ISSUES TO BE PONDERED =BONDDONRAJ

B

bonddonraj

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
It is now five years since the 86th Amendment was enacted, making free and compulsory elementary education a fundamental right. Yet the government has neither passed the necessary follow up central legislation, nor has it ensured that state governments do so individually at their level. Much like the hollow promise made by the erstwhile Directive Principle exhorting the State to try and provide free education to all children up to the age of fourteen years, the present "fundamental right" also does not appear to be going anywhere. How is this right to be provided? Who should be approached if a child's right is not received? These and many other similar questions continue to remain unanswered in the absence of a clear law that spells out the exact nature of this most essential fundamental right.

There are those who argue that a right to education is meaningless when there is no fundamental right to say, livelihood, or water or housing. In my opinion however, in a welfare State, there is no competition between any of these, and the provision of a right to education does not preclude provision of the other rights. The issue here is that having provided the basic skeleton of the right to education, the State is failing to redeem its promise.

Many recent surveys (and government figures) have seemed to indicate that more children are in elementary schools today than in previous times. What they learn in school and the nature of the school itself that they attend is however, open to debate. There are no laid down standards of infrastructure, nor any guidelines that prescribe what is the minimum quality of education that children must receive, except as is determined by the state governments or suggested by NCERT. It is high time that the Central government takes up its responsibilities and enacts a clear and iron-clad law that will ensure the delivery of this fundamental right to all children
 
The functionaries of the village panchayat (panchayat president and ward members) do not always have a clear perspective of the needs and aspirations of the villagers, nor do they necessarily possess the capacity to help the village people/farmers to identify their own problems and take action for solving them through self-help and community effort. It is often observed that to the panchayat members development is confined to the creation of infrastructure (both essential and non-essential) in their respective wards. They are not so concerned about the need for creating sustainable income and employment opportunities for the villagers, protecting the local farming systems and resource base from destruction and for changing the attitude of the villagers towards a better and quality life.


For Panchayati Raj to succeed at the local levels, the elected office bearers have to work in an impartial manner, free from communal and caste prejudices, and to a certain extent from narrow political interests. A regular programme of capacity building for the elected members of panchayats with a view to make them understand their duties and responsibilities can help the members in working for the overall welfare of the people whom they represent. I also feel that they have to get involved more with social sector issues that affect the day-to-day lives of village folk rather than focus on just creation of infrastructure. It, therefore, seems imperative to focus initiatives on decentralization in the state is on the ‘welfare’ issues (basically social sector issues).

I would like to highlight that fund devolution to panchayats is not yet happening properly. With the exception of states like West Bengal and Kerala, where empowered peoples’ panchayats and gram sabhas have a deep rooted tradition of democracy, other states are yet to fully test the model of fund devolution. By effectively implementing rural local governance and empowering PRIs, states could also begin to consider reducing the so called cost of funds delivery where today, for every rupee of development, the carrying cost is about 6 rupees of governmental expenses.



Indices are a good concept but to start thinking about them before we effectively devolve and decentralize seems to me a case of trying to create further barriers in this process. Already we are in an overregulated environment and the kind of paperwork that is involved even for panchayats to spend funds allocated to them is archaic.



I believe the time isn’t yet ripe to come up with indicators
 
Is technology only for the urban people? This is the question they raised.



So I will begin with this thought, and a reference in passing to the ICT for disaster management query. I did not get a chance to respond to that and saw the many useful contributions, but I'd like to share my experience from being at two areas of disaster in two different parts of the world. One was in the floods of 7/11 in Mumbai floods, and another time when I was in the Caribbean when an earthquake that measured 7.0 on the Richter scale hit the island.



So, disaster management (solutions) and urban privileges, or lack of it: 7/11 in Mumbai has been extensively documented and the only two lifelines available during those days of incessant rain was one, a private FM channel and the other Rediff.com, both which flashed updates, requests, news, people asking about their loved ones etc. Even this was available only to those lucky to have power even in large posh complexes, as one of the power utilities had switched off all supply as a precautionary and repair measure. Water, power, newspaper, supplies all were affected adversely. Mobile networks were also down for large parts of time. Two years later, the fear is still very much unabated. Local people in suburbs like Chembur have formed small self help groups and demonstrated how lifesaving equipment such as floats etc can be made with discarded plastic bottles, tyres and everyday items.



