COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED

THE ELECTION BAZAAR

2012-02-16T09:45:00.000+05:30

Elections are more about redirecting black money

India’s tryst with democracy might remain a tryst only. Not only the three pillars of democracy stand abused but even the fundamental setup of democracy is being tweaked as per convenience. There has been no year when elections in India have been fair, thus elevating a party to power who is most of the time not the first-choice of the masses.

Even the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) has criticized the current electoral system where channeling massive funds from various sources is the veritable cornerstone of the electoral corruption. In spite of the Chief Information Commission declaring political parties as ‘public authorities’ in 2008, the balance sheets of these parties including the Congress and the BJP for the year 2010 revealed incomes that were to the tune of Rs.200 crore and more, which was against the estimated expenditure of Rs.3,000 crores (as estimated by Election Commission). If Wikileaks reports are to be believed, the political parties inserted cash (worth more than $13 million) with the morning newspapers along with instructions of their choice of candidates. Another report by the National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms, released on January 2011, revealed that most of the political parties declared a major part of their donations to be over Rs.20,000. For instance, NCP declared the entire donation received to be in sums greater than Rs.20,000 while the correspondent figures for INC and CPI stand out to be over 50 per cent. Interestingly, BJP declared merely 19 per cent of the total donation to be in sums of over Rs.20,000 but in absolute terms the party topped the list with total nontaxable donations of Rs.5,500 lakhs. The report further revealed that Bharti Electoral Trust donated Rs.17 crore to different political parties. Similarly, Torrent Power Ltd. and General Electoral Trust were leading donors to political parties. A simple analysis indicates how it’s a mutually convenient solution for both. In case political parties want to forego tax, they need to simply club donations and file it as sum of more than Rs.20,000 and if donors want to forego their tax (and keep their name anonymous) they just need to make donations in 'tax-friendly' denominations.

The Supreme Court ruling in 2003 mandated all electoral candidates to provide details of their assets, liabilities and criminal records. And today nearly one-third of the MPs (158 of 543) have some or other criminal charges against them. More than 70 MPs are alleged to have criminal cases. The MPs belonging to caste based parties of UP viz. Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samajwadi Party are most corrupt with 60 per cent of them facing criminal charges, BJP has about 16 per cent corrupt MPs (19 out of 116) and Congress with about 5 per cent (12 out of 205).

The era of booth capturing and road blocking has gone. Today, a huge amount of illicit money has been channelised through election campaigning, lobbying, cash distribution, bribes and above all in scandals in the lines of ‘cash-for-vote.’ Over 80 countries today follow the concept of state-funded elections to dodge such malpractices during elections.

Here, the moot point is just not about the enormous volume of black money being spent in the elections but more about the very essence of democracy. When the lawmakers and the MPs are themselves involved in scams and scandals, it would be silly to expect otherwise.

TAINTED TENDER

2012-02-09T09:43:00.000+05:30

The entire process of tender in India is corrupt

There is no secret in the fact that cost overrun and time overrun are two biggest melancholies that are haunting development projects since decades. These two deliberate predicaments have not only resulted in unbridled leakages in the system but also led to huge opportunity cost and negative externalities. Today, almost all projects that are awarded through tenders are 'fixed' and subsequently awarded to a select few contractors and not always to the lowest bidder. This facilitates redirection of funds to personal coffers of middlemen and has allowed mafias to thrive.

Take the case of inviting tenders for awarding contracts. Every year, tenders are invited for various public development programs. Fundamentally, the lowest bidder is awarded the majority of the contracts and thus bidders quote low rates at times, even without any feasibility checks. This not only increases their chances of winning the tender but also eliminates competition coming from genuine bidders. But then, in order to cover the cost, these contractors eventually compromise on the quality of work and keep their profit margins intact. Today, tenders are no more awarded to lowest bidders but to bidders who are a part of bureaucratic nexus and those who have been able to manage the tender bidding and winning process for long. Thus, these bidders, irrespective of quoting higher price, win the project. So much so, the tenders for Indian Railways and Department of Telecom have created a full- fledged mafia. In effect, organised crime found a nice way to legitimize their money by involving itself into it.

The World Bank Health Scam in 2008 literally let the beans spill. Almost 15,000 tenders were allotted to fraudulent and blacklisted companies (even to bogus companies). The bids never materialised and most of the money, estimated around $550 million, was swindled by intermediaries which never reached the target audience. In 2009, scams worth Rs.400 crore were found to have crept in during tender bidding process for high security car registration plates. In January this year, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was found to have announced a tender for an infrastructure work that was already complete. BBMP along with Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KRIDL) had misappropriated Rs.483 crore through this bogus tender. On Feb 2, 2012, a petition was filed before the Kerala High Court challenging the tender for the expansion of national highway in which it is alleged that the tender was awarded to a company that didn’t even file for bidding. Amidst all these, its CWG bidding that has been the mother of all tender scams. Kalmadi was found (and arrested too!) to have inflated the tenders worth crores and thus embezzled an obscene sum of money.

Most of the scams that creep in governmental projects are through tenders and more because as our system is completely opaque and perfectly designed to suit the convenience of the current tendering process. The process of tendering should be urgently made transparent and automated. It’s imperative to eliminate human interference and allow technology to choose the eligible bidders. Moreover, no contractors should be allowed extra time and extra money post bidding and in case of such demand, a heavy fine should be imposed. This would keep non-genuine bidders at bay and the tenders would make meaningful impact on the economy.

THE BIG C

2012-02-02T09:51:00.000+05:30

High denomination currencies are fuelling corruption

Almost every socio-economic parameter of our country poses a classical comparative dichotomy. Where more than 70 per cent of country’s population struggles to earn $2 a day, we have more than 3,500 million pieces of 500 rupees notes and more than 1,000 million of 1000 rupees currencies floating in the economy as of now! A report by the Reserve Bank of India stated that out of the total currency in circulation in March 2010, 500 and 1,000 notes constituted 76.5 per cent (increased from 69.5 per cent in a year’s time). And it is not just about the number of higher denomination notes floating in the market but more about the very transaction of the same. Undoubtedly, these notes are more used for high-value cash transaction and not by millions of poor Indians who barely get to manage their daily needs.

The high currency notes (like 500 or 1,000 rupees notes) are one of the catalysts of corruption! Most of the black money transactions and money laundering is carried out by high denomination notes. These notes form the backbone of the parallel economy as they have relatively lower carrying cost. In simple words, carrying Rs.10 crore in 100 or 50 rupees denominations would call for more cost and trouble compared to carrying the same amount in 1000 or 500 rupees denominations. Moreover, with high value transaction being more carried out through plastic money (credit and debit cards) and wire transfer, the usage of high denomination currency is confined to large cash transaction that is most of the time done to avoid taxes and bypass legal mediums. Everything from paying premium for services, buying benami property or transferring cash through illicit modes involves money where currency notes are of higher denominations. It would be silly to even think of stashing black money in lower denomination notes. For instance, a money launderer or a per involved in hawala racket has to carry a 50 kilogram bag to carry one million pounds; whereas if he carries the same amount in 500 Euro notes the bag won’t weigh more than two kilogram!

It is also being argued that withdrawal of high currency notes can act as a barrier to the black money transaction! Developed nations like the US and the UK that once used to print currency notes up to 10,000 now have the highest denomination of just 100. The last time they printed these abysmally high currency notes was way back in 1945 in the US. In Britain, the highest value of currency currently in market is of 50 pound. The UK took this very step to curb counterfeiting of currency and other illegal activities such as drug trafficking and money laundering.

However, even this does not seem to convince our policy makers, for all the obvious and unsaid reasons. In fact, India is making records in the reverse direction. The minting of 500 rupee notes has augmented 17 times over the last decade! In rural belt, 500 rupee notes are rarity and 1000 rupee notes are an impossibility. Even today, these regions transact through lower denomination currency and even in coins of small denominations – which incidentally are in short supply.

Higher denominations attract higher amount of fake currencies which are being pumped into the economy. The financial channels of India have recorded a massive 400 per cent increase in counterfeit transactions, according to a report by Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Union Finance Ministry compiled for 2010-11. FIU further revealed that majority of these fake currencies is in 500 rupee denominations consisting of 60.74 per cent of the total amount. The number of fake 1,000 rupee notes is also rising rapidly. In June 2011, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence seized fake currency (with a face value) of Rs.1.54 crore in which the counterfeit currency was in the denomination of Rs.500. As per a white paper prepared Research and Analysis Wing and the Central Bureau of Investigation, very shockingly, one in every four 1000 rupees notes is fake.

Higher currency make it easier for money laundering as the generated cash is slipped out of the country through hawala and then it is brought back through FIIs and various tax havens. It makes no sense for a country like India that has a flab of poor at bottom and a few riches at top, to have higher denomination notes. It is important for the policy makers to realise that hawala transactions lead to economic instability. And in trouble, the poor suffers more than the rich. Thus, as corrective measures, not only India should pull all high denomination notes but also should promote electronic transaction for high-volume transactions. Until then, this ‘Big C’ of our money market will keep strengthening the other three C’s of our nation – corruption, counterfeits and crime!

COMPULSIVE CORRUPTION

2012-01-26T10:38:00.000+05:30

A rural dweller has no choice but to embrace corruption!

There is no denial to the fact that corruption has mired almost all levels of our society. Today, it has become an undetachable part of the Indian social system. Unlike other social malaises, the impact of corruption increases as one moves down the social ladder. This is evident from the gory picture of our rural heartland that speaks volumes about endemic corruption which hinders its well being. Every year several development projects, worth billions of rupees are rolled-down. But as always a huge fraction of these allocations are siphoned away by a chain of village and block officials.

Absenteeism of doctors coupled with disgraceful and appalling condition of the hospitals have further worsened the scenario of corruption cases in the healthcare industry. As much as 40 per cent of the doctors and nurses remain absent in hospitals in India, according to the report submitted by the inspectors who visit public health centers. The figure is even worse than Bangladesh (absenteeism of medical officers is 35 per cent) or even impoverished African nations like Uganda (with 37 per cent absenteeism). There is hardly any accountability when reasons for absenteeism are sought.

A study in Rajasthan reveals that less than 25 per cent of the medical visits take place in government dispensaries. And so the quacks are omnipresent in rural areas with 41 per cent of medical practitioners are without a valid degree, 20 percent have no proper training, and most astonishingly 17 per cent did not even qualify their secondary level. The economic loss for absenteeism of doctors and nurses makes up for a staggering $1.54 billion. This money otherwise could have been put to some other better use like developing state-of-art health care facilities across the country.

Even NREGA, which is meant for the poor people, is tainted with corruption charges where actually the most deprived doesn’t get the job. Surveys conducted by various social audit firms reveal that the non-poor gets jobs more readily than the down trodden. The low level of literacy among the most deprived makes them susceptible to corruption because of the lack of information available to them. According to the former secretary of Planning Commission, NC Saxena, even when the poor gets the job it is never for 100 days as is prescribed under the Act. The average work duration under NREGA is 42 days. However, in the fudged roster it is shown that they have worked for the minimum stipulated period as the remaining pay off s are eaten up by the block officials or Panchayat leaders.

According to a survey conducted by Transparency International which covered as many as 20 states, Indians, on an average, spend approximately Rs.21,068 as bribe while availing at least one of the 11 public services under Public Distribution System. Further, even though government claims that ration shops cater to 16 percent of the population in reality supplies to only 10 per cent of the target audience. According to CMC India Corruption Study 2010, almost 29 per cent of the rural populace is forced to pay bribe to avail public services. Be it food or employment, in almost all aspects of the basic livelihood, a rural dweller has to dole out money to avail these services. Most of the time, the money meant for their development is redirected to the coffers of power. Ironically, something that remains a choice for others, albeit, for not so poor ones.

CROCIN FOR ALL

2012-01-19T10:10:00.000+05:30

Corruption in healthcare has multifarious social implications

Corruption is one word that has affected the very nervous system of the nation. It has not only affected the economy deeply but has also made the entire social system crippled. Among all, one sector that hits the entire society directly is healthcare, especially after the fact that more than 40 per cent of people are pushed below the poverty line every year due to out-of-pocket health expenditure.

Medical professionals not only inflate medical bills but also prescribe unnecessary medicine and tests in order to make money for the hospital. This was the very reason behind the strike (and resistance) led by insurance companies a few years back. For instance, private doctors conduct the TB antibody test (costing Rs 1500-2000 per tests) that cannot detect active TB just to inflate the medical bills. Even the latest TB policy of the WHO doesn’t prescribe such tests.

As per India Corruption Study 2010, around 39 per cent households felt that the level of corruption in hospital services had increased during the last one year. The study also found out that around 8.5 million households paid an amount of Rs 130 crore as bribe to avail hospital services like getting medicines, get examined as an out-patient and diagnostic services during the last one year. Another media sources revealed that corruption in government hospitals cost India more than Rs 2000 crore per year.

Government hospitals are in dire need of essential medicines and vaccines which are in short supply, to say the least. In UP, there is a considerable shortfall of antirabies vaccines even in prestigious hospitals. More so, there is absolute dearth of antibiotics and ARV in the hospitals of UP and other poor states. A new medicine supply contract, that portends health directorate officials to purchase the medicines and supply it to district hospitals as per demand, corroborated this mess. Additionally, the widespread usage and prevalence of counterfeit drugs further worsen the scenario. In the same light, International Policy Network in 2009 revealed that lack of effective regulatory system, market controls and widespread corruption are the main reasons behind the availability of fake drugs in India and China.

To top it all, whatever medicines are allocated for the various health schemes and government hospitals do not reach the end consumer due to rampant stealing of drugs. Delhi police had discovered medicines with the tag of 'Supply for Government of NCT of Delhi, Not for sale' and 'MCD supply, Not for Sale' worth Rs 60 lakh from two pharmacists, including the head pharmacist of Hedgewar Hospital, in April last year. In an another incident, a month back, Delhi Police arrested seven medical staffs who were involved in an organised racket of siphoning off medicines, worth around Rs 30 lakhs, from Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and selling it in the open market.

The series of medical scandals are still thriving because of existing nexus between corrupt medical professionals and bureaucrats. The involvement of bureaucrats and politicians in Kidney racket and organ trade are case in point. On the hindsight, corruption in healthcare may look discreet but is actually funded and facilitated through opaque red-tapism and corrupt bureaucracy. This is one sector which should have been the lifeline of millions, is today deemed as blood-sucking parasite that is surviving at the cost of million lives.

RIGHT TO HOUSING

2012-01-12T09:47:00.001+05:30

This very right needs to be constitutionally enforced

Fulfilling the basic housing need of hundreds of thousands of Indian citizens still seems to be a distant dream. In the backdrop of ultra-luxury homes and high lifestyle living, India, unfortunately, still has 85-90 million people who have nothing that qualify as housing. A report by the 11th five year plan working group states that India suffers with housing shortage of 140 lakh units. We, as a nation, still have not been able to provide decent housing to more than half of the population thus robbing an opportunity of proper growth and decent living environment.

Many nations have ‘right to adequate housing’ in their constitution but ironically India doesn’t define it as a fundamental right and is only interpreted under Article 21 of the Constitution that guarantees protection of life and personal property. Rajasthan is the only state which has policies that clearly affirms the right to housing as a basic human right. At the national policy level, we still lack comprehensive policies towards right to housing and none of the newly laid plans are holistic in nature. Moreover, the programs such as Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy (NUHHP) and various other state housing policies are littered with corruption and red-tapism. Most of the residential projects under these schemes suffer from either cost overrun or time overrun or, as in most of the cases, suffer from both. Even if a few projects get completed, they are sold at much higher prices or else are put on rent by poor people at higher prices. Since, there are rarely any checks after allocations; most of these flats later get encroached by the local land sharks and conniving brokers. The lobbying and scam have reached to an extent that even auctioning (or lottery) of affordable housing for poor people are manipulated and are sold to real estate property dealers behind the veil through hoax allocations.

There are plenty of instances globally to showcase the importance of a well defined law towards ensuring right to housing. Sweden has made it mandatory for local municipalities to provide a home to everyone while the Cuban government has schemes on low-cost housing for poor. Singapore has also chalked out the Housing and Development Board which will focus on clearing the slums and resettling the dwellers into low-cost state built housing. Similarly, France rolled out its HLM project which is fundamentally rent controlled housing and is being used by more than 20 per cent of the French citizens. Following the same lines, countries like Canada, Hong Kong, China and many others have introduced norms of providing subsidised housing to first-time buyers.

A constitutionally enforced housing law in India will not only bring about the much needed social revolution but will also burst the artificially created real estate shortage. All this will not only deter officials from selling subsidised lands and flats to property sharks but would also bring down property prices to realistic as well as affordable levels. The law must also force the government to keep aside a part of budgetary allocations for repair and construction of state controlled rented apartments. On the hindsight, this very right seems discreet but then right to housing will make all the other fundamental rights more credible. No rights, be it the right to life or the right to education, can reach its culmination without a proper shelter.

INDIAN RAILWAYS PVT LTD

2012-01-05T09:34:00.001+05:30

India should privatise railways for better efficiency

India’s booming economy which is considered one of the fastest growing in the world demands better performance in transportation, especially when it comes to the case of gigantic sloth of Indian Railways (IR)! The behemoth public sector enterprise runs more than 18,000 trains daily and is comfortably one of the biggest rail networks in the world. However, it is yet to economise on the concept of modernisation and automation. In order to make the system more efficient, most of the nations across the world have privatised their mass transportation system. Undoubtedly, a better experience of travelling and transport can only be achieved by private participation and eventually it will also enhance the bottomline that has been looming at $48 billion as of 2009.

IR currently suffers from dearth of resources. Sadly, the infrastructure and manufacturing capacity available to IR is never enough to meet the increasing demand of locomotives and wagons! Nor does India stand a chance to meet the international safety standards, efficiencies and finesse of the railway services of Europe and North America! The service efficiency post-privatisation in aviation sector should be replicated by IR for better management. The main chasm between the promise and the delivery is created by the monopoly of IR. Undeniably, competition in Europe has enhanced railway services there in abound. In India, it is astonishing to note that even manufacturing of rolling stocks cannot be sourced through private sector and remains largely a monopoly of IR!

Even though, the private investment is largely blocked in Indian Railways, there are some recent news of limited private participation that presages the silver lining to the otherwise dissolute picture! A PPP model Rajdhani Express branded as 'Airtel Rajdhani Express' has started its operation between Bangalore and Delhi. Expectedly, the train features additional and better passenger amenities that include round-the-clock housekeeping operations. Apart, there is widespread private investment in most of the Metro operations (including Delhi & Mumbai metro) in the country that subsumes engine and coach manufacturing and infrastructure upgradation. The investment has come not only from domestic private companies but also from multinational corporations too.

Private participation is must for IR to eclipse the efficiencies of the Western countries. In West too, the private involvement was forced to be factored into the system as governments were unable to bear the cost! As a result, there was a stark improvement in consumer service, complimented by reduction in subsidy. In US, the system was deregulated and vertically integrated resulting in a paradigm shift to its efficiency in operations. It is a great exemplar of how even the developed countries couldn’t run the railways successfully and had to be finally privatised!

There is only one flip side to the privatisation of railways in India – and probably the most important one i.e., subsidised fares. In order to keep IR affordable for the lower strata of the society (post privatisation), the government must offer subsidies and tax incentives to companies that would provide low cost services, similar to low cost airlines, to these very pocket of population. This in the long run would not only make IR the largest but also the most efficient railway network in the World along with materialising the very objective and essence of Indian Railways — 'Lifeline to the Nation...'

THE RURAL GROWTH!

2011-12-22T09:53:00.001+05:30

Rural India should have been our growth driver

Indian villages, since independence, have been suffering from myriad problems which have always been an impediment towards sustainable development. And this dichotomy in growth is very evident when one sees the stark difference between urban and rural India in almost all sectors. However, one of the key deterrents to growth has been perpetual neglect and lack of investments. What more, even the government has largely failed to create an enabling environment of investment infrastructure.

When it comes to measuring productivity of a region, statistically, there can’t be a better tool than Incremental Capital-Output Ratio (IOCR). It allows one to gauge ratio of investment to growth. In simple words, the higher the ratio is, the lesser is the productivity of the capital and lower the ratio, the more is the productivity. The IOCR at all India level is around 4.3 as calculated at the end of the tenth five-year plan. However, conventionally it is understood that IOCR is high in villages, as there is lack of physical infrastructure. But then, there exists no merit in this conventional wisdom as it has been proven by micro-finance companies, that even after lending money at a high rate of 28 to 30 per cent, the rural households are able to repay their debts. In fact, at regions where organised microcredit does not have a foothold, private money lenders lend money at an upward rates of 36 per cent and still the debts get repaid. So any debate on growth viz-a-viz investments is ruled out simply because if the capital employed would not have generated those kinds of returns, it would have been impossible for rural households to repay.

For the last six decades, various governments proposed several schemes, but most of them have been put on hold even before they could be implemented. From projects under National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to Rajeev Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), most of these initiatives have miserably failed. So much so that the budgetary allocation for rural development on an average is merely 1.5 per cent of our total GDP as compared to 33 per cent of China. This is despite the fact that villages provide shelter to around 60 per cent of the total population.

Indian villages are those untapped markets which have a relatively low IOCR and a high income multiplier. Since, our villages are plagued with high unemployment and huge supply-demand gap for basic commodities, a small investment would not only reap huge productivity (as the overheads would be low) but would also generate employment opportunities — especially as it would built positive externalities and fuel growth in manufacturing and processing at a very small as well as small and medium level.

Developing investment infrastructure would eventually make these villages self-sustaining and there is no reason not to develop it. Today, villages of Europe and China are acting as potential investment destinations and they have scooped out as satellite towns. They have broken out of being archaic villages to become modern ones. And they are the ones who are triggering all round growth for their respective nations. Very unfortunately, we keep suffering from the legacy of conventional wisdom which is forcing these villages to remain conventionally poor. Poor India!

THE KILLING MACHINES

2011-12-15T09:53:00.001+05:30

Trucks carrying construction material kill with impunity

On my way to workplace, every single day, I zip across trucks that are not only overloaded but also look like killing machines. Leave aside overtaking these trucks, even following them from a distance seems scary. And more so, as they are loaded with huge rocks that can topple any moment and have the destructive capacity to crush any small car easily. The journey gets even riskier towards evening, when high beam head-lights blind the eyes and it is alcohol that starts driving these death machines.

And mind you, this is the scenario we are talking about in the NCR region, roads are more scary in highways and other remote locations of the country. About 90 per cent of the trucks that enter Delhi are overloaded with hazardous materials like iron rods, boulders, petroleum products and other construction wmaterials. The scenario is similar in other cities too. Apart from taking lives, these heavy trucks reduce the life span of roads from 10 years to 3 and 1/2 years on account of increased pressure of these overloaded trucks and increase pollution due to higher emission levels. Moreover, overloaded trucks have higher risks of succumbing to accidents and overturning, causing traffic jams and fatalities. However, traffic police is helpless to check the menace as no police force in India is equipped with the gear of weighing mechanisms. Even though in 2006, Delhi Government announced the introduction of weighbridges at the entry points of the city but sadly no such devices has yet been implanted! Moreover, the nexus of traffic police and truck drivers in every nook and corner of the country where police take bribes and in return allow them to enter the cities which are otherwise barred by law, has made the streets deadlier in residential areas.

As it often happens, an Ivory Coast national was severely injured when a jutted out iron rod hanging from a moving truck pierced his body in Delhi, a few years back. In a similar incident, two African students in the capital traveling in a car collided with a truck carrying iron pipes that broke through their car’s wind screen and pierced through the right arm of one and legs of the other. In an another case at South Delhi, an auto-driver bumped with iron rod carrying truck that pierced through his right thigh! Even trucks carrying oil or chemical tankers frequently indulge in mishaps. These incidences are increasingly becoming common.

The Indian traffic is regulated by mainly two laws – the Motor Vehicle Act of 1988 and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules of 1989. The section 115 of the Motor Vehicles Act empowers the state governments to reign in on vehicles that can adversely affect public safety. In the same light, the Rule 93 of Central Motor Vehicles Act provides details of what governments can do to the transport vehicles carrying dangerous materials. As per the law, Iron rods should not extend beyond 100 cm from the vehicle length and tying a red cloth or lights doesn’t compensate for the same.

The laws are in place but poor enforcement along with corruption make the entire system anything but redundant. The transport companies as well as their clients need to be prosecuted if these laws are broken, so much so that the government should not even allow transport of any construction material in an open truck. Till that happens, these demons would be plying on the roads and killing innocents with impunity.

KISAN, KIRANA AND KARIGAR

2011-12-08T10:35:00.000+05:30

FDI in retail is not such a threat as it is perceived to be

It was kind of nice to see that how our political class (the opposition and a few allies of the ruling UPA) is getting concerned over the interest of our farmers, small traders and the SMEs from the perceived threat from the giant retailers, who in all probability would soon get a go ahead from the government to set up their outlets all across the nation. What I have not understood yet is that how will the FDI investment in retail sector worse-off our farmers, small traders and SMEs when they are already in a disastrous condition? And if they aren’t any better-off then why was our political leadership waiting all this while?

Well if we talk about Indian farmers, there lies an inherent dichotomy. Either they are very rich on account of faulty subsidy targeting of free power, free water, and no income tax or they are merely surviving on account of the very same reason. For those who are rich, it does not matter, but for the ones who are poor it definitely does, as their deprived state is more on account of marginal holdings, lower output and perpetual blackmailing from the middlemen. So once the large retailers come in, nothing changes — neither their land holdings become smaller, nor their output dip any further. But what these giant retailers can do is probably clear the layers of middlemen involved in the procurement and distribution process and bring about some respite both to consumers and farmers. And this in itself would humanise the entire trade as stability in procurement and selling price would bring some life in the lives of farmers who are right now on the brink of self destruction. So, if not better-off, at least farmers would not be worse-off.

Just like the marginal farmers, the same holds true for the small retailers. In fact organised retail is not new to India. This sector has been in existence since past few years. And in these few years I do know of a few large retail chains who have closed shops already and probably a couple of them who have somehow managed to breakeven at last. But in these few years I didn't come across a single small shopkeeper who had to close their shops on account of loss in business, particularly because of the presence of large retailers in the vicinity. On the contrary, if the market has grown, it has grown proportionately for them as well. In fact just like the Indian organized retail has failed in terms of creating any dent to the small retailers, the international giants would also fail. The reason is the small neighbourhood retailers thrive on relationships. On top of it, we all know that the neighbourhood retailer does not mind for a monthly credit cycle and also at the same time can sell commodities at any denomination. I have personally seen retailers in my neighbourhood, selling commodities in denomination of 100 gms – more so because there exists a large market for these denominations and is something which the large organized retail cannot even think of. Finally, with the advent of these giant retailers the SMEs would tend to become more organized, as they would get a level playing field to compete. Right quality, right price and adequate demand would find the shelf space — thus making the SMEs more efficient and effective at all levels.

Where is the problem? Why is it that our political class crying foul? Is it on account of some serious reasons, or is it that in absence of any credible issues, they feel that the FDI in retail is a foregone opportunity for them!

IT’S A DOW OLYMPICS!

2011-12-01T09:27:00.001+05:30

To save Olympics this time – boycott it!

Olympics have always been a celebration for global unity and peace. Since ages, it has been a stage which has always aimed at bridging the divide between classes, races and promotes equality. It has also played a major role in allowing them to show their mettle at one platform – which marks the victory of mankind and not merely sportsmen.

The 2012 London Olympics, however, would be slightly different or shall I say, it is diametrically opposite to the very essence and philosophy of this global sporting event. The 2012 Olympics is being strangely sponsored by Dow chemicals - infamous for 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy where thousands lost their lives and millions are still suffering. Wonder why the International Olympics Committee isn’t asking questions and why is it that we are silent upon it? For the world it does not matter much, but for us to remain silent is nothing less than a crime owing to the fact that the CEO of Union Carbide is still scot-free without any punishment, and hundreds of victims are yet to receive their due compensation, which are pending since decades.

It's quite ironic that Union Carbide has money to sponsor the event, but doesn't have enough to compensate those poor victims who have been waiting for their very dues and rights. The fact is that still more than $1 billion additional compensation (as demanded by government of India last year) is due. What more, it is not just that they have been the perpetrators of the biggest chemical disaster in recorded history in India. Interestingly, this is the same company that has made harmful chemicals for the US Government which were used during the infamous Vietnam War.

To accept a sponsorship from an organisation which has such a bloody past is blatantly converse to what Olympics stands for – victory of mankind! Of course, boycotting the event would mean robbing a chance from our athletes to display their sporting abilities and showcasing their talent at the world stage, but then ignoring this very issue and silently participating would be betrayal to those innocent poor people who have lost their lives and their near and dear ones for no fault of theirs.

And it is not that an event of this stature has not been boycotted by nations in the past. In the past, many Olympics were boycotted in order to upkeep the honour of the game. The world got against China to boycott the Beijing Olympics on humanitarian grounds. In 1980, the US didn't participate to protest the Soviet invasion on Afghanistan. For the uninitiated, the 1980 Olympic was hosted by USSR and was held in Moscow. Many other countries later joined the boycott. Likewise, in the next Olympic Game held in Los Angeles, United States in 1984, Soviet Union and its 13 allies retaliated the US move by boycotting the event. The official reason cited by them was lack of security! Iran and Libya boycotted the game too because of bilateral enmity with the US.

It is unfortunate that this time every inch of splendour achieved during the game will be dripped in innocent blood. On the hindsight, boycotting and opposing the game might invite fl ak from certain sections of the globe. But then we should not bother as the fact is that by boycotting this very season actually we would be supporting the very cause for which Olympics has always been known for.

WHERE IS THE AADHAR?

2011-11-24T10:42:00.000+05:30

The UID process again reflects establishment's high handedness

It has been almost two decades that we have liberalised our economy, but the control (read: license) raj sentiments are so deep rooted in our veins that even after twenty long years, the same seems visible ubiquitously. In fact, I have never understood as to what aim does the establishment want to achieve by controlling and creating 'artificial scarcity.' Except for making its stakeholders (read: people of India) helplessly vulnerable at all possible spheres and making basic things of livelihood, unnecessarily scarce and artificially significant.

In fact, my mother is from that generation where scarcity was a way of life. So the other day, when I went along with her to get our Unique Identification Number (UID) card made, I was aghast by the way it was handled. One man, manning, the counter with a laptop at his disposal and people in scores waiting for their turns. For my mom, it was fine as she had grown waiting in queues either for a bus, or at the hospital, or at the bank and every other possible service that we can think of. But for me, it was extremely challenging to accept this fact that, in todays world, where the order of the day is door step service, why is it that for something as critical and basic as UID, we could not afford to have multiple counters in one centre manning the throng evenly and efficiently.

While waiting, I also observed that how this man was enjoying his 'moment of glory.' He was the only man, sitting there validating the identity of people like us. And though working diligently, his spurts of tantrums was quite visible. He did take his regular tea breaks, lunch breaks and all other kind of breaks, caring two hoots for those people who have been waiting long hours for their turn. What was even more interesting was the interim 'out of turn' service that he was providing to those people who came with some 'sifarish' (recommendation). It was as if the good old days were back, where a 'babu' had it all.

