Pilot project replacing PDS with Direct Cash Transfer to start from Delhi

Posted on October 7, 2011 by SRRF

Delhi Government is about to be the first to start pilot project in Central Delhi District replacing the much maligned PDS system with Cash Transfer Policy.

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has sought a grant of Rs 242 crore from Finance Ministry to run a pilot for the cash transfer scheme in five villages – (i) Lakhimpur Kheri (UP), (ii) Hardoi (UP), (iii) Panchkula (Haryana), (iv) Jhajjar (Haryana) and (v) Central Delhi.

Under the policy Antyodaya cardholders will get Rs. 1,100 per month, while BPL cardholders will get Rs. 950 per month whereas, Rs. 250 per month to a category of above poverty line cardholders (whose Income level is below Rs 1 lakh per annum). Proposal also provides for quarterly review of these amounts based on rise in prices of essential commodities. Under the scheme the funds will be directly transferred into the accounts of female head of the family and is likely to be linked to Adhar cards.

However the scheme for replacement is not without its critics, most notably Jean Drez, the economist who also happens to be on NAC, who feels that the argument for Cash Transfer rather than PDS is not so simple. A survey undertaken by his organization has found that people still prefer old PDS than the new system. He has advised caution to PM while implementing Cash Transfer Scheme.

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Socio Research & Reform Foundation

(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in
 
 
 
 
 
 

Posted in Governance Reforms | 3 Comments

RESOURCE MOBILISATION- GIVING BY INDIVIDUALS IN INDIA

Posted on October 4, 2011 by SRRF

It is an established fact that the foreign funding is coming down in India. Raising concerns of a large number of NPOs, particularly the ones relying on such funding, on how they could continue with their activities. SRRF has always believed that there is a need for the Sector to start generating resources from within the country. SRRF, alongwith Deepalaya, held a week-long training programme last year on how to enhance resource mobilization by Sponsorship Programmes. SRRF continues to believe that there is tremendous scope for individual giving in India.

This belief has been supported through a report entitled ‘India Philanthropy Report 2011’ brought out by Bain & Company. The report comes out with some revealing facts. It also perhaps is an indicator for NPOs on which way lies the future path for resource generation. This is so apt during this Joy of Giving week. Some excerpts from the report are highlighted.

Till 2006 total giving was only around 0.6% of GDP, of which only 1/3rd came from individuals & corporate, i.e. only 0.2% of GDP. Rest was mainly from foreign funding. However the report states that in 2010 private funding from corporate and individuals has risen to 0.3-0.4% of GDP. Of this 26% share is from individuals only. A dramatic increase over earlier years.

Future potential for giving by individuals can be gauged from the fact that in US which raises around $ 304 billion (2.2% of GDP) in private charity, 81% is mainly from individuals. In UK which raises around $ 29 billion (1.3% of GDP), 75% is from individuals and corporates. Brazil raises around $ 5 billion (0.3% of GDP). China raised around $ 11 billion (being 0.2% of GDP), 86% being from individuals & corporate. In India private donations were around $ 5-6 billion (being 0.3-0.4% of GDP). GDP wise India’s contribution from corporate and individuals was higher than that of Brazil or even China.

What gives hope for raising resources in India from individuals is that ‘High Net Worth Individuals’ in India are rising at a much higher rate than any of the other economy anywhere – more than 50% between 2008 & 2009. Contributions by Indian individuals come to around 1.5-3% of individuals’ annual income, compared to around 9% in US.

Major reasons cited as obstacles for raising the resources are lack of Transparency & Accountability in the NPOs and unfriendly tax laws for donations. However it is believed that contributions from Individuals will rise significantly in years to come and NPOs which prepare themselves now for these challenges will do well (or perhaps survive).

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Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

Posted in General | 1 Comment

Food Safety and Standard Act 2006

Posted on October 3, 2011 by SRRF
Today what we eat is so much prone to contamination at any point of Food Chain. Often referred to as Farm to Fork, major risks in this chain could be identified as pesticide overuse, irrigation by untreated sewage water, poor sanitation at food markets or even faulty cold storage. In case of Indian scenario one could add the retail part of it.

