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  E-pov News:
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  May 2007
Environment-poverty (E-pov) News is a monthly news bulletin from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)’s Natural Resource Management and Livelihood unit. This provocative bulletin brings you the latest developments on environment, poverty and governance in India and South Asia. It also features community initiatives on livelihood security.

The newsletter regularly updates on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and its development effectiveness.
E-pov News intends to be a platform for serious dialogue. We invite you to actively participate in this initiative by alerting us to new developments and research on the poverty-environment interface and on NREGA.
 
For comments, email: e-pov@cseindia.org

  
 
 
  Inside:
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Leader: Environment: Conflict’s common denominator

Policy Watch: Bundelkhand voters ‘test’ candidates

In Focus: Making India’s mining sector socially and environmentally viable

NREGA Updates: Productive assets creation under NREGA?

Resources: Water and conflict chronology

Down To Earth: Read latest stories on poverty and environment		  
 
 
  Leader:
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bullet Environment: Conflict’s common denominator
Recently, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, organised the first ‘Anil Agrawal Dialogue on Mining, People and Environment’. Mining is fast emerging as a point of severe conflict between communities, the government and private companies. The dialogue looked into this issue and discussed how development means different things to different people.
  
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  Policy Watch:
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Bundelkhand voters ‘test’ candidates
People in the drought-hit Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh have asked contesting MLA candidates to go through a written examination if they want their votes. The 25-point questionnaire tests the candidates’ knowledge of the rural economy and the problems faced by farmers.

Minister warns he will link funds release to BPL list
Union minister for rural development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has warned that the release of funds to states under centrally sponsored schemes would be linked to the preparation of the below poverty line (BPL) list.

bullet Panchayats petition PM on bio-diversity act
Panchayats and community representatives from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Meghalaya have submitted over 3,000 resolutions to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing serious concern over implementation of the bio-diversity legislations, particularly the Biological Diversity Rules, 2004, by state governments.

bullet Punjab seeks Centre’s helps to curb farmers’ suicides
The Punjab government will send a comprehensive integrated proposal on rural indebtedness to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for immediate and effective central intervention to help the state fight debt-related suicides by farmers.

bullet A Farmers’ Protection Act?
Farm activists from various states have formed a joint front to push for an ‘Agriculture and Farmers’ Protection Act’ so that prime agricultural land being forcibly acquired by the government for industrial purposes can be saved for continued food production.

bullet Farm panel calls for contract farm policy
The National Development Council sub-committee on agriculture has recommended contract farming policies at national and state levels and strengthening of public-private partnerships in marketing of agricultural produce.

bullet Nine states join hands against Naxalites
Nine states acutely affected by Naxalite violence have decided to join hands to tackle the menace. This decision was taken at a meeting convened by the Union home ministry some time back.

bullet Naxalites ban plucking of Mahua flowers
Naxalites in the Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh border area have banned the plucking of Mahua flowers. This has triggered a conflict between villagers and the armed outfit.

bullet Amend Kerala PRA to prevent Pepsi from restarting operations
Kerala’s leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy has asked Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan to amend the Kerala Panchayati Raj Act (PRA) to prevent cola giant PepsiCo from restarting operations at its plant in Palakkad district.

bullet Planning Commission finds aberrations in Kerala’s decentralisation
The Planning Commission of India’s two-year evaluation of Kerala’s decentralisation plan has found many loopholes like manipulative accounting, lack of vital linkages, poor asset creation and shrinking productive investment.

bullet MLAs take over Panchayat power
The Karnataka legislature has passed amendments to the Panchayat Raj Act, which give MLAs powers over Gram Sabhas and Panchayats -- a development, which runs contrary to the spirit of decentralisation and the Constitution.

bullet Rs 130-crore plan for forest villages
The Centre has sanctioned a special scheme for the development of infrastructure facilities in the forest villages of Madhya Pradesh.

