Highlights of the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherji's budget speech (2010-2011) delivered on 26 February, 2010

· During 2009, growth had started decelerating and the business sentiment was weak. The economy's capacity to sustain high growth was under serious threat from the widespread economic slowdown in the developed world.

· There was uncertainty on account of the delayed and sub-normal south-west monsoon, which had undermined the kharif crop in the country. There were concerns about production and prices of food items and its possible repercussions on the growth of rural demand.

· The economy stabilised in the first quarter of 2009-10 itself, when it clocked a GDP growth of 6.1 per cent, as against 5.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of the preceding year. It registered a strong rebound in the second quarter, when the growth rate rose to 7.9 per cent. The Advance Estimates places the likely growth for 2009-10 at 7.2 per cent.

· The growth rate in manufacturing in December 2009 was 18.5 per cent— the highest in the past two decades. There are also signs of a turnaround in the merchandise exports with a positive growth in November and December 2009 after a decline of about twelve successive months.

· A major concern during the second half of 2009-10 has been the emergence of double digit food inflation. There was a momentum in food prices since the flare-up of global commodity prices preceding the financial crisis in 2008, but it was expected that the agriculture season beginning June 2009 would help in moderating the food inflation. However, the erratic monsoons and drought like conditions in large parts of the country reinforced the supply side bottlenecks in some of the essential commodities. This set in motion inflationary expectations. Since December 2009, there have been indications of these high food prices, together with the gradual hardening of the fuel product prices, getting transmitted to other non-food items as well. The inflation data for January seems to have confirmed this trend.

· A Nutrient Based Subsidy policy for the fertiliser sector has been approved by the Government recently and will become effective from April 1, 2010. This policy is expected to promote balanced fertilization through new fortified products and focus on extension services by the fertiliser industry. Over time, the policy is expected to reduce volatility in the demand for fertiliser subsidy in addition to containing the subsidy bill. Government will ensure that nutrient based fertiliser prices for transition year 2010-11, will remain around MRPs currently prevailing. The new system will move towards direct transfer of subsidies to the farmers.

· Provide further capital to strengthen the RRBs (regional rural banks) so that they have adequate capital base to support increased lending to the rural economy.

· The Government intends to follow a four-pronged strategy covering (a) agricultural production; (b) reduction in wastage of produce; (c) credit support to farmers; and (d) a thrust to the food processing sector.

--The first element of the strategy is to extend the green revolution to the eastern region of the country comprising Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Eastern UP, West Bengal and Orissa, with the active involvement of Gram Sabhas and the farming families. For the year 2010-11, Rs.400 crore will be provided for this initiative. Proposal to organise 60,000 "pulses and oil seed villages" in rain-fed areas during 2010-11 and provide an integrated intervention for water harvesting, watershed management and soil health, so as to enhance the productivity of the dry land farming areas. Rs.300 crore will be provided for this purpose. This initiative will be an integral part of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. More focues on conservation farming, which involves concurrent attention to soil health, water conservation and preservation of biodiversity. An allocation of Rs.200 crore will be made for launching this climate resilient agriculture initiative.

--The second element of the strategy relates to reduction of significant wastages in storage as well as in the operations of the existing food supply chains in the country. The deficit in the storage capacity is met through an ongoing scheme for private sector participation where the FCI has been hiring godowns from private parties for a guaranteed period of 5 years. This period is now being extended to 7 years.

--The third element of the strategy relates to improving the availability of credit to farmers. For the year 2010-11, the target has been raised to Rs.3,75,000 crore from Rs.3,25,000 crore in the current year. Under the Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme for Farmers, there is proposal to extend by six months the period for repayment of the loan amount by farmers from December 31, 2009 to June 30, 2010. The effective rate of interest on short-term loans for farmers who repay on timely basis will now be five per cent per annum.

--The fourth element of the strategy aims at lending a further impetus to the development of food processing sector by providing state-of-the art infrastructure. In addition to the ten mega food park projects already being set up, the Government has decided to set up five more such parks. As a part of the farm to market initiative, External Commercial Borrowings will henceforth be available for cold storage or cold room facility, including for farm level pre-cooling, for preservation or storage of agricultural and allied produce, marine products and meat.

· The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission envisages establishing India as a global leader in solar energy. An ambitious target of 20,000 MW of solar power by the year 2022 has been set under the mission. There will be an increase in the plan outlay for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy by 61 per cent from Rs.620 crore in 2009-10 to Rs.1,000 crore in 2010-11.

· In order to set up solar, small hydro and micro power projects in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, an allocation of Rs.500 crore will be made.

· A one-time grant of Rs. 200 crore to the Government of Tamil Nadu towards the cost of installation of a zero liquid discharge system at Tirupur to sustain hosiery industry

· The draft Food Security Bill will be placed in the public domain very soon. To fulfil these commitments, the spending on social sector has been gradually increased to Rs.1,37,674 crore which now stands at 37 per cent of the total plan outlay in 2010-11. Another 25 per cent of the plan allocations are devoted to the development of rural infrastructure.

· About 98 per cent of habitations are now covered by primary schools. There will be an increase in the plan allocation for school education from Rs.26,800 crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 31,036 crore in 2010-11. In addition, States will have access to Rs.3,675 crore for elementary education under the Thirteenth Finance Commission grants for 2010-11.

