Policy watch May 2007

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 people, have been suffering from drought for the fifth consecutive year. The 25-point questionnaire tests the candidates’ knowledge of the rural economy and the problems faced by farmers.
Desperate to win over the otherwise apathetic electorate -- the region covers four assembly seats -- candidates are visiting villages to write the tests titled, ‘Face-to-face with the reality in Bundelkhand’ and ‘Experience performa’. Here are some of the questions:

  • Why are farmers in Bundelkhand committing suicide?
  • To turn the course of rivers (river-linking project), the government has taken conditional loans from the World Bank and decided to privatise water. What do you think of it?
  • What is your solution to the growing despondency among farmers?

    • Around 20 candidates from different constituencies of Bundelkhand submitted their answers. All of them attributed suicides by farmers to “starvation, debts”. About 20,000 people from 380 villages in seven districts of Bundelkhand region have decided to boycott the elections.

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    Minister warns he will link funds release to BPL list

    Union minister for rural development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has warned that funds to states for centrally sponsored schemes would be held back unless below poverty line (BPL) lists were prepared. Expressing concern over the delay in preparation of the BPL beneficiary list, Singh demanded states to produce lists within two months, after getting approval from Gram Sabhas. Singh said that over 6 lakh complaints about non-inclusion in the list had been received from Madhya Pradesh and 3 lakh from Rajasthan. About 50 per cent of these had been corrected. “However, in Bihar there is an impossible situation because the list is totally wrong as it includes the names of the state rural department minister and even some senior officials,” Singh alleged.

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    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. Though the Act describes the communities as “conservers and preservers” of bio-diversity, the rules delineating its provisions limit the power and function of the same communities to only documentation of their resources and knowledge, with no legal provision to exercise control over what is documented. India enacted a Biological Diversity Act in 2002 in pursuance with its obligation to the global Convention on Biological Diversity. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002, is a law meant to achieve three main objectives: conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of biological resources, and equity in sharing benefits from such use of resources.

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    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. Punjab Chief Minster Parkash Singh Badal had constituted a core group comprising financial commissioners of revenue, and development and cooperation to prepare the state’s case to be presented before the “Working group on rural indebtedness” in the Prime Minister’s Office. Badal said that he will pursue the case with the PM and the Union ministers for agriculture and finance for early clearance of a package on rural indebtedness for Punjab on the pattern of the one given to Vidharbha in Maharashtra. Badal wants the Centre to facilitate a ‘One Time Settlement’ (OTS) scheme to solve the problem. Under OTS, the ultimate recovery amount must not exceed twice the principal amount. Those who have already repaid twice the principal amount should be offered a waiver in an across-the-board policy initiative.

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    A Farmers’ Protection Act?

    Farm activists from Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have formed a joint front to push for an ‘Agriculture and Farmers’ Protection Act’ on the lines of the Forest Conservation Act so that prime agricultural land being forcibly acquired by the government for industrial purposes can be saved for continued food production. The proposed Act will preserve land for agricultural purposes. The activists say that instead of cash compensation, farmers should be given a judicious percentage of shares in the industry that is set up on their land.

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    Farm panel calls for contract farm policy

    Calling for liberalisation of the agricultural marketing system, the National Development Council (NDC) 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.

    On the contract farming policy, the working group said this would not only provide an appropriate system to administer contract farming arrangements between sponsoring companies and farmers but also allow different models of contract farming within the country.

    The panel also suggested formation of a quasi-judicial authority to resolve disputes between sponsoring companies and farmers through mediation. There could be provisions of legal penalty to prevent contract violations by either party. The sub-committee is of the view that the Centre and states needed to put in more effort to attract private investment in agricultural marketing activities. To boost private agricultural marketing, the sub-committee is learnt to have recommended doing away with provisions like levy, control on movement, transportation, storage and marketing of agricultural produce under the Essential Commodities Act so as to make the entire country a homogeneous market. The sub-committee’s recommendations, to be presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, are to be incorporated into the Eleventh Five-Year Plan.

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    Nine states join hands against Naxalites

    Nine states acutely affected by Naxalite violence have decided to work together to tackle their common problem. The joint strategies to deal with Naxalite activities, modernisation of intelligence gathering and improving inter-state coordination formed the core agenda of the meeting of top police officials of nine Naxalite-affected states. This decision was taken at a meeting convened by the Union home ministry in April.

