Long Live Workers

Indian workers living all over the world are the most praiseworthy. They are extremely hardworking sincere and dedicated people.While pursuing their livelihoods,they migrate to even the most inhospitable terrains. Indian workers are  seeking jobs outside India as there are very few jobs available in India. When they leave the Indian soil, they leave behind their fond memories of school life and college life, they leave behind their culture and their way of life, they leave behind their kith and kin. With these losses, they go seeking livelihoods in foreign lands.When they are met by trying circumstances(discrimination, low wages,bad working environment),  when they have to live a life of drudgery, we feel unhappy for them. We have deepest regards for their perseverance and sincerity to their professions. There are also countries which treat Indians well and respect them.Even at these tough  times we try to have good relationships with all foreign countries, because we want our people to be treated well. They have left their homeland in pursuit of worthy employment, may they have joyous lives.Internet has helped to keep communications with them; they are able to keep in touch with our culture as our many newspapers and magazines are published 'online'. They keep their Indian identity in a virtual world they create for themselves in the www. We wish them well in their pursuits of happiness.   

Why is India not going forward?

Once upon a time, we were a feudal country. Masses of farming people worked for the reigning king, paying taxes willingly; the king listened to the problems of the people. We had a mercantile class which was thriving on the profits it had made from the working classes. Nothing much has changed except the rulers now listen to the merchants only.It is perplexing, why is it that we are not able to bring progress to our people! Unless political climate is healthy, progress for the country and its people is not possible. So even with the best resources, we have little hope of progress. Everything is here, except political will to improve the status of the country. We remain very poor....economically poor….poor in spirit. All minerals are available in India, we need not import any. We have largest deposits of coal; and we are self-sufficient in energy for we generate all electricity for our needs. Capitalist know how to manoeuvre political class to their advantage.Public Private Partnership (PPP) does not work out in India. We need better way to allocate natural resources. There are persons who bend (bow) down easily. Even our cricket players seem to have caught the disease of bribing. This is very very bad. Our spirit should be bribe-free. We should not believe in taking bribes. We teach our children that it is wrong to cheat but we actually know that the political class always cheats.  Our political class feels that it can thrive by the bribe it receives from foreign powers or from India's super-rich capitalists. When we are having a puppet regime any kind of effort (like writing this blog) is useless. The wealthiest and the most powerful capitalists fund the nomination of minister of various government departments. Several times a foreign country influences lobbyists for removal of a minister who would disagree with that foreign power. Once one of our ministers had stressed the importance of an important gas pipeline, but he was not allowed to do anything. He was be removed due to lobbyism of a foreign powers. The gas pipeline was never made. Even the department which is spearheading modern technology is nominated by India’s richest capitalists. This was the saddest moment ever to be seen. There was only one hope and that was that innovative technology would bring people into direct contact with the government and that this would improve bureaucracy. This is hope now gone.We have puppet ministers controlled by capitalists. Even with our best workers and intelligent scientists and largest educated population, we remain poor because of puppet political elite. When will all this change? When will ‘puppet rule’ end?..... may be in the future.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Biodiversity cannot fuel growth

One week ago while biodiversity day celebrated, we can clearly see that there are bigger issues in India. We have large biologically diverse zones or forest lands, but human needs somehow have eclipsed the beauty of the forests. These poor people live by collecting honey from forests; gathering berries and fruits and hunting little creatures like rabbits or fowls or by fishing. They have been driven away as they had no lands of their own ; and they live in the edge of civilisation under extreme poverty. As per the eleventh FiveYear Plan(in 2007-8) Rupees 600 crores were allocated; to be given to families living in the forest areas near the tiger reserves so that they can move away. But all that was given has been distributed to the people but there are still more families without any compensation. National Tiger Conservation Authority will provide more money by 'Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planned Authority' There are still 178000 families living in the tiger reserves and other protective areas. They pose threats to wildlife as there is always conflict zone where animals enter human settlements and harm people. Six hundred and fifty persons were killed and 17000 were injured by wild animals between 2002 and 2012. But only 100 animals were killed by man during the same period 2002 to 2012 in the same regions. So it is people who are getting hurt more in these conflict zones. Although government promises to give compensation of  Rupees10 lakhs for each family which would move out of the forest area, when will it materialise? There are 41 tiger reserves which are protected. There are no lands protected or reserved for man--Indians. Is protecting biodiversity snatching away from the vulnerable populations their right to livelihoods? Yes. Animals like tiger belong to protected(endangered) species list. But man is not a member of a protected species list?Biodiversity can be kept in zoos and let human have the right to exist. Forest land must be protected as rains come because of dense trees. Human settlements must not remove the forest cover smaller settlements with  small clusters of houses can exist inside forest land.Supreme court has not given the right to relocate people; people have right to exist. Cost of maintaining biodiversity is too high for India and Indians.Poverty is the overwhelming issue and protecting biodiversity seems secondary.

