Why should governments invest in Public Health ?

Here in this column we will discuss about why should government spend or invest on public health,first lets begins with definition of health.

According to world health organisation “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

We will discuss why  Government of any country and in particular under developed and developing countries should spend on public health in following views

·        Economic

·        Social

·        Moral

    Economic view

In economic view even when capital flows in to the country through some fdi ,fii when they open up economy or finding natural resources in country itself ,it will not kick start the economy without the man power in good health condition(able bodies in economic terms).any company will invest in a particular country only if they find adequate power and labour resource beside natural resources. So even though a country have adequate power and natural resources with out man power it will boom the economy.

Also when malnourishment is rampant in a country which is also a health issue they are jeopardising the next generation economic growth now itself.thus by neglecting  health will effect this generation and next generation economic development.

Social view

Poor health reduces the productivity of individual, leads to higher number of  absent days at work ,both working to reduce the lifetime savings of the individual and the family as whole. Also if public health system is not provided one has to bear the health expenditure, which will act as double edged sword on the impoverished. Once the condition degrades civil uprisings will take place in country and instability is created.

Moral view

According to Article 21 of constitution of India and Article 3 of Universal declaration of human rights everyone is entitled   the right to life and liberty. Indian Supreme court using judicial activism it concluded that right life means not mere physical existence but life with dignity .and it’s the moral responsibility of the government to provide so in which health is a major concern along side with diet and all.Also cost of treatment of some diseases are out of range for poor and deprived ,in those cases government should take active participation and  provide treatment for them .

Thus to conclude its government economic requisite , social necessity , moral responsibility  to invest on public health.

                                                                         ----- Sekhar-----

10 Fundamental Problems with Education System in India

1. Education System Promotes Rat Race

Our education system basically promotes rat race among our children. They have to read and mug-up entire text book without any understanding of it.

So a student who scores 90 out of 100 and comes first actually remains a rat. I mean to say he or she does not have any analytical skills that a child must have.

It is time to change our education system.

2. Education Does Not Builds Persona of a Child

Unfortunately our education system is not helping to develop persona of a child. Remember, it is personality that is more important than academic qualification.

As I said earlier, our system demands good numbers from a child in an exam not to show his personality. Hence a child is not well exposed to outer world and he or she might not be able to develop a personality.

So this is another flaw in our education system.

3. No Critical Analysis, only Following the Establishment

Our children are not able to do critical analysis of anything, for example our history, culture and religion. They take the line of establishment or the views of predominant majority.

They are simply not able to look things from their own perspective. If you want a society should become a lot better than we must develop a culture of looking at things critically.

We are simply failing at this because of our education system. Children must learn to criticize our own culture and other established narratives.

4. Too Much Parochialism Rather Global Outlook

Our education teaches too much of nationalism and it could create a negative mindset in our younger generation. Loving your country is good thing but just blind love is dangerous.

In our schools children are not able to get a global outlook. It means how to see yourself that you are actually a global citizen rather confined to a place or a country.

I myself was not able to feel that I am a cosmopolitan rather I was thought to become a jingoistic.

5. Teachers Themselves are Not Trained and Efficient

To make things worse, our teachers themselves are not sufficiently trained to teach kids. They do not have proper training that how they are going to impart values in children that are going to change the future of the country.

If they can teach properly then the government does not have enough salary to pay. Hence, to improve our education system teachers should be better trained and more importantly better paid.

You cannot imagine a country without respecting teachers.

6. Medium of Language of our Education System

This is also a big problem that needs to be addressed. We are not able to decide on the medium of language of our education system.

Still emphasize is given on English where majority of children cannot understand the language. So how does they are going to understand what teachers are teaching.

Moreover, subjects like mathematics, physics and arts have nothing to do with the medium of communication. Hence, over-emphasis on English could be wrong.

7. Education Given is Irrelevant to Job-Market

This is perhaps the most apparent failure of our education system that after completing graduation in any discipline students are not able to get jobs.

It is simply because skills that are required in a job market are simply not present in a fresh graduate. All that a student is taught in his entire school and college life is almost redundant for job markets.

Skill that is required by them is not taught in schools and colleges. Hence our education system is needed to be revamped and must be designed according to our economic policies.

