Rashtriya Swasthya BIMA Yojana (RSBY) ………. Some initial trends

After a low profile launch of the National Health Insurance Scheme (RSBY), the scheme seems to have travelled some distance. It has been picked by the UNDP for publication as one of the top innovative social security schemes in the world. The World Bank calls it “one of the most promising efforts in India” and “a model of good design and implementation with important lessons for other programs in India.” Till November 11, 2010 since the roll out of the scheme in April, 2008, more than 20 million smart cards providing cashless health insurance cover to around 80 million persons have already been issued. Barring a couple of States, the rest of them are either already implementing the scheme or are in the process of doing so.



Data is now available for such 145 districts which have completed one year of operation. In fact, 6 of these have also completed the second year.

Ensuring Sustainable Drinking Water Security in Rural Areas

The major thrust of the rural water supply programmes is to ensure provision of adequate drinking water supply to the rural communities. Hitherto the role of the government was that of a service provider, with minimum involvement of the community in the planning process and the implementation activities. With the increase in demand due to public aspirations and decrease of availability of safe water it was considered essential to involve the community in the programme.
To achieve this, there was a paradigm shift and the Framework for implementation of National Rural Drinking Water Programme was revised in 2009. The Department appropriately addressed the soft issues related to facilitating the active participation of PRIs in the process of planning, implementation and operation of schemes to achieve the goal of long term sustainability. It also ensured that the community gets continuous support and handholding so that they are empowered to take up the role of planning and implementing the systems also in addition to operating and maintaining them.


Resources for Promoting Sustainability Under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) 20% of the allocation to each state is earmarked for Sustainability component, which is provided as 100% grant-in-aid to States, for taking up various works related to sustainability of drinking water sources and schemes. These include constructing structures to use rainwater for storage and re-charging of drinking water sources.


Delivery Mechanism The Department of Drinking Water Supply provides policy guidance and financial and technical support to the states with online monitoring through IMIS, State and district level Missions/Committees set up to strengthen the PRIs so that the ultimate objective of empowerment of PRIs in the drinking water and sanitation sector can be realized. For this not only has an appropriate institutional set up been defined, but the Department has even brought out guidelines for effective functioning of these State and district level mission and also laid down the indicators for functioning of village level water and sanitation committee (VWSC).


Institutional setup SWSM
As a step towards achieving coordination and convergence among State Departments dealing with Rural Drinking Water Supply, Rural Sanitation, School Education, Health, Women and Child Development, Water Resources, Agriculture, etc. a State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) has been set up at the State/ UT level. It is a registered society under the aegis of the Department/ Board/Nigam/ Authority/ Agency, implementing the rural water supply programme in the State. It provides operational flexibility to the States/ UTs, so that the desired thrust is there for an integrated implementation of and institutionalising community participation under the NRDWP and Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC). The SWSM is headed by the Chief Secretary/Additional Chief Secretary/ Development Commissioner with Secretaries of other concerned Departments as members. Experts in the field of Hydrology, IEC, HRD, MIS, Media, NGOs, etc. co-opt as members.
All States have set up a Water and Sanitation Support Organisation (WSSO) under State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM), to provide software support to districts and blocks in the areas of Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance (i.e. Drinking Water Testing Labs) Computerisation projects, Monitoring &Evaluation and IEC & HRD activities, Research &Development activities, etc. These are activities for which 100% funds are provided (as Support Funds) by the Government.
District Water and Sanitation Missions (DWSM) constituted at the district level, functions under the supervision, control and guidance of Zilla Panchayats/Parishads. States which do not have a proper PRI set up in place, as in case of 6th Schedule Areas and desire to supervise the working of the DWSM through alternative mechanism, put in place a suitable body. The DWSM supervises the preparation of the District Water Security Plan and its implementation. All the village water security plans are consolidated and analysed at the district level by the DWSM. At the district level, convergence of all the other related programmes and funding is ensured by the DWSM with some of the major development programmes like the MNREGS, Integrated Watershed Management Programme projects of Dept. of Land Resources, Central and State Finance Commission funds , NRHM, various Watershed and Irrigation schemes of the Ministry of Agriculture, various schemes of the Ministry of Water Resources etc.
The Department has brought out handbooks and manuals to facilitate the involvement of stakeholders including PRIs, training manuals on water security planning and community led Total Sanitation, and a handbook for Gram Panchayats to manage Village Water Supply Schemes, to help communities to plan, implement, operate, maintain and manage drinking water schemes in their areas.


Block Resource Centres In 2010 the Department decided to put in place a support structure at the Block level to enable sustainability of drinking water supply systems, by supporting the establishment of Block Resource Centers (BRCs). These centers at the Block level are manned by coordinators with experience in the field of development communication, institution building, training and rural development to give support and continuous handholding to the Gram Panchayats and Village communities to achieve the goal of a sustainable water system maintained by PRIs. As a result of this major initiative a total of nearly 18,000 staff will be available at block levels to support the Gram Panchayats and Village Water and Sanitation Communities.

Capacity BuildingThe importance of continuous professional development in the water supply and sanitation sector needs no emphasis. To assess the knowledge gap Training Needs Assessment workshops have been held in many states and are being planned for rest of the country. Each state identifies the training needs of the professionals, elected representatives and grassroots level workers and chalks out the training calendar for the year so that the training needs are appropriately addressed. The Department after due examination has identified about 25 institutions/ organizations having domain knowledge and expertise in the drinking water and sanitation sector as National Key Resource Centers (KRCs). The National KRCs provide training, orientation and capacity development of engineers, PRI representatives and master trainers at State and District levels. These centers also extend technical guidance to State Communication and Capacity Development Units (CCDU) for IEC and HRD activities.
For taking up all these software activities that are generally neglected the Government has made a provision of 5% Support Funds to the States, from which the States can carry out training and IEC activities, expenditure on DWSMs, BRCs, water quality monitoring and surveillance etc.
The efforts to empower the Gram Panchayats and improve the quality of service delivery of drinking water supply in rural areas through software activities need further vigour. It is expected that with the above steps the country will move towards a more decentralized approach to attain lifeline drinking water security of quality and quantity under all circumstances and at all times.

Securing Our Coastline Post-26/11

India, with vast coastal border of 7516 kms. covering 9 coastal States and 4 Union Territories, poses serious security issues and challenges. After the Mumbai terror attacks of 26/11, the entire coastal security scenario of the country has been thoroughly reviewed by the Government at various levels. The National Committee on Strengthening Maritime and Coastal Security (NCSMCS) against threats for the coastal security has been constituted under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary. It has held detailed deliberations on issues related to coastal security. All the 9 coastal States and 4 Union Territories are regular participants in its meetings.
Many important decisions have been taken by the various Ministries which are under implementation for further strengthening of coastal security in the country. For securing our coastline, police of all coastal States/UTs, State administrations, Indian Navy MHA and other Central Ministries are working in coordination. Nevertheless the task of securing India’s vast coastline is immense.


Coastal Security Scheme (Phase- I)
The Coastal Security Scheme, formulated on the recommendations of the Group of Ministers on ‘Reforming the National Security System’, was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in January 2005 for implementation over five years starting from 2005-06. The scheme provides assistance to 9 coastal States and 4 Union Territories for setting up of 73 coastal police stations, 97 check posts, 58 outposts and 30 barracks, equipped with 204 boats, 153 jeeps and 312 motorcycles. Under the scheme, manpower is provided by the States and UTs. Initially, the Scheme had an outlay of Rs. 400 crore for non-recurring expenditure and Rs. 151 crore for recurring expenditure on fuel, repairs and maintenance of the boats and training of marine police personnel. The scheme has since been extended by one year i.e. upto March 31, 2011 with an additional provision of Rs.95 crore towards the non-recurring expenditure.
Out of the approved 73 coastal police stations, 71 have been operationalised and 48 of these are functioning from their new buildings. Besides, construction of 75 check posts, 54 outposts and 22 barracks has also been completed. Out of the approved 204 boats, 195 were delivered to the coastal States/UTs till 31.12.2010. The 10 Rigid Inflatable Boats (RIBs) for Goa have also been procured. All the vehicles (153 jeeps and 312 motorcycles) have been procured by States and UTs. So far, about 2000 personnel have been trained by the Coast Guard.


Registration of BoatsAll fishing/non-fishing boats plying in Indian waters need to get registered under a uniform system. The Ministry of Shipping issued two notifications in June 2009, one for amending the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Fishing Vessels) rules alongwith revised format for registration and another for notifying the list of registrars. States/UTs are taking follow-up action in this regard. The National Informatics Centre (NIC) has developed an online uniform registration system in the country. An amount of Rs.120 lakh has been released to NIC and Rs.581.86 lakh to the Coastal States and UTs for implementation of the programme. Trial run of the application and training is being done and online registration has started.


