Updates from the Bharat side of the story :D

Now, chamber of commerce for rural women entrepreneurs (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/now-chambercommerce-for-rural-women-entrepreneurs/470817/)
New York-based Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) partners with MCCRW

After successfully running a bank and a business school for rural women entrepreneurs, Mann Deshi Bank is now all set to form its own chamber of commerce at Mhaswad in Satara district, 180 km away from Pune. It is formed coordination with Mann Deshi Foundation has formed the first Mann Deshi Chamber of Commerce for Rural Women in India (MCCRW) in partnership with 'President Clinton Foundations’ initiative - Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) based in New York, USA.

MCCRW is first of its kind for rural women who have been created to provide women entrepreneurs in rural areas with mentorship, knowledge, and support through policy advocacy. The chamber of commerce will organize monthly workshops for members, and eventually provide targeted support to address each member’s specific needs. The announcement was made on Tuesday by Chetana Sinha, founder chairman, Mann Deshi Mahila Bank and CEO Rekha Kulkarni in Pune.

Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) helps its members articulate and develop commitments that fit their goals. CGI will help develop business plans. CGI supports the development of commitments by forging partnerships, facilitating cross-sector discussions, providing members with networking opportunities, and recognizing and showcasing members' work. However, CGI neither gives nor receives funds associated with member commitments and does not engage in their implementation.
Commenting on this, Sinha said, "This chamber of commerce will help to provide rural, female micro-entrepreneurs with mentorship services, access to markets, a network of like-minded peers, advocacy tools and increased access to capital. Majority of these women are from marginalised community. Mahila Bank with its innovating product has been able to provide financial services i.e. savings, loans, pension & insurance to street vendors. The capital provided by the bank has to go hand-in-hand with the women’s' business goals.

Mann Deshi was the first institution to set up a rural bank in India in 1997. Mann Deshi Foundation and the Bank are operating in Maharashtra and Karnataka. In 2006 Mann Deshi started the business school program for rural women with the founding sponsor of HSBC.

The women entrepreneurs graduating from the Business School will benefit from the services of the Chamber of Commerce to conduct their business. The bank has listed more than 155,000 women as clients and the Business School enabled more than 46,000 women to benefit from the graduation program.

More autonomy for rural development (http://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=news_section.editorial.editorial_2012.More_autonomy_for_rural_development_HL_20120410)


In a paradigm shift from its earlier approach towards rural development, the government of India has come up with the plan of introducing flexibility in implementation of its flagship rural development programmes across the country.

While addressing a function at Mumbai University on Sunday, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh announced that 'by the end of 12th five-year plan in 2017, we will be allocating 50 percent of rural development funds directly to the states', in a phased manner.

In other word, under this proposal, the centre would be transferring 50 percent of the funds earmarked for rural development programmes directly to the state governments concerned and allow them to utilize the funds to implement schemes as per their requirements, subject to broad guidelines.

The rest of the funds, however, would have to be spent as per National guidelines prescribed for each such programmes. With an annual budget of nearly Rs 99,000 cores, which is second highest only to the country's Defence spending, the Ministry of Rural Development is responsible for monitoring some of the UPA government's key flagship programmes related to rural developments such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY),Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), Rural Housing, Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA), etc.

It is true that not all the National guidelines laid down for any developmental programmes perfectly fit into the specifics of the state context and absence of room for variation or flexibility in implementation of these programmes results in setback rather than doing any good to the people.

Success and sustainability of any developmental programme depends on fulfillment of certain basic requirements that need to be set in order first, which the prescribed guidelines of a nationally conceived programme may fall short of.

The existing Rural Development Schemes of the Ministry are no exception to these limitations and conflicts at the time of implementation them.

So, the latest move of giving more autonomy to the state governments, and hence, a greater say in the implementation of rural development programmes and schemes is appreciable, more so for an underdeveloped and predominantly rural Manipur.

With 18,99,624 people out of the total population of 27.21 lakh (as per Census Report-2011) in Manipur living under harsh conditions in rural area with no access to proper road, housing, sanitation and other civic amenities, effective implementation of centrally sponsored programmes and schemes is one of the means that could narrow down the existing developmental gap between the urban and the rural area as well as the hills and the valley districts.

This could be, no doubt, possible only when the state government is given more autonomy in execution of its developmental programmes.

However, considering the track record of lackadaisical approach of the state government and its officials towards implementation of any developmental works in Manipur, we could only keep our fingers crossed that 'more autonomy' is not confused with 'unrestrained freedom' to divert the sanctioned developmental funds.

Digitization of land, still a dream! (http://zeenews.india.com/news/exclusive/digitization-of-land-still-a-dream_769489.html)


Centre’s plan to digitize all land records across states by the end of 12th Plan appears to have run into trouble.

In a startling revelation by the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), only eight per cent of the funds allotted for ‘National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP)’ by the Centre were utilized by states by the end of last year.

According to the financial progress report of the NLRMP scheme tabled in Parliament during the Budget Session (through a report of the Standing Committee on Rural Development), about 20 states didn’t use a single penny of their allotted funds by 31st December, 2011 as per an analysis of data beginning 2008.


These states include Rajasthan, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, J&K and Uttarakhand. To get an overview of the usage of funds released, Zee Research Group (ZRG) analyzed last four years’ data, starting 2008.

The main aim of the NLRMP scheme launched four years ago was to develop a modern, comprehensive and transparent land records management system and to implement a conclusive land-titling system with clear title guarantee.

Considering slow usage of funds by the state governments as a “bit of a surprise under current circumstances”, member of the National Advisory Council (NAC) and social activist Aruna Roy said, “It is ironical that government offices, which continually bemoan shortage of funds and lack of resources, should not use them when they (funds) are available. It certainly reveals a lack of commitment and interest among states but also is a poor reflection on the Centre.”

The analysis revealed that among big states Bihar ranked the best though it too only utilized just about half of the allocated funds. Bihar reported 54 per cent utilization followed by Haryana with 27 per cent under NLRMP. Gujarat and Chhattisgarh reported 16.90 per cent and 16.22 per cent utilization respectively.

However, states like West Bengal and Maharashtra respectively, could only use 5.82 per cent and 3.63 per cent of the allocated funds. Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh stood poorly with 1.40 per cent and 0.55 per cent fund utilization level.

Amar Jyoti Nayak, food and livelihood rights leader at Action Aid India, argued, “The delay in the utilization of funds would adversely impact small land holders who would find the present system of manual land records disadvantageous as it strengthens the nexus between corrupt bureaucrats and land mafias.”

Apart from poor fund utilization in almost all states across India, the land digitization project of the UPA government came in for criticism for its “failure to induct credibility in the realty sector.” Argued activist Roy, “Land reform is a political question, and the politics of land use is still much skewed against the poor, the farmer, and the rural Indian citizen.”

Women, Poverty And Food Security In India (http://www.countercurrents.org/ksharma100412.htm)

Introduction

Poverty has traditionally been defined in income or expenditure terms and can be viewed in relative or absolute terms. Poverty and food security are complex and multidimensional in nature. Poverty leads to under nutrition and food insecurity by limiting poor people's access to food. About three-fourth of India's population living in the rural sector is reeling under abject poverty, illiteracy, ill-health, unemployment, low quality of life and so on. Food insecurity causes poverty, vulnerability and livelihood insecurity, but is at the same time also a result of these conditions. It is widely accepted that poverty is currently the principal root cause of food insecurity at the level of households. It is also clear that in several societies, households are not homogenous entities, since within a household, women and girl children often tend to be relatively more undernourished. Gender constitutes the most profound differentiating division. A gendered analysis of poverty reveals not simply its unequal incidence but also that both cause and effect are deeply gendered. Women face a greater risk of poverty than men. The gender disparity is most visible among female- headed households, notably lone mothers and single pensioners. Food security at the level of each individual is hence important. Millennium Development Goals (MDG) recognizes that hunger and food insecurity are the core afflictions of poor people, and specifically sets out to halve the proportion of extremely poor and hungry people in the world. Amartya Sen added a new dimension to food security and emphasised the “access” to food through what he called ‘entitlements' – a combination of what one can produce, exchange in the market along with state or other socially provided supplies. The 1995 World Food Summit declared, “Food security at the individual, household, regional, national and global levels exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. The declaration further recognizes that “poverty eradication is essential to improve access to food”. Food security, as internationally understood, involves physical, economic and social access to a balanced diet, safe drinking water, environmental hygiene and primary health care. Such a definition will involve concurrent attention to the availability of food in the market, the ability to buy needed food and the capability to absorb and utilise the food in the body. Thus, food and non-food factors that is, drinking water, environmental hygiene and primary health care are involved in food security. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)'s 2008 Global Hunger Index says that with over 200 million people insecure about their daily bread, Indian scenario is ‘alarming' in terms of hunger and malnutrition. The first ever Indian Hunger Index, released along with the Global Hunger Index, found that not a single state in India fell in the ‘low hunger' or ‘moderate hunger' categories . Madhya Pradesh had the most severe level of hunger in the country, followed by Jharkhand and Bihar. Punjab and Kerala scored the best on the Index. India ranks 66 among 88 countries in the hunger index.

Profiles of the Poor

The composition of the poor has been changing and rural poverty is getting concentrated in the agricultural labour and artisan households and urban poverty in the casual labour households. The share of agricultural labour households, which accounted for 41% of rural poor in 1993-94 increased to 47% in 1999-00. In contrast, the share of self-employed in agriculture among the rural poor dropped from 33% to 28%. Casual labour households accounted for 32% of the urban population living in poverty in 1999-00, increasing from 25% in 1993-94. The increase in its share was due to both the increased dependence of urban households on urban casual labour market as well as higher incidence of poverty among urban casual labour households. It needs to be recognized that increased dependence of rural and urban households on causal labour market exposes the poor to market risks and tends to increase transient poverty, whereby households move in and out of poverty due to fluctuations in the labour market.

Women versus Hunger

In recent years there has been an increasing trend to incorporate the gender dimension in analysis of poverty. The feminization of poverty is a term used to describe the overwhelming representation of women among the poor. “Women tend to be disproportionately represented among the poor… the poorer the family the more likely it is to be headed by a women”. Poverty studies from both developed and developing countries show that woman more than men are subjected to relative as well as absolute poverty. The argument is that poverty and gender at times can be interrelated. The incidence of poverty among females tended to be marginally higher in both rural and urban areas in India. The lower percentage of female persons among the poor despite higher female poverty ratio was due to adverse sex ratio. It should be noted that the above measure of gender poverty ignores intra-household inequalities in consumption. There are other dimensions of poverty such as food insecurity, malnutrition and health associated more with female members. The role of women as producers and providers of food is often overshadowed by their primary role as care-givers. However, in most of the developing countries, including India, large number of women is engaged in agriculture, primarily the production and processing of food. With male-selective migration from rural areas on the increase, women are often left behind to take care of both family and farm on their own. With women-headed households being more prone to poverty, wages being unfavourable to women in general and access to financial, technical and other support services being denied to them, the poor nutritional status of the rural population is common. It is therefore, obvious that women play a vital role in food production and agricultural activities. As Diana Pearce coined the term ‘feminization of poverty' which implies a new phenomenon, “women have always experienced more poverty than men”. The conceptualization of poverty in this way is also helpful from the perspective of understanding and combating women's poverty. Following Atkinson, Stephen Jenkins suggests that a feminist concept of poverty can be described in terms of an 'individual right to a minimum degree of potential economic independence'. Naila Kabeer (2003) argues that household poverty is determined by poor women's highly unequal role in the labour market. Female labour force participation is highest among the poorest households in countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, where social norms mainly constrain women to very insecure and poorly paid work in the informal sector. India suffers severe deprivations in education and health - especially in the Northern states, where caste, class, and gender inequities are particularly strong. Human development cannot be achieved without taking the role of women into account. Poverty often hits women and women-headed households the hardest, and women have fewer economic and political opportunities to improve their well-being and that of their families.

Policies and Programmes related to Food Security

Food and nutrition security depends upon a complex interplay of macro policy, agricultural policy, food and nutrition policy, access to education, health, potable drinking water, and sanitation, income and employment security, and social security. Food and nutrition security through government interventions in food-based programmes include the Public Distribution System (PDS), the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), the School's Mid-day Meal Scheme, Food-for-Work (FFW) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) etc. The proposed National Food Security Act, 2009 assures that every BPL family in the country shall be entitled to 25 kg of wheat or rice per month at the rate of Rs.3/- per kg. The law is also proposed to be used to bring about systemic reforms in the Public Distribution System (PDS). Apart from the PDS, the two major programmes such as ICDS and Mid-day Meal Scheme aimed at providing nutritional security to pregnant women and lactating mothers, and young pre-school goers and school-goers, respectively. Both programmes are currently being closely monitored by the Supreme Court, which has given specific directions for strengthening them.

Conclusion

The gender aspects of social security assume significance as it is widely recognised that, the position of women is particularly vulnerable to continued poverty and destitution when they attain old age and/or are widowed or divorced. The first group i.e., widows mainly constitute the female-headed households (FHHs). This provides sufficient evidence to indicate that the role of women in ensuring food security at macro level as well as at the level of the household and the individual is a manifold one. It is also apparent that in India, poverty is deeply embedded in social constructs that impact adversely on woman's economic status to society as well as her nutrition and health status, and food security caused from unequal distribution of food at home. Consequently discrimination pattern of food consumption at home is the one cause of malnutrition among women. While much progress has been made on the food production and availability front, adequate nutrition outcomes cannot be assured without unravelling the complexities of the gender food security link. Ensuring equity in women's rights to land, property, capital assets, wages and livelihood opportunities would undoubtedly impact positively on the issue, but underlying the deep inequity in woman's access to nutrition is her own unquestioning acceptance of her status as an unequal member of the family and society. Eventually, gender empowerment alone is likely to be the key to the resolution of the hunger challenge in the country.

Kiran Sharma is a Research Scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Centre for the Study of Social Systems (CSSS), New Delhi.

Cisco launches pilot remote healthcare program in Chitradurga district (http://telecomlead.com/inner-page-details.php?id=8218&block=News)


Telecom Lead Asia: Cisco has launched its Cisco healthcare solution pilot program to enable remote healthcare for one primary healthcare center and one community healthcare center from the district hospital in Chitradurga District of Karnataka.

Cisco introduced its healthcare solution in its corporate social responsibility project -- Samudaya -- to enable access to remote healthcare to flood-affected people of Raichur on a proof-of-concept basis.

In the Chitradurga pilot, the healthcare solution will link Chitradurga District Hospital to one community healthcare centre at Bharamasagara in Chitradurga Taluk and one primary healthcare centre (PHC) at Mathode in Hosadurga Taluk.

Using Cisco technology and medical services provided by RxDx's multi-specialty hospital in Bangalore, remote consultation for over 1700 patients has been rendered.

"Healthcare in India is a major concern for those who cannot afford or access it. While this amenity is available easily to urban population at very affordable rates, it is not ubiquitous in rural areas. Governments across all states of India recognize this gap," said Aravind Sitaraman, president, Inclusive Growth, Cisco.

Last year, Cisco launched the initiative so that rural communities can get access to essential urban services like healthcare, education, a marketplace and access to public services through technology and bring them into the mainstream economy.

Using the network as a platform, these services can bring about transformational change and greatly reduce the urban-rural divide.

Cisco's healthcare solution creates an environment where patients and doctors can meet each other virtually through video without having to commute long distances.

Recently, Cisco announced an investment in Aavishkaar, a venture fund founded to promote development in rural and semi-urban India.
Cisco will invest in Aavishkaar India II and will collaborate with other investors to drive sustainable business models with social impact that utilize the power of the network.

Aavishkaar raises two funds from international markets (http://www.mydigitalfc.com/companies/aavishkaar-raises-two-funds-international-markets-315)

Aavishkaar Venture Management Services, one of the largest for-profit social venture capital funds operating in India, is raising two new funds from the international markets, which it hopes will help take its total assets under management close to $200 million (Rs 1,043 crore). The funds will invest in enterprises focused on non-urban markets and bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers.

“We have had a good track record in our two earlier funds with an internal rate of return of 18-20 per cent per annum despite writing off a total of nine investments which didn’t work out. The new funds are being raised from overseas investors primarily development financial institutions such as International Finance Corporation Washington, FMO Netherlands, KfW Germany, etc,” Vineet Rai, founder and chairman at Aavishkaar Venture told Financial Chronicle.

The two new funds, which will have a 10-year term, will have a different fee structure from the existing funds – Aavishkaar Goodwell and Aavishkaar India Micro Venture, which carried a 3.5 percentage fee basic fee and a 15 per cent profit share.

“The new funds will have the standard private equity industry structure of a two per cent base fee and a 20 per cent profit share once returns cross an eight per cent dollar denominated hurdle rate-,” he said.

The social venture capitalist has raised $70 million in its Aavishkaar India fund II, which will invest in non-micro finance related areas such as education, health, agriculture, energy and technology. The Aavishkaar Goodwell India microfinance fund has completed its first closing at $10 million and expects another closing of $20 million this month.

“We hope to conclude another $20 million round under the Aavishkaar Goodwell II fund later this year,” said Rai. The first $18.3 million Aavishkaar Goodwell India Microfinance fund raised between 2007-09 will have to write off investments in two microfinance companies due to the change in laws in the state of Andhra Pradesh. But this has not deterred renowned PE investors such as CDC one of the largest limited partners active in India, from investing in the new microfinance oriented fund while Cisco has invested in Aavishkaar India fund II.

“The biggest advantage of raising these large sized funds is that we will be able to support our investee companies through later rounds of funding as well instead of simply funding them at a the seed stage or angel stage and then allowing other larger conventional funds to invest and reap all the returns as the firms scale up. We will now adopt a strategy of sow, tend and reap,” said Rai.

Aavishkaar plans to focus its investments from both funds in not more than 30 companies to ensure it can fund the growing requirements of successful business without seeing its share of equity diluted in a big way in subsequent rounds of funding. It also plans to focus some of the corpus of the new funds on promoting entrepreneurship in low income states in India such as Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. “We are also planning to launch a $50 million Aavishkaar India Rural Opportunities fund to tap contribution from Indian investors who want their investments to earn not just returns but also have a positive social impact. We will approach both high net worth investors and banks in India for this fund”, said Rai.

Rural India would banish open defecation in 10 years: Jairam Ramesh (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-04-08/india/31307903_1_open-defecation-toilet-gram-panchayats)

MUMBAI: Union rural development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said that the rural areas of the country would be free of open defecation within a decade.

"All the 2,65,000 gram panchayats in the country will be open defecation-free in ten years," Ramesh said, speaking at a seminar here.

He agreed that Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan should be considered more than just a toilet-building programme. "It highlights the concerns about privacy, security and dignity of women," he said, and assured that the campaign would be revamped.

In the past, toilet-building programmes of governments were half-hearted endeavours, with the exception of Maharashtra where a third of the gram panchayats are "open defecation free", Ramesh said. But now even a state such as Haryana, considered to be having "a patriarchal" society, had taken up the challenge in a big way with the slogan "sauchalaya nahi to dulhan nahi" (no bride if there is no toilet), he said.

Quoting 2011 census data, the minister said 60 per cent of village households still do not have access to proper toilet facilities. He praised the success of Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh on this front, apart from that of Maharashtra.

Rural India to drive telecom growth in 2012: report (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-04-12/news/31331257_1_deloitte-telecom-sector-semi-urban-areas)


NEW DELHI: Rural areas of the country will lead the growth in the telecom sector, while the growth of the supporting ecosystem in tier 2 cities will boost the IT sector in 2012, consultancy company Deloitte said today.

"The next wave of telecom growth will emerge from rural India and operators will increasingly use the voice platform as well as localised content to ensure relevance and widespread adoption in rural zones," Deloitte said in Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) predictions India 2012 report.

Deloitte forecasted that by end of this year, over 500 million smartphones with a price tag of USD 100 or less will be in use worldwide and a high proportion will come from India.

"Growing sales of $ 100 smartphones are likely to cause downward pressure on prices for the whole supply chain," the report said.

On the IT front, the Indian cloud computing services market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 76 per cent from 2010 to reach a potential market of $ 15-18 billion by 2020.

"Growth is expected to be primarily driven by enterprises migrating workloads to virtualised cloud models," it added.

The demand for tablets is forecasted to be strong and so is the competition in the low-cost tablet market.

"3G enabled tablets might see a greater adoption in urban and semi-urban areas," the report said.

The mobile banking services will gain momentum as a result of the increased transaction limits, rationalising of technology and security standards, it added.

Revenue from 3G services will grow due to availability of low-cost devices and reduction in per gigabyte prices for data usage.

"The business driver for operators is the increased revenue expected from 3G services due to growing middle and upper class wireless customers who are willing to pay more for the new mobile services," Deloitte said.

On media front, Deloitte predicts newspaper business will remain viable due to sustained readership. However, like the telecom and IT sector, regional areas will take the lead in media too.

More regional newspapers are forecast to be launched as compared to national newspapers, the report added.

World Bank to provide $352mn for dairy development in India (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/cons-products/food/world-bank-to-provide-352mn-for-dairy-development-in-india/articleshow/12654466.cms)

NEW DELHI: The World Bank signed an agreement with India to provide $352 million for the National Dairy Support Project, a step that will benefit about 17 lakh rural milk producing households.

"Government of India and the World Bank today signed an agreement for an IDA credit of $352 million (about Rs 1,805 crore) for the National Dairy Support Project to increase productivity of milk animals and improve market access of milk producers in project areas," World Bank said in a statement.

The project will be financed by credit from the International Development Association (IDA), World Bank's concessionary lending arm, which provides interest-free loans with 25 years to maturity and a grace period of five years.

The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has prepared a National Dairy Plan (NDP) to improve animal productivity, strengthen infrastructure for milk procurement at the village level, and enhance milk processing capacity and marketing, backed by appropriate policy and regulatory measures, it said.

The World Bank supported National Dairy Support Project will support and operationalise the first phase of the NDP through investments.

"The project will cover some 40,000 villages across 14 major dairying states and is expected to directly benefit about 1.7 million rural milk producing households," Department of Economic Affairs Joint Secretary Venu Rajamony said.

The 14 states included in the Project account for more than 90 per cent of the national production and include states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, he added.

"The Project will provide an opportunity for the World Bank to re-engage at a national scale in further development of the Indian dairy sector with potentially significant benefits for large numbers of dairy producers," World Bank Country Director for India Roberto Zagha said.

According to NDP Mission Director Dilip Rath, the primary focus of the project is on increasing milk yields by genetic improvement of the dairy herd (cows and buffalos) and optimal use of feed and fodder.

The Project will support long-term investments in animal breeding, extensive training of dairy farmers and doorstep delivery of artificial insemination and ration balancing advisory services, he added.

As per NDDB, the growth rate of milk production has slowed in recent years, from an average of 4.3 per cent per annum in the 1990s to 3.8 per cent per annum in the 2000s. As the economy grows and incomes rise, demand for milk and milk products' is expected to rise even further.

More than 70 million of some 147 million rural households depend on dairy, in varying degrees, for their livelihood. The annual milk production in the country is about 112 million tonnes, most of which is consumed in the country.

According to government estimates, the demand for milk is projected to grow to at least 180 million tonnes by 2021-22 and for meeting this demand, production should grow at 5.5 per cent per annum over the next decade.

The agreements for the National Dairy Support Project were signed by Rajamony on behalf of the Government of India, Rath on behalf of the NDDB and Governance Adviser (World Bank India) Roland Lomme on behalf of the World Bank.

Mother India
(http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/India/Mother-India/Article1-840718.aspx)
As always, the numbers are very impressive. Under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), 8,722 doctors, 2,914 specialists, 14,529 paramedics, 33, 413 staff nurses, 69,662 auxiliary nurse midwives, and 10,995 doctors and 3,894 paramedics practising traditional medicine have been hired to ensure


that everyone in rural India - irrespective of where they live and how much they earn - have access to basic healthcare.
Government data also shows that innovative approaches - such as decentralisation, flexible financing, improved management and incentives - have ensured more women were choosing hospitals over home to deliver their babies, bringing the maternal mortality rate (MMR) down from 254 per lakh live births in 2006 to 212 in 2009, and infant mortality rate (IMR) from 58 per 1,000 live births in 2005 to 47 in 2010.

Still, 12.5 lakh newborns and 63,000 women die each year cause of pregnancy-related causes, and Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad admitted as much in Parliament last month.

"Unfortunately, India's IMR and MMR is very bad. As bad that it cannot be compared with our neighbours Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Pakistan is the only country India can be compared with," he told the Rajya Sabha last month in response to a question on infant deaths in state-run hospitals in West Bengal.

Quality challenged

The devil is in the detail. An incredible 1.3 crore (11.3 million) women have benefited from the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), which offers pregnant women free and cashless deliveries, including free caesarean-sections, and a R1,400-incentive to deliver in a hospital. In most cases, having a baby in a hospital brings no benefits for new mothers other the R1,400. "There is low-birth preparedness that leads to delays in pregnant women reaching a hospital and getting treated for preventable complications. An analysis of maternal deaths, for example, showed that 13% deaths happened on the way to the hospital and 11% after the women return home, which shows poor management before and at the hospital," said Aparajita Gogoi, executive director, Centre for Development and Population Activities India, an international non-profit that works to improve adolescent and women's health.

What's clearly lacking is quality, said experts at the National Consultation on Safe Motherhood in Jaipur this week. "Quality is lost in the rush to meet targets, such as attaining 100% institutional deliveries. We have the standards, technical tools and the basic infrastructure needed, but still the quality of delivery depends on people, not on standard compliances. The system delivers what the top government asks for, so if quality targets are set for babus, they will be met," said Dr Monir Islam, director, Family Health and Research, WHO South-east Asia region.

Measures of quality include better patient outcomes (fewer deaths and complications), lower infection rates and overall patient satisfaction.

Who's to blame?

"I admit that quality is missing and we cannot continue to take pride in institutional deliveries if it's just taking deaths from home to hospitals. Most government institutions have a take it or leave it approach and don't care if the patients don't like what they offer. This attitude needs to change, which is tough because in this country, we are very tolerant of bad quality. No one ever asks a doctor why he is late or absent from the clinic frequently," said Anuradha Gupta, additional secretary and mission director, NRHM, Union ministry of health.

A major reason for the national apathy to incompetence is that action is rarely taken against erring government appointees, who focus more on hanging on to the job than doing it well.

What will improve quality is better tracking and monitoring to identify and eliminate avoidable cause of death and complications, help identify area-specific problems and ensure transparency. "But the review should not be done by the provider, as it usually happens in India. There is massive underreporting of deaths, with one state reporting only 20% maternal deaths, with the doctors listing the deaths under different pregnancy-related complications, such as septicaemia or organ failure," said Gogoi.

The buck stops here

Someone has to take responsibility for the shortfalls, just as many throng to take credit for the successes. "You need ownership. We have too much participation in India, even cows and dogs visit hospitals. Just as a pilot cannot ask all crew for participative flying of a plane, you cannot have everyone running the show," said Dr Dileep Mavalankar, dean, Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

GE Foundation grants $1.6 mn for education of rural women (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ge-foundation-grants-1.6-mn-for-education-of-rural-women/936983/)

GE Foundation, the charitable arm of the US conglomerate General Electric, has pledged USD 1.6 million funding to an NGO to provide quality education and vocational skills to unemployed rural women.

The grant would fund Pratham's innovative "Open School" initiative that allows young adults, especially women, complete their secondary education and improve their employment readiness through the schools run by the NGO, besides aiding the organisation's 'Read India' campaign in which these students would teach children aged 3 to 14 years.

Pratham is a non-government organisation (NGO) working to provide quality education to the underprivileged children in India. GE Foundation has been supporting Pratham since 2005.

"We are pleased to be working with Pratham on this two- pronged approach that enables young women to 'earn' their education and training as GE Fellows, and in turn enlists their support to advance primary grade students' learning," said Bob Corcoran, President GE Foundation.

"This is a new innovation in delivery of education for us and we are grateful to GE Foundation for continuing to support us strongly in our endeavours," said Madhav Chavan, CEO of Pratham Education Foundation.

In the last decade, Indian government has done a great deal of work to ensure that over 97 per cent children on the primary level are enrolled in schools.

However, poor quality of education largely attributed to sub-standard teaching remains a concern.

According to Pratham's Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), while the efforts of government have ensured 97 per cent enrollment at primary levels, the sub standard teaching has kept the drop-out rate high. The rate is even higher in secondary education, especially amongst women.

Great thread!!

Thanks purty! :cheers:

Thank you murlee :cheers:

Lessons from Melghat's health crisis (http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/Chunk-HT-UI-TrackingHunger-Intro/Lessons-from-Melghat-s-health-crisis/Article1-841657.aspx)

At a time when India plans a multi-pronged attack on malnutrition in 200 high-burden districts, it will pay to examine the cracks in state institutions that have led to past failures and can still derail well-intentioned plans.

Melghat, a tribal corner in the northeastern fringes of India's richest state-Maharashtra-is an apt example of almost everything that has gone wrong in India's response to malnutrition and child deaths.

Every 14th child dies in Melghat before reaching the age of six, often owing to malnutrition-related causes. The statistic has remained largely unchanged over the past five years and puts Melghat almost at par with less-developed sub-Saharan nations such as Senegal and Tanzania.

The fate of tribal children in Melghat mirrors that of children in other parts of tribal India and reflects the yawning chasm between tribals and others. Nearly one in two tribal families are poor in rural India, according to the latest official estimates, a ratio that is 40% higher compared with the rural average.

Melghat also demonstrates the ineffectiveness of state-sponsored schemes such as the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in improving child health.

India's poor record in tackling malnutrition has come to the fore once again after the recently published results of a survey led by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Naandi Foundation found rates of stunting or chronic under-nourishment to be 59% across 100 districts, 11 percentage points higher than what the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) recorded across India in 2006.

Just like everything else in the nation, the spread of malnutrition is uneven. The inequality in malnutrition rates is higher in India than in most other nations, a February report by Save the Children said.

Tribals are the worst affected and are the only social group that saw a rise in the rates of stunting between 1992 and 2006, according to NFHS data. Yet, malnutrition rates in the country can improve only if tribal malnutrition rates drop. As a World Bank report pointed out in 2005, a quarter of Indian districts-many of them tribal-account for over half of India's malnourished children.

In Melghat, a shoddy health care system and ineffective ICDS workforce have contributed to the stasis in child mortality rates but the root of the problem lies in the apathy of the political and administrative class that has failed to address either poverty and livelihood issues or deliver basic public goods.

The villages of Melghat-with treacherous roads, closed schools and mostly without electricity or piped water-appear to be in a time warp, left behind by India's famed engine of economic growth. In several villages, child deaths are more frequent than the visits of public servants.

Other tribal areas of the state with the second-largest tribal population in the country tell a similar tale. Maharashtra is one of the better-performing states when it comes to tackling malnutrition, but its progress hides deep inequalities.

Five tribal districts out of a total of 35-Amravati, Gadchiroli, Nandurbar, Nashik and Thane-account for a third of severely malnourished children in the state. The number of child deaths in some of these districts has grown in recent years. According to official estimates obtained through Right to Information applications by a Melghat-based NGO, Khoj, the number of child deaths went up 17% in Gadchiroli and 10% in Nandurbar in the past three years.

Melghat, composed of two blocks in Amravati district-Dharni and Chikaldhara-is special though, as it has the longest recorded history of child deaths and has seen decades of well-meaning judicial interventions starting 1993.

Media-savvy NGOs have managed to keep the spotlight on malnutrition and several politicians have made flying visits but life in Melghat has not changed much. A child in Melghat is thrice as likely to be severely malnourished compared with an average child in Maharashtra, according to ICDS data.

