Rural Development in India

[Nihat]

Villages are the bane of India, as long as small scattered villages exist in India, abject poverty will be a sad reality.

[joshvajohn]

National Advisory Council urges cheap grains for masses
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/econom ... 93565.html

Work in Progress
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Work- ... ess/701979

NGOs seek Mrs Gandhi to intervene in FSA
http://news.oneindia.in/2010/10/22/ngos ... y-act.html

[RamaY]

Villages are the bane of India, as long as small scattered villages exist in India, abject poverty will be a sad reality.

That is not a correct understanding. The problem is urban migration. Imagine a scenario

Many small farmers and agril-labor of Inda are moving to Urban centers creating unnecessary strain on economy as well as civic infrastructure.

These people have a (better) home, better education system (public schools) and minimal health care government hospitals in (some of) rural regions than their urban counterparts. I am talking about the access to home/education/health-care between an average village and average city for a family with a monthly income of less than Rs 1500 in village and Rs 4000 in town. These numbers are made up.

What we are seeing now is a family making Rs 3000 (15 days x 2 adults x 100 Rs per day = 3000Rs income) in a village with a home, primary education, and basic health care (RMP doctors or Herbal medicine) moving to a city (20 days x 2 adults x 150 = 6000Rs income) with a promise of Rs 6000 income. In cities they live in slum areas with no home (lot worse than their village homes), abysmal health care, and costly primary education. An equivalent home (a small hut with at least 50-100 sq. yards of open space for growing vegetables, hens etc).

Net/net there is no improvement in standard of living in spite of ~100% increase in income levels. It does appear that the overall economy is growing but the standard of living remains same.

This is the true BANE of INDIA. What India should do instead, IMHO, is to take technology, employment opportunities, health care, and better education to India's rural population. That is when we see real change in India's stand of living.

I am working on developing such a plan will post it soon.

[joshvajohn]

Catch: He brings hot meals to India's homeless
http://www.ndtv.com/article/catch%20of% ... less-61029

CNN Hero: 'You are giving me the biggest gift in this world.'
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/08/c ... his-world/

Krishnan must be an Indian Saint!

[svinayak]

There are only Indian gurus, swami and yogis who work for the welfare of the people.

[joshvajohn]

Possibly Krishnan is one the most realised one! Even possibly an Avatar of its own kind.

[SaiK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjejkI1xZPY
Krishna ne begane baro fusion

[joshvajohn]

No right to food yet!
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/n ... nid=160739

[RamaY]

^ This should be studied deeply.

We need to filter the information from

- Leftist propaganda that everything should be given freely
- Policy issues arising from SC activism in distributing free food from Food Corp godowns
- UPA IIs reluctance to distribute the food grains (they could have done it as part of food for work program something under 100day employment guarantee scheme)
- MMS's stubbornness on this issue inspite the fact that the food grains are being wasted in IFC godowns
- SG/INC play (why are they not doing something in the benefits of the nation, which also coincidentally has lot of populist value) This is not elections season??? Which states are going to election in 2010 and how many of them are INC govts? (why giving something to a non INC state???)

some homework for all of us...

[Pranay]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/opini ... .html?_r=1

Banking reaches rural India in a unique way...

Here’s an example of why I ask these questions. It’s a typical Indian start-up I visited in a garage in South Delhi, EKO India Financial Services. Its founders, Abhishek Sinha and his brother Abhinav, began with a small insight — that low-wage Indian migrant workers flocking to Delhi from poorer states like Bihar had no place to put their savings and no secure way to send money home to their families. India has relatively few bank branches for a country its size, so many migrants stuff money in their mattresses or send cash home through traditional “hawala,” or hand-to-hand networks.

The brothers had an idea. In every Indian neighborhood or village there’s usually a mom-and-pop kiosk that sells drinks, cigarettes, candy and a few groceries. Why not turn each one into a virtual bank? So they created a software program whereby a migrant worker in Delhi using his cellphone, and proof of identity, could open a bank account registered on his cellphone text system. Mom-and-pop shopkeepers would act as the friendly neighborhood local banker and do the same.

Then the worker in New Delhi could give a kiosk owner in his slum 1,000 rupees (about $20), the shopkeeper would record it on his phone and text receipt of the deposit to the system’s mother bank, the State Bank of India. Then the worker’s wife back in Bihar could just go to the mom-and-pop kiosk in her village, also tied into the system, and make a withdrawal using her cellphone. The shopkeeper there would give her the 1,000 rupees sent by her husband. Each shopkeeper would earn a small fee from each transaction. Besides money transfers, workers could also use the system to bank their savings.

Since opening 18 months ago, their virtual bank now has 180,000 users doing more than 7,000 transactions a day through 500 “branches” — mom-and-pop kiosks — in Delhi and 200 more in Bihar and Jharkhand, the hometowns of many maids and migrants. EKO gets a tiny commission from the Bank of India for each transaction and two months ago started to turn a small profit.

The whole system is being run out of a little house and garage with a dozen employees, a bunch of laptops, servers and the Internet. The core idea, says Abhishek, is “to close the last mile — the gap where government services end and the consumer begins.” There is a huge business in bridging that last mile for millions of poor Indians — who, without it, can’t get proper health care, education or insurance.

