Sikkim achieves total sanitation

Sikkim has become first state of India to achieve total sanitation under government's total sanitation campaign (TSC). Though there seems to confusion in figures as to what 'total sanitation' means, the central minister for rural developement has announced this while honoring the gram panchayat presidents who had received Nirmal gram Puraskar. He said that Tripura would soon be the second state after Sikkim.

In order to implement TSC, the minister has written to state goverments to amend their respective Panchayat Raj Acts that only those panchayat presidents would be allowed to re-contestwho achieve total sanitation standards in their respective villages. Only Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have so amended their Acts.

Women wage peace in war on terror

Women Without Border (WWB) have launched a peace initiative SAVE (Sisters against violent extremism). Its India chapter is scheduled to be launched in Delhi on 29th January.
Women could be starting points of an early warning system as they are strategically positioned at the heart of every family. They are the first to recognize resignation and anger in their children and critical group of adolescents. SAVE recently arranged for women from Isreal and palestine to share peace and understand that conflict causes both sides to suffer.

Mobile Number Portability in India

Indian government has invited bids from experienced global players for commissioning mobile number portability (MNP) in India. If all goes well users can expect to have MNP in place in India by second half of 2009. Initially government has suggested a price range of INR 200-300 for a change of operator, but now it has said that TRAI will decide in pricing.

MNP enables users to avail change of mobile operator without having to mobile number. This brings in fair amount of fair competition. Many countries already have such system in place.

Parent Thesis, with a difference

Achyut and Jayashree Phadake of Pune are mentoring over a dozen schoolgoing childen from nearby slum. It began in 1980 when Jayashree began helping children hoem work and taught some skills and personal manners. Her activities still continue after 28 years and a attack of mild paralysis. Children help the couple in some houselhold activities while the couple pays for school fees, uniforms, study material, books. Part of the monthly pension goes in this. They also get funding from corporates for doing simple job work like folding dividend warrants and putting those into envelopes. Word-of-mouth has heped garner some funds. Help also comes from people who can guide students in their studies. Over 50 children have passed through with Phadakes.

One of Phadake's daughter Maulabi Shaikh, is continueing Phadake legacy in a far awayf place of Bijapur, where she has taken up the same activity for deprived children.

Parliamentary committee seeks to withdraw writ petition it had filed

Parliamentary Standing committee has urged Indian Supreme court registry not to press the writ petition it had filed in Delhi High Court in the case related to declaration of assets by judges.Pressing the petition would harm the intent of Right to Information Act.

The committee has also made following observations and recommendations:
- it is recommending parliament to do away with application fee for RTI application
- it has asked Public Sector Undertakings to clear backlog in recruitment and promotion in resevations for SC/STs, OBCs and physically challanged.
- It has observed that corrcuption control and vigilance mechanism in banks is doing well upto the level of genral manager. It is now requesting government of indian to take it further up
- The committee held discussions on amendments to Representation of People Act and constitutional amendments on women's reservation

Barter System

I met a poor rural guy living in the backwaters of Mulshi lake near Pune. He was saying that he was not getting kerosene from the government shop till he builds a WC of his own and stop clearing in the open. But he did not have money to build one. But he desperately needed to get kerosene. He needs kerosene to to light his home lamps (there is no electricity to his house though he lives near the lake which is built for generating electricity!) and as fuel for his cooking. These days there is hardly any forest left around and firewood is not easy to gather. He does not have money to buy material required to build a WC, neither he had money to employ a meson to actually build it. He somehow got a old WC pot from a urban relative and could uste little money buy little cement etc. Then he brokered a deal with a local meson. The meson does not get a lot of work to fully employ him as a meson. When he does not have work as meson he is employed for some petty work. So our man made a barter arrangement with the meson. When the meson is building our man's WC. our man goes to work for the meson on his petty jobs.

I find this interesting. I had heard of barter system only in terms of exchange of goods. But here manual labour and skills are being exchanged, or you can even say, traded, one skill for another, one's time for something with other's time for some other thing etc.

Barefoot College of Tilonia (Rajasthan, India)

In 1972 Bunker Roy formed Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC) at Tilonia, Rajasthan. He believed that education system of today is biased towards urban elites and has no place for rural poor. He decided to delink education from literacy and experience from qualification. Illiterate or semi-literate, socially and economically backward and vulnerable can apply and are accepted in Bearfoot College (BC).

Experiment started with groundwater survey of the region, fitting of hand-pumps and gradually developed health and education programmes. It believed that villagers themselves can decide their path of developement. All decisions are taken jointly. Everybody is equal irrespective of class, sex, cast, religion. Puppetry is extensively used as means of communication and education.

40% of the funding is given by Rajasthan government, 40% by institutions like UNSECO and 20% comes for sale of handcraft products and solar energy kits.

BC now operates in area of more 500 sq, miles with 1500 night schools.