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Poverty Alleviation


Rs. 5.5 crore for survey of BPL families

Wednesday, 26 August 2009 07:31 administrator
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The Hindu 26.08.2009

Rs. 5.5 crore for survey of BPL families

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: The Minister for Municipal Administration, Public Enterprises and Local Institutions, Balachandra Jarkiholi, on Monday said that the State Government had decided to conduct an economic survey of below poverty line (BPL) families in 222 urban local body areas and it had sanctioned Rs. 5.5 crore for this. He told presspersons that the last such survey was conducted in 1998. There were nine lakh such families in the State in 1998 and now, there was an estimated 40.50 lakh families, a more than four-fold increase, over the last 10 years. The survey would be completed in three months. Details of family members such as their educational qualification, employment, benefits they were getting under government schemes, property they owned and how they acquired them, the kind of residential facility, the condition of their children, other economic activities, if any, and what other facilities they expect from the Government would be collected during the survey.

He said that 18 per cent of the budgeted grants used to be earmarked for the development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes living in areas governed by urban local bodies and this had been raised to 22.75 per cent.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 26 August 2009 07:39
 

Bihar formulates schemes for Central package

Friday, 14 August 2009 07:37 administrator
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The Hindu - Bihar 14.08.2009

Bihar formulates schemes for Central package

New deal meant to provide relief to 1.26 crore families living in 26 drought-hit districts

 

Schemes have thrust on key sectors like employment, drinking water, irrigation, foodgrains

Memorandum to be sent to Centre in two days

Patna: In a bid to secure Central assistance to the tune of over Rs.12,500 crore, Bihar has formulated several schemes with thrust on key sectors like gratuitous relief, employment generation, drinking water, irrigation and storage of foodgrains for 26 drought-hit districts.

Several schemes have been formulated for the purpose of reaching relief and succour to over 1.26 crore families living in 26 districts declared as drought-hit by the State’s NDA Government, State Disaster Management principal secretary Vyasji said on Thursday.

On delay in submission of the memorandum to the Centre seeking the special financial package for drought-hit areas, he said that after intensive review of the situation and formulation of the scheme, it came to the State Government’s notice that it would require, apart from the resources it has in hands, not less than Rs.12,500 crore from the Centre.

“The memorandum is now in the final stages of preparation in keeping with the financial needs of the key departments like agriculture, health, energy, food and civil supplies and animal resources to step up relief operations in the affected districts,” Mr. Vyasji said.

“We hope that the memorandum after being vetted by the State Government will be sent to the Centre within a day or two,” he added.

Mr. Vyasji said rescheduling of cooperative loans, collection of land rent, cess, irrigation taxes and electricity surchage related to agriculture will be postponed for the fiscal 2009-10.

State Cabinet Secretary Girish Shankar said a crisis management group under Chief Secretary Anup Mukherjee would review the situation regularly with assistance from the district-level task force formed to implement the schemes in the affected districts.

Cash dole

The State Government has also proposed providing cash dole with plan to distribute roughly around Rs.100 crore within a period of three months, besides distributing 1.26 crore quintal of foodgrains for a month, official sources said.

“We also plan to raise over 1200 make-shift camps for protecting cattle heads, besides arranging for fodder and medicines,” they said.

The future strategies also included seeking assistance in diesel subsidy for irrigation for Rabi, ensuring credit to all Kisan Credit Card holders and seed subsidy at 50 per cent for Kharif and Rabi, sources added.

Installation of new hand pumps, deepening existing ones and providing mini piped water supply schemes in villages, supplying water through tankers, were among other plans for the drought-hit population, sources said.

Among the districts declared drought-hit are: Patna, Nalanda, Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas, Kaimur, Gaya, Jehanabad, Nawada, Arwal, Aurangabad, Munger, Sheikhpura, Lakhisarai, Jamui, Bhagalpur, Banka, Saran, Siwan, Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Begusarai, Madhepura, Kishanganj, Katihar and Vaishali.

The paddy sowing in Bihar dropped by 59 per cent to 15 lakh hectares against the targeted 35.50 lakh hectares in the current crop season. During the last crop season, the sowing was 34.50 lakh hectares.

State Agriculture Department deputy director (statistics) Sanjay Singh said rainfall was 42 per cent deficient at 331 mm between June 1 and August 7, 2009. --PTI

Last Updated on Friday, 14 August 2009 07:39
 

Suvidha Kendras taking the schemes and benefits within the reach of the urban poor

Friday, 14 August 2009 07:31 administrator
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The Hindu - Delhi 14.08.2009

Suvidha Kendras taking the schemes and benefits within the reach of the urban poor

Urvashi Sarkar

 

70 NGOs enlisted to survey areas of the Capital

NEW DELHI: Sixty-two-year-old Jhinkan Prasad has come to Mahila Vikas Sansthan, a Naraina-based non-government organisation here in the Capital, to apply for old age pension.

The NGO has been demarcated as a Suvidha Kendra and a Gender Resource Centre by the Delhi Government as part of its Mission Convergence programme launched in 2008.

“As a Suvidha Kendra, it is a site of single-window clearance where the poor can apply for schemes and benefits they are entitled to. A Gender Resource Centre is where women below the poverty line come for courses in vocational training, legal aid, knowledge on nutrition and health care, formation of self-help groups and non-formal education free of cost,” says Shyamala Shiveshwarkar, consultant with the Centre for Advocacy and Research.

Those who finish the courses receive diplomas awarded by the Union Government.

The Mission Convergence programme was launched to place schemes and benefits within the reach of the urban poor in the Capital.