What is striking about the small EKO team is that it includes graduates from India’s most prestigious institutes of technology who were working in America but decided to come home for the action, while the chief operating officer — Matteo Chiampo — is an Italian technologist who left a good job in Boston to work here “where the excitement is,” he said.

India today is this unusual combination of a country with millions of people making $2 and $3 a day, but with a growing economy, an increasing amount of cheap connectivity and a rising number of skilled technologists looking to make their fortune by inventing low-cost solutions to every problem you can imagine. In the next decade, I predict, we will see some really disruptive business models coming out of here — to a neighborhood near you. If you thought the rate of change was fast thanks to the garage innovators of Silicon Valley, wait until the garages of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore get fully up to speed. I sure hope we’re ready.

[Theo_Fidel]

Rama,

Hunger in India is now concentrated in the Bimaru states plus Orissa and Jharkhand. Any program to eliminate hunger should focus on the social situation in these states. MP for instances has a 60% mal-nutrition index Even TN has this at 30% despite the mid-day meal schemes. The stunner is that Kerala has mal-nutrition of 25%. Haryana and Assam with wildly different incomes have the same level of mal-nutrition. Maharashtra has the same level of Malnutrition as Orissa.

And it is not genetic. As I have said personally in my family I can see this difference in nutrition levels.

Here is the point folks. The difference is a measly 200 calories per day in the diet of children and women, esp. while pregnant. That is half a chapathi / 2 handfuls of cooked rice per day. This would be the equivalent of 5 million tons of grain a year.

This is a social problem. A large section of our population has very bad feeding habits esp. towards women and children. I know families near Tirunelveli who have told me that they often don't feed their kids at night because they get a full lunch meal at school. I wanted to throw things at them. Even called one of them a 'porikki nai'. That's how mad I was. He makes a fairly decent Rs4000 a month. He just shook his head, smiled, said 'OK Anna' and walked away.

Children must be monitored and fed when young. They don't eat well otherwise. When both parents are working this is very hard. My mom tells me that she talks to the kids in the slum two streets over and often their parents leave them to play and don't feed them the entire day. This is 2-3 year old's. Most critical time for development. She has now taken to taking a bunch of bananas over everyday to make sure they eat something. 2 Rupees a banana. That's all it takes. I know the Maistri who lives there works on my Dads house charges Rs 300 per day and has 2 kids there. He is always busy.

Amongst all the garbage on Hunger in India, (Why are we cursed with so many dumbo experts) here is one who sees the situation clearly on the ground.

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india_41484.html

^ This should be studied deeply.

We need to filter the information from

- Leftist propaganda that everything should be given freely
- Policy issues arising from SC activism in distributing free food from Food Corp godowns
- UPA IIs reluctance to distribute the food grains (they could have done it as part of food for work program something under 100day employment guarantee scheme)
- MMS's stubbornness on this issue inspite the fact that the food grains are being wasted in IFC godowns
- SG/INC play (why are they not doing something in the benefits of the nation, which also coincidentally has lot of populist value) This is not elections season??? Which states are going to election in 2010 and how many of them are INC govts? (why giving something to a non INC state???)

some homework for all of us...

[RamaY]

Theo ji

no disagreement there and I am completely with you. I am just confused at MMS's (and UPAs) stubburnness to distribute food grains (for free or nominal price is a different matter).

At the same time I can see their fears
- policy issues (what is possible)
- implementation issues (such as corruption in civil supplies dept)
- IFC is meant to maintain 6months worth of food grains for rainy days

the best we can do as individuals is to support akshaya patra type orgs and do what your mother (my pranaams to her) is doing...

There is littile hope on govt systems at this point. Governance is taken hostage by politics mainly few individuals.

[Theo_Fidel]

no disagreement there and I am completely with you. I am just confused at MMS's (and UPAs) stubburnness to distribute food grains (for free or nominal price is a different matter).

I think the pressure on that is coming from Sharad Pawar actually.

The thing is much of the Re 1 rice ends up on the open market. My bhai here has collected 3 ration cards from families she works for and sells the grain/sugar in the open market. The middle class families find ration stuff sub-standard.

If you increase supply of cheap rice on the market you bankrupt the farmers who must sell to the open market. This guarantees rural poverty and suicide for them.

Also no need for the Ji thing.

[joshvajohn]

NAC Working Group to draft Food Security Bill, reforming PDS
Friday, October 29, 2010 08:00 IST
Joseph Alexander, New Delhi
http://www.fnbnews.com/article/detnews. ... ectionid=1




Pawar plays the grain game
BS Reporter / New Delhi October 28, 2010, 0:48 IST
http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... me/412954/

Pawar is the culprit. He wanted many Indians to be dead at the cost of selling food grains abroad. He wanted to add billions to his Swiss bank accont. Congres govt knows it clearly but all under political calculations. He should be given an option of one job - either stay in India or remain ICC president flying around. He is not doing his job properly including not attending NAC and sharing his concerns properly and discussing with others.

