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UNIQUE …
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IT'S TIME TO GET SERIOUS OVER WATER
PROFILE
On the record by
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UNIQUE …
BUT NOT REALLY HELPFUL Ranjana, the woman who made headlines in September last year for being the first person to get a UID number, was in the news again recently after complaining that the number was useless - she had tried to get a travel concession with it on the bus but the conductor bluntly told her to “dump the card in a dustbin”.
The Government of India embarked upon an ambitious exercise to provide a “unique identification” (or UID) number to every resident of the country. Each number is to be connected with three types of biometric data: iris scans, fingerprints (all ten fingers) and a picture of the face. UID, it is claimed, will act as a useful identification facility and help the government to root out corruption from social programmes. The urgency in enrolling people has led to a series of misinformed assumptions. Misconceptions range from iris scans being taken for an 'eye test' to fear of ration cards being taken away from those who do not participate in this 'photography'.1 UID is supposed to act as a general identification facility: “Once residents enrol, they can use the number multiple times - they would be spared the hassle of repeatedly providing supporting identity documents each time they wish to access services such as obtaining a bank account, passport, driving license, and so on.” How useful this “facility” is (and whether it is itself hassle-free) remains to be seen. Aside from this, it is claimed that the UID project is a powerful tool to fight corruption in welfare programmes and enhance inclusiveness in government schemes. Some of the specific areas where the benefits of UID are supposed to flow are the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the Public Distribution System (PDS), public health, financial inclusion, etc. How this is supposed to happen is explained in a series of concept notes posted on the UIDAI website. UID and NREGA Unsuspecting readers of the UIDAI's concept note on “UID and NREGA” may be bowled over by the power of Aadhaar. However, a closer look suggests that scepticism is in order. “Once each citizen in a job card needs to provide his UID before claiming employment, the potential for ghost or fictitious beneficiaries is eliminated.” Elimination of ghost beneficiaries would be an important contribution, but as the same sentence makes clear, it requires compulsory and universal enrolment. Yet public statements convey that UID enrolment will be voluntary. “In many areas the wages continue to be paid in the form of cash,.” states the website. But in fact, the transition to bank payments is largely complete (83% of NREGA job card holders have an account). Tamil Nadu is the only “area” where wages continue to be paid in cash (retained for the sake of speed). The introduction of payments through bank or post office accounts has made corruption quite difficult, but three ways of siphoning off money remain - extortion, collusion and fraud. Extortion takes place when “inflated” wages are withdrawn by labourers from their account, the middleman turns extortionist and takes a share. Collusion occurs when the labourer and the middleman agree to share the inflated wages that are credited to the labourer's account. Fraud means that middlemen open and operate accounts on behalf of labourers and pay them cash. Biometric-enabled UID to authenticate identity can only help to prevent “fraud” but is of little use in preventing collusion or extortion. Payment of NREGA wages through banks and post offices have been made mandatory since 2008. Transition from cash to bank or post-office payments is presently complete to a large extent. In fact, over 9 crore NREGA accounts (covering 83% of NREGA job card holders) were opened by 2009-10, without UID in the picture. Benefits of the UID project are contingent on beneficiary verification at the point of service. Therefore delivery of service will depend on functional biometric equipment. This creates the following issues:
Every single point of service must be equipped with a biometric reader e.g., all NREGA worksites - there are about 600,000 and the simplest biometric readers cost at least Rs 2,000 each. Damage of biometric readers, due to normal wear and tear or other causes (including possible sabotage), will disrupt service delivery. Any contingency measures that bypass biometric authentication will be vulnerable to fraud. Corruption is rampant and requires comprehensive safeguards; a static single-point mechanism is likely to be unreliable in the medium to long-term. Because of the potentially disruptive role of UID in NREGA, nearly 200 scholars and activists signed and circulated a petition called “Keep UID Out of NREGA!” in December 2010. The concerns raised in that petition are yet to be answered.
PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION Similar reservations apply to the UIDAI's concept note on “UID and PDS System”. The UIDAI claims that the project can help to deal with the fact that many poor people do not benefit from government welfare schemes such as the PDS. The reason behind this, according to the UIDAI, is that people do not have an identity. However, in the case of the PDS, the two main reasons for the poor being excluded are that (a) the government is willing to provide subsidised food to too few people (“low coverage”) and (b) there is “misclassification” of households. This means that because the government's criteria for identifying the poor and the implementation of these guidelines, are faulty, many poor families are excluded. UID can do nothing about these two problems. Bogus cards and de-duplication: One of the main claims is that UID will eliminate “bogus” cards. The UIDAI seems to be unable to distinguish between the various types of bogus cards: (a) “ghost” cards, i e, where cards exist in the names of non-existent or deceased persons; (b) “duplicates” where one person or household, entitled to one card, manages to get more through unfair means; and (c) “misclassified” cards, when ineligible households or persons claim benefits (or, inclusion errors). The UID can help deal with the first two but not the third type of bogus cards. The next question then is, how large is the problem of “ghost” or “duplicate” cards. That question is not easy to answer. It is not clear how large the problem of duplicate or bogus BPL cards actually is. If the recent example of Tamil Nadu weeding out bogus cards is any evidence, then it is only 2% (Planning Commission, 2004). Chhattisgarh tried to achieve de-duplication by computerising the database of ration card holders and distributing ration cards with holograms, without relying on UID. Eight per cent of cards were found to be “duplicate”. The elimination of ghost and duplicate cards requires that UID enrolment be compulsory and universal. Classification errors: One of the major problems with the existing, targeted PDS is that of classification errors: many poor families are not identified as poor (“exclusion errors”) and better-off families often get the benefits (“inclusion errors”). According to Drèze and Khera (2010), nearly half of the poorest 20 percent did not have BPL cards in 2004-5. UID will not be able to correct this as it will only verify if the beneficiary exists and is unique.Consequently, the UID number won't be able to solve the problem of misclassification. “Last mile” problem: Another common problem is that PDS dealers “short-change” their customers: they give them less than their entitlement, and make them “sign” for the full amount. Again, UID will be of little help here. If customers can be duped into signing (or giving their thumbprint) for more than what they are given, they can surely be convinced to give their UID number for the same purpose. Upstream Leakages: A large part of the PDS leakages happen before the foodgrains reach the PDS dealer. For example, much of PDS grain used to be diverted between government godowns and the village ration shop. The UID project is not designed to deal with upstream leakages in the distribution and delivery systems. Portability: The UIDAI also makes a claim of “portability of benefits”, i e, that with a UID, beneficiaries can claim their benefits wherever they are. A PDS that allows beneficiaries to draw their rations from anywhere in the country would indeed be a desirable improvement over the present system. The portability argument is perhaps the most enticing aspect of the UID programme as fas as the PDS is concerned. However, this too is not very well thought through. Though the UID is portable, benefits may not be, because the latter present operational issues that cannot be solved by the UID. A more plausible contribution of UID to “PDS reform” is that it would facilitate the transition to cash transfers (instead of food entitlements), advocated by many economic advisers and policy-makers. This move, however, is itself fraught with dangers.
