Quality of Engineering Education on the Decline?

Anna University of Technology-Chennai is worried about the status and performance of engineering colleges in the state of Tamil Nadu on the basis of academic audit that was taken up last July. For instance, during the last three years the overall pass-percentage of final year students of the university as a whole had been in the range of 75% to 80%. Only half of them were placed in jobs in 2010-11.Of these, two thirds were in IT and only the remaining were from core industries though many of the students were from non-IT streams. IT had come to the rescue of the majority of the students coming out of these colleges, it seems. IT may reach a stage of saturation very soon after which the placement percentage is bound to decline and expose the poverty of thinking in terms of man-power planning that is badly needed for this country. Sooner the better and earlier the better. What is the big use of higher education in technology & engineering at such a cost if not backed by salaried job or self-employment?

The audit also found that many teachers were not being paid their prescribed salaries. Only one college offers an average salary of more than Rs.60, 000 a month to its teaching staff. All other top ranking colleges offer an average salary of Rs.45, 000 to Rs.50, 000 a month.

Some colleges offer only an average salary of Rs.8, 000 to Rs.10, 000 a month, and this tells on the performance of the students, the university has mentioned. “A broad observation is that colleges that pay good salary have good academic ranking” said C.Thangaraj, vice chancellor of AUT-Chennai.

After holding discussions with the stakeholders, AUT-Chennai has suggested the introduction of a flexible academic system. “Our university has students who have got only 70 marks along with the students who have scored 200 out of 200. Unfortunately, we give them the same academic load to all of them uniformly”, Professor Thangaraj asserts.

He suggested that colleges give students some freedom to select the courses in a semester according to their capability, instead of asking all of them to pass six similar courses in all semesters.

 

Quality is more important than the quantity when it comes to higher education in professional courses and the number of colleges and students should have some correlation with the need of the society and industrial and service sectors in particular. More than the degrees we need more of the diploma holders and trained craftsmen for soiling their hands and working on the machines for manufacturing and servicing.

(Friday, October 21, 2011 Times of India)

Efficiency questioned again?

A natural lake called 'Pazhaverkadu' spread over an area of 481 sq. KMs at a distance of 20 Km from Ponneri near Chennai has been declared a tourist spot by Tourism Department and similarly as a bird sacntuary by the Forest Department. As stated by the tourists the spot suffers from lack of infrastructure facilities due to which a beautiful tourist destination has become a death trap. Last Sunday, December 25, 2011 a boat capsized in the lake resulting in the death of 22 persons, mostly women and children due to over loading as revealed by the local (North T.Nadu) I.G. of Police, Mr C.Shailendra Babu.

Since 2004 the spot has become an attracive tourist centre. But unfortunately no efforts have been made by both the departments for safety measures. Who is to be blamed? The spot had in the past too had claimed several lives and administration is busy elsewhere it seems. Human life has no value in india. Apart from natural disasters man's negligence has added to several deaths from time to time.

Well, what to expect of the rotten system when everybody is busy in self-interest or lack of accountability is the order of the day!

Anna Hazare Vs Indian Parliament?

Anna Hazare's attempt to pressurise the Parliamentarians of different hues / political parties to pass the Lokpal Bill as suggested by his team is facing a rough and tough passage at the moment. Different political parties are interpreting and issuing differing views on the different clauses in the Bill presented by the UPA government on Thursday, December 22, 2011 in the Lok Sabha. Some are advocating the non-inclusion of Prime minister & CBI and state lokayuktas whereas some are opposing it on the ground of being a weak Bill. Well one is apprehensive of its slow death as in the case of Women's Bill. There is not going to be a consensus on such an important and necessary legislation in view of the existing political atmosphere in the country. Every body in today's Indian polity has some sort of  vested interest that needs to be protected. Anna's team will be put to a test of popularity and a long-drawn battle before anything would come out of their struggle made so far.

CURSE OF MIGRATION?

A news item in “NAI DUNIYA”, Raipur dated Thursday, November 24, 2011 indicates that the migration of labourers from the state of Chhattisgarh is not coming to an end in spite of the important National Employment Guarantee Scheme being executed.

It appears from the available statistics that from surrounding areas of Pithora in Raipur district about 5000 labourers have migrated so far this year. It is further reported that this sort of migration is mainly due to the active role played by the labour contractors and the inability or incompetence of Labour Department. There seems to be no action taken against these contractors. They are normally found busy in their work soon after the monsoon under the pretext of offering more wages to the labourers with the result the migration starts even before the Dussehra festival.

One could see in the last two months such labourers being transported in private vehicles and public bus transport up to Bilaspur and Raipur Railway stations, from where they were supposed to reach their destination in states like Punjab, Haryana and U.P. No one can question the liberty of anybody for that matter moving in search of better and well-paid jobs in other states and regions but what is disturbing in the state of Chhattisgarh is the phenomenon of forced migration for want of gainful and decent wage-employment in the neighborhood of those villagers.

GANGA BRINGS LIFE & DEATH

“The Ganga is just the most beautiful and loving body of water. You realize that it brings life and death, and the acceptance of death. By the time I was at the end of the journey, people would say the Ganga can heal you. It did heal me. What I have come to understand is that I can be healed and still death is always a given thing,” says Michelle Baldwin, a terminal cancer patient who rode the Ganga recently to raise money for the killer disease.

Michelle is an adventurous white woman who did paddle-boating on the Ganga for 500 KMs from Rishikesh to Varanasi as a pilgrimage to raise $100,000 for a global campaign against cervical cancer.

Hats off to this woman who undertook an arduous journey to achieve her goal. As a matter of fact her campaign will not go a waste. It is no doubt disheartening to note that as many as 74,000 die of cervical cancer in India, leaving about 300,000 children without their mothers.

I wish an Indian woman had done a similar feat.

Real Hero of India's Poor

"Rich-poor rift unacceptable"

says Mr. Kapadia, the Chief Justice of India.

"We need to compete with China. Economic prosperity has to happen but I don't want 300 million to prosper at the cost of 700 million. Here comes the role of judiciary" he said at a Law Day function in Supreme Court.

It sounds like the speech of a Prime Minister on a Republic Day rally. I wish such people do become the PM of this country at least for two decades so that we can certainly compete with China and be a developed nation very soon. He realises the load on the judiciary in the country at the moment and trying to exhort his colleagues and subordinate judges to take a resolve to wipe out the pendency of all the old cases pending more than five years by 2012. He also knows the sanctity of separation of powers between the judiciary and the other two wings namely, legislative and executive which are expected to exercise their powers fearlessly and impartially.