While the government spends billions for CWG why not think about spending for poor? the Same question about when Government spends billions for arms and thinking about going to Moon why not think about hungry Indians. People like pawar will certainly destroy India and will make it to disappear due to internal fightings and huge human raisings against one another. They will become one of the richest families in the world. The polticians such as Pawar and other who oppose the food security bill are very similar to political terrorists of India.

Pawar has doubts on Food Security Bill
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Pawar ... ill/703540


Cheap Foodgrain to 75% of Indians Not Easy: Pawar
http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?698945

Sharad Pawar declines comment on scandal
Amruta Byatnal
http://www.hindu.com/2010/11/01/stories ... 451800.htm

[RamaY]

^ Assuming a Rs15/Kg procurement cost Vs Rs3/Kg PDS price, the proposed 62.1MT (National Advisory Council (NAC) proposal would entail the supply of 62.1 million tonnes (mt) in subsidised foodgrain) subsidized food grains would cost ~75,000 cr rupees.

We are talking about $15-20B that will ensure food security for 75% of population (Pawar’s estimates assume the coverage of 97 million below-the-poverty-line families and 89 million other families. Under the proposed Food Security Bill, the government would provide each family 35 kg of wheat and rice every month at a subsidised rate of Rs 3 a kg to cover 75 per cent of the population.)

This is <10% of annual tax revenues Or 30% Plan expenditure. Is a fair game if this is all that needs to be done for food security. But India spends nearly similar amounts subsidizing agri-sector (supply side of food security)

I think Pawar is more interested in subsidizing farming sector (supply side) than subsidizing consumption side. My theory is that the supply side subsidies can be better managed (controlled by Pawar like people) thru limited sugar/ricemill/fertilizer entities than the demand side (hundreds of thousands of PDS centers).

Another angle I am interested is in Pawar's stand on GM products. Perhaps it is in this lobby's (GM entry into India) interests to maintain 'artificial scarcity' of food grains in India to convince the population on benefits of allowing GM seeds to increase food grains production. Anyone has insight into this?

This issue has to be addressed in a systemic manner keeping long-term trends and strategic interests in mind. This is one of the key securities India need to achieve to push itself into next level of power game

1. Food Security
2. National Security (Military Industrial complex)
3. Environmental Security (Balance between nature and man)
4. Intellectual Security
5. Energy Security

[Rahul Mehta]

There is littile hope on govt systems at this point. Governance is taken hostage by politics mainly few individuals.

True. What solution do you propose? And what drafts of Executive Notifications would you recommend?

===

Theo ji
no disagreement there and I am completely with you. I am just confused at MMS's (and UPAs) stubburnness to distribute food grains (for free or nominal price is a different matter).

At the same time I can see their fears
- policy issues (what is possible)
- implementation issues (such as corruption in civil supplies dept)
- IFC is meant to maintain 6months worth of food grains for rainy days

The reason why GoI cant give free wheat, rice and let it rot and then dispose it is --- there is no wheat and rice in reality.

Let me explain.

Example-1: Say you are a farmer and want to sell 10,000 kg of wheat. Say GoI's rate is Rs 10 per kg. The babu will ask you to write that you sold 12,000 kg of wheat, will pay you Rs 120,000 and you have to pay Rs 20,000 back to the babu. You might think - what goes of my father? You sold 10,000 kg of wheat and got paid for it. Why bother about extra 2000 kg of invisible wheat and Rs 20,000 of cash you took and gave back. Now that 2000 kg of wheat never came. And on paper it is shown that it rotted and was later disposed. Now if GoI wants to give that wheat to poor for free, it simply isnt possible.

Example-2 : Say you are doctor or a tuition class owner or lawyer and have earned Rs 500,000 of black money. To convert it into white, you want to show it as if you grew wheat and sold wheat. Then safest way is that you give Rs 500,000 cash to FCI babu. He will give Rs 500,000 cheque and a receipt that you sold 50,000 kg of wheat !! Now Rs 500,00 cheque you got from FCI is white income and tax-free as it came from agriculture !! And the FCI babu gets to keep Rs 500,000 of cash. And now 50000 kg of non-existent wheat is later shown as rotted as disposed !!

===

Please take a look here to get some real examples. http://www.rupe-india.org/36/app2.html#endnote

Finally, in a more brazen form of theft, 5.2 million tonnes of wheat, valued at Rs 3,200 crore (Rs 32 billion), was found to be 'missing' from the godowns in Punjab.16 This quantity is larger than the entire offtake of wheat through PDS in 2001-02. Although in the FCI's stock accounts it appears as having occurred in January-February 2003, in all likelihood the theft took place over a longer period. Evidently, those responsible were in positions of authority. Action against the responsible officials was promised at the time; but thereafter there is no mention is to be found in the press about the incident.

Indeed the scale of discrepancies is even larger than this. It appears from the data given in the RBI's Currency and Finance Report 2002-03 (p.12) that some 14.7 million tonnes of foodgrain are missing from the account of the FCI's stocks. (Opening stocks on April 1 2002 [51 million tonnes] plus total foodgrain procurement in the period April 2002 to October 2003 [63.7 million tonnes] minus total foodgrain offtake in this period [77.9 million tonnes] should equal closing stocks on October 31, 2003. However, we find that closing stocks are not 36.8 mn t, as they should be, but 22.1 mn t.) The difference is too large to be accounted for solely by spoilage. No comment is made regarding the discrepancy in the report, nor has the press commented on the huge quantity of missing grain.

