Welcome to the fifth issue

of Grasroots in 2011

To illustrate the likely gains of an aggregated audit approach as outlined in our May 2010 paper LB Division planned along with the office of PAG (Civil) Allahabad and in consultation with RS‐I wing a district‐centric audit of rural social sector in Ghaziabad District This audit exercise involved inter alia audit inspections of District Panchayat DRDA Block Panchayats (4) Village Panchayats (40) civil DDOs (7) of a sample selected with due diligence and entry and exit conference with the District amp PRI officials We selected Ghaziabad was for its proximity to HQ so that LB Division in HQ could associate itself with the experimental audit exer‐cise without much diffi‐culty We have included a write up on this audit ex‐periment in this issue

MoPR has developed an online Training Repository for Panchayati Raj (wwwpri‐resourcesin) under the MoPR‐UNDP Capacity Development for Local Governance (CDLG) Project which serves as a one‐point resource centre dealing with the issues related to capacity build‐ing and training of the elected representatives of PRIs Do visit the website and register yourselves to get alerts on new uploaded contents

We also have a report on CBI probe into NREGA irregularities in response to Writ petition (Civil) no 645 of 2007 filed before Supreme Court

Corrigendum

We published Audit Rules under NREGA in April 2011 issue Please note those were draft rules notified on web by MoRD for stakeholder comments and are yet to be final‐ized by them

Preface

For internal use in IAampAD

May 2011 Volume 5 of 2011

G r a s s r o o t s e‐journal of Local Bodies amp their Audit

Special points of interest

World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector

programmes suggest smaller PDS with

more cash transfer reworking of NREGA

as a public works programme for urban

areas and social security package including

health care for unemployed (p‐15)

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe

MGNREGA irregularities (p‐29)

UN report hails NREGA urges other na‐

tions to emulate feat (p‐20)

Lessons from Ghaziabad district audit (p‐9)

Inside

Articles 2

District Planning 4

Decentralized

Governance

7

Implementation of

Schemes

14

Internal Control amp

Transparency

25

Local Bodies Division

Oo the Comptroller amp Auditor General of India

New Delhi

Following are few Dorsquos and Donrsquots for effective PRIs compiled by Shri V Ramachandran and Shri S M Vijayanand Vice Chairman and Member Secretary of State Planning Board

Dorsquos and Donrsquots

Government of India

Dorsquos

Decentralization should be seen as a basic constitutionally‐mandated governance reform and be given as much importance than now being given to public sector reforms fiscal reforms power reforms etc

There should be a single Ministry for local governments at the national level with a clear mandate for strengthening local governments

All Ministries dealing with subjects in the domain of PRIs should have a PRI Cell which interacts with the nodal ministry dealing with local govern‐ments

Avoid Centrally Sponsored Schemes in areas which are the legitimate domain of PRIs Wherever CSS are inevitable the guidelines issued by the Ministries should give predomi‐nant specific roles to PRIs

Issue instructions to disband parallel bodies like DRDAs FFDAs BFDAs Various Health Societies etc

Incentives should be given to States which strengthen PRIs For this a decentralization index could be con‐structed using experts and the states ranked by an independent agency

Funds flow under Centrally Spon‐sored Schemes should be linked to the degree of empowerment of PRIs

It should be recognized that it is incumbent on the Central Govern‐ment to devolve resources to local governments from the Central kitty through the Finance Commission Awards

The State should be encouraged to sponsor externally assisted projects to strengthen and institutionalise PRIs and such projects should be given prefer‐ence while recommending for external assistance

Set apart a percentage of at least 2 of CSS funds for capacity building of local governments including accounting and audit

Restructure all statistics systems in‐cluding census to bring them in har‐mony with PRI boundaries

Present an annual Status Report on PRIs in the country in the Parliament along with the budget

Set up a training net work for PRIs by linking the best institutions in the coun‐try and assigning specific roles and responsibilities to each institution

Planning Commission and the Ministry concerned should document best prac‐tices and disseminate them on a regu‐lar basis

Based on the experience of 10 years after obtaining feed back from the well performing States a consensus decision may be taken for making certain key amendments which among other things could provide for Elected District Government (instead of District Panchayat) Taxes in the local govern‐ment domain etc

Merge and reduce the size of Minis‐triesDepartments dealing with sub‐jects listed in the 11th and 12th sched‐ules of the Constitution

Amend all Central Acts related to sub‐jects in the 11th and 12th Schedules to give enough space to PRIs

Introduce a system for studying the local government implications of every government policy or legislation in future and publish the findings for general debate or for discussion in the parliament as the case may be

Donrsquots

Donrsquot confine local government mat‐ters to just one Ministry

Donrsquot allow externally supported projects to spawn user groups and other community based organiza‐tions de‐linked from the PRI system

Do not give discretionary develop‐ment powers to MPs

State Governments

Dos

Develop a vision of setting up institu‐tions of local self government as envisaged in the Constitution

Use decentralization to bring in fun‐damental governance reforms like enhanced peoplersquos participation citizen orientation responsiveness service delivery improved financial management accountability etc

Play an active role in handholding the process of decentralization without directing or controlling it

Bring out a legislation which clearly defines functions of PRIs at each level and not just lists out subjects

Acts should be followed up with the software required for operationaliz‐ing them like Rules Government Orders Manuals Circulars and so on

Transfer works to PRIs along with workers The question of performing the functions in future also needs to be addressed ndash the personnel mode of recruitment terms and conditions etc

PRIs should control the staff working under them

There should be a clear policy on placement of staff transferred to PRIs

Funds required to perform the roles assigned to PRIs may be determined and transferred in an untied form

Articles

Page 2

Grassroots

Towards Time Bound Panchayats

Funds to be transferred to PRIs should be budgeted separately and devolved based on transparent for‐mula

PRIs should be given resource raising powers both tax and non‐tax Only the lower limit need be set by Gov‐ernment

There should be legal provisions on fiscal responsibility of PRIs dealing with assessment and collection of revenue borrowing mode of incur‐ring expenditure transparency ac‐countability etc

Allow local governments to prepare schemes and plans locally

Control of local governments should only be through independent Audit system

Provide for an auxiliary audit system which focuses on concurrent help and correction to PRIs rather than post facto fault finding

Evolve a Code of conduct governing the relationship between elected functionaries and officials

Redefine the role of the District Col‐lector bringing it in line with the PRI system

Select ldquobeaconrdquo panchayats through a transparent and independent proc‐ess and give larger freedom to them to develop replicable models of de‐velopment and or governance

To prevent re‐centralization intro‐duce a legislative provision which makes it mandatory for every power being withdrawn from PRIs to get the approval of the proposed State De‐velopment Council and then the legislature

Provide special mechanisms for so‐cially backward people to participate in the PRI system

Set up an empowered committee to sort out operational problems during the process of decentralization

Create space for NGOs CBOs and other Civil Society organizations to work in harmony with PRIs

Provide for participatory structures at all levels to bring in maximum peoplersquos participation in local governance

Give full freedom to local governments but insist on following norms and due processes while taking decisions

Redefine the role of parastatals dealing with functions transferred to PRIs and bring in arrangements for them to work with PRIs as technical support agencies

Introduce provisions for right to infor‐mation social audit etc in laws relating to PRIs

Announce a clear capacity building policy for local governments

Facilitate PRIs to outsource profes‐sional and technical support

Set up a State Development Council to discuss policy issues relating to decen‐tralization

Donrsquots

Donrsquot take away powers given to PRIs under one law through another law by introducing a ldquonotwithstandingrdquo clause

Avoid dual control of staff transferred to PRIs

Donrsquot make PRIs miniature State gov‐ernments by downloading the same procedures and systems to them

Withdraw from areas where powers have been given to PRIs

Totally give up discretionary grants for ldquoneed‐basedrdquo or ldquodemand basedrdquo development programmes which are not transparent

Donrsquot allow parallel schemes and paral‐lel set ups

Donrsquot control PRIs through officials especially the District Collector

Donrsquot pit community based organiza‐tionsNGOs against PRIs

Donrsquot provide discretionary fund to MLAs

Donrsquot make MPs and MLAs members of PRIs Give up the system of Minister in charge of any district or DPC

Donrsquot retain powers with State govern‐ment to interfere with decisions PRIs

Panchayati Raj Institutions

Dos

Take the responsibility suo motu to help people solve their problems locally

Facilitate local solutions to develop‐mental problems

Focus on developmental as well as non‐developmental functions

Improve service delivery Encourage peoplersquos participation in all services

Give special importance to providing citizen entitlement properly and in grievance redressal

Hold stakeholder consultation peri‐odically

Improve the quality of participation particularly in gram sabhas

Devote considerable energy to local resource mobilization

Have a clear perspective develop‐ment plan

Build up a data base required for planning

Ensure transparency of all dealings

Follow the due process while taking decisions on resource allocation or in selecting beneficiaries

Keep all the registers up to date and prepare the accounts according to schedule

Make concerted efforts to include the excluded groups in the develop‐ment process

Publish a Citizenrsquos Charter

Introduce participatory monitoring systems

Donrsquots

Donrsquot look up to the State Govern‐ment for everything

Donrsquot be clones of the State Govern‐mentin behaviour or in practice

Donrsquot bring in divisive party politics in matters related to Panchayat func‐tioning

Towards Time Bound Panchayatsmdashcontinued

Page 3

Grassroots

Following are the extracts from a compilation of key strategies learn‐ings and policy implications drawn from a pilot exercise undertaken by UNICEF in Vaishali district of Bihar during AprilmdashDecember 2009 Full Report is available at httpvaishalibihnicinDPMCWEBSt_DocPlanVaishali_Learningspdf

An overview of Integrated District Planning

According to guidelines issued by Planning Commission each district is expected to prepare a District Devel‐opment Plan that integrates plans for all its constituent urban and rural areas as well as sectoral allocations for various schemes under the urban and rural areas As a matter of fact the process of district planning offers a crucial leadership opportunity for representatives of local governments at the district level as the mandate of consolidating a district plan lies with District Planning Committees (DPC henceforth to be constituted in every district in accordance with Article 243 ZDPart IXA of the Constitution of India) based on integration of plans prepared by all Panchayats munici‐palities and planning units in a dis‐trict The DPC has two specific re‐sponsibilities in formulation of Dis‐trict Development Plans It is ex‐pected to take into account matters of common interest between the Panchayats and the Municipalities including spatial planning sharing of water and other physical and natural resources the integrated develop‐ment of infrastructure and environ‐mental conservation and the extent and type of available resources both financial or otherwise To this effect the DPC is mandated to consult such institutions and organizations as may be specified

Steps to be taken at State level for facilitating District Planning Proc‐esses

Completion of Activity Mapping thereby spelling out the specific re‐sponsibilities

of local governments

Formation of District Planning Commit‐tees in accordance with Article 243ZD

Issuance of guidelines to DPCs and local governments

Finalization of formula for distribution of local government component of the

state plan

Indication of sector‐wise and untied resources that would be available to each local government over five years and one year from the state plan

Indication of resources that would be available to each local government from central sources through Centrally Sponsored Schemes Finance Commis‐sion grants and any special allocations and

Presentation of a summary of District Plans along with State Plan proposals for the Eleventh Five Year PlanAnnual Plan to Planning Commission

Expected arrangements at the District level

Compilation of available databases for local governments

Articulation of lsquoVisionrsquo for local govern‐ments mentioning key reasons of backwardness and covering important sectors1

Organizing technical support and ca‐pacity building for DPCs and local gov‐ernments

Prioritization of local needs and plan‐ning at the level of local governments and

Integration of plans of all district level planning units at the level of DPC

Recommendations of Expert Group towards making the role of DPCs meaningful

Towards making the role of District

Planning Committee meaningful a number of significant recommenda‐tions were made by an Expert Group on Planning at grassroots level These included the following

CSS guidelines that entrust the task of district level planning and imple‐mentation to parallel bodies such as DRDAs and District Health Societies need to be modified to incorporate the District Planning Committee in the process of District level planning

The Planning Commission could in‐form States that the DPC would be the sole body that is entrusted with the task of consolidating plans at the district level

The Planning Commission should specify a timeframe within which States will need to issue detailed instructions covering the manner in which the DPC would perform its functions

There must be a full‐time profession‐ally qualified District Planning Officer to head the District Planning Unit If such persons are unavailable in the government appointment of profes‐sionals on contract or outsourcing is an option to be considered and acted upon

Institutional support through univer‐sities and research institutions both at the District and State levels could be identified for assisting the DPC in planning monitoring and evaluation

The Planning Commission should continue to provide the required support for district planning as was done earlier except that this would now be provided to the DPC

Experts could be assigned to work either individually or in teams They could be taken on a part‐time basis on assignment basis or full‐time if the need arises

District Planning

Page 4

Grassroots

Integrated District PlanningmdashVaishali Bihar

It is for the State to determine the number of Experts that can be drawn to assist the DPC This could depend upon the extent of devolution in each state

Though ideally they are best drawn locally experts can be drawn even from outside the jurisdiction of the district if required Care must be taken to ensure that participation is voluntary above partisan politics and able to respect different points of view

With growing urbanization of smaller and intermediate sized towns there is need to especially draw in experts on municipal matters and the urban rural interface to assist the DPC in planning for local resource sharing

area planning soil and waste and sew‐age disposal and other such matters which call for close coordination be‐tween Panchayats and Municipalities

The DPC could also constitute a few sectoral sub‐committees for both the envisioning and the consolidation proc‐esses

It is strongly recommended that each Intermediate Panchayat be provided a planning and data unit which could also be integrated into the larger con‐cept of having a Resource Centre at each Intermediate Panchayat level to provide a basket of pooled services such as for engineering agriculture watershed development women and child care public health etc which Gram Panchayats can draw upon for

support in planning and implementa‐tion

One of the primary tasks of the DPC would be to build capacity for decen‐tralized planning in the district A major impediment to proper plan‐ning is the lack of personnel

providing planning support and avail‐ability of good and comprehensible information at the Intermediate and Gram Panchayat level

The DPC should be entrusted with anchoring the preparation of the vision document the maintenance of databases training of planners evaluation of outcomes internal monitoring of performance and inde‐pendent evaluation of outcomes

Integrated District PlanningmdashVaishali Bihar

Public volunteers to have say in municipal planning | Times of India | 15 May 2011

flagship scheme Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) Additional municipal com‐missioner P K Srivastava said the scheme aims to bring transparency and accountability in the system CVTC would take up nine areas ‐ urban governance urban planning urban environment urban engineering heritage urban poverty alleviation urban municipal finance urban com‐munity development and legal ser‐vices The group would give crucial inputs to the authorities about the needs of people This would also help in main‐taining connectivity between the city development plan (CDP) and the de‐tailed project reports (DPRs) which civic authorities prepare while avail‐ing funds from the Centre under JNNURM In fact on various occasions in the past DPRs prepared by the state government were turned down by the Centre because of loopholes pertaining to people participation

That would thus be checked this way officials said Interestingly a similar attempt was made by the LMC some time ago which however did not yield desired results Sources said that instead of experts in urban and municipal plan‐ning undesired elements staked their claim Not surprisingly the applications were confined to the dustbins This time however mu‐nicipal bosses expect applications from the desired people Meanwhile doubts have been raised on the efficacy of the advisory body However Srivastava said that the members of advisory group would be empowered to have correspon‐dence with the Centre directly httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐15lucknow29545386_1_urban‐planning‐municipal‐planning‐city‐development‐plan

LUCKNOW The citizens may soon get a chance to participate in civic planning process In an ambitious step the Lucknow Municipal Corpo‐ration (LMC) has decided to set up a cell of volunteers essentially those experts in municipal and urban planning who would advise the municipal bosses on projects related to civic and urban infrastructure City volunteer technical corps (CVTC) ‐ as the body will be called ‐ would have its members from among the public Anyone can apply for the advisory body through an application with claim of hisher expertise in urbanmunicipal plan‐ning Final selection would though be done by a group of officials at the corporation The move appears to be more than a compulsion than the need for the municipal body which is required to fulfil the crucial condition set up by the Centre under its prestigious

Page 5

Grassroots

From now on Members of Parlia‐ment would have their say in the selection of rural roads to be laid in the respective constituencies under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana a prime component of Bharat Nirman taken up the UPA govern‐ment

In a circular issued four days back the ministry of rural development in‐structed the States to append a proof of consultation with the respective MP a must now for a proposal to be considered

About one‐lakh habitations in the country are still without a road con‐nection

Making for greater participation of public the proposal should have ten

photographs taken during the ‐ Tran‐sect Walk ‐ showing locals and if pre‐sent the MPs presence Transect walk with community participation is to determine the most suitable alignment sort out land availability issues and moderate any adverse socio‐environmental impact from a road project

Fresh proposals will not be considered without these documents in addition to fulfilling other mandatory require‐ments the circular says

The move comes after representations from several MPs that their views are not taken on board while approving a road project seen as a development sign ‐ in their constituency

As guidelines did not serve the pur‐

pose the ministry issued the instruc‐tions now

Even as they let the political class take the call on location of all weather roads officials expect the move would expedite the projects mitigating any land issues as the road is now under the aegis of the MP

In spite of land availability certifi‐cates several roads could not be laid or had to be dropped on grounds of actual non‐availability which could be avoided a senior official said

The ministry also instructed that quality monitoring of road works ‐ intended to weed out corruption in projects ‐ would be carried with participation of the MPs to address their concerns

MPs to have say in rural road projects | Hindustan Times | 6 May 2011

Page 6

Grassroots

Many attempts were made by the Government of India to intro‐duce decentralized planning for development however they did not succeed as a proper enabling framework was not in place both for planning and integration of developmental activities at the micro level Recently the Plan‐ning Commission issued a guide‐line mandating that all plans starting from XIth Plan period onwards should be prepared bottom up in a decentralized manner Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) scheme of the Min‐istry of Panchayati Raj was the first scheme to adopt the Plan‐ning Commission guidelines in to ‐to and all BRGF states have been directed to prepare a district Plan document as against a BRGF Plan PlanPlus is a software developed by NIC under guidance and di‐

rection from Ministry of Pancha‐yati Raj in order to demystify and strengthen the decentralized plan‐ning process The software is a web‐based software and captures the entire planning workflow start‐ing from identification of needs the plan approval process till the final approval by the District Plan‐ning Committee The software is highly generic and can be ex‐tended to capture the plans pre‐pared by line departments at the state and central level to generate the National Plan The software

Facilitates decentralized plan‐ning process in local language

Captures the planning work‐flow

Converges the flow of funds from different sources

Converges the rural and ur‐

ban plans to generate an integrated district plan

Brings about total transpar‐ency in the plan approval process

Provides role based authen‐tication and authorization

Acts as a decision support tool through the use of supporting GIS and graphs

httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

About Plan PlusmdashDistrict Planning Software

I visited Gairsen a block HQ in Chamoli District of Uttarakhand (UK) from 12th amp 13th May 11 Gairsen is situated almost at the centre of UK between its two important regions viz Kumaon and Garhwal Because of its strategic location it was ear‐marked as a probable capital of UK Situated at a height of 3000 metres (9800 ft) above sea level Gairsen is a beauti‐ful valley (Gair = deep sain = plane)

Gairsen is arguably the biggest and the most populated of 9 Kshetra (Block) Panchayats of Chamoli Dis‐trict spread over 40700 ha and with a total population of ~60000 Of its ~11000 families ~ 50 are below poverty line There are 95 Gram Panchayats (GPs) within Gairsen Block

2 UK was carved out of UP in Nov 2009 After its separation Govern‐ment of India (GoI) categorized it as one of the 11 Special Category States (SCS) UK has arguably the most well‐defined system and the largest num‐ber (~7700 PRIs) of rural and urban local bodies amongst SCS It is also markedly different from UP inasmuch as the villages are mostly in the hilly terrain spaced out at great distances and are sparsely populated Yet an‐other special feature of UK is the predominant importance of forests especially in the village life It is a prominent state in the National Affor‐estration Programme with one of the

largest numbers of Van Panchayats Despite the commitment of Govern‐ment of UK (GoUK) in Aug 2006 to constitute Van Panchayats as standing Committees of Gram Panchayats rather than letting them exist separately as parallel bodies the things remain much the same Likewise there is little link‐age of audit of PRIs with the audit of

other important gov‐ernment Schemes of GoI and GoUK such as Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) Deendayal Awas Yojana (DAY) Atal Awas Yojana (AAY) Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) National Health Renewal Mission (NHRM) Gramya (UK decentralized Water‐

shed Development Project) etc In terms of devolution of funds functions and functionaries to local bodies UK ranks at a lowly 19th rank of devolution index amongst all the states of Indian Union (IIPA study Evaluation Year FY10) UK lost out on 12th FCs devolutions for FY 10 because of the failure of GoUK to constitute District Planning Committees (DPCs) The primary external audit ar‐rangements of local bodies in GoUK are far from satisfactory especially in relation to the growing corpus of devolutions and grants of funds to PRIs and ULBs during the last ten years

3 Soon after my arrival at Gairsen in the AN of 12 May (~0400pm) I met S

BS Panwar DPRO SK Pant BDO TD Harbola ADO at the Block Office Shri SK Pant BDO was more of a trainee officer who was appointed straight‐way in Feb 2011 without any training It appears that the general level of availability of development officials in UK is insufficient Of the required number of ~32 Village Development Officers (VDO) for 95 Gram Pancha‐yats (GP) in Gairsen Block (1 VDO3GPs) there were only 10 in position The average number of villages per VDO was 10 Given the fact that the villages are spaced out miles apart in hilly terrain of UK this is a really sad situation No wonder PRIs in UK are trailing behind in main‐tenance of proper accounts and in adoption of PRIAsoft ICT based ac‐counting software for establishment of Model Accounting System (MAS) as I saw in a Gram Panchayat the next day

4 Financially the main schemes operated through PRIs in Gairsen Block are as follows

Decentralized Governance

Page 7

Grassroots

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsen Uttarakhand

5 DPRO and block officials ascribed the reasons of shortfall in expendi‐ture to the receipt of funds at the end of the fiscal as also to shortage of skilled accounts staff because of which accounts ndash and thereby UCs ndash could not be furnished in time In the meeting with Block Pramukh and Gram Pradhans the next day it also came out that planning of develop‐ment works was rather top down than participative leading to the shortfall in utilization of funds

6 I had an interesting interaction with Block Pramukh Smt Janki Rawat and Gram Pradhans of a couple of villages of Gairsen Block in a meeting held at Block Office in the forenoon of 13 May 2011 Smt Janki Rawat came across as a remarkable lady and leader who was well versed with the problem of the Block besides being very articulate in expressing those She had been a worker at Shri Bhu‐waneswari Mahila Ashram (SBMA) a preeminent NGO of UK working espe‐cially in the area of women empower‐ment She said that there was discon‐nect between the works executed by the government department and agencies and the requirement of people at the grassroots because of poor planning process She said de‐layed receipts of Government funds and shortage of skilled persons for completing the accounts in time were among the reasons for slow pace of development expenditure She said that she had been mentioning those things in District Panchayat meetings where she was ex‐officio member Shri Balbir Singh Gram Pradhan of Maikholi village spoke about lack of

coordination with Van Panchayats who often didnt allow required develop‐ment works in the village A few other Gram Pradhans who spoke talked about difficulty in executing MNREGA works insufficiency of MNREGA wages especially for skilled construction works low levels of honorarium paid to Pradhans and shortage of VDOs They did concede that despite operational problems MNREGA has been very useful in creating local employment in the village and in preventing migration

away from village for work MNREGA allotment in Gairsen Block for FY11 was gt ` 7 crore 7 In the afternoon I visited Gram Panchayat Gwad which was only a few Km away from the Block HQ I met

Gram Pradhan Smt Radha Devi and other Panchayat members Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO and Smt Ganga Dhondhiyal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGA

8 Smt Radha Devi Pradhan was an energetic illiterate old lady Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO was currently looking after an impossible charge of 22 villages as another VDO of the Block was on long leave Smt Ganga Dhondhi‐yal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGS was effectively working as village account‐ant too She was highly qualified (MA BSc from Dehra dun) She was a con‐tract employee under MNREGS en‐gaged at a special daily wage of Rs 150= Besides Gwad she was also responsi‐ble for MNREGA and accounts affairs off two more villages There was a GP room and multipurpose village as‐sembly place built through MPLADS

funds It was a very poor set up com‐pared to say a Kerala GP office There was no computer GP records too were reportedly kept at the house of Pradhan No Model Ac‐counting System (MAS) was being followed There was just one receipt and payment register which had been filled up to March 2011 Appar‐ently this was the situation prevail‐ing in most of the GPs in UK In order to be able to avail itself of the per‐formance incentive component of 13th FC devolution GoUK needs to move really fast to improve upon MAS in GPs

9 On the way to GP at Gwad I also visited the office of Dy Project Direc‐tor of Gramya which is a WB assisted Decentralized Watershed Develop‐ment Project in UK under the Depart‐ment of Watershed amp Agriculture of GoUK Gairsen was one of the 10 development blocks in which Gramya operates Dy Project Director of Gra‐mya at Gairsen was an energetic young officer Shri Barfaal who was on deputation to the project from GoUK Department of Agriculture At Gairsen the project covered 30 model villages The avowed objec‐tives of Gramya is to improve the productive potential of natural re‐sources and increase incomes of rural inhabitants in degraded watersheds of the State through socially inclusive institutionally and environmentally sustainable approaches Gramya works through GPs and Van Pancha‐yats

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsenmdashcontinued

Page 8

Grassroots

Local Bodies (LBs) Division had pre‐sented (May 2010) to CAG a paper giving an outlook for recasting CAGrsquos audit response to the important developments in social development sector with the onset of decentralized governance through LBs in the recent times The government at the apex level the Planning Commission suc‐cessive Finance Commissions after the ninth the 2nd administrative reforms commission all have made strong advocacy for making LBs the focal point of planning execution and management of the social devel‐opment schemes impacting at the local levels But at the practical level there are many a Rubicons to be crossed LBs share the public finance space of social development with a host of parallel bodies government departments and agencies at all levels of planning execution and management in varying degrees in

various States often only as bit player LB Divisions paper had therefore made a strong advocacy for aggrega‐tion of Civil Works and LB audit within the umbrella of Social Sector Audit (SSA) under the leadership of one AG in state It had also called for vertical aggregation of SSA which is at present dispersed amongst DAI‐RC DAI‐LB ADAsI at the HQ and amongst DG‐CEA PD‐ESM and PD‐SD Subsequently IAampADrsquos Perspective Plan 2010‐15 (June 2010) also echoed this sentiment and emphasized integration of LB audit with civil audit It also calls for place‐ment of an institutional framework for integrating audit efforts across various functional areas and for carrying out the required structural changes at HQ and field level

2 To illustrate the likely gains of an aggregated audit approach as outlines in its May 2010 paper LB Division planned along with the office of PAG

(Civil) Allahabad and in consultation with RS‐I wing a district‐centric audit of rural social sector in Ghaziabad District This audit exercise involved inter alia audit inspections of District Panchayat DRDA Block Panchayats (4) Village Panchayats (40) civil DDOs (7) of a sample selected with due diligence and entry and exit conference with the District amp PRI officials We selected Ghaziabad was for its proximity to HQ so that Direc‐tor‐LB HQ could associate himself with the experimental audit exercise without much difficulty PAG (CA) Allahabad has since issued the report to the State Government (15 Apr 11) This audit experiment in Ghaziabad has valuable lessons for us regarding audit system process and products Table below gives a comparative picture between the prevailing sys‐tem and experimental audit ap‐proach

Lessons in Ghaziabad district audit

Page 9

Grassroots

Parameter Prevailing Audit System Experimental Audit Approach Integration of civil LB and other audits as called for in IAADrsquos Perspective Plan (PP) FY10‐15

No integration Audit inspections conducted disjointedly by different groups of PAGs office in various auditee units in civil offices parallel bodies LBs IRs bring out if at all trivial audit objections of operations‐malfunction without much systemic angle

Integrates civil and LB audits System oriented report‐ing in place of isolated findings

Annual audit planning Audit planning inspection oriented Audit plans of the concerned functional groups of PAGs office are essentially lists of audit inspections to be carried out during the year without horizontal and vertical linkages amongst social sector auditee units

Objective planning aimed at assessment of systemic frailties and on outcomes of social sector schemes (SSS) Audit inspections plan covers all major units dealing with SSS regardless of their legal status ie whether a unit is a civil DDO or belongs to a parallelautonomouslocal body under one team leader

Unit level audit plan‐ning

Little planning in advance for unit level auditing Inspections carried out treating each unit in isolation Little appreciation of financial and operational linkages

Audit plan for whole assignment prepared before‐hand with due regard to the inter se synergies of the units in the audit sample as also with reference to the role of supra supervisory layers Inspections of sampled units carried out in that context

Audit trail Limited within the inspected unit No reconcilia‐tion of discordant information in different units

Runs through the units spread across divergent func‐tional domains such as village school PHC DDOs DRDA down to the last mile GPs and even beneficiar‐ies Discordant information captured examined and highlighted

Quality of IRs Rudimentary compliance checks and scrutiny of control records More in the nature of internal audit reports Highlight operational malfunctions (often insignificant) without systemic orientation

Attributes based on risks are identified beforehand and tested during audit of all units Introduces new intermediate audit product District Inspection Report in addition to IRs of the sampled units District Report highlighted important systemic issues

Resource allocation‐time

160‐170 working days of many parties including transit days

45 working days with two audit teams under one AO including transit

Gangtok Sikkim has been selected as the best in the Northeastern region and the third‐best perform‐ing state in the country for pro‐gress recorded by Panchayati Raj for the year 2010‐11The state will receive a cash incentive award of Rs one crore while Mellidara Pai‐yong Gram Panchayat in South Sikkim district a consistent per‐former in PRI achievements has

been awarded the Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar ‐ 2011 for convening and conducting regular and vibrant meetings of the Gram Sabhas a press release from the Rural Management amp Development Department said The Rashtriya Gau‐rav Gram Sabha Puraskar award carries a cash component of Rs 10 lakh The Minister and Secretary Rural Management and Develop‐ment Department along with the

Sabhapati of Mellidara Paiyong Gram Panchayat will receive the awards from the Prime Minister at a special conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 24 April National Panchayat Day it said

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewssikkim‐selected‐as‐best‐state‐in‐ne‐for‐panchati‐raj‐progress653317html

Page 10

Grassroots

Sikkim selected as best state in NE for PR progress | ibnlive | 19 April 2011

Ranchi More than 1200 building plans are waiting to be vetted by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) as it is without a town plan‐ner the one vested with the au‐thority of ensuring that construc‐tion norms arenrsquot flouted in the state capital The irony is unmistakable espe‐cially when Ranchi along with Dhanbad Bokaro and Jamshedpur are witnessing demolition drives at the behest of an angry high court to undo years of damage perpe‐trated on the cities by unscrupu‐lous builders who in connivance with corrupt government officials survived on illegal constructions On April 1 Jharkhand High Court asked the state government to remove town planner Ram Kumar Singh from the post as he did not have a degree in town planning a mandatory requirement for the post The state government then sent back Singh to his parent water resources department and named urban development department town planner Gajanand Ram as successor with additional charge

It also decided to appoint town plan‐ners in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad which will see a slew of urban re‐vamp projects under JNNURM But since official orders are yet to be passed mdash sources claimed the file was with chief minister Arjun Munda mdash RMC is still without a town plan‐ner while more than 1200 building plans await verification Gajanand who is monitoring various urban infrastructure development schemes under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will be given the job at RMC as a stopgap arrangement officials con‐ceded ldquoWe are still waiting for a new town planner In his absence the work of verifying and approving building maps of houses multi‐storey resi‐dential buildings and commercial complexes is sufferingrdquo admitted RMC chief executive officer Vinay Kumar Choubey Gajanand fits the criteria He is armed with a masterrsquos degree in town planning from the renowned School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi

ldquoA town planner needs to have a masterrsquos degree in urban plan‐ningrdquo explained Manjari Chak‐raborty the head of department of architecture at Birla Institute of Technology Mesra ldquoGraduates in civil engineering architecture geography and sociol‐ogy too can pursue a masterrsquos degree in this subjectrdquo added the teacher of BIT‐Mesra Jharkhandrsquos only technical institute offering a postgraduate course in urban plan‐ning Officials at the state urban devel‐opment department have now promised to advertise for town planners in Ranchi Jamshedpur and Dhanbad soon Singh who was initially town plan‐ner with Ranchi Regional Develop‐ment Authority (RRDA) took up the job at RMC after it was given powers to verify building maps on September 1 2009 While RMC looks after new constructions in the town RRDA does so for the outskirts

httpwwwtelegraphindiacom1110419jspfrontpagestory_13871919jsp

Capital without a town planner | Telegraph | 19 April 2011

The Planning Commission has set up a working group on elementary edu‐cation and literacy that will suggest measures for faster reduction in illiteracy with emphasis on gender regional and social dimensions and incentivise States to achieve cent per cent literacy during the XII Plan pe‐riod To be chaired by the Secretary De‐partment of Elementary Education and Literacy (Ministry of Human Resource Development) the working group will suggest modifications in educational indicators computation of education index that captures ground reality and suggest measures for improvements in management of educational statistics at district State and national‐levels and reduce the time lag in publication of educational statistics It will review effectiveness of pro‐grammes addressing the needs of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes

Other Backward Classes minorities girls education and feasibility of intro‐ducing alternative systems for impart‐ing quality education to the poor stu‐dents In addition to reviewing the existing Plan programmes under Elementary Education and Literacy in terms of access enrolment retention dropouts and with particular emphasis on out‐come on quality of education by gen‐der social and regional classifications the working group has been asked to evolve a detailed perspective plan and strategies with specific medium‐term monitorable targets in terms of aver‐age years of schooling and for provid‐ing quality elementary education up to Class VIII to all children in the age group of 6‐14 as per the Right of Chil‐dren to Free and Compulsory Education Act mandate The group will suggest measures for improving implementation of RTE har‐monised Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan the

Mid‐Day Meal Scheme and various literacy programmes for achieving the millennium development goals and restructure literacy programmes for greater involvement of the State governments and increasing trans‐parency and accountability The working group will comprise officers from the Ministries of HRD Youth Affairs and Sports Women and Child Development Social Justice and Empowerment Tribal Affairs Minor‐ity Affairs and representatives from civil society groups such as the Foun‐dation for Education and Develop‐ment Swami Sivananda Society Pratham the Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Tata Institute for Social Sciences Azim Premji Founda‐tion and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar State madrasa Boards among others httpwwwthehinducomnewsnationalarticle2026559ece

Planning Commission sets up working group on school education | Hindu | 17 May 2011

Page 11

Grassroots

Grass root politics Decentralisation of power | The Sangai Express | 24 May 2011

mechanisms to address issues at the micro‐level But as we have said this arrangement comes with certain riders and that is the overall authority of the State over these self governing bodies Thus the respective State Governments are entrusted with the authority of decid‐ing the executive powers that may be disseminated to these local self govern‐ing units and hence a Municipal Council in Manipur may be something quite different from a Municipal Council found in say Assam or West Bengal In as much as these local self governing units are under the overall authority of the State Government its importance in power politics is something that cannot be overlooked and this is the reason why elections to the urban local civic bodies such as the Municipalities

attract so much attention from all political parties and political leaders In short election to these self gov‐erning bodies are usually seen and interpreted as a referendum at the grass root level on the performance or non‐performance of the partyparties heading the Government in a State A recent example that comes to mind is the election to the urban civic bodies in Kolkata and if political pun‐dits had placed their bets on the Trinamul Congress during the recent Assembly election in West Bengal it had to do a lot with the results of the elections to the urban civic bodies The same is the case with the Munici‐pal Corporations in other State capi‐tals such as Mumbai Delhi and other metropolitan cities To the local

Imphal Power and authority to the grass root is undeniably one of the more favoured slogans of a democ‐racy and while no one can justifiably contest the merit behind the philoso‐phy of disseminating power to the grass root level this comes with certain riders as evidenced in the institution of local self Governments such as the Panchayats at the village level Municipal Corporations in the metros and Municipal Councils in the lesser or smaller cities In the hills we have the autonomous district councils and for towns there are the town councils Local self Government is necessitated by the need to recognise and acknowledge the local peculiarities that abound in a multi‐faceted society like India and this is one of the most effective

MLAs election to the local self gov‐erning units is increasingly seen as something of a test on their perform‐ance at their respective Assembly Constituencies for it is about taking the opinion of the people at the mi‐cro‐level where each ward may have issues which are unique to them The political culture in Manipur is yet to take up the lines found in the big metros but election to the local bod‐ies particularly the Imphal Municipal Council has seen an increased inter‐est from the political big‐wigs of the State It is along this line or in acknowledg‐ing the mood and opinion of the people at the grass root level that we see prominent political figures in‐cluding the Chief Minister and the State unit presidents of different political parties campaigning for their candidates in the Imphal Municipal Council for which election will be held today

The scenario is no longer the same as it was 15 or 10 years back It is no longer a contest between two neighbours but about a contest between two political parties and their ideologies True election to the Municipal Council of Imphal is not the same as election to the State Assembly but the intensity of the competition and the proportionate growth in the importance of money power is something which stand out prominently and this years run up to the election to the Imphal Municipal Council had all the ingredients of a top notch political drama where the win‐ner takes all If the importance and political signifi‐cance in the election to the Imphal Municipal Council has been growing with each passing year or term then ideally there should also be an increas‐ing importance or significance in the role and responsibility of the Council The manner in which Imphal Municipal Council has been functioning all these

years will no one in doubt that there has been no corresponding increase in the significance and importance of this Council compared to the hoopla surrounding the election of the Coun‐cillors This is the right time to question why this is so A look at Imphal will leave no one in doubt about the veracity of our observation At the moment Imphal has all the negative characteristics of an urban metropolitan city but none of the positives that come along with being a city The level of pollution has touched sky high the filth and dirt earlier associated with only the big cities have now come to be an in‐separable identity of Imphal and a few hours of rain is more than enough to reduce all the roads and lanes into rivulets The traffic menace the unmanage‐able garbage the stink the absence of proper water supply provisions absence of civic amenities are all tell tale signs of a sick and ailing urban local self governing unit which in this case is the Imphal Municipal Council Down the years people have become accustomed to reports of how em‐ployees of the IMC have had to cope with no salaries for months the power mongering amongst the Coun‐cillors etc Ideally it is expected of a Municipal Council to busy itself with activities such as urban planning regulation of land‐use and construction of build‐ings roads and bridges public health sanitation etc and ideally this is the right time that questions should be raised which may find the responsible people squirming with discomfort The rain in the last few days has undoubtedly inconvenienced the average man in Imphal but it may also be seen as a God sent opportu‐nity to raise questions before the candidates and play an influencing role in the choice of the voters

Grass root politics Decentralisation of powermdashcontinued

Page 12

Grassroots

Special Programme on PRSystem | Assam Tribune | 16 May 2011

State to rein in corporations | Times of India | 2 May 2011

ment has now proposed a deadline of 45 days for a committee to take a deci‐sion and 90 days for the general body The clock will start ticking from the day on which the first meeting of the com‐mittee or general body is held after the proposal is submitted to the municipal secretary Also the corporators protecting each other may no longer be possible Cur‐rently if the administration proposes disqualification of a corporator on some grounds and if there is a dispute then the general body must pass a resolution to let the dispute be put before the city civil court Till date no general body of a municipal corporation has passed such a resolution Now the municipal commis‐sioner on his own can refer the matter to the government The government has also increased the grounds on which it can suspend a resolution passed by the general body These amendments are nothing but encroachment on the authority of the municipal corporation If the govern‐ment wants to rule the roost in local

governing bodies it should dissolve all municipal corporations and take reins said Sham Deshpande Shiv Senas leader of the house in the PMC Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said The government should recon‐sider these amendments If it fails to do so I will approach the court to stay the amendments Aba Bagul and Ravindra Dhangekar leaders of the Congress party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena respec‐tively in the PMC denounced the cabinets approval to the amend‐ments The ruling NCP however supported the amendments It is up to the state government to decide about the amendments The municipal corpora‐tion has no say in these amendments said leader of the house httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐02pune29499444_1_amendments‐independent‐corporator‐ujwal‐keskar‐municipal‐commissioner

PUNE The state cabinets approval to a slew of amendments to various municipal corporation Acts has ruffled the feathers of city corporators across party lines The cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Bombay Provin‐cial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 and the Mumbai Municipal Corpora‐tion Act 1888 to expedite decision‐making and bring in more transpar‐ency in the functioning of municipal corporations The government will issue an ordinance so that the amend‐ments can come into effect immedi‐ately According to the amendments corpo‐rators will no longer be able to delay any proposal The government has decided to set a deadline within which the municipal corporations will have to either say aye or no to a pro‐posal Currently the deadline has been set only for tenders where the standing committee has to take a decision within 30 days from the day the proposal is submitted The govern‐

Page 13

Grassroots

Use of Priasoft and Planplus Under e‐Panchayat | PIB | 31 May 2011

W Bengal and Karnataka that already have their own accounting sw should align their system with PRIASOFT so as to integrate with other PES applica‐tions Plan Plus software should be extended to all districts and for all CentralState schemes and not be limited to BRGF given its simplicity amp versatility in matching wishes of people with avail‐able schemesresources their conver‐gence generating integrated plans and transparency amp peoplersquos participation in the whole planning process The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is work‐ing with the Ministries of Rural Devel‐opment and Finance for integrating different applications such as PRIASoft PlanPlus NREGASoft CPSMS to facili‐

tate uploading of information at a single point Similarly flagship programmes like NRHM SSA ICDS etc should be motivated to use e‐Panchayat for the evident advantages e‐Panchayat Consultants could demonstrate PES to the respective State line depart‐ments The National Population Registry data should be hyperlinked to Panchayat Portal to know about houses without toilet drinking water etc BPL data base of 2011 should be integrated with individual benefit schemes like IAYSGSYNRLM and also Social secu‐rity schemes This would make PES more citizen friendly httppibnicinnewsiteereleaseaspxrelid=72403

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has advised the StatesUTs to adopt the use of PRIASoft and Plan Plus under e‐panchayat moduleIn a letter sent to the StatesUTs the Ministry says that adoption of an accounting system consistent with Model Accounting System (MAS) for the Panchayats which would be greatly facilitated by PRIASoft is one of the performance conditions under 13th FC award Implementation of MAS amp PRIASoft in the remaining States is therefore required urgently by training of Mas‐ter Trainers at DistrictBlock level who in turn could train GP Staff MoPR amp NIC would assist Applications in PES have inter‐linkages States like Gujarat Kerala

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

Following are few Dorsquos and Donrsquots for effective PRIs compiled by Shri V Ramachandran and Shri S M Vijayanand Vice Chairman and Member Secretary of State Planning Board

Dorsquos and Donrsquots

Government of India

Dorsquos

Decentralization should be seen as a basic constitutionally‐mandated governance reform and be given as much importance than now being given to public sector reforms fiscal reforms power reforms etc

There should be a single Ministry for local governments at the national level with a clear mandate for strengthening local governments

All Ministries dealing with subjects in the domain of PRIs should have a PRI Cell which interacts with the nodal ministry dealing with local govern‐ments

Avoid Centrally Sponsored Schemes in areas which are the legitimate domain of PRIs Wherever CSS are inevitable the guidelines issued by the Ministries should give predomi‐nant specific roles to PRIs

Issue instructions to disband parallel bodies like DRDAs FFDAs BFDAs Various Health Societies etc

Incentives should be given to States which strengthen PRIs For this a decentralization index could be con‐structed using experts and the states ranked by an independent agency

Funds flow under Centrally Spon‐sored Schemes should be linked to the degree of empowerment of PRIs

It should be recognized that it is incumbent on the Central Govern‐ment to devolve resources to local governments from the Central kitty through the Finance Commission Awards

The State should be encouraged to sponsor externally assisted projects to strengthen and institutionalise PRIs and such projects should be given prefer‐ence while recommending for external assistance

Set apart a percentage of at least 2 of CSS funds for capacity building of local governments including accounting and audit

Restructure all statistics systems in‐cluding census to bring them in har‐mony with PRI boundaries

Present an annual Status Report on PRIs in the country in the Parliament along with the budget

Set up a training net work for PRIs by linking the best institutions in the coun‐try and assigning specific roles and responsibilities to each institution

Planning Commission and the Ministry concerned should document best prac‐tices and disseminate them on a regu‐lar basis

Based on the experience of 10 years after obtaining feed back from the well performing States a consensus decision may be taken for making certain key amendments which among other things could provide for Elected District Government (instead of District Panchayat) Taxes in the local govern‐ment domain etc

Merge and reduce the size of Minis‐triesDepartments dealing with sub‐jects listed in the 11th and 12th sched‐ules of the Constitution

Amend all Central Acts related to sub‐jects in the 11th and 12th Schedules to give enough space to PRIs

Introduce a system for studying the local government implications of every government policy or legislation in future and publish the findings for general debate or for discussion in the parliament as the case may be

Donrsquots

Donrsquot confine local government mat‐ters to just one Ministry

Donrsquot allow externally supported projects to spawn user groups and other community based organiza‐tions de‐linked from the PRI system

Do not give discretionary develop‐ment powers to MPs

State Governments

Dos

Develop a vision of setting up institu‐tions of local self government as envisaged in the Constitution

Use decentralization to bring in fun‐damental governance reforms like enhanced peoplersquos participation citizen orientation responsiveness service delivery improved financial management accountability etc

Play an active role in handholding the process of decentralization without directing or controlling it

Bring out a legislation which clearly defines functions of PRIs at each level and not just lists out subjects

Acts should be followed up with the software required for operationaliz‐ing them like Rules Government Orders Manuals Circulars and so on

Transfer works to PRIs along with workers The question of performing the functions in future also needs to be addressed ndash the personnel mode of recruitment terms and conditions etc

PRIs should control the staff working under them

There should be a clear policy on placement of staff transferred to PRIs

Funds required to perform the roles assigned to PRIs may be determined and transferred in an untied form

Articles

Page 2

Grassroots

Towards Time Bound Panchayats

Funds to be transferred to PRIs should be budgeted separately and devolved based on transparent for‐mula

PRIs should be given resource raising powers both tax and non‐tax Only the lower limit need be set by Gov‐ernment

There should be legal provisions on fiscal responsibility of PRIs dealing with assessment and collection of revenue borrowing mode of incur‐ring expenditure transparency ac‐countability etc

Allow local governments to prepare schemes and plans locally

Control of local governments should only be through independent Audit system

Provide for an auxiliary audit system which focuses on concurrent help and correction to PRIs rather than post facto fault finding

Evolve a Code of conduct governing the relationship between elected functionaries and officials

Redefine the role of the District Col‐lector bringing it in line with the PRI system

Select ldquobeaconrdquo panchayats through a transparent and independent proc‐ess and give larger freedom to them to develop replicable models of de‐velopment and or governance

To prevent re‐centralization intro‐duce a legislative provision which makes it mandatory for every power being withdrawn from PRIs to get the approval of the proposed State De‐velopment Council and then the legislature

Provide special mechanisms for so‐cially backward people to participate in the PRI system