A similar expression was recorded by the Chief Justice of Madras High Court Mr Justice M.Y.Eqbal on the inauguration of 150th anniversary celebration of the Court in the presence of some five Supreme court judges that all the cases connected with motor accident (1.25 lakh in numbers as against a total 16.9 lakh cases as on December 31, 2010 pending in the state) and cheque-bouncing pending till date are disposed of within a year. The social and public concern voiced by the higher judiciary at the moment is indeed praise-worthy. Some scientific scrutiny of the litigations pending before several courts of this country is the need of the hour. We are sure the present community of the learned judges are competent and conscious of their duties and responsibilties towards the Constitution of India.

India is in safe hands!

Happy 90th Birthday to Dr V.Kurien

Amul rightly and fondly remembers the Father of the white Revolution in India who changed the lives of 15 million farmer families, who revolutionised the dairy sector and who gave India 200 Amul brands.

India needs such visionaries and missionaries for the betterment of its society. Let many sons of soil emulate his example and try to contrubute as much as possible.

An Eventful Day - With Many Sensitive News & Issues in Headlines

(The Sunday Express, New Delhi, November 20, 2011)

1) “Judges, Mind Your Words” is the exhortation given by Soli Sorabjee in his soli ‘Loquies’ referring to the language used by a Bench of Kerala High Court against the contemnor in a case. He referred to the Supreme Court’s (in 1986) direction to the judges while expressing their anger and annoyance over the actions of litigants in their judgments.

As pleaded correctly by Soli Sorabjee, the judges (sometimes emotionally surcharged and vexed) can use the polite language in condemning the actions of some devils operating and spoiling the peaceful atmosphere of the society.

2) Tavleen Singh’s “Governance Please” (Fifth Column) in the context of the agenda for urgent reforms that eminent businessmen have come up with is a part in the series of people raising voices one after the other in the country on the head of the Indian Government.

3) “Over-emotion cannot prosper a state” by Shombit Sengupta in his ‘from the discomfort Zone’ talks of how emotionally surcharged are the Bengalis in general and explains how the Intel Kolkata elite doesn’t represent the entire Bengal. About 70 – 80 per cent of Bengalis don’t understand Tagore and Roy, the intellectual giants through whom the outside world perceives Bengal. He rightly advocates the need for encouraging industrialization for improving the status of small farmers (unable to earn much for generations) in the countryside. Some bold thinking not based on vote-politics is required at the moment. Let us wait and see how the state moves in the next decade for its economic development.

4) “Egypt: Protestors, cops clash, 507 hurt”

Cairo’s Tahrir Square is once again flooded with agitators for quicker execution of reforms and the return of civilian rule inasmuch as there is an apprehension in their minds that the ruling generals want to retain power over the future civilian government even after the parliamentary elections which are due next week as per the schedule.

5) China Trade Surplus on the Decline:

As indicated by Li Daokui, an advisor and member of the monetary policy committee of the People’s Bank of China, the China’s trade surplus may drop to zero or even fall into negative in the next two years in view of the declining exports and surging imports. It is expected to reduce further to $ 150 billion this year , dropping to 1.5 per cent of the GDP from 8 per cent over the past few years. One silver-lining of course is that the contribution of household consumption to GDP growth has followed an upward trend since 2008.

6) Govt. to provide adequate capital to PSU banks: Pranab

It seems a sum of Rs 20157 crore was provided as capital support during 2010-11 to Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce and UCO Bank. In addition to Rs 6000 crore already provided in the current budget the Finance Minister has promised much more sums as and when demanded by the banks.

Hope the deserving banks only get the support and the international bankers don’t exploit our well-monitored banks in the process.

7) Chie Economic Advisor to the Finance Ministry Kaushik Basu has predicted that the inflation will start declining from December and come down to 7 per ecnt by the end of the financial year in March as expected by the Reserve Bank of India.

This is one more prediction by a government agency as was done several times in the past one year. Unless supply side economics is strengthened in time and propelled properly such a wishful expectation may remain a dream once again.

Evil Deeds of Devils in Schools

An organisation called Chettinad Foundation is running schools in the city of Chennai offering courses such as pre nursery, pre L.K, L.K.G, U.K.G and First Standard in some 36 places ( 11 under its direct control an the rest under franchise) without any approval from the state government although they claimed to have got the permission from CBSC. They are collecting hefty fees for admitting and educating the kids. The parents had to approach the High Court of Chennai for taking action against the management.

The judge Mr Justice Paul Vasantha Kumar has given direction that all such schools without permission from the state government should obtain permission without any delay and similarly they should cease collecting fees from the parents till they are officially permitted by the government agency.

What a system prevalent in the state? There is no authority who could have checked up such a development so far. Our government and officers are there to pass time and have no mind to apply and prevent such abuses of public ignorance and exploitation.

God help this state in the field of school education.

Romance Revived

India appears to have revived its romance for Kashmir, with an unprecedented 10.73 lakh tourists visiting the Valley till September 30 this year. This is believed to be the highest number of tourist arrivals in the past 25 years which in turn proves to be a strong evidence of what is possible during the normal period.

Kashmir has surpassed last year’s tourist count of 7.38 lakh, and the data collected by the state tourism department shows that both Indians and foreigners have given the Valley a fillip badly needed after a long battle with insurgents and terrorists from across the border.

Delay in Decision-making at the Highest Level

Delay or inaction on the part of any official or constitutional authority is to be discouraged and not fit to be condoned or tolerated. But an undue delay in decision-making on an important issue like mercy petition on commutation from death penalty to life imprisonment by the first citizen of this country is a sad reflection on the working of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The mercy petition of three Rajiv Gandhi killers Messrs. Murugan, Perarivalan and Santhan facing execution has been rejected by the President Ms Pratibha Patil after a period of 11 years. Thank God she had at least taken a decision in some 26 cases in all out of which only four have ended in rejection while the rest 22 cases have been decided favourably. Luckily in those cases none of the convicts were from the terrorist groups. Afzal's case is still pending for decision.

The presidents who preceded Ms Pratibha Patil had kept the cases pending without decision due to lack of time or the fear of unpopularity which in any case could hardly be termed as wise decision on their part. If a lower functionary in the government fails to take a decision we tend to haul him up as dereliction of duty and the government is contemplating a measure to punish such officials. It is unfortunate the country's first citizen too is found wanting in his performance. Had the decision been taken in time the possibility of an uproar for the review of mercy petition's rejection by the president or the passage of an unanimous resolution by the Tamil Nadu Assembly for that purpose wouldn't have arisen at all. The general issue of abolishing the death sentence too has assumed much significance for the debate and a legislation. It has no doubt its own merits and demerits.

