Bharat Rakshak

Sachin wrote:

Jamal K. Malik wrote:But,IMVHO the govt is solely responsible for it.

"Poor people" who insist on destroying public property, and that too which is in no way connected to the issue will soon lose out on popular support. What kind of revolution can you bring in by blasting away a railway station and injuring the running staff, station master etc.?

And that is what is exactly happening with naxalites and their sympathisers. People will rightly call them as murderers and demand the govt. to be ruthless on them.

The real poor folks, how ever would remain between the devil and the deep sea.

Ya they are murderers today.

Posting of Doctors in Rural Areas

The Sambasiva Rao Committee had recommended that one year rural posting may be made mandatory for the MBBS doctors desirous of pursuing Postgraduate Medical Degree courses. While the Central Government has not made the rural posting mandatory to pursue Postgraduate Medical Degree courses, the following Medical Council of India’s Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations have been amended to encourage doctors to serve in the rural areas:

(i) 50% reservation in Post Graduate Diploma Courses for Medical Officers in the Government service who have served for at least three years in remote and difficult areas; and

(ii) Incentive at the rate of 10% of the marks obtained for each year in service in remote or difficult areas upto the maximum of 30% of the marks obtained in the entrance test for admissions in Post Graduate Medical Courses.

This information was given by Shri Dinesh Trivedi, Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.

Pass Books to NREGA Workers

LOK SABHA

The Union Minister Of State for Rural Development Shri Pradeep Jain Aditya informed Lok Sabha today that the Ministry has received one reference in respect of Chhattisgarh State regarding non-issuance of pass-books to NREGA workers by the State Bank of India, Lakhram in Bilaspur district. In written reply to a question in the house ,he informed that jIt has been stated that only Bank Account number is provided after 5-6 days. Another case of delay in issue of pass books by Post Offices has been reported in Burdwan district of West Bengal. Delay in issuance of pass books by the post offices is due to delay in receiving the pass books in the different branches and sub-post offices from Divisional officers or Headquarters.

With a view to ensure that all wage payments to NREGA workers are made through bank/post office accounts, the Ministry has convened joint workshop of bankers and program officers; meeting of bankers and postal officers under the Chairmanship of Secretary Rural Development. Besides another meeting of bankers was also convened in September,09 under the Chairmanship of Principal Secretary(Finance) with a view to resolve the hurdles coming in the way of opening accounts. .

Solar lamps face subsidy shadow in rural India

The solar lamps in Chikanpada were provided by Greenlight Planet, a for-profit enterprise, based in the U.S. It was started by one Indian and two American college students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign last year with a specific agenda: profitable philanthropy. The start-up now distributes lanterns in the western state of Maharashtra, the southern state of Karnataka, and the eastern states of Bihar and Orissa.

Mr. Sekhsaria says that for such solar lamps to take off on a large scale requires them to be sold to villagers at such a low cost. But so far the government, which provides huge subsidies for power nationwide, hasn't accepted the Sun King as a product that meets its qualifications for receiving subsidies. The reason: its thin beam of light emits an average of only 6 lux (a measure of light penetration), short of the 16 lux average required for government backing.

Tatas do a Nano in Water Purifier market

MUMBAI: The Tata Group on Monday announced the launch of probably the world’s cheapest water purifier, as part of the conglomerate’s efforts to stem growing water-related diseases. Called Swach, the purifier — developed jointly by Tata group companies Tata Chemicals, TCS and Titan — will have two variants with retail prices of Rs 749 and Rs 999 respectively.

“The quest is not to create the cheapest products,” chairman Ratan Tata said at the launch. “Our focus is on accessing the largest number of people. That is what drove (the efforts on) Nano, that is what drove the low cost housing project and that is what is driving this too,” he added.

The product, which has been pitched against consumer goods giant Unilever’s PureIt, will use distribution network of Tata group companies such as Rallis and the Tata Kisan Sansar, a rural-centric resource center. Tata Salt’s distribution network would also be tapped while NGOs and local help groups will also be roped in. The $71-billion Tata group, one of India’s oldest business families, has been involved with various mass utility projects and innovative products, including the supercomputer Eka.

