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![YOJANA June 2000
Mr R.K. Bhatnagar is Regional Director, Staff Selection Commission, New Delhi.
People's Participation in
Governance
The important local bodies today are
District B-oards, Municipalities,
Improvement Trusts, Development
Boards and Panchayats. Their
administrative functions cover a wide
field like education, medical aid,.Pllblic
health, water supply, communication,
lighting, sanitation drainage,
construction of roads, bridges and
culverts etc. But there resources are very
limited. They chiefly consists of taxes
and non tax receipt-tax receipts are like
tax on property, on trades, on business,
fees and licenses etc., while the non tax
receipts are like rent on land, house, rest
houses, dak bunglows, sale proceeds of
land, produce ofland, fees from market,
fees and revenue from commercial
undertakings, interest on the invest-
ments and the government grants etc.
29
Attributes
There are many establishments like
Railways and Defence departments
which provide separate roads, transport
systems, water and electricity works,
educational and recreational facilities-
in deed virtually the whole range of
affairs which are customarily looked
after by local government. Yet they can
not rigidly be called local government.
The essential attributes of a local
government are firstly its statutory
status; secondly its power to raise
finance by taxation in the area under its
jurisdiction; thirdly participation ofthe
local community in the decision making
in specified subject and their
administration; fourthly the freedom to
act independently of central control; and
lastly its general purpose approach in
.contrast to single purpose character.
The Constitution 74th Amendment
Act, .1992 on Municipalities had come
in to existence, stooping towards
delegating the powers to people at the
grass root level. Subsequent to the 74th
Amendment to the Constitution, the
Municipal government/Local goverh-
ment has attained a special status as the
government at the third level, after the
two levels of C~ntral and State
governments.
.' ACCORDING TO ROBERT
Chambers [1993], "Empowerment
me~ns that people, especially the poor
people, are enabled to take more control
of productive assets as one key element.
Decentralization and empowerment
enable local people to exploit the
diverse complexities of their own
conditions, and to adapt to rapid
.change ..." Just as economic growth
means little unless it is translated into'
improvement in human lives, so also
democracy can be merely an empty
ritual of periodic elections unless
people actively participate and are
aware an_d empowered, in all the
institutions of civil society. People
everywhere want to determine their own
destiny. Democracy has its own
problems when it comes to managing
competing claims of different classes,
ethnic groups and golitical factions.
Developing countries are especially
vulnerable because the State controls a
big part of resources and when these are
allocated by Government decisions, the
reward -forinfluence can be very high.
Decentralizing governance'from the
"Centre" to States, Towns and
Villages-can be one of the best means
of promoting people's participation and
efficiency in working. In India local
government is widely known as Local
Self Government (LSG). This term
originated when the country was under
Britishadministration and did not enjoy
any tinge of self-government either at
the centre or at the State level. When a
decision was taken by the British
government to associate Indians in
administering local affairs, it only meant
a slice of self government for the people.
People everywhere
want to determine
their own destiny.
Decentralising
governance from the
centre to states,
towns and villages
can be one of the best
means ofpromoting
people) participation
and e.(ficiency in
working.
R.K. Bhatnagar](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/junvol44no6-190516075926/85/Jun-vol44-no6-29-320.jpg)
![•(
France: from the end of the 19th
century, France has gradu~J..Iymoved to
a broader degree of deconnection via
solwer process of decentralization. Over .
the last 17years this two fold movement
had been gathering p;ce and the two
major Legislations namely, (I) The
Decentralization Acts o( the period
1982-85 and (I) The Territorial
Organization of the State Act of 1992
have in fact broken the moud of French
Administrative system. From then
onwards, the underlying legal
framework of the Administration in
France was no longer centralization but
deconcentration. If a bottom-up
approach is to become effective reality
for the benefit of local users and the
local democracy, the reforms of roots
and btanches of the central
administration is essential.
experience in the developed country like
France.
India: In the. Indian c'ontext, the
panchayats as institutions of self-
governm-ent are expected to manage
their resources and to pan and
implement schemes 'for socio-economic /
development and social justice. Much
depends on how the elected
representatives use the available
resources for the benefit of the
community and how skillfully they
perform the functions and also how
vigilant and active the Gram Sabhas are.
The gram Sabhas can be regarded as the
'base' on which the pyramid of PRJs
rests. Since it is the Gram Sabha
whom the PRIs represent and to whose
needs they must respond to and to
whom they must b-e accountable,
I therefore, it is incumbent upon the Gram
Sabha in turn to be watchful about
I the general functioning of the P.RTsas
without the participation of the Gram
I Sabhas, the PRIs have no way to
ttlcce€d. Village people now have a
forum in the Gran)! Sabha for
, direct participation in---;-nanagingtheir
own affairs. Focus on Gram sabha
I has to sharpened to make it functional'
and participatory adequately.I _
considerations, for example"preventing
the central system from becoming too
unwidely; securing speed and econOlny
in delivery of public goods and services.
(Arvind K. Sharma [1996]).
Deconcentration, through the process 'of
decongestion and localization improves
common man's access to public.servi~e
by relocating services to various serviI"lg
sites instead of confining at one central
point. !
Delegation, on the other han<il,
involves p~ssing s~me authority and
decision m~king powers to local
officials.
In most ofthe developing countries,
decentraization has been limited to
deconectraction. Wherever the
dec~ntralization has gone beyond the
extent of devolution, the resources
which are controlled by the local
government, municipalities' etc. are
generally very small. We may at this
st~ge succinctly elucidate the
Local Self-Government'(LSG) with
an electoral body and people's
participation is the essence of the 74th
Amendment. Consequent upon theAct,
the LSG envisaged the composition of
Municipalities, constituent Ward
C6ii1iTIiUees,financial provisions and
the functions of District and
Metropolitan Planning Committees.
. The composition of Municipalities
s.tipulates direct elections from
territorial constituencies in Municipal
area, also known as wards. The State
legislature may, by law, provide for
repre~entation of persons in the
Municipality, who may be having
special knowledge or expertise in the Dev~luti~n.
field of Municipal administration and DevolutIOn ISthe strongest form of
the Members of the House of the People~dec~ntralization-granting d.e.cision
and the Members of Lecrislative . makmg powe~s to local authontles and
Assembly of the State rep;e~enting al~owingthem to take full responsibilitY
constituencies which comprise wholly WIthout refere~ce. back to centra!
or partly the Municipal area; gover~ment. :hls mcludes both t~e
financIal powers as well as the authOrity
to design and execute local development
projects and programmes. Political
devolution in its present day,
connotation means much more beyond
its "conventional sense. It is not simply'
Local Self Government Institution, .
(LSGl) but the LSGI with vibrant local'
level assemblies .so that not only the I
elected representatives but the entire'
adult population gets associated through I
active participation in decision making
.proce~s. The closer to the grass root I
. democracy is extended, the brighter,
would be the chances of accountable
governance. The two effective wings of
political decollation are sub local for a
of political devolution is one ofthe told
of collective political action as strategy
for reforms, seeking people's
participation in the governance process.
. Decentralization can take place in
several forms: it might be for examp'le
horizontal or verticle. Horizontal
decentralization disperses power among
institutions at the same level; for
instance a gover01'nent spending
decisions instead of being-concentrated
in Finance Ministry might be taken at
the level of different Ministries. On the
other hand, verticle decentralization
nlIows sonie of the powers of central
government to be delegated downwards
to lower tiers of authority-to States and
then further down to local governments
or so. Velticle decentralization of the
government can itself take 3 forms:-
(i) Deconcentration (ii) Delegation
(iii) Devolution .
Decentralization, in its
deconcentration, aspect, is spurred by
what are essentially functional
DecOIlcentrationis limited to passing
down only administrative discretion to
local offices of central government
ministr:ies etc. Although it does resultI
in sOIl~e dispersal of power, few
depisions can be taken without reference
to the centre.
30 YOJ1NA June 2000](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/junvol44no6-190516075926/85/Jun-vol44-no6-30-320.jpg)
![VAT is thus assessed only on the
incremental value added at each stage
value added at each stage from the stage
of production to retail stage".
The difference among the various'
concepts, like the consumption,
prod~ction income and wage type VAT
emarates from the differential treatment I
meted out to business investment. I
to the commodity since the last taxable
transaction.
/
MODVAT (Modified Value Added
Tax) scheme ~ntrodi.lced in the year
1985. It was'announcedto prevent the
cascading effect of excise duties. "The
excise system", according to senior
economic adviser Department of
Economic Affairs Mr. Arvind Virmani,
as it existed in 1985 was extremely
complex. Rate differentiation had been
taken to absurd lengths. To cite only one
example, there were about 50 different
excise tax rates on polyster fibre and
yarns. The MODVAT enables the
manufacturer to take credit for the duty
paid on the inputs against the duty
payable on the final products. It is
perhaps not so difficult to imagine the
strong incentive this provided for tax
evasion, harassment and corruption.
Classification disputes were an
inevitable consequence of this system
as it was impossible to differentiate
between items having different tax rates
without sending virtually every batch
for laborator);..te~!ing." according to Mr.
Virmani.
A switch from specific rates to ad
valorem rates and a reduction in the
number of rates was a clear imperative
if the system was to be simplified. In
addition, a system set off and deduction
was introduced to ta_cklethe problems
of cascading of excise taxes and
distortions in production. There were
designed to iinprove the efficiency of
the excise system and constituted the
MODVATsystem. In principle there are
I two efficient systems of domestic
indirect taxation: a VATand a Sales Tax
on finished goods. Neither of them
I distorts production choices.
I VAT is levied at every stage of
. production and yet maintains its
, efficiency properly because full credit
, is"given for the VATlevied on all inputs
in production. The VAT has the
I additional advantage in countries
,plagued with tax -evasion that tax
collection takes place in stages, so that
I tax evasion at on.:: stage would be
The VATwas introduced for the first
time in France in 1954 to remove the
evils of turnover tax and to boost
investment. Later, U,K.; Fedeqd
Republic of Germany, Denmark,
Norway, Italy, Sweden Finland, Brazi'],
Netherlands, Austria etc. alsp
introduced this system.
I
. The VATof developing countries is
less uniform, less neutral and les~
comprehensive than that of developed
countries. As such, Morcco, Uruguay,
Brazil, Tunisia, Algiers etc are facing
the problem of more difficult tax
administration, increased cases of tax
evasion and the higher cost collection.
1
I
Categories
The VATcan be classified into four
l
categories i.e. consumption type VAT;'
Income type, production type, and wage,
type VAT.
Value Added Tax belongs to the!
family of sales tax, the manufacture I
sales-tax and the wholesale sales tax. '
When a tax is levied on the ~ggregate
sales of all commodities except those
for which the law provides exemption,
is called the general sales tax. The
general sales tax has two i~nportant
varieties; the multi-point and sirigle
point sales tax system. Under single
point system a specific amount oftax is
added to the price at which the article is
sold to the consumer. It is collected at
one point of sale. But a multi point sales
tax is levied at all stages of sales of a
commodity. It is levied when the
producer sells it to the wholesaler, again
when the wholesaler sells it to the
retailer and finally again, when the
retailer sells it to the consumer.
in the neat future and to phase down
customs duty to Asian levels in five
years. The former was followed up by
an agreement among all states to move
a VATbyApri1200 1.Excise tax reforms
involved reduction of eleven major ad
valorem duty rates to three Le. a central
rate of 16%: a merit rate of 8% and a
demerit rate of 24%. The cap on
MODVAT credit of 95% of ,the
admissible amount was lifted and made
100 per cent. The excise tax on capital
goods was brought to the Central rate
of 16 per centJrom 13%. An authority
for advance ruling for excise and
customs was set up. This will not only
inject greater transparency but also
provide binding rules, which will go a
long way in helping intending investors
about their duty liabilities in advance.
ValueAdded Tax is a tax on the value
added to'tl!e commodity or services.
VAT is imposed on the value that
business firms add to the goods and
services that they purchase from other
firms. It adds value by processing or
handling these purchases items with its
own labour force or its own machinery,
buildings or other capital goods. Then,
it sells . the resulting product to
consumers orlo other finns. Therefore,
the difference between the sale proceeds
and the cost of materials, etc., that it has
purchased from other finns is its value
added, which is the tax bases of the
value added (VAT).
The items that firms purchase from
other firms consist of raw-materials,
semi-manufactured goods supplies use
up in the process of manufacture or
handling, of services , e.g. banking,
insurance, advertisement, finished
go.odsready for reale to consumers (in
case of retailers) finally machinery,
equipment and other capital goods.
In the words ofL.K. Jha Committee,
1976 (Popularly know as Indirect
Taxation Enquiry Committee), "VAT,in
its comprehensive fonn, is a tax on all
goods and services except export and
government services, its special
characteristics being that it falls on the
42 YOJANA June 2000](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/junvol44no6-190516075926/85/Jun-vol44-no6-42-320.jpg)
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- 4. Dr D.N. Tewariis Member, Planning Commission. ManagelDent of Water Resources for Survival D.N. Tewari Besides extracting the best performance from the existing investment system let us manage our surface and -groundwater resources in an integrated manner by creating social awareness, public participation and ensuring dedication of implementing .agencies. WATER IS A PRIME natural resource, a basic human need and a precious national asset. It is needed in all aspects of life and health, for producing food, industrial activities, energy generation and maintenance of environment for sustenance of life ~d development. The total water resources of the country are approximately four percent of the world's fresh water resources, whereas the country's population is slightly more than 16 percent of the global population. As per estimate of National Commissioner for Integrated Water Resources Development, total annual water resources of the country is 1953 km3 • However, theutilisable quantities of water drawable from the annual resources are only 1086 km3 which is the sum of 690 km3 drawable from'surface water resources and 396 km3 drawable from groundwater sources. Thus water availability is adequate to meet the requirements at the national scale. However, national water resources do not form a single pool from which water can be transported/transferred to all the points of need. The availability of water is very unevenly distributed over the country. There are regions with hannful abundance and regions with acute scarcity. Official statistics put th~ number of drought affected districts in the country during 1999-2000 at 126, spread over II states. Floods and droughts cause damage sometime~ simultaneously in different parts of the country. The economic survey of 1999~ 2000 stated that only 90 percent of urban areas and 92.5 percent of rural a~eas have access to drinking water. In fact, the government ,is supposed to make drinking water available throughout the country as per Minimum Needs Programme (MNP) within 5 years. It is undeniable that a large part of the problem can be solved by revival of local and traditional water storage structures, innovative methods of water harvesting and integrated watershed development. Wherever feasible, artificial recharge and rainwater harvesting have to be encouraged. Public awareness, sense of ownership and women's participation haye to be encouraged to make water supply programme more efficient and effective. People's participatory institutions and Panchayats and municipal bodies should be encouraged to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining local water supply system. To redu~e the gap between demand and supply, water conservation measures be accorded highest priority in areas facing water quality and scarcity problems, with emphasis on recycling/reuse of waste water for non- domestic uses. To restore and maintain water quality and ensure environmental sustainability, action isneeded on a wide front under water resources protection and conservation, water use efficiency, water quality management, drainage and control of waterlogging and salinity, control of water pollution, development and application of clean technology, groundwater protection, monitoring and surveillance of water resources and water receiving wastes. The holistic management of water as a finite and vulnerable resource and the integration of sectorial water plans and programmes within the framework of national economic and social policy, are of paramount importance for immediate action. The fragmentation of 4 YOJANA June 2000
- 5. responsibilities for waterresources development among sectoral agencies is proving an impediment hence effective implementation and coordination mechanisms are required. Tanks, ponds and groundwater were recognised as sources of local water supply. Unless these sources are made effective drought condition may . continue in water scarcity areas. The tank system is a collection point of runoff providing a pond for pisciculture, a source of silt for fertilizers and material for construction, a recharge structure for groundwater, a source of drinking water for livestock and above all an irrigation source for cultivation of crops. Like tanks and ponds, several water conservation measures like 'nadi', 'tankas', roof-top collections, step wells, 'oorams' were used traditionally in different parts of the country. During 1950, there were about 5 lakh tanks in the country of which 46,800 had command area less than 40 ha each. The total number of irrigation tanks increased to about 15.13 lakh in 1986-87. Later .•on construction of tanks were not given any priority. They are mainly located in eight states, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, which together account for over 95 per cent of the total tank irrigation. However, due to silting, neglect and irregular maintenance of tanks the irrigation potential and supply of water .from tanks fell drastically. This would amount to capital loss of about Rs. 5000 crore at the present price levels. Priority Renovation and modernisation of tanks and other local water resources have to be given priority. Desiltation of tanks and possibilities of raising their banks may be examined. Reforestation of the catchment areas of tanks, restoring unlined canals to their original capacity, strengthening and improving tank bunds or anicuts and other YOJANA June 2000 associated structures as the case may be as well as watershed conservation measures along with such improvements or correction in the distribution network as the users feel necessary may be attempted. Integrated Treatment In a watershed, construction of check dams, contour trenching and bunding, gully plugging afforestation and such other measures help to conserve water, soil and recharge of ground~ater. Integrated watershed development help in drought proofing, improving environment and sustainable development. This is an area where people's participation is most important. At every stage, the people concerned must be involved in planning, implementation and development of local water resources. The participatory approach to watershed development would secure the commitment of people to execute, monitor and maintain the project after completion. The idea of an integrated treatment of all lands in a watershed was adopted by multipurpose Damodar Valley development project. The Damodar Valley Corporation set up an interdisCiplinary department of soil conservation, which functioned as such and built a series of small tanks and ponds, afforested their catchment, reclaimed land to give 'land for land' during future dam construction, and controlled gullies through checkdams and plantations. It also introduced fisheries in the tanks. Over the years, after the project was completed, instead of the experience being replicated, departmentalisation have taken over, as in all other fields. In the 1970s the idea of integrated watersheds was revived by the soil conservation department. The approach was made one of the conditions of financial assistance to the centrally sponsored schemes fo~the treatment of the catchment areas of selected river valley projects and of flood-prone rivers. The Fourth Five Year Plan proposed comprehensive treatment of all types of lands "on a complete watershed basis". The concept had since been reiterated in all plan documents, the emphasis being on small local watersheds of 1,000 to 2,000 hectares. A series of integrated development projects for local areas were started in 1970s and early eighties, first by the Ministry of Agriculture and ICAR and . later by the Ministry of Rural Development-variously called at different times, dealing with rural area development, employment, poverty alleviation and wasteland development, the Ministry of Planning and Programme Implementation and Ministry of Environment and Forests. There have also been several externally aided projects funded by the World Bank, EEC, KFW, DANIDA, SOC and aDA. Some states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan also started watershed development programmes on their own, with some successes as at Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh. Artificial Recharge The Central Ground Water Board, on its part, has suggested and also experimented with a number of -measures for artificial recharge of ground water-water spreading, recharge through wells and induced recharge from surface water bodies. Such measures would also form part of I integrated watershed development. The significant points to be noted from all these efforts are: (I) most of the initiatives have come from Government of India often from Ministries, other than the Ministry of Water Resources, which now has a mandate for coordination in relation to diverse uses of water, (ii) all the programmes show an unrealised concern for coordinated action to achieve the mix of objectives and departmental schemes and the 5
- 6. programmes continue asbefore & (iii) while the recent programmes and guidelines emphasise the necessity for consultation with the participation of the community and the people, as well as equitable distribution of benefits, all of them visualise the government departments and functionaries playing the key role. A number of social activists and voluntary organisation have shown growing interest in local watershed development, either in itself or as part of integrated development of a village or area. Sukhomajri, Tejpura, Nalgaon, Daltonganj, Ralegon Siddhi, Jawaja, Adgaon, Alwar, Kotwa-Rahimabad, etc., are well known examples and have been widely discussed and written about. Amongst the many voluntary organisations, the contributions of the Pani Panchayats ofMaharashtra, Tarun . Bharat Sangh, Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency, Action for Food Programme, Society for Promotion of Wasteland Development, Utthan- Centre for Sustainable Development and Aga Khan Rural Support Programme are quite significant. In Delhi, INTACH has prepared a detailed plan for augmentation of local water resources through restoration of old structures, water-harvesting, conservation and recharge of groundwater. A number of studies and evaluations have been made of the different kinds of programmes and projects undertaken by different agencies. The report of the Planning Commission's Committee on 'Twentyfive Year's Perspective Plan for the Development of Rainfed Areas' (1997) gives extracts of a number of recent case studies that are very instructive. We give below, in a summary fashion, the more important lessons that could be gleaned from the large number of studies that have been made. Government Programmes • Relative to the size ofthe problems 6 and the potential and the magnitude of resources devoted to these activities, integrated watershed development is still in its infancy and at a largely experimental stage. • Even as the local integrated approa:ch was being emphasised and was getting a favourable response from the people, the proliferation of schemes by the ministries has continued. Each scheme had its own built in rigidities. • Almost all the 'integrated' programmes remain fragmented in terms of sources of funds and responsibility for implementation. A collage of schemes implemented by different vertical departments does not get automatically coordinated. • The coordination mechanisms in the form of coordination committees were hardly effective. • The absence of provision for follow-up action and continuing management. • Integrated watershed programmes like other area development programmes were not looked upon with enthusiasm by most departmental heads, who believe more in vertical delivery than in horizontal coordination at the local level. • Though people's participation was emphasised, it was mostly forinal even when sought. People's involvement at all stages was rarely achieved. Other Projects . Compared to government programmes, the projects undertaken by local communities, voluntary organisations and activists were more .relevant to each location, had greater people's involvement and were flexible and innovative. They have also shown keenness to evolve cost-effective techniques and to use local traditional knowledge. They had also several important lessons: • The mutual relationships among the voluntary organisation, the beneficiary groups and the local government institutions (panchayats)-recently set up at three levels in each district, as constitutionally mandated, has to be carefully worked out. • Panchayats functioning like clones of the state government and/or over-politicised, vitiate the atmosphere needed for cohesive community involvement. • Equitable sharing of costs and benefits is a difficult objective to achieve but has to be worked out and all sections should have faith in the arrangements and confidence that they will be faithfully followed. • Special arrangements for benefits to the landless (who may contribute through their labour) through access to common land and benefits therefrom will be necessary. • The dilemma of choosing the appropriate technology arises at least after the simple phase is over. Voluntary organisations are most successful in dealing with social issues, but not all are equipped to deal with the technical problems. Traditional knowledge of the people can neither be ignored nor romanticised. Perhaps, the only solution is experimentation and trial and error method. This may involve unintended costs, which have to be borne. • The success ofthe projects depends a great deal on the quality of leadership. Under dedicated and competent leaders, who work for the good of the community, the people are willing to come together, cooperate and even sacrifice. There are examples of decline after YOJANA June 2000 I ,
- 7. change of leadership.The replicability of projects of VOs/ people is found to be difficult because of absence dedicated leadership. Conclusion , The contribution of water to ecorromic productivity and social wellbeing has to be fully appreciated. The holistic management offresh water as a finite and vulnerable resource, and the integration of sectoral balance and programmes within the framework of national economic and social policy are of paramount importance for action. Integrated water resources management should be based on the perception of water as an integral part of the ecosystem and social and economic good whose quantity and quality determine the nature of its utilisation. To this end, water resources have to be protected, taking into account the functioning of aquatic ecosystems and the perenniality of the resources, in order to specify and reconcile needs of water in human activity. In developing and using water resources, priority has to be given to the satisfaction of basic needs (such as drinking water) and the safeguarding of eco systems. The following actions have to be initiated on priority basis: i) Integration of measures for the protection and conservation of potential sources of water supply, including the inventorying of water resources with land use planning, forest resources utilisation, protection of mountains and slopes and river banks and other relevant development and conservation activities. ii) Wherever feasible, artificial recharge and rain water harvesting have to be encouraged instead of looking only for new and distant sources of water supply or tapping vast depleting groundwater. iii) Renovation and utilisation oftanks YOJANA June 2000 and other local water sources are to be considered as priority task. The programmes need to be planned and implemented on watershed basis taking into account the comparative technoeconomic feasibility of renovating existing tanks vis-a-vis construction of supplementary tanks upstream and downstream. iy) Integrated watershed development programme should be given priority for soil and water conservation, arresting degradation of catchment areas and restoring ecological balance of the area. The holistic managemen~ of fresh water as a finite and vulnerable resource, and the integration of sectoral balance and programmes within the framework of national economic and social policy are of paramount importance for action. v) Ideally, water supply and liquid wastes management scheme should be integrated and for this, it is necessary that water supply programmes are not taken up without simultaneous approval of sanitation/waste water disposal programmes. vi) Flood and drought management, including risk analysis and environmental and social impact assessment. vii) A number of reservoir construction projects continuing over the long period must be completed on priority basis. Rivers, lakes and wetlands have to be cleaned quickly. (viii) Mobilisation of water to water stressed areas particularly in arid and semi arid regions and ensuring drought proofing. (ix) Public awareness needs to be created for reducing water consumption. Women participation is to be encouraged to the maximum as they face the drudgery of water scarcity. x) Development of public participatory techniques and their implementation in decision making particularly the enhancement of women in water resources planning and management. xi) Due importance should be given to local water planning, with the basic aim of .making each rural area managing its own water needs as far as possible through water harvest, conservation measures and watershed development. xii) There is a need for optimum use of local sources o(water even in canal irrigated area in the interest of efficiency of water use, extension of irrigated lands, prevention of waterlogging and increased productivity. Thus, the challenge before us is to ensure that people must have better access to a potable water-supply and to sanitation services. Sustainability of food pr~duction depends on sound and efficient water use. More water is needed for energy generation, for crucial industrial activities and for maintaining environmental health to ensure the sustainability of developme~t. The problems are not beyond the resource availability and present state of knowledge and technology. Besides extracting the best performance from the existing investment system let us manage our surface and groundwater resources in an integrated manner by creating social awareness, public participation and ensuring dedication of implementing agencies. 0 7
