Obama admits US in economic 'hole'
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams- Chapter 518
Palash Biswas
India is being AMERICANISED thanks to the Zionist Dynasty remote Controlled Superslaves Ruling and the Manusmriti Hegemony indulged in Genocide Culture.Taxation loaded against the Majority Masses and Esclusion of the Aboriginal Indigenous Communities, FDI LPG Mafia Raj make the Shining Sensex Economy based on Economic Ethnic Cleansing and Brute Absolute Annihilation of Nature and Nature associated people.The result is hidden but Exposed sometimes as Acute poverty prevails in eight Indian states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, together accounting for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African nations combined, a new 'multidimensional' measure of global poverty has said.
Most amusing should sound the IRONY and Hypocricy that Uttar Pradesh has got the highest number of Loksabha seats which ensured thrones for the personalities like Pdt. JL Nehru, LB Shashtri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, VP Singh, Charan Singh and chandrashekhar.
Apart from this, the Province has been centre of Non Cong Politics since 1967 General Eelctiosn.Ram Manohar Lohia and Acharya Narendra Dev called for annihiliation of Caste from UP. Later Mulayam and Mayawati ousted Congress as well as the Ruling Brahamins out of Power for Ever.
In Bihar, the Social Change is a Continuous affair since Karpuri Thakur who was the CM in 1977. Lalu, the OBC icon ruled for Fifteen years. Then, another OBC Icon Nitish Kumar took over.The official Claim is better Growth Rate than Narendra Modi`Gujarat.
Whereas Left Ruled bengal boasts to have unprecedented success in Land reforms under Left Rule for Three Full Decades!
Meanwhile,National Industrial output rose by 11.5 per cent in May, growing in double digits for the eighth straight month, on good showing by manufacturing, particularly capital and consumer goods.
In comparison, industry grew by 2.1 per cent in May last year.
The manufacturing segment, which constitutes around 80 per cent of the index of industrial production (IIP), grew 12.3 per cent in May against 1.8 per cent in same month last year, according to the official data released on Monday.
''India to surpass China in terms of population by 2050''
India's burgeoning population has seen a five-fold increase over the last 100 years and will surpass that of China by 2050. Projections made by the Government show that while India's population grew by 1.4 per cent over the last five years, China saw only a 0.6 per cent population growth for the corresponding period.
India's total population in 2009 was 119.8 crore, China's 134.5 crore and Pakistan's 18 crore. While India's population will increase to 161.38 crore by 2050, that of China will only reach 141.7 crore.
Interestingly, Pakistan's population grew at the highest rate in the sub-continent - 2.2 per cent over the last five years. India will have to share an additional burden of 371 million by 2026. Out of this, Uttar Pradesh will have a share of 22 per cent of the population, Bihar eight per cent, Uttarakhand one per cent, the four southern states 13 per cent and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan 7 per cent each.
The report by the ''Janasankhya Sthirta Kosh'' under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said if India continues at the current pace it will double its population in the next 50 years making sustainable development unattainable.
Another interesting fact is that the individual populations of Indian states equal the total population of many countries. For example, Uttar Pradesh with a population 18.3 crore, nearly touches that of Brazil at 18.7 crore, Maharashtra's 10.4 crore is equal to that of Mexico's 10.4 crore and Bihar's nine crore is more than Germany's 8.3 crore.
Talking about aspects of family planning which have been initiated over the years, the report says the rate of sterilisation was the highest in Chhattisgarh at 74 per cent while in Jharkhand 68 per cent had been achieved. Rajasthan had 73 per cent sterilisation, Uttar Pradesh 43 per cent and Madhya Pradesh 58 per cent.
According to the document, the major factors fuelling population growth were the high infant mortality rate which leads to demand for more children, women being married off before the age of 18 and teenage pregnancies.
On the other hand, President Barack Obama defended his handling of the US economy and blasted Republicans on Thursday for "peddling snake oil" as he went on a two-day campaign swing for fellow Democrats going into November's congressional elections.
Obama has come under fire for bank and auto bailouts and a $787 billion stimulus package whose effectiveness is a subject of debate. He is under election-year pressure to reduce a 9.5 per cent unemployment rate but said he was confident Americans would "dig ourselves out of this hole".
"We've got a long way to go," Obama said at a Kansas City electric car factory. "But what is absolutely clear is we're moving in the right direction."
Obama was raising cash for the US Senate campaigns of two Democrats -- Robin Carnahan of Missouri and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
Reid is in a tough fight despite being the most powerful Democrat in the Senate, a sign of an election year in which many incumbents are running for their political lives.
The new measure, called the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), was developed and applied by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative with UNDP support.
It will be featured in the forthcoming 20th anniversary edition of the UNDP Human Development Report.
An analysis by MPI creators reveals that there are more 'MPI poor' people in eight Indian states (421 million in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) than in the 26 poorest African countries combined (410 million).
The new poverty measure that gives a multidimensional picture of people living in poverty, and is expected to help target development resources more effectively, its creators said.
The MPI supplants the Human Poverty Index, which had been included in the annual Human Development Reports since 1997.
The 2010 UNDP Human Development Report will be published in late October, but research findings from the Multidimensional Poverty Index were made available today at a policy forum in London and on line on the websites of OPHI and the UNDP Human Development Report.
The MPI assesses a range of critical factors or 'deprivations' at the household level: from education to health outcomes to assets and services.
Taken together, these factors provide a fuller portrait of acute poverty than simple income measures, according to OPHI and UNDP.
The measure reveals the nature and extent of poverty at different levels: from household up to regional, national and international level.
This new multidimensional approach to assessing poverty has been adapted for national use in Mexico, and is now being considered by Chile and Colombia.
"The MPI is like a high resolution lens which reveals a vivid spectrum of challenges facing the poorest households," said OPHI Director Dr Sabina Alkire, who created the MPI with Professor James Foster of George Washington University and Maria Emma Santos of OPHI.
The UNDP Human Development Report Office is also joining forces with OPHI to promote international discussions on the practical applicability of this multidimensional approach to measuring poverty.
"We are featuring the Multidimensional Poverty Index in the 20th anniversary edition of the Human Development Report this year because we consider it a highly innovative approach to quantifying acute poverty," Dr Jeni Klugman, Director of the UNDP Human Development Report Office and the principal author of this year's Report, said.
"The MPI provides a fuller measure of poverty than the traditional dollar-a-day formulas.
It is a valuable addition to the family of instruments we use to examine broader aspects of well-being, including UNDP's Human Development Index and other measures of inequality across the population and between genders.
OPHI researchers analysed data from 104 countries with a combined population of 5.2 billion (78 per cent of the world total).
About 1.7 billion people in the countries covered - a third of their entire population - live in multidimensional poverty, according to the MPI.
This exceeds the 1.3 billion people, in those same countries, estimated to live on USD 1.25 a day or less, the more commonly accepted measure of 'extreme' poverty.
The MPI also captures distinct and broader aspects of poverty.
For example, in Ethiopia 90 per cent of people are 'MPI poor' compared to the 39 per cent who are classified as living in 'extreme poverty' under income terms alone.
Conversely, 89 per cent of Tanzanians are extreme income-poor, compared to 65 per cent who are MPI poor.
The MPI captures deprivations directly - in health and educational outcomes and key services, such as water, sanitation and electricity.
In some countries these resources are provided free or at low cost; in others they are out of reach even for many working people with an income.
Half of the world's poor as measured by the MPI live in South Asia (51 per cent or 844 million people) and one quarter in Africa (28 per cent or 458 million).
Niger has the greatest intensity and incidence of poverty in any country, with 93 per cent of the population classified as poor in MPI terms.
The MPI also reveals great variations within countries: Nairobi has the same level of MPI poverty as the Dominican Republic, whereas Kenya's rural northeast is poorer in MPI terms than Niger.
The recently released 2010 UN Millennium Development Goals Report stressed that the MDGs will be fully achieved only by addressing the needs of those most disadvantaged by geography, age, gender or ethnicity, OPHI researchers point out.
Obama praised Reid for pushing through reforms that might not have been popular but were the right thing to do.
"For the last two years, Harry's been dealing with the do-nothing Republican leadership in the Senate," Obama told a raucous rally in Las Vegas, blaming the opposition for thwarting his efforts to support growth and help the jobless.
At a pair of earlier Carnahan events, Obama was biting in his criticism of Republicans who look set to pick up seats from Democrats in November in an election that some see as a referendum on Obama's first two years in office.
Obama said Republicans promote a "you're on your own" philosophy and would bring back policies that he believes have been discredited, such as tax cuts for all including the richest Americans.
"They are peddling that same snake oil that they've been peddling for years and somehow they think that you will have forgotten that it didn't work," Obama said.
Of concern among Republicans about deficit spending, Obama said: "It is a little odd getting lectures on sobriety from folks that spent like drunken sailors for the last decade."
The president, who came to office promising to change the tone in Washington, has found compromise impossible in the hyper-partisan capital, a failure that each side blames on the other.
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs in the November 2 election as well as 36 Senate seats.
Democrats hold a clear edge in the 100-member Senate over Republicans, who need a near sweep of all of the competitive races to pick up the 10 seats they need to gain control.
A poll by a Democratic-leaning organization, Democracy Corps, said Americans plan to support Republican candidates over Democrats in the election by 46 per cent to 43 per cent.
ELECTRIC CARS
Obama, who will face a tougher audience for his agenda if Republicans make big gains in November, is trying to convince impatient Americans that his economic policies are working and that improvements will take time.
Obama pointed to the Kansas City electric car factory, Smith Electric, as an example of how his policies are paying off. It received $32 million in funding from his stimulus plan and recently hired a 50th worker.
"The surest way out of this storm is to go forward, not to go backwards," he said. "There are going to be some hard days ahead, That's the truth. It's going to take a while for us to dig ourselves out of this hole."
Missouri's unemployment rate was 9.3 per cent in May, a touch lower than the national average, but Obama must still convince voters his policies to create jobs are working and overcome concerns over a record deficit and rising debts.
