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| Apr 23, 2007 |
Dealing with rebels
Confusing signals emanating from the government cannot cloud the fact any longer that the state is at war. Naxalites have stepped up their activities and appear to be inching closer to the urban centres, to the great discomfiture of the government and the police.
The state government appears convinced that Naxalites can be driven back if only it can emulate the Andhra Pradesh police. It has been dithering over a "surrender policy", hinting however that it would be so attractive that rebels would be tempted to lay down their arms. But notwithstanding the chief minister's announcement that he is ready to talk with the rebels, it is by no means certain that the rebels want to either surrender or even talk to the chief minister. It is against this backdrop that the following suggestions are being made. These measures, emphasise members of the group, will go a long way to build confidence and involve larger sections of the people.
Hold panchayat elections
Without holding the panchayat elections and funnelling funds to the grassroots, there can be no political solution. While the Supreme Court is expected to take up the matter towards the end of May, it is not understood why the state and the Union government together cannot file a petition even earlier seeking the apex court's permission to go ahead with the polls under the existing rules of Pesa (Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act. After all, this is the Act under which panchayat elections have been held in all the scheduled areas of the country spread across eight or nine states. If the Supreme Court finally strikes down some parts of the Act, it will have to be implemented uniformly across the country and by all states. So, from the next election Jharkhand, too, will have to modify the Act. But till the apex court takes a final decision, the state should be allowed to go ahead with the poll. There is, after all, a complete vacuum of political activity in the villages. With mainstream political parties having retreated and their activity confined to the houses of their respective leaders, it is time to breathe life into panchayats and revive people's participation in development and policy-making.
Modernise police
By modernising police, officials generally have meant equipping the police with more sophisticated fire-power, equipment, security, manpower and funds.
But, in the context of Jharkhand, the police modernisation should begin by studying the composition of the police force — the representation in terms of districts, tribes, subdivisions and up to the villages. One suspects that a large number of policemen in Jharkhand are drawn from Bihar and Gorkhas from Nepal and some even from UP and elsewhere.
With this kind of composition and lack of local connect, the police will never be able to combat the Naxalites. Recruitment should be carefully monitored to ensure that districts and villages are adequately represented. The police must be a representative force and have stakes in local conditions. The "outsiders" in the police should be distributed evenly across the state.
Modernisation will also entail pushing the bar higher, recruiting more women, making educational qualifications and training tougher and attaching NGOs to every police station so that citizens feel more confident in approaching the police.
Inject excitement
Easier said than done, perhaps. But with the National Games approaching, there is a golden opportunity to promote various sports activities in the villages, spotting talented sportsmen and women, giving away scholarships and picking some of them for training outside the state. With careful planning, job opportunities in the "sports quota" can be developed and tournaments with attractive prize-money can be promoted.
Mobile vans with video screens and suitable films, music, books and even medicine and doctors can be sent to the villages for education, entertainment and medical attention.
Police-people connect
When policemen are entrusted the responsibility to distribute medicines or condoms — or when they are forced to play "friendly" football and volleyball matches and promote clubs — the exercises are so unrealistic that they have failed more often than not. Policemen are feared and hated in villages and these activities do little to dispel the distrust.
Instead, policemen can be used more effectively in conducting surveys — about ration cards, about voters' identity cards, about status of litigation involving villagers and property disputes.
The information will be useful to civil authorities and gradually people might start looking at policemen differently. The cops can also be utilised to report on the functioning of health centres and schools. It will be an unusual role for them but it will be more useful than policemen enacting plays to ridicule Naxalites.
Media and PUCL
It is in the state's own interest to allow the media and civil liberties organisations, both within the state and outside, permission to interact with the rebels in jail.
This will help the judiciary and the police, too, to identify the innocent from the indoctrinated. Thousands of "innocent" people can then be released and rehabilitated, trials can be expedited and the state can inspire confidence by announcing compensation for cases involving violation of human rights.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070424/asp/jamshedpur/story_7689388.asp
Steel cos ask govt to modify MMDR
NEW DELHI: Domestic steel producers have asked the government to modify the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Act to accord priority in allocation of captive mines to utilities producing two million tonnes of steel annually.
"We have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention in modification of the MMDR Act to accord priority to steel utilities with two MT capacity in allocation of captive mines," said an Indian Steel Alliance (ISA) official.
"The MMDR Act needs to be changed to specify that all steel projects of a capacity of at least two MT are eligible for captive mines irrespective of their location and existing iron ore leases with steel producers are renewed," he reasoned.
The procedure for allocating of captive mines need to be formulated and simplified. "Unless this is done, any allotment of mines to a party who is not a first applicant is likely to get embroiled in litigation and there will be no progress on the ground," the official pointed out.
Arguing that the current global trend was for backward integration by steel producers, he argued that steel producers were looking to increase iron ore holdings and it is this search which has attracted FDI from Posco and Arcelor Mittal to Orissa and Jharkhand.
"Despite poor infrastructure scenario in these states, investors are coming forward to put up projects. If allotment of iron ore mines get delayed and remains uncertain, the projects may eventually" not see the light of the day, the ISA told the Prime Minister, the official said.
"We suggested to the Prime Minister that unless iron ore exports were curbed through policy measures, there will be an incentive for deliberate production of fines. In addition to the export duty, a quantitative limit should be levied at the level of exports of 2005-06 and it should be reduced co-terminus with the increase in the steel capacity," the ISA official said.
