Prime Minister's opening statement at the 6th meeting of the National Water Resources Council

" I am very happy to be with you for this meeting of the National Water Resources Council. This forum, which was created by the National Development Council at its thirty-sixth meeting on 14th March, 1982, was part of the vision of late Prime Minister Shrimati Indira Gandhi. It was devised not only to discuss the National Water Policy issues, but also to deliberate on administrative arrangements and regulations for fair distribution and utilization of water among different beneficiaries, keeping in view the optimum development of this scarce national resource. Our task today is to fulfill that vision so that we can assure our future generations of a water-secure future.

Friends, the highlights of the extensive consultations preceding the formulation of the draft National Water Policy 2012 have been presented before you. It would not have escaped your attention that the draft is an effort to focus attention on the looming crisis in the water sector and to lay a roadmap for the future, based on the fundamental principles of equity, sustainability and good governance. Our deliberations today need to be guided not only by these sound principles, but also an appreciation of the fact that we are approaching a critical juncture for the future of water management in our country.

Most objective data available today point unerringly to the conclusion that water, or the lack of it, could well become the limiting factor to our social and economic growth in the future. With around 18% of the world's population but only 4% of its usable fresh water, India already faces a scarcity of water, which is a vital and stressed natural resource. Climate change could further aggravate the distortions in water availability in our country. Receding glaciers would negatively impact flows in our major rivers and pose a major new threat to the welfare of millions of our people.

Rapid economic growth and urbanization today are widening the demand supply gap and leading to worsening our Water-Stress Index. Our water bodies are getting increasingly polluted by untreated industrial effluents and sewage. Groundwater levels are falling in many parts due to excessive withdrawals, leading to contamination with fluoride, arsenic and other chemicals. The practice of open defecation, which regrettably is all too widespread, contributes further to contaminating potable water sources.

This situation calls for judicious management of our limited water resources and a paradigm shift in our approach to this vital issue. Planning for water use and distribution has to be done on the foundation of a national vision. Regions with sufficient water resources are already experiencing the strains that result from having water-deficient regions around them. We therefore need to rise above political, ideological and regional differences and also move away from a narrow project-centric approach to a broader holistic approach to issues of water management.

Integrated water resources planning at the basin level, conservation of water, preservation of river corridors, recharging of our aquifers and their sustainable management and improvement of water use efficiency are among the broad areas that need our urgent attention. Our irrigation systems need to shift from a narrow engineering-construction-centric approach to a more multi-disciplinary and participatory approach. Incentives need to be provided to narrow the gap between irrigation capacities created and those being utilized. We also need to move towards transparent and participatory mechanisms of pricing of water by the primary stakeholders themselves. The local communities have to be involved actively in the management of water resources.

As you all are aware, groundwater has a prominent role in meeting the requirements of water for drinking and other purposes. In spite of its vital importance, there is no regulation for its extraction and coordination among competing uses. We need to, therefore, initiate steps to minimize misuse of groundwater by regulating the use of electricity for its extraction. We also need to move to a situation where groundwater can be treated as a common property resource in a way that protects the basic needs of drinking water as also the livelihoods of our poor farmers.

The 12th Plan, which was adopted by the National Development Council yesterday (27-12-2012), has dwelt on these and other issues confronting the water sector and called for path-breaking reform. In fact, water was one of the critical areas on which I touched upon in my address yesterday to the National Development Council.

Outlays for the water sector have been increased substantially. But these outlays will deliver only if they are matched and supported by better management and good governance. An urgent national consensus on the common denominators of water governance is therefore essential and the first critical step towards achieving water security and sustainability for all.

One of the problems in achieving better management is that the current institutional and legal structures dealing with water in our country are inadequate, fragmented and need active reform. It is in this context that a suggestion has been made for a national legal framework of general principles on water, which, in turn, would pave the way for essential legislation on water governance in every State.

Friends, I would like to emphasize the need to see the proposed national legal framework in proper perspective. The framework would be an umbrella statement of general principles governing the exercise of legislative, executive or devolved powers by the Centre, the states and the local governing bodies. The central government, I repeat, does not wish to encroach, in any manner, upon the constitutionally guaranteed rights of States or to centralize water management.

As we move into the Twelfth Plan period, the Indian economy and society will face daunting challenges in the water sector, both in terms of quantity as well as quality. There is a need, therefore, to take urgent and pragmatic decisions because water security is an issue on which we have to swim together or sink together. These decisions need your collective support. I hope this meeting will deliberate on these issues in a comprehensive manner and come out with reasoned suggestions in the overall national interest of our country.