“For this purpose, the Delhi Government enlisted 70 NGOs which sent their outreach workers to survey areas of the Capital door-to-door. The NGOs came up with a list of 40 lakh individuals who were classified as below poverty line.” says Ms. Shiveshwarkar.

The classification took place on the basis of place of residence, people who are socially vulnerable and those who are occupationally vulnerable.

“The outreach workers explained to the people the concept of GRCs and SKs and told them about the single form to be filled even if they were entitled to benefits from several schemes. The people were informed about GRCs in their neighbourhoods,” adds Ms. Shiveshwarkar.

Individuals like Jhinkan Prasad learnt about GRCs from people who visited his house during the survey.

He displays a piece of paper with his details on it and also the name of the survey worker who met him.

Mission Convergence director Rashmi Singh says: “The BPL classification has been expanded to include vulnerable categories instead of limiting it to classification based on income. The programme is still in a transitional stage, services have to be directly carried to the people and there may be objections to change in the traditional systems of delivery mechanisms. Five lakh women have already benefited from GRCs.”

Girja Kumari Sahu, who works with the District Resource Centre, South, adds: “At present GRCs are equipped to help individuals in applying for five-seven specific schemes as decided by those in charge of Mission Convergence. The aim is to enable GRCs to deliver the benefits of above 40 schemes.”

The programme also aims to provide those who have been identified in the survey with biometric cards. These cards will serve multiple functions including identity proof. The 78 operational GRCs-SKs, which are being pitched as the face of the Government at the community level, are the main interface between the two.

Dr. Gyanendra Kumar, executive director of Mahila Vikas Sansthan, says: “When people come to the SK to apply for schemes they are entitled to, they have to submit the self-attested application form, details of their bank account and statement, affidavit and residence proof. These forms are then sent to the District Resource Centre and finally the Department of Social Welfare.”

Last Updated on Friday, 14 August 2009 07:33
 

They are engineering slummers' rehabilitation

Monday, 27 July 2009 11:01 administrator
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Times of India 27.07.2009
They are engineering slummers' rehabilitation
CHANDIGARH: Dollar power was not able to lure these computer engineer graduates to keep them off the happiness they went on to derive from social responsibility. These alumni of the prestigious Thapar University of Engineering and Technology decided to settle in the city and work for slum children. In their mid-thirties, the couple, Liza and Amit Tandon, initiated an NGO called Chhoti Si Asha in 2007 and since then, they have been working to rehabilitate slum-dwellers through education and vocational skills.

Liza and her husband were on an assignment in California and had the option of staying back, for they were US green card-holders. What made them work for the deprived in the slums was a realization. “I had seen some children begging in the Sector-17 plaza. This moved me and I discussed with my husband how to go about working for them,” Liza said.

Since then, the NGO has been teaching these slum kids to give up begging and become self-reliant. “The younger kids are working on making pen-stands and we have plans to expand the product base, including coasters, paper shopping bags and jewellery,” Liza added.

Recently, Chhoti Si Asha was able to convince the slum children to take up education instead of begging. “We had four children admitted in Carmel Convent School. It is not easy to instil in them the benefits of education. It is challenging to persuade these children and their family with regard to education. Last year, there were some who fled when we tried and encouraged them to study,” Liza noted.

The NGO has also been working for slum-women who are illiterate. Sewing machines have been arranged by the NGO, which are used by poor women in stitching and selling clothes. The organization has roped in volunteers who have been delivering to children lessons in personal hygiene. “We had held exhibitions of the handiworks made by these slum-dwellers. This has been able to make them earn some decent amount for livelihood,” Liza noted.
 

Addressing urban poverty

Wednesday, 03 June 2009 00:00 administrator
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Source : The Hindu Date : 03.06.2009

Addressing urban poverty

India’s inequalities are more glaring in its urban areas. The country’s urban poor, according to Planning Commission estimates, number 80 million and constitute 25.70 per cent of the urban population. The socio-economic dynamics of urban poverty are very different and the problems the urban poor face are different from that faced by their rural counterparts who at 220 million form 28.3 per cent of rural population. Though the urban poor have better access to employment and income, these are irregular and are mostly in the informal sector. The other key determinants of urban poverty are the levels of access to facilities, such as housing, sanitation and drinking water, and services such as health care and education. Two economic factors aggravate the despair of the urban poor: the nature of employment, and the absence of social security. Yet, poverty alleviation programmes in India and elsewhere have had a marked rural bias, evident from the decrease in absolute numbers of the rural poor from 261 million in 1973-74 to 220 million in 2004-05 (Uniform Recall Period). This is in contrast to the rise in the numbers of the urban poor from 60 million to 80 million over the same period. Addressing urban poverty alleviation through the rural prism runs the risk of coming up with partial solutions, such as those based on self-employment schemes. As it is the lack of access to housing and public utilities that causes urban poverty more than factors related to employment and income, the strategies should differ from those for the rural poor.

For the Central government’s inclusive growth agenda to make a difference to the urban poor, interventions that insulate the poor from the multiple vulnerabilities of urban living are critical. In urban areas, the incidence of poverty is higher among workers in the informal sector. While the government’s proposal to extend the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to urban areas, with modifications, is welcome to the extent that it will provide job opportunities and incomes to the urban poor, measures that prevent a relapse into poverty are also required. More important is to put in place policies that ensure access to affordable healthcare, expenses on which are a major cause for impoverishment of the vulnerable sections. A social security system for all unorganised workers, therefore, is a priority. Improving the conditions of housing for the urban poor is another area for urgent action. The larger aim of poverty reduction programmes should be to ensure that the vulnerable are not impoverished because of the pressures of urban living.

Last Updated on Thursday, 04 June 2009 06:33
 


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