SOCIOLOGY: 07/05/15

Sunday 5 July 2015

UGC NET DEC 2014 SOCIOLOGY PAPER 2

Who among the following propounded the concept of 'latent and manifest' function ? -R.K Merton
Who among the following made distinction between two types of conflict namely 'realistic' and 'non realistic' ? -Lewis A. Coser
In which of the following sampling methods, equal number of units are selected from each substratum regardless of their strength in the population and sub-population -Disproportionate stratified random sampling
Match the following list given below --small group in which people came to know one another intimately as individual personalities - primary group; Degree of closeness to or acceptance of members of other group - Social Distance; Any group accepted as model or guide for our judgments and actions - reference group ; The scientific study of interaction within small groups - group dynamics
Cumulative frequency curve is known as - Ogive
Who had made distinction between normal and pathological function? - Emile Durkheim
P.A Sorokin is noted for his distinction between - Primary and Secondary relationism groups
Who among the following was the first one to use case study method in social research ? -Frederic Le Play
According to Max Weber Status groups are identified by - Styles of life
Which one of the following does not fall into sociological understanding of Status ? -Ego
Evolution-Change in Stages; Progress -Quantitative change; Revolution -Structural Change; Transformation - Qualitative Change
Relationships in a community are - intimate, durable and ascribed
which of the following are the elements of association ?- contractual, individualistic, calculative relationships
who are known to have used 'indological perspective' in the study of indian society? -G.S Ghurye and Luis Dumont
Who one among the following sociologists does not belong to French School of Sociology? - V. Pareto
Two statements are given, one is labelled as Assertion and the other as Reason - Dalit assertion in Indian politics resulted in Dalit identity - Politicization of the dalits led to social mobility among them. - both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
Caste is an example of - Ascribed Status
Who has written the book, 'The Death of the Family'? - D Cooper
Sociology is characterised by a perspective that places which one of the following in the foreground ? - Social Interaction
The term, 'total institution' means and includes - All the above
E. Durkheim - the elementary form of the religious life; W.J Goode- world revolution and family patterns; C.W Mills - The power Elite; R. Robertson - The sociological interpretation of Religion
A statistical measure based on the study of entire population is called - parameters
Who has written the book ' Deschooling Society' ? -I. Illich
The pivotal methodology of functionalists is - Field Work
which among the following is not an indicator of change in the social structure ? -Male dominance in society
who among the Indian sociologists, is known to have written on 'sociology of values'? - Radha Kamal Mukherjee

UGC DEC 2014 PAPER 1 (Test Booklet Code X)

Samita alone
Pen
S
Analogical argument
All wise men are afraid of death
An argument
Agriculture
~89.32%
~12.57%
~41.18%
2005
60
Chrome
Cascading Style Sheets
Massive Open Online Course
100011
Image data
Hexadecimal Number System
Foam industry
China> U.S.A> India> Russia
World AIDS day -1st Dec, World Population Day -11th July, World Ozone Day - 16th Sept, World Health Day - 7th April
Agriculture
Salt
Uttar Pradesh
A university established by an act of parliament, a university established by an act of legislature, an institution which is a deemed to be university
Social audit,citizen's charter, right to information
Andhra Pradesh
6 months
Right to life and personal liberty
NUEPA
Summoning, prorogation, Dissolution
Differentiation
Demonstration method
Causes and remedies of persistent learning problems during instructions
Clarify the concepts
affective domain
Swami Vivekanand
Seminar
Introduction; literature Review; Research Methodology; Results; Discussion and Conclusion
A framework for every stage of the collection and analysis of data
Sampling of people. newspapers, television programmes etc.
Leptokurtic
Be familiar with literature on the topic
Decoders
Fourth Estate
Mass Communication
All the above
Sensationalism and exaggeration to attract readers/ viewers
215
TS
MPQYLDCFD
Daughter-in-law
33,55
42,12
All the above
Writer's perception
Ideas and Ideologies
Felt reality of human life
Unseen felt ideas of today in the novel
Novel with its own politics

SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAMMES

The most popular social welfare scheme adopted in India is: - Minimum Wages
Which plan envisaged a frontal attack on poverty and at the same time self reliance in science and technology ? -Sixth Plan
'A tree for every child' programme which launched during the ....five year plan: - Sixth Plan
Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana was launched for the benefit of : - Urban Slum Dwellers
Which of the following statements is true with respect to Prime Minister's Rozgar Yojana ? -The officer responsible for implementing the scheme at the District level is the District level is the District Collector
Which of the following schemes purports to address the specific vulnerability of each of group of women in difficult circumstances through a Home-based holistic and integrated appproach ? -SWADHAR scheme
Which of the following statements is not true with respect to Antyodaya Anna Yojana ? - National food for security Act, 2013 provides for the grievances redressed mechanism with respect to the scheme
Which is the following comes under the community structure for the rural side under the Kudumbashree scheme ? - All the above
Integrated child development services aims to tackle malnutrition and health problems in children: Below 6 years of age
Which of the following form primary target group of eligible candidates with respect to Indira Awaas Yojana Scheme ? -All the above
Which of the following is not true with respect to Balika Samidhi Yojana ? - The benefit of this scheme is available to any number of girl children born in a household
Which of the following central legislative provides for the work entitlement of 100 days per house hold per year which may be shared between different members of the same household ?- National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
ESA means: - Ecologically Sensitive Area
One Anganwadi worker covers a population of: - 1000
For internal financing of the five year plans, the government depends on: - Taxation, public borrowing and deficit financing
The rural reconstruction programme experimentally launched during the post independent period by S. K Dey: -Nilokheri
Which year Nilokheri project was started ? - -1947
Who was initiated the Marthandam Rural Development Project ? -Spencer Hatch
In 1948, who started the Etawah Project in Uttar Pradesh ? - Albert Mayer
Who was initiated the Gurgaon Rural Development Programme ? - F.L Brayne
Who is the founder of Sriniketan Project ?- Rabindra Nath Tagore
'Mission Indradhanush' recently launched by the Government of India, aims to immunise Children against how many diseases ?- 7
What is the first ever programme which gives legal guarantee to a minimum of 100 days work in a financial year to each rural household ? - NREGP
In which year National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme came in to force ? - February 2006
Pradhanmanthri Gram Sadak Yojana was launched on: -December 25, 2000
In which year Valmiki Ambedkhar Awaaz Yojana was launched ? -2001 December
Which programmes objectives is to provide additional wage employment and improve nutritional levels in all rural areas ? -SGRY
Which year community development programme launched ? -1952 October
Who introduced the twenty point programme ? -Indira Gandhi
In which year the Twenty point programme was initially launched by Prime minister Indira Gandhi ? -1975
What is the full form of TRYSEM ? -Training Rural Youth for Self Employment
RLEGP was introduced in which year ? - August 15, 1983
Which of the following is the main objective of Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme ? - Improving and expanding employment opportunities for rural landless with a view to providing guarantee of employment
Which of the following programmes to encourage the rural women to deposit in post office saving account? - Mahila Samridhi Yojana
When was Bharat Nirman Programme is launched ?- 2005
When was Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana launched ? - 2005
Which of the following programme envisages a 'Slum Free India' ? - Rajiv Awaas Yojana
When did ICDS launched on ? -2nd October 1975
Which year Prime Minister Rozgar yojana is an employment programme launched in which year ? - 1993
Which is the 'backbone' of Integrated child Development Service scheme ? -Anganwadi
India Government going to set up innovation labs in every district, under which schemes ?- Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan Programme
The Goverment declared september 25 as 'Antgodaya Divas' in the memory of which person ? -Deen Dayal Upadhyaya
Name of the scheme launched for welfare of the tribal people by the central government ?- Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana
What is the aim of Kudumbasree ?-Poverty Eradication and Employment of women
Which of the following scheme to provide death and disability insurance for rural landless households ? -Aam Admi Bima Yojana
Which of the following scheme to provide financial assistance to rural poor for constructing their houses themselves ?- Indira Gandhi Awaas Yojana
In which scheme the government started to provide good all weather road connectivity to unconnected villages ?-PMGSY
