5 lakh children suffering from night blindness in Bihar
Over five lakh children are suffering from night blindness in Bihar. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) report, vitamin A deficiency is the world's leading cause of preventable blindness and also a major contributor to the high death rates in infants and young children in malnourished communities. A survey carried out by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) in 1997-98, found the prevalence of Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) in Bihar to be five times higher than the accepted norms for the country.
Elimination of VAD is now considered an integral element of maternal and child survival programmes. A two-pronged strategy was being adopted throughout the country for elimination of blindness due to Vitamin A deficiency.
A short-term strategy involved administering megadoses of Vitamin A, five times at intervals of six months to children in the age group of nine months to five years. The Netra Jyoti programme is a six-monthly campaign for children of nine months to five years, with a total of five doses of vitamin A to be given at an intervals of six months.
The long-term strategy involved dietary improvements by promoting the production and consumption of locally available inexpensive vitamin rich foods, especially by pregnant and lactating mothers and children below five years of age.
On March 18 this year, on the occasion of Netra Jyoti Diwas, more than 1.35 crore children were administered concentrated dose supplement of vitamin A. To facilitate the state-wide programme, the Bihar government in collaboration with the UNICEF had set up 61,350 booths in 37 districts manned by 1.22 lakh health workers. In Patna district alone, 3210 Vitamin A centres were set up including 840 in the state capital. 28 flood prone districts were already covered in the first phase on August 13 last year under the Netra Jyoti programme.
Bihar govt officially bans child labour
Patna: The Bihar government has now officially banned child labour. A decision to this effect has been taken by the state cabinet. It forbids government employees to employ children below the age of 14. Earlier, the Personnel and Administrative Reforms department had suggested ban on employing children below the age of 14.
NABARD to spend Rs 4.67 cr on tea plantation
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has decided to spend Rs 4.67 crore in Bihar through the State Bank of India (SBI) on tea plantation in the state. The scheme, falling under the Area Development Project (ADP), envisages tea plantation on 1,200 acres of land in Kishanganj district.
Since Kishanganj is situated on the border of West Bengal and Nepal, the quality of its soil and its climatic condition has been found almost similar to those of tea-growing areas of West Bengal and Nepal. Hence it is suitable for tea plantation.
The tea board has identified five blocks in the district, including Kishanganj, Thakurganj, Pothia, Bahadurganj and Dighalchak, as suitable areas for tea cultivation. The board also declared these blocks as non-traditional areas for tea plantation and agreed to extend the facilities and financial assistance under its New Area Development Programme (NADP). Almost 4,000 hectares of land in the aforementioned blocks of the district has been proposed to be brought under the tea plantation. Another 2,000 hectares of land would be brought under tea plantation during the current financial year, with banking support.
The move is expected to provide scope for large scale area expansion and create necessary infrastructures like adequate extension service, trained labour and tea processing factory. It will give a boost to the local economy and help the state generate more money.
National policy for women
The year 2001 would be the 'Women's empowerment year' and the Cabinet has approved the 'National policy for the empowerment of women'. The policy aims to bring about advancement, development and the empowerment of women. Under the policy, national and state-level councils will be set up to oversee the operationalisation of the policy on a regular basis.
The national council will be headed by the Prime Minister and the state councils by the respective chief ministers of the states. A time-bound action plan will be drawn up by the ministries and departments.
It has announced a series of plans and programmes, including the Integrated Women's Development Programme (IWDP) for the empowerment and enrichment of women. Several laws governing women are going to be suitably amended in order to make them more effective. These include the Indecent and Obscene Representation of Women Act, Child Marriage Act, Commission of Sati Act, and Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act. A new law governing domestic violence is going to be enacted soon.
The tallest monument of the World at Bodh Gaya
The 500-ft / 152.4-metre bronze statue of Maitreya Buddha is being designed to last for at least 1,000 years - through our new millennium and into the next. The statue is scheduled for completion in January, 2005.
Situated in forty acres of magnificently landscaped park, it will be a public contribution of timeless beauty, combining traditional art with modern engineering and technology. It is a unique effort to combine both the spiritual and practical needs of all who will view it: those who live and work in Bodhgaya, as well as those who will visit in their search for inspiration and rejuvenation of body and mind.
Never before has a statue of this size been constructed. The Maitreya Statue will be a feat of modern engineering and the architectural, constructional and maintenance challenges posed by the Project require the very latest skills in a variety of technologies. The huge structure must withstand high winds, extreme temperature changes, seasonal rains, possible earthquakes and floods, and environmental pollution throughout at least 1,000 years.
Combining medical, educational and spiritual public facilities with magnificent, inspirational architecture and art, the Project will create an example of socially responsible development that is environmentally sustainable and built to last 1,000 years.
These facilities will complement and help to sustain India's existing pilgrimage sites. The Project will catalyze a gradual development of the area's infrastructure, including the renovation and development of Bodh Gaya's airport and tourism facilities. In this way, the most holy of Buddhist sites will become more easily accessible to the world's Buddhists, and to the many others, who will want to come to Bodh Gaya to experience its holy atmosphere and visit its historic sites; to learn, explore and enjoy. The Maitreya Project will provide new opportunities, for visitors and local residents alike, to experience what the Buddha taught through pilgrimage, meditation, devotion and service to others.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Unauthentic record
Unauthentic record of no. of HIV and AIDS patients in Bihar
Due to various reasons, Bihar has not been receiving drugs sent by the Centre for free distribution among needy people in the state through its primary health centres. Only 10 to 15 per cent medicines allocated for the state actually reach the people they are meant for.
