New estimates of Poverty in India

Reading Between the Poverty Lines

Sachin Kumar Jain*

The poverty estimation of the government of India was first challenged by civil society organisations on the streets and in courts in 2002. After 8 years of struggle, last week the much debated poverty estimates suggested by the Tendulkar Committee have been accepted by the Planning Commission of India. This estimation counts 41.8% rural families as Below the Poverty Line (BPL) rejecting earlier lower and other higher estimations. Before these figures begin being used to determine a variety of social schemes, the Tendulkar Committee estimates will need validation from both the government and the people of India. The acceptance or rejection of these estimates and reasons for the same is a pivotal issue as entitlements like subsidised food, health services and medicine, and free education (as per the Right to Education Act) in private schools to a large section of Indian society will be delivered to those that qualify as BPL. The burning current question therefore is – do the estimations of poverty in the Tendulkar Committee report adequately count and include the poor of this nation? It is the opinion of the Right to Food campaign that the Tendulkar Committee estimates will exclude the counting of considerable sections of poor in India. To understand this stand, one must first wade through recent history of poverty lines and identification.
These estimates will have adverse effects on the families that need food entitlements under the proposed national food security act. As per the Arjun Sen Gupta committee report and Professor Utsa Patnaik, around 15.5 crore families are in a position to spend a small amount for survival, where as Professor Utsa Patnaik states that they in fact do not get food for survival. On the other hand, the Dr. N.C. Saxena Committee report states that 10 Crore families are poor, while the recently accepted Tendulkar Committee report counts only 7.4 Crore families poor. The figures agreed upon in the Tendulkar Committee will cause food insecurity to more then 2.5 Crore families at the least, even after the enactment of the proposed food law. Furthermore, the Supreme Court has already directed the government of India to add old aged, destitute, primitive tribal groups, disabled, single women and widows, and pregnant and lactating women under the "cap" of the poorest category. However, the Tendulkar Committee has rejected these groups out right.

The attempted statistical manipulation that enabled such low figures in the face of reality was found to be unacceptable and a people’s movement agitated against the Planning Commission’s figures and methodology. In response, two committees were formed by the government: the Tendulkar Committee set up by the Planning Commission and the Dr. N.C. Saxena Committee set up by the Ministry of Rural Development.
The Tendulkar Committee was mandated to review the methodology for estimation of poverty, as well as analyse alternative conceptualizations of poverty and the associated technical procedures of measurement for empirical estimation, including finding procedures for updating data over time and across states. The Tendulkar Committee report concluded that 41.8% rural and 25.7% urban families in India are poor. The Saxena Committee report, on the other hand, stated that 50% families in rural India live with poverty. The devil though, is hidden between the lines.
In its report, the Tendulkar Committee suggested an increase in poverty levels both for urban and rural populations, in comparison to the figures touted by the Planning Commission, by correcting price indices. The committee, however, decided to follow the private household consumer expenditure of Indian households as collected by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO). It suggested an increase in poverty levels, largely due to price rise and the decrease in people’s capabilities to consume. However, the Tendulkar Committee did not so much as mention poverty dimensions representing excluded class and marginalization indices, such as the disabled, social and economic status of single women, widows, dalits, nomadic groups, primitive tribal groups. It might be argued that these groups will find automatic inclusion in the identification process delineated by the committee, but the concern is that if these groups are not included in the very concept of poverty, there is virtual surety of them being excluded from the process of identification of poor.
Despite admitting that the concept of poverty is multi-dimensional in the very first feature of their report, the Tendulkar Committee nevertheless decided to confine its study of poverty to analyzing only private consumption. In feature two, the Tendulkar Committee report states that “the expert group has also taken a conscious decision to move away from anchoring poverty lines to a calorie intake norms in view of the fact that calorie consumption calculated by converting the consumed quantities in the last 30 days as collected by NSS has not been found to be well correlated with the nutritional outcomes observed from other specialized surveys either over time or across space (i.e. between states or rural and urban areas).” In line with this, the report suggests that we should revise our calorie intake norms as described by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The report argues that even now, according to the 61st round NSS in urban areas, poor families continue to afford only 1776 calories per day. This figure, it states, is already at par with the prescribed required intake of 1770 calories per day, devised by FAO for India. Furthermore, the report argues that actual observed calorie intake of those near the new poverty line in rural areas (1999 calories per capita) is higher than the FAO norm.
So hand in hand with suggesting an upward revision of the rural poverty line, from 28.3% to 41.8%, by using the urban poverty line as the base and correcting for discrepancies in the price indices, the Tendulkar Committee has suggested lowering the requisite calorie norms citing FAO figures. The average calorie consumption at the revised poverty line suggested by the Tendulkar Committee would stand at 1775 calories per person per day, which is way below the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) norms for the average person in India (i.e. 2,400 calories in rural areas and 2,100 calories in urban areas). This revised line is bound to be incorrect if it is used to set ‘caps’ for any benefits through any public schemes related to nutrition, as it will lead to the exclusion of many who are hungry. The Right to Food campaign maintains that the process of identifying poor for any targeted scheme must be disassociated from any such externally calculated poverty line.
The Right to Food campaign’s view on the present discussion of PDS and BPL is that basic services such as food, education, health, work and social security must be universally available for all Indians. In relation to PDS, the Right to Food campaign demands that all residents of the country must be covered under the same and that PDS should play the role of ensuring food security for all. While arguing for universal services, the campaign also understands that these social schemes cannot be uniform in nature and further affirmative action is required for those who are socially excluded. The campaign views favourably the Saxena Committee report wherein it states that “food for all, health for all, education for all, and work for all – these should be taken as the bottom line. The BPL identification exercise should under no circumstances be used to dilute these entitlements. In no way should it be used to exclude people from their basic rights and needs”. Where as Tendulkar excluded the indicators of Education and Health while poverty estimation process.
The correct identification of BPL becomes imperative at this point in time, as this line will become the base for the sorely needed National Food Security Act (NFSA). Any decision on poverty estimates taken half-heartedly means keeping 200 to 250 million people on a half-empty stomach every day.
Too many presentations and representations about the prevailing face of poverty and poverty lines in India have been generated in academic, i.e. economist, circles in recent times, without touching or seeking the perspective of those that it really belongs to – the poor people of India. Fortunately we have a society, which still finds poverty more than an issue of specialized economics and have a political capacity to reject “anti-people” theories.
* writer is a development journalist associated with Right to Food Campaign. He is also working as honorary Advisor in Madhya Pradesh to the Supreme Court Commissioners in Right to Food case.

Bundelkhand in Crisis

OPED Thursday, October 1, 2009 Print Close

Don’t blame the rain god for drought

Development priorities in Bundelkhand are not based on the larger understanding of climatic cycles. More could have been done to prevent drought instead of blaming poor rainfall, writes Sachin Kumar JainThe situation in Bundelkhand is turning perilous. The indicators simply stare you in the face. Between 1999 and 2008, the average number of rainy days per year has reduced from 52 to 23 in this agro-climatic zone of Madhya Pradesh. No wonder then that in the current year this beleaguered land faces a 53 per cent deficit in average rainfall. So, is Bundelkhand totally rain-fed and dependent year after year on the quantum of water its parched grounds receive? The answer also stares one in the face. The previous year was comparatively better after five years of drought. Yet that counts for very little even a year on. A great pity, but more than that a neglect of this precious resource showing an abysmal lack of focus in developmental policies. Some pertinent questions arise here. Would the agriculture bunds be able to stop the run-off water? How would the ground water level rise then and the soil receive the much needed moisture? In such situation, even if the expected 950 mm of rain were received, would it really meet the needs of this land? While all these questions form aspects of development agenda, one thing is eminently clear. That the drought in Bundelkhand is not due to a failure of rains alone. As per the statistics of the Union Irrigation and Power Ministry, 1985, every year about 1,31,021 sqmt of rainwater is available in this region. Of this a mere 14,355 sqmt is used while 1,16,666 sqmt of water simply runs off. This amounts to only a negligible 10.95 per cent of water being utilised. The situation today remains the same more or less. Unfortunately, development priorities here are not based on the larger understanding of climatic cycles and the lay of the land but choose to instead address each crisis in a piecemeal way, going from year to year, drought to drought. Traditionally, the region, in spite of its rain woes, has managed to keep hunger at bay and that itself speaks volumes about its potential to fight drought; both these conditions normally are considered synonymous, one leading to the other. Following rain-fed principles, farmers here took to growing food crops which survived in drought conditions and used less water. Sadly the Government is impervious to this potential and has failed to explore such options. More specifically, it has failed to promote growing of pulses, which requires one-third water as compared to paddy crops. The effect of this neglect is widespread, with deficient rains marking Tikamgarh (56 per cent less) Chhatarpur (54 per cent), Panna (61 per cent), Sagar (52 per cent) and Damoh (61 per cent). Literally the entire belt. As expected, the land is getting ravaged, losing its fertility and needs urgent attention by the Government to restore it. Instead of addressing this core need, the Government compounds the felony by granting mining lease and allowing cement factories to be set up on the now fallow land. These not only occupy large areas of land which can be restored to become fertile but pollute environment through deadly gases. Cement factories emit methane and damage huge areas of land around the factory, causing health hazards also. Clearly the onus for creating such a situation lies squarely with the Government. But more important is the question, does Bundelkhand need this? Wouldn’t it be infinitely wiser to nourish its soil, water, forests, things which were once its strength giving sustenance to its people? Sadly the Government seems hell-bent on imposing a different of development. Blaming the rain gods solely for the ravaged land now seems like a hollow exercise when much more could have been done to prevent the damage. The list of follies is long. Fifteen big dams were constructed in the region, of which only 30 per cent capacity is being utilised, the rest are dysfunctional because of heavy silting. NREGA could have played a very important role in addressing drought conditions. Instead the State bureaucracy stuck to routine jobs displaying a lack of drought mitigation perspective. For instance, only four per cent of the old ponds can still be used. Under NREGA other ponds could have been revived and de-silted. But these opportunities were either missed or thrown away. Through this process, local communities’ stake and role played in water management over the centuries have also been undermined. It is no mean achievement that under their care, some of the big baawadies and taalabs like Sindoor Sagar Talab in Tikamgarh have survived for 1,000 years. It is not only in Bundelkhand that this lack of focus or political will is seen. What is disturbing is that water management policies adopted by various State Governments have led to either rivers drying up, like the Narmada and the Sone, or flooding, like the Kosi. Sea water is finding its way back into dried rivers, causing river waters like that of the Narmada to turn saline. Reversing all this requires a great deal of wisdom, clarity and a sense of purpose followed by action on the ground. Perhaps the starting point would be to view the current drought situation in Bundelkhand not as a vagary of nature but caused by wilful destruction of nature’s process by human beings. Can we expect our policy-makers to pay heed and meet this challenge?

http://www.dailypioneer.com/206031/Don

Bundelkhand crisis

http://www.dailypioneer.com/201528/Degradation-of-land-endangers-Bundelkhand.html
OPED Thursday, September 10, 2009 Print Close