Earlier this year, the group caught the world’s fancy when it launched what is called the cheapest ever car — for Rs 100,000 — driven by the 71-year old chairman’s dream to sell affordable cars to the country’s rising middle class. The company has also ventured into low cost housing.

Based on a concept developed by the TCS Innovation Labs — TRDDC — the Swach combines low-cost ingredients, such as rice husk ash with nano technology. “Water-borne disease is the single greatest threat to global health, with diarrhea, jaundice, typhoid, cholera, polio, and gastroenteritis spread by contaminated water,” said Tata Chemicals MD R Mukundan. Citing a 2007 United Nations report during a presentation to launch the water purifier, Mr Mukundan said that half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-borne diseases. In India, such diseases cause more than 1.5 times the deaths caused by AIDS and double the deaths caused by road accidents, he added.

Built around a bulb-like water purifier made of natural elements such as rice husk ash filled with nano-silver particles, Tata Swach can function without electric power or running water. The cartridge bulb has a purification medium that kills bacteria and disease causing organisms. It can purify up to 3,000 litres of water, after which the cartridge stops water flow. Fifteen patents have been filed for the technology and product.

I recall going to Exhibition grounds in has kid to see the water filter candles develped by CSIR. Guess they never could market it!

ramana wrote:I recall going to Exhibition grounds in has kid to see the water filter candles develped by CSIR. Guess they never could market it!

I guess it worked and even now there are many water filter manufacturing companies that are based on filter candles. The one manufactured by Tata in next step in filtering water.

Yeah it was an unglazed porcelain candle. The scientist used to make as look at the water in a microscope before and after the filtration process. I want to know the role of silver in this Tata Swach process. Is it for reverse osmosis to get the arsenic in well water?


Rural and traditional folk store water overnight in copper vessels. One friend from Rajasthan still drinks the water from a copper tumbler. Whats rice husk ash doing? Is it a potash substitute? Or is its a matrix for the nano silver particles?

ramana wrote:Yeah it was an unglazed porcelain candle. The scientist used to make as look at the water in a microscope before and after the filtration process. I want to know the role of silver in this Tata Swach process. Is it for reverse osmosis to get the arsenic in well water?


Rural and traditional folk store water overnight in copper vessels. One friend from Rajasthan still drinks the water from a copper tumbler. Whats rice husk ash doing? Is it a potash substitute? Or is its a matrix for the nano silver particles?

Silver and copper work as a ionopore. The copper ion disrupted the enzyme structures of the cell wall allowing the silver ion to penetrate inside cell and disturbe the cell function.
Silver level of only 20 ppm kills Legionella and permisable limit is 100 ppm.
The chemical reaction that oxidizes impurities when chlorine is added, also forms carcinogenic byproducts.

No wonder my mom used to say drink your water from a silver glass and I being modern scoffed and thought it was elitist!

Rural Public Phones

Rajya Sabha

Agreement was signed with M/S BSNL in November 2004 for provision of Village Public Telephone (VPTs) in 66, 822 uncovered villages in the country as per the Census 1991 with subsidy support from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) as a part of the activities under Bharat Nirman Programme. The number of VPTs is being revised to 62, 302 as provision of VPTs in some of the villages is not feasible due to difficult terrain, non-traceability and submerging of villages.

Out of 62, 302 VPTs 60, 208 VPTs (96.64%) have been provided as on 31.10.2009.

All the remaining inhabited villages have been included for provision of VPTs with subsidy support from USOF.

This reply was given by Shri Gurudas Kamat, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology in Rajya Sabha today.

NREGA successful in Haryana

Chandigarh, Dec 10 (PTI) The Haryana government today said the Centre's flagship programme NREGA has proved successful in generating employment and mandays in the state.

"Since its launch in February, 2006, NREGA has helped generate as many as 148.14 lakh mandays in the rural areas.

Durable assets involving soil and water conservation, afforestation, desilting of ponds, development of lands and link roads have been created, an official spokesman said.

