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It took Haryana twenty long years to bring up the child sex ratio (in the age group of 0 to 6 years) to 900 as per the Civil Registration System, January 2016 though it still remains lower than the generally accepted national norm of 950 girls to 1000 boys. Nevertheless, it is a significant improvement from the 2011 Census, where the child sex ratio was 834 girls to 1000 boys, far worse than the national average.
At the same time in some parts of Haryana, there exists a growing population of young parents who are keen to keep their girls and educate them. Data from the civil registration system revealed that for the very first time 12 of the 21 districts in Haryana have reached the child sex ratio of 900 girls per 1,000 boys. The report was backed by Haryana health minister and senior BJP leader Anil Vij, who claimed that intensive inspection campaigns being run under the Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao programme was the reason for the improvement.
Haryana girls including Sakshi Malik, Geeta and Babita Phogat, and Deepa Malik winning laurels for the country in sports has been seen as foregrounding women empowerment and indirectly having an impact in terms of valuation of girl child. After the 2010 commonwealth games, Mahavir Singh Phogat, the father, claimed that more than 150 wrestling arenas for girls were built in the village.
But is sports a good enough reason to turn Haryana – notorious for female foeticide and honour killing into a state where a household without a girl child is eyed with suspicion?
Haryana is even today struggling towards creating a better atmosphere for women despite many laudable programmes launched by the State. The social challenge of preference for the male child remains deeply ingrained in the minds of the populace.
A 2014 G’nY survey of Village Miya Khandani, in Fatehbad, Haryana, published in the Vol 14, Issue 82, titled ‘Women in Panchayat’, revealed several downsides that women leaders face in Haryana, like not being able to organise any women group meetings because Haryana does not yet have any statutory provision mandating it. But that did not stop Sushma, sarpanch of Miya Khadani village in Fatehbad, from breaking social taboos while some village elders even today deride her for not covering her face whist conversing with senior men.
Sushma found herself cocooned in her veil as people spoke to her asking her to see this, read that or sign there. As a sarpanch, however, she felt the need to unveil herself when she found the veil debilitating in her interaction with government officials. It was then that she consulted her family and involved them in her decision.
Similarly, inspired by the film ‘Dangal’, the village Panchayat sarpanch of Charkhi Dadri in Kamod village of Haryana, installed his nameplate along with his daughters, in a first move ever (ToI, 20.1.2017). The villagers, both caught by surprise and delighted have emulated his example and installed new nameplates adorning their daughter’s names outside their homes. The cost is being borne by the village panchayat.
But, misuse of sex selection technology in the outskirts of the villages if not in the interiors and giving in to societal pressures of seeking out the sex of the child continues. Often, these sex determination tests are conducted by quacks adding to adverse consequences for women’s health.
The state health authorities in Haryana claimed to have registered over 380 FIRs under Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Test (PCPNDT) Act and Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act from April to December 2016.
The latest challenge before the Haryana Government officials is mushrooming of illegal ultrasound centres in Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, in areas adjoining Haryana. Last year alone, over 74 inter-state raids were conducted with 37 in Uttar Pradesh alone.
In an attempt to change perceptions at the grass root level, schemes like ‘Aapki Beti-Hamari Beti’ which ensures life insurance policy for girl children, ‘Beti Bachao Asha Protsahan’ and ‘Sukanya Samridhi Khata Yojana’ have been encouraging people to invest in their daughter’s education Haryana Government also set up a ‘Haryana Kanya Kosh’ where individuals and organizations can donate for the cause.
Though some villages in Haryana are still far behind in improving their child sex ratio and have an alarming surplus of boys and young men, yet attitudes and behaviour are changing. Haryana thus presents a mixed bag of hopes and despair for girls. On one hand there are sparks supporting and encouraging girls and on the other despite improvement in child sex ratios, the picture remains grim.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.
Globally, around 80% of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to the United Nations.
This can pose a significant environmental and health threat.
In the absence of cost-effective, sustainable, disruptive water management solutions, about 70% of sewage is discharged untreated into India’s water bodies.
A staggering 21% of diseases are caused by contaminated water in India, according to the World Bank, and one in five children die before their fifth birthday because of poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, according to Startup India.
As we confront these public health challenges emerging out of environmental concerns, expanding the scope of public health/environmental engineering science becomes pivotal.
For India to achieve its sustainable development goals of clean water and sanitation and to address the growing demands for water consumption and preservation of both surface water bodies and groundwater resources, it is essential to find and implement innovative ways of treating wastewater.
It is in this context why the specialised cadre of public health engineers, also known as sanitation engineers or environmental engineers, is best suited to provide the growing urban and rural water supply and to manage solid waste and wastewater.
Traditionally, engineering and public health have been understood as different fields.
Currently in India, civil engineering incorporates a course or two on environmental engineering for students to learn about wastewater management as a part of their pre-service and in-service training.
Most often, civil engineers do not have adequate skills to address public health problems. And public health professionals do not have adequate engineering skills.
India aims to supply 55 litres of water per person per day by 2024 under its Jal Jeevan Mission to install functional household tap connections.
The goal of reaching every rural household with functional tap water can be achieved in a sustainable and resilient manner only if the cadre of public health engineers is expanded and strengthened.
In India, public health engineering is executed by the Public Works Department or by health officials.
This differs from international trends. To manage a wastewater treatment plant in Europe, for example, a candidate must specialise in wastewater engineering.
Furthermore, public health engineering should be developed as an interdisciplinary field. Engineers can significantly contribute to public health in defining what is possible, identifying limitations, and shaping workable solutions with a problem-solving approach.
Similarly, public health professionals can contribute to engineering through well-researched understanding of health issues, measured risks and how course correction can be initiated.
Once both meet, a public health engineer can identify a health risk, work on developing concrete solutions such as new health and safety practices or specialised equipment, in order to correct the safety concern..
There is no doubt that the majority of diseases are water-related, transmitted through consumption of contaminated water, vectors breeding in stagnated water, or lack of adequate quantity of good quality water for proper personal hygiene.
Diseases cannot be contained unless we provide good quality and adequate quantity of water. Most of the world’s diseases can be prevented by considering this.
Training our young minds towards creating sustainable water management systems would be the first step.
Currently, institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) are considering initiating public health engineering as a separate discipline.
To leverage this opportunity even further, India needs to scale up in the same direction.