Current Affairs for IAS/PCS Civil Services

CURRENT AFFAIRS 13

Engineer develops micro hybrid power plant

Using a unique blend of technologies of the non-conventional energy sector, a Punjab engineer has developed a concept and designs of a micro hybrid power plant (MHPP), which could not only make a village self sufficient in its power needs but provide organic manure and run cold storages.

                

Talking to The Hindu , Bulwant Singh Brar, who retired from the Punjab Mandi Board, said he had the patents and trademark for the mathematical formula he had worked out to set up a MHPP of 250 kilowatt through a combination of solar power, bio-gas and bio-mass technologies to produce electricity. Each plant can be set up on a 2.5 acre plot of land with an investment of approximately Rs. 3 crore and provide employment to about 20 persons, while the per unit cost of power generation would average around Rs. 4.29.

Following his meetings at different levels, Mr. Brar said the Centre’s Department of Science and Technology had agreed to provide up to 80 per cent of the funds required to set up pilot plants, if a relevant proposal was processed and recommended by the respective State governments, some of which have initiated the procedure to identify at least one spot in every district.

Mr. Brar said one MHPP could come up in just six months as compared to the years spent on constructing the conventional thermal plants. A village with about 3,000 cattle head could provide 27 tonnes of cow dung to produce biogas, three tonnes of farm residue like paddy husk, straw or cotton stalks as bio-mass raw material for such a plant. Coupled with the solar power that would be generated on the plant’s rooftop, the village could be assured of 24 hours power supply, for domestic use. Daily, the plant would produce around 2.7 tonnes of compost and about 15 quintals of ash, whose management or storage was a viable proposition.

Mr. Brar said these non-conventional energy sources set up singularly failed as alternate providers of power due to flaws in the design, availability of raw material and disposal of waste. A 250 KW biogas power plant alone required 2 to 2.50 acres of land, an investment of Rs. 3 crore and manpower of up to 25 persons. It required 80 tonnes of cow dung as raw material and produced 8 tonnes of compost. The raw material could be collected from eight to 10 thousand cattle head, spread over three to four villages. The collection of raw material and disposal of compost added to the cost of operation, where the average per unit cost of generation worked to be around Rs. 6. Similar was the case in power plants based on bio-mass alone which produce 50 quintals of ash daily, while due to availability of sunlight the cost of per unit cost of generation at a separate solar plant worked to nearly Rs. 10.

 The steam generated from these MHPP would be utilised in running cold storage and milk chilling plants at no extra cost. Mr. Brar said the mixture of compost and ash used as manure would reduce the cost of farm inputs.

Amarinder for national policy to tackle drug trafficking

Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has called for a comprehensive policy and coordinated action plan to tackle drug trafficking at the national-level, as no single State has the wherewithal to confront the problem in isolation.

Through a statement, Capt. Singh, who is a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee, said that during his term as the Chief Minister he had raised the matter as Punjab’s primary concern five times in the National Development Council meetings — twice with Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and thrice with Dr. Manmohan Singh in the Chair.

 During the NDC meetings, he had pointed out that Punjab had become a large market for “home grown drugs” from Madhya Pradesh and those sold openly in Rajasthan. Drugs from Pakistan and across have continued to slip in, despite best efforts from the BSF. He expressed concern that the State had become the centre for production and consumption of synthetic drugs, which were the latest entry on the list of intoxicants that had been unleashed on the younger generations.

“That is why I have always emphasised that the problem of drugs can only be solved by evolving a national policy, which deals both with the national as well as international aspect. An individual State like Punjab that has a long international border and also a border with Rajasthan cannot do it on its own,” he pointed out. He said it was time that the law was amended to increase the penalty for drug related crimes as well as serve a serious deterrent for the current and prospective manufacturers and traffickers.

He said the ongoing investigation into the drug racket in Punjab related to just one group was a cog in a large wheel of illicit trade of contraband. He sought a special effort to clean up the entire network in the State.

Reiterating his position that was against the stance adopted by the party’s State unit, he said, “My opinion, which I yet again strongly endorse, is that the current police investigation must be taken to its logical conclusion.”