In the last financial year, medicines and kits worth Rs 2 crores for the reproductive and child health programme alone were sent back. Most of these drugs were either recalled to Delhi or redirected to other states. The drugs were for the treatment of AIDS, tuberculosis, anaemia, pneumonia, diarrhoea, and malaria.
So the Centre has decided to consider Bihar as a special case and taken the responsibility of making sure the drugs reach each distribution centre in the state. Centre is actually considering paying for local transport and involving local NGOs for the work so that people may have access to basic drugs.
It has become extremely difficult for the State AIDS Control Society (SACS) to compile authentic data on the number of HIV positive and AIDS cases in Bihar as the society has not been receiving any information regarding the mandatory blood tests conducted by private as well as some government-owned blood banks.
The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has made it mandatory for all the blood banks to carry out HIV, hepatitis, malaria and venereal disease tests on every blood sample and submit their data to the SACS on a prescribed format. The failure of the blood banks in sending their data indicates that they are probably not conducting the mandatory tests. It is a clear violation of the Drug and Cosmetics Act. SACS has been frequently drawing the attention of the state drug controller to this apathy on the part of the blood banks for the last three years.
Despite non availability of accurate data, NACO has decided to give ELISA Readers to 14 major blood banks of Bihar and Jharkhand shortly. Six blood banks located at the Patna Medical College Hospital, Nalanda Medical College Hospital, Patna, Darbhanga Medical College Hospital, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital, Bhagalpur, Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital, Muzaffarpur and Anugrah Narayan Memorial Medical College, Gaya, will soon get ELISA Readers to ensure that the patients are not transfused infected blood. ELISA Readers will also be provided to the Ranchi Medical College Hospital, Dhanbad Medical College Hospital and a private blood bank located at Jamshedpur.
Rehabilitation package for extremists
At least 14 of the 18 districts in newly created Jharkhand State are affected by extremist activity. To deal with this on a priority basis, the chief minister Babulal Marandi has announced an extremist rehabilitation package and urged the naxalite outfits to give up the path of violence. The package will encourage extremists of the region to join the mainstream.
The Rehabilitation package includes everything like education, grants, loans cash, land, and houses. Landless extremists would be given pieces of land for farming, and the homeless would be given houses under the Indira Awaas Yojana. Children of extremists would be given free education while any extremist seeking self-employment would be entitled to 50 per cent grant from the government and 50 per cent loan from banks for his enterprise. Through this package, Government is willing to weed out the three basic evils leading to extremism - poverty, unemployment and lack of development.
Any extremist surrendering before the police from now will be a beneficiary of the package. The extremists would be identified on the basis of their names registered in police records since the late 80s.
A few extremist groups have already expressed their desire to join the social mainstream provided the Jharkhand government came out with a rehabilitation package.
Bihar third most populous state in India
Bihar has become the third most populous state of the country after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Till the 1991 census, the composite state of Bihar was the second most populous state of the country, next only to Uttar Pradesh.
According to the Census 2001, Bihar now accounts for 8.07 per cent of the country's population. With an area of 94,163 sq km approximately, Bihar had a population of 8,28,787,96 persons.
POPULATION:- 2001
1. India :- 1027015247
2 .Uttar Prdesh:- 166052859
3. Maharashtra :- 96752247
4.Bihar :- 82878796
Due to various reasons, Bihar has not been receiving drugs sent by the Centre for free distribution among needy people in the state through its primary health centres. Only 10 to 15 per cent medicines allocated for the state actually reach the people they are meant for.
In the last financial year, medicines and kits worth Rs 2 crores for the reproductive and child health programme alone were sent back. Most of these drugs were either recalled to Delhi or redirected to other states. The drugs were for the treatment of AIDS, tuberculosis, anaemia, pneumonia, diarrhoea, and malaria.
So the Centre has decided to consider Bihar as a special case and taken the responsibility of making sure the drugs reach each distribution centre in the state. Centre is actually considering paying for local transport and involving local NGOs for the work so that people may have access to basic drugs.
TB: Facts at a glance
* One-third of world's population is suffering from Tuberculosis, says WHO(World Health Organisation)
* India has 30 per cent of the TB cases in the world and out of it Bihar & UP tops the list.
* In India five lakh people die of it every year, more than one thousand every day and nearly one per minute.
* Over three lakh people in Bihar are suffering from tuberculosis.
* 150 people die of tuberculosis in Bihar each day.
*Because of deficiency of immunity, nearly 40 per cent of people carrying the HIV virus are susceptible to TB.
* Diagnosis and treatment of infectious TB (lung TB) by Directly Observed Treatment Short (DOTS) course is the main preventive measure.
* DOTS, which has been recommended by the WHO as the best way to detect and cure TB patients, has a cure rate as high as 95 percent, can cure TB in HIV positive patients also and is affordable.
* Tuberculosis in children and infants can be prevented by administering the BCG vaccine. BCG vaccine given at birth does not provide life-long immunity against tuberculosis but it prevents children from getting severe forms of tuebrculosis.
Bihar panchayats deny
Bihar panchayats deny Constitutional reservations
Panchayat elections in Bihar are being held after a gap of 23 years. In defiance of the Constitution, Bihar is going ahead with its village-level polls, without reserving posts for women, scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs).
