POVERTY/FOOD SECURITY - 2012 (January to December 2012)

Compiled By Human Rights Documentation∗

Indian Social Institute, Lodi Road, New Delhi – 110 003, (India) SEC directs Orissa govt to stop BPL survey (21) The state election commissioner (sec) has directed the state government to stop the survey for enumeration of families living below poverty line (BPL) till the process of three tier panchayat elections are over. The SEC pointed out that the survey may influence the panchayat elections starting from February 11 and directed to stop it till the model code of conduct is operational, the SEC pointed out. The model code of conduct has come into effect from December 24 and will remain in force till February 19, 2012, last and final day of polling. Besides directing the government, the election commission has also sent notifications to the collectors of the seven districts to stop the survey work. The districts where the survey is being conducted are Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Bolangir, Gajapati, Kalahandi and Kandhamal. The fresh BPL survey had started in the month of November after a long gap of 14 years. It may be noted that the elections in the state will be held over five phases beginning from February 11.The SEC on December 24 had notified the polls to be held in February 11,13,15,17 and 19.As per the notifications elections will be held in all gram panchayats except Dhinkia under Ersama district. (Business standard 2/1/12) State government wants free power for BPL citizens (21) HYDERABAD: The state government has requested the Union ministry of power to sanction free domestic connections for around 20 lakh eligible Below Poverty Line (BPL) consumers. SC colonies and weaker section of the city are included in the Rajiv Gandhi Grameena Vidyutikarana Yojana (RGGVY) programme under the XIIth five-year plan (2012-2017). Dinesh Kumar, principal secretary with the energy department, said power utilities had electrified over 26 lakh BPL households during the X and XI plans up to November 2011 under the RGGVY programme. He said that the Centre had promised to continue the 90:10 funding scheme (90% central and 10% state funding) for implementation of RGGVY) in the XIIth plan as well. Although the state's installed generation capacity has doubled, it is unable to meet power its citizens' requirement due to an unprecedented increase in the demand for power, shortage of coal and natural gas, dry spell & reduced inflows into hydel reservoirs, environmental problems and availability of transmission corridor problem, he said. But he added that the Bhupalpalli 500 MW thermal unit had been restored after power cuts for domestic consumers. The energy department official on Sunday said that the state was determined to strengthen the power sector by providing adequate and satisfactory supply to all. Apart from providing a tariff subsidy of Rs 4,300 crore, the government has accorded permission for the mobilization of Rs 4,000 crore in the form of AP power bonds towards clearance of additional power purchases, he said. "Apart from giving top priority to domestic and agricultural sectors, power utilities in the state have taken special care for the industrial sector to minimise power shortages. "The superintending engineers (operation) of all districts have been asked to organise district level industrial consumers' meet to take their opinion and feedback on the implementation of the above schemes meant," he said. (2/1/12) ‘93.7% mothers can’t afford non-cereal diet for chi ldren’ (21) New Delhi: Of the 74,000 mothers of malnourished children that the HUNGaMA (Hunger and Malnutrition) survey spoke to, 93.7 per cent said they could not afford to give more non-cereal food to their children, and 66.3 per cent said they had never been to school. Although 98.4 per cent of these families have access to soap, only 10.8 per cent wash their hands before a meal and 19 per cent do so after using the toilet. Less than 20 per cent mothers in the six focus states were familiar with the word “malnutrition” or its vernacular equivalent. The HUNGaMA report covering 112 districts across nine states of the country was

∗ This is a collection of previously published news and views from the print as well as the electronic media, whose reference marked at the end of each news items. Department of Documentation and Library (DDL) of the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi neither claims to the veracity of the facts in the news nor subscribes to the views expressed.

released today. The survey’s unique section of mother’s voices throws up telltale data on the reasons of widespread malnutrition, which ranged from traditional practices to lack of awareness. Rohini Mukherjee, team leader of the survey, said when her team was analysing the reasons behind denial of colostrum to 51 per cent newborns in the focus states, they received responses like: “That is sour milk that needs to be thrown away before giving it to the child”. In one village in UP, colostrum had to be offered to the local deity of fertility. In many states, the children, though malnourished, never went without food. “Because of lack of awareness, the mother who is very conscious otherwise, will only feed the child what she cooks but that will have little other than carbohydrates, thereby affecting the child’s growth,” Mukherjee said. However, only 47.8% mothers in the focus districts across UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh were satisfied with the quantity of non-cereal food they were able to give to their children. In many of these districts, the surveyors also found that there was little awareness about the services of the local anganwadi centre. Mothers of children who were more than two years old used the anganwadi services as a place where the child could be kept safely for a few hours. For them whether the centre gives food to the child is secondary. Dry ration was available in only 60.7% of the anganwadi centres in the high focus states. (The Financial Express 11/1/12) More than 25% kids in UP severely malnourished (21) UMRAI (BAKSHI KA TALAB): Three-year-old Raju is barely two feet tall when he should have been at least another six inches taller. With a pale face, hollow eyes, swollen arms and a protruding stomach, Raju, who lives in a small village along the Lucknow-Sitapur highway, is among the malnourished children in the country. The findings of a report on country malnourished children compelled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to call malnutrition a "national shame" on Tuesday. A report on Hunger and malnutrition (HUNGaMA) released by the PM in New Delhi on Tuesday states: "Over 25% children in the state (UP) are severely and 58.55% are moderately malnourished." The report has covered 40 districts of UP out of total 112 districts across India. Three parameters were used for measuring the nutritional status of children -- stunting (children short for age), wasting (children too thin for the height), and underweight (children too thin for the age). While, stunting captures chronic under-nutrition as it reflects failure to receive adequate nutrition over a long period of time or chronic or recurrent diarrhoea, wasting identifies the thinness of children and indicates the prevalence of acute malnutrition. Underweight includes both stunting and wasting. As per the report, Banda has the highest number of severely wasted children, while Kheri has the highest percentage of underweight children. The Gandhi family borough Rae Bareli has the maximum number of stunted children. Hardoi and Pilibhit figure in all the three categories. "Statistics alone are not a cause of concern. They simply indicate the complexity of challenge staring at health workers," said Dr AK Mishra, a public health specialist. Supporting the observation is a great body of scientific evidence that: "the risk of death from common childhood diseases is twotime for a mildly malnourished child, three-time in a moderately malnourished child and as high as eight-time for a severely malnourished child." One-third of under-five deaths are attributed to malnutrition. The third national family health survey showed that under five mortality rate in India is around 74 per 1000 live births. In UP, however, the average is significantly higher at a rate of 94 per 1000 live births. But Raju's parent's are aware of his poor health. They blame poverty for his impoverished upbringing. "Where do I get food providing required nourishment when it's difficult to mange two meals a day. I am an agricultural labourer and have no means at all. My children survive only by the grace of god," Raju's father said. "The plight of Raju's father explains the need to break the vicious circle of poverty. But no one can rule out the need to ensure better access to health services, ensuring that children get protected against vaccine preventable diseases, food in anganwadi centres and mid-day meals in schools. The problem needs to be seen in totality. Governments and departments must think in unison to achieve the aim," said child rights activist Anshumali Sharma. (Times of India 11/1/12) India leads the world in recognising right to food, says Stiglitz (21) KOLKATA, January 13, 2012: Pointing out that nearly one out of seven Americans face food insecurity, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said here on Thursday that by recognising the right to food as a basic human right, India is leading the way for the rest of the world. “India has recognised the right to food as a basic human right, leading the way for the rest of the world, and is on the verge of a historic implementation of the world's largest social protection programme against hunger,” Professor Stiglitz said delivering the Convocation Address at the 46{+t}{+h}Convocation of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). Citing the work of fellow Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, he said hunger is not caused by an absolute

shortage of grain, but by the lack of income of those in poverty to get access to it. While one out of every seven Americans today is on food stamps, almost an equal number still face food insecurity, he said, ruing that “while India debates whether there should be basic economic rights, like the right to food, such debates are still not part of the discourse in America.” Speaking of the challenges that lie ahead for India, Professor Stiglitz questioned that while it prides itself on its democracy, “can there be real or meaningful democracy with the large economic divides that are emerging today in the U.S. and elsewhere, where the wealthy use their money to have an undue influence in shaping perceptions and beliefs, and thus the outcome of the electoral process?” “Too much of the world has been in pursuit of what I have called GDP (Gross Domestic Product) fetishism – the belief that development is simply the increase in GDP,” he said. The assessment of the success or failure of programmes should not only depend on their impact on GDP or income, but on broader measures of well-being, he added. (The Hindu 13/1/12) Superpower? 230 million Indians go hungry daily (21 ) With 21% of its population undernourished, nearly 44% of under-5 children underweight and 7% of them dying before they reach five years, India is firmly established among the world's most hunger-ridden countries. The situation is better than only Congo, Chad, Ethiopia or Burundi, but it is worse than Sudan, North Korea, Pakistan or Nepal. This is according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) which combines the above three indicators to give us a Global Hunger Index (GHI) according to which India is 67th among the worst 80 countries in terms of malnourishment. That's not all. Data collected by GHI researchers shows that while there has been some improvement in children's malnutrition and early deaths since 1990, the proportion of hungry in the population has actually gone up. Today India has 213 million hungry and malnourished people by GHI estimates although the UN agency Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) puts the figure at around 230 million. The difference is because FAO uses only the standard calorie intake formula for measuring sufficiency of food while the Hunger Index is based on broader criteria. Whichever way you slice it and dice it, the shameful reality is inescapable - India is home to the largest number of hungry people, about a quarter of the estimated 820 million in the whole world. The National Family and Health Survey (NFHS), last carried out in 2004-05, had shown that 23% of married men, 52% of married women and a chilling 72% of infants were anemic - a sure sign that a shockingly large number of families were caught in a downward spiral of slow starvation. Global research has now firmly established that depriving the fetus of essential nutrients - as will happen in an under-nourished pregnant woman - seals the fate of the baby once it is born. It is likely to suffer from susceptibility to diseases and physical retardation, as also to mental faculties getting compromised. So, continuing to allow people to go hungry and malnourished, is not just more misery for them: it is the fate of future generations of Indians in balance. What can be done to fix this unending tragedy? The government already runs two of world's biggest nutrition programmes: the midday meal scheme for students up to class 12 and the anganwadi programme under which infants and children up to 6 are given "hot cooked" meals. These need to be spread further and more resources pumped in to tackle weaknesses. For instance, a report by the anganwadi workers' federation revealed that as many as 73,375 posts of anganwadi workers and 16,251 posts of supervisors are lying vacant. But the biggest contribution to fighting hunger would be providing universal coverage of the PDS with adequate amounts of grain, pulses and edible oils included. (Times of India 15/1/12) No hunger deaths in tea gardens: Bengal labour mini ster (21) KOLKATA: Labour minister Purnendu Bose on Tuesday denied that the recent deaths of six workers in the closed Dheklabari tea garden in Jalpaiguri were due to starvation. Workers of closed tea gardens will now get monthly wages, the minister announced. "According to the district magistrate's report, the six deaths were not out of starvation but from illness. The tea workers received wages in November and December and get it in January, February and March as well. So, there cannot be any starvation deaths. The allegation that tea workers have not received money is completely false," the minister said, adding that North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb told him that the workers have aso received money under a state scheme for workers of locked-out industries. Apart from monthly wages, tea workers will be paid a one time sum of Rs 15,000, Bose said. Relief material has been sent to tea gardens twice in the last five months and a medical camp is also being held each Tuesday. However, tea unions do not agree with the minister. Bablu Mukherjee, general secretary of the National Union for Plantation Workers, said that the new government has taken the same stance to starvation deaths as the previous Left Front government. "A starvation death cannot be proven medically. Workers of Dheklapara are indeed suffering

from malnutrition," he said. Giaul Alam of the 'Cha Bagan Majdur Union, a Citu-affiliated union, said that conceding starvation death is difficult for any government. "What they are overlooking is that workers there are suffering from diseases because they go without adequate food. The government lacks the initiative to address the problem," he said. Bose said that on receiving news of alleged starvation deaths in Dheklapara tea garden that is closed since 2002, the department immediately asked for a report from the district magistrate. "The allegation against us is politically motivated. Any death is unfortunate, but playing politics over a death is not at all desired," Bose said. (Times of India 18/1/12) 16,000 BPL ration cards to be cancelled (21) THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, January 19, 2012: The Food and Civil Supplies Department has initiated steps to cancel 16,000 ration cards of government officials who managed to enter the BPL (below the poverty line) list and secure BPL ration cards. Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Shibu Baby John said in an official release here on Thursday that the government had found that about 24,000 government officials had illegally secured BPL ration cards and steps were being taken to cancel their cards. The government had directed the officials to convert these into APL (above the poverty line) cards by January 15, but only 8,000 officials had complied with the directive and surrendered their cards. The government had also found that some officials had secured BPL cards in the name of others. Such cards too would be cancelled. Departmental action had been contemplated against such officials. Those occupying top positions in society had been found to be BPL cardholders. Stringent action would be taken against them, the Minister added. (The Hindu 19/1/12) Food Security Act will add to farmers' woes, says t obacco body chief (21) Guntur, Jan. 19: The proposed National Food Security Act will add to the woes of the already suffering farmers of the country, unless the Union Government takes the necessary safeguards before formulating and implementing it, according to Dr Y. Sivaji, the honorary president of the AP Virginia Tobacco Growers' Association. Dr Sivaji is one of the experts invited by the Union Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, for pre-budget consultations earlier this month. He said he had submitted to the minister that the prime concern of the Union Government would be to rein in the fiscal deficit and therefore it would tend to keep the food grain prices depressed, in view of the huge anticipated financial burden. This would work against the interests of farmers. Further, he suggested that the loopholes in the present public distribution system should be plugged before implementing the proposed Act. “Never in the history of India have we produced so much of food grains as of now, if we consider one aspect related to the sector. We are expected to record 240 million tonnes of food grains this crop year even as our warehouses are overflowing with previous years' stocks. Yet farmers continue to end their lives in their hundreds, year after year and some of them choose to declare a crop holiday in some areas. The winds of liberalisation have not touched them. The tragedy is that the farm sector is booming even as farmers are sinking,” he observed in a written note to the Finance Minister. He said the root problem lay in the farmers not getting remunerative prices for their produce. “The costs of production have been spiralling year after year because of the steep increase in prices of inputs and also wages in the wake of implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. But the MSP for many crops is not remunerative and farmers are not getting even the unremunerative MSP. There is no institutional mechanism to ensure it,” he noted. He noted that “the rhetoric of inclusive growth is a cruel joke, as the rural sector is badly neglected. We are sitting on a social volcano which may explode any time. I submit that the Government should not neglect agriculture since it provides livelihood to 63 per cent of our population besides providing food for the entire nation. It supplies raw materials to industry and provides a market for the industry and service sectors.” He suggested some remedial steps including constituting of Commissions on Agricultural Costs and Prices at the State level, decentralisation of procurement, and linking the MSP to spiralling input costs as is done in D.A calculation. The difference between the MSP and recommended cost of the State agencies should be met as bonus by the State governments. The abolition of all curbs on the marketing of agriculture produce within or outside the country was of utmost importance, he added. Conversion of crop loans into key (pledge) loans soon after harvesting, strengthening the Agricultural Insurance Corporation, and promoting the seed village concept were some of the other steps that he recommended. He wanted NREGP implementation to be restricted to the non-agricultural season. Further, he sought FDI in agricultural processing industry, especially in the tobacco sector. He also wanted the development of a farmer's welfare index on the lines of the UNDP human development index. (Business Line 19/1/12)

Poverty forces man to dump wife's body (21) Jaipur, Jan 23 : Police are looking for a man who left the body of his wife at their rented house and disappeared as he did not have money to perform the last rites. Police said Monday that Geeta Devi, 80, and her husband Ashok Kumar had been living in the city's Bhrampuri area for 10 months. "She died of old age (Sunday) evening," a police officer told IANS. The landlord informed the police that Ashok disappeared after her death. "An auto driver conveyed the man's message to the landlord that he did not have enough money to perform the final rituals," said the officer. The landlord went to the couple's room and found the body on the bed. The police have put the body at the mortuary of SMS Hospital and launched a search for the missing husband. "The couple did not have much at the rented accommodation. We did not find anything except for some clothes and utensils," said the officer. (IANS) (New Kerala 23/1/12) Nabard sanctions Rs 42.5 cr for building warehouses in Gujarat (21) Ahmedabad, Jan 25: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned a loan of Rs 42.46 crore under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund XVII to the Gujarat Government for construction of warehouses. These warehouses will have a storage capacity of 87,600 tonnes and will be located at 52 locations in 16 districts, Nabard Chief General Manager, Mr H.R. Dave, said in a press release here. The project will be implemented through Gujarat State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd and is aimed at creating scientific storage capacity for agricultural produce. Besides, the project is expected to provide assured foodgrains, cereals, etc., to 35 lakh below poverty line (BPL) cardholders under the Targeted Public Distribution System, reduce spoilage and wastage of foodgrains and avoid distress sale by farmers. With this, the cumulative sanction of loan to the State Government by Nabard under RIDF has gone up to Rs 10,453.90 crore, involving 50,176 projects. (Business Line 26/12/11) NGO launches website on hunger (21) Bangalore, January 27, 2012: At a time when Karnataka is in the news for increase in the number of malnourished children, the Jana Arogya Andolana Karnataka (JAAK), an NGO working in the field of health, has come out with a portal on hungerThe portal, www.republicofhunger.org, is aimed at conveying to people the depth of the problem and will serve as a watchdog, and examine the claims of the State Government regarding the issue and dispute them whenever necessary. According to a spokesperson of the NGO, the portal has been set up with the hope of encouraging public discussion on the politics of malnutrition and initiating actions against the State's apathy. “This initiative comes in the wake of the recent child deaths due to malnutrition in Raichur and the Public Interest Litigation filed in the High Court of Karnataka on the issue,” the spokesperson said. “Although several people's movements and rights-based organisations have demanded critical changes in policy and programmes, the Government has gone on the offensive refusing to acknowledge any failure on its part. The portal is also aimed at providing real stories on malnutrition in Karnataka through the activists of JAAK, who are actively monitoring the hunger and malnutrition scene,” she said. The portal will also provide basic information and resources on malnutrition, challenge popular misconceptions about it, raise critical questions and examine its existence in the democratic context. “The portal will be a reference point for policy-makers, journalists, lawyers, activists on hunger and malnutrition,” she added. (The Hindu 27/1/12) 7,700 families in Sirsa's BPL list ineligible (21) SIRSA: District administration has stated that 7,700 families were found ineligible for below poverty line (BPL) status in a fresh survey conducted here following directives of Punjab and Haryana high court. The order was issued in connection with a civil writ petition filed by Pardeep Kumar. Officials stated 5,052 families were found ineligible in rural areas, while 2,682 of those were from urban localities. Administration is now mulling serving notices to them so they explain their position. Administration has also ordered a probe to ascertain the role of officials involved in listing BPL families. Sirsa deputy commissioner J Ganeshan said, "We will provide time to defaulters to give explanations to MC in urban areas and Panchayat members in villages. If defaulters fail to do that explanation, we will take action." "We shall check the kind of benefits enjoyed by these families and seek their version before taking a final decision regarding work," added Ganeshan. Enquiries revealed that many farmers with plenty of land and sufficient income had also got themselves registered as BPL ones. In cities, some ineligible families

owned property and others even had members holding government jobs. (Times of India 2/2/12) 22,058 government officials surrender BPL cards (21 ) THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, February 2, 2012: As many as 22,058 government officials have surrendered their Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards and moved to the Above Poverty Line (APL) category. The government ordered the cancellation of BPL cards of 1,942 officials on Wednesday. An official release issued here said Kozhikode had the highest number of officials who surrendered the cards, 3,186 and Idukki the lowest, 416. The following are the figures in other districts: Thiruvananthapuram (2,123); Kollam (2,705); Alappuzha (2,785); Pathanamthitta (749); Kottayam (1,995); Ernakulam (1,501); Thrissur (1,570); Palakkad (502); Malappuram (1,758); Wayanad (462); Kannur (1,877); and Kasaragod (729). The government had found that 24,000 government employees had illegally secured BPL cards. The last date for surrendering the cards was initially fixed at January 15 and then extended to January 31. Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Shibu Baby John had warned of stringent departmental action against officials who failed to surrender their cards. On finding that those in the higher echelons of society too had secured BPL cards, the government had issued norms for identifying such card-holders. Directions had been issued to cancel such cards secured in violation of norms. The government was spending substantial sums as ration subsidy. Hence, steps were being taken to ensure that the benefit was reaching the targeted groups, the Minister said. (The Hindu 2/2/12) UN aims to harness media to fight global hunger (21 ) New York, Feb 2: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is launching a week-long campaign in which users of the popular online trivia game Freerice can recruit their friends to help bring food to the world's most vulnerable populations. World Freerice Week, from Feb 6 to 11, will have as its theme "6 Degrees of Freerice," according to a news release issued by the Rome-based agency, which is calling on Freerice fans to recruit six friends to join in the online fight against hunger. "Imagine what we could achieve if we each invite six of our friends to help us donate rice to hungry kids. Freerice allows everyone to make a real-world impact with just the click of a mouse," said Nancy Roman, WFP Director of Communications, Public Policy and Private Partnerships. With each correct answer on Freerice, 10 grains of rice are donated to WFP to feed hungry people around the world, paid for by sponsored banners on the site. Players can choose from 45,000 questions in a range of subjects, including flags of the world, chemistry and literature, and in six languages. Freerice currently has over one million registered players, who together have donated nearly 100 billion grains of rice to feed almost five million people since the game's launch in 2007. During World Freerice Week, players can create groups on Freerice.com that include "Freerice6" in the group title. Group founders can ask their friends to join and to each invite an additional six friends. Prizes will be given to the group founders who have the most people in their group or whose group has donated the most rice, as well as to the individual who has donated the most rice during the week. "Almost one billion people go to bed hungry every night," said Roman. "With 6 Degrees of Freerice, we're on our way to harnessing the power of online networks to make a difference in the fight against hunger." (IBNS) (New Kerala 3/2/12) Pvt schools treating BPL kids differently (21) BHOPAL: The state school education would be taking action against the private schools that are discriminating against the Below Poverty Line (BPL) children in the schools, under Right to Education Act (RTE) for free education. "It has come to our notice that many private schools are discriminating against BPL children, who have been admitted to their neighborhood schools. Such schools will stand to lose their recognition," a spokesman of Rajya Shiksha Kendra (RSK) said. Sources said that the RSK of the school education department would soon issue a circular to all the private schools where BPL admissions were held on January 31 under the RTE. The circular would forbid the schools to mistreat or discriminate from other students admitted in the unreserved category. In case of any complaints registered, schools authorities will have to face prosecution. Recently, during the BPL admissions in a prominent convent school in BHEL, students from the Hindi section were seen sitting outside the ground as the admission procedure was going on in the enclosed area where classes for V to VIII are generally held. Also in the past, Rajya Shiksha Kendra had received complaints against a school in Arera Colony and another prominent public schools that students admitted under RTE were being treated differently. According to the RTE Act, complaints of violations and discrimination would be settled at the school and School Management Committee (SMC) level itself, through the intervention of civil society groups. If that does not

happen, the next step would be for the complaint to be filed with the local authority. The complainant could appeal to the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) if the action of the local authority does not redress the complaint satisfactorily. (Times of India 6/2/12) AP woman seeks mercy killing for paralysed son (21) Hyderabad: Unable to take care of her invalid son due to poverty, a 64-year-old woman in Andhra Pradesh has sought euthanasia for him -- a 36-year-old graduate in aeronautical science. C Janardhan, the son of farm workers, had got a job offer from abroad and was preparing to go to Australia in 1977 when he was left an invalid in a road accident. Lakshmamma, a widow in Chittoor district, has filed a petition in a court at Madanapalle, seeking mercy killing for him, who is in a vegetative state for the past 15 years. The woman told the court that with her meagre widow's pension of Rs.500 she was unable to meet the medical expenses of her bedridden son who suffered brain damage in a road accident. She said her husband died eight years ago due to helplessness and frustration after seeing their son's plight. "I don't know who will take care of him after my death. I can't see him suffer any longer. If my son gets mercy killing, I can die in peace," she said in the petition. The court Monday admitted her petition for hearing and issued notices to the district collector and health department, asking them why the government can't extend medical help to Janardhan. Second additional district judge Sumalatha, however, said the plea for mercy killing was unacceptable. She said nobody has a right to take another's life. The next hearing will be held March 3. Lakshmamma, a resident of Danduvaripalle village, said she tried in vain to get government assistance to meet the medical expenses of her son. Despite working in the fields throughout the day, the woman is not earning enough. With her failing health, she is worried about her son's future. Janardhan did his engineering in aeronautical science. After receiving a lucrative job offer in Australia, he was on his way to Bangalore for a visa when he was knocked down by a truck -- in 1977. Janardhan, who sustained serious head injury, was in coma for five years but recovered partially. His mother said he can't speak, and both his legs and hands are paralyzed. Lakshmamma and her husband Chandrappa spent all their savings and even sold their one acre land and household items to take of Janardhan. After Chandrappa's death in 2003, Lakshmamma has been struggling to look after her son. This is perhaps the first incident in the state in which a woman has moved a court seeking mercy killing for her son due to financial constraints. In 2004, a woman had moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking mercy killing for her son K. Venkatesh, who had debilitating muscular dystrophy, so that his wish of donating his vital organs could be fulfilled. The court rejected her petition on the ground that the present laws did not permit euthanasia and human organs could be harvested only from a brain dead patient. Venkatesh died the same year. His mother Sujatha now works to help muscular dystrophy patients. (Zee News 7/2/12) States flay Food Security Bill (21) NEW DELHI: The Food Security Bill - the dream project of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi - drew flak from all the states that participated in the two-day conference of State Food and Agriculture Ministers held here on Wednesday. The states alleged that the Bill currently being examined by a parliamentary standing committee, “lacked clarity and vision and has an adverse impact on the existing Public Distribution System (PDS)”. Tamil Nadu said the Bill was an “inferior” version of the system what some states already have in place, while Kerala opposed it primarily for “lack of clarity” and disturbing the existing universalisation of the PDS. “Tamil Nadu gave a literal dressing down to the Bill. Facing the heat, Food Minister must be worried that his plan to convince TN CM Jayalalithaa of the positives of the Bill did not work out,” said an official who attended the discussion. Tamil Nadu Food Minister R Kamraj attacked the Bill saying it was lacking in several areas compared to the Universal Public Distribution System (UPDS) being implemented for several decades in the state. According to him, the UPDS adopted by the state covers the entire population of Tamil Nadu and there was no dichotomy between urban and rural population. On the proposed extension of nutritional support and free meals to women and children in the Bill, Kamraj said that the state had a more exhaustive scheme than the one being proposed in the Bill. Kerala Minister Shibu Baby John objected to the poverty estimate put forward by the Bill. Speaking against the clause that “state-wise distribution should be done by the Central Government”, he said that “the basis adopted by the Planning Commission for the determination of the BPL families was a statistical estimate and did not reveal true levels of poverty in the state. Bihar raised the issue of federalism and criticised the Bill on the grounds that it was being unilaterally imposed. “The Bill incurs a substantial financial burden on the state government,” it said. (NIE 9/2/12)

Rights group seeks probe into starvation deaths (21 ) GUWAHATI: A rights group in the state has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union labour and employment minister Mallikarjun Kharge for a probe into the alleged starvation deaths of 11 people in a tea estate in Cachar district. The Barak Human Rights Protection Committee (BHRPC) has sent letters to the Prime Minister's Office and the labour and employment minister, seeking their intervention in the matter. "Eleven people have already died due to starvation and the condition of many others is still serious. We have demanded setting up of an independent inquiry panel for looking into the incident that led to the death of 11 labourers," wrote the BHRPC. The BHRPC alleged that the 11 deaths occurred in Bhuvan Valley Tea Estate, a privately owned tea garden, due to starvation, malnutrition and lack of medical care. The condition of at least five others was serious. The inquiry panel must be headed by a retired Supreme Court or high court judge and accompanied by nutrition and labour law experts and social activists, said Prasenjit Biswas, director of BHRPC research and study division. "We had written to the state government through the district administration several days ago. However, there was no response," he said. (Times of India 10/2/12) 1,520 JNNURM projects taken up (21) As Phase I of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) enters the last year of its implementation, 1,520 mission projects have been taken up in 949 cities and towns at an estimated cost of Rs.39,981 crore. A total of 15.8 lakh dwelling units have been approved for construction under the nation-wide programme, while 3.3 lakh units have been completed so far, said a recent review of the mission by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. The review, which focussed also on areas which did not get off the block, elicited the views of the States and the Union Territories on the difficulties they faced in commencing some of the projects. These difficulties included cost escalation and land disputes. The review found that despite efforts by the Union Ministry for capacity building, some of the States did not utilise their funds. A warning that emanated out of the review meeting was that if the funds were not utilised in time, they would be diverted to those States that had performed well. Just as some States appear to lag in fund utilisation, there are those that have exhausted their allocations as the mission completed its sixth year in December 2011. Under the sub-mission for urban infrastructure and governance with focus on 65 cities, a total of 532 projects had been sanctioned till the end of March 2011. The total cost of the projects sanctioned is Rs.60,528 crore. The additional Central assistance committed is Rs. 27,960 crore and a total of Rs.6,592 crore had been utilised in 2010-11 under the programme. Under the component for Urban Infrastructure Development for Small and Medium Towns Scheme, which focusses on small and medium towns, a total of 767 projects have been sanctioned covering 644 towns till the end of March 2011. The cost of all sanctioned projects is around Rs.12,947 crore. The additional Central assistance committed is Rs.10,450 crore. Of these, Rs.2,676 crore has been utilised during 2010-11. (The Hindu 11/2/12) Invisible worker, invisible pay (21) HYDERABAD: Much like unpaid household work, women working from home have been ignored and their income has remained invisible and undervalued. This is paradoxical as it is often the basis for the survival of families steeped in poverty. Such labour is what the primarily unorganised sector of agarbatti, safety pin or bangle making in the Old City thrives upon. After completing her morning household chores, Amina (name changed) gets her supply of jigat powder and charcoal from contractor saab. She makes them into a paste ready to be rolled on the bamboo sticks. Her two daughters, 6 and 8 years respectively, help her cut the sticks as her saab says that children, having small and nimble fingers, can cut very thin slices, perfect for the agarbattis. What she is unaware of is that the contractor only seeks their services so that he can get away with paying them a measly sum. Ask her how much she makes in a day, and out comes the shocking figures __ of Rs 12-15 (depending on the width of the agarbatti). Her children, anything between Rs 8 and 10 per day. There are many like Amina in the informal labour sectors of the Old City. Be it rolling agarbattis, making safety pins or studding stones on bangles, a huge number of women actively participate as silent contributors to these age-old businesses. Most of these women, understandably, prefer working from home. "I used to work in the karkhana earlier, but after my second son was born, I had to quit since there was no creche facility in the factory," says Rezwana, a bangle-maker. Mother of two, 27-year-old Rezwana goes on to say how she has now started getting supply of raw materials to her house where she, along with her sister and sister-in-law, manages to make Rs 50-70

a day for one set of bangles (two dozen). After the food is cooked for the day, her kitchen is converted into a small karkhana to produce the bangles. Bangle-making requires a furnace to burn constantly, therefore her tiny kitchen turns hot and dusty, oozing smell of burning chemicals from its every pore. She knows that the bangles she makes are sold at prices ranging between Rs 450-4000 per pair. "We know we are not paid proportionately. But we don't have the resources to buy the stones," says Rezwana, whose husband is jobless and alcoholic. While the helpless Rezwana is aware of the exploitation, 25-year-old Fatima is seemingly happy and content with the Rs 10 she earns a day for making a kilo of safety pins. Following the same routine as Rezwana, Fatima gets the wires supplied to her house by agents. Busy with her household chores and attending to her one-year-old, Fatima tries to work out a balance. She terms the constant backache she suffers from as a professional hazard. "It comes with the package," she says dismissively. When told that what she earns is way below the government guideline, she retorts, "If I don't do, someone else will. There are so many women waiting to get this job." Jameela Nishat, from Shaheen Women Resource and Welfare Organization, agrees with Fatima. "Since the women earn a bare minimum, they have no resources to buy the raw materials. They are forced to rely on contractors. Because there are no unions to offer protection in this sector, the women fall prey to contractors. Regardless of the bare minimum that they earn, there is a great deal of competition in this sector. There is a need to bring these women together under one roof ," she says. Adding to their woes are issues of sexual harassment these young women face in the hands of the 'all-powerful' contractors. "We have begun our work with a survey of 1000 women from the Old City, 300 of whom are women who work from home making incense sticks and safety pins. Our next step would be to unite them," says Nishat. (Times of India 13/2/12) 24 percent Indian kids go hungry: Survey (21) New Delhi, Feb 15 : India may be an economic success story. But a Save the Children study says around a quarter of Indian kids in the 0-6 age group go without food every day. And nearly 30 percent of Indian families have been forced to cut back on food due to rising food prices, said the study released Tuesday along with a report on tackling child malnutrition. Save the Children conducted the study in five countries. "It is shocking that parents are telling that they cannot buy food for their children because of high prices. This is destructive for the child's development as malnutrition is fatal and contributes to child mortality," Jasmine Whitbread, Save the Children International CEO, told IANS. The study was conducted in December and January in Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Peru. It sampled over 1,000 adults in rural and urban areas. "The reason we chose these countries was because the five nations cover more than half of the world's malnourished children. India is a growing economy and this survey tells (us) the urgent need to set goals and measure progress for achieving the millennium development goals (MDG)," Whitbread added. Nearly 66 percent respondents in India said that rising food prices were a pressing concern in 2011. Another 17 percent parents said their children skipped school to work and pay for food. The report says that in India and Nigeria, parents struggle to feed their children. A large section of the population seems unaffected by the economic progress of these countries. Food inflation in India has dipped after remaining high for a long time. But figures show that although prices of foodgrains have dipped, those of vegetables, milk, eggs, meat and protein diet have risen substantially. According to the study, every year around 1.72 million children under five years die in India. Of these, more than half the deaths take place in the first one month of a child's life. India also ranks 134 among 187 countries in Human Development Index, 73 among 78 countries as the best place to be a mother, and 67 among 81 countries in the Global Hunger Index. More than a fifth of under five deaths per year take place in India -- the highest anywhere in the world. India also holds the 11th highest rate of stunting globally. Eighty percent of stunted children live in just 20 countries. Fortyeight percent of the children are stunted, said Save the Childrern. Stunting means the children's body and brain have failed to develop properly due to malnutrition. It said that social protection schemes - which provide families with regular cash transfers or food parcels that provide a safety net during hard times - have proved successful in many countries in protecting families from the worst effects of poverty. Brazil, it said, has shown how investing in social protection can dramatically reduce hunger and malnutrition, and also contribute to economic growth. "Our recommendations include setting up a nutrition mission, better defining and refining the selection criteria of families below poverty line and a host of essential interventions to improve nutritional security of families," said the NGO's India CEO Thomas Chandy. (IANS) (New Kerala 15/2/12) Hunger deaths haunt tea gardens of Assam (21)