Which of the following year India government passed National Rural Development guarantee Act in: -September 2005
The Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Employment of Adolescent girls sabla is a centrally sponsored programme of government of India initiated in which year ? -April 1, 2011
Which is the following programmes aims at empowering adolescent girls and improve their nutritional and health states and upgrading various skills ? - Sabala
Which of the following scheme, the government give pension scheme to the workers in unorganized sector ? -Swavalamban
Which prime minister of India inaguarated Kudumbasree on 1998 May 17 ? - A. B Vajpayee
Which of the following scheme launched in India, under which every Indian family will be enrolled in a bank for opening a zero balance account ? -Jan Dhan Yojana
Jan Dhan Yojana was launched on ? -28th August 2014
Which of the following scheme is an Indian government sponsored scheme for ten million of the poorest families ?- Antyodaya Anna Yojana
Antyodaya Anna Yojana was launched on ?- 2000 December
Which of the following prime minister implemented the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana ? - Rajiv Gandhi
Which of the following prime minister implemented the Nehru Rozgar Yojana ? - Rajiv Gandhi
In which year JRY was launched ? - April 1, 1989
In which year NRY was launched ? - 1989
In which of the scheme is a comprehensive plan for providing jobs to the rural poor ? -NRY
Which of the following scheme has been designed to provide employment to the urban employment and under employed ? - NRY
Rajiv Awaas Yojana launched on ? -December 2013
The Strategic aim of IRDP is : To provide more opportunities rural employment and credit facilities at concessional rate of interest
NREP was launched to check ? - Unemployment/ Employment
Under which plan did the government introduced an agricultural strategy which gave rise to green revolution ? -third five year plan
India government observed December 25th as a : - Good governance day
Which of the following programme is aimed at constructing houses for urban slum dwellers ? - VAMBAY
'Golden Handshake Scheme' is associated with: -Voluntary retirement
Employment Guarantee scheme was first introduced in : - Madhya Pradesh
Which of the following programmes is related to the rehabilitation of destitute families and their integration with main stream of the civil society ? - Ashraya
Which of the following programme is born out of a deep concern for the helpless mental patients of the government mental hospitals of kerala ? -Abhaya
The main objective of Bharat Nirman 2005 programme is: providing basic amenities in rural areas
Jagratha samilies are for : - Women Empowerment
Which of the following is a micro finance programme ? -Janasree
The Mangalya Scheme refers to Remarriage of women who lost spouses
Which day is observed as National girl child Day ? -January 24
What does the term 'AAY' denote which is the short form of a social scheme launched by the government of India ? -Antyodaya Awaas Yojana
Rashtriya Swathya Bima Yojana was launched to: -Providing health insurance to BPL families
....is a self employment scheme meant for uplifting the most backward and segregated women in Kerala belonging to ST community:- SARANYA
Arogya keralam award instituted by the govt of kerala is given to: -Local bodies
Which of the following is not an e-governance project in Inida ? -PRAYAN
Which of the following programme related to Kudumbasree ? - Thozhil Sree
'Project lekshya' is ...-The programmes of ministry of petrolium and natural gas ministry to streamline the delivery of LPG cylinders
Which of the following programmes is the main objective of poverty alleviation at village level: -Jawahar Grama Samridhi Yojana
Which of the following scheme aimed at providing assured employment of 100 days of unskilled manual work to the rural poor who are in need of employment ? -Employment assurance scheme
Yogyakarta Declaration pertains to: -Ageing and Health
The National Social Assistance Programme has the main objective of pension assistance for :- all the above
The total sanitation programme aims at: - all the above
Which of the following Rural Development programme is fully sponsored by the Central government ? - PMGRY
Which of the following five year plan is adopted minimum Needs programme ? - vth
Which of the following is not true about MNREGA - Women labourers are paid Rs 25 less than that paid to men labourers
Which of the following programmes is to assist farmers by means of subsidy, maintenence support and loan related arrangements for undertaking minor irrigation schemes covering surface and ground water ?- Ganga Kalyan Yojana
which year Balika Samridhi Yojana was launched ? - 1997
Which year Rashtriya Swasthi Yojana launched ? - 2007
Which of the following year Swarna Jayanthi Shahari Rozgar Yojana launched ? -1997
Which of the following is the name of bank finance scheme launched by the government of India to provide employment opportunities to poor people ? -SJSRY
Expand the term MGNREGA : Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
JNNURM is a govt scheme for- Urban Area Facilities Creation and Maintenance
Which of the following is a programme not aimed at the betterment of the rural poor ? -JNNURM

