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Post COVID 2nd Wave impact on Vulnerable Communities: Household Survey Anna Adhikar Abiyan

Is Poverty Coming Down?
Ulka Mahajan https://youtu.be/_4nXmmcQjZQ   set the Keynote to the press Conference to  present the preliminary result of the Hunger Watch II Survey along with the recommendations to ensure universal access to food and expanded entitlements.
Ulka asked people to examine how the notions of "ease of doing business" and "New India" has impacted the toiling people of this country

The Universe is Vulnerable People
Household Survey - Post 2nd COVID Wave of Vulnerable People https://youtu.be/Qw5AwICKk8Y   Mukta tell us about the selection of already vulnerable people slected for  the second wave of COVID as well as lockdown spelt disaster.  The sample over 17 districts will be sufficient to tell us whether the stories of destitution we hear, are isolated case and whether the phenomemna calls for policy and administrative sensitivity, which go beyond macro-economic analysis that are being brandies about these days to justify and gloss over the essense of the social contract between State and Ctizens.. with special attention/disdain for the most vulnerable. 

Social Findings
Post 2nd Wave Findings of Household Survey of Vulnerable people: Mukta Srivastava https://youtu.be/Tr_m83VH4Uk
the big concerns as per Hunger Watch II?
● Income shock:
● Outstanding Debt:
● Unpaid Rent:
● Poor food intake:
● Poor diet quality:
● Access to Government Programmes:

Government Schemes
Ulka Mahajan on Access to Government Schemes, and their Effectiveness post 2nd COVID Wave https://youtu.be/Qw5AwICKk8Y (4 mins)
Ulka Mahajan presented the Surveys assessment of the Access to Government Programmes. She said Some government schemes seem to have performed well. Safety nets like PDS have been a great relief for poor communities. 86% of the households received ration from PDS. Overall in the state 14% of the eligible households could not receive ration due to technical issues, cancellation of ration cards etc. Although about 90 % of eligible HH reported that they received ration under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) yet only 61% HH reported that they received ration under PMGKAY every month. In urban areas only 50% HH received ration under this scheme every month as compared to 70% in rural areas.

Summary & Demands
Nitin Kubal of Anna Adhikar Abhiyan , Maharashtra  https://youtu.be/k9QLPTmvJ8M  Summarised the Findings, and spelt out the minimum demands. 
Important in time of emergency and distress that the State is does not make make matters worse for affected peopleby being legalistic about rules and procedures, as they have shown by cancelling a few ration cards,   and not making arrangements for extra cash flow for basic development and food security programmes.

From the Ground

Utsa Khan https://youtu.be/RzO79PMSIO8  tells a story of a COVID widowed woman in a Chembur slum, who went into mental depression as she could only see destitution with her three kids. She didnt even get the ration nor water.  We have to go house to house to understand and be able to do something about such situations.  State should see what can be done for children orphaned due to COVID.. Since they cannot work and earn a living.. as minors,

Yasmin from Awaz e Miswan https://youtu.be/Vn_AqbdZt1k   their organisation took up the areas of Kurgain and Mumbra for survey under the Anna Adhikari Abhiyan Survey. In the muslim areas, we have seen that  people doing small business like rickshaw driver or people who would put up small boxes to sell on the roads, had been totally without work during the lockdown. And since most people ie 80% live in rented accommodation, did not have any income in order to pay their rents.  Even the so called landlords who rented out part of their premises, became vulnerable.

Mukta Srivastava: https://youtu.be/tpHE6JU5wRE   What statistics wont reveal.. Mukta deviates from the power point to tell us what we didnt realise.. that when push comes to shove, many middle class strugglers also join the struggle.. ! Result  Bhimnagar Rag Pickers could not get good waste to pick..

Anna Adhikar Abhiyan Maharashtra , its associates and friends and Right to Food campaign launched a ‘Hunger Watch II’ in December –Jan 2022 to track the situation of hunger amongst vulnerable and marginalized communities in different parts of Maharashtra in the context of the COVID pandemic. The study was conducted in 17 districts of Maharashtra,

see NDTV Report on the Survey:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo9BIAjs42o  

एक तरफ प्रधानमंत्री देश में गरीबी कम होने के दावे कर रहे हैं वहीं महाराष्ट्र में हुए एक सर्वे में सामने आया है कि लॉकडाउन के दौरान बेरोजगारी बढ़ी और लोगों का वेतन कम हो गया.