Silcher: In a shocking revelation from the northeastern part of the country, CNN-IBN has exposed hunger deaths in the tea gardens of Silcher even as the state government has rubbished the claims of it and reopened the garden. Ratna Goala, a 35-year-old woman, is among the 10 plantation workers who died out of hunger, lack of medical care and malnutrition in the Assam tea garden. "No food, No money, No work, No land. That's how she died. How will people survive? Don't have any idea of food," said Sabitri Goala, a relative of Ratna. Nearly 1000 workers were made to work at low wages ranging between Rs 40 to Rs 50 a day without non-wage benefits. Work in the garden came to a halt in October 2011 and the workers had to shift to just one meal a day to survive. "The owners did not issue any notice, didn't declare lockout, just withdrew the management," said D N Baroi, assistant general secretary, BCSU. Many workers in this tea garden have lost their lives because of inability to buy food or inability to buy medicine but the state government insists that none of these deaths were due to starvation. "Whenever there are allegations regarding death by hunger, authorities take some sort of shelter under technicalities. They say it is not death caused by hunger rather malnutrition. But there is also a thin line between hunger and malnutrition," said Shantanu Ghosh, former editor, Jugashankha. Barak Human Rights Committee says there have been at least 10 hunger deaths while the Congress affiliated labour union says four. On February 7, in an open meeting, the garden was declared open on promises, Rs 24 lakh rupees would be paid to clear due wages and also provident funds, but not one word on the hunger deaths. (CNN-IBN 15/2/12) Hungry generation: India’s children starve as food gets costlier (21) New Delhi: India remains a country of hungry children, reveals a new report by the international NGO Save the Children. That the scale of hunger among the young ones in India is on a par with Nigeria takes the sheen off the country’s claims of being a economic superpower. “About a quarter of parents in Nigeria (27 percent) and in India (24 percent) report that their children go without food for an entire day,” the report reads. lacing the blame squarely on the steady climb of food prices, the report titled ‘A life free from hunger: tackling child malnutrition’ says that inflation abetted dropping out of school. “Nearly 66 percent respondents in India said rising food prices have been a pressing concern in 2011, while nearly 17 percent parents said their children skipped school to go to work and pay for food,” it said. The authors of the report noted that both India and Nigeria are emerging economies, but are yet to deliver the benefits of growth to their peoples. Both countries are home to a large number of children whose growth has been stunted by malnutrition and hunger. “More than a quarter of people in India (27 percent) report that they can never afford to buy staple foods such as meat, milk, or vegetables for their families every week,” the report added. The price of food has soared across the world due to extreme weather conditions, diversion of farmland for food crops to cash crops, speculative trading of food commodities and the global financial crisis. The report blamed the lack of strong political will for India’s plight. “India has various social protection programmes in place, they are not focused on improving nutrition for infants and children and are not reaching a number of the most excluded and marginalised communities,” the 24-page report read. The report is based on studies done in five countries — India, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Peru and Pakistan — where 1,000 rural and urban pockets were sampled. Half the world's malnourished children live in these five nations. The report said that despite the advances made, almost half a billion children are at risk of permanent damage over the next 15 years because they do not have enough to eat and that 300 children die every hour of every day because of chronic malnutrition. That equals some 2 million deaths a year. The report described malnutrition as silent killer because it is often not recorded as a cause of death in certificates. "The world has made dramatic progress in reducing child deaths, down from 12 to 7.6 million, but this momentum will stall if we fail to tackle malnutrition," said Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children. (Governance 16/2/12) Centre blind to starvation, malnutrition: Binayak S en (21) HYDERABAD: Human rights activist Binayak Sen, in his first ever lecture in the city on Friday, lashed out at government apathy towards growing inequity in distribution of resources in the country. Sen said that a large chunk of the population was starving and suffering from undernourishment but the Centre had failed to recognize this. The food security bill which is set to be introduced in Parliament will only widen the gap between the privileged and marginalized sections of the society, Sen predicted. Sen was speaking at the first Bimal Roy Memorial Lecture organized by the late film maestro's family in collaboration with University of Hyderabad. Sen, who is a paediatrician specialising in public health, said that while the country was focusing largely on malnutrition among children, adult malnutrition went unnoticed. In an

allegory that touched the work of Bimal Roy, Sen said that the many among the country's population were 'Sujata's' children who lost their 'Do Bigha Zameen'. Two Bimal Roy's iconic films, Sujata and Do Bigha Zameen which brought Italian neo-realism to Indian cinema look critically at caste system and feudalism in the country. Binayak Sen elaborated in his lecture titled, Sujata's Children: Inequity in a Changing World, that it was inequity and impunity which were killing people in the country. "Inequity is made to happen by the powers that be and impunity emboldens the perpetrators of injustice to take their plans to completion," said Sen. In a sarcastic hint at the what can be Indian state's outlook of the Maoist movement in the country, he said that "peace cannot be attained by two parties which are at logger heads putting down arms, as Chidambaram (Union home minister) would have us believe. It is the pent up anger against inequity and impunity which seek "resolution in violence" and this has to be understood, he said. In 2007, Sen was charged with sedition and imprisoned under Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005 and Unlawful Assembly Prevention Act, 1967. He was accused of being a Maoist ally and kept in prison, till Supreme Court granted him bail in April 2011. He is a member of People's Union of Liberties. Sen explained that the extent of inequity in the country was appalling. Fifty per cent of tribals and 60 per cent of dalits have body mass indices (BMIs) less than the critical value of 18.5, which means that they are practically starving. Bimal Roy's son Joy Roy and Aparajita Sinha spoke at the meeting, and commemorated their father. "His films have touched several lives and have made us better human beings," Sinha said. The Bimal Roy memorial lecture will now be an annual event. (Times of India 18/2/12) Poverty not declining in Bihar, despite high growth (21) Patna, Feb 20 : Bihar has been changing and developing fast but its poverty is not declining, warned Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen here. "It is a matter of serious concern that there is no decline in poverty in Bihar despite a high growth rate and development," Abhijit Sen, who is here to attend a three-day global meet on changing Bihar, told IANS. Sen, a well-known economist, said that while Bihar had been maintaining good growth rates between 2004 and 2009, it had failed to reduce the rate of poverty. "Bihar has impressed many with its high growth rate. That is good. But at the same time, the state has not seen a decline in the rate of poverty. It is still at the bottom of the pile and has a lot of catching up to do," he said. Sen said that this was clearly reflected in the National Sample Survey Organisation report. He agreed that outside the state, people do have a sense that something good is happening in Bihar and development is taking place. "Bihar will have to maintain its growth rate for the next five years with good governance," Sen said. Sen said that the state government should work hard to ensure law and order, maintain fiscal responsibility, good governance and energy. "Energy deficit is the major hurdle or roadblock for Bihar in moving forward. The government should focus on energy," Sen said. Sen, who has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cambridge, also teaches at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. Earlier, Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumarmanglam Birla said at the meet that investments for heavy industries in Bihar would be impossible until the power situation in the state improves substantially. He urged the state government to first take steps to improve its power situation and then expect investments. Nearly half of Bihar's population of 104 million lives below the poverty line. (New Kerala 20/2/12) Right to Food Campaign slams Food Security Bill (21 ) New Delhi, Feb. 21: The National Food Security Bill, 2011 has a “narrow vision” and is “grossly inadequate” to provide legal guarantee of protection from hunger to millions of poor, the Right to Food Campaign (RTF) has said in its comments to a Parliamentary panel. In the backdrop of a deep agrarian crisis, the Bill has no provisions related to agriculture or for decentralised procurement and storage of foodgrains, the backbone for an effective public distribution system, the RTF said in its submission to the Standing Committee of Parliament, which invited comments till February 20. The RTF is an umbrella organisation of food activists and NGOs and has members such as Ms Aruna Roy of the National Advisory Council to the UPA, economist Prof Jean Dreze, and Mr Biraj Patnaik, Principal Adviser to the Commissioners of the Supreme Court. The Bill limits food security “to distribution of foodgrains” and that too only to a selected population and some “token entitlements for certain groups such as children, people living in starvation and migrants,” it said. To ensure food security, the Bill needs to focus on the three As — availability, accessibility and absorption. For one, it “must simultaneously address production, decentralised procurement and storage and distribution related issues”. The RTF says the Bill must address structural inequities in access and control over productive resources in agriculture as also

provisions against exports and imports of foodgrains, unless in exceptional circumstances. Coming down heavily on “targeting” as opposed to “universalising” the right to food, the RTF feels that “given the extent of hunger, malnutrition and poverty in the country, it is impossible to target benefits to a few, without large exclusion errors.” Also, the proposed “highly centralised” decision-making process, with little or no role for Panchayati Raj institutions, local bodies and even State governments, needs to be corrected. A grievance redressal mechanism, too, needs to be put in place. The Bill, cleared by the Union Cabinet, promises subsidised foodgrains to 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population on the basis of targeting “priority” households. Reports say this year's Budget is likely to allocate Rs 5,000 crore for the purpose. (Business Line 22/2/12) In Assam, 12 tea estate workers die of starvation ( 21) GUWAHATI; At least 12 workers have died of starvation in an Assam tea estate in the last four months when it remained closed following a strike. However, the authorities claim that the deaths were ‘natural’. The deaths were reported from the Bhuban Valley Tea Estate in Cachar district. In October last year, the garden was shut down in the wake of a strike by the workers over demands for unpaid wages, provident fund benefits and ration. The garden was reopened early this month after the management seemingly committed to resolve the matter. Located in Assam’s Barak Valley, the garden, has 980 workers — 480 of them permanent staff. It has a population of over 2,000 people but it lacks basic amenities. “The 12 of them died during the lockout because they had nothing to eat,” People’s Rights Forum (PRF), a rights watchdog, claimed. “The garden is in a shambles. The workers have been deprived of basic amenities for years together,” PRF convenor Raju Narzary said. “The workers have been exploited throughout. A worker gets wages of Rs 85 a day in West Bengal. But here, it is only Rs51. Even their PF amount was not deposited,” Wilfred Topno, president of Adivasi Sahitya Sabha, said. During the lockout, the workers were forced to work in adjoining tea gardens for wages ranging from Rs 30 to Rs.40 only, Topno said. The government is probing the matter through the deputy commissioner of Cachar. But the PRF says ‘the person who is liable to be prosecuted is heading the probe. So, one can guess the outcome”. “We’ll move the high court if government fails to deliver,” it warned. (DNA 26/2/12) Poverty earns sympathy, but unsociable act annoys l ocals (21) TIRUCHI, February 27, 2012: Families of homeless people who have been making a living under the sky, with utensils and other belongings strewn around in Town Hall area, a nerve-centre of the city, readily evoke sympathy of passersby. With money earned either through menial jobs or begging, a group of people in units of a few families cough up a living by cooking their own food. A closer observation, however, reveals that their presence there under the very nose of the Fort Police Station has been causing enormous embarrassment to employees of government offices in the area, the public frequenting government offices, and most of all students of the Town Hall Girls' Higher Secondary School. There has been no solution to the disturbances they cause to the people around due to the frequent brawls they indulge in, according to Subburaj, a worried parent. Unmindful of the presence of grown-up girls, they use filthy language under the influence of liquor, he lamented, adding that they are quite prone to quarrelling among themselves. Employees have to put up with the litter they create, including liquor bottles, damaged clothes and other discarded belongings. Ever since the Taluk Office was shifted to new premises at Cantonment, the homeless people have made their presence more ubiquitous, they say. According to shopkeepers in the vicinity, the spot becomes a haven for anti-social activities such as drinking and gambling once darkness falls. Employees in government offices complain that they live in the midst of stench as the occupiers also answer nature's call in the open space around. Though they were rehabilitated near Pirattiyur in the city outskirts a few years back, they were back in no time, said a government employee in that area. The Town Hall area is where the government museum that attracts tourists, including foreigners; the office of the Sub-Registrar, State Government Audit Office, a Post Office, and an office of the Revenue Department are housed, and attracts several hundreds of people on a daily basis. Acknowledging that the presence of the homeless families has been a nuisance to the public, an official of the Fort Police Station, however, said nobody had preferred a complaint against their presence so far. We can warn them to leave the spot once anybody comes forward with a complaint, the official said. Government employees are not prepared to take the risk in individual capacities. “The hesitation is because we need to go through the process of getting the concurrence of superiors to approach the police,” said one of the government employees, urging the city corporation to arrange for night shelters for such beggars, as a workable solution. (The Hindu 27/2/12)

Govt likely to tweak food bill to widen coverage (2 1) New Delhi: The much anticipated National Food Security Bill, a signature social safety legislation, is likely to be overhauled yet again and tuned up, as the government attempts to simplify its administration, navigate hurdles and yet aims to widen the coverage further. The government is likely to do away two categories of beneficiaries, replacing it with one, a change that will address a major concern that, in its current form, the legislation is unwieldy. The decision on who would qualify for cheap grains would be left for states to decide. Eliminating the Above Poverty Line (APL) category will give the government more financial legroom. Therefore, the government plans to widen the coverage from the proposed 63.5% of the population to about 65%. Food minister KV Thomas has said that the financial burden would not be “unusually big”. According to projections, India’s expenses on food handouts will likely rise by 2.2%, much lower than analysts have projected, Thomas said. The food minister held a meeting with officials from the Prime Minister Office on Tuesday, where he is understood to have discussed the final estimates of the food security bill’s cost analysis. India currently spends Rs 60,572 crore for an existing food supply programme under the Targeted Public Distribution System for the needy. Food handouts are currently pegged to the 1993-94 poverty estimates and in line with population figures of the 2000 census. Since the government will have to apply the 2011 census and updated poverty estimates, currently being finalised, for all future entitlements, the food subsidy would have risen to Rs 1,09,795 crore even without the food security law, the minister said. To cover 63.5% of the population, or about 800 million Indians, the government would have had to spend nearly Rs 1,12,205 crore. (The Hindustan Times 29/2/12) FICCI plans white paper on agriculture by September (21) KOCHI, March 1, 2012: The United Progressive Alliance Government's flagship project Food Security Bill won't be enough to ensure food accessibility for the poor, said the Chairman of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), R. V. Kanoria. He said that the whole system of agricultural production and marketing needed to undergo drastic changes. Subsidising food for the poor could lead to farmers getting less money for their produce, he said, and called on state governments to reform agricultural marketing set-ups. Food deficiency could not be addressed by offering subsidised food. Food production had to improve drastically, he added. To this end, the apex chamber was preparing a white paper on Indian agriculture, which would be ready for release in September, Mr. Kanoria told an interactive session at the Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Wednesday. Mr. Kanoria, the first FICCI Chairman to visit Kerala in nearly a decade, said that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) would soon have a new forum, which will exclusively address problems facing SMEs. The SMEs faced an array of difficulties that included insufficient credit flow. Mr. Kanoria said that a recent SME conclave in Delhi highlighted the problems confronting the sector and called on banks and financial institutions to evolve a new strategy to ensure credit flow to SMEs. Instead of a collateral-based credit system, banks must take up a cash-flow-based system of extending credit, he added. Mr. Kanoria called on the government to provide a one-time amnesty to those who had stashed away money in Swiss banks. Conceding that there was a moral compromise in this, he pointed out that the U.K. and Germany gained substantially from such a scheme. Selling off of the shares of Coal India should help infuse money into the system and help India's efforts to catch up with power generation requirement. Power generation was not in tandem with growth target set by the country, he said. There was a resurgence of protectionism across the globe with the onset of economic recession in 2008. Politicians tended to think globally but acted locally. This must change, he said, to allow the free flow of goods and services. Technical barriers were now being raised to prevent this free flow even as the process of globalisation was considered a positive impact on global economy, he said. Mr. Kanoria said the government was under pressure due to continuing inflationary tendencies, mounting current account deficit and rising price of crude oil. Though he did not expect crude prices to go beyond $120-130 a barrel, he felt the price level would affect the balance of payment situation. Under these circumstances, he said, the government would not be able to take bold decisions in the budget. (The Hindu 1/3/12) Urban poor in India: Cause of concern (21) New Delhi/Mumbai: In what is being described as India's numbers of shame, a UNICEF report has highlighted what is one of its worst kept secrets: the state of the country's urban poor. Behind the glitzy glass facade buildings, children are dying of malnourishment and education is a distant dream. In the 1980s, Maharashtra hit the headlines for huge numbers of malnutrition deaths in its tribal regions. Now

the capital Mumbai is under a sharp spotlight. Malnutrition cases in this world city seem improbable: nearly 60 per cent of its estimated one lakh slum children are malnourished, and about 6,000 die every year of hunger-related diseases. At a shanty in Byculla, not far from the Maharashtra Government headquarters, Karan and his sisters - all minors - had just finished lunch when this reporter met them. On being asked about their daily food intake, Karan's sister Chinchu replied: " We mixed chilli powder with water and ate that with chappatis." Asked about how they manage to get their food every day, Chinchu replied: "Whatever we get by begging." The infant mortality rate is 55 per cent for the urban poor and 62 per cent for the rural poor. Seventy one per cent of the urban poor children suffer from anaemia, and the figure for rural poor stands at 72 per cent. Jassu, a resident of the Byculla slums in Mumbai, says: "If I make some money, I feed my children. If not, we sleep hungry.''India has about 49000 slums, and 93 million people live in these slums. While one would imagine that life for the urban poor would be better as compared to their rural counterparts, the UNICEF report differs on that front. There is not much of a difference in the standards of living of the urban and rural poor, with sanitation and overflowing drains being big issues for both. In one of the slums of the national capital, the dwellers revealed that they use community toilets, and since the toilets are locked at 11 in the night, they do not have access to any such facilities after that. Among the urban poor, 59 per cent women suffer from anaemia, and the figure stands at 57 per cent for the rural population. At a slum close to one of the best hospitals and schools in Delhi, the residents reveal that they do not have the economic power to be able to avail of these facilities. Zahida, who lives in a slum close to the Apollo hospital says, " My husband earns 2000 rupees a month. It is very difficult to survive as I have six children." Zahida's daughter Chandni added that "something there is nothing to eat". Among the urban poor, 47 per cent of the children below the age of five are underweight. The figure stands at 46 per cent for the rural poor. Over 54 per cent of the urban poor children do not go to school. On being asked why she doesn't send her children to school as even big schools will take them for free, Zahida replied: "I haven't heard about any such school, and when there is nothing to eat, how do I send my children to school". (NDTV 4/3/12) Global poverty on the decline: World Bank (21) Kozhikode, March 4: The rate of poverty, based on the number of people living on less than $1.5 a day, declined across the developing world between 2005 and 2008, according to a World Bank report. Around 1.29 billion people lived below the defined poverty line in 2008, which was equivalent to 22 per cent of the population of the developing world. By contrast, 1.94 billion belonged to this extreme poverty category in 1981. The updated figures were available from surveys carried out in nearly 130 countries. However, the nearly 663 million people who moved above the poverty line over the years are still poor by the standards of middle and high-income countries. “This bunching up just above the extreme poverty line is indicative of the vulnerability facing a great many poor people in the world. And at the current rate of progress, around one billion people would still live in extreme poverty in 2015', says Mr Martin Ravallion, Director of World Bank Research Group. The report notes that recent post-2008 analysis revealed that global poverty overall kept falling, although food, fuel and financial crises over the past four years had sometimes sharp negative impacts on vulnerable populations and slowed down the rate of poverty reduction in some countries. Preliminary survey-based estimates for 2010 indicated that the $1.25-a-day poverty rate had declined to under half of its 1990 value, which meant that the first Millennium Development Goal of halving the extreme poverty level from 1990 has been achieved before the 2015 deadline. The $1.25 poverty line is the average for the world's poorest 10-20 countries. A higher $ 2-a-day line revealed less progress than the $ 1.25-a-day cut-off mark. In this case, there was only a modest drop between 1981 and 2008, from 2.59 billion to 2.47 billion. (Business Line 4/3/12) Nitish Kumar, Jayalalithhaa, Mamata Banerjee troika opposes food bill now (21) NEW DELHI: The UPA can face a political alignment against the National Food Security bill similar to what it did on the National Counter Terrorism Centre ( NCTC). Major states are opposed to provisions of the bill that seek to mandate who are the beneficiaries of the proposed law. J Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu, Nitish Kumar in Bihar and, most worryingly for UPA Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal have all opposed the Centre's view that it would decide the number of beneficiaries under the food security scheme in each state based on a standard formula. Some like Tamil Nadu argue that the number of beneficiaries will decrease. Their opposition needs to be softened although Congress got a breather with NCP boss Sharad Pawar making a near U-turn and speaking in favour of the bill he has questioned for more than a year. "This year, we will break last year's record by reaching 250 million tonnes of foodgrains. With this

background, to implement the Food Security bill, I don't see any problem," the agriculture minister said. He had previously warned of problems that could arise in implementing the bill and his ministry (agriculture) had on several occasions warned that there were not enough foodgrains to meet projected demands. Congress's worries would now be concerned on convincing Banerjee to support the bill. The West Bengal CM avoided meeting Union food minister K V Thomas during his two-day visit to Kolkota. The Trinamool Congress chief had earlier in a written submission to the Union government opposed key proposals in the bill currently being considered by a parliamentary standing committee. The current bill proposes that the Centre decide the total number of beneficiaries in each state by sifting people out on the basis of the socio-economic caste Census currently underway. Banerjee along with Jayalalithaa and Kumar have opposed this particular provision besides others reiterating that it should be the prerogative of the state governments to decide and select beneficiaries. Kumar is insistent that states' below poverty line lists should be given due weightage and they be allowed a say in beneficiaries. Several states already run a more elaborate food security scheme and it would be a political disaster for the regional leaders to cut access to those enjoying the benefits. While the bill itself is before the Parliamentary standing committee the criteria to be used for demarcating the beneficiaries is yet to be decided by the Centre. A panel, headed by Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen, was to do so but it has not met once since its formation a few months ago. The survey too has been delayed in several states. All these issues could hamper a timely roll out of Congress's flagship scheme and a pet project of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. (Times of India 6/3/12) India needs a prosperity line, not a poverty line, says Medha (21) MANGALORE, March 7, 2012: India needs a richness line and not a poverty line, as 80 per cent of the population is classified as Below Poverty Line, said one of the National Convenors of the National Alliance for People's Movements (NAPM) Medha Patkar here on Tuesday. She said the NAPM was organising a National Jan Sansad or a National People's Parliament in New Delhi, during which one of the key issues that would be discussed was a demand for an “ameeri rekha”. During an interaction programme organised by the School of Social Work Roshni Nilaya, Ms. Patkar said: “When 80 per cent of the population is below the poverty line, what purpose does it serve? The focus should be a line for richness. There should be a ceiling on wealth. Income beyond that level should be taxed heavily.” Other demands were that people should earn enough to meet the cost of purchasing food. As such, daily wages should be raised to Rs. 350 in urban areas and Rs. 250 in rural areas, she said. It was essential to reduce the inequality. “There has to be some limit to the disparity,” Ms. Patkar said. Commenting on industrialisation, she said that “concessions” to corporate companies were “absolutely unjustifiable” and led to “vulgar levels of profit” to a few. She said that the Directive Principles of State Policy, which were “unfortunately not justiciable” should be the foundation of the development of the country. One of the principles was that there would be no concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. However, there were numerous examples that negated this value such as the businesses run by the Ambanis, the Jindals, Tatas, Birlas, Mittals and foreign companies, she said. (The Hindu 7/3/12) People sell kidneys to beat starvation in West Beng al village (21) BINDOL (NORTH DINAJPUR): In these arid, impoverished parts, Bindol has another name - kidney village. The wasted, skeletal men and women you would see slumped under the shade of trees are awaiting death with feeble breaths. This is the kidney sale capital of the state, perhaps of the country. Every second home here has someone who has sold his kidney to escape starvation. Many die within years.Now, the dying men have started forcing their wives to give up a kidney. Bindol's infamy has spread by word of mouth. Dusty tracks trail of the eastern highway to Bangladesh to take you to this village, barely 35km from the district headquarters of Raiganj. The greenery of Dinajpur changes into an arid landscape. Here and there in the dry, sandy waste there are patches of green maize plants. No trace of paddy or wheat. The villagers, mostly tribals, lie dozing off the effects of homemade liquor. But the name of Razzak perks them up. They lead you to his mansion in the Bajbindol area stands in sharp contrast to the hapless backdrop. Razzak is the 'dalal' (agent) you meet if you are desperate for a kidney. The price: Rs 3-4 lakh. Razzak has no problem finding donors. The villagers know they may be signing their death warrant if they accept Razzak's offer, but the payout - Rs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh - is impossible to ignore. Lakshmiram Hansda sold his kidney - and his life - for Rs 80,000. On Wednesday, TOI saw him lying under a tree near his hut, gaunt, emaciated and hapless. He says he is 35 but looks 60. With no land of

his own and a wife and daughter to feed, Lakshmiram had gone to Mumbai to work as labourer in 2000, like hundreds of local youths. But it brought him little money. When someone offered Rs 80,000 for a kidney, it seemed like a good deal. The money kept the family fed for only a few months. Soon after the surgery, Lakshmiram lost his strength to work. His starving wife and daughter deserted him. He now lives on an NGO's mercy, and is counting his days. Not far from where Hansda lies, a group sits having drinks in a hut. Munshi Tudu, Jogen Hansda, Chhoto Murmu and Lapong Soren - all in thirties - are happy as only drunken men can be. They all survive on one kidney. Two years ago, Lapong had been to Kolkata where he had his kidney removed for Rs 1 lakh. What did he do with the money? "Bought a motorcycle, gave a part to my wife and... don't know what I did with the rest," he was not interested in recalling any more. They drink to forget that they don't have a future. The scourge has spread to nearby villages like Jalipara and Balia. Thirty-two-year-old Dulal Jali of Jalipara narrates his story, "It's next to impossible for a fisherman to make ends meet. So I accepted the offer of Kuddus (another agent) of Rs 1 lakh for a kidney. It was about four years ago. I got operated in Kolkata." Now with weakness a part of life, Dulal suffers along with his wife and daughter. "I cannot stay under the sun for long, I can hardly catch fish." (Times of India 9/3/12) 60% beneficiaries of backward class loans rise abov e poverty line in state (21) PUNE: A study conducted by the city-based Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE), found that 60% of those who had availed loans from the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC) had subsequently risen above the poverty line. The study was conducted among 1,002 beneficiaries from the backward classes in the state. At least 69.1% of these beneficiaries could even create assets out of their business for which they were given the loans. The study, undertaken in ten districts of the state including Pune, aimed to ascertain the status of asset creation by beneficiaries of the loans provided by NBCFDC, New Delhi. At least 41% of the beneficiaries were helped by local level politicians of their caste for availing the loan schemes, said the study. The study also revealed that there was a huge gender disparity as just 13.3% of women from the sample were female beneficiaries. Though there are specific loans schemes for women, they consist of less funds Prashant Bansode, associate professor in the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy at GIPE, headed the research undertaken in Solapur, Beed, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Ahmednagar, Pune, Sindhudurg, Nashik, Washim and Aurangabad districts. The NBCFDC had entrusted the GIPE to evaluate the NBCFDC loan schemes for poorer sections of backward classes in the state and ascertain the status of the beneficiaries who have availed these schemes. The researchers covered 1,002 beneficiaries of the two state channeling agencies under NBCFDC that disburse these loans: the Maharashtra State Other Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation Ltd; and the Vasantrao Naik Vimukta Jatis and Nomadic Tribes Development Corporation Ltd. Of the entire sample, 43% belonged to the urban areas, while 57% belonged to the rural areas As far as the source of information for availing the loan scheme was concerned, 44.4% learnt about it from friends and relatives, 41% from local politicians, while 5.5% and 2.5% got to know of the scheme from newspapers and the block development officer respectively. "The local level politicians therefore seem to be mobilising their followers. Though it is good that these beneficiaries are being mobilised for their economic development, there is also a possibility that they are being seen as vote banks by local politicians," said Bansode. The study also found that family income of the beneficiaries on an average increased 1.5 times more after availing such loan schemes. Before availing these loans, as much as 51.60% of the beneficiaries had income below poverty line. Conversely, only 5.79% had family income below the poverty line after having availed these loans. Thus, 45.81% beneficiaries had risen above the poverty line after taking the NBCFDC loans. "Almost 14% beneficiaries from nomadic tribes declined to give their income details, while 22.33% from OBCs followed suit. However, there is a probability that they too might have had their income increased above the poverty line after availing these loan schemes. Hence, roughly 58-60% beneficiaries have been able to come above poverty line," he said. "In another major finding, some castes among the OBC and nomadic tribe communities were found to have availed the loans on a major scale than other communities. Apparently, they were relatively better off sections amongst the OBC and VJNT communities. The government should therefore also disburse loans to those who have lagged behind by identifying them first," said Bansode. (Times of India 12/3/12) Protection from Starvation Bill (21) A disconnect runs through the nomenclature, preamble, objectives and content of the National Food

Security Bill, 2011. The Preamble goes beyond the Title and states that the Bill provides “for food and nutritional security in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable price….” Even on cursory reading, it is clear that these aspirations are not backed by any substantive content or strategy in the Bill. Starting with the nomenclature and preamble, the accepted definition of food security, is “permanent access for all to food, nutritionally adapted in quantity and quality, and culturally acceptable, for a healthy and active life.” (World Food Summit 1996) “Nutrition security” as defined by Prof M.S. Swaminathan “involves physical, economic and social access to a balanced diet, clean drinking water, sanitation and primary health care for every child, woman and man”. The general discourse in India perceives ‘food security’ as availability and access to food grains in a household at survival or subsistence level, and unfortunately, it is precisely this perception that has been adopted in the Bill. The Bill defines ‘food security’ as “the supply of the entitled quantity of foodgrains (7 Kgs of rice, wheat or coarse grain) and meal specified under Chapters II, III and IV”. ‘Nutritional security’, an objective in the preamble, is not even defined in the Bill. One need not be a public health specialist or a nutritionist to know that while 7 Kgs foodgrains can provide relief against starvation, it cannot provide food or nutritional security. Assuming that actual delivery to a family is assured through an efficient PDS, it translates into 234 gms of foodgrain per person per day = approx 650 calories, as against a Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of an average of 1800 calories. To what extent these calories will substitute the existing diet or be additional will be known only after the Act is enacted and implemented. However, 650 calories per day without the necessary protein, micronutrients and vitamins, would stave off starvation, but not provide food or nutritional security, or combat malnutrition, especially child malnutrition. It would also have been more progressive had Section 3 (4) provided for fortified flour, which is PFA approved, and commonly consumed by the elite. Why deny vitamins and micronutrients to the poor? The Preamble quite erroneously uses the term ‘life-cycle approach’, even though the nutritional needs of the adolescent girl, (the most malnourished in the world), and the critical link in a life-cycle approach, are completely ignored in the Bill. The Bill bunches up ongoing programmes, eg.,ICDS, Midday Meal Programme etc, converts them to entitlements without indicating any mechanism for integrating them in a seamless, cohesive manner, and calls it the life-cycle approach. The pregnant and lactating women’s entitlement is a welcome addition, but sadly the out-of-school children, who are the most vulnerable adolescents are forgotten. Confusion persists regarding the nature of the entitlement. In legal terminology, ‘entitlement’ means right to benefits which may not be abridged without due process, whereas ‘right’ gives a legal title and a remedy by law. Sec 3 feebly attempts to clothe the ‘entitlement’ of 7 Kgs foodgrain per person as a right through a note by the side of the section, but curiously, neither ‘right’ nor ‘entitlement’ are defined in the Bill. Chapter IX provides for a Grievance Redressal Mechanism through a District Grievance Redressal Officer, for enforcement of entitlements, investigation and redressal, and State and Central Food Commissions. However, the powers of the cutting edge District Grievance Redressal Officer are not enumerated, presumably, because the nature of the entitlement remains undefined. Only the National Commission has been given the powers of a Civil Court for summoning persons and requisitioning documents. Until the confusion regarding enforcement/redressal of the undefined entitlement is clarified, the redressal mechanism is bound to remain crippled. However the superannuating bureaucracy and civil society wannabees would have much to cheer about this new flood of opportunity, this time percolating right down to District Level. In all probability, implementation of the Act will commence from the constitution of these Commissions and top priority will be accorded to equations and ranks, red light cars, free accommodation etc. Without going into the rationale of the target group percentages, the biggest lacuna of the Bill is its utter helplessness in defining priority and general households, the responsibility for which is convenient passed on to the State Governments in Chapter VI. The first time use of a Force Majeure Section 52 in a social legislation is unusual. It is precisely in times of war, flood, drought, fire, famine, cyclone, earthquake or any act of God, that the Bill must be implemented with even greater vigour. The Bill shows complete insensitivity and ignorance when dealing with starvation. Starvation, chronic or temporary, is not something that can be identified through lists maintained by State Governments. It can only be captured through surveillance by local communities or committed field functionaries, where no government certificates or seals are required. The Bill makes innumerable prescriptions to the States, not in the language of partnership as when the Centre legislates for concurrent subjects, but commandingly so, completely violative of the federal principle. There has been no serious consultation with the States, no cost-sharing formula is in place, which is perhaps why the Bill has no clue as to how to execute even its cut-and-paste objectives. Consequently, all operational and financial responsibility, including responsibility for finding solutions, is cast upon State governments.

