Right to Education
The RTE act has finally seen its day, it is an important step in achieving the objective of Universal education in the country. However like all other acts it will suffer from implementation issues on the ground.
1) How do we ensure that every child between 6-14 yrs goes to the nearby Govt or Private school. What is the mechanism by which we prod parents to send their children to school. In a lot of cases children above 8 yrs are also bread earners in the family. How will the family be fed are some of the issues.
2) Will the private institutions co-operate in reserving 25% seats for this category of students. I guess they hate to see these students in their premises. Private schools in India have become elitist over the years and I do not see them co-opting in this social development initiative. They will raise a whole lot of issues in terms of dilution of standards, rising costs of education, demand free hand in fixing fees in lieu of co-opting for this program etc.
Despite all the hurdles it is one social development program that needs complete attention of the district level administration in the country, schools should be audited on enrolment numbers from this year. They also should be audited on rejections and the reasons, this is more applicable to the private institutions. Schools should be penalized for unreasonable rejections and de-recognized for serial non-compliance.
Communities, states or other categories of the society which are lagging behind in literacy should be focus groups for this initiative, Bihar and UP are two states where this act should be implemented in full zeal. There needs to be country wide campaign at district and village levels bringing awareness about this program. I am sure at this time the programs objectives and implementation modalities are not known to many. This has been a bane in this country, useful laws are enacted but not enough follow up is there on implementation.
There should be an effective collaboration between the states, NGOs and other social bodies to ensure success of this program. Let us hope that this act will be talked about as the most successful social transformation initiative that has ever been rolled out in this country since independence.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Riots and Political will
After more than a decade Hyderabad woke up to communal rites. Parts of the city are still under curfew. The usual suspects MIM and activists of BJP are under scanner.
There are accusations flying around on who and what is the trigger, MIMs unusual exuberance in celebrating Milad Nabi this year apparently upset the right wing parties and of course there is an underlying anger against AP Govt pushing for reservations in Jobs and educational institutions for the Muslim minority of the state.
While the recent occurrence can be considered a one off instance since it has happened after a long time there are some lessons the Govt has to learn and fix them to ensure this doesn’t repeat.
The MIM pretty much controls the old city and their writ runs without resistance. The Owaisi family runs their political organization with an iron hand and do not brook any political resistance or allow space for alternative parties to represent the aspirations of the minority constituency. In the last election they manhandled the opposition candidate and made his life difficult in running the campaign.
While the sky line of Hyderabad overall has changed over the years Old city remains unattended to. Development has taken a back seat due to interference by the political elements in administration. The Naidu administration was successful to some extent in carrying out some development activities and tried to break the strangle hold of MIM but the Congress (YSR and the current CM) are playing into the hands of the MIM and are scarred of taking any action against the Old city hoodlums.
MIM hardly cares for the well being of their constituents. They are representing the Old city and the nearby areas for decades but have nothing to show in terms of their record on development.
On the other side of the spectrum are the VHP and the other right wingers who look for an opportunity to escalate tensions on one reason or other.
It is a total failure of the state government in not anticipating trouble and showing weak knees in controlling the situation once the riots have broken out. There is a need for a strong political will in taking administration to the old city and bringing in development work to the area. Ensure that the boy and girl child of the old city goes to school and get them out of the vicious cycle of poverty and violence.
There are accusations flying around on who and what is the trigger, MIMs unusual exuberance in celebrating Milad Nabi this year apparently upset the right wing parties and of course there is an underlying anger against AP Govt pushing for reservations in Jobs and educational institutions for the Muslim minority of the state.
While the recent occurrence can be considered a one off instance since it has happened after a long time there are some lessons the Govt has to learn and fix them to ensure this doesn’t repeat.
The MIM pretty much controls the old city and their writ runs without resistance. The Owaisi family runs their political organization with an iron hand and do not brook any political resistance or allow space for alternative parties to represent the aspirations of the minority constituency. In the last election they manhandled the opposition candidate and made his life difficult in running the campaign.