Extreme action by extremists

Few of our elected elite, who were travelling by road, were shot by extremists, in the most violent manner in the tribal area of Bastar(a remote jungle which had witnessed this massacre). When people’s will is ignored, when people feel that governance is working toward excluding them from growth, they resort to violence and murder. This is the last course they resort to. Generally people go on and on tolerating, and hope things will become better. Now they can take it no more forever. When the cavalcade was going past rural area, it was intercepted by masked extremists who had shot all accompanying them also.Twenty seven persons were killed. They had heard the police coordinating the passage of the cavalcade, and knew the exact location.This is not how to show one's protest. This is cruel and it will invite punishment.One of the politician whom they had wanted to murder had survived and is in hospital right now recovering. In struggle for development, while dreaming about progress in their lands, local people felt left out and were immersed in poverty. It is this helplessness among people that generates the hatred for the elected elite.  And so the shoot out was planned. Now we will be hunting for these extremists who had killed elected elite. Such extreme behaviour has to be controlled. It is sad that we will be spending time, effort and money for preserving peace than on development progress. It is these extreme people who worry the nation. We do not have terrorism, but extreme poverty and inequality is giving rise to terrorism. Future job opportunities are in the police cadres, where opportunities are brighter. Terrorism has got out hand and killing spree has started.We thought we were safe from terrorism, we are not.

Providing for the people

There is a steady migration to urban regions because of  availability of electricity and piped drinking water. Much of rural population wants to leave for nearby urban centres (towns or cities) in search of livelihoods. Social processes and natures of people cannot be explained by statistics. Population studies or demographic trends cannot explain the true reality that people face. Unless one has large estates and modern farming equipment, agriculture is not profitable. There is no way of life in the villages.This has been going on for a long time now. Life in urban India is very very tough for the people.The India growth story is basically jobless growth. How people make a living is up to them, as government cannot help its people here. It is sad when few families decide to return to their rural homes, because they had lost their battle to survive in the urban places to which they had migrated to.The disillusionment is painful.
They have not failed, we have failed them. When we integrate technologies we must make it people friendly. We have overflowing granaries, but people go hungry. Food is not the problem, it is the deficiency in giving access and entitlements (which we do not give) Umpteen programmes for making of UID(Unique Identity Cards) schemes and PDS(Public Distribution Scheme) schemes, proposed food bill have faults.People remain unidentified and unrecognised. People are lost in urban jungle as the wild animals in the forests.We need to rescue them and bring them under the care of human society.    

Status of our Rivers

With view of warning, the statuses of the water reservoirs are being closely monitored. Storage status of river basins of Ganges, Narmada, Tapi, Mahi, Indus Sabarmati, Godavari, and Mahanadi is better than before.  But rivers in the Gulf of Kutch, Krishna basin and Cauvery basin are deficient than the average of last ten years.  Out of 84 reservoirs, 36 have enough in storage(about80% sufficient). All depends on coming monsoons. Only the Himalayan Rivers originate from glaciers. The other Rivers are rain fed. When agriculture is water dependent, there is fear of exhausting the aquifers, as farmers use motors to draw ground water. It is tricky; if we use up the water for agriculture, we will not even have drinking water. But since agriculture is the only way of living for the farmer, we cannot stop him from using the groundwater. Lowering of the water table only encourages him to use more powerful motors. These desperate actions is leading us to a water crisis.Water below us is being depleted before water table could be replenished.  Unless God blesses us with good rains, all our rain fed rivers would dry up completely. We do not know what we will do.

Why are the rural people so poor

Agriculture has made the Indian farmer poorer now than ever before. In 2011,there were 144 million agricultural labourers who have lost their farm lands because of economic loss due to farming. Now they have become land less agricultural labourers who try to eek out a way of life by working in others farms. In the year,2001 there were only 107 million agricultural labourers. That is 37 million marginal farmers have lost their lands and become labourers.
 Why does one pursue agriculture? Manufacturing sector can provide employment till there is a demand for a specific product. As so as saturation point is struck, there is no longer a need for that product; and people do not buy it. Then the manufacturing sector shuts down and the workers are jobless once again. Where as in agriculture there is always need for some kind of food. Sometimes cereals some times vegetables and sometimes fruits. This inspires the farmer to farm. The profits will come when he sells his produce. There is overproduction of grains for the last few years, as all the farmers wanted to benefit from high profits. But when more and more farmers produced wheat and rice, demand for these diminished. There is too much rice and wheat, much much more than we can consume. We have procured what farmers had produced at minimum support price.  We have only 53 million tonne capacity, rest is stored in open goddown(granaries). Even if we export ten to fifteen million tonnes, we will have 20% more for which we have to find consumers.Diversification is a solution. Before the Farmer can diversify, he has incurred losses and cannot support himself. So he sells his land and becomes a landless labour. We must reach out to our farmers and teach them to farm that item which we need only. This kharif season more than 60 lakh hectares were sown. Rice will be grown in only 2.44 hectares, cotton in 9.35 hectares, sugarcane in 41.24 hectares and jute in 7.79 hectares.. 