- 8. National Agriculture Policy onAnvil of Central plan assistance to states. Once the work plans are finalized the identified ongoing Centrally sponsored schemes will be discontinued. The funds available under them will be used to provide assistance to states for the work plans. The proposal has/heen discussed with the state governments and the broad contours of the work plans in different states have been finalised through consultation. An outlay of Rs. 1850 crore has been proposed for the scheme for the remaining years of the Ninth Plan. Without underscoring the achievement of the Green Revolution in imparting dynamism to the growth in foodgrains production in the country, it is admitted that its impact has, largely, remained restricted to the well-endowed irrigated areas of the country, leading to disparities across regions, crops and sections of farmers. There are large variations in the yields among semi-arid and Green Revolution areas. High potential areas like the Eastern and North Eastern Regions are still lagging behind in production enhancement efforts. There are also vast disparities between the actual and potential yields of many crops, pointing to the technological gaps which still need to be addressed. The average productivity levels' in India are still low, both compared to the yields. in the country as also the yield levels achieved by several other countries. Indian agriculture is also characterised by low levels of fertiliser consumption and mechanisation compared to other countries. The sector is characterised by low seed replacement rates; less than 20 per cent of seed isproduced in the original sector. Further, only about 50 per cent of credit is met through institutional sources. The Ninth Plan was fonnulated to launch a regionally differentiated I strategy, based on agro-climatic regional planning (taking into account the agromatic climatic and environmental condition). This is M.M. Lall The government proposes to shift from aprogramme oriented approach to macro management mode to operationalize the regionally differentiated strategy in agriculture sector. This will ensure that the allocations to this sector find timely and effective application in intended areas. 8 'THE GOVERNMENT IS preparing a draft National Agriculture Policy and an announcement to this effect will be made shortly. It aims at realising the vast untapped potential of Indian agriculture, strengthen rur~l infrastructure; promote value addition and accelerate the growth of agro-business. The policy will help create employment in rural areas and secure a fair standard of living for the farmers and agricultural workers and their families. It is also envisaged to meet the challenges arising out of the economic liberalization an~ globalization. This was disclosed at the Editorsi , Conference on Social Sector Issue~.in! Delhi recently. This is the second meeting of its kind to be held. The government is to give high priority for doubling food production during the period from 1997-98to 2007- 2008. The action plan envisages a de~ailed strategy and specific programmes to substantially increase, the supply of various food items in such a way that the demand for these items I is met and some exportable surplus is , also available. The government proposes to shift from a programme oriented approach to macro management mode to operationalize the regionally differentiated strategy in agriculture sector. This will ensure that the allocations to this sector find timely and I effective application in intended areas. The state-wise work plans, comprising regionally differentiated crop/areal specific interventions and formulated in an interactive mode, will be the basis YOJANA June 2000
- 9. expected to realisethe full potential of growth in every region, narrow down regional and crop imbalances, and thus, ensure food and nutritional security. The development strategy in the Ninth Plan is essentially based on the policy oHood security, Le. to double food production and to make the country hunger-free in the coming decade. To supplement the efforts of the state governments for increasing crop productivity and production, various crop production oriented schemes are being implemented. Emphasis is being laid on the transfer of improved crop production technology through organization of Front Line Demonstrations (FLDs) and field demonstrations on farmers holding. FLDs are organised through ICAR- SAU Research system to demonstrate frontier technology of crop p~oduction on farmers field. Well organised training programmes are conducted to educate and make fanners aw~re of the new technologies. Some of the major initiatives to increase the agriculture production in the country include formulation of a programme for on farm water management, launching a technology mission in the integrated development of horticulture in the North Eastern Region, a technology mission on cotton provision of capital subsidy for construction and expansion of cold storages for horticulture produce, creation of a watershed development fimd and strengthening of agriculture marketing. A new scheme of National Agricultural Insurance has been introduced in the country from the Rabi season of 1999-2000. The scheme is available to all fanners, loanee and non- loanee, irrespective of their size of holding. It envisages coverage of all the food crops (cereals, millets and pulses), oil seeds and annual horticultural! commercial crops, in respect of which yield data is available for adequate number of years. Three cash crops i.e. YOJANA June 2000 sugarcane, potato and cotton will be covered in the first year of its operation. All other annual horticultural and commercial crops will be given insurance cover within the next three years subject to the conditions of availability of past yield data. The new scheme would operate on the basis of 'Area Approach' i.e. defined areas for each notified crop for widespread calamities and on an A new scheme of National Agricultural Insurance has been introduced in the country from the Rabi season of 1999-2000. The scheme is available to all farmers, loa nee and non- loanee, irrespective of their size of holding. individual basis for localized calamities such as hailstorm, landslide, cyclone . and flood. Individual based assessment in case oflocalised calamities would be implemented in limited areas on experimental basis initially and will be extended in the light of operational experience gained. The insurance scheme is expected to provide the much- need insurance cover to a vast majority of Indian fanners. It has also been decided to set up an exclusive organisation for implementation of the scheme. Until the new set up is created, the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC), will continue to function as the implementing agency. Many policy initiatives have been taken for strengthening the rural credit delivery system to support the growing credit needs of the agricultural and rural sectors. The emphasis is essentially on augrnenting flow at .,the ground level through credit planning and aqoption of region-specific strategies. Rational- ization of lending polices and procedures to enable the farmers to "- " adopt modern technologyand improved agricultural practices is another objectives. A model Kisan Credit Card scheme, introduced in 1998,' is being implemented by the rural financial institutions. Banks provide the Kisan Credit Cards to eligible farmers and sanction production credit of Rs 5000 and more. The credit given under the scheme is a kind of revolving cash credit and provide for any number of drawls and repayments within the limit. The government's objective is to achieve Samagra Gramin Vikas. All issues of basic needs of people in rural area would be addressed on a priority basis. The developinent of land and improving the quality of life of people are two primary means to achieve this objective. Provision of basic services such as rural housing, rural roads and drinking water would receive focussep attention. Imparting primary education and providing primary health and nutrition are the other critical concerns. Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana encompasses all these aspects. The government proposes to launch a National Rural Connectivity Programme. To begin with, an allocation of Rs.2,500 crore is being eannarked for rural connectivity. In the first phase, all villagers with a population of more than 1,000 will be connected with an all-weather road. The Ministry of Rural Development has recently constituted a National Rural Roads Development Committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Nitin Gadkari for this purpose. Its report is expected to be available shortly. At present more than 50 per cent of the villages in the country remain without an all-weather road. Another major concern is the shortage in rural housing. The government has recognised housing for all as a critical need. The 1991 census showed a shortage of 137.21akh houses. As against 53 houses constructed under the Indira Awas Yojana so far, it is 9
- 10. proposed to build12 lakh houses under the scheme this year at a cost ofRs. 150I crore. In addition, 13 lakh houses are also expected to be built in 2000-200 L It is also proposed to provide equity support of Rs. 100 crore to RUDCO during 2000-200 I. With this enhanced equity support, the RUDCO would be able to raise further resources to facilitate the construction of about 9 lakh houses in rural areas this years. Construction of hou'ses is also being taken up in,the cooperative sector and through voluntary organisations. Launched in April 1999, the credit cum-subsidy scheme for rural housing targets rural families with an annual income up to Rs.32,000. While subsidy isrestricted to Rs. 10,000,the maximum loan amount that can be availed of is Rs. 40,000. The subsidy portion is shared by the centre and the state in 75:25 ratio. The loan portion is to be disbursed by the commercial banks and housing financial institutions etc. During the current financial year a provision of Rs. 100 crore has been earmarked for this scheme to construct 1.33 lakh houses. Innovative Scheme An innovative scheme for rural housing and habitat development was launched last year. This will encourage innovative, cost effective and environment friendly solutions in building/housing sectors in rural area. An allocation of Rs. 10 crore has been made this year for its implementation. It has also been decided to set up rural building centres. The primary objectives of these are technology transfer and information dissemination, skill upgradation through training and production of cost effective and environinent friendly materials. Two building centres in each state will be set up by during the current financial year on pilot basis. One centre will be set up by a government institution and the other by a non-governmental organisation. An one-time grant of 10 Rs. 15 lakh will be provided for setting up a rural building centre. The Samagra Awas Yojana will be launched on pilot basis in one block each of 25 districts of 24 states and union territory. These blocks have been identified for implementing a participatory approach under the accelerated rural water supply programme. While the existing schemes for housing, drinking water and sanitation will follow the normal funding pattern, a special Central assistance of Rs. 25 lakh will be provided for each block for undertaking overall habitat development. New Department The agenda for governme'nt envisages availability of potable drinking water to all villages in the next five years. A new Department for Drinking Water Supply was created in October last to achieve this objective within a definite time frame. The outlay for this department has been enhanced to Rs. 2, I00 crore this year from Rs. 1807 crore. At present, about 83.35 per cent of rural habitations are covered with drinking water facilities. In additio~, 14.80per cent are partially covered. The remaining 1.85 per cent habitations remain without safe drinking water sources. So far, more than one lakh piped water supply scheme have been carried out and over 30 lakh handpumps have been installed for providing drinking water to the rural population with an investment of about Rs.27,000 crore. In the rural water supply sector, the main issue relates to sustainability ofth~ systems which become defunct owing to inadequate and poor operation and maintenance. Other problems include the sources going dry due to rapid depletion of ground water and becoming quality affected, primarily due to contamination by excess fluoride, arsenic, salinity and iron. To tackle these problems, projects are taken up under the sub-mission programmes of the Department of Drinking Water Supply. Development of the village level infrastructure is sought to be achieved through the Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana. Launched on IstApril1999, by restructuring the erstwhile Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, the Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana is implemented in all the Gram Panchayats of the country. This scheme is being implemented by the Gram Panchayats. Funds are released directly to t~em by the district rural development agencies/Zilla Parishads to make the programme more effective and meaningful. The Gram Panchayat is the sole authority for the preparation of annuaL action plan and its implementation with the approval of the Gram Sabha. . The Central government has revamped the rural development programme by introducing sector reforms. This envisages institutionalizing community participation by adopting a demand- driven, responsive and adaptable approach with emphasis on the empowennent of user communities and it also envisages the changing role of the government from that 'of a provider to that of a facilitator. In the revamped programme, provisions for partial capital cost sharing (l 0%) and full responsibility of operation and maintenance on user community has also been made. Fifty eight districts have been identified for the implementation of sector reforms on a pilot basis and so far 52 pilot district projects have been approved. New Initiative Another new initiative which isbeing launched relates to the Annapoorna scheme. The objective of this initiative is to provide f<;Jodsecurity to those aged destitutes who do not receive the old age pension. They will be given 10 kgs of foodgrains pei month free. To begin with, this scheme will cover about 13.76 lakh beneficiaries in various parts ofthe country. 0 YOJANA June 2000
- 11. ProfB. Bhattacharyya isDean, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi. EXIM Policy 2000-2.001 Towards Speedier Grrowth of Exports Table I Year Export 1996-97 33470 (5.26) .1997-98 35006 . (4.59) I998-99(P) 33659 (-3.85) 1999-2000 April-Dec.) (P) 27419 (12.9) India's ForeigJ) Trade (US $ million) Import 39133 (6.69) , 41484 (6.01) 41858 (0.90) Indian economy. The export-import policy constitutes a subset of all such macro economic policies. P is Provisional 34458 (9.0) Notes: within brackets denote growth/ rates / Source: Economic Survey, various years. Exim policy in India are formulated for the period of 5 years with annual adjustments, as required. The policy for 2000-2001 was announced on I April, 2000 with a large number of innovative features. Some of these distinguishing features are discu~sed below: i) India has a long history of free trade zones starting with the setting up of a FTZ at Kandla. Subsequently, export processing zones (EPZ) were set up in various other centres. However, the record of those EPZs so far has not been spectacular. One possible reason behind the lacklustere performance of these zones has been the complex regime of rules, procedures and incentives packages applicable to their operations. Borrowing a concept from China, this years's policy has introduced a scheme- of special economic zones (SEZ). To ensure unregulated manufacturing and trading activity for exports, the units in these zones will not be subjected to any predetermined value . addition norms, export obligation, INDiA RECORDED A'growth rate of about 13percent in forgien trade during the 9 months of the last fiscal year, i.e., 1999-2000. This is in line with the target set by the Ministry of Commerce for that year. Though this growth rate is substantially higher than the growth rates recorde9 in the preceding two years, this is still low compared to the need. (Table I) Despite various measures taken by the Government of India during the last decade, India's share in global exports continues to be around 0.6 per cent. Given the increasing globalization of the world economy, it is imperative that policy measures are introduced which will enhance India's competitiveness. Globalisation essentially means opening up one's own market to outside competition on the one hand and securing market access in the rest of world for the export industries on the other. Increased competitiveness will ensure that goods locally produced and sold will be able to compete effectively with imported goods while the export industries will be able to secure a higher market share abroad. A reverse situation will arise if the Indian economy becomes uncompetitive. Globalisation is , therefore, a process which is beneficial only when the economy progresses towards an increasingly higher level of economic efficiency.The macro economic policies of the Government of India as a whole influence the competitive profile of the With the econontic reforms taking roots in India as widl as because of the obligations to the WTO as a member country, there has to. be aparadigm shift in the thrust and contents of the EXIM policy. The objective of the export-import policy should be to '" ensure that transactions costs are minimised through simplification of systems and procedures as well as mechanization. This year ~ EXIM policy is /a major step towards the direction. B. Bhattacharyya YOJANA June 2000 II
- 12. be filed onlyonce in four years, second-hand capital goods which are less than 10 years old can be imported directly on surrender of special import licences without obtaining an import licence. . viii)To make the state governments participate more effectively in national export efforts, a scheme has been developed to. grant assistance to the states for development of export-related infrastructure. This grant will be distributed on the basis of absolute as well as incremental export performance. For the current year, an allocation of Rs. 250 crore has been proposed which may be revised for subsequent years. This amount can be utilised for projects such as roads connecting production centres with ports, research and development for ethnic products originating in the states, development of cold chain for agro-exports, development of minor ports, setting up export promotion industrial park etc. Abolition 6rQRs One of the most important features of this year's policy is the abolition of quantitative restrictions on the import of 714 items. vii) Several procedural simplifications have been introduced with a view to reducing complexities and transaction costs. To speed up flow of export/import transactioRs as well as to bring about transparency in the office of DGFT, electronic filing of licence application i,s already in operation in 7 major This decision is the direct result of ports. This is being extended to all -- India losing the case before the WTO's the remaining ports by 30 June Dispute Settlement Body which ruled 2000. This system, when that these restrictions .could notbe completed, will eliminate physical maintained under the balance of interface between DGFT offices payments cover as provided under and the exporters will get licences Article 18:B. As a result, the witllin 24 hours. Simultaneously ~government is obliged to remove electronic data- interchange witq quantitative restrictions on all the 1429 other government organisations is tariff lines by April 200 I. Fears have also being developed which will been expressed in some quarters that bring down the transactions cos~ removal of quantitative restrictions and time significantly. Other might result in large volume of imports simplifications include: availability which }mlY affect adversely the local of duty exemption licence for finns, some of which are small and deemed exports and intennediates medium enterprises. It needs to be noted supplies on the basis of self- in this context that these quantitative declarations, registration-cum- restrictions were in fact withdrawn for membership certificate will have to imports from the SAARC countries, iv) The Export Promotion Capital Goods scheme has been extended unifonnly to all sectors and to all capital goods without any threshold limit on payment of 5 per cent customs duty, while the 10per cent countervailing duty has been abolished. This change will help the small scale exporters substantially. v) The services sector needs to be encouraged in terms of greater involvement in export.Accordingly all service providers including those in tourism, health services and accountancy, caravail of all applicable benefits under the EXIM policy. Further, the procedure of customs bonding is being removed, as per the demands of the industry. vi) Sector-specific packages have been drawn up to promote exports of agrochemicals, bio-technology, pharmaceuticals, silk, leather, handicrafts garments, granites and minerals. input-output/wastage norms. These will be considered as being outside the customs territory of the country. These units will be allowed to sell in the domestic tariff area on payment of full customs duty. A private sector special economic zone has been sanctioned at Pipavav in Gujarat. Another SEZ has been sanctioned at Tuticorin. In addition, the existing EPZs at Mumbai. Kandla, Vishakhapatnam and-Cochin are being converted into SEZ. ii) A major rationalisation effort has been made by abolishing some export-pr~motion schemes, while introducing some new ones. The schemes which have been abolished include pre-export DEPB scheme and special advance licences for the electronic sector. The transferable advance licence was also abolished but has been replaced by a more simplified scheme. The special import licence (SIL) has been abolished as there will not be any SIL list after 31. March 2001. iii) For neutralising the impact of customs duties on imported inputs for export production, two schemes have been introduced: first is the actual user non-transferable advance licences for physical exports, deemed exports and for intermediate supplies. Except for deemed exports, for which the duty exemption will be pnly for basic customs duty, for all other exports the exemption will cover all duties including countervailing duty, special additional duty, anti- dumping duty and safeguards duty. The second scheme is for those who would not like to go through the advance licensing route. For them, a post-export duty free transferable replenishment certificate has been introduced. This certificate will cover imported inputs used in export production as per standard input-output norms and will be available for about 5,000 products. 12 YOJANA June 2000
- 13. Table 2 Domestic Firmsand FIEs in China's Exports 7.81 (12.58) 47.17 (31.70) 61.54 (40.70) 74.90 (41.00) fact that China's FDI policy has always favoured the export oriented industries over those seeking to exploit the domestic market with an exception of few critical infrastructural sectors such as telecommunication. The Chinese experience also shows that it takes a lot of time to design a policy package which is perceived to be beneficial by foreign investors. The special economic zones were set up as early as 1979. However, SEZs hardly contributed to 'export efforts till 1986. The extension of special status to the 14 open cities and the whole of Pearl River Delta and South Fujian in 1985 offered f.oreign investors real opportunities in China and since 1986 the importance of the FIEs in exports started increasing. Total exports of the FIEs amounted to US$ 582 million with a share of 1.9 per c~nt _ of total exports in 1986. This incr~ased to US$ 75.9 bn. with a share of 41 per cent in total exports in 1997. Year Tot~l Exports Domestic Firms 1986 30.09 29.51 (98.07) 1990 62.09 54~28 (87.42) 1995 148.80 101.63 (69.30) "- 1996 151.12 89.58 (59.3) 1997 182.70 107.80 (59.0) Source: Data in parenthesis are percentage share. ,; (COIltd. on Page 25) 13 This close correlation between FDI and export performances is due to the The relationship between foreign direct investment and export performance can also be seen from the following facts. The South-East, Guangdong and Fuj ian provinces received over US$ 39 bn. in the form of FDI between 1983-94. ThiS'represents 43 percent of the total FDI inflows to China during the same p<::riod.The contribution of this region to total exports was 49 per cent in 1994. The Yangtse Delta~region. got FDI amounting to US$ 19 bn. during 1983- 94, about 21 per cent of the total. The share of the region in country's total exports was 19 per cent for FDI and 17 per cent for total exports. It has been estimated that of the overall expansion in exports between 1992 and 1996, FIE c~ntributed about two-thirds of that increase. (US$ Bn) FIEs 0.582 (1.93) FDI and Exports The government believes that the growth rate of exp?rts in the current year can be pushed up to 20 per cent. The expectation is that the special economic zones WIll be able to contribute substantially to sustain export effort. The Chinese model, from which this idea has been borrowed, has definitely been successful so far as the Chinese export expansion is concerned. The emergence of China as a leading global exporter is largely due to special economic zones which could attract massive amount of foreign direct investments. These foreign firms, known investment enterprises. in China, have contributed significantly to Chinese export growth. Total registered capital in foreign investment enterprises (FIE) amounted to US$290 bn. by the end of 1996. The estimated exports from FIE's increased from US$ 17 bn. 1992 to US$ 25 bn.in 1993, US$ 34 bn. in 1994, US$ 47 bn. in 1995 and US$ 61 bn. in 1996. This represents more than 40 per cent of China's total exports. w.e.f. August 1998.This has not resulted in much larger import since then. Further, tariff protection, which can go up to more than 40 per cent will continue to be available. In addition, there are many products in the current year's list which are exotic and there will be very few potential customers for such products in India. Further, the government can impose anti-dumping duties if it is found that foreign suppliers are dumping their goods in India which is causing injury to the domestic industry. Moreover, in some cases cheaper imports may help in reducing prices in the domestic market besides making domestic industry more internationally competitive. Strong competition can, however, be expected in some product categories such as apparel, footwear, processed foods, sanitary fixtures and fitting and audio systems. YOJANA June 2000
- 14. Mr K.R. Sudhamanis Associate Editor, Economics, PTI. i Interest'Rate Cut-. ~ Pros and Cons K.R. Sudhaman The rates cuts may augur well for Industry, where cost of capital is likely to be reduced, and government, whose massive borrowing programme would become cheaper. But pensioners and middle class who all along depended on bank deposit schemes and postal small savings and Public Provident Fund, have been badly hit. , .IN A MOVE designed to boost investments and fiscal consolidation, Reserve Bank of India took a slew of measures including cut in bark rate and cash reserve ratio to trigger interest rate cuts by commercial banks which had been a long pending demand by trade and industry. The move by RBl Govemor has surprised none as Finance Minister and his deputy had thrown enough hints much ahead ofthe Budget presentation on February 29 that it was time interest rates which were cut further to kickstart the economy which was on a recovery mode after two years of industrial recession. Sending clear signals to the market that it should lower interest rates to make the industry more competitive a~ a time when several banks were flush with funds, Apex Bank has cut th.ekeYl reference rate, Bank Rate by one percentage point to 7 per cent Alongi with it, RBI infused Rs: 7,200 crore into, the system by cutting Cash Reserve Ratio requirement of banks by one percentage point in two equal tranches to eight per cent Consequently, the repo rate has also been reduced by one percentage point to five percent to align with the new rate structure. Taking cue from I government's bold but politically sensitive decision in January last to cut I interest rate on small savings I particularly Public Provident Fund by . one per cent which had hit hard pensioners, RBI reduced savings- deposit rate of banks by half a percent to four percent. As a consequence of the reduction in the bank rate, the interest rates on advances from the RBI by way of several facilities, including export credit refinance to scheduled commercial banks and primary (urban) cooperative banks would be reduced by one percentage point Other facilities where such a reduction would be affected are: collateralised lending facility, additional collateralised lending facility"liquidity to primary' dealers, advances to state financial corporations and ways and means advances and overdraft to Central Government and state governments. There has been a hue and cry.that cost of borrowings has been very high in India ma'king the Indian Industry uncompetitive, particularly exports. Hence to provide a level playing field, as a first step, interest rates should be brought down to Asian levels if not to the level of developed world. Bowing to their demand RBI had taken the right step to have some action in money and stock markets besides reversing adverse sentiments of industry in the post- budget. This step coming as it does before the announcement of RBI's Monetary and Credit policy on April 27 will benefit corporates particularly exporters who could now raise funds at around 8.5 per cent as against the London Inter Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) of 6.5 per cent Individuals also stand to gain as they get additional benefit oflower rate of interest for their loans to buy consumer durables, real estates and cars whose prices were already low at present The easy-credit policy is apparently based on the-tenet that lower interest rates will push up economic growth but at the same time it was playing a gamble with the gross government borrowing which is estimated at Rs. 117,000 crore this year. RBI has already kicked off its borrowing plan soon after the rate cuts by announcing an auction of 12.29 per cent 2010 security for a total amount of Rs. 5,000 crore. Gilt dealers maintain that RBI had no alternative but to bring liquidity to the market by cutting the I CRR and reduce the yields to meet their borrowing programme at comparatively I cheaper costs. With mounting fiscal I deficit particularly in the face of 14 YOJANA June 2000
