NEWS Bulletin from Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture And Rural Development
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1. Back to the roots - It's time to junk fast food and be a part of the Slow Food Movement
2. Credit must reach all SMEs for inclusivity - Small units in the unorganised sector have braved the situation to compete with big units
3. Tamil Nadu makes its way to top 5 states in HDI
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Back to the roots
It's time to junk fast food and be a part of the Slow Food Movement
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Tuesday , March 25, 2008 at 0115 hrs IST
Posted online: Tuesday , March 25, 2008 at 0115 hrs IST
The charm of the burgers and pizzas persist. The health advisories also persist in telling you how bad fast food is for your well-being. But somewhere amidst the cacophony people are realising the worth of that age-old saying — that 'slow and steady wins the race'. And followers of this mantra are turning to the food that is slow too. So the 'back to the roots' movement, christened better as the Slow Food Movement, is making its presence felt amidst the spiralling market for fast foods.
Carlo Petrini, the founder of the movement, is of the opinion that the concept of sustainable and healthy lifestyle is under threat from multinationals who are invading our culture with fast foo. But despite the onslaught, people are gradually opting for healthier eating options over empty calories.
"It is time the movement took a global form," feels Petrini, who is busy organising people who vouch for their traditional cuisine.
Founded in 1986 in Italy, the Slow Food Movement gained the status of an international association within a short span of three years. It now boasts of 86,000 active members with offices in Germany, Switzerland, the US, France, Japan, and Britain. In fact, Terra Madre, the world meeting of food communities held every two years was born out of the Slow Food Movement. The third such meeting will take place later this October. 16,000 food communities from five continents, over 5,000 farmers, breeders, fishermen and artisan food producers, 1,000 chefs, restaurateurs and domestic cooks will descend in Turin, Italy, to showcase and defend ethnic cuisines from different countries. It will also be marked by the presence of 500 educationists and nearly 1,000 youth from the Youth Food Movement.
"Traditional food not only reflects the culture of the place but is also in tandem with the natural environment. Therefore, its health and eco-gastronomic quotient is high," says Petrini. Take India for instance. Chef Manjit Gill of ITC Maurya Sheraton, Delhi, explains: "Our ancient Ayurvedic texts prescribe eco-gastronomy. The universe is made up of five elements — aakash, vayu, agni, jal and prithivi. These five elements manifest three doshas in our body called vat, pitt and kaph. Imbalance in the three doshas leads to diseases."
Explaining the association of taste with traditional food, he says that rasa (taste) is the essence of Indian eco-gastronomy. Traditional food appeals to the rasa and also to the need of the body to adjust according to the three doshas.
"The taste directly affects our nervous system through — prana — the life force in the mouth, which is connected to the life force in the brain. Taste stimulates the nerves, awakens the mind and senses. It is the good taste that awakens the agni in our body for proper digestion," he says, further adding that Indian traditional food is based on five elements, three strands, five senses, three humours, six savours and nine feelings.
Traditional food like idli, dosa, parantha and chhole bhature appeal to distinct tastes and eco-gastronomic conditions of the people in different geo-climatic regions of the country, asserts Gill.
The Slow Food Movement regards the participation of chefs necessary in popularising the concept among elites through 5-star hotels. It also emphasises on the need for taste education as part of the curriculum and supports sustainable and organic farming.
Petrini believes food science has developed along with civilisations in various parts of the world. Local food has its own unique taste. The invasion of fast food chains at the behest of multinationals like McDonalds seeks to replace this cultural diversity in food by a mono-food culture across the world. He says "an organised resistance to such invasion is imperative. People are now taking pride in their heritage, he says.
In India several NGOs are promoting the concept of slow food. Vandana Shiva-led Navdanya has organic farms in Dehradun and retail outlets and food cafes for selling the organic produce and traditional gastronomic fare in differenet parts of the country. "Obesity, diabetis, blood pressure, heart disseases and other functional disorders are common among the urban elites. There is, therefore, a growing awareness for having healthy traditional food. We in Navdanya are promoting this cause through our food outlets and organic food melas," says Shiva.
Petrini visited Navdanya farms and cafes on his recent visit to India. "The demand for organic food and traditional preparations is growing among elites in cities. And, a majority of the people residing in rural and semi-rural areas are continuing with their traditional lifestyles and food habits," he feels.
Krishan Bir Chaudhary, president of Bharatiya Krishak Samaj and also a participant at the Terra Madre-2006 cannot agree more. "Nearly 60% of the cultivated area in India, even without irrigation facilities, is organic by default. It is time to focus on marketing our organic produce in the world market at premium prices. The demand for traditional Indian cuisine is also growing in foreign countries, not only among overseas Indians, but also among the local population."
