Sunday, November 25, 2012

Life's Inspiration

On November 22, 2012, I happened to see the exhibition of 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore on wheels arranged by Indian Railways that was stationed for three days in Chennai Central Railway Station for the public view. A great effort in memory of the great legend of India!

His was a saga of personal losses on the family life-front but the Guru lived a long life and guided the country for a few decades apart from establishing a world-renowned institution "Santhi Nikethan". He tried to live with and enjoy 'Nature' from close quarters. Hence a number of poems linking nature with the Almighty.

After leaving the platform (No. 11) my mind was engrossed with the Tagore days and asking myself:

"Where did I come from and what for ?
 Where do I go from here now in this life?"

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

US Air Force Fails to Protect the Fair Sex


The latest news from Washington is disheartening and demoralizing. It is reported that some 50 women-trainees have been raped by the men officers in charge of training at the training Academy of US Air Force in Lakeland of Texas State. About 23 officials have been dismissed from service due to this misconduct and criminal activity. Out of this lot one person named Louis Walker seems to have raped as many as 35 women for which he has been sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment, as indicated by the Training-in-charge General Edward Rice who conducted the enquiry into this affair.

Where is the human being proceeding to? A disciplined and organized force is committing such an inhuman activity?

Sex feeling enhanced by the current avalanche of literature and video shows on sex both in print, digital and website is playing a prominent role in shaping the unfortunate behavior of male adults. Any remedy? Society and the leaders are to take a note of this and find immediate and practical solution to this malady.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Residential Apartments in Multi-storeyed Buildings

A two-storey building collapsed in Triplicane area of Chennai city on October 3, 2012 resulting in the death of two persons. Despite the complaint of the tenants the owners failed to repair the building. It is reportedly a 50 year-old building. I have the feeling that it is just a starting point and such a calamity is likely to recur routinely in every major city like Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata where such old apartments are in plenty. A drive through those cities will reveal such a possibility in the near future. Unless a serious note is taken of these occurrences and a massive renovation and rebuilding of those old apartments is taken up in a systematic way many more lives are likely to be lost unfortunately. Who is to do this?

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Gandhi Jayanthi

Today is 143rd Birth anniversary of Mohandas.K.Gandhi, the popular and powerful Mahatma of Indian politics. I saw the movie 'Gandhi' today on a local T.V channel in Chennai made on his life by Richard Attenborough. It is certainly a thought-provoking and inspiring life-story of a leader adored and venerated by millions of people not only in India but overseas as well. Two facts of his life were little twisted in the film: One- He sacrificed costly dress material and upper garment altogether near Madurai in South India during his study tour of the country but it was not depicted so in the film: Two- The title 'Mahatma' was given by Poet Rabindranath Tagore but in the film it was shown as given by Jawaharlal Nehru.

The great leader met with a violent death although he was a messiah of non-violence and lived & preached truth and non-violence throughout his life. It is a paradox of human life.

He died a disappointed and broken man with India being partitioned and people put to lot of hardships. He and his followers fought for one and united India accommodating all religions and communities. His social reforms and economic thoughts were not totally approved by his political followers in Congress Party after independence in 1947. Communal harmony and national allegiance are not strictly adhered to and ensured by certain groups of people in India even today.

As an administrator I used to celebrate the Gandhi Jayanthi wherever possible while in service - as Sub Divisional Officer, as Collector, as Divisional Commissioner, as Secretary to the government or Managing Director of a Corporation / Board / Society. Bur after retirement from active service I am finding difficult to repeat the same activity nowadays. For today (October 2, 2012) esp. I tried at four places:- 1) South Venganallur Panchayat in Rajapalayam Panchayat Union in Virudhunagar district, 2) Kisan Vikas Kendra at Krishnagiri district. 3) A village near Avadi in Tiruvallur District. 4) Stanley Medical College Hospital in Chennai. But the authorities concerned were not very enthusiastic about the idea and naturally some action programme on the occasion.

We are more formal these days in laying wreaths on the Samadhi of Gandhiji at Rajghat in New Delhi.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Teacher & his tuition

Students of the Government Higher Secondary School, Belukurichy near Namakkal in TamilNadu resorted to a flash protest by boycotting classes on Monday, September 10, 2012 against a physics teacher who was not taking classes properly and was partial to those attending tuition with him.

