Bunker Roy: Learning from a barefoot movement

Hindi Sub Titles

Modi magic that makes Gujarat tick

The recently concluded fifth Vibrant Gujarat Global Investment Summit, the man, described as a "visionary" has roped in investments worth Rs 21 lakh crore, from 7,936 MoUs inked across diverse sectors in the two days. Dedicating the summit to the youth and women, he promised to create over 52 lakh livelihoods and job opportunities with the money. Behind his hardcore Hindutva image is a businessman with hardselling abilities.
India Inc leaders can't stop praising the man for his efforts to make Gujarat a civic and industrial example to follow.
"Gujarat is shining like a lamp of gold and the credit goes to the visionary, effective and passionate leadership provided by Narendra Modi. We have a leader here with vision and determination to translate this vision into reality," Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said.
Tata Group chief Ratan Tata said: "The leadership of Narendra Modi has proved that Gujarat is not only seeing industrial growth but is also witnessing rural development."
Anil Ambani exhorted other states to take a cue from Modi for development. "Gujarat is a role model for other states to learn from ... Narendra bhai has single handedly transformed the state into a power state," he said. Gujarat today is the power capital and power hub of the country and stands out in a sharp contrast to other states in the country, Ambani added.
Several others who have set up shop in recent times in the state vouch for the "corruption-free" and speedy processes. Little wonder, since Mr Modi believes in "minimum government and maximum governance."
Modi’s Gujarat – The dream destination
Comment: Gujarat is a Citizen Safe destination- free of corruption the state is taking gaint strides in all round progress- piped cooking gas to all rural homes and 24 hour electricity to all homes- extraordinary statistics.

ECHS Division of IESM: Call for Volunteers

The ECHS cell of the IESM was created a few months ago, to permit the IESM help Veterans in their dealings with Polyclinics, Hospitals etc. We had hoped to create a chain parallel to the organisational structure of the ECHS ,so that we could interact with all levels of the ECHS hierarchy. There are 297 polyclinics and 13 Regional Centres across the Country;and many more will be coming up in the future. Despite numerous requests we have only a handful of volunteers at Regional and Polyclinic level. These volunteers are also restricted to Veterans from metropolises and that too mostly officers. The most affected group of Veterans ie those in rural areas and amongst PBORs continues to be unrepresented.

May I please request rural based ESM to volunteer their services to the ECHS cell of IESM. All you need is an Internet connection, some time and a desire to be of some help to yourself and brother Veterans. Every village should have an Internet connection even if it is shared. If the volunteer Veteran does not know how to handle a computer maybe his grand son will help out. A cyber cafe based computer will do quite well.

All the help we have been able to provide so far is restricted to officers who have interacted with us - NOT one JCO, NCO or OR except a Delhi based Sgt who is net savvy. Even amongst officers the knowledge of rules governing the ECHS is inadequate- resulting in much heartburn when a crisis situation occurs. In a nut shell and briefly the following knowledge base should help.

In routine cases.
Report to reception at your parent Polyclinic with the ECHS smart card and treatment book- move to the concerned Dr-and proceed to draw medicines as prescribed- or take a referral form for the empanelled hospital-proceed after referral to the empanelled hospital-visit consultant-and follow treatment.

At Empanelled hospital.
Follow treatment as advised. Empanelled Hospitals CANNOT provide Out Patient Treatment .They will either send you back to the Polyclinic for carrying out the tests and further OPD treatment or ADMIT you. If admitted they will follow through with tests and treatment as required. DO NOT MAKE ANY PAYMENT TO EMPANELLED HOSPITALS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.PAYMENT IF MADE WILL NOT BE REFUNDED. When taking a referral from the polyclinic ask the Dr concerned at the polyclinic to refer you for (A) Consultation (B) Required Tests (C) Admission. IF YOU GO FOR ONLY CONSULTATION THEN YOU WILL MAKE NUMEROUS TRIPS BETWEEN POLYCLINIC AND EMPANELLED HOSP.

IN EMERGENCY.

Report to nearest empanelled hosp.

Tell hosp you are an ECHS patient- Get an emergency cert from the empanelled hosp.

