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Environment-poverty (E-pov) News is a monthly news bulletin of 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) on its development effectiveness.
It 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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Policy Watch: Central funding has improved rural conditions, states Ministry of Rural
Development In Focus: Hiware Bazar, An example on how to use job guarantee for rural prosperity
NREGA Updates: Rural connectivity may lose its name from NREGA list of works
Resources: Changing face of rural livelihoods in India
Down To Earth: Read latest stories on poverty and environment
| Leader | |
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Remembering Kalinganagar - Will cheap and dirty industrialization work? From the highway the gravestones were visible. Thirteen headstones, rough and blunt, carved with names of each dead tribal. Each stone was placed so that together they formed a semi-circle looking down at us. In front of the 13-stone platform was a fenced area with scattered burnt sticks lying as if for the picking. I realized I was looking at a cremation ground. I also realized in shock that this must have been the place where the tribals killed in police firing were consecrated to fire and that the place has been left intact as a grim reminder. Waiting as if for some relief or resolution.
| Policy Watch | |
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Central funding has improved rural conditions, states Ministry of Rural DevelopmentGreater flow of central plan funds into rural development programmes in India has resulted in a whopping 58 percent growth in rural employment, according to the Union Rural Development ministry’s monitoring report presented at the conference of project directors of District Rural Development Agencies (DRDA) in January 2008
Centre for more credit to rural poorHinting at a substantial increase in the budgetary allocation for rural development programmes, the Centre plans to embark upon a micro finance scheme to reach the much-needed credit to the poor through the self-help groups announced Rural Development Minister, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh
UP CM announces relief measures for BundelkhandUttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has announced a number of measures for the uplift of the backward region of Bundelkhand. One of the most backward areas in the country It suffers from extreme levels of poverty and environmental degradation, and has been in the news for starvation deaths, acute drought, exploitation and land grabbing.
Guarseed, gum prices may rise as demand picks upFutures prices of guarseed and guar gum are likely to rise by 10% in the next one month on increased demand and lesser supply, traders have said. Traders and analysts see guarseed to touch Rs 2,000 per quintal while guar gum would surge to Rs 4,800 per quintal levels in the coming days.
UNDP selects districts for Public Private Community Partnership (PPCP) programmeOrissa's Ganjam is among four districts in the country selected by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for implementation of public private community partnership (PPCP) FROM 2008. The PPCP as a concept encourages involving private parties and communities to derive maximum benefit for livelihood support.
Biodiesel policy to be finalised before March
The biodiesel policy, which proposes to make mandatory blending of 20 per cent ethanol with petroleum, will be finalized by March announced Maharashtra’s Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy Vilas Muttemwar. ”The proposal is for 20 per cent blending initially, so that no changes are required to be made in auto engines”, said Muttemwar.
Seven Rajasthan districts in UN’s development assistance listSeven districts of Rajasthan have been taken into the ambit of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) programme for poverty alleviation, health care, education, women and child development and training .The UN has granted 10 million US dollars to the State for implementing the programme during 2008 upto 2012.
CAG report pinpoints irregularities in SFC, Jammu
Lack of clear policy on the timber extraction management and transportation of stock with no steps being taken to improve the existing measurement system are some of the glaring discrepancies in the functioning of State Forest Corporation (SFC) , of Jammu and Kashmir which have been pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in its audit report for ending March 31, 2007.
| In Focus | |
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Hiware Bazar, An example on how to use job guarantee for rural prosperityIn merely 15 years this village in drought-prone Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra has regenerated its natural resources using state funds, creating productive assets and transforming drought relief efforts into drought proofing measures.
| NREGA Update |
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Rural connectivity may lose its name from NREGA list of worksThe rural development ministry is looking at a proposal to remove rural connectivity from the list of nine recommended types of work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).
