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Showing posts from June, 2014

GDP no measure of growth, Gujarat isn't developmental model: Chicago scholar

By Rajiv Shah Well-known University of Chicago scholar, Martha C Nussbaum, a “distinguished service professor of law and ethics”, writing in the context of India’s recent Lok Sabha elections, “fought” on the plank of “development”, has said that human development should be treated more than gross domestic product of a country. The scholar says, the question as to what is development becomes relevant is Narendra Modi, India’s Prime Minister, is being “touted as a hero of development policy because of his record in promoting economic growth in Gujarat.” She insists, “it’s time to rehearse again the arguments that have led leading development thinkers all over the world, from the United Nations Development Programme to the World Bank, to reject growth as an adequate measure of development and to prefer, in its place, what is now known as the ‘Human Development’ paradigm.” Nussbaum quotes well known economist Mahbub Ul Haq, who wrote in 1990, in the first of the “Human Development Report

Gujarat’s progress? Poor enrollment, high dropout of girls in upper primary schools

By Rajiv Shah  Much against the huge claims of cent per cent enrollment, made year after year following Shala Praveshotsav and Kenya Kelavani programmes, usually carried out in early June, a new report, prepared under the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), Government of India, has suggested Gujarat’s poor showing in enrolling children in both primary and upper primary schools. Titled “Primary Education in India: Towards Universal Elementary Education (UEE)”, the report presents a plethora of “flash statistics” showing how different states have performed in ensuring implementation of the right to education (RTE) in the recent past. The report does not just suggest Gujarat’s poor showing in enrolling children it schools; it shows neglect of the girl child — school dropout among girls at the upper primary level is one of the highest in the country, it has found. The report shows that in 2013-14, the net enrollment rate at the primary level was 83 per cent, which means that 1

No official documents exist showing eco-clearance for Garudeshwar Weir

Villagers protest against Garudeshwar Dam By Rohit Prajapati, Lakhan Musafir* In our case against Garudeshwar Weir (being set up about 12 km downstream of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Narmada river) in the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), has said, “… no project proposal regarding Garudeshwar Weir at Garudeshwar village, District Narmada of Gujarat, has been received in this Ministry.” The Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) has said, its affidavit is only for “the limited purpose”, it is “not dealing with the application parawise”, nor it is “giving elaborate details which would show that construction of Garudeshwar Weir is strictly in conformity with law.” It is now clear: the SSNNL has no documents to show and prove that the construction of Garudeshwar Weir is going on as per the law. In their replies the MoEF, the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) and the SSNNL do not deny our contention that:There has never been an environment and soci

Focus on recent efforts by vested interests to dilute India's pro-people laws

By Gagan Sethi and Rajiv Shah Review* of the book by Felix Padel, Ajay Dandekar and Jeemol Unni, Ecology Economy: Quest for a Socially Informed Connection (Orient Blackswan, Hyderabad, 2013, pp 340, Rs795) The book under review has gone a long way towards questioning the manner in which some of the key concepts such as development and under-development have been widely used, ever since the days of Herbert Spencer, Marx, Engels and others, right up to modern-day theorists from both the Left and the Right. Questioning the “uniform model” of set stages of development, from primitive communism to feudalism and capitalism used by these theorists, the authors point out that the rapid growth envisaged by these intellectuals has seen the culmination of a ‘New World Order’, leading to extreme forms of exploitation and inequality, and resulting in major issues related to environmental degradation and a steep rise in ‘ecological refugees’. Arguing against the type of neoliberal capitalism that is

Backward Regions Grant Fund: Gujarat ranks one of lowest in utilising Central funds

