POVERTY 2006

Compiled By K. SAMU Human Rights Documentation, Indian Social Institute, Lodi Road, New Delhi, India Minister sniffs dirt in mid-day meal deaths (21) Lucknow, January 5: THE MID-DAY meal is fast becoming the last morsel for many undernourished primary schoolchildren in Uttar Pradesh. There have been reports of several children dying and a large number falling ill after eating rotten food at schools in Meerut, Kanpur and Unnao. But the state's basic education minister Kiranpal Singh has a better explanation for the illness: village politics. "Look, the programme is run in schools under the supervision of the village committee. Now, the gram pradhan is the chairman of the committee. His rivals might have poisoned the food to get back at him," he said. If the minister's theory stumps you, his denial of the mid-day meal deaths is even less illuminating. "No mid-day meal deaths!" he thundered at a news conference on Thursday only to add in the same breath: "Yes, the Kanpur one seems to be one, and there are two in Meerut and a few in Unnao....." The minister might hem and haw but a fact-finding team sent to various districts by Lokayukta Justice S.C. Verma dug up enough material to prove that substandard food is being served to the children under unhygienic condition in the schools. There were more startling rev-slations. In Pilibhit, the schoolchildren fold the team that they were not eating the mid-meal. 'Who wants to die," they asked in unison. According to the fact-finding team report, in several schools rotten grains were being cooked and served to the children. Justice Verma told HT that instead of providing nutrition to the children, the food was proving to be a nightmare for them. (Hindustan Times 6/1/06) PC: Food subsidy cut after talks with allies (21) New Delhi, Jan. 11: Union finance minister P. Chidam-baram on Wednesday said a decision on whether or not to cut the food subsidy would be taken after discussions with political parties. He also hinted at cutting the fiscal deficit by 0.3 per cent to 4 per cent of GDP in the coming Budget. During an interaction with the Forum of Financial Writers, Mr P. Chidam-baram said, "The decision to cut the food subsidy is on hold pending further discussions with the Congress Party, other parties in the government and the Left. At the end of the discussions, the government will take a decision." The move that would reportedly have brought down the food subsidy by Rs 4,524 crores for 2005-06 was put on hold after the Congress itself asked the government not to go ahead with the decision. Mr Chidambaram, who asserted that the UPA would carry forward reforms, said the Budget would always focus on the people of India, the common man and people in rural areas. "Growth is a function of investment. If we can boost investment in 2006-07, I am confident growth will be as good as 2005-06," he said. Indias GDP had grown by 8.1 per cent in the first half of 2005-06 and is expected cross 7.5 per cent this fiscal. "I am obliged to adhere to the FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act) discipline (both for fiscal and revenue deficit). Thats what FRBM says," he said, indicating that the Centre is expected to cut the fiscal deficit by 0.3 per cent to 4 per cent and revenue deficit by 0.5 per cent to 2.2 per cent in 2006-07. For 2005-06, Mr Chidambaram said: "I expect it (the deficit) to be on target with the Budget estimate." (Asian Age 12/1/06) Woman sells infant to beggars in Bihar (21) Patna, Jan. 12: An aged woman in Bihar, after failing to feed her three-month-old grandson, sold the infant to a childless couple in the nondescript village of Beladum in Vaishali district. The woman, Shahjahan Khatun, has been struggling to make ends meet since her son "disappeared". She sold the child to the couple for Rs 2,700. Interestingly, the couple which adopted Sasmhool, the child, are unemployed and beg for a living. Samshools mother left him with his grandmother and father soon after he was born. It was said that she had run away with someone from the village as her husband, who is deaf and mute, was not able to meet her demands. Samshool's father also "disappeared" soon after his mother ran away. The child's ageing grandmother tried to bring him up but could not sustain it for long. After realising that she was not in a condition to earn enough to feed herself and her grandson, she contacted some villagers and informed them about her plan to sell the child. According to her, there is nothing wrong if the child gets a new family that can bring him up well. "Some villagers told us about Shahjahan's plan to sell the

child. We do not have a baby and, therefore, we decided to pay money to the woman and get the child. We are now happy with a child in our family," Nazma Khatoon, the "new mother" of the child, said. (Asian Age 13/1/06) Food security Ordinance promulgated (21) BANGALORE: The Department of Parliamentary Affairs and Legislation on Thursday promulgated an Ordinance to create a hunger-free society. A Bill will be introduced in the Legislature after a month, replacing the Ordinance. Explaining the features of the Karnataka Food Security Ordinance, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil said though the Ordinance could not be promulgated earlier because of the zilla and taluk panchayat elections. The State has become a pioneer in implementing such welfare measures, he added. Mr. Patil said the Ordinance makes it mandatory for the Government to ensure that citizens get two meals a day. (The Hindu 14/1/06) Woman ends life due to poverty (21) Patna, Jan. 23: After fighting starvation for months, a woman set herself, along with her four-year-old son, on fire in a Bihar village on Sunday night. Poonam Devi (29) of Hathauri village, in Muzaffarpur district, committed suicide after failing to manage two squares meal for herself and her son Chintu. The local police has also claimed that "hunger" was the reason behind the suicide by the woman, whose labourer husband left the village a few months back to earn a livelihood for his family. "We had no food for the last several weeks. We begged local villagers for food or money but no one came for our help. Finally, she committed suicide," Poonam's mother-in-law Atiya Devi told the police. According to her, Poonam and Chintu went to bed at around 7 pm on Sunday evening and then the woman locked the doors of her room from inside and set herself afire. The Bihar police also received another shock on Sunday evening when they recovered the body of two sisters from a well in Saran district. Babli (8) and Lovely (9) Were abducted from near their house and later strangled to death. It has been reported that the father of the girls, Suresh Singh, had opposed the presence of a gangster in the village, who was recently bailed out. The gangster is suspected to be behind the murders. (Asian Age 24/1/06) Farmer kills self, 3 children in Delhi village (21) NEW DELHI, Feb. 3. Farmers driven to suicide by poverty in the rural hinterland of India I have made news ' from time to time. But the Capital got a rude wake-up call today when a farmer poisoned three of his children and killed himself by consuming the same poison at Dariyapur village in the Jaffar Pur Kalan area of south-west Delhi. He was apparently forced to take this extreme step because of a severe financial crunch. Rajender Singh (42) went to the fields with his two daughters, Sapna (17) and Rekha (15), and son Narender (15) at about 8.30 a.m. today, a senior police officer said. There he made his children eat the pesticide, believed to be sulphas, and had some himself. The bodies were noticed by other farmers working in a field nearby at about 11 a.m. They took the bodies to Rao Tula Ram Hospital, where Rajender, Rekha and Narender were declared brought dead. Sapna, who was still conscious, was referred to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital. The police said they were informed of the incident by the hospital authorities. Sapna also died at the hospital late tonight, the police added. ._ The police said an empty bottle of sulphas was found in " the field where the bodies were found. Rajender was married to Santosh and had four children. They had agricultural land but he had reportedly borrowed a lot of money, which apparently weighed him down and ultimately he took this extreme step. One of his daughters, Rajni, who hadn't gone to the fields with the others, was to get married next month, the police added. The police said that there appears no other reason of suicide as there was no ill-will in the family. Santosh had been ill for the past few months. The police said when she learnt that her husband and children had consumed poison, she lost consciousness. When she returned to her senses, she was not told about the death of her children and husband. (Statesman 4/2/06) AIDWA volunteers stage protest (21) Pondicherry: Volunteers of the Pondicherry unit of all India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) held a demonstration at the end of a rally at the Directorate of Civil Supplies and Consumer Welfare here on Tuesday in support of their demands. The deputy Secretary of the Tamilnadu unit of the AIDWA S.Valantina led the stir. A release from the chairperson of the AIDWA here K. Shanthi and its Secretary K.Mahalakshmi said that the Administration was unnecessarily making the families coming under the category of the "Below Poverty Line" category run from pillar to post in getting the red colour cards. They