Degradation of land endangers Bundelkhand

Faced with relentless march of ravines, many villages are on the verge of getting wiped out, writes Sachin Jain The recent focus on Bundelkhand is not without reason. In fact it is surprising that a long-neglected region which suffers from a harsh terrain and topography and is burdened by a crumbling feudal social system did not merit attention and action earlier. Straddling both Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the region has borne countless harsh summers which has robbed its rich soil cover, leaving it arid and dotted with rocks. Of its total area of 30 lakh hectares, only 24 lakh hectares is arable. Within this only four lakh hectare is irrigated, and herein lies the core problem. Availability and approach to water, on which Bundelkhand’s fragile agricultural produce depends, are at the centre of the problem. Due to geological compositions, the terrain does not allow adequate retention of water. Which is why traditional societies in Bundelkhand evolved ways to mitigate its ill effects by constructing ponds and cultivating crops that require less water? Traditional wisdom factored in the undulating topography wherein ponds and water structures constructed at higher levels were connected through canals to those at lower levels, thus ensuring that once ponds at higher level fill up, water would naturally flow down to fill the lower level ones. This intricate network was really the lifeline of the region. Sadly, the administration does not seem to be in tune with this near-flawless system. All it really had to do was to just continue with this organic system of water-management devised and managed by the local communities. In fact it could have ensured that the community itself develops the capacity to manage the system at low cost, without the authorities having to provide routine support. Instead our policy-implementing bodies thought otherwise and what we have today is a beleaguered region in dire need of water. Starting on the wrong foot, as it were, seven medium level dams were constructed in the region ruining nearly 30,000 hectares of fertile land. The expenditure incurred on the construction was phenomenal, but the results were not. The dams are only able to utilise 38 per cent of the irrigation potential, a sorry ratio for a region that only had to develop its own intrinsic capacities of water conservation and management. The present scenario seems the anti-thesis of what would have been natural and in tune with Bundelkhand’s topography and the needs of its people. It’s a recipe for disaster with rampant use of tubewells, ground water being indiscriminately pumped up and the land getting denuded. One has to remember that Madhya Pradesh has a history of drought which comes once every five years. The situation in Bundlekhand region is much more acute. It has faced drought eight times in last nine years in this decade. Then why is it so hard for Governments to remember and factor into the action taken on the ground? One has to only look at Chambal to see a land ravaged and a cess-pool of violence and degradation. Is Bundelkhand also going or being allowed to go the Chambal way? With its lack of forest, rocky terrain, its woefully inadequate water management system, is it also gradually turning into ravines? The degradation seems evident and rapid. In Chhatarpur district around the Ken-Dhasan river, about 1.5 lakh acre land is turning into ravine. And this is endemic. In Panna 50,000 acre, Tikamgarh 12,000 acre, Datia 70,000 acre and in Damoh 62,000 acre land is under threat to be turned into a ravine zone. Is there more to this than meets the eye? Are measures being taken or not taken surreptitiously to ensure that Bundelkhand remains in the throes of a crisis? Once a land becomes fallow and is out of agricultural ambit, the Government can take steps to officially declare it to be infertile and divert it for non-agriculture and non-forest purposes. The process of diverting thousands of hectares of land in Chambal, especially in Morena district is already underway. Would this be the agenda in Bundelkhand too? Faced with relentless march of the ravines, today 471 villages in Bundelkhand are on the verge of getting wiped out. Rather than making efforts of increasing the forest cover, which is only eight per cent of total land area, the Government is hell-bent on promoting industries which would damage the existing remaining forest area and destroy the minimum water resources available. It is clear that drought is not caused simply because the rains fail one year. Rather it is a gross neglect of its environmental patterns and the absence of an enlightened response to the needs of this harsh terrain which nurtures a fragile ecosystem. By allowing degradation of land, policy-makers are fuelling not only agricultural distress, but also jeopardising people who will be impacted by the crises.

Right to Health Care

Public Health in Madhya Pradesh

Sachin Kumar Jain

Primitive Tribal Group in Gwalior-Chambal region – Saheriya, faces enormous health problems and while responding to these critical lives threatening conditions, State provides them – Dreams. In a very recent micro study by Saheriya Mukti Morcha, gives a bleak picture of state health services in rural areas. In a village – Chak Biledi of Sheopur district, in a period of 8 months (15th August 07 to 15th March 08), out of total 69 children under the age of 6 years, 13 have died due to preventable disease and 9 are girls among them. In the span of 35 days in June-July 2008, Kahrahal Community Health Center (according to NRHM guidelines which should have all facilities for deliveries) has just been referring the cases to District Hospital, which has resulted 5 women delivered their child in the buses. There is no body that has seen the ambulance under Janani Express Yojana, but hoardings of this scheme are there on each and every corner.
Three out of the four positions of doctors at the Community Health Center are vacant. There is no gynecologist or even women doctor. Karahal block officially has a mobile health van on the paper to reach out to inaccessible areas. There are just 166 beds in all the government hospitals to cover the population of 5.60 lakh in 533 villages. The supply of actually needed medicines is a big dream here.
Above all; there is no state health policy available in the Madhya Pradesh, there is a draft document for last eight years, but health ministry shown interest in making and finalizing medicine purchase policy first, as it has clear target to eat the money in a systematic manner.
The controversy regarding the discrepancy and issues should not remain limited to statistics because the medical infrastructure in the state clearly reveals a far bleaker scenario. An analysis based on state government figures shows that one hospital bed is available for every two villages. There are 18 lakh births in the state every year and out of that 8.84 lakh births take place in poor families, but out of that only 3.5 lakh could be covered under the maternity schemes. And various macro studies show that the expenditure on health is a biggest cause of indebtedness among the tribal people. The government provides only Rs 160 per person per year as health budget, of which Rs 126 is spent on salaries and other infrastructure costs.
In the collapsed health system even doctors do not want to work, interestingly in last 4 years average post of 39 CMHOs have been filled by in charge doctors, regular doctors are not in place, so that they could be exploited by the authorities. Only 137 posts of gynecologists and obstetricians are approved in the entire state for one million deliveries in below poverty line women, many of which were vacant for years. After a long battle, the government began the process of filling the vacancies last year: 78 posts of gynecologists and obstetricians, and 112 posts for anesthetists. But only 31 applications were received for the former and only 12 anesthetists’ posts could be filled. In these conditions we should not defame government health system in general; actually system has been defamed by the policy makers, so that pro-privatization atmosphere can be created.
Recent incidents, especially Income Tax department raids on top level health department officials, shows the truth, shockingly an amount of 200 crore has gone into the pockets of officials and leaders. Corruption in sectors like Health and Women-Child Development is not merely an example of eating money by the authorities, but this corruption eats the Hundreds thousand lives every year, especially in the poor and the most marginalized sections of the society. One needs to co-relate the levels of corruption and bad health indicators. Madhya Pradesh is the biggest contributor all together in Infant, Child and Maternal deaths in the world. Pervasive corruption at all levels is making conditions far more dangerous for pregnant women. This is partly rooted in the government's new policy of centralized purchase of medicines. As a result, most of the Rs 1400 provided to a pregnant woman under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (Protection of Mothers Scheme) is spent on bribing the local health staff. In these circumstances poor community is forced to opt the option of private health care, which limits the options of freedom in the life.
Despite unreliable data, government statistics show that out of 14.7 lakh maternal deaths and deaths due to reproductive health complications in the world every year, 97,000 are from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, also known as the four BIMARU states, and the three newly carved ones of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal. This figure has been corroborated by the World Health Organization (WHO). Half of the maternal deaths in south Asia are contributed by India's states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa.
A debate is on over the issue but lack of political commitment is apparent. There is need for a comprehensive policy and coordinated effort for child and maternal health care instead of grandiose schemes to please the politicians. There is a need to make a call to the middle class of the society that they should not discard the need of public health services. It is very essential for the poor today and they (middle class) will also need it badly tomorrow.

Food Security in Madhya Pradesh

Is the food plate in MP becoming empty?

Sachin Kumar Jain

Money is increasing but food plate is becoming empty!! At least latest trends of food consumption patterns are scathing new pictures of Chronic Hunger. Many reports are now unanimous that the number of people afflicted with hunger is increasing rapidly. Development process is moving so fast, that the common person is left behind as if they don't exist. Development, social inclusion and elimination of poverty has emerged as new targets in the political battle field now, but all these jargons still lack in perspective. And in this context latest NSSO report released by Government of India on consumption patterns in India (which includes consumption on food and other essentials for life) shows a decline in level of food consumptions. Various analyses have shown that these findings are actually revealing the actual face of poverty elimination programs and that of the concept of development without protecting agriculture.

Overall, the level of food consumption in rural areas of our country is declining. In 2005-06, an average of 11.920 KGs food grain was consumed per month by a member of the family and to acquire this, the family had to spend Rs. 106.30 per month. But in 2006-07, the average food consumption came down to 11.685 KGs per person (1.97% decline) in the family, and their cost to acquire it had risen to Rs. 114.80 at this consumption level.

The changing consumption pattern in Madhya Pradesh in itself points towards a deep crisis of food security in the state. On an average, a person in rural Madhya Pradesh was consuming 11.48 kgs food or grain per month in 2005-06 and was spending Rs. 86.46 to acquire this amount of food, but per person food consumption has declined to the level of 9.718 kgs per month and sees a negative change of 15.34% and expenditure level is almost the same i.e. Rs. 87.27. It clearly shows the impact of inflation on changing food consumption levels.

Moving to food and other consumption analyses, rural Kerala spends a total amount of Rs 505.52 and Punjab Rs. 511.25 on food group (cereal, milk, meat, dry fruit, vegetables etc.), whereas in Madhya Pradesh this expenditure is 263.86. It simply means that 80.5% of their total expenditure is being spent for food arrangements.

Data speak for themselves. Interestingly, Kerala people spend Rs. 83.69 on egg, fish and meat while Madhya Pradesh individual spends only Rs. 7.44 per month on these items. Punjab definitely spends less on food grain (Rs. 91.86) but the total expenditure on food group is Rs. 511.25 per person per month and they consume milk and milk products worth Rs 167.24 (32.71% of total food expenditure), while, an individual from Madhya Pradesh spends only Rs. 44.75 per month on these.

Haryana and Himachal Pradesh spend biggest part (41.46 percent and 27.17 percent respectively) of their total food expenditure on Milk or Milk products. The difference in overall per capita expenditure is worth mentioning. The per capita average expenditure in Madhya Pradesh is one of the lowest in the country at Rs. 514.93 per month, whereas it is Rs 1250.35 in Kerala, Rs. 1198.93 in Punjab and Rs. 1117.49 in Himachal Pradesh – more then double in any case. It goes without saying that higher expenditure is directly linked with livelihood and subsistence security, and unfortunately, it is again lacking in Madhya Pradesh.