Firstly, what I failed to understand was why we couldn't have five counters in place of just one? If it was about cost, then looking at the manner in which valuable time for each one was lost on that given day, multiplied by the number of such man hours lost across the nation – the cost is gigantic in itself and having multiple counters would have cost just a fraction of that. Secondly, though the authorized personnel was enjoying his moment of glory, but I could also make out the amount of pressure he was subjected to, from almost everyone who had come over and waiting in the long queue. Had there been multiple counters, things would have been fast and even. Finally and most significantly, how can the establishment be so indifferent towards something as significant as UID? Considering the amount of internal insecurities we face as a nation, this entire process should have been handled in a much more efficient manner. In the given environment, there are high chances of errors and wrong people getting UIDs which would again end up failing the very objective of this entire exercise.

All in all, every citizen of this nation has the right to demand a correct identification for themselves as this is going to be a bedrock for basic existence in the future. And for something as significant as this, no one can mess it up and it is the least that is expected from the establishment if not for the convenience of the people then at least for the sake of the nation.

THE INDIAN ‘CHAAT’

2011-11-17T09:53:00.001+05:30

We need to develop our own concept of food parks!

Be it pav bhaji at the Juhu beach of Mumbai or kebabs at Old Delhi pavements, Indian palate has been encompassing and blossoming all across the country – growing at mercurial 30 per cent, annually. This unorganized industry is latently acting as the most important driver of the Indian retail (unorganized) industry which is pegged presently at $70 billion and forecasted to reach $150 billion by 2025! Out of 10 million street vendors across the country, more than 6 million are food vendors only! The eating out revolution in Indian cities is pegged at Rs.33,000 crores. Even though international food and beverage chains are doing brisk business, the street food still attracts the burgeoning Indian middle class. The fact that the organized sector consists of less than one fourth of total unorganized food market, signifies the importance of indigenous eating joints for the middle class consumers. A range of food items from starters to snacks to full course meals are available at a very affordable and competitive price. However, with increasing disposable income of the middle classes the street vendors are facing increasing competition from the organized retail chains, which has differentiated themselves with superior quality, healthy mediums, and better ambience! In short, the mushrooming organised food joints are eating away into this age-old market of India. Interestingly, while the organised sector remains less attractive due to location and budget, the major question for the unorganised sector remains hygiene. This gave birth to a third sector – the homegrown organized food chains! Not to undermine the potential of street food, Indian organized food chains serve the same specialized menu of the street vendors with much better hygiene, environment, and efficient management. Flushed with immediate success, companies are contemplating to expand a chain of the same restaurant in other cities as well. If budget is a factor for daily eating out, it has solved that constraint too by keeping it low, engineered by the fact that all the ingredients of these desi dishes are available cheaply! This is in contrast to the foreign chains which have the disadvantage of having to import foreign ingredients and sauces that are either not easily available or expensive!

The growth of eateries is mainly effected by new class of people, most of whom are migrating from villages or semi urban areas to the metros – carrying with them the taste of Indian cuisine – preferring Indian eating outs far more than otherwise! They might visit the western food joints once in a while but will warble their preference for gorging Indian stuff on a regular basis. That along with their pocket size ensures that Dhabas, street vendors, kiosks and carts are here to stay – along with it comes the well branded, differentiated, and reasonably priced home grown restaurants echoing penchant for Indian taste! It is imperative to upgrade and organize this food market. The charm of eating at road-side joint at New York or Bangkok is because of the way they have organized such chains. Our authorities should allot them a dedicated area with common sitting areas in lines with lavish food joints at Indian Malls. One such poor example is Delhi Haat in New Delhi, where not only one finds all possible street food (from across the nation) but also have choice of shopping locally made craft s. It is not about creating an enabling environment but also a matter of restoring Indian street food, which has a legacy and culture of its own.

RIGHT TO IRRITATE

2011-11-10T09:28:00.000+05:30

RTI is being misused blatantly!

There are innumerable cases wherein we as a nation have always found a better way to abuse a law than to put it in the right use. After about 6 long decades, the law making bodies finally gave India the most awaited tool of accessing information – the Right To Information Act (RTI). On one hand, it allowed the common man to access information which was earlier privy to the government, on the other hand, the same law is perpetually abused by many to settle down personal scores. And such is the scale of the abuse that now people have gotten to thinking whether to curb the law, to some extent. Under no circumstances, the law should be curbed but then at the same time under no circumstances the abuse of such law should be permitted which can have very severe repercussions.

RTI comes as one of the most powerful tools in the hands of our citizens – who were always at the receiving end – but now can seek answer to all their unanswered questions. This impact of the RTI act can be gauged from the series of murders of RTI activists, under suspicious conditions, and for obvious reasons. But recently, the abuse of this very law has seen a huge surge. In 2009, the Central Information Commissioner found a number of frivolous cases being filed in the veil of RTI and expressed his concern while stating that, “the cost burden of such frivolous petitions has to be borne by the society because we cannot stop them". This comment came after a case being filed by a Delhi resident who filed RTI to retrieve personal and professional details of his sister-in-law Aruna Aggarwal (a government employee) for a personal marital dispute case. Even Anna Hazare also raised similar concern and asked to amend the right as he said, "some people demand 4,000-5,000 copies and file repeated RTIs." Supreme Court also found such cases as a predicament and has come down harsh on such filings. Such filings not only cost the time of court (the opportunity cost) but also waste precious time and manpower of bureaucracy at different levels, which are already loaded with their own sets of inefficiencies.

In the same light, since the inception of the law many corporate houses were found filing cases against their business rivals to settle personal scores. What more, in 2008, an individual filed 73 cases under RTI – all for his personal business use – under different names. There are also reports of brokers who conduct such RTI in return for money and commission. In simple words, the misuse and abuse of such law has allowed mushrooming of small time brokers whose only work is to delay business competition. Moreover, the cost of filing RTI is too less compared to the charges for other corporate cases. And most of the time these cases are filed using an NGO, thus allowing the main party to escape any legislation and media criticism or counter-case!

All in all, for a corrupt democracy like India, RTI is a very powerful tool and allows citizen to seek information and most importantly keep the establishment on its toes. But then, if checks and balances are not provisioned at right places, the very essence of the law would soon get lost. For implementing heavy fine on such frivolous cases to prosecute the first party (who are primarily behind such case) has become imperative. As said, with great powers comes great responsibility and it is needless to state how responsible we have always been!

INDIAN SPORT PVT LTD

2011-11-03T09:57:00.001+05:30

F1 is all set to revamp India’s sporting spirit!

India has come a long way from hosting games like hockey and cricket to hosting one of the world’s most elite games - the Grand Prix. The recent F1 race organised in Greater Noida speaks volume about the country’s ability to successfully host not only niche sports but also a destination for sports which needs precision in technology. Unlike other sports, F1 can’t be executed without state-of-art facility and latest technology at place. And thankfully, we pulled it off so smoothly, without any major controversy. Thanks to the government for their non-interference.

Barring a dog found running parallel to the race tracks, everything else was at par with the international standards. Till now, the F1 races have been conventionally hosted by developed nations, and they also have an audience who understand the technicality behind the cars and the way the race gets conducted. Surprisingly, since the last one decade, F1 races have been hosted by countries that were never on the F1 organizers list before. Asian nations like Korea, Japan, Singapore and China have hosted F1 race in the recent past. And India is the latest entrant. But then the convention of it being a niche sport was challenged at the stands of Noida race tracks. People from all sections of the society flocked to just get one glimpse of the spectacle and were also found talking about Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari.

Amidst the entire hullabaloo, what’s noteworthy is that it was a completely private initiative. Unlike CWG, there were no scams (as of now), no collapsing of bridges, no reports of semi-constructed infrastructure, shoddy hospitality and practice area for the players and no one boycotted the games. World’s most renowned players ranging from Jenson Button to our very own Narain Karthikeyan all came down to battle it out there. Beside the soft power, the event generated revenue of around Rs.800 crore and created employment opportunity for more than 15,000 people and other positive externalities it created include boosting tourism, air travel and hotel industry. ASSOCHAM estimates that the race would generate revenue more than Rs.90,000 crore in the next one decade. This very event itself generated more than Rs.10,000 crores from sale of tickets alone.

It’s just not about comparing CWG with F1 grand prix, but about how two venues hardly a few kilometers away from each other host two games in two completely different manners. Private investment is not only the pivotal factor, but the way the entire construction plan was executed is a lesson to learn.

There is no doubt in the fact that private sport initiatives and associations have always been more successful than those headed by bureaucratic-minded government bodies. Today, even the BCCI being a private body made cricket the most popular sport. Similarly, Jindal’s academies in Noida, Kurukshetra and Raigarh are training shooters than Government owned shooting range. There is no big name in tennis academy beside, Bhupathi Tennis Academy – which again is a private initiative. The same is true for Neo International Sports Academy in Mumbai, Abhijit Kadam Football Development Centre and many others.

F1 has undoubtedly put India on global sports map, but what is important is about learning a lesson or two. We have enough precedence now that sports generate unprecedented positive externalities, and so it should not be left with the state, to ruin it any further.

IT'S DARK UNDER THE LIGHT

2011-10-27T07:00:00.000+05:30

Lack of hospitals in Sivakasi kills hundreds

Come Diwali and the sky across India would glitter with magnificent fireworks and sound. This is one night which when starts even overshadows the moon under the cracking light and glamour of fire-shows. This is one night where every corner of India tries to match Sydney’s’ New Year celebration in its own way. But then, the entire Indian shines on one night because of life-risking production works done in one small town of India – Sivakasi.

Sivakasi is the non-official fireworks hub of India. But this is one place that had to pay the price for the entire celebration. When India rejoices and celebrate this day of light, every year, hundreds of homes across Sivakasi mourns the death of their loved ones. Every year hundreds of workers in numerous crackers factories lose their lives due to accident – which is termed as ‘occupational hazards’ in the most callous conventional term. The lives of these workers are blamed on occupational hazards and issues on implementation of safety measures are thus overtly neglected. In 2011 alone, more than 25 people died while working in cracker factories. On Aug 6, 2011, seven workers were killed in Sivakasi due to a fire in the factory. And mind you, these deaths are more due to policy neglect. Every single cracker purchaser knows that the box that he owns comes from Sivakasi, but our government seems to be ignorant about this fact. Otherwise, what else on the earth would explain an absence of burn speciality hospital in the town. Accident victims have to travel 70 kms to reach the hospital at Madurai – which is the nearest hospital that can handle cases of burns and fire accidents. As per a survey conducted by Campaign Against Child Labour, more than 800 people died in fire accidents and more than 2000 children (in last one decade) lost their parents due to industrial accidents.

In order to ensure safety, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) regulates explosives in the US while the same is done by the Health and Safety Executive in the UK. In other countries, there are specialised and dedicated departments that scrutinise the working of these factories. Most of the developed nations have reduced the interference of human and adopted automation to contain casualties. Given the very economies that Sivakasi creates, it's imperative for the government to take necessary measures. Introducing new technologies and automation would make the factories a safer place to work. According to ASSOCHAM, the firecracker industry is estimated to be worth Rs.1,200 crore and employs over 1.5 lakhs workers in its 9000 plus factories. All licensed factories should be forced to issue insurances to workers (and to family, if possible). But then all these measures will still not bear any fruit until the government incepts couple of burn speciality health centre and at least one government state-of-art advance burn specialist hospital in the vicinity. What is needed to be understood that it is the lack of post-burn treatment that kills more people than the accidents alone.

India may match Sydney or New York when it comes to the creativity in fireworks but still have miles to go to match their safety standards. Opening up a speciality burn hospital would be the least that the government can and should do, leave aside a blanket ban on child labour, closing illegal factories and making the working condition safer. Till then hundreds of families would think twice before celebrating this festival for Sivakasi.

THE NEW WORLD ORDER!?!

2011-10-20T09:52:00.000+05:30

The growing Sino-Russian proximity is quite skeptic

The proximity between Russia and China has been increasing for over the last decade. In spite of skepticism by the western media, they are proved to be veritable partners by striking the landmark energy deal. Moreover, the recent veto by the Russians and the Chinese for Syria not only vividly talks about their interest in this very nation but also raises the concern about growing closeness among them. Their veto aborted the international support for pro-democratic movement going on in Syria and gave ample space to the brutal leaders of Syria to continue their business. Today Russia has no ally except Syria, in the middle-east. The double veto by Russia and China is nothing new. They together have also vetoed Zimbabwe sanctions in 2008 and a resolution that would have forced Myanmar to release all political prisoners in 2007.

The association seems to reach its zenith soon with frequent high level official visits and greater emphasis on bilateral ties. They recently signed deals to mark the celebrations of 10th anniversary of ‘Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation’. The recent visit by Hu Jintao to Moscow echoes a clear shift of Russian focus from the US and Europe towards China. Russia and China are the founding members of BRIC that also include other emerging economies like India and Brazil; and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a newly formed military group involving the two countries apart from some Central Asian former Soviet countries. The SCO is touted to counterbalance NATO.

One aft er another military adventures of the US and its allies – first, against Bosnian Serb in 1995, then against Serbia in 1999 and, of course, Afghanistan and Iraq misadventures following it along with expansion of NATO and to top it all, air strikes in Libya – have made the Sino-Russian as a perceived power that can stand against American might. This Russia-China front is described by Xinhua editorial as a “eulogy that will serve the interest of the world and promulgate their own interest, but not targeted against anybody”. However, the China Russia closeness is not just about energy and other economic deals, it’s more about military tie ups too. It’s a great synergy of the two emerging powers which will only enhance their international positions. In this given contest both support each other in national security and territorial integrity, even if it is controversial. For instance, Russia is by China’s side with regards to Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and stringently against any foreign intervention targeted against Chinese containment. As we all know, both these nations are members of BRIC – the four countries that constitute it – comprises 26 per cent of world’s landmass and 42 per cent of population. These countries amidst global meltdown are experiencing an unprecedented 50 per cent of the world’s economic growth.

Their collective growing influence and political weight is set to redefine global power equation – a sweeping shift from the US and western Europe’s economic dominance to China-Russia’s supremacy. However, if they wield their political and economic power to reinstate their own interest again, it can be a very dangerous proposition that this world might face. On the hindsight, a new world order is emerging but under the surface this emerging alliance may crush several democratic and social movements for short term power grabbing exercise.

THE GLOBAL TRASH BIN

2011-10-13T11:39:00.003+05:30

India is the most sought after destination for global waste export!

The developed world is always on look out for a dustbin wherein they can accommodate all the ‘trash’ they produce. A few years back, most of the garbage produced by the West was dumped in Africa. For instance, 400 tonnes of toxic waste dumped in Ivory Coast in 2007 which took lives of 17 people and more than 40,000 people developed various diseases. With time, the amount of trash produced saw an exponential rise and these nations had to look out for an alternative. Out of all the nations, the one that happily welcomed this garbage was India. Today India is pegged as the world's biggest trash bin.

Since decades, Indian market is being used as a dumping ground for the left over and obsolete electronic stock from the European and American markets. As per the report titled "Take Back Blues – An assessment of e-waste take back in India" by Greenpeace India, the country produced 380,000 tonnes of e-waste from discarded computers, televisions and mobile phones in 2007. The report further projected that e-waste will reach to 800,000 tonnes per annum by 2012 with a growth rate of 15 per cent. Besides, the electronic waste, our ports have gradually turned into a wreckage dump yard. In October 2010, wreckage of more than 11 ships were found rotting (since decades) at Mumbai Port. It was in June 2011 that a concern was raised about Probo Koala (a port near Gujarat) which is today meta phorsed as the Ivory Coast of India.

Economically, it makes more sense for the developed nations to export their toxic wastes to countries like ours than to recycle the waste and re-use the same. Recycling a ton of waste costs up to 148 pounds in the UK while, it merely cost them 40 pounds to ship the same to India. Who can forget the seized containers at Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) port in 2008 that had 900 tonnes of hazardous medical waste (coming from the US) including surgical gloves, syringes, condoms and oil cans which was later found to be medically hazardous. Behind the veil of ‘go green and improve the environment’ campaign, the UK Council is exporting its garbage to India by way of waste black market. The garbage includes everything from cartons, newspapers, crisp packets to plastic bags. A few years ago about 180 tonnes of the US waste was dumped in areas adjoining Coimbatore and an additional 1,000 tonnes is still rotting in Tuticorin port. It included everything from the debris of the World Trade Center (WTC) to the titanium wastes of the nuclear reactors. Not just UK and US, but even Japan exports around 300 tonnes of toxic wastes including prohibited materials like zinc ash, lead acid battery wastes, poisonous PVC, around 500 tonnes of DDT and 20 tonnes of capacitor fluid containing banned chemicals. Shockingly, almost 105 countries dump their various kinds of refuse and rubbish in India.

The moot point India's inadequate laws blindly allow such imports. What we need to comprehend is the opportunity and economic loss we face due to such imports. The state authorities should criminalise such offence and keep a tight check on the imports. We are already struggling with domestically produced waste and spend around Rs.3,000 crore annually on disposal of garbage. India is still to endorse the Basel Convention – which gives these developed countries a leeway in exporting their garbage. Thus, before these toxic wastes enter our living room, our environmental ministry needs to take strong steps to stop the same.

IS DEATH BETTER THAN THIS?

2011-09-29T09:43:00.000+05:30

Healthcare discrimination against females has multiple negative ramifications

Discrimination is one word that is used indiscriminately in our society. But amidst all kinds of discrimination (on the basis of income, caste, religion, colour) the one that is most inhumane is the gender discrimination within children. Female foeticide has almost become a cliché. The ones who are immensely fortunate to escape the pre-mature death are then subjected to a lifetime of discrimination. What is worse, healthcare discrimination not only reminds a woman every moment of her being unwanted, inferior and less relevant socially but gradually develops into other multiple and complex medical related problems.

It is no secret today that illegal abortion of girl child has become so common affair that it goes completely unnoticed, without making any ripples in the mainstream media. In last three decades, more than 12 million girls are said to have been aborted. This is also evident from the falling sex ratio in our country. This was 927 girls per 1000 boys a decade back, which has fallen to an alarming 914 girls to 1000 boys as per the latest census. Surprisingly, this ratio was 945 girls per 1000 boys in the country. What is more surprising is that 5 out of 35 states and Union Territories of India including Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep are having negative growth in sex ratio.

A case in point with respect to blatant child discrimination is the treatment of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). A recent survey showed that only 22 per cent of parents go ahead with medical treatment if CHD is diagnosed in their girl child. More than 1,80,000 children are born with this disease every year in the country, but parents only pay heed to treatment if the same is diagnosed in a male child. A research by All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi in collaboration with the British Medical Journal Heart revealed that only 44 per cent of female children had undergone heart surgery compared to 70 per cent male children! Given the fact that a male child is often considered as the bread earner in our society, parents are more concerned about the health of their male child and not the girls. Moreover, since CHD treatment is an expensive affair, very few parents go ahead with it in case of female children. In a few cases it has also been learnt that parents become sceptical about girl child's future post surgery, as the surgery leaves lifelong post-operation scars on the body.

In fact, medical discrimination is visible in case of minor health problems too. A survey in Punjab revealed that parents are more proactive towards the medical checkups for males than for females. On an average, a family spends 2.3 times more on their boys’ medical care than on girls'. For diseases like Chronic Glomerulonephritis is (related to Kidney disorder), only 37 per cent of all females sufferingfrom this disease were being treated while it diminishes to 24 per cent in case of Diabetic Nephropathy and further drops down to 14 per cent in Chronic intestinal nephritis. Even for a curable and widespread disease like tuberculosis (TB), the death rate among women is 27-41 per cent higher compared to men of the same age.

A 2002 report on expenditure on medical treatment for women showed that in the mid-1990s, the inequalities between the sexes had increased in terms of untreated sickness and hospitalisation. Another research by CEHAT conducted in Mumbai, released half a decade back, brought forth a similar picture. As per the survey reports, the average per capita expenditure on female healthcare was Rs 78.59 per illness incidence for women and girls compared to Rs 148.56 in case of males. More than 32 per cent of illness cases in females go untreated and this is more as the access to ‘female doctors’ is far too less. Most of the times, families avoid sending their female members to male doctors for checkups and treatment, which acts as a huge impediment in female medical care. A 2009 research on access to life insurance for women make the entire picture more vivid. Only 30 per cent of all customers of LIC – the biggest insurance company of India – are women, while it drops to 24 per cent in case of private insurance companies.

The discrimination is conventionally due to social and economical cost attached to treatment. As I said earlier, men are considered to be bread winners while females a burden. Thus the motivation for treating females, across all social strata, is quite low. The only way to address this issue is compulsory insurance for females. I would like to extend the thought and bring in low cost and customised insurance policies for females in particular. Since the biological framing of females makes them more susceptible to diseases, it is important to frame a different and customised insurance policy for them that covers and stresses on female related diseases. And the health ministry should be the one to create a framework for the same, as it's women who have been robbed of their basic rights for long!

CRACK BEFORE THE QUAKE

2011-09-22T10:07:00.000+05:30

India is still not ready for skyscrapers – especially residential!

Of late, earthquakes have sent some unwanted jitters down the spines of the citizens residing in the North and the North-Eastern regions of the country. The recent one, which partially destroyed the entire North-Eastern zone, would have caused unimaginable damage if the same would have occurred in Delhi. The entire NCR belt would have seen buildings falling like packs of cards. A stroll or a drive through Gurgaon or Noida would be enough to gauge the damage a quake would cause in the region. The entire NCR is dotted with tall buildings that compete with each other. Recently, in Delhi, I saw a billboard stating that “why to live a few feet above the ground, when you can live a few feet below the sky.” Though an interesting tagline, but while reading the same did not give me a very comfortable feel.

The issue out here is not about tall buildings but about FSI. For the uninitiated, FSI is Floor Space Index which is a ratio between the built up areas allowed and plot area available. Putting it in simple words, higher the FSI, higher is the built up area or taller the building. With urban population erupting at light-speed, state governments are indiscriminately giving clearance to high-rise buildings. The Delhi master plan 2021 promotes such skyscrapers. The government has increased the FSI and thus has allowed builders to construct taller building on plots that are small in size – to accommodate more flats! However, small builders go against the laid down norms (by Bureau of Indian Standards) and build taller buildings. It’s needless to state that taller buildings make evacuation virtually impossible during a disaster. Moreover, most of the builders rarely study the topography of the area (seismic zone and flood likeability) and blatantly construct buildings with complete disregard to safety measures. With Delhi falling in zone 4 and Mumbai in zone 3, the skyscrapers constructed in these zones are even more vulnerable. As such many buildings in Mumbai (Kalbadevi, Bhendi Bazaar, Bhuleshwar, Mumbadevi and many more) were recently ceased as they didn’t meet the FSI norms. Since these areas are near the coastal zones, the buildings constructed here are very unsafe. This was evident during the Surat quake in 2001. In the past five years, Delhi alone has witnessed more than 15 reported major incidents that claimed at least 100 lives, besides many small incidents that go unreported. The entire situation gets even worse when one tries to see the tall buildings and their safety plans in the perspective of disaster management system. Moreover it requires no statistical evidence to prove how ill-informed our citizens are about the vulnerability of the region they are residing in. India still lacks a central integrated disaster management system, unlike the West. For instance in the US, everything from early warning messages, evacuation plans and state insurance are in place to reduce the loss well before the disaster hits any city.

All in all, the problem here is not just with skyscrapers or high-rises, but with misuse and abuse of FSI norms. Our government shouldn’t allow buildings above an average FSI – in spite of the area being safe. And above all, the buyers should be made educated about FSI norms and building safety during purchase (may be during the registration and loan process). As of now, India is still not ready for tall buildings, especially in the seismic zones – as quake or no quake; there are wide cracks well within our existing housing infrastructure.

TAX THE WEALTHY

2011-09-15T09:43:00.002+05:30

India should tax its rich more for the sake of the economy

In most of my columns, I intentionally bring in comparatives as it always helps to build perspectives. I have always believed that these contrasts and comparatives have so much to teach. So while a lesson or two on social upliftment and commitment to ones nation can be learnt from our western counterparts then it is just the reverse in India. This became more evident from the recent request of Warren Buffet to his government about taxing the rich Americans more than what they tax them now in order to keep their economy strong and sturdy. In an interview with ABC’s "This Week With Christiane Amanpour,” Billionaire Buffett told “But I think that people at the high end – people like myself – should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we’ve ever had it." He further favoured poor as he went on saying "If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further." Similar requests were also made by the riches of Europe. This not only indicates how committed are these people towards their nation but also shows the amount of responsibility and ownership the upper strata feels towards the entire society.

On the contrary, the rich and the wealthy people in India scheme out means to dodge taxes in all possible manners. It needs no substantiation that the accountants employed by these companies are primarily given the task of reducing taxes by manipulating additional costs in their balance sheets. Thus a huge part of their income goes untaxed and gets deposited in various forms including overseas bank accounts. Even the salaries drawn by these corporate houses are designed in such a manner that only a fraction becomes taxable while a major sum gets adjusted in reimbursements and investments.

With a meagre 2.77 per cent of people in India filing Income Tax, the Direct Tax to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio is languishing in pits. Currently, the Direct Tax to GDP ratio stands at 5.66 per cent while the total tax revenue as a per cent of GDP is merely 9.8 per cent (as per 2009 figures). Astonishingly, even this contribution is falling at a steady rate since 2006 when the tax revenue as per cent of GDP was 11 per cent. Contrast this to the tax revenue as per cent of GDP (for 2009) with that of UK which is 26 per cent while that of South Africa is more than 25 per cent. A back of the envelope calculation shows that the total combined wealth of India’s 100 richest is $300 billion (Rs.1,50,000 crore). So a 10 per cent flat tax would reap anything more than $30 billion (Rs.15,000 crore) – but this is only possible if these 100 richest people stop robbing taxes and above all disclose their real net worth. With inflation skyrocketing and fiscal deficit widening, taxing those who grew rich through corporate subsidy (read: at the cost of social development) in no point is inhumane or blatantly discriminatory.

No doubt that it is the society that should take care of its people and in this set up it is the well-offs who have to play their part in a bigger manner. It is when the rich would stop stealing the taxes and, on the contrary, pay more taxes, the nation as a whole would flourish. All in all, when a large part of the GDP is controlled by a few percentage of population, this percentage virtually becomes the guardian and the de facto government of the nation. If they are not forthcoming then the nation is at best doomed!

A TRIAL FOR CLINICAL TRIALS

2011-09-08T09:59:00.000+05:30

Imprudent policies on clinical trials call for urgent attention

A few issues back, I wrote on how foreign companies use poor illiterate Indians as guinea pigs and test drugs on them that lead to permanent physical and mental disabilities in these patients. Leave aside forming policies on increasing accessibility of medicine and treatment to the underprivileged, our government is doing less than nothing to deter such pharma companies and save hundreds of lives. The reluctance of government over this matter is primarily owing to the fact that most of the time the aggrieved party is a poor Indian belonging to lower strata of our society. And the irony is that these researches help the so-called affluent families to have access to better and upgraded medicines at the cost of lives of hundreds of poor people.

The Drugs Controller General of India recently announced death of 671 people during various clinical trials in 2010, out of which merely 22 families were compensated. The pharma companies cheat them on the pretext of false reports and transfer the onus of death to already existing diseases (among the patients) and go scott-free. For the uninitiated, our Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 has gone under merely one amendment in 2005 and has seen no major changes that could safeguard the rights of ill-affected patients. Thanks to such corroded laws, India today has become the most sought-after destination for clinical trials. More because, unlike other nations, the costs of trials are cheaper, laws are weak and above all, the patients rarely are conversant with the rights and legal formalities. Patients are asked to sign on consent forms (written in English) to avoid legal intricacies! Going by newspaper reports, several survivals of Bhopal gas tragedy (who luckily survived), receiving treatments in the government hospitals, are used as guinea pigs without their consent! Mostly, poor patients are lured in these trials on pretext of free treatments and compensations. Even family doctors and private doctors push their patients for such experiments in return for money and fringe benefits from pharma companies.

Globally, registered Contract Research Organisations (CROs) are authorised for hunting patients and asking them for voluntarily taking part in such trials. But then, this is done after explaining the patients all possible pros and cons of such trials and compensation are clarified along with ensuring that pharma companies follow all laid down measures and protocols so that the lives of these patients are not at risk! Clinical trial by concept is voluntary. But what we see here is that the patients rarely get to know that he is being used for the same.

No doubt that we need stringent regulations in place but then what we need more urgently is transparency in the entire process. In order to reduce the abuse and allow healthy practice of clinical trial, the government should come out with a centralised online portal. This portal would be one-stop point for people who would like to volunteer for such experiment and even for companies seeking such volunteers. The portal would additionally maintain health records about these patients and inform the patients/volunteers about his rights and compensation policy. This, of course, would not eliminate the abuse completely, but would make it transparent and lower down the incidence of death. And above all, such practice is meant for healthy nations where people have enough immunity to tolerate such trials and not for nation like ours where people die out of curable diseases!

DOCS, PLEASE PULL UP SOCKS!

2011-09-01T15:29:00.000+05:30

Continuous learning in medical profession should be made mandatory!

A couple of days back, one of my colleagues went to Delhi’s one of the best nursing homes to consult a physician for his ulcer problem. The doctor during consultancy told him that ulcers are not curable and there is no permanent solution. However he was not very convinced and did a Google search and found that in 2004 two scientists were awarded Nobel Prize for their breakthrough solution for this so-called incurable disease. The moot point here is not that how the doctors are ill-informed but about the very mechanism that keeps or rather shall I say, forces the docs to keep themselves updated.

Today, after completing their MBBS (or MD), most of the doctors rarely go back to books for updating their knowledge base. Most of the doctors in India are still relying on medicines and treatment they came across during their initial days of practice! Thus, the new discoveries and health research that are changing the very DNA of medicine and medical treatment are kept alien to the Indian masses. Conventionally, Indian doctors bank upon the medical representative and the brochures that they carry (again self-advertised) as source of information. I’ve come across several occasions wherein doctors directly pick up these brochures and pen down medicines without referring back to medicinal developments that are taking place around the world.

Medicine is one of those professions where the society believes that the person at the giving end would always uphold his professional competency and would serve his customers with best of treatment available. Given the pace of scientific research and breakthrough happening, it is impossible for a doctor to remain proficient without undergoing a comprehensive and regular training module. Keeping this concept in mind, the Medical Council of India has proposed a bill to make continuous medical learning compulsory in India, but the law makers are yet to give it a nod. In the same light, Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education ensures that such facility is extended to medical practitioners in the West and UK and some parts of Europe. Many states in the US have made it mandatory for medical practitioners to attend continuous medical education programs in order to keep practicing and maintain their licenses. The duration of the program varies from 40 hours to 60 hours and needs to be attended every 2-4 years. The old breed of doctors, who understand diseases and symptoms within seconds, all thanks to their years of experience, end up suggesting decade-old treatments rather than exposing Indian masses to the latest state-of-art health care updates!

Given the fact that agencies across the world are investing millions in such researches, keeping masses bereft of these developments is nothing less than a crime. Medical fraternity and the health ministry should make continuous medical examination compulsory (every 3 years or so) and organise medical seminars across India every six months. Doctors who skip these exams should be legally and professionally prosecuted as well! This is more important in case of India, where majority of patients are suffering from diseases that are highly contagious and few of them have even been eradicated from the other parts of the world. Thus, continuous learning becomes more important for these strata of docs who serve this pocket of population, so that these patients can receive best available treatment and not remain a carrier of inflections for long!