 While the Congress has been organising chain hunger fasts asking to handover the investigations to the CBI after one of the kingpins named some sitting Ministers, Capt. Singh said any attempt to save any individual through political patronage or shortcomings in the investigation would lead to intervention by the High Court. It has already taken a serious view of the issue that had impacted 70 per cent of the youth of Punjab.

Responding to reactions from Congress leaders, who have attributed motives to his opposition to handing over the investigation to the CBI, Capt. Singh warned that if the investigations were allowed to linger on or be derailed, another generation of youth would be in danger.

He said drugs were serious and dangerous business over which there should be no politics.

Capt. Singh said in his 44 years’ political career he never required any endorsements to follow what he believed was in the interest of his State and country. The people who had been his detractors in the last 20 years would never be in a position to prevent him from pursuing his path.

“Dramatising the CBI approach” was meant only to divert the opinion in the party, which was split down the centre over the issue of ignoring deserving and senior members during the recent reconstitution of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), he pointed out.

Identity and inclusive governance

One of the key issues that occupy voter imagination with regard to the coming elections is the tension between identity and governance in Indian democracy. Most of the political parties, especially national parties, are claiming to have moved to a governance paradigm as against the mobilisation of social groups on the basis of a ‘narrow’ identity. The Congress claims to have introduced a new discourse on ‘good governance’ with the introduction of economic reforms; the BJP under Narendra Modi is projecting governance to induce growth, prosperity and higher GDP as a solution to many evils plaguing the nation; and the newly formed Aam Aadmi Party says it has introduced a post-identity and post-ideology politics to strengthen democracy by way of foregrounding corruption as an issue concerning all castes, classes and regions.

                What exactly was the problem with identity politics? India has seen an exponential growth of identity politics in the last two decades. While it mobilised the marginalised, it ushered in piecemeal changes and introduced competitive mobilisation by different social groups leading to sectarianism and identity-fetishism. This has led to the creation of new social elites among the hitherto marginalised social groups such as Dalits and Muslims, leaving behind the bulk of the population in whose name the specific identity groups are mobilised. It is these elites who then make demands of their own such as the need for ‘Dalit Capitalists,’ unmindful of the fact that such an economy would exploit Dalit labour more than anything else. Further, identity politics entrenches patron-client relations in between the social elites of the identity groups and the rest of the population belonging to those identities.

The worst outcome of sustained identity mobilisation is the proliferation of intra-subaltern conflicts as we have witnessed among the various Dalit sub-castes in Andhra Pradesh, between Dalits and the Other Backward Classes in Khairlanji in Maharashtra, and between the OBCs and Muslims during the recent riots in Muzzafarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. These conflicts are not only replacing the conflict with elites, within and outside their respective groups, but are also making an alliance with social elites possible or rather a necessity to win elections, as is clear from the shift in the BSP’s language — from Bahujan to Sarvajan — making an uncanny alliance between Dalits and Brahmins a viable strategy in Uttar Pradesh. Finally, identity politics has failed to deliver material benefits and open up widescale economic opportunities.

 Instead, it has propelled symbolic mobility and psychological empowerment, of the kind displayed by the symbolism of Mayawati, (who installed statues of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar) and Lalu Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. While they contribute to ideas of dignity, respect and a sense of the self, and remain important achievements in themselves, cultural mobility invariably leads to demands for a share in the economic resources. This can clearly be observed in the case of Muslims who, especially after the Sachar Committee report, are demanding better educational and employment opportunities. In India, we are strangely witnessing a simultaneous rise of cultural assertion, and economic dispossession, which is what makes our democracy look chaotic and, for some, even unruly. It is for these reasons that there is a new consensus of sorts against the adverse impact of identity politics on Indian democracy among the upwardly mobile professional/urban classes, as well as the rural and urban poor.

                While one understands why the new language of Narendra Modi or the AAP has come as a relief for many, we need to ask two follow-up questions. Have political parties and their mobilisations in fact moved beyond identity mobilisation? Is the alternative to identity politics to be found in the language of governance? First, it is a grave exaggeration if one were to believe that political mobilisation has un-problematically moved to a more universal governance paradigm from ‘sectarian’ identity politics. Even a cursory look at all those political leaders who have come to symbolise the discourse of governance will make it evident that it is laced with a ‘liberal’ dose of identity mobilisation.

