Decentralisation
Tofflers Add A New Wave

By Mukti Rijal

THE world today is changing rapidly. New ideas and concepts have supplanted the traditional pattern of thinking. We have already entered a new millennium. The new century is set to witness colossal changes in political frontiers. In fact, the shifts occurred in 1990s have brought in a wave of transformation. The changes have created confusions and many uncertainties as well. Newt Gingrich an intelligent US politicians gives a portrayal of the consequential changes facing the world saying "Politicians, columnists and academics all seem confused by the scale of change.’’

Gingrich has been an admirer of the futurologist as Alvin and Heidi Tofflers. Tofflers wrote important books, which have been read widely and commented even critically. The most thoughtful books they authored are the Future Shock and the Third Wave. Future Shock called attention to the acceleration of change that was threatening to overwhelm people everywhere. They analysed the change that often disoriented individuals, business communities and governments. In the Third Wave, the Tofflers placed the information revolution in historical perspective. They, according to Gingrich, correctly understand that development and distribution of information has now become the central productivity and power activity of human race.

Tofflers have brought out a new book titled ‘Creating a New Civilization’ in which they have enough to shed light on the politics, democracy and decentralization. Democracy and decentralization are buzzword in the world today. According to Tofflers, the Third Wave revolution has a big share of its impact in moulding politics of the contemporary times the diversity and complexity of Third Wave socirty blow the circuits of the highly centralized organizations. Third Wave organizations push as many decisions as possible down from the top and out to the periphery.

Tofflers are an ardent advocate of decentralization and diffusion of decision-making locus and power. He writes "To cure today’s decision logjam, resulting from institutional overload, we need to divide up the decisions and reallocate them-sharing them more widely and switching the site of decision making as the problems themselves require’’. The institutions of government must correlate with the structure of economy, the information system and other features of the civilization. Today we are witnessing a fundamental decentralization and regionalism of production and economic activity. We are undergoing a fundamental demassification of communications as the power of central network wanes. We are seeing a stunning proliferation of cable, cassette, computer and private electronic mail system all pushing in the decentralized direction.

According to Tofflers, the issue is not decentralization opposed to the problem of centralization. The issue is rational allocation of decision making in a system that has overstressed centralization to the point at which new information flows are swamping the central decision-makers. Tofflers in their book Creating a new Civilization caution: "Political decentralization is no guarantee of democracy’’. But they add "There is no possibility of restoring sense, order and management efficiency to many governments without a substantial devolution of central power. We need to divide the decision load and shift a significant part of it downward.’’ Toffler plead for a widest possible debate over the need for a new political system attuned to the needs of a Third Wave civilization. No one knows in detail that what the future holds or what will work best in a Third Wave society. For this reason we should think not of a singular massive reorganization roof a single revolutionary or cataclysmic change imposed from the top. We should think of thousands of conscious, decentralized experiments that permit us to test new models of political decision making at local and regional levels. In this respect Tofflers caution for the benefit of the present day politician. The sooner we begin to design alternative political institutions based on the three principles as minority power, semidirect democracy and decision division the better our chances are for peaceful transition. Tofflers add "If ther is the blind attmpt to block such changes and defend political obsolescence there is possibility of bloodshed’’ .

In Nepal, we have embarked upon the process of decentralization of power. However, the strategy relating to decentralization is not formulated. Flexibility and diversity is the heart and soul of decentralization and devoution on of power. Decentralization cannot be advanced by relying on the traditional and worn out institutional basis. We should think of the challenges of new century and create flexible and decentralized institutions responsive to new situations.

Census 2001 & Gender

By Rabi Prasad Kayastha

POPULATION census is a huge statistical operation which is conducted at every ten-year interval in Nepal. It is the counting of people residing within the defined territory in a given reference time period. Due to absence of the successful implementation of vital registration system and regular household surveys, it is only the source of basic population statistics in the country. Population census provides data at national as well as sub-national levels. So, the policy makers and planners who formulate the national as well as sub-national development plans and programs will be guided by the statistics collected in the population censuses. In this context, the quality of census should be standard as far as possible for implementing plans and programmes in the right directions for the over all development of the country. Therefore, National Population Census 2001 which is scheduled to be conducted in coming June needs to be more gender sensitive in order to obtain the clear picture of population characteristics. The preparatory activities of the census are progressing in accordance with this perspective.