Driven to distress | Frontline

Kerala is facing a situation where health care costs are leading more and more people, not just low-income families, to financial distress. By R. KRISHNAKUMAR in Thiruvananthapuram

KERALA is once again drawing attention to itself, this time for a persistent trend of a large number of households being pushed into financial ruin because of the expenses incurred for medical care.

Several studies have now found evidence for the many facets of this worrying development in a State that was known until the mid-1980s for its health care model that offered “good health at low cost” and for its health care indices that were comparable to those in more developed countries. However, today, the highest rate of health-related impoverishment in India is being noticed in Kerala, according to researchers, who also warn that all over the country high private health care spending and high out-of-pocket spending are placing a substantial financial burden on urban and rural households.

A committee of health care experts constituted by the Kerala State Planning Board has also cautioned that the health care infrastructure in Kerala and the finances of the common man have come under severe stress, with the State recording the highest per capita public and private health expenditure among major States. The highest out-of-pocket expenditures on health in the country have also been noticed in Kerala, said a concept note prepared in November 2014 by the committee, which was constituted as part of the implementation of the 12th Five Year Plan proposals on the health sector.

The committee said that the high cost of treatment and out-of-pocket expenditure led to a large section of people falling below the poverty line (BPL). It said, a study done by Peter Berman and Rajeev Ahuja (“The Impoverishing Effect of Health Care Payments in India: New Evidence and Methodology”, published in India Health Beat by the Public Health Foundation of India and the World Bank unit in New Delhi in December 2009) using National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) 2004 survey data estimated that around 12 per cent of rural households and 8 per cent of urban households in Kerala were pushed below the poverty line in that year because of health care expenditure.

“A Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad [KSSP, the People’s Science Movement] study in 1987 showed that the average health expenditure per person per annum in Kerala then was Rs.89. It increased to Rs.549 in 1997 and Rs.1,837 in 2004. The results of the latest KSSP survey in 2012 showed that the average per capita out-of-pocket health expenditure in the State was Rs.5,269.05,” said Dr B. Ekbal, public health activist, former president of the KSSP, and national convener of the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (People’s Health Movement India).

“There is no doubt that the highest annual out-of-pocket health expenditure is in Kerala. The data obtained from the latest [2014] NSSO survey [conducted every 10 years] are being analysed and the results will be known in a few months. That will show if the RSBY [Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna, the Government of India’s national health insurance programme for BPL households] and other government-financed risk protection schemes introduced in the past decade have had any impact,” said Arun B. Nair, a consultant (health economics and financing) with the National Health Systems Resource Centre.

Health care costs are indeed one of the important causes of impoverishment in all States in India. Berman and Ahuja’s study found, among other things, that, compared with other developing countries, private health care spending in India was much higher than government spending; the share of out-of-pocket health spending within private health spending was much higher; and outpatient care, which involved relatively small but more frequent payments, was more impoverishing than inpatient care.

According to the Draft National Health Policy 2015 document prepared by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare last December, over 63 million people are pushed into poverty every year in India because of expenditure on health care. Nearly 18 per cent of all households in 2011-12 faced catastrophic expenditures because of health costs compared with 15 per cent in 2004-05—a reflection surely of the failure of public investment in health to cover the entire spectrum of people’s health care needs, according to the document.

The Berman and Ahuja study also found that there were significant variations between major States, in comparison with the national average, regarding health-related impoverishment, with Kerala showing the highest effect, and Madhya Pradesh (a State “with high levels of base poverty, low education, and lower access to health care overall”) showing a relatively low rate of health-related impoverishment.

“The cost of health care is very high in Kerala because, one, nearly 87 per cent of the people in the State use modern medical facilities; two, there has been an increase in the number of people suffering from non-communicable and chronic diseases that require continuous care and affordable medicines; three, the State had witnessed large-scale and unregulated privatisation of health care facilities in the past decades and even the poor are now forced to depend on them; and four, the costs of medicines have gone up,” Dr Ekbal told Frontline.

Burden of NCDs

Kerala has been witnessing a “high morbidity and low mortality” trend, which is increasingly influenced by the replacement of infectious diseases and nutrition-related and maternal and child health-related health issues by non-communicable and chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and hypertension.

While the growing burden from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is a reality all over India, the demographic transition in Kerala has meant a dramatic increase in its population of the aged, a higher burden of NCDs, and increasing health-seeking behaviour by its educated population, a trend marked by a growing preference for new and costly technology.