Hurdles in modernisation

As we modernize, so many hurdles arise.  We are rich in mineral resources, we have vast lands, we have a long coastline, we have rich human resources and yet we are too slow to modernize  We just cannot put two and two together and develop ourselves. Why? Politics of policy making is burdened by huge bureaucratic hurdles. So even if we know how to modernize we cannot make it into reality as governance at the centre slows us down. Since all modernization for industrialization  has to be funded by the government and regulated by the government. Entire process is very very slow.In addition to that there is lot of political manoeuvring as political party want a gain from it. And it places tactical hurdles which are hidden (to make economic gain out of it). Sometimes political "blame game" takes place when one party places charges on another for making illicit profits out of implementation of a policy. We can uncover scientific mysteries but Indian political mysteries are too deep to measure. Corporates exert their force on politicians. Politicians have tactics to entice the public into believing their opinions. Public is too innocent to believe in stories of politicians. So how can scientific and logical modernization take place when there are so many many hurdles. Unless we can persuade the people into pressurizing their leaders into quick modernization policies. But people are not intelligent enough for that.We must make people intelligent. We must use media(TV) and the Internet to shape public opinion. Land acquisition bill would harm the poor citizens, so it would not be passed before election. After elections, corporates will give bribes which politicians will take;and politicians will make policy for quick acquisition of land.May it be policy on land acquisition or may it be bill on food security, or may it be research policy on genetically modified foods, politicians do not do what is good for the people, but only what benefit it would fetch them. And so the country suffers....

Problems of Future

The working poor of India are an un-united lot. This class of people are not wielding economic power or political power, they are weak and they are kept divided. Their vulnerability lies in the fact that there is no commonality to bind them together.The government sides with the rich corporates. Situations are created to hide away the real issues and engross the public mind in trivial issues. How they find their common causes, and unite to protest, determines the future of the working people of India.Although there are trade unions they are politically fragmented. They are living in separate states and speak different languages. and they cannot mobilise themselves nationally. On second twice this year there was a joint strike or "bandh" It was not publicised and government did not pay heed to it. May Day was observed and this also was ignored by government and the media. Their problems are many. They want to revolt against contractualization; they want to protest against low wages and against poor working conditions. They have to face "you are fired if you say anything" statement by their bosses. Most workers do not have a way of forming trade union as their work takes their entire time. They are all underpaid, if they ask for more, pay is reduced further.Because there are so many unemployed workers, they are always threatened by"you will be replaced"statement. And they are, as the unemployed people looking for work are so many.They want regularisation of contract when they have worked for longer time, but their contract is renewed as if they are"fresh"labour without experience; and that too for a short contract time.If they sign for longer time, the employer has to pay towards accommodation and medical benefits; and that commitment is disliked by employer. Often work day is extended indefinitely to meet targets which are unattainable. Many times they are denied tea breaks; if given is deducted from their working hours. Minimum wages are kept at minimum levels, so that corporates gain. Safety at workplace is ignored and till a worker falls down and can no work no more, he would have to go on. Women also work as their incomes have to supplement the family income. And they are often harassed; is they complain, they would be transferred and they would suffer further. Equal pay for equal work is not given even if the law guarantees it.Indian workers are most underpaid in the world but they are most overworked. Any labour law made allows the employer to benefit rather than the employee. When is this going to end? May be with mobile technology and much media exposure, workers of India would unite to get their rights. If industrialisation is to be effective, the working people should get their share of the wealth generated. If only corporates benefit, workers will revolt everywhere . 

Maintaining Biodiversity clashes with human settlements

We wish to give preserve the tiger and the elephant and make laws to protect them. But when a tiger enters a human settlement and kills people, we have no rights for the protection of the people. Similarly elephants enter sugarcane fields or banana orchards and destroy crops, we have laws which prevent the people from harming them. They also stamp on people in their escapades into human settlements, and we cannot harm them as they are protected by law.(if one shoots an elephant,one can be prosecuted by law). But human persons are not protected by any law if he is harmed by an animal; for example tigers attack people as they are easy targets. Now, if we have to maintain the biodiversity of India, we must protect the tiger and the elephant. But can we allow wild animals to attack people? We are allowing that to happen now.Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act,1972 protects the tiger.Human settlements invariably come into contact with wild animals. Many kill little woodland creatures for food.Few forest dwellers use trip wires to protect themselves from wild hunters (like the big cats). Living on the edge,survival is more important than conservation of the wild life for the poor forest dweller. We neither gave him a space to survive in urban jungle nor did we provide him with a means of livelihood.There is a constant on-going battle for living space with forest dwellers and wild animals. The Forest rights Act 2006, recognises the right to protect regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest reserve which people have been conserving for sustainable use. In future, we may have to keep the wild animals only in zoos and not in National Parks. De-extinction is now possible.As it is the population of tigers has been reduced to 1706 individual animals,they can be saved in zoos only. It is at this time in history that we can see the lion, the tiger, and other animals of the Indian subcontinent in the wild. Soon they will be in only captivity. Indian people are in constant battle with nature for they have to survive too. Natural resources like natural forests are replaced by fields and settlements. We cannot help it, we cannot destroy ourselves to protect the beauty of the natural world. As 'de-extinction' is possible, one day we will revive the native animals and recreate a bigger National Park, when we can afford it. That is possible when we use science to preserve and serve humanity in the pursuit of progress and for eradicating poverty. We must investigate impact of policies  power, access to owning forest lands and the rights to control its resources. Can we hold the tribals accountable for loss of natural resources? No we cannot, they are having a sustainable economy. If we control their livelihoods, we are denying them their rights. We cannot eliminate their democratic rights. What is "right way of life" for the people may be not "the right thing to do" for preserving biodiversity We must build homes which would protect us from forest animals but at the same time not encroach on the forest lands or the forest cover. 

