The coal based Vindhyachal Thermal Power Station is located in Singrauli district in Madhya Pradesh. Stage V of the project is also under plans.

The project benefits western region including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Daman & Diu.

The total installed capacity of NTPC group has increased to 40674 MW, with the commissioning.

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The department has developed Fire Alert and Messaging System (FAMS), Wildlife Management system (WMS), and Forest Dwellers Survey system, using Microsoft technologies.

FAMS uses SMS and emails to plan fire control operations and shortest possible resource mobilisation with ESRI MapObject. For tracking wildlife movement, the WMS utilises a GPS enabled PDA alsong with combination of GIS and MIS.

Forest Dwellers Survey system captures details of forest dwellers, along with the geo-location of their land holdings, for updating forest land records and analyze the patterns of land holdings as a database for effective planning and management. A GPS-enabled PDA enables online publication of land holdings on a web-based application. The systems generates reports on the progress achieved in the implementation of the Forest Rights Act.

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Prantiya Transporters Welfare Association’s State president Vijay Kalra, Secretary Kamal Panjwani, TreasurerHarish Dawar and S Vijay Kumar, Media Advisor , PTWA was also present on the occasion.

Ram Naresh Yadav, Governor, Madhya Pradesh lauded Prantiya Transporters Welfare Association’s members for the launch of this website. “This is a very good initiative towards the improvement of the transport services in the state. We will try the best from our end to beneficiate them and he extended his warm wishes to the Madhya Pradesh transporters,” he said.

Vijay Kalra, State President, Prantiya Transporters Welfare Association, said, “Through this website all the problems of the transporters will be online now. This will ease the lives of the transporters in the state. We have also submitted a memorandum to the governor demanding action against the problem faced by transporters. And we are expecting a quick act from the state government.”

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Approximately 51 villagers of Ghogalgaon, which lies 55 km from Khandwa, were standing in neck-deep water of the Narmada river for for more than 17 days to protest the government’s decision to raise water level. The government had raised the levels to generate hydropower from the 520 MW Omkareshwar project and extend irrigation facilities to an additional 20,000 hectares of land. On Monday, the state government agreed to their demands. ” We have agreed to bring down water level of dam to 189 metres and to compensate the farmers’ land. We will also form a three-member ministerial panel to look into the matter,” Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced. The Chief Minister also said that the state had the Supreme Court permission to increase the water level to 196.5 metres. He said that it will now affect irrigation in 20,000 hectares of land and generation of 120 megawatts electricity.

Villagers contested that the government had not committed it in writing.

The protests were held under the banner of Narmada Bachao Andolan, to demand proper rehabilitation and reduction in the water level of the dam which is part of the Indira Sagar Project on the river Narmada.

The government now says that they are still open for talks with protesters.

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The New Integrated Terminal Building having an aesthetic structural shape in a curvilinear form is sleek and artistic and it encompasses all the modern facilities having total area of 26936 sqm with a provision of future expansion. The salient features of the building are 14 Nos. Check-in counters, 10 Nos. Immigration Counters, 4 Nos. Customs Counters, 6 Nos. Security check X-ray machines, 2 Nos. Escalators, enhanced parking facilities for 700 cars and 20 buses and Apron apart from start-of-the-art building and modern user friendly amenities such as Childcare Room, Smoking Room. The Apron has been constructed to accommodate 13 aircraft. The airport Runway has been extended to 9000 ft. which has facilitated operation of bigger aircraft.

Speaking on the occasion, Vayalar Ravi said “as part of the 100 years of Civil Aviation in the country, the new Integrated Terminal Building with a peak hour handling capacity of 700 pax is being inaugurated today and this will help in enhancing the connectivity within the State, with other parts of the country and destinations abroad. This will help in boosting the economic activity.” He also mentioned that to give push to the development of infrastructure AAI has embarked upon developing airports across the country and Indore is also getting ready to be inaugurated soon.

Earlier, welcoming the dignitaries V.P.Agrawal, Chairman, Airports Authority of India mentioned about the salient features of the new facility, thanked the State Govt for making available the land for the development of the airport and he further elaborated about the AAI’s plans for development of other airports in the State i.e. Indore, Jabalpur and Khajuraho.

The newly inaugurated facility will become operational from 1st July 2011.

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Gadkari said that her coming back to the party fold would also strenghten the movement against corruption and black money.

On her her contribution for the cause of Ram temple, Gadkari said “We will collectively work for making India a Ram Rajya.” The party has discussed taking back of Ms Bharti at the BJP Parliamentary Board at the national level and state leaders and workers and they had no problems.”

“Uttar Pradesh assembly polls offers an opportunity to achieve these goals of transforming the state into a strong prosperous one,” said the BJP chief. Uma Bharti belongs to the backward Lodh community, which has a dominating presence in Bundelkhand region of UP.

“I am returning back to the ship realising the inevitable,” Uma Bharti said, She recalled her association with the BJP since her childhood days as a supporter of Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia, during the days of Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

Uma Bharti was expelled from the BJP in 2005 after her public row with then BJP president L K Advani during the office bearers’ meeting. She floated her own party Bharatiya Janshakti Party that failed to make a major impact even in Madhya Pradesh, but the party had realised absence of a leader who could make a political impact among the youth.

BJP leaders like Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan were against taking her back. she campaigned for BJP it in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls even though she was not admitted back into the party.

Former General Secretaries K N Govindacharya and Sanjay Joshi are also expected to be re inducted into the party.

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Earlier, in the village alone, seven children reportedly died of malnutrition in 2008-09. However, the negligence of the administration authority for malnutrition and food insecurity is proved by the fact that neither were social security programmes properly implemented nor basic facilities for health care or safe drinking water were provided even after the death of the children. The apathy of the government creates more malnourished children who may confront the same fate of the deceased children.