Kerala, where the foundation for a modern medical care system accessible to all was already in existence at the time of its formation in 1956, greatly expanded its government health facilities from 1961 to 1986. But what followed thereafter until the early 1990s was a period of intense fiscal crisis for successive State governments, when, in order to meet increasing expenditure on salary, they began to cut back spending on supplies, including drugs and other essentials, to the public hospitals. In a historical analysis of the development of health care facilities in Kerala, published in the journal Health Policy and Planning (OUP, 2000), Dr V. Ramankutty, Professor at the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, recorded how this neglect destroyed Kerala’s secondary health sector, especially the district and taluk government hospitals and the primary sector, consisting of primary health centres. Even as early as 1987, he said, an extensive survey of 10,000 households by the KSSP found that only 23 per cent of the households regularly used government health services for reasons that included “non-availability of drugs in the government hospitals”, “lack of proper attention” and “better behaviour in private institutions”. “There was a shift away from secondary care, with a drastic reduction in funds available for district and taluk government hospitals. Even now, despite the involvement of local bodies and the availability of funds through them, I am not sure all is well with the secondary care centres. Only some are doing well though the primary health system remains largely protected through a lot of direct central funding. Large-scale privatisation of the Kerala health sector took place during the same time,” Dr Ramankutty told Frontline.

Kerala’s Draft Health Policy notes that the public health care expenditure (as a proportion of the gross state domestic product, or GSDP) decreased by 35 per cent between 1990 and 2002, making Kerala one of the States with the highest reduction in public sector contributions and the highest increase in private funding for health care. The decline in public sector spending for health resulted in an overwhelming expansion of the private sector.

For example, the amount allocated for health care in the 2012-13 Kerala Budget was only 0.99 per cent of the GSDP. But, significantly, researchers say, private expenditure on health care was almost nine times as high and nearly two-thirds of the poor sought private sector facilities. According to the National Health Accounts (2004-05), of the total health expenditure in Kerala, the share of the private sector was the highest in the country with 90.27 per cent; the public sector accounted for only 9.7 per cent.

The prospering private super speciality hospitals with high-tech facilities are a result of the failure of the government health system to meet the demand for secondary and tertiary care and to manage the growing NCD burden. “But we have also started seeing a new trend of small and medium private hospitals being closed down in significant numbers in the State, making health care inaccessible to a large number of people or forcing them to approach bigger care facilities,” Dr Ekbal said.

According to Dr Ramankutty, many entrepreneurs are entering the field and buying or selling off established private hospitals. “The profit motive has come to the fore. Hospitals are seen as an investment option for easy profits: there is enough demand; there are no labour disputes in the sector, for example. There is inadequate public health spending by the government and health care is free only in principle in most government institutions. Moreover, facilities for treatment of NCDs are limited and are not completely free in the public sector. The private sector has made use of this opportunity, equipping itself well with the latest technology and facilities, and even the poor are forced to depend on them —at a heavy cost.”

“Government support has been a key factor in the advancement of health care in the State. An expansion or strengthening of the public health system based on today’s requirements has not taken place even as people’s aspirations about health care needs have gone up. The care that the State used to provide in the 1980s is not what is required today,” he told Frontline. Thus, the State is facing a situation where, because of the growing burden of NCDs, health care costs are leading more and more people (not just low-income families) to financial distress. Hospitalisation, even in the government sector, is leading to catastrophic health expenditure, distress financing and its aftermath; existing insurance and similar financial support schemes are inadequate and offer services only for a limited spectrum of diseases and procedures.

A dearth of micro-level studies, especially looking at how this impacts individuals, has meant a general lack of understanding about the seriousness of the evolving situation: of how NCD burden could overwhelm the State’s troubled health sector and drive vulnerable sections of Kerala society deeper into poverty and lifelong dependency.

“It is important to ensure that treatment options and medicines are accessible and affordable to all. The government has to spend more on health care and should not allow a change to a system where despite the availability of all the facilities in the public or private sector, a substantial section of people are still denied health care,” Dr Ekbal said.

Most health care researchers, therefore, argue for the reintroduction of the system of accessible and affordable primary care, like the British system of general practitioners or by strengthening the system based on community (public) health centres; more government spending on health, especially to deal with the emerging NCD burden; better regulation and quality control in the private sector; introduction of better financial risk protection measures and their better coordination to help patients deal with catastrophic health expenditure; and measures to ensure availability of medicines and bring down costs in all government facilities.

“Public health governance has taken a back seat in Kerala, and hospital administrators are not properly trained to deal with the emerging professional and financial challenges. There is a general complacency when it comes to issues relating to health. We tend to bask in our past glory, smug about our early achievements, when new challenges are already overwhelming us and, in truth, other States are stealing a march over us,” Dr Ramankutty said.

