Super Power or Super Hype

While our cities are broken and untidy we can see some glimmer of development on a couple of well done streets, up market localities and swanky malls. These pockets of relative excellence make believe the city dwellers that one day we will be a developed country. At least a façade we create in our mind and this is what our politicians keep telling us, India will be the next super power, investors around the world are going gag about our growth story and all is good with our politics and economic policies. India is definitely shining for our politicians; we can have a look at their asset declarations with the election commission. Their assets are growing.

All the India shining story becomes desperation once we move out of the cities into the rural settings, this is where 70% of the country lives. It is India shaming in these unattended parts of the country. I keep going back to my village often and return as quickly discouraged.

Most of our villages are stuck in a time capsule. They cannot progress since they are invisible to the government. Dilapidated school buildings, dis-interested and de-motivated populace looking for government succor for existence and nothing called Infrastructure in these villages. Most elections are about how our politicians will bring panchayat raj, gram swaraj etc to villages and create a utopian land where our farmers will be producing lots of food with lots of cattle and making lot of money. This is one more façade they create in our minds. There is abject poverty in our villages and it is far from utopian images we have in our minds. Only film makers and politicians manage to create an image otherwise.

We should ask our bureaucrats and ministers to spend time in our villages; they will suffer from malaria, diarrhea and exhaustion due to lack of clean drinking water, electricity and flies.

So when our TV anchors and media talk about stock market high and dips, FDI and other fancy stuff let us give a thought to our fellow citizens in villages nothing of this is going to impact them or at least has till now. They need basics roads, electricity and their children should go to school. There is no plan on how we will get kids from villages to cities and industries to make them productive. A lot of youth and middle age men and women are wasting their productive years in our villages, desperate and disappointed.

Let us stop the hype about being a super power and get our basics right, create a civilised existence for ourselves.

Revamp the Railways

Ever try to book a train ticket with Indian Railways, go to a counter or on the internet I promise it will be a painful experience. Being the monopoly Railways treat passengers with contempt. There is nothing like customer service and no concern for passenger’s travails. At their counters there will be long winding queues with passengers waiting patiently for their turn. All of them carry a piece of paper containing their travel information, the officer on the other side who is supposed to guide and advise the passengers will behave as if he is doing a favor by issuing a ticket.

Even more frustrating will be booking a ticket online, the online portal is unresponsive and excruciatingly slow. I am sure Railways management is aware of this but not doing enough to upgrade the hardware and software, why the delay no one knows. There are allegations that the online system is rigged to favor agents. This should be investigated.

All in all for the Railways passengers go to it and seek service so go and take a hike this is the quality of service I will give you is the attitude.
Having said that there is no doubt IR operates a complex network carrying over 30 million passengers and 2.8 million tons of freight daily. This institution literally carries India and does a phenomenal job with the available resources and constraints. But should that be the reason for lack of customer care and safety focus by the Railways.

The recent accident at Nellore which consumed 50 lives is a case in point, such incidents happen quiet frequently and we wait for the next one to happen. There is a real need to look at the passenger safety by the Railways. It is almost like it is ok for an accident to happen we get away with an ex-gratia payment of 5 lakh per victim.
Recently Jairam Ramesh said that Indian Railways is the largest open toilet in the world, this is known for ever, what is the Railways doing about it. They still want 5 years to make all the passenger compartments fitted with bio-degradable toilets. When will they stop carrying passengers like cattle?

IR may be providing the most economical fares in the world per/km of travel, we are a poor country etc but that cannot be a reason for the lack of safety, hygiene and customer service.

The enormous assets possessed by IR should be put to good use, capital should be raised using these resources and passenger amenities and safety improved. A large and prospering Indian middle class will pay higher charges for a decent service.
Finally a general compartment should not mean making passengers seat on wooden benches. IR should move on from their age old British definitions and provide more comfortable facilities for all passengers.

IR should be revamped to reflect a modern and prospering India not like a beaten up and depressing institution.