It is the innovation and self-reliance of people in the ground and not any authorities or ICT solutions that the common citizens rely on. This is because after the disaster and the rhetoric, much is forgotten. Even horrendously neglected. And no visible changes are perceived at the ground level.



People in the Caribbean region live with cyclone forecasts almost all through the year, disasters happen routinely and so everyone is aware/committed to dealing with it – the authorities and the citizens. At regular intervals in the newspapers and media, there are advertisements about what to do in case of emergency. Maps and contacts of closest shelter are given for reference. List of what to stock (food items, candles etc) is published. Dummy evacuation procedures are held etc.



In contrast, neither the government nor the best media house does that even in the most urban city of Mumbai . I have no idea where the closest shelter is in case of any natural disaster or emergency. Is there a concept of shelter at all? For instance, Singapore subways are designed to become emergency shelters in case of war, chemical or natural disaster.



While many ICT solutions are relevant, what makes a difference is what is done on an ongoing basis during the time when there is NO disaster. Are more trees planted, are shelters built, are maps and emergency procedures available, explained and kept up-to date? In doing so, what is the scope for ICT interventions (better logistic and supply chain solutions for food delivery?) I make references to this merely as an instance of how the primary goal needs to be clear. Governance has to be an ongoing commitment and not only confined to development of technical systems.



Beyond the definitions, what does it mean when we use terms such as scalability, development, ICT and even e-governance. We all discussed how post offices could become CSCs. How will it change lives in a significant way for the people involved? Does post office staff have minimum amenities? In Mumbai, they barely have fans in the room during summer and broken windows and peeling paint. Do the postmen have cycles, houses to stay or home loans, insurance and such, medical and other benefits that work?



What does development mean to the people? ICT projects are as such largely seen as putting some activity or application online. But it is not really only restricted to such a narrow definition or scope. While ICT discussions focus on the "E" in e-governance, it is also really more about the "G". Is the governance, transparent, free of corruption, caring about welfare, and effective? Then the technology system will enable it to be more effective (thus enabling it to be scalable). If not, then the technology system has the hurdle of first to ensure it overcomes the ills of poor governance, which is not really its primary task.



Systems cannot replace bad governance or limitations in environment. For instance, early warning system is of no use to me if I have no shelter and escape routes. Thus systems begin by battling other factors, hence lose steam and impact. I think the problem (and solutions) begins with how we understand issues. After ICT professionals seek to put some applications and services online, unless it makes and brings a visible and better change and impact in daily life, it is not effective. Hence it never goes beyond pilots or small success and failures.



Again, in technology solution development and implementation, the end user is not to be dazzled by "see how wonderful this application is". The user needs to be comforted or assured by, "Will this save my buffalo that is ill?" or such - i.e. Benefits v/s Features. The issues are true of many other projects too, which never go beyond pilots – even large projects and investments with strong management backing, and the people behind it wonder why the silver bullet failed.



On leadership and management skills – on all counts I never tire of replying as many times as the question is asked – just look at the examples of dairy farming (and newer, microfinance). Both examples are of grassroots levels, in rural areas and with a combination of technology and other management factors that have proved successful. I don’t think it is necessary to opt for simple, low cost or indigenous technology to ensure success (the questions about dot-matrix v/s laser printers and such). That is an outcome of funds and budgets available. In fact the best global technology was made available to villagers to determine the fat content in milk in Khera Dist., more than twenty five years ago. And it worked.



Leadership is oft quoted, but again leadership is at all levels and from all quarters. One person may act as a catalyst at best. While Dr. Kurien is the father of the White Revolution, it is the millions of women at the grassroots who make it work. It is the same with SEWA or LIJJAT Pappad. Small enterprises like agarbatti and beedi making that changed the face of rural economy in South Kanara do not even have any one personality behind it.