Set up an empowered committee to sort out operational problems during the process of decentralization

Create space for NGOs CBOs and other Civil Society organizations to work in harmony with PRIs

Provide for participatory structures at all levels to bring in maximum peoplersquos participation in local governance

Give full freedom to local governments but insist on following norms and due processes while taking decisions

Redefine the role of parastatals dealing with functions transferred to PRIs and bring in arrangements for them to work with PRIs as technical support agencies

Introduce provisions for right to infor‐mation social audit etc in laws relating to PRIs

Announce a clear capacity building policy for local governments

Facilitate PRIs to outsource profes‐sional and technical support

Set up a State Development Council to discuss policy issues relating to decen‐tralization

Donrsquots

Donrsquot take away powers given to PRIs under one law through another law by introducing a ldquonotwithstandingrdquo clause

Avoid dual control of staff transferred to PRIs

Donrsquot make PRIs miniature State gov‐ernments by downloading the same procedures and systems to them

Withdraw from areas where powers have been given to PRIs

Totally give up discretionary grants for ldquoneed‐basedrdquo or ldquodemand basedrdquo development programmes which are not transparent

Donrsquot allow parallel schemes and paral‐lel set ups

Donrsquot control PRIs through officials especially the District Collector

Donrsquot pit community based organiza‐tionsNGOs against PRIs

Donrsquot provide discretionary fund to MLAs

Donrsquot make MPs and MLAs members of PRIs Give up the system of Minister in charge of any district or DPC

Donrsquot retain powers with State govern‐ment to interfere with decisions PRIs

Panchayati Raj Institutions

Dos

Take the responsibility suo motu to help people solve their problems locally

Facilitate local solutions to develop‐mental problems

Focus on developmental as well as non‐developmental functions

Improve service delivery Encourage peoplersquos participation in all services

Give special importance to providing citizen entitlement properly and in grievance redressal

Hold stakeholder consultation peri‐odically

Improve the quality of participation particularly in gram sabhas

Devote considerable energy to local resource mobilization

Have a clear perspective develop‐ment plan

Build up a data base required for planning

Ensure transparency of all dealings

Follow the due process while taking decisions on resource allocation or in selecting beneficiaries

Keep all the registers up to date and prepare the accounts according to schedule

Make concerted efforts to include the excluded groups in the develop‐ment process

Publish a Citizenrsquos Charter

Introduce participatory monitoring systems

Donrsquots

Donrsquot look up to the State Govern‐ment for everything

Donrsquot be clones of the State Govern‐mentin behaviour or in practice

Donrsquot bring in divisive party politics in matters related to Panchayat func‐tioning

Towards Time Bound Panchayatsmdashcontinued

Page 3

Grassroots

Following are the extracts from a compilation of key strategies learn‐ings and policy implications drawn from a pilot exercise undertaken by UNICEF in Vaishali district of Bihar during AprilmdashDecember 2009 Full Report is available at httpvaishalibihnicinDPMCWEBSt_DocPlanVaishali_Learningspdf

An overview of Integrated District Planning

According to guidelines issued by Planning Commission each district is expected to prepare a District Devel‐opment Plan that integrates plans for all its constituent urban and rural areas as well as sectoral allocations for various schemes under the urban and rural areas As a matter of fact the process of district planning offers a crucial leadership opportunity for representatives of local governments at the district level as the mandate of consolidating a district plan lies with District Planning Committees (DPC henceforth to be constituted in every district in accordance with Article 243 ZDPart IXA of the Constitution of India) based on integration of plans prepared by all Panchayats munici‐palities and planning units in a dis‐trict The DPC has two specific re‐sponsibilities in formulation of Dis‐trict Development Plans It is ex‐pected to take into account matters of common interest between the Panchayats and the Municipalities including spatial planning sharing of water and other physical and natural resources the integrated develop‐ment of infrastructure and environ‐mental conservation and the extent and type of available resources both financial or otherwise To this effect the DPC is mandated to consult such institutions and organizations as may be specified

Steps to be taken at State level for facilitating District Planning Proc‐esses

Completion of Activity Mapping thereby spelling out the specific re‐sponsibilities

of local governments

Formation of District Planning Commit‐tees in accordance with Article 243ZD

Issuance of guidelines to DPCs and local governments

Finalization of formula for distribution of local government component of the

state plan

Indication of sector‐wise and untied resources that would be available to each local government over five years and one year from the state plan

Indication of resources that would be available to each local government from central sources through Centrally Sponsored Schemes Finance Commis‐sion grants and any special allocations and

Presentation of a summary of District Plans along with State Plan proposals for the Eleventh Five Year PlanAnnual Plan to Planning Commission

Expected arrangements at the District level

Compilation of available databases for local governments

Articulation of lsquoVisionrsquo for local govern‐ments mentioning key reasons of backwardness and covering important sectors1

Organizing technical support and ca‐pacity building for DPCs and local gov‐ernments

Prioritization of local needs and plan‐ning at the level of local governments and

Integration of plans of all district level planning units at the level of DPC

Recommendations of Expert Group towards making the role of DPCs meaningful

Towards making the role of District

Planning Committee meaningful a number of significant recommenda‐tions were made by an Expert Group on Planning at grassroots level These included the following

CSS guidelines that entrust the task of district level planning and imple‐mentation to parallel bodies such as DRDAs and District Health Societies need to be modified to incorporate the District Planning Committee in the process of District level planning

The Planning Commission could in‐form States that the DPC would be the sole body that is entrusted with the task of consolidating plans at the district level

The Planning Commission should specify a timeframe within which States will need to issue detailed instructions covering the manner in which the DPC would perform its functions

There must be a full‐time profession‐ally qualified District Planning Officer to head the District Planning Unit If such persons are unavailable in the government appointment of profes‐sionals on contract or outsourcing is an option to be considered and acted upon

Institutional support through univer‐sities and research institutions both at the District and State levels could be identified for assisting the DPC in planning monitoring and evaluation

The Planning Commission should continue to provide the required support for district planning as was done earlier except that this would now be provided to the DPC

Experts could be assigned to work either individually or in teams They could be taken on a part‐time basis on assignment basis or full‐time if the need arises

District Planning

Page 4

Grassroots

Integrated District PlanningmdashVaishali Bihar

It is for the State to determine the number of Experts that can be drawn to assist the DPC This could depend upon the extent of devolution in each state

Though ideally they are best drawn locally experts can be drawn even from outside the jurisdiction of the district if required Care must be taken to ensure that participation is voluntary above partisan politics and able to respect different points of view

With growing urbanization of smaller and intermediate sized towns there is need to especially draw in experts on municipal matters and the urban rural interface to assist the DPC in planning for local resource sharing

area planning soil and waste and sew‐age disposal and other such matters which call for close coordination be‐tween Panchayats and Municipalities

The DPC could also constitute a few sectoral sub‐committees for both the envisioning and the consolidation proc‐esses

It is strongly recommended that each Intermediate Panchayat be provided a planning and data unit which could also be integrated into the larger con‐cept of having a Resource Centre at each Intermediate Panchayat level to provide a basket of pooled services such as for engineering agriculture watershed development women and child care public health etc which Gram Panchayats can draw upon for

support in planning and implementa‐tion

One of the primary tasks of the DPC would be to build capacity for decen‐tralized planning in the district A major impediment to proper plan‐ning is the lack of personnel

providing planning support and avail‐ability of good and comprehensible information at the Intermediate and Gram Panchayat level

The DPC should be entrusted with anchoring the preparation of the vision document the maintenance of databases training of planners evaluation of outcomes internal monitoring of performance and inde‐pendent evaluation of outcomes

Integrated District PlanningmdashVaishali Bihar

Public volunteers to have say in municipal planning | Times of India | 15 May 2011

flagship scheme Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) Additional municipal com‐missioner P K Srivastava said the scheme aims to bring transparency and accountability in the system CVTC would take up nine areas ‐ urban governance urban planning urban environment urban engineering heritage urban poverty alleviation urban municipal finance urban com‐munity development and legal ser‐vices The group would give crucial inputs to the authorities about the needs of people This would also help in main‐taining connectivity between the city development plan (CDP) and the de‐tailed project reports (DPRs) which civic authorities prepare while avail‐ing funds from the Centre under JNNURM In fact on various occasions in the past DPRs prepared by the state government were turned down by the Centre because of loopholes pertaining to people participation

That would thus be checked this way officials said Interestingly a similar attempt was made by the LMC some time ago which however did not yield desired results Sources said that instead of experts in urban and municipal plan‐ning undesired elements staked their claim Not surprisingly the applications were confined to the dustbins This time however mu‐nicipal bosses expect applications from the desired people Meanwhile doubts have been raised on the efficacy of the advisory body However Srivastava said that the members of advisory group would be empowered to have correspon‐dence with the Centre directly httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐15lucknow29545386_1_urban‐planning‐municipal‐planning‐city‐development‐plan

LUCKNOW The citizens may soon get a chance to participate in civic planning process In an ambitious step the Lucknow Municipal Corpo‐ration (LMC) has decided to set up a cell of volunteers essentially those experts in municipal and urban planning who would advise the municipal bosses on projects related to civic and urban infrastructure City volunteer technical corps (CVTC) ‐ as the body will be called ‐ would have its members from among the public Anyone can apply for the advisory body through an application with claim of hisher expertise in urbanmunicipal plan‐ning Final selection would though be done by a group of officials at the corporation The move appears to be more than a compulsion than the need for the municipal body which is required to fulfil the crucial condition set up by the Centre under its prestigious

Page 5

Grassroots

From now on Members of Parlia‐ment would have their say in the selection of rural roads to be laid in the respective constituencies under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana a prime component of Bharat Nirman taken up the UPA govern‐ment

In a circular issued four days back the ministry of rural development in‐structed the States to append a proof of consultation with the respective MP a must now for a proposal to be considered

About one‐lakh habitations in the country are still without a road con‐nection

Making for greater participation of public the proposal should have ten

photographs taken during the ‐ Tran‐sect Walk ‐ showing locals and if pre‐sent the MPs presence Transect walk with community participation is to determine the most suitable alignment sort out land availability issues and moderate any adverse socio‐environmental impact from a road project

Fresh proposals will not be considered without these documents in addition to fulfilling other mandatory require‐ments the circular says

The move comes after representations from several MPs that their views are not taken on board while approving a road project seen as a development sign ‐ in their constituency

As guidelines did not serve the pur‐

pose the ministry issued the instruc‐tions now

Even as they let the political class take the call on location of all weather roads officials expect the move would expedite the projects mitigating any land issues as the road is now under the aegis of the MP

In spite of land availability certifi‐cates several roads could not be laid or had to be dropped on grounds of actual non‐availability which could be avoided a senior official said

The ministry also instructed that quality monitoring of road works ‐ intended to weed out corruption in projects ‐ would be carried with participation of the MPs to address their concerns

MPs to have say in rural road projects | Hindustan Times | 6 May 2011

Page 6

Grassroots

Many attempts were made by the Government of India to intro‐duce decentralized planning for development however they did not succeed as a proper enabling framework was not in place both for planning and integration of developmental activities at the micro level Recently the Plan‐ning Commission issued a guide‐line mandating that all plans starting from XIth Plan period onwards should be prepared bottom up in a decentralized manner Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) scheme of the Min‐istry of Panchayati Raj was the first scheme to adopt the Plan‐ning Commission guidelines in to ‐to and all BRGF states have been directed to prepare a district Plan document as against a BRGF Plan PlanPlus is a software developed by NIC under guidance and di‐

rection from Ministry of Pancha‐yati Raj in order to demystify and strengthen the decentralized plan‐ning process The software is a web‐based software and captures the entire planning workflow start‐ing from identification of needs the plan approval process till the final approval by the District Plan‐ning Committee The software is highly generic and can be ex‐tended to capture the plans pre‐pared by line departments at the state and central level to generate the National Plan The software

Facilitates decentralized plan‐ning process in local language

Captures the planning work‐flow

Converges the flow of funds from different sources

Converges the rural and ur‐

ban plans to generate an integrated district plan

Brings about total transpar‐ency in the plan approval process

Provides role based authen‐tication and authorization

Acts as a decision support tool through the use of supporting GIS and graphs

httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

About Plan PlusmdashDistrict Planning Software

I visited Gairsen a block HQ in Chamoli District of Uttarakhand (UK) from 12th amp 13th May 11 Gairsen is situated almost at the centre of UK between its two important regions viz Kumaon and Garhwal Because of its strategic location it was ear‐marked as a probable capital of UK Situated at a height of 3000 metres (9800 ft) above sea level Gairsen is a beauti‐ful valley (Gair = deep sain = plane)

Gairsen is arguably the biggest and the most populated of 9 Kshetra (Block) Panchayats of Chamoli Dis‐trict spread over 40700 ha and with a total population of ~60000 Of its ~11000 families ~ 50 are below poverty line There are 95 Gram Panchayats (GPs) within Gairsen Block

2 UK was carved out of UP in Nov 2009 After its separation Govern‐ment of India (GoI) categorized it as one of the 11 Special Category States (SCS) UK has arguably the most well‐defined system and the largest num‐ber (~7700 PRIs) of rural and urban local bodies amongst SCS It is also markedly different from UP inasmuch as the villages are mostly in the hilly terrain spaced out at great distances and are sparsely populated Yet an‐other special feature of UK is the predominant importance of forests especially in the village life It is a prominent state in the National Affor‐estration Programme with one of the

largest numbers of Van Panchayats Despite the commitment of Govern‐ment of UK (GoUK) in Aug 2006 to constitute Van Panchayats as standing Committees of Gram Panchayats rather than letting them exist separately as parallel bodies the things remain much the same Likewise there is little link‐age of audit of PRIs with the audit of

other important gov‐ernment Schemes of GoI and GoUK such as Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) Deendayal Awas Yojana (DAY) Atal Awas Yojana (AAY) Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) National Health Renewal Mission (NHRM) Gramya (UK decentralized Water‐

shed Development Project) etc In terms of devolution of funds functions and functionaries to local bodies UK ranks at a lowly 19th rank of devolution index amongst all the states of Indian Union (IIPA study Evaluation Year FY10) UK lost out on 12th FCs devolutions for FY 10 because of the failure of GoUK to constitute District Planning Committees (DPCs) The primary external audit ar‐rangements of local bodies in GoUK are far from satisfactory especially in relation to the growing corpus of devolutions and grants of funds to PRIs and ULBs during the last ten years

3 Soon after my arrival at Gairsen in the AN of 12 May (~0400pm) I met S

BS Panwar DPRO SK Pant BDO TD Harbola ADO at the Block Office Shri SK Pant BDO was more of a trainee officer who was appointed straight‐way in Feb 2011 without any training It appears that the general level of availability of development officials in UK is insufficient Of the required number of ~32 Village Development Officers (VDO) for 95 Gram Pancha‐yats (GP) in Gairsen Block (1 VDO3GPs) there were only 10 in position The average number of villages per VDO was 10 Given the fact that the villages are spaced out miles apart in hilly terrain of UK this is a really sad situation No wonder PRIs in UK are trailing behind in main‐tenance of proper accounts and in adoption of PRIAsoft ICT based ac‐counting software for establishment of Model Accounting System (MAS) as I saw in a Gram Panchayat the next day

4 Financially the main schemes operated through PRIs in Gairsen Block are as follows

Decentralized Governance

Page 7

Grassroots

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsen Uttarakhand

5 DPRO and block officials ascribed the reasons of shortfall in expendi‐ture to the receipt of funds at the end of the fiscal as also to shortage of skilled accounts staff because of which accounts ndash and thereby UCs ndash could not be furnished in time In the meeting with Block Pramukh and Gram Pradhans the next day it also came out that planning of develop‐ment works was rather top down than participative leading to the shortfall in utilization of funds

6 I had an interesting interaction with Block Pramukh Smt Janki Rawat and Gram Pradhans of a couple of villages of Gairsen Block in a meeting held at Block Office in the forenoon of 13 May 2011 Smt Janki Rawat came across as a remarkable lady and leader who was well versed with the problem of the Block besides being very articulate in expressing those She had been a worker at Shri Bhu‐waneswari Mahila Ashram (SBMA) a preeminent NGO of UK working espe‐cially in the area of women empower‐ment She said that there was discon‐nect between the works executed by the government department and agencies and the requirement of people at the grassroots because of poor planning process She said de‐layed receipts of Government funds and shortage of skilled persons for completing the accounts in time were among the reasons for slow pace of development expenditure She said that she had been mentioning those things in District Panchayat meetings where she was ex‐officio member Shri Balbir Singh Gram Pradhan of Maikholi village spoke about lack of

coordination with Van Panchayats who often didnt allow required develop‐ment works in the village A few other Gram Pradhans who spoke talked about difficulty in executing MNREGA works insufficiency of MNREGA wages especially for skilled construction works low levels of honorarium paid to Pradhans and shortage of VDOs They did concede that despite operational problems MNREGA has been very useful in creating local employment in the village and in preventing migration

away from village for work MNREGA allotment in Gairsen Block for FY11 was gt ` 7 crore 7 In the afternoon I visited Gram Panchayat Gwad which was only a few Km away from the Block HQ I met

Gram Pradhan Smt Radha Devi and other Panchayat members Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO and Smt Ganga Dhondhiyal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGA

8 Smt Radha Devi Pradhan was an energetic illiterate old lady Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO was currently looking after an impossible charge of 22 villages as another VDO of the Block was on long leave Smt Ganga Dhondhi‐yal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGS was effectively working as village account‐ant too She was highly qualified (MA BSc from Dehra dun) She was a con‐tract employee under MNREGS en‐gaged at a special daily wage of Rs 150= Besides Gwad she was also responsi‐ble for MNREGA and accounts affairs off two more villages There was a GP room and multipurpose village as‐sembly place built through MPLADS

funds It was a very poor set up com‐pared to say a Kerala GP office There was no computer GP records too were reportedly kept at the house of Pradhan No Model Ac‐counting System (MAS) was being followed There was just one receipt and payment register which had been filled up to March 2011 Appar‐ently this was the situation prevail‐ing in most of the GPs in UK In order to be able to avail itself of the per‐formance incentive component of 13th FC devolution GoUK needs to move really fast to improve upon MAS in GPs

9 On the way to GP at Gwad I also visited the office of Dy Project Direc‐tor of Gramya which is a WB assisted Decentralized Watershed Develop‐ment Project in UK under the Depart‐ment of Watershed amp Agriculture of GoUK Gairsen was one of the 10 development blocks in which Gramya operates Dy Project Director of Gra‐mya at Gairsen was an energetic young officer Shri Barfaal who was on deputation to the project from GoUK Department of Agriculture At Gairsen the project covered 30 model villages The avowed objec‐tives of Gramya is to improve the productive potential of natural re‐sources and increase incomes of rural inhabitants in degraded watersheds of the State through socially inclusive institutionally and environmentally sustainable approaches Gramya works through GPs and Van Pancha‐yats

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsenmdashcontinued

Page 8

Grassroots

Local Bodies (LBs) Division had pre‐sented (May 2010) to CAG a paper giving an outlook for recasting CAGrsquos audit response to the important developments in social development sector with the onset of decentralized governance through LBs in the recent times The government at the apex level the Planning Commission suc‐cessive Finance Commissions after the ninth the 2nd administrative reforms commission all have made strong advocacy for making LBs the focal point of planning execution and management of the social devel‐opment schemes impacting at the local levels But at the practical level there are many a Rubicons to be crossed LBs share the public finance space of social development with a host of parallel bodies government departments and agencies at all levels of planning execution and management in varying degrees in

various States often only as bit player LB Divisions paper had therefore made a strong advocacy for aggrega‐tion of Civil Works and LB audit within the umbrella of Social Sector Audit (SSA) under the leadership of one AG in state It had also called for vertical aggregation of SSA which is at present dispersed amongst DAI‐RC DAI‐LB ADAsI at the HQ and amongst DG‐CEA PD‐ESM and PD‐SD Subsequently IAampADrsquos Perspective Plan 2010‐15 (June 2010) also echoed this sentiment and emphasized integration of LB audit with civil audit It also calls for place‐ment of an institutional framework for integrating audit efforts across various functional areas and for carrying out the required structural changes at HQ and field level

2 To illustrate the likely gains of an aggregated audit approach as outlines in its May 2010 paper LB Division planned along with the office of PAG

(Civil) Allahabad and in consultation with RS‐I wing a district‐centric audit of rural social sector in Ghaziabad District This audit exercise involved inter alia audit inspections of District Panchayat DRDA Block Panchayats (4) Village Panchayats (40) civil DDOs (7) of a sample selected with due diligence and entry and exit conference with the District amp PRI officials We selected Ghaziabad was for its proximity to HQ so that Direc‐tor‐LB HQ could associate himself with the experimental audit exercise without much difficulty PAG (CA) Allahabad has since issued the report to the State Government (15 Apr 11) This audit experiment in Ghaziabad has valuable lessons for us regarding audit system process and products Table below gives a comparative picture between the prevailing sys‐tem and experimental audit ap‐proach

Lessons in Ghaziabad district audit

Page 9

Grassroots

Parameter Prevailing Audit System Experimental Audit Approach Integration of civil LB and other audits as called for in IAADrsquos Perspective Plan (PP) FY10‐15

No integration Audit inspections conducted disjointedly by different groups of PAGs office in various auditee units in civil offices parallel bodies LBs IRs bring out if at all trivial audit objections of operations‐malfunction without much systemic angle

Integrates civil and LB audits System oriented report‐ing in place of isolated findings

Annual audit planning Audit planning inspection oriented Audit plans of the concerned functional groups of PAGs office are essentially lists of audit inspections to be carried out during the year without horizontal and vertical linkages amongst social sector auditee units

Objective planning aimed at assessment of systemic frailties and on outcomes of social sector schemes (SSS) Audit inspections plan covers all major units dealing with SSS regardless of their legal status ie whether a unit is a civil DDO or belongs to a parallelautonomouslocal body under one team leader

Unit level audit plan‐ning

Little planning in advance for unit level auditing Inspections carried out treating each unit in isolation Little appreciation of financial and operational linkages

Audit plan for whole assignment prepared before‐hand with due regard to the inter se synergies of the units in the audit sample as also with reference to the role of supra supervisory layers Inspections of sampled units carried out in that context

Audit trail Limited within the inspected unit No reconcilia‐tion of discordant information in different units

Runs through the units spread across divergent func‐tional domains such as village school PHC DDOs DRDA down to the last mile GPs and even beneficiar‐ies Discordant information captured examined and highlighted

Quality of IRs Rudimentary compliance checks and scrutiny of control records More in the nature of internal audit reports Highlight operational malfunctions (often insignificant) without systemic orientation

Attributes based on risks are identified beforehand and tested during audit of all units Introduces new intermediate audit product District Inspection Report in addition to IRs of the sampled units District Report highlighted important systemic issues

Resource allocation‐time

160‐170 working days of many parties including transit days

45 working days with two audit teams under one AO including transit

Gangtok Sikkim has been selected as the best in the Northeastern region and the third‐best perform‐ing state in the country for pro‐gress recorded by Panchayati Raj for the year 2010‐11The state will receive a cash incentive award of Rs one crore while Mellidara Pai‐yong Gram Panchayat in South Sikkim district a consistent per‐former in PRI achievements has

been awarded the Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar ‐ 2011 for convening and conducting regular and vibrant meetings of the Gram Sabhas a press release from the Rural Management amp Development Department said The Rashtriya Gau‐rav Gram Sabha Puraskar award carries a cash component of Rs 10 lakh The Minister and Secretary Rural Management and Develop‐ment Department along with the

Sabhapati of Mellidara Paiyong Gram Panchayat will receive the awards from the Prime Minister at a special conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 24 April National Panchayat Day it said

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewssikkim‐selected‐as‐best‐state‐in‐ne‐for‐panchati‐raj‐progress653317html

Page 10

Grassroots

Sikkim selected as best state in NE for PR progress | ibnlive | 19 April 2011

Ranchi More than 1200 building plans are waiting to be vetted by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) as it is without a town plan‐ner the one vested with the au‐thority of ensuring that construc‐tion norms arenrsquot flouted in the state capital The irony is unmistakable espe‐cially when Ranchi along with Dhanbad Bokaro and Jamshedpur are witnessing demolition drives at the behest of an angry high court to undo years of damage perpe‐trated on the cities by unscrupu‐lous builders who in connivance with corrupt government officials survived on illegal constructions On April 1 Jharkhand High Court asked the state government to remove town planner Ram Kumar Singh from the post as he did not have a degree in town planning a mandatory requirement for the post The state government then sent back Singh to his parent water resources department and named urban development department town planner Gajanand Ram as successor with additional charge

It also decided to appoint town plan‐ners in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad which will see a slew of urban re‐vamp projects under JNNURM But since official orders are yet to be passed mdash sources claimed the file was with chief minister Arjun Munda mdash RMC is still without a town plan‐ner while more than 1200 building plans await verification Gajanand who is monitoring various urban infrastructure development schemes under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will be given the job at RMC as a stopgap arrangement officials con‐ceded ldquoWe are still waiting for a new town planner In his absence the work of verifying and approving building maps of houses multi‐storey resi‐dential buildings and commercial complexes is sufferingrdquo admitted RMC chief executive officer Vinay Kumar Choubey Gajanand fits the criteria He is armed with a masterrsquos degree in town planning from the renowned School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi

ldquoA town planner needs to have a masterrsquos degree in urban plan‐ningrdquo explained Manjari Chak‐raborty the head of department of architecture at Birla Institute of Technology Mesra ldquoGraduates in civil engineering architecture geography and sociol‐ogy too can pursue a masterrsquos degree in this subjectrdquo added the teacher of BIT‐Mesra Jharkhandrsquos only technical institute offering a postgraduate course in urban plan‐ning Officials at the state urban devel‐opment department have now promised to advertise for town planners in Ranchi Jamshedpur and Dhanbad soon Singh who was initially town plan‐ner with Ranchi Regional Develop‐ment Authority (RRDA) took up the job at RMC after it was given powers to verify building maps on September 1 2009 While RMC looks after new constructions in the town RRDA does so for the outskirts

httpwwwtelegraphindiacom1110419jspfrontpagestory_13871919jsp

Capital without a town planner | Telegraph | 19 April 2011

The Planning Commission has set up a working group on elementary edu‐cation and literacy that will suggest measures for faster reduction in illiteracy with emphasis on gender regional and social dimensions and incentivise States to achieve cent per cent literacy during the XII Plan pe‐riod To be chaired by the Secretary De‐partment of Elementary Education and Literacy (Ministry of Human Resource Development) the working group will suggest modifications in educational indicators computation of education index that captures ground reality and suggest measures for improvements in management of educational statistics at district State and national‐levels and reduce the time lag in publication of educational statistics It will review effectiveness of pro‐grammes addressing the needs of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes

Other Backward Classes minorities girls education and feasibility of intro‐ducing alternative systems for impart‐ing quality education to the poor stu‐dents In addition to reviewing the existing Plan programmes under Elementary Education and Literacy in terms of access enrolment retention dropouts and with particular emphasis on out‐come on quality of education by gen‐der social and regional classifications the working group has been asked to evolve a detailed perspective plan and strategies with specific medium‐term monitorable targets in terms of aver‐age years of schooling and for provid‐ing quality elementary education up to Class VIII to all children in the age group of 6‐14 as per the Right of Chil‐dren to Free and Compulsory Education Act mandate The group will suggest measures for improving implementation of RTE har‐monised Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan the

Mid‐Day Meal Scheme and various literacy programmes for achieving the millennium development goals and restructure literacy programmes for greater involvement of the State governments and increasing trans‐parency and accountability The working group will comprise officers from the Ministries of HRD Youth Affairs and Sports Women and Child Development Social Justice and Empowerment Tribal Affairs Minor‐ity Affairs and representatives from civil society groups such as the Foun‐dation for Education and Develop‐ment Swami Sivananda Society Pratham the Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Tata Institute for Social Sciences Azim Premji Founda‐tion and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar State madrasa Boards among others httpwwwthehinducomnewsnationalarticle2026559ece

Planning Commission sets up working group on school education | Hindu | 17 May 2011

Page 11

Grassroots

Grass root politics Decentralisation of power | The Sangai Express | 24 May 2011

mechanisms to address issues at the micro‐level But as we have said this arrangement comes with certain riders and that is the overall authority of the State over these self governing bodies Thus the respective State Governments are entrusted with the authority of decid‐ing the executive powers that may be disseminated to these local self govern‐ing units and hence a Municipal Council in Manipur may be something quite different from a Municipal Council found in say Assam or West Bengal In as much as these local self governing units are under the overall authority of the State Government its importance in power politics is something that cannot be overlooked and this is the reason why elections to the urban local civic bodies such as the Municipalities

attract so much attention from all political parties and political leaders In short election to these self gov‐erning bodies are usually seen and interpreted as a referendum at the grass root level on the performance or non‐performance of the partyparties heading the Government in a State A recent example that comes to mind is the election to the urban civic bodies in Kolkata and if political pun‐dits had placed their bets on the Trinamul Congress during the recent Assembly election in West Bengal it had to do a lot with the results of the elections to the urban civic bodies The same is the case with the Munici‐pal Corporations in other State capi‐tals such as Mumbai Delhi and other metropolitan cities To the local

Imphal Power and authority to the grass root is undeniably one of the more favoured slogans of a democ‐racy and while no one can justifiably contest the merit behind the philoso‐phy of disseminating power to the grass root level this comes with certain riders as evidenced in the institution of local self Governments such as the Panchayats at the village level Municipal Corporations in the metros and Municipal Councils in the lesser or smaller cities In the hills we have the autonomous district councils and for towns there are the town councils Local self Government is necessitated by the need to recognise and acknowledge the local peculiarities that abound in a multi‐faceted society like India and this is one of the most effective

MLAs election to the local self gov‐erning units is increasingly seen as something of a test on their perform‐ance at their respective Assembly Constituencies for it is about taking the opinion of the people at the mi‐cro‐level where each ward may have issues which are unique to them The political culture in Manipur is yet to take up the lines found in the big metros but election to the local bod‐ies particularly the Imphal Municipal Council has seen an increased inter‐est from the political big‐wigs of the State It is along this line or in acknowledg‐ing the mood and opinion of the people at the grass root level that we see prominent political figures in‐cluding the Chief Minister and the State unit presidents of different political parties campaigning for their candidates in the Imphal Municipal Council for which election will be held today

The scenario is no longer the same as it was 15 or 10 years back It is no longer a contest between two neighbours but about a contest between two political parties and their ideologies True election to the Municipal Council of Imphal is not the same as election to the State Assembly but the intensity of the competition and the proportionate growth in the importance of money power is something which stand out prominently and this years run up to the election to the Imphal Municipal Council had all the ingredients of a top notch political drama where the win‐ner takes all If the importance and political signifi‐cance in the election to the Imphal Municipal Council has been growing with each passing year or term then ideally there should also be an increas‐ing importance or significance in the role and responsibility of the Council The manner in which Imphal Municipal Council has been functioning all these

years will no one in doubt that there has been no corresponding increase in the significance and importance of this Council compared to the hoopla surrounding the election of the Coun‐cillors This is the right time to question why this is so A look at Imphal will leave no one in doubt about the veracity of our observation At the moment Imphal has all the negative characteristics of an urban metropolitan city but none of the positives that come along with being a city The level of pollution has touched sky high the filth and dirt earlier associated with only the big cities have now come to be an in‐separable identity of Imphal and a few hours of rain is more than enough to reduce all the roads and lanes into rivulets The traffic menace the unmanage‐able garbage the stink the absence of proper water supply provisions absence of civic amenities are all tell tale signs of a sick and ailing urban local self governing unit which in this case is the Imphal Municipal Council Down the years people have become accustomed to reports of how em‐ployees of the IMC have had to cope with no salaries for months the power mongering amongst the Coun‐cillors etc Ideally it is expected of a Municipal Council to busy itself with activities such as urban planning regulation of land‐use and construction of build‐ings roads and bridges public health sanitation etc and ideally this is the right time that questions should be raised which may find the responsible people squirming with discomfort The rain in the last few days has undoubtedly inconvenienced the average man in Imphal but it may also be seen as a God sent opportu‐nity to raise questions before the candidates and play an influencing role in the choice of the voters

Grass root politics Decentralisation of powermdashcontinued

Page 12

Grassroots

Special Programme on PRSystem | Assam Tribune | 16 May 2011

State to rein in corporations | Times of India | 2 May 2011

ment has now proposed a deadline of 45 days for a committee to take a deci‐sion and 90 days for the general body The clock will start ticking from the day on which the first meeting of the com‐mittee or general body is held after the proposal is submitted to the municipal secretary Also the corporators protecting each other may no longer be possible Cur‐rently if the administration proposes disqualification of a corporator on some grounds and if there is a dispute then the general body must pass a resolution to let the dispute be put before the city civil court Till date no general body of a municipal corporation has passed such a resolution Now the municipal commis‐sioner on his own can refer the matter to the government The government has also increased the grounds on which it can suspend a resolution passed by the general body These amendments are nothing but encroachment on the authority of the municipal corporation If the govern‐ment wants to rule the roost in local

governing bodies it should dissolve all municipal corporations and take reins said Sham Deshpande Shiv Senas leader of the house in the PMC Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said The government should recon‐sider these amendments If it fails to do so I will approach the court to stay the amendments Aba Bagul and Ravindra Dhangekar leaders of the Congress party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena respec‐tively in the PMC denounced the cabinets approval to the amend‐ments The ruling NCP however supported the amendments It is up to the state government to decide about the amendments The municipal corpora‐tion has no say in these amendments said leader of the house httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐02pune29499444_1_amendments‐independent‐corporator‐ujwal‐keskar‐municipal‐commissioner

PUNE The state cabinets approval to a slew of amendments to various municipal corporation Acts has ruffled the feathers of city corporators across party lines The cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Bombay Provin‐cial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 and the Mumbai Municipal Corpora‐tion Act 1888 to expedite decision‐making and bring in more transpar‐ency in the functioning of municipal corporations The government will issue an ordinance so that the amend‐ments can come into effect immedi‐ately According to the amendments corpo‐rators will no longer be able to delay any proposal The government has decided to set a deadline within which the municipal corporations will have to either say aye or no to a pro‐posal Currently the deadline has been set only for tenders where the standing committee has to take a decision within 30 days from the day the proposal is submitted The govern‐

Page 13

Grassroots

Use of Priasoft and Planplus Under e‐Panchayat | PIB | 31 May 2011

W Bengal and Karnataka that already have their own accounting sw should align their system with PRIASOFT so as to integrate with other PES applica‐tions Plan Plus software should be extended to all districts and for all CentralState schemes and not be limited to BRGF given its simplicity amp versatility in matching wishes of people with avail‐able schemesresources their conver‐gence generating integrated plans and transparency amp peoplersquos participation in the whole planning process The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is work‐ing with the Ministries of Rural Devel‐opment and Finance for integrating different applications such as PRIASoft PlanPlus NREGASoft CPSMS to facili‐

tate uploading of information at a single point Similarly flagship programmes like NRHM SSA ICDS etc should be motivated to use e‐Panchayat for the evident advantages e‐Panchayat Consultants could demonstrate PES to the respective State line depart‐ments The National Population Registry data should be hyperlinked to Panchayat Portal to know about houses without toilet drinking water etc BPL data base of 2011 should be integrated with individual benefit schemes like IAYSGSYNRLM and also Social secu‐rity schemes This would make PES more citizen friendly httppibnicinnewsiteereleaseaspxrelid=72403

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has advised the StatesUTs to adopt the use of PRIASoft and Plan Plus under e‐panchayat moduleIn a letter sent to the StatesUTs the Ministry says that adoption of an accounting system consistent with Model Accounting System (MAS) for the Panchayats which would be greatly facilitated by PRIASoft is one of the performance conditions under 13th FC award Implementation of MAS amp PRIASoft in the remaining States is therefore required urgently by training of Mas‐ter Trainers at DistrictBlock level who in turn could train GP Staff MoPR amp NIC would assist Applications in PES have inter‐linkages States like Gujarat Kerala

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

Funds to be transferred to PRIs should be budgeted separately and devolved based on transparent for‐mula

PRIs should be given resource raising powers both tax and non‐tax Only the lower limit need be set by Gov‐ernment

There should be legal provisions on fiscal responsibility of PRIs dealing with assessment and collection of revenue borrowing mode of incur‐ring expenditure transparency ac‐countability etc

Allow local governments to prepare schemes and plans locally

Control of local governments should only be through independent Audit system

Provide for an auxiliary audit system which focuses on concurrent help and correction to PRIs rather than post facto fault finding

Evolve a Code of conduct governing the relationship between elected functionaries and officials

Redefine the role of the District Col‐lector bringing it in line with the PRI system

Select ldquobeaconrdquo panchayats through a transparent and independent proc‐ess and give larger freedom to them to develop replicable models of de‐velopment and or governance

To prevent re‐centralization intro‐duce a legislative provision which makes it mandatory for every power being withdrawn from PRIs to get the approval of the proposed State De‐velopment Council and then the legislature

Provide special mechanisms for so‐cially backward people to participate in the PRI system

Set up an empowered committee to sort out operational problems during the process of decentralization

Create space for NGOs CBOs and other Civil Society organizations to work in harmony with PRIs

Provide for participatory structures at all levels to bring in maximum peoplersquos participation in local governance

Give full freedom to local governments but insist on following norms and due processes while taking decisions

Redefine the role of parastatals dealing with functions transferred to PRIs and bring in arrangements for them to work with PRIs as technical support agencies

Introduce provisions for right to infor‐mation social audit etc in laws relating to PRIs

Announce a clear capacity building policy for local governments

Facilitate PRIs to outsource profes‐sional and technical support

Set up a State Development Council to discuss policy issues relating to decen‐tralization

Donrsquots

Donrsquot take away powers given to PRIs under one law through another law by introducing a ldquonotwithstandingrdquo clause

Avoid dual control of staff transferred to PRIs

Donrsquot make PRIs miniature State gov‐ernments by downloading the same procedures and systems to them

Withdraw from areas where powers have been given to PRIs

Totally give up discretionary grants for ldquoneed‐basedrdquo or ldquodemand basedrdquo development programmes which are not transparent

Donrsquot allow parallel schemes and paral‐lel set ups

Donrsquot control PRIs through officials especially the District Collector

Donrsquot pit community based organiza‐tionsNGOs against PRIs

Donrsquot provide discretionary fund to MLAs

Donrsquot make MPs and MLAs members of PRIs Give up the system of Minister in charge of any district or DPC

Donrsquot retain powers with State govern‐ment to interfere with decisions PRIs

Panchayati Raj Institutions

Dos

Take the responsibility suo motu to help people solve their problems locally

Facilitate local solutions to develop‐mental problems

Focus on developmental as well as non‐developmental functions

Improve service delivery Encourage peoplersquos participation in all services

Give special importance to providing citizen entitlement properly and in grievance redressal

Hold stakeholder consultation peri‐odically

Improve the quality of participation particularly in gram sabhas

Devote considerable energy to local resource mobilization

Have a clear perspective develop‐ment plan

Build up a data base required for planning

Ensure transparency of all dealings

Follow the due process while taking decisions on resource allocation or in selecting beneficiaries

Keep all the registers up to date and prepare the accounts according to schedule

Make concerted efforts to include the excluded groups in the develop‐ment process

Publish a Citizenrsquos Charter

Introduce participatory monitoring systems

Donrsquots

Donrsquot look up to the State Govern‐ment for everything

Donrsquot be clones of the State Govern‐mentin behaviour or in practice

Donrsquot bring in divisive party politics in matters related to Panchayat func‐tioning

Towards Time Bound Panchayatsmdashcontinued

Page 3

Grassroots

Following are the extracts from a compilation of key strategies learn‐ings and policy implications drawn from a pilot exercise undertaken by UNICEF in Vaishali district of Bihar during AprilmdashDecember 2009 Full Report is available at httpvaishalibihnicinDPMCWEBSt_DocPlanVaishali_Learningspdf

An overview of Integrated District Planning

According to guidelines issued by Planning Commission each district is expected to prepare a District Devel‐opment Plan that integrates plans for all its constituent urban and rural areas as well as sectoral allocations for various schemes under the urban and rural areas As a matter of fact the process of district planning offers a crucial leadership opportunity for representatives of local governments at the district level as the mandate of consolidating a district plan lies with District Planning Committees (DPC henceforth to be constituted in every district in accordance with Article 243 ZDPart IXA of the Constitution of India) based on integration of plans prepared by all Panchayats munici‐palities and planning units in a dis‐trict The DPC has two specific re‐sponsibilities in formulation of Dis‐trict Development Plans It is ex‐pected to take into account matters of common interest between the Panchayats and the Municipalities including spatial planning sharing of water and other physical and natural resources the integrated develop‐ment of infrastructure and environ‐mental conservation and the extent and type of available resources both financial or otherwise To this effect the DPC is mandated to consult such institutions and organizations as may be specified

Steps to be taken at State level for facilitating District Planning Proc‐esses

Completion of Activity Mapping thereby spelling out the specific re‐sponsibilities

of local governments

Formation of District Planning Commit‐tees in accordance with Article 243ZD

Issuance of guidelines to DPCs and local governments

Finalization of formula for distribution of local government component of the

state plan

Indication of sector‐wise and untied resources that would be available to each local government over five years and one year from the state plan

Indication of resources that would be available to each local government from central sources through Centrally Sponsored Schemes Finance Commis‐sion grants and any special allocations and

Presentation of a summary of District Plans along with State Plan proposals for the Eleventh Five Year PlanAnnual Plan to Planning Commission

Expected arrangements at the District level

Compilation of available databases for local governments

Articulation of lsquoVisionrsquo for local govern‐ments mentioning key reasons of backwardness and covering important sectors1

Organizing technical support and ca‐pacity building for DPCs and local gov‐ernments

Prioritization of local needs and plan‐ning at the level of local governments and

Integration of plans of all district level planning units at the level of DPC

Recommendations of Expert Group towards making the role of DPCs meaningful

Towards making the role of District

Planning Committee meaningful a number of significant recommenda‐tions were made by an Expert Group on Planning at grassroots level These included the following

CSS guidelines that entrust the task of district level planning and imple‐mentation to parallel bodies such as DRDAs and District Health Societies need to be modified to incorporate the District Planning Committee in the process of District level planning

The Planning Commission could in‐form States that the DPC would be the sole body that is entrusted with the task of consolidating plans at the district level

The Planning Commission should specify a timeframe within which States will need to issue detailed instructions covering the manner in which the DPC would perform its functions

There must be a full‐time profession‐ally qualified District Planning Officer to head the District Planning Unit If such persons are unavailable in the government appointment of profes‐sionals on contract or outsourcing is an option to be considered and acted upon

Institutional support through univer‐sities and research institutions both at the District and State levels could be identified for assisting the DPC in planning monitoring and evaluation

The Planning Commission should continue to provide the required support for district planning as was done earlier except that this would now be provided to the DPC

Experts could be assigned to work either individually or in teams They could be taken on a part‐time basis on assignment basis or full‐time if the need arises

District Planning

Page 4

Grassroots

Integrated District PlanningmdashVaishali Bihar

It is for the State to determine the number of Experts that can be drawn to assist the DPC This could depend upon the extent of devolution in each state

Though ideally they are best drawn locally experts can be drawn even from outside the jurisdiction of the district if required Care must be taken to ensure that participation is voluntary above partisan politics and able to respect different points of view

With growing urbanization of smaller and intermediate sized towns there is need to especially draw in experts on municipal matters and the urban rural interface to assist the DPC in planning for local resource sharing

area planning soil and waste and sew‐age disposal and other such matters which call for close coordination be‐tween Panchayats and Municipalities

The DPC could also constitute a few sectoral sub‐committees for both the envisioning and the consolidation proc‐esses

It is strongly recommended that each Intermediate Panchayat be provided a planning and data unit which could also be integrated into the larger con‐cept of having a Resource Centre at each Intermediate Panchayat level to provide a basket of pooled services such as for engineering agriculture watershed development women and child care public health etc which Gram Panchayats can draw upon for

support in planning and implementa‐tion

One of the primary tasks of the DPC would be to build capacity for decen‐tralized planning in the district A major impediment to proper plan‐ning is the lack of personnel

providing planning support and avail‐ability of good and comprehensible information at the Intermediate and Gram Panchayat level

The DPC should be entrusted with anchoring the preparation of the vision document the maintenance of databases training of planners evaluation of outcomes internal monitoring of performance and inde‐pendent evaluation of outcomes

Integrated District PlanningmdashVaishali Bihar

Public volunteers to have say in municipal planning | Times of India | 15 May 2011

flagship scheme Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) Additional municipal com‐missioner P K Srivastava said the scheme aims to bring transparency and accountability in the system CVTC would take up nine areas ‐ urban governance urban planning urban environment urban engineering heritage urban poverty alleviation urban municipal finance urban com‐munity development and legal ser‐vices The group would give crucial inputs to the authorities about the needs of people This would also help in main‐taining connectivity between the city development plan (CDP) and the de‐tailed project reports (DPRs) which civic authorities prepare while avail‐ing funds from the Centre under JNNURM In fact on various occasions in the past DPRs prepared by the state government were turned down by the Centre because of loopholes pertaining to people participation

That would thus be checked this way officials said Interestingly a similar attempt was made by the LMC some time ago which however did not yield desired results Sources said that instead of experts in urban and municipal plan‐ning undesired elements staked their claim Not surprisingly the applications were confined to the dustbins This time however mu‐nicipal bosses expect applications from the desired people Meanwhile doubts have been raised on the efficacy of the advisory body However Srivastava said that the members of advisory group would be empowered to have correspon‐dence with the Centre directly httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐15lucknow29545386_1_urban‐planning‐municipal‐planning‐city‐development‐plan

LUCKNOW The citizens may soon get a chance to participate in civic planning process In an ambitious step the Lucknow Municipal Corpo‐ration (LMC) has decided to set up a cell of volunteers essentially those experts in municipal and urban planning who would advise the municipal bosses on projects related to civic and urban infrastructure City volunteer technical corps (CVTC) ‐ as the body will be called ‐ would have its members from among the public Anyone can apply for the advisory body through an application with claim of hisher expertise in urbanmunicipal plan‐ning Final selection would though be done by a group of officials at the corporation The move appears to be more than a compulsion than the need for the municipal body which is required to fulfil the crucial condition set up by the Centre under its prestigious

Page 5

Grassroots

From now on Members of Parlia‐ment would have their say in the selection of rural roads to be laid in the respective constituencies under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana a prime component of Bharat Nirman taken up the UPA govern‐ment

In a circular issued four days back the ministry of rural development in‐structed the States to append a proof of consultation with the respective MP a must now for a proposal to be considered

About one‐lakh habitations in the country are still without a road con‐nection

Making for greater participation of public the proposal should have ten

photographs taken during the ‐ Tran‐sect Walk ‐ showing locals and if pre‐sent the MPs presence Transect walk with community participation is to determine the most suitable alignment sort out land availability issues and moderate any adverse socio‐environmental impact from a road project

Fresh proposals will not be considered without these documents in addition to fulfilling other mandatory require‐ments the circular says

