Archive for the 'RURAL & SPECIAL PROGRAMS' Category

Eighteen Odisha districts will get two Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows (PMRDFs) each to help the district administration

Balangir, Central govt. schemes, Deogarh, Extremist infested districts program, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamala, Keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nabarangpur, Nayagarha, Nuapada, Rayagada, RURAL & SPECIAL PROGRAMS, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Sundergarh 2 Comments »

A brief description of the program is given here and here. Following are some excerpts.

About PMRDF The Ministry of Home Affairs has identified 60 districts of the country as Left Wing Extremism (LWE) districts. The Government of India has launched a special programme in these districts called Integrated Action Plan (IAP). On 13th of September, Union Minister of Rural Development Mr. Jairam Ramesh announced a scheme of PM’s Rural Development Fellows for deploying young professionals in each of the IAP districts to assist the District Collector. Mission PMRDFs will basically function as development facilitators, they will assist the Collector and his/her colleagues in each of the IAP districts and provide them with the necessary analysis of situations and how they should be handled. The fellows would actively pursue a district programming approach following three key strategies given below:

• Strengthen the district resource base for programming by finding ways of resourcing all the planned activities and rational budgeting.

• Establish or strengthen systems by exploring alternative ways of delivering services to reach the most deprived communities.

• Trigger processes which would support the changes that have been envisioned in this approach (e.g. village planning).

This would be complemented by a set of supportive actions such as building the capacity of district and block officials; triggering district-wide social mobilization processes particularly among the youth; achieve a ground swell of support and build strong relationships with the Panchayats.

The number of districts is now 78 instead of 60. Each of these districts will have two fellows. 18 of those districts are in Odisha. They are listed below. We welcome the 36 fellows that will be working in those districts in Odisha and will be happy to help them in any way possible.

Odisha districts under the IAP, SRE and KBK BRGF plans (Update: SADP plans)

Balangir, Bargarh, BRGF: Backward districts program, Central govt. schemes, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Extremist infested districts program, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamala, KBK Plus district cluster, Keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nabarangpur, Nayagarha, Nuapada, Programs for special districts, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Sundergarh Comments Off on Odisha districts under the IAP, SRE and KBK BRGF plans (Update: SADP plans)

Update on May6th 2012: 300 crores for Malkangiri and Sukma (Chhatisgarh) under the Special Area Development plan (SADP).


The initial list of 83 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts under Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme is at http://mha.nic.in/pdfs/LWE-aftdDist-131210.pdf. A jpg copy is given below.

In the 83 SRE districts all the expenses incurred on security in these districts are reimbursed by the MHA. These districts were identified after a survey where Maoist violence incidents are more than 20 percent of all the incidents in that district.

As per a recent news item in Pioneer, four more districts from Odisha have been included in this list. They are: Nuapada, Bargarh, Bolangir and Kalahandi.


Besides the LWE SRE scheme, there is an Integrated Action Plan for Backward and Tribal districts. Originally there were sixty such districts out of which:

(a) Five are in Odisha. They are: Deogarh, Gajapati, Malkangiri, Rayagada and Sambalpur. Each of these districts get a block grant of 30 crores.

(b) The eight KBK districts are also included in the IAP and they get the 30 crores each plus 130 crores for all 8 as part of the BRGF (Backward Regions Grant Fund). The eight KBK districts are:  Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Balangir and Sonepur.

(c) As per a recent news item in Pioneer, three more districts from Odisha have been included in this list. They are: Ganjam, Nayagarh and Jajpur.

In total there are 14 districts from Odisha that are covered under the IAP. They are: Balangir, Deogarh, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Koraput, Malkangiri,  Nabarangpur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Rayagada, Sambalpur and Sonepur.

 


In total, 20 of Odisha’s 30 districts are now covered under these schemes. Following is the list.

 

  • Balangir (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE)
  • Baragarh (LWE SRE)
  • Deogarh (IAP, LWE SRE)
  • Dhenkanal (LWE SRE)
  • Gajapati (IAP, LWE SRE)
  • Ganjam (IAP, LWE SRE)
  • Jajpur (IAP, LWE SRE)
  • Kalahandi (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE)
  • Kandhamal (LWE SRE)
  • Keonjhar (LWE SRE, LWE SRE)
  • Koraput (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE)
  • Malkangiri (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE) (Update: SADP)
  • Mayurbhanj (LWE SRE)
  • Nabarangpur (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE)
  • Nayagarh (IAP, LWE SRE)
  • Nuapada (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE)
  • Rayagada (IAP, KBK, LWE SRE)
  • Sambalpur (IAP, LWE SRE)
  • Sonepur (IAP, KBK)
  • Sundergarh (LWE SRE)

The ten districts that are not covered above are: Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Bauda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Kendrapada, Khurda and Puri.

Special programs for naxal hit districts

Central govt. schemes, Extremist infested districts program, IAY, NRLM, PMGSY Comments Off on Special programs for naxal hit districts

Following is an excerpt from a PTI report in zeenews.

In a bid to tackle the Naxal menace in 60 most affected districts, the Centre has decided to start major initiatives there which includes IAY housing for people whose homes have been destroyed and construction of concrete roads.

The Rural Development Ministry has also planned to start a PPP initiative with private companies for value addition in non-timber forest produce in six districts of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh as a pilot project.

… "We are actually going to them for four major decisions. First is Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. We are going to allow concrete roads to be built in the highly affected blocks in the 60 districts. Normally, we build black top roads. But on security point of view, cement concrete roads will be done," Ramesh said.

He said 90 per cent of amount for the construction of the roads will be borne by the Centre and 10 per cent will be borne by the state. At present, the ratio stands at 50-50.

The government also decided to make all sections of people whose houses were destroyed in Naxal violence eligible for housing under the Indira Awas Yojana in these districts.

… "For disabled, widows and old age beneficiaries, the district administration will construct the IAY houses. Right now, what happens is, we give the money, yet these people are unable to construct houses," the Minister added.

All the 60 IAP districts would be covered under the National Rural Livelihood Mission by March 31, 2013, he said.