The ISA official said the steel industry has solicited the expertise of consultancy firm KPMG to study the mining policy of India and suggest optimal legal and operational ways of accessing and using iron ore in order to avoid litigations.
The Indian steel industry is at the crossroads and its future direction and growth will depend on the decisions taken by the government. Development of infrastructure will be an enabler as well as a driver of steel demand and hence fresh steel capacities need to come up to meet the country's growing demand for steel, he said.
"The Indian steel sector seeks government intervention and request that a suitable policy framework be created to promote the growth of the steel industry in India as steel is the backbone of industry and plays a major part in the transformation of a developing economy to a developed economy, the ISA official said
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Indl_Goods__Svs/Metals
__Mining/Steel_cos_ask_govt_ to_modify_MMDR/articleshow/1945795.cms
Soft words for Santhali
Technology has come to the aid of a language in danger of becoming extinct. And in the process, of a tribe denied a voice for decades.
The project — creation of a software module for learning the Santhali language — is the brainchild of two faculty members of the departments of computer science and engineering and comparative literature at Jadavpur University. It is being funded by World Bank under Technical Education for Quality Improvement Programme.
Eleven months into the scheme, Samantak Das and Anirban Ray Chaudhuri, with help from other faculty members, students and a handful of organisations, have developed a Santhali word processing software, similar to Microsoft Word, but with fewer functions. It supports Al Chiki, Bangla, Devnagari, Roman and Oriya scripts, all of which are used to write Santhali.
The software will enable Santhali books to be printed using the latest technology. In the past, publication of Santhali books has often been hampered by the lack of a dedicated word-processing software.
"The software has a glossary (Santhali-Bangla-English) of about 1,000 words and provides transliteration support. This is of great help to those who are familiar with the language but don't know all the scripts," says Das, head of the comparative literature department. For example, " tokoy", which means "who" in Santhali, only needs to be written in the Roman script in the software for its representation in Al Chiki to be found out.
According to the developers, the first standalone multi-script Santhali word processing software is very much a work in progress. It has generated interest among organisations working with Santhalis, some of which, like the e-group Wesanthals, have collaborated on the project.
The software will be embedded in low-cost hardware and provided free of cost to three Santhali agencies, says Ray Chaudhuri of the computer science department. The feedback from the agencies will determine the course of the software's development.
A teaching stint at Visva-Bharati prompted both Das and Ray Chaudhuri to take on the project. For them, it has been a labour of love. "We worked in our spare time, on a shoestring budget and had only two computers at our disposal. And we don't want it any other way," says Das.
Figures bear out the need for the project. The Santhali population is about 10 million and is spread out over parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and other Northeastern states. The literacy rate among the population is low (around 25 per cent) and the language survives primarily orally .
Dukhiram Hansda of Adivasi Socio Educational & Cultural Association asserts: "The software will emerge as a vital tool for the spread of Santhali. It will make publication of Santhali books simpler and thus help in the study of the language. Without spread of education, any language will die."
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070422/asp/calcutta/story_7664155.asp
Husband escapes murder slur
- Twelve-year-old boy bails out father
Hazaribagh, April 23: The 24-hour high drama over the dead body of a married woman petered out today in an anti-climax when the deceased's mother arrived from Kanpur and withdrew charges that her daughter was killed by her son-in-law.
The body of Sunita Bansal, who had allegedly committed suicide, lay in the crematorium for over 24 hours after her relatives called up the police, here, suspecting foul play.
The police consequently ordered Abhay Bansal not to cremate the dead body and wait for the arrival of his in-laws.
In cases involving women burning to death, husbands have often been arrested on suspicion, even sent to jail before being acquitted after long-drawn trials in court.
In this case, the husband owes his freedom to his 12-year-old son, who stood by his father from the beginning and told police that it was his mother who was at fault.
Bansal, a trader, and his twelve-year-old son, Rajat, stood guard over the decaying body till Bansal's in-laws arrived here today and satisfied themselves about his innocence.
While they spoke to the neighbours as well as Bansal, what tilted the scale was the testimony of the 12-year-old boy.
Rajat had all along maintained that his mother had committed suicide by setting herself on fire.
She had a mercurial temper and often quarrelled with his father , threatening to commit suicide and implicate him in her suicide note, he had claimed yesterday.
Today he repeated the claim before his maternal grandmother and apparently succeeded in convincing her that his father was innocent.
The relatives of the deceased then relented and allowed the body to be cremated and gave the go-ahead to the father-son duo for completing her last rites.
Recalling the evening of April 21, the 12-year-old boy declared that his father had rushed up after spotting smoke emanating from their rented flat.
But by then his mother had suffered severe burn injuries.
She was immediately taken to the sadar hospital, from where she was referred to Ranchi.
But she died on the way.
Mother of the deceased acknowledged that Sunita was impulsive and ill-tempered and she declared that she no longer had any complaint against her son-in-law.
Police officials said their investigation too confirmed that it was a case of suicide.
"But we shall wait for the post-mortem report before closing the case," they added.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070424/asp/jamshedpur/story_7687560.asp
India ticking with AIDS time bomb
KANPUR: Most of Mumbai bar girls, 95 per cent of them being from UP alone, were found to be infected with HIV. Summers are particularly conducive for spreading the scourge, as large number of migrant workers from UP and Bihar, working in the megapolis, come home and infect their spouses, according to Dr IPS Gilada.