The move comes after representations from several MPs that their views are not taken on board while approving a road project seen as a development sign ‐ in their constituency

As guidelines did not serve the pur‐

pose the ministry issued the instruc‐tions now

Even as they let the political class take the call on location of all weather roads officials expect the move would expedite the projects mitigating any land issues as the road is now under the aegis of the MP

In spite of land availability certifi‐cates several roads could not be laid or had to be dropped on grounds of actual non‐availability which could be avoided a senior official said

The ministry also instructed that quality monitoring of road works ‐ intended to weed out corruption in projects ‐ would be carried with participation of the MPs to address their concerns

MPs to have say in rural road projects | Hindustan Times | 6 May 2011

Page 6

Grassroots

Many attempts were made by the Government of India to intro‐duce decentralized planning for development however they did not succeed as a proper enabling framework was not in place both for planning and integration of developmental activities at the micro level Recently the Plan‐ning Commission issued a guide‐line mandating that all plans starting from XIth Plan period onwards should be prepared bottom up in a decentralized manner Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) scheme of the Min‐istry of Panchayati Raj was the first scheme to adopt the Plan‐ning Commission guidelines in to ‐to and all BRGF states have been directed to prepare a district Plan document as against a BRGF Plan PlanPlus is a software developed by NIC under guidance and di‐

rection from Ministry of Pancha‐yati Raj in order to demystify and strengthen the decentralized plan‐ning process The software is a web‐based software and captures the entire planning workflow start‐ing from identification of needs the plan approval process till the final approval by the District Plan‐ning Committee The software is highly generic and can be ex‐tended to capture the plans pre‐pared by line departments at the state and central level to generate the National Plan The software

Facilitates decentralized plan‐ning process in local language

Captures the planning work‐flow

Converges the flow of funds from different sources

Converges the rural and ur‐

ban plans to generate an integrated district plan

Brings about total transpar‐ency in the plan approval process

Provides role based authen‐tication and authorization

Acts as a decision support tool through the use of supporting GIS and graphs

httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

About Plan PlusmdashDistrict Planning Software

I visited Gairsen a block HQ in Chamoli District of Uttarakhand (UK) from 12th amp 13th May 11 Gairsen is situated almost at the centre of UK between its two important regions viz Kumaon and Garhwal Because of its strategic location it was ear‐marked as a probable capital of UK Situated at a height of 3000 metres (9800 ft) above sea level Gairsen is a beauti‐ful valley (Gair = deep sain = plane)

Gairsen is arguably the biggest and the most populated of 9 Kshetra (Block) Panchayats of Chamoli Dis‐trict spread over 40700 ha and with a total population of ~60000 Of its ~11000 families ~ 50 are below poverty line There are 95 Gram Panchayats (GPs) within Gairsen Block

2 UK was carved out of UP in Nov 2009 After its separation Govern‐ment of India (GoI) categorized it as one of the 11 Special Category States (SCS) UK has arguably the most well‐defined system and the largest num‐ber (~7700 PRIs) of rural and urban local bodies amongst SCS It is also markedly different from UP inasmuch as the villages are mostly in the hilly terrain spaced out at great distances and are sparsely populated Yet an‐other special feature of UK is the predominant importance of forests especially in the village life It is a prominent state in the National Affor‐estration Programme with one of the

largest numbers of Van Panchayats Despite the commitment of Govern‐ment of UK (GoUK) in Aug 2006 to constitute Van Panchayats as standing Committees of Gram Panchayats rather than letting them exist separately as parallel bodies the things remain much the same Likewise there is little link‐age of audit of PRIs with the audit of

other important gov‐ernment Schemes of GoI and GoUK such as Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) Deendayal Awas Yojana (DAY) Atal Awas Yojana (AAY) Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) National Health Renewal Mission (NHRM) Gramya (UK decentralized Water‐

shed Development Project) etc In terms of devolution of funds functions and functionaries to local bodies UK ranks at a lowly 19th rank of devolution index amongst all the states of Indian Union (IIPA study Evaluation Year FY10) UK lost out on 12th FCs devolutions for FY 10 because of the failure of GoUK to constitute District Planning Committees (DPCs) The primary external audit ar‐rangements of local bodies in GoUK are far from satisfactory especially in relation to the growing corpus of devolutions and grants of funds to PRIs and ULBs during the last ten years

3 Soon after my arrival at Gairsen in the AN of 12 May (~0400pm) I met S

BS Panwar DPRO SK Pant BDO TD Harbola ADO at the Block Office Shri SK Pant BDO was more of a trainee officer who was appointed straight‐way in Feb 2011 without any training It appears that the general level of availability of development officials in UK is insufficient Of the required number of ~32 Village Development Officers (VDO) for 95 Gram Pancha‐yats (GP) in Gairsen Block (1 VDO3GPs) there were only 10 in position The average number of villages per VDO was 10 Given the fact that the villages are spaced out miles apart in hilly terrain of UK this is a really sad situation No wonder PRIs in UK are trailing behind in main‐tenance of proper accounts and in adoption of PRIAsoft ICT based ac‐counting software for establishment of Model Accounting System (MAS) as I saw in a Gram Panchayat the next day

4 Financially the main schemes operated through PRIs in Gairsen Block are as follows

Decentralized Governance

Page 7

Grassroots

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsen Uttarakhand

5 DPRO and block officials ascribed the reasons of shortfall in expendi‐ture to the receipt of funds at the end of the fiscal as also to shortage of skilled accounts staff because of which accounts ndash and thereby UCs ndash could not be furnished in time In the meeting with Block Pramukh and Gram Pradhans the next day it also came out that planning of develop‐ment works was rather top down than participative leading to the shortfall in utilization of funds

6 I had an interesting interaction with Block Pramukh Smt Janki Rawat and Gram Pradhans of a couple of villages of Gairsen Block in a meeting held at Block Office in the forenoon of 13 May 2011 Smt Janki Rawat came across as a remarkable lady and leader who was well versed with the problem of the Block besides being very articulate in expressing those She had been a worker at Shri Bhu‐waneswari Mahila Ashram (SBMA) a preeminent NGO of UK working espe‐cially in the area of women empower‐ment She said that there was discon‐nect between the works executed by the government department and agencies and the requirement of people at the grassroots because of poor planning process She said de‐layed receipts of Government funds and shortage of skilled persons for completing the accounts in time were among the reasons for slow pace of development expenditure She said that she had been mentioning those things in District Panchayat meetings where she was ex‐officio member Shri Balbir Singh Gram Pradhan of Maikholi village spoke about lack of

coordination with Van Panchayats who often didnt allow required develop‐ment works in the village A few other Gram Pradhans who spoke talked about difficulty in executing MNREGA works insufficiency of MNREGA wages especially for skilled construction works low levels of honorarium paid to Pradhans and shortage of VDOs They did concede that despite operational problems MNREGA has been very useful in creating local employment in the village and in preventing migration

away from village for work MNREGA allotment in Gairsen Block for FY11 was gt ` 7 crore 7 In the afternoon I visited Gram Panchayat Gwad which was only a few Km away from the Block HQ I met

Gram Pradhan Smt Radha Devi and other Panchayat members Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO and Smt Ganga Dhondhiyal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGA

8 Smt Radha Devi Pradhan was an energetic illiterate old lady Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO was currently looking after an impossible charge of 22 villages as another VDO of the Block was on long leave Smt Ganga Dhondhi‐yal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGS was effectively working as village account‐ant too She was highly qualified (MA BSc from Dehra dun) She was a con‐tract employee under MNREGS en‐gaged at a special daily wage of Rs 150= Besides Gwad she was also responsi‐ble for MNREGA and accounts affairs off two more villages There was a GP room and multipurpose village as‐sembly place built through MPLADS

funds It was a very poor set up com‐pared to say a Kerala GP office There was no computer GP records too were reportedly kept at the house of Pradhan No Model Ac‐counting System (MAS) was being followed There was just one receipt and payment register which had been filled up to March 2011 Appar‐ently this was the situation prevail‐ing in most of the GPs in UK In order to be able to avail itself of the per‐formance incentive component of 13th FC devolution GoUK needs to move really fast to improve upon MAS in GPs

9 On the way to GP at Gwad I also visited the office of Dy Project Direc‐tor of Gramya which is a WB assisted Decentralized Watershed Develop‐ment Project in UK under the Depart‐ment of Watershed amp Agriculture of GoUK Gairsen was one of the 10 development blocks in which Gramya operates Dy Project Director of Gra‐mya at Gairsen was an energetic young officer Shri Barfaal who was on deputation to the project from GoUK Department of Agriculture At Gairsen the project covered 30 model villages The avowed objec‐tives of Gramya is to improve the productive potential of natural re‐sources and increase incomes of rural inhabitants in degraded watersheds of the State through socially inclusive institutionally and environmentally sustainable approaches Gramya works through GPs and Van Pancha‐yats

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsenmdashcontinued

Page 8

Grassroots

Local Bodies (LBs) Division had pre‐sented (May 2010) to CAG a paper giving an outlook for recasting CAGrsquos audit response to the important developments in social development sector with the onset of decentralized governance through LBs in the recent times The government at the apex level the Planning Commission suc‐cessive Finance Commissions after the ninth the 2nd administrative reforms commission all have made strong advocacy for making LBs the focal point of planning execution and management of the social devel‐opment schemes impacting at the local levels But at the practical level there are many a Rubicons to be crossed LBs share the public finance space of social development with a host of parallel bodies government departments and agencies at all levels of planning execution and management in varying degrees in

various States often only as bit player LB Divisions paper had therefore made a strong advocacy for aggrega‐tion of Civil Works and LB audit within the umbrella of Social Sector Audit (SSA) under the leadership of one AG in state It had also called for vertical aggregation of SSA which is at present dispersed amongst DAI‐RC DAI‐LB ADAsI at the HQ and amongst DG‐CEA PD‐ESM and PD‐SD Subsequently IAampADrsquos Perspective Plan 2010‐15 (June 2010) also echoed this sentiment and emphasized integration of LB audit with civil audit It also calls for place‐ment of an institutional framework for integrating audit efforts across various functional areas and for carrying out the required structural changes at HQ and field level

2 To illustrate the likely gains of an aggregated audit approach as outlines in its May 2010 paper LB Division planned along with the office of PAG

(Civil) Allahabad and in consultation with RS‐I wing a district‐centric audit of rural social sector in Ghaziabad District This audit exercise involved inter alia audit inspections of District Panchayat DRDA Block Panchayats (4) Village Panchayats (40) civil DDOs (7) of a sample selected with due diligence and entry and exit conference with the District amp PRI officials We selected Ghaziabad was for its proximity to HQ so that Direc‐tor‐LB HQ could associate himself with the experimental audit exercise without much difficulty PAG (CA) Allahabad has since issued the report to the State Government (15 Apr 11) This audit experiment in Ghaziabad has valuable lessons for us regarding audit system process and products Table below gives a comparative picture between the prevailing sys‐tem and experimental audit ap‐proach

Lessons in Ghaziabad district audit

Page 9

Grassroots

Parameter Prevailing Audit System Experimental Audit Approach Integration of civil LB and other audits as called for in IAADrsquos Perspective Plan (PP) FY10‐15

No integration Audit inspections conducted disjointedly by different groups of PAGs office in various auditee units in civil offices parallel bodies LBs IRs bring out if at all trivial audit objections of operations‐malfunction without much systemic angle

Integrates civil and LB audits System oriented report‐ing in place of isolated findings

Annual audit planning Audit planning inspection oriented Audit plans of the concerned functional groups of PAGs office are essentially lists of audit inspections to be carried out during the year without horizontal and vertical linkages amongst social sector auditee units

Objective planning aimed at assessment of systemic frailties and on outcomes of social sector schemes (SSS) Audit inspections plan covers all major units dealing with SSS regardless of their legal status ie whether a unit is a civil DDO or belongs to a parallelautonomouslocal body under one team leader

Unit level audit plan‐ning

Little planning in advance for unit level auditing Inspections carried out treating each unit in isolation Little appreciation of financial and operational linkages

Audit plan for whole assignment prepared before‐hand with due regard to the inter se synergies of the units in the audit sample as also with reference to the role of supra supervisory layers Inspections of sampled units carried out in that context

Audit trail Limited within the inspected unit No reconcilia‐tion of discordant information in different units

Runs through the units spread across divergent func‐tional domains such as village school PHC DDOs DRDA down to the last mile GPs and even beneficiar‐ies Discordant information captured examined and highlighted

Quality of IRs Rudimentary compliance checks and scrutiny of control records More in the nature of internal audit reports Highlight operational malfunctions (often insignificant) without systemic orientation

Attributes based on risks are identified beforehand and tested during audit of all units Introduces new intermediate audit product District Inspection Report in addition to IRs of the sampled units District Report highlighted important systemic issues

Resource allocation‐time

160‐170 working days of many parties including transit days

45 working days with two audit teams under one AO including transit

Gangtok Sikkim has been selected as the best in the Northeastern region and the third‐best perform‐ing state in the country for pro‐gress recorded by Panchayati Raj for the year 2010‐11The state will receive a cash incentive award of Rs one crore while Mellidara Pai‐yong Gram Panchayat in South Sikkim district a consistent per‐former in PRI achievements has

been awarded the Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar ‐ 2011 for convening and conducting regular and vibrant meetings of the Gram Sabhas a press release from the Rural Management amp Development Department said The Rashtriya Gau‐rav Gram Sabha Puraskar award carries a cash component of Rs 10 lakh The Minister and Secretary Rural Management and Develop‐ment Department along with the

Sabhapati of Mellidara Paiyong Gram Panchayat will receive the awards from the Prime Minister at a special conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 24 April National Panchayat Day it said

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewssikkim‐selected‐as‐best‐state‐in‐ne‐for‐panchati‐raj‐progress653317html

Page 10

Grassroots

Sikkim selected as best state in NE for PR progress | ibnlive | 19 April 2011

Ranchi More than 1200 building plans are waiting to be vetted by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) as it is without a town plan‐ner the one vested with the au‐thority of ensuring that construc‐tion norms arenrsquot flouted in the state capital The irony is unmistakable espe‐cially when Ranchi along with Dhanbad Bokaro and Jamshedpur are witnessing demolition drives at the behest of an angry high court to undo years of damage perpe‐trated on the cities by unscrupu‐lous builders who in connivance with corrupt government officials survived on illegal constructions On April 1 Jharkhand High Court asked the state government to remove town planner Ram Kumar Singh from the post as he did not have a degree in town planning a mandatory requirement for the post The state government then sent back Singh to his parent water resources department and named urban development department town planner Gajanand Ram as successor with additional charge

It also decided to appoint town plan‐ners in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad which will see a slew of urban re‐vamp projects under JNNURM But since official orders are yet to be passed mdash sources claimed the file was with chief minister Arjun Munda mdash RMC is still without a town plan‐ner while more than 1200 building plans await verification Gajanand who is monitoring various urban infrastructure development schemes under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will be given the job at RMC as a stopgap arrangement officials con‐ceded ldquoWe are still waiting for a new town planner In his absence the work of verifying and approving building maps of houses multi‐storey resi‐dential buildings and commercial complexes is sufferingrdquo admitted RMC chief executive officer Vinay Kumar Choubey Gajanand fits the criteria He is armed with a masterrsquos degree in town planning from the renowned School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi

ldquoA town planner needs to have a masterrsquos degree in urban plan‐ningrdquo explained Manjari Chak‐raborty the head of department of architecture at Birla Institute of Technology Mesra ldquoGraduates in civil engineering architecture geography and sociol‐ogy too can pursue a masterrsquos degree in this subjectrdquo added the teacher of BIT‐Mesra Jharkhandrsquos only technical institute offering a postgraduate course in urban plan‐ning Officials at the state urban devel‐opment department have now promised to advertise for town planners in Ranchi Jamshedpur and Dhanbad soon Singh who was initially town plan‐ner with Ranchi Regional Develop‐ment Authority (RRDA) took up the job at RMC after it was given powers to verify building maps on September 1 2009 While RMC looks after new constructions in the town RRDA does so for the outskirts

httpwwwtelegraphindiacom1110419jspfrontpagestory_13871919jsp

Capital without a town planner | Telegraph | 19 April 2011

The Planning Commission has set up a working group on elementary edu‐cation and literacy that will suggest measures for faster reduction in illiteracy with emphasis on gender regional and social dimensions and incentivise States to achieve cent per cent literacy during the XII Plan pe‐riod To be chaired by the Secretary De‐partment of Elementary Education and Literacy (Ministry of Human Resource Development) the working group will suggest modifications in educational indicators computation of education index that captures ground reality and suggest measures for improvements in management of educational statistics at district State and national‐levels and reduce the time lag in publication of educational statistics It will review effectiveness of pro‐grammes addressing the needs of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes

Other Backward Classes minorities girls education and feasibility of intro‐ducing alternative systems for impart‐ing quality education to the poor stu‐dents In addition to reviewing the existing Plan programmes under Elementary Education and Literacy in terms of access enrolment retention dropouts and with particular emphasis on out‐come on quality of education by gen‐der social and regional classifications the working group has been asked to evolve a detailed perspective plan and strategies with specific medium‐term monitorable targets in terms of aver‐age years of schooling and for provid‐ing quality elementary education up to Class VIII to all children in the age group of 6‐14 as per the Right of Chil‐dren to Free and Compulsory Education Act mandate The group will suggest measures for improving implementation of RTE har‐monised Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan the

Mid‐Day Meal Scheme and various literacy programmes for achieving the millennium development goals and restructure literacy programmes for greater involvement of the State governments and increasing trans‐parency and accountability The working group will comprise officers from the Ministries of HRD Youth Affairs and Sports Women and Child Development Social Justice and Empowerment Tribal Affairs Minor‐ity Affairs and representatives from civil society groups such as the Foun‐dation for Education and Develop‐ment Swami Sivananda Society Pratham the Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Tata Institute for Social Sciences Azim Premji Founda‐tion and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar State madrasa Boards among others httpwwwthehinducomnewsnationalarticle2026559ece

Planning Commission sets up working group on school education | Hindu | 17 May 2011

Page 11

Grassroots

Grass root politics Decentralisation of power | The Sangai Express | 24 May 2011

mechanisms to address issues at the micro‐level But as we have said this arrangement comes with certain riders and that is the overall authority of the State over these self governing bodies Thus the respective State Governments are entrusted with the authority of decid‐ing the executive powers that may be disseminated to these local self govern‐ing units and hence a Municipal Council in Manipur may be something quite different from a Municipal Council found in say Assam or West Bengal In as much as these local self governing units are under the overall authority of the State Government its importance in power politics is something that cannot be overlooked and this is the reason why elections to the urban local civic bodies such as the Municipalities

attract so much attention from all political parties and political leaders In short election to these self gov‐erning bodies are usually seen and interpreted as a referendum at the grass root level on the performance or non‐performance of the partyparties heading the Government in a State A recent example that comes to mind is the election to the urban civic bodies in Kolkata and if political pun‐dits had placed their bets on the Trinamul Congress during the recent Assembly election in West Bengal it had to do a lot with the results of the elections to the urban civic bodies The same is the case with the Munici‐pal Corporations in other State capi‐tals such as Mumbai Delhi and other metropolitan cities To the local

Imphal Power and authority to the grass root is undeniably one of the more favoured slogans of a democ‐racy and while no one can justifiably contest the merit behind the philoso‐phy of disseminating power to the grass root level this comes with certain riders as evidenced in the institution of local self Governments such as the Panchayats at the village level Municipal Corporations in the metros and Municipal Councils in the lesser or smaller cities In the hills we have the autonomous district councils and for towns there are the town councils Local self Government is necessitated by the need to recognise and acknowledge the local peculiarities that abound in a multi‐faceted society like India and this is one of the most effective

MLAs election to the local self gov‐erning units is increasingly seen as something of a test on their perform‐ance at their respective Assembly Constituencies for it is about taking the opinion of the people at the mi‐cro‐level where each ward may have issues which are unique to them The political culture in Manipur is yet to take up the lines found in the big metros but election to the local bod‐ies particularly the Imphal Municipal Council has seen an increased inter‐est from the political big‐wigs of the State It is along this line or in acknowledg‐ing the mood and opinion of the people at the grass root level that we see prominent political figures in‐cluding the Chief Minister and the State unit presidents of different political parties campaigning for their candidates in the Imphal Municipal Council for which election will be held today

The scenario is no longer the same as it was 15 or 10 years back It is no longer a contest between two neighbours but about a contest between two political parties and their ideologies True election to the Municipal Council of Imphal is not the same as election to the State Assembly but the intensity of the competition and the proportionate growth in the importance of money power is something which stand out prominently and this years run up to the election to the Imphal Municipal Council had all the ingredients of a top notch political drama where the win‐ner takes all If the importance and political signifi‐cance in the election to the Imphal Municipal Council has been growing with each passing year or term then ideally there should also be an increas‐ing importance or significance in the role and responsibility of the Council The manner in which Imphal Municipal Council has been functioning all these

years will no one in doubt that there has been no corresponding increase in the significance and importance of this Council compared to the hoopla surrounding the election of the Coun‐cillors This is the right time to question why this is so A look at Imphal will leave no one in doubt about the veracity of our observation At the moment Imphal has all the negative characteristics of an urban metropolitan city but none of the positives that come along with being a city The level of pollution has touched sky high the filth and dirt earlier associated with only the big cities have now come to be an in‐separable identity of Imphal and a few hours of rain is more than enough to reduce all the roads and lanes into rivulets The traffic menace the unmanage‐able garbage the stink the absence of proper water supply provisions absence of civic amenities are all tell tale signs of a sick and ailing urban local self governing unit which in this case is the Imphal Municipal Council Down the years people have become accustomed to reports of how em‐ployees of the IMC have had to cope with no salaries for months the power mongering amongst the Coun‐cillors etc Ideally it is expected of a Municipal Council to busy itself with activities such as urban planning regulation of land‐use and construction of build‐ings roads and bridges public health sanitation etc and ideally this is the right time that questions should be raised which may find the responsible people squirming with discomfort The rain in the last few days has undoubtedly inconvenienced the average man in Imphal but it may also be seen as a God sent opportu‐nity to raise questions before the candidates and play an influencing role in the choice of the voters

Grass root politics Decentralisation of powermdashcontinued

Page 12

Grassroots

Special Programme on PRSystem | Assam Tribune | 16 May 2011

State to rein in corporations | Times of India | 2 May 2011

ment has now proposed a deadline of 45 days for a committee to take a deci‐sion and 90 days for the general body The clock will start ticking from the day on which the first meeting of the com‐mittee or general body is held after the proposal is submitted to the municipal secretary Also the corporators protecting each other may no longer be possible Cur‐rently if the administration proposes disqualification of a corporator on some grounds and if there is a dispute then the general body must pass a resolution to let the dispute be put before the city civil court Till date no general body of a municipal corporation has passed such a resolution Now the municipal commis‐sioner on his own can refer the matter to the government The government has also increased the grounds on which it can suspend a resolution passed by the general body These amendments are nothing but encroachment on the authority of the municipal corporation If the govern‐ment wants to rule the roost in local

governing bodies it should dissolve all municipal corporations and take reins said Sham Deshpande Shiv Senas leader of the house in the PMC Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said The government should recon‐sider these amendments If it fails to do so I will approach the court to stay the amendments Aba Bagul and Ravindra Dhangekar leaders of the Congress party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena respec‐tively in the PMC denounced the cabinets approval to the amend‐ments The ruling NCP however supported the amendments It is up to the state government to decide about the amendments The municipal corpora‐tion has no say in these amendments said leader of the house httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐02pune29499444_1_amendments‐independent‐corporator‐ujwal‐keskar‐municipal‐commissioner

PUNE The state cabinets approval to a slew of amendments to various municipal corporation Acts has ruffled the feathers of city corporators across party lines The cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Bombay Provin‐cial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 and the Mumbai Municipal Corpora‐tion Act 1888 to expedite decision‐making and bring in more transpar‐ency in the functioning of municipal corporations The government will issue an ordinance so that the amend‐ments can come into effect immedi‐ately According to the amendments corpo‐rators will no longer be able to delay any proposal The government has decided to set a deadline within which the municipal corporations will have to either say aye or no to a pro‐posal Currently the deadline has been set only for tenders where the standing committee has to take a decision within 30 days from the day the proposal is submitted The govern‐

Page 13

Grassroots

Use of Priasoft and Planplus Under e‐Panchayat | PIB | 31 May 2011

W Bengal and Karnataka that already have their own accounting sw should align their system with PRIASOFT so as to integrate with other PES applica‐tions Plan Plus software should be extended to all districts and for all CentralState schemes and not be limited to BRGF given its simplicity amp versatility in matching wishes of people with avail‐able schemesresources their conver‐gence generating integrated plans and transparency amp peoplersquos participation in the whole planning process The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is work‐ing with the Ministries of Rural Devel‐opment and Finance for integrating different applications such as PRIASoft PlanPlus NREGASoft CPSMS to facili‐

tate uploading of information at a single point Similarly flagship programmes like NRHM SSA ICDS etc should be motivated to use e‐Panchayat for the evident advantages e‐Panchayat Consultants could demonstrate PES to the respective State line depart‐ments The National Population Registry data should be hyperlinked to Panchayat Portal to know about houses without toilet drinking water etc BPL data base of 2011 should be integrated with individual benefit schemes like IAYSGSYNRLM and also Social secu‐rity schemes This would make PES more citizen friendly httppibnicinnewsiteereleaseaspxrelid=72403

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has advised the StatesUTs to adopt the use of PRIASoft and Plan Plus under e‐panchayat moduleIn a letter sent to the StatesUTs the Ministry says that adoption of an accounting system consistent with Model Accounting System (MAS) for the Panchayats which would be greatly facilitated by PRIASoft is one of the performance conditions under 13th FC award Implementation of MAS amp PRIASoft in the remaining States is therefore required urgently by training of Mas‐ter Trainers at DistrictBlock level who in turn could train GP Staff MoPR amp NIC would assist Applications in PES have inter‐linkages States like Gujarat Kerala

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

Following are the extracts from a compilation of key strategies learn‐ings and policy implications drawn from a pilot exercise undertaken by UNICEF in Vaishali district of Bihar during AprilmdashDecember 2009 Full Report is available at httpvaishalibihnicinDPMCWEBSt_DocPlanVaishali_Learningspdf

An overview of Integrated District Planning

According to guidelines issued by Planning Commission each district is expected to prepare a District Devel‐opment Plan that integrates plans for all its constituent urban and rural areas as well as sectoral allocations for various schemes under the urban and rural areas As a matter of fact the process of district planning offers a crucial leadership opportunity for representatives of local governments at the district level as the mandate of consolidating a district plan lies with District Planning Committees (DPC henceforth to be constituted in every district in accordance with Article 243 ZDPart IXA of the Constitution of India) based on integration of plans prepared by all Panchayats munici‐palities and planning units in a dis‐trict The DPC has two specific re‐sponsibilities in formulation of Dis‐trict Development Plans It is ex‐pected to take into account matters of common interest between the Panchayats and the Municipalities including spatial planning sharing of water and other physical and natural resources the integrated develop‐ment of infrastructure and environ‐mental conservation and the extent and type of available resources both financial or otherwise To this effect the DPC is mandated to consult such institutions and organizations as may be specified

Steps to be taken at State level for facilitating District Planning Proc‐esses

Completion of Activity Mapping thereby spelling out the specific re‐sponsibilities

of local governments

Formation of District Planning Commit‐tees in accordance with Article 243ZD

Issuance of guidelines to DPCs and local governments

Finalization of formula for distribution of local government component of the

state plan

Indication of sector‐wise and untied resources that would be available to each local government over five years and one year from the state plan

Indication of resources that would be available to each local government from central sources through Centrally Sponsored Schemes Finance Commis‐sion grants and any special allocations and

Presentation of a summary of District Plans along with State Plan proposals for the Eleventh Five Year PlanAnnual Plan to Planning Commission

Expected arrangements at the District level

Compilation of available databases for local governments

Articulation of lsquoVisionrsquo for local govern‐ments mentioning key reasons of backwardness and covering important sectors1

Organizing technical support and ca‐pacity building for DPCs and local gov‐ernments

Prioritization of local needs and plan‐ning at the level of local governments and

Integration of plans of all district level planning units at the level of DPC

Recommendations of Expert Group towards making the role of DPCs meaningful

Towards making the role of District

Planning Committee meaningful a number of significant recommenda‐tions were made by an Expert Group on Planning at grassroots level These included the following

CSS guidelines that entrust the task of district level planning and imple‐mentation to parallel bodies such as DRDAs and District Health Societies need to be modified to incorporate the District Planning Committee in the process of District level planning

The Planning Commission could in‐form States that the DPC would be the sole body that is entrusted with the task of consolidating plans at the district level

The Planning Commission should specify a timeframe within which States will need to issue detailed instructions covering the manner in which the DPC would perform its functions

There must be a full‐time profession‐ally qualified District Planning Officer to head the District Planning Unit If such persons are unavailable in the government appointment of profes‐sionals on contract or outsourcing is an option to be considered and acted upon

Institutional support through univer‐sities and research institutions both at the District and State levels could be identified for assisting the DPC in planning monitoring and evaluation

The Planning Commission should continue to provide the required support for district planning as was done earlier except that this would now be provided to the DPC

Experts could be assigned to work either individually or in teams They could be taken on a part‐time basis on assignment basis or full‐time if the need arises

District Planning

Page 4

Grassroots

Integrated District PlanningmdashVaishali Bihar

It is for the State to determine the number of Experts that can be drawn to assist the DPC This could depend upon the extent of devolution in each state

Though ideally they are best drawn locally experts can be drawn even from outside the jurisdiction of the district if required Care must be taken to ensure that participation is voluntary above partisan politics and able to respect different points of view

With growing urbanization of smaller and intermediate sized towns there is need to especially draw in experts on municipal matters and the urban rural interface to assist the DPC in planning for local resource sharing

area planning soil and waste and sew‐age disposal and other such matters which call for close coordination be‐tween Panchayats and Municipalities

The DPC could also constitute a few sectoral sub‐committees for both the envisioning and the consolidation proc‐esses

It is strongly recommended that each Intermediate Panchayat be provided a planning and data unit which could also be integrated into the larger con‐cept of having a Resource Centre at each Intermediate Panchayat level to provide a basket of pooled services such as for engineering agriculture watershed development women and child care public health etc which Gram Panchayats can draw upon for

support in planning and implementa‐tion

One of the primary tasks of the DPC would be to build capacity for decen‐tralized planning in the district A major impediment to proper plan‐ning is the lack of personnel

providing planning support and avail‐ability of good and comprehensible information at the Intermediate and Gram Panchayat level

The DPC should be entrusted with anchoring the preparation of the vision document the maintenance of databases training of planners evaluation of outcomes internal monitoring of performance and inde‐pendent evaluation of outcomes

Integrated District PlanningmdashVaishali Bihar

Public volunteers to have say in municipal planning | Times of India | 15 May 2011

flagship scheme Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) Additional municipal com‐missioner P K Srivastava said the scheme aims to bring transparency and accountability in the system CVTC would take up nine areas ‐ urban governance urban planning urban environment urban engineering heritage urban poverty alleviation urban municipal finance urban com‐munity development and legal ser‐vices The group would give crucial inputs to the authorities about the needs of people This would also help in main‐taining connectivity between the city development plan (CDP) and the de‐tailed project reports (DPRs) which civic authorities prepare while avail‐ing funds from the Centre under JNNURM In fact on various occasions in the past DPRs prepared by the state government were turned down by the Centre because of loopholes pertaining to people participation

That would thus be checked this way officials said Interestingly a similar attempt was made by the LMC some time ago which however did not yield desired results Sources said that instead of experts in urban and municipal plan‐ning undesired elements staked their claim Not surprisingly the applications were confined to the dustbins This time however mu‐nicipal bosses expect applications from the desired people Meanwhile doubts have been raised on the efficacy of the advisory body However Srivastava said that the members of advisory group would be empowered to have correspon‐dence with the Centre directly httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐15lucknow29545386_1_urban‐planning‐municipal‐planning‐city‐development‐plan

LUCKNOW The citizens may soon get a chance to participate in civic planning process In an ambitious step the Lucknow Municipal Corpo‐ration (LMC) has decided to set up a cell of volunteers essentially those experts in municipal and urban planning who would advise the municipal bosses on projects related to civic and urban infrastructure City volunteer technical corps (CVTC) ‐ as the body will be called ‐ would have its members from among the public Anyone can apply for the advisory body through an application with claim of hisher expertise in urbanmunicipal plan‐ning Final selection would though be done by a group of officials at the corporation The move appears to be more than a compulsion than the need for the municipal body which is required to fulfil the crucial condition set up by the Centre under its prestigious

Page 5

Grassroots

From now on Members of Parlia‐ment would have their say in the selection of rural roads to be laid in the respective constituencies under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana a prime component of Bharat Nirman taken up the UPA govern‐ment

In a circular issued four days back the ministry of rural development in‐structed the States to append a proof of consultation with the respective MP a must now for a proposal to be considered

About one‐lakh habitations in the country are still without a road con‐nection

Making for greater participation of public the proposal should have ten

photographs taken during the ‐ Tran‐sect Walk ‐ showing locals and if pre‐sent the MPs presence Transect walk with community participation is to determine the most suitable alignment sort out land availability issues and moderate any adverse socio‐environmental impact from a road project

Fresh proposals will not be considered without these documents in addition to fulfilling other mandatory require‐ments the circular says

The move comes after representations from several MPs that their views are not taken on board while approving a road project seen as a development sign ‐ in their constituency

As guidelines did not serve the pur‐

pose the ministry issued the instruc‐tions now

Even as they let the political class take the call on location of all weather roads officials expect the move would expedite the projects mitigating any land issues as the road is now under the aegis of the MP

In spite of land availability certifi‐cates several roads could not be laid or had to be dropped on grounds of actual non‐availability which could be avoided a senior official said

The ministry also instructed that quality monitoring of road works ‐ intended to weed out corruption in projects ‐ would be carried with participation of the MPs to address their concerns

MPs to have say in rural road projects | Hindustan Times | 6 May 2011

Page 6

Grassroots

Many attempts were made by the Government of India to intro‐duce decentralized planning for development however they did not succeed as a proper enabling framework was not in place both for planning and integration of developmental activities at the micro level Recently the Plan‐ning Commission issued a guide‐line mandating that all plans starting from XIth Plan period onwards should be prepared bottom up in a decentralized manner Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) scheme of the Min‐istry of Panchayati Raj was the first scheme to adopt the Plan‐ning Commission guidelines in to ‐to and all BRGF states have been directed to prepare a district Plan document as against a BRGF Plan PlanPlus is a software developed by NIC under guidance and di‐

rection from Ministry of Pancha‐yati Raj in order to demystify and strengthen the decentralized plan‐ning process The software is a web‐based software and captures the entire planning workflow start‐ing from identification of needs the plan approval process till the final approval by the District Plan‐ning Committee The software is highly generic and can be ex‐tended to capture the plans pre‐pared by line departments at the state and central level to generate the National Plan The software

Facilitates decentralized plan‐ning process in local language

Captures the planning work‐flow

Converges the flow of funds from different sources

Converges the rural and ur‐

ban plans to generate an integrated district plan

Brings about total transpar‐ency in the plan approval process

Provides role based authen‐tication and authorization

Acts as a decision support tool through the use of supporting GIS and graphs

httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

About Plan PlusmdashDistrict Planning Software

I visited Gairsen a block HQ in Chamoli District of Uttarakhand (UK) from 12th amp 13th May 11 Gairsen is situated almost at the centre of UK between its two important regions viz Kumaon and Garhwal Because of its strategic location it was ear‐marked as a probable capital of UK Situated at a height of 3000 metres (9800 ft) above sea level Gairsen is a beauti‐ful valley (Gair = deep sain = plane)

Gairsen is arguably the biggest and the most populated of 9 Kshetra (Block) Panchayats of Chamoli Dis‐trict spread over 40700 ha and with a total population of ~60000 Of its ~11000 families ~ 50 are below poverty line There are 95 Gram Panchayats (GPs) within Gairsen Block

2 UK was carved out of UP in Nov 2009 After its separation Govern‐ment of India (GoI) categorized it as one of the 11 Special Category States (SCS) UK has arguably the most well‐defined system and the largest num‐ber (~7700 PRIs) of rural and urban local bodies amongst SCS It is also markedly different from UP inasmuch as the villages are mostly in the hilly terrain spaced out at great distances and are sparsely populated Yet an‐other special feature of UK is the predominant importance of forests especially in the village life It is a prominent state in the National Affor‐estration Programme with one of the

largest numbers of Van Panchayats Despite the commitment of Govern‐ment of UK (GoUK) in Aug 2006 to constitute Van Panchayats as standing Committees of Gram Panchayats rather than letting them exist separately as parallel bodies the things remain much the same Likewise there is little link‐age of audit of PRIs with the audit of

other important gov‐ernment Schemes of GoI and GoUK such as Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) Deendayal Awas Yojana (DAY) Atal Awas Yojana (AAY) Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) National Health Renewal Mission (NHRM) Gramya (UK decentralized Water‐

shed Development Project) etc In terms of devolution of funds functions and functionaries to local bodies UK ranks at a lowly 19th rank of devolution index amongst all the states of Indian Union (IIPA study Evaluation Year FY10) UK lost out on 12th FCs devolutions for FY 10 because of the failure of GoUK to constitute District Planning Committees (DPCs) The primary external audit ar‐rangements of local bodies in GoUK are far from satisfactory especially in relation to the growing corpus of devolutions and grants of funds to PRIs and ULBs during the last ten years

3 Soon after my arrival at Gairsen in the AN of 12 May (~0400pm) I met S

BS Panwar DPRO SK Pant BDO TD Harbola ADO at the Block Office Shri SK Pant BDO was more of a trainee officer who was appointed straight‐way in Feb 2011 without any training It appears that the general level of availability of development officials in UK is insufficient Of the required number of ~32 Village Development Officers (VDO) for 95 Gram Pancha‐yats (GP) in Gairsen Block (1 VDO3GPs) there were only 10 in position The average number of villages per VDO was 10 Given the fact that the villages are spaced out miles apart in hilly terrain of UK this is a really sad situation No wonder PRIs in UK are trailing behind in main‐tenance of proper accounts and in adoption of PRIAsoft ICT based ac‐counting software for establishment of Model Accounting System (MAS) as I saw in a Gram Panchayat the next day

4 Financially the main schemes operated through PRIs in Gairsen Block are as follows

Decentralized Governance

Page 7

Grassroots

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsen Uttarakhand

5 DPRO and block officials ascribed the reasons of shortfall in expendi‐ture to the receipt of funds at the end of the fiscal as also to shortage of skilled accounts staff because of which accounts ndash and thereby UCs ndash could not be furnished in time In the meeting with Block Pramukh and Gram Pradhans the next day it also came out that planning of develop‐ment works was rather top down than participative leading to the shortfall in utilization of funds

6 I had an interesting interaction with Block Pramukh Smt Janki Rawat and Gram Pradhans of a couple of villages of Gairsen Block in a meeting held at Block Office in the forenoon of 13 May 2011 Smt Janki Rawat came across as a remarkable lady and leader who was well versed with the problem of the Block besides being very articulate in expressing those She had been a worker at Shri Bhu‐waneswari Mahila Ashram (SBMA) a preeminent NGO of UK working espe‐cially in the area of women empower‐ment She said that there was discon‐nect between the works executed by the government department and agencies and the requirement of people at the grassroots because of poor planning process She said de‐layed receipts of Government funds and shortage of skilled persons for completing the accounts in time were among the reasons for slow pace of development expenditure She said that she had been mentioning those things in District Panchayat meetings where she was ex‐officio member Shri Balbir Singh Gram Pradhan of Maikholi village spoke about lack of

coordination with Van Panchayats who often didnt allow required develop‐ment works in the village A few other Gram Pradhans who spoke talked about difficulty in executing MNREGA works insufficiency of MNREGA wages especially for skilled construction works low levels of honorarium paid to Pradhans and shortage of VDOs They did concede that despite operational problems MNREGA has been very useful in creating local employment in the village and in preventing migration

away from village for work MNREGA allotment in Gairsen Block for FY11 was gt ` 7 crore 7 In the afternoon I visited Gram Panchayat Gwad which was only a few Km away from the Block HQ I met

Gram Pradhan Smt Radha Devi and other Panchayat members Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO and Smt Ganga Dhondhiyal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGA

8 Smt Radha Devi Pradhan was an energetic illiterate old lady Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO was currently looking after an impossible charge of 22 villages as another VDO of the Block was on long leave Smt Ganga Dhondhi‐yal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGS was effectively working as village account‐ant too She was highly qualified (MA BSc from Dehra dun) She was a con‐tract employee under MNREGS en‐gaged at a special daily wage of Rs 150= Besides Gwad she was also responsi‐ble for MNREGA and accounts affairs off two more villages There was a GP room and multipurpose village as‐sembly place built through MPLADS

funds It was a very poor set up com‐pared to say a Kerala GP office There was no computer GP records too were reportedly kept at the house of Pradhan No Model Ac‐counting System (MAS) was being followed There was just one receipt and payment register which had been filled up to March 2011 Appar‐ently this was the situation prevail‐ing in most of the GPs in UK In order to be able to avail itself of the per‐formance incentive component of 13th FC devolution GoUK needs to move really fast to improve upon MAS in GPs

9 On the way to GP at Gwad I also visited the office of Dy Project Direc‐tor of Gramya which is a WB assisted Decentralized Watershed Develop‐ment Project in UK under the Depart‐ment of Watershed amp Agriculture of GoUK Gairsen was one of the 10 development blocks in which Gramya operates Dy Project Director of Gra‐mya at Gairsen was an energetic young officer Shri Barfaal who was on deputation to the project from GoUK Department of Agriculture At Gairsen the project covered 30 model villages The avowed objec‐tives of Gramya is to improve the productive potential of natural re‐sources and increase incomes of rural inhabitants in degraded watersheds of the State through socially inclusive institutionally and environmentally sustainable approaches Gramya works through GPs and Van Pancha‐yats

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsenmdashcontinued

Page 8

Grassroots

Local Bodies (LBs) Division had pre‐sented (May 2010) to CAG a paper giving an outlook for recasting CAGrsquos audit response to the important developments in social development sector with the onset of decentralized governance through LBs in the recent times The government at the apex level the Planning Commission suc‐cessive Finance Commissions after the ninth the 2nd administrative reforms commission all have made strong advocacy for making LBs the focal point of planning execution and management of the social devel‐opment schemes impacting at the local levels But at the practical level there are many a Rubicons to be crossed LBs share the public finance space of social development with a host of parallel bodies government departments and agencies at all levels of planning execution and management in varying degrees in

various States often only as bit player LB Divisions paper had therefore made a strong advocacy for aggrega‐tion of Civil Works and LB audit within the umbrella of Social Sector Audit (SSA) under the leadership of one AG in state It had also called for vertical aggregation of SSA which is at present dispersed amongst DAI‐RC DAI‐LB ADAsI at the HQ and amongst DG‐CEA PD‐ESM and PD‐SD Subsequently IAampADrsquos Perspective Plan 2010‐15 (June 2010) also echoed this sentiment and emphasized integration of LB audit with civil audit It also calls for place‐ment of an institutional framework for integrating audit efforts across various functional areas and for carrying out the required structural changes at HQ and field level

2 To illustrate the likely gains of an aggregated audit approach as outlines in its May 2010 paper LB Division planned along with the office of PAG

(Civil) Allahabad and in consultation with RS‐I wing a district‐centric audit of rural social sector in Ghaziabad District This audit exercise involved inter alia audit inspections of District Panchayat DRDA Block Panchayats (4) Village Panchayats (40) civil DDOs (7) of a sample selected with due diligence and entry and exit conference with the District amp PRI officials We selected Ghaziabad was for its proximity to HQ so that Direc‐tor‐LB HQ could associate himself with the experimental audit exercise without much difficulty PAG (CA) Allahabad has since issued the report to the State Government (15 Apr 11) This audit experiment in Ghaziabad has valuable lessons for us regarding audit system process and products Table below gives a comparative picture between the prevailing sys‐tem and experimental audit ap‐proach

Lessons in Ghaziabad district audit

Page 9

Grassroots

Parameter Prevailing Audit System Experimental Audit Approach Integration of civil LB and other audits as called for in IAADrsquos Perspective Plan (PP) FY10‐15

No integration Audit inspections conducted disjointedly by different groups of PAGs office in various auditee units in civil offices parallel bodies LBs IRs bring out if at all trivial audit objections of operations‐malfunction without much systemic angle

Integrates civil and LB audits System oriented report‐ing in place of isolated findings

Annual audit planning Audit planning inspection oriented Audit plans of the concerned functional groups of PAGs office are essentially lists of audit inspections to be carried out during the year without horizontal and vertical linkages amongst social sector auditee units

Objective planning aimed at assessment of systemic frailties and on outcomes of social sector schemes (SSS) Audit inspections plan covers all major units dealing with SSS regardless of their legal status ie whether a unit is a civil DDO or belongs to a parallelautonomouslocal body under one team leader

Unit level audit plan‐ning

Little planning in advance for unit level auditing Inspections carried out treating each unit in isolation Little appreciation of financial and operational linkages

Audit plan for whole assignment prepared before‐hand with due regard to the inter se synergies of the units in the audit sample as also with reference to the role of supra supervisory layers Inspections of sampled units carried out in that context

Audit trail Limited within the inspected unit No reconcilia‐tion of discordant information in different units

Runs through the units spread across divergent func‐tional domains such as village school PHC DDOs DRDA down to the last mile GPs and even beneficiar‐ies Discordant information captured examined and highlighted

Quality of IRs Rudimentary compliance checks and scrutiny of control records More in the nature of internal audit reports Highlight operational malfunctions (often insignificant) without systemic orientation

Attributes based on risks are identified beforehand and tested during audit of all units Introduces new intermediate audit product District Inspection Report in addition to IRs of the sampled units District Report highlighted important systemic issues

Resource allocation‐time

160‐170 working days of many parties including transit days

45 working days with two audit teams under one AO including transit

Gangtok Sikkim has been selected as the best in the Northeastern region and the third‐best perform‐ing state in the country for pro‐gress recorded by Panchayati Raj for the year 2010‐11The state will receive a cash incentive award of Rs one crore while Mellidara Pai‐yong Gram Panchayat in South Sikkim district a consistent per‐former in PRI achievements has

been awarded the Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar ‐ 2011 for convening and conducting regular and vibrant meetings of the Gram Sabhas a press release from the Rural Management amp Development Department said The Rashtriya Gau‐rav Gram Sabha Puraskar award carries a cash component of Rs 10 lakh The Minister and Secretary Rural Management and Develop‐ment Department along with the

Sabhapati of Mellidara Paiyong Gram Panchayat will receive the awards from the Prime Minister at a special conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 24 April National Panchayat Day it said

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewssikkim‐selected‐as‐best‐state‐in‐ne‐for‐panchati‐raj‐progress653317html