I look forward to your deliberations with great interest. "

From Poverty to Development

" Poverty is not an accident. It is a man-made and can be removed by the actions of human being ."  - Nelson Mendala

For the accomplishment of any dream, proper understanding (what you want to achieve?), planning and then implementation is a pre-requisite; this is basically what I follow to work upon my dream and I firmly believe realization of the dream of world without poverty needs the same. This has even been proved by China which successfully reduced poverty from 77% in 1980s to just 14% in 2008. In the modern world, very few countries successfully married their anti-poverty policies as per the need and yielded fruitful results but most of the countries failed to solemnize policies properly due to which even today, almost 1.4 billion people in the world are living in the helm of poverty. This situation indicates proper planning and execution is still required to fulfill the dream.

POVERTY ERADICATION PLAN: A LADDER OF THREE MAIN STEPS WITH FEWS ADDITIONS  

First Step :

The Chinese action plan in combating poverty starting from proper evolution of poverty mechanism by adoption of Headcount rate and then shift towards National Poverty Monitoring with multi-dimensionality to reach the most vulnerable group with proper understanding of causes of poverty point out the importance of such a mechanism which has to be according to the regional circumstances, no single universal process is possible. The evolution of mechanism is a first step in marching towards the direction of eradication of poverty.

Second Step:

After having knowledge of causes, crafting of a set of specific strategies for targeted group to bring them out from the helm of poverty is a subsequent task. . For example, if cause of poverty in the region is lack of employment opportunities than focus on self help groups, regional handicraft business and promotion of tourism are the economically useful means to promote economic viabilities. Here, example of China is worth noting whose reduction in poverty in four different phases with different strategies for each phase did wonders. China adopted specific policies from rapid economic growth to investment in infrastructure, education, and other public goods to eliminate poverty. For this task, global cooperation with important responsibility on International organizations, regular transfer of knows how and financial assistance to regions can do wonders.

Moreover, in the context of tackling poverty, planning for reduction in income differences with change in pattern of income distribution is very useful.

While planning, it is important to keep in mind that poverty is a complex concept having many different aspects such as hunger, lack of wherewithal, inequality, human physiological read with dignity etc.  Government should not plan such policies which on the face of it deal with one of the aspect of poverty but in actual, leads to horrific consequences for the country as whole. For example, policy of free food for poor, it may stamp out hunger but simultaneously, it’ll push for inclination towards no need to work approach. Such approach will make whole economic and human resource of country a defunct one and at the most, will only facilitate people to merely cope with poverty instead of permanently climbing out of it. 

Third Step:

After planning, execution is the most difficult task which requires lot of determination, proper institutional framework and most importantly, good governance. The failure of State of Jordan in applying Poverty Reduction Strategy because of poor institutional coordination of Department of Statistics and Ministry of Social Justice indicates the importance of proper institutional implementation to realize the dream. Even India stands on the same line where even after scheming many anti-poverty programs and spending billions on eradication of poverty, it has failed to achieve much success because of institutional incompetence coupled with problems in the system such as corruption, lack of willingness etc. to execute the programs properly. On the other side, Chinese government allocated and utilized poverty alleviation funds channeled through number of plans specified for meeting poverty alleviation targets set by government. Financial authorities of the country transferred the funds through innovative means such as Direct transfer of funds to poverty stricken areas, Implementation of preferential policies and tax relief for economic development in poverty-stricken area and Interest subsidies for poverty alleviation and development loans etc. as per the necessity of the area and also ensured appropriate mechanism in line to supervise and inspect the utilization of fund properly and timely. This implementation is a determinant factor in success of any planning, so regions needs specific attention for this step.

Having said this, Stable and Harmonious political environment with auxiliary help from International governmental, non- governmental organizations in monitoring implementation can be fruitful. This monitoring will even play a crucial role in prevention of wastage of valuable resources such as food grains etc.

Additional Steps:

Having focused on three steps, role of individual and public at large in eradication of poverty is hard to ignore. Even all Poverty Strategy Reduction Papers by International Monetary Funds conclude that: "Successful plans to fight poverty require broad based support from the public in order to succeed".

Here, example of 2012, Magsaysay award winner, Kulandei Francis, whose pioneering community initiatives in Tamil Nadu (India) empowering thousands of rural women to form micro enterprises and break the poverty spiral can be an inspiration for many to contribute in the war against poverty. Our approach should be to ensure contribution of every-individual in poverty alleviation as social responsibility instead of looking for governments to uplift the poor every-time. For this point, Global campaigns associated with some already popular programs such as Clean Development Mechanism initiated for environment protection along with encouragement and recognition of contributions of individual’s in poverty alleviation will promote public participation without much efforts.