As per the NSSO data released in October 2008, Madhya Pradesh [9.72] is third lowest in terms of monthly per capita cereal consumption [kg.] preceding Kerala [9.37] and Punjab [9.63]. This does not mean that progressive and rich states like Kerala and Punjab are the worst performer then Madhya Pradesh. Punjab (Rs 511), in India, is on top on food expenditure list followed by Kerala (Rs. 506) and Madhya Pradesh spends the lowest amount (Rs. 263) on Food per person. On the other hand Kerala, being a coastal state, has fish and fruits in their food plate and Punjab consumes Milk and milk products in large quantity, with the result that their cereal consumption is lower than Madhya Pradesh which is not a coastal state or a non-veg consumer. Moreover, Kerala and Punjab are considered as affluent and developed states, and studies have shown that affluence also brings changes in food consumption pattern, packaged food becoming main chunk of food plates, especially in Punjab and metro states. Since Madhya Pradesh does not have such high purchasing capacity required for consumption of non-cereal food items, people have to depend mainly upon the cereals. It is also serious to note that food grain production in Madhya Pradesh has declined rapidly in last one decade. With this backdrop, low food grain consumption in Madhya Pradesh is a serious matter.

(The edited version of this article was published in Hindustan Times on January 5, 2009)

Poverty in Madhya Pradesh

Identification of Poverty

The issue of poverty has been more challenged by its own definition and strategy of avoidance adopted by the State and Central government. It worth mentioning that as per the latest definition by economic indicators, those families living in rural areas spending Re. 11 per person per day and in urban areas Re. 19 per person per day are considered to be poor. There is no need to define how a person can survive on this expenditure criterion. On these points Government of India reaches to a conclusion that poverty in India is decreasing. Actually Poverty is not decreasing but policy makers and some policy makers shortening the poverty line, which now should be called Starvation Line. On the basis of these criterias poverty in Madhya Pradesh has increased to 38.2 percent in 2004-05 from 37.43 percent in 2002.
Interestingly Central Government decides the level of poverty and leaves no space for State government in discussion, and this non-coordination creates havoc between Central-State relations. As per the Government of India 41.25 Lac families are in BPL list but Madhya Pradesh Government has already distributed BPL cards to 64 lac families. Madhya Pradesh Government is saying that poverty in Madhya Pradesh is increasing and state needs more support for poverty eradication programs, but GoI is not at all ready to accept any argument on poverty. Due to this huge difference all the families get only maximum 20 KGs food grain under the PDS scheme, because state government is dividing the food allocated by the Central Government for 41.25 lac families in 64 lac families identified by household survey in the state.
Still many most marginalized individuals, families and communities at large are living with acute poverty, but have not been identified for below the poverty line list. This invisibalisation makes their life more complex and though, because they go out of the essential criteria list for getting any benefit under poverty eradication program and social security scheme. One example is very commonly seen in the villages, now Government of India has extended the benefit of Old Age Pension scheme from destitute old aged persons to all the old aged persons living below the poverty line, but the problem is that still many eligible old aged persons have been kept out of the BPL list.

Health Services in Madhya Pradesh

Health in Madhya Pradesh

It just not a coincidence that Madhya Pradesh tops the list with highest Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of 72, Lowest life expectancy of 57.7 Years in comparison to Indian average of 63.2 years. 80 percent of the expenditure comes out of private pocket and this is the biggest cause of indebtedness among tribal, dalit and other marginalized communities. We just have one hospital bed for the population of 5.6 villages in public health institutions. In the collapsed health system even doctors do not want to work, interestingly in last 4 years average post of 39 CMHOs have been filled by in charge doctors, so that they could be exploited by the authorities. Only 137 posts of gynecologists and obstetricians are approved in the entire state, many of which were vacant for years. After a long battle, the government began the process of filling the vacancies last year: 78 posts of gynecologists and obstetricians, and 112 posts for anesthetists. But only 31 applications were received for the former and only 12 anesthetists’ posts could be filled. Expenditure in health services has increased enormously in comparison to any other services because it is essential but not fully provided by the Government. Alarmingly provision for Health sector has been stagnant to 2.40% of the total Madhya Pradesh budget expenditure; it simply means that strengthening public health sector is not a priority for the Government. Presently Madhya Pradesh allocates approximately 900 Crore rupees for the State Health services, for the population of 6.50 Crore. It means only an amount of Rs. 138 has been allocated per person per year. Interestingly, even out of this amount Rs. 114 just goes in Salary and overheads account and one person gets Rs. 2 for medicine, checkups, investigations and other care.
There has been a need to create more and more infrastructure and new institutions in the State, but again not a singe Primary Health Institution has been created in last five years in the State. The state of Madhya Pradesh needs 478 PHCs and 1528 Sub Health Centers for last 8 Years, but no improvement could be seen. Normally data does not give a very real picture, but here it will!! According to population we require 916 Medical Specialists, but only 49 in place, out of 4708 posts of Medical Officers 1659 are laying vacant, there are only 216 pharmacists in Health department against the need of 1421, and 1098 posts of ANM are still to be filled. The reality on political side is very depressing, because political parties or even peoples representatives never came out on road for people’s right to Health Care. It very difficult to say that now doctors will come and join the state health services at any COST, because now they are bound to spend Rs 25-35 Lakh to become a doctor, and a salary of Rs. 40 thousand will not support them to pay the interest against the education loan. In other words, if Government have human character and wants to provide genuine health services to poor, they will have to subsidies and control the medical education.

BT and GM Food

Bio-Farming, Use of BT seeds

and GM Food trails

in Madhya Pradesh

Interestingly Bhartiya Janta Party, following their line of “Swadeshi” in its manifesto promising to make Madhya Pradesh first BIO-Farming state, but this election promise seems to be very contradictory to their operation policies, they have implemented in Madhya Pradesh in last 5 years. Their government has promoted the use of BT Cotton seeds and Madhya Pradesh has become one of the biggest consumers of controversial BT seeds. It is not enough; Government of Madhya Pradesh has also permitted the trails of GM food items in Madhya Pradesh. Nilesh Desai of Campaign for GM Free India says - The Jabalpur based Jawahar lal Nehru Agriculture University is doing trails of Genetically Modified Brinjals. It should be noted that the production of GM food has been opposed by the food security and environmentalists at very large level. Hundreds of Farmers and activists also protested the action to promoted dangerous GM food in Agriculture University on 29th September 2008. It also to be mentioned that now Madhya Pradesh is just providing red carpet to the upper class and industrial community. The state of Madhya Pradesh has decided to provide 3 Lac acre of land for the Jetropha (tree for Bio-Fuel) Production in Madhya Pradesh. It is going to be a big issue in near future, because the available land is not being given to the landless Tribals and Dalit families. In this context Government says – We don’t have government land to share with the marginalized communities, but practically huge amount of land (it includes agriculture, waste and forest land) is being handed over to the Corporate houses along with the tax, water and electricity subsidies.

Water Crisis

Water Crisis in Madhya Pradesh

Drought is becoming a regular phenomenon in Madhya Pradesh. In last 15 years 14 to 39 districts have been facing the distress situations of drought every year. As per the reports of Madhya Pradesh Public Health Engineering Department there were 9000 habitations were provided with less then 40 liter water per person per day. This is the amount of water considered to be the minimum requirement for an individual to fill the daily needs. Alarmingly the numbers of habitations in crisis have now gone up to 15000 in the Year 2007-08, Department’s report says. In continuation to the same context, the number of habitations having “no water source” has also increased by more then 5 time then the 2001 situation. There were 448 habitations were identified in “no water source category”, but in the year 2007-08, it has gone up to 2000 habitations.

Water has been an issue being talked about on various forums but no governments bothered to have debates on the causes of water crisis like losing community control over water resources, de-forestation, privatization and marketisation of water and extreme industrial use. The studies of Central Ground Water Board have put 6 blocks on most crisis zone, where more then 100% ground water. There are 65 development blocks, which have consumed 65 to 100% of water. The Central Ground Water Board report also says that the water level of more then 40.73% open wells has decreased by 2 meter and in many of the locations it has gone down by 4 meter. It is a caution for the future government. This biggest curse is that our representatives and political leaders do not have a perspective of handling the crisis of water in a sustainable manner.
Governments in Madhya Pradesh have spent Rs. 265 Crore just to protect the life lines of Bhopal – the Bhopal lakes. But even after that huge expenditure, this year the well known lake of Bhopal is facing the worst crisis ever. Now more then 250 farmers have entered into the dry land of this lake and have started farming. A very formal legal step has been taken against them, but this encroachment is purely a political event, which is going to get protection for the real-estate lobby.

Hunger

Hunger in Madhya Pradesh

(Brief of the IFPRI Report)

Released on 14th October 2008

A recently released report by International Food Policy Research Institute notes that not a single state in India falls in the ‘low hunger’ or ‘moderate hunger’ categories defined by the GHI 2008. Instead, most states fall in the ‘alarming’ category, with one state Madhya Pradesh – falling in the ‘extremely alarming’ category. IFPRI Report shows the position of the 17 Indian states relative to the countries for which the Global Hunger Index 2008 is reported. India’s rank on the GHI 2008 is 66; the ranks of the different states in relation to the GHI range from 34 for the state of Punjab (whose ISHI score lies places it between Nicaragua and Ghana) to 82 for Madhya Pradesh (whose ISHI score places it between Chad and Ethiopia). Ten of the 17 states have an ISHI rank that is above India’s (66), which indicates that these states are relative out performers.

This report also presents the association between the hunger index and the rate of economic growth for each state. The figure shows little evidence of a consistent relationship between the two variables. A state that experienced negative real growth (in net state domestic product per capita) between 1999-2000 and 2004-05 (e.g., Madhya Pradesh) has a high hunger index, but so did states like Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh that experienced much higher rates of economic growth over this time period. Again, Punjab stands out as a remarkable “positive outlier”, with its much lower hunger index than states such as Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana whose rate of economic growth was two to threetimes larger during the same period (<2%>

Corruption

Corruption in Madhya Pradesh

(Brief of the Transparency International Report)

Madhya Pradesh is one of the 5 (Bihar, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Utter Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh) most corrupt states in India. The report of transparency International (Released in June 2008) shows that the level of corruption in Madhya Pradesh is Alarming. The study, like the earlier ones, is based on CMS PEE model where the scope is not limited to perceptions about corruption in general, but perception in specific context of a service and, more importantly, actual experience of paying bribe by BPL households in availing one or more of the 11 selected public services. Depending on the frequency of interaction, the eleven services are divided broadly into “basic services” (PDS, Hospital, School Education (up to class XII), Electricity and Water Supply Services) and “need based services” (Land Records / Registration, Housing, Forest, NREGS, Banking and Police Service (traffic and crime)). In Himachal Pradesh the level of corruption is “moderate” in all the 11 services studied whereas in the case Madhya Pradesh and Assam, corruption level in all the 11 services was high or very high or alarming.