Issuance Of ID Cards To Fishermen
A Central Sector Scheme on ‘Issuance of Biometric Identity cards to coastal fishermen’ has been launched at a total cost of Rs.72 crore. This project is being funded by the Registrar General of India (RGI). A consortium of three PSUs led by Bharat Electronics Limited has been identified for the work of digitization of data, card production and issuance. Out of 15,59,640 coastal fishermen identified for issuance of biometric ID card, data collection in respect of 8,29,254 (53.17%) and digitization of data in respect of 3,76,828 (45.44%) fishermen has been completed.


RGI is in the process of issuing Multipurpose National Identity Cards (MNICs) to the population in the coastal villages as part of its project of creation of the National Population Register (NPR) in the coastal States/UTs ahead of the Census 2011 with suitable linkage to the existing smart cards. New cards are to be issued by the Department of AHD & Fisheries. In the first phase, 3331 villages on the coastline are being covered. The delivery of identity cards started in December, 2010. Data on more than 120 lakh persons and biometric details for more than 69 lakh persons has been collected so far. Printing of Local Register of Usual Residents (LRUR) has been completed in coastal villages in Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.


Port Security

The security of ports, particularly of the non-major ports, has always been a matter of great concern. There are 12 major ports and around 200 minor ports in the country. The security of the major ports is being looked after by the CISF while that of all the minor/non-major ports is being taken care of by the State Maritime Boards/State Governments. The 12 major ports are International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) compliant and are subject to security audit once in two years. However, there is no such mechanism of security audit for the non-major ports.
Apart from 12 major ports, 53 minor/non-major ports and 5 shipyards in the country are ISPS compliant. Reassessment of ISPS compliance status of these ports and shipyards has been carried out by the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS). Customs Department in liaison with Ministry of Shipping involving the State Government machineries/State Maritime Boards is taking up necessary action for the non-major ports beyond the aforementioned list of 65 major and non-major ports requiring ISPS compliance.


Operation Swan
Under the scheme of ‘Strengthening of Joint Coastal Patrolling off Gujarat and Maharashtra Coast under Operation SWAN’, assistance is being provided to the Coast Guard to procure 15 Interceptor Boats and set up 3 Coast Guard Stations in Dhanu and Murud Janjira in Maharashtra and Veraval in Gujarat at an estimated cost of Rs. 342.56 crore. So far, Rs. 69.11 crore has been released by MHA towards cost of land and boats under the scheme.


Decisions Implemented
Undernoted decisions for overall strengthening of Maritime and coastal security have already been implemented like Enhancement of Patrolling and Surveillance in coastal areas; designating the Indian Navy as the authority responsible for overall maritime security which includes coastal security and offshore security; designating the Coast Guard as the authority responsible for coastal security in territorial waters including areas to be patrolled by Coastal Police; designating DG (Coast Guard) as Commander, Coastal Command responsible for overall co-ordination between Central and State agencies in all matters relating to coastal security; setting up of four Joint Operations Centres (JOCs) at Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Kochi and Port Blair; and finalisation and issuance of Standard operating Procedures (SOP) of all the coastal States/UTs by the Coast Guard.


Security Scheme (Phase- II) Finalised

The proposal of the Coastal Security Scheme (Phase-II), formulated on the basis of vulnerability/gap analysis carried out by the coastal States and UTs in consultation with the Coast Guard was approved by the Government on 24.9.2010 for implementation from 01.4.2011 for period of 5 years. The Scheme is expected to provide support to coastal States/Union Territories to upgrade their coastal security apparatus. The financial outlay of the scheme is Rs.115491.20 lakh for non-recurring component and Rs.42500.00 lakh for recurring expenditure. The salient features in the proposal include setting up of new 131 coastal police stations equipped with 180 boats, 60 jetties, 35 rigid inflatable boats(12 for Lakshadweep and 23 for A&N islands only), 10 large vessels (for A&N Islands only), 131 four wheelers and 242 motorcycles. A lump sum assistance provision of Rs.15 lakh per police station has been made for surveillance equipment, night vision equipment, computer systems and furniture, POL expenses (for first year after supply of 180 boats). The provision of the Annual Maintenance Contract for the boats and training for marine police personnel has also been made.
A special provision of 60 jetties with up-gradation of the existing ones has been made in the new Coastal Security Scheme (Phase-II).

Women and Children Welfare Schemes: Breaking New Frontiers

The position of women has been always held high in the Indian civilization. The women-power has been hailed as ‘Matri Shakti’ and the existence of the womenfolk used to be celebrated as an essential half of spiritual enlightenment. Therefore, it is not without reason that even after Independence, the Government has been laying continuous emphasis on the general development of the women and especially their empowerment including adolescent girls and the children in all spheres of life.








The major task to cater to the welfare of the women, their holistic empowerment especially of the marginalized sections primarily rests with the Ministry of Women and Child Development. On this backdrop it is worth mentioning here that under the UPA dispensation, the Ministry has taken the giant and vital steps towards launching two new schemes. They are-Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (SALA) to address the multidimensional issues of the adolescent girls in the age group of 11-18 years. According to the programmes drawn by the Ministry, initially the programme will be implemented in 200 districts across the country.







Another such significant initiative undertaken by the Ministry is the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) – Conditional Maternity scheme. Initially to be implemented in 52 districts, the scheme aims to improve the health and nutrition status of pregnant and lactating women. The scheme will also create opportunities for pregnant women to associate themselves with the Anganwadis and the health centres.











SABLA





The Rajiv Gandhi SABLA was approved by the Government on August 16, 2010 and formally launched on November 19. The Anganwadi centres will be the focal point for the delivery of the services and are meant to implemented through States and UT’s with 100 per cent financial assistance from the Government at the center. SABLA aims at empowering adolescent girls for 11-18 years by improvement in their nutritional and health status and upgrading home skills, life skills and vocational skills.











Help towards Motherhood


Similarly, in October 2010, the Ministry of Women and Child Development, approved the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) – Conditional Maternity schemes.



The scheme envisages providing cash directly to pregnant and lactating women during pregnancy stage as it attempts to partly compensate for wage loss to the carrying mothers. The essential objectives of the scheme are to improve the health and nutrition status of pregnant and lactating women and the infants. Further, pregnant women of 19 years of age and above for first two live births are entitled for benefits under the scheme. The beneficiaries will be paid Rs 4000 in three installments till the child attains the age of six months on fulfilling specific conditions related to maternal and child health. The scheme also makes its clear that the Anganwadi worker and Anganwadi helper would receive an incentive of Rs 200 and Rs 100 respectively per pregnant and lactating woman after all the due cash transfers to the beneficiary are complete. Official sources say an allocation of Rs 190 crore was made for the financial year 2010-11 and an estimated 13 lakh beneficiaries are expected to be covered under the scheme.
ICDS


Besides these schemes, the Ministry has been undertaking several long-term and time-tested projects to provide social and economic means of support including shelter, counseling, vocational training and financial assistance to the targeted women and children. Among all the major schemes, the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) is the flagship programme, which was launched in 1975 with the principal objectives to improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age group of 0-6 years.

The scheme among other things also aims to enhance the capability of the mother of a child to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education.


The concept of providing a package of services is based primarily on the consideration that the overall impact will be much larger if the different services develop in an integrated manner as the efficacy of a particular service depends upon the support it receives from related services.
It is in this context, ICDS ensures convergence between the Ministries of Women and Child Development and Health, Sanitation and drinking water, Rural Development and the Department of Elementary Education.

In 2009, the Government brought in a few changes in the funding pattern and decided to introduce the concept of cost sharing ratio between the centre and the state with effect from 1st April, 2009. It would be 90:10 basis for all the North Eastern States and 50: 50 basis for other states.


In the recent times there has been also a significant increase in the Central Government’s spending on the implementation of the scheme. As against the allocation of Rs 10391.75 crore for the 10th plan, the fund has been raised to Rs 444,000 crore in the 11th Plan.


For ICDS, the Government has been also partnering with several international partners. These include World Bank, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and also the World Food Programme.


Over the years, it has been appreciated by the Government that early childhood care and education at the pre-school stage is increasingly being acknowledged globally as a critical investment for enhancing school readiness. With an overall supportive and enabling policy environment in place, the Ministry is now embarking on the next step of developing a time bound plan of action in partnership with public, private and voluntary sectors at both the national and the state levels to translate the policy directives into field realities.



In short, the Ministry is in constant move. And by the new initiatives and upgrading the already existing ones, it is only trying to break the new frontiers in the realm of comprehensive development of the targeted women and the children.

National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly

The National Programme for the Health Care for the Elderly (NPHCE) is an articulation of the International and national commitments of the Government as envisaged under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), National Policy on Older Persons (NPOP) adopted by the Government of India in 1999 & Section 20 of “The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007” dealing with provisions for medical care of Senior Citizen.


