Child labour generates Rs.1.2-lakh cr. black money a year

Child labour generates Rs.1.2-lakh crore of black money every year in India.

According to a report by the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), the figure was arrived at by calculating the number of child labourers, the income earned by them and the illicit profits being generated by employers by not appointing adult workers.

“The greed for maximisation of profit fuels the demand for child labour, with children as the cheapest form of labour. Child labour, corruption and flow of black money, fuel and sustain each other in an illicit nexus that only profits the employers and the middlemen,” the study said.

There are around six crore child labourers in the country who work for approximately 200 days in a year on an average cost of Rs.15 per child a day, the study says.

“The amount so calculated is Rs.18,000 crore in a year. Now, if these six crore child labourers can be substituted with the six crore adults with an average floor wage of Rs.115 a day, a sum of Rs.1,38,000 crore will have to paid. The difference between these two figures amounts to Rs.1.20-lakh crore,” the study claimed.

It said that this amount would have been paid by the employers to the workers but they employed children who were underpaid and overworked. “The employers also did not report any income to the government, evade taxes, making Rs.1.2-lakh crore illegal money in the country,” it said

CARTOON

ENVIRONMENT

The National Mission for a Green India 

The National Mission for a Green India with a planned investment of $10.3 billion over the next 10 years can have a major developmental impact in more ways than one. Such a massive exercise can raise fresh natural capital that is so vital for the tens of millions of people who depend on degraded forests. It can meet the twin objectives of assigning forest land to tribal and other forest-dwelling communities to enable livelihoods, and relieving extractive pressures on core dense forests to aid conservation of wildlife and biodiversity. The overarching benefit to the environment will be in the form of carbon sequestration to combat climate change. The Ministry of Environment and Forests, which has grasped the imperative to balance these concerns, aims to add an impressive five million hectares of forest cover, and also improve the quality of forests over a similar area. The experience gained from the Joint Forest Management (JFM) programmes of the past will be invaluable. The JFM measures did not live up to their promise in most States and, in some cases, existed only on paper. In the main, they left forest communities feeling alienated. That nearly 40 per cent of open forest remains degraded today reinforces the need for a vastly improved management system.

A central role for local communities in forest restoration and expansion is envisaged under the new plan. This can help correct the historical imbalance in their role in managing the commons. It must be emphasised, however, that the whole exercise needs to be rooted in scientific practices. Several dedicated young scientists have been working in degraded areas of the Western Ghats to re-introduce endemic plants. These conservation groves, often sitting cheek-by-jowl with plantations and habitations, shelter a lot of endangered animals and birds. This shows that many more eroded ecosystems can harbour the biodiversity that is under pressure. The potential to expand horticulture in these sites, including disused mines, through fruit tree cultivation is worth exploring. Local communities can also be involved in the campaign to control invasive plant species that have been unthinkingly introduced into the environment. These plants suppress indigenous varieties and have overrun vast tracts of forests, reducing their productivity. Overall, the Green India plan, which is expected to provide a higher forest-based livelihood income to three million households, is significant for its attempt to give people a central role in restoring forest health. The legacy of mistrust between the Forest departments and tribal communities must give way to a joint management framework that is grounded in good conservation science.

53 pc projects delayed: report

In a reversal of over a decade-long declining trend of time and cost overruns, central projects of 15 major infrastructural sectors have started witnessing increasing time and cost overruns in the last three years. The recent project implementation report, prepared by the Infrastructure and Project Monitoring Division of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, has revealed that the proportion of central projects from these sectors which are running behind schedule has steadily increased from about 34 per cent of the total projects in March 2007 to over 53 per cent during December 2010.
This is an alarming trend given the fact that central sector projects which were facing time overruns had declined from over 62 per cent in 1992-93 to about 32 per cent in 2001-02. The figure remained below 40 per cent till 2006-07, after which it showed a sharp increase.

As a result, central sector projects which are facing cost overruns has also increased. According to the report, the cost overrun of central sector projects has increased from about 12 per cent in 2007-08 to about 21 per cent till December 2010.

Projects facing cost overrun had steadily declined from a high of about 62 per cent in 1990-91 to a low of about 12 per cent in 2007-08.
“An analysis of cost overruns in the last 20 years with respect to the originally approved cost shows that the cost overrun has declined from 61.6 per cent in March 1991 to 12.06 per cent till March, 2008. There is an upward trend from March 2008 to 14.72 per cent in March 2010, and it has stabilised at around 20.7 per cent in December 2010,” says the report, which was sent to all the concerned ministries recently.
It has, however, underlined that the last fiscal’s jump may have been caused “mainly due to exclusion of projects costing Rs 20 cr-150 cr from the monitoring system” as these smaller projects usually had lower cost overruns. It has also blamed high inflation, saying the “increase is also due to steep rise in prices of cement and steel in 2006-07 followed by recent international recession.”
The report looked into the implementation of projects worth Rs 150 cr and more from 15 different sectors that included Railways, Highways, Power, Petroleum, Telecom, Urban Development, Water Resources, Ports, Steel, Mines, Coal, Fertiliser, Civil Aviation and Atomic Energy being executed by the central government or its agencies.
Of the 599 central sector projects worth over Rs 150 cr, 322 were found to be running behind schedule till December 2010. While the overall cost overrun of the 599 projects was 20.7 per cent, the cost overrun of as many as 203 projects was 81 per cent.
As for the reasons, land acquisition problems contributed to maximum time and cost overruns (47 projects), followed by slow progress in works other than civil works (46 projects), while fund constraints led to the delay of 20 projects.

NAC for 100% land acquisition by government

With Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee resigning from the Union Cabinet to take over as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) today completely sidelined her objections against government role in land acquisition — even for private industry.