OFF-TRACK

2011-08-25T09:37:00.002+05:30

India’s logistic halts more than it actually travels

India’s rank in Doing Business Report, 2011 is a dismal 134 – a pathetic rank when compared to its regional counterparts (Malaysia 21, China 79, Pakistan 83 and Sri Lanka 102). But what is worse is the manner in which the ranks of its important parameters are falling year after year. In Doing Business Report 2011 scorecard, India slipped down notches on five out of nine parameters – which are substantial and form the bedrock of a sustainable business environment. This fall can be attributed to various factors ranging from red-tapism to stringent licensing process. However, amongst these damaging factors, the most ignored is the state of logistics in the country.

When it comes to logistics, Indian railways form the backbone of Indian transport; most of the cargo is transported through railways. Not only it is cheaper but also it connects the remotest of locations. Unfortunately, one of the biggest challenges that Indian Railways is facing today is constant delays. What is even more surprising is that these delays are neither addressed nor are given any serious heed. On an average, trains coming to New Delhi – India's capital – are delayed by 83 minutes. Merely 40 per cent of all cargos are transported by trains which rolls at a snail’s pace of 40 miles/hour compared to China's 100 miles/hour.

Indian ports also spell economic disaster. Till date, no Indian port is capable enough of handling large container vessels. Thus, most of international cargos are off -loaded at Colombo or nearby ports and then transported to India in bits and pieces. This very incapability robs Rs.10 billion from traders. Even the custom clearance at ports increases the transport time by an average of 84 hours.

Not only an Indian businessman but also foreign investors are well versed with the sorry state of Indian logistical infrastructure. So much so that, today a manufacturer accounts-in extra couple of days in his transaction as a lead time while dispatching orders. The condition of roads in India is so appalling that a transport vehicle takes 25 per cent more time to reach its destination than what it would have taken otherwise. Economic loss due to poor roads is estimated to be $6 billion per year. Add to this, the expected cost due to poor road infrastructure and frequent check-ups would go up to Rs.600 billion annually by 2017. Traffic jams in capital alone steals away Rs.11.5 crore per day and delaying the transport time by over 90 minutes every day, as per a survey by Centre for Transforming India (CTI).

As per ASSOCHAM, loss due to poor logistics infrastructure is pegged at $140 billion in the coming decade if no major transport infrastructure development plan is put in place. In fact, there are a few factors which would not only increase the revenue but also generate economies for the Indian business eco-system as a whole. And logistics is definitely one of them. The concerned authorities need to understand that cargo handling and transport is a vital part of a supply chain that further impacts the bottom line and eventually the demand-supply dynamics. We, in the past, have been audience to how delays led to increase in price and also hoarding to a large extent. A well maintained and state-of-art logistic infrastructure would not only fulfill market demand at right time (and at right price) but also trim down the cost of distribution at large. In an era, wherein, technology and innovation are reducing time and distance, it is the Indian roads, ports and railways which are moving progressively in diametrically opposite direction.

LINE OF CONTROL

2011-08-18T09:47:00.002+05:30

Banning movies is futile and undemocratic...

Cinema has always been the reflection of the society that we live in. So if fifties saw scores of movies on the independence struggle, the sixties saw lot of movies based on class struggle, black marketing and corruption. The seventies and eighties saw the evolution of the angry young man who questioned and fought the clutches of the licence quota raj. The decade of nineties saw the evolution of new liberalised India. But unlike yesteryears, where cinema was a medium to showcase reality, which its audience accepted wholeheartedly, there has been a growing intolerance over cinema viewing, particularly the ones which are based on politically sensitive issues. Over past a few years, every year a couple of movies are made that create political upheaval.

Since very beginning, cinema has been being closely associated with politics. In many cases, it has been observed that politicians have been leveraging movies and movie-stars for their political campaigns. In addition to that, over the years, even actors and actresses have been opting for political careers, owing to their huge popularity. But even after such strong integration, moral policing and intolerance have been increasingly growing and at times the reasons are out-rightly trivial and hilarious.

Recently, many political parties have voiced their concern against the latest release “Aarakshan” and further forced theatres to stop screening of the same. So much so, that a few states have even banned the movie. Interestingly, ban was imposed on the movie, the day of its release and by those people who didn’t watch the movie even once! This self styled ban came into action even after clean chit by Censor Board, and Madras and Bombay High Courts. The release date of the movie was announced a couple of months back with teasers (which spoke volumes about the plot) running all across various television channels, since last two months. Thus, it makes little sense for protestors to ask for ban after the release. If political parties, on any ground, had any kind of reservation with the movie, they should have approached the courts before the release date itself, and not after the release. Such acts though earn lot of free publicity for such movies, but then it becomes a big deterrent for movie makers to take up topics which are of national relevance and often resulted to political irrelevance.

In today’s world, the entire practice of banning a movie does not hold any logic and is out-rightly undemocratic. And once the Censor Board has found nothing objectionable, to stop screening, is also against the fundamental rights to express. Moreover today’s youth is exposed to myriad mediums of information and is mentally attuned to cinema based on bold topics and is relentlessly talking about societal transformations, in all forums – be it real or virtual. When one has limitless access to Internet and all forms of uncensored content, shows on television where all forms of contents are available in the name of reality shows that are aired anytime (just not during prime time hours), penalising just cinema is discriminatory.

And there are numerous examples of meaningful cinema which have faced the maximum wrath of blatant political hooliganism. A movie called – Water that tried questioning the atrocities on widows, faced political resistance. Even Gangajal that exposed the inhuman treatment done on the prisoners in Bihar came under huge political tension. Even “Rajneeti” came under the scanner of political moral police, and many theatres delayed its screening fearing vandalisation of property. Another movie, Black Friday, whose plot was based on Mumbai blasts and Parzania – plotted on 2002 Gujarat riots – saw itself under huge trouble post release. Likewise, 1947: Earth that portrayed the society during partition - was boycotted across a few states in India. My name is Khan and The Last Lear also faced similar threats and vandalism.

Even if the movie is against populist belief or conventional practices, banning of the same becomes futile, as now a days pirated versions are available freely in the market. And interestingly no one does anything about the same. In fact, a movie should be allowed to portray its stance freely and should rather ignite debate and discussion in society rather than restricting what the society should see. Any movie that is ahead of its time, would surely meet mindset challenges, but violent protests and blanket ban is no solution. Movies for that matter are meant to open window and bring in paradigm shift in the society and not act like mere mode of entertainment, always. Particularly, in developing countries like ours, where there is mass scale illiteracy, cinema has been a great effective medium not just for entertainment but to educate masses in its own way.

Cinema has the power to bind all, and bring in revolutions, instead there is a continuous attempt to jag issue based cinema in such a manner that we keep producing hackneyed and neutral films and not movies that could inspire and trigger a new and progressive thought process.

INDEPENDENCE TO CORRUPT

2011-08-11T12:08:00.000+05:30

Black money has been most progressively stable

In last 64 years of Independence, India has come a long way. From a GDP that was all of Rs.9,000 crore in 1947, it has touched Rs.63,00,000 crore, putting India into the coveted trillion dollar club. Interestingly, the members of these trillion dollar economies are a handful of billion dollars corporations and their well endowed billion dollar promoters, who have also made it to the Fortunes and the Forbes of the world. During the same span of time, the number of poor has only grown, same with illiteracy, and every count on health. And with respect to employment, it has definitely grown, but only with respect to the unorganised workforce, who are bereft of any form of social security.

But then, India definitely progressed. During independence, agriculture was the major contributor (59 per cent) to the GDP. However, as time progressed, the contribution of agriculture kept declining. By the end of 1990, with liberalisation making its way into our economy, the share of agriculture dropped from 59 per cent to 34 per cent while the share of service sector increased to a mammoth 40.5 per cent and that of industry to 24.6 per cent. The trend saw some turbulence in the wake of the new millennium. By 2002-03, agriculture share dropped further down to 20 per cent and industry landed at 18 per cent. While Service sector skyrocketed to 62 per cent! As of now, service sector contributes 65 per cent to the economy followed by industry (20 per cent) and a laggard agriculture sector that is struggling at 15 per cent. Though, agricultural output has increased multiple folds, it couldn't arrest increasing farmer suicides. Growth of service sector has been unprecedented, still over 85 per cent of the population remains excluded from the modern financial system and 90 percent doesn't not have any form of insurance. No doubt we have made some break through in aviation and telecom, but then the clear winner (particularly in the later case) has been corruption!

In fact, post independence, if at all we have maintained a sustained growth, without any bottlenecks, outperforming all growth counts of the entire economy as a whole – it has been corruption and accumulation of black money. There would be very few parallels to draw upon, with respect to the manner in which we could successfully institutionalise corruption and could make it the most universal and ubiquitous reality of our nation. By the end of 1950, illicit money flow out of India was a few billion dollars, which increased to $1.4 trillion by the end of 2010. As per reports in 2006-07, estimated black money in India was $550 billion – which was almost 80 per cent of the accounted economy. We as a nation take a lot of pride in calling ourselves ‘service economy’ or ‘world's back office’ as conventional wisdom says that India has embarked upon its growth. But in reality when service industry saw itself growing from a contribution of a mere 28 per cent to a contribution of 65 per cent, it is the black economy which made a killing by posting an aggregate growth of 600 per cent! It is reported that illicit flow of black money is estimated to be growing at an impressive rate of 11 per cent every year, compared to a growth of the entire economy which is struggling at 7.5 per cent!

All in all, we can call ourselves whatever we wish but the reality is that as a nation we have been progressively and inclusively corrupt. We are a nation where Independence for a few is more than ever-lasting corruption and for majority of others it’s just one day of holiday!

BAND BAAJA BARAAT

2011-08-04T09:50:00.000+05:30

Abandoned women need urgent security

Indian marriages have transformed. With each passing day it has only become more conspicuous and grand. But it is just not the marriages seeing a transformation only with respect to the scale, it has also seen a paradigm shift with respect to the whole business of marriage. And the unfortunate bit is that like every time, here too, it is the woman who is being at the receiving end. Over last few years, it is being observed that marriages happen, dowry happens and the groom disappears, abandoning the bride in lurch. The practice of abandoning wives (after a few months of marriage) is nothing new, but then it has seen a never-before surge recently. In the era of women empowerment such pejorative act is quite ironical.

Interestingly, most of cases of abandoning wives take place out of India. Most of the time NRI husbands after getting married go back to their country promising to come back and rarely returns. In order to counter this, Government of India issues two valid passports of newly married wives (when they ought to settle abroad with their NRI husbands) with complete details of husband and that of the marriage which is deposited with the embassy and can be used in case of emergency.

In 2009, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs received around 45 complaints from women abandoned by their NRI husbands. In 2010, a regional passport office official revealed how 15,000 girls from Doaba region (of Punjab) were cheated by their NRI husbands post their marriages. Most of the time, these cases are buried by families of aggrieved parties fearing social taboo and stigma.

The perpetrators make merry only because of loopholes in our existing marriage laws. Firstly, it’s very tough to trace the ‘runaway husband,’ as most of the time the information furnished (and mostly verbally) during marriage turns out to be false. Secondly, it gets really challenging for many women to even prove the verity of their marriage during legal proceedings. Thirdly, there is virtually no centralised system to check whether the man was already married or not.

Obviously, no law can eliminate this social malaise, but a stringent and centralised system, if put in place, can, to a large extent, save the lives of these distress brides. The government should make marriage registration mandatory across the country, irrespective of caste, class and religion. As of now, only a few states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh have made marriage registration compulsory. More than half of the states in India are still to ratify the act. The Supreme Court should urgently make it a universal law and club it with Hindu Marriage Act as well. Extending this, all marriage certificates and registration should be available on a single information portal wherein all details of the bride and grooms (with verified residential address, passport, PAN no, work address, bank account details, previous marital status–if any) should be included. This will allow one-stop information access and make traceability much easier and smoother. The government should go ahead and sign bilateral agreements with different countries (US, UK, Canada and Middle-east, to start off with) to counter such illegalities with clauses that ensures legal rights, assistance and support in case of frauds. This is important as these girls generally belong to middle and lower middle class families, for whom fighting cases (in India and abroad) is practically impossible, and their dignified survival, impossible.

THE BUSINESS OF DONATIONS

2011-07-28T12:08:00.001+05:30

Political donations are completely opaque

The series of scams and money-swindling by various political parties can’t be brewed without a continuous inflow of funds from ‘various’ external sources. Most of the time, political parties receive money in the name of donations or for political lobbying. And our judiciary provides them with a constitutional shield which indirectly legalizes the entire swindling.

Thus, the money these parties receive during elections (mostly) from corporate are deemed as donations and are recorded as non-taxable income. Under section 13A of Income Tax Act, all voluntary contribution to political parties above Rs.20,000 is exempted from income tax. A report by National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms, released on January 2011, reveals that most of the political parties declared a major part of their donations to be over Rs.20,000. For instance, NCP declared the entire donation received to be in sums greater than Rs.20,000 while the correspondent figures for INC and CPI stand out to be over 50 per cent. In absolute terms, NCP declared Rs.664 lakhs as donation while INC and CPI declared around Rs.7000 lakhs and Rs.119 lakhs respectively as donation for the year 2007-08 and 2008-09. Interestingly, BJP declared merely 19 per cent of total donation to be in sums of over Rs 20,000 but in absolute terms the party topped the list with total nontaxable donations of Rs.5,500 lakhs.

On the other hand, corporate who file (only a few actually do this!) their donation are entitled to get a tax exemption under section 80G of the Income Tax Act. The report further revealed that Bharti Electoral Trust donated Rs.17 crore to different political parties. Similarly, Torrent Power Ltd. and General Electoral Trust were leading donors to political parties. A simple analysis indicates how it’s a mutually convenient solution for both. In case political parties want to forego tax, they need to simply club donations and file it as sums of more than Rs 20,000 and if donors want to forgo their tax (and keep their name anonymous) they just need to make donations in 'tax-friendly' denominations.

In most of the cases, there are mutual understandings between parties to allow the corporate to convert their black money into party contributions. Such arrangement also gives a leeway to hawala, untraceable and undeclared money transfer. There are no laws in place that ask parties to file disclosures about the usage of money or rather there is no third-party independent audit about the deployment of such donations. Moreover, PAN Number filing for lower denomination is not even mandatory. And in case the PAN Number is filed, there are no cross-checks to verify the credibility.The matter gets worse in case of cash donations. The recent garland (worth a few hundred crores) gifted to Mayawati, is a case in point.

In countries like US, UK and Australia, political donations are taxable and parties have to mandatorily file disclosures about the fund-utilisation. In the US, even the money donated directly to a candidate is regulated by the law (both source and amount) and is scrutinised by the Federal Election Commission.

Given the scams and black money deposition spree our political parties and corporate are in, the Supreme Court should take the initiative to immediately cancel all exemptions and make disclosure filing a mandatory procedure for both the donors and receivers!

THE TRACK OF DEATH

2011-07-21T09:44:00.000+05:30

Indian railways need to set their ‘safety’ priority right!

The Indian Railways is just not a mode of transport but is a legacy in itself. A mode of conveyance that carries more than 10 billion passengers every year, operates more than 15,000 trains every day, and covers almost four time distance between the earth and the moon and well, records in around 350 accidents every year — is a case study in itself.

In just last seven months, there had been more than six major railway accidents. Ironically, most of these accidents are due to human and administrative negligence. The incidence of railway accidents had seen a surge in recent times. In comparison to 2009-10 where around 200 people died, railway accidents last year (starting April) killed more than 300 people. This surge is despite the fact that Indian Railways drew more funds in the name of railway safety. In this financial year, the railway safety budget was increased by more than Rs 700 crore as compared to last year. Which indicates that the issue is just not about fund allocation but more about fund utilisation. Every year railway returns back a huge pie of their allocation back as unutilised funds — especially from the railway safety funds. What more, the musttouted corporate safety plan that was rolled ten years back is still lying dead in the files. As per various CAG reports, around 50 per cent of the total allocation remains unutilised. A back of envelope calculation indicates that no new fund was allocated to railway safety funds, but rather the cumulative old left over funds were merely reallocated. Basic safety measures like manning the unmanned crossing is still in pipeline. As of now, out of total 32,694 level crossings, a staggering 14,853 are unmanned i.e., 45 per cent of all crossing are unmanned. So much so that in spite of being India’s one of the largest employers, Indian railway has over 8000 posts vacant in the railway safety department, at administrative level, and a total of 90,000 security and safety related post (10,000 vacancy for Railway Protection Force).

Talking about railway infrastructure, the scenario here too looks quite bleak as most of the railways bridges and tracks are awaiting refurbishment. This is evident from the fact that most of the major accidents are due to derailment and bridge collapse. Take for instance Kadalundi train accident in 2001, Bhagalpur in 2006, Thane bridge collapse in 2009, Guwahati-Puri train accident in Assam, Kalka mail accident in UP — were all due to either of the reasons. More than 35,000 bridges are over 100 years old and are crying for urgent attention. Shamefully, bureaucratic hurdle and red-tapism have delayed the implementation of anti-collision device (ACD). ACD was developed by Konkan railway and have an accident prevention rate of 99.9 per cent. On the one hand where our railway ministry is still pondering over the implantation of such technology then on the other, countries like Australia, Israel and Egypt have already placed the order for same with Konkan railways.

All in all, every other railway minister don’t even bat their eyelid before celebrating their escalating revenue figures year after year. But then the same minister astutely, disguises the damages thus incurred behind those rosy figures. Even if a fraction of this revenue is redirected towards railway safety plans, the entire rail travel would reap positive economic externality. For records, railway accident cost Rs 100 crore every year to the nation. Such reluctance, from part of our ministers and bureaucrats, are nothing but a systematic economic sabotage! And the unfortunate bit is that this reluctance has cost too many innocent lives.

JUST CALORIES

2011-07-14T09:25:00.000+05:30

The very definition of food intake is skewed

A couple of months back I wrote on how our policy makers have always pushed wheat and rice through PDS and four other essential commodities, but no pulses which by far are a major source of nutrition and how most of the cereals (especially maize) are used as chicken feed. This was more because of lack of vision at the policy level and naming of such cereals, which educed its acceptability.

Undoubtedly, nutritive foods have never been pushed by our government. Our successive governments and their populist policies have mostly focused on feeding its citizens with two square meals a day (which even today have not materialised) and have rarely cared for a balanced diet. This is prime reason why 46 per cent of the children up to the age of three are malnourished — which is worse when compared to even sub-Saharan African countries. One of every three malnourished children of the world lives in India. This problem is not only damaging on the social front, but also affects the economy severely. The malnourished children tend not to attain their potential — physically or mentally; which has a direct impact on the productivity. According to the World Bank, the problem of malnourishment strike off at least three per cent of potential GDP — making it a case for immediate attention.

Poverty does play a significant role when it comes to nutritive foods, as most of the Indians - owing to high inflation — are currently not able to afforddecent intake of food. As per our official recommendations, the minimum calorie requirement for healthy child in the age group of 1-3 is around 1200 Kcal. This definition is itself skewed and incomplete. As this very requirement can be fulfilled by taking only a particular type of food — say milk, but this would by no means makes a child healthy, as just milk is not sufficient to fulfill the requirement of all the ingredients (Protein, Iron, Calcium, Vitamin, Fiber, Sodium, Cholesterol and Fat) essential for balanced diet. We still have to make adding of Vitamin D during pasteurisation mandatory for the milk producers in India. In US, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made it mandatory to label all food items according to nutrition level which helps the consumer choose food items as per their dietary needs. Some countries have even developed Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) — a recommendation of nutrition intake — to educate the masses about the balanced and healthy food habits. But no such policy is prevalent in India. Here lies an opportunity to reduce the rate of malnourishment by educating the parents about a well balanced diet.

India is a nation with misplaced priorities when it comes to a child's health. The government failed to tackle the problem of malnutrition amongst children despite having two big and expensive schemes — the public distribution system (PDS) and the Integrated Childhood Development Services (ICDS); ICDS being the main efforts to tackle the problem of child malnutrition. But the main focus group has been the children within the age group of 2-5 years which meant that the under-twos and pregnant women barely got the required attention. Unfortunately, those are the groups that required the most consideration as most growth retardation transpires by the age of two and is irreversible. Our policy makers should understand that mere defining of calorie intake and crafting health development plans is not enough. Rather an intense and holistic definition of dietary intake and educating people on the same would lead to a healthy nation.

THE ALCHEMISTS

2011-07-07T09:40:00.000+05:30

The “petty patents” can generate a new cadre of entrepreneurs

At last there seems to be some kind of relief for those home grown innovators who have always been discarded as copy-cats. The very same government whose regulations didn’t allow small-time entrepreneurs to make it big, is now contemplating to pass a bill that would not only recognise their work but would also allow them to own their “innovation”. The government is trying to pass a bill that aims at providing patent to small innovators that previously didn’t come under the ambit of Indian patent laws. Such bill if on the one hand would give a new lease of life to those innovations that are gathering dust behind closed doors, on the other hand would also give birth to a new cadre of innovators and entrepreneurs. It goes without saying that there exists a very huge market for low cost products, but the products never received their due recognition and the market remained largely unorganised. On account of lack of scale, most of these innovations met their natural death. Take for instance, the economies a hybrid electric/kerosene stove can create for a poor family, that has the ability of saving around 70 per cent on fuel costs as it uses a 6V coil to heat kerosene for cooking. A similar benefit can be expected out of a diesel based motorcycle that doubles as a tractor or from a micro-windmillbased mobile charger that uses wind power to charge phones and laptops. Such products not only can save huge money, but are economical to install, replicate and maintain. Not to forget that it can open new business avenues for many.

In order to tap investors, a firm named Honey Bee Network has compiled a database of around 140,000 life-altering products created by farmers and villagers. Products like $1 non-stick frying pan, motorcycle-driven ploughing machine, long-lasting electric bulb, Mansukh Prajapati’s Mitti Cool refrigerator and bicycle based washing machine are all waiting their for their turn.

This bill would also solve one of the key problems– initial and interim capital for investment, as it would encourage and attract many investors in such products. Given the size and the scope of this market, finding an investor won’t be a tough task, many of whom previously used to shy away fearing government’s backlash and exclusion from the market. Moreover, this would bring these products from the confines of local operations to regional and national level, eventually allowing the small unorganised players to reap the benefits of scale.

We are not the first nation to come up with such a bill. Globally, nations like Germany and Austria have this system calling it the "Gebrauchsmuster", while the same model in Japan is popular as Petty Patent. So much so that even countries like Bulgaria, Estonia, Angola, Ghana, Uganda, to name a few, have system in place to protect small innovators. More than 70 developing and under-developed countries have laws called utility model patent/certificates or innovation patent providing their home grown entrepreneurs all the protection they deserve.

All in all, in a nation wherein around 90 per cent of the population is out of all kinds of social security net, where the government has failed to create meaningful and sustainable employment for millions, passing of the bill is the least it can do. And the entrepreneurs would do the rest, like they have done in their respective fields by enterprise building, employment generation and sustainable development for the economy.

NO METHOD IN THIS MADNESS

2011-06-23T09:21:00.000+05:30

Preventing students from taking board exams is unfair

Board exams are over, results are out. These are the busiest days for students – of course, only for those who have successfully cleared their exams. Traditionally, 10th is considered to be the most important exam in a student’s life, while 12th is apparently the career setter. However, the good part is that the percentage of successful students is all time high. The total pass percentage of 10th for CBSE board students climbed to 88.84 percent in 2011 from 87.08 percent last year that of 12th has gone up to 81.71 per cent from 79.87 per cent last year. Chennai topped with 91.32 per cent passing rate while Delhi faired above national average with 85.45 per cent. Schools are proudly proclaiming and promoting their incredible performances and performers. Amidst this celebration, most of us overlook the hapless faces of a handful of aspirants who were disqualified to take exams by the school administration, primarily on the ground that they may ruin the school's records. Unfortunately, this dangerous trend is becoming a common practice for the schools.

Though statistics related to students who are failed by school administration to take final exams are not available, the same can be surmised from the rat race schools are desperately indulged in to achieve cent percent success rate. 2011 board results are no different. About 19,887 schools prepared students for the SSC board exam in Maharashtra this. 2157 out of that have achieved 100 percent passing rate.

In Mumbaiitself, 677 of 3263 schools which comprise about 20.74 percent of schools accomplished cent percent passing rate. In Thane too, over 200 of the 1,438 schools have recorded a cent percent passing rate. In Kerala, 52 schools have announced all students who took the Higher Secondary exams have successfully cleared. In addition, nine government schools and one aided school have also seen all its students passing in the vocational course. The overall pass rate in the state has gone up to 91.37 percent with 2,795 students securing A+ in all subjects. In 10th too, 458,559 students have appeared out of them, 418967 students have successfully cleared the exam. Over 577 schools have registered 100 percent pass rate while average pass percentage was above 50 percent. Performance of CBSE schools was not very different. 21 of 167 CBSE schools (12.5 per cent) in the state of Kerala have attained cent percent pass rate in higher secondary while 26 out of 59 schools have attained 100 percent success rate in the secondary examination.

A visit to other states gives similar picture. For example, in Karnataka, 814 schools have registered cent percent passing trend. Similarly, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, all students have passed in as many as 2,562 schools; the number is 129 more than last year. And interestingly, 1,856 of them are private schools and only 88 are government schools. The same trend of private schools not only outperforming government schools but also in attaining records like highest marks or cent percent passing rates can be seen in other states too.

In their race to attain records the schools are deliberately failing weak students and abstaining them from taking the final exams. This is not only discourages students, but also forces them to spend one more year to sit without any tangible effort or assurance that they can qualify the next time or not. Condemned by their schools, ostracised by societal and parental expectations, most of these students end up making compromises with their careers (with whatever little available options that exists in this country). In this year itself, a very renowned school had failed one-fourth of its students in their internal tests because their probability of failing could have brought in disrepute to the school. However, contrary to this it is oft en observed that disqualified students whenever permitted to sit in board exams end up doing relatively better than students doing very good in internal test.

All in all, contrary to the role that schools should ideally play in a student’s life, they themselves are involved in deliberately failing of students who appear for the final exams, which should be stopped immediately. But that can happen only when the world around can see life beyond marks. And by world I mean every stakeholder who is responsible for creating these marks based complexes in the education system. No doubt meritocracy is an imperative to recognise the student, and his or her efforts, but then in a nation where the government has failed to create avenues for other vocations where children can showcase their talent, they have no business to create a complex world of marks, to make every other child who is bright in art, music, sports, dance inferior to those who manage to be good in studies. And by doing this and that to forcefully they are not just systematically robbing the childhood from the child, but also creating a monster of a problem for the future – by creating future citizens who are riddled with multiple complexes. It is so regrettable that in their own penchant to better their own scores they are completely demolishing the child’s future scorecard! And the most unfortunate bit is – everyone seems to celebrating it!

THE LEGACY OF DISTRUST

2011-06-16T09:28:00.000+05:30

Hope this time Indians get what they want from their leaders

Innumerable reports have epitomized that India is among the most corrupt nations in the world – owing to the fact that the amount of black money that's being stashed in various tax heavens, globally. So, at least, there is no debate as far as this obscene reality is concerned. The second debate that is doing rounds is whether civil society can hold any 'democratically' elected government to ransom, with demands which according to them are unreasonable. Well, today, it might look unreasonable with respect to time frames dictated by the civil society, or for that matter including the prime minister in scrutiny. But then 60 plus years is not a short span of time, when we increasingly got corrupt with each passing day. And what's so wrong to bring the PM into the ambit of scrutiny, owing to the fact that he heads a nation which is most corrupt! Forget everything, he should have volunteered himself for scrutiny rather than allowing any debate to even surface on this issue!

However, the issue has not just surfaced but has been flying hot between the government representatives and civil society activists. Though government representatives have been crying hoarse with respect to their democratically elected status and how they cannot be dictated, but honestly whatever they have done till now is most undemocratic. Understandably so as the biggest stakeholders and custodians for these black moneys are none but they themselves. And so they would not leave any stone unturned to crush the activism from its roots, whether by defusing it by force or perpetually politically conspiring against it.

But what is interesting is the urgency with which Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev and various other spiritual gurus have taken up this particular cause as an agenda. Typically it has been observed that in our country agendas are taken with very little concern of people and a large concern of self. There are innumerable examples wherein causes have been taken up by people in the past either to enhance their political reach or to launch themselves into politics. And unfortunately in all such cases people at large have felt cheated. It has been a perpetual legacy of cheating and distrust. And that's why probably, India has not seen a revolution even when the cause was compelling.

But then this time, the amount of people actively supported both Anna and Ramdev is something which India has never seen since Independence. Both being from radically different backgrounds, they have attracted people from different sphere. And more so because the reason has never been so compelling like this time. Moreover, they both, on account of their past work, have high degree of social trust, which has furthered the strength of the entire movement. However, there is an unprecedented pressure on both of them to ensure a logical culmination to this movement. Honestly, when the cause is so compelling, time frames actually do not matter; what matters is whether the leaders on whom millions have entrusted their faith, can stand the test of time or not. If they also get entrapped with their personal political ambition, howsoever compelling the issue might be – it’s again going to be a breach of trust; and with a much bigger impact this time, probably a bigger loss than the black money stashed abroad by a handful of cheats! But if they succeed, they become legends and more than that leave a legacy of a successful and peaceful revolution to its logical conclusion!

THE TRI-POLAR WORLD

2011-06-09T09:33:00.000+05:30

Paradigm shift in economic systems and the new world order

Post the end of the cold war, the world has undergone a considerable change. The world today is not simply divided into capitalist and communist blocks. The world today is more fragmented than what it used to be during the cold war. The growing polarisation of the world is undoubtedly changing the erstwhile power-equations. Besides challenging the power equilibrium, the emerging blocs are also on a perpetual evolution and that too quite radically.

A couple of decades back it would have been a dichotomousto even think of an socialist America, capitalist China and a capitalist and democratic Middle East. Who would have ever thought that markets would weigh so heavy on the American economy that President Obama would have to bail it out with a staggering $787 billion stimulus package. The very concept of market being able to regulate itself with government’s meddling with it was challenged upside down. Aft er decades of market-driven prosperity, the Wall Street went through its worst crashes, forcing the government to put the economy on track. For the first time, the Americans observed a concept (alien to them) of their money being used for bailing out companies worth multibillion dollars – a practice that is customary in socialist nations, where the State intervenes to support its ailing companies through mobilisation of financial resources.

What happened in the US is totally non-American in its way and similarly, what has been happening in China is not Chinese in its ways. Post the 1998 financial crisis, China adopted free market concept to fortify their economy. In 2006, China lift ed its IPO suspension and world’s second largest IPO was offered $21 billion by the Industrial Bank of China. And eventually in 2007, the Shanghai Exchange appeared out as the second largest stock exchange. Today the private sector in China owns more than 60 per cent of total industrial production. China’s market revolution has conceptualised a completely novel model that is a hybrid of socialism and capitalism, albeit with Chinese characteristics.

Amidst all this, the recent uprising in Middle East has brought a paradigm shift in the region. With the social networking sites, Internet and modern thinking being the cornerstone of the revolution, the region which was akin to autocracy has been increasingly adopting modernity. The rising new middle class, the capitalist mindset, and the spirit of freedom are not only bringing about a new wave in this region but is also transforming the cultural legacy of this region. Turkey, for that matter, is a living example of correctly striking a balance between cultural and religions values and modern business-friendly environment. The reasons for the ongoing radical transitions could be anything but the agenda is to consolidate positions in the new world order. The nations who are not directly a part of this process are increasingly forming a strong bilateral allegiance with either of these blocks.

