Bihar going all out to ensure that PDS system works

Posted on July 21, 2011 by SRRF

As mentioned in our earlier posts, Bihar is taking specific steps to improve its Public Distribution System. Bihar sometime back had introduced coupon system where the coupons were distributed to ration card holders, who could go to the ration shops / dealers for receiving his / her entitlements of rations / kerosene, etc.

Some of the problems being faced under the system included non-receipt of coupons by the genuine persons (as coupons got distributed / sold to non-eligible persons), duplication / falsification of the coupons by the dealers while claiming fresh supplies.

The Govt. has now introduced a slew of measures to curb these practices. These include bar-coding of the coupons, so that coupons cannot be falsified or duplicated. The whole process of distribution of coupons to 14.5 million persons will be video-graphed. Every eligible person would have to produce his/her ration card, and photographs pf the whole family before getting the coupons for the whole year. To discourage employees in malpractices, the State Govt. has issued instructions that any employee found indulging in illegal selling of the coupons will be sacked on the spot.

Marketing officers and dealers can face cases under non-bailable sections of existing anti-hoarding laws if proven guilty of duplicating coupons. They are liable to imprisonment between six months and one year.It is wondered, would it not be simpler to use Direct Cash Transfer System to eligible beneficiaries allowing them to purchase from any shop the grains of the quality / price that the family can afford. Govt. could try to control the prices of the commodities by ensuring sufficient supply of the materials.

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
Website: www.srr-foundation.org

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Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011

Posted on July 19, 2011 by SRRF

The cases of child abuse have gain prominence in recent times. Sexual abuse of children is a very real problem in India, and the situation is aided by the absence of effective legislation and the silence that surrounds the offense.

To curb this menace, recently Central Government has approved a specifically designed Bill to deal with sexual offenses against children. Till now, all such cases were being tried under sections 375 and 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The bill envisages a jail term up to seven years and a fine of Rs. 50,000 for such crimes.

For the first time, the draft Bill distinguishes a sexual offense committed against children by persons in position of trust and authority over children, including a police officer, a remand home warden, hospital staff and school authorities.

The proposed Bill aims at protecting children against offenses of sexual assault, sexual harassment, pornography and provide for establishment of special courts for trial of such offenses. Sexual assault also includes fondling the child in an inappropriate way which will invite a penalty of minimum three years in jail.
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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 Human Rights | 2 Comments

Is World facing poverty & hunger?

Posted on July 18, 2011 by SRRF

As the food prices shoot up world-wide again after peaking in early 2008 there is concern all around that the two big price spikes within four years, suggests that something serious is rattling world food chain. Several world institutions are also having such concerns. This was reflected in the concerns of G8 industrial countries in 2009, who put food alongside the financial crisis on their list of top priorities, promising to find $20 billion for agriculture over 3 years. Gates Foundation which till now has focused on health has started to concentrate on feeding the world. Even at the WEF at Davos earlier during the year, 17 global companies launched a program on agriculture, promising to promote markets for smallholders. All this indicates towards sign of rising concerns on food security.

Reasons for increase in prices include increase in demand for food from several developing countries with increase in their incomes, increase in world population (likely to reach 7 billion within 2011-2012), increasing use of agricultural produces for fuel, and of course fall in the value of the dollar.

This increase in prices has again plunged into poverty millions who spend more than half their income on food. The number of those below the poverty level of $1.25 a day, which was falling consistently in the 1990s, rose sharply in 2007-08, indicating that world cannot even feed its current population. Huge question looming the world leaders is how will they cope with population of 9 billion, which it is likely to rise by 2050.

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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
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RBI allays states fears over the powers entrusted to it under MFI bill

Posted on July 13, 2011 by SRRF

One of the fears of the proposed MFI bill is that it will override the powers of the state governments, since the bill proposes RBI to be the regulator of MFIs. Earlier provision under Malegam Committee recommendations was that only NBFCs registered as MFIs would come under the jurisdiction of RBI and others smaller plays would continue to be the part of state govt’s jurisdiction. For example, last year Andhra Pradesh (hub of MFI activities with almost 1/4th of the MFI industry concentrated in the state) came out with its own ordinance capping various activities of MFIs in the backdrop of a number of suicides in the state.