The research was carried out in 5 districts (Shivpuri, Jhabua, Bhopal, Balaghat and Sidhi) of Madhya Pradesh. As regards the relative position of States on corruption in availing the 11 public services by BPL households, Assam, J & K, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have an “alarming level” of corruption.

Health

Public Health in Madhya Pradesh

Sachin Kumar Jain

Primitive Tribal Group in Gwalior-Chambal region – Saheriya, faces enormous health problems and while responding to these critical lives threatening conditions, State provides them – Dreams. In a very recent micro study by Saheriya Mukti Morcha, gives a bleak picture of state health services in rural areas. In a village – Chak Biledi of Sheopur district, in a period of 8 months (15th August 07 to 15th March 08), out of total 69 children under the age of 6 years, 13 have died due to preventable disease and 9 are girls among them. In the span of 35 days in June-July 2008, Kahrahal Community Health Center (according to NRHM guidelines which should have all facilities for deliveries) has just been referring the cases to District Hospital, which has resulted 5 women delivered their child in the buses. There is no body that has seen the ambulance under Janani Express Yojana, but hoardings of this scheme are there on each and every corner.
Three out of the four positions of doctors at the Community Health Center are vacant. There is no gynecologist or even women doctor. Karahal block officially has a mobile health van on the paper to reach out to inaccessible areas. There are just 166 beds in all the government hospitals to cover the population of 5.60 lakh in 533 villages. The supply of actually needed medicines is a big dream here.
Above all; there is no state health policy available in the Madhya Pradesh, there is a draft document for last eight years, but health ministry shown interest in making and finalizing medicine purchase policy first, as it has clear target to eat the money in a systematic manner.
The controversy regarding the discrepancy and issues should not remain limited to statistics because the medical infrastructure in the state clearly reveals a far bleaker scenario. An analysis based on state government figures shows that one hospital bed is available for every two villages. There are 18 lakh births in the state every year and out of that 8.84 lakh births take place in poor families, but out of that only 3.5 lakh could be covered under the maternity schemes. And various macro studies show that the expenditure on health is a biggest cause of indebtedness among the tribal people. The government provides only Rs 160 per person per year as health budget, of which Rs 126 is spent on salaries and other infrastructure costs.
In the collapsed health system even doctors do not want to work, interestingly in last 4 years average post of 39 CMHOs have been filled by in charge doctors, regular doctors are not in place, so that they could be exploited by the authorities. Only 137 posts of gynecologists and obstetricians are approved in the entire state for one million deliveries in below poverty line women, many of which were vacant for years. After a long battle, the government began the process of filling the vacancies last year: 78 posts of gynecologists and obstetricians, and 112 posts for anesthetists. But only 31 applications were received for the former and only 12 anesthetists’ posts could be filled. In these conditions we should not defame government health system in general; actually system has been defamed by the policy makers, so that pro-privatization atmosphere can be created.
Recent incidents, especially Income Tax department raids on top level health department officials, shows the truth, shockingly an amount of 200 crore has gone into the pockets of officials and leaders. Corruption in sectors like Health and Women-Child Development is not merely an example of eating money by the authorities, but this corruption eats the Hundreds thousand lives every year, especially in the poor and the most marginalized sections of the society. One needs to co-relate the levels of corruption and bad health indicators. Madhya Pradesh is the biggest contributor all together in Infant, Child and Maternal deaths in the world. Pervasive corruption at all levels is making conditions far more dangerous for pregnant women. This is partly rooted in the government's new policy of centralized purchase of medicines. As a result, most of the Rs 1400 provided to a pregnant woman under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (Protection of Mothers Scheme) is spent on bribing the local health staff. In these circumstances poor community is forced to opt the option of private health care, which limits the options of freedom in the life.
Despite unreliable data, government statistics show that out of 14.7 lakh maternal deaths and deaths due to reproductive health complications in the world every year, 97,000 are from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, also known as the four BIMARU states, and the three newly carved ones of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal. This figure has been corroborated by the World Health Organization (WHO). Half of the maternal deaths in south Asia are contributed by India's states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa.
A debate is on over the issue but lack of political commitment is apparent. There is need for a comprehensive policy and coordinated effort for child and maternal health care instead of grandiose schemes to please the politicians. There is a need to make a call to the middle class of the society that they should not discard the need of public health services. It is very essential for the poor today and they (middle class) will also need it badly tomorrow.

Debate on Poverty

Living with Chronic Hunger, but not poor

Sachin Kumar Jain

The issue of poverty has been more challenged by its own definition and strategy of avoidance adopted by the State and Central government. It worth mentioning that as per the latest definition by economic indicators, those families living in rural areas spending Re. 11 per person per day and in urban areas Re. 19 per person per day are considered to be poor. There is no need to define how a person can survive on this expenditure criterion. On these points Government of India reaches to a conclusion that poverty in India is decreasing. Actually Poverty is not decreasing but policy makers and some policy makers shortening the poverty line, which now should be called Starvation Line. On the basis of these criterias poverty in Madhya Pradesh has gone down to 32 percent in 2004-05 from 37.43 percent in 2002. Interestingly Central Government decides the level of poverty and leaves no space for State government in discussion, and this non-coordination creates havoc between Central-State relations. As per the Government of India 41.25 Lac families are in BPL list but Madhya Pradesh Government has already distributed BPL cards to 64 lac families. Madhya Pradesh Government is saying that poverty in Madhya Pradesh is increasing and state needs more support for poverty eradication programs, but GoI is not at all ready to accept any argument on poverty. Anyway State Government will have to fight for its political compulsions. In forthcoming elections it is going to play an important role. Now BJP government had to take this issue forward, not only politically but also theoretically. Establishment of Rajya Samanya Nirdhan Varg Kalyan Ayog proves that politics is moving ahead. In recent meeting of this ayog leaves one very serious question unresolved. Present political ideologues agree that present definition is wrong because general category is being left out of it and income along with the essential facilities should be the main indicators for poverty. It is welcome shift from the expenditure based poverty definition to income based poverty, but still what about the socially excluded groups??
Actually there is a wide range of social and vulnerability factors, which define the concept of acute poverty and need to be considered for a more realistic identification of the poor. The below poverty line politics does not consider social marginalization as an important aspect of identifying the poor. As a result, some major categories of people like persons with disability (mental or physical), who very often find it difficult to earn their livelihood and thus fulfill their basic needs, are not considered as poor. Further, communities who have been forced to live a life devoid of self-esteem and dignity – manual scavengers and communities involved in caste-based prostitution – are denied the right to be categorized as social poor.
Nathu, a mentally disabled tribal, resides in Pati village in Badwani district. The hutment he stays in is so small that one would have to think twice and be careful while turning around. His wife who finds work as a labourer for subsistence often has to forgo work to take care of her mentally challenged husband. Struggling hard for survival, starvation has become part of daily life. He could not be ensured a place on the BPL list on the basis of his disability. With the Supreme Court’s order that, families having any mentally or physically disabled member be given the benefit of the Antyodaya scheme (scheme which provides foodgrains at cheaper rates), Nathu applied for the same but did not attach a certificate proving his disability, leading to rejection of the application. Now Old age Pension schemes has been expanded to all persons of 65 years or more and living below the poverty line, but recent study in Bundelkhand by Madhya Pradesh Apda Niwaran Manch says that 38 percent old age person will be deprived of, they are poor but not included in BPL list. Supreme Court of India in its order dated 2nd May 2003 said all the Primitive Tribal Groups, Mentally and Physically Challenged, Single women, Widow, Old aged and Pregnant –Lactating women should be considered poorest of poor and be provided most subsidized food. But still these groups could not get space in poverty indicators.
According to government records, out of a total 11.31 lakh disabled people in Madhya Pradesh, 8.9 lakh (78 per cent) live below the poverty line, but only 3.8 lakh disabled are receiving a social security pension. It is clear that the government does not consider disability as an indicator of poverty and the evidence of this is the recent BPL survey list, which has set various indicators to identify the families living below the poverty line. It is surprising that the list gives weightage to the possession of two to three pair of clothes, fans, cycles, etc, but disability is not addressed in any form.
Everyday we come across families and children living on the roadside in the poorest conditions, but we seldom give a thought to it. In Madhya Pradesh, 3.5 million families live in small huts and painful conditions, 55,000 families live on the pavements and roadside but are deprived of any benefit from the government schemes. Their fault is that they reside on the pavement and therefore have no address, and hence cannot be allotted ration cards. This section is one, which experiences extreme natural calamities and is yet neglected. In such a critical situation these helpless children purchase food, beg or search for food in the garbage to fill their stomachs.
The problems faced by leprosy and HIV patients are similar. On the one hand, they are struggling with their illness to survive and, on the other hand, they are ostracized by society. This makes their survival difficult – as they do not get livelihood support. There is a need to be more practical on poverty indicators; State has to be more transparent and un-biased towards the social poor.

Agriculture in Madhya Pradesh

Agriculture nightmare in Madhya Pradesh

Sachin Kumar Jain

The production cost of grains, vegetables and fruits has gone up by 350 percent due to the modernization of agriculture. Society could not respond to this increase but now multinationals again have taken over by entering in to retail market. Big companies are now the key players in the open market. It means small vegetable venders have to fight air conditioned showroom of Reliance and Waal mart.
The Madhya Pradesh government has started giving importance to irrigation in its 10th five year plan. The new budget states that in the context of the extreme dependence of our agricultural economy on the monsoons the importance of developing irrigation is clear. In the 10th five year plan under a variety of projects the irrigation capacity is being increased by 0.58 million hectares. In the 9th five year plan the irrigated land area had been increased by 0.096 million hectares, whereas now the government is fixing a target of 0.7 million hectares of additional land to be irrigated. In Madhya Pradesh now 98% of wheat is irrigated, but only 20 % of pulses and 22 % of rice is irrigated.

Size of Land Holdings: A challenge – The total number of land holdings in Madhya Pradesh is 66.37 lacs. And on an average one farmer has 2.5 hectares of farm land. Because of the small size of land holdings the land has not been developed and there is lack of uniformity in the agricultural practices followed.
In 1961-62 farmers in M.P. had an average farm size of 4.1 hectares, which came down to 3.4 hectares in 1981-82 and got reduced further to 2.3 hectares in 1995-96. At the same time 40 % of the farmers had an average farm size of 0.40 hectares. This shows directly that the number of marginal farmers with very small farm sizes is increasing. Results of the seventh round of Rural Labour Survey show that the number of farm laborers with land in 1987 was 49 % and this went up to 57 % in 1999-2000. Analysis shows that because of low production farmers with very small land-holdings are being forced to become laborers.

Farm Land and Production - Of the total fallow land in the country, 19 % lies in Madhya Pradesh. The time period of one crop production in the state varies from 150 to 180 days and at present only 24 % of the farm land is irrigated. Under these circumstances there is a big need to treat the fallow land in the state, since without such treatment we shall only be able to irrigate only 55 % of the land using both the surface and sub-surface water sources. We can also use the principle of community farming for this purpose. One hectare of farm land in Madhya Pradesh produces 1058 kgs of rice, whereas the average rice production per hectare in the country is 2051 kgs. And in the case of wheat the state is 840 kg below the national average.