Last week I read about PPP in Spices Farming in Assam and another one on how women in small towns are doing wedding shopping online for jewelry. Without doubt, ICT solutions are making access and reach available in many ubiquitous ways and we should not for a moment think it is not scalable. We need to be sure what we mean exactly when we discuss scale. To be effective, scale is one indicator, but so is replicability as has happened with the co-operative movement. From milk to oilseeds to fruit, fish and sugar. While milk and oil have flourished under the Amul/NDDB, sugar as all know is rampant with tales of corruption.



People behind any venture need to see it as both – a mission and a passion and a business proposition. Technology, Funds, Leadership, Zeal, Participation - it is no longer about "Or" but "And". There are also many other reasons that influence projects – Political, Legal, Statutory, Social, Emotional etc. Janagraha (a great idea in my view) is still only confined to one or two cities. Even within Karnataka, it has not spread like wild fire as I thought it should.



So is it about technical capability or more? Even today how many urban users do tax returns online? It is technically possible and users are well educated but it is still a cautious approach by users. It is a question of faith in the systems (both online and offline). Will it work? What if it doesn’t? What recourse is available to me? Poor legal recourse is a huge stumbling block.



Whether urban or rural, the underlying factors remain the same – reach, simplicity, trust, relevance, need, recourse, training, compulsion etc. This also in part explains why corporate projects are successful (there are many which fail and don’t go beyond pilots there too). Accountability for execution and support/recourse is available in most cases. Going back after the project is over and evaluating it, ruthlessly if required is done.



There will be losses and failures. To stay with them, not give up or to look beyond them and move quickly on to the next , the ability to learn from lessons both failures and success, share knowledge resources is the key, which to some extent which we try in forums such as these. While it is important to keep learning and innovating and doing more, it is not true completely to say projects don’t go beyond pilots. NDDB/AMUL is the best example or case study we have of projects that have centered around the goals of meeting basic needs of agrarian rural communities and successfully creating an alternative economy.



In this and in examples of SEWA, LIJJAT etc we have instances of ICT interventions that have helped develop rural communities from consumers to producers. (I’m not too sure if I can buy online from SEWA, can they export their creations and so on but this is the direction I would look at). Do we really need more and other varied examples than AMUL? The taste (and test) of India ?
 
I have no doubt that there always should be a common platform for both NGOs and Government machineries to coordinate during the disaster. However, in actuality it happens that we have hardly anytime to coordinate whenever a disaster strikes.



I would personally like to see the coordination happen during the preparedness phase. In Orissa the agencies Red cross, Catholic Relief Services, OXfam etc have already formed one Inter Agency Group to coordinate at the time of disaster.



There are some issues like:



1. Possession and Distribution of Resources at the time of Disaster.

2. Hierarchy of Commands where both the Government and NGOs are involved.

3. Determination of underserved and unserved areas at the time of disaster.

4. Setting up of one coordination cell with full time employer both from NGO and GO side.



These need to be solved so that the coordination principle should not stick to the paper rather it should come out to the Ground ZERO and create an enabling environment for better preparedness.

 
Ministry of Home Affairs issued order to all state governments to update their relief code and manual and come up with their own state act or adopt national act and develop guidelines and frame respective State Disaster Management Act/ Guidelines. As we have experiences from last couple of years, the NGOs have taken proactive step in bringing people's perspective and NGO role in CBDRM/DP in many states, like Orissa, Assam, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh to name few. The recommendations were well accepted by the respective state authorities and are working on their respective state acts. It is not a new concept that the NGOs were not invited in the contingency planning process at state and district level. If one observes it closely, it is only a token participation. The coordination meetings happen twice in a year, invite couple of NGOs, deliberate on preparedness of various agencies, and close the business.