    The day-long meeting also talked in detail about the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Forest Conservation Act and effective implementation of Panchayat Extension Schedule Area (PESA). According to sources, the meeting took stock of implementation of various development plans in Naxalite-affected areas. The Centre asked states to put in place generous resettlement and rehabilitation policies to ensure that the Naxalites do not find willing supporters amongst villagers who lose farmland to mega projects.

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    Naxalites ban plucking of Mahua flowers

    Naxalites in the Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh border area have banned the plucking of Mahua flowers, state officials said. This has triggered a conflict between villagers and the armed outfit, as Mohua flowers are a major source of income for locals. Naxalites have banned the plucking citing their ‘exclusive’ rights over forests. Earlier the outfit had stopped the forest department from cutting bamboo trees.

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    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. The Kerala High Court had allowed Pepsi to start operations by setting aside the Puthusery village council’s move to cancel the firm’s license to operate in 2004. The village council had cancelled permission to the company citing excessive groundwater withdrawal leading to water shortage in the area. A division bench of acting Chief Justice K S Radhakrishnan and Justice M N Krishnan held that the village council did not have the right to look into such a matter, as the plant was located in an industrial belt.

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    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. Manipulative accounting, lack of vital linkages, poor asset creation and shrinking productive investment are a few nagging problems the commission has pointed out in its report.

    The Planning Commission decided to take a look at the functioning of Kerala’s Panchayati Raj only after the State Planning Board’s persistent invitation in 2003. ‘Drinking water schemes’ have been passed on as ‘irrigation projects’ in Panchayat books, says the recently published Evaluation Report on Decentralised Experience of Kerala (Project Evaluation Organisation (PEO), Planning Commission) 2007.
    A typical case is of Edavanna panchayat, where an ‘irrigation project’ (on record) serves as a drinking water project, even charging money from each beneficiary Scheduled Caste household. “Sectoral shares” have been manipulated to “inflate the share of the productive sector in total plan,” the report notes.

    Detailed sample surveys were done in four districts -- Kollam, Ernakulam, Malappuram and Wayanad. The reference period was 1997-2002, overlapping the United Democratic Fund and Left Democratic Fund tenures. When assets were created, inadequate provisions were made to maintain them, says the report. “Sub-optimal utilisation of created assets” is also worrying, says S P Pai, advisor (evaluation), Planning Commission.

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    MLAs take over Panchayat power

    In the recent controversy in the Karnataka legislature over Infosys Honorary Chairman and Chief Mentor Narayana Murthy’s national anthem faux pas, another equally significant event virtually passed unnoticed -- the hurried passage of amendments to the Panchayat Raj Act by both houses of the legislature.

    The amendment gives MLAs powers over Gram Sabhas and Panchayats -- the separate tier of local governance into which citizens directly elect representatives -- that run contrary to the spirit of decentralisation and the Constitution. There was pandemonium in both houses when the legislature passed the Bill.

    In the legislative assembly, the opposition staged a walk out. In the legislative council, the vote was evenly split, and was followed by Chairman B K Chandrashekhar exercising his casting vote in favour of the government.

    The amendment has set the clock back in no uncertain terms. It inserts similarly worded provisos to Section 3(3)(b) and 3A(3)(c), stating that if a Gram Panchayat fails to discharge its duties with respect to housing schemes or programmes funded by the government, then a committee headed by the member of the legislative assembly of the constituency shall select the beneficiaries from the list prepared by the Gram Panchayat. In one stroke, the legislator has becomes the final arbiter of decisions made by the Gram Sabha. These provisos are dangerously open ended.

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    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. According to this, development works worth Rs 130 crore would be undertaken in 867 out of 925 forest villages. Under the infrastructure development schemes, works such as construction of ponds, tube wells, hand pumps, wells, stop dams, community halls, anganbadi bhavans, health centres, roads, ramps and culverts are already underway. Besides this, alternate sources of energy are also being provided to villages. Besides this, additional development works such as water conservation similar to jalabhishek campaigns and construction of roads etc. would be undertaken. Also, works related to irrigation, agricultural land reforms and potable water facilities would be carried out in the regional units of 47 forest divisions of 29 districts of the state.

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    West coast states to enforce 47-day fishing ban

    States along the country’s west coast have informed the Centre about their willingness to declare an annual 47-day fishing ban to replenish fish stocks. However, there will not be a uniform ban as desired by the Union government. Hence, it is likely that Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep will implement the ban based on local coastal conditions.

    This decision comes in the backdrop of an interim order by the Supreme Court banning fishing for 65 days -- from June 10 to August 15 -- along the west coast. An expert committee constituted by the Centre to study the impact of a fishing ban suggested a mandatory ban of 47 days along the west and east coasts.