The NPHCE has been approved by the Minister of Finance on 10th June, 2010 at an expenditure of Rs.288.00 crore for the remaining period of the 11th Five Year Plan. This includes 20% share of State Governments (excluding the expenditure on Regional Medical Institutes) amounting to Rs.48.00 crore. The Government’s share would be Rs.240.00 crore (2010-12). The programme has been implemented in 30 districts of 21 States during the year 2010-11 and 70 will be added during 2011-12. The programme is expected to be expanded to the entire country during the 12th Plan.





Objective

Main objective of the programme is to provide preventive, curative and rehabilitative services to the elderly persons at various level of health care delivery system of the country. Other objectives are, to strengthen referral system, to develop specialized man power and to promote research in the field of diseases related to old age.





Main Strategies

Following strategies will be adopted to achieve the above mentioned objectives: Preventive and promotive care: The preventive and promotive health care services such as regular physical exercise, balanced diet, vegetarianism, stress management, avoidance of smoking or tobacco products and prevention of fall, etc will be provided by expanding access to healthy practices through domiciliary visits by trained health workers. They will impart health education to old persons as well as their family members on care of older persons. Besides, regular monitoring and assessment of old persons will be carried out for any infirmity or illness by organizing weekly clinic at PHCs.

Management of Illness: Dedicated outdoor and indoor patients services will be developed at PHCs, CHCs, District Hospitals and Regional Geriatric Centres for management of chronic and disabling diseases by providing central assistance to the State Governments.

Health Man Power Development for Geriatric Services: To overcome the shortage of trained medical and para-medical professionals in geriatric medicine, in service training will be imparted to the health manpower using standard training modules prepared with the help of medical colleges and regional institutions. The post graduate courses in geriatric medicine will be introduced in Regional Medical Colleges for which additional teaching and supportive faculties will be provided to these institutions.

Medical Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Intervention: By arranging therapeutic modalities like therapeutic exercises, training in activities of daily life (ADL) & treatment of pain and inflammation through physiotherapy unit at CHC, district hospital and Regional medical college levels for which necessary infrastructure, medicine and equipment will be provided to these identified units.

Information, Education & Communication (IEC): Health education programmes using mass media, folk media and other communication channels will be promoted to reach out to the target community for promoting the concept of healthy ageing, importance of physical exercise, healthy habits, and reduction of stress. Camps for regular medical check-up will be organised at various level where IEC activities will be specifically promoted.





Coverage and Major Components Of The Programme

Major components of the programme are to establish geriatric department in eight regional geriatric centers of the country and strengthening health care facilities for elderly at various level of 100 identified districts of the country. All the 8 regional medical colleges and 30 districts will be covered during the current financial year and rest 70 district will be covered during 2011-12.

The regional institutions will provide technical support to the geriatric units at district hospitals whereas district hospitals will supervise and coordinate the activities down below at CHC,PHC and sub centres.





Components:

Detail of the geriatric setup and activities under the programme at various health Care level will be as below:

Department of Geriatric at 8 Super Specialized Institutions: Geriatric Department will be developed at the following Regional medical institutions located in various regions of the country:- All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh, Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, Govt. Medical College, Tiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Guwahati Medical College, Guwahati, Assam, Madras Medical College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, SN Medical College, Jodhpur, Rajasthan and Grants Medical College & JJ Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Apart from providing referral treatment, research and manpower development, these institutions will be actively involved in developing and updating training materials for various levels of health functionaries, developing IEC material, guidelines, etc. Funds will be provided for manpower, equipments, medicines, construction of building, training etc.





Geriatric Unit at 100 District Hospitals

The programme will be implemented in 100 districts, covering 21 States/UTs. There is provision for establishing 10 bedded geriatric ward and dedicated OPD services exclusively for geriatric patients. Grant will be provided for contractual manpower, equipments, medicines, construction of building, training etc.





Rehabilitation Units at CHCs Falling Under 100 Identified Districts

There is provision for dedicated health clinics for the elderly persons twice a week. A rehabilitation unit will also be set up at all the CHCs falling under identified districts. Grant will be provided for manpower, equipments, training. The multi rehabilitation worker will provide physiotherapy to the needy elderly persons





Activity at PHCs under 100 Identified Districts

Weekly geriatric clinics will be arranged at the identified PHCs by a trained Medical Officer. The medical officer will conduct complete health assessment of the elderly persons on their first visit and then maintain a record of them in a register for future use. The elderly person attending the clinics will be provided medicines for their ailments. For diseases needing further investigation and treatment, persons will be referred to the first referral unit i.e. the Community Health Centre or District Hospital as per need.

One-time grant will be given to PHCs for procurement of equipment like: Nebuliser; BP Monitor; Glucometer; ECG Machine; Pulse oximeter, etc; which are essential for geriatric care. The Medical Officer will also liaison with the blindness control programme, CVD programme, Cancer and other programmes under NCD for arranging medicines, ambulance and other items needed for geriatric clinic etc.

The MO will provide training to the ANMs / Male Health Workers posted in Sub Centres.





Activity at Sub-centre under 100 Districts

The ANMs/Male Health Workers posted in sub-centres will be suitably trained to provide information and advice on proper nutrition, life style diseases and the benefit of physical exercise to the elderly parsons. She/he will make domiciliary visits to the elderly persons in areas under their jurisdiction. She/he will arrange suitable calipers and supportive devices from the PHC and provide the same to the elderly disabled persons to make them ambulatory. Sensitization of community/family health care providers in geriatric health care will also be done by the ANM/MHWs. There will also be provision for treatment of minor ailments and rehabilitation equipments at the identified sub centres.

Operational and Financial Guidelines for implementation of the programme has been finalised and put on the web-site of this Ministry (http://www.mohfw.nic.in).





Funding

An amount of Rs.60.00 crore has been allocated for the programme during the year 2010-11. Funds from the Government will be released to the State Health Society. State Health Society will retain funds for state level activities and release GIA to the District Health Societies. However, funds for the 8 Regional Geriatric Centres will be released directly to the concerned Institute/Medical College after getting them registered under the Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS).

The NCD Cells constituted at the Centre, State and district level under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, CVD and Stroke (NPCDCS) will implement and monitor NPHCE also.

Industrial Output & Growth: Challenges, Interventions & Prospects

The Indian economy in value term is the 12th largest; it is the fourth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) and second fastest growth wise. It is important to note that during the last three years, our economy have been severely impacted, but has successfully withstood two shocks in rapid succession: first was global financial crisis leading to the collapse in world growth, trade & financial system in 2007-09 whose ripple continue to persist even today; and second was year 2008-09 domestically, was a year of erratic monsoon which resulted into year of severe drought in 2009-10. Yet, Indian economy is coming through it with resilience and strength.




Industrial Growth Hit Hard



The industrial growth in India is measured in terms of index of industrial production (IIP) which continued to fluctuate in last three years. IIP-based cumulative industrial output growth during April-December 2010 was 8.6 per cent, on a par with the growth rate of the corresponding months of the previous year. It is to be noted that overall growth decelerated to 3.2 per cent in 2008-09 because of global economic meltdown. Timely intervention of the Government by way of appropriate monetary and fiscal policies resulted in the sharp recovery and overall industrial growth improved to 10.5 per cent. Growth in the industrial sector was buoyant during the first two quarters (April-June, July-September) of the current financial year. Thereafter, industrial output growth has begun to moderate partly due to higher base effect.



Industrial sector in India is divided into three broad sectors - mining, manufacturing and electricity. Manufacturing accounts for 79.4 per cent of the weight in IIP and the weights assigned to mining and electricity is 10.5 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively. IIP data is measured by ‘use based classification’ which is segmented into five broad groups: basic goods, capital goods, intermediates, consumer durables and consumer non-durables. Industrial sector has a share of 20 per cent in GDP. A moderation in industrial growth, therefore, affects the GDP growth proportionate to its share in GDP. Pressure on industrial growth, including manufacturing sector, became intense in 2008-09. Global economic slowdown impacted the Indian economy, particularly the industrial segment impinged by pull and push of domestic and external demand. The impact was widespread but worst hit were all the three key segments viz., mining, manufacturing and electricity. Government acted swiftly to the winds of change and timely intervention resulted in a quick recovery.



