CBI probe into the ration scandal. According to the Trinamool leader "unlike in other cases, the Centre had full right to order a CBI probe in the PDS irregularities as the PDS foodgrains were supplied by the Central Government", Banerjee said, adding her party would soon launch a mass movement against PDS irregularities. The Marxist leadership however said that though there were lapses in the ration system with a huge shortage of manpower, and some amount of corruption in the interior areas, the Opposition was trying to take advantage of the situation by attempting a collapse of the PDS system so as to gain narrow political mileage. (Pioneer 25/10/07)

Globalisation helps India attack poverty: Chris Pat ten (21) NEW DELHI: Lord Chris Patten, Chancellor of the University of Oxford and former Governor of Hong Kong, on Thursday said globalisation that triggered the flow of investments and growth in the developing nations brought millions out of poverty, particularly in India and China. After the Indian economy opened up, the level of poverty in the country declined, and had the reforms been pursued further and faster, the results would have been better. The untapped potential of the economy remained and there was immense scope for improvement in the bureaucracy and labour reforms in order to sustain the economic

reforms. Lord Patten was delivering the Madhavrao Scindia Memorial Lecture on “Globalisation — Friend or Foe?” here. It was proved that nations with better mass educated and trained workforce benefited more from globalisation. It also led to a rise in inequality between the urban and rural populations and between the haves and have-nots. The need was to ensure that the benefits of globalisation also helped in improving social parameters and states should be more accountable to their people. If the economic process of globalisation continued to alienate people and increase social disparity, problems across the globe would grow further. If globalisation increased competition, it also promoted protectionism and increased the divide between the young and the old. Globalisation was not only about choice but also about more choices than one could handle. However, the more radical lot thought that it was creating a lack of faith among human beings, Lord Patten said. Underlining the need for greater cooperation among states, Lord Patten said even if the United States had the will to provide leadership, it should not consider itself the only kid on the block. The U.S. status as the only superpower was not under threat by the growing power of India and China. Shared leadership with China and India along with Europe was what the world needed to find solutions to its problems. Nations should exercise sovereignty more cooperatively, he said. Referring to the growing opposition by the West to migration, Lord Patten said he was in favour of a controlled movement. Citing the examples of how Britain and the U.S. were benefiting from Indian migrants and their children, he said 30 per cent of the doctors and paramedics in Britain belonged to the Indian diaspora, while Indians accounted for one-third of those working in the U.S. space programmes. (The Hindu 2/11/07)

Gujarat, AP, Kerala emerge as role models in pov ert y elimination (21) New Delhi: The Centre looks set to replicate the poverty alleviation efforts made by Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala at the national level in the 11th Five-Year Plan. The Working Group on Poverty Elimination in the report has recommended the initiatives of the three Governments as the model for poverty eradication. While Andhra Pradesh has been eulogised for effectively addressing the problem of poverty through self-help groups (SHGs), Kerala's Kudumbashree model has also been found to be equally effective. The Working Group has appreciated Gujarat Government's efforts to target the poorest among poor on priority basis to eliminate poverty. Referring to the SHG model of Andhra Pradesh Government, the experts have commented that the poor have tremendous potential to help themselves. "The poor have demonstrated that when adequate skills and inputs in community organisation, management and action are provided they can shape their destinies," the report said. Among the three models, though each of them having own distinct merits, the scale seems to be heavily til ted in favour of Andhra Pradesh. "Three models for poverty alleviation have been suggested by the Working Group. The Centre is in favour of adopting a model incorporating the merits of all the three models," an official at the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation said. As per an estimate, the poverty level has declined by 0.64 per cent per annum in the last decade and the rate of poverty alleviation thus has been very slow as compared to the earlier decade. "At this rate, it wil l take more than six decades to bring even 50 per cent of the BPL families above poverty," an official said. According to officials, Kudumbashree model of Kerala focuses on building organisation of the poor under the umbrella of the local self-Government. It is a three-tier organisation, namely, neighbourhood groups, area development societies and community based organisations. "This model of poverty elimination could be tried out in West Bengal and Northeastern States where the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) and local community organisations are strong. This model is based on the support of historically strong PRIs," the Working Group has stated in the report. The individual household model of Gujarat takes into account the multi-dimensional nature of poverty. It has used 13 score-based socio-economic parameters for assessing the poverty level of each household. Then, it groups them into poor and very poor, and prioritises the poverty alleviation programmes by putting the poorest at the top. "Equipped with a very systematic computerised ordinal list of the poor identified on the basis of a vector of multi-dimensional indicators of basic deprivations, the Gujarat approach of poverty alleviation programme is oriented towards assistance to individual households," the Working Group has stated in the report. Unlike other States, AP is fighting out the menace of poverty through AP District Poverty Initiatives Project (APDPIP), a Rs 600 crore World Bank supported poverty elimination project implemented in six most backward districts. "The project planning and implementation takes into consideration the opportunity, empowerment and security framework for poverty alleviation. The initiative promotes people's projects, and they play a decisive role in shaping their own destinies," an official said. (Pioneer 14/11/07) National Food Security Mission takes off (21)