There is a clear and distinct line that has been evolving between the American, Chinese and the Middle East blocks. Though the idea is to retain/attain economic supremacy, it has been instrumental in causing this tectonic shift . The new world order or say the three emerging blocks are not only changing the political landscape of the world, but are also impacting bilateral trade and geopolitics to an extent. Although it's early to predict whether it is a move in the right direction or not, the poles are moving, and the world is becoming increasingly tri-polar.

THE GOLDEN BIRD!

2011-06-02T09:42:00.002+05:30

Privately owned gold needs to be tapped.

As per various estimates, India as a nation possesses anywhere between a staggering 25,000 tonnes to 60,000 tonnes of gold. Though most of this gold is in the form of jewellery, and mostly in personal possession! But even if we pessimistically consider that we possess 25,000 tonnes of gold jewellery and even if we discount 5,000 tonnes out of it, which could be in the form of various alloys that are put to make gold jewellery, then the market value at current price still comes to a staggering Rs.40 lakh crore. Well, it means that there is a minimum of Rs.40 lakh crore lying idle with people... and yet we call ourselves a poor economy!

If not for anything else, these gold ornaments that are being kept in lockers and are taken out just once or twice a year can be mobilised to transform the entire social infrastructure of this country in one shot! As a matter of fact, even after so much of possession, US has an official gold reserve of over 9,000 tonnes, China has over 1,000 tonnes and India manages an offi cial gold reserve of mere 550 tonnes. It means that even if a tiny fraction of the gold kept in the form of jewellery gets mobilised; the official gold reserve in India would be more than the total reserve of these top countries combined together, which would enhance fund mobilisation for multiple purposes, and that too by manifolds.

But then, it is easier said than done. There are quite a few challenges – one of them being that gold buying in our country is greatly influenced by seasonality and is deeply embedded in our culture. So much so that even the price does not influence the sale of gold jewellery, and that is the reason why the demand for gold jewellery in India rose by 67 per cent (last year) in spite of price hike. Th e other challenge is the manner in which gold is perceived in our nation – gold jewellery is a matter of pride which is bought and is kept over generations as a legacy in the family, particularly among women.But there has been some transition in this perception. Breaking the age-old tradition of purchasing gold only as jewellery, more and more people are now buying gold as an investment. And that’s why retailing of gold has also experienced a surge in the recent past, particularly when it comes to gold coins, bars and even gold certificates as commodities for consumers who are looking forward to gold-based investments.

However, trading is still limited when compared to the other parts of the world, on account of the cultural legacies that are attached to the yellow metal as well as the lack of expert insight on trading. So even after the transition, investment in gold has remained an extension to the traditional way, where such bars or coins or certificates are realised during contingencies and not as investments to trade and churn returns. In order to reap benefit from the privately held gold, Indian government needs to design and draft gold-linked investment and tax saving plans. Today, only a few NBFCs like Manippuram and Muthoot are offering gold-linked loan schemes. Both the government and private banks have been quite dormant on these offerings – which is quite strange 'cos schemes would not only benefit individual gold owners to make safe returns (considering that gold prices have been relatively stable as compared to other assets), but would also allow the government to hedge itself against the falling price of currency in the global market. Obviously, as I said earlier, it would be really tough to convince all gold owners to mobilise their gold for investment. But given the scale of reserve we have, it can create a havoc win-win for all the stake holders even if we succeed to convince a few.

LIFE ON LEASE

2011-05-26T09:56:00.001+05:30

Health cost pushes millions into poverty.

While my dad was struggling with his sudden multi–organ failure (septicemia), along with us there was another lady struggling for her husband to recover from the deadly dengue in the same nursing home. Though she was fortunate that she could get her husband admitted in that nursing home – as nursing home policy did not allow critical patients to be admitted, particularly the ones suffering from dengue. As dengue has high degree of fatality, and the nursing home didn't want anything to damage their track record! My dad was admitted for around ten days and was under constant life support. Still doctors' efforts and our prayer never got answered.

But within these 10 days that we were there, I saw this lady putting every penny that she had, on the treatment of her husband, with the only hope that she would be able to get him back home, one day! So first, it was her meagre savings that got exhausted, then it was her jewellery, and then finally it was the only piece of land that she could mortgage to some private money lender at an obscene interest rate. And while she was doing all these, I kept wondering what if, even aft er all these, she fails to take her husband back home? What happens to her? How would she ever be able to recover from the huge debt that she has been incurring? This state of a dark and scary future actually made me ask her why didn’t she go to any government hospital for the treatment as then she could have at least saved herself from the expenses. And her answer was that her struggle for getting her husband admitted would have taken away his life. Her answer summarised the state of public health infrastructure of our country. And mind you, I am talking of Delhi here! One can imagine what could be the state of affairs in other parts of the country.

In another similar incident happened recently wherein there was this man who got completely devastated saving her daughter's life as she had suffered a memory loss aft er falling down from the stairs. Here I am referring to my cab driver, who drops me and picks me up from the airport and after availing his services for more than a year I realised that aft er putting almost 12 to 18 hours of driving everyday, without a single off , he manages to make anywhere between Rs.15,000 to Rs.20,000 a month. He managed to recover his daughter’s memory but at the cost of Rs.1,00,000 – completely eroding his savings that he had struggled to accrue over years and pushing him into huge debt. These days he drives for 24 hours at a stretch to pay back the debt and tells me that he wishes if there were few more hours in a day.

These are just two cases out of thousands that take place across the country on a daily basis. The World Bank says that health expenses are the single most reason to push millions of Indians below the poverty line every year. And what is shameful is that knowing the state of the public health, the governments both at the state and at the centre, have perpetually fallen short of deliverables. Neither they have succeeded in providing any form of social infrastructure but failing to provide basic health to its citizens is absolutely unpardonable. It is even more shameful when private entrepreneurs have shown that proffering health facilities to masses does not require huge investments but a desire to make health services uniform and inclusive. The governments have even failed to provide social security in terms of health covers which could have at least saved millions from selling their jewellery, and land, or work for inhuman hours to save the lives of their near and dear ones!

GUN DOWN THE GUNS!

2011-05-19T10:02:00.001+05:30

Gun culture in India is getting out of control

What is one thing common between Ram Sanwari of UP, Gulshan Kumar, Pramod Mahajan, Shanmugam Manjunath, Syed Modi, Munish Chander Puri, Radhika Tanwar and Jessica Lal - besides the fact that all of them faced an untimely death? Well, all these people were victim of small arms! They were all shot to death. In simple word, these people and thousands more, would have lived more if the guns would have decided otherwise.

It is estimated that around 46,000,000 (46 million) guns are there in India, making the country the second nation in terms of private gun ownership. Surprisingly, the rate of private gun ownership is 4.2 firearms per 100 people, while the rate of registered firearms is merely 0.50 firearms per 100 people, indicating that a huge number of people in India hold unregistered and un-licensed guns. Th is not only makes it tough for authorities to track misuse of such weapons and track the murderer in most of the cases, but also speaks volumes about the illegal gun market running parallel in the country. Hundreds of countrymade fire-arms were seized from a factory operating in Makrandpur in Kanpur. Similar seizure unearthed an entire parallel on-going illegal gun in Baranagar in Kolkata, Mandas village in Bihar, Agaarpur village in Nalanda and hundreds more such factories in state like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In legal market, the minimum price at which a gun available is Rs 70,000 and can go up to a few lakhs, depending upon the make of the gun. However, similar guns can be bought from these illegal factories for one-tenth of the price.

The issue here is not about just guns, but the manner in which it has always been symbolic to heady mix of ego and power. And that’s probably why private guns are rarely used for self-defense. It is not that it is unknown that it has always been a conspicuous possession (for marriages and functions), a show-piece in drawing room and a status symbol (symbol of power). There have been numerous cases, where air-firing led to deaths in marriage functions, guns have been repeatedly used by children to either murder or commit suicide, used to kill family members or relatives, and in most cases on trivial issues. In most of the countries like Australia, Israel, Japan, Mexico, china – firearms for personal protection not allowed while in Brazil one can’t carry guns outside home.

In countries like ours, where legal guns are very highly priced, it sends a wrong signal to the society clearly indicating that self defence is a right only to be availed by the rich. The problem is that even a blanket ban on gun-ownership cannot help till the time illegal gun market is completely uprooted and eliminated. Also till the time, the owners of such illegal guns are forced to confiscate their possession; issuing new gun license should be given a second thought. And frankly speaking owing to the high incidence of murders and suicides, we should not allow our citizens to possess any form of weapons, let alone guns. Possession of arms should be made a criminal offence.

And for those citizens who really fear a threat of life or property should be instead be allowed to hire authorised or approved professional private guards, at least till the time we mature enough to comprehend the statutory warnings of these dangerous possessions. It goes without saying that right to live should not come at the cost of someone else’s right to live.

VANITY INSURANCE

2011-05-12T10:00:00.001+05:30

Lots to cover in health and life insurance..

Thought of sharing something hilarious, that I heard recently – it goes like this – What's the difference between an insurance company and the mafi a don? The insurance company can tell you how many people died this year and the mafi a don can tell the names of them. This may sound humorous but behind the humour lies a dash of reality on which this $41 billion industry runs. No doubt, that this is one of those few unique industries which thrives on mankind’s biggest insecurity – the fear of death! But with changing times, growing competition, lack of innovative possibilities and with life and assets becoming riskier and unsafe, modern insurance industry offers covers for almost everything under the sun. And some these covers are quite intriguing, to say the least!

With India comfortably finding space among world’s top ten counties in kidnapping, the demand for insurance cover in this area have seen an upsurge. The demand increased after the son of Adobe’s CEO, Naresh Gupta’s was kidnapped (and a ransom of Rs 50 lakhs was paid). As per global estimates, the global market size of this is around $300 million. Today insurance cover for Kidnapping and ransom is being offered by companies like Tata AIG, ICICI Lombard, New India Assurance, United India and HDFC Ergo. The potential for such products are yet to be determined but such offerings have increased the incidence of kidnapping and numerous fake and fabricated issues have also emerged out especially in Uttar Pradesh.

Life insurance plans do take care of family, ergo post after the death of a breadearner. But then the funeral cost of that bread-earner does bring in some amount of pain particularly for the middle class and the lower middle class. No doubt, even funerals too have become an expensive affair. This can be corroborated with the growth that the funeral industry is experiencing. In this light, insurers have started including funeral costs in their policies. Insurance companies charges an extra amount to include funeral expenses in the existing plans.

Moving further to another interesting offering – insurance for pets! Traditionally in India, cattle and dogs are kept as pets. But with time, animal lovers have started keeping exotic breeds of animals as pets ranging from turtles to exotic birds. These pets not only burn ones pocket as they are very expensive but also burns a lot as their maintenance is also expensive. Thus, pet insurance (ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 50,000) comes as a rescue to take care of the veterinary costs, death cover, theft and lost. Insurance may not take care of the emotional loss but do compensate the economical loss! For the records, in 2006, the Rajasthan High Court has ordered the New India Assurance Company to pay Rs 5,99,440 to the owner of an elephant who died after being hit by a jeep.

And before you think this is it, there are many similar schemes yet to arrive in India. A few of them include alien abduction policies (provided by Goodfellow Rebecca Ingram Pearson), supernatural insurance policy for damages caused by ghost, vampire and asteroid, weather insurance, body parts insurance (ranging from legs to moustache) and wedding as well. But as I said earlier, in a nation where on account of lack of purchasing power and awareness, a staggering 89 per cent of the population still remain bereft of any health insurance, all such offerings look a little too premature!

DAILY DOZE OF NEWS!

2011-05-05T09:49:00.001+05:30

We still lack accessibility to mass information media

The economics of news has always been very intriguing, but the socio-economics is far more captivating. The social impact of newspaper, periodicals and TV or shall I say information media goes beyond conventional welfare economics. It has been observed that most literate countries in the world also have very high readership. In simple words, newspaper, periodicals and news channels are the only tools that can reach masses, educate them and make them aware – all at one go.

When it comes to newspaper circulation, India beats any country hands down. We stand at the top position when it comes to newspaper circulation with 59,023,000 newspapers being circulated daily followed by Germany that manages to circulate only 25,000,000 – which is less than half that of India. India ranks third in the world when it comes to newspaper and periodicals combined circulation with 62,000,000 newspaper and periodicals being circulated daily closely following China and Japan. But when it comes to availability and access to these information media, we don’t even feature in top 10! India stands at the 28th position, when it comes to newspaper circulation per capita, per day with merely 54.64 newspapers per 1,000 people. While the top ranking country –Norway- boasts of 554.10 newspapers per 1,000 people – approximately 10 times that of India. The situation gets worse with newspapers and periodicals availability per capita as India drops down to the 48th position with just 60.09 per 1,000 people, while Japan and Norway again tops the list. It goes without any doubt that periodicals do play a significant role in educating people at the same time inculcates a sense of opinion. Periodicals not only provides relatively deeper insights but also more analysis and commentary on myriad issues. The most accessible media of information being TV are again in short supply, as we have only 0.58 television broadcast stations per million people – with Norway having 82.569 per million people - making us the 152nd nation in the list. As of 2010, a total number of 515 channels are available in the country out of which 150 are pay channels with total cable subscribers per 1,000 being merely 38.5.

Th e entire issue of news dissemination can be put under into two broad categories. One, being of aff ordability and other being of shortage of quality local mass media. Newspaper and periodicals are still very expensive in India, and TV channels are out of reach of millions. A back of envelope calculation shows that an average Indian have to do way with 2-3 per cent of his annual income annually for a year round newspaper and periodicals readings, while a British can do it for merely 1.5-2 per cent of his annual income. And mind you, this is just the cost of the newspaper, which does not include the cost of access as a large part of the population do not have a door step access of newspapers and periodicals like in cities. In newspaper and periodicals, India does have a few titles in Hindi that are at par with leading English titles, but when it comes to other local languages, we still fail to satisfy the appetite of local readers. Similar is the case with regional TV channels and especially regional news channel, which has more to do with access issues, than anything else. With low broadband connectivity, lower education and far lower internet awareness, it is print media and electronic media that need to be made more accessible and affordable for masses. It is not just about information dissemination but also about responsibility towards citizens as a whole.

GOLD IN COLD!

2011-04-28T10:51:00.000+05:30

How weather decides economic prosperity!

Why are some nations rich and other poor? Ask this question to a hundred economists and you would receive one hundred different answers. And in all likelihood, their answers would be laced with complex theories and difficult mathematical models to drive home their point. Amidst all this economics jargon, a few parameters are generally swept under the carpet, due to their sheer freaky nature.

It is very interesting to note that almost all prosperous countries are located in the temperate zone with cold climate while poor countries are tropical nations with hot and humid climate. Is there any rationale behind this or is it a mere coincidence? Well, it seems there is a positive cogent correlation behind this consistent reality. Numerous scientific studies have shown that cold climate is favourable for greater human productivity. All the major world powers that have emerged during the last millennium have been Europeans nations. Th ey have had higher productivity that gave them rapid advancement in technology, education, art and culture, all thanks to their climatic conditions! Another reason for the prosperity of cold countries is that a small population sits on a huge resource pile. In Canada for example, its 33 million strong population is exploiting multi-million dollars worth resource base of minerals, oil, hydroelectricity, forests and farmland.

With respect to most economic indicators, these nations have been way ahead of tropical civilisations like Arabs, Indians or Chinese. Africa and South America are located in the tropical zone and high temperature in these continents make survival a challenging task. Cameroon, Chad and Congo in Africa and Bahamas, Barbados and Haiti in Latin America are some of the authoritarian regimes which are high in poverty and low in human development index. Even Asian and Middle Eastern countries located in the heart of tropical zone do not augur well for championing democracy. India, although the largest practising democracy in the world, is riddled with corruption, electoral malpractices and falls in the lower brackets of HDI. In hybrid HDI from 1970 to 2010, the Europe and Central Asia scored the highest with a composite value of 0.75 while tropical South Asian value is mere 0.57 and Sub-Saharan Africa scored just 0.43!

The same freaky pattern can be observed not just across nations but within a country as well. In a wealthy nation like the US, the temperate north is richer and more progressive than the tropical south. North controls 70 per cent of the economy, leaving South far behind that has a largely agrarian economy. However, Russia and East European countries are way behind the west and mostly belong to the middle income groups. But that’s because of the sudden structural change that they have observed aft er the Cold War. However, Hong Kong and Singapore are exceptions. According to CIA World Fact Book, Hong Kong with a per capita income of $44,000 and Singapore with $52,000 are better-off than most Western European and North American countries. As it is widely believed that hot climate reduces productivity and thus prosperity, Singapore has done a trick— it has airconditioned almost everything from homes to offices and from buses to trains, thus off setting the effect of heat! True, economics does shock more than oft en, but then with Skirt-Index (how the length of skirt talks about economy) proving itself, weather is not far behind!

THE 5TH PILLAR

2011-04-14T14:00:00.001+05:30

Social networking sites are new age democratic phenomenon

Over the past few months, there have been unique reformations globally. Starting from the Middle East to India, all of a sudden, dynamic overpowering civil society movements have taken such unique shapes that if, on one hand, it has been successful in bringing down governments; then, on the other hand, it has forced the government to bow down to their legitimate demands! So, if Hosni Mubarak's government was pulled down in Egypt, then in India, one 71 year old man, along with millions of supporters, prompted the government to give in to their legitimate demands. No doubt, it has been a huge success for the citizens of Egypt, and that of those Indians who actively supported Dr Anna Hazare... but then, technology too had a indubitable role to play in this. No one can deny the role of various social networking sites that played an anchor role in this agitation .

Over the last few weeks, the social networking platforms have been cluttered with netizens on Twitter and Facebook conversing about Anna Hazare's campaign regarding the Jan Lok Pal Bill. Within a matter of a couple of days Anna Hazare had not only become the most searched keyword on the Google India page, but also, more of a phenomenon on Twitter and Facebook. Indicating this, more than 200,000 people 'like' Hazare's 'India Against Corruption' page on Facebook and more than 125,000 people joined Anna Hazare’s page on Facebook. The virtual world has not only allowed netizens to educate themselves about the movement and the bill, buthas also given them a platform to share their views, opinions and above all, their support. And the beauty of this is that unlike others, this movement not only have Jantar Mantar as the epicentre, but also hundreds of other epicentres all across the nation, including our institute where I found students offering to skip lunch and educating other fellow students. Thanks to the social networking sites and microsites, Indians across the nation (and even across the world) could engage with each other and unanimously raise their voice against corruption. They could join the protest irrespective of caste, religion and geographies!

Often, such initiatives fail just on account of lack of reach. Thus, millions either get to know much later or are left totally unaware. And even if it reaches through rumours, the real essence get hugely distorted! Thus, all these deterrents help to curtail the impact. In this light, social networking sites and microsites have that power of spreading real time and right information, ceasing geographical boundaries, and interactively sharing views. Interestingly, unlike most of the earlier protests, this one attracted youth and intelligentsia. Given the fact that access to such resources are confined to the educated class of people, this particular bill was supported more by people who cared and were concerned about bringing in real changerather than by people with personal interests. The reach was wide! Twitter and Facebook have become a tool for expressing their right to speech and opinion.

Social networking sites and microsites have awaken a new layer of people who raised their voice and showed their support for a meaningful national change bereft of personal and political interest. It brought a diverse nation like ours, under a single ambit, which is indeed an essence of a functional democracy.

Given the positive synergy and the impact it created - these avenues seem nothing but a new emerging 5th pillar of democracy.

THE “SILLY POINT” DIPLOMACY!

2011-04-07T09:54:00.001+05:30

Cricket diplomacy is not likely to be a success, as it has never been in the past

After almost a month of excitement and momentary despair, the Indian cricket team recreated history and finally won the ICC World Cup 2011. The madness peaked at the quarter finals stage when India were meeting Australia, and by the time it reached the semi-final stage, where India were to meet Pakistan, it was as if the entire nation had come to a stand still! Whatever said and done, at the World Cup stage a match between India and Pakistan is an unparalleled spectacle. At this stage, wherein a real time war is going on in everyone's mind on both sides of the border, expecting peace is seemingly foolish. And to think of cricket between the two nations as a platform for foreign policy implementation is equally stupid.

It showed during the recent visit of Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to Mohali to watch India-Pakistan match, in which he received as much coverage in our mainstream media as the players performing out in the middle did. This visit was touted as a new found opportunity to re-initiate peace talks with our neighbour, which is right now is passing through a very lean patch. Critics and cynics went all-out to analyse and predict the possible outcomes of this visit of the Pakistani PM. Obviously, it was a significant move by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to invite Gilani as a special guest for this particular match. But then how much of this gesture actually translates into a healthy relationship between the two nations is extremely doubtful. At least that is what one can say, going by the precedence of failures and futile summits and talks organised in the past.

To break ice with Pakistan has never been easy – be it through cricket diplomacy or be it through some other measure. “Cricket diplomacy cannot resolve disputes” is how Musharraf reacted during his last visit to India, and of course he had got a ground for making such a statement. Everybody remembers the futility of such a move in 2005 between Musharraf and Singh, even after they jointly declared that peace between the two countries was irreversible.

This 2005 General Pervez Musharraf visit to India for a cricket match was viewed as a step to end dispute over Kashmir but then it did not last long as a series of blasts believed to be carried out by Pakistan sponsored terrorist outfit, Lashkare- Taiba, rocked the suburban trains in Mumbai on July 11, 2006 killing hundreds. So much so that after the Kargil conflict there were calls to pull-off even cricketing relations with our dicey neighbour.

In fact, the fruits of cricket diplomacy have always been sour for India. It happened in 2004 when Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi accompanied Indian cricket team to Pakistan for cricket match series that ended a 10 years drought in cricket matches between the two nations. The then National Security Advisor, Brijesh Mishra, was also present there to see ‘The Declaration of Islamabad’ through, where President Musharraf promised that Pakistani soil would not be used to harbour terrorism! But the promise was not kept — as the situation in Kashmir deteriorated further just after this visit — compelling India to accuse Pakistan once again for all the obvious reasons. Something similar had happened way back in 1987 when Rajiv Gandhi invited the then Pakistani president Zia ul Haq to watch a test match between the two countries in Jaipur. However, by 1989 the terrorism and subversion in Kashmir had peaked to an extent that the two countries were back to square one.

It goes without saying that sports and diplomacy rarely make an eff ective cocktail. Globally, such visits are a very common phenomenon. One can sight presidents, prime ministers and heads of the state turning up for global sporting events on the host country’s invitation. A simple recall of big matches in the NBA, Olympics and FIFA would be enough to gauge the same. And such invitations and visits rarely convert into diplomatic ties and very rarely into meaningful peace talks. It would be really juvenile to assume such symbolism and gestures as diplomacy and silly to assume such visits as an avenue for peace talks especially between the nations that have a long history of friction. When a series of peace initiatives from the much touted Agra Summit to the Delhi-Lahore bus service failed to improve relations, then one such sport visit would be the last thing that can be considered as a stepping stone.

There have been numerous instances where fans have reacted violently during games. But this phenomenon is confined to India laone. During the 2004 AFC Asian Cup held in China, fans insulted Japanese national anthem during China-Japan match and expressed their anti-Japanese sentiment and some Chinese fans rioted outside the Beijing Worker's Stadium. In such situations, a few hours of a sugar coated visit during sporting event would not bring in major improvement in strained relations. Such a visit would only be seen as a goodwill gesture, not as an opportunity for peace talks, especially when the past is full of betrayals.

But then such an initiative by our Prime Minister would let the world feel our generosity and open-mindedness without expecting anything in return. Can anyone expect the same gesture for India from China or may be from North Korea for the United States for that matter? Nevertheless, the precedence gives us enough reasons for not being overtly optimistic about this meet, as there is a strong likelihood that it would fall flat on its face this time around as well! When it comes to sports – a sporting spirit of the inviting heads of state makes sense, but then using this as a platform for peace talks is a ‘silly-point’, and more so, when it is betweenIndia and Pakistan!

ELECTORAL DIVIDENDS

2011-03-31T09:56:00.013+05:30

Truly we are a land of paradoxes…

Indian poor have very little in their life to celebrate as most of the times they are in the midst of a perpetual struggle for a dignified and sustained livelihood. However, life cannot always be cruel. So the poor, too, have occasions to rejoice, most prominently during the elections. It's the time when political parties, both regional and national, leave no stone unturned to lure voters to their folds. If one party announces unimaginable development schemes, the other introduces unbelievable sops and subsidies for common people. Some political parties even go to the extent of directly distributing cash to their voters!

As elections are slated to be held in a number of states, political parties are busy announcing and giving freebies. If in Assam they are trying to lure the electorate by providing free solar lamps and CFL tubes, in Bengal, it is the promise of reservation and jobs. Kerala is not behind either — from distributing free timber to providing scholarships to poor students, they are trying everything. The poor in Tamil Nadu have the biggest reason to celebrate. On February 28, more than 1.60 crore television sets were distributed as part of DMK’s election campaign. The party also distributed 9.1 lakh TV coupons to the beneficiaries. Chief Minister M Karunanidhi also distributed free bicycles to students studying in government and aided schools. The bicycles, estimated to be worth at Rs 149.58 crore, were distributed to more than five lakh students. What's more, he also announced free washing machines and refrigerators! The icing on the cake was when DMK promised free laptops to first-year students coming from the weaker sections of society and pursuing professional degree courses in government or aided colleges.

Interesting, isn’t it? On the face of it, all this looks like election gimmick and has invited a lot of flak from popular media which termed this as blatant buying of votes. Whatever the political parties might say, but the fact is that it is indeed buying of loyalties. More so because most of the recipients are poor and illiterate and thus unable to see the agenda behind these freebies. However, I do not see anything wrong in this!

My reasons are based on a basic assumption that in India most political parties are cash rich and they have an enormous election budget. And irrespective of whatever action is taken against them, buying of votes is an unfortunate reality and would remain so. In fact, it has only grown over time. So, considering that votes would ultimately be bought, then bicycles, cell phones, laptops and jobs are far better options than a bottle of liquor! It's because by giving these, the politicians are making the poor have something which the latter cannot otherwise afford. In addition to this, each such freebie brings in a huge productive engagement for the recipient and along with that the resultant internal and external economies. So if TV and mobile phones open a new world to the have-nots and make them more aware, then bicycles and laptops respectively provide students better mobility and information access. Not to forget that television sets, mobile phones and laptops are actually used and this usage adds to the national GDP. Apart from statistics, what is more significant here is that it brings joy and smile on the faces of these poor and hapless people. And mind you, all this for votes!

All in all, this is a classic paradoxical situation of wrong intentions but great outcomes! But that’s what politics is all about!

GENDER CRISIS IN THE TIMES OF CRISES

2011-03-24T09:41:00.001+05:30

Sexual violence flourishes during disasters and turmoil

With the inception of a new government, the struggle may have ended for a few in Egypt, marking a closure to the pain and grief of millions who participated in the change process. But then for a section of society the struggle still continues. Sexual harassment and rapes are not only rampant across the nation, the frequency and occurrence have seen a sharp rise during the recent political turmoil. So much so that a woman journalist of CBS, Lara Logan, was sexually assaulted and beaten at Tahrir Square. In others incidents women were reportedly beaten and ripped away from the groups of men.

It is as if this is a global phenomenon. Immediately aft er any form of crisis, the crisis on the fairer sex does not seem to end. Their predicament starts at the beginning of the crisis and it goes on for almost forever. And unfortunately such incidents are not only confined to a few weak states or just during a few transitional times but can be seen all across the world. In Sierra Leone, in March last year, during the clashes between the two political parties – Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) and All People's Congress (APC) – around six rape cases were reported. The situation has become grimmer in countries like Afghanistan, Sudan and Colombia where protests have become a periodic affair. In these nations, women are just not co-incidental 'collateral damage' but are the chosen victims. Going by the reports (which are largely understated) around 60,000 women were raped in the Balkans in 1990, more than 5,00,000 rapes took place during Rwanda’s genocide in 1994 and around 2,00,000 rape charges have been reported in Congo since 1996. Beside this, numerous cases of sexual harassment, flesh trade and women displacement are also reported.

And as I said in the beginning, that the crisis could be of any kind but the fallout on women is pretty much the same. For example, Haitian women faced severe sexual violence during Haiti’s earthquake especially on account of weak law and order situation during and aft er the quake. On top of it, as per Amnesty International, the spread of flimsy camps made the entire trauma more traumatic. Another report by KOFAVIV – a women's organisation cited that there were more than 242 rapes between January and June in 2010 in Haiti.

Even in the developed countries like the United States, such crimes are a common phenomenon during such turbulent times. Hundreds of rape cases were reported during Hurricane Katrina. Coming over to South Asia, the post-tsunami rescue eff ort comes as another disaster for women. It went to an extent that Sri Lankan women felt traumatised in rescue camps which almost became a one-stop destination for rapes. Flesh trade and trafficking of women for prostitution were also part of this traumatic experience. Indonesian women's organisation Komnas Perempuan went on proving 45 cases of violence against female tsunami refugees.

Every time the socio-economic cost of such crises is highlighted but it fails to represent the cost that is incurred by various sections of the societal set up. It is an extremely tedious process, but then going by the universality and magnanimity of the problem, a gender based post-crises cost mapping has become almost an imperative. It is only when we evaluate the extent of the damage that we can probably evolve a gender based relief plan for the benefit of women who have been at the receiving end. Till it happens, the 'crisis' would never be over for women.

THE COST OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT

2011-03-17T10:07:00.001+05:30

Lack of modern urban dwelling centres is hitting real estate price

During my recent trip to Bhubaneswar, I was pretty intrigued by the manner in which the city has come in the last one decade. With construction in full swing all around, the change is only too visible. Amidst the development, what startled me was the fact that the average price of the real estate in Bhubaneswar is more than that in the national capital region (NCR). Perhaps there is still some rationale behind the high real estate prices in the NCR, but what could it be in the case of Bhubaneswar? I could not see any, especially when I found out that the prices were higher in the capital of the impoverished state as compared to the prices in the national capital region. A brief analysis of how the real estate prices in Bhubaneswar have seen a considerable rise over the past few years. Obviously, one of the reasons for this unprecedented is the city’s expanding population, compounded with large scale migration that is taking place. Also there is this popular tradition among the Oriyas to have a property in Bhubaneswar, no matter in which part of the world they live in! It is a sort of status symbol amongst the Oriyas. But then, the real reason behind the increase in price is also the lack of alternatives available to the people. In most of the areas of the state capital, the price of real estate has surged by a whopping 300 per cent in last few years and on an average the price has increased by 100 per cent in the last five years for residential units. At Nanadan Kanana Road in the city, the price of real estate is around Rs 23,537/sq ft!

One of the major bottlenecks with the state’s urban development is the lack of urban dwelling centres in the state. While Bhubaneswar is becoming a commercially viable option and is providing huge investment opportunities, the government has failed to replicate similar model of development in other parts of the state. Not only Bhubaneswar is experiencing huge migration but is also experiencing jamming of real estate. Simply because the second most developed city of the state, Cuttack, is considered too congested and lacking urban infrastructure and commercial viability to support the real estate attraction.

The phenomenon is not confined to Bhubaneswar alone. A similar trend can be seen in Patna too. The real estate prices have gone up by more than 100 per cent in the last three years with residential properties being priced at around Rs 3,000-3,500/ sq ft. Even in Guwahati in Assam, the prices have seen a relative steeper rise as compared to neighbouring areas. These cities or rather states, have not only missed out opportunity in terms of providing their people with multiple choice of modern urban dwelling but also have seen high opportunity cost in terms of trade and commerce. Contrast these states with Madhya Pradesh where Bhopal and Indore equally share the burden, or with Gujarat where Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara are almost equally developed.

