In The Raj of The Panchayat...

I came across an article in Indian Express, dated June19, 2010 on recent development set to take place in village Panchayats of Lucknow.

Panchayats in Uttar Pradesh are set to get net-savvy. The state Department of Panchayati Raj will soon start using PriaSoft, an exclusive software designed to computerise panchayats and bring all information on a common web platform.

Designed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj, PriaSoft will computerise all accounts of the three-tier panchayati raj institutions to create uniformity. The project comes at a cost of Rs 1,402 crore.

For this, the district level officials have been trained and there will be more training camps throughout the state.

The computerisation of panchayats is a major step in the way of creating transparency in the system. What makes this system more interesting is that it also manages the accounts of the Gram, Block and Zila Panchayats in a similar way, thus creating complete uniformity.

To cater to 51,977 gram panchayats in the first stage, IIT-Kanpur modified PriaSoft to suit the state’s requirements. Since the panchayati raj institutions are the key to all development activities in the rural sector, it becomes all the more important that their functioning be error-free, open and also, easy to manage.

The move was specially initiated at a time when the panchayat elections were due in the next few months so that the voting process could be made hassle-free and accessible by all as soon as possible.

Secretary (Union Panchayati Raj), A N P Sinha says that the panchayats get lakhs of rupees and the accounts should be completely transparent. After computerisation, professionals will be trained to manage the software at each panchayat level. This will increase independency in operations. The aim is to allow panchayats to make their own Five Year Plans in near future.

After computerisation, all the panchayats will be connected through a common portal.

While some information will be shown only to those who have a valid password, information like utilisation of funds and programmes will just be a click away.

This is a safety management exercise. While some features will only be for department officials, the rest will be open for the public. All one would need to do is to go to a cyber cafe or a common service centre and check the number of tasks underway or the money spent by his panchayat.

Rural Communication and Information Needs

I read an article in the archives of Indian Express, dated October 2009, which was somewhere related to communication and information needs in rural areas.

The article talked about a very unique initiative of training village youth for call centre jobs. In Pune, Tata Motors, as a social obligation, updated communication skills of youths in rural areas through its new ‘Shabda Tarang’ project.

The project aims to prepare rural youth for better communication through call centre training, which at present is fast growing and is probably the best means to provide exposure to the rural people, especially the youth who are forever ready to try new things but often do not get a platform and opportunities. The project not only would provide training but also consists of generating job opportunities in the village.

So, in short, through the 3 month Shabda Tarang, a job oriented training opportunity is created. The main purpose of this training is to increase the confidence level along with personality development of the students in the rural area. A high level of thinking and efficiency is required for this. This would eventually lead to a wider and more developed outlook among them.

There is an increased need to bring the villages to the forefront and make them a part of the overall development and progress to ensure that society as a whole moves ahead and the periphery or corners are not left untouched and unaffected. This can only be done through better communication and connectivity.

Slum Development : Dharavi

We all see them around us all the time. We avoid people living in them. Slums. A literall ‘growing’ concern considering the way they are increasing.

A path-breaking effort was initiated by Maharashtra Government in "total-township development" incorporating a holistic approach for development and rehabilitation of Asia's biggest slum - Dharavi.

Known world-wide, Dharavi- the 535-acre sprawling shanty of extreme conditions in central Mumbai- attracted special attention of Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh under his Mumbai Vision 2005-2025.

A unique effort was initiated in pioneering redevelopment of Dharavi into a total township involving a holistic approach. The estimated Rs 9,000-crore project envisaged an 'in-city' rehabilitation of almost 60,000 families.

Dharavi sits in the heart of the world's third largest city and India's financial capital-Mumbai. It mushroomed over years, including migrant population who often landed in the city of dreams empty-handed, seeking a livelihood.

Variously described, it has been a cause of crime, pollution, filth and environmental degradation mainly due to congestion, bad constructions, un-authorised traders and overpopulation. The government has been keen on re-graphing and developing the area into a dignified township.

