VOL-13 The Gist - January 2014

COURTESY:
The Hindu
The Yojana
Kurukshet ra
Press Informat ion Bureau
Science Report er
Contents
THE HINDU.......................................................................................................................... 2
Are we Living in a Slum Era ............................................................................................................................................. 2
Findings of World Toilet Summit ..................................................................................................................................... 3
India & China are the top two Destinations for Global Remittances ........................................................................... 3
Indian Vaccine for Japanese Encephalitis ........................................................................................................................ 4
Chinese Campaign against Wests Waste Disposal ......................................................................................................... 5
ABC of Nitaaat ................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Successful Malaria Vaccine Trial ...................................................................................................................................... 8
Nobel for Peace ................................................................................................................................................................. 8
Outcomes of Warsaw climate meet .................................................................................................................................. 9
Switzerlands Banking Reform ......................................................................................................................................... 9
Plan for Worlds Largest Marine Sanctuary .................................................................................................................. 10
Alarming Outdoor Air Pollution .................................................................................................................................... 12
Indo-Russia Relation....................................................................................................................................................... 13
Dilma Rousseff Announced a Plan to Hosta Global Summit on Internet .................................................................... 13
U.S. Not in Mood to Reduce Emission ......................................................................................................................... 14
YOJANA .............................................................................................................................. 14
Poverty Measure ............................................................................................................................................................ 15
Growth & Employment in India Some Trends ............................................................................................................. 20
Rupee Depriciation Same Facts ..................................................................................................................................... 21
What is Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)? ..................................................................................... 24
Broad Gender Gap in Employment ............................................................................................................................... 25
KURUKSHETRA................................................................................................................ 26
New Hope to FIght Hunger ........................................................................................................................................... 27
Water and Sanitation for Quality Life in Rural India .................................................................................................... 28
Initiative for Rural Development in India...................................................................................................................... 35
Committees of State Food Secretaries to be Set Up for Speedy Implementation of Food Security Act ................. 39
Cabinet decides to withdraw Ordinance and Bill relating to Representation of Peoples Act ................................... 39
National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility ................................................................................................ 39
Amendment in UGC Act to Confer Degree Granting Powers on Autonomous Colleges .......................................... 41
Indias Foreign Trade: September, 2013 ....................................................................................................................... 43
National Rural Drinking Water Programme .................................................................................................................. 44
Kudankulam Unit-1 Synchronized to Grid .................................................................................................................. 49
Defence Agreement Between India and China .............................................................................................................. 49
SCIENCE REPORTER ...................................................................................................... 52
Earth & Moon, a Review................................................................................................................................................ 53
Meaning of Game Theory .............................................................................................................................................. 58
2 VOL13 GIST OF THE HINDU
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G ist of
THE HINDU
ARE WE LIVING IN A SLUM ERA
Newly released census dat a shows families
living in slums have a far better child sex ratio than
t he urban Indian average. Over a t hird of Indias
slum-dwellers live in unrecognised slums.
Over 65 million people lived in slums in 2011,
up by 25 per cent from 52 million in 2001, but slum
populat ions have grown slower t han the average
urban population over the last decade. The average
househol d l i vi ng in a sl um i s no larger t han an
average urban Indian household, with 4.7 family
members. The child sex ratio (0-6 years) of an average
slum household is 922 girls for every 1,000 boys,
compared to 905 for urban India.
Scheduled Castes (SCs) are over-represented in
slums, wi t h one out of every 5 sl ums resi dent s
belonging to SC, compared to just over one out of 10
for urban India as a whole. The proportion of SCs
living in slums has risen over the last decade. They
have f ar bet t er sex rat i os t han ot her urban
communities.
The literacy rate in slums is now up to 77.7%
but still lags behind t he urban average. Bot h men
and women living in slums participate at a higher
rate in the workforce than the urban average, even
though fewer have employment through the year.
The census defines a slum as residential areas
where dwellings are unfit for human habit at ion
because t hey are di lapi dat ed, cramped, poorl y
vent ilated, unclean, or any combination of t hese
fact ors which are det riment al t o t he safet y and
health and covers all 4,041 statutory towns in India.
For the latest round, the census designat ed
slums in three different ways notified, recognised
and identified. While the first two are designated as
slums by some official authority, identified slums do
not have legal status as a slum, but must consist of
at least 60-70 tenements with at least 300 people.
The dat a shows t hat of t he t hree t ypes,
ident ified slums have t he largest subset of slum
population, indicating t hat over a t hird of Indias
official slum population does not have official status
as a slum, or access to legal protection and municipal
services.
With over 11 million of its residents in slums,
Maharashtra has the highest slum population; 4.6
million of them in identified slums. Andhra Pradesh
follows wit h over 10 million in slums, and West
Bengal and Uttar Pradesh have over 6 million slum
residents each. Over 1 million of Delhis 1.7 million
slum residents live in identified slums.
RAY OF HOPE FOR INFERTILE WOMEN
A new technique that coaxes an infert ile
GIST OF THE HINDU VOL13 3
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womans ovaries into producing eggs again
has resulted in the birth of a baby in Japan.
A second woman has also become pregnant
using the same method, according to the
st udy i n t heProceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed U.S.
journal.
Researchers caution that the technique is
still in its early stages, but could offer hope
for young women whose ovaries are no
longer producing eggs.
This condition, known as primary ovarian
insufficiency, affects about one per cent of
women and causes t he ovaries t o st op
working before age 40.
The research t ook pl ace i n Japan and
involved 27 women with primary ovarian
insufficiency. Their average age was 37. All
had st opped menst ruat ing nearly seven
years earlier on average, and all agreed to
have both ovaries removed as part of the
experiment.
Of this group, 13 women were found to still
have residual follicles, which typically contain
one immature egg.
Five developed mat ure eggs, which t he
researchers harvest ed f orin
vitrofertilization using the sperm of t he
womens partners. One woman received two
embryos and carried a single pregnancy to
term.
FINDINGS OF WORLD TOILET SUMMIT
Lack of public toilets and open defecation were
among issues highlighted at the World Toilet Summit
that opened in Indonesia on Wednesday. Worldwide,
2.5 bi lli on people have no access t o t oilet s and
sewage systems. One million children die each year
from diarrhoea, as many as from AIDS, measles and
malaria combined, according the United Nations.
At the three-day summit in the Central Java
city of Solo, speakers will t alk about how to clean,
repair and maintain toilets as well as the designs of
public restrooms.
Jack Sim, a Singaporean who founded t he
World Toilet Organisation in 2001, said the theme
for t he summit this year is t oilet s and t ourism.
Without good toilets, tourism cant thrive, he said.
Toilets are part of the holiday experience. DPA
NABARD LAUNCHED SCHEME FOR
STORAGE OF FARM COMMODITIES
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development (Nabard) has announced a scheme
with a corpus of Rs.5,000 crore for providing loans
to the public and private sector to meet the growing
demand of st orage capaci t y of agri cul t ural
commodities in the country.
Termed Nabard Warehousing Scheme (NWS)
2013-14, assistance will be given for construction of
warehouses, sil os, cold st orages and col d chain
i nf rast ruct ure t o st at e government s, st at e
government undertakings, Special Purpose Vehicles
set up under PPP mode, cooperatives, federations,
cooperative federations, APMCs, state level boards,
apex market i ng boar ds, panchayat s, pri vat e
companies and private entrepreneurs.
WE SPENDS 50%
PERCENT OF GDP IN OIL CONSUMPTION
Union Minister of State for Petroleum and
Natural Gas Panabaka Lakshmi has said that
oil consumption in the country constitutes
50 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) at Rs. 5.33 lakh crore.
While the indigenous crude oil production
was only 38 million metric tonnes (MMTs),
the consumption was 155 MMTs, including
69 MMTs of diesel.
INDIA & CHINA ARE THE TOP TWO
DESTINATIONS FOR GLOBAL REMITTANCES
Remittances to developing countries should
swell 6.3 per cent this year to $414 billion,
f lowing from workers abroad to their home
countries and helping t o offset volat ile
capital outf lows, according to World Bank
forecasts released.
India and China are the two top destinations
for f lows, making up a third of t he total
amount. For India, $71 billion in remittances
is nearly triple what it received from foreign
direct investment last year.
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Remittances have grown steadily for the past
three decades as migration increased, with
only a slight dip during the financial crisis.
Including transfers to high-income countries,
remittances should be $550 billion this year.
For Tajikistan, such funds from abroad make
up nearly half of its gross domestic product.
And t hey are a third of t he economy in
Kyrgyzst an, also a landlocked country in
Central Asia. In Egypt , an expected $20
bi llion in remit t ances t his year dwarfs
revenue from the Suez Canal.
Remi t t ances can al so hel p promot e
development , and are oft en the biggest
source of foreign finance for developing
economies. This year, such global transfers
are expected to be almost three times larger
than official development assistance from
governments, and also top private debt and
equity f lows.
Transfers are growing to all major regions
this year, though growth in remittances to
Latin America and the Caribbean has slowed,
largely because of Mexico.
The World Bank st ill expect s Mexico t o
receive $22 billion in remittances, the fourth
largest destination after India, China and the
Philippines. But that is down 2.8 per cent
from last year, as Mexico has been hit by an
economi c sl owdown i n i t s nort hern
neighbour the United States.
But places like sub-Saharan Africa still have
high transaction costs, little competition,
and few payout locations.
The Group of 20 leading economies pledged
to reduce the cost of remittances to around
5 per cent by 2014, but t hat deadline is
unlikely to be met as the global average cost
is still stuck at around 9 per cent of t he
amount being sent.
INDIAN VACCINE FOR
JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS
India launched its first indigenous vaccine to
protect children from Japanese encephalitis. Until
now, t he count ry has been import ing the vaccine
from China.
The Vero cell-derived purified inactivated JE
vaccineJENVAC, which received manufacturing and
market ing approval s from t he Drug Cont roll er
General of I ndi a, i s t he f i rst vacci ne t o be
manufact ured in t he public-privat e part nership
mode bet ween t he I ndi an Counci l of Medi cal
Research and Bharat Biotech.
The vacci ne wi l l pr ovi de i ncreased
immunogenicity and long-term protection as a result
of unique manufacturing technologies.
Japanese encephalitis, a mosquito-borne viral
i nf ect i on, i s t he most common cause of vi r al
encephalitis in eastern Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), affecting
171 districts and claiming hundreds of lives every
year. Mort al i t y i s hi gher among chi l dren and
thousands of them in this area have been rendered
disabled by it.
The virus strain for this vaccine was isolated in
Kol ar, Karnat aka, duri ng t he earl y 1980s and
characterised by the National Institute of Virology at
Pune. The strains were transferred to Bharat Biotech
for further vaccine development.
The most significant benefit JENVAC brings
over live attenuated vaccines (those that reduce the
harmful effects of pathogens but keep them viable)
is that it can be administered during an epidemic as
it is a highly purified and inactivated vaccine.
In the clinical trials, JENVAC showed superior
safet y and immunogenicit y, in comparison to live
vacci ne. I t met al l i t s pri mary and secondary
endpoints in the age group of 1-50 years, after 1 or
2 doses in vaccination. Phase III trials showed 98.7
per cent sero-protection 28 days after the first dose,
and 99.8 per cent sero-protection 28 days after the
second dose.
The resul t s proved t hat JENVAC can be
administered as a single dose during epidemics for
mass vaccination campaigns and also as a two-dose
schedule during routine immunisation as part of the
Nat i onal immuni sat ion programme i n endemic
regions.
Bharat Biot ech wi ll pursue a dual pricing
st rat egy for JENVAC t o cat er t o t he needs of
government and private agencies. While the price is
expected to be around Rs 160 per dose in the open
market, the price for government agencies is still
being negotiated.
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CHINESE CAMPAIGN
AGAINST WESTS WASTE DISPOSAL
China for years has welcomed t he worlds
trash, creat ing a roaring business in recycling and
livelihoods for tens of thousands. Now, authorities
are clamping down on an industry that has helped
the rich West dispose of its waste but also added to
the degradation of Chinas environment.
The Chinese campaign is aimed at enforcing
st andards for waste import s after Beijing decided
t oo many were unusable or even dangerous and
would end up in its landfills. Under the crackdown
dubbed Green Fence, China has rejected hundreds
of containers of waste it said were contaminated or
that improperly mixed different types of scrap.
It is abrupt ly changing a multibillion-dollar
global industry in which China is a major processing
centre for the worlds discarded soft drink bottles,
scrap metal, electronics and other materials. Whole
vi l l ages i n Chi nas sout heast are devot ed t o
processing single products, such as electronics.
Chinas recycling industry has boomed over the
past 20 years. Its manufacturers needed the metal,
paper and plastic and Beijing was willing to tolerate
the environmental cost. Millions of tons of discarded
plast ic, comput ers, elect ronics, newspapers and
shredded automobiles and appliances are imported
every year f rom t he Uni t ed St at es, Europe and
Japan.
European recyclers welcome Chinas tight er
enforcement because it will help them comply with
Eur opean Uni on rul es on t racki ng wast e and
ensuri ng i t i s properl y handl ed, sai d Norbert
Zonnefel d, execut i ve secret ary of t he European
Electronics Recyclers Association. The United States
relies even more heavily on China to recycle its waste.
Two States & The Saga of Godavari
The Report of the Compt roller and Audit or
General of India, State Finances for the year ended
March 2012 (of t he Government of Andhra
Pradesh), records that there are 56 incomplete major
irrigation projects in all. More than half are directed
t owards coast al Andhra, and a f ew t o t he
Rayalaseema region. The details of the projects are
avai l abl e i n of f i ci al r ecor ds and on t he St at e
Ir ri gat i on Depart ment s websi t e. Of t hese, t he
financial st at us of t he Indira Sagar Polavaram is
shown as f ol l ows: i n 2004, t he year of i t s
commencement, the original estimated cost of the
project (all in crore) was Rs.10,151.04; the revised
cost Rs.16,010.45; expenditure up to the end of
March was Rs.4,234.18; and, the cost overrun was
Rs.5,859.41. Among ot her hi gh cost irrigat ion
projects are t he Somasila, Indiramma Flood Flow
Canal, Indirasagar Rudramakot a Lif t I rrigat i on
Scheme, AMR-SLBC LI S and t he Tel ugu Ganga
project, which has the highest cost overrun of Rs.
7,747.00 crore. There are 16 medium irrigat ion
project s wit h a t ot al overall cost overrun of Rs.
20,142.06 crore. All these are incomplete projects.
Some are ongoing.
Apportioning of Spoils
In t he current battle between pro- and anti-
st at ehood for Tel angana, l it t le has been said or
written about the Polavaram dam (commenced by
the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, whose regime also
figured in the leaked WikiLeaks cables for the volume
of graft in i rri gat i on project s, wit h f our t o fi ve
companies execut ing all the projects), considering
that how the spoils of the project are apportioned is
important for both Telangana and Andhra, even in
t he now unlikely event of a new st at e not being
created. Along with the Telangana announcement ,
the Congress declared Polavaram a national project ,
thus centrally sanctioning the largest displacement
(from a single project) of the tribal populations of
three districts.
For the longest time, the Telangana discourse
revolved around Godavari waters, irrigation, unequal
economic development, farm suicides and the farm
debt crisis in most of its agrarian areas. With t he
creat i on of a St at e which lies physiographical ly
upstream (while benefits have f lowed downstream)
will the dynamics change and in what way remains a
quest ion. In deciding allocat ions of river wat ers
bet ween t wo St at es t hat had hit hert o been t wo
regions, woul d it be about wat er f or basics and
agr i cul t ure of smal l and medi um f ar mers of
Telangana (whose aspirat ions for statehood were
built on t hese premises) or for global indust rial
regimes in the coastal districts?
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ABC OF NITAAAT
The Nitaqat is a carrot-and-stick incentive
programme for companies and businesses
to hire more Saudis across a spectrum of
jobs.
It categorises firms into four colour ranges:
blue (premium), green, yellow, and red. For
example, if a company has 40 per cent Saudis
on its under-500-member staff, it is in the
blue (premium) cat egory and will enjoy
privileges in importing foreign manpower.
If the company has only 12-39 per cent Saudi
staff, it will be in the green category and its
hiring privileges will be fewer.
If a companys Saudi employees percentage
is only 6-11 per cent, it will fall in the yellow
range, and hence will need to do some extra
hiring to fall in line with the Nitaqat.
If the percentage is between 0 and 5, the
company is in real trouble: for instance, its
foreign st aff s work permits will not be
renewed.
INDIA & REGIONAL ECONOMIC
PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT
There could be more vocal calls for changes in
the governance of world trade if the three mega free
t rade and i nvest ment agreement s under
negotiations get to a successful closure. In July this
year, t he Unit ed St at es and the European Union
began negot i at i ng a Trans At l ant i c Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP) which they hope to
conclude by 2015. The 28 EU members and the U.S.
account for half of world GDP and 30 per cent of
world trade in goods and services. TTIP is projected
to add more than 13 million American and EU jobs.
The Tr ans Paci f i c Par t ner shi p (TPP)
negotiations among 12 countries including the U.S.,
Aust ralia, Canada, Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore,
Viet nam and, most recent ly, Japan, have already
been under way for over three years now wit h the
19th round completed in Brunei from August 23-30,
2013. The negotiations are due to conclude this year.
These count ries t oo cont ribute t o around 38 per
cent of world GDP and 25 per cent of global trade.
Formidable Grouping
In March t his year, t he ASEAN Ten plus six
dialogue part ners (Aust ralia, China, India, Japan,
Korea and New Zealand) held their first round of
negot i at i ons f or t he Regi onal Comprehensi ve
Economic Part nershi p agreement (RCEP) t o be
concluded by 2015. Covering 45 per cent of world
populat ion and a t hird of world GDP, this t oo is a
formidable grouping.
The word partnership rather than free trade
in the title of these agreements signifies they will go
beyond free trade disciplines. With many participant
count ries already bound by FTAs, or with average
MFN tariffs already low as between EU and the U.S.
who do not have an FTA, there is limited scope for
furt her liberalisat ion in market access except in
sensi t i ve areas previ ousl y shel t ered f r om
compet it i on li ke agricult ure, t ext i les, f oot wear,
automobiles, government procurement and services.
Apart from bringing down such barriers, negotiations
are to address many behind the border regulations
and standards.
Contrast the above with the Doha Round of
trade negotiations languishing for 12 years now with
no sign of closure. Limited harvests being attempted
on trade facilitation, agriculture (specially public stock
holding for food security, an issue of importance to
us) and developing country and LDC related issues
for the Bali Ministerial of WTO in December 2013
appear to have only even chances of success. Even the
elimination of agriculture export subsidies by 2013,
agreed to in the 2005 Hong Kong WTO ministerial,
is not likely t o be implement ed. Despit e periodic
assert i ons by G-20 summit meet i ngs about t he
importance of successfully completing Doha, there is
inadequate injection of political will and energy. Will
the new Director General of WTO, Roberto Azevedo,
be able to rekindle interest and momentum and help
WTO retain primacy? In his inaugural speech earlier
this month, he called for success at Bali as vital and
for deli vering on Doha t o be part of any f ut ure
agenda.
Many developed country participants however
have made it plain t hat an object i ve i n movi ng
towards the TPP or TTIP is also to eventually explore
if the high standards of these agreements can be
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imported into the WTO corpus. U.S. Vice President
Biden has said our goal is for high standards of
Trans Pacific Partnership to enter the bloodstream of
the global system and improve the rules and norms.
The press stat ement of EU and U.S. leaders about
t he announcement of TTIP also t alked about the
negot iat ions cont ribut ing to t he development of
global rules.
The U.S. has i n f act been promot i ng
competitive trade liberalisation through other tracks
once it became clear the Doha Round will not include
i ssues l ike i nvest ment , compet i t i on pol icy and
government procurement which were dropped from
its agenda at the Cancun Ministerial in September
2003. Then U.S. Trade Represent at i ve Rober t
Zoellick famously wrote inFinancial Timesthat the
key division was bet ween can do count ries and
wont do count ries and went on t o say we will
move towards free trade with can do countries.
The reality was while Doha was a development
agenda, domestic agriculture and industry interests
i n t he U.S. (and i n ot her devel oped count r i es)
showed no appet i t e f or maki ng necessary
concessions. I nst ead, t he game moved t owards
ensuri ng t hat when emergi ng economies were
showing signs of rapid growth, developed countries
did not lose the lead. It was time to demand a more
enduring value for technology and IPR. Enforcement
of higher environment and labour standards was
sought to be made a norm even on a trade platform.
More assured access for trade and investment was
demanded with firm commitments about reform.
Secret Negotiations
In 2009, t he U.S. t ook hol d of an exist i ng
agreement t hat had onl y f our smal l members
(Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore) and
assumed leadership in making it deeper in terms of
liberalisation, broader in respect of issues covered
(such as on supply chains, state owned enterprises
and regulat ory coherence) and wider in t erms of
member shi p under t he banner of TPP whose
negotiations are now proceeding most secretively.
This served several objectives not least of which was
to get a foothold in Asia where it was getting left out
of free trade deals that had vastly grown in the 1990s
and noughties.
When t he TPP was bei ng market ed as
demonstration of increasing engagement between
t he U.S. and Asia, t here were worries across t he
Atlantic. The U.S. was wary initially to soundings from
EU for a similar partnership with several pending
trade issues between them. But after a study process,
President Obama and EU leaders announced t he
start of negotiations earlier this year. One round was
held in July.
RCEP, t he third mega deal that will span 16
countries, including three LDCs, may not be able to
match the ambitions of TPP and TTIP even as the
idea is t o significantly improve over the FTAs that
each of the six partner countries including India have
with ASEAN as a whole. In any case, Environment and
Labour Standards have not been mentioned in the
Guiding object ives and principles. It can also be
surmised t hat on issues like IPRs, it may not go
beyond the WTO balance of commit ments. There
would also be special and differential treatment for
developing countries that is absent in TPP.
Impact on Doha Outcome
How wi l l t hese mega deal s, i f t hey are
successfully completed, inf luence the Doha outcome?
Is India likely to be affected and, if so, what should
be its strategy?
There would be issues of concern in TPP and
TTIP insofar as India is concerned such as going
beyond TRI Ps commi t ment s, or bi ndi ng
commitments on labour and environment standards
and those which may severely limit policy options at
our st age of development . Trade majors can well
present dressed up disciplines in specific areas in
these mega partnerships for being parachuted into
WTO. This is one reason we may need to carefully
f ocus on RCEP whi ch had i t s second round of
negot i at i ons f r om Sept ember 23-27, 2013 i n
Brisbane. The next round is to be held in Malaysia in
January 2014. With the help of ASEAN, who are to
play a lead part in the negotiations, we will need to
ensure that the commitments drawn stay away from
unreasonable constraining of policy options even as
deeper liberalisation is attempted. There should also
be sufficient f lexibilit y for dealing wit h sensit ive
product s and services. Wit h concerns shown by
Indian industry about concessions granted in FTAs
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already concluded by us, it will be challenging for our
negotiators to deal with requests that come with a
deeper liberalisation tag. The inclusion of China in
RCEP with which India has no FTA at present but
with which we already have a large trade deficit also
needs factoring in.
But if the negotiations succeed in a balanced
out come, t he RCEP approach can be project ed as
more worthy of emulation. We would also need to
push f or i ssues of our i nt erest such as f or
commitments towards movement of professionals.
At the First Round of TTIP negotiations, EU
has argued for specific rules on raw materials and
energy which could address issues like market access
and non-discrimination, government intervention in
price setting of energy goods and security of supply.
Even as I ndi a i s not a member of TTI P, such
proposals need careful examination. The quest ion
also arises why similar disciplines should not be
developed for access to technology.
As world t rade governance wit nesses new
t rends, we need t o work out an appr opri at e
negotiating stance for RCEP. We should have credible
options that also enjoy adequate support.
SUCCESSFUL MALARIA VACCINE TRIAL
A vaccine against malaria could be introduced
in the worlds worst-hit countries in 2015, after the
lat est t rial of a t reat ment produced by Brit ains
biggest drug company reduced the number of cases
of the disease experienced by babies.
The resul t s of t rials publ ished i n Durban,
Sout h Af ri ca, showed t hat t he RTS,S vacci ne
developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) nearly halved
the cases of malaria experienced by children aged
between five and seven months and cut the number
of cases in babies aged 6 to 12 weeks by a quarter.
The t reat ment s prot ect i on l ast ed for 18
mont hs, though it waned slight ly over t ime, and
while that is not the sort of efficacy that parents in
Europe or the U.S. are used to getting in the vaccines
given t o their children, the malaria vaccine would
make a significant difference to the outlook for those
in areas where the tropical disease is rife.
Every year, around 660,000 people die from
malaria, most of them small children under the age
of five. There are about 219 million cases of t he
disease a year worldwide, and children who survive
the serious illness can suffer damage to their health
and development in their lifetime afterwards.
ADVISORY BODY RECOMMENDS
SCALE-UP OF PENTAVALENT VACCINE
The National Technical Advisor y Group on
Immunisation (NTAGI) has recommended the scale-
up of the pentavalent vaccine across the countr y,
along with activities to check for potential adverse
effects.
The recommendation comes within days of
the Supreme Court issuing notice to the Centre on
a PIL petition filed by Dr. Yogesh Jain alleging that
the vaccine had serious adverse effects on children,
and in the face of stiff resistance to the vaccine.