जिससे गरीबी और अधिक बढ़ गयी.

View in marathi - https://epaper.loksatta.com/m5/3501304/loksatta-pune/09-06-2022#page/7/1 This article was published in Marathi newspaper 'Loksatta' on 09/06/2022 

                        " "या भुकेचे करायचे काय?" - उल्का महाजन

 

 

Human Future in the Digital Era – Whence society? Whence humanity ?

Introduction https://countercurrents.org/2022/05/human-future-in-the-digital-era-whence-society-whence-humanity/

The current stage of human societies on Planet Earth has three defining characteristics. One: The extremely rapid penetration of science and technology into human societies, with concomittant changes in their social, economic and political structures. Two: An explosion in the totality of energy-use by industrialized and industrializing human societies, resulting in planet-level (climate) changes posing an existential threat to human and also other species. Three: The development of machines which are becoming more and more “human-like”.

The idea of “natural stupidity” is based upon the belief that machines doing something more quickly than humans is necessarily good. This has captured the minds of most leaders of societies worldwide, with the notable exception of Gandhiji. Such leaders are sold on science and technology (S&T), perhaps out of a respect based upon their inability to understand “scientific” knowledge because it is esoteric. This is partly due to our faulty education system and partly due to the jargon, hype and promises of science and technology, or due to sensing material or political benefit from the use of those technologies. This is reflected in the fact of the widely held belief that S&T can solve all sorts of problems including social problems, and justifying poorly planned introduction of S&T into all aspects of governance.

Power centralization by digitization

Data has been referred to as “the new oil” of the digital economy. Data is a prized commodity and strategic asset. The real-time value of data is when it is acquired, organized as a database, and interpreted as an asset, to enhance national strategic/political aims and objectives or business/commercial interests. Management of the asset can provide valuable, actionable information. Creation and management of a large database can only be done with huge financial, technical and infrastructural resources. Such resources are available only with large business corporations or governments, resulting in centralization of political power, and making data the “oxygen of the digital economy”.

Centralization of political and economic power through deep penetration of digitization would be self-reinforcing and self-perpetuating, determine the nature of transactions and relations within and between digitized societies, and widen existing class and economic gaps. Dissent and protest by under-privileged sections of society arising from asymmetry of power-and-authority within society, will be easily suppressed using digital techniques of surveillance-and-tracking (use of drones), crowd control (using drone-mounted “plasma guns”) and biometric (face-in-the-crowd) identification of leaders of agitations.

by S G Vombatkere 

29/05/2022

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Need a whistle blower protection law

Civil contractor who wrote to PM Modi on 40 per cent cut in projects booked for criminal breach of trust  https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2022/may/15/civil-contractor-who-wrote-to-pm-modi-on-40-cut-in-projects-booked-for-criminal-breach-of-trust-2453904.html The technical assistant of village Vishnu Kumar Naik was supposed to supervise the quality of work, Mohan said in his complaint.  

Yerriswami's Vijayalakshmi Enterprises was assigned to supply material for the solid waste disposal unit in Mustur village under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The technical assistant of village Vishnu Kumar Naik was supposed to supervise the quality of work, Mohan said in his complaint. However, sometime in between, Yerriswami allegedly made some payment to Naik through phonePe which, according to Mohan, was a criminal breach of trust. 

(there is no whistle blower protection in India. The UPA was planning one in 2013, thanks to effort by the Advisory Council..)

Yerriswami had gone to the media on May 3 against the officials demanding money and told them that he has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi complaining against the officials for asking him to pay 40 per cent commission on the public works he had carried out.

According to him, he had supplied materials worth Rs 15 lakh and he had received Rs 4.8 lakh till date while the rest had not been paid.

On April 12, a civil contractor from Belagavi district - Santosh K Patil - allegedly died by suicide in a hotel in Udupi, accusing Eshwarappa of demanding 40 per cent commission on a civil work in his village last year.