also alleged that although the poor families were entitled to get red colour cards they were issued yellow colour cards applicable for the affluent or above poverty line category of people. (The Hindu 8/2/06) AIDWA takes umbrage at Pawar's statement (21) JAIPUR: The All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) has condemned the statement of Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar linking the public distribution system (PDS) and the depletion in foodgrain stocks, which has led to the need for import of wheat. "This is the worst kind of prevarication as the rising prices of wheat and other cereals is directly related to the disastrous agricultural policies being implemented by the Central Government," it said. The Central Executive Committee of AIDWA in a resolution passed here took umbrage at the observation by Mr. Pawar that had the decision of the United Progressive Alliance Government to cut the quotas and increase PDS food grain prices, the import of wheat now made necessary in order to check prices could have been avoided. "It is shameful and intolerable that UPA Government wants to save Rs.4500 crores by cutting entitlement of Below Poverty Line and Antyodaya families and by increasing Above Poverty Line prices," the resolution said. "AIDWA will launch big struggles to protect food security of women in the country," AIDWA president Subhashini Ali said briefing newspersons here on Monday at the end of the two-day CEC meeting. "From the level of 3 crore tons of food grain stocks in the country we have reached a situation in which the Food Minister is talking about import of wheat". Though the highly "retrograde and cruel move" by Mr. Pawar in the past was stalled by the strong protests from the Left, the Minister was making no secret of his determination to implement his plan at a later date, she charged. "This is the result of gross mismanagement. From a position in which stocks were overflowing in government godowns we reached this situation after the Centre exporting wheat at lower than BPL prices," Ms. Ali noted. (The Hindu 8/2/06) Rajasthan police take MIT route to improve its performance (18) JAIPUR: The Rajasthan police have tied up with the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on a project to improve its performance and public perception. Poverty Action Lab. of MIT will execute the project which would assess the current state of service delivery and public relations of the State police and implement reforms in a few of the selected police stations, evaluate their outcome and extend the useful reforms to other stations. The pilot project of the programme, likely to last three to four months, is to be launched on Wednesday at nine police stations in Jaipur district and one in Sikar district. During the pilot project, four important measures -- community observers, duty roster, weekly off and security of tenure -- are to be introduced, singly or in combination, to assess their effects on the service delivery by police and perception of police performance by the public. Discussions have been on between the top brass of the Rajasthan police and the representatives of Povety Action Lab. since August 2005. Esther Dulfo, Professor of Economics at MIT, visited Jaipur in August last and January this year to hold discussions with A.S.Gill, Director-General of Rajasthan Police, and other senior officers. Daniel Keniston, research assistant, who is coordinating the project, has been visiting the State Capital on a regular basis. "The most innovative experiment would be of community observers," said M.K.Devarajan, Additional DGP (Headquarters), and Rajasthan. "The community observers are members of public who volunteer to sit in police stations for three-four hours and observe police activities and working. It is anticipated that the presence of these observers would have a sobering effect on policemen and improve their behaviour, transparency and accountability," he noted. (The Hindu 15/2/06) Orissa cancer patient kills self (21) Bhubaneswar: In a fresh case of mass suicide over issues of ill-health and poverty, two members of a family died while the third member of the family is battling for life after they consumed a highly poisonous pesticide on Saturday, reports our correspondent. According to reports, Jagabandhu Parida of remote Parigad village under the Gangpur police limit in Ganjam district was leading a happy life with his 25-year-old wife Jasaswini and two-year-old son Bunty until he was detected to have been affected with leukaemia two years ago. 34-year-old Jagabandhu was informed by doctors at Surat in Gujarat, where he was working as a labourer in a garment factory, that the disease was not fully curable and lakhs of rupees was needed for his regular health checkup. (Asian Age 20/2/06) Mid-day meal: Now, annual action plan before fund release (21) NEW DELHI, APRIL 24: With an eye on overhauling the mid-day meal scheme for schoolchildren, the Union government has asked the states to prepare annual action plans before funds are released for the

programme. This follows an increased allocation of Rs 5,348 cr for 2006-07, as compared to Rs 3,345 crore in 2005-06. About 12 crore school children in 9.5 lakh schools benefit from the worlds largest school-lunch programme. Till 2005-06, HRD officials said, central assistance to states under the mid-day meal programme was based on the demands furnished by them. Now, it has been decided to switch-over to a mechanism of having the annual work plan prepared by each state and it will be considered by programme approval board of the scheme, headed by secretary (elementary education and literacy) Kumud Bansal. A senior official said,The advantage of having the Annual Work Plan prepared and discussed is that the states get an opportunity to provide a picture of the implementation of the programme and the initiatives taken to improve it. It helps members of the Board to understand the programme implementation better. Two meetings have already taken place last week, where the annual work plans of 13 states and UTs have been approved. In the first meeting on April 17, plans from Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Chandigarh (UT) and on April 19, plans from Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh and Tripura were taken up and approved. Plans of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi will be taken up tomorrow. (Indian Express 25/4/06) Anomalies in survey on BPL families' (21) JAIPUR: Activists have alleged anomalies in the selection process of the ongoing survey on below poverty line (BPL) families in Rajasthan. The survey, which has to be finalised by May 20 after the appeals, has favoured comparatively well off and influential persons in the rural areas at the cost of the poor even in the selection of the deprived, they have charged. People's Union for Civil Liberties, Rajasthan, which had filed a public interest writ in the Supreme Court in the past, took up the BPL selection process in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan as a case study. A survey carried out by it in 9 tehsils -- Badesar, Nimbhaheda, Chittorgarh, Arnod, Pratapgarh, Begun, Kapasan, Doongla and Bari Sadri of the district indicated that the poor families were credited with more points (decided on the basis of the land holdings, food availability, clothes, sanitation facilities and worldly possessions, to mention a few of them) than their comparatively well off neighbours. In the first BPL list created in 1997, Rajasthan had 21 lakh families in the category in the rural areas and another 3 lakh in the urban centres. The revision work, which commenced in 2002-03, is still on though the intention of the authorities, it is feared, is to reduce the number of BPL families. A BPL card facilitates the holding family with subsidised grains, employment under relief works, free medicine and entitlement for a house under the Indira Awas Yojna, among other things. The enumeration work, carried out by the Rural development Department through the schoolteachers, has been sloppy in most of the areas surveyed by PUCL with the help of Action Aid and Mazdoor Kisan Sangathan. "Mandatory meetings of the ward sabhas did not take place anywhere. The gram sabhas were held but without much attendance. The names in the list were read out at gram sabhas but the authorities are in no mood to make corrections or include the names left out," Khemraj Choudhary of MKS observed. (The Hindu 30/4/06) Minister sees poverty, but blames Congress for it (21) BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh Minister for Industries and Commerce, Babulal Gaur, on Friday said that there was extreme poverty in the State and sincere efforts were needed to address the issue of poverty and take the State on the fast track of industrial development. Mr. Gaur was speaking as chief guest at a conference on Small and Medium Enterprises organised jointly by the Madhya Pradesh State Council of FICCI and the State Government. Mr, Gaur said that he has always opposed nationalisation of industry. Focussing on the importance of industry, he said the country should be industrialised to eliminate poverty. The industrial workers should be encouraged to inculcate the spirit of nationalism and motivated to perform their best for the larger national cause, he said, citing the example of Japan to drive home his point. The Minister said it was a matter of great regret that Madhya Pradesh continues to rank among the last three states in the country after Orissa and Bihar when it comes to poverty and industrialisation. He said the State was extremely backward on the industrial front and it would take a long time to catch up with the other developed States. He blamed the previous Congress-led Government for neglecting roads and failing to focus attention on the economic infrastructure. In the last two-and-half years since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in the State, there has been rapid progress on the roads front and even captains of industry from other parts of the country have come forward and were willing to invest in the State, he added. (The Hindu 6/5/06)