Policy Activism by the Government



The Government to sail through crisis resorted to policy activism and came up with three quick stimulus packages amounting to Rs.1,86,000 crore which was to the tune of 3.5 per cent of India’s GDP. It generated the much needed push in demand with a new set of optimism. Response to the global crisis was through fiscal and monetary policy interventions. The monetary and fiscal policy response intended to keep the impact of global crisis to the minimum and maintaining the aggregate demand at high enough level to stimulate the hard hit sectors. On the fiscal front the response essentially had two components- reducing excise duty by 6 per cent in two phases and rates of service tax by 2 per cent; and enlarging the Government expenditure to infuse confidence. On the monetary policy front, RBI undertook steps to expand liquidity. This was done to address the issue of Indian firms, during crisis to raise funds abroad, including trade credit, which had in turn put pressure on domestic banks for more credit. In a span of seven months between October 2008 to April 2009, the repo rate was reduced by 425 basis points to 4.75 per cent and reverse repo rate was reduced by 275 basis points to 3.25 per cent. Further, RBI reduced cash reserve ratio by a cumulative 400 basis points to 5.0 per cent.



Winds of change after Interventions



With these measures in pace, turn around in industrial sector began around June 2009 and continued to gather momentum. Overall industrial growth reached a peak of 18 per cent in December 2009, which was highest growth achieved since 1993-94. Manufacturing with its six core sectors has a weight of 26.68 per cent in overall IIP, (i.e. electricity, coal, crude petroleum, petroleum refinery products, steel and cement) also witnessed a sharp V shaped recovery and growth peaked to an all time high of 91.6 per cent in December 2009. Though even today month on month growth continued to fluctuate, overall industrial growth continued to be generally healthy. This clearly shows that timely intervention by the Government paid off.



According to the use based classification, capital goods posted a growth of 20.9 per cent during 2009-10 as against the 8.2 per cent during 2008-09. This classification also revels that consumer goods sector registered a growth of 6.2 per cent during the same time frame. Basic and intermediary goods industries posted a growth of 7.2 per cent. Basic goods and capital goods and intermediate goods registered a growth rates of 6.1 per cent, 16.7 per cent and 9.2 per cent respectively. Six core industries which is the backbone of our industrial growth registered a robust growth of 5.5 per cent during 2009-10 as compared to 3.0 per cent in 2008-09.



India’s policy advantage



World over we were acknowledged for out monetary and fiscal management during the global economic meltdown and thereafter. There are few things that are unique about our stimulus package, in the process of liquidity injection the counter-parties involved were banks - there was no dilution of government securities or mortgaging of securities or commercial papers to any country. In terms of fiscal incentives, the increase in public expenditure was to stimulate rural economy and it did not go for recouping losses of the financial institutions or the corporate. In turn it created a long term productive assets through MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.), which provided remunerative prices to the farmers through a system of minimum support price.



To sum it up, there has been a significant capacity addition in some of the core industries. Undoubtedly, a robust growth and steady fiscal consolidation regime has now become the hallmark of the Indian economy. But, slow rate of capacity edition in physical infrastructure sector is constricting industrial sector growth. Capacity addition in core sectors and renewal of bottlenecks would spur industrial sector output in the medium to long term.

Organic Farming - A Path to Self Reliant

Twenty eight years old Prakash Dhamala has successfully taken the baton of farming from his parents at Sauney, Singtam under West Pandem constituency and today is one of the progressive farmers in Sikkim. In his earlier days, Dhamala used to assist his family members to cultivate ladyfinger, beans and ginger on a small scale at their 1.5 acres farmland. Adding a new chapter to his assistance, he took over the farming responsibility in 2002 and first attempted to cultivate cucumber, snake gourd and bitter gourd. In 2010 alone, he harvested 130 quintals of cucumber, 35 quintals of snake gourd, 27 quintals of bitter gourd, 19 quintals of ridgegourd, 16 quintals of ladyfinger and 5 quintals of beans fetching him Rs. 1.5 lakhs as profit.


Since he started farming in 2002, Dhamala has relied on organic farming techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests. Organic farming excludes or strictly limits the use of manufactured fertilizers, pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides), plant growth regulators such as hormones, livestock antibiotics, food additives, and genetically modified organisms.

He came to the notice of the State Horticulture Department when the then State Agriculture & Horticulture Minister, Somnath Poudyal visited his farm and was much impressed with his work. From 2007, Dhamala started acquiring seeds of cucumber, bitter gourd, beans and ladyfingers along with other requirements like organic manure and pesticides from the Department.

The vision of State Government to make Sikkim an Organic State has helped his land acquire greater fertility. Earlier, not familiar with the organic farming methods resulted in the problems of pests and insects in the corps, but after embracing organic farming method, Dhamala says that production of his farm has enhanced.

Dhamala is putting all his efforts to help the Government for achieving the goal of making Sikkim as an Organic State by 2015. If it could happen then it would be an encouragement for the farmers and the production will automatically increase, he believes. He also opined that there should be security for the crops.

Besides horticulture, livestock management and dairy farming helps him on two fronts-providing him steady supply of homemade organic manure and additional income. He has 10 cows of holiesten variety out of which five are milching that produce daily 50 litres of milk. He has also added a number of goats of Australian species to his livestock.

While the young farmer is doing well in horticulture, he is also facing the problem of marketing. But he remains satisfied with his annual profit of more than Rs.One lakh after meeting all the expenses. He has committed himself to farming and sharing about his knowledge and experience about organic farming with others.

Clusters Development – a Tool for Sustainable Growth of Micro and Small Enterprises

Clusters are regional agglomerations of Micro and Small Enterprises including other stakeholders, having common challenges, common bottlenecks, common opportunities, common developmental agenda, in a specific area of business activity, related to each other through knowledge & other economic linkages. The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), has adopted the cluster development approach as a key strategy for enhancing the productivity and competitiveness as well as capacity building of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) and their collectives in the country. The cluster development initiatives have evolved over a period of time and are now being implemented under “Micro and Small Enterprises – Cluster Development Programme” (MSE-CDP) scheme.




The MSME sector has been recognized as the engine for growth in India. As per statistics compiled by International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Gross Domestic Product [based on purchasing-power-parity (PPP)] of India is 3,862.009 billion (Current international) dollars in 2010. The Indian MSME sector contributes 8% of the country’s GDP, 45% of the manufactured output and 40% of its exports. The MSMEs provide employment to about 60 million persons through 26 million enterprises. Therefore, at 8% contribution in the GDP, the contribution of MSME sector is 308.96 billion dollars. Keeping in view the huge contribution of the sector and its growth rate which is higher than the overall industrial growth rate, there is a need to complement the efforts of the sector by policy support, advisory and extension services including setting up of specialized knowledge and innovation based institutions in collaboration with private sector.



The intent of the cluster development programme is that a critical mass of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) join hands under the umbrella of a formal entity called cluster led by a group of beneficiaries (Special Purpose Vehicle) and pursue various programmes for training, exposure, business development, advisory, advocacy, setting up Common Facility Centres (Common Design Centres, Testing Facilities, Training Centres, Processing Centers for critical operations, R&D Centres, Common Raw Material Banks, Effluent Treatment Plants, etc.), infrastructure development for the benefit of all the units of the cluster. Cluster related policy, support and developmental interventions have a significant impact on the functioning of local industrial milieu and as well as on macro level.



The Micro and Small units are generally not in a position to install costly machinery for their critical operations, accept large orders, or infuse large capital due to their limited capital base and limited domain expertise. However, collectively through cluster development approach, the micro and small enterprises can attain the desired goal of being competitive in the present global scenario. The Cluster Development approach has proved to be a successful tool and played an important role in enhancing the competitiveness of the MSE sector in India. Apart from the benefits of deployment of resources and economy of scales, the cluster development approach helps in weaving the fabric of networking, cooperation and togetherness in the industry, and thus enabling the industry to achieve competitiveness in the long run. Cluster Development Approach is the answer of the Micro and Small Enterprises to the large scale sector of the country and the world. Cluster development approach should be part of the business strategy. This approach is the need of the hour and is relevant to the requirements of Micro and Small Enterprises. Upgradation of MSE sector also benefit the large scale sector by supplying good quality products at competitive rates to the bigger/mother units.



In the recent past, the cluster approach has been made an integral part in most of the new schemes being pursued by the Ministry of MSME like Design Clinic Scheme, Lean Manufacturing Scheme, Intellectual Property Rights Scheme under National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP). These schemes have assimilated the benefits of Cluster Development approach right from their design to the implementation. The cluster development approach has provided a unique platform to the policy makers, facilitators, donors, Business Development Service (BDS) providers to interact with the industry and to deliver their products in a cost effective and efficient manner.



Under MSE-CDP, financial assistance is provided for preparation of Diagnostic Study Report with a maximum grant of Rs 2.50 lakh, 75% of the sanctioned amount of the maximum project cost of Rs 25.00 lakh per cluster [90% for NE & Hill States, Clusters with more than 50% (a) micro/ village (b) women owned (c) SC/ST units] for Soft Interventions like training, exposure, technology upgradation, brand equity, business development, etc, upto Rs.5.00 lakh for preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR), 70% of the cost of project of maximum Rs 15.00 crore for Common Facility Centre [90% for NE & Hill States, Clusters with more than 50% (a) micro/ village (b) women owned (c) SC/ST units], 60% of the cost of project of Rs 10.00 crore, excluding cost of land for Infrastructure Development [80% for NE & Hill States, industrial areas/ estates with more than 50% (a) micro (b) women owned (c) SC/ST units].