HIV surfaces more in religious places than state capitals. After visiting temples, people believe that freed of their sins, they can resort to illicit sex. Surprisingly, temple town Tirupati has more HIV infected than a cosmopolitan Hyderabad. Likewise Varanasi has more people living with HIV / AIDS, than other cities. If the trend persists, then in the next 10 years, India would have the maximum number of HIV / AIDS cases, worldwide.
Dr Gilada, Mumbai based doctor, presented these chilling facts while delivering a guest lecture on `HIV-AIDS, what should we do,' here on Sunday, during GSVM Medical College golden jubilee celebrations. HIV is also transmitted with organ transplantation, breast milk, added Dr Gilada.
According to data, women constitute 40 per cent of HIV afflicted in India, 90 per cent of whom are monogamous. Now medicines are available that lowers the risk of transfer of HIV from infected mother to child, he added.
However, successful anti-aids vaccine would not be available until five years. Therefore Dr Gilada warned that taking precautions was the only way to protect oneself from HIV. Some vaccines are available that can prolong life of HIV / AIDS afflicted by 10 or 12 years, Dr Gilada added.
He also advised parents to tell children that they should resist those who touch their genitals or lure them with chocolates or take them to isolated spots. "In the era of cable TV and `choli' movies, ads about alcohol and sex, disco clubs, it is important to prepare the youth to face the world," remarked Gilada.
"Ab nahi aids khatarnak bimari- janch karane me hai samajhdari" , quipped Gilada. He advised people to go in for test after having unsafe sex or suspecting infection. "The test can confirm HIV presence between three weeks and three months," added Giladi.
Dr Brijendra Nigam, demanded an anti retrial therapy (ART) centre for the city as HIV / AIDS graph is going up drastically, on the lines of those existing in Lucknow and Varanasi.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_ticking_with_AIDS_time_bomb/articleshow/19403
43.cms
Seismic survey operations begin in Bihar-GV-ONN-2002/1
Seismic survey operations to be carried out by Cairn India will begin in Bihar this week. An airborne geomagnetic survey of the block has just finished and is being followed by the 2D seismic survey programme. It is anticipated that the 2D seismic field operations will be completed by the end of June 2007 before the commencement of the monsoon.
The onshore NELP IV block GV-ONN-2002/1 in northern Bihar was awarded under a production sharing contract (PSC) by the Government of India in 2004.
The seismic survey operations are scheduled to start in the districts of Samastipur, Darbhanga and Madhubani. The programme covers an area from Dalsinghsarai in the South to Jainagar in the North and from Singhwara and Ladania in the West and East respectively. Approximately 500 Line kilometres of data will be acquired. The aim of the seismic survey is to understand the structures below the surface.
A large team of skilled and specialized personnel will be deputed to Bihar, but there will be a requirement for the temporary engagement of a number of unskilled personnel during the course of the five month survey, many of whom will be sourced from the local community.
As part of the survey programme small teams of personnel with satellite navigation equipment will place marker pegs on the ground. Further teams will be drilling shallow holes along each survey line and they will be followed by the main seismic survey team who will lay out cables and equipment.
Cairn India permit teams will be present in all stages of the operation to explain the survey and associated crop compensation process to the farmers and local people. Company representatives are meeting with agricultural representatives in each district to discuss crop prices. Farmers are expected to be compensated within weeks of the survey moving over their properties.
The GV-ONN-2002/1 block in north Bihar is within the Ganga Basin, which is one of the largest sedimentary basins of India, but is under-explored and no hydrocarbons have yet been discovered. As per the PSC Cairn India has a seven year exploration period comprising of three phases, which commenced from the issue of the Petroleum Exploration Licence on 8th June 2005. As operator of the PSC, Cairn India holds a 50% interest in this Block with joint venture partner Cairn Energy PLC, through its subsidiary Capricorn Energy Limited, holding the remaining 50% interest .
http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/pressnews/seismicsurveycairnindia/seismicsurv
eyop/market/stocks/article/277495
Bringing Relevant Technology to Rural Areas
ZHENGZHOU, China, April 23, 2007 – Today in Henan province, Chinese government officials take ownership of two "InfoWagons" designed to open up new avenues of digital literacy for rural citizens.
At a small village at Luohe, Henan Province in Central China, Will Poole, corporate vice president at Microsoft, participated in a rollout ceremony marking the delivery of two of six InfoWagons donated by Microsoft as part of an innovative rural computing pilot program. The high-tech buses — each outfitted with 15 student PCs and one instructor PC — will serve as computer training centers on wheels as they circulate to rural villages throughout one of China's most populous province.
Poole and other Microsoft executives also attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony to launch the Integrated Information Training Center at Luohe township.
A relatively underdeveloped and primarily agricultural province, Henan is identified by Microsoft and MII as well-suited to a rural computing general services pilot program. The overall goal of Microsoft's rural computing programs is to empower people by introducing them to the benefits of information and communications technology (ICT). The effort is central to Microsoft's global rural computing vision and comes under the umbrella of Microsoft Unlimited Potential, an initiative that reflects the company's commitment to promote sustained social and economic opportunity for the estimated 5 billion people worldwide who are underserved by technology.
"The entire IT industry agrees that technology access and affordability in the rural computing space is required, but relevance is an equally important consideration," Poole says. "We, as an industry, need to work together to provide technology that has real application and usefulness in people's lives. For example, delivering services that people find relevant for agriculture, healthcare, education and skills training, will help to address the unique needs of rural communities."