Since its inception, expenses to the tune of Rs 254 crore have been incurred under the scheme and 4.17 lakh family job cards have been issued to registered households all over the state. Out of these registered households, 3.65 lakh demanded and were given employment, he said.

There is a growing awareness to modernize irrigation tanks and build check dams. Here is a report

Visit any village falling in the sub-basin of a major river in Pudukottai district, one would come across massive project being executed on the water-body there.

Pudukottai district is a land of tanks accounting for thousands of minor tanks and major system tanks. Owing to lack of periodical maintenance, the area of ayacut of a majority of tanks and anicuts had got reduced. Many were plagued with encroachments . All these factors had heavily cost the farming community in terms of agricultural productivity.

To tide over these problems and with a view to restore the ayacut, the World Bank-aided ‘Tamil Nadu Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation and Water Bodies Restoration and Management’ (TN IAMWARM) Scheme had come as a boon to the farmers. The Public Works Department’s Water Resources Organisation wing has taken up massive projects at a total outlay of Rs.141.52 crore being implemented in a phased manner. In all, 84 anicuts with 762 tanks are getting a fresh lease of life in terms of storage capacity. The project will restore the ayacut of 51,836 hectares in the district.

. . . “About 400 villages will get an assured irrigation facility through the programme” says the Executive Engineers

Efficient storage of rain or flood waters; meticulous irrigational management; diversification of crops; exploring the possibility of raising double crops every year are some of the major objectives of the scheme.

A tie-up that gave villagers access to clean water

An initiative for improving access to clean water and educating the public about the hazards of drinking contaminated water with a rare collaboration among panchayat samitis, government departments and private institutions has improved the quality of life for many grappling with high fluoride content in water in Goner village, 20 km from here {Jaipur}.

Fluoride in water is a major health hazard for the residents of Goner — comprising 800 households — and diseases of bones, joints and teeth, including deformity, after long-term consumption of groundwater are common among the villagers. Private organisations such as Nandi Foundation, Bosch and Mahatma Gandhi Medical College have joined hands with the local Panchayat Samiti and the Public Health Engineering Department to provide an answer to the challenge on the health front for villagers by installing a reverse osmosis-based water purifier.

Bosch has donated the water purifier with the capacity of supplying 1,000 litres of water per hour to the entire village. Water is supplied at a nominal charge of Rs. 92 a month per household for a 20-litre canister everyday.

Kunal Kothari, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College’s primary health care and strategic initiative director, says the private players are operating the system for the benefit of villagers.

Schools have to pay only Rs. 62 for the same 20-litre canister.

Food Security Act
http://www.righttofoodindia.org/data/co ... 040709.pdf

I hope this is implemented soon.

Govt to pass Right to Food Act for inclusive growth: FM
http://www.livemint.com/2010/01/1022013 ... d-Act.html

Comments: I hope all the state governments will provide midday meals to all those children who are in need of food. This will motivate them to come regularly to school. In TN midday meals certainly brought radical transformation in the attendance of schools.

Rural health degree only for village students

New Delhi, Feb 5 (PTI) The proposed bachelor degree in rural health care would be open only to students who have done their entire education from a notified rural area.

Only a student who has had his entire schooling in a rural area with a population not more than 10,000 would be eligible for selection, which would be done by professional bodies set up by the Directorate of Medical Education of the state governments, according to the final draft of the proposed course.

In a two-day meeting that ended today, a decision was also taken to name the course as 'Bachelor of Rural Health Care'.

The meeting was attended by principals of 300 medical colleges, the Directors of Medical Education of all states and Union Health Ministry officials.

A bold and much needed step.

This might be useful in the Sundarbans area.

MIT Tech Review article

Biofuels from Saltwater Crops

German Technology changes lives of Baiga tribals in MP
Excerpts

Tribals of the Chhapra village in the district, who still trade through the barter system, have achieved a great degree of self-sufficiency through the installation of the Hydraulic Ram or HydRam, as it is popularly known.

The HydRam works without electricity or any other fuel, making it ideal for the remotely located Chhapra village. The HydRam has been installed on a three-meter waterfall on the river Chhipani in the village. After the completion of the installation in December 2006, the village agriculture has been revived providing the villagers with a great deal of self-sufficiency.