- 15. increased defence a.llocationof Rs. 13,000 crore and additional allocation ofRs. 11,000 crore to states in the wake of the interim recommendations of the Eleventh Finance Commission, a reduction in borrowing cost would help in moving towards fiscal consolidation. Also the yield curve on government securities has been down oyer the last year, giving banks some benefit. This year, it is expected to improve following, the rate cuts. Commercial banks particularly public sector banks are however, quite unhappy with the interest cuts saying several of them would go into the red as they are presently operating on very thin profit margin. They say the interest rates have been cut by almost five per cent in the last three or four years and that there was very little scope for further reduction. As it is the public sector banks had very high overhead costs, besides very high percentage of non-performing assets. Already three public sector banks have been declared weak and several more which are not doing all that well could become weak. The capital markets have however, generally welcomed the news as debt was increasingly becoming less attractive proposition now and hence more money would flow into equities and m~tualfunds. Besides the good bank stocks are expected to hit the ceiling on the back of huge demand for loans at these all time low rates and spurt in valuations of the portfolio of government securities. So there is no doubt that the. biggest gainer of this move would be RBI's client-the government whose massive borrowing programme this year would become cheaper which is seen as a device to show pruden~e in cutting fiscal deficit. Bankers have been coy on rate" reduction on another count. They say interest cost form a small part of production ,costs for company. They quote statistics to say that in the early nineties that interest cost to value of production was below seven per cent but as high as 60 per cent of gross profits. These facts imply that firms in the YOJANA June 2000 private corporate sector in India are highly leveraged and could be susceptible to interest rate shocks, RBI Deputy Governor Y.Y.Reddy once said. He had also said real interest rate which has come down by a half to one percent due to bank rate cut, cannot top the real growth rate consistently in the long run. This implies that the service c~st of the capital stock exceeds the rate of return from capital. .-- . So this monetary engineering by the RBI chief might not hold water with bankers particularly due to reduction in deposit rates. As it is, several depositors have switched over to foreign banks and private sector banks who offered better deposit rates. This reduction would further hit the efforts of public sector banks to mobilise deposits. Fund managers however, feel that the half-a- percentage point cut in savings bank rate would not dampen the flow of money . to saving bank deposits. According to them, since most of the money comprise transactional balances and safety buffers, the cuts would not have any significant impact on rate of growth in savings bank balances. Since overall yields are down, it would not impact flows nor would it significantly alter savings flow to banks. RBI move should be seen in the light of the fact that we are no longer importing inflati9n into the country. Analysts feel the rate cuts reflect the confidence of monetary authorities in attracting global capital flows and RBI was implementing only what Finance Minister had promised. They also forecast a dip in prime lending rates and a bull run in the gilts markets. There are others who feel that downward trend in interest rates was likely to be a one-way street and was expected to depend crucially on expectations management by the Reserve Bank of India. On the timing of the rate cuts announcement much ahead of the credit policy, they say it was an attempt to prevent banks from showing large scale appreciation in their portfolios and charge bigger loans against reserves so created. This would also impact bank 'earnings. But maintaining high interest rates when the country faced slowdown in real GOP growth would lea~ to debt trap and hence a cut in rates was welcome as it was one of the best ways to stimulate demand. The trade and industry is in all praise for the RBI move saying it was timely. With the inflation rate remaining low, the real interest rate in the economy were ruling much higher notwithstanding some softening witnessed over the last two years. By slashing interest rates on small savings in January, the Government had already prepared the ground for a lower interest regIme. While the trade and industry hailed the move, bank trade unions felt it would undennine the banking sector as this would result in diversion of funds from banks to speculative channels. The public sector banRs are expected to suffer and only the nonbanking finance companies are expected to benefit. The trade unions also say it was incorrect to project that public sector banks are inefficient, saying 16 private sector banks have been merged into public sector bankS in recent years because of their failure. Also the cut in deposit rates would 'not help in boosting industrial production as less funds would be available because of reduction of savings mobilization. In sum, the rates cuts may augur well for Industry, where cost of capital is likely to be reduced, and Government, whose massive borrowing programme would become cheaper. But pensioners and middle class who all along depended on bank qeposit schemes and postal small savings and Publ ic Provident Fund, have been badly hit. The argument that developed countries p~id low interest on deposits do not hold good as in those countries pensions and Provident Fund are indexed to inflation so that their real income do not fall after retirement. Besides there are old age homes in developed countries. In India there is no social safety net worth the name and in such a ~tuation rate cuts amounted is putting the cart before the horse. 0
- 16. Dr M.M. Puriis a chest specialist with an autonomous TB Hospital, Delhi. Health Notes Dots-Strategy for TB Control (ii) (i) Political commitment to a National Tuberculosis Control Programme. Microscopy services to detect the infectious cases among those people attending health care facilities with symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis, most importantly cough of 3 weeks duration or more. DOTS Strategy DOTS stands for directly observed treatment short course, the curative treatment for tuberculosis. It is the name for a comprehensive strategy which prim~ry health services around the world are using to detect and cure TB patients. It combines five elements: of therapy. The only way to completely ensuring a patient's adherence to medication is for a health worker to observe the actual ingestion of the 'medication. (iii) Regular uninterrupted supply of anti-TB drugs. The establishment of a dependable, high quality supply of anti-TB drugs throughout' the health system isan essential part ofthe DOTS strategy to ensure that the treatment ofTB patients is never inter~pted. (iv) Direct observation ofthe treatment for at least initial intensive phase. As a part of DOTS strategy health workers counsel and observe their patients swallowing each dose of powerful combination of medicines. (v) Monitoring'.and accountability system for programme supervision and evaluation oftreatment of each patient diagnosed. If any of these five elements are missing, our ability to consistently cure TB patients slips through our fingers. There are three phases to implement the strategy: a pilot projest phase, an expansion phase and a maintenance phase. The pilot stage emphasises technical and operational aspects. The expansion phase emphasises logistical , aspects. Maintenance-or sustain It is estimated that there are about 14 million TB patients in our country, of whom about 3.5 million are infectious (Sputum positive). About 2.2 million TB patients are added every year out of which I million are sputum' positive. Five lakh people in India die due to tuberculosis every year i.e. one patient with tuberculosis dies every minute; more than 1000 people die every day. At least a third of 'the world'~ population is infected with TB. Every second one person in our country is newly infected with TB. If left untreated,. a person with active TB can infect between 10 and 15people in one year. Effective treatment renders these individuals non-infectious and eliminates' further transmission of infection. Unfortunately, many people do not persist with their treatment. Incomplete treatment can lead to: disease progression and emergence of drug resistant strains. Drug resistant TB I is more difficult and more expensive to I treat, and more likely to be fatal. Adherence to anti-tuberculosis therapy l become urgent. This requires an effective means of surveilhlnce where in all patients who failed to adhere to their medication as prescribed would be identified and the necessary measures to ensure that they complete their course TUBERCULOSIS IS A communicable disease. Like common cold, TB infection spreads through the . air when infectious people cough, spit, talk or sneeze. There is nowhere to hide from TB. Anyone who breathes air is at risk. The world is growing smaller and TB bacilli are growing stronger. / / I TB is a global emergency and it will not go away on its own. The key'to controlling tuberculosis is to ensure that patients take their medicines regularly until they are cured. DOTS is a significant weapon in every country's fight to control tuberculosis. M.M. Puri 16 YOJANA June 2000
- 17. effective TB control-emphasisesall. three, but also necessitates on going long term political commitment from governments. 'The first step is implementation in a few demonstration and training district. When these demonstration and training districts are fully implementing strategy and are demonstrating high cure rates, they can serve as the training sites for staff from other districts in the same region. Expansion throughout the country takes place in stages and requires emphasis on training, monitoring and .supervision. Demonstration and training districts serve as training sites for staff in districts which then become the demonstration and training sites for staff throughout the same in the regions. In this way the strategy expands .~tep by step throughout the country. The challenge after countrywide expansion is to continue to maintain effective performance indefinitely. In the maintenance phase training is important-training for new staff because of turnover, refresher training and training for innovations. The necessary ongoing, long-term political commitment from governments requires long-term investment. Acquired drug resistance occurs when patient is treated with single anti- tubercular agent or wrong and inadequate regimen. Patient managed with observed therapy take all or none prescribed medications but with traditional therapy similar assurances are not available. DOTS allows for the immediate identification of non- adherence and prompt initiation of corrective action when the patient failed to make their appointments with the health worker. In the case of patients not on DOT, non-adherence usually become apparent only when patient fail to pick up medication, miss scheduled clinic dates, admit to not taking medications, , develop acquired resistance, or if delayed therapeutic response or relapse is observed. DOTS allows the physician YOJANA June 2000 to make quantitative rather than empirical adjustments to therapy. Cost-effective DOTS has now become the gold standard of TB cure. DOTS can produce cure rates of 95 percent even in the poorest countries. World Health Organisation (WHO) has adopted.it as a key strategy to address the worldwide TB epidemic. The greatest burden of tuberculosis incidence and mortality is in adults aged 15 to 60 years. These include the most productive members of the society such as parents, workers and community leaders. Effective TB control programmes would bring huge economic returns. DOTS restores health to young people who are in their most economically productive years. The World Bank described DOTS as one of the most cost-effective health strategies. When National Tuberculosis Control Programme was not able to achieve a high cure rate over a very long period of time, the government together with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Swedish International Development agency (SIDA),. reviewed the national programme in 1992. The programme facing effective tuberculosis control was that no special priority was given to TB treatment. X-ray was relied heavily for diagnosis. Technically the laboratory network was patchy. Lab technician frequently lacked both training in smear microscopy and adequate equipment. J9atients had to collect their drugs weekly or monthly from the hospital, often after a long and costly journey from home. Clinics were typically overcrowded with patients who would wait hours to see a doctor. Drug supplies were uncertain, unreliable and erratic. Patients were treated with whatever drugs were available. The monitoring practices were not well established at local level. Up to half of the patients in some areas did not complete treatment adding to the risk of multi drug resistant tuberculosis. Based on the findings of that review a revised strategy for National tuberculosis control programme (RNTCP) was evolved with the support from the World Bank, and technical assistance provided by the World Health Organisationto build a community- based DOTS pilot programme using community health workers. Directly Observed therapy Short Course stirategy in curing TB patients was initiated as pilot project in 1993 in 5 areas in Delhi. Mumbai, Calcutta, Banglore and Mehsana district of Gujarat covering 2.35 million population. Before the new service was offered, staff were trained in all aspects of the DOTS strategy. Health workers were taught the importance of taking a full course of treatment. The correct combination and dosage of anti- TB medicines-known as short-course chemotherapy-is used for the right length of time. The establishment of a dependable, high quality supply of anti- TB drugs, an essential part of the DOTS strategy was guaranteed. New registe~s and record books for following for TB casejhrough treatment to cure were developed. Staff were given extra training in how to do • sputum smear microscopy. This was a dramatic change from the past, and had demonstrated the results that the DOTS strategy can achieve. According to this new strategy in TB control, the National TB Control Programme emphasises the cure of 85 percent sputum positive TB cases and detection of 70 percent of new sputum positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients. This phase has shown that the . new strategy is feasible and acc;Ptable to project staff and patients. Average cure rate achieved in the cohort was 85 percent. The programme was expanded to a population of 13.85 million in 1995 and to 20 million in 1996. Encouraged by. these .results the government accepted RNTCP as National Programme. Rapid scale up began in late 1998, when over 138 million people in 44 district of 15 states were covered under RNTCP by the end of third quarter of 1999: The programme is proposed to be extended in entire country in a phased manner. 17
- 18. - (Colltd. OIl Page44) clinic, with laboratory and X-ray facilities as well as physicians' experienced in TB. These chest clinics will s'erve as Tuberculosis Units (TUs) for their earmarked populati<Sn, and may supervise other tuberculosis units in their area if the population warrants. Delivery of TB activities is carried' by trained staff (treatment organised/ TB-health visitors and laboratory technicians) based in a general health facility. These staffs are assisted . wherever possible by peripheral level workers and community volunteers. There will be one such unit. for approximately 100,000 population. At other places, there will be provision of either collecting the sputum or for making smears. These will tpen be transported to the designated microscopy penter at the earliest, preferably within 72 hours. Once the diagnosis ofTB is done at the specialised TB Clinic/Dispensary, the doctor decides on the category of the treatment and prepares Tre~tment Card and Identity Card and registers the patient in the TB register. The doctor explains the treatment schedule and 'refer the patient to the area treatment Center for DOTS. The TB Health visitor (TB-HV) takes the treatment .card to the treatment center where it is kept for recording and supervision of treatment until completion. The TB-HV visits the house of the patient, emphasises the importance of adhering to the treatment schedule to the patient and family, and administers 'the first dose of drugs. For subsequent drug administration, the patient is to come to the treatment center thrice a week in'intensive phase. TB is a Global emergency and it will not go away its own. The key to controlling tuberculosis is to ensure that patient take their medicines regularly until they are cured. • Community Health Center or Primary Health Center where the patient Was diagnosed. The Medical Offiter determines the DOTS center mbst easily accessible to the patient afterI discussing with him and arranges for his treatment there. If the patient is to be treated by a peripheral health worker (PHW), a duplicate treatment card is prepared to record the DOTS. The Medical Officer of the Peripheral Health Institute will give the patient medicine box fpr the entire duration to the PHW. The issue of this medicine box is duly recorded in the special register. The drugs are administered thrice weekly either on Monday, Wednesday; Friday or Tuesday, Thursday,' an:d Saturday. During the intensive phase of treatment each and every dose of medicine is to be taken under direct observation of the PHW or Community volunteer. If the patient misses taking the drugs on the specified days, he ca~ take them on the next day. In case of defaulter, the patient is contacted withIn one day of missing a dose during int~nsive phase. During the continuation phase, patien~ collect drugs from the center (or from PHW) on weekly basis, and must 'present'the empty strict/blister pack of the drug consumed. When the patients' come for drug collection the first dose of the continuation phase is administered under direct observation ..- The patien~ must be contacted" within a week of missing weekly! collection of the drugs duripg the continuation phase. The DOTS shifts I the responsibility from the patient to the I health system. Special Model In large cities, the municipal corporation assumes the responsibility for the tuberculosis control in their , area. A corporation tubercu!osis officer is responsible for' the I organisation of the programme withi~l the limits of the corporation. The cities . are divided into geographical areas of resp.onsibility, /each urider the jurisdiction of a TB dispensary or chest In order to implement DOTS, the existing National Tuberculosis Programme infrastructure are being strengthened by Creating Tuberculosis Units (TUs) at the sub-district level, covering a population of approximately - 5 laktl:-These TB units are stationed . either at a Community Health Center (CHC) or at Taluk Hospital or at Block Primary Health Center (PHC). Each TU comprises newly created posts of one Senior Treatment Supervisor (STS) and one Senior Tuberculosis Laboratory Supervisor (STLS) both with formal training and orientation on the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme. A designated Medical, / Officer-Tuberculosis Control (MO-TC) is responsible for all the programme activ.ities at the TU level. All the Medical Officer coordinate with their key staff in their area. For example, information on the treatment of every patient'is revised with the STS and maintained in a tuberculosis registe~" which fonus the basis of • programme evaluation: The STLS is primarily responsible for supervising all the laboratory .activities including, checking 100% of,sputum positive slides and at least 10% of sputum negative slides. The sub district team maintains the TB register and prepares quarterly reports on case detection, sputum conversion, and results of treatment. The d~agnostic Microscopy Center is located either in CHC or in PHC or Taluk hospital. The number of such microscopy center is based on the workload in the district but lilnited to a maximum of one per 100,000 population. In the revised strategy at the health facilities a medical officer screens the patients and sends those who are suspected of having tuberculosis for 3 sputum smear examination for TB germs. Once the patient has been diagnosed as having TB, the medical officer decides the category of treatment 'for a patient, the treatme~t card and patient identity card are prepared. The treatment card is maintained at the 18 YOJANA June 2000
- 19. S.c. Pramanik,~R.P. Dubey,N. Ravish~lDkarand A.K. Nair The most important strategy would be to harvest the excess runoff in dug out ponds and use for supplemental (... h ' Irrigation to t e crops during day periods. Developlllent'. of Water Resources and Irrigation ' Potential in A&N Islands", . ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR Islands constitute a group of572 islands, islets, reefs and isolated rocks situated in Bay of Bengal 1200 Km away froni'" mainland. These islands are not only separated by a vast stretch of sea from the mainland but also from each other. Being close to the equator (6°-14"N), these islandli enjoy humid tropical climate and receive heavy rains (3100 mm/annum)"by both South-West and North-East monsoon from May to December. Topography, in general, is from undulating to highly rolling, narrow valley land e9circled by the spurs given out from the main hills which are moderately level. The hill slopes are mostly rugged and very steep. The soils are mostly acidic, medium textured on the surface and medium to heavy in the subsoil. Soils are moderate to poor in" organic carbon content' (OA-0.9%). A very thin soil mantle is spread over the hills while the depth of soil increases with the lower elevation and valley areas. Moisture retention capacities of these soils are very low due to poor organic matter content and insufficient colloid;l complex. Out of 8.25 lakh ha of total geographical area, about 90% is under forest cover and only 15578.6 ha low-lying valleys and flat lands are available for cultivation of field and vegetable crops. Coconut, .the most important plantation crops in these islands occupies 24410 ha of hilly areas. Rice, the lifeline cereal of these islands are grown in 12,000 ha of low- lying valley areas during monsoon "periods. However, inspite of such a M/s. S.C. Pramanik, R.P. Dubey, N. Ravi Shankar "andA.K. Nair are from Central Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair. YOJANA June 2000 heavy rainfall, all the field and vegetable cro'ps as well as plantation crops suffer severely from water stress due to non, availability of freshwater and poor .irrigation development in these islands. Occasional crop failure due to unavailability of irrigation water coupled with poor irrigation development are the two major concern for these islands. Inspite of these facts, development of irrigation potential has been ne"glectedin these islands since the beginning of plan periods. During the Second Plan only 1.08% budget of total outlay was allocated for development of minor irrigation. It is also strange to note that in none of the plan periods, more than 30% of the allocated funds could be utilized for development of minor irrigation. Till date, most of the sanctioned outlay is returned due to non implementation of the projects. This shows the lack of integrated plan for development of minor irrigations in t~ese islands. Similarly the groundwater potentialhas not been assessed properly and developed so far. It is thus necessary to explore and exploit the full potentiality of these' abundant natural resources bestowed on these islands. A. Surface Water Resources (i) Rain Water Harvesting and ....Management The annual rainfall is quite heavy varying from 2750 mm to 4550 mm from place to place. Apart from quantity, the intensity of rainfall in these islands is also very high. The total rainfall received within 140-145 rainy days with an average of 25 mm rainfall per day. The higher intensity of rainfall causes a surplus of 1530 mm of rainwater during monsoon season (May-December) and deficit 01'610 mm)n rest of the periods (Jan-April). As 75% of these islands are characterised with hilly undulating terrain,/more than 90% of the precipitation is lost as runoff to the nearby creek/sea creating associated problems of soil erosion (10-15 tonnel ha/yr.) and l~lDd degradation. The presence of unconsolidated rocks and I ' 19
- 20. boulders below thethin soil mantle also leads to less of infiltration and accentuate the runoff loss of precipitation. Thus the most important strategy would be to harvest the excess runoff in dug out ponds and use for supplemental irrigation to the crops during day periods. So, far 600 ponds have been excavated and 625 pumpsets have been issued on loan cum subsidy basis to the villagers. This has created an irrigation potential of 1610 ha in this island. Recently after the implementation of water shed projects under NWDPRA, four watersheds, two in south and one each in middle and North Andaman have "been identified. Under this project about 100 watershed ponds have been excavated creating an irrigation potential more than 400 ha in those areas. As a matter of fact, hydro- geologically, Andaman island can be considered a mega watershed. Thus, there is vast scope of construction of several farm ponds in the watershed blocks which can harvest and store excess runoff water, during monsoon season and provide supplemental irrigation in the surrounding valleys during dry periods. 'However, high percolation and seepage loss should be given due consideration while constructing such ponds. ii) Minor Irrigation Schem~~ The intense rainfall coupled with, 'undulating terrain has led to the development of innumerable short streams/nallahs discharging runoff into the sea. These nallahs originate from the top of the hills covered under forest and flows through the valley areas where rice, vegetables, pulses, oilseeds and other field. crops are grown. These nallahs continues to flow with full capacity for another two months even after the cessation of monsoon in November-December. Thus there lies a great possibility for utilization of freshwater sources in 'nallah' by installing bunds, dams or low diversion structures and weirs. The study conducted by the Central Water Commission in 1977 revealed that 20 no master plan can be drawn up for irrigation for the whole islands. Because the population, cultivable aIid cultivated lands are spreaded over hundreds of islands and in each island there are a number of streams flowing from the hills towards the sea. These streams have formed their own alluvial valleys in some of which forest have been cleared and settlement established which are small and far apart from each other. However, CWC has identified II nallah minor irrigation schemes witjl their irrigation potential. Some of these nallah irrigation schemes have been constructed while others are yet to be completed. Apart from those nallahs, another IS nallahs have been identified to serve as a'potential irrigation source in their surrounding valleys. Thy ~evelopment of surface water resources through these nallah minor irrigation schemes can create an irrigation potential of 6020ha in these islands. iii) Utilisation of Brackish Water Brackish water in the creeks (Khari/backwater) is one of the abundant natural resources in these , islands. As these islands are frequented; by sea, these water bodies come very close to the hills in most of the places. About 26000 ha of hilly areas, covered under coconut and arecanut plantations, suffers from moisture stress during dry sea~onand thus the average yield isvery ,"low in these islands. As the brackishwater in the creeks are less saline (29.00-32.00 ppt) than the sea water and neutral to near neutral (pH 7.1-8.7) in nature, these water can be' utilised directly or mixed with freshwater for irrigating the plantation' crops in the hilly areas. An experiment conducted at this institute showed that irrigating coconut either with brackishwater or with 50% mixture of fresh water at one month interval results in an increase in yield of coconut. The study also revealed that no salt is accumulated near the root zone of the crop probably due to sufficient leaching I during the rainy season and hence without any adverse effect on soil or crop. However, extensive study is needed to tap full potential ofthese vast water bodies in these islands which has not been done so far. iv) Development of micro-irrigation. The characteristic undulating hilly terrain of these islands makes it unsuitable for the surface methods of irrigation. However, there lies great opportunity to bring a large area under i~rigati6n throughde'velopment of micro-irrigation like sprinkler and drip irrigations. The gravitational force under the natural slopes ofthe hills can be utilized for establishing low-pressure drip methods of irrigation. For this purpose a water storage structure of suitable size can be constructed at the top of hills which will be filled with rainwater during monsoon season. During dry periods the harvested water can be utilized, for irrigation short dura!ion vegetable crops at the lower reach through drip methods. Avast area under plantations can also be brought under irrigation through this method. However, these possibilities have not been explored so far. B. Ground Water Resources The ground water resources of these islands have not been systematically assessed till 1981. Only the hydro- geologists of the Central Ground Water Board, New Delhi carried out the feasibility surveys in some ofthe islands with the objective of ascertaining the availability of ground water for meeting drinking water requirement.. The geography ofthese islands are such that theie are difficulties in the development of ground water resources as saline acquifers are encountered at shallow depth. Further heavy withdrawl of ground water may also lead to the irrigation of saline water. At present, about 9.220 million cubic metre of ground water is available out ofwh'ich 8.212 million Cu metre in South Andaman & Nicobar group of islands (Contd. on Page 32) YOJANA June 2000.
