It's a myth that the global financial crisis left India virtually unscathed. In fact, India is the biggest victim of financial crisis-induced Twitter Facebook Share Email Print Save Comment poverty, according to data obtained by TOI from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs' (UNDESA). Check out these figures.

The UNDESA data estimates that the number of India's poor was 33.6 million higher in 2009 than would have been the case if the growth rates of the years from 2004 to 2007 had been maintained. In 2009 alone, an estimated 13.6 million more people in India became poor or remained in poverty than would have been the case at 2008 growth rates.

In other words, while a dip from the 8.8% growth in GDP averaged from 2004-05 to 2006-07 to the 6.7% estimated for 2008-09 may be nothing like the recession faced by the West, its human consequences for India were probably worse. The 2.1% decline in India's GDP growth rate has effectively translated into a 2.8% increase in the incidence of poverty.

According to the UNDESA's World Economic Situation and Prospects 2010, 47 million more people globally became poor or remained in poverty in 2009 than would have been the case at 2008 growth rates, and 84 million more than would have poor at 2004-7 growth rates. Of these, 19 and 40 million respectively are in south Asia.

While the report did not give India-specific figures, these were given to TOI by the UNDESA in response to a request for more information on the numbers pertaining to the country. The numbers come from revised per capita income estimates for 2009. The report uses the World Bank's definition of poverty, which is people living on less than $1.25 per day in 2005 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) dollars.

The estimates assume that there has been no change in income distribution. If inequality grew in India in 2009, the number of poor would be even higher than these projections.

The UNDESA report attributes this increase in poverty to a combination of reduced household incomes, rising unemployment and pressure on public services. Job losses in India were primarily in export-oriented industries like textiles while employment levels in Indian firms catering to the domestic market were largely unaffected, the report says. Monetary and fiscal policy intervention gave Indian growth some resilience, while safety nets like India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) helped to mitigate the effects of the slowdown, the report adds.

"Surveys conducted by the labour bureau did show big job losses through most of 2008, but a pick up by mid-2009," said economist and Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen, adding the caveat that the construction industry, which was hit badly by the recession and is now recovering, was not covered by those surveys. "It's true that there has not been anything special for labour in government policy except the general fiscal stimulus," added Sen.

In addition to job losses, food price inflation is a major factor in a decline in poverty reduction in India, said Sen. "It is not yet clear to what extent the spike in food prices is linked to the global financial situation, the poor monsoon or other factors", he added.

The report is clear that the situation is picking up, but celebrations would be premature -- "global economic recovery is expected to remain sluggish, employment prospects will remain bleak". Job creation will lag output growth and as social protection coverage is limited, working poverty levels will rise and be difficult to reverse, the report warns. It is too early for fiscal stimuli to be withdrawn, the report adds.

There is no agreement yet on the number of poor people in India. The last official (National Sample Survey) household expenditure figures are for 2004-5 and the next round (2009-10) is yet to be completed. Further, the definition of poverty remains disputed, the Suresh Tendulkar committee's recommendation that India move away from calorific norms being the latest iteration. This committee pegged the number of poor in India at 408 million in 2005.

The village Elichetladibba surrouded by Krishna river all the 4 sides, very close to the confluence to Bay of Bengal, is under comprehensive development programme by ASSIST in partnership with RRDF, The Netherlands. Most of the construction programmes have become stand still due to the flood waters. The damages can be estimated when water recedes. The standing crop paddy is submerged under water. Though the earth bund for which revetment made under the project, has protected to a large extent, the rising flood waters overflown the bund and entered into the village from all sides

The Krishna river, one of the two major perennial sources serving more than 60% of the irrigation necessities of Andhra Pradesh State, has suddenly rose to a highest level after 103 years duration, due to the cyclonic depression and continuous down pour in the catchment areas, resulting worst floods devastating 64 villages in 5 Mandals in Kurnool District.

Water…. Water… water… everywhere water. Water surrounds residential localities, agricultural fields, religious places without leaving an inch space affecting lakhs of peole in Kurnool District. Kurnool town and Mantralayam religious temple town have been affected very badly. As per the eyewitness on the evening of 2nd October, thousands of people in these two towns have gone to the roof tops of their houses or to the higher elevated apartments to save their lives. All the roads and building are inundated in 10 feet of water. People are in panic situation with the news that the flood water may rise to another 4 -5 ft by 3rd morning. All the communication is totally disrupted and many people are crying for help.

Heavy damage of property and crops are reported. Many irrigation tanks and projects are breached. Possibility for evacuation of the people is also very remote, since water inundates hundreds of kilometers, disrupting the rail and road communication very badly.