Competition and open economy

Government has a role as a regulator in competitive practises of enterprises. But it does not work out in reality. Sometimes it has to be competitor in the open economy. May it be in coal block allocation or oil exploration/extraction?  Government cannot play both role as a competitor and regulator, because it is a participant in competition. Sometimes policy excludes a competitor then how to determine which is “fair” Most times the more powerful firm tries to bend the policy to its own advantage, and government does not take the side of the weaker firm. So what is “fair” is ignored. Many times when the weaker enterprise is pressurised into selling itself to a stronger enterprise and it is called “merging” These events are hidden and not easily solvable. Government does not intervene. When acquisitions take place what is unknown is the truth and the weaker firm has no position in the strong trends of the open economy. Some firms have natural monopolies, for it has no competitors. And that cannot be controlled or regulated. Predatory behaviour cannot be distinguished from competition. Litigatory or Legal battles take too long to resolve and weaker firms give up their position to stronger ones without fighting for their rights. Whether anti-competitive behaviour is discouraged or not, the general state cannot be controlled or regulated. That is economy…Strongest wins no matter what. In any policy which is made there are deeper reasons which are hidden and which benefit the corporate(who is funding the party)These are the tactics which dictate that"the stronger is correct" and the "weaker is incorrect". So can competition can truely be regulated?

New Industrial India

We are industrialising and urbanising fast. The Indian population is young, 54% is below 24 years old and can be trained to perform in any industry. Government is also finding ways to industrialise quickly. Sections have been delineated for planned growth. Many of them are going to be made by foreign collaboration. Because government cannot do all the “industrialization” needed all by own. 26% of the equity will be provided by Japan Bank for International Cooperation, for, the Delhi-Mumbai corridor (DMIC). In Gujarat state, there is going to be sea water distillation project. There is going to be a micro grid system using photo voltaic power generation at Neemrana Industrial Area in Rajasthan state(NEDO). There is going to be gas-fired independent power producer in Maharashtra state.These industrial projects have been cleared by environment ministry for they provide electricity without polluting the environment. Overseas Human Resources and Human Development will ensure skill development among Indian workers for these. In addition there will be Chennai-Bengaluru corridor which will be developing a port at Ennore. These will need skilled manpower which is going to be trained now. We will not be an agriculture centred country anymore, we will be known as an industrialised nation.People's lives will be more comfortable.

Too small amount as pension

What the workers are asking for one thousand Rupees which is too small amount of Universal Social security coverage and assured pension for whole population. Leaders of the trade unions and government officials decided upon issues in four different groups. First was on service conditions wages and social security. Second was on universal social security for workers and for those who are self employed. Third was on laws for small and medium enterprises. And the fourth was on improving chances of employment and employability. To extend social security to all workers would be very difficult. So many informally employed like daily wage earner, domestic maids and health care workers(without education) do not fit into any sector. How can these get basic amenities or suitable working place or the right to organise or make collective bargaining of wages? Not only there are differences in urban sectors and rural sectors, in rural areas there is “off-farm” workers like chain stores. Labour Market Information System informs all that there is need for skill development and there is need for matching skill with employment. Skill development is most important as per National Skill Qualification Framework. Unorganised sector uses unskilled labour force, but they need skills for integration into organised sector. So training persons in specific skills is important;because migrant labour, female workers and child labourers become a large section of the unorganised sector Right now the labour unions are asking for a mere one thousand rupees as pension, and this is a paltry amount;how can a worker get food and medicines for such a small amount of money when food prices have risen steeply.What amenities can he afford? What kind of dwelling a poor person drawing a pension of one thousand rupees afford? May be a hut.Our working poor deserve better than this.
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Labour Unions unite

Workers' rights are being considered  as potential voters by political leaders as elections are around the corner(2014) For two days all workers all over India had held strikes and agitations; they are asking for their rights like minimum wages, social security coverage, right to join trade union etc.Political leader has promised a comprehensive universal social security scheme. Workers are asking for 1000 Rupees per month as pension, and as payment for the period when they are ill.There was no disagreement on the issues raised all the trade unions.The Minimum Wages Act varies from state to state. The trade unions wanted same amount as minimum wages at the national level.There will be universal social security fund. Laws for minimum wages or laws regarding rights of trade unions remain in paper and are not properly implemented. A ten point charter will be made for trade unions.Labour laws for domestic labour is ignored. Migrating workers have rights which are not always traversed. There are vulnerable sections in the working class who need special protection. Role of workers must be recognised.The devious ways to exploit workers is thought about. From the standpoint of the worker, "what should a worker get" situation must be analysed. Not just wages but some social insurance is required. He should get some portion of the profits made, for he is the key element in the production process.Unemployment benefit must be made available to the worker. The worker should not be reduced to an insignificant part of the huge industries but the essence of it.These are our wishes.The  politicians will make promises, but will they make it happen?