The question is how we operationalise the coordination work and also advocate for effective response from Government and NGOs ? A full-fledged cell at the state authority and district authority will take up all kinds of coordination work in entire cycle of disaster management. the cell will also act as forum to place all short comings and issues related to disaster management. If we take experiences from recent Tsunami response, there are many live stories and evidences of discrimination in lines of gender, disability, caste diversity and aged. There were also questions of operational principles and values and standards of all participating agencies in response. Thus, the cell not meant only for relief stage but has a lot to offer to the government and other stakeholders in effective disaster management at different levels. In light of this, NDMA felt to have a task force with in their structure and also recommending to have such task forces at state and district level too.



Act will provide basics on what is required to be done, how to do has to be developed in the form of guidelines by respective states. The task force or cell whatever the term is used will address the issue of how part coordination.
 
there is no doubt that Information Technology is a very powerful tool for better Disaster Management. We have to do a lot of further research in Indian context on this topic for saving more and more people through better early warning system from upcoming Disasters. Taking the example of Tsunami 2005, that time if we had good Early Warning System then the casualty rate could have been reduced to some extent.



Here I have collected some useful links on Communication Strategies for Disaster Preparedness and Warning Systems:



· Ham Radio Disaster Rules http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/emergency/hamradio.html

Emergency Minnesota Amateur Radio Disaster Network http://www.14567.org/
Center for Disaster Management at LBSNAA http://www.lbsnaa.ernet.in/lbsnaa/research/cdm/index.htm
Amateur Radio Disaster Services http://www.ares.org/
Disaster Relief Communications Foundation http://www.reliefweb.int/library/dc1/dcc1.html
New Approaches in Disaster Communications: Towards A Global Communications Lifeline Infrastructure http://www.sfu.ca/~gagow/capcom/thesis.htm
Disaster Early Warning Network http://www.disasterwarning.com/
Tsunami Early Warning System http://www.envirtech.org/envirtech_tsunameter.htm
 
Literacy among girls, despite Sarva Siksha Abhiyan scheme of the Government of India, has remained as low as only 54% girls up to 7 years of age are enrolled in schools as against 75% boys of the same age. The number of girls in higher education becomes progressively low due to social and economic factors as the parents have the mind set against large educational expenditure on girls. The result is that girls are left with not many options in choosing low skill, low paid jobs. The avenue for better paid jobs open up with higher education and skills, which are expensive and between boy and girls, parents often opt for the boys to have the higher and more expensive education, thereby, enabling them to be better qualified for higher paid jobs. The inequality begins at home and impact girls’ lives.



Empowerment of women begins with education, which is not just enrollment of girls in primary schools. To enable economically backward and meritorious students to access higher education in India and abroad, the Government of India has launched an Educational loan scheme, which is available to both boys and girls. The details are given in the following link:

http://education.nic.in/TechnicalEdu/eduloan.asp#finance.The Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines on the issue reflects the Government policy directing the Banks on the social banking strategies, focusing on education sector loans. The guidelines can be seen in the following web link: http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/PublicationDraftReports.aspx?ID=493



Following the implementation of the scheme, the Indian Banks’ Association revised it within the given framework, without being able to tilt the balance to benefit more number of girls. The link below presents the revised scheme: http://www.iba.org.in/educational_loan.asp



However, given the fact that the girls are disadvantaged and do not get opportunities to go for higher studies due to cost factors and other social and cultural reasons, the Government should consider revising the educational loans scheme adding a third objective of allowing concessions in the interest rates, extending repayment holiday etc.



I would like the girls to have higher education, but parents in rural India still do not have much interest in girls’ higher education. Subsequent to this, women too do not play an active decision making role in asserting that their daughters should go in for higher education. Hence, it is imperative that the Government provides some special facilities for higher education for girls. This could be, providing books, transport facilities, subsidized loan, hostel facilities free of cost. There could be more vocational training centers for girls with guarantee of employment. A list of such institutes should be distributed among all anganwadi workers and Panchayats for wider dissemination.
 
It is a fact that most of the revenue of the Corporate sector comes with a cost to the society and environment which may be direct or indirect and may/may not be accounted for with present learning. While many corporate sectors get benefit from freebies or facilitations from Government Policy (land, water, tax holidays etc.), many others’ profit comes with a cost to local community and environment. Therefore, it becomes a duty/responsibility of Corporate Sector to share a burden of societal and environmental development with the State and Civil Society. Therefore the fact that it gets a tax benefits while performing its ‘responsibility’ may not be termed as ‘philanthropy’ for the society, rather be viewed as an ‘incentive’ for the corporate to perform its responsibility more genuinely and effectively.


