National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), India: Is this scheme making the corrupt officials more richer?

"One thousand and ten complaints had been received about the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Four hundred and eighty-one cases have been disposed and 529 are pending. In seven cases, Rs 7 crore (Rs.70 Million) was found to have been siphoned off," Rural Development Minister C P Joshi said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha.

Well, what to say more when the Honorable Minister himself admits in the Upper House of Indian Parliament that corruption has been proved to be prevalent!

Appartently, a whopping Rs 40,000 crore has been allocated for the scheme during fiscal 2009-10.

In July, Joshi had admitted to huge slippages in the scheme's implementation with an average of just 48 days of work generated for each beneficiary against the promised 100.

"During 2006-07, an average of 43 days of work could be generated, in 2007-09 it was 42 days of work and in 2008-09, it was 48 days of work," the minister said as an answer to a question in Rajya Sabha on July 7th 2009.

The question should now be rephrased as: "Is this scheme making the corrupt officials more richer? or is it really doing any good for the poor?

What do you think?

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Should we ignore livelihoods in order to produce biofuel?

Biofuels are described by some as 'absolutely catastrophic' because of their potential consequences — for example, raising the cost of food or diverting agricultural land to energy production — but are seen by others as 'the driving force for development in some of the world's poorest regions'

Rising oil prices, coupled with concerns over energy security and climate change, have stimulated interest in biofuels across the developing world.

But such crops need a lot of water — 2,400 litres for maize to yield one litre of ethanol in China for example. And growing biofuels in water-scarce areas will aggravate the already fierce competition between domestic users, industry, agriculture and the environment.

Producing biofuels from crops such as wheat, maize or sugar cane could also impact food supplies and prices. And switching from industrial crops, such as cotton, could affect livelihoods.

Should we ignore livelihoods in order to produce biofuel? What do you think?

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Can Urban Agriculture overcome the challenges and produce enough food to address food-security?

The pace of urbanization is unprecedented. Economic migrants seek better opportunities and jobs in cities while many rural economies stagnate. In 1960, there were 17 cities with a population of more than 100,000; now there are more than 300 cities of that size.

Many who move to urban areas do not find the jobs and opportunities they seek. Therefore, adopting Urban Agriculture  is a common survival strategy used by the poor not only to deal with food insecurity and poverty. Smit et al (1996) estimate that 15–20 percent of the global food output is grown in cities.

The classic and widely used definition of Urban Agriculture comes from Mougeot (2000):

Urban Agriculture is an industry located within, or on the fringe of a town, a city or a metropolis, which grows and raises, processes and distributes a diversity of food and non-food products, (re)using largely human and material resources, products and services found in and around that urban area, and in turn supplying human and materials resources, products and services largely to that urban area. (p10)

In India, there are few increasing number of examples of Urban Agriculture practice in the areas such as vegetable cultivation, composting and vermiculture, pig farming, dairying, ornamental trees, shrubs and plants, sericulture, medicinal and aromatic plants, food processing, and many others.

The status quo response of governments in their reaction to UA has tended to be to prohibit the practice. Often this is a policy that stems from simply regarding UA as a form of resistance to urban development priorities as determined by planners. Some cities have, by virtue of being exposed to UA and farmer groups, changed their perspective and put in place systems that are designed to support UA, or at least remove the most draconian restrictions on the activity. However, even when rules are in place, they are often not well understood or enforced. In this volume, Mutonodzo points out that in Harare 40 percent of the people practising UA were unfamiliar with any laws related to it. Moreover, one in five considered the existing legislation to be hostile towards the practice.

Nonetheless, progress is being made. The number of municipalities that have policies in favour of UA has increased dramatically in recent years. Accra, Beijing, Brasilia, Buluwayo (Zimbabwe), Governador Valdares (Brazil), Havana, Hyderabad, Kampala, Rosario (Argentina) and Nairobi are a short list of a growing number of cities that are being proactive on the topic. Another popular way of supporting urban farming has been food-policy councils. These represent an increasingly common way of bridging community groups with municipal politicians and bureaucrats. Amsterdam, Toronto, Vancouver, London, Detroit and Pittsburgh all have councils that encourage locally-based food systems.

Given the challenges such as limited land, water and very little encouragement from policy makers, do you think urban agriculture can still be able to succeed and produce enough food to address food-security problems?

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ILO is promoting a Global Alliance to eradicate Forced Labour by 2015. Is it a wishful thinking or a realistic dream?

There are at least 12.3 million persons in forced labour today. Most victims are poverty-stricken people in Africa, Asia and Latin America, whose vulnerability is exploited by others for a profit. Yet over 350,000 women and men are also in forced labour in industrialized countries, trafficked for either labour or sexual exploitation.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) believes that with political will, forced labour can be eradicated. The ILO is promotinga Global Alliance to achieve this, with partner agencies pooling their efforts to wipe out all forced labour worldwide by 2015. Some say that such timeline is short while some other say that it would make a dramatic difference if perhaps a better strategy is adopted.What do you think?

Vote now and let your opinion be heard! 

Additional Links for Reference:
International Labour Organisation - Special Action Programme to combat Forced Labour (SAP-FL)

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What is Livelihood Polls?

Livelihoods of the poor is characterized by complex issues. Several professional institutions and individuals work in this area, yet have differing opinions, strategies, beliefs and theories.

Livelihoods are also characterized by the dynamic nature of it. Changes in the social, economic, geographic and climatic conditions every day leading changes in the livelihoods of the poor.

A Livelihood Poll attempts to capture these complex issues and dynamic nature of the livelihoods of the poor and presents to its readers an opportunity to vote their opinion.

For each issue we create a polling booth where you can poll and instantly see the results. If you wish to opt out of poll but still view the results of the others, you can do that as well.

Livelihood Polls is an opinion-based approach to development. We provide an objective platform to differ or agree on a topic that revolves around crucial livelihood dilemmas in both theory and practice. ... Continue reading