The missing food grains is despite the fact that lot of non-existent grains is set-off as "rotten".

===

Pawar is the culprit. He wanted many Indians to be dead at the cost of selling food grains abroad. He wanted to add billions to his Swiss bank accont. Congres govt knows it clearly but all under political calculations. He should be given an option of one job - either stay in India or remain ICC president flying around. He is not doing his job properly including not attending NAC and sharing his concerns properly and discussing with others.

If I were to say that MMS and Sonia each get 25% of what Pawar makes, MMS-worshipers would have asked me to give proofs, and also asked me to shut up. No one asks JJ to provide any proof. How easy it is to insult Pawar and get away.

In reality, MMS is the MOST corrupt PM India ever saw, JJ is right that Pawar is corrupt, but lets not blame Pawar alone. Pawar has to give his hafta to MMS and Sonia, or else, MMS\Sonia will not clear his murky deals. Please do remember that final say on all major decisions lies with Cabinet, FinMin and PMO, not with Agricultural Minister alone. So every Minister has to pay due share to PM and super-PM. What is MMS doing with money? MMS is paying money to foreign lobbies so that these lobbies will lobby to get Nobel Peace Prize to MMS. Nobel Peace Prize is very expensive. To get Nobel Peace Prize, one has to pay a lot of money to Time etc magazines to first create a good image. Then pay people who appoint committee members to decide names. And so forth. MMS needs billions of dollars to get Nobel Prize, and so he collects a share from Agriculture Ministry (and CWG , Telecom Ministry etc).

[All, Admins : Please dont ask me to provide proof that MMS is collecting bribes to pay for Nobel Prize. Just as joshvajohn has been allowed to make a proofless allegation against Pawar, I too should be allowed to make proofless allegations against MMS. Thanks]

[RamaY]

^ RM-ji,

Your examples are on the dot and I know people who do it all the time. So,

There is no excess food grain capacity except in records. Govt/FCI-babus wants to writeoff that excess capacity as rot and wastage.

I think we should support SC move here so the Govt/FCI will come out with the facts and where/how-much-of damage is done.This system needs a stock audit. Probably this is what Pawar is hinting at (there is no food grain stocks)

While Pawar himself is corrupt, INC is putting the blame on Pawar as he is agri-minister; probably a tit-for-tat against IPL fiasco.

Since everyone (at that level) is a thief (direct involvement or strategic-silence) we need a law that minimizes the human/political intervention. That makes your question very valid.

I am not experienced in drafting laws. Let me try doing it on this.

[joshvajohn]

Sharad Pawar wary of Sonia Gandhi’s big food security plan
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sh ... an_1458799


Though I agree to the point that everyone is corrupt in the politics but I am not convinced of the argument that there is no food for the hungry folks. Also there is no money to spend on food security of the people. If Congress cannot do it why did they promise in their election campaign and if they do not find money to do it then they should give the government to another party which promised to deliver similar bill. Also when people have Billions to spend on CWG then they do not have money to give people subsidised food grains. Within ten years the conditions will become better in rural areas too. It is not giving free grains it is to distribute the food grains at subsidised rate. When people are able to earn enough money to buy the food at the market price there is no need to give. But I think it is essential to focus only those people who cannot afford to buy food grain for that market price. Such programme should be allowed to 23 or 27 percentage of people who are below poverty lines. If it is only 27% then the amount will come down. It means that they do not have access to earn the money to buy food grains unless subsidised due to various reasons including weather, rural context and other situations. In order to make India grow stronger this is an essential stage she has to go through and go forward. Many people in such contexts turn to naxalites and also to terrorism. Once this food securiry is in place then Government should also plan to make sure the people grow their own and start earning their own. I am also not sure why Sharad Pawar is so bothered and trying to block this bill in every possible way when it is the treasury dept has to be concerned about it much!! Also no one told him that the subsidiaries for the agri will be cut because of food security bill!! One should also notice that Sharad pawar was responsible for many Vidarbha farmer's suicide. Please see some of the links below for Sharad Pawar and his interests to export food grains overseas and his links to Vidharbha cases.

NAC Working Group to draft Food Security Bill, reforming PDS
Friday, October 29, 2010 08:00 IST

SHARAD PAWAR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR VIDARBHA FARMER'S SUICIDES :VIDHARBHA AGRARIAN CRISIS WORSEN AS TOTAL TOLL TO 438
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1 ... s-suicides

Farmer suicide in vidarbha reported on the eve of Sharad Pawar, Ashok Chavan to akola
http://www.mynews.in/News/farmer_suicid ... 91437.html

Pawar assures to help lift ban on export of non-basmati rice

Read more: Pawar assures to help lift ban on export of non-basmati rice - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... z14RGuPPI1
Joseph Alexander, New Delhi
http://www.fnbnews.com/article/detnews. ... ectionid=1

Allow sugar, cotton exports, says Pawar
http://sify.com/finance/allow-sugar-cot ... dhfcb.html

Midcourse correction in ethanol project gives jitters to sugar mills
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/mar ... 874440.cms

IPL scam most serious blow to Sharad Pawar’s power, credibility
http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_ip ... ty_1392793


THE WEALTH OF
SHARAD PAWAR
by Joyeeta Basu

The less than gentle joke in Maharashtra is that Sharad Pawar “Saheb”
has enough personal wealth to run Delhi for five year

http://www.scribd.com/doc/6237552/The-W ... arad-Pawar


I am not sure how true these newspapers and other links are about Sharad Pawar. One point that I would agree is a few politicians in the present government is not interested in people in India rather interested in accumulating the maximum amount of money into their account through their influence and by abusing their power.

