Socio Research & Reform Foundation

BRICS to launch a new Development Bank

Posted on February 1, 2013 by SRRF

BRICS (consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is planning to launch a new Development Bank. The idea formally launched last March in a summit meeting of the leaders of the five emerging economies.

Presently a working Group has been set up, which will submit a report to the five finance ministers of the country, who will work on the final draft, before submitting it to the heads of the Govts. coming March at the summit in Pretoria in South Africa. While initially the World Bank was a bit doubtful of its viability has now officially stated that it will work in partnership with any such Bank. There are a number of challenges, including conflicting interests. For example China has been promoting the international status of its currency, Yuaan. Brazil already has a large development Bank, while India wishes to bring in more capital in the country. However consensus is emerging on a number of other issues, like the amount that each country will commit to the Bank. The Bank is likely to have a committed capital of around $240-250 billions. Further other areas where the Bank will be hosted is yet to be decided, though it is decided that it will be one of the BRICS country.

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Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

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Improvements in Economic Front – Census 2011

Posted on January 26, 2013 by SRRF

Household census of 2011 has thrown some interesting details, which indicates a definite progress in standard of living alongwith several contradictions. Here are a few facts for you to chew upoin:

Total number of houses in the country 26.93 crores, of which almost 2.5 crores are vacant.
29% of the houses counted have become sturdier with concrete roof. In 2001 this was only around 19.8%.
It may be noted that 18% houses do not have any specified assets (radio, TV, computer, phone, means of transport including a bicycle).
63.2% own telephone connection up from mere 9.1% in 2001.
In 2001 half of the Indian households did not own any of the specified mode of communication, By 2010 as mentioned 63.2% own telephone connections, 47.2% own television, 19.9% own radio / transistors.
Only 9% households own computers. Here there is a big divide between rural / urban. 20% households in urban areas own computers, while only 5% in rural areas. Of the 9% owning computers only 6% have internet connection. However with internet connection available in large number of mobiles, perhaps figure for interconnectivity needs reconsideration.

And the contradictions:

Only 32% of household have access to treated water. 33.5% still rely on hand-pump water.
67% of households have electricity as the main source for lighting, while as many as 31% still rely on kerosene.
Still 53.1% households do not access to toilets. (also see our earlier post on this http://blog.srr-foundation.org/?p=737 )
41.6% still do not have bathing facility in their houses, while another 16.4% have bathing facility but it is not covered.
Only 18.1% have closed drainage facility, 33% have open drainage, while almost 50% have no drainage in the houses.
While 28.5% have LPG/PNG connections, 49% use firewood.
With all the talk of financial inclusion, with more than 41% households not using any banking facility, challenge remains huge.

The above facts give you enormity of the tasks that any Govt faces in trying to reach out or getting those benefits to people.

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Socio Research & Reform Foundation (NGO)
512 A, Deepshikha,
8 Rajendra Place,
New Delhi – 110008

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Development Indicators Comparison – UNICEF 2012

Posted on January 21, 2013 by SRRF

Unicef’s report State of the World’s Children 2012 has been out. It is a good reference point for us to see where India stands in terms of important indicators relating to children. Here are some important facts.

Almost half the world’s children now live in urban areas (43%). Considering most of these children belong to low socio-economic background, people who have migrated from rural areas in search of jobs and hence the children of such families are likely to face harsh environments living in slums, or similar backgrounds, such as lack of access to adequate to water, sanitation (causing infectious and other health related issues), secure tenure (causing anxiety and insecurity within the family environment), poor quality of housing and adequate living space.
On some of the development indicators, India’s position is given comparing with some of the other countries, with similar or worse socio-economic backgrounds.

