*71% Villagers Say There’s High Corruption In Government Welfare Schemes * OUTLOOK APRIL 7th 2008
*Outlook* asked Cfore to survey government schemes and partnerships in four randomly selected districts— Tonk (Rajasthan), Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh), Rangareddy (Andhra Pradesh), and Saran (Bihar). In all, 1,013 villagers were surveyed. Not surprisingly, over half of them are not satisfied with government schemes. *Jhansi* *Ranga reddy* *Saran* * Tonk* *Over All* *Do you have easy access/knowledge about government’s welfare schemes?* Yes 38 55 35 48 44% No 62 45 65 52 56% ------------------------------ *Are you a beneficiary of government schemes? * Yes 58 63 51 74 61% No 42 37 49 26 39% ------------------------------ *If yes, how satisfied are you with government schemes?* Very Satisfied 6 15 9 11 10% Somewhat Satisfied 27 45 37 41 38% Dissatisfied 47 30 23 32 33% Very Dissatisfied 20 10 31 16 19% ------------------------------ *Have you ever paid a bribe to get the benefits from a welfare scheme?* Yes 32 21 30 37 30% No 68 79 70 63 70% ------------------------------ *Is there corruption in government welfare schemes?* High Corruption 81 68 71 63 71% Little Corruption 17 25 28 34 25% No Corruption 2 7 1 3 4% ------------------------------ *Is there a community/private welfare activity in your area? * Yes 17 29 23 36 26% No 25 37 32 26 30% Don't know 58 34 45 38 44% ------------------------------ *If yes, who is delivering better results?* Community/ private 49 42 36 37 41% Government 21 23 26 22 23% Joint efforts* 23 31 29 28 28% No opinion 7 4 9 13 8% * Collaboration between government and NGOs ------------------------------ *Does community/private participation in welfare schemes bring more accountability? * Yes 42 78 48 57 56% No 23 18 10 29 20% Can't say 35 4 42 14 24% ------------------------------ *Are you willing to pay for community/private schemes or should the government provide these services?* Yes 57 51 61 63 58% Prefer subsidised/ free services 43 49 39 37 42% ------------------------------ *Are you satisfied with the development in your area in the past 12 months? * Yes, very much 4 21 14 18 15% Yes, somewhat 47 51 55 45 49% Not at all 49 28 31 37 20% ------------------------------ *Methodology*: The survey was conducted between February 20 and March 5, ’08. In all, 10 villages were selected in each district, five within 10 km of a city/town, and five beyond 10 km. Households were randomly selected. In addition, there's a booster sample of 30-50 respondents who have been beneficiaries of at least one government scheme. In all, 1,013 villagers in the four districts were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Swapan Nayak Armymen are a daily habit for Imphal's residents MANIPUR *The Naked Truth* *Imphal, Manipur* Jaideep Mazumdar<http://www.outlookindia.com/author.asp?name=Jaideep+Mazumdar> | e-mail | one page format | feedback: send | Special Issue: India At 60<http://www.outlookindia.com/archivecontents.asp?fnt=20070820#India%20At%2060> Buffeted by lush, picturesque hills, Imphal should have been idyllic. But the capital of strife-torn Manipur is a city under siege, reeling under the fallout of nearly three decades of insurgency. The damage is psychological as well as physical. Nobody ventures out after dusk. Few have the courage to accept calls on their mobile phones from unknown numbers. All houses have tall iron gates—to keep out both militants and the Indian security forces. Fear of coming up against the omnipresent security forces is all-pervasive. So is disgust at central and state politicians for the corruption, unemployment, poverty, poor social infrastructure and the absence of even minimal civic services that marks life in Manipur. *The security forces still act with impunity, custodial torture and deaths continue as before. Despite the PM’s promise, the repeal of the AFSPA is still a distant dream.* A close third is the loathing that the people of the state feel for the numerous militant groups who have done their bit to make life miserable for them. Underlying all these emotions is cold rage at this daily dose of injustice and suffering. What provokes the darkest dread here is the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which gives the Indian army and paramilitary forces like the Assam Rifles, wide powers to detain people without trial on mere suspicion. This law has provided cover for men in uniform to torture, maim and kill people for decades now. The nationwide outrage, and the demand for the repeal of this draconian act, sparked by the brutal rape and murder of Thangjam Manorama Devi by Assam Rifles personnel four years ago, has not changed things; the Manipuri women who stripped naked in a courageous protest against Assam Rifles may have done so in vain. The security forces still act with impunity, custodial torture and deaths continue as before. The demand for the repeal of the AFSPA continues to resonate loudly throughout Manipur, as well, but people have little hope that it will happen. "When the prime minister came here after my sister’s death, he promised this act would go. But he did not live up to his promise. If he can