Complete Book

Table of Contents 1. Introduction--Parth J Shah 2. Top Ten Findings 3. Right to Information: People’s Right and Government’s Denial-- Renu Vinod 4. The Third Tier of Governance: Acts without Actions- Ali Mehdi 5. Food Security: Miles to Go! - Sushmita Pratihast 6. Education: Is Jharkhand on the Right Track? --Renu Vinod 7. Health: Evident Problems, Eluding Solutions- Sushmita Pratihast 8. Land and Forests: What would be Left?- Shruti Rajagopalan 9. Water: Managing for Households, Farms, and Factories- Sushmita Pratihast 10. Labour & Employment: Taking the Benefits of Reforms to Workers-Renu Vinod 11. Infrastructure: The Foundation for Growth- Ali Mehdi 12. Department of Home: Working towards a Safer Future-Renu Vinod Top Ten Findings • In a recent study conducted by the Centre for Civil Society on the degree of compliance with Section 4 of the RTI Act, Jharkhand failed completely: it received a score of zero. • Jharkhand has the lowest literacy rate in India at 54.13 %; the female literacy rate is an abysmal 39.39%. • A recent study by the Centre for Environment and Food Security found that 99% of the surveyed Adivasi households suffered from chronic and endemic hunger, and 87% suffered from protein deficiency. • The outreach service for complete immunisation to children at 7.5% is grossly short of the national average of 35%. • Only 42% of population in Jharkhand has access to safe drinking water which is far less than the national average of 77%. • The Forest Department did not utilize Rs. 388.95 crores out of the total budget provision of Rs 878.70 crores in 2001-02. • Only 31% of the tribal population of approximately 70 lakhs (27% of Jharkhand’s population) has been able to gain employment as unskilled workers. • Jharkhand has run into a massive debt of Rs 160 billion in the process of building its infrastructure and pays Rs 14 billion as interest for the same. • Jharkhand remains the only state in India which has not yet held any elections at the Panchayat or Municipal levels. • Jharkhand spends a very high share (60%) of its total public expenditure on development and the provision of basic services such as education, health, water and sanitation, yet it is one of the least developed states in India. Introduction We are delighted to present the second Jharkhand Citizen Handbook in collaboration with Prabhat Khabar. The first Handbook was very well received by the government and the citizens of Jharkhand and has generated critical discussions on many issues of governance. This Handbook has ten thematic chapters: Right to Information: People’s Right and Government’s Denial; Education: Is Jharkhand On the Right Track?; Food Security: Miles to Go!; Health: Evident Problems, Eluding Solutions; Water: Managing for Households, Farms, and Factories; Land and Forests: What would be Left?; Labour and Employment: Taking the Benefits of Reforms to Workers; Infrastructure: The Foundation for Growth; Department of Home: Working towards a Safer Future; and The Third Tier of Governance: Acts without Actions. Last year, we focused on individual departments and gave a very detailed analysis of each department. This year we have focused on top ten areas of concern or themes and analysed departments that deal with those areas. In this approach, the focus remains on issues that the people are most interested in. Under the chapter on Right to Information, we point out that the Jharkhand government has now framed its own rules regarding payment of fees and information charges, which are along the lines of the central RTI Act. In a recent study conducted by the Centre for Civil Society on the degree of compliance with the Section 4 of the RTI Act that requires suo moto publication of important information, Jharkhand failed miserably: it received a score of zero while Uttaranchal and Chattisgarh, which were created at the same time, scored 76% and 11% respectively. May be because of this abysmal failure, the state is experiencing a vibrant citizen activism. The Jharkhand RTI Forum comprising the organisations and individuals working for the right to information was constituted in July 2006 to spread awareness about the RTI Act. As a first step, the Act should be demystified and made available in local and tribal languages so that nobody is excluded from the access to information. All public authorities must develop online information systems and publish suo motu as much information as possible, particularly all the information that has been requested more than five times. The State Information Commission must take action against gross violations of Sections 4 and 6 of the RTI Act. The study on the state education system tells us that, according to the 2001 Census, Jharkhand has the lowest literacy rate in India at 54.13 %, next only to Bihar. The female literacy rate is an abysmal 39.39% and for men is 67.94%. According to the Annual Survey of Education