Issue17 by IIJNM Bangalore

Volume 15 | Issue 17

Friday, November 27, 2015

Govt health schemes failing the patient, claims top surgeon Tanay Sukumar Many private hospitals use substandard equipment or turn patients away as they are expected to treat them under limited government budgets, a leading neurosurgeon has claimed. Dr Prashanth B Katakol, coordinator of Karnataka Private Hospitals Association, has warned that government subsidised health schemes are choking the private sector. Referring to “network hospitals” where citizens can use government health schemes for cashless treatment, Dr Katakol, said: “For example, even to treat a rich IAS officer for spine surgery, private hospitals have to operate within Rs.40,000. We are not supposed to charge anything more. “This way, how will the private sector survive?”

Dr Prashanth B Katakol

The Jyothi Sanjeevani scheme, which makes treatment for government employees cashless, restricts the budget for spine surgeries to Rs.40,000. For an open bypass surgery, network hospitals are paid Rs.1.1 lakh for patients covered under the Jyothi Sanjeevani Scheme. However, the it costs Rs.3.3 lakh or above in private hospitals. Dr Katakol also said that the expenditure in surgeries in multispecialty hospitals includes medicines, surgery, stay, and cost of maintenance of equipment. Similarly brain tumour surgeries may cost around Rs.2.5 lakh but the government schemes put the cost at around Rs.55,000. Sudha Chandrasekhar, Project Manager of the Jyothi Sanjeevani Scheme (JSS), said: "The private hospitals said the costs would be more than what the scheme would give them, but we did not change the price. Rather, we made it clear to them how we arrived at those prices. They would work their costs out according to the volume of cases they get. They would take care of the costs themselves." Dr Katakol added: “The government is aiming more at controlling the package for hospitals rather than extending help to patients. “Private hospitals that offer the schemes have been forced to be part of it. By now, almost 100 per cent of the population is covered under some

scheme or the other. No one wants to invest further in healthcare in the state because of this. “In the name of providing universal healthcare, the government is choking the private healthcare industry by telling us this is the amount within which you have to treat patients. The private sector has to meet its needs and has to have profitability or else it won’t survive. “Also, the Vajpayee Arogyashree scheme for below poverty line (BPL) families is based on having BPL cards. Recent reports say a huge number of BPL cards are bogus. You cannot base a health scheme on a completely faulty system of distribution of cards. “The government lists its network hospitals for schemes, and then forces them to agree to subsidized healthcare. This is cartelization. Citizens should have the free will to go to any hospitals in the state. “These hospitals then start ordering substandard equipment. Complicated cases are being turned away. Why would someone admit a patient who they know will occupy a bed for a long time under a limited budget? “Or, they take extra payments from patients. No one talks about them.” “Also, there is no government agency to control whether there is any appropriate treatment being given or not; no expert on this subject in

BGS Hospital runs only one government scheme the offices where these schemes are being governed,” he concluded. Dr. Smitha T., head of medical services at BGS Global Hospital, Bangalore, which makes only the Vajpayee Arogyashree Scheme available, agreed to the budget issues. She said: "We do not cover other schemes because it is an expenditure issue. The schemes don't cover our costs. We are dependent on companies that provide the material and equipment; we do not make them in-house. If the payment doesn't meet the costs, it's very difficult for us to get material to do the same. We are able to sustain the VAS because our BPL patient numbers are less." Dr. Anil Agadi of Agadi Hospital, who is also secretary in Private Hospitals and Nursing Home Association (PHANA),

stopped having government health schemes in his hospital few years back. "We did not get our payments on time, sometimes 6-7 months after surgery. Private hospitals have to have good infrastructure, staff and instrumentation. And now even taxation is high. Government hospitals should improve their own standards first. Why should people need to even go to private hospitals?" He added: "For surgeries, government is paying all-inclusive rates, including medicines. It is very difficult to control what medicines are needed. What do you do if medicines from cheapest companies do not work? It becomes really difficult to manage." "Charity comes at a price. If you subsidize up to nearly 90 per cent, you can't sustain," he concluded.