It is almost an imperative to develop a number of satellite townships near state capitals and to build peripheral infrastructure around the existing cities in order to check on property prices and reduce jamming of the real estate. Such modern and intelligent urban planning would necessarily provide the citizens with multiple options of commerce and residence and thus ensure that just one city in the state does not have to pay for the underdevelopment of the entire state. One should take a cue from states like Gujarat.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE TO SHANGHAI DREAMS

2011-03-10T09:53:00.002+05:30

We still lack delivery of proper civic amenities

The significance of civic amenities can be traced back to Indus valley civilisation. It was during the Harappan and the Mohenjodaro civilisations that the concept of civic amenities saw a new dimension. These ancient civilisations not only focussed on hygiene and cleanliness but also had a very scientific way of keeping their cities clean. Even today urban planners refer back to these architectural styles to take a lesson or two for modern sewage and drainage system. But then, with time — especially in a country like ours, owing to huge population pressure and almost defunct city planning — the whole idea of adequate civil amenities has taken a back seat.

Fundamentally, the task of providing civic amenities lies with municipal bodies. Today it is this body that is responsible for providing all kinds of amenities to the citizens ranging from water supply and sanitation to arranging for the disposal of solid waste and the maintenance of burial grounds and crematoriums. However, even aft er six decades of independence and series of city developmental plans, our municipal bodies have failed to provide us with clean surroundings.

A walk down any street in any up market area even in a big metro such as Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata would give one a fair idea about the 'filthy' state of hygiene. So much so that one can find dumping yards popping up in the middle of the city. In the Capital itself, it won’t be tedious to locate garbage lying uncovered even in the vicinity of most expensive, sophisticated and the so-called posh areas.

And mind you, that's the state of our metro cities. If we move around in smaller cities, the situation is appalling! As such there are around 700 million people who do not have access to lavatories and around 43 per cent of urban dwellers lack system for proper disposal of sewage. Talking about solid waste, it is estimated that on an average India produces around 40-45 million tons of urban solid waste annually — which boils down to 0.6 kg per day per person. However, our municipal corporation manages to collect merely 0.4 kg per person per day of solid waste. Surveys found that of the total 300 tier-I cities, around 70 cities have partial sewage treatment facilities. Further, out of the total combined waste water generated in the four metro cities, merely 30 per cent is treated before disposal.

This is in spite of the fact that the uncollected solid waste largely becomes a breeding hub for germs and insects which eventually create health hazards in the vicinity. Many diseases like chikungunya and cholera (which were written-off years back by health experts), have seen a blockbuster comeback, and it can be largely attributed to the state's failure to provide better civic amenities. Besides, in most of the Indian cities, large quantities of potable water is wasted while the waste water treatment is still an alien concept.

And it is not that there has been a shortage of funds. Take for instance the Rajasthan Government that has received around Rs 200 crore for civic amenities in the slum colonies but managed to spend only Rs.125 crore. Similar are the cases with a few other states including Haryana and West Bengal. Development and modernisation of cities is not only confined to malls, theatres and a few gated residential complexes, but is measured by a yardstick that counts every dimension which affects human life. Without any apprehension, it is the municipal corporation that can change a city from “Slumdog Millionaire” to “Shanghai Dreams.”

THOUGHT FOR FOOD!

2011-03-03T10:04:00.001+05:30

Guest Control Order is quite short-sighted!

Recently, the Government has announced its intention of implementing the Guest Control Order (GCO) of 1960s again. This law will predominantly check the rampant wastage of food in lavish wedding parties. The rationale ensures that this law would put a capping on the number of guests invited for a wedding and similar occasions. Limiting the number of guests allowed at weddings will eventually help in reducing the wastage of food. Reiterating a known fact, in most marriages the wastage of food is both ubiquitous and blatant. But then, such wastages are not merely restricted to marriages; similar wastages take place in restaurants, corporate events and even at homes! Anybody who is more into social gatherings would be quite conversant with the amount of food wasted in parties. And thus, if the whole idea of guest control order of 60s is to check food waste, then capping guests in marriages only seems to be a prejudiced and half hearted initiative!

In fact, why go so far? If one keeps a track of the amount of food left at their dining table daily, the collective annual food waste per person at home would be much more than what he/she wastes at a few weddings! The same rationale holds true for buff et at restaurants, or for that matter, corporate parties – which are no less in terms of grandeur and lavishness when compared to any wedding. Axing wedding parties will not only hurt the entire essence of Indian wedding – where presence of relatives and friends enhances the festivity – but will also dent the great wedding industry at a large. The Indian wedding as an industry is estimated at around Rs.30,000-50,000 crore directly and is growing at 25 to 30 per cent a year with cities like Mumbai and Delhi alone contributing nearly Rs.7,000 crore each per annum. Th e Indian wedding industry on a whole, which includes allied industry collectively, generate Rs.1,20,000 crore annually. Any step like GCO will not only hamper the growth of this industry, but also throw many people out of jobs.

If the Government is serious about controlling the wastage of food, then it has to find out means to fine those who waste food and not the entire industry itself. Food wastage is more of a habit than practice. Take for instance, the Hayashi Ya Japanese restaurant on the Upper West Side of the US charges 3 per cent extra if there are left over of food on your plate. Similarly, householders could be fined up to £1,000 in UK, if they fail to comply with the new rules on refuse sorting.

In order to check food waste, the Government should issue a fine on restaurants and event managements instead of inserting a cap on the number of guests. Moreover, it can ensure that hotels and wedding planners take actions in order to control such activities. An intervention by hotels and event management in curbing such practices would be more effective. Moreover, given the complexity of Indian marriages, a proper count of guest is practically impossible.

I’m strictly against wastage of food, particularly at a time when the food inflation is high and there are millions who go to bed without a morsel. But then, curbing the expanse of marriages would do more harm than good. The Government might marginally succeed to check food waste, but it cannot answer to those millions whose earnings are connected to the industry. The law is too short-sighted and calls for a complete overhaul, which is hard to expect from a government that still allows people to die of hunger while food grains rot in the godowns!

THE SUN IN THE DARK!

2011-02-24T09:48:00.002+05:30

How solar energy can wipe the tears of millions of poor

Of all the myriad challenges that we face, a couple of them top the list. For most of these challenges, there exists home grown solutions which never get replicated. Lets consider the example of the India's power sector. Problems are multifaceted. Firstly, insufficient power supply and secondly, massive power loss during transmission and distribution (which is pegged at 45 per cent) due to rampant power theft s which amount to a staggering 1.5 per cent of GDP. Currently, around 500 million people live with the regular problem of power-cuts. Around half of the rural households have no access to electricity. The access to electricity for urban households is a shade better taking the average around 35 per cent - who still live without access to electricity. Now, this 35 per cent – who are still living without electricity – and an equal number of people who have to perpetually undergo regular power cuts, have to largely rely on kerosene lamps for lighting purposes. Speaking statistically, around 65-70 per cent of rural people and 55-60 per cent of urban families use kerosene lamps. Needless to say, the dependence on kerosene is so high simply because alternatives like gensets and invertors are expensive and thus unaffordable for many families. Moreover, maintenance of kerosene lamps are no longer cheap (on account of rampant black marketing). It has high health risks too. Kerosene is highly inflammable and produces harmful smoke, due to which a lot of people die from accidents or develop breathing diseases. The WHO reports that air pollution from kerosene causes more than 1.5 million deaths annually.

This entire challenge appears to be an irony for a nation that is blessed with ample sunshine, almost throughout the year, which could be used to produce solar energy! India lags behind many countries when it comes to exploiting solar power. Nations are fast switching to solar power for sustainable energy security indicating a clear message to India. There are isolated examples of how solar power can contribute in India. According to a study by Agoramoorthy and Hsu, in 25 villages of the Gujarat, each household, on an average, saved Rs.10,000-15,000 annually aft er replacing kerosene lamps with solar lantern. Many NGOs and MFIs like SEWA and SKS Microfinance are providing poor people with affordable solar lamps and also helping them to start small manufacturing plants on the same lines. Presently, solar lamps are imported from China and other South Asian nations. But manufacturing these lamps at home would save Rs.1500 per unit. However, building a plant to produce such lamps would require a Rs.2 crore capital investment. To address such high cost, the Ministry of Renewable Energy in Dec'10 promised to provide subsidy of Rs.2,400 to the manufacturers for each lantern being produced. Even then, solar contributes merely 0.02 per cent of energy generation in the country.

To ensure energy security, the policy makers need to mobilise funds towards these schemes and replicate the scanty success into a national agenda. The Government can redirect a part of the subsidy meant for kerosene. During 2009-10, it provided a subsidy of Rs.17,364 crore on kerosene which would have been enough to produce around 30 million solar lamps! Solar energy would reduce the dependence on centralised conventional power grid and make villages self-sufficient in power generation. Th is will enhance the quality of life for poor and play a major role in India’s commitment towards a sustainable green environment!

NATIONAL BALANCE SHEET!

2011-02-18T09:56:00.000+05:30

Union Budget – misplaced priorities, displaced outcomes!

In today’s world, any company failing to generate value for its shareholders is mercilessly stripped down in the bourses. Then why is it that when a government, year aft er year, creates negligible value for its stakeholders (tax-paying citizens) should be allowed to get away? The fact is that if one has to draw a simile then there is no difference between the Union Budget and AGMs of listed corporations. If on one hand, the chairman of the listed company discusses the balance sheet of the company in front of its shareholders, then on the other, the Union Finance Minister reads out the revenue and expenditure of the nation in front of the representatives elected by the citizens. So, if on one hand, the chairman of the company announces the achievements of the previous year and the plans for the future, the Union Finance Minister does the same. But then, this is where the similarity ends and the reality begins.

When it comes to listed companies, corporate governance is mandatory. A listed company needs to follow disclosure norms laid down by SEBI to ensure that they are accountable and responsible for every action that they take. This is only to ensure that the shareholders’ interest is safeguarded in such a way that they aren’t left in the dark and no one messes with their investments. Moreover, a shareholder has every right to question and recommend during an AGM and in the worst case, if he does not see value in staying invested, he has the right to walk out with his money (by selling his shares). Now, consider the case of India’s stakeholders (citizens). In spite of making contributions through taxes, they depend upon their elected representatives who, in most cases, are found to be yawning during the Budget sessions. Our Budget is more like an one-sided affair with no intervention from the citizens for whom the budget is made. Moreover, one would be disheartened to know how key Budget documents like the Pre-Budget statements, yearend reports and annual audit either go missing or are kept in sub-standard conditions – which is a prerequisite when it comes to transparent and accountable Budget.

In most of the Nordic and Scandinavian countries, transparency is high and is more effective; rather, shall I say, is more corporatized and the citizen participation is so high. Budget documents are not formed until the public passes them. In South Africa, the Pre-Budget statements are coupled with the Mid-Year Review. Similar procedures are followed in Brazil and Kenya. Talking about audits, in India, citizens have only one way to find out about the way their money is used – RTI – which is not enough and eventually have no rights to challenge the wrong doings of the government, if found. Take for instance, France produces a comprehensive audit report (certificationdes Comptes de l’Etat) while New Zealand, Russia and UK follow similar fool-proof procedures. Many countries follow public expenditure tracking system that gives a perspective to its citizens to monitor the public fund expenses, and further acts as a tool to raise voices against ineffective and inequitable management of funds.

The significance of such systems is even more pertinent in our case as lack of transparency and accountability has only benefited the middle and upper middle class at the cost of the masses. And whatever is being doled out in the name of masses has been blatantly embezzled for personal gains. The Budget has become an exercise to take contributions from all and to distribute amongst a few!

SOURAV AND IPL BAZAAR!

2011-02-10T09:29:00.001+05:30

Trading cricketers as commodities in a public domain is slavish!

I was never an ardent admirer of Sourav Ganguly as a cricketer but I definitely admired his attitude with which he led the Indian cricket team to a series of victory! It was the leader in him, who could pull back a team! The way he used his leadership skills to promote players like Sehwag, Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Irfan and the likes – who otherwise would've got lost in oblivion, showcased his great determination and grit! Th is also meant that he had to rub the wrong way against the establishment for which he earned so much of dislikeness and discredit. What he did for the Indian team cannot be taken away but whatever happened to him during the 2010 IPL auction, should have been the last thing to happen to any player of his stature! It might sound weird, but aft er his omission from IPL, I probably admire him even more...

Now, the fact is that IPL is business of sports! And when it comes to business decision, the decision to oust Ganguly was probably correct – that's what his franchise felt and did! But then, his omission should have been a little more graceful. Many cricketing experts today are justifying the stance of omitting Sourav with myriad reasonings, but none would have liked a similar treatment on themselves. It is too humiliating to say the least, and he definitely did not deserve it this way. Not just this, I personally feel that the entire process of auctioning in public is outrightly humiliating for any player! One might argue that the entire thing should be taken in the right side of sporting spirit but I personally feel that we have stretched this spirit too far! The entire bidding looked like those ancient days, when Romans felt, that they ruled the world and sports was an extension of a feudal pleasure sans respect for any sportsmen. It was an exhibition of feudalism at its obscene worst! And more outrageous was the fact that this was done by young heirs of wealthy families who, apart from their inheritence, have no other credentials!

Without digressing from the core issue, I agree, that IPL is business. It is more of a monopsony market with limited buyers (franchise) and large number of sellers (cricketers). In such a market, every decision, including the prices (fee) are determined by the buyers! But here we are not talking about just another commodity. We are dealing with human beings, and a majority of those represented their nations at the highest levels. In such a scenario, when bidding happens – the price becomes indicative of 'a' player's significance. At the same time the same price also indicates their non-significance, in the eyes of the buyer! And mind you, in this case it's not just in the eyes of the franchise, but the entire world got to know how each player was rated in the IPL bazaar! The concept of an auction is fine till it is a close door affair. But if and when it is made public, the cricketers should also be given an equal opportunity for quoting a price, which he feels he deserves, just like the buyer! If such an opportunity is given then we might not see what Manish Pandey did (its a different thing that I feel that what he did was absolutely correct) and more than that by doing so, we allow the basic self esteem of the player to remain intact.

Instead, what did IPL do? Blatantly demean and humiliate players in public! It is not about the price, but the basic aspect of being sold at a price in public in itself is belittling! I always liked Sourav as a captain, but I like him more today, as he took every bit of his humiliating exit with lot of grace, at least till now! I doubt if any of the franchisees could have done that had they been in his place!

POOR MAKE THE RICH

2011-02-03T10:16:00.000+05:30

Poor still pay more than rich for the same services!

When it comes to poverty, there are certain facts that are universal. First, poorest of nations also house the wealthiest of people. Second, it is the poor who make the rich richer. And India is no exception. It is difficult to doubt the fact that there exists a yawning disparity between the rich and the poor. The divide is so huge that it is ubiquitously visible across the nation. Without an iota of doubt, it can be stated that over half of India's population is packed at the bottom-most of the pyramid and continue to struggle in order to earn the basic necessities for a decent living. Thus, they spend their whole life with an unending wish of upgrading themselves to a relatively better living!

Their dreams had remained unfulfilled because, India's 'super' High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) - around 1,20,000 in number – who comprise of 0.01 per cent of the total population still own a staggering 30 per cent of India's GNI. The rest of 99.99 percent population manages with the balance 70 percent. And if we take out the top 10 percent of our population, then there is hardly anything left for the remaining 90 percent! But what is intriguing is that people who are at the top of the pile, pay the least for basic amenities. It is the poor who end up paying more! And mind you, it remains to be the truth even after hundreds of pro-poor policies! Poor pay more for water than the rich. Since the poor, both urban and rural, have almost negligible access to portable water, they either lose out on the opportunity cost of time they spend to fetch water or they end up paying more to water mafias. In Delhi, for example, the water contractor charges Rs.500 a month for water supply compared to an affluent in another area who pays merely Rs.100 per month.

Similarly, in Mumbai, the slum dwellers pay 1.2 times more for rice, 10 times for medicine and 3.5 times for water than the residents who are better-off . If one goes by fuel consumption, the rich pay relatively less (for diesel and petrol) than the poor. If a rich, earning 10 times than a poor, pays the same price for diesel for his SUV, then the poor has to compromise on many needs to fill the tank of his irrigation motor or the genset. The same is the case with LPG cylinders. According to recent media reports, kerosene is officially sold in authorised ration shops at Rs.12.37 a litre, but it is actually sold for more than Rs.25 across five lakh private retail shops that has a consumer base of 16 crore poor households.

Moving further, when it comes to access to credit, a rich is always more credit worthy by banking norms and thus gets a loan at favourable terms. A poor, sans credibility, ends up paying much higher interest to private money lenders. It’s easier to get a loan for a luxury vehicle than a loan to hedge against agriculture or a petty enterprise. And mind you, this is in spite of the fact that the default rate in case of conventional loans are higher than loans given to poor in the form of micro finance. As per study, one-third of BPL people pay Rs.9,000 million as bribes annually for availing basic services viz. PDS, education, electricity, water, NREGA, land records and registration, banking and police and judicial services.

The biggest irony is that despite huge subsidies meant for poor, most of them do not reach. It is high time that we dump this sham done in the name of poor. At least, all the initiatives at the policy level should be stopped, which are making the poor aid the rich! And the worst is, the poor are being made to pay for the rich!

DOCTORED!

2011-01-27T10:06:00.001+05:30

Fake medical certificates delay timely justice

As a media house, we have always been extremely critical about the manner in which our judicial systems function – as we strongly feel that it is just on account of our judicial system that our democracy stands dysfunctional in more than one way! It is in our country that an average case takes 20 years to get concluded. It is in our country that lack of justice has bred criminalisation in society and politics and almost all spheres of life. It is in our country that justice eludes the poor and underprivileged and it is the affluent who exploit the judicial system to their advantage. All this is known. Along with all this, what is also known is the fact that the delay in justice delivery is also on account of lack of judges, inadequate administrative framework and myriad inefficiencies that corrode the system.

It is oft repeated that police and advocates are also equally responsible for making the system slow because a slow system is beneficial to them. Amongst all this, one key element, who is also equally responsible for delaying the process, is the doctor – who, in his own way, tries to shield the rich and mighty from appearing in the court, in the form of medical certificates! And in most cases, fake certificates, which not only slow down trials but also eliminate a chance of fair justice – giving more time to criminals to tweak evidences.

I do not remember of a single case wherein the rich and mighty have not fallen ill, once put to trial! So whether it is a high profile businessman or an equally highly profiled bureaucrat, not to forget politicians who are always high profiled, they all manage to systematically elude the trial by producing some form of medical certificate or the other. The irony is that a cold-blooded murderer eludes arrest by managing a certificate of being a patient of hypertension. A systematic conspirator, who shamelessly siphons off crores of cash, manages a certificate of mental instability! What more, a rapist declares himself to be impotent! Not to forget cardiac disorder, a disease which has been most blatantly and rampantly abused by all and sundry to escape trials. And the worst part is that doctors who are otherwise supposed to save lives, on the contrary shamelessly shield criminals. As a result, criminals who are supposed to be rotting in jails enjoy the five star luxury of a five star hospital. And if declared mentally unfit, then it is even better as then the criminal gets away from the clutches of justice even for a longer duration. And the icing on the cake is, in most of the cases, such fake certificates don’t even get traced or identified. The entire system is so corroded that everyone has modified it towards their own convenience. So while the rich and mighty make their way through the judicial system by manipulating it, it is the poor and underprivileged that suffer as neither can they engage advocates nor can they engage medical practitioners. And that’s why those are the poor who rot in our jails for years as under-trials even without being convicted.

It goes without saying that it has become an imperative now to check such a rampant practice, which on the one hand delays the judicial procedure and on the other threatens the just. In all such cases where doctors issue fake certificates, they should be prosecuted first with heavy fines and ('and', not 'or') rigorous imprisonment along with cancellation of their medical licenses. I know I am demanding too much, but then there is no other way out!

DEMOGRAPHIC DIVIDEND HALVED!

2011-01-20T10:10:00.000+05:30

Demographic window in India is half-shut!

There are two popular schools of thought, when it comes to population explosion! One argument is how population growth has been putting unprecedented pressures on natural resources and also on per capita productivity! The other is how population growth can create markets, huge pool of human capital and thus boost productivity. Based on such arguments, the most populous country of the world - China – came out with a one-child policy to contain its population explosion! But this has led to a bigger monster and that is with respect to its skewed dependency ratio (the ratio of non-productive elderly population to productive population) wherein a relatively small working population is all set to support a huge elderly non-working population. However, in India, with the fertility rate being good and with India having no such one-child policy, so far, the dependency ratio has worked out to be quite balanced. But then, in our country, we face another crisis and that is with respect to the dichotomy that exists between population size and population composition.

Calculations based on future population estimates reveal that the dependency ratio will be 0.50 in 2030 for China and 0.48 for India. But then, this calculation does not take into consideration the so-called composition of productive population. It goes without even an iota of conventional doubt that the participation of women (who constitute 48.26 per cent of total population) in the workforce is very low. As per ILO estimates, the participation of women above the age of 15 in the labour force is around 35 per cent. Participation of women in the workforce is only 13.9 per cent in the urban sector and 29.9 per cent in the rural sector. Women contribute a mere 23 per cent to India’s GDP. No doubt, their contribution is much higher but then it adds no value to the conventional GDP calculations. Since, Indian women are more confined to traditional work, their labour and work goes unpaid and mostly unrecognised! Even today their participation in organised sector is very limited and their concentration towards the un-organised sector is relatively more. Th is is evident from the fact that even today women occupy only 9 per cent of parliamentary seats, 4 per cent seats in High Courts and Supreme Court and 3 per cent in administration.

Moving further, Indian women earn relatively much lesser than their men counterparts for the same work. They earn 75 per cent of men’s earning and contribute merely 25 per cent of the family income. The World Economic Forum ranked India among the bottom 10 countries in the world in its list of “women’s participation in the economy” and further revealed that the average annual income of women in India is, on an average, $1,185, in contrast to $3,698 for the men in India’s corporate sector. And women shockingly hold less than 10 per cent of all senior management positions in corporate world in India. As per researches, women in rural areas get half the amount compared to men for similar work and their financial inclusion is almost negligible! All forecasting would fall flat and the window of opportunity of demographic dividend would be half shut, if this huge population is ignored. Merely providing reservations in parliament and tax rebates won’t do any good. What is required is a grassroot level initiative to encourage women in the workforce and to make their unorganized work more organized, along with eliminating wage discrimination... and this can be done through legislations.

HOUSING - STILL A CHIMERA

2011-01-13T09:51:00.001+05:30

The Housing sector is full of imbalances

In our country the housing scenario is full of classical dichotomies. In a nation where millions are homeless, still there is nothing in the name of affordable housing. In India wherein slums are the biggest problem, there is nothing in the name of town planning. And finally when it comes to the construct ion of the real estate market and the builder mafia, the least said the better.

If one were to write upon each and every concern of the real estate sector, it would run into pages. So, I thought of writing upon a concern which is not just grave but stands hugely neglected and that is with respect to the quality of construction. With no checks in place, no one cares two hoots with respect to quality.

Shoddy construction is no secret! The whole of 2010 saw numerous incidents of buildings collapsing and loss of lives. For example, in November 2010, around 70 people got killed due to a building collapse in Laxmi Nagar in Delhi. Authorities further found 38 more buildings unsafe in the vicinity. In August 2010, around 18 children were killed when a school building collapsed in Uttarakhand following heavy monsoons. Similarly in June 2010, the municipal corporation of greater Mumbai declared 272 buildings unsafe aft er the collapse of a wall in Thane, which killed 8 people. And in January 2010, at least four people died when a building caved in suddenly in Karnataka. In the past five years, Delhi alone has witnessed more than 15 reported major incidents that claimed at least 100 lives, besides many small incidents that go unreported due to a few deaths in remote areas of the city. The BMC last year surveyed and declared 700 dilapidated buildings across Mumbai 'unsafe' for residents during the monsoons, while 35 MCD school buildings were found unsafe in Delhi. And to top it all, a report by Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) revealed that the lifespan of flats at the CommonWealth Games Village, worth Rs 20 crore each, may not be more than 20 years. Even after 13 damaging reports from CBRI, DDA took no action on the glaring construction flaw.

Corruption is rampant. Most of the time small private builders pay bribes to authorities and construct buildings without proper government clearances. They perpetually dodge the quality checks and other inspections that are part of conventional building procedures. Result? One small quake or heavy rainfall either washes away a part of the building or shakes the very foundation of the same. These faulty construction practices are more about systemic failures in governance, regulation and town planning. The current planning and approval system is highly opaque and has no provisions for audits. Furthering the thought, it’s imperative to make space for affordable housing, so that the houses that are declared unsafe can be constructed in a more professional and safer manner. With urbanisation engulfing almost all possible space in a metro in the name of accommodating migrants, provision must be craft ed to house the poor who resort to unsafe and shoddy (even semi-constructed) buildings or embrace the deadly real estate sharks; and eventually lose out on their entire earning, in the search of a safe haven.

Till we don’t put into place an urban housing planning procedure (clubbed with provision of more affordable housing) that sanctions plans according to prevailing conditions and practices a ‘zero tolerance’ attitude against the non-followers, such incidents would continue and rather continue to grow!

STATE OF STATISTICS

2011-01-06T09:43:00.001+05:30

India's upkeep of datasets is extremely callous!

Conducting research in India has always been challenging as the quality of data is neither dependable nor reliable. A glaring example of this is the discrepancy in the data of Indian GDP for the first quarter of 2010-11 released on August 31, 2010. The Central Statistical Office (CSO), an official unit that keeps track of India’s various economic indicators, showed 8.8 per cent growth in GDP at factor cost, which was higher to market price by 3.65 per cent. The error happened because of the usage of wrong deflators — it was corrected the next day by placing the GDP growth rate (at market price) to 10.1 per cent.

Within a few weeks of this faus pax, another error occurred in data dissemination. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) indicated an astronomical growth — from 7.1 per cent in June to 13.8 percent in July! Further, IIP growth in August was shown at 5.6 per cent y-o-y while most other analysts felt it would be 10 per cent. There has also been inconsistency between the estimates of national income in National Accounts Statistics (NAS) and estimates of per capita consumption by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). The data on rural poverty by NAS shows that it is about 10 to 15 per cent – in sharp contrast to NSSO consumption data that shows rural poverty hovering around 41.8 per cent! These are recent case; but there are several other crucial socio-economic indicators wherein accurate data is hard to come by. A case in point is inflation! Be it the wholesale price index (WPI) or various consumer price indices, neither of these gives the right picture of inflation. Inflation based on WPI fell sharply last year, whereas the price of fruits, sugar, and milk soared at the retail level. That’s a clear paradox! The WPI went negative, while food prices sky rocketed!

Access to accurate data is just one side of the problem. Most of these inaccuracies also emanate from the fact that India’s official database suffers from multiple defining parameters too. It’s no hidden truth that India itself has multiple poverty and per capita definition, resulting in multiple data when it comes to poverty estimations. This not only appears confusing to any external analyst but also provides a provision for policy makers to both use and abuse these indicators at will. Moreover, there are multiple agencies working on same set of databases with practically no coordination and them. Unlike other developed nation, we still don’t have a centralised system of maintaining data. Furthermore, our official statistic database is rarely updated on a regular basis and is generally full of errors.

On one hand the data is inaccurate and non-dependable, while on the other there is no credible source of information. There are no reliable statistical figures on service sector, which accounts for more than half of the country’s GDP and no updated records on unemployment. Also, when it comes to extrapolating data of unorganised sector’s contribution to the GDP, there are no recent data available. The parameters taken in such instances are old and not periodically updated.

Such a poor record of important indicators is definitely a matter of utter shame. But it is more embarrassing to witness the manner in which policy makers take advantage of these inaccuracies! It is time that data collection and dissemination is outsourced to independent credible agencies, bereft of any influences, which would also be open to all kinds of scrutiny to prove the veracity of information.

7,86,000 DEAD AND STILL COUNTING

2010-12-23T11:09:00.000+05:30

Lack of sanitation has cost India not less than an epidemic

Lack of sanitation has cost India a staggering Rs.2.4 trillion or 6.4 per cent of the GDP! This shocking revelation has been made by a recent World Bank report, which revealed that in 2006, every tenth death was on account of inadequate sanitation. What is more shocking is that of the seven and a half lakh people who died on account of lack of sanitation in 2006, some 4 lakh were just children, who died due to diarrhoea! As per the report, "While premature mortality and other health related impacts of inadequate sanitation were costliest at Rs.1.75 trillion, the productive time lost to access to sanitation facilities or sites for defecation caused loss of another Rs.487 billion." Over and above these losses, drinking water related impacts drained another Rs.191 billion!’

Probably, there cannot be a more shameful exhibit of the state of prevalent basic infrastructure of the country! No doubt, this report by the World Bank is not just startling, it is a blotch on the face of everyone who has been boasting about the Indian growth story and how inclusive it has been! And mind you, this report is for the year 2006! And I am sure that things have only worsened in the last four years, and I can say that almost conclusively because there has not been any adequate action taken, or budgeting made towards the same. Here I would also like to state that lack of adequate sanitation does not just have health and economic costs, there are other associated social costs as well. For there exists a huge stigma for women in particular to defecate in the open, but then on account of lack of options, they have to go through this ordeal almost everyday. And the harshest possible truth is that the cost of accessible and hygienic sanitation is actually a pittance relative to the cost that the economy is currently incurring on account of lack of it! As per various estimates, there are almost 600 million Indians who don't have access to safe sanitation. Considering the Sulabh model, the cost of constructing one toilet for a family of 5 is around Rs.5000. So if India has to construct one toilet for each family, it would cost just Rs.60,000 crores (equivalent to the amount given to the farmers under loan waiver scheme)! This can be allocated over a span of five years with Rs.12,000 crore annually. This figure is still far lower in comparison to the humongous loss that the economy is incurring on account of lack of sanitation. Moreover, one toilet can be shared by joint families.

There is another perspective to this problem. Construction of toilets alone might not solve the issue as a whole. There have been innumerable experiences wherein toilets have been constructed by NGOs, but people still prefer defecating outside in the open. If not this, then the toilets are found to be in such unhygienic conditions that people in general prefer not to use them! So the task would not be accomplished until we help in educating people to make it a habit to get used to the idea of using the toilet facility; and in ensuring it is kept clean and hygienic! And for that, a systematic and sustained intervention is required at multiple levels. This intervention has to be assertive and transformational!

But above all, there has to be an intent towards making this basic facility universally accessible to all. In reality, this was such an imperative that it should have been ideally taken care of long back. And had that been the case, we could have saved the lives of so many people and so many children in particular. And as that wasn’t and still isn’t a priority – for lack of better words – it is nothing less than a genocide! 7,86,000 dead in 2006 and still counting.

SANITISING STREET FOOD

2010-12-16T09:53:00.001+05:30

Street food vendors need a paradigm shift!

Street food as a concept and the sheer indulgence around it has its own character which is unique in itself! The enticing aroma, the mouth watering delicacies, its ubiquitous availability, regional flavour, and to top it the low cost, make it an instant success among all kinds of consumers. However, probably the biggest deterrent for this sector has been the associated health hazards on account of lack of hygiene.

