HAVE WE PERFORMED!

Tracking V.I.P Statements

President of India

Prime Minister

Finance Minister

“NREGA Wages to be linked to Inflation” [HYPERLINK TO SECTION]

“Inflation to moderate by year end” [HYPERLINK TO SECTION]

Minster of Law and Justice

“Intend to fast track cases pertaining to molestation of women” [HYPERLINK TO SECTION]

Hon’ble President’s addresse to Parliament on June 4 2009

1. Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to cover all families below the poverty line in the next five years. [Link]

Statement

“My Government will expand the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to cover all families below the poverty line in the next five years”

Context

From the President’s inaugural address to Parliament on 04.06.2009 after the 2009.

Link to Speech

Background on Issue

Rashtriya Swasthya Bhima Yojana (RSBY) was launched on April 1st 2008. Under the scheme, a BPL household of upto 5 members is issued a biometric based health insurance card (to avoid ghost cards). The BPL family has to pay annual registration fees of Rs. 30 and the Government pays the selected health insurance agency the annual health insurance premium based on competitive bidding. Under the scheme, the BPL household are then insured for hospitalization and medical treatment charges upto Rs.30,000 per annum in all empanelled hospitals (both private and public ones). The scheme has been designed such that all stakeholders are incentivized to ensure fulfilment of the scheme’s objectives and it admirably balances efficiency with equity considerations.

Situation at Present

Currently, approximately 51% of eligible beneficiaries have been enrolled under the scheme. State -wise break up is given in Table below:

Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment RSBY Portal

1. National Literacy Mission will be recast as a National Mission for Female Literacy to make every woman literate in the next five years.
2. Broadband coverage to connect every panchayat to a broadband network in three years.
3. Rajiv Awas Yojana for the slum dwellers and the urban poor will be introduced. A slum free India in five years through the Rajiv Awas Yojana.
4. Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act would be monitored to ensure that all title deeds are distributed by end of 2009. [Link]

Statement

“The implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act would be monitored to ensure that all title deeds are distributed by end of 2009”

Context

From the President’s inaugural address to Parliament on 04.06.2009.

Link to Speech

Background on Issue

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 was passed by Parliament in December 2006 and notified in 2007. The Act recognizes and vests forest rights in traditional forest dwelling communities. The Act also provides a framework for recognizing the forest rights so vested.  The rights that can be recognized and vested under the Act include:

• Right to hold and live in forest land under the individual or common occupation for habitation or for self-cultivation for livelihood;
• Community rights such as nistar;
• Right of ownership, access to collect, use, and dispose of minor forest produce which has traditionally been collected within or outside village boundaries;
• Other community rights or use or entitlements such as fish and other products of water bodies, grazing (bothe settled or transhumant) and traditional seasonal resource access of nomadic  or pastoralist communities;
• Rights including community tenures of habitat and habitation for primitive tribal groups and pre-agricultural                 communities;
• Rights in or over disputed lands under any nomenclature in any State where claims are disputed
• Rights for conversion of Pattas or lease or grants issued by any local authority  or any State Government on forest land to titles;
• Right of settlement and conversion of all forest villages, old habitation, unsurveyed villages, and other villages in forests, whether recorded, notified or not into revenue villages

Under the framework for recognition and vesting of forest rights, the Gram Sabha initiates the process for determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights or both that may be given to the forest dwelling communities in the area under its jurisdiction. The list of claims is forwarded to a Sub-Divisional Committee for preparing a record of forest rights. This is in turn passed to the District Level Committee for the final decision.

Situation at Present

As of 31^st July 2010, 28.49 L claims had been received but only 9.93 L titles have been distributed (Source: Ministry of Tribal Affairs Website)

State wise break up of claims received, titles distributed, and extent of forest land for which titles were distributed is provided in table below:

Source: Ministry of Tribal Affairs Website

1. A National Mission on Empowerment of Women for implementation of women-centric programmes in a mission mode to achieve better coordination will be implemented.
2. Five annual reports to be presented by government as Reports to the people on Education, Health, Employment, Environment and Infrastructure to generate a national debate.
3. A road map for judicial reforms to be outlined in six months and implemented in a time bound manner.
4. At least 13,000 MW of generating capacity to be added each year through a mix of sources – coal, hydel, nuclear and renewables.

Statement Made by Prime Minister

"We expect to see the rate of inflation in wholesale prices to come down to around 6 per cent by December," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in his opening remarks at the meeting of the National Development Council, being attended by several central ministers and most of the chief ministers. August 2010”

Statement Made by Finance Minister

Statement

“We are committed to providing a real wage of Rs. 100 a day as an entitlement under the NREGA”

Context

·         Made in the Budget Speech on the floor of the House on July 9^th, 2009

Background on Issue

• Under Section 6 (1) of MGNREGA, until the Centre notifies a wage rate for particular state, agricultural rates will apply
• In December 2008, the Centre notified Rs 80 as wages to all states which were paying less than this for MGNREGS. The Centre notified a wage rate of Rs.100 in June 2009 which has not been revised since then.
• The working panel on wages for MGNREGA has recommended that MGNREGS wages be immediately indexed to the price level using the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPIAL), with 1 April 2009 as the base year. No action taken so far.

Situation at Present with Regard to the Statement

Ministry/Government Initiatives

Finance Minister

Statement

"I do feel that annual rate of inflation will moderate by the end of kharif season and will be as low as 5-6% by the end of the year"

Context

·         TBD

Law Minister

Statement

“Government has decided to fast-track cases relating to women, including those involving rape, molestation and dowry”

Context

Statement made on 25^th December 2009 as part of a media briefing.