Subsidized LPG cylinder cap may be raised to nine 

Sanjay Dutta TNN 

New Delhi: The annual cap on the number of subsidized cooking gas cylinders per household is likely to be raised from six to nine if not completely scrapped after the poll code is lifted after Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat elections,sources in state-run fuel retailing companies said.
Widespread consumer complaints over the ongoing customer verification drive KYC or know-your-customer as well as pressure from within the Congress and opposition parties appear to have prompted a relook.Though nothing has been put on paper yet,oil minister M Veerappa Moily himself gave an indication that the government was not fixated on the cap and was sensitive to aam aadmis travails. hey (state-run fuel retailers ) have gone by some arithmetic that on an average six cylinders are enough (for a household).This is arithmetic,(but) there is also a chemistry,which they have not done, news agencies quoted Moily as saying in Bangalore on Friday.Though the cap was decided by the Cabinet,Moily said the fuel retailers were free to raise the cap.But it may be difficult for the fuel retailers to do.If oil companies raise the cap on their own obviously under verbal diktat from the parent ministry they may have to bear the loss since the finance ministry would not give them the subsidy amount on additional cylinders supplied at government rate beyond the six-cylinder cap.This would run foul of independent directors on company boards and the federal auditor for causing loss to company ndeed,a senior oil ministry official said any decision on changing the cap would have to be taken by the government as a whole.The decision was taken by the government. The Prime Minster and finance minister were involved (in the decision).So the oil ministry may not be able to make any change on its own. The matter has to be taken to the Cabinet. 

We have received complaints regarding the problems being faced by consumers from various quarters. It is a fact that the plan has put consumers to a great deal of hardships.But any raising of cap officially or even scrapping it would ultimately depend on the stand taken by the finance minister and PM, he said.

That the government was losing its nerve on the issue was amply evident when it blocked a hike in the price of non-subsidized cooking gas on Thursday.On Friday, Congress spokesman P C Chacko reinforced this by saying that the government would review the policy at the first possible opportunity.
We said the reduction of subsidized cylinders would burden the common man.So our party president Sonia Gandhi wrote to the partys chief ministers that the cap on subsidised cylinders should be higher.But we understand that the governments hands were tied,it was facing a fiscal crisis and oil companies would have collapsed.It would have led to fuel rationing.

Source: Times of India

National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)

For rural youth who are not able to do regular studies!

LIFE & HARIT PRAYAS project team to train new project staff

Of JEEVIKA project

Caritas India along with support from Caritas Spain has initiated a new innovative project in Madhya Pradesh named JEEVIKA  in 7 districts out of which  6 are  tribal districts{ Shivpuri, Jhabua, Shehore, Indore-Dhar, Ujjain , Khandwa, Umariya} of Madhya Pradesh with 7 diocesan partners of Madhya Pradesh {ANWC-Bhopal, PRAGATI-Jhabua, KDSS-Khandwa , GCSS-Gwalior, JDSSS-Jabalpur, IDSSS-Indor, & KSWS-Ujjain}. The project is in support with Caritas India and Caritas Spain and technical partners are NABARD, KVK and PRI.

The project has developed based on the baseline status (before the project initiation) and has started on 1^st Oct 2012. With JEEVIKA project we are trying to bring out change in 104 villages and with about .51%  ( based on the data from census 2012) of total tribes of Madhya Pradesh with bringing significant change in income through sustainable livelihood options, empowering community to demand for their rights, and making and identity to framing and women farmers.  Some of of the special features of JEEVIKA project are as:

·   The project is being developed in support with community, project partners Caritas India and Caritas Spain and developed

·    A 100% thorough baseline has been done before the project formulation and the targets set on the ground status

·   A highly qualified, youth and energetic team has been recruited by the project partners in support with Caritas India to give a strong team not only for the project but also for strengthening the partner organization

·  The project has its own web pages (in process) and is already on social media (jeevika Caritas) and has generated visibility of the project, community, context and the partner organization. The web page would be updated on the daily basis to create a transparent system of functioning

·         The project is in collaboration with PRI, NABARD and KVK from the beginning itself

PARTICIPATION OF LIFE & HARIT PRAYAS Project staff: Considering the importance of project and making it link with the other ongoing innovative projects, we have planned that some of the experienced and those who are doing quite well in the field from LIFE & HARIT PRAYAS project could be the part of the launching cum orientation programme . This will be an opportunity for the staff to have hand on experience on some training sessions, opportunity to learn from some qualified trainers and opportunity to share their challenges  and process of LIFE and HARIT PRAYAS with the new staff and team of JEEVIKA. We have identified few names for the event and also propose topice for training/delevrance. The names are as

Partner organization	Name	Proposed topic for training in JEEVIKA launching
RCDSSS-Ajmer	Mr. Manish	RBM in LIFE project
RCDSSS-Ajmer	Ms. Lata/Mr. Vijay	Farmers club in LIFE project
JCSS_Jhansi	Sr. Anna	Farmers club  formation and sustainability of Chamaruwa vilage
SSSS-Satna	Mr. Vinod	Cultural aspect in HARIT PRAYAS
SSSS-Satna	Ms. Preeti	HARIT PRAYAS project management
SSSS-Satna	Mr. Rajesh	Community mobilization on organic cultivation
MVSS-Sagar	Mr. Hari	Community mobilization in Sagar

Travel claims for attending the event would be reimbursed.

