Spotlight

New Delhi, 11 June 2007

RURAL INDIA IN CRISIS ON FARM FRONT

NEW DELHI, June 12 (INFA): The agrarian crisis in the rural India has its routs in the collapse of rural economy, according to Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the distinguished agricultural scientist.

Unemployment leading to out-migration of the assetless is growing. The minimum support price mechanism is not operating for most commodities. At every level of the livelihood security system, there is a tendency to make profit out of poverty. Something is terribly wrong in the countryside, says Swaminathan.

Today, finding themselves helpless in the face of adversities of various kinds, the peasantry in parts of the country is resorting to extreme measures.

Repeated crop failures due to unpredictable climatic variations, inability to meet the rising cost of cultivation, and the increasing debt burden are among the factors leading to frustrations.

In such a scenario, meeting the challenges of rural reconstruction becomes a formidable and priority task.

Agriculture being the mainstay of our economy, it is imperative that we have a comprehensive and time-bound programme to extricate the sector from stagnation, if not deceleration.

Larger irrigation facilities, better seeds and agri-inputs and fertilizers at reasonable costs will have to be provided to farmers, along with finance, infrastructural and marketing facilities.

Agriculture must become an income generating activity and farmers should not be left to the vicissitudes of weather, financial resources and markets.

To increase productivity and employment generation in the sector, there is a need to bring about structural changes, primarily based on land reforms, as support prices and provision of cheap credit do not help beyond a point. Experience has shown that providing the poor with access to land is not anti-growth. ---INFA

NEW DEGREE COURSES IN ANDHRA

HYDERABAD, June 12 (INFA): The Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University located in the heart of Hyderabad city will be offering a five-year integrated degree course in literature, BA Music in distance mode and a multi-media courses from the ensuring academic year.

It will also offer courses in Telugu Panguade for school-going foreign students and people living outside Andhra Pradesh. ---INFA

Spotlight

New Delhi, 9 June 2007

INDIA-EU COOPERATION IN SCIENCE RESEARCH

NEW DELHI, June 10 (INFA): India-European Union (EU) cooperation in science research has reached a new high, following the recent agreement here between the two.

The details of the agreement were worked out between India’s Minister for Science and Technology, Kapil Sibal and the German Federal Minister for Education and Research, Annette Sebavan.

The Science Ministerial was attended by ministers or their designated high-level representatives from the 27 EU Member States, many of which have also signed bilateral agreements with India.

The participants discussed ways to further strengthen the scope and quality of scientific cooperation with India and ended with the ‘New Delhi Communique’.

Nobel laureates and eminent scientists from Germany and India have already interacted with some 1,000 Indian science students from all over India at this function.

In October last year, the EU-India Summit had highlighted the importance of the field of science in the EU-India relationship. It also saw a ‘window of opportunity’ for EU-India cooperation in science and technology.

The Joint Statement of the Heads of Government gave a strong and clear impetus for strengthening the cooperation in this field.

India has also joined the EU in major projects such as the 1.2 billion euro FAIR (Facility for Anti-Proton and Ion Research) and the 4-57 billion euro IETR (the International Experimental Thermonuclera Reactor).

India has a 3 per cent and 10 per cent share, respectively. Indian participation in the Galileo satellite project is in the process of agreement.

A recent bibliometric analysis conducted by Research Centre Julich, Helmholtz Association, which lists all Indian co-publications of research papers with international partners in all major areas of natural sciences, shows that in all but two categories Indo-EU co-publications are more substantial in extent.---INFA

CLOSURE ORDER TO POLLUTING UNITS

HYDERABAD, June 10 (INFA): The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board recently issued closure orders to nine industrial units located on the outskirts of Hyderabad city.

This decision was taken by the task force committee. The industrial units are said to have causing air pollution and operating without the consent of the Board, as required by statutory rules and regulations.---INFA

Spotlight

New Delhi, 2 June 2007

MELTING GLACIERS THREATEN HYDRO PROJECTS

NEW DELHI, June 3 (INFA): The rapidly melting Himalayan glaciers are likely to spell disaster for the hydroelectric projects set up on the rivers fed by the melting ice. The danger is in addition to the water sources.