INFORM IESM REGIONAL LIAISON CENTRE REP OR IESM POLYCLINIC LIAISON CENTRE REP ON PHONE OR EMAIL.

Get treated after admission.

At the earliest opportunity inform the Polyclinic handling the empanelled hosp and give copy of Emergency certificate that you have obtained from the Hosp.

The Polyclinic will give you an Emergency referral which the empanelled hosp will use for its claims. As per rules the empanelled hosp is required to do the running around. They seldom do. DO NOT MAKE ANY PAYMENT TO THE EMPANELLED HOSP. YOU WILL NOT GET A REFUND.

In an emergency if you are forced to go to a non empanelled hosp-Go-get admitted-get an emergency cert from the hosp-inform nearest polyclinic.

INFORM IESM RLC OR PLC REP-obtain Emergency Information Report from the nearest polyclinic-clear hosp bills yourself -take original hosp bills,investigation reports,bill summary, discharge summary and emergency cert from the non empanelled hosp and submit claim for reimbursement to your parent polyclinic who will process your claim-send it to SEMO-Sta HQ-Regional Centre/ Area HQ - Command HQ or whatever level is authorised depending upon amount to be reimbursed.

YOU WILL BE REIMBURSED ONLY ECHS RATES WHICH ARE MUCH LOWER THAN THE RATES THE NON EMPANELLED HOSP WILL CHARGE YOU.

Some cases handled by the IESM to date will help illustrate the system.

One.An Admirals reimbursement had not been paid for over two years despite everything being in order. Cleared after IESM intervention.

Two. A Pune based empanelled hospital forced a lady to clear hospital bills on the demise of her husband stating that ECHS took too long to clear their bills. They refused to release the body. The rates charged were commercial and NOT ECHS rates. The lady who was already handling a bereavement cleared the bills. The hosp claimed the amount from ECHS-got echs rates and repaid the lady ECHS rates. The Hosp was cheating on numerous counts. IESM is pursuing the case with Central Org ECHS and disciplinary action is being taken against the Hosp.

A veteran from Dubai who is an ECHS member wanted to get a Total Knee Replacement done from a non empanelled Hosp in Ahmedabad. He approached us at the IESM. We obtained special permission for him to go to the non empanelled hospital pay the Hospital rates and claim ECHS rates. The Veteran was willing to foot the difference. He has undergone the surgery and is still recuperating in the Ahmedabad hospital. Our RLC and PLC reps handled the Regional Centre at Pune and Polyclinic at Ahmadabad; whilst we at the ECHS Divisional level obtained the special sanction from MD ECHS.
There are a few other cases too but these are all offr level cases. We have not been able to reach out to our Veterans in remote areas. Our reach is also restd to Delhi/ NCR/ Chandigarh/ Pune/ Mumbai/ Chennai etc. Himachal, Uttranchal, UP, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal NE States do not have any representation. WE NEED REPS AT EVERY POLYCLINIC IN THE COUNTRY. Those responding to this appeal kindly get in touch with the IESM ECHS Cell at http://www.iesm.org/

Brig Sateesh Kuthiala (Retd)

RTI convention- Lucknow

Dear All,
A Right to Information and National Rural Employment Guarantee National Convention being held as per detail below.
Suggest IESM members who are living in Lucknow or near by and interested in RTI may like to attend. I Am attending.
The details are given in invite circulated by organisers is reproduced at the end.
PLEASE GIVE IT WIDE CIRCULATION AMONG IESM MEMBERS.
Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd)
Social & RTI Activist
06 Sept 2009

