CHHATTISGARH: Off track

Misery compounded

For long the victims of poverty, hunger and institutional neglect, the dwindling tribe of Pahari Korbas now has another menace to contend with -- cholera. A severe outbreak of the disease is threatening their populations inhabiting the villages of Chhattisgarh's Jaspur district. Even as the disease continues to claim lives -- some estimates put the number of dead at over 30 -- the administrative set-up has shown no urgency in dealing with the crisis.

Miseducation in Bastar

It was August 15, 2001, Independence Day, in an adivasi village of Bastar in Chhattisgarh. Two primary school teachers had invited me, the only adult literate in the village, to unfurl the national flag. I had arrived, but one of the teachers was absent, owing to a week-long drinking spree. Mahua! That destroyer of many a Bastar official.

INDIA

• India's DNA scientists have initiated a project to clone the Indian cheetah by using the genes of its Iranian cousin. Scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad will assist these DNA scientists to complete the project within five years. • Twelve persons were taken into police custody on charges of illegal hunting of tiger and leopard in the forest area near Kanha National Park in Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh.

Out of focus

The biggest hurdle in providing the much-needed drought relief is corruption in the government machinery. Rajasthan has spent almost Rs 6,500 crore on drought relief works like employment generation, fodder distribution and drinking water facilities in the past 45 years. Another Rs 628 crore has been spent in the last 27 years to stop the spread of the Thar desert. But there is no impact.

Made to fail

The Employment Guarantee Scheme ( egs ) of Maharashtra is said to be the only one in the world that guarantees employment on demand. This was for the first time an employment generation programme was conceived to create productive works at the village level.

Testing time

During the 1999-2000 drought, Down To Earth ( dte ) reported that five villages in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh had enough water during the drought because of the water conservation activities they had undertaken. dte revisited these villages, reeling under the second successive drought.

Think institution

An analysis of the government's failure at drought relief shows some clear loopholes that are not very difficult to plug for a government that is worried about its political future. The most important thing is to plan decentralised, village-level institutions to both manage drought relief and come up with strategic initiatives to provide security against drought. All government schemes have been plagued by the more-structures-no-institutions approach.

Taking the lead

Situated in the heart of the once proud and prosperous Malwa Plateau, the rapidly growing city of Indore, buffetted by the waters of the Narmada, is today facing an acute water crisis. The municipality cannot supply enough water and the groundwater table is falling, and whatever there is of groundwater is getting polluted. Nothing unusual in this scenario. Every Indian city is facing it. But Indore has one big difference.