Tasks of New Government in Tamil Nadu in 2011

(Sent to state government for consideration in June, 2011)

Regularization of unauthorized and unapproved structures:

Over a period of time due to pressure of population, purchasing power of the burgeoning and economically stronger middle class, favorable housing-loan policy of the bankers, the housing sector has had been doing extremely well till recently with the result individual housing units and commercial complexes have come up in large numbers throughout the state. But unfortunately the authorities – mostly the local bodies and town planning authority – were slow in sanctioning layouts and building plans. The cumulative effect was that there were umpteen number of structures constructed on every bit of vacant land available in and around human settlements on a large-scale all over the state. The local bodies esp. at the lower levels in village and town panchayats allowed construction without knowing the implications and not collecting the sufficient fees. In almost all cases the public utilities like roads, drains, drinking water, lighting, sanitation etc. within the colony or access to the main roads were not provided as per the requisite standards. A need therefore arises to solve this major problem of the citizens on priority and on a war footing with strong measures for automatic approval with strict adherence to the time schedule by the officials concerned.

Solution:

After providing 20’ lane and 30’ road within the colony and similarly 40’ road for a street or colony of 100 housing units in a compact locality, the structures already constructed can be settled and regularized with proper N.O.Cs from Town Planning Department and approvals from the concerned local bodies / municipalities at the following rates:

Villages & Town Panchayats: Rs 20 per sq ft

Municipalities Grade B & C : Rs 30 per sq ft

Municipalities Grade A : Rs 40 per sq ft

Municipal Corporations : Rs 50 per sq ft

Chennai Metro town: Rs 60 per sq ft

of plinth area or total built up area in the case of structures with more than two floors ie., the ground floor and first floor.

===============================================================

Tax on Motor cars

Without much increase in the width of the existing roads, the population of the motor vehicles has almost doubled or tripled in the last one decade. The addition of more number of vehicles in the category of two wheelers and cars and their frequency of mobility on the city roads and lanes are on the increase every year. It is therefore necessary to curtail the acquisition of extra number of cars in each household or a private enterprise with scope for more attraction towards the public transport mode by imposing a tax which would indirectly reduce the consumption of petrol and diesel in the days to come.

Suggestion

Any household or a company having more than two or four vehicles/cars for personal or professional job respectively in an urban area must pay twice the fee fixed for a vehicle at the time of registration.

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Cess on Education:

Literacy to the children between the age group 6 – 14 years must be made compulsory and free at the state expense but the managements providing high school and higher secondary school education in English medium in public convent schools, matriculation schools can afford to pay an annual cess so that the environment around the schools can be improved and maintained by the state or semi-government authorities without fail.

Students in ix and x classes can pay @ Rs 500 per annum

Students in xi and xii classes can pay @ Rs 1000 per annum

Students in Arts & Science Colleges @ Rs 1000 per annum.

Students in Professional Colleges @ Rs 2000 per annum.

=============================================================

Cess on Liquor:

In the last few years the drinking habit has almost touched every segment of population in the state. TASMAC outlets have sprung up everywhere and the liquor is flowing like water. The students too have started drinking at a very young age. That explains why and how the state could improve its revenue under the head “State excise” to Rs 7930 crore during 2010-11 from Rs 6741 crore in 2009-10.

It is of course impossible to introduce prohibition at this juncture but all the same one can indirectly put pressure on the drinkers by imposing a little monetary burden so that the consumption of liquor per head goes down after sometime. With this aim in mind the state can distribute consumption card on which the quantity drawn can be mentioned once in a week or on the actual date of purchase from any outlet. Every card holder can pay an annual cess of Rs 1000 and get the entry made on the card accordingly.

Tamil Nadu’s population as per the Census 2011 is around 8 crores. Even if one assumes that 50 % of the population only is addicted to drinking the cess collected from 4 crore population would be around Rs 4000 crore. Not a small sum to ignore!

===================================================================

Comfort Cess

In true and pragmatic economics every commodity or factor of production has got a price. Its opportunity cost has to be evaluated and the factor concerned to be made amenable to yield an incremental income either in its productive phase or at the latent stage. Accordingly the land, the most basic and famous factor of production in modern days, is to be utilized by the owner himself or the state to yield a rate of return for the state exchequer. Its vacant nature is a national waste. Hence the need for taxing all the vacant patches of land – whether cultivable or uncultivable in the countryside and vacant plots in the urban centres.

In urban areas;

@ Rs 10 per sq ft per annum

In rural areas:

@ Rs 1000 per acre per annum

Land between E.C.R and the Bay of Bengal and the land between ECR and the lands west of it up to 0.5 K.M along the length of 100 KMs towards Pondicherry.

@ Rs 500 per acre per annum

========================================

Audit of Land, water and power enjoyed by the Industry and Commercial Complexes:

With the demand for land, water and power increasing day by day and the consequent result in terms of their upward pricing from time to time, it has become imperative to ensure their economical utilization.

It is also true that the state has to provide all these utilities at a price and quality that the investors are attracted to engage in manufacturing, trading, financing and commercializing. But at the same time they are not supposed to grab the whole at a time and prevent/preempt others from engaging in similar activities. That is possible only when anything extra available at their command is judiciously verified and discouraged in the form of taxes to the exchequer. Such an approach would be possible only when an audit of those facilities is undertaken on the basis of a bench mark decided within a time-frame by the group of experts appointed for the purpose.

Availability and the actual use of these facilities beyond the statutory minimum is to be taxed @ twice the sum charged for them by the concerned agencies.

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Development of Small Farmers

Small & Marginal farmers constitute more than 75% of the farming community in the countryside. Division and fragmentation of land holdings beyond a level is bound to have an adverse impact on the agricultural production and land productivity. C.H Hanumantha Rao opined, therefore, that the mobility of land from lower to the smaller size groups through sales and purchases and through tenancy on a commercial basis should be considered desirable. K.P.Raghava Raja (1995, Small Farming in Central India) too has advocated amalgamation of marginal and sub-marginal land holdings into economically strong small holdings of five acres or more with the help of the financial institutions. The latter has also devised a new deal / package for adoption by the state authorities for the development of small farmers as shown below:

 Land Development & Enrichment on the basis of a soil survey

 Creation of Irrigation Source with the adoption of sprinkler & drip system and Changing of Cropping Pattern