A couple of months back, hundreds of kilos of sweets were destroyed in Chandigarh during a joint drive conducted by police, health department and Municipal Corporation of the city as most of these edibles were found to be prepared and stored in un-hygienic conditions. This drill was conducted to implement the provisions of the Prevention of Adulteration Act, 1954 and banning the sale of cut fruits under the Epidemic Control Act, 1897. Even a survey conducted by Metropolis Healthcare Ltd in Mumbai found that 88 percent of street food is unfit for consumption. Further, the quantitative bacterial analysis test (conducted during Dec'09-Feb'10) found that 61 out of 70 street food samples tested, were contaminated with bacteria. Another survey by the Health Ministry in 2006 covering 16 cities revealed that 90 percent of the street food is unfit for consumption. Amidst all these, some organisations have really made a difference including Grahak Shakti in Bangalore. They prepared a 'plan of action' to spread awareness and educate the vendors instead of consumers.

Street food not only is a huge unorganised sector, but also forms a dominant source of income for a large percentage of the population in almost all countries; especially the developing ones. As per the Food and Agriculture Organisation, globally, a staggering 2.5 billion people eat street food every day. In Southeast Asia, the average earnings of a street food vendor is estimated to be three to ten times more than the minimum wage. In Malaysia, the daily sales range from $10 to $120. Low capital investment clubbed with huge consumer attractiveness and flexible working hours, makes it one of the most sought-aft er self-employment areas. To facilitate hygienic street food and promote self-employment, countries like Malaysia, Singapore and China have organised hawker centres that house many stalls which sell a variety of local street food. With hygiene standards improving and strict implementation of licensing requirements (where sufficient clauses on hygiene is stressed upon), these centres attract huge population to start small businesses. For instance, these centres in Singapore are owned by three government bodies and headed by the National Environment Agency (NEA) which also has an interactive web portal about these food joints. Likewise, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department manages hawker centres in Hong Kong.

Coming back to India, fair licensing and inspections along with intensive awareness program can make this unorganised sector a choice for the millions of unemployed youths. Banning street food trade or imposing stringent guidelines may have adverse effect knowing the huge promise the sector can off er! In addition, such clamping would also breed unethical practices. Authorised street food joints can be constructed with decent infrastructure and waste disposal facility to facilitate such trade. This would not only decrease the incidence of food-borne diseases but would also eventually create economies for the sector. And most importantly, there is an immediate need of paradigm shift for such vendors from the currently perceived lowly held vocation to a structured food enterprise.

INCLUSIVE FRANCHISE!

2010-12-09T10:32:00.001+05:30

How universal is our adult franchise?

Right to vote is seen not only as the most significant right in a democracy, but also as a quintessential characteristic of any democracy. Right to vote not only allows democracy to prevail and flourish but also has been the only way for citizens to steer the political landscape of any nation. However, on the one hand where universal adult franchise allows millions of young adults (above the age of 18) to exercise their voting rights in India, on the other hand, the same franchise excludes millions of similar young adults from exercising the same very right.

India is a country where more than 150 MPs have some kind of criminal antecedents and still our constitution allows them to contest elections. But ironically, the same constitution prohibits prisoners from voting. Representation of People's Act, under Section 62(5) does not allow prisoners to vote in India. Given the fact that India has around 700 million electorate and the voter turnout rate of 59.7 per cent in our last general election of 2009, it boils down to 42,62,58,000 voters. And considering that there are approximately 4,50,000 prisoners in the country, they definitely constitute a substantial part of the potential electorate. There are abundant examples around the globe wherein prisoners take active part in exercising their franchise! Countries like Ireland allows its prisoners (convicts) to vote. Even a few states of US allow prisoners to vote and a few categories of convicts in UK are also allowed to practice their voting rights. Almost all democracies ranging from Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Sweden to Zimbabwe – to name a few – allow their inmates to vote. Australia, France, Finland and Greece are some nations which also allows convicts to vote but with some restrictions. And even if we were not to follow these nations, how do we rationalise the fact that our nation does not permit convicts to vote while they are permitted to contest elections!

The same holds true for the NRIs, who have recently been allowed to vote, but only if they are present in India i.e., they need to be physically present in their respective constituencies! There are more than 30 million (or 3 crore) NRIs staying all across the globe, but they have no right to vote. They form around 4 per cent of total electorate and 8 per cent of total voter turnout. And it is not just about the quantum they represent, but also about the contributions they make to the economy. The total inflow of capital from NRIs was over $40 billion last year. The same was to the tune of $52 billion, the year before! With that kind of contribution, there is no rationale in terms of creating deterrents for exercising their franchise. And if security and fake voting are concerns, then technology in itself can take care of all these issues! Moreover, this population, if allowed to vote may not only steer the political power- table but would also increase NRIs' participation in Indian election system, which is a significant perspective. The US and the UK are among several countries that allow non-resident citizens to vote. In both countries, the expatriates are registered as voters in the locality they last lived. Most of the nations allow expatriate or non-residents to cast their vote either on-line or in embassies of their respective countries. In any democracy, it is pertinent to be inclusive, and this all pervasive inclusion becomes even more significant in our case wherein political parties come to power with a majority of 25-30 per cent vote. So far, the Indian case has exemplified double standards and neglect!

BACK TO SCHOOL!

2010-12-02T10:04:00.001+05:30

India still lacks quality schools to teach politics and governance

Of late there have been considerable debates around youth and their lack of participation in Indian politics! The irony is that despite India being the youngest nation in the world, which boasts about its demographic dividend, it sees miniscule participation of youngsters in politics. The average age of Members of Parliament in the 13th Lok Sabha has been around 55 years – in a country with an average age close to 30 years! India has more than 40 percent MPs aged between 50 to 90 years. But then, while on one hand, there has been a slow but gradual increase in the number of young politicians, on the other hand, the same young politicians were seen making no tangible difference to the overall political scenario of the country! The socalled young MPs participated only in 7 percent of the debates with attendance that would put our ageing politicians to shame!

Take for instance China – a country with similar demographic like India – which has, unlike India, 75 percent of political seats occupied by young technocrats. The chief issue here is not only about youngsters entering politics but about whether these youngsters perceive politics as a non-professional career that promises nothing but a non-productive experience. And on top of that, in India, politics is seen as a criminal exercise and a vocation that calls for ‘no-expertise’ and ‘no-professionalism’ – all thanks to shortage of educated politicians and true technocrats! Ironically, there exist no popular institutions in India that teach politics and governance, unlike the West. China for that matter has Chinese Academy of Governance that teaches and prepares future government employees, while the John F. Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University) produces some of the world’s best ministers ranging from ambassadors to members of parliaments (Israel, New Zealand, US and even for other countries) to Presidents of various countries (Mexico, Mongolia, Liberia, Singapore, Ecuador). Similarly, alumnus from Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, The Fels Institute of Government, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Matsushita Seikei Juku institute in Japan, Bulgarian School of Politics, Colombo School of Politics, to name a few, not only chair respectable and powerful positions in their nation, but can be found as heads of states and departments across the world. So much so that even non-democratic country like Kuwait has a National Democratic Institute.

Compared to all these world class institutions, the handful that we have are struggling to match up to the world standards – for example the Indian Institute of Public Administration at central level; and similar State Public Administration institutes. But we have no institution that is dedicated to politics and governance per se! An institution like Netagiri in Ranchi has tried to show the silver lining by teaching politics and governance, but has still not able to produce any big name in the field of politics. Even IIPA and similar other institutions have practically no alumnus who have made their mark on the national political canvas.

Schools of governance and politics should not only churn out technocrats and young politicians but should also bring in paradigm shift s in the whole perception of politics, resulting in it being seen as a conventional career that calls for expertise and professionalism. Worldwide, schools of governance have churned out leaders who have not only led their country effectively but also led various supra-institutions! And I can’t emphasise less about how much we as a nation need such institutions!

COST OF ACCESS

2010-11-25T06:37:00.001+05:30

Rural households spend hours availing of basic services!

At the planning level, the government has been coming out with myriad development plans since last six decades, in response to the needs of the rural poor! The government in their various budgets planned almost everything that is and was a distant dream for rural India. But in reality, the authorities have even failed to reduce the associated cost of availing these basics within the rural poor! Though it might sound a cliché, but even today many people in our villages die of otherwise-curable-diseases, on account of lack of clean water and safe sanitation — quality health have never been an agenda for our planners but what is poignant is that even access to the present sub-standard health has also not been made universal.The same goes for schooling, in spite of RTE making it mandatory for government to build a school every one kilometer, the states failed to even provide a school every village!

All these have not only denied the rural folks with equal opportunities but have also robbed them of any opportunity for a potential dignified future livelihood, exceptions apart! It is no news that in most of the rural areas, scarcity of resources like water, health and education facilities forces a villager to travel long distances which in itself is a huge opportunity cost, considering that time could have been utilised for more productive means!

As per a recent media report, around 57 per cent of households in rural India travel up to fi ve km every day (that is equal to three hours) to fetch drinking water. This means that on an average rural household invest 1000 hours in travelling to fetch water every year! Considering an average Indian to earn Rs 36000 per year (as per the 2008-09 advance estimates for National Income released by the Central Statistical Organisation) and considering a total man-hour of 2400 (8 hours every day for 300 working days), the cost of fetching water for an average household comes to a staggering Rs 15,000 per year! This is even more than the income which even NREGA promises for 100 days of work (Rs 100 a day for 100 days)! And mind you, this is just the cost of fetching water. Same goes in the case of access to health facilities. As per Sangita Reddy, Executive Director at the Apollo Institute, the average rural Indian has to travel more than 50 km for health care, which not only delays health services but also adds to the cost of access to the health service. And then there is education. On an average, village students have to walk for 10 km (can go up to 25 km) one way to the nearest school. That actually makes a half-a-day study hour of the school! This not only wastes time which could have been otherwise invested in education and self-learning, but also deters children (especially girls) from attending schools in villages! If all these costs are added — one can easily say that the cost of setting potable water infrastructure, health centre and schools and successfully maintaining and running them would have cost a fraction! And again mind you, this does not include the opportunity cost of the time that could have been invested for other productive engagements, which in itself could have taken millions out of poverty!

One might debate that these costs are intangibles and rationalising the same might not add to the lives or lifestyles of the rural households! But then one cannot disagree to the fact that the cost of intangibles are very high and it is only creation of tangible infrastructure which can go a long way in making basic accessible to them, which they deserve for long!

CHILDHOOD IN BIN!

2010-11-18T09:58:00.000+05:30

From picking rags to picking life…

What else could vividly exhibit the dichotomy of our country than the socio-economic discrimination we still have among our children! Last week, in the vicinity of my residence, a society organised a gala event for children to celebrate Children’s Day. Not only did the event allow the children to have fun, but also allowed them to showcase their talent and enjoy the evening that ended with a lavish spread of food and music! However, the very next morning, I found a group of children (read ragpickers) separating items from the pile of remnants, from the previous evenings left over! Such an irony not only echoes the distressed condition of a certain pocket of population but also questions the relevance of Children’s Day, where still millions of children celebrate their day, waiting for the day to get over, so that they can hunt upon the left overs of such parties...

Delhi alone houses over three lakh ragpickers with most of them being children. Same goes for Mumbai and other cities. What’s worse is that in spite of wastepicking being included amongst one of the hazardous occupations, banned under the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act, 1986, rag-picking is still ignored in any legislation with respect to child labour. And it is not only boys but even girls (around 70 per cent of all rag pickers are girls) can be found indulging in such activities. With the kind of societal stigma that’s attached with rag picking, these children are subjected to every kind of social abuse and that’s why their vulnerability towards picking up habits like smoking and drugs are also found to be high. Not just this, the occupational circumstance also leads to malnutrition causing multiple defi ciencies within them. Above all, we ourselves rarely practice separating diff erent types of wastes (biodegradable, toxic and non-biodegradable), most of these children become vulnerable to chronic infections and other diseases as they are exposed to used needles, syringes, used condoms, saline bottles and other forms of bacteria/ viruses. Needless to state that it is so common for ragpickers to fall ill on account of their exposure to contaminants and wounds inflicted by metal objects.

Though there is no secret with respect to the saga of ragpickers, we still do not have any municipal waste management policy and no program of recycling, thus making ragpickers indispensable and irreplaceable. In absence of ragpickers, there is no mechanism in place to sort, recycle and collect garbage! And in doing so the children become vulnerable to infections owing to unsafe practices like working in decaying garbage with barefoot and glove-less hands.

To fi ght such problems, the largest organisation of waste-pickers in Argentina organised a historical protest against the government for the nationalisation of the recycling contracts and a general policy for cartoneros (known as waste pickers). Many other countries practice Participatory Sustainable Waste Management for safe disposal of waste. It's high time not just for the society to sensitise with the cause, but the local municipalities to ensure proper and safe arrangements for collecting and disposing of garbage. But most significantly, it’s an social imperative for government to put rehab plans in action for them. As a nation, we owe to our children and particularly those who are forced to pick our left overs, on account of lack of dignified opportunity. Lets give them a chance to celebrate their own Children’s Day. As a nation we can celebrate Children’s Day in its true spirit, the day we create the bridge wherein these children can pick their life, over rags.

INDIAN PRISONS PVT LTD.

2010-11-11T10:03:00.000+05:30

Indian prisons can form a huge enterprise

With over 1,200 Jails and around 4,50,000 prisoners, Indian prisons can be compared to an economy. The number of prisoners in India is practically equal to population of countries like Malta or Brunei and more than that of Iceland, or Maldives and is three times more than the total labour force of the world’s largest employer – Wal - Mart! This human resource pool, if mobilised judiciously, can become a huge workforce for India Inc. However, unfortunately, these prisoners are still counted as unproductive resource. Owing to their past and social exclusion, most of them fail to fetch a decent job or employment post release and are left with no option other than to start something on their own or fall back to the world of crime. However, the Tihar Jail in Delhi, with the help of NGOs and government, has been training prisoners in various vocational skills. But then, the vocational training imparted is also confined to a few outdated professions (carpentry, computer, bakery, envelope-making, weaving/embroidery and painting) and thus contribute minute economic benefits to their lives after jail.

Putting numbers into perspective, with such enormous amount of manpower and potential, Indian jail can give stiff competition to any Indian corporation, provided they tweak their model to some extent. These jails can become ancillaries for many industries and eventually become a very integral part of the supply chain process. Moreover, the sizeable amount of prisoners of fairly educated prisoners can be deployed in managerial and supervisory roles. For instance, around 15 per cent of the inmates in Delhi jails have passed matriculate exams and around 4 per cent are graduates. More surprisingly, almost half of male inmates are in age bracket of 21 to 30 years who can be easily trained and deployed at different engagements. Taking a clue from prisons abroad, which are mostly privatised, India can also churn out sizeable revenues. Th is can not only compensate the expenditures incurred on maintenance of prisons, but also be used to create a more humane environment. For instance, the Federal Prison Industries Inc. (FPI) – US Federal Prison System – generated $854.3 million in sales in 2008! Companies like Motorola, IBM, Compaq and Chevron have oft en used prison labour for production purposes. Microsoft continues to hire prison labour in Texas and Washington to package and assemble various products. Similarly, J C Penney and Eddie Bauer get jeans and toys made by Tennessee inmates; Ohio prisoners’ produce car parts for Honda; prisoners of Oregon make uniforms for McDonalds and TWA even employs convicts to book reservations on phone. Even in UK, Cisco Systems Inc. works with prisons and offers training while the prisoners in Australia are put to work on manufacturing rainwater tanks.

Influenced by these successful models, Bangalore-based Radiant Info systems is all geared to set up a BPO at the Cherlapally jail and have already initiated the training process for 10 odd inmates. Unfortunately, such initiatives are sparse and employ a very small percentage of the total prison-force. Without a nationwide replication of such initiative involving the huge prison-force, such substantial change can hardly be felt. The potential for big business will only exist if Indian jails re-structure its strategy to build up skills and ensure that the training programmes allow a person to integrate back into the society as inmates complete their sentence!

THE GREAT INDIAN HAWKERS

2010-11-04T09:36:00.001+05:30

It's time that hawkers get their due….

By the time this magazine hits the stands, celebrations for Diwali would be at its peak! Amongst other celebrations, one thing that had always attracted my attention is the manner in which the shoppers interact with street vendors and hawkers during festive period. So much so that during this season, one can see shopkeepers who have permanent establishments, also flocking around the footpaths and pavements to attract visibility and shoppers’ indulgence. Thanks to this inherent buying behaviour of shoppers that gives some respectability to this community of hawkers, who are otherwise bereft of any dignity whatsoever. With almost no right of means to their livelihood, they are subjected to constant threat of eviction, rampant bribery, and blatant seizures, at the whims and fancies of the establishment! All this irrespective of the fact that they form one of the largest unorganised work force of the nation. They are also deeply entrenched with the sections of middle class and lower middle class – who form the majority of our population. In fact, these hawkers do not generate employment only for themselves but continue to generate large chunk of employment for that section of people, including women, who, otherwise would have been left unemployed!

In fact, as the Indian economy grew, the population grew and with it also increased the community of hawkers. In Kolkata alone, the number of hawkers increased from 20,000 in 1997 to 1.2 lakh in 2010. In Mumbai, there are over 2.5 lakh illegal hawkers as the BMC has not issued a single new license in the last 20 years. Similarly, Ahmedabad and Patna have more than 80,000 on their streets while Indore, Bangalore and Bhubaneswar have around 30,000 hawkers respectively. As per conservative estimates, there are a staggering 40 million hawkers across India. If studies are to be believed, the revenue generated by hawkers of Mumbai alone is more than Rs 120 billion annually, while in Delhi it is around Rs 100 billion. Not just that, in Mumbai alone, these hawkers generate employment for around 4,00,000 people!

For the uninitiated, street vending is just not confined to India. Be it in the US, Singapore, Malaysia or Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Cambodia or Vietnam —hawkers have been doting the streets of these countries since ages. And in almost all these countries hawkers are treated at par with any other small-scale business. In a few south Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia, there are specially designated areas for hawkers. They are provided with licenses and hygienic conditions which are operated and maintained by government bodies. Malaysia goes a step further as it provides credit schemes and even training programmes to their street vendors. Similar system is in place for hawkers in Hong Kong. Countries like Thailand have designated sites in the city, from where vendors can legally operate. Contrast this with the plight an Indian hawker goes through. Street hawkers in India live and operate in one of the most deplorable conditions – from forceful extraction of illegal rent to social subjection; they are vulnerable to all forms of discrimination.

Till now, none of the welfare boards have included street vendors in their list of beneficiaries. No talks or debates have been initiated to provide them with proper ID cards. In fact, a week back, BMC decided to evict 1,000 illegal hawkers from the streets of Mumbai, prior to the arrival of the US President Obama. As if discrimination is not enough, treating them as dirt is the only other thing that the establishment understands as far as this silent work force is concerned!

CWG FAILED, WOMEN WON!

2010-10-28T09:59:00.000+05:30

And society failed too and women still won!

Amidst all kinds of controversies that marred the recent CWG games, there has been one silver lining. Not only did our sportsmen make us proud by breaking and making new records, but also showcased the hidden talent that India possesses. Our tally of medals was indeed a matter of great pride and celebration, but there has been a bigger surprise. Along with men who won medals, there was a cadre of women who shot to the limelight. Not only did they grab several medals but were also frontrunners in breaking records. If athletes like Krishna Poonia, Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil made Indian sports history experience the first ever 1-2-3 finish in any kind of athletic events, then it was also a woman, Saina Nehwal, who ensured that India ranks second in the total medal tally. Talking objectively, this time the numbers speak volume about their success. Around 34 per cent of all gold medals for India were won by women! Similarly, 40 per cent of total silver and 34 per cent of total bronze came from women athletes’ end.

This is a big news, more because most of these women players hail from small towns and villages of India, where opting for non-conventional profession is still seen as a taboo for women. Not only do they find it impossible to garner family support, but are also under a constant threat of early-age marriage trap. Moreover, these women players, who succeeded to break such confinements and indulge in sports do not receive much support from the establishment as well. It is not just about societal frameworks and taboos that act as predicament and deterrent for such women, other socio-economic aspects also come as a hindrance. From lack of education to lack of medical facilities to lack of every basic opportunities, all of them come in their way as an unprecedented deterrent for success. As a result, it not only slows down the pace of talent growth but also destroys the budding ambitions among girls from small villages and towns. Moreover, practices like female foeticide and emancipation slashes down the birth of such talents, leave aside the idea of these talent flourishing. As a result of selective abortion, between 35 and 40 million girls and women are missing from the Indian population. In some parts of the country, the sex ratio of girls to boys has dropped to less than 800:1,000.

Given all these, the irony is that almost every state that produces women sporting talent also experiences high rates of female foeticide and infanticide and skews the male to female ratio. For instance, the state of Maharashtra produces medal winners like Kavita Raut on one hand, and fails to show remarkable progress in sex ratio on the other hand. Similar is the case with UP. The state which boasts of Alka Tomar (from Sisoli Village, Meerut) fares badly in female literacy rate (42.98 per cent) and sex ratio (898 females per 1000 males). But worst are the states like Punjab and Haryana that produce cadre of best women athletes also top the chart in women degradation variables. If Punjab gave India sports persons like Geeta Rani in 2010, then in the same year, it reported 81 registered cases for female foeticide.

In fact, such harsh realities are not just confined to a few states, but are omnipresent across the nation. These practices not only distort the evolving demographics, but also severely discourage women to come out and become a part of non-conventional career options. For a lot of reasons, CWG could be a black spot for the nation, but it has definitely given us reasons to celebrate womanhood, which has been subjected to blatant all round neglect!

MPS SHOULD WORK FOR FREE!

2010-10-14T10:23:00.002+05:30

Nation building cannot be a paid job!

I wonder, why don’t people aspire to join politics? At the same time I also wonder as to why do people at large abhor the career of a politician. I can understand that such feelings can emanate from those enterprising people who want to make a difference in life in their own way, but what I don’t understand is why do the lazy and disillusioned ones also nurture similar feelings. What more would anyone want than access to some unwarranted luxuries and perks of life absolutely free of cost! On top of that, there aren’t any defined job profiles or descriptions, no constraint of age, education, no accountability, no discipline, no reporting and voila! – you get paid for all this, and get a raise too!!

Unlike other jobs done by employees under the federal government, work done by MPs neither call for expertise, nor for education, qualifications and the irony is that still people prefer other jobs over politics! Not to forget, in other jobs, there are the risks of recalls, removal, arbitrary relocation, reporting, halt in increment and also face the risk of Annual Confidential Report (ACR). MPs unlike other employees have full immunity for their act inside their offices (Parliament) which can’t even be challenged in the courts!! What more, there are no rules with respect to working hours, no compulsions of participation in parliamentary debates, no mandatory attendance and no objectively-measured-system to find out their productivity. To top it up, there is no promotional and removal clauses. Thus, works done by MPs are neither normatively defined nor is objectively measurable and yet they get paid handsomely and get a raise too, which is comparable and equivalent to bureaucrats, and yet no one opts for politics as a career.

Now the question is that if all this is true then why in the first place an MP should get paid? Call it utopia — But joining politics was meant to be fundamentally a public spirited voluntary decision and less of a conventional mode of not working and yet earning a living. Since the beginning of human civilization, people who wanted to serve the society and transform them, opted for such career without an aim of upgrading their own economic stature. But then, what we observe is just the converse! Today, the biggest entry barrier to politics is the amount of investment that one has to make. And this is a glaring reality of our political system today. Or else how does one justify that the collective assets of 543 MPs elected to the Lok Sabha are worth more than Rs.3,000 crore! This means the average asset size of an MP works out to be more than Rs.5 crores! Going by this again, I wonder why should they be paid as what difference that little money that they get in the name of salary, make to them! And worse, our MPs on an average make nine times the national poverty level which is again too high compared to the US or the UK, where they are just five and three times respectively. In the US, Senators are not allowed to earn more than 15 per cent from outside of their Congressional salary while in India, the average asset value of MPs is found to have increased by a staggering 300 per cent over the last term! In Germany, the elected federal members get enough remuneration to ensure their basics, while Switzerland parliamentarians do not get any salary but just paid leaves from their employers on the days of parliament session. MPs in Mexico can’t practice any profession and be office-bearers of any political party.

As I said earlier, though it might sound utopian, but politics was and should be meant for individuals willing to participate with just public serving spirit! Till the time this remains an utopian dream, at least they should not be paid!

ECONOMICS IS FUNNY!

2010-10-07T09:40:00.001+05:30

India should focus on GPI for a real picture

Economics is funny! I remember my professor used to say that instead of conducting classes in air-conditioned rooms with lights on devoid any ventilation, it is much better to conduct the same in open areas. By doing that, the later adds to our health while the former adds to our GDP. The more we burn power and thereby health, the more the economy grows! Funny, isn’t it? Well, the fact is that almost all critical social indicators viz. poverty, unemployment, health, environment and many other are comfortably swept under the carpet, in the veil of burgeoning GDP rates. With so much hype around economic boom, GDP has apparently come out as the only convenient panacea for all social imbalances. Whereas the fact remains that the GDP figure fails to depict a true picture of any economy. Thus, it is imperative that we need to institute a more holistic index which portrays the real economic picture. A Genuine Progressive Index (GPI) not only breaks the myth of economic growth that is fuelled by lopsided growth but also takes into account numerous other variables that play a major role in socio-economic well being, but had been largely sidelined on account of prevailing GDP calculations.

Let’s go step by step and understand that what this mad race of attaining higher growth has given us. It is no secret that despite Indian Inc. increasingly entering the billion dollar club and finding its place in the fortune 500 list, the gap between the executives and workforce has been consistently widening. In simple words wealth creation does not equate to wealth distribution, yet it adds to the GDP. Another case in point is the incidence of crime, which is quite rampant in India. GDP treats such expenses (money spent on court cases, lawyers, divorce cases) as additions to wellbeing while the GPI subtracts the costs arising from crime and related activities. In the same lines GDP ignores the contribution by household and volunteer work while the GPI includes such variables as the approximate cost incurred if the same work is done through professional contracts. Even the fluctuation in income distribution finds its place in the GPI. The GPI rises when the poor receive a larger percentage of national income and vice versa. This gain is significant. As per the UNDP HDI Report 2007-08, the poorest 10 per cent had 3 per cent share of the national income, the richest 10 per cent enjoys 31 per cent share on national income. Depletion in resources due to economic activity is seen as current income in GDP while, the GPI counts depletion as current cost. Same goes for pollution. GDP counts pollution as a double gain but the GPI subtracts the costs of pollution as measured by actual damage to the ecology. Just land degradation and deforestation itself lead to a loss of 5 per cent in GDP of India! GPI also considers the loss due to climate change and the management of nuclear wastes which have no place in GDP calculations. Another significant aspect is productivity and man-hours. A one day productivity loss cost the nation Rs 13,000 crore, which again dents the economy to a large extent but does not feature in GDP but is a chief decider in GPI. Latest official reports reveal that 2.5 million man-days were lost in 2008.

So, in order to gauge a true growth rate and steer the agenda of inclusive growth in right direction, it is important to focus on GPI that considers humanitarian and environmental costs along with the cost of inequities and environmental damages, unlike GDP. All in all, there is no doubt that economics is funny, but to embark on the path of something as lopsided as GDP calculations, is funnier!

DE-POLITICISE AID!

2010-09-30T09:38:00.001+05:30

For once, First World needs to learn from India...

A week back, the US President Barack Obama said that developing nations would have to help themselves and not completely depend on aid from the developed world, which is struggling with financial crisis. His statement may seem quite logical, in the current context, given the economic problem that the developed world has been facing but then the track record of the developed world has never been promising! And this is not the first time that First World countries have excuses of not helping or rather not fulfilling the promises they make in much touted G 8 or G 20 meets.

Even during the recent disaster in Haiti, in spite of the promises made by the world leaders, assistance remained inadequate. A recent UN report reveals that even after a decade, all promises made by countries to bring comfort and justice to the world’s poor by 2015 is perpetually delayed. Moreover, the promise made (and iterated again and again in almost all global forums) by developed countries of contributing 0.7 per cent of their GNI towards development aid for poor nations have seen no substantial fulfilment. Only five countries have achieved this and most of the others only manage to contribute around 0.5-0.3 per cent. Despite failing repeatedly in meeting their commitments, nothing stops them to shamelessly declare newer promises. Else, how does one justify that just 40 per cent of aid money promised at the G8 summit in 2005 has been delivered and $11 billion of the $25 billion promised aid towards Africa has been released till now. As per the OECD forecast, the global aid will fall short by a staggering $21 billion in 2010!

Amidst the double standards of the developed world, India evolves as a beautiful example of fulfilling its aid assistance. In 2008, it allocated about $547 million to aid-related activities and also approved $2.96 billion in Lines of Credits (LoCs) to the Sub-Saharan Africa. To top it up, we are one of the largest contributors to the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC) that provides developmental assistance. This is not all. From being a borrower from IMF, today, we are doing the converse. India provided $308 million as special drawing rights to the IMF’s Financial Transactions Plan besides contributing to the IMF’s Emergency Assistance Fund.

Another critical aspect of aid is the diplomatic or strategic motive behind it. A close study on aid disbursement shows how the First World countries pushed aid to those nations which are of strategic importance to them. Contrary to this, India has been seemingly benevolent while aiding out. India helped Pakistan during the worst flood despite enemity. Even while the bilateral relations are at its lowest, India has been helping next-door neighbours like Nepal and Bhutan along with assisting these countries in setting up medical colleges. Same goes for countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Philippines, Myanmar, and Afghanistan and so on. What more, in spite of people dying of AIDS in India itself and developed countries showing their reluctance in sharing low cost generic drugs formulae with poor nations, India supplied more than 80 per cent of donor-funded AIDS medicines to developing countries in the last seven years which allowed about four million people to start low cost medication.

For once, it is important for developed countries to learn from India on playing their selfless humanitarian role bereft of any neo-colonisation.

PULSES FOR THE RIGHT PULSE!

2010-09-23T09:50:00.000+05:30

It's not just food security...

Recently, the government at the Centre has been highly active in rolling out the Food Security Bill. In fact, the Supreme Court also seems to have directed to mobilise the food grains which are stocked in the godowns, to be distributed free of cost amongst the poor. No doubt, food security is an imperative for any working civilised nation, but then in our single-minded focus to provide food security (where we are currently ranked at 65th position, out of 84 countries, below countries like Sudan and Zimbabwe in the Global Hunger Index 2009), the more pertinent issue of nutrition is getting hugely neglected. Had it not been the case, how does one justify that India has more than 45 per cent of children under the age of three as underweight and similar numbers with stunted growth!

According to a study released in September 2010, one out of two Indian kids is malnourished. And it is no news that malnourishment not just affects both physical appearance and a mental function of an individual, but also makes one susceptible to various infections and diseases. This deficiency of micronutrient can be observed across the nation - around three-fourth of the children in India suffer from iron deficiency, half of them from Vitamin A and iodine deficiency. In fact, the impact of malnutrition is not just on individual health but has huge ramifications for the nation as a whole. Two years back, a study found out that a very high level of malnutrition has a negative impact on the country's economic growth and in the case of India, it has led to a four per cent loss of GDP. And the bigger predicament is that the ongoing plans and initiatives are completely off target as there is no provision for influx of major nutritive cereals. With decrease in per capita consumption of cereals, the incidence of malnutrition is seeing a surge.

