Thursday, July 30, 2015

Monsoon rains lashing North India


 Unexpectedly monsoon this time has ensured copious rains in many states like Rajasthan, Gujarat (including the dry belt of Kutchh area), Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Orissa, Delhi, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh despite the late arrival. Farmers are happy while the people living in low lying areas are facing the hardship. Well a natural act is not bound to help everyone equally in its benevolence. 

We the Indians have still not learnt the wisdom and will power to harvest the rain water scientifically and economically like some other countries in Asia. What an enormous quantity of water we are losing! 
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Sunday, July 26, 2015

"Make in Chhattisgarh" - not in good shape?


'Make in Chhattisgarh' - not in good shape.

Industrial body ASSOCHAM has severely castigated the investment environment in the state of Chhattisgarh in its report on 'impact of delay in investment implementation in C.G' and has called for urgent steps for clearing impediments thar are driving investors away.

Reasons for serious cost overruns:

Delay in land acquisition,
Lack of clearances( both environment and non-environment),
Fund constraints,
Poor promotor interest,
Unfavourable market conditions,
Dearth of skilled labour,
Poor supply of fuel / feedstock / raw material,
Law and order problems.

151 projects with investment worth almost Rs 3.00 lakh crore have remained nonstarter, which  is about 55 percent of the total outstanding investments worth Rs 5.6 lakh crore attracted by Chhattisgarh from various domestic and foreign sources both in public and private sectors.

It is of worthy mention that TOI on April 8 this year has reported how MOUs signed during Global Investors Meet are nonstarters and 90 percent have failed to take off in Chhattisgarh.

ASSOCHAM national Secretary General D.S.Rawat said, among the projects stuck in Chhattisgarh as of FY 2014-15, electricity sector had maximum share of 52 per cent, followed by manufacturing (38 percent), mining (6 percent), non financial services (3.5 percent), construction and real estate (0.2 percent) and irrigation (0.2 percent).

In severe criticism of government's policy makers, the report says that they have failed to garner a bigger role in exploiting state's true potential. Its contribution to Indian economy has remained at just 1.6 per cent in 2013-14 as it was in 2004-05 as well.

While state government has been claiming to be working overtime for agriculture sector, which employs 75 per cent of state's work force, ASSOCHAM report states that Chhattisgarh paints a grim picture even here as agriculture growth in state had declined from 26 per cent in 2010-11 to less than 2 per cent in 2014-15.

(TOI, Friday, July 24, 2015)
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Monday, July 20, 2015

ISIS suicide attack


An ISIS suicide attack on Eid at a crowded market place in Iraq's eastern Diyala province has killed 115 people and injured 170 persons, including women and children, in one of the deadliest single attacks in the country in the past decade. The mostly Shiite victims were gathered to mark the end of Ramzan, which ended on Friday for Iraqi Shiites and a day earlier for Iraqi Sunny Muslims.

Is it the way to celebrate Eid by the members of the religion?
By killing their own people who belong to and practice the same religion in a different way?
Would Allah the Prophet forgive those who indulge in violence like this?

If they have no love and compassion for their own community people, would they be in a position to befriend and tolerate the people professing Hinduism, Christianity etc.?
Far from it!
Only a group of strong people from Islamic community can teach them brotherhood and tolerance. Or else they would fight among themselves and keep destroying the peace of other communities till they are wiped out of this planet one day.

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Saturday, July 18, 2015

Eid Mubarak Ho




The second largest population-group of India comes from Muslim community. Their popular festival namely Eid ul fitre is being celebrated today (July 18, 2015) all over the world including India.

Human beings have found ways and means to perpetually remember certain events connected with their respective religions and celebrate them annually without any break. They enable them to break from their routine work schedule, spend time & materials, visit the places of their worship, meet their relatives & friends and exchange sweets &  savouries befitting the occasion.

It is is only the fundamentalists of some religions who search for reasons and incite violence & create hatred amongst them. Every true Indian is expected to be cautious with such elements and prove to be worthy citizens of this benevolent country.

As an administrator ( the Commissioner of Sagar Division in Madhya Pradesh State during 1990-92) supervising the work of Collectors in Five Districts, I introduced a novel experiment for the first time in Sagar town by which I formed a team of all religious heads located there including influential political and community leaders to gather at a place designated by the Commissioner and visit the places of their worship like the Hindu temple, the main Mosque, the main Church, the main Gurdwara, the main Jain temple during their major festivals to create good understanding and cooperation among those communities. The idea was to play a positive and direct role by the state authorities in effecting good will among the people of the districts in the Sagar Revenue Division. It worked very well during my tenure. No idea what happened after I left the office.

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Tuesday, July 14, 2015

How does one derive pleasure and happiness?


By possessing sufficient wealth and income ensuring mundane and material comforts for making a decent and wholesome living.

By reducing, discarding or even sacrificing the unwanted and under utilised items and goods badly needed by the underprivileged sections of our society in the neighbourhood.

By utilising the time in such actions and avocations that result in job satisfaction, peace of mind & mental equilibrium.

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Thursday, July 9, 2015


Barefoot by Harsh Mander

"Dignified Alternative" (The Hindu, June 28,2015)

His point is: 'Far from being useless , the MNREGA helps the impoverished and resilient poor earn a decent living'

He refers to the statement of PM Modi on the floor of the Parliament on MNREGA being the living monument of the previous government's failures, condemning millions of impoverished people to survive by 'digging ditches' . He visited a site along with his group of activists to learn the actual condition prevailing in the field. They tried their hands as workers along with other labourers for a few hours and burnt their fingers for the first time in their life. One should appreciate their interest and venture in this regard.

Both the PM and Harsh team were wrong in their assessment and problem solving.

MNREGA was a temporary solution, sought by the UPA  government at the Centre to address the burning issue of unemployment prevailing in rural India, of course formulated and executed mostly on the basis of experience gained in EGS implemented earlier by state government of Maharashtra.

It suffered like any other scheme in the country: output not commensurate to the wages paid, old and disabled too participated like other labourers by giving attendance, village panchayat functionaries using their discretionary powers discriminatingly, effecting late payment etc, misuse of funds for ineligible expenses etc.

Actually speaking the allotment could have been used better for the development of uncultivable lands or on farming operations of land owners, after exhausting the implementation of community works like nistari tanks, kutchha approach roads, plantation or its maintenance etc. productively and solving the shortage of labour force in the countryside as was being badly felt and articulated with no results till recently unfortunately.

The same PM and his government is forced to continue the exercise and increase the number of working days from 100 to 150 days, with no alternative perhaps, as argued by Harsh Mander. If deprivation or impoverishment is to be met, then MNREGA is no solution. Some other social welfare measure would be the apt solution.

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