Political and Social Issues

HARTRON computerises its franchisees

• The Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (HARTRON) has integrated its widespread franchisees through the computerisation of its core business activities.
• Franchisee Management System which is an online, centralised system which captures the actual data from all the centres and has different modules like admission, fees, library, examination, attendance and so on.
• It was also providing education in computers, networking and hardware to youths especially in rural and urban areas.

Dalai Lama expresses concern over increasing gap in India society

• The Dalai Lama has expressed deep concern over the increasing gap between rich and poor people in the Indian society. He termed poverty and the rich-poor gap morally wrong and a source of social problems.
• Dalai Lama said that every human being, whether rich or poor, has the same desire to lead a dignified and happy life and has the right to overcome his problems.
• Dalai Lama also proposed a solution to reduce the increasing rich-poor gap and to lead the nation on the way of development in actual sense.
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  "Rich people should offer better facilities of education and health for the poor and on the other hand, people living in the slums should build their confidence by giving a thought that the wealth with the rich has not come from the sky but had been earned through hard work, thus motivating themselves for their own better future," he said.

 

Weavers get Rs 6,234 crore Central SOP, Sharma gets snubbed by UP

• Union textile and commerce minister Anand Sharma on Saturday announced a Rs 6,234-crore package for 14 lakh weavers.
• When the minister landed at the Babatpur airport, there was only one police jeep to escort him. Sharma then went to the weavers’ centre at Kotwah, where only two sub-inspectors were deputed to manage the crowd. Such was the indifferent attitude of the district administration that no provision was made for road clearance for Sharma’s vehicle on the busy road in front of the Cantonment railway station.

Aadhaar-MGNREGA experiment to be launched in Ramgarh

• Disregarding apprehensions sounded by Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, the Ministry of Rural Development will press ahead with its pilot project to link payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the Aadhaar number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India in a bid to give the scheme, which is currently stuck, a base.
• In Ramgarh district, Jharkhand, a project plan for UID enrolment of MGNREGA workers has been prepared
• Mr. Chidambaram had written to the Planning Commission claiming that the data being collected under the Unique Identification Authority of Indians ran the risk of including non-usual residents, creation of false profiles and did not comply with internal security norms.
• The Ministry has been forced into picking Ramgarh, a left-wing-extremism-affected area, for the pilot project as it happened to be the chosen registrar for five States, including Jharkhand; other states, such as Assam, Bihar, Tripura and West Bengal, under its jurisdiction, posed greater problems.
• Mr. Ramesh emphasised that the project did not hamper any government programme or scheme
• The Reserve Bank of India is still not open to the idea of allowing the opening of bank accounts on the basis of Aadhaar number.
• Connectivity is likely to be the primary issue in the district, which comprises six blocks and 143 panchayats. There are about half a dozen gram panchayats which are not connected through wireless and as many as 65 of these lack wimax (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) connectivity.

Centre urged to include Dalit villages in PM's scheme

• Ashok Bairwa has requested the Centre to include all villages with 50 per cent population of Dalits in the Prime Minister's Model Village Scheme to ensure their all-round development.
• The State Government has made available a matching grant of Rs.5 lakh each for these villages.
• The scheme covers about 1,000 villages with a 50 per cent population of Scheduled Castes in Rajasthan, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Tamil Nadu.

• Key steps involved 
  • Interface with people of identified village
  • Undertaking PRA exercise
  • Identify people’s needs
  • Prepare a Plan document (for socio-economic, infrastructural development of the village)
  • Place it before the stakeholders – Village Development Committee, NGOs, Banks, Government Departments, PRIs, NABARD and other agencies.
  • Coordinate and network for physical, financial and promotional support.
  • Obtain firm commitments from each stakeholder.
  • Commence implementation in right earnest.
• Broad areas for support – A checklist
  • Infrastructure: Helping in infrastructure building/ completing the incomplete projects - roads, bridges, minor irrigation projects, schools, health centres, veterinary centres.
  • Rural Housing: Facilitating credit through banks for low-cost housing including sanitation facilities.
  • Watershed development: Assistance from Watershed Development Fund or from Government or any special funds available with Development Agencies of the State.
  • “Wadi” Programme: Tree based livelihood programme being implemented successfully for the benefit of tribal population in certain states could be considered for implementation in tribal villages. Assistance for implementation of such programme could be from NABARD/State Government, etc.
  • NFS promotion and Development: For providing planned thrust to non-farm sector activities in the selected village keeping in view the balance between the market demand and traditional consumers based skills or local resources.
  • Micro finance : Helping people especially women to form SHGs and provide microfinance services through linkage with local banks to ensure access to credit and financial inclusion. Capacity building of the groups/ NGOs / banks with the support of Implementing Agency by accepting support from various agencies including NABARD.
  • Support to NGOs for formation of - Farmers Groups/Joint Liability Groups or Artisan Groups.
  • Coordinate with Government and Agricultural Universities/Research Organisations to provide extension services to motivate farmers to take up remunerative cash crops
  • Improving cash flow of farmers/villagers through subsidiary occupations such as animal husbandry/fisheries.
  • Facilitating linkages with corporate bodies
  • Encouraging Income Generating activities by individuals/youth.
  • Arranging exposure visits/programmes for capacity building
  • Capacity building and motivating local bankers by conduct of Workshops trainings and helping them in recovery of overdues.
  • Facilitating IT related initiatives in the villages etc.
  • Encouraging environment related initiatives leading to protection of environment ecological restoration and achieving the concept of “green’ villages.
  • Facilitating value chain management.