Development Indicator/ (Position from bottom)	India	Pakistan	S.Africa	Egypt	Viet Nam
Infant Mortality Rate (Under 1 Yr)	48	70	41	19	19
Under 5 yr Mortality Rate	63 (46)	87 (33)	57 (51)	22 (91)	23 (90)
Neo-natal (Mother) Mortality Rate	32	41	18	9	12
Annual No. of Births (000’s)	27165	4741	1059	1881	1467
Gross National Income per capita (US$)	1696	1050	6100	2340	1100
% share of National Income 2000-2010
Lowest earning 40% population Highest earning 20% population	19% 45%	21% 42%	9% 63%	22% 42%	18% 45%
Life Expectancy at Birth	65	65	52	73	75
Total Adult Literacy Rate	63%	56%	89%	66%	93%
Primary School Net Enrolment Ratio	97%	66%	90%	95%	NA

Anyone wanting to see full report click on link http://www.unicef.org/sowc/files/SOWC_2012-Main_Report_EN_21Dec2011.pdf

________________________________
Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

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Prisons – Places of Reform or Hotbed of crime?

Posted on January 16, 2013 by SRRF

All of us are aware of the overcrowding in the prisons. A large amount of population made up in these prisons is of Undertrials.

At the end of 2007, almost 2/3rd (66.6%) of all inmates in prisons in various parts of India were under-trials. As per a recent data released for Tihar jail for 2011 this figure was as high as 73.5%.
A large number of these persons are those who could not afford a bail, since they belong to poor families, and could not find / afford sureties.
A study undertaken by Raman Nanda for PUCL found several malpractices in jails. It found that young vagabond girls, either orphans or without any homes, often picked up on petty charges / vagrancy (Awaragardi) (under S. 169 of IPC) are bailed out by single male warders / police officials on understanding that they would cohabit them. The study points out several pitiful cases of sexual abuse of such young girls.
It also quotes of instances where even young boys (who have no roots in the city / state) are picked up on petty charges and once charged are made to do all menial work. They have no facility in the prison and treated more like slaves.
Some young undertrials alleged that even if they manage to get bail, but since they come to court regularly for attending their trials, police picks them first if there is any incident in their locality.
Yet another allegation is that often police will demand hafta from them, and if they do not pay are thrown inside jails on some petty charges, while the ones who pay are allowed to go scot free, even if they are commiting crimes simply because they are paying regular hafta.
One of the major reasons for these large undertrials is simply because their cases are languishing in the courts for years together. Since courts have failed to deliver timely justice, perhaps releasing under-trials may be one way of reducing over-crowding in the prisons, inhumane treatment of people and making hardened criminals of petty criminals.

– Largely based on a Study undertaken by Raman Nanda for PUCL

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Socio Research & Reform Foundation (NGO)

512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008

e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

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Child Malnutrition – Need to rethink the strategy and focus more on Adolescent Girls

Posted on January 14, 2013 by SRRF

All of us have seen the figures relating to high prevalence of malnutrition in children in India published on the basis of Hunger and Malnutrition Survey in rural India, HUNGaNA 2010-11. The survey focussed on 100 districts (referred to as focus districts) which were at the bottom of the Child Development Index developed in 2009 by Indicus Analytics for Unicef. Some of the facts are as follows.

42% of under-five children in focus districts are underweight. Although compared to 53% of 2002-04, there appears to be a improvement.
59% of under-five children in focus districts are stunted (being height less than expected)
Even in the six best district (other than the above 100 districts), where Child Development Index was much better, under-weight (33%) and stunting (43%) though lower was still substantially high – suggesting endemic and persistent nature of problem.
An important finding of the survey is that lower the socio-economic background of the family / mother (including lower level of education of the mother), higher the malnutrition %.

One of the conclusions coming out of the survey is that children born to mothers who are undernourished or are not in good health will be at a greater risk of undernourished. As per NFHS-3 data, 36% of mothers are undernourished, 11% are less than 145 cm tall and 55% are anaemic. Thus present intervention under ICDS and other health programmes which focus on health of mothers who are expecting, perhaps is a bit too late. While this would help in controlling Infant Mortality Rate (in which India has made considerable progress), however perhaps it is required that there is a need to focus on adolescent girls to help improve the malnutrition of children.