New US claims for jobless benefits fell last week to their lowest level in two months but unemployment remains painfully high and other data on Thursday showed that consumers continue to struggle.
Public doubt over spending more taxpayer money on top of the $787 billion emergency spending plan Obama signed in 2009 has frustrated his administration's efforts to get congressional backing for additional stimulus measures.
This is despite concern that US growth might flag as that stimulus fades, reinforced by a disappointing June jobs report that showed the economy lost 125,000 jobs last month.
The House voted last week to extend unemployment aid to millions of long-term unemployed Americans but similar measures have been thwarted by the Senate and there is no guarantee this legislation will fare better.
The latest Gallup tracking poll had Obama's job approval rating at 44 per cent, compared with 48 per cent who disapproved.
Maoists attack NMDC complex, gunbattle rages
DANTEWADA (Chhattisgarh): Around 50 armed Naxals tonight attacked a complex of state-owned National Mineral Development Corporation, which is said to house large quantities of explosives, triggering a gunbattle with CISF personnel guarding the key economic installation.Official sources said the Naxals attacked the premises of the firm in Kirandul in the evening and an encounter is currently on with the CISF personnel.
There was, however, no immediate report of any casualty on either side.
Sources said the Maoists entered the Corporation complex and burnt some vehicles. The complex is said to have large quantity of explosives used in mining.
The attack was apparently aimed at looting explosives from the NMDC complex, said the sources.
NMDC currently operates a number of mines in Bailadila hills of the district. The Kirandul mine, which is known as Bailadila-14 mine, is the first large scale open cast mechanised iron ore mine in India for which Detailed Project Report was prepared by NMDC.
The mine has the distinction of having unique down-the-hill conveyor system passing through a tunnel to transport iron ore from crushing plant to processing plant.
Policemen were among anti-Sikh rioters in 1984: Witness
A woman, who lost five of her family members in 1984 anti-Sikh riots, today claimed before a Delhi court trying Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and others that she did not go to the police station after the incident as policemen were among the rioters."I did not want to go the police station because the police officials were among the rioters," Jagdish Kaur told Additional Sessions Judge Sunita Gupta.
Recording her statement before the court, she said "I had lost faith in everybody and therefore I did not approach the Chief Minister, Home Minister or any other Minister in Punjab or any other authority."
To a question posed by counsel S A Hashmi, appearing for accused Balwan Khokhar, nephew of Sajjan Kumar, the 69-year-old witness said she came to know about CBI only when they approached her for recording her statement.
The witness, during her cross examination, claimed she saw the mob on the fateful day killing and burning alive of her three brothers Narender Pal, Raghuvinder Singh and Kuldeep Singh, which she had not recorded in her affidavit before different Commissions.
Earlier, before the court could resume proceedings relating to cross examination of witness, senior advocate R S Cheema, appearing for CBI, contended the affidavits and statements filed by the witnesses before Commissions set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, could not be used for the purpose of contradicting the testimony of the witnesses.
The arguments of CBI's advocate Cheema was opposed by the counsel for the accused who argued that the statements made before Nanawati and Rangnath Mishra Commissions formed the very basis for registration of the FIR and CBI had relied on those versions.
The court is conducting the trial against Kumar and others on a day-to-day basis.
Kaur had on July 3 identified Kumar and his nephew Khokkar, and other accused Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal as accomplices who had allegedly instigated mobs during the 1984 carnage.
Kaur's family members were killed in the riots that had followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.
The cross examination of Kaur remained inconclusive and would resume on July 15.
CBI had filed two chargesheets against Kumar and others on January 13 in the riots cases registered in 2005 on the recommendation of Justice G T Nanavati Commission which inquired into the sequence of events leading to the riots.
Isro launches PSLV-C-15 with 5 satellites
SRIHARIKOTA: In a textbook launch, India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on Monday successfully placed into orbit remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2B and four other satellites after a perfect lift off from the spaceport here.At the end of an over 51-hour countdown, the 44.4 metre-tall four-stage PSLV-C-15, costing Rs 260 crore, blasted off from a launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre with ignition of the core first stage and placed the satellites in orbit one after the other.
Visibly relieved scientists, headed by ISRO chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan, cheered as ISRO's workhorse PSLV soared into clear skies at 9.22 AM from the spaceport in the East Coast in Andhra Pradesh, about 100 km north of Chennai.
The PSLV launch assumes significance as it comes about three months after ISRO suffered a major setback on April 15 when the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D3), which was launched using an Indian-designed and built cryogenic engine for the first time, failed and fell into the Bay of Bengal.
Cartosat-2B is an advanced remote sensing satellite built by ISRO. This is the latest in the Indian remote sensing satellite series and the 17th in this series.
Cartosat-2B is mainly intended to augment remote sensing data services to the users of multiple spot scene imagery with 0.8 metre spatial resolution and 9.6 km swath in the panchromatic.
Cartosat-2 and 2A, two Indian remote sensing satellites in orbit, are currently providing such services.
A set of four satellites including Studsat built by students of seven engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Alsat from Algeria, two nano satellites from Canada and Switzerland, and a pico (very small) satellite called Oceansat 2 accompanied Cartosat 2 on its trip to orbit.
Planning Commission Vice-Chairman Montek Singh Ahuluwalia, and former ISRO chief Dr K Kasturirangan witnessed the launch.
"It has been a wonderful experience. The ISRO has made the country proud," Ahluwalia said, congratulating the scientists after the perfect take off.
Cartosat-2B carries a panchromatic camera similar to that of its predecessors - Cartosat-2 and 2A and was capable of imaging a swath (geographical strip of land) of 9.6 km with a resolution of 0.8 metre.
The multiple spot scene imagery sent by Cartosat-2B camera would also be useful for village/cadastral level resource assessment and mapping, detailed urban and infrastructure planning and development, transportation system planning, preparation of large-scale cartographic maps, preparation of micro watershed development plans and monitoring of development works of village.
Alsat from Algeria, weighing 116 kg, is also a remote sensing satellite. The two nano satellites, NLS 6.1 and NLS 6.2, weigh six kg and one kg each. Studsat weighs less than one kg.
Besides launching 17 Indian satellites, PSLV has also launched 22 foreign satellites during 1994-2009 into polar sun synchronous, geosynchronous transfer, highly elliptical and low earth orbits and has repeatedly proved its reliability and versatility.
One important modification compared to the previous flights of PSLV is the use of dual launch adopter to carry two large satellites, ISRO sources said.
Soon after injection into the orbit and separation from the PSLV C-15 fourth stage, the two solar panels of Cartosat 2B will be automatically deployed, they said.
Attributing the success of PSLV C-15 to the entire team behind the mission, ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan said, "We had an excellent flight. It injected precisely the five satellites. The entire ISRO team is behind the success".
In an apparent reference to the failure of GSLV D3 cryogenic stage, the space agency's first mission after he took over as its chief, he said his team of scientists were inspired to work "especially after the last few weeks after a serious problem that we faced."
"And I also want to say we have understood the problem with regard to the indigenous cryogenic engine and stage. We will confirm it in a few weeks with a few tests and then we will come back", he said.
Maoists abduct 11 villagers in Bihar
BHABUA (Bihar): Armed Maoists kidnapped 11 villagers from Loda village in Kaimur district and also took away their licensed weapons.A group of 60 Maoists kidnapped the villagers last night, Director General of Police Neelmani said on Monday.
They also took away the licensed firearms of the villagers, he said.
The Special Task Force of the police assisted by CRPF was combing nearby areas in search of the villagers. Senior police officials were at the spot.
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Biggest military deal: Six subs for Rs 50,000 crore
Rajat Pandit, TNN, Jul 11, 2010, 01.03am ISTNEW DELHI: If you thought the Rs 42,000 crore project to procure 126 multi-role fighters for the IAF was the "mother of all defence deals", think again. The stage is now being set for an even bigger project—this one worth over Rs 50,000 crore for six new-generation submarines for the Indian Navy.
The Defence Acquisitions Council (DAC), chaired by defence minister A K Antony, has finally decided that three of the six submarines will be constructed at Mazagon Docks (MDL) in Mumbai and one at Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) in Visakhapatnam, with the help of a foreign collaborator.
"The other two submarines will either be imported from the foreign vendor directly or constructed at a private shipyard in India. Fresh estimates show each of these six diesel-electric submarines will cost almost Rs 8,500 crore," a source said.
Under the programme—called Project-75 India (P-75I)—apart from stealth, land-attack capability and the ability to incorporate futuristic technologies, all the six new submarines will be equipped with air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems to boost their operational capabilities.
Conventional diesel-electric submarines have to surface every few days to get oxygen to recharge their batteries. With AIP systems, they can stay submerged for much longer periods, narrowing the gap with nuclear-powered submarines which can operate underwater for virtually unlimited periods.
The selection of the foreign collaborator for P-75I will, of course, take time because a RFP (request for proposal) will first have to be issued to submarine manufacturers like Rosoboronexport (Russian), DCNS/Armaris (French), HDW (German) and Navantia (Spain). Shortlisting and detailed technical and commercial negotiations will follow, before the actual contract can be inked.
Navy has reasons to be worried. By 2015 or so, it will be left with just half of its present fleet of 15 ageing diesel-electric submarines—10 Russian Kilo-class, four German HDW and one Foxtrot. Moreover, it has been hit hard by the almost three-year delay in the ongoing Project-75 for six French Scorpene submarines at MDL, under which the vessels were to roll out one per year from 2012 onwards, with price escalation pushing the total cost beyond Rs 20,000 crore, as was first reported by TOI.
For P-75I, the second line of submarines, the navy was keen on a private domestic shipyard to tie-up with the foreign vendor since it felt MDL was already "overloaded" with orders and quick delivery schedules were "critical".
But the DAC has decided otherwise, holding that the infrastructure and capabilities acquired by MDL in the Scorpene project could not be allowed to go waste. "Let's hope thing go smoothly now, and instead of 10 years, the navy gets its first submarine under P-75I in six to seven years," an official said.