Page 10

Grassroots

Sikkim selected as best state in NE for PR progress | ibnlive | 19 April 2011

Ranchi More than 1200 building plans are waiting to be vetted by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) as it is without a town plan‐ner the one vested with the au‐thority of ensuring that construc‐tion norms arenrsquot flouted in the state capital The irony is unmistakable espe‐cially when Ranchi along with Dhanbad Bokaro and Jamshedpur are witnessing demolition drives at the behest of an angry high court to undo years of damage perpe‐trated on the cities by unscrupu‐lous builders who in connivance with corrupt government officials survived on illegal constructions On April 1 Jharkhand High Court asked the state government to remove town planner Ram Kumar Singh from the post as he did not have a degree in town planning a mandatory requirement for the post The state government then sent back Singh to his parent water resources department and named urban development department town planner Gajanand Ram as successor with additional charge

It also decided to appoint town plan‐ners in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad which will see a slew of urban re‐vamp projects under JNNURM But since official orders are yet to be passed mdash sources claimed the file was with chief minister Arjun Munda mdash RMC is still without a town plan‐ner while more than 1200 building plans await verification Gajanand who is monitoring various urban infrastructure development schemes under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will be given the job at RMC as a stopgap arrangement officials con‐ceded ldquoWe are still waiting for a new town planner In his absence the work of verifying and approving building maps of houses multi‐storey resi‐dential buildings and commercial complexes is sufferingrdquo admitted RMC chief executive officer Vinay Kumar Choubey Gajanand fits the criteria He is armed with a masterrsquos degree in town planning from the renowned School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi

ldquoA town planner needs to have a masterrsquos degree in urban plan‐ningrdquo explained Manjari Chak‐raborty the head of department of architecture at Birla Institute of Technology Mesra ldquoGraduates in civil engineering architecture geography and sociol‐ogy too can pursue a masterrsquos degree in this subjectrdquo added the teacher of BIT‐Mesra Jharkhandrsquos only technical institute offering a postgraduate course in urban plan‐ning Officials at the state urban devel‐opment department have now promised to advertise for town planners in Ranchi Jamshedpur and Dhanbad soon Singh who was initially town plan‐ner with Ranchi Regional Develop‐ment Authority (RRDA) took up the job at RMC after it was given powers to verify building maps on September 1 2009 While RMC looks after new constructions in the town RRDA does so for the outskirts

httpwwwtelegraphindiacom1110419jspfrontpagestory_13871919jsp

Capital without a town planner | Telegraph | 19 April 2011

The Planning Commission has set up a working group on elementary edu‐cation and literacy that will suggest measures for faster reduction in illiteracy with emphasis on gender regional and social dimensions and incentivise States to achieve cent per cent literacy during the XII Plan pe‐riod To be chaired by the Secretary De‐partment of Elementary Education and Literacy (Ministry of Human Resource Development) the working group will suggest modifications in educational indicators computation of education index that captures ground reality and suggest measures for improvements in management of educational statistics at district State and national‐levels and reduce the time lag in publication of educational statistics It will review effectiveness of pro‐grammes addressing the needs of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes

Other Backward Classes minorities girls education and feasibility of intro‐ducing alternative systems for impart‐ing quality education to the poor stu‐dents In addition to reviewing the existing Plan programmes under Elementary Education and Literacy in terms of access enrolment retention dropouts and with particular emphasis on out‐come on quality of education by gen‐der social and regional classifications the working group has been asked to evolve a detailed perspective plan and strategies with specific medium‐term monitorable targets in terms of aver‐age years of schooling and for provid‐ing quality elementary education up to Class VIII to all children in the age group of 6‐14 as per the Right of Chil‐dren to Free and Compulsory Education Act mandate The group will suggest measures for improving implementation of RTE har‐monised Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan the

Mid‐Day Meal Scheme and various literacy programmes for achieving the millennium development goals and restructure literacy programmes for greater involvement of the State governments and increasing trans‐parency and accountability The working group will comprise officers from the Ministries of HRD Youth Affairs and Sports Women and Child Development Social Justice and Empowerment Tribal Affairs Minor‐ity Affairs and representatives from civil society groups such as the Foun‐dation for Education and Develop‐ment Swami Sivananda Society Pratham the Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Tata Institute for Social Sciences Azim Premji Founda‐tion and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar State madrasa Boards among others httpwwwthehinducomnewsnationalarticle2026559ece

Planning Commission sets up working group on school education | Hindu | 17 May 2011

Page 11

Grassroots

Grass root politics Decentralisation of power | The Sangai Express | 24 May 2011

mechanisms to address issues at the micro‐level But as we have said this arrangement comes with certain riders and that is the overall authority of the State over these self governing bodies Thus the respective State Governments are entrusted with the authority of decid‐ing the executive powers that may be disseminated to these local self govern‐ing units and hence a Municipal Council in Manipur may be something quite different from a Municipal Council found in say Assam or West Bengal In as much as these local self governing units are under the overall authority of the State Government its importance in power politics is something that cannot be overlooked and this is the reason why elections to the urban local civic bodies such as the Municipalities

attract so much attention from all political parties and political leaders In short election to these self gov‐erning bodies are usually seen and interpreted as a referendum at the grass root level on the performance or non‐performance of the partyparties heading the Government in a State A recent example that comes to mind is the election to the urban civic bodies in Kolkata and if political pun‐dits had placed their bets on the Trinamul Congress during the recent Assembly election in West Bengal it had to do a lot with the results of the elections to the urban civic bodies The same is the case with the Munici‐pal Corporations in other State capi‐tals such as Mumbai Delhi and other metropolitan cities To the local

Imphal Power and authority to the grass root is undeniably one of the more favoured slogans of a democ‐racy and while no one can justifiably contest the merit behind the philoso‐phy of disseminating power to the grass root level this comes with certain riders as evidenced in the institution of local self Governments such as the Panchayats at the village level Municipal Corporations in the metros and Municipal Councils in the lesser or smaller cities In the hills we have the autonomous district councils and for towns there are the town councils Local self Government is necessitated by the need to recognise and acknowledge the local peculiarities that abound in a multi‐faceted society like India and this is one of the most effective

MLAs election to the local self gov‐erning units is increasingly seen as something of a test on their perform‐ance at their respective Assembly Constituencies for it is about taking the opinion of the people at the mi‐cro‐level where each ward may have issues which are unique to them The political culture in Manipur is yet to take up the lines found in the big metros but election to the local bod‐ies particularly the Imphal Municipal Council has seen an increased inter‐est from the political big‐wigs of the State It is along this line or in acknowledg‐ing the mood and opinion of the people at the grass root level that we see prominent political figures in‐cluding the Chief Minister and the State unit presidents of different political parties campaigning for their candidates in the Imphal Municipal Council for which election will be held today

The scenario is no longer the same as it was 15 or 10 years back It is no longer a contest between two neighbours but about a contest between two political parties and their ideologies True election to the Municipal Council of Imphal is not the same as election to the State Assembly but the intensity of the competition and the proportionate growth in the importance of money power is something which stand out prominently and this years run up to the election to the Imphal Municipal Council had all the ingredients of a top notch political drama where the win‐ner takes all If the importance and political signifi‐cance in the election to the Imphal Municipal Council has been growing with each passing year or term then ideally there should also be an increas‐ing importance or significance in the role and responsibility of the Council The manner in which Imphal Municipal Council has been functioning all these

years will no one in doubt that there has been no corresponding increase in the significance and importance of this Council compared to the hoopla surrounding the election of the Coun‐cillors This is the right time to question why this is so A look at Imphal will leave no one in doubt about the veracity of our observation At the moment Imphal has all the negative characteristics of an urban metropolitan city but none of the positives that come along with being a city The level of pollution has touched sky high the filth and dirt earlier associated with only the big cities have now come to be an in‐separable identity of Imphal and a few hours of rain is more than enough to reduce all the roads and lanes into rivulets The traffic menace the unmanage‐able garbage the stink the absence of proper water supply provisions absence of civic amenities are all tell tale signs of a sick and ailing urban local self governing unit which in this case is the Imphal Municipal Council Down the years people have become accustomed to reports of how em‐ployees of the IMC have had to cope with no salaries for months the power mongering amongst the Coun‐cillors etc Ideally it is expected of a Municipal Council to busy itself with activities such as urban planning regulation of land‐use and construction of build‐ings roads and bridges public health sanitation etc and ideally this is the right time that questions should be raised which may find the responsible people squirming with discomfort The rain in the last few days has undoubtedly inconvenienced the average man in Imphal but it may also be seen as a God sent opportu‐nity to raise questions before the candidates and play an influencing role in the choice of the voters

Grass root politics Decentralisation of powermdashcontinued

Page 12

Grassroots

Special Programme on PRSystem | Assam Tribune | 16 May 2011

State to rein in corporations | Times of India | 2 May 2011

ment has now proposed a deadline of 45 days for a committee to take a deci‐sion and 90 days for the general body The clock will start ticking from the day on which the first meeting of the com‐mittee or general body is held after the proposal is submitted to the municipal secretary Also the corporators protecting each other may no longer be possible Cur‐rently if the administration proposes disqualification of a corporator on some grounds and if there is a dispute then the general body must pass a resolution to let the dispute be put before the city civil court Till date no general body of a municipal corporation has passed such a resolution Now the municipal commis‐sioner on his own can refer the matter to the government The government has also increased the grounds on which it can suspend a resolution passed by the general body These amendments are nothing but encroachment on the authority of the municipal corporation If the govern‐ment wants to rule the roost in local

governing bodies it should dissolve all municipal corporations and take reins said Sham Deshpande Shiv Senas leader of the house in the PMC Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said The government should recon‐sider these amendments If it fails to do so I will approach the court to stay the amendments Aba Bagul and Ravindra Dhangekar leaders of the Congress party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena respec‐tively in the PMC denounced the cabinets approval to the amend‐ments The ruling NCP however supported the amendments It is up to the state government to decide about the amendments The municipal corpora‐tion has no say in these amendments said leader of the house httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐02pune29499444_1_amendments‐independent‐corporator‐ujwal‐keskar‐municipal‐commissioner

PUNE The state cabinets approval to a slew of amendments to various municipal corporation Acts has ruffled the feathers of city corporators across party lines The cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Bombay Provin‐cial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 and the Mumbai Municipal Corpora‐tion Act 1888 to expedite decision‐making and bring in more transpar‐ency in the functioning of municipal corporations The government will issue an ordinance so that the amend‐ments can come into effect immedi‐ately According to the amendments corpo‐rators will no longer be able to delay any proposal The government has decided to set a deadline within which the municipal corporations will have to either say aye or no to a pro‐posal Currently the deadline has been set only for tenders where the standing committee has to take a decision within 30 days from the day the proposal is submitted The govern‐

Page 13

Grassroots

Use of Priasoft and Planplus Under e‐Panchayat | PIB | 31 May 2011

W Bengal and Karnataka that already have their own accounting sw should align their system with PRIASOFT so as to integrate with other PES applica‐tions Plan Plus software should be extended to all districts and for all CentralState schemes and not be limited to BRGF given its simplicity amp versatility in matching wishes of people with avail‐able schemesresources their conver‐gence generating integrated plans and transparency amp peoplersquos participation in the whole planning process The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is work‐ing with the Ministries of Rural Devel‐opment and Finance for integrating different applications such as PRIASoft PlanPlus NREGASoft CPSMS to facili‐

tate uploading of information at a single point Similarly flagship programmes like NRHM SSA ICDS etc should be motivated to use e‐Panchayat for the evident advantages e‐Panchayat Consultants could demonstrate PES to the respective State line depart‐ments The National Population Registry data should be hyperlinked to Panchayat Portal to know about houses without toilet drinking water etc BPL data base of 2011 should be integrated with individual benefit schemes like IAYSGSYNRLM and also Social secu‐rity schemes This would make PES more citizen friendly httppibnicinnewsiteereleaseaspxrelid=72403

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has advised the StatesUTs to adopt the use of PRIASoft and Plan Plus under e‐panchayat moduleIn a letter sent to the StatesUTs the Ministry says that adoption of an accounting system consistent with Model Accounting System (MAS) for the Panchayats which would be greatly facilitated by PRIASoft is one of the performance conditions under 13th FC award Implementation of MAS amp PRIASoft in the remaining States is therefore required urgently by training of Mas‐ter Trainers at DistrictBlock level who in turn could train GP Staff MoPR amp NIC would assist Applications in PES have inter‐linkages States like Gujarat Kerala

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

It is for the State to determine the number of Experts that can be drawn to assist the DPC This could depend upon the extent of devolution in each state

Though ideally they are best drawn locally experts can be drawn even from outside the jurisdiction of the district if required Care must be taken to ensure that participation is voluntary above partisan politics and able to respect different points of view

With growing urbanization of smaller and intermediate sized towns there is need to especially draw in experts on municipal matters and the urban rural interface to assist the DPC in planning for local resource sharing

area planning soil and waste and sew‐age disposal and other such matters which call for close coordination be‐tween Panchayats and Municipalities

The DPC could also constitute a few sectoral sub‐committees for both the envisioning and the consolidation proc‐esses

It is strongly recommended that each Intermediate Panchayat be provided a planning and data unit which could also be integrated into the larger con‐cept of having a Resource Centre at each Intermediate Panchayat level to provide a basket of pooled services such as for engineering agriculture watershed development women and child care public health etc which Gram Panchayats can draw upon for

support in planning and implementa‐tion

One of the primary tasks of the DPC would be to build capacity for decen‐tralized planning in the district A major impediment to proper plan‐ning is the lack of personnel

providing planning support and avail‐ability of good and comprehensible information at the Intermediate and Gram Panchayat level

The DPC should be entrusted with anchoring the preparation of the vision document the maintenance of databases training of planners evaluation of outcomes internal monitoring of performance and inde‐pendent evaluation of outcomes

Integrated District PlanningmdashVaishali Bihar

Public volunteers to have say in municipal planning | Times of India | 15 May 2011

flagship scheme Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) Additional municipal com‐missioner P K Srivastava said the scheme aims to bring transparency and accountability in the system CVTC would take up nine areas ‐ urban governance urban planning urban environment urban engineering heritage urban poverty alleviation urban municipal finance urban com‐munity development and legal ser‐vices The group would give crucial inputs to the authorities about the needs of people This would also help in main‐taining connectivity between the city development plan (CDP) and the de‐tailed project reports (DPRs) which civic authorities prepare while avail‐ing funds from the Centre under JNNURM In fact on various occasions in the past DPRs prepared by the state government were turned down by the Centre because of loopholes pertaining to people participation

That would thus be checked this way officials said Interestingly a similar attempt was made by the LMC some time ago which however did not yield desired results Sources said that instead of experts in urban and municipal plan‐ning undesired elements staked their claim Not surprisingly the applications were confined to the dustbins This time however mu‐nicipal bosses expect applications from the desired people Meanwhile doubts have been raised on the efficacy of the advisory body However Srivastava said that the members of advisory group would be empowered to have correspon‐dence with the Centre directly httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐15lucknow29545386_1_urban‐planning‐municipal‐planning‐city‐development‐plan

LUCKNOW The citizens may soon get a chance to participate in civic planning process In an ambitious step the Lucknow Municipal Corpo‐ration (LMC) has decided to set up a cell of volunteers essentially those experts in municipal and urban planning who would advise the municipal bosses on projects related to civic and urban infrastructure City volunteer technical corps (CVTC) ‐ as the body will be called ‐ would have its members from among the public Anyone can apply for the advisory body through an application with claim of hisher expertise in urbanmunicipal plan‐ning Final selection would though be done by a group of officials at the corporation The move appears to be more than a compulsion than the need for the municipal body which is required to fulfil the crucial condition set up by the Centre under its prestigious

Page 5

Grassroots

From now on Members of Parlia‐ment would have their say in the selection of rural roads to be laid in the respective constituencies under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana a prime component of Bharat Nirman taken up the UPA govern‐ment

In a circular issued four days back the ministry of rural development in‐structed the States to append a proof of consultation with the respective MP a must now for a proposal to be considered

About one‐lakh habitations in the country are still without a road con‐nection

Making for greater participation of public the proposal should have ten

photographs taken during the ‐ Tran‐sect Walk ‐ showing locals and if pre‐sent the MPs presence Transect walk with community participation is to determine the most suitable alignment sort out land availability issues and moderate any adverse socio‐environmental impact from a road project

Fresh proposals will not be considered without these documents in addition to fulfilling other mandatory require‐ments the circular says

The move comes after representations from several MPs that their views are not taken on board while approving a road project seen as a development sign ‐ in their constituency

As guidelines did not serve the pur‐

pose the ministry issued the instruc‐tions now

Even as they let the political class take the call on location of all weather roads officials expect the move would expedite the projects mitigating any land issues as the road is now under the aegis of the MP

In spite of land availability certifi‐cates several roads could not be laid or had to be dropped on grounds of actual non‐availability which could be avoided a senior official said

The ministry also instructed that quality monitoring of road works ‐ intended to weed out corruption in projects ‐ would be carried with participation of the MPs to address their concerns

MPs to have say in rural road projects | Hindustan Times | 6 May 2011

Page 6

Grassroots

Many attempts were made by the Government of India to intro‐duce decentralized planning for development however they did not succeed as a proper enabling framework was not in place both for planning and integration of developmental activities at the micro level Recently the Plan‐ning Commission issued a guide‐line mandating that all plans starting from XIth Plan period onwards should be prepared bottom up in a decentralized manner Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) scheme of the Min‐istry of Panchayati Raj was the first scheme to adopt the Plan‐ning Commission guidelines in to ‐to and all BRGF states have been directed to prepare a district Plan document as against a BRGF Plan PlanPlus is a software developed by NIC under guidance and di‐

rection from Ministry of Pancha‐yati Raj in order to demystify and strengthen the decentralized plan‐ning process The software is a web‐based software and captures the entire planning workflow start‐ing from identification of needs the plan approval process till the final approval by the District Plan‐ning Committee The software is highly generic and can be ex‐tended to capture the plans pre‐pared by line departments at the state and central level to generate the National Plan The software

Facilitates decentralized plan‐ning process in local language

Captures the planning work‐flow

Converges the flow of funds from different sources

Converges the rural and ur‐

ban plans to generate an integrated district plan

Brings about total transpar‐ency in the plan approval process

Provides role based authen‐tication and authorization

Acts as a decision support tool through the use of supporting GIS and graphs

httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

About Plan PlusmdashDistrict Planning Software

I visited Gairsen a block HQ in Chamoli District of Uttarakhand (UK) from 12th amp 13th May 11 Gairsen is situated almost at the centre of UK between its two important regions viz Kumaon and Garhwal Because of its strategic location it was ear‐marked as a probable capital of UK Situated at a height of 3000 metres (9800 ft) above sea level Gairsen is a beauti‐ful valley (Gair = deep sain = plane)

Gairsen is arguably the biggest and the most populated of 9 Kshetra (Block) Panchayats of Chamoli Dis‐trict spread over 40700 ha and with a total population of ~60000 Of its ~11000 families ~ 50 are below poverty line There are 95 Gram Panchayats (GPs) within Gairsen Block

2 UK was carved out of UP in Nov 2009 After its separation Govern‐ment of India (GoI) categorized it as one of the 11 Special Category States (SCS) UK has arguably the most well‐defined system and the largest num‐ber (~7700 PRIs) of rural and urban local bodies amongst SCS It is also markedly different from UP inasmuch as the villages are mostly in the hilly terrain spaced out at great distances and are sparsely populated Yet an‐other special feature of UK is the predominant importance of forests especially in the village life It is a prominent state in the National Affor‐estration Programme with one of the

largest numbers of Van Panchayats Despite the commitment of Govern‐ment of UK (GoUK) in Aug 2006 to constitute Van Panchayats as standing Committees of Gram Panchayats rather than letting them exist separately as parallel bodies the things remain much the same Likewise there is little link‐age of audit of PRIs with the audit of

other important gov‐ernment Schemes of GoI and GoUK such as Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) Deendayal Awas Yojana (DAY) Atal Awas Yojana (AAY) Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) National Health Renewal Mission (NHRM) Gramya (UK decentralized Water‐

shed Development Project) etc In terms of devolution of funds functions and functionaries to local bodies UK ranks at a lowly 19th rank of devolution index amongst all the states of Indian Union (IIPA study Evaluation Year FY10) UK lost out on 12th FCs devolutions for FY 10 because of the failure of GoUK to constitute District Planning Committees (DPCs) The primary external audit ar‐rangements of local bodies in GoUK are far from satisfactory especially in relation to the growing corpus of devolutions and grants of funds to PRIs and ULBs during the last ten years

3 Soon after my arrival at Gairsen in the AN of 12 May (~0400pm) I met S

BS Panwar DPRO SK Pant BDO TD Harbola ADO at the Block Office Shri SK Pant BDO was more of a trainee officer who was appointed straight‐way in Feb 2011 without any training It appears that the general level of availability of development officials in UK is insufficient Of the required number of ~32 Village Development Officers (VDO) for 95 Gram Pancha‐yats (GP) in Gairsen Block (1 VDO3GPs) there were only 10 in position The average number of villages per VDO was 10 Given the fact that the villages are spaced out miles apart in hilly terrain of UK this is a really sad situation No wonder PRIs in UK are trailing behind in main‐tenance of proper accounts and in adoption of PRIAsoft ICT based ac‐counting software for establishment of Model Accounting System (MAS) as I saw in a Gram Panchayat the next day

4 Financially the main schemes operated through PRIs in Gairsen Block are as follows

Decentralized Governance

Page 7

Grassroots

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsen Uttarakhand

5 DPRO and block officials ascribed the reasons of shortfall in expendi‐ture to the receipt of funds at the end of the fiscal as also to shortage of skilled accounts staff because of which accounts ndash and thereby UCs ndash could not be furnished in time In the meeting with Block Pramukh and Gram Pradhans the next day it also came out that planning of develop‐ment works was rather top down than participative leading to the shortfall in utilization of funds

6 I had an interesting interaction with Block Pramukh Smt Janki Rawat and Gram Pradhans of a couple of villages of Gairsen Block in a meeting held at Block Office in the forenoon of 13 May 2011 Smt Janki Rawat came across as a remarkable lady and leader who was well versed with the problem of the Block besides being very articulate in expressing those She had been a worker at Shri Bhu‐waneswari Mahila Ashram (SBMA) a preeminent NGO of UK working espe‐cially in the area of women empower‐ment She said that there was discon‐nect between the works executed by the government department and agencies and the requirement of people at the grassroots because of poor planning process She said de‐layed receipts of Government funds and shortage of skilled persons for completing the accounts in time were among the reasons for slow pace of development expenditure She said that she had been mentioning those things in District Panchayat meetings where she was ex‐officio member Shri Balbir Singh Gram Pradhan of Maikholi village spoke about lack of

coordination with Van Panchayats who often didnt allow required develop‐ment works in the village A few other Gram Pradhans who spoke talked about difficulty in executing MNREGA works insufficiency of MNREGA wages especially for skilled construction works low levels of honorarium paid to Pradhans and shortage of VDOs They did concede that despite operational problems MNREGA has been very useful in creating local employment in the village and in preventing migration

away from village for work MNREGA allotment in Gairsen Block for FY11 was gt ` 7 crore 7 In the afternoon I visited Gram Panchayat Gwad which was only a few Km away from the Block HQ I met

Gram Pradhan Smt Radha Devi and other Panchayat members Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO and Smt Ganga Dhondhiyal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGA

8 Smt Radha Devi Pradhan was an energetic illiterate old lady Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO was currently looking after an impossible charge of 22 villages as another VDO of the Block was on long leave Smt Ganga Dhondhi‐yal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGS was effectively working as village account‐ant too She was highly qualified (MA BSc from Dehra dun) She was a con‐tract employee under MNREGS en‐gaged at a special daily wage of Rs 150= Besides Gwad she was also responsi‐ble for MNREGA and accounts affairs off two more villages There was a GP room and multipurpose village as‐sembly place built through MPLADS

funds It was a very poor set up com‐pared to say a Kerala GP office There was no computer GP records too were reportedly kept at the house of Pradhan No Model Ac‐counting System (MAS) was being followed There was just one receipt and payment register which had been filled up to March 2011 Appar‐ently this was the situation prevail‐ing in most of the GPs in UK In order to be able to avail itself of the per‐formance incentive component of 13th FC devolution GoUK needs to move really fast to improve upon MAS in GPs

9 On the way to GP at Gwad I also visited the office of Dy Project Direc‐tor of Gramya which is a WB assisted Decentralized Watershed Develop‐ment Project in UK under the Depart‐ment of Watershed amp Agriculture of GoUK Gairsen was one of the 10 development blocks in which Gramya operates Dy Project Director of Gra‐mya at Gairsen was an energetic young officer Shri Barfaal who was on deputation to the project from GoUK Department of Agriculture At Gairsen the project covered 30 model villages The avowed objec‐tives of Gramya is to improve the productive potential of natural re‐sources and increase incomes of rural inhabitants in degraded watersheds of the State through socially inclusive institutionally and environmentally sustainable approaches Gramya works through GPs and Van Pancha‐yats

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsenmdashcontinued

Page 8

Grassroots

Local Bodies (LBs) Division had pre‐sented (May 2010) to CAG a paper giving an outlook for recasting CAGrsquos audit response to the important developments in social development sector with the onset of decentralized governance through LBs in the recent times The government at the apex level the Planning Commission suc‐cessive Finance Commissions after the ninth the 2nd administrative reforms commission all have made strong advocacy for making LBs the focal point of planning execution and management of the social devel‐opment schemes impacting at the local levels But at the practical level there are many a Rubicons to be crossed LBs share the public finance space of social development with a host of parallel bodies government departments and agencies at all levels of planning execution and management in varying degrees in

various States often only as bit player LB Divisions paper had therefore made a strong advocacy for aggrega‐tion of Civil Works and LB audit within the umbrella of Social Sector Audit (SSA) under the leadership of one AG in state It had also called for vertical aggregation of SSA which is at present dispersed amongst DAI‐RC DAI‐LB ADAsI at the HQ and amongst DG‐CEA PD‐ESM and PD‐SD Subsequently IAampADrsquos Perspective Plan 2010‐15 (June 2010) also echoed this sentiment and emphasized integration of LB audit with civil audit It also calls for place‐ment of an institutional framework for integrating audit efforts across various functional areas and for carrying out the required structural changes at HQ and field level

2 To illustrate the likely gains of an aggregated audit approach as outlines in its May 2010 paper LB Division planned along with the office of PAG

(Civil) Allahabad and in consultation with RS‐I wing a district‐centric audit of rural social sector in Ghaziabad District This audit exercise involved inter alia audit inspections of District Panchayat DRDA Block Panchayats (4) Village Panchayats (40) civil DDOs (7) of a sample selected with due diligence and entry and exit conference with the District amp PRI officials We selected Ghaziabad was for its proximity to HQ so that Direc‐tor‐LB HQ could associate himself with the experimental audit exercise without much difficulty PAG (CA) Allahabad has since issued the report to the State Government (15 Apr 11) This audit experiment in Ghaziabad has valuable lessons for us regarding audit system process and products Table below gives a comparative picture between the prevailing sys‐tem and experimental audit ap‐proach

Lessons in Ghaziabad district audit

Page 9

Grassroots

Parameter Prevailing Audit System Experimental Audit Approach Integration of civil LB and other audits as called for in IAADrsquos Perspective Plan (PP) FY10‐15

No integration Audit inspections conducted disjointedly by different groups of PAGs office in various auditee units in civil offices parallel bodies LBs IRs bring out if at all trivial audit objections of operations‐malfunction without much systemic angle

Integrates civil and LB audits System oriented report‐ing in place of isolated findings

Annual audit planning Audit planning inspection oriented Audit plans of the concerned functional groups of PAGs office are essentially lists of audit inspections to be carried out during the year without horizontal and vertical linkages amongst social sector auditee units

Objective planning aimed at assessment of systemic frailties and on outcomes of social sector schemes (SSS) Audit inspections plan covers all major units dealing with SSS regardless of their legal status ie whether a unit is a civil DDO or belongs to a parallelautonomouslocal body under one team leader

Unit level audit plan‐ning

Little planning in advance for unit level auditing Inspections carried out treating each unit in isolation Little appreciation of financial and operational linkages

Audit plan for whole assignment prepared before‐hand with due regard to the inter se synergies of the units in the audit sample as also with reference to the role of supra supervisory layers Inspections of sampled units carried out in that context

Audit trail Limited within the inspected unit No reconcilia‐tion of discordant information in different units

Runs through the units spread across divergent func‐tional domains such as village school PHC DDOs DRDA down to the last mile GPs and even beneficiar‐ies Discordant information captured examined and highlighted

Quality of IRs Rudimentary compliance checks and scrutiny of control records More in the nature of internal audit reports Highlight operational malfunctions (often insignificant) without systemic orientation

Attributes based on risks are identified beforehand and tested during audit of all units Introduces new intermediate audit product District Inspection Report in addition to IRs of the sampled units District Report highlighted important systemic issues

Resource allocation‐time

160‐170 working days of many parties including transit days

45 working days with two audit teams under one AO including transit

Gangtok Sikkim has been selected as the best in the Northeastern region and the third‐best perform‐ing state in the country for pro‐gress recorded by Panchayati Raj for the year 2010‐11The state will receive a cash incentive award of Rs one crore while Mellidara Pai‐yong Gram Panchayat in South Sikkim district a consistent per‐former in PRI achievements has

been awarded the Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar ‐ 2011 for convening and conducting regular and vibrant meetings of the Gram Sabhas a press release from the Rural Management amp Development Department said The Rashtriya Gau‐rav Gram Sabha Puraskar award carries a cash component of Rs 10 lakh The Minister and Secretary Rural Management and Develop‐ment Department along with the

Sabhapati of Mellidara Paiyong Gram Panchayat will receive the awards from the Prime Minister at a special conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 24 April National Panchayat Day it said

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewssikkim‐selected‐as‐best‐state‐in‐ne‐for‐panchati‐raj‐progress653317html

Page 10

Grassroots

Sikkim selected as best state in NE for PR progress | ibnlive | 19 April 2011

Ranchi More than 1200 building plans are waiting to be vetted by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) as it is without a town plan‐ner the one vested with the au‐thority of ensuring that construc‐tion norms arenrsquot flouted in the state capital The irony is unmistakable espe‐cially when Ranchi along with Dhanbad Bokaro and Jamshedpur are witnessing demolition drives at the behest of an angry high court to undo years of damage perpe‐trated on the cities by unscrupu‐lous builders who in connivance with corrupt government officials survived on illegal constructions On April 1 Jharkhand High Court asked the state government to remove town planner Ram Kumar Singh from the post as he did not have a degree in town planning a mandatory requirement for the post The state government then sent back Singh to his parent water resources department and named urban development department town planner Gajanand Ram as successor with additional charge

It also decided to appoint town plan‐ners in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad which will see a slew of urban re‐vamp projects under JNNURM But since official orders are yet to be passed mdash sources claimed the file was with chief minister Arjun Munda mdash RMC is still without a town plan‐ner while more than 1200 building plans await verification Gajanand who is monitoring various urban infrastructure development schemes under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will be given the job at RMC as a stopgap arrangement officials con‐ceded ldquoWe are still waiting for a new town planner In his absence the work of verifying and approving building maps of houses multi‐storey resi‐dential buildings and commercial complexes is sufferingrdquo admitted RMC chief executive officer Vinay Kumar Choubey Gajanand fits the criteria He is armed with a masterrsquos degree in town planning from the renowned School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi

ldquoA town planner needs to have a masterrsquos degree in urban plan‐ningrdquo explained Manjari Chak‐raborty the head of department of architecture at Birla Institute of Technology Mesra ldquoGraduates in civil engineering architecture geography and sociol‐ogy too can pursue a masterrsquos degree in this subjectrdquo added the teacher of BIT‐Mesra Jharkhandrsquos only technical institute offering a postgraduate course in urban plan‐ning Officials at the state urban devel‐opment department have now promised to advertise for town planners in Ranchi Jamshedpur and Dhanbad soon Singh who was initially town plan‐ner with Ranchi Regional Develop‐ment Authority (RRDA) took up the job at RMC after it was given powers to verify building maps on September 1 2009 While RMC looks after new constructions in the town RRDA does so for the outskirts

httpwwwtelegraphindiacom1110419jspfrontpagestory_13871919jsp

Capital without a town planner | Telegraph | 19 April 2011

The Planning Commission has set up a working group on elementary edu‐cation and literacy that will suggest measures for faster reduction in illiteracy with emphasis on gender regional and social dimensions and incentivise States to achieve cent per cent literacy during the XII Plan pe‐riod To be chaired by the Secretary De‐partment of Elementary Education and Literacy (Ministry of Human Resource Development) the working group will suggest modifications in educational indicators computation of education index that captures ground reality and suggest measures for improvements in management of educational statistics at district State and national‐levels and reduce the time lag in publication of educational statistics It will review effectiveness of pro‐grammes addressing the needs of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes

Other Backward Classes minorities girls education and feasibility of intro‐ducing alternative systems for impart‐ing quality education to the poor stu‐dents In addition to reviewing the existing Plan programmes under Elementary Education and Literacy in terms of access enrolment retention dropouts and with particular emphasis on out‐come on quality of education by gen‐der social and regional classifications the working group has been asked to evolve a detailed perspective plan and strategies with specific medium‐term monitorable targets in terms of aver‐age years of schooling and for provid‐ing quality elementary education up to Class VIII to all children in the age group of 6‐14 as per the Right of Chil‐dren to Free and Compulsory Education Act mandate The group will suggest measures for improving implementation of RTE har‐monised Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan the

Mid‐Day Meal Scheme and various literacy programmes for achieving the millennium development goals and restructure literacy programmes for greater involvement of the State governments and increasing trans‐parency and accountability The working group will comprise officers from the Ministries of HRD Youth Affairs and Sports Women and Child Development Social Justice and Empowerment Tribal Affairs Minor‐ity Affairs and representatives from civil society groups such as the Foun‐dation for Education and Develop‐ment Swami Sivananda Society Pratham the Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Tata Institute for Social Sciences Azim Premji Founda‐tion and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar State madrasa Boards among others httpwwwthehinducomnewsnationalarticle2026559ece

Planning Commission sets up working group on school education | Hindu | 17 May 2011

Page 11

Grassroots

Grass root politics Decentralisation of power | The Sangai Express | 24 May 2011

mechanisms to address issues at the micro‐level But as we have said this arrangement comes with certain riders and that is the overall authority of the State over these self governing bodies Thus the respective State Governments are entrusted with the authority of decid‐ing the executive powers that may be disseminated to these local self govern‐ing units and hence a Municipal Council in Manipur may be something quite different from a Municipal Council found in say Assam or West Bengal In as much as these local self governing units are under the overall authority of the State Government its importance in power politics is something that cannot be overlooked and this is the reason why elections to the urban local civic bodies such as the Municipalities

attract so much attention from all political parties and political leaders In short election to these self gov‐erning bodies are usually seen and interpreted as a referendum at the grass root level on the performance or non‐performance of the partyparties heading the Government in a State A recent example that comes to mind is the election to the urban civic bodies in Kolkata and if political pun‐dits had placed their bets on the Trinamul Congress during the recent Assembly election in West Bengal it had to do a lot with the results of the elections to the urban civic bodies The same is the case with the Munici‐pal Corporations in other State capi‐tals such as Mumbai Delhi and other metropolitan cities To the local

Imphal Power and authority to the grass root is undeniably one of the more favoured slogans of a democ‐racy and while no one can justifiably contest the merit behind the philoso‐phy of disseminating power to the grass root level this comes with certain riders as evidenced in the institution of local self Governments such as the Panchayats at the village level Municipal Corporations in the metros and Municipal Councils in the lesser or smaller cities In the hills we have the autonomous district councils and for towns there are the town councils Local self Government is necessitated by the need to recognise and acknowledge the local peculiarities that abound in a multi‐faceted society like India and this is one of the most effective

MLAs election to the local self gov‐erning units is increasingly seen as something of a test on their perform‐ance at their respective Assembly Constituencies for it is about taking the opinion of the people at the mi‐cro‐level where each ward may have issues which are unique to them The political culture in Manipur is yet to take up the lines found in the big metros but election to the local bod‐ies particularly the Imphal Municipal Council has seen an increased inter‐est from the political big‐wigs of the State It is along this line or in acknowledg‐ing the mood and opinion of the people at the grass root level that we see prominent political figures in‐cluding the Chief Minister and the State unit presidents of different political parties campaigning for their candidates in the Imphal Municipal Council for which election will be held today

The scenario is no longer the same as it was 15 or 10 years back It is no longer a contest between two neighbours but about a contest between two political parties and their ideologies True election to the Municipal Council of Imphal is not the same as election to the State Assembly but the intensity of the competition and the proportionate growth in the importance of money power is something which stand out prominently and this years run up to the election to the Imphal Municipal Council had all the ingredients of a top notch political drama where the win‐ner takes all If the importance and political signifi‐cance in the election to the Imphal Municipal Council has been growing with each passing year or term then ideally there should also be an increas‐ing importance or significance in the role and responsibility of the Council The manner in which Imphal Municipal Council has been functioning all these

years will no one in doubt that there has been no corresponding increase in the significance and importance of this Council compared to the hoopla surrounding the election of the Coun‐cillors This is the right time to question why this is so A look at Imphal will leave no one in doubt about the veracity of our observation At the moment Imphal has all the negative characteristics of an urban metropolitan city but none of the positives that come along with being a city The level of pollution has touched sky high the filth and dirt earlier associated with only the big cities have now come to be an in‐separable identity of Imphal and a few hours of rain is more than enough to reduce all the roads and lanes into rivulets The traffic menace the unmanage‐able garbage the stink the absence of proper water supply provisions absence of civic amenities are all tell tale signs of a sick and ailing urban local self governing unit which in this case is the Imphal Municipal Council Down the years people have become accustomed to reports of how em‐ployees of the IMC have had to cope with no salaries for months the power mongering amongst the Coun‐cillors etc Ideally it is expected of a Municipal Council to busy itself with activities such as urban planning regulation of land‐use and construction of build‐ings roads and bridges public health sanitation etc and ideally this is the right time that questions should be raised which may find the responsible people squirming with discomfort The rain in the last few days has undoubtedly inconvenienced the average man in Imphal but it may also be seen as a God sent opportu‐nity to raise questions before the candidates and play an influencing role in the choice of the voters

Grass root politics Decentralisation of powermdashcontinued

Page 12

Grassroots

Special Programme on PRSystem | Assam Tribune | 16 May 2011

State to rein in corporations | Times of India | 2 May 2011

ment has now proposed a deadline of 45 days for a committee to take a deci‐sion and 90 days for the general body The clock will start ticking from the day on which the first meeting of the com‐mittee or general body is held after the proposal is submitted to the municipal secretary Also the corporators protecting each other may no longer be possible Cur‐rently if the administration proposes disqualification of a corporator on some grounds and if there is a dispute then the general body must pass a resolution to let the dispute be put before the city civil court Till date no general body of a municipal corporation has passed such a resolution Now the municipal commis‐sioner on his own can refer the matter to the government The government has also increased the grounds on which it can suspend a resolution passed by the general body These amendments are nothing but encroachment on the authority of the municipal corporation If the govern‐ment wants to rule the roost in local

governing bodies it should dissolve all municipal corporations and take reins said Sham Deshpande Shiv Senas leader of the house in the PMC Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said The government should recon‐sider these amendments If it fails to do so I will approach the court to stay the amendments Aba Bagul and Ravindra Dhangekar leaders of the Congress party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena respec‐tively in the PMC denounced the cabinets approval to the amend‐ments The ruling NCP however supported the amendments It is up to the state government to decide about the amendments The municipal corpora‐tion has no say in these amendments said leader of the house httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐02pune29499444_1_amendments‐independent‐corporator‐ujwal‐keskar‐municipal‐commissioner

PUNE The state cabinets approval to a slew of amendments to various municipal corporation Acts has ruffled the feathers of city corporators across party lines The cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Bombay Provin‐cial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 and the Mumbai Municipal Corpora‐tion Act 1888 to expedite decision‐making and bring in more transpar‐ency in the functioning of municipal corporations The government will issue an ordinance so that the amend‐ments can come into effect immedi‐ately According to the amendments corpo‐rators will no longer be able to delay any proposal The government has decided to set a deadline within which the municipal corporations will have to either say aye or no to a pro‐posal Currently the deadline has been set only for tenders where the standing committee has to take a decision within 30 days from the day the proposal is submitted The govern‐

Page 13

Grassroots

Use of Priasoft and Planplus Under e‐Panchayat | PIB | 31 May 2011

W Bengal and Karnataka that already have their own accounting sw should align their system with PRIASOFT so as to integrate with other PES applica‐tions Plan Plus software should be extended to all districts and for all CentralState schemes and not be limited to BRGF given its simplicity amp versatility in matching wishes of people with avail‐able schemesresources their conver‐gence generating integrated plans and transparency amp peoplersquos participation in the whole planning process The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is work‐ing with the Ministries of Rural Devel‐opment and Finance for integrating different applications such as PRIASoft PlanPlus NREGASoft CPSMS to facili‐

tate uploading of information at a single point Similarly flagship programmes like NRHM SSA ICDS etc should be motivated to use e‐Panchayat for the evident advantages e‐Panchayat Consultants could demonstrate PES to the respective State line depart‐ments The National Population Registry data should be hyperlinked to Panchayat Portal to know about houses without toilet drinking water etc BPL data base of 2011 should be integrated with individual benefit schemes like IAYSGSYNRLM and also Social secu‐rity schemes This would make PES more citizen friendly httppibnicinnewsiteereleaseaspxrelid=72403

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has advised the StatesUTs to adopt the use of PRIASoft and Plan Plus under e‐panchayat moduleIn a letter sent to the StatesUTs the Ministry says that adoption of an accounting system consistent with Model Accounting System (MAS) for the Panchayats which would be greatly facilitated by PRIASoft is one of the performance conditions under 13th FC award Implementation of MAS amp PRIASoft in the remaining States is therefore required urgently by training of Mas‐ter Trainers at DistrictBlock level who in turn could train GP Staff MoPR amp NIC would assist Applications in PES have inter‐linkages States like Gujarat Kerala

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

From now on Members of Parlia‐ment would have their say in the selection of rural roads to be laid in the respective constituencies under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana a prime component of Bharat Nirman taken up the UPA govern‐ment

In a circular issued four days back the ministry of rural development in‐structed the States to append a proof of consultation with the respective MP a must now for a proposal to be considered

About one‐lakh habitations in the country are still without a road con‐nection

Making for greater participation of public the proposal should have ten

photographs taken during the ‐ Tran‐sect Walk ‐ showing locals and if pre‐sent the MPs presence Transect walk with community participation is to determine the most suitable alignment sort out land availability issues and moderate any adverse socio‐environmental impact from a road project

Fresh proposals will not be considered without these documents in addition to fulfilling other mandatory require‐ments the circular says

The move comes after representations from several MPs that their views are not taken on board while approving a road project seen as a development sign ‐ in their constituency

As guidelines did not serve the pur‐

pose the ministry issued the instruc‐tions now

Even as they let the political class take the call on location of all weather roads officials expect the move would expedite the projects mitigating any land issues as the road is now under the aegis of the MP

In spite of land availability certifi‐cates several roads could not be laid or had to be dropped on grounds of actual non‐availability which could be avoided a senior official said

The ministry also instructed that quality monitoring of road works ‐ intended to weed out corruption in projects ‐ would be carried with participation of the MPs to address their concerns

MPs to have say in rural road projects | Hindustan Times | 6 May 2011

Page 6

Grassroots

Many attempts were made by the Government of India to intro‐duce decentralized planning for development however they did not succeed as a proper enabling framework was not in place both for planning and integration of developmental activities at the micro level Recently the Plan‐ning Commission issued a guide‐line mandating that all plans starting from XIth Plan period onwards should be prepared bottom up in a decentralized manner Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) scheme of the Min‐istry of Panchayati Raj was the first scheme to adopt the Plan‐ning Commission guidelines in to ‐to and all BRGF states have been directed to prepare a district Plan document as against a BRGF Plan PlanPlus is a software developed by NIC under guidance and di‐

rection from Ministry of Pancha‐yati Raj in order to demystify and strengthen the decentralized plan‐ning process The software is a web‐based software and captures the entire planning workflow start‐ing from identification of needs the plan approval process till the final approval by the District Plan‐ning Committee The software is highly generic and can be ex‐tended to capture the plans pre‐pared by line departments at the state and central level to generate the National Plan The software

Facilitates decentralized plan‐ning process in local language

Captures the planning work‐flow

Converges the flow of funds from different sources

Converges the rural and ur‐

ban plans to generate an integrated district plan

Brings about total transpar‐ency in the plan approval process

Provides role based authen‐tication and authorization

Acts as a decision support tool through the use of supporting GIS and graphs

httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

About Plan PlusmdashDistrict Planning Software

I visited Gairsen a block HQ in Chamoli District of Uttarakhand (UK) from 12th amp 13th May 11 Gairsen is situated almost at the centre of UK between its two important regions viz Kumaon and Garhwal Because of its strategic location it was ear‐marked as a probable capital of UK Situated at a height of 3000 metres (9800 ft) above sea level Gairsen is a beauti‐ful valley (Gair = deep sain = plane)

Gairsen is arguably the biggest and the most populated of 9 Kshetra (Block) Panchayats of Chamoli Dis‐trict spread over 40700 ha and with a total population of ~60000 Of its ~11000 families ~ 50 are below poverty line There are 95 Gram Panchayats (GPs) within Gairsen Block

2 UK was carved out of UP in Nov 2009 After its separation Govern‐ment of India (GoI) categorized it as one of the 11 Special Category States (SCS) UK has arguably the most well‐defined system and the largest num‐ber (~7700 PRIs) of rural and urban local bodies amongst SCS It is also markedly different from UP inasmuch as the villages are mostly in the hilly terrain spaced out at great distances and are sparsely populated Yet an‐other special feature of UK is the predominant importance of forests especially in the village life It is a prominent state in the National Affor‐estration Programme with one of the

largest numbers of Van Panchayats Despite the commitment of Govern‐ment of UK (GoUK) in Aug 2006 to constitute Van Panchayats as standing Committees of Gram Panchayats rather than letting them exist separately as parallel bodies the things remain much the same Likewise there is little link‐age of audit of PRIs with the audit of

other important gov‐ernment Schemes of GoI and GoUK such as Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) Deendayal Awas Yojana (DAY) Atal Awas Yojana (AAY) Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) National Health Renewal Mission (NHRM) Gramya (UK decentralized Water‐

shed Development Project) etc In terms of devolution of funds functions and functionaries to local bodies UK ranks at a lowly 19th rank of devolution index amongst all the states of Indian Union (IIPA study Evaluation Year FY10) UK lost out on 12th FCs devolutions for FY 10 because of the failure of GoUK to constitute District Planning Committees (DPCs) The primary external audit ar‐rangements of local bodies in GoUK are far from satisfactory especially in relation to the growing corpus of devolutions and grants of funds to PRIs and ULBs during the last ten years

