Can India take economic success to rural areas?

India is considered as one of the rapidly progressing big economies of the world with a very open and vibrant market supported by its democratic set up. However, unlike in many developed countries the success or the benefits of development were denied to millions of Indians residing in the rural areas. In other words a very few percentage of elite class residing in big cities or towns took away creamy layers from it and leaves few scraps for the majority.Despite best efforts from the government, this scenario continues even after 61 years of independence. Although governments in the past identified the panchayaths as ideal mediums to transform success at the top to bottom, the system has somehow failed to deliver thanks to wide spread of corruption involving both bureaucrats and politicians who forms a nexus to work within it. In an attempt to break these nexus and bring back development to rural areas, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj developed Rural Business Hubs (RBH) aims at developing an integrated relationship between rural producers and business partners for mutually beneficial cooperation, the entire process being facilitated by the Panchayaths. This initiative is built on the idea of convergence of resources available under Central / State Governments schemes, institutional credit and partnerships at the local level. The Ministry planned to promote at least one RBH in each of the 6000 Development Blocks of the country. Let’s examine the unique features of this model. It is linking rural producers with the wider market through a professional marketing partner and developing this as an integrated business relation benefiting both sides and therefore, sustainable. Panchayaths / Rural Local Self Governments – the democratic grass root level institutions playing the key role of planning and implementing plans for economic development, wherein the plans are based on local resource endowments, felt needs of people and relative absorptive capacity. Other important features of this initiative includes that it was based on economic activity, not charity and any economic activity could be taken up but RBHs are ideally suited for agriculture/horticulture/handloom/handicraft marketing where production is decentralized and is ideally located in rural areas and generating rural employment/livelihood. The RBH initiative has been developed in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as a 4-P model (Public-Private-Panchayat-Partnership) with clearly laid out roles and responsibilities for each of the partners. Panchayaths perform the key role of identifying skills and endowments of people and natural resources, address the concerns of local inhabitants, establish and sustain community linkages, extend institutional support to viable business initiatives that benefit the rural populace and at a later stage, integrate the economic development plan emerging from RBH initiative with the decentralized district planning process. The business partners would perform the roles of identifying local skills / products that have wider market potential, prepare Business Plans acceptable to the community and provide sustainable local employment. The Central/ State Governments would support the initiative through conducive policy regime, dovetailing government schemes, bridging critical gaps in infrastructure etc. A National RBH Council Co-Chaired by Minister PR and Past President CII and Minister of State (Commerce) as Vice Chairman, is leading the initiative since December 2004. Similar Councils have come up in 15 States. The initiative works on convergence of resources from Central / State Governments, financial institutions and other partners. The Exim Bank has signed MoU with Ministry through which the Bank will provide assistance in identifying the exporters, especially from the SME sector, who can source the products from RBHs with transparent pricing being ensured. The Banks will also provide enhanced visibility to identified RBH products in international markets by linking them with the Bank’s rural portal and displaying them at their overseas offices. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has extended financial assistance to CII for identifying RBHs in North Eastern Region and three RBHs have been initiated, based on this study. The National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) under Department of Science & Technology has converged with the RBH initiative on Sumak Carpets in Nagaland and TIFAC has done so in case of essential oil project in Bihar. Spices Board is involving the PRIs in their joint initiative with ITC in the North East while Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts is doing so in Bastar, NABARD in Bidar, Eastern Zone Cultural Centre Kolkata in Purulia, and Handloom Export Promotion Council in Nagapattinam and Punjab National Bank in Bharatpur. Convergence has also been achieved in case of a few Special SGSY Projects in Karnataka and World Bank assisted DPIP in Rajasthan. 131 MoUs across 15 States have been signed so far for setting up RBHs. 28 of them involving Sumak Carpets, Pottery products, handloom, handicraft, fresh fruit & vegetable and processing of agri produces are functional. Another 22 covering folk arts, handicrafts, compressed bricks, vermi compost and agri processing are ready to take off. Partners have been identified and the RBH process is under way in case of 27 other proposals covering handloom, handicraft, woollen products, agri produce, bio diesel, essential oil etc. The Ministry, in consultation with State Governments, has identified 33 focus districts for setting up RBHs. District level Workshop have been held in seven of these districts and potential economic activities identified. Similar Workshops are scheduled in the remaining districts. CII has constituted a National Council consisting of rural facing companies interested to set up RBHs. First meeting of the Council was held recently. Members of this Council are expected to participate in the District Workshops and identify economic activities for setting up RBHs in their area of interest.

