The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) with an allocation of approximately Rs. 6,405 crore.

The Mission of NULM is to reduce poverty and vulnerability of the urban poor households by enabling them to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities, resulting in an appreciable improvement in their livelihoods on a sustainable basis, through building strong grassroots level institutions of the poor. The mission would also aim at providing shelter equipped with essential services to the urban homeless in a phased manner. In addition, the Mission would also address livelihood concerns of the urban street vendors also by facilitating access to suitable spaces, institutional credit, social security and skills to the urban street vendors for accessing emerging market opportunities.

NULM will rest on the foundation of community mobilization and women empowerment. NULM envisages universal mobilisation of urban poor households into thrift and credit-based Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and their federations/collectives. These groups will serve as a” support system for the poor, to meet their financial and social need. Under the Mission, City Livelihood Centres (CLCs) will be established in Mission cities to provide a platform whereby the urban poor can market their services and access information on self-employment, skill training and other benefits.

The Support to Urban Street Vendors (USV) component will cover a socio-economic survey of street vendors, development of pro-vending urban planning and vendors’ markets, credit enablement of vendors, skill development and micro-enterprise development and convergence under various schemes of the Government.

NULM would aim at providing shelter for the urban homeless equipped with essential services. The shelters should be permanent all-weather 24 x 7 shelters for the urban homeless. For every one lakh urban population, provisions will be made for permanent community shelters for a minimum of one hundred persons. Depending upon local conditions each shelter could cater to between 50 and 100 persons.

The NULM will be implemented in two phases: Phase I (2013-2017) and Phase II (2017-2022). In Phase I, NULM will target all cities with a population of one lakh or more and district headquarter towns with a population of less than one lakh as per Census of India 2011. However, other towns may be allowed in exceptional cases on the request of the States. Funding will be shared between the Centre and the States in the ratio of 75:25.

Cabinet Decision

The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal for amendment in the existing FDI policy in Multi-Brand Retail Trading (MBRT) in para 6.2.16.5(1) (iii), (iv) and (vi) of ‘Circular 1 of 2013 – Consolidated FDI Policy.

a) Amendment in para 6.2.16.5(1) (iii) of ‘Circular 1 of 2013- Consolidated FDI Policy’ to read as follows:

“At least 50% of total FDI brought in the first tranche of US$ 100 million, shall be invested in ‘backend infrastructure’ within three years, where ‘back-end infrastructure’ will include capital expenditure on all activities, excluding that on front-end units. For instance, back-end infrastructure will include investment made towards processing, manufacturing, distribution, design improvement, quality control, packaging, logistics, storage, ware-house, agriculture market produce infrastructure etc. Expenditure on land cost and rentals, if any, will not be counted for purposes of backend infrastructure. Subsequent investment in the back-end infrastructure would be made by the MBRT retailer as needed, depending upon his business requirements”.

b) Amendment in para 6.2.16.5(1)(iv)of ‘Circular 1 of 2013 – Consolidated FDI Policy’ to read as follows:

“At least 30% of the value of procurement of manufactured/ processed products purchased shall be sourced from Indian micro, small and medium industries which have a total investment in plant & machinery not exceeding US $ 2.00 million. This valuation refers to the value at the time of installation, without providing for depreciation. The ‘small industry’ status would be reckoned only at the time of first engagement with the retailer and such industry shall continue to qualify as a ‘small industry’ for this purpose even if it outgrows the said investment of US$ 2.00 million, during the course of its relationship with the said retailer. Sourcing from agricultural co-operatives and farmers co¬operatives would also be considered in this category. The procurement requirement would have to be met, in the first instance, as an average of five years’ total value of the manufactured/ processed products purchased, beginning 1st April of the year during which the first tranche of FDI is received. Thereafter, it would have to be met on an annual basis”. 

c) Amendment in para 6.2.16.5(1)(vi) of ‘Circular 1 of 2013 – Consolidated FDI Policy’ to read as follows:

“Retail sales outlets may be set up only in cities with a population of more than 10 lakh as per the 2011 Census or any other cities as per the decision of the respective State Governments, and may also cover an area of 10 kms around the municipal/urban agglomeration limits of such cities; retail locations will be restricted to conforming areas as per the Master/Zonal Plans of the concerned cities and provision will be made for requisite facilities such as transport connectivity and parking”.

The amendment in the extant FDI policy relating to Multi-Brand Retail Trading in respect of ‘small industry’ will bring in a balance between the business exigencies of the MBRT entity and intent of the policy which is to extend the benefits of the FDI policy in multi-brand retail trading to a larger constituency of small industries. The amendment in the provision regarding ‘back-end infrastructure’ will give more clarity to the policy. The amendment to the provision regarding location of retail outlets will bring in parity in the policy as it is proposed to extend such dispensation to all States.

Article published July 18th, 2013 in Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar on the National Sample Survey Organization recent survey reporting 15% decline in Indian Poverty between 2004-2005 to 2011-2012.

Full article here.

Acorn Foundation India and Kitab Khana, Mumbai, invite you to the launch of ‘Dharavi: The City Within’

DATE: June 14, 2003 TIME: 6 p.m to 7.30 p.m

VENUE: Kitab Khana bookstore, Somaiya Bhavan, M.G Road, Fort, Mumbai

‘Dharavi: The City Within’ is edited by Joseph Campana and published by Harper Collins

PROGRAMME:

1. Introduction by Vinod Shetty, director, Acorn Foundation: He will speak about Dharavi and the origins and purpose of the book.

