Final Meeting of South-South Economic Cooperation: Exploring IBSA Initiative
Pretoria, South Africa, June 28, 2006

CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment (CUTS CITEE), Jaipur along with South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Johannesburg, South Africa organised the final meeting of the project ‘South-South Economic Cooperation: Exploring IBSA Initiative’, at Pretoria, South Africa, on June 28, 2006.

Representatives from private sector, academia and civil society organisations (CSOs) from India, Brazil and South Africa attended this meeting. Besides, representatives from exporters/importers were also present. The draft synthesis paper on the project was presented in the consultation. The paper contains the findings by researchers from India, Brazil and South Africa including aerospace sector study conducted by them.

Outreach Meeting under GRANITE
Chanchal, Malda, June 27, 2006

CUTS Calcutta Resource Centre (CUTS CRC) jointly with Chanchal Jana Kalyan Samity organised the sixth Outreach Meeting under the Grassroots Reachout & Networking in India on Trade & Economics (GRANITE) Project, at Chanchal, Malda, on June 27, 2006.

The meeting was attended by 25 participants mainly from local farming community, different civil society organisations (CSOs), government officials and media. The objective of the meeting was to sensitise the grassroots stakeholders on the globalisation issues and to bridge the gap between the government officials and primary stakeholders. It also helped to cull out the problems in farming sector in the region and to know how the government policies address those challenges.

Evaluation Workshop under Power Sector Reforms
Jaipur, Rajasthan, June 23-24, 2006

The state level evaluation workshop marking the conclusion of the activities under the second phase of the CUTS-Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) programme was organised at Jaipur, Rajasthan, on June 23-24, 2006.

A total of 96 participants from 22 districts of Rajasthan attended the workshop. This includes 12 circles, where the second phase was carried out. Y Mathur, Energy Secretary, Government of Rajasthan inaugurated the evaluation workshop. Representing the Power Distribution Companies, Superintendent Engineer, P K Vijay of Jaipur Power Distribution Company attended the workshop as a resource person and facilitated a session on ‘Feeder Reforms in Rajasthan and its different franchisees’. As a resource person, Retired Secretary of Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC), Prabhat Dayal took the session on regulations and tariff settings. D M Mathur, a leading lawyer of Rajasthan High Court, took up the non-technical session on consumer advocacy on electricity. CUTS Secretary General Pradeep S Mehta delivered the valedictory address in the concluding session.

The evaluation workshop was a great success in terms of participation, sessions, group discussions, deliberations and group presentations with lot of new ideas and recommendations put forward.

Final Meeting of WTO Provided Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA)
Geneva, Switzerland, June 19, 2006

CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment (CUTS CITEE), in association with the World Trade Organisation (WTO), organised the final meeting of the Strategic Review of WTO-TRTA at Geneva, Switzerland, on June 19, 2006.

This meeting was attended by the Review Team and members of the project’s Steering Committee. The Review Team made a presentation on the Strategic Review Report.

Regional consultation on Trade Facilitation Needs Assessment in South Asia
Kolkata, West Bengal, June 17, 2006

CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment (CUTS CITEE) organised the regional consultation of the project entitled, ‘Trade Facilitation Needs Assessment in South Asia’, at Kolkata, West Bengal, on June 17, 2006.

The objective of the one-day consultation programme was to present the draft research paper of the project covering the field research findings from Nepal and Bangladesh, Bhutan and West Bengal in India.

The focus of the consultation programme was to address the concerns on the major issues like transportation, border measures, port efficiency and standards related problem etc. Participants from Nepal, Bangladesh and India addressed the present state of the trade facilitation in their respective countries vis-à-vis the position of South Asia in trade facilitation.

State Level Dissemination Meeting of Participatory Expenditure
Tracking Survey (PETS) on ‘Mid Day Meal Scheme’ (MDMS)
Jaipur, Rajasthan, June 08, 2006

The state level dissemination meeting of the Participatory Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) on ‘Mid Day Meal Scheme’ (MDMS) in Rajasthan, implemented by CUTS Centre for Consumer Action, Research & Training (CUTS CART), in partnership with the SASANet supported by the World Bank was held at Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Jaipur, Rajasthan, on June 08, 2006.

The meeting started with the welcome speech by George Cheriyan who briefed the objective of the project as well as the meeting, and explained the various tools being used for social accountability. His address was followed by a brief introduction of Social Accountability Pilots by J V R Murty, World Bank. K C Sharma and Dudheshwar Kumar presented the key findings of the survey whiled Murty explained the summary of the findings highlighting the important issues emerged from it. Saroj Punhani, Accountant General (Audit), Rajasthan, who chaired the meeting, appreciated the efforts made by CUTS CART. Dr Nathu Singh Gurjar, Legislative Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and chairman of the Estimates Committee said, “MDM is a very good and important programme having multi dimensional objectives and goals”.

Vinod Sehgal, Regional Public Finance Accountability Specialist of the World Bank, said that Rajasthan has a strong tradition of social accountability but the issue is the effective implementation of programme/schemes. Divisional Commissioner Jaipur, Rajendra Bhanawat said that unless the reality is accepted, the goals would not be accomplished. Dr S S Acharya, former Director IDS, pointed out that involvement of teachers in the MDM is hampering the teaching work, which, in turn, is affecting the quality of education. Delivering the valedictory address, MLA and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Dr C P Joshi emphasised the need to fix accountability by improving the traditional accounting system and social audit. R K Sharma coordinated the proceedings of the meeting and proposed the vote of thanks.

About 60 selected delegates from various government departments, NGOs, research institutions and media, including government officers related to MDMS and staff from CUTS CHD attended the meeting. Media, both electronic and print, provided wide coverage of the event.

Submission of final Report
Incorporating the comments from J V R Murty and the major suggestions emerged from the state level dissemination meeting, the survey report and the expenditure tracking was finalised and the draft final report was submitted to Murty on June 24, 2006. After incorporating the comments from the World Bank, the hard copy of the final report will be submitted to the World Bank by the mid-July.

Second Phase of the Project
Both Murty and Parmesh Shah (Washington DC) from World Bank, responsible for the partnership, expressed their happiness regarding the successful completion of the pilot phase of the project and the policy impacts it created, and voiced interest for continuation of the partnership with CUTS CART.

However, scaling up the activities to other districts of Rajasthan will depend on the interest shown by the State Government.

Distribution of Birth Registration Certificates
Bhilwara, Rajasthan, January 01 to June 30, 2006

CUTS Centre for Human Development (CUTS CHD), in association with Plan India and Indian Institute of Health Management and Research (IIHMR), Jaipur, carried out the implementation of the universal birth registration programme in the Banera panchayat samiti and Mandalgarh and Suwan panchayat samitis of Bhilwara district from January 01 to June 30, 2006.

Under the programme, the implementation activities aimed at generating awareness and sensitising community stakeholders, parents, guardians and public representatives for enhancing the current level of birth registration and ensuring hundred percent birth registration. Moreover, effort was also made to make the birth registration mechanisms more active and firm. A total of 228 birth registration was ensured in the month of June 2006 and birth registration certificates of 182 children were distributed.