Volume 15 | Issue 8
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Govt pulls plug on aid to rural poor Sanskriti Talwar A scheme to help farmers and India's rural poor is being secretly starved of funding, according to government records. The reduction in funding is so severe that the number of people being helped under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has dropped by a staggering 97 per cent in Karnataka alone. The scheme was introduced in 2005 in an effort to help lift India's 600 million rural poor out of poverty. It guarantees 100 days of paid labour to those who sign up for it. Farmers can also apply in times of drought or poor harvests. Earlier this year, the ruling BJP party pledged an extra 50 days under the scheme when they were already choking its funding, according to campaigners. From over a lakh families who were given a guaranteed 100 days of work under the scheme two years ago, the figure for 2015 until now is just 2826, we can reveal. Across India, every single state has witnessed a significant drop in funding for the scheme, despite a pledge in February by finance minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech to enhance the allocation by another Rs.5,000 crore this year. On the contrary, the states have received much less than what was promised. The number of individuals who worked under MNREGA in Karnataka went down from 42.33 lakh in 2013-14 to 6.49 lakh in 2015-16. According to reports released by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) there is a clear decline across the country. Maharashtra had a similar decline from 20.55 lakh to 14.78 lakh. Narendra Modi, elected last year, said he considered the MGNREGA scheme the best example of how the Congress Party failed India by paying the poor to dig holes. In Maharashtra and Karnataka, the states with the highest numbers of farmer suicides in India, funding for the
BRIEFS Disabled tennis players train without wheelchairs A state body for disabled tennis players operates with just six wheelchairs for around 30 athletes, due to lack of funds. Page 2
Traffic cops buy masks as bosses dismiss health fears Traffic officers are spending wages on high quality mouth masks to combat Bangalore’s poisonous air. Page 3
Volunteers ignored in new state teaching plan People who signed up to teach children on Saturdays under a new scheme have yet to receive a response, months after the scheme was launched. Page 3
Infographic: Tanay Sukumar scheme has been slashed. Data released by the National Crime Records Bureau last year shows 321 farmers committed suicide in Karnataka in 2014. Only four states had more suicides in the year. Maharashtra had 2568 suicides. The scheme serves as the single largest beneficiary for rural households. It provides unskilled labour work to farmers during non-agricultural season or in situations like drought, flood, and crop failure. Mukesh, a social activist working with Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, an organi-
sation dedicated to ensuring a living wage for rural poor, said, “The decline in funds results in further decrease in rural participation. The act is good but has demerits in it when it comes to implementing it. Last year there were delays in wages by four to six months.” The secretary of the Golahalli village Panchayat, Rudhresh, said, “This year only 50 people came up with the demand letter while there were at least 400 people last year demanding to be provided work under the scheme.” He said that the reason for this fall
is the low wage rate. “The wage rate here is comparatively less, the scheme intends to provide a minimum of hundred rupees per day whereas they prefer to work in the sector where they could earn at least Rs.300-400 per day,” said S. Mythili, Accounts Officer, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, Karnataka. Spokespersons for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state rural development minister H. K. Patil refused to comment on the availability of funds.
Government schemes fail to reach struggling weavers Handloom weavers face financial trouble as the government schemes are failing to reach them.They also don’t get enough returns from what they produce. Page 4
2 THE OBSERVER
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Disabled tennis players train without wheelchairs Payal Gangishetty A state body for disabled tennis players operates with just six wheelchairs for around 30 athletes, due to lack of funds. The Karnataka Wheelchair Tennis Association court in Cubbon Park trains state, national and international disabled tennis players during weekends. “Due to limited wheelchairs, the players are asked to wait for long hours for their turn to play during the practice ses-
“
We are using basic wheelchairs which are not advanced. This makes it difficult for us when we go for national level tournaments.
“
- Shiv Prasad, nationallevel tennis player
sions and training everyone together becomes difficult,” said
N. Ramesh, a tennis coach at KWTA. He also said that the competitive wheelchairs which are specially designed to meet the requirements of the athletes cost around Rs.3 lakh. Due to limited funds, the association is not able to bear the cost of wheelchairs. So most of the training is carried out on basic wheelchairs. Abdul Huq, manager at KWTA, said, “We face many hurdles to get funds. Most of the time we contact corporate societies and some government organizations for help but hardly few respond to our calls. The ones who respond take a very long time. At present we need at least 25 wheelchairs for the athletes to practice but we hardly have six.” Recalling an incident from his practice days, Shekar, a national-level wheelchair tennis player said, “During my practice sessions for the national level championship, I used to wait for more than one hour for the other batch to vacate the wheel chairs so that I could carry on with my practice. This is an everyday scenario where only six players get the chance to use the wheelchairs as they are less in
Disabled tennis players after their practice session at Karnataka State Wheelchair Tennis Association, Bangalore number.” He added, “It is not just the equipment shortage. The association does not have sufficient coaches to train us either. Due to this our routine practice gets disturbed.” Another national-level player,
Shiv Prasad said, “We are using basic wheelchairs which are not advanced. This makes it difficult for us when we go for national-level tournaments where we get easily defeated as we lack practice in using a competitive wheelchair.”