In the last two decades the state and society has been faced with different forms of water crisis. On the one hand the resources and potential for irrigation have become a matter of existence for farmers. At the same time, looking at the means of irrigation that have been developed, it seems that farmers are giving up surface irrigation. In M.P. in 1960-61 canal irrigation accounted for 48 % and surface irrigation for 61 % of the irrigation. This came down to 29 % and 31 % respectively in 2002-2003 respectively. During the same period the use of ground water for farming went up from 39 % to 69 %. Only 27% of total agricultural land is irrigated and still agriculture is a gamble of monsoon for farmers in Madhya Pradesh. So now Madhya Pradesh is a state facing most serious salinity, fluoride and nitrate problem in the ground water.
As now seeds and fertilizers have become a commodity of the global market so farmers have lost their control and knowledge about it. In last three years low quality seeds and duplicate seeds have vanished life of thousands of farmers. This new developing phenomenon has taken live of 2 farmers in 2006-07. It is just a beginning. One of the senior ministers of Madhya Pradesh Government made very serious negative remarks in the assembly on 25th July 2007 about the intensions of the farmers as electricity power consumers regarding payment of bills, which clearly sounds that State have no faith in the farmers. Moving forward to for analyzing the degree of protection farmers have, it alarming that in Madhya Pradesh farmers have been compensated by Rs 1.00 against the loss of R. 7.00 due to natural calamity, diseases or low quality seeds sold in the market. The indicators show that on the one side farmers will have no more protection from the state and on the other side they will have to face multinational companies entering in to the production and retail sector. We can observe some important points from studying the development process in post-independence India. One of them is that in our country the potential and sources of development have not been distributed evenly. Some sections of the society have gained more and others have gained much less. After 60 years of independence sense of inequality is getting new shape.

Farmers in Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh: Farmers do not enjoy freedom

Sachin Kumar Jain

After 60 years of independence 3.2 million farmers of Madhya Pradesh do not enjoy freedom. They live in indebtedness and devoting their lives not only to the money lenders but also to their own government to pay off their loans. Agriculture, in a real sense, has been the life-line for Madhya Pradesh. Some years ago when college students wrote an essay on the state they began with the sentence Madhya Pradesh is an agricultural state. Three-fourth of the population here is dependent on agriculture or agro related activities for its livelihood and it is this uniformity that keeps society threaded together.
Today agriculture is no more a simple means of livelihood anymore, but has become a task full of challenge and risk. A latest survey by the National Sample Survey Organization on the indebtedness of farmers shows that of the 6.4 million farmers in Madhya Pradesh 3.2 million are in debt. On an average each farmer in M.P. is under a debt of Rs.14,128. And because of the bank formalities and the inhuman recovery processes his trust in the government’s financial institutions has gone down. It is worth noting that even today 40 % of the loans in this ‘agricultural state’ are taken by farmers from non-governmental sources. Unfortunately for last one and half decade agriculture community has faced opposition of state and ruthlessness towards them. What to expect more from the state when even they do not have any plan to make farmers free from loans.
Reviewing the status of agriculture sector we reaches to a conclusion that even in the 60 years of independence we could not priorities and define the concept of development according to the social needs. We find that at present since the government has accepted a policy of economic liberalization and following the Global economy, instead of internalizing local economy and considering agriculture in a sensitive manner it is being treated as another element of the open market. The farmer himself is now a consumer in the market instead of a producer. We can consider for our reference the budget speech of the finance minister of Madhya Pradesh for the year 2006-2007, in which he said that “the importance of expensive inputs for increasing production has gone up in the sector of agriculture, but instability of outputs is also increasing due to the vagaries of the climate. Due to globalization of the economy, where on the one hand new possibilities of development have opened up, we are also faced with new challenges.” He does nor answers that who will directly face the challenges and with whom state will stand for. Undoubtedly changing cropping pattern, Mechanization and entry of Multinational companies in Agriculture sector have become new challenges for farmers after Monsoon. Madhya Pradesh is one of those few states who have welcomed contract forming and that is why 5 big multinational companies are now have stared deciding what will be produced in MP!!
Various analyses shows that in 1960-61 the contribution of agriculture in the state’s gross domestic product was 59.9 percent, and at that point 79.3 percent of the population was dependent upon agriculture. We find that whereas by 2001 the contribution of agriculture to the gross house-hold product has come down to 25.8 percent (that is a decrease by 32 percent), even now 72.9 percent of the population is dependent upon it. That is a decrease by only 8.6 percent. In M.P. between 1960 and 1980 the rate of growth in agriculture remained at 1 percent, whereas the average growth rate of agriculture in the country was 2 percent, which was twice that of the state.
The tenth plan period is on and it is the state’s target to increase the food production to 17.850 million tons per year during this period. In 2003-04 the production level was 15.872 million tons. Similarly, the government had set a target of increase of 13.95 million tons in the production of coarse grain, and a target of 3.896 million tons in the production of pulses. However, when we analyze the policies on a practical plane we come to two conclusions. The first is that the government is not really promoting food production. It actually wants that farmers take up cash and market crops such as BT cotton, Tomato and Soyabean along with Jatropha for meeting special consumer class needs of diesel. This will be economically profitable for the government. At the same time, at a policy level, the government is agreeing to Contract Farming (anubandh kheti) in the production of food, vegetables and fruits. Private companies are considering entry into the farming sector. The two issues are linked to each other. The farmer should earn money and then go to the market to buy grains. But perhaps it will be a catastrophe to forget the truth that we are trying to break down food security and the production cycle to increase the flow of money in the market.
Increase in the state’s population has been accompanied by an increase in the need for food, but the food production is going down. Since 1960-61 the food production in Madhya Pradesh is constantly falling within the total production. Whereas the food production in 1960-61 was 63.6 % of the total farm produce, it has come down to 48.4 % at present. During the same period non-food products have gone up from 14.3% to 27.9%. Within grains there has been a big fall in the production of wheat and maize (bajra). And the production of soyabean that was zero percent in 1960-61 has gone up to 17.6 % of the food crop in 2002-03. It essentially shows that farmers have no possible support from the State for duo-protection, protection of farmers and the agro-economy. Now it has been decided that State will provided low interest loans (@7%) as shown in various publicity hoardings but the system is not ready to permit them to implement such promises.

Farmers in Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh: Farmers do not enjoy freedom

Sachin Kumar Jain

After 60 years of independence 3.2 million farmers of Madhya Pradesh do not enjoy freedom. They live in indebtedness and devoting their lives not only to the money lenders but also to their own government to pay off their loans. Agriculture, in a real sense, has been the life-line for Madhya Pradesh. Some years ago when college students wrote an essay on the state they began with the sentence Madhya Pradesh is an agricultural state. Three-fourth of the population here is dependent on agriculture or agro related activities for its livelihood and it is this uniformity that keeps society threaded together.
Today agriculture is no more a simple means of livelihood anymore, but has become a task full of challenge and risk. A latest survey by the National Sample Survey Organization on the indebtedness of farmers shows that of the 6.4 million farmers in Madhya Pradesh 3.2 million are in debt. On an average each farmer in M.P. is under a debt of Rs.14,128. And because of the bank formalities and the inhuman recovery processes his trust in the government’s financial institutions has gone down. It is worth noting that even today 40 % of the loans in this ‘agricultural state’ are taken by farmers from non-governmental sources. Unfortunately for last one and half decade agriculture community has faced opposition of state and ruthlessness towards them. What to expect more from the state when even they do not have any plan to make farmers free from loans.
Reviewing the status of agriculture sector we reaches to a conclusion that even in the 60 years of independence we could not priorities and define the concept of development according to the social needs. We find that at present since the government has accepted a policy of economic liberalization and following the Global economy, instead of internalizing local economy and considering agriculture in a sensitive manner it is being treated as another element of the open market. The farmer himself is now a consumer in the market instead of a producer. We can consider for our reference the budget speech of the finance minister of Madhya Pradesh for the year 2006-2007, in which he said that “the importance of expensive inputs for increasing production has gone up in the sector of agriculture, but instability of outputs is also increasing due to the vagaries of the climate. Due to globalization of the economy, where on the one hand new possibilities of development have opened up, we are also faced with new challenges.” He does nor answers that who will directly face the challenges and with whom state will stand for. Undoubtedly changing cropping pattern, Mechanization and entry of Multinational companies in Agriculture sector have become new challenges for farmers after Monsoon. Madhya Pradesh is one of those few states who have welcomed contract forming and that is why 5 big multinational companies are now have stared deciding what will be produced in MP!!
Various analyses shows that in 1960-61 the contribution of agriculture in the state’s gross domestic product was 59.9 percent, and at that point 79.3 percent of the population was dependent upon agriculture. We find that whereas by 2001 the contribution of agriculture to the gross house-hold product has come down to 25.8 percent (that is a decrease by 32 percent), even now 72.9 percent of the population is dependent upon it. That is a decrease by only 8.6 percent. In M.P. between 1960 and 1980 the rate of growth in agriculture remained at 1 percent, whereas the average growth rate of agriculture in the country was 2 percent, which was twice that of the state.
The tenth plan period is on and it is the state’s target to increase the food production to 17.850 million tons per year during this period. In 2003-04 the production level was 15.872 million tons. Similarly, the government had set a target of increase of 13.95 million tons in the production of coarse grain, and a target of 3.896 million tons in the production of pulses. However, when we analyze the policies on a practical plane we come to two conclusions. The first is that the government is not really promoting food production. It actually wants that farmers take up cash and market crops such as BT cotton, Tomato and Soyabean along with Jatropha for meeting special consumer class needs of diesel. This will be economically profitable for the government. At the same time, at a policy level, the government is agreeing to Contract Farming (anubandh kheti) in the production of food, vegetables and fruits. Private companies are considering entry into the farming sector. The two issues are linked to each other. The farmer should earn money and then go to the market to buy grains. But perhaps it will be a catastrophe to forget the truth that we are trying to break down food security and the production cycle to increase the flow of money in the market.
Increase in the state’s population has been accompanied by an increase in the need for food, but the food production is going down. Since 1960-61 the food production in Madhya Pradesh is constantly falling within the total production. Whereas the food production in 1960-61 was 63.6 % of the total farm produce, it has come down to 48.4 % at present. During the same period non-food products have gone up from 14.3% to 27.9%. Within grains there has been a big fall in the production of wheat and maize (bajra). And the production of soyabean that was zero percent in 1960-61 has gone up to 17.6 % of the food crop in 2002-03. It essentially shows that farmers have no possible support from the State for duo-protection, protection of farmers and the agro-economy. Now it has been decided that State will provided low interest loans (@7%) as shown in various publicity hoardings but the system is not ready to permit them to implement such promises.