To be sure, the number of health centres has gone up in the past five years: a new rural hospital and a primary health centre (PHC) have been built, thanks to NRHM funding. The number of vacancies among PHC doctors has dipped to nearly zero.

Yet, such statistics hide more than they reveal. A third of PHC doctors are temporary, fresh out of college, and working for the government to fulfil their course requirements. Many doctors have been trained in traditional medicine but prescribe allopathic medicines with impunity. Although there are a few committed doctors, and the health department is better run than most other state agencies in Melghat, the overall quality of healthcare is poor.

Often, incompetent doctors get away even after making grave mistakes. When one-month-old Sachin Bethekar of Hatru village had diarrhoea in June, his parents took him to Hatru's PHC, where he was put on a saline drip till his stomach bloated. Sachin's distressed parents took him to a traditional healer or bhumka, who failed to help and he died the next day.

Saline injections to malnourished infants are a major cause of death in public hospitals although World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines forbid such treatment, said Ashish Satav, a physician and president of Melghat-based NGO Mahan. Nevertheless, the devastating impact of the saline drip finds no mention in the child death register at Hatru's PHC. It instead identifies the bhumka as the cause of death!

Health workers are as aware as other public servants that the chances of getting caught are slimmer than the chances of finding a healthy child in Melghat. Not surprisingly, such tales repeat themselves across Melghat. The details vary: in some villages, one came across stories of inadequate rations in crèches run under ICDS, in others of absent doctors, or of insensitive staff and petty corruption.

Sachin's uncle Sakharam Bethekar points out that this is not the first such experience the family has had in a public hospital: Sakharam's wife died while giving birth to a boy four years ago. Such incidents lead to a loss of trust in the public health system, said Bandu Sane, an activist with Khoj.

Across tribal India, the picture is equally bleak. A tribal child is 40% more likely to die before the age of five compared with an average Indian child not because he falls sick more often owing to malnourishment, but because he is half as likely to receive proper care, analysis of NFHS data by World Bank economists show.

Throughout history, tribals had a survival advantage over their peers, wrote demographer Arup Maharatna in his oft-cited book on the subject, Demographic Perspectives on India's Tribes. Till the early 1980s, tribal children had lower chances of dying compared with their closest social group, the scheduled castes, but mortality rates reversed in the past three decades as tribals lagged behind others in access to healthcare and basic amenities.

This decline in health of the country's most deprived social group has occurred precisely when the economy has grown at its most rapid pace ever, clocking an average of around 6% over the past three decades.

The blatant violation of norms and the years of neglect in Melghat arise from wide-ranging state failures and the inability of a weak tribal leadership to demand change.

"Our leadership has failed us and anyone who takes up the cudgels on behalf of our community is either intimidated or bribed very easily," said Kalu Bethekar, a plain-speaking health counsellor at Hatru's PHC.

Funds for tribal development often lie unutilized or are diverted. In many tribal areas of the state, there is no officer to plan projects, since many consider appointments in such areas as a punishment posting.

Maharashtra is among the eight laggard states, which did not allocate funds in the tribal sub-plan-a part of the annual plan-in proportion to the tribal population of the state, despite repeated pleas from central government agencies, according to a 2011 tribal affairs ministry report.

Maharashtra has a 9% tribal population but allocated only 8.2% of its annual plan allocation to it. The actual expenses are invariably lower than what is planned. Maharashtra has spent less than 2% of its annual budget on the tribal plan on average in the past decade, according to a 2011 report by Thane-based NGO Samarthan, based on official statistics.

In 11 tribal dominated blocks of the state, an Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) officer looks into the implementation of all projects related to tribal welfare. Such posts often lie vacant, and even when appointments are made they are for a brief period, according to the Samarthan report.

Melghat did not have a full-time ITDP nodal officer for several years and it is only recently, after repeated strictures from the judiciary, that the government has finally appointed one.

Even when funds are allocated, there is little accountability on how they are used and Hatru's PHC is a prime example. The health centre lacks a toilet and does not have electricity owing to a defective solar plant.

While there was no effort to build a toilet or hire a mechanic to get the solar machine repaired, NRHM funds worth over `4 million were spent on a new PHC building at Hatru that has remained unused for close to two years since it was built, apparently because of a leaky roof.

Unicef's framework on malnutrition identifies disease and inadequate dietary intake as the proximate causes of malnutrition while political and social systems that determine how resources are used and shared are identified as the underlying or structural causes.

In Melghat, all of these factors seem to have conspired together to deprive children of a chance at a healthy life.

Micro payment venture launched (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/Micro-payment-venture-launched/articleshow/12700614.cms)

RANCHI: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and National Payment Corporation of India have joined hands to start micro ATM-based payments to beneficiaries and have launched a pilot programme in the state to identify the practical impediments and come up with solutions.

Executive director of Nabard, V Ramakrishna, led a study team to Porio village on Monday where Aadhaar-enabled micro payments for MGNREGA labourers have already begun.

Prior to the field visit, Ramakrishna said Aadhaar numbers - along with core banking solution and biometric identification of individuals - have redefined payment options for the beneficiaries of government schemes through micro ATMs. "We have decided to conduct a field study on how the entire programme runs so that the bottlenecks could be identified and removed when such payments are nationally linked to Aadhaar numbers," he said.

The results of the study will be shared with the chairmen of five regional rural banks from different parts of the country. Bank of India regional manager Tarlochan Singh coordinated the visit with Ramakrishna as the team leader. The UIDAI officials were present to see if the Aadhaar number was effective in practically verifying the identity of individuals through the biometric information provided. Singh, in his welcome speech, said the banks would make additional efforts to conduct the financial inclusion drive. UIDAI deputy director general Rajesh Bansal gave details of UID-enabled accounts and called upon other banks to utilize the CBS-enabled quick identification platform for instant payments.

The programme will be followed by a two-day conference on Aadhaar-enabled quick payment of government subsidy.

Tackling Naxal issue: Govt plans Rs. 1000-cr body with help of India Inc (http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Tackling-Naxal-issue-Govt-plans-Rs-1000-cr-body-with-help-of-India-Inc/Article1-840639.aspx)

The Union rural development ministry is setting up a body called `Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation' (BRLF) with a Rs. 1,000-crore corpus with the help of India Inc, to promote economic and social empowerment in 170 districts, including those affected by Naxal violence. "I have already written to the Tatas, Reliance, Infosys, and Wipro, apart from the dairy cooperative NDDB, and Nabard, to be the founding members of BRLF. My ministry is giving initial corpus of Rs. 500 crore," Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said in Mumbai on Saturday.

"I want the rest to come from the corporates," Ramesh told reporters after a meeting with the NABARD brass in Mumbai.

We have called a meeting on April 27 in New Delhi of all the stakeholders, including corporates, civil society organisations and grass-root level activists."

This is the first time the government is formally reaching out to the private sector to tackle the Naxal problem. The foundation will work for improving livelihood and habitats of tribals in 170 districts, 78 of which are severely affected by the Maoist violence, Ramesh said.

NABARD and the government-run National Dairy Development Board too will be a part of the Foundation.

Ramesh added that foundation will not be a government body, but will run on professional lines, with a chairman and a full-time CEO. "In structure and composition, it will be similar to the Public Health Foundation of India chaired by the Infosys co-founder NR Narayan Murthy."

The foundation will support developmental activities in watershed management, dairy, fisheries, agriculture, etc.

On how the corporates can participate, he said, "Those who pay higher amount as donations, say Rs. 200 crore, can get a board position. But I am sure it will not be a government body and the government will not have any say in its day to day functioning."

BRLF funds will be disbursed to the civil society and NGOs on a need-based manner, he added.

"The move is part of the Budget proposals. The foundation will scale up civil society interventions and transform the lives and livelihoods of the adivasis in these 170 districts spanning Andra Pradesh, Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madya Pradesh,Odisha,Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh," the Minister said.

When asked whether donations to BRLF would be considered as part of CSR initiative, Ramesh answered in the affirmative.

Naxal violence has been on the rise in the recent years.

From Bleak Central India, a People’s Movement (http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/from-bleak-central-india-a-peoples-movement/)

In Pati, an impoverished region in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, members of the Barela tribe often work as laborers for less than a dollar a day. Drought and logging have reduced what was once a lush forest to a mountainous desert, and many members of the community moved away to survive.

Fetching drinking water can involve a walk of several kilometers, health clinics are a day’s walk away, and jobs are scarce. Peanuts are one of the few crops that still grow in the region. Before the passage in 2005 of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which guarantees a minimum of 100 days of labor per household for the rural poor, some Barela worked just eight days a year.

Despite these hardships, when the photographer Sohrab Hura visited Pati, he found a ‘‘special place.’’ Unlike in many rural parts of India, residents are ‘‘extremely aware of their basic rights,’’ Mr. Hura said. They have formed a ‘‘people’s union,’’ known as the Jagrut Adivasi Dalit Sangathan, to address issues of local importance.

When the state failed to distribute polio vaccines in the area, the union administered them with the help of medical volunteers from nongovernmental organizations. Women have been trained in first aid, to offset a lack of health care professionals. The union has started a school, replacing a government one that villagers considered inadequate.

While the guaranteed employment act has helped bring new life to Pati, by employing residents on public works projects like roads and stemming migration from the area, residents say the program is hampered by corruption.

At times when residents have not received the wages they are due under the act, the union’s members, sometimes led by women, have marched to the Pati district headquarters to demand them. After one such march, which Mr. Hura observed, ‘‘local administrators had no choice but to pay the wages the next day,’’ he said.

Maruti's mobile theatre ups sales for company in rural India (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/brand-equity/marutis-mobile-theatre-ups-sales-for-company-in-rural-india/articleshow/12711977.cms?google_editors_picks=true)

One of the biggest hits in rural India that you've never seen has been created not by the Chopras, Johars or Ravi Kishans but by automaker Maruti Suzuki. With its film screen on wheels, Maruti takes an unconventional road to reach an immensely profitable destination

It's a balmy Friday, and a throng jostles for front row seats. Only a few make it to the matinee. After 13 quick minutes, there's thunderous applause. A jam-packed, shotgun show becomes a blockbuster! As they say, it happens only in India. Welcome to Amritsar Kalan, a nondescript village some 370 km northwest of Delhi, where scores of goggle-eyed villagers are huddled together to grab a glance of not their favourite star or starlet but the latest sets of wheels from India's No 1 carmaker, Maruti Suzuki. The venue is no swank multiplex but a souped-up Tata truck converted into an 18-seater mobile theatre. Flashing on the screen are not just models of cars but dreams that Maruti is selling to an aspiring Bharat.

Going rural is not exactly a new mantra for India's marketers. Even within the auto industry, every manufacturer worth its horsepower has been traversing the highways and bylanes of the hinterland.


Non urban markets account for 32% of the sales for India's second largest automaker, Hyundai. "Nearly 70% of India resides in rural areas, which presents an enormous demand base and huge market potential," says Arvind Saxena, director (marketing and sales), Hyundai. And General Motors too sells 30% of its cars - mainly the Chevrolet Spark, Beat and Tavera - in rural India. "India is happening in the villages," says Mayank Pareek, managing executive officer (marketing & sales) at Maruti Suzuki India. A car is not a Tshirt that you sell to villagers and then forget about, he adds. "You have to invest in gaining their trust and never betray it."

What's remarkable about Maruti's push is the nifty way in which it has been able to reach out to potential buyers, from fruit growers in the north and turmeric growers in the south to fishermen in the east and Alphonso mango growers in the west. It has helped Maruti up the rural tempo from just 3.5% of total sales five years ago to 26% in fiscal 2012.

Major funds boost for India-UK project (http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Europe/Major-funds-boost-for-India-UK-project/Article1-842561.aspx)

UK on Wednesday announced 10 million pounds funding for a joint research project with Indian institutes to boost India's internet capabilities with rural access to broadband and health monitoring systems among others.

The project aims to develop solutions that can scale to benefit the lives of millions of users as well as the digital economy in both countries.

The funding – considered one of the largest for any project between the two countries – was announced by universities and science minister David Willetts during a meeting with science and technology minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Wednesday.

The 10 million pounds investment will support the second phase of research into next generation telecommunications networks – the development of state-of-the-art platforms and applications that will carry voice, video and data in the future on the Internet.

The project involves the employment of 200 scientists.

The research is a key part of the work of the India-UK Advanced Technology Centre (IU-ATC), a collaborative programme funded by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), India's Department of Science and Technology (DST) and industrial partners in both countries.

The funding will allow the Centre to focus its efforts to develop low-cost solutions for rural access to broadband, improved use of available spectrum as well as applications for rural health monitoring, emergency and disaster communications, social TV-Virtual Classrooms and other services.

The ultimate aim of the IU-ATC is to develop solutions that can scale to benefit the lives of millions of users as well as the Digital Economy in both the UK and India, the Foreign Office said.

The principal investigators for the project are Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and Professor Gerard Parr of the University of Ulster.

Ulster is the lead UK institution in a consortium of nine research-leading UK universities including the University of Surrey, Lancaster University, Queen Mary, University of London, Southampton University, University of St Andrews, University College London, University of Bristol, and the University of Cambridge.

They are joined by seven IITs: IIT Madras (Lead), IIT Delhi, IIT Mumbai, IIT Mandi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad, and IISc Bangalore.

Announcing details of the funding boost, Willetts said: "This 10 million pounds investment will build on the UK's excellent record of research collaboration with India.

"It will bring together leading universities and institutes from both countries to develop technological solutions to a range of important issues, from rural health to disaster response."

Liam Blackwell, Head of EPSRC's ICT Theme said: "This next phase of the India-UK Advanced Technology Centre project is expected to contribute to leading edge international collaboration in ICT research which will benefit both countries and develop their capabilities."

The first phase of the joint research initiative started in June 2009 with 5 million pounds funding from EPSRC-DST and 4.2 pounds million co-funding from industry and academic partners in both countries.

The three high level research activity areas within the IU-ATC are: Applications and Services; Core Network Systems and Protocols; Heterogeneous Wireless Access Networks.

Villages go online! (http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/nxg/article3327747.ece)

“India lives in its seven hundred thousand villages.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Most of us hail from places that's not Chennai; some visit their native once in a while, some once in a lifetime and some, maybe never.

Most of us will never know what life is like in villages, what life is like away from the chaos of the cities, what life is like to live among the grass fields and flowing rivers, among rich culture and heritage. Villages define the Indian society; the alluring temples, the folklore, the culture, the agriculture and much more. It's only a matter of time when all this information would no longer be available with most of the villagers opting to move out into the cities and towns for better prospects and livelihood.

Successful venture

Recognising this, IIT-Madras Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI) joined hands with The National International Exchange of India to bring about an ingenious idea. Their initiative was to create a global web identity for our Indian villages by empowering rural youth to create a website for their villages. What started out as an exploratory venture, led to an overwhelming response from students.

They started by approaching students of colleges from the Sivaganga district. Participants were enrolled into groups of three and were trained on website development via workshops and regular reviews. The competition had a preliminary round where 11 websites out of 50 were selected and the finalists were invited to IIT-Madras for the grand finale. The criteria of selection was not how the website looked or appealed but the content. Information such as panchayat decisions, tourist spots, and environmental issues became the highlight of many websites.

“RTBI is about leveraging Information communication and technology to the rural areas. We were looking to involve students studying in colleges in rural areas in our programmes and website was the first thing that came to our mind. The whole plan was decided at a meeting one afternoon and we had one year to execute it, from Nov 2010 to Nov 2011,” said Suma, Vice President of RTBI, when asked about how the idea was formulated. She also added, “From our end the commitment was impeccable, it was not something we wanted to just achieve on papers, and we really felt that this project was going to be useful for the students and the society and the students caught on to this self-belief. The students also knew that we were serious and there would be tangible outcomes for all their efforts”.

Winning moment

The winners were students from ACT College in Karaikudi. Madhumita was one of the winners and with excitement she said, “Pudhuvayal is a village close to Karaikudi and has more than 100 rice mills. We had to visit the village more than 10 times and we gained a lot of knowledge through this experience. The prize money was a huge surprise and we gave back part of the money to our village.”

The participants showed exceptional enthusiasm and fervour; they felt empowered and this project helped them to gain an identity. RTBI's initial effort is commendable and the outcome will help society in many ways.

India's infrastructure, a positive story (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article3332641.ece?homepage=true)

There is a lot of capital asset building at the rural level, which does not come into the capital formation statistics. VINAYAK CHATTERJEE, CHAIRMAN OF FEEDBACK INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES (P) LTD.

Mr Vinayak Chatterjee is passionate about infrastructure. As Chairman of Feedback Infrastructure Services (P) Ltd, a leading provider of professional and technical services in infrastructure, he has his finger on the pulse of the sector. Moreover, as Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry's National Task Force on Infrastructure — Monitoring and Advocacy, the 52-year-old is completely clued in on regulatory issues. He was a member of the Sam Pitroda committee on modernisation of Indian Railways.

When almost all other voices talk of gloom, in a recent interview in Chennai, this Economics (Hons) graduate from St Stephen's College, Delhi and MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad, gave a balanced scorecard — the positive developments and the NSG (not-so-good) areas, as he calls it. Excerpts from the interview:

POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTS

With all the battering that we do to the infrastructure sector, there is also some good news. First is that Gross Capital Formation in Infrastructure is increasing. The 10th Plan average was 5.1 per cent of GDP. It is expected to be 7.1 per cent in the 11th Plan and estimated to go up to 9.7 per cent in the 12th Plan.

In the early 1990s, we used to envy China at 9 per cent, saying can we ever match China when we were doing 3 per cent. This is tremendous good news, where across shades of different political dispensation we have had a silent movement of the tectonic plates of India's infrastructure geoplates.

To achieve this in the kind of polity and democracy we are, in a space of 15 years, has been a major structural shift.

Second, private-public-partnership is above expectations. During the 10th Plan, 25 per cent of our infrastructure was through PPP. The 10th Plan was largely driven by telecom and the early power projects. In the 11th Plan, the target was 30 per cent, but we are likely to do 37 per cent and in the 12th Plan there is reasonable confidence that we will do 50 per cent. This is a major change in India's infrastructure development.

In the 10th Plan, the investment was $220 billion, of which 25 per cent came through PPP.

In the 11th Plan, it is almost $480-500 billion of that 37 per cent, and 50 per cent of $1,000 billion in the 12th Plan.

The third is we constantly debunk the Planning Commission. India is one of the few countries that officially publishes a Plan and the system is willing to be tested and criticised against its performance or non-performance.

I have still not come across any other country that does this with that degree of meticulousness and rigour, of saying as a country we will look five years ahead, we will plan and prioritise. It is not that we are not achieving the figures.

When the Planning Commission announced the 11th Plan figures, there was general scepticism. As the 11th Plan has come to a close, we are likely to exceed the planned $500-billion spend on infrastructure.

A lot of capital investment in infrastructure is not officially captured. An irrigation canal is often written away as a revenue expenditure of the department rather than treating it as a balance sheet item in the books.

There is a lot of capital asset building at the rural level, which does not come into the capital formation statistics. There are metros that are happening, flyovers, storm water drains, if all of those were added up, the figure is likely to exceed $500 billion.

Along with that there has been significant capacity building – model concession agreements, creation of new institutions such as NHAI, IDFC, IIFC, viability gap funding, increased allocation in Budget…

NOT-SO-GOOD AREAS

There are three areas that are not so good, what I call the NSG. If you dissect these figures and put them into two broad baskets – aam aadmi areas – electricity, water supply, sanitation and irrigation that touch the common man directly.

I put everything else in the other area. Our failure rate has been the highest in the aam aadmi areas. That is a concern in the overall mix.

We must push things differently; maybe have pure EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) or annuity. We must prioritise through different methods. We must push the aam aadmi agenda. This has found resonance. The approach paper to the 12{+t}{+h} Plan talks about electricity and water as the two priorities.

A large portion of infrastructure development is the responsibility of the States. The expectation is that while the Centre would show the way, the States would quickly learn their lessons and would pick up the infrastructure development agenda. That is not happening.

The States' share is falling , while private sector is picking up. This is a matter of huge concern. In a federal structure we are seeing the politics getting more state-oriented and we are seeing greater devolution. Unfortunately the infra agenda, particularly PPP, is not being picked up with the rapidity one would have expected.

There are only a few frontline States, possibly, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab, which have picked up the PPP agenda.

The world that we are living in right now is in anxious times, the corporate world is looking at depleting order books.

Depleting order books resulting in strangling operational cash flows going for corporate debt restructuring, most infra companies are cash-strapped, declining profitability, rising debt… how badly they have leveraged their balance sheets, worrisome NPAs. Infrastructure NPAs have gone up significantly. Assets are on sale – road projects and power plants are on sale – because people want to de-leverage and become asset light. And disillusioned PE funds.

Most PE funds had invested in the boom time in 2004-05 and exit periods are normally seven years. So we are now at a time when the 2004-05 stocks are down. This is the current situation. I am saying that, one must get inside to understand the pain of players there.

This is an inflection cycle. We were at bottom at least two months ago when everything was going wrong. Now things have bottomed out.

There are far more road projects that are being awarded by the C P Joshi establishment, the appointment of the Pulok Chatterjee committee on power and coal, infuse some confidence that the Government is acting.

And the Presidential decree, while we may question the veracity of it, just gives a flavour that the Government is back to taking decisions. The secular graph is made of counter-cyclicalities and we are currently at this stage and likely to move up.

CPI for farm, rural labourers rises in March (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article3336263.ece)

The All-India Consumer Price Index for agricultural and rural labourers (Base 1986-87=100) for March increased by 4 and 3 points at 625 and 626, respectively.

Among 20 States, the increase in the index for farm labourers varied between 1 and 11 points. Maharashtra clocked the maximum rise with 694 points, while Himachal Pradesh was lowest at 519 points.

In the case of rural labourers, Punjab with 691 points topped the index, while Himachal Pradesh with 539 points stood at the bottom, a Labour Ministry release said here on Friday.

The index for agricultural and rural labourers in Punjab saw the maximum increase of 11 points each, mainly due to the rise in the prices of milk, vegetables & fruits, gur, bidi, firewood, shirting cloth cotton (mill) and leather shoes.

The general inflation rate based on the CPI for farm and rural labourers rose from 6.34 per cent and 6.68 per cent in February to 6.84 per cent and 7.19 per cent, respectively, in March 2012. Inflation based on the food index for both the segments stood at 3.94 per cent and 4.10 per cent, respectively, during March.

Tribal belt in central India not shared fruits of growth: Ramesh (http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/04/20/432--Tribal-belt-in-central-India-not-shared-fruits-of-growth-Ramesh-.html)

New Delhi, April 20 (IANS) The tribal belt in central India has not shared fruits of high economic growth witnessed by the country over the past few years, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said Friday and added that the proposed Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF) will help take benefits of development to these areas.

Addressing a seminar on "Role of Private Philanthropy in Social Development," organised by Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) here, Ramesh said the tribals in central India feel marginalised.

"The primary objective of the foundation is to work in the central tribal belt," he said.

The BRLF is slated to have have a Rs.1,000 crore corpus, half of it from the private sector.

Ramesh said BRLF will be a lean organisation which will help scale up activities of organisations such as PRADAN, which work in rural areas to help people come out of poverty.

He said BRLF would have functionaries in place in "four to six months" and will be good channel for companies looking to fulfill their obligations of corporate social responsibility.

Ramesh also referred to the government's initiative of Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellows, which allows young post-graduates to work in rural areas for two years.

He said 156 young persons had been selected as fellows under the programme.

Ramesh said his ministry will provide funds for setting up university chairs for study in development practice.

The seminar had been organised to mark 30 years of PRADAN, an organisation working with the poor in marginalised and isolated villages of central and eastern India to enable them to live a life of dignity.

Founded in 1983, PRADAN has 400 professionals working across seven states and works with nearly 2.5 lakh families.

Deep Joshi, co-founder of PRADAN, said that country's rural population would remain sizeable despite trends towards urbanisation and part of the effort to improve lives of the marginalised sections had to go in raising their confidence.

NGO slams rural jobs scheme implementation in Assam (http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/04/19/449--NGO-slams-rural-jobs-scheme-implementation-in-Assam-.html)

Guwahati, April 19 (IANS) A survey of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNEGA) in Assam has revealed that only about 18 lakh households out the 43 lakh provided job cards in the state were provided with jobs in 2011-12, an NGO said Thursday.

The survey jointly carried out by North East Social Trust (NEST), a Guwahati based NGO, revealed that a total of 43.7 lakh households in Assam are provided with job cards in Assam in the last one year but out of this only 17,98,372 households are able to get jobs under the scheme.

"We have taken the help of data provided by the government of Assam regarding implementation of the ambitious act. But the figures show that 58.84 percent people, who were given job cards under the scheme, were not been able to get any job during the last financial year," said Tasaduk Ariful Hussain, executive director of NEST.

"This is not all. What is more frustrating is the fact that out of the 43.7 lakh households, only 45,490 (1.04 percent) households were provided with 100 days jobs. Out of those who worked under the MGNREGA, 73 percent households got employment for less than 30 days in the whole year," Hussain added.

Giving the detailed statistics, Hussain further revealed that Kokrajhar district could provide highest numbers of 100 days employment by giving employment to 23,216 households while in Dima Hasao (formerly known as North Cachar Hills) district, not even a single house hold could complete 100 days employment.

He also noted that no registration has taken place under the scheme in 12 panchayats in Assam last year. "Again in 12 Panchayats under Manikpur and Borobazar in Chirang district, there is no demand for work," he said and added that although Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendras (RGSK) are supposed to be set up under all the panchayats as per the act, only 19 RGSK have been set up so far in Assam.

"Although the MGNREGA has made it mandatory to set up RGSKs in each Panchayats with proper facility for vocational training for the job card holders, yet this is largely ignored in Assam," he said.

"The MGNREGA is one of the best schemes of the central government particularly for a country like India and it can not only stop the migration from rural areas to urban areas but also fight hunger. Unfortunately, the government has not been able to implement it properly," he claimed.

Farm takes a back seat in countryside makeover (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120421/jsp/business/story_15399619.jsp#.T5IhbLNllns)



Mumbai, April 20: Rural India is not about agriculture anymore.

A Credit Suisse study has busted one of the biggest myths that politicians and bureaucrats have peddled and perpetuated for years. Agriculture now accounts for only one-fourth of rural GDP — sharply down from about half a decade ago.

“Rural India... is no longer an agrarian economy exposed to the vicissitudes of an erratic monsoon,” say Credit Suisse analysts Neelkanth Mishra and Ravi Shankar in their report titled “The Great Indian equalisation”.

It’s industrialisation that is changing the face of the rural hinterland. The study says manufacturing GDP in rural India has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 18 per cent between 1999 and 2009 and today accounts for 55 per cent of the manufacturing GDP. Almost 75 per cent of all new factories in the last decade have come up in rural India, says the study.

While one of the reasons for this development could be that there is little physical space available in cities, it has been also found that rural factories deploy more capital and employ more people.

This change is showing up in the nature of employment in rural India. There has been a sharp drop in male employment in agriculture in the past five years which “is equal to the shift away over the previous 27 years”, say Mishra and Shankar.

With the transition from agriculture to industry and services being very rapid in rural India over the past decade, the study noted that that the ratio of rural to urban per capita GDP has narrowed from 3 times to 2.5 times over the past decade. This, the authors say, runs contrary to the trend seen in other emerging economies.

At the individual level, because of these changes, much of the incremental job creation in manufacturing was accounted by construction apart from services such as trade, the report added.

On the consumption front, it is forecast that rural areas that are now urbanising are likely to see continued income growth and, therefore, healthy consumption. This could benefit items such as tobacco and building materials that are likely to gain from this structural shift.

Part of a larger cycle

As rural India becomes less dependent on the vagaries of the monsoon, it also gets linked to the national economic cycle against which it was immune so far.

“The transition of the workforce away from agriculture is, therefore, a much desired trend, and the acceleration since 2005, if sustained, can provide a structural support to overall GDP growth,’’ the report observed.

According to the 2011 census, the definition of urban area includes those places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, a minimum population of 5,000, at least 75 per cent of male working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits and a density of population of at least 400 per sq km.

Though the conventional perception of urbanisation is the migration of people from villages to cities, the report pointed out that in India, a meaningful part of urbanisation is just villages growing larger, merging together, moving away from agriculture, and, thus, being classified as towns.

It seems fantastic, actually. It probably needs to be confirmed by other studies as well.

Centre plans flexifund rural schemes (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Centre-may-allow-states-to-pick-RD-schemes/articleshow/12844627.cms)

NEW DELHI: The government is thinking of letting the states cherry pick the central schemes for rural welfare, a step back from centralized decision-making that it hopes could help quell the accusations that Centre was weakening the federal structure.

The idea behind the 'flexifund route' is to allow states the freedom to decide rural development schemes they want to implement and how much of allocation should each get. It would mark a departure from the present method of every scheme being implemented in every state.

Chief ministers have long sought flexibility in spending and implementation modalities of RD schemes, arguing that Centre's 'one size fits all' approach ignored state-specific needs. Hill states and those with desert pockets have often resented the stress on population-based approach since they are sparsely populated despite having a large surface area.

The dry states have a preference for schemes on water while they are redundant for states with good rainfall. South India stands at a different level of rural development against their northern counterparts.

If Planning Commission accepts the proposal mooted by RD minister Jairam Ramesh, the states would decide the money to be spent in different schemes out of the total rural budget allocated to them.

Pitching for the new approach, Ramesh wrote to plan panel deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, "Such a measure could also, in one stroke, send a powerful signal about the UPA government's deep commitment to cooperative federalism."

The new approach is proposed to start as a pilot project in 25% districts of each state with a complete transition in four years.

As per the proposal, RD budget for all schemes in the select 25% districts would be pooled together "to start with a clean slate". The state and district administration, along with panchayat representatives, would draw up an annual plan deciding which scheme required how much focus in that district. The plan would fix an outcome target on each targeted front.

To determine the efficacy of the new approach, the outcome of rural schemes in 25% districts can be compared with the rest.

An alternative in executing the 'flexifund' approach is that states frame guidelines as per local needs to implement RD schemes. It is also to be done in a phased manner, starting with two schemes while the other schemes are implemented as per the existing method. Their performance would be compared later to assess the difference.

Nice posts so far.

Hi all, for rural developments in Karnataka please refer to the thread 'Rural Karnataka (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=956410)'

Equitymaster discusses the evolution of rural economy from being farm based manufacturing and service based and the opportunity that this trend offers.

Urbanization conventionally is known as mass movement of rural folk into urban India. This is also one of the key themes that companies have in mind while designing strategies for future operations. Over the years, the Indian economy has dramatically evolved from being an agrarian economy to a service economy. However, this has not undermined the role of rural India as the same has undergone face uplift in the meantime. So much so, that now urbanization needs to be redefined as modernization of rural India, that is, town culture making its way into the rural economy. The landscape that was once characterized by fields and bullock carts, now reverberates with cell phones and factory machines.

This means that the fortunes of a significant chunk of Indian population will not depend upon the vagaries of monsoon, but will move in line with the broad economic cycle. And we have statistics to back this. Agriculture, that constituted half of GDP around a decade back now accounts for just one fourth. The number of rural people opting for agricultural jobs as primary employment has consistently been declining (81% in 1978 to 55% in 2010). In the last decade, more than 70% of the manufacturing jobs, especially in construction, service and trade has been created in rural India. No wonder that the same contributes to around 55% of the country's GDP from manufacturing. Infact, per capita GDP in rural India has been surpassing that in urban India every year since more than a decade now.

It is in this trend that a massive opportunity in the form of untapped markets lies. Now that urban segments are getting saturated, it is time for companies from diverse industries like auto, paints, media, tobacco, healthcare and FMCG products to flock to rural markets. While the market opportunity is huge, what companies need to keep in mind is price sensitivity and other peculiarities of this segment of population. Once the demand meets the right strategy, the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid will be unveiled.