However RBI has tried to allay such fears and has stated that it has no intention of overriding powers of the elected state govts. It needs to be seen how RBI balances powers given to it sunder the Bill and the policies as adopted by the state govt.
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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 MFIs | 4 Comments

Anaemia and Early marriage pose health problems for adolescent girls

Posted on July 13, 2011 by SRRF

India’s higher economic growth has not been able to provide a better nutritional status for the country’s adolescent’s girls, as the country houses the largest population of adolescents (243 million) almost 20 percent of the world’s adolescent population followed by China (207 million) and United States (44 million).

Latest report issued by UNICEF states, 47 percent girls in the age group of 11 – 19 years are underweight in India which is highest in the world. It further states that 56 percent of the girls aged between 15-19 are also anaemic.

The report also states that almost 30 percent of the adolescent’s girls (15-19 years) get married during adolescence. NFHS survey further shows that 38 percent girls that is every third girl in Assam get married before reaching the legal age for marriage. Although the good news is that there has been a steady decline in the proportion of girls marrying before 18 years of age.

It may be of interest to note that with regard to early marriage Pakistan fares much better where only 25 percent girls marry before 18 years of age

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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

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A middle-class woman takes the challenge of helping underprivileged

Posted on July 9, 2011 by SRRF

Dear Group Members, To further add value to our Dialogue, from this post onwards we will start to share a Positive Story, at least once a week. Hope this will spur some of the Group members to share their own experiences which have impacted the lives for better. Look forward to your active participation as always.

The story is not about the huge effort undertaken or monumental changes in the lives of others, but the small and regular effort which have resulted in improving the lives of some underprivileged. The best part of the story is that it could be replicated almost by any of us to make the difference.

Ramola Kumar, Dean of Delhi School of Communication, Neb Sarai, Delhi alongwith some of her colleagues has been teaching English language to some of the kids living in nearby slums continuously for last several years. In 2005 her employees brought to her attention that a few underprivileged children wanted to improve their English as they were not coping well in their schools. Rather than ignoring the requests or just passing the buck on the system, she decided to do something about it. Hence she alongwith some of her colleagues started teaching them for couple of hours on daily basis in one of the class rooms, after the regular Institute classes were over. The classes are not only improving English of the children for scoring better marks, it is improving their confidence and hence outlook in the life. Some of the students have even landed with better jobs after they have finished their schooling.
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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 Positive Stories | 2 Comments

MFIs: MFI Development and Regulation Bill, 2011 released for comments

Posted on July 9, 2011 by SRRF

Ministry of Finance on Wednesday, 6th July 2011 released the Bill for comments being anxiously awaited by several stakeholders. The Bill has moved away from the Malegam Committee recommendations on several counts. First of all RBI is being proposed as the sole regulator for the sector and not the NABARD, which was earlier being touted to be the regulator for smaller MFIs while the RBI was being considered for the registered NBFCs.

The Bill does not propose any cap on interest rates, but empowers RBI to regulate the same along with other charges like processing fees, life insurance premium, etc. All MFIs will need to register with RBI. An MFI can register only if it has a net owned fund of Rs 5 lakh and may need to register as a section 25 company under certain circumstances. To ensure financial stability, MFI would need to create and  transfer cetain minimum amount to a reserve account.

RBI will have powers to order audit of an MFI, or even issue a cease and desist order. The Bill empowers the RBI to set sector-related benchmarks and specify the form in which the books of accounts are to be maintained. RBI may require MFIs (on the lines as Banks) to income-recognition norms, accounting standards, provisions for bad & doubtful debts, capital adequacy, etc.

Bill requires RBI to make rules for grievance redressal mechanism of customers of MFIs as well as create fund for helping MFIs to give loans, seed monies, etc.

Bill proposes a microfinance development council, one of two advisory bodies proposed to be set up under the bill, to set the policy agenda. “The aim of the bill is to provide protection to the borrowers and develop MFIs that will play a large role in financial inclusion,” said a finance ministry official.