Poverty and Food Consumption in Madhya Pradesh

Estimation of poverty

OR

Preservative for Chronic Hunger

Sachin Kumar Jain

It can't be termed development if the largest section of the society is bound to spend 55 to 70 percent of their gross income just to arrange their daily requirement of food. The farce of poverty identification is a big challenge before the goal of elimination of chronic hunger. Actually, according to Planning Commission’s latest estimation, poverty in India is reducing. Looking to the ground level conditions, it seems that they have a mandate to make it possible and it is being achieved by putting people in statistical formulas. It is said that the URP-Consumption distribution data of the 61st Round yields a poverty ration of 28.3 percent in the rural areas, 25.7% in the urban areas and 27.5% for the country as a whole in 2004-05. In Madhya Pradesh, a population of 249.68 lac (38.3%) is bound to go to bed Hungry, as they are poor and marginalized. The Poverty line (implicit) at all-India level is worked out from the expenditure class–wise distribution of persons (based on URP consumption, that is, consumption data collected from 30-days recall period for all items) and the poverty ratio at all-India level. Actually during the poverty estimation, on the one hand, locally available items from forest or agriculture retained for consumption by farmers or Tribals are also valued at prevailing prices, and added to expenditure on non-food items to give the total monthly per capita expenditure. While, on the other hand, the cost of items and services (dwellings or Health or Education) are counted at the lowest price without considering the present state of inflation.

In fact, the people at large should have enough income or they should have rights over natural resources. Both these factors have been neglected by the government of Madhya Pradesh and what ever has been done, the performance is very poor.. There have been no land reforms in Madhya Pradesh since long, while land reforms are vital for an agrarian society. It is a known fact that land reforms in Kerala have changed the life of the people considerably. In fact southern states have been progressive in providing social security to the marginalized sections with their positive political will. One should know that olds age destitute can go to school and get mid day meal with dignity in Tamilnadu. These are the welfare schemes which are not just meant for getting election mileage.

The Planning Commission estimates that in Madhya Pradesh, a family spending Rs 327.78 per person per month in rural settlement will be considered as poor. In Urban settlement, the expenditure level is Rs 570.15 per person per month. In other words, it means, a person spending anything more then Rs 9 every day in a village or Rs 19 in any kind of urban area, will not be considered as poor and will be out of poverty elimination programs. At all-India level, the poverty line represents the expenditure level of Rs. 356.30 in rural areas and Rs. 538.60 in urban area per person per month. No person can survive at this level of expenditure at all. This is basically a Starvation Line, rather then Poverty line. The recent NSS 63rd round survey clearly shows that the biggest part of the total expenditure goes for food arrangements and other aspects, like health, education and entertainment, have been given no value in poverty definition.

Now it may not be a coincidence that Madhya Pradesh has the lowest and continuously declining food consumption, with highest malnutrition, highest infant mortality and lowest life expectancy of 57.7 years, much lower then Kerala’s 73.9 Years. It is just not merely an issue relating to non-availability of institutional health services, these conditions shows the insecurity and invisibility of poverty within the State frame-work and it’s efforts too. It also reflects that avoidance of fundamental issues of exclusion, neglect of community knowledge, threat to agriculture, unlimited exploitation of natural resources for revenue generation and colonial style of addressing development, has pushed the larger society on margins and a fewer ones have become the center in the politics of development.

As far as policies are concerned, there seems only a dark tunnel with assurance of no light even at its tail end! The State has failed in introducing any such policy to reduce the structural imbalances in agriculture and improve purchasing power of the people through sustained means of livelihood. This is nothing but a structural imbalance where you have more population (67%) contributing less (18%) in a gross domestic product. Where are the efforts to reduce this phenomenon? It may be an appropriate analysis that in present development sphere, human and natural resources are considered essential for development, but the concept of exclusion and capability deprivation has been put aside in policy spheres. That is why no change is discerned in the situation and the cycle of poverty moves on. We may expect some qualitative changes after the genuine implementation of Forest Rights Act, meant to hand over the rights on the resources to around 4 lac tribal and other forest dwelling families.
* Writer is a development journalist

Madhya Pradesh, a state living with Hunger

Sachin Kumar Jain

Money is increasing but food plate is becoming empty in Indian States!! At least latest trends of food consumption patterns are scathing new pictures of Chronic Hunger in one of the biggest state of Madhya Pradesh. Many reports are now unanimous that the number of people afflicted with hunger is increasing rapidly. Development process is moving so fast, that the common person is left behind as if they don't exist. Development, social inclusion and elimination of poverty has emerged as new targets in the political battle field now, but all these jargons still lack in perspective. And in this context latest NSSO report released by Government of India on consumption patterns in India (which includes consumption on food and other essentials for life) shows a decline in level of food consumptions. Various analyses have shown that these findings are actually revealing the actual face of poverty elimination programs and that of the concept of development without protecting agriculture.

Overall, the level of food consumption in rural areas of our country (India) is declining. In 2005-06, an average of 11.920 KGs food grain was consumed per month by a member of the family and to acquire this, the family had to spend Rs. 106.30 (Calculate Rs.49=$1) per month. But in 2006-07, the average food consumption came down to 11.685 KGs per person (1.97% decline) in the family, and their cost to acquire it had risen to Rs. 114.80 at this consumption level.

The changing consumption pattern in Madhya Pradesh in itself points towards a deep crisis of food security in the state. On an average, a person in rural Madhya Pradesh was consuming 11.48 kgs food or grain per month in 2005-06 and was spending Rs. 86.46 to acquire this amount of food, but per person food consumption has declined to the level of 9.718 kgs per month and sees a negative change of 15.34% in the 60.3 Million population state and expenditure level is almost the same i.e. Rs. 87.27. It clearly shows the impact of inflation on changing food consumption levels.

Moving to food and other consumption analyses, rural Kerala spends a total amount of Rs 505.52 and Punjab Rs. 511.25 on food group (cereal, milk, meat, dry fruit, vegetables etc.), whereas in Madhya Pradesh this expenditure is 263.86. It simply means that 80.5% of their total expenditure is being spent for food arrangements.

Data speak for themselves. Interestingly, Kerala people spend Rs. 83.69 on egg, fish and meat while Madhya Pradesh individual spends only Rs. 7.44 per month on these items. Punjab definitely spends less on food grain (Rs. 91.86.00) but the total expenditure on food group is Rs. 511.25 per person per month and they consume milk and milk products worth Rs 167.24 (32.71% of total food expenditure), while, an individual from Madhya Pradesh spends only Rs. 44.75 per month on these.
Haryana and Himachal Pradesh spend biggest part (41.46 percent and 27.17 percent respectively) of their total food expenditure on Milk or Milk products. The difference in overall per capita expenditure is worth mentioning. The per capita average expenditure in Madhya Pradesh is one of the lowest in the country at Rs. 514.93 per month, whereas it is Rs 1250.35 in Kerala, Rs. 1198.93 in Punjab and Rs. 1117.49 in Himachal Pradesh – more then double in any case. It goes without saying that higher expenditure is directly linked with livelihood and subsistence security, and unfortunately, it is again lacking in Madhya Pradesh.

As per the NSSO data released in October 2008, Madhya Pradesh [9.72] is third lowest in terms of monthly per capita cereal consumption [kg.] preceding Kerala [9.37] and Punjab [9.63]. This does not mean that progressive and rich states like Kerala and Punjab are the worst performer then Madhya Pradesh. Punjab (Rs 511), in India, is on top on food expenditure list followed by Kerala (Rs. 506) and Madhya Pradesh spends the lowest amount (Rs. 263) on Food per person. On the other hand Kerala, being a coastal state, has fish and fruits in their food plate and Punjab consumes Milk and milk products in large quantity, with the result that their cereal consumption is lower than Madhya Pradesh which is not a coastal state or a non-veg consumer. Moreover, Kerala and Punjab are considered as affluent and developed states, and studies have shown that affluence also brings changes in food consumption pattern, packaged food becoming main chunk of food plates, especially in Punjab and metro states. Since Madhya Pradesh does not have such high purchasing capacity required for consumption of non-cereal food items, people have to depend mainly upon the cereals. It is also serious to note that food grain production in Madhya Pradesh has declined rapidly in last one decade. With this backdrop, low food grain consumption in Madhya Pradesh is a serious matter.

The Madhya Pradesh experience of BPL census

BPL survey: Unlimited questions

Sachin Kumar Jain

The unjust indicators
Residing in a hut in the village Ghandila of Seoni district in Madhya Pradesh is Halki Bai an abandoned tribal woman. She works as a labourer and earns a meager amount of Rs.15/- per day. For this she has to struggle hard and manages to get work for just around 8 days in a month. In an accident she got wounded and the treatment turned her into a debtor of Rs. 31, 000/-. Being landless and with no alternate source of income she stays in very miserable condition. Upon all these factors the biggest surprise and irony is that she scored 19 points out of the total of 52 points in the BPL Survey which automatically excluded her from the BPL category and placed her in the category of the rich. Similar is the situation with Rajjo Bai, the widow of village Pottia. The earlier survey list had enlisted Rajjo Bai in the BPL category and had been availing the much required benefits of government schemes and antodaya scheme but according to the recent survey she no longer belongs to the BPL category. In this survey she scored 17 points and with the tentative Cut off being 13 for Seoni district, poor and unfortunate Rajjo Bai stands out of the BPL list for no fault of her.

This is not just the story of Halki Bai or Rajjo Bai but of 10 lakh marginalized and vulnerable families in the state of Madhya Pradesh who are facing the opera of discrimination. And have been excluded from the Below Poverty Line list because of irrelevant and inhuman indicators and the non-committal process of survey. From an in-depth study by the Democratic Alliance Campaign for Good Governance in coordination with ActionAid (Bhopal) confirms that proving to be poor, has been a tough battle for the real poor while an easy one for the non-poor, further the motive to reduce burden to the possible extent, the government has already decided the results in advance without completing the entire process decided for identifying poor. Thus the parameters fixed and the process undertaken to identify the poor has become quite questionable. The process of BPL survey primarily involved a questionnaire of 13 questions (indicators), each question has 5 options, to which 0 to 4 points were allotted. Further, to this the state identifies 37.43% people who have derived minimum points and consider them to be as those poor people who can be taken in the BPL list.

On analysis of the indicators one realizes the irrelevant perceptions it is based upon, it is understood that size of land holding is considered as an important indicator; but quality of the land is the additional factor which provides weightage to this indicator and unfortunately this aspect has been totally ignored. While going through the two years study conducted by the alliance of Civil Society Organisation in the state of Madhya Pradesh and is purely a people centered effort, to ensure effective survey, it was realized that 58% families from the villages covered in the study feel that productivity of land is more important than the total landholding. For example- Sambu, a Korku adivasi (tribal) of Rayatvadi village of Betul district was given 18 points in the survey for possessing 3 acres of hilly, unirrigated, stony and unproductive land thus making him overqualified for being in the BPL list.

