More poor' in India than Africa

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/10609407.stm

The new measure of poverty assesses household poverty Eight Indian states account for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African countries combined, a new measure of global poverty has found.

The Indian states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, have 421 million "poor" people, the study found.

This is more than the 410 million poor in the poorest African countries, it said.

The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) measures a range of "deprivations" at household levels.

Developed by Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) with UN support, it will feature in the upcoming UNDP Human Development Report.

The measure assess a number of "deprivations" in households - from education to health to assets and services.

"The MPI is like a high resolution lens which reveals a vivid spectrum of challenges facing the poorest households," said OPHI director Dr Sabina Alkire.

UNDP finds 8 Indian states acutely poor

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/undp-finds-8-indian-states-acutely-poor/645647/
Agencies Tags : Poverty, UNDP Posted: Tue Jul 13 2010, 03:36 hrs London:

Acute poverty prevails in eight Indian states, a new ‘multidimensional’ measure of global poverty has said. The measure claims that the eight states put together account for more poor people than those present in the 26 poorest African nations combined.

The new measure, called the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), was developed and applied by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) with the United Nation Development Programme’s (UNDP) support. It will be featured in the forthcoming 20th anniversary edition of the UNDP Human Development Report.

The measure reveals there are more ‘MPI poor’ people (421 million) in eight Indian states — Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, UP and West Bengal — than in the 26 poorest African countries combined (410 million).

MPI gives a multidimensional picture of people living in poverty and is expected to help target development resources more effectively, its creators said. The MPI supplants the Human Poverty Index, which had been included in the annual Human Development Reports since 1997.

The 2010 UNDP Human Development Report will be published in late October, but research findings from the MPI were made available Monday at a policy forum in London and on the websites of OPHI and the UNDP Human Development Report.

MPI assesses a range of factors or ‘deprivations’: from education to health outcomes to assets and services. Taken together, these factors provide a fuller portrait of acute poverty than simple income measures. The measure reveals the nature and extent of poverty in the household, region, nation and at an international level. This new approach has been adapted for use in Mexico, and is now being considered by Chile and Colombia.

Public Petition of the Nuclear Liability Bill

Hi,

This is exciting! Along with 187,759 people I signed a petition asking the Prime Minister to hold a public consultation before taking a decision on the nuclear liability bill. These petitions were delivered to the Standing Committee looking at the bill and now they have decided to hold a public consultation.

The bill in its current form lets the foreign corporations get away by paying a meagre amount in case of a nuclear accident in India. The major chunk of the expenses will be borne by the Indian tax payers. But now we have a chance to change this bill and make it stronger.

Greenpeace, an NGO working on this issue, has prepared an open letter which states the changes required in the bill. Just like the petition, this letter will stand a chance of being considered if lots of us sign it. We have less than two weeks to change the bill and prevent another Bhopal in the making.

I have already added my signature.

Can you add your signature to this letter?

http://www.greenpeace.org/india/change-the-liability-bill

Thanks!

Rakesh Ranjan

Chief Election Commissioner asks for power to deregister political parties

Chief Election Commissioner asks for power to deregister political parties

Parties should furnish annual report and accounts, says Vinay Sahasrabudhe, Member National Executive Council of BJP,

Increase of mafia power worrying, says K K Mishra, Congress spokesman CEC releases “Lok Sabha 2009 Election Watch: A compendium of state election watch reports”

Bhopal, April 10 and 11, 2010‐ On the first day of the sixth national conference on Electoral and Political Reforms being organized by Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch, Mr Navin Chawla, Chief Election Commissioner, released a book “Lok Sabha 2009 Election Watch: A compendium of state election watch reports”. The book contains analysis on criminal and financial details of candidates and winners of Lok Sabha 2009 Elections for all states and UT‘s of India. The delegates to this conference include civil society organizations, eminent citizens, media, senior bureaucrats and Police officials, leaders from the corporate sector and the political parties.

Speaking at the conference Mr Chawla said, “The EC should be given power to De-register political parties especially those which do not even contest elections.” He also expressed deep concern about increasing instances of paid news which needed to be addressed urgently.

Speaking on the importance of the political party reforms, Mr। Manickam Tagore, MP INC said, “All political parties remain closed for new entrants, unless they have some connections. This closed nature of the parties needs to be changed and the gates should be opened to meritorious youth”.

On the importance of electoral reforms Mr. Kirit Somaiya, National Secretary BJP said, “Electoral and political reforms are crucial for the progress of the country. Paid news is a menace on which action should be quickly taken so that the spirit of democracy is kept alive”.

Mr Anil Madhav Dave, MP, BJP strongly appealed that, “Vidhan sabha and Lok sabha elections should be held jointly so that constant elections don’t become hindrance to development”.