· An Annual Health Survey to prepare the District Health Profile of all Districts shall be conducted in 2010-11. There will be an increase in the plan allocation for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, from Rs. 19,534 crore to Rs. 22,300 crore for 2010-11.

· An augmentation of Rs.100 crore for each of the Financial Inclusion Fund and a Financial Inclusion Technology Fund, which shall be contributed by Government of India, RBI and NABARD.

· For the year 2010-11, Rs.66,100 crore will be made available for rural development. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has completed four years of implementation during which it has been extended to all districts covering more than 4.5 crore households. The allocation for NREGA has been stepped up to Rs.40,100 crore in 2010-11. Bharat Nirman has made a substantial contribution to the upgradation of rural infrastructure through its various programmes. For the year 2010-11, there will be an allocation of Rs. 48,000 crore for these programmes.

· The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana will extend its benefits to all such Mahatma Gandhi NREGA beneficiaries who have worked for more than 15 days during the preceding financial year.

· The unit cost of construction under this Indira Awas YOjana is raised to Rs.45,000 in the plain areas and to Rs.48,500 in the hilly areas. For the year 2010-11, the allocation for this scheme is being increased to Rs.10,000 crore.

· There will be an enhancement in the allocation to Backward Region Grant Fund by 26 per cent from Rs. 5,800 crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 7,300 crore in 2010-11.

· Allocation of Rs. 1,270 crore for 2010-11 as compared to Rs. 150 crore last year for Rajiv Awas Yojana for slum dwellers. This marks an increase of over 700 per cent.

· Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) contribute 8 per cent of the country's GDP, 45 per cent of the manufactured output and 40 per cent of our exports. They provide employment to about 6 crore persons through 2.6 crore enterprises. A High Level Council on Micro and Small Enterprises will monitor the implementation of the recommendations and the agenda for action. Allocation for this sector will be raised from Rs. 1,794 crore to Rs. 2,400 crore for the year 2010-11.

· The fund corpus for 'Micro-Finance Development and Equity Fund' is being doubled to Rs. 400 crore in 2010-11.

· As a follow up to the Unorganised Sector Workers Social Security Act, 2008, it has been decided to set up a National Social Security Fund for unorganised sector workers with an initial allocation of Rs. 1,000 crore. This fund will support schemes for weavers, toddy tappers, rickshaw pullers, bidi workers etc. To encourage the people from the unorganised sector to voluntarily save for their retirement and to lower the cost of operations of the New Pension Scheme (NPS) for such subscribers, Government will contribute Rs. 1,000 per year to each NPS account opened in the year 2010-11. This initiative, "Swavalamban" will be available for persons who join NPS, with a minimum contribution of Rs. 1,000 and a maximum contribution of Rs. 12,000 per annum during the financial year 2010-11. The scheme will be available for another three years. An allocation of Rs. 100 crore for the year 2010-11 has been made. It will benefit about 10 lakh NPS subscribers of the unorganised sector.

· The plan outlay for Women and Child Development will be raised by almost 50 per cent. A Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana to meet the specific needs of women farmers is being launched. Rs. 100 crore will be provided for this initiative as a sub-component of the National Rural Livelihood Mission. Allocation of Rs. 1,900 crore to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for 2010-11.

Source: http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2010-11/bs/speecha.htm

‘Growth versus Development: Rural Urban Continuum’

The first lecture of the Knowledge Lecture series titled ‘Growth versus Development: Rural Urban Continuum’ was delivered by Prof. Dipankar Gupta at Centre for Information Technology (CIT) Auditorium, Jamia Milia Islamia on 9 March, 2010. Prof Gupta is an eminent Social Scientist and former Professor of Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The programme was inaugurated by Prof. Biswajit Das, Director, Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, JMI and chaired by Shri Najeeb Jung, IAS.

Prof. Dipankar Gupta informed that organized sector employment has remained stagnant during the post-1991 period, thus providing only 23 to 24 million jobs. There exists not enough demand for information technology (IT) and IT enabled services (ITeS) within India. Hence these sectors depend primarily on exports. Much of the growth is actually taking place in the unorganized sector. About 93 percent of the workforce is employed in the informal sector and 74 per cent of this is in rural India. The small and informal enterprises have grown by over 110 percent in the past 25 years.

He shared his experience when he was working with KPMG, which is one of the largest professional services firms in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (Deloitte) and Ernst & Young (EY). While auditing the books of many of the big manufacturing firms, he noticed that firms do not possess sufficient financial and account records. This happened since most of the big firms were engaged in outsourcing their manufacturing processes. Manufacturing work got outsourced over and over again to smaller and smaller units including the informal small scale industrial sector so as to reduce cost and risk and increase efficiency. Prof. Gupta was unable to access the books to know the accounts detail.

Prof. Gupta informed that within the informal sector, there is no social security. Roughly, 27 percent of the export was from this sector. In the recent years, 80% of the overall growth in the economy was contributed by unorganized small-scale sector. However, formal credit accessed by such units is meager. Carpet industry, gems and jewellery etc are part of this sector. Subletting of contract is deep in the case of carpet industry. Since cost of production is low, India has a good export market for carpets. People employed here don’t want their children to be employed in the carpet industry.

