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| 2008 PRESS RELEASE |
Orissa should have a State Policy on the Voluntary Sector: Ajit K Tripathy
19 January 2008 |
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19 January 2008, Bhubaneswar |
| Orissa should have a State Policy on the Voluntary Sector: Ajit K Tripathy |
Joining a state-level workshop on National Policy on Voluntary Sector as Chief Guest, Sri Ajit K Tripathy, Hon’ble Chief Secretary, Government of Orissa stated that the current challenges faced by Orissa with regard to communal harmony and social integrity can only be handled by active partnership between the government and the voluntary sector. Welcoming the 2007 National Policy on Voluntary sector, Shri Ajit Kumar Tripathy, observed that the time has come for the government and the voluntary sector to work together as partners and not see each other as rivals and competitors.
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In his speech, Shri tripathy appealed the voluntary sector to develop a strong information network, which the government could use for finding grassroots level information. The information network could operate in many but primarily three fields, namely, 1) Communal harmony, 2) prevention of corruption and 3) improving policies and programme implementation. He urged upon the voluntary sector not to engage in faultfinding but help the government identify the preventive and corrective measures necessary for improving the policies.
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He further stated that around 17 crore rupees have been ear marked by the state for skills enhancement of women and weaker sections and urged the voluntary sector to lend a supportive hand to the government in doubling the number of self-help groups in the state. Sustained effort is required by the voluntary sector in entrepreneurship skill building and capacity building of SHGs, pani panchayats, vana surakshya samiti, watershed committees at the community level. Only an active partnership between the two sectors would help double economic growth and social capital of the poor in Orissa, he concluded.
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Jointly organized by VANI, a national network of Voluntary Organizations, and CYSD (Centre For Youth And Social Development), the one-day state consultation mainly aimed at sharing and debating on the national policy with key civil society sectors of Orissa and organizing an interface with the state government to persuade them to come up with a similar policy in the state of Orissa. Engaging the media and key political representatives in debating on these issues, building and strengthening a state level civil society network, and promoting good governance amongst civil society organizations were among the other objectives of the workshop.
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Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Paresh Tewary, CEO, VANI, observed that the policy makes many interesting points. He was of the opinion that the policy provides for a balance between autonomy and engagement with the government. The policy seeks to end suspicion and clears the way for the voluntary sector to perform by dealing with issues of fund¬ing, registration, accreditation, and so on. Quite aptly, the Policy leaves the regulation aspect to the voluntary sector itself. Activists must be answerable directly to society. This is a welcome change from the friction and animosity that has prevailed in the past, Shri Tewary added.
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Deliberating on the policy, noted activist Shri Jagadananda, Member Secretary, CYSD and former Chairperson, Voluntary Action Network India (VANI), observed that the policy is indeed a landmark, comes as it does at the beginning of the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12), which promises to encourage partnerships between Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and government. Moreover, through this policy, the government of India, for the first time, formally acknowledges the existence and role of the voluntary sector. He further added that merely announcing policy will not solve all the problems. The real challenge before the government and the voluntary sector is the actual implementation of the policy, and to ensure that the policy is not a mere “tiger without teeth”. Taking the policy forward in all the areas which the policy touches upon, like enabling environment, partnership, etc. is the next step, he observed. This is where the state governments have a major role to play. All the state governments, including Orissa should develop mechanisms consonant with this policy because the policy was developed in consultation with the state governments.
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Shri Jagadananda further emphasized that given the current rush after economic growth both in the country and the state, the voluntary sector has a critical role to play in dealing with the issue of social exclusion and ensuring inclusive growth. This is all the more important in a state like Orissa where the process of fighting poverty and inequality can be accelerated only with the active participation of the voluntary sector. Stating that a state policy on voluntary sector is quite imperative to help the government translate its much-talked about public-private-partnership (PPP) dream during the 11th state five year plan., he concluded his address.
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The morning session on “Government and Voluntary Sector engagement-Issues & Challenges” was received well by the participating organizations and their representatives, who emphasized the need to have regular and more frequent interactions on crucial issues facing the sector in Orissa. This would help bring diverse organizations on one single platform, the participants observed.
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The afternoon session on “Self-regulation and accountability of the Voluntary Sector” focused on how to help the civil society organizations govern themselves so that they are more effective and credible. mechanisms.
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The participant’s unanimously stressed the need for developing and authentic data base on credible voluntary organizations, institutional space for grievance redressal and activating regular forums for consultations between voluntary organizations and government at different levels starting from the block, district and the state. Several leaders from the voluntary sector emphasized the need for attitudinal change at the official level through pre-service and in-service activities.
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Joining the valedictory session, Shri Vivek Patnaik, Chairperson GO-NGO Coordination cell, government of Orissa, expressed happiness over the fact that all ideas necessary for initiating institutional reforms for realizing strong partnership between the government and the voluntary sector have been identified during the workshop. Now the time has come to translate the ideas into concrete action, he concluded.
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The consultation was attended by over 100 participants from NGOs, academic institution, government officials, researchers, and development practitioners from all over Orissa.
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| 2007 PRESS RELEASE |
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Finance Minister promises pre-budget consultation with citizens and civil society
29 December 2007
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Social Watch India Report Released in Orissa
29 December 2007
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Release of Citizens’ Report on the Quality of elementary education in Orissa
15 December 2007
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YOUTH PARLIAMENT ON MDGS
14th November, 2007
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CYSD Completes 25 Years
14th November, 2007 |
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29 December 2007 |
| Finance Minister promises pre-budget consultation with citizens and civil society |
Shri Prafulla Chandra Ghadai, Hon’ble Finance Minister, Government of Orissa, assured the citizens of the state to have a regular pre-budget consultation while addressing the pre-budget workshop held at CYSD, Bhubaneswar on 29th December 2007. He suggested to have proper Government & Civil Society coordination for enabling the state to achieve a targeted growth rate.
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Prof. Tapas Kumar Sen of National Institute of Public Finance & Policy, New Delhi, was the Chief Speaker of the workshop and he highlighted the dismal picture of poverty in the state of Orissa. He also suggested that this can be mitigated through addressing some of the key sectors such as Education & Health through proper budget allocation. Efforts should be made for adequate and efficient skill formation which would push the state out of the vicious circle of poverty.
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CYSD Budget Research Cell also presented the research findings on analysis on Quality Spending of State Budget in three critical sectors i.e., Education, Health & Agriculture.
The study conducted under the banner of “BUDGET WATCH” suggests the government among other things to improve the public spending in agriculture, increase capital expenditure on health and bridge the gap in allocation and actual utilisation of the funds meant for education. Besides, a host of policy interventions are also required to improve performance in these areas based on identification of critical issues, plan targets, amount of public expenditure, and gap in budgeted and actual expenditure among others.
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Agriculture
Though agriculture contributes 26 per cent of the NSDP and accounts for 65 per cent of the total workforce in the state, the public spending in agriculture sector in Orissa has failed to meet various targets set in the state agricultural policy 1996. In this context, the government should double the allocation for food grain production and taking initiative in actualizing it.
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There is also need to scale up investment in commercial crops to reach the targets and earmark more allocation towards minor irrigation. The government should initiate special initiatives for promoting the use of the manure instead of chemical fertilizers.