On the second day, Representatives of Congress and BJP discussed issues like inner party democracy and funding transparency, on the concluding day of the sixth national conference on Electoral and Political Reforms organized by Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch. Vinay Sahasrbuddhe, Member of BJP Executive Council said that political parties should also subject some regulation and be asked to furnish annual reports of activities and accounts. He also added that politicians should undergo professional training to become effective legislators. Mr. K.K.Mishra, Congress spokesperson from Madhya Pradesh, expressed concern about the increased role of money power and criminals in elections.

The conference also discussed the role of media in elections, and the increased danger of the phenomenon of “paid news” in election campaigns. Mr. L. C. Jain, former member of Planning Commission said that edifice of India’s democracy cannot be built without strong foundations of integrity in politics.

The conference concluded with resolutions demanding no criminal candidates, an option for “none of the above” on the voting machine and political party reforms.

People not told about their right

These documents are a sample of how the money received from the Central Government for telling the public and government officers about right to information Act has been misused by RCVP Noronha Academy of Administration & Management. The responsible officers traveled around the country and ate fancy on the money meant to be used for educating people about their right to information. To cover this up, the documents have also tampered with.

RCVP Noronha Academy of Administration & Management (the academy), was chosen by the Central Government as the nodal agency for raising awareness on Right to Information Act, 2005, among the public and government employees. In 2009, 13 lakh rupees was sanctioned to it by the Central Government for this purpose. However, it seems that training has only occurred on papers; the people so trained were not even asked for their feedback on the training.

The training camps organised by the academy were restricted only to colleges. The primary reason for this is that the officer designated as nodal officer responsible for training, is closely associated with the department of higher education. That’s the reason why this scheme could not get implemented beyond colleges. In the year 2009, the academy held around 12 RTI workshops in government colleges. Due to the connivance of both the nodal officer and the college authorities, the academy stayed silent on the issue of RTI workshops being shown just in papers. They never cared to check as to what was being shown in the utility assessment letters of the college and whether the workshops were actually taking place or not. The nodal officer and the academy without even asking kept disbursing money to the colleges.

Dhar: study material for dissemination distributed amongst illiterates

In the government P.G. college of Dhar, study material for dissemination/training was distributed to a group of illiterates. At the same time, the names and addresses of BPL cardholders who were shown as present for the workshop in papers, have not been made any note of. It has been shown in papers that the workshop was attended by 160 participants whereas the list only has names of 112 participants. The college was given Rs 35,000 for a one-day workshop, which on paper, has been spent.

Mandala and Khargon: pilot project also crushed

From 2006 to 2008, Mandala and Khargon districts were made a part of the pilot project by the academy. Hence, they were allotted a sum of twelve lakh each, but no efforts were made for training in any of these districts. As a consequence, the Madhya Pradesh state information commission had to deal strongly with both the districts. Upon refusal to give information regards work done in Mandala under the pilot project, the MP information commission sent penalty notices to three officers. Show cause notices were also sent to the collector and Jabalpur commissioner.


Bhopal: made students compensate for the money spent

A training workshop was organised in the capital at Sarojini Naidu (Nootan) Government Girls Post Graduate College, Bhopal. Here too, more expenses were incurred on account of food and drinks as opposed to actual training. According to documents present with Dainik Bhaskar, Rs 14,500 was spent here on just food and drinks and only Rs 16,500 used for distributing study material. Nootan college also received Rs 35,000, along with which the college management made the professors pay Rs 300 each and the students pay Rs 10 each. The sociology department of the college was also made to give Rs 20,000 even though there is no provision for demanding any money from the college or the UGC fund nor from the professors or the students. This money was collected in the form of donations and spent off!

Muraina: number of participants not known

On November 1st, 2009, a workshop was held under the leadership of Dr. Sandeep Khanna, Director of Government P.G. college, Muraina. It was attended by ten IAS officers who had come to the college for training. However, their names and addresses are not known. Muraina college spent Rs 4,275 in excess of Rs 35,000 that it received for this purpose thus taking its total expenditure to Rs 39,295. There is also discrepancy in the utility assessment letter sent by it to the academy. The letter says that the workshop was attended by 275 participants, of which 75 were from the college, 75 general public (from outside the college) and 75 belonged to the BPL card holders. In a separate document, it is stated that the workshop was attended by 10 IAS officers of the academy, 100 BPL card holders, 10 distinguished citizens, 15 students, 40 professors and journalists (in all 175 participants). Mentioning 275 participants in one document and 175 participants in another raises doubts about the veracity of the documents.

“How would I know about what the college did or did not do on RTI training…? I cannot give any statement on this. I will need the directors approval to talk on this issue.” - Dr. Rajiv Kumar Shukla, Nodal officer and Incharge of training, Academy.

“Dr. Rajiv Kumar Shukla has been designated as the Nodal officer, and the responsible person to speak to in this regard. I cannot comment on this, he should be able to give you the complete details.” Dr. Sandeep Khanna, Director, Academy.