Submarines can be game-changers in any conflict. And if they are armed with nuclear-tipped missiles, they provide the most effective strategic deterrent available around the world at this point of time. The US and Russia, after strategic arms reduction pacts, in fact, plan to retain over 60% of their nuclear weapons in the shape of SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles) fitted on nuclear-powered submarines called "boomers", or SSBNs.
Though India does not have nuclear submarines and SLBM capabilities at present to complete its "nuclear triad", it hopes to move forward by inducting the Akula-II class attack submarine K-152 Nerpa on a 10-year lease from Russia in October this year, and then the first indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant by early-2012.
Pakistan, incidentally, already has its first Mesma AIP-equipped submarine, PNS Hamza, the third of the French Agosta-90B submarines it has inducted since 1999. It is now looking to induct three advanced Type-214 German submarines with AIP. China, in turn, has 62 submarines, with 10 of them being nuclear-propelled.
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Tejas LCA project to cost more than Rs 13,000 crore over 35 years
TNN, Apr 16, 2010, 01.49am ISTNEW DELHI: The overall developmental cost of Tejas Light Combat Aircraft has quietly zoomed past the Rs 13,000-crore mark, with the government sanctioning the extension of the fighter's "full-scale engineering development'' (FSED) till December 31, 2018.
This, in effect, means the Tejas developmental saga will now stretch across 35 years, sanctioned as the project was way back in 1983 at a cost of Rs 560 crore to replace the ageing MiG-21s.
Tejas, in fact, can now give the Arjun main-battle tank a run for its money in terms of years taken for full development. The tank project, after all, was first approved 36 years ago.
It is, of course, critical for India to boost indigenous defence production, importing as it still does 70% of its military hardware and software, but this probably is not the way.
"This is a very sorry state of affairs. Even after 27 years since LCA was sanctioned, it is yet to see light of the day,'' says the latest report of the parliamentary standing committee on defence, tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Aeronautical Development Agency and DRDO argue developing a supersonic fly-by-wire fourth-generation fighter from scratch, with international sanctions in place for several years, is an incredibly complex and tough task.
The project, after all, includes single-seater IAF, twin-seater trainer and naval LCA variants. With Tejas prototypes clocking 1,350 flights till now, the "final operational clearance'' for the IAF variant is now slated for December 2012.
"So, IAF should have its first Tejas squadron of 20 fighters by 2014-15. Even Swedish Gripen fighter's developmental cost was around Rs 12,640 crore,'' said an official.
India, however, is now going in for foreign engines to power even the Tejas Mark-II version after the indigenous Kaveri engine failed to pass muster after 20 years of development at a cost of Rs 2,839 crore.
Consequently, while the first 20 Tejas will be powered by the American GE-404 engines, the hunt is on for new more powerful engines for the next six Tejas Mark-II squadrons (16-18 jets in each).
The Rs 13,000-crore mark for the LCA project is breached even if the Kaveri fiasco is kept aside. For one, the FSED Phase-I, which finished in March 2004, cost Rs 2,188 crore.
The Phase-II, which was to be completed by December 2008 at a cost of Rs 3,301 crore, will now get over in December 2012, with additional funds of Rs 2,475 crore.
Moreover, in November last year, the government "accorded'' sanction for "continuing FSED of LCA till December 2018, with an estimated additional cost of Rs 5,302 crore''.
Amid all this, IAF is keeping its fingers crossed, grappling as it is with a free-fall in the number of its fighter squadrons, down to just 32 from a sanctioned strength of 39.5.
India, Russia to ink $1.2 bn deal for 29 more MiG-29Ks
Rajat Pandit, TNN, Jan 18, 2010, 01.01am ISTNEW DELHI: Russia is all set to reassert its numero uno status in the Indian defence market with another mega arms deal. The two nations are now poised to ink the around $1.2 billion contract for 29 more MiG-29K fighter jets for Indian Navy.
A Russian team will arrive in New Delhi this week to finetune the contract after it got the approval of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, top defence sources said.
"The defence ministry is also now also seeking CCS approval for the fresh contract for aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov's refit, with the renegotiated price of slightly over $2.3 billion," said a source.
The two new contracts will further consolidate Russia's position as the largest defence supplier to India, having notched defence sales worth over $35 billion since the 1960s.
Though Israel is now nipping at the heels of Russia, and the US too has bagged some big defence deals in recent times, Moscow will continue to retain its lead for the foreseeable future.
India, after all, already has over $15 billion worth of ongoing arms contracts and projects in the pipeline with Russia. Bitter wrangling over the huge cost escalation in Gorshkov's refit had led to a distinct chill between India and Russia.
But with matters resolved now, India is also on course to formally join the $10 billion Russian project to build the Sukhoi T-50 PAK-FA fifth-generation stealth fighter.
The 29 new MiG-29Ks will be in addition to the 16 jets already contracted in the initial $1.5 billion Gorshkov package deal in January 2004. Incidentally, only $974 million had been earmarked for Gorshkov's refit at that time.
Rechristened INS Vikramaditya, Gorshkov will now be delivered to India by early-2013 or so. But three of the 16 original MiG-29Ks have already arrived at the Goa naval airbase to constitute the 303 `Black Panthers' squadron, with the next three slated to follow shortly.
MiG-29Ks will operate from the 44,570-tonne Gorshkov as well as the 40,000-tonne indigenous aircraft carrier being built at Cochin Shipyard, which should roll out by 2014-2015.
Armed with eight types of air-to-air missiles, including extended range BVR (beyond visual range) missiles, as well as 25 air-to-surface weapons for land-attack missions, MiG-29Ks will provide Navy with a lethal punch on the high seas.
While 12 of the first 16 fighters will be the single-seat 'K' variants, the other four will be twin-seater 'KUB' trainer versions. Similarly, four of the next 29 jets will be 'KUB' trainer versions.
Mega Defence Deals with Russia:
• Admiral Gorshkov for about $2.3 billion. Induction in 2013.
• 45 Mig-29Ks for about $1.7 billion
• 230 Sukhoi-30MKI fighters for about $8.5 billion. Over 105 already inducted. India likely to order another 50 jets
• Six Talwar-class stealth frigates for Rs 8,514 crore. Talwar, Trishul and Tabar inducted. Deliveries of Teg, Tarkash and Trikand from 2012
• 657 T-90S main-battle tanks for Rs 8,525 crore. Over 310 already inducted. Another 1,000 T-90S tanks to be manufactured in India
India's new defence policy to open $100 bn market
REUTERS, Oct 30, 2009, 08.14pm ISTNEW DELHI: Indian defence companies will gain access to a potential $100 billion market over the next 10 years, following a new policy that allows domestic firms to bid for large defence contracts, officials said on Friday.
India, one of the world's biggest arms importers, wants to increase the role of its private sector, which holds around 20 percent of the defence industry market but has the potential to grow significantly.
Under the new policy, the government will allow domestic companies to bid for key projects on their own.
Indian companies until the policy change were not invited by the government to bid for big government defence projects and were left to supplying locally made non-combative equipment for the defence forces.
With foreign countries reluctant to share advanced technology with India, the government wants to encourage private defence companies to enter the arms market, officials say.
"The field is now open for them to come and bid for any project along with the world's best. The government is giving them an opportunity to expand their capabilities," Sitanshu Kar, the defence ministry spokesman said.
Local companies are free to bid for projects involving tanks, artillery and aircrafts, Kar said.
"This move can also save costs and help us turn India into a major production hub in the near future," Kar said.
The new policy will provide more opportunities to Indian companies such as Tata Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra, Ashok Leyland and Larsen and Toubro, defence experts and officials said.
"The current review is primarily focused on two essential areas of promoting and facilitating wide participation of defence industry and enabling transparency and integrity in all acquisitions," defence minister AK Antony said at a conference.
"Over the next five to six years, the total budgetary provision for capital acquisition is likely to reach $50 billion," Antony said. Defence and company officials say it will touch the $100 billion mark in 10 years.
India wants to upgrade its largely Soviet-era arsenal to counter potential threats from Pakistan and China. The government plans to spend more than $30 billion over the next five years to upgrade its defences.
Foreign defence companies have welcomed the government move.
"The government is very forward leaning and the steps we view as a sign of the government's confidence in the maturity of the Indian industry," Vivek Lall, India country head for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems said on Friday.