Sub-clause 4 of Article 243 (D) of the Indian constitution clearly states, "When panchayats are constituted, one third of the posts of the panchayat president must be reserved for women. And there should be reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe, according to population in the state."
However in a 1996 judgment, the Patna High Court ruled that reservation of any post, which is a single post, is tantamount to 100 per cent reservation. And, therefore, any kind of reservation for posts, which are single, cannot be allowed. The Supreme Court has also failed to intervene in the matter.
And, in this way 3,000 women and 1,500 SC and ST candidates will be deprived of the opportunity to hold posts of Mukhiyas, Pramukhs, and Adhyakshas that are guaranteed to them by the Constitution.
NCERT offers an education-national curriculum
The National Council for Educational Research and training( NCERT) has chalked out a curriculum plan for pre-primary to Class XII students. There will be just one composite textbook for history, geography, economics and civics; no more logarithms, vital statistics and trigonometric tables. Emphasis has to be laid on Utilitarian courses in ''life skills'' to make students smart and worldly wise. The new national curriculum framework for school education will strive for quality education and holistic development of the child.
Among other things, the document speaks of value development at all stages of school education, reduction of the curriculum load, ensuring availability of pre-school education to all children in the country, integrated thematic approach to the teaching of social sciences up to the secondary stage, wide flexibility and freedom in the choice of subjects, vocational stream for enhancing employability and entrepreneurship at the higher secondary stage, and use of different methods of grading scholastic and co-scholastic areas of learning.
The changes were initiated in November 1999, when NCERT drafted a curriculum framework and sent it out to education boards across the country. However, it may prove tough to convince state governments to agree to its ideas.
The Central Government and the NCERT has to take state governments into confidence to implement policies framed by them since education is still under the State List.
More Central help towards modernizing Bihar Police
The Ministry of Home Affairs has increased the annual allocation from Rs. 388.53 lakhs last year to Rs 777.060 lakhs this 2000-2001 financial year, towards supplementing the efforts of the State Government in modernizing its Police Force. Matching contributions will be provided by the Bihar Government. The allocation will be used for purchasing more vehicles to improve police mobility; to upgrade the Forensic Science Laboratory equipments and buildings; to purchase traffic, crowd control and VIP security equipments and also light weaponary.
This non-plan scheme for modernisation will also help improve police communication system, introduce more scientific aids to investigation and upgrade the department's data processing abilities, besides helping in modernising office equipments.
Death in judicial custody, Bihar tops again
On the whole, the National Human Rights Commission received 71,685 complaints of human rights violation in the year 2000-2001, 4895 of which were received from Bihar
Of the 910 deaths in judicial custody in 2000-2001, the highest number was recorded in Bihar. It reported 137 judicial custody deaths followed by 121 from Uttar Pradesh, 104 from Maharashtra, 76 from Andhra Pradesh, 55 from Orissa and 48 from Punjab.
In the previous year also, Bihar had reported the highest number of deaths in judicial custody - 155.
Greed for power, dichotomy of views
Realising the importance of power at grassroot level, the two dreaded ultra-Left organisations - the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and the People's War Group have changed their mind set from giving a call to boycott parliamentary elections to participating in the Panchayat elections.
On the one hand they gave poll boycott call and punished their defiant cadres; on the other, they fielded dummy candidates and actively supported them in a bid to grab power at the grassroot level. But officially, MCC and PWG have expelled a no. of defiant cadres contesting the polls.
Nearly 150 hardcore supporters and activists of MCC and PWG are in the fray in Jehanabad alone, the hotbed of Naxalite actions. In Gaya and Aurangabad of Central Bihar, a strong contingent of Naxalite leaders and cadres are contesting panchayat election. The active participation of the two ultra outfits in democratic process has at least ensured that panchayat elections in these areas witness less violence.
Sources say that a large number of cadres are determined to contest election throwing the ideological garb of their organisation. These organisations have lost control over their followers.
Ganga fish
Ganga fish, now a health hazard
The high level of pollutants in the Ganga has resulted in the equally high level of toxins in the fish of the river. Alarming facts came to light in course of the study and analysis of fish conducted by R K Sinha, the senior investigator of the Ganga pollution monitoring project run by Patna University.
An important finding at Patna was that DDT found in the fish was 16,000 times more than that in water.
Surprisingly, while DDT, BHC, dieldrin and aldrin are banned all over the world, DDT is still officially used in India as a preventive measure against kala-azar and malaria. Even BHC and aldrin are available in the open market and are used quite extensively for agriculture purposes.
These chemicals which are biologically non-degradable compounds, come into the river as agriculture and health drive runoffs and the concentration is much higher than the permissible limit. These get accumulated in the body and can lead to serious ailments like cancer or adversely affect the kidneys and brains of those who consume the river fish regularly.
The high level of pollutants in the Ganga has resulted in the equally high level of toxins in the fish of the river. Alarming facts came to light in course of the study and analysis of fish conducted by R K Sinha, the senior investigator of the Ganga pollution monitoring project run by Patna University.
An important finding at Patna was that DDT found in the fish was 16,000 times more than that in water.
Surprisingly, while DDT, BHC, dieldrin and aldrin are banned all over the world, DDT is still officially used in India as a preventive measure against kala-azar and malaria. Even BHC and aldrin are available in the open market and are used quite extensively for agriculture purposes.