- 21. YOJANA June 2000 MrM.e. Harbola isAssociate Professor, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade,New Delhi. AugDlenting Airport Infrastructure for Air Freight 21 -exports valued at Rs. 55,388 million in 1987-88 and the same increased to Rs.,465.142 million in 1998-99. In volume terms, exports increased from 1.72 lakh tonnes to 4.14 lakh tonnes during the corres~onding perio~. . Against the above backdrop, several measures have been initiated to support the development of adequate airport infrastructure in the country. The current airports structure in the country comprises (a) international airports, (b) customs airports, (c) model airports, (d) other domestic airports and (e) civil enclaves in defence airfields. The international airports cater to the requirement of scheduled international operations by Indian as well as foreign carriers. Customs airports provide customs and immigration facilities for limited international operations by national carriers and for foreign tourists and cargo charter flights. Such airports are currently at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Calicut, Goa, Varanasi, Patna, Agra, Jaipur, Amritsar and Tiruchirapally. Model airports are domestic airports with a minimum runway length of7500 feet and adequate terminal capacity to handle Airbus 320' type of aircraft. These can cater to limited international traffic, if required, and exist at Lucknow, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Nagpur, Vadodara, Coimbatore, Imphal and Indore. The establishment of Airports Authority of India (AAI) in 1995 by merging International Airports Authority ofIndia and National Airports Authority and vesting the same with the responsibility of providing infrastructural facilities is among the measures initiated in this regard. The AAI now functions with two divisions, namely, International Airports Division and Domestic Airports Division and is engaged in accelerating integrated deveJopment and expanding and modernizing the operational, termir~al and cargo handling facilities in line with international standards. Of the total 449 airports/airstrips in AIRPORTS AS NUCLEI of economic activity assume.a significant role in the national economy: It is now increasingly recognized that aviation, far from being a mere mode of tr~nsportation for an elite group, is crucial for sustainable development of trade and tourism. The role of airports as catalyst to country's . overseas trade is very crucial. Though the movement of export cargo by air from India, in terms of volume is currently insignifi~ant, accounting for less than 1% of the total volume exported, in terms of value, the same accounts for about one third ofthe total value of exports. The quality of airport infrastructure including the cargo handling facility constitute the vital component of airport, especially for handling of capital goods and high value products. Besides; airports, if properly linked by railway and highways can be an integral part of the overall transportation network and can thereby help the shippers in deriving the benefits of reduced time and cost in multimodal transport system. India has been endeavouring to develop airports ever since the attainment of independence, but in the last 53 years, airports infrastructure in the country has not developed fully and is inadequate for catering to the growing requirement of overseas air freight industry, which has registered over eight fold. increase in terms of value and almost two and a half times growth in volume terms during 1987-88 and 1998- 9~. India's airborne export including re- It has become incumbent to take up measures for the development of modern airports equipped with the type of ground infrastructure which keeps pace with the growth of traffic. M.e. Harbola
- 22. -- freight movement hasbeen around 40%; increasing from 3.43 lakh tonnes to 4.86 lakh tonnes during the corresponding• j period. The set-back suffered by the ai~ cargo movement, particularly the exports during 1994-95 and 1995-96 was primarily responsible for its not keeping pace with ~he trend in ocean cargo movement. However, in the last three years, i.e. from 1995-96 onwards, the volume of air cargo movement in India's overseas trade has witnessed an average growth of 17% and iftne same trend continues in future, it is certainly going to be around the estirnated 12 lakh tonnes by the year 2005. To cope with the anticipated growth in the freight traffic volumes in the coming years, the operators are expected to create adequate capacity. In actuality, the capacity induction in this sector is expected to be determined by market forces. The only aspect that needs to be planned and developed is the requisite infrastmctural facilities at the airports with a view to handling various types of cargo traffic ~ith - efficiency and speed. I Governments around the world are taking the decision to privatise the I airports or giving on lease the major sub-components of the airport to private Measures Required Against the above background, it has become necessary to take up measures for the development of modern airports I equipped with the type of grourd infrastmcture which keeps pace with the growth of traffic. Construction and development of such airports are highly capital-intensive, which may not be -possible for the 'government to take up oJ1its own due to resource cmnch, since in the past, development of such infrastmcture was the responsibility of the state. In view of this, the private sector participation in such projects I becomes all the more necessary and this I is already being encouraged in many I countries abroad. Governments around the world are taking ---.... the decision to privatise the airport~ or giving on lease the major sub-components of airport to private sector owing mainly due to fiscal constraints. ICAO forecasts predict worldwide growth in air traffic at 5% per annum I or doubling in volume of traffic once in' 14 years. The Asia Pacific region is set for higher than average growth. Indian airports are likely to handle 3 lakh tonnes of domestic and 12 lakh tonnes of international cargo, according to reliable estimates. The volume ofIndia's overseas trade moving by sea as well as by air has recorded a considerable growth in the post liberalization era. While in case of trade moving by sea, the increase has been almost double, rising from 109 million tonnes in 1990-91 to 202 million tonnes in 1997-98, the increase in air ( India is endowed with a diversity bf flora and fauna. Prima facie, there are tremendous opportunities for her to develop and promote exports of. a variety of products particularly in agro- horticulture and allied sectors and thus tap a large untapped potential by providing economic and efficient airlifting facilities to the movement of such products to destinations abroad as . per the buyers' preference. This may b~ possible provided facilities for handling and air freig?ting are enhanced at th~ airp011s. - With the dawn of the new lrtillennium it is expected that the importance of airports as catalyst to country's overseas trade will increase. Hence, it-becomes necessary to take a look at some of the future trends. Constraints The 'problem areas in the airports sector pertain to inadequate number of airports and more particularly international airports which, ,by and large, serve as lifeline in catering to the requirement of air freight movement in the country's overseas trade. The ever increasing congestation in the international airports in Mumbai, Delhi; Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram as also in the domestic airports in Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Goa, Ahmedabad, Cochin and Mangalore has resulted in growing and pressing dema~d for augmenting the cargo handling capacity for air freight. The users have been pressing for declaring some of the existing airports and thereby necessitating the augmentation of facilities conducive to the required standards. The limited terminal and apron capacity,~l>unching of flights, delay in passenger clearances etc. are resulting in a higher dwell time in case of export cargo at these airports. Further, due to resource- cmnch, no proper development and upgradation programme in respect of ground handling facilities, night landing syskms, cargo handling etc. at some of these airports have taken place. . .-the country, the AAI owns and manages 5' international airports, 87 domestic airports and 28 civil enclaves at defence airfields and provides air traffic services over the entire Indian airspace and adjoining oceanic areas. The International Airports Division (lAD) operates 'and develops the, five internatioTl,;alairports at Delhi, Muinbai, Calcutta, Chennai and Thimvananthapuram. It has undertaken the construction of terminal complexes at various international airports and improvements and upgradation of mnways and terminal buildings. On the other, the National Airports Division (NAD) looks after domestic airports and has undertaken a number of projects to improve services and upgrade facilities. 22 YOJANA June 2000
- 23. I To provide airportinfrastructure cap.acity in accorda"lce with demand, ensuring maximum utilisation of available capacities and efficiently managing the/ airport infrastructure by increasing involvement of private sector; To encourage private,sector participation in (i) construction and operation of new airports/ ai rs tri ps/h eli pads/he Iiports including cargo complexes. express cargo terminals. cargo satellite cities and cargo handling facilities; and (ii) upgradation and operation of existing airports/airstrips/hel ipads/heliports in consultation with the existing operators including cargo complexes. Express cargo terminals, cargo satellite cities and cargo handling facilities; To permit foreign equity partICIpation up to 74% with automatic approval and 100% with special pennission of government; and Besides, the Union Cabinet has, in principle, approved corporatisation of five airports, namely, Delhi, Mumbai, ~alcutta, Chennai (aU. international airports) and Bangalore To encourage. private sector role in aviation support services, e.g., training institutions for pilots, maintenance personnel, Policy Initiatives security staff and air-traffic The draft New Civil Aviation Policy controllers. prepared by the government has been The private sector participationcirculatecl-for inviting comments from includes participation of stateall concerned. The policy, among government, urban local bodies, privateothers, lays emphasis on private sector companies, individuals andparticipation in the aviation sector as' joint ventures on Build-awn-Operatea whole and particularly in the (BOO) basis or any other pattern ofconstruction/upgradation/operation of new as well as existing airports. With a ownershi.p and management depending upon the circumstances.view to promoting the private investment, improving quality and _ Thus, it has been realised that the efficiency and increasing competition in policy has to change in response to a this vital sector of economy, creation rapidly transforming global scenario. of a conducive competitive regulatory although the process of transformation fram~work with minimum controls is has to be progressive, orderly and also contemplated. The policy on safeguarded. Looking at what has been the development of airport achieved in other cOl1ntries" there is a infrastructure, inter alia, has the wide gap which needs to be bridged following broad objectives: first. 0 Devanahalli International Airport near Bangalore, in Karnataka is leading the way towards private participation alongwithAAI ~nd the state government through the Karnataka State Industrial Investment -Development Corppration (KSIIDC) as the other partners. Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh is. following suit. Besides, the Union cabinet has, in principle, approved corporatisation of five airports, namely, Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai (all international airports) and Bangalore. . Each corporatised airport will be a separate entity covered by the Companies Act of 1956 so as to help them to raise equity. The slow progress in building up airports ,infrastructure of int~rnational standards in the country is also reportedly due to bureaucratic indecision in giving timely clearances to the projects. The proposed new international terminal at Delhi 'airport, the new domestic terminal for the Mumbai airport are some examples of the delays. ;;'ector owing mainly due to fiscal constraintS:---For example, JFK Airport # in USA has already given terminals I and' 4 to private investors for development and operation of services and a number of Asian airports including the. newly commissioned airport in Hong Kong have also .decided to go in for induction of private sector participation in the airport sector. The UK and other countries in western Europe,. South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are some other countries which have repottedly. taken up steps towards privatization of airport management and services. Drawing a lesson from their experience, the involvement of private sector in the development and operation of the major ajrport facilities seems to be necessary to bring in more efficient decision-m~king. India's geographically strategic location from the point of air traffic }TIoving east and west has not been properly tapped because Indian airports have ignored development of facilities commensurate with the requirement of growing traffic. Even in smaller countries airports avthorities such as Sing~pore and Dubai have built huge airports and cargo complex much ahead of their requirements. The meteoric rise of both these cities can be directly linked. to the grO'wth in trade and tourism enabled by the airports. In India too, a beginning has already been made towards induction of private sector in the area of airports with the construction and commissioning of Kochi International Airport at Nedumbassery in the state of Kerala./ YOJANA June 2000
- 24. Precision Agriculture-- An EmergingConcept Chinmay Biswas and A.V.M. Subba Rao insecticides and fungicides are applied at an uniform rate throughout the crop- field. Precision agriculture emphasizes on this aspect and deals,with judicious crop management at micro level wherein only required amount of inputs are applied. f'1/s Chinmay Biswas and AVM. Subba Rao are agricultural scientists (lCAR), Modipuram, Meerut. Food security has been threatened by declining, productivity, soil salinity, micro- nutrient deficiency; water logging, ground water depletion and development of resistance and resurgence in pests. To alleviate the ill effects of excess and under application of inputs a new form of farming, Precision Agriculture, is on the way. 24 For efficient nutrient and water THE PRIMITIVE KNOW-HOW of management the first and foremost step' crop cultivation has been transformed is. to assess the soil fertility and soil into modern agriculture through the moisture availability of each subdivided ages and it is still changing and evolving zone in the field. Soil parameters can according to the economic, social and be studied either through samplipg or environmental needs. It was aptly scanning. In case of sampling fields are uttered by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru that manually sampled along a regular grid everything can wait but not the at sample spacings ranging from 60- agriculture. In the post green-revolutio~ 150m and the samples are analysed for era, imbalanced fertilization, excessive desired properties. Scanning can be irrigation and indiscriminate use of done directly (invasive) or remotely. In pesticides have undermined th~ invasive, sensing near infrared (NIR) sustainability. The food security has seems to be an important method for been threatened by declining scanning soils at 700-2500nm. Soil clay productivity, soil salinity or alkalinitYI content, cation exchange capacity micro-nutrient deficiency, water- (CEC), organic matter content etc. can logging, ground water depletion and be measured by NIR and soil moisture development of resistance and can be measured through GPR (Ground resurgence in pests. To alleviate the i1I~ Penetrating Radar). The results of these effects of excess and under-application analyses-are interpolated to unsampled of inputs a new form of farming called locations by inverse distance or "Precision Agriculture" is on the way. geostatistical techniqu.es and the It is that form of agriculture where site- interpolated values are classified using specific management practices are geographical information systems (GIS) adopted giving due considerations to the techniques into limited number of spati~l variability of land in order to management zones. The boundaries of maximise crop production and minimise management zones are then visualized the environmental damage. using mapping software, and Land is heterogeneous in nature. Soil: management recommendations are fertility status Le.nutrient content varies. developed for each zone. The from one place to another even in the_ management recommendations and same field. The population of weeds is r mapping boundaries are stored on a never uniform throughout the'crop-field computer chip which is placed in a and the population dynamics of insect- ' computer on board a tractor, spreader, pests also shows a variable pattern. or seeder able to vary management When a pathogen attacks a crop the according to its location in the field and disease intensity may not be same the map boundaries. throughout the field. Sometimes Remote sensing has been used in soil diseases appear in patches leaving many mapping, terrain analysis, crop stress, disease-free zones. But in conventional I yield mapping and estimation of soil agriculture without considering these organic matter but on a scale larger than variables fertilizers, herbicides, I what is required for precision i agriculture. So targeted sampling may be guided by preliminary infonnation I from remote sensing. But rem?te YOJANA June 2000
- 25. sensing with veryhigh resolution power can be used for recording the soil parameters. Based on -nutrient content and soil-moisture regime of different zones location specific need based fertilization and irrigation are done. Weed Management : It is based on dynamics of weed population, spatial distribution of weeds in management zones and crop-weed interaction. The management strategy consists of better . prevention, improved decision making and improved control measures. Weed- free zones are located before adopting the control measures. To reduce the amount of herbicide used an integrated package comprising of biological, chemical and mechanical measures is developed. The management packages vary from one ione to another according to the weed count and their species. Pest-Disease Management: Over- application of pesticides leads to the problem of chemical residues in soil as well as in the produce whereas application at sublethal doses may lead to the development of resistance and resurgence in pests. So, it is essential to apply appropriate amounts of pesticides. In preCiSIOn agriculture doses of insecticides are recommended on the basis of the population dynamics of pests in management zones and disease management strategy is based on the disease incidence and disease severity of various subdivided zones. Advantages Conventional agriculture with blanket application of inputs may not be able to meet the food requirements of the burgeoning population. Precision agriculture is the need of the hour to achieve food security and sustainability. Enhanced productivity: 'Precision agriculture envisages precise packages of crop cultivation at micro lev~l which enable to increase the productivity. Better utilization of resources: Need based approach makes judicious utilization of resources. Eco-friendly: Precision agriculture minimises the environmental damage. Limitations: Precision agriculture has some limitations from the practical point of view. High initial investment: Precision agriculture needs high initial investment for layout, and the establishment of assessing and monitoring systems. Sampling: Collection of large number of samples is cumbersome as well as costly. Hi-tech nature: Precision agriculture is highly dependent on sophisticated technologies. Expertise-a need: Because of its hi- tech and knowledge based nature precision agriculture needs sufficient expertise. Precision agriculture is a direction of research rather than a destination. The highly technology-oriented imported version of precision agriculture may apparently be found unsuitable in Indian agriculture, be much research is needed in this direction to ascertain the feasibility of precision agriculture in Indian context and if possible to indianise the package through amalgamation with low cost tech- nologies considering the scope and limitations of Indian farming situation. . 0 TOWARDS SPEEDIER .... (Contd.from Page 13) Whether the Chines experience can be replicated in India is anybody's guess. However, certain policy adjustments will definitely be required to make this scheme effective. First, foreign direct investment must be allowed without any pre-conditions. It has been reported that the Ministry of Commerce has proposed that 100 per cent FDI in the special economic zones may be permitted. There will also not be any sector-specificity while approving FbI proposals. This change, if effected, will be helpful in attracting more FDI in the special economic zones. Second, the policy of small scale sector reservation needs to be reconsidered. A . large number of sectors where Chit}.ahas emerged as a global leader are in the small scale sector, such as toys. With the removal of the quantitative restrictions, the reservation policy has YOJANA June 2000 almost become infractuous. Sectors where substantial export opportunities exist which also currently fall under the SSI category include toys, leather and garments. Third, there should a re- look at the-labour laws. Many export industries suffer from seasonal fluctuations and, therefore, flexibility in terms of labour requirements is very critical for economic viability. The government has proposed that the units in the special economic zones would be treated as public utility. This implies that production cannot be disrupted by strikes. This is a major step because adherence to delivery schedules is a sine qua non for success in exports. Conclusion Dl}ring the last three decades, export- import policies have tried to promote exports by extending incentives through special schemes. It has tried to protect the domestic industry through rigorous import control measures. With the economic refonns taking roots in India as well as because of the obligations to the WTO as a member country, there has to be a paradigm shift in the thrust and contents ofthe EXIM policy. Under the new trading rules, protection to the domestic industry can be given only through tariffs. Quantitative restrictions through the licensing mechanism are not WTO-consistent. Similarly, barring a few exemptions given to the least developed and sbtp.e developing countries, export incentives are not maintainable under the WTO rules. In such a scenario, the objective of the export-import pplicy should be to ensure that transactions costs are minimised through simplification of .systems and proceduFes as well as mechanization. This year's EXIM policy is a major step towards the direction. 0 25
- 26. - First GreenRevolution . 'Green Revolution', growth has been uneven. The 'Green Revolution' has been confined to the Punjab, Haryana, Western U.P.and coastal districts of A.P. The tenn 'Green Revolution' was coined i.n1968 by Dr. William S. Gaud, - Director of the U.S. Agency for Interna!ional Development (tJSAID), to describe the breakthrough in foodgrains production caused by introduction and rapid diffusion of the semi-dwarf wheat and rice varieties in India, Pakistan and other parts of the developing world. This strategy was in'the form of a package programme woven around high yielding varieties (HYV s) and included other inputs such as adequate irrigation, chemical fertiliser, plant protection chemicals, mechanisation of agriculture, supply of electricity, credit and marketing facilities on co-operative. basis and a system of superior prices and buffer stocking. The idea was to demonstrate how productivity could be raised without increasing the area under cultivation. I The tempo of production has been' maintained because ofthe special drives that are launched to ensure timely and adequate supply of seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, water, implements electricity and credits. If is creditable that the increase has been maintained despite power shortage, drought in many parts I of the country and uneven and erratic I monsoon. Agricultural production has grown at an annual compound rate of2.8% in the last decade. A record production of over 150million tonnes was achieved during 1983-84. FOR ABOUT A decade sinqe independence, the country depended on large import of foodgrains, A neW Istrategywas developed in the mid-60s. Its main components are-greater intensity of cropping, increasing use of agricultural inputs like high yielding varieties of seeds, water, fertilisers, pesticides and cx:edit. Sever~l institutions have been set up to ensurrtimely and adequate supply of inputs. A network of extension programmes'ha~ brought science and technology closer to the farmers. Measures have been undertaken to introduce land reforms. A remunerative pricing policy aQd systematic arrangement for the procurement and distribution of foodgrains have reinforced the strategy. revolution. Green Revolution-How Green It Is ? K.K. Singh, Mehmood Khan and M.S. Shekhawat On the ev,! of the 21st century, the challenge before us is to sustain food secu,:~ty. I Environmental ,conservation and conservation of natural resources base will be the key to realisation of the aim. What our country needs now is a third Green The first wheat variety having short plant height, lodging resistance and higher 'grain yield 'Norin 10' was brought to U.S.A. by Dr. S.C. Salmon in 1948 (rom Jap,:!n. Dr. C.A. Vogel evolved first spring dwarf wheat variety "Gaines" in Washington State of U.S.A. by using Norin dwarfing genes of Japan arid later Dr. Norman E. Borlaug (man behind green'r,evolution) and co- work~rs evolveq a number of dwarf spring wheat varieties at Mexico. Mexican varieties of wheat Lenna Rojo- 64 Sonora-64 were ~irectly introduced in the initial period in India through Swaminathan and Shri C. Subramaniam The response to the procurement I (then Minister for Ag'riculture, Govt. of drives has been high and it has created India). Considerable attention was later problems of storage.' given to hybridisation of Mexican N t 'th t d' th b f't' f material with Indian varieties. To tackle o WI s an mg e ene ISO I h bl f 'fi d fi' , ._____________________ . ,______ t e.pro em 0 specI IC e IClencles In Mis K.K. Singh, Mehmood Khan and M.S. ~hekhawat"arefrom Project Directorate, ! Me~ican varietie~ s~ch a~red,colour 0:Agriculture and Soil Survey, Bikaner. grams, new vanetIes hke Sharbati •.. 26 YOJANA June 2000 / I