Poverty drives girl to death in Punjab (21) Chandigarh : Abject poverty claimed another victim in Punjab, this time a child who was barely 12. Simranjit Kaur was crushed under the wheels of the speeding Dhanbad Express, when she entered into a suicide pact along with three of her four siblings, in Kang Kalan Village in Jalandhar earlier this week. Although villagers managed to save the others - Nirmaljit Kaur (24), Vikram (22), Sarbjit Kaur (20), Kamaljit Kaur (15) - in the suicide pact, the siblings are traumatised and can barely speak. Gulzar Singh, a Dalit farmer and the father of the four, blames their hapless plight that led them to such a drastic step. "Floods in the Satluj washed away my seven acres of land.." The family had to relocate itself for work after heavy rains washed away the crop for two consecutive seasons. Although the State government tried to rehabilitate their family by giving Nirmaljit and Sarabjit vocational training in a tannery, Gulzar Singh failed to raise a bank loan to return to farming. He worked as a daily labourer while his wife worked as a domestic help. Even the youngest - Simranjit and Karamjit (the nine-year-old who was not in the suicide pact) were forced to leave school and work in the outskirts of the village. Although Nirmaljit and Vikram tried to send the youngest two back to school but then the May 9 storm left them hapless. Strangely, the Railway Police registered a case under Section 174, according to which Simranjit Kaur's death was 'accidental'. (Pioneer 19/5/06) Orissa woman sells baby for Rs 2,000 (21) Jamshedpur, May 20: CONFRONTED WITH poverty, even maternal instincts crumble. That's what happened to an 18-year-old homeless, abandoned and unwed tribal girl. Sheer desperation made her sell her newborn baby to a childless couple for Rs 2,000. Rekha Deogam (name changed), an orphan who eked out a living by doing chores in people's homes, had given birth to the baby on the street for want of a proper place last Monday Saddled with a child she did not want and had no way of providing for, Rekha had been on the lookout for someone who could take care of the child. Luckily, she met a childless couple from Chaibasa who expressed an interest in adopting her baby The deal was finalised at Rs 2,000. However, thinking it improper to take the child away immediately, the couple decided to wait for a while. Giving Rekha Rs 65 to buy food, they told her: "We will come back again after a fortnight, give you the rest of the money and take the child away." But news of the 'sale' soon spread and people began questioning both Rekha and the couple. Afraid of the sudden attention, the childless couple denied having struck any such deal. They said they had just given the girl some money for food. "It was a humane gesture. There was no other angle to it," one of the couple's relatives claimed. She, however, maintained that if Rekha so wished, they could adopt the child. "The child will not last a day unless taken away by a Good Samaritan. We can keep the child but not the mother" she said. Rekha, however, admitted to having sold her child. Rekha had come to Chaibasa some months back after her father died. "Last year, I met Gona Laguri who promised to marry me. Little did I know he was just making hollow promises. The moment he learnt of my pregnancy, he fled. I have no other option but to sell the child," she said. (Hindustan Times 21/5/06) Globalisation deepening marginalisation of the poor' (21) BHUBANESWAR: The war against poverty was turning out to be a war against the poor in the recent years, S. Parsuraman, Director of the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences, said here on Saturday. Delivering the convocation address on `Globalisation and Issue of Higher Education' at the first convocation of the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Deemed University, Prof. Parsuraman said that globalisation was deepening marginalisation and exclusion of groups and communities that were traditionally vulnerable and excluded. "The opportunities for dalits, tribal people, women, disabled and other vulnerable groups have shrunk and marginalisation of certain sections among these groups has been intensified," he said. Health, education, water, work and food were core elements of fundamental human rights, but the state was increasingly undermining people's access to basic services to be able to lead a life with dignity, Prof. Parsuraman said. Among others who spoke were Savita Mahajan of Indian School of Business, Hyderabad; A Samanta, Chancellor of KIIT Deemed University; and S.C. De Sarkar, Vice-Chancellor of the Deemed University. (The Hindu 4/6/06) Mid-day meal scheme a success story in Rajasthan (21) JAIPUR: The much- talked about mid-day meals scheme introduced in Rajasthan in the Government and Government-aided primary schools has had an affirmative effect on enrolment of children, particularly of the girl child, at the elementary level. It has helped improve the quality of education as well as the health of students, besides helping the families to tide over the problems of hunger and malnutrition, a new study

