Foolish governance & politics!

When the kid stars of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ found their homes demolished, it made headlines. But, evictions and relocations are pretty much par for the course, for most kids in urban slums.

The Growth-For-All(GFA) team spent time studying the experiences of kids at Savda Ghevra, a relatively-new resettlement colony in the outskirts of North-West Delhi.  

By the age of 10, these kids had experienced displacement from their rural habitations to an urban jhuggi( slum) in Delhi, and then from the jhuggi to this resettlement colony. The uncertainty has still not ended because their parents only have a 7-year lease for plots alloted to them at Savda Ghevra.
Udit is a 12 year-old boy migrated from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. He fondly recalls the “bara khet” (big fields), “kua” (well), “maidan” (playground) in his village. He is still coming to terms with the fact that his house in Sawda is on a mere 12.5 square meter plot, and that there are no wide lanes and fields here.
However, for most such kids, Delhi is home now.  Kajal( age 13) and Jyoti(15) are sisters who, when asked, are categorical about this, and refuse to go back to their village in Bihar, saying “Hum Dilli kay hain, aur yahin rehna chate hai” (we are from Delhi and we want to stay here only).

Notwithstanding this determination, they face a considerable amount of hardship and alienation. The GFA team has published the first volume of ‘Viewpoint’, which records the dismal condition of children at Sawda Ghewra.

Viewpoint(1): Impact of displacement of children 

We see these youngsters of Savda a certain lack of trust and motivation; and an abundance of lethargy because of their experiences and current condition. The outcome of these cumulative set of experiences is that by the time they become adults, they certainly do not have the drive and achievement orientation, which will charge them up  enough to learn new skills, and find jobs for themselves. When we connect the dots, and look at the livelihood study we completed a few months ago, it is no longer surprising that our livelihood programs did not have enough takers.

It is once again clear that the task of motivating and moulding these youngsters has to begin much earlier, when they are still in their early teens. That is the only way in which the country’s ambitious skills development and livelihood initiative can really take off.

( In case you are unable to download the Viewpoint document here, please email srikant.sastri@growthforall.org)

On the road!

Recently, in November, Growth-for-All took a trip into Jharkand’s predominantly-tribal East Singhbhum district. And discovered that India certainly wasn’t shining here.

Driving out of Jamshedpur, within 20 km, it was clear that development had either bypassed the tribal belt, or had been siphoned off.  Over the past eighteen months, I have spent time in rural UP, Rajasthan, Orissa, and relatively-prosperous Maharashtra, but this was very different. Leave aside the condition of the roads - which I would label as an urban luxury - even the basics were missing or had been stolen.

In most tribal villages we visited, access to government healthcare was non-existent; the absence of irrigation meant that agriculture was barely at a sustenance level; and, non-farming livelihood options were negligible. In one village, where we we were taken by NGO, Kalamandir, and sat down for a leisurely group meeting with villagers, the frustration was evident and articulated. Among other things we saw was a barely-begun canal-digging project under the NREGA scheme; apparently, the project was aborted after the villagers did not get paid for the initial phase of work.

This village, like a large part of Jharkhand, is close to the Naxal belt. In fact, during our visit, the villagers pointed out the hills through which they often get Naxal visitors. Given the state of governance, not surprising.

For us, at Growth-for-All, the priorities for our rural project quickly became clear. When we begin in early-2009, the initial focus will clearly have to be on providing access to basic healthcare( via mobile dispensaries); exploring sustainable, land-based livelihood and self-employent options; supplementing basic education via computer skills and adult literacy; and supporting local music and culture.

On the second day of my trip, we drove into Dhar village to figure out the state of school education and health-care.
Our first stop was the government school where 170 kids are enrolled in classes 1 through 8. So far, so good.
But, because, there are only 4 teachers, they run combined sessions cutting across different classes. Consequently, the prescribed syllabus is not followed. Nor are there any labs or such facilities.

The kids also run small errands for the school because there is no peon or non-teaching staff.
In such an environment, no surprises that most kids drop out of school quickly. Less than 25 kids have made it past Class 8 over the past few years. And almost everyone drops out after Class 10, in order to take up odd jobs in nearby Udaipur city.If this peek into the state of the country’s school education system wasn’t depressing enough, our next stop made it worse. Dhar Panchayat( comprising Dhar village, plus three other villages) has one Ayurvedic & Allopathic health centre each, as well as provision for a Village Nurse-cum-Midwife(VNM).

As we approached the Ayurvedic health centre, perched on a small hillock, it seemed to exude a welcoming calm. The reason became clear when we climbed the stairs, and went inside. The peon showed us around the 3-room structure., but both the doctor and the compounder were missing.

Although the peon gamely defended their absence, and offered excuses, it was clear that this was no aberration. Lucrative private practice in the city was any day preferable to a journey into this village.

The same story was repeated at the nearby centre where the VNM is supposed to report for duty. Here, it was one step better; the centre was simply locked!

 When the Finance Minister presents his annual budget, analysts bemoan the fact that spends on healthcare are low. But, for starters, if the allocated money  itself is put to good use, that would bring a great deal of relief.

This is an interesting sidelight of my trip to Jharkand and Bihar. On the last day of the trip, we drove from Jharkhand’s Deogarh district (where I was staying) to Banka district in Bihar. As we started the journey, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the narrow, straight road was in very good shape. Conditioned by my recent experience with rural roads in Western Orissa, I had anticipated a rough, bumpy ride, but this was different.
The first hour was wonderfully smooth…..until we reached Bihar!

The same straight road suddenly turned unbelievably pot-holed, and I could not but resist capturing this contrast, for posterity.
Apart from the superior condition of roads, I also saw and heard other evidence in Jharkhand that the government machinery does deliver results. One such example was the Dairy initiative being run by the Tribal Welfare Council which grants a shed and two cows to tribal families, thereby enabling them to earn an additional income of over Rs 1000/- p.m.
Notwithstanding political jugglery and the usual kinds of administrative corruption, Jharkhand seems to be delivering better governance than its elder sibling, Bihar.
Couple of years ago, my friend Shankkar Aiyar (Managing Editor, India Today) did a path-breaking feature on India’s 100 most-backward districts, and asked whether smaller states were the answer. He wrote, “In recent times, politicians such as Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and former finance minister P. Chidambaram have argued passionately to reorganize states in smaller sizes so that those left behind in the maze of development can be helped……. But will creation of smaller states help? On paper it seems so, since smaller states have done better. But the acid test would be a study of Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand. The jury is still out on that”.
In my view, the verdict seems clear. Jharkhand has made progress beyond what Bihar offered. Unless Nitish Kumar does a brilliant job, and Madhu Koda messes things up, it is likely that the junior sibling will keep moving ahead.

Foolish governance! 

T. Majhi is a smart, young graduate who is active in the local panchayat at Lanjigarh Road. He, and a few other young men and women are focused on improving health conditions in remote, cut-off villages of this panchayat.

When I was chatting with them, they told me an interesting story about an allowance apparently available to pregnant women in rural areas. It all started with a noble motive, i.e. to ensure that rural women have a safe delivery, and to improve survival rates of the mother and infant. For this, the NRHM offers a Rs 1400/- incentive to each mother who goes to a formal hospital for delivery.

But, guess what?

In reality, the mothers in this district get only Rs 500-600/-.The balance 60% is

gobbled up a whole bunch of other  people…doctors, hospital staff, administration.

Did we hear someone say that India lacks funds for development efforts?