The confidence building and trust building are two main pillars of building up cluster development initiatives. The initial apprehensions amongst the cluster actors about hijacking of the ideas and business opportunities get attenuated over a period of time with the confidence and trust building measures which must be integral part of the cluster development. In the present scenario of knowledge based economy, formation of consortia, self help groups, dynamic associations may yield benefits for perusing issue-based strategic interventions in the industrial clusters.



The cluster development approach and philosophy should take the industry into the realms of competitiveness. This is the only tool available to the micro and small enterprises to take on the onslaught of competitive marketing strategy of large scale sector. Keeping in view the importance and relevance of the cluster development methodology, a lot of departments and Ministries have launched various formats of cluster development programs. Though most of the programmes are sector specific, the MSE-CDP scheme addresses all the sectors of MSE clusters across the country. Nonetheless, there is a need to synchronize/ dovetail the interventions/schemes of various ministries/departments, private sector agencies, international/ multilateral agencies for synergizing the efforts and to achieve visible impact. The various schemes can be complemented to support the efforts and thus achieve multiplied tangible results.



It is very much desirable that MSEs and their collectives understand and assimilate the philosophy of togetherness, shed their apprehensions to become competitive through cluster development approach. The bargaining power of small scale units for bulk purchase of raw material, accepting large orders, sharing of surplus facilities, participating in common facility centres are possible only through the collective approach.



Proactive involvement of state government and associations is very much warranted for enhanced success of the clustering efforts. Provisioning of land for setting up of demonstration centers/ common facility centers are is one of the major issues and needs to be resolved by state governments. These associations should become champions of the cluster development approach and facilitate the SMEs in achieving the tested benefits of the cluster approach. There is a lot of scope and opportunities for interventions in innovation- based knowledge clusters as per regional/ local dynamics of economic of the enterprise development and sustainability.



After launching of the cluster mode schemes, the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, has undertaken cluster development initiatives (diagnostic studies, soft interventions and common facility centers) in more than 470 clusters across 28 states and one UT (Delhi) in the country, under MSE-CDP scheme. Moreover, 124 proposals (including 29 for upgradation of existing industrial estates) have been for taken up for infrastructure development in various industrial estates/ industrial areas. 10972 plots have been allotted to small and tiny units in these projects. 37555 employment generation has been achieved.



The achievements of the Cluster Development initiatives can be explained by taking specific examples. Six Handmade Safety Match Clusters (Virudhunagar, Sattur, Kovilpatti Kalugumalai, Srivilliputtur and Gudiyatham) in Tamil Nadu were developed under MSE-CDP in the last year. These are artisan type clusters with about 2000 plus handmade safety match manufacturing units in each growth centre with employment to about 2.5 lakh people - both direct and indirect. These artisan clusters were unable to withstand the competition emerged from the mechanized players. With the active cooperation and support from Government of Tamil Nadu, 6 consortia were constituted by groups of likeminded entrepreneurs; each group having 25 to 35 members. The cluster mechanism evolved has created a synergy among safety match clusters under community movement to scale up their operation. The highlights of safety match clusters are: Started creating employment opportunities in the hinterland; Six consortia created a Common Brand in the name of United Match; Launching a common web-site; Created a Common Raw material Bank with the support of Tamilnadu Government with a cost advantage of 25%; Backward integration; R & D for manufacturing of sulfur free match and Common processing method and uniform quality.



In another cluster development initiative for Brass and German Silver Utensils Cluster (500 micro units), Pareb, Patna, remarkable results have been achieved after soft interventions and setting up of a common facility center. Turnover of the cluster has increased to almost three times from Rs 23.50 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 69 crore in 2008-09. Energy cost for scrap melting has been reduced substantially. The employment in the cluster has increased from 4000 to 5000 in the post intervention period.



The guidelines of the MSE-CDP were revised in February 2010 with enhanced funding and simplification of procedures. With increasing awareness among various stakeholders including State Governments, the scheme is poised for a big leap in the near future. In the next financial year, 60 clusters will be undertaken for soft interventions including diagnostic study. 12 new infrastructure development and 8 new Common Facility center project will also be covered, apart from continuing support to the ongoing projects.

Green India Mission – A Way to Enhance ECO-Systems

The National Mission for a Green India is one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. The Green India Mission recognizes that climate change phenomena will seriously affect and alter the distribution, type and quality of natural resources of the country and the associated livelihoods of the people. GIM acknowledges the influences that the forestry sector has on environmental amelioration though climate mitigation, food security, water security, biodiversity conservation and livelihood security of forest dependent communities. The Key Innovations are the focus on quality of forests, ecosystem services, democratic decentralization, creating a new cadre of Community Youth as Foresters, Adoption of Landscape-based Approach and Reform Agenda as conditionality. Total Mission Cost is Rs 46,000 crore for a period of 10 years covering both Centre and States.








GIM puts the “greening” in the context of climate change adaptation and mitigation, meant to enhance ecosystem services like carbon sequestration and storage (in forests and other ecosystems), hydrological services and biodiversity; along with provisioning services like fuel, fodder, small timber and NTFPs. It will focus on quality of forests, ecosystem services and create a new cadre of community youth as foresters, adoption of Landscape-based Approach and Reform Agenda as conditionality.







The primary focus will be on improving density of forest cover, emphasizing on biodiversity, water and improved biomass, Carbon sequestration as co-benefit and addressing ecosystems like grasslands, wetlands, urban and peri-urban. Gram Sabha will be treated as overarching institution to facilitate implementation of the Mission activities at village level, nested as Polycentric Approach. A new cadre of community youth as foresters will build a skilled cadre of young “community foresters” from scheduled tribes and other forest dwelling communities. Interventions at scale (5000-6000 hectares) at a time, simultaneous treatment of forest and non forest areas and key drivers of degradation will be addressed under Adoption of Landscape-based Approach.



GIM’ aim is to respond to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures, which would help to enhance carbon sinks in sustainably managed forests and other ecosystems; adaptation of vulnerable species/ecosystems to the changing climate; and forest dependant local communities in the face of climatic variability.





Mission Objectives

It plans to Increase forest/tree cover on 5 m ha of forest/non-forest lands and improved quality of forest cover on another 5 m ha (a total of 10 m ha), improve ecosystem services including biodiversity, hydrological services and carbon sequestration as a result of treatment of 10 m ha, increase forest-based livelihood income for 3 million forest dependent households and enhance annual CO2 sequestration of 50-60 million tonnes by the year 2020





Mission Organization

The Mission will implement its strategy through a set of 5 Sub-Missions and cross-cutting interventions at National level, an autonomous society under MEF with an inclusive governing council, the mission to develop systems for highest degree of accountability will work. At State and District Levels, State Forest Development Agency (SFDA) and District FDA linked to District Planning Committee will be revamped. Gram Sabha and its Committees will work at village Institutions level and in Urban Areas, Ward level Committees /RWAs with support from Municipal organizations and the Forest Departments. Monitoring will be done at 4 levels, namely self Monitoring by community and field staff, Remote Sensing and GIS, third party monitoring by key indicators .



The actual implementation period of the Mission would spread over 10 years, coinciding with the 12th and 13th five year plan period. The Action Plan for the year 2011-12 is the preparatory year of the Mission.





The Draft Green India Mission document was put on website for comments on 23rd May 2010.The draft was made available in 11 languages. 7 regional consultations were organized over a month and a half from 10th June to 15th July in Guwahati, Dehradun, Pune, Bhopal, Jaipur, Vizag and Mysore. Over 1450 people participated in the consultations and thousands of mails were received from Panchayats, community groups, academia, researchers, schools, government agencies, private sector, media and concerned citizens. The revised document was approved by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change with certain observations.

Swabhimaan: A Unique Financial Inclusion Initiative

Providing banking facilities across length and breadth of the country, particularly in rural areas, has always been a great challenge for the successive governments since Independence. Nationalisation gave a big boost to expansion of banks in rural areas with Public Sector Banks becoming important instruments for advancement of rural banking and changing lives of rural populace. However, financial inclusion remains one of the biggest challenges before our nation even today as only about 38% of bank branches are in rural areas and only 40% (approx.) of the country’s population have bank accounts. Though strides have been made in expansion of bank branches from around 8700 at the time of bank nationalization in 1969 to around 87,000 presently, only 32,000 (approx.) are in rural areas. The average population per bank branch is around 13,900. To address this need the Union Finance Minister in his Budget Speech 2010-11 directed all banks, to provide appropriate banking facilities to habitations having population in excess of 2,000 by March, 2012 using various models and technologies including branchless banking through Business Correspondents. Accordingly, the banks through the forum of State Level Banker Committees (SLBCs), have formulated their roadmaps for Financial Inclusion and have identified approximately 73,000 habitations having a population of over 2,000 for providing banking facilities. These habitations have been allocated to Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks and Cooperative Banks for providing banking facilities in a time bound manner. This would provide new bank accounts to around 5 crore rural households.