As per the reports by 2nd evening 12 people were officially declared dead and 700 people are missing. 6200 cattle died. 29 wards in Kurnool town are under 13 feet of water. Standing crops in 0.15 million acres is expected to be damaged in 35 Mandals of Kurnool district. 42000 houses are reported to be damaged. Situation is expected to be worse in the next 24 hours, since the depression still continues with associated rains.

25000 people in the slums of Kurnool and Mantralayam alone are expected lost their shelter and around 10 million people in these 64 villages of 5 Mandals have rendered homeless.

In a special call, the Honourable Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh has requested the Voluntary Organisations to assist the flood victims, since the Government assistance may not be enough to reach all the people in time.

Around 12 slums in Kurnool town and 6 slums in Mantralayam consisting of around 1500 families have lost every thing in the floods. Around 5800 families belonging to Scheduled caste, scheduled tribes and other backward classes people in the affected 64 villages in 5 Mandals of Kurnool District have rendered into helpless situations. Women, Children and old age people are the worst sufferers as usual

Flood situation worsens in Andhra Pradesh Oct 05, 2009

Flood warnings not taken seriously Oct 04, 2009

Pragathi Colony is one of the slum localities of Ongole town in Prakasam District. The colony consists of 110 families with a population of 542. 70 families belonging to scheduled caste (58), Scheduled Tribe (8), Backward Classes (1), Minorities (1) and Other Castes (2), were on the road with only the wearing clothes, when their houses totally burnt on the afternoon of 10th September 2009. They are all daily wage workers in the market places, shops, hotels and other commercial establishments. They live in tiny huts erected on Government land on the outskirts of Ongole town.

Mr. Sogani Srinivasa Rao, a drunkard and a resident of Pragathi colony, quarreled with his wife and set fire his own house with anger in the mid-day of 10th September 2009. Owing to this, 70 houses were conflagrated. As usual, almost all the colony people left for daily wage work when the incident occurred and so they couldn’t save their cloths, utensils and groceries from flames. Ongole Municipal Administration has undertaken a detailed survey of the houses burnt and disclosed that seventy houses were set to flames. There were only old people, few women and children remained at home on that day when the incident took place. Municipal administration together with Revenue Department provided lunch arrangements for the victims of 70 families. They have also provided Rs.4000/- to each victimized family as immediate relief. Around 1.00 pm, the major fire accident occurred. Since it was a very hot day, with a temperature above 36 degree centigrade and hot winds blowing, the fire spread immediately and houses belonging to 70 families were completely burnt. As the elders were away, none of their belongings could be saved. Their clothes, utensils, grains, provisions and small amount of their savings have become ashes. Electronic media and print media estimate the loss as Rs 50 lakhs.

Relief assistance including, Utensils, mattresses, Water stocking vessels, clothes and provisions worth of Rs.2000 per family and assistance for the construction of houses to be sanctioned under IAY

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Andhra Pradesh has been blessed with the first rain of the year in between 14th and 19th August 09 in different places on different days as a result of the depression in the Bay of Bengal. This rain has brought a big hope for the farmers to go for suitable crops though they have lost a good season to go for rain-fed crops. But they are not confident of getting the canal water of Krishna and Godavari Rivers as these rivers do not have enough water source even now. This has happened in this year specifically because of the low rainfall in the upper regions of Karnataka and Maharashtra, which are the main water sources for both these Rivers. In addition to this, both the Karnataka and Maharashtra States have enlarged their water storage reservoirs to control the over-flow of water to the lower region. On these grounds, the discharge of water from both the rivers of Krishna and Godavari for the assigned lands is doubtful. Even with this acute shortage of drinking water problem in the most parts of the State, the Government is not able to release the water even to fill the water sources for the provision of drinking water. In this situation, water for irrigation is questionable. Hence, the farmer is in a dilemma to go in for the crops such as paddy, chilly, cotton and vegetables while they are opting to go for red gram and other minerals.

After this first rain, the rainfall in all the Districts of Andhra Pradesh can be seen as follows:

You may kindly notice from the above table that there is a deficit rainfall in all the Districts while it is 63% less in Krishna, 48% less in Guntur and 43% less in Prakasam, where ASSIST is active.

In spite of these facts, the State Government is still reluctant to declare either the State as a whole or specific Districts under drought while the Central Government has already announced the Districts in other States already. Article published on this issue is attached herewith for your information.

At this juncture, it is heartening to state that over 25 farmers have committed suicide as they are afraid about the debts. "Two farmers in separate incidents committed suicide by consuming pesticide in Prakasam District on Wednesday, the 19th Aug 09. The inability to repay mounting debts has claimed two lives." (Source: The New Indian Express, 20 August 09)

Let us hope and pray that this first rain not only brings hope in the lives of farmers and many people struggling to survive but also keep this hope alive with the continuous rains in the coming months.

