June

There are umpteen government welfare schemes that come with promises and hopes for the poor and marginalsised sections of the society. While the objectives of these schemes are well intended most of these fail to achieve the desired goals because of faulty implementation and poor monitoring. Lack of awareness among beneficiaries, financial laxity and above all corruption, are the other reasons for the failure. OIOP’s June 2013 issue ‘What ails Government schemes’ analyses some of the schemes, points out the lacunae and suggests measures for improvement.

In the lead article ‘What ails Government schemes’, Leena Mehendale does an incisive analysis on why government schemes go awry and tells us how loopholes can be plugged in the initial stages itself to achieve the desired goals.

Mehendale, presently Member CAT Mumbai in the rank of High Court Judge, is an accomplished administrator, teacher, thinker and writer. She has travelled over 400 out of 650 districts in India and is proficient in many Indian languages. As an administrator she has worked in various departments which include education, women, children, industries, petroleum, agriculture, and health. Some of her service highlights are economic rehabilitation of Devdasis, making TV and radio serials for energy conservation, designing, training and framing policies for Yashada (Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration) and promoting Indian languages on computers. Presently, she is actively pursuing revival of Sanskrit language. She has given over 1000 lectures, authored 25 books on diverse subjects and over 600 articles, in Marathi, Hindi and English.

In ‘Fair prices, unfair practices’, Dr. Sunil B. Bhosale and Pralhad N. Kamble recommend measures to streamline the PDS system, clouded with corruption and malpractices, so that subsidised food and essential commodities reach the poor. Dr. Sunil B. Bhosale is Faculty, Research Associate, CSSEIP, Gokhale Institute of Economics & Politics, Pune. Mr. Pralhad N. Kamble is Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, Shri.  S.H. Kelkar College, Devgad, Dist- Sindhudurg, Maharashtra.

In ‘How dependable is Aadhar?’, Prof. Rajanish Dass and Neha Khatri take a critical look at the much debated UIDAI scheme. The promises made by UIDAI are tall but if it fails to address the plethora of concerns, doubts and questions that have been raised again and again, how much can we rely on it, they ask.

Prof. Dass is former professor, IIM, Ahmedabad, currently working as the founder President of a global Management Consulting and Executive Education initiative, Catallyst Constellations. He is engaged as an independent advisor and think tank in various areas impacting policy making at central and state government(s) in India as well as co-alignment of strategy and IT for numerous private sector, public sector and not for profit organisations. Neha Khatri, a post graduate in Management, works in the research field in Catallyst Constellations. Her primary research interests lie in social and development programmes for the people, outsourcing relationships and various policy initiatives of the government.

In ‘Good intent, lackadaisical implementation’, Dr. Nidhi Mishra observes that the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme in India (IGNOAPS), though aimed at providing financial security to the destitute aged living below poverty line fails to achieve its goal because of lackadaisical implementation.

The writer is working at Tata Institute of Social Sciences for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Ageing project in India.

‘A house for the homeless’ anayalses the performance of the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) designed to provide a roof over the heads for India’s marginalised sections. IAY is far from achieving its targets because of delays in fund release and the slow pace of construction. Availability of land, sub standard quality of the houses and selection of beneficiaries are other areas of concern, writes Avani Kapur.

The writer works at the Accountability Initiative (AI), Centre for Policy Research as a Senior Research and Programme Analyst. (The author is grateful to Ms. Saamia Ibrahim for her research assistance)

In ‘The fight against malnutrition’, Dipa Sinha talks about the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), which has been an arsenal in fighting malnutrition in India. The proposed reforms in the scheme are expected to further reduce the rate of malnutrition, or so we hope.

The writer is a public health and food rights researcher and activist. She is involved with the Right to Food Campaign and Working Group for Children Under Six (of the Right to Food Campaign and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan). She has also worked with the Office of the Commissioners to the Supreme Court on the Right to Food.

In ‘Know India Better’, we feature ‘Terracotta Art of Bishnupur’. Bishnupur in West Bengal is a beautiful temple town housing many unique terracotta temples. There are stone temples too which remind visitors of the glorious history of the place that was once ruled by the Malla kings. Bishnupur is also famous for handicrafts, terracotta artifacts and exquisitely crafted Baluchari sarees. Text and photos are by Rangan Dutta. A mathematics teacher by profession, Dutta is a travel enthusiast.

In ‘Face to Face’, Devinder Sharma a distinguished food and trade policy analyst talks to One India One People about the faulty policies of the government and mismanagement on the food front that are responsible for the agrarian crisis. He dubs the proposed ‘Food Security Bill’ as “Old wine in a new bottle”, and suggests measures to revive India`s agriculture.

Sharma is a trained agricultural scientist who quit active journalism to research on policy issues concerning sustainable agriculture, biodiversity and intellectual property rights, environment and development, food security and poverty, biotechnology and hunger, and the implications of the free trade paradigm for developing countries and has authored four books. The popular Indian weekly magazine The Week in its issue dated Aug 16, 2009 listed Sharma among the 25 Most Valuable Indians, calling him ‘Green Chomsky”. Sharma is associated with numerous national and international organisations, civil society groups and farmers’ organisations.  

Veteran actor Pran was honoured with the coveted Dadasaheb Phalke Award for Lifetime Achievement in May 2013. In the article ‘… and, above all, Pran’, National award-winning film historian, scriptwriter and documentary filmmaker Sanjit Narwekar pays tribute to the iconic bad man of Indian cinema.

In the article ‘Mother tongue, an endangered language’, Shoma A. Chatterjee fears that the mother tongue will soon disappear from our lives as the English language becomes a preferred language of communication.

The writer is a freelance journalist, film scholar and author. She has authored 17 published titles and won the National Award for Best Writing on Cinema twice.

In ‘Youth Voice’, Anuja Gopalan, a fresh law graduate pens her thoughts on the equality of sexes. “When has seeking equality of sexes become an option?”, asks Anuja, who deeply cares for civil rights and gender equality. She enjoys research and analysis and hopes to make a fulfilling career as an academician. 

June 26 is observed as “The International Day against Drug Abuse & Illicit Trafficking”. In ‘Drug abuse: A ticking time bomb’, Johnson J. Edayaranmula notes that although drug abuse in India has reached alarming proportions, there is no real will to deal with the menace.   The writer is Director, Alcohol & Drug Information Centre (ADIC) – India (since 1989). He is also the Executive Director of Indian Centre for Alcohol Studies (INCAS) and also the Advisory Member of Expert Committees on Adolescent Health, Substance Abuse Prevention and Road Safety, etc., of the Government of India.

In ‘Great Indians’,we feature three different three personalities from different fields: 

Anutai Wagh, a pioneer in basic education (1910-1992);

Major General Eustace D’Souza PVSM, Once a soldier always a soldier; (1921-2013) and  

Asghar Ali Engineer, Crusader for Peace and Justice (1939-2013).

And also read our regular columns and other features. To book a copy, email to oiopfoundation@gmai.com / oiop@vsnl.net or call Nagesh Bangera, OIOP Subscription-in-charge at 022- 2353 44 00.

We look forward to your feedback.