| Policy watch August 2007 |
- World Bank’s effort to change ICDS fails
- Market research agency to investigate panchayats
- IFS officers take over IAS roles
- India could lose 18 per cent rainfed cereal production
- Planning Commission doubts malnutrition figure
- Smart money for India’s rural poor
- President targets agricultural advances in rainfed areas
- Orissa districts under moisture stress
- Rajasthan gets central grants for rural drinking water supply
- TN to expedite construction of houses in tsunami affected areas
- NABARD to float micro finance institution
- NABARD-funded roads benchmark of quality
- Karnataka receives rehabilitation package for irrigation schemes
World Bank’s effort to change ICDS fails
The World Bank’s efforts to engineer policy changes in the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) have failed due to stiff resistance from the ministries of women and child development (WCD), rural development, and human resource development.
As a part of its loan package, the World Bank had proposed that education of three- to six-year-olds, currently part of ICDS, be shifted to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and maternal benefits be made part of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).
The Planning Commission has been supporting these changes. The World Bank argues that as ICDS has not performed, it should not deal with the subject of child development. But the government says that it has the constitutional mandate to provide free education to children between 6 and 14 years of age, not between 3 and 6.
The WCD ministry says that since ICDS is being overhauled with a proper monitoring mechanism, there is no need to take away one of its core functions and merge it with another programme.
As for the World Bank’s demand of making maternal mortality a part of NREGA, rural development ministry officials argue that in its current form, the employment guarantee scheme does not have the mandate to include new components till NREGA is amended.
Market research agency to investigate panchayats
The Union ministry of panchayati raj has commissioned the AC Nielsen group to conduct a study to determine the truth behind allegations that spouses and other male family members are running panchayats on behalf of elected women representatives. The findings of the study are expected to be out by April next year, panchayati raj minister Mani Shankar Aiyer said in Delhi recently. “I do not think the results will show that the situation is the same everywhere,” Aiyer remarked at a meeting of the empowered sub-committee of the National Development Council.
IFS officers take over IAS roles
Citing shortage of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers in the state, the Chhattisgarh government has put Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers in charge of various administrative matters. Whether it’s the chief minister’s office or the main office that deploys administrative staff, there are a substantial number of IFS officers manning key administrative posts outside the forest department’s jurisdiction.
These officers have been asked to manage the tourism department, the state public service commission, the housing board and public administration duties like special secretaries in the secretariat and chief executive officers of district panchayats.
K Subramanyam, an IFS officer, was even appointed as the home secretary recently but had to be shifted after opposition from IAS officers. The state is short of 40 IAS and 20 IFS officers.
India could lose 18 per cent rainfed cereal production
According to the UN, India could lose 125 million tonnes of cereals -- equivalent to 18 per cent of its rain fed cereal production -- as a result of climate changes due to global warming.
At lower latitudes, especially in seasonally dry tropics, the crop yield potential is likely to decline for even a small global temperature rise, which would increase the risk of hunger, FAO Director General Jacques Diouf said, while launching the ‘Knowledge on wheels’ programme at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai recently.
Greater frequency of droughts and floods will affect local production negatively, especially in subsistence sectors at low latitudes, he said, adding that rain fed agriculture in marginal areas in semi-arid and sub-humid regions is at risk.
Planning Commission doubts malnutrition figure
The Planning Commission has questioned the data generated by the Union ministry of women and child development (WCD) on the number of children suffering from malnutrition in India.
The general figures range from 45.5 per cent to 55 per cent. The National Family Health Survey-III puts it at 45 per cent. The United Nation’s agencies, on the other hand, say the number of malnourished children in India is close to 55 per cent.
Sayeeda Hamid, member of the commission, said data collection in anganwadis run by the WCD ministry is flawed: “There is no compilation of figures and registers at anganwadis are not maintained properly. In that case, the data generated may not be authentic.”
After her visit to aganwadis in different parts of the country, Hamid asked the WCD ministry to improve its data collection methodology so that the exact count of malnourished children in the country could be ascertained.
Smart money for India’s rural poor
The Union ministry of finance and the Planning Commission are looking at ways of using electronic smart cards to transform the distribution of relatively small amounts of government money to India’s 220 million people who live below the poverty line, and maybe to 200-300 million more who are marginally better off.
nderThis move will make it difficult for bureaucrats, politicians and middlemen to siphon off funds as they move down the distribution chain. Finance minister P Chidambaram has suggested that a good starting point could be issuing of smart cards for the government’s popular National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which has been allocated a minimum $3 billion this year. “The technology is proven and can be quickly implemented with cooperation from bureaucrats,” Chidambaram said.