go back on his word, what can we expect from the Indian state?" asks Thangjam Dolendra, brother of the slain Manorama. "India does not care for us" is a sentiment that resounds through this town. "Can the security forces treat people of any other state in ‘mainland’ India as they treat us?" is the angst and hurt-filled question hurled at me by theatre personality and Padmashri awardee Heisnam Kanhailal. Yambem Laba, director of the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy, cites the recent example of a middle-ranking army officer flagging down a convoy, to verify the state health minister’s credentials. "Can this happen anywhere else in India?" he asks. Brozendra Ningomba, editor of a popular local daily, is often detained and interrogated by army and paramilitary patrols on his way back home at night from office. While the rest of the country celebrates sixty years of freedom, for the people of Manipur, August 15 only translates into heightened security—and greater harassment. Tribhuvan Tiwari Weighed down A child being measured in Malgozha village UTTAR PRADESH *Hungry Tidings* *Malgozha, Bulandshahr district* Anjali Puri<http://www.outlookindia.com/author.asp?name=Anjali+Puri> | e-mail | one page format | feedback: send - read<http://www.outlookindia.com/rantsmag.asp?fodname=20070820&fname=KShadowlands&sid=2> | Special Issue: India At 60<http://www.outlookindia.com/archivecontents.asp?fnt=20070820#India%20At%2060> Attached to each malnourished little body is a charming name. Gudiya’s daughter, Sofia, with her sad, pointed face, looking far smaller than her eight months. Ten-month-old Javed, prone to frequent bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea, gaunt eight-year-old Sheba. Welcome to Malgozha and its children. In Delhi, doctors worry that children are overweight. In Malgozha, just 100 km and a two-hour drive away, child after child, crying unattended on a charpoy, slung casually against her sister’s hip, or playing naked in muddy pools of monsoon water, is painfully underweight. But no one seems to worry. Malgozha falls in Bulandshahr district, by no means one of Uttar Pradesh’s poorest. Yet, according to the government’s District Level Household Survey on Reproductive and Child Health (2002-2004), this district has among the highest percentages of moderately and severely underweight children in the 0-6 years age group. A Muslim-populated village where most families live off an acre of land and some cattle, Malgozha is, local NGOs say, one of its worst-off settlements. A lethal combination of maternal helplessness and state indifference has made Malgozha’s infants too thin and small. Mothers, many of whom have had several children in quick succession, and look weak, harassed and distracted themselves, don’t appear to know that children need regular amounts of nourishing food while being weaned off breast milk; that without this critical intervention, they are exposing their kids to recurring sickness and faltering growth. Ask Nazima what she feeds her children: her vague answer, and that of too many women here, is, *chai aur thodi si roti*. In theory, the state rescues its mothers and their children from such debilitating ignorance through the tentacles of the Integrated Child Development Services. The ICDs programme tells mothers how to care for their young children, what to feed them, what to do when they get diarrhoea, provides mothers and children with nutritional supplements, monitors their health, runs balwadis for little kids. It delivers these services at the village level through anganwadi workers. Every community of a 1,000 people should have one. That’s the theory. Now, the practice. Malgozha, home to 318 families and as many as 545 children under 5, has never seen an anganwadi; its children have never been weighed, their health is not monitored, their mothers are not counselled, nobody gets any supplements. The ostensible reason: there is no Class X pass woman in the community available to run an anganwadi. Shama Parveen, a class IX pass woman, is ready, willing, and by all local accounts, able. Her application was turned down. And that was it—no other woman, from a nearby village or town, was found to run an anganwadi in a village only a few kilometres away from the bustling pottery town of Khurja. The health bureaucracy does find its way here to put polio drops into young mouths—thanks to the national and international muscle behind polio eradication. But it retreats when its job is done, apparently oblivious to sunken eyes and protruding stomachs. Malgozha helps to explain why India has the world’s largest number of underweight children under 5—a staggering 57 million. http://www.youtube.com/dalitjade Know Buddha, Know Life No Buddha, No Life..! ------------------------------ Bring your gang together - do your thing. Start your group.<http://in.rd.yahoo.com/tagline_groups_2/*http://in.promos.yahoo.com/groups> ------------------------------ Check out the all-new Messenger 9.0! Click here. <http://in.rd.yahoo.com/tagline_messenger_7/*http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/> -- Ranjit --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