 For instance, Nitish Kumar’s governance is combined with sub-categorisation of the OBCs into the EBCs and the MBCs. Mr. Modi’s corporate governance and growth-centric rhetoric are combined with a deeply polarising discourse against the minorities that he returns to when he alludes to the ‘burqa of secularism’ or claims to being a ‘Hindu nationalist,’ or deliberately compares the minorities to ‘puppies that have come under the wheels.’

It is therefore untenable to imagine that the Modi of 2002 is very different from the Modi of 2012. It is not explicit identity versus governance, as popular discourse has come to perceive, but more of a certain combination of identity with the rhetoric of efficient governance. Similar is the case with the AAP. It has made a pitch for a similar shift to a more identity-blind, transparent and accountable governance, and also cited this as its mobilisational strategy for the elections in Delhi; the most cited case being Shazia Ilmi, a Muslim, contesting from a Hindu dominated constituency (though it is a different matter that it was a one-off case of a prominent face of the AAP losing the elections). Whether it is the composition of the AAP Ministry or the nature of polling where many surveys found Muslims voting in much smaller numbers for the party than others because there weren’t too many Muslim faces in it, identities have not really died out. Identity claims have only moved from claiming exclusive cultural dignity to attempts to combine them with new types of economic opportunities. It is evident in the case of Gujjars demanding the status of STs, or Rajputs wanting to be listed as OBCs. The issue here is not mobility in ritual hierarchy but a share (legitimate or otherwise) in state resources.

Finally, is the alternative to the ills of identity politics to be sought in governance, if it means an exclusive growth-centric strategy that India began with during the phase of liberalisation in the 1990s, which prompted Rob Jenkins to refer to it as ‘reforms by stealth?’ It has since moved to a judicious or otherwise combination of reforms and social welfare policies, such as the Right to Food security, the Land Acquisition Bill, and the Street Vendors Bill, apart from the MGNREGA, riding on which the Congress came back to power in 2009. Or, for that matter, the governments of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have been voted back in the recent elections in 2013 in recognition of the spate of welfare policies that were put in place. Governance as growth has very marginally translated into a trickle-down for the poor, and therefore the need to have more pronounced social welfare policies in place.

 Having said this, it must be recognised that in spite of ushering in a spate of welfare policies, the prospects for the Congress are rather bleak, precisely because it seems to have failed in delivering and implementing them through effective governance strategies. It lacked transparency and accountability and got caught in a series of high-level scams. This not only makes the government inefficient but also look arrogant in a mood of ‘participatory democracy’ that we are witnessing. Strangely similar is the case with the Left-of Centre parties such as the CPI and the CPI(M) that have continued to raise issues of poverty, ill-effects of FDI on the marginalised, landlessness and displacement, but could neither creatively plug into identity mobilisation nor particularly look accountable and open to dialogue and participatory ethos, which partly explains their declining presence in electoral calculations.

This, however, does not mean we move back to an exclusive growth-centric governance paradigm. Rather, the road ahead is a choice between governance combined with a polarised polity and governance combined with a social-democratic welfare agenda that is inclusive of all social identities such as Dalits, the OBCs, the minorities and women. Identities cannot be undermined or brushed aside, nor can they simply be mobilised for cultural assertion any more without including a concrete and tangible programme of economic empowerment, while governance cannot simply mean growth any more but means the way it contributes through a discourse of accountability, institutional procedures and transparency to widening economic opportunities and a more inclusive democratic order. The chances are wide open, and the party or parties that can effectively combine the two and their new meaning that is taking shape in Indian democracy will, in all probability, surge ahead in the coming elections.

CAR interim president takes charge

Central African Republic’s new interim president, Catherine Samba Panza, was sworn in onThursday, tasked with ending horrific sectarian violence and tackling an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

Samba Panza, the first female president of the poor, landlocked nation, faces the daunting challenge of stemming inter-religious hatred and reviving a paralysed state. She takes over from Michel Djotodia who resigned under international pressure after failing to rein in the mainly Muslim rebel Seleka group, which brought him to power in March 2013.