These chemicals which are biologically non-degradable compounds, come into the river as agriculture and health drive runoffs and the concentration is much higher than the permissible limit. These get accumulated in the body and can lead to serious ailments like cancer or adversely affect the kidneys and brains of those who consume the river fish regularly.
The Centre has urged ten State Governments to set up computerized Inquiry and Facilitation Centre in their High Courts without delay. The States are Bihar ,Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa, Punjab and Haryana, Jharkhand, Uttaranchal, Tamil Nadu and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The Governments of the states have been requested to release necessary funds for computerization of High Courts located in their States.
There are 21 High Courts in the country. Of these, eleven are computerized.
With the setting up of computerized Inquiry and Facilitation Centre in the High Courts, the public can know the fixing of date of hearing and status of the case on payment of requisite fee, publication of daily cause lists, supply of certified copies of judgements and generation of notices.
Altogether 37,72,999 children, in the age group of 6-14 are out of school system in 37 districts of Bihar.
The State has 37381 primary schools and 9834 upper primary schools. The proportion of the primary and upper primary schools in the state is 4:1. The government paper says that so far no major steps could be taken for narrowing this vast proportional gap between the primary and the upper primary schools.
The drop-out rate among the students, as per the state government statistics is also alarming. It is 59 per cent among male students between class one and five. For girl students under this category, it is 58.81 percent. Drop-out rate for scheduled caste students under this category is 60.71 per cent and for scheduled tribe students, it is 56.22 per cent.
HIV spreads tentacles in Bihar
Bihar having an HIV positive population of 1.6 million is yet to activate itself to control this disease.
As per government records, 2.06 per cent (1.6 million) of Bihar's 80 million population was HIV positive. However, reports of NGOs and private pathologists reveal that 3.5 per cent of the population has tested HIV positive.
A recent survey by the Helping Hand Foundation (HHF) in the red-light areas of Gaya, Bettiah and Munger found that the government had not taken steps to spread awareness about the disease even in these high-risk areas.
WHO unhappy over paucity of immunisation officers
The International polio surveillance review team of World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed its strong disapproval at the failure of the state government to fill up the vacant posts of district immunisation officers (DIOs) in majority of the 37 districts of the state.
The WHO team, which recently visted 12 districts of the state, Patna, Bhojpur, Begusarai, Nalanda, East Champaran, West Champaran, Gaya, Aurangabad, Rohtas, Muzaffarpur, Madhubani and Jehanabad, has informed the medical education and family welfare minister, Dr Shakeel Ahmad, that even in the districts where DIOs were posted ,they were not mobile. With a view to increasing the mobility of DIOs, the WHO has offered to supply vehicles provided the state government sends the relevant documents to Delhi after condemning the old vehicles.
News
A Comfed Zone In Lalooland
Bihar today is a synonym for all things bad. From economy to education and governance to social degradation-everything is at its nadir. Most of all, the economy. In a depressing scenario where a total of 54 state-owned corporations are helplessly swimming in an ocean of red, a lone cooperative federation is quietly spearheading the state's white revolution and actually making a tidy profit.
Comfed, or the Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Ltd, is Bihar's only cash cow. Its "Sudha" brand milk and products are already the flavour of the state. The federation's annual turnover of Rs 300 crore accounts for almost 10 per cent of the state's gross domestic product of Rs 3,200 crore, easily outstripping any other state unit in performance.
70 p.c. slum dwellers from UP, Bihar
Source: The Hindu SEPT. 21,2002
An internal sample survey carried out by the Slum Department of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has revealed a large number of interesting and at times surprising facts about the Capital's slum dwellers.
Carried out last month as part of the MCD drive to relocate more than 75,000 jhuggis from the Yamuna Pushta, the survey gives details about various aspects of the slum dweller's life including their place of origin, duration of stay in the Capital, average family size, education, age-profile, occupation, distance from place of work, pattern of expenditure and savings.
Contrary to the recent reports of the National CapitalRegional Planning Board (NCRPB), the survey concludes that more than 70 per cent of the slum dwellers are from Uttar Pradesh (42.2 per cent) and Bihar (29.2 per cent).
The NCRPB survey on migration had put Rajasthan andHaryana above Bihar. Only 4.8 per cent of the slum dwellers are from Rajasthan and 1.4 from Haryana. Nearly 10 per cent of these come from West Bengal. Surprisingly, 4.6 per cent of the inhabitants of Delhi live in slum clusters.
The survey, which will help the city planners to have aclear-cut policy for slum dwellers, also indicates that over the past five years there has not only been a decline in migration but there has also not been a substantial increase in their population. As per the survey, more than 96 per cent of the slum dwellers have been staying here for more than six years. Of these 33.2 per cent has been living for over 15 years.
Well aware that election identity card is a must for them to prove their credentials in the Capital, nearly 98 per cent of them possess the card. As against the declining sex ratio of the Capital, it is almost equal in the slum clusters, the report says.
On the education front, a vast majority of slum dwellers are illiterate, a little over 40 per cent left their studies before Class X, only 4.5 per cent are matriculate and a mere one per cent have passed the Class XII examination.
Given their age profile, it seems there is no scope for senior citizens in the slums as after they become non-productive, the people go back to their States. But at the same time, nearly one-third of the slum population is below the age of ten. And if the population between 10-20 years of age is taken into consideration, over 55 per cent have not crossed the adolescent stage. Only 10 per cent of the slum population cross the age of 40 years.