"We will start a programme for placement linked jobs for 3,00,000 unemployed youths in these 60 districts over the next five years. These youths will be trained and provided jobs," Ramesh said.

Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for Selected Tribal and Backward Districts; 25 and 30 crores per year per selected district; KBK districts to get this in addition to 130 crores under BRGF

Balangir, BRGF: Backward districts program, Central govt. schemes, Kalahandi, KBK Plus district cluster, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Programs for special districts, Rayagada, Sonepur Comments Off on Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for Selected Tribal and Backward Districts; 25 and 30 crores per year per selected district; KBK districts to get this in addition to 130 crores under BRGF

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=67682.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved commencement of an Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for Selected Tribal and Backward Districts to cover identified 60 districts as an Additional Central Assistance (ACA) scheme on 100% grant basis. This is in pursuance of the Finance Minister’s announcement in his Budget Speech of 2010-11 and the Prime Minister’s address to the National Development Council on 24th July, 2010.

The scheme will, to begin with, be implemented over two years i.e. 2010-11 to 2011-12 with the following Components:

(i) In the current year (2010-11), a block-grant of ` 25 crore will be made available to each of the 60 selected districts for which the schemes will be decided by a Committee headed by the District Collector with District SP and District Forest Officer as members. During the year 2011-12, the block grant will be raised to ` 30 crore per district. The scheme will be reviewed for implementation in the 12th Plan at a later stage.

(ii) The existing KBK plan under BRGF will continue as before with annual allocation of ` 130 crore for all eight districts put together. The eight KBK districts have also been included under the IAP and will get additional block grant of ` 25 crore per district in the current year and suitable additional amount under both State and District Components of IAP in the subsequent years.

(iii) The scheme will focus on improvements in governance and specific preconditions will need to be complied with by the States before availing of the second tranche of the proposed additional financial assistance in 2011-12 under the State Component of the IAP. However, these conditionalities will not apply to the District Components of IAP.

(iv) The scheme will focus on effective implementation of the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA) and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (Forest Rights Act).

(v) A mechanism for procurement and marketing of MFPs, including issues of manpower requirement, capacity building and development of value chain specific to MFPs would be worked out by the Planning Commission, in consultation with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Tribal Affairs. The administrative mechanism for enforcement of the minimum support price for MFP in accordance with the mechanism so work out will be the responsibility of the State Government concerned.

(vi) The District Component will be administered by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the State Component by the Planning Commission.

******

AD/LV/RK

Handloom Export Promotion Council to set up 3 new design centers; one to be in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar- Cuttack- Puri, HRD-n-EDUCATION (details at orissalinks.com), Khadi and Village industries, Khordha, Textiles, TOI, Economic Times, Vocational education 4 Comments »

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Economic Times.

The Handloom Export Promotion Council (HEPC) …

The council decided to set up three more design centres at Varanasi and Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh and Bhubaneswar in Orissa. These centres would help handloom weavers improve product quality and design and thereby, fetch a better price.

The HEPC web site is http://www.hepcindia.com/. From that site I could not find information on existing design centers. However I came across the site of National Center for Textile design in Delhi. My guess is that similar centers will be established in the three locations mentioned above. The About Us page of the this center says the following:

The National Centre for Textile Design (NCTD) has been setup in January 2001, by the Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India,  with the objective of making innovative, ethnic and contemporary design available to the textile sector.

The main aim of the centre is to link people working in the centre with each other and to give the weavers & workers better exposure to the markets. This will enable them to have better livelihood and more sustainable development.

The centre has both online and offline activities.

The online sector will exhibit these designs nationally and globally to facilitate the textile sector in getting designs in time as per seasonal forecast requirements and to enable regions as well as to develop on each others’ concepts.

We would like people, like power loom workers etc. also to benefit from the centre. This is done in several ways as for instance exhibiting their designs on NCTD website. This will give them exposure to exporters, international buyers, design houses and will help to obtain a better price for their designs through design trends and forecasts on the website and they can respond to the demands of the market in a better way.

NCTD plan to link up Weavers’ Sevice Centres, Powe4rloom Service Centres and all other textile related sites to our main website through internet connectivity so that these centre can take quick and necessary advantages of the centre for the benefit of their members.

Trends and Forecasts
Both domestic and international forecasts are collated and provided in one place to cater to many middle level and smaller apparel and furnishings manufacturers, exporters and domestic textile traders and producers so that they can respond adequately and in a timely fashion to market requirements.

Virtual Museum of Heritage Textiles
This is a cyber museum of textiles collated down the ages. The material is sourced from other resources and kept as a library for future references. 

Design Pool
This is one of the most important components of the NCTD. This is basically a cyber collection of new individual designs, collected from different sources and posted at one location.

Handicraft Fabrics from India
This section is essentially a directory of handcrafted textiles from India which contains a visual factual information and technical specifications of the items produced.

The proposed design center will nicely compliment the following textile and handloom related institutes in Odisha.

Wall hanging with Konark in Sambalpuri design overwhelms the President of India: Samaja

Arts n crafts, Cottage industry and Handlooms, Odisha artists, Sambalpuri Sarees Comments Off on Wall hanging with Konark in Sambalpuri design overwhelms the President of India: Samaja

Orissa needs to better spent its NREGS and Indira Awas allocation

Central govt. schemes, Central grants, Central programs, IAY, NREGS, Odisha issues in the Parliament, Odisha MPs, Planning Commission and Odisha, Samaja (in Odia) Comments Off on Orissa needs to better spent its NREGS and Indira Awas allocation

Following is from Samaja. Its unacceptable that Orissa only spent 650 crores out of the allocated 1100 crores for NREGS during 2008-2009. The unspent money could have built half of Khurda-Balangir line. The Orissa government needs to do a better job at spending this money.

Orissa should pursue health institutes in rural areas through NRHM

CENTER & ODISHA, HEALTHCARE and HOSPITALS, NRHM 1 Comment »

Following is from PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=55153.  Orissa should learn from this and pursue health insitutes for its rural areas.