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The study reveals widening gap between the budgeted and actual expenditure, which is more prominent in plan expenditure. In this context, the government should take steps to reduce the gap.
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In Orissa, 83.8 percent of total land holders are marginal and small farmers who possess 33 percent of total land holdings as per the Orissa agricultural census 2001. The per capita availability of land has been declining in the state. It declined to 0.14 hectare in 2004-05 from 0.39 hectare in 1950-51.
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During 1980-2003, a total of 272.74 sq. km of land have been diverted for 247 projects. In fact, the conversion of agricultural and forest land into non-agriculture purpose was responsible for the reduced per capita availability of land.
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Over dependence on rain-fed paddy cultivation along with decrease in the productivity of rice has put the state at the tenth position among selected 19 states in terms of productivity of rice per hector. Besides, low marketable surplus has led to less commercialization of agriculture. While it was 12 percent in rice, it was 14 percent in oilseed. That apart low level of capital formation in agriculture sector continues to plague the sector.
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Though the state agriculture policy 1996 targeted to provide minor irrigation facilities to additional 3 lakh hectares and 50 percent of the total cultivated land, the achievement has been far from being satisfactory. By 2000-01 the state was supposed to 12.6 lakh hectare area, but the actual irrigated area under minor irrigation was 9.6 lakh hectares at that time.
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By investing additional average amount of Rs 28 cr. in eight years (from1996-97 to 2003-04) the state could bring additional 1.5 lakh hectare of land under minor irrigation. Hence to add 1.5 lakh of hectare more of land under minor irrigation the state needs another 8 years at the present allocation rate.
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The state has failed to achieve the target of doubling the food grain and oil seed crop and consumption of fertiliser. Between 8th and 10th five-year plan, the target to cover 50 percent of cultivable land under proper irrigation hasn’t been fulfilled. Similarly, the total export value of agriculture and forest produce in the state has declined to Rs. 195 lakhs in 2004-05 from Rs.2758.75 lakhs in 1996-97. |
Overall spending on agriculture department as a share of total state expenditure has also declined from 2.06 percent in 2000-01 to 1.48 in 2006-07. As a percentage of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) it declined from 0.52 percent in 2000-01 to 0.36 percent in 2006-07.
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While there was increase in plan expenditure as a percentage of total department expenditure, salary component as percentage of total expenditure of the agriculture department dramatically increased from 17.53 percent in 2002-03 to 47 percent in 2006-07.
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Health
The study strongly pitches for increasing the capital expenditure on health and family welfare. The government should pay more attention to increase the share of rural health care services in the total expenditure of the department.
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Orissa has failed to check infant mortality significantly. Accordingly, it is in 2nd position next only to Madhya Pradesh. Infant mortality rate in Orissa is 75 per thousand compared to 58 in the country. The communicable, pregnancy-related, and childhood ailments account for about 65 per cent of the diseases.
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While the doctor population ratio during 2001 in Orissa was 1:7462 it was 1:1916 in the country. Similarly, the bed population ratio in Orissa was 1:2663 compared to 1:1451 in the country. Maternal mortality rate of the state is about 358 per lakh population.
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There is a declining share of expenditure on health as a percentage of total state expenditure and GSDP over last 5 years. This needs to be raised in the next budget.
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Expenditure on health and family welfare was Rs.472.86 cr. during 2001-02. This was 1 percent of GSDP and 3.92 percent of the total state expenditure. However, it declined to 801.82 crore in 2007-08 which is 0.85 percent of GSDP and 3.41 percent of total state expenditure.
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The plan expenditure has increased to Rs.245.24 crore in 2007-08 from Rs.34.22 crore in 2005-06. This was mainly due to the provisions for establishment for AIIMS branch in Bhubaneswar. Similarly, the share of rural health services declined to 26.49 percent in 2007-08 from 41.28 percent in 2005-06 indicating that health services in the state is becoming more pro-urban. But the share of medical education and training declined to 7.07 percent in 2007-08 from 9.34 percent in 2005-06.
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Expenditure on items like medicines, diets, bedding clothing and linen, stipend and scholarships and materials and equipments directly helping the patients has also recorded a decline. The allocation for medicine decreased from Rs 20.77crore in 2005-06 to Rs.18.29 crore in 2007-08(BE). Similarly, the allocations for bedding, clothing and linen also declined to Rs. 0.06 crore from Rs.4.96 crore during the same period.
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Expenditure on salary which includes salaries for consolidated pay posts, wage salaries, and wages increased to Rs. 554.67 crore in 2007-08 (BE) from Rs.407.01 crore in 2005-06, leaving meagre amount for items directly benefiting the patients.
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The most unfortunate part related to the gap between budgeted and actual amount. This increased to 40.26 percent during 2005-06 from 5.68 percent in 2003-04.The difference was high for tribal sub plan. While the difference was 41.59 percent in 2002-03, it was 34.22 percent during 2004-05.The utilisation rate was better in Primary Health Centers (PHCs).
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Elementary Education
It is suggested that the state government should reduce the gap between the budgeted and actual expenditure with a view to achieving the objective of planning. Towards this objective, the government should provide more outlay in the next budget towards the scholarships, incentives, textbooks and inspection. Similarly, efforts will be needed for improving utilisation of funds meant for textbooks under Sarva Sikhya Abhijan (SSA).
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There should be more budget provisions for appointment of vacant BRC and CRCs. The SSA funds can be better realised this way. Besides, the infrastructure facility of the schools need to improve through allocating budget under the capital expenditure head of the elementary education or maximising the utilization under civil works.
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That apart, the utilisation under interventions for out of school children needs to be improved to bring back the children into the mainstream of education system.
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Orissa still ranks 24th among all the states in the country in terms of the literacy rates. While gender gap in literacy continues to be an area of main concern, the state ranks seventh in the country in drop out rate at primary level. Governmental intervention assumes importance in view of the objectives set out in the 11th plan pertaining to the education sector.
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It is targeted to raise the literacy rate from 63.08 percent to 83.96 percent during 11th plan period. Similarly, gender gap in literacy is targeted to be reduced from 24.8 percent to 15.1 percent. Besides, the state government is targeting reduction of drop out rate in elementary education to 31.99 percent during 11th plan period.
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Though the expenditure on elementary education in the state was has increased from Rs. 560.22 crore during 1995-96 to Rs. 1471.50 crore in 2007-08 (BE), as a share of the total state expenditure it declined from 10.06 percent in 19995-96 to 6.26 percent in 2007-08.
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The study points out at a huge gap in terms actual realization of the budgeted amount for the SSA programme during 2002-03 to 2006-07. More than 30 percent of the unspent balance was found in the civil work programme for schools.
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About 3883 civil works out of 11909 were taken up for implementation during 2003-05 in schools not having the basic amenities of drinking water, electricity and toilet facilities. The slow progress of civil work will affect the availability of infrastructure in schools. Moreover, around 50 percent of the funds meant for free text books under SSA programme remained unutilized during 2002 to 2007.
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Bhubaneswar, Dec 15 |
Release of Citizens’ Report on the Quality of elementary education in Orissa
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The first-ever citizens’ report on the quality of elementary education in Orissa was released at a gathering of teachers, educationists, policy makers and representatives of civil society groups at the CYSD conference hall on Saturday.