Over two-thirds of earning members are between the agegroup of 20 to 40. While the average size of a family in aslum is five, in nearly three-fourth of the families there is only one earning member. Nearly one-third of them are unskilled labourers, and more than one-fourth do jobs in private companies. While, 13 per cent of them are petty vendors, 14 per cent skilled labourers, 4.6 per cent rickshaw pullers, 3.2 per cent kabaris and 3.3 per cent drivers.The revelation that nearly 90 per cent of the slum dwellers stay within less than 8 km of their place of work reflects why the relocation policy of the administration has failed to take off and explains why they sell their plots at the resettlement sites and come back again near their work place.While the average per capita income per annum comes to Rs. 7,368, one-third of them earn between Rs. 18,000 and 24,000. Only two per cent of slum dwellers have an annual income of more than Rs. 60,000 per annum. Still with this meagre income, these people are able to save some money as their average expenditure is Rs. 561 per month. The survey revealed that the entertainment expenditure for the majority of them was less than Rs. 50 per month per family. However, over two-thirds possess a television set and one-third a room-cooler.
Also, 90 per cent of them pay up to Rs. 200 per month as electricity charges to the local power mafia and nearly half of them own a bicycle.
Meagre allocations upset Childline NGOs
SOURCE:TOI, 26 Sep, 2002
Children from Bihar and Jharkhand form the largest number of runaway children who have to be repatriated back to their states, according to a Childline Delhi report released recently at the National Childline Directors meet in Goa.
In Patna, some 12,337 individuals dialled the number 1098. Over the last fiscal, 132 children were given emergency medical help, 135 shelter, 87 lost or runaway children were re-united with families, and 18 were rescued from abuse in Patna alone.
While the ministry of social justice and empowerment (MoSJ&E) showcases Childline - the 24 hour emergency service for children in distress as one of its success stories, the NGOs who run the programme, are none too pleased - especially those in Bihar, UP and Delhi. For, shoe-string allocations and an increasing mandate to Childline are encroaching on the NGOs circle of activities.
Childline is a statutory body as per the Juvenile Justice Act 2000, which is a partnership of the Childline India Foundation (CIF) and the Government of India on the one hand and 125 NGOs on the other. These NGOs run Childline, with a staff of volunteers funded by the MoSJ&E.
At the fifth Childline National Directors’ meet, Patna Childline Director Sanat Sinha protested the unreasonable shoe-string budget allocation, and questioned the ministry’s viewpoint that it was only able to give support and that partner NGOs should raise their own resources.
According to Sinha and other directors, the success of Childline is largely due to the personal credibility of NGOs, and if the government wanted to take all the credit, it had better come up with realistic funds as well. MoSJ&E joint secretary Jayati Chandra told Childline directors at the Goa meet that the funds allocated to Childline Partners were the highest paid out to NGOs, and as such, the funds were all about support and not meant to cover all expenses.
“If the Ministry was able to do everything, then why would we need NGOs? NGOs should generate their own resources as well. It is all about partnership, and we do think that things have worked out fairly well.”
Even in a B grade city like Patna, the budget is a major hurdle for Childline. “We are in need of a support agency for Childline, but bodies in the field of emergency care are reluctant to come forward, just because of the unreasonable honorariums we are supposed to pay phone counsellors and staff. For example, the director of a reputed hospital was shocked at the Rs 700 salary for phone counsellors.
She said, our sweepers take home almost Rs 5,000 a month, do you expect us to recruit educated counsellors for such a sum?” said Sinha. The allocation for medical expenses for the children in distress is about Rs 12,000 per annum.
Said Christina Alexander from a Patna NGO, “We just had a case of a child with multiple fracture referred from interior Sasaram. The operation, and therapy, with all the concessions and goodwill still cost us Rs 16,000. We are a resource organisation for Childline but are not too keen on being elevated to resource centre. The reason is, why should we get involved with tonnes of paper work and government interference, when the entire medical allocation for the city cannot address a single emergency case?”
Free legal aid for rights fight 01 October 2002, Jamshedpur, India
Source: The Telegraph India
Victim I:
Thirty-five-year old Pratibha Rao was regularly tortured for dowry. The housewife from Kanchan Nagar in Burmamines wanted to file a complaint against her in-laws with the National Human Rights Commission. But she backed out considering the expenses involved in the procedure.
Victim II:
For Malati Sahay, her only son had become a nightmare. He worked in a local computer firm and had been torturing his mother ever since his father died in a road accident three years ago. When the pain became unbearable, Malati thought of moving the NHRC as a last resort.But there was no one to guide the elderly widow as to how to register a complaint with the commission.Like Pratibha and Malati, several women in distress think of approaching the NHRC but ultimately back out either because they do not know the procedure or fear the expenses involved, as the commission’s headquarter is in New Delhi. But now help would be available at their doorstep. The All-India Victims’ Assistance Group (AIVAG), an affiliate of the National Human Rights Commission, began operating from the city on Sunday alarmed by the rising cases of atrocity against women and violation of Child Labour Act. Victims of physical or mental torture can approach the assistance group to lodge a written or verbal complaint at the AIVAG office on Kalimati Road. President of All-India Victims’ Assistance Group Motilal Choudhary said the objective behind opening the office was to take care of the complaints by women, senior citizens, children and bonded labourers. "The office would remain open for 24 hours and provide necessary help to persons from all sections of the society, whenever they are in need," Choudhary said.
