‘Of every 70 girls who reach reproductive age in India, one will eventually die because of pregnancy, childbirth or unsafe abortion compared to one in 7,300 in the developed world’

SHASHI KAPOOR stole the thunder from screen baddie and wealthflaunting older brother Amitabh Bachchan in the

Patralekha Chatterjee

1975 blockbuster Deewar with just four words: “Mere paas maa hai”. Being a mother is good, great and glorious in mythology, cinema and in the popular psyche in India. Sadly, in real life, motherhood is a hazardous experience in many parts of the country.

“No Tally of the Anguish: Accountability in maternal healthcare in India”, a recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the New York-based international NGO, is the latest reminder of the paradox of being a mother in India. We deify motherhood but do not do enough to save mothers.

“For an emerging global economic power famous for its medical prowess, India continues to have unacceptably high maternal mortality levels. In 2005, the last year for which international data is available, India’s maternal mortality ratio (MMR) was 16 times that of Russia, 10 times that of China, and four times higher than in Brazil,” the 150-page report observes.

Some more damning figures: Of every 70 Indian girls who reach reproductive age, one will eventually die because of pregnancy, childbirth or unsafe abortion, compared to one in 7,300 in the developed world. More will suffer from preventable injuries, infections and disabilities, often serious and lasting a lifetime, due to failures in maternal care.
Indeed, India contributes a little under a fourth of the world’s maternal mortality.

Given all these disturbing numbers, why do not we hear more about maternal deaths? The short answer: because the magnitude of the problem is not recognised and the life stories of the dead women remain untold. Deaths due to conflicts, disasters or terrorism instantly grab public attention, become talking points, pressuring politicians and policymakers towards action. Most maternal deaths, in contrast, are deaths due to neglect, and remain ill-monitored.
Medical records typically capture the immediate, biological causes of maternal deaths. What gets left out are the personal, familial, socio-cultural and environmental factors contributing to these deaths. The key underlying reason behind a maternal death in India is not always lack of money. The brutal truth, as the HRW report notes, is that generally speaking, maternal mortality is high where women’s overall status is low, and public health systems are poor. It is the low status of women which leads to the low priority accorded to her health.

Early marriage, women’s neglect of their reproductive health, inability to decide when and where to seek medical help, widespread malnutrition, lack of education, awareness, domestic violence and poor access to quality healthcare, including emergency obstetric services are some of the all too familiar factors which contribute to tens of thousands of maternal deaths.

A telling indicator: In rural India, even the desperately poor spend months planning every detail of a family wedding.
The birth of a child, in stark contrast, is considered a routine affair, requiring minimal preparation and expenditure. Neglect during pregnancy and childbirth claims the lives of around 100,000 women across the country every year. Most such deaths can be averted but for the “three delays” — delay in decision to seek care, delay in reaching the appropriate health facility and delay in receiving care once inside a hospital.

Within India, there are also huge disparities. National averages camouflage sharp incountry variations in maternal mortality and morbidity. Northern India, made up of the so-called eight “Empowered Action Group” states, along with Assam, have the highest maternal mortality rates in the country. At 440 maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births, Uttar Pradesh reports the second highest MMR (maternal mortality ratio) in the country. This is about 1.7 times the estimated national MMR and more than three times that of states like Tamil Nadu in south India.

Many of the insights in the HRW report are familiar to Indians working in public health. India’s flagship National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) seeks to address the twin challenges of maternal and child survival. Since its launch in 2005, the NRHM has pumped in huge sums of money to improve public health systems and reduce maternal and infant mortality. Recent data suggests that it has made some difference in parts of the country. All-India figures show a decline in maternal deaths between 2003 to 2006.

However, the initiatives will not produce the intended outcomes unless there is strict monitoring and healthcare system accountability, as the HRW report correctly stresses. We also need timely investigations into maternal deaths.

Unicef, for example, has piloted a verbal autopsy tool called Maternal and Perinatal Death Inquiry and Response, which involves communities. Two years ago, while visiting districts across the country where this was being implemented, I saw promising signs. Trained health and community workers and NGO field staff visited families where a maternal death has taken place with a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire is a tool to facilitate a process of raising awareness, of getting people concerned and involved about issues impacting a mother’s health and make them more knowledgeable about how they can do something about them. In several instances, communities had come forward with local solutions to critical issues like referral transport during obstetric emergencies. Saving mothers is not rocket science, and certainly within the capacity of a country whose lunar programme just celebrated its triumphant discovery of water at the moon. What is needed is a determined focus on the specific cracks through which so many women fall. In the Indian context, this means paying attention to not only the disparities between different states and regions but also the significant differences in utilisation of maternal health care within states, districts and cities.

Rural women, the urban poor, and women in geographically-remote areas report poorer utilisation of maternal healthcare services than the middle class in urban areas. Pregnant women belonging to dalit and tribal communities use maternal health services less than women belonging to upper castes. Maternal deaths continue in India because the women who die are not those we socialise with and their rights are not given the same value as our rights. India has the resources, tools and technical expertise to save its mothers and its children. It should do so not only because of what Human Rights Watch or any other organisation says, but because it is the right thing to do. It will be a critical step in making the idea of India more attractive.