 Development of Farm Forestry & Horticulture

 Installation of Bio-gas plants

 Large-scale Financing thro’ small bankers

==================================================================

Agro-processing Units/ Micro, small and medium industries

Although the state is doing well in agro-processing of food-grains, pulses and oil-seeds, it is extremely poor and far from satisfactory in the case of processing of fruits and vegetables. The latter decides the quality of life in the form of balanced diet which is unfortunately missing in India including Tamil Nadu in comparison with the developed societies. The per capita production of fruits and vegetables in India was only about 100 kgs while the per capita consumption of potatoes, vegetables (including preserved vegetables), fruits (including preserved fruits and fruits juices) and citrus fruits was to the extent of 284 kgs in 1990-91 in the countries of European Union. Exploitation of small and marginal farmers is due to low price, defective weights and measures, delayed payments and sales linked to pre-harvest loans etc. Market for the fruits & vegetables as also other food produce grown by these farmers can flourish only when there is scope for processing activities in the country as one finds in the developed world (34% food processing in U.K, China 38% and in India less than 24%). Value addition is possible only by the agro-based industry. The state is yet to avail the assistance announced and executed in this regard by the Government of India. The state is far behind states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

Action Plan

Enough incentive and a deliberate priority is to be given for this sector of industrial activity both in the small and large-scale sectors. If needed, we may have to attract FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) too from developed countries.

===========================================

Harvest of rain water:

It is a known fact that more than 60% of run-off water goes a waste without being stored or harvested. Tamil Nadu normally receives rainfall of 911 mm per annum, say, roughly 1000 mm per annum. Looking to the Net Irrigated Area (NIA) in the year 2007-08 of 2863 thousand hectares, only 752 thousand hectares were irrigated through government canals which worked out to 26.27%. In addition to this, the tanks irrigated an area of 506 thousand hectares. Thus these two put together, the rain water harvested for irrigation purpose comes to 43% only of NIA whereas the underground water available for irrigation through tube wells as well as dug wells came to 1593 thousand hectares. Generally speaking if 60 to 70% runoff water can be tapped and stored for at least six months, that much water would be available either directly to cultivation as flow-irrigation or as underground water through recharging of open wells and tube wells. Without investing crores of rupees on medium and major irrigation dams, it will be better, quicker and economical if we harvest and conserve water in the form of check dams, barrages, stop dams and divert water from major rivers and streams towards village tanks and small reservoirs.

Action proposed:-

• A thorough and immediate review to be undertaken during the ensuing rainy seasons – South-west monsoon and North-east monsoon on the existing water flow in the major rivers, streams, nullahs, water courses along with a survey on catchment area i.e open landmasses and forest areas.

• Based on the above survey and review, construction of a series of stop dams, check dams, barrages and canals to store water on a massive scale by investing funds from World Bank, commercial banks and NABARD.

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Drinking Water

The new Government stands committed to provide 20 Ltrs of mineral water free of cost to all those families living below poverty line. Presuming one-third of population live below poverty line, a little more than 2 crore population ie., 50 lakh families need to be provided 20 Ltrs. of drinking water. In other words 1000 lakh Ltrs. will have to be treated and provided as mineral water. It is a massive affair for which all the existing agencies engaged in water treatment and supply of mineral water are to be expanded or taken over by the Government with a view to procure and provide that much quantity of drinking water to those BPL families. The former AIADMK government’s initiative to harvest and store rain water in all the urban households can be revived so that drinking water shortage can be tackled effectively for a few days or months in such homes.

====================================================================

Sanitation

Indian citizens including families located in Tamil Nadu are

forced to live with in-sanitation amidst the garbage and sewage.

Hardly any locality in any city including Chennai or other urban centers is visible where the human settlement is totally free from garbage and sewage. There is no proper timely collection of accumulated garbage from the city streets and lanes. There is an immediate need to provide trashcans, storage bins and dust bins in large quantities throughout the towns and cities. The households may have to be forced to throw garbage into the dust bin systematically and regularly so that the same can be collected and taken away by the municipal authorities. The conservancy staff needs to be highly motivated and supervised by the superior authorities almost on daily basis to ensure proper sanitation.

Super Supervisor

With a view to having perfect supervision and enforcement either a powerful official or a private individual to be appointed as the Ombudsman for Sanitation in Chennai Metropolitan area who will ensure proper sanitation, proper collection and disposal of waste and sewage in state capital. He should be in a position to effectively coordinate with the municipal authorities, water & sewerage board authorities and electricity board authorities on the spot for instant execution.

================================================================

Power Generation

At the current juncture, the State needs roughly 12000 MW of power while the internal generation is only somewhere around 7000 MW. The State has to procure 2000 MW to 2500 MW from other State electricity boards. Although the generation capacity of the wind power created is around 5000 MW, its maximum availability during May to September months is around 2000 MW. It is also erratic depending on the flow of wind. The State as on date is having a chronic deficit of 2000 MW to 3000 MW. The State Government’s claim, that it would have an additional generation of power to the extent of 3500 MW by March, 2011 looking to a number of projects in the pipeline during the period 2008-11, is still an unfulfilled dream.

Projects for 2011-12 ( Projected Demand: 12927 MW )

Kudankulam Nucear Project: 925 MW

Neyveli Expansion Project : 325 MW

NTPC Simhadri Project: 500 MW

Vallur Project: 1000 MW

North Chennai Thermal Project: 1200 MW

Mettur Thermal Project: 600 MW

Hydro Power Projects: 90

Power from sugar mills: 183 MW

Projects for 2012-13: ( Projected Demand: 13961 MW )

 Tuticorin Thermal Power Project:1000 MW

NLC Expansion: 750 MW

Vallur Project Third Unit: 500 MW

The task force:

It needs to review the existing projects under construction and scrutinize closely as to how much of power will be generated by 2011 June-end, by September-end, by December-end and by 2012 March-end. Weekly monitoring of those projects will have to be undertaken so that the promises are translated into cherished realities. Besides the Government has to seriously engage a few more players who not only promise but also fulfill on a realistic basis the total requirement in the next 3 to 4 years. Their projects need to be processed, assisted and executed on a day to day basis by a designated team meant for that particular task alone.

Letter to the (Former) President of India with no response?

Raipur, Dt 20-11-08

To

Dr A.P.J.Abdul Kalam,

Former President of India,

New Delhi

Sub: Feed back on your visit to Raipur – regarding

Respected Sir,

1)" ...................................................................................
.......................................................................................
.......................................................................................".

2)"................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................
....................................................................................................."

3) I have been provoked to send this letter because of some developments taking place in this state. Whatever projects you had opened and announced during your visit to Chhattisgarh State, all of them have been religiously unattended to by the chief minister, the concerned departments and the district administrations. Your pet project, namely, PURA in a region near Raipur is still a non-starter. A part of the village and its weekly market were named after ‘Rashtrapati’ as a mark of respect and memory in a village near Jagdalpur with a lot of promises both from the C.M and the President in the form of schools, road, market, and other facilities but the whole thing has been forgotten by the CM and the DM (District Magistrate) as usual There was an adverse comment regarding this in a local T.V. channel ETv on 18th November.