Government schools on road to information highway
Source: The Telegraph India,01 October 2002, Jamshedpur
Students surfing the Net in computer labs is a common sight in private schools but their counterparts in Government-aided schools can only dream of such facilities. But the days are not far off when Government high schools in the State would be provided with computer sets, thanks to the Vidya Vahini project. The State Government plans to launch the project in association with the Union human resources development ministry, under which 10 computer sets will be given away to high schools in select districts. The Centre would bear the expenses of the scheme. The project entails comprehensive job-oriented computer education for high school students in at least 10 districts of the State. Under the project computer labs would be set up in select district high schools with necessary infrastructure including e-mail and Internet facilities and a host of other software applications. Sources in the state education department said the Union human resourcesdevelopment ministry is all set to implement the project throughout the country within a few months. In Jharkhand, it would select at least 10 districts. The selected schools would be connected to the World Wide Web, which would keep the students updated about latest developments.According to Minister of State for education Sudarshan Bhagat, the State Government was yet to select the districts where the project would be implemented. The Centre plans to select those schools, which have a good performance record. "Implementation of the project would mean moving a step ahead in our ongoing education reforms. It is an ambitious project and we are thinking seriously about implementing it as the scheme would not only improve the academic standard of high schools but alsohelp the students pursue their career in IT after they pass out," the Minister said. Sources told The Telegraph that the State education department has already held two rounds of discussion with the HRD Ministry for effective implementation of the scheme in the State.
Bihar today is a synonym for all things bad. From economy to education and governance to social degradation-everything is at its nadir. Most of all, the economy. In a depressing scenario where a total of 54 state-owned corporations are helplessly swimming in an ocean of red, a lone cooperative federation is quietly spearheading the state's white revolution and actually making a tidy profit.
Comfed, or the Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Ltd, is Bihar's only cash cow. Its "Sudha" brand milk and products are already the flavour of the state. The federation's annual turnover of Rs 300 crore accounts for almost 10 per cent of the state's gross domestic product of Rs 3,200 crore, easily outstripping any other state unit in performance.
70 p.c. slum dwellers from UP, Bihar
Source: The Hindu SEPT. 21,2002
An internal sample survey carried out by the Slum Department of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has revealed a large number of interesting and at times surprising facts about the Capital's slum dwellers.
Carried out last month as part of the MCD drive to relocate more than 75,000 jhuggis from the Yamuna Pushta, the survey gives details about various aspects of the slum dweller's life including their place of origin, duration of stay in the Capital, average family size, education, age-profile, occupation, distance from place of work, pattern of expenditure and savings.
Contrary to the recent reports of the National CapitalRegional Planning Board (NCRPB), the survey concludes that more than 70 per cent of the slum dwellers are from Uttar Pradesh (42.2 per cent) and Bihar (29.2 per cent).
The NCRPB survey on migration had put Rajasthan andHaryana above Bihar. Only 4.8 per cent of the slum dwellers are from Rajasthan and 1.4 from Haryana. Nearly 10 per cent of these come from West Bengal. Surprisingly, 4.6 per cent of the inhabitants of Delhi live in slum clusters.
The survey, which will help the city planners to have aclear-cut policy for slum dwellers, also indicates that over the past five years there has not only been a decline in migration but there has also not been a substantial increase in their population. As per the survey, more than 96 per cent of the slum dwellers have been staying here for more than six years. Of these 33.2 per cent has been living for over 15 years.
Well aware that election identity card is a must for them to prove their credentials in the Capital, nearly 98 per cent of them possess the card. As against the declining sex ratio of the Capital, it is almost equal in the slum clusters, the report says.
On the education front, a vast majority of slum dwellers are illiterate, a little over 40 per cent left their studies before Class X, only 4.5 per cent are matriculate and a mere one per cent have passed the Class XII examination.
Given their age profile, it seems there is no scope for senior citizens in the slums as after they become non-productive, the people go back to their States. But at the same time, nearly one-third of the slum population is below the age of ten. And if the population between 10-20 years of age is taken into consideration, over 55 per cent have not crossed the adolescent stage. Only 10 per cent of the slum population cross the age of 40 years.
Over two-thirds of earning members are between the agegroup of 20 to 40. While the average size of a family in aslum is five, in nearly three-fourth of the families there is only one earning member. Nearly one-third of them are unskilled labourers, and more than one-fourth do jobs in private companies. While, 13 per cent of them are petty vendors, 14 per cent skilled labourers, 4.6 per cent rickshaw pullers, 3.2 per cent kabaris and 3.3 per cent drivers.The revelation that nearly 90 per cent of the slum dwellers stay within less than 8 km of their place of work reflects why the relocation policy of the administration has failed to take off and explains why they sell their plots at the resettlement sites and come back again near their work place.While the average per capita income per annum comes to Rs. 7,368, one-third of them earn between Rs. 18,000 and 24,000. Only two per cent of slum dwellers have an annual income of more than Rs. 60,000 per annum. Still with this meagre income, these people are able to save some money as their average expenditure is Rs. 561 per month. The survey revealed that the entertainment expenditure for the majority of them was less than Rs. 50 per month per family. However, over two-thirds possess a television set and one-third a room-cooler.