Complaints pile up as gold loan firm robbed again Oindrila Sarkar The National Consumer Complaints Forum is flooded with grievances against Mannapuram Finance Ltd,which has been robbed four times in just five months. TheirHosur Rd office in Bomanahalli was broken into yesterday and 12 lakhs worth of gold valuables were stolen. The bank’s offices have been robbed four times in the past five months all over the country. Meanwhile, dozens of customers have complained online about the firm not returning their gold. CompainantDevakiKutty wrote on a forum, “I pledged my gold at their Murgeshpalya

branch, Bangalore. Every month I would pay interest as per the rules. I was shocked when I withdrew my jewels and found my locket chain, gold locket and earrings missing. When I asked the staff about it, they said that previous executives were transferred and that they know nothing about it.” Another dissatisfied customer Sri Lakshmi writes that the Thudiyalur branch in Coimbatore checked her gold and said it was impure. When she took it for testing to the jeweller they found it to be pure.” An anonymous customer of Manappuram writes: “A small part of my jewellery was broken down and taken away in the Kazipet branch of Andhra

Pradesh in Warrangal and they never returned the piece.” Mr.Manoj, manager at the company’s head office, said: “We auction off the gold when the loans are not returned within a time span. But we do give a lot of warnings and inform them before we auction off their gold.” An anonymouscomplainant from Kazipet writes thatinstead of getting Rs17,000 for a gold loan, he got Rs10,000. His gold was worth Rs89,000. Manappuram Finance Ltd. has 3,293 branches across 27 states in India. It has emerged as a leading Non Banking Financial Company (NBFC). The Managing Director( MD) and Cheif Executive Officer

(CEO) of the company, VP Nandkumar are sourcing their funds from 13 banks and financial institutions and own 53.13 tonnes of gold as of March 2015.Now, it has become a Rs 27,000 million company.

The senior security manager, Mr Santosh, said, “Insiders don’t have any role to play in the Bangalore robbery. We have asked for insurance but we cannot give you the details.”

A Mannapuram Gold Loan Bank branch in the city

2 THE OBSERVER

Friday, November 27, 2015

Govt delays in pension pay as Endosulfan victims suffer Payal Gangishetty The Human Rights Commission has been asked to investigate the state’s failure to pay pensions to Endosulfan victims. Thousands of people living with debilitating diseases and mental conditions caused by the spraying of Endosulfan have not received any payments for at least the last four months. A s t a t e g o v e r n ment spokesman blamed “funds drying up” as the cause. Thousands of villagers in Karnataka were exposed to the pesticide Endosulfan between 1980 and 2000 when at least 32,000 litres was aerially sprayed to rid crops like cashew of pests like Whitefly. The pesticide was globally banned by the Stockholm Convention in 2011. It causes neurological and genetic deformity in humans. Karnataka has 6,932 registered victims, who are entitled to a monthly pension, dependent on the severity of impairment. That pension, which ranges between rs1000 and rs300 per month, has not been paid for the past four months. Victims, who suffer from mental, physical and behavioural disorders, are calling on the state government to act. Last year Karnataka High Court directed the state government to pay monthly pensions to the victims of Endosulfan based on disability.

Those with below 25 per cent disability are entitled only to free physiotherapy and medical treatment, while victims who are 25-60 per cent disabled should receive Rs1500 per month. Villagers with 60 per cent disability and above should receive Rs 3000 a month. “Despite many appeals to the Health Commission Department, I have not received the monthly stipend for my son for past six months. “He is completely bed-ridden; we are from a poor family and it is very difficult for me to meet his medical expenses,” said Albert, father of one of the victims. Shridhar Gowda, President of the Endosulfan Victim Forum, said: “We are demanding the establishment of the high court order that was passed last year in February, which said the affected districts would be provided with one mobile help centre and one staffer to take care of bed-ridden children, but nothing has been provided so far.” He added, “We have not received the monthly stipend from the health department for the last four months and the revenue department for two months. “The Kerala Government has provided compensation of Five lakh rupees to the affected victims and they are given monthly pensions of Rs.5,000 per month and the parents of the victim are given Rs2,000. Why is our govern-

Child victims of endosulfun poisoning ment not paying us equally?” Health department statistics reveal that there are 1,787 victims from Uttar Karnakata, 3,618 victims from Dakshin Karnataka and 1,527 victims from Uddipi, as of March 2015. Of these 6,932, 205 are bedridden. Arun Kumar, Nodal Health Officer in Dakshin, Karnataka, said, “Initially, from March-December 2014, the monthly stipend was paid to the victims. “In December, the funds got exhausted so the department was not able to pay the stipend from January- April 2015.”