(Source: Commodityonline.com)

A silent toilet leak can waste from 30-500 gallons of water per day. So get up and FIX THE LEAK!

According to a recent research, catching a toilet leak at its earliest stage can save a lot of water. It also says that even a silent leak can waste from 30 to 500 gallons of water per day. Its an interesting irony how much we talk about water wastage here and there (from overflow of motors, from continuous running of taps, etc) and we fail to ponder upon a toilet leak which is so frequently used (and to which we are so closely connected, thanks to the natures call). Imagine how much of water can be saved if we are a bit more aware, if we care a little (even just to check whether theres a mere leak in our toilet or not).

Global warming may ruin India's farm sector (affecting GDP drastically)

Global warming is expected to affect almost every land mass on the face of earth, more or less. Unfortunately for India, the consequeces are really drastic. It is assumed that India is on its way of becoming one of the worst hit nations by global warming. Though the effects of global warming on India vary from the submergence of low-lying islands and coastal lands to the melting of glaciers in the Indian Himalayas, it would threaten the volumetric flow rate of many of the most important rivers of India and South Asia. In India, such effects are projected to impact millions of lives. The climate of India has also become extremely volatile as a result of the ongoing climate change. This trend is expected to continue.

The scenario has already begun to appear rather dire. There are 2 aspects in which warming has or is expected to affect India:

(a) Environmental: Increased landslides and flooding are expected to impact states like Assam, etc. Ecological disasters, such as a coral bleaching event in 1998 that destroyed more than 70% of corals in the reef ecosystems of Lakshadweep and the Andamans, and was followed up by elevated ocean temperatures resulting to global warming, are also expected to become increasingly common.

(b) Economical: According to a report by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, if the predictions relating to global warming made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change come to fruition, climate-related factors could decline India's GDP by up to 9%. Contributing to this would be shifting growing seasons for major crops such as rice, production of which could fall by 40%. Around seven million people are projected to be displaced due to, among other factors, submersion of parts of Mumbai and Chennai, if global temperatures were to rise by a mere 2 °C (3.6 °F). Villagers in India's North Eastern state of Meghalaya are also concerned that rising sea levels will submerge neighbouring low-lying Bangladesh, resulting in an influx of refugees into Meghalaya which has few resources to handle such a situation.

This was simply a general take on global warming that everyone is more or less aware of. A more recent news report said climate change may scorch India's farm sector which , jugding by the fact that India is a farm based economy, is rather scary. A global study of weather and crop yield has revealed that India could lose 7-17% of its income from farming because of climate change. Farming makes up 23% of India'a GDP, so the country as a whole may be hit by a modest loss in income from agriculture. Experts believe that switching to crops and livestock that can stand the heat is going to be crucial for the economy.

As a result, food security would be a great concern area for India despite record foodgrain production of 230.7 million tonnes in 2007-08. It is expected to increase to 250 million tonnes by 2011, as is mentioned in the report of the Third Steering Group on Agriculture and Allied Sector for the 11th Five Year Plan. The major challenges confronting the farm sector, particularly in foodgrains production, are the slowdown in fertilizer, irrigation and energy use at the farm level and technological stagnation.