By Equitymaster – A leading 'independent' research initiative focused on providing well-researched and unbiased opinions on the National Stock Exchange.

Copyright © Equitymaster Agora Research Private Limited

msn (http://news.in.msn.com/business/equitymaster/article.aspx?cp-documentid=6054308)

Heena Khan

While the earlier growth in rural India came from the higher income group (agriculture) and very low income group (subsidies), there is now increasing disposable income with rural middle class that is the non-farm income

* But non-farm income keeps economy afloat

New Delhi, April 25:

The rural growth story is slowly losing sheen because of inflation and rising input costs. In fact, rural price level is higher than urban price level. The March Consumer Price Index number for rural India stood at 116.3, while that for urban India stood at 114.6.

Mr Ajay Sriram, Chairman and Senior Managing Director, DCM Sriram Consolidated Ltd, says the rural growth story has reached a plateau. “The purchasing power of the rural population, 70 per cent of which depends on agriculture, has eroded. After several years of increases in minimum support price, there is a moderation now leading to relatively lower increase in farm incomes. Coupled with increase in input costs, the farmer consumers are feeling an income squeeze and this has impacted the spending power of the rural consumers,” he says.

Income squeeze

His company has considerable exposure to agri-businesses under the verticals of sugar, urea and agri-inputs.

While the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector continues to perform well, white goods such as consumer durables have been facing rough weather in the rural markets. Burdened by price hikes, the consumer durable industry witnessed a shrinkage of 6 per cent in calendar year 2011 in rural markets, according to a study by rural consultancy MART. The study covered 24 villages and 24 small towns across four regions — Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

“Consumer durable industry growth has remained flat in both urban and semi-urban areas because of inflation and interest rate hikes. The rate of consumption has gone down,” says Mr Kamal Nandi, Vice-President, Godrej and Boyce.

Labour shortages

The Great India Road trip report by Religare points to labour shortages caused by rising wages in non-farming activities such as National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). With relatively moderate increase in minimum support price, and better NREGA wages, and a boom in land prices, which have soared 5-10 times in the last 7-8 years, farming has been rendered uneconomical.

Mr S. Sivakumar, Chief Executive, Agri-Businesses, ITC, had another angle to add. “While the earlier growth in rural India came from the higher income group (agriculture) and very low income group (subsidies), we now see increasing disposable incomes with rural middle class that is the non-farm income. This is resulting in faster growth of categories like apparel, footwear and branded FMCG compared to durables. However, in line with rising input costs, the farm productivity growth must keep pace to sustain this trend in the medium term.”

The prices of key farm inputs like fertiliser have been surging. Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) prices have doubled between April 2010 and December 2011 from Rs 9,350 a tonne to Rs 18,500 a tonne. Urea prices which are controlled by the government were revised on April, 1 2010 to Rs. 5,364.69 a tonne from Rs 4,830 a tonne. The government is currently contemplating another 10 per cent hike.
Demand boost

Interestingly, the Religare report mentions that automobile demand has remained robust. Hero MotoCorp Ltd, for instance, which has reach in more than 1 lakh villages across the country, sees 45 per cent of the total sales coming from rural India. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd too has seen the rural share in its sales rise from 5-6 per cent in 2005-06 to 26 per cent now.

However, the report points to increasing instance of private remittances used to buy automobiles. “The young customers who have migrated to larger towns return to buy high-end cars for their parents and families,” the Religare report says.

However, urban consumers are getting worse off faster than rural consumers. Data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation indicates that while CPI index numbers for rural India is higher than urban India, the rate of growth or the inflation rate in urban India is higher.

heena.k@thehindu.co.in

The Hindu Business Line (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article3353413.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home)

By James Crabtree

As India’s largest software developer, Tata Consultancy Services has a reputation for clever technologies dreamt-up in ultra-modern urban business parks. But that has not stopped the group heading out into the fields.

Sensing business opportunities in India’s vast agricultural sector, five years ago a team from the company’s Innovation Lab began to examine the problems faced by the nation’s farmers. Their research discovered a wide array of difficulties linked to poor information, from finding accurate market prices to limited advice on issues such as crop insurance, regulations, and even weather patterns.

The result was mKrishi, a mobile phone-based application developed by TCS that provides its users with access to online farming information, or connects them directly to experts working in Indian universities. The service remains small – in 2011 it was used by only by a few thousand farmers in five states – but the company cites it as an example of the way in which software and technology can be used to help some of India’s poorest communities.

“That has been one of our visions in terms of sustainability from the beginning, we have always said that we wanted to do more than just giving away money,” says Pradipta Bagchi, head of global communications at TCS. “We want to use the time of our people and our skills and technologies to actually come up with a solution to whatever the problem might be.”

In its short 30 years of operation, India’s technology sector has developed an impressive reputation for innovative approaches to corporate sustainability. Infosys, the nation’s second largest IT and software developer by revenue, was recently named as one of the world’s 10 greenest companies in an ranking produced by Newsweek magazine and two environmental research groups.

Other Bangalore-based companies groups such as Wipro and Cognizant also talk up their sustainability efforts, producing the type of glossy reports seen more commonly in larger western businesses. Meanwhile, TCS, one of the largest and most profitable parts of the larger $83bn Tata conglomerate, was named among the best five companies worldwide in the Financial Times 2011 “responsible business” awards, praised in particular for its innovative use of technology in the development of tools such as mKrishi.

This record in part reflects a professional approach to corporate governance in general. Much of India’s economy remains dominated by sprawling family-run companies and large state-backed groups, neither of which has an especially strong reputation for world-class management. By contrast, the software developers tend to look much more like leading western corporations, with relatively diverse institutional ownership and transparent business practises.

The production of professionally audited annual sustainability reports can sometimes reveal uncomfortable truths. Infosys’ 2011 publication, for instance, proclaims the company’s commitments to employing people with disabilities, but then admits it only managed to hire four in the past year. A note below the relevant table says simply: “We are renewing our efforts in this space”.

Yet it is the ability to use India’s technological skills to develop new answers to sustainability problems which TCS says makes its approach different from others in the field. In the early 2000s, for instance, researchers at one of the group’s labs in the western city of Pune discovered that burned rice husk ash could be used to purify water.

This became the first step in the creation of the Tata Swatch, a low-cost portable mass-market “nanotech” water filter, which TCS developed together with Tata Chemicals, another of conglomerate’s businesses. The Swatch purifier is now one of the most popular in India. It has also been used as part of TCS’s contribution to a number of disaster relief efforts, most recently its response to the 2010 Chilean earthquake.

But while TCS’s approach to sustainability can be charitable, the group is also trying to find ways to turn the area into a money-spinner, having set up an “eco-sustainability services” business unit in Mumbai. The group aims to persuade other companies to hire Tata to help them to monitor and analyse their use of resources such as water and electricity both in their own organisation and throughout their supply chain – ultimately aiming to reduce carbon and other emissions, while hopefully saving money at the same time.

ft (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3a59c8ec-8ae4-11e1-912d-00144feab49a.html#axzz1tG8tMB4u)

NABARD posts record performance in Maha in 2011-12 (http://business-standard.com/india/news/nabard-posts-record-performance-in-maha-in-2011-12/163883/on)

Pune, Apr 28 (PTI) The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) extended record support of Rs 6,023.18 crore for agriculture and rural development in Maharashtra during 2011-12, up 71% from Rs 3,532.49 in the previous year.

The refinance institution provided Rs 4,035.50 crore support to cooperative banks and gramin banks in the state to disburse crop loans to farmers, a growth of 79% from previous year ie 2010-11, according to a report released by the nodal agriculture bank's Maharashtra office here.

A sum of Rs 1,777.84 crore was advanced by Nabard to support creation of rural infrastructure like roads and bridges, irrigation projects and drinking water, besides new projects like rural warehousing, waste water management, public health and anganwadi centres. This was 58% more than in 2010-11.

"For the first time, a special allocation of Rs 2,000 crore was made to Nabard for warehouse financing under RIDF by the Finance Minister in the Union Budget for 2011-12. At the national level, NABARD achieved 100% utilisation of the fund during the year, by sanctioning warehousing projects to the state governments and private sector agencies through banks," it said.

Maharashtra stood at the top amongst all the states with a sanction of loan of Rs 460 crore (31% of all India total) under RIDF, it added.

"NABARD also provided support through various banks to the extent of Rs 50 crore under this Special Warehousing Refinance Scheme. This is expected to create around 7.65 lakh tonnes of warehousing infrastructure, particularly for storage of food grains in the state and would thereby help farmers avoid distress sale of their produce," the report, released by Chief General Manager M V Ashok said.
n initiative to support producers' organisation through credit and credit-plus activities was also launched by Nabard.

During the year, an amount of Rs 39.33 lakhs was sanctioned to Devanagri Producers Company, promoted by a Non- Governmental Oragnisation Yuva Mitra, for setting up Agrimall at Sinnar in Nasik district.

Proposals have been received from 25 other producers' organisations, formed under the Companies Act as well as the Cooperative Societies Act, and are under "active consideration," the Nabard report said.

To further the cause of scarce natural resources, seven new projects with a commitment of Rs 27.46 crore were sanctioned for implementation by NGOs under the Umbrella Project for Natural Resources Management (UPNRM).

Further to create much-needed infrastructure with private sector involvement and to promote livelihood opportunities in rural areas, Nabard disbursed an amount of Rs 92.74 crore subsidy to various banks on behalf of beneficiaries under the various Government of India Subsidy Schemes.

Under the SHG -- Bank Linkage Programme spearheaded by Nabard -- around 84,000 Self Help Groups (SHGs) were formed and savings-linked during the reporting year.

Of these, around 48,000 SHGs were also credit linked. Cumulatively 5,23,700 SHGs in the state have been disbursed Rs 1,624.30 crore till March 31, 2012.

Besides this, various promotional and developmental projects were sanctioned to NGOs and other agencies for formation and nurturing of SHGs, their training and capacity building as well as promoting of their products, it said.

During the year, 2,409 Farmers' Clubs were launched by different agencies with Nabard support, taking the total number of such clubs to around 8,253.

A project was sanctioned to Reuters Market Light (RML) for providing agriculture related advisories through SMS to members of the farmers clubs.

A unique rural sanitation project with loan amount of Rs 100 crore was sanctioned to an NGO to install 1,000 rural sanitation units in three districts of Vidarbha region, the report added.

Rural 'ATMs' to serivce all PSU banks' customers (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/banking/finance/banking/rural-atms-to-serivce-all-psu-banks-customers/articleshow/12889897.cms)

MUMBAI: Today, when a bank customer in an Indian village withdraws cash, she approaches the bank's business correspondent, who is an agent representing the bank in a remote area. Unlike her counterparts in the city, she can't use automated teller machines, or ATMs, of any bank to withdraw or deposit money.

That's about to change. State-owned lenders, under the direction of the finance ministry, are instructing their business correspondents, or BCs, to deal with customers of all banks.

Irrespective of the bank a BC is attached to, the agent, armed with hand-held devices that work as mobile ATMs, will accept and give out cash to any villager with an account in any public sector bank.

The move, aimed at making banking transactions easier in rural India, could deepen financial inclusion, which has emerged as one of the top priorities of the government and the RBI. At present, each bank appoints a BC who moves around in select villages to enable bank customers carry out basic transactions.

In a recent meeting, DK Mittal, secretary, financial services, urged public sector banks to set up a system to enable business correspondents to provide any banking service within a given geographical area instead of acting on behalf of a single bank.

"Finance ministry wants inter-portability of BCs to make it easier for villagers on the move to do banking transactions," said a general manager in charge of priority sector who had attended the meeting. As of now, only 74,000 of the 6 lakh villages provide formal banking services by way of branches or business correspondents.

If the initiative succeeds, it will benefit migrant workers. Currently , they are unable to use banking services easily if their bank does not have a BC in the region they migrate to. But the proposal may impact existing business correspondents attached to banks. This is primarily because finance ministry has asked banks to cancel the current contracts with individual BCs or companies who provide BCs, and float a new tender for hiring a new set of BCs.

Also, each bank will be assigned to lead specific regions . For instance, SBI has been given the charge to appoint BCs for all banks in Bihar, North East, Uttarakhand and parts of Chhattisgarh , while Indian Overseas Bank will be in charge of BCs in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The move will require banks to change their technology platform to make the handheld device - operated by BCs - to undertake banking transaction of customers of different banks within a region.

Nabard posts record performance in Maha (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nabard-posts-record-performance-in-maha/943115/)

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) extended a record support of Rs 6,023.18 crore for agriculture and rural development in Maharashtra during 2011-12, up 71 per cent from Rs 3,532.49 in the previous year.

The refinance institution provided Rs 4,035.50 crore support to cooperative banks and gramin banks in the state to disburse crop loans to farmers, a growth of 79 per cent from previous year (2010-11), according to a report released by the nodal agriculture bank's Maharashtra office here.

A sum of Rs 1,777.84 crore was advanced by Nabard to support creation of rural infrastructure like roads and bridges, irrigation projects and drinking water, besides new projects like rural warehousing, waste water management, public health and anganwadi centres. This was 58 per cent more than in 2010-11.

"For the first time, a special allocation of Rs 2,000 crore was made to Nabard for warehouse financing under RIDF by the Finance Minister in the Union Budget for 2011-12. At the national level, NABARD achieved 100 per cent utilisation of the fund during the year, by sanctioning warehousing projects to the state governments and private sector agencies through banks," it said.

Maharashtra stood at the top amongst all the states with a sanction of loan of Rs 460 crore (31 per cent of all India total) under RIDF, it added.

"NABARD also provided support through various banks to the extent of Rs 50 crore under this Special Warehousing Refinance Scheme. This is expected to create around 7.65 lakh tonnes of warehousing infrastructure, particularly for storage of food grains in the state and would thereby help farmers avoid distress sale of their produce," the report, released by Chief General Manager M V Ashok said.

In rural Rayagada, India's digital graft-busting plan is put to the test (http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/south-asia/in-rural-rayagada-indias-digital-graft-busting-plan-is-put-to-the-test#full)

http://www.thenational.ae/deployedfiles/Assets/Richmedia/Image/SaxoPress/AD20120430363973-A_shopkeeper_we.jpg


RAYAGADA, INDIA // The dreams of modern India rarely make it to Rayagada. The Indians of these eastern forests forage for sago leaves and wild mango to survive. Barely a third can sign their names. Most live without electricity. many have joined a Maoist insurgency fighting to overthrow the system.

Now, modernity is creeping in. Smart cards, fingerprint scanners and biometric identity software are transforming Rayagada into a laboratory to test a thesis with deep implications for the future of India: Can technology fix a nation?

The target here is the disastrously corrupt Public Distribution System, a US$15 billion (Dh55bn) food subsidy programme frozen in a pre-digital world, where bound journals hold falsified records scrawled in handwriting so illegible one reformer lamented "even God could not read it".

In just the initial stages of the pilot programme in the state of Orissa, 1,200 kilometres from New Delhi, officials have already saved millions of dollars and appear to be getting food to villagers barely clinging to this side of starvation. The once rare sight of women walking home with sacks of rice on their head on ration days is now routine. The once routine sight of children with bellies distended from hunger is now rare.

The early success has inspired a cascade of new ideas for using technology to seal yet more of the programme's enormous leaks - "an attempt to make the system foolproof", said Nitin Jawale, the chief administrator of the Rayagada district.

Indian officials are hoping new technologies - some yet to be invented - will tackle some of the country's most intractable problems: corruption, collapsing health and education systems, a dearth of opportunity for the poor.

"We see innovation as truly a game-changer, to move from incremental change to radical change," prime minister Manmohan Singh said last year in announcing plans for a $1bn venture capital fund to seed revolutionary new technologies.

The government is setting up innovation bodies in every state and has approved plans to bring broadband internet to India's 250,000 villages.

It is also recording retina scans, fingerprints and photographs of all 1.2 billion Indians. The monumental endeavour to give everyone an identity record and number for the first time worries privacy experts but has sent reformers into a brainstorming frenzy over ideas for using the new database.

"There is great opportunity over the next decade to redesign the nation," said Sam Pitroda, head of the government's National Innovation Council.

For a country repeatedly jolted by screaming corruption scandals, the fraud and theft tainting the Public Distribution System is the ever-present white noise in the background, losing an estimated 58 per cent of its subsidised grain, sugar and kerosene to so-called "leakages" - the scams that infest every part of the system.

Ration shop workers will claim the month's shipment never arrived, then sell it on the open market at as much as 10 times the subsidised price. They'll give confused and poorly educated recipients less than their full entitlement or substitute lower quality grain.

Since beneficiaries are registered at specific shops, they are subservient to the shopkeeper. Even the more honest workers sell off whatever rations are left at the end of the month. Or the grain may be diverted to the markets by the truckload before even reaching the shops.

Then, there are ghost ration cards given out under fake names, shadow cards in the hands of people other than the intended beneficiaries, and duplicate cards held by families registered at more than one shop. Sometimes, village thugs hold the cards as collateral for loan sharks, or collect the food themselves, distributing aid to the rightful recipients at their whim.

The system is meant to serve 400 million people, yet more than 250 million Indians are undernourished and 43 per cent of children under five are stunted.

The programme's failure is a symptom of the government dysfunction that has disillusioned many who were left out of India's economic growth and driven some to join the Maoists, branded the country's top internal security threat.

At a store in Rayagada, under a creaking fan, a woman named Chandramma in a ragged pink sari and a necklace adorned with safety pins slid her microchip-embedded card into a device and put her thumb on its glass fingerprint scanner. The shopkeeper used a stylus on the touch-screen to register her rice order.

She paid 2 rupees a kilogram as two barefoot men dumped rice on a digital scale with a tall display, easily visible to a customer.

Periodically, the machine uploads the day's data to a central server, ensuring that only the honestly distributed grain would be replenished the next month.

Chandramma had at first been wary of the technology. "I am an illiterate lady, I didn't trust whether this would work or not," she said. But officials patiently explained it, and, more important, she is getting her rice every month.

"At least we now know whoever should be getting [food] is getting it," said Orissa Food Secretary Madhu Sudan Padhy. "Without technology, how do we really keep track."

Other subsidies also need reform, such as those on kerosene, so cheap that many run their motorbikes on it, according to Jawale. Its smell pervades the streets of Rayagada.

Nandan Nilekani, the former head of outsourcing giant Infosys, heads the giant identification project as well as a panel tasked with fixing the ration system. He believes the reforms can go further.

Once everyone has an ID number, they won't need ration cards. Their information, stored on secure servers, can be verified by a cell phone hooked up to a retina- or fingerprint-scanner, he said. People could then get their rice at any ration shop, rewarding honest ones with more customers and driving the crooks out of business.

"The moment I can make my entitlement portable ... the bargaining power shifts to the beneficiary," Mr Nilekani said.

That plan would face the same major hurdle that the pilot project does: the lack of electricity in rural areas makes the card readers unusable.

Rise in reading, arithmetic skill

- Study shows students from the region doing a shade better than those in rest of rural India (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120430/jsp/northeast/story_15432890.jsp#.T55jobNllns)


Imphal, April 29: Rural secondary school students in the Northeast have better reading and arithmetic skills than the rest of the nation, an education survey has revealed, though the numerical knowledge in some states of the region is below the national average.

The survey was conducted by volunteers of the Annual Status of Education Report under a Delhi-based NGO, Pratham, for the Union human resource development ministry.

Among the Northeast states, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura are doing better when compared to the national average. However, Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya are below the national level as far as arithmetic is concerned.

The report, titled Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2011, Northeast India Report (provisional), was released by MLA I. Ibohalbi Singh here yesterday.

The national report was released by human resource development minister Kapil Sibal on January 16.

The all-India average says 10.4 per cent of the students up to Class VII in rural areas could not read letters at all, while 16.9 per cent could read only Class I text. Only 38.3 per cent could read the Class II texts.

Regarding the knowledge of arithmetic, 9.5 per cent of the students could not even recognise numbers. Only 23.4 per cent could do subtraction, but not division. Only 22.9 per cent could do division.

The overall situation is slightly better in the northeastern states.

Private school enrolment in the age group of 6-14 in Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland is above the national figure of 25.6 per cent. The percentages in Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland are 71.1, 53.3 and 40.9.

Manipur has the highest figures in private school enrolment in the country, followed by Kerala, 60.8 per cent.

However, the percentage of out-of-school children in the age group of 6-14 in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya is higher than the national figure. While the national out-of-school-children percentage is 3.3, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya recorded 3.8, 4.2 and 5.8 per cent respectively.

Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura have out-of-school-children percentage of 1.1, 0.6, 2.0 and 1.3 respectively.

Retired professor of Manipur University, N. Mohendra Singh, said thanks to lack of proper policy and teaching-learning method in the primary level students could not do well in Manipur.

Ibohalbi urged governme-nts to use this data to take corrective measures and improve the education system.

^^^ good news, although I dont get the concept of how they are better than the rest of the country??

They're doing better than the national average. By definition half the country has to do better than the national average, so that in itself is not such a big deal. The big deal is that they're in the most remote part of India and even then they're managing to keep up with the rest of the country.

Poison in India’s groundwater posing national health crisis (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/pollution/poison-in-indias-groundwater-posing-national-health-crisis/articleshow/12956971.cms)

NEW DELHI: Depletion of groundwater and its increasing pollution could be leading to a silent, nationwide public health crisis as aquifers in many stretches across India are becoming unfit for drinking, according to the government's own figures.

Data submitted in Parliament by the water resources ministry on Monday shows groundwater in pockets of 158 out of the 639 districts has gone saline. It says in pockets across 267 districts, groundwater contains excess fluoride; in 385 districts, it has nitrates beyond permissible levels; in 53 there's arsenic and there's high level of iron in 270 districts.

Besides this, aquifers in 63 districts contain heavy metals like lead, chromium and cadmium, the presence of which in any concentration poses a danger.

The record submitted in answer to a question by Congress MP Shruti Chowdhry presents a countrywide map of where groundwater has become unfit for drinking and where contamination levels have breached government standards of safety.

In Delhi, a number of areas are not safe to draw groundwater from. Aquifers in north, west and southwest districts along the Najafgarh drain contain lead. The southwest district has cadmium and northwest, south and east Delhi have chromium, rendering the water not just bad but dangerous to drink.

Adding to the danger is the fact that only about 65% of the city's population (predominantly in the better-off localities) is serviced by the water supply system of Delhi Jal Board. Besides heavy metal contamination, fluoride has been found in aquifers in New Delhi and those in east, central, north, northwest, south, southwest and west Delhi.

Apart from these, areas in east, central, New Delhi, northwest, south, southwest and west contain nitrates.

The stealthily growing health crisis could be worse in rural India where facilities to even detect chronic health problems arising out of water contamination do not exist. Nearly 80% of India's rural drinking water comes from underground sources.

Drinking fluoride-laden water beyond safe levels can lead to fluorosis which hits teeth and bones. Arsenic causes problems in the nervous system, reduces IQ level in children and in extreme cases can also cause cancer. Chromium is a known carcinogen. Presence of nitrates in drinking water leads to what is commonly called as blue baby disease which hits infants and can lead to respiratory and digestive system problems.

These chemicals have appeared in the water sources either due to too much water being drawn from deeper and deeper in the ground, or due to industrial and human waste contamination.

Arsenic and fluoride are typically found in groundwater where chemicals have leeched from the bedrock due to over-exploitation of the source. Heavy metals are likely to flow in from industrial waste dumped untreated into water-systems. Nitrates are likely to appear in groundwater because of excess or repetitive use of fertilizers over time.

Government reports have shown that water withdrawal from underground aquifers is higher than the annual recharge levels in almost 15% of the country's geographical area. The number of wells are increasing rapidly and so are the depths to which people are plumbing to bring water out as the sources dry up.

FMCG companies benefitting from increasing rural demand: Sanjay Manyal, ICICI Securities (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/fmcg-companies-benefitting-from-increasing-rural-demand-sanjay-manyal-icici-securities/articleshow/12962049.cms)

excerpt:

ET Now: Going ahead for the next quarters, what do you think will have more prominence? Would it be volume growth or do you believe HUL can probably do an encore on what they did this quarter in terms of how the cost of goods sold was contained and thereby there has been a margin expansion that has taken place?

Sanjay Manyal: Both the things really happen simultaneously. Rural demand is increasing because of various reasons, whether it is higher MSP prices or government's focus on rural India, and the company has been able to get the benefit of that by increasing its presence in those areas and witnessing volume growth. If you have a cost pressure, then you try to increase margins and you only can do that when the volumes are sustainable. So both the things really will happen simultaneously.

Govt seeks consultants help to set up Post Bank of India (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/banking/article3376993.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home)

NEW DELHI, MAY 1:
Moving a step closer to setting up a banking business, the Department of Posts has started scouting for a consultancy firm to prepare a road map for the proposed ‘Post Bank of India' (PBI).

The Department has already carried out a feasibility study for setting up Post Bank of India and has invited expression of interest from consultancy firms — domestic or foreign — to finalise the plans for the bank.

The DoP, according to an official document, “intends to obtain approval from the Cabinet and licence from RBI for creation of a full-fledged bank (PBI).”

The consultancy firm will provide inputs on issues such as organisational structure of PBI, requirement of seed money and its relationship with post offices.

Rural-centred

The proposed PBI will provide banking services, including accepting of deposits from the public for the purpose of lending or investment.

The PBI will aim to “provide banking services with special focus on rural areas... ride on the Core Banking Solution which is proposed to be provided in all the post offices.”

PBI will also become an additional source of revenue generation for the DoP, besides creating a platform for financial inclusion programme of the Government.

Currently, DoP operates seven small savings schemes through a network of 1.54 lakh post offices and collects huge amounts for both State and Central Governments. It has over 250 million account holders.

In addition to deposit schemes, the PBI will provide loans to general public and corporates such as any regular bank.

The DoP also runs a Post Office Savings Bank, the oldest and largest banking institution in the country.

There are 171 commercial banks in the country.

Of the 93,080 bank branches, only 36.10 per cent are in rural areas and 24.76 per cent in semi-urban areas. The all-India average population served per branch is 13,503.

On the other hand, out of 1.55 lakh post offices, 89.8 per cent (1.39 lakh) are in rural areas covering an average population of 5,992 a post office.

NEW DELHI: The Dirty Picture actor Vidya Balan will now be in a new role- as brand ambassador of government's sanitation programme -and Union Minister Jairam Ramesh is hopeful that her involvement will make the campaign to end open defecation a "national obsession".

"For an actor, what can be a better thing than doing a dirty picture on screen and off screen a clean picture. I think this role will work a lot because we are working on a national movement," Balan said after meeting Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh who has successfully roped in the celebrity to spread awareness about the drinking water and sanitation campaign

"This is a clean picture (for Vidya Balan)," Ramesh quipped when reporters asked Balan if people will like her in a role to end the menace of open defecation in the country, an issue closely related to women's health and security.

"I think it is a matter great honour for me, becoming the brand ambassador of sanitation campaign. It needs to become a national obsession. I am ready to (do it) in my capacity. I am convinced," Balan, who has won the national award for her role in The Dirty Picture this year, said.

Ramesh said Balan, who will appear in ad campaigns to propagate construction and use of toilets, is actually the first brand ambassador of the Ministry.

"She (Vidya Balan) has agreed to give her time for the campaign for two years. She will be fully involved in the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan--(the re-structured version of the Total Sanitation Campaign)," he said.

"Vidya's involvement in the campaign will help make it a national obsession," Ramesh said.

Despite being one the fastest growing emerging economies, access to adequate sanitation remains abysmally low in India compared to many other countries with similar or lower GDP.

According to UNICEF-WHO Joint Monitoring Programme Report 2010, nearly 60 per cent of India's 1.1 billion people still practice open defecation.

ET (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/vidya-balanroped-in-as-brand-ambassador-for-sanitation-campaign/articleshow/12985048.cms)

Vidya the brand ambassador for sanitation drive (http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/254524/vidya-the-brand-ambassador-for-sanitation-drive.html)

The inspiring story of women's empowerment in rural India (http://www.rediff.com/getahead/slide-show/slide-show-1-career-interview-with-chetna-sinha/20120504.htm)

Divya Nair

http://im.rediff.com/getahead/2012/may/01chetna.jpg

From spearheading India's first rural bank for women, to running a business school, a women's chamber of commerce, farmer-turned-entrepreneur Chetna Sinha has come a long way. In this interview, she credits her success to the many women in her village who've inspired her.
About 17 years ago, when Chetna Sinha and her husband -- both farmers by profession -- first approached the Reserve Bank of India with the idea of founding a bank to serve the rural women of our country, it was ridiculed upon.

'How can you run a bank with illiterate women who can't even read and write?' asked an officer.

Today, the 53-year-old entrepreneur has been successful in not only starting but also successfully operating three different rural enterprises that are committed to the cause of rural women in the country, which includes India's first co-operative bank for rural women -- the Manndeshi Mahila Bank

In 1997, when Sinha started the bank in Mhaswad, a small village in the Satara district of Maharashtra with a semi-literate workforce of women from the same village, she wanted to provide loans to help farmers recover from their economic condition. But 15 years later, she has managed to do more than just that.

Today, despite facing over 8 to 10 hours of load shedding in a day, the bank has managed to successfully introduce both computerised and door-to-door banking to offer its services to over 1,80,000 women across nine districts in rural Maharashtra and Karnataka, which includes Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Raigarh, Ratnagiri, Pune, Kolhapur, Hubli and Dharwad.

Of these, over 1,55,000 women are savings account holders; most of them earn less than Rs 50 a day.

In 2006, Sinha who holds a Masters degree in Commerce and Economics from the University of Mumbai started the Mann Deshi Business School (MDBS). Since then it has managed to train over 46,000 women in vocational and entrepreneurial skills, of which over 24,000 have gone on to pursue entrepreneurship after receiving professional training.

Further, to look after the needs of several underprivileged women entrepreneurs, in 2012, Sinha partnered with New York-based Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) to set up the Manndeshi Chamber of Commerce for Rural Women (MCCRW), a first of its kind Chamber of Commerce for rural women in India. The MCCRW aims to both mentor and address the grievances of women entrepreneurs in rural India.

In 2002, she was appointed as a World Fellow to Yale University and in 2003, she was recognised as the Bridge Builder by the Harvard University, USA.

We speak to Chetna Sinha, founder, chairperson, Manndeshi Mahila Bank and Manndeshi Udyogini (Business School) who takes us through the challenging journey of setting up the country's first rural bank, as she shares stories of women in her village who inspire her and offers advice to women entrepreneurs on how to be successful in their career.


What inspired you to start a bank in your village?

My husband is a farmer and together we used to grow onions in our farm. In 1993, when the harvests fetched us poor prices, we were very disappointed. We were already struggling to make ends meet after a drought in the '70s. Like us, the women in our village were worried about their future.

When we held a meeting, these women said they wanted to find ways to save the money they earned. Some of them suggested, why not start a bank?

Although they were illiterate women, they had a point. There was not a single bank that was offering any special service for underprivileged women in the village.

What were the challenges you faced while starting the bank?

In 1994, when officers at Reserve Bank of India rejected our idea of running a bank with illiterate women, I felt let down.

But when I came back to my village and told the women that our idea was rejected by the RBI, they were not willing to accept failure.

They said, 'We will learn to read and write'. They said, after their basic training, they will come with me and talk to the officers. I was surprised and agreed.

This time, the women challenged the officers that they organise a test to calculate interest for a given principal amount. "Let's see if your officers can match our speed and accuracy of our women without the electronic calculator."

The officers were impressed by the courage and confidence of women and agreed to induct them for the training process where they learnt the basics of how to run a bank, manage finances, process loans, etc. Most of the employees in my bank are not even graduates, but they know how to run the bank.

How difficult was it to convince the women in your village to invest in the bank?