Under National Rural Health Mission[NRHM] an amount of Rs. 108.53 crores was sanctioned for the RCH Centre for Excellence, Tamil Nadu with the following components : 

1. Institute of Obstetric and Gynecology, Egmore

2. Institute of Government Kasthurba Gandhi Hospital, Triplicane

3. Training Centre for Health & FW Institute, Egmore

4. Training for Multipurpose Health Supervisor[F] Training Institute, Triplicane

The services for patients include out patient services, special clinics, diagnostic service, in patient care along with comprehensive emergency Obstetric & Neonatal care services and training for medical staff with renewed infrastructure and facilities. 

This information was given by Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today. 

DS/GK

Bargarh and Sonepur among the 20 pilot Handloom Clusters of India

Bargarh, Bargarh, Cottage industry and Handlooms, Handloom Clusters, MSE - medium and small enterprises, Rural artisan villages, Sambalpuri Sarees, Sambaplur- Burla- Bargarh- Chipilima, Sonepur, Sonepur Comments Off on Bargarh and Sonepur among the 20 pilot Handloom Clusters of India

(Thanks to http://kddf.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/information-about-subarnapur-district-handloom-cluster/  for the inspiration to write about this.)

The following is from the pages http://www.indianhandloomscluster-dchl.net/index.asp.

The overall handloom situation in Orissa is as per the following table:

DISTRICT WISE CLASSIFICATION OF HANDLOOMS AS PER CENSUS 1995-96

No. of Looms

Up to 1000

1000-5000

5,000 – 10,000

10,000-25,000

25,000 – 50,000

Above 50,000

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

STATE : ORISSA

 

Deogarh

Angul

Bolangir

Bargarh

 

 

 

Gajapati

Bhadrak

Cuttack

 

 

 

 

Jharsuguda

Dhenkanal

Ganjam

 

 

 

 

Keraput

Kendrapara

Nayagarh

 

 

 

 

Malkanagiri

Keenjhar

Sonepur

 

 

 

 

Nawarangapur

Nuapara

 

 

 

 

 

Phulbani

Puri

 

 

 

 

 

Rayagada

Sambalpur

 

 

 

 

 

Sundargarh

Kalahandi

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balasera

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boudh

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jagatsinghpur

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jajpur

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mayurbhanj

 

 

 

 

 

 

Khurda

 

 

 

 

 

9

15

5

1

 

 30

 


Among those, Bargarh and Sonepur are among the 20 pilot clusters.

The page for the Baragarh cluster is http://www.indianhandloomscluster-dchl.net/Bargarh/Index.asp. Following is some information from that page.

Bargarh Handloom cluster is spread over the entire Block of Bargarh, Attabira, Bijepur and Sohella. The cluster has 7158 numbers of looms as per the survey report of the zonal Handloom office taken up during the year 2004 out of which 5102 looms are working in 299 different villages. The main products of the cluster are cotton sarees of tie and dye and small amount of dress materials, lungis and napkins etc. The annual production is around 10 Crores rupees. The products of this area are mostly marketed in Orissa and National market. The cluster so to say represents Orissa in quantitative and qualitative Tie and Dye Cotton Sarees as no other clusters of other districts in Orissa produces such sarees.

… The weaving in the cluster by the traditional weavers’ community popularly known as "Bhulia" came in to existence during mid of 17th  century and with increase in their population, they spread to other nearby places. They initially belong to Rajasthan and were presented during the 14th  century to the ruler of Patna State, a king of Chouhan dynasty "Ramai Deb". Later on they were presented to the king of Sonepur during the 16th  century and scattered to the nearby district i.e., Bargarh in the next century.

The cluster consists sizable number of professional weavers (Non traditional) from Schedule Caste and  Schedule Tribe (Kuli caste) weavers, which in total accounts for 60 %. Generally these weavers are less skilled and engaged in production of Napkin, Lungi,  Sarees, Dhotis, etc.

Weaving with Tie dye in the cluster prior to 40”s was done with 40”/42” looms operated with hanging slay and engaged in producing Kapta, Lungi and Napkins made of 12’s/16’s/20’s cotton yarn. The yarns were dyed with vegetable colours. The main colours were Yellow (from Turmeric), Maroon (From bark of Aal tree), Blue form Nile and Black (From Hirakasi and Chakda Seeds). Fabrics of vegetable colours were sometimes not fast and ranges of colours were also limited, forcing the Tie-Dye production in to limited colours and so also the design. Such practice was on vogue till the mid of 40s when vat colour was first substituted for in place   of some vegetable colours.

The next major changes in the cluster took place with the introduction of twisted cotton mercerized yarn and synthetic colours in the early 60’s. The looms started widening mainly to 52" width for normal sarees and other production and 90" for double bed sheet production. There were also few 60” / 72" looms to accommodate weaving of middle-sized bed sheets.

Activities in the cluster started taking momentum with the involvement of Late Padmashree Dr. Krutartha Acharya and his four associates in the cluster area during 1942 and started their business with production on limited numbers of looms. Later he converted his business in to a co operative society named Sambalpuri Bastralaya, registered during the year 1954 under "Bihar and Orissa Co operative Societies Act" and established in Bargarh town. This is the first firm in the cluster, which took the leadership in weaving activities of cluster and stood as a milestone in its history.

… Unlike the Tie-Dye work of other states of India, the motif and designs of the cluster are infinite in number and every motif or design is categorized under a special caption. No design is let out without giving it a name. It shows the creative mind of the weavers of the region.

The page for the Sonepur cluster is http://www.indianhandloomscluster-dchl.net/Sonepur/Index.asp. Following is some information from that page.

The writing in the stones of Kahandagiri cave Orissa suggests that the art of weaving was in Orissa before 600 B.C. Similarly some carving in the temples of Sonepur cluster (Baidyanath) indicates that weaving was in existence in the area during prior to 9th B.C. Besides weaving with cotton yarn, there was also weaving with wild silk (Tassar), wool and fibers from stem of lotus. The tie-dye weaving in western Orissa came in to existence during mid of 14th century when 100 weaver’s families were brought from Raipur area of Madhya Pradesh by the then ruler of Patnagarh Sri Ramai Dev. The weavers’ later on titled as Meher and their caste known as Bhulia. Such weavers were traditionally weaving the tie and dye fabrics. Orissa has also history of exporting handloom to south-east Asia countries like Thailand, Java, Borrneo and Sumatra (Last three are Island of Indonesia) during pre-independence period in sea route. It is therefore also the bank of river Mahanadi and some other big river of Orissa has developed weaving culture.