Household is the basis of individual enumeration in population censuses and many demographic surveys. So, the information concerning head of the household or relationship to the household head is collected in every population census in the country. Though it was collected from the first census of Nepal (1911), limited data on it is available only in 1991 census. According to this, the proportion of female headed household is much lower than that of male headed household. It is mainly due to socio-cultural factors that prevailed in Nepal. In such society, male is generally reported as the head of the household though the female member leads all household activities. However, a person is regarded as the head who performs all leading activities in the respective household as defined in population census. It is also noted in some cases that male member is reported as the household head even he is under adolescent age in the presence of actively leading women. In such a condition, there is scope to improve the quality of data on it.

Statistics on marital status shows the important picture of socio-economic condition of society and it is one of the basis in demographic analysis that affects fertility. The major source of this information is population census in Nepal. However, the categories collected in census are not enough to highlight the marital life in Nepalese society. Previous censuses were unable to provide information on polygamous aspect of the society and this is the most important data for analyzing the woman’s status, Similarly, remarriage is less frequent event in the case of women, where as it is very common for men in Nepalese society. Therefore, data on these issues are needed for the analysis of marital status in gender perspective. It is hoped that the data gap in this respect by the 2001 population census of Nepal.

Every census collects information on economic activity performed by a person of specified age and these data were made available in gender desegregate format. But there is substantial difference between male and female economic participation. It might be due to under-reported of women’s contribution and the concept of economic activity used in censuses. Most of activities performed within household by women are considered outside the economic activity even although it may have direct bearing on the well being of her family. On the other hand, women’s involvement in economic activities is regarded as lower status in society. So, there is high proportion of female population concentrated in homemaker category as reported the reason of not being economically active. A person who is engaged in economic activity during a reference period is considered as economically active population. All activities are regarded as economic activity as defined by the system of National Accounts (SNA) and the concept was revised in 1993. In the context of this revision, it needs to revise the concept of economic participation as well as correction measures need to be adopted for the elimination of problem of underreporting of women’s economic participation in Population Census 2001.

In the 2001 census, gender sensitization measures are needed for the improvement and quality of the result especially in the above mentioned areas, that is, head of the household, marital status and woman’s economic participation. To achieve this objective, special attention should be given in census media campaign, recruitment of enumerators, questionnaire design and training of the field staff.

People’s awarness is the major factor for the better quality result of census. Respondents are needed to be educated about the objective of census operation as well as concepts used in the questionnaire. In this context, census media campaign is the basic tool and it should be used extensively as well as intensively. So, a census media core group is formed to perform effective media activities in the 2001 census. The main function of this group is to give advice on the census media development strategies in gender perspective.

Census questionnaire format also plays a pivotal role in determining the quality of collected data, so it needs to be designed in reasoning the gender issues. In this connection, the 2001 census questionnaire is, carefully, designed and it is expected to count women’s economic activities accurately. The design prepared for the census shows that it will capture all activities including activities performed by women in the household, such as firewood collection, fetching of water, cattle grazing, etc. These improvements have been done in accordance with the revised SNA version 1993. Similarly, additional categories like remarriage multiple marriage, etc. are also incorporated in the questionnaire. Again, the concepts and definitions are thoroughly elaborated with relevant examples in the instruction manual.

Sex of the enunerator will also contribute to omit the gender bias in data. Women of some ethnic groups in the country do not want to respond especially to male interviewers and proxy response will occur in the case of female household members. In the previous censuses, the basic academic qualification of enumerators was S.L.C. or equivalent. Most of the enumerators were primary school teachers. But female participation in the job was very low. It is advisable to use women in the enumeration work for the better quality information collection in gender perspective. The performance of female enumerators used in Pilot Population Census in the last year was encouraging. Therefore, it is planned to use at least 20 per cent women enumerator in the 2001 population census. This will help to improve the quality of data especially in the case of economic activity, head of household fetility and so on.

Training of field staff is the another most important part to improve the quality in order to collect the real picture of the population. Training of large number of enumerators and supervisors that has to be performed with uniformity at a fixed period of time all over the country is a challenging task. In the 2001 census, the training program for field staff is prepared to train them thoroughly about the concepts and definitions used in census operation in order to avoid the problem on gender and other issues. It is also scheduled to train them on current gender issues.