Launching is on 6th November followed by 2 and half days of Orientation cum training 

Date and venue of the programme

6-8^th November 2012

PRAGATI SOCIETY
Jeevan Jyoti Hospital Compound, P.O.
Meghnagar, District Jhabua,

MP. 457779
Mob: 09425945360
Tel: 07390-284902

LIFE project Rajasthan in India'a top 10 best sustainable livelihood models ( Sitaram Rao Case Study Competition 2012)

Few months back we have applied LIFE project model to Sitaram Rao National Case Study Competition 2012 {organised by XLRI-Jamshedpur –India’s one of the best labour management institute and Access developments services-Countries largest rural livelihood consultancy service provider}  and we have cleared the first round and out of about 10000 entries we came in top 50 in Aug 2012 and further on we have submitted the detailed study and and finally I am glad to share with you that  our LIFE case study model ( Rozgar Dhaba) has been further on selected as India’s top 10 best sustainable livelihood model.

These all top 10 models would be complied in the form of a book by XLRI and Access Development Services and would be released on 30^th November 2012 in India Livelihood Conference and these top 10 models would be promoted at block and panchayat level in collaboration with ministry of rural development.  

For more on this you can log on to http://accessdev.org/lh-li-case-study.php

Expanding the leaky public distribution system wont deliver food security 

(by Arvind Panagariya )

Perhaps the most powerful argument used by the proponents of the so-called Food Security Bill to further expand the highly inefficient,corrupt and leaky public distribution system (PDS) is adult hunger and malnutrition.Serious flaws exist,however,in both the diagnosis and prescription the proponents offer.

Civil society groups and international organisations such as the World Health Organisation,Food and Agricultural Organisation and World Bank contend that one-fifth or more Indians suffer from hunger and many more from malnutrition.But this contention is principally based on the steadily declining trend in calorie consumption in India during the last two decades.The trend has been observed among all classes of consumers whether rich or poor,rural or urban.

But when asked in the nationwide expenditure surveys whether they have had enough to eat throughout the year,the responses of Indians have shown exactly the opposite trend.Those replying in the negative to the question were 17.3% in 1983 but fell to 5.2% in 1993-94,3.6% in 1999-2000 and just 2.5% in 2004-05.

Some,who reject these numbers as implausible,argue that the household heads answering the question in the survey are too proud to admit hunger in their families.Quite apart from the fact that the same household heads have rarely let their pride come in the way when applying for belowpoverty-line or BPL cards and associated benefits,this argument cannot explain the declining proportion of households reporting hunger.Surely,households in the 1980s could not have been any less proud than those in the 2000s! 

Several factors have been at work to reduce the need for calorie consumption and hence decline in it among all income classes.In the rural areas,farming has been getting progressively mechanised.Fewer and fewer people rely on long walks or bicycles and more and more on motorbikes and buses to get from one point to another.The proportion of population engaged in farming has been declining as well.With more and more children in school,midday meals are providing calories that do not get counted in the household expenditure data from which the above-mentioned calorie consumption trend is derived.

Similar factors have been at work in urban areas.Improved means of transportation,both private and public,have reduced the need for more physically challenging modes of transportation.Heavy machinery has reduced the need for physical labour in activities such as construction.Workers have increasingly shifted to desk jobs.

Finally,better absorption of calories due to improved epidemiological environment and access to healthcare has reduced the need for actual calorie consumption.Increased access to piped water combined with water purification systems in urban households and proliferation of handpumps and tube wells in the rural areas have greatly improved the access to safe drinking water.In turn,this has helped reduce the incidence of diarrhoea,a common cause of poor absorption of food.Greater availability of medicines has further helped calorie absorption.

The height and weight trends and improvements in vital statistics further contradict the inference that the decline in calorie consumption represents increased malnourishment.The National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau surveys reveal that the proportion of those having below normal Body Mass Index fell from 56 to 33% for men and from 52 to 36% for women between 1975-79 and 2004-05.Data also show both men and women steadily gaining in height.Vital statistics such as life expectancy,death rates,infant,child and maternal mortality rates have steadily improved.

For these reasons,the focus on the decline in calorie consumption when the real problem may be a lack of balanced diet that goes well beyond cereal consumption is misguided.But even accepting increased calorie consumption as the goal,an expanded PDS is not the answer.If individuals are choosing to consume less foodgrains despite rising incomes,making foodgrain available in larger quantity at lower prices will not change the outcome.Households will pick their share of subsidised grain and simply sell the portion not consumed for a higher price on the market.

Recent work by economist Nisha Malhotra on child malnutrition in India shows that informing mothers on proper feeding practices rather than just access to food is what helps improve child nutrition.The same prescription is bound to apply to adult nutrition that requires a balanced diet.
This evidence and analysis notwithstanding,the proponents of the Food Security Bill insist that universalising the PDS will ensure that the poor receive more foodgrain,consume it and become better nourished.
While i have already questioned the second and third links in the argument,the available evidence brings into question even the first link.In a recent article,economist Peter Svedberg makes the point thus: The evidence in support of universality as an efficient method for eliminating,or even notably reducing,exclusion errors is not altogether convincing.Before 1997,the PDS was in principle universal,but large proportions of poor households were either effectively excluded,or purchased very small amounts of subsidised grains. 

It is disappointing that having decided to move to cash transfers while also facing severe pressure to cut fiscal deficit,the cabinet has cleared an entirely flawed Bill in the name of food security.Genuine reform requires a shift to cash transfers,public-information campaigns on balanced diet and reforms in agriculture and food safety and health instead.Massive food distribution is neither the comparative advantage of the government nor promises to raise calorie consumption,let alone promote a balanced diet.

Source: The Times of India