Rs. 32 a day enough to cross poverty line : Planning Commission

Source of news : Times of India.com

The Planning Commission told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that anyone spending more than Rs 965 per month in urban India and Rs 781 in rural India will be deemed not to be poor. Updating the poverty line cut-off figures, the commission said those spending in excess of Rs 32 a day in urban areas or Rs 26 a day in villages will no longer be eligible to draw benefits of central and state government welfare schemes meant for those living below the poverty line.

According to the new criterion suggested by the planners, if a family of four in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore or Chennai is spending anything more than Rs 3,860 per month on its members, it would not be considered poor. It's a definition that many would find ridiculously unrealistic. Not surprisingly, the new above the poverty line definition has already created outrage among activists, who feel it is just a ploy to artificially depress the number of poor in India. The plan panel said these were provisional figures based on the Tendulkar committee report updated for current prices by taking account of the Consumer Price Index for industrial and agricultural workers.

TOI broke down the overall monthly figure for urban areas and used the CPI for industrial workers along with the Tendulkar report figures to see what these numbers translate into and how much the Planning Commission believes is enough to spend on essential items so as not to be deemed poor.

The Planning Commission suggests that spending Rs 5.5 on cereals per day is good enough to keep people healthy. Similarly, a daily spend of Rs 1.02 on pulses, Rs 2.33 on milk and Rs 1.55 on edible oil should be enough to provide adequate nutrition and keep people above the poverty line without the need of subsidized rations from the government. It further suggests that just Rs 1.95 on vegetables a day would be adequate. A bit more, and one might end up outside the social security net.

People should be spending less than 44 paise on fruits, 70 paise on sugar, 78 paise on salt and spices and another Rs 1.51 on other foods per day to qualify for the BPL list and for subsidy under various government schemes. A person using more than Rs 3.75 per day on fuel to run the kitchen is doing well as per these figures. Forget about the fuel price hike and sky-rocketing rents, if anyone living in the city is spending over Rs 49.10 a month on rent and conveyance, he or she could miss out on the BPL tag.

As for healthcare, according to the Planning Commission, Rs 39.70 per month is sufficient to stay healthy. On education, the plan panel feels those spending 99 paise a day or Rs 29.60 a month in cities are doing well enough not to need any help. Similarly, one could be considered not poor if he or she spends more than Rs 61.30 a month on clothing, Rs 9.6 on footwear and another Rs 28.80 on other personal items.

The monthly cut-off given by the Planning Commission before the apex court was broken down using the Consumer Price Index of Industrial Workers for 2010-11 and the breakdown given in Annexure E of the Tendulkar report of expenditure calculated at 2004-05 prices.

The new tentative BPL criteria was worked out by the Planning Commission and approved by the Prime Minister's office before the government's affidavit was submitted before the Supreme Court. The plan panel said the final poverty line criteria would be available after the completion of the NSSO survey of 2011-12.

The Montek Singh Ahluwalia-headed Planning Commission had drawn flak from the apex court which, on May 14, took exception to the poverty line definition which initially said anyone spending more than Rs 20 in urban areas and Rs 15 in rural areas should not be considered poor. "The Planning Commission may revise the norms of per capita amount looking to the price index of May 2011 or any other subsequent dates," the court had said. So, the planners have now given a revised figure of Rs 32 for urban areas and Rs 26 for poor areas.

In their affidavit, the planners have defended their definition of the poverty line and not revised the norms, but merely updated them with the CPI for the current year. The affidavit says, "The recommended poverty lines ensure the adequacy of actual private expenditure per capita near the poverty lines on food, education and health and the actual calories consumed are close to the revised calorie intake norm for urban areas and higher than the norm in rural areas."

Source of News node : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Spend-Rs-32-a-day-Govt-says-you-cant-be-poor/articleshow/10058373.cms

Also read more at NDTV node : http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/not-poor-if-you-earn-rs-32-a-day-planning-commission-135118&cp

Borli Panchatan Village, Raigad

Borli Panchatan is a village in Shrivardhan Talukha, Raigad District. Borli Panchatan is 13.9 km Shrivardhan.