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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

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Challenge of Getting Street Children to School

Posted on July 2, 2011 by SRRF

We all have seen young kids running around on the traffic signals, begging or selling titbits or working in dhabas, etc. For bringing such children into education stream, SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) has a component called ‘Intervention for Out of School Children’ under which NGOs are contracted to formulate suitable schemes. However one of the common problems is that the contracting out process is so protracted that the children which the NGO plans to bring under those schemes, often move away by the time the NGO gets the official sanction.

Delhi Govt. has announced that it will operate 30 mobile schools to reach out to such children. It has also received Rs 7.5 crores for the same under SSA. Mobile school will have facilities like computers, LCD screen TV, books, etc. trying to replicate a school atmosphere. Children will initially study in these schools for 3 months and then will be admitted to mainstream schools. These mobile schools will be run by NGOs. The Govt. says that it has already empanelled 30 NGOs.

Delhi Govt. has been running 2 of these schools on pilot basis and is now planning to run upto 30, covering the entire capital. However the fact also remains that there is no movement since Feb’2011, when the expansion was announced. Let’s wait to see how the scheme gets implemented in reality.

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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

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Life Expectancy: Despite consistent improvement India still lags its neighbours

Posted on July 2, 2011 by SRRF

India has a long way to go before it matches average life expectancy with other Asian countries. According to CIA-The World Fact book, China has the highest life expectancy at 78.32, Malaysia 74.20, Sri lanka 72.40, Indonesia 70.70, and Pakistan 65.50. India has shot up to 62.6 years for males and 64.2 years for females in 2006, as per the report released by the World Health Organization.

So what do these numbers tell us about the health of Indians? Life expectancy at birth is one of the best-known measures of a population’s health status and overall status of the healthcare sector. Life expectancy and overall health of Indians has improved consistently to 62.6 for males and 64.2 for females since Independence.

Tables given below depict a picture of life expectancy at birth, 1901-2006

Longevity Divide
Expectation of life at birth (years) Male Female State Male Female
1901 23.6 24 Kerala 71.4 76.3
1931 26.9 26.6 Punjab 68.4 70.4
1941 32.1 31.4 Himachal Pradesh 66.5 67.3
1951 32.5 31.7 Maharashtra 66.0 68.4
1961 41.9 40.6 Haryana 65.9 66.3
1971 46.4 44.7 Tamil Nadu 65.0 67.4
1980 54.1 54.7 West Bengal 64.1 65.8
1991 58.1 58.6 Karnataka 63.6 67.1
2001 62.3 63.9 Andhra Pradesh 62.9 65.5
2006 62.6 64.2 Gujarat 62.9 65.2
India Ages (Source: Planning Commission) INDIA 62.6 64.2
Bihar 62.2 60.4
  Rajasthan 61.5 62.3
  Uttar Pradesh 60.3 59.5
  Orissa 59.5 59.6
  Assam 58.6 59.3
  Madhya Pradesh 58.1 57.9
Life expectancy at birth (years) 2002-06

Source: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare

 

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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
Website: www.srr-foundation.org

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Government must reform structural safety norms

Posted on July 1, 2011 by SRRF

After the collapse of a building at Lalitha Park which resulted in tragic death of 59 persons, Delhi Government had come out with the mandatory requirement of producing a Structural Safety Certificate while registering any property deal. The Government felt considering large number of property deals are registered on a regular basis (one estimate is of 500-600), this way a large number of properties could be made safe.

However the MCD has had to withdraw the order, on the ground that it does not have sufficient number of engineers to issue structural safety certificates.

This turnout of events once again proves that the government often acts without proper planning. Government should have known that internally it does not have sufficient capacities to issue such large number of certificates and hence could have associated with concerned engineering associations, who would have taken steps to build the capacities of their members. These Associations would have been quite happy to be involved in such a programme, since it would have generated additional resources for its members and in turn would have made buildings in the capital complying with Structural Safety norms.

However the real issue, ‘Making Buildings Structurally Safe’ still remains. One wonders how the Government now plans to ensure the safety of these buildings, or perhaps Delhites will have to wait yet again for another tragic episode for the Government to initiate action.

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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 | Comments Off on Government must reform structural safety norms