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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. |
| Inside | |
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In Focus: Mendha (Lekha) demands its rights under Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006
NREGA Updates: Telephone Based Banking Services to Check Irregularities in NREGA Wage Payments
Resources: The Vast Majority Income (VMI): A New Measure of Global Inequality
Down To Earth: Read latest stories on poverty and environment
| Policy Watch | |
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Rural water schemes leak: World Bank report
According to a recent report by the World Bank, India loses one per cent of its GDP because of the inefficiency of its rural water supply schemes. The report states that the loss of Rs 50.2 billion per year is due to inefficiency of piped water supply systems in the ten states studied, while the loss due to schemes getting defunct was Rs1.9 billion per year
Global warming: India's wheat output to decline
A minimum rise of 0.5 degree celsius in winter temperatures is predicted due to accumulation of greenhouses gases in the atmosphere, which would cause 0.45 tonne per hectare fall in India’s wheat production in next 10 years, according to `Wheat Report 2008: Future Tense’.
Government expects higher kharif crop
India would have a higher summer (kharif) crop this season in view of the good rains and an increased area coming under cultivation, says the Ministry of Agriculture. “The government has fixed minimum support price (MSP) at Rs.1,000 for 100 kilograms of wheat, and Rs.850 for rice.
Rs. 3,300 crore released to states for rural drinking water under Bharat Nirman
In the last three years of Bharat Nirman, rural drinking water component has continuously surpassed the target. In 2005-06, against the target of 56,270 habitations to be covered, 97,215 habitations were achieved. In 2006-07, against the target of 73,120 habitations, 1,07,350 habitations were covered.
Rural power plan fails to light up villages
According to recent figures released by the Ministry of Power, majority of states are yet to achieve the targets of providing electricity to rural households set under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY). The RGGVY programme is a part of the Bharat Nirman initiative and is a flagship programme of the government that was launched in April 2005. It aims to light up 1.25 lakh villages and provide electricity connections to 2.34 crore rural households by 2009.
Implementation of Rs 7,140 crore special scheme for Dalits
A ministerial panel reviewing measures for Dalit welfare has asked the government to prepare a blueprint to implement a Rs 7,140 crore "special scheme” to develop villages with more than 40 per cent SC population as "model villages”. The committee has asked the Planning Commission and Social Justice Ministry to finalise the scheme to provide basic amenities as per Bharat Nirman norms to all 71,406 villages.
Cloud seeding to fight drought in Maharashtra
Parts of Maharashtra are facing a severe dry spell, threatening the kharif season. The state’s agriculture department has recommended cloud seeding (rain clouds bombarded with tiny sodium chloride particles that make them release water), as part of the contingency plan – Project Varsha – to mitigate the drought-like situation.
Higher green cover by 2030
India’s forest cover is likely to increase over the next 20 years and enhance the country’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide by 11 per cent, indicates a new projection. Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, have estimated that the country’s forest cover could grow from 68 million hectares to 72 million hectares by 2030 — if the current trend of afforestation is maintained.
| In Focus | |
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Mendha (Lekha) village demands its rights under Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006Mendha-Lekha, a Gond village in Dhanora Tehsil of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra has recently applied for community rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. A village republic associated with self-rule since 1996, Mendha has managed its 1600 hectares of forest for many years.
| NREGA Update |
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Telephone Based Banking Services to Check Irregularities in NREGA Wage Payments
The Union Ministry of rural development has initiated telephone-based banking services, which would be easily accessible to the workers even in the remote areas of the country for checking irregularities in the payment of wages and to safeguard rights of workers.
Rs 71 million paid in bribe for NREGA work
Over 9 lakh below poverty line (BPL) families had to pay bribes to the tune of Rs 71.5 million to avail the benefits of the UPA government’s flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), according to a survey.
Insurance cover for NREGA workers
The Union finance ministry has approved the proposal to cover the workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in the rural poor category under Janashree Bima Yojana (JBY).
| Resources | |
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The Vast Majority Income (VMI): A New Measure of Global Inequality
GDP per capita is by far the most popular measure of international levels of development. It is fairly well understood and widely available across countries and time. But it is also recognized that GDP per capita is an imperfect proxy for important factors such as health, education and well being.
An alternative approach has been to work directly with the the UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI). The above measures of welfare will be re-examined in light of findings that inequality-discounted GDP per capita can be interpreted as a measure of the relative per capita income of the first seventy per cent of a nation’s population. This Policy Research Brief introduces a new measure of worldwide income and inequality, which is Vast Majority Income (VMI).
Improving land access for India's rural poor: Towards market-friendly, pro-poor land legislation in India
Since Independence, India’s states have employed several land reform ‘tools,’ including reforming tenancy, imposing land ceilings, distributing government wasteland, and allocating house sites and homestead plots. This article briefly summarises some of these past efforts and attempts to draw broad lessons for informing possible policy paths ahead.
The World Food Situation: New Driving Forces and Required Actions
New driving forces are currently rapidly redefining the world food situation. Income growth, climate change, high-energy prices, globalization, and urbanization are transforming food consumption, production, and markets. Not surprisingly, renewed global attention is being given to the role of agriculture and food in development policy. This report explores the trends that are determining food policy across the world.
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1,620.361 ha of discontentSpecial economic zones and sit-ins. Mega-projects and marches. Public-private partnerships and pitched battles. Precociously, because they are desperate, state governments are willing to hand land, forest, water over to industry...
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What a wasteas a part of a centrally-sponsored scheme non-recommended pesticides were being distributed to farmers in Rajasthan. Farmers were being forced to buy unnecessary pesticides as a part of the subsidy package under the National Horticulture...
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All cracked upThe Uttar Pradesh government is hard at investigating widespread land subsidence in several districts during the second week of June this year. According to the Geological Survey of India (gsi), Lucknow, cracks appeared in districts ...
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Trouble in storeAbout two months ago New Delhi was involved in a fire-fighting exercise on the food front, particularly on the wheat front. It put embargo on rail transport for private trade, scrapped the futures trade, told private traders to keep away from ...
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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
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