The notion that it is fair for industry to garner benefits while contributing to the society on the pretext of CSR completely negates the principle of ‘social responsibility’ by the corporate. Attitude of "business of business is to do business" should be secondary to performing ‘responsibility’ towards social welfare. It may be remembered too much of ‘business’ without ‘social welfare’ sometimes make it difficult to continue ‘business’ with growing deprivations leading to extreme situations.


Further, viewing investments in ‘skill development’ of people to get ‘locally available manpower’ is no doubt a win-win situation, but should never be camouflaged as ‘CSR’. It should rather be viewed as company’s core and strategic investment on HR. But developing skills of people especially poor and disadvantaged to earn their own livelihood from elsewhere, even enabling them to get engaged in backward and forward sectors can be a CSR. Similarly providing employment or skill development training to displaced people under R&R schemes must not viewed as CSR.
 
The functionaries of the village panchayat (panchayat president and ward members) do not always have a clear perspective of the needs and aspirations of the villagers, nor do they necessarily possess the capacity to help the village people/farmers to identify their own problems and take action for solving them through self-help and community effort. It is often observed that to the panchayat members development is confined to the creation of infrastructure (both essential and non-essential) in their respective wards. They are not so concerned about the need for creating sustainable income and employment opportunities for the villagers, protecting the local farming systems and resource base from destruction and for changing the attitude of the villagers towards a better and quality life.

For Panchayati Raj to succeed at the local levels, the elected office bearers have to work in an impartial manner, free from communal and caste prejudices, and to a certain extent from narrow political interests. A regular programme of capacity building for the elected members of panchayats with a view to make them understand their duties and responsibilities can help the members in working for the overall welfare of the people whom they represent. I also feel that they have to get involved more with social sector issues that affect the day-to-day lives of village folk rather than focus on just creation of infrastructure. It, therefore, seems imperative to focus initiatives on decentralization in the state is on the ‘welfare’ issues (basically social sector issues).

 
one has to be careful in case of rural poor and women as the above strategy may not work well in case of rural areas. The job opportunity at urban centers will require heavy transaction cost of relocation to the cities and the existing salary structure for these low skill jobs may not be very high to secure a decent livelihood not withstanding problems associated with migration.



In the rural areas the skill upgradation may have limited scope. There may be some opportunities in some specific sectors like transportation industry. However, the focus should be more on being self employed than a regular job. Hence, skill training as a strategy may be preferred more for the urban poor and poor of surrounding big urban centers as an employment opportunity.



Referring to Aneel Karnani’s article Fortune at Bottom of the Pyramid: A Mirage, it is indeed true that raising income through being effective producers will be significant for poverty alleviation. This can only be done by making their production base strong, either by increasing production, either through micro irrigation, extension services etc. or by realizing more value for their output and also both



The growth in non- farm sector is positively correlated with the growth in the farm sector and hence, overall rural development and employability to a large extent will remain dependent on the primary sector growth which may stimulate further growth in the non farm sector. This may also come as a solution to the problem of employment for land less laborers.



Hence, the mid sized companies may partner with skill training institutes like Dr. Reddy’s Foundation and with many similar interventions in the other part of the country to support skill development initiatives which may become source for recruitment for them or support strengthening of supply chains in the rural areas which are critical to their industry and be a source of competitive advantage for them. Of course, any cheque book signing approach will not remain sustainable if it does not lead to institution building and is not integral to the business of the organization. However, the severe market failure in the rural market makes it imperative that in the incubation period investor must be willing to accept losses before building competitive advantage.
 
PROBLEM=== we are focusing our attention on financial inclusion for the poor, a continuing challenge for India . The growth and spread of MFIs has played a significant role in increasing access to financial services to populations that are currently not being reached by banking industry.