Book fest boycott sparks web debate Parvathi Benu The decision by two authors not to attend the Bangalore Literature Festival has sparked debate on social media. VikramSampath, the director of the Bangalore Literature Festival, said recently that artists returning their awards in protest over perceived intolerance in India were simply “hypocritical attempts to claim the moral high ground.” Kannada writers TK Dayanand and Arif Raja have now decided not to attend this year’s festival, scheduled to be held on 5th and 6th of December. Their stance against the director has been criticised by many. Maya Mirchandani, foreign affairs editor and anchor at NDTV,tweeted,“Litfests are forums for debating ideas, diffrnt opinions with civility. Boycotting defeats purpose.”

The Sahitya Academy winning Kashmiri author Professor Mirza Mohammad ZamanAzurdah said that there are different ways of protesting, depending on one’s wish. “Awards are recognitions. I had won a Sahitya Academy award 30 years ago. If a person like me returns their award, it is not a protest to the current government, but to the government which has given it to me. But I have no objection in them protesting,” he said. Former journalist and author AnujDhar, in his tweet to us, said, “Why must literary meets be boycotted? That's insane.” Agricultural scientist and Kannada author Dr KN Ganeshaiah said that the attitude of the authors is pretty defeatist. “I think that instead of boycotting the festival, they should become a part of it and express their opinion. That is what these fests are for. “Their attitude is not right,” he said.

He added that returning awards has become a trend among people. “Some people are even returning the prizes they won in primary schools,” he said jokingly. Author Manu Pillai said, via Twitter, “I don't see the logic of boycotting an open platform because you don't agree with some of the organisers' views.” KulpreetYadav, the author of ‘The Girl who Loved a Pirate’ said in a tweet that “It's apt for the authors to boycott the fest, but their purpose is getting defeated by media's disproportionate analysis. “It's meant for guys in power.” At the same time, he said that he is looking forward to attending the fest. BarkhaDutt, the NDTV anchor who is expected to attend the event, tweeted, “Why are some boycotting @vikramsampath Bangalore Lit Fest coz he disagreed with #AwardWapsi? Spirit of debate is ALL shades of thought?”

He added: “Initially, Rs20-30 lakh was required every month to make the payments. But now the amount has been increased to 56 lakh per month. “Monthly pensions are directly transferred from our department to the bank accounts of the victims. “There are some issues related to the card issued for the Endosulfan victims where most of the bank accounts are in the name of victims’ parents, or caretakers, so there is a mismatch in the names. “Also some have failed to provide the complete 14 digits

of their account number. There are 199 such cases.” In October, The South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring, (SICHREM) which campaigns on human rights issues, filed a complaint with the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission on the delay. “Most of the victims of Endosulfan are from very poor backgrounds and facing disabilities and illness. We feel this is a gross irresponsibility from the concerned department and a challenge to the High Court order,” said Mathew Thomas, Fact Finding Coordinator, SICHREM. He added that he was awaiting a reply from the State Human Rights Commission. “The complaint has been filed recently just two months ago by the SCHREM; we are looking into the matter the first order is yet to be passed," said Registar, State Human Rights Commission. “My three children are bedridden, I have to get Rs. 3000 for each of them but from past four months whenever I go to the bank they tell me to create a new account and deny giving the money. “We were told that a government helper will be provided to take care of bed ridden children, but nobody has come so far. I am a daily wage labourer and it is difficult for me to stay back at home and take care of them.” said Rajivi of Puttur district who is a single parent.