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The report, prepared by the Education Watch Group formed two years ago, takes stock of the elementary education scenario in the state on the basis of parameters like infrastructure, learning climate, children’s and teachers’ perspective and involvement of the family and the community at large. It also identifies loopholes and shortcomings in the system and recommends a set of measures to achieve the goal of Universal Elementary Education (UEE) by the stipulated date of 2010.
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Among the major findings thrown up by the study is the fact that the number of teachers in as many as 69% of the schools studied was less than the number of teachers in them. In other words, the number of teachers per class (T/C) was less than 1. Of greater concern is the fact that 29% of the schools (46% in rural areas and 12% in urban areas) have a Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) rate higher than the norm of 40:1. Interestingly, T/C is more than 1 in about one third of the schools in the urban areas while it is less than 1 in ALL schools in rural areas.
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Almost 90% (43 out of 48) of the schools surveyed had pucca buildings, but 44% of them were in poor condition. Half the schools had no toilet facilities while there were no separate toilets for girls in 73% of them. While most schools had some Teaching Learning Material (TLM) like maps, charts, scientific and games equipment, only 37.5% provided easy access to them for students.
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More than the lack of physical facilities, it was the absence of activity planning, conduct of group activities and teacher-student rapport that affected the learning climate in the schools, resulting in a poor attendance of 40% across the schools under the study. More worryingly, student attendance during afternoon was found to be substantially thinner than in the forenoon. The drop perhaps has something to do with the Mid Day Meal scheme.
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Over-emphasis on textbook learning and failure to make learning attractive for students has led to high drop-out rates. Drop-out cases were reported in 46% of schools – both in rural and urban areas. Notwithstanding the non-detention policy currently in force, 15% of the schools had more than 20 repeaters across all classes.
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Children view teachers as angry and unsympathetic and interaction with them as a matter of formal requirement rather than as an enjoyable experience. As for the teachers, a majority of them feel they have benefited from in-service training, but fail to translate them into action due to a host of local, familial and parental constraints. Their commitment and motivation for the job are affected by professional difficulties like non-academic workload, discriminatory treatment, lack of incentive for good work and administrative apathy.
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Children’s education does not seem to be a high priority for a majority of the parents. Only 9-10% of family income is spent in providing the minimal requirements for the education of all children in the family. Their interaction with schools activities is minimal. Little wonder that as much as 60% of them do not even know whether Village Education Committees (VECs), Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) and Mother Teacher Associations (MTAs) exist and function in the school.
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Notwithstanding a series of measures taken by the Central and State governments in the recent past to ensure community participation in improving the quality of school education, the involvement of the community in the schools under the study was found to be minimal. While most schools have VECs, 12% of them do not have PTAs or MTAs - suggesting that VECs have not been formed as per norms in these cases. The meetings of VECs, PTAs and MTAs are sporadic and perfunctory in nature defeating the purpose for which they were set up in the fist place.
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The report calls for treating education as an investment for the future and giving it a much higher priority than it has been accorded so far. It makes a strong case for replacing the top-down model of planning for primary education presently in vogue with a bottom-up approach that would give both the teachers and the community a sense of ownership of the school system.
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Among the measures recommended in the report are a holistic plan for a safe and eco-friendly school climate; flexible and learner-centred classroom practices; students’ involvement in developing learning materials; addressing the acute shortage of teachers through recruitment of teachers from the community and better service conditions and orientation programmes for teachers.
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While many of the findings of the study present a rather gloomy view of things, a longer-term view would make it clear that we have indeed come a long way since independence. As against just 6, 814 primary schools in 1947-48, there were as many as 34, 873 in 2005-06 – a phenomenal growth of 412%. The rise in enrolment has been an even more spectacular 1595%.
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The study by the Education Watch Group was carried out in 48 schools – divided equally between urban and rural areas – spread over 12 blocks in six districts: Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Malkanagiri, Keonjhar, Khurda and Jajpur. The sample also included 42 Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) schools. A total of 144 teachers, over 1, 000 students in the 6-14 age group and 706 households were involved in the exercise.
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29 December 2007, Bhubaneswar |
Social Watch India Report Released in Orissa
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The fourth "Annual Citizen's Report on Governance and Development 2007", published by the National Social Watch Coalition (NSWC), is released at an event jointly organized by the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), Regional Branch, Orissa, and Transparency International India, Orissa Chapter.
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Releasing the report, Shri Pyarimohan Mohapatra, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, said that when all the arms of the government wants to govern, one is bound encroach on the space of another. It is unfortunate that the MLAS continue to encroach upon the Panchayti Raj system and in the process are diffusing it. The issue of judicial accountability is not adequately taken up, he added. Lamenting the Supreme Courts judgment that displaced have no right is a major setback, Shri Mohapatra urged that the displaced persons be made shareholders and given jobs. Stating that the government should think in terms of amending the labour laws so as to prevent exploitation and deprivation of the labour force, he closed his address.
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Many eminent citizens, policy makers, civil society representatives and academicians participated in the event.
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Shri Jagadananda, national convener of Social Watch and noted social activist threw light on the key findings of the report as well as the activities of the NSWC, a country-wide network of civil society organizations, citizens and communities. The coalition seeks to monitor and create an informed public discourse on Governance and Development as well as make the Institutions of Governance accountable to people’ needs and aspirations and the various goals they are committed to.
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Fourth in its series, the Report looks at new policies and issues like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), JNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission) and Special Economic Zone (SEZ), and the contradictions and crises faced by these Institutions. The Report points out that Rs. 6500 Crores is still unspent in NREGA in the year 2005-06.
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It points to the crisis in the Indian agriculture with close to 40,000 farmers committing suicide due to indebtedness since 1997. Even though the total number of cultivators across the country has declined from 110.7 million in 1991 to 103.63 million, allocation to the agriculture sectors continue to be dismal.
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The Report expresses concern over the tardy pace of power devolution to the Panchayat bodies despite clear MOUs signed between the Centre and the States in the light of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts and PESA. The capacity building of the elected representatives, especially the new ones, remains an unfulfilled task. This is despite the fact that the panchayati raj ministry has released Rs. 6,20,9200 in 2004-05 and Rs. 25,91,55,238 in 2005-6 for capacity building.
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Commenting on the policy framework the Report opines that while the growth performance over the last decade has been impressive it has not necessarily benefited everyone equally, especially the scheduled tribes & dalits.
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The Report also calls for reforms that would reduce the numbers of pending cases, which stands at 33,635 cases in the Supreme Court and 34,24,518 cases in the High Court. More than 50 lakh civil cases pending in various parts of the country of which 34,2135 cases were pending for more than ten years.
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While the Report hails the efforts of the Parliament to push the long pending Forests Rights Act 2006 in the parliament, it has raised its concern about the loss of parliament time due to pandemonium. The 11th Lok Sabha (1996-98) lost 5.28 % of its time due to pandemonium. In the 12th Lok Sabha it went up to 10.66%, in the 13th Lok Sabha it was 22.4% of its time while in the 14th Lok Sabha, which commenced in June 2004, 26% of its time was lost due to interruptions arising out of various political controversies. A shocking waste of time considering the fact that each minute of Parliament costs the exchequer Rs. 26,035.