In India, villagers are undergoing rural crises. Old fashioned policy recommendations like land reforms won’t help us. There is little land left to be reformed. 85 percent of the rural land holding size comes below 5 acres. Those possessing 50 acres of land may watch fragmentation of land sooner or later. There is little opportunity left before the rural poor. That is why we find confrontation taking place between land owners and land have-nots during the harvesting seasons. The owner-cultivators are no longer rich, Prof. Gupta emphasized. Mahendra Singh Tikait who formed the Bhartiya Kisan Union was once termed as a kulak farmer. But he is from a lower middle class status if we judge him from an urban point of view. He was wrongly classified as a rich kulak farmer by the academicians. Land owners in rural India are no longer rich.

Roughly, 50% of the rural economy is not agricultural. So we may doubt India as rural society. Farmers know farming. But they don’t have sufficient land and capital to farm. 40 percent of the rural households In Bihar are non-agricultural. Merely 25 per cent of Bihar’s urban population lives in industrial centres. Due to distress migration, we find daily labourers waiting near chowks to get work in the cities.

Village oligarchs can no longer call the shots. Emergence of lower caste politics started happening with the breakdown of the rural oligarchy. Owner-cultivators do not pay regularly to the labourers and the share-croppers. Hence, the labourers try to find alternative sources of livelihood. They even work as rickshaw pullers and coolies.

People employed in the unorganized sector have very low level of skill. They seldom upgrade their skill set. However, in the organized sector, there is prestige associated with the job along with social security. There is possibility of moving up the ladder. One may upgrade his/ her skill-set in the organized sector.

The percentage of those who are literate among the working class has gone up. But the percentage of those who have received higher education among the working class has gone down. Factories employ under-skilled labourers. They seldom upgrade themselves.

India must learn from the West, particularly the United States so as to provide higher standards of living to its workers. There must be higher public investment in education and health. About 80 percent of the health expenditure is out of pocket expenditure in the case of India, Prof. Gupta informed. Apart from higher costs of agricultural inputs, indebtedness is caused by higher out-of-pocket expenditure on health. Our health system is collapsing. Expenditure on research and development (R&D) is falling down in monetary terms.

Village economy is collapsing since agriculture is no more profitable. Input prices are higher than before. There is unreliable supply of electricity. Horticulture and floriculture will not help as land is fragmented. The way out of the agrarian crisis is technological solutions. Land to the tiller programme could not help the farmers. Contract farming may be the way out of the rural crises. Some people do not sell land due to conservative reasons. Others think that land is the only social insurance they have. Labour needs to be shifted out of agriculture. We must know that India has a surplus in cheap labour and they need to be employed somewhere else.

Big cities are growing because of migration of unskilled labourers. But small and medium towns are growing faster than the big cities since rural graduates move to these towns and they do not migrate to big cities. Migrant labourers want their children to be educated.

Prof. Dipankar Gupta mentioned that advanced economies like France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Scandinavia are only 2-3 per cent rural, which is an indication of their prosperity.

Finally, Prof. Dipankar Gupta said that we need to act as elites at the national level to get things done and to make our government stronger. He asked for strengthening the public sector, which can deliver the most.

While commenting on Prof. Gupta’s speech, Shri Najeeb Jung said that the health system has collapsed in the capital of India i.e. Delhi. Urban poor do not have access to health care. The quality of health care provided is poor.

Playing with the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA!

The Times of India dated 2 February, 2010 (New Delhi edition, page no. 17) carried a full page DAVP (Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity, Reference no.: davp35101/13/0015/0910) advertisement on the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Sammelan. One of the achievements as claimed by the advertisement was: ‘Real Wages raised to Rs. 100 per day’. Going by the definition of real wages, one knows that it is earnings that are deflated by a price index so as to provide the inflation-adjusted purchasing power of the nominal wage. Instead of putting the term 'nominal wages' or simply 'wages', the Ministry of Rural development sponsored advertisement preferred to use the term 'real wages' But this gives us a false impression about the earnings of manual unskilled labourers who are employed for 100 days (in a year) under the NREGS. The advertisement simply wants to take away from our memory and perhaps, from our rationale that just a few weeks back India's annual food inflation based on wholesale prices rose to 17.4% for the week ended January 16 from 16.81% the week before. The World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2010 data shows that annual price inflation in consumer prices almost touched 10 percent in 2009 and 2010 in India. In the face of high inflation in food, a hike of nominal wages to Rs. 100/- per day is like a tiny drop of water in the ocean. Unfortunately, the Government does not understand this.

The other claims (Highlights) made by the ToI advertisement (dated 2 February, 2010, New Delhi edition) were:

· Allocation of funds for the current year raised to Rs. 39,100 crores

· Employment provided to 4.27 crore households

· 200 crore persondays generated so far, of which women are 50%, SCs 30% and STs 22%

· 8.8 crore bank accounts opened to give wages transparently

· 34 lakh works taken up in 619 districts

We all know that advertisements are meant to promote brands and communicate about a product to the potential customers. Their objective is to attract and tap the consumers so that they buy a product or a service with a sense of satisfaction despite spending money from their wallets. One may notice that for quite sometime advertisements on government schemes that are being publicized and funded by various ministries carry in them the photographs of the national and state-level leaders hailing from the top echelons of the ruling political party or coalition. Clearly, the hidden agenda is to woo potential voters in the name of development and welfare so that they vote in favour of such political leaders or a particular political party in the forthcoming elections. However, one may ask how tax payers’ money can be utilized for propaganda of a handful of political leaders. What about public accountability?