What will happen in jobless Future

Majority does not rule here. There are few people who are rich and the majority are poor and powerless. Rich ones pay for a candidates to win elections. And the object of the rich is to get richer. So they make sure that the political class (which they had helped to create) makes beneficial policies for them. So the poor become poorer as their meagre resources are denied to them by policies like 'land acqusition'.The working poor of India are meek, timid and obedient--they listen, they work and they have no idea of their rights. Only if they learn to protest effectively, they have a possibility of obtaining their rights. But they are too poor to do that. They spend each day working very hard, so that they can buy their daily bread(or roti,native bread).They have no time to protest.
While industrialising, we are having teething problems. Industrialisation means use of fewer persons to do more work( using machines). But we are also in the edge of the era where there is greater computerisation which further reduces the need for workers. There is another trend in India, and that is children of farmers do not want to farm. They want to migrate to urban areas and want a more modern lifestyle. Rural India has nothing which would interest the youth. All trends indicate that people are looking for jobs and there are no employment opportunities available. What would future be like? Thousands of poor protesters will be demanding jobs from a political class which listen to the rich only. There will be problems in controlling these future crowds.

The future of the land that is India

Wealth of the nation cannot be judged by its GDP. Inflation or recession cannot describe people's plight. No demographic statistics reflect the true migrations of working poor.Capital is not amount of money but how many people are lost by cruel crunch of the economy. People dying of hunger in remote areas, people working as labourers in construction sites, people working as servants are actually being squeezed to death. This fact cannot be accounted by any GDP. No policies made can improve their lives. If we are a true democracy, their lives would not be wasted away. They had no say in economic policies we had made,they had no say in political making of the country, but they are the real citizens of this country. If our policy to acquire lands deprives the people of their livelihoods, we are actually making policies against our people. If we make policies to alter the inflation rates and allow the cost of food items to rise beyond the buying capacity of the people, we are murdering the people of the Indian nation. Because buying food is beyond their capacity, and without food they would die. If we make policies to protect livelihood of the people, and make sure it is implemented properly, there will be a good future for the Indian people. If we allow proliferation of industries which pollute the environment, we are ruining the ecosystem of India. The land, the rivers and the air which are the elements which support life cannot be purified easily. And our resources would be lost for ever and ever.So "to be" or "not to be" is entirely up to us. To protect or to exploit is up to us... 

Lack of faith in ourselves

Not just economy, the non performing bureaucracy makes our county weak. Mediocrity in government offices cripples our country. Lack of integrity in individuals working in offices makes government machinery inefficient. So we make good laws and we shape good policies, but if each one fails in performing duties, all policies remain in paper. The individuals who are assured jobs in government offices cannot get “fired” or removed from office as they have job protection. So they take their job “casually” Responsibility of an office or the reason for its functioning is ignored. So Municipalities do not run properly. Bribing is omnipresent, it there everywhere; it is hidden. If a citizen needs to get something done, he must pay bribe..from birth certificate to marriage certificate to death certificate..pay bribe for what you need.May be greater computerisation will eliminate this.
Another big hurdle in our bureaucracy is mistreatment of lower staff. WE have bosses who have"landlord"mindset of previous century. They abuse lower staff using harsh language as if the staff is a slave. No human dignity is giver to the worker in the lower level. This results in a hostile environment in government's offices.
 If procurement is done by a government office, then there will be hidden bribing. No amount of auditing will reveal cash or kind (cars or gold jewelry) transfers that take place when procurement is done. Government’s wealth is lost when these officers take bribe for procuring inferior material for government; from cement to computers,all inferior stuff will be bought for high prices. Unless each individual working has some patriotism and refuses bribe, this will go on. Faith in ourselves and faith that we should earn by following “right” path is lacking. In essence these "faithless" are cheating the working poor of India. We are cheating ourselves as our future depends for our country's future.

Health of Our Economy

Price rise of cereals and vegetables is exerting pressure on the working poor of India for whom survival is becoming difficult. Price of manufactured goods is not rising as predicted. Food is all that poor need; goods they cannot afford. With input costs of agriculture rising, cost of cereals would be rising further (cost of fertiliser, pesticide and diesel is higher) Minimum support price of cereals will be raised as input costs increase. It will match up with market price. With supply chain missing, the food and energy costs will climb higher. Newer policies were evolved to lower inflation. To curb the inflating tendencies, reserve bank of India had cut repo rates 13 times in 19 months(from March 2010 to October 2011). Then again in 2012 it had cut 50 bps and twice 25 bps(which is another 50 bps) in 2013.But all these cuts did not help. The fiscal deficit could not be corrected. So subsidies promised are just too big a burden. The increase in cost of petroleum products subsidies was 150% from 2011 to 2013.If the subsidies are not controlled, the fiscal deficit will be higher. With lower tax collection, government's proposed big budget expenditures are just not possible. More bad news is that industrial growth has slowed down. Because implementation of projects is delayed, invested capital is struck. Policy actions and administrative reforms can implement speedy implementation of projects. We are importing too much gold and we are importing too much oil. So this adds more problems in our economy. There is hope that domestic consumption of oil is reducing and we can introduce price reforms in petroleum products. We must make more exports and improve our economy. Availability of coal for our energy needs is another big hurdle in economic development. Here too, it is policy making which is bothering the economy and not allowing progress.Although we have plenty of coal, policies for allocation of coal blocks to private companies is being delayed.Transparent allocation is a solution. There are so many "if"s and "but"s...If this goes well then...But for this we are doing well.