[RamaY]

JJ garu,

The more I think about this the more I am convinced that

UPA is not averse to give food subsidies. But it cannot be in the form of food grains as there are no food grains (in reality not in records)

References in this line of thought
- Indian ban on Rice export last couple of years; FCI corruption etc.,
- UPA's employment guarantee scheme costing 50,000+ crores

Pawar wants to lift ban on food exports per your links. This represents the middleman lobby which holds private food-grain stocks. These people control open market prices.

If NAC releases whatever food grains available in IFC thru PDS, then these private stocks result in huge losses. He wants to remove the exports as an exit/escape from this situation.

***
Looks like

- There are huge quantities of food grains in private control >> This lobby is impacted by export controls and is lobbying against NAC's proposal

- UPAII is not sure of how much real food grains it holds in IFC due to corruption. And that is the reason for MMS's hesitation

Looks like it will be one of the large scams of UPAI and UPAII if facts come out... I put the value in Rs 50-100000 crores...

[Theo_Fidel]

Damn this has turned into a bash Sharad Pawar thread. Admittedly he is openly corrupt. But relatively he has not been bad or good for agriculture in India. For India that counts as a positive.

As far as the Right to Food goes, one must remember that enough grain already goes through the PDS system to guarantee 25 kgs every month per family to roughly 600 million people. Yet it never gets there. So we are now going to shovel more grain into a system that already leaks like crazy. Most of this grain will end up on the open market. Madness.

[Rahul Mehta]

1. Pawar is the culprit. He wanted many Indians to be dead at the cost of selling food grains abroad. He wanted to add billions to his Swiss bank accont. Congres govt knows it clearly but all under political calculations. . ...

2. .... I am not convinced of the argument that there is no food for the hungry folks. Also there is no money to spend on food security of the people.

3. If Congress cannot do it why did they promise in their election campaign and if they do not find money to do it then they should give the government to another party which promised to deliver similar bill.

4. But I think it is essential to focus only those people who cannot afford to buy food grain for that market price. Such programme should be allowed to 23 or 27 percentage of people who are below poverty lines. If it is only 27% then the amount will come down. ....

Admins,

1. I am not complaining. In fact, I would give sincere thanks to JJ to throw mud on SP. But given that no admin or any polished BRite, has asked JJ to provide proof or shut up, I am assuming that BR-policy does allow proofless allegations on leaders on issue of corruption. So I would request to admins and all BRites not to ask me to shut up (or ask me to provide proofs) when I throw allegations of bribe-seeking on ABV, LKA, Shourie, Jetley, MMS, Sonia, Yechuri, Karat, NaMo, Buddhadev, Raman Singh, Shivraj Chauhan and other equally corrupt leaders. Thanks in advance.

JJ,

2. There is NO grains to give for free or even low price. The so called "rotting" grain is on paper on. Invisible grain is purchased from farmer, payment is made to farmer, the farmer has to pay it back to FCI babu. The FCI babu gives cash senior FCI babu and money goes all the way to Pawar and MMS\Sonia. (Yes, your truly MMS and Sonia collect a share in every cake). The invisible grain has to be shown as "rotted and disposed". There is physically no way to give that grain to poor or anyone, as that grain doesnt exist.

3. OMG !! Is this your first day in India? You should know that Congress manifesto is toilet paper for Sonia, MMS and all leaders/workers of Congress. Ditto for all parties. Only fools believe that manifesto are real promises. Vachenshu kim Dradrita ... (why be poor while making promises).

4. True. So pls provide drafts of Executive Notifications (and/or legislations) that you think will provide food to poor. And please also provide drafts of ENs (and/or legislations) that would raise food production - because there needs to be food before it can be given to poor. And pls also provide drafts of EN to raise tax money needed to fund the subsidy. Thanks in advance for the drafts.

===

Dear All,

As we all know, the newspapers-owners print ONLY paid news. The paid-newspapers are printing name of SP only and not giving name of MMS\Sonia so that citizens' faith in MMS\Sonia continues. These paid-newspapers have started a litany that "only Sharad Pawar's corruption is responsible for food crisis". It is true that SP's corruption is responsible for food mess, but the "only" word is horribly wrong. All major decisions on food polices, be pricing or allowing speculation or allowing BT-food, is taken by PMO, Cabinet, FinMin, Sonia and of course Agriculture Minister too has role to play. But Agriculture Minister is not the only decision maker nor is the final or most powerful player. The bribes collected by Agriculture Ministry babus has to be shared amongst ALL major Ministers - PM, super-PM, FinMin and surely AgMin. So lets not throw all blame on SP alone. MMS\Sonia are equally involved in bribe collection and sharing and resulting mess. - Thanks.