The Government has now notified a new Act Food & Safety Standard Act 2006 replacing the old and ineffective Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

The new Act is using a multi-level approach of strengthening the monitoring and heavy fines. For example now penalties for adulteration have been enhanced upto a maximum of Rs 10 lakhs compared to just Rs 500/- to Rs 5000/- earlier. Earlier the cases were presented in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, which often resulted in delays. Now initially the judicial powers have been given to the Food Commissioner to be specifically appointed in each state. Cases have to be decided in a time bound manner.

However for our health, let us hope (keeping fingers crossed) that the latest legislative changes do work and improve the quality of food that comes to our tables.

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Socio Research & Reform Foundation

(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

Posted in Health | 2 Comments

Technology- Mobile Wallet soon to be a reality

Posted on October 1, 2011 by SRRF

Soon all of us who are used to payment by credit card may have to get used to paying using our mobile phones. Already legal framework is in place to facilitate the same. A customer can transfer up to a maximum of Rs 50,000/- from his bank account to a mobile wallet (till recently this limit was up to Rs 5000/- and has since been enhanced).

How does it work? In case of Corporation Bank, which has recently launched m-wallet scheme, it goes like this. A customer who applies to use this scheme would install a special installation on his/her mobile. When a customer goes to a shop or a restaurant and decides to make a payment, s/he would log on the application and enter the amount to be paid. An automated generated barcode would appear on the screen, which the merchant would scan using his own mobile phone camera. The amount gets debited to the m-wallet.

Even those who do not have installation based m-wallet can use sms-based m-wallet services. Seeing huge opportunities, many big names have already jumped into the fray, including ICICI Prudential, Birla Sun Life, Reliance Energy and e-commerce portals such as eBay India, HomeShop18, BookMyShow and RedBus.

Apart from being just a convenience, RBI also considers that in time m-wallet could turn out to be an answer to financial inclusion challenges that planners have been facing for long time. For example, govt could transfer cash directly to the m-wallets of beneficiaries, thus overcoming the problems of distances in accessing the banker services. Of course before the Government could take it up on a large scale it would need to resolve a number of practical challenges.

____________________________________

Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in
Posted in General | 1 Comment

Water Conservation

Posted on September 30, 2011 by SRRF

In 2000 Delhi High Court order followed by a notification by the Union Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) had made it mandatory for all buildings with a discharge of more than 10,000 liters of water per day to recycle water for non-potable purposes.

However the Delhi Govt did not take any action despite having a High Court order till 2009, when Delhi Jal Board cut down supply of water to 30 such establishments by half. It asked all such buildings (mainly malls, schools, etc) who consumed more than 12 Kilo litres water per month, to have their own water recycling and waste-management systems.

Even Planning Commission while approving Delhi’s annual Plan had raised concern about areas within Delhi which are over-exploiting underground water and suggested to develop a budget for creating better water facilities for next decade.

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Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

Posted in Urban Governance | 1 Comment

Making Community, Owner of its own facilities

Posted on September 30, 2011 by SRRF

MCD is using Bhagidari scheme to involve community in maintenance of colony parks. Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) are allowed to adopt parks belonging to MCD and get plants, fertilizers and funds to recruit gardeners for the maintenance of their neighborhood parks. MCD pays Rs 6,000 per month for every acre of land adopted. Since then 800 parks have been adopted by RWAs across the Capital.

Officials also acknowledge the impact that the scheme has brought. Earlier the parks were being used for car parking, functions and generally had become eyesores as people used it as dustbins. Now the greenery has enhanced, people participation in maintenance of gardens has also increased. Although scheme is not foolproof, there are glitches like delay in receiving payments; adopting the parks itself may take time, etc. Some RWAs also are not so effective, however considering ‘more’ parks (out of the parks alloted to RWAs) are now better maintained, perhaps Government needs to scale up this scheme to other services too.