The Bomkai Designs are the traditional designs in production in the village named Bomkai in Ganjam District of Orissa. Latter on it is introduced in Sonepur. Before 1950’s the main product mix of this cluster was cotton sari and Dhotis. The main occupation of "Bhulia" community was weavings. Weavers had looms of short width and they used to weave cotton sari of length 12ft and its width was 36 inches. During that period, cotton yarn of (10 to 40) counts were available in the market.

Weavers by own used to sell woven sari at nearby locally market and whatever they got remuneration by selling the sari, they used to brought yarn for further weaving. During this period, due to absence of chemical dyes, mainly vegetable dye was used to dye the yarn. Vegetable dye had limited colours i,e yellow (From Turmeric), Maroon (From bark of Aal trees), Blue (Nile) and black (Hirakasi and Chakda seeds). The colour of vegetable dyes was not fast in the fabrics. The vegetable dye has limited ranges of colour that limit the design of tie & dye fabrics. During mid of 1950’s the late Padamshree Sri Kruthartha Acharya was the up-coming entrepreneur in handloom sector. He was belonging to Bargarh sub-division which was neighbouring district of Sonepur. He had installed 200 looms at Sonepur and established a unit for producing handloom sarees. During mid of 1960’s, lots of modifications were done to upgrade the handloom sector of Sonepur. The widths of looms were widening up to (48 to 50) inches; mercerized yarns of finer quality (60 counts) were introduced. Shri Kruthartha Acharya also introduced chemical dyes. Many weavers were trained to adopt the change. Due to introduction of chemical dye, the ranges of colour shed were increased which helps the weavers to produce variety of design in tie and dye fabrics. Slowly other weavers of the cluster adopted the new technology. Dr Acharya also searched other market by promoting the Sonepur product in other States by participating in exhibition and fair conducted by handloom department, Govt. of India. He also used to purchase the woven sari from weaver and used to supply raw materials and design to them. This helped the weavers to only concentrate on production work instead of marketing the products. Latter on during 1954, Dr. Achaya converted his firm into cooperative society named Sambalpuri Bastrayala Handloom Cooperative Society Ltd, Bargarh, which is at present stand as a leading PWCS of not only the State but also of the country. During mid Seventies G.O.O. initiated a corporation called Orissa Handloom Development Corporation which grew and decayed in two decades and has been liquidated recently. The other major changes taken place in the cluster was introduction of silk yarn in early 1980’s. The body part of silk fabric was woven with silk yarn and Anchal by cotton tie and dye. It took two – three years to develop Jala design which helped the weaver to design the fabric in simple way. This Bomkai design were developed in the late 80’s and introduced in early 1990’s in the cluster. Since then, the permutation and combination of designs involving in tie-dye, Bomkai, Jala etc are practicing in the cluster. Latter on Body design was also developed to make the fabric more attractive and Zari were used to add value to the fabric. Weaver co-operative societies were the major firms operating in the handloom sectors. These societies were large in number during mid of 90’s. The entry of private entrepreneurs and private traders started from 1980’s. Padamshri Chaturbhuj Meher had entered in this sector in early 1980’s and had great contribution in this sector. On the other hand gradual reduce in the Government subsidies, declining support from apex WCS, closure of Handloom Development corporation and mismanagement at the primary wcs level are the main reasons of reduction in the number of active co-operative societies. Unlike the Tie-Dye work in the other part of India, the motif and design of the cluster are infinite in number and every motif or design is characterized under a special caption. No design is let out without giving it a name. It shows the creative mind of the weavers of region. Orissa had 129236 (1951), 119005 (1987) and 92869 (1996) as per the handloom figure census, which shows the continuous decline in the loom position. The total looms in Sonepur district is 7243 (As per the survey conducted by ADT office Sonepur). The product mixes are cotton sari, silk sari and dress material. The total production of the cluster in the Co-Operative Sector is Rs 985.46 lacs.

Rural self employment training institutes planned in each district; Districts in Orissa among the 32 that have been approved

NRLM Comments Off on Rural self employment training institutes planned in each district; Districts in Orissa among the 32 that have been approved

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

The Ministry of Rural Development plans to set up 500 RSETIs in the country, one in each district, as part of its rural poverty alleviation programme.

The ministry has approved setting up of RSETIs in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal, an official said.

Nearly Rs 15 crore of Central funds have been released for setting up 32 such institutes in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand.

These institutes aim at providing "dedicated" training to the people belonging to below poverty line (BPL), in an effort to bring more BPL households in the network of swarojgari (self-employed) groups, official said.

He said RSETIs would play a key role in the implementation of ‘National Rural Livelihood Mission’ (NRLM), which was being finalised by the ministry.

The proposed NRLM aims at reducing poverty in rural areas through promotion of diversified and gainful self-employment and wage employment opportunities.

Excerpts from the Presidents’ speech to the new parliament on 4th June 2009

Aaam Admi Bima Yojana, ADMINISTRATION & REPs, Agricultural insurance, Bharat Nirman Program, E-governance, Elections 2009, Fishermen insurance, Health insurance for BPL workers, Health insurance for weavers, Marquee Institutions: existing and upcoming, National Food ... (NFSM), National Old Age Pension (NOAP), NFBS, NMBS, NOAPS, NREGS, NSAP: NOAPS, NFBS, NMBS, NURM, JNNURM, PPP, RURAL & SPECIAL PROGRAMS, Universities: existing and upcoming Comments Off on Excerpts from the Presidents’ speech to the new parliament on 4th June 2009

The whole speech is at http://presidentofindia.nic.in/sp040609.html. Following are excerpts. The underlining and other emphasis is mine.