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Shri Pratip Kumar Mohanty, former Chief Secretary, Orissa and Padmashree Debiprasanna Patnaik, Chairman Orissa Branch of Transparency International lauded the effort of Social Watch as a major civil society initiative.
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Shri Sarat Chandra Mishra, President of Indian Institute of Public Administration highlighted the need for active engagement of citizens in monitoring the Institutions of Governance.
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14th November, 2007 |
| YOUTH PARLIAMENT ON MDGS |
On the eve of Childrens’ Day a Youth Parliament was organized jointly by Rotary Club of Bhubaneswar, Katha Rakhiba Sarakar (KRS), a civil society campaign group along with CYSD on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on 14th November 2007 at IDCOL Auditorium, Bhubaneswar.
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The Youth Parliament was inaugurated by Shri Maheswar Mohanty, Hon’ble Speaker, Orissa Legislative Assembly by lighting the lamp. He encouraged the student participants to become people’s representatives to carry the voices of the voiceless.
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Shri Ashok Kumar Tripathy, President of Rotary Club of Bhubaneswar and one of the partners of the initiative, opened the Ceremony by sharing with the audience the genesis of this well attended event. From “Mock Parliament”, the three partners, Katha Rakhibaa Sarakar Campaign, Rotary Club and CYSD, change the name to “Youth Parliament”, thereby expressing their belief in the importance of youth as change agents.
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Jagadananda, Member Secretary of CYSD, emphasized the main goals of the “Youth Parliament”. He said, “All citizens, starting with young people, need to fully grasp the issues of poverty and hunger, and put pressure on their government to deploy all necessary resources to achieve the goals. India’s national development goals are well aligned with the MDGs, but India has to aggressively address poverty eradication and set spending targets. While students prepare for their future careers, they have to learn about development issues in India, and become ambassadors and change agents”.
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In September 2000, 189 member states of the United Nations agreed through a set of goals having specific quantifiable numeric targets known as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to assess the world development for the period of 2000-2015. The goals were to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, and combat HIV/AIDS, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for a global development.
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Since India was a part of the resolution, it has adopted parallel goals at the national level through setting targets in its tenth five-year plan and declaration of National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) to assess the progress on key development indicators.
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The objective of holding this event was to sensitize students, particularly youth on various aspects of Millennium Development Goals and their implementation by the government, especially during the mid-way of the MDGs (2007). The relevance of this Youth Parliament was important from the fact that at the turn of this century, India alone accounted for nearly one-fourth of world’s poor. Despite rapid strides in economic growth in the last decade, India accounts for the largest number of maternal deaths in the world and its dismal rates of infant mortality and maternal mortality are worse than those in some countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. India is also home to the highest number of under nourished people in the world and one-third of the world’s underweight children. The progress made by India will significantly determine whether the world as a whole will be able to meet some of the most critical targets in MDGs.
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Closing the lively and intense debate on MDGs during this Youth Parliament, Jagadananda, Member Secretary of CYSD, welcomed the guests of the closing ceremony.
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Shri Pyari Mohan Mahapatra, Member of Parliament and Chief Guest of the closing ceremony made an eloquent speech, sharing with the students his personal concerns that the impressive intellectual energy they had just demonstrated could dissolve when they get back to their daily routine. He appealed to the students to start thinking about what they can do to change the sad status of the massive number of poor people in India.
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The Chief Secretary of Orissa, Shri Ajit Kumar Tripathy, followed with a short address to the students, sharing how impressed he had been listening to their debates and jolts. He suggested to take this process to the next level and continue to involve these students in follow-up programs, document and disseminate the process to actual Members of Parliament in order to force them to fulfill the MDGs.
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Shri Shadrack Omol, UNICEF representative and guest of honor saluted the young parliamentarians and congratulated them on the quality and depth of the debates. He also urged the students to take their spirit forward and assured participants and organizers of the support of UNICEF to turn this event into an institutional process.
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Shri Ashok Kumar Tripathy closed the ceremony with his sincere thanks to all present at the event.
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24 March 2007; Bhubaneswar |
CYSD Completes 25 Years
Small innovations like women self help group formation, community grain bank formation, land and water conservation, and community mobilization which had gained roots in the tribal underdeveloped areas of Orissa are currently part of the mainstream development approach, adopted by various organizations at the national level. CYSD, a leading civil society organization of the state, which pioneered many of these innovations in partnership with tribal community groups and like-minded sister organizations completed 25 years of its existence today, the 24th of March 2007. |
| In a festive atmosphere, the organisation embarked on a year-long celebration to mark the 25 years of its relentless fight against poverty in the state of Orissa. Shri Ajit K Tripathy, Honourable Chief Secretary, Government of Orissa, flagged off the year-long silver jubilee celebration. |
| The celebratory evening kicked off with an opening speech by Shri Jagadananda, the Member Secretary of the organisation, who reminisced about the twenty five years of the journey, starting with how CYSD came into being in 1982 as a training and capacity building organisation for providing support to the fast-growing development sector of Orissa, and how from a small entity, now it has gone on to become one of the leading development organisations in the country with a wide range of activities starting from village level development work to conducting training programmes for small and intermediary NGOs in 14 districts, to carrying out research and advocacy activities at the state and national to influence policies in favour of the poor. He took pride over the fact that many of the small innovations that the organization had launched in the 80s and 90s under adverse circumstances are now part of the mainstream development paradigm. |
| Today, the organisation directly reaches out to more than 600 villages in 7 remote and backward districts, and more than 2000 villages with the help of its partners in 13 districts, he noted. |
| Providing more details, Shri Jagadananda stated that as many as 350 village development groups and their federations are actively steering local development planning and management, overseeing the management of primary education and working closely with the Panchayats to actualize the ideal of decentralized local self-governance. Similarly, 1300 strong and vocal women's self-help groups comprising around thirty thousand members have not only mobilized local resources worth 20 million rupees, thereby significantly reducing dependence on exploitative money-lenders, they are also actively addressing social evils like alcoholism and gender discrimination. 284 community-managed grain/ seed banks have created a much-needed buffer against food insecurity and scarcity of seeds. |
| On the education front, an estimated 85525 adults have achieved literacy. Similarly, in different communities 98532 eligible children (6-14 years) attended school. As many as 2667 Children have been active in their organisations on rights of the child, creative action and community involvement. |
| Learning materials have been developed in languages of indigenous people (Santhali, Munda and Desia) for Primary schools children to promote education in a culturally sensitive manner. Citizens’ forums have come up at the state level and in six districts to articulate issues and work on improving policy practice. |
| On the governance front, significant policy research on state finance, state debt situation, state's role in universalization of primary education and devolution of powers, functions and funds to the Panchayat has generated oft-referred resource for awareness building and stimulating citizen-led advocacy for pro-poor budgeting, basic services entitlement, and transparent and accountable governance, he added. |
| Taking about the future, Shri Jagadananda stated that in the coming days the efforts of CYSD will not jus focus on exaction of social accountability from the government, it will also concentrate on enhancing accountability within the civil society sector itself. |