4) This is the calamity of an administrative system prevalent in this country since independence. I did try to remedy the system in all my postings throughout the career in a small way. But it is so powerful that I have been pushed out of the system very neatly. I shall be extremely grateful for one-line acknowledgement of this letter.

With warm regards

Yours sincerely

(Dr P.Raghavan)

8 Moulshree Vihar, Purena

V.I.P Road, Raipur, Chhattisgarh 492006

E-mail: p_raghavan47@yahoo.co.in (T) 0771 2104058
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

No Gifts Please!

We are pleased to see a rare and exemplary human being, namely, Ms Mamata Banergee as the head of the state government in Kolkata. She has had maintained a good tradiion of not accepting any gifts from any individual on the occasion of festivals and otherwise too. She seems to have given strict instructions to her security guards at her residence to drive away the people esp. rich persons bringing gifts of any kind. She is a bachelor staying with her mother and brothers in the same old house of her own in a joint family with simple living standards. Little renovation according to her wish in her chamber at Writers Building, the State Secretariat has been carried out at her own expense (from her salary).

One would pray to God to give her the same style till the end as she had shown in the last 30 years so that other persons can draw inspiration and emulate such high standards of probity and simplicity while occupying high positions in public life. Other examples are Messrs A.K.Antony and Narendra Modi. India needs such public figures to come to power and rule this nation for quite a while. 

Municipal School Sans Basic Facilities

A reporter of Dinamani, a Tamil daily from Chennai (Dated Tuesday, September 6, 2011) has published a photo of the dilapidated toilet meant for boys and presented a grim picture of the Municipal Boys’ High School (classes 6 to 10) with the student strength of 1500 in Rajaji Street Nungambakkam, a posh colony of the city saying that basic facilities like urinal (toilet), pure drinking water and clean environment were lacking as lamented by the parents for quite some time.

The boys are using the open ground with bushes as their urinal and toilet located near the class rooms of XI and XII students tolerating the bad smell while studying in a nearby building. What a great name for the Chennai municipal administration in the state capital of Tamil Nadu? Who is to blame for this condition? When do we expect improvement in this school and similar schools in other parts of Tamil Nadu?

 

All talks of successes and tall claims will carry no meaning unless steps are taken to redress this grievance without further delay.

CAG welcome to audit RD min: Ramesh

Hats off to the Minister of Rural Development in Government of India Mr Jairam Ramesh for having taken the bold step of subjecting all the schemes including the flagship programme, namely, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Emploment Guarantee Scheme of his Ministry to the CAG audit. This is a real challenge not only to his own ministry at Delhi but to all the chief ministers of the country. It is to be noted that a social audit by some NGOs in Rajasthan met with serious consequences resulting in its cancellation by the Gehlot Government under severe pressure from Panchayat bodies in the state.

Democracy Faltering?

As a member of the All India Service and a service-minded administrator for more than three and a half decades in Central India and a serious student of British History, Indian History, Political Science including Modern Governments and a student of Indian Economics, I had put forward a political-cum-economic theory advocating, since 1990s, a Presidential System of Democracy and a Controlled Capitalistic Economy for India with near fool-proof electoral reforms as described below:

Language, the only major criterion for the reorganization of states in the post-independent era in 1950s, remains no more a lone valid and solid base for the purpose. Economic development and, that too a balanced regional development has become the need of the hour. Divisive and decisive forces such as language, caste, color or creed could hardly be a base for geographical divisions anymore.

India is a country of one billion plus in population. Geographical area-wise and population-wise it can easily afford to have 40 to 50 states/provinces in all – each containing or catering to a population of 20 million plus. The only rider is that it should be a Democratic Federation with the Presidential form of government as in the case of USA. The President and the Governors in the states should be directly elected for a term of 5-6 years with each incumbent allowed to serve only 2 terms in office and necessarily not succeeded by a close relative in the posts for at least 2 terms at a stretch. Under such a scenario, the elected executives would be assisted and advised by a group of experts as ministers (mostly nominated) numbering not more than 5 in each government. Departmental activities should be guided, budgeted and monitored by the advisory committees comprising members of the Parliament or State Assemblies as the case may be. Direct election would be conducted once in 5 – 6 years only for the lowest chamber via. Village Panchayats (Councils) and Municipal bodies and also for the highest executive post in the country viz. President and in the states viz. the Governors. All other legislative bodies viz. the Janpad Panchayats, District Panchayats, Municipal Councils/Corporations, State Assemblies and the National Parliament should have selected/nominated members with proven talent and experience from among them on the basis of internal elections. No public representative elected or nominated can hold any particular office for more than two terms. In other words it would inject fresh blood into each chamber of public representatives. Direct election to the posts of President and Governors and similarly to the lowest chambers should be conducted at the Government cost.

Only two or three dominant political parties (on the basis of immediately-preceding General Elections) should be allowed to field candidates for the post of President and Governors but the elections or nominations to all other posts and chambers need not necessarily be in the name and nomination of political parties. All the ills of electoral processes can be automatically tackled without any major costs – neither to the Government nor to the candidates. No favoritism, no nepotism, no dynastic tendency, no black-money and no muscle power would be able to raise their ugly heads in such a system.

It is indeed a golden chance coming on our way in the form of agitation for separate statehood for ensuring a golden era in Indian Sub-continent. Telengana, Gorkhaland, Vidarbha, Bundelkland (different regions in India) etc. etc. can await the recommendations of a newly-formed State Reorganization Commission in the next 2 years. As a saying goes, one should strike when the iron is hot. Let us convert the current malady into a remedy. Sixty years of Parliamentary Democracy needs a re-look and re-working. So the current Parliament can easily be converted into a Second Constituent Assembly for the debate and a decision on an alternative system of governance like the Presidential form of Government. A federal polity with such contrast situations, languages, cultures and civilizations, heritages and histories in India needs immediate political and constitutional reforms to halt the riches of a few, to promote the welfare of all the citizens, to make justice available at a cheaper cost, to eradicate or substantially control the electoral fraud and bad practices, to provide corruption-free public services from government functionaries, to check the erosion of dignity of labor but improve and sustain its productivity be it on agri-farms, in factories, in public and semi-public offices, to halt the mobocracy and encourage meritocracy in every sphere of public life.