Microsoft is working with China's MII and the provincial governments to extend the benefits of technology to rural populations. Leading the drive are the six InfoWagons equipped with desktop PCs and IT tutors. To deliver services relevant to Chinese farmers and their families, the proposed InfoWagon pilot applications target real-life scenarios accruing to home, work and community. The concept includes PC@home to deliver healthcare information, entertainment and education; PC@work, which focuses on information browsing related to agriculture, crop prices and supply chain management; and PC@community, which focuses on an Information Center for computer training, information search, e-government and e-commerce experiences with the intention of improving the connection of China's rural farmers with the global marketplace and the government.
Deployed initially in Henan and later expanding into the four additional provinces, the roving InfoWagons will give rural villagers the opportunity to experience and learn basic PC skills. Microsoft estimates that as many as 8,000 people will get trained this way by the end of 2007. Within five years, the InfoWagons are expected to reach 6,000 villages and bring digital literacy to 150,000 people.
To help sustain the digital literacy efforts initiated by the InfoWagon program, Microsoft plans to establish a permanent Integrated Information Training Center (IITC) in Henan. Also as follow-up, Microsoft plans to create a social computing environment in which wealthier farmers in dozens of villages agree to host donated computers in their homes and make them available for other farmers and community members to use.
Furthering Rural Information Efforts in China
Microsoft has also teamed up with partners in Shandong province on another endeavor to promote technology access for rural residents of China. Called the Shandong Rural Worker's PC Program, the effort is part of the global Microsoft Partnerships for Technology Access (PTA) initiative. The Rural Worker's PC Program, which is the first PTA in China, links Microsoft China and Shandong's provincial government, the Department of Information Industry (DII), along with Intel Corp., Chinese PC manufacturer Haier and local broadband provider ChinaNetCom.
As with other Microsoft PTA projects implemented around the world, the Shandong Rural Worker's PC Program is tailored around a government priority to improve the delivery of services using technology. PTA programs typically combine the know-how and resources of governments, technology companies, banks and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to help increase access to PCs and use technology to build economic and social opportunity within developing economies.
In support of the government's commitment to a more "harmonious society" across the rural-urban divide, and as part of Microsoft's Partnerships for Technology Access (PTA) initiative, Microsoft formed a public-private partnership (PPP) with the government of Shandong province, ChinaNetCom (CNC), Haier, and Intel to put a PC purchase within reach of rural workers. To make the PC relevant, as well as affordable, the Shandong Rural Worker's PC Program is designed around four modules of applications relevant to farmers – farming activity, education, health, and entertainment. This effort is complementary to the government's service transformation initiative to better serve farmers through e-government. To enable e-government, farmers need technology access and targeted services that will make technology adoption worth their while.
The stations are also designed to be self-sustaining models that benefit the rural communities that host them, while also providing retail or catalog outlets for the partners Haier and ChinaNetCom. The retail enhanced business model allows partners to provide technology solutions at a free or discounted cost to the government, who then offers the PC usage for free to the community.
Applications packaged on the PCs will focus on the four key areas identified as most user-relevant: agricultural production, such as giving rural workers access to online market information, crop pricing and government regulatory information; entertainment, such as movies and photo albums; access to healthcare resources and information; and access to educational content available on the Web.
Enabling Access to Basic Needs and Growth Opportunities in Rural India
Bipin Mishra, a kiosk operator in rural Madhubani, Bihar State, India, facilitating a videoconferencing session for Lalita Devi with a doctor in the city of Patna, India. March 2007
Click image for high-res version.
In India, Microsoft's efforts to empower digitally disenfranchised rural populations include teaming up with an industry partner, Drishtee Dot Com Ltd., to implement pilot programs addressing e-commerce and e-health, and small scale business process outsourcing needs.
The e-commerce program, is a grass-roots effort that aims to provide global market linkages and a transparent, fair distribution channel to poor rural artisans with ICT intervention. The primary component of the project is a Web-based marketplace ( http://www.drishteehaat.com/) where creations by rural artisans (paintings, cloth embroidery, bamboo crafts, etc.) are showcased. Customers can browse the wares online, place orders and even request custom merchandise. Artisans access ICT kiosks in their villages to add product information to the portal and collect customer requirements. Some success has been demonstrated – artisans have experienced a 35-percent increase in income as well as greater process transparency, with final payment within 15 days of customers making a payment, as opposed to four months in the conventional distribution chain. Artisans also express a greater degree of comfort with and trust in the system.
Bachcho Devi of Jitwarpur village explains: "I have been painting for the last 40 years. But I have never received so many orders within such a short period as I have done since I registered with Drishtee. In two months, I sold 12 paintings and earned 10,000 rupees. I have never been able to earn such a big amount within 60 days before."
"We're proud to be middlemen, but we're passing on information along with the product," explains Satyan Mishra, managing director at Drishtee. "Our survey revealed that if a painting was being bought for 1,000 rupees in Delhi or the U.S., excluding freight cost, then the artist was only 100 rupees for it. Now if a painting is sold for1,000 to 1,200 rupees,then the artist gets at least 250-300, so we've added a substantial value to their work."
Meanwhile, an e-health pilot program that Microsoft has undertaken, again in partnership with Drishtee, aims to provide an affordable, reliable healthcare alternative for rural communities in India. To address the lack of doctors in the villages — and the time and cost associated with traveling to a primary healthcare center — the telemedicine program provides medical assessments and counseling at ICT kiosks, through videoconferencing sessions with doctors. This is supported by linkages with a network of rural healthcare centers and district hospitals. The community thus has the option of first-level interaction with a genuine, qualified doctor within walking distance of their homes.