Down south, The Deccan Development Society has organised farmers, particularly women farmers to cultivate millets and other local food crops on wastelands. It has also opened food outlets for traditional food preparations.
"We have motivated women farmers to grow millets organically on wastelands in the drylands of Zaheerabad. Their produce is bought at agreed prices and stored in grain banks managed by the local communities. We also procure grains from farmers for food outlets we have set up in the nearby township where local cuisine is served in the traditional style" says PV Satheesh of the Deccan Development Society. The Slow Food Movement does seem to have struck deep roots.
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Credit must reach all SMEs for inclusivity
Small units in the unorganised sector have braved the situation to compete with big units
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Thursday , March 20, 2008 at 2214 hrs IST
Posted online: Thursday , March 20, 2008 at 2214 hrs IST
For the village and micro industries, mostly in the unorganised sector, the government schemes do not mean a thing to them. That's because those reaping the benefits of these schemes are just a minuscule part of a huge base of such enterprises.
Additional secretary and development commissioner in the Union ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), Jawahar Sircar, explains: "There are about 12.9 million SMEs, of which only 2.6 million are registered. There are also a large number of artisans, particularly in the semi-urban and rural areas, and if their numbers are to be taken into consideration, the total number of MSMEs would swell up to at least 61 million."
According to a document prepared by Confederation of Indian Industries, SMEs account for nearly 40% of the country's GDP and around 35% of the total exports. Not just this, SMEs provide employment to more than 31.252 million people.
But the contribution of SMEs should not be considered in isolation. It is the entire chain of activity that is responsible for the achievement. According to Sircar, it is a six-tier chain in India, beginning with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) at the top. Then there are vendors, sub-vendors, assemblers, sub-suppliers, micro-entrepreneurs and artisans. He says that sub-vendors, assemblers and sub-suppliers are those SMEs that are able to reap the benefits of government schemes. The micro-entrepreneurs and artisans who are at a rank below are out of the reach of any substantial benefits doled out by the government.
"If our concept of inclusive growth is to be a reality and if we are to sustain an 8%-plus growth of the Economy, it is necessary that we reach out the benefits to the micro-entrepreneurs and artisans, Sircar had said at the India Global Summit on MSMEs recently in Delhi.
In the present liberalised Economy, MSMEs are open to competition and today, only 35 items have been reserved for exclusive manufacture by MSMEs. But MSMEs have braved the situation and have been able to compete in unreserved items with the big units.
The government had announced a package for promotion of MSMEs in February 2007 as part of the implementation of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006. This includes measures like addressing concerns of credit, fiscal support, cluster-based development, infrastructure, technology and marketing. Capacity-building of MSME associations and support to women entrepreneurs are the other important features of the package. To make the credit guarantee scheme more attractive, the eligible loan limit has been enhanced from Rs 2.5 million to Rs 5 million.
The guarantee cover for micro, small and medium enterprises owned and operated by women, and all such enterprises in the Northeast, has been raised from 75% to 80% for loans up to Rs 5 lakh. Exclusively for the Northeast, the one-time guarantee fee has been reduced from 1.5% to 0.75% for all loans.
Surinder Kapur, chairman, manufacturing innovation mission in the CII is, however, of the view that that if MSMEs are to survive in the era of liberalisation and globalisation, they have to be innovative. And Sircar says the government is trying to help the MSMEs in this regard through the programmes of capacity-building.
Financial constraints also act as a barrier towards innovations for MSMEs, particularly the micro enterprises. Just a few micro enterprises can access credit.
In this connection, Kapur says there are instances where big firms that depend upon supplies from SMEs have tried to help them to upgrade and become innovative. He says Crompton Greaves Ltd, one of the 30 largest firms manufacturing a range of equipment driven by electric motors, has had for many years a sophisticated programme of supply-chain upgrade based on the global best practices. Crompton Greaves suppliers are classified into four groups, namely those whose deliveries are checked at the company, self-certified vendors who take the responsibility for their own quality auditing before delivery, zero-defect suppliers who achieve consistent defect-free output and total-quality suppliers who complement their activities with wide-ranging improvement programmes. The company's supplier development programme is designed to assist its suppliers to move through these stages.
Perhaps the most successful story of clustering in India is the garment sector. The garment cluster in Tirupur portrays some of the best practices through clustering. The cluster has over 2,000 garment exporters that are supported by thousands of value chain players like subcontractors, dying units and knitting units.