– Based on an article appearing in Indian Express

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Socio Research & Reform Foundation

(A Non Government Organisation)

512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008

e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

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Social Enterprises – new face for impacting the Society

Posted on January 9, 2013 by SRRF

Social Enterprises are becoming more and more popular as means of bringing changes in the society. These enterprises work by identifying a social need and provide service on low cost basis. Thus fulfilling a demand and meeting the costs of service from the user of service. Their model is always a low cost one and have no qualms for being ‘For Profit’. Here is an example to illustrate what is making these popular.

Ravi Ghate, a 12^th pass who failed his diploma started a project SMS-one way back in 2005. The concept was to send community based news relevant to youth through SMS by working with a community leader (generally a school dropout) who would forward SMS rec’d by him within his community – cluster of around 1000-1500 families. Idea was that messages would be relevant for the person receiving the message and would have some small cost for the person receiving the same.

Idea flourished, Ravi Ghate’s enterprise has earned huge accolades both at national level as well as international. It won several awards, including Clinton Global Initiatives, NASSCOM Social Innovation Honor Award. It stood amongst Top 15 Best Ideas in the World at California based N2Y4 Mobile Innovation Challenge-2009. SMSONE also has been featured in several international newspapers & forums, such as Washington Post, AsiaMag-Singapore, Entrepreneur-India, NCERT-CIET, VODAFONE, UNESCO-IFAP, FICCI reports and was included in Hot 5 start-ups in India by most renowned Forbes magazine. Research studies have also been conducted by IIT-B, IIM-A, Oxford-DCI, Stanford-Seeds of Empowerment.

Ravi Ghate did not form an NGO, but took it as a profit venture. He has since formed a Pvt Ltd co, which runs not only SMS-one but several other projects on similar lines. Principles are simple that costs are low Rs 30 for 100 SMS. It also covers upto 3 questions which will be answered by experts. These include eduVARTA (Education Alerts) – providing SMS alerts about courses in colleges. This service is marketed to young girls & boys or their parents. bizVARTA (Business Alerts) – For educated but unemployed youths for self employment promotion. He has plans to start new services for particular castes providing news about their castes, etc.

________________________________
Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

Posted in Positive Stories | 1 Comment

Sarpanch to be the new face of rural Justice

Posted on January 8, 2013 by SRRF

In 2012 Bihar Govt issued instructions to the Police Dept. not to take up petty complaints, which are supposed to be taken up by Gram Panchayats as identified in the Bihar Panchayati Raj Act 2006.

A number of cases of thefts upto Rs 10,000, family disputes, criminal trespass and several others fall under the jurisdiction of Panchayats. Police stations have been instructed not to take up cases, which fall in the jurisdiction of Panchayats. Panchayat Orders will be completely legal. A Sarpanch can fine upto Rs 1000/-. These can be appealed against within 30 days before a full bench of Gram kachahari and later before the District Court.

It is hoped that petty matters can be resolved at local level at a faster pace and would also deter people approaching kangaroo courts held by Naxals in some areas. A Sarpanch, who does not enjoy any police protection, if faces any violence could approach any police station. The state govt. Has stated that any person hurting a sarpanch will face stringent action, with instructions to DSP/SP to immediately take up any such cases immediately.

While the reform is laudable for making legal system more accessible to the people, however seems to rely on the personal effort / goodwill of Sarpanch and hence success would need to be evaluated only after sometime.

_______________________________
Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

Posted in Governance Reforms | 3 Comments

Representation to Justice Verma Commission on sexual crime submitted by SRRF

Posted on January 3, 2013 by SRRF

Analysis and suggestions for reducing sexual crimes in the country

While giving a snapshot data provided by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) states that from 1971 (2487) till 2011 (24206), there has been an increase of 873% in registered rapes, the highest increase in cognizable crimes. It is alleged that a large number of rapes go unreported, however the increase tells its own story.

The data is further analysed for four intervening decades.

	2011	2001	1991	1981	1971
No. of Rapes	24206	16075	10410	5409	2487
Increase in No. of cases	8131	5674	5123	2420	NA
% Increase in no. of cases	51%	55%	97%	85%	NA
Rapists known to victims	84%	84%	NA	NA	NA
Highest no. of rapes in two states	UP & MP 22.5%	UP & MP 30%	UP & MP 38.5%	UP & MP 37%	UP & MP 45%
Rapes in Delhi	572	381	214	78	51
Rapes in Bombay	221	127	114	74	55

The above analysis is important in understanding that this heinous crime has been going up regularly, but has now acquired alarming proportions in terms of absolute numbers. Since MP and UP have the highest population / area in the country they have had highest proportion of rapes in the country. However what is also important is while their absolute number is still going up, rape has become more widespread in the country.