Gutka and Public health

This is the definition of Gutka in Wikipedia -
“Gutka is a preparation of crushed areca nut (also called betel nut), tobacco, catechu, paraffin, slaked lime and sweet or savory flavorings. It is manufactured in India and exported to a few other countries. A mild stimulant, it is sold across India in small, individual-sized packets that cost between 2 and 10 rupees per packet. It is consumed much like chewing tobacco, and like chewing tobacco, it is considered responsible for oral cancer and other severe negative health effects “

One of the most disgusting public sights in India is spitting after having munched Gutka. It is a serious public health issue for both the consumer and the general public. Governments occasionally ban these products and revoke due to the industry pressure. Maharashtra is doing it for the second time. Four other states have already banned. As usual enforcement is lax and there is a thriving black market in those states. Gutka is consumed mostly by the lower income bracket and one can imagine the health care burden on the poor family if the earning member is cancer inflicted.

Unfortunately chewing Gutka and Pan masala is addictive and people addicted to it are ready to pay a premium. In the past some of colleagues who stay abroad have asked me to carry Gutka along, so much so it is available for sale in the “Indian stores” in the US and may be in Europe too.

Public health statistics are scary – one report states that 8 out of 10 oral cancer cases are related to Gutka consumption. This is a huge health care cost for a poor country like India with no public health infrastructure to speak of. It is a question of Tax revenues vs Health care costs and there is no doubt long term costs due health care are significantly more than the tax bills.

There are no simple measures but i guess a concerted public health campaign and a nationwide ban on Gutka production in the country are some measures one can think of. Such steps will face fierce resistance since state governments depend heavily on Alcohol, Pan masala and Gutka revenues for filling their coffers.
In the US concerted public health campaigns and litigations against cigarette companies have reduced consumption of cigarettes significantly over the past 3 decades and there is a significant drop in deaths related to smoking says a report “Utah has the lowest smoking rate at 10%, and California is second with a rate just below 13%, according to CDC figures. Since 1986, adult smoking in California has dropped by about 40% and, as a result, lung cancer rates in the state have been declining four times faster than in the rest of the country “

The likes of Pan parag and 100 other Gutka manufactures in the country are exploiting a poor and vulnerable populace to mint money and get away with murder. Government is a mute spectator in this carnage on public health.

Baneful bore wells

Baby Mahi has died after falling into a 70 feet open bore and after fighting for life for over 80 hours in the dark depths underneath. A precious life is nipped in the bud. Many such incidents happen across the country and most of them are not even reported. There are such many accidents involving school buses where children are injured or dead. The administration and the society mourn for the event and move on.

Coming to the bore wells, it is a menace in India. People all over the country are busy digging bore wells either for drinking water or agricultural purposes. No one knows the count, it must be in lakhs, and they are the modern day mines consuming children, spoiling the ground water table and ecology of the region.

While there are regulations for digging a bore well it is pretty easy to work around the regulations, bribe the civic officials and go about digging the well.

Think about it, the average depth of a bore well for striking ground water in the city of Hyderabad is > 700 ft. I am sure a significant number of them would not have struck water and would have been left open. Imagine the danger we are subjecting our innocent children to. Civic administration and civil society are jointly responsible for this irresponsible behavior.

Need a President

There were questions raised when Pratibha Singh Patil was picked up from nowhere by Sonia Gandhi and made the President of India. Benefit of doubt was given since she will be the first women president of India etc.

The incumbent is completing an almost inconsequential term, she was hardly visible on the national scene and struggled to meet the standards of the office. Coming soon after the active APJ Abdul Kalam, Pratibha found it hard to match the speed, intellectual sharpness and charisma of Kalam.

Beyond the above the president's office was in the news for the wrong reasons, 230 odd crores spent on foreign visits ( was something achieved? FDI etc ? ). This is a lot of money for a country like India. If we go by the planning commission standards of INR 36/day lot of folks can live for a long time on 231 crores. Also the Pune house for president, frequent trips to Pune etc brought down the image of the president.