The need for cleaning, decongesting and rehabilitating the slum was felt by the Maharashtra government and the venture was christened "Dharavi Redevelopment Project" (DRP).

Now DRP addresses most of the concerns, which explains the "in-citu". It is one of a kind project where in-citu people will be rehabilitated... these 6 lakh are not going anywhere... DRP has addressed issues of employment, production methods, and housing... all in the same area.

Take A Safe Sip...

Going through the archives of Indian Express, I came across a very interesting article about an age old and still very useful water channel/system. It is discussed as follows :

Water is life. Its availability as a source to quench our thirst and fulfil basic needs requires setting up of a clean and well-sustained water channel. Significant efforts are made by people of Kerala in this regard. A ninety year old suranga at Sheni, 35 kilometres from Kasaragod, quite distinct from others, might be of interest to historians and researchers. Being used until the last season, it had served both as a suranga and an open-well.

Surangas are traditional horizontal man-made caves for water. Kasaragod district in Kerala has an estimated 6,000 surangas out of which majority are still in use for drinking water and irrigation.

They resemble qanats of Iran. While qanats are thousands of years old, surangas don't seem to have their origin before one or two hundred years ago.

The qanat, according to some researchers, is an extensively Iranian invention since 7th century BC and it later spread to other parts of the world. In Iran, there are about 50,000 qanats today. Although many of them have damaged as a result of drilling of deep wells over the years, a great number of qanats are still use throughout the country. City of Tehran got its water supply from qanats till recently. The combined length of these qanat systems is 272,000 kms. The longest one is in Gonabad district in Khorasan province and stretches to 70 kms! Qanats are present in Afghanistan and China as well. In China they are called as Karez.


More like a Qanat

The suranga at Sheni, approximately 250 metre long suranga, situated by the side of Shri Sharadamba High School resembles the qanats more than its other counterparts in the district. While digging very long surangas, it was a practice to dig tiny well like structures starting from inside the suranga and opening at the top of the hill surface. These structures, called air vents helped in two ways. For one, they provided fresh air for the suranga diggers to breathe and continue their work. Secondly, they provided them some extra sunlight from outside. A very small number of Kasaragod surangas have such air vents.

The Sheni suranga has seven such vents, a few of them have served as open wells as well. Anybody who sees the land surface here won't believe that just twenty feet below, a plentiful water source could be there. The topsoil is a black coloured hard laterite cap that is extremely difficult to dig out with a pick-axe.

Apart from providing water for irrigation, in good old decades, this was the only drinking water source in this surrounding. About 30 families were drawing water with the help of a pulley and rope from the 'wells' emanating from the surangas.

With the changing water scenario, this suranga is slowly being relegated to history. Realizing that the water table is going down, locals have had bore well dug about 7-8 years ago. Now that bore well caters to their irrigation requirements. Government bore wells and hand pumps have also come to the village.

Even now though, the suranga has water. A few families are taking that water in a pipe for their drinking water needs. After the arrival of bore wells, run off from the nearby area is diverted into the suranga with the help of a trench. As a result, all filth, plastic waste, etc., into this water body. This deterioration has stopped the handful of families from drawing water from the suranga well. They too have started using bore well water now.

An engineering feat like these deserve to be well maintained and repaired from time to time. Water is an essential source. Handled preciously and judiciously, it can continue to sustain life and support the generations to come.

Povert And Unemployment

Poverty and unemployment go hand in hand. They are factors that have crippled Indian economy from time to time, only to make it weaker and restrict its progress. However, it is not something that comes from outside and affect a country’s economy and development. Poverty and unemployment are deep rooted in India economy and need to be paid attention to and uprooted so as to prevent it from growing into a tree that would eventually overshadow our country’s progressive approach.

Poverty in India is still rampant despite an impressive economic growth. An estimated 250 million people are below the poverty line and approximately 75 per cent of them are in the rural areas.
In general, poverty can be defined as a situation when people are unable to satisfy the basic needs of life. The definition and methods of measuring poverty differs from country to country. According to the definition by Planning Commission of India, poverty line is drawn with an intake of 2400 calories in rural areas and 2100 calories in urban areas. If a person is unable to get that much minimum level of calories, then he/she is considered as being below poverty line.

