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Showing posts from August, 2013

Gujarat primary education funds remain unutilized, affecting quality

By Rajiv Shah A research-based study of budgets of major Indian states by a top advocacy group, Accountability Initiative, has found that despite loud claims of the Gujarat government about its “rising budgetary allocation” for the social sector, things have failed to improve much vis-à-vis several other states, at least with regard to primary education. The study, titled “Do Schools Get Their Money? Paisa 2012”, released this year, has found that not only does Gujarat government allocate less funds in its budget for primary school education compared to other states, expenditure per student, too, has been going down. The result is, quality of education at the primary level has suffered badly. Claiming to be the “first and only citizen-led effort at the national level to track public expenditure”, the study is based on a survey of over 14,000 schools across India (14,591 in 2012), and seeks to investigate how grants in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), which is Government of India’s (GoI’s)

Slower movement in rural Gujarat workforce migration to industry, services

By Rajiv Shah  Latest National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) data on India’s employment trend has suggested that there is a relatively slow movement of Gujarat’s workforce from the agricultural sector to the non-agricultural sectors than the rest of India – the secondary sector (which includes manufacturing, mining and construction; and the tertiary sector, which include wholesale and retail trade, repair work, transportation, information and communication, real state, finance and insurance, education and health, and professional services. While any movement from agriculture to industry and services is regarded by economists as a “natural” corollary to development of a vibrant economy, the slow movement, if experts are to be believed, would suggest two simultaneous trends – Gujarat’s higher capital intensive industrialization, on one hand, and failure to develop such sectors like information and communication technology as part of development of services, on the other. The NSSO fig

Can sadbhavna jobs can be provided to Gujarat riot victims? Govt of India report

By Rajiv Shah  Will Gujarat’s riot victims, especially those who were displaced during the carnage that rocked the state following the burning of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002, ever be shown Sadbhavna (or compassion) by the Gujarat government by providing them with jobs in government or semi-government agencies? While some compensation has been paid to the victims of 1,169 persons who were officially killed during the carnage, as also to those who suffered injury or those whose property was damaged, this was only following Government of India disbursement of funds. Meanwhile, a distinct view has emerged among human rights activists that such type of compensation is not enough to ensure that the riot victims start living a normal life. More than one lakh people were internally displaced during the riots. They were forced to flee their home. Thousands have still not be able to return to their original place of living and are living in 86 relief colo

NREGA in Gujarat: Ghost workers, diversion of wages to labour contractors

By Rajiv Shah  Proactive disclosure under the right to information (RTI) Act underscores the need to voluntarily disclose information on subsidy schemes, which should be published and updated on a monthly basis. In this overall framework, the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, directed all states to not just kick-start social audit of the working of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), under which jobs are legally guaranteed to the rural poor for 100 days in a year to adult members of any household willing to do unskilled manual public work at the statutory minimum wage of Rs 120 per day in 2009 prices, failing which the government has to pay the salary at home. It also directed states to make voluntary disclosure of such social audit. The working of MGNREGS in Gujarat has come under attack from those who are considered detractors of the state government. A Government of India document having “VIP Reference” gives a list of 17 such c

NGT orders reassessment of Gujarat Pipavav Port’s expansion: environment issues

By Rajiv Shah  The National Green Tribunal (NGT), responsible for settling disputes arising out of environmental clearances (EC) granted to various developmental projects, believes that there was a failure on the part of the Ministry Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the Expert Appraisal Committee (AEC), operating under it, to properly assess the impact of the expansion project of the Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd (GPPL) on environment and livelihood of the people of the area, and hence the project should be reassessed. The GPPL had planned to invest Rs 1,100 crore to expand of the Pipavav Port, situated on Saurashtra coast in Amreli district, and based on the recommendations of the AEC, the MoEF granted environmental clearance (EC) to allow the project to go ahead. Two local non-government organization (NGOs), Gauchar Paryavaran Bachav Trust and Gau Raxa Hitraxak Manch approached the NGT and appealed against the EC. APM Terminals Mauritius Ltd is currently the largest shareholder of the G

Attendance rate of Gujarat Muslim children one of the worst in India: NSSO

By Rajiv Shah  Seven years after the committee headed by Justice (retired) Rajinder Sachar, appointed by the Prime Minister to quantify relative backwardness among Indian Muslims, submitted its report revealing how the minority community remained on the back-foot in education and other social sectors vis-à-vis other communities, a new report by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) has given state-wise inter-religious comparisons, belying claims by certain quarters that Gujarat Muslims have lately been doing better than the rest of India and other communities. Released in July 2013 and titled “Employment and Unemployment Situation among Major Religious Groups in India”, the report is particularly important as it provides facts on not just literacy levels of different communities, but also rate of attendance in educational institutions. The report finds 81.4 per cent attendance rate of Hindu children of the age group 5-14 in Gujarat’s educational institutes. This is against 78