A study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers on possible ICT intervention in the clusters, has highlighted some of the best practices of collaborative order fulfillment present in the clusters. The garment cluster has developed amazing agility and response to reducing order fulfillment lead times through sharing capacity and orders.
The closer relationships between different value chain entities have made the cluster stronger than the sum of individual entities. Auto component SMEs are the fastest growing in this category of industries—these units are key contributors to the total production of auto components and also have a significant share in the exports of the industry.
As part of a highly fragmented industry, these Companies mostly are part of the unorganised sector. They operate in a tier framework and most of the Companies in the SME segment are in tier-II or below. Few of the suppliers to OEMs are medium scale enterprises. The Indian success in the automobile industry has been due to the natural clustering approach of the suppliers and SMEs, along with adoption of innovation.
Recently, the National Board for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (NBMS&ME) at its fourth meeting presided over by the minister, Mahabir Prasad deliberated on the issue on entrepreneurship development. Prasad informed the Board members that the government has set up three national level entrepreneurship development institutes (EDIs).
Besides, the ministry has also been implementing an important scheme, namely Scheme for Assistance for Strengthening of Training Infrastructure and new Entrepreneurship Development Institutes. Under this scheme a maximum of Rs one crore assistance is given to new Entrepreneurship Development Institutes as also to existing institutes. Expressing satisfaction that the General Budget 2008-09 has made a provision of Rs 2,000 crore Risk Capital Fund for Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), the minister said that some more proposals would be taken up during the Budget discussions.
Some of the members raised the issue of extending collateral free loans of up to Rs 5,00,000 to the MSME sector (both manufacturing and services enterprises) to which the minister said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had already issued a circular on September 21, 2007 to all scheduled commercial banks that they should extend collateral free loans up to Rs 5,00,000 to the units of MSME sector as defined under MSMED Act 2006.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) advised all scheduled commercial banks to issue necessary instructions to the branches or controlling offices in this regard, the minister added. Some of the members raised the issue of steel-price hike, which was affecting the micro and small industries. The minister assured the members that the issue would be taken up at the appropriate level. --------------------------------------------
Tamil Nadu makes its way to top 5 states in HDI
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Monday , March 24, 2008 at 0039 hrs IST
Posted online: Monday , March 24, 2008 at 0039 hrs IST
New Delhi, March 23: Tamil Nadu has improved its position in terms of human development index (HDI) and has entered the category of the top five states in the country, according to the Handbook on Social Welfare Statistics-2007, released recently by the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment.
Maharashtra, however, has slipped from rank 3 to 4, but, in value terms of the HDI, the state has improved from 0.363 in 1981 to 0.452 in 1991 to 0.523 in 2001.
All the top five states in HDI in 2001 -- Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Haryana -- recorded a gradual improvement in their position in value terms. However, Gujarat, which ranked 4th in 1981, slipped to the 6th position in 1991 and 2001 despite an improvement in its value terms.
Among the poorest performing states, Bihar was the lowest among 15 states, followed by Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. In fact, Assam joined the rank of the lowest five in HDI in 2001 after declining from rank 10 in 1981 and 1991. Uttar Pradesh which ranked 13 in 1981 declined to 14 in 1991 and regained its earlier position in 2001. Similarly, Orissa regained its 11th position after sliding to rank 12 in 1991.
However, newer problems face many high-ranking HDI states as growing urbanisation is leading to large-scale migration and slum growth, the handbook notes. The total slum population in different urban centres across the country is 16,565,459. In the five cities of Maharashtra, Mumbai and Greater Mumbai have a slum population of 48.88% amounting to 5,823,510 people. Pune has a slum population of 20.92% amounting to 531,337 people. Nagpur 35.42% amounting to 726,664, Thane 33.32% amounting to 420,272 and Nashik 13.21% amounting to 142,234.
In Tamil Nadu, Chennai has a slum population of 17.74% amounting to 747,936, while Ahmedabad in Gujarat has a slum population of 12.51% amounting to 439,843. The Capital, Delhi, has a slum population of 18.89%.
On other human development indicators, Uttar Pradesh had the highest registered maternal mortality rate per 1,00,000 births at 539, followed by Rajasthan at 501, Orissa at 424, Madhya Pradesh at 407, Bihar at 400 and Assam at 398.
As for literacay, Kerala retained top position at 90.86%, followed by Mizoram with 88.80%, Lakshadweep 86.66%, Goa with 82.01%, Chandigarh with 81.94%, Delhi with 81.67%, Andaman & Nicobar Islands with 81.30% and Puducherry with 81.24%.
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