Gopalan employees protest hawker encroachment Rajarshi Das Employees of Gopalan Tech Park in Whitefield a protestedtoday over the encroachment of the pavements by hawkers. Colonel Lakshminarayan, General Manager of Gopalan Tech Park, said, "We demand that the road be cleared immediately. In case of an emergency, this road is not available for ambulances and fire attendants. “Both sides of the road are occupied by hawkers. This is a dangerous situation. 14000 employees of Gopalan have to bear this ordeal everyday." He added, “They have been agitating since 2011. In 2012,

the Mayor of Bangalore agreed to clear the road and hand it over to the authorities of Gopalan for maintenance.They handed over the road in 2013, but did not clear it.” “There have been incidents in the past where ambulances could not enter the road and the situation has worsened since then," said Rohit Das, an employee of Gopalan Tech Park. Murthy, a hawker in the road said, "We are a family. There are 50 shops here. We can't leave. We had been driven away twice but came back. We are uneducated, where will we go? The roads could be widened by covering the drains."

Gopalan employees protesting in Whitefield

Friday, November 27, 2015 3

THE OBSERVER

No place for mentally challenged children in govt schools Sana Husain Parents of mentally challenged children claim that their kids aren’t being admitted to government schools due to lack of trained teachers. There are only eight mentally challenged government schools in the state of Karnataka. Lalitha,the mother of a 14year-old, mentally challenged child, said, “My daughter Jyoti was rejected by Government Lower Primary School due to the age factor .I’m afraid to send her to any hostel. She added that her child would be more comfortable with her own age group. An Anganwadi teacher, who informally teaches and mentors Jyoti, said, “I am warned by the Anganwadi supervisor to not allow a mentally challenged child into the school. I’ll be sacked if authorities get to know about her.” She added that parents are afraid of pressing charges against government schools as they don’t receive enough support from society. If parents are aware of their rights, they won’t have to go to court. Latha, the mother of another 14-year-old, said “My son was fine for seven years, until he started having fits and then everything changed. He attended school till class 3 at Kolifarm 1stCrossGovtSchool.

“I approached Vidyanjali Private School, Gottigere Government School and Ram Krishna Private School, but they refused saying that they’re afraid of him and ‘can’t manage this boy.” During the BBMP elections, 2015, VijayanagarMLA, MKrishnappa had promised to issue a disability certificate, but Latha’s son hasn’t received it so far. I.F. Magi, Under Secretary, Education Dept. (Planning), said: “A policy called Integrating Children with Special Needs into Regular Schools, which was established 10 years back by the government, allows such children admission into schools. Only after integration, their normalcy can be expected.” On being asked why despite the policy disabled children do not make it to schools, he refused to comment. At the same time, Sasikala, Headmaster of GLPS Kalenagrahara, clearly denied the fact that government schools don’t admit mentally challenged children. Indupriya, a social worker working with Child Rights Trust, said, “Mostly, teachers fear accepting mentally challenged children, since their care is difficult. Inclusive education should be provided to disabled children, under the RTE act.

Latha, mother of Vetrivel in Kalenagrahara on Bannerghatta Road “The parents approach the association for mentally challenged or keep them at home” “The Out Of School Children (OOSC) survey prepared by govt. school teachers every year is useless, as they don’t record the exact number of disabled children properly. She added that the Anganwadi teacher is violating the school’s age criteria norm by teaching and taking care of Jyoti for four years. When Jyoti’s parents tried admitting her to Ramkrishna School for special children in

2012, her admission was denied due to the school authorities’ fear of handling a child who gets fits. Manasa, Deputy Director of Disabled Children department, said that there are special schools for these children, where they can be admitted. “The aggrieved party can contact the commissioner, to act upon it. We can’t question the politicians,” she added. Premila, special education teacher at Karnataka Parents’ Association for Mentally Challenged, said, “In a year, around 10-15

parents, of mentally challenged children approach us, for being rejected in regular schools.” She added that both govt. and private schools can recruit trained teachers, which they need to work on. Amarnath, Coordinator of Information and Counselling Centre, said not all govt. schools have teachers sufficiently trained to deal with differently-abled children. Arpana special school is crowded with 61 mentally disabled students.