3 Soon after my arrival at Gairsen in the AN of 12 May (~0400pm) I met S

BS Panwar DPRO SK Pant BDO TD Harbola ADO at the Block Office Shri SK Pant BDO was more of a trainee officer who was appointed straight‐way in Feb 2011 without any training It appears that the general level of availability of development officials in UK is insufficient Of the required number of ~32 Village Development Officers (VDO) for 95 Gram Pancha‐yats (GP) in Gairsen Block (1 VDO3GPs) there were only 10 in position The average number of villages per VDO was 10 Given the fact that the villages are spaced out miles apart in hilly terrain of UK this is a really sad situation No wonder PRIs in UK are trailing behind in main‐tenance of proper accounts and in adoption of PRIAsoft ICT based ac‐counting software for establishment of Model Accounting System (MAS) as I saw in a Gram Panchayat the next day

4 Financially the main schemes operated through PRIs in Gairsen Block are as follows

Decentralized Governance

Page 7

Grassroots

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsen Uttarakhand

5 DPRO and block officials ascribed the reasons of shortfall in expendi‐ture to the receipt of funds at the end of the fiscal as also to shortage of skilled accounts staff because of which accounts ndash and thereby UCs ndash could not be furnished in time In the meeting with Block Pramukh and Gram Pradhans the next day it also came out that planning of develop‐ment works was rather top down than participative leading to the shortfall in utilization of funds

6 I had an interesting interaction with Block Pramukh Smt Janki Rawat and Gram Pradhans of a couple of villages of Gairsen Block in a meeting held at Block Office in the forenoon of 13 May 2011 Smt Janki Rawat came across as a remarkable lady and leader who was well versed with the problem of the Block besides being very articulate in expressing those She had been a worker at Shri Bhu‐waneswari Mahila Ashram (SBMA) a preeminent NGO of UK working espe‐cially in the area of women empower‐ment She said that there was discon‐nect between the works executed by the government department and agencies and the requirement of people at the grassroots because of poor planning process She said de‐layed receipts of Government funds and shortage of skilled persons for completing the accounts in time were among the reasons for slow pace of development expenditure She said that she had been mentioning those things in District Panchayat meetings where she was ex‐officio member Shri Balbir Singh Gram Pradhan of Maikholi village spoke about lack of

coordination with Van Panchayats who often didnt allow required develop‐ment works in the village A few other Gram Pradhans who spoke talked about difficulty in executing MNREGA works insufficiency of MNREGA wages especially for skilled construction works low levels of honorarium paid to Pradhans and shortage of VDOs They did concede that despite operational problems MNREGA has been very useful in creating local employment in the village and in preventing migration

away from village for work MNREGA allotment in Gairsen Block for FY11 was gt ` 7 crore 7 In the afternoon I visited Gram Panchayat Gwad which was only a few Km away from the Block HQ I met

Gram Pradhan Smt Radha Devi and other Panchayat members Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO and Smt Ganga Dhondhiyal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGA

8 Smt Radha Devi Pradhan was an energetic illiterate old lady Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO was currently looking after an impossible charge of 22 villages as another VDO of the Block was on long leave Smt Ganga Dhondhi‐yal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGS was effectively working as village account‐ant too She was highly qualified (MA BSc from Dehra dun) She was a con‐tract employee under MNREGS en‐gaged at a special daily wage of Rs 150= Besides Gwad she was also responsi‐ble for MNREGA and accounts affairs off two more villages There was a GP room and multipurpose village as‐sembly place built through MPLADS

funds It was a very poor set up com‐pared to say a Kerala GP office There was no computer GP records too were reportedly kept at the house of Pradhan No Model Ac‐counting System (MAS) was being followed There was just one receipt and payment register which had been filled up to March 2011 Appar‐ently this was the situation prevail‐ing in most of the GPs in UK In order to be able to avail itself of the per‐formance incentive component of 13th FC devolution GoUK needs to move really fast to improve upon MAS in GPs

9 On the way to GP at Gwad I also visited the office of Dy Project Direc‐tor of Gramya which is a WB assisted Decentralized Watershed Develop‐ment Project in UK under the Depart‐ment of Watershed amp Agriculture of GoUK Gairsen was one of the 10 development blocks in which Gramya operates Dy Project Director of Gra‐mya at Gairsen was an energetic young officer Shri Barfaal who was on deputation to the project from GoUK Department of Agriculture At Gairsen the project covered 30 model villages The avowed objec‐tives of Gramya is to improve the productive potential of natural re‐sources and increase incomes of rural inhabitants in degraded watersheds of the State through socially inclusive institutionally and environmentally sustainable approaches Gramya works through GPs and Van Pancha‐yats

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsenmdashcontinued

Page 8

Grassroots

Local Bodies (LBs) Division had pre‐sented (May 2010) to CAG a paper giving an outlook for recasting CAGrsquos audit response to the important developments in social development sector with the onset of decentralized governance through LBs in the recent times The government at the apex level the Planning Commission suc‐cessive Finance Commissions after the ninth the 2nd administrative reforms commission all have made strong advocacy for making LBs the focal point of planning execution and management of the social devel‐opment schemes impacting at the local levels But at the practical level there are many a Rubicons to be crossed LBs share the public finance space of social development with a host of parallel bodies government departments and agencies at all levels of planning execution and management in varying degrees in

various States often only as bit player LB Divisions paper had therefore made a strong advocacy for aggrega‐tion of Civil Works and LB audit within the umbrella of Social Sector Audit (SSA) under the leadership of one AG in state It had also called for vertical aggregation of SSA which is at present dispersed amongst DAI‐RC DAI‐LB ADAsI at the HQ and amongst DG‐CEA PD‐ESM and PD‐SD Subsequently IAampADrsquos Perspective Plan 2010‐15 (June 2010) also echoed this sentiment and emphasized integration of LB audit with civil audit It also calls for place‐ment of an institutional framework for integrating audit efforts across various functional areas and for carrying out the required structural changes at HQ and field level

2 To illustrate the likely gains of an aggregated audit approach as outlines in its May 2010 paper LB Division planned along with the office of PAG

(Civil) Allahabad and in consultation with RS‐I wing a district‐centric audit of rural social sector in Ghaziabad District This audit exercise involved inter alia audit inspections of District Panchayat DRDA Block Panchayats (4) Village Panchayats (40) civil DDOs (7) of a sample selected with due diligence and entry and exit conference with the District amp PRI officials We selected Ghaziabad was for its proximity to HQ so that Direc‐tor‐LB HQ could associate himself with the experimental audit exercise without much difficulty PAG (CA) Allahabad has since issued the report to the State Government (15 Apr 11) This audit experiment in Ghaziabad has valuable lessons for us regarding audit system process and products Table below gives a comparative picture between the prevailing sys‐tem and experimental audit ap‐proach

Lessons in Ghaziabad district audit

Page 9

Grassroots

Parameter Prevailing Audit System Experimental Audit Approach Integration of civil LB and other audits as called for in IAADrsquos Perspective Plan (PP) FY10‐15

No integration Audit inspections conducted disjointedly by different groups of PAGs office in various auditee units in civil offices parallel bodies LBs IRs bring out if at all trivial audit objections of operations‐malfunction without much systemic angle

Integrates civil and LB audits System oriented report‐ing in place of isolated findings

Annual audit planning Audit planning inspection oriented Audit plans of the concerned functional groups of PAGs office are essentially lists of audit inspections to be carried out during the year without horizontal and vertical linkages amongst social sector auditee units

Objective planning aimed at assessment of systemic frailties and on outcomes of social sector schemes (SSS) Audit inspections plan covers all major units dealing with SSS regardless of their legal status ie whether a unit is a civil DDO or belongs to a parallelautonomouslocal body under one team leader

Unit level audit plan‐ning

Little planning in advance for unit level auditing Inspections carried out treating each unit in isolation Little appreciation of financial and operational linkages

Audit plan for whole assignment prepared before‐hand with due regard to the inter se synergies of the units in the audit sample as also with reference to the role of supra supervisory layers Inspections of sampled units carried out in that context

Audit trail Limited within the inspected unit No reconcilia‐tion of discordant information in different units

Runs through the units spread across divergent func‐tional domains such as village school PHC DDOs DRDA down to the last mile GPs and even beneficiar‐ies Discordant information captured examined and highlighted

Quality of IRs Rudimentary compliance checks and scrutiny of control records More in the nature of internal audit reports Highlight operational malfunctions (often insignificant) without systemic orientation

Attributes based on risks are identified beforehand and tested during audit of all units Introduces new intermediate audit product District Inspection Report in addition to IRs of the sampled units District Report highlighted important systemic issues

Resource allocation‐time

160‐170 working days of many parties including transit days

45 working days with two audit teams under one AO including transit

Gangtok Sikkim has been selected as the best in the Northeastern region and the third‐best perform‐ing state in the country for pro‐gress recorded by Panchayati Raj for the year 2010‐11The state will receive a cash incentive award of Rs one crore while Mellidara Pai‐yong Gram Panchayat in South Sikkim district a consistent per‐former in PRI achievements has

been awarded the Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar ‐ 2011 for convening and conducting regular and vibrant meetings of the Gram Sabhas a press release from the Rural Management amp Development Department said The Rashtriya Gau‐rav Gram Sabha Puraskar award carries a cash component of Rs 10 lakh The Minister and Secretary Rural Management and Develop‐ment Department along with the

Sabhapati of Mellidara Paiyong Gram Panchayat will receive the awards from the Prime Minister at a special conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 24 April National Panchayat Day it said

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewssikkim‐selected‐as‐best‐state‐in‐ne‐for‐panchati‐raj‐progress653317html

Page 10

Grassroots

Sikkim selected as best state in NE for PR progress | ibnlive | 19 April 2011

Ranchi More than 1200 building plans are waiting to be vetted by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) as it is without a town plan‐ner the one vested with the au‐thority of ensuring that construc‐tion norms arenrsquot flouted in the state capital The irony is unmistakable espe‐cially when Ranchi along with Dhanbad Bokaro and Jamshedpur are witnessing demolition drives at the behest of an angry high court to undo years of damage perpe‐trated on the cities by unscrupu‐lous builders who in connivance with corrupt government officials survived on illegal constructions On April 1 Jharkhand High Court asked the state government to remove town planner Ram Kumar Singh from the post as he did not have a degree in town planning a mandatory requirement for the post The state government then sent back Singh to his parent water resources department and named urban development department town planner Gajanand Ram as successor with additional charge

It also decided to appoint town plan‐ners in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad which will see a slew of urban re‐vamp projects under JNNURM But since official orders are yet to be passed mdash sources claimed the file was with chief minister Arjun Munda mdash RMC is still without a town plan‐ner while more than 1200 building plans await verification Gajanand who is monitoring various urban infrastructure development schemes under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will be given the job at RMC as a stopgap arrangement officials con‐ceded ldquoWe are still waiting for a new town planner In his absence the work of verifying and approving building maps of houses multi‐storey resi‐dential buildings and commercial complexes is sufferingrdquo admitted RMC chief executive officer Vinay Kumar Choubey Gajanand fits the criteria He is armed with a masterrsquos degree in town planning from the renowned School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi

ldquoA town planner needs to have a masterrsquos degree in urban plan‐ningrdquo explained Manjari Chak‐raborty the head of department of architecture at Birla Institute of Technology Mesra ldquoGraduates in civil engineering architecture geography and sociol‐ogy too can pursue a masterrsquos degree in this subjectrdquo added the teacher of BIT‐Mesra Jharkhandrsquos only technical institute offering a postgraduate course in urban plan‐ning Officials at the state urban devel‐opment department have now promised to advertise for town planners in Ranchi Jamshedpur and Dhanbad soon Singh who was initially town plan‐ner with Ranchi Regional Develop‐ment Authority (RRDA) took up the job at RMC after it was given powers to verify building maps on September 1 2009 While RMC looks after new constructions in the town RRDA does so for the outskirts

httpwwwtelegraphindiacom1110419jspfrontpagestory_13871919jsp

Capital without a town planner | Telegraph | 19 April 2011

The Planning Commission has set up a working group on elementary edu‐cation and literacy that will suggest measures for faster reduction in illiteracy with emphasis on gender regional and social dimensions and incentivise States to achieve cent per cent literacy during the XII Plan pe‐riod To be chaired by the Secretary De‐partment of Elementary Education and Literacy (Ministry of Human Resource Development) the working group will suggest modifications in educational indicators computation of education index that captures ground reality and suggest measures for improvements in management of educational statistics at district State and national‐levels and reduce the time lag in publication of educational statistics It will review effectiveness of pro‐grammes addressing the needs of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes

Other Backward Classes minorities girls education and feasibility of intro‐ducing alternative systems for impart‐ing quality education to the poor stu‐dents In addition to reviewing the existing Plan programmes under Elementary Education and Literacy in terms of access enrolment retention dropouts and with particular emphasis on out‐come on quality of education by gen‐der social and regional classifications the working group has been asked to evolve a detailed perspective plan and strategies with specific medium‐term monitorable targets in terms of aver‐age years of schooling and for provid‐ing quality elementary education up to Class VIII to all children in the age group of 6‐14 as per the Right of Chil‐dren to Free and Compulsory Education Act mandate The group will suggest measures for improving implementation of RTE har‐monised Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan the

Mid‐Day Meal Scheme and various literacy programmes for achieving the millennium development goals and restructure literacy programmes for greater involvement of the State governments and increasing trans‐parency and accountability The working group will comprise officers from the Ministries of HRD Youth Affairs and Sports Women and Child Development Social Justice and Empowerment Tribal Affairs Minor‐ity Affairs and representatives from civil society groups such as the Foun‐dation for Education and Develop‐ment Swami Sivananda Society Pratham the Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Tata Institute for Social Sciences Azim Premji Founda‐tion and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar State madrasa Boards among others httpwwwthehinducomnewsnationalarticle2026559ece

Planning Commission sets up working group on school education | Hindu | 17 May 2011

Page 11

Grassroots

Grass root politics Decentralisation of power | The Sangai Express | 24 May 2011

mechanisms to address issues at the micro‐level But as we have said this arrangement comes with certain riders and that is the overall authority of the State over these self governing bodies Thus the respective State Governments are entrusted with the authority of decid‐ing the executive powers that may be disseminated to these local self govern‐ing units and hence a Municipal Council in Manipur may be something quite different from a Municipal Council found in say Assam or West Bengal In as much as these local self governing units are under the overall authority of the State Government its importance in power politics is something that cannot be overlooked and this is the reason why elections to the urban local civic bodies such as the Municipalities

attract so much attention from all political parties and political leaders In short election to these self gov‐erning bodies are usually seen and interpreted as a referendum at the grass root level on the performance or non‐performance of the partyparties heading the Government in a State A recent example that comes to mind is the election to the urban civic bodies in Kolkata and if political pun‐dits had placed their bets on the Trinamul Congress during the recent Assembly election in West Bengal it had to do a lot with the results of the elections to the urban civic bodies The same is the case with the Munici‐pal Corporations in other State capi‐tals such as Mumbai Delhi and other metropolitan cities To the local

Imphal Power and authority to the grass root is undeniably one of the more favoured slogans of a democ‐racy and while no one can justifiably contest the merit behind the philoso‐phy of disseminating power to the grass root level this comes with certain riders as evidenced in the institution of local self Governments such as the Panchayats at the village level Municipal Corporations in the metros and Municipal Councils in the lesser or smaller cities In the hills we have the autonomous district councils and for towns there are the town councils Local self Government is necessitated by the need to recognise and acknowledge the local peculiarities that abound in a multi‐faceted society like India and this is one of the most effective

MLAs election to the local self gov‐erning units is increasingly seen as something of a test on their perform‐ance at their respective Assembly Constituencies for it is about taking the opinion of the people at the mi‐cro‐level where each ward may have issues which are unique to them The political culture in Manipur is yet to take up the lines found in the big metros but election to the local bod‐ies particularly the Imphal Municipal Council has seen an increased inter‐est from the political big‐wigs of the State It is along this line or in acknowledg‐ing the mood and opinion of the people at the grass root level that we see prominent political figures in‐cluding the Chief Minister and the State unit presidents of different political parties campaigning for their candidates in the Imphal Municipal Council for which election will be held today

The scenario is no longer the same as it was 15 or 10 years back It is no longer a contest between two neighbours but about a contest between two political parties and their ideologies True election to the Municipal Council of Imphal is not the same as election to the State Assembly but the intensity of the competition and the proportionate growth in the importance of money power is something which stand out prominently and this years run up to the election to the Imphal Municipal Council had all the ingredients of a top notch political drama where the win‐ner takes all If the importance and political signifi‐cance in the election to the Imphal Municipal Council has been growing with each passing year or term then ideally there should also be an increas‐ing importance or significance in the role and responsibility of the Council The manner in which Imphal Municipal Council has been functioning all these

years will no one in doubt that there has been no corresponding increase in the significance and importance of this Council compared to the hoopla surrounding the election of the Coun‐cillors This is the right time to question why this is so A look at Imphal will leave no one in doubt about the veracity of our observation At the moment Imphal has all the negative characteristics of an urban metropolitan city but none of the positives that come along with being a city The level of pollution has touched sky high the filth and dirt earlier associated with only the big cities have now come to be an in‐separable identity of Imphal and a few hours of rain is more than enough to reduce all the roads and lanes into rivulets The traffic menace the unmanage‐able garbage the stink the absence of proper water supply provisions absence of civic amenities are all tell tale signs of a sick and ailing urban local self governing unit which in this case is the Imphal Municipal Council Down the years people have become accustomed to reports of how em‐ployees of the IMC have had to cope with no salaries for months the power mongering amongst the Coun‐cillors etc Ideally it is expected of a Municipal Council to busy itself with activities such as urban planning regulation of land‐use and construction of build‐ings roads and bridges public health sanitation etc and ideally this is the right time that questions should be raised which may find the responsible people squirming with discomfort The rain in the last few days has undoubtedly inconvenienced the average man in Imphal but it may also be seen as a God sent opportu‐nity to raise questions before the candidates and play an influencing role in the choice of the voters

Grass root politics Decentralisation of powermdashcontinued

Page 12

Grassroots

Special Programme on PRSystem | Assam Tribune | 16 May 2011

State to rein in corporations | Times of India | 2 May 2011

ment has now proposed a deadline of 45 days for a committee to take a deci‐sion and 90 days for the general body The clock will start ticking from the day on which the first meeting of the com‐mittee or general body is held after the proposal is submitted to the municipal secretary Also the corporators protecting each other may no longer be possible Cur‐rently if the administration proposes disqualification of a corporator on some grounds and if there is a dispute then the general body must pass a resolution to let the dispute be put before the city civil court Till date no general body of a municipal corporation has passed such a resolution Now the municipal commis‐sioner on his own can refer the matter to the government The government has also increased the grounds on which it can suspend a resolution passed by the general body These amendments are nothing but encroachment on the authority of the municipal corporation If the govern‐ment wants to rule the roost in local

governing bodies it should dissolve all municipal corporations and take reins said Sham Deshpande Shiv Senas leader of the house in the PMC Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said The government should recon‐sider these amendments If it fails to do so I will approach the court to stay the amendments Aba Bagul and Ravindra Dhangekar leaders of the Congress party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena respec‐tively in the PMC denounced the cabinets approval to the amend‐ments The ruling NCP however supported the amendments It is up to the state government to decide about the amendments The municipal corpora‐tion has no say in these amendments said leader of the house httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐02pune29499444_1_amendments‐independent‐corporator‐ujwal‐keskar‐municipal‐commissioner

PUNE The state cabinets approval to a slew of amendments to various municipal corporation Acts has ruffled the feathers of city corporators across party lines The cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Bombay Provin‐cial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 and the Mumbai Municipal Corpora‐tion Act 1888 to expedite decision‐making and bring in more transpar‐ency in the functioning of municipal corporations The government will issue an ordinance so that the amend‐ments can come into effect immedi‐ately According to the amendments corpo‐rators will no longer be able to delay any proposal The government has decided to set a deadline within which the municipal corporations will have to either say aye or no to a pro‐posal Currently the deadline has been set only for tenders where the standing committee has to take a decision within 30 days from the day the proposal is submitted The govern‐

Page 13

Grassroots

Use of Priasoft and Planplus Under e‐Panchayat | PIB | 31 May 2011

W Bengal and Karnataka that already have their own accounting sw should align their system with PRIASOFT so as to integrate with other PES applica‐tions Plan Plus software should be extended to all districts and for all CentralState schemes and not be limited to BRGF given its simplicity amp versatility in matching wishes of people with avail‐able schemesresources their conver‐gence generating integrated plans and transparency amp peoplersquos participation in the whole planning process The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is work‐ing with the Ministries of Rural Devel‐opment and Finance for integrating different applications such as PRIASoft PlanPlus NREGASoft CPSMS to facili‐

tate uploading of information at a single point Similarly flagship programmes like NRHM SSA ICDS etc should be motivated to use e‐Panchayat for the evident advantages e‐Panchayat Consultants could demonstrate PES to the respective State line depart‐ments The National Population Registry data should be hyperlinked to Panchayat Portal to know about houses without toilet drinking water etc BPL data base of 2011 should be integrated with individual benefit schemes like IAYSGSYNRLM and also Social secu‐rity schemes This would make PES more citizen friendly httppibnicinnewsiteereleaseaspxrelid=72403

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has advised the StatesUTs to adopt the use of PRIASoft and Plan Plus under e‐panchayat moduleIn a letter sent to the StatesUTs the Ministry says that adoption of an accounting system consistent with Model Accounting System (MAS) for the Panchayats which would be greatly facilitated by PRIASoft is one of the performance conditions under 13th FC award Implementation of MAS amp PRIASoft in the remaining States is therefore required urgently by training of Mas‐ter Trainers at DistrictBlock level who in turn could train GP Staff MoPR amp NIC would assist Applications in PES have inter‐linkages States like Gujarat Kerala

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

I visited Gairsen a block HQ in Chamoli District of Uttarakhand (UK) from 12th amp 13th May 11 Gairsen is situated almost at the centre of UK between its two important regions viz Kumaon and Garhwal Because of its strategic location it was ear‐marked as a probable capital of UK Situated at a height of 3000 metres (9800 ft) above sea level Gairsen is a beauti‐ful valley (Gair = deep sain = plane)

Gairsen is arguably the biggest and the most populated of 9 Kshetra (Block) Panchayats of Chamoli Dis‐trict spread over 40700 ha and with a total population of ~60000 Of its ~11000 families ~ 50 are below poverty line There are 95 Gram Panchayats (GPs) within Gairsen Block

2 UK was carved out of UP in Nov 2009 After its separation Govern‐ment of India (GoI) categorized it as one of the 11 Special Category States (SCS) UK has arguably the most well‐defined system and the largest num‐ber (~7700 PRIs) of rural and urban local bodies amongst SCS It is also markedly different from UP inasmuch as the villages are mostly in the hilly terrain spaced out at great distances and are sparsely populated Yet an‐other special feature of UK is the predominant importance of forests especially in the village life It is a prominent state in the National Affor‐estration Programme with one of the

largest numbers of Van Panchayats Despite the commitment of Govern‐ment of UK (GoUK) in Aug 2006 to constitute Van Panchayats as standing Committees of Gram Panchayats rather than letting them exist separately as parallel bodies the things remain much the same Likewise there is little link‐age of audit of PRIs with the audit of

other important gov‐ernment Schemes of GoI and GoUK such as Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) Deendayal Awas Yojana (DAY) Atal Awas Yojana (AAY) Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) National Health Renewal Mission (NHRM) Gramya (UK decentralized Water‐

shed Development Project) etc In terms of devolution of funds functions and functionaries to local bodies UK ranks at a lowly 19th rank of devolution index amongst all the states of Indian Union (IIPA study Evaluation Year FY10) UK lost out on 12th FCs devolutions for FY 10 because of the failure of GoUK to constitute District Planning Committees (DPCs) The primary external audit ar‐rangements of local bodies in GoUK are far from satisfactory especially in relation to the growing corpus of devolutions and grants of funds to PRIs and ULBs during the last ten years

3 Soon after my arrival at Gairsen in the AN of 12 May (~0400pm) I met S

BS Panwar DPRO SK Pant BDO TD Harbola ADO at the Block Office Shri SK Pant BDO was more of a trainee officer who was appointed straight‐way in Feb 2011 without any training It appears that the general level of availability of development officials in UK is insufficient Of the required number of ~32 Village Development Officers (VDO) for 95 Gram Pancha‐yats (GP) in Gairsen Block (1 VDO3GPs) there were only 10 in position The average number of villages per VDO was 10 Given the fact that the villages are spaced out miles apart in hilly terrain of UK this is a really sad situation No wonder PRIs in UK are trailing behind in main‐tenance of proper accounts and in adoption of PRIAsoft ICT based ac‐counting software for establishment of Model Accounting System (MAS) as I saw in a Gram Panchayat the next day

4 Financially the main schemes operated through PRIs in Gairsen Block are as follows

Decentralized Governance

Page 7

Grassroots

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsen Uttarakhand

5 DPRO and block officials ascribed the reasons of shortfall in expendi‐ture to the receipt of funds at the end of the fiscal as also to shortage of skilled accounts staff because of which accounts ndash and thereby UCs ndash could not be furnished in time In the meeting with Block Pramukh and Gram Pradhans the next day it also came out that planning of develop‐ment works was rather top down than participative leading to the shortfall in utilization of funds

6 I had an interesting interaction with Block Pramukh Smt Janki Rawat and Gram Pradhans of a couple of villages of Gairsen Block in a meeting held at Block Office in the forenoon of 13 May 2011 Smt Janki Rawat came across as a remarkable lady and leader who was well versed with the problem of the Block besides being very articulate in expressing those She had been a worker at Shri Bhu‐waneswari Mahila Ashram (SBMA) a preeminent NGO of UK working espe‐cially in the area of women empower‐ment She said that there was discon‐nect between the works executed by the government department and agencies and the requirement of people at the grassroots because of poor planning process She said de‐layed receipts of Government funds and shortage of skilled persons for completing the accounts in time were among the reasons for slow pace of development expenditure She said that she had been mentioning those things in District Panchayat meetings where she was ex‐officio member Shri Balbir Singh Gram Pradhan of Maikholi village spoke about lack of

coordination with Van Panchayats who often didnt allow required develop‐ment works in the village A few other Gram Pradhans who spoke talked about difficulty in executing MNREGA works insufficiency of MNREGA wages especially for skilled construction works low levels of honorarium paid to Pradhans and shortage of VDOs They did concede that despite operational problems MNREGA has been very useful in creating local employment in the village and in preventing migration

away from village for work MNREGA allotment in Gairsen Block for FY11 was gt ` 7 crore 7 In the afternoon I visited Gram Panchayat Gwad which was only a few Km away from the Block HQ I met

Gram Pradhan Smt Radha Devi and other Panchayat members Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO and Smt Ganga Dhondhiyal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGA

8 Smt Radha Devi Pradhan was an energetic illiterate old lady Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO was currently looking after an impossible charge of 22 villages as another VDO of the Block was on long leave Smt Ganga Dhondhi‐yal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGS was effectively working as village account‐ant too She was highly qualified (MA BSc from Dehra dun) She was a con‐tract employee under MNREGS en‐gaged at a special daily wage of Rs 150= Besides Gwad she was also responsi‐ble for MNREGA and accounts affairs off two more villages There was a GP room and multipurpose village as‐sembly place built through MPLADS

funds It was a very poor set up com‐pared to say a Kerala GP office There was no computer GP records too were reportedly kept at the house of Pradhan No Model Ac‐counting System (MAS) was being followed There was just one receipt and payment register which had been filled up to March 2011 Appar‐ently this was the situation prevail‐ing in most of the GPs in UK In order to be able to avail itself of the per‐formance incentive component of 13th FC devolution GoUK needs to move really fast to improve upon MAS in GPs

9 On the way to GP at Gwad I also visited the office of Dy Project Direc‐tor of Gramya which is a WB assisted Decentralized Watershed Develop‐ment Project in UK under the Depart‐ment of Watershed amp Agriculture of GoUK Gairsen was one of the 10 development blocks in which Gramya operates Dy Project Director of Gra‐mya at Gairsen was an energetic young officer Shri Barfaal who was on deputation to the project from GoUK Department of Agriculture At Gairsen the project covered 30 model villages The avowed objec‐tives of Gramya is to improve the productive potential of natural re‐sources and increase incomes of rural inhabitants in degraded watersheds of the State through socially inclusive institutionally and environmentally sustainable approaches Gramya works through GPs and Van Pancha‐yats

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsenmdashcontinued

Page 8

Grassroots

Local Bodies (LBs) Division had pre‐sented (May 2010) to CAG a paper giving an outlook for recasting CAGrsquos audit response to the important developments in social development sector with the onset of decentralized governance through LBs in the recent times The government at the apex level the Planning Commission suc‐cessive Finance Commissions after the ninth the 2nd administrative reforms commission all have made strong advocacy for making LBs the focal point of planning execution and management of the social devel‐opment schemes impacting at the local levels But at the practical level there are many a Rubicons to be crossed LBs share the public finance space of social development with a host of parallel bodies government departments and agencies at all levels of planning execution and management in varying degrees in

various States often only as bit player LB Divisions paper had therefore made a strong advocacy for aggrega‐tion of Civil Works and LB audit within the umbrella of Social Sector Audit (SSA) under the leadership of one AG in state It had also called for vertical aggregation of SSA which is at present dispersed amongst DAI‐RC DAI‐LB ADAsI at the HQ and amongst DG‐CEA PD‐ESM and PD‐SD Subsequently IAampADrsquos Perspective Plan 2010‐15 (June 2010) also echoed this sentiment and emphasized integration of LB audit with civil audit It also calls for place‐ment of an institutional framework for integrating audit efforts across various functional areas and for carrying out the required structural changes at HQ and field level

2 To illustrate the likely gains of an aggregated audit approach as outlines in its May 2010 paper LB Division planned along with the office of PAG

(Civil) Allahabad and in consultation with RS‐I wing a district‐centric audit of rural social sector in Ghaziabad District This audit exercise involved inter alia audit inspections of District Panchayat DRDA Block Panchayats (4) Village Panchayats (40) civil DDOs (7) of a sample selected with due diligence and entry and exit conference with the District amp PRI officials We selected Ghaziabad was for its proximity to HQ so that Direc‐tor‐LB HQ could associate himself with the experimental audit exercise without much difficulty PAG (CA) Allahabad has since issued the report to the State Government (15 Apr 11) This audit experiment in Ghaziabad has valuable lessons for us regarding audit system process and products Table below gives a comparative picture between the prevailing sys‐tem and experimental audit ap‐proach

Lessons in Ghaziabad district audit

Page 9

Grassroots

Parameter Prevailing Audit System Experimental Audit Approach Integration of civil LB and other audits as called for in IAADrsquos Perspective Plan (PP) FY10‐15

No integration Audit inspections conducted disjointedly by different groups of PAGs office in various auditee units in civil offices parallel bodies LBs IRs bring out if at all trivial audit objections of operations‐malfunction without much systemic angle

Integrates civil and LB audits System oriented report‐ing in place of isolated findings

Annual audit planning Audit planning inspection oriented Audit plans of the concerned functional groups of PAGs office are essentially lists of audit inspections to be carried out during the year without horizontal and vertical linkages amongst social sector auditee units

Objective planning aimed at assessment of systemic frailties and on outcomes of social sector schemes (SSS) Audit inspections plan covers all major units dealing with SSS regardless of their legal status ie whether a unit is a civil DDO or belongs to a parallelautonomouslocal body under one team leader

Unit level audit plan‐ning

Little planning in advance for unit level auditing Inspections carried out treating each unit in isolation Little appreciation of financial and operational linkages

Audit plan for whole assignment prepared before‐hand with due regard to the inter se synergies of the units in the audit sample as also with reference to the role of supra supervisory layers Inspections of sampled units carried out in that context

Audit trail Limited within the inspected unit No reconcilia‐tion of discordant information in different units

Runs through the units spread across divergent func‐tional domains such as village school PHC DDOs DRDA down to the last mile GPs and even beneficiar‐ies Discordant information captured examined and highlighted

Quality of IRs Rudimentary compliance checks and scrutiny of control records More in the nature of internal audit reports Highlight operational malfunctions (often insignificant) without systemic orientation

Attributes based on risks are identified beforehand and tested during audit of all units Introduces new intermediate audit product District Inspection Report in addition to IRs of the sampled units District Report highlighted important systemic issues

Resource allocation‐time

160‐170 working days of many parties including transit days

45 working days with two audit teams under one AO including transit

Gangtok Sikkim has been selected as the best in the Northeastern region and the third‐best perform‐ing state in the country for pro‐gress recorded by Panchayati Raj for the year 2010‐11The state will receive a cash incentive award of Rs one crore while Mellidara Pai‐yong Gram Panchayat in South Sikkim district a consistent per‐former in PRI achievements has

been awarded the Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar ‐ 2011 for convening and conducting regular and vibrant meetings of the Gram Sabhas a press release from the Rural Management amp Development Department said The Rashtriya Gau‐rav Gram Sabha Puraskar award carries a cash component of Rs 10 lakh The Minister and Secretary Rural Management and Develop‐ment Department along with the

Sabhapati of Mellidara Paiyong Gram Panchayat will receive the awards from the Prime Minister at a special conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 24 April National Panchayat Day it said

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewssikkim‐selected‐as‐best‐state‐in‐ne‐for‐panchati‐raj‐progress653317html

Page 10

Grassroots

Sikkim selected as best state in NE for PR progress | ibnlive | 19 April 2011

Ranchi More than 1200 building plans are waiting to be vetted by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) as it is without a town plan‐ner the one vested with the au‐thority of ensuring that construc‐tion norms arenrsquot flouted in the state capital The irony is unmistakable espe‐cially when Ranchi along with Dhanbad Bokaro and Jamshedpur are witnessing demolition drives at the behest of an angry high court to undo years of damage perpe‐trated on the cities by unscrupu‐lous builders who in connivance with corrupt government officials survived on illegal constructions On April 1 Jharkhand High Court asked the state government to remove town planner Ram Kumar Singh from the post as he did not have a degree in town planning a mandatory requirement for the post The state government then sent back Singh to his parent water resources department and named urban development department town planner Gajanand Ram as successor with additional charge

It also decided to appoint town plan‐ners in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad which will see a slew of urban re‐vamp projects under JNNURM But since official orders are yet to be passed mdash sources claimed the file was with chief minister Arjun Munda mdash RMC is still without a town plan‐ner while more than 1200 building plans await verification Gajanand who is monitoring various urban infrastructure development schemes under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will be given the job at RMC as a stopgap arrangement officials con‐ceded ldquoWe are still waiting for a new town planner In his absence the work of verifying and approving building maps of houses multi‐storey resi‐dential buildings and commercial complexes is sufferingrdquo admitted RMC chief executive officer Vinay Kumar Choubey Gajanand fits the criteria He is armed with a masterrsquos degree in town planning from the renowned School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi

ldquoA town planner needs to have a masterrsquos degree in urban plan‐ningrdquo explained Manjari Chak‐raborty the head of department of architecture at Birla Institute of Technology Mesra ldquoGraduates in civil engineering architecture geography and sociol‐ogy too can pursue a masterrsquos degree in this subjectrdquo added the teacher of BIT‐Mesra Jharkhandrsquos only technical institute offering a postgraduate course in urban plan‐ning Officials at the state urban devel‐opment department have now promised to advertise for town planners in Ranchi Jamshedpur and Dhanbad soon Singh who was initially town plan‐ner with Ranchi Regional Develop‐ment Authority (RRDA) took up the job at RMC after it was given powers to verify building maps on September 1 2009 While RMC looks after new constructions in the town RRDA does so for the outskirts

httpwwwtelegraphindiacom1110419jspfrontpagestory_13871919jsp

Capital without a town planner | Telegraph | 19 April 2011

The Planning Commission has set up a working group on elementary edu‐cation and literacy that will suggest measures for faster reduction in illiteracy with emphasis on gender regional and social dimensions and incentivise States to achieve cent per cent literacy during the XII Plan pe‐riod To be chaired by the Secretary De‐partment of Elementary Education and Literacy (Ministry of Human Resource Development) the working group will suggest modifications in educational indicators computation of education index that captures ground reality and suggest measures for improvements in management of educational statistics at district State and national‐levels and reduce the time lag in publication of educational statistics It will review effectiveness of pro‐grammes addressing the needs of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes

Other Backward Classes minorities girls education and feasibility of intro‐ducing alternative systems for impart‐ing quality education to the poor stu‐dents In addition to reviewing the existing Plan programmes under Elementary Education and Literacy in terms of access enrolment retention dropouts and with particular emphasis on out‐come on quality of education by gen‐der social and regional classifications the working group has been asked to evolve a detailed perspective plan and strategies with specific medium‐term monitorable targets in terms of aver‐age years of schooling and for provid‐ing quality elementary education up to Class VIII to all children in the age group of 6‐14 as per the Right of Chil‐dren to Free and Compulsory Education Act mandate The group will suggest measures for improving implementation of RTE har‐monised Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan the

Mid‐Day Meal Scheme and various literacy programmes for achieving the millennium development goals and restructure literacy programmes for greater involvement of the State governments and increasing trans‐parency and accountability The working group will comprise officers from the Ministries of HRD Youth Affairs and Sports Women and Child Development Social Justice and Empowerment Tribal Affairs Minor‐ity Affairs and representatives from civil society groups such as the Foun‐dation for Education and Develop‐ment Swami Sivananda Society Pratham the Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Tata Institute for Social Sciences Azim Premji Founda‐tion and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar State madrasa Boards among others httpwwwthehinducomnewsnationalarticle2026559ece

Planning Commission sets up working group on school education | Hindu | 17 May 2011

Page 11

Grassroots

Grass root politics Decentralisation of power | The Sangai Express | 24 May 2011

mechanisms to address issues at the micro‐level But as we have said this arrangement comes with certain riders and that is the overall authority of the State over these self governing bodies Thus the respective State Governments are entrusted with the authority of decid‐ing the executive powers that may be disseminated to these local self govern‐ing units and hence a Municipal Council in Manipur may be something quite different from a Municipal Council found in say Assam or West Bengal In as much as these local self governing units are under the overall authority of the State Government its importance in power politics is something that cannot be overlooked and this is the reason why elections to the urban local civic bodies such as the Municipalities

attract so much attention from all political parties and political leaders In short election to these self gov‐erning bodies are usually seen and interpreted as a referendum at the grass root level on the performance or non‐performance of the partyparties heading the Government in a State A recent example that comes to mind is the election to the urban civic bodies in Kolkata and if political pun‐dits had placed their bets on the Trinamul Congress during the recent Assembly election in West Bengal it had to do a lot with the results of the elections to the urban civic bodies The same is the case with the Munici‐pal Corporations in other State capi‐tals such as Mumbai Delhi and other metropolitan cities To the local

Imphal Power and authority to the grass root is undeniably one of the more favoured slogans of a democ‐racy and while no one can justifiably contest the merit behind the philoso‐phy of disseminating power to the grass root level this comes with certain riders as evidenced in the institution of local self Governments such as the Panchayats at the village level Municipal Corporations in the metros and Municipal Councils in the lesser or smaller cities In the hills we have the autonomous district councils and for towns there are the town councils Local self Government is necessitated by the need to recognise and acknowledge the local peculiarities that abound in a multi‐faceted society like India and this is one of the most effective

MLAs election to the local self gov‐erning units is increasingly seen as something of a test on their perform‐ance at their respective Assembly Constituencies for it is about taking the opinion of the people at the mi‐cro‐level where each ward may have issues which are unique to them The political culture in Manipur is yet to take up the lines found in the big metros but election to the local bod‐ies particularly the Imphal Municipal Council has seen an increased inter‐est from the political big‐wigs of the State It is along this line or in acknowledg‐ing the mood and opinion of the people at the grass root level that we see prominent political figures in‐cluding the Chief Minister and the State unit presidents of different political parties campaigning for their candidates in the Imphal Municipal Council for which election will be held today

The scenario is no longer the same as it was 15 or 10 years back It is no longer a contest between two neighbours but about a contest between two political parties and their ideologies True election to the Municipal Council of Imphal is not the same as election to the State Assembly but the intensity of the competition and the proportionate growth in the importance of money power is something which stand out prominently and this years run up to the election to the Imphal Municipal Council had all the ingredients of a top notch political drama where the win‐ner takes all If the importance and political signifi‐cance in the election to the Imphal Municipal Council has been growing with each passing year or term then ideally there should also be an increas‐ing importance or significance in the role and responsibility of the Council The manner in which Imphal Municipal Council has been functioning all these

years will no one in doubt that there has been no corresponding increase in the significance and importance of this Council compared to the hoopla surrounding the election of the Coun‐cillors This is the right time to question why this is so A look at Imphal will leave no one in doubt about the veracity of our observation At the moment Imphal has all the negative characteristics of an urban metropolitan city but none of the positives that come along with being a city The level of pollution has touched sky high the filth and dirt earlier associated with only the big cities have now come to be an in‐separable identity of Imphal and a few hours of rain is more than enough to reduce all the roads and lanes into rivulets The traffic menace the unmanage‐able garbage the stink the absence of proper water supply provisions absence of civic amenities are all tell tale signs of a sick and ailing urban local self governing unit which in this case is the Imphal Municipal Council Down the years people have become accustomed to reports of how em‐ployees of the IMC have had to cope with no salaries for months the power mongering amongst the Coun‐cillors etc Ideally it is expected of a Municipal Council to busy itself with activities such as urban planning regulation of land‐use and construction of build‐ings roads and bridges public health sanitation etc and ideally this is the right time that questions should be raised which may find the responsible people squirming with discomfort The rain in the last few days has undoubtedly inconvenienced the average man in Imphal but it may also be seen as a God sent opportu‐nity to raise questions before the candidates and play an influencing role in the choice of the voters

Grass root politics Decentralisation of powermdashcontinued

Page 12

Grassroots

Special Programme on PRSystem | Assam Tribune | 16 May 2011

State to rein in corporations | Times of India | 2 May 2011

ment has now proposed a deadline of 45 days for a committee to take a deci‐sion and 90 days for the general body The clock will start ticking from the day on which the first meeting of the com‐mittee or general body is held after the proposal is submitted to the municipal secretary Also the corporators protecting each other may no longer be possible Cur‐rently if the administration proposes disqualification of a corporator on some grounds and if there is a dispute then the general body must pass a resolution to let the dispute be put before the city civil court Till date no general body of a municipal corporation has passed such a resolution Now the municipal commis‐sioner on his own can refer the matter to the government The government has also increased the grounds on which it can suspend a resolution passed by the general body These amendments are nothing but encroachment on the authority of the municipal corporation If the govern‐ment wants to rule the roost in local

governing bodies it should dissolve all municipal corporations and take reins said Sham Deshpande Shiv Senas leader of the house in the PMC Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said The government should recon‐sider these amendments If it fails to do so I will approach the court to stay the amendments Aba Bagul and Ravindra Dhangekar leaders of the Congress party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena respec‐tively in the PMC denounced the cabinets approval to the amend‐ments The ruling NCP however supported the amendments It is up to the state government to decide about the amendments The municipal corpora‐tion has no say in these amendments said leader of the house httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐02pune29499444_1_amendments‐independent‐corporator‐ujwal‐keskar‐municipal‐commissioner

PUNE The state cabinets approval to a slew of amendments to various municipal corporation Acts has ruffled the feathers of city corporators across party lines The cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Bombay Provin‐cial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 and the Mumbai Municipal Corpora‐tion Act 1888 to expedite decision‐making and bring in more transpar‐ency in the functioning of municipal corporations The government will issue an ordinance so that the amend‐ments can come into effect immedi‐ately According to the amendments corpo‐rators will no longer be able to delay any proposal The government has decided to set a deadline within which the municipal corporations will have to either say aye or no to a pro‐posal Currently the deadline has been set only for tenders where the standing committee has to take a decision within 30 days from the day the proposal is submitted The govern‐

Page 13

Grassroots

Use of Priasoft and Planplus Under e‐Panchayat | PIB | 31 May 2011

W Bengal and Karnataka that already have their own accounting sw should align their system with PRIASOFT so as to integrate with other PES applica‐tions Plan Plus software should be extended to all districts and for all CentralState schemes and not be limited to BRGF given its simplicity amp versatility in matching wishes of people with avail‐able schemesresources their conver‐gence generating integrated plans and transparency amp peoplersquos participation in the whole planning process The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is work‐ing with the Ministries of Rural Devel‐opment and Finance for integrating different applications such as PRIASoft PlanPlus NREGASoft CPSMS to facili‐

tate uploading of information at a single point Similarly flagship programmes like NRHM SSA ICDS etc should be motivated to use e‐Panchayat for the evident advantages e‐Panchayat Consultants could demonstrate PES to the respective State line depart‐ments The National Population Registry data should be hyperlinked to Panchayat Portal to know about houses without toilet drinking water etc BPL data base of 2011 should be integrated with individual benefit schemes like IAYSGSYNRLM and also Social secu‐rity schemes This would make PES more citizen friendly httppibnicinnewsiteereleaseaspxrelid=72403

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has advised the StatesUTs to adopt the use of PRIASoft and Plan Plus under e‐panchayat moduleIn a letter sent to the StatesUTs the Ministry says that adoption of an accounting system consistent with Model Accounting System (MAS) for the Panchayats which would be greatly facilitated by PRIASoft is one of the performance conditions under 13th FC award Implementation of MAS amp PRIASoft in the remaining States is therefore required urgently by training of Mas‐ter Trainers at DistrictBlock level who in turn could train GP Staff MoPR amp NIC would assist Applications in PES have inter‐linkages States like Gujarat Kerala

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

5 DPRO and block officials ascribed the reasons of shortfall in expendi‐ture to the receipt of funds at the end of the fiscal as also to shortage of skilled accounts staff because of which accounts ndash and thereby UCs ndash could not be furnished in time In the meeting with Block Pramukh and Gram Pradhans the next day it also came out that planning of develop‐ment works was rather top down than participative leading to the shortfall in utilization of funds

6 I had an interesting interaction with Block Pramukh Smt Janki Rawat and Gram Pradhans of a couple of villages of Gairsen Block in a meeting held at Block Office in the forenoon of 13 May 2011 Smt Janki Rawat came across as a remarkable lady and leader who was well versed with the problem of the Block besides being very articulate in expressing those She had been a worker at Shri Bhu‐waneswari Mahila Ashram (SBMA) a preeminent NGO of UK working espe‐cially in the area of women empower‐ment She said that there was discon‐nect between the works executed by the government department and agencies and the requirement of people at the grassroots because of poor planning process She said de‐layed receipts of Government funds and shortage of skilled persons for completing the accounts in time were among the reasons for slow pace of development expenditure She said that she had been mentioning those things in District Panchayat meetings where she was ex‐officio member Shri Balbir Singh Gram Pradhan of Maikholi village spoke about lack of

coordination with Van Panchayats who often didnt allow required develop‐ment works in the village A few other Gram Pradhans who spoke talked about difficulty in executing MNREGA works insufficiency of MNREGA wages especially for skilled construction works low levels of honorarium paid to Pradhans and shortage of VDOs They did concede that despite operational problems MNREGA has been very useful in creating local employment in the village and in preventing migration

away from village for work MNREGA allotment in Gairsen Block for FY11 was gt ` 7 crore 7 In the afternoon I visited Gram Panchayat Gwad which was only a few Km away from the Block HQ I met