Currently, the credit application process in banks is based on traditional credit assessment methodology which involves extensive documentation and paper work; thus, making it cost and time intensive and suitable only for large size loans. Such application processes are not suitable for smaller loan sizes (ex. say Rs. 5,000 to 25,000) demanding shorter loan processing time and lower processing costs. Today if banks are to directly reach out to this segment, one of the prime factors that deters them is not having adequate measures to assess credit risk of lending to a client in this population.



I would like to look at this issue further to explore new approaches that commercial banks can adopt to promote financial inclusion. Therefore, I would like to ask experiences on assesing credit risks of poor clients:


1. Design features of an objectively verifiable indicator/ tool to assess credit risk associated with the rural client, (similar to the Cashpor Housing Index which measures poverty) which can replace/ reduce traditional credit risk assessment systems of commercial banks.



2. Features of short and appropriate client profile.


3. Key indicators used to predict credit risk level of the rural client.

Your inputs will greatly help in initiating research for improving the credit risk assessment methodology for banking institutions and help increase outreach to the rural, farm and unorganized sector.




SOLUTION === Today so much effort and money is spent on credit risk assessment and yet has not become fully satisfactory.

If Biometric Smart card transaction is made mandatory, then the process of credit risk assessment would become automatic and any statistics could be available by selecting the criteria required for assessment and obtaining the details from the database.

For example, if a rural poor wants to start an activity say goat rearing, the biometric account would enable him / her to obtain micro finance, make all payments thro' the card for the actual purchases made and not fictitious purchases, as the seller would also be covered by a similar biometric account.

All earnings would get credited to the Biometric account and the repayment becomes automatic and after proportionate repayment, the surplus can be used by the individual. The money cannot be diverted for other purposes.

The purchasing power and purchase details of the citizens and the sales of products would be transparently available for a healthy competition and minimum profit for all round benefit.

To enable this, cash transactions must be done away with and all transactions made transparent on the web. That would be the key.
 


While the government is systematically enhancing the required capacities and establishing systems for risk management and vulnerability reduction, it is proposed to prepare Vulnerability and Risk Reports for each of the states to understand better the trends and patterns of disasters and the factors that influence the vulnerabilities. Wide dissemination of these findings through regular State and Country Disaster Risk and Vulnerability Reports would mainstream these concerns in the sustainable development framework and policy agendas of relevant governments and other development partners. Such reports would give objective indicators to the local government on the areas of mitigation and risk reduction that need focus and also indicate to the higher levels of government which subordinate units need support in specific areas. The report would also help the national and state Governments to effectively utilize the capacities being established and the policy initiatives under the national roadmap.



Vulnerability mapping and Risk Assessment were identified as two important components under the project. Though lots of investments are already done for hazard mapping by various expert organisations there is not much emphasis on Vulnerability and Risk Analysis. Under DRM Programme few Initiatives for mapping Vulnerabilities and Capacities have been performed.



Both inductive and deductive approaches have been used to determine disaster risk. Inductive approaches use detailed quantification of hazard occurrence probabilities of different levels of magnitude, the elements that would be exposed (population, infrastructure etc.) to the hazards and vulnerable elements in the area of exposure to model the expected disaster risk. This approach has been adopted for Delhi State and detailed mapping of vulnerabilities and capacity has been done for all the 9 districts of Delhi. Similar efforts of mapping vulnerability and capacities and linkage with Disaster Management Plans at various levels were carried out by UN House Orissa and OSDMA.



These approaches are very useful and rigorous. However, in most situations, this can be very expensive and time consuming, as much of the information required will have to be generated and most of the countries lack systems for collection and synthesis of such data especially at disaggregated geo-political levels.



Since it is not feasible to adopt Inductive approach for all the programme states, Deductive approaches make use of parameters of hazard frequency and physical exposure estimated using systematic geo-referenced inventories of disasters and indicators of vulnerability to model the realized risk (deaths, damage etc) estimated using the disaster inventories. While this approach captures the cumulative disaster risk obtaining at a specific geopolitical unit for the period under observation, the usefulness for prediction of future risk might be limited. Nevertheless this approach might be more feasible compared to the inductive approach given the availability of systematic disaster inventories and other readily available indicator parameters of vulnerability.