- 27. 5. Inter CropDisparities The agriculture revolution initiated, by the HVY programme was restricted to only five crops, wheat, rice, jowar, bajra and maize and progress in major commercial crops, viz. oilseeds, cotton and jute is very slow. The production and productivity of wheat, rice and maize have gone up, but the area and production of coarse grains and pulses have declined in most of the geo- climatic regions. Barley, jowar, bajra and pulses are showing steady decline in their area and production. In addition to all this, pulses have not registered any increase in area, production and productivity. ~6. EcologicalimbaJance As a matter of fact, the area, - production and productivity of wheat and rice have shown substantial increase during the last three decades. The continued adoption of Rice-wheat cropping systein or monoculture since Green'Revolution has brought out some ~cological prgblems like depletion of forest and pasture lands, reduction in biodiversity, decline in soil fertility, lowering of underground water table, water-logging (improper use of irrigation water canals), salinization (accumulation of soluble salts in upper layer of the soil), problems of soil erosion, deterioration in the quality of environment (soil, water and air. p~il1~tion), emergence of several diseases like malaria (due to stagnation of water and dense vegetation) blue baby syndrolne (nitrate toxicity' in drinking water) and cancer (toxic residues present in the grains), health hazards (use of toxic chemicals), and poor sustanability of agricultural land. The aggravatIng problem of land degradation is the result of its over exploitation due to increasing biotic pressure and decrease in size of land holdings. In 1951, India had 0.33 ha. of available land per capita which was reduced to 0.20 ha. in) 983 and likely to be further reduced to 0.15 ha. by the year of 2000 A.D. Modern farming on Gr~en Revolution' h~ been confined to Punjab, Hhryana, Western D.P.and costal area of A.P. The production of pulses and oilseeds, however continues to be low.The revolution has also thrown up some problems of waterlogging, soil salil!ity and loss of natural nutrients. The Green Revolution has come to be associated with not only higher production t~r~ugh enhanced productivity,. but also with several negative ecological and social consequences. The new strategy has caused inter-regional, intra-regional and inter-crop disparities in agricultural income. The progratmne could neither bring the rural poor above the poverty line nor could generate employment in rural area at the desired level. The HYV's have had a dis'- criminatory impact and they are intensive. in their use of input materials, especially irrigation, fertilisers and market. Owing to three constraints, within a geocl imatic setti ng, the large fanners and early adopters have been substantially benefited from the new seeds, while the small and marginal farmers have been left behind. 4. 3. 1. 2. production offoodgrains (record output of 182 million tonnes) in 1983-84 was hailed by the Government as the second Green Revolution. Eastern and Central states including W.B., Bihar, Orissa, M.P. and eastern D.P. made tremendous progress in recent years. -Drawbacks / First Green Revolution of 1967-68 was the result of introduction of new . high yielding varieties of Mexican Wheat and dwarf rice varieties. The second Green Revolution. of 1983-84 was the result of expansion in supplies and inputs and services to the fanners, extension and water managemen( Second Green Revolution Subsequently, a number of new vaTleties of wheat and rice have been developed by the Indian Agriculture Scientists and adopted by the fanners of the country. The diffusion of HYV, however, became fully operational in the country, during 1965-66 in which about 17000 ha. of land was brought under HYV, especiaIly in the Sutlej- Ganga Plain and the Cauvery delta and thatJndia is now exporting wheat and rice to Bangladesh, China, Russia, S.W. Asian Countries, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and East Europ~an. The spectacular increase in Sonara', 'Pusa Lerma', 'Kalyansona' and Sonalika' were developed. Rice varieties grown in India mostly . belong to the sub-species Indica ~of Oryza sativa. Years ago, the chinese scientists came across a spontaneous mutant in va~'iety 'Dee-gee-woo-gen'. Evolution of "Taiching native" .by accrosing a tall Indica, "Tsai yuen chung" with 'Dee-gl?e-woo-gen' in Taiwan and "TR-8" (Miracle Rice) from "Peta" a tall Philippine Indica variety and Dee-gee-woo-gen at International Ri se Research Institute (lRRI), Philippines in 1960's, brought a real revolution in rice production and these two Indica varieties helped to dispel the old notion that only Japonica varieties of rice are capable '~f responding to fertiliser doses. In 1965-66, both the varieties were introduced in India and subsequently recommended for commercial cultivation. Efforts were made to transfer drought tolerance to semi-dwarf varieties and as a result some short duration dwarf varieties like Bala, Cauvery and Akashi were released. India realised "F irst Green Revolution" in-1967-68. A good year of rainfall coupled with efforts to improve production with a new technology resulted in record foodgrains production of96.5 million tonnes in 1967-68. First green revolution was confined to Punjab, Haryana and western D.P. YOJANA June 2000 " 27
- 28. such a smallholdings, is becoming less and less productive and remunerative. /Denudation of forests, loss of genetic resources, loss of crop l~md,soil erosion and desertification, trace air gas, water pollution, acid rain and -hazardous wastes are also some of the issues which demand serious thinking and timely action. According to Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR, 1989), "Sustainable agriculture is the successful management of resources to satisfy the changing hUlnan needs, while maintaining or enhancing the quality of environment, and conserving natural "resources. 7. Imbalances in production and productivity The adoption of HYV s has t~us brought about environmental changes which are detrimental to soil fertility, deleterious to agricultural sustainability and injur}ous to human health. The reduction in biodiversity in the areas of Green Revolution may have long tenn serious ecological consequences. The ecological cost of agricultural development in India is thus quite high and the new seeds of staple food are resulting in new socio-economic and environmental problems. The population growth rates from 360 million in 1952 to 850 million in . 1994 is outstripping the agricultural growth. There is still imbalance of nutrition and inequality in availability of food to all sections of society. Shrinking crop area, fast degenerating natural resource base, declining use- efficiency of inputs and dwindling output-input ratio, have rendered crop production less & less remunerative. Irrigated rice yields or'lndia are one of the lowest in the South-East Asian Region. Poor soil and water management are the major constraints. India is still spending crores of rupees in importing vegetable oil. The widening gap between the demand & supply of edible oil, is a warning signal for the policy makers. The more 28 disturbing features are the stagnation in productiQn of commodities like pulses, oilseeds and the low productivity of the rainfed/dry land farming areas. They cover 70 per cent of the cropped area and contribute hardly 40 per cent of the total country's foodgrains production accounting for most of the commodities which are in short ~upply in India. Agriculture research that seeks to generate new technologies, needs to be reoriented to suit the current and likely future changes, opportunities and constrains. Emerging technologies will need to have at least three qualities i.e.I highly productive, profitable and ecologically sustainable. ( Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Indiscriminate use of pesticides has already affected the ecological balance in certain areas resulting in resistance against -pesticides, environmental pollution, pest resurgence and residual. effects. IPM is utilisation of the best techniques as an effective remedy to the' pest problem of major crops viz., cotton, rice, sugarcane, tpbacco and a wide range of pulses and vegetable. IPM is eco-friendly & cost effective too. Integrated Nutrient Management should be encouraged to bring out sustainability in crop production. We cannot produce the required food,with the use of organic manure alone. But chemical fertilisers can be a substitute at least partly by organic sources viz. FYM/compost, bio-fertiliser, green manure and inclusion oflegumes/pluses in cropping system. The main purpose is to maintain soil fertility for sustained agriculture productivity and profitability on long term basis. In resp<;mseto commercialisation of agriculture it will be important to shift from routine foodgrains production system to newer crops/cropping systems to meet ever increasing demand of pulses, oilseeds, fodder, fibre, fuel, species, fruits, vegetables medicinal & other commercial crops' and make agriculture an attractive and profitable business. Moreover Model water management techniques to optimise water use efficiency suited to specific farming situation, need to be developed. Most viable soil & water conservation and utilisation technologies need to be assessed. Use of sprinkler and drip irrigation in problematic area and horticulture crops calls for prioritisation. To ensure hydrological sustainability of intensively irrigated cropping systems, long term water use plans are to be developed. With the advancement of science and technology, market competitiveness and quality consciousness modernisation and mechanisation of farming system, have become important. Already prototypes of improved machinery like seed drills, puddlers, weeders, threshers, sprayers, dusters, reapers, decorticators/ shellers, sugarcane/cotton/rice planters and seeders are available. Number of post harvest processing equipment have been developed by the State Agricultural Universities and ICAR Institutes. However, there is great potential to develop newer innovations for value addition to farm produce to make' Indian agriculture globally «ompetitive and profitable. Integration of various agriculture enterprises viz., crops, dairying, horticulture, poultry, goat rearing, I piggery, fishing, forestry etc. in fanning has become indispensable. If one thinks ~.to make agriculture, a profitable profession, concerted efforts are needed to reorient the crop production systems research towards Integrated Multi- Enterprise Farming Systems Research. HRD in Agriculture Agriculture science is advancing very fast, and is becoming globally competitive and hence provision of (Colltd. 011 Page 36) YOJANA June 2000
- 29. YOJANA June 2000 MrR.K. Bhatnagar is Regional Director, Staff Selection Commission, New Delhi. People's Participation in Governance The important local bodies today are District B-oards, Municipalities, Improvement Trusts, Development Boards and Panchayats. Their administrative functions cover a wide field like education, medical aid,.Pllblic health, water supply, communication, lighting, sanitation drainage, construction of roads, bridges and culverts etc. But there resources are very limited. They chiefly consists of taxes and non tax receipt-tax receipts are like tax on property, on trades, on business, fees and licenses etc., while the non tax receipts are like rent on land, house, rest houses, dak bunglows, sale proceeds of land, produce ofland, fees from market, fees and revenue from commercial undertakings, interest on the invest- ments and the government grants etc. 29 Attributes There are many establishments like Railways and Defence departments which provide separate roads, transport systems, water and electricity works, educational and recreational facilities- in deed virtually the whole range of affairs which are customarily looked after by local government. Yet they can not rigidly be called local government. The essential attributes of a local government are firstly its statutory status; secondly its power to raise finance by taxation in the area under its jurisdiction; thirdly participation ofthe local community in the decision making in specified subject and their administration; fourthly the freedom to act independently of central control; and lastly its general purpose approach in .contrast to single purpose character. The Constitution 74th Amendment Act, .1992 on Municipalities had come in to existence, stooping towards delegating the powers to people at the grass root level. Subsequent to the 74th Amendment to the Constitution, the Municipal government/Local goverh- ment has attained a special status as the government at the third level, after the two levels of C~ntral and State governments. .' ACCORDING TO ROBERT Chambers [1993], "Empowerment me~ns that people, especially the poor people, are enabled to take more control of productive assets as one key element. Decentralization and empowerment enable local people to exploit the diverse complexities of their own conditions, and to adapt to rapid .change ..." Just as economic growth means little unless it is translated into' improvement in human lives, so also democracy can be merely an empty ritual of periodic elections unless people actively participate and are aware an_d empowered, in all the institutions of civil society. People everywhere want to determine their own destiny. Democracy has its own problems when it comes to managing competing claims of different classes, ethnic groups and golitical factions. Developing countries are especially vulnerable because the State controls a big part of resources and when these are allocated by Government decisions, the reward -forinfluence can be very high. Decentralizing governance'from the "Centre" to States, Towns and Villages-can be one of the best means of promoting people's participation and efficiency in working. In India local government is widely known as Local Self Government (LSG). This term originated when the country was under Britishadministration and did not enjoy any tinge of self-government either at the centre or at the State level. When a decision was taken by the British government to associate Indians in administering local affairs, it only meant a slice of self government for the people. People everywhere want to determine their own destiny. Decentralising governance from the centre to states, towns and villages can be one of the best means ofpromoting people) participation and e.(ficiency in working. R.K. Bhatnagar
- 30. •( France: from theend of the 19th century, France has gradu~J..Iymoved to a broader degree of deconnection via solwer process of decentralization. Over . the last 17years this two fold movement had been gathering p;ce and the two major Legislations namely, (I) The Decentralization Acts o( the period 1982-85 and (I) The Territorial Organization of the State Act of 1992 have in fact broken the moud of French Administrative system. From then onwards, the underlying legal framework of the Administration in France was no longer centralization but deconcentration. If a bottom-up approach is to become effective reality for the benefit of local users and the local democracy, the reforms of roots and btanches of the central administration is essential. experience in the developed country like France. India: In the. Indian c'ontext, the panchayats as institutions of self- governm-ent are expected to manage their resources and to pan and implement schemes 'for socio-economic / development and social justice. Much depends on how the elected representatives use the available resources for the benefit of the community and how skillfully they perform the functions and also how vigilant and active the Gram Sabhas are. The gram Sabhas can be regarded as the 'base' on which the pyramid of PRJs rests. Since it is the Gram Sabha whom the PRIs represent and to whose needs they must respond to and to whom they must b-e accountable, I therefore, it is incumbent upon the Gram Sabha in turn to be watchful about I the general functioning of the P.RTsas without the participation of the Gram I Sabhas, the PRIs have no way to ttlcce€d. Village people now have a forum in the Gran)! Sabha for , direct participation in---;-nanagingtheir own affairs. Focus on Gram sabha I has to sharpened to make it functional' and participatory adequately.I _ considerations, for example"preventing the central system from becoming too unwidely; securing speed and econOlny in delivery of public goods and services. (Arvind K. Sharma [1996]). Deconcentration, through the process 'of decongestion and localization improves common man's access to public.servi~e by relocating services to various serviI"lg sites instead of confining at one central point. ! Delegation, on the other han<il, involves p~ssing s~me authority and decision m~king powers to local officials. In most ofthe developing countries, decentraization has been limited to deconectraction. Wherever the dec~ntralization has gone beyond the extent of devolution, the resources which are controlled by the local government, municipalities' etc. are generally very small. We may at this st~ge succinctly elucidate the Local Self-Government'(LSG) with an electoral body and people's participation is the essence of the 74th Amendment. Consequent upon theAct, the LSG envisaged the composition of Municipalities, constituent Ward C6ii1iTIiUees,financial provisions and the functions of District and Metropolitan Planning Committees. . The composition of Municipalities s.tipulates direct elections from territorial constituencies in Municipal area, also known as wards. The State legislature may, by law, provide for repre~entation of persons in the Municipality, who may be having special knowledge or expertise in the Dev~luti~n. field of Municipal administration and DevolutIOn ISthe strongest form of the Members of the House of the People~dec~ntralization-granting d.e.cision and the Members of Lecrislative . makmg powe~s to local authontles and Assembly of the State rep;e~enting al~owingthem to take full responsibilitY constituencies which comprise wholly WIthout refere~ce. back to centra! or partly the Municipal area; gover~ment. :hls mcludes both t~e financIal powers as well as the authOrity to design and execute local development projects and programmes. Political devolution in its present day, connotation means much more beyond its "conventional sense. It is not simply' Local Self Government Institution, . (LSGl) but the LSGI with vibrant local' level assemblies .so that not only the I elected representatives but the entire' adult population gets associated through I active participation in decision making .proce~s. The closer to the grass root I . democracy is extended, the brighter, would be the chances of accountable governance. The two effective wings of political decollation are sub local for a of political devolution is one ofthe told of collective political action as strategy for reforms, seeking people's participation in the governance process. . Decentralization can take place in several forms: it might be for examp'le horizontal or verticle. Horizontal decentralization disperses power among institutions at the same level; for instance a gover01'nent spending decisions instead of being-concentrated in Finance Ministry might be taken at the level of different Ministries. On the other hand, verticle decentralization nlIows sonie of the powers of central government to be delegated downwards to lower tiers of authority-to States and then further down to local governments or so. Velticle decentralization of the government can itself take 3 forms:- (i) Deconcentration (ii) Delegation (iii) Devolution . Decentralization, in its deconcentration, aspect, is spurred by what are essentially functional DecOIlcentrationis limited to passing down only administrative discretion to local offices of central government ministr:ies etc. Although it does resultI in sOIl~e dispersal of power, few depisions can be taken without reference to the centre. 30 YOJ1NA June 2000
- 31. ------------------------------------------------- As regards theurban local bodies, the 74th Amendment Act, i992, provides for establishing ~aistrict Planning Committee (DPC) under section 243ZD. It is accordingly required to constitute in every State, District level Planning Committees for consolidating the plans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municip!ilities of the concerned District. The draft development plan for the District as a whole has thus got to be prepared by the DPC. Every DPC is required to take note of many considerations while preparing the draft development plan namely, . matters of common interest between the Panchayats and Municipalities including spatial planning, sharing of natural resources, integrated development of infrastructure and envjronmental con~ervation, the extent and type of available resources financial or otherwise. , AMetropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) under Section 243ZE has to be constituted in every Metropolitan area, for the purpose of preparing the draft development plans of the Metropolitan areas. Now with the MPCs fonnulating the preparation of the development plans for ttie Metropolitan area, obviouslyt"ne functions of the Urban Development Authorities (UDA) and State Town Development Authorities (STDA) will beet)m:~ ineffective and redundant. The existence of multifarious authorities would more over pose difficulties for co-ordination for local planning in an integrated manner. For the consumption of MPC, the roles of. the Development Authorities (OA) and STPA have to be integrated for preparing the development plan of both Panchayats and Municipalities. Not less than four-fifth of the total Humber of members of DPC shall be elected by, and from amongst, the elected members of the Panchayat at the District level and of the Municipalities in the'District; in the case of MPC, however, not less than two-thirds of the YOJANA June 2000 Members shall comprise the elected_ -strength. Reservation of seats is done for'the schedules tribes under section 243T of the 74th Amendment Act, 1992. Thus the LSG would have greater participation of weaker sections. Women have also been covered within the ambit of reservation, by this way the women are also expected to have an . -active role to play in functioning ofLSG administration. The 74th Amendment Act has given mandate for creation of elected ward committees and zonal committees in the larger cities (with a population of 3,00,000 and above). Administratively, it is important that the civic services, which any community of people would need, are 'planned; programmed and integrated in terms of region or area inhabited by them. Administratively, it is important that the civic services, which_ .any community of people would need, are planned, programmed and"integrated in terms of region or area inhabited by them. Local government involves distribution of work on a territorial basis. Local government is necessary precisely because some public requiremeilts at least are totally local in their intensity, character and scope or in other words they are not common to all the areas and the degree of thei.r intensity shows marked variations from region to region. Such local matters can be overcome by evolving local solutions only for which local government exists. , In tackling pro~lems, knowledge of local conditions and environment is necessary. Whatjob should be taken up, timing of execution of thejobs and how to execute them require intimate and close understanding oflocal conditions. In fact, the basic concept of local government springs up from these requirements. Local government is a well-settled-- instrument of political education. The effect of decision making in local council can fuare easil)f'be perceived by everyone in the community-be it a "- matter of water supply; sewerage or maintenance of cleanliness etc. Local level officials and politicians can be much more open to public scrutiny than State or National levels. The local level functionaries can be much more accountable to the communities. Local government contributes to the resilience, strength and richness of democracy by promoting diversification of political experience and by setting itselfup as""yetanother centre of creative activity through democratic actions. A country of strong local governme~t . though may be slow moving yet will be steadily paving the way for political stability. A few advantages of decentralized institutions in the context of sojourn from hierarchy to participation and teamwork are 'Worth mentioning here I under: - (I) The decentralized institutions are far more flexible than centralized institutions. A direct benefit of decentralization is that the local government being closer to the people and more responsive to local needs, can make better use of the resources and can direct them at such human priorities as deemed suitable for the community as per the felt needs. _) (2) The de'centralized institutions i generate higher moral, more commitI11ent and greater productivity than the centralized institutions. Involving local people}can result in a more appropriate structure of services. As an example from Medicare facilitje~ in Tamil Nadu, the local community 31
- 32. health workers haveproved superior to even the junior doctors and nurses on health projects. It goes without saying that local involvement or people's participation also opens up the opport- uniti~s for people to add voluntary contributions to amplify a programme or project's impact. In Kenya, high level ofJocal participation in the rural access road's programme had encouraged people to donate land to the project and permitted the construction ofJ50 extra Kilometers of road. (3) The decentralized institutions are far more innovative and effective. UNDP in its Human Development DEVELOPMENT OF WATER •.. (Contd. from Page20) Report of 1998 has ranked India at 139th position in as far as its Human Development Index based pn education, longevity and per capita income taken together is concerned. There is no doubt that without, ,a large measure of decentralization a~d people's participation the primary economic, administrative, educational and health related problems facing India can not be efficiently tacked. Basic tenets of decentralized polity throw up 'a system whose the terminal output is the creation of a democratic community and nation in which tQe individual are the "goals" and government is a "means" to satisfy that goal. It is certainly the high time now when on this vital issue, the non-party , activists, intellectuals, opinion makers and concerned citizenry as a whole mounted pressure on collective THINK TANK to improve the critical path. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments must be seen to constitute India's response to this intellectual churning; this intellectual effort re- conceptualizes the local self-governing institutions as a lever of re-distributed politics in order to provide dis- advantaged ones to feel and see their role in governance process. '0 and rests from Campbell Bay and Great Nicobar Islands which are mostly used for domestic requirements. Very recently with the hydrological surveys conducted by CGWB, II promising sites have been located for ground water development in the South Andamans. The surveys have revealed that shallow dug wells in South Andamans in sandstone are capable of yielding 300 to 500 cu metre water per day. . , Develo'pment of ground water is also possible in shallow dug well zone around the habitations of North-South road in Campbell Bay area and in .area lying north of Campbell Bay. The remaining area is covered with hills and I forest and not available the be about 1.625 million cubic metre per development. Average specific yield irl annum. Thus total ground water beach sand deposit may be around 10% (recoverable) reserves available in and in clay sandstone it may be as low South Andaman and Nicobar Islands is as 2-3%. Dynamic groundwater approximately 8.212 million cubic potential of 125 sq.km. area as metre per annum. Thus if these calculated by Central Ground Water, potentials are utilised, large areas Board is 1.2 million cubic metre per can be brought under irrigation annum 'hich would be available for apart from meeting domestic domestic and agricultural use. In South. requirements. Andaman area about 30 sq. km in the Inspite of heavy rainfall in these valley and along the beach the dynamic' islands, the agriculture is mostly groundwater potential is about 6.0 rainfed as hardly 10.6% area is reported million cubic metre. In this region about, to be under irrigation. If the vast 50 sq. km girding the hillslopes and' potential of this natural resource (i.e.. along the 10m contour line and I water is tapped and utilized moderately sloping zones, the dynamic; . scientifically, the grey field will surely ground water potential is estimated to: tum in to green very soon. 0 .R& ~ for eco-friendly fertilisers The Union government has constituted a task force for research and development (R&D) in the use of eco-friendly, biomass and bio organic fertilisers as part of its forthcoming fertiliser policy. The taskforce would look into various avenues of research and development in the use of and feasibility of the two fertilisers. Disinvestment in the sector would bring more incentives as there would be healthy competition. Apart from setting up.a constitution~l committee in this regard, the government has also involved the leAR and various farmers organisations who would together I dwell into the concept and give opinions. 32 YOJANA June 2000