 

How to measure development

To encourage industrialisation, lands of tribal population was acquired. The land of the tribal settlements is rich in mineral resources. For last three years, tribals have been protesting because they do not want industry in their lands. Right now the government officials are meeting at the village of Dongriya Kondh tribal of Odisha's Niyamgiri Hills. Our Supreme Court had ordered that the "will" of the tribal population should decide on the issue of making of industrial plant in their lands. Their religious rights are involved here. But the corporates and the state government have other devious plans. First is that the Supreme Court order would reduce the number of village councils which would be allowed to decide on the making of the steel plant. Another plan is to involve the "'tribal gram sabha" only and not the actual people (tribals).(Decision the tribal gram sabha could be shaped as per the private firm's interests).In June 2005, the Korean firm signed for 4004 acres of tribal land from the state government. Although the central government and the Supreme Court want to give rights to the tribals, in reality, the state government is depriving the tribals of rights over their lands. As we are racing for faster industrialisation, development of factories is very important(Are the tribal people not important?)
Is industrialisation a measure of development? Sometimes Demographic and Health surveys are used to measure development.Childhood deaths or maternal death rates are used as a scale to measure development. Human Development Index (height, weight)is used to measure development. Racial qualities vary and epigenetic repercussions also make the data incomparable.Presence of poverty a measure of development? Poverty is a relative concept. Some are more poor and some less poor. All could be classified as poor. Purchasing power is used to measure development. Nutrition, sanitation and access to water is used to measure development. We really cannot measure development by living standards. Because it is always comparative....poor? compared to whom? People here need very basic needs--water,electricity, how to measure their prosperity?We can truly measure development by the "rights" we can give to our people.So if the tribal people get their rights, we have good development in India, if they do not get what they want, that indicates lack of development in the Indian nation.

Role of Education in Indian Democracy

Why is healthy growth of an economy important? Because only when there is economic well being, there can be an increase in activity for progress---education. Number of educated persons in a country is the true measure of prosperity. But when all people vote, the uneducated persons vote for the wrong candidates and thus elect wrong leaders who are hurdles for progress. To break free of the cycle of wrong persons electing wrong leaders is very difficult. In India we have large number of educated persons but they do not stand for election to be elected. So the election process has to be altered to make better leaders.Without big expenditures, candidates must be able to be elected.We have an alert media which will help us in creating good leaders for the future.
We have to re-invent democracy. Democracy can survive only if high percentage of voting population is educated. Since the green revolution has taken place, the number of persons needed for agriculture has become very less. So there is more time for spending on education. But massive poverty makes it difficult to arise from incompetent democracy (fewer educated voters) The Indian people here have very little needs, some food, few clothes and a good job. If these basic needs are satisfied, they go for higher education. Education is highly valued in India. So,in the future, India will have highest percentage of educated population. And these educated people will elect effective governments.

Mesmerising Indian cinema

Although we visualise cinema as “dream-making” industry, in lives of common people, Indian cinema plays an important role. Indian cinema holds a mirror to society; it shows to the movie watchers why change is needed. So it has a crucial role in improving value system in Indian society. Movies are a part of vibrant civilisation of India.Movies were first made in India one hundred years ago. So their centenary is being celebrated now. First talking movie was”Alam Ara” which was in 1931. Soon after that movies in regional languages were made. Many movies were based on historical stories or mythological stories whose content was appreciated. There was ‘cultural revitalization’ taking place as religious and mythological stories got concrete expressions. Movies became an expression of people’s rich culture and values. It was the favourite past time activity for the working class. Tickets were cheap. Even in ‘ makeshift tent’ theatres, cinema could be screened in rural India. It helped to carry Indian culture directly to the masses. By watching cinema, people could see the whole world from their remote rural places. Although Indian cinema celebrated love stories ,people learnt a lot about the world from cinema. Many heroes sung patriotic songs in movies.Sometimes popular heroes who extolled the virtues of the working class got elected and became leaders. Heroines were the most talked about subject among cine goers. Censor board deletes inappropriate sequences. The cinema industry grew more than any other industry; because it was most loved by the people. Sometimes, there is an attempt to copy Hollywood movies but there is great originality among Indian cinema makers themselves. Melodious songs were incorporated in cinema popularising musicals among masses.Indian music too was revived through cinema industry, folk songs got modern expressions. Now a days big cine-complexes are there in big urban malls.About 150 movies are made on the average every year in each regional language. Earlier, people would buy video-cassettes of movies,then DVDs came; now there is “you tube” through which you can download and watch movies. TV replays old and shows new age cinema.Mediums may have changed, but cinema’s popularity has not changed.Mesmerising Indian cinema continues to hold us spellbound  Indians living anywhere in the world feel happy while watching Indian movies. It gives all Indians, a sense of cultural identity.For Indians, joy and contentment in watching Indian movies has no parallels.