Also, 90 per cent of them pay up to Rs. 200 per month as electricity charges to the local power mafia and nearly half of them own a bicycle.
Meagre allocations upset Childline NGOs
SOURCE:TOI, 26 Sep, 2002
Children from Bihar and Jharkhand form the largest number of runaway children who have to be repatriated back to their states, according to a Childline Delhi report released recently at the National Childline Directors meet in Goa.
In Patna, some 12,337 individuals dialled the number 1098. Over the last fiscal, 132 children were given emergency medical help, 135 shelter, 87 lost or runaway children were re-united with families, and 18 were rescued from abuse in Patna alone.
While the ministry of social justice and empowerment (MoSJ&E) showcases Childline - the 24 hour emergency service for children in distress as one of its success stories, the NGOs who run the programme, are none too pleased - especially those in Bihar, UP and Delhi. For, shoe-string allocations and an increasing mandate to Childline are encroaching on the NGOs circle of activities.
Childline is a statutory body as per the Juvenile Justice Act 2000, which is a partnership of the Childline India Foundation (CIF) and the Government of India on the one hand and 125 NGOs on the other. These NGOs run Childline, with a staff of volunteers funded by the MoSJ&E.
At the fifth Childline National Directors’ meet, Patna Childline Director Sanat Sinha protested the unreasonable shoe-string budget allocation, and questioned the ministry’s viewpoint that it was only able to give support and that partner NGOs should raise their own resources.
According to Sinha and other directors, the success of Childline is largely due to the personal credibility of NGOs, and if the government wanted to take all the credit, it had better come up with realistic funds as well. MoSJ&E joint secretary Jayati Chandra told Childline directors at the Goa meet that the funds allocated to Childline Partners were the highest paid out to NGOs, and as such, the funds were all about support and not meant to cover all expenses.
“If the Ministry was able to do everything, then why would we need NGOs? NGOs should generate their own resources as well. It is all about partnership, and we do think that things have worked out fairly well.”
Even in a B grade city like Patna, the budget is a major hurdle for Childline. “We are in need of a support agency for Childline, but bodies in the field of emergency care are reluctant to come forward, just because of the unreasonable honorariums we are supposed to pay phone counsellors and staff. For example, the director of a reputed hospital was shocked at the Rs 700 salary for phone counsellors.
She said, our sweepers take home almost Rs 5,000 a month, do you expect us to recruit educated counsellors for such a sum?” said Sinha. The allocation for medical expenses for the children in distress is about Rs 12,000 per annum.
Said Christina Alexander from a Patna NGO, “We just had a case of a child with multiple fracture referred from interior Sasaram. The operation, and therapy, with all the concessions and goodwill still cost us Rs 16,000. We are a resource organisation for Childline but are not too keen on being elevated to resource centre. The reason is, why should we get involved with tonnes of paper work and government interference, when the entire medical allocation for the city cannot address a single emergency case?”
Free legal aid for rights fight 01 October 2002, Jamshedpur, India
Source: The Telegraph India
Victim I:
Thirty-five-year old Pratibha Rao was regularly tortured for dowry. The housewife from Kanchan Nagar in Burmamines wanted to file a complaint against her in-laws with the National Human Rights Commission. But she backed out considering the expenses involved in the procedure.
Victim II:
For Malati Sahay, her only son had become a nightmare. He worked in a local computer firm and had been torturing his mother ever since his father died in a road accident three years ago. When the pain became unbearable, Malati thought of moving the NHRC as a last resort.But there was no one to guide the elderly widow as to how to register a complaint with the commission.Like Pratibha and Malati, several women in distress think of approaching the NHRC but ultimately back out either because they do not know the procedure or fear the expenses involved, as the commission’s headquarter is in New Delhi. But now help would be available at their doorstep. The All-India Victims’ Assistance Group (AIVAG), an affiliate of the National Human Rights Commission, began operating from the city on Sunday alarmed by the rising cases of atrocity against women and violation of Child Labour Act. Victims of physical or mental torture can approach the assistance group to lodge a written or verbal complaint at the AIVAG office on Kalimati Road. President of All-India Victims’ Assistance Group Motilal Choudhary said the objective behind opening the office was to take care of the complaints by women, senior citizens, children and bonded labourers. "The office would remain open for 24 hours and provide necessary help to persons from all sections of the society, whenever they are in need," Choudhary said.
Government schools on road to information highway
Source: The Telegraph India,01 October 2002, Jamshedpur
Students surfing the Net in computer labs is a common sight in private schools but their counterparts in Government-aided schools can only dream of such facilities. But the days are not far off when Government high schools in the State would be provided with computer sets, thanks to the Vidya Vahini project. The State Government plans to launch the project in association with the Union human resources development ministry, under which 10 computer sets will be given away to high schools in select districts. The Centre would bear the expenses of the scheme. The project entails comprehensive job-oriented computer education for high school students in at least 10 districts of the State. Under the project computer labs would be set up in select district high schools with necessary infrastructure including e-mail and Internet facilities and a host of other software applications. Sources in the state education department said the Union human resourcesdevelopment ministry is all set to implement the project throughout the country within a few months. In Jharkhand, it would select at least 10 districts. The selected schools would be connected to the World Wide Web, which would keep the students updated about latest developments.According to Minister of State for education Sudarshan Bhagat, the State Government was yet to select the districts where the project would be implemented. The Centre plans to select those schools, which have a good performance record. "Implementation of the project would mean moving a step ahead in our ongoing education reforms. It is an ambitious project and we are thinking seriously about implementing it as the scheme would not only improve the academic standard of high schools but alsohelp the students pursue their career in IT after they pass out," the Minister said. Sources told The Telegraph that the State education department has already held two rounds of discussion with the HRD Ministry for effective implementation of the scheme in the State.