The root of the problem is in the manner in which food grains are distributed. Since free or subsidised distribution of food grains through Public Distribution System, commonly known as PDS, fulfils more of populist propaganda of the political class than actually focusing on food security, no wonder even the Economic Survey of 2008-09 goes on to state that the “Eleventh Five Year Plan has observed that PDS seems to have failed in making food grains available to the poor, as is evident from falling levels of cereal consumption over the last two decades”. In addition to this, our policy makers have always pushed wheat and rice through PDS and four other essential commodities but no pulses which by far a major source of nutrition. There has been practically no initiative to include cereals like bajra, ragi, maize, soya and others through PDS. Not only had this disincentivised the farmers to grow other cereals apart from wheat and rice, but had also kept the health benefits of such cereals away from people. So much so that most of the cereals (especially maize) are today used as chicken feed. And this happens simply because they are made to sound inferior by terming them as coarse cereals, and that’s all the more reason that these nutritious pulses are getting used as animal and bird fodder. The naming of Bengal gram and red gram (rich in proteins, carbohydrates, calcium, zinc, amino acids, lysine to name a few), as chick pea and pigeon pea reduces its acceptability.

All in all, PDS is a gigantic failure in itself and it has created far more food insecurities than it would have otherwise. But for the lack of available options, if our policy makers have to still depend on the PDS, then it is pertinent for them to focus on nutrition security and not just food security!

DRUG ABUSE OR CHILD ABUSE

2010-09-16T11:04:00.001+05:30

US companies test drugs on children in developing world

The United States of America never fails to live up to its image. And in the same line they have added another feather in their cap. Recently, in order to fasten the development of drug meant for American children, the 1997 Pediatric Exclusivity Provision directed the trials of the drugs on children of Third World countries. It has been reported that these companies carried out more than 30 per cent of medical trials in countries like Uganda and India. This approval by the US legislature not only stinks of their discriminatory policy but also questions the American government’s developmental policies towards the Third World nations – especially those aimed at improving the lives of children.

This Pediatric Exclusivity Provision which actually falls under a decade old law incentivises the companies to test their drugs in poorer nations. And top it up, these medicines are not meant for Third World nations as they will never be made available. As per reports, of 174 trials that were carried out in these nations, most of them were meant for infectious diseases and a few for heart, allergy and arthritis ailments. Moreover, the pediatric provision allocates extra funds and extra patent life to companies who test these drugs on children rather than adult! Furthermore, since the cost of conducting research in these nations is hugely less, the companies feel attracted in making these countries as their laboratories. Moreover, weak regulatory requirements, illiteracy, blind trust on doctors and lack of knowledge about clinical trials make the execution of these trials smoother and faster along with making the forging the consent forms an easy task, which is largely written in English. Almost a decade back Pfizer illegally tested an unapproved drug on children in Nigeria, with brain infections which resulted in deaths of children and occurrence of arthritis in many. This multinational company took advantage of consent form (written in English) signed by the parents of children who at large were uneducated.

In the same lines, the State Government of Madhya Pradesh, in a Rajya Sabha session, admitted that 2,365 people had undergone clinical trials, for pulmonary disease, asthma, cancer etc, out of which around 70 per cent were children. As a result of this, scores of these children adopted serious health problems, including deaths. This not only speaks about double standards of the US health policy but also reveals fissures within the Indian policy framework. Where we have in place mechanism for cosmetic trials under the Drug and Cosmetic Act, the government is still to consider Bio-medical Research on Human Subjects, Promotion and Regulation Bill 2006, which despite ministry level clearance is still unimplemented.

On the outset, whether its children or adults, no clinical trials should be done on human, especially for infectious diseases. And if the tests have to be carried out, it must not be done in developing countries, where the children are already vulnerable to number of diseases on account of malnourished — which further makes them susceptible to infections and diseases. It makes no sense to carry out tests on children of poor nations for drugs especially for diseases that rarely occurs there. This is an all out breach of ethics and protocol in clinical trials and shows the need of global regulations. A drug approved in one country should not be tested in another country. Along with WHO’s intervention, the local government and medical associations need to take this matter as priority. It is insane to lose children on tests for diseases and medication – either of which are not meant for them!

THE MUSEUM OF MUSEUMS

2010-09-09T09:42:00.001+05:30

It is just about heritage, but it is lot about economics as well

In most of my leisure trips abroad, the one thing that necessarily forms the part of my itinerary is a visit to art galleries and museums of that country. Not only the artifacts exhibited there speak volumes about the period that they belonged to, but even the state-of-art facility of these museums and galleries also show case, how possessive these nations are with respect to their own heritage. And when I compare such harmonic matrimony of past and present with that of Indian museums and art galleries, it just portrays the reverse. The presence of museums in India can be traced back to early 17th century and today India boasts of having more than 700 small and large museums combined. However, this boastfulness is just confined to quantity and not quality.

In its recent study, UNESCO has found around eight national museums of the country in a bad condition and said that it does not meet global standards. On similar lines, a survey conducted by couple of universities (JNU, SPA and ilk) across India, found that our museums lack even the basic infrastructural requirements, leave aside being at par with international standards. The standard and maintenance of most of our museums are so bad that if one browses through the never ending list of Indian museums, it wouldn’t be really tough to pin-point few good ones, as most of the museums are either closed permanently or is under-going renovation since ages. Not to forget that most of the museums also lack proper signage and description of the artifacts.

Not only the museums infrastructure is calling for an urgent repair but even the surroundings require an urgent attention. More than half of our museums have turned into store houses and dump yards from both – inside and outside. Dirt and garbage finds a safe and permanent home outside these museums. To top it up, the security and security systems of these museums are in a complete dilapidated condition. Regular theft s are a normal affair and rampant damage never comes as a surprise to anyone. Even the reluctance of government towards improving museums infrastructure is in similar dire state. A case in point is that a three years old, and Rs 7 crore worth museum project in Andhra Pradesh is still to see its dawn.

These handicaps not only bring international criticism but also deprive India of the economies that it could have brought. As I stated earlier, museums and galleries abroad are not only symbolic to their national heritage (being properly maintained since ages) but are a major tourist attraction. The Louvre established in 1793 experiences more than 5 million footfalls every year. Likewise, in UK major museums and galleries chips in more than 1.5 million pounds annually and their turnover is nothing less than 900 million pounds.

With advent of cultural tourism, museums have become an integral part of the tourism economy. And it is needless to state the kind of economies that tourism can generate for a country like India, where most of the tourism stakeholders are largely unorganised. And therefore it is all the more important for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to define a set of globally accepted standards and norms for themselves and dress up the museum, may be with PPP. At the same time, the outer infrastructure of museums need to be refurbished to an extent that it replicates modern the architectural creativity conducive to the local culture. After all, museums and galleries help in transcending diversity and which is so symbolic to the idea called India!

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED AGAIN

2010-09-02T09:32:00.001+05:30

The issue of wildlife poaching is bereft of a logical outlook

I have admired Aircel’s campaign of conserving tigers. It has been so effective and expansive that almost everybody know that there are 1,411 tigers left in our forest reserves. A couple of months back, our Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh called for a CBI probe into the seizure of huge amount of wildlife parts (mostly tigers) worth Rs 5 crore at Guwahati Airport. Besides, the fact that this move may lead to unfolding of huge wildlife smuggling in India, the seizure speaks volumes about the corroded wildlife security across the nation. Hunting for wild animals has been an age-old enomenon. One visit to Bharatpur bird sanctuary, and one could see a board which records the feats of ex–rulers and Britishers, who had killed millions of migratory birds, for whom Bharatpur used to be the second home. So, with dwindling numbers of wildlife, especially the endangered species, it is now or never.

With encroachment of forest and protected areas by humans, the security of protected areas (inhabiting endangered wildlife) is dwindling. This has eventually increased the incidences of man-animal conflicts leading to poaching as well. This illegal poaching, sometime in veil of man-animal conflict, is largely fuelled by the demand of wildlife body parts from other countries, if not India. Going by conservative estimates, wildlife products trade can be valued at nearly $20 billion in the global market, making it a third largest illegal trade. So much so that, 10 grams of tiger bones can be sold at one lakh rupees per kilo. Similarly, a single Rhino’s horn can be sold at $40,000. In countries like Tibet and China, tiger skins are sold at around $20,000. According to Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), India has lost more than 400 tigers since the year 2000. Beside tigers, India has also lost more than 60 leopards in the first two months of the year 2010.

With wildlife trading being transacted over internet, it is virtually becoming easier for suppliers and customer to interact. At the same time given the kind of lapses that we have on security of protected areas, poaching and wildlife trading is also becoming easier, especially for professional smugglers. Even today there is shortage of trained professionals in protected zones. The vacancy is up to 50 percent and those who are on duty are aged and ill-equipped. Moreover, there is a huge chance of these protectors indulging in corruption and poaching themselves, especially because of the salary that they get. Most of these guards don’t even get more than Rs 400 per month. Wildlife poaching has seen an increase in recent times, especially after China has banned wildlife trade. According to Belinda Wright of WPSI, "Consumers in China prefer parts from wild tigers and not ones bred in farms, and this demand is proving to be a direct threat to the wild tigers in India."

On the outset, there is an urgent need to well-equip the officials in the protected areas. Necessary modern equipments ranging from patrolling vehicles to state-of-the-art surveillance systems need to be provided. On policy level, India requires a foolproof security procedure in protected areas. From administrative changes and stringent jurisdiction to rational land use policy needs to be put in place. The state governments along with the Centre need to devise more effective intelligence and customs control measures. And lastly, everything would fail, till the incentives for not killing the wildlife is more than killing them. If the whistle-blowers are adequately compensated on informing of poachers, they would definitely ensure to put a stop on poaching! Common sense.. Isn’t it?

OUR OWN BANANA REPUBLICS!

2010-08-26T09:45:00.001+05:30

Illegal mining is acting as a resource pool for Naxals

Illegal mining is nothing new in India. For years, it has been omnipresent wherein a handful of people have been privatising profits at the cost of national resources. The growth of illegal mining can be credited to the latent support it has always received from the power corridors of the nation. Be it the local politicians, businessmen or the smugglers, all are in hand in gloves in this thriving and blatant robbery. By this, not only the resources are getting plundered by a few but also tribals are deprived of their property rights in the regions. What more, rampant extortion, murder, kidnapping and encroachment are integral parts of this illegal mining industry. Banana republics...

Now for the past few years, the new avatar of this illegal mining business has become such a monster that the erstwhile supporters are themselves finding it tough to cope up with. Once seen as an illegal business and funding mechanism for elections campaigns have today emerged as hurdle for the same political motive. Several mines are located in the Naxal-affected areas and are been seen as money minting zone for the Naxal movement. With Naxals now operating as organised criminal groups, attacking with a cluster of more than 100 people loaded with modern weapon — the illegal mining has taken up a new direction. A recent finding revealed that naxalites get a staggering 20-30 per cent cut on each truck of resources illegally taken out of a mine, while the bureaucrats in that region receive 10-15 per cent share. Researches estimate that there are around 60,000 illegal coal mines and about half a million illegal miners in the eastern coal belt of India, and over 7,20,000 tonnes of coal is smuggled every day! The Ministry of Mines estimates that the number of illegal mines for major minerals to be nothing less than 2,400 and that for minor minerals to be more than 28,000!!

In addition, illegal mining adds a high social cost by blatant environment contamination by the illegal miners. In the absence of any checks and balances and no accountability, the waste disposal is arbitrary. As per figures as old as four years back, around two lakh hectares of forest land had been diverted for mining and 1.50 billion tonnes of waste was dumped into the region largely affecting the fertility and the agricultural output. In the given environment and in the absence of any plausible alternatives, the hapless farmers are joining the naxalite movement. And so for the Naxal groups, the illegal mining is not just ensuring a regular income stream which comes in form of taxes that they levy on the illegal miners, but also a happy hunting ground for recruitments of cadres.

The government has recently announced its plan to allocate 26 per cent of profits to the locals and make them shareholders in the mining company and has also announced reward plans for whistle-blowers on illegal mining — which in all respect is appreciable, but something that should have happened long back! It is so hypocritical that till the time the illegal miners were feeding the election campaigns, no one was bothered, but today when the locals — after years of exploitation — have taken up arms against the establishment, the government seems to wake up from its slumber. And so when government decides on such a plan now, it would fail to work, more so as the damage now is too wide and deep. Till the time the locals have their loyalties towards the naxalites, it is almost impossible to make a break through for any government. It is high time we realise that it is we who have created several banana republics and in such republics no plans work!!

63 YEARS AND BONDED LABOUR...

2010-08-19T10:11:00.000+05:30

Practice of bonded labours can still be traced across the nation

Like every year, this year too, our honourable Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during his Independence Day speech touched upon almost all contemporary issues — from Kashmir to internal security, from inflation to poverty to international relations — almost all spheres that is pertinent. The issues, however, were worth pondering. This not only brought a ray of hope amongst people, who are at the receiving end of myriad social and economical malaises, but also made the celebration of I-Day more meaningful. But, there are still sections of society who have failed to break free from the clutches of bondage.

It might sound quite like the feudal age, but there are places in India and outside where such inhuman practices are still going on. The extension of slave era is very evident in various parts of our country. As per the latest data available, government agencies have identified (and released) around 2,82,135 bonded labourers and rehabilitated another 2,60,714 bonded labourers. A similar or more numbers of bonded labourers are estimated to be still working as slaves in various parts of the country.

In India, agriculture sector experiences high incidence of bonded labourers, most of whom are drawn from the lower castes. Going by a report summated to the Supreme Court on bonded labour in Maharashtra, more than 6,00,000 bonded labourers (70 per cent belong to unprivileged castes) are working as bonded labourers in 150 sugarcane factories. Even in states like Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, many scheduled tribes are employed as bonded labours on the pretext of non-payment of debts. Many a times, even children are found working on behalf of loans taken by their parents. Same trends can be traced in brick kilns, stone quarries, crushers, mines and cotton handlooms. Even construction, gem-cutting, rice mills, bidi factories, weaving units, salt pan units and numerous other manufacturing units indulge in bondage labour. In August this year, a large number of bonded labourers were found working in various brick kilns of Aligarh and Hathras district. As per the recent media reports, the Labour Department of Uttar Pradesh has rescued nearly 600 bonded labourers. Quite shockingly, it is not that this practice is just restricted within the geographical boundaries of the nation. Countries like Mauritania, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon — to name a few — import bonded labour from India under the veil of employment. There are tens of thousands of Indians and Southeast Asian employed as servants in Gulf countries. Many a times, these people who are imported (literally!), on the pretext of employment, find themselves as prisoner doing low-grade household works and also undergo all forms of possible exploitation. Almost all important documents (passports, visas etc) are destroyed or are kept under custody by employers.

So for millions of these Indians, who are being cheated into a lifetime of bondage, either under the pretext of employment or that of a loan, Independence Day is still a misnomer! And no one is responsible for robbing their independence other than the establishment itself. It is not that the local administration at various levels are not aware of the rampant exploitation of labourers, but then their own feudal mindset do not permit them to take any adequate action against the perpetrators! All in all – who said that the ‘days of the raj’ is over? It still flows in our veins, albeit, surreptitiously!

WHO IS MENTALLY ILL??

2010-08-12T09:54:00.000+05:30

India lacks political will to improve lives of mentally deranged

Mental health is not only an under-represented issue in India, but has also failed to attract political attention. Even after 10 long years of Erwadi incident — where 28 mentally-disabled people charred to death on August 06, 2001 — no substantial progress has been made towards improving the conditions of mental patients in the country. Even today, with inrush of infotainment has brought the issue to the forefront, mental patients suffer from the same social stigma and societal exclusion. With advancement in medical research, effective and accessible treatments are available, these scientific developments get largely undermined because of relentless and pervasive stigma against such disorders. Social exclusion and low availability of medical practitioners further discourages families from seeking medical and social help. This prevailing hesitation among mentally ill patients also results in ‘family-rejection’ and suicides. This is also evident from the fact that more than 8,000 mentally ill patients committed suicides in 2008 alone!

In spite of being home for 20 million mentally ill patients, we still lack adequate infrastructure and medical facilities. Going by WHO's survey, there are only 3,500 psychiatrists in India (most of these psychiatrists are based in cities) and have just one bed for every 40,000 patients. Even though there are only 40 government hospitals for the mentally-challenged, which in itself, is abysmally low, on top of that almost all these hospitals are understaffed and lack modern facilities. This makes 80-90 per cent of cases go undiagnosed, and most of the times, these patients are finally found dawdling on the streets. And the negligence flows from the top! Otherwise, how can one justify that when it comes to allocation of funds, less than 1 per cent of total health budget is allocated to mental health compared to 10-20 per cent other countries. Despite of huge hue and cry by social groups and NGOs, not much heed is being given to plan a nationwide awareness. Going by the fact that most of undiagnosed cases take place in rural areas, where family resort to “faith-healers” for treatment, the importance of such awareness camps increases manifolds. These ignored cases of mental illness not only deteriorate social values but also dent the economy of India. A recent media report estimates that mental illnesses pull down India’s GDP by 2-3 per cent every year. Thus, it makes more sense for authorities to plan out structured interventions and also design and develop awareness camps with the help of local panchayats and NGOs.

Further, the next bigger predicament that dispirits family from sending their loved ones to mental hospitals is the horror that patients go through in these centre. A few years back, a survey by the NHRC established a well-known fact that people being treated in mental hospital undergo a series of inhuman physical and mental torture. Even these hospitals lack basic hygiene conditions viz. proper sanitation, clothing, beds, adequate food et al. Patients are seen to live in an atmosphere of fear rather than with a feeling of getting treated. With these hospitals catering to a very special segment of society, it is far more important to make them more “humane” and integrate them with the process mental healthcare from grassroots level to national level. In order to eliminate prevailing social stigma, it is necessary to involve medical community, policy-makers, media, schools etc. De-stigmisation will not only encourage people to come out and seek medical help, but will also make it easy for authorities to make their facility reach every needy.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

2010-08-05T06:28:00.001+05:30

There is an alternate to every unused & wasted resource

Many a times, the thought crosses my mind that if somehow I can find a way out wherein I can collect the untouched food that are left over after the conspicuous marriages and corporate meetings and distribute the same amongst the scores of people who are forced to sleep in an empty stomach! To sustain this concept, the only challenge is to cover up the logistics cost for pick up and distribution of food. Likewise, there are scores of untouched and unutilized resources that are getting wasted in the absence of real time mobilisation! On the same lines, a recent media report caught my attention. According to the report, the Centre is planning to utilise the unclaimed amounts that are lying idle in the nationalised banks for welfare funds. The reports further reveals that around Rs 700 crore is lying unclaimed, since a decade, with the nationalized banks. Matter of fact, on the death of an account holder, if the account remains unclaimed (most of the times, due to non-mention of nominees), the balance in the account is transferred to ‘dormant’ account mode. Similarly, in the case of non-maintenance of minimum account balance, the account gets blocked and the balance again is transferred to bank’s account. Over and above, there had been many instances wherein the legal heirs aren’t aware of the accounts owned by their parents and thus the account never gets claimed. Due to all this unforeseeable situations, a bank is left with huge corpus at the end of financial year. Most of the times, this money is used by bank itself for their internal development purpose or is transferred to RBI, in some cases.

Now this is just not a discreet case, similar cases also exist with various other institutions. Around Rs 10,000 crore is said to be unclaimed money with Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) as on March 31, 2008. Add to this is Rs 1,188 crore that is lying with Indian banks, across 1.93 crore dormant account, as on December 2008. Even in rural region, banks are sitting on an unclaimed deposits of Rs 1207 crore. Overall, if one calculates the total amount lying as dormant account across India in various financial institutions, it would collectively be around a staggering Rs 15,000 crore. Now, with so much that can be done with this money, it is foolish to keep it unused. If not for anything else, this fund can be utilised to develop proper sanitation for poor people (both urban slums and rural areas). In spite of various development initiatives, still around 65 crore people in India defecate in the open and more than 50 per cent of the people living in rural India have no access to proper sanitation. Knowing that the cost to build a low cost community Sulabh Shauchalaya is merely Rs 18,000, imagine what this fund can do. If utilised properly — Rs 15,000 crore can build more than 80 lakh toilets across India! This will further help in addressing the issue of diseases and infection that is a resultant of open defecation.

That was for an example, to indicate, what this money can do. It can also be used to carry out a campaign on fi nancial inclusion amongst Indians, which is pretty low. Likewise, so much more can be done. In fact, without depending on anybody, the Centre should involve the banks themselves and come together and take up this initiative through their branch network, which are spread across the country. All in all, the idea is to pro-actively locate such unused, undiscovered and wasted resources/opportunities and put them to use on an immediate basis. For a country like ours every bread wasted would leave an empty stomach, somewhere!

WATER FOR GRANTED!

2010-07-29T10:01:00.001+05:30

Multidimensional challenges is worsening water crisis

I have heard people say that the next world war would be fought over water! I don’t know how much to believe in the statement, but it definitely indicates that water is becoming a precious resource! Probably that’s the reason that only few concerns have managed to attract the same pre-eminence as ‘drinking water’ in the deliberation on how to manage its shortage, and at the same time escaped of being termed a cliché. Several studies have, time and again, fortified the verity about water being critical for economic, social and environmental development. For India, the problem of water is actually not an old phenomenon. Given the fact that India was blessed with adequate rainfall and with ever-fl owing rivers, the whole issue of water crisis was never an issue. But then the irony is that during the monsoon months, the same regions which get literally submerged into water face water crisis straight after few weeks itself.

Needless to state that whether it is a city or a town, it is the under privileged who suffer the most on account of shortage of water. Not only do they face consequences related to health, but are also subjected to discrimination. According to reports, the poor oft en end up paying 5-10 times more price per litre of water than their counterparts dwelling in the same region. That’s just one aspect of the problem. Another issue is that of contamination. The availability of contaminated water is so high in India that as per UNICEF, every second child in rural India drinks the same. Surveys further reveal that a staggering 50 per cent of water sources in India have become contaminated. After this, the fact that almost 37.7 million people are affected due to water borne diseases should not come as a surprise to anyone. The contamination in water has reached a level where presence of arsenic, lead, fluoride and other toxics is rampant. More than 70 million people (in around 20 Indian states) are in danger due to excess fluoride and around 10 million are at risk due to excess arsenic in groundwater.

Not only contamination, but access to safe drinking water is no less than a struggle in our country. The problem of water shortage has left virtually no part of the country untouched. The scenario of rural India can be imagined well when on an average, water is typically available for only a few hours a day in Indian cities and the situation worsens in summers. With over 85 per cent of the rural population depending on groundwater - this again is reported to fall exponentially – for instance, in Gujarat, the water table is dropping by as high as six metres per year. On the same lines, rapid urbanisation is leading to notable decline in the per capita availability of fresh water, which was 5,150m3 in the year 1947 and is expected to go down to 1,600m3 by 2017 and touch a mark of 1,000m3 by 2025! The escalating water crisis is not just increasing political rifts (conflict over the rights to the Krishna river) but is also creating social upheaval (in 2007, more than 30,000 Orissa’s farmers resisted against factories using its waters). Not to negate the multiple petty fights, at times leading to gruesome murders that take place all across the nation.

Water conservation is still a misnomer in our country. Tested and tried successful methods like rainwater harvesting are rarely practiced in India. Let alone rain water harvesting, issues like wastage of water during transmission (around 40 per cent in metros), unauthorised connection, urban water mafia, water stealing, illegal bottling plants and so on and so forth are blatantly overlooked. In short, as of now, water is too much taken for granted!

SPORT IS AN OXYMORON!

2010-07-22T10:43:00.001+05:30

Our sports are yet to come out of the Lisence Raj syndrome

Staying in Faridabad, when I go for work at Delhi, I cross the shooting range, almost everyday. Like every passerby I have been observing that the Karni Singh shooting range has been going through a complete overhaul and a facelift for past few months. No wonder there would be this last minute hurried patchwork which would last the Commonwealth games and post that it would crumble down!

Sports, in India, have still not come out from the era of scarce economy. Just like license raj days, the availability of sports infrastructure is so scarce that it is available to a limited few. For the rest, it remains a dream at best. And just like during the raj days, it was in the hands of few to decide the fate of millions, the same holds true for sports even today. It is only a few faces at the top that I have myself been seeing since I gained senses! And so needless to state that in such an environment, every kind of efficiencies breed in the system – starting from politics to nepotism, to corruption to every possible inadequacies one can imagine of! And that’s why our sports as a whole remains elitist, discriminatory, and out and out individualistic in nature. Had it been not discriminatory then how else can one justify that on one hand a certain player of a certain sport rakes in Rs 200 crores for 3 years, on the other hand certain other player in some other sport keeps languishing as a non-descript! If not for elitist then how else can one justify one winning the only gold in Olympics in a sport, all by his own efforts, as there is negligible infrastructure in the country. If it is not individualistic then how can we have a Sachin or a Dhoni, Sanya or a Paes or for that matter a Bhaichung, but not a single sporting squad or a team!!

And that’s the sole reason as to why India's record in the most of the mega sporting events (like Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth et al) has been quite shameful. Not only we come empty handed from most of international sports competition but also are deficient in participation. When India participated for the first time in Olympics in 1900, it had just 1 player which grew to a figure of 57 in 2008 Olympics. For comparison, countries like Finland, Sweden, Hungary, Denmark had 58, 134, 171, 84 players respectively representing in Olympics– and mind you all these countries have one tenth of youth population (under the age of 25) when compared to India. And similar trend can be observed in all major sporting events. What more, our Olympic medal tally 0.148 per 10 million, in spite of billions of people ready to plunge in the world of sports. Contrast this with countries like Finland, Sweden, Hungary and Denmark who tops the tally with 566.72, 520.99, 442.69 and 296.39 Olympic medals per 10 million people, respectively. And likewise is our preparation for the forthcoming Commonwealth games. Lack of organisation and coordinated team effort is resulting in inordinate delays. And delays in the completion of the Commonwealth Games’ infrastructures are not just robbing the opportunities of ‘home advantage’ from Indian athletes as they are losing on hands-on practice on the ground, but pushing into a crisis like situation. Most of host nations (eg China in 2008 Olympics) provided their sportsmen with ample of time (more than a year) for preparation and practice but in our case no such scene seems to emerge.

Well, it is too late in the day to reiterate that sports is all about great teams with equally great vision, irrespective of whether it is the organizer, the apex body or the sporting teams! In the absence of this, no doubt we have failed miserably as a sporting nation, I hope we do not fail while hosting the same!

SHORTCHANGING THE RURAL FOLKS!

2010-07-15T09:37:00.001+05:30

National health policy is highly discriminatory!!

It is not just a fact that with respect to overall health indicators India fails miserably, but the bigger challenge is the in-built discriminatory framework that is imbibed within the health related infrastructure. According to the Medical Council of India, presently, the allopathic doctor to population ratio stands at 1:1,722. However, this ratio does reveal a true picture of Indian health care system, but it does not reveal the actual distribution of the doctors which is abnormally uneven, across the nation. Such is the divide that 80 per cent of medical practitioners serve just 20 per cent of the Indian population. In order to understand this divide better, one needs to just glimpse through the doctor to rural population ratio, which stands at an alarming 1:30,000 against the all India ratio of 1:1,722! Even the state of basic health infrastructure follows a similar trend. Going by various media reports, in rural areas, the ratio of hospital beds to population is 15 times lower than that for urban areas, which leads to discriminatory access to health care services. Thanks to discrimination, a child hailing from a rural background has four times higher probability of dying of curable diseases, than his urban counterpart.

In order to address this highly skewed medical infrastructure, the Central government is planning to introduce a short term medical course at graduate level, specifically meant to serve the rural areas. On the hindsight, this move seems to help the rural health care system to a large extent. But then, such an initiative brings with itself several non-ignorable skepticisms. Under this scheme, a doctor will be trained for 3.5 year BRMS degree in a district hospital after graduation and would then be asked to work in rural areas. Given the state of district hospitals, which lacks basic medical facilities, leave aside an environment for medical training – is possibly the worst place for producing qualified doctors - especially when it comes to modern medication. With the best of medical schools facing faulty crunch, I wonder from where would the district hospitals manage faculties? Now the question is, why should the rural Indians be treated differently from their urban counterparts? The whole initiative is sound, if it is implemented universally and if it is not, then it is out-rightly discriminatory! And if the government is really serious of providing the adequate health interventions across the country, they have to essentially increase their budgetary allocations, create health infrastructure and make it mandatory for qualifying doctors to serve at least two years in the rural hinterlands. At the same time, the government should focus on long term goal and tap alternative medical systems and paramedical professionals. I wonder how one can ignore the fact that, when it comes to health, quality can’t be compromised at any point of time. As such, a large chunk of India's population is being treated by semi-qualified doctors and the consequences are widely visible. In the given environment adding semi-qualified personnel is not the solution in itself. That too assuming that these trained personnel would do their job sincerely in the rural hinterlands. I have serious doubts, as the precedence has not been promising.

All in all, there is no short cut, when it comes to health. And successive governments have for long been callous in their overall policy framework, pertaining to health, in particular. In effect it has shortchanged the lives of millions of rural citizens. If there is no difference with respect a life of a human being, irrespective of where he dwells, then their chosen government has no right to discriminate them!

SCALE VERSUS SCOPE!

2010-07-08T10:42:00.002+05:30

MFIs is exactly practicing the converse of their objective

Micro finance has been one of the most revolutionary economic concepts of our generation. The beauty of the concept is in its simplicity and the far reaching impact that it has already created in the lives of poor! And no amount of appreciation is enough for what people like Mohammed Yunus has given to this mankind!!

As far as India is concerned, with so much of poverty around, India has always been such a potential market. So much so that despite 30 years of aiding tens of thousands of destitute; the market seems to be ever growing. In India, micro-finance is currently serving 86.2 million people and its portfolio has reached a staggering Rs 351 billion. MFIs have successfully covered over 70 per cent of the 331 of the poorest districts of India. Such is the appetite that till date most of the established MFIs have remained regional players and none of them could evolve as a national player. Not that the potential within the region is high on account of just poverty, even MFIs have bundled lot of products and services along with financing options, which has further deepened the markets. Starting from mobile phones, to insurance products to consumer durables, MFIs are selling everything under the sun and bundling them with flexible repayment options!

No doubt, MFIs are on a roll which is also evident from the fact that investments are flowing in from all corners because of attractive returns. But then this also raises couple of concerns. First being that of increasing consumerism within the poor households. If the entire objective of micro-finance was to enhance income opportunities, it is getting increasingly sidelined. The consumer durable loans are not only drifting away poor consumers from investing their income in expansion of business, and securing their future income but also is encouraging consumerism, especially when it is imperative to invest more on health and education! The loans on consumer durables are just not increasing unwarranted consumerism but at the same time, it is also encouraging defaulter rate. And this is happening more so because the prevailing interest rates charged by the MFIs, which is another concern! Th e reports in the Micro-Banking Bulletin 2006 reveal that MFIs are charging interest rates that ranges around 30 per cent per annum. Yunus, the chief craft sman of the concept, in his latest book - Creating a World without Poverty: Social Business and The Future of Capitalism – has raised a similar concern and has written that “…microfinance institutions that charge more than 15 per cent above their longterm operating costs should face penalties...” No wonder the high interest rate is increasing defaulter rate. It is still not evident in India, and even if it is, it is still not reported, but MFIs in Nicaragua, Morocco and Pakistan are already struggling with defaulter levels that are more than 10 per cent. The defaulter rates used to be close to ZERO in most of the cases during the early years of operations.

Micro-finance was a great recourse for the poor who are not credit worthy enough to reach out to banks and are left to the mercy of the private money lenders! And as far as private money lenders are concerned the least said the better. But then the recent developments, which are more bottom-line focused is eroding the very essence of the MFIs. With more than 600 million people living on less than $1.50 a day, the market is large. It is so unfortunate to see them digressing from their objective! Rather than focussing on economies of scope, the MFIs should focus on scale, first!! Once the scale is established, scope is imminent!!