| A number of senior government functionaries, NGO leaders, media personnel joined CYSD in this celebration. Shri Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, Honourable Member of Parliament joined the evening as the Guest of Honour. Among other dignitaries who joined the dais and expressed solidarity with CYSD on this historic occasion were representatives from the international NGO fraternity - Mr Shadrock Omol, State Representative, UNICEF; Mr Matthew Pickard, Country Director, CONCERN Worldwide, and Mr Ronald Angerer, Country Director, Plan International. Ms Laxmi Kila, a tribal woman leader from the remote pocket of Koraput also spoke on the occasion. |
| In his remarks, Shri Ajit Tripathy, Honourable Chief Secretary, Government of Orissa pointed out that it's the people-centred approach to development which makes the organization unique. Shri Tripathy also complimented the organisation for having created thousands of development professionals in the state. While on this, he stated that the current focus of Orissa government on natural resource management and women empowerment is mainly due to the persistent effort of the NGO sector. Shri tripathy also complimented CYSD for its strategic involvement in the three crucial and mutually reinforcing arenas of i) grassroots level community mobilization, ii) resource and skills building support to other organizations; and iii) fact-based research and influencing at the policy level. However, it is the community empowerment activities, which lends the organisation its robust foundation, he pointed out. |
| In his address, Shri Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, Senior Member of Parliament, lauded the organization for its good work in the aftermath of Super Cyclone 1999. With the observation that building the capacities of small development organizations has been the major contribution of the organization, he called upon CYSD to further intensify its engagement with the tribal problems, continue its experimentation in different areas. Stating that in the coming 25 years, CYSD should focus on replicating the key elements of its good work in much larger areas, Shri Mohapatra closed his address. |
| Shri P K Sahoo, Chairman, CYSD who proposed the vote of thanks expressed satisfaction over the fact that CYSD which had started as a small training centre is now well-known for its excellent training programmes, the benefits of which have been availed by people from far and wide - as far places as Malaysia and Uganda. |
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2006 PRESS RELEASE
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Move to amend the RTI opposed
19th August 2006
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Village Resource Centres (VRCs) in Orissa: A Rural Development Project Initiated by ISRO and NRSA
1st June 2006
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Orissa Legislative Assembly Workshop: Role of Standing Committees in Budget Discussion
7th March 2006
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To Promote Financial Literacy among Rural Women
- A State Level Campaign
3rd March 2006
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State Level Consultation: To Understand Corruption & Improve Governance and Accountability
31st January 2006
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19th August 2006
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Move to amend the RTI opposed; Orissa Soochana Adhikar Manch urges BJD not to support
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The attempt of the UPA government at the Centre, to dilute the Right to Information Act, 2005, one of the most progressive pieces of legislations in recent years, comes as a bolt from the blue.
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The Right to Information Act 2005 makes all information held by
government open to public scrutiny except for a very narrow band of
information which can be withheld only if the public interest is
involved.
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It is a shame that the cabinet has decided to amend the Act to shield
the public servants by denying the public access to their noting.
Orissa Soochana Adhikar Manch is shocked and dismayed at such an
anti-people decision. The Manch urges the President of the Ruling BJD
not to support the amendment, if it really believes in transparent and
corruption free Governance.
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The Right to Information Act reasons that every citizen has a
fundamental democratic right to know how its elected government
transacts business on its behalf and how our civil servants from
Panchayat Raj representatives, to police, to the President function on
day-to-day basis.
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The beauty of the Act is the provision that file noting cannot be
hidden away from the public, but must be available for scrutiny, which
will go a long way to enforce open governance. File noting provides
proof that government is being properly run and show up wrongdoing, if any.
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File noting makes it clear how decisions are arrived at, whether
advice was properly sought, considered, given and taken and provide
evidence of whether decisions are taken on merit and established
rules, regulations and procedures. This follows best practice across
the world. In India, access to file noting is a radical provision. It
is meant to overhaul our traditionally closed governance. It is aimed
at breaking embedded habits of unwarranted secrecy that pervade
government and create a clean, progressive and responsive bureaucratic culture that will benefit all. It is intended to make government transparent and public servants accountable.
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Easy public access to file noting is a sword against arbitrariness in
decision-making, neglect of duty, abuse of power, subversion of
process, and influence peddling. In a country steeped in corruption,
access to file noting is the shield that protects every honest
bureaucrat who has nothing to fear from disclosure. Honest bureaucrats have welcomed the Act and it has inspired a nationwide anti-bribery campaign. The Intensive RTI Campaign carried out by the Manch last month had proved beyond doubt the positive impact of the Act in ensuring natural justice to the hundreds of victims of bureaucratic red tapism and indifference.
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The Right to Information Act was born out of a wide consultative
process. It has been enacted as a direct result of years of struggle
of very poor people for whom being able to question their government's decisions is sometimes the difference between life and death. Its use by citizens across the country in the few months that it has been operational, has already exposed corruption, mal-governance and improved government's responsiveness in many spheres. To fiddle with this progressive Act is clearly anti-people and anti-reforms.
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We urge the Union Government to reverse its cabinet decision and warn that if it stands as a stumbling block on the path of democratic
governance, it will pay a heavy price. We call on all Indians to
oppose any move to curtail the fundamental right to information that
make and unmake lives of millions of people in this country. We are
determined to work together to foil the Government's retrograde step.
We also call on Information Commissioner of Orissa - who is mandated
to protect The Right to Information Act and ensure its implementation
- to protest this move in the very strongest terms.
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Jagadananda,
Orissa Soochana Adhikar Manch
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1st June 2006
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Space Enabled Village Resource Centres (VRCs) in Orissa: A Rural Development Project Initiated by ISRO and NRSA
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Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) have been champions in demonstrating the use of space technology for holistic and rapid development of villages. Improved 'communication' and 'earth observation' with the help of satellites hold much value in transforming the village society. While 'satellite communication' provides an excellent channel for effective delivery of information and advisory services across vast regions; the 'earth observation' facility provides community-centric information in terms of land record, natural resources, suitable sites for potable drinking water, wastelands having reclamation potential, watershed attributes, alternate cropping pattern, water harvesting, etc. Space based systems are also proving effective in supporting community based disaster management by providing vulnerability and risk related information, early warning, forecast of unusual/ extreme weather conditions, etc.
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ISRO and NRSA have embarked upon the Village Resource Centre (VRC) programme to provide a wide range of services with the help of space and other Information Technology (IT) tools directly to the rural communities.
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What are Village Resource Centres (VRCs)?
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The VRCs are essentially single-point village-based communication terminals that are digitally connected with distant knowledge centres and expert service providers via video-conferencing and information transfer with the help of satellites.
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What Services the VRCs Will Provide?
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Tele-education: Provision of vocational training and skill building aimed at catalyzing alternate livelihood in rural areas; providing supplementary teaching to rural children; and non-formal education to adults of the village.
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Tele-healthcare: Provision of both preventive and curative healthcare at primary level. The VRCs equipped with certain medical diagnostic instruments and certain customized medical software will help distant specialist doctors diagnose diseases and suggest treatment. With the help of local doctor/ paramedic, expert medical consultation and counseling will be provided to the villagers from specialty hospitals.