Flagship Programme - Planning Commission
All India Summary of NRHM Programme. >> State wise progress report >> Status reports received from states >> Blank Format for monthly Status Report ...pcserver.nic.in/flagship/ - Cached - Similar
Statewise Booklets on Flagship Programmes on four years of UPA Govt.(English) |
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| POOR PERFORMANCE - Inflation and the hypocrisy of inclusive growth | |
| COMMENTARAO: S.L. Rao | |
India is incredible (after shining), with the fastest growth rate, an emerging demographic dividend and innovative brains for the globe. But the vast majority in rural India — employed in agriculture, small-scale and tiny industries, self-employed, and with no assets — does not find it so. This government, claiming inclusive growth for the grossly deprived and poor, has not taken actions to bring down prices of essential food items, unprecedented for over 30 years. Instead, it raised the prices of petroleum products. Their cascading effects on other prices have, for the poor, cut the quality of food intake, sapped their already low nutrition levels and made them more vulnerable to disease. There is hypocrisy behind this claim of inclusive growth. The Indian economy has shown significant growth rates over the last seven years. But India's human development indicators are well behind many countries in Asia. Despite improving since 1995, we lag well behind countries with whom we would like to be compared, Brazil, Russia and China. Growth in India has not led to comparable development for the poor. Top Indian economic policy-makers say that prices will fall after a few months. Poor consumers — mostly on daily wages, paying very high prices for family food — cannot wait. They have been paying more as compared to five years ago — 35 per cent more for rice, 18 per cent for onions, 45 per cent for sugar, 70 per cent for tur dal, 56 per cent for petrol, and 40 per cent for diesel. Against last year, food prices are up by 18 per cent. Policymakers mouthing "inclusive growth" sound hypocritical when deprivation is rising because of actions (raising fuel prices) and inactions (not using grain stocks to bring down prices). One indicator of massive deprivation is that over 500 million Indians are not connected to electricity and burn biomass — mainly crop residues, dry twigs, leaves, branches and cow dung — in dingy and unprotected huts (only 19 per cent of rural households live in pucca houses) without toilet facilities (87 per cent). This indoor smoke pollution has led to India having the highest incidence of tuberculosis in the world (138 per 100,000 households versus 99.7 for the world as a whole), with other adverse effects as well on the health of women and children. Ours is a services driven economy, not driven by the 'real' economy of agriculture and industry. Agriculture employs 52 per cent and, with industry, should be producing goods to raise the living standards of the poor. But rural India earns 85 per cent less than urban, showing the latter's deprivation. Of the extremely marginalized scheduled tribes, the many scheduled castes and Muslims, the worst off are the STs who have lost land rights and livelihoods, and become easy fodder for the Maoists. The government should be building their capability through health services of adequate quality, accessible to all, by providing opportunities for quality education, developing skills and good sanitation, ensuring clean drinking water to prevent illnesses of the chest and stomach that are common in rural India. The human development report of the United Nations Development Programme (2006) shows that only 73 per cent of children has full immunization against TB, and 56 per cent against measles; 22 per cent of children with diarrhoea are receiving oral rehydration and continued feeding; 48 per cent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 are using contraceptives; 43 per cent births are attended by skilled health professionals; the number of physicians per 100,000 people is 80; 20 per cent of the population is undernourished; 45 per cent of children are under-height for their age, and 30 per cent of children are with low birth weight. Poor health and nutrition care led to an infant mortality rate of 62 and mortality rate of 540 per 100,000 births, higher than in most comparable Asian countries. This is also true for education. India's spending on health and education is not comparable to others. As per cent of gross domestic product in 2003, public expenditure on health in India was 1.2 and private 3.6, while in China the comparable figures were 2 and 3.6. Public expenditure on education was 3.3 per cent of GDP in India, and 10.7 per cent of total government expenditure against 2.2 and 12.7 in China. Government expenditure to GDP in 2003-04 on health was 1.2 per cent, education 3.7 per cent, military expenditure 3 per cent and debt servicing 2.8 per cent, demonstrating the inability of the government to assign resources to improve people's capabilities. Serious administrative flaws and corruption made even this spending largely ineffective. On present demographic trends, India will have the largest youthful population in the world by 2030, boastfully called a demographic dividend. But investments in health and education services — development of skills and administrative and monitoring systems that ensure all have good quality in both — is necessary to reap benefits from a youthful population. Without these it could be a demographic disaster. Inequalities in India are less than in China, but India is also said to have the fourth largest number of billionaires and the largest private holdings in banks overseas. Urban households spend three-fourths more and save nearly double than rural households. Inequalities by occupation, region, location (urban-rural, big city, small-town), education, and so on, are wide and growing as demonstrated by surveys conducted by the National Council for Applied Economic Research. The combined fiscal deficit of governments at the Centre and the states is estimated in 2009 to have actually crossed 11 per cent, as in 1991. Government debt is over 60 per cent of GDP, placing severe limits on government expenditure on infrastructure and the social sector since interest payments have become the single largest item in government expenditure (as percentage of revenue receipts — 52.1 in 1998-99, 31.6 in 2007-08, 31.6 in 2008-09 and budgeted at 36.7 in 2009-10). After 1991, India reduced government deficits by reducing expenditures that benefited the poor and the deprived, investments in agriculture and infrastructure, and even the social sector. These cuts badly affected the building of capability among the excluded part of the population. Political populism led government to keep many prices artificially low by measures such as oil subsidies, physical supplies of food grains and kerosene below cost, free or cheap electricity, and so on. The logic of letting the artificially low oil prices adjust themselves to the market was impeccable. It was terrible timing for the poor, already reeling under inflation, who suffered even more. After 2007, imaginative schemes to support the poor have been introduced, like free access for all to primary education (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan), National Rural Health Mission to achieve the same for health services, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which significantly increased funds available for employment schemes from 0.22 per cent of state domestic product in 1998-99 to 0.34 per cent in 2005-06. Others like right to education and right to food are on the anvil. However, serious administrative inadequacies — high cost, red tape, corruption — in state governments have in many cases led to under- spending or to spending with little effect. Thus in 2005-06 (from available survey figures) only 30 per cent of the funds was spent from those available. Even the spending did not reach the targeted population in many cases and a good part was lost to administrative expenditures and corruption. However the NREGA — despite non-spending, massive corruption and diversion — has led to rural wages going up, no doubt helping these deprived people. The anecdotal evidence of some decline in internal labour migration is also indicative of its success in enabling the poor to earn wages in their own area. Relating fuel prices for parity is good. But fuelling inflation by raising fuel prices in the midst of rampant inflation shows that the government is paying lip service to the idea of enabling the poor to benefit from economic growth.
The author is former director-general, National Council for Applied Economic Research |
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100712/jsp/opinion/story_12664369.jsp
| Babus battle over ID bait | ||
| ARCHIS MOHAN | ||
New Delhi, July 11: A proposal to lure poor Indians into the unique ID card net with a Rs 100 bait has set off the latest battle between babudom and the Nandan Nilekani-headed Unique Identification Authority of India. The expenditure finance committee (EFC) of the finance ministry has nixed the proposal and sanctioned only about half the money the ID authority had sought. The authority had asked for Rs 6,700 crore for Phase I of its project Aadhar, which aims to provide 12-digit unique ID numbers to 60 crore Indians over the next four years. It got Rs 3,500 crore. The authority is scheduled to roll out the first set of unique IDs from August to February. Government sources, however, suggested that the differences were not just about money. They said India's top bureaucrats were uncomfortable with "outsiders" — Nilekani is a technocrat from the private sector — entering the government and usurping what they saw as their fief. It was the 13th Finance Commission's idea, mooted in its report submitted in February, that people should be attracted to the ID project with the offer of Rs 100 to all below-poverty-line applicants. The aim was partly to disarm conservative Indians who might have objected to officials collecting their biometric data such as facial characteristics, fingerprints and photos of the iris, especially in case of rural women. The EFC has asked the ID authority to come back for additional funds only after it has met its target of issuing unique numbers to 10 crore people within the next 18 months. Although the EFC wants the proposal for the Rs 100 incentive scrapped, sources said a final decision was yet to be taken. The EFC thinks people will be spurred to apply for the unique ID when they realise the number is a pre-requisite to gain benefits under the rural job guarantee scheme and the public distribution system. The babus and the ID authority have, however, been locked in a tug-of-war for sometime. Many bureaucrats have balked at the idea of working for the Nilekani-headed authority at a time private-sector executives and Harvard scholars have queued to join up. The result is that the authority is still short of IAS officers to man key posts a year after its inception. Repeated requests from the department of personnel and training to state chief secretaries to send IAS officers on assignment to the ID authority have brought little result. Earlier, some bureaucrats had opposed Nilekani's plan to include the iris scan, citing the need for costly equipment, and had relented only after a senior cabinet minister intervened. | ||
| * |
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100712/jsp/nation/story_12673294.jsp
Centre for Environment and Social Concerns [cesc] is a not-for-profit resource center initiated by a group of professionals from different disciplines. It recognizes the pressing need to seriously address the interdisciplinary concerns of diverse initiatives for placing development process on a sustainable trajectory. The mission of the center is to provide such knowledge-based services to the wide range of stakeholders in the development sector such as local communities, government agencies, non-government organizations, and decision makers at different levels. It promotes studies and action research for responsible management of natural resources, to meet institutional and policy challenges for addressing gender and equity concerns as a crosscutting theme, for revitalizing the traditional/ indigenous knowledge systems and recasting developmental action as an environmentally sensitive enterprise that recognizes the livelihood-biodiversity linkages. It is mobilizing interdisciplinary contributions to the contemporary development dialogue from environmental sciences, ecology and social sciences. It also supports initiatives involving Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for enabling disadvantaged communities overcome the digital divide.
At present the professionals associated with cesc are engaged in activities such as:
- Research on conservation of natural resources, integrity of ecological systems, protection of environment, preservation of biodiversity, and ecologically sustainable and equitable development
- Studies, documentation and practical engagement with the institutional needs for understanding, sustaining, rejuvenating and enhancing of various traditional, folk and indigenous knowledge systems
- Interventions and studies for the gender equity and women's participation as equal partners in all spheres
- Policy analysis, interventions and advocacy initiatives
- Use of ICT for development and empowerment of rural and less privileged communities
- Addressing the livelihood and rights related concerns of peoples closely dependent on ecological resources or with close linkages to biodiversity
- Providing relevant technology inputs and/or solutions to local initiatives
- Working with grassroots initiatives to strengthen the institutional frameworks necessary for democratic self-governance that internalizes concerns of equity, gender and sustainable resource management
Our current activities include preparing backgrounders on ecology, livelihoods and development, working with grassroots initiatives to integrate biodiversity concerns into local governance, networking of individuals and organizations working for biodiversity conservation with community involvement, supporting the efforts for revitalization of traditional/ non-codified knowledge systems and policy studies centered on gender. The CESC is at present the nodal organization coordinating the Western India Biodiversity Network, consisting of several organizations from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. The organization is also associated with the networking of efforts on the Gujarat coastal region for responsible management of coastal resources.
Contact us: Mailing Address:
Centre for Environmental & Social Concerns
G-3, Sameep Apartment, Near Hero Honda Showroom, Manekbaug
Shreyas Rail Cross, Ahmedabad 380015 (Gujarat, INDIA)
web: http://www.cesc-india.org
Tel: +91-79-26401571; 65446747
Director: Mr. Chandanathil P.Geevan, Ph.D.
CELL Project - Mandvi, Kutch, Gujarat
Conservation, Enterprises and Livelihoods – Coastal (CELL) supported by the Ford Foundation (in progress)
Coordinated by Covenant Centre for Development - CCD, Madurai]
Biodiversity Conservation and Rural Livelihood Improvement Project
BCRLIP - A National Project of the Ministry of Environment & Forest, aided by the World Bank
CESC was the Field Associate Organization supporting the studies on the Wild Ass Sanctuary and Little Rann of Kutch Landscape, Gujarat.