The advertisement that appeared in The Times Of India on 2 February, 2010 had the same purpose though it was meant to communicate to the people of India about the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Sammelan. It appears like the ghost of ‘paid news’ haunting the Indian newspaper readers again and again in various shapes, colors and printed words.

But was it the case that Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Sammelan became a grand event? Not at all. The article titled 'Jean Dreze, Aruna Roy keep off sammelan', which has been written by K Balchand and that appeared in The Hindu on 3 February, 2010 tells us that two of the main brains i.e. Aruna Roy and Jean Dreze behind NREGA chose to stay away from the sammelan as they found that Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC) — governing body for the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS has not been allowed to function properly. These two persons have grievances against the way NREGA is being implemented that may convert the labour intensive scheme into a labour displacing one. By simply adding the name of the Father of the Nation cannot transform the NREGS into a foolproof and efficient government scheme.


References:

Jean Dreze, Aruna Roy keep off sammelan by K Balchand, The Hindu, 3 February, 2010, http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/03/stories/2010020359501100.htm

Annual food inflation up at 17.4%, IANS, 28 January, 2010,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/biz/india-business/Annual-food-inflation-up-at-174/articleshow/5508520.cms

Cabinet meeting on price rise today, PM to chair meet, The Times of India, 13 January, 2010, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cabinet-meeting-on-price-rise-today-PM-to-chair-meet/articleshow/5440056.cms

Food inflation at 19.8% as pulses, potatoes jump, The Times of India, 1 January, 2010,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/biz/india-business/Food-inflation-at-198-as-pulses-potatoes-jump/articleshow/5400513.cms

Aam admi finds dal-roti out of reach in UPA’s second innings by Gargi Parsai, The Hindu, 29 December, 2009,
http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/29/stories/2009122952980900.htm

Sewa Kendras to come up with rural job scheme funds by K Balchand, The Hindu, 26
January, 2010, http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/26/stories/2010012656812400.htm

Social Audit of NREGS in Araria reveals corruption,
http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=870

Poor people unite against corrupt sarpanches,
http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=777

NREGS under scanner in Bhilwara, The Hindu, 10 October, 2009,
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article31998.ece

Guild asks editors to endorse pledge against ‘paid news’ by Anita Joshua, The Hindu, 16 January, 2010, http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/16/stories/2010011661051400.htm

Full disclosure by Rajdeep Sardesai, The Hindustan Times, 30 December, 2009,
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Full-disclosure/H1-Article1-491873.aspx

Mass media: masses of money? by P Sainath, The Hindu, 30 November, 2009,
http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/30/stories/2009113055290900.htm

Child labour problem in India

India has the largest population of child labourers in the world. According to statistics provided by non governmental organizations (NGOs), roughly 60 million children are working as child labourers. According to the official estimates of Census 2001, there were 12.7 million economically active children in the age-group of 5-14 years. The number used to be 11.3 million during 1991.

Most of the child labourers in India belong to the social groups Scheduled Tribes (STs), Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). A significant chunk of child labourers are minorities. They are recruited for reducing costs of production and because of their inherent weakness to unionize for bargaining better wages, improved work conditions and related labour rights. That is why we have the paradox of having a large pool of child labour amidst high level of adult unemployment.

Works that needs dexterity is often done by them. Labour recruiters often get child labourers from poverty stricken areas and those areas that have undergone droughts and floods or where agriculture has failed. It is a well established fact now that trafficking of women and children is quite prevalent in this part of the world.

According to statistics provided by Indian NGOs, 70 percent of child labourers are engaged in agriculture. They also work in construction industry, quarries, mines, brick kilns and small scale industries (unorganized sector). They are often found engaged in household activities, street restaurants (dhabas) and hazardous industries.

Child labour is considered as the denial of human dignity and freedom. That is why there is demand for use and sale of fair trade products (instead of free trade products), in whose manufacturing child labour hasn’t been absorbed. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 prohibits child labour in certain occupations and processes alone and their conditions of work are regulated in the rest.

Two-thirds of the child workers in India were engaged in agriculture and about 17 percent were engaged in manufacturing, according to the 2004-05 National Sample Survey Organisation results. More girls than boys were found to be engaged in agriculture and manufacturing. One-tenth of the boys were engaged in trade as compared to just 2 percent of girls. About 11 percent of girl child workers were engaged in domestic duties in rural areas, collect water and firewood and prepare cow dung cakes for fuel.

The 2004-05 National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) results clearly suggest a negative association between per capita household expenditure and child labour/deprivation and a positive association between caste/religious status and child labour and deprivation. For instance, households with lowest per capita expenditure have the highest incidence of child labour and child deprivation. STs, followed by Muslims, SCs and Hindu OBCs bear higher incidence of child labour and child deprivation.