has indicated. A participatory expenditure tracking survey on the scheme in the district of Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, conducted by CUTS-Centre for Consumer Action, Research and Training (CUTS-CART) in association with the World Bank reported improvement of enrolment in 64 per cent of the schools and improvement in retention in 51 per cent schools in past three years. The enrolment of girls registered an increase in 58 per cent of the schools surveyed while it was found that quality of education improved in 49 per cent of them. The survey results were presented at a State- level dissemination meeting before experts, World Bank representatives, JVR Murty, Vinod Sahagal, MLAs, C.P.Joshi, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and Nathu Singh Gujjar, besides Rajendra Bhanawat, Divisional Commissioner, Jaipur, Saroj Punhani, Accountant General (Audit), Jaipur, Sarathi Acharya, director of the Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur and former director S.S.Acharya. Presenting the findings, the survey team leaders, K.C. Sharma and Dhudeshwar Kumar, however noted the decline in lifting of foodgrains by the State Government in the past three years. The off take of foodgrains was 67 per cent on an average during the period against the total grains sanctioned by the Centre. The unutilised fund (conversion cost) remaining with the districts had steadily increased from 27 per cent to 71 per cent during 2001-02 to 2004-05, they noted. (The Hindu 16/6/06) Centre to buy foodgrains at market price for PDS (21) NEW DELHI: Stung by criticism on the wheat front, the Centre is formulating a policy for buying its shortfall in foodgrains for the Public Distribution System (PDS) at market rates. The commercial intervention would be to buy foodgrains at a procurement price other than the minimum support price to fulfil the requirements of the Public Distribution System. The intervention would not be "open ended." It would be for a specific quantum of foodgrains At a high-level meeting chaired by Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday, it was agreed to have a long-term policy to first procure foodgrains for the PDS at the minimum support price set by the Agriculture Commission for Costs and Prices. In case the government fails to get its requirement for the PDS at MSP as this year then it would buy its specific balance requirement from the market at commercial rates. This would bring the procuring agency in direct competition with private players. The higher subsidy involved would have to be borne by the Centre. However, in a year that agriculture production falls short, the government would have the option of going in for imports. Imports, however, should be the last resort, it was suggested at the meeting. This year the government has failed to procure its total requirement of wheat for the PDS and has gone in for wheat imports to the tune of 35 lakh tonnes. While the government agencies procured about 92 lakh tonnes, the private trade and multi-national agencies have cornered about 60 lakh tonnes amid criticism that the government could have bought from the open market for the PDS than go in for imports. At the meeting, the Food Corporation of India maintained that while it would buy grains at the support price, some other agencies such as the Central Warehousing Corporation or the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) could procure at the market rates so that it would not be in competition with its own agencies for the PDS. (The Hindu 17/6/06) UPA paper: Decline in poverty slower than claimed by NDA (21) New Delhi, June 16:A new policy-approach paper brought out by the UPA government has challenged the former NDA regimes poverty reduction figures, claiming instead that poverty reduction since 1993-94 is actually only 0.74 per cent per year rather than the 1.66 percent shown in figures released by the NDA in 1999-2000, and goes on to advocate a widening of the social security net and increased resource allotment to agriculture as well as poverty-alleviation programmes. Using preliminary estimates, a month before the final figures of the National Sample Survey (NSS) conducted in 2004-05 are released, the paper titled Towards Faster and More Inclusive Growth argues that the proportion of population below poverty line is actually higher at 28 per cent than the 26 per cent claimed by the NDA governments figures. The paper has also questioned the comparability of the 1993-94 figures with the 1999-2000 figures, while maintaining that The preliminary estimates from the latest NSS thick sample in 2004-05 provides data that are fully comparable with 1993-94. Acknowledging that the rate of decline in poverty is at best modest, the paper points out that one of the key reasons is that agricultural GDP growth has only just about kept pace with population growth during the last decade. Though growth in non-agricultural GDP has been much higher, the trickle-down effect to the poor would have been much better if agricultural growth was faster, the paper suggests. Accelerated overall growth, with a doubling of the agricultural growth rate, could expedite poverty reduction, especially if the UPAs flagship schemes aimed at supporting incomes and welfare of the poorer sections like the National Rural Employment

Guarantee Scheme are steadily expanded, the strategy paper notes. The paper also calls for a comprehensive strategy for tackling poverty that includes developing an appropriate social security net for the poor. (Indian Exp 17/6/06) Punjabs poor to get free water (21) Chandigarh, June 26: Already enjoying the benefits of free electricity, Punjabs poor will now also be entitled to free water. Unveiling a Rs 700-crore package of fresh concessions, chief minister Amarinder Singh on Monday announced that all families living in smaller (less than 150 square yards) dwellings will now be exempt from having to pay either water supply or sewerage charges. Captain Singh also announced the abolition of octroi in a move that is clearly designed to bring cheer to thousands of shopkeepers and petty traders in Punjabs cities and towns as well as bring in votes for the ruling Congress party in next Februarys Assembly elections. The municipal tax will cease with effect from September 1 this year, the chief minister told reporters after a meeting of his Cabinet in Chandigarh on Monday morning. Besides this, Captain Singh said that the state government had made arrangements to purchase 6,000 metric tonnes of pulses, moong and arhar, for substantially subsidised supply to families living below the poverty line under the public distribution system (PDS). "We are the first state in the country to supply dal through the PDS," he said. "We hope this will help both our own poor as well as migrant labour families from Bihar and other places." The chief minister said the entire cost of the new concessions would be paid through additional revenues collected following the implementation of VAT in the state. According to him, revenue collections have gone up by more than Rs 800 crores. While the Opposition has dismissed the concessions as "sops", Captain Singh said, "This is part of a continuing process of fulfilling the promises we made before the last (2002) elections." (Asian Age 27/6/06) Big drop in number of BPL families in Goa (21) PANAJI: Following adoption of new yardsticks by the Planning Commission for identifying people below poverty line (BPL), Goa has witnessed a big drop in the number of BPL families. As per the Census of 2002, the State had identified 7000 BPL families as against 18000 families in the previous Census. According to the sources in the Rural Development Agency, the number has come down further to 6300 as per the latest enumeration (The Hindu 6/7/06) Number of poor in U.P. declines, says World Bank report (21) Lucknow: Number of poor in Uttar Pradesh has declined from 59.3 million to 48.8 million over a period of ten years, a new World Bank (WB) report has revealed. According to the joint report on the Second Poverty and Social Monitoring Survey (PSMS-II) conducted by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, the Planning Department and the WB released recently, poverty rate in rural areas of U.P. fell from 42.3 per cent to 28.5 per cent while in urban areas, the same declined slightly from 35.1 to 32.3 per cent. Significantly, the pattern of growth in the period from 1993-94 to 2003-2004 shows it was pro-poor, indicating that per capita expenditure of one-tenth of population increased faster (by 109 per cent in normal terms) than the rich whose expenditure increased only by 62 per cent. Many of the experts felt easy loans and borrowing may be behind the increase in "extravagant" expenditure of the poor. It says there had also been a decline in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), while the literacy rate has increased. Literacy rate has gone up from 56 per cent in 2000 to 60 per cent in 2003. The percentage of population over 18 who have ever attended school has increased from 46 per cent in 2000 to 51 per cent in 2003. On the other hand, even in 2003, 15 per cent children in the age group of six to 11 years never attended school. Enrolment rates at the primary level stood at 78 per cent in 2003 as against 67 per cent in 2000. This increase has been witnessed in all regions for both boys and the girls and among all the income groups. (The Hindu 26/7/06) Assam drought: 8 lakh families face starvation (21) GUWAHATI, AUGUST 17:The rainfall deficit in Assam has turned into an unprecedented drought over the last three months, pushing over eight lakh farm families in 21 of Assams 25 districts to the verge of starvation. The state itself is heading for a shortage of rice with the kharif crop failing to take off in most of the state. Over eight lakh families have been directly affected by the drought. Our efforts to help them draw water from various sources has proved too little, admitted state Agriculture Minister Pramila Rani Brahma. She said over 4.95 lakh hectare of land, which would otherwise have been under sali, the most important kharif paddy crop in the state, have been severely affected by the drought. The states target of