Shipbreaking to affect livelihood of fishermen, farmers, cattle breeders in Mundra

Mundra Port and Special Economic zone (MPSEZ) and Industries Affected Citizens Rehabilitation Action Committee, and Kheti Vikas Trust, in their written representation to the environmental public hearing on the proposed ship-breaking yard, held on July 30, 2013 in Mundra insisted that the project should not be granted environmental clearance, as the group which is promoting has been a habitual violator of environment in the area. If a ship-breaking yard is built within the complex of the MPSEZ, the whole area will be ruined completely. Even before the project was proposed, the written representations argue, employment opportunity of the people of the area was snatched away by the MPSEZ. Excerpts: *** Representation by MPSEZ & Industries Affected Citizens Rehabilitation Action Committee: Destruction of mangroves: Mundra taluka was rich in its unique environment and biodiversity. Fishermen, farmers and cattle herders would run their business and occupation here. But the Adani company

Orchestrated industry support organised for Bharbhut barrage at public hearing

By Rajiv Shah The Gujarat government has claimed that there exists a huge support for the Bhadbhut weir-cum-causeway, which it is seeking to implement by spending Rs 4,000 crore on the mouth of Narmada river. Revealing this in the minutes of the Environmental Public Hearing (EPH) on Bhadbhut, put on the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) website (click HERE to see minutes), the state government has said, “Out of total 54 written representations received with respect to the public hearing, 32 representations are with affirmative nod, i.e. fully supporting this project, having multi-facet benefits for its implementation in the interest of public at large”. However, an analysis of the 32 “positive” written responses reveals certain glaring discrepancies. First of all, of the 32 “positive responses” which have been purportedly been handed over to the Bharuch district collector, who was chairman of the EPH, held on July 19, there is just one environmental organization, which too operat

Social boycott, forced migration of Gujarat's rural Dalits continues

By Rajiv Shah  One of most naïve arguments on rural areas, including those of Gujarat, has been regarding their homogeneous characteristic — the existence of “harmonious” social relations in which “self-sufficient” village communities live in a peaceful atmosphere. Based on this type of thinking, the Gujarat chief minister began his now famous “samras” experiment, under which village panchayats elected uncontested should be rewarded. However, sociologists have long demonstrated that in areas of strong homogeneity, there is a general tendency to repress controversy. As a result, when disagreements arise, they can result into serious crises. Well-known human rights organization Navsarjan Trust’s documentary evidence, collected from several villages of Gujarat, recorded in several of its reports (click HERE to see them) has long suggested how such homogeneity in a caste-ridden society is a sham. Despite efforts by Dalit NGOs to fight discrimination against Dalits, as evidenced during the

Documentary suggests samras homogeneity in Gujarat villages is a sham

By Rajiv Shah  The Gujarat government is planning a huge mela of village panchayat leaders from all over the country in Gandhinagar on August 17, 2013. Last year, it was a state-level function, where awards were distributed to those village panchayats which elected their bodies and sarpanches without contest, thus becoming “samras” panchayats. However, facts collected by Navsarjan Trust, Ahmedabad-based human rights organization, suggest that caste dynamics in villages are so strong that such “samras” show has little or no meaning. Latest information collected by the NGO suggest that the Gujarat ruling establishment’s all-out efforts to “encourage” homogeneity in the state’s rural areas by having as many “samras” village panchayats without elections as possible are already coming to a naught. Documentary evidence collected on the basis of field reports show that at a large number of places, the upper castes are not only refusing to give up their hegemony, but are doing all they can in

Gujarat schools: NCPCR team finds regional imbalance in educational infrastructure

Dilapidated building of a village school in Kutch district By Rajiv Shah  The National Commission for Protection Child Rights (NCPCR) in a new report has suggested that wide regional imbalances exist in the provision of education in Gujarat. Prepared as minutes on the basis of an NCPCR team’s field visit to Kutch’s Khavda region, Rajkot, Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, the report says that development in some of the pockets of Kutch district has failed to touch the people of the region. Especially referring to the schools situated in the remote Khavda taluka, where the NCPCR team spent some time inspecting village schools on July 24, the report says, “The taluka is 70 kilometre from Bhuj, the district headquarters. And some of the villages we visited were another 50 kilomtres away. Indeed, it is possible to say that development of the region is 120 kilometres away from the mainstream.” The NCPCR team visit took place following a study of 506 government primary schools in Kutch, Ahmedabad, M