8. Missing Innovation & Creation because Only Aping West

If we talk about the privileged children in India then even they are not able to innovate and create new things. Although they have everything that a child need but still they lack something in them.

What they are doing is only aping western culture and not being able to do something new. On the one hand children are not able to go to schools and on other hand, if they are going then are not able to innovate or solve the problems that the country is facing.

Hence, this is yet another fundamental problem with our education system.

9. Students Happy in Getting a Highly Paid Salary Job but Lacks Ambition to Become Entrepreneur

Now, in college campuses it has become a common thing that every young student is interested in a getting a job that pays them well. However, they would never like to become an entrepreneur.

This lack of ambition does not allow our country to excel in any field. This attitude of our children making them slaves of few multinational companies.

Therefore our education system should be designed to make our children a successful entrepreneurs rather going for a salaried job.

10. Gross Failure of Our Education System to End Social Disparity

The last but not the least failure of our education system is after so many years it has not being able to reduce social disparity in our country. In fact, social disparity has gone up.

It is such a shame that education itself has become a tool for creating divisions. A child of a rich parent would get good education and a child of poor parent cannot afford even a basic education.

Government should intervene and make education its prime responsibility.

Conclusion

Finally, I would say we spend only few percent of our GDP on education, so our government should make education its first priority and try to address issues.

Tribal Economy in India

The sources of subsistence and livelihood are varied so far the Indian tribals are concerned. Starting from the pure and simple parasitic habit of the nomadic hunters and food-gatherers who depend mostly on nature for the sources of subsistence to the settled agriculturists and the group of industrial laborers, we have the views of different economic set-up the Indian tribals. From this view point, we can classify the Indian tribals into six broad economic clusters:

1. Food-gatherers and hunters: The nomadic primitive tribes like the An­damanese, Onge, Jarwa, Kadar, Kharia, Lodha, etc. are included in this category so far their subsistence economy is concerned. They usually live far away from rural-urban way of life and possess a simple type of social organization.
2. Permanent Settled Cultivators: Like the cultivators of the advanced societies, some of the tribals in India are taking resort to permanent settled agriculture. The Oraon, Munda, Gond, Bhumij, Ho, Santal, are efficient cultivators at present. They practice wet cultivation by transplanting method. Artificial irrigation and application of compost manure are not unknown to them. Rotation of crops is within the knowledge of these cultivators. They work in their owned fields as well as in the fields of others as share-croppers (Bhag-Chasi). The major bulk of the tribal population work as agricultural laborers. In search of jobs, these landless agricultural laborers participate in seasonal migration to the neighboring states. The social and religious organizations of these settled agriculturist tribals are much developed and highly complex. The traditional council of elders (panchayet) has to perform significant role in maintaining societal norms.
3. Pastoral people: The Bhotia of Almora and the Toda of the Nilgiri hills of South India live on pastoral economy. They do not practice agriculture, hunting, fishing, etc. They also live far away from the sophisticated modern world and possess a slightly developed but non-complicated social structure. Both of them, practice polyandrous marriage system. They rear buffaloes and cows, the milk-products are being exchanged to procure the commodities of day-to-day use.
4. Shifting Hill cultivators: A section of the Gond, Naga, Kharia, Juang, Riang, Khasi, Garo, Savara practice such type of primitive cultivation by “slash and burn” method. It is known by different names in different areas. The Assam tribes call it Jhum, the Gond as Podu, etc. A hilly forested tract is selected for this purpose may have to be abandoned after three successive cultivating seasons as this soil likely to lose fertility. The plants, shrubs, and undergrowth’s are cut down and left for drying for a month or so. Then, they set fire to them. The ashes serve as auto-manure to the soil. On the onset of monsoon, the soil is slightly loosened by a simple digging stick or hoe. Seeds of different Kharif crops, millet’s like Bajra, Jowar, Kurthi, pulses, potato, tobacco, and sugar-cane are grown in this type of cultivation. It could support them partially but not wholly. They have to find out some other vocations as supporting source of subsistence.
5. Manual laboring group: A substantial portion of the tribals has become landless laboring class owing to the economic hardship which they are facing at present. They earn their livelihood by selling their manual labor in different vocations.
6. Craftsmen: Some of the tribals are still retaining their traditional crafts along with the principle sources of subsistence. The Naga and the Khasi are experts in coloured hand-loom products and the Lohar are traditional black smiths. With the marginal profit in their traditional specialized crafts, these tribals are at present, taking resort to other types of jobs. Their mixed pattern of economy reflects back adversely upon their social system.