Help Line
Child Line
24 hour emergency service for children in distress Phone number (toll free) 1098 Contact person:Indu Shekhar
Help Line
Ground Floor, Indira Bhavan, Ram Charitra Path, Bailey Road Patna-1 Phone: 212741, Fax:234098
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Funding Agencies in India
AFPRO - Action for Food Production
25/1A, Institutional Area, D-Block, Pankha Road, Janakpuri, New Delhi - 110058 Mr. N C Bose Phone : 011 - 5555412 / 5553652 Fax : 011 - 5500343
Aga Khan Foundation
A / W C Campus 6, Bhagwan Das Road New Delhi 110 001
Embassy of Ireland
13 Jor Bagh New Delhi - 110 003
ANGOS - Association of Non - Governmental Organisation
2, Pandit Pant Marg, New Delhi - 110001 Dr. N Mohanam Phone : 011 - 3354921 Fax : 011 - 3736588
CARE India
B - 28, Greater Kailash Part 1 New Delhi - 110 048
CARITAS - INDIA CBCI Centre
Ashok Place, Gole Dakhana, New Delhi - 110001 Father Ivan Joseph Phone : 011 - 3363390 / 3732339 Fax : 011 - 3715146
CASA - Church's Auxiliary for Social Action
Rachna Building, 2, Rajendra Place New Delhi - 110 065
Catholic Relief Services United States Catholic Conference India Programme
2, Community Centre, East of Kailash New Delhi - 110 065
Central Social Welfare Board Jeevan Deep Building
Sansad Marg New Delhi - 110 001
Child Relief and You (CRY)
DDA Slum Wing (Baarat Ghar) Bapu Park, Kotla, Mubarakpur, New Delhi - 110003 Ms Bondana Dutta Phone : 011 - 4693137 / 4694790 Fax : 011 - 4932302
Damien Foundation India Trust
7, Venugopal Avenue, Chetpet, Chennai 600031 Secretary Phone : 044 - 8280496 Fax : 044 - 8240367
Embassy of Portugal
13 Sunder Nagar New Delhi - 110 003
Embassy of Sweden (SIDA)
Nyaya Marg, Chanakyapuri New Delhi - 110 021
Embassy of Switzerland
Chandragupta Marg, Chanakyapuri New Delhi - 110 021
European Union Delegation of the European Commission in India
65 Golf Link New Delhi - 110 003
Finnida Embassy of Finland
Nyaya Marg, Chanakyapuri New Delhi - 110 021
FAO - Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations
55, Lodhi Estate New Delhi - 110 003
Ford Foundation
55, Lodhi Estate New Delhi - 110 003
Foster Parents Plan International
410 Arun Chambers, Tardeo Main Road, Tardeo, Bombay India Friedrich Ebert Stiftung D 9 South Extension II New Delhi - 110 049
IDRC - International Development Research
11, Jor Bagh New Delhi - 110 003
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany
No. 6, Block 50 G Shantipath, Chanakyapuri New Delhi - 110 021
Khadi and Village Industries Commission Gramodaya
3 Irla Road, Ville Parle (W) Mumbai - 400 050
ODA British High Commission
Shantipath, Chanakyapuri New Delhi - 110 021
OECF Embassy of Japan
50 G, Shantipath, Chanakyapuri New Delhi - 110 021
Oxfam America 10, Hemkunt Colony, First Floor New Delhi - 110 048
Oxfam India Flat No. 314, Mansorovar Building, 95 Nehru Place New Delhi - 110 019
Population Foundation of India
B-28, Qutab Institutional Area, Tara Crescent, New Delhi 110016
Royal Danish Embassy
11, Aurangzeb Road New Delhi - 110 011
Royal Embassy of Belgium
50 N, Shantipath, Chanakyapuri New Delhi - 110 021
Royal Netherlands Embassy
6 / 50 F Shantipath, Chanakyapuri New Delhi - 110 021
SIDA - Swedish International Development Agency
Nyaya Marg, Chanakyapuri New Delhi - 110 021
Swiss Aid
Nyaya Marg, Chanakyapuri New Delhi - 110 021
Swiss Development Co-Operation Embassy of Switzerland
Nyaya Marg, Chanakyapuri New Delhi - 110 021
UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
56, Lodi Estate New Delhi - 110 003
UNICEF
5th Floor, Ravindra Mansion, D.V. Road, Churchgate Mumbai - 400 020 Chief of Field office Phone: 202 0010
UINCEF United Nations Development Children's Education Fund
72 / 73, Lodi Estate New Delhi - 110 003
Unniti Foundation India
140, Sunder Nagar, New Delhi 110003 Dr Veena Khanna Phone : 011 - 4317281 Fax : 011 - 7317281
US Aid US Embassy
West Building Chanakyapuri New Delhi - 110 021
World Vision India
8th Floor, Khaleel Shirazi Estate, Pantheon Road, Egmore, Chennai - 600008 Director Phone : 044 - 8260606 / 8262254 Fax : 044 - 8279084
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