The NSSO results also show that the total number of child workers declined from 13.3 million in 1993-94 to 8.6 million in 2004-05. They constituted about 6.2 percent of children in the age group 5-14 years in 1993-94 and 3.4 percent in 2004-05. The majority of the child labourers are located in the rural areas (7 million) where about two-thirds of the children were engaged in family enterprises as helpers and the remaining one-third were engaged as paid workers. In the urban areas, on the other hand, nearly 50 percent of the child labourers were found as wage workers. Some common causes of child labor are poverty, parental illiteracy, social apathy, ignorance, lack of education and exposure, exploitation of cheap and unorganized labor.

There is across the board decline in the incidence of child labour in the Southern and Western Indian States and UTs between 1991 and 2001. However, there has been an increasing trend in the incidence of child labour in the Eastern and North Indian States and UTs.

In India, exploitation of little children for cheap labor is an accepted practice (and norm) and is perceived by the local population as a necessity to earn livelihoods. Child labourers engaged in carpet weaving industries are paid poorly and they work for long hours in unhygienic conditions. Children working in such units are mainly migrant workers from Northern India, who are sent here by their families to earn some money and send it back to them. Their families dependence on their income, forces them to endure the onerous work conditions in the carpet factories.

However, there are some myths surrounding the association between poverty, incidence of child labour and school attendance. If one can remember, the Public Report on Basic Education (PROBE) survey was conducted in late 1996 in 188 randomly-selected villages of states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. These four states account for more than half of India's out-of-school children. Aside from surveying all the schooling facilities in the sample villages, the PROBE team interviewed 1,221 households. The PROBE survey challenges several myths about the causes of educational deprivation in rural India. The survey exposed the myth that elementary education in India is free, that Indian parents have little interest in education and that economic dependence on child labour is the main reason why poor families are unable to send their children to school.

The PROBE survey found that an overwhelming majority of parents, even those amidst the deprived sections of the population, attach great importance to the education of their children. Sending a child to school on a regular basis requires a good deal of parental effort (not only due to the significant costs involved but also in terms of the time and attention required to ensure the child's sustained attendance and progress), and that the poor quality of the schooling system often discourages parents from making that effort.

Recently, the Pratichi Trust (India) has come out with a useful report on the state of primary education in parts of West Bengal. It has been found that the burden of curricula is making the way for private tuitions. Class divisions exist in getting access to education.

References:

The Challenge of Employment in India: An Informal Economy Perspective, Volume-I, Main Report, National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS), April, 2009, http://nceus.gov.in/

PROBE: Public Report on Basic Education,
http://www.ashanet.org/stats/PROBE.html#What%20is%20PROBE?

http://www.childlabor.in/

Primary Schooling by Amartya Sen, The Telegraph, 19 and 20 December, 2009,
http://telegraphindia.com/archives/archive.html

Child Labour in India, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJXfILoTEXQ

Abolition of Child Labour in India: Strategies for the Eleventh Five Year Plan, Executive Summary,
http://ncpcr.gov.in/Reports/Abolition_of_Child_Labour_in_India_Strategies_for_11th_Five_Year_Plan_Executive_Summary_to_Planning_Commission.pdf

http://www.globalmarch.org/worstformsreport/world/india.html

Violence against women: An analysis

Introduction

Any form of violence in the human society emanates from unequal power relations and the constant urge by the dominating party to control such relations so that they continue unabated without being challenged. Through the lens of gender, it is the men due to their ideological underpinnings (such as patriarchal mindset), who have control over the resources and even the “rules” that determines the distribution and possession of such resources. There exists sexual division of labour due to which women are exploited, physically, mentally as well as commercially. Violence is used as a weapon to control the very male-oriented and dogmatic ideology governing the system that identifies women merely as care-givers, reproductive machines and sexual tools.

Women in India are subject to all forms of violence. Female foeticide is quite common in Haryana and Punjab since there is preference for sons. In these two states, the sex ratio is lower than the national average. In India, Kerala (1,058 females per 1,000 males) is the state with the highest sex ratio and Haryana (861 females per 1,000 males) is the state with the lowest sex ratio.

Sons are believed to carry forward the lineage. This is one reason behind high fertility rate in India. More investment on the education of sons is done compared to that on daughters. Within the household, there exists gender discrimination, which determines intra-household distribution of food. Due to lower educational levels, women’s capacity to earn shrinks. Malnutrition among adolescent girls and women is quite prevalent in India.

Women from upper castes are seldom allowed to work outside the home since it is considered as a prestige issue. That is why in India, we find work participation of women to be lower than that of men. However, work participation rate among low caste women is better compared to that among upper caste women. Honour killings are quite common in Haryana and Tamil Nadu when young girls marry somebody outside their caste and clan (also known as ‘khap’ in Jat community of Haryana) against their families’ consent.

Dowry is demanded from the husband’s side (in-laws) when younger women get married. Newly married women become subject to verbal and physical abuse. In many cases, young brides are burnt to death by the in-laws when their parents fail to meet the requisite dowry demanded by the in-laws. Female chastity and virginity is considered as a great virtue and it also determines women’s fate in their husband’s house. Abortion cases are quite frequent in India when the case arises to prevent unwanted pregnancy. However, very little is discussed about the trauma and anxiety associated with abortion, which women undergo. During menstrual cycles, women are asked to stay away from public places and religious ceremonies since they are considered impure during 'those' days.