PUBLIC HEALTH A study by Oxford University holds that in India, more than a million people die every year due to lack of adequate healthcare. Also, 700 million people have no access to specialist care as 80 per cent of the specialists live in urban areas. Against this background, the UIDAI identified public health as a “killer application” (sic) for UID. As the UIDAI's concept note on “UID and Public Health” states: “Existing data bases would probably still leave a large percentage of the population uncovered. Therefore every citizen must have a strong incentive or a “killer application” to go and get herself a UID, which one could think of as a demand side pull. Mohan Rao, a professor at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health (JNU, New Delhi) had this to say in a critique : “The UID working paper on public health would have us believe that these changes occurred because of a lack of 'demand' for healthcare, as it sets out what it calls a 'killer application' to provide citizens an incentive to obtain a UID card in order to meet health needs. This unfortunate language apart, the fact that we have not built a health system is hardly fortuitous. It is true that we do not have good quality health data or indeed even vital statistics; it is true that this should come from integrated routine health system and not ad-hoc surveys.” He asserts that UID is not devised to deal with the public health challenges of our country. “On the contrary, given that many diseases continue to bear a stigma in this country, the UID scheme has the unique potential of increasing stigma by breaching the anonymity of health data collected. It thus violates the heart of the medical encounter, namely confidentiality. By making this information potentially available to employers and insurance companies, the scheme bodes further gross violations of health rights.” ( The writers are students from JNU and Delhi School of Economics)
Why do we need a UID ? UID is supposed to act as an all-purpose, fool-proof identification device. This could help, for instance, in preventing “identity fraud” (like impersonation, when someone pretends to be someone else) and in facilitating all processes that require identifying oneself - such as opening a bank account or applying for a passport. Some healthy skepticism is in order though, especially since there are other views of the real purpose of UID. According to some, for instance, the initial purpose (under the NDA government) was “to wash out the aliens and unauthorised people. But the focus appears to be shifting… Now, it is being projected as a development-oriented initiative. What is “Aadhaar”? Aadhaar is another name for UID - a sort of “brand name” for the UID project. In Hindi, aadhaar means “foundation”. Does getting a UID number entail getting a card ? It's a common misconception that getting a UID number means having a card with the number. This is not the case. According to some sources, all you get is a UID number on a sheet of paper with personal details. However, various government agencies may or may not, subsequently, issue smart cards using the UID data. What’s the project cost? There does not seem to be much clarity on this question. According to some reports, the cost of UID enrolment has risen from Rs 31 per person to somewhere between Rs 450 and Rs 500 per person. By this estimate, this entire exercise will end up costing close to Rs 1,50,000 crores. According to the Budget documents, Rs 100 crores was approved in 2009-2010 to fund the agency for its first year of existence. This shot up to Rs 1,900 crores in 2010-11. The Planning Commission is learnt to have allocated Rs 35,000-45,000 crores over the next five years - to cover only half the population. Is UID a proof of citizenship? No. Since it is not restricted to Indian citizens and is meant for all residents of India, the UID number is no proof of citizenship. Is it compulsory to enrol? “Yes and no” seems to be the answer. The UIDAI claims that UID is a “voluntary facility” - no one is obliged to enrol. However, government agencies are free to make UID compulsory for their own purposes. For instance, nothing prevents the government from requiring NREGA workers to have a UID number in order to get paid. So life without a UID number may end up being quite miserable. If a person doesn't have a UID ? The UIDAI has been on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing spree with a range of agencies including banks, state governments and the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to be “Registrars”, who then may insist that their customers enrol on the UID to receive continued service. Clause 3 of the draft NIAI Bill declares that “every resident shall be entitled to obtain” a UID number, but nowhere in the Bill is there a clause saying that no agency may refuse services to a person because they do not have such a number. (A quick aside: Even in the United States, privacy law categorically states that the Federal, State or government agencies cannot deny benefits to individuals who do not possess or refuse to disclose their Social Security Number, unless specifically required by law.14)
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IT'S TIME TO GET SERIOUS OVER WATER With