“The government will be acquiring 100 per cent of the land for public purpose by offering very good compensation to landowners. If the public purpose is being served by a private industry, then government will acquire land for them as well,” a NAC member told The Indian Express after the meeting chaired by Sonia Gandhi in the capital today.
With land rate compensation becoming a hot political issue, the NAC also decided to recommend that landowners be given six times the price of plot purchases registered in that area, said a press release issued late in the evening.

The other recommendation

Participatory and full consultation with affected families on acquisition. At least 75 per cent should consent.

A law to ensure “more barren, less fertile and wastelands have been explored”, before acquisition of agricultural land.

Land acquired be returned to original owners if it is not used within 5 years.

Agricultural workers, artisans, fisher-folk and forest-gatherers to be affected by the acquisition should get 10 days’ minimum wages of that area every month for 33 years as compensation.

Option to seek all or part of the land compensation in annuities.
A single ‘National Development, Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act’ in place of the two legislations Amendment to Land Acquisition Act and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act.

Establishment of the National Commission for Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (NCLRR) to supervise the implementation of provisions.

Two per cent of urban land be reserved for urban vendors; a legislation be introduced making it mandatory for government to rehabilitate every manual scavenger.

Reform of the Integrated Child Development Scheme.

The decision on government role in acquisition is a major departure from the previous approved amendments that had imposed a ceiling of 30 per cent land acquisition by the government for private industry. More so, the government was allowed to undertake land acquisition for private projects provided the private person had already acquired at least 70 per cent land.
Even the land compensation rate is a change from previous amendments suggested by the government, where it had stipulated that the market price of top 50 per cent of land transactions during previous three years be taken as the price for compensation. This was to be supplemented with 60 per cent additional solatium.
While Mamata had opposed any role for government in land acquisition for private projects, the industry was advocating 100 per cent acquisition by the government, citing difficulty in negotiating prices with each land owner. It had recently petitioned Rural Development Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh against withdrawing government role.

However, Deshmukh said the single legislation replacing Land Acquisition Act and R&R Act might be a problem. “The Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill provides for rehabilitation of people affected far beyond those getting affected due to implementation of the Land Acquisition Act alone. Its provisions are also for people getting affected due to national calamities and other land acquisition provisions,” the Rural Development Minister said.
Krishi Bhavan officials said the legislation being proposed by NAC would also cover acquisition for Railways and national highways, for which there is a separate legislation. However, NAC member Harsh Mander contested this argument: “Nobody is stopping to bring those legislations (for Railways and highways) in conformity with the proposed single comprehensive legislation.”

Free healthcare for pregnant women, infants

In a bid to improve the maternal and infant mortality in the country, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has decided to provide free nutritious food, treatment, and transportation to all pregnant women who go to government facilities for delivery. Free healthcare services will also be provided to the newborns, as and when required.
To be launched on June 1 from Mewat, Haryana, the scheme will be applicable for all women from the sub-centre to the district hospital levels which are covered under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). Expenses for diagnostics, any surgical interventions, and nutritious food will be provided up to seven days, if need be.
The Centre would undertake the costs involved in transporting pregnant women to and from medical centres, including dropping her back home, said Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Pay for transportation
The Centre will pay for the transportation for bringing pregnant women to the nearest health care facility, take her to a specialised hospital in case of emergency, and also drop her back to her house, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said here on Wednesday.
As of now, transportation facility is provided only for taking pregnant women to the health care facility during emergency or for delivery. States have been asked to ensure provision of free services to pregnant women as well as to sick infants in government health institutions. This would include, Mr. Azad said, the provision of free drugs, free consumables and diagnostics, free diet during stay and free transport.
There would be a toll-free number for every State which could be called for transport.
The money for the scheme would be provided through the NRHM and its implementation would also be monitored through the NRHM mechanism.

RTI

CIC asks RS Chairman to decide privilege issue

The Central Information Commission has asked Rajya Sabha Chairman to take a decision on whether disclosure of file notes, under the RTI Act, on notices and questions received from members will be a breach of Parliamentary privilege.
The transparency panel, while deciding the case of an RTI applicant who had sought to know questions and discussions that took place in the Rajya Sabha against the Central Information Commission, has referred the issue of privilege to the Chairman of the House.
Applicant Anita Chabra had also demanded note sheets prepared by the Secretariat on these questions and notices for discussions received from members. The information was denied by the Secretariat citing section 8(1)(c) of the RTI Act which exempts from disclosure information which would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament or the State Legislature.

"This Commission realises that there is no exact codification of Parliamentary Privilege. In view of this the Commission requests the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to consider whether giving this information would be a breach of privilege of the Parliament," Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said.

He directed that disclosure of information would depend on the decision of Chairman Rajya Sabha.

The Rajya Sabha Secretariat , while declining to disclose the information, had said it works on the behalf of the Chairman and decisions like notices received from the MPs are taken in terms of the Rules of Procedure of the House.

"...and in this process the Secretariat is exercising the powers and functions of Chairman Rajya Sabha. The decisions arrived at in terms of the said rules are privileged and protected from disclosure into the public domain," the Secretariat said.

It said the control on the business of the house falls with the jurisdiction of the house itself and this is the Parliament Privilege.

"This being so, it is not felt appropriate to divulge the decision taking process in relation to the business of the house," it said.

Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said, "This is an interesting proposition but if this is to be accepted, various protection given to certain bodies would be extended far beyond its intended purpose."

He pointed out when any institution or person denies a citizen's fundamental right, great care needs to be taken.

"However, the majesty and privilege of the Parliament also have to be respected with equal care for democracy to function properly...If the Honourable Chairman comes to the conclusion that giving this information will not be a breach of privilege of Parliament the PIO is directed to provide the information," Gandhi held.