PATRALEKHA CHATTERJEE writes on contemporary development issues, and can be contacted at
patralekha.chatterjee@gmail.com

Source : Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad 23 Oct 2009

తుంగభద్రలో అనూహ్యమైన వరద వచ్చినందువల్ల, సుంకేశుల ఆనకట్ట నిర్మాణంలో గతంలో జరిగిన అవకతవకల వల్ల, ప్రస్తుతం ఆ ఆనకట్ట తెగిపోయినందువల్ల ఆ రాతిగోడమీది నుంచి వరద ఊళ్లోకి ప్రవేశించింది. అసలు సుంకేశుల ఆనకట్ట నిర్మాణం దగ్గరి నుంచీ ఊళ్లోకి ప్రవేశించిన బురదను ఎత్తిపోయడం దాకా ప్రభుత్వ, అధికార యంత్రాంగం లోపాలు, నిర్లక్ష్యాలు, అక్రమాలు ఎన్నో ఉన్నాయి.

తుంగభద్ర- కృష్ణ వరద బీభత్సంలో కకావికలైన ప్రజా జీవనానికి సహాయ సహకారాలు అందించడానికి, దెబ్బతిన్న వేలాది బాధిత కుటుంబాలను ఆదుకోవడానికి సమాజమంతా పెద్ద ఎత్తున కదులుతున్నట్టు, ప్రభుత్వ, ప్రభుత్వేతర సంస్థలన్నీ సహాయ, పునరావాస కార్యక్రమాలలో తలమునకలు గా ఉన్నట్టు ఒక అభిప్రాయం చలామణీలోకి వచ్చిం ది. పనిచేసే వారినెవరినీ విమర్శించనక్కరలేదేమో! సహాయ, పునరావాస చర్యలు పెద్ద ఎత్తునే జరుగుతున్నమాట, సామూహిక ఔదార్యం వ్యక్తమవుతున్న మాట నిజమేనేమో! కాని ప్రజల విషాదం, దైన్యం, దిగ్భ్రాంతి, సహాయం కోసం ఎదురుచూపు మాత్రం మొదటి రోజున ఎట్లా ఉండి ఉంటాయో అట్లాగే ఉన్నాయి.

జల ప్రళయం ఎగసిపడి నిండా రెండువారాలు గడిచిన తర్వాత కూడా ఆ దుస్థితి ఏమీ మారలేదని మహబూబ్‌నగర్‌ జిల్లా వడ్డేపల్లి మండలం రాజోళి గ్రామ శిథిలాలను, అదే జిల్లా అలంపురం పట్టణ వీధులను పైపైన చూసినా అర్థమవుతుంది. సుంకేశు ల ఆనకట్ట తెగిపోయి వరద తీసిందేమో గాని, రాజోళిలో కన్నీటి వరద ఇంకా ఆగలేదు. శ్రీశైలం నుంచి వరద నీరు కిందికి పంపినందువల్ల పైన అలంపురం లో తుంగభద్రలో నీళ్లు కనబడడం లేదేమోగాని రక్షణకు కట్టిన రాతి కట్టమీది నుంచి తుంగభద్ర దూకి ధ్వంసమైన ఇళ్లూ జీవితాలూ జీవనోపాధులూ ఇంకా ఆ బీభత్సాన్ని అనుభవిస్తూనే, ప్రకటిస్తూనే ఉన్నాయి.

మన అధికార వ్యవస్థలకు తోటి మనుషుల పట్ల కనీస గౌరవం లేదని చెప్పడానికి నిదర్శనంగా రెండు ఊళ్లలోనూ భరించరాని దుర్గంధం వ్యాపించి ఉంది. కనీసం ఆరేడు అంగుళాల నుంచి గరిష్ఠంగా రెండు మూడు అడుగుల మేర పేరుకుపోయిన ఒండ్రుమట్టి లో, బురదలో చిక్కుకున్న జీవజాతుల కళేబరాలు కుళ్లిన వాసన, ఆహార పదార్థాలు కుళ్లిన వాసన, మురి కి కాలువలు రోడ్ల బురద కలగలిసిపోయి ముక్కులు బద్దలు చేసే నీచు వాసన. చూడడానికి వెళ్లిన వాళ్లు కొన్ని గంటల కోసమో, నిమిషాల కోసమో అది భరించలేక ముక్కులకు గుడ్డలు అడ్డం పెట్టుకుని, వాంతు లు చేసుకుంటూ ఉంటే, నిస్సహాయులైన రాజోళి ప్రజలు, అంతకన్నా ఎక్కువగా అలంపురం ప్రజలు ఆ దుర్వాసనలో తిరుగుతున్నారు. వండుకుని తింటున్నారు.

నిత్యజీవిత కార్యక్రమాల్లో పాలుపంచుకుంటున్నారు. ఎంత దుర్మార్గమైన లోకం ఇది?! రెండు వారా లు గడిచినా కనీసం బురద శుభ్రం చేయడానికి శక్తి చాలని, మనసుపోని అధికార యంత్రాంగం ఏ బాధ్యతలు నిర్వహిస్తున్నట్టు? నాయకులకు రక్షణ కవచంగా నిలబడే వందలాది మంది ప్రజల ఆందోళనలను అణచడానికి సర్వశక్తి సాధనాలతో తరలివచ్చే వేలాదిమంది ‘ప్రజా సేవకుల’ వ్యవస్థ కొన్ని గ్రామాల్లో బుర ద ఎత్తించడం లాంటి చిన్న పని చేయడానికి వారాల తరబడి తీసుకుంటోంది.

ఉద్యమకారులను అణచడానికి వేలాది మందిని హుటాహుటిన క్షణాల మీద పంపించే ప్రభుత్వం ఒక్కొక్క గ్రామంలో నుంచి కొన్ని వందల టన్నుల బురదను తొలగించి, కడిగి, శుభ్రం చేసి, రోగాలకు నిలయం కాకుండా చేయడానికి కనీస చర్యలు కూడా చేపట్టలేదు. ఎవరి ఇంట్లో బురద వాళ్లే ఎత్తేసుకుంటారులే, ప్రకృతే శుభ్రం చేస్తుందిలే అన్న ట్టు ఉపేక్షిస్తోంది.