Causes of Poverty in India

• High level of dependence on primitive methods of agriculture

• High population growth rate

• High Illiteracy (about 35% of adult population)

• Regional inequalities

• Protectionist policies pursued till 1991 that prevented high foreign investment

Government has introduced a number of anti-poverty programs since independence to alleviate poverty. These include various employment guarantee programmes such as National Rural Employment Programme, Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme etc. Recently, Government has initiated National Rural Employment Guarantee Program (NREGP). As per NREGP, the government will provide 100 days of employment per year to whosoever is willing to work. NREGP is considered as a landmark program in poverty alleviation measures.

One of the major problems with poverty alleviation programs is their implementation. Rajiv Gandhi once said that out of 100 paisa allocated for poor only 14 paisa reaches them. But in spite of their weaknesses, poverty alleviated program can be credited for their success in alleviating poverty to an extent. Greater public-private partnership and committed and efficient bureaucratic machinery is required to tackle poverty.
Poverty can be of different types like absolute poverty and relative poverty. There may be many other classifications like urban poverty, rural poverty, primary poverty, secondary poverty and many more. Whatever be the type of poverty, the basic reason has always been lack of adequate income. Here comes the role of unemployment behind poverty. Lack of employment opportunities and the consequential income disparity bring about mass poverty in most of the developing and under developed economies of the world.

Economic reforms may have given a boost to industrial productivity and brought in foreign investment in capital intensive areas. But the boom has not created jobs. This was not unexpected. According to a report by the Washington-based Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), the combined sales of the world's top 200 MNCs is now greater than the combined GDP of all but the world's nine largest national economies. Yet, the total direct employment generated by these multinationals is a mere 18.8 million - one-hundredth of one per cent of the global workforce.

India's labour force is growing at a rate of 2.5 per cent annually, but employment is growing at only 2.3 per cent. Thus, the country is faced with the challenge of not only absorbing new entrants to the job market (estimated at seven million people every year), but also clearing the backlog.

Sixty per cent of India's workforce is self-employed, many of whom remain very poor. Nearly 30 per cent are casual workers (i.e. they work only when they are able to get jobs and remain unpaid for the rest of the days). Only about 10 per cent are regular employees, of which two-fifths are employed by the public sector.

More than 90 per cent of the labour force is employed in the "unorganised sector", i.e. sectors which don't provide with the social security and other benefits of employment in the "organised sector."

In the rural areas, agricultural workers form the bulk of the unorganised sector. In urban India, contract and sub-contract as well as migratory agricultural labourers make up most of the unorganised labour force.

Unorganised sector is made up of jobs in which the Minimum Wage Act is either not, or only marginally, implemented. The absence of unions in the unorganised sector does not provide any opportunity for collective bargaining.

Sector-wise absorption of labour

Agriculture -                                62 per cent

Manufacturing & construction- 16 per cent

Services -                                     10 per cent

Sundry / miscellaneous jobs -    12 per cent


Sources of Unemployment

Lack of effective aggregate demand of labour is one of the principal reasons for unemployment. In the less developed economies a substantial portion of the total workforce works as surplus labour. This problem is particularly prevalent in the agricultural sector. Due to excess labour, the marginal productivity of the workforce may be zero or even negative. This excess pool of labour is the first to become unemployed during the period of economic or social crisis.

Measures to Prevent Unemployment and Poverty

Economic reforms, changes in the industrial policy and better utilization of available resources are expected to reduce the problem of unemployment and poverty that results from it. The economic reform measures need to have major impacts on the employment generating potential of the economy. The governmental bodies are also required to initiate long term measures for poverty alleviation. Generation of employment opportunities and equality in income distribution are the two key factors that are of utmost importance to deal with the dual problem of unemployment and poverty.