Gram Pradhan Smt Radha Devi and other Panchayat members Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO and Smt Ganga Dhondhiyal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGA

8 Smt Radha Devi Pradhan was an energetic illiterate old lady Shri Shiv Singh Bhandari VDO was currently looking after an impossible charge of 22 villages as another VDO of the Block was on long leave Smt Ganga Dhondhi‐yal Rozgar Sahayika of MNREGS was effectively working as village account‐ant too She was highly qualified (MA BSc from Dehra dun) She was a con‐tract employee under MNREGS en‐gaged at a special daily wage of Rs 150= Besides Gwad she was also responsi‐ble for MNREGA and accounts affairs off two more villages There was a GP room and multipurpose village as‐sembly place built through MPLADS

funds It was a very poor set up com‐pared to say a Kerala GP office There was no computer GP records too were reportedly kept at the house of Pradhan No Model Ac‐counting System (MAS) was being followed There was just one receipt and payment register which had been filled up to March 2011 Appar‐ently this was the situation prevail‐ing in most of the GPs in UK In order to be able to avail itself of the per‐formance incentive component of 13th FC devolution GoUK needs to move really fast to improve upon MAS in GPs

9 On the way to GP at Gwad I also visited the office of Dy Project Direc‐tor of Gramya which is a WB assisted Decentralized Watershed Develop‐ment Project in UK under the Depart‐ment of Watershed amp Agriculture of GoUK Gairsen was one of the 10 development blocks in which Gramya operates Dy Project Director of Gra‐mya at Gairsen was an energetic young officer Shri Barfaal who was on deputation to the project from GoUK Department of Agriculture At Gairsen the project covered 30 model villages The avowed objec‐tives of Gramya is to improve the productive potential of natural re‐sources and increase incomes of rural inhabitants in degraded watersheds of the State through socially inclusive institutionally and environmentally sustainable approaches Gramya works through GPs and Van Pancha‐yats

Extracts from tour Note of DG‐LB to Gairsenmdashcontinued

Page 8

Grassroots

Local Bodies (LBs) Division had pre‐sented (May 2010) to CAG a paper giving an outlook for recasting CAGrsquos audit response to the important developments in social development sector with the onset of decentralized governance through LBs in the recent times The government at the apex level the Planning Commission suc‐cessive Finance Commissions after the ninth the 2nd administrative reforms commission all have made strong advocacy for making LBs the focal point of planning execution and management of the social devel‐opment schemes impacting at the local levels But at the practical level there are many a Rubicons to be crossed LBs share the public finance space of social development with a host of parallel bodies government departments and agencies at all levels of planning execution and management in varying degrees in

various States often only as bit player LB Divisions paper had therefore made a strong advocacy for aggrega‐tion of Civil Works and LB audit within the umbrella of Social Sector Audit (SSA) under the leadership of one AG in state It had also called for vertical aggregation of SSA which is at present dispersed amongst DAI‐RC DAI‐LB ADAsI at the HQ and amongst DG‐CEA PD‐ESM and PD‐SD Subsequently IAampADrsquos Perspective Plan 2010‐15 (June 2010) also echoed this sentiment and emphasized integration of LB audit with civil audit It also calls for place‐ment of an institutional framework for integrating audit efforts across various functional areas and for carrying out the required structural changes at HQ and field level

2 To illustrate the likely gains of an aggregated audit approach as outlines in its May 2010 paper LB Division planned along with the office of PAG

(Civil) Allahabad and in consultation with RS‐I wing a district‐centric audit of rural social sector in Ghaziabad District This audit exercise involved inter alia audit inspections of District Panchayat DRDA Block Panchayats (4) Village Panchayats (40) civil DDOs (7) of a sample selected with due diligence and entry and exit conference with the District amp PRI officials We selected Ghaziabad was for its proximity to HQ so that Direc‐tor‐LB HQ could associate himself with the experimental audit exercise without much difficulty PAG (CA) Allahabad has since issued the report to the State Government (15 Apr 11) This audit experiment in Ghaziabad has valuable lessons for us regarding audit system process and products Table below gives a comparative picture between the prevailing sys‐tem and experimental audit ap‐proach

Lessons in Ghaziabad district audit

Page 9

Grassroots

Parameter Prevailing Audit System Experimental Audit Approach Integration of civil LB and other audits as called for in IAADrsquos Perspective Plan (PP) FY10‐15

No integration Audit inspections conducted disjointedly by different groups of PAGs office in various auditee units in civil offices parallel bodies LBs IRs bring out if at all trivial audit objections of operations‐malfunction without much systemic angle

Integrates civil and LB audits System oriented report‐ing in place of isolated findings

Annual audit planning Audit planning inspection oriented Audit plans of the concerned functional groups of PAGs office are essentially lists of audit inspections to be carried out during the year without horizontal and vertical linkages amongst social sector auditee units

Objective planning aimed at assessment of systemic frailties and on outcomes of social sector schemes (SSS) Audit inspections plan covers all major units dealing with SSS regardless of their legal status ie whether a unit is a civil DDO or belongs to a parallelautonomouslocal body under one team leader

Unit level audit plan‐ning

Little planning in advance for unit level auditing Inspections carried out treating each unit in isolation Little appreciation of financial and operational linkages

Audit plan for whole assignment prepared before‐hand with due regard to the inter se synergies of the units in the audit sample as also with reference to the role of supra supervisory layers Inspections of sampled units carried out in that context

Audit trail Limited within the inspected unit No reconcilia‐tion of discordant information in different units

Runs through the units spread across divergent func‐tional domains such as village school PHC DDOs DRDA down to the last mile GPs and even beneficiar‐ies Discordant information captured examined and highlighted

Quality of IRs Rudimentary compliance checks and scrutiny of control records More in the nature of internal audit reports Highlight operational malfunctions (often insignificant) without systemic orientation

Attributes based on risks are identified beforehand and tested during audit of all units Introduces new intermediate audit product District Inspection Report in addition to IRs of the sampled units District Report highlighted important systemic issues

Resource allocation‐time

160‐170 working days of many parties including transit days

45 working days with two audit teams under one AO including transit

Gangtok Sikkim has been selected as the best in the Northeastern region and the third‐best perform‐ing state in the country for pro‐gress recorded by Panchayati Raj for the year 2010‐11The state will receive a cash incentive award of Rs one crore while Mellidara Pai‐yong Gram Panchayat in South Sikkim district a consistent per‐former in PRI achievements has

been awarded the Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar ‐ 2011 for convening and conducting regular and vibrant meetings of the Gram Sabhas a press release from the Rural Management amp Development Department said The Rashtriya Gau‐rav Gram Sabha Puraskar award carries a cash component of Rs 10 lakh The Minister and Secretary Rural Management and Develop‐ment Department along with the

Sabhapati of Mellidara Paiyong Gram Panchayat will receive the awards from the Prime Minister at a special conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 24 April National Panchayat Day it said

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewssikkim‐selected‐as‐best‐state‐in‐ne‐for‐panchati‐raj‐progress653317html

Page 10

Grassroots

Sikkim selected as best state in NE for PR progress | ibnlive | 19 April 2011

Ranchi More than 1200 building plans are waiting to be vetted by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) as it is without a town plan‐ner the one vested with the au‐thority of ensuring that construc‐tion norms arenrsquot flouted in the state capital The irony is unmistakable espe‐cially when Ranchi along with Dhanbad Bokaro and Jamshedpur are witnessing demolition drives at the behest of an angry high court to undo years of damage perpe‐trated on the cities by unscrupu‐lous builders who in connivance with corrupt government officials survived on illegal constructions On April 1 Jharkhand High Court asked the state government to remove town planner Ram Kumar Singh from the post as he did not have a degree in town planning a mandatory requirement for the post The state government then sent back Singh to his parent water resources department and named urban development department town planner Gajanand Ram as successor with additional charge

It also decided to appoint town plan‐ners in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad which will see a slew of urban re‐vamp projects under JNNURM But since official orders are yet to be passed mdash sources claimed the file was with chief minister Arjun Munda mdash RMC is still without a town plan‐ner while more than 1200 building plans await verification Gajanand who is monitoring various urban infrastructure development schemes under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will be given the job at RMC as a stopgap arrangement officials con‐ceded ldquoWe are still waiting for a new town planner In his absence the work of verifying and approving building maps of houses multi‐storey resi‐dential buildings and commercial complexes is sufferingrdquo admitted RMC chief executive officer Vinay Kumar Choubey Gajanand fits the criteria He is armed with a masterrsquos degree in town planning from the renowned School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi

ldquoA town planner needs to have a masterrsquos degree in urban plan‐ningrdquo explained Manjari Chak‐raborty the head of department of architecture at Birla Institute of Technology Mesra ldquoGraduates in civil engineering architecture geography and sociol‐ogy too can pursue a masterrsquos degree in this subjectrdquo added the teacher of BIT‐Mesra Jharkhandrsquos only technical institute offering a postgraduate course in urban plan‐ning Officials at the state urban devel‐opment department have now promised to advertise for town planners in Ranchi Jamshedpur and Dhanbad soon Singh who was initially town plan‐ner with Ranchi Regional Develop‐ment Authority (RRDA) took up the job at RMC after it was given powers to verify building maps on September 1 2009 While RMC looks after new constructions in the town RRDA does so for the outskirts

httpwwwtelegraphindiacom1110419jspfrontpagestory_13871919jsp

Capital without a town planner | Telegraph | 19 April 2011

The Planning Commission has set up a working group on elementary edu‐cation and literacy that will suggest measures for faster reduction in illiteracy with emphasis on gender regional and social dimensions and incentivise States to achieve cent per cent literacy during the XII Plan pe‐riod To be chaired by the Secretary De‐partment of Elementary Education and Literacy (Ministry of Human Resource Development) the working group will suggest modifications in educational indicators computation of education index that captures ground reality and suggest measures for improvements in management of educational statistics at district State and national‐levels and reduce the time lag in publication of educational statistics It will review effectiveness of pro‐grammes addressing the needs of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes

Other Backward Classes minorities girls education and feasibility of intro‐ducing alternative systems for impart‐ing quality education to the poor stu‐dents In addition to reviewing the existing Plan programmes under Elementary Education and Literacy in terms of access enrolment retention dropouts and with particular emphasis on out‐come on quality of education by gen‐der social and regional classifications the working group has been asked to evolve a detailed perspective plan and strategies with specific medium‐term monitorable targets in terms of aver‐age years of schooling and for provid‐ing quality elementary education up to Class VIII to all children in the age group of 6‐14 as per the Right of Chil‐dren to Free and Compulsory Education Act mandate The group will suggest measures for improving implementation of RTE har‐monised Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan the

Mid‐Day Meal Scheme and various literacy programmes for achieving the millennium development goals and restructure literacy programmes for greater involvement of the State governments and increasing trans‐parency and accountability The working group will comprise officers from the Ministries of HRD Youth Affairs and Sports Women and Child Development Social Justice and Empowerment Tribal Affairs Minor‐ity Affairs and representatives from civil society groups such as the Foun‐dation for Education and Develop‐ment Swami Sivananda Society Pratham the Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Tata Institute for Social Sciences Azim Premji Founda‐tion and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar State madrasa Boards among others httpwwwthehinducomnewsnationalarticle2026559ece

Planning Commission sets up working group on school education | Hindu | 17 May 2011

Page 11

Grassroots

Grass root politics Decentralisation of power | The Sangai Express | 24 May 2011

mechanisms to address issues at the micro‐level But as we have said this arrangement comes with certain riders and that is the overall authority of the State over these self governing bodies Thus the respective State Governments are entrusted with the authority of decid‐ing the executive powers that may be disseminated to these local self govern‐ing units and hence a Municipal Council in Manipur may be something quite different from a Municipal Council found in say Assam or West Bengal In as much as these local self governing units are under the overall authority of the State Government its importance in power politics is something that cannot be overlooked and this is the reason why elections to the urban local civic bodies such as the Municipalities

attract so much attention from all political parties and political leaders In short election to these self gov‐erning bodies are usually seen and interpreted as a referendum at the grass root level on the performance or non‐performance of the partyparties heading the Government in a State A recent example that comes to mind is the election to the urban civic bodies in Kolkata and if political pun‐dits had placed their bets on the Trinamul Congress during the recent Assembly election in West Bengal it had to do a lot with the results of the elections to the urban civic bodies The same is the case with the Munici‐pal Corporations in other State capi‐tals such as Mumbai Delhi and other metropolitan cities To the local

Imphal Power and authority to the grass root is undeniably one of the more favoured slogans of a democ‐racy and while no one can justifiably contest the merit behind the philoso‐phy of disseminating power to the grass root level this comes with certain riders as evidenced in the institution of local self Governments such as the Panchayats at the village level Municipal Corporations in the metros and Municipal Councils in the lesser or smaller cities In the hills we have the autonomous district councils and for towns there are the town councils Local self Government is necessitated by the need to recognise and acknowledge the local peculiarities that abound in a multi‐faceted society like India and this is one of the most effective

MLAs election to the local self gov‐erning units is increasingly seen as something of a test on their perform‐ance at their respective Assembly Constituencies for it is about taking the opinion of the people at the mi‐cro‐level where each ward may have issues which are unique to them The political culture in Manipur is yet to take up the lines found in the big metros but election to the local bod‐ies particularly the Imphal Municipal Council has seen an increased inter‐est from the political big‐wigs of the State It is along this line or in acknowledg‐ing the mood and opinion of the people at the grass root level that we see prominent political figures in‐cluding the Chief Minister and the State unit presidents of different political parties campaigning for their candidates in the Imphal Municipal Council for which election will be held today

The scenario is no longer the same as it was 15 or 10 years back It is no longer a contest between two neighbours but about a contest between two political parties and their ideologies True election to the Municipal Council of Imphal is not the same as election to the State Assembly but the intensity of the competition and the proportionate growth in the importance of money power is something which stand out prominently and this years run up to the election to the Imphal Municipal Council had all the ingredients of a top notch political drama where the win‐ner takes all If the importance and political signifi‐cance in the election to the Imphal Municipal Council has been growing with each passing year or term then ideally there should also be an increas‐ing importance or significance in the role and responsibility of the Council The manner in which Imphal Municipal Council has been functioning all these

years will no one in doubt that there has been no corresponding increase in the significance and importance of this Council compared to the hoopla surrounding the election of the Coun‐cillors This is the right time to question why this is so A look at Imphal will leave no one in doubt about the veracity of our observation At the moment Imphal has all the negative characteristics of an urban metropolitan city but none of the positives that come along with being a city The level of pollution has touched sky high the filth and dirt earlier associated with only the big cities have now come to be an in‐separable identity of Imphal and a few hours of rain is more than enough to reduce all the roads and lanes into rivulets The traffic menace the unmanage‐able garbage the stink the absence of proper water supply provisions absence of civic amenities are all tell tale signs of a sick and ailing urban local self governing unit which in this case is the Imphal Municipal Council Down the years people have become accustomed to reports of how em‐ployees of the IMC have had to cope with no salaries for months the power mongering amongst the Coun‐cillors etc Ideally it is expected of a Municipal Council to busy itself with activities such as urban planning regulation of land‐use and construction of build‐ings roads and bridges public health sanitation etc and ideally this is the right time that questions should be raised which may find the responsible people squirming with discomfort The rain in the last few days has undoubtedly inconvenienced the average man in Imphal but it may also be seen as a God sent opportu‐nity to raise questions before the candidates and play an influencing role in the choice of the voters

Grass root politics Decentralisation of powermdashcontinued

Page 12

Grassroots

Special Programme on PRSystem | Assam Tribune | 16 May 2011

State to rein in corporations | Times of India | 2 May 2011

ment has now proposed a deadline of 45 days for a committee to take a deci‐sion and 90 days for the general body The clock will start ticking from the day on which the first meeting of the com‐mittee or general body is held after the proposal is submitted to the municipal secretary Also the corporators protecting each other may no longer be possible Cur‐rently if the administration proposes disqualification of a corporator on some grounds and if there is a dispute then the general body must pass a resolution to let the dispute be put before the city civil court Till date no general body of a municipal corporation has passed such a resolution Now the municipal commis‐sioner on his own can refer the matter to the government The government has also increased the grounds on which it can suspend a resolution passed by the general body These amendments are nothing but encroachment on the authority of the municipal corporation If the govern‐ment wants to rule the roost in local

governing bodies it should dissolve all municipal corporations and take reins said Sham Deshpande Shiv Senas leader of the house in the PMC Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said The government should recon‐sider these amendments If it fails to do so I will approach the court to stay the amendments Aba Bagul and Ravindra Dhangekar leaders of the Congress party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena respec‐tively in the PMC denounced the cabinets approval to the amend‐ments The ruling NCP however supported the amendments It is up to the state government to decide about the amendments The municipal corpora‐tion has no say in these amendments said leader of the house httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐02pune29499444_1_amendments‐independent‐corporator‐ujwal‐keskar‐municipal‐commissioner

PUNE The state cabinets approval to a slew of amendments to various municipal corporation Acts has ruffled the feathers of city corporators across party lines The cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Bombay Provin‐cial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 and the Mumbai Municipal Corpora‐tion Act 1888 to expedite decision‐making and bring in more transpar‐ency in the functioning of municipal corporations The government will issue an ordinance so that the amend‐ments can come into effect immedi‐ately According to the amendments corpo‐rators will no longer be able to delay any proposal The government has decided to set a deadline within which the municipal corporations will have to either say aye or no to a pro‐posal Currently the deadline has been set only for tenders where the standing committee has to take a decision within 30 days from the day the proposal is submitted The govern‐

Page 13

Grassroots

Use of Priasoft and Planplus Under e‐Panchayat | PIB | 31 May 2011

W Bengal and Karnataka that already have their own accounting sw should align their system with PRIASOFT so as to integrate with other PES applica‐tions Plan Plus software should be extended to all districts and for all CentralState schemes and not be limited to BRGF given its simplicity amp versatility in matching wishes of people with avail‐able schemesresources their conver‐gence generating integrated plans and transparency amp peoplersquos participation in the whole planning process The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is work‐ing with the Ministries of Rural Devel‐opment and Finance for integrating different applications such as PRIASoft PlanPlus NREGASoft CPSMS to facili‐

tate uploading of information at a single point Similarly flagship programmes like NRHM SSA ICDS etc should be motivated to use e‐Panchayat for the evident advantages e‐Panchayat Consultants could demonstrate PES to the respective State line depart‐ments The National Population Registry data should be hyperlinked to Panchayat Portal to know about houses without toilet drinking water etc BPL data base of 2011 should be integrated with individual benefit schemes like IAYSGSYNRLM and also Social secu‐rity schemes This would make PES more citizen friendly httppibnicinnewsiteereleaseaspxrelid=72403

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has advised the StatesUTs to adopt the use of PRIASoft and Plan Plus under e‐panchayat moduleIn a letter sent to the StatesUTs the Ministry says that adoption of an accounting system consistent with Model Accounting System (MAS) for the Panchayats which would be greatly facilitated by PRIASoft is one of the performance conditions under 13th FC award Implementation of MAS amp PRIASoft in the remaining States is therefore required urgently by training of Mas‐ter Trainers at DistrictBlock level who in turn could train GP Staff MoPR amp NIC would assist Applications in PES have inter‐linkages States like Gujarat Kerala

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

Local Bodies (LBs) Division had pre‐sented (May 2010) to CAG a paper giving an outlook for recasting CAGrsquos audit response to the important developments in social development sector with the onset of decentralized governance through LBs in the recent times The government at the apex level the Planning Commission suc‐cessive Finance Commissions after the ninth the 2nd administrative reforms commission all have made strong advocacy for making LBs the focal point of planning execution and management of the social devel‐opment schemes impacting at the local levels But at the practical level there are many a Rubicons to be crossed LBs share the public finance space of social development with a host of parallel bodies government departments and agencies at all levels of planning execution and management in varying degrees in

various States often only as bit player LB Divisions paper had therefore made a strong advocacy for aggrega‐tion of Civil Works and LB audit within the umbrella of Social Sector Audit (SSA) under the leadership of one AG in state It had also called for vertical aggregation of SSA which is at present dispersed amongst DAI‐RC DAI‐LB ADAsI at the HQ and amongst DG‐CEA PD‐ESM and PD‐SD Subsequently IAampADrsquos Perspective Plan 2010‐15 (June 2010) also echoed this sentiment and emphasized integration of LB audit with civil audit It also calls for place‐ment of an institutional framework for integrating audit efforts across various functional areas and for carrying out the required structural changes at HQ and field level

2 To illustrate the likely gains of an aggregated audit approach as outlines in its May 2010 paper LB Division planned along with the office of PAG

(Civil) Allahabad and in consultation with RS‐I wing a district‐centric audit of rural social sector in Ghaziabad District This audit exercise involved inter alia audit inspections of District Panchayat DRDA Block Panchayats (4) Village Panchayats (40) civil DDOs (7) of a sample selected with due diligence and entry and exit conference with the District amp PRI officials We selected Ghaziabad was for its proximity to HQ so that Direc‐tor‐LB HQ could associate himself with the experimental audit exercise without much difficulty PAG (CA) Allahabad has since issued the report to the State Government (15 Apr 11) This audit experiment in Ghaziabad has valuable lessons for us regarding audit system process and products Table below gives a comparative picture between the prevailing sys‐tem and experimental audit ap‐proach

Lessons in Ghaziabad district audit

Page 9

Grassroots

Parameter Prevailing Audit System Experimental Audit Approach Integration of civil LB and other audits as called for in IAADrsquos Perspective Plan (PP) FY10‐15

No integration Audit inspections conducted disjointedly by different groups of PAGs office in various auditee units in civil offices parallel bodies LBs IRs bring out if at all trivial audit objections of operations‐malfunction without much systemic angle

Integrates civil and LB audits System oriented report‐ing in place of isolated findings

Annual audit planning Audit planning inspection oriented Audit plans of the concerned functional groups of PAGs office are essentially lists of audit inspections to be carried out during the year without horizontal and vertical linkages amongst social sector auditee units

Objective planning aimed at assessment of systemic frailties and on outcomes of social sector schemes (SSS) Audit inspections plan covers all major units dealing with SSS regardless of their legal status ie whether a unit is a civil DDO or belongs to a parallelautonomouslocal body under one team leader

Unit level audit plan‐ning

Little planning in advance for unit level auditing Inspections carried out treating each unit in isolation Little appreciation of financial and operational linkages

Audit plan for whole assignment prepared before‐hand with due regard to the inter se synergies of the units in the audit sample as also with reference to the role of supra supervisory layers Inspections of sampled units carried out in that context

Audit trail Limited within the inspected unit No reconcilia‐tion of discordant information in different units

Runs through the units spread across divergent func‐tional domains such as village school PHC DDOs DRDA down to the last mile GPs and even beneficiar‐ies Discordant information captured examined and highlighted

Quality of IRs Rudimentary compliance checks and scrutiny of control records More in the nature of internal audit reports Highlight operational malfunctions (often insignificant) without systemic orientation

Attributes based on risks are identified beforehand and tested during audit of all units Introduces new intermediate audit product District Inspection Report in addition to IRs of the sampled units District Report highlighted important systemic issues

Resource allocation‐time

160‐170 working days of many parties including transit days

45 working days with two audit teams under one AO including transit

Gangtok Sikkim has been selected as the best in the Northeastern region and the third‐best perform‐ing state in the country for pro‐gress recorded by Panchayati Raj for the year 2010‐11The state will receive a cash incentive award of Rs one crore while Mellidara Pai‐yong Gram Panchayat in South Sikkim district a consistent per‐former in PRI achievements has

been awarded the Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar ‐ 2011 for convening and conducting regular and vibrant meetings of the Gram Sabhas a press release from the Rural Management amp Development Department said The Rashtriya Gau‐rav Gram Sabha Puraskar award carries a cash component of Rs 10 lakh The Minister and Secretary Rural Management and Develop‐ment Department along with the

Sabhapati of Mellidara Paiyong Gram Panchayat will receive the awards from the Prime Minister at a special conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 24 April National Panchayat Day it said

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewssikkim‐selected‐as‐best‐state‐in‐ne‐for‐panchati‐raj‐progress653317html

Page 10

Grassroots

Sikkim selected as best state in NE for PR progress | ibnlive | 19 April 2011

Ranchi More than 1200 building plans are waiting to be vetted by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) as it is without a town plan‐ner the one vested with the au‐thority of ensuring that construc‐tion norms arenrsquot flouted in the state capital The irony is unmistakable espe‐cially when Ranchi along with Dhanbad Bokaro and Jamshedpur are witnessing demolition drives at the behest of an angry high court to undo years of damage perpe‐trated on the cities by unscrupu‐lous builders who in connivance with corrupt government officials survived on illegal constructions On April 1 Jharkhand High Court asked the state government to remove town planner Ram Kumar Singh from the post as he did not have a degree in town planning a mandatory requirement for the post The state government then sent back Singh to his parent water resources department and named urban development department town planner Gajanand Ram as successor with additional charge

It also decided to appoint town plan‐ners in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad which will see a slew of urban re‐vamp projects under JNNURM But since official orders are yet to be passed mdash sources claimed the file was with chief minister Arjun Munda mdash RMC is still without a town plan‐ner while more than 1200 building plans await verification Gajanand who is monitoring various urban infrastructure development schemes under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will be given the job at RMC as a stopgap arrangement officials con‐ceded ldquoWe are still waiting for a new town planner In his absence the work of verifying and approving building maps of houses multi‐storey resi‐dential buildings and commercial complexes is sufferingrdquo admitted RMC chief executive officer Vinay Kumar Choubey Gajanand fits the criteria He is armed with a masterrsquos degree in town planning from the renowned School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi

ldquoA town planner needs to have a masterrsquos degree in urban plan‐ningrdquo explained Manjari Chak‐raborty the head of department of architecture at Birla Institute of Technology Mesra ldquoGraduates in civil engineering architecture geography and sociol‐ogy too can pursue a masterrsquos degree in this subjectrdquo added the teacher of BIT‐Mesra Jharkhandrsquos only technical institute offering a postgraduate course in urban plan‐ning Officials at the state urban devel‐opment department have now promised to advertise for town planners in Ranchi Jamshedpur and Dhanbad soon Singh who was initially town plan‐ner with Ranchi Regional Develop‐ment Authority (RRDA) took up the job at RMC after it was given powers to verify building maps on September 1 2009 While RMC looks after new constructions in the town RRDA does so for the outskirts

httpwwwtelegraphindiacom1110419jspfrontpagestory_13871919jsp

Capital without a town planner | Telegraph | 19 April 2011

The Planning Commission has set up a working group on elementary edu‐cation and literacy that will suggest measures for faster reduction in illiteracy with emphasis on gender regional and social dimensions and incentivise States to achieve cent per cent literacy during the XII Plan pe‐riod To be chaired by the Secretary De‐partment of Elementary Education and Literacy (Ministry of Human Resource Development) the working group will suggest modifications in educational indicators computation of education index that captures ground reality and suggest measures for improvements in management of educational statistics at district State and national‐levels and reduce the time lag in publication of educational statistics It will review effectiveness of pro‐grammes addressing the needs of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes

Other Backward Classes minorities girls education and feasibility of intro‐ducing alternative systems for impart‐ing quality education to the poor stu‐dents In addition to reviewing the existing Plan programmes under Elementary Education and Literacy in terms of access enrolment retention dropouts and with particular emphasis on out‐come on quality of education by gen‐der social and regional classifications the working group has been asked to evolve a detailed perspective plan and strategies with specific medium‐term monitorable targets in terms of aver‐age years of schooling and for provid‐ing quality elementary education up to Class VIII to all children in the age group of 6‐14 as per the Right of Chil‐dren to Free and Compulsory Education Act mandate The group will suggest measures for improving implementation of RTE har‐monised Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan the

Mid‐Day Meal Scheme and various literacy programmes for achieving the millennium development goals and restructure literacy programmes for greater involvement of the State governments and increasing trans‐parency and accountability The working group will comprise officers from the Ministries of HRD Youth Affairs and Sports Women and Child Development Social Justice and Empowerment Tribal Affairs Minor‐ity Affairs and representatives from civil society groups such as the Foun‐dation for Education and Develop‐ment Swami Sivananda Society Pratham the Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Tata Institute for Social Sciences Azim Premji Founda‐tion and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar State madrasa Boards among others httpwwwthehinducomnewsnationalarticle2026559ece

Planning Commission sets up working group on school education | Hindu | 17 May 2011

Page 11

Grassroots

Grass root politics Decentralisation of power | The Sangai Express | 24 May 2011

mechanisms to address issues at the micro‐level But as we have said this arrangement comes with certain riders and that is the overall authority of the State over these self governing bodies Thus the respective State Governments are entrusted with the authority of decid‐ing the executive powers that may be disseminated to these local self govern‐ing units and hence a Municipal Council in Manipur may be something quite different from a Municipal Council found in say Assam or West Bengal In as much as these local self governing units are under the overall authority of the State Government its importance in power politics is something that cannot be overlooked and this is the reason why elections to the urban local civic bodies such as the Municipalities

attract so much attention from all political parties and political leaders In short election to these self gov‐erning bodies are usually seen and interpreted as a referendum at the grass root level on the performance or non‐performance of the partyparties heading the Government in a State A recent example that comes to mind is the election to the urban civic bodies in Kolkata and if political pun‐dits had placed their bets on the Trinamul Congress during the recent Assembly election in West Bengal it had to do a lot with the results of the elections to the urban civic bodies The same is the case with the Munici‐pal Corporations in other State capi‐tals such as Mumbai Delhi and other metropolitan cities To the local

Imphal Power and authority to the grass root is undeniably one of the more favoured slogans of a democ‐racy and while no one can justifiably contest the merit behind the philoso‐phy of disseminating power to the grass root level this comes with certain riders as evidenced in the institution of local self Governments such as the Panchayats at the village level Municipal Corporations in the metros and Municipal Councils in the lesser or smaller cities In the hills we have the autonomous district councils and for towns there are the town councils Local self Government is necessitated by the need to recognise and acknowledge the local peculiarities that abound in a multi‐faceted society like India and this is one of the most effective

MLAs election to the local self gov‐erning units is increasingly seen as something of a test on their perform‐ance at their respective Assembly Constituencies for it is about taking the opinion of the people at the mi‐cro‐level where each ward may have issues which are unique to them The political culture in Manipur is yet to take up the lines found in the big metros but election to the local bod‐ies particularly the Imphal Municipal Council has seen an increased inter‐est from the political big‐wigs of the State It is along this line or in acknowledg‐ing the mood and opinion of the people at the grass root level that we see prominent political figures in‐cluding the Chief Minister and the State unit presidents of different political parties campaigning for their candidates in the Imphal Municipal Council for which election will be held today

The scenario is no longer the same as it was 15 or 10 years back It is no longer a contest between two neighbours but about a contest between two political parties and their ideologies True election to the Municipal Council of Imphal is not the same as election to the State Assembly but the intensity of the competition and the proportionate growth in the importance of money power is something which stand out prominently and this years run up to the election to the Imphal Municipal Council had all the ingredients of a top notch political drama where the win‐ner takes all If the importance and political signifi‐cance in the election to the Imphal Municipal Council has been growing with each passing year or term then ideally there should also be an increas‐ing importance or significance in the role and responsibility of the Council The manner in which Imphal Municipal Council has been functioning all these

years will no one in doubt that there has been no corresponding increase in the significance and importance of this Council compared to the hoopla surrounding the election of the Coun‐cillors This is the right time to question why this is so A look at Imphal will leave no one in doubt about the veracity of our observation At the moment Imphal has all the negative characteristics of an urban metropolitan city but none of the positives that come along with being a city The level of pollution has touched sky high the filth and dirt earlier associated with only the big cities have now come to be an in‐separable identity of Imphal and a few hours of rain is more than enough to reduce all the roads and lanes into rivulets The traffic menace the unmanage‐able garbage the stink the absence of proper water supply provisions absence of civic amenities are all tell tale signs of a sick and ailing urban local self governing unit which in this case is the Imphal Municipal Council Down the years people have become accustomed to reports of how em‐ployees of the IMC have had to cope with no salaries for months the power mongering amongst the Coun‐cillors etc Ideally it is expected of a Municipal Council to busy itself with activities such as urban planning regulation of land‐use and construction of build‐ings roads and bridges public health sanitation etc and ideally this is the right time that questions should be raised which may find the responsible people squirming with discomfort The rain in the last few days has undoubtedly inconvenienced the average man in Imphal but it may also be seen as a God sent opportu‐nity to raise questions before the candidates and play an influencing role in the choice of the voters

Grass root politics Decentralisation of powermdashcontinued

Page 12

Grassroots

Special Programme on PRSystem | Assam Tribune | 16 May 2011

State to rein in corporations | Times of India | 2 May 2011

ment has now proposed a deadline of 45 days for a committee to take a deci‐sion and 90 days for the general body The clock will start ticking from the day on which the first meeting of the com‐mittee or general body is held after the proposal is submitted to the municipal secretary Also the corporators protecting each other may no longer be possible Cur‐rently if the administration proposes disqualification of a corporator on some grounds and if there is a dispute then the general body must pass a resolution to let the dispute be put before the city civil court Till date no general body of a municipal corporation has passed such a resolution Now the municipal commis‐sioner on his own can refer the matter to the government The government has also increased the grounds on which it can suspend a resolution passed by the general body These amendments are nothing but encroachment on the authority of the municipal corporation If the govern‐ment wants to rule the roost in local

governing bodies it should dissolve all municipal corporations and take reins said Sham Deshpande Shiv Senas leader of the house in the PMC Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said The government should recon‐sider these amendments If it fails to do so I will approach the court to stay the amendments Aba Bagul and Ravindra Dhangekar leaders of the Congress party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena respec‐tively in the PMC denounced the cabinets approval to the amend‐ments The ruling NCP however supported the amendments It is up to the state government to decide about the amendments The municipal corpora‐tion has no say in these amendments said leader of the house httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐02pune29499444_1_amendments‐independent‐corporator‐ujwal‐keskar‐municipal‐commissioner

PUNE The state cabinets approval to a slew of amendments to various municipal corporation Acts has ruffled the feathers of city corporators across party lines The cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Bombay Provin‐cial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 and the Mumbai Municipal Corpora‐tion Act 1888 to expedite decision‐making and bring in more transpar‐ency in the functioning of municipal corporations The government will issue an ordinance so that the amend‐ments can come into effect immedi‐ately According to the amendments corpo‐rators will no longer be able to delay any proposal The government has decided to set a deadline within which the municipal corporations will have to either say aye or no to a pro‐posal Currently the deadline has been set only for tenders where the standing committee has to take a decision within 30 days from the day the proposal is submitted The govern‐

Page 13

Grassroots

Use of Priasoft and Planplus Under e‐Panchayat | PIB | 31 May 2011

W Bengal and Karnataka that already have their own accounting sw should align their system with PRIASOFT so as to integrate with other PES applica‐tions Plan Plus software should be extended to all districts and for all CentralState schemes and not be limited to BRGF given its simplicity amp versatility in matching wishes of people with avail‐able schemesresources their conver‐gence generating integrated plans and transparency amp peoplersquos participation in the whole planning process The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is work‐ing with the Ministries of Rural Devel‐opment and Finance for integrating different applications such as PRIASoft PlanPlus NREGASoft CPSMS to facili‐

tate uploading of information at a single point Similarly flagship programmes like NRHM SSA ICDS etc should be motivated to use e‐Panchayat for the evident advantages e‐Panchayat Consultants could demonstrate PES to the respective State line depart‐ments The National Population Registry data should be hyperlinked to Panchayat Portal to know about houses without toilet drinking water etc BPL data base of 2011 should be integrated with individual benefit schemes like IAYSGSYNRLM and also Social secu‐rity schemes This would make PES more citizen friendly httppibnicinnewsiteereleaseaspxrelid=72403

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has advised the StatesUTs to adopt the use of PRIASoft and Plan Plus under e‐panchayat moduleIn a letter sent to the StatesUTs the Ministry says that adoption of an accounting system consistent with Model Accounting System (MAS) for the Panchayats which would be greatly facilitated by PRIASoft is one of the performance conditions under 13th FC award Implementation of MAS amp PRIASoft in the remaining States is therefore required urgently by training of Mas‐ter Trainers at DistrictBlock level who in turn could train GP Staff MoPR amp NIC would assist Applications in PES have inter‐linkages States like Gujarat Kerala

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

Gangtok Sikkim has been selected as the best in the Northeastern region and the third‐best perform‐ing state in the country for pro‐gress recorded by Panchayati Raj for the year 2010‐11The state will receive a cash incentive award of Rs one crore while Mellidara Pai‐yong Gram Panchayat in South Sikkim district a consistent per‐former in PRI achievements has

been awarded the Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar ‐ 2011 for convening and conducting regular and vibrant meetings of the Gram Sabhas a press release from the Rural Management amp Development Department said The Rashtriya Gau‐rav Gram Sabha Puraskar award carries a cash component of Rs 10 lakh The Minister and Secretary Rural Management and Develop‐ment Department along with the

Sabhapati of Mellidara Paiyong Gram Panchayat will receive the awards from the Prime Minister at a special conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 24 April National Panchayat Day it said

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewssikkim‐selected‐as‐best‐state‐in‐ne‐for‐panchati‐raj‐progress653317html

Page 10

Grassroots

Sikkim selected as best state in NE for PR progress | ibnlive | 19 April 2011

Ranchi More than 1200 building plans are waiting to be vetted by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) as it is without a town plan‐ner the one vested with the au‐thority of ensuring that construc‐tion norms arenrsquot flouted in the state capital The irony is unmistakable espe‐cially when Ranchi along with Dhanbad Bokaro and Jamshedpur are witnessing demolition drives at the behest of an angry high court to undo years of damage perpe‐trated on the cities by unscrupu‐lous builders who in connivance with corrupt government officials survived on illegal constructions On April 1 Jharkhand High Court asked the state government to remove town planner Ram Kumar Singh from the post as he did not have a degree in town planning a mandatory requirement for the post The state government then sent back Singh to his parent water resources department and named urban development department town planner Gajanand Ram as successor with additional charge

It also decided to appoint town plan‐ners in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad which will see a slew of urban re‐vamp projects under JNNURM But since official orders are yet to be passed mdash sources claimed the file was with chief minister Arjun Munda mdash RMC is still without a town plan‐ner while more than 1200 building plans await verification Gajanand who is monitoring various urban infrastructure development schemes under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will be given the job at RMC as a stopgap arrangement officials con‐ceded ldquoWe are still waiting for a new town planner In his absence the work of verifying and approving building maps of houses multi‐storey resi‐dential buildings and commercial complexes is sufferingrdquo admitted RMC chief executive officer Vinay Kumar Choubey Gajanand fits the criteria He is armed with a masterrsquos degree in town planning from the renowned School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi

ldquoA town planner needs to have a masterrsquos degree in urban plan‐ningrdquo explained Manjari Chak‐raborty the head of department of architecture at Birla Institute of Technology Mesra ldquoGraduates in civil engineering architecture geography and sociol‐ogy too can pursue a masterrsquos degree in this subjectrdquo added the teacher of BIT‐Mesra Jharkhandrsquos only technical institute offering a postgraduate course in urban plan‐ning Officials at the state urban devel‐opment department have now promised to advertise for town planners in Ranchi Jamshedpur and Dhanbad soon Singh who was initially town plan‐ner with Ranchi Regional Develop‐ment Authority (RRDA) took up the job at RMC after it was given powers to verify building maps on September 1 2009 While RMC looks after new constructions in the town RRDA does so for the outskirts

httpwwwtelegraphindiacom1110419jspfrontpagestory_13871919jsp

Capital without a town planner | Telegraph | 19 April 2011

The Planning Commission has set up a working group on elementary edu‐cation and literacy that will suggest measures for faster reduction in illiteracy with emphasis on gender regional and social dimensions and incentivise States to achieve cent per cent literacy during the XII Plan pe‐riod To be chaired by the Secretary De‐partment of Elementary Education and Literacy (Ministry of Human Resource Development) the working group will suggest modifications in educational indicators computation of education index that captures ground reality and suggest measures for improvements in management of educational statistics at district State and national‐levels and reduce the time lag in publication of educational statistics It will review effectiveness of pro‐grammes addressing the needs of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes

Other Backward Classes minorities girls education and feasibility of intro‐ducing alternative systems for impart‐ing quality education to the poor stu‐dents In addition to reviewing the existing Plan programmes under Elementary Education and Literacy in terms of access enrolment retention dropouts and with particular emphasis on out‐come on quality of education by gen‐der social and regional classifications the working group has been asked to evolve a detailed perspective plan and strategies with specific medium‐term monitorable targets in terms of aver‐age years of schooling and for provid‐ing quality elementary education up to Class VIII to all children in the age group of 6‐14 as per the Right of Chil‐dren to Free and Compulsory Education Act mandate The group will suggest measures for improving implementation of RTE har‐monised Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan the

Mid‐Day Meal Scheme and various literacy programmes for achieving the millennium development goals and restructure literacy programmes for greater involvement of the State governments and increasing trans‐parency and accountability The working group will comprise officers from the Ministries of HRD Youth Affairs and Sports Women and Child Development Social Justice and Empowerment Tribal Affairs Minor‐ity Affairs and representatives from civil society groups such as the Foun‐dation for Education and Develop‐ment Swami Sivananda Society Pratham the Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Tata Institute for Social Sciences Azim Premji Founda‐tion and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar State madrasa Boards among others httpwwwthehinducomnewsnationalarticle2026559ece

Planning Commission sets up working group on school education | Hindu | 17 May 2011

Page 11

Grassroots

Grass root politics Decentralisation of power | The Sangai Express | 24 May 2011

mechanisms to address issues at the micro‐level But as we have said this arrangement comes with certain riders and that is the overall authority of the State over these self governing bodies Thus the respective State Governments are entrusted with the authority of decid‐ing the executive powers that may be disseminated to these local self govern‐ing units and hence a Municipal Council in Manipur may be something quite different from a Municipal Council found in say Assam or West Bengal In as much as these local self governing units are under the overall authority of the State Government its importance in power politics is something that cannot be overlooked and this is the reason why elections to the urban local civic bodies such as the Municipalities

attract so much attention from all political parties and political leaders In short election to these self gov‐erning bodies are usually seen and interpreted as a referendum at the grass root level on the performance or non‐performance of the partyparties heading the Government in a State A recent example that comes to mind is the election to the urban civic bodies in Kolkata and if political pun‐dits had placed their bets on the Trinamul Congress during the recent Assembly election in West Bengal it had to do a lot with the results of the elections to the urban civic bodies The same is the case with the Munici‐pal Corporations in other State capi‐tals such as Mumbai Delhi and other metropolitan cities To the local

Imphal Power and authority to the grass root is undeniably one of the more favoured slogans of a democ‐racy and while no one can justifiably contest the merit behind the philoso‐phy of disseminating power to the grass root level this comes with certain riders as evidenced in the institution of local self Governments such as the Panchayats at the village level Municipal Corporations in the metros and Municipal Councils in the lesser or smaller cities In the hills we have the autonomous district councils and for towns there are the town councils Local self Government is necessitated by the need to recognise and acknowledge the local peculiarities that abound in a multi‐faceted society like India and this is one of the most effective

MLAs election to the local self gov‐erning units is increasingly seen as something of a test on their perform‐ance at their respective Assembly Constituencies for it is about taking the opinion of the people at the mi‐cro‐level where each ward may have issues which are unique to them The political culture in Manipur is yet to take up the lines found in the big metros but election to the local bod‐ies particularly the Imphal Municipal Council has seen an increased inter‐est from the political big‐wigs of the State It is along this line or in acknowledg‐ing the mood and opinion of the people at the grass root level that we see prominent political figures in‐cluding the Chief Minister and the State unit presidents of different political parties campaigning for their candidates in the Imphal Municipal Council for which election will be held today

The scenario is no longer the same as it was 15 or 10 years back It is no longer a contest between two neighbours but about a contest between two political parties and their ideologies True election to the Municipal Council of Imphal is not the same as election to the State Assembly but the intensity of the competition and the proportionate growth in the importance of money power is something which stand out prominently and this years run up to the election to the Imphal Municipal Council had all the ingredients of a top notch political drama where the win‐ner takes all If the importance and political signifi‐cance in the election to the Imphal Municipal Council has been growing with each passing year or term then ideally there should also be an increas‐ing importance or significance in the role and responsibility of the Council The manner in which Imphal Municipal Council has been functioning all these

years will no one in doubt that there has been no corresponding increase in the significance and importance of this Council compared to the hoopla surrounding the election of the Coun‐cillors This is the right time to question why this is so A look at Imphal will leave no one in doubt about the veracity of our observation At the moment Imphal has all the negative characteristics of an urban metropolitan city but none of the positives that come along with being a city The level of pollution has touched sky high the filth and dirt earlier associated with only the big cities have now come to be an in‐separable identity of Imphal and a few hours of rain is more than enough to reduce all the roads and lanes into rivulets The traffic menace the unmanage‐able garbage the stink the absence of proper water supply provisions absence of civic amenities are all tell tale signs of a sick and ailing urban local self governing unit which in this case is the Imphal Municipal Council Down the years people have become accustomed to reports of how em‐ployees of the IMC have had to cope with no salaries for months the power mongering amongst the Coun‐cillors etc Ideally it is expected of a Municipal Council to busy itself with activities such as urban planning regulation of land‐use and construction of build‐ings roads and bridges public health sanitation etc and ideally this is the right time that questions should be raised which may find the responsible people squirming with discomfort The rain in the last few days has undoubtedly inconvenienced the average man in Imphal but it may also be seen as a God sent opportu‐nity to raise questions before the candidates and play an influencing role in the choice of the voters

Grass root politics Decentralisation of powermdashcontinued

Page 12

Grassroots

Special Programme on PRSystem | Assam Tribune | 16 May 2011

State to rein in corporations | Times of India | 2 May 2011

ment has now proposed a deadline of 45 days for a committee to take a deci‐sion and 90 days for the general body The clock will start ticking from the day on which the first meeting of the com‐mittee or general body is held after the proposal is submitted to the municipal secretary Also the corporators protecting each other may no longer be possible Cur‐rently if the administration proposes disqualification of a corporator on some grounds and if there is a dispute then the general body must pass a resolution to let the dispute be put before the city civil court Till date no general body of a municipal corporation has passed such a resolution Now the municipal commis‐sioner on his own can refer the matter to the government The government has also increased the grounds on which it can suspend a resolution passed by the general body These amendments are nothing but encroachment on the authority of the municipal corporation If the govern‐ment wants to rule the roost in local

governing bodies it should dissolve all municipal corporations and take reins said Sham Deshpande Shiv Senas leader of the house in the PMC Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said The government should recon‐sider these amendments If it fails to do so I will approach the court to stay the amendments Aba Bagul and Ravindra Dhangekar leaders of the Congress party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena respec‐tively in the PMC denounced the cabinets approval to the amend‐ments The ruling NCP however supported the amendments It is up to the state government to decide about the amendments The municipal corpora‐tion has no say in these amendments said leader of the house httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐02pune29499444_1_amendments‐independent‐corporator‐ujwal‐keskar‐municipal‐commissioner