The pent aval ent vacci ne si mul t aneousl y
provides protection against the five life threatening
diseases Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Hepatitis
B and Hib (Haemophilus inf luenza type b). The DPT
(Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus) and Hepatitis B are
already part of the national routine immunisation
programme. Prot ect i on agai nst Haemophi l us
i nf l uenza t ype B (Hi b), whi ch causes severe
pneumonia, meningitis and other life-threatening
conditions in children less than five years of age, is a
new addition.
The NTAGI recommendat ion will now go to
the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The pent aval ent vacci ne, whi ch was
recommended by NTAGI in 2008 to be added to the
universal immunisation programme, has so far been
introduced in a phased manner since 2011 in Kerala,
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry, Goa, Gujarat ,
Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir and Delhi.
NOBEL FOR PEACE
OPCW, an obscure body recently thrust into
the spotlight by the Syria crisis, won the
Nobel Peace Prize for its work to rid the world
of chemical weapons.
The UN-backed Organi sat i on f or t he
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
was honoured for its extensive efforts to
el i mi nat e chemi cal weapons, Nobel
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Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland
said in announcing the surprise choice.
OUTCOMES OF WARSAW CLIMATE MEET
Poland was the host of this years annual
climate talks.
The meeting, called the pre-COP (Conference
of Parties), is organised to firm up the agenda
f or t he meet i ng, where al l member-
countries of the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change gather.
It helps t he host count ry and ot her key
count ries informal ly et ch out areas of
differences and agreements that could lead
t o some concret e decisions at the main
meeting.
At the Warsaw meet, held on October 2-4,
the developing nations also demanded that
the developed countries deliver clarity on
how they would put up the promised $ 100
billion fund.
The developed countries had promised to
drum up an annual stream of 100 billion
starting 2020.
But poorer countries have been demanding
a clear road map of how t he developed
count ries will rat chet up t heir funding
support.
Disagreements were also expressed by the
developing countries, including India, against
the idea of a thin agreement in 2015, which
has the backing of the U.S. Also called the
hub and spoke model in climate jargon, it
suggests that only the targets of reducing
emissions should form part of the main
agreement in 2015. The rest of the issues,
such as finance, adaptation and technology
transfer, it has been suggested, can be dealt
with later under legally less onerous decisions
of the COP.
IN THE GLOBAL
HUNGER INDEX INDIAS RANK IS 63
India has improved its ranking from 65 to 63
in t he Global Hunger Index, maki ng a margi nal
improvement since 2012, but continues to languish
far behind other emerging economies. The score for
the country improved slightly from 22.9 in 2012 to
21.3 this year. As has been the trend, within SAARC
count ri es t oo, I ndi a cont i nued t o t rai l behi nd
Pakistan and Bangladesh on the index.
The index is prepared by the Int ernat ional
Food Pol i cy Research I nst i t ut e al ong wi t h
Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide.
The l evel of hunger i n India remained at
alarming levels, the report read, noting that India is
one of t he t hree count ries out si de Sub-saharan
Africa to fall in this category. The other two are Haiti
and Timor-Leste.
Under-nutrition in Children
The report not ed t hat I ndia cont inued t o
record one of t he highest prevalence of children
under five who are underweight, at more than 40 per
cent one of the three criteria that the index is built
on. The report said South Asia continued to have the
maximum number of hungry people in the world
followed by sub-Saharan Africa. In comparison to
India, other emerging economies with high growth
trajectories have done a much better job at pulling
people out of hunger, the report showed.
China improved its ranking by 57.69 per cent
between 1990-2012, while India showed a 34 per
cent improvement in the same period.
Brazil, in comparison, had a much better score
to begin with and by 2012 entered the select block
of nations doing the best to fight hunger.
Count ries t hat have achieved t he highest
progress on this front included Venezuela, Mexico,
Cuba, Ghana, Thailand and Vietnam all achieving
more than 55% increase in their GHI score.
SWITZERLANDS BANKING REFORM
Switzerland, the country most noted for its
anonymous numbered bank accounts and
tight banking secrecy became the worlds
58t h nat i on t o si gn t he Mul t i l at er al
Convent i on on Mut ual Administ rat ive
Assistance in Tax Matters.
The agreement prepared by taxation experts
from t he Paris-based Organisat i on f or
Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), which has led the war against tax
havens i n recent years, was signed by
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Switzerlands ambassador to the OECD and
the Organisations Secretary-General Angel
Gurria in Paris.
The Swiss Federal Council gave its approval
to the treaty on October 9.
This is a momentous step for Switzerland
because it means it will be breaking its own
t ime-honoured and t ime-t est ed laws on
banking secrecy.
ABOUT 60000 SQ. KM OF
WESTERN GHATS WILL COME
UNDER ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION
The Environment Ministry has decided to
t urn approxi mat el y 60,000 square
kilometres of the Western Ghats across six
States into an Ecologically Sensitive Area
(ESA), banning mining, quarrying, thermal
power plants and polluting industries over
the entire range. All other projects would be
allowed only with the prior consent of gram
sabhas (village councils) in the zone.
The deci si on has been t aken by t he
Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi
Natarajan as a follow-up on the two reports
on t he Ghat s, one headed by ecol ogi st
Madhav Gadgil and the other by Planning
Commission member K. Kasturirangan.
The decision, once formally notified, would
make the identified region of the Western
Ghats complex the largest protected forests
in India ranging over 1,500 km linear distance
f rom t he Tapt i r i ver i n t he nor t h t o
Kanyakumari in the south.
Going wit h t he recommendations of t he
high-level panel t hat was headed by Mr.
Kasturirangan, the Ministry has decided to
declare the ESA over 37% of the Western
Ghats under the Environment Protection
Act, 1986.
The Ministry has drafted the notification and
it will be put out soon for comments.
WARNED AGAINST HEALTH
CONSEQUENCES
The World Healt h Organisat ion warned
against devastating health consequences of
lead poisoning, particularly for children, and
called upon countries to strengthen national
action to eliminate lead paint.
Lead exposure is estimated to contribute to
6,00,000 new cases of chi l dren wi t h
intellectual disabilities every year, it says.
Overall, 99 per cent of the affected children
live in low and middle income countries, the
WHO said in a statement on the occasion of
Int ernational Lead Poisoning Prevent ion
Week of Action.
Major Cause
It is estimated that 1,43,000 deaths every
year result from lead poisoning and lead
paint is a major contributor.
Worl dwi de, 30 count ri es have al ready
phased out lead paint use.
The Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint,
co-led by the WHO and the United Nations
Environment Programme, has set a target
of 70 countries by 2015.
At high levels of exposure, lead damages the
brain and central nervous system to cause
coma, convulsions and even death. Children
who survive poisoning are often left with
intellect ual impairment and behavioural
disorders.
PLAN FOR WORLDS
LARGEST MARINE SANCTUARY
The U.S. government shutdown is threatening
a long-awaited deal t o creat e t he worlds largest
marine sanct uary i n Ant arct ica. Ameri cans are
among the most enthusiastic proponents, but they
might not make it to the negotiating table.
The U.S., New Zealand and other countries
have sought a sanctuary in the pristine waters of the
Ross Sea for the past decade, and there are hopes
that previous objectors Russia and Ukraine will agree
to a new, smaller proposal when the nations that
regulate Antarctic fishing meet next week in Hobart,
Australia.
Joi nt l y proposed by t he U.S. and New
Zealand, the 1.34 million sq. km sanctuary would be
twice the size of Texas and the worlds largest stretch
of protected ocean.
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30000/-
3500/-
2500/-
3500/-
3500/-
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Progress on the sanct uary has already been
painfully slow. The nations that make decisions about
Antarctic fishing 24 countries plus the European
Union (EU) do so only by unanimous agreement.
A proposal for a larger sanctuary failed in July when
Russia and the Ukraine, which have fishing interests
in the region, raised objections.
The U.S. and New Zealand revised their plans,
reducing t he sanct uar ys proposed size by 40 per
cent. Environmental groups including Pew criticised
the changes initially but have come to embrace the
current proposal.
ALARMING OUTDOOR AIR POLLUTION
The Int ernat ional Agency for Research on
Cancer (IARC), the specialised agency of the World
Health Organisation, announced that it had classified
outdoor air pollution as carcinogenic to humans. This
is t he f irst t ime t hat expert s have done so and
claimed there is sufficient evidence to prove it.
Aft er t horoughl y revi ewing t he scient i fi c
l i t erat ure, t he expert s convened by t he I ARC
Monographs Programme concluded that t here is
sufficient evidence that exposure causes lung cancer.
They al so not ed a posi t i ve associ at i on wit h an
increased risk of bladder cancer.
Part iculat e mat t er, a major component of
outdoor air pollution, was evaluated separately and
was also classified as carcinogenic. The predominant
sources of t he pol l ut i on are t ransport at i on,
st at i onary power gener at i on, i ndust ri al and
agricultural emissions, and residential heating and
cooking. Some pollutants have natural sources as
well.
HEALTH SCHEME FOR INDIAS WORKERS
The Union Ministry of Labour has done well
to raise the salary cap for availing Employees
State Insurance (ESI) to Rs.25,000.
While t he move i s expect ed t o expand
coverage to an additional five million workers
and t heir dependent s, t his is st ill small
comfort in a country where barely three per
cent of t he workforce enjoys any social
protection.
The evolution of ESI has been characterised
by an accent on widening its reach across
various categories of industry and geographic
regions.
For instance, the relevant 1948 Factories Act
originally applied to non-seasonal factories
that employed 10 or more persons. Over
the years, transport undertakings, hospitals,
newspapers, the hospitality industry and
educational institutions have been brought
wit hin its ambit . The 2010 amendments
raised the age ceiling for dependents of
employees to 25 years. They even envisage
the provision of medical benefits under the
ESI to workers in the informal sector that
is, t hose out side t he current employer/
employee contributory system. The need to
enlarge the scope of medical services can
hardly be overstated in an economy where
t he overwhel mi ng pr opor t i on of t he
workf orce remains out side t he f ormal
sector. Moreover, out of pocket expenditure
on health, at 67 per cent of Indias tot al
spending on health as per the Planning
Commission figures, is the highest in the
worl d. Cri t i cs of t he l at est revision of
eligibility for ESI cover must appreciate that
any reduct ion in medical expenses is a
potential boost for consumer spending.
GLOBAL FINANCIAL ACCESSIBILITY
POSSIBLE BY 2020, WORLD BANK
Among t he f l ur r y of event s conduct ed
al ongside t he annual World Bank-Int ernat ional
Monet ary Fund meet ings here t hi s mont h, one
init iat ive held out t he direct promise of a major
boost to poverty alleviation efforts in India a new
multilateral effort for achieving universal financial
access by 2020.
50 Countries
Speaking in a dialogue with Queen Mxima of
t he Net herl ands, who i s t he Uni t ed Nat i ons
Secretary Generals Special Advocat e for Inclusive
Fi nance for Devel opment , Worl d Bank Group
President Jim Yong Kim said t hat more t han 50
count ri es had made commi t ment s t o f i nancial
i ncl usi on t arget s and I f t hey f ul f i l t hei r
commi t ment s, i f ot her count ries al so set bol d
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t arget s, and i f t he pri vat e sect or responds by
unleashing its resources and know-how, then we can
reach universal access by 2020.
INDO-RUSSIA RELATION
A crucial agreement on Kudankulam is still not
on the table but, on what is possibly his last official
vi si t t o an ol d f ri end of I ndi a, Pri me Mini st er
Manmohan Singh will seek to reiterate the strategic
congruence of a relationship that New Delhi believes
has been successf ul l y rei nvent ed f or t he new
century.As Manmohan Singh landed in the Russian
capital on Sunday aft ernoon for t he 14t h annual
bilateral summit , it was clear that t he agreement
most sought after by both countries was still proving
elusive.
The t wo si des wi l l si gn a handf ul of
agreements, including one that will allow Russians
and Indians convicted in each others countries to
serve out t hei r sent ence in jai l s in t hei r home
country. Officials said the two sides are also in the
process of agreeing to a programme of co-operation
on oil and natural gas, though no agreement would
be signed in this sector during this visit.
India and Russia have almost finalised t he
agreement for two additional reactors at the nuclear
power station in Kudankulam, besides the two that
Russia has already supplied, but lawyers are vetting
the text, officials said.
Until the lawyers give the clearance, the two
government s cannot gi ve t he go ahead f or t he
commercial agreement between the Nuclear Power
Corporation of India Limited and Russias Rosatom.
DILMA ROUSSEFF ANNOUNCED A PLAN TO
HOSTA GLOBAL SUMMIT ON INTERNET
As t he scandal involving t he U.S. Nat ional
Security Agency (NSA) got bigger, Brazil got bolder in
opposing it s mass surveillance and global spying
activities.
Aft er blast ing t he NSA at t he U.N. General
Assembly last mont h, Brazilian President Dilma
Rousseff t his mont h announced a plan t o host a
global meeting on Internet governance in April.
FARMERS & INFLATION
The government wi ll pl ace bef ore t he
Cabinet, as also Parliament, a fresh G-33
proposal which seeks to enable developing
economies to meet the challenges of food
security for their large populations.
As per the proposal, to be discussed at the
December WTO meeting in Bali, developing
nat ions must be allowed to fact or in the
much higher inf lation rate occurring in their
economies to justify higher procurement
prices offered to farmers.
Cur rent l y, t he reference pr i ce for
procurement is linked to what was decided
i n 1986-88 when t he Agreement on
Agriculture (AoA) was negotiated under the
World Trade Organisation.
India, which has had over 500 per cent
inf lation (compounded) since 1988, made
out a case for full inf lation allowance which
will help the government procure grain from
farmers.
The proposal of the G-33 countries is in line
with Indias position but the West will resist
this change.
Clause 18.4 of the AoA does mention that
developing economies shall receive due
allowance for inf lat ion in det ermining
procurement prices.
The United States and the European Union
are arguing that the AoA does not commit
full allowance for inflation and have proposed
a peace clause which offers to defer this
matter by three years during which period
the developing countries can continue to
procure grain as they are doing now even if
it is violative of the AoA.
India is wary that accepting the peace clause
may be tantamount to conceding that the
AoA is being violated. It, therefore, wants to
stand it s ground and push for t he G-33
proposal seeking full allowance for excess
inf lation.
Since this is an election year, the UPA is being
careful and will t ake t he mat t er t o t he
Cabinet as well as Parliament before taking
it up at Bali. The food security question is
expected to dominate the WTO meeting.
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For India, the Bali meeting is critical because
its food security law will entail procuring over
60 million tonnes of foodgrains to feed 70
per cent of the population.
India is the largest public procurer of grain
and Indonesia i s t he ot her developi ng
economy whi ch has a st rong f ood
procurement policy.
Incidentally, Pakistan is also on the same page
as India but delivers subsidised food through
direct cash transfer.
U.S. NOT IN MOOD TO REDUCE EMISSION
The Uni t ed St at es has urged t he UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change
to ensure that voluntary emission reduction
targets would not be reviewed in case public
consultations showed that they cumulatively
fell short of maintaining the global target
temperature of below 2 degrees Celsius.
Outlining its demands for the new climate
change agreement to be signed in 2015, the
U.S. said the pact one of the elements of
a larger package should be concise and
have only the core provisions.
The U.S. indicated that other key elements
of climate talks adaptation, finance and
technology should be addressed among a
less onerous set of decisions at the annual
negotiations of the convention.
The U.S. has al so asked for a si ngl e
transparency regime for all countries instead
of a different one for developing countries
and another for developed ones.
IAS PCS
K.UJJWAL
by
250 Probales a book on G.S. Available
E-mail : info@ujjwalias.in Website : www.ujjwalias.in
& Team
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G ist of
YOJANA
POVERTY MEASURE
Measuring Povert y in India has a long and
venerable tradition. In the pre-independence period,
Dadabhai Naoroji sought to measure poverty with
a view to describe the consequences of colonial rule
in India. His book
Poverty and Un-British Rule in India dr ew
attention to the enormous drain on wealth caused
by colonial policy and was the foundation to many
i nt el l ect ual argument s f or i ndependence.
Subsequent ly, dur ing t he freedom st ruggle t he
Congress Party, the Planning Commission and many
emi nent schol ars have wor ked on t hi s i ssue.
Srini vasan (2007) has a det ailed review of t his
background.
In fact , it would not be an underst at ement
t hat this discourse has been one of Indias major
contributions to the field of development studies. It
is not a merely a scholarly exercise. The World Bank
has stated that fighting poverty is at the core of its
work. The Unit ed Nat ions when i t out lined t he
millennium development goals stated that the first
goal is t o eradicat e extreme povert y and hunger.
Poverty is at the heart of almost all discourses on
development policy.
In t his cont ext , when we seek t o measure
poverty, t here are at least three distinct t ypes of
objectives: (i) to build awareness on poverty and to
keep it in t he agenda of discourse; (ii) t o design
polici es, programs and i nst i t ut ions t o all eviat e
poverty; (iii) to monitor and evaluate these policies,
programs and institutions that are associated with
it. Each of these objectives imposes very different
requi rement s on dat a and t he met hodology of
measurement. In particular it could easily be argued
that the latter two are not single objectives but are
in turn composites of multiple objectives.
In so far as the first is concerned, the objective
i s easil y underst ood and i s i n f act t he basi s of
Dadabhai Naoroj it s book published in 1901, the
purpose of which was t o inf luence Brit ish public
opinion about the consequences of colonial rule on
India. It was princi pally t o bring povert y in t he
political discourse and inf luence policy with that in
mind. An objective repeated by the National Planning
Committee of the Congress and the authors of the
Bombay Pl an bef ore i ndependence and by t he
Planning Commission in more recent times. What is
common i n al l t hese approaches i s t o st at e a
normat ive crit eri a of what const i t ut es soci all y
acceptable minimum necessary for the bare wants
of a human being, t o keep him in ordinary good
health and decency (Naoroji 1901). Having done so,
the aim is to estimate the proportion of people who
on average in some defined period of time over some
region do not meet this criteria. This est imation is
t hen achi eved usual l y t hrough a survey whi ch
canvasses (usually) households with a view to assess
t he proport i on of t hose who do not meet t he
desired criteria. These results, based on the design of
the survey are described by geography, communities
as may be feasible. In India, this has been done since
t he 1970s usi ng t he househol d consumer
expenditure survey, based on criteria established by
the Planning Commission task force in 1979. The
est imat es are generated for rural and urban areas
separately in each state of the union. This profile has
them been the basis for our discussions on poverty.
Turning now t o t he second object ive, t he
principal objective is to design programs and policies
so as t o bet t er target t hei r object i ve. Thus t he
16 VOL13 GIST OF YOJ ANA
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aut horitative World Bank handbook (2009) states
Cl earl y, one cannot help poor peopl e wi t hout
knowing who they are. The principal objective is to
seek t o desi gn t he program so as t o al l ocat e
resources in a manner most l ikel y t o reach t he
intended beneficiaries. This target ing can be very
broad or coarse or very fine. In the former case the
povert y profiling done under the first objective is
used to allocate resources to regions or programs
consistent wit h t he orderings in povert y profile.
Alt ernatively, t he finer t argeting can be sought to
locate beneficiaries directly as in the targeted Public
Distribution System or the Indira Awas Yojana, where
caps on numbers of beneficiaries are reached based
on the estimates of the profile. It is clear that while
both forms of targeting use the profile developed for
the first objective, the finer the targeting, the more
i nt ensive i s t he use of t he dat a generat i ng t he
poverty profile. This then leads to the question as to
how appropriate is this? To answer this question we
need to understand the statistical properties of the
profile generated for the first objective.
Statistical Attributes of the Poverty Profile
As not ed earlier, t he povert y est imat e is a
cal culat ion of a sample proport ion who do not
achieve a def ined crit eria of needs. As such t he
st at i st i cal propert i es of t hi s est i mat e can be
described through formal techniques of statist ical
analysis.
The measurement process is that a sample of
households is selected from the population through
stratification at various stages. The household is then
canvassed about its consumpt ion over a period of
time. Based on collat ing the data from the sample
over t he per iod of t he sur vey, we est imat e t he
proportion who did not meet the prescribed norm.
This may differ from the trueproportion for a variety
of reasons:
First: The sampl e i s a subset of t he
populat ion, the estimate of the sample will differ
from that of actual population, this difference will
depend on t he design of t he sample. These are
typically defined as samplingerrors.
Second: The households actual consumption
may differ from the reported consumption because
of the design of the schedule of inquiry, the ability of
t he respondent t o recall and t he abil i t y of t he
inquirer to communicate his query and understand
the response of the respondent. These are further
inf luenced by a variety of subjective factors like the
timing of the inquiry, the length of the process and
the actual modalities of the dialogue and many other
such considerations. This class of issues are described
in the literature as non-sampling error.
Bot h t hese i ssues are wel l known t o
statisticians and are dealt in survey designs through
a variet y of means. Their overal l i mpact on t he
measurement is capt ured in t he analysis, by t he
concept of st andar d er rors of est i mat es. The
magnit ude of this error typically depends on the
design of t he sample and t he overall size of t he
sampl e. The lat t er i n t ur n is i nf luenced by t he
desired degree of granularity in the estimates. Thus,
for instance, estimates for India as whole over the
entire year will have lower standard errors, whereas
in a given survey estimates for states, districts and for
sub rounds will have higher standard errors.
The rel evance of t hi s di scussi on f or t he
different uses of poverty estimates is because, when
the estimate is used for decision making like deciding
the quant um of target population in a region, t he
inherent randomness in the estimate induces errors
of inclusion and exclusion. These are over and above
inclusion and exclusion errors generated through the
operat ion of t he t arget select ion mechanism. In
ot her words, even if t here were no errors in t he
operation of the selection mechanism, there would
st i l l be i ndi vi dual s and househol ds who are
incorrectly included and excluded.
Thi s t oo i s wel l r ecogni sed. The correct
t arget i ng mechani sms woul d t hen adjust t he
estimate derived in the first exercise by a factor to
correct for such errors. The form of adjust ment
would depend on the relative costs assigned to the
different errors. To illustrate, in the, proposed food
security mechanism incorrect inclusion implies that
a person who does not deserve state support will get
subsidised grain, where an incorrect exclusion implies
that a poor person stays hungry. The balance of social
consideration has been t o argue t o minimise such
wrongful exclusion and err on the side keeping this
possibilit y t o a very low level even if this implies
GIST OF YOJ ANA VOL13 17
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some degree of wrongf ul i ncl usi on. Thus, t he
t arget ed populat ion shoul d exceed t he average
number of poor calculated by our surveys by a factor
dependent on the standard error.
In order to examine the implication of this, we
turn to some implications of poverty estimates from
the NSS 68
t h
round data from 2011-12 after a brief
review of the history of poverty measures in India
Poverty Estimation in India
Poverty estimation in India, since 1979 has
been done by the Planning Commission using data
f rom NSS surveys on househol d consumpt i on
expenditure. The methodology for estimation was
outlined in a report of a Task Force (1979) of t he
Planning Commission. The t ask force defined a
povert y line for urban and rural areas. They first
described an average calorie norm, worked out in
consi derat i on of t he age, sex and act i vi t y
composition of the population. The monetary value
for this norm was then derived from the expenditure
pattern of the 1972-73 NSS consumer expenditure
sur vey. Thi s was t hen t er med as t he base year
poverty line. This base year line was then periodically
revised by adjusting for inf lation. The percentage of
poor was then calculated in subsequent years using
t he di st ribut ion of consumpt i on expendit ure as
revealed in various NSS surveys with an adjustment
to the level of consumption to bring it in line with
nat i onal account s est i mat es of househol d
consumption.
This measure at t ract ed a lot of at t ent ion,
di scussi on and cri t i ci sm as well . The Pl anni ng
Commission decided to have a comprehensive review
by an Expert Group (1993). The group in their report
not ed The met hodol ogy f ol l owed i n of f i ci al
estimates of poverty ... has been regarded by some
as inappropriate and even inadequat e in giving a
represent at ive pict ure of incidence of povert y in
India. In fact , t he use of Stat e level est imat es of
povert y in allocat ing pl an resources for povert y
alleviation programmes has brought this debate into
sharper focus. The States have become very sensitive
about their respective est imat es of povert y. The
group t hen event ual l y r ecommended some
adjust ment s to t he procedure of the taskforce by
removing the link to national accounts, and allowing
for int er-st at e var iat ion in inf lat ion and also t o
change the basis for inf lation correction using CPI
rather than wholesale prices. But the essential norm
remained as it was in t he earli er t askforce. The
consequence was to bring about an adjustment for
t he l evel of t he est i mat e wi t hout al t er i ng i t s
statistical attributes.