- 33. YOJANA June 2000_ Mr Yogendra Shukla is Special Correspondent, UNI, New Delhi. InvestlDent Opportunities- in Indian TelecolD Sector 33 to 4 by the year 2010, achieving telecom coverage of all villages in the country by the 2002 and providing interne( access to all the district headquarters by the year 2000. For this growth in the telecom sector, private investment, both direct foreign investment and domestic, has an important role to play. The non:' resident Indians (NRIs) can exploit the existing investment opportunities in India and become instrumental in transferring technology and experiment to their motherland. The need for telephone and requirements for telecom facilities for information technology industry are so great that it is almost impossible for the government to achieve its targets for the telecom sector through its own resources. To bridge this resource gap, the private investors must come forward. The government has, therefore, invited private sector participation in , practically all Telecom Services, including Cellular Mobile, Fixed Telephones, Internet Service etc. The duopoly in the Cellular field in Metros and Telecom Circles has been liberal.ised, providing for two more operators in addition to the existing two operators, one of them being dotl MTNL. The duopoly in fixed telephone service has also been modified and the government proposes to bring in more players in various telecom circles. The domestic lon-gdistance communications is being opened up for private operators for competition, ending the monopoly of the government in providing STO service. Besides, there are other avenues available for inve~tment, including new circles in the Cellular Mobile Telephony and Basic Telephony. . The internet service has been totally opened up, freely granting licences with 175 licences already granted till date. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) policy has been liberalised, according to which international gateways for carrying internet traffic can be set up by the ISPS after taking security clearance. The ISPS are being given 50 LIBERALISATION HAS OPENED up vast possibilities of investment in the telecom sector. The Union Government is going all out to attract foreign investment. in telecommunications by taking various measures designed to woo the foreign investors and appears keen to introduce the reforms. The foreign investors are looking for. Almost all the countries, including India, recognise telecommunications as a thrust area in their development plans and regard it as a basic infrastructure, like power and transportation for growth of the National economy. World class telecommunication infrastructure can go a long way in the rapid economic and social developinent of the country. It is, therefore, essential to increase the telephone-population ratio at least to a level obtaining in some of the developing countries. The penetration of various value-added services, like paging, Cellular Mobile and Data services will have to be extended to all the important cities and towns and rural areas of the country, not confining it to the metros and major cities. These are huge tasks calling for heavy investments and pose a big challenge to the telecom sector. But these also offer excellent opportunities for investment for the equipment manufactures and service providers. .. The new Telecom Policy '99 AIMs at making available telephone on demand by the year 2002, achieving a teledensity of seven by the year 2005 and 15 by the year 20 10; increasing rural teledensity from the current level of 0.4 Enormous investment opportunities are going to be available in the manufacturing sector of equipment and components. There are opportunities galore for export oftelecom equipment and services from India. Yogendra Shukla
- 34. •/ Modules, Telephone Instruments, EPAX/EPABXIntercom Communication Connector Box and Telecom Cord. A code for gratjlt in aid for promotional efforts in -the area of Telecommunication Equipment .has been proposed. Various credit facilities are given to the exporter by the Ministry of External Affairs, Department of Economic Affairs and EXIM Bank. In~ia will increase the software exports from the present level of three billion dollars to 50 billion dollars by the year 2008. Investment Opportunities There are going to be immense opportunities in setting up National Long Distance Bandwidth capacity in the country as National Long Distance Communications is being opened up. Resale would be pennitted for Domestic Telephony. There will be several other opportunities for service providers in applications like Telebanking, Telemedicine, Teleeducation Teletrading and E-commerce. ' committee have been constitut~d to ensure speedy implementation of such proposals, as a step towards ~orporatisation of the DoT, as promised 111 the new Telecom Policy ~9, a separate department of Telecom Services (DTS) has been created separating the functions of 'policy making and licensing of the DoT from servicb providing. This may speed up the process of licensing and service provision in the interest of investors. IT Ministry Some bold steps have been taken to ?pen India to a bigger share of foreign Investment. These are the announcements of a new Interfonnation Technology 'IT) Ministry with th~ objective of "!aking India an IT super power to reach the export target of 50 billion dollar per annum by 2008,1 development of IT services, educationl and hardwar manufacture E-commerce and~ Inter-based Enterprises. F~reign 1 Investment in Indian Telecom sector is. likely to gct a big boost with the creation of a new IT ministry. Enonnous investment opportunities a,re going to be available in the manufacturing sector or equipment and components. There are opportunities In the areas of transmission, New galore for export of Telecom Equipment Inv.estments. hav~ been planned by and services from India. The DoT has I vanou,s Multi-NatIOnals as well Indian taken a keen interest in development' I companies. exp~rt market for Telecommunication. In the area of cellular Mobile EqUIpment fr~m India. The Exportable ! Telephone service and Radio Paging Telecom EqUIpment has been identified I Service a large number of New as pagers, parts of pagers, !ransmission .Companies have come up for making Apparatus, Rural Automatic Exchanges ! investments in the area of providing (RAX), Telecom software, Telecom !value added-services. 0 The New Telecom Policy is' focussing on creating an Environment , ?~I,ate, ther~ ~as been a spurt in the for Financial Investment as well as ~ctlvltJes regardmg new investments deployment of Modem Technology in 1 • m th.e teleco~n se,ctor. Six Major basic, Cellular Mobile and Value added ForeIgn Multi-natIOnal companies Services. The government has taken the I ~ave set u~ joint venture projects for progressive step of encouraging Internet mve~tment 111 the area oflarge switching Services all over the country. This big eqUlpm~~t. These companies -are plan will require a massive investment Mis. FUJitsu, Japan, Mis. Ericson, of over 23 billion dollars in the next five Sweden, Mis. Seimens, Germany, years and 65 billion dollars .over the next Mis. Lucent Technologies India Private two years in the telecom sect~r. Ltd., USA and Mis. CIT Alcatel France, Joint Venture Projects of 1 Mis. Fujitsu of Japan and Seimens of I Germany. per cent of their dial up requirement on out of tum basis. In a biCito attract foreign investment and to build investors' confidence, the government appears keen to introduce the reforms the foreign investors are looking for. The union cabine1 has ratified the controversial telecom package providing for switch over to the revenue sharing regirlte from the fixed licence fee system for the private telecom operators. This will go a long way in clearing up the uncertainty and building investors' confidence in making investment in Indian Telecom Sector. TRAI As .another step to build investors' confidence and to provide a level playing fiel~ to the players, the government is reconstituting the Telecom Regulatory Authority ofIndia (TRAI), divesting it of its judicial powers and settilig up a separate three~ member telecom dispute settlement and appealate authority with quasi-judicial powers. Appeals against the judgements by the Tribunal can be taken up by the Supreme Court. It will be mandatory for the department of telecommunication (DoT) to seek recommendations of the TRAI on the issue of New Telecom Licences, but it would not be binding on the DoT to accept, those recommendations. The TRAI will have powers to fix terms and conditions for . interconnectivity between telecom companies. It can also lay down quality standards for operators entry. The whole range of fiscal policies of the government has been designed to attract and encourage foreign _ investment. A New Foreign Investment Implementation Authority has been set up to Oversee and Ensure Implementation of forei'gn investment proposalson a fast track. This will serve as a single point interface for secufing approvals ~ various central and state authorities. A private investment promotion cell and a fast track 34 YOJANA June 2000
- 35. MIs G.P.Reddy andPSB Anand are agricultural scientists at WaterTechnology Centre for ~astern Region, Bhubaneswar. Geographic information SysteDl and Agriculture 2.' The ability to store, retrieve and edit spatial data and attribute information. 3. The ability to perform spatial analysis ,such as map overlay, spatial buffer analysis attribute reclassification and spatial summaries. Many systems also have the ability to lack models with spatial databases. 4. The ability to display crops and generates tabular reports of attributes data. A GIS consists of three major components: I)Computer hardware, 2) Computer software and 3) Digital geographic data. to as geographic infonnation system (GIS). GIS have existed for over three decades, but only recently have they been widely used for natural resources planning. Geographic information system range ro relatively simple to highly sophisticated and are adopted for use on a variety of computer platforms. Each ofthese systems includes the following . capabilities. I. The ability to enter or capture spatially referenced information from existing among maps or remote sensors. INTEREST IN AND use of Geographic Information System (GIS) have accelerated in recent years. The management and manipulation of spatially related data using Computer- aided techniques began in the I960s and has grown rapid in the 1990s. An increasing worldwide population, coupled with misuse of land resources, requires the applications of newer techniques like GIS to help maintain a sustainable food and water supply without degrading the environment. We are entering an era in which the us~ of GIS can better organise and integrate scientific data, adgress spatial and temporal variability, model soil and landscapes using quantitative and statistical meth'ods to d~fine relationships, advance knowledge and wage landcapes as eco-systems., Development of GIS technology helps decision-makers to have at their disposal information sy~tems in which data are readily accessible, easily combined, and modified. Scientist's,' managers and politicians can use their technology to make informed decisions on the basis of more complete exploration ofland use options, greater sensitivity to environmental quality, and increased public participation. Emerging Role GIS technology is advancing rapidly and is driven by major non-agricultural markets. This reduces development costs to agriculture. GIS combined with real-time sensing of soil variability Scientists concerned with agriculture within fields may reduce the cost of niust )Vork with spatial information acquiring precise maps of soil organic involving pattern of soil properties, matter; and plants available nutrients. cropping practices, pest infestations, Research on devices that sense soil, crop weather conditions and topography. The and weed conditions is a major thmst availability of high speed computers led ill-agricultural science. GIS may soon to the development of digital tools to allow more efficient weed control, for capture, store analyze and report special example by treating only sites mapped information that are commonly referred. ~ weed iIlfested rather than treating whOle field by spraying weeds at night and by returning to sites when weeds are vulrerable to treatments but difficult This tool can be very useful for studying - eco-regions, clustering, characterization studies, trends and patterns in agriculture, drought monitoring, crop yield estimates, disease spread and , foreca~ting, runoff and soil loss estimation. etc. IG.p. Reddy and P.S.B. Anand YOJANA june 2000 35
- 36. Source: Economic Survey1996-97. Table 1: Increase in area (millioq ha), production (million tonnes) and productivity (kgs ha-l) due to g~een revolution Crop Pre-Green Revolution Post-Green Revolution Area Production Productivity Area Production Productivity Rice 34.1 35.1 1013 42.9 79.6 1855 Wheat 12.9 Il.l 851 25.1 62.6 2493 , . Maize 4.4 4.6 926 I 6.0 9.4 1570 Jowar 18.4 8.8 533 , 11.5 . 9.6 834 Bajra 1l.5 3.9 286 9.4 5.4 575 , 123.5 185.1 1499Total 115.6 81.0 710 I Foodgrains -I to find by conventional methods. precise GIS navigation system will also allgw night operations that increase the safety of chemical applications. Site-specific Farming It will be the agricultural system of the 21st century. It is made possible by the development of technologies such as microcomputers, GPS, and GIS. A major challenge in optimization SSF is the development of information system and decision support system based on . GIS to efficiently merge field information data bases and provide sound management strategies. 1. GIS data layers (a) Crop yield maps (b) Soil attributes (c) Micro-climate attribute maps (d) Crop condition maps (e) Environmental condition maps GREEN RE VOL UTION. ... (Colltd. from Page 28) advanced training of the scientists in their fields of specialisation in advanced national and international research and development institutions/centres of excellence, is essential. It will help in . keeping them up-to-date and enable them to effectively contribute in National R&D programmes. Recently a giant Agricultural Human Resource Development project has been launched by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in India. Notwithstanding the benefits of 'Green Revolution', its growth has been uneven. The 'Green Revolution' has been confined to the Punjab, Hary.ana, V.P. and coastal districts of A.P. The production of pulses and oil seeds, however, continues to be low. Tfie revolution has also thrown up some problems of water-logging, soil salinity and depletion in soil fertility. With the present growth ra.te in population and income, total foodgrain (f) Pest distribution maps (g) Management constraint maps 2. Models: to predict water and soil~ movement in combination with crop growth 3. Decision support system: to employ the power and memory of computers to help farmers and consultants to integrate information from many sources, synthensize management plans and evaluate them. 4. Field applications: management, plan crops provide direction to field, applications such as the followings. . (a) Tilling soils at variable depths and, intensities. (b) Sowing seed varieties adapted to, wet or dry parts of fields. (c) Fertilization with equipment. (d) Crop protection. (e) Waste disposal. requirement is estimated at 220.5 and' 243.2 million tonnes, respectively by , the end of Ninth (2001-2) and tenth i (2006-7) plan against the present level ; of foodgrain production at 198.7million' tonnes during 1996-97. On'the eve of the 21st century, the challenge before us is to sustain food security and have some surplus for exports to take advantage of globalisation of agriculture. Environmental protection and conservation of natural resources , GIS technology is bringing about rapid changes in the way that agricultural research and management are being conducted. GIS coupled with remote sensing, GPS, electronic sensors and computer technologies is providing new methods for data acquisition~, storage, processing, analysis and modeling. The development of these models rely on spatial statistical analysis techniques to quantify the accuracy of input parameters and model output. Among the various agricultural related operations this tool can be very useful for studying ,eco-regions, clustering, characterization studies, trends and patterns in agriculture, drought monitoring, crop yield estimates, disease spread and forecasting, runoff and soil 10ss estimation etc. The agricultural scientific community, including farmers, land managers, policy makers and general public should benefit from this evolving and, expanding field. 0 " base will be the key to realisation ofthe situation and also to sustain them over the long run. We have one of the world's largest arable and irrigated area under cultivation but with one of the lowest productivity and have one ofthe largest population to feed. Thus, the country needs a "Third Green Revolution" in dry i land areas to sustain foodgrain produc- tion for the increasing population. 0 36 YOJANA June 2000
- 37. Mr Dhrubajyoti Patiteaches in the Department of Journalism at the Ka~ndi College, Delhi University. Social Marketing~ A Conceptual Strategy for Alternative Social. DevelopDlent Dhrubajyoti Pati Social marketing is coincided to the application of marketi11;gconcept and techniques to the dissemination of socially beneficial ideas. , SOCIAL PROGRESS IS, in essence, an evaluative concept, implying that the social deyelopmerlt is taking place in a desirable direction. However, such evaluative judgement hardly enables us to understand the social. process. The term social change is to indicate that there is some change in the social behaviour and in the social structure without reference to the direction in which the change has taken place. However, social change as a process implies that there is a continuous change taking place in an enduring social system because of the operation of the various forces on the,system. Social change is the transition of social system from one stage of being to another stage of being. The concept of social development in its original usages means 'gradual unfolding' of the potentialities within the system. It is in this sense that the development of a child is spoken of; the infant groys up toa childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Bu! this sense of the term development is obviously inapplicable to social process and the social system. There are, in India, more than 80 million people constitutinK nearly seven per cent who are leading the tribal way oflife. However, there is another aspect of the tenn 'development' that is relevant to describe the social process and the changes in social - system. The concept of social. development in this limited sense is relevant to describe the change that are taking place in the developing countries where two-thirds of the world's population is living. Their societies are transforming themsel ves froin predominantly rural and agricultural societies with low level of production and income to industrial societies so that there is an improvement in economic efficiency and standard of living. Constitutional Provision Constitution oflndia adopted in 1950 had set forth certain special norms. Under the jurisdiction of constitutional prescriptions for good governance, social justice and empowerment of citizen, the declared aim of the Constitution is to secure justice-social, economic and political, equality of status and opportunity to promote among all citizens a sense of fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual. Article 14, 15 & 16 assure the fundamental rights from equality to the civil liberties for all citizens. They provide that there shall not be any discrimination regarding any citizen on any grounds, religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth; they provide that there shall be equality of opportunities for all citizens in matters of employment. Laying down the directive principles of the State policy, Article 38 requires the' states to strive to promote the welfare ofthe people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may be social order iii which justice, social, economic and political shall infonn all the institutions of the national life. Article 39, 43 &. 45 talk about living ways, conditions of work, education, civil code, to niaintain the status of the people. Five Year Plans have been implemented for the , community p~rticipation and raising. livelihood at par with world standards for securing the target benefit as desired by the constitutional experts through effective enunciation of constitutiomil laws and provisions meant for it. YOJANA June 2000 -37 /
- 38. / I Relevance Is marketingconcerned to social I development? A question comes to our mind. To find out its relevance and I role we can talk about selling the I ideas, using communication principles which is commonly used in I m'arketing. Given this programme I planners have to break the new . ground and the concept of social , marketing is one such possibility. , The logic is: if the community can be persuaded to buy totally a new product, why not an idea? In two 'situations, the logic is the same, I although at the ground level there might be some differences: selling of 'ideas, especially those relating to jhealth, agriculture are more ard~lOus than selling a consumer product. :Social marketing attempts to influence and modify the 'environment successfully, as shown by the studies around the globe, ~specially in developing countries, wh"ere they appear to have great I Socialization, education and mass communication play an important role in modern society. They mobilize human resource for national development. Commission on - Human Righ~s a profound influence in changing the launched a specific campaign to impart way of people only if they are fully the information on basic human supported by informal channel of rights for the world population and communication which are internally make them aware about duties and related to basic social process". Rapid responsibilities. national development .calls for coordinated and re-enforcing use of Since development needs the active both impersonal mass media and participation ofthe people attempts are personal face to face social made to involve them in the decision communication: Schramm defines that making process. Thus, rural people find a nation that wants to accelerate the themselves invol~ed to a certain extent, process will try to make itt people ofthe policy of informators. Further, t~el more widely and quickly aware of the people now have to make theIr -needs and of opportunities for meeting individual decisions re~arding~hatr their day to day requirements, which they ~urchase.and the baSICk~owledge, will facilitate the decision process and for ll~provlng the agrIcultur~l. can help to put the new practice production etc. They h~ve to make th~Ir smoothly and swiftly concerning d,ecisionon pr~fit and mvestment wIth, the social goal. Economic 'and regard to the VIllage development and cOl~munication development subsequent developmen~ to their st~te' are closely inter-related and mutually and country. EconomIC .and SOCIalI re-inforce each other. So the relevance development consider literacy as the of ma~tnedla and communication I process is an inevitable part for I achieving social development and .empowennent. main criteria which has to be enhanced. The infonnation can be obtained from radiQ, television and other modes of media which are to be properly maintained arideffectively chan~elised from written 'communication to oral. Daniel Learner looks on literacy as prime device mover of modernization. It provides adequate information and creating necessary climate-fornational development. When people are exposed to an increase flow of information they find themselves in a position which necessitate~ a change in their aspiration and exertion. According to L. Pye, "deeper analysis shows that the press and radio can have "-Three Features Three basic features are responsible for social development and can enhance the basics of livelihood. (a) The sense of self-dependence; (b) Education for all with community involvement from the very childhood; (c) Role of mass media to envisage the motto of development programme for achieving and familiarizing other parts of people living around them. Process of socialisation and education are complementary; while socialization is an informal process involving the family and the peer group in the neighbourhood, education I is a formal process; it is an institution organized by the society to equip the child with attitude, values, knowledge and skill to enable him for playing an effective role in the society. Thus, national development in the modern times depends upon social inobilisation. It involves an awareness in a large number of the citizens about the problems of women and the involvement in national development. National development depends upon the knowledge, the skill, attitude, of the people what the people know, what the people can do and what the people-can aspire for and hope to get. This is why socialization, education and mass communication. play an important role in modem society. They mobilize human resource .for national development. Economic development is .possible when there is an increase in producti~ity. Increase of productivity depends upon three factors, namely; machine to manufacturer, steam, elcctricity and other sources of power to move the system and well educated, trained manpower. Mobilisation of human resource is the principle object to achieve the economic development, modernizing agriculture and marketing of its products is basic necessity to achieve the target. The U.N. 38 . YOJANA June 2000
- 39. potential in thecontext of social change programme. Marketing concept and methods have worked admirabiy in social progress when properly applied in a society. In fact, ever since Phillip Kodar and Zat Man (1971), pronounced the concept of social marketing, the world of communication has not been the same. What is more, it assumed a painted significance in ,a developmental context. Activating change strategy is not only a matter of providing input but also of motivating the target ~egment to participate in the process. Much of the shortfall in the developmental programme (e.g. literacy campaign, health, education, small family norms) could be traced to the fact that the ideas co.uld not be properly sold to masses. Considering tIte importance of the concept:ik~ be useful to,give a closer look. The design, implementation and control programmes are calculated to influence the acceptability of social ideas and involving considerations of product planning, pricing, communication and market research. In other words,. social marketing is coincided to' the application of marketing concept. and techniques to the dissemination of socially beneficial ideas. Fox (1980) suggested "social cause marketing", "social idea marketing" or "public iSSuemarketing" as alternative nomenclatures, Murphy: (1979) social marketing is not merely advertising or communication but a much. larger process involving (a) market research to identify the needs or wants of the target audience; (b) segmenting the target audience in terms of specified characterising; (c) designing an "offer" to match the needs and wants of the target segments; (d) pricing the offer at levels affordable by the target audience or market; (e) communicating the offer to the target segment; (f) making it accessible to the target segments through private and public channel of distribution. . YOJANA June 2000 Kotler (1989) defines that the products marketed could be both tangible and intangible. Intangible products include ideas and behaviour. Social marketing managers promote ideas as well as social practices with the ultimate aim of bringing about a change of behaviour. Social marketing is built around the knowledge gained for business practices, the selling of measurable products to specialized groups of consumers, the technology of positioning (the products to fit human needs and wants an effectively communicating their benefits, constant vigilance to change the environment, and the ability to adopt to the change). Social marketing is much more complex than Economic and communication development are closely inter-related and mutually re-inforce each other. So the relevance of mass media and communication process is an inevitable part for achieving social development and empowerment. commercial marketing. Social products are often more controversial than commercial products and are less "immediately satisfying". The tendency to equate social marketing with advertising, commercial products (or. even social advertisements) which is seldom backed by research data tend to be a major hin'drance in the acceptance of social marketing by specialist outside the discipline. (Mckee 1988). Conceptualisation of social marketing as a statutory for social change started nearly two decades ago as -signed by the writings of the Kodar, Zatman, Fox, Laser, Kelley from 1971 to 1979. In India, contraception marketing as poised through social marketing approach to target the vast audience from 1967 for familiarizing family welfare campaign and a concept to p~pularize the contracepti ve methods by using condoms. In USA, Stanford University conducted three community studies in heart disease. Perhaps the first documented application of social marketing methodology (Soloman 1981). After a campaign comprising 50 TV spots, 3 hours TV programming, 10 radio ads, newspaper advertising and stories on video films, bill board ads, direct mail and messages through other media, a significant approach which was noticed in the reduction of heart diseases. USAID promoted this idea and the methodology in developing countries after experi- menting it successfully in America. The United Nations sponsored a conference at Alma Ata. Manoff (1985) traces Alma Ata's influence on new established ~J1ciples that "the consumer is the key and consumer participation is the fundamental wisdom". Social marketing is not just research and communication concerning a social product. It may include the new pr~duct, modification of existing product, consumption of other products and catalyst for structural changes by existing institutions in society. -.Two Types The motivation of two types of marketing is different: in one case it is profit and iIi the other it is social service. Unlike commercial marketing, social marketing often direct lh~ir campaign at the poorest segment of society. Social marketing and commercial marketing are sometimes adversaries, as in the case of anti-smoking campaign which involves counter marketing of prevention campaign that is directly opposed to commercial marketing. 39