National Innovation Foundation
Project in Kutch
Linking Traditional Knowledge Database on Medicinal Plants of Kachchh With National Innovation Foundation (NIF) Database
Related links: [National Innovation Foundation] [SRISTI] [GIAN] [Kalparvriksh] [International Collective in Support of Fish Workers] [Solution Exchange a UN initiative for development practitioners in India] [E-Governance Resources] [Digital Governance Initiative] [Aga Khan Development Network & Aga Khan Foundation] [Enviro Debate]
http://www.cesc-india.org/
NTPC dumps Mayawati; to power MP
New Delhi State-owned NTPC has scrapped its plans to set up a 4,000-MW power plant in Uttar Pradesh over differences with the Mayawati-led BSP state government, and instead moved the coal-fired project to Barethi in Madhya Pradesh.The Madhya Pradesh government has assured land, water and fuel for the project and NTPC is currently conducting site-specific studies, a senior company official said.
"We are preparing the feasibility report for the 3,960-MW project at Barethi in Madhya Pradesh," he said.
Originally, NTPC had planned a 3,960 MW supercritical thermal power project in Uttar Pradesh on the initiative of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who wanted to set up a power plant in the Bundelkhand region.
However, the plans ran into problems over differences with the state government on usage of electricity generated by the project.
The government had wanted all the power produced from the project for Uttar Pradesh, while rules permit sale of only 50 per cent of the electricity generated to the state where the plant is being set up.
The state was also unwilling to make land and water available to the project. Instead, it wanted the company to set up the project in a joint venture with the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd, which was found to be unfeasible, the official said.
Meanwhile, studies at the Barethi site are underway and the project report is expected by the end of 2010.
The detailed project report (DPR) would be ready by the end of the calender year, and the project is slated to be commissioned during the XIIth Five Year Plan Period (2012-17), a source close to the development said.
NTPC, which has power generation capacity of over 30,000 MW from all sources of energy, is planning to augment it to 50,000 MW by March 2012.
Of its total of over 30,000 MW, the company's plants at Uttar Pradesh contribute about 7,000 MW.
NTPC has five power projects in Uttar Pradesh – Singrauli (2,000 MW), Rihand (2,000 MW), Dadri (1,330 MW), Unchahar (1,050 MW) and Tanda (440 MW) -- totalling a capacity of 6,820 MW.
Redistribution of land must for ensuring food security: Bardhan
Kolkata, July 12 (IANS) Averring that redistribution of land and land reforms were a must for ensuring food security, the Communist Party of India (CPI) Monday demanded that the central government adopt a universal Public Distribution System and not a targeted one.Claiming that the land of peasants, particularly fertile land, should not be acquired for industrialisation, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan said the Leftists would launch a struggle to ensure that proper measures for food security were implemented by the central government.
He said the peasants were the main players and must be provided fertilsiers and seeds at cheap rates and it should be ensured that they get remunerative prices for their products.
'Without these it is not possible to ensure food security in the country,' Bardhan said.
He said the government should also increase rice production and productivity and improve irrigation facilities. 'Cheap credit at the rate of four percent interest must be made available to the poor,' he said.
 * | Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions |
 * | October 14 Declared Holiday for Central Govt. Offices in DELHI |
 * | The Government has declared the 14th October (Thursday) 2010, as a Holiday for Central Government Offices |
 * | Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports |
 * | Sports Minister Sanctions Pension to Four Meritorious Sportspersons |
 * | Dr. M. S Gill, Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports has sanctioned pension to four meritorious sportspersons |
| * | International Sport Climbing Wall Inaugurated |
| * | Dr. M S Gill, Union Minister for Youth Affairs & Sport, has inaugurated the first ever international standard |
| * | Sports Minister Sanctions Ex-Gratia Assistance to Shri Ms. Padma Chorol for Ice Hocky Camp |
| * | Dr. M. S Gill, Union Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports has sanctioned an ex-gratia assistance of Rs. 70,000/- (Rupees Seventy thousand) |
| * | Ministry of Information & Broadcasting |
| * | Two-Day Editors Conference on Social and Infrastructure Issues With Focus on |
| * | The two-day All India Editors Conference on Social & Infrastructure Issues in the North Eastern Region began at Guwahti today. Speaking |
| * | Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs |
| * | Press Communique |
| * | The President has summoned the Rajya Sabha to meet on Monday, the 26th July, 2010 at New Delhi |
| * | Ministry of Science & Technology |
| * | Prithviraj Chavan Meets Young Scientists on their Return from Lindau Meeting |
| * | Shri Prithviraj Chavan, Hon'ble Minister Science & Technology and Earth Sciences congratulated the team of 20 Young Indian |
| * | Prithviraj Chavan Congratulates ISRO Team for PSLV-C15's Successful Launch of Cartosat-2B Satellite |
| * | Shri Prithviraj Chavan, Hon'ble Minister Science & Technology and Earth Sciences has congratulated the ISRO team for PSLV-C-15's |
| * | Ministry of Finance |
| * | Mandatory for all Companies to File I-T Returns Electronically with Digital Signature |
| * | The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has amended the Rules relating to electronic filing |
| * | UID Project to Get all Funds for its Smooth Roll out: FM |
| * | In a section of press, it has been reported that the Government of India has decided to slash the budget for the Unique Identification |
| * | Auction for Sale (Re-Issue) of Government Stock |
| * | Government of India have announced the sale (re-issue) of (i) "7.46 percent Government Stock |
| * | Ministry of Commerce & Industry |
| * | Anand Sharma to Launch EPIF 2011 on July 14 |
| * | Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, is scheduled to launch the Eco-Products International Fair (EPIF) 2011 |
| * | Ministry of Culture |
| * | India and Oman Sign MoU on Cultural Cooperation |
| * | India and Oman signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) here today on bilateral Cultural Cooperation. |
| * | Ministry of Labour & Employment |
| * | ESIC to Provide Medical Treatment also through Tie-up Arrangement and Part Time Doctors in State Government Dispensaries and Hospitals |
| * | The Union Minister of Labour & Employment, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, has called upon for the co-operation between the State Governments |
| * | ESIC to Provide Medical Treatment also through Tie-up Arrangement and Part Time Doctors in State Government Dispensaries and Hospitals |
| * | The Union Minister of Labour & Employment, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, has called upon for the co-operation between the State Governments |
| * | Ministry of Railways |
| * | Indian Railways Carry 218.25 Million Tonnes of Freight During April- |
| * | Indian Railways have carried 218.25 million tonnes of revenue earning freight traffic during April-June 2010. |
| * | Refund Date of Unused Coupon Books for Accredited Press Persons Extended Upto 31st December 2010 |
| * | In the wake of the implementation of the new scheme regarding Rail Travel Concession to Accredited Press Correspondents on the basis |
| * | Ministry of Communications & Information Technology |
| * | Sh. Sachin Pilot Launches 3G Mobile Services at Nasirabad, Ajmer |
| * | Shri Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communication and IT today launched BSNL's 3G mobile services |
| * | Ministry of Agriculture |
| * | Kharif Sowing is Picking up in Different States |
| * | Kharif sowing has picked up in different parts of the country in the last one week. |
| * | Ministry of Health and Family Welfare |
| * | No Budgetary Constraints for UID Project: Chairman, Uidai |
| * | In a section of press, it has been reported that the Government of India has decided to slash |
| * | Consolidated Status(Weekly) of Influenza A H1N1 |
| * | (From 5th July to 11th July 2010) |
| * | Ministry of Defence |
| * | Army Chief Takes Over as Honorary Colonel of Guards Regiment |
| * | Gen VK Singh , PVSM , AVSM ,YSM, ADC , The Chief of Army Staff shall be the 17th Honorary Colonel of the Brigade of GUARDS |
| * | The Sharp Shooter |
| * | Seema Tomar, an ace trap (shotgun) shooter was enrolled by the Indian Army in 2004 |
| * | Antony to Visit Seychelles |
| * | The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony will be going on a two-day visit to Seychelles on the 18th of this month. |
| * | Ministry of Rural Development |
| * | Andaman & Nicobar Islands Administrator Calls on Minister of Rural Development |
| * | Union Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Dr. C.P.Joshi has assured full cooperation from Centre to Andaman & Nicobar Islands |
| * | Connecting Rural Roads in North Eastern States |
| * | Rural Road Connectivity in North Eastern States has been one of the priorities under the Union Ministry Of Rural Development under the aegis of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). |
| * | Ministry of Shipping |
| * | Financial Performance of Cochin Shipyard Limited in 2009-10 |
| * | Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) maintained its growth and financial performance in the year 2009-10 despite the global meltdown |
| * | Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation |
| * | Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production and Use-based Index (Base 1993-94=100) for the month of May, 2010 |
| * | The Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 1993-94 for the month of May 2010 |
UPA's flagship programmes like NREGA progressing well: PM
24 May 2010, 1126 hrs IST,AGENCIES
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on the occasion of completion of one year of the UPA Government in its second term said on Monday that the flagship programmes launched by his government are progressing well.
"I will briefly highlight some of the important steps we have taken over the past year and also the pressing challenges that confront the nation,' Dr. Singh said during his opening remarks at the national press conference held in New Delhi.
"Our flagship programmes such as the Bharat Nirman, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the National Rural Health Mission and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission are progressing well. We are on a learning curve and we can and will do more to strengthen these programmes and improve delivery," he said.
Dr. Singh said that the Right to Education Act enacted last year is a historic step forward in making every Indian a literate and empowered citizen.
"We are undertaking a comprehensive review of our system of higher education, including medical education. A draft National Council for Higher Education and Research Bill has already been put in the public domain," he said.
To strengthen political inclusion, Dr. Singh said that the government has introduced bills to provide 50 percent reservation for women in all panchayats and urban local bodies.
"Nearly one crore scholarships have been granted last year to students belonging to the SCs, STs, other backward classes and minorities. A large proportion of these scholarships have gone to girls," he said.