In the last five years, the Government of Madhya Pradesh has implemented various developmental schemes and sanitation campaign in which 10 lakh toilets were constructed in the villages by contributing Rs.650/- for construction of each. Now this survey considers toilet as an indicator, due to which all those poor families who had constructed toilets under the government’s scheme received 3 to 4 points which ultimately increased their total points. Thus availing benefit of a scheme which is again non-productive in nature has proved to be a curse for these families. Further, type of house is another indicator which has become a woe for the poor. Families having pucca houses earned more points; no care was taken to address the issue of those pucca houses which were actually built under the Indira Awas Yojana which provides poor families with Rs.20,000/- for construction of house in mere 20 square meters. Again, all Indira Awas Yojana supported is expected to have a toilet in built, thus the poor family who availed the benefit of a government scheme to have a shelter looses on the BPL survey aspect by earning more points for both having a pucca house and toilet too. During the discussion with the community at the time of the study, it was realized that as the scheme was target oriented the beneficiaries were under pressure of completing the construction and in several cases the families have had to sell of their land, bullocks and other assets. Further, due to corruption they did not even get the entire allotted amount. This raises the question of the basis on which a family can be considered above BPL if it has benefited from Indira Awas Yojana. It is obvious that this scheme is not giving any regular or productive returns nor is a source of income. Hence, it is essential to further analyse the indicator of pucca house and differentiate between a house built through Indira Awas Yojana and a pucca house built by the family themselves.

Ruddi adivasi of Duni village of Betul district used to migrate and work as agriculture laborer, looking at his poor status he was donated with 7 pair of cloths two years back by his employer, which he still possesses. But this gift turned against him during the BPL survey. Possession of this many number of clothes made him a non-poor man as per the survey schedule which includes clothes as one of the indicators and in the gambit Ruddi got 18 points and got excluded from the list. As per the government norms family possessing more than four pair of clothes is not considered as poor. In this regard every villager and sensitive person who believes in humanity has criticized and opposed this criterion. The reason behind this is that during the times of any festival or ceremony poor families are rewarded with cloths by the upper class (rich) families and in addition the poor also go to the extent of taking loans from local money lenders for purchase of clothes for festivals which pushes them into the vicious cycle of povety. Thus possessing clothes seem to be an improper indicator to measure family well-being. Similarly, the analysts while defining poverty has given importance to food availability – this indicator focuses on the number of the times the family avails food, whether the family gets food for one time or gets two square meals; however the quality and nutritional aspect of food has been totally ignored. Even the means of livelihood which is an important indicator linked with food intake has been completely ignored. For example a person may fill his belly by begging, eating from garbage or thrown food, prostitution, or by manual scavenging. Thus as per the analysis a person who avail food is straight away earns 4 points.

Although landless adivasi Ram Prasad of Semori panchayat (Betul) has no resources for his survival, possessing a cycle and radio and sending his two sons to school has deprived him from being included in the BPL list. Looking to the present circumstances any person earning Rs. 1000/- can purchase a radio of Rs.100/-, TV and cycle of Rs.800/-, but possession of these items have cost the poor families by earning of an additional 3-4 points. In the new definition of development it is easy to have consumer able items. One can have sales promotion schemes for Television, Radio or Computer which provides easy means to possess these items by the person but the toughest job of life is to arrange for food, and particularly for the marginalized families and children. In the case of education and children going to school, it is quite obvious that presently there is an increase in the number of school going children and this majorly due to the promotional aspects linked with the school like the midday meal scheme. This has encouraged quite a number of poor families to send their children to school. Another aspect regarding education which has reflected during the survey is the belief that an educated person cannot be poor. This perspective has led to the loss for several poor families who have unemployed and educated persons in their families, by getting rewarded with 3-4 points. In relation to earnings (occupation) for livelihood, government believes that skilled workers have secured and regular jobs and so they and the other category of wage-earners (government and private jobs) have been given the same weightage.

In this survey a puzzling question is asked regarding the kind of government help needed by the poor people? This question has equally confused the enumerators and the community. The community thought that the government is willing to extent loan support to them and this prompted them to answer in expectation to availing of loan. The larger the amount requested the lesser the points earned. This led to several disqualification of several genuinely poor families from the BPL list in a very different manner – the poor did not expect nor did have the capacity to ask and then repay the loan amount hence they did not request for any leading to the assumption to that non-requirement of loan means self sufficiency and hence not to be included in the BPL list as they earned more points (3-4 points) for this pseudo sufficiency. Neither the government nor the Department of Rural Development has conducted any study on how the villagers are trapped in the clutches of the credit machineries functioning in the rural areas. Thus those who have taken loans from banks were considered rich and given 3 points, but the ground reality is that the banks have distributed maximum loan in the tribal area; but still not much change have been noticed in the poverty status of the region. In Petelavad block of Jabhua district, banks have distributed loans of around Rs.12 crores in the last three years and now most of the tribals have been declared as defaulters and these loans are being repaid by selling off their land, houses or other assets. Thus one who does not have loan is rich, however on another hand one who is very poor does not borrow loans because there is no one ready to give him.

Thus in this context a very pertinent question arise on whether there is a possibility of an effective process for identification of the poor? Undoubtedly, the possibilities are certainly there but only if the criteria are fixed on humanitarian basis. In the present context it is clearly felt that the government for showing success of its developmental programs like construction of toilets, implementation of Indira Awas Yojana and campaign on education is trying to portray that these programs have been successful in eradicating in rural areas and people have become self-sufficient. Besides, the state has also failed to set a norm to put a control on those non-eligible persons who have managed to get included in the list and fix any criteria for punishment for such persons thus discouraging any such endeavors. Thus even though everyone has fulfilled assigned responsibilities there is a sincere need to be more sensitive else such tokenism would land a genuinely poor family far away from the benefits and would further slip into the abyss of poverty never being able to come out of the laid 13 indicators for many more years to come.

Who gets the Benefit of being identified as poor?

Located in the dense forest ruins of Satpuda region is Harra the tribal forest village in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh having no access to roads. No developmental work has been taken up in this village in the last five years. As the village land falls in the forest area, according to law, the amount allotted for development of this village goes into the account of the forest department, and no investment is made for the development of the village. On one hand while the 1997-98 BPL survey identified 30 families in BPL but the recent set indicator and process-based survey could only consider one family as poor. While on the other hand the participatory study conducted by the Democratic Campaign for Good Governance in coordination with ActionAid (Bhopal) revealed that 51 families even after staying in the stage of poverty were not included in the list. This is not the only example, but extend to almost all the villages in the state where 10% -15% of families have not been included in the list of Below Poverty Line even after being in the state of acute poverty.

Even though the economists from their study concluded that poverty in Madhya Pradesh has not declined and has instead increased the development department concluded that during the past five years poverty has reduced by 5.09% in Madhya Pradesh and now it is 37.43%. This conclusion has raised several controversial questions. Even the Supreme Court in its decision given on 8th May 2003, recommended to immediately give benefits of Antyodaya and other Welfare schemes to all the primitive tribes, women headed families, families having mentally and physically disabled member, Destitute and Widows in the village. Thus even the Supreme Court has put question mark on the authenticity of the BPL survey. This means that more than 5 lakh families living Below Poverty Line are not included in the list in Madhya Pradesh. The government has however accepted that the 1996-97 survey was extremely controversial and due to lack of systematic process and proper monitoring system the non-eligible people (rich section) were also included in the BPL list, thus the actual vulnerable and marginalized people were deprived of the developmental and Welfare benefits.

Experience suggests that there are still some loopholes in the process of BPL survey. The Democratic Campaign for Good Governance with help of over 230 other agencies monitored the process of survey in over 10 thousand villages and tried to be just. It is only because of presence of this campaign, was it able to clarify that Charua Singh of Jalpani village of Mandla district was excluded for the BPL list because the enumerator had filled the form with out concerning Charua Singh and thus ignored that he was a bonded laborer. Similarly, in Panna district an amount of Rs.200/- was charged from the poor families as fees for filling the BPL form. The economists believe that around 7% -10% people in our society are facing hidden poverty and starve for food every day. They do Not get two square meals a day but no priority is been given to the problems of mentally and physically disabled, scavengers and beggars.

On the basis of points allotted (the maximum points fixed for the 13 questions is 52. Out of which 12 to 15 points will any family to be identified as a poor family) those deriving minimum points were included in the BPL list. To ensure proper selection, provision was made to read this BPL list in gram sabha (Village Meeting) so that the villagers come to know about the points allotted to them. In this regard the gram sabha was given right to present and approve the list of actual poor in the village, a lot of confusion was created in this process. Hence, the norm was set that the list would be read in the gram sabha first and the claims raised or controversies/ problems would be sorted out, later and the improvised list would again be presented in the second gram sabha. Although, the top government officials said that their would be two gram sabhas, the block level Panchayat officials declared the list in the first sabha itself, in Patelawad the responsible officer of Block Panchayat Chief Executive Officer gave this order in written. Even after this no clear orders have been given by the State government to solve this confusion. The Kotma Block Panchayat officer refused to disclose the list in public and said that the list was confidential. On the other hand in Bhimpur of Betul district, the Block panchayat officer declared the efforts of NGOs as anti-government activity and ordered to stop them. As per the study of 100 panchayats it was known that in 67 panchayats, no second gram sabha meeting was organized for approving the list and the panchayats where the list were disclosed, no clarity was provided to the villagers regarding the meaning of allotted points. Thus the villagers did not know the points required to be included in the BPL list or to be out of it. Thus, it would be a high time to neglect the role of gram sabha in this process and if even now the gram sabha is not involved the interest of the poor would again be overlooked and the rich and influential people will dominate the list.

Influenced by political interest the government has disapproved the conclusion of famous economists Sundram and Tendulkar who believe that the reduction in percentage of poverty among Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe categories is very low in each state as compared to the reduction in poverty in general or higher category. But as per the government in tribal district Balaghat, rate of poverty has reduced to 53.63% from 63.82% which means a straight decline by 10.19%. Similarly, in tribal dominated Mandla and Dindori poverty reduction is from 9.11% to 9.43%. Even in the Jhabua district, which has nearly 90% of tribal population the percentage of people living Below Poverty Line, has reduced from 54.37% to 45.69%. In contrast to this reduction in percentage of poverty amongst the general and upper category districts have been very low, for example, Datia - 2.72%, Indore - 3.18%, Ujjain – 4.69%, Gwalior – 4.9%, Hoshangabad – 5.64%.

Even after accepting that the 1997-98 survey was irrelevant and partial, the government has still taken it as a base for the new survey and by taking the ratios as baseline have standardized poverty for different states and districts. Thus there is a need to analyze this economics from the political point of view. The communities and districts, which have their hold in politics of Madhya Pradesh, have decided the percentage of poverty as per their convenience. For example, the district of Narsinghpur has good and productive land but when it comes to BPL the survey says that the district has 46.58% of its population living Below Poverty Line, because it is a politically powerful district. In this context the district of Hoshangabad too is no different, it too holds a good share of good quality productive land but the reduction in poverty has been recorded to be only 5.64%. On the other hand the districts with high population of Sahariya community like Shivpuri and Sheopur and where people die of starvation showed only 24.89% and 26.14% of people living Below Poverty Line. In Balaghat, Mandla and Badwani although the number of people living below poverty line is higher but as compared to the last survey the number have reduced considerably.