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Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)/span>
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

Posted in Urban Governance | 1 Comment

Decongesting our cities

Posted on September 27, 2011 by SRRF

In a recent move by NDMC in Delhi, it decided to charge parking costs at the Khan Market to discourage use of vehicles at the instance of Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), however the traders took the civic agency to the court demanding that the agency withdraw these charges, and keep the parking free, which the court has decided in favour of the traders on the basis that traders would pay a fixed rent to NDMC. However the principles that were advocated by the EPCA seem to have been paperd over.

With increasing urbanization congestion of the cities has become a major concern, since congestion brings additional pressure on already burdened civic agencies, particularly on the roads, where everyone jostles for space – rickshaws, cycles, pedestrians, vendor carts, misc peddlers, encroaching shops, beggars and of course ever increasing number of vehicles. Then often contractors undertaking routine repair works for various civic agencies always do the same only during peak traffic times. Is it any wonder that tension and stress such an environment creates is taking its own toll on the urban dwellers?

Many cities around the world are increasingly resorting to congestion pricing (where if a vehicle enters in specified areas at a particular time, than special tariffs are charged – London, Stockholm, Milan, etc.) to decongest vehicles at a particular time. On similar principles, special charges are imposed on passengers taking flights at particular time of the day, so as to use price as a factor to influence the demand.

Perhaps in Delhi we the urban dwellers are still not ready to be taxed for creating an improved environment.
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Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

Posted in Social Issues | 3 Comments

Huge demand for primary teachers

Posted on September 22, 2011 by SRRF

India’s RTE act has brought new challenges. The Act which requires the pupil-teacher ratio to 30:1, the governments across the country need to recruit a large number of teachers.

As per the Govt. estimates there is a requirement of 5.1 lakh additional teachers over next three years. For example UP requires (3.9 lakh) teachers, Bihar (2.2 lakh), Bengal (1 lakh) and Assam will need between 0.1-2 lakh teachers.

India is one of the few countries which has made Right to Education as a fundamental right under its constitution for 6-14 years with about 12.9 lakh elementary schools.

To improve quality of teachers, the central Government made a uniform policy for their recruitment. The policy requires that teachers will be eligible for selection only after they have passed a Teachers’ Eligibility Test. The requirement  to take test for candidates are Class XII pass and a two-year diploma in teachers’ education. Till now some states like West Bengal appoint teachers who are even X pass.

With new norms and the scarcity of teachers in schools most states face a tough challenge in recruitment of the teachers. To meet the need, the central govt. may have to relax these norms.

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Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)/span>
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in
Posted in Education | 1 Comment

Dealing with Solid Waste

Posted on September 21, 2011 by SRRF

A new Power Plant, using Private Public Partnership model, is being set up in Okhla in New Delhi which will generate power from solid waste. Once completed, the plant will produce 16 MW of electricity, enough to serve six lakh homes, from about 2,050 tonnes of solid waste, which is 25 % of the waste generated in Delhi every day.

This is a new initiative, which will not only provide additional electricity to Delhites, but also deal with a large amount of waste. Presently NCT produces around 7000 tonnes of solid waste every day, which if not managed has a potential to rise to 17000 to 21000 MT per day.

The solid waste is the new problem that the society has to deal with, it not only costs lost of money in disposal but also creates filth and squalor. Huge piles of solid waste all over Delhi chokes drains and makes city unhygienic. It transmits diseases. Let us not forget clean cities attract not just people but also investments.

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Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in
Posted in Environment | Comments Off on Dealing with Solid Waste

Railways continue to use Manual Scavengers despite a Ban

Posted on September 19, 2011 by SRRF

Most of us would have seen scavengers manually removing human waste from railway tracks, despite Manual Scavenging being declared illegal way back in 1993 vide Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993.

The Railway board either denied of hiring manual scavengers anymore or claimed that those cleaning the tracks at railway stations do not come under the Act.

In the wake of a PIL filed by the Safai Karamchari Andolan, a federation of state-level organizations of manual scavengers across the country, Delhi HC asked Railway board to install bio-toilets in the trains and rehabilitate the scavengers engaged in the menial jobs.

The bench also expressed its displeasure over delay in their introduction and directed railway authorities to also provide protective gears to the people engaged in cleaning toilets in railway coaches.

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Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

Posted in Social Issues | Comments Off on Railways continue to use Manual Scavengers despite a Ban