A Hydraulic Ram (HydRam) is basically a water-lifting device that works like a pump. For its operation the HydRam requires a steady stream of water, without which it stops functioning.

The HydRam system consists of a water-collecting structure (intake chamber or weir);a feeding pipe with a certain slope, a water pond where the machine is installed; flood protection if necessary; a delivery pipe, storage tanks and distribution systems.

The HydRam installed in Chhapra pumps water to four delivery tanks at the rate of 1.75 lakh litres every 24 hours.

The volunteers were imparted training in Maharashtra, where the machine has been installed in some villages of the Ratnagiri district.

X-Post...

rohiths wrote:Nice article from Sainath.
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/02/18/stor ... 821000.htm

Even though the topic appears to be the Bollywoodization of news media, the last paras have sobering stats on plight of rural folks. Instead of worrying about ponzi stats of PRC shouldnt we worry about whats up or down in India?

Leave aside escaping a recession, India Shining is back. The cover story of a leading weekly gushes over the fantastic ‘rural resurgence' that is, in fact, saving all of us. Farmers are doing just great. Drip, micro-sprinkler, and other micro irrigation, the stories in it suggest, played a major role in this hidden-from-the-human-eye revival. This resurgence is seen more in urban media than in rural India. And the proliferation of such stories across the media spectrum reflects, in part, the strenuous media efforts of a major Maharashtra-based company. A corporate group that spends a fortune on propaganda and whose interests in this line of irrigation are pushed by some of the most powerful members of the Union Cabinet. Oddly, stories such as these come out even as the government's own projections for growth in agriculture are dismaying.

The main ‘rural resurgence' story hit the stands the same day the National Crime Records Bureau officially brought the 2008 data for farm suicides on to its website. The 16,196 suicides that year brought the tally of farmers' suicides since 1997 to 199,132. That's the largest single, sustained wave of such suicides ever recorded in history — anywhere. Guess nobody told them about the resurgence. Farmers in 2008 did know of that year's loan waiver, but it didn't stop large numbers of them from taking their lives.

The ‘rural resurgence' story comes after any number of the government's own committees, commissions and reports suggest that it revise poverty figures upwards. Whether it's the Suresh Tendulkar committee, the BPL Expert Group, or earlier the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised sector. Or a U.N. study which reports that 34 million more Indians remained poor or joined their ranks in 2008 and 2009, because of the ‘slowdown.' That is, 34 million more than would have met that fate prior to the 2008 crisis. It matters little if Census data show us that 8 million cultivators quit agriculture between just 1991 and 2001. (That is, on average, well over 2,000 a day, every day for 10 years.) Or that the 2011 Census just months from now will show us how many more have fled agriculture since then, un-seduced by the rural resurgence. Never mind the facts. One giant private irrigation company stands to make its already huge fortune bigger. Good for growth.

Recall it was the wave of farmer suicides in Andhra Pradesh that brought the UPA to power in 2004. So not much has changed since then for rural folks?

How can that be when the UPA did well in AP this time as well? Or is there a grain of truth in the EVM rigging theories?

As per Sushma Swaraj, agricultural land has declined by 8% in last few years.
We are introuble

While on the subject of rural development we should also look at small town development in rural India. The key is virtual urbanization of India as the role of agriculture shifts. And here small towns are the enablers.

^^^
Development of Small towns was neglected like rural area.

Rs.66,100 crore provided for Rural Development

UNIT COST UNDER INDIRA AWAS YOJANA INCREASED TO RS.45,000 IN PLAIN AREAS AND TO RS.48,500 IN HILLY AREAS

ADDITIONAL CENTRAL ASSISTANCE OF RS. 1,200 CRORE PROVIDED FOR DROUGHT MITIGATION IN BUNDELKHAND

PLAN ALLOCATION FOR SCHOOL EDUCATION INCREASED BY 16 PER CENT

ANNUAL HEALTH SURVEY TO PREPARE DISTRICT HEALTH PROFILE OF ALL DISTRICTS TO BE CONDUCTED IN 2010-11

WFP map of world food consumption



Note Indian stats.

ramana wrote:WFP map of world food consumption

Note Indian stats.