18. The flagship programmes which my Government introduced have moved the country towards inclusive development. It would be our endeavour to consolidate these programmes in the next five years. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has proved to be what it promised-an effective social protection measure and the largest programme in the world for rural reconstruction. Its transformational potential is unfolding before our eyes. My Government would enlarge the scope of works permitted under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act presently limited to unskilled manual work. The opportunity for improving land productivity through the NREGA will be maximized through better convergence of NREGA with other programmes. To ensure transparency and public accountability, independent monitoring and grievance redressal mechanisms will be set up at the district level.

19. The National Rural Health Mission has begun to strengthen rural public health infrastructure. The Mission would be consolidated to make perceptible reduction in infant mortality and maternal mortality in the next five years. Vaccine producing institutes in the public sector will be revived to support the immunization programme. My Government will expand the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to cover all families below the poverty line in the next five years. Malnutrition has emerged as a major health challenge needing urgent response. Hence the nutrition delivery programme will be comprehensively revamped to bring it under the watch of panchayat institutions and move to provision of hot cooked meals in anganwadis.

20. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has been able to provide access to children to elementary schools and retention has increased on account of the universal mid-day meal programme. The focus will be on making quality education a right through the enactment of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill now under consideration of Parliament. The Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan will universalize access to secondary education. The massive expansion in higher education through new institutions under implementation in the Eleventh Plan will enable the country to meet the challenge of education in full measure. In the last five years, a wide range of scholarships and educational loans was introduced for the needy and deserving students. This effort will be reviewed and further strengthened. Government’s strategy for higher education will be formulated around a three-fold objective of expansion, inclusion and excellence. The suggestions given by the National Knowledge Commission will guide the formulation and implementation of the strategy.

21. While male literacy went up to over 75 percent in the last census and is expected to be higher now, female literacy was only 54 percent in 2001. My Government will recast the National Literacy Mission as a National Mission for Female Literacy to make every woman literate in the next five years. Increased female literacy is expected to become a force multiplier for all our social development programmes.

22. My Government launched Bharat Nirman five years ago as a time-bound business plan for rural infrastructure. It has succeeded in reaching basic infrastructure of roads, electricity and telephone to a large number of villages. It has also achieved most of the targets of rural water supply, rural housing and has increased irrigation potential. The remaining tasks will be completed in the second phase of Bharat Nirman. It is also proposed to set enhanced targets for Bharat Nirman in the second phase.

The Indira Awas Yojana, which exceeded the original target of sixty lakh houses for the period 2004-2009, will now take up double the target of rural housing to one crore twenty lakh houses to be completed in the next five years.

Rural Water supply programme will be completed by 2011 and handed over to be managed by panchayats in the next Plan.

The rural telecommunication target will be set at reaching 40% rural teledensity in the next five years and expanding broadband coverage to connect every panchayat to a broadband network in three years. The scheme for Common Service Centres or e-kiosks will be suitably repositioned to be a network of panchayat-level Bharat Nirman Common Service Centres to provide government services to citizens in rural areas.

– New targets would be set for rural electrification, irrigation and road connectivity.

23. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) with approval of projects of nearly Rs. 50,000 crore in the last four years is reshaping our cities and has been widely welcomed. It will continue to focus on infrastructure, basic services and governance reform and increase support to cities to upgrade public transport. Over 15 lakh houses are under construction for the urban poor. There is a need to focus urban housing programmes on the poor living in slums. My Government proposes to introduce a Rajiv Awas Yojana for the slum dwellers and the urban poor on the lines of the Indira Awas Yojana for the rural poor. The schemes for affordable housing through partnership and the scheme for interest subsidy for urban housing would be dovetailed into the Rajiv Awas Yojana which would extend support under JNNURM to States that are willing to assign property rights to people living in slum areas. My Government’s effort would be to create a slum free India in five years through the Rajiv Awas Yojana.

24. My Government proposes to enact a new law — the National Food Security Act — that will provide a statutory basis for a framework which assures food security for all. Every family below the poverty line in rural as well as urban areas will be entitled, by law, to 25 kilograms of rice or wheat per month at Rs. 3 per kilogram. This legislation will also be used to bring about broader systemic reform in the public distribution system.

26. Over 50 percent of our population is below 25 years of age and their creative energy is our greatest strategic resource. The challenge is to invest in their education, employability and employment. India has the capacity to contribute to a fourth of the global work force if it invests in skill development of its youth. Education which provides employable skills holds the key for equal opportunities for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Minorities. My Government has in the last five years brought in legal changes and investment in this direction. These would be consolidated. Besides making massive investment in education, government will focus on the national skill development initiative that has commenced operation with the very ambitious goal of creation of 500 million skilled people by 2022 so that we realize the demographic dividend.

27. The implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act would be monitored to ensure that all title deeds are distributed by end of 2009.

29. The Amendment Bill to the Land Acquisition Act and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill prepared to protect farmers and others dependent on farming from unfair displacement and which was placed before Parliament could not be carried through. It will be our endeavour to have these bills reintroduced and enacted in the budget session of Parliament.

30. My Government considerably enhanced provisions for social security through old age pension for all people below the poverty line and above 65 years of age, all handicapped people and all widows above the age of forty. It will examine extending social protection to other persons at special risk. Social security schemes for other occupations like landless labour, weavers, fisherfolk, toddy tappers, leather workers, plantation labour, construction labour, mine workers and beedi workers will be appropriately expanded.