The Hegemony Of The Khap Panchayats: A Case Of Culture And Tradition In Its Extreme

What does the word ‘culture’  or say ‘tradition’ brings to our mind? For some it would be the picture of their God placed under the sanctum sanctorum and yet others may think of their rituals or festivals. Quite different from this, for an artist or a writer tradition would be a style, or a genre of articulating his thoughts. Whatever the case might be, each person will have a different perception of the word ‘tradition’. To generalize the term and yet not circumscribing it within a finite arena for interpretation, tradition basically means a set pattern of beliefs, values and the code of ethics a person inherits by the virtue of his ascribed identity of religion, caste, creed etc.

What do you think?

Elevating the term to its allegorical level, leaving behind all kinds of superficial division and related problems it brings about, the word ‘tradition’ in its pristine form is truly beautiful and intriguing at the same time. But we human beings, rational as we are by our very genetic configuration are known to have a kind of aversion to beautiful things. And so the ramifications of our apathy towards all good things have left no area untouched be it tradition or culture. Extreme form of anything is lethal and so is the case with tradition. One of the cases of the manifestation of culture and tradition in its extreme form is the clout enjoyed by the barbaricKhap Panchayats.

Khap is a term for a social, political grouping; it is used in a geographical sense. A khap comprises of village elders grouped along caste or community lines and motivated by the need to perpetuate a feudal and patriarchal order. They are powerful enough to issue fatwas, and declaring marriages void without due legal process or the sanction of law. History tells us that khaps are as old as the 14th century, started by upper caste Jats to consolidate their power and position. Khap panchayats are prevalent in Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan. The khap panchayats do not have any legal sanction. However, they being powerful, the government has in the past failed to invalidate their rulings and actions. Also their position is further consolidated by some political parties to attain their ulterior motives.

Persons living in a khap are not allowed to marry in the same gotra or even in any gotra from the same village. If one of them lives in another village yet is of the same sub-caste, they are prohibited from marrying each other. Perplexing? Maybe for a modern, liberal individual who believes in the democratic principles as advocated by our founding fathers. But for those who do not even think before killing their own people in the name of hollow principles of ‘honour’ and ‘pride’ of the family, all this seems very normal. These unscrupulous and heinous demons do not even hesitate to use ‘culture’ as a tool to justify or condone their act of brutality. The rationale behind this, they argue is that people belonging to the same gotra are believed to be from the same clan or family lineage and thus are brothers and sisters. Not only are they carrying out these inhuman activities with impunity, but are also blatantly demanding an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 to prohibit marriage in the same gotra. All this speaks volumes about the inefficiency and lacunas that cripple the criminal justice system in our country.

It may bamboozle some of us, but there is a great paradox involved here. A recent study commissioned by NCW, which was conducted by NGO Shakti Vahini revealed that 72% of the 326 cases of honor crimes were in fact inter-caste marriages, while same gotra marriages were only 3 per cent. Marriages within the caste were 15 per cent and only 1 per cent were inter-religious marriages. In the experience of struggles by AIDWA in Haryana, only one case over the last one decade involved a same gotra marriage.

Jagmati Sangwan, AIDWA State President of Haryana explains the hypocrisy of Khap dictates in her article ‘Khap Panchayat: Signs of Desperation’ (The Hindu, 7.5.2010):

By creating the false impression that all marriages of choice between young couples are incestuous, what the khaps are actually opposing is the right to choose a marriage partner. Among the several instances ofkhaps issuing fatwas in Jaundhi, Asanda, Dharana, Singhwal, Hadaudi, Maham-kheri, Ludana and other villages, not a single one was an intra-gotra marriage, yet the married couples were declared siblings, and families made to suffer boycotts and excommunication from their villages…. As couples are selectively targeted, it is clear the real motive is to control women’s sexuality to ensure that property remains within the patriarchal caste domain (mainly Jats in Haryana).

This deterrence to the possibility of own choice marriages can be further understood in the context of rights for women in land and other parental property in these areas. If a woman is married several villages away the possibility of her exercising inheritance rights over parental property in her natal home also becomes comparatively remote.