[vera_k]

I am at a loss to understand why Pawar would have to personally embezzle foodgrain money, because the guy practically owns Maharashtra and parts of California.

I believe the truth lies somewhere along the lines that Pawar has to provide funds to MMS/Sonia/Congress from the foodgrain business. That would explain the curious drama where Pawar asked MMS to reduce his responsibilities (i.e. find another fall guy), but MMS demurred (because no one wants a thankless job?). Thing to consider here is that even a mighty one like Pawar did not have enough money to break Sonia's hold on INC when he broke away.

[joshvajohn]

Centre drafting new law to guarantee food security: Sonia Gandhi
http://sify.com/news/centre-drafting-ne ... hecdf.html

U.S. to advance cooperation with India in agriculture
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article872648.ece

U.S., India plan food security push in Africa - source
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 882919.cms

[joshvajohn]

India, Britain tie up for research on food security
http://www.mynews.in/News/india_britain ... 08827.html

Indo-US initiative on Evergreen Revolution for food security
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 08:00 IST
Our Bureau, Mumbai
http://www.fnbnews.com/article/detnews. ... ectionid=1

Govt serious about `right to food' bill: minister

Read more: Govt serious about `right to food' bill: minister - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... z14yyI17Jd

Food security will reduce maternal mortality: Expert
2010-11-03 16:30:00
http://sify.com/news/food-security-will ... jaiba.html

Sonia Gandhi signals right to food
http://www.humsafar.com/sonia-gandhi-si ... -1349.html

[RamaY]

^ Like RM-ji says,

we need to see how they plan to guarantee "right to food". The devil is in details.

I seriously doubt corporate farming is the solution to this. Instead govt should plan a complete overhaul of agri-sector in such a way that the technology is indianized and made available to rural India.

Food plays a vital role on Individual being (physical, mental, and psychological) as per Indic system. The kind of food we take determines our thoughts, words and deeds. So it is extremely important that Indians get completely natural and healthy food so it enables a happy and prosperous India.

[ramana]

Theo,
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 89#p972889

Was talking to some people who would like:

- list of organisations by region and then by state which can provide/distribute the food
- names and contacts
- a ppt to spread the message
- benefits and how to implement and costs

PPt Delivery in six months? or suggest a date.

Can I ask for your help?

[Theo_Fidel]

Theo,
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 89#p972889

Was talking to some people who would like:

- list of organisations by region and then by state which can provide/distribute the food
- names and contacts
- a ppt to spread the message
- benefits and how to implement and costs

PPt Delivery in six months? or suggest a date.

Can I ask for your help?

Not a problem. Though I depend on my Dad for contacts in Chennai and my contacts in the South are Palaymkottai and Nagercoil.

To attack child malnutrition I would advocate 2 things.

- Get the Avocado into the Indian diet. One 1/4 slice a day would take care of the problem. It is also vegetarian.
- Create simple 200 Calorie satchels of peanut, coconut, or other paste to distribute for free. Similar to Plumpy'nut. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumpy%27nut

[ramana]

Thanks for the help.

One problem is peanuts could have allergy reactions. In massa they have a thing called GORP: Good Old Raisins and peanuts. Folks add M&MS to it and call it trail mix.

Is it possible to organize NGOs to create a supply chain using local resources and distribute among school kids for starters and then to pregnant women?

[joshvajohn]

Get local bodies to implement food security, suggest experts
http://sify.com/finance/get-local-bodie ... jjdij.html

A single solution
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editori ... 849016.ece

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOuHp84K ... r_embedded#!

Comments | Share | Print | Rate
BUSINESS_STANDARD
CFTRI to play vital role in realising right to food
http://sify.com/finance/cftri-to-play-v ... ehehj.html

[Muppalla]

Though this article has political reference but a good one with substantial references to rural development. Especially education.
Gujarat: The incumbency factor

Why doesn't the anti-incumbency factor work against Narendra Modi? He has been in power for nine years. Crises that would have singed other chief ministers leave him unscathed. The answer lies in his innovative and inclusive day-to-day governance programmes which have created a public image of an administrator who cares about popular grievances.

As a leading social worker who is not a great admirer of Modi says, "His success stems from a combination of a few populist and many visionary non-populist public welfare programmes which he implements with equal vigour even when they don't hold any immediate political benefit for him. This is something new that people are seeing. Modi's ability to create a public perception that his Government cares for sections like women, children and the poor has helped further."

Feroze Shaikh, a daily wage labourer in Dhoraji in Saurashtra, will vouch for this. His four-year-old son needed immediate cardiac surgery, but Shaikh had no money to pay for it. The government stepped in and the boy was operated upon free of cost at the U.N. Mehta Institute of Cardiology in Ahmedabad like 2,000 other poor cardiac patients. A grateful Shaikh says, "There's no denying that Modi's government cares for the poor like no one else does." Says the institute's director Dr. R.K. Patel, "The scheme bears the cost of any surgery for poor patients and is unparalleled in the country and has struck a chord with the poor." Perhaps this is the key to the BJP's recent landslide victory in the state civic polls.