The kiosks at the front end of this system are equipped with a remote diagnostics kit for monitoring patient vital signs, such as temperature, blood pressure and cardiac health. These readings are then transmitted in real time to a doctor in a different location. The application built into the kit also enables storage of the patient information at a secure, centralized server, and enables the patient-doctor videoconferencing, which is currently being tested. In the future, testing of the videoconferencing tool may also extend to effective doctor-to-doctor interaction. For example, a primary-care doctor who conducts mobile health camps in villages could use the system to link up with a specialist for further consultation.
A doctor at a clinic in Patna, Bihar State, India talking to patients in remote villages. March 2007.
Click image for high-res version
A third type of Microsoft pilot program deployed in India is rural business process outsourcing (BPO), an initiative that aims to increase job opportunities and improve skill development. This initiative works towards setting up ICT kiosks in rural areas. These kiosks provide employment and skill-building opportunities for the local population. The kiosks offer services (such as data entry, data management, content localization, and engineering drawing) to companies located in urban areas at lower costs, with quality levels equivalent to similar service offerings in towns. Further benefits to urban industry include access to an untapped workforce with lower rates of attrition and multilingual capabilities. For the rural community, these centers provide earning opportunity along with learning and capacity building, particularly for local youth and women.
The Rural BPO initiative in India is led by the TeNet (Telecommunications and Computer Networking) group at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, (IIT-M) in Chennai with ideation and concept development participation by Microsoft.
Microsoft also supports digital inclusion in India through an innovative multi-party research project called Digital StudyHall. A collaborative effort supported by Microsoft Research India, Digital StudyHall seeks to improve education in low-income areas by establishing a low-cost infrastructure for sharing user-generated video. Digital StudyHall is building an extensive digital video database of K-12 materials generated through grassroots contributions. Simultaneously, education experts and teachers are exploring pedagogical approaches in which local teachers actively mediate the video lessons. Project supporters hope this community participation model will help train better teachers while delivering high-quality instruction to underprivileged children.
Digital StudyHall has deployed pilot "hubs" in three cities in India, and the digital video database currently includes 550 high-quality recordings of lessons in English, math and science spanning five languages. The research project shows promising change and is expected to be expanded to two additional countries over the next year.
Scalable, sustainable approaches to shared access and delivery of ICT
Microsoft's commitment to create sustainable ICT access for underserved populations also spans a range of work in the area of telecenters — shared-access sites where public computers are made available on a no-charge or low-cost basis and provide additional services. Telecenters can be configured as community centers, learning centers or business centers, providing places where people can meet, communicate, learn new skills, get an online degree or access other relevant information resources.
Microsoft recognizes that the need for telecenters is greatest in underserved and rural communities. In India, for example, 70 percent of the population resides in rural areas, and an estimated 90 percent of the country's labor force remains trapped in low-productivity, informal-sector jobs, according to the May 2002, People's Daily News. In China, 61 percent of the population resides in rural areas as sited in the Worldbank India Country Overview 2006. The need for ICT access also extends to general rural areas and underserved communities in urban areas. For example, even people living in rural areas of the United States or Western Europe may need to travel half a day to access basic healthcare such as primary diagnostics and preventive medical advice.
To help alleviate such problems in developing as well as developed countries, Microsoft works with various governments and telecenter networks worldwide in an advisory role and technology provider capacity to collaborate on creating sustainable, scalable approaches to shared access. One recent effort is "Making the Connection: Scaling Telecentres for Development," a resource guide targeted to governments, entrepreneurs and private-sector and community leaders. The book — a collaboration between the Academy for Educational Development, telecentre.org and Microsoft — provides a set of frameworks, best practices and case studies to guide telecenter development and helps organize the collective thinking that has accompanied the telecenter movement. Intended as a catalyst for new projects, it includes successes and failures as well as a specific focus on the factors critical to sustainability and scalability at national levels
Microsoft also recently announced the launch of a community Web site called Telecenter Knowledge Network, created in cooperation with telecentre.org. The site is intended to serve as a constantly evolving community site where those involved with telecenter programs can share their findings, experiences and best practices with the broader community. The Web site also serves as a repository of peer knowledge and resources that can be used by individuals or organizations planning to develop or scale telecenter programs. For example, the content in the "Making the Connection" book is posted on the Telecenter Knowledge Network site in an open format where the worldwide telecenter community can access it and expand upon it in a variety of ways, from topically oriented expertise, such as networks or services, to country profiles, intended to create a snapshot of local initiatives.
http://www.assodigitale.it/NEWS_SITO/DTT/Off_the_Beaten_Track:_Bringing_Relevant_
Technology_to_Rural_Areas_200704237871/
Skeletal remains tumble out of a Bengal home
BURDWAN: Police claimed to have busted an international skeleton smuggling racket on Monday with the recovery of around 50 human skulls and skeletal remains from a house at Purabsthali area in Burdwan district. These skeletons were to be shipped to buyers in China, Bangladesh and Hong Kong, with each fetching Rs 1,200-2,400.
Raids at the house led to the arrest of six people. They were produced at the Katwa court where their bail petition was rejected.
IGP (law and order) Raj Kanojia said more raids would follow on the basis of their confessions. The police have proof that the gang was involved in digging up graves elsewhere in Burdwan, too, he said. CID has been told to probe the case.