producing 40 lakh metric tonne of rice during the current year now looks totally impossible. I dont think we will be able to achieve the target of 40 lakh MT of rice. Paddy has its own ripening and maturity stages, even rains cant influence that now, Brahma told The Indian Express here today. With the monsoon turning out to be a failure, it would be impossible to produce even quarter of that quantity, Agriculture Department officials added. Sowing of paddy, which would normally have been harvested in December, was supposed to have taken place in June followed by the transplantation in July. But, farmers in the state have missed the main paddy season altogether. Barpeta, Morigaon, Nagaon, Sonitpur, Nalbari and Kamrup are among the worst affected districts. The governments efforts to provide 10 litre of free diesel to each farm family to help them run pumpsets to lift water from rivers and underground sources has hardly been able to make an impact. Only about 34,800 families have so far received free diesel, Brahma admitted. The scheme has so far covered only about 9,340 hectare of land. While there are reports of large-scale anomalies in the distribution of diesel, what has emerged as a bigger problem is the failure of a large number of irrigation schemes in which the government invested huge sums over the years. (Indian Exp 18/8/06) Be more sensitive to poor: Manmohan (21) New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday expressed concern over the denial of human rights to the weaker sections of society and called upon the judiciary to be more sensitive to the needs of the poor. Inaugurating the all-India inter-departmental cooperation, dialogue and meeting on social justice, Dr. Singh recalled his Independence Day speech and said: "The rule of law can become a reality for millions and millions of our people only if the rights of law-abiding citizens are protected. Only if justice is seen to be delivered. Only if the rights of the weak and the dispossessed are protected. For this we need a more efficient and effective judiciary." Referring to the delays in the disposal of cases and the consequent backlog, Dr. Singh said: "There is concern about the [high] cost of litigation and the [high] cost of obtaining justice. There is a growing concern about probity or the lack of it in some sections of the judiciary. I have said this before, and I say this again, that we have great pride in the quality and effectiveness of our judicial system. But in the larger scheme of governance, it is incumbent upon any healthy institution to continue to reflect from time to time on its role, on the expectations from it and on the scope for improvement." Organised by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), the two-day meet is being attended by Judges of the Supreme Court, Chief Justices and Judges of High Courts, Chief Ministers and Ministers from various States and officials and delegates from the United Nations. The Prime Minister said the National Common Minimum Programme placed great emphasis on legal empowerment of all sections of society, particularly the weaker sections. He said: "It is our sincere commitment to make our judicial system sensitive to the rights and needs of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes, minorities and above all women. Often ignorance of law becomes a major hindrance to the successful implementation of any legislation and contributes to violation of law." . (The Hindu 20/8/06) Free life insurance for urban BPL families (21) JAIPUR: Rajasthan Minister of State for Local Self Government Pratap Singh Singhvi on Saturday said all urban families living below the poverty line (BPL) would get the benefit of life insurance free of cost under the Panna Dhai Jeevan Amrit Yojana launched in the State on August 14. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had initiated the scheme for providing life insurance facility to nearly 22.23-lakh BPL families in the State. The new scheme has replaced the National Family Benefit Scheme operative till recently. The Panna Dhai Jeevan Amrit Yojana was announced in this year's State Budget. Ms. Raje presented a cheque for Rs. 22.23 crore to a representative of the Life Insurance Corporation of India as the State Government's contribution to the scheme on August 14, while a joint insurance policy for the BPL families was issued on the occasion. The new scheme provides for giving assistance to the BPL families on the death or permanent disability of the head of family. Besides, BPL children studying in Class IX to XII will be given scholarships under the scheme. Mr. Singhvi said the scheme would bring a number of advantages to the BPL families and added that steps would be taken to ensure that each deserving family gets the benefit. The Jeevan Amrit Yojana's insurance policy will pay Rs. 20,000 to the next of kin on the natural death of the insured and Rs. 50,000 on the death in an accident. The scholarship of Rs. 1,200 in a year will be given to two children in a BPL family for a maximum of four years. Free life insurance for urban BPL families .. (The Hindu 20/8/06)

Govt mulls insurance cover for BPL families in rural India (21) New Delhi : The Government is contemplating providing insurance cover to all BPL families in rural areas. If the plan gets approval from the Cabinet, it would start by providing insurance cover to those who have availed of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and those who are related to Self Help Groups (SHG). Till date 23 lakh people involved with SHGs across the country and 129 lakh people have availed the opportunity to work under NREGS since its inception in February this year. "We are planning to induct two types of insurance for them - one by giving lumsum at one time and the other based on common premium on monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis," Singh said, summing up the experiences of two-day national conference of project directors of District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) held in Delhi on 16-17 October. Singh also said that the efforts would be made to tag health insurance with life insurance for families in rural areas. With other innovative plans in pipeline, the Ministry has demanded Rs 2.25 lakh crore for the 11th plan. It plans to expand the NREGS in next 200 districts of the country by the end of this year. While assessing the results of his Ministry's efforts in providing timely and adequate funds for implementation of rural development programmes, Singh said, "We will come out with outcome budget next year outlining the physical and financial performance of the fund released, in next Budget session of Parliament."Addressing the concern of misappropriation of money from the BPL beneficiaries under various rural programmes, Singh said the Ministry has decided to open a bank account of one of the members of rural families. "4,200 bank branches in rural areas have been underlined for zero lending and consequently they have been directed not to deprive people from lending," he said, stating that is due to negligent approach of banks. (Pioneer 18/10/06) A people's record (21) BHOPAL : India has created a new Guinness record and Madhya Pradesh has become the single region across the world where the largest number of people a whopping 3.3 million joined the "Stand Up Against Poverty" event earlier this week. The event was aimed at raising mass awareness about the promise of 189 nations to eradicate poverty and diseases such as HIV/AIDS by 2015. This promise is reflected in a set of eight goals called the Millennium Development Goals. The achievement was announced at a press conference here on Wednesday by United Nations Millennium Campaign Director Salil Shetty, which he addressed with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. Mr. Shetty said that some 23 million people across the world participated in the event organised by the United Nations Millennium Campaign on October 15-16. (The Hindu 19/10/06) CPM flays UPAs 20-point plan (21) New Delhi, Oct. 22: The CPI(M) has sharply criticised the revised 20-point programme of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, saying that it lacked direction and thrust. The party took the position that it was flawed because the government still refused to address the structural basis of poverty. The CPI(M), in an editorial in the partys mouthpiece Peoples Democracy, said, "In the previous 20-point programme, there was a direction on enforcement of land reforms. In the current programme, this has been dropped. When addressing the issue of rural poverty, the basic issue of land reforms cannot be evaded. Outside the three Left-ruled states, the agenda of land reforms has been more or less abandoned. The only exception has been the commitment made by the DMK government in Tamil Nadu to distribute two acres of wasteland to each landless family. The other omission in the programme announced is the absence of employment generation. The agrarian crisis and the chronic problem of unemployment which are both contributing to and resulting in perpetuating poverty are not being tackled effectively by the UPA government." The party took the position that the goal of abolishing poverty was more relevant and pressing now, given the experience of the one-and-a-half decades of liberalisation. India holds the dubious record of having the largest absolute number of poor people in any country in the world. Even official statistics show 300 million people are poverty-stricken by the international standard of earning less than $1 a day. "The revamped 20-point programme is a faint signal that the Congress party is aware of the situation. But none of the good intentions set out in the Garibi Hatao programme are going to be fulfilled unless the government stops the conscious promotion of the interests of big business and those who control the productive assets of the country. As long as this approach exists, the goal of eradication of poverty set out in the Garibi Hatao programme will remain a pious wish," the party said. (Asian Age 23/10/06) Congress for probe into suicides, hunger deaths (21)