NEW DELHI: With the release of the first instalment of funds this year, the National Food Security Mission has taken off, according to Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. It aims at increasing production of rice by 10 million tonnes, wheat by eight million tonnes and pulses by two mill ion tonnes in the next four years. The Mission executive committee met last month to approve the annual action plans of the States concerned. Following that, ground-level activity started for the winter cropping season, Mr. Pawar told the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry on Thursday. The Rs. 4,882-crore scheme was launched recently following a resolution adopted at a special meeting of the National Development Council on agriculture. The Mission was launched in 305 districts in 16 States — Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Rajasthan. These districts had potential for high rise in productivity. The strategy was to bridge yield gaps by introducing modern technologies and improved agronomic practices. (The Hindu 3/11/07)

“Landlessness true index of pov erty” (21) NEW DELHI: More than 15 million rural households in India are landless. Another 45 million rural families own some land, less than 0.10 acre each, which is hardly enough to make them self-sufficient, let alone generate a profit. To benefit landless farm workers and small farmers, most States either prohibit or restrict renting of farmland. Where the law prohibits tenancy, the practice continues informally with the il legal tenants receiving no recognition or protection under the law. In a research done by the Washington-based Rural Development Institute (RDI), it has been found that rental restrictions have backfired and are preventing poor families from accessing land. Plots larger than 1,300 square feet generally provide the most economic and social benefits per square foot. Functionally landless, agricultural labourer families which own a plot typically derive important livelihood benefits such as improved nutrition (microfield plots averaging 0.18 acre and ranging from 0.07 to 0.38 acre provided approximately 18 to 91 per cent of the families’ grain requirements), income, place for residence, enhanced social status and access to credit, and bargaining leverage in labour markets. The survey suggests that 340 million people in India are dependent largely on agricultural wage labour, $1 or less a day. Global research shows that landlessne ss is the best predicator of poverty in India — a much better predicator than either ill iteracy or membership of a traditionally “untouchable” caste. Obtaining property rights can positively impact women’s l ives, including increasing physical and economic security, and enhancing wellbeing and status in marriage and community. A cessation of domestic violence can be traced (at least in part) to the receipt of property rights in some cases, says the survey. The RDI is working with non-governmental organisations and government partners for changing policy and legislation to require that land be granted jointly to husbands and wives or independently to women. Owning land, women are empowered and income is more likely to improve the welfare of the family. West Bengal, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh recently budgeted over $11 million to provide landless families with microplots, on which they can build shelter and cultivate a home garden for family diet and income. (The Hindu 9/12/07)