Commemorating national girl day

National Girl Child Day observed on 24 January 2014 across India by the Government. This day is observed every year to raise awareness and consciousness of the society towards girl children. The day is being observed every year on 24 January since 2008.

Government of India has started National Girl Child Day as a national girl’s development mission. The mission raises the awareness among people all over the country about the importance of girls’ promotion. It helps in enhancing girls’ meaningful contribution in decision making processes by active support of the parents and the community members.

Some Schemes for girls in India

• Dhan Lakshmi Scheme - Government of India (Ministry of Women and Child Development)

• Bhagyalakshmi Scheme - Karnataka

• Ladli Lakshmi Yojana - Madhya Pradesh

• Girl Child Protection Scheme - Andhra Pradesh

• Ladli Scheme – Delhi and Haryana 

• Rajalakshmi Scheme - Rajasthan (Discontinued)

• Balika Samridhi Yojana (BSY) - Gujarat

• Beti Hai Anmol Scheme - Himachal Pradesh

• Rakshak Yojana - Punjab

• Mukhya Mantri Kanya Suraksha Yojana - Bihar

• Mukhya Mantri Kanya Vivah Scheme - Bihar

• Kunwarbainu Mameru Scheme - Gujarat

• Indira Gandhi Balika Suraksha Yojana - Himachal Pradesh

• Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan Yojana - Madhya Pradesh

Most of these schemes are administered through the Department of Women and Child Development using the vast network of ICDS and Anganwadi workers.

The Constitution of India offers all citizens, including children, certain basic fundamental rights. The Directive Principles of State Policy emphasizes that the state needs to ensure that all children are provided with services and opportunities to grow and develop in a safe and secure environment.

However, in the Indian context, the adverse social attitude towards daughters has left girl children vulnerable and at a disadvantage. Their survival, education, health care, development, security and well being are a matter of national concern. A significant impact of this discrimination is reflected in the deterioration of the male-female ratio, particularly among children. The 1991 Census of India indicated worsening trends in sex ratio.

The 2001 Census revealed the gravity of the situation. The dwindling number of girl children on account of increasing incidences of sex selection is a matter of concern in many states. Even after legislations such as the Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act of 1994, popularly known as the PCPNDT Act, and many campaigns to promote the value of the girl child, the situation has barely improved.

Programmes and policies clearly state that it is necessary to empower girl children in all aspects of life so that they become equal partners in society. They should be in a position to avail equal freedom and opportunity.

                                                                               

                                                                                Objective of the National Girl Child Day

National Girl Child day is observed with an aim to ensure that every girl child is respected, valued and treated equally in the society. On this day multi-pronged approach to address and work towards the diminishing child sex ratio in India is taken up by the Women and Child Development Ministry. These initiatives help the country in nurturing the girl child in a way that equal opportunities are given to them similar like the boys. 

Earlier on 22 January 2014, the India Post launched a special savings scheme for the girl child between 10 and 20 in age of India. The scheme has asked the parents of girls to open a Savings Bank account. It says that the parents can open 

• Recurring Deposit (RD)

• Monthly Income Scheme (MIS)

• Fixed Deposits

• And can also buy National Savings Certificate (NSC)

Parents who open an account during the National Girl Child Week (24 to 30 January 2014) will be given special prizes. India Post has mentioned that the parents can deposit minimum 10 rupees for the Recurring Deposit account, for Savings bank accounts 50 rupees can be deposited and for Monthly Income Scheme can be opened from 5000 rupees and it goes up to 6 lakh rupees.  

Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education

To promote enrolment of girl child in the age group of 14-18 at secondary stage, especially those who passed Class VIII and to encourage the secondary education of such girls, the Centrally Sponsored Scheme. National Scheme of Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education was launched in May, 2008.

The Scheme covers

• All SC/ST girls who pass class VIII and

• Girls, who pass class VIII examination from Kastrurba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (irrespective of whether they belong to Scheduled Castes or Tribes) and enroll for class IX in State/UT Government, Government-aided or local body schools in the academic year 2008-09 onwards.