Small and Sincere Steps with Requisite Results -- 4

The author was transferred from the post of additional collector to Chindwara District as the Collector but in two-three days the order was changed and I was shifted to Betul District instead, due to the request of the incumbent collector Mr. J.L Bose to continue there for a while. I quietly followed the directions of the government and joined at Betul replacing Mr. Nanneh Singh who stayed there for three years.

Betul was my first independent charge as the full-fledged collector. I joined there in the month of October, 1977 and continued till June, 1979. The life’s mission was to be a collector in any case. Since it materialized in 1977 my joy found no bounds and my soul and body were fixed on duty in full swing.

I did take interest in all the activities of the collector and in addition I took several new initiatives in different directions. First of all I intensified my genuine tours to all parts of the district and made night halts for almost 15 – 20 days in a month. Betul being a tribal district my goal was to visit the interior parts and do some solid work for them. I selected the most backward development block namely Bhimpur block which was more than 100 KMs from Dt. HQrs and took up general development of that area up to Dhamjipura, the furthest point in the district near Maharashtra border by all the government departments. I started tent touring for the first time in my career for the stay and work – day & night in the tents taken out from the district ‘Nazarat’ and pitched for the purpose. After visiting the border areas adjoining Maharashtra (where in the hillocks the coffee gardens were raised and maintained) during the day-time, the collector and other officials gathered in the evening near the bonfire in front of the rest house and the collector’s tent and discussed threadbare the possibility of new schemes and welfare measures for the tribal population in the presence of villagers and their leaders. After chalking out those targets for the following months and the year, the collector and his team joined the village folk in their enchanting and entertaining folk dances for nearly two hours followed by the dinner served on the teak-leaves squatting on the floor for eating along with some tribal men and sipping their local country-made liquor (except a few officers like the teetotaler collector). The long stretch of the main P.W.D road connecting Betul to Dhamjipura from a junction point, namely, Atner was made an all-weather one for the first time with umpteen numbers of culverts, causeways and small bridges – thanks to the efforts of an enterprising Executive Engineer called Mr. Pamnani who correctly understood the seriousness and the expectations of the collector. The ration shop was activated with minimum scope for pilferage by the owner. The land records were up dated in favour of the legal heirs of the tribal farmers without any harassment from the side of patwaris (Karnams – V.A.Os). A regular bus service was arranged from Dhamjipura to Betul. Small dams and irrigation channels from the small rivers and streams were conceptualized and budgeted for execution. Since the district was covered under D.P.A.P (Drought Prone Area Programme) it became easy for the collector to include such projects for implementation by different implementing agencies. Schools were inspected and buildings renovated and new buildings too were planned for construction in the following months. Many schemes meant for elders, widows and deprived persons and students were taken up by the Panchayat & Social Welfare Department.

 

Child Welfare:

A Christian missionary establishment at Padhar village on Betul-Bhopal main highway was doing an excellent service to the local community in and around Padhar centre in the area of medical care and public health activities. I found it a pleasure to encourage them in their work. The head of the establishment one Dr Chowdhury who was second to none to understand my eagerness to work for the tribes wholeheartedly took part in public health programme launched by the government. Both Dr Chowdhury and the author/collector devised a crude and practical formula or a device to test whether a child was fully nourished or mal-nutritioned by running down a plastic bangle of a particular diameter. If the bangle easily passes through the arm-joint from the ankle to the entire length of the hand, then the child is declared to be undernourished and the child needed to be cared for separately with adequate quantity of balanced diet for sometime till it recovers to the standard requirements. We used this device extensively when we toured the interior areas together and the same was directed to be adopted by other departmental officials and the community workers of Padhar missionary. The nutritious food provided under World Health Programme was supplied to the needy children as per the government orders.

 

Rehabilitation of International Refugees:

A few thousands of Bengalis from East Bengal were sent to Shahpur Tehsil in Betul Sub-division for rehabilitation in 1960s and 70s. It was a Herculean task to satisfactorily settle them all in the area as farmers. Day-to-day issues connected with their settlement were to be resolved with the help of a full-time Project Officer stationed at Shahpur. As the collector I had to personally visit the spot and solve their problems. Communal peace and harmony was maintained with a humane approach while steps were taken to settle them with sufficient economic means of livelihood.

 

Industrial Workers:

Western Coalfields had a huge coal mine under operation near Godadongari producing large quantity of coal for supplying mainly to the thermal plant established at Sarani for generating power by Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Board. A few thousand employees as full-time or part-time workers on private contract were working there. Now and then some sort of protest or dharna used to engage the attention of police force and the district administration. A watchful and supportive approach enabled the police chief of the district to keep the workers in good humour and maintain law and order satisfactorily. A good liaison with the authorities of the Coal-fields and Sarani Plant officials by the collector ensured peace in the area.

Israeli Delegation on Water Management Techniques

One of the most useful collaborative efforts could be in the area of water management between Israel & India.An eight member delegation from Israel was visiting India in the second week of August, 2011.

Addressing a B2B meeting in Chennai (Thursday, August 11 2011) on Israeli Water Technology hosted by CII Southern Region and the Consulate General of Israel Mumbai, Elad Gafni , the Consul pointed out that Israel had developed water technology prowess by turning a resource challenge into an opportunity. By 2013 over 70% of drinking water in Israel would be supplied by the desalination plants, he said. Faced with 45% water deficit it manages to provide 250 litres of water daily to its 7 million population by water management, water economy and water technology. In fact over 75 per cent of the water is reused in the country.

We should appreciate the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Trade for having signed an MOU with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai on leveraging water technologies including management and pricing, as announced by Mr Gafni.

He further pointed out that a G2G interface is also proposed later this year between their water experts and the officials of Government of Tamil Nadu for collaboration in water technology.

We are quite slow in adopting successfully the developed technology to suit our needs although we spend lot of time in studying, visiting and planning. The inner urge to do something better and cheaper is missing from many of our planners and administrators. So I am bit apprehensive of the needed response and follow-up from our government agencies even after seeing the suo moto initiative extended by the Israel Government. Way back in 1995-96 when the then Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Agriculture Mr Subash Yadav formed a delegation of several senior officials in charge of agriculture, irrigation, agro-industries Corporation, Co-operative Marketing Federation, Marketing Board etc., of the Government of Madhya Pradesh and reached Delhi for onward journey to Israel, the government headed by Mr Digvijay Singh ensured its cancellation at the last minute through intervention from PMO. That was the type of encouragement one gets in the present set-up. Genuine proposals and sincere efforts are not supported by the establishment on some extraneous considerations. That explains the inordinate delay in pursuing good and valuable projects and programmes so far in the country. One shoud wish god speed and success in the latest efforts of Israeli delegation to India in 2011.