One of his oldest schemes is Swagat, which has won many international awards. Once a month the chief minister connects complainants, officers concerned and district collectors via video conferencing. The scheme has a very high success rate and keeps the bureaucracy on tenterhooks. One-Day Governance, a scheme under which 250 centres carry out 70 services - including issuing various certificates and licenses in a fixed time - are also monitored online.

Modi is the author of the Kanya Kelavni (girl child education) scheme, travelling to rural Gujarat once a year with his IAS officers to persuade villagers to send their girl children to school instead of just doing daily household chores. The eight-year-old Betri Bachao Andolan (Save the Girl Child Mission) scheme under the State's Women and Child Welfare Department has been spreading public awareness against sex determination tests and female infanticide. Gunotsav was an unprecedented self-appraisal drive for mapping the precise academic strength of students in the state's government schools.

Modi visited schools in Gujarat's remotest corners with his team of IAS officers to assess students and their progress with the help of a pre-set questionnaire for each standard. The exercise showed that the government school students were lagging behind their urban counterparts and helped the administration chart out a set of corrective measures.

To inculcate reading habits in students instead of letting them watch TV, last week more than 70 lakh students led by Modi simultaneously read books across the state under the Vanche Gujarat (Read Gujarat) campaign. The state government has also chalked out a programme under which scooter-borne librarians will go to villages with books and ask school students to read them under the watchful eyes of local teachers.

Later this month the chief minister is organising Gujarat Khel Mahakumbh in Gandhinagar in which 7.50 lakh students have registered for athletics and western and Indian sports disciplines; the annual state winter games have only 30,000 students participating. Ahmedabad District Collector Harit Shukla aptly puts it, "People have seen only votecatching measures like getting free colour television sets on the eve of elections. But Modi has built a brand that goes beyond votes and touches people's hearts through his peopleoriented measures at the grassroot level and his communication skills."

For Gujarat, Brand Modi seems to be worth another Assembly election.

[vera_k]

With respect to food habits and social attitudes impacting nutrition, it would be useful to introduce course content in schools, and an annual age+weight checkup to detect children with poor nutrition. Most kids go to school now, and in the absence of a good medical infrastructure, this would be a good way to flag parents who need to be educated on nutrition.

[Nihat]

Villages are the bane of India, as long as small scattered villages exist in India, abject poverty will be a sad reality.

That is not a correct understanding. The problem is urban migration. Imagine a scenario

Many small farmers and agril-labor of Inda are moving to Urban centers creating unnecessary strain on economy as well as civic infrastructure.

These people have a (better) home, better education system (public schools) and minimal health care government hospitals in (some of) rural regions than their urban counterparts. I am talking about the access to home/education/health-care between an average village and average city for a family with a monthly income of less than Rs 1500 in village and Rs 4000 in town. These numbers are made up.

What we are seeing now is a family making Rs 3000 (15 days x 2 adults x 100 Rs per day = 3000Rs income) in a village with a home, primary education, and basic health care (RMP doctors or Herbal medicine) moving to a city (20 days x 2 adults x 150 = 6000Rs income) with a promise of Rs 6000 income. In cities they live in slum areas with no home (lot worse than their village homes), abysmal health care, and costly primary education. An equivalent home (a small hut with at least 50-100 sq. yards of open space for growing vegetables, hens etc).

Net/net there is no improvement in standard of living in spite of ~100% increase in income levels. It does appear that the overall economy is growing but the standard of living remains same.

This is the true BANE of INDIA. What India should do instead, IMHO, is to take technology, employment opportunities, health care, and better education to India's rural population. That is when we see real change in India's stand of living.

I am working on developing such a plan will post it soon.

first of all, I'm really looking forward to you posting the plan you have mentioned.

But I have serious apprehensions about villages of India. Indian villages are basically small to mid sized population clusturs where road access is minimal, healthcare is hard to reach (which decent doc. wants to serve there), education suffers because curriculum is out of touch and quality of staff is seriously apalling and lets not even talk about justice, food security, castesim and a variety of discriminations and Isolations.

Underemployment is massive and dependence on agriculture and thereby Monsoons is just not acceptable. All of this is a massive burden on any govt. and glorification of the Rural India image has not helped in the past either. By contrast citiy populations are much easier to manage, education and healthcare system is much better social behaviousral norms undergo vast improvement compared to villages.

Rapid migration to Tier 2 and 3 cities is needed to create a credible work force for tomorrow which is not a liability but a future asset for the nation. Meaingful agriculturl reforms will also remain stuck while so many people scattered in so many locations across India remain mired in the undependable income source of agriculture.

66% rural population is insanely high for a major emerging economy and a major drain on the country's finances and rural contribution to GDP is minimal compared to Industrial and service sector.

[RamaY]

^
While I write my report, could you please do some math?

What would be the cost of urbanization to move say 621 million Indians to urban centers, be they are existing or new cities? Right now India has 340 million urban population and will need to urbanize 621 million Indians to reach US levels of urbanization.