Female bodies are like guinea pigs and have often been utilized for experimentation when it comes to family planning. Contraceptives meant to lower fertility are promoted by the government at the behest of the MNCs and the corporate sector without thinking about the consequences on health. Sexuality of women is controlled by the State and the men through traditions, beliefs and dominant cultural practices. Population control and family planning gets blindly associated with women’s welfare rather than being linked with the much criticized Malthusian doctrine.

Data on violence against women

In a country like India, it is difficult to rely on statistics pertaining to rape cases. The data may show that such crimes being committed may be going up or down. But in reality, women are afraid of even lodging FIRs (first information reports) in police stations despite being raped or sexually harassed. The judiciary and the legal system have been blamed time and again to be biased towards men. Cases of violence against women are often under-reported.

According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau 2007, a total of 1,85,312 incidents of crime against women (both under Indian Penal Code-IPC and Special and Local Laws-SLL) were reported in the country during 2007 as compared to 1,64,765 during 2006, thus recording an increase of 12.5% during 2007. These crimes have continuously increased during 2003-2007 with 1,40,601 cases in 2003, 1,54,333 cases in 2004, 1,55,553 in 2005, 1,64,765 cases in 2006 and 1,85,312 cases in 2007.

The total number of sexual harassment cases were 10,950 in 2007. The total number of cases pertaining to cruelty by husband and relatives was 75,930. There were 61 cases of importation of girls. Altogether there were 38,734 cases of molestation in 2007. (See the URL: http://ncrb.nic.in/cii2007/cii-2007/FIGURES_2007.pdf).

The number of rape cases has increased by nearly ten folds from 2487 in 1953 to 20737 in 2007. Young girls also become victims of child abuse at the hands of their closest male relatives and neighbours. When such crimes are committed, victims seldom protest due to the fear of social stigma.

When women protest against their exploitation, all methods are tried so as to control them including their voice. For example, Bhanwari Devi, the 'sathin' from Rajasthan, was gang-raped for working against child marriage practiced by the upper castes in her village.

According to the latest data from NCRB, respect for women seems to be the worst in Andhra Pradesh, which accounted for 83.5 per cent of cases under Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act of total cases across the country. The NCRB data clearly points that in 92.5% cases of rape, the offender was known to the victim. In fact, nearly 7.5% of offenders are relatives. Another disturbing aspect was that about a quarter of the rape victims are minors i.e. below 18 years of age.

What can be done?

During the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in September 1995, the United Nations Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, said that violence against women is a universal problem that must be universally condemned. The United Nations has termed violence against women as a gross violation of human rights. In India, a survey showed that for each incidence of violence, women lost an average of 7 working days.

Media that includes television, radio and newspapers can play a positive role in creating awareness about the pitfalls of violence against women. Mass media’s power should not be undermined by our policy makers.

References

National Crime Records Bureau 2007, http://ncrb.nic.in/cii2007/cii-2007/FIGURES_2007.pdf

National Crime Records Bureau 2007, http://ncrb.nic.in/cii2007/cii-2007/CHAP5.pdf

Violence Against Women Fachtsheet # 239, World Health Organization (WHO),
Available at www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs239/en/index.html

Mind of a rapist by Mihir Srivastava, India Today, 25 June, 2009,
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/48579/COVER%20STORY/Mind+of+a+rapist.html

The Naxal Imbroglio

Following the possibility of a crackdown in Naxal affected areas including Dandakaranya in Chattisgarh during government sponsored ‘Operation Green Hunt’ in the month of November, 2009, a part of the intelligentsia wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The letter condemned the forthcoming full-scale State-backed attack on Naxals, expecting killings of innocent poor and tribals in the name of security and development. Presently, our Prime Minister and the Home Minister are of the view that leftwing extremism is posing the gravest threat to the internal security of the country. After facing intense agitation from the civil society organizations, the PM has, however, refused of using the Indian Army and Air Force in the combat operations against the ultras.

The Naxalite movement started on the premise of attaining the broad objective of land and tenancy redistribution in favour of the landless and poor in Naxalbari, West Bengal during the 1960s. Since then it has spread to the states of Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra and Orissa. According to officials from the Home Ministry, there are 11 extremely sensitive areas, spread over 40 districts. Since the 1970s, the country saw various armed factions, of which the biggest were the People's War Group (PWG) and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC). The banned CPI (Maoist) party was formed when PWG and MCC merged in September, 2004. Some of these groups also engage in killings, arsons and abduction.

Today, the hotbeds of movement are Lalgarh, West Midnapore and Dantewada, Chattisgarh. The movement finds support among rural poor, tribals from the mineral and resource rich regions, and a part of the urban intellectual class. Previously, the State was accused of abusing human rights for branding social activists as Naxal sympathizers and creating Salwa Judum in Chattisgarh to deprive the Maoists of local support.

Many feel that the type of development, which Indian State pursued, has pushed millions into abject poverty and destitution. The State has worked closely with the corporates like Tatas, Ambanis, Birlas and Jindals so as to plunder natural resources away from the tribals. Behind-the-doors secret meetings led to handing over of natural resources at negligible prices to corporate houses by the Government under the garb of MoUs. Adivasis have been evicted from their own lands and forest to satisfy the development needs as envisioned by the Indian elites. The Naxalite movement grew out of the resistance to challenge the State, which alienated its people from their habitats and which cared too little for its poor citizens. Humanists and the human rights activists think that the Naxal threat is not just a law and order problem. It is a problem related to the socio-economic development of the country, which has brought forth more of inequality among the masses and injustice to the dalits, the adivasis and the farmers. Among social groups, SCs, STs, and backward castes accounted for 80% of the rural poor in 2004–05, as per the 11th Five Year Plan. Capital intensive industrial development has been unable to unleash human development of the masses.