New slave trade | Frontline

The recent rescue of bonded workers from a Karnataka factory exposes the mutating form of bonded labour in the unorganised sector, where trafficking with the intention to exploit is the major feature. By VIKHAR AHMED SAYEED

FOUR years ago, Aryan Lama, then 17, was working as a driver in Kakarbhitta in Nepal. He intended to marry Roshni, the girl of his dreams. Looking to augment their incomes, the couple reached Siliguri in northern West Bengal where they met an agent who lured them with promises of secure jobs and substantial salaries. Little did they know that they were on their way to becoming bonded labourers in south India. They were brought via Delhi to Tirupattur, a town in Vellore district in Tamil Nadu, where they were put to work in an agarbatti factory.

After a few days, Lama was separated from Roshni, whom he has not seen again. For three years, he laboured in Tirupattur before he was moved to a similar factory on the outskirts of Bangalore. Promised a salary of Rs.6,500 a month, he was given nothing except basic food and a place to sleep. He had to work 18 hours a day and was not allowed to leave the premises of the factory, where he had to share his sleeping quarters with more than 100 other workers.

Lama was finally rescued on May 28, along with 106 other trafficked workers, from the jail-like conditions in which they had been held. Lama told Frontline: “We were not allowed to talk to one another or leave the premises, [which were] guarded by Rottweilers. We were also beaten very regularly. My work was to pack the rolled agarbattis, and the food that they gave us was fit only for pigs!”

The rescue was conducted by a team led by the Karnataka Police’s Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU), including members of an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) called International Justice Mission (IJM). The AHTU is a constituent unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) while the IJM works on issues of bonded labour. This was the largest rescue conducted in a single raid in Bangalore. Of the 107 bonded labourers, 43 came from West Bengal and 40 from Assam, while 22 came from Jharkhand and two from Nepal.

Two other workers who were rescued that day were Bablu Lakda and Panchu Kujoor, both 35 and members of a Scheduled Tribe (S.T.). They were brought to Bangalore 20 months ago from a tea plantation in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal. “We were promised wages of Rs.9,000 a month when the agent recruited us, but forget that, they did not even give me medicine when I was suffering from typhoid. I couldn’t even inform my relatives about my precarious state as they never let us call our relatives back home,” Lakda said.

More than 200 kilometres away, in the rural hinterland of southern Karnataka, Malinayaka, 55, was having a rare off day because of severe illness. He lives in Udbur colony, which is part of Annur gram panchayat in H.D. Kote taluk of Mysore district. A member of the Nayaka Scheduled Tribe, Malinayaka had borrowed Rs.60,000 from his Vokkaliga landlord 12 years ago to conduct the wedding of his eldest daughter. He gets paid a lump sum of Rs.18,000 during the Ugadi festival every year when oral contracts are renewed. His fellow workers, on the other hand, are paid Rs.200 a day. He cannot seek work elsewhere or leave his village without clearing his loan. Malinayaka has worked as a bonded labourer for 45 years of his life with three different landlords.

Between bouts of coughing, he described his life as a bonded labourer: “I’ve been working for 12 years now in lieu of repayment. My day begins at six in the morning and continues till late at night. Work is especially tough when the tobacco plants need to be roasted. Elephants are also a menace when crops are ready to be sown and sometimes I have to stay up in a watchtower through the night to scare them away. There are no holidays. On days when I cannot turn up for work, my son is supposed to work.”

Malinayaka’s case is not unique. This correspondent met three other jeethas, as bonded labourers are called in Karnataka, in the same taluk, who were bonded to their landlords for various time periods after having taken advances ranging from Rs.20,000 to Rs.50,000. Often, there is a system of patronage in place enforced by caste hierarchy where the labourer feels obligated to work for his landlord. The lack of a written agreement and the illiteracy of the bonded labourers enable landlords to exploit them.