ఎర్త్‌ మూవర్లు, బుల్డోజర్లు వచ్చా యి గాని కేవలం ప్రభుత్వ వాహనాలు, సందర్శకుల వాహనాలు తిరగడానికి వీలైనంత మట్టుకు రోడ్లమీద బురదను పక్కకు నెట్టాయి. ఇప్పుడు రోడ్డుకు రెండు పక్కలా దుర్గంధపు కుప్పలు. ఆ దుర్వాసన మహా ఘనత వహించిన సందర్శకులను చికాకు పెట్టకుండా ఆ కుప్పల మీద డిడిటి, క్లోరిన్‌ చల్లితే చాలునని మాత్రం అధికారగణం అనుకున్నట్టుంది. రెండు గాఢమైన వాసనలు కలిసి దుర్భరమైన వాతావరణం.

దుర్వాసన ఒక పక్కనైతే, మనిషి పట్ల గౌరవం లేని మనుషులందరినీ బిచ్చగాళ్లుగా చూసే ప్రభుత్వాధికారుల, రాజకీయ నాయకుల, సందర్శకుల వైఖరి. రెండు వారాలుగా నిస్సహాయతలో మగ్గిపోయి, వాహనం కనబడితే చాలు ఏదో ఇవ్వడానికి ఎవరో వచ్చారని, ఈ వేటలో వెనుకబడితే ఆ అందేదేదో అందదని దయనీయమైన ఆదుర్దా మరొక పక్కన.

నిన్నటి వరకూ తన శ్రమ మీద తాను ఆధారపడుతూ, ఆత్మగౌరవంతో బతికిన మనిషి ఇవాళ ఇంత దుర్భరమైన స్థితిలోకి జారిపోతే, కనీస గౌరవం కూడా లేకుండా తోటి మనుషులూ, అధికార వ్యవస్థలూ ఎలా పనిచేస్తున్నాయో చూస్తే ఆపుకోలేని దుఃఖం కలిగింది. మనిషి ఇంత దీనంగా ఉండవలసిన పరిస్థితి ఎందువల్ల తలెత్తింది? ఇంకా ఘోరం దారి పొడవునా గుట్టలుగుట్టలుగా పారవేసిన పాతబట్టలు. గ్రహీతలకు అవసరమైనవి, గౌరవప్రదమైనవి ఇస్తున్నామో లేదో చూడకుండా సహాయం పేరుమీద ప్రకటితమైన ఔదార్యం నిజం గా బాధితులకు పనికిరాలేదు. లేదా బాధితులకు అవసరమైనవి అందలేదు. ఫలితం పాతబట్టలు, చాలీచాలని బట్టలు అందిన వాళ్లందరూ అక్కడికక్కడే పారేసిపోయారు.

రాజోళి జనాభా 2001 జనగణన ప్రకారం 11, 617. బహుశా ప్రస్తుతం పదిహేనువేలు కావచ్చు. సరిగ్గా సుంకేశుల ఆనకట్ట కింద ఉండే ఈ గ్రామం ఆ ఆనకట్ట తెగి మీద పడడంతో హతాశురాలైంది. ఆ ఆనకట్ట రాత్రిపూట తెగి ఉంటే, సరిగ్గా ముప్ఫై ఏళ్ల కింద గుజరాత్‌లో ఆనకట్ట తెగి మోర్వీ పట్టణంలో వేలాది మంది మనుషులు జల సమాధి అయిపోయినట్టు అయి ఉండేది. ‘అలా జరిగినా బాగుండును, మాకూ ఈ బాధ తప్పేది, మీకూ ఈ బాధ తప్పేది’ అని ఒక చేనేత కార్మికుడు కన్నీళ్లింకిపోయిన గొంతుతో, సమాజం తలదించుకోవలసిన మాట అన్నాడంటే ఆ ఊరు ఎంత దుఃఖాన్ని చవిచూసి ఉంటుంది.

ఆ ఊరిలో ఇళ్లన్నీ నేలమట్టమైపోయా యి. గోడలు గట్టిగా నిలిచి ఉన్న చోట కూడా ఇళ్లలో రెండడుగుల మేర బురద నిండి నివాసయోగ్యం కాకుండాపోయాయి. అక్కడి నుంచి రెండు కిలోమీటర్ల దూరంలో కాస్త మెరకగా ఉన్నచోట పునరావాసం కల్పించవచ్చు గాని జీవనోపాధి కల్పించడం అత్యవసరమైన పెద్ద పని.

ఆ గ్రామంలో కనీసం మూడువేల మగ్గాలు పని చేస్తున్నాయని ఒక అంచనా. ఆ మూడువేల మగ్గాలు ఇవాళ విరిగిపోయి ఉన్నాయి. వేలాది కుటుంబాల జీవనాధారం ధ్వంసమైపోయింది. ఒక్క పద్మశాలి కుటుంబాలు మాత్రమే కాదు, రాజోళిలో ముస్లింలు, కురబ, చాకలి, కమ్మరి వంటి ఇతర కులాల వాళ్లు కూడా నేతపనిలో ఉన్నారు. గద్వాల వంటి ప్రఖ్యాత నేత వస్త్రాల మార్కెట్లకు తమ ఉత్పత్తులు అందిస్తున్నారు. ఒక మగ్గం పునర్నిర్మించాలంటే కనీసం అరవై వేల నుంచి లక్ష రూపాయలు అవసరమవుతుంది.