Since we were from the same village, it helped us communicate better with the women.

We understood their problems and their needs better.

Initially, we offered door-to-door services talking to women about the saving schemes, pension schemes and other investment-related processes.

Since there was no other bank offering this service and because we were targeting the 'non-bankable' section of people, it worked for us eventually. The fact that women could invest as little as Rs 2 to Rs 50 really set the ball rolling for us.

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What were the mistakes you made and the lessons you learnt along the process?

When I learnt that women wanted to save money but were uncertain about depositing a fixed amount every day/week/month because each one had different needs and expenses to manage. And some of them could not afford to travel to the bank every day or week to deposit their savings.

So, I came up with a unique idea of providing 5000 Mickey Mouse shaped piggy banks to every household in the village.

Women could deposit whatever money they wanted in the piggy bank and our volunteers would collect it from them on a particular date every month. All of us at the bank thought this was a great idea.

When we approached the women, they asked whose idea it was. When I told them it was my idea, they said it was a stupid idea and explained to me why it would not work for them.

They told me that they came from poor families and if they fell short of funds, one of the family members will immediately break open the piggy bank and use it for their needs. There was no way they were going to save money this way. Plus, security of money would be another issue. So, the idea of piggy banks had to be scrapped and replaced with daily door-to-door savings volunteered by our employees.

Since we were running a bank, there were instances when the local politicians indirectly tried to influence the women who worked in our bank. They wanted us to loan them money for their personal use and almost convinced the women to agree to it.

That's when we realised the need to educate our employees about various risks involved in lending money to certain people, and also tell them the right way to do things.

In all these years, a lot of learning about banking and entrepreneurship has come to me from these women. I have learnt that the needs of rural women are different from urban women and hence we need to adapt and cater to them differently.

Can you share the schemes you started with the suggestion of women from the village?

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In India, Diwali is an important festival when people buy new clothes, household appliances etc. So, our bank has an annual fixed deposit scheme which matures in October-November.

However, some women came to us saying they wanted us to have a special savings scheme that would mature in June-July. They told me that they wanted to save money to buy books and uniforms for their children when the school reopens. So, we started a new scheme which matured in June-July.

We also realised that women lacked confidence because the men in their family owned everything -- the farm, the land, the house etc. So, we came up with a policy saying that if the men were willing to share the ownership with the woman, and then apply for a loan, we would offer a rebate on the home loan.

Although we come from a patriarchal society, interestingly, men were willing to transfer the property rights to the women in the house to avail of the benefits. Today, we know of 6000 women who have managed to secure a share in the ownership of household property, which is an achievement in itself.

Many of our schemes are customised to empower the underprivileged women living in the villages.

In 2010, we started a community radio service that educates people about agriculture, entrepreneurship and provides important information on policies and decisions that affect their lives. This was to benefit those rural women who work in the fields or stay at home looking after kids and don't have time to attend seminars or go to a business school.

What was the purpose behind starting a business school in a village?

Ours is not a profit-making business school.

Mann Deshi business school was started with the aim of helping rural women organise their businesses in a professional manner.

We have customised courses ranging from 1 day to 45 days where women are taught about business planning, investment, promotion, branding and marketing.

We are also the first ones to have a women's chamber of commerce where we address grievances and help them succeed in life.

The programmes are very affordable -- a three-day programme will cost you Rs 15; 30-day programme, Rs 300 and 45-day programme, Rs 600.

We have also tied up with the YCMOU (Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University) for some of these certificate programmes.

Do you also offer placements to the women who graduate from the school?

Yes, we try to help women find jobs that are relevant to their interest and training.

Since most of these programmes are industry-linked and have a small intake, the employers are small scale industries who generally induct them after the training programme. We also invite employers to visit our school and interact with

According to you, what are the problems that women entrepreneurs in your village face?

Since rural women are not well educated, they don't understand finance and hence depend on the male in the house for everything. Even if they earn money, many of them don't know how to control their spending or invest it for higher returns.

Many of them may be selling good products, but they don't know how and where to market it effectively.

Can you share a few case studies that the Chamber of Commerce has addressed recently?

There was this Dalit woman in our village who would sell photo frames and flowers near the temple. But as you know, the attitudes of people in the village towards Dalit people are yet to change. Villagers refused to buy these frames from her because she was Dalit.

When she came to us, we suggested that she should move to the city. After much coaxing, she was willing to try. Initially, she would travel every day to the city to sell her stuff.

She realised that people in the city were more interested in buying her photo frames than worry about her social background. As her business picked up, she decided to move to the city with her family. She was happy.

Similarly, there were women from other backward castes who approached us to help them improve their economic condition and help them start a business.

We suggested that they make use of the government subsidies, but they were adamant. They said they did not want to wait for government subsidies. We helped them with professional training on how to start and run a business. Women want to be independent and with a little self confidence, they can go a long way in achieving what they want.

http://im.rediff.com/getahead/2012/may/02manndeshi1.jpg

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

Every day, I get inspired from the people around me. There are so many women in our village who inspire me in different ways.

When I was young, I grew up watching this woman collect sand from the sea and sell it at a price. This woman would travel by foot and never complain. Today, she runs a small but successful sand mining business in our village and every time I see her, I am inspired by her success.

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Then, there was this woman who had 10 donkeys and lived a hand-to-mouth existence. Every year, when the pilgrims travel to Pandharpur visa Mhaswad, she ensures that she will feed about 50 people. One day I saw that after feeding so many people, she would not have enough food for her the next day.

When I asked her, she said, she found joy in feeding the pilgrims who were tired and hungry. Since she was poor, that was her way of giving back to the society.

Very recently, a 50-year-old lady came to our bank and said that she wanted to apply for a loan to buy a mobile phone as she was going to meet her son who lived in the city.

Thinking the lady may want to gift it to her son, our bank employees explained to her that a personal loan would be too expensive for her and that she will not be able to pay it back. But the woman who reared sheep and goat for a living explained to us that she is not gifting the phone to her son and needed it for her own needs while she was away from her village for 8 months.

The old lady had never operated a mobile phone in her life, but the sheer conviction of her request made me realise that when women set out to do something in life, they are not scared of the obstacles or outcomes.

What is the biggest lesson you have learnt as an entrepreneur?

I have realised that there's always a risk involved with any business. But somehow, there are people in our society who believe that women are not allowed to fail. A man can fail and get away with it, but if a woman fails in something she does, she will be reminded about it for life.

I am forced to remember this incident. When the RBI officer agreed to let us start a bank, he said, 'At least 4 per cent of the bank account holders must be women'. I told him that he was bargaining too low.

There were many who did not believe in our idea and our women. Not only did they accept the challenge, but took failure in their stride and worked hard to improve their and the lives of others who believed in them.

Well, when illiterate women can run a bank, why can't you?

What tips would you like to share with the women entrepreneurs of our country?

I would like to tell them that if you want to create something new and be successful at it, remember that it will take time to happen. You have to be patient. You can't expect overnight success.

You must believe in what you sell. And publicise it well.

If you fail, do not let people discourage you. Take it in your stride and find a new way to deal with the situation.

Bhubaneswar, May 5, 2012, DHNS:

Both are highly Naxal-hit neighbouring districts

The Rural Development Ministry at the Centre has decided to implement a special development project in Sukma and Malkangiri, the two worst Maoist-hit districts in Chhattisgarh and Odisha, respectively.

The two backward districts of the neighbouring states have already witnessed the abduction of their district collectors by the Left wing extremists active in the area. While the then district collector of Malkangiri, Vineel Krishna, was abducted by the Maoists last year, the present Sukma Collector, Alex Paul Menon, was released from the Maoists’ captivity recently.

Rs 300 cr project

“We have decided to implement a special area development project in Sukma and Malkangiri. Both are highly Naxal-infested neighbouring districts and have already seen their district magistrates being kidnapped by Maoists. I have already spoken to the Chhattisgarh chief minister about the project and will be speaking to his Odisha counterpart very soon”, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh told newsmen here on Saturday.

The Rs 250-300 crore special project will include construction of roads, bridges and water supply facilities.

“Our officials are already in the job of finalising the project and hopefully, its implementation will start within the next three to four months”, Ramesh said. Two similar projects were currently being implemented in Sarju and Saranda area in Jharkhand which were earlier under Maoists’ control but were recently liberated by the security forces.

Stating that the Maoists’ challenge is an ideological one for the country, the minister said that the menace cannot be handled through security forces alone.

“We need to intensify political, developmental as well as security activities simultaneously in the Naxal-hit areas. All three should go hand-in-hand if we want to successfully defeat the Maoists’ menace. We have to win the hearts of the tribals,” Ramesh adds.

Deccan Herald (http://www.deccanherald.com/content/247239/special-project-malkangiri-sukma.html)

May 4, 2012, DHNS

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At a time when cities and villages are facing acute shortage of water, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat has taken up a novel project to harvest rainwater in its building at Kottara, writes Naina J A

A partial view of the water storage tank under construction in Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat premises in Kottara. dh photoDakshina Kannada has been receiving good rainfall all these years. However, the region faces acute shortage of water during summer.

In a bid to popularise rainwater harvesting, Zilla Panchayat has come out with a project to create awareness among the people on rainwater harvesting by taking up the work on rainwater harvesting system in its building at Kottara.

With another monsoon round the corner, summer is the best time to take up the work on rainwater harvesting unit. Speaking to City Herald, Zilla Panchayat CEO Dr K N Vijayaprakash said that the work on fixing the pipelines and filters to harvest rainwater from the roof has been completed. The work on underground tanks to store water is nearing completion.

He said about 1.30 lakh litre rainwater can be stored from 2,465 square metre roof of the building. Once they are ready, the zilla panchayat will be all set to harvest rainwater. The storage capacity of a tank is one lakh litres of water and another tank can store 20,000 litres of water. The requirement of the zilla panchayat building is 10,000 litres of water per day. At this rate, the Zilla Panchayat building needed three lakh litres of water per month. It is said that there are around 400 employees in the zilla panchayat building.

The collected rainwater can be used judiciously during the next summer. The zilla panchayat will construct two more underground storage tanks, each having a capacity to store up to 75,000 litres during 2012-13. There would be four storage tanks which could hold rainwater up to three lakh litres,he said. Three lakh litres of water was enough to meet the demand in April and May, he added.

The total cost of the project is Rs 20 lakh. Rainwater harvesting was one of the components under the National Rural Drinking Water Project.

“We want to promote rainwater harvesting and zilla panchayat will be a model for the rainwater harvesting system. The Zilla Panchayat engineering division will help in building the roof water harvesting facilities in government building if they come forward.”

The operation and maintenance of the rainwater harvesting unit is essential to make the project a successful. The pipes, filter water outlet, rainy filter should be cleaned on a regular basis to make the system successful. The engineer division has already been instructed to see that the unit is maintained properly, so that it will be beneficial in the long run. Without operation and maintenance, the system becomes defunct, he added. The CEO said that as per the Gram Panchayat Act, if any individual comes out with rainwater harvesting structure, then he will be given concession while paying the tax.

Deccan Herald (http://www.deccanherald.com/content/246970/zp-shows-way-conserving-rainwater.html)

^^We need more decentralization to promote such ideas. We need to put money directly into the hands of local leaders.

Internet revolution bypasses rural India: Survey (http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/internet/article3390353.ece)

Internet revolution has bypassed rural India with less than half a per cent of families having the facility at home as against 6 per cent in cities, reveals a government survey.

“At all India level only about 0.4 per cent of rural households had access to Internet at home as compared to about 6 per cent of urban households,” said the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report on expenditure in 2009-10.

Reflecting the digital divide in India, the study said just 3.5 households per 1,000 families, had access to Internet services at home in rural areas in the year.

However, in urban areas, Internet connectivity was much better in 2009-10 as 59.5 families out of every 1000 households had the facility at home.

Among the major States, Maharashtra was on top with the 104 out of 1,000 families had Internet in cities, followed by Kerala and Himachal Pradesh at 95 each and Haryana at 81.5.

The penetration of digital services was highest in rural areas in Goa with 50 out of 1,000 households having Internet connection. Kerala came next with 34 families having such a facility at home.

Among the hilly States, Arunachal Pradesh had the best reach of the Internet service in rural areas with 19 out of 1,000 households have such facility at home, followed by Himachal Pradesh at 16.

The study further states that among the major states, Kerala had by far the highest proportion of households with Internet access in the rural areas at 3 per cent followed by Himachal Pradesh at 2 per cent.

In cities, Maharashtra reported the highest percentage of household having access to Internet connection (10 per cent) followed closely by Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.

10-000-solar-water-systems-in-Maoist-affected-areas-Ramesh (http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/10-000-solar-water-systems-in-Maoist-affected-areas-Ramesh/Article1-855470.aspx)

The government will install 10,000 solar-based water systems to supply drinking water to the rural communities in 78 Maoist-affected districts in the country, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said in Delhi on Monday.
"We have just prepared a proposal for 10,000 solar based water systems for the supply of drinking water in the rural communities," Ramesh informed reporters on the sidelines of a workshop "Towards Greening Rural Development Programmes in India: Lessons from International and National Experiences".
While 200 such systems have already been set up in Gadiricholi districts in Maharashtra, the entire project would cost Rs. 540 crore, Ramesh said.

"Increasing the use of water efficiency is one of the areas of convergence in rural development and sustainability. Through variety of interventions we can achieve this," said Ramesh in his inaugural address at the workshop.

Ramesh said that rural development interventions offer root not just for improving the quantity but the quality in green cover.

He also pointed out the the convergence in rural development and sustainability can help increase the resilience of local communities to adapt the impact of climate change.

New project aims to enhance India’s silk production (http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=111067)

http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/images/111/silk8_11106783.jpg

Sericulture is an important economic sector of India as it offers better employability and profitability prospects for rural farmers as compared to agriculture.

Over the years, most of the states in the country, including the north-eastern states, have been trying to develop their silk industry. However, there still exists an information gap at the grassroots-level in developing silkworm food plants.

Various Space Application Centres (SACs) in several states across the country feel there is great scope for enhancing production and quality of silk by identifying potential areas and implementing enhanced information collection, processing and dissemination methods.

These SACs, together with the Central Silk Board (CSB), have embarked on a new project known as Applications of Remote Sensing and GIS in Sericulture Development during the XI Plan.

The project focuses on discovering potential areas for rearing silkworm food plants in more than 20 states covering over 100 districts across the country, and produce silk varieties like eri, tasar, muga and mulberry silk with the help of a network called Sericulture Information Linkages and Knowledge System (SILKS).

SILKS is a single window information and advisory service system, which provides computerized information regarding storage, value addition and sericulture knowledge to farmers in local languages.

The Board aims to boost silk production in the country by encouraging farmers in non-traditional silk-rearing areas like Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana to undertake silk cultivation, and thereby generate employment opportunities for rural population in these states.

It aims to meet the rising domestic demand for silk, as India currently produces only about 23,000 tons of silk each year against the demand for 30,000 tons of silk per annum.

The project is being taken forward by the CSB in the north-eastern region in tandem with the North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC).

AHMEDABAD: Think of an Indian village and what comes to mind are images of mooing cows, open drains and children playing ants and frog games. But, Punsari, a motley village in Himmatnagar, talks about wi-fi and optical fiber broadband network, its children spend best of their times in air-conditioned classrooms with CCTV cameras. The village also boasts of its own mini-bus transport system and there are 25-odd CCTVs located on important junctions to spot litterbugs.

If you think this village is drenched in NRI funds, think again. Not a single rupee has come from across the seven seas, instead the village managed its funds over the last five years that it received from central and state sponsored developmental schemes.

"The village panchayat pays an annual premium of Rs 25 lakh against insurance for each of the 6,000 villagers who have a cover of Rs 1 lakh and a mediclaim policy of Rs 25,000. Our schools have zero dropout rates, CCTV cameras in classrooms help us keep watch on teachers in classrooms. Our reverse osmosis plant supplies 20-litre cans to houses for a token cost of Rs 4. These are bare essentials for a standard life today and why should our village be behind," claims the village sarpanch Hemant Patel, 29.

The village panchayat had a capital of Rs 25,000 five years ago. Today, the deposits have soared to Rs 75 lakh. "The turn-around happened when we sold part of our grazing land as plotted schemes to various communities. The money is deposited in government coffers," says Patel. The village received rewards from the central government and the state governments recently.

District development officer Ravi Arora told TOI, "There is not a single family in Punsari which has an NRI family member. The village has just managed its accounts well and villagers here agreed on a co-operative approach to development."

TOI (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-05-20/ahmedabad/31788127_1_indian-village-cctv-cameras-classrooms)

Stanley Pinto , TNN | Jun 1, 2012, 01.49AM IST

MANGALORE: Karnataka-based microfinance provider Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP) has been adjudged as the overall gold award winner by Ashden, which promotes universal access to sustainable energy. The award was given in recognition of SKDRDP's role in demonstrating how microfinance organizations can play a key role in meeting energy needs of the poor.

The award, a world's leading green energy prize, was presented to Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade, promoter of SKDRDP, by Prince Charles in London on Wednesday. Of the five international winners, SKDRDP was the overall gold prize winner.

The Ashden judges said, "SKDRDP is fantastic example of how ethically-managed microfinance can deliver sustainable energy to the poor. It has demonstrated that providing consumer loans for energy makes social, environmental and economic sense. SKDRDP has huge potential to expand its work even further, and to inspire many others to follow its lead.''

The five winners have been awarded a total of £120,000 to help them scale up their work. Other winners of the award are: IBEKA, a community-owned micro-hydro programme in Indonesia; GIZ/ Integration, a micro-hydro programme in remote Afghanistan, iDE/Hydrologic, an energy-saving water filter in Cambodia and Barefoot Power, an affordable solar power provider that's lighting up lives in East Africa.

Kandeh Yumkella, director general of UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) in his keynote speech at the ceremony urged governments around the world to increase their support for clean energy pioneers: "The Ashden 2012 winners are exposing the myth that poor countries cannot stimulate growth without degrading the environment. They are demonstrating that sustainable energy stimulates green growth and new jobs, lifts people out of poverty, improves health and opens up new educational opportunities.''

TOI (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mangalore/Microfinance-project-wins-green-award/articleshow/13694801.cms)

MEMC unit seeks to electrify parts of rural India (http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/memc-unit-seeks-to-electrify-parts-of-rural-india/article_257fa810-aa88-11e1-8615-001a4bcf6878.html)
SunEdison looking to light up rural India with solar (http://gigaom.com/cleantech/sunedison-looking-to-light-up-rural-india-with-solar/)

Press Trust of India / Chandigarh June 04, 2012, 20:15

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today gave 'in-principle' nod to implement the Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) scheme in a cluster of geographically contiguous villages having population of about 25,000 to 40,000.

The decision was taken by Badal in a meeting with the senior officers of Rural Development and Panchayats and IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation here this evening, an official release said.

The scope of the scheme was to select private partners to develop livelihood opportunities, urban amenities and infrastructure facilities to prescribe service levels almost akin to urban standards and to be responsible for the maintenance of the same for the period of ten years in identified villages or cluster of villages, it said.

Core funding would be sourced from Central Sector Scheme of PURA and complimented by additional support through convergence of different Central and state government and private financing.

As many as nine projects have been initiated under PURA through PPP spread across five states and one union territory (Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Puducherry, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand) in the first batch.

It was proposed to undertake a second batch of 10-15 pilot projects for which the Planning Commission had already made available an additional fund to the tune of Rs 560 crore.

Under the scheme, the selected private partners would be required to provide standard amenities such as water supply, sewerage, roads, drainage, solid waste management, street lighting and power distribution besides also undertake some economic and skill development as part of the PURA project.

BS (http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/badal-gives-in-principle-nod-to-pura-scheme-in-punjab/16933/)

How remote isolated villages get power? Off grid solar or biogas?

NEW DELHI: Missile man APJ Abdul Kalam's vision of bridging the urban-rural divide through a new scheme is set to take off, with the Planning Commission agreeing to allocate Rs 1,500 crore in the 12th five-year plan and the Centre likely to start 15 projects this year.

The Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) would target development in 'census towns' by undertaking key activities like sanitation, water supply, street lighting and waste management.

The 'census towns' have a population of over 5,000 — a density of 400 people per square km, where the male population engaged in non-agricultural activities is more than 75%. These are overgrown villages that have not yet been categorized as municipal towns, with their numbers increasing from 1,362 in 2001 to 3,894 in 2011.

Union rural development (RD) ministry has decided to focus PURA in these towns that have no municipal agency to look after their infrastructural needs. The project would be executed by private companies based on a pact signed with gram panchayat for 10 years.

Each project is likely to cost about Rs 150 crore. While RD ministry would provide a grant of Rs 40-50 crore, Rs 70-80 crore will come through the convergence of ongoing central schemes. The private partner is expected to bring in about Rs 20 crore.

The company could impose user-charges or engage in economic activities to generate funds, all to be first agreed with the panchayat.

RD minister Jairam Ramesh said, "Ten to 15 projects will be taken up this year in West Bengal, UP, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh in a public-private partnership mode to build and improve upon the physical infrastructure."

Ramesh said states would have a key role in selecting the 'census town' where PURA is to be implemented, a key change from the scheme's earlier version that left the mandate entirely to the Centre and led to indifference or hostility among state governments.

Ramesh said two projects each in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, and one each in Puducherry and Uttarakhand are awaiting final approval. The ministry recently launched two such projects in Kerala.

TOI (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-06/india/32077545_1_bridge-urban-rural-pura-urban-amenities)

:banana:

Prasad Nichenametla, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, June 07, 2012

While the Planning Commission flatly classifies the country into rural and urban categories, India is witnessing a rapid rise in the number of a relatively new kind of settlement – census towns – which figure in neither the rural nor the urban categories.

The population count in 2011 showed that census towns have nearly tripled over the last decade, from 1,362 in 2001 to 3,894 in 2011.

Census towns, by definition, are settlements that possess a population over 5,000 and have lost the characteristics of a village – primarily agriculture as the principal occupation. However, they have not reached the ‘municipality level’ to deserve categorisation as statutory towns.

Census towns have now become a challenge to planners. “Our policies have been either for rural or urban areas. We lack an approach to such trishanku (middle world) areas,” Jairam Ramesh, union minister for rural development, said.

Ramesh’s ministry, which is responsible for developing rural areas, is attempting to reach out to such settlements – providing urban amenities through the Provision of Urban amenities in Rural Areas.

“The Planning Commission has, in principle, agreed to provide Rs. 1,500 crore in the 12th Plan, through which we can develop around 50 such areas,” he said.

Pilot projects are currently being implemented in Thrissur and Malappuram of Kerala, officials said, adding that half-a-dozen projects of the kind would also take off soon. The ministry is now inviting private players for the second batch of 10-15 pilot projects.

West Bengal tops the list of states with census towns, adding 528 such towns in 10 years, followed by Kerala with 362 towns. While the number of such settlements rose from 66 to 267 in Uttar Pradesh, it has gone up from 127 to 279 in Maharashtra. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu added 135 and 265 census towns respectively.

HT (http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/New-scheme-to-uplift-semi-urban-settlements/Article1-867589.aspx)

CHENNAI: Government officials in Tamil Nadu can now sit in their air-conditioned offices and keep tabs on clogged up water bodies and channels in remote villages using satellite technology. Criticized by many for corruption and inefficiency, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has been given a scientific make-over in the state with GIS (geographic information system) mapping being used to organize the works as well as to monitor them.

"Local panchayat presidents often say that desiltation in their areas have already been carried out and that there is no work for MNREGS beneficiaries," said a state official. "Using GIS mapping, we have shown the exact amount of silt and encroachment that has taken place over the years, which may not be visible at the ground level."

For this, the rural development department used satellite imagery provided by Anna University's Institute of Remote Sensing using Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites. "We superimposed the maps that we got from them with old revenue department maps to spot siltation and encroachments," he said. "These were then corroborated by field officers to check for any margin of error. Based on these maps, we will issue directives to all district administrations and when the works are completed, the changes will be incorporated in the digitized maps."

Tamil Nadu may be one of the first few states to do this, said the official. "As far as I am aware, Andhra Pradesh also started it but is yet to complete it," he said.

The purpose of the mapping however, will go beyond merely monitoring MNREGS work. "Mapping of water bodies and channels this way will give a better picture of how the state's waterways are connected," said Kancheepuram district collector Hanish Chhabra.

"Most of the revenue maps do not reflect changes in water courses at the ground level. With this mapping, we can select the work for MNREGS in a more scientific way and help preserve the water bodies," he said. "This has also helped us identify water bodies requiring MNREGS work that were previously missed by the scanner," pointed out Virudhunagar collector M Balaji.

A district official from Ramanathapuram said the mapping would help integrate inter-departmental tasks. "Work on water bodies is carried out by three departments," he said. "For big tanks and water bodies, the PWD steps in, the small local ponds are taken care of under MNREGS and by the village administrations. This mapping would give all three organizations unified data with equal access. PWD and revenue departments have already been using these maps and the same will be done for MNREGS soon. With monsoons imminent, some of the works would be taken up on a priority basis."

The state has been at this work for nearly a year now and mapping for all 12,524 villages across 32 districts in the state have been carried out, said the state official. "This entire exercise has cost us Rs 27 lakh and is less expensive and time consuming than field level visits each time," he said. "This will be repeated once in every five years."

TOI (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-11/chennai/32176086_1_gis-mapping-water-bodies-mnregs)

About 70% of India, that is, over 800 million Indians still live in rural villages.

It's really heartening to read this thread as modern development (running water, electricity, connectivity, sanitation, street lighting and paving) of rural villages is an essential requirement in any developing nation of the 21st Century.

Dharmasthala, June 22, 2012, DHNS:

A Memorandum of Understanding will be signed between the Dharmasthala Trust and the Union Rural Development Ministry, to look after Rural Self-employment Training Institutes (RSETI) managed by the Union government.

During the tri-decennial celebrations programme of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP) at Dharmasthala on Friday, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh requested Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade to take over the 527 RSETIs opened by the Ministry, across the nation.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the functioning of the institutes set up a year ago, he asked the Dharmasthala Trust to manage them.

“The Finance Ministry will provide the necessary finance for these institutes which have been set up at a cost of Rs one crore each. While the Rural Development Ministry will provide moral support, the banks will provide the manpower and the Dharmasthala Trust should provide management assistance,” he requested.

Agreeing in principle to the proposal, Dr Heggade said that as per the MoU, the Trust will have to achieve a success rate of 40 per cent in the first year, 50 per cent in second year and 70 per cent in the third year.

He said the Trust will manage these institutes under the monitoring cell set up by the Ministry which will also be looked after by the Dharmasthala Trust. Earlier, speaking with mediapersons, Jairam Ramesh insisted upon declaring Kuduremukh National Park atTiger Reserve area.

It is of great necessity to declare the Park as a Tiger Reserve, specially in the backdrop of growing naxal menace. The project demands the eviction of the families from the forest. As many as 14,000 families reside in the forest.

Among them, 600 applications from the families willing to come out of the forest had been pending for the last ten years. The rehabilitated families will be provided with minimum a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each. However, there will not be any forceful eviction. The process will be carried out in a most democratic way, he said.

Deccan Herald (http://www.deccanherald.com/content/259014/dharmasthala-trust-look-527-rsetis.html)

Govt model not as successful as RUDSETI (http://www.deccanherald.com/content/258933/govt-model-not-successful-rudseti.html)

Dhamra (Odisha), June 24, 2012, PTI:

Launching green toilets very close to country’s missile test-firing facility, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said there is no use blasting Agni missiles if the sanitation problem is not solved.

Ramesh, who recently said he spends 18 hours on toilets daily, stressed that one of the biggest challenges before the government is to ensure that all people get toilets.

“It is more important than the launch of Agni missiles. If there are no toilets then Agni is of no use,” he said, suggesting that the eco-toilets can be named “Bapu” as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, who had led cleanliness drive in the country. “Bio-toilets can do to rural sanitation what Agni has done to external defence of the country,” Ramesh said after launching eco-toilets using Bio-Digester technology of the DRDO, the defence agency for missile development.

Dhamra town in Odisha is about 15 km from Wheeler Island from where the Agni-V ICBM with a range of 5,000 km was successfully test-fired a couple of months ago.Ramesh said an amount equal to what is spent on security should be allocated for public welfare activities.

“The budget of rural development department is Rs 99,000 crore, while we spent double the amount on defence with a budget of Rs 193,000 crore,” he said. Maintaining that he did not want any decrease in the budget of the defence ministry, he said it should be ensured that an equal amount be spent for public welfare. “There is no difference of opinion on this with me and the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation). Even they want this,” he said.

Deccan Herald (http://www.deccanherald.com/content/259372/toilets-more-important-agni-missile.html)

No use launching Agni missiles if there are no toilets: Ramesh (http://zeenews.india.com/news/eco-news/no-use-launching-agni-missiles-if-there-are-no-toi_783688.html)
Bio-Toilets More Important Than Agni Missiles: Ramesh (http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=766723)

http://newstrack.outlookindia.com/images/Jairam20120624.jpg
OUTLOOK (http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=766723)

At the recent Rio+20 summit, India was one of the key nations pushing for a new approach of sustainable development. Delhi says it wants poverty to be tackled through policies that protect natural resources and use local knowledge. The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder travels to Rajasthan to see how India is putting this to use and whether it's helping it tackle poverty.

A village council meeting is underway in Soda, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan.

The villagers are seated on the floor inside the council office, the men dressed in white and wearing turbans and the women in bright, colourful saris, with their heads covered.

Seated across them is a young woman dressed in a t-shirt and cargo pants, listening intently as the villagers list out their complaints.

Chhavi Rajawat looks like she would be more comfortable in the city but is actually the head of the village council.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

Fifty years after independence, we still had no electricity but we now use solar energy to light up our homes”

Govardhan Villager in Soda

Armed with a business management degree, she was elected to the post two years ago and has been tackling the village's most pressing problems.

"My approach is bottom up rather than top down," she says.

"The villagers have a lot of knowledge and ideas. What they need is support."

Soda is one of India's poorest regions, a bleak, barren land with so little water that not much grows here.

But there are signs of development - freshly laid roads, a drainage system, a bank that opened a year ago.

It is not prosperous by any yardstick but the villagers say that a lot has changed recently.

"We now have two reservoirs to collect rainwater during the monsoon which we can then use for the rest of the year," says Govardhan, a farmer.

"Fifty years after independence, we still had no electricity. But we now use solar energy to light up our homes."

Shanti Devi, a young woman in her twenties, shows me the newly built toilet in her home.

"Earlier we would have to go out in the fields. It was a huge problem during the monsoon, specially for the children," she says.
Private firms' public role

Most of the projects are funded by the government. In the past few years, the federal government has spent billions of dollars on massive welfare programmes aimed at tackling poverty.

But private industry is playing a role as well.

In the village school, Puneet Trehan is teaching mathematical logic to a group of young villagers.

Mr Trehan works for Tata Consultancy Services, one of India's top IT companies.

"With the opening of the IT services sector, the opportunities have grown manifold," he says.

"The objective is to arm them with skills which will help them crack the competitive aptitude test which is the basic requirement for every single job in the market today, be it in government or in the private sector."

Ms Rajawat says she has had mixed success in attracting private companies to Soda.

"Many of them still think that putting money in rural India is essentially charity. But I tell them that they will get a return on their investment - not a lot or not immediately, but eventually."

She argues that the villagers are willing to pay for services that they see as beneficial. So the residents of Soda pay for being supplied water from the newly built reservoir and for electricity generated through their solar energy panels.

India's recent economic boom has helped generate both money and enterprise which is helping lift some of its billion-strong population out of poverty.

But not everyone believes that economic growth is enough.

"The problem is that we've had 15-20 years of high growth without generating enough employment," says economist Jayati Ghosh.