The Bill, like the Holy Roman Empire, provides neither food nor nutrition nor security as claimed in the preamble. On final reading, it appears to be a National Starvation Prevention Bill, high on aspirations, but with neither substantive, strategic or operational backup, nor a convincing delivery mechanism to deliver the entitlement. The entire exercise, despite its pretentious objectives turns out to be yet another Scheme that government does not know how to implement, except through reiterating previously failed solutions. (Governance 16/3/12) Poverty rises in Northeast (21) Guwahati, March 19: Guwahati may be waiting for its Mercedes Benz debut but the state’s poor have become poorer in the past five years, with Assam and four other states of the Northeast recording a rise in poverty levels, Planning Commission figures revealed today. Assam now has 116.4 lakh persons living below the poverty line, Manipur 12.5 lakh, Meghalaya 4.9 lakh, Mizoram 2.3 lakh, Tripura 6.3 lakh, Nagaland 4.1 lakh and Arunachal Pradesh 3.5 lakh. The only bright spots are Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh, which have shown a dip in the poverty scale. Both Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh are afflicted with less poverty in 2009-10 than in 2004-05. While Tripura has recorded a dip of about 23 per cent, in Arunachal Pradesh it was a six per cent fall. Nagaland, on the other hand, has registered a rise of over 12 per cent in poverty followed closely by Manipur at 9.2 per cent. Mizoram, Assam and Meghalaya registered increases of 5.7 per cent, 3.5 per cent and one per cent respectively. The figures were arrived at by using the Tendulkar methodology. The Planning Commission in December 2005 appointed a committee led by Prof. Suresh D. Tendulkar, then member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council and later chairman of the National Statistical Commission to review alternate concepts of poverty and recommend changes in the existing procedures of official estimation of poverty. Rakibul Hussain, Assam government spokesman and minister for panchayat and rural development, which conducts BPL survey in the state, said it was too early to comment on the report. “It is not about increasing or decreasing figures, our concern is that no genuine BPL family should be left out. As on day, we follow the 2002 census which puts the figure at 18.78 lakh households, which roughly translates into 34 per cent of the total households in the state,” Hussain told The Telegraph this evening. Hussain, however, said Assam has reservations on the Tendulkar methodology and this was formally conveyed to Union minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh. “He has by and large agreed to our reservations when he visited Assam recently,” Hussain said. According to 2011 census, Assam’s population is 3,11,69,272 as against 2,66,00,000 in the 2001 census. The Tendulkar Committee for the first time recommended use of implicit prices derived from quantity and value data collected in household consumer expenditure surveys for computing and updating the poverty lines. The committee developed the methodology using implicit prices for estimating state-wise poverty lines for the year 2004-05. Using these poverty lines and distribution of monthly per capita consumption expenditure based on mixed reference period, the committee estimated poverty ratios for the year 2004-05. In its report, he committee recommended a methodology for updating the 2004-05 poverty line data derived by it, according to a press release. Accordingly, implicit price indices (Fisher price index) have been computed from the 66th Round NSS (2009-10) data on household consumer expenditure survey. According to the Tendulkar Committee recommendations, the state-wise urban poverty lines of 2004-05 are updated for 2009-10 based on price rise during this period using Fisher price indices. The state-wise rural-urban price differential in 2009-10 has been applied on state-specific urban poverty lines to get state specific rural poverty lines. The population as on March 1, 2010, has been used for estimating the number of persons below poverty line (interpolated between 2001 and 2011 population census). The headcount ratio is obtained using urban and rural poverty lines which are applied on the MPCE distribution of the states. The aggregated BPL population of the states is used to obtain the final all-India HCR and poverty lines in rural and urban areas. In rural areas, the HCR for Muslims is very high in states such as Assam (53.6 per cent). (Telegraph 20/3/12) 5 crore people moved out of poverty: Govt (21) NEW DELHI: Data released by the Planning Commission on Monday showed that poverty had significantly declined between 2004-05 and 2009-10. The catch is that this decline is based on a poverty line that is even lower than the earlier Rs 32-per-day mark that had triggered an outrage when the government submitted it to the Supreme Court. The new estimates are based on a poverty line that averages Rs 672.8 per month (Rs 22.43 per day) in rural areas and Rs 859.6 per month (Rs 28.65 per day) in urban areas for 2009-10. In a state like Delhi, the urban poverty line translates to Rs 34.67 per

person per day. In the Supreme Court, the government had submitted that the updated poverty line was likely to be Rs 26 per day in rural areas and Rs 32 per day in the towns in June 2011. As things stand, a host of centrally sponsored social security schemes for the poor exclude those above these poverty lines from availing of the benefits under the schemes. By the lowered benchmarks, poverty across the country declined by 7.3 percentage points from 37.2% in 2004-05 to 29.8% in 2009-10. In absolute terms, there were 35.5 crore poor people in 2009-10 against 40.7 crore five years earlier. MGNREGS, higher wages help reduce poverty levelOfficials said the sharp decline in poverty between 2004-05 and 2009-10-rural poverty going down by 8 percentage points from 41.8% to 33.8% and urban poverty by 4.8 percentage points from 25.7% to 20.9% - had been aided by high growth, hike in wages and implementation of key schemes like the MGNREGS. "It is largely due to better agriculture growth and improvement in livelihood," a senior plan panel official said. According to Crisil, the sharp increase in wages which was near simultaneous across income groups in urban and rural India since 2004-05 boosted consumption demand. Urban and rural wages rose by 12.0-14.0 % over 2004-05 to 2009-10, compared to an increase of 7% in the previous five-year period. Increases in income were especially sharp after 2007-08. However, the poverty picture is extremely patchy with some states showing sharp reductions in the proportion of the BPL population while many others saw little or no change and five states in the north-east saw a larger percentage of their populations slipping below the mark. The poverty ratio in Himachal, MP, Maharashtra, Orissa, Sikkim, TN and Uttarakhand has declined by 10 percentage points or more. But in Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, poverty ratios in 2009-10 are higher than in '04-05. The data showed Bihar, Chhattisgarh and UP have shown only marginal decline in poverty ratio, particularly in rural areas. Given the size of UP and Bihar and the fact the base is already low, this is a worrying sign. Orissa, which had the highest poverty headcount ratio (57%) in 2004-5, has brought the proportion of poor down to 37% as per the new benchmark. Bihar (53.5%), Chhattisgarh (48.7%) and Manipur (47.1%) now have the three worst poverty headcount ratios. Applying the Tendulkar methodology, on which these figures are based, to 1993-94 data shows that Himachal has been the fastest at reducing poverty, bringing the proportion of people under the poverty line to 9.5%, less than a third of its 1993-4 numbers. In rural areas, STs showed the highest level of poverty (47.4%), followed by SCs (42.3%), and OBCs (31.9%), against 33.8% for all classes. Among religious groups, Sikhs have the lowest poverty in rural areas (11.9%) while in urban areas, Christians have the lowest proportion (12.9%) of poor. (Times of India 20/3/12) Poverty ‘down’, but not the hungry (21) NEW DELHI: Even as the debate rages on whether poverty measurement in India is accurate, a recent report on nutritional intake of Indians has come up with a chilling conclusion: two thirds of the country's population is eating less than what is required. Even more worrying is that this trend continues despite a healthy economic growth rate over several years, and despite several mega programmes of nutrition delivery to children. Experts believe that this can only indicate widespread hunger and malnutrition, consequences of rampant poverty. Nutritional intake is measured in terms of calorific value of food consumed. This has shockingly declined from 2,153Kcal per person per day in 1993-94 to 2020 in 2009-10 in rural areas and from 2,071 to 1,946 Kcal in urban areas according to the report of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), based on its 66th survey round. Even between 2004-05 and 2009-10, calorie intake per person per day dipped from 2,047 to 2,020 in rural areas and from 2,020 to 1946 in urban areas. This may raise questions about reported decline in poverty as claimed by the Planning Commission. According to the National Institute of Nutrition, an average Indian male of age 18-29 years and weighing 60kg needs 2,320Kcal per day if he does only sedentary work. The Planning Commission had adopted 2,400 Kcal (rural) and 2,100 Kcal (urban) as the minimum daily requirement norm. What about protein consumption, which is higher in affluent societies because more meat, eggs, fish and milk is consumed? According to the NSSO report, protein consumption too has fallen from 60.2g to 55g per person per day in rural areas and from 57.2g to 53.5g in the urban areas between 1993-94 and 2009-10. The decline is across the board, but is sharpest in rural areas of Rajasthan, Haryana, UP and Punjab - where intake has fallen by 9-12g per person per day. Fat consumption has risen by about 7g in rural and 6g in urban areas over this 16-year period in all major states. Average daily fat consumption per person was 38g in rural areas and about 48g in urban areas. These are averages over the whole population. In reality, the situation is much more dire for the poor. About 90%of the poorest tenth of the population in both urban and rural areas consume food that gives them less than just 2,160 Kcal. Average calorie intake among the poorest tenth of the population is just 1,619 Kcal in rural areas and 1,584Kcal in urban

areas, reveals the NSSO report. The richest 10% of the population consumes 2,922 Kcal in rural areas and 2,855 Kcal in urban on an average. The NSSO report explodes the widely held perception that people in India, especially urban dwellers, are shifting to non-cereal food items like dairy products in a big way for their nutritional needs. Share of energy - calorie intake - from cereals has declined from 71%to 64% in rural areas and from 59% to 55% in urban areas over 1993-94 and 2009-10. (Times of India 1/4/12) Coming soon: Medical plan for urban poor (21) NEW DELHI: A health programme to take care of India's nine crore urban poor is all set to become a reality. The Union health ministry has sought time from the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) to present the final blue print of the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) that will be rolled out by the middle of this year. Union health secretary P K Pradhan said the ministry is waiting to hear from secretary of the expenditure department. "Once the EFC clears the proposal, we will take it to the Cabinet. Urban health will be taken up as a thrust area in the 12th Plan that will be rolled out soon," Pradhan said. NUHM also got the backing from finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who during his Budget speech on March 16, had said, "NUHM is being launched to encompass the primary healthcare needs of people in urban areas." Contrary to popular belief, the health standards of the urban poor in most cases are worse than their rural counterparts. According to the report of the Planning Commission's working group, headed by former health secretary K Chandramouli, on the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) for the 12th Plan, "There are more than 2 million births annually among the urban poor and the health indicators in this group are poor." The group says around 56% deliveries among the urban poor take place at home. The under-5 mortality at 72.7 among urban poor is significantly higher than urban average of 51.9. About 60% urban poor children do not receive complete immunization compared to 58% in rural areas, 47.1 % urban poor children less than three are under-weight as compared to 45% in rural areas and 59% of the woman (15-49 age group) are anemic as compared to 57% in rural India. "The invisibility of the urban poor has contributed to their exclusion from the public healthcare system till now," the group says. NUHM will be launched in 779 cities/towns that have a population of 50,000 or more along with seven mega cities - Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. The group says "NUHM would be launched and kept as a separate entity in the 12th Plan. NUHM and NRHM could be merged in the 13th Plan." The NUHM will ensure health services for all urban dwellers - urban poor population, living in listed, unlisted slums besides all other vulnerable population such as homeless, rag-pickers, street children, rickshaw-pullers and other temporary migrants. "Lack of economic resources inhibiting/restricting their access to private facilities, Illegal status, poor environmental condition, overcrowding and environmental pollution has further contributed to their poor health status. Further, no systematic investments and efforts have been made to improve health care in urban areas," the report added. Conservative estimates show that 38 crore people are living in urban areas, and it is projected to increase to 54 crore by 2050," the report cited. (Times of India 2/4/12) No new slums in Chennai since last 26 years? (21) CHENNAI: No slums have come up in the city since the last 26 years, if one were to go by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) records. Sources told City Express that Tamil Nadu had been a forerunner in bringing out the Slum Clearance Act in 1971, but it had not declared any new slums since the last 26 years. Also, the baseline data of Tamil Nadu on urban poverty and slums is inadequate, the sources added. Chennai alone is estimated to have over 2 lakh families living without proper shelter. The number of informal settlements and pavement dwellers is often understated and the city’s records of slums maintained by the Slum Clearance Board and urban local bodies, particularly in smaller cities, are often not comprehensive. According to Transparent Chennai, the city had undergone two rounds of slum declarations, one in 1971 and the other in 1986, and since then, has not declared any new slums. As such, a number of ‘unrecognised’ slums in the city have come up since then. Balasundar of the Citizen Rights Forum said, “Of the 242 slums on both objectionable and unobjectionable lands, only 33 are located on private lands, while six have multiple ownerships. The rest are all on government lands. Yet, these slums were neither declared nor upgraded in the last 26 years.” ‘Objectionable land’ covers areas such as government land, poromboke, canals, waterways and footpaths on which habitations are not permitted. Interestingly, the growth in slum population has outpaced the overall urban growth over the last decade. The slum population has more than doubled from a reported 23 lakh during Census 2001 (less than 10 per cent of urban population) to an estimated 59 lakh (17 per cent of urban population in 2011).

While the range of estimates for slum population in urban areas varies between 59 lakh to 86 lakh in 2011, housing shortage is estimated in the range of 26-28 lakh.The recent effort to map slums under the Slum-free City Action Plans is a welcome step in this regard, felt rights activists. The share of urban population is expected to increase from 48 per cent in 2011 to 67 per cent by 2020. (NIE 4/4/12) Poverty rate fell due to liberalisation, say expert s (14) Chennai/ Bangalore: Rising per capita income and growth have reduced poverty among all classes, including socially-disadvantaged classes. Though there are skeptics who argue that growth has bypassed the socially disadvantaged classes, the analysis of National Sample Survey (NSS) data proves otherwise. But, high prevalence of poverty in the states where more SC, ST populations are living still remains same. A Columbia University, USA, study that had analysed the NSS figures from 1988 to 2005, found poverty steadily declining across every social class. The study also observed that India has neglected labour-intensive manufacturing sector, which otherwise would have play a huge role in reducing poverty compared to services sector, which mainly offers employment to semi-skilled and highly skilled people. Arvind Panagaria, Professor of Economics and Indian Political Economy, Columbia University, said, “In the next 15 years, India can eradicate poverty and even redefine it. Young workforce proportion is the highest in Indian population compared to other countries and Indian workforce will be everywhere in the world.” He added that the analysis of NSS figures showed that poverty declined in every group across the country from 1983 to 2004-05. So growth has not bypassed the socially disadvantaged. Ten states with largest SC and ST populations have also witnessed a decline in poverty,” he added at a conference on ‘Reforms, Poverty and the Socially Disadvantaged’ organised by CII and Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs in Bangalore. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Professor, Corporate Strategy and Policy, IIM-Bangalore, felt that India would not have enjoyed many facilities of today without growth. “But it also led to more inequalities,” he added. Trade liberalisation increases growth and efficiency of an economy. Free trade leads to higher wages for unskilled workers in poor and labour-abundant countries. It was the opinion of Rana Hasan, Principal Economist, Asian Development Bank, that according to the NSS’s region level poverty data from India from 1987-88 to 2004-2005, the labour market institutions had grown when there was a financial growth and good road connectivity. “The states that were more open to outside world have avenues for more employment. States with developed financial markets and liberalised tariff rates achieved reduced numbers in poverty,” he added.” (Business Standard 6/4/12) Eligible families will not be deleted from BPL list : Hooda (21) Ferozpur Jhirka: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday said eligible families will not be deleted from the lists of those living Below Poverty Line and Old Age Allowance scheme. In compliance of the directions of the court, notices have been issued to ineligible persons, he said, adding some people having vested interests were misleading others by spreading rumors. Hooda said that construction of Nagina-Tijara (Rajasthan) road will soon be started. He said that the government is committed to the development of Mewat and many development projects are in progress. The government has so far spent Rs 3,200 crore for development of Mewat, he added. (CNN-IBN 8/4/12) Hint of wider poverty parameters (21) Hyderabad, April 7: Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said the Prime Minister favoured a “multi-dimensional approach” towards fixing the poverty line, marking a shift from consumption-based cut-offs that sparked a controversy last year. The new approach, he told a media conference in Hyderabad, was likely to go beyond how much a family spent on food, education and health to include factors like purchasing power, quality of house, drinking water and toilets. “The Prime Minister has favoured a multi-dimensional approach for assessing poverty and deciding the poverty line,” he told the conference on the sidelines of an event to launch the Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellowship scheme. “We are setting up a new committee, which will consider criticism from various quarters and suggest a methodology that would capture the progress of people in multiple dimensions. These factors could be purchasing power of people, quality of their houses, source of drinking water if they are getting tap water and if they have toilets.” Last year, the Planning Commission had come under attack after it accepted an expert committee’s suggestions on deciding who should be considered poor. The committee, headed by economist Suresh Tendulkar, had suggested that a person should be considered poor if he spent less than Rs 447 a month in rural areas and Rs 578 a month in urban areas (both according to the 2004-05 price index). When converted to the 2011 price level, the poverty line can

be placed provisionally at Rs 781 per month in rural areas and Rs 965 in urban areas. The report mainly took into account consumption patterns like how much a family was spending on food, clothes, health and education. Several food rights activists and members of the Sonia Gandhi-headed Nation Advisory Council had criticised the plan panel for accepting the suggestions. The formula was even challenged in the Supreme Court. In Parliament’s budget session, several MPs also criticised the government for the “low poverty line” which, they said, would exclude thousands of deserving families from the benefits below poverty line (BPL) people get. Ahluwalia disagreed, saying many of the benefits were not linked to the poverty line. “The Tendulkar committee’s poverty line just suggests the minimum level of living. We have to have a minimum level of living. This will help us to judge the effectiveness of our policy,” Ahluwalia said. He said the food security bill, now under Parliament’s consideration, envisaged subsidised food to about 67 per cent of the population and would have no link with the poverty line. Other schemes, like the right to education and the rural job act MGNREGA, were not linked to the BPL list, he added. Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh took a dig at MPs who criticised the methodology adopted by the Tendulkar committee, saying the members raising the issue were probably only aware of Sachin Tendulkar, not Suresh Tendulkar. “Those members of Parliament may probably have thought it is Sachin Tendulkar. They did not know Suresh Tendulkar,” Ramesh said. Ramesh said the Centre had in the early 1990s set up the Lakadawala committee, which also considered the same consumption-expenditure model and submitted its report during the United Front government. “At that time, there was no opposition from the Left parties or the BJP,” he said. Ahluwalia, Ramesh and tribal affairs and panchayati raj minister V.K.C. Deo were in the Andhra Pradesh capital to attend the event to launch the fellowship scheme, which has been designed on the lines of the US government’s White House Fellowship. The rural development ministry has selected 150 youths under the scheme. These youths will be sent to Maoist-affected districts in the country to assist the local administration in implementing developmental programmes. “Your job is to be agents to bring about change in the manner the development programmes are implemented,” Ramesh said. (Telegraph 8/4/12) RTE Act: Poor students face uncertain fate (21) BHOPAL: The fate of the children admitted under the Right to Education Act (RTE) in minority institutions hangs in balance after the Supreme Court ruling on Thursday, going by the mood of the schools' management. Already, the convent schools are reportedly finding ways of how not to admit the underprivileged children who were previously given admission under the Act this year as confusion on the future course of action prevails among them. Talking to TOI, Sister Reji, principal Carmel Convent BHEL said, "After the SC ruling, we have no obligations to continue with the admissions of the Below Poverty Line (BPL) children this year. However, we may decide to continue with their admissions scheduled for June on humanitarian grounds." She said that the unreserved category had been admitted in January while the delay for the BPL children previously coming under the 25% reserved category of the RTE before the Thursday's SC ruling was to be completed in June as the state government had not reimbursed for the students admitting last year in kindergarten. The fate of the students of the BPL category admitted last year is also uncertain as they may be asked to cough up the regular fees. "Fresh admissions are conducted in Class I so the children promoted from kindergarten may be asked to make regular payments, otherwise they may as well join government schools," Sr Reji said. Fr Francis Maria Joseph, principal St Xavier's Senior Secondary School, BHEL though had a slightly different stand. "All those who have been admitted under the RTE would be taught free of cost till class VIII. Those who are not performing well may be asked to quit though." The principals also stated that the all the convents would come together and take a united stand on the fate of the BPL students . Fr Anand Muttungal, spokesperson of MP Isai Mahasangh said, "The students would not be charged for fees this year but they may be asked to produce an income certificate to verify whether they actually belong to the BPL category or not." Later he said, "A joint meeting of the Christian minority institutions would be held around June -July." A parent whose child was studying in one of the city convents said, "Our hopes have been dashed. We were overjoyed when my son was selected for a convent by the lottery. Now it is unsure whether he would be able to study there or not." (Times of India 14/4/12) BPL smart card glory (21) Labour minister Janardan Singh Sigriwal on Sunday claimed that Bihar topped the country in providing smart cards to below poverty line (BPL) families. It reached out to 70 lakh families, 35 lakh more than Bengal — the state nearest to Bihar on this front. Smart cards allow BPL families to avail free treatment at

hospitals enlisted under the scheme. The upper limit of free treatment is Rs 30,000. Sigriwal said the state government had left no stone unturned to provide smart cards to all BPL families. As many as 2.7 lakh families have received the smart cards in Saran. The minister said he has urged the Centre to increase the limit of free treatment against smart cards to Rs 1 lakh. He has also demanded to extend the validity of the smart cards from one year to three years. Under the scheme of free medical treatment, the labour minister said, all medical colleges and government hospitals have been attached. Appealing all the health hubs to behave politely with the smart card holders, the labour minister said the labour department would reward the hospitals with encouragement money. There are around 1.45 crore BPL families in Bihar and 4,70,324 families in Saran. Of these BPL families, 26,000 live in the urban areas of the district. While Rs 6.5 crore has been spent to provide smart cards to 2.7 lakh BPL families in Saran, work to cover the remaining families under the scheme would start from April 26, Sigriwal said at the news meet he addressed in Chhapra. The decision to give BPL families, covered by the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, the cards was taken at a cabinet meeting last year. (Telegraph 16/4/12) 'Microfinance Bill impediment for self-help groups' (21) Mumbai: The Microfinance Bill in its present form may hurt the growth of the Self-Help Group (SHG) programme being run across states to bring people above the poverty line, according to Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh. “The Bill needs to be rewritten. MFIs are not instruments for poverty alleviation,” Ramesh said in an interaction with reporters after he reviewed initiatives by NABARD in an SHG-bank link programme.He, however, did not elaborate the kind of changes necessary in the Bill before the Parliament. At present, there are 1.34 million active SHGs in the country. Most of them are concentrated in southern states. Andhra Pradesh alone has 0.71 million SHGs in 16 districts. During the visit, Ramesh launched a dedicated ‘Ajeevika’ Cell at the headquarters of NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development). The programme aims at alleviating poverty in rural areas by providing poor women better access to financial resources at affordable rates and facilitating the establishment of sustainable livelihoods. It will attempt to address supply and demand side constraints, besides bridging capacity gaps for poor communities to strengthen the existing livelihood sectors like agriculture and allied activities. (Business Standard 15/4/12) ‘Most BPL families haven't got foodgrains this mon th' (21) Bidar, April 19, 2012: Most of the 3.8 lakh families with below poverty line (BPL) ration cards in the district have not got foodgrains this month, Bandeppa Kashempur, Janata Dal (Secular) MLA and former Minister, has said. The poor had been forced to suffer because of the delay by the Department of Food and Civil Supplies in verifying the list of beneficiaries, he told presspersons on Tuesday. Of the 3.8 lakh BPL families in the district, the department had verified the documents of only 1.5 lakh families, Mr. Kashempur said. Moreover, the department had only released enough foodgrains for 2.4 lakh families. Traders who ran fair price shops had stopped distributing foodgrains, as they feared angry protests by the families whose cards had not been verified yet. As a result, just 10-15 per cent of families had obtained foodgrains from ration shops, he said. “Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Shobha Karandlaje told me that the full foodgrain quota for the district had not been released as officials had delayed the verification process in the district. I urged her not to let the poor suffer for the mistakes of officials. Despite the Minister assuring me of speedy release of foodgrains, nothing has happened,” Mr. Kashempur said. (The Hindu 19/4/12) Rural livelihoods mission in five districts in firs t phase (21) Bangalore: Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Jagadish Shettar getting ready for a press conference after inaugurating an office of the Sanjeevini project in Bangalore on Wednesday.— Photo: K. Bhagya PrakashA pilot project of the Karnataka State Rural Livelihoods Mission (KSRLM) to enhance employment opportunities through a “demand-driven” strategy will begin with a survey of self-help groups and people below the poverty line in five districts — Belgaum, Dharwad, Gulbarga, Mysore and Tumkur. The programme will be implemented in a phased manner and cover all districts in five to seven years, said Principal Secretary for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Anita Prasad. During the first phase, 20 blocks in the five districts will be covered. A new office for KSRLM was inaugurated on Infantry Road here by Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Jagadish Shettar on Wednesday. The project will follow a “demand-driven” strategy to allocate funds, Ms. Prasad said and added that the focus will be

on social inclusion, financial inclusion and economic inclusion. The budget allocation for the financial year 2012-2013 is Rs. 120 crore. The National Rural Livelihoods Mission focusses on self-employment programmes through the formation of self-help groups. The KSRLM, now renamed “Sanjeevini”, was launched to enhance rural livelihood opportunities for the rural poor in the State. Skill development will look at augmenting off-farm income, such as carpentry, agarbatti and candle-making, said Ms. Prasad. The scheme will encourage the federation of self-help groups at the district level to assist with marketing. (The Hindu 19/4/12) Ending hunger critical to sustainable development: UN (21) Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr 20 : The world must tackle the urgent challenge of ending hunger if it is to ensure a model of development that is sustainable over the long term, the head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stressed Thursday. "We cannot call development sustainable if we are leaving almost one in every seven people behind, victims of undernourishment," Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva told participants at FAO's biennial regional conference that began in Baku, Azerbaijan. "I am convinced ending hunger is a possible goal, with true political commitment. FAO is committed to this effort." The conference brings together government ministers and senior officials from the countries of Europe and Central Asia to discuss food security, agriculture, fisheries, and forestry issues. It will also decide on FAO's future work programme in the region. In his remarks, Graziano da Silva highlighted several areas requiring concerted action, including adopting more sustainable production approaches and technologies to produce more food with less impact, and shifting to healthier diets to tackle the emerging problem of obesity and reduce pressure on natural resources essential to food production. Turning to the particular challenges for Europe, he noted the food security and nutritional challenges it faces. Although most European countries experience malnutrition rates under five per cent, there are pockets of particular concern, such as the Caucasus and Central Asia, where undernourishment and poverty rates remain high. While FAO projects that this situation will improve over the coming decades, it also warns that a rise in obesity and diet-related illnesses will emerge as major problems - a key finding of a report the agency released yesterday ahead of the conference. The report also warned that as diets shift from cereals towards higher consumption of meat and dairy, the risk factors behind chronic, non-communicable diseases could rise in parts of the Caucasus and Central Asia. In addition to diet, the report said that lifestyle habits, poverty and medical care also influence obesity, disease and death rates, and that these increased risk levels will place greater pressure on healthcare facilities in the poorer countries of Central Asia than in the European Union. The two-day conference will also look at what agricultural policies can help boost crop production to both address food security as well as combat rural poverty. (IBNS) (New Kerala 20/4/12) Govt study fixes poverty line at Rs 66 for cities a nd Rs 35 for villages (21) NEW DELHI: Here is a new set of official statistics that can escalate the politically contentious debate on what constitutes the poverty line. If the average monthly consumption expenditure is taken as the benchmark of what an individual needs to survive, the poverty line would be Rs 66.10 for urban areas and Rs 35.10 for rural regions, while about 65% of the population will be below this cutoff. The figures, based on the 66th round of the national sample survey for 2009-10 , provide a more realistic marker for estimating both the poverty line and the population below it than the Planning Commission's calculation of Rs 28.65 per capita per day for cities and Rs 22.42 for rural areas. The rural and urban all-India averages for monthly expenditure are Rs 1,054 and Rs 1,984 per person daily, respectively , and if these are projected on the expenditure-population curve, the population below this works out to 64.47% (rural) and 66.70% (urban). Sources said the exercise was carried out as part of a study and is based on NSSO data largely available in the public domain. While the government is revising its parameters, the monthly averages might be a useful means of estimating where to draw the poverty line. With almost all states showing more than 60% of populations below the monthly expenditure averages , the oft-repeated claim that 70% of India lives on less than $2 a day has a ring of truth in it. As yet there is nothing official about using monthly average expenditure as the poverty line and the government has said its calculations are based on the Tendulkar Committee formula. The Tendulkar Committee had concluded that based on 2004 statistics, the number of poor was a high 37.2%, instead of the estimated 27.5% and based its findings by factoring in education, health and other amenities. The proposed committee is expected to account for such variables. After facing criticism in March, when it reduced the urban and rural poverty lines to Rs 28.65 and Rs 22.42 from Rs 32 and Rs 26, the Planning Commission said it will set up a

technical committee to go into how to measure poverty. It has also said the Tendulkar methodology will not be linked to benefits for underprivileged sections . Projections based on NSSO data present a disturbing picture as population cut offs for average consumption for almost all states fall between the sixth and seventh deciles, statistics for which are available in its report "Key indicators of household expenditure in India." Further fine tuned, they deliver a precise percentage of population below the average spends. The large section of population below the expenditure curve also points to a worrying inequity in incomes , something that should concern planners as the government looks to target benefits for those who need them through initiatives like food security and employment guarantees. India's schemes might be off target, or suffering from poor reach while benefits of economic growth are not meeting UPA-II's policy objectives of "inclusive growth" as it is evident from the data that there is a concentration of buying power in the top 30%-35 % of the population. (Times of India 29/4/12) '60% of rural India live on less than Rs. 35 a day' (21) New Delhi, May 03, 2012: About 60% of India's rural population live on less than Rs. 35 a day and nearly as many in cities live on Rs. 66 a day, reveals a government survey on income and expenditure. "In terms of average per capita daily exp:enditure, it comes out to be about Rs. 35 in rural and Rs. 66 in urban India. About 60% of the population live with these expenditures or less in rural and urban areas," said Director General of National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) J Dash in his preface to the report. According to the 66th round of National Sample Survey (NSS) carried out between July 2009 and June 2010, all India average monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) in rural areas was Rs. 1,054 and urban areas Rs. 1,984. The survey also pointed out that 10% of the population at the lowest rung in rural areas lives on Rs. 15 a day, while in urban areas the figure is only a shade better at Rs. 20 day. "The poorest 10% of India's rural population had an average MPCE of Rs. 453. The poorest 10% of the urban population had an average MPCE of Rs. 599", it said. The NSSO survey also revealed that average MPCE in rural areas was lowest in Bihar and Chhattisgarh at around Rs. 780 followed by Orissa and Jharkhand at Rs. 820. Among other states, Kerala has the highest rural MPCE at 1,835 followed by Punjab and Haryana at Rs. 1,649 and Rs. 1,510 respectively. The the highest urban MCPE was in Maharashtra at Rs. 2,437 followed by Kerala at Rs. 2,413 and Haryana at Rs. 2,321. It was lowest in Bihar at Rs. 1,238. The median level of MCPE was Rs. 895 in rural and Rs. 1,502 in urban India, indicating consumption level of majority of population. According to the study, food was estimated to account about 57% of the value of the average rural Indian household consumption during 2009-10 whereas it was 44% in cities. The study reveals that the average monthly per capita consumption of cereals was 11.3 kg in rural areas and 9.4 kg in cities. Based on NSSO estimates, the Planning Commission had pegged that poverty line at Rs. 28.65 and Rs. 22.42 daily consumption in urban and rural areas respectively in 2009-10. As per the Commission's estimates the number of persons living below poverty line was 35.46 crore in 2009-10, as compared to 40.72 crore in 2004-05. (Hindustan Times 3/5/12) How do you count the world's hungry people? (21) London: Two years ago, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched a petition to fight hunger with the slogan: "1,000,000,000 people live in chronic hunger and I'm mad as hell." Since then, more than 3.4 million people, including actors, pop stars and footballers, have added their voices to the online campaign calling on governments to make the elimination of hunger their top priority. But outrage over the "horrifying figure" of 1 billion hungry people around the world, as it was described by former FAO head Jacques Diouf, has turned to embarrassment in some quarters in light of growing doubts about the accuracy of the number. How do you count the world's hungry people? Many researchers say the estimate was simply too high. "The fact that it's 1 billion is a much better story, and that's why it stays in people's minds," said Richard King, a food policy expert with Oxfam. "It's a great number." The controversy led the Committee on World Food Security, a top-level UN forum, to urge the FAO to overhaul its calculations using better data and methodology and to call for a set of internationally agreed food-security indicators. The first fruits are due in October when a new estimate of the number of undernourished people will be published along with revisions for previous years as part of the FAO's annual report on food insecurity. The figures will incorporate fresher data on world food supplies and more timely and comprehensive household consumption surveys from different countries, said Carlo Cafiero, a senior FAO statistician. The report will also include supplemental indicators of hunger, such as the share of household budgets spent on food. "If you only present one number, there is a tendency to

over-interpret it and take it as if it were capturing everything, but we want to try and be more explicit in recognising the various dimensions of food insecurity," Cafiero said. Nutritionists working in the field have long complained that the FAO's hunger estimates focused too narrowly on calorie intake, ignoring the bigger picture - protein, vitamin and mineral deficiencies in diets and the serious health problems they cause. Calculating the number of hungry people around the world at any given moment, let alone predicting how that number is likely to change in the future, is no easy task. Models for working out how many people don't have enough to eat are not as precise or forward-looking as experts would like, partly due to lags in the release of national-level statistics. Moreover, shifting economic conditions alter the buying power of the poor day by day, and food harvests - increasingly affected by extreme weather - fluctuate, causing price volatility. When the FAO came under pressure to say how much hunger was increasing due to skyrocketing food prices and the global financial crisis in 2008, it decided to combine US Department of Agriculture projections of how economic turmoil would hurt food production, consumption and trade with its own hunger estimates of previous years, and extrapolate from there. It estimated a "historic high" of 1.02 billion undernourished people, or around one-sixth of humanity, in 2009. But problems emerged with the assumptions behind the number. Economic conditions did not turn out to be as disastrous as anticipated, and food production and consumption held up better than expected. In addition, prices didn't rise as much as feared in some developing countries, like India and China, because they used export bans and subsidies to keep them down. Finally, many people were able to maintain the amount of calories they ate by switching to cheaper foods and cutting spending on other basic needs like education and healthcare, surveys suggest. "All evidence now is pointing to the fact that the situation was not so desperate in terms of (people's) calorie intake as, at that time, everybody thought it was," FAO's Cafiero said. In 2010, FAO forecast a drop to 925 million undernourished people and in 2011 it didn't produce a number at all given the dispute over its methods. The question is not whether metrics are necessary, but how to collect, interpret and share the data to present a realistic and accurate picture of the food security situation. Improving the way hunger is calculated could have far-reaching consequences for the way governments and aid agencies respond more effectively to hunger crises, experts say. Aid groups say information from their work with local communities can contribute to a fuller picture of hunger nationally, regionally and globally, for example. "We have a responsibility to bring the view from the field ... to make sure it's not just a technical exercise, but reflects the reality on the ground," said Alberta Guerra, a Rome-based food policy officer for ActionAid. In Nairobi's slums, when the cost of food soared in 2008, many poor urban families cut out meat and fish, went without medicine and took their children out of school. With post-election violence making matters worse, some even stole food, scavenged in garbage dumps, brewed illegal alcohol or turned to prostitution to survive. But the many aid agencies based in the Kenyan capital, much more used to working in rural hunger crises, didn't have a system to pinpoint when conditions for already poor slum dwellers were becoming an emergency. "It was very difficult to get funding for urban response, partly because there were no metrics to say we are seeing a critical situation," said Lilly Schofield, research adviser with Concern Worldwide. The organisation has since begun testing indicators to capture changes in household food security in Kenya's slums, where food has remained expensive. Nyauma Nyasani, East Africa nutrition adviser for Action Against Hunger, says frequent, on-the-ground checks are far more effective at anticipating hunger problems than annual nutrition surveys. For the past year, the aid group has been piloting a food security surveillance system in Kenya's arid northeast, based on household questionnaires conducted every three months. And in Uganda, after a similar two-year project, it is developing national guidelines to monitor food security with the health ministry. Funding is an obstacle. Shifting to a more responsive system will require political commitment and long-term financial resources, but rich governments and UN agencies tend to offer money on a short timeframe. "As long as something like this is donor-driven, the sustainability becomes questionable," Nyasani said. Ultimately, however, it is not data, but action, that makes a difference. Saul Guerrero, evaluations adviser with Action Against Hunger, said aid workers detected warning signs months before the onset of last year's severe hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa, where some 13 million people needed food aid because of a regional drought and conflict in Somalia. "Whoever tells you the data let us down doesn't know what they are talking about," he said. "It was the final bit that didn't work - turning data into policy. This is the question no one has the full answer to." (CNN-IBN 5.5.12) Orissa witnesses steepest decline in poverty during 2004-2010 (21) NEW DELHI: Among the major states, Orissa recorded the steepest fall in poverty from 2004-05 to 2009-10, Minister of State for Planning Ashwani Kumar said today. In Orissa, poverty declined by 20.1 per cent

during 2004-05 to 2009-10, while on all India level, it fell by 7.4 per cent in the same period, Kumar said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. The data is, however, based on estimates pegging poverty line at the controversial level of Rs 28.65 per capita daily consumption in cities. Among the north-eastern states, poverty fell by 22.6 per cent in Tripura from 2004-05 to 2009-10, while it increased in the states of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Assam. Poverty rose by 12.1 per cent and 9.2 per cent in Nagaland and Manipur respectively. It also went up by 5.6 per cent and 3.5 per cent in Mizoram and Assam respectively. In Delhi, the national capital, poverty went up by 1.2 per cent. However, in Gujarat and Bihar it fell by 8.6 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively during the five year period. Among other states, poverty in West Bengal declined by 7.5 per cent, while in Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh it fell by 3.2 per cent and 8.5 per cent respectively. Kumar said the poverty ratio in the country has come down from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 29.8 per cent 2009-10. During this period, poverty ratio has reduced by 1.5 percentage points per annum. (Economic Times 10/5/12) Dream of a hunger-free India achieved: Swaminathan (21) New Delhi, May 13 : Eminent agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan today said that over six decades the country had achieved its dream of a hunger-free India. Noting the instrumental role of Parliamentary democracy in shaping the nation's 'tryst with democracy' expressed by the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the eve of Independence, he recalled that at the time of Independence, two million people, including children, had just died of hunger in the Bengal famine which had forced the leaders to emphasise on food security. Speaking at a special session of the Rajya Sabha on the 60th anniversary of its first assembly on this day in 1952, he said Nehru firmly believed that everything else could wait but not agricultural self-sufficiency, which was why considerable attention was paid to agriculture. In the early days of Independence, India lived ''a ship to mouth'' experience, he recalled. Ships carrying foodgrains would arrive with foodgrains from the US under the PL480 scheme to feed India's millions. (UNI) (New Kerala 13/5/12) “Pauperisation, starvation and illiteracy challenge s to democracy” (21) NEW DELHI, May 14, 2012: Participating in the debate to mark the 60th anniversary of the first sitting of Parliament here on Sunday, Lalu Prasad (RJD) said in the Lok Sabha that regional parties would play a key role in the coming Presidential election and 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Mulayam Singh (SP) asked the members to take a pledge to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi's dreams as farmers' suicides and hunger-related deaths remain a major challenge for the country. Sharad Yadav (Janata Dal-United) said despite having expert parliamentarians and legislators, the government was taking the help of committees to ascertain the number of poor. He wanted to know how the number of calories consumed could be a basis of ascertaining poverty. Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M) said so long as pauperisation, starvation and illiteracy exist, there would be challenges to parliamentary democracy. Agriculture Minister and NCP member Sharad Pawar made a reference to imposition of emergency and said the people had taught a lesson to those who tried to deviate from democracy and brought in others to restore it. In the Rajya Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said there were so many countries which became independent with India and adopted democracy but then fell to dictatorship. But India because of some intrinsic culture of accommodation and tolerance survived as a democratic society. “We still continue to face the curse of terrorism and insurgency. Let us resolve that there should be no politics on these issues,” he said. Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) pointed out that the efficiency of the Indian Parliament depends to a large extent on the duration and proper conduct of the parliamentary proceedings. During the last two decades the Indian Parliament never sat for more than 100 days in a year while the British Parliament sits for at least 160 days a year. “We seriously consider, through a Constitutional Amendment, if necessary, making it mandatory for 100 sittings a year. I think, that is necessary as a corrective step for the future,” he said. Mayawati (BSP) said narrow political interest had a profound impact on Parliamentary democracy hampering welfare measures. Due to political and individual selfishness, “we have also not been able to eradicate corruption because of which the people have been forced to demand something like the Lokpal Bill,” she said. (The Hindu 14/5/12) India ranks 3rd in region in ‘out of pocket’ med sp end (21) NEW DELHI: India ranks third in the World Health Organization's latest list of "countries with highest out of pocket (OOP) expenditure on health" in the south-east Asia region. The WHO's World Health Statistics 2012, released on Wednesday, says almost 60% of total health expenditure in India was paid by the