Ramana: Can you please post the source of this map? Not because I don't you, but because I need the original source for my 'professional' use. Thanks in advance.

Go to the WFP site. Its UN agency. Its called the fat map.

ramana wrote:WFP map of world food consumption



Note Indian stats.

Pardon me, but this is surely per capita? Forgive me if it was a stupid question.

Here is the link
[url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/princess- ... 57352.html]LINK[/source]

Yes its per captia.

Per capita calorie consumption on a nation by nation basis, compiled and produced by the World Food Program

Sonia pushes people to monitor welfare schemes
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Sonia ... 0335[quote]

She also mentioned the Right to Education and told her audience that the party has not forgotten its promise for Right to Food. [/quote]

I hope the congress goverment woud pass the amendments for Right to food.

California to Kangra: One man’s revolution

Ramesh Ganeriwal and his organic farm have transformed the way a tiny village in Himachal Pradesh looks at itself and the world, since the 64-year-old NRI returned to India five years ago and made the state his home.

Ganeriwal, an energy engineer who spent 36 years in California, grows a wide range of vegetables, produces kaluna (a dark-brown local rice variety), and has set up an ayurvedic garden at his organic farm in Kotla village.

“Every bit of my farm is connected to nature,” he says. “I want others to follow it (organic farming) as a way of life.” He has employed five villagers permanently on his farm, and hires more than 15 in the sowing and harvesting season every year.

“He works with us in the field,” says Madan (42), a villager and an admirer. “Whether it’s mixing cow dung for manure, milching livestock, or sowing, weeding and harvesting, he puts in an equal effort.”

Ganeriwal, who updates himself about farming through discussions with villagers, interaction with international farm scientists and by surfing the Internet, guides villagers when they face problems in their farms.

An Argentine couple is currently staying on his farm to learn rainwater harvesting techniques.

“I don’t have commercial interests,” Ganeriwal says. “I am developing it as a self sustainable eco-demonstration farm for others to follow.”

Learnt that one IITian sanyasi is working in rural areas of Uttaranchal - sanyasi name is Haridas Swami.

Recently he has inititated some development programs typical to the himalayan region. He is establishing Ayurvedic research centre, setting up solar powered street lights in couple of villages and also planning to set up a school in Dharali village.

The need of structured development of the rural sectors which is mainly dependent on agriculture and other forms of unorganised production is extremely important considering the gaps in the development and income level of the rural and urban areas. This gap is also contributing towards the social unrest and bringing in threats of extremism.
It is high time to address the major problem of organising the agricultural sector considering the total structural and economic changes those are going on in India, lest the social divide increases. The implementation of the concept mentioned below may allow the people of the villages to have the living standards of their counter parts in the cities and will allow the decentralisation of the power centres takes place in practice.
Broad outline of a possible scheme is described below which with slight modification can be extended to other fields also.
Scheme for organising agricultural sector :

PRESENT SCENARIO :
1. The agricultural land is highly divided leading to loss of land
2. Even in a single village, people live in several clusters which makes it difficult to organize better infrastructure
3. People are few and far apart, which is a hindrance to security and community living
4. Lack of necessary support percolating from top or any other means
5. Resistance to movement of people from cities to villages
6. Lack of resources for education, health, insurances, social safety, etc.
7. Cities getting crowded and villages getting poorer and neglected
8. Lack of information, connection, employment, etc.
9. Still practicing the age old methods without scientific development in most areas
10. Divided into narrow communities
11. Depending on the unorganized & unmonitored sectors of NGOs to deliver marginal improvement

WHAT DO WE WANT ?
1. Better productivity
2. Better profitability
3. Better employment
4. Better social safety
5. Better education
6. Better health services
7. Better Population control
8. Better awareness
9. Better resource management