Anna Hazare in Gandhian Mode

Fortunately Indian masses have found a voluntary bachelor and a crusader with robust general knowledge, historical perspective and genuine concern for the common man, villager and the voter (real master) in Indian democracy. He has been fighting corruption at higher levels all along in the governments. He has been successful so far and the latest crusade is to get the strongest bill on the proposed Lokpal enacted through Parliament as the first step towards eradication of corruption in India. As is his wont he has proceeded with his indefinite hunger strike till the Jan Lokpal Bill is passed by the Parliament in  its current session as proposed by his team of civil society.

As a Gandhian in practice he enjoys the support of every section of Indian society. He is simple, straightforward, sincere and honest in his thought and action. No worldly attraction can distract him from his crusade. How sustainable his movement is going to be, how far the nation will stand by him till he achieves the goal and how responsive, sympathetic and accommodating the Government of India is going to be are the factors that would decide the fate of his movement. One can recall the “Total Revolution” pursued by Jayaprakash Narayan in pre-emergency days in early 1970s and the results it led to. A well-thought-out and a systematic blue-print should be ready to replace the existing system for subsequent and substantial improvements in the governance and working of our democratic institutions as dreamt by the freedom fighters. Only then his movement will prove to be a success in the long run. Otherwise the existing establishment will ensure a sudden or gradual annihilation of the movement.

Later on

        Anna's crusde has succeeded 50 per cent only as he himself has claimed on August 28, 2011. Bill to get passed, law to come into force, Lok Pal to start fuctioning, people to start petitioning and remedy to get realised not only in mega scandals but also in day-to-day transactions of the common man in the cutting-edge counters of both government and semi-government agencies will require at least one or two years from now onwards. Let us wish them good luck and god-speed in their endeavours.

UP Babus Loot Rs 3700 crore Rural Health Funds

Is India a veritable paradise for looters and bootleggers? What a shame to the nation, the doctors and their para-medical staff in U.P had indulged in a systematic loot of central funds released under NRHM (National Rural Health Mission, I suppose) to the tune of Rs 3700 crore out of Rs 8600 crore received over six years, as a preliminery report indcates (TOI of July 21, 2011). As usual the district-level officers assisted by their subordinates do involve in such underhand dealing to syphon off the funds placed at their disposal for implementation of various schemes. It is an open secret. Who is there to check such an activity? The higher-ups have no time even to allot the funds after getting proper sanction from concerned authorities and clearance from the finance department. Financial achievement by the end of the year is more important than the physical achievement. The lower functionaries have a field day. Sometimes they do pass on certain percentage of funds as their share even before they are allotted by the HODs and the ministers in some cases. The level of looting has gone to such an extent that the funds from GOI itself ensures a cut/payment from state officials which the Secretary or Joint Secretary of the Department in GOI may be aware of or may not be, one is not sure.

NRHM is not an exception and similarly UP state alone is not at fault. Probably all Missions initiated and monitored by PMO  are subject to this malady invariably. Top to bottom either the functionaries are fully involved or sidelined conveniently if found non-co-operative in the process so that the loot could continue unhindered.

RBI links bank licence to rural reach

It is a good news, no doubt but how far the commercial banks would succeed in running those retail outlets in the form of branches in unbanked villages is a million dollar question in view of the mounting NPAs in rural branches so far due to poor recovery of dues from the borrowers. Well for the present due to pressure from RBI the banks are required to open at least one branch in the villages for every three branches being licensed by RBI as per the new norms. Wish them best of luck.

Otherwise as a well-wisher  I have had been pleading for small bankers in rural areas from among the traditional money lenders only with strict norms and riders so that the overhead costs can be kept very minimum with more scope for better recovery percentages. The RBI nearly followed my thesis in 2006-07 but the same was abandoned due to the discouraging advice given by the so-called advisors to the state government. The top men in the government take advise invariably from the inexperienced and impractical officials with the result no innovative ideas get the support from the policymakers at crucial times even if one has to suffer under the illusion of illustrious achievements. That is the fate of the system prevalent in the country now.

Scientist Vs Humanist

When our former President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalaam paid a visit to an Engineering College in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, on June 26, 2011, he made an observation during his dialogue with the students to the effect that the establishment of Nuclear Reactors could not be stopped due to the possibility of disasters alone. He tried to argue that the air-crafts and other automobiles could hardly be dispensed with simply because that there had been accidents from time to time. Dr. Kalaam’s observation was prima facie based on his thinking as a scientist. Knowing full well that atom bombs are more harmful not only to a few individuals but to a few thousands and millions, one cannot justify their proliferation. Similarly, due to a few accidents in the air or on roads people cannot avoid the use of air-crafts or the manufacture of automobiles, it is true. But the difference between these two sets of activities or operations lies in their sweep and intensity having long term implications to humanity. After all the developed nations like Germany, Japan and the USA are not foolish to abandon the future plan of Nuclear Reactors for power generation and to scale down the existing operation till they are phased out of their life-time in the very near future.

Keeping this point in mind Professor Shivaji Rao, Director of the Department of Environment in the University of Geetham has questioned the wisdom and observation of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalaam. I too agree with the Professor after seeing the untold sufferings and long term implications caused by the reactors of Fukushima recently in Japan, Cherinobyl in Ukraine and Pennsylvania in the USA in the past. While the developed countries can’t afford dangers from such Nuclear Reactors, the same sold by those developed nations to India cannot be expected to avoid such disasters likely to be caused by the callousness of our engineers and scientists.

Power Woes in Tamil Nadu

After the Assembly Elections and the announcement of results, Chennai City is facing two hours of scheduled power-cut and unscheduled voltage fluctuations throughout the day.

• T.N.E.B's outstanding debt in 2005-06 was Rs 9300 crore
• T.N.E.B's debt in 2010-11 is Rs 40,000 crore
• Monthly Power Purchase Bill of TNEB is Rs 2000 crore
• Cost of Proposed Bail-out sought by C.M from the Centre is Rs 40,000 crore 

Vivek Narayanan (Times of India, July 3, 2011) tries to explain the predicament of the new government and the ailing TNEB in terms of additional funds required to finance the purchase of additional stocks of coal for power generation and clearing the arrears of power sellers due from TNEB so far. The only solution seems to lie in the revision of tariffs both for the domestic and industry sectors. And it is not easy to touch the domestic sector and the farming sector at this juncture.

Well, as it is being argued that the position will improve in the year 2012, we are to bear with the current situation for one more year at least, if everything goes well as per the plan unveiled before the new government. Who are responsible for such a sorry state of affairs? Politicians alone?