"So it's not been inclusive. We haven't really done what we could have."

So there is a growing sense here that the way ahead is for India to promote sustainable development - with local solutions to local problems.

At the same time, many believe it is important to set globally-backed targets for the government to force it to make tackling poverty a priority.

BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-18546242)

Solid solar (by Gautam Polymers) India's largest solar lights manufacturer for last 15 yrs is working in over 2000 villages to deliver light and power to un-electrified villages in pay when you use business model.

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, June 14, 2012 /India PRwire/ -- Solid solar (by Gautam Polymers) India's largest solar lights manufacturer for last 15 yrs is working in over 2000 villages to deliver light and power to un-electrified villages in pay when you use business model. In a project with TERI and UPNEDA, it is working with village level entrepreneurs to put up mini grids for rural electrification, solar lantern and mobile charging stations that rent out lights or power on a daily basis to end users. This brings down costs for villagers as they get electricity on a pay as you use basis and also gives them a local sales and service point. This is a win - win situation for villagers where employment is getting generated apart from getting access to clean power.

Also , solid solar has tied up with various Grameen banks like Aryavart gramin bank to provide financing to end users on solar home systems and solar power packs that run tv , fans etc. As Director, Mrs Shubhra Mohanka puts it "with over 1 lac un-electrified villages, there is a still long way to go. But with every village we light up, we are motivated to go a step further. It was a moment of pride for us when solid solar lanterns lit up India gate during earth hour when all lights were switched off ". To further solid solar Endeavour in villages, international finance corporation (member of World Bank group) is providing business advisory services for training of bank managers to provide end user financing of solar home systems. This gives a ray of hope to un-electrified villages, where clean solar power becomes more affordable.

Notes to Editor

Solid Solar (by Gautam Polymers) is India's Largest Solar lights manufacturer & leading provider of rooftop solar power plants working in solar industry for last 15 yrs. The rooftop Solar power plant is Division is led by Ms. Shubhra Mohanka, a well seasoned solar professional and alumni of St. Stephens College & MDI Gurgaon. The company has several innovations and patents in area of solar under their belt.

The company's mission is to generate power at the point of consumption and do away with high Transmission & Distribution losses. Keeping the mission in mind & following it with their actions, they have set-up solar power plants in various places like Jantar mantar & Safdar jung tomb, German school, bank branches, IIT Kanpur, BHU Varanasi, etc. They are in the process of completing the set-up of a 100KWp solar power plant for the highest no. of patent holder in India. This plant will feed solar energy in a factory manufacturing medical diagnostic kits.

Solid solar is an accredited channel partners with the ministry of new & renewable energy (Govt. of India) and provides its customers with various benefits like availing subsidy & getting accelerated tax depreciation.

As India's Largest Solar Lights Manufacturer Solid Solar (by Gautam Polymers) works with over 1500 village level entrepreneurs to rent solar lights to rural end users in unelectrified areas. The company has also tied up with Grameen Banks to provide financing of solar systems to rural end users.

indiaPRwire (http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/electronic-components/20120614122545.htm)

By Raja Murthy

MUMBAI - Vortex, a young Chennai-based company, could be adding new energy to India's rural economic growth with its award-winning solar-powered automatic teller machines (ATMs).

Called "Gramateller Indi" ("graamam" means "village" in Tamil), the low-power consumption machines operate at one-tenth the cost of conventional ATMs. State Bank of India, the country's leading banking chain, has already ordered 300 Gramatellers; 19 other banks are using these sun-powered cash venders in villages and small towns.

The immediate demand for the solar ATMs reflects and empowers India's quietly surging rural economy, estimated to be worth about US$450 billion. Rural India, considered the backbone of the national economy, is expected to overtake the urban market in size by 2017.

Mahatma Gandhi's famous saying that "India lives in villages" is still strongly relevant, with 70% of the population resident in rural regions - nearly 30% of India's more than 930 million telecom subscribers live in villages. Village residents with bank accounts, and their numbers are steadily increasing, welcome not having to travel to a nearby town to withdraw cash.

India's banking industry has in recent years identified the potential of the rural market, but logistics and associated costs have hindered full-scale expansion. Even so, State Bank of India more than quadrupled its rural presence in two years, from 12,000 villages in 2008 to more than 50,000 villages in 2010 [1]. The Gramateller will help to cut costs by helping banks set up ATMs instead of full-service branches in areas where power supply might be erratic or totally absent.

The Gramateller was a brainchild of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras (Chennai). Vortex founders Vijay Babu and Lakshminarayan Kannan, both IIT alumni, [2] aimed at enabling small towns and villages, considered unviable banking options, to have a banking and ATM facility for the first time.

Babu and Kannan's initial efforts with solar-power ATMs were greeted with disbelief by bankers. Villagers folks were also skeptical - until they experienced how ATMs could help them directly access their cash.

Less than a decade after they embarked on what seemed a hare-brained scheme, Vijay and Kannan found themselves in TIME magazine's 2011 list of "10 start-ups that will change your life". [3] They were also among 31 visionary companies selected as Technology Pioneers 2011 by World Economic Forum, and finalists of the Wall Street Journal Asia Innovation Awards in 2010.

The Gramateller Indi, which need only about five hours of good sunshine per day, use solar panels to convert sun rays into electrical energy; the electricity is stored in a battery that runs 24 hours a day. The ATMs can survive power fluctuations and have power failures and have a built-in battery back-up for four hours.

"Solar power for ATMs is viable only if the ATM consumes less power [than traditional sources] and does not need air-conditioning, as is the case with Gramateller," Vortex founder Babu told Asia Times Online. "This demand for solar power is different from that found in developed countries, where it is wanted more for its non-polluting nature."

A single Gramateller unit saves more than 90% of the annual costs of maintaining a conventional ATM, half of whose annual bill of 144,000 rupees (US$2,530) goes on air-conditioning, electricity and generator running costs.

The solar ATMs can function in temperatures from 0ฐC to 50ฐC - and without air-conditioning. ATM security guards may be the only people with a grievance against the new devices - they can no longer sit or sleep in ATM cubicles in cool bliss. Maintenance may not be much of a problem with solar ATMS, but Babu discovered other problems - the solar panels require a shadow-free area, and environmentally healthy local efforts to plant more trees can get in the way. One particular ATM location in a village in Punjab had to be moved several times to escape the shadow of trees growing nearby.

Babu is convinced solar-powered ATMs are appropriate across India and further afield, not least in cities where extended power rationing is common.

"We have deployed our solar ATMs in Nepal, Bangladesh and Dubai," said Babu. "About 20 Gramatellers are deployed in large cities, the number being restricted since our main focus so far has been on semi-urban and rural deployments."

Vortex plans for expanding in Asia received a boost last month when the Washington-based World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) on June 25 announced a $2.7 million equity investment in Vortex.

"The investment will help in taking basic banking and financial inclusion schemes to rural and semi-urban areas in India," says Thomas Davenport, IFC Director for South Asia. "Bringing banking close to home means a lot in a country where less than one-fifth of over 600,000 villages have a banking touch-point."

IFC expects the ATM market in India grow three-fold over the next three years, with the bulk of machines bound for remote areas. The Indian government plans to extend banking services to remote areas, and the rugged solar ATMs fit the bill.

"Several members of the IFC team have used Vortex ATMs and the experience is not very different from using a conventional ATM," Davenport said in an e-mail to Asia Times Online. "The flexibility to work on alternate/renewable power sources is truly meaningful especially because many parts of South Asia do not get traditional power supply. These ATMs work on both normal power and solar sources."

The solar ATMs could be the biggest blessing yet to serve the rural banking industry, which made a net profit of $347.96 million in 2010-11, and grew 5.5%. Saving bank deposits increased by $2.62 billion in a year, according to the Reserve Bank of India report "Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2010-11".

The IFC too sees India's rural markets growingly significantly in coming years. "Many of our investments are geared to facilitate financial inclusion in such markets," said Davenport. "This also meshes well with the intent of the Reserve Bank of India, which is supporting greater branch outreach and financial access in rural/semi-urban India."

The Indian government plans to have a mini-banking facility in each of India's 600,000 villages, with an aim of opening about 25 million savings accounts in villages. [4] Vortex expects to install about 5,000 solar ATMs in India by 2015, though the demand for the sunshine-powered cash venders could be 10 times as much.

Notes:

"Growing Interest: Why Banks Are Reaching Out to Rural India", Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, January 28, 2010.
The Chennai-based Vortex is led by entrepreneurs and alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Vijay Babu (chief executive), and L Kannan (chief technology officer). The board of directors includes Ray Stata (founder chairman, Analog Devices Inc), Jean-Philippe De Schrevel (chairman, Oasis Fund), Arun Diaz (management consultant, formerly head - programme & change management, Standard Chartered Bank), Anuradha Ramachandran of Ventureast TeNeT II Fund, Eric Berkowitz of Bamboo Finance, Noshir Colah of Aavishkaar Venture Management Services and Mohan Harshey and Vineet Chadha of Tata Capital Innovations Fund.
"10 Start-Ups That Will Change Your Life", Time Magazine.
"Rural banking gets a big boost", Rediff, June 20, 2012.


Asia Times (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/NG06Df02.html)

Solar power brings electricity to the homes of India's poor (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/03/solarpower-renewableenergy?newsfeed=true)
Bosch Solar to electrify more villages (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article3606656.ece)
Hassan ZP looks at sun to save power (http://www.deccanherald.com/content/260860/hassan-zp-looks-sun-save.html)

Stanley Pinto , TNN | Jul 10, 2012, 07.31PM IST

MANGALORE: Thanks to the water conservation project initiated by the Art of Living, the villagers of Lakshmipura, about seven kms from Chikmagalur town in Chikmagalur District, will not face water scarcity and drought during summers.

Their problem came to the fore when Art of Living volunteers organized its Rural Part I programme in December 2011, for the villagers to bring about social transformation and inculcate a harmonious bonding within the community. While interacting with the villagers, the problem of drinking water cropped up frequently.

Nagraj Gangolli, Art of Living Teacher and Project Coordinator said: A thick white layer of fluoride was often seen in the water, making it unfit for drinking. Despite being a rain-fed area, the groundwater table had declined from 160 feet to an incredibly low 400 feet.

Art of Living then in collaboration with Lifeline Feeds India Pvt. Ltd responded to the severity of the problem and a long-term, sustainable solution for the crisis began.

Twenty wells were dug in the vicinity of the households where waste water was filtered through soak pits and collected. This in turn began to raise the water table in the region.

Two artificial lakes were also built in the surroundings. One collects run-off rain water from the hillsides and the other harvests rain water after filtration. Tree plantation has also been mobilized in the area.

Gangolli further shares that the village will have access to water for more than two years once the lakes are full. We have attended to the crisis with a simple and effective water solution which can be a model for other villages facing similar situations,'' he observes.

This unique 'Water Conservation Programme' at Lakshmipura village will be inaugurated on Friday in the presence of CT Ravi, MLA,Chikmagalur, Suchita Narayana, Zilla Panchayat President among others.

TOI (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mangalore/Art-of-Living-mitigates-water-scarcity-in-Chikmagalur-village/articleshow/14807659.cms)

Green technology and social innovation is proving to be a lucrative market in India, as clean energy investments are now worth $10.3bn, a growth of 52% in 2011, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. This means that India had the highest rate of growth in green technologies than any of the other major world economies, where most of the investment is in wind and solar. The REN21's Renewable 2012 Global Status Report, launched on 11 June along with its sister publication, the United Nations Environment Programme's Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment, both cited India as the star performer and says the country's National Solar Mission has helped to spur an impressive 62% increase in renewable energy investment to $12 billion, the fastest investment expansion of any of the renewable markets in the world.

India suffers from using energy inefficiently. Many green tech entrepreneurs see social innovation as a way of connecting the dots to make money. Neha Juneja, with her business partner saw 'a green business opportunity' and invented the 'Greenway Grameen Infra', an eco-friendly stove. Millions of people in India still cook their food on dated mud stoves where the smoke emitted is harmful greenhouse gases. The Greenway stove is said to save 1,600kgs of wood, and lessens over two tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per stove per year. More than 6,000 of the stoves have been sold since they went on sale at the start of this year.

India is a rare market for alternative energy; it is a country that suffers from a large power deficit, high electricity costs along with challenges in traditional thermal power. Therefore the opportunity to create clean, green energy in India is big news. Yet, the social innovation driving the market is not about creating new technologies, it is instead about applying proven technologies in smaller, decentralised ways that can give a higher output and excess return.

This view is shared by long-time green technology social innovation investor, Sanjeev Krishnan. He believes that while the technologies are not groundbreaking, the ways they are being used in India are what is making a difference and changing the market. Mr. Krishnan cites the example of solar power schemes, which are providing off-grid electricity to power telecoms towers, and although they are established clean technologies, the way they are now being used is different. He says, "Waste is being turned into a commodity, instead of purely land-filled or renewable based micro-grids, and this has the potential to address many of India's energy issues at a time of economic slowdown."

So, while the world originally thought out-sourcing would be one of the ways that would help India's economy grow, it seems the real money is in social innovation and clean technology investment. Global and Indian private equity funds all want to have a significant presence in this region and will be looking at sustainable solutions aimed at creating a low-carbon economy. Ironically, in power-deficit India, energy is becoming the moneymaking commodity.

justmeans (http://www.justmeans.com/Social-Innovation-Investment-Is-Becoming-A-Lucrative-Market-in-India/54849.html)

56 pc of MGNREGS wages in Bengal delayed, no delays in TN, northeastern states

BS Reporter / New Delhi Jul 15, 2012, 00:12 IST

With a quarter of the wages paid last year under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) falling under the category of delayed wages, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday sought concurrent audit of rural development programmes to address such issues.

The database of the ministry of rural development shows of the Rs 24,872 crore paid in wages in 2011-12 under the scheme, nearly 23.98 per cent reached workers much after the work was done. In fact, the delays have become chronic, with delayed payments reported by some states ranging from 15 per cent of the total wages paid to 56 per cent, as in the case of West Bengal.

Terming MGNREGS as a "story worth telling" and the most popular and successful flagship scheme of the government, the prime minister said the sooner the problem was tackled the better. While addressing a programme here to mark the release of 'MGNREGA Sameeksha', an anthology of research studies on the United Progressive Alliance government’s flagship scheme, Prime Minister Singh called for a replication of the Andhra Pradesh model of wage payment.

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/xgwr1.jpg

He said it was encouraging to know that in Andhra Pradesh, data entry was in realtime and pay orders for wage payments were generated online. "This (practice) directly addresses the issue of delayed payments and should be replicated elsewhere."

However, many states have performed better than Andhra Pradesh in the matter of timely payment of wages last year, including Tamil Nadu and the Northeastern states. The worst delays have been reported in West Bengal, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The prime minister expressed surprise that concurrent evaluation processes were not in good shape and said he would request (Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia “to apply his mind to making good this deficiency as well". Both rural development minister Jairam Ramesh and Ahluwalia were present at the programme.

Singh said the Panchayati Raj institutions had to gear themselves to play a central role assigned to them under the scheme and stressed the need to provide the resources to help panchayats to perform the function effectively. "If these local bodies can rise to the challenge, MGNREGA can very well become a silver bullet for India's rural renewal."

BS (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/pm-wants-audits-to-check-rural-job-scheme-wage-delays/480453/)

MGNREGS could become "silver bullet" for India's rural renewal: PM (http://netindian.in/news/2012/07/14/00020848/mgnregs-could-become-silver-bullet-indias-rural-renewal-pm)

A capital subsidy of Rs 28,000 crore was approved during the 11th Plan period for the scheme

Press Trust of India / New Delhi Jul 17, 2012, 14:56 IST

ower Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today asked Planning Commission to provide additional sum of Rs 50,000 crore for the government's flagship rural electrification scheme.

"We need to have Rs 50,000 crore additional for the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) in the next five years...It can be split into five years," Shinde said at a meeting with the state power ministers.

A capital subsidy of Rs 28,000 crore was approved during the 11th Plan period (2007-12) for the scheme.

RGGVY aims to provide power to all villages and habitations, giving access to electricity to all rural households and providing connections to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families free of charge.

"There are about 7,000 such villages mostly in the states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya that require immediate action by the state governments," Shinde said.

He said to meet the target of about 88,000 MW, which includes 5,300 MW from nuclear power proposed during the current plan period (2012-17), "...We will have to address the issue of fuel availability and equally important is the issue of finding adequate land for setting up new power stations".

He said, "More projects would move faster if the state governments play a proactive role in identifying and facilitating the procurement of land."

Besides, the focus in the 12th Plan period (2012-17) has to be on increasing domestic coal production, Shinde added.

The problem of land is no less in the setting up of the transmission infrastructure, given the fact that in the current plan period we have a target of erecting some 37,800 MW of inter-regional transmission capacity, he said.

He demanded a greater and effective role from the state government in dealing with issues connected with the development of hydro energy.

Shinde said the financial health of distribution companies is a matter of grave concern.

"The single biggest challenge to the viability and sustainability of the power sector is the deteriorating financial health of the distribution utilities in most states," he added.

BS (http://business-standard.com/india/news/power-minister-seeks-rs-50000-cr-for-rural-electrification/178997/on)

Realized prices for the farm sector continue to soften even though the government has raised the minimum support prices by over 20%

Krishna Merchant

Like every year the government has hiked minimum support prices to help the farmers realize good returns in early June, but India’s rural growth story is expected to run out of steam because of falling realizations of farmers and limited policy support, according to a recent report by Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd.

Realized prices for the farm sector continue to soften even though the government has raised the minimum support prices (MSP) by over 20% because of rising cost of cultivation and excess supply. The government has raised MSPs for oil seeds, pulses and wheat, but average prices of major crops such as Jowar, Paddy, Tur and Bajra have remained stagnant since December 2009.

According to Emkay Research, the average cost of cultivation rose over 15% while the net cash realizations dipped 10% which led to 35% drop in cash flows in FY12. Emkay estimates cash flows to decline further, by 39% in FY13. Although the government has boasted about the record food grain production of 252 million tonnes in the crop year ending June, around 82 million tonnes of food grain was left to rot in the silos, according to news reports.

The policy response is limited because the storage capacity in India is only around 50 million tonnes which means that 32 million tonnes of food grain was exposed to damage during the crop year 2012. Because of the high mountain of food grain, the government will be forced to sell 8 million tonne of grains at prices below procurement costs. The will increase their procurement price and will further widen the food subsidy bill. Emkay expects food subsidy bill to be 20% higher in FY13, at Rs. 90,000 crore compared to Rs. 75,000 crore budgeted amount.

There are already early signs of moderation in rural demand. Domestic tractor sales declined 5.1% year-on-year in April and motorcycle sales have dropped 6.5% y-o-y in May. Additionally decontrolled fertilizer sales plunged 14% y-o-y between April to May. State Bank of India’s agriculture non- performing assets jumped 72% in FY12, of which 6.7% were agri-loans.

What are the sectors which are expected to feel the pinch? Emkay said poor cash flows in agri-sector will affect key inputs like complex fertilizers, from auto space - two wheeler, tractor and truck makers will see sluggish growth. Moderating rural demand will also weigh on cement makers, banks that have high exposure to agri-lending and FMCG companies like Colgate and Hindustan Unilever which have a deep rural penetration.

Livemint (http://www.livemint.com/2012/06/29170820/Is-the-rural-theme-losing-its.html)

ADB gives $800 m to build 9,000 km of rural roads (http://news.in.msn.com/business/adb-gives-dollar800-m-to-build-9000-km-of-rural-roads)
Rural BPOs improving efficiency, productivity (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-02/outsourcing/32507967_1_rural-bpos-indian-bpo-rural-shores)
Companies stick to inexpensive ad campaigns for rural India (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/marketing/article3646335.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home)

Himansshu Bhatt, TNN Jul 24, 2012, 05.18AM IST

SURAT: Marked by swanky roads, total literacy, high internet connectivity and ever increasing annual revenue, Baben has surely come a long way to redefine what villages in the country can be. Besides having achieved development on the economic parameters, it has also done so socially - even the progress has been socially inclusive. The facilities that are being enjoyed extend across all sections of the society that inhibit this village.

Located just 7 km off Bardoli town, more than 50 per cent of the 2,500 homes of the village have internet connections. The panchayat, too, is reflective of the progressive population and of the 19 members nine are graduates including the sarpanch. The rest are also well educated. Having a young profile, all the members of the panchayat are below 40 years of age.

As a developed destination, it has drawn immigrants from a dozen states of the country and today out of a total population of 15,600, Baben has just 900 natives and the rate of unemployment is zero.

This is a village that has witnessed more than 10-fold increase in its income over the last six years, something unheard of anywhere else in rural India.

"Big developers started eyeing this village for huge residential development from 2006-07 onwards. At the same time, the panchayat started getting the professional and property tax dues from a sugar factory located here. These two factors helped change the entire landscape," said Bhavesh Patel, sarpanch for the last two terms who has been elected unopposed.

The talati deputed in the village, R Vishambharam said, "About half of the village revenue comes from professional tax, property tax and development tax."

Residents of the village claim that there is no distinction made in the infrastructure facilities. Be it a Patel society or a Harijan vas, good roads, water and sanitation are there for all.

Baben has the distinction of having Gujarat's first self-financed polytechnic that was established in 1996. The Vidya Bharti Education Trust formed by locals under the leadership of Jagdish Patel has been extending professional qualification to students.

"It has served as a catalyst of growth for our village. The moment it was established, the growth engine got the necessary boost," said Jayesh Shah, principal of the polytechnic.

The panchayat developed a lake at the cost of Rs 1.25 crore from its own fund and went on to beautify it over the last two years.

It has also made a mark in environmental conservation as people plant more than 5,000 trees every monsoon.

TOI (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-24/surat/32826509_1_village-claim-panchayat-property-tax)

Rural market is $1.8-trillion opportunity: HUL's Manwani‎ (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/rural-market-is-18-trillion-opportunity-huls-manwani/179753/on)
'A silent revolution is sweeping rural women along' (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/%5Ca-silent-revolution-is-sweeping-rural-women-along%5C/481084/)

Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN Aug 26, 2012, 01.09AM IST

Sameer Kurvey, secretary and executive director of Centre of Science for Villages (CSV), Dattapur, Wardha, was conferred with the 'Rajiv Gandhi Rashtriya Ekta Samman 2012' on August 20, the birth anniversary of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, in Delhi. The award, instituted by All India National Unity Conference (AINUC), was given to Kurvey for his contribution and exclusive work on innovative technologies for rural development. CSV, based on Gandhian principles, was established in 1976 to act as a centre for transfer of appropriate technologies. Previous recipients of this prestigious award include Mother Teresa, Pt Vishwamohan Bhatt, Birju Maharaj, Nandita Das, Hari Prasad Chourasia, Navjot Singh Siddhu and Sonal Mansingh, to name a few. Kurvey has been associated with CSV for the past 35 years and has invented the first 'eco-friendly' village and eco-huts. TOI talked to Kurvey on his and CSV's achievements. Excerpts:

Q. As a civil engineer, you could have earned a lot. How did you ended up with CSV?

A. For two years, 1974 and 1975, I was working with the Pench dam project in Totladoh but I was pained to see the ecological destruction there. When I learned about requirement in CSV for a project in 1977, I appeared for an interview and got selected. Since then, I'm with CSV.

Q. Tell us about CSV and your dreams?

A. CSV's work relates to research for cost-effective energy saving technology, comfortable and durable housing, innovative technology in sanitation, useful management of waste water, rain water harvesting, simple systems for water purification, animal waste management, solar application, plantations etc. We also make handmade paper from waste paper, jute, cloth, banana and agro-waste. The CSV is also promotes non-violent extraction of honey, food processing, herbal pesticides and organic farming and land cover management. We work on eco-friendly, sustainable and socially just technological solutions for uplift of rural poor.

Q. It is observed that most of villages are not progressing because they don't appreciate modern technology and sanitary methods. They don't want to exert themselves beyond their farms. How does CSV achieve its primary goals?

A. We feel that our approach for rural development is different. It is necessary to give villagers simple, cost-effective and efficient options through which people will be able to solve their problems by themselves. CSV has such village-friendly technologies. We have been successful in achieving our primary goals as villagers are accepting rural technology. Their mindset is changing.

Q. The CSV's low-cost eco-huts are being received well. Even forest department has started using them for tourists. What is the feedback?

A. All CSV technologies are eco-friendly and based on local material and skill. Not just the forest department, our technologies are being adopted by government departments and institutions, NGOs and rural and urban individuals. With the help of all these agencies and well wishers, CSV has demonstrated all these technologies on the national and international level. Since 1986, when we came up with first eco-hut, 2,000 such houses have been built. Such houses have also been constructed in earthquake-affected Gujarat. There is demand for such houses in Vidarbha, Marathwada and other states.

Q. How successful has been the CSV in accomplishing the dream of Gandhi, which was based on village economy? Has CSV instrumental in improving rural India?

A. CSV is working basically for the uplift of rural masses on the Gandhian vision of gramodyog. A large number of people in the rural areas have adopted CSV technologies and are happy with their improved lifestyle. We have implemented all our innovative technologies at Boldawadi in Hingoli district. It is known as the eco-tech village. The work has been has been appreciated by all technologists, scientists and individuals. Now, the government has decided to replicate this model in four sites each in Amravati and Kolhapur districts, three villages in Yavatmal and two in Nashik district. All technologies are open to all as CSV does not copyright its technology. Therefore, by conducting various training programmes and seminars, the technologies are disseminated at national and international level. Besides, we have trained thousands of potters and masons who are using these technologies in various states. This is in agreement with the Gandhian philosophy whose target is that villages should be self-sufficient. The use of these appropriate technologies brings independence to villagers and helps them live with dignity. The eco-tech model can also help provide jobs to rural folks and can be promoted as a tourism hub.

Q. Most villages in Vidarbha are dependent on forests, putting tremendous biotic pressure on them. Does CSV have any strong solutions?

A. CSV has a number of technologies which are optimized for those depending on forests. These technologies will certainly help in strengthening the tribals not only here but across the country.

Q. When Vidarbha is under the shadow of thermal power plants and hazardous industries, how can CSV help?

A. It is a startling fact. But we feel that for long-term survival, planning eco-friendly rural industries, which are sustainable and socially just, is the only solution. I strongly feel that renewable energy sources are the way out in future. It's best that we start thinking now.

TOI (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-26/nagpur/33401959_1_technologies-eco-management-of-waste-water)

All the Gram Panchayats in the country will be covered under the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) scheme. The project is to be completed in two years’ time.

The Government had approved the scheme for creation of NOFN on 25th October 2011, for providing Broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats through Optical Fibre Cable. The connectivity to Gram panchayats will be provided through this network for establishing e-governance.

NOFN project will be executed by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) i.e. Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), a company incorporated under Indian Companies Act 1956, fully owned by Central Government, with equity participation from Government, BSNL, Railtel and Powergrid. The Company has been incorporated on 25.2.2012 for this purpose. Presently, the pilots are being conducted in Paravada block of Vishakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh. Arian block of Ajmer district in Rajasthan and Panisagar block of North Tripura district in Tripura.

The Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sh Milind Deora gave this information in the Rajya Sabha recently.

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BK/AT
(Release ID :87271)

PIB (http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=87271)

Diksha Dutta : Mon Sep 03 2012, 03:05 hrs

If you think e-governance is all about electronic transactions in different ministries, it is time to reboot your thinking. New-age technologies like cloud are now being deployed in the rural hinterland of India too. German enterprise software maker SAP lays a lot of emphasis on the public sector globally and wants to do the same in India. A couple of months ago, it launched a unique project in a small desert village called Soda in Tonk district, Rajasthan. The project seeks to link residents with the best that technology has to offer: faster access to records and services, a stronger system of governance, and a virtual classroom in the centre of town. The German software major has now deployed a cloud based governance solution for a village panchayat in Shillong, Meghalaya.

Without computerised records, leaders of India’s rural villages must rely on a bureaucracy that can be slow, onerous and lacking in transparency. In addition, with little access to education and training, many residents—including the young people who are needed to fuel a healthy local economy—are unemployed or unable to read and write.

In this backdrop, the German software vendor’s efforts to take e-governance to Indian villages and its various initiatives to improve efficiencies in the country’s government agencies are praise worthy.

Peter Gartenberg, managing director, SAP India says, “Cloud is still starting to develop in the public sector and is a relatively new thing for the government to adopt. We are trying to solve extreme cases in the rural areas of India by providing them cloud solutions. One such example is the work that we do for panchayats in handling land records. I agree that it is easier to reach a village in Punjab probably, but we want to reach the rural areas which are difficult to approach and want to help the panchayats administrate better.” Going forward, he stresses that SAP will be going to even smaller and backward villages and will be helping them to govern better.

First, a look at the work so far. SAP has partnered with Soda village in Rajasthan to help it marshal technology to support its 10,000 residents. Specifically, SAP has worked with the sarpanch, or leader, of the village to create an intranet and internet portal, as well as a technology education lab. Company executives reckon the portals make answers to critical questions accessible with only a few clicks—leaders can now see how much funding is allocated to the village for such services as a community center or eye care. Land records are posted online, and birth and death certificates have become computerized. What’s more, the village portal is linked to state government websites, connecting residents to vital information.

Beyond this access, the e-lab—located in the centre of the village where people can easily walk—offers basic computer training and eventually will expand to offer courses in a range of subjects. The goal: a virtual education system that is accessible to all.

The impact: Soda village has become a model for a blending of the old and the new. The village’s sarpanch, Chhavi Rajawat, aims to make government more accountable and seeks to tackle her region’s unemployment and illiteracy rates. Computerisation, she says, is really about creating opportunity and equity. For SAP, such opportunities translate to a more educated workforce, as well as healthier local economies that may drive demand for the company’s software services.

Moot point is that SAP is striving to make village administration more effective, transparent and accountable in delivering citizen services. In the near future, SAP intends to effectively use its expertise in the North East region and create a scalable model to go to 600,000 similar villages across India. As a part of the project, SAP will automate several operational areas in the village administration including tracking and control of funds, budget and expense management, accounting, management of local assets, project and scheme implementation and citizen services. SAP will also facilitate trained resources to operate the solution, and provide its expertise during the course of the project. As a partner, Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management-Shillong (RGIIM-S) will provide SAP with the necessary advisory support to gain understanding of the local environment, help identify project sites and liaison with local administration bodies where required.

Mawlai is a census town in East Khasi Hills district in the state of Meghalaya and this destination is the initial step of SAP to penetrate into the North East region. “SAP’s project for the Mawlai area will provide the local headman and citizens reliable access to records and services, better insight into budgeting and spending, and support quicker decision making, without a complex and cumbersome IT infrastructure”, says Keya Sengupta, director, RGIIM-S.

Explains Mathew Thomas,vice president—strategic industries, SAP India, “We need to develop citizen facing technology in rural India and mobiles will help us do so.” SAP India MD agrees that there is a necessity for every citizen in the rural areas to have a back account and the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of India will help in doing this.

NeGP takes a holistic view of e-governance initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision, a shared cause. Around this idea, a massive countrywide infrastructure reaching down to the remotest of villages is evolving and large-scale digitisation of records is taking place to enable easy, reliable access over the internet. The ultimate objective is to bring public services closer home to citizens, as articulated in the vision statement of NeGP. The government approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), comprising of 27 mission mode projects (MMPs) and 8 components, on May 18, 2006.

The opportunity Mathew claims that SAP is one of the very few global companies that is doing work specifically for India with localised solutions. “In India, there is huge interest by the government to adopt technology. Our solutions in Hindi are an invention particularly for this market because 49% of the population in India is Hindi speaking. There is a need in the market for localised solutions.”