bullet West coast states agree to enforce 47-day fishing ban
States along the country’s west coast will soon inform the Centre about their willingness to declare an annual 47-day fishing ban based on local coastal conditions

bullet Andhra curbs grazing
The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to impose strict curbs on grazing of animals brought into forests from within the state as well as from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.

bullet Global poverty coming down
Global poverty rates continued to fall in the first four years of the 21st century according to new estimates published in World Development Indicators 2007.

bullet Subsoil water being over-exploited in Punjab
Mapping done by the Central Ground Water Board with regard to the use of ground water in Punjab shows that the state is withdrawing excessively for agriculture and other purposes

bullet Andhra gets $189 million WB loan for tanks
The World Bank has approved a $189 million loan for Andhra Pradesh to improve agricultural productivity and help community-based institutions in managing tank systems effectively.

bullet Van Vigyan Kendras to provide livelihoods
The Union ministry of environment and forests has decided to set up Van Vigyan Kendras, which will promote research outputs and help in providing livelihood to local people.

bullet Forest ministry blocks 100 per cent electrification
Due to the delay by the Union ministry for environment and forests in granting permission for laying of electric lines and poles in forest areas of Andhra Pradesh, remote tribal villages in the state are still in the dark.

 
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  In Focus:
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bullet Making India’s mining sector socially and environmentally viable
Orissa’s Sundergarh and Keonjhar districts are the country’s most resource-rich areas. Ironically, they are also its poorest and face constant threat from untreated or partially treated wastewater from mines. In the absence of stringent laws, mining remains one of the most unregulated activities in India.

  
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NREGA
Update:
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BULLET Productive assets creation under NREGA
The latest work trend analysis to judge how employment guaranteed under NREGA is being used for creation of productive assets.

BULLET States’ performance under NREGA
An analysis of implementation of NREGA in select states.		  
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  Resources:
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BULLET MDGs report
The 2007 Global Monitoring Report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) assesses the contributions of developing countries, developed countries, and international financial institutions toward meeting universally agreed development commitments. This year’s report focuses on gender equality and the lack of opportunities for women as well as the vulnerability of fragile states, defined as nations particularly beset by weak governance and institutions, often compounded by conflict or crisis. Progress with the MDGs is also a major challenge for the world’s 35 fragile states.

BULLET Is there space for indigenous people in the negotiations on access and benefit sharing?
Research is a useful and powerful tool in understanding how climate change affects the Arctic, but it can easily miss parts of the story. Consulting with people in northern communities, and including their local environmental knowledge helps make the knowledge produced relevant to Arctic people, and increases the fullness and accuracy of the research. Local knowledge can be used to direct scientific investigations towards observed changes, and to identify unique and subtle links between aspects of the environment that a scientist may overlook. 


BULLET Water and conflict chronology
In an ongoing effort to understand the connections between water resources, water systems, and international security and conflict, the Pacific Institute initiated a project in the late 1980s to track and categorise events related to water and conflict. A list of water-related conflicts in the myths, legends, and history of the ancient Middle East was published in Environment magazine (Gleick 1994) and this has formed the basis of an updated Water and Conflict Chronology.

  
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 Latest from Down To Earth magazine
 
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BULLET Debate: Should Nabard regulate micro-finance?
The Micro Financial Sector (Development & Regulations) Bill 2007 proposes to make the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) the regulator of the country’s micro-finance sector. However, the proposal has sparked a debate. While a section feels that it will bring about legitimacy in the system, others say the move is not appropriate because Nabard does not have experience in the regulatory field.

Read complete article

BULLET Features: Bureaucracy restricts potential of Orissa’s pani panchayats
The pani panchayats in Orissa have brought the state’s farmers’ organisations together. However, many members are upset because bureaucratic delays and lack of communication from the administration has meant lower participation for them and for villagers. Members feel that their efforts are also not recognised because officials consider them threats to their corrupt practices. Clearly, the four-tier pani panchayat system is not working in Orissa.

Read complete article     		 
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