32. My Government will initiate steps within the next hundred days on the following measures:

Restructuring the Backward Regions Grant Fund, which overlaps with other development investment, to focus on decentralized planning and capacity building of elected panchayat representatives. The next three years would be devoted to training panchayat raj functionaries in administering flagship programmes;

A public data policy to place all information covering non-strategic areas in the public domain. It would help citizens to challenge the data and engage directly in governance reform;

– Increasing transparency and public accountability of NREGA by enforcing social audit and ensuring grievance redressal by setting up district level ombudsman;

Strengthening Right to Information by suitably amending the law to provide for disclosure by government in all non-strategic areas;

– Strengthening public accountability of flagship programmes by the creation of an Independent Evaluation Office at an arm’s distance from the government catalysed by the Planning Commission. It would work on a network model by collaborating with leading social science research organizations and concurrently evaluate the impact of flagship programmes and place it in the public domain;

– Establishing mechanisms for performance monitoring and performance evaluation in government on a regular basis;

– Five Annual Reports to be presented by government as Reports to the People on Education, Health, Employment, Environment and Infrastructure to generate a national debate;

– Facilitating a Voluntary Technical Corps of professionals in all urban areas through JNNURM to support city development activities;

– Enabling non government organisations in the area of development action seeking government support through a web-based transaction on a government portal in which the status of the application will be transparently monitorable;

Provision of scholarships and social security schemes through accounts in post offices and banks and phased transition to smart cards;

– Revamping of banks and post offices to become outreach units for financial inclusion complemented by business correspondents aided by technology;

Electronic governance through Bharat Nirman common service centres in all panchayats in the next three years;

– A model Public Services Law, that covers functionaries providing important social services like education, health, rural development etc. and commits them to their duties, will be drawn up in consultation with states;

A National Council for Human Resources in Health as an overarching regulatory body for the health sector to reform the current regulatory framework and enhance supply of skilled personnel;

A National Council for Higher Education as recommended by the Yashpal Committee and the National Knowledge Commission to bring in reform of regulatory institutions;

Develop a "brain gain" policy to attract talent from all over the world into the 14 universities proposed in the 11th plan to position them as "Innovation Universities";

– A roadmap for judicial reform to be outlined in six months and implemented in a time-bound manner;

– Targeted identification cards would subsume and replace omnibus Below Poverty Line (BPL) list. NREGA has a job card and the proposed Food Security Act would also create a new card. Identification of beneficiaries for other programmes which currently use the omnibus BPL list would improve identification based on programme objectives with the common underlying principle that all identification of beneficiaries will be done through gram sabhas and urban local bodies and the list placed in the public domain to be open to challenge;

– A Delivery Monitoring Unit in the Prime Minister’s Office to monitor flagship programmes and iconic projects and report on their status publicly;

– Suitably institutionalized quarterly reporting on Flagship programmes as "Bharat Nirman Quarterly Reports" where Ministers would publicly report on progress through the media.

33. Infrastructure is a fundamental enabler for a modern economy and infrastructure development will be a key focus area for the next five years. Public investment in infrastructure is of paramount importance. Bottlenecks and delays in implementation of infrastructure projects because of policies and procedures, especially in railways, power, highways, ports, airports and rural telecom will be systematically removed. Public-private partnership (PPP) projects are a key element of the strategy. A large number of PPP projects in different areas currently awaiting government approval would be cleared expeditiously. The regulatory and legal framework for PPPs would be made more investment friendly. My Government will continue its special emphasis on infrastructure development in the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir and enhance connectivity to these regions.

34. Our fellow citizens have every right to own part of the shares of public sector companies while the government retains majority shareholding and control. My Government will develop a roadmap for listing and people-ownership of public sector undertakings while ensuring that government equity does not fall below 51 %.

35. My Government is firmly committed to maintaining high growth with low inflation, particularly in relation to prices of essential agricultural and industrial commodities. It will steadfastly observe fiscal responsibility so that the ability of the Centre to invest in essential social and economic infrastructure is continuously enhanced. This will require that all subsidies reach only the truly needy and poor sections of our society. A national consensus will be created on this issue and necessary policy changes implemented.

36. My Government has been able to significantly increase realization of direct taxes as a result of improved and simplified tax administration and this process will continue. The roadmap for moving towards a Goods and Services Tax will be vigorously pursued. My Government is fully seized of the issue of illegal money of Indian citizens outside the country in secret bank accounts. It will vigorously pursue all necessary steps in coordination with the countries concerned.

37. Coordinated action for energy would be guided by the integrated energy policy. The effort would be to see that at least 13,000 MW of generating capacity is added each year through a mix of sources -coal, hydel, nuclear and renewables. Village and rural household electrification and reduction in aggregate technical and commercial losses will continue to be given the highest priority. Competitiveness and efficiency in the power sector will be enhanced through time-bound measures, including operationalising the provision of open access.

38. The pace of oil and gas exploration will be intensified and India’s oil diplomacy aggressively pursued. Reforms in the coal sector, for which a detailed blueprint has been prepared, will be pursued with urgency. The international civil nuclear agreements will be operationalised with various countries even as domestic sources of uranium are exploited and work continues on the indigenously designed fast breeder and thorium reactors.

39. My Government will ensure that our space programme which has achieved wide recognition continues to bring rich dividends to society in agriculture, tele-medicine, tele-education and by providing information to rural knowledge centres, besides contributing to telecommunication, television broadcasting and weather forecasting. Several innovative initiatives commenced by government in the science and technology sector in the last five years and now under implementation will be further strengthened.

40. My Government is proactively addressing issues of climate change through eight national missions. Of these the National Solar Mission, the National Water Mission, the National Mission on Energy Efficiency, the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture and the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat will be launched by the end of this year. The National Ganga River Basin Authority, set up recently will evolve a new action plan for cleaning and beautifying the river in partnership with the basin states.

Village water and sanitation hotline 1-800-345-6770

Dharitri (in Odia), Odisha govt. action, Sanitation - State incentives, Total sanitation campaign - CRSP, Village water and sanitation Comments Off on Village water and sanitation hotline 1-800-345-6770

Orissa state water and sanitation mission has advertised a hotline where people can call if their village water system or tubewell has a problem or if someone wants to know more about installing their own private latrine. Following is the ad that appeared in Dharitri.

OBCFDCC (Orissa backward class …) ad in Samaja

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Badi making in Keonjhar district

Cottage industry and Handlooms, Food processing, Keonjhar, Odia/Odisha cuisine 1 Comment »

Following is an excerpt from a report in Thaiindian.