Right to Information and National Rural Employment Guarantee
National Convention
9-10 September, 2009
Lucknow
Please come n join hands in lucknow to strengthen these two acts at National Convention on Right to Information and National Rural Employment Guarantee on Sept 9-10, 2009 in Lucknow, uttar pradesh RTI and NREGA had generated tremendous hope among the people of this country. Some things have definitely changed for the better. But by and large people feel dissatisfied with the implementation of these two Acts. The initial enthusiasm is now giving room to some disillusionment. People are worried whether the spirit of these two Acts will meet the same fate and so many other wonderful laws and schemes in this country.
To address these apprehensions and issues National Alliance of People’s Movements and National Campaign for People’s Right to Information is organizing a two day convention in the Uttar Pradesh’s sate capital to take stock of the present status of implementation of these two Acts as well as to discuss ways of making intervention so that the common man may benefit from them more than they are presently able to. NAPM, NCPRI in association with other social activists & Social groups is organizing a two day all India convention cum workshop on RIGHT TO INFORMATION & NREGA on 09-10 September 2009 at Gandhi Bhawan opposite Residency, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
About 300 delegates from various states of INDIA are participating in the convention.Many of them have already given their consent via email or telephone. All the delegates participating in the convention have active & effective representative presence in the social arena including RTI & NREGA at international/ national/ state or district level and are persons of prominence in their respective areas of social services. Their presence and view-sharing on various aspects of RTI & NREGA, the acknowledgement of the problems which effective implementation of RTI & NREGA are facing, strategies to establish common man's right with respect to RTI & NREGA & probable solutions of the problems in effective implementation of these two acts etc. at the convention shall stir the things and for sure this is going to make this convention an event of national importance, impact of which shall go a long way off to strengthen RTI & NREGA act's effective implementation to help the real INDIA that lives in our villages.
Scheduled: September 9-10, 2009,
Place: Lucknow
Venue: Gandhi Bhawan, Near Residency
Participants: Aruna Roy, well known exponent of RTI, Sandeep Dixit -
Member of Parliament from Delhi, Dr. Sandeep Pandey- Magsaysay awardee

MPs versus Poverty in India

The Salary, Allowances and Pension of members of parliament
Monthly Salary: Rs 16,000
Expense for Constitution per month: Rs 10,000
Office Expenditure: Rs 14,000
Travelling Expense per month: Rs 48,000 (Rs 8 per Km)
Daily DA TA during Parliament: Rs 1000 per day
Free 1 class AC train fare unlimited All India
Business Class flights 40 trips with wife and PA
Rent Free hostel at Delhi
Free electricity 50,000 units
Local Free upto 1,70,000 telephone calls
Total cost per year:Rs 33,00,000
Total cost for 534 MPs for a five year term: 10,00,00,00,000 nearly 1000 crore Approx Rupees Rs 10 billion which is almost $2,00,000000 ($ 200 million)
AMENITIES FOR MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
The Salary, Allowances and Pension of members of parliament act, 1954
The ridiculous salary for elected representatives in India

Poverty in India
Poverty in India is reducing but it is still a major issue. Rural Indians depend on unpredictable agriculture incomes, while urban Indians rely on jobs that are, at best, scarce.

Since its independence, the issue of poverty within India has remained a prevalent concern. According to the common definition of poverty, when a person finds it difficult to meet the minimum requirement of acceptable living standards, he or she is considered poor.

Millions of people in India are unable to meet these basic standards, and according to government estimates, in 2007 there were nearly 220.1 million people living below the poverty line.

Nearly 21.1% of the entire rural population and 15% of the urban population of India exists in this difficult physical and financial predicament. The following chart presents the poverty situation:

Since 1970, the Indian government has implemented a number of programs designed to eradicate poverty, and has had some success with these programs. The government has sought to increase the GDP through different processes, including changes in industrial policies. There is also a Public Distribution System, which has been somewhat effective so far. Other programs include the Integrated Rural Development Programme, Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, the Training Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM) and to the credit of the government, other on-going initiatives.
Poverty in India
Poverty in India: Economy watch

The March of Rural India, NCC Camp Grooms Officers

The Director General NCC, Lt Gen Prakash S Chaudhary alongwith other officers, psychologist and the NCC cadets at the special camp on personality development and intervention programme, in New Delhi on June 12, 2008.

Ever wondered how a young lad, all of 21, from a remote village in the far-flung northeast stormed his way into the front pages having bagged the coveted best cadet’s trophy at the premier National Defence Academy (NDA) passing out parade held at Khadakwasla recently. Yes, Romen Yumnam hails from a quaint little village, Lanmeidong, on the Myanmar border yet the proud peasant’s son walked away with the President’s Gold Medal for merit in academics and sports. Yumnam is not alone; six other cadets from the insurgency-hit state gave company to the champion boxer as another 280 marched through the portals of the NDA on May 31 for the last time.

The March of Rural India– NCC Camp Grooms Officers