He also added, “Sometimes we wait from morning to use wheelchairs for practice and we get our turn in the afternoon Also due to no proper equipment many budding players are opting for other cities for training.
FACT BOX HISTORY OF WHEELCHAIR TENNIS • Wheelchair tennis originated in the USA during 1970’s. • Brad Parks and Jeff Minnenbraker were the founders of this sport. • The sport was popularised first across the west coast of USA during 1977 through exhibitions and campaigns. • In 1977 the Los Angeles City Parks and Recreation Department hosted the first ever wheelchair tennis tournament with around 20 players. • In 1980, the National Foundation of Wheelchair Tennis (NFWT) was formed with Brad
Parks, David Saltz, Jim Team Cup gained InWorth and Dave Kiley as vacare Corporation as a the Board of Directors. title sponsor leading and the event came to be • The first international known as Action World tournament was staged Team Cup. in Paris and was called the Open d'Antony in • The biggest ever Para1983. lympic Tennis event took place in Athens, Greece • On October 10, 1988, in 2004. the International Wheelchair Tennis Federation • The Australian Open (IWTF) is founded at a was the first Grand Slam meeting during the US to introduce wheelchair Open. tennis in 2002, followed • In 1992 Wheelchair it became a full medal sport at the Paralympics in Barcelona. Randy Snow of the USA and Monique van den Bosch of the Netherlands became double gold medallists; taking both singles and doubles titles. • In 1995 The World
by Wimbledon and the US Open in 2005 and Roland Garros in 2007.
can be outside.
• 2012 saw the most successful Paralympics held at London, 112 athletes competed in six medal events.
• The top seven qualifies on a ranking basis for the singles event at Grand Slams and there is one wild card to complete a field of eight.
• The wheelchair competition comprises only two • In 2009, the ladies’ rounds- first round and wheelchair doubles final. joined the men’s doubles on the official competi- • Four partnerships can qualify for Wimbledon. tion.
• Today, the sport is practiced in more than 100 different countries. THE GAME:
Shekar, National level wheelchair player
• The exception in wheelchair tennis from tennis is that the ball is allowed to bounce twice. • The first bounce has to be within the court markings, the second bounce
(Source: International Tennis Federation)
IN KARNATAKA: • The Karnataka Wheelchair Tennis Association was started by Karnataka Lawn Tennis Association. It holds training every weekend.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015 3
THE OBSERVER
Traffic cops buy masks as bosses dismiss health fears Traffic officers are spending wages on high-quality mouth masks to combat Bangalore's poisonous air. The cops, who stand at busy traffic junctions for eight hours at a time, claim those issued by the force are so cheap they don't work and have to be thrown away after a single use. The city has levels of air pollutants like Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM/PM10), far exceeding the annual average for the country. “Coughing and throat infection are the most common health problems we face,” said a traffic police constable who has served for over 18 years. “We get masks from the department but due to their low quality they can only be used once. We now buy them ourselves,” said the constable, who declined to be named. Another traffic cop, on duty at one of the busiest traffic junctions in the city, spoke about their problems and said, “We have to live with it because there is no alternative to this.” R. I. Kasim, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Planning), Bengaluru City, when asked whether traffic cops have approached the department, said, “No, they don’t. Why should they come to us? They approach the hospitals.” M. A. Saleem, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traf-
Infographic: Tanay Sukumar
Prabhpreet Singh Sood
fic), Bengaluru City, dismissed the existence of such problems, citing the tests that were conducted on traffic personnel last year to find out the lead content in their blood caused
due to exposure to air pollutants. “Respiratory allergy, bronchial asthma, skin problems, chronic obstructive pulmonary distress are the
common problems that arise due to continuous exposure to pollution,” said Dr. Huliraj N., senior pulmonologist at Mallya Hospital, when asked about the problems the cops might
face due to constant exposure to pollution. Asthma and nasal bronchitis are more dangerous, which stay longer and are more difficult to cure, he added.
Volunteers ignored in new state teaching plan Rajarshi Das People who signed up to teach children on Saturdays under a new scheme have yet to receive a response, months after the scheme was launched. The government initiative launched in June, was supposed to encourage people to teach in schools as volunteers on Saturdays but those who enrolled say they have heard nothing. The scheme is intended to inspire, encourage and develop self confidence in students with teachers sharing knowledge in their chosen subjects. The work is unpaid. The circular for the scheme
was sent on June 18 this year, to government schools by the Department of State Educational Research and Training. The number of volunteers registered up to September 29 is 258. “After contacting eight schools, only one responded. The school did not know that such a scheme exists. I had to take the circular with me, after which I was asked to volun teer,” said Divya Rakhiani, a B.Tech student. “They should have atleast sent the circulars to the schools to ease our tasks,” she added. Sarkari Kannada Hiriya Prathamika Shaale, a school in South Bangalore, was not even aware of such a scheme.