SCHEME :
1. Mark an area of existing agricultural lands (from single or multiple villages belonging to several land owners) – which may be in thousands (to be decided optimally) of acres in each area.
2. Create Autonomous Co-operative like body in each of the area.
3. The land owners will be the members of the co-operative.
4. The shares as per the land holding will be issued to the members and the original demarcated land deed may still be retained by owners
5. The cooperative will be run by an elected body from the members or professionals or a combination of both.
6. The cooperative may have its own tractors and other equipment needed for production.
7. There can be biogas production centre to supplement energy and manure
8. The persons (one from each family) with less/ no shares (if he does not have any other means of earning) will be employed (on priority basis if the person wishes) for carrying out the day to day work related to the production and management.
9. Each co-operative will have pension scheme for employees, group insurance scheme and crop insurance scheme.
10. Each cooperative will have a medical centre, shopping complex, entertainment centre, primary school, telecom centre and an Internet point
11. The housing for an entire cooperative may be located at a single location (with due respect to the wishes of each community) for efficient management of power and water. (This is for those villages where the housings are scattered. For the semi towns having all the above facilities, only the cooperative may be formed)
12. The products from the farming will be distributed as per the share holdings.
13. Members can however empower the cooperative to sell their full / part thereof product share in the market, the proceedings (less the over head charges) from the same can be remitted as accordingly.
14. In a block of five to eight ( to be decided with respect to region profile, etc. ) such cooperatives, there will be storage facility (one or two), research centre (run by private / govt. agency), nodal management point (run by private / govt. agency), Senior secondary school, etc.
15. Each cooperative will be connected by permanent road link to neighboring cooperatives and the nearest cities.

ADVANTAGES :
1. More area for farming as less wastage of unused land (the dividers marking each land will be removed)
2. Better utilization of scarce resources. Do not have to maintain cattle, spend individually on costly support systems, etc.
3. Production of value added products with back up from the research centres.
4. Better land and time management (with scientific backup from research & nodal agencies)
5. Better output, as the farming is mechanized and scientific.
6. Avoiding high cost of storage, and middlemen.
7. Better medical attention
8. Better sanitation, education, right to information, awareness, etc.
9. Decentralization of information and power
10. Networked through computer centres horizontally and vertically
11. Leading to transparency and better top-down management
12. Better management of population control, resource control, etc.
13. Better transparency of the whole system.
14. Less loss of human lives and infrastructure during calamity
15. Proper estimation of losses during calamity.
16. Better quality representation in the govt. and elected bodies.
17. Lessen the resistance of the flow of manpower needed for schools and hospitals from the nearest cities
18. Can have a dairy for scientific and hygienic production
19. Can have the advantage of remote training for the aspiring students and village folks
20. Can lead to less division in terms of caste creed, religion, etc.
Already there are involvement of Corporate in bits and pieces like eChoupal of ITC, PURA, AQUA, etc

IMPLEMENTATION :
1. As of now the Industrial houses have been more or less concentrating on urban areas for any kind of social commitments
2. Let each Industrial house, with more than a stipulated turnover, adopt and setup cooperatives (without material benefit) with controlled interventation
3. This would be parallel to government efforts in this regard
4. Let private schools being registered in cities have a mandatory condition of opening a branch in the nearby cooperative (to be decided by registering authority)
5. Similarly for hospitals and others socially needed facilities
6. Let there be carrot and stick policy for all regarding population control
• Any family having one child will have the benefit of guaranteed higher study and job
• More than two children will attract more tax on all fronts

CHALLENGES :
1. Initial caste related divides
a) Better handled by Corporate
b) Political pressure to conform
c) Court directives
2. Political divides between clusters / villages
a) Better handled by NGOs / Corporates
b) State level intervention and consensus
3. Reach the most interior
a) Start with outskirts of cities, towns, etc

CONCLUSION :
1. This is only a schematic idea and should be refined for better and efficient implementation and functioning.
2. Once implemented, the fruits of the economic reforms can percolate fast to all layers of the society
3. Integration of the society will be much better
4. Poverty control and focus areas can be ascertained realistically

Focus on small farmers to achieve food security: Swaminathan
http://sify.com/finance/focus-on-small- ... geaei.html

UPA 2 report card: Govt committed to enacting food security Act
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indi ... 999937.cms

What happened to Food Security Act?