India’s forests valued at Rs 115 trillion, but tribals unlikely to get a share

India’s forests are worth as much as the Bombay Stock Exchange with a notional value of Rs 115 trillion but the money collected from diverting parts of this land for industries won’t go to communities that live in and are dependent on the jungles.

The Union environment ministry accepted most recommendations of a 2013 expert panel that hiked the rates at which industrialists pay for diverting forest land but dropped a crucial clause mandating half that money be used to compensate tribals for the loss of jungles, documents reviewed by HT show.

A new law enacted by the Centre to disburse these funds – Rs 42,000 crore at present – also says the money should go to state forest departments, leaving out tribals. The government says the suggestion to give money to local communities isn’t practical.

“A lot of things are easier said than done. The governments anyway try and spend the money in such a way that the local communities get the maximum benefit,” said a government official.

Under a 1980 law, when forest land is diverted for industrial use, the project developer has to pay for compensatory afforestation and the Net Present Value (NPV) of the forest, to make up for the loss in ecosystem.

At present, the government charges Rs 4.38 lakh to Rs 10.43 lakh per hectares (ha) NPV, depending on the type and density of forest. These rates were fixed in 2008 but the Supreme Court asked the government to revise rates of NPV every three years.

The 2013 report revised the rates to a range of Rs 5.54 lakh to RS 50.72 lakh per ha. The panel – comprising scientists from the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) and Forest Survey of India – said the previous 2008 numbers were “grossly underestimated”.

The environment ministry accepted the new figures and is sending them to the committee of secretaries (CoS) for its nod, documents reviewed by HT revealed.

Before accepting the recommendations, the ministry asked the IIFM to estimate the total NPV of India’s forests, an exercise never done before. The IIFM told the ministry the notional value of India’s forest would be Rs 115 trillion.

This will increase the money collected from industrialists. “The rate of accumulation of the compensatory afforestation fund will be more than double now with an overall hike of 117% in the NPV as compared to previous rates,” said an official.

But one crucial recommendation is missing from the environment ministry’s proposal to the CoS. The 2013 panel estimated 50% of the value of forest goods and services are created at the local level, 34% at the state level and 16% the national level and suggested the NPV money be accordingly distributed between local communities, state governments and the Centre, respectively.

Such a mechanism, the panel said, would ease land acquisition worries for big projects, which face the ire of forest-dwelling tribals who fear the loss of livelihood.

Another source of worry for local communities is a new law -- the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, or Campa act, which was cleared by Parliament recently – that will govern the disbursal of these funds.

Campa act has tribal rights activists up in arms as the legislation says nothing about sharing the revenue with the traditional forest-dwelling communities. The money is set to go to state governments, which violates the spirit of the 2013 panel report and the 2006 forest rights act, activists say.

Activists have repeatedly alleged that the government disregards environmental norms and tribal rights in handing out permits to use forestland for industries.

The 2013 report recommended the increase in NPV based on the monetary value of several goods and services from the forests such as timber, bamboo, non-timber forest produce, fuelwood, fodder, carbon sequestration, water recharge, soil conservation, pollination and seed dispersal that were not valued earlier.

The new NPV rates will be part of the yet-to-be-framed rules under Campa act.

Waiting for a fair share:

• Under a 1980 law, when forest land is diverted, the project developer has to pay for compensatory afforestation and the Net Present Value of the forest

• At present, government charges Rs 4.38 lakh to Rs 10.43 lakh per hectares NPV. These rates were fixed in 2008

• In 2013, a panel recommended that rates be revised to a range of Rs 5.54 lakh to Rs 50.72 lakh per hectare and additional premium of 20% to 4 times of NPV be charged if the project is coming up in ecologically sensitive areas

• The Centre accepted the hiked rates but dropped a clause mandating half that money be used to compensate tribals for the loss of jungles