CONCLUSION

At last, I would like to conclude by saying that in lieu of above submission nothing else but the full determination and focused approach is vital in the whole journey of realization of dream of World without Poverty. The simple mantra of success here is ‘Just Do it’.

  

Women Reservation Bill in India

Women’s Reservation is the latest political watchword in India.Now it is time to think about the real empowerment of women community.

According to Hillary Clinton,” The Women community of the world has a common language called silence ”.It shows how the community suffers world over.

Equitable representation of women in the highest decision making body is urgently required measure to empower the women politically .No nation stand proud if it discriminates against any of its citizens, and no society could claim to be part of the modern civilized world unless it treats women on par with men.In keeping with the point to provide gender equality in political arena,the present Government has been trying to bring consensus among all political parties in favour of the women’s reservation Bill.The Government had introduced women’s reservation Bil,2008, in the Rajya Sabha amidst protests from opposition parties.After this several attempts were made to introduce the bill in the Parliament but the Government could not pass the bill, due to various political reasons [1].

Choice of Reservation for women in Independent India

Evolution of Independent India on the basis of liberal democracy has exposed the contradiction between the stated political equality and pre-existing social and economic inequalities. Reservation has become an unavoidable choice for political representation to provide scope for equal status and opportunities for depressed classes and women to overcome all inequalities. The ever first amendment made to the Constitution of India in 1951 is to accommodate non-discrimination to Article 15 & 16, which empowered the state to make reservation in favor of any disadvantaged group without being challenged on the grounds of discrimination [2].

During 80’s the mobilization of women at the grass-root level and pressure from women’s organizations through policy and legal interventions made the political parties to view women as a constituency and included women’s issues in their manifesto. During this period the demand for reservation for political representation has re-emerged. Some policy statement on reservation have been made in which the National Perspective Plan for Women(1988) is one such recommends for 30% reservation for women at Panchayat and zilla or district level and municipal bodies to be filled by election. This demand was emerged out of the need for engaging women in “development planning”.  But the same was not demanded for the decision making on policy and law making arenas of state assemblies and parliament. Voice raised by women’s groups during the National Conference on Panchayat Raj and Women, made the late Rajiv Gandhi to accept the proposal of reservation for women in Panchayat Raj Institutions [3].

Many parliamentarians and political parties appreciated this move as historical measure and revolutionary approach. But the same was not appreciated on the debate on reservation for women in State Assemblies and Parliament in the recent decade. This shows the will of political institutions in the country to keep the women in the lower rung of the state only for implementing the decision of the larger political body, in which men have the predominant control and women not to get their due representation in policy and law making process of the country [4].

Possible Benefits:

1. More women participation in politics and society.

2. Social norms in India strongly favour men, therefore, reservation for women is expected to create equal opportunity for men and women.

3. Due to female foeticide and issue related to women’s  health, sex ratio in India is alarming at 1.06  males per female.It is expected this will change the society to give equal status to women.

4. Women are supposedly more resistant to corruption.Therefore,this bill might prove to be a factor restraining the growth of corruption.

  

Possible Drawbacks

Passing the Women Reservation Bill may cause bias in the democratic process because of the following reasons:

1. It may hurt the self respect of women who have come up on their own ability, it may result in lesser respect for women in the society. It may also bring down the quality of leaders.

2. It is likely to begin the hatred between genders as  male may feel deprived of certain privileges, in turn create more social issues.

3. Parties will be forced to find women whether or not the women identify with the overall party agenda and the rest of the issues concerning all citizens, as opposed to just women’s issues.There are no provisions to prevent discrimination against men because of finding women who are inclined towards women’s issues alone, or , in other words, biased against men.

4. Powerful men members of parties will be tempted to find female relatives to reserve the seat for themselves during the following cycle.

5. It is feared that reservation would only help women of the elitist group to gain seats, therefore causing further discrimination and under representation to the poor and backward classes(According to a National Election Study,68 percent of today’s women MPs are crorepatis)[5].

73rd Constitutional Amendment- historical milestone for women’s political participation

To protect the interests of disadvantaged segments of the population, notably women, the scheduled castes (SC) and the scheduled tribes (ST), and to ensure their participation in democratic decentralisation process, the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments was passed with the provision of Reservation on 23rd April 1993. The Act reserved one-third of all seats in the Local Self Governing bodies for rural (All three levels of Panchayats) and urban areas (Municipal body) respectively for women and reservation for SC/STs proportionate to their population.