UP man sells 2 sons to save 3 others (21) Lucknow, Dec. 10: Driven by poverty, a rickshaw puller in Banda district has sold off his two sons for Rs 2000 each. "Yes I have sold my sons —four-month-old Chandan and eight-year-old Shankar, for Rs 2,000 each. With this money, I can now buy food for my wife and three other children who have not eaten a morsel since the past four days. Even Chandan and Shankar wil l get food to eat in their new homes," says Govind, the father, without a trace of emotion in his voice. Govind, a resident of Kailashpuri locality in Banda district, works as a rickshaw puller to earn a living for his family that comprises wife Gita and five children. Since the past one fortnight, Govind was down with viral fever and could not go out to work. "I was unwell and we ran out of money. My wife, who delivered a son four months ago, is also unwell and cannot work. Since the past four days, we did not have a morsel to eat and there was no one to help us either. One of our acquaintances Raja Bhaiyya and his wife Kiran did not have a child, and they offered to adopt four-month-old Chandan. I though it would be better, because in any case, Chandan would have died without food. Raja Bhaiyya gave me Rs 2000 after the adoption papers were signed," says Govind. A day later, one Bhaiyadeen offered to "adopt" Shankar, 8, and Govind agreed. Bhaiyadeen gave Rs 3000 but deducted Rs one thousand that Govind had taken as loan earlier. Incidentally, though Govind qualifies for a BPL family status, he does not posse ss either a BPL card or an Antyoday/ Annapurna card that could get him government benefits. "After the story of my children being sold off appeared in a local

newspaper, some officials came to meet me but I told them that I had no option before me," he added. "By giving away two of my children, I have saved their lives as well as the lives of my wife and my three other children. If I had not done that, who would have been responsible for our deaths?" he asks. And this is a question that no one seems to have an answer. (Asian Age 11/12/07)

Manmohan warns of impending problem on food securit y front (21) NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday cautioned that availability of basic food items and their prices could come under increasing pressure, and India could be affected by “the clouds on the global financial market” and a slowdown in the U.S. and other leading economies. In his opening remarks at the National Development Council meeting, convened here to approve the Eleventh Plan draft, Dr. Singh pointed out that there was need for enhancing stocks of foodgrains and considering buffer stocks for pulses and edible oils. “I will be fail ing in my duty if I do not draw your attention to the impending problem of food security. Global trends in food production and prices and our patterns of consumption are going to put increasing pressure on both the availabil ity and prices of basic food items.” The Prime Minister expressed confidence that the Eleventh Plan would succeed in achieving the targeted 10 per cent growth by the terminal year but, at the same time, cautioned about the negative global developments. “There are some clouds on global financial markets following the sub-prime lending crisis. There are worries that the growth of the U.S. and other leading economies may slow down and some may even go into recession.” This could impact the country’s exports as well as capital flows, as India’s external sector now accounted for almost 40 per cent of the GDP (gross domestic product). Hence, “we cannot be fully immune to international developments.” Dr. Singh pointed to subsidies and the power sector as major areas of concern, and asked the States to work in tandem with the Centre to ensure that subsidies were targeted at the actually needy. He warned that regional disparity and the increasing rural-urban divide, coupled with poverty, could lead to lopsided development. It was to guard against this that the Eleventh Plan allocated more than 50 per cent of the gross budgetary support (GBS) to the key sectors of agriculture, health and education. “We need to ensure that the quality of education provided in our rural areas, the health service in our rural areas and the infrastructure in rural areas are all of the same quality and standard as those available in the urban areas. This is absolutely essential if we have to mitigate impoverishment and large-scale migration from rural areas.” (The Hindu 20/12/07)