Economist, Bina Agarwal, writes about the link between property rights and marital practices in Are We Not Peasants Too: Land Rights and Women’s Claims in India, (‘Seeds’, Population Council, New York, 2002):

Traditionally among matrilineal communities where daughters had strong claims in land (as in Kerala and Meghalaya), postmarital residence was in or near the natal home. This kept the land under the overall purview of the natal family, as did close-kin marriage. In contrast, in traditionally patrilineal communities, post-marital residence was patrilocal (the woman joined her husband in his natal home) and often in another village. In addition, in northern India close-kin marriage was forbidden among most communities…. South India has the fewest obstacles. Here legal rights are relatively more equal, in-village and close-kin marriage is allowed.

Explaining this further in the same article, Bina Agarwal writes:

“…marriages in distant villages make direct cultivation by women difficult. In many areas this is compounded by illiteracy, high fertility, and social restrictions on women’s mobility and public interaction.”

I believe this is enough to unveil the hidden motive behind the spate of ‘honor killings’ that have haunted recently. This should be a clarion call for the government to look into the matter and take stringent actions against these demons, these perpetrators of violence.

Unfazed by any criticism, the Khap Panchayats still indulge in these crimes which are off late assuming monstrous proportions. Is this the code of ethics their tradition or culture espouses? Which tradition under the blue sky advocates killing of people who exercise their democratic right of marrying the person of his/her own choice? Well, none in my knowledge. In fact the cardinal rule of the canons of morality any culture upholds says that humanity is above anything else. So, well established is the fact that the killings of innocent people cannot be justified on flimsy grounds of ‘tradition’, the use of which can only be considered to be an eye-wash or a deception to cover the sinister deeds of the Khap Panchayats.

                                                                      By Sakshi Abrol

Importance of elections

Introduction: Election is an important element of democracy. Democracy means ‘government of the people, for the people and by the people’ the device of election was invented to carry out democratic form of government.

Election gives us the power to choose our rulers. They are bound to act responsibly and work for the benefit of the nation.

Election provides an opportunity to express displeasure: At present, in almost all the countries of the world, the rulers are elected by the people. The elective system has this advantage that every sensible man gets in opportunity of expressing his likes and dislikes for a particular man. The man who secures the largest number of votes is elected.

Election is a medium of appointing people of choice: Now the system of election is used in almost all walks of life. From the post of the president of a country down to the post of a secretary of a debating society, elections are the important medium of appointing person for a responsible post.

Various forms of Election: Elections are held in various ways. People cast their votes in various manners. Sometimes the vote is exercised by show of hand. Sometimes votes are counted by dividing the people present at a particular place into two different camps and then by counting their heads. These methods are possible only in case of minor elections. Larger elections are held by the method of ‘secret voting’ or ‘voting by secret ballot’.

Preparation for Election: Proper preparation works before big elections is the most important task. First of all, the electoral rolls are prepared. After the publication of electoral rolls, people are given an opportunity to find out the mistakes or omissions in the electoral rolls. After the final publication of the electoral rolls, a day is fixed for election. It is held at a place known as the polling booth. A batch of officers in deputed to conduct it.

Disorderliness of Election: In political elections, there is always a good deal of heat and activity. Since elections lead to power, the candidates fight elections desperately. They freely resort to foul practices. They often indulge in mutual mud-slinging and in slandering one another.

Conclusion: We should understand the importance of the weapon of elections. Election is a weapon that has given people a hand in choosing their ruler. This right to vote is known as franchise. People should be very cautious about exercising their franchise.thy must exercise their vote in favor of the most suitable person.

Financial Inclusion - Role of Indian Banks in Reaching Out to the Unbanked

Even after 60 years of independence, a large section of Indian population still remain unbanked. This malaise has led generation of financial instability and pauperism among the lower income group who do not have access to financial products and services. However, in the recent years the government and Reserve Bank of India has been pushing the concept and idea of financial inclusion.

What is Financial Inclusion in banking ? What is meaning of Financial Inclusion in Indian context ? :

Financial inclusion is the delivery of financial services at affordable costs to vast sections of disadvantaged and low income groups (for example "no frill accounts"). 