PUNE The state cabinets approval to a slew of amendments to various municipal corporation Acts has ruffled the feathers of city corporators across party lines The cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Bombay Provin‐cial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 and the Mumbai Municipal Corpora‐tion Act 1888 to expedite decision‐making and bring in more transpar‐ency in the functioning of municipal corporations The government will issue an ordinance so that the amend‐ments can come into effect immedi‐ately According to the amendments corpo‐rators will no longer be able to delay any proposal The government has decided to set a deadline within which the municipal corporations will have to either say aye or no to a pro‐posal Currently the deadline has been set only for tenders where the standing committee has to take a decision within 30 days from the day the proposal is submitted The govern‐

Page 13

Grassroots

Use of Priasoft and Planplus Under e‐Panchayat | PIB | 31 May 2011

W Bengal and Karnataka that already have their own accounting sw should align their system with PRIASOFT so as to integrate with other PES applica‐tions Plan Plus software should be extended to all districts and for all CentralState schemes and not be limited to BRGF given its simplicity amp versatility in matching wishes of people with avail‐able schemesresources their conver‐gence generating integrated plans and transparency amp peoplersquos participation in the whole planning process The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is work‐ing with the Ministries of Rural Devel‐opment and Finance for integrating different applications such as PRIASoft PlanPlus NREGASoft CPSMS to facili‐

tate uploading of information at a single point Similarly flagship programmes like NRHM SSA ICDS etc should be motivated to use e‐Panchayat for the evident advantages e‐Panchayat Consultants could demonstrate PES to the respective State line depart‐ments The National Population Registry data should be hyperlinked to Panchayat Portal to know about houses without toilet drinking water etc BPL data base of 2011 should be integrated with individual benefit schemes like IAYSGSYNRLM and also Social secu‐rity schemes This would make PES more citizen friendly httppibnicinnewsiteereleaseaspxrelid=72403

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has advised the StatesUTs to adopt the use of PRIASoft and Plan Plus under e‐panchayat moduleIn a letter sent to the StatesUTs the Ministry says that adoption of an accounting system consistent with Model Accounting System (MAS) for the Panchayats which would be greatly facilitated by PRIASoft is one of the performance conditions under 13th FC award Implementation of MAS amp PRIASoft in the remaining States is therefore required urgently by training of Mas‐ter Trainers at DistrictBlock level who in turn could train GP Staff MoPR amp NIC would assist Applications in PES have inter‐linkages States like Gujarat Kerala

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

The Planning Commission has set up a working group on elementary edu‐cation and literacy that will suggest measures for faster reduction in illiteracy with emphasis on gender regional and social dimensions and incentivise States to achieve cent per cent literacy during the XII Plan pe‐riod To be chaired by the Secretary De‐partment of Elementary Education and Literacy (Ministry of Human Resource Development) the working group will suggest modifications in educational indicators computation of education index that captures ground reality and suggest measures for improvements in management of educational statistics at district State and national‐levels and reduce the time lag in publication of educational statistics It will review effectiveness of pro‐grammes addressing the needs of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes

Other Backward Classes minorities girls education and feasibility of intro‐ducing alternative systems for impart‐ing quality education to the poor stu‐dents In addition to reviewing the existing Plan programmes under Elementary Education and Literacy in terms of access enrolment retention dropouts and with particular emphasis on out‐come on quality of education by gen‐der social and regional classifications the working group has been asked to evolve a detailed perspective plan and strategies with specific medium‐term monitorable targets in terms of aver‐age years of schooling and for provid‐ing quality elementary education up to Class VIII to all children in the age group of 6‐14 as per the Right of Chil‐dren to Free and Compulsory Education Act mandate The group will suggest measures for improving implementation of RTE har‐monised Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan the

Mid‐Day Meal Scheme and various literacy programmes for achieving the millennium development goals and restructure literacy programmes for greater involvement of the State governments and increasing trans‐parency and accountability The working group will comprise officers from the Ministries of HRD Youth Affairs and Sports Women and Child Development Social Justice and Empowerment Tribal Affairs Minor‐ity Affairs and representatives from civil society groups such as the Foun‐dation for Education and Develop‐ment Swami Sivananda Society Pratham the Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Tata Institute for Social Sciences Azim Premji Founda‐tion and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar State madrasa Boards among others httpwwwthehinducomnewsnationalarticle2026559ece

Planning Commission sets up working group on school education | Hindu | 17 May 2011

Page 11

Grassroots

Grass root politics Decentralisation of power | The Sangai Express | 24 May 2011

mechanisms to address issues at the micro‐level But as we have said this arrangement comes with certain riders and that is the overall authority of the State over these self governing bodies Thus the respective State Governments are entrusted with the authority of decid‐ing the executive powers that may be disseminated to these local self govern‐ing units and hence a Municipal Council in Manipur may be something quite different from a Municipal Council found in say Assam or West Bengal In as much as these local self governing units are under the overall authority of the State Government its importance in power politics is something that cannot be overlooked and this is the reason why elections to the urban local civic bodies such as the Municipalities

attract so much attention from all political parties and political leaders In short election to these self gov‐erning bodies are usually seen and interpreted as a referendum at the grass root level on the performance or non‐performance of the partyparties heading the Government in a State A recent example that comes to mind is the election to the urban civic bodies in Kolkata and if political pun‐dits had placed their bets on the Trinamul Congress during the recent Assembly election in West Bengal it had to do a lot with the results of the elections to the urban civic bodies The same is the case with the Munici‐pal Corporations in other State capi‐tals such as Mumbai Delhi and other metropolitan cities To the local

Imphal Power and authority to the grass root is undeniably one of the more favoured slogans of a democ‐racy and while no one can justifiably contest the merit behind the philoso‐phy of disseminating power to the grass root level this comes with certain riders as evidenced in the institution of local self Governments such as the Panchayats at the village level Municipal Corporations in the metros and Municipal Councils in the lesser or smaller cities In the hills we have the autonomous district councils and for towns there are the town councils Local self Government is necessitated by the need to recognise and acknowledge the local peculiarities that abound in a multi‐faceted society like India and this is one of the most effective

MLAs election to the local self gov‐erning units is increasingly seen as something of a test on their perform‐ance at their respective Assembly Constituencies for it is about taking the opinion of the people at the mi‐cro‐level where each ward may have issues which are unique to them The political culture in Manipur is yet to take up the lines found in the big metros but election to the local bod‐ies particularly the Imphal Municipal Council has seen an increased inter‐est from the political big‐wigs of the State It is along this line or in acknowledg‐ing the mood and opinion of the people at the grass root level that we see prominent political figures in‐cluding the Chief Minister and the State unit presidents of different political parties campaigning for their candidates in the Imphal Municipal Council for which election will be held today

The scenario is no longer the same as it was 15 or 10 years back It is no longer a contest between two neighbours but about a contest between two political parties and their ideologies True election to the Municipal Council of Imphal is not the same as election to the State Assembly but the intensity of the competition and the proportionate growth in the importance of money power is something which stand out prominently and this years run up to the election to the Imphal Municipal Council had all the ingredients of a top notch political drama where the win‐ner takes all If the importance and political signifi‐cance in the election to the Imphal Municipal Council has been growing with each passing year or term then ideally there should also be an increas‐ing importance or significance in the role and responsibility of the Council The manner in which Imphal Municipal Council has been functioning all these

years will no one in doubt that there has been no corresponding increase in the significance and importance of this Council compared to the hoopla surrounding the election of the Coun‐cillors This is the right time to question why this is so A look at Imphal will leave no one in doubt about the veracity of our observation At the moment Imphal has all the negative characteristics of an urban metropolitan city but none of the positives that come along with being a city The level of pollution has touched sky high the filth and dirt earlier associated with only the big cities have now come to be an in‐separable identity of Imphal and a few hours of rain is more than enough to reduce all the roads and lanes into rivulets The traffic menace the unmanage‐able garbage the stink the absence of proper water supply provisions absence of civic amenities are all tell tale signs of a sick and ailing urban local self governing unit which in this case is the Imphal Municipal Council Down the years people have become accustomed to reports of how em‐ployees of the IMC have had to cope with no salaries for months the power mongering amongst the Coun‐cillors etc Ideally it is expected of a Municipal Council to busy itself with activities such as urban planning regulation of land‐use and construction of build‐ings roads and bridges public health sanitation etc and ideally this is the right time that questions should be raised which may find the responsible people squirming with discomfort The rain in the last few days has undoubtedly inconvenienced the average man in Imphal but it may also be seen as a God sent opportu‐nity to raise questions before the candidates and play an influencing role in the choice of the voters

Grass root politics Decentralisation of powermdashcontinued

Page 12

Grassroots

Special Programme on PRSystem | Assam Tribune | 16 May 2011

State to rein in corporations | Times of India | 2 May 2011

ment has now proposed a deadline of 45 days for a committee to take a deci‐sion and 90 days for the general body The clock will start ticking from the day on which the first meeting of the com‐mittee or general body is held after the proposal is submitted to the municipal secretary Also the corporators protecting each other may no longer be possible Cur‐rently if the administration proposes disqualification of a corporator on some grounds and if there is a dispute then the general body must pass a resolution to let the dispute be put before the city civil court Till date no general body of a municipal corporation has passed such a resolution Now the municipal commis‐sioner on his own can refer the matter to the government The government has also increased the grounds on which it can suspend a resolution passed by the general body These amendments are nothing but encroachment on the authority of the municipal corporation If the govern‐ment wants to rule the roost in local

governing bodies it should dissolve all municipal corporations and take reins said Sham Deshpande Shiv Senas leader of the house in the PMC Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said The government should recon‐sider these amendments If it fails to do so I will approach the court to stay the amendments Aba Bagul and Ravindra Dhangekar leaders of the Congress party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena respec‐tively in the PMC denounced the cabinets approval to the amend‐ments The ruling NCP however supported the amendments It is up to the state government to decide about the amendments The municipal corpora‐tion has no say in these amendments said leader of the house httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐02pune29499444_1_amendments‐independent‐corporator‐ujwal‐keskar‐municipal‐commissioner

PUNE The state cabinets approval to a slew of amendments to various municipal corporation Acts has ruffled the feathers of city corporators across party lines The cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Bombay Provin‐cial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 and the Mumbai Municipal Corpora‐tion Act 1888 to expedite decision‐making and bring in more transpar‐ency in the functioning of municipal corporations The government will issue an ordinance so that the amend‐ments can come into effect immedi‐ately According to the amendments corpo‐rators will no longer be able to delay any proposal The government has decided to set a deadline within which the municipal corporations will have to either say aye or no to a pro‐posal Currently the deadline has been set only for tenders where the standing committee has to take a decision within 30 days from the day the proposal is submitted The govern‐

Page 13

Grassroots

Use of Priasoft and Planplus Under e‐Panchayat | PIB | 31 May 2011

W Bengal and Karnataka that already have their own accounting sw should align their system with PRIASOFT so as to integrate with other PES applica‐tions Plan Plus software should be extended to all districts and for all CentralState schemes and not be limited to BRGF given its simplicity amp versatility in matching wishes of people with avail‐able schemesresources their conver‐gence generating integrated plans and transparency amp peoplersquos participation in the whole planning process The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is work‐ing with the Ministries of Rural Devel‐opment and Finance for integrating different applications such as PRIASoft PlanPlus NREGASoft CPSMS to facili‐

tate uploading of information at a single point Similarly flagship programmes like NRHM SSA ICDS etc should be motivated to use e‐Panchayat for the evident advantages e‐Panchayat Consultants could demonstrate PES to the respective State line depart‐ments The National Population Registry data should be hyperlinked to Panchayat Portal to know about houses without toilet drinking water etc BPL data base of 2011 should be integrated with individual benefit schemes like IAYSGSYNRLM and also Social secu‐rity schemes This would make PES more citizen friendly httppibnicinnewsiteereleaseaspxrelid=72403

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has advised the StatesUTs to adopt the use of PRIASoft and Plan Plus under e‐panchayat moduleIn a letter sent to the StatesUTs the Ministry says that adoption of an accounting system consistent with Model Accounting System (MAS) for the Panchayats which would be greatly facilitated by PRIASoft is one of the performance conditions under 13th FC award Implementation of MAS amp PRIASoft in the remaining States is therefore required urgently by training of Mas‐ter Trainers at DistrictBlock level who in turn could train GP Staff MoPR amp NIC would assist Applications in PES have inter‐linkages States like Gujarat Kerala

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

MLAs election to the local self gov‐erning units is increasingly seen as something of a test on their perform‐ance at their respective Assembly Constituencies for it is about taking the opinion of the people at the mi‐cro‐level where each ward may have issues which are unique to them The political culture in Manipur is yet to take up the lines found in the big metros but election to the local bod‐ies particularly the Imphal Municipal Council has seen an increased inter‐est from the political big‐wigs of the State It is along this line or in acknowledg‐ing the mood and opinion of the people at the grass root level that we see prominent political figures in‐cluding the Chief Minister and the State unit presidents of different political parties campaigning for their candidates in the Imphal Municipal Council for which election will be held today

The scenario is no longer the same as it was 15 or 10 years back It is no longer a contest between two neighbours but about a contest between two political parties and their ideologies True election to the Municipal Council of Imphal is not the same as election to the State Assembly but the intensity of the competition and the proportionate growth in the importance of money power is something which stand out prominently and this years run up to the election to the Imphal Municipal Council had all the ingredients of a top notch political drama where the win‐ner takes all If the importance and political signifi‐cance in the election to the Imphal Municipal Council has been growing with each passing year or term then ideally there should also be an increas‐ing importance or significance in the role and responsibility of the Council The manner in which Imphal Municipal Council has been functioning all these

years will no one in doubt that there has been no corresponding increase in the significance and importance of this Council compared to the hoopla surrounding the election of the Coun‐cillors This is the right time to question why this is so A look at Imphal will leave no one in doubt about the veracity of our observation At the moment Imphal has all the negative characteristics of an urban metropolitan city but none of the positives that come along with being a city The level of pollution has touched sky high the filth and dirt earlier associated with only the big cities have now come to be an in‐separable identity of Imphal and a few hours of rain is more than enough to reduce all the roads and lanes into rivulets The traffic menace the unmanage‐able garbage the stink the absence of proper water supply provisions absence of civic amenities are all tell tale signs of a sick and ailing urban local self governing unit which in this case is the Imphal Municipal Council Down the years people have become accustomed to reports of how em‐ployees of the IMC have had to cope with no salaries for months the power mongering amongst the Coun‐cillors etc Ideally it is expected of a Municipal Council to busy itself with activities such as urban planning regulation of land‐use and construction of build‐ings roads and bridges public health sanitation etc and ideally this is the right time that questions should be raised which may find the responsible people squirming with discomfort The rain in the last few days has undoubtedly inconvenienced the average man in Imphal but it may also be seen as a God sent opportu‐nity to raise questions before the candidates and play an influencing role in the choice of the voters

Grass root politics Decentralisation of powermdashcontinued

Page 12

Grassroots

Special Programme on PRSystem | Assam Tribune | 16 May 2011

State to rein in corporations | Times of India | 2 May 2011

ment has now proposed a deadline of 45 days for a committee to take a deci‐sion and 90 days for the general body The clock will start ticking from the day on which the first meeting of the com‐mittee or general body is held after the proposal is submitted to the municipal secretary Also the corporators protecting each other may no longer be possible Cur‐rently if the administration proposes disqualification of a corporator on some grounds and if there is a dispute then the general body must pass a resolution to let the dispute be put before the city civil court Till date no general body of a municipal corporation has passed such a resolution Now the municipal commis‐sioner on his own can refer the matter to the government The government has also increased the grounds on which it can suspend a resolution passed by the general body These amendments are nothing but encroachment on the authority of the municipal corporation If the govern‐ment wants to rule the roost in local

governing bodies it should dissolve all municipal corporations and take reins said Sham Deshpande Shiv Senas leader of the house in the PMC Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said The government should recon‐sider these amendments If it fails to do so I will approach the court to stay the amendments Aba Bagul and Ravindra Dhangekar leaders of the Congress party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena respec‐tively in the PMC denounced the cabinets approval to the amend‐ments The ruling NCP however supported the amendments It is up to the state government to decide about the amendments The municipal corpora‐tion has no say in these amendments said leader of the house httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐02pune29499444_1_amendments‐independent‐corporator‐ujwal‐keskar‐municipal‐commissioner

PUNE The state cabinets approval to a slew of amendments to various municipal corporation Acts has ruffled the feathers of city corporators across party lines The cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Bombay Provin‐cial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 and the Mumbai Municipal Corpora‐tion Act 1888 to expedite decision‐making and bring in more transpar‐ency in the functioning of municipal corporations The government will issue an ordinance so that the amend‐ments can come into effect immedi‐ately According to the amendments corpo‐rators will no longer be able to delay any proposal The government has decided to set a deadline within which the municipal corporations will have to either say aye or no to a pro‐posal Currently the deadline has been set only for tenders where the standing committee has to take a decision within 30 days from the day the proposal is submitted The govern‐

Page 13

Grassroots

Use of Priasoft and Planplus Under e‐Panchayat | PIB | 31 May 2011

W Bengal and Karnataka that already have their own accounting sw should align their system with PRIASOFT so as to integrate with other PES applica‐tions Plan Plus software should be extended to all districts and for all CentralState schemes and not be limited to BRGF given its simplicity amp versatility in matching wishes of people with avail‐able schemesresources their conver‐gence generating integrated plans and transparency amp peoplersquos participation in the whole planning process The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is work‐ing with the Ministries of Rural Devel‐opment and Finance for integrating different applications such as PRIASoft PlanPlus NREGASoft CPSMS to facili‐

tate uploading of information at a single point Similarly flagship programmes like NRHM SSA ICDS etc should be motivated to use e‐Panchayat for the evident advantages e‐Panchayat Consultants could demonstrate PES to the respective State line depart‐ments The National Population Registry data should be hyperlinked to Panchayat Portal to know about houses without toilet drinking water etc BPL data base of 2011 should be integrated with individual benefit schemes like IAYSGSYNRLM and also Social secu‐rity schemes This would make PES more citizen friendly httppibnicinnewsiteereleaseaspxrelid=72403

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has advised the StatesUTs to adopt the use of PRIASoft and Plan Plus under e‐panchayat moduleIn a letter sent to the StatesUTs the Ministry says that adoption of an accounting system consistent with Model Accounting System (MAS) for the Panchayats which would be greatly facilitated by PRIASoft is one of the performance conditions under 13th FC award Implementation of MAS amp PRIASoft in the remaining States is therefore required urgently by training of Mas‐ter Trainers at DistrictBlock level who in turn could train GP Staff MoPR amp NIC would assist Applications in PES have inter‐linkages States like Gujarat Kerala

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

State to rein in corporations | Times of India | 2 May 2011

ment has now proposed a deadline of 45 days for a committee to take a deci‐sion and 90 days for the general body The clock will start ticking from the day on which the first meeting of the com‐mittee or general body is held after the proposal is submitted to the municipal secretary Also the corporators protecting each other may no longer be possible Cur‐rently if the administration proposes disqualification of a corporator on some grounds and if there is a dispute then the general body must pass a resolution to let the dispute be put before the city civil court Till date no general body of a municipal corporation has passed such a resolution Now the municipal commis‐sioner on his own can refer the matter to the government The government has also increased the grounds on which it can suspend a resolution passed by the general body These amendments are nothing but encroachment on the authority of the municipal corporation If the govern‐ment wants to rule the roost in local

governing bodies it should dissolve all municipal corporations and take reins said Sham Deshpande Shiv Senas leader of the house in the PMC Independent corporator Ujwal Keskar said The government should recon‐sider these amendments If it fails to do so I will approach the court to stay the amendments Aba Bagul and Ravindra Dhangekar leaders of the Congress party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena respec‐tively in the PMC denounced the cabinets approval to the amend‐ments The ruling NCP however supported the amendments It is up to the state government to decide about the amendments The municipal corpora‐tion has no say in these amendments said leader of the house httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐02pune29499444_1_amendments‐independent‐corporator‐ujwal‐keskar‐municipal‐commissioner

PUNE The state cabinets approval to a slew of amendments to various municipal corporation Acts has ruffled the feathers of city corporators across party lines The cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Bombay Provin‐cial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 and the Mumbai Municipal Corpora‐tion Act 1888 to expedite decision‐making and bring in more transpar‐ency in the functioning of municipal corporations The government will issue an ordinance so that the amend‐ments can come into effect immedi‐ately According to the amendments corpo‐rators will no longer be able to delay any proposal The government has decided to set a deadline within which the municipal corporations will have to either say aye or no to a pro‐posal Currently the deadline has been set only for tenders where the standing committee has to take a decision within 30 days from the day the proposal is submitted The govern‐

Page 13

Grassroots

Use of Priasoft and Planplus Under e‐Panchayat | PIB | 31 May 2011

W Bengal and Karnataka that already have their own accounting sw should align their system with PRIASOFT so as to integrate with other PES applica‐tions Plan Plus software should be extended to all districts and for all CentralState schemes and not be limited to BRGF given its simplicity amp versatility in matching wishes of people with avail‐able schemesresources their conver‐gence generating integrated plans and transparency amp peoplersquos participation in the whole planning process The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is work‐ing with the Ministries of Rural Devel‐opment and Finance for integrating different applications such as PRIASoft PlanPlus NREGASoft CPSMS to facili‐

tate uploading of information at a single point Similarly flagship programmes like NRHM SSA ICDS etc should be motivated to use e‐Panchayat for the evident advantages e‐Panchayat Consultants could demonstrate PES to the respective State line depart‐ments The National Population Registry data should be hyperlinked to Panchayat Portal to know about houses without toilet drinking water etc BPL data base of 2011 should be integrated with individual benefit schemes like IAYSGSYNRLM and also Social secu‐rity schemes This would make PES more citizen friendly httppibnicinnewsiteereleaseaspxrelid=72403

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has advised the StatesUTs to adopt the use of PRIASoft and Plan Plus under e‐panchayat moduleIn a letter sent to the StatesUTs the Ministry says that adoption of an accounting system consistent with Model Accounting System (MAS) for the Panchayats which would be greatly facilitated by PRIASoft is one of the performance conditions under 13th FC award Implementation of MAS amp PRIASoft in the remaining States is therefore required urgently by training of Mas‐ter Trainers at DistrictBlock level who in turn could train GP Staff MoPR amp NIC would assist Applications in PES have inter‐linkages States like Gujarat Kerala

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

Schools have to upload details online every month move to bring in more transparency After innumerable mid‐day meal controversies the Pune Municipal Corporationrsquos (PMC) education board is attempting to make the procedure more transparent Starting from the coming academic year the records kept and updated by the schools regarding the amount of rice they get and eventually spend each month will be made online Sangeeta Tiwari chairperson of the education board said ldquoThe whole point is to make the entire procedure more transparent Until now all details of transactions between schools and the amount of money sanctioned to schools used to be manually registered Schools had to submit all the details once in two to three months From this year how‐ever the schools will have to update the data every monthrdquo

The PMC department sanctions the amount each school has to get at the end of every month ldquoHowever we have felt that there might have been schools that may have manipulated their expenses Now each of the steps of the procedure will be monitored through the datardquo added Tiwari A total of about 600 schools will be part of this programme The data will have t o be upda t ed on wwwmdmpmcpunecom ldquoBefore this programme this data could only be handled by the school and the PMC Now anyone who wishes to find about a particular school can log on to our website and take a look at the datardquo said Seema Rangde superintendent mid‐day meals scheme PMC Also to make people understand the concept better the PMC is organising a training session ldquoClose to 800 people including principals of a few schools are being trained by us We are teach‐ing them how to operate the system

and how to fill in datardquo added Rangde The ration for the schools is in accordance with the number of students in each class Students of Class 1 to 5 are given 100 gms of rice whereas Class 6 to 8 are given 150 gms everyday With the aim of testing the software the department will enter the data of the previous year to check any irregu‐larities The advantages of this proce‐dure will be that the procedure will become much more hassle free ldquoInitially schools had to submit data by coming to us However the online process will make it much more eas‐ier and faster Also the software has been designed in such a way that if there are any kind of irregularities in calculations we will come to know about it instantlyrdquo said Shankar Mohite who is part of the team looking after the online programme httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsmidday‐meal‐foodgrains‐to‐be‐tracked‐online7785700

Implementation of Schemes

Right to education a dream in Baripada | Times of India | 3 May 2011

are engaged in each school Nearly three lakh students in over 7606 primary schools face this problem In upper pri‐mary schools with seven classes the yardstick is at least one teacher for 35 children In Mayurbhanj district there are less than three teachers for each of the 1528 upper primary schools Acharya pointed out Even now about 3565 posts of teachers at the primary school level and 1528 teachers at the upper primary school level are lying vacant In the absence of enforcement of Elementary Cadre Rules about 80 per cent of primary teachers have retired from jobs without getting any promotion while the fate of the rest of the20 per cent of primary teachers is not known lamented Acharya Survey reports indicated that about 14 per cent of the children between six and 14 are still out of school sources added DPTA suggested that the District Project

Co‐ordinator) and officers of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) should be drawn from the Orissa Education Services cadres for better and effective implementation of the schemes Earlier Sundays meeting elected Ram Chandra Sahu as president Jagat Bandhu Majhi as working president and Bimal Kumar Acharya as general secre‐tary of the association Pramode Kumar Jhankar president of the All Utkal Primary Teachers Federa‐tion (AUPTF) and Kamalakanta Tripa‐thy general secretary of AUPTF (both from Bhubaneswar) were present They highlighted the gaps between the objectives of RTE and the ground reali‐ties httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03bhubaneswar29498911_1_primary‐schools‐teacher‐student‐three‐teachers

BARIPADA As long as the teacher‐student ratio and infrastructure of schools in this tribal‐dominated area is not corrected the right to education for every child will remain a dream felt the District Primary Teachers Associa‐tion (DPTA) of Mayurbhanj on Sunday The Right of Children to Free and Com‐pulsory Education (RCFCE) Act 2009 it said would remain largely unreachable the target group unless the environment and atmosphere in schools was made more conducive for quality education Even after the passage of eight months since Orissa implemented the Act (September 27 2010) there remains yawning gaps between the rules and reality Talking to the media persons at Rotary Bhawan at Baripada Bimal Kumar Acharya general secretary DPTA said while the guidelines say there should be one teacher for every 30 student here less than two teachers Page 14

Grassroots

Mid‐day meal foodgrains to be tracked online | Indian Express | 20 April 2011

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

A World Bank review of Indiarsquos social sector programmes has suggested a smaller public distribution system with more cash transfer reworking of NREGA as a public works programme for urban areas and finally a social security package including health care for those without regular em‐ployment The report titled lsquoSocial Protection for a Changing Indiarsquo was commissioned by the Planning Commission The bank said the three‐pillar approach should be combined with social pro‐tection block grants by the Centre to state governments that are ldquomore tailored to the poverty and vulner‐ability profile of the individual state(s)rdquo The report says the number of poor is sharply increasing in urban areas but not enough plans are being made to help them as social protec‐tion programmes are more suitable for rural areas The report shows India is spending a good amount for centrally sponsored social schemes which at around 2 per cent of gross domestic product is higher than what developing coun‐tries like China and Indonesia spend However it makes the point that while this is large it tends to be re‐

gressive underlining problems like targeting and capacity constraints within states It is the first comprehen‐sive review of the performance of Indias main anti‐poverty and social protection programmes with the focus naturally falling on big‐budget pro‐grammes like the National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme and the Public Distribution System The main findings of the report released here on Wednesday were presented by John Blomquist the World Banks lead economist for social protection in India In its study the report divides the social protection programmes in India into three categories those designed to protect poor households (PDS Indira Gandhi National Old Age Widow and Disabled pensions and NREGA) those designed to prevent households from falling into poverty (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Aam Admi Bima Yojana) and those designed to promote move‐ment out of poverty (National Rural Livelihoods Mission Mid‐day Meals) About the PDS system the report says that while it costs 1 per cent of GDP and covers up to 23 per cent of house‐holds its effect on poverty reduction is low due to high leakages to the non‐poor mdash in other words corruption

Only 41 per cent of the grain released by the government reached the tar‐geted households in 2004‐05 the report said Citing Planning Commis‐sion data the report says that in the early 2000s a whopping 911 per cent of grain allocated for BPL house‐holds in Bihar did not reach their intended targets West Bengal per‐formed the best of all the states in this regard with 73 per cent of the grain allocated for BPL household reaching the targeted households On NREGA the report said that the allocation for this programme is approximately 06 per cent of GDP up to 2009 It also lauds the inclusion of the poorest ie the scheduled castes tribals and women as workers in the programme However it also underlined the fact that the NREGA implementation across states was uneven with Ra‐jasthan at the top with around 90 per cent implementation and Punjab at the bottom with around 5 per cent implementation httpwwwindianexpresscomnewsshrink‐pds‐amp‐rework‐nrega‐world‐bank‐tells‐india7929050

Shrink PDS amp rework NREGA World Bank tells India | Indian Express | 19 May 2011

PR programmes should be on PPP basis | Business Standard | 25 May 2011

devolution of powers and responsi‐bilities to the panchayats for prepa‐ration of plans for economic devel‐opment and social justice It also contains provision for imple‐mentation of 29 subjects like animal husbandry minor irrigation rural housing drinking water social wel‐fare and public distribution In the era of globalisation the imple‐mentation of these programmes should be done on a public‐private‐partnership (PPP) basis the study said Panchayati Raj is a system of govern‐

ance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration It has three levels‐village block and district At present there are over 233 lakh gram panchayats 6000 intermedi‐ate panchayats and 540 district panchayats the study said httpwwwbusiness‐standardcomindianewspanchayati‐raj‐programmes‐implemention‐should‐beppp‐basis132903on

On the eve of National Panchayati Raj Day industry body Assocham has asked the government to en‐courage private participation in the programmes implemented by Panchayati Raj institutions at grass‐root level to improve their effi‐ciency and delivery systems Coming together with private agencies could produce multiplier effect in employment generation and infrastructure development Assocham said in its study The 73rd Constitutional Amend‐ment Act contains provision for

Page 15

Grassroots

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

भारतीय स यता म मिह लाओ की ि थ ित हमशा स ठ रही ह मिह लाओ की शिक त को मातशिक त क प म स मािन त िक या गया ह लोग मिह लाओ क अि त व को आ याि म क जञानोदय क प म आव यक अदधरशिक त क प म स मान दत रह ह यही कारण ह िक वततरता क बाद भी सरकार मिह लाओ क िव कास िव शषकर नवयवित य और ब च सिह त उनक जीवन क हर कषतर को समथर बनान पर खास जोर दती रही ह मिह लाओ क क याण जस परमख कायर को परा करन क िल ए मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय पराथिम क तौर पर विच त तबक क समगर िव कास पर िव शष प स यान द रहा ह इस प ठभिम म यह यान दन योग य ह िक यपीए सरकार क अतगरत मतरालय न दो नई योजनाओ को परारभ करन की िद शा म मह वपणर और यापक कदम उठाए ह इसक तहत 11‐18 वषर उमर वगर की िकशोिरय क बहआयामी म को हल करन क िलए राजीव गाधी िक शोरी सशिक त करण योजना (आरजी एसएएलए) श की गई ह मतरालय दवारा तयार कायरकरम क अनसार श म इस कायरकरम को दश क 200 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा मतरालय दवारा परारभ की गई ऐसी ही एक मह वपणर योजना इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) ह परारिभ क तौर पर इस 52 िज ल म कायारि व त िक या जाएगा इस योजना का उ य गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ क वा य और पोषण म सधार लाना ह यह योजना गभरवती मिह लाओ को आगनवाड़ी और वा य क दर स जोड़न क अवसर परदान करगी सबला राजीव गाधी सबला को सरकार दवारा 16 अग त 2010 को वीकित दी गई और 19 नव बर को औपचािर क प स इसका शभारभ हो गया इस योजना की सवाओ क िव तरण क िल ए आगनवाड़ी क दर‐िब द ह ग और सरकार स 100 परित शत की िव तीय सहायता क साथ इ ह रा य और सघशािस त परदश म कायारि व त िक या जा रहा ह सबला का उ य 11 स 18 वषर की िक शोिर य क पोषण और वा य

ि थ ित क साथ‐साथ उनकी घरल दकषता जीवन कौशल और यावसािय क कौशल का उ नयन कर उ ह सशक त बनाना ह मात व क िल ए सहायता इसी परकार स अकतबर 2010 म मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय न इिद रा गाधी मात व सहयोग योजना (आईजीएमएसवाई) को वीकित दी इस योजना म गभारव था क दौरान कम काम क चलत कम आय पान वाली माताओ को कषित पितर दी जाती ह इस योजना क जिरए गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ को सीध नकद सहायता दी जाती ह योजना का आव यक उ य गभरवती तनपान करान वाली मिह लाओ और ब च क वा य और पोषण की ि थ ित म सधार लाना ह इस योजना क अतगरत 19 वषर या इसस अिध क आय की गभरवती मिह ला अपन पहल दो जीिव त ब च क ज म क िल ए लाभ पान योग य ह लाभािथर य को मात एव िश श वा य स सबिध त िव शष ि थ ित य को परा त करन क िल ए िश श की आय क छ माह पर होन तक 4000 पए का भगतान तीन िक त म िक या जाएगा योजना म यह भी प ट िक या गया ह िक लाभािथर य को सभी बकाया नकद क ह तातरण क बाद ही आगनवाड़ी कायरकतार और आगनवाड़ी सहायक गभरवती और तनपान करान वाली परित मिह ला क िहसाब स करमश 200 पए और 100 पए का परो साहन परा त करग आिध कािर क सतर क मतािब क िव वषर 2010‐11 क िल ए 190 करोड़ पए क आबटन को वीकित दी गई थी एक अनमान क मतािब क इस योजना क अतगरत करीब 13 लाख लाभािथर य क शािम ल होन की उ मीद ह आईसीडीएस इन योजनाओ क अित िर क त मतरालय न लिकष त मिह लाओ और ब च को आ य परामशर यावसािय क परिश कषण और िव तीय सहायता क अलावा सामािज क एव आिथर क मदद परदान करन क िल ए कई दीघरकािल क और समयबदध योजनाओ की श आत की ह इन सब योजनाओ क साथ ही 0 स 6 वषर क उमर‐समह क ब च की पोषण और वा य ि थ ित सधारन क उ य स 1975 म परमख योजना क तौर पर एकीकत बाल िव कास योजना (आईसीडीएस) का शभारभ िक या गया

था अ य बात क अलावा इस योजना का उ य उिच त पोषण और वा य िश कषा क मा यम स ब च की सामा य वा य और पोषण ज रत की दखभाल क िल ए मा की कषमता बढ़ाना ह इन सवाओ को परदान करन की अवधारणा पराथिम क तौर पर इस िव चार पर आधािर त ह िक यिद िव िभ न सवाओ का िव कास एकीकत प म िक या जाएगा तो इसका सपणर परभाव यादा होगा क य िक एक खास सवा

सबिध त सवाओ स परा त सहायता पर िन भरर करती ह इस सदभर म आईसीडीएस मिह ला और बाल िव कास मतरालय एव वा य व छता और पयजल गरामीण िव कास एव पराथिम क िश कषा िव भाग क बीच तालमल को सिन ि च त करता ह वषर 2009 म सरकार न अपन िव त पोषण म कछ पिर वतरन िक या 1 अपरल 2009 स क दर और रा य क बीच लागत िह सदारी अनपात की अवधारणा का शभारभ िकया गया यह सभी पव तर रा य म 9010 और अ य रा य क िल ए 5050 क अनपात क आधार पर होता ह हाल क िदन म इस योजना क कायार वयन पर कदर सरकार क यय म खासी बढ़ोतरी हई ह 10वी पचवषीरय योजना क आवटन 10392 करोड़ पए की तलना म 11वी पचवषीरय योजना म आवटन बढ़कर 44000 करोड़ पए हो गया आईसीडीएस क िलए सरकार कई अतररा टरीय सहयोिगय स भी साझदारी कर रही ह िव व बक यिनसफ और िव व खादय कायरकरम इनम शािमल ह िपछल कछ वष म परी‐ कल तर पर िशकषा और िशश दखभाल को लकर परी दिनया म सराहना िमली ह सहयोगी माहौल और सकषम नीित बनान क बाद अब यह मतरालय नीित िनदश को यावहािरक व प परदान करन क िलए रा टरीय और रा य दोन ही तर पर लोक िनजी और वि छक कषतर क साथ िमलकर काम करन की समयबदध कायरयोजना बना रहा ह

मिहला और बाल कलयाण योजनाए‐नए आयाम तक पहच | PIB | 28 April 2011

Page 16

Grassroots

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

The World Bank has painted a bleak picture of the impact of the govern‐ments social security schemes and has prescribed a solution of more private participation and direct cash transfer to the poor The bank had analysed 11 core schemes of the Central government which constitute about 2 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said only 40 poorest were able to reap full bene‐fits of such large investments There is problem of capacity and leakages said John Blomquist the banks lead economist for social pro‐tection in India The Planning Commission asked the bank to conduct the study in 2004 and the report comes at the time the panel is preparing approach paper for the 12th five year plan The report ‐ Social Protection For A Changing India ‐ also found poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were making higher allocation for the poor but benefit being reaped by the poor was lesser than the richer states such as Himachal and Punjab because of capacity constraints The biggest resource drainer on the government was found to be the Public Distribution System (PDS) on which one percent of the GDP is spent with 41 of the food grains

reaching the poor households on ac‐count of high leakages Majority of the poorest households were not accessing PDS grains with rich taking most of it the report said The variation in access to subsidized food grains was much higher in urban areas where the off‐take has fallen to half because of poor delivery in a dec‐ade with a marginal increase at the national level About nine rich people have access to PDS as compared to just one in urban areas the report said About 833 of Indian families have a ration card but only 233 of them get ration from the PDS system the bank said while highlighting the problem with poverty estimation and BPL survey methodology Overall access to the PDS food grains was found to be lowest in richer states such as Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttar Pradesh whereas Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were doing better because of fiscal support provided by the state governments Blomquist suggested the option of cash transfer already recommended by a committee headed by Plan Panel dep‐uty chairperson Montek Singh Ahlu‐walia to the government and said food coupons have improved food grain access in Bihar On the National Advisory Council rec‐

ommendation against the direct cash transfer Blomquist said the bank was only suggesting an option and was not asking the government to replace subsidized food grain with money The bank had special praise for Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme for inclusion of deprived sections and higher cov‐erage than other social sector schemes but said there was a need for more transparency in its imple‐mentation On nine other schemes the bank said the performance was mixed with 22 to 43 of the poorest getting bene‐fited To improve efficiency the bank said the government should consolidate all social sector schemes into three different categories ‐‐ social assis‐tance public works and basic social security ‐‐ and provide rest of the money as direct financial aid to the state governments Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh have already made a similar demand httpwwwhindustantimescomOnly‐40‐poor‐benefiting‐from‐schemesArticle1‐699129aspx

Only 40 poor benefiting from schemesrsquo | Hindustan Times | 18 May 2011

Andhra Pradesh slips in NREGA plan implementation | Deccan Chronicle | 6 May 2011

Reddy on Friday the percentage of utilisation of total available funds for NREGA in the state is 5231 per cent which is lower than the national aver‐age of 5443 per cent during the previ‐ous financial year (2010‐11) Given the data available with the Planning Commission sources said that during the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister on Friday the Panel deputy chairman Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members may indulge in some pep talk ldquoFinancial performance with respect to MGNREGA needs to be pushed up by the staterdquo the background note

observed Even in case of works being taken up under the MGNREGA pro‐grammes the number of completed jobs is far below the statersquos previous track record Mentioning this the panel note said ldquoTotal works com‐pleted is 6338 against the total works taken up of 464528 during 2010‐11 (Up to 24 March 2011) which works out to be 136 per centrdquo httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitieshyderabadandhra‐pradesh‐slips‐nrega‐plan‐

Once considered to be one of the best performing states in the coun‐try with respect to the UPArsquos flag‐ship social sector programmes Andhra Pradesh has slid down be‐low the national average in the implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act (MGNREGA) the most ambitious of all Centrally sponsored schemes According to the background note prepared by the state plan depart‐ment of the Planning Commission for the plan discussion with the Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar

Page 17

Grassroots

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

As one of the largest job programmes in history NREGA often gets a bad rap from those who think it does not contribute to growth mdash that it amounts to giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish to use the Chinese expression Now therersquos an interesting proposal in the works floated by the Prime Ministerrsquos National Council on Skill Development to impart greater sustainability to NREGA employment by investing in skill‐formation How‐ever to make sure that the original intent of the scheme is not diluted itrsquos going to be rolled out in a cali‐brated way and meant for those who have already completed the required number of days of unskilled manual labour Also it will focus largely on

artisan skills because NREGA was felt to have unwittingly contributed to a de‐skilling as many craftspeople aban‐doned their work to shovel soil and build ditches because it was a reliable source of income Meanwhile as far as the skill develop‐ment mission goes hitching its wagon to NREGA is a great idea giving it a country‐wide horizontal reach to scale up Apart from the major crafts clus‐ters like weavers in Varanasi or Chanderi brass workers in Moradabad etc we donrsquot know the dimensions of our artisan community NREGA has phenomenal scale and covers all the districts across India and will help provide a real database so that the skill development programme can have greater range and depth This will add

greater heft to the programme which aims to massively expand the skilled pool of workers in health information technology tourism and hospitality with private sector coop‐eration So this plan would not only raise the NREGA profile and make it a productivity‐enhancing scheme rather than simply welfare it would also make a huge difference to the skilling project so crucial if India is to make use of its demographic advan‐tage At a less abstract level it could stop the free fall of Indian craftsman‐ship the slump in self‐belief among our artisans who now feel that dig‐ging a well gives them greater returns and security httpwwwindianexpresscomnewswork‐better7827340

Work better | Indian Express | 28 April 2011

Health plan success may lead to wider spread for more schemes | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

The issue may be taken up at the next meeting of the National Social Security Board which is headed by the labour minister and has representatives from various ministries including agriculture rural development urban development and housing and poverty alleviation The government has attained some amount of success in extending health cover to the poor through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana run by the labour ministry that provides Rs 30000 health insurance to poor families through smart cards The scheme initially targeted at the BPL population is now being ex‐tended to various unorganised sections such as construction workers coolies and domestic workers In fact it is the success of the RSBY that has been successfully extended to 23 million poor families in 330 districts in 27 states that has prompted the labour ministry to plan an extension of the other two schemes Since we have already created a data‐base through the distribution of smart cards under RSBY and are building on it the same infrastructure can be used for universalisation of the other two schemes Chaturvedi said According to Subhash Bhatnagar from the National Campaign Committee for unor‐

ganised sector worker extending the two schemes to all unarganised workers will help beef up the grossly inadequate social security cover available to the countrys poor provided it is properly implemented It should not end up being a revenue earner for insurance companies while workers struggle to get benefits he said Linking the two schemes with the smart cards given under RSBY was good as the card made the scheme portable The card makes it possible for a migrant worker working in a particular state to move to another and continue to be part of the scheme he said Under the old age pension scheme the Centre provides Rs 200 pension per month to BPL population over 65 years of age and the states are advised to contribute the same amount Under the AABY the head of a rural landless family is insured and the nomi‐nee is assured Rs 30000 if the insured dies a natural death and 75000 in case of death due to accident or total perma‐nent disability Both the state and Cen‐tre share the annual premium amount of Rs 200 httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐02news29496377_1_labour‐ministry‐rsby‐rural‐development2

NEW DELHI The government is examin‐ing the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families The labour ministry will prepare a feasi‐bility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) targeting the rural land‐less The idea is in its conceptualization stage We have to carry out studies and discuss all details including funding options with the rural development and finance ministries labour secre‐tary P C Chaturvedi told ET The insurance plan provides death and disability cover to one member of rural landless households while the Indira Gandhi old age pension scheme gives 400 to people over 65 years in the BPL category We want the schemes to be extended to the entire unorganized sector but it has to be done in phases Chaturvedi said

Page 18

Grassroots

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yet again to raise inter‐est rates comes as no surprise Inflation pressures have remained strong in India for the two years the UPA‐2 has been in power In the first year there was the excuse of the drought though even here the countervailing actionmdashtimely release of foodgrain stocksmdashwas neglected The sum total of policy seemed to be the periodic fore‐casts by policymakers that within the coming six months inflation would subside

The Budget of February 2011 failed to take the inflation threat seri‐ously Indeed there was some complacency that the GDP growth rate had been notched at 86 in 2010‐11 and was forecast at 9 for 2011‐12 in the Budget But it was obvious that the 86 was flattered by the recovery of agriculture from a low base of the previous drought prone year Foodgrain output in 2010‐11 did not exceed the level of two years previously Yet the high figure was claimed and the higher figure of 9 was enshrined in the Budget

The Budget did not mention that the nominal growth of GDP in 2010‐11 had been as high as 25 if not higher The reduction of the debt‐GDP ratio was claimed as a positive result but not linked to inflation But an economy with 15‐16 infla‐tion has to be treated as in need of serious cure It was clear that if inflation pressures were not to be tackled there would be a setback for growth I was bearish on the Budget day and thought 8 would be hard to achieve

Things have got worse The domes‐tic inflationary pressures may have

switched from supply shortage to excess demand though supply‐side bottlenecks remain The extra factor is the international price rise of oil and commodities partly thanks to Chinese growth but also due to quantitative easing that is flooding the markets with excess liquidity The world economy has become tolerant of a slightly higher inflation rate than before the Great Recession because western monetary authori‐ties do not want to kill the fragile recovery

India has a very loose fiscal policy not only due to the pump priming during the growth recession of 2008‐09 and 2009‐10 but even now there is no sign of fiscal tightening The Budget devotes a third of the total revenue collection to interest pay‐ments on debt ten times what it devotes to health or education There is no urgency about reducing the debt‐GDP ratio either by more rapid divesting of public assets or by reining in expenditure

Indeed the spending policy of the UPA is being run by the NAC which does not like liberal reform or even a high growth rate Yet it loves to spend the revenues collected thanks to the buoyant growth on its pet projects These are no doubt wor‐thymdashNREGA health audit food se‐curity etcmdashbut none of them con‐tribute to raising output NREGA is a stop‐gap scheme and does not raise the skill level or productivity of the workers It may make them grateful when it comes to voting at election times but their poverty will not be tackled by staying at home and work‐ing at most 100 days

It just may be that the UPA is having an aversion to high growth rates lest it may be seen to be worshipping at

the Temple of Mammon The cry of the hour seems to be that the foundation of a welfare state has to be laid in rural areas at least for BPL families This again cannot be a bad idea But the issue is will there be sufficient growth to finance it