Just yesterday I was talking to my maid about health and education. I came to know that she has studied till grade 8. She could not continue further because of the untimely death of her father. As I asked her about her health, she told me that she does not suffer from any common illness as such. Though her children have a tendency to catch cold every now and then , and as a result are often down with cough and cold. She said they visit a private dispensary in their own area where doctor's fees and medicines are charged at a nominal rate, whenever any member of her family falls sick. She has 2 kids, 1 of which goes to the DPS, R.K.Puram which has been established for children coming from lower economic strata. She is planning to get her younger kid admitted to the same school as well. She spends approximately Rs 4500/- annually on the education of the one child who is studying at the moment (the figure includes expenditure on fees, books and uniform as well). Her child does not get a mid-day meal at school. When asked why she wants her children to get educated, she gives the usual answer that as she herself could not continue her studies and as a result she is having to work as a domestic help, she does not want her children to have a similar life as hers. She wants them to live a good quality of life and have an adequate standard of living.

One-third of the world's poor live in India: Questionable fact?

According to one of World Banks recent surveys, India is the home for one-third poor of the world. Not shocking at all, something we have always been hearing. Perhaps well-justified too. But lets just astray a bit from the ever-easily-relentable facts.
First of all it intrigues me to see why the world bank regularly publishes reports about only India, and why not say USA where 45% of the population has no access to medical services due to high insurance costs and have an alarming unemployment rate. Are'nt they supposed to be the first world ? How can the poverty policies and indices of 1st and 3rd world countries be compared? I dont think it is justifiable to compare the income parity of two worlds. A country which spends in Dollar and the one which spends in Rupee cannot be compared. (a) We cannot compare Burger with Roti/Sabzi. The people who design the poverty policies are the ones who are aware of the cost of Burger, but not of Roti/Sabzi. Staple food of different countries are different. (b) A person can get a KG of rice for Rs.10 in India under PDS. (c) A person can make a call for Re.1 throughout India. (d) A person can travel in a city bus of Delhi for 30KM in Rs.10. (e) Rail Tickets are one of the cheapest in world in India. Comparing First and Third World (as they fancy calling) is not reasonable at all.
Also, agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. 70% of the population depends on agriculture in some way or the other. Agriculture, on the other hand depends on monsoons, which are always unpredictable. So there is no steady income or something which we can call as a monthly salary to many. Therefore there is a meandering gap between the costs of living of the urban and the rural India. In that case how can we reach a simplification stating that 1/3rd of world's poors are in India?
As far as the corrective measure goes, there can be no excuse to the widespread corruption in India and the ever explodong population. These two are the major causes that are appearing as hydra-headed hinderances in India's development. But surely, the fact that we are, till date, are being able to feed 1/6th of the total population of the world is in itself a wonder that we cannot afford to ignore.

The fact that river Kosi has changed its course and wreaking havok in Bihar is a great instance of the recent daibolic changes taking place in our environmental cycle. Thanks to the deeds of mankind for a (would be transcient) survival. It is estimated that around 20 lakh people could get swept away by the water. A recent research says that the average temperature of India would increase by 4 degrees by 2050 as a result of global warming. This would melt the Himalayas and most of the country would be under water. How many such examples would mankind like to set before it realises that it is fighting a lost battle against nature? Burning one's own bridges never helps.

Mid-day meals scheme

I feel Mid-day meal, as a policy, is decent and a result of logical thinking. But again it is suffering, or I can say that it has not been able to hit the bull's eye, ie, EDUCATION. For sure, it has been a way of luring rural poor kids to come in the expectation of food (and also their parents who would send their children thinking that it would solve their problem of providing at least a single meal) and in turn return with perhaps 'some' knowledge and education. The idea has been perfectly fine (not to mention the great debate on whether the parents send their kids just for the food or because of a genuine desire to get them educated).
But whether it has been able to produce significant results- that probably is doubtful. It surely involves flaws in implementation on part of govt, as the teachers who are supposed to teach have to play the role of all rounders, in the sense that they need to be concerned with all the purchases of food, maintaining infinite accounts, which may seem to be a cakewalk when one reads it on a sheet of paper, but in reality it is impossible for an individual to perform multi-tasking at such a level. It simply is like an exculpating catalyst that is present in all our govt schemes and the way they are carried out. It leads to more emphasis on the meals than education, as at the end of the day the teacher ends up doing everything but teaching and educating.