Around 850 families in Orissa’s Keonjhar District alone earn their livelihood from Badi making. Traditionally, the Badis have been prepared by grinding the Udad pulse (split black gram Dal) on a sil-stone. But to produce it for commercial purposes, today machines are used to grind the pulse for the Badi paste.

Today, the Badis prepared in Keonjhar District gaining popularity all over the country and in different parts of the world.

“We are supplying Badis to foreign countries too. The women in the old town of Keonjhar prepare these Badis. These Badis are made of Udad Dal (split black gram Dal) and various types of spices are mixed in it,” says shopkeeper Pradumna Patnaik.

Most of the Badis are marketed by Orissa Rural Marketing Services (ORMS) which also facilitates getting advance from banks to the women entreprenuers.

“Every house of Keonjhar district is preparing Badis. It is a part of their culture. For a few years, the people of Keonjhar are commercially preparing the Badis and they are also making it and it helps in their livelihood and promotional activities,” said Anant Charan Sahoo, the Chief Executive of, ORMAS in Keonjhar.

“We are also giving them training to value addition of making Badis in Keonjhar District. More than 200 groups are now engaged in Badi activities. Some parts of Keonjhar like Ghatna, Harichandanpur and Sadar block, the groups are engaged in this activity and they are even getting more money out of that Badi activity,” he added.

Many varieties Badis that are prepared by mixing Udad dal, pumpkin, almond, cauliflower and various other items and condiments. Badi added to enhance the taste of dishes.

“The Badis are very famous in Keonjhar. Badi is such a food item that tastes very good when it is fried with onion and garlic and being eaten with even overnight cooked rice. It also tastes good if it is made with vegetables. The Badis are also used in the marriages and fasts. The food doesn’t taste well without Badis. It is such a food item which can be eaten with rice even by roasting it in fire,” said Harekrishna Patnaik, a buyer.

138 crores from Nabard for village infrastructure: Samaja

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Allocations under Indira Awas Yojana

IAY 5 Comments »

The following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=36286.

The Ministry of Rural Development has allocated Rs. 1213330 lakh during the last four years ( till 2007-08) for its Rural Housing projects under the Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) Scheme. The total number of Houses constructed during this period stood at 1458367. An amount of Rs.134846.35 lakh was released as Second installment during the finacial year 2006-07. However, as per the guidelines of the Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) Scheme, second instalment of funds is released only to those States/DRDAs who have spent at least 60% of the total available funds during the year including the amount of 1st instalment. Also, the construction of IAY houses is done by the beneficiaries themselves with a layout and type design of their own choice. As per “All India Report on Concurrent Evaluation of Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY)” conducted during 1998 – 1999, 86% of the beneficiaries have expressed satisfaction with the constructed houses. The Central allocation for the last three years and current year and amount released to various States/UTs as second instalment of funds under Indira Awaas Yojana during the year 2006-07, alongwith the amount utilized by them and the houses constructed, is given in the table enclosed.

Sl.

Name of the States / UT s

Central Allocation

Central

Utilisation

No. of

No.

 

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

Release

of funds

houses

 

 

 

 

 

 

as Second

durng

Constructed

 

 

 

 

 

 

installment

2006-07

during

 

 

 

 

 

 

During

#

2006-07

 

 

 

 

 

 

2006-07

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1

ANDHRA PRADESH

17981.83

24399.42

25939.14

36027.75

12969.57

33784.76

146403

2

ARUNACHAL PRADESH

825.98

949.43

1018.68

1395.30

468.87

1023.40

4600

3

ASSAM

18584.99

20994.23

22525.46

30853.66

9815.43

36388.67

125441

4

BIHAR

48846.34

72020.72

76565.57

106344.49

35254.49

124880.81

349053

5

CHHATTISGARH

3074.96

3773.17

4011.28

5571.39

2005.64

5334.44

20818

6

GOA

116.18

150.28

159.77

221.90

55.56

196.06

1115

7

GUJARAT

5167.82

11966.03

12721.14

17668.82

6172.85

15443.63

65195

8

HARYANA

1747.40

1680.04

1786.06

2480.72

877.39

2707.97

10375

9

HIMACHAL PRADESH

773.06

592.56

629.95

874.96

311.05

907.53

3317

10

JAMMU & KASHMIR

924.74

1840.52

1956.67

2717.68

825.23

2381.15

10667

11

JHARKHAND

14351.50

6423.93

6829.31

9485.46

2207.84

11782.16

57246

12

KARNATAKA

9301.41

9400.43

9993.64

13880.51

4455.96

12140.71

49088

13

KERALA

5763.87

5227.51

5557.39

7718.85

2778.70

7062.58

30817

14

MADHYA PRADESH

10730.71

7504.14

7977.69

11080.48

3887.98

13024.53

54544

15

MAHARASHTRA

16503.47

14714.56

15643.12

21727.25

7613.02

24512.90

78427

16

MANIPUR

984.83

824.15

884.26

1211.19

213.89

784.14

3460

17

MEGHALAYA

1308.47

1435.38

1540.07

2109.47

124.34

1189.73

4183

18

MIZORAM

314.12

305.89

328.20

449.55

130.17

410.53

2178

19

NAGALAND

844.67

949.84

1019.11

1395.90

137.39

1069.52

6321

20

ORISSA

14476.04

14149.75

15042.66

20893.26

7446.29

21534.98

81345

21

PUNJAB

1157.56

2077.71

2208.83

3067.91

401.75

1932.32

8250

22

RAJASTHAN

4876.10

6013.11

6392.56

8878.84

3196.23

9351.73

33397

23

SIKKIM

226.45

181.66

194.91

266.97

97.46

387.85

1554

24

TAMILNADU

9030.00

9768.97

10385.44

14424.69

5192.72

20434.91

27919

25

TRIPURA

1910.49

1849.42

1984.31

2717.96

921.16

2531.71

10612

26

UTTAR PRADESH

32923.88

32348.75

34390.12

47765.59

16791.98

42750.32

165469

27

UTTARANCHAL

3419.68

1621.77

1724.11

2394.68

852.42

3221.45

17239

28

WEST BENGAL

19407.12

19518.40

20750.10

28820.51

9630.34

28051.07

128838

29

A&N ISLANDS

218.73

309.46

328.99

456.94

0.00

12.87

62

30

D&N HAVELI

114.78

51.56

54.82

76.13

0.00

25.92

77

31

DAMAN & DIU

47.51

23.07

24.52

34.06

0.00

1.86

8

32

LAKHSHADWEEP

3.72

20.00

21.26

29.54

10.63

34.88

88

33

PONDICHERRY

108.59

154.14

163.86

227.59

0.00

45.36

261

 

TOTAL

246067

273240

290753

403270

134846.35

425342.45

1498367

100 crores for Handicraft and Handloom promotion

Arts n crafts, Arts village, Central programs, Cottage industry and Handlooms, Handicrafts, Puri, Rural artisan villages 1 Comment »

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer. (Tathya.in also has a similar report.)

