SOIL Report 2011 - ACCESS Development Services

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Potential and Possibilities 135• Increase in agricultural credit: Manyrecent changes, as seen in the Budget2011–12, indicate that the 12th Five YearPlan will target an increase in the accessto agricultural credit by the farmers.For instance, the target for credit flowto farmers was increased by `100,000crore, and set as `475,000 crore during2011–12. Also in view of the enhancedcredit targets, `10,000 crore was addedto NABARD’s Short-Term Rural CreditFund, and a commitment was made tostrengthen NABARD’s capital base by`3,000 crore. The government has alsoprovided incentives by lowering theinterest rates for short-term loans from7 per cent to 3 per cent for farmers whopay their crop loans on time.• Investments in post-harvest and processinginfrastructure: The Planning Commissionanticipates that a significant growthcan be achieved in the agricultural sectornot just from grains alone, but alsofrom produce, such as dairy, fishery andpoultry (Ahluwalia 2011). As these areperishable items, the Plan is likely tosee major investments in cold chain,post-harvest storage, warehousing andso on. NABARD’s Rural InfrastructureDevelopment Fund (RIDF) may play alarger role in these infrastructure developmentprojects. In fact, Budget 2011–12has already increased the corpus for RIDFfrom ` 16,000 crore to ` 18,000 crorewith additional allocations for warehousedevelopment.Since, the payback period for pure agriproducewarehouses and cold-chains isabout 12 to 15 years, fiscal incentives arebeing put in place to make private sectorinvestments in rural infrastructure lucrative.For instance, cold chains and postharveststorage are now considered as asub-sector of infrastructure, enabling theprivate entrepreneur to avail a 10-year taxholiday. Lending for such projects willalso be considered as priority sector lending.These initiatives, along with megafood parks for food processing will helpthe farmers reduce wastages, get a betterprice for their produce and increase theirincome.• Enabling regulatory environment for agriculture:The 12th Five Year Plan is likelyto give further boost to the regulatorychanges being made by the governmentto support both easy access to the inputfactor for more productive agriculture aswell as facilitation of smooth linkages tomarkets. For instance, changes such asthe issuance of warehouse receipts wouldgive the farmers the option to hold theirproduce if the current prices are unfavourable,besides being able to discountthe receipts to raise money for the nextcrop cycle. Likewise, to promote modernfarming methods, the governmenthas reduced the customs duty on farmmachineries and micro-irrigation equipmentsfrom 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent and7.5 per cent to 5 per cent respectively.Such changes in the rules and regulationsfacilitate qualitative improvements in thefarming practices and marketing of theproduce.6.3. Aadhaar: Uniqueidentification (UID)projectThe UID project is an ambitious initiative,launched by the Government of India inSeptember 2010, to provide a permanent12-digit UID number, called Aadhaar, toall citizens (and also to NRIs and foreignvisitors, who will be provided with a differentcard), which will be linked to thebasic demographic and biometric information.To execute this mammoth task, theUnique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI) was established in February 2009as an attached office under the PlanningCommission. Its mandate is to developand implement the necessary institutional,technical, and legal infrastructure to issuethe UID to all residents. To roll-out thisexercise, UIDAI has signed MOUs with
136 State of India’s Livelihoods Report 2011all the state and UT governments, certainunion ministries, banks and other largeinstitutions, who will act as the ‘registrars’for enrolling and issuing UIDs. At the timeof writing this report, the UIDAI had issuedclose to 10 million UID numbers, andplanned to issue 1 million UIDs every dayfrom October 2011. The UIDAI plans toissue 600 million UIDs over the next 5 years,and to cover the entire population within aperiod of 10 years.Though the charter of UIDAI describedUID as a non-mandatory voluntary ‘facility’,it allows access to certain services and benefitsoffered by the government and otherinstitutions (see Box 6.2), so, the strategywhich UIDAI has followed for enrolling andissuing UID also facilitates making it a defacto mandatory requirement for availingthese services and benefits. In fact, manyof its ‘registrars’ and partners (governmentagencies, banks, telecom service partners,etc.) have already started linking UID to awide variety of services and benefits providedby them. Once this project scales up,UID will have a wide-ranging impact on thedelivery of welfare benefits and livelihoodopportunities for the poor. This section coversthe rationale, potential benefits, opportunitiesand challenges of UID in making adifference in the lives of the poor.6.3.1. Promises of AadhaarThe delivery of government subsidies andservices to