common man from his own pocket in 2009. In comparison, Nepal's OOP health expenditure stands at 49%, Sri Lanka (44%), Indonesia (41%), Maldives (28%), Thailand (15%) and Bhutan (13%).Myanmar has the worst OOP expenditure at 82%, followed by Bangladesh (65%) in the same region. Pakistan's OOP stands at 41%, while China's is 38%.Globally, Myanmar and Afghanistan recorded the highest OOP expenditure on health at 82%, followed by Sierre Leone (80%), Chad (78%), Yemen (73%) and Cameroon (70%).In comparison, only 7% of France total health expenditure in 2009 was OOP, the Netherlands (6%), Monaco (7%), the UK (10%), Ireland (12%), Denmark and Germany (13%), Norway (15%), Sweden (17%) and Italy (20%). The WHO had earlier said that 3.2% Indians would fall below the poverty line because of high medical bills with about 70% of Indians spending their entire income on healthcare and purchasing drugs. The Planning Commission too accepts that OOP to pay for healthcare costs is a growing problem in India. It says 39 million Indians are pushed to poverty because of ill health every year. Around 30% in rural India didn't go for any treatment for financial constraints in 2004. In urban areas, 20% of ailments were untreated for financial problems the same year, said a recent study in the Lancet. About 47% and 31% of hospital admissions in rural and urban India, respectively, were financed by loans and sale of assets. States have cut down on spending to purchase drugs, adding to aam aadmi's woes. The Commission's expert group on universal health coverage said, "We estimate that an increase in the public procurement of medicines from around 0.1% to 0.5% of GDP would ensure universal access to essential drugs, greatly reduce the burden on private out-of-pocket expenditures and increase the financial protection for households." (Times of India 17/5/12) Pension of Rs.200 an insult to dignity, says Jairam (21) New Delhi, May 20 : Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to review the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, saying the Rs.200 per month granted under it is "an insult to the dignity of an individual".Jairam wrote to the prime minister May 16 after activist and National Advisory Council member Aruna Roy petitioned him on the issue demanding the pension amount be raised to Rs.2,000 per month. Some 3 crore people aged over 60 years, receive the monthly pension. Ramesh has also supported another demand of Roy and her Pension Parishad that the government do away with the Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) criteria for identifying beneficiaries under the pension scheme. Noting that in most states, the beneficiaries were getting pension amounts bunched every few months, Ramesh has said that payment must be made at an assured date into the bank account of the person concerned. He has already submitted a proposal to use 'Aadhar', the special identity numbers being generated by the Unique Identification Authority of India. However, Ramesh has rejected the third demand of the Pension Parishad that men over 55 years and women over 50 years should be eligible for pension. Aruna Roy and her associates, under the banner of Pension Parishad, will meet NAC chairperson Sonia Gandhi Monday to discuss the issue. Nikhil Dey, an associate of Roy told IANS: "There is a grave crisis facing the elderly today and something serious must be done about it." He said the issue has received support cutting across the political spectrum and even from President Pratibha Patil. (IANS) (New Kerala 20/5/12) Another starvation death at Bhuvan TE; toll 15 (21) SILCHAR, May 20 – Lakhi Prasad Dushad, aged about 38 years and a resident of North bank division of the Bhuvan Valley Tea Estate in Barak Valley allegedly died recently of starvation. He was a permanent worker of the tea estate. This incident was brought to light by the Barak Human Rights Protection Committee (BHRPC). The BHRPC had earlier reported 14 deaths that were found to be caused by starvation, malnutrition and lack of proper medical care in this south Assam tea garden. With this latest death the toll stands at 15, according to information available with the BHRPC. According to BHRPC reports, the tea estate owned by a private company based in Kolkata, which employed about 500 permanent and approximately another 1000 casual workers, was abandoned by the owners in October 8, 2011 without paying the workers their outstanding wages and other dues. It resulted in loss of means of livelihood of the workers pushing them into the condition of starvation and famine that led to the deaths of 10 people till January 27 2012. According to teh BHRPC fact-finding report, the workers were deprived of their rights as they were forced to do overwork and were paid very low wages (Rs 41.00 for casual workers and Rs 50.00 to 55.00 for permanent workers) without being provided with any medical treatment while working and, after closure, had the payment of their wages, provident fund and bonus suspended. The rights of plantation workers to fair wage, bonus, provident fund, housing and basic medical facilities

in accordance with the Plantation Labour Act, 1951 have not been enforced. In the course of closure, the government failed to make any intervention to guarantee their fundamental rights to live with dignity. It was further found that basic medical care and food distribution for the poor under the government schemes including the ICDS did not properly reach even those workers who lost their livelihoods and that it was one of the causes that led to the deaths. On receiving information about the death of Dushad, a team from the BHRPC visited the garden and spoke with his family and other labourers on May 3. The team was informed that the immediate cause of the death apparently was tuberculosis. But the labourers contendend that because of long time malnutrition the deceased had been very weak and vulnerable to attack by such deseases. This is the reason for a large number of the labourers having tuberculosis while people residing in nearby villages seldom have this disease, they claim. On the basis of the information provided by the workers, theBHRPC thinks that this is prima facie a clear case of death due to malnutrition and lack of proper medical care since the underlying cause of the death is obviously malnutrition and the immediate cause of tuberculosis is a treatable disease. Moreover, going by the definition of starvation death provided in the National Food Security Bill, 2010 drafted by the National Advisory Council and the Starvation Investigation Protocol prepared by the Supreme Court Commissioners on the right to food the unfortunate death can be termed as the one caused by starvation. This is also a case of failure of both the Union Government of India and the State government of Assam to ensure right to life with dignity to which every citizen of India is entitled under Article 21 of the Constitution of India as well as international human rights law. At this point, the BHRPC is very concerned over the plight of the survivors of Dushad. He left behind his wife Imti Dushad (aged about 30), his sons Kishan Dushad (15), Eleven Dushad (13), Sujit Dushad (11), Hitesh Dushad (8) and 5 year old daughter Sweetie Dushad. Their survival is uncertain in the situation as it now stands for them. The BHRPC made a suplementary submission about the death of Lakhi Prasad Dushad and the situation now prevailing in the estate to the office of the Supreme Court Commissioners on the right to food as well as the National Human Rights Commission who took cognizance of the hunger deaths in Bhuvan valley on the petitions of the BHRPC. The Prime Minister and the Chief Minister of have also been informed. The Assam Tribune 21/5/12) Poverty forces Bengal mother to sell child for Rs.2 000 (21) Kolkata, May 22 : Unable to take care of her seven-month-old child due to extreme poverty, a mother in West Bengal's Nadia district sold her infant to a meat seller for Rs.2000. Rinku Das, a recently widowed mother of two from Krishnanagar in Nadia district which is some 105 km from Kolkata, said she was compelled to sell her second child - a girl - as she found it difficult to take care of her. "I do not have a livelihood. Whatever I had, is already sold. It had become very difficult for me to feed myself and the children. So, I sold my younger child for Rs. 2000," said Das. Das sold the child to Madhav Saha, her neighbour and a meat seller. Saha, who is childless, was happy to accept the child. "Yes, I bought the baby for Rs.2000. I do not have a child and I am very happy to get her," Das said. Though police have not arrested them, they called both Das and Saha and asked the mother to take back the child. "It is illegal to sell the baby. We know it is difficult for the mother to take care of the child. But for the welfare of the baby, it is necessary that she stays with her mother," said an officer of Krishnanagar police station. "Though Das was willing to take back her child, Saha has been reluctant and coaxing us to allow him to keep the baby," the officer added. (IANS) (New Kerala 22/5/12) Govt forms new panel on poverty (21) New Delhi, May 24, 2012: The government on Thursday put the controversial poverty estimation in a deep freeze by appointing a new expert group to recommend a new estimation methodology aimed at linking government subsidies to poor. The group to be led by C Rangarajan, head of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council and having three others members is expected to submit its report in nine months, minister of planning Ashwini Kumar told reporters. However, not even a single member of the group is from the Planning Commission, which is mandated to estimate the number of poor in India. “It is aimed at undermining the plan panel's expertise,” said a senior plan panel functionary. The reason for debunking the Tendulkar Committee methodology, which resulted in abysmally low poverty line of R28 per capita daily expenditure in cities, was that aspirations of people was changing fast. Kumar said : “People’s perspective about poverty has changed…We don’t send a letter through 20 paisa post card these days rather we call from our mobile phones to communicate. Everybody wears Reebok shoe and people ride scooter instead of cycles,” he said. The minister said the group was being constituted to take

note of various points of views and perspectives expressed in public domain with a need to revisit poverty estimates and related methodologies. Many academicians outside the government had described the plan panel’s poverty estimates as not in sync with present day realities. Kumar said that the expert group will also recommend how the estimates of poverty should be linked to eligibility and entitlements for government's social sector schemes and programmes. (The Hindustan Times 24/5/12) Choice: gruelling heat or gnawing hunger (21) Tamluk, May 27: Going to school in peak summer heat is cruel, but going without the meal even more so for many children in East Midnapore. Parents of children enrolled in a pre-school educational programme under the centrally sponsored Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) in East Midnapore have demanded that the centres be closed because the kids find it difficult to attend classes in the sweltering heat. The parents, however, want that the authorities allow them to take home the food given under the scheme because they cannot provide the kids two meals a day. Under the scheme, children aged between three and six are prepared for primary school and given khichdi and a boiled egg each every day. There have been protests in front of at least 100 ICDS centres in the district, including in Tamluk, Kolaghat, Ramnagar and Bhagabanpur blocks, in the past week. The parents, mostly farm labourers and mechanics, said it was tough for the children to step out in the gruelling heat to attend classes. The maximum temperature has been hovering around 43 degrees Celsius in the past week. To add to the children’s woes, around 80 per cent of the 5,630 ICDS centres in East Midnapore do not have electricity. “As there are no fans, my son often complains that he feels unwell in school,” a farmer said. District officials said the government had issued a circular bringing the classes forward by an hour. Now, the classes begin from 7am and end at 11am. The new timings will come into effect from tomorrow. The officials added that there was no provision of summer vacation at ICDS centres. “We have received a large number of complaints from parents. They want the ICDS centres to be kept closed as long as this hot spell continues. But there is no declared summer vacation at these centres. Classes are not held only on Sundays and some other scheduled holidays, such as the Durga Puja. The parents also want that they be allowed to take home the food, but that cannot be allowed if the centres remain closed,” said Suman Haoladar, the additional district magistrate in charge of the ICDS centres. According to the rule, the children will have to attend classes, where they are taught alphabets, numbers and poems, to get the food. There were Nor’westers and rain in Tamluk and Haldia this afternoon. But the temperature is unlikely to come down considerably. “We are poor. We send our children to the ICDS centres mainly for the lunch as we can’t provide them square meals a day. But we feel bad for our children as they have to brave this gruelling heat to get the meal. I am sure the children can’t concentrate on their studies in this weather. We want that the children be allowed to stay at home. We will collect the meal,” said Ram Samanta, a labourer whose son Sourav is enrolled with an ICDS centre at Shalgechhia village in Tamluk. Ram, 32, was among the 25 parents who demonstrated at the ICDS centre yesterday. “The heat this year is so unbearable that the government brought forward the summer vacation in the state and aided schools. Then why should our children suffer?” he asked. Sabina Begum, 28, the mother of Manjura Khatun, spoke on the same lines. “When the government made the announcement, we had thought that it would apply to the ICDS centres as well.” Deepa Khatua, who is a domestic help and her husband a labourer, said: “On most days, we don’t cook during the day because our son and daughter eat at the ICDS centre while we get food at our workplace. We send our children to the school only because we can save some money and they get to eat nutritious food.” An Anganwadi worker who teaches at an ICDS centre at Salgechhia village said that under the programme, the same food is also provided to expectant mothers and children up to the age of three years. “The same cooks prepare food for both programmes. So if the government allows, it would not be difficult for us to provide food to the children even if the ICDS centres remain closed,” Krishna Pal said. Some parents have lodged a complaint with the deputy chief of the Trinamul Congress-run East Midnapore zilla parishad, Mahmud Hossain. “We have requested the state government to consider the parents’ demands,” he said. Shyamaprasad Mukherjee, the child welfare minister, said: “We have realised the problems the children are facing. I will discuss the matter with the chief minister.” (Telegraph 28/5/12) Neglected indigenous food important tool to fight h unger: UN (21) New York, June 1 : Indigenous foods which have been neglected by the food industry and urban consumers can be an important tool to alleviate hunger and malnutrition, a United Nations official said on Thursday. “The focus of research and crop improvement on a few widely consumed crops has helped

meet the food needs of the rapidly growing world population, but it has narrowed dramatically the number of species upon which global food security and agricultural incomes depend,” the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, Hiroyuki Konuma, said at a UN-backed symposium in north-eastern Thailand. The two-day meeting – which brings together scientists and experts from 38 countries and includes 12 food exhibition stalls – is focused on the role of local and indigenous foods, with FAO and partners encouraging a revaluation of forgotten and neglected foods which are often largely underutilized. According to FAO, globalization has reduced the number of plant species used for food and other purposes from roughly 100,000 to about 30. With the global population expected to reach nine billion by 2050, FAO is concerned that the world may not be able to produce enough food to meet demand. Indigenous and traditional foods - which are sometimes undervalued and classified as ‘foods of the poor’ or ‘forgotten foods’ - can play an important role in helping the estimated 925 million people who suffer from hunger and malnutrition worldwide, 60 per cent of whom live in the Asia-Pacific region, FAO noted in a news release. It added that among neglected traditional foods in Asia that could help meet the needs of local populations are forest fruits, sago palm, medicinal wild plants and edible insects. “Go local. Enhance local food security; and maximize the utilization of locally available foods,’’ Konuma told the symposium’s 150 attendees, which included representatives of governments, UN agencies, the private sector, academic and research institutions, civil society and experts in agriculture, environment, health and nutrition. Symposium participants have called for more research and development into neglected food sources, and for the promotion of a greater diversity of sources of nourishment. The symposium, which ends on Saturday, is jointly organized by the University of Khon Kaen, the Thailand National Council for Science, the Japanese International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, the Crop for the Future Initiative, and FAO. (IBNS) (New Kerala 1/6/12) Traders add rider to food security act (21) RANCHI: The business community of Jharkhand is up in arms against the state government and has demanded that the Food Security and Standard Act should not be implemented in the state till all the districts have testing laboratories. The traders have also demanded that the state government should ensure availability of quality water from public taps which is used by all roadside vendors and small outlets. State president of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Suresh Sonthalia said the provisions of the act were very stringent and could only be met by big companies. Small vendors who struggle to earn a square meal will not be in a position to cook food according to the act because of poor quality water supplied by the government. "All the vendors and small eateries use municipal water for preparing food. Everyone knows that if the water is tested it will not meet the standards specified in the act. In case the food fails quality test, the vendor will have to face jail term of six months and or fine of Rs 5 lakh. We demand that before implementing the act in Jharkhand, the state government should first improve the quality of supply water," said Sonthalia who is also the regional vice-president of the Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI). "We don't have food testing laboratories and the moment there is some complaint on quality of food the outlet will be sealed after collection of sample. The shop will open only after the result comes. If the result comes after one week, the shop will remain closed. We demand that the state should first set up food testing laboratories in each district and if possible have some mobile units," said Sonthalia and added if the government ignores, they would be forced to launch agitation. FJpresident Sajjan Saraf said he had written to state health secretary and requested him to exempt small traders from the purview of the act. "People having annual transaction of less that Rs 12 lakh should be exempted from taking licence for the business," said Saraf. (Times of India 2/6/12) Fixing poverty (21) The constitution of one more committee on fixing a poverty line, under the prime minister’s economic advisor, C Rangarajan, may have been occasioned by two reasons. One is the recent controversy over the poverty line which was officially fixed as Rs 32 a day in urban areas and Rs 26 a day in rural areas. The unrealistically low bench mark, fixed on the basis of the Suresh Tendulkar committee report, had drawn widespread criticism and ridicule. The Planning Commission and the government tried to defend the figures on technical grounds but may have realised the futility of the effort now. The second reason may be that the government wants a more acceptable and realistic measurement for the purpose of targeting its social welfare schemes, especially the ambitious food security plan which is on the anvil. The new committee has been tasked with reexamining the methodology for fixing a poverty line and

estimating the incidence of poverty. The task is difficult and complicated because of the relative nature of poverty and the wide disparities across states and regions. The study will have to find out the changes in incomes and consumption patterns on a dynamic basis and may even have to find a new methodology to analyse them. The Tendulkar committee took four years to reach its conclusions and it took two more years for the government to accept the report in 2011. In the early nineties, the Lakdawala committee had also undertaken a similar exercise. The Rangarajan committee does not have the luxury of time which its predecessors had. Even if it works at a fast pace it is doubtful if it can submit its report during the tenure of the present government.. In any case the committee may not be able to fix a benchmark of poverty early enough for identifying the beneficiaries of the food security plan. A reliable estimate of poverty is however useful for policy formulation and project implementation. The committee should go beyond the conclusions of the two earlier committees. The bench mark fixed by the Tendulkar committee was unrealistic even in 2009. It is more so after three years of high inflation. The new committee should try to base its estimates on more reliable parameters than earnings in terms of rupees. The Lakdawala committee had suggested calorific intake as a measure. There may be others also but they should be objectively verifiable and dynamic. (Deccan Herald 6/6/12) Fifty thousand metric tonnes of foodgrains missing from Allahabd FCI godown (21) Allahabad, June 7 : A whopping 50,000 metric tonnes of foodgrain worth Rs. 3 crore, meant to be distributed among the poor, has gone missing from a Food Corporation of India (FCI) godown here. The scam was unearthed during an inspection by a regional manager of the FCI. The depot manager has suggested that rodents ate 37,000 metric tonnes of wheat and 13,000 metric tonnes of rice stacked in the godown. A police complaint has been filed against him and 10 workers at the godown. FCI godowns store wheat and rice to be given out to families living below poverty line. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is already investigating a Rs. 35,000 crore foodgrain scam in the state. (ANI) (New Kerala 7/6/12) 6.38 m people below poverty line in Karnataka: Plan ning Commission (21) Bangalore, Jun 7 : An estimated 6.38 million people in urban Karnataka live below poverty line, according to the Planning Commission. As per the estimates of poverty released by the Commission, the total number of urban people living below poverty line in 2004-05 was 8.07 crore, official sources here said. The sources said under the revamped Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) the state had received Rs 48.74 crore during 2011-12. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has comprehensively revamped the SJSRY scheme with effect from 2009-2010. The revamped SJSRY scheme is aimed at providing gainful employment to the urban unemployed and under-employed poor, through encouraging the setting up of self employment ventures by the urban poor living below the poverty line, skills training and also through providing wage employment by utilising their labour for construction of socially and economically useful public assets. (UNI) (New Kerala 7/6/12) India's first food bank inaugurated as part of war against hunger (21) NEW DELHI, June 10, 2012 : In pursuit of his long-cherished goal of making India hunger-free by 2020, Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the Prime Minister, along with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit announced the launch of the first Food Bank as part of the India Food Banking Network (IFBN) here over the weekend. Mr. Pitroda said “the idea for IFBN emerged from discussions with the Global Food Banking Network in Chicago”. Noting that food banks are operational in more than 30 countries globally, he said: “I have always believed technology can help greatly in solving issues related to hunger, and through this launch, we will bring technology, logistics, IT, and the involvement of the local community to feed their own community.” Describing IFBN as “an effort to bring the government, private sector and NGOs together to fight hunger and malnutrition in the country”, Mr. Pitroda said the food banks are being set up to help create a converging space for the government, the private sector, civil society and NGOs to channel their key capabilities towards a common mission: social and economic development through hunger relief management. With the implementation of the Delhi Food Bank, IFBN would get on its hands the first model, which it would seek to modify, strengthen and replicate at a national level, so that by 2020 every district of India has access to a Food Bank. At the launch of the Delhi Food Bank, it was also stated that it would work with a simple process. On receiving information about a donor, or on being contacted by a donor who wants to offer food, DFBN would contact the logistics partner to pick up the donated products from the donor location and deliver them to the DFB Network warehouse, which would serve a number of institutional feeding programmes. The food products would then be collected by organisations running

feeding programmes from the Delhi Food Bank warehouse to aid their beneficiaries. Ms. Dikshit, who along with Mr. Pitroda also launched websites of the India Food Bank Network and the Delhi Food Bank and their toll-free helpline number 58888 for integrating the donors and seekers of food, said the Delhi Government has also been reaching out to citizens, especially the needy, with safe and wholesome food programmes ‘ Aap ki Rasoi ' and ‘ Janahaar '. Apart from this, she said it approved in the recent Delhi Budget, the implementation of the Delhi Annashri Yojana , under which cash transfer subsidy would be provided to nearly 6 lakh poor families at the rate of Rs. 600 per month. The establishment of the Food Banking Network “is a great initiative towards the eradication of food hunger”, Ms. Dikshit said, and appreciated the work of individuals and organisations that are “making a real difference in the lives of many with their generous support.” The Chief Minister said the Delhi Government will also sign a memorandum of understanding with the India Food Banking Network to facilitate the functioning of the Delhi Food Bank. Holding that “the community must take an active role in feeding its hungry population,” she said the Delhi Government would like to have details from the India Food Banking Network so that hungry people could be approached properly with the help of volunteers. She also announced that a separate website of the Delhi Food Bank would be launched in order to make available all information easily (The Hindu 10/6/12) Release excess food for the poor: CPI-M (21) New Delhi, June 11 : The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Monday asked the government to release excess food grain stored in central pool for sale at subsidized rates to the poor. "The total stock of foodgrains in central pool has reached 7.11 crore tonnes in May," it said in a statement. "This is 5 crore tonnes in excess of the buffer stock norm. "Much of these stocks are also rotting in the absence of adequate warehousing space. Yet the government refuses to offload these stocks of wheat and rice at cheap prices to the poor and malnourished. "The government is more interested in exporting foodgrains, even by incentivizing private traders," it said. The CPI-M asked the central government to release these food stocks at Below Poverty Line (BPL) prices through the PDS and under special schemes for the drought-affected areas and to the poor and the destitute. (IANS) (New Kerala 11/6/12) Doorstep delivery of grains on cards (21) PATNA: The state government will shortly start a pilot project, called Doorstep Delivery (DSD), in one block each of the 38 districts, to supply foodgrains to every family belonging to the below poverty line ( BPL), antyodaya and above poverty line (APL) categories. Food and consumer protection department minister Shyam Rajak said this at a workshop held on Wednesday to sensitize transporters to DSD system, as they would help in making the implementation of the pilot project successful, so that it could be replicated in other blocks later. Rajak explained that under DSD, godowns would be constructed or arranged through hiring in every panchayat for the storage of foodgrains to be distributed through public distribution system (PDS) shops. Every such godown would have a computer, operator, salesman and guard. Trucks provided with GPS facility would first lift foodgrains from Food Corporation of India ( FCI) godowns and deliver it at the state food corporation (SFC) godowns. Subsequently, trucks would carry foodgrains to panchayat-level godowns as per their quota, after which PDS shopkeepers would lift their quota of foodgrains. If any PDS shopkeeper is not able to lift his or her quota of foodgrain in time, his or her quota would be kept at Panchayat Bhawan. Rajak also said the state government has already been making preparations in this regard. In this regard, district supply officers and block supply officers have been asked to make required preparations, while steps had also been taken for the appointment of computer operators, he said, adding that computers and laptops had been provided to 307 godowns in the state and route charts for the movement of trucks had also been readied. Among others who highlighted the salient features of the DSD system for transporters participating in the workshop were department's principal secretary Shishir Sinha, joint secretary Jai Shankar Prasad Yadav and SFC managing director Pradip Kumar. (Times of India 14/6/12) Fight for food through FB (21) Rural development consultant claims 2,679 children died over 5 months in Raichur district due to malnutrition. A rural development consultant, Ganesh S Koundinya, 49, has gone on Facebook to highlight a social disgrace. He has started a page, named 'Voice of Dignity', to create awareness about malnutrition and starvation deaths in the state. Ganesh has been touring the state for the past five years to understand the problems of people in rural areas. He says, “I started this page after I learnt about the

death of 2,679 children in Raichur district within five months due to malnutrition. Besides that, there are several anganwadis in Bangalore, but most are in a bad condition. Children are not given proper food and cleanliness is a problem. After seeing all this, I decided to draw attention to these shortcomings.” Ganesh wants every child to have healthy food. “I want to start a campaign against malnutrition. I need public support. Children are the same in all parts of the universe. “Children are not dying only in India due to insufficient or improper food, but also in other parts of the world. “Through this page, I want to draw attention of people all over the world to the problems faced by children regarding food,” Ganesh said. (Bangalore Mirror 16/6/12) India condemns people to poverty: Mittal (21) New York: Joining the likes of N R Narayana Murthy and Azim Premji to blame the Indian government for policy inaction, UK-based NRI billionaire L N Mittal has said the country is potentially condemning millions to remain in poverty by not helping industrialisation. "Industrialisation is an important part of every major economy's development and by risking progress in this way, India is potentially condemning hundreds of millions to remain in poverty longer than previously anticipated," Lakshmi Mittal Chairman and CEO of world's largest steel-maker ArcelorMittal said. Addressing the World Steel Dynamics conference here yesterday he said, "The Indian government must concentrate on smoothening the path for foreign investors ...there are understandable challenges in India relating to land acquisition and raw materials, but nevertheless the government must find a way to overcome these road-blocks more swiftly," ArcelorMittal is waiting for six years to implement its USD 30 billion mostly in Odisha and Jharkhand states, facing problems relating to land acquisition and regulatory issues. Mittal made these comments at a time when global rating agencies like Fitch and Standard and Poor's have downgraded India's rating outlook. Wipro chief Azim Premji recently told global investment analysts that the country was leaderless and Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy said India was in a sorry state of affairs. Mittal said, "I hope that they are able to re-focus and return to the higher level of growth rates,". While in the long run, the country enjoys considerable opportunities and requires enormous infrastructure investment, "... its economy is experiencing some quite serious challenge," he said. (Indian Express 20/6/12) Probe ordered into colliery'hunger deaths' (21) RAMGARH: Amitabh Kaushal has constituted a five-member panel headed by district supply officer Manmohan Singh to inquire into the death of two sons of former Congress leader Shiv Kumar Singh (70). Singh's two disabled sons -- Rajneesh Kumar (30) and Manish Kumar (28) -- allegedly died of hunger late on Saturday night. Kaushal said he had constituted a probe panel to inquire into the deaths allegedly due to hunger at Sirka Colliery under Ramgarh block. "The panel will look into the status of their BPL card and food grain supplied to the family as it was facing economic hardship and deserved benefits under the category," Kaushal said. (Times of India 20/6/12) Removing poverty top priority, Manmohan tells Rio+2 0 (21) RIO DE JANEIRO: Making a strong pitch for removing poverty in India and reminding the developed world of its commitment to sustainable development, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday called for setting up a global system that allows each country to develop according to its own priorities. "For developing countries, inclusive growth and a rapid increase in per capita income levels are development imperatives," the Prime Minister said in his address to more than 100 world leaders at the UN summit on sustainable development, popularly known as Rio+20. In a brief but focused address to the gathering that included Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, the Indian Prime Minister reminded the developed country the commitments they made 20 years ago. "The 1992 Rio Summit correctly acknowledged that poverty eradication must remain the over-riding priority for developing countries. Those living at the subsistence level cannot bear the costs of adjustment and their livelihood considerations are important in determining how scarce natural resources such as land, water and forests are used," Manmohan Singh. "Moreover, current consumption patterns in the industrialized world are unsustainable. We need to find new pathways for sustainable living," said the Indian leader, who was invited to speak by Rousseff amid a loud applause. In the past 24 hours, since the summit was kicked-off, the leaders of Brazil, India and China have raised the same issues and used identical language in their support to eradicating poverty. "The outcome document clearly recognizes poverty eradication as the greatest global challenge. In doing so, it places this squarely at the centre of the global development agenda," India's environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan said while addressing a group of

Indian mediapersons. "We have also recognized green economy as one of the means to sustainable development and poverty eradication, and have firmly rejected unilateral measures and trade barriers under the guise of green economy," the minister added. On India's stance on green economy, the Indian minister left nothing to imagination with her scathing criticism of rich nations. "When we talk of the green economy, India is committed to a green world economy but, I must hasten to add, a real green economy -- not a green washed greed economy," Natarajan said…… (Times of india 22/6/12) Steep decline in asset poverty of Dalits, tribals ( 21) New Delhi: The past decade has seen the weakest sections of the society make rapid gains in their material wellbeing, acquiring assets such as cell phones, televisions, two-wheelers and bank accounts, though almost half the population of scheduled castes and tribes (SC and ST) continue to live by the light of the humble kerosene lamp, much more than the national number of 31 per cent. The latest data of Census 2011, released recently, shows the asset poverty of Dalits and tribals has declined substantially. In fact, the decline in the number of Dalits and tribals without any assets is comparable to the numbers nationally. This means nearly 80 per cent of Dalits had one of the specified assets, which includes a bank account, radio, television, bicycle, car, telephone, mobile, computer and internet connectivity. While half the Dalit population has a bank account, 40 per cent have TV sets and another 51 per cent have telephone connectivity. In 2001, just 25 per cent had bank accounts, and 21 per cent had a television, while a phone connection was available with just 3.5 per cent. The decline in asset poverty of Dalits has been striking in the erstwhile Bimaru states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. While 67.5 per cent of SC in Bihar had no assets in 2001, this has halved to 38.9 per cent now. In UP, where 26 per cent had no assets a decade earlier, the figure has come down to 15 per cent. In Kerala, where the figure was 47 per cent a decade before, it is now 11 per cent. In Bengal, where 38 per cent had no assets earlier, it is 28.3 per cent. Ownership of motorised vehicles has increased from 5.3 per cent to 11.9 per cent. In the three states of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, as well as in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, where the tribal population has been facing the brunt of the Naxal-state crossfire, asset poverty has declined. About 37. 3 per cent of ST households all over the nation were found to be without any of the specified assets in the houselisting survey done as part of Census 2011. In Odisha, it was 37 per cent; in Chhattisgarh, 35 per cent; in Jharkhand, 27 per cent. In Maharashtra, which has a sizeable tribal population, households with no assets were 43 per cent. However, 10 years before, ST households with no assets comprised 55 per cent of the community in Odisha, 49 per cent in Jharkhand, and 44 per cent in Chhattisgarh. Today, 22 per cent of ST households own a television set, 33 per cent have landline phone connections or a cell phone, and 44 per cent have a bank account. However, a majority of SC and ST still have no electricity. In Uttar Pradesh, 74 per cent of SC households depended on kerosene for light. In West Bengal, it is 56.4 per cent, in Odisha, 63 per cent. In Jharkhand, 60 per cent. Nationally, the dependence on kerosene as the sole source of light was only 31 per cent. Census Commissioner C Chandramouli, who said the findings on asset poverty showed improvement in the lot of the SC and ST over 10 years, agreed that the lack of electricity and other basic amenities overshadow other gains. “That is the significance of the census. It tells you the gap between putting an electric post in a village and bringing electricity to a house,”' he said. The fact that more than half the population of Dalits and Tribals rely on kerosene for light reveals the electric posts have not become electric connections, he said. (Business Standard 22/6/12) District wants 21 more godowns to increase its food security (21) NASHIK: Aiming to augment the food storage capacity, the district supply office has proposed construction of 21 godowns at the cost of Rs 45 crore. The capacity of storage of foodgrains and oil will go up from 11,300 metric tonnes (MT) to 63,540 MT in two years, officials said. As per the central government's decision on making additional provisions towards implementation of the Food Security Bill, the administration has to ensure holding capacity of foodgrains, sugar and edible oil for two months on the whole, along with 25% of the same, in addition. The district supply office has therefore proposed construction of the godowns. A proposal has been sent to the state government, officials from the district supply office said. Under the bill, the district is expected to have the storage capacity of 63,650 MT of foodgrains, oil and sugar, which is in addition to the large store houses of the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The district administration has decided to augment storage capacity and make additions. Under the proposals, talukas like Deola, Surgana, Trimbakeshwar, which do not have godowns, will see new one of varying capacities being set up. Of all the work, the Nashik urban capacity is 3,000 MT out of 4,000 MT and it includes the 2,500 MT capacity godown being constructed at Nashik Road. (Times of India 25/6/12)