One strong argument will be made that improving health and provid‐ing food security will by themselves raise not only the levels of well‐being but also the levels of produc‐tivity of the rural poor This extra productivity would then finance the extra spending Yet there needs to be some strong quantitative evidence that such is the case My scepticism is because of the fact that the rural sector both in agri‐culture and other activities is a low productivity sector Growth has been mainly due to urban manu‐facturing and services and not rural activities Indeed a strategy for poverty reduction would be to move workers from low productiv‐ity agriculture and ancillary rural activities to low‐tech manufactur‐ing which can employ unskilled and semi‐skilled manual labour NREGA does exactly the opposite by confining the workers to the rural areas

My hunch is that in 2011‐12 GDP growth will hit below 8 perhaps as low as 7 Inflation will be in double digits With reforms no longer on the forefront and elec‐tions looming in UP the risk‐averse Congress leadership will let growth go Then we shall regret the end of the Indian miracle

The author is a prominent econo‐mist and Labour peer

httpwwwfinancialexpresscomnewscolumn‐nregas‐the‐cure‐as‐well‐as‐the‐problem7875900

NREGArsquos the cure as well as the problem | Financial Express | 9 May 2011

Page 19

Grassroots

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

Jaipur The state government has switched to funding water conserva‐tion and harvesting projects through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) In the fiscal 2010‐11 water conserva‐tion projects guzzled maximum funds released under the MNREGA with the government deciding to channel more than 40 per cent of the total funds into water harvesting restora‐tion of traditional water baoris and de‐silting of water bodies like ponds and lakes Funds were channelled into new sectors like micro irrigation and tree plantation The investment in water conservation projects in 2010‐11 shows a policy shift in spending of MNREGA funds by the state In the previous years the

government was concentrating on rural connectivity by paving rural roads and patching up missing links with the help of spending in MNREGA labour funds released by the Union government In the last fiscal the government allo‐cated almost 30 per cent of the spend‐ing in MNREGA funds for rural connec‐tivity In 2009‐10 rural road connec‐tivity consumed 42 per cent of the funds available under spending in the employment guarantee Act In the year before that (2008‐09) 418 per cent of the funds were used for rural connec‐tivity an official with the rural devel‐opment department said The government retained its average spending of 20 per cent on water con‐servation and water harvesting in 2010‐11 It increased its spending on reno‐

vation and restoration of Baoris and water bodies from 16 per cent in 2008‐09 to 19 per cent in 2010‐11 Micro irrigation and canal activities were allocated close to 6 per cent of the total funds The records of the rural development department reveal that the govern‐ment diverted funds from building rural roads to plantation land level‐ling and land development activities According to officials plantation works received 76 per cent of the total spending in MNREGA funds in 2010‐11 In 2010‐11 the Centre had allotted close to Rs 280000 lakh In 2009‐10 state had received more than Rs 570000 lakh httpdailybhaskarcomarticleRAJ‐JPR‐raj‐takes‐nrega‐route‐to‐water‐conservation‐2084438html

Rajasthan takes NREGA route to water conservation | Dailybhaskar | 7 May 2011

UN report hails NREGA urges other nations to emulate feat | Times of India | 11 May 2011

a committed high‐level bureaucracy The second edition of the GAR which was released after two years is a vital re‐source document used for understanding and analyzing global disaster risk and how communities worldwide can be strength‐ened to cope with natural calamities such as earthquakes floods drought and cyclones Drawing on new data the latest report explores trends in disaster risk for each region and for countries with different socio‐economic development UN secretary general Ban Ki‐moon en‐dorsed employment programmes and cash transfer to marginalized section of the society as important strategies that have the potential to reduce disaster risk and achieve the Millennium Development Goals The endorsement of cash transfer scheme to poor will certainly help the UPA‐II to ward off any criticism as it pre‐pares to roll out yet another ambitious programme before the next parliamen‐tary elections in 2014 Seriously address‐ing disaster risk will be one of the hall‐marks of good governance Ki‐moon said However the report called for more transparent approach to be adopted by the governments in implementing these schemes Whereas such laws are impor‐tant but they do not necessarily strengthen actual accountability unless

they are supported by penalties and effective performance based rewards the report said Ever since NREGA has been launched the government has drawn flak for not maintaining a proper account of how the money is being spent The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised doubts a few years ago about the misuse of funds and huge unspent amount lying idle in bank ac‐counts of local implementing agencies and NGOs rendering the programme ineffective The Central Bureau of Investigation has started investigation into alleged misap‐propriation and diversion of funds in Orissa amounting to more than Rs 500 crore The agency is probing funds misuse in Bolangir Nuapada Kalahandi Rayagada Koraput and Nabarangpur districts in Orissa httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐11india29531994_1_disaster‐risk‐nrega‐ki‐moon

GENEVA At home the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs but here the Congress‐led UPA‐II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) On Tuesday the United Na‐tions released a Global Assessment Report (GAR) praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized In a power‐point presentation made during the release of the report a special mention was made of the NREGAs effective decentralized plan‐ning and implementation and its bene‐fits reaching out to millions of poor across the country through proactive disclosures and mandatory social audits of all projects InIndia the employ‐ment programme has already benefit‐ted 41 million households till date GAR said Indias political establishment and its

top bureaucracy that has to contend with several corruption cases being investigated under strict monitoring of the Supreme Court came in for praise as the UN report gave credit to the success of the NREGA programme to the impe‐tus provided by strong political will and

Page 20

Grassroots

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

Non‐availability of mini‐buses of the prescribed specification resulted in delay in release of grants by GoI under JNNURM नागपर ‐ कदर शासन िनयम िशिथल करणयास तयार नाही तर िनकषानसार बसस दणयास कपनयाची तयारी नसलयान जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महानगरपािलकला िमळणाऱया साठ िमनी बससला बरक लागल आहत तोडगा िनघत नसलयान महापािलका आयकतानी एकतर िनकष बदला अथवा िमनी बस दऊच नका अस सागन कदरावर िनणरय सोपवला आह कदर शासनाचया नगर िवकास िवभागामाफर त मो ा शहरामधील परदषण रोखणयासाठी तसच नागिरकाचया सिवधकिरता बसस दणयाचा िनणरय घतला

होता यानसार जएनयआरएम परकलपातगरत नागपर महापािलकला तीनश बसस िदलया जाणार होतया यात 240 मो ा आिण 60 िमनी बससचा समावश होता यापकी 260 मो ा बसस महापािलकला उपलबध करन दणयात आलया आहत महापािलकन वशिनमय कपनीला तया चालवणयास िदलया आहत ऑफर लटर आिण अिनयिमतन वशिनमयचया चौकशीसाठी महापािलकची सवरपकषीय सिमती सथापन करणयात आली आह या ग धळ घोटाळयात िमनी बससचा सवारनाच िवसर पडला आह कदर शासनान बसस दताना काही िनकष घालन िदल आहत यात बससच फलोअर नऊश िममीची अट आवश यक कली आह या िनकषानसार महापािलकतफ टाटा आिण अशोक ललड या

कपनीकड िवचारणा करणयात आली होती मातर नऊश िममीचया फलोअरची बस दणयास दोनही कपनीन सप नकार िदला आह िनकषासदभारत महापािलका कदर शासन आिण कपनी याचयात बरीच चचार पतर वहार झाला मातर तोडगा िनघ शकला नाही आयकतानी िनकष िशिथल करणयाची मागणी कली मातर कदर शासनान परितसाद िदला नाही दसरीकड बसिनिमती कपनयाना िवनती करणयात आली तयानीस ा तयारी दशरवली नाही कटाळन शवटी आयकतानी िनकष बदलल जाणार नसल तर िमनी बस नको तयाऐवजी मो ा बसस ा अस सप कदर शासनाला कळिवल आह httpwwwesakalcomesakal201105085123225217757439818htm

जएनयआरएमचया 60 िमनी बसस िनकषात अडकलया | Sakal | 8 May 2011

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक

कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की

Page 21

Grassroots

बढगी मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित की सिकरयता | Navbharat Times | 11 May 2011

और आसपास क िजल म िनगरानी की कमान गौरव गौड़ को स पी गई ह गौरव गौड़ को उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित म महासिचव बनाया गया ह गौड़ का कहना ह िक उनकी कोिशश होगी िक हर आदमी तक

पहचकर कदर सरकार की मनरगा योजना की जानकारी द और लोग को इतना जागरक कर httpnavbharattimesindiatimescomarticleshow8227924cms

गािजयाबाद मनरगा का परा फायदा मजदर को िमल इसक िलए उ र परदश मनरगा िनगरानी सिमित न सिकरयता बढ़ा दी ह इसक साथ ही साथ मजदर को जागरक भी िकया जाएगा गािजयाबाद

States not sure about receiving funds under MNREGA on time | Economic Times | 12 May 2011

server and software problems said a state‐level official

In 2010‐11 the number of households that had completed 100 days of work under the scheme fell 24 to 53 lakh

Management Information System (MIS) a web‐enabled software was introduced by the government to make data on NREGA transparent and avail‐able in the public domain The govern‐ment also sees it as an effective tool to monitor the scheme

The data is used as a parameter for release of funds in the second half of the fiscal ‐ which is the peak season of demand under MGNREGA

In 2010‐11 MIS was made mandatory by the rural development ministry but it had to be dropped in January as states were unable to meet the re‐quirement The ensuing delay in sanc‐tion of funds led to states having around 17 000 crore in unspent

money as only 60 had been util‐ised against 76 in 2009‐10

Most states had received the money after the peak season was over and the primary reason was the ineffi‐ciency of the MIS and it being made mandatory said an official in the rural development ministry of a southern state

The period from November ‐ Febru‐ary is the peak season for the scheme

The system requires project and worker data to be uploaded for around 25 lakh gram panchayats 6465 blocks 619 districts and 34 states and union territories The data flow often leads to server crashes and over‐loading httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011‐05‐12news29536309_1_rural‐development‐ministry‐mis‐funds

NEW DELHI States are not sure if they will receive funds under the governments flagship rural employ‐ment programme on time this year

Glitches in a government‐developed software last year had delayed the digitised submission of progress reports by states which is mandatory for sanction of funds under the Ma‐hatma Gandhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) The ensuing delay in sanction of funds stalled ongoing work and affected implementation of new ones

The rural development ministry which calls these issues teething troubles has called a meeting with states on May 23 to discuss the mat‐ter

The system was imposed on us last year but most of the states were not able to upload all the data due to

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

Behind the shine The other Maharashtra | Times of India | 2 May 2011

overshot deadlines The Pradhan Man‐tri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which promises rural connectivity is one of the few projects with an encouraging progress but fatigue has set in of late As far as power is concerned a deficit of 22 in 2009‐10 forced 8‐10 hours of load‐shedding in many parts of the state Since money for these flagship pro‐grammes comes from outside a sense of ownership is lacking Despite a scar‐city of resources it is tragic that Ma‐harashtra fails to absorb and utilize funds coming its way said econo‐mist Abhay Pethe who headed the study Appropriate planning is lacking The state spent only 4478 of the funds released under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Employment Guar‐antee Scheme in 2009‐10 The failure is emphasized through the plight of Mahadeo Ghandare (45) of Parbhani district a father of five who works as a casual labourer We have been plead‐ing to our tehsildar for work but the reply is that there is no work I trav‐elled to Buldhana last year and worked on a pond‐related project for three months but havent been paid yet he

said At the mandated Rs 11427 per day he should have got around Rs 10000 The report submitted to the Planning Commission in January paints a bleak picture about the situation in educa‐tion and health Be it schools hospi‐tals or childcare centres the state is running institutions which are hol‐lowmdashdevoid of manpower As of 2009 state healthcare centres lacked 54 of senior doctors 916 of jun‐ior doctors and 50 of nurses Also there are over 11000 anganwadi‐related vacancies The vacancies have a negative impact on deliver‐ables states the report The Centre is to blame too Funds often do not reach the state in time and if they do fail to reach the bene‐ficiaries In the Mid‐day Meal Scheme for example funds were often received in December making a complete utilization difficult before the end of the financial year We could learn from Kerala which has legislated that funds are to be re‐leased every three months Pethe said httptimesofindiaindiatimescomcitymumbaiBehind‐the‐shine‐The‐other‐Maharashtraarticleshow8139241cmsintenttarget=no

Pomp and circumstance marked Maharashtra Day Sunday but be‐neath the veneer of celebration is a stark reality the state is gradually slipping into backwardness A team of economists from the Uni‐versity of Mumbai has evaluated the impact of the central governments flagship development schemes and found gaping holes in the states performance Nearly half the budgets in key wel‐fare areas be it employment food subsidy or health routinely go unuti‐lized even as people in the state struggle to eke out a decent living Shamefully Maharashtra has joined the ranks of five of the countrys poorest statesmdashBihar Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Orissamdashwhere one in every two children is underweight Yet it spent less than 60 of the allocated food subsidy for schoolchildren failed to pick up 15 of food meant for chil‐dren from godowns and built 140633 anganwadis (childcare cen‐tres) less than the requirement According to the report till 2009 over 75 of urban infrastructure projects including those in Mumbai

Child poverty and education | Economic Times | 21 April 2011

Amartya Sen highlighted in his Lal Ba‐hadur Shastri Memorial lecture more than four decades ago these discrep‐ancies are embedded in the processes of data collection that focus exclusively on the supply side The culprits are high dropout and wastage that become determinants of school funding for that year

School enrolment census is in August following the beginning of the school year (usually July) and excludes the dropouts that occur in peak periods of economic activity ie sowing and harvesting seasons in rural India That

most of these children are living in poverty can be verified from the demand side of school education These children face cumulative disad‐vantage of poverty including inability to meet direct costs and opportunity costs Recent initiatives such as providing mid‐day meals uniforms and text books to school children need upgrading and timely delivery particularly in these states

A decline of 26 million in elementary education enrolments from 2007 to 2010 the years of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans trumpeted success needs careful analysis Enrolment data based on school statistics deals with the supply‐side only Census or NSS data based on household informa‐tion gives us the demand‐side of school enrolments The two should roughly match as they do in half of India but not for UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh Orissa and Rajasthan

This is not because these states delib‐erately over report As Professor

Grassroots

Page 22

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

A close look at the expansion of elemen‐tary education from 2004‐05 to 2009‐10 across Indian states reveals that the largest expansion has been in precisely the states which used to have large discrepancies in their reporting of edu‐cational statistics Figure 1 provides year‐to‐year changes in elementary educa‐tion enrolments for primary and middle schools for states that account for maxi‐mum growth and decline The propor‐tion of children living in poverty in these states (in 2004‐05) is above the national average of one in three children In Orissa it is one in two Link it with Prathams recently released Report for 2010 on learning outcomes and facilities to get the real picture The message that some of the poor are getting is that the costs of education they have to bear are high and the quality on offer does

Not justify these Surprisingly despite the unsatisfactory quality of school‐ing on offer in these states about 70 children in poverty do attend schools A large proportion of their teachers however may not feel obligated to do so In the rest of India over 90 of children even those in poverty do attend schools

Our estimates of child poverty based on NSS data indicate a decline of 18 million from 1993‐94 and was 104

million in 2004‐05Concentration of child poverty in the above mentioned four states that account for half the children in India is rather startling We divided households into four groups (i) Very Poor households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) less than half the official poverty line (ii) Poor Households with MPCE less than the poverty line but more than half the poverty line (iii) Non‐poor Low House‐holds with MPCE more than the pov‐erty line but less than twice the poverty line and (iv) Non‐poor High House‐holds with MPCE more than twice the poverty line Results comparing the average household size and the aver‐age number of children in these four categories of households are given in Figure 2

In 2004‐05 the average size of house‐hold among the very poor was 55 and 26 children lived in it Among the poor the household size was 58 and 24 children lived in it Among the non‐poor low the average size was 51 and 17 children lived in it Among the non‐poor high the average household size was 39 but the number of children living in it was only 09 Our analysis brings out a disturbing pattern of un‐even demographic transition among

these four groups of households within a cross‐section and also the change from 1993‐94 to 2004‐05 Decline in school enrolments is mainly due to child poverty rather than demographic transition or over reporting Policies on child poverty reduction need to be intertwined with those for schooling and also for faster demographic transition

The inescapable inferences that the poor have larger family size larger number of children in their house‐holds and also have higher depend‐ency ratios compared with the non‐poor have implications for schooling

Child poverty and non‐ participation in schooling require an orchestrated policy response It is not just a supply side issue Earnest implementation of the Right to Education Law would have high social as well as economic growth dividends Shifting the annual school enrolment census from August to March would dispel the illusion of schooling progress particularly in the states with poor schooling out‐comes The authors are with Monash University and Australian National University respectively

httpeconomictimesindiatimescompolicychild‐poverty‐and‐educationarticleshow8042937cms

Child poverty and educationmdashcontinued

Grassroots

Page 23

Education scheme budget for 2011 gets Rs 793‐cr boost | Hindustan Times | 16 May 2011

the year before the Act came into effect was Rs1213 crore

Of the Rs2870 crore budget for this year the Mumbai suburban division will receive Rs20 crore which will be distributed among the schools under the municipal corporation

Schools in the Mumbai city division will receive Rs20 crore The funds are ex‐pected to become available in June

ldquoThe SSA will now be purely for the implementation of the RTE Actrdquo said an official from the education depart‐ment

ldquoVarious other issues will be taken up this year including teachersrsquo training distribution of free textbooks inclu‐sive education schemes and so onrdquo added the official

The new budgets for the SSA for different states was finalised at a meeting in Delhi last month Of the stated budget amount the central government will provide 65 while the respective state governments will contribute the remaining 35

httpwwwhindustantimescomEducation‐scheme‐budget‐for‐2011‐gets‐793‐cr‐boostArticle1‐698061aspx

In a significant boost to the imple‐mentation of the Right to Education Act the statersquos budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mdash the govern‐mentrsquos main scheme for universalis‐ing elementary education mdash has increased by nearly 40 or Rs793 crore for this year In 2010‐2011 the first year of the Actrsquos implementa‐tion the government had set aside a budget of Rs2077 crore for the SSA scheme For 2011‐2012 the budget has increased to Rs2870 crore

The annual budget for 2009‐2010

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

PANAJI While the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) currently faces a major garbage crisis as it lacks a proper garbage disposal site some members of the state‐level steering committee under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mis‐sion are trying to put the issue of solid waste management on the agenda for the meeting scheduled on Friday

While the detailed project reports (DPRs) for improving water supply (worth 1739 crore) and sewerage in the city ( 15615 crore) are to be taken up for approval on Friday some committee members are sore over relegation of solid waste man‐agement ( 33 crore) and St Inez creek ( 17 crore) to the backburner

The committee headed by chief minister Digambar Kamat and which has urban development minister Joaquim Alemao as vice chairman last met over 10 months ago in July 2010 The JNNURM scheme itself is likely to end in six months

Racing against time the committee will approve the projects for submission to the Union ministry of urban develop‐ment sources said DPRs of solid waste management for the capital city and another for the St Inez creek have not been put on the agenda for dubi‐ous reasons a source alleged

The DPR on solid waste management had been approved by the sub‐committee for implementation of JNNURM projects though the DPR on St Inez creek had been stalled as the sub‐committee had raised some queries on it The queries could have been an‐swered at the meeting itself a source said

The sub‐committee on implementation headed by opposition leader Manohar Parrikar comprises members Joe DSouza Patricia Pinto andNandkumar Kamat

This panel vets and approves the DPRs prepared by private agencies on vari‐ous subjects under JNNURM

DSouza on Wednesday wrote to the urban development ministry to include

DPRs of solid waste management and St Inez creek on Fridays agenda He also took up the matter with Kamat and Parrikar who agreed these could be taken up

Though the agenda of the Friday meeting provides for discussion on any other subject with due permis‐sion of the chairman sources said that it will hardly lead to taking up DPRs related to garbage manage‐ment and St Inez creek as forces within the state panel are keen to keep out the two important DPRs

Kamat claimed he was not aware about the agenda of the Friday meet‐ing while Panaji mayor Yatin Parekh said he was keen that the DPRs are approved as the city is facing a major crisis This is a good opportunity to avail central funds he told TOI

CCP has now decided to clear the compost at the Taleigao site which the panchayat has shut for use by the corporation fearing it would create a health hazard

Members want JNNURM to take up garbage issue | Times of India | 26 May 2011

Page 24

Grassroots

Some Useful links Karnataka Learning Partnership httpblogklporginsearchlabelgovernment

12th Five Year Plan ndash Planning Commission http12thplangovin

Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency Andhra Pradesh

http6195132217SocialAuditLoginjsp

Department of Panchayats and Rural Devel‐opment ndashWest Bengal

httpwwwwbprdnicinhtmlaspg2cswnewmainasp

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities

httpwwwib‐netorg

Andhra Pradesh Socio‐Economic Survey Re‐port 2010‐11

httpwwwaponlinegovinApportalAP20Govt20InformationAPES20NewAPSEShtml

WSP ndash Water amp Sanitation Program httpwwwwsporgwsp

Maharashtra Economic Survey Report 2010‐11 httpmahadesmaharashtragovinfilespublicationesm_2010‐11_engpdf

Plan PlusmdashPlanning Software httpplanningonlinegovinMainPagejsp

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

Following reports irregularities in use of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Scheme (MNREGS) in Orissa a multi‐crore scam in the rural job scheme is threatening to emerge in Jharkhand After visiting Bokaro and Latehar districts in the tribal state on March 12 and

13 a high‐level team of officials led by rural development secretary BK Sinha has said the irregularities in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme are of a ldquosubstantial naturerdquo

In March rural development minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh had written a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda asking him to inquire into the murders of a MNREGA activist and a worker

Although the act prohibits involvement of contractors the team found that a majority of works under the scheme had violated this rule The act also demands that 50 of funds under the job scheme be routed through panchayats but the team found that panchayat representatives had been kept out of the loop

The central team detected existence of fake muster‐rolls while some projects

were found to exist only on paper Huge irregularities in wage pay‐ments have also been detected

We are currently in the process of finalising our report The detailed report will be sent to the Jharkhand government Sinha told HT Irregularities in the implementation of the scheme are spread across the state Crore (of rupees) have been siphoned off alleged Gurdeep Singh convener of a group called the NREGA Watch httpwwwhindustantimescomSubstantial‐fraud‐in‐rural‐job‐plan‐in‐JharkhandArticle1‐692161aspxsms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dbe50e7126f21b72C0

Internal Control Transparency amp Vigilance Mechanism

Steps to address complaints against schools not conforming to RTE | Economic Times | 2 May 2011

entitlements may not help address the issue There is a thinking within the education establishment that a mal‐practices law making denial of entitle‐ments an offence would help address the situation A discussion on the effi‐cacy of a malpractice law for schools would have to be taken up on a wider scale

Meanwhile the ministry has suggested strengthening the existing grievance redressal mechanism Under the Right to Education Act the local authorities serve as the grievance redressal agen‐cies while the state commissions for the protection of child rights serve as the appellate bodies at the state level

At a meeting held last week to review the implementation of the Act chaired by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal it was decided to lay out the procedures to help people access the grievance redressal mecha‐nism in case of violations It has been suggested that information about legal entitlements of children provided for in the Act should be disseminated widely beginning at the Panchayat level The

state government has to designate officers who will be responsible for ensuring entitlements

The state government will also re‐quire to designate persons to hear complaints under the Act at the panchayat block and district level

It has been suggested that desig‐nated person should be a member of the state education department

Besides this it was decided that information about the system and process of registering grievances be instituted at the district and sub‐district level Information about this system must be disseminated widely to ensure that grievances are not ignored by the system Proper system of registration will have to be accom‐panied by speedy redressal To this end it was decided that a time schedule for disposal of complaints must also be provided httpeconomictimesindiatimescomarticleshow8137985cmsfrm=mailtofriendintenttarget=no

NEW DELHI The Human Resource Development Ministry is contemplat‐ing steps to address complaints against a number of schools that they were not conforming to the Right to Education Act

The next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education which is likely to be held in early June is expected to discuss the proposal

Most of the complaints over the past year since the Right to Education Act was notified on April 1 2010 relate to corporal punishment collection of fees and funds denial of admissions and scholarships quality of educa‐tion and classroom transaction poor infrastructure especially toilets and poor quality mid‐day meal The Na‐tional Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is the central monitoring agency is of the view that the numbers of complaints would be much higher if people were aware of their legal entitlements

However mere publicity or dissemi‐nation of information about legal

Page 25

Grassroots

lsquoSubstantialrsquo fraud in rural job plan in Jharkhand | Hindustan Times | 2 May 2011

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

Raipur A post of Lokpal has been created on the directions of the Union government to check corrup‐tion in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) Onkardhar Diwan was on Monday appointed as the Lokpal for the Raipur district

An investigating team under the chairmanship of Diwan will conduct impartial probe into any kind of dis‐crepancy corruption and scams The headquarters of the Lokpal will be located at the second floor of the district panchayat office The Lokpal can be approached for any possible issue related to MNREGA

Panchayat officials not adhering to norms of MNREGA improper job cards non‐distribution of job cards improper remuneration and dis‐crimination on the basis of sex are some of the issues that the Lokpal will deal with httpdailybhaskarcomarticleMP‐RAI‐raipur‐gets‐its‐own‐lokpal‐to‐check‐corruption‐2072224html

Raipur gets its own Lokpal to check corruption| Dainik Bhaskar | 3 May 2011

Mid‐day meal scam Vigilance to include more Orissa districts | ibnlive | 17 April 2011

Anup Kumar Patnaik said While the anti‐corruption Vigilance department had already made inquiry in four districts of Ganjam Jajpur Balasore and Mayurbhanj and filed cases against 25 persons the inquiry had started in Sambalpur district Cases were filed among others against suppliers and some officers and they would be charge‐sheeted soon he saidWe will file charge‐sheet against the persons involved in this

case very soon Patnaik said The DG (Vigilance) was here to attend a symposium on prevention of cor‐ruption vis‐a‐vis Right to Informa‐tion organised at Lingaraj Law College It may be recalled that Opposition political parties had demanded an inquiry into the al‐leged multi‐core dal scam in the entire state

Berhampur (Orissa) Apr 17 (PTI) The Orissa Vigilance department would include more districts within the ambit of its probe into the alleged scam in purchase of dal for mid‐day meal (MDM) scheme and Supplementary Nutritional Pro‐gramme (SNP)The Vigilance wing will conduct inquiry in more dis‐tricts into alleged dal scam Direc‐tor General of Police (Vigilance)

Page 26

Grassroots

India aid programme beset by corruption ‐ World Bank | BBC | 18 May 2011

grammes to reduce poverty

Embarrassment

This was the first time Indias major schemes had been evaluated

The World Bank says the public dis‐tribution programme which soaks up almost half the money has brought limited benefits

It gives subsidised food and other goods to the poor

The report says one landmark scheme launched more than five years ago aims to guarantee govern‐ment work for the rural unemployed

But the World Bank found that it was failing to have an impact in the poor‐est states because of under‐payments and bad administration

All this is embarrassing for the Congress party which leads the coalition government

It promised to reduce the gap be‐tween the small percentage of wealthy Indians and very large percentage of poor ones who feel excluded from the economic boom

This report suggests that however good intentions may be the deliv‐ery still needs a lot of work

Although India is seeing rapid growth more than 40 of its population still lives below the poverty line

httpwwwbbccouknewsworld‐south‐asia‐13447867

Attempts by the Indian govern‐ment to combat poverty are not working according to the World Bank

The governing coalition spends billions of dollars ‐ more than 2 of its gross domestic product ‐ on helping the poor

But a new World Bank report says aid programmes are beset by cor‐ruption bad administration and under‐payments

As an example the report cites grain only 40 of grain handed out for the poor reaches its in‐tended target

Indias coalition government is spending massively on pro‐

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

Fogging Machines procured three years back by Agartala Municipal Council incurring several lakh of rupees were kept idle

Fogging machines lying idle | Dainik Sambad | 3 May 2011

Social audit A corruption slayer | Sifynews |15 May 2011

alone eliminate corruption across all echelons of democracy If not how must one tackle widespread grassroots level corruption affecting lives and livelihood of people

The answers maybe lying in successful initiatives like mobile‐aid‐transfer in Kenya (a system by which cash aid is delivered directly to beneficiaries via mobile phones) or social audits in Afghanistan (where villagers trace the money trail of developmental aid detect corruption immediately and hold their leaders accountable for any misappropriation)

India with an integrity score of 33 (considered one of the highly cor‐rupt) has admittedly a very tough challenge ahead As per the Corruption Perception Inde CPI 2010 issued by Transparency International India is 87 out of 178 countries indicating a seri‐ous corruption problem At the micro level endemic corruption puts a span‐

ner in the development process itself further aggravating the matter Of the Rupee spent for development programmes in the rural areas only 15 paisa reaches the beneficiary Rajiv Gandhi had once said Today it would be even less considering cor‐ruption in the form of bribery has increased exponentially in the last decade or so

Marred with corruption the govern‐ance system at Panchayat level in India is very dismal and crying for appropriate policies to ward off this scourge A glimpse of the ground situation emerges from a recent government‐sponsored study on the National Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act (NREGA) It is the biggest poverty alleviation programme in the world with a Central government outlay of 40000 crore (US$888 bil‐lion) in FY 2010‐11 The report has unearthed large‐scale corruption and

Amid incessant controversy that continues to riddle the Lokpal Bill significant questions on how to en‐sure downward accountability to eliminate vicious and rampant hold of corruption at the micro level ‐ are still not being effectively raised or discussed While macro level corrup‐tions like a 2G scam may be harrow‐ing for the economy it is micro level corruption that impairs lives of peo‐ple directly If India is serious about containing corruption it must not only concentrate at the macro level policy making process but also raise pertinent debate on the processes structures and policies that need to be implemented at village level insti‐tutions to mitigate unbridled corrup‐tion that prevails there

Without undermining the importance of the Bill the million dollar ques‐tions waiting for a response there‐fore are Can an anti‐corruption Bill

Page 27

Grassroots

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA programme In sev‐eral states authorities have been found misappropriating central funds and threatening workers to keep their mouth shut

If India needs any consolation un‐stable governments like Afghanistan with a legacy of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI with a score of 11 That is pre‐cisely why it makes an interesting study to see how a war‐torn nas‐cent democracy like Afghanistan has proactively introduced strong initiatives in tackling micro level corruption lately Incidentally Af‐ghanistan imported the concept of social audit from no other country but India This tool failed to culmi‐nate into a mass movement here remaining largely localized in Rajast‐han where it was introduced by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan MKSS In Afghanistan however more than 900 such audits in 5 major provinces have created a national stir

This remarkable initiative spear‐headed by Aga Khan Foundation AKF is now being replicated coun‐trywide at the behest of the World Bank and ministry of rural develop‐ment It has been hailed for the significant level of transparency it has achieved at the village level governance in a short a short span of time and mandatory for every village accessing public fund Initiatives to strengthen local gov‐ernance such as the social audit program will be key in helping to build a modern democracy in Af‐ghanistan says John Dempsey a legal expert with the United States Institute of Peace a think tank

It is ironic to find an Indian experi‐ence reaping such large scale bene‐

fits in a remote country like Afghani‐stan It is at the same time heartening to see serious Indian professionals contributing to the changing land‐scape of Afghanistan Sujeet Sarkar regional advisor with AKF instrumen‐tal in introducing the concept of social audit in Afghanistan claims that there is far less corruption in Afghanistan today compared to Panchayat in In‐dia

While decentralization of power is essential in devolution of high‐level corruption it invariably leads to de‐centralization of corruption as well reminds Sarkar The concept of social audit is an empowering and participa‐tory process whereby the power to hold the government accountable for vanishing development money lie with the aid beneficiaries themselves

Citizens assemble in a common plat‐form to scrutinize the performance of their immediate agencies (NGOsGram Panchayat) on wide range of issues ‐ from the quality of develop‐ment services extended to the bene‐fits trickling to the community It fixes downward accountability of local institution elected by the community and goes a long way in contributing significantly towards promoting good governance says Sarkar

Among all the people‐centric tools available social audits provide stake‐holders an opportunity to raise com‐mon concerns and collectively look for solution It is something India desperately needs to promote if India wants to make a difference in the life of the ordinary people With the RTI constituted there is tremendous scope to advance social audit and other people‐centered techniques to promote transparency at the grass‐root level As recently as Jan 2011 in the MKSS program area an embezzle‐ment of Rs 56 lakh was exposed in a

social audit of MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat Ajmer district Such excellent citizenry effort need to receive robust media support to galvanize them into mass move‐ments spurring a countrywide com‐mitment to eliminate corruption But rarely do they make it to the headlines

With discussions rife on how to contain the corruption conundrum it is a perfect moment to assess grassroot situations Specific laws and policies at the macro level are essential in creating the right envi‐ronment for taking processes for‐ward A simultaneously effort in formulating and implementing sys‐tems and mechanisms to fix down‐ward accountability will ensure the issue of corruption is addressed and attacked from all sides

Enabling institutions like nationals bureaus to tackle corruption strong measures against corrupt officials an efficient judicial system with speedy trial of corruption cases tough policies and popularization of e‐governance all will contribute to preparing the perfect backdrop to corruption‐free society The final actors in containing corruption according to Sarkar must however be the people themselves Such process which makes the local de‐velopment agencies accountable to the common citizens will not only yield high governance dividend but also make the system corruption‐free Time the biggest democracy learnt a lesson or two from the youngest democracy to take its crusade forward

httpwwwsifycomnewssocial‐audit‐a‐corruption‐slayer‐news‐community‐lfppQcgbhhfhtml

Social audit A corruption slayermdashcontinued

Page 28

Grassroots

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gan‐dhi National Rural Em‐ployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 vil‐lages in six districts of Orissa

A three‐judge Bench gave this direction on a petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security pointing out seri‐ous lapses and large scale malpractices in the imple‐mentation of the schemes under the Act in Orissa and other States

Writing the judgment Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar said ldquoThe investi‐gating agency shall take into con‐sideration three documents ie the survey report prepared by the petitioner the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor‐General] report dated March 31 2009 and the NIRD [National Institute of Rural Devel‐opment] reportrdquo

Hold complete probe

The Bench directed the CBI to con‐duct a complete and comprehen‐sive investigation and file its report in regard to commission of criminal offences in the implementation of the schemes or otherwise before the court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate action ldquoThe CBI shall also place a copy thereof on the record of this Courtrdquo

The Bench said ldquoOther irregulari‐ties or illegalities apart from the commission of criminal offences which have come to the notice of the CBI during the course of this investigation shall be submitted to

the Chief Secretary State of Orissa in the form of a separate report for appropriate action in accordance with law The investigation shall be

concluded as expeditiously as possi‐ble However we would expect the CBI to file its first report within a period of six monthsrdquo

Cooperation urged

The Bench directed all the depart‐ments and the authorities concerned in Orissa to cooperate with the CBI in completing the investigation The CBI will conduct a free and fair investiga‐tion in regard to the implementation of provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder without any impediment

Taking note of such lapses in other States as well the Bench at the first instance issued notice to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to respond to the reports of the peti‐tioner with regard to implementa‐tion of provisionsschemes under the Act in those States

The Bench said ldquoKeeping in view the fact that there has been persistent default on the part of a number of States in fully implementing the provisions of the Act we hereby direct all the State governments to

file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly imple‐menting the operational guidelines issued by the government of India

within six weeks from today In the event these guidelines have not been accepted or are not being implemented the affidavit shall specifically state reasons for such non‐acceptance andor non‐implementation of the afore‐stated directionsguidelinesrdquo

Centre asked to spell out steps

The Bench also directed the Central government to con‐

sider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provi‐sions of the statute and place on record of this court before the next date of hearing the directions or measures ldquowhich it proposes to issue to all the States to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the State of Orissardquo

The Bench directed that all con‐cerned should strictly adhere to and comply with the directions contained in this order ldquoWe make it clear that in the event of default this court would be compelled to take appropriate action against the defaulting officersofficialsauthoritiesrdquo it said and posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks

httpwwwthehinducomnewsstatesother‐statesarticle2011696ece

Supreme Court orders CBI to probe MGNREGA irregularities | Hindu | 12 May 2011

Page 29

Grassroots

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

As many as 29621 job cards issued by Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat under the Mahatma Gandhi Na‐tional Rural Employment Guaran‐tee Act have been cancelled as they were found to be bogus Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said here on Wednesday

Reviewing the progress of various Union Government schemes in the Panchayat at the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meet‐ing here Mr Moily said ldquoOf the total number of job cards issued so far the officials have found 75379 to be genuine Only these are valid and the rest have been cancelledrdquo Many parts of the district come under Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Mr

Moily and hence he chaired the meeting

Pointing out that 255 villages of the rural district were facing severe drinking water shortage the Minister said that he had directed the officials to chalk out a comprehensive scheme to mitigate the problem ldquoA team of officials from the Union Government will also visit the vil‐lages to study the problem and sug‐gest ways to solve itrdquo he said He had directed them to take up com‐prehensive development of tanks in the district by integrating five Central and State Government schemes At least two tanks will be developed in each taluk by synchronising the Re‐pair Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RRR) Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) Jala Samvardhana Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act and the State Governments new tank development scheme

Work on removing silt from tanks repair of bunds and channels would be expedited Such meas‐ures will lead to an increase in the groundwater table he said

Labour Minister and district in‐charge of Bangalore Rural BN Bache Gowda Deputy Commis‐sioner RK Raju and Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat President Bhagyamma were present

httpwwwthehinducomtodays‐papertp‐nationaltp‐karnatakaarticle1992360ecesms_ss=emailampat_xt=4dc91f8c9a9a3b8e2C0

Over 29000 bogus job cards cancelled | Hindu | 5 May 2011

Irregularities to fore in MGNREGS works | Deccan Chronicle | 18 April 2011

under the MGNREGS Rs 21844 crore was spent towards payment of wages till now for various works During social audits many com‐plaints were lodged by people about bogus musters fake job cards fake post office accounts absence of taking pictures of com‐pleted works creating records without carrying out works use of machinery for road construction in villages and other irregularities

Staff facing charges include addi‐tional project officers technical assistants computer operators field assistants assistant engineers and others Recently officials found misuse of funds in the name of eucalyptus plantations in Ko‐

digudlapadu Botlaguduru Bukka‐puram Gayamvaripalli and other villages of Pamuru and Hanuman‐tunipadu mandals The MGNREGS chief vigilance officer Ms J Sud‐harani recently conducted in‐spections and found Rs 255 crore misused in the district The Dis‐trict Water Management Agency project director Mr A Rameshku‐mar said that social audit was helping to control anomalies as it is a continuous process He added that department was going to use the Revenue Recovery Act to recover misused funds

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesregionsnelloreirregularities‐fore‐mgnregs‐works‐032

Social audit has become a thorn in the flesh of officials who have misused funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ‐ment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) As many as 50 em‐ployees were removed from ser‐vice on charges of anomalies and notices slapped on 1448 persons for recovery of misused funds in Prakasam district

Irregularities in the implementa‐tion of MGNREGS works are com‐ing to light as victim beneficiaries are lodging complaints in the social audit programmes As many 568169 families have got job cards in the district to work

Page 30

Grassroots

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

MUMBAI Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar has directed assistant commissioners of all 24 administrative wards and the assessor and collection department to take a tough stand against property and water tax de‐faulters

Civic officials have also been told to ensure that the target estimate for property tax collections is doubled this year as compared to last years collec‐tion

The focus this year will be on more water tax and property tax collections in the financial year 2011‐12 in a bid to increase the revenue by 100 As of March 2011 the property tax collection as of March 2011 as Rs 2210 crore way below the estimated Rs 2815 crore Approximately Rs 7000 crore in pend‐ing dues is yet to be recovered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

(BMC) as of March 2011

Patil deputy municipal commissioner (tax reforms) said Earlier we used to keep a target which was recoverable Now the target estimate will be increased as per the demand The BMC chief said that the target was lower than the de‐mand We were also deducting the amount which is locked up in court cases Until the court gives directives we cant collect those taxes

Patil said that Kumar plans to utilize the revenue collected from property and water taxes for major works on the sew‐age system water mains and stormwater drain network The assistant commission‐ers will play an mostly administrative role to ensure that tax is collected

All defaulters who have not paid the provisional property tax bills will be sent notices The civic body hopes that attach‐ment notices will make defaulters pay

their pending bills because if they fail to do so within 21 days their property will be auctioned Once the deadline for the payment of tax expires the defaulter will be sent a reminder notice called the notice of demand under Section 212 of the BMC Act

For meterless water connections a water tax will be levied by the BMCs hydraulic department

In the amended law that was passed by the legislature under section (212) of the BMC Act a reminder notice called the Notice of Demand will be given to the taxpayer after the deadline for the payment expires

For un‐metered water connections there will be a water tax levied by the BMCs hydraulic department httparticlestimesofindiaindiatimescom2011‐05‐03mumbai29498492_1_water‐tax‐property‐tax‐defaulters

BMC boss directs staff to get tough with defaulters | Times of India | 3 May 2011

Activist smells a Rs1200 crore scam in Mumbairsquos traffic booths | Weekend Leadercom| 6‐12 May 2011

Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Prahlad Shinde had initiated the proposal for the booths He is said to have written a letter to the Additional Municipal Commis‐sioner ldquoto install Umbrellas at traffic signals with revised designrdquo

The PIL notes ldquoIn the garb of ldquoRevised designed Umbrellasrdquo what has been installed across the city are Advertise‐ment booths inside which no policeman

has ever stood to control traffic and since they are illumi‐nated on 4 sides in the night no policemen will be able

to stand because of the heat of the elec‐trical lights This is a clever way of having favoured an Advertising company to acquire space at the most visible locations in the city for nil consideration without calling for offers from any other com‐panyrdquo

A businessman‐turned‐activist Chhugani

runs an NGO called PLEAD (People for Legal and Emotional Assistance to the Deserving) ldquoMy aim was to organize educated citizens in each police station area to form watchdog committees to combat corruption but my aim remains unfulfilled since people are too scared of policerdquo said Chhugani

An admirer of anti‐corruption crusader Anna Hazare he strongly feels people should act now and fight corruption with full might This student of Lourdes High School and graduate from Somaiya Polytechnic also helps a large number of underprivileged children with their education

In April the Bombay High Court ordered compensation to a bereaved family when an elderly lady fell into a trench and died due to negligence of civic officers and contractors who dig up the roads and keep trenches open a com‐mon sight in Mumbai roads Chhugani had filed a PIL in seeking criminal action against them lthttpwwwtheweekendleadercomCauses472Smell‐of‐a‐scamhtmlgt

Social activist Indur Chhugani has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking a CID inquiry into an alleged Rs1200 crore scam involving the Mumbai po‐lice Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a private advertising company

The petitioner has alleged that an esti‐mated advertising revenue of Rs10 crore per month from nearly 300 lsquoillegalrsquo traffic booths in Mumbai has been going into the pockets of an advertis‐ing company and some senior cops and munici‐pal officials

According to Chhugani the advertisement rates on these traffic booths vary from Rs60000 to Rs3 lakh a month whereas the cost of the booth itself is only around Rs20000

However the annual revenue the Mu‐nicipal authorities get from the booths is allegedly meagre ldquoAccording to information we have they pay about Rs31160 per year per boothrdquo Chhugani said

The PIL says that in 2001 then Joint

Page 31

Grassroots

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

BBMP to act tough against SAS fraudsters Times of India | 24 those who paid by cheques that bouncedrsquorsquo commis‐sioner Siddaiah told TOI on Monday

The updated property database using Geographic Infor‐mation System (GIS) indicates that 1158 lakh properties out of the total 151 lakh are now into the regular tax net (since 2008)

The delayed scrutiny process will see over 3 lakh as‐sessed properties (30) randomly checked This in‐cludes 10 scrutiny for every year since 2008 The exact process of scrutiny is now being finalised by the com‐missioner and BBMP tax and finance committee

TRACKING EVADERS

Over 35 lakh properties continue to remain out of the tax net Majority of them are revenue pockets slums and vacant plots Over a lakh of them are vacant sites in new areas with no proper owner details BBMP now plans to track the owners jointly with the department of stamps and registration ldquoThe census work and the year‐end collections had delayed this process It will all begin soon after May 31rsquorsquo Siddaiah said

TAX BULLETIN

May 31 is the deadline for extended rebate period BBMP has ruled out further extension ldquoThere is no reason for it We have already extended it by a monthrsquorsquo Siddaiah said The extension during the vacation period has seen good response across the city with Rs 425 crore collection till date

Self‐assessment scheme (SAS) was intro‐duced to make property tax calculation easy Now BBMP has found that some citizens have misused the scheme mdash undervalued their properties and paid lower tax mdash thereby defrauding BBMP The fund‐starved civic body whose major revenue source is property tax is all set to net its big catch mdash such frauds The much‐delayed random scrutiny of property tax returns will finally take off anytime after May 31

A recent sample survey by revenue offi‐cials using GIS has revealed that majority of taxpayers who filed false returns are residential property owners who have rented out their properties

ldquoWe will be ruthless this time and are technically equipped for it Strict action will be initiated against dishonest property owners who have deliberately assessed their property less to pay lower tax If required we will also be notifying all these properties to ensure they are publicly identified The law also provides for filing criminal cases against them In case of alarming numbers 100 returns will be scrutinised BBMP will also come down on

Page 32

Grassroots

Bangalore Mirror | 13 May 2011

Assam Tribune |

4 May 2011

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890

Page 33

Grassroots

RSVP

Pravindra Yadav Director LB Division pravindraYcaggovin

M Ganesh Desk Officer LB Division aao3pricaggovin

Disclaimer News articlesphotographs contained in this journal are culled out from websites of various newspapers to put together

news information of similar type The copyright of these articlesphotographs are with the respective publishers only Nothing in

this e‐brochure conveys any official position We acknowledge with thanks the contribution of media for bringing to light the issues

pertaining to social sector

CAG in news recently Debt‐Ridden JK Govt Living Beyond Means CAG Report | Kashmir Observer | 19 April 2011

httpwwwkashmirobservernetindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=7453debt‐ridden‐jk‐govt‐living‐beyond‐means‐shows‐cag‐reportampcatid=15top‐newsampItemid=2

CAG report sets off alarm bells on statersquos finances | Hindustan Times | 22 April 2011

httpwwwhindustantimescomCAG‐report‐sets‐off‐alarm‐bells‐on‐state‐s‐financesArticle1‐688215aspx

CAG raps Maha over poor plight of medical education | ib‐nlive | 22 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐maha‐over‐poor‐plight‐of‐medical‐education658143html

CAG raps Ukhand govt for financial bungling during Kumbh mela | ibn live | 25 April 2011

httpibnliveincomgeneralnewsfeednewscag‐raps‐ukhand‐govt‐for‐financial‐bungling‐during‐kumbh‐mela661148html

Air Indias Boeing buy forced CAG | Livemint | 29 April 2011 httpwwwlivemintcom20110429004927Air‐India8217s‐Boeing‐buy‐fhtml

CAG report slams Air India for mismanagement | ibnlive | 8 May 2011

httpibnliveincomnewscag‐report‐slams‐air‐india‐for‐mismanagement151624‐3html

CAG sheds light on DSERT irregularities | Deccan Chronicle | 16 May 2011

httpwwwdeccanchroniclecomchannelscitiesbengalurucag‐sheds‐light‐dsert‐irregularities‐890