Jayakumar. S, Director of the Department of Educational Research and Training, denied there were problems and said, “Every school has been informed about the scheme and we are also trying our best by expanding the scheme to bring more number of schools under its ambit”. “Every time I went there, I was asked to come the next week. When they are not interested themselves, there’s no reason why I should be. I even prepared notes, only to be disappointed.” said Vanitha Govindappa, a B. Com. graduate who wanted to teach social science in a school in Hosakerehalli.
S. Jayakumar, Director of DSERT
4 THE OBSERVER
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Government schemes fail to reach struggling weavers Tweets of the day
Ambasa (L) and R. Vijayakumar (R) working on their handlooms in Vinayakanagar Handloom weavers in the state face financial trouble as the government schemes are failing to reach them. They are also not getting enough returns from what they produce. “For every saree that costs Rs. 3,000, I am paid only Rs. 2,450,” said Nagaratna, 40, a handloom weaver in Vinayakanagar. “Every month we produce 20 sarees. We are asked to manage raw material from the same wages. All that we earn is spent in working and none is left as profit.” Hemanth Kothari, shop owner of Kothari Silks, supplies raw material and design for artificial silk sarees to the weavers. “The weavers do deserve more than what we pay, but there’s high competition from Surat market, which results in such a situation,” he said. As handloom weaving is slow, some weavers move to the powerloom industry, he said. The artificial silk sarees produced by the powerloom cost more than four times the handloom sarees. Ambasa, 55, said that he can work on power loom, but can’t afford travelling expenses in the city. “My son, 24, now drives an auto and sustains the family better, after losing hope in the traditional profession. It has been six months since the time I have applied for ration card, but all I have been provided with is election card by Karnataka Weavers’ Society,” he said. R. Vijayakumar, 34, another handloom weaver from Vinayakanagar, said, “If weavers are unable to pay their debts due to less wages, they leave the village and switch to another profession. Unable to pay debts, I’m plan-
ning to leave the conventional handicraft and switch to selling vegetables.” There are 1,34,338 weavers in the state, with a per capita income of Rs. 24,897. “The weavers may earn less, but that depends on what they produce,” said Sushma Darshan, Textile Promotional Officer at Handloom and Textiles Welfare and Development Department. The government supports weavers with schemes, according to Chikkabeeraiah, Deputy Director of Statistics Department, Handloom and Textiles Head Office. However, the Thrift Fund Scheme for handloom weavers in the state reached only 31% of the targeted population in the last six years. Also, one-third of the budget meant for the scheme was not spent last year, be-
cause of a delay in the release of funds, he said. Thrift Fund Scheme, meant for welfare of handloom weavers, was allocated a budget of Rs.80 lakh for the year 2014-15. It states that the beneficiary can draw advances to meet expenses in connection with marriage, house construction, medical expenses and education for children. Ravi Kumar, Deputy Director at Handloom and Textiles Head Office, said, “The decrease in Thrift Fund Scheme target and achievement figures of the last five years of physical statement are because some handlooms are idle. If they haven’t availed, then they need to approach our office.” He added that since weavers aren’t interested in paying an annual premium of only Rs.40
and aren’t available during inspection by officers, they miss out on the schemes. He said that the rich handloom industry won’t die any soon. Somashekhara, Textile Inspector of Bagalkot commented, “Every year there are market fluctuations but that isn’t reason enough for handloom weavers to quit the profession.” Hebbar, Deputy Director of Bangalore Urban District, Handloom and Textiles department said, “Bank loans don’t benefit the weavers because they don’t follow proper procedure. Also, untimely payments by weavers disable the banks to sanction their further loans. The handloom industry isn’t a lucrative option anymore as the process of production to marketing isn’t well-managed.”
@ISRO PSLV Successfully Launches India’s Multi Wavelength Space Observatory ASTROSAT @the_hindu #BCCI to elect president on October 4, #ShashankManohar set for second term @ANI_news Pollution reaches unbearable levels in Bengaluru, toxic foam rises from Bellandur lake @DeccanChronicle #NewsAlert: Supreme Court rejects BCCI's plea to review it's verdict on N Srinivasan's conflict of interest. @TheDeccanHerald #SushilModi booked for promising laptops, TVs to voters
Infographic: Tanay Sukumar
Sana Husain
@narendramodi I shared my thoughts on key global issues at the @UN & also met many world leaders to strengthen India's ties with the global community.
Statistics from Department of Handloom and Textiles show that the number of people targeted in the Thrift Fund Scheme is not reached
@TimesofIndia Islamic State planning to target Delhi and Rajasthan: Intel agencies http://toi.in/N0n91a @dna There is a 'partnership' between Kejriwal and Bharti, claims Congress @RashmiBS_TNIE #Bengaluru Gvt to construct designated residence forCM at cost of rs25cr @NewIndianXpress
THE OBSERVER Editor: Sutanu Guha | News Editor: Sanskriti Talwar | Chief Sub-Editor: Raina Paul Picture Editor: Tanay Sukumar | Sub-Editors: Payal Gangishetty, Prabhpreet Singh Sood, Rishi Sabharwal, Sana Husain Reporters: Reema Mukherjee, Rajarshi Das | Design and Layout: Regina Gurung