Of course, as one can see while Delhi & Mumbai at one time were almost at same level in % terms, this crime has increased in Delhi. Thus the phrase of ‘Rape Capital’ is not unjustifiably attached to Delhi.

One of the most cited reason given for increase in this crime is that delay in prosecution, however if that is the sole reason, than it would be applicable to almost all types of crimes because same judicial system is applicable to all crimes. It is felt certain other important factors which directly contributed to this crime are discussed below.

Degradation of female body in print and visual media and on internet.
Easy access to youth to porn on internet (almost freely available at your fingertips all the time through internet mobiles)
Bollywood songs which have always been popular among youth becoming more and more vulgar (some even almost inviting listeners to commit a sexual act)
Easy access and widespread usage of alcohol
In current environment of focus on material wealth, there is no environment for youth to emulate heroes with ideals of high thinking, whose focus remains on sense-satisfaction (masti).
Several of the youth who migrate from rural / semi-urban areas have been in an environment where mixing of sexes is limited. Such persons when exposed to naked / semi-naked female images whether in print or internet, start considering women only as a sex-object and loose sense of right / wrong. Alcohol and lewd bollywood song, further contribute in titillating such persons.

Thus the current environment has become a precipe for widespread violence and sexual crimes against women.

Suggestions

Censor Board should look at vulgarity of songs coming out of Bollywood
Find ways to minimise access to nude / pornographic images on internet.
Govts. should work to support environment which enhance value education in schools.
Law has to be strictly enforced.
Minimise time for prosecution both at trial stage as well as appeal.
Persons once convicted of certain heineous crimes should not be allowed to be released on bail during appeals (Reference: Sushil Sharma of infamous Tandoor Murder case).
Society to be encouraged to intervene whenever they see anything wrong. (At one time passers by hesitated to take accident victims to hospitals for the fear of getting involved in legal cases, however after courts intervened, the Govt made fresh guidelines making it much easier for passers by to take persons to hospital – this has improved the situation)

Posted in Social Issues | 5 Comments

CSR Provisions under Clause 135 in Companies Bill passed by Lok Sabha

Posted on December 19, 2012 by SRRF

In a positive development for the Sector, Lok Sabha has passed Companies Bill 2011. The Bill includes provision for a mandatory 2% CSR contribution by the companies. Clause 135 requires that every company which fulfills any of the following criteria in a financial year:

a networth of more than Rs 500 crores or
net profit of more than Rs 5 crores in a year or
turnover of Rs.1000 crores

has to constitute a “CSR Committee of the Board” consisting of at least 3 directors including an independent director.

These companies have to spend minimum 2% of “last three years’ average net profits” towards CSR policy. If not spent, board has to give detailed reasons for not spending on CSR in the Director’s Report.

Role of the Committee

The Committee is to formulate and recommend to the Board a Corporate Social Responsibility Policy which should indicate the activities to be undertaken by the Company. Additionally, the Committee has to also recommend the quantum of expenditure to be incurred on these activities. Finally, the Committee has to monitor the Corporate Social Responsibility Policy of the company from time to time.

It is hoped that Rajya Sabha also undertakes the legislative business during this session itself and passes the Companies Bill 2011.

Posted in FCRA, TAX, LEGAL | 6 Comments

BRICS to launch a new Development Bank

Improvements in Economic Front – Census 2011

Development Indicators Comparison – UNICEF 2012

Prisons – Places of Reform or Hotbed of crime?

Child Malnutrition – Need to rethink the strategy and focus more on Adolescent Girls

Social Enterprises – new face for impacting the Society

Sarpanch to be the new face of rural Justice

CSR Provisions under Clause 135 in Companies Bill passed by Lok Sabha

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