Though reservation for SCs and STs are in place in other elected bodies (National and State legislative assemblies), the 73rd Amendment is the first one in India that mandated women’s reservation in local body election. Article 243D of 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act in detail  cover the manner in which reservations are to be provided to women and others belonging to the SC / STs in the local panchayat election at all three levels. 

Incentives for Inter-Caste Marriage ( 2009-12 )

Central assistance is provided to the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations, under this Ministry`s Centrally Sponsored Scheme of implementation of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The Central assistance, inter-alia, includes, a component of incentive for inter-caste marriages, in which one spouse belongs to a Scheduled Caste. The amount of Central assistance released to States/Union Territories, under the aforesaid Scheme, which, inter-alia  includes provision for incentive for inter-caste marriages, during 2009-10, 2010-2011, 2011-12 and 2012-13 (upto 12.12.2012), is mentioned, asr:-

Year	Central assistance released  (Rs. in crore)
2009-10	68.6
2010-11	69.8
2011-12	72.0
2012-13	55.35 (as on 12.12.2012

The incentive amount is decided by the concerned State Government/Union Territory Administration, and is generally between Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 100,000/-.

Judicial System for 2012

 As pendency of cases in various courts continued to be a major concern of the Ministry of Law & Justice, the focus of pendency reduction drive this year has been to make our judicial system ‘Five Plus’ Free i.e. to dispose of cases that are more than five years old. Simultaneously, emphasis was laid on increasing the number of judges in subordinate judiciary by filling the existing vacancies and creating additional posts so that disposal of cases is expedited by setting up of additional courts.

The year 2012 proved to be a milestone year for the Ministry of Law & Justice as probably for the first time, as per information received from the High Courts, the net pendency in all courts was reduced by over 6 lakh cases.  Out of them about 1.36 lakh cases were of the targeted groups such as senior citizens, disabled, minors and marginalized sections of society. This was the result of a pendency reduction drive undertaken in the second half of 2011 in a campaign mode approach for clearing long pending cases and cases relating to marginalized sections of the society in High Courts and Subordinate Courts under their jurisdiction. Encouraged by that success, another similar drive was launched during 2012 as well: from July to December 2012.  The focus of pendency reduction drive this year is to make our judicial system ‘five plus free’.

On the recommendations of 13th Finance Commission, the Government has sanctioned Rs. 5000 crore as grants to the States for 5 years between 2010-15 for undertaking various initiatives  to increase access to justice. An amount of Rs. 595 crore was released as central assistance to States / UTs for infrastructure development of subordinate judiciary during 2011-12.  Out of budget of Rs 660 crore in the current financial year, Rs. 557 crore has been released to States / UTs till 30th November, 2012.

National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms:

Besides, the Government has set up a National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms with the twin objectives of increasing access by reducing delays and arrears in the system and enhancing accountability through structural changes and by setting performance standards and capacities.  The Mission has been pursuing a coordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration which, inter alia, involves better infrastructure for courts including computerisation, increase in strength of subordinate judiciary, policy and legislative measures in the areas prone to excessive litigation, re-engineering of court procedure for quick disposal of cases and emphasis on human resource development.  The National Mission has a time frame of five years (2011-16) to pursue them.

The Mission has taken several steps in the strategic areas towards fulfilment of its objectives.  An Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) has been constituted to suggest necessary amendments to the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 along with other policy and administrative measures to check increasing litigation relating to cheque bounce cases.  For the re-engineering of court procedures and court processes for early disposal of cases, a National Court Management System has been notified by the Supreme Court for addressing the issues of case management, court management, setting measurable standards for performance of the courts and the National System of Judicial Statistics in the country.

Infrastructure development for the subordinate judiciary is a major thrust area for the National Mission.  With a view to enhancing the resources of the State Governments, the Government has increased the central share by revising the funding pattern from 50:50 to 75:25 (for States other than North Eastern States) under modified Centrally Sponsored Scheme for development of infrastructure facilities for the judiciary.  The funding pattern for North-Eastern States has been kept as 90:10.

e-Courts Mission Mode Project:

In order to improve the justice delivery system, the Government is implementing the e-Courts project in a mission mode, since 2007. The project envisages computerisation of 14,249 district and subordinate courts as well up gradation of the information and communication technology infrastructure of the Supreme Court and the High Courts in the country, so that citizen centric eServices can be initiated to make justice delivery more affordable and transparent.  A total of 11,165 district & subordinate courts have already been computerised under the on-going project; another 3,084 district and subordinate courts would be computerized in the next 15 months. Once computerised, the courts are envisaged to provide a host of eServices to litigants and public at large though a website, such as - case filing, certified copies of orders and judgments and case status. Similarly, the advocates can access the cause lists online under this project.