Pratibha singh patil had an opportunity as the first women president of the country to talk about women's rights, female foeticide, 30% reservation for women in the legislatures etc. She did not set the agenda and missed an opportunity to be the voice for Indian Women.

With Sh.Pranab Mukherji leading the pack in the race to the Raisina we can hope to see an elevation in the role. A man of great integrity and intellect he is indeed the right choice to restore dignity to the office of the president. While he is congressman he will not be a push over on policy issues and will apply his mind. Ruling dispensations better be wary of Pranab the president.

Where do they get the money

Bye-elections are on and the political scene in Andhra Pradesh is muddy. The major parties are outspending each other. As per EC data police have rounded off 41crores in this bye-elections alone, in the last state general elections they managed to catch just 31 crores. The data is telling, money that is being spent to win these “prestigious” elections is mind boggling.

No one sensible will believe the declarations of the candidates on the money they are spending, political parties and candidates take the EC for a ride. EC obviously does not have the wherewithal to monitor and catch the culprits. So in AP it is all “ benami” money that is spent, we have liquor shops with “benami” ownership, properties that are “benami”. No one knows who is the owner of the money, liquor shop and properties in AP. It has become a “benami” state earning lots of “badnaam” for the blatant corruption that is being seen in public life.

There is no impact of inflation, interest rate hike or the general economic slowdown on these elections, in fact the way money is being spent one could mistake that we are having an economic boom.

We need to fix the electoral system immediately to stop this illegal money flowing into the system during the elections, in some way it impacts the credibility of the democratic process. This money is an entry barrier for good candidates to get elected to the house.

Leaving this side show, the common man who is the real show is struggling to make a living, investors have stopped coming to the state leading to reduction in employment opportunities, there is a general sluggishness in governance with no active decision making. But the government cares a hoot and our leaders are busy shedding crocodile tears to the public.

Enemies of state

Gali Janardhan Reddy the infamous marauder of mines has exploited bureaucrats and politicians to run his illegal mining empire. He has now extended his baneful influence towards the judiciary; he is accused of bribing a judge to get his bail. The “bail deal” apparently is 60 crores. It is now an allegation but nothing to be surprised if it turns out to be a fact. The happenings in the state are a reflection of the worst kind of corruption that has ever happened in independent India.

The revelations that are coming out due to the arrest of Gali, Jagan Mohan Reddy, B.P. Acharya, Nimmagadda Prasad and others will shock the hell out of the common man. People in power have played with and around the laws to rob the state and citizen out of its wealth. To name a few Obulapuram, Emmar, Vanpic, Ramky, Brahmani steels scams run into deals worth thousands of crores. It used be said that YSR ran the state with an iron hand and every one had to fall in line to his diktats, the unraveling has started, the underhand dealings are coming out in the open.

Jagan Mohan Reddy has for over a year de-stabilized the state politics with his aggressive people contact program “Odarpu Yatra”, his message was that the government is anti-people and his represents people aspirations. It turns out that it is all about himself. There have been suspicions all through about he becoming an billionaire overnight, the pieces are falling in place now on how he made money, quid pro quo, intangible benefits etc. Suresh Kalmadi and others are smaller cheats before Jagan and team. This team has unbounded desire to be in power and rob the state and its people.

Brahmani steels, Vanpic and Lepakshi knowledge hub and many other SEZ allocations turn out to be land grabbing exercises than for any economic activities. The poor and vulnerable have been thrown out in the garb of setting industries which never materialized. The noose has tightened and hopefully the culprits will be brought to justice.

While we talk about the state there seems to be a bigger scam taking shape at the center “coal gate”. The Prime Minister can be investigated in this. He is Mr. Clean and a man of great integrity, all of us will vouch for that but sir the country is slipping into a laissez-faire democracy under your watchful eyes. All the major scams are happening in congress ruled states.

Dark clouds are looming on our economic horizon, the ongoing economic scams have a big role to play in the slowing down of foreign investments.