With kind regards,

J Ranga Rao

Operational Director, ASSIST

Click to read News on Drought - The Hindu

Members unhappy over distribution of seeds Permission sought to get fodder from Nallamala forest

ONGOLE: Minister for Transport, Satrucharla Vijayarama Raju, has assured the District Review Committee that all steps would be taken to mitigate drinking water problem in the district.

Addressing the DRC meeting held here on Saturday, Mr. Vijayarama Raju, who is also district in-charge Minister, said that Nagarjuna Sagar water would be released in 3-4 days to fill up drinking water tanks. The members expressed unhappiness over distribution of seeds, shortage of fodder, delay in implementation of protected water supply schemes and irregularities in counselling of teachers etc.

Minister for Mines, Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, asked the Rural Water Supply officials as why there was delay in completing the scheme at Medaramitla. The officials said that they were facing problems in getting permission from NHAI for laying the pipeline along the national highway. Kandukur MLA, M. Mahidhara Reddy, criticised the agricultural officials for not supplying the seeds to farmers on time. He complained that there were duplicate passbooks with which some farmers got benefited two or three times while other farmers suffered. He also came down heavily on RWS officials for failure to test the pipeline laid over 50 km as part of Kandukur drinking water supply scheme.p>

Fluorosis

Addanki MLA, Gottipati Ravikumar complained that the private dealers and even Growmore refuse to supply seeds to farmers unless they purchased some pesticide from them. District Collector, Kantilal Dande directed the agricultural officials to black list such dealers.

Markapur MLA, Narayana Reddy of TDP expressed concern over fodder shortage and sought permission for farmers to get fodder from Nallamala forest. The elected representatives expressed their ire when the forest officials said that there was no fodder in the forest.

TKanigiri MLA, Ugra Narasimha Reddy said that fluorosis was noticed in Kanigiri areas for the first time in the country.

Detailed Story at The Hindu - Prakasam dt

Collector recommends that the entire district be declared drought-affected

District administration is gearing up to provide wage employment

Contingency plan to raise fodder crops on 1,000 acres

ONGOLE: As dry spell continues, Prakasam district is reeling under drought conditions and people are experiencing second summer with day temperatures crossing 40 degree Celsius.

While drinking water problem assumed alarming proportions, kharif crops are endangered. The district administration is gearing up to provide wage employment to landless labour to stave off hunger and migration.

The district received 61 per cent deficit rainfall in the last three months. There were only five rainy days this year as against normal 50 in this period.

District Collector Kantilal Dande has recommended to the government to declare the entire district drought-affected and sought an assistance of Rs. 4.5 crores to mitigate drinking water problem immediately.

Mr Dande said that drinking water was being transported to 50 habitations and the number was likely to go up to 90 soon.

There is heavy demand for deep borewells and deepening of existing wells and extension of pipelines in dry mandals like Markapur, Giddalur, Kanigiri, Dornala etc. Municipal areas too are facing the problem.

Another problem staring the district in the face is fodder shortage. Animal Husbandry department prepared a contingency plan to raise fodder crops on 1000 acres.

Detailed Story at The Hindu

The State of Andhra Pradesh is suffering with a dramatic shortage of water as a result of failure of monsoon rains. There has been 40% less rainfall than normal in the months of June and July so far and there is no sign of the rainfall situation improving any time soon. As reported in Telugu Daily "Eenadu", the rainfall has been 46% less than normal in Prakasam District, 71% less in Guntur District and 56% less in Krishna District. As a result, there has been abnormal reduction in the cultivation of rain fed crops while the seedlings could not be raised in the wetlands.

While this is the situation with regard to agriculture operations, there has been acute shortage in the availability of drinking water both in the villages and in the urban areas. Water stored in tanks, both in rural and urban areas, has come to the bottom and water supply is severely affected. The power supply satiation is as well critical as unofficial power cuts have already been introduced much earlier than usual.

This situation may lead to the outburst of water-borne diseases; the deaths due to diarrhoea have already started in Adilabad District and it may spread to other districts as well.

ASSIST had discussions with several officials and elected representatives concerning this matter to overcome the problem of safe drinking water in the problematic communities especially in Prakasam and Guntur Districts. There is the possibility of mobilising 50% of the required funds locally both from the government and target communities apart from obtaining the site for the construction of the building to install the Reverse Osmosis Plants.

We are therefore making a special appeal to provide safe drinking water to some of the problematic communities in this part of our Country. Here you can find the project proposal.