Creation of Productive Assets under NREGAIn the first year of NREGA (February 2006 to March 2007), 7,65,132 works were taken up. Out of this, 3,15,743 were related to water conservation and renovation of traditional water bodies thus constituting around 41 percent of the total works. Rural connectivity comprised of 1,82,900 works i.e. around 23 percent of total works.
| Resources | |
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Changing face of rural livelihoods in IndiaThe paper examines the impact of economic growth on the poor in both the agricultural and rural non-farm sectors arguing that livelihood system of the poor is crucial to effective poverty reduction. It discusses the impact of corporate retail on farmers, small retail outlets and local markets. The paper also looks at the impact on food security and sheds some light on why technological innovations have not been uniformly successful in improving the condition of farmers.
Report on Implementation of Government Food and Livelihood Schemes in India’s Poorest Districts
This report presents the findings of a survey conducted by the Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) Programme, in collaboration with the Office of the Commissioners to the Supreme Court, to assess the status of implementation of the food and livelihood schemes in the six states.
Poverty in Focus: What is Poverty? Concepts and measures
What poverty is taken to mean depends on who asks the question, how it is understood, and who responds. Our common meanings have all been constructed by us, non-poor people. They reflect our power to make definitions according to our perceptions. Whose reality counts? Ours, as we construct it with our mindsets and for our purposes? Or theirs as we enable them to analyse and express it?
Download PDF:
http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCPovertyInFocus9.pdf
2008 Environmental Performance Index
The 2008 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks 149 countries on 25 indicators tracked across six established policy categories: Environmental Health, Air Pollution, Water Resources, Biodiversity and Habitat, Productive Natural Resources, and Climate Change. The EPI identifies broadly-accepted targets for environmental performance and measures how close each country comes to these goals.
Can crops be climate-proofed?
Climate change threatens food crops across the world. Now scientists are re-focusing their efforts on crop resilience, rather than yields. Among the most worrying aspects of climate change is its effects on the world's food supply. The Climate Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) institutes are now investigating how to make crops more resilient to environment stresses.
Rural Development Outcomes and Drivers: An Overview and Some Lessons
Over 3.5 billion people live in the Asia and Pacific region and some 63% of them in rural areas. Although millions of rural people have escaped poverty as a result of economic growth in many Asian countries, a large majority of rural people continue to suffer from persistent poverty. The socio-economic disparities between rural and urban areas are also widening, creating tremendous pressure on the social and economic fabric of many developing Asian economies.
Water, Land & People; Bolivia, India and Mali share experiences in integrated water management
Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) has launched an initiative named "Water, Land and People - Voices and insights from three continents", implemented in Bolivia, India and Mali. In each of the three countries, a learning group of 12 to 15 participants from different sectors - farmers' and water users' associations, project teams, NGOs, private sector, government, SDC staff - jointly defined a learning agenda and deepened topics tools like story-telling to ensure a high level of authenticity while capturing experiences. See proceedings and case studies presented.
2007 Benchmarking and Data Book of Water Utilities in India
A benchmarking exercise for water utilities in 20 beneficiary cities of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) has yielded interesting results. This data book forms part of the benchmarking program’s outcomes and contains the profiles of each utility, comparison of performance among the utilities, and a profile of the water sector.
1st Asia-Pacific Water Summit Calls for Greater Commitments
Leaders of 36 countries met last December at the 1st Asia-Pacific Water Summit to address water issues hampering the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. At the end of the Summit, they agreed to accord the highest priority to water and sanitation in their economic and development plans and work towards universal access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation by 2025. Read about the key messages and recommendations.
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POSCO: Villagers demand 5% of share in company's profits
Some people in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district, in a complete turnaround from their earlier stand, agreed to give up land for
the Posco steel plant on January 5, but with conditions. They have asked for a 5 per cent share in the profits of the
company, among other demands.
Read More
Row over uranium mining in Meghalaya
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (moef) cleared a controversial mining project by the Uranium Corporation of
India Limited in Meghalaya last month, triggering fresh protests by local human rights and student groups in the state.
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Central Water Commission overestimates the country's usable water resources
If the government is to be believed there is enough usable water in the country to meet projected demand until 2050. Stumped
by this claim, scientists at iit Delhi and Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, pored over official calculations for estimating
the country’s water resources. They say the government has overestimated its usable water resources by at least 66 per cent.
Read More
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