2. A panel comprising: (i) Laxmi Kamble: activist from Acorn and the waste sector

(ii) Shirish Patel: Architect and urban planner

(iii) Thayapa Santi: Educationist and activist working in Dharavi

(iv) Kalpana Sharma: senior journalist and columnist

The speakers will highlight some of the main issues related to Dharavi, including redevelopment.

3. This will be followed by a discussion with questions / comments from the audience.

4. We will close with a short music performance by 4 members of Dharavi Rocks, a band of young people who work and study in Dharavi.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Dharavi houses half-a-million people and has some of the most expensive real estate in Mumbai. Behind its success are the efforts of thousands of extraordinary people. In ‘Dharavi: The City Within’ the dreams, aspirations and anxieties of this thriving community come alive in the hands of some of India’s best writers and journalists. Meet Prema Salgaonkar, who knocks on 500 doors a day taking deposits for the Mahila Milan Bank to make sure her neighbours have money set aside for when trouble hits. Meet Vadivel Thambi, who delivers milk and texts his poetry to hundreds of adoring fans. Meet Sayeed Khan Bucklewala, a brass foundry owner who makes millions selling belt buckles. Find out how the people who live here pay their bills, cope with shiftless and abusive spouses, educate their children, and protect their homes and livelihoods from those who would turn them out. Alongside is a larger overview of what it means to live in such a city system. Dharavi, in the course of its evolution, has raised a number of issues pertaining to decent living standards, development and maintaining amity. These hold important lessons for India as a whole as it urbanises at a rapid pace.

ABOUT THE EDITOR:

Joseph Campana lived in Mumbai from 2007 to 2011. He taught feature writing and literary journalism at the Xavier Institute of Communications and literature at the merican School of Bombay. His writing has appeared in the Indian Express and Time Out Mumbai. He currently lives in Missoula, Montana.

ABOUT ACORN: The Acorn Foundation India Trust organises waste-workers and trains them in scientific methods of waste handling, segregation and recycling. The Dharavi Project is a multi-media project of the Acorn Foundation that utilises artists and social-impact programmes to change the living conditions of over 100,000 ‘rag-pickers’ who segregate waste in Mumbai. Its mission is to increase the welfare of waste-workers and give their profession a legitimate and sustainable voice in the recycling and waste-management value chain in the city.

June 6th, 2013

DIPP issues clarification on FDI in Retail.

June 4th, 2013

As you know, superstores including Walmart, Carrefour, Tesco were studying the policy riders for 51% FDI in multibrand retail. As the DIPP received a number of queries from superstores, a multi-ministry meeting of concerned officials is being held today in DIPP to issue clarifications.

It is likely that the DIPP

– Would ask global superstores to invest 50% of only the first tranche of investments (minimum $100 million) in back-end infrastructure.

– Would declare that the 51% foreign direct investment limit in multi brand retail is composite one, including FDI and foreign institutional investment (FII).

– Would allow superstores to create back-end infrastructure in states that do not allow any FDI in multi-brand retail. As of now only 11 states have agreed to allow global retailers. Yesterday the new govt. of Himachal Pradesh announced its agreement with FDI retail policy.

On 3^rd June 2013, Govt. of India defined Group firms as two or more enterprises that directly or indirectly are in a position to exercise 26% or more voting rights in the other enterprise or appoint more than 50% members on board of directors in the other enterprise.

Amidst widespread opposition to the Walmart’s backdoor entry of FDI in Multibrand retail (through Bharti-Walmart, the 50:50 joint venture between Walmart and Bharti for operating Cash-and-carry outlets in India), in April 2010 Govt. of India framed a policy that asked cash-and-carry businesses (Bharti-Walmart) to limit their sale to group firms at 25 per cent of their turnover. In absence of clear definition of what group firms meant Bharti-Walmart’s cash & carry business (20 Best Price Stores) continued to sale almost 85% of their products to Bharti Retail’s 200 Easy Day stores.

 Now, Bharti-Walmart will either have to limit its sale to Easy Day to 25 per cent of its turnover or restructure its corporate structure.

Annual Report on the work of Argentina ACORN presented at ACORN International Conference May 2013 in Honduras.

The Hawkers Joint Action Committee meeting held on 21st April, 2013 at the Sindhu Samaj Hall, Karolbagh unanimously decided to form fronts of Women and Minorities.

Md. Sayed, Hawkers representative of Badarpur Market and resident of Daryaganj was elected as convenor of the Minority Front.

Ms. Sushma, a member of the Zonal Vending Committee of North Delhi Municipal Corporation, Hawkers representative of Karolbagh and resident of Nawada, Dwarka was unanimously elected as Convenor of the Women Front of the Hawkers Joint Action Committee.

More than 100 hawkers representatives who participated in the meeting discussed issues including of newly elected Hon’ble Mayors and Standing Committee Chairpersons in all the three municipal corporations of Delhi. A detail discussion took place on the Food Safety and Standard Act and required interventions by Food vendors.

Hawkers Joint action Committee also decided to actively participate in the forthcoming national convention on FDI in Retail.

Please check out audio from India FDI Watch Director Dharmendra Kumar’s interview on New Zealand public radio.