Finally, population census is an event and all developmental planning and programme are prepared on the basis of its result. So, it is obvious that the result needs to reflect the clear picture of population in the country. The preparatory works and programme of the 2001 census shows clear indication that the result will be gender balanced and it will help the preparation and implementation of all types of planning and related activities.

Recycling Cans: A Boon For Brazilians

BRAZILIANS don’t pay deposits on containers, rarely separate their trash and think little of tossing an empty soda can from a car window. "Please Don’t Litter" signs are roundly ignored.

Yet Brazil is poised to catch up with Japan as a leader among the world’s biggest countries in recycling aluminum cans.

The reason is Luiz Carlos Carola, and a legion like him.

Carola was homeless when he started collecting cans outside the Rio bus station three years ago. Today, he has a roof over his head, spends his weekends at a modest beach resort outside the city and earns about dlrs 260 a month - not bad money in a country where nearly half the people get by on dlrs 150 a month or less.

"As long as there are ill-mannered people, I’ll earn a good living," Carola says.

Ecological consciousness has been slow in coming to Brazil, where the poor have little education and the well-off have maids to pick up after them. Throwaway containers are tossed everywhere, and beachgoers think nothing of leaving a pile of garbage behind when they go home.

All the same, the Brazilian Aluminum Association says the country should recycle 80 percent of the 9.5 billion aluminum cans sold in 2000. That would put them up with the current leader, Japan, which recycled 79 percent of its cans in 1999.

Some small European countries recycle almost 90 percent of their cans, but the association says Japan and Brazil are far ahead of other populous countries.

For instance, the United States recycled 63 percent of its cans in 1999, and Europe as a whole recycled 41 percent. The rate was 51 percent in Argentina, South America’s second largest economy after Brazil.

There’s more than altruism involved. Recycling can be good business.

To produce a ton of aluminum from scratch requires five tons of bauxite and 16,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity. With recycling, you need a ton of old cans and just 750 kilowatt-hours of electricity, a boon for a country straining to meet electricity demand.

Aluminum cans are relatively new to Brazil. They were introduced only in 1990, when the Skol brewery began using them to provide a smaller, more convenient alternative to the traditional 600-milliliters glass bottles.

Since then, the market for aluminum cans has grown more than 3,000 percent, and recycling them has become a dlrs 110 million a year industry that employs an estimated 150,000 people, the aluminum association says.

"The mainspring that drives (recycling) is the sheer volume of garbage pickers we have," says Elder Rondelli, marketing and recycling manager for aluminum maker Alcan.

"But it’s not just because Brazil is a miserable country and it’s just the poor who are recycling. It’s starting to penetrate the middle class."

Aluminum is the "gold" of garbage picking - pound for pound worth 10 times more than plastic, 12 times more than glass and 30 times more than paper on the local recycling market. A full-time can collector can earn up to five times the minimum wage.

Thanks to cans, Carola is now what the Brazilian government calls a "micro-businessman."

Still, the aluminum industry wants to move beyond reliance on the professional trash collectors. It is trying to teach more privileged Brazilians to recycle with an educational program directed at schools, churches, hotels and tenant associations.

The most aggressive of these efforts is headed by the aluminum can maker Latasa, which accounts for half of Brazil’s can market and a fourth of all recycling. Today, 55 percent of Latasa’s cans are made from recycled aluminum.

Latasa has 16,000 institutions involved in a program that awards cash and prizes in return for used cans. The company also has 47 recycling centers around Rio and Sao Paulo where collectors can sell aluminum for 1.55 reals a kilo and also buy food at discount prices.

"We saw the proliferation of cans could be a problem, so we decided to invest in recycling early on," said Latasa’s recycling director, Jose Roberto Giosa.

Giosa says Latasa’s success has stirred interest in recycling other products.

"Other sectors will have to follow because the public demands it," he says, pointing out that 18 new recycling laws are pending in Brazil’s Congress.

But Giosa questions whether legislation mandates for recycling is the proper approach.

"We developed a Brazilian solution, we didn’t have to copy anyone and we learned through trial and error," he says. "It was done with taxes or subsidies and it was based totally on the market. That’s why it works."

AP