Pilot study has been carried out in Orissa during 2002-2004 period and Desinventar Tool and Methodology had been used for developing Systematic Inventories of past disasters. 10000 data sets on all the disaster events happened in Orissa state has been collected and analysed in comparison with Socio economic factors.



A preliminary analysis of the data compiled has brought out interesting observations which are contrary to normal perceptions. Some of the observations are:

Against the accepted notion that cyclones and floods are the most damaging disasters, it is actually fires and epidemics that cause more damage to life and property.
Analysis of the loss of property shows that fire cause most damage followed by flood, hailstorm and rains.
Fire makes people more vulnerable in terms of property and life but flood makes them more vulnerable in terms of livelihood, since agricultural lands get inundated. And Orissa being a predominantly agricultural economy gets shattered in times of floods.
The trend of the number of deaths due to flood shows a decline, whereas the trend for number of victims is on the increase.


Similar efforts of disaster Inventorisation and analysis has been carried out in UP, Uttaranchal and Delhi under DRM programme and Tamil Nadu under regional tsunami recovery programme.



National Initiatives

Department of Space and Ministry of Home Affairs initiated the development of a National Database for Emergency Management. However, this initiative is not focussing on Disaster Database.
Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council Vulnerability Atlas of India (Flood, Earthquake, Cyclone and wind hazards and landslides) : The Atlas gives information on all vulnerable areas that have been mapped indicating the expected intensities of natural events like earthquakes, cyclones, floods and landslides that can occur in different areas.
Water and Related Statistics by Central Water Commission
Disastrous Weather Events Report by Indian Meteorological Department.
Drought : ( Department of Agriculture and Cooperation/ NADAMS/ IMD) Drought Situation Reports are available as hard copies and also in electronic format with Department of Agriculture and Cooperation. Gives details of rainfall, crop position, damage details and relief measures taken. The department for few of the past events (2002 drought) also publishes States reports depicting the drought conditions.
 
Powers of Local Bodies to Plan

Respondents underlined the provisions made under various statutes for planning at various levels of panchayats and also highlighted the guidelines issued by state governments to give effect to those provisions:

· Under the Constitution (73rd Amendment) panchayats have the powers to prepare plans for economic and social development for the village and higher levels of local governance. The Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution lists subjects covered under the powers for planning, which include agriculture, veterinary services, small scale industries, primary education, primary health care etc.

· State governments have laid down specific and clear guidelines for local governments to do planning (states like Kerala and Madhya Pradesh have issued Local Government Planning Guidelines for the Eleventh Plan).

· For states/areas precluded from the purview of 73rd Amendment it would be useful to look into the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act. Provision of Standing Committees in every Gram Sabha empowers the Gram Sabha and the various gram sabha committees can discharge their responsibilities assigned under PESA (as in Madhya Pradesh).

 
Recommended Documentation

DISNIC Project, NIC, New Delhi

Under the project, an integrated approach for database development across different sectors was adopted thus facilitating inter-sectoral planning and development.



Planning at the Grassroots Level - Report of the Expert Group

Ministry of Panchayati Raj; March 2006

Available at: http://www.panchayat.nic.in/ (Size: 526 KB)

Suggests action programme for local planning in 11th Plan, and also how national programmes in various sectors could achieve objectives better by giving centrality to PRIs



Local Government Plan Guidelines for Eleventh Plan

Government of Kerala; May 2007

http://www.localgovkerala.net/lsgd-links/Govtorder/GO-128-2007-lsgd.pdf (Size: 736 KB)

Guidelines for the Preparation of Annual Plan 2007-08 and XIth Five Year Plan for Decentralised Planning by Local Governments (Launch of next phase of People’s Plan)



Circular on working groups of Panchayats, Government of Kerala, 2002

http://www.kerala.gov.in/govtorders/go020.pdf (Size: 37.5 KB)

