Tag: Praja Foundation

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Big story

Understaffed Mumbai Police not able to complete investigations: Survey

But overall, Mumbai residents have faith in the policing systems and most use the police helpline numbers to report crimes.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

All is not lost when it comes to dealing with crime in Mumbai – it seems that while crimes against women and children are on the rise, citizens’ awareness about reporting crimes has also gone up. However, with Mumbaikars not entirely favourably disposed towards the Mumbai Police when it comes to solving crimes, there is a large majority of people in the city that feels insecure about living in Mumbai.

As per a survey commissioned to Hansa Research by city-based citizen empowerment organisation Praja Foundation, 29 per cent of respondents from South Central Mumbai feel unsafe in Mumbai. This region also felt most insecure about the safety of women, senior citizens and children (27 per cent) and travelling from one place to another in the city (30 per cent). The survey included responses from 24,694 households in all of Mumbai.

Mumbai policeState of policing in Mumbai

However, the survey found a large number of respondents having faith in the Mumbai Police’s investigations. “About 70 per cent respondents said they were satisfied with police’s response to reported crimes,” the survey reads. “Overall, 11 per cent respondents did not report a crime because they did not have faith in the police.”

Higher rates of reporting crimes – whether witnessed or personally experienced – have revealed a grim picture: there has been a sharp increase in the numbers of rapes and molestations in Mumbai, over the past two years. “In the last two years, 2011-2012 and 2012-21013, rapes have gone up by 57 per cent (294 cases) and molestation cases have gone up by 43 per cent (793 cases),” the survey says. Correspondingly, the conviction rate has gone down to 7 per cent in 2012 from 10 per cent in 2011.

The lack of investigations is not merely down to lack of intent, however – the Mumbai Police force continues to be understaffed and overworked, thus hampering quality of investigation. “As of July 2013, Mumbai Police has a strength of 35,761 officers out of the sanctioned 41,398. The police control room is short by 140 officers. The resultant gap [in manpower] severely affects not only the quality of investigations but also causes delay in completing investigation,” the survey finds.

For the entire survey and past white papers from Praja, visit www.praja.org.

(Pictures courtesy www.thehindu.com, www.outlookindia.com)

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Big story

Dengue, TB, cholera rise in Mumbai

Praja Foundation report on state of city’s health throws up some grim truths on public health care in the city.
by Nidhi Qazi

In a recently-released report on the city’s health, the Praja Foundation has found an increase in the number of dengue, tuberculosis (TB) and cholera cases, though there is a decrease in the cases of malaria.

Praja, founded in 1997 by a group of eight Mumbaikars, released its white paper on ‘The State of Health of Mumbai’ last week. The data is based on information gathered through RTI from municipal dispensaries, hospitals, State Government dispensaries and hospitals and other Government health care centres.

Nitai Mehta, Founder Trustee, Praja, said, “BMC needs to be complimented on reducing the increase in malaria cases drastically from the peak of 2010-2011 (over 78,000 cases) to less than 22,000 cases reported in 2012-2013. But there is little reason for complacency. Cases of dengue have shot up drastically. TB incidences are also on the rise. Deaths due to cholera have almost tripled from the previous year.”

The data collected from MCGM dispensaries and hospitals and State hospitals and other Government health centres shows that in 2012-2013, there were 4,867 dengue cases as opposed to 682 cases in 2008-2009. Last year, 36,417 cases of TB were reported from municipal and Government dispensaries and hospitals, of which 6,921 patients died of TB.

Additionally, cholera incidences have once again started increasing in the city. Nine deaths were due to cholera in 2012-13 against three in the previous year.

Milind Mhaske, Project Director at Praja, added, “From another perspective, if we had to depend on this data for the entire city, in 2012-2013, 1 out of 567 people in Mumbai suffered from malaria, 1 out of 2,555 people had dengue (last year 1 out of 6,617 had dengue), one in 341 people had TB and cholera hit 1 in 63,000 Mumbaikars! The ratio has been on an increase since last year for all major diseases.”

Andheri (East) leads in diseases among all the municipal wards. The ward (K/E) has shown highest incidences of malaria, dengue and TB. Kurla (West), L ward of the MCGM has the highest incidence of diarrhoea, almost double its nearest rival.

According to surveys conducted by Praja, over 70 per cent of Mumbai’s population visits private health care centres for treatment and 35 per cent visit municipal and Government dispensaries and hospitals.

But since there is no way to track any data from the privately-owned health care custodians, Mehta rues, “How can civic authorities frame any health care policy for our megapolis when it does not have access to health care data from the private doctors, clinics and hospitals visited by a distinct majority of our city population?” The reasons for the poor data-tracking vary from fear of income tax scrutiny to increase in paperwork to sheer apathy.