Hey Ram! What sort of teachers are serving the student community these days. Hence a poem on such teachers written by the author of this blog which reads as follows:




Teacher


Sorry for expecting a teacher to be a guru

Standards are falling everywhere you see

Modern gurus are paid not less by the way

Modern & hard work can’t they teach, I say

Guru is supposed to be a good example but

Gurukul is seen nowhere now in our midst.



Education has truly become a paying business

Elite’s progeny expend a lot in such enterprise

Teachers are no doubt exploited in some places

Teachers at times teach less & practice politics

Students are now at their mercy for good marks

Students doubtless strain a lot for better results.



Impartial and motivated service is difficult to find

Inimical and irritating is the system for admission

Private coaching and tuition is a real phenomenon

Parental agony & ward’s anxiety end up in tyranny

How to set right and bring in discipline and decency

How to attract the best in the fraternity for teaching



Interchange of teachers & masters for certain tasks

Interaction of the current with the former almanac

Certainly would this improve their lot in the system

Cautiously could one effect the reform for the better

Teachers are in a different category & unlike others

Teachers are to mould the future generation as ever.



Let the State announce an education policy quickly

Let different sectors of education be defined clearly

Let the administrators learn a lesson from the past

Let the educationists be bold in their stand and test

Let the educational institutions be temples of learning

Let the businessmen make it not the means of earning.



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

‘Guru’ refers to a principled and spiritual teacher whereas ‘gurukul’ refers to a residential school in a traditional set up in ancient India.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Procurement Price Up as Production Falls

Paddy was raised in about 13500 acres only as against the total cultivated area of 90000 acres under paddy due to non-release of water from Lower Bhavani Project dam (although promised to do so from August 15) in the ayacut of Tadapalli-Arakankottai canals forcing the traders from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh to buy paddy at a price higher than the official procurement price. In a way it helps the farmers to sell at their doorsteps but the state as a whole stands to lose in terms of normal production this year due to drought condition.

Paddy production is bound to decline in such circumstances and the state may be forced to import rice from other countries very soon, thanks to our inadequate planning, nature’s and the neighbor’s cooperation in terms of water and irrigation rights.

 

Friday, August 31, 2012

Going to town - Chinese Experience


Over half of China's people now live in urban areas

For a nation whose culture and society have been shaped over millennia by its rice-farming traditions, and whose ruling party rose to power in 1949 by mobilizing its traditional peasantry, China has just passed a remarkable milestone: its city-dwellers now outnumber its rural residents. New data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that of China’s 1.35 billion people, 51.3% lived in urban areas at the end of 2011. In 1980 less than a fifth of China’s population lived in cities, a smaller proportion than in India. What a transformation?

Over the next ten years the government remained wary of free movement, even as it made its peace with free enterprise. Touting a policy of “leaving the land but not the villages, entering the factories but not cities”, it sought industrialization without urbanization, only to discover it could not have one without the other. Even now, its ratio of city-dwellers is, if anything, low for an economy at its stage of development. America reached the 50% mark before 1920. Britain passed it in the 19th century. Go further back, however, and China’s cities dazzled the world. It is likely that one thousand years ago, the Song Dynasty capital of Kaifeng was the world’s most populous city. Marco Polo, who visited China in the 13th century, claimed that Hangzhou was “the most splendid city in the world” with 13,000 bridges—although later estimates suggest the true number was 347. In other words it could mean the report was either based on hearsay or wild guess. How Kaifeng could be the most splendid city unless the writer-traveler had personally seen at least a dozen of similar cities in the world. It could be an exaggerated statement on seeing a tolerably well built and populated city unlike the ones he had seen earlier to this.

The point to be noted here is the fact that China is growing faster on the same lines than other players on the globe and mesmerizing one and all undoubtedly.

A matter of deep satisfaction is that the state of Tamil Nadu has achieved 51% urban population as per 2011 Census. Urbanisation has its own disadvantages in Indian context at the moment.