Poverty drives them to go against the law (21) Lack of supervision of children leads to an increase in the number of budding criminals It's easier for a slum dweller to get into trouble with the law. Poverty and lack of supervision of children lead to an increase in the number of budding criminals. Children living in overcrowded homes in slums have little access to recreational facilities. Delhi Police have begun reform campaigns to keep tabs on criminals and prevent more people from the slums from entering the world of crime. “Slums by and large across the world gradually become hubs of crime. Children early in their life are exposed to abuse, abject poverty, exploitation and discrimination,” Ranjana Kumari, Director of Centre for Social Research told Deccan Herald. “Over a period they become hardened and seeing the prosperous neighbourhood, their aspiration to earn money leads them to crime.” They drift to petty thievery or worse forms of misconduct. “Youngsters learn about the evil side of life too early and get involved in criminal activities,” she said. In the Capital, the highest delinquency and crime rates are in slum areas. This is where Delhi Police have begun reform programmes, aimed mainly at young people. “Not all people living in slums are criminals. But those who are involved in crime are on our regular watch,” said Taj Hassan, joint commissioner of police (central range). “The local police in the slums have been directed to check and keep a tab on people involved in crime. Many reform programmes at the slums have also been initiated,” he said. Police have also launched week-long Art of Living programmes in coordination with voluntary organisations. “We are also conducting lots of mass awareness programmes about drug abuse,” said Sanjay Kumar Jain, deputy commissioner of police (crime and railways). “We are organising classes for people in slums on protecting their children against all forms of abuse, exploitation and discrimination. The kids too participate in such programmes, where they are told to raise their voice against any abuse they face,” said Jain. Street plays are organised in slums to make people aware about problems and solutions to issues relating to the family. “For women and girls, we held a fortnight-long self-defence training camp,” added Jain. Delhi Police believe that such programmes prevent a lot of slum dwellers, especially kids, from becoming criminals. They have also organised sports and recreational activities in slums. “We often send female beat constables to visit women in slums, and interact, motivate and solve their problems,” said Jain.(Deccan Herald 1/7/12) Food, employment security MDGs elude India: UN (21) New Delhi: Though, India has achieved the goals of poverty reduction, slum development and access to water three years ahead of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), it is far behind in achieving food and employment security, reveals this year’s UN report on MDG. Though, the country has done well on the health front, it is likely to miss the goal of reducing maternal death at the current rate which is one maternal death every 10 minute. The current Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) of India is 212 per one lakh live births and it is unlikely that it would reach the goal of reducing it to 109 per one lakh live births by 2015. “The government needs to ensure the availability of auxiliary nurses and midwives closer to the homes of women who are delivering,” said Frederika Meijer, UN India Representative. “Poor child nutrition remained a massive challenge for India where 42 per cent children under five years of age are underweight,” said economist Jayati Ghosh while releasing the MDG Report 2012 in India. Highlighting the MDG report in Indian context, Ghosh pointed out that India is inhabited by largest population of nutritionally deprived in the world. She underlined the bleak situation in the employment sector and cautioned that to achieve the goal programmes like MGNREGA more spending would be required. However, despite widespread hunger, malnutrition and lack of infrastructure, India is doing well on health front. India’s progress on the MDG of combating HIV and Aids, Malaria and TB is also satisfactory, said UN officials. The country will also achieve MDG for Infant Mortality Rate (IMR). At the current rate of 47 per 1,000 live births, it is most likely to achieve 42 per 1,000 live birth in 2015. As far as the MDG for education is concerned, India has significant gains in enrollment in schools, but dropout rates are higher which is even worse than Africa. The dropout rate is very high among backward sections of society, SC, ST and OBC, pointed out Ghosh. (Daccan Herald 2/7/12) 23% poverty target unrealistic for 2015 (21) NEW DELHI: India's poverty rates fell from 51% to 37% between 1990 and 2008. But it will still not reach the required Poverty Headcount Ratio (percentage of population below the national poverty line) of 23.9% by 2015 to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG). Now, the national HCR stands at 47.8%, and India will achieve poverty HCR level of 26.72% by 2015. The Millennium Development Goals, 2012,

report, released by the United Nations on Monday, says by 2015, 1 billion people will live across the globe on less than $1.25 a day — a global extreme poverty rate of 16%. Four out of every five persons living in extreme poverty will be found in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia (of which India is the major country). India will also fail to halve — between 1990 and 2015 — the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. Malnourishment of children is a significant indicator of food insecurity. From estimated 52% in 1990, the proportion of underweight children below three years is required to be reduced to 26% by 2015, according to the MDG. But the proportion of underweight children has declined from 43% to about 40% during 1998-99 to 2005-06. At this rate of decline, the proportion of underweight children below three years is expected to come down to only about 33% by 2015. Some of the large states have a prevalence of underweight children above the national level estimate like Madhya Pradesh (57.9%), Bihar (54.9%), Jharkhand (54.6%), Chhattisgarh (47,8%), Meghalaya (42.9%), Uttar Pradesh (41.6%) and Gujarat (41.1%).Only six states — Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab — are likely to achieve their own MDG by 2015. Frederika Meijer, UN Resident Coordinator, said, "Hunger remains a global challenge. Around 850 million people live in hunger, 237 million in India — the disparity is greatest in southern Asia." Jayati Ghosh, professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said, "India has the largest hungry population and it's a cause of serious alarm. We have the largest population of children born underweight. We haven't made significant improvement in reducing hunger and provide food security to people. We are actually doing worse than before. " In the developing regions, the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 47% in 1990 to 24% in 2008. In 2008, about 110 million fewer people than in 2005 lived in extreme poverty. The number fell from 2 billion in 1990 to less than 1.4 billion in 2008.(Times of India 3/7/12) UN urges to improve management of fisheries for foo d security (21) New York, July 9 : The United Nations food agency Monday urged countries to effectively manage their fisheries and aquaculture sectors to help ensure the food security for millions of people, warning that failing to do so would have serious environmental, economic and social consequences. “Fisheries and aquaculture are making a vital contribution to global food security and economic growth,” the head of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Árni M. Mathiesen, said in a news release. “However, the sector faces an array of problems, including poor governance, weak fisheries management regimes, conflicts over the use of natural resources, the persistent use of poor fishery and aquaculture practices. “It is further undermined by a failure to incorporate the priorities and rights of small-scale fishing communities and the injustices relating to gender discrimination and child labour,” Mathiesen added. According to the latest issue of its report on the matter, entitled 'The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2012', world fisheries and aquaculture produced a record 128 million tons of fish for human food last year – an average of 18.4 kilograms per person. In addition, the report notes that the sector is a source of income for 55 million people. It goes on to note that the primary threats undermining the food and nutrition security potential of fisheries and aquaculture result principally from ineffective management coupled with poor conservation of habitats – and states that a transition towards people-centred approaches is required to enhance the sector’s contribution to food and livelihoods security. In the report, FAO calls on governments to boost their efforts to ensure sustainable fisheries around the world, noting that many of the marine fish stocks monitored by the agency are under great pressure as nearly 30 per cent of them are overexploited, and 57 per cent are fully exploited, meaning that they are at their maximum sustainable production. “Overexploitation not only causes negative ecological consequences, but it also reduces fish production, which leads to negative social and economic consequences,” the report states. “To increase the contribution of marine fisheries to the food security, economies and the well-being of coastal communities, effective management plans must be put in place to rebuild overexploited stocks.” In the news release, FAO’s Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, said that fisheries and aquaculture play a vital role in the global, national and rural economy. “The livelihoods of 12 per cent of the world's population depend directly or indirectly on them. Fisheries and aquaculture give an important contribution to food security and nutrition,” he said. “They are the primary source of protein for 17 per cent of the world’s population and nearly a quarter in low-income food-deficit countries.” The report argues that strengthened governance in this sector is required to prove incentives for sustainable ecosystem mechanisms, and recommends the development of voluntary guidelines to attain a global sustainable food production system which takes into account the role of small-scale fisheries. “Enabling fisheries and aquaculture to flourish responsibly and sustainably requires the full involvement of civil society and the private sector,” Mathiesen said. “Business and industry can help

develop technologies and solutions, provide investment and engender positive transformation. Civil society and international and local non-governmental organizations can hold governments accountable on agreed commitments and ensure that the voices of all stakeholders are heard.” (IBNS) (New Kerala 9/7/12) Despite adequate funds, govt hospital 'ignoring' BP L patients (21) PATIALA: Usually lack of funds cause harassment to poor patients, but these days 40 poor patients of government Rajendra hospital, here are not getting mandatory food despite hospital having enough funds. As per sources, at present there are around 40 BPL patients admitted in various wards of hospital. The Punjab government has made mandatory the supply of food to below poverty line (Yellow card holders) family patients, admitted in Rajindera hospital, Patiala. As per directions, these poor patients must get milk and daliya in the morning, in lunch at least one vegetable, while in dinner milk with vegetable and a daal. But since hospital storekeeper and authorities don't have powers to utilize their own funds, lying under their control, they have to spend from their pockets to serve food. They are able to serve only one time meal to needy patients, while for remaining part of the day patients are forced to spend from their own pockets, only because of the fault of senior authorities. "The government has given funds to us to provide free food to these 40 poor patients admitted in hospital. But since no one has financial powers except our principle Dr KD Singh, who is on vacation, we are not able to utilize that grant," said deputy MS Dr Harshinder Kaur. Though, despite having fixed menu, the lack of funds has forced the authorities to serve the cheapest food in the morning and majority of time they are serving simple Daal roti to all patients, with different problems. (Times of India 9/7/12) 'UPA govt will g'ntee food to poor through food sec urity bill' (21) Sivaganga: Union Home Minister P Chidhambaram has said the UPA government would guarantee the poor food through the proposed Food Security Bill. Highlighting 'achievements' of the UPA government during a visit to various villages yesterday,he said the Centre had allocated more funds to state governments than in the past. It also proposed to bring in the food security bill soon. In addition the UPA had implemented several welfare schemes, including agricultural loans for farmers, educational loans to poor students and Rural employment guarantee scheme, he said. Chidambaram said Tamil nadu had witnessed Industrial revolution and real development when K Kamaraj of Congress was Chief Minister. Many Industries like BHEL, Neyveli Lignite Corporation and Small units were set up. Besides Industrial Revolution, he had proved his ability in education field too, he said. (DNA 9/7/12) Two govt surveys sharpen debate on India’s unemploy ment data (21) New Delhi: Two surveys conducted by separate government agencies have produced different results on the unemployment situation in India, casting doubt over their credibility. The latest annual survey of employment and unemployment by the Labour Bureau of India has shown a 3.8% unemployment rate in India, while an earlier survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) showed this at 2% for 2009-10. The Business Standard first reported on the Labour Bureau report on 10 July. Work profile: A file photo of an employment office in Chennai. According to the Labour Bureau survey, the majority of people were found to be self-employed Manish Sabharwal, chief executive of TeamLease Services Pvt. Ltd, a human resource firm, said that the latest survey was a gross understatement of the unemployment rate. “Like poverty, unemployment definition needs a national debate. The 3.8% unemployment rate is unbelievable—it’s science fiction. The rate must be a multiple of this rate—in the range of 15% to 19%,” he said. Sabharwal added that the precision of the study is misleading. “It’s more dangerous than just understatement as such surveys will mislead policy framework (meant) to address such problems.” Himanshu, assistant professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University and a Mint columnist, said the true unemployment rate in India is difficult to measure and hence too much credence shouldn’t be given to these numbers. “In a poor country like ours, nobody can afford to remain unemployed for a long time. Even if one is unemployed, he will hesitate to report it because of the social stigma attached with being unemployed,” he said. A better way of looking at unemployment is worker population rate (WPR), which is defined as the number of persons employed per 1,000 people, Himanshu said. However, he pointed out that the 50.8% WPR reported by the Labour Bureau seems to be an overestimation as NSSO data for the same indicator has always been at the 40-42% level. Experts disagreed with the Labour Bureau’s proposition that India’s unemployment rate is lower than those in western countries, including the US (8%), Spain (25%), Greece (21%) and Ireland (14%).Pronab Sen, principal adviser in the Planning

Commission, said India can’t be compared with developed countries because of the small size of its organized sector. “Most of the unemployment in India is among the youth. Adult unemployment is very small,” he said. Bal Ram, director of the Chandigarh-based Labour Bureau, said that the unemployment rate of 9.4% reported in 2009-10 was not comparable with the present survey, which pegs the unemployment rate at 3.8%.He said the sample size and methodology used for the second annual survey was different. While the sample size for the 2010-11 survey was over 128,000 households, the one used previously was a little over 46,000. While last year only 300 districts from 28 states and Union territories were taken for the sample survey, this time it was conducted across the country. In terms of methodology, the sample selection was in proportion to the size and population of a state rather than an even spread adopted for the previous annual survey, Ram said. However, he said that the data used in the current survey was as credible as NSSO data. According to the Labour Bureau survey, the majority of people were found to be self-employed. While 48.6% are said to be self-employed, 19.7% are wage or salary earners and the rest 31.7% belong to the casual labour category at the all-India level. “At all-India level, the majority of the employed persons i.e. 52.9% are engaged in the primary sector (agriculture, forestry and fishing) followed by 27.8% in the tertiary or services sector and 19.3% in manufacturing and construction, i.e. the secondary sector,” the survey said.(Mint 12/7/12) Problem identifying BPL households? Brand them “poo r” (21) BHOPAL, July 15, 2012: The problem of identifying genuine Below Poverty Line (BPL) beneficiaries for the efficient last-mile administration of welfare schemes is a serious one throughout India. However, in Madhya Pradesh this problem is quite acute, reflecting prominently in a consistent war of words between the Shivraj Chouhan-government and the centre over the correct number of BPL beneficiaries in the state.Perhaps, therefore, the solutions that authorities here come up with are novel too, aptly reflecting the acuteness of the problem.Thanks to one such initiative, in Dabhiya village of Khandwa district’s Khalwa block, BPL families can be identified without any problem.Here, walls of the houses of BPL families are painted with three self-explanatory words-Main Gareeb Hoon (I am poor).Out of the total 600 households in Dabhiya, 237-odd are BPL and so almost every other house in the village is “marked.”Although the branding of BPL houses is not a new exercise, most houses continue to have the expression painted in big, bold letters. “This was done some three years ago after we received an order from the Janpad (block) panchayat,” explains Panchayat secretary Makhanlaal, talking to The Hindu.Most of the BPL residents say the branding was done without their knowledge. “I had gone for work in another district (work migration) and when I returned I found my house painted,” says Rajaram. “Yes, we are poor but should the government try to address our poverty or mock us by branding us poor in this humiliating manner? asks Karma, another BPL resident of the village. “Branding people rich, like its done through periodic lists in business magazines, can be a point of pride for some, but inscribing ‘main gareeb hoon’ outside someone's house, even if they are poor, is outrightly dehumanizing,” says activist Prashant Dubey, who has worked among people from this poverty-stricken region.The district administration maintains the exercise was done by Panchayats themselves and no orders were given out at the district or state levels. “This is not a new development, the houses were painted some three-four years ago and even then, the orders were given out at the lower level and the district administration was not involved,” says Khandwa district collector Kavindra Kiyavat. “But in a sense, it does discourage those who are well-off—who own land, have a pukka house and drive a car or a motorcycle—from seeking the benefits available for BPL familes. These people want the benefits but dont want “I am poor” written outside their houses while a genuinely poor person wouldn’t mind that, if it ensures delivery of benefits that are due to him,” says Mr. Kiyavat.There have been such initiatives in other villages in other districts as well. In 2010, Gopalganj village in Seoni district was in news for exactly such an exercise. In 2009, the Madhya Pradesh government had “officially” expressed an intention to start such an exercise to separate the “genuine poor” from the “well-off fakers.”Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Paras Chandra Jain had then told IANS: “The government has been receiving several complaints of affluent people having managed to get BPL cards and availing benefits. We will write the details of the BPL card holders in front of their houses as a last resort. This would embarrass the non-deserving people who would then surrender their cards,” Mr. Jain had said. (The Hindu 15/7/12) Poverty drives beggar woman to sell infant son for Rs 62 (21) Araria (Bihar): Driven by poverty, a 35-year-old woman allegedly sold one of her infant twin sons to a Nepalese couple for Rs 62 in this district, police said on Sunday.Shannu Khatun, who begs to make a

living, said she gave away her 16-month-old son a few days ago near Forbesganj railway station so that he could be better looked after, but denied having received payment, SP (Araria) S. Lande said.At the same time, her 8-year-old daughter said her younger brother was sold for Nepalese Rs 100 (INR 62) and not given away, he said.Khatun, a resident of Madanpur village, said she took the step in desperation as she was finding it difficult to support her physically challenged husband, daughter and the twins, he said. Efforts are on to trace the child, Lande added. (Asian Age 16/7/12) You are here: Home » Metro » Slum dwellers to move into livable homes (21) New Delhi: About 500 slum dwellers living in eight slum clusters across the city became proud owners of low-cost flats on Wednesday. The flats were built and allotted by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board. The flats were allotted under the ‘rehabilitation of slum dwellers’ scheme, following guidelines laid down by the union housing ministry and under the urban poverty alleviation programme of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit handed over allotment letters to 40 eligible beneficiaries, while 460 others were given the letters at a function at Delhi secretariat. Congratulating the allottees, Dikshit said a good beginning has taken place in the direction of providing well-developed flats to a large number of slum dwellers. “The DUSIB has given thrust to the construction of flats at Narela, Bawana and Dwarka, and at least 35,000 flats are under construction. These will be ready soon and we will be able to allot them at the earliest,” she said. She said her government has been working hard to shift slum dwellers to flats located in clean, green and healthy atmosphere. According to government officials, 14,000 flats have already been built and the remaining 13,500 will be alloted soon. The flats are being allotted in the joint names of couples on ‘lease hold’ basis for 15 years. Thereafter, they will be converted to freehold basis. Beneficiaries are required to make a nominal payment of Rs 60,000, and in some cases a little more. The government is providing 100 per cent subsidy for Scheduled Castes allottees, so they will get the flats absolutely free. Dikshit said the government has prioritised 75 slum clusters for relocation, for which DUSIB has conducted a survey of about 16,000 slum dwellers in 33 slum clusters. The eligibility of 1,350 slum dwellers has been determined so far. Urban development minister A K Walia said a socio-economic survey of all slum clusters in the Capital is being conducted to map the total slum population. “A slum-free strategy document is also being prepared. To provide tenancy security and availability of finance, the flats are being allotted on ‘lease hold’ basis. A biometric authentication of beneficiaries is being conducted to prevent duplication and sale of flats as well,” said Walia. (Deccan Herald 18/7/12) Food Security Bill to include 70% Indians (21) The government has in principle decided to expand the coverage of population under the proposed Food Security Bill to include almost 70 per cent of Indians, who will have the legal right to cheap food, against the earlier proposal of 64 per cent of the same. It will also end the below and above poverty line (BPL and APL) demarcation, prevailing in the current public distribution system. However, entitlements under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (for the poorest of the poor) would continue as in the current structure. The proposed changes have been strongly opposed by a section of civil society on the grounds that it makes the Bill 'minimalist and unacceptable'. Officials said the enhanced coverage would also include almost 90 per cent of the population in 250 identified poor districts in the country. "We have in-principle agreed to expand the coverage of the proposed Bill and would now submit the same to the standing committee of Parliament, which is vetting an earlier draft," a senior food ministry official said. He said the decision to expand the coverage was taken at the high-level meeting on the Food Security Bill chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [ Images ] on Wednesday, which has also been approved by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. The official also said though the Standing Committee of Parliament is vetting the bill, the final decision of the government will prevail. The changes are estimated to cost the exchequer Rs 119,000 crore (Rs 1,190 billion) annually, as against the earlier estimate of Rs 100,000 crore (Rs 1,000 billion). Each identified beneficiary would get 5 kg of grains per person per month against the earlier provision of 7 kg per person per month for BPL and 3-4 kg for APL families -- rice at Rs 3; wheat at Rs 2 and millets at Rs 1 per kg -- from ration shops. "Food entitlement to 13 poor states would continue as per the existing norms, along with the current targeted PDS," the official said. (Rediff. 20/7/12) Abject poverty at root of trafficking (21) Jharkhand: It is not surprising then that Renuka agreed to send her 13-year-old daughter, Meena, to Delhi to work as a domestic maid. "Paisa nahi hai isliye kuch kamane bheja tha (We have no money that is why

we sent her to earn something)," she says simply when asked why she sent her daughter away. A 100 feet away one can see a group of men lounging about under the shade of a 'pipal' tree with tumblers in their hands. "They are drinking Hadiya," explains Renuka, who is returning home from a day's work in her small field. "That is all they do. It is the tradition here," the 35-year-old mother of five adds ruefully. The 'tradition' she speaks of is drinking a pungent locally brewed rice wine. Renuka is among the thousands of women who have sent their daughters to big cities to work as domestic maids in the last decade. She is also among the fortunate few who have got their daughters back. "I had no other option. The trafficker gave me Rs. 5,000 initially and promised to send Rs. 2,000 every month after that. This is a lot of money for us. The rest of my five children can easily live on it. I sent her seven months back but have not spoken to my daughter in five months. The money has also dried up," said Pushpa Devi, another woman in the village who had sent her daughter to work in Delhi. Renuka's daughter, Meena, came back to Dumardi only a couple of months ago. The 13-year-old refuses to say much about her three-month-long stay in Delhi, where she worked as maid. But child welfare committee (CWC) members tell us that she was beaten up by a placement agency owner when she said she wanted to go back home. She, along with three other girls, was rescued from a placement agency in Delhi's Prasad Nagar. "She was locked in a room and beaten up brutally because she wanted to go back home. Even a mention of Delhi is enough to terrify her," said Mamta Devi, the CWC worker. The outer limits of district Gumla start barely a hundred kilometers away from Jharkhand's capital city Ranchi. It is one of the three districts from where the highest number of girls are trafficked to big cities such Delhi and Jaipur to work as domestic maids each year. With the authorities in Delhi acting tough against traffickers, new routes between Jharkhand and Mumbai, Goa, Jaipur and Ahmedabad are opening for the traffickers…. (Hindustan Times 22/7/12) Mysore's 282 kids are malnourished, reveals a surve y (21) MYSORE: A survey of kids in the city has thrown up some startling stats. Some 2 per cent of the kids surveyed are found to be malnourished and children from even upscale areas are underweight. And, among the malnourished kids, girls have a lion's share. The survey conducted by Urban Poverty Alleviation Cell (UPAC) attached to the Mysore City Corporation was spread over all the 65 wards in the civic body and nine times spread out to nine zones conducting the survey for nine days. At the end of the exercise, the teams had surveyed 15,595 kids out of which 282 are found to be malnourished. Of the 282 malnourished children, 161 are girls. The MCC was assisted by women and child welfare department and health and family welfare department. The World Health Organization has cited malnutrition as the greatest single threat to the world's public health. Alarmed, the district minister S A Ramdas on Sunday announced a special unit that will be set up at Cheluvamba Hospital, the children institute attached to the Mysore Medical College and Research Institute. The Rs 1.22 crore facility will be opened in November to commemorate Children's Day, he said a novel programme to take care of the malnourished children in city. The scheme entails the family of the malnourished kids to get additional ration of 5 kgs wheat a month and the kids will be medically examined regularly for three months. After the cursory survey, the authorities have now decided to continue the house-to-house survey to find out the extent of malnourishment among urban kids. Terming the incidence of malnutrition as a blot on the society, Ramdas said it is their responsibility now to ensure that the kids recover. There are 281 kids who are not attached to Anganwadi centres in the mCC limits while there are 163 such children in rural areas. All these kids will be extended nutritional supplements after enrolling them to the Anganawadi centre, the minister stated adding that the Cheluvamba Hospital has been identified as referral centre to attend to kids suffering from malnutrition. The city-based CFTRI, which has worked in the field of malnutrition, will also be included in the programme, he stated. (Times of India 23/7/12) Govt should make right to food a fundamental right (21) New Delhi: With President Pranab Mukherjee calling for erasing poverty, CPI(M) on Thursday said his vision could be implemented only if the government enacted a law to make right to food a fundamental right. "We can begin the journey to realise this vision, Hon'ble President, only when we enact a law that ensures that every family in our country is provided with 35 kg of foodgrains every month at Rs two per kg," party leader Sitaram Yechury said in an editorial in the forthcoming issue of CPI (M) organ 'People's Democracy'. The President, in his speech on assuming office yesterday, had said, "There is no humiliation more abusive than hunger. Trickle-down theories do not address the legitimate aspirations of the poor. We must lift those at the bottom so that poverty is erased from the dictionary of modern India."

Yechury said, "If there is any sincerity in realising this vision, then the President must direct 'his government' to legislate the right to food as a fundamental right of all our people." Quoting UN's Global Hunger Index, he said India ranks 67 amongst the 80 countries in the world which suffer from acute hunger of its people, with 25 per cent of the world's hungry today being Indians. According to this index, India ranks even below countries like North Korea and civil war-ridden and now divided Sudan. The CPI(M) leader's reaction came ahead of the Left parties' plans to organise a five-day protest sit-in outside Parliament from Monday next. "It is precisely to achieve this objective and, thus, banish hunger from our country that the Left parties are pressurising this UPA government through this five-day dharna before Parliament. Such popular mobilisations will have to be strengthened in the future in order to create a better India sans hunger and poverty," Yechury said. (Zee News 26/7/12) Left parties demand food security for all (21) MYSORE: Members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India staged a dharna here on Friday, demanding food security for all. The protest was organised as part of the nationwide agitation being held by the Left parties throughout July demanding food security for all, and ensuring that each family received 35 kg of cereals at Rs. 2 per kg. The Left parties wanted the government to reject the Planning Commission’s definition of poverty line, and pleaded against using it as the yardstick for implementation of welfare programmes. Underlining the importance of ensuring food security, the activists said 8 out of 10 children born in rural areas were underweight, and a similar number of women were anaemic. Unfortunately, even as the scourge of malnutrition was affecting the people, 770 crore tonnes of grain was rotting in godowns. (The Hindu 30/7/12) Haryana forms new policy for BPL houses (21) GURGAON: Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has announced a new policy for construction of houses for Below Poverty Line families. The chief minister said under the new policy, 50 per cent plots of economically weaker sections of the society of 50 square metre size belonging to private colonizers in licenced areas would be transferred to the Haryana Housing Board at a subsidised rate of Rs 500 per square yard for the scheme. The chief minister announced said possession of 4,493 plots had been taken over by the Housing Board of Haryana for building three storied houses. A total of 11,235 homes costing Rs 500 crore were being constructed by Housing Board in various cities and towns of the state, Hooda said. As many as 494 double storied houses of different categories had been built in this colony which included 146 Lower Income Group (LIG), 206 Medium Income Group (MIG) and 140 High Income Group (HIG) houses. Hooda said out of the total number of houses being constructed at Sonepat, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Palwal and Bawal, 6,524 houses would be allotted to BPL families, 1,500 to EWS and 90 houses to low income group. (Times of India 30/7/12) Left parties begin sit-in for universal PDS (21) NEW DELHI: The Left parties began here on Monday a five-day sit-in against price rise and to demand the right to food through a universal public distribution system (PDS). Addressing the participants, who had come from Haryana and Delhi, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat said the government’s thrust should be on giving people access to cheap foodgrain. “At a time when 8.2 crore tonnes of foodgrain is stored, it is grave injustice to deny people access to food,” he said, adding that the food security system should be based on universal PDS instead of targeted population. “The entire concept of above and below poverty line population needs to be scrapped,” he said. Mr. Karat charged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Planning Commission with catering only to the elite and corporate houses. Communist Party of India general secretary Sudhakar Reddy also demanded a proper food security system keeping in mind the high levels of malnutrition in the country. He claimed that the protests in support of a universal PDS were drawing a huge response. T.J. Chandrachoodan of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Debabrata Biswas of the All India Forward Bloc also expressed similar sentiments. The Left parties have been demanding halt to export of foodgrain at subsidised rates. “This foodgrain is being used for making feed for livestock,” Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat told The Hindu. “The government is subsidising feed for livestock instead of giving subsidised food to its people,” she pointed out. Supply of 35 kg of foodgrain at a maximum rate of Rs. 2 a kg per family each month and distribution of over 8 crore foodgrain stocks by increasing allocations immediately are being demanded by the Left parties. They also want the government to scrap the Planning Commission’s “highly dubious” poverty estimates and ensure that these are not used as basis for welfare allocations. Rallies will be held

in State capitals during the sit-in. The Left parties have said that the utter failure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to control prices is shown even in the latest official data. With the grave situation arising out of the imminent drought in many States, the government must be forced to reverse “these disastrous anti-people policies.” Among others present at the dharna were Communist Party of India leader A.B. Bardhan and food expert Utsa Patnaik.(The Hindu 31/7/12) Destitute transgenders to get pension (21) CHENNAI: Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has announced a new scheme for destitute transgenders aged above 40 years. According to an official release, destitute transgenders living below the poverty line will get monthly pension of Rs. 1,000. A sum of Rs. 1.17 crore has been allocated for the scheme. The Chief Minister has also announced that children aged between 2 and 5 years undergoing non-formal preschool education in anganwadi centres will be given two sets of colour dresses. In the first phase, Rs. 4.3 crore has been earmarked for providing clothes to 2,01,032 children in Chennai, Vellore, Tiruchi, Theni and Dindigul districts. As part of a modernisation programme, kitchens in anganwadi centres will be made smoke-free in a phased manner with the introduction of LPG and pressure cookers. (The Hindu 2/8/12) Rural Indians survive on 43 rupees a day: Survey (2 1) New Delhi: The average household in rural India spends just 43 rupees (77 US cents) per head a day, with their urban equivalents consuming almost double, according to new government data. The latest study from the National Sample Survey Office, a huge undertaking every two years, shows that average monthly per capita expenditure for a rural household was just 1,281 rupees compared with 2,401 rupees in cities. The poorest 10 percent in rural areas -- a grouping of about 80 million people -- get by on just 503 rupees on average a month, or just 17 rupees a day, according to preliminary data from the survey. Despite the low absolute numbers, there were sharp increases in household expenditure in 2011-12 compared with 2009-10, with rural families seemingly benefiting as much as their urban equivalents from rising incomes. Average per capita spending in rural areas rose 38 percent over the last two years in current prices -- without adjusting for India's high inflation -- and 18 percent on an adjusted basis. Urban expenditure rose 34 percent over the last two years on an unadjusted basis and 13 percent on an adjusted basis, suggesting city-dwellers had been hit more by inflation which has been running at near double figures. The federal government, run by the left-leaning Congress party, sees the rural poor as its core voter support and makes much of its commitment to 'inclusive growth' that trickles down to the lowest income groups. Its flagship programme to help the rural poor is the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), which guarantees 100 days of employment on public works each year for any household that requests it. About 70 percent of India's 1.2-billion population live in villages, according to UN data from 2011. The figures released on Tuesday are provisional but based on surveys conducted on more than 100,000 households spread across the country. Full details will be published in 2013, the ministry of statistics said in a statement.Measuring poverty in India is difficult and controversial, with an influential government body responsible for policy advice and research recently causing outrage with its attempt to define the poor. In March, the Planning Commission suggested anyone spending less than 22 rupees (40 US cents) a day in rural India, or 28 rupees in cities, was below the poverty line. On this basis, it claimed overall poverty levels fell from 37.2 percent in 2004-05 to 29.8 percent in 2009-10, which led campaigners to claim the government was trying to exclude poor people from state benefits. Under pressure, the deputy chairman of the commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, explained that this limit was for 'absolute poverty' or those at 'rock-bottom, bare subsistence' living. The World Bank considers that anyone living on less than $1.25 a day is poor. (Asian Age 3/8/12) Jharkhand to create 2.12 million jobs during 12th P lan (21) The Annual Plan for Jharkhand for 2012-13 has been finalised at Rs 16,300 crore. The Plan size was fixed after a meeting between Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister, Arjun Munda. Briefing the Commission, the Chief Minister said during the 12th Plan, the State’s focus would be on making the benefits reach the deprived sections. The emphasis would be on infrastructure development with private participation. Efforts will also be made to reduce gaps in health care and education. Arjun Munda said the Centre should help the State Government in overcoming infrastructure deficits and high cost of law and order maintenance. He said despite efforts, around 35 lakh families were still below poverty line. He said Jharkhand was aiming 10 per cent growth in the 12th Plan to double per capita income by 2016-17. Agriculture growth would be targeted at 6.5 per cent while

industrial growth at 12.5 per cent. The State would aim at creating 2.12 million additional jobs, he added. The Plan panel deputy said the focus of the State during the 12th Plan should be on catching up with the rest of country in human development indices while continuing efforts to create an investment-friendly environment. He said the Commission would like to go into the causes of delays in getting clearances of development projects and requested the State Government to send a note on its irrigation and agriculture projects that were not taking off because of delay in environment and forest clearances. (Business Line 6/8/12) Mobiles to BPL janta: How about the toilets first? (21) Come 15 August, and the UPA government is all set to bestow a sort of “freedom of expression” worth Rs 7000 crores to faceless millions who are grossly clubbed together and tagged as ‘below poverty line’ for not being able to afford even two square meals a day. Yes, 6 million BPL households would be gifted cell phones bundled with free local talk time worth Rs 200. Aaah! The perfect icing on the cake…right? But before we revel on the ‘freedom’ to talk, here’s one more fact - half of Indian population also enjoys a not-so-pleasant freedom – the freedom to defecate in open. Thanks to a UN report that first brought the cell phone-toilet debate out in the open in 2010 when it highlighted that more Indians have access to a mobile phone than to a toilet. According to Indian census 2011, 49.8 per cent Indian households defecate in open whereas 63.2 per cent households own a telephone connection and 53.2 per cent of them a mobile. The same government that was in news recently for fluctuating between Rs 31 to Rs 28 as the daily expenditure limit to decide if the family is above poverty line, is now willing to provide cell phones to those who have a stomach to fill. Isn’t it a cruel mockery of millions of those Indians, who already have been on the receiving end of hunger and poverty? Isn’t it like buying ice cream for someone who first needs roti? As they say, “Politics has strange subtexts.” The UPA has its eyes stuck on 2014 polls and hence the lures! And why not, the formula is well proven! Still, if there’s any doubt, Congressmen can turn to Kalaingar or Amma of Tamil Nadu for inspiration. It may also be true that UPA is trying to kill two birds with one stone! While on one hand, the UPA is sowing free SIM cards to harvest 6 million votes in 2014, it might also be eyeing to heal the hackneyed telecom sector, which hasn’t yet recovered from the bruises dealt by the 2G scam. But the big question that needs to be posed is – For all this, where is the big moolah coming from? Half of the total cost incurred will be provide by the bidder, who gets the right to provide this service. The remaining will be pocketed from the telecom department’s USO (Universal service obligation) funds. To simplify, we the tax payers will fund – as with other grandiose schemes – a part of the cell phone. (Zee News 8/8/12) Fragmented India haunted by poverty and political d ecay (21) Bangalore: Five years after Gandhi made the call to ‘Do or Die’ fighting for complete independence from the British as part of the Quit India Movement, India became independent. Seventy years after this call and 65 years after the nation was born, India is a fragmented country, fighting corruption, poverty and political decay as we continue to get on our feet. On the 70th anniversary of the Quit India Movement, one tends to ask: has young India forgotten the struggle that brought us independence? Michael F, a commerce student at St Joseph’s Commerce College believes the freedom movement, independence and patriotism are nothing more than a few days in a year when people are flooded with mails that need to be forwarded to someone else. “During Independence Day and Republic Day, I get messages on the freedom struggle and patriotism. Often these mails remind us that the coming holiday is more than just another holiday. Most forget it soon after,” he said. Dr Shadakshariah, head of the department of history of Bangalore University (BU) was more optimistic. “Students know what these events are and are interested to learn more about them. They are enthusiastic and continue to be inspired by the freedom struggle. Having said that, I don’t expect them to think about it every single day or make a hue and cry about it. I don’t think we can assess how patriotic a person is based on his/her every day activities. We should keep the spirit alive as long as possible,” he said. Prithvi Reddy, coordinator of the Bangalore chapter of India Against Corruption (IAC) believes that freedom is taken for granted. “Freedom is of no use today because we continue to be ruled by rajas, but in a different avatar,” he said.“Freedom is not understood and cherished. We do not understand the significance and the sacrifice that was involved in getting us freedom,” he added. NR Mathad, freedom fighter from Belgaum and general secretary of the All-India Freedom Fighters Samithi, believes that we have already forgotten the freedom struggle. “One tends to ask if this was the India we fought for,” he said. “The struggle itself is different today. Decades ago, we fought for a nation of our own. Today, we are a nation, but are struggling to make it one that we