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Land and Water Resources Management: Information on land and water resources extracted from satellite images in Geographical Information System (GIS) will be provided to the villagers through the VRC. The local farmers, availing the support of the skilled/-trained personnel managing the VRCs, will utilize this information for better management of their land resources.
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Interactive Advisory Services: VRCs facilitate interaction between the local people and experts at knowledge centres - Agricultural Universities, Technical Institutions, etc. on a wide range of subjects such as, alternate cropping systems, optimization of agricultural inputs - seeds, water, fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, producer-oriented marketing opportunities, crop insurance, etc.
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Tele-fishery: The VRCs located in coastal zones will be provided with near- real- time information on satellite-derived Potential Fishing Zones (PFZ). Information pertaining to inland fisheries, aquaculture, etc., will also be provided through the VRCs.
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E-Governance Services: The services include information and guidance to local people on village-oriented government schemes on agriculture, poverty alleviation, rural employment, animal husbandry and livestock related, micro-finance related, etc.
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Weather Services: Short, medium and long-term weather forecasts, at local level and agro-meteorology advisory services are being enabled.
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Others: Depending on the local needs, each VRC provides a host of other services.
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Specific Roles of ISRO, NGOs and Others
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The VRCs are being set up in partnership with NGOs/ Trusts and concerned state/ central agencies/ institutions. ISRO provides satellite connectivity and bandwidth, telemedicine and tele-education facilities and available/customized spatial information on natural resources. The responsibility of housing, managing and operating the VRCs, with relevant contents and services locally rest with the associating agencies. ISRO has already operationalized 82 such VRCs in different parts of the country.
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Plans in Orissa
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In Orissa, the project will have 43 VRC nodes. Out of the 43, 37 nodes will be located in remote tribal villages in collaboration with 4 NGOs [CYSD, PREM, Agragamee and Gram Vikas].
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The other 6 nodes will be located at OUAT, Bhubaneswar; SAMBHAV, Nayagarh; CYSD, Bhubaneswar, and the 3 Medical Colleges in the state. While the three medical colleges (already part of ISRO's Telemedicine Programme Network), will provide tele-medicine healthcare services, the first three will provide expert services in other areas. While the required facility for availing telemedicine services at the VRCs will be provided by ISRO, the Medical Colleges, working as referral hospitals in telemedicine, will provide the services of expert doctors. The programme will reach out to about four lakh people from 30 blocks spread across 15 districts in the state.
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Signing of MOU
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A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) amongst SCB Medical College, Cuttack, MKCG Medical College, Berhampur, VSSC Medical College, Burla and the said NGOs was signed this afternoon to this effect.
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The MOU signing event was participated by Jagadananda, Member Secretary, CYSD; Achyut Das, Director, Agragamee; Joe Mediath, Chief Functionary, GRAM VIKASH; Jacob Thundyill, Chief Functionary, PREM; and Dr Sarat Chandra Misra, Scientist, OUAT.
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With the involvement of different actors, the VRCs are expected to catalyze rural entrepreneurship; and facilitate e-Governance and other services of social relevance. The VRCs will also address a variety of social aspects locally, and even act as help lines in different parts of Orissa. ISRO is implementing the VRC programme in partnership with reputed NGOs, Trusts and other agencies including the Governmental ones.
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7th March 2006
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Standing Committees Should More Actively Scrutinize Budgetary Allocations in Public Interest: Orissa Legislative Assembly Workshop on Role of Standing Committee in Budget Discussion, Jointly Organised by CYSD, Bhubaneswar and Orissa Legislative Assembly.
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Room 54, Legislative Assembly Building Orissa:
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In the wake of the formation of departmental standing committees, CYSD in collaboration with Orissa Legislative assembly organised a daylong workshop to orient the MLAs about the roles and responsibilities of departmental standing committees in improving the budgetary discussion process. More than 41 MLAs including four senior ministers Shri Prafulla Ghadei, Shri Padmanabh Behera, Smt Pramila Mallick and Mr Debashish Nayak participated in the workshop. Shri Maheswara Mohanty, Speaker, Orissa Legislative Assembly presided over the meeting.
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Two eminent experts on parliamentary affairs Shri G. C. Malhotra, Ex-Secretary General, Lok Sabha and Mr R. Kothanda Raman, Secretary, Parliamentary Affairs, Govt of Nagaland spoke on the role of departmental standing committees drawing inferences from their experience from Lok Sabha and Goa Legislative assembly respectively. Shri G. C. Malhotra expressed satisfaction over the fact that the Orissa Assembly has been meeting 53 days a year, which in his opinion is quite admirable.
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Two senior civil society leaders Shri Vinod Vyasulu, eminent development economist and Shri Jagadananda, Member Secretary, CYSD highlighted the significant role of budget in development of people. Shri Jagadananda said that every rupee drawn from the public exchequer and spent for people should be accounted.
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The participants came up with the view that the departmental standing committees only, have the scope to scrutinize the budgetary allocations and make recommendations to make them people-friendly. Some of the participants were of the opinion that the number of standing committees in Orissa is only ten as a result of which they are overburdened with work. However, the experts begged to differ citing that even the Lok Sabha has only 17 committees.
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Participating in the event, the budget research team of CYSD shared their findings in the form of three publications on the budgetary trends in selected sectors. One publication in particular, Budget Watch 2: Pattern of State Spending in Orissa, which highlights the declining trend in capital and plan allocations over the years and the salient features of 2006-07 Budget Estimate, attracted the attention of the participants. Senior legislators like Shri Arun Dey and Shri Raja Swain applauded the research efforts of CYSD and observed that the publications of CYSD would go a long way, serving as handbooks for financial planners.
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In his concluding remarks, Shri Maheswar Mohanty stated that, in future the Assembly would try to organise more such events in collaboration with independent research bodies and NGOs working on budgetary issues to improve the quality and functioning of the legislative assembly.
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3rd March 2006
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State-level Campaign Launched to Promote Financial Literacy among Rural Women.
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In a carnival-like atmosphere charged with excitement, nearly 300 self-help group women representatives from different parts of Orissa congregated at IDCOL House Bhubaneswar and launched a Financial Literacy Campaign in the state. CYSD and Swayamshree Micro-Credit Services (SMCS) of Bhubaneswar; Citigroup Centre for Financial Literacy along with Indian School of Micro-Finance for Women, Ahmedabad are supporting the campaign.
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The campaign seeks to expose rural women to good money management practices necessary for effective earning, spending, savings, borrowing and investing.
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Representing the Indian School of Micro-Finance for Women in the event, Ms Jayashree Vyas discussed topics on micro-finance with the rural women participating in the campaign, and highlighted issues that drive their lives into financial mess. Perennial problems like exploitation in the hands of moneylenders, unforeseen events like illness, family and social events like marriages were also discussed.
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Ms Aparajita Sarangi, IAS, Director, Mission Shakti suggested that CYSD and SMCS could take the initiative of creating state and district level trainers who could in turn train the SHG leaders and account-keepers in financial literacy. CYSD’s Chairperson Shri P K Sahoo declared that CYSD and SMCS in consultation with the Indian School of Micro-Finance for Women would prepare a five-year roadmap for developing trainers in each district of the state.