సహాయ పునరావాస కార్యక్రమాలలో ఈ జీవనోపా ధి నష్టం లెక్కకే రావడం లేదు. చేనేత సహకార సంఘం కార్యాలయంలో ఉన్న కోటి రూపాయలకు పైగా విలువ చేసే వస్త్రాలు, నూలు నాశనమైపోయా యి. ఆ కార్యాలయంలో నుంచి బురద ఎత్తివేయడానికి అధికార యంత్రాంగం ఏమీ చేయలేదు. ఎంత కూలి ఇచ్చినా ఆ దుర్గంధపూరితమైన బురద ఎత్తిపోయడానికి ఎవరూ దొరకక, చేనేత కార్మికులు, ఆ కార్యాలయ ఉద్యోగులు పారిశుధ్య కార్మికుల్లా పని చేస్తున్నారు.
ఇక అలంపురంలో ఎక్కడ చూస్తే అక్కడ సహాయ శిబిరాలు, బృందాలు, అధికార గణం కనబడుతున్నా రు గాని, అంతకన్న మించిన దుర్వాసన. పరిశుభ్రమై న, గౌరవప్రదమైన వాతావరణం ముందు కల్పించాలనే కనీస స్పృహ కొరవడిన స్థితి.

అసలు ఆ ఊరే శ్రీశైలం జలాశయంలో ముంపుకు గురవుతుందని అనుకున్నప్పుడు, ప్రాచీన ఆలయాలను, ఊరిని రక్షించడానికి పెద్ద రాతిగోడ కట్టారు. తుంగభద్రలో అనూహ్యమైన వరద వచ్చినందువల్ల, సుంకేశుల ఆనకట్ట నిర్మాణంలో గతంలో జరిగిన అవకతవకల వల్ల, ప్రస్తుతం ఆ ఆనకట్ట తెగిపోయినందువల్ల ఆ రాతిగోడమీది నుంచి వరద ఊళ్లోకి ప్రవేశించింది. అసలు సుంకేశుల ఆనకట్ట నిర్మాణం దగ్గరి నుంచీ ఊళ్లోకి ప్రవేశించిన బురదను ఎత్తిపోయడం దాకా ప్రభుత్వ, అధికార యంత్రాంగం లోపాలు, నిర్లక్ష్యాలు, అక్రమా లు ఎన్నో ఉన్నాయి. ఎప్పటి బురద ఇది? ఎంత కడిగితే తరుగుతుంది ఇది?

-ఎన్‌. వేణుగోపాల్‌

source : aandhrajyothy 22 Oct 2009

BYE, BYE SCHOOL? Schools Still In Badly Damaged State, Say NGOs

The recent floods may trigger huge school dropouts particularly among poorer sections as 484 schools have suffered severe damage affecting 82,000 students in Kurnool, Mahbubnagar and Krishna districts. The students have lost books, uniforms, records, certificates and everything connected to their studies, according to a survey conducted by NGOs. “Books are dearer to the children. Poor families cannot afford to buy new set of books and this could lead to students dropping out from schools particularly the girl child,” said R Venkata Reddy, national coordinator of the Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya Foundation (MVF) set up by Ramon Magsaysay awardee professor Shanta Sinha. Reddy, who led teams that surveyed the condition of schools and health of the students in the affected districts said, many of the schools were not ready to occupy even though they are scheduled to reopen on Monday.

“We observed the psychology of children and the parents in 21 schools in Kurnool district. Students and their parents feel that they are in no position to take additional burden of buying new set of books and uniforms as they are already undergoing trauma having lost everything they had.”

As of now, it appears that helping the schools and children is a non-priority issue for government too. “The distribution of a school-kit containing everything needed for a student alone can reassure the children and enable them to go back to school,” Reddy felt. But the district officials say text books are not available for distribution, even though they are hopeful of getting note books from donors. Students in Kurnool district are a confused lot. N R Chaitra, a final year B Sc student from St Joseph College lost all certificates including her records.

She was not sure of going to college immediately after the reopening as she cannot enter class with empty hands. Like Chaitra, many children are unlikely to turn up at schools next Monday. Parents are worried about the safety of the old buildings of government schools.

Some schools like Prakasam memorial school in Kurnool have not been opened even for cleaning. It will take another 10 days to make these buildings fit to run schools, said Reddy. All the 21 schools which MVF visited are not in good shape.

According to B Ramalingam, district educational officer (DEO), cleaning of schools was in full swing. “We have asked the teachers to spend money from their pockets. Later the government will reimburse the amount,” the DEO said. As for the issuing of duplicate SSC certificates, the DEO said they are planning to set up counters in every mandal to receive the complaints. After receiving the complaints, steps will be taken to issue duplicate certificates, said the DEO.

Source : Times News Network, The Times of India, Hyderabad 21 Oct 2009

Displaced by floods, rajoli villagers fight for survival
90 % of 500-odd houses in Rajoli had collapsed,
Rajoli suffered a huge loss on account of damage to weavers’ units
Rahul
RAJOLI (Mahabubnagar dt.): Hundreds of poor families are literally on the road in this tiny village as they have pitched tents made of sarees after their houses collapsed following the floods ten days ago.

A bumpy drive to Rajoli from Shantinagar on a gravel topped road over 10 kms also saw a number of homeless

The aftermath: Villagers of Rajoli in Mahabubnagar district scrambling for relief material. – Photo P.V. SIVAKUMAR

 families moving out from the former with their belongings in bullock carts and packed auto-rickshaws and tractors. A large number of others were sitting by the roadside helplessly while children greeted every passing vehicle with outstretched hands, seeking alms.

