Modi govt denies scholarships to minority students http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/April/international_April750.xml§ion=international&col=
17 April 2011 The 2010-2011 final examinations are almost over and the admission process for the new academic year is in full swing. But the ambitious Muslim students who want to pursue higher studies are down in the dumps. Six years have passed since the Central government under a Prime Minister’s scheme started offering pre-matriculation scholarships every year to hundreds boys and girls of minority communities in all states. In view of the five-million population of Muslims in Gujarat, some 60,000 students are eligible for these scholarships but the land of the Mahatma is the only state which has steadfastly refused to implement the scheme, thus depriving thousands of school-children of the financial aid. According to Gyasuddin Shaikh, a local Congress legislator, the Narendra Modi government does not want to chip in with its share of just 25 per cent of the total amount of the scholarships that comes to merely Rs. 12.5 million annually. No wonder, even as Modi continued to make desperate attempts to woo Muslim leaders in Gujarat ahead of next year’s assembly elections, the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) hurriedly called a meeting of Muslim leaders to discuss the injustice being done to minority students. Shaikh, who participated in the debate, also expressed the lack of clarity in procedures governing implementation of various scholarship schemes, adding that it was time the quota for Muslim, Christian, Parsi and Sikh beneficiaries was increased substantially. The speakers, who also included prominent social activists like Kalim Ansari (Gujarat SIO chief), Shafi Madni (Gujarat Jamaat-e-Islami chief) and Kasam Vora (CEO, Gujarat Sarvajanik Education Society), rightly called for a single-window clearance for scholarship applications from minorities and suggested setting up of a nodal agency for implementation of minority welfare schemes which can report directly to the Centre. Muslim leaders have now decided to publish a scholarship guide and set up help centres in all the districts in Gujarat for the benefit of the student fraternity. But the Central government should also be equally blamed for not compelling the Modi regime to discharge its duty. As Madni said, New Delhi was well aware of the ‘ill-intentions of the state administration which had failed to channelise the Centre’s 75 per cent share, adding that scholarships worth Rs100 million lapsed every year. Come May 1, the SIO will launch an awareness campaign among the masses and also mobilise resources to influence the government machinery and the political parties for sincere implementation of the schemes intended for the minorities. However, with assembly polls nearing, reliable government officials say Modi, who has been meeting more and more Muslim leaders of late, is contemplating reconsidering his earlier decision not to provide the pre-matriculation scholarships to minority students. According to them, Modi had taken a particular view three years ago at the National Development Council meeting in Delhi in December 2007, where he declared that giving scholarships to minority students was discriminatory against other backward sections of society. A BJP leader said Modi wanted to change his anti-minority image but a shrewd strategist that he was, he wanted some assurance from minority leaders to support him and would announce his decision ‘at an opportune time’. Currently only those minority students get scholarship whose families earn less than Rs11,000 a year, a criterion which will make no student eligible. *— [email protected]* On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 12:29 PM, Kamayani <[email protected]> wrote: > UID And Public Health: Specious Claims – Dr. Mohan Rao, Newsclick > Submitted by admin <http://newsduniyaonline.com/users/admin> on Wed, > 02/23/2011 - 10:40 > > Among the many reasons cited for India to proceed ahead with the Unique > Identification (UID) project -that it will facilitate delivery of basic > services, that it will plug leakages in public expenditure and that it will > speed up achievement of targets in social sector schemes - the most specious > is perhaps the claim that it will help India reach her public health > Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). > > Despite impressive economic growth in the country, in addition to > starvation deaths, the huge load of preventable and communicable diseases > remains substantially unchanged. Although life expectancy has increased and > infant and child mortality rates have declined, these have been relatively > modest. Infant and child mortality take an unconscionable toll of the lives > of 2.2 million children every year. We are yet to achieve the National > Health Policy 1983 target to reduce the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to less > than 60 per 1000 live births in all the states of the country. More serious > is the fact that the rate of decline in the IMR has been decelerating, from > 27 per cent in the eighties to only 10 per cent in the nineties. The same is > true for the rate of decline in the mortality rate of children under five > from 35 per cent in the eighties to 15 per cent in the nineties. It is clear > that India will not reach the Millennium Development Goals of reducing IMR, > U5MR and the MMR. > > India has more maternal deaths than any other country. The NHP 1983 target > for 2000 was to reduce Maternal Mortality Rate to less than 200 per 100,000 > live births by 2000. However, in 2000, between 115,000 and 170,000 women > died in childbirth, accounting for about one-quarter of all maternal deaths > worldwide Far from declining over the 1990s, maternal and neo-natal > morbidity and mortality rates in India have, at best, plateaued. High, and > unconscionable as these levels of maternal mortality are, it is nevertheless > critical to bear in mind that they represent just a fraction of the > morbidity and mortality load borne by women in the country. Thus, for > instance, deaths due to anaemia among women who are not pregnant are twice > as much as among those who are. Similarly, communicable diseases take a much > higher toll than that due to pregnancy and childbirth. > > The reasons for this state of affairs are complex and stem above all from > lack of political and financial commitment to build a public health system > that can meet the challenges we face. As the National Health Policy (NHP) > 2002admitted, this is, at 0.9 per cent