All lives are valuable

People think that there is justice in ‘tit for tat’ killing. Another man in jail was killed. This time, the killing took place in Indian prison and the prisoner was from a neighbouring country (in which our citizen was killed in their jail). Convicts should be kept in single chambers.Prisoners cannot take foreign policy in their hands and start killing. Diplomats handle potential hostility in a proper manner. Citizens cannot take to killing to express hostility. We have failed to protect the foreign prisoner. If foreign citizens are jailed here, their cases must be disposed quickly. When we slow down, we are taking risks. The competence or rather the incompetence of the judicial system delays justice.  Sometimes the arrested persons are innocent but would have undergone a long jail term before their case comes up. This is affecting our foreign relations also. So we better reform our courts to give us speedy justice. Newspapers also inflame citizens’ feeling motivating them to taking drastic steps. Readers of newspapers should be educated enough  "not to be motivated" by hatred.Crime of killing or manslaughter affects the killer and the killed only. But now it has fuelled tension among two countries who are trying hard to make peace for mutual survival. It is at this point we realise that education is most important for all citizens; especially the criminals. Educated person would not kill for ‘tit for tat’revenge.Hatred harms both the victim and the perpetrator.All lives are valuable, even that of a jailed person.

Election results are out--coming of new leadership

People of the state of Karnataka went to polls and had selected candidates who will not become corrupt. They want modern way to address their problems themselves. They got rid of “iron ore” barons who wanted greater political control. People want to get rid of the barons and they want better administration. And there is high probability of better administration as they have a dedicated team of administrative officers. They made sure that the building of the Metro rail was not delayed due to clearances. The infrastructure making was held as the most important task needed for the state’s progress. It was made sure that the thousand kilometre pipe line for gas was completed in record time; it was funded by the World Bank and had needed over 400 clearances. The young voters knew that there is need for citizen-centric services using mobile communications, and they had voted for new party which can deliver this. Mobile governance is coming up fast here,people want fast access to information. The main city, Bangalore is held as the "IT city" and it invites foreign investments greatly; it hosts global meet of IT companies. More such meets will encourage its greater growth. Such modernism does not mean that agriculture would be ignored. Agriculture for arid zone is taken up at the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-arid Tropics; it has made a 6% increase in agricultural production in the state this year. Here research is done live and it brings benefit to the farmers. It’s an ideal state whose people are going to make it more and more prosperous.A progressive era for progressive people.   

Rights of street vendors

When a rural folk migrates to urban area, he has no way of making a living. So, he becomes a street vendor—buying and selling small products like balloons or popcorn or cotton candy. Or he would hire a pushcart and sell vegetables in the streets of urban India. Such persons have to earn to buy their next meal. They must also send some money to their family in rural places where they had come from. Constricting their basic needs, these people live in tough conditions to make money. Several city mayors or Councillors had considered them a nuisance and had given orders to chase them away. Sometimes police try to extract money from them by threatening eviction. But now they are looked upon sympathetically—as people who are trying to make their living under distressing conditions. A report of National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector has enumerated the street vendors. There are 17 lakhs to 25 lakhs in the year 1999-2000. As per National Policy on Urban Street Vendors, in 2009, there were 2% of the urban population. Their number had increased substantially. Now the Housing and Poverty Alleviation ministry wants to protect the rights of the urban street vendors and regulate their livelihoods. There is Street Vendors Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of street Vending Bill,2012 which was introduced in our Parliament. The street vendors must be identified and given an identity card.Their specific problems must be addressed,like living conditions. This is a step in the right direction.These self employed people are innovative enough to earn their incomes. With distress migration on the increase, accommodating large migrants is another big challenge faced by urban India.How and where to accommodate them?

How to avert a disaster

Rapid urbanisation leads to depletion of natural resources like ground water. In rural areas also ground water has been depleted. Teaching better way to extract ground water(using huge pumps) to farmers has exhausted the water resources. The water tables are lower than ever before. We must have very heavy rainy seasons (monsoons) for consecutive years to replenish our water resources. Otherwise we may have to face droughts. Already part of Maharashtra have drought situation. Conserving our forests will benefit us as rainclouds are attracted by forests. And forests conserve water. The economic benefit of preserving our bio-diversity lies in this basic truth. Our water tables have to be replenished to prevent drought. A drought situation will drain our national wealth. We must provide drinking water by tank fulls and food by truck loads to the affected areas and settle a migrant population. If we preserve our forests and ecosystems we can avert droughts.Instead of acquiring agricultural lands or encouraging industrial encroachment or urban expansion, we must make sure forest lands are extended.Only then we can avert desertification. We must encourage better water management(recycling) in urban areas. Conservation agriculture, integrated water shed management can save our water resources.We must encourage farmers to produce using lesser water. Other wise we may be pushed further down in economic development.Disasters can be evaded for we must have a future India with fertile land and not desert India.We must thus expand our forest areas and preserve our bio-diversity to survive the water crisis.