People both at the camp where the tents have come up and elsewhere on the road are being provided food and water by voluntary agencies but they are directly exposed to sun as the sarees which they have stuck out to sticks to take cover hardly offer them any relief. The camp mostly comprises Scheduled Caste people from Rajoli and Thummanapalle villages which were submerged by the water of Tungabhadra river, less than half-a-kilometre away.
The water entered the villages after ripping open the earthen bund of Sunkesula barrage for nearly a kilometre.

There is chaos in Rajoli whenever vehicles drive into the village to drop food, clothes and water packets. There is a mad rush of people who try to snatch the packets from the hands of delivery boys. The crew of a mini-bus despatched by an organisation had a tough time in preventing the crowd from entering the vehicle on Monday. The problems of those who drove in an open-topped van with the food material shortly afterwards was worse.

The debris of houses that collapsed stare visitors to Rajoli where destruction to property is the highest in the district. Every other house was found falling here. The District Superintending Engineer of Housing Suresh told The Hindu that ninety per cent of the 500-odd houses in the village had collapsed. Only pucca houses stood up to the flooding while all the houses with mud and mortar were razed to ground. The village which is popular for handloom weaving also suffered a huge loss on account of damage to weavers’ units.

A stream ahead of the village is the source of water for people living in pucca houses to wash their clothes and utensils.
Source : The Hindu, 14 Oct 2009

Nearly 5,000 handloom weavers who lost their looms face mounting debts
G Arun Kumar | TNN

Rajoli (Mahbubnagar): For the 5,000-odd weavers of this town, the last straw came in the form of nature’s fury like they have never seen before. In a matter of a few hours on that fateful October 2, the gushing waters destroyed their handlooms and homes and increased their debts many-fold.

“I cannot take this anymore, I want to die,” wailed 60-year-old Vanka Lakshmanna, whose three handlooms were washed away in the floods. This more or less sums up the morbidity that the floods left behind in the weavers of this mudstone house town just off the Raichur main road on the banks of the Tungabhadra river in Vaddapally mandal of district.

With their livelihood destroyed and forced to live on the streets, the weavers see no light at the end of the tunnel. Agnoor Babu had 8 Turling looms (where silk saris are woven) and two regular ones. All of them were destroyed or washed away in the gushing waters of the flood fury. “I have five daughters, the eldest of whom I got married six months ago. I have already incurred a debt of Rs 40,000. With no way to earn money, how am I going to feed me family, let alone marry off my other four daughters,” cried Agnoor Babu even as his family members tried to console him.

Savitramma, an old weaver woman, is still to come to grips with the reality post-floods. In a state of shell-shock, all she can do is stand next to her wrecked home and lament. “The atmosphere is so hellish that there is not a single family that has the courage to fight on. What can the state government do to give us back our lives,” asked weaver Bandi Krishna, who lost all of his four handlooms.

Even before the floods washed away their livelihoods, most of the weavers were in the debt range of Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000. “For you city folks, it might sound like a very small sum. But not for us. On an exceptionally good day, we tend to make Rs 100 a day and there are at least 4-5 mouths that each of us have to feed,” said Mohd Shabbir, a 17-year-old weaver who looked much withered for his age.

Since the floods, the weavers as well as the other residents of Rajoli have been having a tough time getting food and drinking water. On Tuesday, many of the residents were seen converging at a huge neem tree at the town centre which got submerged in the hope of fishing out some debris to build temporary shelters. “The old and the sick are not able to take it. Many of them are suffering from diarrhoea,” said Hanumanthu, a rescue worker.

Understandably, Rajoli’s deputy sarpanch Marlavedi Sekhar is a worried man. “The floods have washed away our lives, broken many families and decimated our meagre earnings. But the real tragedy that could unfold over the next few weeks is suicides by the weavers. I hope for once, the district administration takes preventive steps rather than pay compensation afterwards,” he said.

Centre for Action Research and People’s Development (CARPED)

Tel : 09246294565, Email : carpedindia@gmail.com www.carped.org

Donations can be sent to

Centre for Action Research and People’s Development (CARPED)

1017 2619 90 Central Bank of India (local funds)
1017 3084 75 Central Bank of India (local funds)
1017 2620 08 Central Bank of India (Foreign contribution)
Kalyan Nagar branch, Hyderabad

Village is renowned for its handloom products
S.Venugopal
RAJOLI (Mahabubnagar district): The unprecedented flood has taken the sheen out of this village located on the banks of Tungabhadra river.

A rich village with about 40,000 population, Rajoli is acclaimed for its handloom products which are in good demand. The flood that ravaged the village on October 1 has, however, shattered the lives of the weavers who lost their looms as well as houses.

In ruins: A completely damaged weaving workshop at Rajoli village in Mahabubnagar district due to the recent floods

Only 10 per cent of the 4,000 odd dwellings withstood the destruction unleashed by Tungabhadra, which was on spate. With the houses and looms that brought them repute within the country and abroad shattered by the river’s fury, the village now appears a dumpyard of dead bodies of cattle, pigs and dogs with slush left by the receding water still continuing to obstruct free walk of the streets.

Thukaram, one of the three MPTC members from the village and a proud owner of 70 looms, lost all his equipment as well as stock worth Rs. 70 lakh. And, the story of dozens of others is no different. “With all the property and belongings lost, there is no scope for us to survive,” said Rumala Rukmini, a handloom weaver who lost her eight looms and house.