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Why Financial Inclusion in India  is Important ?

The policy makers have been focusing on financial inclusion of Indian rural and semi-rural areas primarily for three most important pressing needs:

1.    Creating a platform for inculcating the habit to save money – The lower income category has been living under the constant shadow of financial duress mainly because of the absence of savings. The absence of savings makes them a vulnerable lot. Presence of banking services and products aims to provide a critical tool to inculcate the habit to save. Capital formation in the country is also expected to be boosted once financial inclusion measures materialize, as people move away from traditional modes of parking their savings in land, buildings, bullion, etc.

2.    Providing formal credit avenues – So far the unbanked population has been vulnerably dependent of informal channels of credit like family, friends and moneylenders. Availability of adequate and transparent credit from formal banking channels shall allow the entrepreneurial spirit of the masses to increase outputs and prosperity in the countryside. A classic example of what easy and affordable availability of credit can do for the poor is the micro-finance sector.

3.    Plug gaps and leaks in public subsidies and welfare programmes – A considerable sum of money that is meant for the poorest of poor does not actually reach them. While this money meanders through large system of government bureaucracy much of it is widely believed to leak and is unable to reach the intended parties. Government is therefore, pushing for direct cash transfers to beneficiaries through their bank accounts rather than subsidizing products and making cash payments. This laudable effort is expected to reduce government’s subsidy bill (as it shall save that part of the subsidy that is leaked) and provide relief only to the real beneficiaries. All these efforts require an efficient and affordable banking system that can reach out to all. Therefore, there has been a push for financial inclusion.

What are the steps taken by RBI to support financial inclusion?

RBI set up the Khan Commission in 2004 to look into financial inclusion and the recommendations of the commission were incorporated into the mid-term review of the policy (2005–06)  and urged banks to review their existing practices to align them with the objective of financial inclusion.    RBI  also exhorted the banks and stressed the need  to make available a basic banking 'no frills' account either with 'NIL' or very minimum balances as well as charges that would make such accounts accessible to vast sections of the population

Of the many schemes and programmes pushed forward by RBI the following need special mention.

A.    Initiation of no-frills account – These accounts provide basic facilities of deposit and withdrawal to accountholders makes banking affordable by cutting down on extra frills that are no use for the lower section of the society. These accounts are expected to provide a low-cost mode to access bank accounts.  RBI also eased KYC (Know Your customer) norms for opening of such accounts.

B.    Banking service reaches homes through business correspondents – The banking systems have started to adopt the business correspondent mechanism to facilitate banking services in those areas where banks are unable to open brick and mortar branches for cost considerations. Business Correspondents provide affordability and easy accessibility to this unbanked population. Armed with suitable technology, the business correspondents help in taking the banks to the doorsteps of rural households.

C.    EBT – Electronic Benefits Transfer – To plug the leakages that are present in transfer of payments through the various levels of bureaucracy, government has begun the procedure of transferring payment directly to accounts of the beneficiaries. This “human-less” transfer of payment is expected to provide better benefits and relief to the beneficiaries while reducing government’s cost of transfer and monitoring. Once the benefits starts to accrue to the masses, those who remain unbanked shall start looking to enter the formal financial sector.

Beyond male and female, the right to humanity

Importantly, the Supreme Court accepted the broad definition of transgender as including persons who did not identify with the sex assigned to them at birth

HISTORIC VERDICT:Picture shows an elated Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, founding member of Asia Pacific Transgender Network, with another member Rudrani after the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment recognising the rights of transgendered persons.— Photo Rajeev Bhatt

The Supreme Court judgment recognising the rights of transgendered persons is a landmark ruling and restores faith in the Court’s ability to recognise gross injustice. The Bench comprising Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and A.K. Sikri has also restored the image of the Court as capable of bold moves when it comes to addressing the denial of the right to be human simply on the basis of one’s sexual status and conduct. The Court’s progressive image was in tatters after theSuresh Kumar Kaushal v. NAZ Foundation ruling in December 2013 that re-criminalised gays and lesbians, and overruled the 2009 Delhi High Court’s decision that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was not applicable to consensual sexual relations between adults.