Acting on a tip-off on Sunday night, three police teams led by ASP (headquarters) Chirantan Nag raided the house. After digging around the house, they recovered skulls and bones wrapped in bundles.
The skulls and bones were sent to the forensic department to determine how long the skulls had been in the Purabsthali house.
"We have reason to believe the gang has been operating in this area for at least five years,"said Burdwan SP Peeyush Pandey.
The six gang members, led by alleged kingpin Mukti Biswas, were arrested from a spot between Patuli and Jogyeswar Ghat on the river Bhagirathi. They claimed the bones were used to make aphrodisiacs. "We have to verify the claim,"said Pandey.
Sources said three of the gang members — Bairagya, Bhola and Ashok — would collect corpses from burial grounds and hand them over to Mukti, Tarun and Samaresh, who were responsible for processing and delivery of the consignment.
The police are probing whether bodies were procured from places other than burial grounds. Kanojia hinted that some of the bodies may have been retrieved while floating on rivers.
The district police got inkling about the racket when four skeletons were dug out of a burial ground at Goda on Wednesday. An alert was issued to all district police stations to look out for the gang.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Skeletal_remains_tumble_out_of_home/articleshow/
1947055.cms
XIM-B to open new campus in Orissa
One among India's top 10 B-schools, the Xavier's Institute of Management (XIM), Bhubaneshwar will soon be opening another campus in India . The institute has big expansion plans and is scouting for a 100 acre land in Orissa near its existing campus in Bhubaneshwar.
The new campus will be an extension of the Bhubaneshwar campus and XIM will need Rs 50 crore to go ahead with its expansion plans. The institute plans to raise the money through alumni support and other sources.
XIM has applied to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for permission to double the student admission capacity for both -- its full-time and part-time business management programme. Currently the institute admits 60 students each to both the programmes and plans to increase the student capacity to 120 in the next year.
The institute also plans to increase the capacity further by 60 students in the next five years. It will celebrate 25 years of its existence in 2012 and wants to complete the expansion plans by then. "Once we have appropriate infrastructure -- hostels, classrooms and faculty in place for new students -- we will look at increasing the student capacity further," says Father E Abraham, director XIM-B.
The institute has recently increased its fee from Rs 3.96 lakh to Rs 4.35 lakh for the two-year business management programme. The increase will come in effect this year. Says an XIM-B professor, "The increase in cost of education along with other expense like infrastructure maintenance, salary revision of faculty members and upgradation of facilities for students has made us revise our fee structure." The new campus will have more emphasis on technology based learning. "We already have video conferencing facility in our present institute. We plan to bring it more in use at the new campus," says Abraham.
XIM-B's idea to have another campus in Orissa comes from the fact that steel and IT companies are setting up base in the state. South Korean steel major Posco and Arcelor Mittal have already announced plans to set up plants in Orissa and IT majors Infosys and Wipro too are bullish on the state. "This industrialisation of the state is a positive signal and will help us gain a stronger ground considering our brand value with the corporates," says Abraham.
Incidentally, placements at the institute this year saw JP Morgan Chase offering the highest domestic salary of Rs 12.75 lakh per annum to the PGDBM batch. The highest international offer made was by Olam International at US $85,000 (Rs 37.4 lakh) per annum. The average salary for the batch rose by 23 per cent this year and stood at Rs 8.77 lakh per annum. The average domestic salary was Rs 8.52 lakh per annum while the median salary was Rs 8.5 lakh per annum. The institute saw maximum representation from he IT industry including companies like IBM, Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Mindtree, Wipro, et al.
A total of 98 companies across sectors had shown interest in recruiting students and 72 of them were slotted for the final placement process. New companies on campus included HLL, Dell International, Deloitte Consulting, UBS, HSBC Global Resourcing, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Idea Cellular, Hutch, Grow Talent, Centurion Bank of Punjab etc.
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=282037&leftnm=6&subL
eft=0&chkFlg =
Recognition for Balasore Alloys
BALASORE, April 23: The Balasore Alloys, a part of Ispat group of companies, also a leading manufacturer of ferro alloys in Orissa, has achieved a mile stone by receiving TPM (total productive maintenance) recently. The distinction has been obtained by the company much before the scheduled target date.
The Japanese Institute of Plant maintenance auditors complemented the company for being the first manufacturer of ferro alloys in getting the TPM certificate.
The company had also received significant awards and recognition like India Manufacturing Excellence Award conferred in November 2006, Leader and Prestige and Quality Europe-06 for its management performance and export award from EECP
The company has been awarded with best productivity award for large and medium sectors for year 2006-07 for its significant improvement in productivity. Mr Rabindra Kumar Jena, the joint managing director of the company, received the award from Mr BL Raina of the eastern zone of CII.
"It was a land mark achievement for us as we are declared first among several industries in Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgrah and West Bengal.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=9&theme=&usrsess=1&id=154509
Panchayati Raj System in India
For sustainable economic and social development to take place in any country, it is necessary that people participate in the political process. The process of participation is complex- and it is by no means clear that it is comprehensively inclusive. By this, I mean that it is not possible to assume that all sections of the population take part effectively in the political and democratic processes of society.
There are many reasons why people may not participate: from apathy to a sense of helplessness.
The institution of Panchayati Raj is specifically designed for the rural population with the basic objective of democratic decentralization and devolution of power with a view to ensuring rapid socio-economic progress with every individual being the architect of his/her own government.
'Panchayat' literally means assembly (yat) of five (panch) wise and respected elders chosen and accepted by the village community. Traditionally, these assemblies settled the disputes between individuals.