are proud of. The youngsters have to take the fight up and we will support them and give them our blessings,” he said. “When we began our freedom struggle, we made a commitment to establish a nation. There was a sense of what India was—the idea of a united nation. Today we lack this sense. We fight each other for reasons such as language, caste and territories,” said Ram Kulkarni, great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi who describes himself as an aam admi. “We remember the milestones during the freedom struggle, but lack the spirit that encouraged the elder generation to fight for freedom,” he said. “The anniversary of Quit India Movement should be a time to promote the concept of a united India, to remind ourselves that we are Indians first and not what politicians would want us to believe—Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Kannadigas, Tamilians, SC, ST, OBC, etc.” he said, adding, the onus is on the youngsters. “They have to find a way to make this division irrelevant and make a new India,” he said. (DNA 9/8/12) 8 yrs after hunger deaths, this village has little rice, no jobs (21) West Midnapore: Eight years after four hunger deaths here hit national headlines, not much has changed in Belpahari’s Amlasole village under the new government. The Maoist-hit village still has inadequate food while employment opportunities remain scarce. Supply of rice at a subsidised rate of Rs 2 per kilo — a pet project of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee — has been “very irregular and inadequate”. Locals said supply of rice to people belonging to Lodha, Sabar, Munda, Singsardar, Mahato, Das and Karmakar communities have increased only marginally after Mamata came to power. Woes of Sanatan Sabar, who lost his father to starvation in 2004, continue till date. “We do not get rice at Rs 2 per kilo every week. We were told that each ration card holder will be given two kilos of rice per week at a subsidised rate. Often, we get less than what we are entitled to to,” said Sanatan’s 70-year-old ailing mother Fulmoni. Sabar, however, said the new government has built a house for them. Moreover, Fulmoni said the word about government projects never reach them. “I cannot see properly because of cataract in both eyes. My younger son is ill and cannot work. I do not know where will we get money from? We have heard that Mamata has announced many projects for people like us, but we do not get proper information about how to benefit from them,” Fulmoni said. Sanatan said said he cannot get a job under the MNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme), as does not have a job card. “I go to the forests to fetch tree logs, which I sell to traders of Jharkhand. A bunch of 3-feet long logs sell for Rs 12-13, I make Rs 40-50 a day. I also work as an agricultural labourer,” Sanatan, a father of three children, said. (Indian Express 10/8/12) Need to ensure India's free from poverty: President Pranab Mukherjee .. (21) New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday called for making Indian economy a launching pad for the "second freedom struggle" to eradicate hunger, disease and poverty. In his first address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day, he also said that inflation, particularly high food prices, remains a cause of worry and several gaps are yet to be bridged in this growth story, including in the areas of infrastructure and agriculture. Mukherjee said there is a need to fast-track the creation of high quality infrastructure and to extend green revolution to across the country. Need to ensure India's free from poverty: President Pranab Mukherjee in his Independence Day speech. Notwithstanding the tremendous pressure of an adverse external environment, our economy today is more resilient and confident. Yet there are several gaps that need to be bridged. "Green revolution has to be extended to the eastern region of our country. Creation of high quality infrastructure has to be fast tracked. Education and health services have to reach the last man at the earliest. Much has been done, a lot more remains to be done," he said. Mukherjee further said that "two decades of steady economic reforms have contributed to improvement in average income and consumption levels in both rural and urban areas. "There is new found dynamism in some of the most backward areas, bringing them into national economic mainstream. If our economy has achieved critical mass, then it must become a launching pad for the next leap. "We need a second freedom struggle; this time to ensure that India is free for ever from hunger, disease and poverty," Mukherjee said. Recalling the earlier times of the Indian economy, Mukherjee said the average annual growth rate was just one per cent between 1900 and 1947. However, a quantum leap forward has taken the current growth rate to over 8 per cent. "... today, despite two great international crises that rocked the world and some domestic dips, we have posted an average growth rate of more than 8 per cent over the last seven years," he said. He said that leaders like Subhas Chandra Bose and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru believed that "free India would become, by example, an alternative model for a post-

colonial world through economic equity and a social revolution inspired by harmony between communities that had been misled into hostility"."I am not a pessimist; for me, the glass is always half full, rather than half empty. I would go to the extent of saying that the glass of modern India is more than half full," he said, while lauding the country's working class, farmers, industrialists from private and public sector and politicians among others. Shrugging off concerns that environment protection was coming in the way of economy's growth, Mukherjee said he did not believe that there was any inherent contradiction in protecting environment and economic development. "As long as we heed Gandhiji's great lesson: there is sufficient in the world for man's need but not for man's greed, we are safe. We must learn to live in harmony with nature. "Nature cannot be consistent; we must be able to conserve her bounty during the many seasons of plenty so that we are not bereft during the occasional bout of scarcity," the President said. (CNN IBN 14/8/12) BMC will increace annual income of poor women (21) Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will increase the annual income limit of women, who want to benefit from its welfare schemes, starting from Rs 60,000 to Rs one lakh. The move is slated to benefit 4.93 lakh women and more than six lakh families in the city. This scheme is for women who earn less than Rs 60,000 annually. The gender budget concept was initiated by former mayor Shubha Raul in 2009, during Swadheen Kshatriya's tenure as the municipal commissioner. These schemes include basic training for skill development, self-defence to make poor and needy urban women able for self-employment. These schemes can also be availed by women, especially those families who are below poverty line (BPL). Under the gender budget,the BMC had made a financial provision of Rs 15.95 crore for the implementation of women and child welfare schemes. The civic body felt an urgent need to change the rules for people to benefit especially from women and child welfare schemes and has decided to increase the annual income limit to Rs one lakh (UNI) (New Kerala 17/8/12) Poverty alleviation plan being implemented (21) CUDDALORE: The district administration has started implementing the Tamil Nadu State Rural Livelihood Mission from August 15, according to Rajendra Ratnoo, District Collector. In a statement released here, he said that objectives of the mission were to create strong and vibrant mechanism to improve livelihood sources, and, render legal assistance and other services to those wallowing in poverty to improve their income. In the first phase it would be implemented in the Cuddalore, Anna Gramam, Panruti, Khammapuram and Keerapalayam panchayat unions during 2012-2013. In the second phase, the remaining panchayat unions of Kumaratch, Kurinjipadi, Parangipettai and Mel Bhuvanagiri would be covered during 2013-2014. Besides benefiting those living below the poverty line, it would also be of help to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and differently abled persons, the Collector added. (The Hindu 18/8/12) World must brace for higher food prices, experts sa y (21) With drought parching farms in the United States and near the Black Sea, weak monsoon rains in India and insidious hunger in Africa's Sahel region, the world could be headed towards another food crisis. Asia should keep a catastrophe at bay with a strong rice harvest while the G20 group of industrialised and emerging economies tries to parry the main threat, soaring food prices. "We have had quite a few climate events this year that will lead to very poor harvests, notably in the United States with corn or in Russia with soja," warned Philippe Pinta of the French farmers federation FNSEA. "That will create price pressures similar to what we saw in 2007-2008," he added in reference to the last global food alert, when wheat and rice prices nearly doubled. In India, "all eyes will be on food inflation - whether the impact of a weak monsoon feeds into food prices," Samiran Chakraborty, regional head of research at Standard Chartered Bank was quoted by Dow Jones Newswires as saying.Monsoon rains were 15.2 per cent below average in mid-August, according to latest data from India weather bureau, and Asian rice prices are forecast to rise by as much as 10 per cent in the coming months as supplies tighten. India and Thailand are two of Asia's leading rice exporters. Indian Food Minister Kuruppasserry Varkey Thomas told parliament this month that prevailing conditions 'could affect the crop prospects and may have an impact on prices of essential commodities'. Despite that warning however, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation expects rice output to slightly surpass 'excellent results' recorded in 2011, though the FAO cut its global forecast for production of unmilled rice to about 725 million tons from its previous figure of 732 million. The world is feeling the onset of the El Nino weather phenomenon, which has a natural

warming effect, is active in the western Pacific and expected to last until winter in the northern hemisphere, according to Japanese meteorologists. The US farm belt has been ravaged by the most stifling drought since the 1950s, and the country's contiguous 48 states have just sweltered through the hottest July on record. Corn production is probably at the lowest level in six years, the US Department of Agriculture said, and curtailed production will likely send corn and soybean prices to record highs, it added. "Cereal prices have shot up, with an increase in (corn) prices of almost 40 per cent since June 1," strategists at the CM-CIC brokerage noted. Commerzbank commodity experts said high temperatures and drought around the Black Sea 'have resulted in wheat crop shortfalls on a scale that cannot yet be predicted with any accuracy'. US commodities analyst, AgResource Company president Dan Basse told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation last week that the Australian harvest could play a role in easing the food shortage. "We need every metric tonne of wheat and grain the Australian farmers can produce," Basse said. "Anything that the Australian farmer can do to assure or boost his production should be profitable in the year ahead." Jean-Rene Buisson, head of France's national association of food industries (ANIA) said: "All products based on cereals, including meat, will be affected by price increases, not necessarily by September, but definitely during 2013." In China, food prices are considered politically sensitive and account for up to a third of a consumer's average monthly budget, government statistics show. China has reined in inflation as its economy slows however, while its grain output stood at 1.3 trillion tonnes in the first half of the year, up 2.8 percent from the same period a year earlier. The Financial Times (FT) said concerns over the US harvest had prompted senior G20 and United Nations officials to consider an emergency meeting on food supply, with a conference call on the issue scheduled for August 27. The newspaper cited officials as saying the talks were not a sign of panic but rather reflected the need to establish a consensus to avoid a repeat of the riots and tensions sparked in 2007-08 by spiking food prices. Major concerns include hoarding or export restrictions by food producing countries, along with panic buying by others. Also crucial is the balance between the use of grain as a direct source of food and its role as animal feed or as a basis for motor fuels. FAO director general Jose Graziano da Silva of Brazil called in the FT for the United States to suspend biofuel production programmes to ease the pressure on food resources. 'An immediate, temporary suspension' of a mandate to reserve some crops for biofuels "would give some respite to the market and allow more of the (corn) crop to be channelled towards food and feed uses," he wrote. A region where food is in chronic shortage is the Sahel region of Africa, where the number of malnourished children is estimated to have hit a new high of 1.5 million as cholera and locusts emerge as new threats, UNICEF has warned. The relief agency World Vision Australia said 18 million people need food assistance in Niger, Mali, Chad, Mauritania and Senegal. (Asian Age 19/8/12) Centre asks states to adopt Karnataka PDS model (21 ) New Delhi: The Karnataka government’s plan to set up bio-metric machines at all fair price shops and computerisation of transport and delivery of foodgrain to prevent pilfering has received laurels from the Centre. The Union Ministry of Food and Consumers Affairs, which is working hard to plug the leakages in the public distribution schemes, has asked other states officials to visit Karnataka and try to adopt the system undertaken by the State’s Food and Civil Supplies Department. Karnataka Food and Civil Supply Department secretary B A Harish Gowda recently made a presentation on the new system to the Union ministries of finance and food and consumers affairs officials here. Food and Consumer Affairs secretary Rajiv Agarwal, who chaired the state food secretaries meeting last week, advised the states to visit Karnataka to adopt its model. As the Centre is working on rolling out food security scheme at the earliest, it wanted the states to adopt bio-metric based system to check leakages in the foodgrains distribution system. Karnataka has introduced electronic weighing-cum-point of sale machines at fair price shops where the beneficiaries — both below poverty line and above poverty line card holders — will have to register by giving thumb impression. At the time of purchasing foodgrains, the beneficiary has to give thumb impression again. The data of the transaction will be transferred to the central server soon after the beneficiary finishes buying. The biometric machines have been designed in such a way that they will have a record of number of ration card holders, opening and closing stock for each day, total quantity of foodgrains received from the department’s godown at the beginning of the month and total quantity sold to card holders at the end of the month. All the machines are connected to the central server located in Bangalore which will be monitored by the department directly. Apart from this, the transportation of foodgrains from the Food Corporation India godowns to state-owned godowns and subsequently to fair price shops has been computerised. Each lifting of foodgrains by various agencies from godowns and its

dispatching and billing has also been computerised and it can be monitored from Bangalore. Currently, the system has been introduced at 103 fair price shops in Bangalore city and Tumkur district. It will be introduced in all 23,000 fair price shops in Karnataka, the state government informed the Centre.(Deccan Herald 20/8/12) 55,000 Sonipat families struck off from BPL list, t ake out protest march (21) SONIPAT: The district administration's decision to striking off 55,000 families from the list of below the poverty line (BPL) list has evoked angry reaction from the beneficiaries who carried out a protest march on Wednesday demanding re-inclusion of their names in the list. Hundreds raising anti-government slogans submitted a memorandum of their demands to the district revenue officer at the mini-secretariat. They threatened to resort to agitation if the government failed to redress their grievances. The district administration has cancelled BPL cards of 55,000 families from the district, including 13000, living in Sonipat town about 10 months ago. They were supported by the BJP MLA Kavita Jain, who led them to march to the mini-secretariat. She demanded new survey and to include the names of actual beneficiaries so that the poor families can get the benefit of the BPL schemes of the government. Addressing them near Shani Mandir Chowk, Jain alleged that striking off names of large number of families from BPL list discriminately. "The administration also stopped the ration supply of these card holders to the concerned depot holders; whereas in other districts the supply was not stopped till the release of the new survey report. These families should continue to get the benefits until a fresh list is prepared", she maintained. Urging the administration to prepare and release a new survey report soon, the BJP legislature announced that she would raise this issue in the coming session of the state assembly and this agitation would continue till the eligible BPL families were restored their cancelled cards. DRO, Suresh Kumar assured that the new list of the eligible BPL families would be sent soon for supply of ration. (Times of India 23/8/12) BPL families still bear the tag 'I am poor' on thei r houses (21) BHOPAL: Despite controversies over branding below poverty line (BPL) families as poor two years ago, Madhya Pradesh is yet to remove the marking on houses of BPL families with "Mein Garib Hoon" (I am poor) declarations-a move which was aimed to expose ineligible ration card holders and to force them to give up their BPL cards. The issue came to light nearly two years ago when district administration in some districts of Madhya Pradesh 'devised' a scheme to mark the houses of BPL families as "I am poor". To some extent, the idea worked well as a large number of ineligible people approached the authorities to get their names deleted from the BPL list, after being shamed of being branded as poor. When a controversy broke out over such a branding of BPL card holders-by painting an "I am poor" tag on their houses-following wide-spread criticism that it amounted to insult to the BPL families, administration in few districts sought to wriggle out of the situation, claiming that the decision to put such a mark on houses was in fact a local initiative of the gram sabhas concerned as a part of the campaign to target fake beneficiaries. The BJP government too had maintained that it was against such branding of the poor and announced to get these declarations removed BPL families and the controversy gradually died down. Even two years later, the situation has not changed. Similar markings can be seen on almost every house in a large number of villages, spread over in about 20 panchayats of Khalwa development block, though some of such declarations got faded in the recent heavy rains during monsoon. "The villagers are annoyed over such an insult but there is no one to get this markings removed", says tribal woman sarpanch of village Jamligujar Somti Bai, who herself figure in the BPL list. "I don't think it's proper to brand BPL families as poor, just because some ineligible persons had obtained BPL ration cards", he added. "Declaration that "I am poor", along with BPL card number can be seen on a number of rural households around Ashapur, about 40 Kms away from Khandwa district headquarters", says journalist Jai Nagda. Quoting locals, he said similar markings were also made on the houses of some influential people, who had also obtained BPL cards despite being ineligible, but they instantly removed them. There are about 68.17 lakh BPL card holders in Madhya Pradesh while the centre has approved a list of only 42 lakh families as those living below the poverty line. The state government itself has admitted in the past that several ineligible people have obtained BPL cards, apparently to take benefit of various government schemes meant for the poor. "Many people got themselves enrolled in the BPL list to get benefit of the state government's 'Kapil dhara" scheme aimed at giving access to water for irrigation in non-rainy seasons by providing wells to the persons, including SC, ST and BPL families", filed staff of Khalwa development block said. Khandwa district authorities say that they would now take steps to get such

writings removed while the opposition Congress points out that the situation in other districts were also not different. "It's an insult to the poor. It also amounts to blatant human rights violation", said leader of the opposition Ajay Singh. "Ever since BJP government had announced to get such writings removed in 2010, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state BJP chief Prabhat Jha had embarked on a number of 'yatras' across the state but they did not take any steps to protect the dignity of the poor", he said adding that the state should immediately ask the collectors concerned to get such markings removed within a specified time-limit. (Times of India 26/8/12) Over 7.57 million homes in Bihar lack toilets (21) Patna: Millions of poor families in Bihar are still living without toilets as the state government has failed to provide the facility at their homes, an official said Monday. Latest data from Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) shows that over 7.57 million households in Bihar, particularly in rural areas, don't have toilets. "The government has aimed at providing toilet facilities to more than 11 million families in the state this year. But till last month, only 41,13,545 households had been provided toilets," a PHED official said. PHED will provide toilets to 8,25,248 Below Poverty Line (BPL) families and 4,52,350 Above Poverty Line (APL) families during 2012-13. "The government has decided to achieve its target of providing toilet facilities to more than 11 million families by 2017," the PHED official said. Bihar PHED Minister Chandra Mohan Rai told IANS that it is a hard fact that millions of poor people in Bihar still don't have toilet facilities, which forces them to defecate in the open. "The state government is working to provide toilets to all families," Rai said. The Bihar government launched a special scheme named after veteran socialist leader Rammanohar Lohia in 2007 to speed up construction of toilets, but its implementation has been lagging. The central government has launched the Total Sanitation Campaign to ensure sanitation facilities in rural areas to eradicate open defecation. But Bihar is among the states lagging behind. Two years ago, Oliver Cumming, a senior policy analyst with London-based international NGO WaterAid was in Bihar to devise ways to make the state free of open defecation in two years. Cumming observed that an estimated 85 million toilets were needed to stop open defecation. WaterAid, in partnership with PHED, has tied up with Unicef, the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Programme and Britain's Department for International Development for a project to make Bihar free from open defecation by 2012. (IANS) (New Kerala 27/8/12) Poverty-stricken mother in Bengal sells her three d aughters for Rs.185 (21) South 24 Parganas: Struck by penury, a mother in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district allegedly sold three of her minor daughters for Rs.185. The incident was reported at Malancha village of Neora locality under Diamond Harbour police station after poverty drove the 38-year-old Purnima Halder to sell her children. Sources said Purnima gave her elder daughter Priya Halder (9) to Basanti Mistri (wife of Gupteswar Mistri) of Subhasgram. Basanti is a vegetable seller. Second daughter Supriya (7) was rescued from the house of Gauri Halder (wife of Swapan Halder) of Kapathat area. And the youngest one Rama (3) was rescued from Shila Roy (wife of Barun Roy) of Bhagabanpur locality. "All the three daughters have been rescued after the police came to know about it and carried out an extensive search taking the mother along with them. We have already video-recorded Purnima's statement regarding the issue," South 24 Parganas district police superintendent Praveen Tripathi said on Sunday. Tripathi said though there has been an allegation that the mother sold three of her daughters to fight poverty but the police have not received any such evidence so far. "We are looking into that aspect too," he said. According to local sources, Purnima sold her elder daughter for Rs.60, second daughter against Rs.100 and the third one for Rs.25. Later local people informed the police and sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Diamond Harbour Kaushik Bhattacharya ordered an investigation into the matter and launched a search drive across the district. "All the three daughters are now with a home at Mandirbazar area. The mother was in dire problem as she was thrown out of her residence by her husband Uttam Halder and gave her children to three different people so that they could get much-needed sustenance and shelter. She was worried as it was difficult for her to get a square meal for them," a senior district police officer said. Tripathi said Purnima might have given her daughters to different individuals but we can't say she had sold them. "May be she got some money as help after giving away her daughters thinking of their well-being," he said, brushing aside the allegation of Purnima selling her children due to poverty. Police said Purnima and Uttam, a plumber, got married about 12 years ago. Last week, Uttam beat her and his three daughters and threw them out of the house. The hapless mother took shelter at a railway station and was seen begging in front of the ticket counter. She, later, came in touch with a local man named

Prabhas who advised her to give away her daughters. Uttam was arrested lateon Saturday night for allegedly torturing his wife and daughters. He was produced before the Diamond Harbour court on Sunday where he was given 14 days judicial custody. "We have not arrested any of those family members from where we rescued the children. There was no complaint against them," the police said. (India Today 3/9/12) 'Environment degradation enhancing poverty in north east' (21) SHILLONG: Environmental degradation is a major factor in perpetuating poverty, particularly among the rural poor in the bio-rich northeastern region of the country, experts have pointed out.Experts on matters relating to the environment and ecology point out that environmental degradation has adverse effects on soil fertility, quality and quality of water, forests, wildlife and fisheries and makes air all the more impure."The dependence of rural poor, particularly the tribal societies, on natural resources is self-evident. Women, being directly involved in collecting items of food from nature, are more vulnerable to the adverse impacts of degradation of natural resources," says a research scholar associated with studying the relationship between the environment and people in general. In fact, of the two biodiversity 'hotspots' in India, the Eastern Himalayas, comprising the northeast is in greater danger than the Western Ghats, experts have long cautioned. "Northeast India is the bio-geographical gateway to India's richest biodiversity zone and is unique for its genetic resources. However, the rapid growth in population is creating a number of environmental problems because of uncontrolled urbanization, industrialization and massive intensification of agriculture and destruction of forests," an environment observer underscores. "Major environmental issues are degradation of forests, decline in forest cover and degradation of agricultural land, resource depletion (water, mineral, forest, sand, rocks etc), loss of biodiversity and resilience in ecosystems thereby creating livelihood insecurity for the poor," he says. The official estimates say, the country's population will increase to about 1.26 billion by the year 2016. The projected population indicates that India will be the first most populous country in the world followed by China in 2050. Experts point out that India having 18 per cent of the world's population and covering 2.4 per cent of the world's total area is leaving a negative impact on its natural resources. Water shortage, soil exhaustion and erosion, deforestation, air and water pollution afflict many areas. One of the primary causes of environmental degradation is attributed to rapid growth of population, which affects the environment and its natural resources. Experts say the existence or absence of favorable natural resources can facilitate or retard the process of socio-economic development. "Population growth and economic development are contributing to many serious environmental calamities, including deforestation, habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity. Changing consumption pattern has led to rising demand for energy," the experts emphasize. The final outcomes of this are air pollution, global warming, climate change, water scarcity and rise in the level of toxicity of water. Forest cover is declining because of harvesting for fuel wood and the expansion of agricultural land. These trends, combined with increasing industrial and motor vehicle pollution output, have led to temperature increases, shifting precipitation patterns, and declining intervals of drought recurrence in many areas. Civil conflicts involving natural resources - most notably forests and arable land - have occurred in eastern and northeastern states. Research on population genetics and phylogenetics (study of evolutionary relation among groups of organisms) should be given priority and concerted efforts launched to protect the prime habitats of endemic and endangered primate species, the experts opine. (Times of India 4/9/12) National Food Security Mission to have Rs. 25550 Cr ore Outlay in XII Plan (21) Rs. 25550.00 crores has been proposed under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) for the 12th Five Year Plan. It is proposed to continue NFSM during the 12th Five-year Plan with some modifications. The revamped NFSM forges linkages with all concerned in implementation of crop production activities which have direct bearing on enhancing and stabilizing the crop production. NFSM is being revamped during the XII Plan with focused attention on indentified crops following a location specific, targets oriented production strategies. During 2012-13, NFSM is implemented with three components namely NFSM-Rice, NFSM-Wheat and NFSM-Pulses. In the XII Plan, coarse cereal and fodder are also proposed to be included. NFSM-Rice is implemented in 210 districts of 24 States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, NFSM-Wheat is implemented in 166 districts of 12 States viz. Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu &

Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, NFSM-Pulses is implemented 468 districts of 16 States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Thus, in all NFSM is implemented in 27 States of the Country. This information was given by Shri Harish Rawat, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today. (Govt. of India; PIB 4/9/12) Woman sells 18-month-old son to clear Rs 15,000-deb t in Bihar (21) SAMASTIPUR (Bihar): Driven by poverty, a woman of this district has sold her 18-month-old son to another woman to pay off a debt of Rs 15,000, police said today. The impoverished woman Parvati of Chandchaur village allegedly sold off her son to Bini Devi yesterday in Devi's village Chiranjivipur in Begusarai district, they said. The residents of Chiranjivipur village came to know about the boy and informed the local police who intimated their counterparts at Ujiarpur police station where a complaint was lodged, they said. During investigation it was found that Parvati had sold off her son to return Rs 15,000 that she had taken from a person, they said. A police team from Ujiarpur police station later recovered the boy from the woman who had bought him and handed him over to his biological mother, they said. Samastipur DM Kundan Kumar said he had heard about the incident, but was yet to receive a written complaint in this regard. The district administration has not received any request from the woman for financial assistance, he said. (Times of India 5/9/12) Kolkata NGO to campaign for homeless (21) Kolkata: A Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) named 'A Just City For All' is all set to start a campaign with like-minded groups and individuals for the food, shelter and safety of the poor dwelling on the pavements of Kolkata without any proper identity. The initiative namely 'E Sohor Goriber O Jonno' (This City is for Poor Also) comprises a group of activists, social workers and the NGO itself. The campaign focuses on the poor mainly in urban areas who are unable to access any facility for not being able to produce their voter identity cards, Below Poverty Level (BPL) cards or Antardaya Annapurna Yojana (AAY) and other valuable documents to assure citizenship. The NGO's spokesperson Reshmi Ganguly announced about the campaign in a press meet at the Kolkata Press Club Tuesday. Activists Chittaranjan Mondal and Md. Israfil in the press meet highlighted the problems of the recent poverty alleviation programmes, Government’s stand point about the poor due to lack of identity, and the distress of the marginalized community. According to the NGO, "The prime objective is to ensure rights of housing, food, electricity, drinking water, sanitation with hygienity, and citizenship entitlements for civic recognition." They also stressed on the lives of women and children. Talking about the homeless people Reshmi Ganguly mentioned, the people who live on the pavements of the streets or under the open sky basically are labourers who immigrate without bringing any identity proof from different places of the state even from outside Bengal in search of jobs for their livelihood. She said, "In the recent census report West Bengal stands 5th in the poverty ratio while the BPL rate is 22pc . About 34.9pc of them are homeless Muslims who live in urban areas of West Bengal." "In a scheme by the Government 45 shelters were supposed to be made for the homeless people but only 24 have been made in Kolkata, including Howrah and Asansol," Ganguly said. "Still 7670 families live in open air in West Bengal, whereas in Kolkata the number is 6213 without head count." The NGO addressed Khidirpur as the oldest slum area in Kolkata. The spokesperson of the NGO stated, "By the order of Supreme Court in the year 2001, the Rapid Assessment Survey (RAS) was done and that denoted 37760 homeless people are from this city of joy for whom the shelters must be set up." "According to Census report 2011, the homeless people who counted was only 70000, though all of them were not calculated." "It is really strange to know that after the metro cities like Mumbai and Delhi where the number of slum dwellers are very high, Kolkata stands highest in regard to slum dwelling, rag picking, rickshaw pulling without proper documentation of identity," they said. The NGO declared to launch the campaign for the distressed on Sept 28, 2012 at Najrul Mancha in presence of the media, social workers and administrators hoping a better result for the marginalized people. (IBNS) (New Kerala 12/9/12) Bangladesh's personal laws discriminate against wom en: HRW (21) New York: Bangladesh's personal laws on marriage, separation and divorce trap many women in abusive marriages or drive them into poverty when couples separate, Human Rights Watch said Monday. In many

cases, these laws contribute to homelessness, hunger and ill health for divorced or separated women and their children, the rights body said in a new report. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have recorded significantly higher levels of food insecurity and poverty among female-headed Bangladeshi households. "Bangladesh is world famous for programmes meant to reduce women's poverty; yet for decades it has ignored how discriminatory personal laws drive many women into poverty," said Human Rights Watch. "With many women precariously housed or struggling to feed themselves when their marriages break down, Bangladesh should immediately reform its personal laws, fix its family courts, and provide state assistance to poor women." Human Rights Watch called upon Dhaka to urgently reform the personal laws, making economic rights for women a key focus. The Law Commission of Bangladesh has recently taken important steps to review personal laws on marriage, separation and divorce, and recommended changes this year. Women's rights advocates and academics contributed to this review process, and have long pressed for such reforms. The Bangladesh government should take this process forward and end legal discrimination against women within marriage, ensure women's equal right to marital property, streamline family court procedures, and improve access to social assistance programmes. The 109-page report documents how the country's discriminatory and archaic personal laws impoverish many women at separation or divorce, and trap some women in violent marriages because they fear destitution. Current laws deprive women of an equal right to marital property. The limited entitlements these laws offer women are poorly enforced by family courts and local government arbitration councils. Female-headed households and women facing domestic violence struggle to access critical state support and social assistance. Together, these problems mean there is scant economic protection or security for women when marriages break down, Human Rights Watch said. In Bangladesh, more than 55 percent of girls and women over 10 years old are married. The UN country team in Bangladesh has identified "marital instability" as a key cause of poverty among female-headed households. The Bangladesh Planning Commission has said that women were more susceptible to becoming poor after losing a male earning family member due to abandonment or divorce. As Bangladesh strives to meet its poverty reduction targets under the Millennium Development Goals, it was undermining its own efforts by leaving discriminatory and poverty-triggering laws on the books, Human Rights Watch said. The report is based on interviews with 255 people, including 120 women, as well as with judges, family court lawyers, women's rights experts, and government officials. (Zee News 17/9/12) Kids living with married parents escape poverty (21 ) Growing up with married parents vastly increases a child's prospects of escaping poverty, a new study has revealed. A stable home was found to raise a child's chances of escaping "the poverty trap" by 82 per cent. When equally well-educated families were compared, marriage increased a child's chance of living above the poverty line by 75 per cent. The U.S. research also found that just 7 per cent of children in families below the poverty line had parents who were married to each other while 37 per cent of children in families below the poverty level were in households where their parents were not married. The study also found that in the high-income third of the population, the majority of children are raised by married parents and have high standards of education. But in the bottom-income third, most children are raised by single parents and attain lower standards of education. "Being married has roughly the same effect in reducing poverty that adding five to six years to a parent's education has," the Daily Mail quoted study author Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation as saying. "Marriage remains America's strongest anti-poverty weapon, yet it continues to decline. "As husbands disappear from the home, poverty and welfare dependence will increase, and children and parents will suffer as a result. "Since marital decline drives up child poverty and welfare dependence, and since the poor aspire to healthy marriage but lack the norms, understanding, and skills to achieve it, it is reasonable for government to take active steps to strengthen marriage. "Just as government discourages youth from dropping out of school, it should clearly and forcefully articulate the value of marriage. "It should provide information that will help people to form and maintain healthy marriages and delay childbearing until they are married and economically stable. "Marriage is highly beneficial to children, adults, and society; it needs to be encouraged and strengthened. "Under current government policies, however, marriage is either ignored or undermined. This needs to change," Rector added. (Times of India 18/9/12) BPL families to get 9 LPG cylinders (21) The Delhi government gave some relief to the people living below poverty line from the Centre’s decision of curtailing number of subsidised LPG cylinder. The city government on Monday decided to provide nine

subsidised LPG cylinders instead of six to the BPL people of the city. The decision was taken in a Cabinet meeting presided by Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. Around 3.5 lakh beneficiaries who are under the government’s scheme of “kerosene free Delhi” can avail nine subsidised cylinders in one year. “Our government is committed to safeguarding the interests of common man. It has once again taken a significant decision to provide relief to the poor families by mitigating the effects of inflation as far as cooking gas is concerned,” Ms Dikshit told reporters here. The city government would pay the difference between the market price and subsidised price for three cylinders, which would come around Rs. 350 per cylinder, to these families. The decision came three days after the Union Cabinet restricted the supply of cooking gas cylinders at subsidised prices to six per year for a family. “The city government would spare an amount of Rs. 42 crore per annum to meet the additional cost of cylinder, beyond six cylinders, in respect of the beneficiaries under the Dilli Kerosene Free scheme. More than 3.56 lakh families, which include BPL, AAY and JRC card holders, are covered under the scheme,” said a Delhi government official. The chief minister launched the “Kerosene Free Dilli” scheme in August this year. The city government will release an amount of Rs. 3,049 for each beneficiary to provide LPG connection, filled LPG cylinder, regulator, security amount, gas stove, suraksha tube and LPG connection book to the senior most female member of the family from AAY, BPL and JRC card holder categories. The Cabinet also decided to further augment city carriage DTC low-floor CNG bus fleet from 3,781 to more than 4,400 by procurement of 625 fully built non-AC buses. The buses will be purchased with maintenance for 7,50,000 kilometres run or 12 years operations whichever is later at an estimated cost of approximate Rs. 52.78 lakh per bus involving an expenditure of about Rs. 330 crore. (Asian Age 18/9/12) Over 1,000 houses to be constructed under Indira Aw as Yojna (21) Noida: More than 1,000 BPL (below poverty line) families in Gautam Budh Nagar will get assistance for construction of houses under the Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) in the current financial year. “For 2012-13 under IAY, 1,114 BPL families will be given aid for construction of houses. Last year 286 housing units were constructed against a target of 250 houses under the scheme,” chief development officer Prakash Bindu said on Monday. The Indira Awaas Yojana is a flagship scheme of Union ministry of rural development to provide housing to the poor in rural areas. It is funded on cost sharing basis between the central government and a state government at a ratio of 75:25. The scheme provides financial assistance for the construction and upgradation of houses to members of scheduled caste (SC), scheduled tribe (ST), freed bonded labourers and other BPL rural households. According to norms at least 60% funds should be utilised to construct or upgrade houses for SC and ST households. The houses are allotted in the name of a woman or jointly between husband and wife. The amount of assistance to each household for construction of a house is R45,000. The beneficiary is responsible for construction. A toilet and a smokeless chullah are required to be constructed along with each IAY house for which additional financial assistance is provided. For 2012-13 the total allocation is R496.31 lakh. It included R372.23 lakh central funds and R124.08 lakh state share under the scheme. The district administration is yet to be received the funds. (Hindustan Times 19/9/12) Govt keen to push bills on food security, land acqu isition (21) NEW DELHI: After the big-bang reforms, law minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday indicated government's keenness to push bills on food security and land acquisition, insisting that even Mamata Banerjee will not be able to oppose them. He maintained that "the bills drive a deft political balance between populism and reforms". The draft (food security) bill is being given the final touches by the Cabinet. This will ensure that poor will have their stomachs full. Nobody will sleep hungry. And when the law comes into force, people will get good food at low prices. 70 per cent of India will come into the ambit. We want to see which party can oppose the food bill," Khurshid said. The proposed Food Security Bill is estimated to cost the exchequer at least Rs 1.19 lakh crore in way of subsidy. "We will also table the Land Acquisition Bill. This was (Trinamool Congress chief) Mamata's agenda at Singur. Can she oppose the Bill now? We are confident that SP and other allies will back this bill. So there's no cause of concern about numbers in Parliament," Khurshid said in an interview on Aaj Tak channel. The minister also said the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) will very soon be extended to the urban class . Rebutting talk of running a minority government, he said "these Bills will have political consensus — driving a deft political balance between populism and reforms".Refusing to accept that there was a scam in coal block allocations, he said, "When there are incidents of rapes in the country, do we call India a rape capital. There is no coal scam. There could have been discrepancies in allocations. This is being probed." Asked