The Centre has proposed to set up an Integrated Marketing Project for the development and promotion of handicrafts and handloom of Orissa with a special focus on Tribal and Fibre Crafts.

The project is proposed to be executed by Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) and IL&FS. It will involve an investment of approximately Rs.100 crore.

In order to make it a reality, Executive Director of the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, Rakesh Kumar along with other senior officials called on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at Orissa Bhawan in New Delhi on Saturday and apprised him about the project.

During the meeting, Patnaik said the State has a vast potential for development of Tribal Crafts, Tribal Jewellery, Dhokra Casting, Silver Filigree work and other metal work, Terracotta, Wood work, Appliqué work, horn work, golden grass work, Cane and Bamboo products.

Kumar informed the Chief Minister that the project will include various components like human resource development, design & product development, national & international marketing, setting up of a state of the art Crafts Complex at Bhubaneswar and Puri as well as setting up of showrooms abroad.

Second Rural Technology Park of the country in Bhubaneswar: Sambada

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The first RTP is in Hyderabad. Both RTPs will have a relationship with the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) in Hyderabad. (New indian Express also reports on this.)

Roads and poverty reduction: Excerpts from Swaminomics

Grama sadak, PMGSY, Roads, highways and Bus stands Comments Off on Roads and poverty reduction: Excerpts from Swaminomics

Following is an excerpt from a column by S. Aiyar in Times of India.

Roads are not, of course, the only things that matter – other rural projects and policies matter a great deal too. But connectivity enhances the value of every other rural investment, since it empowers people through improved mobility and access. People can more easily buy agricultural inputs and sell their produce. Children can go more easily to schools, cattle can more easily get veterinary help, and the sick can get to health centres. Remote areas have, by definition, the worst connectivity. They are among the poorest and slowest-growing, but accelerate when given connectivity.

Roads can incubate a thousand small businesses, and can convert villages into towns. Government staff are much more willing to be posted to places with good connectivity, so roads improve administration. Rural productivity cannot be high without roads, but can be very high with them.

… Gulati says that studies by IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute) in China, Vietnam and some African countries point to the same conclusion – rural roads do more for growth and poverty mitigation than virtually anything else.

A recent IFPRI paper by Fan, Gulati and Thorat estimated the impact of different government programmes on rural growth and poverty reduction in recent decades. The poverty-reduction data for the 1990s are given in the accompanying table. Road investment gave the biggest bang for buck, followed by agricultural R&D, with education lagging some way behind. Subsidies on fertiliser, credit and power achieved rather little.

For every million rupees spent, roads raised 335 people above the poverty line, and R&D 323. Every million rupees spent on education reduced poverty by 109 people, and on irrigation by 67 people. The lowest returns came from subsidies that are the most popular with politicians – subsidies on credit (42 people), power (27 people) and fertilisers (24 people).

Exactly the same picture emerged when the researchers estimated the agricultural growth impact of these factors. Roads and agricultural R&D contributed by far the most to growth. Lower down came investment in education and irrigation. At the bottom came subsidies for credit, power and fertilisers.

… For decades, rural roads in India were neglected by most states. Besides, rural employment schemes, starting with Maharashtra’s Employment Gurantee Scheme in the 1970s, created the illusion that durable rural roads could be built with labour-intensive techniques. In practice labour-intensive roads proved not durable at all, and those built in the dry season vanished in the monsoons.

This finally changed with the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) launched in 2000. This, for the first time, ordained mechanised techniques to provide high-quality, all-weather roads to 1.6 lakh rural habitations without pucca roads. It also upgraded roads that had collapsed. Panchayats were made responsible for maintenance. Conversations with experts suggest that this is one of the best-functioning programmes in rural development.

… Let me conclude by recalling what economist Robert Chambers said back in the 1970s. "If I had money, I would use it to build roads. If I had more money, I would build more roads. If I had still more money, I would build still more roads."

`Mo Kudia’ low cost housing scheme in Orissa

Mo Kudia, Odisha govt. action, RURAL & SPECIAL PROGRAMS 1 Comment »

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

Accusing the Centre of depriving ten lakh families in Orissa of the benefits meant for the poor by insisting on listing BPL families in Orissa according to the 2002 list, the Orissa government has announced a low cost housing scheme to cover all those denied houses under the central programme, official sources said.

"Mo Kudia" (My Hut) scheme has been launched to provide houses to 10 lakh poor families who would be deprived of the benefits meant for families living below the poverty line (bpl), Panchayati Raj Minister Raghunath Mohanty said.

The BPL families were entitled to get houses under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), ration cards and old age pensions.

The decision to launch +Mo Kudia+ scheme was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here.

Mohanty said the state government had decided to give Rs 25,000 to each BPL family denied a house.

He said nearly 10 lakh people living below poverty line would be deleted from the list, if the state government accepted the fresh list prepared in 2002.

According to a survey of poor people in 1997, nearly 44 lakh families were identified as BPL. But the statistics changed in 2002 when the number of BPL families in the state was reduced to 34 lakh.

 

Orissa number 3 in taking advantage of the Pradhan mantri Gram Sadak Yojana: Samaja

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Govt. sponsored NREGS ad in samaja

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RGGVY in Nayagarh district

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