Villages responsible for their governance
Mahatma Gandhi advocated Panchayati Raj, as a decentralized form of Government where each village is responsible for its own governance. He coined the term "Gram Swaraj", which when translated into English means Independent Village Republics. It was indeed the prophetic ability of the father of our nation to see that a country, which is primarily rural, cannot develop if the people in its villages are unable to make decisions that affect them most. The same sentiment was also expressed by our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, when he stated the following:
"India is poor because the villages of India are poor. India will be rich if the villages of India are rich. Panchayats should be given greater power; for we want the villagers to have a greater measure of real swaraj (self-government) in their own villages".
The founding fathers Independent India recognized the concept of self-governance vide Article 40 in the Directive Principles of State Policy of the Indian Constitution and provided for the setting up of village Panchayats. However, as the Directive principles of State Policy are non-justiciable there was no pressure on any state to set up such a system. Many saw this Article as a concession to Gandhi, rather than as a serious matter to be immediately implemented.
After independence, India has strived to accelerate the process of development through active participation of the people at the grass-root level. The decentralization of socio-economic development programmes was conceptualized as early as the First Five year Plan. It was envisaged that the villages would undertake and execute the programmes of development with actual support of the State. The Community Development Programme launched in 1952 was a first step in this direction. Development was conceived as an integrated process. A need was felt for building development administration, which would be sensitive to the aspirations and needs of the people. This led to creation of development blocks. The community development programme was thought to be a pioneering step in the process of decentralized planning. It was expected to induce transformation in the rural areas with a focus on agriculture. However, it was soon realized that it had not been able to serve the purpose, to a large extent, because of excessive bureaucratic control. As a result it failed to mobilize and involve the rural masses in taking decisions about the activities that affected their lives directly.
Significance of decentralization
The significance of decentralization in accelerating the process of development was emphasized by the Balwantrai Mehta Committee (1957) which was set-up to make recommendations on new structures to be created to involve local people in the development process. The committee recommended the "establishment of an interconnected three-tier organizational structure of democratic decentralization at the village, block and district levels". This led to the enactment of the Panchayati Raj Acts in various states in the fifties to implement the recommendations. However, the interest and support for Panchayati Raj, did not last long due to various reasons.
In the year 1993, the union government amended the Constitution of India. The amendments known as the 73rd and the 74th amendments, mandated the empowerment of local governments-rural and urban respectively, as constitutional entities. The 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution of India constituted a new chapter in the process of democratic decentralization in India. The amendments were seen as a revolution based on maximum democracy and maximum devolution.
The Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 envisages States to establish a three-tier system of strong, viable and responsive Panchayats at the village, intermediate and district levels. It also lays out 29 areas of responsibility that have been given to the Panchayats, which cover almost all aspects of village life.
Similarly, the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992 envisages the establishment in municipalities in the urban areas. States are expected to devolve adequate powers, responsibilities and finances upon these bodies so as to enable them to prepare plans and implement schemes for economic development and social justice. These Acts provide a basic framework of decentralization of powers and authorities to the Panchayati Raj/Municipal bodies at different levels. However, responsibility for giving it a practical shape rests with the States. States are expected to act in consonance with the spirit of the Acts for establishing a strong and viable system of local self- government.
The Panchayat Raj system has a three-tier structure, viz (i) the Village Panchayat or the Gram Panchayat, (ii) the Panchayat Samitis and (iii) the Zila Parishad.
These bodies, which are legally local government, have pyramidal structure. At the base is the gram Sabha – the entire body of citizens in a village of "Grama". This is the general body that elects the local government and charges it with specific responsibilities. This body is expected to meet at specific times and approve major decisions taken by the elected body. (Above this basic unit of democracy, is) the Gram Panchayat, which is the first level elected body.
The middle rung institutions are the Panchayati Samitis, which function as the Block Level; each Block consists of many villages. Finally, there are the Zila Parishads that function as the District Level. The purpose of these two institutions is mainly to co-ordinate the activities of the Gram Panchayats and to provide them with such capacities that cannot be created solely at the micro level. The powers that these Panchayats enjoy are enshrined in the laws enacted by each state, and, in India, there is considerable variation across states.
Responsive to people's needs
In a geographically vast and demographically diverse country such as India where the center of power can often be unresponsive to the needs of a particular locality or community, the Panchayati Raj is intended to be a means to allow these communities/villages to make their own decisions that affect their development. With 70% of India's billion plus population living in its more that 500,000 villages, the Panchayati Raj scheme was meant to ensure that challenges facing rural India are not solely solved by top-down, bureaucratic interventions. As the Noel laureate Amartya Sen has so definitively demonstrated, it is empowerment that leads to entitlements and entitlements that lead to enrichment. Today, with elections having been held to approximately 250,000 Panchayats, India is one of the most representative democracies in the world.
Recognizing limitations where gender is concerned, India has passed laws that make it mandatory for local governments to include women. One third of the seats in local bodies – gram or village panchayats, municipalities, city corporations and district bodies – are reserved for women. India is also the only country to ensure that out of 3 million elected office bearers, more than one million are women.
Today new provisions relating to the 73rd and 74th amendments have been incorporated in Part IX of the Constitution in India. As this point, I would like to introduce to you the basic features of part IX of the Constitution.
* Constitutional status to the Panchayats, giving them uniformity by making the three-tier system a permanent feature.