Fair Sex at the Receiving End

Country: - Australia

National Union of Students' poll of more than 1500 female university students found that 67% of respondents had been through an unwanted sexual experience of some kind, with 31% saying they had had sex when they were, or had felt, unable to consent.

The union’s women’s officer Courtney Sloane said the online survey showed that violence against women was unacceptably high. “Women at university tend to come from middle-class and upper middle-class social groups and the survey shows they have experienced sexual assault, harassment and obsessive behavior at a high level” she told.

Women seem to be at the receiving end even now – whether it is a developed and literate world or an underdeveloped illiterate society. Unless they are physically trained and equipped with self defence methods, this sort of aggressive postures and ill-treatment at the hands of male members in the vicinity and at work places will be a daily occurrence and nobody could help it.

Progress and Pitfalls of Indian Democracy in the last Fifty (or 64) Years

Rule of Law, enshrined in the basic philosophy of liberty, equality and fraternity and to be achieved by the government of the people, for the people and by the people, constitutes democracy in a society. After a few centuries of alien rule and subjugation, India ultimately achieved its hard-earned freedom in 1947 thanks to self-less efforts and sacrifices on the part of freedom fighters from different corners of the nation. 50 years of self-rule by 1997 (64 years by 2011) is not sufficiently a long period in the history of a gigantic sub-continent like India to feel highly jubilant about its achievements or get awe-struck at its failures, compared to other countries like U.S.A., China, U.S.S.R who were sovereign and independent for ages before the exit of English rule from India. All the same it is a fairly and substantial duration of time which can indicate the direction in which it is moving and the mid-course corrections needed to take this nation forward and to provide economic and social justice to each and every citizen atleast by the end of next 50 years.

Independent India has been immensely successful in checking large-scale famines and starvation deaths experienced in British rule from time to time. It has graduated from the nation of a major importer of food-grains to a self-sufficient economy within two decades and is now in a position to not only feed its ever-multiplying population but also export some surplus to other countries (198 million tons produced in 1994-95 and exported 10 million tons in 1995-96). Five-year plans were largely responsible for the level of industrialization it has achieved to the envy of several leading nations – establishment of large-scale and mega industries in steel, mines, petroleum, coal, power, textiles and medium and small scale industries scattered all over the country providing a strong base for the capital and consumer goods. A strong and enlightened scientific community has emerged over a period of time from the universities, I.C.A.R and C.S.I.R establishments. Umpteen number of technological institutes including I.I.Ts of international repute have sprung all over the places.

Comparatively law and order has been maintained peacefully without any major civil war as has been seen in the neighbourhood like Pakistan and Afghanistan recently. Luckily India is still one piece and in fact Sikkim has been added to its territory. And major uprising in places like J&K, Punjab and Assam has been contained and elected governments have been put on the saddle. External aggressions had been tackled satisfactorily. Elections have been held from time to time and the people had the authority to change governments at its will. A small aberration in the form of emergency in mid seventies had passed off quickly.

Freedom and democracy have been preserved, though of course at a heavy cost and slow progress in economic sphere. Probably due to its diversity and vastness of the area no authoritarian rule from any quarters could emerge so far despite several and vulnerable situations on its long journey during this period. Inspite of a few shortcomings the governments have successfully provided opportunities to the underprivileged sections of the populace with reservation in educational institutions and jobs. Many a family from these groups have come up and occupied respectable positions in politics and governments.

Political leaders and governmental authorities had however failed to appreciate the importance of controlled population growth and total literacy of its citizens. They dreamt of big things but forgot to safeguard the fundamentals of human progress with the result we are fast approaching a stage when we may touch a figure of 1000 millions by 2000 A.D (1200 millions by 2011) and overtake China within a decade or two as the most populace nation in the world. Countries who were in shambles and got freedom after us are now turning to be a model for us to follow.

What a shame! It is now all the more difficult to contain these two monsters for one or two decades. India is unable to provide safe drinking water and basic health care to its citizens even after 50 years (now 64 years). One-third of its population lives below the poverty line. Mega projects got attention whereas micro plans suffered a criminal neglect. Unemployment and underemployment of the work-force in both urban and rural areas has been the admitted defeat of successive governments both in the Centre and the states.

Standard of morality and probity in politics, education, business, bureaucracy and judiciary has touched the rock-bottom over these years and the people manning these institutions are no more able to carry conviction with the people. Every activity of theirs is taken with a pinch of salt and viewed with a bit of suspicion. God help our masters in the days to come and it would be nothing short of a miracle if the future governments really achieve any substantial progress in the short-run. Electorates are unable to decide the best rulers and now the things have come to such a pass that the minority governments are forced to rule in the Centre and in a few states. Hung Parliament and Hung Assemblies or coalition governments are going to be the order of the day hereafter.

Inspite of electoral frauds being committed in several places the majority of the voters are really aware whom to vote and how to sustain a well-meaning and clean government for five years at a stretch. Disparities of income and wealth are on the rise despite solemn objectives of all our plans and budgets year after year. Expectations of the people are aroused by false and ridiculous promises in the form of manifestos on the eve of elections which create chaos and confusion for the newly elected governments and the nexus between the politicians, criminals and bureaucrats has created havoc in the economic and social life of the people.

Society is torn into pieces on account of certain ugly factors like language, religion, castes, sectional and vested interests. Agitation, bandhs, strikes, closures, violence etc. are a daily occurrence in some part or the other. Interstate disputes over river-water are an endemic and eternal issue defying solution at all levels. Insurgency and militancy have become the regular phenomenon in certain pockets of the country. Demand for separate statehood has been on the rise in several places. Urbanisation and heavy migration from the rural areas have made life miserable for those already staying there and the people living in slums are leading a life worse than that of animals. When are we going to end all these ills afflicting our society with the present Constitution, Parliamentary form of government, Judicial system and the Bureaucracy is a big and one million dollar question for every Indian citizen to ponder and act quickly and earnestly.

India is a sleeping giant and if this giant is to be shaken up from its slumber, nothing short of an earthquake in the form of a second freedom struggle or peaceful revolution can ensure a return to safe and self rule for one and all – haves and have-nots. India, ‘a very paradise on earth’ (Max Mueller) is to be preserved for our posterity in full and fertile form at any cost. We should strive for the following as desired by the 14-point historic resolution “Agenda for India” adopted by 6-day Special Session of Parliament as concluded on 1st September:

• Calling for probity and accountability in public life

• Achieving universal primary education by 2005 A.D

• Ridding the polity of criminalization,

• Enforcing radical electoral reforms,

• Prudent management of the economy and

• A vigorous national campaign to check population growth

[ This article was written in the year 1997-98]