Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana Focuses on Social Security For Rural Women


Thanks to Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana (RGMVP) and its initiatives for social security management for poverty-stricken women in the rural India, that thousands of poor women like Jannat-unnisa, activist of Ali Swayam Sahayata Samooh in village Parsadepur, is enjoying secured life with assured inflow of income from the horse-cart ferry service she alongwith her husband has started.Says Jannat-unnisa, "I have got a lot of help from the samooh. My husband had borrowed Rs 3,000 at 10 percent interest from the thakur to buy a horse for the ikka gadi. We couldn't return it - the thakur got after us. Then I joined the samooh, the sisters advised me that I should take a loan and return the amount due to the thakur. I did that, my husband used to ply an ikka on hire, we returned the money through that. Then the sisters told me that I should borrow Rs 10,000 and buy a horse and ikka of our own. If I was earning Rs 50 on a hired ikka, I would be able to earn Rs 100 on my own one.

So I took the loan - today I have returned the loan and we have a good source of income."An important aspect of RGMVP's poverty reduction goals is to address social risks and build safety nets for the poor. While membership of such drives itself is the biggest safety net for the poor, risk mitigation measures have been instituted at several levels to ensure that the poor and the poorest of poor have a sense of security and can rely on safety nets in times of need.At the basic level, the Self Help Groups (SHGs) themselves serve to minimise social risk: close to 24,500 SHG members have savings worth Rs 94 million which considerable enhances security. At the next level, the Total Financial Inclusion strategy works to mitigate social risks by ensuring that high-cost interests and dependence on money lenders are completely eliminated for the poor's lives and that their every need is addressed through the formal system.There is no restriction on the end use of the loan taken by an SHG member: it could be for healthcare, for a wedding in the family, a pilgrimage, a religious ceremony.

The aim is to decrease the burden on the poor and reduce social risk by ensuring that they use only formal institutions for their needs rather than money lenders or other sources. Food security has been addressed SHGs through Grain Banks. Every member brings a handful of grain to the SHG meetings which is collected and from which poor members can 'borrow' rice and wheat for their needs so that no one goes hungry in the village. RGMVP studies have found that the poor spend a huge amount on healthcare, up to Rs 4,000 to 5,000 per family per year, money that the poor can ill afford. In this scenario, the Swasthya Sakhi programme serves as a safety net by creating awareness on healthcare and hygiene so that the poor can save this expenditure.

Political Consulting Is A Unique Profession


You can't get a college degree in political consulting. It's an occupation cobbled together from diverse fields and personality traits, and it's one of the few occupations where one typically starts as a volunteer. Many a consultant wound up in politics as a career because he or she liked a particular candidate and volunteered to help on a campaign. They get to know the players, and get the opportunity to display their talents.Politics is not a job for the timid. The political consultant's job, quite simply, is to get the client elected, and that task cannot be performed within the confines of a nine-to-five workday. This is a world of 24-hour news cycles, and if a campaign related story breaks in early morning, it's time to get up. The life of a political consultant is for people who like a fast-paced competitive career and aren't afraid to put in long hours.

The successful career of a political consultant is based on one thing: winning. It doesn't matter if a consultant is charming, witty and wise. If he can't post wins in the victory column, he will be challenged to attract new clients.The average salary of a political consultant is $66,000 according to , the job website that keeps statistics. Big city salaries are higher. In New York the average is $106,000 and in Washington, D.C. the average is $104,000.Research is a big part of the job, not only on the client's opponent, but on the client as well. If there's bad news, better the consultant find out about it early rather than reading about it in the newspaper.Opposition research, often referred to as oppo research is, quite simply, digging for dirt. Oppo research is the fodder that a "negative campaign" runs on. Negative campaigning has a bad reputation, and political consultants are often criticized for it. But as long as the ads are true, why not let the public know? If the consultant finds that the opponent had a felony conviction, should the public not be aware of that?Opinion polling is one of the most important tools at a political consultant's disposal. Polls can be conducted by independent polling companies or in-house by a political consultant.

The results of these polls are not generally made public; they're for strategy planning. If, however, the polls are positive, you will often hear a consultant say something like, "according to our internal polling, the Congresswoman is doing very well in the suburban area of her district."Polling data is plugged into databases that are kept over the years. If the data, for example, shows a candidate polling well in areas with lots of children, those areas will get special attention.Fundraising can make or break a political campaign. In a small campaign, fundraising advice and activities are part of the political consultant's role. Larger campaigns, such as Senatorial or Presidential races usually hire separate fundraising consultants.At the upper levels of politics are the rock stars, consultants who have become national figures. They include James Carville, his wife Mary Matalin, Karl Rove, Paul Begala, and the list goes on.Political consulting can be an exciting and remunerative career for the right person.

Political Transparency


Nowadays, a lot of political issues are coming up which deafens us to know the truth. Almost every concept that runs from the government are all convincing which could really make us believe their doing stuff in an honest and transparent way.From the tenure of every elected government official, issues keep on coming so vague. Dressed in a well-ironed and classy attire, which almost every citizen have looked up to, always convince the citizen's mind that they are working for the welfare of all, unknowingly, the darkest secrets that lie in every head. Consequently, poverty-stricken people could hardly uplift their lifestyle because of so many issues in government that could only add to social problems. And when a problem arises, who are the unlucky ones? The people who don't care about his/her environment and those who know nothing about the ways of true government. I'm not saying here that im a perfect individual, but im only sharing my knowledge to all so that no one will be a victim of injustice.

What is transparency then?It is a way of doing things like open meetings, disclosure of all financial statements, of having the liberty of information legislation, plan or budgetary reviews or audits, etc. So nice to know these things in which we can definitely believe that only when every official person are doing these kind of practice. If and only if political tranparency could be a habit, political problems perhaps can be lessed or can be eradicated.Let us not prolong ourselves to suffer the indifference, bitterness, and economic crisis, rather let us know the root cause of our society's dilemma and do what leads to its remedy. We can not carry a life sized mirror to let ourselves know what we're doing, and such is a silly idea but that is where transparency is created from. If we could just imagine, what a good society to have when transparency prevails. No more nuissance, no more backbiting, no more degrading, and no more corruption.

One society plus one goal equals success!So, A single thing to create change must start from within. Hence, not only official ranked persons, be it in government or private, but every citizen must practice the principle of transparency. Let us inculcate in our minds the benefit that brings with it where people of all lifestyle category can enjoy. Moreover, transparency builds the idea of fairness. To be fair is to be good- to be good for the society. Though I cannot say, things I mentioned above are that easy to do but with great patience and discipline, achievement is merely an inch away. It is just a psychological set up of our minds to do when we really want something to attain.So, i must say, let us help our government to way of transparency. Let us build a nation with ideas that springs up from the goodness of our intentions and plans.