(Jan 18th 2012, 15:09 by The Economist online)

Jubilee Celebration of Madras University Library


We are glad to know that the central library of Madras University is celebrating its jubilee after serving the academic community and others for more than 100 years of its existence. With a good collection of books and journals it is a fertile ground for increase in productivity of mind and intellectual property to those who seek after knowledge and skill.

The undersigned who took his Masters in Economics in the year 1970 from the University of Madras pursued his advanced study in a couple of subjects needed for the competitive exams in UPSC. Besides others, Madras University Library provided the solid base for preparations that enabled him to compete successfully both in the written as well as personal interview. For about three months in the beginning of the calendar year 1970, I was the first one to enter the library at 8.00 AM and the last one to leave it in the evening at 8.00 PM. Old records can prove this point if necessary.

Kudos for its service to the literary and scientific world and wish all success on its march to another centenary year.



Thursday, August 23, 2012

Shortage of man-power in Sub-stations of T.N.E.B

M.Mark Nelson reports in Dinamani (Thursday, August 23, 2012) that about 800 sub-stations from T.N.Electricity Production and Distribution Company are being transfered to the T.N.Power Holding Company with 80 % shortage of man-power in them already. The E.B engineers are apprehensive of major disruption and deterioration in power supply to the consumers in the state of Tamil Nadu in the days to come.

Who is to look into this aspect and do the needful without any loss of time? Power sector beng so important Herculian efforts are literally needed to maintain the supply. Inadequate production coupled with faulty distribution, transmission losses and thefts, one is sure to confront a very bad situation in the state soon. 

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Social Justice by Supreme Court

Slur on Indian Governance:

The Supreme Court of India on Friday (August 3, 2012) ended the age-old indifference and neglect of these hapless widows by asking the Uttar Pradesh government and Mathura authorities to provide proper food, medical facility and clean toilets at four government-run shelter homes at Vrindavan, which house more than 1700 women.

The author had witnessed the scene personally some seven years ago. It is really inhuman to watch and keep quiet. After all the state government and its agencies could have taken the steps ordered by the Court now. Is it the fate of Indian citizens to keep waiting for the directions to agencies from the court for every activity of theirs? As a former civil servant I feel ashamed of having been forced to live in such a situation.

Another judgment passed on the same date was in regard to a hapless citizen named Azam in Chhattisgarh State who has been awarded a compensation of Rs 5 lakhs for the inhuman treatment meted out to him by police men. The government has been asked to recover the sum from those very police men who forced the victim to pose for a photograph with a placard on his chest declaring himself to be a thief, fraud, cheat and rascal and getting the same published. The protectors were at work as usual. Who is to check these uniformed devils!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Water Bodies in Doldrums


The lake in Ooty, a major tourist attraction, now emits a foul odour , thanks to untreated sewage getting into it, now partly covered with water hyacinths. Garbage is also dumped on its bund. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has made a study according to which the Ooty lake is one of the most polluted water bodies in the state. The study indicates that the presence of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in the Ooty lake has exceeded prescribed standards, at 11 milligram per litre (mg/l) as against the tolerance limit of 3 mg/l. Similarly data analysis of the water bodies in Poondi, Porur and Red Hills which serve as sources of drinking water supply to Chennai city reveal that they too are contaminated. The tests show the presence of coliform bacteria in samples of untreated water.

I am forced to put one question to the Board and get the names of at least some lakes and rivers in the state which are not polluted at all. One is indeed pained to see the status of rivers and lakes in the state. It seems to be nobody’s concern and everybody adjusts to such a situation. When are we going to use our resources and ensure planning for proper maintenance and beautification of lakes and rivers as we find in developed countries?

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Fire accident in Tamil Nadu Express

32 deaths in fire accident two days ago on bogie No.S-11 of Tamil Nadu Express near Nellore station on the way to Chennai in the early morning at 4-15 A.M created a sense of fear and anger against the railway establishment. Cause of fire is reported to be short-circuit in electrical installation inside the bogie.

As a frequent traveler in trains I was only wondering as to how we were lucky so far we haven’t had such accidents frequently in the past. The callousness and indifference exhibited by the railway staff needs several volumes to write about. What the hell they are doing for the pay and perks they derive from the railways department? Dereliction of duty to the core? No supervision, no inspection whatsoever……….?