of the GDP the fifth lowest public > expenditure on health in the world. The decline in public investments over > the years was matched with growing subsidies to the private sector in health > care in a variety of ways. Thus we have the largest – and one of the least > regulated – private health care industry in the world. Evidence from across > the country indicates that access to health care has declined sharply over > the last two decades. As the government admits, the policy of levying of > user fees has impacted negatively upon access to public health facilities, > especially for poor and marginalised communities, and to women. > > It is to be remembered that along with poor public financing, India has one > of the highest private medical expenditures in the world: out- of- pocket > expenditure accounts for 83 per cent of the total health expenditure in the > country. It is thus not surprising that, as the NHP 2002 notes, medical > expenditure has emerged as one of the leading causes of indebtedness. At the > same time, the proportion of people not availing any type of medical care > due to financial reasons increased between 1986-87 to 1995-96: from 10 to 21 > per cent in urban areas, and from 15 to 24 per cent in rural areas. It is > not just the poor, but even the middle classes – the upper echelons of whom > welcomed globalisation – are finding it increasingly difficult to meet > medical care costs. > > *These did not occur because of lack of “demand” for health care as the > UID working paper on public health would have us believe as it sets out what > it calls “killer application” to provide citizens an incentive to obtain a > UID card in order to meet health needs. This unfortunate language apart, the > fact that we have not built a health system is hardly fortuitous. It is true > that we do not have good quality health data or indeed even vital > statistics; it is true that this should come from integrated routine health > system and not ad-hoc surveys.* > > *However, the UID is not designed to meet the public health challenges in > the country and should not pretend to do so. On the contrary, given that > many diseases continue to bear a stigma in this country, the UID scheme has > the unique potential of increasing stigma by breaching the anonymity of > health data collected. It thus violates the heart of the medical encounter, > namely confidentiality. By making this information potentially available to > employers and insurance companies, the scheme bodes further gross violations > of health rights.* > > The justification that the launch of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana > provides a “killer” opportunity for the UID scheme to free ride is equally > moot; the only evaluation of the RSBY scheme, in Kerala a state with > extremely good health indicators, indicates a number of problems, in > particular an inability to reach marginal groups (Narayana D., “Review of > Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana”, Economic and Political Weekly, vol.xlv, > No.29, 17th July 2010). > > The biometric health insurance cards issued to Delhi slum-dwellers under > the State government’s “Mission Convergence” scheme requires card-holders to > identify themselves with a fingerprint before they can avail of free > hospital treatment. NGOs involved in the scheme say that they are inundated > with complaints about malfunctioning fingerprint readers which fail to > authenticate even after multiple swipes. Since the scheme is tied up with > private health providers, users in need of emergency treatment often end up > paying inflated fees for services that they could get at lower cost, if not > free, at a government hospital. > > While there are systemic problems for low health access and outreach (such > as low – and falling- immunization coverage), to pretend that the UID scheme > offers a solution to the problem is dissembling at best, and dishonest at > worst. The UID scheme has thus little to offer for improvement in the public > health situation in the country. On the other hand, the UIDAI has much to > gain from a link-up with the public health system. As the UIDAI working > paper on public health puts it, “The demand pull for this needs to be > created de novo or fostered on existing platforms by the respective > ministries. Helping various ministries visualise key applications that > leverage existing government entitlement schemes such as the NREGA and PDS > will get their buy-in into the project …. and will also build excitement and > material support from the ministries for the UID project even as it gets off > the ground.” > > Given the significant potential for misuse of data, human rights violations > and breach of confidentiality of health information, one hopes that the > Ministry of Health will restrain its “excitement” and undertake a rigorous > analysis of the costs and risks of the scheme before providing “material > support” to the UID project. > > Dr. Mohan Rao is a Professor at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community > Health at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi > > > http://newsduniyaonline.com/content/uid-and-public-health-specious-claims-%E2%80%93-dr-mohan-rao-newsclick > > > <http://newsduniyaonline.com/content/uid-and-public-health-specious-claims-%E2%80%93-dr-mohan-rao-newsclick>Adv > Kamayani Bali Mahabal > +919820749204 > skype-lawyercumactivist > * > * > * > * > *The UID project i**s going to do almost exactly the same thing which the > predecessors of Hitler did, else how is it that Germany always had the lists > of Jewish names even prior to the arrival of the Nazis? The Nazis got these > lists with the help of IBM which was in the 'census' business that included > racial census that entailed not only count the Jews but also identifying > them. At the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, there is an > exhibit of an IBM Hollerith D-11 card sorting machine that was responsible > for organising the census of 1933 that first identified the Jews.* > * > * > *http://saynotoaadhaar.blogspot.com/* > http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_162987527061902&ap=1 > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "humanrights 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/humanrights-movement?hl=en. > -- Teesta Setalvad 'Nirant', Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai - 400 049 http://teestasetalvad.blogspot.com/ www.cjponline.org www.gujarat-riots.com www.sabrang.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. 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