why UPA-II took three years "to shake off policy paralysis" and announce the reforms, the Union minister said, "It's all about timing. The move wasn't sudden. We have to keep in mind when we make friends, anticipate when ties could snap and what alternatives we have," he said. On the opposition to FDI in retail, he said, "BJP had even created a cabinet note on FDI. Another had even mentioned it in their manifesto. Why this U-turn now?" he asked. Dispelling fears that retail giant Wal-Mart would monopolize the market and shut down the local kirana stores, he said, "the Competition Commission will intervene if monopoly strikes root." On the coal allocation issue, he said, "Those who didn't get coal blocks didn't object about being denied. So where is the scam? There is no conflict of interest in making recommendations. The CBI is already investigating the case. And remember the CAG has clarified it did not say competitive bidding was the only option to allocate blocks." Khurshid tried to cap the controversy by saying, "A five-judge Supreme Court bench will give its verdict on competitive bidding. If the court says CAG was right, we will accept the judgment." (Times of India 23/9/12) Move to control price of rice in the open market: M inister (21) VELLORE: Health Minister V.S. Vijay inaugurated the sale of open market rice in Karpagam Cooperative Supermarket administered by the Vellore District Consumers’ Cooperative Wholesale Stores Limited (VDCCWSL) here on Saturday. He said that the State government, which is already implementing the scheme of distributing rice free of cost to family card-holders below the poverty line, has now come to the rescue of all people affected by the hike in the price of rice in the open market. In order to control the price of rice in the open market, the government has procured rice in the open market in Tamil Nadu as well as from West Bengal for sale through Karpagam Supermarket. The rice variety I.R. 36 ‘Sorna,’ which is equivalent to Tamil Nadu ‘Ponni’ rice and the fine variety ‘minikit’ equivalent to I.R. 50 rice would be sold at Karpagam Cooperative Supermarket in Vellore as well as mini-supermarkets in Tirupattur and Pernambut, and 16 cooperative stores in Ranipet, Arakkonam, Walajapet, Katpadi, Gudiyatham and Tirupattur. The I.R. 36 and I.R. 50 ‘Sorna’ (both raw and boiled varieties) would be sold at Rs.25 per kg while minikit (fine variety) would be sold at Rs.31 per kg. Eight tonnes of minikit and four tonnes of ‘Sorna’ varieties are available for sale in cooperative outlets in Vellore district. The rice would be sold in 25-kg bags as well as smaller quantities in retail based on requirements of people, the Minister said. P. Sankar, Collector of Vellore, presided. P. Karthiyayini, Mayor of Vellore, V.D. Dharmalingam, Deputy Mayor of Vellore, S. Kumar, Vellore Corporation Zone Committee president, K.C. Thenmozhi, Special Officer, Vellore District Central Cooperative Bank, M. Kuzhandaivelu, Special Officer, Ambur Cooperative Sugar Mills, T. Kamatchi, General Manager, Integrated Cooperative Development Programme, Vellore, K. Devipriya, Deputy Registrar, Vellore, and G. Thulasiraman, Secretary, VDCCWSL, spoke. (The Hindu 30/9/12) Poverty, poor schools pushing kids to child labour (21) RAMANATHAPURAM: The public hearing held in Ramanathapuram town on Saturday revealed various socio-economic factors which drove children from the Kadaladi block here to take up jobs in spite of their desire to continue their education. Child Rights and You (CRY) along with its partnering NGO, Rural Workers Development Society in the locality carried out the study in 27 villages of Kadaladi block in the district which revealed that 365 children below 18 years of age are employed in various industries. The jury consisted of Madras high court senior advocate R Sudha Ramalingam, state representative of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights Henri Tiphagne, B Parthasarathy from Madurai Kamaraj University Teacher's Association (MUTA) and P Thirumalai, a journalist. The children narrated that the lack of sustainable income, non-availability and poor accessibility to schools in the locality and lack of proper transportation had forced them to take up even hazardous professions. With the Palmyra industry that was once prominent in the region turning unviable, many parents said their acute poverty had made them dependant on the meagre income that their children earned. Anthony Josephraj of Kannigapuri narrated how his family of seven depended upon the money that his daughter brought home as he could not climb trees after developing a health issue and his wife was handicapped. Hence, 16-year-old Vellankanni works in the salt pans of Tuticorin district and earns about Rs 3,500 after toiling under the hot sun for many hours each day. She refused to attend the hearing after picking up a quarrel over her inability to continue studying. "Three years have passed since she dropped out in eighth standard. It would be difficult to enroll her back," was the excuse given to the jury when it proposed a residential school for the girl. Among other reasons like poor transportation in the block to reach school and the lack of middle and high schools in the villages, acute poverty at home burdened with too many

children was found to be the major reason for most children to drop out. T Alagumuthu (14) from Vellapatti narrated her helplessness as she had to take care of the family after her father abandoned them when her mother died a few years ago. "I work in sea food companies to educate my younger brother and feed my grandmother," she told the jury. Some of the parents and relatives of the 47 children who attended the hearing spoke about the loss of livelihood in the Palmyra industry. Palm sugar processing is an important business in Kadaladi, Tirupullani, Vembar, Sayalkudi and other surrounding regions but the fluctuating prices of palm sugar had severely affected them. "We take a lease of the trees and toil away daily to get the palm sugar, but traders take the product from us at throwaway prices," rued P Edison of Sayalkudi. Urging the education department to look into the lack of accessibility and poor infrastructure in the schools, the jury of the public hearing pressed the government to consider procuring palm sugar at better prices and save the industry from peril with value added products. "It will save the families and the children forced into employment at a tender age. Besides, family planning should also be given a thrust in the region," they said. Further, teachers were urged to take sincere efforts to prevent dropouts due to corporal punishment. (Times of India 30/9/12) Rajasthan natives bat for holistic food security bi ll (21) Jaipur: On Gandhi Jayanti, hundreds of people came together in Udaipur from the tribal districts of Banswara, Dungarpur, Sirohi and Pali, demanding a universal public distribution system. The slogans were clear: “APL-BPL khatam karo, sabko anaaj, dal, tel do (abolish APL-BPL. Give wheat, pulses and oil to all).” The yatras by social organisations began from Kushalgarh in Banswara, Sirohi and Abur Road Block in Sirohi district, Bali in Pali district and Kotra and Khedwada in Udaipur district. All the yatras converged in Udaipur on Tuesday to share their vision of a ‘bhukh evam kuposhan mukta Rajasthan (a hunger- and malnutrition-free Rajasthan)’. Some yatras were also flagged off on Tuesday from Barmer and Jaisalmer, and another from Bikaner and Hanumangarh will join the main congregation in Beawar and Jaipur respectively. The yatras will end on October 9 in Baran, another hunger pocket in Rajasthan. Development economist Jean Dreze said while the percentage of procurement by the Food Corporation of India has been rising year after year, distribution has been mostly stagnant (relatively coming down). He said distribution has been done on the basis of the BPL list of 2002 and population records of 2000. The population figures have not been revised in the 2011 census, he said. He took on the Rajasthan chief minister and said it was shocking to see tribals in the state living in stark poverty and with hunger. He said it was dishonest to divide people into APL and BPL categories in the panchayat. People still go to Gujarat to work for very low wages, he said. He said the PDS must provide pulses and oil at extremely subsidised cost as these items were not on the food plate of people in the region. He said the yatra in Rajasthan will impact policymakers not only in the state but in Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, where similar yatras were being organised. They will apply pressure on state governments and build public opinion for a comprehensive food security Bill. Advisor to Supreme Court Commissioners Ashok Khandelwal said the Rajasthan government has been violating apex court orders by providing only 25 kg ration to BPL families, when there were clear orders to provide 35 kg per card. However, he said the government must not only make it 35 kg for all BPL families, but people in adivasi areas should be given food according to ICMR norms, which is 14 kg per adult (7 kg per child) — averaging 10 kg per unit, 1.5 kg dal (0.75 kg per child) and 900 gm (450 gm per child) cooking oil. (Deccan Herald 3/10/12) Government mulls cylinder sops for BPL families (21 ) BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government is contemplating extending support to below poverty line (BPL) households having gas connections in the wake of the Centre capping subsidized LPG cylinders per family at six a year, official sources said on Friday. "With recent restriction on subsidized LPG cylinders to six per year by the Centre for all consumers, there is a thinking in Odisha government to provide relief to BPL families having LPG gas connections," secretary, food supplies and consumer welfare, Madhusudan Padhi, said in a letter to state-level coordinator and general manager, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, P K Das. Padhi, in his letter, asked Das to furnish information from different oil marketing companies (IOCL, BPCL and HPCL) on families with gas connection along with their economic status, i.e., whether BPL or APL (above poverty line), by October 31. The ruling BJD's move follows the decision of Congress-ruled states to give three subsidized LPG cylinders to consumers in addition to the six fixed by the Union government. On September 13, the Congress-led UPA dispensation had hiked diesel prices by Rs five per litre and put a ceiling on subsidized gas cylinders citing mounting losses. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had demanded immediate rollback of the decision. Food supplies and

consumer welfare minister Pratap Keshari Deb did not divulge details of the state government's plan, saying: "We are contemplating something. Before taking a decision we have to calculate the financial implications on the state exchequer." He said there are around 18 lakh domestic LPG consumers in the state. "Once we get the data on the economic status of the consumers we can work out the modalities and extend some kind of support to bring succour to the poor families," he told TOI. (Times of India 6/10/12) Poverty-ridden opt for cash transfer over PDS (21) New Delhi: Sunita (42), a mother of five at Raghubir Nagar slum in West Delhi, manages her household with a monthly income of Rs. 3,000. However, she benefited from supplementary income through 2011, with Rs. 1,000 being credited to her account under the cash transfer scheme every month. The government had, on an experimental basis, replaced her entitlements under the Public Distribution System (PDS). The scheme allows her to buy everything she wants from the open market, instead of the fair price shop under the PDS. And what’s more, the cash transfer scheme also provides the beneficiary with a bank account. Sunita’s household is one among the 100 in the area, which were part of a 2011 pilot project to assess whether the government could offer cash instead of subsidised commodities as a welfare measure for people below poverty line. Last week, the PM had put in place a mechanism — overseen by a ministerial committee under his leadership — for moving to electronic cash transfer mode, leveraging Aadhar. The cost of procurement and grain distribution under PDS this fiscal is likely to cross R92,000 crore. The food security bill, when it kicks in, will take the bill up by another R28,000 crore. Before the pilot project, Sunita used to spend around Rs. 300 on buying rice, wheat, sugar, kerosene and oil from the PDS shop. It would last for 20 days a month, following which she would have to spend R1,000 on grocery from the open market. However, the R1,000 she gets under the cash transfer scheme goes a long way in helping her buy groceries for the entire month, says Sunita. “Earlier, we had to wait for weeks for the supplies. And when they finally arrived, the quantity would be less than our entitlement. Moreover, a substantial part of our grain supply would consist of chaff. This is why we had to shell out R1,000 to make up for the rest of the month,” says Sunita. But now, the family was able to buy more nutritious food, such as eggs and meat, through the cash transfer scheme. “This allowed us buy supplies from the wholesale market. And, with money in hand, we were not at mercy of the dealer and the supplies,” she gushes. Cash transfer also helped out when Sunita's son met with an accident, and she had to spend heavily on private medical treatment. The best thing about cash transfer is the flexibility it gives to people for choosing what to use it for, she says. Sunita’s neighbours agree, and some of them rue not being chosen for the pilot project. “People under the cash transfer scheme do not have to make the rounds of the ration shop and eat substandard food. Given a choice, we would opt for cash transfer,” says 35-year-old Saroj Devi, who was not selected for the pilot project despite living in a nearby lane. However, the day is not far when she would become a beneficiary too. (Hindustan Times 7/10/12) Government should modify Food Security Act, says Bi nayak Sen (21) Thiruvananthapuram: Noted social activist Binayak Sen on Saturday sought modifications in the proposed Food Security Act to ensure the poor get enough food, saying it would not achieve the desired result in the present form. The process of classifying beneficiaries eligible for food grains under the present Act was complex and would lead to corruption, he said while delivering a lecture on "Are the poor getting poorer" in connection with the Fifth Annual Kovlam literary festival, the second leg of which began in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. "Everything is fluid in the Act. Nobody knows what will happen. There was also talk on reducing the quantum of food grains to be supplied from present level of 35 kg", he said. The Act would replace PDS supplying food grains by cash transfer which was disastrous for the poor in the country, Mr Sen said, adding, it should be modified to ensure that poor gets enough food. He also suggested that the Centre supply pulses and oil along with rice and wheat through PDS. Referring to malnutrition among Indians, Mr Sen said it was akin to a 'famine like situation.'Mr Sen said government should discourage conversion of forest and agricultural land for cultivation of commercial crops like sugarcane, tobacco and soybean. He also criticised handing over of natural resources to multinationals, saying this has deprived the poor of access to water and other resources for their livelihood. Mr Sen's wife Ilina Sen also spoke on the occasion. Several writers from all over the country and abroad, including Israel are participating in the two-day event, organised in memory of veteran journalist the late K C John. NDTV 8/10/12)

Exclusive health scheme for 9 crore urban poor on t he anvil (21) NEW DELHI: After years of wait, India is all set to have a health programme for its nine crore urban poor. The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) on Tuesday cleared the Union health ministry's blue print of a National Urban Health Mission (NUHM). The ministry will soon take the Rs 22,000-crore proposal to the Cabinet. Nearly 75% of this budget will be funded by the Centre. NUHM will be launched in 779 cities or towns that have a population of 50,000 or more along with seven mega cities — Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. Contrary to popular belief, the health standards of the urban poor in most cases are worse than their rural counterparts. More than two million births occur annually among the urban poor, and the health indicators in this group are poor. Around 56% deliveries among the urban poor take place at home. The under-5 mortality among urban poor at 72.7% is significantly higher than the urban average of 51.9%.Nearly 60% urban poor children do not receive complete immunization compared to 58% in rural areas, 47.1% urban poor children less than three are underweight as compared to 45% in rural areas and 59% of women (15-49 age group) are anemic as compared to 57% in rural India. Over 285 million urban people in India account for 28% of the country's total population. It is expected to increase to 33% by 2026. According to projections, out of the total population increase of 371 million during 2001-26, the share of increase in the urban population is expected to be 182 million, who suffer from serious health problems. A health ministry official said, "The Centre has pledged around Rs 17,000 crore for NUHM. Every state will soon start mapping their existing infrastructure to fill the gaps so that smooth health services are made available to the poor. It will be a city-specific plan. The primary health centres will carry out preventive, clinical and curative services. We envisage keeping the PHC near these slums open from 12 noon to 8 pm so that poor don't miss their wages and can come to a PHC for treatment after work. The PHCs will carry out diagnostics, OPDs, antenatal care, immunization rounds with a referral linkage to a satellite hospital." NUHM also got the backing from President Pranab Mukherjee, who as the then finance minister in his Budget speech on March 16, had said, "NUHM is being launched to encompass the primary healthcare needs of people in urban areas." The NUHM will ensure health services for all urban dwellers — urban poor population, living in listed and unlisted slums besides all other vulnerable population such as homeless, rag-pickers, street children, rickshaw-pullers and other temporary migrants. "Lack of economic resources inhibiting or restricting their access to private facilities, illegal status, poor environmental condition, overcrowding and pollution has contributed to their poor health status," a Planning Commission report said. (Times of India 10/10/12) India lags behind China, Pak in reducing hunger lev el: Report (21) NEW DELHI: India lags behind neighbouring China, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in reducing hunger level, says the 2012 Global Hunger Index (GHI) released by US-based International Food Policy and Research Institute. India is ranked 65th out of 79 countries in GHI, behind China at 2nd place, Pakistan at 57 and Sri Lanka at 37. "India has lagged behind in improving its Global Hunger Index (GHI) score despite strong economic growth. After a small increase between 1996 and 2001, India?s GHI score fell only slightly, and the latest GHI returned to about the 1996 level," International Food Policy and Research Institute (IFPRI) said in the latest report. This stagnation in GHI scores occurred during a period when India's gross national income (GNI) per capita almost doubled, rising from about 1,460 to 2,850 constant 2005 international dollars between 1995?97 and 2008?10, it said. When comparing GHI scores with GNI per capita, it must be emphasised that India's latest GHI score is based partly on outdated data, it added. The report said that given that India has failed to monitor national trends in child undernutrition for more than six years, any recent progress in the fight against child undernutrition cannot be taken into account by the 2012 GHI. "Nonetheless, even bearing in mind that possible recent advances in the fight against child undernutrition are not yet visible in the latest GHI, India's track record is disappointing," it observed and said generally, higher incomes are associated with less hunger. The 2012 Global Hunger Index, published jointly by IFPRI, Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe, shows the progress made in reducing the proportion of hungry people in the world. (Times of India 11/10/12) “India lags behind Bangladesh in improving Global H unger Index” (21) NEW DELHI: India has lagged in improving its Global Hunger Index (GHI) score despite strong economic growth, according to the 2012 Global Hunger Index report released for the seventh year by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide. The 2012

index — The Challenge of Hunger: Ensuring Sustainable Food Security under Land, Water, and Energy Stresses — points out that Bangladesh, India and Timor-Leste have the highest prevalence of underweight children under five, more than 40 per cent in each of the three countries. Yet the report suggests that Bangladesh has overtaken India on a range of social indicators, including how fast it has reduced child mortality. In India, 43.5 per cent of children under five are underweight, which accounts for almost two-thirds of the country’s alarmingly high GHI score. From 2005-2010, India ranked second to last on child underweight — below Ethiopia, Niger, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Bemoaning the absence of up-to-date information, the report says that though India has worked to improve food security and nutrition in recent years through government’s nutrition-relevant social programmes, the effectiveness remains uncertain for lack of updated data. On the other hand, China has lowered its levels of hunger and under-nutrition through a strong commitment to poverty reduction, social security networks, nutrition and health interventions, and improved access to safe water, sanitation, and education. The report says South Asia has the highest regional 2012 GHI score -- 22.5 -- thus the highest hunger levels of the regions covered in the Index. Yet compared with the region’s 1990 GHI score, its 2012 GHI score is 26 per cent lower, indicating improvement in the region’s hunger situation. It finds hunger inextricably linked to growing pressure on land, water and energy resources. “Growing scarcity and degradation of farmland, rapidly rising incomes and changing consumption patterns, have contributed to a growing number of international land investments, or land deals. Many of these deals have targeted Sub-Saharan Africa, where land rent is lower, regulatory systems weaker, and levels of hunger higher,” it says. “Large-scale foreign investments in land should be closely monitored. Local organisations are needed to secure transparency and the participation of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are impacted by land deals,” said Welthungerhilfe President Bärbel Dieckmann. Water scarcity is exacerbated by climate change, especially in the severely water-stressed areas of the world, which are home to more than 2 billion people. Floods, drought, and environmental degradation threaten the farm sector in parts of the world. Rising global energy prices are a serious threat to food security, as also increasing demand for agricultural land and water for irrigation which, in turn, push up food prices. Higher energy prices are observed to increase agricultural input costs including cost of fertiliser and groundwater pumping and machinery, putting further pressure on prices, it adds. The report suggests long-term availability of natural resources as crucial for food security and human well-being. “If local, national and international natural resource policies focus on sustainable, long-term gains, if policies are coordinated and tradeoffs among land, water and energy policies minimised, we can strengthen the global food system while preventing resource depletion,” points out Claudia Ringler, IFPRI Deputy Division Director. (The Hindu 13/10/12) One in eight Australians live in poverty: report (2 1) Canberra: More than 2.2 million Australians, or one in eight people, are living below the internationally accepted poverty line, a report said Sunday. The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) said people who are unemployed, children, and people who depend only on social security payments, are most at risk. Despite 20 years of economic growth, poverty has increased in Australia. ACOSS provides the most comprehensive study of poverty in Australia since 2006, Xinhua reported. "In a wealthy country like Australia, this is simply inexcusable," said ACOSS chief Cassandra Goldie. "The Newstart Allowance has not been increased in real terms since 1994 so households relying on it have been falling further behind community living standards and into poverty," the report said. "Two thirds of people on Newstart have been unemployed for more than a year and they clearly need more help than they are getting now from employment services," she said. She added that the government's parenting payment cuts are disturbing, given the report shows almost 300,000 children living in poverty are with sole parents. (Deccan Herald 15/10/12) Medical expenses plunge 4 crore into poverty each y ear: President (21) New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee urged the faculty and students of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to work on the “singular goal” of trying to make the institute one of the ten best medical universities in the world by 2020. Addressing the 40th Annual Convocation of AIIMS on Tuesday, Mukherjee called upon the institute to pioneer medical research to make healthcare affordable in the country. “I am deeply concerned about the impoverishing impact of health and medical expenses on the vulnerable sections of our society. It is unacceptable that almost 80 per cent of the expenditure on healthcare by our people is met by personal, out-of-pocket payment. I am shocked to note that as many as 4 crore people in our country plunge into poverty each year due to expenses on medical treatment,”

Mukherjee said. He said health services for the poor cannot be “poor health services”. “We need to craft a high quality national health system that is used by the poor and the rich alike.” Mukherjee said the new challenges in the country’s health sector were opportunities for the institute to contribute towards nation building. “Time has come for India to aim at attaining universal health coverage within the next two to three Plan periods. Excellence should not be confined to Delhi. It must touch the hearts of the millions all over the country who are still struggling for equitable access to quality healthcare,” the President said. “Research work at AIIMS must not only be acclaimed by the academia, but also benefit the public at large. We need to take health services closer to the homes of families — even a primary health centre is too far by today’s standards and needs,” Mukherjee said. (Indian Express 17/10/12) Rising food prices kept 8 million Indians chained t o poverty: UN report (21) NEW DELHI: Rising food prices during 2010-11 may have pushed three million Bangladeshis into poverty, and kept eight million Indians from getting out of poverty bracket, finds a UN report released on Thursday. In Asia and Pacific region, food inflation pushed nearly four million people into poverty. The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific ( ESCAP) report on regional cooperation for inclusive and sustainable development says food prices have gone up primarily due to pressure on a shrinking and neglected agriculture sector, while consumption has risen significantly. It cites supply-side factors than demand as the key that drove food prices. Increasing cost of fertilizers, competition for arable land, water resource and high oil prices are all responsible for the spike. Commodity market speculation has also been a growing factor behind high and volatile commodity prices. The report says that the rising food price, which contributed to food insecurity, adversely impacted household budgets. Recent estimates by UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that over 65% of the household income of poor across the world is spent on food. "In Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, for example, common response to food price rises have been to switch to less expensive food items, reduce savings to spend on food and sell assets to buy food," the report says. Raising concern over the poor's access to food in the region, it says that children are the first to feel the impact of hunger. For instance, in Bangladesh and India, more than 40% children are undernourished. It explains that the root cause of hunger across the sub-region is not lack of food rather the socio-economic and social distribution is responsible for this evil. Pointing out the serious flaw in food distribution, the report claims that at national level, "hungry population live side-by-side with people who have easy access to food." Advocating a robust mechanism for food distribution, it says food insecurity disproportionately affects women, rural folks, migrant workers and tribals. "Children are more likely to be undernourished, but there is also a gender difference as girls far more likely to be hungry than boys," it adds. The UN body's report is only underlining what should be obvious — the most anti-poor measure that any government can take is to allow inflation to go out of control. This is particularly true of food inflation, which hits the poor much worse than it hits those who are better off. When we try to judge reform measures — like allowing FDI in retail or curtailing the subsidy bill through better targeting and a more efficient delivery mechanism — this should be taken into account. If these indeed help keep prices in check, through cutting out the middleman in one case or reining in the fiscal deficit in the other, they can hardly be termed anti-poor as critics of the reforms are prone to do. (Times of India 20/10/12) 7000 crore for poverty alleviation project (21) Hyderabad: After successful implementation of the AP Rural Poverty Reduction Project (APRPRP) with the aid of World Bank, the state government has now proposed the Andhra Pradesh Rural Inclusive Growth Project (APRIGP) at a cost of Rs 7,585 crore, which will consolidate all the poverty alleviation programmes. This is considered the last giant leap for the powerful eco-system generated to make the state poverty-free by 2017. A World Bank team, which visited the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) from October 15 to 19 in the state, called on chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy at the Secretariat on Friday and thanked him for the support and encouragement for the poverty alleviation programmes in the state. Under the APRIGP programme, livelihood enhancement programmes to poorest households will be taken up at a cost of Rs 309 crore, second generation institutions of the poor with Rs 127 crore, jobs for rural youth created at a cost of Rs 40 crore and health and nutrition programmes taken up at Rs 234 crore. The United Nations Development Program(UNDP) had supported the South Asia Poverty Alleviation Project (SAPAP) in 20 mandals in Anantapur, Kurnool and Mahbubnagar districts. The World Bank supported Andhra Pradesh Districts Poverty Initiatives Project (APDPIP), that originated in 316 Mandals in Anantapur, Chittoor, Mahbubnagar, Adilabad, Srikakulam

and Vizianagaram in 2000, concluded in December 2006. This was extended to 16 other districts in 2003 as APRPRP, which then concluded in September 2011. (Indian Express 20/10/12) Akhilesh Yadav demands modification of National Foo d Security Bill (21) LUCKNOW: Resisting the Food Ministry s latest proposal for a National Food Security Bill, whereby 33% of the population would be excluded from the Public Distribution System across the board, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh protesting against the formula of uniform exclusion, by which 33% of population in all states would be excluded from the benefits of the food security programme. Akhilesh has also demanded that the bill be modified in order to allow 100% PDS coverage to all rural areas in UP. Saying such a provisions would amount to discrimination against a state like Uttar Pradesh, where the extent of poverty is higher than most other states and per capita income much lower, Akhilesh has demanded that PDS coverage should be increased in states like UP. Demanding universal coverage in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh has raised a demand for complete coverage in rural areas and 95% coverage in urban areas, in the Bill. The letter, dispatched to the centre on September 10 this year cites the Tendulkar committee poverty estimates, which state that 37.7% of UP's population lies below the poverty line as against the all India average of BPL families of 29.8%. The BPL population in states like Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra, Akhilesh has added, ranges between 12 to 24.5%, making it unfair to UP, to be clubbed with all the other states in the country. Giving additional data to strengthen UP's case, in his letter, Akhilesh has said UP's per capita income for the year 2009-10 was Rs 23,392, only half of the all India average of Rs 46,117. For the other states he mentioned in his letter, Akhilesh has added that the per capita income ranged between Rs 78,781 and Rs 59,179, for the same period. (Times of India 21/10/12) ‘Urban poor unaware of welfare schemes’ (21) JAIPUR: The daily struggle of slum dwellers for getting basic amenities and the glaring deficiency in the reach of the much-touted urban poverty alleviation schemes as well as other programmes for welfare of widows, disabled people and destitute children were revealed during an awareness drive launched by two voluntary public service institutions in slum colonies here this week. The campaign, as part of which activists representing the two institutions went to the slums in different parts of the city to interact with the residents, also enabled slum dwellers to raise their voice against the lack of civic amenities and highlight the absence of welfare measures about which the Jaipur Municipal Corporation and the government have been making frequent claims. Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) programme officer Tripti Sharma and Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) members Deepmala Malhotra and Gopal Ram Verma interacted with the people residing at J. P. Colony in Vidyadhar Nagar zone and Baiji Ki Kothi slum in Jhalana Doongari area earlier this week. One of the objectives was to apprise the slum dwellers of official schemes for housing, infrastructure development and social welfare. Activists visiting J. P. Colony were shocked to learn that none of the 450-household strong locality had any knowledge about the State government’s schemes. Ms. Sharma said there was total lack of awareness about schemes which can benefit the poor, indicating that schemes were being implemented in a “superficial manner”. Despite a major sewage drain passing along the locality, J. P. Colony has been deprived of basic hygiene. This has prompted the residents to come together and make arrangements for basic amenities on their own. They pooled money to lay temporary water pipes running over the road surface and even connected a sewage line with the main open drain flowing along the slum. Local resident Rashid Khan said the on-surface water pipes were a mess and made it difficult for children and the elderly to walk in the dark. The slum locality, situated on a slope, is prone to such accidents with people falling over and injuring themselves. Naina Devi narrated the shortcomings of privately-laid sewage pipes, saying they were too small and choked frequently. Another resident Shahida questioned the need of the government if slum dwellers had to arrange for the bare minimum infrastructure themselves. Daily wage earner Shaukin (35), suffering from polio, obtained a disability card for himself to claim disability pension and travel for free in State buses. Despite the documents, he is denied access to any of the welfare schemes for disabled people. Mitthu Lal Naik, also suffering from polio, had the similar story to tell. Abandoned by her father, Renuka (10) lives with her widow grandmother who herself is struggling to earn a livelihood. She works as domestic help to survive. Similarly, Fardeen and Sareen are destitutes who need urgent support. Ms. Sharma said such children and the families with whom they live could avail of the Palanhaar Yojana, in which a fixed monthly amount as well as annual assistance is paid to the family. At an age they should be going to school and enjoying their childhood, adverse circumstances have forced these children to work,

she added. Besides, 19 widows and several elderly persons residing in the slum find it extremely difficult to make ends meet. A major difference could be made to their standard of living with the help of widow and old age pensions. During the interaction with the residents of Baiji Ki Kothi slum, over 30 women came together to protest against the humiliation they face while trying to get their basic rights. The women said government officers were not willing to hear their grievances or resolve issues confronting them. (The Hindu 22/10/12) Agricultural cooperatives to end global hunger: UN (21) New York: Agricultural cooperatives provide small-scale food producers with what may be their best chance to compete in global markets, the head of the United Nations food agency said Friday, adding that cooperative units were particularly important for farmers in the developing world. Speaking at a week-long meeting of the World Cooperatives Congress in Manchester, England, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, told gathered delegates that cooperatives can help small- and medium scale farmers and fishermen add value to their production and gain access to wider markets. “Cooperatives follow core values and principles that are critical to doing business in an equitable manner, that seeks to empower and benefits its members and the community it is inserted in,” said Graziano da Silva. “This is especially relevant in poor rural communities, where joining forces is central to promoting sustainable local development,” he added. Graziano da Silva stated that in a world that produces enough food for all and despite gains in the fight against hunger, it was “unacceptable” that close to 870 million people continue to suffer from chronic malnutrition. He further stated that greater cooperativization would help reduce hunger and poverty across poor rural communities. “Whether you are in the UK, Brazil, Kenya, Thailand, or Nepal, cooperatives help to generate employment, boost national economies and reduce poverty,” he noted. “This, in turn, helps to improve food security.” The FAO chief emphasized that his agency was committed to fostering the growth of agricultural cooperatives around the world and hinted at the appointment of special ambassadors for cooperatives to promote the issue, as well as develop approaches, guidelines, methodologies and training tools on organizational development and policy. Moreover, he called on those gathered to contribute to the global plan of action expected to emerge from events held in honour of the International Year of Cooperatives – a year-long celebration currently being observed in 2012. (New Kerala 3/11/12) Govt identifying new families under Antodaya progra mme (21) Jagdalpur: The State Government has embarked upon a task of identifying new families in the remote parts of tribal dominated and Naxal infested Bastar region for inclusion in the ‘Antodaya food programme’. The task involves making different types of ration cards for new families after identifying them in the remote areas. The drive was commenced on October 31 in the targeted areas, an official statement said here on Saturday. Bastar Collector Ambalgan P has earmarked a ‘checklist of tasks’ to be taken up as per the directives of the Food , Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection department. Food controller Vishwanath Netam said a survey is already underway for possible existence of ‘duplicate ration cards’ used in public distribution system from the database available with the administration. At the same time, it was being ensured that the below poverty line (BPL) and above poverty line (APL) families who did not have the ‘Pledge Letter’ received the same from the State. He said that it was not mandatory that the name of the applicant to be identified for the ‘Antodaya food programme’ have their names in the list of ‘below poverty line’ families in the survey list with the State Government. The norms on standardisation of work for identifying families for the programme is already available in the district as per prioritised list of groups prescribed by the Central Government and the State Government’s eligibility norms for ‘MKSY’ families to receive the ration cards. The new Antodaya families are being identified on the basis of such norms, Netam added. (Pioneer 4/11/12) Jonathan Fenby lauds China's efforts in dealing wit h poverty (21) PANAJI: China has brought more people out of poverty than any other country in the history of humanity. Jonathan Fenby, managing director of the China team at Trusted Sources, an independent provider of research and consulting on emerging markets for institutional investors, corporations and governments was speaking at a session titled 'What change in China means for the world' at an ideas conclave in Bambolim. Fenby said much of this was possible as "China has been effectively able to direct resources at (tackling) poverty," unlike other developing countries. He felt that China will soon face many problems such as declining growth, an aging population and a growing middle class which is expressing itself in a

much stronger way than ever before through social communication media. He said often corrupt officials were targeted by the middle class through the internet. Fenby explained that China was attempting to increase domestic consumption of goods it produces since the global consumption has declined as a result of the economic slowdown. While wages makes up only 37% of the national income in China compared to 65% in the US, China was attempting to push up wages since it wanted to increase consumption. He felt that China witnesses 1.5 lakh protests (according to official figures) each year as the country's judicial system was weak. Judges in China swear an oath to the communist party instead of the country or judicial system and since there is little point in going to court, people prefer to go on the streets. Farming has been China's Achilles heel as the nation's agriculture model was inefficient and backward. He explained that in China, the state owns the land and leases it in small holdings to farmers. The state can take back the land at anytime, he added. Stating that "China has no foreign policy", Fenby said that China only cared for protecting rulers of countries (including African dictators) who guarantee it supply to raw materials and ensure that there was no interference in the internal affairs of the country especially Tibet. Chinese middle class was morphing into a materialistic society the new China was "not (about) Marxism, not Confucianism, but materialism." Fenby said China will soon concentrate on developing its service sector which had not been given much attention so far. He felt that while China had some good environmental laws, many of its cities were polluted as the implementation of the laws was bad. State governments have a stake in many of the industries and hence do not act against them, he said. The industries do not switch to environmentally-friendly technology as it was too expensive. (Times of India 5/11/12) Fighting against starvation (21) India contributes more hungry people to the world each year than all other countries put together, and despite efforts, new figures suggest that hunger is far from contained - in fact we are worse off than we were more than a decade ago. According to the Global Hunger Index 2012, recently released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). India's rating was 22.6 in '96, 24.2 in '01 and now stands at 22.9. About 870 million people across the globe go hungry each day and a fourth of them - more than 200 million - live in India. Of 79 countries, India ranked at a miserable 65, in the 'alarming' category. We were only slightly better than Bangladesh (68), and worse off than Pakistan (57), China (2) and even certain Sub-Saharan countries. The report analysed three indices - undernourishment in the population, under-five mortality and underweight children under five. The report comes barely two months before the National Food Security Bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament. However, member of the National Advisory Council Abhijit Sen, says IFPRI's numbers are misleading. Conceding that he has not yet seen the report, he says, "The situation is bad but it has been getting better." The report does mention that India's score is partly based on outdated data. India's only national data on health and nutrition comes from the National Family Health Survey of 2005-06. But, this makes an important case for India's failure in tracking child undernutrition trends. "How can we hope to solve a major problem like malnutrition if we are not even aware of the extent of the problem?" asks Biraj Patnaik, principal adviser to the Supreme Court commissioners on the right to food. Senior research fellow and strategic advisor at IFPRI, Klaus von Grebmer, says, "From 1990 to '96 India was successful to reduce underweight children under 5. From then, there was no improvement." The IFPRI report also categorically says that India has floundered in improving on the GHI despite strong economic growth. Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar, an ardent proponent of the right to food, shares this view. He cites India's own 'Approach Paper for the 12th Five Year Plan' which emphasises that while GDP grew on an average 8%, poverty alleviation only took place at a miniscule 0.8% per annum. "India is prospering, but Indians are not," says Aiyar. The problem, he says is that we have persistently used the same system of governance and programmes - Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), - which have failed to deliver public goods and services before and after economic reforms. Recently, a report by the office of the commissioners to the SC noted that the Rs. 8,000-crore-a-year Supplementary Nutrition Programme to fight child malnutrition under ICDS suffers from gross violations. "Increases in central outlays in social sector schemes have had such little impact on development that we remain at 1994 levels. Outlays have increased from 7500 crore in '94 to 200,000 in the current budget, but outcomes are out of sync," says Aiyar. The solution is far from simple. Indian states have faced the issue with varying success. Manipur and Kerala have been strong in dealing with hunger while states such as Bihar and MP have had a miserable record. Patnaik says, "We have not invested enough in the ICDS and that there is lack of commitment from the top leadership to bring about reforms." But NAC's Sen believes that the 12th