LUCKNOW: Holding the Uttar Pradesh Government responsible for the crisis in Bundelkhand and the spate suicides by farmers and starvation deaths, the Congress on Monday demanded constitution of a judicial commission to probe the death of the farmers in the backward region of the State. The Congress has dared the Government to prove that there has been no starvation death or suicide in Bundelkhand. The leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Pramod Tiwari, has released the list of the farmers who, he claimed, had committed suicide as they were unable to pay off the loans or faced starvation. These farmers are: Babloo of Jhansi district, Shripati Lodhi of Lalitpur district, Pritam Shahriya of Lalitpur, Bindu Yadav of Banda district, Babli Yadav of Banda, Jagdish of Mahoba district, Shatrughan Singh Bhadouria of Mahoba and Chhannu, also of Mahoba. Mr. Tiwari said that three other farmers in Hardoi, Mahaajganj and Lucknow districts (these are not in Bundelkhand) had also committed suicide. Addressing a press conference, the CLP leader said that the situation in Bundelkhand was serious and attacked the State Government for ignoring the plight of the farmers. Mr. Tiwari demanded resignation of Chief Minister Muayam Singh Yadav on moral grounds. Mr. Tiwari alleged that the situation would have been controlled if the money for National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) in the six Bundelkhand districts had been utilised. He said a total of Rs.45 crore had been allocated to these districts but only 15 per cent of the amount had been utilised under the scheme. Out of the total of around Rs.500 crore allocated under the scheme to 22 U.P. districts, about 90 per cent was unutilised, he added. Stating that the Public Distribution System (PDS) in the State had collapsed, Mr. Tiwari charged that the scheme had been appropriated by middlemen in the foodgrains trade. (The Hindu 24/10/06) Orissa village suffers poverty in silence (21) Mayurbhanj (Orissa), Oct. 24: In Kumbaribill, a neglected village nestled near the Similipal wildlife sanctuary in Orissas Mayurbhanj district, deaths due to malnutrition and diseases are frequent. "We are dying of government apathy," lamented a villager. "We are poor and helpless because we are locked inside the forests." If the administration and medical system dont start delivering, the tribals here may well be wiped out, according to Grassroots Features. "Located inside the buffer zone of the wildlife sanctuary, the village has no roads," complained Kumara Singh, a local social activist. "During the rains, the village remains cut off from the outside world for over four months." The village is so remote and backward that even when seriously ill, villagers prefer witchcraft as it takes them two days to reach the Jashipur hospital. The main diet through the year is rice and salt with occasional intakes of leafy vegetables and seasonal mushrooms. To buy salt, the villagers have to walk 27 km to the Jashipur weekly market. When Dasma Hembram, three, died of measles in June, it raised the hackles of a social worker in the district. With the local medias aid, he publicised the deaths of 13 children here between June and October. An independent working group on protected areas, formed with NGO members and activists, found that the villagers suffered from several diseases. Malnutrition was rife among women and children and there was virtually no development. The group also found that anganwadi (rural welfare) workers visit here only once or twice a year. The village has a school without teacher and a tube-well without water. On discovering the lack of basic facilities and livelihood means, the group said: "The immunisation programmes are not being carried out by the anganwadi workers." Admitting that some children have died, Mayurbhanj additional district medical officer N. Rout blamed the loss on tribal habits. (Asian Age 25/10/06) UP dad kills 3 daughters, then himself (21) Lucknow, Oct. 25: Poverty drove a family of four to suicide in the Kashipura locality of Varanasi district on Tuesday when a father, along with his three minor daughters, consumed poison and ended their lives. Thirty-year-old Chhotu Kasera had gone out for a walk along with his three daughters Lalli, 6, Suman, 4, and Gauri, 2 and the four apparently consumed poison on the way. A few minutes later, the father and the three daughters fainted on the roadside in the Ramlila lane, about 100 metres from their house. His wife Bitto, who was at home at the time of the incident, was informed and the four were rushed to a local hospital where the doctors declared them "brought dead".According to neighbours, Chhotu had been facing acute financial crisis since the past few months. A silversmith by profession, he had been jobless since the past one-and-a-half years and was under going severe depression since the past few months. "He had stopped talking to friends and acquaintances and remained quiet. He would not even venture out of the house unless absolutely necessary. There were no fights between husband and wife but tension was palpable in the house. He loved his daughters very much and, perhaps, that is why he took them away with him," said a neighbour Pinto Tyagi. Bitto, the wife of the deceased, meanwhile, said that poverty had driven her husband to take this drastic step. "He always wondered what would happen to the children

if he died. In fact, he often said that it would be better if the children died along with him, but I thought he would take such a drastic step. He could not find a job and refused to allow me to go out to work. I cannot understand why he left me out. He should have given me the poison too," said the distraught woman as she sat before the four bodies in front of her house. (Asian Age 26/10/06) Steep increase in ratio of U.P. urban poor (21) LUCKNOW: "Garibi hatao" in Uttar Pradesh may well remain a pipe dream considering the alarming increase in urban poverty across the State. The ratio of urban poor in the last five years has gone up to 33 per cent from 29 per cent at the turn of the 20th Century. Compared to this, the number of persons living below the poverty line in the rural areas, or the rural poor, has declined from 29 per cent to 26 per cent. With the thrust on poverty alleviation, U.P. had proposed bringing the ratio of urban poverty down to 15 per cent and rural poverty to 10 per cent in the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012). With the State also proposing a targeted growth rate of 12 per cent at the end of the 11th Plan, a reduction in urban poverty was crucial to the Government's plans to record a quantum jump in the growth rate. The growth rate target in the 10th Plan (2002-2007) was fixed at 8 per cent. According to planners, the growth rate at present is around 5.8 per cent, which is likely to go up to about 6 per cent in the last year of the 10th Plan. An in-camera meeting held on Friday between Member, Planning Commission, in charge of U.P., Kirit S. Parikh, accompanied by Adviser, Planning Commission, Harish Chandra, and State planning officials reviewed State's plan proposals for the 11th Plan. Informed sources said the Planning Commission officials were apprised of the targets fixed for improving health services, expanding the education net and bringing the drop out ratio to zero per cent by 2012, and reducing poverty, particularly in the urban areas. The rise in urban poverty was attributed mainly to migration to town areas, or the "rural-urban" shift of population. Plan estimates have it that on an average the urban migration was around 5 per cent, enough to cast a heavy burden on the urban economy, given the paucity of jobs, civic services and housing. "While the poverty alleviation programmes in the rural areas saw an intervention of Rs.5,000 crore annually in the form of funds for the schemes, for the urban poor money spent on uplift schemes added up to about a hundred crores. There is no proper strategy or clear vision for making a dent in urban poverty," said a Planning official. .. (The Hindu 29/10/06) A hungry, undernourished world out there still (21) ROME: Ten years after global leaders first pledged to halve the number of the world's hungry, almost no progress has been made. Some 854 million people worldwide still suffering from undernourishment, said a U.N. report released on Monday. However, it says that regions such as Asia and Latin America have seen an overall reduction. Population giants China, India, Indonesia and Brazil have shown a decline in the number and percentage of undernourished people. In the developing world, the undernourished population in 2001-03 had declined by just three million from the 823 million estimated in 1990-92 a reduction that is within the boundaries of statistical error, according to a report by the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Some 854 million people were undernourished in the world during the years 2001 through 2003. The bulk of them 820 million were in developing countries, while 25 million were in transitional countries and nine million were in industrialised countries. The meagre result contrasts starkly with previous achievements in the 1970s and 1980s, when the number of hungry in poor countries dropped by 137 million, the report said. The latest estimates, dating back to the 2001-03 period, show that after further dipping by 26 million during the 1990s, the developing world's hungry rose again by 23 million at the beginning of the new century, further worsening the situation in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, where a third of the total population is undernourished.. (The Hindu 31/10/06) UP DMs to face sack for suicides (21) Lucknow, Nov. 9: The Uttar Pradesh government will soon enact a new law which will fix the responsibility of starvation deaths and farmers suicides on the district magistrates and sub-divisional magistrates (SDM). Chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav announced in Banda district on Wednesday that the new law will have the provision of dismissal of officials from the district magistrates to SDMs if they were found responsible for starvation deaths in their regions. hough the chief minister termed the recent reports of starvation deaths and farmer suicides as "false propaganda of the Opposition and a figment of imagination of the media", he said that his government would take stern action if any individual was found to have died due to the apathy of the local officials.