This met hod, in t urn, received it s share of
analysis and criticisms. These criticisms centred on
t he met hod used for price adjust ment , t he rural
urban different ials in povert y and int er-alia t he
continued relevance of the 1973 basket for poverty
compari sons. A cont i nui ng concern was t he
purported under-counting of the poor specifically
from the view point of t argeted programs. These
concerns were sought to be addressed by another
expert commi t t ee const i t ut ed under t he
chairmanship of Prof. Tendulkar. The report of the
commi t t ee addresses t hese concerns t hrough a
somewhat complex process: they suggested formally
dropping the linkage to a calorie norm, which in any
case the expert group had implicitly done since they
had recommended the expenditure associated with
the norm for 1973 without changing the underlying
basket of goods. The committee suggested using the
urban poverty rate for 2004-05 arrived through the
earli er met hod, as t he ref erence rat e; and t he
associat ed basket of goods as the new normat ive
basket , appl i cabl e t o bot h urban and rural
households; and then updat ing t his expendit ure
using price data, implicitly captured in the NSSsurvey
in the form of unit values in the median household
class. This maintained a continued comparability with
the past, albeit through the urban poverty line, and
provi ded for a sli ght l y hi gher l evel of povert y
estimates. This approach clearly did not address the
central concern relating to under estimation of t he
proport i on of poor f or purposes of targeting; a
concern that manifested itself in a huge, somewhat
uni nf or med, publ i c debat e; l eadi ng t o t he
const it ut ion of yet anot her expert group, whose
report is still awaited.
We may not e that a common element in all
the criticisms is that the estimates are too low. The
response has been through calibration to adjust the
level. This response seems to have missed a key facet
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of how povert y measures are used in t arget i ng
syst ems. Consumpt ion as measured in t he NSS
sur veyor ot her povert y surveys i s compl ex
conceptually and is not feasible to measure through
a census. The general approach of a targeting system
is to develop some observable attributes that can be
si mpl y measured i n t he popul at i on and are
correlated with t he consumption poverty profile.
These at t ri but es are t ypical ly t hose t hat can be
captured in a census and are often stable over time.
These are then used to select entitled and excluded
populations usually subject to limits based on t he
poverty profile assessed through consumption. The
controversy arises, because these limits set through
average measures induce large errors of exclusion.
In our earlier discussion we had noted that use
of average thresholds in decision making can induce
errors of exclusion and inclusion. These errors are
expect ed t o be l i nked t o t he vari abi l i t y of t he
measure.
To explore t his it is useful to t urn t o some
operat ional charact erist ics of t he NSS consumer
expenditure survey. The NSS Consumer expenditure
survey is conduct ed over a full year from July t o
June (t ermed as a round, hence t he 68
t h
Round
covered July 1, 2011 to 30
lh
June, 2012). The survey
period is further divided into four sub-rounds, each
with a duration of three months, the 1st sub-round
period ranging from July to September, the 2nd sub-
round period from October to December and so on.
An equal number of sample villages/blocks (FSUs) is
allotted for survey in each of these four sub-rounds.
Thus each sub round is an independent samplecapable
of generating separate estimates for the country as
a whole and for each stat e. Thus, while t ypically,
povert y is est imat ed from t he sample for the full
year; it is in principal possible to also examine the
data across different sub-rounds.
The identification of the NSS year wit h the
agricultural year and the sub rounds wit h broad
agri cul t ural seasons, i t i s expect ed t hat some
seasonal characteristics will be there in the data. Thus
the detailed results for the Employment Survey of
t he NSS, whi ch i s carri ed out paral l el t o t he
consumer survey, from 2009-10 show that average
wage earnings per day received by casual wage
labourers i s t he lowest in sub-round 1 for bot h
males and females in rural and urban areas. What is
also interesting is the fact that this is also the case for
average weekly remuneration from public works.
Ref lecting, probably the lower amount of such works
in this time period. Sub Round l also has the highest
incidence of unemployment. If we look at intensity of
employment, in terms of the number of days worked
i n t he week, t hen agai n i n sub round 1 t he
percentage of people finding work all seven days is
the lowest, and the percentage not working on any
day is the highest.
Given the close association of employment and
earnings wit h poverty, one should expect to see a
similar pattern in poverty. This has been attempted
for some st at es in t he Table. This has been done
applying the state level poverty lines for the full year
to each sub round and by linear interpolation in the
rel evant deci l e cl ass. The resul t s yi el d some
interesting characteristics:
As expected the 1
51
sub-round and occasionally
the 2
nd
show the highest level of poverty. Further the
4
t h
sub round has usually t he lowest percentage of
pover t y. I n t hese 18 st at es i f we exami ne t he
poorest, these would be Chhatt isgarh, Jharkhand,
Bihar and Odisha; however t heir inter-se rankings
depends on t he sub round. Thus Odisha is second
onl y t o Chhat t i sgarh i n t he f i rst and t hi rd sub
rounds; Jharkhand appears to be the poorest in the
4
t h
sub round.
The povert y percent age al so vari es quit e
sharply as well between sub rounds. In the case of
Chhattisgarh, the poverty estimates can differ by as
much as 19 percentage points in rural areas and 16
points for the state as a whole. In fact , MP, Odisha
and Maharashtra also see large variations in their sub-
round wise poverty percentage. This is largely on
account of the fact that the fourth sub-round has a
much lower poverty rate than any other sub-round.
Further on expected lines, more developed states like
Punjab and Kerala see rel at i vel y l ow sub-round
vari at i on but qui t e i nt ri gui ngl y so does a l ess
developed state like Rajasthan! In general, the larger
and poorer stat es have higher seasonal variability
than the better off states.
The seasonal variabilit y is only part of t he
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problem. A relat ed question is on it s correlat ion
structure. If seasonal cross correlation across poverty
profiles is low then the overall measure cannot be a
simple average but a suit ably weight ed sum! We
cannot easily measure correlat ion across seasonal
measures because in the current design, households
are only measured once and we do not have a sense
of t hei r seasonal vari at ion in consumpt ion. I n
developed st at es, wit h less seasonal variat ion in
employment and also in st ates wit h strong active
anti poverty programs, the correlation is likely to be
high. In ot her cases correlat ion may be low. Our
measure of inter seasonal range is a partial indicator
of this possibility. Thus, suggesting that if our concern
is wit h t arget ing we should look for an all India
measure t hat aggregat es seasonal peaks across
st ates. The degree of int erst ate and even higher
interstate seasonal variability suggests that this type
of variat ion would increase as we go down further
into sub State level measures. In fact it is quite likely
t hat backward dist rict s would have much higher
seasonal variability in poverty. A targeting measure
seeking t o minimize exclusion would need t o be
based on both a very granular est imat e and take
account of t he vari abil it y at t hat level; t hus an
average based on dist rict level seasonal maxima
woul d be consi derabl y higher t han our current
estimates.
CONCLUSION
I n t hi s essay we have expl ored t he basi c
approaches to measure poverty and its areas of use.
Our discussion has pointed out that pot ential use
should describe the design of measurement.
Percentage below the poverty line (Tendulkar method) 2011-12 (selected states)
2011-12 RURUAL URBAN
Full Year SRI SR2 SR3 SR4 Full Year SR1 SR2 SR3 SR4
Andhra Pradesh 10.96 14.8 10.7 9.5 9.3 5.86 9.4 8.2 7.2 6.3
Assam 33.89 37 327 34 30 20.49 17.6 24.3 20.5 18.3
Bi har 34.06 31.8 39.8 34.9 30.6 31.23 30.2 39.5 23.7 32
Chhat t isgarh 44.61 50.8 50.8 41.6 31.2 24.75 25.6 23.5 26 21.9
Gujarat 21.54 26 26 18.6 15.9 10.14 14.4 11.1 9.2 9.2
Haryana 11.64 12 11.3 15.6 8.2 10.28 14.8 9.2 7.5 8.3
Jammu & Kashmi r 11.54 17.4 9.6 10 9 7.2 9.1 8.6 6.6 8.5
Jharkhand 40.84 42.5 43.4 34.9 36.3 24.83 25.3 31.5 20.1 15.5
Karnat aka 24.53 29.3 25.2 21.7 20 15.25 16.6 17.1 13.2 15.7
Kerala 9.14 11.6 10 9.2 9.4 4.97 9.4 8.1 7.3 8.5
Madhya Pradesh 35.74 43.6 45 34.6 31.4 21 27.8 22 20.3 15
Maharasht ra 24.22 33.2 23.8 25.7 17.5 9.12 13 9.2 8.2 9
Odisha 35.69 44.5 31.6 37.7 30.4 17.29 16.8 16.2 17 20.8
Punj ab 7.66 8.6 8.6 8.3 8.7 9.24 8.6 9.5 11.3 9.4
Rajast han 16.05 17.8 16.5 18 14.5 10.69 12.4 13.4 8.6 8.9
Tami l Nadu 15.83 18.3 18.7 18 10 6.54 10.9 8.3 8.2 6.4
Ut t ar Pradesh 30.4 33.5 32.4 28.4 26.7 26.06 31.1 27.7 29 18
West Bengal 22.52 26.5 21.4 24 16.8 14.66 16.1 17.6 15.3 12.4
All I ndi a 25.7 28.1 26.9 25.6 22 13.7 16.2 14.5 13.5 10
The poverty percentages are based on linear
interpolation in each decile. This leads to some over
estimation in the lowest decile class. Specifically using
poverty measures for targeting purposes implies that
we should be sensitive to likely errors of inclusion
and exclusion. This suggests that in addition to being
concerned about the location attributes of poverty
measures we should explore their variabilit y and
sources and structures in the variability. Existing
measurement designs have principally been focussed
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on estimates of mean rather than those of variance
and covariance.
Thi s has been part l y compounded by a
mi sunderst anding on t he nat ure of vari ance; it
should not be identified as a fault of the design but
a characteristic of the process itself. There is clearly
a need to develop from exist ing st udies a deeper
analysis of variance and covariance. Further we have,
in our di scussi on, examined vari abil it y onl y on
account of seasonal variations in economic activity.
But poverty is also affected by non-seasonal sources
of variat ion like healt h expenses, economic and
demographic cycles, natural disasters etc. Ideally we
should seek t o develop a st udy t o underst and t he
dynamics of povert y di rect ly. To appreciat e t he
distinction; at present the survey focuses extensively
on the nuances of consumer expenditure. Poverty is
pri nci pal l y a di st r i but i onal at t ri but e of t he
consumption distribution.
GROWTH &
EMPLOYMENT IN INDIA SOME TRENDS
Table 1 provides GDP growth, employment
growt h, product i vi t y gr owt h, el ast i ci t y of
employment with respect t o GDP since the early
1970s. The el ast i ci t y of empl oyment decl i ned
continuously from 0.52 in the 1970s to 0.02 in the
second half of 2000s.
The story of India shows that the relatively
hi gh gr owt h has not been j obl ess but i t s
employment content has been low and has declined
sharply over t he decades since t he early 19808.
Overall productivity is increasing particularly in the
formal sector but new employment is being created
in the low productive informal sector.
The numbers on GDP growth, employment
growth and elasticity by sectors for India are given in
Table 2. Employment growt h and elasticit y have
declined for the primary sector. Decline in the share
of agriculture in employment is needed. However, it
i s decl i ni ng i n manuf act uri ng sect or al so. The
elasticity of employment in manufacturing declined
from 0.78 in the 1970s to 0.25 in 20005. Similarly,
the eluticity of tertiary sector has declined from 0.77
t o 0.30 during t he same peri od. In t he last t wo
decades, empl oyment was generat ed more i n
construction sector trade, hotels, and storage.Two
ot her i mport ant t rends are observed in I ndian
economy.
One observes a jobless growth phenomenon
in organized manufact uring. The growt h rat e of
employment in t his sect or recorded consist ently
negative growth since late 19808 with growth rates
of-0.8 in 1988-94, -2.5 in 1994-2000,-5.9 in 1999-
2005 and -3.4 in 2005-2008. Secondly, the additional
employment generat ed mainly relates to informal
workers.
Around 63 million workers were added during
the period 1999-2000 to 2009-10. Out of that, 44.7
million were added to unorganized sector and 18.8
millions were informal organized workers. In other
words, all the additional employment generated was
of informal nature.
There are large numbers of working poor in
India. Around 92 per cent of the workers are in the
unorgani zed sect or wi t h low product i vit y, l ow
earnings, poor conditions of work and lack of social
protection. The Indian experience thus suggests the
need f or i ncrease i n quant i t y and qual i t y of
employment.
Global Experience: According to the Report of
the Global Employment Trends 2013 (ILO, 2013),
global unemployment is estimated to have increased
from 170 million in 2007 to 197 million in 2011.
Around 39 million people have dropped out of the
labour market as t hey do not see job prospect s.
These are also called discouraged workers. ILO
(2012a) indicates that although economies achieved
high growt h from t he early 2000s, employment
elasticity to growth has been low. The employment-
to-population ratio stagnated around 60 per cent
when the world economy was growing steadily. The
report says that while the trends may mask region nt
i s not respondi ng t o growt h coul d be due t o
st ruct ural changes t hat t he gl obal economy i s
undergoing.
Some of the structural changes are: (a) labour
saving technological advances; (b) workers are moving
to low productivity informal sector; (c) economies
are facing adjust ment s t o ensure environment al
sust ainability t o fight against climate change; (d)
some demand is coming from ext ract ive sect ors
which have low employment intensity.
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Table 1. GDP Growth, Employment, Productivity and Elasticity in India
Periods GDP Employment Productivity Elasticity of Employment
Growth (%) Growth (%) Growth (%) with respect to GDP
1972-73 t o 1983 4.66 2.44 2.22 0.52
1983 t o 1993-94 4.98 2.02 2.96 0.41
1993-94 t o 2004-05 6.27 1.84 4.43 0.29
1999-00 t o 2009-10 7.52 1.50 6.02 0.20
2004-05 t o 2009-10 9.08 0.22 8.86 0.02
Source: Deri ved f rom Papola (2012)
Table 2. GDP Growth, Employment, Elasticity in India by Sectors
Sector GDP Growth (%) Employment growth (%) Elasticity of Employment GDP
72-73 83 to 93-94to 99-00/ 72-73 83 to 93-94 99-00/ 72-73to 83 to 93-94to 99-00/
to 83 93/94 04-05 09-10 to 83 93/94 04-05 09-10 83 93/94 04-05 09-10
Primary Sect or 3.66 2.76 2.51 2.33 1.70 1.35 0.67 -0.13 0.46 0.49 0.26 -0.05
Manuf act uri ng 5.47 4.94 6.70 7.97 4.28 2.00 3.17 1.95 0.78 0.41 0.47 0.25
Const ruct ion 3.08 4.88 7.63 9.20 4.43 5.67 7.19 9.72 1.44 1.16 0.94 1.06
Secondary sect or 5.09 5.35 6.68 7.78 4.43 2.82 3.97 4.64 0.87 0.53 0.59 0.60
Trade, hot eling et c. 5.74 5.58 8.64 8.47 4.62 3.77 5.24 2.54 0.81 0.67 0.61 0.30
Transport &communica 6.48 6.03 10.57 14.50 5.88 3.39 5.16 3.68 0.91 0.56 0.49 0.25
Fi nancing, insurance et c. 5.95 9.07 7.29 9.47 7.43 3.58 7.23 7.68 1.25 0.39 0.99 0.81
Communit y, social et c. 4.49 5.86 0.53 6.58 3.18 3.91 0.40 1.85 0.71 0.67 0.06 0.28
Tert iary Sect or 5.46 6.58 8.00 9.35 4.21 3.77 3.41 2.83 0.77 0.57 0.43 0.30
AU non-agri . 5.31 6.12 7.54 8.84 4.30 3.36 3.64 3.61 0.81 0.55 0.48 0.41
Tot al 4.66 4.98 6.27 7.52 2.44 2.02 1.84 1.50 0.52 0.41 0.29 0.20
The concl usi on of I LO (20l2a) i s t hat (a)
growth is not a necessary condition for employment
generation although it is thought to be a necessary
condition (b) the st ruct ural changes in the world
economy do not seem t o be conduci ve f or
employment generation. The challenge at global level
i s creat i ng product i ve and decent jobs f or t he
working poor, the 200 million out of work and for
the 40 million people entering the labour force every
year plus those discouraged workers.
RUPEE DEPRICIATION SAME FACTS
Rupee Valuat ion against USD has t ouched
hist oric low rate of Rs. 68.80 recent ly. More such
historic levels with corrections are expected in the
near future. Technically ` is presently under volatile
t rend, caused by sudden change in demand and
supply forces in forex markets. Valuation of ` against
US $ has depreciated more than the 14 per cent in
the span of few weeks and daily change of ` 1 to ` 3
has become common.
Brief volat il e hist ory of Rupee movement
along with main inf luencing factors is as follows:
1947-No foreign bor rowings on Indias
balance sheet USDINR= ` 1
1951-Introduction of the Five-Year Plan, The
government started external borrowings to
finance welfare and development activities.
USDINR = ` 4.8
1975-85 - INR was devalued due to oil price
hike in early 70s, lower domestic production,
license raj and worsening BOP situation.
USDINR = ` 12.36
1991 - Serious BOP crisis. The country was
in the grip of high inf lation, low growth and
the foreign reserves were not even worth to
meet three weeks of import s. USDINR =
` 17.90
1993-INR was let free t o f low wit h t he
market sentiments, The exchange rates were
freed to be determined by the market, with
provisions of intervention by the central
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bank under t he si t uat i on of ext reme
volatility. USDINR = ` 31.37
2008 - INR has gradually depreciated since
the global 2008 economic crisis. Upward
correction made Rupee to appreciate also
to 39. USDINR = ` 49
Current - INR has depreciated further due
to out f low of foreign exchange, stuck up
economic policies, poor i nfrast ruct ure,
record high CAD, trade deficit , low growth.
USDINR = ` 68.80
Causes of Rupee Depreciation
It is essent ial t o underst and why Rupee is
depreci at i ng agai nst USD. ` i s under vol at i l e
pressures due t o combinat ion of number of India
specific economic factors and sudden emergence of
new international scenario. Some of the main Indian
based economi c f act ors are namel y, increase i n
current account deficit touching to 4.8 per cent of
GDP, sl ow down of expor t s due t o economi c
recession in Europe/ USA, increase in imports of oil
and non productive items like gold, sudden and fast
disinvestment by FII from Indian equit y and debt
markets, slow movements in liberalization process
and weak pol i t i cal sent i ment s causi ng overal l
negative picture of India. These issues are taking the
` towards sudden and deep decline, especially against
US $, Pound St erli ng, Euro and Yen. St ruct ural
economic problems like high inf lation, adverse fiscal
def i ci t due t o var i ous subsi dy schemes, weak
sentiments in capital markets, High Consumer Price
Index, decline in economic growth, f lat industrial
growth with decline in import of capital goods and
high liquidity available in local market, etc. accelerated
the speed of depreciation of ` against US$.
Market sentiments are very negative resulting
in Rs. drop from ` 60 to ` 68.80 in couple of weeks.
Now, one adverse f act or i s at t ract i ng negat ive
sent iments for ` causing an adverse feeling in the
economic scenario and fast depreciation of ` against
main invoice currency USD. Under valuation of Rupee
is mainly due to adverse market sentiments.
A major international event which triggered
steep fall of ` against USD was the st at ement of
Chairman of US Federal Reserve, Mr. Ben Bernan
keexpressing tightening of Quantitative Easing and
restrict ing supply of USD 85 billion per month to
boost USA economy. US Dol l ar i s al so get t i ng
st rengt h f rom revi si on of USA credi t r at i ng,
improvement in long term interest rates, expectation
of higher crude oil prices due t o Syria probl em,
recession in Euro zone and recent monetary policies
of European and Japanese Cent ral banks. Dollar
index has also touched a three years high level of
84.30, maki ng i t t he st ronger currency i n
international forex markets. These are some of the
international factors giving strength to US $ against
major currencies including ` Mainly, these local and
international factors caused high volatility in Rupee
valuat ion against USD which is creat ing serious
problems for economy and external sector.
Impact on Indian Economy & Corporates
Combination of these local and international
fact ors creat ed high volat ile situation for Rupee,
leading to historic low levels of US $ = Rs. 68.80,
=104.30 and = ` 86, with high probability of not
going back to 2012 levels. Volatility of Rupee has had
adverse effect on profitability, revenues, expenses,
costs, imports, increasing burden on foreign currency
loans and making our companies uncompetitive in
international business. Greater the volatility, higher
is the chance of frequent, unexpected and direction
l ess movement i n ext er nal val ue of Rupee
destabilizing the Indian economy. Volatility has to be
cont rol l ed soon t o st op f urt her damages and
uncertainty in business.
Weakeni ng of Rupee i s goi ng t o af fect
adversely, all main sectors of the economy. The rapid
decline in Rupee value will increase inf lation due to
increase in price of oil which in turn will adversely
affect all the related sectors of the economy. Inflation
wi ll not al low decli ne in int erest rat es whi ch is
essential for industrial growth. Weakening Rupee will
also make capital items import expensive, making our
compani es t o del ay i nvest ment s i n i ndust r y,
hamper i ng t he devel opment of much needed
manuf act ur i ng compet i t i veness and capaci t y.
Ultimately, it will lead to adverse economic scenario,
unemployment and recession. Now, currency rate
changes can suddenl y conver t pr of i t maki ng
transactions into loss making ones and vice versa.
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Impact and Challenges for Exporters
Rupee depreciation against US$ is good news
for our exporters specially in IT sector and those not
using imported inputs. Exporters using high contents
of imported raw material component like diamond,
jewellery, engineering goods etc. will be badly affected
by st eep appreci at i on of US$. Rs. depreciat ion
provides right platform to our exporters, to compete
wit h ot her suppliers in int ernat ional market s by
reduci ng pr ices wi t hout affect ing prof it abi li t y.
Exporters must avail this opportunity to penetrate
deep i nt o exi st i ng mar ket s by underst andi ng
business model of their foreign buyers. Exporters
must make their export supply chain effective and
efficient to meet future challenges. Such approach
will enhance competitive capacity and cost efficiency
which will help them to develop long term strategy
In international business.
Rupee depreciation has posed new challenges
for exporters. This is the best time for exporters to
devel op brand i mage i n t heir exi st ing and new
market s. Export sect or must focus on improving
technology, reducing costs, improve quality, develop
compet it ive manufact uring capacity and improve
efficiency of cheap labour. We may not get , in t he
near fut ure, such an encouragement for export
promotion. Policy making agencies should initiate
comprehensive packages for development of export
sect or. Thi s i s probabl y t he best t i me f or our
exporters to compete with China and replacing them
from certain foreign markets.
Effect on Imports and Loans Portfolio
Depreciation of ` is escalating the overall cost
of import business. Depreciating trend of Rupee is
against t he i nt erest of i mport ers, borrowers of
foreign currency on cheap interest rates, students
planning for higher studies abroad, tourists bound
for foreign destinations and for medical treatment
abroad, et c. As per RBI sur vey, major i t y of
companies have not hedged t heir repayment of
foreign currency loans raised in US$. Such casual
approach towards hedging of currency exposure has
made cheap foreign currency loans more expensive
than Rupee loans due to fast appreciation of loan
currency USD. Similarly, foreign acquisition plans by
Indian companies have become more expensive and
at the same time value of their old purchases have
become high value assets.
Importers have to either pass on high cost to
local consumers, pushing up inf lat i on in Indian
economy or develop local sourcing like Indian Auto
sect or. This sect or is dominat ed by experienced
Japanese, Korean, Eur opean and Ameri can
mul t i nat i onal Aut o compani es. To meet t he
challenges of Rs. depreciat ion, aut o indust ry has
developed a long term strategy to arrange auto parts
from Indian ancillary units. Rupee depreciation will
encourage locals in sourcing and will change business
models by encouraging exports to strong currency
areas and imports from weak currency countries.
The Way Ahead
History of US$/ ` rate reveals that once Rupee
val ue goes down, i t never ret ur ns back. Now,
corporates must make future business strategies by
t aki ng USD = 60 ` pl us exchange rat e i nt o
consideration. This is the right occasion to enhance
our export s and restrict non essential imports t o
correct Current Account Deficit and pressure on
Rupee. Bi g export ers may est abl ish warehouses
abroad or build manufacturing capacit ies in t heir
mai n i nt ernat ional market s. Long t erm export
promot ion strategies have t o be developed. Guru
mantra t o do int ernat ional business would be t o
reduce t he cost of each and every busi ness
transaction.
A f ocused pol i cy approach i s requi red t o
increase i nward remit t ances and Non-Resident
deposits. Sincere efforts are required to encourage
foreign inward remittances like issuing Dollar based
long period bonds and encouraging investments in
Indi a. Preserve t he foreign exchange reserve t o
prot ect the value of Rupee in unexpect ed market
situations.
We have to reduce our dependence on USD in
int ernational business. USD/ ` market turnover is
small as compared to international forex market and
still controlled by RBI. Change in demand and supply
of USD causes volatility, destabilizing the external
sector of the economy. Surplus dollar reserves should
be used for high value crude oil and military imports,
et c. so as t o reduce t he demand of USD in local
onshore f or ex market s. Government must
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encour age bi or mul t i l at eral agreement s, t o
encourage local currency payment in order to lesson
the dependence on third currency USD. Such policy
initiatives will lessen downward pressure on Rupee.
Emphasis should also be to use local currencies in
developing currency swap arrangements. Payment in
Rupee, negotiating for long credit periods for high
value imports and encouraging local investments in
production areas are some of the issues which will
reduce dependence and demand of USD in local forex
markets. Policy actions should be firm and growth
oriented to give positive sentiments to Rs.
DO YOU KNOW?
WHAT IS UNSTRUCTURED SUPPLEMENTARY SERVICE DATA (USSD)?
Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is a protocol used by GSM Cellular telephones
for communication with ser vice providers comput ers. USSD is an international syst em for
communication technology, which is used for sending text between a mobile phone and an
application program in the network. A USSD gateway routes messages from signalling network
to service application and back. In telecommunications, gateway is a central point at which several
different protocols or communications signals are controlled and routed. It is a technology unique
to the GSM. It is a session based communication which has a variety of applications. In interactive
applications it takes less time t han SMS, as it is a session based feature and not a store and
forward service. With 182 alpha numeric characters USSD messages create real-time connection
during a session. The connection allows a two-way exchange of a sequence of data; thus making
it a more responsive service. The process of interaction through USSD begins with the user
composing the message on the phone keyboard. It goes to the phone company network, where
it is received by a computer dedicated to USSD.
The response from computer is sent back to the phone. Most GSM phones have USSD capability.
A USSD message starts with an asterisk (*).The message ends with # sign. As far as the uses of
USSD are concerned, the most common use in our day-to-day life is to enquire about how much
balance we have in our mobile phone account at a particular time.
The user sends a Process Supplementary Service Request (PSSR) to the home zone. Under the
guidance of t he gat eway, it is sent t o t he correct appli cat ion. The appli cat ion sends an
acknowledgement via USSD gateway. PSSR responds back. The balance appears on the screen.
Balance notification at the end of charged call on our mobile phone screen is also done through
the use of unstructured supplementary service.
The use of above mentioned process is also done for voice chat . USSD is also a medium for
product-advert ising. These days, aggressive telemarket ing has been a cause of irrit at ion to
customers who do not like being unnecessarily disturbed in the midst of their hectic schedules.
USSD enabled advertising is less invasive than telemarketing.
The USSD services provide a virtual Home Environment (VHE) during roaming. This is because
USSD services are available in roaming
networks and the USSD messages are directed towards the subscriber home network. In this way
the change of geographical location of subscriber and going beyond ones network area does not
come in the way of smooth communication. The same set of services are thus enjoyed by the
subscriber while on roaming.
WHAT IS BRENT CRUDE?
Brent crude is a light crude oil. It got its name due to the fact that it was first produced from
the Brent oilfield. It contains about 0.37% of sulphur. It is suitable for production of petrol and
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BROAD GENDER GAP IN EMPLOYMENT
The 2009-10 employment survey by NSSO
revealed a startling fall in numbers of women in the
workforce si nce 2004-05. Not wi t hst anding t he
immediately following round of 20 11-12 showing a
slight increase in the number of women workers, the
fact remains that the female workforce was reduced
by more t han 19 mil li on bet ween 2004-05 and
2011-12, and f emal e work part i ci pat i on rat es
dropped t o t he l owest ever i n t he hi st ory of
independent India in 2011-12.
There is a widespread assumption t hat this
recent slump in work participation rates is due to
i ncreased part i ci pat i on i n educat i on, an
understanding that is ref lected in the 12th Plan as
well as the Economic Survey 2012-13. However,
detailed analysis of the 2004-05 and 2009-10 data
(when the fall in numbers of women workers was in
excess of 20 million) has shown that most of the fall
in womens employment cannot be accounted for by
education (Kannan, Raveendran 2012). Alt hough
low employment growth is indeed a general feature
of the liberalization era, the starkness of the absolute
fall in numbers of workers across the last half decade
or so is specific to women. The evidence from NSSOs
employment surveys t hus indicat es t hat we are
current l y i n t he mi dst of a hi ghl y gender ed
employment crisis. Taking a slightly longer view of
the period of reforms as a whole, workforce figures
from 1993-94 to 2011-13 show that contrary to the
general assumpt i on t hat global izat ion l eads t o
feminization of labour, female employment has been
laggi ng and t he gender gap in empl oyment has
widened. Womens share of overall employment has
actually fallen from close to 33 per cent in 1993-94
to around 27 per cent in 2011-12.
Some of us in womens st udies have been
arguing that the aggregate workforce figures that are
put out by the NSSO do not give us a true picture of
womens employment, since they include unpaid (and
therefore financially dependent) workers involved in
economic activities. In the case of women - the share
of such unpai d workers i s part icul arly high and
reached an all time high of 44 per cent of the female
workforce in 2004-05, t he only year across four
quinquennial rounds of employment surveys (1993-
94 t o 2009-10), when female work participation
rates had shown a marked increase. In contrast, the
share of unpaid helpers in the male workforce has
generally hovered around 15%. It has been argued
t hat for the purposes of underst anding trends in
employment opportunit ies for women, there is a
need t o specifically count paid or income earning
workers among women rather than just presenting
figures that lump paid and unpaid workers together.
Further, trends in unpaid work also require separate
and specific attention. It is perhaps time that policy
makers and analysts recognize that the separation of
pai d and unpai d wor k at t he macro-l evel i s
additionally important for focusing attention on how
development s in womens work and employment
are inf luencing some of t he qualit at ive changes
taking place in gender relations at several levels. The
sit uat ion of t he unpaid women workers assumes
par t i cul ar si gni f i cance i n t i mes of i ncreased
market isat ion when money incomes have become
more and more necessary f or even subsist ence
product i on/ consumpt ion. It would be logical t o
assume t hat i n such a si t uat i on, addi t i onal
distinctions would inevitably emerge between those
who bring i n money i ncomes and t hose unpaid
workers who dont (as opposed t o bot h working
t oget her i n a common product i on process f or
subsist ence). These, in turn would lead to shifting
already unequal power equations further in favour of
men - wi t hin f amil ies as wel l as i n t he broader
middle distillates. It is sourced from the North Sea. This type of oil is used as a benchmark to price
European, African, Middle Eastern oil. It was discovered in early 1960s. it is sourced by UK,
Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany. It is a light as well as sweet oil. It is a blend
of UKs two North Sea oils. The production of this oil now stands at 500,000 barrels a day. There
is a price difference between this oil and its counterparts. The depletion of North Sea oil fields
has also affected the prices. Differences in the supply and demand situat ion have also led to
difference in prices. However, the gap in prices is now less.
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society. Our argument s in this paper however, are
more concerned with opportunities or rather lack of
opportunities for women in paid employment. Given
the nature of the NSS data, some estimation of paid
or income earni ng workers can be arrived at by
excl udi ng al l unpai d hel pers f rom among t he
category of self employed in the workforce figures
(Mazumdar and Neetha, 2011). Provides estimations
of the numbers of paid or income earning workers
from 1993-94 to 2009-10, based on such a procedure
of excluding unpaid workers.
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G ist of
KURUKSHETRA
NEW HOPE TO FIGHT HUNGER
The much awaited National Food Security Bill
has been recent l y passed by voi ce vot e t he
Parliament. It will ensure legal food entitlement to
75% of t he rural populat ion and 50% of t he urban
population across the country at reasonably cheaper
price. The scheme provides for distribution of rice at
Rs. 3 per kilogram, wheat at Rs. 2 and coarse grains
at Re. 1 per person. From t he dat e t o be notified
Government would provide 5 kg of food-grains per
person per month to Priority households, and 35 kg
per household per month to 25 million Antyodaya
households.
The tot al number of Priority and Antyodaya
househol d woul d be 75 per cent of t he rur al
population and 50 per cent of the urban population,
t hus covering about 180 mil li on households as
against to only 100 million households right now. It
i s a wel come st ep and wi l l reduce hunger and
malnutrition in especially from the underprivileged
class in urban and rural areas.
The history of the Food Security Legislation in
I ndi a dat es back t o 1942 when t he Publ i c
Dist ribution Syst em (PDS) was evolved owing t o
shortage of food grains during World War II. The
then government had started distributing food grains
t hr ough PDS and t he i nt ervent i on had been
continued in major cities and certain food deficient
regi ons. However, t he poli cy on PDS has been
witnessed major changes with a universal approach
in certain phases after independence. The Seventh
Five Year Plan assigned t he PDS a crucial role by
bringing t he ent ire population into its ambit and
over t he years. I t evol ved as an i mport ant
government i nt ervent i on t owards ensuri ng
availability of food-grains to the public at affordable
prices as well as for tackling poverty However, a
Target ed PDS (TPDS) for food-grains has been in
place since 1997. Under the TPDS the quantum of
provisioning of food-grains varies across Below
Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL)
households with different prices.
The Nat ional Sample Survey Organizat ion
(NSSO) dat a i ndi cat ed t hat per capi t a f ood
expendi t ure dur i ng t he peri od 1993 t o 2010
increased only by 0.2 per cent annually in rural
India, and decreased by 0.1 per cent per annum in
the urban areas.
The cereal intake of the bottom 20 per cent in
rural India is only 10 kg per month as against 12 kg
for the top class of the population, though the poor
need more food as they do more manual work and
t hei r access t o f rui t s, veget abl es and mi l k i s
negligible. From their limited resources the poor are
forced t o spend more on heal t h, chi l drens
education, transport and fuel than before. Food is
still needed, but not demanded for lack of resources.
In the process they get stunted and malnourished.
Endemi c hunger cont i nues t o af f l i ct a l ar ge
proportion of Indian population.
The government of India took more than four
years after the President of Indias declaration in the
Parliament on 4th June 2009 to bring the National
Food Securi t y Act t hrough an Ordi nance. The
Gover nment s food secur i t y bi l l promi ses t he
count r ys 810 million poor persons coarse grains
(such as sorghum, pearl millet or bajra, and finger
millet or ragi) at 1 per kg. These coarse cereals are
rich in minerals especially micronutrients and would
help to reduce the micronutrients deficiency in the
t arget ed populace. The proposed Nat ional Food
28 VOL13 GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
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Security scheme will annually need 62 million tonnes
of food-grains (rice, wheat and coarse cereals such as
sorghum, pearl millet or bajra, and finger millet or
ragi). Last year, Government Agencies procured
around 82 million tonnes of food-grains. However,
havi ng passed t he f ood securi t y Bi l l i n t he
Parliament , its ardent proponent s are promising
freedom from hunger and malnutrition. The skeptics,
however, believe that it will have dire consequences
on t he f i scal si t uat i on, fur t her eroding Indi as
business confidence, slowing down growth, further
tumbling of the rupee and higher inf lation. To know
the reality, however, one needs to dig a little deeper
and only future course of action by the government
will tell the real success of the National Food Security
Bill.
However, for t his t o become a realit y, t he
government must focus on identifying Below Poverty
Line (BPL) households correctly during the exercise
of income status classification for the success of the
Nat i onal Food Securi t y Bi l l . Once t hose BPL
households, which currently do not have access to
subsidized food, receive an appropriat e ident it y
proof, t hey woul d be able t o avail food subsidy,
amounting t o the difference bet ween t he market
pri ces and t he subsi di zed pri ces. Then t he
Government will see the real fruits of this passed bill.
The National Food Security Bills success would also
be measured by t he proport i on of el i gi bl e
households t hat act uall y benef it from t he bi ll ,
especially in states with a large BPL population. The
government can leverage the Aadhar platform, and
link their Unique Identification Number to income
status, once the deserving beneficiaries are identified.
It will also pulp achieve the Millennium Development
Goals (MDG) of India through implementation of
t he Nat i onal Food Securi t y Act . The successf ul
implementation of the National Food Security Bill by
the Government Agencies will leave more savings in
t he hands of rural and urban below poverty line
(BPL) households, enabling them to spend on health,
educat ion and nut rit ious food and ult imat ely t o
overcome t he problem of malnut rit ion form t he
targeted population of India.
At this point of time we can only visualize the
bright future of t he National Food Security Bill to
reduce t he hunger and mal nut ri t i on f rom t he
underprivileged Indian population in t he years to
come.2.
WATER AND SANITATION
FOR QUALITY LIFE IN RURAL INDIA
A wide rural-urban divide exists in the quality
of life in India. Urban people have better access to
education, health, sanitation, transport , electricity,
banking, communicat ion and many other services
t han t hei r rural count erpar t s. Due t o l ack of
product ive jobs, modern ameni t ies and services
required for a decent living, many of rural people
migrat e t o ci t i es and t owns in search of bet t er
employment opport unit ies and basic amenit ies,
however, most of them could get employment in the
informal sector that does not have any social security
provision for them. A majority of them lives in slums
without having adequate basic civic amenities. These
are the rural migrants who, by and large, increase the
urban poverty and put more pressure on urban civic
services.
In order t o cont rol t he undesirable f low of
rural workforce t o urban area and to improve t he
quali t y of l i f e i n rural areas, cent ral and st at e
governments have implemented a number of socio-
economic development programmes in rural areas.
The most recent among t hem are Bharat Nirman,
NRHM, TSC, MGNREGS, IWDP, NRLM, etc. Schemes
like PURA (Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural
Areas) indent t o remove the rural-urban divide in
the quality of life and ensure that rural people may
get basic amenities and facilitates at par with that
are recei ved by t he urban peopl e. However, t he
PURA scheme, due to its limited coverage, could not
bring desired change in t he quality of life in rural
India. Although, these various rural development
schemes have improved t he socio-economic and
physical infrastructure and quality of life, however,
rural India is still far behind the urban India in terms
of various socio-economic development indicators.
India spends a little more than 4% of GDP on
heal t hcare .servi ces of whi ch publ i c sect or
const it utes only one-forth. About 80% of privat e
expendit ure on t he heal t hcare is out -of-pocket
expendi t ure. Inadequat e and i neff i ci ent publi c
GIST OF KURUKSHETRA VOL13 29
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healthcare infrastructure and inadequate access to
safe drinking water and sanitation has put enormous
burden of medical and health expenditure on rural
households. Economically marginalized groups suffer
more due to contaminated water and poor sanitation
and hygiene conditions as they cannot afford to buy
costly water purifiers and other sanitary and hygiene
related facilities. Therefore, preventive measures can
be more cost effective than the curative measures as
they would ensure better health of the people and
al so prevent l oss of product i vi t y and mi ssed
educat ional opport unit y t hat may occur due t o
morbidi t y among t he workers and school going
chi l dr en. A l arge sum of publ i c and pri vat e
expenditure on water-borne diseases could be saved
if quality of water and sanitation is improved. It is in
this context that this article attempts to examine the
role of water and sanitation in improving the quality
of life in rural areas.
Progress in Water and Sanitation
As per the Census data, drinking water from
three sources-tap, well, and hand pump/ tube-well-
is considered safe drinking water. India has made
si gnifi cant progress i n provi di ng access of safe
drinking water to the rural households. The number
of rural households having access to safe water has
increased from 26.5% in 1981 t o 82.7% in 2011.
Although at the national level percentage of rural
households having tap water has increased from 24.3
in 2001 to 30.8 in 2011, it varies significantly across
states. It was as high as 88.7 in Himachal Pradesh and
as low as 2.6 in Bihar in 2011. Percentage of rural
households having access to tap water was observed
much above t he average i n t he st at es li ke Tamil
Nadu, Maharasht ra, Karnat aka, Gujarat , Andhra
Pradesh, whi le i t was much below t he nat i onal
average i n t he st at es l i ke, Bi har, Jhar khand,
Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, etc. It
may be relevant t o not e t hat providing tap/ hand
pump water to the households may not always be
considered as safe if the very source of the water is
polluted and contaminated due to point and non-
point of sources of pollution.
Popul at i on Census 2011 al so provi des
i nf ormat ion on whet her t he t ap wat er is f rom
treated or untreated sources. At the national level
out of 30.8% rural households having tap water only
17.9% have it from the treated sources, while in
urban areas, out of 70.6% households having tap
water, 62% get it from t he t reat ed sources. This
shows t hat there is a huge gap between rural and
urban areas as far as access to safe drinking water is
considered. Some households also reported to treat
water before its use. Out of total 14.32 crore rural
households of India, only 2.86 crore (19.9%) reported
to treat the water before its use. Further, 2.23 lakh
rural households (0.78% of those who treated the
water) report ed to use ROs (Reverse Osmosis) to
purify water. Contrary to this, in urban areas, out of
5.57 crores total households, 2.08 crore (37.5%) used
the treated water. The share of ROs was 5.32% in
the total water treating households. In some part of
t he countr y, qualit y of wat er is so poor t hat t he
households have to purchase even the bottled water
for drinking. At t he nat i onal level, l0 per 1000
househol ds i n r ural areas and 31 per 1000
households in urban areas used the bottled water. As
report ed i n a st udy by Ni l i ma Das on Fact ors
Affect ing Consumer Purchase Decision of Wat er
Purifier in 2013, water purifier market in India is
growing at a compounded annual growt h rat e of
about 25% and is likely to touch Rs.70000 million by
2015 from t he current l evel of about Rs.32000
million.
Rural-urban divide is more visible in case of
access to sanitary facilities than the drinking water.
Although there has been some improvement in the
access to toilets in rural areas in 2011 over 2001 still
69.3% of rural households do not have any t oilet
facili t y in t hei r houses. The percent age of such
househol ds i n urban areas was onl y 18.6. The
percentage of households having access to water
closet latrine has increased significantly from 7.1 in
2001 to 19.4 in 2011 in rural areas and from 46.1 to
72.6 in urban areas, while percentage share of other
latrine has declined during the same period. It may
be mentioned here that under the Total Sanitation
Campaign (TSC) programme (1999) and Nirmal
Gram Puraskar (2003L coverage of rural sanitation
got a boost during t he last one decade. However,
there is a wide inter-stat e disparity in this regard
also. For example, percentage of rural households
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without toilet facility in 2011 was high as 92.4 in
Jharkhand and as low as 6.8 in Kerala. Similarly, in
urban areas al so, t he percent age of househol ds
without toilet facility was as low as 1.5 in Mizoram
and as high as 39.8 in Chhat t isgarh. Populat ion
Census 2011 also classifies the households using
water closet toilets into three categories, namely,
piped sewer system, seotic tank and other system.
Toilet liked to thepiped sewer system is considered
safest for sanitary and environment points of views.
The percentage of households having access to such
f aci l i t y was onl y 2.2 i n rural ar eas, whi l e t he
corresponding percentage in urban India was 32.7.
Access to drainage facility is another important
indicator of quality of life. As per the Census 2011,
63.2% of rural households did not have any drainage
facult ies, while t he corresponding percent age in
urban areas was only 18.2. Furt her, 31% of rural
househol ds had open drai nage, whi ch i s not
considered safe for t he healt h of the people. Only
5.7% of rural households had the closed drainage
facility, while in urban areas, the percentage of such
households was much higher (44.7%).
Linkage of
Water and Sanitation with Health
Water, sanit at ion, and health are the inter-
related issues that are required to be addressed in an
int egrat ed and holistic manner. Improved wat er,
sanitation and drainage facilities help to prevent the
wat er-borne/ wat er relat ed di seases and make
possible for the people to have a healthy and decent
life. Cont aminat ed wat er, open defecation, lack of
personal and food hygiene and improper disposal of
solid and liquid waste are key factors responsible for
morbidity. Since, victor-borne diseases are mostly
communi cabl e i n nat ure and have negat i ve
externalities; these can be effectively controlled only
if all t he rural people have access t o t hese basic
amenities. It is estimated that around 37.7 million
peopl e of I ndi a are af fect ed by t hese di seases
annually; 1.5 million children are estimated to die of
diarrhoea alone and 73 million working days are lost
each year due to waterborne diseases. The resulting
economic burden is estimated at $600 million a year
(www.wat eraid.org). It has been est imat ed t hat
diarrheal diseases can be reduced by an average of 6-
20 per cent with improvements in water supply and
by 32 per cent with improvements in sanitation.
Total Sanitation Campaign (1999) intends to
provide good sanit ation facilit ies in rural areas to
improve the overall health status of the people and
reduce the mortality rates, including IMR and CMR
Assessment St udy of Impact and Sust ainability of
Nirmal Gram Puraskar conducted by CMS Research
House, New Delhi for Department of Drinking Water
and Sanitat ion, Ministry of Rural Development in
2011 shows that after construction of sanitary toilets
in the sample households, intensity of water-borne
di seases has decl i ned. Si xt y one percent of
households reported a reduction in the occurrence of
water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery, and
jaundice. Furt her, 50% households also reported
weight-gain among their children after construction
of latrines. The const ruction of latrines had led to
less number of man-days lost of the working adults
due to illness, as reported by 51 % of the household
respondents Anot her 52% households report ed a
reduction the annual medical expenses.
Rural-urban divide in the access to these basic
ameni t i es al so expl ai ns, t o a great er ext ent ,
differences in the health status of rural and urban
households. As per the latest estimates, IMR in rural
areas was 51 per 1000, while corresponding rate in
the urban areas was only 31. Similarly, CMR was 15.7
in rural areas and only 8.7 in urban areas. Birth and
death rates were also observed higher in rural than
urban areas. Life expectation at birth in rural areas
was 62.1 years, while it was 68.8 years in urban areas.
Part l y t he rural -urban di f f erence i n t he heat h
outcome may be due t o the difference in monthly
per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE), which
is considered as a proxy for the level of living. For
example, as per the NSSO 68
t h
Round (July 2011-
June 2012), average MPCE i n rural areas was
Rs.1281.45, while it was Rs. Rs.2408.68 in urban
areas.
NSS 61
st
Round (January- June, 2004)
provides information on morbidit y in India. The
survey finds a broad positive association between
MPCE and proportion of ailing persons (PAP) in both
rural and urban areas. Similarly, MPCE was also
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found positively associated with number of cases of
hospitalization. However, it may not necessarily be
the case that the poor are less prone to diseases than
the rich, it may be due to underreporting of ailing
cases by t he poor or poor households could not
afford t o admit their ailing members to hospitals.
Al t hough on an average, expendi t ure per
hospitalization was higher in urban (Rs.8851) than
rural (Rs. 5695) areas; rural people spent more
amount of money on transport, escort, lodging etc
relat ed to the patient treatment than their urban
counterparts. According to the 61t round, diarrhoea
accounted for the third largest number of cases of
hospitalisation in India. It accounted for 7.6% of all
hospitalized cases in rural and 6.2% cases in urban
areas. This implies that intensity of diarrhoea was
hi gher i n rural t han t he urban ar eas. Thus,
prevention of morbidly would not only reduce the
burden of medical expenditure on t he households
but al so hel p t o reduce t he l oss of i ncome and
productivity that occurs due to morbidity.
Role of
Local Self-Government Institutions
Under t he 73d Const itut ional Amendment
Act, drinking water, sewage and sanitation are the
subjects of Gram Panchayat (GP). These institutions
can playa vital role in prevent ing the water-borne
diseases by improving the wat er, sanit at ion and
drai nage syst em in t heir juri sdict i on. Wi t h t he
technical support from the government officials and
local NGOs, they can prepare and execut e village
master plan for water supply, sewage and drainage.
However, it is dismal t o not e that even after two
decades of new Panchayati Raj System in India; PRls
have not yet become t he effect ive inst it ut ions of
local self governance in most of the states. The main
reason for this state of affair seems to be the article
243G of the Act which provides discretionary power
t o t he st at e government s t o t ransfer or not t o
t ransfer 29 subject s of local import ance t o t hese
institutions. Provisions of this article create inter-
state differences in the power and functions of PRls.
Some states have devolved more funds, functions and
functionaries to these bodies, while others have not
done much progress in this regard.
Effort s are, therefore, required to build t he
capacity of these institutions. Apart from equipping
them with trained staff and sufficient funds, elected
members of t hese inst itut ions be sensit ized and
made aware of the tangible and non-tangible benefits
of proper operation, construction, management and
maintenance of safe drinking water and sanitation
servi ces. A cl ean hygieni c envi ronment can be
ensured only when the people make demand for it.
Therefore, wit h t he involvement of civil societ y
organizations, local demand for improved water and
sanitation services may be created. Approach Paper
to the 12th Plan highlights that: An important reason
for the relative lack of success of many flagship
programmes in India is that the local institutions that
should run these programmes are not adequately
empowered.
I t i s good t o not e t hat t he 13
t h
Fi nance
Commission of India recommended separate grants
t o PRls, which could be part ly used t o meet t he
operation and maintenance expenditure incurred by
them on ensuring pot able drinking water supply.
During the 12th Plan, the Ministry of Panchayat Raj
proposed t o int roduce Rajeev Gandhi Panchayat
Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA), a 100% centrally
sponsored scheme to improving their administrative
and technical capacities, promoting democratic and
participative decision making and putting in place
accountability process of social audit. These efforts
may be more effect ive if Gram Sabha (GS) is also
empowered along with t he GP. Without a vibrant ,
enlightened and motivated GS, activities of GP may
remain Pradhan-cent ric. Act i ve involvement of
members of GS, particularly those of disadvantaged
groups, in the decision-making, planning, execution
and benefit sharing is quite essential. More crucial is
to develop the capacity of local CBOs (Community
Based Organizat ion) and institutions so that they
may take active participation in the functioning of
GP which has now become t he hub of almost all
development activities in the rural areas.
Monitoring the quality of water and sanitation
services by the government machinery may not be
economically viable in the rural areas. There is need
to train at group of young persons (4-5) in each GP
so that they may periodically monitor the quality of
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drinking water, educate the households about the
benef i t s of saf e dri nki ng wat er and i mproved
sani t at ion. These t rained yout hs should also be
i nvol ved i n mai nt ai ni ng t he soci o-economi c,
demographic and healt h relat ed dat abase at t he
village level. Maintenance of such GP-Ievel database
is necessary t o design, formulat e and implement
ef f ect i ve grass root s l evel pl anni ng f or t he
sustainable development of the village community.
