Lone assassination

8226; You have correctly warned the Pakistani government that the LoC is an established fact and cannot be changed by the emotional gimmicks of a general whose credentials are far from being reliable 8216;General Gimmick8217;,IE, Oct 20. First, General Musharraf is a man in uniform which makes him devoid of emotions and, secondly, his survival depends solely on Kashmir issue, either solving it or letting it persist. His every action, whether in peace time or during disaster, is aimed at grabbing Kashmir. He has no interest in in human life as proved when he called Kashmiri Islamic terrorists freedom fighters.

8212; G.S. Kulkarni Delhi

8226; Your front page photograph,8216;Terror tremor: Minister killed in living room8217; IE, October 19 revealed more than what the story could. Indeed the tears of the daughter of J038;K junior education minister Ghulam Lone represented indomitable strength in the face of terrorist attack. One wonders what it will take to move the government into action against the terrorists to mitigate her grief.

8212; Bidyut K. Chatterjee Faridabad

Silly remark

8226; The remark made by Union Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is rather ridiculous. As a responsible minister he should not have made such a silly remark on saris and gas cylinders during his visit to his constituency, Mayiladuthurai. As it is, our petroleum ministry is facing flak from the public for the frequent hike in the price of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene, since the point when the UPA government took over.

8212; C.R. Ramakrishnan On e-mail

The NREA promise

8226; The prime minister in his letter to chief ministers has sought their cooperation in the effective implementation of the National Rural Employment Act 8217;05. This is commendable although much needs to be done on the front of unemployment. One, due to technological development, the rural-urban divide has become blurred; therefore the legal guarantee needs to be provided to urban areas as well. Two, the needs of plans and availability of labour and skills need to be matched. Three, skills need to be updated. Therefore, along with state governments, the co-operative sectors and NGOs have to be encouraged to start and operate institutes at subsidised rates. Rural employment wage structure should be so attractive that unchecked urbanisation will be gradually reduced.

8212; Shreekrishna N. Phadnis Mumbai

Write Back

8226; I refer to your article published on October 5, 2005, 8216;SEWA project funds now under UN agency scanner8217; and would like to correct some facts reported by you.
The international fund for agricultural development, IFAD, as a specialised agency of the United Nations dedicated to the reduction of rural poverty, entered into a tripartite project agreement with the Government of India, acting through the Government of Gujarat, and SEWA to implement the livelihood security project for the earthquake-affected rural households of Gujarat. As such, it is a standard practice for all international development finance institutions to supervise at least once a year, and for completed projects twice a year, each one of the project we help fund throughout the world. In addition, mid-course of all the projects we also carry out a mid-term review to ensure progress of the programme and adjust the design if this is required in the light of progress made and changed circumstances. Your headline is misleading in that SEWA project funds are not under the scanner of us or our cooperating institutions of United Nations Office for Project Services UNOPS. This review is simply a fiduciary requirement across the board.
Also note that the quote from the report of UNOPS has been taken out of context from a paragraph on accounting. It is incorrect to suggest that the UNOPS has recruited an external auditor to scrutinise the accounts of Jeevika Project. An auditor was recruited at the request of SEWA to assist SEWA to enhance their capacity on financial management systems even further. Your article erroneously quoted Mr Madiath.

8212; Thomas Elhaut Director Asia and Pacific Division, IFAD

Janyala Sreenivas replies:

8226; On September 12, 2005, Kishan Gill, senior portfolio manager, UNOPS Regional office for Asia and Pacific, Bangkok, sent a Terms of Reference TOR for 8216;Implementation Support: Review accounting procedures and audit processes of Project Expenditures8217; to SEWA, Gujarat Government and officials of IFAD. In Para 4 under sub-head 8216;Audit Related issues8217; it is mentioned reproduced verbatim8230;8216;8216;Sewa also has expressed some reservations about the special audit practice but agreed to cooperate fully with an external accountant to resolve the audit issues raised.8217;8217;
Subsequent to this TOR, on September 15, Felix Madiath was appointed to 8216;8216;review accounting procedures and audit process of project expenditures.8217;8217; Both the TOR and the letter informing Sewa about Madiath8217;s appointment are with The Indian Express
8226; The appointment of Madiath on September 15, 2005, comes after the state government stopped funds for a while to SEWA over some audit objections it raised.
Though Mr Elhaut8217;s letter says external audit is a standard practice and carried out once a year, in the case of Jeevika, it was done after three and half years, after the government raised objections.
And even after three and half years, three SEWA District Associations8212;Kutch Crafts Association, Surendranagar Mahila Awas Ane Bal Vikas Mandal, and, Banaskantha Dwakra Mahila Sewa Association8212;which are responsible for implementation of the Jeevika Project have not yet been audited.
8226; As for SEWA requesting for an auditor to assist in enhancing their capacity on financial management systems, UNOPS consultant Robert Moreland in his Implementation Support for Pre-MTR Preparatory Mission Report says: 8216;8216;SEWA terminated the contract with the agency
ORG, the monitoring and evaluation agency early in 2005 but appears to have made little progress in replacing it. This has delayed work on preparing material and analysis for the mid-term review.8217;8217; ORG was dismissed by SEWA in early 2005 saying it was unhappy with its work.yuml;Anurag Priyadarshi, an Indian Postal Service officer posted in Gujarat with the experience of handling the largest rural banking network with 8,000 offices, was deputed to SEWA in April 2004. He pointed out loopholes in management procedures and accounting and auditing. When SEWA did not accept his suggestions, he resigned on May 18, 2005, after sending a three-page email marked to IFAD and others list out what was happening inside SEWA.
8226; This reporter spoke to Felix Madiath on cellphone. He was quoted only after confirming the brief that was given to him. The quotes attributed to him are his own