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Shri S N A Jinnah, DGM, NABARD promoting self-help groups is the best method for ensuring self-reliance and self-development.
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Shri A K Rastogi, AGM, SIDBI, said that being a member of a self-help group is the best method for women to fulfil their pivotal roles in enhancing the status of women in the family. He said that SIDBI has provisions to support Micro-finance institutions and NGOs’ to finance the SHGs in the state.
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Shri Madhusudan Rao, DGM, State Bank of India (SBI), Orissa mentioned that SBI is committed to developing the economic status of women in the state, which is why it’s going to finance SHGs in the state in a big way. The campaign, he hoped, will go a long way towards strengthening the micro-finance movement in Orissa.
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Shri Parasuram Nayak, Director, SMCS, while proposing the vote of thanks, stated that this is only a modest beginning, and it will take quite some time before the financial literacy campaign reached every nook and corner of the state.
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31st January 2006
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State Level Consultation on Understanding Corruption - To improve Governance and Accountability: January 31, 2006 at CYSD, Bhubaneswar.
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Orissa is the ninth least corrupt among twenty States, claims India Corruption Study-2005 conducted by Transparency International India (TII) and Centre for Media Studies (CMS), New Delhi. According to the study, while Bihar is the most corrupt state, Kerala is relatively the least corrupt. The study ranks various States and Public Services on the extent of petty corruption (corruption experienced by common citizens while availing public services). The study findings were shared in a state level consultation on Understanding Corruption - To improve Governance and Accountability on 31 January 2006 jointly organised by Transparency International, Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi and CYSD, Bhubaneswar. The objective of the programme was to stimulate debate on the different dimensions of corruption and its implications for common people and the governance process in the state.
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Presenting the findings, CMS representatives Mr. Naveen Surapaneni and Mr. Manu Vatsal Sharma stated that although Orissa ranks ninth, it is no reason to celebrate or to be complacent. An in-depth analysis, suggests that large proportions of citizens are not able to avail basic services in this State. Even among those who avail public services, a majority are not satisfied with the quality of services and significant proportion of citizens have to pay bribes.
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Among the 11 public services covered in the study, Police, Land Administration and Lower Judiciary are relatively more corrupt. This is in line with the trend seen in other states. Generally need based services (i.e. Police, Land Administration, Lower Judiciary, Rural Financial Institutions, and Municipalities) tend to be more corrupt because of high amount of discretionary powers enjoyed by them and the fear of retaliation among the citizens. Among the basic services (including government schools and hospitals, public distribution system (PDS), water supply and electricity) availed by the citizens on a regular basis, government hospitals and electricity services are ranked as relatively more corrupt.
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In Orissa, the percentage of citizens accessing various public services is quite low. Except government hospitals (70%) and govt. schools (73%), the percentage of households accessing other public services like electricity, PDS and water supply is much below 50 %. This could be because either the service is not available or the quality of service is perceived to be poor.
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Going by the findings of the study, it appears that user satisfaction is hardly a concern or a priority for the service providers. Only 20-30 percent of the households accessing various public services covered in the study are happy with the services provided by the respective departments. There is a huge gap between Orissa and some of the other states on quality of services. There is an urgent need to improve the quality of the above-mentioned services in Orissa.
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The need to make repeated visits to avail services either discourages the citizens to avail services or force them to pay bribe. In Orissa, it was found that 50 - 80 percent of the households availing the services had to visit three times or more to get their work done. In case of municipalities, nearly 85 % of those who were seeking the service had to make three or more visits.
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Most of the times, citizens are forced to make repeated visits because the officials are not cooperative and the procedures are complex. The percentage of households who pay bribe is unacceptably high in case of most services. In case of need-based services no bribes meant no service. Nearly 40 - 82 percent of the households in case of need-based services pay bribe. This is more so in case of Lower Judiciary (82%), Land Administration (64%) and Police (59%). Even in case of basic services, 10 - 25 percent pay bribes. Especially in case of govt. hospitals (25%) and electricity (21%).
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Also, the awareness about grievance redressal mechanism is very low. Only, 12-38 percent of the citizens availing public services are aware about the grievance redressal mechanism of the respective departments. Apart from low awareness, the confidence on the mechanism is also very low among the citizens. This low awareness provides ample opportunity for middlemen, touts and service providers to seek/demand bribes.
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The consultation brought together a wide range of people including government functionaries, civil society leaders, academics, and media representatives. Honourable Justice Shri Sarat Chandra Mohapatra; Sri Gopal Ch. Nanda, Director Vigilance; and Prof. Devi P Patnaik, noted educationist, were among others present on the occasion. The participants expressed hope that a transparent and responsive grievance redressal system coupled with the recently introduced Right to Information Act, will bring down the corruption level in the future.
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Delivering the closing address, Shri Jagadananda, Member Secretary, CYSD observed that the advent of many people-friendly policies with inbuilt accountability mechanisms makes it an opportune moment to mount a movement against corruption. Elaborating his point, he stated that ever since the introduction of the Right to Information Act, government systems have been displaying greater accountability. Service departments are struggling hard not to give in to corrupt forces. The Act has created opportunities for citizens to play a proactive monitoring role. The need of the hour is to identify procedural policy related loopholes and design proper tools and instrument to plug such holes. Development of citizens’ charter with specified time frames for each service could be an important tool.
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Stating that greater participation of citizens is the key to corruption-free life, he urged the eminent citizens to come together and form neighbourhood public watch committees in their respective areas to critically engage with issues affecting their lives. If citizens have certain rights, they also have an obligation to create civic pressure on the governance system for greater transparency and accountability. For this to happen, however, people must know how to ask the right questions. It is also the duty of the government to recognize and respect citizenry associations and create an enabling environment for such civic initiatives to flourish, he concluded.
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2005 PRESS RELEASE
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Child-Journalists Interactive Workshop in Bhubaneswar
6th September 2005
Children from various slums of Bhubaneswar and Karanjia learned about a range
of communication tools....
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Regional Workshop on National Food for Work (NFFW) Programme
24th May 2005
Organised by the Ministry of Rural Development, the workshop discussed what
the success of NFFW rests on...
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Orissa Budget:Its Allocation and Spending on the Social Sector
25th February 2005
Pre-budget discussion on analysing and prioritising issues in the state annual
budgets...
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Citizens' Forum on 'Education Watch': To Help Strengthen Primary Education in Orissa
23rd February 2005
Discussion on the necessity of multi-level intervention to universalise primary
education...
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6th September 2005
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Child Journalists Workshop Concludes in Bhubaneswar: Child and community journalists to work together for advocacy on local issues.
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BHUBANESWAR, SEPT 6. Over 30 youth including children from various slum areas of Bhubaneswar and Karanjia came together for seven days to learn about the various communication tools that could be used for advocacy in their local communities. The workshop, organised by CYSD in association with One World South Asia and Plan International (India), concluded with an exhibition of the contents created by them.
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The children were exposed to the techniques of using print, radio, photography, comics and web designing for advocacy. While the first day of the workshop was devoted to the importance of knowledge and how harnessing knowledge can benefit communities, an intense training followed on the use of comics for local advocacy. Each participant wrote a story on a local issue, which was then adapted for comics, radio and newspapers.