These t rai ned yout hs shoul d be gi ven some
honorarium by the GP for this purpose.
Summing Up
Quality of life is the function of various socio-
economi c-cul t ural, environment al and physical
development indicators. This article focuses mainly
on t he role of wat er, sanit at ion and drainage in
improving the quality of life of rural households. Due
to lack of safe water, sanitary and drainage system,
the intensit y of water-borne diseases is higher in
rural than urban areas. Inadequate and inefficient
delivery of these basic amenities in the rural areas
put enormous burden of di seases on rur al
households, especially the poor households who are
not able t o afford to have cost ly wat er-purifying
system. Huge amount of out-of-pocket expenditure
on medical treatments by the rural households can
be saved i f al l t he househol ds have access t o
uncontaminated drinking water and sanitary toilets
properl y l i nked wi t h t he sewer syst em. I t i s,
therefore, necessary to protect the water bodies in
general and drinking water sources in particular from
both point and non-point sources of pollution. In this
regard, rural community should be made aware of
t he t angible and non-t angible benefits of having
clean wat er, no open-air defecat ion and covered
drainage system. Health benefits of t he improved
wat er, sanit at ion and drainage syst em would be
opt imized when the entire community adopts the
system.3.
MEASURES TO
IMPROVES RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Inf rast ruct ure Development is crit i cal for
I ndi as economi c growt h and f or sust ai nabl e
development. Building world class infrastructure is a
pre-condition for attaining a sustained growth of 7%
to 8% per annum, which is needed to improve the
quality of life of the citizens.
Infrastructure has been defined as comprising
t hose basi c ser vi ces wi t hout whi ch pr i mar y,
secondary and tertiary productive activities cannot
function. Also referred to as Social Overhead Capital,
investment in infrastructure is meant to encourage
investment later, other directly productive activities.
Simply stating, infrastructure includes transportation
services such as roads, railways, port s and civil
avi at i on, t el ecommuni cat i on, power, wat er
management.
India st ill lives in its villages. It s economic
growth and development depends to a large extent
upon the development of it s 700- million st rong
rural population. Majority of the population lives in
about 600,000 small villages and is engaged primarily
in agriculture, directly or indirectly. According to a
Nat ional Sample Survey report, a majority of our
villages do not have basic infrastructural facilities like
electricity, drinking water, post offices and even pre-
primary schools.
Therefore development of rural infrastructure
is important for achieving a higher rat e of growth
and improving the overall quality of life.
Rural infrastructure may be defined as those
wide ranges of public facilit ies or infrast ruct ural
arr angement s desi gned excl usi vel y f or t he
betterment of rural life and initiated mostly by the
Government and made available within rural areas.
For exampl e, provi sioni ng of all -weat her road
connectivity t o rural areas, elect ricity dist ribut ion
facilities and telecommunication networks will act as
a catalytic intervention for the rural population by
ensuring their access to a vast range of economically
gainful activities, regulated and fair market, health,
education and other public services; availability of
war ehouses and god owns i n rural ar eas can
ameliorate food security concerns; irrigation facilities
can boost up agr i cul t ural product i vi t y, reduce
vulnerability to drought, and stabilize yields. Thus, a
concer t ed ef f ort t owards bui l di ng rur al
infrast ruct ure, t o a great ext ent , can bridge t he
rural-urban development gap by accelerating the
growth of rural economy and increasing the quality
of life of the rural people.
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Rural Infrastructure - a Five-fold Impact
on the Economy
Development of rural infrastructure has a
five-fold impact on the economy.
Creating better access to employment and
providing further earning opportunities.
Increase in production efficiency.
Creating access to previously inaccessible
commodities and services.
Time saving which can be better utilized in
productive activities.
Better health and physical condition of the
rural population.
For providing a concert ed ef fort t owards
st rengt hening t he base of rural infrast ruct ure, a
t ime-bound comprehensive plan call ed Bharat
Nirman was initiated in 2005 by the Government of
India, with its six major areas of intervention like
(1) improving rural housing,
(2) boosting irrigation,
(3) developing road-connectivity in villages,
(4) strengthening rural water supply,
(5) promoting rural electrification and
(6) expandi ng r ural t el ecommuni cat i on
connectivity.
Current ly, quit e a few number of Cent rally
Sponsored schemes and programs are in operation to
achieve the overall goal of Bharat Nirman.
Indira Awaas Yojana (lAY): ai ms at
provisioning free houses for Scheduled Castes (SC)/
Schedul ed Tri bes (ST) popul at i on l i vi ng below
poverty line. During 2009-10, against the physical
t arget of 40.52 lakh houses - 21.18 lakhs houses
have been constructed till January, 2010 and 27.53
lakh houses are under construction. New target of
1.2 crore houses by 2014 has been adopted.
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
(PMGSY): Introduced as a fully funded Cent rally
Sponsored Scheme on 25
t h
December 2000, Pradhan
Mant ri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) t arget s t o
provide all weather road connectivit y across rural
parts of the nation. Till December 2009, a tot al of
33,812 habi t at i ons have been connect ed by
const ructing 97,583 KM, rural roads; in addit ion,
1,84,353 KM. exi st i ng rur al r oads have been
upgraded.
Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC): The
Tot al Sanit at ion Campaign (TSC) was st art ed in
1999; by adopt i ng a part i ci pat ory approach t o
promote rural sanitation, has shown some amazing
result s in t he last few years by encouraging t he
st akehol der-shi ps of Gram panchayat s i n
maintenance of sanitation and hygiene in villages. For
coverage under TSC, project s in 606 dist rict s of
different States in the country have been sanctioned
during 2009-10. The campaign has been successful in
the construction of 125.2 lakh individual households
latrines and 1.44 lakh school toilets.
National Drinking Water Mission
(NDWM): adopts an integrated approach to provide
sustainable supply of safe drinking water to the rural
population. Against the target of covering 586 not
covered 1.23 lakh slipped back and 34,595 quality
affected habitations ... 253 not covered and 1.18
lakh slipped back habit at ions were covered and
32,129 quality affected habitations were addressed
duri ng t he year 2009-10 by NRDWP and about
4,500 rural schools have reportedly been provided
with drinking water facilities.
Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran
Yojana (RGGVY): was launched in April, 2005 for
accelerating the process of rural electrification in the
country. For the year 2009-10, RGGVY set a target
to electrify 17,500 un-electrified villages and 47 lakh
Below Poverty Line (BPL) Households against which
18,374 villages and 47.18 lakh Households were
provided access to electricity.
Rural Infrastructure Development Fund
(RIDF): a NABARD assisted initiative, is also playing
an i mperat i ve rol e i n l i nki ng rural vi l l ages by
providing road-connectivity across rural India. As a
result of the telecom penetration which has been
evident across villages in recent years, rural tele-
densit y has increased from 2006's figure of 2 per
cent to 33.79 per cent as of March 2011; statistics
al so shows t hat t he number of rural wi rel ess
subscriber has drastically grown up to 282.23 million
as on March 2011, from March 2010's figure of 200
million. As far as facilitating irrigation is concerned,
till 2009 - 6.5 million hectares of rural land has been
brought under assured irrigation and it has also been
planned to cover the remaining 3.5 million hectares
by 2012
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Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA): Aiming
at ensuring 100 days guaranteed employment for
every rural household in a financial year - has put a
major emphasis on creation of durable community
assets as well as social and economic infrastructure in
rural areas. Since its inception, in September 2005,
the program has been instrumental in enhancement
of rural livelihood opportunities on a sustained basis,
by developing need-based rural infrast ruct ures.
During financial year 2009-10, 36.511akh works were
undert aken, of whi ch 51% const i t ut ed wat er
conser vat i on, 16% rural connect ivit y, 14% land
development and provision of irrigation facility to
individual beneficiaries constituted around 17%.
Rural Health: The Nat ional Rural Healt h
Mission (NRHM) was launched by the Government
of India in April 2005, with a view to brining about
dramatic improvement in the health system and the
health status of the people, especially those who live
in the rural areas of the country. The Mission seeks
to provide universal access to equitable, affordable
and quality health care which is accountable and at
the same time responsive to the needs of the people.
The NRHM also aims t o achieve the goals set out
under the National Health Policy and the Millennium
Development Goals during the Mission period.
Education: A National Mission on Education
t hr ough I nf ormat i on and Communi cat i on
Technology was launched in Februar y 2009. The
proposed Mission aims at ensuring connectivity of
the learners to the World of Knowledge in cyberspace
and enhance their self-learning skills and capabilities
for online problem solving and to work for creation
of knowledge modules with right contents to address
the personalized needs of learners; certification of
compet encies of t he learners; acquired t hrough
formal or non-formal means; and t o develop and
maint ain t he dat abase having profil e of human
resources.
Non Conventional Energy: I ndi a has
developed one of the worlds largest programmes
for renewable energy, covering the entire gamut of
technologies including biogas, biomass, solar energy,
wind energy, small hydro power, geothermal energy
and other emerging technologies.
Bharat Nirman: Intensifying Effort towards
Achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Targets for Rural India Bharat Nirman has appeared
t o be a key player boost i ng rural Indias journey
towards achievement of MDG-targets. Some of the
key goals addressed by t his programme may be
enumerated as follows:
1. Poverty and Hunger Reduction- Studies
by Pl anni ng Commi ssi on have r eveal ed t hat
i nadequat e rur al i nf rast ruct ur e has been
instrument al in accelerat ing t he growt h of rural
povert y; and poor purchasing power among rural
population ultimately leads to wide-spread hunger
and food insecurity across rural India. Under Bharat
Ni r man-a major i mpet us t owards need based
development of rural infrast ruct ure and focus on
irrigation has shown some tangible changes in this
direction.
2. Universalisation of Primary Education-
Infrastructure has been a major barrier in access to
education across rural India. Under Bharat Nirman,
electricity, accessible roads and safe drinking water
provisions have been promoted. This has encouraged
more and more children and youth specially girls to
come forward and avail education facilities across the
country.
3. Health Related Goals - Provisioning of
safe drinking water and facilitating water supply in
under-served areas is appearing t o be a boon for
boost i ng up t he heal t h rel at ed goal s under
Millennium Commitments - be it child or mental
healt h and fighting diseases like HIV. St udies by
developmental organisations like WHO and Water -
Aid have brought into light that at any given point
of time 20% of people around the world are effected
by water borne diseases. Hence access to clean and
safe drinking water under Bharat Nirman has been a
positive initiative towards this direction. Accessibility
t o roads have helped in promot ing inst it ut ional
delivery across rural India reducing percent age of
mat ernal and chi ld mort ali t y t o a consi derabl e
number.
4. Ensuring Environmental Sustaina-
bility- Saf e and adequat e wat er suppl y has
promoted hygienic sanitation practices across rural
I ndi a. Thi s has cr eat ed a posi t i ve i mpact on
environment sustainability.
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Facing The Ground Reality: The Task Ahead
Following are the few strategies that can be followed
for ensuring greater reach ability of the programme:
4. Promoting Public Private Partnership
in Infrastructure Building- Devel opment of
I nf rast ruct ure i s t he sol e obj ect i ve of t hi s
programme. Thi s can be f urt her boost ed by
encouraging appropriate public-private partnership.
Since the financial resource of the government is
l imi t ed, pri vat e i nvest ment s i n t he sect or wil l
increase fund-f low and will help reach the targets of
Bharat Nirman.
2. Setting area-specific targets-
Requi rement of every rural area is uni que and
different. Sectoral allocation of resources could be an
important step so that resources are well utilized.
Therefore steps can be taken to identify area specific
needs in collaboration with local Panchayats of the
area. Chalking out essential requirements will help in
providing effective intervention and reduce wastage
of resources under this programme.
3. Initiating suitable measures/
mechanisms for regular monitoring and
evaluation at the grassroots level - Every
programme and scheme implement ed across the
country appears to very effective in pen and papers;
however t here are gaps in implementation due to
limit at ions in every region. Suit able monit oring
mechanisms coul d be formulat ed so t hat every
scheme under the programme could be evaluat ed,
rol e of st akeholders can be re-analysed and t he
programme can be upgraded and implemented in a
better way.
4. Reducing the inequality in Regional
growth - Generally it is observed that compared to
mainstream area development, many backward areas
l i ke t he Nort h-East ar e of t en l ef t devoi d of
development . St eps should be taken so t hat this
regional balance in development can be reduced and
a holistic approach should be adopted.
5. Encouraging role of civil society
institutions - Civil Societ ies can be involved in
different aspects or programme implementation.
They can playa support ive role t o panchayat i raj
i nst i t ut i ons l i ke f or exampl e - need based
monitoring, follow up which may be instrumental in
further up-gradation of the programme.
6. Proper utilization of community
resources under Bharat Nirman Plan - Keeping in
view t he f inancial and human resources of t he
Government, steps should be taken so that different
community level resources are utilized at different
stages of programme implementation.
7. Capacity building and training of
Panchayat officials - Panchayat and ot her
government represent at i ves specially t he newly
elected leaders, women leaders should be provided
adequate training from time to time to ensure better
performance as t hey are t he key players at t he
grassroot s l evel f or i mpl ement at i on of t he
programme. The members shoul d be provided
sui t able orient at ion regarding proper usage of
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Participatory
Learning and Action (PLA) while allocating resource
for identification of rural infrastructure needs.
8. Encouraging more autonomy to Gram
Sabha for a transparent planning at the village
level- Being the executing unit of Gram Panchayat;
Gram Sabha should be given more aut onomy in
designing the layout of different initiat ives under
Bharat Nirman. Autonomous functioning of Gram
Sabha will boost up peoples participation promoting
stakeholder ship in the programme.
The infrastructure sector has both backward
and forward linkages with the agricultural and the
industrial sectors and therefore the development of
t hi s sect or i s a pr erequi si t e f or t he overal l
devel opment of t he economy. Infrast ruct ure, in
general, and rural i nf rast ruct ure in part i cul ar,
cont ri but es t o economi c devel opment bot h by
increasing productivity and by providing amenities
which enhance t he quality of life. The problem of
inadequate infrastructure in rural areas can also be
interpreted in terms of access rather than availability
of services. Bharat Nirman wit h it s t ime-bound
int egrat ed approach can hel p bui ld sust ainable
infrastructure which will help in asset creation for the
Nation as well as to bridge the ban rural divide in the
context of development.4.
INITIATIVE FOR
RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA
Rural India is the real face of our country as it
represents 68.9 per cent of our population. We need
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cont i nuous ef f ort s t o accel er at e t he growt h
t raject ory t o maint ain t he rural landscape of our
count r y. It is i mport ant t o not e here t hat rural
demography is very import ant to food security of
our country because it provide the important human
resource to propel the various efforts. According to
the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO),
the nominal per capita expenditure growth in rural
India has been nearly 38 per cent.
Thi s i s f or t he f i r st t i me t he per capi t a
expenditure growth has been significantly higher in
the rural areas compared to a little over 34 per cent
in urban India. In 2012, rural areas in India laid claim
t o 56 per cent of Indi as income, 64 per cent of
consumer expendit ure and 33 per cent of Indias
savi ngs. Rural I ndi as share of consumpt ion of
popular consumer goods and durables stood at 30-
60 percent , and sales t o rural India are growing
steadily. Per capita rural consumption in India grew
annually at 19 percent between 2009-10 and 2011-
12 which was two percentage points higher than its
urban counterpart. In incremental terms, spending
by rural India during t hese two years reached Rs.
3,750 billion, significantly higher than the Rs. 2,994
billion spent by urbanites.
The concer t ed ef f ort s of t he Cent r al
Government have changed the life of the people in
the rural areas. People below the poverty line have
been reduced by 137 million in the last 8 years in
absolute number according to the criteria fixed by
the Tendulkar Committee. In 2011-12, our country
had 270 million persons below t he poverty line as
compared to 407 million in 2004-5. The percentage
of persons below the Poverty Line has been reduced
from 41.8 to 25.7 per cent in rural areas and from
37.2 to 21.9 per cent for the country as a whole. The
development is consistent as 50.1 per cent in rural
areas and 45.3 per cent for the count ry as a whole
were bel ow povert y l ine i n 1993-94. There are
number of fact ors responsible for t his st imulus.
Education is one of them. Mobile telephony is also
t he indicat or of our development to some ext ent
and out of total 861 million mobile phone users in
the country, 333 million are from rural India.
Rural Literacy
Education plays the role of foundation stone in
t he overal l soci o-economi c devel opment of a
country. It is an effective tool for the empowerment
of a community. In 1901 only five per cent of our
total population was literate. The rural literacy rate
which was 24.48 per cent in 1961, improved to 68.91
per cent in 2011 ref lecting an average growth rate of
0.89 per cent per annum during the last 50 years
under context. On the other hand, urban literacy rate
also went up from 58.59 per cent to 84.99 per cent,
showing the average annual growth rate of 0.53 per
cent during 1961-2011. A posit ive development
during the reference period has been that the literacy
rate improved at a faster rate in rural as compared
to urban areas. As a result, the gap in rural-urban
literacy rate narrowed down from 34.11 percentage
points in 1961 to 16.06 percentage points in 2011.
Improvement in Other Vital Statistics
Heal t h is anot her i mport ant indicat or of
quality of life and various health indicators have also
shown significant improvement. Crude birth rate in
rural India declined from 38.9 per thousand in 1971
to 23.7 per thousand in 2010. On t he other hand,
urban areas of the country also witnessed a decline
in birt h rat e from 30.1 per t housand to 18.0 per
thousand during the same period. It is evident that
birth rate in rural areas came down at a faster rate
as compared to urban areas. Death rate in rural areas
also came down from 16.4 per thousand to 7.7 per
thousand during 1971-2010. Due to the extension of
medical and health facilities at an accelerated pace in
rural areas of the count ry, t he rural urban gap in
death rate came down from 6.7 per thousand to 1.9
per thousand during the period 1971-2010. Infant
mortality rate is also an important indicator of level
of economic development of a countr y. There has
been a sharp decline in rural infant mortality rate
from 138 per thousand in 1971 to 51 per thousand
in 2010. Urban areas also witnessed a decline from
82 to 31 per thousand in infant mortality rate during
this period. Infant mortality rate is high in rural areas
which are matter of concern but the National Rural
Health Mission will help immensely to overcome this
bot tleneck. The rural urban differentials in infant
mortalit y rat e narrowed down from 56 t o 20 per
thousand during the period under context. National
Rural Health Mission was launched in 2005. There
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has been a dramat ic decl ine i n Indias child and
mat ernal mort alit y figures since 2008 aft er t he
NRHM was rolled out. In fact , the decline in Indias
under-five mortality and Maternal Mortality Ratio
{MMR} has been sharper than the global figures. In
1990, Indias under-five mortality was 114 deaths
per 1,000 live births whereas the global average was
87. According to the 2011 official statistics, only 55
Indian children die in the first five years of their life
and globally the figure is 51. Similarly on the Mother
Mort alit y Rat e front , 600 women died for every
1,00,000 live births in 1990, while the global figure
was 400. Now, it has decreased to 212 whereas the
global average is 260. Again, the decline is 65 per cent
in India whereas it is 35 per cent globally. Encouraged
by t hese results, now the Central government has
i dent if ied 184 hi gh pri orit y di st ri ct s, based on
composite health index across States and announced
30 per cent higher allocations, better infrastructure
and incentives for human resources to bring these at
par with the rest.
Rural Employment
Traditionally agriculture is the main occupation
of t he peopl e i n t he rural ar eas. The shar e of
agriculture to overall GDP in India has come down to
14 percent, while 66.2 percent of rural males and
81.6 percent of rural f emal es are engaged i n
agriculture as cultivators or labourers. Inadequate
diversification has taken place in rural occupations as
many 66.2 percent of rural males and 81.6 percent
of rural females, report ing agri cul t ure as t hei r
principal economic activity. Rural India remain the
focus of policymakers as 10.1 per cent of its labour
force is unemployed compared with 7.3 per cent in
urban areas. In rural areas, agriculture continues to
be the dominant employer (52 per cent), followed by
construction (7.2 per cent), manufacturing (6.7 per
cent ), and communi t y servi ces {6.3 per cent }.
Alt hough t here is a case for st rengthening well-
concei ved schemes guarant eei ng mi ni mum
employment, they could at best be bridge solutions.
Upgrading the skills of the rural workforce to enable
it to match the requirements of the manufacturing
and services sect ors would provide more last ing
resul t s. Agri cul t ur e i s t he most i mport ant
component of development in t he rural areas.
Agricult ure accounts for about 10 per cent of t he
total export earnings and provides raw material to a
large number of industries. Agriculture in India uses
52 per cent of t he work force, contribut es 14 per
cent of Gross Domestic Product of the country. One
of t he most import ant f act ors for empl oyment
generation in the agriculture is to maintain the high
growth rate. Agriculture provides the principal means
of livelihood for over 52 per cent of our population
whi ch l i ves i n t he rural areas. But , of l at e t he
transition away from agriculture has accelerated. The
transition from agriculture to industry and services
has been rapid in rural India over the past decade.
This change has been possible because almost 75 per
cent of the new factories during the last decade came
up in rural India, contributing to 70 per cent of all
new manuf act ur i ng jobs creat ed. As a r esul t ,
manufacturing GDP in rural India witnessed an 18
per cent compound annual growt h rat e (CAGR)
during 1999-09, and is now 55 per cent of Indias
manufacturing GDP. Presently, The Mahatma Gandhi
Nat i onal Rural Empl oyment Guarant ee Act
(MGNREGA) i s a f l agshi p programme of
Government of India for providing employment to
the rural people. In 2012-13, 4.48 crore households
were provided employment and 163.38 crore person
days of employment were generat ed. During t he
period, 64.54 lakh works were undertaken, of which
58 per cent for water conservation, 12 per cent for
the provision of irrigation facilit y, 18 per cent for
rur al connect i vi t y and 8 per cent f or l and
development.
Non-farm Employment Opportunities
According to the 68
t h
round of the NSSO, 13.9
million jobs were creat ed in two years from June
2010 till January 2012. It is important because the
increase in employment during 2004-05 to 2009-10
was merely 1.1 million. It may be interpreted as a
remarkable achievement, more so when the sharp
increase in addit ional jobs came about at a t ime
when t he I ndi an economy was experi enci ng a
downturn with the GDP growth slipping from 9.3 per
cent i n 2010-11 t o 6.2 per cent i n 2011-12.
Significant finding is that rural women are shifting
towards self-help groups and self-employment, which
is clear from the percentage of women taking up self-
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employment rising to 59 per cent in 2011-12 from
56 per cent i n 2009-10. Non-farm empl oyment
opportunities are very important for increasing the
income of people in the rural areas. There have been
periodic init iatives of the Cent ral Government in
int roducing innovat ive schemes t o engage rural
yout h i n non-f arm empl oyment . Rural Sel f -
Employment Training Institutes (RESTI) are one of
such recent initiatives.
These institutes are promoted for the purpose
of providing opport unities to the rural youth for
their skill upgradation leading to self-employment.
The Ministry of Rural Development has established
RSETls in all the rural districts of the country. These
institutes are managed and run by the public/ private
sect or banks with active support of t he St ate and
Central Government s. The RESTls core offering
includes its free, unique and int ensive short-term
residential training designed for rural youth. These
instit utes primarily focuses on below povert y line
rur al yout h and are based on demand dri ven
approach which provide a wide choice of vocations
and continued hand holding to ensure sustainability
of micro enterprise and credit linkage after training.
So far, more than 190 RSETls have been established
i n di f f erent St at es of t he count ry wi t h act i ve
participation of 35 public/ private banks, and these
instit ut es have t rained more t han 1.5 lakh rural
youth on various trades. In a bid to further reach out
to rural youth in the countrys 24 most critical Left-
Wing-Extremism-affected districts, the Centre
has i nt roduced a pl acement -ori ent ed ski l l -
development scheme called Roshni, targeting 50,000
persons, mostly tribals. In this scheme, at least SO
per cent of the candidates would be women. Central
Government i s cont i nuousl y maki ng ef f ort s t o
st rengt hen t he r ural economy. New direct cash
transfer scheme currently being implemented in the
country will also create savings for poor people by
reducing t he hidden t ransact ion cost s, such as
transport, that recipients often face when trying to
access and receive benefit s. Under t his init iative,
government subsidies for 29 of 42 welfare schemes
will be transferred directly into beneficiaries bank
accounts. The electronic cash transfers will be based
on t he 12-di gi t uni que i dent i f i cat i on number
(Aadhaar). This scheme will enhance the efficiency of
wel f ar e schemes, because i t wi l l enabl e t he
government to reach out to identified beneficiaries
and ensure that they receive the services and support
owed them. Through this cash transfer program, the
government plans to deposit Rs. 3.2lakh crore in the
bank accounts of 10 crore poor families by 2014.
There is concerted view with the planners at
the Central Government that the rural development
should be i ncl usive and sust ainable in order t o
alleviate the poverty. The tentative Gross Budgetary
Support (GBS) for the Ministry of Rural Development
for t he Twelft h Five Year Pl an (2012-17) is Rs.
44,3261 crore (against t he Rs. 29,1682 crores of
Elevent h Plan period) which i ncludes t he major
programs. Such initiatives will certainly give boost to
the growth trajectory in the rural India. In the vast
l andscape of t hi s count ry such ef f ort s shoul d
cont i nue t o a poi nt when t he dream of Mahat
Gandhi of self reliant village life is fully achieved.