The melting of the Himalayan glacier is taking place at a fast and threatening pace, according to the finding of an extensive study by the scientists of the Space Administration Centre at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ahmedabad.

The scientists remote sensing satellites which revealed the melting was taking place at a fast pace. The study was conducted on as many as 466 glaciers in Chenab, Parbati and Baspa river basins.

The study has shown reduction in glacier area from 2077 sq. km. in 1962 to 1628 sq. km at present.

The Himalayas are the largest source of fresh water for Northern India. The glacial melt will initially increase the volume of water in rivers, causing widespread flooding, and in the long run, cause significant decline in fresh water supplies.

According to the paper, ‘Glacial Retreat in Himalayas using Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Data’ published in Current Science, hydro power projects operating on the Chenab parbati and Baspa river basins are especially threatened.

At present, there is one hydro-electric power plant operating on the Baspa and another one is under construction. Besides, the National Hydro-Electric Power Corporation Ltd is building large project on the Parbati, where a number of similar smaller projects are already functional.

According to scientists at the ISRO, the Government needs to take shrinking glaciers into account before planning more power projects.

The Himachal Pradesh State Council for Science and Technology is preparing an inventory of snowfields and glaciers for various river basins to help generate data for taking up remedial measures. ---INFA

ECO SUMMER CAMPS IN ANDHRA

HYDERABAD, June 3 (INFA): The Andhra Pradesh National Green Corps is conducting eco-summer camps in association with the Hyderabad-based Jawahar Bal Bhawan in 150 locations all over Andhra Pradesh

The 45-day-long summer camps end on June 5, World Environment Day.

About 15,000 school children are expected to take part in the camps, which will instill in them environmental awareness. ---INFA

Spotlight

New Delhi, 1 June 2007

NEW SSA FUNDING PATTERN HITS STATES

NEW DELHI, June 2 (INFA): The new funding pattern which the Planning Commission has worked out for funding education under the Centre’s Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) is unlikely to serve the purpose for which the project was intended.

The new pattern of sharing the SSA expenditure on 50-50 basis, against the initial provision of 75-25 (75 per cent by the Centre and 25 per cent by the State) is unacceptable by most of the States in view of the acute funds crunch they are presently facing.

Some of the States have written to the Union Human Resources Minister, Arjun Singh, about their inability to adequately implement the SSA. Arjun Singh, on his part, has taken up the issue with the Planning Commission, reportedly the recommending continuation of the original 50-50 pattern.

The Rajasthan Government, for example, had approached the HRD Ministry for an annual SSA work plan of Rs.2,000 crore which was approved. But then the State said it could at best contribute Rs.800 crore to the kitty. In turn, the HRD Ministry said that the Centre could make a matching contribution of Rs.800 crore. In no time, the State plan was reduced to Rs.1,600 crore.

Though for Rajasthan Rs.1,600 crore is still more than last year’s Rs.1,253 crore, other States would not be so lucky for they do not have the financial wherewithal to withstand the new funding pattern. The States like Bihar, UP, West Bengal and MP are yet to come to the HRD Ministry to get their SSA work plans approved.

The worst sufferers of the new funding pattern are the north-eastern States. Having so far enjoyed a special status with the Centre footing 90% of the SSA bill, these States are now being told that they too will have to share 50% of the SSA cost.

This has resulted in a mini movement of sorts among seven sisters with the Mizoram Education Minister already sending letters to the HRD Ministry protesting against the move. But the Centre appears to be unmoved. It has been nearly three months since the HRD Ministry’s note for retaining the 75-25 funding pattern was sent for the Union Cabinet’s consideration. The note was the result of a communication between the Ministry and the Planning Commission, whereby the latter had said that in case the HRD has an objection to the 50:50 pattern, it can move a Cabinet note.

Officials at the helm of the SSA point out that the repercussions of the new funding pattern would be felt mostly by States like Bihar, west Bengal, UP, MP and Assam.

These States after being at the bottom on the heap for years, had taken tentative steps in the right direction in the past two years. They just do not have the financial resources to make large allocations for SSA.  ---INFA