Mehta concludes, “The report on the state of health of Mumbai raises pertinent questions of grave consequences for the city that our policy makers ought to consider seriously and expeditiously.”

See the full report here.

(Picture courtesy ibnlive.com)

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Learn

Who’s going to Mumbai’s municipal schools?

City-based NGO finds that most parents, whatever their economic and social background, are sending their children to English medium schools.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is the only municipal corporation in the country to run schools in eight languages. The presence of BMC schools in Mumbai is also high, with a school located at or near a major slum pocket. There are over 1,500 primary schools in the city.

But the numbers of children applying for admission to them, and the numbers of students dropping out every year, are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

BMC schools According to statistics by Praja, a city-based voluntary organisation, “Less than a decade ago, the municipal education system that used to cater to over 7.5 lakh students now attracts less than 4.5 lakh students. Says Nitai Mehta, Managing Trustee, Praja Foundation, “The number of dropouts (from municipal schools) has increased over the last decade, despite better infrastructure facilities and qualified teachers. A household survey recently showed that 83 per cent parents expressed preference for private schools rather than municipal schools.”

Traditionally and culturally, municipal schools cater to children belonging to economically and socially backward backgrounds, and hence, the medium of instruction is a vernacular language, mostly the mother-tongue. “But an increase in dropouts is an increasingly common trend in private vernacular schools as well. The growing trend is for parents to be more inclined towards English medium schools,” Mehta said.

Dismal findings for BMC schools

Milind Mhaske, Project Director, Praja had some key findings to relate about BMC schools:

– In 2009, the pass percentage of private schools was at least 20 points ahead of BMC schools, a trend which exists till date. Also, out of those students receiving scholarships in Class BMC schools IV, only 9 were from BMC schools while the rest were from private schools.

– A significant portion of Class V students cannot read simple text.

– There is a high dropout rate between Classes V to VIII.

– Parents are normally not part of the teaching process.

– Pre-school is not yet a part of BMC schools.

Possible solutions

A panel appointed by Praja to examine the problem of BMC schools came up with solutions to arrest the dropout rate and improve attendance and learning levels. ‘Undertake development work for schools which have adequate infrastructure on an immediate basis,’ was one solution. Another was, ‘Supportive systems such as sports and health programmes should be implemented in the near future.’

A major solution is to provide inclusive education for all, where ‘schools should serve as hubs for community programmes, study classes, reading rooms for the higher classes, reading melas, etc.’

(Pictures courtesy www.ashanet.org, www.afternoondc.in, www.educationworld.in. Images are used for representational purpose only)

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Learn

Everything’s in a (road’s) name

Your elected representatives in the BMC are asking more questions about road renaming, rather than things like repairs and sanitation.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The monsoons should be upon us in the next month, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is working hard to repair roads that are riddled with potholes and need general repairs. With more and more complaints coming from the citizens, it logically follows that the city’s elected representatives – its municipal councillors – will also take most of the complaints from their wards to the ward committee meetings.

Not necessarily.

A white paper released recently by NGO Praja Foundation recently reveals that of the questions raised by municipal councillors based on citizens’ complaints, the maximum numbers of questions pertained to renaming of roads and chowks in the city. The paper, titled White Paper On Report Of Working Of Ward Committees In The City Of Mumbai And Civic Problems Registered By Citizens, sheds light on the complaints by citizens against the quality and quantity of related questions asked by councillors in the BMC ward committee meetings. “The maximum number of questions asked by elected representatives in ward committee meetings during the year 2012 were on renaming of roads and chowks – a hefty 127 questions!” says the summary accompanying the paper.

The last such study was conducted by Praja in 2010, to similar results. “Some four years ago, when Praja Foundation had issued a White Paper on civic issues, we had found it shocking that of the plethora of problems facing the city of Mumbai, the maximum number of questions asked by the municipal councillors were on the renaming of roads,” the summary says. “In the calender year 2012, BMC received 29,852 complaints related to roads, potholes etc. The 227 elected representatives together asked 100 questions on roads, repairs, etc. However, the maximum number of questions asked by elected representatives in ward committee meetings during this year were on renaming of roads and chowks,” the paper adds.

“Unless municipal councillors learn to interpret data and raise valid, pertinent questions in the ward committee meetings, they are falling far short of the expectations the citizens elected them for. Should our elected representatives be taking the Corporation to task over the citizen’s complaints or should they be only asking the Municipal Commissioner to change names of roads and chowks?”

Incidentally, citizens have complained the most about roads in 2012 – there were 29,852 complaints received (as against 5,177 complaints in 2011). There were 16,194 complaints about drainage, 6,562 complaints against solid waste management and 6,215 water supply complaints.