Dynamic decision

The ruling in National Legal Services Authority (NLSA) v. Union Of India has far-reaching implications. It is a courageous decision that embeds the rights of transgendered persons primarily within the right to equality in the Indian Constitution. In this sense it is a more dynamic decision than the Delhi High Court ruling regarding Section 377, which was largely based on the right to privacy. The Court held that non-recognition of gender identity violates the rights to equality and life, and that transgendered persons should not be compelled to declare themselves as either male or female. The lack of recognition of their gender identity curtails their access to education, health care and public places, and results in discrimination in the exercise of their right to vote and secure employment, driving licenses and other documentation where eligibility is contingent on declaring oneself as either male or female.

While the decision is largely based on the protection of fundamental rights, the Court also relied on a host of UN human rights provisions as well as the 2006 Yogyakarta principles, which specifically recognise the human rights of sexual minorities, and which were adopted to counter discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. Moreover, unlike the Bench in the Kaushal case, the judges heard with approval a host of foreign judgments relating to the rights of transgendered persons, without throwing a nationalist anti-western hissy fit.

An outstanding feature of the decision is that the judges accepted the broad definition of transgender as including persons whose gender identity, gender expression or behaviour did not conform to their biological sex, and more importantly, those who did not identify with the sex assigned to them at birth. They accepted a vast array of identities and experiences that constitute the category of transgendered persons, culturally and socially, and also accepted the fact that gender identity was not necessarily biologically determined. They referred to each person’s experience of gender, which may involve a freely chosen modification of bodily appearance or functions by medical or other means. Gender identity is about self-identification. Justice Sikri went so far as to state that “even gay, lesbian, bisexual are included in the description ‘transgender’” and that it was an umbrella term. The idea of male and female are not regarded as natural, but as normative categories by the Court. The NLSA decision thus recognised the social construction of not only gender but also of sex as something that is performed rather than biologically determined. This argument places this decision at the cutting edge of progressive, feminist and queer thinking on issues of gender and sexuality.

The Court further held that sex discrimination in Indian constitutional law includes discrimination on the grounds of gender identity, and rejected the view that it was limited to biological sex. It held that a binary understanding of gender denied hijras and transgendered persons equal protection of law and constituted the basis for widespread discrimination. The Court has clearly articulated that transgendered persons should no longer be treated with cruelty, pity or charity. There needs to be a paradigm shift towards a rights-based approach where they are accepted as fully human. As Justice Sikri stated: “It is only with this recognition that many rights attached to sexual recognition as ‘third gender’ would be available to this community more meaningfully viz. the right to vote, the right to own property, the right to marry, the right to claim a formal identity through a passport and a ration card, a drivers license, the right to education, employment, health and so on.”

The Court also addressed the arguments regarding Section 377 but expressed no view on the Kaushal case, currently the subject matter of a curative petition. The Justices did however recognise the misuse of Section 377 to harass transgendered persons. The fact that a transgendered person may be having sex with a man also implies that homosexuals or men having sex with men or transgendered perons would also be subject to such harassment, undermining a key finding in the Kaushal decision that there was no sufficient evidence on record of police harassment.

Gaps in Kaushal case

The NLSA judgment is a hugely significant and potentially transformative decision. It affirms that there is no place in the Constitution for a hierarchy of super-humans, lesser humans and non-humans. This decision is informed, coherent, and demonstrates a familiarity with the literature as well as acute attentiveness to counsel’s arguments.

It now remains to be seen whether the obvious contradictions and gaps in the Kaushal case will be remedied by the Court in a direction that ensures that homosexuals are not only accorded the same rights as citizens as transgendered persons have been accorded, but also the right to humanity.

(Ratna Kapur is Global Professor of Law, Jindal Global Law School.)

Transforming Rural India Through Agricultural Innovation

With a majority of its population living in villages, rural poverty is a major problem in India. The disparity between the urban and rural incomes is also on the rise. This leads to migration to urban areas resulting in urban blight as well. Therefore addressing the problem of rural poverty assumes urgency. On my last trip to India, I witnessed an innovation experiment, National Agro Foundation (NAF), that addresses this wicked problem.