"The Opposition has no issues against us and is now spreading rumours about starvation deaths. Some leaders who have no base are rushing to areas from where these deaths are being reported," he said. " I have verified and found that the so-called starvation deaths are actually deaths due to other reasons and those who have committed suicide have done so due to personal and family problems. There has not been a single death due to starvation and not a single farmer has committed suicide due to the governments apathy," he added. In an obvious reference to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the chief minister said, "Leaders who have been brought up under the influence of Western culture can never render true service to the people because they cannot understand the problems and pains of the common man. As a son of the soil, I can understand your problems and your aspirations." Addressing a function in Banda district to distribute Kanya Vidya Dhan Yojana and unemployment allowance cheques to beneficiaries, the chief minister said that India will not be able to emerge as a superpower by 2020 without complete eradication of poverty and unemployment. (Asian Age 10/11/06) UNDP tells India: Spend more on water, sanitation (21) New Delhi, Nov. 9: UNDPs Human Development Report, 2006 said that water and sanitation are under-financed relative to the military spending in India. It has called for adequate funds for such basic amenities so that increased income levels could be successfully translated into human development. The report, which ranked India 126 globally in the Human Development Index for 2004 as compared to 127 a year ago, noted that India alone loses 4.5 lakh lives annually to diarrhea more than any other country in the world. "India spends eight times more of its national wealth on military budgets than on water and sanitation," the report, which was released on Thursday, said. India, however, questioned the ranking, saying that comparisons should be between equals. Union minister of water resources Saifuddin Soz told reporters here while releasing the UNDP report, "Just as you cannot compare Maldives with India, you cannot compare us with countries like Norway, Sweden or Singapore which are far more developed." Mr Soz said India has made "spectacular progress" in many fields and it was not necessarily reflected by the index. "The ranking should be on the basis of comparisons between equal countries in terms of size and population," he said, adding, "UNDP had been comparing big countries like India and China with other smaller countries." The report is critical about Indias spending on crucial social sectors. It says, "All countries see national security and defence as priorities. But viewed through the prism of human security, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that water and sanitation are under-financed relative to military spending." The report, however, lauded efforts by India in enhancing spending on rural sanitation four-fold and doubling spending on rural water supply since 2002. On achieving the millennium development goals for water and sanitation levels, the UN study said the global aggregate picture was mixed. "With strong progress in high population countries such as China and India, the world is on track for halving the share of people without access to water, but off track in sanitation," it said. (Asian Age 10/11/06) Accurate data must for proper analysis of poverty initatives (21) Bhopal : Accuracy in data and collection of unadulterated data would help in a better evaluation and monitoring of the socio-economic impact of poverty initiatives, according to experts of monitoring and evaluation processes. They stressed the need for laying down procedures that could examine the accuracy of data at every level. They made these observations at a national workshop on monitoring and evaluation workshop, organised by the Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project (MPRLP) in collaboration with the Department for International Development (DFID-UK) here on Thursday. Addressing the workshop, the project coordinator of MPRLP Jitendra Agrawal said that the monitoring and the evaluation processes hold meaning only when positive impact is visible in the targeted households. He said that analysis of data must have a specific purpose while the poverty alleviation projects must have strategic direction. David Radcliffe of DFID said, that it is urgent to evaluate the positive change in the poor population through well-considered evaluation system to help achieve Millennium Development Goals. World Bank's representative Salimah Samji discussed the problems that occurred while adopting Management Information System in the World Bank projects and stressed the need of integrating data. She said that the collection of accurate data should be incentive oriented for the data collectors. Catalyst Management Service Bangalore's Shiv Kumar stressed on the simplification of reporting systems saying that the data analysis must cover all dimensions. Laying stress on continuing analysis of economic impact on the rural families, he said that the existing monitoring systems need improvement. Besides, the evaluation process should have a close linkage with internal communication and management systems.