Rev iew pov erty estimate process: CMs at NDC (21) New Delhi, December 19: With many chief ministers at the National Development Council meet voicing concerns over the process of poverty estimation in the country, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia assured on Wednesday that the matter was already “under consideration” and a group headed by economist Suresh Tendulkar would submit a report “very shortly”. As allocations are made to below poverty line families on the basis of poverty estimates provided by National Sample Survey Organisation, starting with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal — the CM of one of the richer states in the country — pointed out that at “present BPL families are defined in minimalist terms”. “The definition of poverty and consequently for BPL families which was given in the mid-seventies needs to be revisited,” Badal said at the NDC meet. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar even went a step further when he called for a special NDC on poverty. This was, however, not accepted. Even Gujarat CM Narendra Modi — again a rich state — called for a review of the entire process of poverty estimation to allocation. Ahluwalia said that the Government would “take a view on this important issue based on the Tendulkar report’s findings and recommendations”. Apart from poverty, before approving the Plan, the PM set up two task forces and some special committees to address the states’ concerns. These include: •a task force on irrigation to address concerns and devise a new approach to implement irrigation projects •a task force to address problems of hil l states and hill areas to address their concerns arising on account of locational peculiarities • an expert group to speed up statutory clearances for industrial and infrastructure projects •a committee under Planning Commission to address some of the specific concerns of Northern-Eastern states The Prime Minister also asked the Power Ministry to speed up sanctioning processe s to meet rural electrification targets. •V S Achuthanandan: There is a “serious difference with the entire approach and outlook of the Draft Plan”. In the Kerala Government’s view “supply-side economics within a neo-liberal regime” would never overcome disparities, but will only accentuate them. “A policy of control over financial flows; of enlarging the domestic market through a boost to peasant agriculture by making it remunerative; of instituting a relatively egalitarian pattern of landownership through appropriate land reforms; and of enhancing the purchasing power in the hands of the poor by taxing the rich who are in the process of becoming super-rich, is in our view the preconditions

for curbing the rampant growth in inequalities and the pervasive immiserisation that currently characterises Indian society,” he said. •Buddhadeb BhattAcharjee: “The investment in infrastructure has been proposed at 5 per cent of GDP from 2006-7 to 2011-12. To achieve an annual growth rate of 9 per cent, we have to invest much more.” On SEZs, he said: “As the minimum land requirement is prescribed, there should be an upper ceiling of land for a particular type of SEZ. Within that ceiling, percentage of land area to be compulsorily util ised for industries as against other uses should also be carefully worked out and prescribed.” (Indian Express 20/12/07)

Malnutrition worse than sub-Saharan Africa (21) NEW DELHI: Here is a macro view of the health crisis the failing public distribution system is causing in the country. The nutritional security that PDS was supposed to provide to the poor has failed to work as a blanket covering the vulnerable, as it was envisioned. The number of BPL cards is inadequate and the basis of setting the poverty l ine is questionable, the special commissioners appointed by the Supreme Court on food security told the court recently. They have correlated the fail ing PDS coverage with the high levels of food insecurity in the country. A staggering 46% of children in India are malnourished. "This is completely unacceptable since it is double the rate of malnutrition for sub-Saharan Africa," the report said. They pointed out that the per capita availabil ity of cereals had declined in direct correlation with reduced offtake of PDS in the country. "The steepest decline in availability of foodgrain in recent years is from 1997. This is the year when the government moved from a universal public distribution system when foodgrain was available at subsidised rates for the entire population to a system of targeting it to Below Poverty Line families on basis of the poverty line drawn by Planning Commission," the report to the apex court said. This trend, the commissioners told the court, stood true across states as well as the rural-urban divide, proving that the poor in urban India fared no better than the rural impoverished. The commissioners have recommended that the poverty l ine for urban areas be increased to include people spending upto Rs 1,120 per month and in rural areas to Rs 615. The report also pointed out that whereas 87.5% of the richest lot had access to some or the other kind of ration card, 16.8% of them had secured BPL cards for themselves. The ones that should have been covered completely — in the poorest quintile of the Indian population — only 49% families posse ss either BPL or AAY cards. (Times of India 22/12/07)