* Panchayats to be constituted in every State at three tiers: the village, intermediate and district level, except in States with a population not exceeding 2 million where there will be only village and district Panchayats.
* Establishing a village Assembly or Gram Sabha in each village, which would exercise such powers and perform such functions at the village level, as the State may provide by law.
* Members of Panchayats at all levels will be elected through direct elections. The election of the chairperson at the intermediate and district level will be through indirect elections.
* Seats are reserved for marginalized communities called Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes at all levels according to their population. Not less than one-third of seats are reserved for women.
* The office of chairperson will also be subject to this provision of reservation.
* A uniform five-year term has been granted to the Panchayats. However, in case of premature dissolution, elections must be held within six months of the date of dissolution.
* Panchayats are tacked with (i) preparing plans and implementing schemes for social justice and economic development; (ii) in regard to matters listed in the 11th Schedule.
* State legislature authorizes the Panchayats to levy, collect and appropriate suitable local taxes. The Government can make grants-in-aid to the Panchayats from the Consolidated Fund of the concerned State.
* Review of the financial position of the Panchayats will be undertaken by a State Finance Commission, which shall be constituted every five years.
* State Election Commissions shall be constituted in each state to ensure free and fair elections to the Panchayats.
Provisions relating to elections and constitution of Panchayats, reservations of elective offices for women and for the marginalized communities, setting up of an independent Finance Commission and State Election Commissioner in each State, maintenance of accounts and their audit are what might be described as mandatory provisions. These have been by and large complied with and have made Panchayati Raj irreversible at the grass roots.
When we look as the achievements of the previous decade- one thing is very clear. The innovation has empowered the village community. Along with widening the democratic base of India's polity and bringing about significant changes in India's federalism, Panchayati Raj has led to an amazing development – the emergence of women as leaders. Their participation at the three levels – district, sub-district and village level, has not only led to their personal growth but has also enabled them to respond to the needs of the more vulnerable sections of the village community. No doubt, there are many instances of women Panchayat members encountering resistance and exclusion, but there are now large numbers of women who are shouldering, with grace and dignity, enormous administrative responsibilities. In certain parts of India they have brought to their offices-immense courage, enthusiasm and creativity. Leadership in Panchayats has transformed them and their communities. They seem to have enjoyed their role and there is no greater proof for this than the fact that instead of the constitutionally reserved one third, women members and office bearers in Panchayats today account for approximately forty two per cent of the elected representatives. If there is one exhilarating aspect of the Constitutional provisions relating to Panchayats- it is this empowerment- with its elements of a high level of self-confidence and self-esteem combined with political awareness and a spirit of service.
The Panchayats in tribal areas of nine states- in what is called- Schedule V Areas have been given a special legal dispensation over what is available elsewhere. This special law is called The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Area) Act 1996 and it has been enacted in consonance with an enabling provision in the Constitution. This law recognizes the rights of tribal communities over natural resources, respects their traditional institutions and gives vast powers of self-governance to the tribal communities. The powers that are vested in the Gram Sabha authorize it to approve all development plans, control all functionaries and institutions in social sectors as well as manage water bodies and other natural resources, have ownership of minor forest produce, prevent alienation of land, manage village markets and resolve disputes. This remarkable law is the first law to empower people to redefine their own administrative boundaries.
Unique partnerships
As three fourths of the Indian population is in the rural areas and dependent on agriculture, we need inclusive and integrated growth. We need to integrate agricultural markets across the country and remove constraints. For Panchayats to effectively implement schemes of economic development, the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India has forged a unique partnership with the Confederation of Indian industry for developing "Rural Business Hubs" through Panchayats on lines of the Chinese model of rural business hubs. The initiative aims at establishing direct linkages between the rural economy and corporate houses with an objective to utilize the locally-available resources and to brand and market rural products. These rural business hubs would be a bridge between the rural entrepreneurs and the corporate houses, thus channelising the latent resources at the village level. Indian corporate giants, like ITC (Indian Tobacco Company), HLL ( Hindustan Level Limited-the Indian arm of Unilever) and Reliance Industries, to name a few have developed innovative initiatives to tap into rural markets and establish supply chains for their produce.
Today the Panchayats are being further strengthened by being made the principal authorities for planning and implementing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 aims at enhancing livelihood security in rural India by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year.
As for the challenges that have been faced in the effective implementation of the Panchayati Raj, there have been many. In certain cases, at the local level, the bureaucratic methods of the state governments has slowly started to influence the functioning of the Panchayati Raj, apart from negatively affecting the transparency of the Panchayat system. There are instances in many states where the Gram Panchayats were being dominated by the higher castes, thereby marginalizing the lower castes. Thus, in some cases, the Panchayat was becoming an institution to perpetuate the caste inequities that already existed.
Although, the constitutional amendment was an empowering tool for local self governance in India, it was not a panacea for all the problems being faced by the Panchayati Raj system. The power rooted in caste, class, gender and sometimes even religion determines the very functioning of the Panchayati Raj system. While, legal reservations for these disempowered classes allows them access to the Panchayati system, it does not necessarily remove the larger power structure, which continues to determine who will have the final say in the functioning of the Panchayat. The real change will occur when in the informal power structures become more egalitarian.
I think I have been able to give you some kind of an idea of India's Panchayati Raj. Indeed there are still miles to go, but we have made a beginning and in its ten years of fully formalized existence the Panchayati Raj system has been able to initiate important socio-political changes for the betterment of rural India.
http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?cat=59&id=4899
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