Accordingly, a nationwide programme on financial inclusion, “Swabhimaan” was launched in February, 2011 by the Government, which is focused on bringing the deprived sections of the society in banking network to ensure that the benefits of economic growth reach everyone at all levels. This campaign is a big step towards socio-economic equality by bringing the underprivileged segments of Indian population into the formal banking fold for the first time.

“Swabhimaan” is a path-breaking initiative by the Government and the Indian Banks’ Association to cover economic distance between rural and urban India. This campaign promises to bring basic banking services to 73,000 unbanked villages with a population of 2,000 and above by March, 2012 and at least 5 crore new accounts will be opened. The movement will facilitate opening of banks accounts, provide need-based credit, remittance facilities and help to promote financial literacy in rural India. The programme will increase the demand for credit among the millions of small and marginal farmers and rural artisans who will benefit by having access to banking facilities.

This financial inclusion campaign named, “Swabhimaan” aims at providing branchless banking services through the use of technology. The vision for this programme is social application of modern technology. Banks will provide basic services like deposits, withdrawals and remittances using the services of Business Correspondents also known as Bank Saathi. This initiative also enables Government subsidies and social security benefits to now be directly credited to the accounts of the beneficiaries so that they could draw the money from the Business Correspondents in their village itself. The Government hopes to reach the benefits of micro insurance and micro pension products to the masses through this banking linkage. It would now be possible for the large number of migrant workers in urban areas to remit money to their relatives in distant villages quickly and safely.

The facilities provided through banking outlets will enhance social security by facilitating the availability of allied services in course of time like micro insurance, access to mutual funds, pensions, etc. Banking facilities like Savings Bank, recurring Deposits, Fixed deposits, Remittances, Overdraft facility, Kisan Credit Card (KCCs), General Credit Cards (GCC) and collection of cheques will be provided.

The Banks are also working together with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for enrolment, opening bank accounts and also to facilitate transfer of government subsidies and other payments.

The success of this programme will depend on the proper utilization of the Business Correspondents (BCs) or Bank Saathis, who are persons engaged by Banks to create a closer relationship between the formal financial system and the people living in the rural hinterland, far away from brick and mortar bank branches. The BCs will help in making available banking facilities to the interior areas through various handheld mobile devices and other technologies that reduce cost and have the ability to record banking transactions and to communicate the record of such transactions to the Bank using the internet facilities / GPRS.

The progress of “Swbhimaan” programe will be monitored through the State Level Bankers Committee mechanism. District Magistrates/Collectors are being sensitized in this regard to ensure proper monitoring of the programme through coordinated efforts of all stake-holders. The State Governments have been advised to route all Government benefits and social security payments through the banking system so that the benefits reach the beneficiaries timely and efficiently and leakages are reduced substantially.

“Swabhimaan” campaign is expected to benefit millions of small and marginal farmers and rural artisans by providing them easy access to credit at lower rates and save them from clutches and exploitation by moneylenders.

e governance in panchayats

12 CORE COMMON APPLICATIONS


Application

Description



1. Local Government Directory

Would provide unique codes to all Panchayats, capture change owing to delimitation of Panchayats and assign codes approprietly. It would link all Core Common Application by providing a mechanism for identification of all Panchayats.



2. Panchayat Profiler

Would maintain a complete village profile encompassing socio-economic data, socio-demographic data, public Infrastructure & services, geographical boundaries of Panchayats etc.



3. Asset Directory

Would help in management of information related to assets & utilities created and maintained by Panchayats.



4. Plans Plus

Would help in preparation of district plans starting from grassroots, enable convergence of funds from different programmes/schems to ensure effective utilization of funds, track fund inflows and outflows and maintain sources of funding.

Would enable preparation of Panchayat-wise Perspective Plan, Draft Plan, Action Plan and head-wise estimates of the budget.



5. PRIA Soft

Would capture details of receipts & expenditure, automatically generate cash book, registers, Utilization Certificates for schemes. It will enable generation of all required registers by just a few basic entries.



6. Action Soft

Would be used for Scheme implementation and monitoring. It would allow Panchayats to enter the implementation status of each scheme on the basis of the defined monitoring parameters. This would be usable for all Central/State schemes as well as local Panchayat schemes, if any.



7. Grievance Redressal

Would be a generic grievance redressal system allowing citizens to lodge complaints against Panchayat functionaries and report any malpractices. It would track the entire grievance redressal process until closure.



8. Social Audit

Would capture all events and details relating to social audit conducted by gram Sabha, the action taken report etc.



9. Training Management

Would be a portal providing details of all training programs i.e. schedule, training material etc. The Panchayat functionaries will be able to register for courses online. Also, the partner training agencies will be able to register.



10. GIS

Would display the maps of Panchayats and integrate with the other applications such as Panchayat Profiler,. PlanPlus, Asset Directory, etc. so that a spatial view of the profile/plan of a Panchayat can be obtained by overlaying various non-spatial data.



11. Panchayat Portals

Would generate a website for each Panchayat & Would integrate with other software application for Panchayats, to act as a single delivery gateway using single sign-on.



12. ServicePlus

Would be a generic citizen service delivery application to capture all events and information related to delivery of services to citizens by Panchayats.

Introducing e-governance in Panchayats

It is an accepted position that Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) as units of local self government, are the constitutionally mandated third tier of governance and as per Article 243G of Indian Constitution are required to perform the functions of - preparation of plans for economic development and social justice; Implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice as may be entrusted to them including those in relation to the matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule. In addition to the above, Panchayats are required to levy, collect and appropriate taxes, duties, toll and fees;and manage the grants-in-aid received from Central and State Governments.




Thus Panchayats are increasingly becoming, the nodal points for delivery of crucial social schemes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGs), Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF), Mid Day Meal (MDM), Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) etc. To enable Panchayats perform their mandated role effectively, it is essential that they have appropriate capacities. e Panchayat is one of the means of building the required capacities.



To ascertain the Information and Service Needs (ISNA) of all the stakeholders namely Central Ministries, State Development, Citizens and Panchayats,the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) had commissioned a comprehensive study convering all States and UTs. Subsequently, Business Processing re-engineering (BPR) required to usher into an ICT era in Panchayats has been worked out in details for all the states. Based on the ISNA and BPR, Detailed project reports (DPRs) for each of the States/UTs have been prepared. The total projected cost, spread over 4 years is Rs 6,989 cr. The Ministry has identified 12 core Common Applications that address all aspects of Panchayats’ functioning; from internal core functions such as Planning, Monitoring, Implemenatation, Accounting, Social Audit etc., to citizen service delivery. PRI Accounting Software (PRIASOFT) and PlansPlus Software for decentralized planning have already been operationalised. The Ministry is making all efforts to support Panchayats with requisite ICT infrastructure and trained manpower to be able to effectively use these applications. The benefits will accrue to all stakeholders including Central Ministries, State Departments, People and Panchyats themselves. e Panchayat would ultimately result in induction of mass ICT culture in the country thereby furthering the agenda of “Inclusive Growth” PRIs would thus become symbols of modernity, transparency & efficiency.

Enabling Participative Decentralized Planning at Grass Root Level

Many efforts have been made by the Government to strengthen and decentralize the planning process so that the development funds consumed by the Plans result in effective outcomes. However, the efforts have not sufficiently fructified. Some of the reasons are that the plans are prepared for each scheme separately resulting in lack of convergence of funds and sectoral integration; planning has traditionally been done at the district level, which is physically removed, from the citizens resulting in Plans that do not reflect the needs and aspirations of the people; there is no tight coupling between the Planned outlay and the actual expenditure incurred and there is no integration between plans of different local governments.




In an attempt to address these problems, the Planning Commission issued guidelines in 2007 that mandated that all plans from 11th Five Year Plan onwards should be prepared in a decentralized manner, starting from urban and rural local governments. Recognizing the potential of Information and Communication to demystify the planning process, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj in collaboration with National Informatics Centres has designed and developed a software, Plan Plus, for simplifying and strengthening the planning process.



Plan Plus Features



Plan Plus is a very simple, easy to use software with local language interface that facilitates generation of District Plans through interactive workflows among all participating agencies. The key features of the software include:



Convergence of Funds



Plan Plus enables intelligent convergence of funds from different schemes for a work, there by ensuring, on the one hand, that the available funds are utilized to the maximum possible extent and on the other hand that important works are not abandoned for lack of funds.