The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act (BLA) of 1976, defines, in a lengthy paragraph, the “bonded labour system” as a system of forced labour under which the debtor enters into an agreement with the creditor in consideration of an advance (usually) and in return offers his labour free or for nominal wages. He also forfeits his freedom of employment and the right to move freely and to sell his labour at the appropriate market rate. Both the case studies discussed above, from urban and rural Karnataka, are clear examples of bonded labour. The case of Malinayaka is the traditional and more commonly understood version of bonded labour while the case of Lama and other rescued labourers is an example of the mutating form of bonded labour in the unorganised sector, where trafficking with the intention to exploit is the major feature. Both these forms of bonded labour are widely prevalent in Karnataka. In a 2013 report, the Walk Free Foundation, an international organisation working for the eradication of slavery, said: “The country with the largest estimated number of people in modern slavery is India, [with] between 13.3 million and 14.7 million people enslaved.” Slavery here refers to bonded labour. Jan Breman, a Dutch sociologist with expertise in labour issues, estimates that close to 50 million people are trapped in debt bondage labour in India. Siddharth Kara, a fellow on Human Trafficking with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and author of Bonded Labour: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia, makes a more modest estimate of 11.7 million bonded labourers in the entire country. These varying estimates, while clearly pointing to the wide prevalence of bonded labour in India, also show how difficult it is to accurately estimate the extent of bondage.

Karnataka figures high on the list of agricultural bonded labourers. The Annual Report of the Ministry of Labour and Employment (2008-09) shows that 63,437 bonded labourers have been released in the State since the BLA came into effect. This is only second to the figure of Tamil Nadu, where 65,573 bonded labourers were released in the same period. On the other hand, larger States such as Uttar Pradesh (28,846) and Madhya Pradesh (13,317) had fewer bonded labourers released. Two contrasting inferences can be drawn from these data: either Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have a much higher incidence of bonded labour or the BLA has been more stringently implemented in these States when compared with larger States in north India. Existing information does not provide sufficient data to arrive at either conclusion convincingly.

A dedicated organisation in Karnataka, the Jeetha Vimukti Karnataka (Bonded Labour Free Karnataka), which has been active since the mid-1990s, has made substantial contributions in identifying and releasing bonded labour. Jeevika, as the organisation is commonly known, has a presence in all districts of the State (down to the gram panchayat level) and draws its activists from families of bonded labourers. This is one of the reasons for its success in identifying bonded labour, as its activists empathise with and recognise cases of bonded labour. Their strategy is to visit a particular village at night and discuss issues of agricultural labour. Its activists are trained in understanding bonded labour in the context of the prevalent caste hierarchies of the region. Jeevika claims to have facilitated and secured the release of several thousand bonded labourers since 1993. Basavaraj, its Mysore district convener, said 842 bonded labourers were officially freed in H.D. Kote taluk between 2001 and 2014.

Kiran Kamal Prasad, the coordinator of Jeevika, said, “Bonded labour in agriculture in Karnataka still has some remnants of the traditional form involving the patron-and-client relationship. Most of it is now reduced to economic transactions. Thus, bonded labourers, 85 to 90 per cent of whom belong to S.C. [Scheduled Caste] and S.T. communities, are vulnerable to the worst form of exploitation from within the feudal system as well as the capitalist system which agriculture has become a part of.”

The Karnataka Action Plan on Bonded Labour, 2008, referred to the National Sample Survey (NSS) data that estimated that 6 per cent of agricultural labour in Karnataka was bonded. When calculated using Census 2001 data, this would amount to around 3,73,617 workers, Prasad said. “If we include bonded labour that is increasingly found in occupations in the unorganised sector like brick kilns, stone quarries, etc., the present number of bonded labour in Karnataka could be around six lakh,” Prasad added.

This number is difficult to verify independently as there is no nodal entity in the State that keeps track of bonded labour across agricultural and other unorganised sectors. While the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (RDPR) Department keeps track of bonded labourers in agriculture, the AHTU is responsible for looking at issues of trafficked labour. The formation of the AHTU in 2013 at the State level after the amendment to Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with the trafficking of persons for exploitation, has significantly improved the detection and subsequent rescue of trafficked bonded labourers in Karnataka.

Esther Daniel, a Bangalore-based director of IJM, gives a pointer to the number of trafficked labourers. She says she has personally been involved in missions in seven districts in southern Karnataka that rescued close to 2,500 labourers over the past eight years. This is only the tip of the iceberg. “The trafficked labour comes from Odisha (mainly from the impoverished Balangir district), Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. Within Karnataka, we find that a lot of migrants from backward districts in north Karnataka are trafficked and made to work in appalling conditions,” she said. Trafficked bonded labour is heavily used in brick kilns and rock quarries around Bangalore. Within the city, rescue operations have been conducted in bag-making and agarbatti-manufacturing units and rice mills.