• Girls should be below 16 years of age (as on 31 March) on joining class IX.

• Married girls, girls studying in private un-aided schools and enrolled in schools run by Central Government are excluded.

A sum of 3000 Rupees is deposited in the name of eligible girls as fixed deposit. The girls are entitled to withdraw the sum along with interest thereon on reaching 18 years of age and on passing 10th class examination.

International Day of the Girl Child is observed on 11 October and was declared as a day to be observed by United Nations in 2012. UN declared this day to support more opportunities to a girl child worldwide upon their gender like education, legal rights, medical care, nutrition, child marriage and violence.

Comment: In India there are many government schemes to promote girls education but it has failed till date because of the lack of information transmission. These schemes have also failed to reach the target group even in urban areas. In terms in education girls from the economically weaker section of the country hardly has been able to go beyond eighth or tenth class.

New Schemes for Girl Child In Punjab

1.  Number of Girl Children – The present fertility rate is 1.8% and as per latest data there are about 4.90 lakh (say 5.00 lakh) births every year in the State. The child sex ratio is about 825 and therefore number of girl children born in the State is 2.26 lakh and number of boys is 2.74 lakh. The number of girl children can be worked out as follows:

         - SC Girl Child (29%) 65,540

        - BPL Girl Child (12%) 27,120

   - Atta Dal Girl Child(32%) 72,320

The State Government has to decide about the beneficiaries. The number can therefore be worked out:

 (a) All BPL and SC girl children:

As mentioned above, the number of girl children is about 80,000. About 75% of BPL are already SC and therefore the total number of  girl children would be only 80,000.  If we further restrict to families having adopted two child norm, then the number would be about 40,000.

 (b) Atta Dal:  If we restrict the family to atta dal beneficiaries then the total  number of girl children would be about 72,000. If we further restrict to families having two child norm, then the number would be only

        36,000.  If we restrict this scheme to non-income tax payee then the number would be less.

        To sum-up, the figure of 40,000 girl children can easily be assumed for proposed new scheme.

        - Shagun Scheme – The scheme is restricted to SC families having an income of Rs.20,000/- in rural area and Rs.27,000/- in urban area. There are 40,000 beneficiaries in the State every year.

 2. Existing Schemes for Girl Child – There are 4 important schemes for girl children which need to be studied. Two schemes are already being implemented by the State- one relates to Government of India and one to

        Government of Karnataka:

 (a) Kanya Jagriti Jyoti Scheme (Government of Punjab) – This scheme is admissible to girl children born in BPL family. The parents should have adopted two child norm. Rs. 5000/- is deposited at the time of birth of girl child with LIC and LIC gives the following benefits:

•      From 6th year to 12th year of age Rs.1200/- p.a. scholarship

•      From 12th year to 18th year of age Rs.2400/- p.a. scholarship

Lumpsum amount at the age of 18 or on 21 years as decided by the family. This amount is to be finalized by the LIC at the age of 18 or 21 years. This scheme is being implemented by the Department of Social Security and every year there are about 8000 beneficiaries. We have provided Rs.4.00 crore for 8000 beneficiaries

in the next plan year 2009-2010.

 (b) Balri Rakshak Yojana (Government of Punjab) – This scheme is being implemented by the Department of Health & Family Welfare and is also linked with control of population. The family is to be non income tax payee and it should adopt two child norm. It should have no male child and can have one or two girl child. The State Government gives monthly incentive of Rs.500/- for one girl child and Rs.700/- for two girl children. The monthly incentive starts from the day, the family adopts family planning operation and girl child is less than 5 years old. This scheme did not prove so attractive in the State and there are about 212 beneficiaries in the scheme from the date of start in the year 2005-06. We have kept a provision of Rs.60.00 lakh for this scheme which would be adequate for 1000 beneficiaries.

 (c ) Bhagyalakshmi Scheme (Government of Karnataka) – This is similar to our Kanya Jagriti Jyoti Scheme and is being implemented with the help of LIC. The Government of Karnataka deposits Rs.10,000/- for the birth of girl child. This scheme is admissible to BPL families having upto 3 children. Lump sump amount - 18 years of age to be decided by LIC. The rates of scholarship are less as compared to Kanya Jagriti Jyoti Scheme but it appears that lump sump amount after 18 years shall be more than Kanya Jagriti Jyoti Scheme.