While doing so, kindly calculate the money needed to modernize India's 600,000 villages with all modern amenities such as roads, 24hr electricity, telecommunication connection (telephone, broadband internet), primary health care, quality education and so on.

[joshvajohn]

Rural India has crucial role to play in India's economy
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/fea ... 922424.cms

India Economic Summit: The Rural Conundrum
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010 ... conundrum/

[Nihat]

^
While I write my report, could you please do some math?

What would be the cost of urbanization to move say 621 million Indians to urban centers, be they are existing or new cities? Right now India has 340 million urban population and will need to urbanize 621 million Indians to reach US levels of urbanization.

While doing so, kindly calculate the money needed to modernize India's 600,000 villages with all modern amenities such as roads, 24hr electricity, telecommunication connection (telephone, broadband internet), primary health care, quality education and so on.

It's not a question of money as 621 million don't have to be relocated immidiatly and nor is every villager flooding to major city in India. Urbanization is a natural process and every industralized nation in the world has a high ratio of urban populace vis-a-vis Rural population, do you not wonder why this is the case.

While the concept of a model village with all ameneties is very noble thought but the reality remains that Rural India will never match up to urban India in quality of education, healthcare, communication, law and order etc etc. The future of India does not lie in villages and this is something which should be kept in mind while introducing village reforms.

We cannot take good healthcare, flawless communication network, excellent teachers and education Infrastructure to all distant villages of India to nearly 650 million people. Thats next to impossible , whereas providing all these facilities in city domain is not even half the task.

IMHO rural reforms should focus on long term merging of rural areas into a singular town (prerebly industrial town) thereby pulling people out of villages while not overloading our cities and creating new Towns that will later evolve into proper urban centeres of the future.

[RamaY]

It's not a question of money as 621 million don't have to be relocated immidiatly and nor is every villager flooding to major city in India. Urbanization is a natural process and every industralized nation in the world has a high ratio of urban populace vis-a-vis Rural population, do you not wonder why this is the case.

It is indeed a question of money, whether it is my pocket or govt's pocket. Nothing comes free. Please put the total ECONOMIC cost when you present your data.

While the concept of a model village with all ameneties is very noble thought but the reality remains that Rural India will never match up to urban India in quality of education, healthcare, communication, law and order etc etc. The future of India does not lie in villages and this is something which should be kept in mind while introducing village reforms.

We cannot take good healthcare, flawless communication network, excellent teachers and education Infrastructure to all distant villages of India to nearly 650 million people. Thats next to impossible , whereas providing all these facilities in city domain is not even half the task.

Is it truly impossible? Again, please present your thoughts with some data to prove why it is impossible, if so.

IMHO rural reforms should focus on long term merging of rural areas into a singular town (prerebly industrial town) thereby pulling people out of villages while not overloading our cities and creating new Towns that will later evolve into proper urban centeres of the future.

Again, this was my original question. Kindly put a Rs figure to build/develop/expand towns to accommodate 60+% of Indian population (>700 million) and compare it with the cost to get equally good (competitive to their urban centers) infrastructure to 600,000 villages in India.

We should talk thru data as numbers do not lie.

[ramana]

Slicon India reports:

LINK

However, in India, Anil Gupta, the founder of India's Honeybee Network picked Mansukhbhai Jagani, Mansukhbhai Patel and Mansukhbhai Prajapati as India's most powerful entrepreneurs. Jagani developed a motorcycle-based tractor for India's poor farmers, which is both cost effective, costing roughly USD 318, and fuel efficient. Patel, a farmer Patel invented a cotton stripping machine that has significantly cut the cost of cotton farming and revolutionised India's cotton industry and Prajapati, a potter, invented a clay non-stick pan that costs Rs 100 and a clay refrigerator that runs without electricity for those who cannot afford a fridge or their electricity and maintenance costs.

Has anyone seen any pictures of these? Maybe the HoneyBee site has them.

[Vipul]

Ramana, i remember reading about some of these innovators on Rediff.com a couple of months back.

[ramana]

Hindu article on Mansukhbhai Jagani's Motorcycle tractor. Idea is to repalce the bullock powered plough system.

MotorCycle tractor

He is using the cycle as chassis and uses a 5.5 HP diesel engine. Good idea.

The bullet tractor ploughs an acre of land in just half an hour with only two litres of diesel.

“When a farmer asked me for a replacement for his two bullocks, I got a flash in my mind inspired by a local mode of transport, the three-wheel taxi chakdo (common transport in the region), and designed what I call Bullet Santi,” says Mr. Jagani.

The motorcycle’s engine was converted to a 5.5 HP diesel engine and the rear wheel replaced with an attachment with two wheels.

Once a tool bar was fixed to the attachment this unique machine could carry out various farming operations such as furrow opening, sowing, inter-culturing and spraying.

MIT's Tech Review of same invention points out the innovations.

LINK

Rs 40K without the motorcycle is a bit high. The idea of a convertor is good for rural use. Wonder if someone (RajaRam?) can talk to Enfield in Chennai and get those attachments mass produced with the Jagani's participation? Will be able to sell more Enfields!

Forbes list of seven most powerful rural Indians

[ramana]

Awesome story of perseverance and innovation:

http://adport.net/success-stories/mansu ... apati.html