global warming altering weather patterns and affecting fresh water availability, it has often been stressed that the next war will be fought not over oil but over water. Presently, more than 26 countries are considered as water scarce, with the projection that by the year 2025, 2/3rd of the world population is likely to live in countries with moderate or severe shortage of water. These warnings have to be taken seriously and addressed with concern. In this connection, a recent report published by David Zhang of Hong Kong University in the Journal of the US National Academy of Sciences, after analysing the data of more than 8000 wars, is relevant. He established that resource shortage was the main cause of wars in the past. Recorded history up to the 20th century does not, however, indicate any major war caused by disputes over use of water for drinking and other purposes, though some armed conflicts did take place such as the one that occurred around 2500 BC between the Sumerian cities of Lagash and Umme over the right to exploit the boundary of channels along the Tigris river. Modern history, however, has documented a few major water disputes resulting in wars, such as between Egypt and Sudan on Nile waters (1958); Israel and neighbouring Arab countries on the Jordan river waters (1967); Mauritania and Senegal on the Senegal river (1989). Of late, tension has been mounting on the Chobe river waters among Mozambiq, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Trouble is also brewing among the Central Asian Republics on the waters of Amu Darya and Syr Darya draining into the Aral sea. Many experts are not convinced though about the possibility of wars caused by water scarcity, since they feel that wars on water are not economically viable. With the cost of one day's war, they argue, alternative sources such as desalinisation plants can be constructed to meet the requirement. However, since no war is cost effective, the argument does not carry much conviction. According to others, the global trade in 'virtual water', the water consumed for making food products, has allowed arid countries in the Middle East to meet their water requirements without resorting to war. They claim that but for this trade ,which kept Egypt, Jordan and others fed for the last 30 years, there would have been many wars in the Middle East. The contention that export of 'virtual water' in the form of foodgrains to water-stressed countries could reduce the problem through trade is misplaced since with rising population, less water would be available for foodgrain production. It would be of interest to note that this year, about a quarter of the US grain harvest will be used not for food or fodder but to fuel automobiles. Hence food insecurity in a water stressed world, could kindle serious conflicts among the countries. There are also optimists who feel that once basin states conclude treaties and establish water regimes, they will be resilient enough to survive conflicts. They point out that the US, Mexico, and Canada have effective institutions to resolve and settle water issues; there are also examples of trans- boundary river sharing treaties such as the Indus Waters Treaty (1960) between India and Pakistan which had survived two wars and many war like situations, the Itaipu Treaty between Paraguay and Brazil for the hydro power development in the Parana river ( 1973), etc. The much hyped Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan is also under stress since India feels that the provisions are biased in favour of Pakistan which got a larger share of the Indus waters, thereby affecting Indian agricultural and other needs. Similarly, Paraguans have also started questioning the terms of the Itaipu treaty blaming Brazil for not paying enough for the energy it is using. In the meanwhile, fresh signs of trouble are brewing with China proposing to divert the Brahmaputra waters, ignoring protests from India and Bangladesh. The existing international law is ineffective and inadequate to arrest conflicts on water. Also, the international institutions are not adequately equipped to resolve water disputes among countries. The UN would be helpless since the much talked about 'UN Convention on Non-Navigational uses of International Water Courses' adopted by it in 1997 is yet to be ratified. The root cause of any conflict is the scarcity of the resource and in this case , it is water. Hence, the solution lies in improving its availability. For this purpose, supply and demand management aspects have to be analysed for an effective strategy and to provide for concrete solutions. These include adoption of techniques for improved water availability such as water conservation and pollution prevention, improving water use efficiency, recycling and reuse of drainage water etc. These actions are required to be taken both within and among the basin nations to avert the crisis.
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PROFILE His works are inspired by daily lives. He is also credited with painting entire walls of a gallery space in Delhi, a one-of-its-kind attempt in the art world. Says Manjunath Kamath, " If your little one lets loose his imagination with baby scribbles all over your pristine while walls, fret not. He may just be showing you glimpses of his potential." That's what he himself used to do on the walls of the cow shed in his ancestral home in Mangalore whenever he went there on a vocation. The habit didn't die even when he progressed to be a professional artist-he would sketch,draw and paint on the walls of his studio. Born in 1972 in Mangalore, he obtained the Bachelor's degree in sculpture from Chamarajaendra Academy of Visual Arts, Mysore, in 1994. He was also an artist-in-residence at the School of Art and Design of the University of Wales,Cardiff, in 2002. Kamath's works have been featured in a number of solo exhibitions, at home and abroad, in prestigious galleries. At his studio, located at Hauz Khas village, the 'traditional' cohabits with the modern in a picture perfect fashion. No clash of civilisation is possible in this place. And a number of surprises welcome a visitor here- into the realm of creative thought. When he removes a huge drawing from the wall, you find another small drawing lying hidden behind it. "One drawing gives birth to another", he says jovially. It seems whatever is happening around him becomes the raw material for this artist. "But beware! I just do not take things like that", he says. " I take things with lot of discretion. I look at this history of an image or object before I absorb it into the repertoire of my images. History is very important to me." It is this approach to art, that has earned him a place in the making of the history of Indian art. Kamath is a master story teller in the visual language. The images he creates pulsate with the music of a by-gone era. His visuals acquire a special surreal aura by a constant process of transgression of familiar visual vocabulary that he de constructs to reconstruct his paper art in a new avatar. He usually begins a painting with just one element; this could be drawn from memories on past experience or the reality of present contexts. He then keeps adding and taking away contexts from the imagery, paying particular attention to structuring throughout this process and ultimately arrives at a composition that he deems suitable to be the vehicle of his narrative. To Kamath, the process of construction is more important than his completed works. |