Sectoral Integration



Plan Plus enables sectoral integration by stimulating the planner to think in terms of end-to-end projects rather than in terms of isolated islands of work.



Vertical & Horizontal Integration



Plan Plus provides facility for co-opting of works of a lower tier by a higher tier panchayat thereby facilitating vertical integration. It also incorporates the concept of supra-projects, which enables two or more local bodies (rural as well as urban) to collaborate to take up a work, which is of common interest.



Workflow



Allows customizable workflows of Plan creation-evaluation-modification-finalization as per State specific needs.



Plan Generation



The software generates various views of the Plan including Sectoral Plan and Scheme wise Plan, besides the normal Plan view.



Generation of District Plan



Plan Plus converges and integrates the Plans of urban and rural local governments to generate a consolidated District Plan.



Extensibility



Plan Plus can be easily extended to facilitate the preparation of state and central government plans.



Graphical and GIS Reports



A number of graphical reports are generated to help the Planner as well as the District Planning Committee to take a view of the investment profile of the Plan. This helps in ensuring that the Plan is not unjustifiably skewed in favor of a particular sector.



Adaptability to the Variations across States



In view of the varying levels of capacities and experiences of different states in the Planning process, the software allows easy customization so that States can configure it to suit their own level.



Local Language



The software supports local languages of the states to enable local bodies to function in their own languages.



Transparency



At every stage of the Planning process, the Plan is constantly available to the general public for scrutiny thus enabling a transparent and participative Plan preparation.



Availability



The software is web based and is available on 24 x 7 basis with appropriate authentication.



Target Users



The Target users in the country of the software are the Citizens, Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs,) Municipalities, District Planning Committees (DPCs), Financial Institutions, and State Government Departments



. Implementation



Plan Plus was field-tested in four districts viz., Bir Bhum (West Bengal), Palakkad (Kerala), Gul Barga (Karnataka) and Dhamtri (Chhattisgarh). The software has now been launched and training being given to target users of 250 districts in the country that fall under Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF).



System Requirements



Plan Plus is web-based, platform independent software that is very simple to use and provides local language support using UNICODE fonts. The software can be accessed using Internet Explore 6.0 or above OR Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.1. Both online (on-line at http:// planningonline.gov.in) and offline versions of the software are available to cater to the connected as well as poorly connected or disconnected environments.

Making Contract Labour Act More Worker Friendly

Contract labour has become the order of the day given the compulsions of remaining afloat in a highly competitive environment due to globalisation. The employment structures are undergoing changes across the world with emphasis on flexibility in labour markets.




To meet the changing scenario many countries have embarked on amending labour laws to liberalize their respective labour markets. India too has been in it. The subject of contract labour figured prominently during the 43rd Indian Labour Conference where the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said that this might be the time to ponder the wider issues. He said, ‘’We need to consider the role of some of our labour laws in contributing to rigidities in the labour market, which hurt the growth of employment on a large scale. Is it possible that our best intentions for labour are not actually met by laws that sound progressive on paper but end up hurting the very workers they are meant to protect?’’





The Contract Labour Regulation and Abolition Act, 1970 defines a contract labourer as a worker hired by principal employer of an establishment through a contractor for execution of a specific job. The Act makes certain welfare provisions like payment of minimum wages, certain health and sanitation facilities at the working place, provident fund benefits etc. for the benefit of contract labourers.



The Act applies to any establishment employing 20 or more workers on a contract basis on any day during the last one year. All contractors who employ or have employed 20 or more workers on any day of the preceding twelve months come within the purview of the Act. It is mandatory for such establishments to get registered as principal employers. Besides these regulatory provisions, government may prohibit employment of contract labour in any establishment or in any process/operation depending upon whether the work is perennial in nature or the work is incidental for an establishment. The Central Government on the recommendations of the Central Advisory Board has abolished contract labour system in a number of jobs in different industries and so far over 70 notifications have been issued. The Act provides for government inspections to detect violations.

Despite all these provisions, it has often been found that the law is under-protective for various reasons. First, as the contract labour is mostly in unorganised sector, it is hard for contract labourers to prove their identity as workers because the employer-employee relationship under the Act is blurred.



Secondly, to circumvent labour laws various kinds of employment structures have been created since globalisation reducing permanent jobs into non-traditional part-time, casual and contractual forms of employment. This has weakened job security and collective bargaining of workers.

According to the D.G., Labour Welfare “Contract Labour, by and large, is neither borne on pay roll or muster roll nor is paid wages directly. The establishments, which outsource work to contractors, do not own any direct responsibility in regard to their labourers. Generally, the wage rates to be paid and observance of working conditions are stipulated in agreements but in practice they are not strictly adhered to.”



It has also been observed in some developing countries that with contractualization of labour, social security of workers has suffered and workers are often terminated without benefits. Even the 2nd National Labour Commission said that at several of the centres it visited, it was found that in many cases contractors absconded after deducting social security contributions from the wages of contract workers leaving them high and dry.





Keeping in view the pressures of globalisation on establishments and the poor working conditions of the contract labour, the 2nd National Commission on Labour in its Report said that organisations must have the flexibility to adjust the number of workforce based on economic efficiency. It, however, recommended that contract labour should not be engaged for core production\services activities. The Commission further said that there have to be provisions prohibiting transfer of perennial core services to other agencies or establishments. It further recommended that the contract labour will have same remuneration as of a regular worker doing work of a comparable nature and the principal employer will ensure that the prescribed social security and other benefits are extended to the contract worker.





The Central Government has decided to amend the Contract Labour Act and has appointed a Task Force to make suggestions in this regard. Labour and Employment Minister M Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Act is being amended to ensure job security to workers and to check their exploitation. Conceding that outsourcing of labour has severely affected the workforce, Kharge said, “With employers resorting to outsourcing methods to a larger extent, the practice has dealt a severe blow to employees as they get lower wages.”





Before suggesting any amendments it would be incumbent upon the Task Force to examine that whatever little is ensured by the law is adhered to in practice. It has to bear in mind that contract labour and outsourcing have emerged as the prominent forms of employment. Therefore, the Task Force would have to balance between the flexibility in labour markets necessary in a competitive world, employment generation and job protection and social security benefits to workers.

Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques Act, 1994

The Pre-conception & Pre-natal Diagnostics Techniques (PC & PNDT) Act, 1994 was enacted in response to the decline in Sex ratio in India, which deteriorated from 972 in 1901 to 927 in 1991. Female infanticide had been prohibited through legislation in pre-independence period and certain provisions were included in the Indian Penal code, 1860 for punishing causing miscarriages and other such offences but with the advent of diagnostic technology to detect the sex of the foetus very early on in pregnancy, a need was felt for a specific law to prevent the misuse of technology which could lead to female foeticide.






With the rise of pre-natal diagnostic techniques especially amniocentesis, the Government issued a directive banning its misuse in government hospitals/laboratories in 1978. Subsequently, in 1988 the Government of Maharashtra enacted the Maharashtra Regulation of Pre-natal diagnostic Techniques Act. After intensive public debate over this issue, the Parliament enacted the PNDT Act, 1994 comprehensively defining various terms, prohibiting the misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques to detect the sex of the foetus before or after conception and prescribing penalties.





In 1988, the State of Maharashtra became the first in the country to ban pre-natal sex determination through enacting the Maharashtra Regulation of Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act. At the national level the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act was enacted on September 20, 1994. This act came into force in the year 1996.





The Act was amended in 2003 following a PIL filed in 2000 to improve regulation of technology capable of sex selection and to arrest the decline in the child sex ratio as revealed by the Census 2001. With effect from February 14, 2003, due to the amendments, the Act is known as the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994.

The main purpose of enacting the PC & PNDT (prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 has been to:





· Ban the use of sex selection techniques before or after conception

· Prevent the misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for sex selective abortions

· Regulate such techniques





The long title of the Act now reads, “An Act to provide for the prohibition of sex selection, before or after conception, and for regulation of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for the purposes of detecting abnormalities or metabolic disorders or chromosomal abnormalities or certain congenital malformations or sex-linked disorders and for the prevention of their misuse for sex determination leading to female foeticide and for matters connected therewith or incident thereto”.





Amendments to the Act mainly covered: i) bringing the technique of pre-conception sex selection within the ambit of the Act, ii) Bringing the use of Ultrasound Machines within the purview of the Act more explicitly, iii) Further empower the Central Supervisory Board for monitoring the implementation of the Act, iv) Constitution of State level Supervisory Boards and a multi-member State Appropriate Authority for better implementation, v) More stringent punishments, vi) Empowering the Appropriate Authorities with the powers of the Civil Court for search, seizure and sealing the machines/equipments/records of the violators, including sealing the premises and commissioning of witnesses, vii) making mandatory the maintenance of proper records in respect of the use of ultrasound machines and viii) Regulate the sale of ultrasound machines only to the registered bodies.