Nearby villages are Diveagar (1.3 km), Vadavali (3 km), Gondghar (33 km), Mendadi (5.2 km), Waral (6.2 km). Nearby towns are Mhasala (11.7 km), Shrivardhan (13.9 km), Murud (16.9 km) and Tala(19.9 km).

The below pictures of Borli Panchatan are shared by Brother Aslam Siddiqui.

Indian scam money and Putting scam money to good use

Source : yahoo news

As India immerses itself into removing corruption, it's important to understand what the past scams cost us. But talking in mere amounts isn't fruitful. After all, does 55,000 crore rupees sound bad? How much worse is it than a mere 50,000 crores? (Answer: 1,000 kilometers of highway worse, or the stretch from Bangalore to Mumbai).

The biggest scam that unfortunately doesn't get classified as one is that food enough to feed 100 million people rots in government warehouses.  For the rest, we have for you an infographic that puts the amounts in context, how much we could have done. For past scams we have adjusted the amount for inflation to reflect an equivalent in 2011 — the Rs. 5,000 crore Harshad Mehta Scam for instance is worth Rs. 15,000 cr. today.

Here's all that we could have done with the money lost to some of the biggest scams in India.

Ref : http://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/Putting-scam-money-good-use-yahoofinancein-3927131216.html

Bhivpuri Road Water fall, Karjat

Bhivpuri Road is a station on the Mumbai Suburban Railway. It is on the Karjat route. When travelling from Mumbai, Neral is the first stop and Karjat is the next stop. Bhivpuri is in Karjat Taluka near Mumbai and is scenic place on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Tata Power Company has hydro-elecricity generator plant here situated near Bhivpuri Dam. Yadavrao Tasgaonkar Group of Educational Institutes is situated on the Bhivpuri road. Information.

Pictures are contributed by Brother Aslam Siddqui.

Landslide hits KR Train Services again

Source of News : Times of India

A landslide at Pomendi cutting near Ratnagiri on account of incessant rains in the Konkan region disrupted movement of trains along the Konkan Railway route on Tuesday. A late evening press release issued by Konkan Railway said the affected route was cleared by 7pm on Tuesday and passengers have been requested to contact emergency number 10722 for updates.

While Mumbai bound 0111 Konkan Kanya express was cancelled, 12052 Janashatabdi express that was scheduled to depart at 12.10pm on Tuesday was rescheduled to depart at 8pm. The 12449 Goa Sampark Kranti express and Veerawal-Trivandrum express were likely to be diverted along the south western railway route via Londha, sources said.

The Pomendi area has turned into a problem zone for Konkan railway, owing to its vulnerability to landslides during heavy rains. Last month, train services along this route were disrupted following a landslide at Pomendi cutting on July 17, resulting in water logging of the tracks. Though restoration work was undertaken immediately, the exercise was hampered after a 50m portion of the retaining wall gave way the next day, resulting in the breakdown of train services for several days

Reference node : http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-31/goa/29949159_1_train-services-konkan-railway-pomendi

Eid Celebration : Kokani Traditional Dishes

These are Kokani traditional dishes prepared for Eid celebration.

Sandan

Utensils use to prepare Sandan

Shirkurma

Ramazan Eid Mubarak

Wishing all Kokanis around a globe in advance Ramazan Eid Mubarak. Inshallah all our good deeds and prayers we perform during Ramazan are acceptable to Allah (swt).

Konkan Committee Eastern Province (Dammam-AlKhobar), Roze Iftaar Party - Report

Report shared by Brother Abid Khawar, 19^th August, 2011

Successful Iftaar cum dinner party was organized by Kokan Committee Eastern Province (Dammam-Alkhobar Branch) on Friday 19 August 2011. More than 300 kokaniz attended the party.

Kokan Committee Eastern Province is thankful to all those who contributed monetarily and physically to make this event successful.

We are also thankful to our Kokni brothers, who graced the occasion by attending in large numbers and created harmony and brotherhood amongst over selves (Kokan Committee Eastern Province-Dammam Alkhobar Branch).

Kokan Committee Riyadh, Roze Ki Iftari - Report

Thanks to Brother Abid Imam Khawar for sharing the Kokan Committee Riyadh, Roze Ki Iftari event report held on Friday 12^th August, 2011. Check the event pictures below after report.