Use of Technologies like Geographical Information System, regular field visits and regular reviews must increase. (Pioneer 17/11/06) Number of poor decline in U.P. (3) New Delhi, Nov. 30: The number of poor in Uttar Pradesh has declined from 59 million in 1993 to 48 million in 2002, says a joint report by the World Bank and Directorate of Economics and Statistics Planning Department, Uttar Pradesh government. The head count poverty rate according to the report fell from 40.9 per cent to 29.2 per cent between 1993 and 2002. The poverty rate in rural areas of UP fell from 42.3 per cent to 28.5 per cent, while that in urban areas declined only slightly from 35.1 to 32.3 per cent. "In this way the urban poverty rate in UP is now higher than rural poverty in the state," says the report. Per capital net state domestic product in Uttar Pradesh at current prices doubled from Rs 5,066 in 1993 to Rs 10,289 in 2003. NSS UP data shows that the patterns of growth between 1993 and 2002 was pro poor, meaning that per capita expenditure of the poorest one-tenth of the population increased faster (by 109 per cent in nominal terms) than that of the richest one-tenth (which increased by 62 per cent in nominal terms). Other poverty measures such as the poverty gap and the squared poverty gap also showed similar decline for UP during this period. In 2002 66 per cent of UPs population had above poverty line (APL) cards, 21 per cent had below poverty line (BPL) cards and 13 per cent did not have any PDS card. This represents a decline in the share of BPL cardholders in UP, and an increase in the proposition of the population without cards compared to 1999. Out of all BPL cardholders, 40 per cent came from the poorest one-third of the population, 31 per cent came from the middle third and 29 per cent from the richest third. In 2002, 57 per cent of all dwellings were of pucca construction material, up from 42 per cent in 1999. Hand pumps increased in importance as the most common drinking water supply source in UP, with about three quarters of the population in 2002 reported this as their main water source. The report found that there has been virtually no improvements in access to sanitation in UP. Some 71 per cent of UPs population (85 in rural and 19 in urban) do not have access to toilets of any type. (Asian Age 1/12/06) Survey shows rise in urban poor population (21) BHUBANESWAR: Even as Orissa eyes the top slot among developed states of the country in wake of the recent flood of investment proposals, over four lakh of people continue to live below poverty line (BPL) in different cities and urban centres of the State. As per the Urban BPL List - 2006, the State's developed cities Bhubaneswar and Cuttack have the highest number poor persons. The survey, which was conducted in 2004 and published recently, said Bhubaneswar had 68,649 persons living below the poverty line. The BPL population of the State capital is closely followed by Cuttack with 55,302. The last BPL survey in urban areas was carried out in 1997-1998. The number of population below the poverty line during that period was 22,413. The urban poverty in the city has increased three times in last eight to nine years. Interestingly, some industrial towns have more poor people than other district headquarters and sub-divisional towns. Industrial towns such as Sunabeda, Jharsuguda, Brajarajnagar and Bargarh have average 8,000 BPL persons. Nearly 9,000 BPL persons live in Brajrajnagar, known for cement industry. Similarly, Bargarh, another town situated closed to cement industries, has 9,705 people living below the poverty line. "Government's approach of achieving development through industrialisation falls flat here as the industrialised towns possess more poor people than other centres. It is high time that the administration should adopt a pragmatic approach to raise living standard of these people," says social activist Biswapriya Kanungo. Difference between rich and poor is getting widened everyday and the authorities should work overtime to bring the marginalised section under social security cover, he says. While it seems to be a Herculean task for authorities to ensure welfare measures for these urban poor, the State government has not spelt out its plan of action to deal with the situation. (The Hindu 7/12/06) ``Poverty cause for rights violation'' (21) New Delhi: On the occasion of the Human Rights Day, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat on Sunday asked the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to ensure that the poor are not deprived of their human rights. Speaking at a function organised by the NHRC, he said, "Poverty is the main reason for violation of human rights. Realisation of human rights for 26 crore poor people of India would be possible only when poverty is removed and every poor is provided with food, housing, education, healthcare, employment and other minimum necessities of life. When these essentials of life are available

to the poor only then will they get the right to live life with dignity." Mr. Shekhawat asked the NHRC to take the information on human rights through regional languages to the doorstep of every poor person in every village. He said that he himself would like to accompany the Members of the Commission if they started an awareness campaign on the fundamental right to live life with dignity. The Vice President wanted the Commission to start a fact-finding mission on the reasons for poverty, illiteracy, illness and exploitation of the poor. The acting Chairperson of NHRC, Justice Shivraj Pati said the persistence of poverty in many parts of the world pointed to an inequitable distribution of economic, social and political opportunities and violation of human rights. He said violation of human rights was thus both a cause and consequence of poverty. Director of United Nations Information Centre in Delhi, Shalini Dewan read out the message of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, which said that the U.N. had made "fight poverty as a matter of obligation, not charity" as the theme for this year. Mr. Annan said "development, security and human rights go hand in hand; no one of them can advance very far without the other two. Let us speak with one voice on all three issues and let us work to ensure that freedom from want, freedom from fear and freedom to live in dignity carry real meaning for those most in need." (The Hindu 11/12/06) Karnataka ranks seventh in human development index (21) BANGALORE: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Friday released the second Karnataka Human Development Report 2005. The first report was released in 1999 when J.H. Patel was the Chief Minister. According to the report, the State now ranks seventh in the country in the Human Development and sixth in the Gender Development Index (GDI). The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite index comprising life expectancy, educational attainment and per capita real GDP. The GDI measures the same variables as the HDI but this index is gender sensitive. In district-wise HDI rankings, Bangalore Urban secures the top position (up from fourth in 1999) and Raichur's position remains unchanged at 27. After Bangalore Urban, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Kodagu and Shimoga are the top ranking districts. Gulbarga, Chamarajanagar, Koppal and Bijapur rank as the districts with the lowest HDI after Raichur. At the international level, Karnataka does better than India. In HDI, the State's position is at 120 while that of India is 127 (0.621). In GDI ranking, the State is at 99 as against the 103 (0.609) rank of India. The highest increase in human development has been recorded in Koppal, Gulbarga and Raichur districts in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region. But they remain at the bottom of the HDI chart. One of the highlights of the report is that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are about a decade behind the rest of the population in human development attainment. "The development process, to a considerable extent, has bypassed Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes," the report states. Yet, their status in the State is better than their status at the all-India level. It is for the first time that an HDI and GDI ranking has been offered for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. To facilitate a more systematic analysis, the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Karnataka conducted a special sample survey in 2004. (The Hindu 16/12/06) India spending less on food, eating out more often: Survey (21) NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 28: THE latest National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) figures on the pattern of consumer expenditure shows that monthly per capita expenditure on food items for urban India has fallen to 42.5 per cent, showing a drop of over 5 per cent since 2000. The latest data, covering urban household expenditure patterns between July 2004-June 2005 shows that their expenditure on goods and services has now touched 37.2 per cent, showing a more than 6 per cent increase since June 2000. The expenditure on good and services includes education, medical care, rents and taxes. According to the 61st round of NSS data released yesterday, the monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) on all nonfood items for urban India stood at 57.5 per centshowing an increase of over 5 per cent. In fact, in 2004-05, medical expenses formed 7 per cent of total consumer expenditure in rural India and 5 per cent in urban India while educational expenses formed 3 per cent of total consumer expenditure in rural India and 5 per cent in urban India. A decomposition of expenditure on food items shows that MPCE on cereals has reduced by 2.3 per cent and now stands at 10.1 per cent. These, in 1993-94 stood at 14 per cent. In fact, the NSS survey also points out that the average monthly per capita consumption of cereals in urban India (as well as rural India) is seen coming down. In urban India, this has come down from 10.6 kg in 1993-94 to 9.94 kg per cent in 2004-05. The "partial" explanations offered to explain the fall in not only expenditure but also in the overall per capita consumption of cereals are that: Consumption of potato has increased The habit of eating out has increased and therefore cereal content of food taken outside cannot be accounted for Overall calorie needs are on the decline on account of labour saving devices While the

trend of a fall in MPCE on food items is also seen in rural India, it is interesting to note a difference on how rural and urban India spends on egg, fish and meat. The data shows that while there is a fall in the MPCE on egg, fish and meat, down from 3.1 per cent in June 2000 to 2.7 per cent by June 2005 in urban India, for the same period the expenditure of rural India on these food products has remained stagnant at 3.3 per cent. (Indian Express 29/12/06)