Experts in the government, however, feel that people-centric development is not possible in the Maoist affected regions unless force is used. The red army enjoys the experience of deftly using land mines and sophisticated arms and ammunitions (smuggled through the porous borders) against the administration and the police forces to thwart all sorts of development related activities in their areas. This is done to create a rift between the State and its citizens including the tribals.

If we look at the basic human development indicators in the regions under leftwing extremism, we would find that the figures lag behind that of some of the Sub Saharan African countries. Be it health, nutrition or education, the tribals and dalits are the worst sufferers in the country. It is at situations like this when they become victims at the hands of Maoists and are exploited. The Indian State for its own sake must understand this grave reality and take steps before it is too late. A meaningful dialogue between the extremist groups and the government focusing on the all-around development of tribal communities must begin. The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, popularly known as PESA should get implemented properly as soon as possible for inclusive governance.


Further readings

Weapons Of Mass Desperation by Shoma Chaudhury, Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 39, 03 October, 2009, http://www.tehelka.com/story_main42.asp?filename=Ne031009coverstory.asp

Taking on Maoists by Venkitesh Ramakrishnan, Volum 26, Issue 22, 24 October-6 November, 2009, Frontline, http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20091106262200400.htm

Planned Military Offensive, Open letter to the Indian Prime Minister, October 10, 2009 Vol. XLIV No 41, Economic and Political Weekly

An Open Letter To Noam Chomsky by Nirmalangshu Mukherji, Outlook India, 22 October, 2009, http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262424

Stop Offensive, Hold Unconditional Dialogue-Call From National Convention Of Citizens Initiative For Peace, Mainstream, Vol. XLVII, No 45, October 24, 2009,
http://mainstreamweekly.net/article1710.html

Rent-a-quote liberals stand up for Naxals, 22 October, 2009, The Economic Times,
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Rent-a-quote-liberals-stand-up-for-Naxals/articleshow/5147216.cms

Gladson and Arundhati Roy on Naxalism: CNN-IBN Debate, October, 2009,
http://newswing.com/?p=3659

Maoists linking up with Tamil Tigers? 26 October, 2009, The Times of India,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Maoists-linking-up-with-Tamil-Tigers/articleshow/5161476.cms

What Muslims were to BJP, Maoists are to Congress: Arundhati Roy, 26 October, 2009, The Times of India, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/What-Muslims-were-to-BJP-Maoists-are-to-Congress-Arundhati-Roy/articleshow/5159882.cms

Crushed in the middle by Ramachandra Guha, The Hindustan Times, 22 October, 2009,
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Crushed-in-the-middle/H1-Article1-468074.aspx#

The Phantom Enemy by Ashok Mitra, The Telegraph, 23 October, 2009,
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091023/jsp/opinion/story_11635362.jsp

A Million Mutinies Within by Aditya Nigam, Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 26, 04 July, 2009,
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main42.asp?filename=Ne040709a_million.asp

Who’s who in the Maharastra Assembly Polls 2009

After the successful comeback of the United Progressive Alliance as UPA 2 for the second innings in the Central Government, the country is poised to see Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh going to the Assembly Polls on October 13, 2009. The Assembly Elections are going to prove whether the Indian National Congress (INC) in particular and the UPA in general are able to retain the popularity among the voters, especially when the country has seen enough of price rise particularly in food and sugar, unemployment owing to global downturn and political ‘tamasha’ over the recent austerity drive.

The Maharastra Assembly Polls are going to be interesting since Mumbai, its capital had been the target of terror attack during November, 2008 where over 170 persons got killed and more than 300 were injured. The trial of Ajmal Amir Kasab is still going on. The city has also seen huge loss to life and property caused by flooding on numerous occasions.

Maharastra has been undergoing agrarian crisis since a decade or so in districts of Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Nanded, Nandurbar, Osmanabad, Wardha, Wasim and Yavatmal. Farmers’ suicides from cotton belt of Vidarbha region due to indebtedness and crop failures has become a regular feature. Five farmers committed suicide from this region within the last two days of the month of August, 2009. The recent hike in sugar prices too has made the consumers getting disenchanted with the Sharad Pawar led Agricultural Ministry. Issues surrounding displacement of tribals from forest and farmers from their land due to promotion of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) by the state government have made headlines. The state has also witnessed anti-North Indian agitations being launched by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in which workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were beaten up mercilessly and were sent back to their respective states by trains. Coupled with all this are the dynasty politics existing among all major political parties and criminal track records of the candidates who have been fielded in the recent polls.