plan has effectively laid down the path for investment in human development. For Aiyar, "the solution is not in mindless increase of outlays but in radical change of delivery mechanisms." Recently appointed chairman of a committee on "leveraging" Panchayati Raj institutions for efficient delivery of public goods and services, he puts the onus on individuals. He says, "We must restructure central programmes for self-delivery through people's participation." (Hindustan Times 10/11/12) India can learn from Pak's poverty alleviation sche me: Nitish (21) Islamabad: Poverty is a cross-border phenomenon and India could learn from the experiences of the Benazir Income Support Programme, the Pakistan government's flagship poverty alleviation scheme, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said today. Kumar, currently on a week-long visit to Pakistan with a delegation of ministers and lawmakers from Bihar, was briefed on the BISP by Farzana Raja, the federal minister who heads the programme launched in the name of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto. Poverty is a cross-border phenomenon and several schemes aimed at poverty reduction and provision of jobs are being run in India, especially in Bihar, Kumar said. However, the BISP is a "unique intervention in the social sector as it offers various services under one roof", he said. Kumar said he intended to learn from the experiences of BISP as it tackles both poverty alleviation and women's empowerment. He also lauded the targeting and identification mechanisms adopted by BISP. Raja, a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari, described poverty as a "trans-national menace" and said Pakistan is ready to share its experiences in BISP with India. Pakistan and India face similar issues in the social sector that ought to be resolved by working together, she said. Under BISP, the federal government has issued special cards to the poor that enables them to avail of financial aid and access various welfare schemes. The programme was also used by the government to provide aid to those affected by the devastating floods of 2010 and 2011. Kumar also praised late Benazir Bhutto for having played a "pivotal role for the sake of democracy". (Deccan Herald 13/11/12) Govt blames poor public distribution system for sub sidised products not reaching … (21) THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As of now Kerala receives a subsidy of Rs 99,000 crore. An additional subsidy of Rs 2,671.31 crore has been allocated for the state by the Centre this year. But there has been no respite for the state, which is witnessing a massive rise in the price of essential commodities. "The main reason behind this is the fact that the subsidised products are not reaching deserving families. The subsidy is not reaching the people because our public distribution system is not that strong. Hence, we have to take some urgent steps to make our PDS effective,'' said chief minister Oommen Chandy. The government has decided to introduce biometric cards in ration shops to ensure that card holders are receiving subsidised rice. "We have observed that the subsidised rice given to the APL and BPL categories of people are not reaching them and that is the main reason for the price rise in the open market, he said. There are 14,260 ration shops in the state and the government would be installing the necessary equipment to implement the biometric system. The thumb or finger impression of the card holders will be taken to ensure that they are buying the ration from the shops. This would bring down fake buyers. As part of market intervention to check soaring prices of essential commodities, the government has come out with a bevy of measures. The major highlight will be to bring APL families within the subsidy net. As per the new decision, the government would provide Rs 6.90 as subsidy for one kg of rice which is priced at Rs 8.90 for APL families. For the BPL families, 25 kg of rice is being provided per month at a rate of Re 1 per kg and the government has decided to ensure that it is reaching these families. For this a strict monitoring mechanism will be implemented. From January 1 next year, the subsidy for the APL category will be given through banks. The government will spend close to Rs 700 crore towards subsidy for both BPL and APL categories of people. The APL category will be get 19 kg of rice per month under subsidy of which 9 kg will be given from the state pool. The subsidy amount of Rs 6.90/kg for this 9 kg will be credited into the account. The remaining 10 kg is being provided at a subsidy of Rs 8.90/kg by the centre. The government has decided to provide Rs 20 crore for the state civil supplies corporation in addition to the Rs 15 crore given last week. The Consumerfed will be given Rs 15 crore for taking effective steps as part of market intervention. Both these agencies have been directed to introduce more products in the markets for which the government has sanctioned this fund. The government has also decided to procure 65,000 tonnes of paddy through cooperative societies. The rice from this would be utilised for the noon school meal scheme and for distributing to BPL families. It has also been decided to start more fair price shops for selling vegetables and essential commodities to check the spurt in prices of food items. Besides 347 vegetable outlets opened recently by various

government agencies, another 100 retail shops would be opened by state-owned agency Consumerfed. The supply of rice at Rs 16 per kg through the outlets of civil supplies corporation would continue. The Consumerfed would supply the much sought after 'Jaya brand rice' and Kuruva at Rs 22 per kg and Rs 19 per kg, respectively. (Times of India 14/11/12) UN calls on countries to help break cycle of hunger in dryland countries (21) New York: With more than two billion people in so-called dry land countries at risk of hunger due to recurrent drought, conflict and volatile food prices, a United Nations senior official Wednesday called on the international community to work closely with these nations to break the cycle of hunger affecting them. "We are losing the battle against hunger in Africa and the Near East," the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Jose Graziano da Silva, told participants at the International Conference on Food Security in Drylands, which is being held in Doha, Qatar. "Natural resources degradation in dryland countries threatens more than two billion people," Graziano da Silva said, adding that the number of hungry people in dryland regions has increased from 83 million to 275 million since the early 1990s. Drylands, or ecosystems characterized by a lack of water, cover some 40 per cent of the world's terrain, ranging from cultivated lands and grasslands to savannas and deserts. They are home to 38 per cent of the world's population, or 2.7 billion people, and account for half of global livestock production. The two-day conference brings together members of governments, academia, civil society and the private sector from 60 countries to discuss food security, water and investment in dryland countries. The gathering seeks to come up with recommendations to boost agricultural production, enhance food security, and increase resilience to future prices shocks. In his remarks, Graziano da Silva highlighted the need to improve information on how to support the sustainable management of land and water on drylands, and increase responsible investments in agriculture and rural development. "Perhaps the most pressing issue being debated today is investments in agriculture," he said, adding that investments needed to "respect the rights, livelihoods and resources of all those involved, especially the most vulnerable." The views on investment expressed during the conference will feed into a two-year global consultation process that will be carried out in the framework of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), Graziano da Silva added, to develop principles for responsible investment in agriculture. Set up in 1974, the CFS is an inter-governmental body that serves as a global platform for discussion on short-term food crises as well as long-term food security issues. The Committee reports annually to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Graziano da Silva also emphasized that development in these drylands regions must be inclusive and sustainable, following the commitments made by countries at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, earlier this year. "At the Rio+20 Sustainable Development Conference held last June, the world leaders sent out a clear message that development will not be sustainable while hundreds of millions continue to be excluded, suffering from hunger and extreme poverty," he said. "If we can find sustainable ways to ensure food security in dryland areas, then we will be well on our way to achieving a 'zero hunger' world." (New Kerala 15/11/12) Revised income criteria likely to help urban poor ( 21) PUNE: More urban poor are likely to benefit from the Union government's revised income criteria for deciding beneficiaries of government schemes for housing under Union ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA). Union minister of HUPA Ajay Maken recently approved the revision. Now, people living in cities with an annual household income of up to Rs 1 lakh will be classified as Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and those with income between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh would be categorized as Lower Income group (LIG). The revised income criteria have been approved based on the income, expenditure and cost of housing criteria such as Growth in Per Capita Income. About 40% of Pune's population lives in slums. In 2010, the criteria was fixed at a monthly household income of up to Rs 5,000 for EWS while it stood at Rs 5,001- Rs 10,000 for the LIG segment. Pune is one of the top seven Indian cities that will witness a spike in demand for affordable housing by 2015. But the demand is way above the supply, says a report by global property consultant Cushman & Wakefield titled 'Embracing Change Scripting the Future of Indian Real Estate'. The report says the housing requirement in lower and middle income groups stands at 40%.The mid-city area, comprising 17 Peths and surrounding areas, spanning over 147.85sqkm, is facing a shortage of 658,975 houses. To accommodate the burgeoning population, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will have to facilitate construction of over 30,000 affordable houses in the coming years. Failure to do so will result in more slums. The new

Development Plan (DP) for the old city area has highlighted the need for affordable housing in the heart of the city. According to the housing survey incorporated in the DP, in the 17 Peths and six sectors that the city has been divided into, the requirement of those in the ESW category is around 290,873 houses (that is 44.14% of the total housing requirements). The LIG requires 132,022 houses (20.03%), middle income group requires 172,977 houses (26.24%) and higher income group needs 63,103 houses (9.58%)."With the population rising, affordable housing has become a necessity. The PMC needs to facilitate affordable housing till 2027 to meet the shortage. The current construction trend in the city is skewed towards the higher income group. There are no new constructions less than 1,000 sq ft. The prices of these flats are above Rs 35-40 lakh. This highlights the need for affordable housing," city engineer Prashant Waghmare said while presenting the highlights of the DP to elected members recently. The DP has proposed some steps to meet the housing needs. Additional FSI will be given to the developer who constructs a colony for conservancy staff. Special houses to be rented out have also been proposed. A 2.5 FSI is allocated for development of flood-affected houses and MHADA housing projects."Revised income criteria for defining beneficiaries under government schemes for housing under HUPA will help more citizens to avail of the benefit of the government and PMC schemes. About 40% of the citizens live in slums. However the rehabilitation was denied to many because of the narrow income criteria," said one of the civic officials. (Times of India 19/11/12) Bihar second most poor state: Plan panel (21) NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of poor population at 7.37 crore, followed by Bihar and Maharashtra in 2009-10, Parliament was informed on Thursday. Bihar and Maharashtra had poor population of 5.43 crore and 2.7 crore respectively in the year 2009-10 based on poverty line fixed using the Tendulakar Committee formula, as per data provided by the Planning Commission in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. According to the Tendulkar Committee formula, besides traditional method of fixing poverty line on the basis of calorie intake, the expenditure on health and education is also factored in. The data also showed that the number of poor in the entire country during 2009-10 was 35.46 crore using the Tendulkar Committee formula for fixing the poverty line. In 2009-10, the commission estimated the number of poor in Madhya Pradesh at 2.61 crore, West Bengal 2.4 crore, Andhra Pradesh 1.76 crore, Rajasthan 1.67 crore, Odisha 1.53 crore, Karnataka 1.42 crore, Gujarat 1.36 crore and Jharkhand 1.26 crore in accordance with the formula. Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh had poor population of 1.21 crore each followed by Assam at 1.16 crore and Haryana at 49.96 lakh. (Times of India 1/12/12) 'India needs high GDP growth to reduce poverty at f aster pace' (21) New Delhi: The reduction in poverty will be slower if the economic growth is not brought back on high growth track, said Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. "If we don't bring the GDP growth back (on track) up, the rate of poverty reduction will go down," Ahluwalia said during panel discussion here. He further said that the GDP growth in the first half of the year (2012-13) is 5.4 per cent and if this would continue then we would have a very poor performance (this fiscal)." This rate was lower than the 7.3 per cent clocked in April-September period in 2011-12. According to the Planning Commission estimates, the rate of poverty reduction was 0.8 percentage point per year during 10 years till 2004. This shot up to two percentage point per year during the seven year till 2011. "If you look at the last seven years, between since 2004 and 2011, percentage of people below the poverty line declined by two percentage point per year. In the 10 years before 2004-05, the poverty was declining at the rate of 0.8 percentage point every year," he said. According to Ahluwalia, higher growth has resulted in a quantum jump in the real wages during the 11th Five Year Plan spanning from 2007 to 2012. "In the period after 2007, real wages have gone four times faster than in the previous period. It is simply not correct that nobody is benefiting (because of high economic growth)," he said. He said that in the last seven years, the government has done a good job as rate of poverty reduction has been high amid good growth in GDP. (Indian Express 2/12/12) Left Front campaign seeking food security for all ( 21) KOLKATA: The West Bengal Left Front launched a 50-day-signature-campaign here on Monday in support of food security for all sections of society. Former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, chairperson of the State's Left Front committee Biman Bose and veteran Forward Block leader Ashok Ghosh launched the campaign at an event in the city. Addressing the gathering, Mr Bose said that the campaign is to ensure that every family gets 35 kilograms of foodgrains at Rs 2 per kilogram, every month

without making any distinction between those living above and below the poverty line. “Foodgrains are being wasted in warehouses of the government, rats are eating it away and people are dying out of hunger. This cannot be allowed to continue,” he said. Mr Bose urged the supporters of Left Front to reach out to more than a lakh of families across the State in every district and collect signatures from all sections of the people. The Left Front has set a target to collect 1.5 crore signatures during the campaign. Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Surya Kanta Mishra said that while in the President’s address in 2009 it was said that the United Progressive Alliance government would implement food security in the country in 100 days, it is yet to be implemented. “There is no urgency shown on the part of government to implement food-security, but it has hurriedly allowed foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail and other sectors,” Dr Mishra said. Stating that the Left Front government had adopted a resolution in support of the food security, he urged representatives of other political parties to joint the cause. Dr Mishra also emphasised that cash subsidies should not replace the entitlements of foodgrains under the proposed National Food Security Bill. (The Hindu 4/12/12) Despite economic growth, just 0.8% came out of pov erty in 4 years (21) New Delhi: Despite a plethora of laws and schemes aimed at providing social services, the human rights situation continues to deteriorate in the country with the government failing to succeed in realising the economic, social and cultural rights for the majority of the population. On the eve of the World Human Rights Day, the working group on human rights in India and the UN (WGHR) records that during the high economic growth period averaging 8.2% between 2007 and 2011, poverty declined marginally by just 0.8% and three-fourth of the population faced further marginalisation. India also houses the largest population of internally displaced persons, either due to armed conflicts —numbering 5.06 lakh — or, as a result of development projects since Independence — 60 to 65 million population (80% Dalits and tribals). This amounts to around one million people being displaced every year. While lobbying hard for a deserving permanent seat at the UN Security Council, the country has failed to ratify 12 international treaties and conventions. During the seconduniversal period review (UPR) undertaken by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) few months back in Geneva, the official delegation led by attorney general GN Vahanvati refused to entertain 184 recommendations out of a total of 349 related to social, cultural, educational and health rights to its population. While the Indian delegation accepted the general UN recommendations like introducing a curriculum on human rights, it rejected specific recommendations like allocating 2% of GDP to health or to strengthen the process for ensuring independent and timely investigation to eliminate corruption or increase accountability and transparency or establishment of a national human rights plan, among others. The report says the central government’s proposed Land Acquisition Bill also falls short of many promises. “The Bill does not aim at minimising evictions, does not have a rights-based definition of public purpose and does not include adequate human rights safeguards for rehabilitation. It is also weak with regard to urban eviction and displacement issues,” says Miloon Kothari, convener of WGHR and former UN special rapporteur. Shockingly, in a country where an estimated population of 23.1 crore goes hungry every day, 67,000 tonnes of food grains were rotting in the godowns. The report says the public distribution system (PDS) excludes many genuinely poor households through targeting errors. It also calls for tweaking food security legislation to look beyond welfare schemes to include protection to natural resources, promote land reforms and support production and utilisation of coarse grains grown by local communities. It further says India was perhaps the only country where 1,600 people died between 2008 and 2010 during clinical trials of drugs by multinational pharmaceutical companies. The compensation was paid only in 22 out of 668 cases. It also has the highest number of people —51% of the population—who defecate in the open and has a dismal record of access to clean drinking water and sanitation. While Parliament recently approved the government policy on FDI, the report saysthe policy, along with foreign trade agreements (FTAs) currently under negotiation, have potential to violate human rights to food, water, work, livelihood, housing, land and development, especially of vulnerable groups. (DNA 10/12/12) Documentary narrates plight of girls caught in web of poverty (21) HYDERABAD: When Niloufer Farhat was just 16, she was promised a good life away from the impoverished slums of Sultan Shahi by her parents, who later got her married off to an Arab national from Oman only to see their daughter's dreams come crashing down. After escaping from the clutches of her much older husband, Farhat narrates her account of oppression at the hands of her 'in-laws'. She says that though it is a part of her past, the bitterness experience stays etched in her memory-one she is

unlikely to forget no matter how hard she tries. "I was told to do all menial chores and they never treated me like a respectable member of the family. I wasn't respected which is why I ran back home," says Farhat in anguish. She is now 25 years old. The saga of girls from Old City getting married to Arab nationals continues to be a plague and now different accounts of the hopes and dreams of women such as Farhat from the slums of Old City have taken the shape of a documentary entitled 'Khwab Chhune Ki Khwahish' (The Wish to Fulfill Dreams) which was released at Urdu Ghar in Moghalpura on Monday. The filmmakers said that they intended to spread awareness on trafficking as young girls from poverty-stricken families continue to be lured into marriages with older men from West Asian countries. The latest being reported recently when a 49-year old UAE national married a 16-year old girl. With nine siblings, the family of the girl said that they had no money to arrange a marriage with a local boy. The documentary made by Sajana Jayaraj, a filmmaker from Calicut along with Seema Kurup from Bhopal in association with Shaheen Women Resource and Welfare Association (SWRWA) headquartered in Sultan Shahi. After the screening, the filmmakers interacted with a packed audience of young school girls and other academics. They noted that this trafficking is only possible due to the qazi's connivance and called for an amendment of Muslim Personal Law (MPL). According to Jameela Nishat, chief functionary of SWRWA, the qazi and the broker share half the meher (bride gift). "The MPL is unclear about what age a girl can get married. It doesn't mention 18-years which is considered minimum marriageable age according to Indian Law," speakers noted. The documentary highlights the aspirations of 12 girls such as Niloufer Farhat and Asma Munawer from the slums of Old City such as Hasan Nagar and Baba Nagar who believe education is their only saviour. "Even before we dream of a better future we worry about what elders of the family will say. We need support from the family first, even to pursue an education," said Munawer. For these girls, marriage comes second to a quality education. (Times of India 11/12/12) Cong walks out alleging govt denying rice to poor ( 21) Bhubabaneswar: Alleging denial of 35 kg monthly quota of rice to poor families under public distribution system (PDS), opposition Congress MLAs on Wednesday walked out of the assembly, but the state government termed the allegation as "politically motivated." "Though the Centre had been releasing rice at the rate of 35 kg per poor family per month, the state government distributed only 25 kg of rice to a family," pointed out Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh of Congress while participating in a debate on the controversy. The Congress members alleged that the state government had been denying 10 kg of rice to each beneficiary poor family every month. "Less supply of rice to poor families has lead to hunger situation in the state where at least 31 people have died of starvation," alleged Congress Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan. Claiming the Centre has been allocating 35 kg of subsidised rice for 46 lakh poor families in the state, Harichandan said the state government misutilised them and takes credit of providing cheap rice at the rate of Rs 2 a kg. "We will take the matter to the people in villages who are cheated of 10 kg of rice every month," the Congress Chief Whip said. Rejecting the opposition allegation, food and supplies minister P K Deb said, "While the Centre gives subsidised rice for only 27.76 lakh families at the rate of 35 kg, the state government distributes them among a total of 42.32 lakh families at the rate of 25 kg per month." While the Centre allocates subsidised rice for only 22.35 lakh BPL (below poverty line) families and 5.41 lakh APL (above poverty line) in poverty struck eight KBK (Koraput- Bolangir-Kalahandi) districts, the state government provides cheap rice to 36.91 BPL families and 5.41 APL families, the minister pointed out justifying less supply of rice by 10 kg to poor families. This apart, Deb pointed out that subsidised rice was also being given to 12.64 beneficiaries of Annordoy Anna Yojana and 2.40 lakh non-BPL poor families. "Where did the state government eat away the cheap rice," the minister asked the opposition terming their allegation as "baseless" and "politically motivated." Deb also alleged the state government's request to allot 35 kg of rice for all the BPL and poor families had been denied by the Centre. "How can one totally deny cheap rice to poor families who have not been recognised in BPL category by the Central government and the Planning Commission," he asked. The minister said the state government equally distributes rice among all the BPL families. (Zee News 12/12/12) Sonia Gandhi launches Delhi's food security scheme (21) New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi Saturday launched the Delhi government's food security programme for two lakh poor families that are not getting benefits under other welfare schemes. Under the programme, a monthly cash subsidy of Rs.600 will be transferred directly into the bank account of the senior-most female member of a household. "The Delhi government's move is an important step in the

direction of becoming a hunger-free state," Gandhi said while launching the scheme. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and other cabinet ministers were present on the occasion. The new programme will not cover those enrolled under the Antyodaya Anna Yojna, a central government-funded scheme for providing foodgrain to the poor. Dikshit said that the food security programme was "not an alternative to the PDS (public distribution system) but an extension of the existing food security efforts being undertaken under it".The programme will be effective from April 1 and a lumpsum amount equivalent to eight months' subsidy - Rs.4,800 - will be deposited in each account in the first tranche. The food security scheme was announced in Delhi's budget 2012-13. The government has tied up with the six major banks to facilitate opening of bank accounts on the basis of Aadhaar cards issed by the central government's Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). (New Kerala 15/12/12) Removal of poverty must for protection of environme nt: Pranab (21) NEW DELHI: Poverty eradication is of utmost importance to achieve truly sustainable growth, said President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday. Inaugurating the 27 Indian Engineering Congress on the theme ‘Engineering for Sustainable Development and Inclusive Growth: Vision 2025’ at Vigyan Bhavan here, the President said poverty and a degraded environment are closely inter-related, especially where people depend for their livelihoods primarily on the natural resource base of their immediate environment. Removal of poverty is, therefore, a prerequisite for the protection of the environment, he said. Mr. Mukherjee said mechanisms must be put in place to make available to developing countries the latest technologies at a reasonable cost. Technology transfer must be informed by an understanding of its implications in the social, economic and environmental contexts of the recipient societies, he said. “Several traditional practices that are sustainable and environment friendly continue to be a regular part of the lives of people in developing countries. These need to be encouraged rather than replaced by more modern but unsustainable practices and technologies,” he said. The integration of agriculture with land, water management, and ecosystem conservation, is essential for both environmental sustainability and agricultural production, the President said. (The Hindu 15/12/12) West Bengal opposes direct cash transfer (21) KOLKATA: After Odisha and Tripura, West Bengal has opposed the Centre's direct cash transfer to bank accounts of beneficiaries claiming it would lead to breakdown of the existing public distribution system and closure of the Food Corporation of India. "The basic objective of the public distribution system to arrest hunger among the poor will be defeated if the beneficiaries are provided cash instead of cheap food leading to closure of the Food Corporation of India," minister for food and supplies Jyotipriya Mullick said. He said that the purpose of setting up the FCI to provide cereals and pulses at subsidised rates to the people, would be defeated since beneficiaries could use the cash for other purposes than food. "The decision is wrong. FCI will close down if cash transfer is implemented," he said. Noting that only 24 per cent of the population in the state have Adhar cards, he said, "How can it be possible when a large number of people in West Bengal do not have adhar cards?" Earlier, Odisha Food minister PK Deb had dubbed the step as impractical saying many people in his state did not have bank accounts. Tripura food and civil supply minister Manik De had said that he had written to the food and public distribution minister KV Thomas to withdraw the proposal and clarify how the new system would help the poor. (Times of India 16/12/12) Parl panel asks govt to revisit BPL definition (21) New Delhi: A Parliamentary panel on Wednesday said different estimates of the country's poor population are "confusing" and the government should revisit the definition of BPL (below poverty line). "The Committee also urge the government to revisit the definition of BPL with the concerned authorities as they find it confusing that India's poor population rises and falls with every statistical redefinition," Parliament's Committee on Estimates, headed Francisco Sardinha, said in its 18th Report tabled in the Lok Sabha today. The different estimates on poverty figures can be gauged from the fact that the Tendulkar's Committee report puts the poor population in the country at 81 million families, whereas the Agriculture Ministry is stated to have put the number at 65 million families, the Committee said. "The Committee would like the Ministry (of Food) to clarify to this point too," the report said. In the report "Procurement and storage of foodgrains", the committee said it observed "around 37 per cent of the total population falls BPL, problems of hunger is still widespread" even as wheat production in the country has risen by 10 times and rice output by four times in last 50 years. "Consequently, procurement of foodgrains,

maintenance and storage of stocks and effective distribution to the people through PDS and other welfare schemes continue to be a big challenges faced by the government," it said. It further said "even with bountiful of harvest of rabi and kharif crops, there has been substantial amount of loss of 50,000 tonnes of foodgrains due to mismanagement of procurement as well as inadequate and faulty storage techniques".This has brought renewed focus on the twin challenges of feeding the poor and overhauling the procurement, storage and distribution infrastructure for foodgrains, it added. In the report, the Committee has identified certain critical issues such as problem of increasing food subsidy costs, complaints regarding PDS, acute storage facilities among others. (Zee News 20/12/12) Chhattisgarh assembly adopts Food Security Bill 201 2 (21) RAIPUR: In a politically significant move ahead of next year's assembly polls, Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha on Friday passed the Food Security Bill 2012-the first of its kind legislation to be introduced in the country-to confer legal rights on eligible beneficiaries to receive food grains and other food items at highly subsidized price. The Raman Singh government brought the state legislation-which marks a basic change in the idea and method of addressing the problem of food and security from the current welfare approach to a rights based approach-at a time when the UPA government's proposed National Food Security Bill has been in making for years. "If the centre's proposed National Food Security law offers anything more, the state will also incorporate its features", chief minister Raman Singh said. For implementing the provisions of the new law, the state will entail an annual expenditure of Rs 2311.25 crore. The legislation confers legal rights on the citizens to receive subsidized food items by antyodaya households, priority households and general households, nutritional support to pregnant woman and lactating mothers, children, nutritional support to students living in hostels and ashrams and for prevention and management of child malnutrition. Its provisions also contain an element of woman empowerment with women with 18 years of age or above to be head of the household for the purpose of issuance of ration card. The legislation also offers entitlements to all special groups such as destitute, homeless, migrants such as meals every day, free of charge, in accordance with the scheme and nutritional support to emergency or any disaster affected persons. The government will provide to all such affected households two meals every day free of charge for a period of three months from the date of disaster. The law also have provisions for providing food security to anyone suffering from conditions of hunger of conditions akin to hunger. The bills makes gives legal rights to antodaya families or the poorest among the poor to get 35 kilograms food grains every month at one rupee per kilogram, two kilogram iodized salt for free, two kilogram black gram at Rs five per Kg to people in scheduled areas, and two Kg pulses every month at Rs 10 per kg. Similarly, priority households will get 35 kg of rice every month Rs two per kg along with salt, blackgram and pulses as is being given to the antodaya families. It will be the right of general households to get 15 kg food grain every month-rice at Rs 9.50 per kg and wheat at Rs 7.50 per kilogram. (Times of India 22/12/12) Unable to feed poor, Maharashtra makes them vanish (21) Mumbai: The Maharashtra government continues to use a 2002 list denying over 50 lakh of below poverty line (BPL) people who barely earn enough for one meal a day, access to food, despite the fact that local bodies have sent fresh lists for 2012 to the state. That this is being done by a government, which used targeted public distribution system for all poor, as a major plank in its 2009 campaign to come into power is baffling, say activists working for food security. Many like Kishor Tiwari president Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti(VJAS) point out how this violates Supreme Court (SC) guidelines in its 2001 order (while hearing a PIL by People's Union for Civil Liberties) asking state governments to update BPL lists in keeping with local civic bodies’ lists. “We found this out when the government submitted an affidavit to the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court which is hearing a PIL filed by VJAS following large scale starvation deaths among Kolam tribals in Yavatmal five years ago. The local collector on one hand told the court that the state strictly follows the SC 2001 order and updates BPL lists annually. On the other, he admitted that on the ground a 2002 BPL survey is considered for selecting families for food security under the PDS. What’s worse despite deaths, in a clear case of a mockery of the 'right to food,' Maharashtra has denied food security to more than a lakh tribal and Dalit BPL families facing malnutrition and starvation in Yavatmal. To highlight this, a huge protest rally is being organised, on December 26th in Pandharkawda, Yavatmal. “These are desperate people battling hunger and death. The government should realise what it means when people with nothing to lose take to the street,” warned Tiwari. This is not a problem of rural Maharashtra alone, in fact it is worse in urban areas. Particularly in Mumbai, the country’s financial capital

where a Mumbai University study has already established that how both malnutrition and hunger are much worse than in remote tribal areas. “Mumbai has one of the highest number of hungry in the country. Almost half of our children are malnourished and as per global hunger index (GHI) 2011. Given that India is home to one fourth of world’s hungry, its position is already the worst not only in South Asia, but also among sub-Saharan countries, you know how scary that makes Mumbai look like. It is strange to understand that this should be a problem of the financial capital of India which positions itself as an emerging economic super-power,” pointed right-to-food activist Ananda Pawar who works in Dharavi. The minister for food and civil supplies Anil Deshmukh has often taken the stand that there is limited availability of food under government sponsored schemes. “Despite the shortfall, Maharashtra has one of the best records in food distribution and supply,” he insists but seems at a loss to explain why the BPL lists have not been updated for over a decade. When asked about the regular rotting food grains for lack of adequate storage in government run godowns he passed the buck to the Centre. “We are cracking down on pilferage and losses,” he offered and raised the issue of bogus cards. According to him a state government drive to detect bogus cards which began in 2005 has led to the cancellation of 5.3 million such cards till 2011. Over 3 years, from 2005 to 2008, the state cancelled about 2.9 million cards. Then, over 2009-2010, the government cancelled about 1.2 million cards. Finally, in 2011, during the detection drive, about another 1.1 million were cancelled. Incidentally the government's own figures show that as on 1st April, 2012, the state had a mere 22 million ration cards in a total population of 112.37 million! Activists however allege that the government raises the bogey of bogus cards only to abdicate from PDS. “This is a ploy to get private players in and throw the poor to their mercy,” says Tiwari. “Even if one goes by 2002 survey figures there are more than 6.6.million BPL families covered under PDS. By claiming three million of these cards are bogus the state’s trying to keep away 50% of such families out of reach of new subsidised food schemes. A garibi-ko-nahin-hata-sakte-toh-garibonko-hatao policy seems to be put into place,” laments Tiwari. (DNA 24/12/1`2) Muslim poverty may bite Narendra Modi at NDC meet i n Delhi (21) The final version of the Twelfth Plan document has named Gujarat among four states with the maximum number of Muslims below poverty line, which could set the stage for another confrontation between Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre at next week’s National Development Council (NDC) meeting. At the 2007 NDC meeting to discuss the Eleventh Plan, Modi had openly hit out at the prime minister’s 15-point programme for minorties, demanding that it be dropped “in the interest of maintaining the social fabric of the nation”. He subsequently never implemented the Centre’s scholarship scheme for minorities. Now the Twelfth Plan document, which will be the subject of discussion at the NDC coming Thursday, shows Gujarat in a poor light when it comes to lifting Muslims above BPL in both urban and rural areas. To address this, the Plan calls for direct targeting of minorities to be made a pre-condition for disbursal of funds — a concept Modi has vehemently opposed, terming targeting of population on lines of religion “anti-constitutional”. “According to the latest Planning Commission estimates, the poverty ratio for Muslims was 33.9 per cent in urban areas, especially on account of states such as Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar and West Bengal. In rural areas, the poverty ratio for Muslims was very high in states such as Assam, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Gujarat,” states the Plan document in its chapter on social Inclusion, which is part of the section on social sector. (Indian Express 25/12/12) Poverty survey delay to hit cash transfer plan (21) NEW DELHI: UPA's supposed trump card for 2014, the cash transfer scheme, is set to turn less ambitious in its spread, with the government unable to complete its Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) in time to bring the scheme's benefit to new beneficiaries. Senior functionaries in the government have raised concerns about the lack of clarity on the successful and timely completion of the survey, which is meant to provide a clean and updated list of those below the poverty line as well as those who can claim benefits targeted for specific communities. Without the new beneficiary list in hand, the government will have little option but to trust the existing lists of beneficiaries, which it has earlier admitted left many deserving candidates out of social security schemes. The last BPL survey dates back to more than half a decade and has been severely criticized for leaving legitimate beneficiaries out. The ongoing one is meant to enumerate not only those below the poverty line but also detail community affiliations of the population. The linking of the existing schemes to Aadhaar or UID without an updated and clean SECC list could remove bogus beneficiaries but leave a large number of deserving poor out of the schemes just as they do at the moment. But some senior government functionaries have warned that

without ensuring clarity on SECC, the entire scope of the cash transfer scheme could remain questionable and limited. Though the government has scaled down the bouquet of schemes it wants to bring on the Aadhaar platform for direct cash transfer, it is to include programmes targeting BPL as well as beneficiaries within specific communities such as SCs and STs. By the government's own admission, the census has progressed slowly in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand and some others. Overall, of the 24.81 lakh enumeration blocks with roughly 125 houses each, 22.81 have been covered. The census has been slower in urban areas and its results in these belts remain doubtful, government functionaries have warned. The survey has some exclusion and inclusion criteria to automatically keep people out of the beneficiary loop or include them by default. By some internal government assessments, based on the results from initial pilot studies, about 5% of the population would get automatically included and roughly 30% automatically excluded from the BPL list through the survey. The government intended to include others based on how many other criteria of deprivation they notched in the survey. This left the loop open for the government to keep an overall tab on the number of beneficiaries. Indications are that the government, in its hurry to launch the direct transfer scheme, will not wait for the SECC results to be finalized and live with the existing list of beneficiaries. (Times of India 27/12/12) 20,000 Tamil Nadu kids severly malnourished (21) CHENNAI: At least 20,000 children under the age of six in Tamil Nadu are so severely malnourished that their growth will be permanently stunted if immediate action is not taken. According to a report released by the Union ministry of woman and child development, about 0.5% or 20,593 of the 41.52 lakh children weighed in anganwadis across the state are classified in the category 'severe acute malnourishment'. These children, all below the age of six, are classified as grade III and IV, which means their actual body weight is less than 50% of the ideal body weight. "Children under grade IV are just skin and bones. While some have marasmus, others have kwashiorkor, both caused by protein deficiency," said D Gunasingh, professor of paediatrics, Institute of Child Health and Hospital, Egmore. "If they are not treated by the age of two, they can become permanently stunted," he said. Though the numbers are dismal, Tamil Nadu fares better compared to other states. According to the report, which has figures up to March 2012, Tamil Nadu has the third highest number of children with normal weight among the big states, behind Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. In Madhya Pradesh, close to 77% of the 65.15 lakh children weighed have normal weight, and in Maharashtra it is about 81% of the 62.35 lakh children weighed. Some the worst states are Bihar and Rajasthan. In Bihar, only 53% of the children are normal weight and 26% are severely malnourished. Tamil Nadu has the least number of severely malnourished children. In Madhya Pradesh the figure stands at 2.33%, and Maharashtra 1.9%.Experts in food security say that though the percentage is smaller than other states, it is a shame. "Tamil Nadu gets 4,900 crore in food subsidies every year. This is the one of the highest in the country and yet the state is failing to feed its children," said V Suresh, Supreme Court-appointed adviser for Tamil Nadu to the commission on food security. The state is one of the few that provides eggs in its mid-day meal scheme for government school students. "However, there is a need to further improve the menu by including organic and locally grown seasonalvegetables and fruits through local community participation," said Nirmala Selvam, consultant in capacity building for performance improvement, and a representative for the state in Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India. Officials from the state government working in the Integrated Child Development Scheme said that since malnutrition was a complex issue, they rope in different departments. "Malnourishment is caused due to social, economic and educational factors. When a child shows signs of malnutrition, apart from better care, we also do a background check of the family," said an official. For example, if the family of the child is below the poverty line, workers from anganwadis will refer them to officials in the rural development department. "They will be enrolled in the Pudhu Vazhvu Thittam, which aims to improve livelihood activities," said the official. The health and education departments are also notified. Sources said the government had decided to introduce millets in the mid-day meals from January. Though the menu has not been decided, representatives from Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) said it will benefit the children as well as the farmers. (Times of India 30/12/12) China still has 200 million poor below poverty line : CPC (21) Beijing: Concerned over the rising wealth gap in Chinese society, top leaders of the ruling Communist Party of China have pledged to uplift over 200 million people from poverty in the coming years. Two top

leaders of the newly-constituted CPC, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, visited the most impoverished areas while acknowledging that China still has work cut out to reduce poverty, despite successfully uplifting over 500 million in the last three decades. 59-year-old Xi, who will assume the office of President in March 2013 after being elected as the General Secretary of the CPC, visited some of the villages in Fuping county in Hebei province where annual per capita income was stated to be only USD 390 compared to the national average of USD 3,461. On the other hand, Li (57), who was elected as number two leader in the party's seven-member Standing Committee of the Politburo would take over as Prime Minister from the incumbent Wen Jiabao. Li visited rural areas in the Enshi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture and spent time interacting with the poor families. He went to the mountainous villages after travelling on narrow and snowbound roads and talked to farmers about their immediate concerns. Impoverished areas are concentrated in the central and western regions, with a total population of 200 million, he said. "If we are to build a moderately prosperous society, getting the 200 million people out of poverty will be a major task. But we have the resolve and tenacity to accomplish this," state run China Daily quoted him as saying to the villagers. (Indian Express 31/12/12)