"We launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission in January this year. It aims to create a capacity of 20,000 MW grid solar power by 2022. We have decided to set up a National Social Security Fund for workers in the unorganized sector with an initial corpus of Rs. 1,000 crores.
"A draft National Food Security Bill is under preparation," Dr Singh added.
Policy linkage, growth outcome
12 Jul 2010, 0756 hrs IST,Jaideep Mishra,ET BureauTopics:
*
What's indicated is that in growth regressions, the methodology by which economic growth or any other performance indicator, such as inflation, is reverted or 'regressed' on policy tells us 'nothing on the effectiveness of policy'. After all, the objective of policy initiatives is to arrive at outcomes, for instance, of correcting market failure via more efficient market design. Yet, policy measures can well result in a panoply of heightened distortions, making it well-nigh impossible to objectively evaluate effectiveness of policy, particularly in the short-to-medium term. So, while the policy on special economic zones initiated circa 2005 has meant increase in exports, it has also led to much diversion of economic and export activity to cash in on questionable tax benefits on offer even for non-export activities, which is distortionary.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/columnists/jaideep-mishra/Policy-linkage-growth-outcome/articleshow/6157377.cms
Poverty in India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Poverty in India is widespread with the nation estimated to have a third of the world's poor. According to a 2005 World Bank estimate, 42% of India falls below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day (PPP, in nominal terms Rs. 21.6 a day in urban areas and Rs 14.3 in rural areas); having reduced from 90% in 1980.[1] According to the criterion used by the Planning Commission of India 27.5% of the population was living below the poverty line in 2004–2005, down from 51.3% in 1977–1978, and 36% in 1993-1994.[2]
Since the 1950s, the Indian government and non-governmental organizations have initiated several programs to alleviate poverty, including subsidizing food and other necessities, increased access to loans, improving agricultural techniques and price supports, and promoting education and family planning. These measures have helped eliminate famines, cut absolute poverty levels by more than half, and reduced illiteracy and malnutrition.[3]
Contents[hide] |
Poverty estimates
The World Bank estimates that 456 million Indians (41.6 % of the total Indian population) now live under the global poverty line of $1.25 per day (PPP). This means that a third of the global poor now reside in India. However, this also represents a significant decline in poverty from the 60 percent level in 1981 to 42 percent in 2005, although the rupee has decreased in value since then, while the official standard of 538/356 rupees per month has remained the same.[4][5] Income inequality in India (Gini coefficient: 32.5 in year 1999- 2000)[6] is increasing. On the other hand, the Planning Commission of India uses its own criteria and has estimated that 27.5% of the population was living below the poverty line in 2004–2005, down from 51.3% in 1977–1978, and 36% in 1993-1994[2]. The source for this was the 61st round of the National Sample Survey (NSS) and the criterion used was monthly per capita consumption expenditure below Rs. 356.35 for rural areas and Rs. 538.60 for urban areas. 75% of the poor are in rural areas, most of them are daily wagers, self-employed householders and landless labourers.
Although the Indian economy has grown steadily over the last two decades, its growth has been uneven when comparing different social groups, economic groups, geographic regions, and rural and urban areas.[3] Between 1999 and 2008, the annualized growth rates for Gujarat (8.8%), Haryana (8.7%), or Delhi (7.4%) were much higher than for Bihar (5.1%), Uttar Pradesh (4.4%), or Madhya Pradesh (3.5%).[7] Poverty rates in rural Orissa (43%) and rural Bihar (41%) are among the world's most extreme.[8] A study by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative using a Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) found that there were 421 million poor living under the MPI in Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. This number is higher than the 410 million poor living in the 26 poorest African nations.[9]
Despite significant economic progress, one quarter of the nation's population earns less than the government-specified poverty threshold of 12 rupees per day (approximately USD $0.25). Official figures estimate that 27.5%[10] of Indians lived below the national poverty line in 2004-2005.[11] A 2007 report by the state-run National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) found that 77% of Indians, or 836 million people, lived on less than 20 rupees (approximately USD $0.50 nominal; $2 PPP) per day.[12] According to a recently released World Bank report, India is on track to meet its poverty reduction goals however, by 2015 an estimated 53 million people will still live in extreme poverty and 23.6% of the population will still live under $1.25 per day. This number is expected to reduce to 20.3% or 268 million people by 2020.[13] However, at the same time, the effects of the worldwide recession in 2009 have plunged 100 million more Indians into poverty than there were in 2004 increasing the effective poverty rate from 27.5% to 37.2%.[14]
As per the 2001 census, 35.5% of Indian households availed of banking services, 35.1% owned a radio or transistor, 31.6% a television, 9.1% a phone, 43.7% a bicycle, 11.7% a scooter, motorcycle or a moped, and 2.5% a car, jeep or van; 34.5% of the households had none of these assets. [15] According to Department of Telecommunications of India the phone density has reached 33.23% by Dec 2008 and has an annual growth of 40%. [16]
Causes of poverty in India
Caste system
According to S. M. Michael, Dalits constitute the bulk of poor and unemployed.[17]
According to William A. Haviland, casteism is widespread in rural areas, and continues to segregate Dalits[18]. Others, however, have noted the steady rise and empowerment of the Dalits through social reforms and the implementation of reservations in employment and benefits.[19][20]
Caste explanations of poverty fail to account for the urban/rural divide. Using the UN definition of poverty 65% of rural forward castes are below the poverty line.[21]
British era
The Mughal era ended at about 1760. Jawaharlal Nehru claimed "A significant fact which stands out is that those parts of India which have been longest under British rule are the poorest today."[9] The Indian economy was purposely and severely deindustrialized (especially in the areas of textiles and metal-working) through colonial privatizations, regulations, tariffs on manufactured or refined Indian goods, taxes, and direct seizures, as noted by linguist and commentator Noam Chomsky.[22] However, according to economist Angus Maddison, such explanation ignores the role of changes in demand and technology.[23]
India's economic policies
In 1947, the average annual income in India was $439, compared with $619 for China, $770 for South Korea, and $936 for Taiwan. By 1999, the numbers were $1,818; $3,259; $13,317; and $15,720.[24] (numbers are in 1990 international Maddison dollars) In other words, the average income in India was not much different from South Korea in 1947, but South Korea became a developed country by 2000s. At the same time, India was left as one of the world's poorer countries.
Hindu rate of growth is an expression used to refer to the low annual growth rate of the economy of India, which stagnated around 3.5% from 1950s to 1980s, while per capita income averaged 1.3%.[25] At the same time, Pakistan grew by 5%, Indonesia by 6%, Thailand by 7%, Taiwan by 8%, and South Korea by 9%.[26] The term was coined by Indian economist Raj Kumar Krishna.
License Raj refers to the elaborate licenses, regulations and the accompanying red tape that were required to set up and run business in India between 1947 and 1990.[27] The License Raj was a result of India's decision to have a planned economy, where all aspects of the economy are controlled by the state and licenses were given to a select few. Corruption flourished under this system.[28]
The labyrinthine bureaucracy often led to absurd restrictions - up to 80 agencies had to be satisfied before a firm could be granted a licence to produce and the state would decide what was produced, how much, at what price and what sources of capital were used.—BBC[29]
India had started out in the 1950s with:[30]
- high growth rates
- openness to trade and investment
- a promotional state
- social expenditure awareness
- macro stability
but ended the 1980s with:[30]
- low growth rates (Hindu rate of growth)
- closure to trade and investment
- a license-obsessed, restrictive state (License Raj)
- inability to sustain social expenditures
- macro instability, indeed crisis.
Poverty has decreased significantly since reforms were started in the 1980s.[31][32]
Also:
- Over-reliance on agriculture. There is a surplus of labour in agriculture. Farmers are a large vote bank and use their votes to resist reallocation of land for higher-income industrial projects. While services and industry have grown at double digit figures, agriculture growth rate has dropped from 4.8% to 2%. About 60% of the population depends on agriculture whereas the contribution of agriculture to the GDP is about 18%.[33]
- High population growth rate, although demographers generally agree that this is a symptom rather than cause of poverty.
Despite this, India currently adds 40 million people to its middle class every year.[citation needed] Analysts such as the founder of "Forecasting International", Marvin J. Cetron writes that an estimated 300 million Indians now belong to the middle class; one-third of them have emerged from poverty in the last ten years. At the current rate of growth, a majority of Indians will be middle-class by 2025. Literacy rates have risen from 52 percent to 65 percent in the same period.[34]
Neo-liberal policies and their effects
Other points of view hold that the economic reforms initiated in the early 1990s are responsible for the collapse of rural economies and the agrarian crisis currently underway. As journalist and the Rural Affairs editor for The Hindu, P Sainath describes in his reports on the rural economy in India, the level of inequality has risen to extraordinary levels, when at the same time, hunger in India has reached its highest level in decades. He also points out that rural economies across India have collapsed, or on the verge of collapse due to the neo-liberal policies of the government of India since the 1990s[35]. The human cost of the "liberalisation" has been very high. The huge wave of farm suicides in Indian rural population from 1997 to 2007 totaled close to 200,000, according to official statistics[36]. That number remains disputed, with some saying the true number is much higher. Commentators have faulted the policies pursued by the government which, according to Sainath, resulted in a very high portion of rural households getting into the debt cycle, resulting in a very high number of farm suicides. As professor Utsa Patnaik, India's top economist on agriculture, has pointed out, the average poor family in 2007 has about 100 kg less food per year than it did in 1997[37].