    The states will also urge the Centre to allow boats powered by 25 horsepower motors to venture into the high seas during the fishing holiday as against the 10 horsepower motors that are permitted at present. Only sustenance fishing will be allowed during the ban.

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    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. The forest department will ban grazing in wildlife sanctuaries and will also charge a fee for grazing cattle in selected areas in forests. Andhra Pradesh is one of the few states in the country where grazing is free. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and other states already levy charges on traders for grazing of animals.

    The cattle population in Andhra Pradesh has increased from 276.6 lakh in 1961 to 475.80 lakh in 2006. Since grazing was free, the state had become a haven for cattle traders from other states as well. It is estimated that about 6 lakh cattle enter Andhra Pradesh from Rajasthan and other states every year. Most of the cattle are brought to Adilabad, Nallamalla Hills, Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary and other forests areas. Traders bring in truckloads of animals and strike deals with locals living near forest tracts to mind their cattle for six months or a year. Locals use cattle dung to make their lands fertile.

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    Global poverty rates falling

    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. The proportion of people living on less than $1 a day fell to 18.4 per cent in 2004, leaving an estimated 985 million people living in extreme poverty. In comparison, the total number of extreme poor was 1.25 billion in 1990. The two-dollar-a-day poverty rates also fell, but an estimated 2.6 billion people, almost half the population of the developing world, were still living below that level in 2004. Developing countries have averaged a solid 3.9 per cent annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP) since 2000, which contributed to rapidly falling poverty rates in all developing regions over the past few years. Another key reason why the dollar-a-day poverty fell by over 260 million between 1990 and 2004 was China’s massive poverty reduction over that period. Indeed, East Asia’s extreme poverty rate dropped to 9 per cent in 2004.

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    Subsoil water being over-exploited in Punjab

    Punjab is headed for disaster due to the excessive use of ground water for agricultural and other purposes. This is indicated in the mapping done by the local regional office of the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) with regard to the use of ground water in the state. Of the 137 development blocks mapped by the board’s scientists, 103 are over-exploited as far as use of subsoil water is concerned.

    Five blocks are in the critical stage and four in the semi-critical stage. Only 25 blocks fall in the safe zone. In fact, safe zones are mostly those blocks where the subsoil water is unfit for drinking as well as for irrigation. In Punjab, there are about 12 lakh tube wells, mostly operated by electricity. Free power given by the state government to farmers for operating tube wells, and the cultivation of paddy, which is a water-guzzling crop, has led the state on the path of self-destruction.

    Alarmed by the emerging trend, the Central Ground Water Authority has issued a notification that no person, organisation or agency (government or non-government) shall undertake the process of drilling, construction, installation of any new structure, scheme or project of ground water development without approval from the deputy commissioners of the five development blocks.

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    Andhra gets US$189 million World Bank loan for tanks

    The World Bank has approved a US$189 million loan to Andhra Pradesh aimed at improving agricultural productivity and helping community-based institutions in managing tank systems effectively. The Andhra Pradesh Community-based Tank Management Project aims at improving the physical and operational performance of about 3,000 village tank systems with a command area of about 250,000 hectares, securing the safety of the village tank structures, and improving on-farm water management and efficiency.

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    Van Vigyan Kendras to provide livelihoods

    In an effort to promote its research output, the Union ministry of environment and forests has decided to come up with Van Vigyan Kendras. These centres, on the lines of Krishi Vigyan Kendras, will promote research outputs and help in providing livelihood to local people. The ministry is in talks with state governments to set up such centres, which will provide information to people about various products like jatropha and oil yielding trees, which can not only act as means of livelihood but also help in increasing the fertility of the soil. Research in aromatic and drug yielding plants along with development of hybrids of shrubs and trees like Eucalyptus, will be promoted through these centres.

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    Forest ministry blocks 100 per cent electrification

    Though Andhra Pradesh claims to have achieved 100 per cent electrification, but some tribal habitations are yet to receive power. Due to the big delay by the Union ministry for environment and forests in granting permission for laying of electric lines and poles in forest areas, remote tribal villages in the state are still in the dark. As per the 2001 census, 26,613 villages in the state had electricity connections. By the end of 2006, around 26,597 villages had got power, leaving few tribal habitations to be electrified. “To erect 132/33 kilo volt (kv) or 220 kv lines and transformers in these areas we need permission from the forest authorities. They ask questions like the number of trees to be affected and their product for every season. We need to give historical data also,” said a senior official in the transmission wing.

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