President targets agricultural advances in rainfed areas
President Pratibha Patil has called for emphasis on micro and ground-based issues in agricultural advances, such as soil health as well as the larger advantages of using advances in space technology. Referring to the 2006-07 economic survey to raise the issues of unbalanced use of fertilisers and falling agricultural yields in rice and wheat, Patil emphasised on the need to bolster agriculture in rainfed areas.
She further proposed the need for “major investments in strengthening basic and strategic research in frontier areas of agricultural sciences”, enabling village communities to conserve their biodiversity in the field of gene banks, and preserving water, seeds and grains. Patil emphasised the need for research on more productive varieties of wheat and rice. She also gave importance to crop diversification for both production and consumption.
Orissa districts under moisture stress
Concerned over the moisture stress situation in 11 districts (of the state’s 30) due to low rainfall, the Orissa government has directed district collectors to energise lift irrigation points and closely monitor the condition of crops.
A dominantly rainfed state, Orissa received deficient rainfall -- ranging from 20 to 40 per cent less than the average -- last month. This affected agricultural operations in Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Kendrapara, Deogarh, Angul, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jajpur and Malkangiri districts.
The average rainfall in the state in July was 260 mm -- against the normal 328 mm. These 11 districts are the worst hit, according to a state government press release. District authorities have been directed to keep a close watch and provide all assistance to farmers, be it in terms of energising lift irrigation points or subsidising inputs.
Rajasthan gets central grants for rural drinking water supply
The Union ministry of rural development has sanctioned Rs 61.90 crore to the Rajasthan government towards provisional allocation of Rs 185.70 crore made under the centrally-sponsored Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme-Drought Development Programme (ARWSP-DDP).
The release was made for execution/completion of schemes to provide safe drinking water to rural habitations and schools under the ARWSP-DDP areas guidelines. States have been requested to delegate powers for management of rural water supply (RWS) schemes through panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) as per the Constitution of India. The operation and maintenance of the completed RWS scheme(s) would be transferred to the PRIs.
TN to expedite construction of houses in tsunami affected areas
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has instructed officials to expedite the construction of 20,000 houses in tsunami-affected areas of the state. These include 8,500 group houses being constructed within 1,000 metres of the coast and 11,500 houses within 200 metres and 2,113 houses being built by NGOs. The total cost of construction would be Rs 476 crore.
The CM, who reviewed the progress of works under the rural development department, also asked officials to expedite the process of providing telephone connections to panchayats and providing education to members of women self help groups.
NABARD to float micro finance institution
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) will soon start a micro-finance institution in order to take financing to the ‘poorest of the poor’. The venture will be launched in partnership with commercial banks, with NABARD holding 51 per cent stake on an authorised capital of Rs 100 crore.
Likely to be named NABFIN, the venture will become operational during this fiscal, Y S P Thorat, chairman, NABARD, said. A financial advisory unit -- which provides advisory services in areas that have higher incidents of farmers’ suicides --will also be set up.
The states, which might be covered by these services include Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra. Various types of counselling services will be provided.
In the absence of alternatives, the poor and weaker sections depend on unorganised financial systems. Micro-finance institutions will help in providing enabling facilities and livelihood opportunities.
NABARD-funded roads benchmark of quality
Roads constructed in Tamil Nadu villages with money sanctioned from the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) of the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development have become a benchmark of quality. In the 1995-96 budget, the Centre had announced the creation of the fund for the development of rural infrastructure, following “deceleration in public sector investment in agriculture and rural infrastructure.”
Tamil Nadu has been tapping the fund since then. As on March 31, 2007, more than 16,300 projects were sanctioned. These included 8,982 projects for roads and bridges, 740 irrigation projects, 234 micro irrigation projects, 249 groundwater recharge projects, and upgradation of infrastructure in 1,783 schools.
Against a total sanction/commitment of Rs 4,511.66 crore, Rs 3,000 crore have been drawn by Tamil Nadu, state finance secretary K Gnanadesikan said. The road sector accounts for 60 per cent sanction and 73.6 per cent of aggregate disbursement, followed by the bridges sector with 25 per cent sanction and 21.6 per cent disbursement. Irrigation accounts for 11 per cent sanction and 3.4 per cent disbursement.
The economic impact of these projects has generated 80.508 million man days of non-recurring employment in rural areas and helped in the construction of 27,000 km of roads and 869 bridges of 34,430 metre length.
Karnataka receives rehabilitation package for irrigation schemes
The Centre has given a green signal for the utilisation of Rs 2,690 crore released under the rehabilitation package approved for six suicide-prone districts of Karnataka. Under the package, groundwater recharging will be taken up in the Krishna and Cauvery river basins through indigenous schemes like Sujala and Suvarna Gramodaya. However, the state government maintains that it cannot spend the Rs 1,209 crore earmarked for medium and major irrigation activities in river basins as neighbouring states could raise objections.
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