Since its inception in 2000, NAF has been involved in a range of interventions—infusion of technology, soil enrichment, efficient farm and water management, improved cattle development, functional literacy, rural sanitation and public health, human resource development, establishment of self-help groups particularly among women, self-employment opportunities and facilitating institutional credit—to address the problem of farm productivity in India.  Founded by Mr. C Subramaniam on his 90^th birthday as a parting gift to his country, the NAF focuses on the poor and marginal farmers, women, unemployed youth, and depressed communities. (Mr. Subramaniam is widely acclaimed as the Father of the Green Revolution in India, because in the mid-1960s, as the Minister for Food and Agriculture, he successfully handled a major food crisis).

NAF works in about 250 villages in Tamilnadu and has reached 30,000 rural families. A large part of NAF’s effort with farmers is to help break their initial emotional barriers to new technologies. This has provided the platform to launch into other initiatives. The success of these measures has had a demonstrative impact on the farmers’ willingness to adopt and internalize new technologies. This may be considered an attitudinal breakthrough.

Another initiative, the Center for rural development (CFRD), a training cum village knowledge center, has been established in Illedu Village of Kancheepuram district with classrooms, computer lab with internet facilities, input and product handling center, farm machinery workshop, model experimental farm, residential complex for trainees and an open air theatre to cater to the needs of various sections of rural community. NAF has also established a Research and Development Center in Chennai housing a comprehensive soil testing laboratory, food safety and standards laboratory and a plant tissue culture lab to provide agriculture support services.

Here are some highlights of the outcomes as a result of these NAF interventions:

• Agriculture productivity improvements through resource conserving “Lean Farming”: Paddy (55%), Groundnut (113%), Vegetables (116%), Sugarcane (40%), and Corn (150%). Through successful lead farmers, technology transfer has been effected over an area of 10,000 acres with a “Lead Farmer—Lead Village” concept. Addressing the agriculture value chain—soil testing, facilitation of inputs and credit, market linkage, and field advisory services—is part and parcel of agriculture development initiatives. Promotion of climate resilient agriculture, resource conserving technologies and promotion of use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in agriculture are being attempted too.
• Watershed and natural resource management initiatives have resulted in increase in water table ranging from 3.5 meters to 5 meters in the project area of over 6,000 hectares. Cropping intensity has been doubled (two crop cultivation in a year instead of one crop) and about 20% additional area which had been left fallow has also been brought under cultivation. Soil erosion, nutrient loss, damage due to flooding during rainy seasons have reduced significantly.
• Over 6,500 high yielding cross bred cattle with a milk yield improvement to the extent of 300% has also been achieved through NAF’s animal husbandry initiatives.
• To sustain the benefits derived, the Social Development initiatives of NAF have helped village communities in establishing community-based institutions like Farmers Clubs (160), Self Help Groups and Joint Liability Groups (900), Farmers Producer Organizations (6), Watershed committees (25) etc for collective decision and action. Over 6,000 people have been made functionally literate through adult literacy program. Over 1,900 beneficiaries have established micro-enterprises for which microfinance has been facilitated. 30 children are passing through every year through its play school for the past six years. The children are provided nutritious food in order to ensure nutritional security to the underprivileged. Over 1,400 toilets have been built with people participation under sanitation initiatives.
• Training is imparted on “technology-oriented” and “participation-oriented” modes to various stakeholders of agriculture and rural development like farmers, youth, women, socially excluded, functionaries of NGOs, water users, producer groups, input suppliers, bankers, students etc.   Over 50,000 people have benefited in the past decade.

Reducing income inequality is not just a matter of charity, it is a challenge for innovation. NAF is an interesting experiment. The problem is so large, will more corporations step forward to collaborate with organizations like NAF to tackle this challenge?

                                                                                                        vijay

School Drop-outs is very high in Rural India . Why?

School-drop out is a serious problem in Rural India (even in urban areas but just the magnitude). If we try to analyze why is this so, the first reason appears to be the supply issue. Government controls education sector in such a manner that the schools operating margins hit badly. Apart from the license/quota issue there seems to be 3 major issues:

1. Teaching styles
2. English
3. Mathematics

1. Teaching styles: Most of the teachers (and coupled by the parents in home) impose learning processes on child. The teachers/parents themselves are badly taught and so they viciously follow the cycle.