SAP recently announced the availability of its flagship ERP product in Hindi. SAP ERP in Hindi will address areas such as logistics including India taxation, accounting, employee data, provident fund; payroll including pay-slip, loans, claims and employee self services. The localised solution will help unlock the huge domain knowledge and expertise that exists at different employee and management levels in government organisations.

SAP India executives believe that the file management in the Indian government too needs to automated for better functioning. For the same, the company has come with a solution in Hindi for file procurement system. “We will be reaching out to different ministries with this solution and will be helping them in automation. This is a part of the bigger e-governance plan,” informs Peter.

In the larger picture too, public sector is an important segment for SAP—globally and in India. Talking of PSUs in India, Peter says that oil and power companies are established and large clients of SAP. Then comes mining and utilities sectors.

Probed on what SAP will be betting on in the coming future, Peter says, “The dairy industry is a potential market and we want to help companies with a better supply chain management so that less food is wasted. Though we are very strong in healthcare globally, we have not done that much work in India for healthcare. We realise that there are key issues like vaccination which need attention in this country.”

Going forward, SAP is keen to replicate the Soda and North East model in other villages. With the cloud hovering, the German tech giant is geared up to transform Indian villages.

IE (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cloud-reaches-rural-india/996912/0)

Internet Use Jumps in Rural India (http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/09/07/16574/)
Cisco India views technology can address challenge of medical expertise in rural areas (http://pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=71044&sid=1)
Jharkhand: Pragya Kendras to be linked with private website (http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/pragya-kendras-to-be-linkedprivate-website/48915/)
Broadband Connectivity for Villages (http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=87271)
IT techniques help expedite execution of Govt schemes (http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/raipur/86555-it-techniques-help-expedite-execution-of-govt-schemes.html)
Tata Consultancy Services bags Rs 103 crore contract for MGNREGS in West Bengal (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/tata-consultancy-services-bags-rs-103-crore-contract-for-mgnregs-solution-in-bengal/articleshow/16297169.cms)

The latest numbers may lead to a significant decline in the poverty level
Asit Ranjan Mishra

New Delhi: India’s rural income grew at a much faster clip between 2010 and 2012 than in the previous years, according to the provisional results of the 68th round of the consumption expenditure survey carried out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).

The latest numbers may lead to a significant decline in the poverty level once the Planning Commission calculates the poverty numbers based on the detailed data expected to be released next year. This may further have an impact on the entitlements provided by the government to the poor.

While the average annual growth in monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) between 2005 and 2010 in real terms stood at 1.4% as per the 66th round of the survey, it grew by around 9% between 2010 and 2012.

For urban India, MPCE growth picked up from 2.8% in the 66th round of the survey to 6.6% in the latest round. The MPCE in real terms is calculated after subtracting the impact of inflation on consumption expenditure.

In value terms, while rural MPCE picked up from Rs927.7 in the 66th round to Rs1,281.45 in the 68th round, urban MPCE increased from Rs1,781.81 to Rs2,401.68 during the same time period.

In the absence of any official income survey, India relies on consumption surveys by its statistics department to gauge household income levels. Based on MPCE data, the Planning Commission calculates the poverty level in the country.


The income gap between rural and urban India is also seen declining. While the 66th round survey carried out in 2009-10 showed MPCE in urban India was double (100.3%) that in rural areas, it came down to 92.3% in the 68th round survey.

NSSO said in a statement it expects to publish detailed results on consumer expenditure from the 68th round of the survey next year.

The provisional results of the latest survey are based on a sample comprising 7,391 villages (59,070 households) and 5,223 urban blocks (41,602 households) in almost all the states and union territories.

Livemint (http://www.livemint.com/2012/08/01173634/Rural-income-on-rise-study.html?h=A1)

Consumption in rural India growing faster than urban areas: CRISIL (http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/WorldEconomy/Consumption-in-rural-India-growing-faster-than-urban-areas-CRISIL/Article1-921443.aspx)

Madhavi Rajadhyaksha, TNN Sep 8, 2012, 07.24PM IST

MUMBAI: If India is to better its carbon footprint, it is high-time policymakers and government agencies recognised and explored the eco-friendly potential of its villages. The suggestion came up at two separate environment events held in Mumbai, this week and merits due attention.

Pointing out that India lives in its villages, Professor S. J. Arceivala, former chief of the National Environmental Engineering Institute, Mumbai cited how rural India was abuzz with eco-friendly strategies and that it was up to the government to boost this potential. Anna Hazare's village Ralegan Siddhi like many other villages in Thane and Raigad districts of Maharashtra have successfully implemented rainwater harvesting and soil conservation measures. "Today over 60% of agriculture in India is rain-fed or depends on the monsoons," said Arceivala, explaining that expanding measures such as rainwater harvesting or groundwater recharge in villages would ensure that wells supplied water all year through. Similar pro-active action was needed for tapping solar energy as well.

Devoid ofvehicles and exploitative lifestyles, much of village life is eco-friendly in its true essence, and needs nurture. Best practices in biodegradable waste management for instance, should be identified and scaled up.

It is involvement of local communities that would truly make a difference, believes Madhav Gadgil, chairman of the Western Ghats Ecology Panel who pointed out that a legislation, the Biodiversity Act, passed way back in 2002 had mandated that every village panchayat and local body have a biodiversity management committee to preserve it ecological heritage. "Even 10 years later, it is hardly being implemented," he rued. It is time the government promoted a people-oriented decision making process, he suggested.

Sporadic efforts in this direction are already underway. Twenty-five village panchayats of Sindhudurg district in the Western Ghats for instance, have drawn up eco-friendly local development plans, that await implementation. Experts believe it is essential to resurrect schemes such as the Paryavaran Vahini scheme dating back to 1992 which encouraged locals participation in maintaining the environment. The scheme that is largely defunct in most states, empowered district collectors to have designated citizens to keep an eye on environmental protection, by way of reporting illegal activities in forests, wildlife poaching or monitoring pollution. Such small measures could go a long way.

TOI (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-08/mumbai/33696005_1_villages-india-lives-ralegan-siddhi)

Gutters and water, plastic and garbage rile villagers (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-27/goa/33424082_1_arambol-panchayat-dwarkanath-naik-gutters)

Punjab: 2,481 villages to get safe drinking water (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/2-481-villages-to-get-safe-drinking-water/993591/)
Centre approves 47 watershed projects for Haryana‎ (http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/centre-approves-47-watershed-projects-for-haryana/54261/)
Solar based drinking water system in Maoist-hit areas (http://zeenews.india.com/news/eco-news/solar-based-drinking-water-system-in-maoist-hit-areas_795577.html)
Narmada network has eased water scarcity conditions: Study‎ (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-24/ahmedabad/33365221_1_narmada-water-narmada-branch-narmada-dam)
Sweet water dreams come true for parched Barmer (http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/08/30/276--Sweet-water-dreams-come-true-for-parched-Barmer-.html)
Desalination plant gives life to Madurai village (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Desal-plant-gives-life-to-Madurai-village/articleshow/16318215.cms)
In Saurashtra village, they fight to procure brackish water‎ (http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3751340.ece)

Six-month rural stint may soon be mandatory for MBBS degree‎ (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-03/india/33562350_1_rural-stint-rural-health-mbbs)

BS Reporter / Mumbai/ Ahmedabad Sep 17, 2012, 00:54 IST

PM’s adviser Sam Pitroda says Union govt investing over Rs 100K crore on ICT

To usher in the second revolution in information and communication technology (ICT) government of India plans to connect 250,000 village panchayats through an optical fiber network in next two years time.

Outlining various initiatives to increase access and transparency in development programmes, adviser to Prime Minister on public information, information and innovation, Sam Pitroda said that the Union government was investing more than Rs 100,000 crore to put in place ICT systems for the next generation reforms.

Pitroda who was here to attend a private function said, "In the 1980s the seeds for the first phase of ICT revolution was sown. At that time India had some two million telephone connections. But today we are a connected billion with 900 million mobile phone connections."

"Now, we are sowing the seeds for the second phase of the revolution. The first phase was more about voice communication, the second phase is aimed at using the communication technology of telecommunication and internet to improve e-governance, health services, education and every other thing," Pitroda said.

He was of the opinion that creation of public information infrastructure using the technology would have a big impact on the next generation. According to Pitroda the systems in place at present have become obsolete and required to be changed.

"As part of creating a public information infrastructure, the second phase of revolution would include connecting 250,000 village panchayats through optic fiber network with an investment of Rs 30,000 crore. Trial in 50 panchayats was on in Goa, Rajasthan and North East. The results of this pilot projects is expected in October," Pitroda said being optimistic of Union government's initiatives.

He also talked about the broadband network under the National Knowledge Network, the Unique Identity project headed by Nandan Nilekani, the National Geographical Information System (GIS) project under the leader ship of former ISRO chariman, K Kasturirangan, cloud computing, cyber security initiatives, and standardising software used by all states.

"Union government has already initiated number of projects to usher in second phase of ICT revolution. It is investing over Rs 100,000 crore in putting in place the required systems. No other government in the world, that I know of, are doing this kind of thing," Pitroda said.

Bullish on the next generation reforms, Pitroda said that it would increase people's access to development programmes, improve transparency, health services, education and other services.

He also said that there were some misunderstanding with the UID project which has 20 crore people registered under it. "By next December 65 crore people would be registered under UID," Pitroda claimed.

"The government is also implementing a National GIS program. This will help various departments have a same maps, which is not the case at present where each department was using different maps of the same village, town or city," he said.

Pitroda further claimed that the task in hand was enormous one looking at the volume of the country's population. He also lamented that there was dearth of trained persons who could make efficient use of the new system.

BS (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/250k-village-panchayats-to-get-optic-fiber-network/486606/)

Setting up of Digital Panchayat Centres (http://investinindia.com/news/setting-digital-panchayat-centres-12c3)
Kerala hitches ride on digital super highway (http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/state-hitches-ride-on-digital-super-highway/article3925863.ece)
TCS bags Rs 103-cr contract for MGNREGS solution in Bengal (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/tcs-bags-rs-103-cr-contract-for-mgnregs-solution-in-bengal/185820/on)

In an interview with ET Now, Shankar Sharma, Chief Global Trading Strategist, First Global, gives his views on the Friday's price action and the market. Excerpts:

ET Now: What do you make of Friday's price action? US Fed has ensured global liquidity is here to stay in the near term. Do you think the gains registered by global and Indian markets on Friday are here to stay?

Shankar Sharma: The liquidity in global markets has always been plentiful in the last odd 4 years since this crisis started, actually from 2007 onwards. Therefore, I do not think anything new has happened. All they have said is that they will continue to maintain liquidity, inject a little bit more, and keep rates low for another 2 years, which is to be expected. Therefore, I do not think anything dramatically different from what we have seen in the past 4-5 years has been announced.

ET Now: Are you saying last week's price action may not sustain?

Shankar Sharma: That always happens that when there are coordinated rallies of the kind that we have seen -- everything runs up, but I do not think that sustains. Eventually the asset class that has to go up will be markets like India rather than the entire world being pulled up because of this. Therefore, while on day 1 of any such rally, you will find almost everything participating, however that participation starts to cool off in the next 4 to 5 to 10 trading sessions. Therefore, you will see that happen here as well.

ET Now: The good news here is that Indian markets are up 20% this year and we have got record inflows irrespective of the fundamental turf. The bad news here is that despite record inflows, the markets are getting extremely polarised. 80% of the market is not going anywhere, 10% of the market is going down and only 5% of the market is moving up, which is large cap FMCGs, select pharmaceutical and to a large extent large cap IT.

Shankar Sharma: In markets, we cannot dictate which spot does well. From our perspective what is important is we have to be in those right places. We cannot say why Hindustan Lever is so much higher. I have always said that in today's India for a quarter or two quarters, you might end up underperforming when you buy in ITC or Lever. In today's India when these stocks underperform, it cannot be a long-term underperformance because they have realigned their strategies to suit the new India which is a consumption-driven India.

Therefore, we might not like them at 40 times earnings, but that is not the market's problem; that is our problem if we are wrong on that trade. Therefore, we have to essentially read the mind of the market. The mind of the market has been very clearly biased towards them; it has been biased towards select pharmaceutical and select auto stocks, and has been biased against telecom stocks and metal stocks. Therefore, you can keep arguing against the market, but we get paid to be riding with the market rather than be arguing against it permanently. At crucial points, we need to argue against it, but not all the time.

Shankar Sharma: I totally disagree that the UPA II has disappointed us. It has disappointed a handful of economic commentators, foreign houses strategists and economists, but go down to the grassroots levels and you will find rural India has never had it so good as it has had in the last 8 years.

Frankly all of us are sitting in and projecting out here from the big cities. India has moved. The gain is no longer in big cities. It is small town India that is driving growth. It is rather small village India that is driving growth; the consumption story there is very strong. It has never happened in the last 65 years.

Why has it happened in just the last 8 years? It is not because of magic. It has happened because of conscious decisions taken to stimulate rural growth even if it means urban dweller wonders what the government doing for him. Urban people have seen their salaries go up maybe 10 times in the last 8 years. What more do they want? It is the poor who are always the disadvantaged. It is the poor the UPA came to power on. The UPA had delivered 100%, if not more on that front. It is because of that this market refused to fall. It is because of that that Hindustan Lever, Bajaj Auto, etc., refused to fall.

Therefore, I do not know why people, that is the English speaking and reading media, and English readers, end up being so bearish. My relatives still stay in villages, and they have been having a party. Farmer margins are really, really strong. They make something like 60-70% margin on producing a kilo of dal. Where do you get margins of that kind?

ET (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-09-17/news/33902741_1_shankar-sharma-indian-markets-large-cap)

Is rural India really ‘shining’? (http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/vkFnh4H9EQZMZ6EVFIFCGM/Is-rural-India-really-shining.html)

The “rural India shining” story has emerged a ray of hope in India’s otherwise gloomy economic landscape. The “story” revolves around the fact that consumption in rural areas has galloped ahead of that in urban areas between 2009-10 and 2011-12. This is largely based on the preliminary data released by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) from its 68th round (2011-12) consumption survey. Optimists are already saying that rural India is not only shining, but also is the new driver of growth for the Indian economy.

These happy tidings need to be tinged with some caveats, mostly related to the nature and the manner of collection of the underlying data. While the figures released by NSSO are surprising on many counts, that, however, is not a reason to doubt the credibility of their consumption data. Merely because this data is not based on the actual consumption survey data is no reason to doubt it. At the same time, one has to wait for detailed and final results before jumping to any conclusion. This is not methodological nit-picking, but is an important issue as some of the details needed for a fuller analysis are not available.

It is worth mentioning that NSSO has been trying some experimentation in the way it collects consumption data. The fact that it had included expenditure on mid-day-meal scheme as part of private expenditure—thereby inflating consumption expenditure in 2009-10—has already been pointed out. All these issues matter as NSSO has been concerned with the growing difference between estimates of private final consumption expenditure (PFCE) from the national account systems (NAS) and the estimates from NSSO consumption surveys. These differences are the source of endless commentary and academic quibbling on an array of subjects ranging from trends in inequality to the incidence of poverty.

For a change, NSSO has scored a point: Its 68th round consumption survey shows for the first time that the gap between NAS and NSSO data is narrowing instead of going up. In simpler terms as against the general trend of NSSO consumption surveys showing lower growth in consumption, the 68th round data suggests a faster growth in consumption expenditure than what is reported in NAS.

NSSO figures show that growth rate in consumption—in real terms—during 2009-10 to 2011-12 has been 9.1% in rural areas and 8.3% in urban areas, which is not only higher than in the period 2004-05 to 2009-10, when it was 1.4% and 2.7% in rural and urban areas, respectively, but also higher than the PFCE growth at 6.8% from the national accounts for the same period. This is in spite of the fact that the gross domestic product growth in the last two years was lower than in 2004-2010.

While a part of this may be due to the fact that 2009-10 was a drought year with incomes in rural areas depressed as a result of drought. The reality is that the drought did not lead to a decline in agricultural output. Nonetheless, since 62% of rural population still earns its livelihood in agriculture, agricultural performance is surely an instrumental factor in such high rates of growth in rural areas.

Unfortunately, another report from the cost of cultivation surveys does not point to such an optimistic picture. The report of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) clearly points to deceleration in agricultural profits during the same period. The CACP report points out that during the same period farmers came under severe stress due to increasing input costs. Labour cost rose by 74%, fertilizer cost by 30%, diesel cost by 44% and fodder cost by 60% between 2008 and 2011. Input cost for the paddy—the biggest crop by sown area—increased by 53% overall. As against this, crop prices increased by only 20%. The net result has been that at 2011-12 prices, the profitability of paddy will be negative against the total costs. This was already the case in many rice growing states where net profitability was negative. The stress in agriculture was visible with the spectre of farmer suicides raising its head again not only in the traditional areas of Vidarbha and dry land regions of central India, but also in areas such as West Bengal. The situation was no better for other crops.

Clearly, despite the negligible base effect in agriculture, declining profitability in agriculture could not have contributed to the increase in consumption. Nor are there any signs emanating from the decelerating manufacturing and construction sector. The story emerging from sale of durables is also not encouraging. The so-called safety net of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has already seen its performance going down with the average number of days of employment provided declining between 2009-10 and 2011-12. With the slowing in infrastructure spending, the limited non-farm avenues are simply not available to boost rural growth. But far from the past, it is a challenge that has the potential to make the “rural India shining” story unsustainable. And if this is not enough, persistent inflation, increases in the prices of costs such as diesel and fertilizers are around the corner.

Clearly, there are many loose ends that need to be tied up before we can answer the puzzle of what led to the boom in rural consumption? Until detailed data is available, there is ample reason to believe that it is too early to celebrate the story of a shining rural India.

Himanshu is assistant professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University and visiting fellow at Centre de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi. Comments are welcome at theirview@livemint.com

It’s time for smaller Canadian companies serving farming communities to try to harness the rural Indian market. Rising rural wages and a shift in rural employment indicates a trend toward increased demand for automation and other productivity-enhancing services. India has been hit by a surge in global crude prices. Sooner than later, a rise in state-administered diesel prices seems inevitable.

If there are Canadian firms that make cost-effective agricultural machinery that also saves on fuel, they know where to look to find a big market. Canada's large Sikh community, which has its roots in the farm belt of Punjab, could be a vital cultural link in tapping an emerging economic landscape in rural India.

The Globe and Mail (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/going-global/rise-of-rural-india-reveals-opportunities-for-canada/article4522995/?cmpid=rss1)

Patna: Govt plans 6-hour power supply in rural areas daily (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-13/patna/33815711_1_rural-consumers-rural-areas-rural-households)
Ranchi: Mamta Vahan a hit among rural women (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-13/ranchi/33816197_1_institutional-deliveries-health-centre-pregnant-woman)
Indian Outsourcing Companies Go Rural (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443618604577623451428599944.html)
Rural telecom subs grow at faster rate than urban users: CAG (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/rural-telecom-subs-grow-at-faster-rate-than-urban-users-cag/184761/on)
Lucknow: 7,000 km rural roads to be upgraded (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-13/lucknow/33816067_1_km-rural-roads-apc-agriculture-production-commissioner)
Punjab to spend Rs 10,000 crore to develop rural areas (http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/punjab-to-spend-rs-10000-crore-to-develop-rural-areas/57997/)
Time to revisit strategy for rural areas: Ramesh (http://ibnlive.in.com/news/time-to-revisit-strategy-for-rural-areas-ramesh/285741-3.html)

From farms to ATM cards


In the decades following Independence, even as the country became self-sufficient in food, the lot of the farmer has only deteriorated. And after the initial triumph of the Green Revolution, the spectre of food shortage stared us in the face, even as millions of tonnes of grain rotted in godowns. Be it rising input costs or the introduction of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which has made farm labour more expensive and much more difficult to find, Indian farmers, particularly those with small landholdings, only have tales of woe to relate most of the time.

In Bharatpur to visit a cluster of villages to see the change wrought by Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation, I met with scores of farmers who said they can no longer depend on traditional farming methods to eke out a decent living. Sita Ram Gupta, Executive Director of the Foundation, said that today the farmer was in a helpless position because he could not decide the price of what he produced. The helplessness of farmers was eloquently expressed by Chakradhar Singh Jadon, whose family owns 20 hectares in a village about 20 km from Bharatpur. “Kisan ne maal paida kar diya aur mandi mei ja key patak diya; uska bhav doosra aadmi lagata hei (the farmer grows something and dumps it in the mandi, its price is decided by somebody else).”

Gupta says at the time of Independence, if a farmer produced one rupee worth of goods, he would get 89 paise, only 11 paise went to the middleman. “Today, he gets 36 paise and 64 paise go to the middlemen.” What Dr Verghese Kurien did for dairy farmers through the co-operative movement is the only possible model for the farmer to succeed, he says. In 1988, the Lupin Foundation, a brainchild of company chairman Dr Desh Bandhu Gupta, came to Bharatpur. “We found an acute shortage of drinking water, and the soil had too much salt content to give the farmers any profitable crops.”

Beyond mustard

As mustard is a cash crop, and can to some extent survive the soil salinity, much of the area in Bharatpur district is under mustard. “So, we had to think beyond mustard. We adopted 25 villages and said we would improve rural livelihoods in these villages by adopting suitable strategies.”

Finding water sources and conserving water were identified as the first priorities. The Foundation gave a grant of Rs 11 lakh, which was matched by the district administration, and another Rs 11 lakh was offered by the villagers in the form of labour, material, and even cash. “We identified and constructed open wells, laid pipelines, built boundary walls around catchment areas, carried out de-silting work — and once the Rs 33 lakh was spent, a transformation came about in the area.”

This taught Gupta his first lesson — best results are attained in rural development only when the villagers identify their priorities and take ownership of the programmes. Once the work was completed, the “project planners in the Rajasthan Government were happy, the Collector was happy, and, above all, villagers were happy.”

The main objective was to enhance the income of the rural poor, improve their education, sanitation, and health care; equally, infrastructure was given priority. And what better way to create a convergence point for the entire village than to build a school? “In such an activity, the entire village participates.”

Now, of course, with the Foundation introducing additional income-generating activities for farmers such as beekeeping, poultry, dairy farming, tulasi mala making (the entire consignment is bought by the nearby temple town of Mathura) and the like, “many of the farmers’ children are going to private schools in and around Bharatpur,” says Gupta.

More importantly, with the schools getting proper toilets, more girls are now joining up — and not dropping out. “It is such a pity that we took more than 50 years to solve small problems such as that of decent roads and toilets in schools. Safety is the most important aspect for the girl child; if there are proper roads and good toilets, parents send their daughters to schools.”

He adds that when they came here, many villages in this belt already had electricity, roads and banks, but incomes remained low because of the high degree of soil salinity. The Foundation approached the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute in Karnal — the director himself visited the spot, and chose a 12-acre plot where gypsum was added to make the soil more fertile.

With help from the government — “we asked for 1,000 hectares; they sanctioned 350 hectares” — 150 truck-loads of gypsum was added to the soil. “Now on the same soil, two or three crops, such as wheat, mustard and bajra are being grown. Technology was already available in the lab; all we had to do was transfer it to the farms,” he smiles.

Poultry profits

The Foundation has now put up a modern dairy in Boari village about 20 km from Bharatur, and initiating poultry enterprises has been another huge success. Apart from Sunita’s story (see below), the most inspiring story from Bharatpur was of 30-year-old Shyam Kishore, a scheduled caste farmer from Kanchanpura, 22 km from Bharatpur. The entire population of around 1,500 belongs to the SC category. Kishore is a graduate but “could not get a job and the family farm of one acre was too small to fetch substantial income.”

In 2009, the Foundation contacted him and he began in a small shed with 300 chicks (each chick costs Rs 15-30 depending on the weight and season). Today, he has involved all his brothers in this enterprise — and just built his fifth shed, which is much bigger — and they are now raising over 6,000 chicks. “I supply chicken to both Agra and Bharatpur,” he says with pride.

His wife, Rajwati, heads a self-help group, and Kishore and Rajwati manage to earn about Rs 35,000 a month. The result is better and more nutritional food, a status in the village, and both his children going to an English medium private school.

Bhim Singh, Principal Project Coordinator of the Foundation, adds that they have helped promote 250 poultry farms in the district, and the chicken raised here go to the Agra, and even Delhi, market. “There is a huge potential for further growth. Delhi alone requires 15 lakh chicken and 2.5-3 crore eggs every day. Also, the poultry enterprises here have triggered other income-generating activities related to feed, feed equipment, and transport of chicken. This village was once inhabited by the poorest of the poor, but recently one family gifted the son-in-law a four-wheeler during marriage!”

An interesting fallout from these ventures is the involvement of the banking system. While the self-help groups deposit their money in banks at regular intervals, Kishore’s transactions in buying chicks, feed, cages, and so on, are now done through text messages! “I send the traders an SMS and the vehicle comes here to collect the chicken, and the money comes into my bank account. Once that SMS comes, I go to the bank to withdraw it.” He banks with the Punjab National Bank; the next step will be to get an ATM card so he doesn’t have to go to his bank in Bharatpur to withdraw cash.

Sita Ram Gupta, who has seen the villagers’ incomes improve, their lifestyle change, and a new confidence come into their body language, is amazed at the transformation in the 2000-odd villages the Foundation works in. “Tractors have now come into their farms, and they use them or rent them out even for marriages.”

Driving from the Bharatpur villages to Agra, I see several such tractors — a couple of them have baraatis, while others are carrying devotees to Mathura for a temple festival!

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/from-farms-to-atm-cards/article3969424.ece

Jai ho women!


The 20-odd women are part of a larger group that includes men — all of them are farmers, and have come to meet this journalist keen to know their views on FDI in retail, and whether it will help or hurt Indian farmers.

As the men wax eloquent on “ek East India Company ne sarey desh ko ghulam bana diya” (there was one East India Company that enslaved the whole country) and how the foreign companies will first give them good prices and then ditch them, there is not a beep from the women.

At my behest, Rajdhani, the supervisor from the Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation, asks them to lift their ghunghats, to enable conversation. They comply, but only partially. Bhim Singh, the Project Coordinator, orders the men out of the room. The women relax and reveal their faces.

Sunita is the leader of one of the self-help groups assisted by the Foundation, and stands out from the group for the confident manner in which she answers questions. She is not only bright and articulate, but beautiful too with a glowing complexion. Dressed in a bright orange sari, she has turned out in all her finery — and is wearing both lipstick and nail polish!

“I may be 30, 35 or 38, what does it matter,” she smiles. She has five children, three of them daughters. From their 2.5 hectare farm where Sunita and husband Bunty Ram manage to get a good income, the couple sends all five children to a private school in Bharatpur. Proudly, Sunita reveals that she spends Rs 5,000 a year on the education of each child. All five children — including her 18-year-old daughter now in Class IX — cycle to the school, which is 8 km away.

Is she not worried about allowing her eldest daughter to cycle to school and back?

“Dar kahe ka Madam; sab bachchey sath mei jawe aur sath mei aawe, (Why should I worry, all the children go together and come back)”, she says boldly. More hearteningly, she is in no hurry to get her daughter married. “Abhi na karoo Madam; abhi toh padhaoongi… (not now; I will educate her first). I got married early, but I won’t allow my girls to get married so young. I send my children to school in the hope they’ll do much better than us… get good jobs. If they don’t, then anyway farming will be their last resort.”

‘No’ to mobile for children

She is proud that all the five can speak in English, but is firm about not giving them a mobile phone — particularly the girls. “Aisi choot nahi di hei; aaj kal ko jamano kharab hei, mobile-vobile gram mei nahi chaley. (I haven’t given them this kind of license as there are dangers. Anyway, there is no need for mobiles in villages!)”.

When she clarifies that she doesn’t allow her daughters to help with housework as she wants them to study hard — and she also heads a self-help group — that brings us to her working day. This amazing woman gets up at 4 a.m. and her day ends at 10 or 11 p.m. The family owns five buffaloes, and her duties involve milking them. “I get 5–7 litres of milk a day from each; on a good day, a buffalo can even give 10 litres…so every day, I get about 60 to 70 litres of milk, which we sell to the dairy for Rs 24 a litre.”

Rajdhani adds that despite doing so much work, Sunita keeps her house sparkling clean, and has taken the Foundation’s advice to grow vegetables like pumpkins, bitter gourd, tomatoes, maize, chilli, cucumber and greens in her farm. And, along with her husband, she also wades through chest-deep waters of the Chiksana canal every day to fetch fodder for her animals. Sunita grins and adds, “We have to carry the fodder on our heads; yes, it is tough but I’ve got used to it.”

She has her own bank account, which now has a balance of Rs 27,000. She is not enamoured of gold jewellery, “particularly because it may fall in the water; and then if you have jewels you have to guard them.” But she admits that when her daughters get married she will have to buy some for their dowry.

But won’t she defy such a custom as her daughters are educated?

“No Madam; who am I to defy such firmly established social traditions? I will have to give dahej (dowry) or else my daughters will not get married.” When I ask her if it would be around Rs 1 lakh, she laughs. “What is one lakh today? Aaj toh padho-likho samaj hei, (everyone is educated today); the more educated they are the more money they want.”

Well, there are some evils which education makes worse!

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/jai-ho-women/article3969426.ece

Land of milk and honey


At a village near the Ludhawi toll plaza, about 10 km from Bharatpur and on NH 11 that goes from Agra to Bikaner , I meet Jagan Singh — a farmer, a vaid (practitioner of traditional medicine), and now a beekeeper. His father was a farmer and vaid too, but finding it difficult to make ends meet, he opted for a novel income generating campaign in 1998 in his district targeted at low-income villagers like him. It offered training in beekeeping and promised assured returns. He was then earning barely Rs 3,000.

Today his turnover is Rs 50,000 from 400 boxes. Each bee box costs Rs 3,500, and gives 50 kg of honey every year. Singh sells the raw honey produced for Rs 80-100 a kg to exporters like Kashmir Aviery (in Punjab) or Kejiwals (Delhi).

But if he can process, pack, brand and export his produce, his income — which is around Rs 25,000 a month — can go up substantially. “I am now thinking of putting up a processing plant,” he says. Depending on the size, he says, honey processing plants cost between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 2 crore. He would, of course, begin small.

So, does he have the money? “No, but I can easily get a bank loan,” Singh says confidently.

A tough beginning

At this point, Bhim Singh, Principal Project Coordinator of the Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation, Bharatpur, which is running a successful programme to increase and improve rural livelihoods, intervenes. “Today he says he will go in for a Rs 10 lakh bank loan with so much confidence. But very few of these beekeepers remember how hard we had to fight for the first loan from the Central Bank of India in 1998. I even had to threaten the bank manager that ‘we will file a case against you’.”

Singh adds that for the first year he was the only one to produce honey in his village, but now seven other farmers have joined him. As mustard is the main crop in this district — about 2 lakh hectares are under mustard cultivation in Bharatpur — the bees get their nectar mostly from mustard flowers. But the boxes are migrated seasonally to get different flavours — during the leechi season they go to Uttar Pradesh (to Aligharh, Mathura and Dehra Dun). Neem honey, with medicinal properties, is also made here.

Creamy honey

Bhim Singh says mustard honey, which is very creamy and thick is also known as “creamy honey”, and as it sets well, it is ideal for bakery products. “There is a big demand for mustard honey in Germany where it is also used in chocolate mix. Germans are big consumers of honey, which is very healthy compared to sugar, jo haddiyo ko galata hei (melts the bones).” German per capita consumption of honey is 4–5 kg, compared to a pathetic 8–10 gm in India.”

Bhim Singh says that in this belt, about 1,250 tonnes of honey is produced every year, and “directly and indirectly our honey-producing ventures — in which not only farmers but also uneducated, illiterate youth have been trained and involed — contribute about Rs 20-25 crore to the economy. Half of this comes from the raw honey (Rs 100 a kg), and the rest from the wooden boxes, iron tools and labour required to make and maintain them, extract honey, packaging, transporting the boxes as well honey to the exporting companies and related work.”