Source: Hindustan Times, 10-08-2016

Mental health bill passed: Laudable intentions, now create proper infrastructure

It is an issue rarely talked about openly by most Indians, which explains why there was so much appreciation when actor Deepika Padukone spoke about her battle with depression. At least six-seven per cent of Indians suffer from some form of mental illness and the 134 amendments to the Mental Health Care Bill 2013 passed in the Rajya Sabha seek to address this. The main problem in tackling this issue has been the lack of data. But equally worrying is the huge dearth of psychiatrists and infrastructure to deal with this. At last count, there was only one psychiatrist to four lakh people, and this is not counting those suffering from relatively hidden illnesses like depression — WHO puts the figure at 27% of the population. The most commendable part of the bill lies in decriminalising the attempt to suicide. At present, it is punishable with one year in prison or a fine or both under Section 109 of the IPC. The amendment suggests that attempt to suicide will be treated as being the result of mental illness. It also does away with electro-convulsive therapy for mentally ill children. The provisions of the bill as it stands after the amendments will help in dealing with a number of issues which affect the mentally ill.

One of the real challenges is in increasing the number of mental health professionals in the system. The other is for people to come forward and seek help, something they rarely do at present given the taboo associated with this illness. Women, particularly in rural areas, are subjected to great stress just carrying out daily chores like fetching water from distances, bringing up children in challenging circumstances and living in a patriarchal and oppressive social milieu.

There are very few facilities where women with mental illness can be treated and even fewer which deal with their rehabilitation in society. The bill rightly speaks of not separating a mentally ill mother from her child, circumstances permitting, while she undergoes treatment. While the intentions of the bill are laudable, much of it will fall through the cracks unless the appropriate infrastructure is set up. A Central and state mental health authority which is proposed to be set up could help in this. Now that this bill has come about with its far-reaching amendments, both the state and Centre must make every effort to see that the mentally ill are no longer marginalised in the health system as they have been for so long.

Source:Hindustan Times, 10-08-2016

Change Your Direction

ACHARYA MAHAPRAJNA





Everything depends upon our inclination, whether it is towards a peaceful and blissful life or whether it is towards a life full of problems and distress.When we try to find the solution, then the direction can change, and if we complicate the problem, complexities go on.There is no question of escaping from life. Change of direction does not mean escaping from life. It only means reforming one's attitude. Our inclination and all our activities are generally centred around reflection, not around reality .Our body , matter and all impermanent objects are the reflection of our non-dual existence, which is the truth. Whatever is viewed in a mirror is reflection, not reality .
Once when the Moon had risen high in the dark sky , a man observed his shadow fall ahead of him and thought it was someone moving ahead of him, for each time he moved, it moved, too. He became frightened.He was not aware that it was only a shadow. A non-percipient follows his likes and dislikes, so he will prefer what he likes and reject what he dislikes. A percipient uses a thing in the perspective of its utility and necessity . He will avail each and everything on the basis of its utility and requirement only , disregarding his likes and dislikes.
The conduct and behaviour of a percipient and a non-percipient are entirely different. Change of direction means reformation of conduct and behaviour. As long as one's behaviour and conduct remain unchanged, the change of direction in life does not take place.

MHRD Plans to Put IITs in Top League of Global Rankings

Anubhuti Vishnoi

New Delhi:





ADDRESSING THE SHORTCOMINGS IIT Council is set to discuss the plan with all IITs and other stakeholders at a meeting presided over by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Aug 23