GIST OF PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU VOL13 39
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G ist of
PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
COMMITTEES OF STATE FOOD SECRETARIES TO
BE SET UP FOR SPEEDY IMPLEMENTATION OF
FOOD SECURITY ACT
The Center has proposed a committee of State
Food Secretaries under t he chairmanship of Union
Food Secret ari es t o short out i ssues of sharing
expenditure towards intra-State transportation and
handling of foodgrains, margins to fair price shop
dealers and other implementation issues to ensure
speedy implementat ion of National Food Security
Act(NFSA).
Besi des t hi s anot her commi t t ee at t he
Ministerial level has been proposed to sort out issues
of finance and ot her infrast ructure to provide all
requi red assi st ance on pri ori t y basi s f or t he
implementation of the Act. This was disclosed by Prof
K.V.Thomas, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and
Public Distribution to the media persons here today
while briefing about the deliberations of the St ate
Food Ministers.
Shri Thomas said t hat most of t he st at es
i nformed t oday t hat t hey have al ready st art ed
preparations for launching the scheme under the Act
and 50 percent States are expected to rollout the Act
by t his year end.He said t hat in t odays meet ing
States have been again assured that their foodgrains
allocation will be protected at the average of annual
off take for the last three years and other concerned
will be addressed as per the provisions of the Act.The
meeting was attended by 22 States Food Ministers
out of 28 States. But senior officials from all States
and Union Territ ories were present. The meet ing
resol ved t hat t i me bound pr ogramme wi l l be
prepared for correct identification of beneficiaries,
issuing of new rat ion cards, set t ing of grievance
redressel authorities at the district and state levels
will be taken up, existing distribution system should
be st rengthened. Door-step delivery of foodgrains
will be taken up and computerization of TPDSwill be
complet ed in a t ime-bound manner. It was also
decided that State Governments will ensure timely
complet i on of t he st orage capacit ies sanct ioned
under Pri vat e Ent repreneurs Guarant ee (PEG)
scheme.Si nce coverage under NFSA has been
delinked from poverty estimates and therefore the
hi t her t o f ol l owed syst em of APL and BPL
beneficiaries would no more be relevant. Hence it
was also decided t hat St at es/ UTs should devise
appropr i at e mechani sm f or di st r i but i on of
subsidized sugar, within the quotas fixed for each
State.
CABINET DECIDES TO WITHDRAW ORDINANCE AND
BILL RELATING TO REPRESENTATION OF
PEOPLES ACT
Having regard to the various concerns, which
have been expressed in relation to the validity and
advisabilit y of the proposed Ordinance seeking to
amend t he Represent at i on of Peopl es Act , t he
Cabinet has decided to withdraw the proposal for
promulgating the Ordinance as well as the Bill.
NATIONAL POLICY ON UNIVERSAL ELECTRONIC
ACCESSIBILITY
The Uni on Cabi net t oday approved t he
National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility
that recognizes the need to eliminate discrimination
on the basis of disabilities as well as to facilitate equal
access t o el ect roni cs and I nf or mat i on and
Communication Technologies (ICTs). This policy has
40 VOL13 GIST OF PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
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been prepared after incorporating comments and
suggestions from various stakeholders.
The policy will facilitate equal and unhindered
access to electronics and ICTs products and services
by different ly abled persons (both physically and
mentally challenged) and to facilitate local language
support for the same.
This shall be achieved through universal access
t o elect ronics and ICT product s and services t o
synchronize wit h barrier free environment and
preferably usable wit hout adapt at ion. Different ly
abled persons all over the country will benefit from
this policy.
The following strategies are envisaged for the
implementation of the policy:
Creating awareness on universal electronics
accessibility and universal design.
Capaci t y bui l di ng and i nf r ast r uct ure
development.
Setting up of model electronics and ICTs
cent res f or provi di ng t rai ni ng and
demonst rat ion t o special educat ors and
physically as well as mentally challenged
persons.
Conducting research and development, use
of innovation, ideas, technology etc. whether
indigenous or outsourced from abroad.
Developing programme and schemes with
great er emphasi s for di fferent ly abl ed
women/children.
Developing procurement guidelines for
electronics and ICTs for accessibility and
assistive needs.
Background
India ratified the United Nations Convention
on t he Ri ght s of t he Persons wi t h Di sabi l it i es
(UNCRPD) in 2007 which, among other things, says
that State Parties shall take appropriate measures
to ensure to persons with disabilities, access on an
equal basis with others, to the physical environment,
t o t ranspor t at i on, t o i nf or mat i on and
communications, including ICTs and systems and to
other facilities and services open or provided to the
public.
Many count r i es who are si gnat or i es t o
UNCRPD have legislation policy or a framework to
ensure equality for those with disability. Electronics
and ICTs are key enablers in mitigating barriers faced
by differently abled persons and in helping them to
provide better opportunities for livelihood.
RASHTRIYA UCHCHATAR SHIKSHA ABHIYAN TO
IMPROVE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
has approved t he Rasht riya Uchchat ar Shi ksha
Abhiyan (RUSA), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS)
for reforming the state higher education system.
Duri ng t he 12t h Pl an peri od, 80 new
uni ver si t i es woul d be creat ed by convert i ng
aut onomous colleges/ colleges in a cluster to St ate
universities. 100 new colleges, including professional/
technical colleges would be set up and 54 exist ing
coll eges would be convert ed int o model degree
colleges. Infrastructure grants would be given to 150
universit ies and 3,500 colleges to upgrade and fill
critical gaps in infrastruct ure especially libraries,
laboratories etc.
RUSA woul d al so support 5,000 f acul t y
positions.In the 12th Plan period, RUSA would have
a fi nanci al out lay of Rs. 22,855 crore, of whi ch
Rs.16,227 crore wi l l be t he Cent ral share. I n
addition, allocation of Rs. 1,800 crore in the 12th
Plan for the existing scheme Sub-Mission polytechnics
would also be subsumed in RUSA. Thus the t otal
cent ral share, includi ng t he exi st i ng scheme of
polytechnics will be Rs. 18,027 crore during the 12th
Plan.
Centre-State funding would be in the ratio of
90:10 for North-Eastern States, Sikkim, Jammu and
Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and
65:35 for other States and Union Territories.
RUSA wil l be a new Cent ral l y Sponsored
Scheme spread over two plan periods, for improving
access, equi t y and qual i t y i n t he st at e hi gher
education system. With over 96 percent of students
enrolled in the state higher education system, there
is a need for St at e colleges and universit ies to be
strengthened through strategic Central funding and
implementing certain much needed reforms. RUSA
also ai ms t o incent ivi ze St at es t o st ep up plan
invest ments in higher educat ion.The import ant
objectives of the scheme are:
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Improving the overall qualit y of exist ing
stat e higher educat ional inst it ut ions by
ensuring conformity to prescribed norms
and standards and adoption of accreditation
as a mandat ory qual i t y assurance
framework.
Correct regional imbalances in access to
hi gher educat ion t hrough high quali t y
institutions in rural and semi urban areas as
well as creating opportunities for students
from rural areas to get access t o bet ter
quality institutions.
Setting up of higher education institutions
in unserved and underserved areas.
Improve equi t y i n higher educat ion by
providing adequate opportunities to socially
deprived communities; promote inclusion of
women, minorities, SC/ST and OBCs as well
as differently abled persons.
Ensure adequat e avail abi lit y of quali t y
faculty in all higher educational institutions
and ensure capacity building at all levels.
Create an enabling atmosphere in higher
educat i onal i nst i t ut i ons t o devot e
themselves to research and innovation.
Integrate skill developments efforts of the
government with the conventional higher
educat i on syst em t hrough opt i mum
interventions.
All funding under RUSA would be norm based
and future grants would be performance based and
outcome dependent . Commit ment by St at es and
institutions to certain academic, administrative and
governance ref orms wi l l be a precondi t i on f or
receiving funding.
Background
The Nat ional Development Council (NDC)
approved RUSA as part of t he 12t h Plan. It was
subsequent ly i ncluded in t he list of 66 schemes
approved by the Cabinet on 20th June 2013, as part
of the restructured CSSs for implementation in the
12th Plan.
AMENDMENT IN UGC ACT TO CONFER DEGREE
GRANTING POWERS ON AUTONOMOUS COLLEGES
The Mi ni st r y of Human Resource
Devel opment , Gover nment of I ndi a and t he
University Grants Commission (UGC) held a day-long
meeting with select Autonomous Colleges and State
Government representatives on 7th October, 2013
at India International Centre, New Delhi to discuss
their problems.
This was t he first exclusive meet ing of t he
Pri nci pal s of Aut onomous Col l eges and St at e
Government representat ives wit h MHRD and t he
UGC, aft er the formulat ion of t he scheme by the
UGC a few decade ago. The Secret ar y, Hi gher
Education shared with them the proposed initiatives
for bringing about reforms in affiliat ion syst em
which has become t he bane of Higher Education
system in the country. He also informed them about
the provisions of the recent ly approved Rashtriya
Ucchat ar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a scheme of
MHRD wherein autonomous colleges desirous of
convert i ng t hemsel ves int o uni versit ies can be
provided with funding upto Rs.55 crores each. The
total amount earmarked for XII FYP for this scheme
is Rs.2475 crores.
Some of the Universities have more than 800
colleges affiliated to them with the result that their
entire time is consumed by routine administrative
tasks leaving little time for research and innovation.
On the other hand, many of these colleges though
imparting high level of education having potential for
research are not allowed to grow as t hey are not
allowed to work beyond the limits prescribed by the
University system.
The Secret ary f el t t hat t he syst em of
Autonomous Colleges could provide a way out of this
limiting role of affiliation system. This could be done
by upgradi ng t he aut onomous col leges wit h A
NAAC accreditation (46 out of 441 colleges are A
grade) t he st at us of a Deemed Uni versit y, St at e
University or just give them degree granting powers
by amending the UGC Act.
The coll eges welcomed t he ef f ort s of t he
Department of Higher Education and UGC in taking
up this initiative. Ban on recruitment s to teaching
posi t i ons by some St at e Gover nment s and
overlooking of t hei r Aut onomous St at us by t he
affiliating Universit ies were some of the concerns
expressed by t he Col l eges i n becomi ng t rul y
autonomous institutions.
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The following was decided to be done in time-
bound manner:-
The UGC Standing Advisory Committee on
Autonomous Colleges under the Chair of
Pr of . Syed Hasnai n wi l l f i nal i ze i t s
recommendat i ons wi t hi n t wo mont hs
i ncl udi ng a draf t Regul at i ons f or
autonomous colleges.
The central government will explore ways
t o conf er degree grant i ng powers on
autonomous colleges by way of amending
the UGC Act.
It was decided that at least 10% of all eligible
colleges in the country will be conferred with
autonomy by end of XII Plan.
The suggestions of colleges were taken into
account to finalize programmatic norms
under RUSA. I t was deci ded t hat 45
autonomous colleges would be converted
into Universities by end of XII Plan.
The governance structure is the crux of the
reforms in RUSA. Therefore all states and
aut onomous colleges were exhort ed t o
undert ake gover nance and academi c
reforms.
Meeting of 14th National Road Safety
Council Gets Underway
It i s t ime t o shif t from ad-hoc road safet y
activities to developing and implementing sustainable
programmes which can be done by prioritizing road
safety at the political level. This was stated by Shri
Oscar Fernandes, t he Uni on Mi ni st er of Road
Transport and Highways while addressing the first
meet i ng of 14t h Nat ional Road Saf et y Counci l
(NRSC) here today.
The Minister asked all St ates t o join hands
with the Government efforts to make roads safer by
developing a sust ainabl e road t ransport syst em
across the country. The Minister also stressed the
need for Road safety Audit from the Detailed Project
Report (DPR) preparation stage till the completion
of Road Projects and for using new technologies to
ensure timely and better maintenance of roads.
Shri Fernandes said that though the number of
accidents has shown a decreasing trend during the
last two years and number of fatalities has also come
down during 2012 for the first time, the number of
fat alit ies is still very high. Referring to 1.38 lakh
people killed in about 4.9 lakh accidents in 2012 as
compared to about 1.42 lakh people in around 5 lakh
acci dent s i n 2011, t he Mi ni st er sai d t hat t he
t r ansport sect or cannot af f ord t o become
complacent.
This requires priorit izing road safety at t he
pol i t i cal l evel and as a devel opment i ssue,
establishing institutional mechanisms responsible for
planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating
road saf et y pr ogrammes, havi ng compet ent
per sonnel and secur i ng sust ai nabl e f undi ng
mechanisms. He requested NCC, NSS, Youth Clubs,
Nehru Yuvak Kendra, Homegaurds and other active
bodies to take up the cause of road safety.
He further st ated t hat the Government has
already approved the National Road Safety Policy in
March 2010. For bet t er impl ement at ion of t he
National Road safety Policy, the Minister called upon
all states to prepare a time-bound Action Plan with
annual t arget s and commensurat e all ocat ion of
resources.
He appri sed t hat t he Government i s also
considering the creation of National Road Safety and
Traffic Management Board. The Board would act as
a dedicated agency to oversee road safety activity in
t he count ry and woul d have powers t o i ssue
guidelines on a wide range of issues concerning road
safety.
Speaki ng about t he current st at us of t he
recently launched pilot project on Gurgaon-Jaipur
section of NH 8, for providing cashless treatment to
road accident victims for 48 hours at expenditure up
to a limit of Rs. 30,000/ - the Minister informed that
over 110 pat ient s have received benefit s of t he
scheme so far in more than 300 accidents attended.
The Average claim size is Rs.10363. It took around
11 minutes on average for the Ambulances to reach
accident spot.
GPS enabled ambulances connect ed wit h a
cent ral control room t hrough a t oll-free number
1033, are st at i oned at i nt erval s of 20 km t o
transport the injured to the hospitals for treatment
wit hin t he Golden Hour. The Minist ry had also
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taken action for formulation of National Ambulance
Code in order to improve the quality and safety of
ambulances on Indian roads.
For minimum fitness requirement of in use
vehicles, the Minster called upon all states to take
st ock of t he in-use vehicle cert ifi cat i on syst em
prevalent in the state and encourage setting up of
automated vehicle inspection centres on a PPP basis.
The local Engineering Colleges, Polytechniques and
t he Indust rial Training Inst itut es should also be
i nvol ved i n t hi s act i vi t y. He f ur t her st at ed
enforcement of traffic regulations has also significant
effect on road user behavior. He requested all states
to improve and augment enforcement mechanism
for Motor Vehicle Regulations.
The Minist er emphasi zed t hat al l drivers
should be educated in the etiquettes of Lukhnawi
Tahjib. Every person driving a vehicle should follow
the principle of Pehle Aap. This will prevent many
avoidable accidents, save precious lives and make
journeys less stressful.
Earlier Shri Sarvey Satyanarayan , Minister of
State in the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways,
Shri Tusharbhai Chaudhary , Minister of State in the
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and Shri
Vi j ay Chhi bber, Secret ary Road Transpor t &
Hi ghways al so addressed t he meet i ng on t he
occasion.The National Road Safety Council (NRSC) is
t he apex body for road safet y est ablished under
Sect i on 215 of Mot or Vehi cl es Act 1988. The
meeting is being attended by the Representatives of
the Ministries and Organizations of the Government
of India, State Governments and other Members of
the Council.
INDIAS FOREIGN TRADE: SEPTEMBER, 2013
EXPORTS (including re-exports)
Exports during September, 2013 were valued
at US $ 27679.33 million (Rs. 176461.53 crore)
which was 11.15 per cent higher in Dollar t erms
(29.77 per cent higher in Rupee terms) than the level
of US $ 24902.00 million(Rs. 135978.63 crore)
during September, 2012.
Cumulat ive value of exports for the period
Apr i l -Sept ember 2013-14 was US $
152105.40million (Rs 901194.97 crore) as against
US $ 144673.91 mi l li on (Rs. 790838.40 crore)
registering agrowth of 5.14 per cent in Dollar terms
and growth of 13.95 per cent in Rupee terms over
the same period last year.
IMPORTS
Imports during September, 2013 were valued
at US $ 34439.50 mil lion (Rs.219559.04crore)
representing a negative growth of18.10 per cent in
Dollar terms and a negative growth of 4.38 per cent
in Rupee terms over the level of imports valued at
US $ 42051.45 million (Rs. 229624.04 crore) in
September, 2012.
Cumulat ive value of import s for t he period
April -Sept ember, 2013-14 was US $ 232231.64
mi ll ion (Rs. 1365699.30 crore) as against US $
236493.90 million (Rs. 1292490.99 crore) registering
a negative growth of 1.80 per cent in Dollar terms
and growth of 5.66 per cent in Rupee terms over the
same period last year.
CRUDE OIL AND NON-OIL IMPORTS:
Oil import s duri ng Sept ember, 2013 were
valued at US $ 13196.5 million which was 5.94 per
cent lower than oil imports valued at US $ 14029.5
million in the corresponding period last year.
Oil imports during April-September, 2013-14
were valued at US $ 82876.1 million which was 3.58
per cent higher than the oil imports of US $ 80011.6
million in the corresponding period last year. Non-oil
imports during September, 2013 were estimated at
US$ 21243.0 million which was 24.19 per cent lower
t han non-oil import s of US $ 28022.0 million in
September, 2012.
Non-oi l import s duri ng April -Sept ember,
2013-14 were valued at US$ 149355.5 million which
was 4.55 per cent lower t han t he l evel of such
imports valued at US $ 156482.3 million in April-
September, 201213.
TRADE BALANCE
The trade deficit for April-September, 2013-14
was estimated at US $ 80126.24 million which was
lower t han t he def icit of US $ 91819.99 million
during April-September, 2012-13.
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EXPORTS & IMPORTS : (US $ Million)
(PROVISIONAL)
SEPTEMBER APRIL-SEPTEMBER
EXPORTS(including re-exports)
2012-13 24902.00 144673.91
2013-14 27679.33 152105.40
%Growth2013-14/ 2012-2013 11.15 5.14
IMPORTS
2012-13 42051.45 236493.90
2013-14 34439.50 232231.64
%Growth2013-14/ 2012-2013 -18.10 -1.80
TRADE BALANCE
2012-13 -17149.45 -91819.99
2013-14 -6760.17 -80126.24

EXPORTS & IMPORTS : (Rs. Crore)
(PROVISIONAL) SEPTEMBER APRIL-SEPTEMBER
EXPORTS(including re-exports)
2012-13 135978.63 790838.40
2013-14 176461.53 901194.97
%Growth2013-14/ 2012-2013 29.77 13.95
IMPORTS
2012-13 229624.04 1292490.99
2013-14 219559.04 1365699.30
%Growth2013-14/ 2012-2013 -4.38 5.66
TRADE BALANCE
2012-13 -93645.41 -501652.59
2013-14 -43097.51 -464504.33

NATIONAL RURAL DRINKING WATER
PROGRAMME
The ai m and object i ve of Nat i onal Rural
Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) is to provide
every rural person wit h adequat e safe wat er for
drinking, cooking and other basic domestic needs on
a sustainable basis, with a minimum water quality
standard, which should be conveniently accessible at
all times and in all situations. Achieving this aim and
objective is a continuous process.
In the 12th Five Year Plan period, under the
NRDWP, the Ministry is giving special emphasis on
piped water supply in rural habitations. States are
being asked to plan for coverage of habitations with
pi ped wat er suppl y t hrough st and post s or
household connections.
In addition to the fact that this shall reduce
t he drudgery and t ime t aken in t he collect ion of
water, it shall also facilitate in tackling the problem
of drinking water quality in the habitations affected
with water issues.
In addition, to accelerate the setting up piped
water supply systems in rural areas in States where
such coverage is low, t he Ministr y has proposed a
project with World Bank support in parts of Assam,
Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh which focuses
on sett ing up piped wat er supply syst ems. At the
beginning of Bharat Nirman Phase I, as on 1.4.2005,
it was targeted to cover 55,067 uncovered, 3,31,604
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sl i pped back and 2,16,968 qual i t y af f ect ed
habitations with adequate safe drinking water supply.
Against this, as reported by the States on the
online Integrated Management Information System
(IMIS) of Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, as
on 15.8.2013, 55,193 uncovered, 8,33,304 partially
covered/ slipped back and 1,52,371 quality affected
habitations have been covered. This includes newly
identified Uncovered, Slipped-back, partially covered
habitations and Quality affected habitations.
The reasons for not fully achieving the targets
of coverage of habitations include high capital costs
of large multi-village schemes to bring water from
di st ant saf e sources, t i me t aken f or pl anni ng,
designing, sanct ioning, procuring, execut ion and
commissioning of such schemes, slipping back of
habitations to partially covered status due to drying
up of drinking water sources; lowering of ground
wat er t abl e; dri nki ng wat er sources becomi ng
contaminated due to natural and man-made causes;
water supply systems outliving t heir life; systems
working below rated capacities; poor operation and
management of systems; increase in population and
emergence of new habitations, procurement issues,
etc.
To assist in addressing the above issues, the
Government of India provides financial and technical
assi st ance t o St at es under t he NRDWP, t o
supplement their efforts to provide adequate safe
drinking water to the rural population. In 2013-14,
Rs. 11000 crore has been al l ocat ed under t he
NRDWP.
In order to achieve the targets under NRDWP,
the Stat e Governments are vested with powers to
plan, approve and implement drinking water supply
schemes.
The State Governments, in consultation with
the Central Ministr y, prepare Annual Action Plans
(AAP) each year, to implement rural water supply
schemes t o cover part i al ly covered and qual it y
affected habitations and for other activities.
To ensure sustainability of functioning of rural
wat er supply schemes, t he St at es have t o adopt
improved Operation & Maintenance (O&M) methods
for their better working and to control leakages. Up
to 15% of funds allocated to States under NRDWP
can be utilised for O&M. To ensure the sustainability
of drinking water sources, the State can utilise 10%
of their allocation.
To ensure supply of safe drinking water, 5% of
nat ional allocat ion is earmarked for allocation t o
St at es wi t h chemi cal cont ami nat i on af f ect ed
habi t at i ons and ar eas report i ng Japanese
Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis cases (JE/ AES).
Furt her, 67% of funds allocat ed t o St at es can be
ut i li sed for coverage of wat er qual i t y af f ect ed
habitations.
To facilitate water quality testing, a separate
Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance Component
with 3% of NRDWP allocat ion has been created to
strengthen water quality testing practices in States.
To incentivise States to involve the Panchayati Raj
Institutions (PRI) in t he planning, operat ion and
management for drinking water supply schemes, a
Management Devolution Index has been formulated
to measure the extent of devolution of powers made
by St at es t o t he PRI s wi t h respect t o Funds,
Funct ions and Functionaries in regard to drinking
water supply.
10% of f unds under NRDWP are kept for
allocation to States on the basis of their MDI scores.
The Mi ni st r y has set up a r obust web-based
moni t ori ng mechani sm at t he cent ral l evel t o
moni t or t he i mpl ement at i on of wat er suppl y
schemes under the NRDWP in the States.
Under t he Nat ional Rural Drinki ng Wat er
Programme NRDWP, various mechanisms have been
put in place t o monitor the act ivit ies at different
l evels. The St at e Government s are requi red t o
prepare and discuss wit h the Cent ral Minist ry of
Drinking Water and Sanitation, an Annual Action Plan
to implement various components and activities of
the NRDWP.
Every year, t he St at es have t o mark t he
habitations targeted for coverage and provide details
of works, schemes and activities being taken up, on
t he on-line Int egrated Management Informat ion
System (IMIS) of the Ministry.
The physical and the financial progress being
made by St ates have t o be report ed on a monthly
basi s on t he I MI S. The Mi ni st ry moni t ors t he
information provided regularly, and States which are
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l aggi ng behi nd i n t he i mpl ement at i on of t he
programme, both in terms of physical achievements
and f i nanci al expendi t ure, are advi sed t o t ake
appropriate corrective measures.
Senior Officers, Area Officers and Technical
Officers of the Ministry tour the States to assess the
progress in the implementation of the Programme.
The Ministry also conduct s meetings of t he
Secretaries in charge of rural water supply, regional
review meetings, video-conferences, et c. t hrough
which implement at ion of NRDWP is monitored.
Assessment of achi evement s i s done t hrough
periodi c eval uat i ons of t he programme by t he
Ministry and the Planning Commission.
The deficiencies which have been noticed in
the implementation of the National Rural Drinking
Water Programme (NRDWP) in some States include
the non-achievement of annual targets of coverage
of rural habi t at i ons, especi al ly qual it y af fect ed
habitations, and the inadequate utilization of central
funds in time resulting in high unspent balances.
The reasons for some States being unable to
spend the available funds under NRDWP fully and in
time include delays in procurement processes, taking
up multi-village schemes that require 2-3 years for
complet ion t hus delaying expendit ure, delays in
pr epar at or y act i vi t i es, l ong t i me t aken f or
completion of legal formalities including obtaining
various cl earances, del ayed rel ease of f unds t o
implementing authorities etc.
F.A.QS ABOUT:
VOTERS ENROLLMENT PROCESS
Q 1. Who is eligible for enrolment as a
Voter?
Ans.(a)Every Citizen Who is 18 years old on
the qualifying dat e( 1st January of t he concerned
year, unless disqualified is eligible to be enrolled)
(b)Enrol ment onl y at ordi nary pl ace of
residence.