 (d) Dhan Lakshmi (Government of India) – This scheme is being implemented in Sirhind Block of Fatehgarh Sahib district by Government of India. The GoI would deposits certain amount with LIC on the birth of girl child. This scheme is open to all girl children irrespective of the income level and size of the family. The incentives are:

         At the time of birth Rs. 5000/-

         Complete immunization Rs.1250/-

         Education –

a) On enrolment in Primary School Rs.1000/-

       On passing of class I, II, III, IV & V Rs.500/-each

b) On enrolment in Secondary School Rs.1500/-

     On passing of class VI,VII & VIII Rs.750/-each

    Girl remaining unmarried Rs.1.00 lakh upto 18 years of age

  (e) Majoni ( Government of Assam) -  Rs.5,000 is deposited at the time of birth of girl child and the girl would get maturity value of the fixed deposit when she attains the age of 18 years. The eligibility conditions are that the girl must be born in Government hospital and family should have adopted two child norm.

(f)   Ladli Laxmi Scheme (Government of Madhya Pradesh) - Rs.6,000 is deposited every year for first five years. The family should be non income tax payee and should have adopted two child norm.

3. Suggestions for new schemes for Punjab Government – Before introducing new schemes, we have to take decisions on the following points:

(a)  Eligibility – Income levels, family size and status regarding SC;

(b)  Whether we want to give monthly scholarship or fix amount every 3-4 intervals inspite of 12 years i.e.   during school years. As mentioned above, the number of girl children to be covered would be about 40,000. It would include atta dal families having adopted two child norm. If the restriction of two child norm is not there then the number of girl children would be about 75,000.

 Option 1: We have contacted LIC and as per latest interest rates, the following scheme has been worked out:

                     Punjab Government to deposit Rs.8000/- per girl child at the time of birth and LIC would provide the following  benefits:

 On admission in Class -1(Age 6 yrs) Rs.2100/-

 On admission in Class – 6 (Age 11 yrs) Rs.5100/-

 On admission in Class -9 (Age 14 yrs) Rs.5100/-

 On passing of Class-XII (Age 18 yrs) Rs. 11000/-

(Financial Liabilities = Rs.32.00 cr. p.a.)

 Option 2: Punjab Government to deposit Rs. 5000+Rs.8000 per girl child at the time of birth and the LIC would provide the following benefits:

•     From 6th year to 12th year of age Rs.1200/- p.a. scholarship

        (Class I – ClassVI)

 •     From 12th year to 18th year of age Rs.2400/- p.a. scholarship

        (Class VI – Class XII)

 •    On admission in Class -1(Age 6 yrs) Rs.2100/-

 •    On admission in Class – 6 (Age 11 yrs) Rs.5100/-

 •    On admission in Class -9 (Age 14 yrs) Rs.5100/-

 •    On attaining age of 18 yrs Rs.11000/-

        (Passing of Class XII)

        (Financial Liabilities = Rs.52.00 cr. p.a.)

 Option 3: If a sum of Rs.20,000 is deposited per girl child at the time of birth then she will receive Rs.1.00 lac at the age of 21 years.

(Financial Liabilities = Rs.80.00 cr. p.a.)

 Option 4: If we can deposit Rs.33000 per girl child at the time of birth then we can give scholarship for education as well as maturity amount to the girl child at the age of 21 years as under: From 6th year to 12th year of age Rs.1200/- p.a. scholarship (Class I – Class VI)

                      From 12th year to 18th year of age Rs.2400/- p.a. scholarship (Class VI – Class XII)

                      On admission in Class -1(Age 6 yrs) Rs.2100/-

                       On admission in Class – 6 (Age 11 yrs) Rs.5100/-

                       On admission in Class -9 (Age 14 yrs) Rs.5100/-

                       On passing of Class XII (18 yrs) Rs.11000/-

                       Girl attaining the age of 21 yrs. Rs.1.00 lac

                      (Financial Liabilities = Rs.132.00 cr. p.a.)