Even as the reality is yet to dawn on many, residents are leaving to take shelter in their relatives’ houses in other towns and villages.

“We have lost our house as well as property. How can we live here in such circumstances?” lamented Netha Venkatesh (40).

Vaddepally ZPTC member Srinivasulu wanted the authorities concerned to keep the disaster in view and ensure that the entire village was relocated to a higher altitude where the residents were not affected in the event of such calamities.
source: The Hindu, 7 Oct 2009

A positive, never-say-die attitude helps slum children survive and emerge victorious despite, and not because of, government moves to rehabilitate them. TOI takes a look at what life in the slums of Hyderabad involves

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Relocation: A flawed concept

Hyderabad: Even as the world wakes up to the living condition of slum dwellers in India, courtesy ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, and agencies flock Dharavi in Mumbai to develop it, the plight of slum residents in Hyderabad is only deteriorating, rue activists. They say that the “proactive” attempts made by the Andhra Pradesh government towards “altering” the lives of these people have only proved detrimental to slum dwellers, as the government is successfully alienating them from the rest of the city.

There are 1,210 notified slums in the city, of which an estimated 100 are under threat of relocation, while a few have already been shown the door, locked out of the city in a suburb with no nearby school or job options for slum dwellers.

The central government’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was started to remove slums in the state and rehabilitate slum dwellers, but most social workers say that the programme has done more harm than good. On the pretext of rehabilitation, the powerful “real-estate lobby”, in order to grab land in the city, packs off slum-dwellers to far-flung corners of the city. The impact of such moves is the most serious on children, they say.

Relocation, as Rajesh Prabhakar, state manager of CRY, Andhra Pradesh notes, is not only a demolition of dwellings, but also of lives and the worst affected are children who are driven into child labour due to lack of other opportunities.

“This scheme that is meant to provide better conditions for the underprivileged has only accelerated the drop-out rate amongst slum children. The drive for relocation has led to slum dwellers being forcibly evicted from their homes to obscure areas which have neither basic facilities like schools for children nor transport facilities which allow them to travel to schools in other areas. Under such conditions, most children who earlier went to school have no choice but to drop-out,” explains RTI activist Umesh Varma giving an example of a relocation site in Afzalnagar where a number of children have stopped going to school due to lack of transport facilities.

Activists also say that with relocation done in a haphazard manner, the inhabitants of slums are suddenly uprooted and relocated to unfamiliar places. Children are forced to leave their schools midterm, with no one responsible for getting the slum children admitted to other schools.

The lack of job opportunities for parents in these new locations is also a major concern, as they are often thrust into extreme situations where they have no option but to send their children to look for work elsewhere instead of educating them, says Prabhakar. “Work is difficult to come by in these remote areas so the parents obviously need extra pairs of hands to earn their livelihood. At times like these, they cannot afford to think about education,” he says.

The whole idea of relocation, activists say is a sugar-coated term to cover up a crime of the “land-mafia”. If incidents of eviction of this class to the periphery of the city in the name of rehabilitation continue, the dropout rate amongst slum children will soon reach 100 per cent and the kids will be exposed not only to child labour but also to other physical and social abuse, say activists.

OUR REAL HEROES

Hyderabad: Watching Jamal hop into speeding trains, land in unknown cities and take up odd jobs to earn a meal, in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, was like revisiting his own days as a child for Oddepally Rajaiah. Though unlike Jamal, Rajaiah opted to run away from home in Warangal at the age of 10 years, driven by his desire to travel around the world, the rest of his story is much the same. Today with a Masters in Social Work, Rajaiah claims that his success is as sweet as his ‘brother’ Jamal’s and equally hardearned.

Oddepally Rajaiah

There are several rags-to-riches stories that Hyderabad is teeming with. Stories like that of Rajaiah who did not became a crorepati overnight, but landed a job that now earns him a princely sum of Rs 13,000 every month. Or that of a domestic child worker R Sridevi who was rescued and later went on to become a national handball player. Then there are more success stories of other deprived children who lived their dream of becoming an “officer” when they landed a government job.

While R Sridevi of Warangal was forced to take up a job as domestic help at an early age to support her old parents and younger brother and give up her love for the game of handball, Rajaiah left home driven by his love for travel. “I would hop into trains randomly, pose as a garbage boy as I never had money for tickets, and get down anywhere I wanted. I have been to Vijaywada, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and finally Hyderabad where my life changed completely,” says the 26-yearold street boy turned social worker.

Having spent much of his childhood washing dishes at roadside eateries or begging at temple steps and sleeping on railway platforms, Rajaiah finally found an NGO-run shelter in the city, wherein he was also encouraged to resume education. A class V dropout, Rajaiah went on to clear his class X and XII, securing 84 per cent in the latter. He then opted for social work as his subject for graduation.

While Rajaiah was able to pursue his dream, for others such as Sridevi, juggling time between domestic work and handball practice was a daily challenge. She would practice in the evenings, after working all day. Her talent was soon noticed and the maid servant later went on to become a national handball champion with aid from various organisations. Sridevi is now reportedly flooded with job offers from different places and is a poster girl of sorts among the underprivileged girls in AP.

Born nearly two decades before Rajaiah or Sridevi, S Israel’s story is no different. Taking the first train out of his slum in Nellore district, the seven-year-old landed on the streets of Kolkata with no money or education. Israel was a rag picker, but with the help of kind soul who took notice of the child, was given both work and education. The 44-year-old now works with the Geological Survey of India.