(c)Enrolment only at one place.
(d)Overseas Indian deemed to be ordinarily
resident at address given in passport.
(e)Ser vice Voters deemed t o be ordinarily
resident at their home address.
Q.2Who is disqualified to become voter?
Ans.Only persons who are of unsound mind
and have been declared so by a competent court or
disqualified due to Corrupt Practices or offences
relating to elections are not entitled to be registered
in the electoral rolls.
Q 3.Which is the relevant date for
determining the age qualification of 18 years?
Ans.According to Section 14 (b) of the R. P.
Act, 1950, the qualifying date means the first day of
January of t he year in which the elect oral roll is
prepared or revised.
Q 4.Suppose you have completed 18 years
of age today. Can you get yourself registered as
voter.?
Ans:No . You can get yourself registered as
Voter only on Ist January or thereafter of the year
in which the electoral roll is prepared or revised.
Q 5.What proof of residence do I need to
show to get enrolled as a voter.?
Ans:You can show anyproof of residence like
Passport, Bank Pass Book, Driving license etc. or any
Govt. document to facilitate the work of registration.
Q 6.Can a non Citizen of India become a
voter.?
Ans:. No . A person who is not a cit izen of
India cannot be registered as a voter. Article 326 of
the Constitution read with Sec. 16 of R. P. Act , 1950
clarify the point.
Q 7.Can a non resident Indian Citizen
become a voter.?
Ans.Yes, according to t he provisions of t he
Representat ion of t he People (Amendment ) Act ,
2010, a person who is a citizen of India and who has
not acquired t he citizenship of any ot her count ry
and is otherwise eligible to be registered as a voter
and who is absent ing from his place of ordinary
resi dence i n I ndi a owi ng t o hi s empl oyment ,
education or otherwise is eligible to be registered
asa voter in the constituency in which his place of
residence in India as mentioned in his passport is
located.
Q 8. If I am working and living in Delhi ,
Can I be a voter in my native village.?
Ans. No .If you are working in Delhi and
residing there, you are an ordinary resident of Delhi
in terms of Sec 19 (b). Therefore you can be enrolled
at Delhi only and not in your native village.
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Q 9. Can one be enrolled at more than one
place.?
Ans.No . A person cannot be enrolled as a
vot er i n more t han one pl ace i n t he same
constit uency or in more t han one const ituency in
view of the provisions contained under Sec. 17 and
18 of R. P. Act , 1950.
Q 10. How Can I enrol/ register as a new
voterandget Voter ID Card ? What are various
modes available to an eligible voter for an
enrolment.?
Ans.You have t o submit a filled in Form -
6and submit it to the Electoral Registration Officer
(ERO) of the Assembly Constituency and your name
will be included in the electoral roll as a voter. There
are various ways to submit Form-6. These are as
follows:
1. Online Application:
Step 1.Log on t owww.eci .ni c.i n
orwww.ceodelhi.gov.in, or respective stat esChief
Electoral Officer (CEOs)websites where new voter
ordinar il y resides . Cl ick on t ab Onl ine Vot er
Registration
Step 2.Sign up t o obt ain a user name and
password.
Step 3.Upload one passport size colour photo
in the space mentioned. (mandatory)
Step 4.Upload the proof of residence and age
(opt ional). In case you are unable t o upload, t he
Boot h Level Of ficer (BLO) may al so col lect t he
documents from your house.
2. By Post:
Step 1. Downl oad Form-6 f r om
www.eci.nic.inor respective states CEOswebsites.
Fill it and attach documents.
Step 2.Post it to t he voters centre of your
constituency.
3. Deliver By Hand :
STEP 1.Downl oad Form-6 f r om
www.eci .ni c.i n or respect i ve st at es
CEOswebsi t es.Fi l l i t and at t ach necessary
documents.
STEP 2.Gi ve t he compl et ed form t o t he
Voters Registration Centre of your constituency or
to the BLO.
Q 11.How I can get correction in names
/ other details that have been misspelt in the
Electoral Roll or Voter ID Card.?
Ans.Such mistakes are usually in respect of
age, spelling of name and address etc.
(a)Please fill in Form-8 along with proof of
the correct information. For example, for getting age
corrected, please attach proof of age such as School
Board Examination Result Certificate. For proving
correct residence, please give proof of residence etc.
(b)In case t he mist ake has been due t o an
error on the part of the Election Officials then the
correction will be made free of cost. In case you are
responsible for the mistake in the first place such as
by entering incorrect information, then you need to
pay Rs.25/ - in cash at your voters registration centre
for receiving t he cor rect ed Vot er Ident it y Card
(EPIC). Please remember to take the receipt for the
amount paid by you.
Q 12.How can an Non resident Indian
citizen get registered / enrolled as Voter.?
Ans.He/she has to file the application for the
purpose in prescribed Form 6A before the Electoral
Registration Officer (ERO) of the constituency within
which the place of ordinary residence of the applicant
in India as given in his/ her valid passport falls. The
application can be presented in perform before the
ERO or sent by post addressed t o t he ERO
concerned. If the application is sent by post it must
be accompanied by duly self at t est ed copy of the
passport and all relevant documents mentioned in
Form 6A.
Q 13. How Can Youcheck your name in
electoral roll.?
Ans.Go t o t he Home page of websit eof
the respective State CEOs and click on tabCheck
your Name in the Voters list OR use SMSfacility for
checking your details Type EPIC<SPACE>Voter ID No
and sent to 9211728082
Q 14. How Can You find status of your
application for enrolment. ?
Ans.Go to the Home page of website of the
respective St ate CEOs and click on tab Know t he
Status of Your application for enrolment..
Q15. I have shifted my residence recently.
I have Photo EPIC Card with the old address.
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Can I get new EPIC Card for the present
address?
Ans.In case you are al ready enroll ed as a
vot er and have shi f t ed your address, t hen t he
procedure to be followed to enrol you at your new
address will depend on whether you are residing in
t he same Assembl y Const i t uency or your new
residence is in a new Assembly Constituency.
(a)In case your new residence is in a different
Assembly Constituency then you have to fill in Form
6. For t his you can eit her fill it Online or give it
personally or by post. For the procedure involved,
please look at Answer to Question No. 10above.
The only document that you are required to
submit is t he proof of your new residence such as
electricity bill etc. No other document is required to
be submitted by you.
(b)In case your new residence is in the same
Assembly Constituency then you have to fill Form
8A.
For this you can either fill it Online or give it
personally or by post. For the procedure involved,
please look at Answer to Question No. 10above.
The only document that you are required to
at t ach i s proof of your new resi dence such as
electricity bill et c. You are not required to submit
any other document.
Q 16.I have recently got married. How
can I get my wife enrolled at my address?
Ans.This will depend on the following:-
(a)If your wife is a vot er for the first t ime
then she will have to fill in Form-6 for enrolment as
a new voter.
(b)In case your wife is already a voter but not
in the same Assembly Constituency (such as enrolled
in some other Assembly Constituency of Delhi, or
anywhere else in India), then she will need to fill in
Form-6 for change of residence.
(c)I f she is a vot er in t he same Assembly
Constituency as you but needs only to change her
address then, in such case she needs to fill in Form-
8A for change of residence within the same Assembly
Constituency.
(d)As proof of residence she can submit a
copy of her marriage cert i fi cat e or copy of t he
marriage invitation card.
Q 17.What are the various forms useful
for registration as voter/correction/change in
address etc and from where these forms can be
obtained?
Ans:Formsare available on the website of
the Election Commission of Indiawww.eci.nic.inor
respective states CEOswebsites. The various Forms
useful for registration are as follows.
For new voter fill application in Form 6 .
Overseas voters may file application in Form
6 A.
If you want a vot e del et ed, you can file an
objection in Form 7.
For any correction in voter list or voter card fill
application Form 8.
If you have changed your address within the
constituency, please file your application in Form 8A.
Form can be submit t ed t o Dist rict Elect ion
Office, Electoral Registration Officer or Booth Level
Officer of your area.
Q 18 . I have lost my old EPIC Card. How
can I get a new EPIC Card?
Ans.You can deposit a copy of the FIR lodged
at the Police Station. You will get a new EPIC Card
after deposit of Rs. 25 with ERO/ AERO of your area.
The dates for issuing EPIC Cards are published in
leading Newspapers.
Q 19. Who is responsible for the
preparation of electoral rolls for a
Parliamentary or Assembly Constituency.?
Ans.The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO).
In the case of Delhi, these are the area Sub-Divisional
Magist rat es/ Addit ional Dist rict Magist at es. The
Electoral Registration officer is responsible for the
preparat i on of el ect oral rol l s f or an Assembl y
Const i t uency whi ch i t sel f i s t he rol l f or t he
Parl i ament ary Const i t uency i n so f ar as t hat
Assembly Segment is concerned.
Q. 20. How to get information about
Polling stations, Electoral Rolls, Election
officers names and contact phone numbers on
maps on ECI Website.?
Ans:Election Commission of India (ECI) in its
const ant endeavour t o provide informat ion and
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services t o cit izens in a hassl e free manner has
started a new service on website of the Commission
www.eci.nic.in.
Cl i ckon ECI websi t e a t ab named
information linked to polling station map provided
on the left side panel.
Sel ect t he St at e and Di st ri ct / Assembl y
Constituency / Polling Station.
After viewing a specific polling station pin/ a
balloon on the map. Click on the balloon/ pin to view
names and contact nos of CEOs, DEOs, EROs and
BLOs.
A link is also provided to view electoral roll in
pdf formats provided by the States.
Q.21.What are the grievance redressal
mechanisms available to you?
Ans.If you have any grievance in regard to
electoral roll, Electors Photo Identity Card orany
ot her elect ion relat ed mat t er you may approach
following Officers:-
Chief Electoral OfficerAt the State Level
District Election OfficerAt the District Level
Returning Officer _____At the Constituency Level
Assistant Returning Officer___At Taluka/Tahsil Level
Elect oral Regist rat i on Of fi cer________ At t he
Constituency Level
Presiding Officer ____________At Polling Station
Zonal Officer ______For a group of Polling stations
(Det ai l ed addressesare avai labl e on t he
websites of the CEOs of respective States/ UTs.)
Dur i ng ever y el ect i on, t he Commi ssi on
appoint s Observers who are senior ci vil service
of ficers f rom out side t he st at e. I f you have any
grievances or problems, you should approach them.
KUDANKULAM UNIT-1 SYNCHRONIZED TO GRID
The first unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power
Project (KKNPP) was synchronized in the early hours
today and is now generating 160 MW electricity. This
i nfor mat i on was gi ven by Shr i V.Narayansamy,
Minister of State in the Prime Ministers Office here
i n New Del hi t oday. On t hi s occasi on Shr i
Narayansami applauded the Scientists and KKNPP
administration for their fruitful efforts.
Mr. Narayansami said the power will be further
raised t o 500 MWe, 750 MWe and 100o MWe in
stages. For this at every stage various tests have been
conducted and the technical parameters have also
been verified. Based on the results of t het est s at
eachof t he st ages aand wit h t he At omic Energy
Regulat ory Board (AERB) clearences, subsequent
stages are reached.
With t he addition of KKNPP Unit-1 of 1000
MWe capacity, the Nuclear Power contribution in the
country will increase from 4780 MWe to 5780 MWe.
KKNPP Unit -1 is t he 20t h Nuclear Power
St at i on of Nuclear Power Corporat i on of Indi a
Limited (NPCIL), connect ed t o power grid in the
country.
DEFENCE AGREEMENT BETWEEN
INDIA AND CHINA
The Government of the Republic of India and
the Government of the Peoples Republic of China
(hereinafter referred to as the two sides),
Firmly believing that the India-China Strategic
and Cooperat i ve Par t ner shi p f or Peace and
Prosperity serves the fundamental interests of the
people of the two countries,
Reit erat i ng t hat nei t her si de shal l use i t s
military capabilit y against t he other side and that
their respective military strengths shall not be used
to attack the other side,
Reaffi rmi ng t hat neit her side shall use or
threaten to use force against the other side by any
means nor seek unilateral superiority,
Having accepted the principle of mutual and
equal security,
Acknowl edgi ng t he need t o cont i nue t o
maintain peace, st ability and tranquilit y along the
line of actual control in the India-China border areas
and to continue implementing confidence building
measures in the military field along the line of actual
control,
Recognizing the importance of materializing
t he spi ri t of t he Agr eement bet ween t he
Government of t he Republ i c of I ndi a and
Government of the Peoples Republic of China on the
Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility Along the Line
of Act ual Cont rol i n t he I ndi a-Chi na Border
Areassigned on 7th September 1993, the Agreement
bet ween the Government of the Republic of India
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and t he Government of the Peoples Republic of
Chi na on Conf idence Buil di ng Measures i n t he
Military Field Along the Line of Actual Control in the
India-China Border Areassigned on 29th November
1996, the Protocol between the Government of the
Republ i c of I ndi a and t he Government of t he
Peoples Republic of China on Modalit ies for t he
Implementation of Confidence Building Measures in
the Military Field Along the Line of Actual Control in
India-China Border Areassigned on 11th April 2005
and the Agreement between the Government of the
Republ i c of I ndi a and t he Government of t he
Peoples Republic of China on the Establishment of
a Worki ng Mechani sm for Consul t at i on and
Coordination on India-China Border Affairssigned on
17th January 2012,
Have agreed as follows:
Article I
The two sides shall carry out border defence
cooperation on the basis of their respective laws and
relevant bilateral agreements.
Article II
The two sides shall implement border defence
cooperation in the following ways:
1. Exchange information-including information
about mi l i t ary exerci ses, ai rcraf t s,
demolition operations and unmarked mines-
and take consequent measures conducive to
t he maint enance of peace, stabilit y and
tranquility along the line of actual control in
the India-China border areas,
2. Jointly combat smuggling of arms, wildlife,
wildlife articles and other contrabands,
3. Assist the other side in locating personnel,
livestock, means of t ransport and aerial
vehicles that may have crossed or are possibly
in the process of crossing the line of actual
control in the India-China border areas,
4. Work wit h t he ot her side in combat ing
natural disasters or infectious diseases that
may affect or spread to the other side,
5. Any other way mutually agreed upon by the
two sides.
Article III
Border deference cooperation visualized in this
agreement shal l be i mpl ement ed t hrough t he
following mechanisms:
1. Flag meetings or border personnel meetings
at designated places along the line of actual
control in the India-China border areas.
2. Periodic meetings between officers of the
relevant Military Regions of China and Army
Commands of I ndi a and bet ween
depar t ment s responsi bl e f or mi l i t ary
operations.
3. Periodic meetings of the representatives of
the Ministry of Defence of the Government
of India and the Ministry of National Defence
of the Peoples Republic of China.
4. Meetings of the Working Mechanism for
Consultation and Coordination on India-
China Border Affairs.
5. Meetings of the India-China Annual Defence
Dialogue.
Article IV
In implementing border defence cooperation
and t o facilit at e cont act s and meet ings bet ween
relevant organizations, the two sides may establish
Border Personnel Meeting sites in all sectors, as well
as telephone contacts and telecommunication links
at mutually agreed locations along the line of actual
control.
The two sides may also consider establishing a
Hotline bet ween t he milit ary headquarters of t he
t wo count ri es. Speci f ic arrangement s shal l be
decided upon through mutual consultations between
the two sides.
Article V
I n order t o enhance underst andi ng and
cooperation bet ween the border defence forces of
the two sides, each side may invite the other side for
joint celebrations on major national or military days
or fest ivals and organize cult ural act ivities, non-
cont act sport s event s and smal l scal e t act i cal
exercises along the line of actual control in the India-
China border areas. In addition, the two sides may
also conduct joint military training exercises, at Army
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level, in each others country on a regular basis. The
theme of such joint exercises will be decided through
mutual consultations.
Article VI
The two sides agree that they shall not follow
or tail patrols of the other side in areas where there
is no common underst anding of t he line of actual
control in the India-China border areas.
Article VII
I n case a doubt f ul si t uat i on ari ses wi t h
reference to any act ivit y by eit her side in border
areas where there is no common understanding of
the line of actual control, either side has the right to
seek a clarification from the other side. In such cases,
the clarification shall be sought and replies to them
shall be conveyed through any of the mechanisms
established under Article III of this Agreement.
Article VIII
The two sides agree that if the border defence
f orces of t he t wo si des come t o a f ace-t o-f ace
si t uat i on i n areas where t her e i s no common
underst anding of t he line of act ual control, bot h
sides shall exercise maximum self-restraint, refrain
f rom any provocat ive act i ons, not use force or
threaten to use force against the ot her side, treat
each other with courtesy and prevent exchange of fire
or armed conf lict.
Article IX
The two sides shall implement this Agreement
without prejudice to their respective positions on the
alignment of the line of actual control as well as on
the boundary question.
Article X
This Agreement shall come into force on the
date of its signature. It may be revised, amended or
terminated with the consent of the two sides. Any
revision or amendment, mutually agreed by the two
sides, shall form an integral part of this Agreement.
High Level Meeting (HLM) on South-
South Cooperation
The Second High Level Meet ing (HLM) on
South-South Cooperation for Child Rights in Asia
and the Pacificconcluded here today. The meeting
has brought together delegates from 33 countries of
t he regi on t o di scuss and share t he progr ess,
experience, problems and challenges in the survival,
prot ection, development and part icipat ion of t he
nearly 1.2 billion children in the region. The New
Delhi Declaration on South-South Cooperation for
Child Rights in Asia and Pacific has been adopted
today. Speaking at the occasion Smt. Krishna Tirath,
Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of
Women and Child Developmentsaid that such high
level meet ings provide an opportunity to reaffirm
our commi t ment t owards chi l d ri ght s and
recognizing that child rights are fundamental to all
cultures and societies and are crucial to childrens
growth and upbringing.
It is also a reaffirmation of our belief that child
survival, development, protection and participation
are vital for the growth of the country. Smt. Tirath
said that although this Meeting has focused on three
crucial themes of adolescence, early child hood care
and development and urban settings, we recognise
t hat t he ri ght s of chil dren are int errel at ed and
int erdependent and each one of t hem is equally
important and fundamental to t he well-being and
dignity of the child.
The application of child rights requires a multi-
dimensional, integrated and inclusive approach for
t he overal l and harmoni ous devel opment and
protection of children, she noted.
The Minist er hoped t hat t his Second High
Level Meeting in Delhi has provided everyone new
perspect ives and a deeper underst anding of t he
challenges faced in the field of child rights.
Speaking at the occasion Ms. Nita Chowdhury,
Secret ar y, Mi ni st r y Of Women and Chi l d
Development said t hat the adopt ion of the Delhi
Declaration has rest ated our commit ment to the
realization of all right s of all children wit hin our
respective countries.
Through t he Decl ar at i on i t has been
reaffirmed that child rights are fundamental to all
cultures and societies and are crucial to childrens
growth and upbringing. She said t hat despite t he
great diversity represented by the 33 count ries in
Asia and the Pacific participating in the High Level
Meet ing, the people of t he region share much in
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common, have st rong mut ual int erests and have
much to gain from closer cooperation to share good
pract ices and lessons learned i n support of t he
realizat ion of child rights. Present at the occasion
were Mr Sharudin S. Kashim, Deput y Di rect or
General Pl anni ng, Gover nment of Mal aysi a ,
delegates from 33 countries, officials from UNICEF
and various other dignitaries. For complete text of
t he New Del hi Decl arat i on on Sout h-Sout h
Cooperation for Child Rights in Asia and Pacific
GIST OF SCIENCE REPORTER VOL13 53
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G ist of
SCIENCE REPORTER
EARTH & MOON, A REVIEW
We all become familiar with the Moon right
from our childhood days. We its changing phases. We
see the dark markings on its face, which resemble
different things to different eyes. Some people see in
t he dark markings a figure of a woman wit h t he
spinning wheel, while in many west ern countries
people see the face of a man or a hare.
One of the few astronomical bodies in the sky
t hat can be observed wit hout any optical aid, the
Moon was enshrouded in myst ery f or much of
history. Earlier, it was revered as a ref lection of gods
and goddesses. It was even viewed as another planet
wit h seas and l and. Event ual ly, Gali leo and hi s
telescope got a picture of what we know the Moon
t o be t odaya nat ural sat ellit e wit h mount ains,
craters and expanses of f lat plains.
The comi ng of t he Space Age has t urned
ar ound our i deas about our nearest cel est i al
neighbour. Today, t he Moon no longer holds any
myst ery for us. Ext ensive expl orat ion by space
probes and astronauts has unravelled new facts not
only about the Moon, but also about the past history
of our Earth and the Solar System.
A Unique Satellite
Of the eight planets of the solar system two
planets, Mercury and Venus, do not have any moon
of their own. Of t he rest, our Earth has t he least
number of moons - only one, compared to a total of
168 moons di scovered f or t he remai ni ng f i ve
planets.
But Eart hs only Moon has no parallel in the
solar system. With a diameter of 3,476 kilometres,
our Moon is smaller than four other moons of the
solar system. Three of the Galilean moons of Jupiter
are bigger than Earths Moon, as is Saturns moon
Titan. But if we compare our Moons diameter with
the Earths diameter of 12,756 kilometres, the Moon
is just about one-t hird t he size of t he Eart h. The
sol ar syst ems l argest moon Ganymede, wi t h a
diameter of 5,276 kilometres, is only about 1/ 26th
the size of its mother planet Jupiter.
The Earth is about 81 times as massive as its
only moon, whereas the masses of the other planets
are several thousand to a million times the masses of
their moons. At least in t his sense, t he Earth and
Moon seem more like a double planet system rather
t han a planet and it s satellit e. In fact , planet ary
scientists consider the Eart h and the Moon going
round a common point called barycentre that lies
1,710 kilometres below the surface of the Earth.
Another peculiarity of the Moon is its distance
from Earth, which is far greater than is the case for
some moons of t he other planets relat ive to their
radii. The mean distance of the Moon from Earth is
3,85,000 kilometres, which is sixty times the radius
of Eart h. This is more t han double t he dist ance
bet ween Jupiter and its out ermost moon Callisto;
almost three times the distance between Uranus and
it s out ermost moon Oberon; and four t imes t he
distance from Neptune to its large moon Triton.
However, despi t e i t s l arge di st ance f rom
Earth, the relatively large mass of the Moon exerts
enough gravitational pull on Earth to cause visible
effects. The main visible effects are the ocean tides,
which make the ocean waters rise and fall twice a day
under t he i nf luence of t he Moons gravit y. The
gravity of the Sun also influences ocean tides, but not
as strongly as the Moon, and peak tides depend on
the position of the Sun, winds, and rotation of the
Earth. Sometimes the gravitational pull of the Sun
54 VOL13 GIST OF SCIENCE REPORTER
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and Moon work together to produce very high tides
(spring tides) and sometimes they work against each
other to produce low tides (neap tides).
The large size of our Moon also plays a decisive
role in sustaining life on Earth. On Earth we have the
seasons because of the tilt of Earths axis, which is at
present 23.5 degrees. Were it not for the Moon, the
inf luence of t he giant planets Jupiter and Saturn
would have made the tilt of Earths axis vary wildly -
between values as extreme as 0 to 80 degrees. Such
variat i on woul d probabl y have caused ext reme
cli mat ic changes t hat woul d render our pl anet
uninhabitable. Thus, having a large Moon may be a
boon for us - without it life may not have evolved on
Earth.
The Origin of the Moon
The Moon has been going round the Earth for
an estimated 4,500 billion years or so, but planetary
scientists have no clear explanation of where it came
from yet. Till the mid-1970s, there were three main
theories regarding the origin of the Moon. The first
theory postulates an event in which the Moon broke
off from a rapidly spinning Earth. The second theory
proposed t hat t he Eart h and Moon were formed
together as a gravitationally bound pair. The third
t heory suggest ed t hat t he Moon formed as an
i ndependent pl anet ary body t hat was l at er
captured by the Earth during a close pass. None of
these theories could explain all the observed facts
about the Moon. A new theory was required.
In 1975 and 1976, t wo t eams of American
scientists working with Moon rocks independently
made a bold suggestion - that perhaps the Moon had
indeed been a part of the Earth! W.K. Hartmann and
A.G.W. Cameron proposed t hat t he Moon was
formed in a catastrophic collision between the Earth
and another body, one roughly t he size of Mars,
about 4,530 million years ago when the Earth was
st ill not ful ly formed. Thi s i dea has come t o be
known as the Giant Impact hypothesis.
The giant impact hypot hesis could explain
many features of the Moon, particularly its size. It
could also explain the inclination of the Moons orbit
towards the Earths equator, similarity of its chemical
composi t i on t o t he Ear t hs mant l e, and many
physical characteristics. Since the Moon was formed
out of mat erial thrown out from the Eart hs outer
layers after heavy elements like iron and nickel had
sunk to the core, its density of 3.34 is about the same
as that of Earths mantle and it has little iron. The
giant impact hypothesis also could explain why the
Earths axis is tilted.
One Moon from Two
A unique feat ure of t he Moon is t he st ark
dif ference bet ween it s visi ble near side and t he
invisible far side. The familiar hemisphere facing
Earth is covered by low, lava-filled plains (seen as
darker grey areas on the Moons face). The far side,
which is never visible from Earth, is a collection of
rugged, mount ai nous hi ghl ands. The st ri ki ng
differences between the near and far sides of t he
Moon have been a longstanding puzzle. Till recently,
scientists had long held that the Earths gravity and
impact s by foreign bodies were t o blame for t he
variance, but they did not have any definite clue as
to why it is so.