In the forthcoming Maharastra Assembly Polls, the total number of candidates who are contesting is 3559, which is an increase of 33% over the number of candidates who contested way back in 2004. The Election Commission of India has found that there would be 7.56 crore electors in the state of Maharashtra this time. The total number of contesting parties in the Assembly Elections is 92, which is an increase of 60% over the number of contesting parties in 2004. While these figures may point to democratization of Indian polity combined with greater participation, it is important to look deeper into the backgrounds of the candidates who are contesting. The National Election Watch (NEW, http://nationalelectionwatch.org/), a citizen action group comprising of 1200 NGOs, which is working for poll reform, has recently done an analysis of 880 affidavits filed by contesting candidates out of the total 3559 in Maharastra. It has been found that there are criminal cases pending against 276 candidates out of 880 candidates (31%). Both Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Shiv Sena (SS) have 42 each, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has 31, and both Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) and Indian National Congress (INC) have 23 each such candidates who have criminal cases pending against them. These numbers portray the pitiable condition of electoral democracy in Maharastra as far as criminalization of politics is concerned. If candidates with such track records are elected, then law and justice would be at peril. Such persons with criminal backgrounds may manipulate the rules and regulations in order to come out clean every time when their activities are being scrutinized.

There are 212 crorepatis (24%) among the 880 candidates whose affidavits have been analysed by NEW. If criminal track record combined with money power is what makes a candidate a winner in the Assembly Elections, then it is difficult to predict who would take up the issues surrounding voters’ lives and livelihoods when it comes to democratic governance.

The total number of candidates with pending criminal records is 45 in the case of Vidarbha region. Major political parties have fielded candidates with criminal records. There are 26 “crorepatis” among 114 candidates (23%). BJP is topping the list with 53% “crorepatis” (9 out of 17). 46% of candidates (52 of 114) from Vidarbha region have not furnished PAN card details. What more do we need in a region like this which is regarded as the dark spot of agrarian despair and where farmers’ suicides is rampant.

NEW has also released an analysis of the 309 candidates of Mumbai Suburban district of Maharashtra, contesting the Vidhan Sabha elections on October 13. There are 75 candidates who used to be criminals. There are 68 “crorepatis” among 309 candidates. The BJP has deployed 12 candidates who are “crorepatis”. From the affidavit data of 470 candidates (out of total 705) from 60 constituencies from Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburb and Thane districts, we get that there are 126 candidates who used to be criminals. There are 122 “crorepatis” among 470 candidates. The point is if “crorepati” candidates with track record in crime get elected, then what kind of policies can we expect to be formulated once the government is formed. According to a new Human Development Report compiled by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 54.1 per cent of the population are slum dwellers in the city of Mumbai, which is also termed as the finance capital of India. In the year 2006-07, Mumbai had a per capita income of Rs. 65,361, twice of India's average per capita income of Rs. 29,382. Despite having the highest per capita income in India, the income of nearly 10 per cent of the population in Mumbai is not above Rs. 591.75 per month, which means Rs. 20 each day. In Mumbai, people reside in ‘chawls’-both single and multi-storeyed, single-room tenements, and many are pavement dwellers.

It is not a surprise that political parties and the civil service are perceived on average to be the most corrupt sectors around the world, as per the Global Corruption Barometer 2009 prepared by Transparency International. Many believe that information on the affidavits filed by the contesting candidates should get displayed by the electronic voting machine. This will ensure that voters push the button in favour of the right contestant after going through the track records of the candidates. Transparency and accountability in governance would prevail only when the right candidates are elected.
The main points of the study done by National Election Watch are:

1. Mumbai Suburban
a. Candidates with Criminal Records = 75
b. 68 “Karodpatis” in 309 candidates
c. Average assets value for 309 candidates = Rs. 1.52 crores

2. Mumbai and Thane
a. Candidates with Criminal Records = 126
b. 122 “Karodpatis” in 470 candidates
c. Average assets value for 470 candidates = Rs. 1.8 crores

3. Nagpur
a. Candidates with Criminal Records = 17
b. 13 “Karodpatis” in 45 candidates
c. 47% of candidates (21 of 45) have not furnished PAN card details

4. Vidarbha Region
a. Candidates with pending Criminal Records = 45
b. 26 “Karodpatis” in 114 candidates
c. 51 candidates are graduates and above
d. Average assets value for 114 candidates = Rs. 83 lacs

Further readings

Report of the Expert Group on Agricultural Indebtedness, Banking Division, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, July 2007,
http://www.hindu.com/nic/agriindebtreport.doc

National Election Watch, http://groups.google.co.in/group/national-ew-news/browse_thread/thread/060b1d4422bdba57?hl=en#

Dynasty politics unite Cong, BJP in Maharashtra by Prachi Jatania / CNN-IBN, http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dynasty-politics-unite-cong-bjp-in-maharashtra/101969-37.html

'Bal Thackeray wants his son to become the CM', http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/oct/05/slide-show-1-maharashtra-assembly-elections-bal-thackeray-wants-his-son-to-become-the-cm.htm

FINAL FORM / REPORT (Under Section 173 Cr.P.C.), IN THE COURT OF ADDL. CH. M.M., 37TH COURT, ESPLANADE, MUMBAI, http://www.hindu.com/nic/mumbai-terror-attack-final-form.pdf

Global Corruption Barometer 2009 prepared by Transparency International,
http://www.transparency.org/publications/gcr/gcr_2009#press

Every second person in Mumbai resides in slum: UNDP, The Times of India, 4 September, 2009,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/mumbai/Every-second-person-in-Mumbai-resides-in-slum-UNDP/articleshow/4972195.cms

Farmers’ suicides continue in Vidarbha despite relief package,
http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=171