The unanswerables will answer now

Indian leadership is plagued by favouritism, "lobby"ism and corruption. But now we have ways to check them. We can keep track of conversations, we can take note of monetary acquisitions and trace their genealogical links with property deals. With the "media" taking keen interest in activities of the so called elected leaders, we have scams after scams. Allocation of coal blocks to paying friends is serious matter. Now one of the ministers has shown favouritism towards his bribe-taking nephew and this has been caught.The minster has not resigned yet as the opposition wants but he will have to answer questions on his acts.
At several times policemen have been caught taking bribes by cameras in mobile telephones. Police brutality has been recorded by cell-phone cameras and televised. Thus the corrupt have been caught and captured by the new mobile technology.There is hope we can use this to further correct the erring state.
Computerisation in government offices has reduced corruption greatly. Movement of files is recorded by file management systems and any stagnation can be questioned. Road transport and rail transport has been greatly improved by web applications. By making the "Aadhar cards" (which uses iris patterns and finger prints) we have issued identification cards to our people.Loans for higher studies would be given using the identity of the recipient.Fuel(for cooking) will be subsidised using this number. This connects the people to the government; and the government to the people.
The Indian state has thus evolved, solving problems while modernising using technology. A great tradition or the Indian civilisation has thus been ushered into the post-industrial era. We are trying to gain control over the uncommitted leaders using latest technology.

Lost people

If an Indian is hurt or killed outside India, it causes anguish in our hearts. “Why did this happen” is the question we keep asking ourselves. Our leadership is not strong enough to hold us together when our sentiments are hurt. In International scene our leaders did not show strength to save the Indian lives lost outside our soil. The leaders were always busy fighting with each other and stalling effective policy making. We are a bunch of states struggling to become a nation without proper national leaders. The different regions and states in India have their own local problems and they have different kinds of relationships with the centre (government). There is no single identity which holds them together except the common history of foreign rule(British) To make a seemingly single nation, commonalities are evolved—the issue of malnutrition among “Indian” children or issue of security for the “Indian” women. And such “ideas” are written about to evolve an identity as a “nation” Similarly, when there is problem of terrorists exploding bomb in the Indian cities, it is labelled as a “threat from outside” India. This is to evolve a “unity” in times of distress. This is so that the Indian “psyche” is told to look away from the true fragmentary nature of the real political India. The kindling of hatred for a common enemy is another way meant to evolve the mythical “Indian identity”.  If the Indian leaders believe in the Indian identity, what did they do to save Indian lives which were threatened by a foreign government?The feelings of Indian identity crumbles when our leaders fail to negotiate with a foreign country where an Indian soul was killed in a jail. Leaders would probably place floral wreaths to symbolically show their grief, but it shows their ineptitude to save the souls of all those lost Indians.Oh God save our souls.

Agricultural India

53% of our workforce is in agricultural sector. Farmers have become rural labourers as they have become most impoverished lot. They had sold their lands and are working for wages as agricultural labour force. This is not a good trend because future depends on good agricultural profits. Since resources from the earth are limited, mining exhausts all that is buried and leaves the land barren. Manufacturing can yield results till there is demand for its products; and it will end soon.But agricultural sector should give good results year after year as Indian soil is good and climate is conducive to agriculture.We can produce cotton, pulses, cereals, rubber, tea, fruits or vegetables whichever is more profitable.Even then, more rural folks have become wage earners working in another person's farm.There are 144.3 agricultural labourers now which is 37.5 million more than ten years ago. Why? Farming is uncertain. Only the rich farmers with big holdings can invest more and also face uncertainties of the occupation.During last few centuries, land holdings were divided among the sons, so the land became fragmented.If we are able to help the marginal farmer make profits, we may help him become self-employed. Can we do that? The younger generation of rural India does not want to farm, it wants to move to urban India as the glittering cities appear more attractive. But urban India depends on wealth generated by rural India. What are the masses of unskilled labourers going to do in future India?

Workers work very hard

In India, workers have to work very hard to make a living. Although there are efforts taken by government to "regularise" work, vast numbers of people work as "casual workers" Employment conditions are very poor for construction workers and other labourers. Activities like road making is also very hard work,toiling in the India's hot climate. As agricultural workers without jobs in the rural sector, leave, they become labourers. There is migration from rural to urban India.Number of agriculturalists reduced from 127 million in 2000-2001, to 118 million in 2010-2011. Unskilled and without any education, they are easy prey for contractors when they move to urban India.For basic necessity of food and clothing, they work hard the whole days and nights. Their incapacity to feed themselves is exploited by corporates to make them into"cheap labour force" The laws for better working conditions or better wages are ineffective when so so many come seeking work as labourers. The Indian economy uses the cheap labour effectively. When the labourers fear losing their jobs, they do not complaint and do not demand higher wages. They adjust themselves to hard conditions.This is exactly what the corporates want, labourers willing to work tolerating hard conditions. How ever we see it, we really cannot celebrate workers day. How to tolerate exploitation? What ideology could justify this exploitation? Cheap labour is a resource which everyone wants to grab.Unless Labour organisations work effectively, workers would suffer further.