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On the record by
Global
warming and consequent climatic changes over the Himalayas, South Asia's major fresh water source, is a topic of intense debate and scientific research as it has huge ramifications for both security and the socio-economic scenario in future. Ashwagosha Ganjoo, Director of Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE), the only defence laboratory monitoring snow cover and climatic conditions in the Himalayas, speaks on the environmental alteration and its impact. How have the climatic conditions in the Himalayan region changed over the past 20 years ? There is a discernable change in climatic conditions of the Himalayas over the last 20 years. SASE's observatories have found increasing trends in annual temperature and significant variation in temperature and snowfall trends, with seasonal mean, maximum and minimum temperatures over Western Himalayas increasing by 2, 2.8 and 1 degree Celsius respectively. Other changes include unusually heavy precipitation, delay in onset of winters, early melting of snow and cloudbursts in new areas. These changes have also been felt by people depending on the weather for agriculture and horticulture. Higher regions are becoming congenial for fruit crop. Studies have also shown an upward shift of the tree-line on south and north slopes. Hail-storms have repeatedly damaged crops in some parts. Snow beds and glaciers are melting at a rapid rate. All these have impacted the ecological balance. Changes in hydrology of the region can influence biodiversity in a variety of ways. What is the effect of these changes on other parts of the country? Other regions have also shown significant change in climatic conditions e.g. severe droughts, excessive rains, flooding in deserts etc, but the change is more pronounced in the lower and middle Himalayan regions. Throughout the Great Himalayas, water from snow melts is stored in high-elevation wetlands and lakes, which limits or averts catastrophic drought if the monsoon is weak, delayed, or fails. If snow keeps reducing, the Indo-Gangetic plains would experience drought if monsoon fails. Himalayas play a key role in global atmospheric circulation and Himalayan environmental changes have consequences on precipitation and temperature patterns on a global scale. The obvious effect of global warming and climate change is excessive melting of glaciers. Majority are receding these days at different rates, but there are evidences of advances of a few glaciers in the inner Himalayas. Seventeen per cent of glaciers and snow cover of the Great Himalayas are receding more rapidly than the world average. Rapid melting implies excessive water in the short spell, which if not stored in reservoirs, is lost. With time, as glaciers completely disappear or approach new equilibrium, long-term effects will be increasing water shortages and limited supplies for downstream communities. Significant fluctuations in snow melt may result in periodic excessive (short to medium term) or insufficient (long term) water supplies. Various steps are required immediately to, at least, defer the effects of global warming. Water is very precious, so each drop of water is to be accounted for. There is a need for a comprehensive regional water management policy between different watersheds. A vulnerability mapping of the entire Himalayan region is required so that more vulnerable areas are addressed first. What has been the role of the scientific community, particularly DRDO in studying and monitoring snow cover and climatic conditions? Scientific community the world over is working to understand the phenomenon of climate change. Notable deductions have already been drawn in IPPC latest report. However, they could not state the consequences of climate change throughout the region with any certainty. There are a few gaps and that can be well appreciated given the enormity and complexity of the problem, specifically in the Himalayan region. SASE has already published a few studies in national and international forums. We have initiated two projects on the study of cryosphere of the Himalayas and all new technologies shall be employed to collect valuable data to be able to draw useful deductions. Remote sensing, air borne survey and ground data collection using new techniques will be employed. Hopefully in the next few years SASE should be able to give better insight of the region. |
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The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, while addressing the first Asia-Pacific Water Summit (2007), warned that high population growth, rising consumption, pollution and poor water management posed significant threats on water availability and could be 'a potent fuel for war.' Earlier, on the occasion of World Water Day of 2002, the then UN Secretary General, Koffi Annan, had also stated that "fierce national competition over water resources has prompted fears that water issues contain the seeds of violent conflict". 
THIS young artist of barely 39 years was selected for this year's Raza Samman, the award instituted in the name of the only surviving artist of the Progressive Artists Group- 89- year- old S H Raza. 