It's called Project VISHWAJEET. The name -which means Conqueror of the Universe -may suggest it is a defence mission, but it isn't that.The project is aimed at catapulting Indian Institutes of Technology to the top league of global academic rankings. The game plan is currently being worked on at the Ministry of Human Resources Development.
VISHWAJEET will aim to pick the IITs with greatest potential to climb up the global pecking order and then ensure close focus on them, backed with funding, so that they excel on all parameters.
The IIT Council is set to discuss the plan with all IITs and other stakeholders at a meeting presided over by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on August 23.
Among a handful of Indian institutes that figure on global listings like QS and Times, IITs are mostly ranked the highest. However, their positions on the overall global list aren't very enviable, standing mostly at 200 and below. The Indian Institute of Science was ahead of IITs at 147 in the 2015 QS World University Rankings. Five IITs made it to the rankings in 2015 with IIT-Delhi at 179, IIT-Bombay at 202, IITMadras at 254, IIT-Kanpur at 271 and IIT-Kharagpur at 286.
It is expected that IITs among the top 250 will be se lected for Project VISHWAJEET.
VISHWAJEET will towards iden tifying on which parameters the chosen IITs may be lagging behind and work in a tar geted manner to address the short coming. For in stance, QS Ran kings rates institu tes based on six in dicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, student-faculty ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty and student ratio. Times Higher Edu cation rankings have a set of similar five performance criteria. Indian institutes typically fall behind on the internationalisation parameters and also academic reputation when seen globally.
Minister Javadekar recently observed that the local institutes were lagging behind on the rankings due to “perception“ issues.
The IIT Council will also look at such associated issues like opening up the IITs to foreign students -a plan that is expected to take off with the JEE 2017 entrance test which will be held abroad as well.Other issues expected to be on the agenda are proposals to bring in a campus recruitment format for faculty to catch the pool of young and new PhD holders. Also in the works is a proposal to bring in a programme, Prime Minister's Research Fellows, to encourage research at IITs. The plan is to select the best of students to take up research, fund and invest in their research work and create an ecosystem for them at the IITs. The move is aimed at as much as retaining the best talent at the local institutes as also boosting research and creating a new faculty pool.Special funding will be earmarked for this.
Reforms in the M Tech admission system as well as better paid teaching assistantship formulas are also planned. Other topics to be discussed by the IIT Council include setting up of Tinkerers' Labs at all IITs and the conduct of JEE 2017.

Source: Economic Times, 10-08-2016

Faith Could Play A Positive Role In Life

Pulkit Sharma





For most of us, life is often a struggle between faith and faithlessness.In the moments when we feel connected to the divine we are full of courage. But when faith gets shaken we begin to get scared of our own shadow and nothing in the world seems to go right for us.
A recent psychological research carried out at Princeton, New Jersey concluded that people for whom faith is an important part of daily life, experience a greater degree of emotional well-being under all circumstances.They also feel more positively about their present and future than those who lack faith. Clinical experience shows that even those who are badly affected by traumatic experiences recover fast, achieve self-growth and find a meaning in suffering so long as they hold on to their faith. Many people would argue that faith has let them down because they did not get the kind of help and protection they wanted. Interestingly , some of my patients reported that during times of acute distress when they were struggling to survive, faith appeared to be an illusion or a philosophical speculation.They were extremely depressed because they had lost important anchors. But in many cases, after a while, maybe a few months or some years down the line, it became apparent that the loss motivated the person to take on a different path and find something new. And now this new discovery gives a better meaning and fulfilment to their life. The Mother of Auroville maintained that the greater our surrender to the divine, the more we can be assured that the best will happen to us from a spiritual point of view. Because we have limited perspective about who we are and the purpose of life, we are not able to appreciate this fact. She believed that even the greatest crisis can become a means for our self-growth, progress and manifestation of truth if we can preserve our faith.
The Mother highlighted some important approaches through which one can build and preserve faith in the divine. Firstly, one needs to create an intense aspiration so that one can pray for more faith. Secondly , we need to build a childlike trust so that we can completely surrender to the divine in the belief that whatever help is needed will come.Thirdly , a majority of people have a deep conflict around faith and their mind is engaged in an unending debate over the presence or absence of faith.Rather than doing this we should allow ourselves to be open so that divine grace can enter and give us faith.
Another important method to build faith is to observe oneself carefully and try to eliminate all the anti-divine formations and forces that lie deep within ourselves. Apart from this, we should also keep our ego in check and cultivate gratitude for whatever grace we are blessed with. Although it is a long journey , once our faith is as hard as rock, nothing can stop us from realising the truth and living in divine consciousness forever.
Kabir captures this divine moment`Khoji hoye turat mil jaoon, ik pal ki talash mein. Kahe Kabir sun bhai sadhu, main to hoon vishwas mein' ­ The divine can be found in a moment of earnest search, provided we have faith.

