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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.