Image: AHRC

It was further found that all the children under the age of six could not properly get immunization and supplementary food from the Anganwadi centre (AWC; Child care centre) as the centre was not available in the village. The fact finding team led by the NCPCR estimated that about 70 percent of the children below age of six were malnourished. The village head (Sarpanch) has been keeping the villagers’ job cards by which the card holders are entitled to get 100 day-employment for the poor under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

After the fact finding, the Collector of Satna district promised to issue new job cards to all, which never happened to the villagers. Instead, the Collector gave the photocopy of the cover page of each job card that was kept by the village head to the card holders. No one received old age pensions or widow pensions, and no ration card was issued to those families who do not have any.

On 19 March, 2010, it was reported that Nanchu (16 months old) died of malnutrition in the village. Nanchu was identified as grade III malnutrition or Severely Acute Malnutrition. The child was refused treatment at the Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) as the centre had no spare bed at that time. The child could not get any medical care and was even removed in the list of AWC after the report on the death. The relevant public servants allegedly attempted to avoid their responsibility for the death.

The constant malnutrition deaths in the village brought public hearing on 31 July 2010. The NCPCR recommended setting up the AWC in the village after running sub-AWC. However, neither sub-AWC nor AWC was set up in the village till today. The nearest AWC is 2 kilometers away from the village and the health centre is 10 kilometers away. The village has been completely ignored by the administration while 86 AWC started running in the Block after the children died of malnutrition. In September, the applications for AWC helper were submitted whereas five children currently suffer from malnutrition. Neither health facility nor attention is given to the malnourished children even now.

The absence of public health facilities and the neglect of health related public servants detracted its credibility resulting in that the poor villagers depend on the traditional healer or quack who used to visit the villagers and provide medicines and treatment.

The Mawasi tribe settled down in the village about 60 years ago. At present, there are more than 42 Mawasi families. According to the testimonies of the villagers, most of the villagers work in the farm land owned by either Thakur or Yadavs. Only seven Mawasi families have farmland in the forest area. Five to six Yadav and Thakur landlords occupy 7 and 20 acres respectively but it is alleged that Thakurs do not have title to land.

The existing caste-based discrimination and feudalism have been rooted in the economic structure of the village. Thakur and Yadov who are from upper caste allegedly occupied the land by paying bribes to the government official whereas Mawasi tribe could not afford to pay to get the land title when asked by the government officials about 10 years ago. Mawasi villagers who work in upper castes farmland, are paid merely 30 to 40 Rupees (USD 0.68-0.9) a day, which is far less than the minimum wage for agriculture — 114 Rupees (USD 2.6). Women are paid less than men. When Mawasi made a complaint about low wage to the landlord, they were always told, “It is more than enough for you!”

The administration has been promoting the discrimination and exploitation instead of ensuring food security in the village. Particularly those who work in forest department have been practicing the discrimination and corruption against Mawasi tribe. The officials from time to time come to the village and destroy crops cultivated by Mawasi. All Mawasi villagers are under threat and women are verbally abused. Seven families filed a complaint against the forest department officials about threat and abuse against women on September 9 2010.

Earlier, twenty six families submitted the documents to the Forest Department to claim land right on July 4 2009. The Mawasi villagers inquired about the process of the case when they visited the department on September 9 2010, they were however informed that the department did not have the documents. At present, seven out of 26 families again prepare the documents to get the land title under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

While the poor Mawasi has been trying to get the title to land where they have been living and cultivating for more than half century, the some government officials attempt to destroy Mawasi tribe’s efforts to ensure their food security at home. Recently, the Revenue Department after the land survey announced that some lands are registered under the Revenue Department. However, the forest department official allegedly abuse their power against Mawasi, which is proved by the fact that on 25 October 2010, some officials came to the village and destroyed the crops of Mawasi.

Most of the families have Below the Poverty Line (BPL) ration card but those who established separate families have not received any ration card so far. The BPL card holders are entitled to get 20 kilograms of grains at subsidized price – 15 kilograms of wheat and 5 kilograms of rice respectively – that last a week or so at most in a family. On the contrary, according to the Supreme Court Order on right to food, the BPL families are entitled to get 35 kilograms of grain. In addition to that, despite extreme poor living condition of Mawasi tribe in the village, no AAY ration card for the poorest among the poor, providing 35 kilograms of grains at cheaper price than BPL card has been issued.

Right to work program called MGNREGS aiming to guarantee right to food for the poor has not been properly implemented in the village. The well construction for drinking water under the MGNREGS was launched and 25 Mawasi villagers worked from January to April 2008. However the workers have not received full wages until now and furthermore the well was unfinished. No one can drink the water nor approach the well with safety as some parts of the well were unfinished and collapsed.

Below list explains the workers underpayment and non-payment.
(Unit: rupees)
Name sex days of work Wage Page Wage to be paid
Usha Rajbhadur female 34 700 1646
Tulsa Santhos female 40 680 2080
Phulkali Shivkaran female 44 700 2336
Kusma Bachilal female 44 700 2336
Gurya Lakus female 29 700 1301
*Daily wage under NREGS was 69 Rupees in 2008

Another 20 workers have not received even a rupee so far. Total balance to be paid is 31,147 rupees (USD 707). On January 16, 2009, the villagers made a complaint to the Collector demanding their unpaid wage. The Collector has not taken any action for the complaint and rather got an award as a good model district of MGNREGS.

On the other hand, food insecurity promoted by the landlords as well as corrupt administration shown above led young Mawasi to migrate to Uttar Pradesh or Hyderabad. They make 1000 to 1500 rupees (USD 23 to 34) for three months. The migration is the last and the only option for food when there is no guarantee of food at home.

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