10 things you need to know about ‘Iron Lady’ Irom Sharmila

Irom Sharmila is on Tuesday expected to end her 16-year hunger strike against alleged army atrocities. Her decision to call off the protest and join politics has invited death threats. Many supporters and some family members want her to continue the fast.

As Sharmila embarks on a new journey, here is a look at girl from a small Manipur village who took on the Indian state:

1) Often called the Iron lady of Manipur, Irom Sharmila is the youngest of nine siblings. She wanted to be a doctor but chose to be a rights activist to wage war against the armed forces special powers act (Afspa) that allegedly gives soldiers the “licence to kill”.

2) Sharmila was born in 1972 and was 28 when she began her fast on November 4, 2000, two days after Assam Rifles personnel gunned down 10 people, including teenage students on way to tuition classes, at Malom near Manipur capital Imphal.

3) She has since become the face of the anti-Afspa movement in Manipur and elsewhere in the country, easily recognisable from her free-flowing curly hair and a feeding tube stuck to her nose.

4) Sharmila has been in the custody of Imphal’s Sajiwa Central Jail but spends her time in the city’s Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences. At least 40 persons, including five doctors, 12 nurses and three policewomen, ensure she gets her injections of nutrients through the nasal tube.

5) After her first arrest in 2000, Sharmila has been released and rearrested several times for attempt to commit suicide, which is still a crime. The Rajya Sabha on Monday passed a bill that decriminalises suicide bid. The bill will now go to the Lok Sabha.

6) Sharmila is an author and poet in her native Meiteilon language. Among her literary works is Fragrance of Peace – a collection of 12 poems of “passion, protest and hope” that she wrote before starting the marathon fast.

7) Sharmila took her protest to New Delhi in 2006 where she and other activists began fasting at Jantar Mantar. She was arrested but her hunger strike got international attention and members of the European parliament wrote to the Indian government seeking changes to Afspa.

8) Sharmila has received several prizes. They include the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights in 2007, a lifetime achievement award from the Asian Human Rights Commission and the Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize, both in 2010. Amnesty International declared her a Prisoner of Conscience in 2013.

9) The activist’s personal life began to affect her public life after Desmond Coutinho, a British citizen of Indian origin, met her in the hospital in March 2011. Sharmila and Coutinho, then 48, had been exchanging letters since 2009 and after their meeting, Sharmila said he loved her. This did not go down well with many in Manipur who believed Coutinho was planted by the government to wean Sharmila away from the anti-Afspa movement.

10) On July 26, Sharmila surprised her supporters by deciding to end her fast, join electoral politics and get married. She will be set free on Tuesday if she sticks to her decision.

Source: Hindustan Times, 9-08-2016

Welcome Criticism

MAULANA WAHIDUDDIN KHAN





Generally , no one likes to be criticised. Some people go to the extreme of abhorring any criticism. But that is an unhealthy response, for criticism and dissent are positive elements in the lives of individuals and for societies. Criticism is part of intellectual exchange.When you discuss an issue with someone without any reservation, what you have to say is likely to take the form of criticism. In any critical process, there are two people: one who criticises and one who is the object of criticism. The former may expound a divergent viewpoint in a frank and open manner, and this encourages the latter to discover a new aspect of the subject under discussion. So, criticism is good for both persons concerned.
Criticism is a process rather than an end. It entails discussion, which leads to intellectual development. Indeed, through the process of criticism, we embark on an intellectual journey trying to find answers to our questions. Criticism opens the closed doors of the mind, and enhances thinking capacity. As such, criticism is always good. Critical thinking is constructive thinking. Creative thinkers are always able to discover new things, but creative thinking cannot be developed without critical thinking.
Accept criticism with a tranquil mind and your will soon discover that your critic was an intellectual enabler. No one, except your critic, can decondition your mind. Everyone must, therefore, welcome the critic. There is a saying, `One who criticises you is better than one who praises you.'