Kokan Committee Riyadh (KCR) arranged a grand Roze Ki Iftari function on Friday 12^th August, 2011 in an Isterah near Exit 18 at outskirt of Riyadh.

The function was grand success where more than 850 kokni brothers gathered. Besides Riyadh many people came all the way from far away like Buraidha, Qasim and Al Kharj. Everyone was looking happy and expressing their happiness toward KCR, its Executive Committee members and coordinators for making such wonderful arrangement of bringing large number of Kokni brothers together. Kokani dishes were served for iftari and dinner. Many kokni brothers themselves came forward and contributed for this function without announcing their names. Even many families came forward and took responsibility of making Kokni dishes to serve for Iftari. The team of Brother Munawwar Pathan Chief Coordinator and many individuals took maximum initiatives and extended their whole hearted support in making perfect arrangement of this function.

The function commenced with Tilawate Quran by Moulana Zainul Abideen Nakhwa followed by Naat presentation by Moulana Arshad Deshmukh. When President Rafiq Rahiman Dalwai stood for giving his felicitation speech all Kokni brothers gave him big round of applause. In the beginning of his presidential speech he respectfully remembered those Kokani brothers who were with us previous year and passed away during this year. He along with all prayed for their maghferah. He continued his speech by emphasizing on importance of education and explained the aim of KCR to extend maximum financial support to needy Kokni students who wish to pursue their education. He further explained about the Educational Adoption Scheme (EASE) under which KCR adopted 158 Kokni students last year by paying their entire academic year fee against which the amount received under this scheme from Kokni brothers was for 68 students. This year the adoption of students by Kokni brothers reached to nearly 100. As more and more brothers are joining KCR and showing notable enthusiasm by adopting students. President said if same trend continues and if Allah Wishes then we will have no hesitation in adopting double number of students this year. On this every attendee clapped their hands in support. Brother Rafiq Dalwai gave credit of KCR success to his deputy Vice President Brother Tajammul Pangarkar, three executive members and number of Coordinators who are working untiring for this noble cause. Also he underlined that the financial support of members and otherKkokni brothers is most important factor for this achievement.

Before Iftari, Moulana Wajihuddin Parkar gave speech on the importance of Zakat, Fitra and support to needy. He spoke very elaborately in light of Quran and Hadees that was very informative and appreciated by everybody.

Chief Coordinator of KCR brother Munawar Pathan and his team of coordinators and other volunteers made perfect arrangement of Iftari where 850 guests sitting shoulder to shoulder and making iftari was a real village function scene.

After Iftari and Namaze Maghreeb a beautiful video clip presentation was shown to audience to explain the activities of KCR. This presentation was graphic designed by Brother Muzaffar Alsurkar, assisted by Abdullah Hunerkar and compiled by brother Tanveer Karbelkar. The vocal sound was provided by Brother Mushtaq Yusuf Dalvi. The presentation was such a wonderful that was displaying Kokan and its rich culture with full of greenery, hills, seashores, fruits, vegetables, animals and birds. On seeing many villages in this video clip audience was enthralled and openly admitted that KCR has given us real flavor of kokan today. Even many brothers came forward and requested CD of this presentation.

Check the video of Kokan and its beauty at http://konkantribune.blogspot.com/2011/08/konkan-kokan-and-its-beauty.html

There was question answer session hence many brothers came forward and asked their questions. Also many gave valuable suggestions. President Rafiq Dalwai and Vice President Tajammul Pangarkar answered all the question asked by members in very effective and convincing manner those were valued by all.

The Biryani was served for dinner. After dinner most of the crowd disbursed. Taraweeh arrangement was made at the venue for those who remained behind.

The comparing of entire function was done by brother Mushtaq Yusuf Dalvi. His professional style of presentation with inclusion of Sher-o-shayeri was flawless and hence was applauded by all.

President Rafiq Dalwai and Vice President Tajammul Pangarkar thanked all the Executives, Coordinators and individuals who extended their whole hearted support in making this function a grand success. They further said if we start taking name of those who extended their support the list will never end. Vice President categorically said the association of such helpful people can only make KCR proud. With this word of thanks the function reached to its end.