Re-engineering Court Procedures and Court Processes:

An important aspect of the judicial reforms relates to re-engineering court procedures and court processes for early disposal of cases.  A comprehensive scheme of National Court Management Systems (NCMS) has been formulated and notified by the Supreme Court of India on 2nd May 2012.  Under the NCMS, a National Framework of Court Excellence (NFCE) is being prepared, which will set measurable standards of performance for courts addressing the issues of quality, responsiveness and timeliness. A Case Management System (CMS) will be developed to ensure the user friendliness of the judicial process to the stakeholders. The Policy and Action Plan of National Court Management System was released by Chief Justice of India on 27.09.2012.  The National Mission would coordinate with the NCMS and would render necessary assistance in achieving the goal of reducing pendency in courts.

The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill:

The Government continued its efforts to get the nod of the Parliament for the path-breaking legislation:  the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill. The Bill, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 1.12.2010. It was discussed in the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC), and the recommendations made by the PSC have been considered and taken into account in finalizing the Bill. The Bill was considered and passed in the Lok Sabha on 29.3.2012. It is now pending for consideration and passing in the Rajya Sabha. The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill has been prepared after holding wide ranging consultations and after holding discussions with legal experts, eminent Jurists, Non-governmental Organisations (NGO) etc.

The Bill will go a long way in empowering the citizens and establishing the confidence and faith of the people in the judicial system without exposing them to unnecessary risk. It will also meet the aspirations of the people in a functioning democracy like India, having a functioning judiciary. The Bill does not seek to infringe on the independence of the Judiciary which is the hallmark of Indian democracy and which is guaranteed under Constitution. Instead, it will enhance the accountability without affecting the independence of the judiciary in anyway.

Legal Aid:

No polity can claim to be just if it cannot provide access to justice for all the sections of its population. For it to have any meaning, justice must be available to all, but particularly to the most marginalized and the vulnerable person in our society. Free legal aid is crucial to ensure that people are able to access justice delivery institutions irrespective of their income criteria.

Unlike many other countries, India has a very progressive legal aid law that provides free legal services for a wide variety of people – women, children, workers, people living with disability, SCs, STs, those earning below Rs. 1 lakh per annum etc. Legal aid is available for both criminal and civil matters. The Legal Services Authorities Act is the key legislation to assist the marginalized people in accessing a host of rights and entitlements. Avenues to access legal aid under the Act are available from the Supreme Court down till the district and taluka level.

The Government will now be focusing its efforts to establish Legal Aid Clinics even at the village level so as to ensure access to justice for the people at their door steps. Paralegals will be trained across the country to empower and assist the marginalized people in accessing their rights and entitlements, and to man the legal aid clinics.

Good practices from other parts of the world are being studied with a view to adapt them to our context. With UNDP support, the Ministry of Law & Justice sent 4 delegations to Indonesia, South Africa, Malawi and Sierra Leone to study good practices on legal aid and empowerment. An international conference was held on 17-18 November 2012 to discuss this subject. Based on the learnings from the conference, the Ministry will be exploring mechanisms to work closely with law school based legal aid clinics so as to utilise the services of law students in providing access to justice for the poor people. The Ministry will work closely with the National Legal Service Authority and the State Legal Service Authorities to strengthen the paralegals as an institution in the country.

Gram Nyayalas:

The Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 has been enacted to provide for establishment of Gram Nyayalayas at the Inter Mediate Panchayat level by State Governments in consultation with respective High Courts so that speedy and affordable justice could be provided to the common man at his doorsteps.  The Act has come into force w. e. f. 2nd October, 2009.

As per the information available, till beginning of December 2012 a total of 168 Gram Nyayalyas have been notified by 7 States namely Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Goa of which 151 have become operational. The difficulties faced by the States in setting up of Gram Nyayalayas were discussed in the meeting of Law / Home Secretaries of the States and Registrar Generals of the High Courts in New Delhi on 19-20 April, 2012.

A meeting to discuss the issues pertaining to Gram Nyayalayas was convened by the Prime Minister’s Office on 16.10.2012. Considering that implementation of Gram Nyayalayas Act is a thrust area of the Government, it was decided that issues effecting the implementation of the scheme may be placed before the  Chief Justice of India and Chief Justice of the High Courts in the meeting to be convened shortly. It is pertinent to mention here that complete implementation of Gram Nyayalaya scheme would result in addition of around 5,000 courts at intermediate panchayat level affording quick and inexpensive justice for common man.