Provisions of the Act





The Act has the following main provisions:





· Registration: All bodies under the PC & PNDT Act, 1994, namely Genetic Counselling Centres, Genetic Laboratories or Genetic Clinics cannot function unless registered. The requirement of registration is mandatory whether the body is government, private, voluntary, honorary, part-time, contractual or consultative. Registration of these bodies as a centre and/or clinic can be done jointly or separately.





· Prohibitions: The PC & PNDT Act, 1994 prohibits sex selection before or after conception and misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for determination of the sex of the foetus as also advertisements in relation to such techniques for detection or determination of sex. The Act specifies punishments for violation of its provisions.





· Implementation: The Act is implemented through the following agencies -Central Supervisory Board (CSB); State Supervisory Boards (SSBs) and Union Territory Supervisory Boards (UTSBs); Appropriate Authority for the whole or a part of the State/Union Territory; State Advisory Committee (SAC) and Union Territory Advisory Committee (UTAC); Advisory Committees (AC) for designated areas (part of the State) attached to each Appropriate Authority; Appropriate Authorities at the District and Sub-District levels.





· Maintenance & Preservation Of Records: The Act and Rules deal elaborately with the maintenance and preservation of proper records. This has two advantages; i) From the point of view of the centre/clinic if there is a complaint the records can prove their action to be in accordance with the law and, ii) From the point of view of the Implementing Authorities the records can help in establishing compliance while non-maintenance itself can give rise to a cause of action indicating probable misuse of diagnostic techniques.





· Search, Seizure & Sealing Powers: When an Appropriate Authority or any other authorized officer has reason to believe that an offence has been committed under the Act, he may search any place suspected to be conducting pre-natal diagnostic techniques. The scope of the powers of the Appropriate Authorities are very wide and they are empowered with the powers of Civil Court for search, seizure and sealing the machines, equipments and records of the violators of law including sealing of premises and commissioning of witnesses.





Offences under the Act





· Conducting or associating or helping in the conduct of PND techniques/tests in an un-registered unit: Liable person is the owner or person responsible for conducting the PND test;





· Sex selection on a woman or a man or both or on any tissue, embryo, conceptus fluid or gametes derived from either or both of them: Liable person is the specialist or team of specialists;

· Taking the services of an un-qualified person, whether on honorary or payment basis: Liable person is the Unit owner or person responsible;





· Conducting a PND test for any purpose other than those mentioned as permissible in the Act: Liable person is the Unit owner, person responsible or person conducting the procedure;





· Sale, distribution, supply, renting, allowance or authorization of use of any ultrasound machine or any other equipment capable of detecting sex of a foetus to non-registered units: Liable person is any organization, company, manufacturer, Importer, Dealer, supplier;





· Advertisement or communication in any from in print, electronic media or internet by units, medical professionals or companies on the availability of sex determination and sex selection in the form of services, medicines, or any kind of techniques, methods or ayurvedic medicines: Liable person is the unit owner, person responsible, distributor, printer, publisher, website host, website developer or anyone connected with the issuance of any such communication or advertisement.





As per the reports received from the States and UTs, 32380 bodies using ultrasound, image scanners etc. have been registered under the Act. 801 ultrasound machines have been sealed and seized for violation of the law and 902 cases have been filed in the Courts for various violations of the law. A total of 55 convictions have been secured by Punjab (22), Haryana(23), Delhi(2), Chandigarh(1) and Gujarat(4). The concerned State governments are regularly requested to take effective measures for speedy prosecution of the ongoing cases.





Penalties under the Act





· Breach of any provision by the service provider: 3 years imprisonment and/or a fine of Rs. 10,000/-; For any subsequent offence: 5 years imprisonment and/or fine of Rs. 50,000/- (Section 23 (1));





· Medical Professionals: AA will inform the State Medical Council and recommend suspension of the offender’s registration if charges are framed by the court and till the case is disposed off; removal of name from the register for 5 years on 1st conviction and permanently in case of subsequent breach (Section 23 (2));





· Persons seeking to know the sex of the foetus (A woman will be presumed to have been compelled by her husband and relatives): Imprisonment extending up to 3 years and a fine of up to Rs. 50,000/-; For subsequent offences: Imprisonment upto 5 years and or a fine of Rs. 1,00,000/- (Section 23 (3));





· Persons connected with advertisement of sex selection/sex determination services: Imprisonment up to 3 years and/or a fine of Rs. 10,000/- with additional fine of continuing contravention at the rate of Rs. 500/- per day (Section 22 (3));





· Advertisement for the purpose of Section 22 (3) includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper or any other document including advertisement through internet or any other media in electronic or print form and also includes visible representation made by means of any hoarding, wall painting, signal, light, sound, smoke, gas, etc.;





· Contravention of provisions of the PC & PNDT Act, 1994 for which no specific punishment is provided in the Act are punishable with imprisonment up to 3 months and/or fine of Rs. 1,000/- with additional fine of continuing contravention at the rate of Rs. 500/- per day (Section 25);





· Such contraventions can be presumed to be the non-maintenance of records, non-compliance with standards prescribed for the maintenance of units, etc.





· The offences under the Act are cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable.





Adverse Child Sex-Ratio In India





The Child Sex Ratio for the age group of 0-6 years as per the 2011 census (provisional) has dipped further to 914 girls as against 927 per thousand boys recorded in 2001 Census. This is the worst dip since 1947.This negative trend reaffirms the fact that the girl child is more at risk than ever before. Except for the states of Himachal Pradesh (906), Punjab (846), Chandigarh (867), Haryana (830), Mizoram (971), Tamil Nadu (946), Andaman & Nicobar Islands(966), the CSR has shown a declining trend in most states . Among the larger States, Chhattisgarh has the highest Child Sex Ratio (CSR) of 964 followed by Kerala with 959. Haryana (830) is at the bottom followed by Punjab (846).





Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Haryana have had the worst 30 year decline in child sex ratios. The Census 2011 figures reveal that the child sex ratio is comparatively lower in the affluent regions – the CSR in the states of Punjab (846), Haryana (830), Himachal Pradesh (906), Chandigarh (867) and Gujarat (886) have increased by few points over 2001, while states like Delhi (866), Uttaranchal (886), Maharashtra (883), Uttar Pradesh (899), Rajasthan (883) and Jammu and Kashmir (859) have dipped further from 2001 levels.













Child Sex Ratio over the years





S.No.

State/Uts

1971

1981

1991

2001

2011(Prov.)





India

964

962

945

927

914



1

Jammu & Kashmir

959

964

NA

941

859



2

Himachal Pradesh

981

971

951

896

906



3

Punjab

899

908

875

798

846



4

Chandigarh

892

907

899

845

867



5

Uttaranchal

NA

NA

949

908

886



6

Haryana

899

902

879

819

830



7

Delhi

909

926

915

868

866



8

Rajasthan

932

954

916

909

883



9

Uttar Pradesh

923

935

927

916

899



10

Bihar

964

981

953

942

933



11

Sikkim

1087

978

965

963

944



12

Arunachal Pradesh

968

997

982

964

943



13

Nagaland

991

988

993

964

944



14

Manipur

986

986

974

957

934



15

Mizoram

NA

986

969

964

971



16

Tripura

977

972

967

966

953



17

Meghalaya

992

991

986

973

970



18

Assam

1002

NA

975

965

957



19

West Bengal

1010

981

967

960

950



20

Jharkhand

NA

NA

979

965

943



21

Orissa

1020

995

967

953

934



22

Chattisgarh

NA

NA

984

975

964



23

Madhya Pradesh

976

977

941

932

912



24

Gujarat

946

950

928

883

886



25

Daman & Diu

NA

NA

958

926

909



26

Dadra & Nagar Haveli

1021

995

1013

979

924



27

Maharashtra

972

956

946

913

883



28

Andhra Pradesh

990

992

975

961

943



29

Karnataka

976

974

960

946

943



30

Goa

964

965

964

938

920



31

Lakshadweep

929

964

941

959

908



32

Kerala

978

970

958

960

958



33

Tamil Nadu

974

967

948

942

946



34

Pondicherry

978

975

963

967

965



35

Andaman & Nicobar Islands









978









978









973









957









966









Note: For 1971, the figure of Goa includes Daman & Diu; The figures of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for 1971 and 1981 include the figures of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal, respectively; For Jammu & Kashmir, 1991 Census data is not available; The 2001 figure for Manipur excludes figures of Paomata, Mao Maram and Purul Sub Divisions of Senapati district; The 2011 census figures are provisional.