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The highlight of the seven-day workshop was a field visit to Puri on September 4th where the children learnt how to record interviews for radio and how to take photographs. They also visited a fisherman's village near Puri where they got an opportunity to practice what they had learnt.
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The photographs taken by the children were displayed at CYSD. The exhibition titled "Unexplored" gave a glimpse of people who go unnoticed on the Puri beach in the humdrum of daily life. The comics made by the children were also on display and in addition, a radio programme made by children was also narrowcast at the workshop venue.
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The children will use these communication tools to step up advocacy in their local areas. Besides the use of comics and radio for local advocacy, they were also given exposure on the use of computers. Since it was for the first time that many of them actually got a chance to use a computer, they were predictably excited. In fact, the children practiced on the computers till late in the night. The contents created by them would be uploaded on the website http://enrichokn.nic.in which would be managed by them.
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The organisations involved in training the child and community journalists plan to facilitate the children for using the knowledge that they gained in the workshop for advocacy. While the children themselves will draw up an action plan for using the communication tools for advocacy, the future plans include setting up an audio studio for use by children and also facilitating the setting up of information centres.
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The training workshop was organised with the support of One World South Asia and Plan International (India) for training child and community journalists to advance the vision of "Connecting Communities and Empowering People". For Plan International (India), this was the first step towards creating a child centred community media in various parts of the country.
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24th May 2005
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Success of National Food For Work (NFFW) rests on active participation of the Panchayati Raj System; Panchayat level perspective planning is necessary; Orissa should emerge as the model of excellence in the implementation of NFFW' - Shri Yugandhar, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India
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Gandhiji's ideal of holistic rural regeneration and development holds the key to overall development of India, said Shri Rameswar Thakur, the Governor of Orissa, on the occasion of inaugurating the regional workshop on National Food for Work Programme, held at Hotel Swosti Plaza, Bhubaneswar on 24th May 2005. Ministry of Rural Development (MORD), Government of India in collaboration with Panchayati Raj Department, Government of Orissa and CYSD, Bhubaneswar, organised the workshop.
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In his inaugural address, Shri Thakur observed that sustainable development of the rural areas could only be possible through the creation of durable, need-based assets having the potential of generating sustained livelihoods and opined that effective implementation of the NFFWP could achieve this goal.
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In his presidential address, Dr. Damodar Rout, Minister, Panchayati Raj and Culture dwelt on the need for the devolution of power to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) for the effective implementation of the food for work programme in 18 districts of Orissa. He reiterated that the ruling government in Orissa was committed to reducing poverty in rural areas by undertaking need based developmental interventions. ‘In due time I hope the rest 12 districts would come under NFFWP', hoped Dr. Rout.
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Shri B. N. Yugandhar, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India appreciated the steps taken by Orissa government to utilize 65% of the allotment by March 2005. He further said that the success of the ongoing NFFWP largely depends on the active involvement of the PRI and people; hence Panchayat level perspective planning is necessary. He also observed that the implementing agencies of NFFWP must ensure that the assets created under the programme are durable and help generate sustained employment. He hoped that Orissa would emerge as the model of excellence in the implementation of the NFFW programme.
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Shri V. Subramanian, Addl. Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India said that the main objective of the workshop was to get feedback from the implementing agencies so that corrective actions would be taken to make the programme a huge success in Orissa. Addressing the participants, Shri Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commission, highlighted the need for effective convergence and synergy amongst the various schemes and programmes being implemented in the grassroots level. He stressed that the motto behind the NFFW programme was to ensure wage employments for the needy and the poorest of the poor.
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Shri Subhas Pani, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Orissa observed that the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) for connecting all the 314 blocks of the state for better monitoring of the ongoing programmes is being encouraged and it is hoped that with proper technical guidance and supervision, the bottlenecks and anomalies during the implementation process would be addressed and overcome and transparency maintained.
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Shri Jagadananda, Member Secretary, CYSD, hoped that the deliberations made in the workshop would help prepare a concrete roadmap for the successful implementation of the NFFW programme in Orissa.
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The second session of the workshop, coordinated by Shri Ajit Kumar Tripathy, Development Commissioner, Government of Orissa, saw the Collectors of 18 NFFWP districts making presentations on the implementation process of the food for work programme. The collectors apprised the participants about the status of the NFFWP in their respective districts. Participating in the session Shri B. N. Yugandhar actively interacted with the collectors and offered valuable suggestions for facilitating the implementation of the programs. Most of the collectors, while submitting their presentation were of the opinion that they were taking concerted steps for making the programme a huge success in their districts.
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25th February 2005
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Pre-Budget Discussion on Orissa Budget and Social Sector: Allocation and Spending (2002/03 - 2004/05)
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CYSD has initiated a study that analyses the annual budgets of Orissa with a view to ascertaining the priority given by the state to the social sector. The analysis focuses on four vital departments in the social sector: 'School and Mass Education', 'Health and Family Welfare', 'Welfare of SC/ ST/ OBC' and 'Women and Child Development'.
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The findings of the study were shared at a workshop on "State Budget and its Implications on Social Sector" on 25 February at CYSD, Bhubaneswar. The presentations highlighted the importance given to the above-mentioned four vital social sections. The analysis also highlighted the allocation made to tribal sub plan (TSP).
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Major Findings:
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SOCIAL SECTOR SPENDING: ORISSA VS 14 NON-SPECIAL CATEGORY STATES: (1995/96 - 2001/02)
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In terms of average real per capita social sector expenditure, Orissa, with Rs 553/ ranks 9th among the 14 non-special category major states. Even a low-income state like Rajasthan invests more in the social sector.
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In terms of the average share of social sector in total expenditure, Orissa with 33% ranks 6th among the major states of India during 1995/96 - 2001/02.
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Education: Orissa vs Other States (1995/96 - 2001/02)
Orissa with an average real per capita spending on education of Rs 285/ holds the 9th position in the country. Again, a low-income state like Rajasthan spends more per capita on education than Orissa.
As a share of the total expenditure, Orissa allocates 17.34 % to education on an average, holding the 8th position among the 14 states.
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Health: Orissa vs Other States (1995/96 - 2001/02)
On average, Orissa spends Rs 73/- real per capita on health, occupying the 10th position among the 14 states. As a share of the total expenditure, it spends 4.37% on health on an average, ranking 10th. All the low-income states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) spend more on health than Orissa.
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SOCIAL SECTOR SPENDING IN ORISSA (2002/03 - 04/05 BE)
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Gross inconsistency is noticed between budget estimates (BE) and revised estimates (RE). The budget estimates display intentions to spend more, whereas in reality a lot less is allocated in the revised estimates. For example, in 2003-04 BE, the state intended to spend around 25% of the total expenditure in the social sector; but in the revised estimate (RE), it reduced it to 17.75%.
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The Tribal Area Sub Plan (TSP) gets a mere 3% of the total social sector allocation. In 2003-04 budget estimates, it was 3.87% and declined to 3.39% in the revised estimate.
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Allocation to TSP (in all 38 departments) reduced from 22% of the state plan in 2003-04 BE to 14.76% in 2004-05 BE.
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SHARE OF DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS IN SOCIAL SECTOR
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School and Mass Education (2002/03 - 0 | | | | |