The BPL cutoff point (the point/ one obtaining minimum points would be included in the BPL list) will play vital role in deciding the percentage of people living below poverty line in a district. As per the decided percentage of BPL families for a district those families obtaining minimum points would be considered as poor and this point would be considered as cut off point for the district. The family of Gulab adivasi of Dobri village, Seoni obtained 20 points. Thus the family of eight members earnings of Rs.35/- per day was excluded from the BPL list, because as per the government norms only 34.79% of families of Seoni district could be included in the BPL list and as the figure got completed with the families obtaining 13 points, this point was considered as cut-off point for the district. Thus family of Gulab, which struggles hard for its survival, was out of the BPL list. While going through the figures of BPL families in Balaghat 53.63% families were identified as BPL families and the points obtained by these families was 14, which was declared as cut-off point. The cut-off point varied from 12-15 in different districts like in Mandla (15), Badvani (15), Morena (12), Datiya (13), Seoni (12), and Gwalior (13). Thus the controversy is that by deciding different cut-off points the parameters taken for measuring poverty is different for each district, thus the government has tried to relate the figures. However, one suggestion has come that instead of taking districts wise cut-offs why not prepare one survey list at state level and consider 37.43% from the bottom as the cut-off point for all districts. However the government for making its work simpler has adopted easy way.

Considering the limitations of technical process and decided indicators for conducting wealth survey, the Government of Madhya Pradesh in August 2002, gave relevant suggestions to the central government, which said that for keeping the non-eligible people out of the BPL list and including the actual needy, a participatory approach involving the villagers should be adopted at village level. One such exercise identified and suggested is by doing a wealth ranking. Besides this the gram sabha should decide the list of poor families and each state should be given free hand to change the survey questioner as per their requirements and status of poverty in their state. But these suggestions were overlooked by the Central Government. After this the state government did not raise the issue nor did it take any constructive measures by itself in its region. This is the reason why people’s participation has been questioned in this survey. Some perception clarify that even after putting claims-objections no changes were made in the below poverty list, mainly because with this the organizers would have fallen in circle of skepticism. In such situation many eligible poor people were excluded from the below poverty line list.

One can only conclude from the nature of events that the government is not at all serious in poverty eradication. The functionaries too do not wish to admit that their region is still in the strong grips of poverty and starvation. This very clearly means that the poor must remain poor till the extent they are unable to express and retaliate, and food must only be provided to the extent that it keeps the flame of worry of filling belly burning on the platter of hope. With the consistent worry for survival the poor would be forced to think only about food, clothing and shelter and unable to think about their entity in the larger society. Thus it stands true that the poor and poverty works as a better proposition to some administrators who enjoy the luxury of power – one can always use this struggling section of the society as cheap but quality labour force and earn profits without even voicing out for justice and rights. They form the major section that can be used by the politicians to rule. In context to rights the irony of the situation is that the poor does not even have the right to determine whether they are poor, deprived, marginalized and battling hunger.

The unsolved question of social security

The experiences strengthen the demand for 'universalisation' of the concept of welfare in the Indian context. The Indian state has divided the poor society between APL and BPL (Above Poverty Line and Below Poverty Line) households in the rural areas. Unfortunately this division has further put the most marginalized communities into a black hole of negligence and chronic hunger. The entire BPL census survey depends on 13 indicators on the basis of which status of poverty is decided or rather calculated. It is a proven fact that one can not define the status of poverty just on the basis of 13 indicators decided by the Government of India and Planning Commission. There is also a wide range of social and vulnerability aspects, which defines the concept of acute poverty. The Below Poverty Line politics does not consider marginalization as a most important aspect of the definition. Persons with disability (Mentally or physically), who can not produce or earn their livelihood and thus fulfill the basic needs of life, are not considered as poor. Further, communities who have been forced to live a life less of self esteem and dignity (Manual scavengers and communities involved in caste based prostitution) due to the occupation they have are denied the right to benefit from welfare schemes because dignity of occupation is not considered as an indicator of poverty by the Planning Commission thereby never getting a berth in the BPL category.

Nathu, a mentally disabled tribal resides in Pati village in Badwani district. He stays in hut in the village which is so small that one would have to think twice and be careful while taking a turn to the other side. His wife who finds work as a labourer for subsistence often has to forgo work to take care of her mentally disabled husband. Struggling hard for survival, starvation has become part of daily life. The gram sabha, panchayat and the villagers, all agree that Nathu must get government support, which he is deprived off. With the Supreme Courts order that, families having any mentally or physically disabled member be given the benefit of Antyodaya scheme (scheme which provides food grains are available at cheaper rates). With hope of availing the benefit Nathu applied for the same but did not attach certificate approving his disability, leading to rejection of the application. Life is not less than a curse for around 70 thousand poor deprived mentally disabled people of Madhya Pradesh. For having their rights this vulnerable section has to depend on the certificate of the government doctor (Psychiatric specialist).

It is undoubtedly an issue of misfortune that like other districts of Madhya Pradesh the government hospital of Badwani too has no Psychiatrist leading to which the disabled are unable are deprived of their rights and from getting benefits of government schemes. As per the government records, out of a total 11.31 lakh disabled people in Madhya Pradesh, 8.9 lakhs (78%) live below poverty line, but only 3.8 lakh disabled are availing social security pension. Analysis clearly show that the main reasons behind this deprival and marginalization is due to failure in identifying people with disability, non possession of medical certificate by the disabled, high prevalence of corruption and insensitivity towards this section. It is clearly felt that the government does not consider disability as an indicator of poverty and the evidence of this is the recent BPL survey list, which has set various indicators to identify the families living below poverty line. To the surprise the list gives weightage to possession of 2-3 pair of clothes, fans, cycles etc, but disability is not addressed in any form.

Efforts have been made towards equity and over all development of society, but still the communities facing hidden poverty have been totally ignored. The perception developed to distinguish problems faced by this community from the other existing problems has further aggravated their pain and deprivation. Even though being part of the society the Valmiki community and Hela caste even today are engaged in the inhumane work of manual scavenging. Even the law has not able to check this and put a stop to this practice due to lack of sensitivity. How to stop the upper-caste communities for treating these communities as untouchables and undignified? Shobha Bai of district Dewas in exchange of Rs.100/- works as scavenger in 50 household of her village. Her family includes 6 daughters and a disabled husband. She left this work for the sake of her dignity and thought of accepting any other occupation or work as laborer. But after leaving the work of scavenging she was denied for working as laborer and did not get food grains from the low priced shops. Thus she had to pay heavy price of starvation for protecting her dignity and self-respect. Her daughter was deprived from getting scholarship for her studies, because now she was no more a daughter of a manual scavenger. This raises a pertinent question – whether the state is sincere in eradicating this inhumane job or indirectly encouraging over 18 thousand scavengers like Shobha Bai to continue with this inhumane job? Fighting poverty or poverty elevation means working for the upliftment of the poor, establishing them and helping them to fight against forces, which exploit them. Thus poverty cannot be just measured on the basis of food availability and consumption. We will have to accept that discrimination and social discrepancy are the root causes of the increasing poverty.

On Economic and statistical grounds it is believed that around 7-10% of the families in our society are victims of natural or manmade calamity, disability and biased government policies. This vulnerable section is experiencing acute problem of food insecurity, increasing terrorism and communal violence has further added the number of families living below poverty line. In the last decade over 13 lakh families were dragged into the mouth of poverty because of these reasons.

In our busy life we all come across families and children living beside the roadside in the poorest of poor conditions but seldom give a thought to it. In Madhya Pradesh 23 thousand families are residing in the pavement and roadsides being deprived from availing any benefit from the government schemes. Their fault is that they reside on the pavements and therefore have no address hence cannot be allotted ration cards. It is worth quoting that the ration card is not only for availing cheap food grains but is also an important evidence to prove identity of being a citizen. But these pavement dwellers are denied this identity. This section is one, which faces extreme natural calamities and is still neglected. Due to instability and no house to live they are not even able to cook for themselves. In such critical situation these helpless children purchase food, beg or search food from garbage for filling their belly. The problem is so grave that they cannot save anything from their earnings and this raises the question of why should they save now.

Politics of communal violence/ riots are now becoming one of the reasons of increasing poverty and starvation. These riots not only ruin basic resources for survival but also shatter houses and livelihood of the people. Riots of Gujarat, Bombay and violence in other parts of the country have proved that when people are living in peace these incidences divert their minds from basic issues and no compensation can ever actually repay the loss of these victimized families. Around 3.5 thousand families in Gujarat lost their family earners while many of them became disabled in the aftermath which shook the nation. Similarly, efforts of rehabilitating were tried for the victims of Bhopal gas tragedy and widow like Samsun Nisha was given a house in new constructed colony, where only widows will live, but the family lost its happiness forever. She not only lost her husband but also became disabled, with no one to support the family her 8 years son was forced to work. Government has classified new category for discrimination in the society. At present the 18 thousand effected families are seriously struggling to get stable means of survival and have been forced to accept poverty and starvation.

The problems faced by the leprosy and HIV patients are quite grave. On one hand when they are struggling hard with their health problems, the social boycott by the society makes their death even more painful. Although a person having these diseases can work and remain self-dependent, but social constrains and the negative approach drags the person far not only from the society but also from his only family members. In Rajasthan 20 thousand people who have been victims of HIV Aids have been abandoned by their family members and now they live in isolation. Definitely, this issue is such, which cannot be sorted out by implementing government schemes but it has to be dealt with sensitivity.

In advanced principals' approach, while preparing work plan for fighting out poverty first priority is given to able people and for some reasons the disabled are ignored, and this has become view of the society. In our daily monotonous life, we pass through crowd, but hardly bother to notice who this crowd is? The crowd may have elderly persons, garbage pickers, pavement dwellers, physically or mentally disabled and some time even prostitutes who are forced to bargain with their body for filling their belly, but still none of them are included in the definition of poor. The only measure found in this regard is establishments of rehabilitation centers or jails. Thus by forming these institutions they are separated from the so called “civilized society”, for precautions are taken that this section does not spoil/ harm the civilization, besides this by forming these institutions even the government fulfills its duties and does not remain answerable to anyone. There are several people around us who are facing serious problems of poverty, for this concretive measure must be taken up. This becomes still more necessary because the right to work norm does not cover them and they cannot relate themselves to the concept of work in exchange of food. In such situation for ensuring social security bold initiatives will have to be taken up.

This article is based on the participatory study conducted by Democratic Campaign for Good Governance in 100 villages of Madhya Pradesh. This group also monitored the process of BPL census with the support of 76 civil society organizations.