Government policies encouraging farmers to switch to cash crops, in place of traditional food crops, has resulted in an extraordinary increase in farm input costs, while market forces determined the price of the cash crop[38]. Sainath points out that a disproportionately large number of affected farm suicides have occurred with cash crops, because with food crops such as rice, even if the price falls, there is food left to survive on. He also points out that inequality has reached one of the highest rates India has ever seen. In a report by Chetan Ahya, Executive Director at Morgan Stanley, it is pointed out that there has been a wealth increase of close to $1 Trillion in the time frame of 2003-2007 in the Indian stock market, while only 4-7% of the Indian population hold any equity[39]. During the time when Public investment in agriculture shrank to 2% of the GDP, the nation suffered the worst agrarian crisis in decades, the same time as India became the nation of second highest number of dollar billionaires[40]. Sainath argues that
Farm incomes have collapsed. Hunger has grown very fast. Public investment in agriculture shrank to nothing a long time ago. Employment has collapsed. Non-farm employment has stagnated. (Only the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has brought some limited relief in recent times.) Millions move towards towns and cities where, too, there are few jobs to be found.
In one estimate, over 85 per cent of rural households are either landless, sub-marginal, marginal or small farmers. Nothing has happened in 15 years that has changed that situation for the better. Much has happened to make it a lot worse.
Those who have taken their lives were deep in debt – peasant households in debt doubled in the first decade of the neoliberal "economic reforms," from 26 per cent of farm households to 48.6 per cent. Meanwhile, all along, India kept reducing investment in agriculture (standard neoliberal procedure). Life was being made more and more impossible for small farmers.
As of 2006, the government spends less than 0.2% of GDP on agriculture and less than 3% of GDP on education[41]. However, some government schemes such as the mid-day meal scheme, and the NREGA have been partially successful in providing a lifeline for the rural economy and curbing the further rise of poverty.
Efforts to alleviate poverty
Since the early 1950s, govt has initiated, sustained, and refined various planning schemes to help the poor attain self sufficiency in food production. Probably the most important initiative has been the supply of basic commodities, particularly food at controlled prices, available throughout the country as poor spend about 80 percent of their income on food.
Outlook for poverty alleviation
Eradication of poverty in India is generally only considered to be a long-term goal. Poverty alleviation is expected to make better progress in the next 50 years than in the past, as a trickle-down effect of the growing middle class. Increasing stress on education, reservation of seats in government jobs and the increasing empowerment of women and the economically weaker sections of society, are also expected to contribute to the alleviation of poverty. It is incorrect to say that all poverty reduction programmes have failed. The growth of the middle class (which was virtually non-existent when India became a free nation in August 1947) indicates that economic prosperity has indeed been very impressive in India, but the distribution of wealth is not at all even.
After the liberalization process and moving away from the socialist model, India is adding 60 to 70 million people to its middle class every year. Analysts such as the founder of "Forecasting International", Marvin J. Cetron writes that an estimated 390 million Indians now belong to the middle class; one-third of them have emerged from poverty in the last ten years. At the current rate of growth, a majority of Indians will be middle-class by 2025. Literacy rates have risen from 52 percent to 65 percent during the initial decade of liberalization (1991-2001).[citation needed]
Controversy over extent of poverty reduction
The definition of poverty in India has been called into question by the UN World Food Programme. In its report on global hunger index, it questioned the government of India's definition of poverty saying:
The fact that calorie deprivation is increasing during a period when the proportion of rural population below the poverty line is said to be declining rapidly, highlights the increasing disconnect between official poverty estimates and calorie deprivation.[42]
While total overall poverty in India has declined, the extent of poverty reduction is often debated. While there is a consensus that there has not been increase in poverty between 1993-94 and 2004-05, the picture is not so clear if one considers other non-pecuniary dimensions (such as health, education, crime and access to infrastructure). With the rapid economic growth that India is experiencing, it is likely that a significant fraction of the rural population will continue to migrate toward cities, making the issue of urban poverty more significant in the long run [43].
Some, like journalist P Sainath, hold the view that while absolute poverty may not have increased, India remains at a abysmal rank in the UN Human Development Index. India is positioned at 132ond place in the 2007-08 UN HDI index. It is the lowest rank for the country in over 10 years. In 1992, India was at 122ond place in the same index. It can even be argued that the situation has become worse on critical indicators of overall well-being such as the number of people who are undernourished (India has the highest number of malnourished people, at 230 million, and is 94th of 119 in the world hunger index), and the number of malnourished children (43% of India's children under 5 are underweight (BMI<18.5), the highest in the world) as of 2008[44].
Economist Pravin Visaria has defended the validity of many of the statistics that demonstrated the reduction in overall poverty in India, as well as the declaration made by India's former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha that poverty in India has reduced significantly. He insisted that the 1999-2000 survey was well designed and supervised and felt that just because they did not appear to fit preconceived notions about poverty in India, they should not be dismissed outright[45]. Nicholas Stern, vice president of the World Bank, has published defenses of the poverty reduction statistics. He argues that increasing globalization and investment opportunities have contributed significantly to the reduction of poverty in the country. India, together with China, have shown the clearest trends of globalization with the accelerated rise in per-capita income.[46].
A 2007 report by the state-run National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) found that 77% of Indians, or 836 million people, lived on less than 20 rupees per day (USD 0.50 nominal, USD 2.0 in PPP), with most working in "informal labour sector with no job or social security, living in abject poverty."[47][48] However, a new report from the UN disputes this, finding that the number of people living on $1.25 a day is expected to go down from 435 million or 51.3 percent in 1990 to 295 million or 23.6 percent by 2015 and 268 million or 20.3 percent by 2020. [49]
A study by the McKinsey Global Institute found that in 1985, 93% of the Indian population lived on a household income of less than 90,000 rupees a year, or about a dollar per person per day; by 2005 that proportion had been cut nearly in half, to 54%. More than 103 million people have moved out of desperate poverty in the course of one generation in urban and rural areas as well. They project that if India can achieve 7.3% annual growth over the next 20 years, 465 million more people will be lifted out of poverty. Contrary to popular perceptions, rural India has benefited from this growth: extreme rural poverty has declined from 94% in 1985 to 61% in 2005, and they project that it will drop to 26% by 2025. Report concludes that India's economic reforms and the increased growth that has resulted have been the most successful anti-poverty programmes in the country.[50][51][52]
Persistence of malnutrition among children
According to the New York Times, is estimated that about 42.5% of the children in India suffer from malnutrition.[53] The World Bank, citing estimates made by the World Health Organization, states "that about 49 per cent of the world's underweight children, 34 per cent of the world's stunted children and 46 per cent of the world's wasted children, live in India." The World Bank also noted that "[w]hile poverty is often the underlying cause of malnutrition in children, the superior economic growth experienced by South Asian countries compared to those in Sub-Saharan Africa, has not translated into superior nutritional status for the South Asian child."[54]
A special commission to the Indian Supreme court has noted that the child malnutrition rate in India is twice as great as sub-Saharan Africa [55]
See also
- Family planning in India
- Economy of India
- Poverty by country
- Dharavi (Slum)
- Pavement dwellers
- Housing in India
- Electricity sector in India
- Water supply and sanitation in India
References
- ^ ."New Global Poverty Estimates — What it means for India". World Bank. http://www.worldbank.org.in/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/INDIAEXTN/0,,contentMDK:21880725~pagePK:141137~piPK:141127~theSitePK:295584,00.html.
- ^ a b Poverty estimates for 2004-05, Planning commission, Government of India, March 2007. Accessed: August 25, 2007
- ^ a b ""Inclusive Growth and Service delivery: Building on India's Success"" (PDF). World Bank. 2006. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOUTHASIAEXT/Resources/DPR_FullReport.pdf. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ "Fact Sheet: Gini Coefficient" (PDF). Source: The World Bank (2004) and Census and Statistics Department (2002). Legislative Council Secretariat Hong Kong. http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr04-05/english/sec/library/0405fs07e.pdf. Retrieved 2007-08-01. "Note: The Gini coefficient in this datasheet is calculated on a scale of 0 to 1 and not 0 to 100. Hence, on a scale of 100 India's Gini coefficient (1999-2000) is 32.5 rather than 3.25"
- ^ A special report on India: Ruled by Lakshmi Dec 11th 2008 From The Economist print edition
- ^ "Development Policy Review". World Bank. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/0,,contentMDK:20980493~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:223547,00.html.
- ^ "8 Indian states have more poor than 26 poorest African nations". Times of India. July 12, 2010. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/8-Indian-states-have-more-poor-than-26-poorest-African-nations/articleshow/6158960.cms.
- ^ This figure is extremely sensitive to the surveying methodology used. The Uniform Recall Period (URP) gives 27.5%. The Mixed Recall Period (MRP) gives a figure of 21.8%
- ^ Planning commission of India. Poverty estimates for 2004-2005
- ^ "Nearly 80 Percent of India Lives On Half Dollar A Day". Reuters. August 10, 2007. http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSDEL218894. Retrieved 2007-08-15.
- ^ "India on track to meet poverty reduction goal: World Bank". Economic Times. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/India-on-track-to-meet-poverty-reduction-goal-World-Bank/articleshow/5850202.cms.
- ^ Bappa Majumdar, Abhijit Neogy. "100 million more Indians now living in poverty". in Giles Elgood. Reuters India. http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-47791820100418.
- ^ "Households Availing Banking Services with Households in India". Town and Country Planning Organisation, Ministry of Urban Affairs. 2001. http://urbandia.nic.in/moud/theministry/subordinateoff/tcpo/REPORTON_BANKINGSERVICES/CHAPTER-1.pdf. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- ^ "Department of Telecom, memo Feb 2009". Department of Telecommunication of India. 2009. http://www.dot.gov.in/network/2008/networkstatus_Dec2008.pdf.
- ^ Untouchable By S. M. Michael
- ^ William A. Haviland, Anthropology: The Human Challenge, 10th edition, Thomson Wadsworth, 2005, ISBN 0-534-62361-1, p. 575.
- ^ Mendelsohn, Oliver & Vicziany, Maria, "The Untouchables, Subordination, Poverty and the State in Modern India", Cambridge University Press, 1998
- ^ Kevin Reilly, Stephen Kaufman, Angela Bodino, Racism: A Global Reader P21, M.E. Sharpe, 2003 ISBN 0-7656-1060-4.
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_caste
- ^ [3]
- ^ http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/articles/moghul_3.pdf
- ^ MEGHNAD DESAI (2003). "INDIA and CHINA: AN ESSAY IN COMPARATIVE POLITICAL ECONOMY". IMF. http://www.imf.org/external/np/apd/seminars/2003/newdelhi/desai.pdf.