Learning is a joy. The children should feel that it is like a roller-caster ride. To get to that level, children should be taught how to learn. For example, they should be told as many as stories. Exercise to the kids on this would be to tell many more stories to other children. Children must be formed into a group of 5-10 and then teacher must guide each group. This is basically a process of peer review. They can source the new stories from parents, neighborhood, friends, relatives etc. And in fact, children are natural at creating their own stories. Songs and dance are very natural to them and TV, mobiles, competitions, etc can help in this regard.

2. English: Children are exceptionally talented to learn multiple languages at their very early ages. Most children in rural India struggle with the grammar rules and in turn they start to hate the language itself. The trick is to make them learn spoken language first and then to turn to Grammar but not the other way around.

3. Mathematics: Maths is a very critical subject and children are very natural at it. However the astounding ability to learn the subject by the children is eclipsed by the incompetency of the teachers in turn to result that Maths is regarded as the most hated subject by a minimum of 1/3 of the all children. I think children should learn it through games. Classes 1-6 should only consist of a variety of games. All exercises should be again to play at home with other kids at neighborhood areas.

Ukraine says Donetsk 'anti-terror operation' under way

Ukrainian forces were visible just north of the Donetsk administrative border

Continue reading the main story

The acting President of Ukraine, Olexander Turchynov, has announced the start of an "anti-terrorist operation" against pro-Russian separatists.

The operation began in the "north of Donetsk Region", he told parliament, and was being conducted "stage by stage, in a responsible... manner".

Ukrainian armoured vehicles could be seen massing on Monday as separatist militants braced for an attack.

The US and Russian presidents have discussed the crisis by telephone.

Barack Obama urged Vladimir Putin to use his influence to make separatists in Donetsk and other parts of eastern Ukraine stand down.

Mr Putin denied that Russia was intervening in the crisis.

Pro-Russian rebels have seized buildings in about 10 towns and cities across Ukraine's eastern provinces, which form the heartland of Ukraine's heavy industry.

Thousands of Russian troops are reported to be deployed along the border, kindling fears that any crackdown on the rebels could trigger an invasion.

Russia annexed the Ukrainian province of Crimea last month, after it broke away and held a controversial referendum on self-determination.

In other developments:

• Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the country's economy faced "the most difficult conditions since the 2008 crisis", with capital flight in the first quarter of this year of $63bn (£38bn; 46bn euros), because of "risks seen by the population and by investors"

• German utility company RWE AG said in a statement it had started supplying gas to Ukraine, which faces Russian cuts over unpaid bills

'Gun attacks'

Mr Turchynov said the aim of the operation in Donetsk was to "protect Ukrainian citizens, to stop the terror, to stop the crime, to stop the attempts to tear our country apart".

Militant protesters gathered outside parliament in the capital Kiev to demand action against the separatists.

Ukrainian armoured personnel carriers could be seen on the road from Odessa to Donetsk

Pro-Russian protesters manned barricades in Sloviansk

Guards struggled with protesters outside the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev

After days when there was little sign of the Ukrainian government exerting its authority in eastern Ukraine, Tuesday saw a very public display of force at a checkpoint just north of the Donetsk region, in the Kharkiv region, the BBC's Daniel Sandford reports.

Our correspondent saw seven armoured personnel carriers, several tracked vehicles armed with large guns, a military helicopter and dozens of Ukrainian police officers.

There were reports overnight of gun attacks on rebel checkpoints near the Donetsk town of Sloviansk, where pro-Russian militants seized a police station and a security services building at the weekend.

A police building in Kramatorsk was also seized but the militants there have reportedly now handed back control to the police.

'Tanks or talks'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that any use of force by the Ukrainian government in the east could undermine talks on the crisis involving the EU, Russia, the US and Ukraine, which are due to be held in Geneva on Thursday.

"You can't send tanks against your own citizens and at the same time hold talks," he said on a visit to China.

But German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, speaking in Berlin, said Moscow had to show it was serious about a de-escalation by pledging specific steps to ease tensions.

"If Russia is not ready to make sure the escalation finally ends, it must expect that Europe and Germany will be ready to start the third phase of sanctions," he added.

Mr Obama, the White House said in a statement, had also threatened Moscow with wider sanctions.

In a statement, the Kremlin blamed the unrest in Ukraine's south-east on the "unwillingness and inability of the leadership in Kiev to take into account the interests of Russia and the Russian-speaking population".

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