(Pictures courtesy www.mid-day.com, mumbai-pushpa.blogspot.com) 

Categories
Big story

Mumbai’s municipal schools are pathetic

…so says a Praja Foundation survey conducted in 2012. Survey results for the city’s BMC schools are far from encouraging.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Education is a free right for every child, and for a city like Mumbai, which has the richest municipal corporation in the country, the quality of education imparted to children in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)-run schools should be anything but mediocre, its results nothing short of excellent.

And yet, the actual realities are quite different. In a survey conducted across 15,191 households in Mumbai, 5,167 households had children going to school. Of the children surveyed in these households, 19 per cent children went to municipal schools. The survey was conducted in March and April of 2012, with Hansa Research. The research document is titled ‘White Paper on State of Education in Municipal Schools of Mumbai.’

As per the survey, “Between the years 2008-2012, the average percentage of students passing SSC from private schools was 82 per cent, while the average number of students passing from municipal schools has been a mere 58 per cent. This is after 61 per cent of BMC school children have been sent for private tuitions as well, another revelation from our city-wide survey this year. Of the 100 students who received a Government of India scholarship, only 9 were from BMC schools.”

The white paper goes on to reveal that the BMC actually spends more money on each child in municipal schools as compared to the fees charged by private schools – the BMC’s yearly spend on each municipal school child is upwards of Rs 50,000, while most private schools surveyed were charging students between Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000. However, this does not promise quality teaching, as the survey found out. “In a School Inspection Report for D Ward (Malabar Hill, Grant Road, Napeansea Road), over 85 per cent of teachers received good to excellent report on most teaching attributes like explaining the subject matter, teaching methods, etc. The passing percentage in D ward municipal schools is a mere 51 per cent and has one of the highest dropout rates at 11.5 per cent. Most inspection reports appear to be a mere formality as most teachers are rated good to excellent in most inspecting parameters.”

Even worse, the gap between performance of BMC schools and private schools in the last four years has been 24 per cent – a clear indication of this is the statistic that if 10 students appeared for SSC exams from BMC schools, six cleared the exams; this latter figure was eight for private schools.

Interestingly, even parents wished to send their wards to private schools instead of BMC schools – almost 89 per cent of families surveyed wanted to send their children to private schools, but the expenses inhibited them from doing so.

(Picture courtesy forbesindia.com)

Categories
Diaries

Crime snapshot of the year

Mumbai was not such a great place to be in in 2012. A survey by Praja Foundation finds out more.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Part 1 of our Yearender Dairies

It’s not often that you can actually measure how secure you feel in a given place. But the Praja Foundation has done just that – brought out a white paper after carrying out a survey in Mumbai and measured, in terms of percentages, how secure people in the city feel, after alarming spikes in crime rates this year.

As per a survey conducted across 15,191 correspondents in Mumbai, Praja Foundation has compiled statistics that are grim, at best. For instance, 25 per cent of people surveyed felt unsafe in Mumbai this year. Only 20 per cent of respondents from North East Mumbai who said they felt safe in the city, while 41 per cent of respondents from North Central Mumbai said they felt safe when travelling from one place to another within Mumbai.

The Foundation further notes that “of the total 71,425 cases filed in Mumbai in 2011-12, 18 per cent (a total of 12,762) cases are related to serious offences. Of this, only 45 per cent (a total of 5,772) cases were sent for trial. The rest are pending investigation. And of those that went for trial, only 10 per cent got a conviction. It is indeed shocking to learn that of the 1,61,528 cases gone into trial, the acquittal rate was a shocking 83 per cent!”

And if you blame lack of political will in getting criminals punished, or indeed, talked about, you may be right. The Foundation reveals that Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the North Central Mumbai zone were guilty of raising only 65 questions during the Monsoon 2011, Winter 2011 and Budget 2012 Sessions of the State Legislature; this zone also has the highest incidence of crime in the city, at 6,736 cases. MLAs from this region are Krishnakumar Hegde, Milind Kamble, Prakash Sawant, Kripashankar Singh and Baba Siddiqui.

A lack of strong policing was also found to be a key issue – of 71,425 cases, 18 per cent (ie 12,762) cases were related to Class II (Serious offences, such as murder, rape, abduction, grievous hurt, kidnapping, etc.) and were investigated in 2011. Of these, investigations were completed in only 6,515 cases.

‘Diaries’ is a series of stories on one theme. The Yearender Diaries seeks to capture the most telling moments, happenings and people in the city this year. Watch out for Event of the Year tomorrow.

(All figures are from Praja Foundation. Picture courtesy gawker.com)

 

 

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