- ^ Redefining The Hindu Rate Of Growth. The Financial Express
- ^ "Industry passing through phase of transition". The Tribune India. http://www.tribuneindia.com/50yrs/kapur.htm.
- ^ Street Hawking Promise Jobs in Future, The Times of India, 2001-11-25
- ^ The India Report. Astaire Research
- ^ India: the economy. Published in 1998 by BBC.
- ^ a b "What Went Wrong: Derailing after the 1950s". http://epress.anu.edu.au/narayanan/mobile_devices/ch03s02.html.
- ^ Datt, Ruddar & Sundharam, K.P.M.. "22". Indian Economy. pp. 367,369,370.
- ^ Sarkaritel.com : Corporate News & Features : Highlights of Economic Survey 2004-2005
- ^ India CIA World Fact Book. August 7, 2008. Retrieved August 20, 2008.
- ^ Dr. Marvin J, Cetron
- ^ thehindu.com/2009/04/03/stories
- ^ counterpunch.org
- ^ counterpunch.org
- ^ thehindu.com/2007/08/09/stories
- ^ economictimes.indiatimes.com
- ^ thehindu.com/2009/03/18/stories
- ^ rupe-india.org/39/shaping.html
- ^ [4]
- ^ The Multidimensions of Urban Poverty in India, Centre de Sciences Humaines - New Delhi
- ^ [5]
- ^ Lifting The Poverty Veil J. Ramesh, India Today
- ^ World Bank ICRIER
- ^ Nearly 80 pct of India lives on half dollar a day, Reuters, August 10, 2007. Accessed: August 15, 2007
- ^ "Report on Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihoods in the Unorganised Sector" [6] ], National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector, Government of India, August, 2007. Accessed: August 25, 2007.
- ^ [7], The Economic Times, April 23, 2010. Accessed: May 27, 2007]
- ^ [8]
- ^ India's middle class - Tracking the growth of India's middle class - Economic Studies - Country Reports - The McKinsey Quarterly
- ^ The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Business
- ^ Sengupta, Somini (March 13, 2009). "As Indian Growth Soars, Child Hunger Persists". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/13/world/asia/13malnutrition.html?_r=1. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ^ "'India has highest number of underweight children'". The Indian Express. 2009-04-14. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india-has-highest-number-of-underweight-children/446829/. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
- ^ http://www.medindia.net/news/Malnutrition-Among-Indian-Children-Worse-Than-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa-30955-1.htm
Further reading
- Poverty in India, World Bank
- "Can India eradicate poverty? Will India's economic boom help the poor?"
- "World Hunger - India"
- George, Abraham, Wharton Business School Publications - Why the Fight Against Poverty is Failing: A Contrarian View
- Poverty and riches in booming India
External links
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Poverty in India
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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
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.
India`s poor most subjected to corruption: Study
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Transparency International India's Executive Director, Anupama Jha, speaks to Nita Bhalla, AlertNet's South Asia correspondent about corruption in India.
Q: How would you describe the level of corruption in India?
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A: Corruption is endemic in India and is present in every sector of society. There is corruption within government, the private sector, as well as the police and the judiciary.
In 2009, India was ranked 84 out 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index with an integrity rating of 3.2-3.6 (O being the most corrupt and 10 being the least), indicating that the country is perceived to be highly corrupt by experts. In the last five years, India's CPI ranking has been pretty much the same - going up or down a rank or two - which indicates that not enough is being done towards tackling graft.
The Global Corruption Barometer (GCB), a survey aimed at gauging the views of the general public, says people have no faith in politicians. They say politicians are the most corrupt in India, followed by officials involved in law-making. There is no real indication of how much money we are losing through graft. Poor people pay money to get basic services which should be free, rich corporates pay money in procurement and tendering. Then you have corruption in construction with roads, dams falling apart and bridges collapsing as the allotted funds have been misused.
Q: What types of corruption are common in India?
A There are all kinds of corruption present in the country. There is corruption in the water and power sectors, where the public have reportedly had to pay for the restoration of services which they are entitled to. Also, with the police who are willing to take bribes for not booking speeding or parking offences or who demand money for filing complaints.
There is also corruption at much higher levels such as with the corporates and public companies in tendering and procurement, in the defence sector, in land registration issues ... the list is endless. There is even corruption in judiciary where senior judges have in the past siphoned off money from the treasury. This is incredible as the judiciary is the last body in the world where you can go to redress grievances, but even if they are corrupt, where does that leave the public?
Q: Who is most impacted by such levels of corruption?
A: It is without a doubt those who live below the poverty line, according to the India Corruption Study 2008, where we looked at below poverty line households. We researched eleven government services including the police, government social service systems like subsidised food schemes and employment opportunities as well as water, health, electricity, housing and forestry.
We found that people living below the poverty line have to pay over 9 billion rupees (USD 195 million) annually as bribes in order to avail these basic and needs-based services. This means those services which they were supposed to get for free, they have to bribe in order to get them. We have heard that poor people have had to bribe hospital staff in places for blood for their sick relatives sometimes.
We also found that the police were thought to be the most corrupt department throughout the country and the least corrupt was primary school education. Land records and registration was another major area of corruption and so was housing.
Q: What progress has been made or initiatives taken to tackle graft?
A: Definitely progress has been made in checking corruption, but what is more evident is that the people indulging in corrupt practices are working overtime. So for every positive measure to tackle corruption, those corrupt people are working twice as hard to continue.
There have been many initiatives and tools to check corruption and as a result, there has been some success.
(a) The Right to Information act (RTI) has been a relatively effective tool in tackling graft. This gives any citizen of India the right to information about the government and what it is doing with taxpayers' money.
(b) Social Audit is a tool. Government departments, implementing agencies, civil society organisations can use it monitor, plan, manage and measure the non-financial activities and organisation's social and commercial operations. This is basically a scrutinyof the public utility against its social relevance.
(c) E-governance is also gaining momentum. Amongst the many tools being developed to fight corruption, there is increasing focus on e-government - using Information and Communication Technology such as the internet - to enable greater public access to information on government processes.
(d) Citizens' charters are also now being adopted by more public sector organisations. This is the commitment of the organisation towards standard, quality and time frame of service delivery, grievance redressal mechanisms, transparency and accountability.
These are all great tools, but there is a general lack of awareness about these initiatives especially amongst those living below the poverty line.
Q: What governmental bodies exist to check corruption?
A: There is the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Central Information Commission (CIC) and the Controller Auditor General (CAG). These are all anti-corruption bodies but they are not exercising their authority enough.
Q: How does India compare to neighbouring countries in the region in terms of the level of graft?
A: You can't compare neighbouring countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan with India in terms of corruption. These are strife-torn countries where to a certain extent corruption is understandable. But in a democratic country like India, this is unacceptable. We are not a strife-torn nation. We have the Maoist insurgency in many parts of the country but that is because of a lack of development, which has been impeded by corruption.
Q: What more does India need to do to fight corruption?
A: India is a signatory but has not ratified the UNCAC - United Nations Convention Against Corruption. The government must sign this and show that is serious about tackling graft. The government bodies established to check graft should also exert their authority more and step up and do more.
There has to be a greater awareness of initiatives aimed at fighting corruption, addressing grievances and bringing about more transparency and accountability, especially amongst the poor.
According to our studies, only one percent of those living below the poverty line in the state of Bihar - one of the most underdeveloped and perceived to be one of the most corrupt - knew about the RTI (Right to Information Act).
There has to be more efforts to help people understand their rights to services so they can speak out and not be taken advantage of. Poor people are the least informed but are subjected to graft the most.
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India PRwire (press release) - 30 Jun 2010She/he may be an employee of an education institute / NGO / corporate / government body that has taken up the cause, or may be a consultant or freelancer ...
Steps needed to save tigers: NGO
Times of India - 20 hours agoPUNE: An exhibition of around 150 photographs showcasing India's rich heritage of biodiversity was organised by NGO Tiger Action Force at the Balgandharva ...Udaan model of teaching for adolescent girls
The Hindu - 4 hours agoUdaan, a learning programme designed for girls in the age group of 10 to 14 years by CARE India, an NGO working in the field of elementary education, ...IN ASSOCIATION WITH
BBC News - 2 hours agoInternational Development Enterprises India (IDEI) believes it has found a ... one million families have so far been helped out of poverty, the NGO says. ...Consumer rights awareness growing in India: US NGO
Calcutta Tube (blog) - 1 day agoMeet Charles WF Bell, a veteran consumer rights crusader whose NGO forced ... from the market this year and who says awareness is growing in India too. ...Why the media silence on Sri Lanka's descent into dictatorship?
The Guardian - 2 hours agoAnd two international NGO workers involved in protecting journalists had their visas ... NGO workers, lawyers, members of the opposition – the culture of ...WHERE DOES INDIA STAND? - Daily Mirror
all 21 news articles »
Police gear up for influx of sex workers during Games
NDTV.com - 1 day ago... foreign nations masquerading as tourists would book short tours to India. ... The NGO recently rescued young girls from Railway Stations and Inter State ...Cheap sanitary solution!
Pune Mirror - Vishakha Sharma - 27 minutes ago
Goonj, a Delhi-based NGO, has come to the rescue of such women with their ... Goonj works across 11 states in India, including Maharashtra and has been ...Drive to end feud and rein in passport police
Calcutta Telegraph - K.P. Nayar - 19 hours ago
Indian Americans, who have stood by India through thick and thin, ... which has the status of an NGO accredited to the UN on platforms such as the World ...First official estimate: An NGO for every 400 people in India
Indian Express - 5 days agoThat is one NGO for less than 400 Indians, and many times the number of primary schools and primary health centres in India. Even this staggering number may ...Keeping martyr's memory alive
Chandigarh Tribune - Aruti Nayar - 20 hours ago
In 1946, he came back to India at the invitation of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and ... From an obscure spot which had a small bust of the martyr, the NGO ...
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