5 DEATHS PER HOUR

2010-06-24T13:26:00.000+05:30

We are recreating a Bhopal gas tragedy every year...

No doubt Bhopal gas tragedy has been the biggest industrial disaster in the recorded history! No doubt the Government of India should take the onus of giving the easy route to Warren Anderson, and bargaining a very low price on behalf of millions affected, by the tragedy! Without even an iota of doubt, the United States Administration should be forthcoming in terms of extraditing Warren Anderson to India! And no doubt in the fact that the court took a quarter of a century to deliver a mockery of justice to the promoters of Union Carbide India Limited! But then, do we know that we have a similar tragedy happening almost every year in our country?

Going by the only available estimates of International Labour Organisation (ILO), more than 45,000 workers lose their lives at their workplace each year in India. This boils down to 124 deaths per day, and 5 an hour!! That’s not all, our country employs more than 3 million workers in different manufacturing units, who are estimated to be exposed to silica dust directly and more than 8 million workers who indirectly inhale this deadly dust. And for the uninitiated, silica dust is the prime reason for deaths among construction workers in India as it causes silicosis and may lead to Tuberculosis (TB) or lung cancer in the long run! A decade and half old survey by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) estimated that more than 3 million people were found to be suffering from this disease while a recent report by the Ahmedabad- based National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), put this number to a staggering 10 million! Another report by the ILO reveals that deaths due occupation hazards are increasing by a whopping 15 per cent and most of these accidents occur due to substandard safety measures and reluctance shown by the promoters!!

Yet, we do not hear a single voice against it. It is not that we do not have the legal framework in place to safeguard the workers’ interest, but then lack of awareness, robs them the opportunity for any kind of redressal! In spite of Indian law (under the Factories Act) asking companies to report injuries to a worker on duty within 48 to 72 hours, most of the time its goes unreported, leave aside the question of owner providing the victim with any kind of compensations — it is not that all promoters are alike, but such benevolence is a rarity! Not just this. In fact, the basic support infrastructure is so inadequate that it just cannot arrest such a huge problem. Regulatory bodies, including the inspectorates, are at large ill-equipped and understaffed as they the body employs less than 1,500 safety officers, factory inspectors and less than 50 medical inspectors. I don’t need to say this that this pittance of a workforce is inadequate to check and inspect millions of manufacturing plants that are dotted across the nation. Studies show that in companies hardly make payments for medical benefits of their injured workers. So much so that companies owe around Rs 800 crore to Employees' State Insurance Corporation India (ESIC) in payments and around 20,000 payment cases are pending with ESIC.

Contrast this with the way the United States Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA), an agency under the department of labour, carries out an investigation and imposes severe penalties on the employer. Thanks to OSHA’s initiatives in the US that fatal occupational injuries saw a fall from 5,657 cases in 2007 to 5,071 in 2008. Similarly, in the European Union, member states have enforcing authorities who ensures that occupational safety are maintained. They also make sure that personal protective equipment are at place. In Canada, workers are covered by provincial or federal labour codes or by health and safety legislation. Talking about Asia, in Malaysia, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) is responsible for the safety, health and welfare of workers in both the public and private sector.

The number of deaths at manufacturing units across the length and breath of the nation is much more than deaths caused by any other diseases or threat in India. With more than one crore workers’ life at stake, I do not need to tell what needs to bedone. There are enough examples worldwide with respect to the kind of safeguards and social securities that are enjoyed by the workers. And here we are all set to recreate a Bhopal gas tragedy every year! It is high time that along with Index of Industrial Production, we should also constitute an Index of Industrial deaths!!

SODEXO FOR BRIBE

2010-06-17T09:33:00.000+05:30

Its cheaper, safer and gets integrated into the economy...

The other day when I was in Ahmedabad, my colleague shared a very interesting incidence. Few days back my colleague, while driving jumped a red light, to be caught by a traffic police. And on demand for fine (read bribe), he realised that he had left his wallet at work. As was expected, the traffic police was unrelenting and all his pleas fell into deaf years. Frustrated by his situation, he made the last ditch attempt to fish his pockets, only with a hope that he could fi nd some money. It was then he realised that he had these food coupons (Sodexo), which he had received that day from his office. He tore a Rs. 50 coupon and offered the same to the traffic policeman. And as was expected, the cop had no idea as what was he supposed to do with the coupon. So my colleague had to finally explain him that it was almost like cash, the only difference being that it can only be transacted in stores like Big Bazaar, and the likes, in exchange for food items. Perplexed, and left with no other choice, the policeman, did accept the same.

Now without getting into any moralities - whether what my friend did was right or wrong, he definitely did something unique and interesting. But first, let us accept the fact that bribery flows deep in the arteries of the Indian system. It is so deeply entrenched into our system that it has become symbolic to us. Sometime back PHDCCI did a study stating that almost 40 per cent of our economy is black, indicating the extent of the malaise. Last year, there has been a study which stated that of all such transactions, 90 per cent of the bribes were consumed by the government officials, of which police consumed almost 30 per cent! This should not come to anyone’s surprise as we are all part of this malaise almost on an everyday basis. Interestingly, researches also reveal that bribes typically comprise of millions of extremely small and petty transactions, until of course; the transaction is as big as buying coffins or animal feed! Imagine the quantum of such transactions which adds on to a staggering 40 per cent of our GDP!

Coming back to my friend - unlike in his case, where he could successfully settle the bribe through food coupons, every time that we bribe, the cost of the bribe is much higher than the actual sum transacted. As for every time we pay cash, we do not calculate the taxes that we might have paid on the transacted amount, considering that ones own earnings have been completely accounted for. Which means that for every Rs. 100 transacted (for sake of assumption), 10 per cent to 30 per cent more goes away depending on the tax bracket one falls into. Which further means, that on the face of it, we might be paying Rs100, but it is costing us anywhere between Rs110 and Rs 130. Now imagine the cost, while millions of petty transactions that take place every year, through exchange of bribes!

Not just this, another interesting aspect of the above transaction is the fact that the moment cash exchange hands in form of bribe, a large part of it invariably leads to accumulation of black money, which gets hoarded most of the times. And unlike cash, food coupons cannot be hoarded and it has to be necessarily transacted, which has its own multiplier in its small way. If not for anything else, at least it is getting integrated in the white economy.

Now to say that corruption should be arrested is like feigning ignorance or being too political, to say the least. Bribery is a reality; so, why not legalise it through food coupons or something similar!!

THE TRUE MAHARAJA

2010-06-10T09:36:00.001+05:30

The national carrier is fighting a lost battle...

A few days back, I was scheduled to take an Air India flight from Cochin to Mumbai. When I reached the boarding counter, half an hour was left for the flight to depart, and to my pleasant surprise and quite contrary to what I thought; I found that the boarding bay was empty without a single passenger. As I passed my ticket with my id proof to the person at the boarding counter, he informed me that the flight was delayed by an hour. I immediately understood the reason for such peace at the airport at that hour. One hour passed by and there was no announcement and I could sense restlessness around amongst the fellow passengers, who were scheduled to take the same flight. In fact, our flight was scheduled to depart at 8.15pm and it was almost two hours that there was no one in sight to give us any idea of what was happening. Finally at around 11.30pm, one Indian airlines staff came and from a distance I could see him quite animated in his discussion, making an attempt to pacify the visibly annoyed passengers, who were flocking him to enquire about the whereabouts of the flight. I was also eager to know the same, as I had to take a connecting flight from Mumbai to Bhopal at 5.55am. So with lot of anticipation, I approached the Indian Airlines staffer, only to realise that he does not have any idea, except for the fact that the flight cannot take off till the time the Indian Airlines engineer gives a go ahead. And it seems the engineer is nowhere to be seen. Not just the engineer, no one that this guy, Thoufiq, tried to reach over the phone, was reachable. It was then we realised that Indian Airlines staff has gone on strike.

I was keenly hearing the comments from the agitated passengers who were thrown like a salvo on this poor soul, who most defiantly kept the spirit of the grounded flight high. Amongst other allegations, the most common that was hurled upon, was the comparison with other private airliners. So, if someone shot at him saying that there was no refreshments that was served for the past three and a half hours, the other yelled at him stating that unlike private airliners no one bothered to even announce the delay and the reasons for it. Few out there swore that this is their last flight by the national carrier ever!! It was finally at 12.20am that the gates were thrown open to the agitated passengers to board the flight.

All this while, there was this series of thought that was going on in my mind, simultaneously. First, was the fact that if aviation is all about service, how come our national carrier is systematically killing itself, by doing everything possible to go out of business. It was later that I realised that it was not just me, but 12999 more passengers who have been going through a similar ordeal across the country, on account of the strike. I was fortunate that the flight finally took of, but others were not so lucky, as some 130 flights got cancelled, adding a net loss of Rs 10 crores to the carrier. Secondly, if the strike was indicative of a war to stop the privatization of the national carrier, then, it is already a lost war! If the passengers that day were any representative of the national passenger base, then the national carrier has already lost its battle against its private counterparts!! And lastly, amongst all this, I felt that all is not lost - there is still a glimmer of hope for our carrier, provided every staffer of Indian Airlines were like Thoufiq, who patiently and smilingly kept on addressing every agitated passenger, till they boarded safely. If not for anything else, if there were any like me who would still travel the national carrier, even after this ordeal, it is because of him - a true Maharaja indeed!

BABIES ON SALE!

2010-06-03T09:36:00.000+05:30

Illegal adoption routes are preferred by adoptive parents

Recently a couple of illegal adoption cases were exposed by various media houses in Bangalore and Mumbai. Adoption fundamentally was meant to provide a better living and growth environment for orphans. Historically, the process of adoption was given a very high social recognition. But then, the present form of adoption is all about a trade, which is getting murkier by the day. And no one is to be blamed other than the law of the land, which has acted as a catalyst to this trade. Adoption laws in India are not just laden with pointlessly prolonged and complex official processes, but surprisingly are different for different religion, in spite of Indian Constitution being secular in nature. These discriminatory and complex legal procedures have created an enabling environment for 'Baby mafia' to thrive.

Adoption laws in India, unlike elsewhere in the world, falls within the arena of personal laws and varies from religion to religion. On the one hand, where Hindu Personal Law provides scope for adoption, on the other, the Muslim law doesn’t encourage such practice. Christians, Parsis and Jews can only be legal guardians and not parents – however, this law is still under reconsideration. Moreover, Indian laws still do not permit couples above the age of 45 to adopt children. Also the supply of children for adoption, through legal route, is quite limited and scarce, and so the adoptive parents have to wait for years for their turn to come. If the adoptive parents hold a NRI status, then they have bigger problems as then they need to channelise their request through a recognised Central Adoption Resource Agency, which is again in short supply. The discriminatory and non-uniform law makes and the resultant asymmetries in the market forces the adoptive parents go through non-conventional channels. For that matter even if an adoptive parent successfully crosses all the above hurdles, the bigger predicament that appears in their route is the right of birth mother. According to the Supreme Court, the “birth” mother is given 60 days after surrendering the baby to the adoptive parents to get back the baby, if she changes her mind. In such a case, the adoptive parents are left with no choice, even after all paper work and monetary expenditures.

In case of illegal adoption, not only the adoptive parents get a choice of a baby, but can by pass long formal procedures. They not just escape the perils of long waiting list and age-bar but also the numerous visits to Central Adoption Resource Agency (in case of NRIs). The biggest relief the parents get from illegal routes is the call back right of birth mothers. Most of the time, non-Hindus resort to illegal adoption in order to call themselves as parents (officially) and just not be confined to guardian tag. Guardian tag not also raises issues like inheritance rights but also is seen as social taboo. But then these illegal routes don’t promise these children a safe home and equal rights (which is taken care of by legal procedures). There have been numerous cases where adoptive parents abandon these children after few months of adoption and also escape any legal action as well. Children adopted through such routes are also found being sold in flesh trade market and are sometime exported as slaves and bonded labourers to other countries.

In India, where there are tens of hundreds of children on streets without any care, it is imperative to streamline the adoption process and for that the adoption laws should be draft ed with a singular objective and that is to provide home to every homeless child!

THERE IS A LOT IN A CASTE!

2010-05-27T09:44:00.000+05:30

Caste based census is politically instigated!

The other day an enumerator came down to my home and comfortably started to ask me and my family details for census 2011. Everything was going smooth till he asked me about my caste, and that was the only moment I felt a little awkward. Not because he asked me about my caste or I wanted to keep it under anonymity, but actually because I do not remember when was the last time someone (educated and hailing from urban area) asked me such a question so bluntly and more so because this was the least expected question in this kind of survey!

The whole hue and cry or the so-called politicization of including caste in the census does not hold any merit for our generation. At a point in time when we are talking about equality and framing polices to break down nexus of Khap panchayats and caste based politics, such an inclusion for the national level database management is kind of absurd! Even the key-designer of Indian Constitution, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, never supported this kind of practice and was once found saying, “So long as people were divided into several thousand castes, we were cherishing a 'great delusion' in believing that we were a nation.”

It goes without saying that the prime motive of census is to give our policy makers a framework on which they can design social and human developmental schemes. If the policy makers are so keen on devising strategy and recognising the underdeveloped pockets of population, caste census is a ‘no solution’. As such there is no system in place to ensure that one would disclose his actual caste details, and in that case the whole purpose of including a column on caste details becomes completely redundant. Census should rather focus on social attributes like education, economic condition, women participation as workforce, average marriageable age in family and so on and so forth. No doubt, the whole issue just seems politically instigated! This kind of database would empower our politicians to effectively exploit the caste card. As such political parties like Samajwadi Party, RJD and JD-U have been strongly demanding inclusion of caste in the census! Not to forget, these are those parties who rely heavily on caste based politics for their vote banks. The advocates of such moves are also of the opinion that this would enable a better targeting for reservation. But then, it is no secret that such caste based reservations have their own sets of challenges. Not to forget that now, there exists a big probability of responders deliberately misrepresenting the facts in the official records, in order to grab a reserved part of developmental schemes.

When it comes to a democratic regime, caste is an antithesis. Above all, caste census is a retrograde move and should be replaced with concrete plans for development of backward pockets of population irrespective of their caste. There is no logic to defend that only the so-called SC/ST/OBCs needs development and reservation and almost all upper caste people are well-off ! In no circumstance, poverty can be confined to the unprivileged caste. In a country, where 60 per cent people earn less than a dollar a day, the actual purpose of such pan-India survey should be to bring out people from unlivable economic conditions.

It another example of petty private political gains made at the expense of national exchequer. If amends are not implemented at this point in time, it will bring back the horror of 1931, when Britishers executed such census to strengthen their divide and rule policy…

MORALITIES AND PANCHAYATS

2010-05-20T09:48:00.000+05:30

Panchayats are turning out to be feudal lords

Panchayati Raj system was an outcome of the realization that de-centralisation of rural developmental schemes, through an all-round participation of the stakeholders at the grass-root level would result in balanced development in rural hinterland. However, since last few decades, this decentralization of power has turned out to be complex and counterproductive. In numerous villages, the power-equation in panchayats has become too feudal in nature wherein the ruling class access unprecedented control of both power and resources, blatantly sidelining the fundamental intention of their inception.

Today, panchayat runs more or less like a local mafia. There have been innumerable incidences where panchayats or its members were involved in embezzlement of funds which were meant for development purposes. Recently, it was found that 28 out of the 30 panchayats in Goa were involved in illegal construction in the ecologically sensitive areas. In another incident, a large number of civil society organisations staged a protest against elected sarpanchs who have managed to stall the process of social audits. Similarly, in UP it was found that NREGA programme was exploited by corrupt district and panchayat - level officials to misappropriate funds and 85 per cent of the cases there were forgeries committed in the muster rolls. There have been numerous cases of fund siphoning at panchayat-level in almost all parts of India. It has been widely observed that in most of the villages/districts, the construct of the panchayat is feudal in nature wherein a couple of powerful families control local administration. Starting from embezzlement of funds to lobbying for tenders and awarding them to specific corporation/families are a regular feature. And to top it, make a mockery of the law of the land. A recent case in point is of a village panchayat in Ghaziabad, which punished a man guilty of raping a minor girl, by just hitting him with a shoe five times!! The power and influence of panchayats has grown to such levels which has taken India back by centuries. A case in point are the Khap panchayats who have been announcing sentences ranging from hounding couples (sometimes families and kin) out of the villages to being stoned to death, and mind you, these punishments are for those who marry outside their caste – which is legal as per Indian Penal Codes. Recently, a couple (Anita and Sonu), were tricked to return to their village only to be stabbed to death and a family of Rajasthan were left with no other alternative but to commit suicide. These sentences or punishments are largely accepted by the villages in the veil of maintaining the status quo of the society. It is estimated that every year, over 100 legitimate marriages are negated by the concerned Khap panchayats. Since, the panchayats comprise of retired senior citizens (considered the flag bearers of societal culture) and rich and powerful families, they have a great say at the local and provincial levels. Regular obeisance by local parties before these panchayats – whose concerns largely contradicts the Indian Constitution – have given these panchayats a new set of wings. Every days delay in taking adequate action is making them all the more audacious. Lack of action has created such an environment that today between these panchyats, it is a competition of how gory and unkind they can be, for those who do not abide by them – caring hoots for the law of the land. It’s almost an emergency that the government should create the right kind of precedence by meting a befitting punishment and demolish such practice once and for all!

CENSURE CENSOR

2010-05-13T06:45:00.000+05:30

The new Cinematograph bill is promising albeit a few loopholes

For sometime now, freedom of speech and expression, in Indian context, is lynching perilously between self proclaimed social vigilante groups and the decades-old archaic laws! Whether it is Advani’s comment on Jinnah, or southern actress Khuboo’s comment on pre-marital aff airs or for that matter whether it is Shahrukh supporting Pakistani players for the IPL — all have faced a similar fate with variable magnitude! Particularly in the context on Indian cinema attacks on movie halls and hue and cry over censorship regarding movies has become an oft repeated political affair. Nothing much has been done with respect to the overbearing moral policing but it seems that the new Cinematograph Bill 2010 prepared by the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) ministry is making an attempt to safeguards against such exploits.

When it comes to motion picture ratings system, this new Bill altogether sets a new standard. Being in lines with the American norm, the new bill would allow the movies to get certified under five different categories (U, S, 12+, 15+ and A) instead of currently used three basic categories. This would eventually allow the movie makers to filter the audience better and more effectively as per the demands of the script and the story-line, but then, unlike international practiced norms, there is no rating for movies that can be/should be watched under parental guidance (the PG and PG 13 rating category). This blatantly overlooks various global studies that indicate ill-effect of violence and explicit message in movies on children. However, in India, the problem is much more complex. It has been widely observed that minors easily purchase tickets and watch movies rated as “A”, even in high end branded multiplexes. This Cinematograph Bill, which on one hands aims at better filtration of audience and stringent and effective censor rating, surprisingly does not talk about any such deterrents that would ensure movie screeners to put checks and balances on the incoming demographic of the audience. It’s rare that a movie hall asks for any identity documents from an audience in case of restricted movies, and allow all age-group of audience to enter the hall.

Even if implemented effectively, this Bill would deny access to large part of audience from watching restricted movies. This would invariably act as a economic deterrent for both producers and exhibiters, since such genre of movies would call for restricted audience. Thus, such restrictions would create an enabling environment for the ghost called piracy to thrive. The demand for pirated and uncensored version of such movies is quite high in the region. For the uninitiated, India is currently juggling with piracy menace that is estimated to be at a tune of Rs 1000 crore (sales of illegitimate DVDs is rising roughly by up to 2 per cent every year)!

All in all, the Bill looks quite promising at the first look. The new grading system is quite in sync with new movie habits of young India. But the slot where the Bill scores low is at fighting piracy and legal clauses for movie screeners. From encouraging self-censorship, to streamlining procedures for movie release, to putting in place agencies to keep an eye on films being screened at theatres, is what the Bill needs further to ponder upon. Given the fact that this Bill is to undergo several more modification, it would be quite appreciative if the bill tries to figure out solutions to plug in the current loopholes. Extending the thought, the Bill should focus on solving dual whine: one being the freedom of a filmmaker and the other being the options for the movie lovers.

THE UNDISPUTED MIDDLE CLASS

2010-05-06T09:59:00.001+05:30

India has a middle class advantage

For the Indian middle class, every year the month of March and April comes with a classic dichotomy! March brings in the pressures of financial year closing and April is the time of dividends, which comes in the forms of salary revision and bonuses. And it is for all of us to observe that for the past a few years the salary levels for the Indian executive has grown manifold as compared to what it used to be pre-liberalisation. Though the growing pay packages has been a point of debate but then the economies of an augmented pay scale completely out weighs any argument that is being put forth against the same. And the biggest advantage of growing pay packages is the ever growing and empowered middle class which would enable India to an enviable position in times to come.

In fact, one of the biggest predicaments of growth is inequality that it brings about. World over, it has been observed that as an economy grows the income gap between the rich and the poor also grows. A classic case in point is probably the US which houses the highest earning CEOs as well as the richest transnational corporations, yet has a Gini coefficient which was as high as 40.8, which for India is around 36. In fact, the extent of inequality in the US could be gauged if one refers to the Forbes list of top 10 highest paid CEOs! Starting from Larry Ellison of Oracle who cornered a staggering $560 million in 2009 to Robert Lane of Deere & Co. who made US $61 million for the same year, all of them belong to the US. Not to forget that it is the same US where even today, some 32 million people languish in poverty!! In fact, not just the US, last year UNDP came out with a report stating income equality within nations – with Hong Kong topping the list as the most income unequal nation, followed by Singapore and then the US. The other countries which made it to the list were Israel, Portugal, New Zealand, Italy, Britain, Australia, Ireland and Greece. The report also stated that the Scandinavian economies, Japan and Czech Republic have least inequality. In fact, it is not just that the richest countries have such disparities, it is even high in cases of developing and under developed economies. As per other reports, every nation in Africa has very high levels of income disparity and even countries like China, Malaysia and Indonesia fare much worse than India as far as income inequalities are concerned.

The situation is even worse in case of poorer nations. In case of Sri Lanka, or a Bangladesh or a Nepal, the disparity is blatant and visible. I can say so out of my first hand experience of these countries. The inequality is so stark that, on one hand, one gets to see scores of beggars on the roads of Dhaka and Kathmandu, while, on the other hand, sprawling mansions with an envious garage full of top-end luxury cars! And this is what puts India into a relatively advantageous position. If these nations have only two socio-economic classes of super rich and super poor, with no trace of the middle class, India boasts of an ever growing and empowered middle class. For there cannot be any denial with this fact that it is the empowered middle class which acts as a change agent in reforming the political and economic scenario of a nation. Though it is also true that this Indian advantage is relative with respect to other nations, and a lot of work still needs to be done to pull out those 250 to 300 million people who are still poor. All in all, nation building just cannot happen without creating a formidable middle class! Lest we forget that once upon a time, it was the middle class that created today’s America!!

IF GOVERNANCE IS THE PRIORITY

2010-04-29T10:01:00.001+05:30

Political compulsions, and its after effects..

Let me start my column this time with an interesting statistic. Post Independence, the number of ministries have almost doubled from 42 to 79! And not just ministries but the same holds true for regulatory bodies as well! The compulsions of coalition government is so pressing that new ministries are doled out every now and then without any rationale, of course with an objective of pleasing the coalition partners!

And that’s been the reason that today, India has a bloated ministerial framework looking after different micro-areas of concern ranging from agriculture to coal to HRD to Oil to energy and so on and so forth. In the horde of making more ministries, various governments have further split the HRD ministry and have created separate ministries for Minority Affairs, Women and Child Development, North-East development etc. Likewise, we have separate and discreet ministries for coal, petroleum, energy and power and non-conventional energy. Though the underlying logic with respect to creating more ministries is bring in better focus and operational efficiencies. In fact, in reality a few ministries have become almost redundant, but then they still exist. For example the Ministry of Steel has done nothing substantial post liberalization of the sector. We have a Ministry of Food Processing, yet just 3 per cent of the fruits and vegetables are processed! Similarly, it is intriguing to have a Ministry of coal as well as a Ministry of Mines. In fact, this illogical explosion in creation of ministries to serve coalition compulsions is quite contrary to other nations wherein most of the developed world has curtailed the number of ministries. For instance, in the US, the Cabinet normally has 15 executive departments while in the UK; there is a council of 19 ministers.

The bigger predicament is the cost that the nation incurs on these ministries. One set of costs are direct in nature which is required to sustain them and the other set of costs are typically incurred with respect to their operational inefficiencies. As per reports, the Indian government incurs a cost of about Rs.2 crores on an MP, for a period of five years!! And not just the cost that a minister typically incurs on the exchequer, a few ministries are very high even on the staff on rolls. A case in point is the Ministry of Agriculture which employs a staggering 10,000 people. Moreover, inefficiencies are so high that a budgetary allocation analysis reveals that most of the time, these ministries are not able to utilise the funds allocated to them by the end of financial year – sometime they are left with as high as two-third of allocated funds. Of late, a similar trend is also visible with respect to regulatory bodies. We have 36 regulatory bodies, employing over a few hundred people directly. Amidst this workforce and organisational structure these regulatory bodies have rarely been able to insert check and balances in their respective sectors barring a few.

In the last six decades, we have created a mesh of administrative framework which has been predominately serving the need of the political class. Even now, it is not difficult to merge similar ministries to make them look more comprehensive and make them accountable. This would not only reduce costs but would also reduce the intra-ministerial conflicts, which is one of the catalysts for inaction at all levels. For operational efficiencies, it’s a simple three tier process – consolidate ministries, restrict the number but empower the regulators, and create more independent auditing bodies like CAG and empower them to scrutinise one and all! But then, all this makes sense, if and only if, governance is the priority!

MOSQUITOES WIN OVER MAOISTS!

2010-04-22T09:50:00.000+05:30

How bullets lose in front of mosquito bites?

The recent Dantewada incident, where 75 CRPF personnel were brutally killed by Maoist, became a week-long area of focus by Indian media. Such has been the impact of this incidence that it just did not send shivers across the nation; it also shook the power corridors in the capital. So much so that even the Honourable Home Minister announced his resignation. Though extremely unfortunate but thanks to the Maoist bullets that this massacre hit the headlines and became a national concern, otherwise similar incidents, of paramilitary personnel dying now and then, generally gets under reported or worst, not reported. Otherwise what else can explain the reason behind our government ignoring the matter of security men dying on account of curable diseases and unhygienic living conditions, for so long!

For almost a decade, on account of growing internal security threats, the paramilitary forces have been deployed to the jungles without adequate medical facilities. And the challenges that exists in the tribal belts of the country is known to almost everyone. Diseases like malaria are so common that it never gets reported. But the situation could be gauged by a report which indicates that 30 per cent of total malaria related deaths account from the tribal belt, alone. And as most of the CRPF personnel are deployed in tribal belts of India, which is a hub of both deadly diseases and equally deadly Maoists, the vulnerability towards getting infected from such diseases is get quite high. Consider this: as per a recent report, around 90 CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh are suffering from malaria and around 100 policemen fighting Maoists in the state of Jharkhand have died of malaria in the past two years. During 2006, more than 22 Naga and Mizo policemen died of malaria in comparison to 7 casualties during Maoist attacks.

What more, a simple analysis indicates that India loses more personnel due to diseases, natural disasters and accidents than during ambush and anti-insurgencies missions. Another report reveals that 3,364 personnel were lost to natural causes while 837 to accidents, compared to 604 personnel in action. Besides all these, our officers also suffer from AIDS (1,000 cases), cancer (700 cases), skin infections (40,000 cases) and psychiatric problems (5,000 cases).

These deaths speak volumes about lack of intervention from the government’s ends at multiple levels. Firstly, it indicates how government overlooks those deaths which are not political in nature. Since last 10 years, there have been no provisions to ensure that our security personnel who are deployed in such dangerous terrains receive basic amenities like health care and proper clothing. Leave aside the aspect of providing them with proper food and safety equipment, paramilitary forces even do not receive proper medical assistance and drinking water. Secondly, the whole of tribal belt suffers from diseases like malaria and cholera, nothing much has been done in these fronts as well. The sheer number of deaths of soldiers proves that even today the incidence of such diseases is quite high are these regions.

A life lost is a life lost, but its so unfortunate that the design of death and the resultant political rewards determines the follow up action. For a soldier, a life lost in a battle is self-rewarding but a life lost in a battle with mosquitoes has no such justification. It is outrageous that the soldiers who have taken an oath of safe guarding fellow countrymen from all kinds of threats, themselves stand vulnerable to the negligence of their own political masters!

HEALTH ON WHEELS

2010-04-15T09:57:00.000+05:30

The Lifeline Express needs national endorsement

Like every year this year too, April 7 was observed as the World Health Day. And like every year, this day again showcased the prevalent dichotomy of the global citizens with respect to health issues. So, on one hand, there are nations which have been successful in providing health security to all its citizens, on the other, there are other nations who are still struggling to arrest the deaths of its citizens on account of curable diseases! In fact, India is no different! On one hand, there are such a few state-run hospitals wherein a patient might die waiting for his/her turn, standing in the queue and on the other hand, there are these privately-run hospitals where the patient ends up burning holes in his/her pocket! Amidst such anomalies there is this non-descript, tiny initiative called Lifeline Express which is doing wonders in its own way.

In a nation where basic health services are out of reach of the common man, and where the annual budgetary allocation for health lingers around merely 4 per cent, Lifeline or the Jeevanrekha Express is acting as an innovative door-step solution. Unlike conventional charitable hospitals where patients have to reach the health centre by themselves, Lifeline Express is the only medical unit that takes the hospital to the patient. Till date, over 600,000 Indians have got treated from this extraordinary mobile medical unit. However, resource constraint and low frequency enable it to reach just 10 per cent of population — and that’s why I call it a tiny initiative.

A similar model, influenced from India’s Lifeline Express, is doing wonders in China, Hong Kong and Zimbabwe. Unlike in India where on account of lack of resources the train just manages to run for couple of months in a year, in the aforementioned countries the train runs for nine months in a year performing numerous and varied surgeries. In fact the biggest predicament that the train faces is that of capital. Since its just one NGO, Impact India, that manages the whole operation, it is impossible for them to reach out to a larger audience. Adding to the woes, the train has only a handful of permanent staff (cook, a technician, an operation theatre assistant and a driver) and all medical specialists (doctors, surgeons and all) are volunteers and not permanent in nature.

No doubt it is a tiny initiative as of now but definitely holds a huge promise, provided the government comes forth to provide larger support, besides customary donation of a few free coaches. In fact another plausible solution to empower the Lifeline Express is to merge it with the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). This should not be a problem as Lifeline Express is endorsed by the Ministry of Health. This will not only take care of the resources problem but also allow the train to run throughout the year across the nation. Moreover the staff recruited from NRHM can also assist the train at local stations and also arrange makeshift clinics even before the train reaches the destination, which can go a long way in saving on time, resources and funds. Further the same train could also be used to reach out to victims of floods and other epidemics.

The only challenge now is to replicate it on a pan India basis. It is not that this train is the panacea of all the health related problems that India suffers, but then it definitely has the promise to redefine health services for the nation. Lifeline Express has embarked upon a great humanitarian journey and it is not just the responsibility of the government, but each and every stakeholder of the economy to contribute in their own way, towards its success!