A big success story has been that of Brij Health Care, which produces and processes honey acquired from other beekeepers, and packages and exports 150-200 kg of honey to the US, Europe and the UAE.

The Foundation trains youth and helps them get bank loans of about Rs 40,000. Once that is returned, they get newer and larger loans. “One box can give around 50 kg of honey, and one who keeps 50 boxes can easily get a monthly income of Rs 25,000,” he adds.

Sita Ram Gupta, Executive Director of the Lupin Foundation, says apart from asking for a State Bee Board to be put up here, along the lines of the national body, “We are also asking the Government to include honey in the daily diet of the local children through the mid-day meal scheme. Honey is a very healthy and nutritional product, and we want our children to benefit from the hard work put in by the farmers in these villages.” Some of the honey is processed, packaged and sold under the ‘Madhvi’ brand.

Bhim Singh recalls that in 1997-98, when they launched the beekeeping programme, there was scepticism that it would flop. An earlier effort was recalled and “they said that had flopped and all the bees flew away. But I stood guarantee for the first Rs 40,000 which was invested and said, ‘If this money doesn’t get returns you can cut it from my salary’.” He even loaned Rs 10,000 to a farmer. “Later when he came home to return the money, my mother, thinking it was some kind of bribe refused to accept it! Abhi bhi merey paanch dabbey yaha chalet hei… (my five boxes are producing honey). I refuse to take the profits!”

The Foundation has also helped many farmers set up small dairy units by training and getting them loans — and the farmers are getting Rs 24-25 for a litre of milk.

Sohan Singh (60) grows wheat and millets on the 1.5 hectares he owns; “I was barely able to get two square meals for my family. Today, there is nothing for the kisan in agriculture; we don’t even recover our input costs.” But six years ago, he was encouraged to go in for milch animals. After getting help with both training and loans, today he owns 15 cows and buffaloes which give him 60 litres of milk. This he sells to the Rajasthan State co-operative dairy. His monthly income now fluctuates between Rs 30,000 and Rs 50,000. He uses the biogas produced from gobar for both cooking and lighting, and the slurry from biogas as organic manure for his farm.

“There are several such stories in these villages; we are proud to have made some of these villages a land of milk and honey,” beams Bhim Singh.

An IAS sting!

But his best story is related to the first major beekeeping programme that was launched in 1998. Several hundred people had gathered , and while the shor-sharaba was on, a worried government flunkey told that the chief guest, the Director of Agriculture, an IAS officer (a very senior bureaucrat in the Rajasthan government now) had been stung in the ear by a bee and he was livid.

Thinking on his feet, Singh ran up to the bureaucrat and said, “Sir, don’t worry, now that you’ve been stung by a bee, you’ll never get joint pain, particularly knee pain.” The man was so happy to hear this that he was ready to proffer the other ear too to for a bee sting! After a while, when the pain abated, with typical IAS hubris, the man said: “That must have been a hell of an intelligent bee… among several hundred people, it could identify the most important man!”

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/land-of-milk-and-honey/article3969430.ece

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct. 2:

Answer to rural development lies in urban planning, according to Atanu Dey, economist and a visiting faculty at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Indian economy should move away from agriculture, he said while delivering a leadership lecture on ‘India: Past, present and possible futures,’ at Asian School of Business (ASB) here.
ABSORBING LABOUR

The manufacturing sector should be enhanced to absorb the labour released from the agricultural sector, he said.

Urbanisation is the way for the country, and it has to be matched by development of rural people and investment in education, transportation and energy sectors.

Explaining his rationale, De said: “Cities are engines of growth because they manufacture wealth. Urbanisation and economic growth are bi-directionally bound.”

Education should be liberalised and made free from government control to facilitate greater investment in the sector.

He also called for a sound energy policy with focus on research and development in solar power. “We should emerge as a solar power superpower.”

OF OWN PAST

Dey said that reasons for India’s ‘impoverishment’ can be found from its own past.

The systems designed by the British for their benefit were transferred lock, stock and barrel to those who took control after 1947.

All extractive and exploitative rules and regulations were left untouched, he said and cited the examples of Indian Police Act that dates back to 1861 and the Indian Telegraph Act.

The real tragedy is that the country did not become really free even after Independence.

Dwelling in detail on economic freedom, he said Google, Facebook, Amazon and Hewlett Packard were born in the US because the country offered economic freedom.
RE-DEVELOPING NATION

S. Rajeev, director, ASB, pointed out that until around 1750, India was consistently ranked among the richest countries of the world.

The country declined during the years of colonialism and is now re-emerging. India is not a developing nation, but rather a redeveloping one,” he said.

Development does not happen by itself nor does prosperity occur automatically. It requires proper policies, vision and leadership, he added.

Malini Nair, economics faculty, ASB, proposed a vote of thanks.

vinson.kurian@thehindu.co.in


TH (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/education/article3958160.ece)

New ‘census’ towns showcase new India (http://www.livemint.com/Politics/HQzcUy1meBiq2aeaS9dAZO/New-census-towns-showcase-new-India.html)
New paths to urbanization, from farms to factories (http://www.livemint.com/Politics/51FuOuvRXWXhxmwRTBMXbN/New-paths-to-urbanization-from-farms-to-factories.html)
Rurban India: The new consumer frontier (http://www.livemint.com/Politics/ttydYfqaNdjgAQDujaTnGN/Rurban-India-The-new-consumer-frontier.html)
Zero amenities, yet census towns hit the property jackpot
Led by census towns, migration mixes up urbanization (http://www.livemint.com/Politics/lZWxNeyLwmnakjG8GrWh9M/Led-by-census-towns-migration-mixes-up-urbanization.html)
India’s census towns face a governance deficit (http://www.livemint.com/Politics/LgofiSt7ImonVMBZgoXUNI/Indias-census-towns-face-a-governance-deficit.html)

P. V. INDIRESAN

With the provision of urban amenities in rural areas, mega cities, with all the attendant risks arising out of high population density, will cease to be necessary.

November 2, 2012:
The recent cyclone near Chennai and the more horrendous one near New York should give our town planners cause to think. If these storms had moved a little away and hit the cities directly, the damage would have been unimaginable. Yet, recent thinking is to have more and more high-rise apartments and crowd more people into our cities.

As I have written in several of my columns, ours is not an overcrowded country. Countries such as Mauritius and the Netherlands, which have higher population densities than in India, are not building mega-mega cities. Virtually, all our political scandals have been centred on land, but only near cities. Our planners have forgotten that we have vast tracts of uncultivable land where urban development can take place.

MITIGATING MIGRATION

PURA, or Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas, is a scheme that aims to make rural areas attractive places to reside for all, particularly the middle-class, by offering access to virtually all the services that cities provide. However, PURA confines itself to providing secondary-level services only — the kind large towns and small cities offer. PURA has no ambition to provide tertiary-level services such as universities, speciality hospitals, wholesale markets, railway junctions, airports and the like. With such services as the base, PURA is expected to attract industry too and generate a virtual cycle that will produce and sustain jobs of the type that rural youth seek. That way, rural-urban migration is expected to be mitigated. Specifically, PURA is designed to offer the following secondary-level services that are normally expected in cities, but rarely, if ever, found in villages.

Municipal Services: Water, energy, sanitation

Social Services: Education and training for employment, health services

Transport Services: Roads and public transport

Other services: Housing plus communications, commercial services, governance services

TRANSPORT CONNECTIVITY

Cities have large markets; they are also compact enough for any citizen to access services either by walk or public transport. Villages are too small for that. Hence, the first step that PURA has to take to simulate a city, is to link sufficient number of villagers in such a way that they have about the same population size as a small city or at least a large town. In other words, linking roads and (affordable) public transport is priority for any PURA.

In addition, the quality of the roads and of the public transport should be upgraded to urban standards — that is, minimum two-lane roads and transport every ten minutes or so during working time. Transport connectivity is truly the primary task of rural development, which leads to the ultimate consequence of job creation. It is not an accident that most cities of the world are along rivers, railways and road corridors.

In the US, universities such as Stanford and Michigan run public bus services absolutely free for all, but only on routes of interest to their employees and students. Should not PURA also do the same? Then, it appears best for the state to remove all taxes on public transport, including those on the vehicles that offer free services.

That will encourage the PURA authority to pay for the other costs — the same way Michigan or Stanford Universities do — on the specific routes that their commercial and social services need. If all those services are concentrated in a single circle, linking major villages/services, the bus service need not be more than 30-40 km long.

PURA has not been as successful as it was hoped to be. The problem is that PURA has been taken up as an exclusive project of the Rural Development Ministry.

Unfortunately, the Ministry has authority only over rural roads, housing, water and sanitation. Even on these, the funding cannot be up to urban standards, nor can it be subsidised for the non-poor. It is understood that even sanitation has been taken away from that Ministry.

Therefore, the support the Ministry can give is very limited; it certainly cannot offer any help in the crucial bus services. Hence, for any PURA to become successful:

PURA authority or private enterprise should treat running bus services (preferably free, the way American universities do) over a basic 30-40 km length, as part of its operational expense.

The state should offer all possible tax rebates for the bus service.

Above all, the state should be prepared to build at least one road that meets urban standards.

QUALITY SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS

Although not as essential as a free bus service, PURA should also organise quality schools and hospitals. With bus services in place, children and patients can travel.

However, the quality of the schools and hospitals should be good and be able to offer secondary care of high quality. It is estimated that schools and hospitals of this quality will cost Rs 5-Rs 10 crore each.

Once these steps are taken, industries should find PURA a cheaper place to locate themselves, and in such numbers to create a virtuous cycle in employment generation.

Industries are necessary because agriculture cannot sustain the existing population with modern services; and only industries can offer the exports needed to match the imports modern services require.

Free bus service is the crucial issue. That is likely to cost a few crores of rupees each year. The PURA authority may be able to run it, with some help from the Government.

However, a good road some 30-40 km long will cost ten times more. Build the road, run bus services free and then PURA can make high-rise apartments and mega cities unnecessary.

Can anyone persuade the State governments to do so?

(This is 341st in the Vision 2020 series. The previous article appeared on October 20)

(The author is a former Director, IIT, Madras. Responses to indiresan@gmail.com and blfeedback@thehindu.co.in)

TH (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/p-v-indiresan/decongest-cities-the-pura-way/article4058587.ece)

Last Updated: Friday, January 04, 2013, 16:11

New Delhi: Realising their "immense potential", Government is planning to use rural development schemes like MGNREGA as a vehicle to promote green agenda.

According to strategies suggested in a report released today by the Rural Development Ministry for inclusive rural development, the Ministry should have a dedicated green cell to enable it to guide environmental friendly objectives through various schemes in villages and allow institutions to adopt "creative and innovative approaches" to meet them.

The report "Greening Rural Development in India", prepared with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), assumes significance in the light of the 12th Five Year Plan, which has as its objective, "faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth".

It was released jointly by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Ahluwalia, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan at a press conference here.

Ramesh said with an annual budget of around Rs 75,000 crore, the Rural Development Ministry's Schemes have an immense potential to contribute to the goal of sustainable poverty reduction and efficient use of natural resources.

The report recommends that the Ministry identify a set of green outcomes and prepare green guidelines that include a set of non-negotiation principles.

The findings also call for "greater flexibility" so that people and institutions adopt "creative and innovative approaches" to achieving green outcomes.

A support organisation formed through designated civil society can facilitate implementation of green guidelines.

"A dedicated Green Cell would enable the Ministry to guide the greening agenda and implementation of guidelines," the report said also recommending "an annual Green Report by the Ministry to summarise major green achievements and outcomes during the year."

Ramesh said that each of the Ministry's schemes needs to incorporate a set of green objectives in its implementation and make delivery of green results a part of policy and guidelines.

Lise Grande, United Nations Resident Coordinator for India, also emphasised the importance of greening in the context of building the capacity of rural populations.

PTI

zeenews (http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/rural-development-schemes-likely-to-drive-green-a_820723.html)

Snehlata Shrivastav, TNN Dec 26, 2012, 12.44AM IST

Freeing doctors willing to work in rural areas from bond money may make more of them opt for village service. But, experts say, it would hardly make health services in rural areas better. The real problem is there are no posts in government health set up and it is also badly equipped. Government will have to create more posts for these doctors in villages and smaller towns and equip rural hospital so that they are able to deliver.

Experts also ask about 1000 medical post graduates generated annually. They have a bond of Rs50 lakh for a one year mandatory service in rural areas but get an easy way out as government is unable to absorb them. "Instead of dealing with the issue seriously and developing a comprehensive policy on bond for both MBBS, MD and DM students, government taking easy way out. In Mumbai case, a DM did not want to go to rural areas and government easily accepted that. Do rural people do not have a right to specialized treatment? Are lives of rural people cheaper," questioned Dr P G Dixit, deputy dean and president of Maharashtra State Medical Teachers Association, GMCH branch.

In the present situation, government does not regularize medical officers on the pretext that there should be enough vacancies for next batch of bonded candidates. It also does not promote specialization in rural set up apparently due to non-availability of enough patients. "Doctors from very few specialities like gynaecology, paediatrics, radiology, orthopaedics are needed in rural hospitals. You can't expect neurosurgeons or cancer surgeons there," said a senior GMCH doctor.

He too admits, however, that government has been playing with careers of both MOs and PGs as they are never regularized on the posts. MOs are shunted out every year to make way for fresh batch. PGs who opt for lecturer's job after completing rural posting get only a 11-month contract. Government is unwilling to create new posts and infrastructure in health sector, like good accommodation and schools for children of doctors. "There is no dearth of money in health department. DMs and MDs in rural and district hospitals can easily be paid good salaries. They would prefer to work there instead of paying Rs50 lakh bond money," said a senior health official.

"There are enough rural patients needing specialized doctors. But because the PGs, most of whom are products of private colleges and are wards of either doctors or politicians, are not ready to work in rural areas government has come up with a funny solution of making them bond-free," said Dr Dixit.

TOI (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-26/nagpur/36007399_1_rural-areas-rural-hospitals-rural-people)

43500 Health Infrastructures Created - Azad (http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=90858)
Need to create health facilities in rural areas: Azad (http://zeenews.india.com/news/health/health-news/need-to-create-health-facilities-in-rural-areas_20042.html)
Sewa Rural transforms tribals' lives in Narmada, Bharuch (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-18/surat/35889605_1_bharuch-tribal-belt-doctor-couple)
Sevaks bring ray of hope to rural Gujaratis (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-24/vadodara/35991366_1_villagers-rural-population-detection-of-lifestyle-diseases)
Healthcare improved in rural Bihar: Survey (http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/healthcare-improved-in-rural-bihar-survey/89292/)
Health Care Guide: GE Healthcare key player in India’s remote telemedicine project (http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2012/12/26/ge-healthcare-key-player-in-indias.html)
'Rural India needs more awareness on cardiac disease' (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-09/health/35705243_1_cardiac-disease-heart-diseases-number-one-killer)
Hypertension on the rise in rural Tamil Nadu (http://health.india.com/news/hypertension-on-the-rise-in-rural-tamil-nadu/)

TNN Dec 27, 2012, 02.37AM IST

GURGAON: Villages in Gurgaon district will be cleaner from now. The administration has begun the task of waste management in rural areas on the pattern of urban Gurgaon under " Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan" (NBA).

The household garbage collected would be taken and segregated to separate the recyclable and biodegradable from the rest. Special sheds have been erected for this purpose in villages and a pilot project has been launched in Mubarikpur village.

Under this project, reharis (hand-driven carts) have been deployed for collecting garbage from each household in the village. The collected garbage is then stored in the sheds where it is segregated and treated into manure for use in fields and farms. The unused residue is sold off. The district administration has prepared design and estimate of the sheds to be erected in village which has been sent to headquarter for approval.

The NBA project aims to cover both solid and liquid waste generated on the pattern of cities. The waste water or gray water coming out of the homes would be collected at specially designed ponds and would be channelled through drains.

Water will flow into the first pond, then after some filtration it would flow into the second pond. Again from the second pond, after further filtration, it would flow into the third pond. The water so filtered will be used in agriculture and for purposes other than drinking.

In the villages where 'pucca' drains are not constructed, ditches will be dug in the houses so that water does not go waste and it could be used elsewhere like watering the plants, etc.

Villages across the district have been divided into four categories under this solid and liquid waste management, depending upon the population of the village.

The panchayats of villages with up to 150 houses will be given Rs 7 lakh, villages with up to 300 houses will given Rs 12 lakh, villages with up to 500 population will be given Rs 15 lakh and the panchayats of villages having more than 500 population will be given Rs 20 lakh for waste management. An estimate of about Rs 28.59 crore has been sent for approval.

TOI (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-27/gurgaon/36021766_1_waste-management-villages-second-pond)

BS Reporter / Mumbai Dec 27, 2012, 00:08 IST

SREI Infrastructure Ltd plans to set up about 25,000 white label automated telling machines (ATMs ) in rural areas, taking benefit of the policy to throw open the segment for non-banking entities.

ATMs set up, owned and operated by a non-banking company will be known as white label ATMs.

Hemant Kanoria, chairman and managing director of SREI, said the company had already applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). SREI proposes to locate most of these ATMs at common service centres ( CSCs) operated by Sahaj e-Village Ltd, a SREI group entity.

The final plan will be subject to RBI approval. These CSCs are being set up under the government’s plans to bridge digital divide between rural and urban areas, Kanoria said.

SREI has appointed Bharat Technical Solutions as a project management consultant for its ATM plan. Sahaj is working to set up and manage 28,000 CSCs across six states including Tamil Nadu.

Although there has been nearly 23-25 per cent year-on-year growth in the number of ATMs (present count is above 100,000), deployment has been predominantly restricted to tier-I and II cities. There is a need to expand the reach of ATMs beyond tier-III cities. Much needs to be done to expand the network inspite of banks’ efforts.

BS (http://business-standard.com/india/news/srei-to-install-25000-atms-in-rural-india/496912/)

ICICI opens 101 rural bank branches (http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/BusinessBankingInsurance/ICICI-opens-101-rural-bank-branches/Article1-972431.aspx)
Rural Indian bank network to add ATMs, branches (http://www.atmmarketplace.com/article/206007/Rural-Indian-bank-network-to-add-ATMs-branches)
Banking the unbanked: Pvt banks join the rush (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bankingunbanked-pvt-banks-joinrush/497148/)
Financial inclusion: A huge challenge (http://www.deccanherald.com/content/302794/financial-inclusion-huge-challenge.html)

Summary: Indian government and carriers must work together to drive large-scale deployments of M2M, which can improve the life of villagers while bringing more revenues for telcos.
Swati Prasad

By Swati Prasad | January 4, 2013 -- 09:50 GMT (17:50 SGT)
Follow @swatiprasad

NEW DELHI--The Indian government and local telcos should work together to drive large-scale deployments of machine-to-machine (M2M), which can enhance the life of residents living in villages while bringing more revenues for telcos.

M2M holds tremendous potential for rural India, noted David Ranjit William, assistant vice president of engineering, carrier services and solutions, Aricent group. "In rural India, M2M will ensure optimal utilization of limited resources like water and energy, and provide better healthcare and education services to rural masses through remotely managed applications," William said.

Moreover, with the voice market getting saturated and ARPU (average revenue per user) squeezed, telcos are looking for new income opportunities and the introduction of M2M has opened a new business line for these market players, noted Swati Kapoor, research manager at 6Wresearch.

There are several rudimentary forms of M2M in rural India, including services such as SMS to provide weather updates and wholesale crop prices to farmers. "With the accelerated adoption of M2M, rural masses could tap solutions that will provide them more personalized real-time information," William said. This will help them make more informed decisions.

The launch of 3G in the country has also been a growth driver for M2M, which is expected to gain momentum in the next five years. "3G allows faster data communication, which was not possible with 2G and 2.5G networks," Kapoor said.

Rural IndiaM2M apps enable farmers to monitor and turn on irrigation pumps in remote locations via mobile phones.

Projects such as Aadhaar will give further impetus. Coupled with M2M, William said the national identification number can be used to improve both transparency as well as utilization of financial benefits being provided to the rural masses.

Vishal Tripathi, Gartner's principal research analyst, added there was considerable scope for M2M deployments in the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) segment.

According to a joint study conducted by GSMA and Machina Research, the number of total connected devices would grow from more than 9 million today to 24 million in 2020. According to 6Wresearch, India M2M modules market would reach US$98.38 million by 2016 at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 33.81 percent. Cellular M2M modules were expected to grow at 35.32 percent over the same period, from 2011 to 2016.

New applications for villages

Several M2M applications have gained popularity in rural India including Nano Ganesh, which allows farmers to use mobile phones to remotely monitor and switch on irrigation pumps in remote locations. The app, developed by Ossian Agro Automation (Pune), works in conjunction with Tata Teleservices phones.

There are also apps such as SmartMoo and Silent Observer. Stellapps Technologies, founded in 2011 by a team of IT and telecom professionals, built the SmartMoo automated cow-milking app with the aim to reduce wastage.

Silent Observer, developed by Sukrut Systems, uses sonography machines to track pregnancy tests, thereby reducing illegal female feticide. The company also launched an upgrade of Silent Observer which provides daily updates from sonography machines.

"Silent Observer has been deployed in states like Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, and we are in talks with other state governments too," Narendra K Saini, CEO of Sukrut Systems, told ZDNet in a phone interview. The company also offers a tool which provides weather information to farmers, and is now working on a water management application targeted at rural India.

To drive the market, India needs to establish M2M standards such as those from Europe, China and the United States. Kapoor said: "India's M2M market is still not properly commercialized, even in urban areas, so deployments in rural areas will take time."

Healthcare and banking applications, though, are expected to gain momentum. For instance, to increase financial inclusion in rural India, the government is planning to install micro ATMs, which are handheld devices embedded with biometric functions. These devices are connected over cellular networks to facilitate banking transactions.

Connectivity a big concern

However, large-scale deployment of M2M applications in rural India is fraught with challenges, where the biggest is the absence of high-speed Internet connectivity, noted Tripathi.

William concurred, pointing to connectivity and coverage as the biggest barriers, as most private telecom operators have limited coverage in rural India.

Lack of awareness is another major hurdle. Kapoor noted consumers still relied on traditional wired-based communication systems for transmission.

William added that, given the low ARPU, telcos remain apprehensive about the profitability of M2M services. There has yet to be a major pilot project which has demonstrated the business benefits of M2M, and this is creating much scepticism in the industry, he explained.

The rural market is very price-sensitive and has limited access to resources such as power, he noted, adding that access to low-cost devices is another concern. William urged industry players to develop devices suited for Indian conditions, so they should be low-cost while also consuming less power.

Saini said: "The telecom operators need to take a more daring approach toward M2M, as it holds the potential to increase ARPUs and reduce the subscriber churn." He said the government, telcos, as well as solution providers and consultants in the M2M space need to come together to give this market the critical push.

William agreed: "If operators establish network-sharing partnerships, this would substantially lower the cost associated with providing M2M services in rural India."

Indian government must play catalyst

The government, on its part, needs to identify opportunities and come up with policy initiatives which would encourage M2M deployments in specific areas, Saini said.

Kapoor cited the energy sector as an example where M2M modules are used to capture readings from energy meters. The Indian government is mandating the deployment of digitized energy meters to minimize power loss and theft, and this is expected to create high demand for M2M modules in the country.

"It is estimated, in the coming years, around 200 million smart meters will be deployed in the Indian market," she said. There are growth opportunities in this market since only half of the power transmitted is billed for, according to the government.

Rajasthan already has started using M2M modules to capture data from meters to achieve its long-term strategy of deploying smart grids.

Tripathi underscored the need for for the government to play a dual role, creating an environment which is conducive for the growth of M2M in India, as well as giving benefits to M2M service providers to develop an ecosystem.

According to William, the Indian government is already addressing M2M communication issues, especially related to 3GPP standards, by establishing research institutes such as the Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology. This is a public-private initiative established by the government's Department of Information Technology in partnership with the Indian telecom industry.

"The biggest catalyst will be when the government launches a few M2M initiatives and demonstrates their success. This will automatically fuel private sector involvement," he said.

Swati Prasad is a freelance IT writer based in India.

zdnet (http://www.zdnet.com/in/rural-india-can-give-m2m-critical-push-7000009200/)

‘Telcos must spread into rural India’: PM (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-telcos-must-spread-into-rural-india-/1045166/)

TNN Dec 29, 2012, 06.06AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Centre has set up an expert committee to determine the poverty mark to identify beneficiaries of rural development ministry's programmes.

The committee, to be headed by Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen, will examine the figures of the socio-economic caste survey to decide who is below the poverty line in terms of deserving the rural welfare schemes focused on poor like Indira Awas Yojana, old-age pension and national rural livelihood mission.

The constitution of the panel indicates that the long-delayed survey may be complete by February, sources said. The committee, which is to give its report by March-end, includes Kirit Parikh (chairman, IRADe), Mahendra Dev (director, IGIDR), Nikhil Dey (civil society), Dr Himanshu (JNU) and P P Mitra (chief economic advisor, RD ministry).

Planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and RD minister Jairam Ramesh had announced to not use the Tendulkar committee's estimates for rural programmes after an affidavit in Supreme Court kicked up a row.

The claim that a monthly expenditure above Rs 781 in rural areas and Rs 965 in urban areas was considered poor triggered an outrage. Activists asked if it was realistic to say that anyone spending more than Rs 26 in rural areas and Rs 32 in urban areas were not poor.

The plan panel drew flak for the claim even as the issue snowballed into a political confrontation with opposition calling it "UPA's joke on the poor".

To douse the anger, Ahluwalia said a multi-dimensional approach was required to measure poverty while adding that entitlements were no longer linked to poverty line. It was said that different set of parameters would be evolved for government benefits.

TOI (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-29/india/36050323_1_poverty-line-rural-areas-national-rural-livelihood-mission)

MNREGS created less employment in 2010-11 (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/mnregs-created-less-employment-in-2010-11-/497473/)
Now, rural families will get condoms at doorstep (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-12/india/35772978_1_emergency-contraceptives-oral-pills-pack-of-three-condoms)
Rural men don domestic roles, thanks to SHG initiatives (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/rural-men-don-domestic-roles-thanks-to-shg-initiatives/article4206734.ece)
Manual scavenging still a reality in India: Jairam Ramesh (http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/manual-scavenging-still-a-reality-in-india-jairam-ramesh-304004)
US students to study rural development (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-01/varanasi/36093275_1_rural-development-bhu-campus-bhu-and-coordinator)
Rise in Rural Steel Consumption (http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=91042)

Mysore, Jan 5, 2013, DHNS:

A workshop on safe method of waste management by Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) was conducted at the old council hall of Mysore City Corporation (MCC) on Wednesday.

Explaining about the newly innovated bio-digester toilet with the help of power-point-presentation, senior scientist from DRDO Radhakrishna explained that by deploying the facility at both rural and urban areas, economic toilets could be constructed to check defecating in the open. According to an estimate prepared by Unesco, of the total world population 1/7th is devoid of toilet facility, defecating in the open. In India alone, a total of 62.6 crore population fall in the same category thus leading to environment pollution.

Saying that the innovative method has already found takers, Radhakrishna said as many as 436 such toilets are available in nine trains and it has been included in Ganga river action plan, with DRDO entering into an agreement with Ganga Action Parivar and FICCI.

DHNS (http://www.deccanherald.com/content/303224/drdo-moots-bio-digester.html)

Read also old post.
Bio-Toilets More Important Than Agni Missiles: Ramesh (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=92689587&postcount=57)

Thomas K Thomas

To roll out education, healthcare, banking services on mobile

New Delhi, Jan. 10:

As revenue from traditional telecom businesses come under pressure, Bharti Airtel has made plans to aggressively roll out socially relevant services including mobile education, healthcare and mobile money this year. The company will make multi-million dollar investments to develop applications and the ecosystem required to support such services especially in the rural areas.

“Social inclusion is no more a concept of charity or mere lip service, we are making it part of our business plans,” Sanjay Kapoor, CEO, Bharti Airtel, told Business Line, while launching the company’s first sustainability report for its India operations.

Organisationally, Airtel has put in places a sustainability governance structure to ensure that the blue print is acted upon. At the Board level, Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises, will oversee the initiatives. He is supported by the Sustainability Executive Committee, which is chaired by Kapoor. This committee is supported by a cross-functional Sustainability Working Group, whose role is to put the sustainability framework in motion, by driving implementation of strategy and policy across Airtel. This group comprises nominees from across all functions and is led by a dedicated Sustainability Officer.

“Today, India has a low patient-to-doctor ratio of 1:10,000; there are 100,000 schools with only 1 teacher, and 50 per cent of the population does not have a bank account, while 30,000 bank branches can never service 6,00,000 villages. We see an opportunity here,” said Kapoor.

Airtel is exploring options to enhance delivery of telemedicine through the Internet. The company has formed a strategic alliance with Healthfore (a division of Religare Technologies Ltd ). Other projects in education and money payments are in the offing.
Plans cut in carbon emission

The sustainability report discloses that Airtel has achieved a 11 per cent reduction in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions per terabyte in network infrastructure in 2011-12. The company has also been able to save around 20 million KWh of energy through the facilities consolidation and data centre energy efficiency initiatives undertaken so far.

The operator has shifted around 2000 tower sites to solar energy. It is also exploring the possibility of using renewable energy solutions such as solar, wind and biomass-based energy in areas with technical feasibility.

The company plans to convert over 5000 additional sites to solar power, 100 sites to Biomass and 50 sites to hybrid battery solutions.

thomas.thomas@thehindu.co.in

BL (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/bharti-airtel-plans-blueprint-for-social-inclusion-services/article4295064.ece?ref=wl_industry-and-economy)

B.S. Satish Kumar

Did you know that there is a community called Kalaasi in Kerala, which has specialised in hydraulics for millenniums? This community has traditionally helped in moving newly-constructed ships from the dry docks to the sea without damaging the vessel’s base. Then there is a little known tribe in Assam known as Apathenis, whose members plough the land with their feet as they believe that it is a crime to use implements against Mother Earth. These are just a couple of facts on the diversity and complexity of life in rural India that are set to find a place in the “People’s archive of rural India,”– an online platform being launched by noted development journalist and The HinduRural Affairs Editor P. Sainath. The platform, which is expected to commence operations on an experimental basis from June, is an effort by the Magsaysay award-winning journalist who has reported from the length and breadth of rural India to document for posterity the myriad forms of labour and production in rural India.

Disclosing this at an interaction programme jointly organised in Bangalore on Sunday by Avadhimag.com, Abhinava and Karnataka Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi, Mr. Sainath said the documentation in the proposed archive would be in four different mediums — audio, video, print and still photos, of which his own extensive collection will form an important part.

Pointing out that rural India has both great beauty and extreme ugliness, he said both faces would be presented in the proposed archive. He showed excerpts from documentaries on a potter in Bengal, three different schools of Kalaripayattu from Kerala, a dance form from Kumaon, and the lives of Kutchi potters from Gujarat who have made Dharavi in Mumbai their home. “This is not just documentary, but documentary journalism,” he said. The focus in the documentaries would be on the forms of labour rather than the actual artistic product, and moreover, the artist/artisan/rural producer would speak directly to the video camera. He said 15 small cameras had been given to “video volunteers” to capture whatever they think was interesting. He also announced that any person who had an idea or a subject that suited the proposed archive could contribute by filming/recording it.

“You can shoot even with your cell phones or still cameras that have video option. Only thing is that you have to get in touch with us to know our guidelines. If you do not want to take up filming or writing, you can even share the idea with us and we will do the rest,” he said. Explaining why he zeroed in on the idea of launching such an archive, especially for rural India, he said: “Rural India is the most complex part of the planet as it has 833 million people, 400 living languages besides innumerable number of dialects and occupations.”