Report 2005, Jharkhand has the third highest percentage of students who are out of school, right after Bihar and Rajasthan. According to the 7th All India School Education Survey, the rate of enrolment of girls in rural areas as of September 2002 has increased slowly, but it is still less than 50% at each stage of schooling. We suggest to ease regulations to set up educational institutions as this would encourage more schools to open and thereby create competition within private schools and between private and state schools, which would result in improving quality and lowering of fees. Instead of spending huge amounts to fund schools, the government could fund students through vouchers or scholarships that would give them a choice in school and compel 1 schools to compete to attract them. Government and government-aided schools must be funded in proportion to the number of students and their learning performance. The food security of the state is rather poor with a shortage of more than 20 lakh tonnes of food grains every year. Overall, 2.66% of the residents of Jharkhand suffer from food insufficiency; 2.04% do not get sufficient food some of the months, and 0.62% do not get sufficient food in any of the months. The problem of food insufficiency is more in rural areas than in urban areas. In rural areas, 3.31% of the people suffer from food insufficiency—2.58% some of the months and 0.73% throughout the year. In urban areas, less than one percent of the people suffer from food deficiency—0.62% some of the months and 0.34% throughout the year. The tribals are the worst sufferers of food insecurity. Total 5.85% of the tribal population suffers from food deficiency—4.96% some of the months and 0.89% throughout the year. According to a recent analysis of National Sample Survey data, only 20% of the grain released through the PDS in Jharkhand reaches the intended households — the rest is sold on the black market. This figure is startling in the face of the study done by the Centre for Environment and Food Security on the political economy of hunger in Adivasi areas in Jharkhand and Rajasthan. According to the report, 99% of the surveyed adivasi households suffered from chronic and endemic hunger, and 87% suffered from protein deficiency. Overall 90% of respondents felt that there was decline in their food security over the past two decades. As reforms, it is suggested that food vouchers and comprehensive long term strategies be established, and there should be an encouragement to new livelihood opportunities in order to enhance incomes. There is massive shortage of health care infrastructure in Jharkhand. According to the Jharkhand Development Report, the state falls short of more than 2798 rural health sub- centres, 1740 health posts, 174 community health centres, 19 sub-divisional hospitals and 10 district hospitals. According to the Jharkhand health department, the state health services suffer from absence of private structures, a weak public-private partnership and lack of regulatory mechanism to guide the private sector. More than 70% of the population uses private health services where as only 19% uses the public health services which becomes only 16% in rural areas. The outreach service for complete immunisation of children at 7.5% is grossly short of the national average of 35%. There are only 3 medical colleges for the entire state with annual graduates of only 180 doctors. Some of the reforms: Since most of the health programs in the state are centrally sponsored programs, better monitoring and evaluation strategy is needed in order to ensure proper implementation and access to people. Create courses for ‘Diploma Doctors’ where high school graduates can become healthcare providers with three years of medical training. Give small denomination health vouchers to the entire rural population, which can be used at private or government service provider. A similar experiment in Rajasthan found that doctors who never came to primary health centres suddenly stayed there for long hours since the vouchers became extra income for them. Medical services improved dramatically due to health vouchers. Also, the non-specialised work in hospitals should be contracted out for better and cost-effective service. 2 Water management is critical for Jharkhand’s agriculture as well as industries. It has 29.7 lakh hectares of land usable for agriculture, of which only two lakh hectares of land is actually provided with irrigation. Of the irrigated land, 58.3% is irrigated using surface water and the rest with ground water. The ground water resource is at 5,482 million cubic metres. With this large supply, 8-10 lakh additional wells can be constructed. The Census of India 2001, states that only 42% of population in Jharkhand has access to safe drinking water which is far less than the national average of 77%.

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