their intended beneficiaries hasremained one of the key challenges in promotionof ‘inclusive growth’. Given the vastsize and diversity of the country, the widevariety and needs of the marginalized poorand the human and administrative errorsand corruption and inefficiencies acrossthe supply chain, a very small percentageof resources intended for the poor actuallyreach them. UID/Aadhaar aims to tacklethese lapses in three ways:1. Providing a proof of identity: Whiledifferent ministries and governmentdepartments offer a wide range ofprogrammes and schemes for the poorand marginalized, often the intendedbeneficiaries do not possess the requireddocuments (birth certificate, recordedrights to land, BPL card, etc.) to provetheir identity and entitlement. UID/Aadhaar will provide an easy proof ofone’s identity across different schemesand services.2. Accurate identification of beneficiary:Many marginalized segments of poordo not get enumerated, and thereforefail to access schemes and benefits whichthey are entitled to. On the other hand,resources for government schemes alsoBox 6.2: Aadhaar-enabled applicationsAadhaar can be used by any system whichneeds to establish the identity of a residentand/or provide secure access for the residentto services/benefits offered by the system. Itcan be used in the delivery of the followingprogrammes:• Food and nutrition—PDS, Food Security,Mid Day Meals (MDMs), Integrated ChildDevelopment Services (ICDS) Scheme• Employment—Mahatma Gandhi NationalRural Employment GuaranteeScheme (MGNREGS), SwarnajayantiGram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), IndiraAwaas Yojana (IAY), Prime Minister’sEmployment Guarantee Programme• Education—Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA),Right to Education• Inclusion and social security—JananiSuraksha Yojana, Development ofPrimitive Tribe Groups, Indira GandhiNational Old Age Pension Scheme(IGNOAPS)• Health care—RSBY, Janashri Bima Yojana,Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana• Other miscellaneous purposes includingProperty Transactions, Voter ID, PANCard and so onSource: UIDAI (2010).
Page 2 and 3:
State of India’s Livelihoods Repo
Page 4 and 5:
State of India’s Livelihoods Repo
Page 6 and 7:
ContentsList of TablesList of Figur
Page 8 and 9:
List of Tables1.1 Growth rate of Gr
Page 10 and 11:
List of Figures1.1 Pattern of GNP a
Page 12 and 13:
List of Boxes1.1 India a country of
Page 14 and 15:
List of Abbreviations3PLADBAEPSAICT
Page 16 and 17:
List of AbbreviationsxvMKSSMoEFMoRD
Page 18 and 19:
PrefaceACCESS has been bringing out
Page 20 and 21:
Prefacexixbring out yet another vol
Page 22 and 23:
AcknowledgementsA lot of work, ener
Page 24 and 25:
State of India’sLivelihoods 2011:
Page 26 and 27:
State of India’s Livelihoods 2011
Page 28 and 29:
Page 30 and 31:
Page 32 and 33:
Page 34 and 35:
Page 36 and 37:
Page 38 and 39:
Page 40 and 41:
Livelihoods of the PoorIt is now co
Page 42 and 43:
Livelihoods of the Poor 19of employ
Page 44 and 45:
Livelihoods of the Poor 21significa
Page 46 and 47:
Livelihoods of the Poor 23last two
Page 48 and 49:
Livelihoods of the Poor 25Figure 2.
Page 50 and 51:
Livelihoods of the Poor 27If person
Page 52 and 53:
Page 54 and 55:
Livelihoods of the Poor 31Table 2.3
Page 56 and 57:
Livelihoods of the Poor 33home-base
Page 58 and 59:
Livelihoods of the Poor 35(13.4 mil
Page 60 and 61:
Livelihoods of the Poor 37on their
Page 62 and 63:
Livelihoods of the Poor 39Early exp
Page 64 and 65:
Livelihoods of the Poor 41(Chintan
Page 66 and 67:
Livelihoods of the Poor 43A study b
Page 68 and 69:
Livelihoods of the Poor 45systemati
Page 70 and 71:
Livelihoods of the Poor 47and sanit
Page 72 and 73:
Livelihoods of the Poor 49dispropor
Page 74 and 75:
Page 76 and 77:
Livelihoods of the Poor 53make an i
Page 78 and 79:
Livelihoods of the Poor 55and sanit
Page 80 and 81:
Reflections onLivelihoods Policies3
Page 82 and 83:
Reflections on Livelihoods Policies
Page 84 and 85:
Page 86 and 87:
Page 88 and 89:
Page 90 and 91:
Page 92 and 93:
Page 94 and 95:
Page 96 and 97:
Page 98 and 99:
Page 100 and 101:
Page 102 and 103:
Page 104 and 105:
Page 106 and 107:
Page 108 and 109: Reflections on Livelihoods Policies
Page 110 and 111: State as the LargestLivelihoods Pro
Page 112 and 113: State as the Largest Livelihoods Pr
Page 132 and 133: Private Industry andServices—What
Page 134 and 135: Private Industry and Services—Wha
Page 152 and 153: Potential andPossibilities6.1. Intr
Page 154 and 155: Potential and Possibilities 131and
Page 156 and 157: Potential and Possibilities 133thro
Page 160 and 161: Potential and Possibilities 137get
Page 162 and 163: Potential and Possibilities 139welf
Page 164 and 165: Potential and Possibilities 141resp
Page 166 and 167: Potential and Possibilities 143the
Page 168 and 169: Potential and Possibilities 145SN C
Page 170 and 171: Potential and Possibilities 147infr
Page 172 and 173: Potential and Possibilities 149Saxe
Page 174 and 175: About the Editorsand ContributorsTh
show all

SOIL Report 2011 - ACCESS Development Services

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?