Mr. Sainath said he chose the online platform mode instead of a physical archive as the latter was a costly option. The archive will not accept any direct funding by the government or corporate houses. “We will depend on individual donations and crowd sourcing — getting contributions from people,” he remarked. “Those willing to support the initiative could become member of the Countermedia network that is backing the archive by paying an entry fee of Rs. 1,000 and an annual recurring fee of Rs. 1,000.”

* “Rural India is the planet’s most complex part”
* Online platform preferred as physical archive is costly option

TH (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/sainath-plans-online-peoples-archive-of-rural-india/article4305880.ece)

TNN Jan 9, 2013, 03.04AM IST

AHMEDABAD: Villages that imbibe a rural soul but have an urban feel with all amenities of a city - it was this concept that caught the attention of many experts who had gathered at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) to discuss the phenomenon called 'rurbanization'.

The Gujarat government, in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce Industry (FICCI), held a panel discussion on the issue as a part of the ongoing Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit 2013. Rurbanization, according to these experts, aims at providing villages with proper infrastructure and other facilitates that not only reduce migration but help improve the lifestyle of the people living in there.

Gujarat additional chief secretary, finance, Varesh Sinha introduced rurbanization and said, "There has been a 49 per cent increase in migration to urban cities. Our aim is to convert these villages into cities. In countries of Europe, a majority of the population lives outside main cities but they are not rural population. They all have urban facilities."

Sinha added that in Gujarat, urbanization has increased in Surat by 85 per cent and in Rajkot by 79 per cent and so villages which have the potential to become towns should be developed.

Rurbanization - which infuses urban services and facilities in rural systems - takes into account rurban centres and rurban clusters. All talukas and villages with a population of more than 10,000 people and tribal villages with a population above 7,000 people, have been regarded as rurban centers in the state.

Rurban clusters are villages within 15 km influence zone and with a population of 50,000 people and above. Currently, 255 villages have been selected for this.

Chief minister Narendra Modi said, "Rurbanization will improve town planning, healthcare, electric and water services in villages. We have signed eight MoUs aimed at developing these villages. We should also focus on twin city development. Cities like Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, Surat and Navsari, Bharuch and Ankleshwar should be given similar treatment."

TOI (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-09/ahmedabad/36236619_1_villages-urban-facilities-twin-city-development)

P.V.INDIRESAN

Under the Rurbanisation model, medium industries and businesses could shift to villages and bring with them middle-class professionals to live in the new habitat. A similar initiative is being taken in Gujarat.

January 11, 2013:

Happy New Year! May all your wishes come true!

Let me start the New Year with some happy news in an environment of gloom about women being raped, barbaric arrogance of Pakistan, Naxalite brutality, and so on. I want to talk about a person whom I have never met, but on excellent authority I understand, is doing unusual work. He is Promod Kumar, Chairman of the Punjab Governance Reform Commission.

We are all aware how insensitive the police are. Kumar has implemented what many have desired for quite some time. In Punjab, you do not have to go to a police station to register a complaint; you can do it online. What is more, the police have been given a timetable for their reaction and action.

Further, Kumar has set up nice air-conditioned offices where people can go if they want to make enquiries or give complaints.

The official-in-charge is given a suit and a tie to wear. Kumar hopes that the ambience will cool tempers and give officials a sense of pride. You would agree that it is a move in the right direction.

Clubbing schools

His other move is closer to my experience. We know how poorly village schools operate with teachers often absconding from work. Kumar decided to close down such non-functional schools. Punjab teachers have a strong labour union.

He did not want to antagonise them and took them along in his scheme. For a start, he divided Punjab schools into four categories — A, B, C and D (good, usable, poor and very poor). He has decided to close down, gradually, all schools of the C and D category.

I had made a similar suggestion to a powerful Chief Minister: Instead of an unviable single-teacher school in every village, why not have a 10 or 12-teacher large school so that no child would have to go no farther than the next village? He was sceptical about villagers accepting this suggestion.

Kumar solved that problem easily by allowing teachers in the C or D category school to move to an A or B school. Teachers like to do so and the better schools, which are short of teachers, also welcome the move. The students who are left adrift can be allowed to travel by bus, free of charge. They are happy to do so.

The clubbing of schools in this manner is an excellent idea. States such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and, possibly, Gujarat may copy the idea straight away.

Others which do not have motorable roads to every village can still emulate this model and improve it later on. Let us wish Kumar and anybody who accepts his scheme the best of luck.

Kumar has an interesting theory. He feels that the days of corruption are coming to an end as corruption does not deliver anymore. There was a time when by paying bribes one could get things done.

That is no longer true; people who take bribes are no longer able to get things done. He appears to be correct. It is hoped bribe-givers take note of this and stop giving bribes.

Idea of Rurbanisation

I was in Ahmedabad recently to participate in the celebration of Rurbanisation in Gujarat. For the Gujarat Government, Rurbanisation means providing better schools and hospitals in villages with a population in excess of 10,000. They have already chosen over 250 villages for the purpose. My idea of Rurbanisation is different.

I would like all villages to have affordable access to good schools, secondary-care hospitals, modern markets and the like. I would like medium-sized industries and businesses to shift to villages and bring with them middle-class professionals to live in the Rurban habitat. For that, I would like the Government to permit businesses to operate on land, leased for 99 years, with the lease amount indexed to inflation.

When businesses lease land, they can get an acre or so for an annual fee of a few lakhs of rupees, instead of having to pay crores to purchase the same. This will bring down costs. If Hong Kong could be built on a 99-year lease, I see no reason why our villages should not also be developed in the same manner. However, Gujarat officials are sceptical; they fear the Supreme Court will not allow it.

Social justice

My other suggestion that schools should charge what the market will bear was also not acceptable. Once again, the fear was that somebody or the other will raise a Public Interest Litigation and the Supreme Court will side with the litigant. I am not so sure.

Suppose the State government were to ask why a peon should pay the same fee as the Justice of the Supreme Court, what reply can they give?

World famous institutions like Harvard and Stanford admit the very rich and make them pay heavily. They also admit intelligent, but indigenous, students by offering them not merely free education but even scholarships. That is how they combine social justice with greatness.

Narayana Murthy’s children studied in Harvard, but no IIT could admit them. I have no doubt he would have contributed crores of rupees if asked. So would all rich families. But our socialism does not permit any institution in India to do so. That is a pity because we are squandering difficult to get foreign exchange in educating rich children abroad and, in the process, starving our institutions.

Let us hope the New Year brings wisdom to our justices and ministers too.

(The author is a former Director, IIT, Madras. Responses to indiresan@gmail.com and blfeedback@thehindu.co.in)

BL (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/p-v-indiresan/nurturing-a-rurban-habitat/article4298710.ece)

India's rice revolution (http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/feb/16/india-rice-farmers-revolution?CMP=twt_gu)

http://pictube.ru/images/DbMFd.jpg

Sumant Kumar was overjoyed when he harvested his rice last year. There had been good rains in his village of Darveshpura in north-east India and he knew he could improve on the four or five tonnes per hectare that he usually managed. But every stalk he cut on his paddy field near the bank of the Sakri river seemed to weigh heavier than usual, every grain of rice was bigger and when his crop was weighed on the old village scales, even Kumar was shocked.

This was not six or even 10 or 20 tonnes. Kumar, a shy young farmer in Nalanda district of India's poorest state Bihar, had – using only farmyard manure and without any herbicides – grown an astonishing 22.4 tonnes of rice on one hectare of land. This was a world record and with rice the staple food of more than half the world's population of seven billion, big news.

It beat not just the 19.4 tonnes achieved by the "father of rice", the Chinese agricultural scientist Yuan Longping, but the World Bank-funded scientists at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, and anything achieved by the biggest European and American seed and GM companies. And it was not just Sumant Kumar. Krishna, Nitish, Sanjay and Bijay, his friends and rivals in Darveshpura, all recorded over 17 tonnes, and many others in the villages around claimed to have more than doubled their usual yields.

The villagers, at the mercy of erratic weather and used to going without food in bad years, celebrated. But the Bihar state agricultural universities didn't believe them at first, while India's leading rice scientists muttered about freak results. The Nalanda farmers were accused of cheating. Only when the state's head of agriculture, a rice farmer himself, came to the village with his own men and personally verified Sumant's crop, was the record confirmed.

The rhythm of Nalanda village life was shattered. Here bullocks still pull ploughs as they have always done, their dung is still dried on the walls of houses and used to cook food. Electricity has still not reached most people. Sumant became a local hero, mentioned in the Indian parliament and asked to attend conferences. The state's chief minister came to Darveshpura to congratulate him, and the village was rewarded with electric power, a bank and a new concrete bridge.

That might have been the end of the story had Sumant's friend Nitish not smashed the world record for growing potatoes six months later. Shortly after Ravindra Kumar, a small farmer from a nearby Bihari village, broke the Indian record for growing wheat. Darveshpura became known as India's "miracle village", Nalanda became famous and teams of scientists, development groups, farmers, civil servants and politicians all descended to discover its secret.

When I meet the young farmers, all in their early 30s, they still seem slightly dazed by their fame. They've become unlikely heroes in a state where nearly half the families live below the Indian poverty line and 93% of the 100 million population depend on growing rice and potatoes. Nitish Kumar speaks quietly of his success and says he is determined to improve on the record. "In previous years, farming has not been very profitable," he says. "Now I realise that it can be. My whole life has changed. I can send my children to school and spend more on health. My income has increased a lot."

What happened in Darveshpura has divided scientists and is exciting governments and development experts. Tests on the soil show it is particularly rich in silicon but the reason for the "super yields" is entirely down to a method of growing crops called System of Rice (or root) Intensification (SRI). It has dramatically increased yields with wheat, potatoes, sugar cane, yams, tomatoes, garlic, aubergine and many other crops and is being hailed as one of the most significant developments of the past 50 years for the world's 500 million small-scale farmers and the two billion people who depend on them.

Instead of planting three-week-old rice seedlings in clumps of three or four in waterlogged fields, as rice farmers around the world traditionally do, the Darveshpura farmers carefully nurture only half as many seeds, and then transplant the young plants into fields, one by one, when much younger. Additionally, they space them at 25cm intervals in a grid pattern, keep the soil much drier and carefully weed around the plants to allow air to their roots. The premise that "less is more" was taught by Rajiv Kumar, a young Bihar state government extension worker who had been trained in turn by Anil Verma of a small Indian NGO called Pran (Preservation and
Proliferation of Rural Resources and Nature), which has introduced the SRI method to hundreds of villages in the past three years.

While the "green revolution" that averted Indian famine in the 1970s relied on improved crop varieties, expensive pesticides and chemical fertilisers, SRI appears to offer a long-term, sustainable future for no extra cost. With more than one in seven of the global population going hungry and demand for rice expected to outstrip supply within 20 years, it appears to offer real hope. Even a 30% increase in the yields of the world's small farmers would go a long way to alleviating poverty.

"Farmers use less seeds, less water and less chemicals but they get more without having to invest more. This is revolutionary," said Dr Surendra Chaurassa from Bihar's agriculture ministry. "I did not believe it to start with, but now I think it can potentially change the way everyone farms. I would want every state to promote it. If we get 30-40% increase in yields, that is more than enough to recommend it."

The results in Bihar have exceeded Chaurassa's hopes. Sudama Mahto, an agriculture officer in Nalanda, says a small investment in training a few hundred people to teach SRI methods has resulted in a 45% increase in the region's yields. Veerapandi Arumugam, the former agriculture minister of Tamil Nadu state, hailed the system as "revolutionising" farming.

SRI's origins go back to the 1980s in Madagascar where Henri de Laulanie, a French Jesuit priest and agronomist, observed how villagers grew rice in the uplands. He developed the method but it was an American, professor Norman Uphoff, director of the International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development at Cornell University, who was largely responsible for spreading the word about De Laulanie's work.

Given $15m by an anonymous billionaire to research sustainable development, Uphoff went to Madagascar in 1983 and saw the success of SRI for himself: farmers whose previous yields averaged two tonnes per hectare were harvesting eight tonnes. In 1997 he started to actively promote SRI in Asia, where more than 600 million people are malnourished.

"It is a set of ideas, the absolute opposite to the first green revolution [of the 60s] which said that you had to change the genes and the soil nutrients to improve yields. That came at a tremendous ecological cost," says Uphoff. "Agriculture in the 21st century must be practised differently. Land and water resources are becoming scarcer, of poorer quality, or less reliable. Climatic conditions are in many places more adverse. SRI offers millions of disadvantaged households far better opportunities. Nobody is benefiting from this except the farmers; there are no patents, royalties or licensing fees."


For 40 years now, says Uphoff, science has been obsessed with improving seeds and using artificial fertilisers: "It's been genes, genes, genes. There has never been talk of managing crops. Corporations say 'we will breed you a better plant' and breeders work hard to get 5-10% increase in yields. We have tried to make agriculture an industrial enterprise and have forgotten its biological roots."

Not everyone agrees. Some scientists complain there is not enough peer-reviewed evidence around SRI and that it is impossible to get such returns. "SRI is a set of management practices and nothing else, many of which have been known for a long time and are best recommended practice," says Achim Dobermann, deputy director for research at the International Rice Research Institute. "Scientifically speaking I don't believe there is any miracle. When people independently have evaluated SRI principles then the result has usually been quite different from what has been reported on farm evaluations conducted by NGOs and others who are promoting it. Most scientists have had difficulty replicating the observations."

Dominic Glover, a British researcher working with Wageningen University in the Netherlands, has spent years analysing the introduction of GM crops in developing countries. He is now following how SRI is being adopted in India and believes there has been a "turf war".

"There are experts in their fields defending their knowledge," he says. "But in many areas, growers have tried SRI methods and abandoned them. People are unwilling to investigate this. SRI is good for small farmers who rely on their own families for labour, but not necessarily for larger operations. Rather than any magical theory, it is good husbandry, skill and attention which results in the super yields. Clearly in certain circumstances, it is an efficient resource for farmers. But it is labour intensive and nobody has come up with the technology to transplant single seedlings yet."

But some larger farmers in Bihar say it is not labour intensive and can actually reduce time spent in fields. "When a farmer does SRI the first time, yes it is more labour intensive," says Santosh Kumar, who grows 15 hectares of rice and vegetables in Nalanda. "Then it gets easier and new innovations are taking place now."

In its early days, SRI was dismissed or vilified by donors and scientists but in the past few years it has gained credibility. Uphoff estimates there are now 4-5 million farmers using SRI worldwide, with governments in China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam promoting it.

Sumant, Nitish and as many as 100,000 other SRI farmers in Bihar are now preparing their next rice crop. It's back-breaking work transplanting the young rice shoots from the nursery beds to the paddy fields but buoyed by recognition and results, their confidence and optimism in the future is sky high.

Last month Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz visited Nalanda district and recognised the potential of this kind of organic farming, telling the villagers they were "better than scientists". "It was amazing to see their success in organic farming," said Stiglitz, who called for more research. "Agriculture scientists from across the world should visit and learn and be inspired by them."


A man winnows rice in Satgharwa village. Photograph: Chiara Goia
Bihar, from being India's poorest state, is now at the centre of what is being called a "new green grassroots revolution" with farming villages, research groups and NGOs all beginning to experiment with different crops using SRI. The state will invest $50m in SRI next year but western governments and foundations are holding back, preferring to invest in hi-tech research. The agronomist Anil Verma does not understand why: "The farmers know SRI works, but help is needed to train them. We know it works differently in different soils but the principles are solid," he says. "The biggest problem we have is that people want to do it but we do not have enough trainers.

"If any scientist or a company came up with a technology that almost guaranteed a 50% increase in yields at no extra cost they would get a Nobel prize. But when young Biharian farmers do that they get nothing. I only want to see the poor farmers have enough to eat.

Planning Commission calls for metering of rural India (http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/planning-commission-calls-for-metering-of-rural-india/article4439389.ece)

SUJAY MEHDUDIA

The Planning Commission on Thursday stressed upon the need for power distribution utilities to work towards expanding electricity metering in rural India in order to make supply of power viable.

Speaking at the Metering India 2013 seminar organized by Indian Electrical & Electronics Manufacturers’ Association (IEEMA), Planning Commission Advisor (Energy), B. K. Chaturvedi said it was important for metering to do well in the country as the entire value chain of the power sector depends on realisation of dues from consumers. There is a need for expansion of metering in the rural areas. “Even relatively developed States like Andhra Pradesh don’t have metering in rural areas,” he added.

“In the absence of universal metering, power theft and system inefficiencies are debited to rural consumers. Recently we had a programme with World Bank where they suggested us various measures and strategies to expand the reach of meters in the rural areas,” he said.

Further, Mr. Chaturvedi said that as per NSSO data 2009, access to electricity in rural areas was between 65 per cent and 75 per cent nationwide. However, according to the Census in 2011, power access in rural areas was even less at about 55 per cent. In this programme, World Bank also stressed on the need of meters in the rural India to develop the industry with a greater pace,” he said.

Mr. Chaturvedi said in order to encourage judicious use of power, the government should also look at separate tariff for electricity consumed during peak hours. “There should be a difference in peak hour (time when usage of electricity is maximum) and off peak hour tariff. Unless there is a difference people would not be able to use electricity judiciously,” he remarked.

UP: Rural development schemes get Rs 5,087 crore budgetary facelift (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-20/lucknow/37199899_1_rural-roads-rural-development-link-roads)

LUCKNOW: The rural roads in the state are all set to get a facelift with the 2013-14 budget adequately making provisions for it. An amount of Rs 3,107 crore has been proposed for construction and upgrading of rural roads. A provision of Rs 287 crore has been made under the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Samagra Gram Vikas Yojana for construction of CC roads, KC drains and laying of interlocking tiles in internal lanes to improve rural accessibility. The UP government also decided to connect about 10,000 villages with link roads under the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Samagra Gram Vikas Yojana. In all, 2100 villages will be connected with link roads in the year 2013-14.

A whopping Rs 5,087 crore has been provided for rural development programmes in the budget 2013-14. It includes Rs 756 crore at the rate of Rs 1.5 crore per electoral constituency under the 'Vidhan Mandal Kshetra Vikas Nidhi' scheme. With a view to check the damage caused by incidents of fire in rural areas, provision is being made to sanction the amount for purchase of fire brigade vehicles and for medical treatment of poor persons out of the Vidhayak Nidhi.

To boost rural employment guarantee scheme, Rs 400 crore has been allocated for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The budget provides Rs 702 crore under the backward region grant scheme for development of backward areas. All the villages with a population of more than 10,000 persons and also those having contaminated water will be covered under the scheme of piped water supply as in urban areas of the state.

To eradicate rural unemployment, the National Rural Employment Mission is being launched in the state to make the 'Swarn Jayanti Rozgar Yojana' more result-oriented. Besides, 162 multipurpose panchayat bhawans will be constructed under Panchayat Bhawan/Bharat Nirman Sewa Kendra Scheme, in non-BRGF (Backward Region Grant Fund) districts like Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Bulandshahr and Muzaffarnagar.

In 2012-13, a target of providing 4,200 lakh man days of employment to 80 lakh families under MGNREGS was set. The last year's budget also proposed to implement a scheme of installing 41,000 new hand pumps, re-boring of another 41,000 hand pumps and 800 piped water supply schemes. Rs 5,311.84 crore was allocated for different schemes of the Panchayati Raj, and Rs 51.85 crore was proposed for construction of toilets under the Total Sanitation Drive.

Improving rural landscape

Rs 5,087 crore for various rural development programmes

Rs 3,107 crore for construction and upgrading of rural roads

Rs 287 crore to improve rural connectivity under Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Samagra Gram Vikas Yojana

Rs 400 crore has been allocated for MGNREGS

Rs 702 crore has been given under backward region grant scheme for development of backward areas


Big B’s concern for rural India (http://ww.smashits.com/big-b-s-concern-for-rural-india/bollywood-gossip-9804.html)
Growth trickles down to rural India (http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1156408/growth-trickles-down-rural-india)

Towards an online-educated rural India (http://www.deccanherald.com/content/308689/towards-online-educated-rural-india.html)

Jan 31, 2013
CYBER VILLAGE

Online learning can go a long way in propelling rural India towards empowerment, writes Siddharth Chaturvedi

The development of technology has influenced every field known to man, including the educational system. India has an enormous appetite for quality education and the introduction of online learning has changed the entire face of the Indian educational system, so much so that the advancement in the education system is not just restricted to providing education, but also includes professional skill-based training for out-of-the-box career options. Quite evidently, the online learning program has reached to the most mature level of methodological learning.

India's online education market size seems to grow with a rapid pace, which could result in fetching a sea change to the country’s educational landscape. India, like any other economy, depends on the development of its educational sector because of its critical role played in any economic and social growth of a country.

Therefore it becomes even more important because it not only increases the productive skills of an individual but also enhances his earning power. Gladly, since the last decade when internet knocked our doors, we have moved a long way from conventional learning, and now, people can access knowledge online to keep pace with the latest developments. Although, India had woken up to the online learning trend quite late because of misconceptions like qualification certificates acquired online will hold no value compared to a certificate earned in a customary manner, but this was gradually proved baseless. In this present technologically advanced society, students who shaped their career by joining distance education classes have attained employment in top-notch companies.

One of the major problems faced by India is that almost all highly skilled professionals are based in bigger cities thus depriving the rural population from getting educated through them. But now tremendous opportunities exist in the untapped rural areas as online education is at its nascent stage in India. There is a huge student segment in India in the age range of 16 to 35, who are willing to learn online. Online learning simplifies this process by taking the knowledge to masses through internet connectivity available in their neighborhood.

There is a great demand for skilled labor from India’s industries. But workers from rural areas often lack the skill sets required for these upcoming job opportunities. Hence, the Indian Government is targeting to train 500 million people by 2022 and is encouraging participation of entrepreneurs and private organizations in the space. On the other hand, the rural India is embracing online learning in a big way. Moreover, several corporate, government, and educational organizations are taking up a plethora of endeavors to educate, train, and generate skilled workers. They are also creating a paradigm impact on employment generation with growth of a significant industry around it. Job oriented vocational courses are offered online and enable the students to complete their learning in a stipulated time. Since online courses are student centered and not time bound, it enables blended learning.

In my opinion, the time has come when, instead of segregation, integration of the education and career options shall take the front seat in rural India.

Sometimes the rural regions of India face the basic issues of accessibility and affordability of quality education and training. Studies have shown that rural youth face multiple challenges in migrating to urban areas.

This included poor net income in urban area due to high cost of living, social isolation from family and village life, and difficulties in adjusting to the urban way of life. This led to poor retention of trainees in the jobs in which they were placed in urban areas. But fortunately, in this increasingly interconnected world, technology no longer allows geography to pose a barrier in terms of education, skill development, and job opportunities in rural India.

During 2012, online education enrollment witnessed a considerable growth rate against a poor growth rate in overall higher education. This trend can be expected to continue in near future as the technological services become easier to distribute. And, there are no second thoughts on the fact that online training possesses tremendous potential to improve the lives of many people, and bridge the existing educational and cultural gap.

(The writer is director of a Bhopal-based education group)


For online retailers, a rural surprise (http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_for-online-retailers-a-rural-surprise_1799352)

DNA exclusive: Bye bye rural development —Chidambaram doesn't have money (http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_dna-exclusive-bye-bye-rural-development-chidambaram-doesn-t-have-money_1799760)

Published: Thursday, Feb 14, 2013, 9:00 IST | Updated: Thursday, Feb 14, 2013, 0:57 IST
By Neeraj Thakur | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA

Crashing economy, lower revenue generation and less then expected tax collection will show its impact on the upcoming budget. The biggest loser is going to be the rural development ministry, which is likely to see a decline in central assistance for its welfare schemes. Rural development has been the top priority of the UPA-2. However, grim economic growth has forced finance minister P Chidambaram to cut the budget of the ministry.

It is said that the ministry of finance has conveyed to the ministry of rural development that the central assistance will come down by 0.8% in the upcoming budget. This is the first time in the past four years that the ministry of rural development’s allocation will be less than the previous year. “The increase in allocation for the rural development ministry is abysmally low this time. It is -0.8% according to the communication from the finance ministry,” said a government official. In the previous budget, the ministry of finance had allocated Rs73,175 crore to the ministry of rural development. With the current proposed allocation for the ministry, it is likely to be around Rs72,589.6 crore. In the previous budget, the government had allocated Rs 33,000 crore to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) Scheme. Allocation to MNREGA has also been brought down even though the scheme has been a big hit in rural areas.

Earlier, DNA had reported that the ministry of finance had communicated to the Planning Commission that the government wants to increase the gross budgetary support (GBS) for the 2013-14 by only 5% as against a hike of 18% in 2012-13. A five per cent increase in the GBS would mean that the finance ministry will provide only Rs 26,051, crore additional for the centrally-sponsored schemes in the upcoming budget which will amount to a total of Rs 5,47,051 crore in 2013-14. In the mid-term economic review, the government had said that it wanted to contain the fiscal deficit at 5.3% of GDP.

According to Kelkar Committee report, the government should keep its fiscal deficit at 4.8% in 2013-14 and bring it down to 3% by 2016-17.

The government had set up a target of mopping up Rs30,000 crore through disinvestment in the public sector units. However, weak market sentiments have made sure that no amount has been raised till date. At the most the government will be able to generate around Rs 10,000 crore in next two months, that will be short of its target by miles. Against a target of Rs40,000 crore through the auction of 2G spectrum, the government has been able to mop up only Rs9,400 crore so far.On the side of direct taxes, the government had estimated an increase of 20% in its revenue over last year. However, the government has been able to generate only 13% increase on that front.

Follow Neeraj Thakur @neerajthakur2


India rural dev minister says tough to maintain high level of spending (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/11/india-spending-idUSI8N09A01Y20130211)
Jairam Ramesh, Chidambaram lock horns over efficacy of MGNREGA (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/rural-job-scheme-mnrega-upa-government-chidambaram-jairam-ramesh-agricultural-labour/1/250129.html)
Rural job plan can start green revolution II: Sonia (http%3A%2F%2Ftimesofindia.indiatimes.com%2Findia%2FRural-job-plan-can-start-green-revolution-II-Sonia%2Farticleshow%2F18312000.cms)

Economic inequality rose in cities, dipped in rural India: Plan panel (http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Economic-inequality-rose-in-cities-dipped-in-rural-India-Plan-panel/Article1-1002735.aspx)

Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, January 28, 2013

Inequality between the richest and the poorest has risen at a faster rate in cities, as compared to rural India, raising questions over the impact of the UPA government’s inclusive growth agenda.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/Popup/2013/1/28-01-13-pg-08a.jpg

It was believed that liberalisation, unveiled in 1992, would benefit the urban Indian more than their rural counterparts because of the rise in income of all classes. The myth seems to have been broken by a new Planning Commission study, which found that the income of the rich grew at a much faster rate than the poor in cities — resulting in rise in inequality. Inequality of wealth is measured using the Gini ratios.

The plan panel group headed by SR Hashim — set up to define poverty in urban areas — employed the Gini ratio on the National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) per capita monthly consumption data to measure the inequality over short (2004-05 to 2009-10) and long (1973-74 to 2009-10) periods.

For the shorter period, which quantifies the regime of the UPA government, the Gini ratio for rural India has declined from 0.30 in 2004-05 to 0.29 in

2009-10, whereas the same for urban India has increased from 0.37 to 0.38.

Climate change adaptation in rural India: A green infrastructure approach (http://www.preventionweb.net/english/professional/news/v.php?id=30765)

Date:24 Jan 2013
Source(s):World Resources Institute (WRI)

By Erin Gray

Water is a scarce resource in India, especially in the state of Maharashtra, where most rainfall is limited to the monsoon season from June through September. The Government of India has long promoted a Participatory Watershed Development (PWD) approach to deal with this scarcity, focusing on technical and social interventions to restore barren landscapes, boost agricultural production, and improve livelihoods.

The PWD approach is now facing a major challenge: climate change. Over the past dozen years, India has experienced four major droughts. This past year, the state of Maharashtra received only 82 percent of its average monsoon rainfall; some districts received only 25-50 percent of average rainfall. For agrarian villages located in arid and semi-arid regions of Maharashtra, any small reduction in rainfall can compromise agricultural yields, drinking water supplies, and, really, the community’s entire existence. In the face of unabated climate change, reductions in monsoon rainfall are likely to become increasingly common.

But there are solutions. The Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) is one organization that’s exploring ways to safeguard livelihoods in these regions in the face of changing environmental conditions and increasing water shortages.

A Brief History of Participatory Watershed Development in India

WOTR has been actively implementing PWD projects in India since the 1990s. In Maharashtran villages like Wankute and Kumbharwadi, severe soil nutrient depletion, erosion, and water scarcity prevented villagers from cultivating more than a single crop during monsoon season—usually pearl millet or pulses. As a result, villagers were forced to work as migrant farm laborers or in sugarcane factories for the remaining six-to-eight months of the year.

WOTR helped develop the villages’ capacity to trap rainfall and replenish surface and groundwater using natural landscape treatments, such as farm bunds, hillside terracing, planting of native trees, and water and fertilizer budgeting. Villagers contributed their time and labor to install these landscape treatments and agreed to keep livestock from grazing on recently planted areas.

Today, both Wankute and Kumbharwadi are green with tree-covered hillsides and year-round crop production. Farmers now grow monsoon (kharif), winter (Rabi), and summer crops, and crop yields have increased due to irrigation and improved soil quality. In meetings with farmer groups, villagers proudly state how their children now have enough stability to stay in school—even through college. Plus, women are more active in the community: They are earning their own income through livestock operations and have created 25 all-female “self-help” groups, which serve as micro-lenders in the community.

Adapting to Climate Change

The drought this year, however, presents new challenges for these villages, as well as potential setbacks to their development success using PWD. Wankute and Kumbharwadi farmer groups have expressed concern that the recent drought will reduce their agriculture yields and income. If the trend continues, some families might have to seek work outside the village again, and they’ll need water tankers to supplement drinking water supplies. WOTR is now working with villagers to adapt to these obstacles, which are likely to become more significant as global temperatures continue to rise.

To address some near-term climate risks—specifically drought and weather fluctuations—WOTR is employing a Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) project. The initiative focuses on both expanding watershed development interventions to promote sustainable land management and providing new resilience-building strategies. WOTR’s CCA project is currently being implemented in 53 villages across three states in India.

CCA interventions include water-budgeting techniques and technologies (like drip irrigation and planning for a variety of water needs), agro-meteorology installations that provide frequent and timely weather reports to villagers, agricultural intervention planning, livelihood diversification, and biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. The organization also promotes the use of solar energy devices for cooking and lighting–the former is particularly effective in conserving trees. In addition to helping villagers contend with an increasingly unpredictable climate, these treatments provide multiple ancillary benefits, such as habitat conservation, carbon sequestration, improvements in air and water quality and human health, and reduced soil erosion.

Lessons from Maharasthra

The situation in Maharashtra mirrors what an increasing number of rural communities are facing in regions all over the world. Due to changing environmental and climatic conditions, many communities must alter the practices they’ve relied on for years in order to safeguard their livelihoods. Additionally, these communities must protect and restore the fragile ecosystems on which they depend and which are important to ensuring their resilience to changing conditions. WOTR’s approach has the potential to provide valuable climate change adaptation lessons both for rural India and for semi-arid and arid regions across the globe.

WRI is currently working with WOTR to analyze the costs and benefits of a PWD approach and the use of climate change adaptation treatments to manage risks. As the Government of India moves forward with its watershed development programs, this collaborative work will hopefully shed light on how to protect rural livelihoods and determine which watershed treatments and technologies should be promoted in rain-fed agrarian villages across India.

Additional information

http://insights.wri.org/news/2013/01/climate-change-adaptation-rural-india-green-infrastructure-approach