But each of these success stories are riddled with various hurdles. In the case of Rajaiah, the used clothes that he wore (from the local resource management programme of the NGO) and the broken English that he spoke in was enough to alienate him from the rest of his class in college. At one time, he had even decided to run away from there, but stuck on realising that there were more serious issues in life than bad clothes. Predictably, he is proud of that he stayed on. “It’s been almost two years since I started working and I am greatly satisfied,” he says, adding that working for people from deprived backgrounds like his gives him immense satisfaction.

source: Times of India 25 Feb 2009

Failed Meals : Midday meal

By Gladson Dungdung

21 November, 2008
www.Tehelka.com

The midday meal in Jharkhand does not reach those who need it, nor does it heal the social divide in the state

Midday meal has been recognized as one of the key components of the Total Literacy Programme, playing a crucial role in bringing children to schools. The midday meal was introduced following a Supreme Court directive to the state governments in November 2001 to provide cooked food in all government primary schools and schools receiving government aid. The scheme was revised several times, its budget increased and its reach extended to the whole country. According to a report published by the state government of Jharkhand, the midday meal is doing what it is supposed to do. There were 30 lakh children not attending schools in 2002 but the midday meals in schools brought back 28 lakh children including dropouts to school. Their regular attendance has shot up to 70 percent. The education minister, Bandhu Tirkey has only good things to say about the midday meal.

But there is another side to the story that the minister refuses to acknowledge. The children are not served proper meals as per the menu and provisions. Since the programme got underway, the children of Baxidipa Primary school in Lohardagga district of Jharkhand have never been served a proper meal. 12 year-old Chandan Oraon of Class 5 says, “We are served khichidi with worms. The menu displayed on the wall is never adhered to”. 10 year old Poonam Oraon says, “We are served khichidi in school everyday. This does not feed our stomach”. While the teachers and the villagers are always at loggerheads on the matter, the midday meal has become a milch cow for the government officials and teachers.

According to the head teacher of Baxidipa Primary School, Sahodri Devi, the school cannot be blamed for the food supply. She says, “We receive 30 kg rice in a pack meant for 50 kg and Rs 250 for vegetables and the cook’s wages. It is just not possible to feed children properly with all this.” Sahodri Devi was suspended following the intervention by a local organisation HOPE, which monitors the midday meal in a few schools of Lohardagga district. She was found guilty of misappropriation of funds under the midday meal scheme. “During our visits, they stick to the menu, and then they switch back to the khichidi again”, says Manorama Ekka, the director of HOPE.

The objectives of midday meal scheme are namely improving the nutrition of the school children, encouraging disadvantaged children to attend school regularly and helping them focus on their studies. It has a provision of providing cooked midday meal with 450 calories and 12 grams of protein, adequate quantities of nutrients like Iron, Folic Acid and Vitamin-A to all primary school children and the calorific value of a midday meal at upper primary stage has been fixed at a minimum of 700 calories and 20 grams of protein by providing 150 grams of food grain per child per school day. But in reality, children are given merely 50-100 grams rice, 30 grams pulse and, once in a while, vegetables too. The menu is followed in a very few schools which are either properly monitored by or feel the pressure of the civil society organisations.

The Department of School Education and Literacy of the Ministry of Human Resource Development has prescribed a comprehensive and elaborate mechanism for the monitoring and supervision of the midday meal scheme. The monitoring mechanism has an arrangement for local-level monitoring: Gram Sabha representatives, members of VECs, PTAs, SDMCs as well as ( Mata Samiti) Mothers’ Committees are required to monitor the regularity and wholesomeness of the mid day meal served to children, cleanliness in cooking and serving of the midday meal, timeliness in procurement of good quality ingredients and fuel, implementation of a varied menu, and social and gender equity. This is required to be done on a daily basis.

On paper, the Village Education Committee (VEC) and Mata Samiti play the key role in monitoring the scheme but both the committees are non-functional. The chairman of the village education committee Shanker Oraon of Baxidipa says, “I don’t know how much rice comes to the school. I’m not even informed. The head teacher merely asks me to sign on the cheque. I follow her instruction.” The Village Education Committees never meet but the registers and minute books are well maintained with attendance and signature of all the respective members. A teacher of Baxidipa Pimari School, Som Oraon says, “We take the registers of VEC to the houses for getting the signatures of the members. But, since the head teacher belongs to the village, no one questions it.”

According to rules, the information should be made public under Right to Information Act 2005 in order to ensure that there is transparency and accountability. All schools and centres where the programme is being implemented are required to furnish information. This includes information on quantity of food grains received, date of receipt, quantity of food grains utilised, ingredients purchased and utilised, number of children given midday meal, the daily menu and the roster of community members involved in the programme. In practice, nothing apart from the daily menu is made public.

Though the scheme envisages bridging the gulf between communities, dalit children don’t even sit with other children to eat. The teachers don’t even eat the meals, acknowledging the fact they don’t meet the standards. The dalit cooks have been asked to leave after several instances of caste children refusing to eat. In Itkhori block of Chatra district, children refused to have a meal prepared by a Dalit woman. The administration intervened, threatening to lodge a complaint against the parents under Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. Eventually, the parents relented. Similarly, after the parents demanded that a non-dalit cook be recruited in the primary school of Putki, Dhanbad, the scheme had to be discontinued for three months.

While the teachers and the governments have a regular source of income in the midday meal, the children return home hungry. They merely do the paper work, maintain the registers and take the food to their houses. The fact that this never strikes the villagers as not being right is an indication of their awareness levels. The mindset that pervades the society here is that the schools do not belong to them but to the government. While they are willing to contribute to the building of the churches, temples and mosques, there is no sense of ownership about the schools. There is an urgent need for the communities to understand that they are equal stakeholders as the government in the running of their local school.