- 40. Sometimes the natureof target audience also determines whether the marketing of a particular product falls under social marketing or commercial marketing. Kotler suggests that a least four elements oj social marketing are rising for the pure social communication approach. The foremost element is sophisticated marketing research to learn not only about the target marketing but also th~ probable effectiveness of other marketing approaches. Social advertising amount~ to a shot- in the dark "unless it is preceded by the careful marketing research which generally is not done". Second special element of soci~l marketing is product development. Whenever required, the social marketing does not stick to the existing product by trying to sell it (a sale approach) but rather searches for best product to meet the need (a marketing approach). Besides composing messages highlighting the merits and demerits of different kinds of behaviour, social marketings go further and design specific incentives. Gift and'concession etc. to increase the level of motivation. The fourth additional element of social marketing is facilitation since it realizes that the people wishing to change their behaviour have to invest time and effort, and ways have to be found to make it easier for them to adopt the new behaviour. Management -Social marketing operates through systematic plan and designed way to motivate the target audience by concentrating them towards the product or message. Social marketing plan consists of six elements, i.e. i) Product and packaging Maill elements in the social marketing mix is the "product" as anything that. can be offered to a marketing to satisfy a need. It 40 includes physical objects, services of persons, places, organizatio~s and ideas. It can be defined as after valu.e package, benefit bundle. I People adopt ideas, the sponsorer causes iIi order to fulfil the felt needs. The social product offets must therefore be branded i.e. name, term sign, symbol and design to identify it and differentiate it from other offering~ by corripetiting or collaborating organization. , Marketing concept and methods. have worked admirably in social progress when properly applied in a society. In fact, ever since Phillip Kotlar ,- andZatman (1971), pronounced the concept of social marketing, the world of communication has " not been the same. ii) Pricing Strategy Decisions I Social marketers believe that the. buyer does not value product unless I it is priced. Adam Smith observes ' 'the real price of everything, what I everything really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil, trouble of acquiring it". Therefore, j price includes the effort, cost, psyche cost, waiting cost (Kotler I 1982). It is essential to anticipate how government and community based distribution, commercial finn, media reacting to it, marketing -penetration, self-sufficient and breaki'ng even as some other objectives which have to be considered by social marketers while planning the price of a particular product. iii) Marketing Channels Marketing organizations through which the product, service or offering is delivered to the target marketers are called "the social marketing channels", Nature ofthe product determines the nature of the marketing channels. In social marketing programmes does not involve a tangible product. Th~ social marketing channels are likely to be voluntary organizations, , advertising agencies and publicity firms etc. - iv) Communication Strategy After product design, pricing- strategy and distribution options are decided upon, the social ~arketer is ready to consider the communication strategy which involves several crucial decisions. The foremost task here is to define promotional obj~ctives, keeping in view the target marketing segments. v) Selection of Media Selection of most cost effective media is the next step followed by decision about timing ~ndschedule. Cost effective methods_.!equire to frame the strategy to reach the target audience in a shortest time frame. Media makes it an essential part for them to choose the directives, secondly the promotional strategy is to select the advertising agency who will be assigned the task of multimedia text. An integrated approach for sales comprise personal cOlmnunication, incentive, training and programme etc., overall mechanism and well coordinate plan to ensure that all promotional activities are effectively monitored. (Colltd. OIl Page 48) YOJANA June 2000
- 41. ~------------------------------ Dr l'vlohan PrasadShrivastava is University Professor, Deptt. of Economics, Magadh University, Bodh Gaya. From Vat to Cenvat /' Mohan prasad'Sh~vastava CENVAT lays the ground/ora dramatic simplification of the tax syste~. It should reduceI . harassment. It could also lead to improved q,etections of tax evasion by setting lJP a .computerised . database o/the annual value 0/ sales and purchases among producers 0/ goods subject to CENVAT THE INDIAN tax system has undergone some major structural changes since. Independence. As, the objectives of tax system in any economy are intimately connected with the overall economic and non-economic policies of the government, it is widely belieyed that the tax system must resolve the problems in the best possible manner. However, a tax system cannot be expected to achieve all the. goals fully. The restructuring of Indian tax system has taken place particularly since the introduction of economic refonn and also the recommendations of Tax Reforms Committee Report headed by Dr. Raja J. Chelliah. The Committee recommended a host of tax reform measures, keeping in view the basic objectives of revenue 'and simplicity. It also considered that the framework of reforms recommended should. form the basis of subsequent reforms so that entire tax system ultimately gets radically transformed into a 'simple' fair and rational one from economic point of view. Consequent upon this, the Ftfiance Minister made some signifjcant changes in our tax structure through his budgets 1999-2000 and 2000-2001. Introduction of Central Value Added Tax (CENVAT) is one of the significant departures. While presenting the Union Budget 2000-2001 the Finance Minister st~ted, "the Centre and states depend heavily on indirect taxes, while I did carry out a major restructuring the excise rates last year, the process needs to be taken further. We need to overhaul the rate of structures to rationalise and simplif)rthe procedures and to reduce the compli~nce cost for the tax payers." The 2000-2001 Budget proposed to establish a single rate Central Value Added Tax (C E N V A T) which has become a matter of serious debates and discussions. It was felt that nothing short of this can provide long term stability, remove uncertainties in the mind of industry, and eliminate disputes of - classification. This step is certainly expected to encourage the states to implement their agreed programme for converting their sales tax into VAT by the Ist April, 200 I. The' MODVAT (Modified Value Added Tax) scheme will now be known as CENVAT scheme. Over the years, disputes between the department and assesses on the interpretation of MODVAT rules and the procedure have plagued the system. The plethora of existing rules is to be replaced by a small set of simple and transparent rules w.e.f. 1st April, 2000. Therefore, the scope of the MODVAT scheme is expected to be expanded and rationalised and consequently, all inputs and capital goods are not included in the eligible list of MODVAT scheme. In his 1999-2000 budget, 'the minister introduced three ad-valorem rates of basic excise duty viz., 8%, 16% and 24%. Now, it has been proposed to converge these three rates to a single rate of 16% CENVAT. The 8% excise rate is thus, being abolished and most ofthe items at this rate are being moved to 16%. According to Economic Survey, 1999-2000, the Upion Budget 1999- 2000 undertook a major overhaul of indirect taxes by reducing the multiplicity of rates, rational ising the rate structure and drastrcally curtailing the scope fordescretion by abolishing the power to grant adhoc duty exemption. The budget also signalled. intention of the Government .to move towards a single rate, full-fledged VAT YOJANA June 2000 41
- 42. VAT is thusassessed only on the incremental value added at each stage value added at each stage from the stage of production to retail stage". The difference among the various' concepts, like the consumption, prod~ction income and wage type VAT emarates from the differential treatment I meted out to business investment. I to the commodity since the last taxable transaction. / MODVAT (Modified Value Added Tax) scheme ~ntrodi.lced in the year 1985. It was'announcedto prevent the cascading effect of excise duties. "The excise system", according to senior economic adviser Department of Economic Affairs Mr. Arvind Virmani, as it existed in 1985 was extremely complex. Rate differentiation had been taken to absurd lengths. To cite only one example, there were about 50 different excise tax rates on polyster fibre and yarns. The MODVAT enables the manufacturer to take credit for the duty paid on the inputs against the duty payable on the final products. It is perhaps not so difficult to imagine the strong incentive this provided for tax evasion, harassment and corruption. Classification disputes were an inevitable consequence of this system as it was impossible to differentiate between items having different tax rates without sending virtually every batch for laborator);..te~!ing." according to Mr. Virmani. A switch from specific rates to ad valorem rates and a reduction in the number of rates was a clear imperative if the system was to be simplified. In addition, a system set off and deduction was introduced to ta_cklethe problems of cascading of excise taxes and distortions in production. There were designed to iinprove the efficiency of the excise system and constituted the MODVATsystem. In principle there are I two efficient systems of domestic indirect taxation: a VATand a Sales Tax on finished goods. Neither of them I distorts production choices. I VAT is levied at every stage of . production and yet maintains its , efficiency properly because full credit , is"given for the VATlevied on all inputs in production. The VAT has the I additional advantage in countries ,plagued with tax -evasion that tax collection takes place in stages, so that I tax evasion at on.:: stage would be The VATwas introduced for the first time in France in 1954 to remove the evils of turnover tax and to boost investment. Later, U,K.; Fedeqd Republic of Germany, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Sweden Finland, Brazi'], Netherlands, Austria etc. alsp introduced this system. I . The VATof developing countries is less uniform, less neutral and les~ comprehensive than that of developed countries. As such, Morcco, Uruguay, Brazil, Tunisia, Algiers etc are facing the problem of more difficult tax administration, increased cases of tax evasion and the higher cost collection. 1 I Categories The VATcan be classified into four l categories i.e. consumption type VAT;' Income type, production type, and wage, type VAT. Value Added Tax belongs to the! family of sales tax, the manufacture I sales-tax and the wholesale sales tax. ' When a tax is levied on the ~ggregate sales of all commodities except those for which the law provides exemption, is called the general sales tax. The general sales tax has two i~nportant varieties; the multi-point and sirigle point sales tax system. Under single point system a specific amount oftax is added to the price at which the article is sold to the consumer. It is collected at one point of sale. But a multi point sales tax is levied at all stages of sales of a commodity. It is levied when the producer sells it to the wholesaler, again when the wholesaler sells it to the retailer and finally again, when the retailer sells it to the consumer. in the neat future and to phase down customs duty to Asian levels in five years. The former was followed up by an agreement among all states to move a VATbyApri1200 1.Excise tax reforms involved reduction of eleven major ad valorem duty rates to three Le. a central rate of 16%: a merit rate of 8% and a demerit rate of 24%. The cap on MODVAT credit of 95% of ,the admissible amount was lifted and made 100 per cent. The excise tax on capital goods was brought to the Central rate of 16 per centJrom 13%. An authority for advance ruling for excise and customs was set up. This will not only inject greater transparency but also provide binding rules, which will go a long way in helping intending investors about their duty liabilities in advance. ValueAdded Tax is a tax on the value added to'tl!e commodity or services. VAT is imposed on the value that business firms add to the goods and services that they purchase from other firms. It adds value by processing or handling these purchases items with its own labour force or its own machinery, buildings or other capital goods. Then, it sells . the resulting product to consumers orlo other finns. Therefore, the difference between the sale proceeds and the cost of materials, etc., that it has purchased from other finns is its value added, which is the tax bases of the value added (VAT). The items that firms purchase from other firms consist of raw-materials, semi-manufactured goods supplies use up in the process of manufacture or handling, of services , e.g. banking, insurance, advertisement, finished go.odsready for reale to consumers (in case of retailers) finally machinery, equipment and other capital goods. In the words ofL.K. Jha Committee, 1976 (Popularly know as Indirect Taxation Enquiry Committee), "VAT,in its comprehensive fonn, is a tax on all goods and services except export and government services, its special characteristics being that it falls on the 42 YOJANA June 2000
- 43. automatically compensated ata later stage in the production chain if the producers at that stage are not tax evaders. The MODVAT system introduced VAT like set-off and deduction provisions into the excise tax system. There was also an effort to simplify the system by switching over from specific to ad valorem rates and to gradually reduce the number of rates and exemptions. VATenables deduction of the entire value of input while in MODVAT there is a credit given in respect of duty already paid on inputs and this goes to reduce the duty payable on the final product or the output. It may be seen that VAT is far more equitable than MODVAT. RATIONALISATION: India, for years, has been making best efforts for rational ising the present indirect tax structure. The eminent economists and experts have looked to VAT as a prospective substitute of the present tax structure. It has some attractions in India where the multiplicity of taxation is a major evil. The L.K. Jha and Chelliah committees suggested in order to mitigate the problem of cascading effects of indirect taxes, that there ought to be lowering the excise levies on one hand and on the other, restriction could be imposed on the power of state government to levy sales tax so as to ensure that there is no undue increase in the cost of production. But in our country, VAT is likely to put an. additional financial and administrative burden. Moreover, the consumption type of VAT encourages capital intensive technology which is not desirable in a labour abundant economy like ours. Levying of VAT raises a number of political and constitutional issues. It also raises an explosive political issue involving autonomy of States. Manvat : It is not an easy task to persude states to accept VAT in place of sales tax and other taxes. But it is only the excise duties which can be replaced by YOJANA June 2000 VAT. According to .lha Committee excise tax in India contains a provision' under Rule 56A for set-off of tax paid on inputs against the tax payable on the output, under certain conditions. Jha Committee was not in favour of comprehensive VAT system extending down to the retail level. It suggested MAN VAT (Value Added Tax System at the Manufacturing level) for elimination of cascading effects i.e. undesirable effects on cost and prices account of taxation on raw materials and other inputs. Under MAN VAT the tax levied on a final product would be total tax on it and the tax at earlier stages will not affect its cost and prices, MAN VAT may also minimise the requirement of physical check up to ensure that there is not much evasion. Modvat to Cenvat This system is designed to eliminate the fundamental problems by having a single basic rate and making all inputs (which will also have this basic rate) eligible for a set-off/deduction. CENVAT system consists of one basic rate) eligible for a set-off/deduction. CENVAT system consists of one basic or standard excise rate and three special excise rates. The basic rate of 16per cent is applicable to virtually all excisable goods. The basic excise paid on excisable goods can be deducted from ..the excise collected on the output so that only the tax on ValueAdded Tax (or net- tax) has to be handed over to the government by each producer. It has been proposed to expand and rationalise the scope of MODVAT. In the list of MODVAT all capital goods have been included in the eligible list. The Finance Minister has proposed that avai.lability of MODVAT credit on capital goods will be spreadover a period of two years w.e.f. 1st April, 2000. For the first time he has tried to enhance the rates of excise duty on all cigarettes by 5%. Structure of Cenvat : According to Finance Minister, "an ad-valorem structure of taxation is largely free from distortions, equitable and automatically buoyant. Ipropose to restore ad-valorem excise duty structure on steel produced by re-rollers and also to steel produced by induction furnaces. These goods will be subjected to CENVAT of 16% with MODVAT benefit. Under the existing law, excise duty on goods sold from the depots is charged on the basis of depot prices and not the factory gate price. This is a path breaking departure from the traditional approach." Special Excise Duty: In addition to 16% CENVAT, three rates of special excise duty (SED) has been introduced in the , budget 2000-200 I viz., 8%, 16% and 24% respectively. Users will not be able to avail of MODVAT credit of these duties. The Finance Minister has proposed to make the valuation mechanism simple, use friendly and on commercially acceptable lines. All statutory records in excise would be dispensed with. Excise department would rely upon the manufacturer's record. According to Mr. Arvind Virmani, "output of selected finished goods is also subject to a SED. As most of the output ofthese finished-goods is sold to consumers the issue of set-off or deduction does not arise and the SED is equivalent to genuine 'sales tax'. The SED is also effectively a final sales tax for goods such as white cement, glazed tiles and tyres for which the buyer is either a consumer or a service provider outside the excise net. The SED does not distort input use any more than basis excise in these cases and retains the efficiency property of CENVAT or final 'sales tax' (the full benefits of VATcan only be realised if services, including wholesale trade, are brought into the CENVATsystem). In an ideal CENVAT there would be no SED on intermediate goods such as PFY and POy" All inputs (excepting high speed diesel oil and motor spirit (petrol) and 43
- 44. 8 + 16% +16% + 24% + 16% + 8% 24% + 6% 16% + 16% 24% + 8% 16% + 16% 24% + 16% 16% + 24% all capital goods have now been included in the eligible list of MODVAT. SED on specific items of products will Existing Rates (~d Valorem) Excise + SED SUMMING UP : On the basis of above analysis, one may conclude that the introduction of CENVAT is a dynamic and right step taken by the Finance Minister for reducing the regressive character of our excise duties. 111 India it is a major step forward in the slow but steady reform of our indirect tax system. CENVAT discourages lobbies for concessions and exemptions. It paves the way for national VAT. It provides confidence to encourage to invest. Through CENVAT forecast of revenues becomes easier. It may make tax-evasion difficult and encourage investment and export as well. Further, CENVAT is conducive to efficiency. It may encourage productivity instead of penalising efficiency and inake the tax more effective as a regulator of demand. It is neutral between factor costs as it DOTS-STRATEGY FOR ... (Coilld./rom Page No. 18) DOTS is a significant weapon in every c0l111try'sfight to control tuberculosis. While better tools for the strategy are being developed, the current DOTS package needs to be deployed aggressively and globally. Each Rupee invested in it will yield a high return both in human health and in increased 44 continue in this budget with a fJw exceptions. The new SED rates will be as follows: I Proposed Rates (Ad Valorem) CENVAT+ SED taxes all value added. A uniform VAT would correct distorting effect on consumer's choice and provide automaticity and neutrality for taxation services. But, CENVAT and even VAT is not just a bundle' of merits and advantages. It has rather serious limitations. 1 CENVAT is a complicated system. I Some critics of CENVAT call it a 'confusing tax'. It has distorted the tax' structure and much against the claim of. simplification. CENVAT.is not a single' rate of structure and it comprises may more nominal rates effected goods. The claim in the budget that SED will 1 generally be non-illodvatable is refuted. Its net incidence of tax may be higher I on exempted goods than the pre-budget. I CENVAT does not lay down any I economic activity. Close cooperation of government authorities and health care providers at all levels is essential for successful implementation of DOTS. Participation of village panchayat, community health worker, religious group,s, political leaders, other communi ty representatives and foundation of VAT. The argument that VAT and CENVAT induces efficiency is not tenable especially in an economy like India where there are shortages, speculative hoarding, non- competitive price rise and similar practices. It is doubtful it CENVAT will improve efficiency. The regressiveness of VAT may affect CENVAT and income distribution adversely. Besides, revenue to be collected under CENVAT may be far less than the r~venue , collected under the multi-stage turnover tax system. However, on the positive side CENVAT. is a VAT upto the manufacturing stage. All inputs (with the exception of high speed diesel and petrol) are eligible to credit to the manufacturer of final goods. All capital goods are also eligible to credit. The Finance Minister has also decided to adopt the transaction value as the basis of assessment, which should encourage the states to adopt VAT, replacing the existing sales tax structure. CENVAT lays the ground for a dramatic simplification of the tax system. It should reduce harassment. It could also lead to improved detections of tax evasion by setting up a computerised database of the annual value of sales and purchases among producers of goods subject to CENVAT. 0 voluntary agencies is essential to achieve success in tuberculosis control. I The disease is curable and therefore, there is no need for panic within the I community. Further, TB is not to be . associated with a stigma. Do your , part to see that DOTS is used more I widely. 0 YOJANA June 2000 ,
- 45. Jagadish Chandra Paul MrJagadish Chandra Paul is Asst. Prof., Deptt. of Soil and Water Conservation Engg., Orissa University of Agriculture and' Technology, Bhubanesll~ar. Constructed Wetlands-A Low Cost Technology for Sustainable Wastewater ManageInent Constructed wetlands are very effective in removing the pollutants satisfactorily. Since, constructed wetlands work on the principle of bacterial metabolism and physical sedimentation for wastewater treatment, it seems to be cost effective alternative to conventional treatment process. RAPID URBANISATION AND industrialisation are creating serious environmental problems. Urban India today presents a very pathetic scene since cities have become pile of rotting . garbage and degrading drainage system. The untreated/undertreated domestic and industrial sewage are being dumped into nearest waterbodies leads to potential victims of health ha'zards besides creating serious problems for sources of drinking and industrial water supplies. Rivers have thus become open sewers with no trace of aquatic life left in them. Sustainable wastewater management has thus become the need of the day. In India 635l million cubic metres of wastewater is generated per annum. As conventional wastewater collection and treatment systems are energy intensive processes and involve huge cost, of the generated wastewater only 23 per cent is being treated mostly at primary level prior to disposal and remaining 77 per cent untreated wastewater is discharged into surface water bodies and over the lanel. This has created severe environmental pollution in the country. To solve these self created problems new innovative and cost effective solutions are required. The industrialised countries use advanced wastewater treatment technologies, which are generally expensive. On the other hand, the developing countries sutTer fr0111 low per-capita income and cannot afford the same. They need simple, inexpensive, integrated environmental systems that are sustainable. Such systems are characterised by minimum use of avai lable resources like energy, maximum reuse ofthe wastewater, low construction, operation and maintenance costs, simplicity on operation & maintenance and self. sufficiency. Constructed wetland or artificial wetland system of wastewater treatment is an effective low cost alternative to conventional treatment technologies. The natural system of wastewater treatment has been in use in human societies for a hundred years. These processes include both soil based and aquatic systems. The soil based systems include septic tank leach pits, slow rate to high infiltration land treatment and overland flow, whereas aquatic system include stabilisation ponds with their variations, aquatic units with floating plants and wetlands. Though natural wetlands existing in nature as swamps, bogs, marshes etc have helped wastewater treatment for hundreds of years, the concept of deliberately using them has been developed within the last 20 years only. These constructed wetlands have been successfully used in many developing countries of Europe and USA to treat eft1uents. One such wetland has been constructed at Bhubaneswar and has been operating since 1994. Constructed wetlands are specially reported to be promising in polishing secondary treatment eft1uent to an extent that is safe for discharge to surface water bodies or for recharge of .groundwater. Wetland . Wetlands are areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to maintain saturated cond.itions. They are comparatively shallow bodies of slow-moving water YOJANA June 2000 45