Monday, July 23, 2012

FDI in Retail Trade

The Chief Economic Advisor to Govt. of India Mr Kaushik Basu who was in Kolkata during the first week-end of July, 2012 sought to advise the Chief minister of West Bengal Ms Mamta Bannerji that she should start supporting the move of the Union Government in allowing the FDI in retail trade in India so that the farmers and the consumers of this country could benefit without further delay. He was hopeful of convincing her on this count provided she was briefed properly by an expert.

Probably there is truth in what he says like any other economist. Both the farmers and the consumers have been at the receiving end till now. No amount of good-will and policy prescriptions could bring cheers for them. The biggest worry at the FDI is that lakhs of retailers engaged in retail business would lose their livelihood. The left parties are more vocal on this. Well, as an economist and an administrator I too have been watching the situation for quite some time now and I am pretty sure that the government could never succeed in ensuring huge investments in the procuring, processing and marketing of perishable goods and domestic appliances and other grocery items. It is is only the multinationals that could afford to undertake such an activity on a massive scale throughout the length and breadth of this nation.

It is again a matter of introspection as to how long one could resist the modernization of economic forces and the benefit of large scale operations. So it is better to be late than never and permit the FDI with some necessary riders and conditions to be beneficial to all the players in the trade. One should rightly remember how the computerization was opposed by the trade unions and others in the beginning. But now the situation is such that one can hardly afford the absence of computers and IT applications in modern India. The Monopoly of any sort by multinationals should however be taken care of and dealt with very cautiously and forcefully.

Chequered Life of Indian Cricket

After the grand victory in the World Cup last year, the Indian cricket team rode like the giant elephant for a while but soon came its downward march.

It had a humiliating defeat - a total wash-out on the soil of Australia. A little later the team went to U.K and met with a similar fate.

It seems the Indian team fights shy of establishing its supremacy in cricket consistently against these white-skinned players on their soil.  

Friday, April 6, 2012

Infrastructure for Marketing

State Government of Tamil Nadu can take pride that it had created a large marketing complex for  the whole-sale trade in vegetables, fruits and flowers in Koyambedu, Chennai sometime back and it is reported to be the the biggest trade centre for perishables in the whole of Asia. We, the Indians, are good at creating infrastructures and utilities by spending huge sums of money but we are the poorest in thinking and action for maintaining such facilities. One such classic example is the Koyambedu market complex. If one happens to visit this complex anytime of the day or night you will see the most hopeless management at work as far as its sanitation and up-keep are concerned. Such a hopeless condition is strengthened by anti-social elements roaming and induging in pick-pocketing, stealing the belongings of the customers and eave-teasing of women by the drunken hooligans. Security is there for name-sake and 22 exits on all sides of the market are unmanageable by any standards. It seems to be the best example of bad management of a public utility in the State of Tamil Nadu.

Who is to correct this situation? Some expert from the World Bank?

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Lokpal Needed? In What Form?

Mr.Salman Khurshid, the Union Minister for Law & Justice, says "that people in government can never be honest and fair is hardly the foundation on which democracy can be sustained .... obsessive suspicion of elected representatives is the beginning of the end of democracy and freedom". I think he has got a point in what he says. But the working of Indian parliamentary democracy so far hasn't gained the confidence of the majority in our society although they have been unable to express their anger and annoyance other than through elections once in five years with clear and sometimes unclear verdicts.

Anna Hazare's movement attracted the mobs for a while hoping for a better and quicker solutions to their day-to-day worries and unsatisfactory working of the elected governments and their permanent executives both at the apex level and lower levels. Looking to the history and the complexity of political set-up and party-functioning in the country at the moment the Lokpal Bill is unlikely to get passed soon and even if passed it will remain far from satisfactory from the expectations of Team Anna.

Solution however lies in a referendum through the next General Elections to the Lok Sabha on this subject. Well, otherwise the issue of corruption can be effectively tackled by the existing laws of the land provided the judiciary acts tough and the parties have a political will to achieve the desired goal.