Official freedom is secured when the labourer is given a release certificate by the Deputy Commissioner (Collector) of the district. The certificate is accompanied with a lump sum Rs.20,000 (equally shared by the State and Central governments) to kickstart the rehabilitation of the labourer. Often, the compensation payment is delayed. In Nanjayyana Colony of Kasaba Hobli in H.D. Kote taluk, for instance, 11 bonded labourers belonging to the Adi Karnataka caste (a Scheduled Caste belonging to the Holeya Dalit agglomeration in the State) were given release certificates in 2012, but their compensation remains unpaid. With limited employment options in the village, they have to seek employment again from hostile landlords. In such circumstances, they remain vulnerable to being trapped in the cycle of debt bondage if suitable rehabilitation measures are not taken immediately on their release. In the case of bonded trafficked labour, the situation is even more dismal as the labourers are usually sent back home. They eventually receive the payment of Rs.20,000, but the wages of their hard labour remain unpaid. A system where the agent/owner/landlord becomes responsible for clearing their wages according to the prevailing rates needs to be put in place to protect the labourers from slipping back into the cycle of exploitation.

There is a chapter on bonded labour in the “India Exclusion Report 2013-2014” published by the Centre for Equity Studies, which recommends five measures that can be taken by the state to reduce bonded labour. These are: broadening of the definition of labour bondage; acknowledgement and identification of bonded labour; the streamlining of the BLA with other laws such as the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986; release and support for rehabilitation of bonded labour; and enforcement of minimum wages and the idea of decent work. All these measures need to be implemented so that bonded labour can be gradually eradicated.

The failure to eradicate bonded labour in Karnataka and the rest of India is an indictment of the BLA as it has been in operation for the past 39 years. Organisations like the IJM hope the laws will become stricter in the future and a high-powered committee on trafficking will be formed with the ability to transcend departmental autonomy, which is usually an impediment to efficient implementation of laws regarding trafficking.

Until then, there will be many more cases like those of Lama and Malinayaka in both urban and rural Karnataka.

GOODNESS OF PAPAYA TREE

It could be a miracle cure for dengue. And the best part is you can make it at home (apologies for the typo in the pic) The juice of the humble papaya leaf has been seen to arrest the destruction of platelets that has been the cause for so many deaths this dengue season. Ayurveda researchers have found that enzymes in the papaya leaf can fight a host of viral infections, not just dengue, and can help regenerate platelets and white blood cells.

Scores of patients have benefited from the papaya leaf juice, say doctors.

Papaya has always been known to be good for the digestive system. Due to its rich vitamin and mineral content, it is a health freak's favourite. But its dengue –fighting properties have only recently been discovered.

Chymopapin and papin - enzymes in the papaya leaf - help revive platelet count, say experts. ...

Source : Times of India.
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how to prepare the juice:

Take leaves of a papaya tree. Wash properly, grind, and squeeze the juice into a bowl or a glass. Drink a glass or two every day for at least 4 days (minimum) apart from other fruit juices. Remember, it’s not the fruit, but the leaves of papaya. (FYI it tastes Bitter!)"

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Several friends have written in to tell us and our other readers that papaya leaf juice is often given to dengue sufferers in their countries. We want to thank each of you for taking your time to share that with us. We’re compiling those comments here.

Sanjeev from Rampur U.P, India, was one of the first readers to suggest papaya leaf juice for dengue. “The tested medicine for dengue is papaya leaf juice, 2 teaspoons twice a day, with gloyey (ayurvedic medicine.)"

Ashok Somani from Bagalkot Karnatak, India, also suggests using papaya leaf to help dengue sufferers, and explains how to make it. Ashok writes: “When the dengue is serious and the blood platelet count is decreasing, take a leaf of a papaya tree and grind with water. Take this juice on an empty stomach.”

It’s interesting to note that papaya leaf juice seems to be a common natural help for dengue patients in at least several Eastern countries. Janaka from Sri Lanka also wrote mentioning papaya leaf juice for dengue. Here’s Janaka’s comment:

“Apart from many natural herbs which will increase one’s immunity, the juice of papaya leaves significantly increases the platelet levels, even with a few teaspoons. In my country it is standard medical practice even in hospitals, since they claim they have no treatment for this disease!”

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