Rot in PDS: Ov er 2 cr ghost cards (21) NEW DELHI: It has been one of India's worst kept secrets. But now, a recent study has put the number of "ghost" public distribution system cards at a staggering 2.3 crore and, what is even more damning, revealed that as many as 1.21 crore "deserving" poor have been left out of the food security umbrella. So, the PDS or the "ration card" scam is actually a massive double whammy. Not only do a huge number of fake cards point to diversion of the PDS subsidized foodgrain, but the leaking system is bypassing those who are in dire need of state support. While the government is importing foodgrain to maintain buffer stocks, the delivery system is falling wide off the mark. The study, conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), has provided evidence to confirm what senior ministers l ike P Chidambaram and Sharad Pawar have been claiming — that foodgrain is being diverted to the black market and may even be smuggled into Bangladesh. A back of the envelope calculation shows the economic dimensions of the PDS fiddle. If the entitlement to 35kg of foodgrain, comprising wheat and rice, for every family under PDS is taken into account, the ghost cards can represent a potential diversion of 966 crore tonnes of foodgrain each year. There is a very real fallout of the ghost cards despite the NCAER report, even in the face of its own findings, claiming the system is working "quite satisfactorily". The finance minister, for one, certainly does not agree. On Wednesday, Chidambaram told the National Development Council that PDS "could become an albatross around our neck and an opportunity for rent seekers to enrich themselves... about 58% of subsidised grain does not reach the target group, of which a little over 36% is siphoned off the supply chain".Various other reports, commissioned by the Supreme Court and government, seem to have been validated by the recent NCAER data. The study looks to make things a little less bleak by not accounting for the ghost cards when calculating the extent of diversion. But the 2.3 crore figure cannot be wished away. Uttar Pradesh has issued 1.11 crore more cards than it should have, NCAER feels. Rajasthan has an excess 24 lakh cards and Gujarat and Haryana have more than 10 lakh ghost cards each. A ghost card can be used either by an undeserving beneficiary to buy cheap grain or just be diverted. In either case, the purpose of PDS to provide nutritional security to the poor is defeated. The report found that the rich had been given the lowest income group ration cards — AAY cards — in 70% of the cases in the Northeast and in 30-35% of the cases in other states. Even people who got their PDS supply of wheat and rice did not pay the stipulated price. In the six states that

NCAER surveyed, not once in the six months of the study's duration did people purchase grain at the fixed rate. In Rajasthan, the people paid at times 35% more than the prescribed rate for wheat, the staple diet in the state. This is a sign of not only rampant corruption but also puts the cheap foodgrain out of reach of those who need it as some people complained that they couldn't afford the rations even at subsidized rates. The "premium" introduced by unscrupulous Fair Price Shop owners is bound to make the really poor more vulnerable. Of the six states surveyed, the study found Bihar to be worst off. Almost 90% households in case of rice and 70% in case of wheat complained of impurity, insect-infested supply and broken grain. (Times of India 22/12/07)

'Food security first, w ill import wheat at any pric e' (21) NEW DELHI: Government on Friday said it would not compromise on the issue of food security even if it has to pay a higher price for import. "We took a decision that the entire matter wil l be handled by STC. I am not fully aware abo-ut what is happening except what I know about the international market," agriculture and food minister Sharad Pawar said while replying to a query on whether India would import wheat at a higher price offered by global suppliers in the recent STC tender. When asked about whether STC should go ahead with the tender, Pawar said: "As I said many times earlier, in Parliament also, it is a question of food security. Unless and until there is enough stock, we are not in a position to comprise on the issue of buffer stock level." STC has received three bids in the range of 460-580 dollars per tonne under its tender for wheat import. It would soon decide whether to import the foodgrain at such an exorbitant rate. PEC had purchased 1.5 lakh tons at 397 dollars per tonne. The minister expressed confidence that the buffer stock position was comfortable till the next season. (Times of India 22/12/07)