Gladson Dungdung is a Human Rights Activist. He can be contacted at gladsonhrights@gmail.com

The single most capable resource that any country has is its people. Volunteerism is about mobilizing that strength

Not everyone needs to be a Mother Teresa to make a difference. But everyone has knowledge to share, and anyone can inspire others to learn.

What is volunteerism? First it is crucial to understand what volunteerism is not. When it comes to social development, volunteerism is not about free labour and doing things on the cheap, nor is it about governments passing the buck. And it is not just about the middle classes extending a charitable hand to the underprivileged, laudable though that is. In the broadest sense, volunteerism is any action of free will where immediate individual benefit or financial reward is not the motivating factor. Consider farmers digging an irrigation system for the whole community, or grandparents looking after the children while the parents work. They are volunteers too. 
As they contribute to the good of society, volunteers grow as individuals. Volunteerism can also empower society’s marginalized groups, putting them in control of their own lives and enabling them to help those around them. For instance, a poor and illiterate Rajasthani woman who has trained educated men how to install and repair portable solar lanterns. By volunteering her time and some technical skills acquired via a local NGO, she has earned the respect of the community and is now included in her village’s decision-making processes. 

lend a helping hand

There are few places in the world where the spirit of volunteerism is stronger than in India. It dates back to 1,500BCE when it was advocated in the Rig Vedas and Upanishads. From faith-based groups that distribute food and clothing to the needy to local businesspeople, professionals and celebrities who contribute their talent and personal resources, volunteerism is still alive and well across the nation. Take Vimlendu Jha, a CNN ‘Be The Change’ volunteer and one of a growing number of determined Indian citizens who actively pursue the progress they want to see. Through his Swechha — We for Change Foundation, Vimlendu has run courses for disadvantaged schools, inculcated a sense of social conscience among urban youth, and catalyzed scores of other young people to roll up their sleeves and start cleaning up the Yamuna river.
   But in a country faced with rapid urbanization, such wide social disparities and development challenges, there is still plenty of work to be done. Whether led by the state or by civil society, current initiatives could always accommodate more resources. So, the Teach India campaign aims to harness the spirit of volunteerism to bring education to disadvantaged groups. And that means many more volunteers are needed. 

 At United Nations Volunteers (UNV), part of the United Nations Development Programme, every year we mobilize about 7,500 volunteer specialists across the world in fields from peacekeeping support to environmental protection. In India, following the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, UNV volunteers were deployed at the district level to train half a million village volunteers in how better to react to natural disasters. A total of 280 UNV volunteers were at work in India during 2007, 274 of them Indians. At the policy level, UNV supports the government of India in disseminating its new national policy on the voluntary sector, and closely cooperates on other areas such as research on volunteerism’s contribution to the Indian economy. 

 In other words, we seek to integrate the concept of volunteerism into development planning, which is really about mobilizing the single-most capable resource any country has — its own people. The point is that, to achieve the UN’s ambitious Millennium Development Goals by 2015, everyone has a part to play. 
Millennium Development Goal number one is the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. Number two is achieving universal primary education. These aims are inextricably intertwined. Education is the key to sustainable development; to maintain India’s current economic growth and path to social equality, it must educate its people. Without a growing pool of capable workers, the Indian economy cannot expand further. Yet, 42 million Indian children aged six to ten are still not in school. For disadvantaged groups, this compounds the disadvantage, restricting their access to employment and opportunity. Thus, Teach India is not about charity but joining forces towards fulfilling a key unrealised human right — the right to education. Education can create a level playing field for Indians of all backgrounds. 

 It’s a cliché, but one that holds true: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for life. Volunteer to teach a child —or an adult — to read, write, add and subtract, and the potential you might unlock is immeasurable. From an economic standpoint, it’s probably one of the best returns on any investment you’ll ever make. 
Not everyone needs to be a Mother Teresa to make a difference. But everyone has knowledge to share, and anyone can inspire others to learn. Step forward, volunteer, and become that inspiration in action!
 
source : Times of India 3 Oct 2008

Exercise meant to make the delivery system more accountable 
Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: What makes the post-matric students’ scholarships roost for almost a year before they reach the beneficiaries while all government employees get paid immediately on the next day of the budget? The question by Principal Secretary of Social Welfare V. Nagi Reddy was not as much in anticipation of an answer, as it was to ignite inquisitiveness in the young social auditors.

MAKING A POINT: A student delegate shares his views at the social audit on government programmes.

“Bills of both salaries and scholarships get cleared in the same budget. I was expecting you to demand the reason for the delay in disbursement of the latter,” he said at the Public Hearing of the Social Audit under the aegis of Backward Classes Welfare Department on Saturday.

Three colleges
It was conducted in three volunteering colleges — Sri Sarada Women’s Degree College, Nalla Mall Reddy College of Engineering and Mahbubia Junior College for Girls. Students took active part in the audit with support from a non-governmental organisation CARPED. Questions about delay in release of instalments to colleges and their laxity in turn, difference in scholarship amounts from student to student, new mode of reimbursement of tuition fee, physical verification of certificates, delay in submission of acquaintance registers, and others were raised.

Director of BC Welfare K. Sunitha said the social audit concept was adopted from Department of Rural Development after instances of misappropriation surfaced in Mahabubnagar and Medak districts.

The exercise was meant to make the delivery system more accountable and 35 students from the three colleges underwent a three-day training programme conducted by the Centre for Good Governance in audit preparation.

source : The Hindu, 22 Sep 2008
http://www.hindu.com/2008/09/22/stories/2008092259170400.htm