I n 2011, a st udy publ i shed i n t he journal
Nature suggested that the reason the Moon appears
so differently from one side to the next is because at
one time it was two separate objects. According to a
study by planet ary scient ist s at the University of
California, Santa Cruz, USA, the mountainous region
on the far side of the Moon, known as the lunar far
side highlands, may be the solid remains of a collision
with a smaller companion moon, which orbited the
Earth along with the Moon we see today, some 4.5
billion years ago, when the Earth was still forming.
The new study builds on the giant impact
model f or t he origin of t he Moon, according t o
which a Mars-sized object collided with Earth early in
the history of the solar system and kicked up a ring
of debris around the Eart h t hat later coalesced to
form the Moon. This model adequately explains the
similarity in composition of the Eart hs crust and
Moon rocks.
The new st udy suggest ed t hat t his gi ant
impact also created another, smaller body, initially
sharing an orbit with the Moon. These objects then
individually orbit ed the Eart h on a slow collision
course t oward each other. Eventually t he smaller
companion fell back onto the Moon and coated one
si de wi t h an ext ra l ayer of sol i d crust t ens of
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kilometres thick. Ast rophysicist s M. Jut zi and E.
Asphaug used computer simulat ions of an impact
between the Moon and a smaller companion (about
one-t hi rd t he si ze of t he Moon) t o st udy t he
dynamics of the collision and track the evolution and
di st ri but i on of l unar mat erial in it s af t ermat h.
According to them, in such a low-velocity collision,
the impact does not form a crater and does not cause
much melting. Instead, most of the colliding material
is piled onto the impacted hemisphere as a thick new
layer of solid crust, forming a mountainous region
comparable in extent to the lunar far side highlands.
An attractive feature of the new model is that
it neatly explains why the near and far sides of the
Moon are not only different in topography but also
i n composi t i on. Several si t es on t he near si de
sampl ed by Apol l o ast ronaut s had rocks
comparatively rich in KREEP - for potassium (K), rare
eart h element s (REE), and phosphorus (P). But
KREEP is scarce on the lunar far side, as it would be
if t he collidi ng moonlet had pushed t he cooling
magma ocean and its KREEP on the st ill-forming
Moon to the lunar near side.
Mascons
In the 1960s, as ASA officials were planning for
the Apollo moon missions, they discovered strange
gravitational anomalies on the Moon, which came to
be known as mascons. Shor t f or mass
concent rat ions, t hey are so dense t hey alt er t he
Moons gravity field. This causes perturbations that
can t ug a spacecraft lower in it s orbit around the
Moon, or push it wildly off course, whi ch made
l andi ng on Ear t hs nearest nei ghbour a t r i cky
challenge. At that time, nothing was known about
what these mascons were or how they were formed.
The mystery was solved only recently from data sent
back by NASAs twin Gravity Recovery and Interior
Laborat ory (GRAIL) probes - a pair of spacecraft
called Ebb and Flow - that meticulously mapped the
Moons gravitational field and ended their year-long
gravit y-mapping mi ssion i n December 2012 by
crashing into the Moon.
LIVING ON THE MOON
The idea of living on the moon captures the imagination. Even before the first human set foot
on t he lunar surface during NASAs Apollo program in 1969, people around the world were
dreaming about a permanent moon base to colonize Earths closest celestial object.
It might sound like something set firmly in the realm of fantasy, but experts in private industry
and governments around the world are trying to understand how feasible it would be to establish
a lunar base.
Some scientists think humans could
survive comfortably on the moon. In some ways, the very minimal gravity of the moon might
act ual ly be more conducive t o li fe t han t he microgravit y ast ronaut s experience on t he
International Space Station.
Although it hasnt been formally tested, some expert s hypot hesize that t he small amount of
gravitational force put on an astronaut s body when on the moon could help stem some of the
adverse effects like bone-density and muscle loss that spacef lvers experience while living in
microgravity on the International Space Station. This could make colonizing the moon an even
more appealing option.
A robotic base: The first step in establishing a moon base might be robotic. Once unmanned
missions establish the beginnings of a base, humans can launch to the lunar surface to conduct
research and maintain the habitat. There is no permanent residence except in the sense of
rotating crews. Just like the International Space Station, the lunar base would require crews of
four to eight people to rotate in and out of the base
3D printing of lunar laboratory: A European Space Agency (ESA) study found that 3D printing
of lunar base using material already available on the moon could be a practical way to establish
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an outpost on Earths nearest cosmic neighbour.
Under the ESAs hypothetical plan, a robotic mission to the moon could do most of the work
before astronauts ever needed to set foot on the lunar surface.
A robot would conduct the 3D-printing program autonomously. The robot would use a mixture
of lunar dirt and dust , called regolith, to cover an inf latable dome wit h layers of the robust
material. By using the moons indigenous material, space agencies can save money on the cost of
f lying pricey missions to and from the moons surface.
Mining the moon: Once on the moon, inst ead of having t o stage cost ly missions aimed at
delivering oxygen and other necessary volatiles from Earth, experts might be able to actually use
mined lunar material to manufacture gasses needed to sustain life on the satellite.
Water could also be used for radiation protection on the exposed lunar surface. The moon has
no atmosphere, so people would be completely susceptible to the radiation that would bombard
the rocky satellite every day. Water manufactured on the moon could help shield lunar lifers from
those effects.
From the moon to Mars: Eventually, a base on the moon could lead to human exploration in
deeper parts of the solar system. By developing vehicles and space transportation systems that
can ent er and remain in the area bet ween t he Eart h and t he moon (called cislunar space),
scientists can use that in-between space as a staging and fueling ground for a mission to Mars.
The moon base could function as a good proxy for these kinds of missions by monitoring how
an aut onomous habit at on anot her celest i al body funct ions. Engineers mi ght be able t o
manufacture propellant for deep-space travel using the natural resources the moon has to offer.
When the propellant is created, it can be sent to cislunar space to help fuel spaceships ready to
depart for other areas of the solar system and beyond.
By mapping t he Moons gravi t y f iel d, t he
GRAIL probes uncovered t he locat ions of lunar
mascons, and offered unprecedented views of t he
structure of the Moons interior. This melting caused
t he mat eri al t o become denser and more
concentrated. This enabled scientists to study two
basins one on the lunar near side and one on the far
si de of t he Moon - t o devel op sophi st i cat ed
computer models for how mascons form.
They determined that ancient asteroid impacts
excavat ed l arge crat ers on t he Moon, causi ng
surrounding lunar mat erials and rocks from t he
Moons mant l e t o mel t and col l apse i nward.
According to NASA scient ists, mascons, which are
invisible on the surface but appear in gravity maps as
a sort of bulls- eye, arise as a natural consequence of
crater excavation, collapse and cooling following an
impact . The cent re of t he bulls-eye has st ronger
gravity, with a ring of weaker gravity surrounding the
bulls-eye, and then another ring of st rong gravity
surrounding the bulls-eye and inner ring.
This new understanding of lunar mascons is
expected to influence knowledge of planetary geology
beyond that of Earth and our Moon.
Water on Moon
Despite more than sixty exploratory missions
including six manned missions to the Moon, it was
not known till 2008 that there was water on Moon.
Indias first mission to Moon - Chandrayaan-I - was
launched on 22 October 2008 on a two- year orbital
mission to the Moon. It made the first significant
discovery soon after it reached lunar orbit on 14
November and dropped the Moon Impact Probe on
the lunar surface.
As t he probe descended, i t s inst rument s
detected evidence of water, which was subsequently
cor roborat ed by ot her i nst r ument s on board
Chandrayaan-1 and also ot her probes. Before it s
untimely demise in August 2009, fourteen months
ahead of its planned end of mission, Chandrayaan-1
had sent back heaps of val uabl e dat a and
photographs that revealed for the first time that our
Moon indeed has water. This was contrary to earlier
beliefs that the Moon is bone dry.
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Early studies on the lunar samples returned by
the Apollo missions had revealed t otal absence of
the water- bearing primary minerals such as gypsum,
chalcant hite, epsomit e, melanterite, etc. t hat are
common in Earth rocks; instead all the Moon rocks
examined were composed ent irely of anhydrous
minerals. Chandrayaan-1 gave data for the first time
of the presence of water on Moon.
I n Oct ober 2009, NASAs Lunar CRat er
Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), which
studied the dust plume created by the impact of a
Centaur upper stage rocket, further confirmed the
presence of water on Moon. Analysis of data from
t he sat ellite from its crash int o t he permanently
shadowed region of Cabeus crater near the Moons
Sout h Pole on 9 Oct ober 2009 showed a t ell-t ale
si gnat ure of wat er. The i mpact creat ed by t he
LCROSS Centaur upper stage rocket created a two-
part plume of mat erial f rom t he bot t om of t he
crat er. The first part was a high-angle plume of
vapour and fine dust and the second part was a lower
angle ejecta curtain of heavier material, which had
not seen sunlight in billions of years. The LCROSS
science t eam analysed dat a f rom t he sat ell it es
spect rometers, which provide the most definitive
information about the presence of water.
At a pr ess conf erence on 13 November,
researchers revealed preliminary data from LCROSS,
indicat ing that water does exist in a permanent ly
shadowed lunar crater. An infrared spectrometer on
LCROSS had recorded absorpt ion bands of water
vapour at wavelengt hs of 1.4 and 1.85 microns.
Anot her spect r omet er r egi st er ed ul t ravi ol et
emissi on at 309 nanomet res, a t ell -t ale sign of
hydroxyl radicals creat ed when water molecules
break apart in ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.
Subsequent analysis of the data on lunar water
showed the presence of vast pocket s of water ice
amounting to millions of tonnes at the North Pole of
the Moon, opening up another region of the lunar
surface for potential exploration by astronauts and
unmanned probes. According to NASA sources, the
emerging picture from the multiple measurements
and result ing dat a of t he inst rument s on l unar
missions indicates that wat er creation, migration,
deposition and retention are occurring on the Moon.
Are Lunar Colonies possible?
Mankind has dreamed of building colonies on
the Moon for ages. Before the first humans set foot
on the Moon in the late 1960s, such ideas were seen
as part of science fiction stories. However, now some
people believe lunar settlements may soon become
realit y, as evident from t he recent resurgence in
Moon missions. The finding of water is crucial for
future manned missions t o t he Moon, which are
expect ed t o be aimed at set t ing up some sort of
permanent bases there.
However, before bases can be set up on Moon,
several hurdles need to be overcome. Till now, the
longest time ast ronauts have spent on Moon is a
lit t le over t hree days. For t heir survival on t his
mission, they had carried all their daily needs from
Eart h. But if ast ronaut s have t o spend weeks or
months on the Moon, they will need to make some
arrangements to get some essential provisions on the
Moon itself.
The mai n pr obl em wi t h set t i ng up a
permanent base on t he Moon is t he lack of ai r,
water, and food. The Moon lacks light elements, such
as carbon and nit rogen, alt hough t here is some
evidence of hydrogen being present near the Polar
Regions. There is plenty of oxygen on the Moon, but
it is all bound up in minerals in t he lunar soil. It
would require complex indust rial infrast ruct ure,
using very high energy, to extract oxygen from lunar
soi l . Since many ot her element s are needed t o
produce breathable air, water, food, and rocket fuel,
they would all need to be imported from Earth until
cheaper sources are developed on t he Moon. Till
t hen, astronaut s would be able t o stay at a lunar
base for short periods only.
Despite the many problems, there are many
advantages of a lunar base. It can provide an excellent
site for setting up astronomical observatories. The
Int ernat ional Lunar Explorat ion Working Group
(ILEWG), which provides a platform for coordinating
lunar exploration activities by all the space agencies
of the world, visualises a human base on the Moon
in the next decade.
NASA has already drawn up plans to construct
a solar-powered base at one of the Moons poles. The
regions around Moons poles are believed to remain
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in near constant sunlight, which should allow for
solar power generation.
The current pl an of NASA i s t o begi n
construction of a base beginning in 2020, with four-
person crews maki ng seven-day vi sit s unt il al l
arrangement s are complet e and meet t hei r b c
requi rement s. The l unar base i s exp. t o be
permanently staffed by 2024!
MEANING OF GAME THEORY
The allotment of electromagnet ic spectrum
has been in t he news recent ly for all t he wrong
reasons. The procedure and the intention have both
been called into question. Are there better ways to
allot electromagnetic spectrum?
Wel l , Game Theor y has been rout i nel y
employed by the United States government to allot
2G and 3G spect r um i n t hei r count r y. Game
t heory has time and again proved to be t he best
way to solve such critical issues.
You are often using game theory in real life,
although sometimes you may not be aware of it. If
you are a teenager addicted to computer games then
you are really watching game theory at work on your
Xbox, Ni nt endo and Playbox screens. How are
complex strategy games like The Game of Thrones
and Age of Empires, which count on players making
smart moves, developed?
Venturing into the corporat e world, how do
businesses and business magnates take acquisition
decisions and decisions involving thousands of crores
of rupees? Are they merely based on the mood of the
company CEO? Or does painstaking research go into
such decisions?
Why are the products of Microsoft and Apple
most liked? What tools do these companies employ
t o make good decisions in t he i nt erest of t heir
company?
The answer t o all t hese questions is Game
Theory. It is also often used in strategizing foreign
pol i ci es or even for t aki ng cri t i cal modern day
military decisions.
Game theory is a classic mathematical model
of analysing real world problems. It was proposed by
legendary mathematician Dr. John von Neumann. It
i s one of t he most i mport ant t ool s used by
corporations, governments, militaries and computer
game designers t hese days for st rat egic decision
making in real life as well as real life-like situations.
Game theory is called into play whenever there
are several players whose actions are interdependent.
It is the genesis of revolutionary changes in economic
theory, the study of evolution and biology and has
recently been applied in the automobile industry as
well.
The fields of sociology and psychology also
have dedicated streams for creating datasets using
game t heor y. Dur i ng onl i ne auct i on of radi o
spect r um l i censes by Amer i cas Federal
Communi cat i ons Commi ssi on i n 2006, Paul
Mi l grom, professor at St anf ord Uni versi t y,
customized his game-theory software to help some
of the bidders.
When t he auct i on st ar t ed, Dr Mi l groms
software followed the competitors bids to find the
approximate value of their budget s for the 1,132
licenses on offer.
The soft ware cal culat ed t he secret values
ot her companies placed on specific licenses and
found that certain big licenses were being overvalued,
helping Dr Milgrams clients to obtain an advantage
of smaller, less Lpensive licenses instead. Two of his
clients, Time Warner and Comcast, paid about a third
less than their competitors for equivalent spectrum,
saving almost $1.2 billion.
The key aspect s of game t heory revol ve
around identification of process participants, their
various quantifiable options (choices), consideration
of their preferences and subsequent reactions. If all
these factors are carefully thought of, then the task
of modelling the problem by game theory along with
identifications of all possible sit uat ions becomes
easier. The problem is labelled as a game. Some of
the assumptions that this theory makes about the
players stakeholders or various participant s
making individual decision is that there are more
than one player and all players shall make rational
choices. This is necessary and expect ed because if
CEOs start making irrational decisions then it s just
not him but the entire organisation that suffers a
loss. Alt hough t his assumpt ion does not hold at
times as we shall see later while discussing observed
behaviour.
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But , what do you call a rational decision? A
person is said to be rational if he tries to maximize
results in his favour considering t he st rat egy and
actions of his opponents. Think of Darwins theory.
In t he past fift y years of it s development ,
Game Theory has reached a st age where many
variants with differing assumptions have found place
in its light. In Cooperative Game Theory, the players
involved are divided by their individual power and
the payoffs (result/ outcome) are according to the
power division between players. This type of game
t heory is in sync wit h a Nash model in which the
division of gains from negot iat ions bet ween two
parties is determined by the power held by each and
this power is determined by a situation in which the
negotiations breakdown.
Think of coalition political parties tussling over
power sharing in government. Cooperative Game
Theory is often used in polit ics and int ernational
relations because, invariably, power plays a big role in
det ermi ni ng t he st r engt h of a nat i on. The
neoliberalism in international relations has greatly
benefitted from game theory. Consider the following
matrix created by Brian Martin in which the situation
is that US marines are already in Iraq fighting a war,
Iraq will not pull-out because of ideological reasons.
PAYOFF
MATRIX 1
USA
Escalate Negotiate Pullout

Escalate
Military
stalemate;
more killing
Military
advantage
to Iraq
Military
advantage
to Iraq
Iraq
Negotiate
Military
advantage
to Washington
Military and
political
stalemate; less
killing
Political
advantage
to Iraq
On an integer scale where positive values are
better than negative values and using some figures to
compare the value of the different outcomes to each
player, we might say that milit ary st alemate with
more killing was worth -1 to Iraq and -2 to USA, and
so forth, leading to the following matrix:
PAY OF MATRIX - 2 USA
Esclate Negoliate Pullout
Iraq Esclat e (-1, -2) (1, -3) (3, 5)
Negot i at e (-3, 1) (0, 0) (3, -3)
Rewriting the above matrix with only a single
payoff (as near as possible representing the payoffs
above), and using abstract symbols for the players
and choices, we obtain:
PAY OF MATRIX - 3 USA (A)
Esclate(A1) Negoliate(A2) Pullout (A3)
Iraq(B)Esclate(B1) 0 2 4
Negotiate(B2) -1 0 3
If player A chooses A2 and player B chooses
B1, then the payoff to B is 2 and the payoff to A is -
2. This is called a zero-sum game, because any gain to
A is a loss to B, and vice versa.
In the words of Brian Martin, If we assume
that each player has a goal, then we may attempt to
prescribe actions which will realise it. Game theory
prescribes courses of act ion for the att ainment of
out comes whi ch have cert ain f ormal opt imum
properties. It does not say what a person should do
in an absolute sense; it is not descriptive, but rather
conditionally normative.
Si mply put , if t he problem i s t hat you are
feeli ng t he heat on a humi d summer day, game
theory wont say switch on t he Air Condit ioner,
but it will present a comparative scenario between
AC, Cooler and Fan.
Anot her form of Game Theory is the Non-
Cooperat ive Game Theory. This t heor y shift s it s
focus from power to t iming. Here factors such as
ordering of players (as in F1 race) and timing playa
larger role than the power held by the players. This
theory works very well when the power held by each
player is equal and every player can make equally
significant impact on payoff.
Anot her f or m of Game Theory i s t he
Coalitional model, where the payoffs of a group or
coalit ion take precedence over individual players
payoff. Assume a recently concluded election in which
no individual political party has majority to form a
government. This model can actually analyse and
find the best group or coalition so that the payoffs
are maximised. This is different from co-operative
model in the sense that here even a small individual
political party can enjoy more power and inf luence
t han a larger part y. The only t hing t hat is never
disclosed is the process of negotiations by which the
individual players formed a group or coalition.
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Many Public Relation agencies, marketing firms
and direct selling firms use elements of Game Theory
t o narrow down t hei r t arget consumer base. I t
improves their focus area by giving a relatively clearer
picture of the methods that can be employed to deal
with customers.
An international program run by the US secret
service agencies known as Prism uses a software
model based on Game Theor y t o ascert ai n
predictability of terrorist activities, identities and
their possible locations. The program gathers data
f rom numerous sources such as i nt ernat i onal
Internet gateways, satellites, social networking sites,
emails, chats and messengers. The data is then fed
i nt o t he progr am t o cr eat e a spect rum of
information about possible terrorist attacks in USA
and elsewhere. The mathematical analysis of Game
Theor y is ver y subject ive. Games like Prisoners
Dilemma, Centipede Game, Browers fixed-point
theorem, Extensive, Normal and Cooperative Games,
Zero Sum and Non Zero Sum Games, Symmetric and
non-symmet r i c Games have expanded t he
boundaries of Game Theory in the last two decades,
but have gained critics as well.
Game Theory is regarded by it s crit ics as a
work of limited practical use. Some mathematicians
argue t hat t here are bet t er t ools t o analyse t he
complex problem. Many scientists have pointed out
that the very foundation of Game Theory, which is
based on rat i onal it y and i nt ell igence, i s f l awed
because it is commonl y seen t hat peopl e make
irrational decisions.
BRIEF HISTORY OF GAME THEORY
The mat hemat ical t heory of games was first developed by John von Neumann and Oskar
Morgenstern in the 1940s, but its applicability was limit ed to parlor games. John Nash, t he
subject of the 2001 Oscar-winning movie A Beautiful Mind transformed game theory into a more
general tool t hat enabled the analysis of win-win and lose-lose scenarios, as well as win-lose
sit uations. Nash enabled game theory to address a central question: should we compete or
cooperate?
Game Theory remains at the cutting edge of economic theory, with game theorists winning the
Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994, 1996, 2005, 2007 and 2012. For his path-breaking dissertation
that revolutionized economics and many other disciplines, John Nash won the Nobel in 1994, along
with game theorists John Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten. William Vickrey won the Nobel in 1996
for his pioneering work in incentives, asymmetric information, and auction theory, all crucial to
the advance of effective strategy in a world of influence -like chess, football, military strategy and
business.
Thomas Schelling and Robert Aumann won t he 2005 Nobel for their game-t heoret ic work in
conf lict and cooperation, including contributions on credible commitments and repeated games.
In the committees words, such contributions have made Game Theory the dominant approach
to the analysis of conf lict and cooperation.
Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson won the 2007 Nobel prize for their work in
mechanism design theory, a branch of game theory that extends the application of game theory
to how different types of rules, or institutions, align individual incentives with overall social goals.
Their work on allocation mechanisms has had a significant impact on the design of auctions, social
welfare systems and many organizations. Most recently, in 2012, the Nobel was awarded to Lloyd
Shapley and Alvin Rot h for their work using Game Theory for economic engineering. Bot h
addressed how to match different agents as well as possible. Shapley used cooperative game theory
to study and compare different matching methods. Roth built on Shapleys theoretical work by
showing empirically the conditions for the functioning of important markets in practice, and he
demonst rat ed t hat st abilit y is t he key t o underst anding t he success of part icular market
institutions.
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SUCECESS OF BUENO DE MESQUITAS GAMES
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, an academic at New York University, has made some impressively
accurate political forecasts. In May 2010, he predicted that Egypt s president , Hosni Mubarak,
would fall from power within a year. Nine months later Mr Mubarak f led Cairo amid massive
street protests.
In February 2008, Mesquita predicted that Pakistans president , Pervez Musharraf, would leave
office by the end of summer. He was gone before September. Five years before the death of Irans
Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989, Bueno de Mesquita correctly named his successor, and, since then,
has made hundreds of prescient forecasts as a consultant both to foreign governments and to
Americas State Department , Pentagon and intelligence agencies.
What is the secret of his success? I dont have insights-the game does, he says. Mr. Bueno de
Mesquitas game is a computer model he developed that uses a branch of mathematics called
Game Theory, which is often used by economists to work out how events will unfold as people
and organizations act in what they perceive to be their best interests. Numerical values are placed
on the goals, motivations and inf luence of players - negotiators, business leaders, political
parties and organizations of all stripes, and, in some cases, their officials and supporters. The
computer model then considers the options open to the various players, determines their likely
course of action, evaluates their ability to influence others and hence predicts the course of events.
Mr Mubaraks influence, for example, waned as cuts in American aid threatened his ability to keep
cronies in t he army and securit y forces happy. Underemployed cit izens t hen realized t hat
disgruntled officials would be less willing to use violence to put down street protests against the
ailing dictator.
Bueno de Mesquita is also credited with accurate prediction for US Military of political impact of
moving an aircraft carrier close to North Korea.
Many at tribut e t he development s in Game
Theory t o over-ent husiastic economist s working
overtime t o creat e a mat hematical smoke screen.
Among the most vocal critics of Game Theory, Mr.
John Quiggin, professor of economics at James Cook
University, Australia points out that , ... the Game
Theory does work in isolated games such as chess or
poker where t he chances of repetition are few but
for infinitely- repeated games, the strategy space gets
very large, and the (in) famous Folk Theorem says,
roughly, that anything can happen. This is really just
the same problem in a different form.
Criticism notwithstanding, the game theory is
regarded as ext remel y usef ul by researchers in
polit ical science. Ant hony Downs in his book An
Economic Theory of Democracy (Downs 1957) applies
the Hotelling firm locat ion model to t he polit ical
process. Downs proposes t hat t he pol i t i cal
candidates will converge to the ideology preferred by
the median vot er if vot ers are fully informed, but
then argues that voters choose to remain rationally
ignorant which allows for a candidate to deviate from
his declared agenda.
In biology, the pay-offs are calculated in terms
of fitness. Biologists like Fisher, J. Maynard Smith and
Harper have used Game Theory to solve paradoxical
evolutionary problems of animal communication, kin
select i on and biological alt rui sm. In t he f ield of
computers, the Game Theory is the genesis of Multi-
Agent Syst ems, and has helped in development of
al gori t hms f or st ock market s, auct i ons and
interactive computer strategy games.
Several resear ch papers i n t he f i el d of
Behavioural Psychology owe t o t he Game Theor y.
The works of Sober, Wilson and Lewis used it t o
transform their datasets into descriptive results on
human at t i t ude and rat i onal i t y by usi ng Nash
Equilibrium.
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