- 46. Table 1 Emergent aquaticplants for wastewater treatment I Common Scientific Root Maximum Salinity Effective name name penetration tolerance, PPM ptt charge Cattail Typha Spp 30 30 4 to 10 Common Reed Phnagmites . communes 60 45 2 to 8 Rush Juncus Spp .- 20 5 to 7.5 Bulrush Scinpus Spp 76 20 4 t09 Sedge Carex Spp ,- - 5 to 7.5 in which water tolerant plants such as cattail, bulrush, reeds and such type of plants grow. Such lands renovates wastewater through an integrated combination of biological, physical and chemical interaction between the, plants, the substrata and the inherent microbial community. The interactions occur in the area around the roots of the plants and as such the system is called Root Zone Treatment System (RZTS). Basic features of a constructed wetland consist of: a) A shallow bed of very porous soil or gravel, about O.6m to 1m deep, is placed on a water pr'oof membrane in an excavated trench. This bed or substrata may be of gravel or sand or cohesive soil or artificial mixture of soil, sand and gravel (30:30:40) ..The membrane may be of clay or synthetic lining to prevent percolation of wastewater into groundwater. The biological activity depends on the soil, which is very important for the function of the system. b) A group of suitable plants, called the macrophyte or halophyte capable of carrying oxygen into the soil is planted on the bed. The macrophyte may be Phragmites, Typha, Iris, Juncus, Schoenoplects etc. Oxygen is transported through the pores of the plant down to the roots. The high oxygen content i~creases the biological activity in soil. c) The wastewater was first allowed to settle in a pond and they fed into one end of the root zone of the plants by an inlet arrangement, which distribute the influent uniformly across the bed. The wastewater travels horizontally under the surface in the root zone of the plant. When the wastewater runs through the root zone soil, the organic compounds and other impurities are eliminated by means of maqro- organisms in the soil. Heavy metals and phosphate are eliminated by means of chemical precipitation. The root zone system achieves its full capacity in about 3 years, w~en reeds are fully grown. However significant purification perfonnance is marked after the first year to an extent of 75% approx-imately. The fallen debris of the plants compost away on the surface and hence no harvesting is necessary. d) An outlet arrangement at the opposite end of the treatment plant to collect the effiuent, either in an open channel or in a channel fill~d with coarse gravel and may be discharged into the recurring waterbodies or on land for secondary use. e) The treatment plant is built with a slight inclination (I to 3%) between the inlet and the outlet. The Mechanism The wetland system of wastewater 1 Roots and rhizomes of plants improve the percolation and perme- ability of soil substrata, through which the wastewater flows. The roots and rhizomes penetrate through the soil~ loosen it and increase its porosity by forming pores of tubular shape. When they decay, they leave horizontally interconnected. channels behind. It is treatment achieves its treatment through bacterial metabolism and physical sedimentation. The aquatic plant or the reed in wastewater treatment is a passive host, which provide surfaces for bacteria growth, fil tration of solids, transportation of oxygen to the root zone and improvement of soil permeability. Oxygen transported through the root zone is responsible for 90% biological oxygen demand (BOD) removal, while the remaining 10% BOD removal was due to oxygen transport directly from air. The common reed, Phragmites Australis has been accepted worldwide as a plant species for wetland wastewater treatment facilities. This is mainly due to its production of deep roots and rhizomes of long length (of 1.5m or more), which create a great volume of active aerated root zone per surface area of reed bed. Other species used are given in table 1. found that, these channels stabilise the hydraulic conductivity in the rhizo-' sphere at a level equivalent to coarse sand within 2 to 5 years irrespective of the initial porosity ofthe soil. The reeds also help in transpiration of wastewater from the emergent portions of the plants. The roots of the plants help provide infiltration pathways through the upper ) 46 YOJANA June 2000
- 47. Table 2 Pollutant Removalin Constructed Wetlands Concentration (mg/lit) Before treatment After treatment nitrogen, total phosphate and BOD in the inflow and outflow from the constructed wetlands is presented in table 2. The study was conducted by 66 to 73 28 to 42 78 to 91 93 to 98 % removal 8.2 7.8 10.2 to 46 National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur. The samples were analysed on a weekly basis. • low construction, operation and . maintenance costs • be capable of using locally available materials and human' resources for construction and maintenance • make maximum reuse of wastewater and its pollutants like recovery of biogas for fuel, use of wastewafer for agriculture, nutrient recycling, pisicillture etc. • be simple to construction and maintain • solve the problems of pollution at the place of generation • be socio-economically acceptable, such that it ensures community participation and affordability • be eco- friendly, such that no further pollution of environment • give overall self sufficiency in all respects. Constructed wetland alone do not fulfil some of the above described objectives for sustainability. It is therefore necessary to integrate wetlands with other appropriate technology. In addition, natural systems like stabilisation ponds, land treatment. along with wetlands work on aerobic 34.2 14.9 165 to 237 Enteric Pathogens BOD Total Nitrogen Total Phosphate " Sustainability Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of the future generation is sustainable development. Ralf et aI. have defined sustainability of urban wastewater cycle through 4 principles: • Less energy and material usage for the same or more activities. A study made on a constructed wetland at Bhubaneswar have shown that removal of BOD was 84 to 93 per cent, removal of COD was 94 to 99 per cent, removal of solids 37 to 85 per cent, removal of phosphorus 89 to 98 per cent and removal of nitrogen 100 per cent. • No transfer of problems in space or time or to other persons. • No reduction or degradation of water and soil resources, even in the long run, and • Integration of human activities preferably into natural cycles of matters. So the system should • make minimum use of available scarce resource like energy, materials and equipment. The substrata provides a stable surface area for microbial attachment and a solid platform for plant growth. The wastewater is retained in it for a predetermined time, during which the organisms get contact opportunities with the wastewater and avail oxygen. Soils are very effective in removing suspended solids, pathogenic bacteria and viruses by filtration and ads option. Ion exchange removes significant amount of positively charged Ions such as NH4 (Ammonia), K+ (Potassium) etc. Phosphate precipitates with iron, aluminium and calcium present in the soil. layers of the bed, which prevents clogging of the filter bed surface. The mean concentration of total Pollutant Removal Capacity Micro-organisms form the basic physiological mechanisms by which pollutants are removed from the wastewaters. Micro-organisms are either attached to the macrophyte root and stem structures or free-living in water. The aerobic zone extends for a few millimetres from the site of oxygen release. The rapidly bio-degradable portions of waste- waters are decomposed rapidly, but parts of the same remain to be anaerobically degraded over an extended period. The diffusion of oxygen from the roots of the macrophytes creates oxidised zones around the roots. Most of the organic content in wastewater is aerobically decomposed to carbon-dioxide and water in those zones. The plant also have high nutrient uptake rate. The macrophytes can store upto 200 to 1560 kg of Nitrogen per ha and 40 to 375 kg of phosphorous per ha and thus help in removal of pollutants. Biocides excreted by plants helps in activation of pathogenic viruses and bacterias. YOJANA June 2000 47
- 48. i campaigns all overthe world has now clearly established the role of the rlew. communication technology in making social change programmes more effective. In India, however, the effort Social marketing is not just research and communication concerning a social product. It may include the new product, modification of existing product, consumption of other products and catalyst for structural changes by existing institutions in society. and anaerobic principles for sustainability. Constructed wetlands are very effective in removing the pollutants satisfactorily. Since, constructed wetlands works on the principle of SOCIAL MARKETING .... (Colltd. from Page 40) vi) Evaluation, Monitoring & Feedback Monitoring and evaluation is an integral part of social marketing. Unlike social communication programme, it is not just the final impact which is evaluated but the entire process is subject to close scrutiny and analysis. Process of evaluation particularly looks at the following elements: • Impact of the message in terms of medium and techniques of communication; • Cost effective utilization of the media and other communication channels; • Effectiveness, efficiency, reach of the product, distribution network, institutional and ",external support; • Time series availability in terms of comparison between the base line data before the after the implementation of the programme. • Capturing attitudinal changes due to individual awareness; and/social adjustments; • Social cost and benefit achi evemen t or failure including product sales. • Extent of reflection of attitudinal changes in actual practices/ Rural Development The plethora of social marketing 48 bacterial metabolism and physical sedimentation for wastewater treatment I ' it seems to be cost effective alternative to conventional treatment process, which needs huge cost and enetgy. Being simple in installation ;tnd I with such innovative techniques has not been consistent and has remained mostly confined to the marketing of various social required products. Rural development programmes are often concentrated with value added service relating to socio-economic plans and policies. It fulfils the requirement ofth~ prdduct and educate them about new'innovation and development. I Various studies have supported this idea when various ideas, service and I products are often general awareness among the common man to accept the new one. The pace of development has made significant entry by securing two-fold path, one is promoting the' ideas and services and the second i operation, the wetland system for wastewater treatment can be adopted in small towns and villages in addition to urban areas. Since it is non-site specific, the system can be developed near the wastewater source. 0 rectifies the behaviour and educate them about various usages of the product and its requirement in various health and water sanitation projects. The ideas behind promoting chlorine tablet, iodised salt, vitamin A, cereals, milk and O.R.S. etc. are the basic examples of social relevance product , which need more attention and stress to sustain the human life. Family welfare programme on condom and its usages, sexual behaviour, protection from HIV AIDS and other immune related deficiency are being promoted with ideas and promotion of various brands in the market. Even commercial product, FMCG, relating to health and hygiene are entering into the market with social concept by targeting the social goals to attract the public/consumers. Secondly, in rural development aspect, the procurement of agricultural tools, modern methods of agro industry are informed with practical approach on live demo to the target consumers. Nutritional status of female and child are also often stressed by the promoters, manufacturers through effective social marketing concepts. Selling products, achieving target by educating the target audience with live and cost effectiveness are the basic nature of present social marketing scenario. World bodies, UNDP. WHO, UNICEF, World Bank are now stressing on effective machanisms on social marketing and communication concept to achieve the targeted and desired goal on social development. 0 YOJANA June 2000
- 49. Book Review SHAPING POLICY:DO NGOs MATTER?-LESSONS FROM INDIA-by Aziz M. Khan, Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), New Delhi, 1997 (pp.vii+285 Rs. 300). The recent upsurge in the activities of the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) has undoubtedly made the voluntary or non-profit or civil or independent sector as an important actor in the international policy arena. Although Lester Salamon has predicted an 'associational revolution' during this period and a lot of hype has been created about the positive role of NGOs in developmental discourse, we still do not have clear cut answers to the questions like: 'Whether NGOs are really cost- effective?', 'Are they actually representative of people?' and 'Do they matter in shaping policy?' Publications on these issues are appearing in increasing number but still much more research is required to appreciate these grey areas, particularly on the role ofNGOs in policy making. Recognizing the social visions that NGOs seek to actualize and their contribution to the 'policy stream', Adil Najam has rightly labeled them as 'policy entrepreneurs'. There are a large number of NGOs who want to contribute but do not have aclue on-how to influence public policy. The book attempts to provide some answers to this comparatively less probed subject and comes out with a list of qualities required for effective NGO advocacy. Besides providing useful guideposts for NGOs for credible campaigning to convince policy makers, the book also highlights the hardships faced by NGO workers in post-colonial countries like India. The focus of the book is on understanding direct and organized contributions ofNGOs to policy reforms. The book was prepared under the guidance of Rajesh Tandon at PRIA, to make a selective review of NGO experiences in influencing public policy. Taking the analogy of selling in the market place, the author has suggested that for effective policy advocacy the advocate the product and its packaging must be appropriate. In the study cases, it was YOJANA June 2000 observed that credibility in policy-making circles was shaped by professionalism and track record ofNGOs involved inadvocacy. The NGOs' credibility will be oflittle avail if the policy reform it seeks to achieve is itself deficient or not projected properly to .the policy makers. NGOs have to have the capacity to understand and identify the existing and emerging opportunity set before venturing into policy advocacy arena. Not only that, if the prevailing policy envirorunentis not favourable, NGO should have the patience' to wait for more favourable opportunities to emerge. For example, in the case of CDF's campaign for a law favouring cooperative autonomy started in 1993 but moved into high gear only at the end of 1994, when a new receptive government was saddled in, and some bureaucrats known to CDF were appointed to key positions in 1995. As the success comes slowly in most of campaigns, the NGO leadership should have the tenacity to withstand the pressures and the hardships on the way. As was documented in the case of SEARCH's Anti-Liquor Campaign, which started in 1988 led to a ban on the sale and consumption of distilled liquor in 1993..During the long five years period of advocacy trail, SEARCH nurses were assaulted, false charges were filed against NGO leaders with the Charity Commissioner of the state and some local leaders linked to liquor trade mafia publicly threatened the NGO campaigners. According to Azeez Khan (p.54), the tendency on the part of some NGOs, influenced by the writings of David Korten, John Clark and other western scholars, to view themselves as key articulators of civil society and adopting a moralizing posture towards the state, may not help. In the absence of effective advocacy capabilities, the NGO networks and support organizations in India have not reached close to their full advocacy potential. The author has urged NGOs to build up ,their advocacy capacity and to the governments to evolve a partnership with strong NGO networks, as they provide a forum for exchange of ideas and information through . which common developmental goals can be more effectively pursued. For those NGO activists, who want to get useful tips for becoming effective in advocacy and for those scholars who want to understand the complexities of voluntary sector in India, the book provides a rich feast. Areasonably rich bibliography of the book is a positive aspect. However, some incomplete references would be a disappointment for academics. On the whole a useful book for all those involved in advocacy, lobbying and related processes and for all serious students and teachers of the policy science and voluntary sector studies. 0 Lalit Kumar • CASES ON LABOUR LAWS (Minimum Conditions of Employment) . (Ed) Debi S. Saini Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1995, pp. xxii + 386. Given the excess supply oflabour over demand for it, the wage rate system in India is plagued by a wide gap between market- rate of wages and fair wages. And in this lies the need for and importance of state interventions in the form of regulations and laws to protect the labours' interest especially monetary interest, on the one hand, and ensure a minimum dignity of worklife, on the other. In view of this, various laws and acts were passed by Parliament in India in the 1970s and 1980s to ensure the workers' interests. Thus, the provision of minimum (fair) wages and conditions of employment to labour by the employers has become one of the constitutional mandates in India. The Editor of the book has done a herculean job by assimilating all laws pertaining to labour employment duly and mainly backed by the Supreme Court decisions in this regard. As many as 75 real cases pertaining to minimum conditions of employment have been presented to reveal the real state of affairs in the Indian factories and establishments. These cover 10 Acts which present the whole gamut of minimum conditions of employment. The casebook will enable the employers, labour leaders and lawyers to correctly and comprehensively undertake various aspects oflaws concerned. It will also be found useful by the researchers, academics and students interested in the topics on labour laws and industrial relations. 0 S. S. Khanka 49
- 50. Information is Power:Be.Informed. YOJANA, A monthly journal, theonly one of its kind, covering the whole gamut of development, socio-economic issues and current affairs. Published in Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kaimada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu - reaching out to peopl~ country-wide. . Join the ranks of 5,00,000 discerning readers who opt for YOJANA. 1 YOJANA has incisive, authentic and well researched anicles written by experts. I Have a cutting edge, be ahead of others. Subscribe totkzy. Subscription Rates: 1 Yr. - RS.701-;2 Yrs. - RS.135/-; 3 Yrs. - RS.1901-. Subscription by DO 1 MO 1 IPO in the name of Director~ Publications Division, can be sent to : The Advertisement & Circulation Manager, Pl,lblications Division, East Block-IV, Level-VII, R.K. Puram, New Delhi-110066. Tel. 6105590; Fax: 6175516 / 6193012. I Subscriptions will also be accepted at our sales emporia: . • Patiala House, Tilak Marg, N~Vr'Deihl, Ph. 0.11-3387983; • Super Bazar, Connaught Circus, New Deihl, Ph. 011-3313308; • Hall NO.196, Old Secretariat, Delhi, Ph. 011-3968906; • Rajaji Bhavan, Besant Nagar, Chennai, Ph. 044-49176731 • 8, Esplanade East, Calcutta, Ph. 033-2488030; • Bihar 'State Cooperative Building, Ashoka Rajpath, Patna, Ph. 0612-653823; .1 Press Road, Thlruvananthapuram, Ph. 0471-330650; • 27/6: Ram Mohan Rai Marg, Lucknow, Ph. 0522-208004; • Commerce House, Currimbhoy Road, Ballard Pier, Mumbal, Ph. 022-2610081; • 'State Archaeological Museum Building, Public Gardens, Hyderabad, Ph. 040-236393;. 1st Floor, F-Wing, Kendriya Sadan. Koramangala, Bangalorei Ph. 080-5537244;. C.G.O. Bhavan, 'A' Wing, A.B. Road, Indore;. 80, Malviya Nagar, Bhopal;. B-7/B, Bhawani Singh Road, Jalpur.' I . For YoJana Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, GuJaratl, Marathl, Bengali and Assamese, please enrol yourself with Editors of the respective magazines at the addresses given below: Editor, Yojana (Marathi), Room NO.38, 4th Floor, Yusuf Building, Veer Nariman Road, Mumbal, Ph. 022-2040461; Editor, Yojana (Gujarati), Ambika Complex, 1st Floor, Above UCO Bank, Paldi, Ahmedabad, Ph. 079-6638670; Editor, Yojana (Assamese), N'aujan Road, Uzan Bazar, Guwahatl, Ph. 0361-516792; Editor, Yojana (Bengali), 8, Esplanade East, Ground Floor, Calcutta, Ph. 033-2482576; Editor, Yojana (Tamil), 'A' Wing, Ground Floor; Shastri Shavan, Chennal, Ph. 044-8272382; I Editor, Yojana (Telugu), 10-2.1, F.D.C. Complex, AC Guards, Hyderabad, Ph. 040-236579; I Editor, Yojana (Malayalam), 'Reshmi', 14/916, Vazhuthacadu, Thiruvananthapuram, Ph. 0471j63826; Editor, Yojana (Kannada), 1lilt Floor, 'F' Wing, Kendriya Sadan, Koramangala, Bangalore, Ph. 0rO-5537244. ~'O4. S.QO :{1'~'--.••~ •• ~~~~~,/:-/~~';>4.'1;1:~<' ~IDnD~':~":No,;', ~unI;".:R••.•..:-:.... ~ IISltOll7'-_ ..- 1999 ;/f.f~~ f4"~
- 51. Development Snippets India, Singaporesign MOU for IT task force India has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Singapore for setting up a joint task force and institutiona!ising a framework for bilateral cooperation in thelT sector the MOU, which formally establishes a task force on IT will focus primarely on high technology activities in the infotech sector. The scope of cooperation between the two countrie including electronic commerce, egovernance, information security, human resources development besides exploiting third country markets. Longest Comet Tail A chance encounter, between the spacecraft Ulyses and the wake of a speeding Comet has helped scientists to identify the longest Comet tail ever recorded. The discovery by two independent team of scientists, reported in the science journal nature could open up a new way of studying the heavenly bo'dies that astronomers believe may hold the secrets of our solar system. This tail extends more than half a billion kilometers (300 million miles), which is morethan three times the dist~llce from the earth to the Sun. SEZ for Orissa The third special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the country will be set up in Orissa the other two are being set up in Tamil Nadll and Glljarat. The proposed SEZ in Orissa could focus on selected sectors to avail of the state's natural advantages, particularly, chemicals, petrochemicals, mineral processing and value addition, marine products; gems and jewellery and diamond processing. Foreign Currency Reserves Foreign currency reserves of the country have increased by $ 503 million to $ 38,036 million. The robust growth in reserves was an account of foreign currency assets increasing by $ 633 million to $ 35.058 million during the week Loans and advances of RBI to Central government during the same period stood at Rs. 982 crore. Export Target India's exports are likely to register a growth of outer 20 percent in the next financial year over the fiscal 1999-2000. Exports from the country during the first 10 months of the current fiscal (April-January) recorded an 11.32 percent. Increase at $ 30.22 billion over the same period a year ago. In rupee tenns, exports have shown an increase of 14.73 percent at Rs. 130,84119 crare as against Rs. 11404520 crore during April-September 1998-99. India beat S. Korea in 1998: World Bank India overtook south Korea and three other countries as the world's 11th largest economy in 1998, but the data realeased by the World Bank has ignored currency fluctuations and taken no account of Seoul's recovery in 1999. Coetzee, Moore Bag C'Wealth Awards South African writer J.M. Coetzee and Canadian author Jeffrey Moore bagged the commonwealth writer's Award for the best book and the first bestbook of the year 2000, respectively the awards carries £ 10,000 and £ 3,000 respectively. India, Malaysia Sign Deal Malaysia will export to India palm oil and palm oil products worth $ 12 I mil lion. In return, Indian Railway Construction Ltd. will build a single-track rail line that wOlild cost $ 121 million. This deal has been struck under a couater trade agreement. • Milk Project Indian and Australian researchers have launched a $ 1.5 million technological collaboration project to increase India's milk productivity. This will be done by a resear~h project backed by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) which aims to address the problem of poor livestock production growth owing to poor nutrition in a warm, dry climate. Scientists have devised a way to protect the protein to allow large amounts of high quality protein to reach the gut so that the animal can digest and utilise it enabling it to grow faster and in turn pro~uce more milk, fibre and other livestock products. The same technology is also expected to yield substantial export income from meat, wool, and dairy products for farmers in Australia. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation of Australia and the National Dairy Development Board in India are the joint initiators ofthis project to improve productivity of ruminant animals in both countries. The project enables ruminant animals to produce more milk, wool and meat from feeds like oilseed meal supplements. In Australia, trials have shown that high-yielding dairy cows fed on the protected protein from sun-flower meal give an extra 10-15 per cent milk. In India where milk yields are much lower, the cattle and buffaloes are expected to produce an extra 1-2 Iitres per animal per day. (Courtesy: Newspapers)
- 52. I Regd. No.RN 949/51 LiccnsedU (D)-52 to post without pre-payment at NDPSO, New D~lhi (Delhi Post) P &,T Regd. DL/12037/200() I II I1 MAHATMA G~NDHI CD I A comprehensive Multi-media CD I on Mahatma Gandhi. Over 50,000 pages of GandhlJl's writings arranged chronologically I . with intensive indexing and in~eractive retrieyal paths. 15 minutes of Gandhiji's voice. 30 minutes of film footage. 1 Based on Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi brought out by Publications Divijsion in 100 volumes. Price: RS.2,500/- per CD. F~r business enquiries, contact our sales outletsl at: Patiala House, Tilak Marg, New Delhi,Ph. 3387983; Super Bazar, Connaught Oircus, New Delhi, Ph. 3313308; Hall No: 196, Old Secretariat, Delhi, Ph. 3968906; Rajaji Bhavan, Besant Nagar, Chennai, Ph.,,4917673; 8, Esplanade East, Calcutta, Ph. 2488030; Bihar State Cooperative Bank Bui~ding, Ashoka Rajpath. Patna, Ph. 653823; Press Road, Thiruvananthapuram, Ph. 330650; 27/6 • .Ram IMohan Rai Marg,'Lucknow, Ph. 208004; Commerce House. Curnmbhoy Road, Ballard Pier, Mumbal, Ph. 12610081;State Archaeological' Museum Building. Public Gardens, Hyderabad, Ph: 236393; 1st Floor. F-Wing, IKendriya Sadan. Koramangala. Bangalore, Ph. 5537244; CGO Bhavan. A WIng; A.B. Road, Indore; 80. Malvlya Nagar. Bhopal: B-7/B Bhawani Singh Road, ,Jaipur. I. I I I I Printed and Published by Surinder Kaur on behalf of Publications Division and Printed at Rakesh I Press, A.7, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase-II, New Delhi-lIO 028 Tel. 5i706127, 5707367 and published at Yojana Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi-lIO 001. . "