Three years of study, five years for certificate African students concerned 1999. “When I approached the over alarming deportation rate Akshaya N A Regina Gurung An African about to be deported from Bangalore after he was caught with drugs will be the 169th to be thrown out of the city and sent home this year. Nnaji Chuku Emeka is not the first African to be deported from Bangalore.Prior to him, 168 Africans have already been deported. Emeka was arrested on October 7 by Bangalore city police in possession of narcotics. A case was registered in Rammurthy Nagar Police Stationand court proceedings are on-going. This month alone, 22 foreign nationals were arrested for narcotics, of which Emeka and nine others were Africans. None of them have the documents or visas required to stay in India. Bangalore City Police Inspector Tanveer said, “It is wrong to generalize the depor-

tation case on Africans, since we have deported many immigrants from Egypt and Iran, among others. All the nuisance-makers are reported to the Home Ministry to be deported.” "India is not socially safe. They do not try to understand our culture that is different," said ElielZahiri,22, from Sudan, studying microbiology in Kristu Jayanti College. Manuela Eponon, 22, a student of BMA College, said that she is never going to send her children to India. "Just because we are Africans they look at us in a bad way. We never treat Indians that way in Africa," she added. "There are many who are deported for forged visas but when a person is being deported we make sure they are involved in illegal cases. Currently six Africans are in the process of being deported," stated DCP Ramesh

Hundreds of Bangalore University alumni have been waiting at least five years to receive graduation certificates. At least 319 graduation documents are pending from the year 2010, we can reveal, and one former student – now aged 61 - has been waiting for a corrected certificate since 1999. Graduates and students from the university complain that the authorities never issue documents on time, but are happy to take their money. ThimmaGowda , the University Vice Chancellor, said “We have 3,30,000 students and each semester we get 15,00,000 papers. “Mistakes in correction and delay in issue happens, but it is only less than one percent of the total. Apart from that we are on time.” Prem, national executive officer of AkhilBharatiyaVidhyarthiParishad and a student of Bangalore University, said: “They have a non-functional redressal cell. “They open the counter after 3pm, and students queue up in front of the office and in most cases students have to go back empty handed as the people responsible are not present. These students come from far off places like Kanakapura just to collect their certificates.” As many as 319 mark cards of B.com students are currently pending at the university.These are cards which students applied for duplication or forcorrection. Some of these cards have been pending since

“We have been requesting the Chancellor to establish a student tribunal. Four years ago, under the then Chancellor,Dr N PrabhuDev, a tribunal was set up where the issues of more than a thousand students were resolved. However, this initiative was short-lived,” saidPrem. RamachandraRao, a retired bank manager, approached

Students waiting in front of Pariksha Bhavan,Bangalore University the university requesting a duplicate degree marks card. He had lost his original card in transit. “I paid an amount of Rs19,365 for the documents. “For six months I have been making frequent visits and phone calls and each time they simply rebuke me. I wrote to the University Vice Chancellor, but he still has not responded to my mail.

Exam Commission, they told me they don’t have the format for the marks card. I am at their mercy now; my visa application is pending because I don’t have valid educational documents to substantiate it.” In front of students’ grievance cell at PareekshaBhavan on the university campus, students line up each day hoping for a positive reply. “I graduated in the year 2010 from M& M Evening College at Shivajinagar in Bachelor of Commerce. I gave my mark cards for correction, it has been almostfive years, and they still haven’t given the corrected certificate back. “Each time they make some excuse and ask me to go to other departments,’ saidHareesh, a former Bangalore University student. “This is the 10th time I am visiting this place, they also charged me Rs.4000 for it. I am really clueless whom to consult,” he added. Gowda, Registrar Evaluation, said “The reason behind the delay in issue of mark card is students’ laziness; they skip their internal tests and expect us to give their card on time.” Prakash, a third year civil engineering student at the Department of Engineering, BU campus, said “Not only do they issue marks cards late, sometimes marks card come with the wrong photograph of students and at times with no marks card. One time they collected Rs1000 from us telling it was the department’s fault in providing them with the wrong information.”