By Rajiv Shah A just-released Planning Commission study , “Evaluation Study of Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF)”, prepared by the top Government of India body’s Programme Evaluation Organization, has found that Gujarat has ranked poorly in the utilization of grants made available under the BRGF programme from the Government of India between 2006-07 and 2010-11. The study has found that, during the period under study, Gujarat ranked No 22nd in utilization of allocation made towards BRGF, and No 17th in utilization of the released grants among 27 states which receive the grants. Explaining BRGF, the study says, it is “an area development intervention that is aimed at promoting decentralized planning and development through a yearly untied development and capacity building grants to 250 backward districts across 27 states.” Gujarat’s districts covered for availing BRGF from the Government of India are – Dang, Dahod, Panchmahal, Banaskantha, Narmada and Sabarkantha. As many as 2,907 vil

How to be newsy: Choosing wheat from the chaff

By Rajiv Shah Culling out gist from a plethora of sources available to you is indeed quite tricky. While I cannot speak for others (frankly, I lack competence to do it), journalists are made to do it almost on a daily basis. In doing so, at initial stages, they often falter, as they lack conceptual clarity as to what should be considered news.

Why this unwarranted raising of Narmada dam height? Why submerge tribals, farmers?

By Himanshu Thakkar, Rohit Prajapati* In a shocking decision on June 12, 2014, the Narmada Control Authority (NCA), headed by the secretary, Union ministry of water resources (MoWR), and which includes secretary of Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) and senior officials of four states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, have sanctioned installation of 17 metre high gates on the Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada river in Gujarat, taking the effective current height of the dam from 121.92 m to 138.68 m. This has been done after the rehabilitation sub-group (RSG) of the NCA, chaired by secretary, Union ministry of social justice and empowerment (MoSJE) has also cleared this decision. This decision implies submergence of thousands of hectares (ha) of land and displacement of lakhs of tribals and farmers in three states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, when their rehabilitation, as legally required, has not been done. More importantly, Gujarat and Raj

Lack of toilet facilities linked with recent of sexual assault on girls, women

By Venkatesh Nayak* The last few weeks have mutely witnessed several horrific rapes and murders of women across India. Police response is said to have ranged from apathy and inaction to complete hostility towards the complainants, sufferers of violence (‘victims’ would be a pejorative label thrust upon them) and their families. While many of us read such news items in passing, others are protesting in their own way either before the corridors of power or venting their righteous anger through the media. The keepers of the law like the proverbial ass are tardy in their response. In at least one case rather than take action against the accused and the police who were either perpetrators of such crimes or refused to take immediate action, letters are being exchanged clarifying the caste identity of the sufferers. So one must carry a caste certificate in hand to claim justice in some parts of the country. Meanwhile the accused are said to have threatened the families of the sufferers with d

SiT on black money: Will Govt of India allow RTI to extract details of probe?

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Government of India has published in the Official Gazette the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) it has set up to investigate the issue of black money stashed abroad by Indians. The setting up of the SIT amounts to a welcome reversal of previous government policy on this subject. The previous government had opposed this direction despite a clear order from the Supreme Court in 2011. The SIT will be headed by Justice (Retd) M B Shah with Justice Arijit Pasayat as Vice-Chair. The rest of the members are the same ex officiosenior bureaucrats who were part of the High Level Committee set up by the previous Government to look into the cases of persons who were said to have stashed away money in foreign banks abroad. The Joint Secretary (Revenue) has been added to this list as Member Secretary of the SIT. This SIT is an outcome of the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the matter of Ram Jethmalani and Ors. vs Union of Ind

Dangerous priorities: Environment minister wants conducive atmosphere for investors!

By Rohit Prajapati* Prakash Javadekar, new minister for environment, forest and climate change, taking over the charge has promised to ensure “fast environment clearances”. This is just beginning of the implementation of the BJP’s manifesto by the the ministry of environment. A new system for online submission of applications for environmental clearances has been launched. But what about online submission of complains against pollution? Javadekar also said that there shall be a maximum time limit for the entire approval process, with stage-wise timelines and promised continuous efforts to bring down the timelines for each stage. But what about the time limit to resolve complains against polluting industries? Now we are in an era where the three ministries of environment, labour and industry, individually and collectively, are increasingly concerned about better environment for industry and its profitability, industrial-friendly labour laws and prosperity of industry, so that industrial