Contains detailed instructions for the functioning of Working in the preparation of Tenth Five Year Plan by Local Governments



Planning Guidelines for Tenth Five Year Plan

Government of Kerala; 2004

http://www.keralaplanningboard.org/html/modiguidlines.html

Modified Guidelines for formulation of 10th Five Year Plan for Decentralised Planning by Local Governments, provide for conceptualization of sectoral vision and consolidation
 
Several NGOs and some other practitioners have been seeking clarifications on various sources of funds that are available to the State Governments to meet relief expenditures. We have collated from Government sources some basic information on two main sources of funds that are in force. The two main sources for meeting such expenditures are the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) and National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF). The mechanisms for meeting relief expenditure related to natural induced disasters are based on the recommendations of Finance Commissions. Recently, the Government had revised the norms of expenditure and list of items that can be included in utilising the funds. Hope you will find this helpful in increasing your awareness about how the states meet the relief expenditure requirements.



CRF is used for providing immediate relief to the victims of cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood and hailstorm, etc. These funds can also be used for Repair/restoration of immediate nature of the damaged infrastructure in eligible sectors such as (1) Roads & bridges (2) Drinking Water Supply Works, (3) Irrigation, (4) Power), (5) Primary Education, (6) Primary Health Centres, (7) Community assets owned by Panchayats. In April 2003, the Government issued a notification to include procurement of essential search, rescue and evacuation equipments and communication equipments subject to a ceiling of 10% of the CRF allocation of the year. It could also be used for installation of public utility 4-digit code telephone (calls not metered) – mostly for the control rooms.



Of the total contribution for CRF indicated by the Finance Commission, the Government of India contributes 75 per cent of the total yearly allocation in the form of a non-plan grant, and the State Government concerned contributes the balance amount.



Based on the recommendations of the Eleventh Finance Commission, a National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) Scheme came into force with effect from the financial year 2000-01. NCCF is intended to cover natural calamities such as cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood and hailstorm, which are of severe nature requiring expenditure by the State Government in excess of the amount available in CRF. The list of items and norms of expenditure for assistance chargeable to CRF/NCCF in the wake of natural calamities is prescribed in detail from time to time.



The Government of India has recently accepted the Twelfth Finance Commission’s recommendations on financing of relief expenditure on natural calamities for the period 2005–2010. It has also recommended including of natural calamities of “landslides”, “Avalanches”, “Cloud burst” and “Pest Attacks”. The revised items and norms can be viewed from website of Disaster Management Division of Ministry of Home Affairs i.e. www.ndmindia.nic.in. One key factor to be noted in this is the increase of the Ex-Gratia payment to the families of deceased persons from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 100,000 lakh per deceased. For more information on this please click http://www.ndmindia.nic.in/management/RevisedNorm2007.pdf (Size:88.0 KB)

 
the last one decade India has faced some of the worst possible natural disasters. The list of disasters would include the 1999 Orissa Super Cyclone , the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, the 2004 Tsunami in Andaman Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamilnadu and yet another earthquake in Kashmir in 2005. One common experience in all these disasters has been the reported instances of exclusion and related equity issues in all stages of disaster management. However, as the tsunami disaster has demonstrated, there are several efforts by different stakeholders to address the issues of exclusion and social equity. Other disasters may also have similar experiences which perhaps need wider public sharing.

Social equity being a highly complex issue, addressing it requires considerable sensitivity and skill. As the number of disasters are increasing, governments as well as the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are paying increased attention to addressing the issue of Social Equity in disaster management.
 
Satisfied with your satisfied customers? Actually, there's a tremendous difference in loyalty between merely and totally satisfied customers. Merely satisfied customers are much less likely to buy from you again than totally satisfied customers.Satisfied witSatisfied with your satisfied customers? Actually, there's a tremendous difference in loyalty between merely and totally satisfied customers. Merely satisfied customers are much less likely to buy from you again than totally satisfied customers.h your satisfied customers? Actually, there's a tremendous difference in loyalty between merely and totally satisfied customers. Merely satisfied customers are much less likely to buy from you again than totally satisfied customers.
 
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