4 THE OBSERVER

Friday, November 27, 2015

Farmers unite in the Govt pullout forces bank wake of suicides workers to protest Reema Mukherjee A fairer government pricing policy could reduce farmer suicides in the state, according to a newly formed pressure group. In the wake of farmer suicides and the agitation of farmers against the government, the Republican Party of India has introduced a farmers’ wing. "Government isn't doing anything. The subsidies provided to farmers do not help us. We still pay a high price," said a member of the farmer's association. He added that government officials do not work without bribes and exploit the lower level farmers. Addressing the issue of suicides, one of the members said, "There is no scientific price fixing policy of agricultural products. Government fixes prices of our products by considering only two or three aspects. “As a result we end up getting less money than what we

deserve. If the government comes up with a fair policy, it may help reduce the rising rate of suicides." Narsingh Patil, a member of the Republican Party of India said, "Farmers’ lands are being exploited by the land mafia. A special court needs to be set at district level for land issues. “Government cold storages need to be built for the farmers’ products so that in times of crop loss , those products can be sold at a higher price and farmers get their due income, and stop committing suicide." Dr M. Venkat Swami,President of the Republican Party of India said, “It will be a successful movement. It is for the landless farmers and RPI is helping them come together so that they can get their dues." The farmers’ wing is a six member committee and its name and laws will be finalised by December 10. They will have a national conference launching the flag and the logo of the newly formed association on December 18.

Members of Republican Party of India after the conference

Raina Paul Staff at IDBI Bank staged a protest today over news that the government will push ahead with privatisation plans. Ganesh Keni, State secretary of IDBI, Karnataka State said, “Modi’s ‘ache din’ is not meant for the public but for the corporates. “Privatising the bank is the government looting the public money as they like. We will not stop protesting until the government takes our situation into consideration.” The strike was called in response to Union Finance Minister, ArunJaitley’s comments in late September this year suggesting the dilution of government’s majority stake of IDBI bank to below 51%. Employees of over 1700 branches of IDBI bank sent a written statement to ArunJaitley, opposing the plans but received no response. Postcards from 17,000 workers were then sent objecting to the move, to no avail. Purushotham, President of the All India IDBI Officers Association, Karnataka, said:“We have a lot of young employees who join through IBPS examinations, under the impression of receiving a government job. If it is privatised, our security of job is gone. If corporates take over the banks, public money is going to be looted.” According to the bank, the move of the Government of India is to breach the assurance given in LokSabha and RajyaSabha in December

IDBI Bank employee staging a protest infront of the bank at Mission Road, Bangalore

Officers and employees protesting in front of IDBI 2003, by the Finance Minister from the then BJP government, that the government shall re-

tain its share-holding at not less than 51%.

Unregistered domestic staff call for IDs Sanskriti Talwar The state labour department has issued just 600 domestic worker ID cards out of the 5000 requests filed, according to workers. Shortage of Workers Facilitation centres left domestic workers unregistered NO Unavailability of Workers Facilitation Centres in the The lack of facilitation centers and ID cards in the city is creating problems for city has created problems for the domestic workers. What is a facilitation centre? As per Karnataka Labour Law, facilitation centres are set up for the workers to access the benefits that are transferred to them from the government.

“Identification is a necessity to access various facilities under the scheme. We have applied to the labour department for 5,000 identity cards for domestic workers but they have issued only 600 cards,” said Richard Gonsalves, from Stree Jagruti Samiti, an organisation to support domestic workers. One Richard shared a case where a domestic worker’s husband fell down from thea fifth floor building and broke his leg.When the family demanded for money from the employer, they said they did not know him. denied and failed to recognize him. “If theyhe had had an identity card they could have availed the benefits provided by the government schemes,” he

added. In 2014, Stree Jagruti Samiti along with the Domestic Workers Right’s Union and Action Aid set-up Workers’ Facilitation Centres’s in Banashankri and Koramangla as a pilot project. “Since our move, no initiative has been taken by the government to set-up any centres in the city,” said Kevin Noranha, Regional Office Secretary, Action Aid, an agency working with poor people. The first pilot project to setup workers facilitation centres was taken up by the labour department of Karnataka in rural parts of Karnataka with the help of a German company, Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), an organisation that provide services to ensure sustainable

development worldwide. These centres were introduced to create awareness and benefits of government schemes among the unorganised sector workers. that they are entitled to. As per The International Labour organisationorganisation2013 reporteds in 2013 that there are more than 1.5 million domestic workers in India and an it’s estimatedsays that over six lakh domestic workers are there in Karnataka. Surendra Bansod, from the National domestic works movement, an organisation involved with domestic workers,after knowing the issue faced among domestic workers,said “ If the workers remain unregistered, it will urge the domestic workers unions to come together and pressurise

Representational image the government demanding for their identification at state as well as district levels”.