While the sky line of Hyderabad overall has changed over the years Old city remains unattended to. Development has taken a back seat due to interference by the political elements in administration. The Naidu administration was successful to some extent in carrying out some development activities and tried to break the strangle hold of MIM but the Congress (YSR and the current CM) are playing into the hands of the MIM and are scarred of taking any action against the Old city hoodlums.
MIM hardly cares for the well being of their constituents. They are representing the Old city and the nearby areas for decades but have nothing to show in terms of their record on development.
On the other side of the spectrum are the VHP and the other right wingers who look for an opportunity to escalate tensions on one reason or other.
It is a total failure of the state government in not anticipating trouble and showing weak knees in controlling the situation once the riots have broken out. There is a need for a strong political will in taking administration to the old city and bringing in development work to the area. Ensure that the boy and girl child of the old city goes to school and get them out of the vicious cycle of poverty and violence.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
A step in the right direction
The much awaited 33% reservation for women in the parliament is a welcome step in India’s effort to empower and emancipate women in the country.
It is heartening to see the ruling congress and the main opposition BJP coming together to support the bill in both the upper and lower houses of the parliament. There are discordant notes with the OBC leaders and minority parties making noise about reservation for women in their communities. This noise will not be a show stopper in passing the bill. Leaders like Lalu Yadav and Deve Gowda are the worst type of politicians and should be condemned to obscurity for their petty and narrow politics.
We need to wait and see for 2014 when the 33% reservation comes into effect, about 160+ women parliamentarians would be entering the hallowed halls of the parliament, hopefully bringing in the dignity that is lacking today.
As with any law there will be challenges in implementing the law in spirit since our scheming politicians will prop up their wives, relatives and children to fight the elections. In that sense the law will not be completely democratic since money is still required to fight elections, and it is the current gang of politicos who has all that. There will be a lot of remote control in action in the parliament.
It is up to the women parliamentarians to come into their own and bring out issues that are important for their ilk. Data shows Indian women lagging on all fronts with respect to education, health, employment etc. I guess Africa is the only other continent that fares worse.
It is a step in the right direction though much delayed.
It is heartening to see the ruling congress and the main opposition BJP coming together to support the bill in both the upper and lower houses of the parliament. There are discordant notes with the OBC leaders and minority parties making noise about reservation for women in their communities. This noise will not be a show stopper in passing the bill. Leaders like Lalu Yadav and Deve Gowda are the worst type of politicians and should be condemned to obscurity for their petty and narrow politics.
We need to wait and see for 2014 when the 33% reservation comes into effect, about 160+ women parliamentarians would be entering the hallowed halls of the parliament, hopefully bringing in the dignity that is lacking today.
As with any law there will be challenges in implementing the law in spirit since our scheming politicians will prop up their wives, relatives and children to fight the elections. In that sense the law will not be completely democratic since money is still required to fight elections, and it is the current gang of politicos who has all that. There will be a lot of remote control in action in the parliament.
It is up to the women parliamentarians to come into their own and bring out issues that are important for their ilk. Data shows Indian women lagging on all fronts with respect to education, health, employment etc. I guess Africa is the only other continent that fares worse.
It is a step in the right direction though much delayed.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Till it hits home
A close relative of mine suffered brain hemorrhage due to hypertension and was in a critical condition for over three weeks. The experience of managing the whole situation was a revelation on the rising costs of health care in the country and how ill equipped Govt clinics are to attend to critical cases.
To the credit of the government the “108” ambulance service responded on time and admitted the patient to the nearest multi specialty private clinic which saved his life.
The following 3 weeks are a lesson on the rising healthcare costs (clinic, doctor’s consultation and medicines) in this country (for a poor country like India).
I was sitting outside the critical care unit one night and a security guard passed by and commented “ sir you are able to provide good care for this patient, what about a poor man like me, I guess folks like us have to die in such situations”. It was a moving and sad moment.
Understaffed and ill equipped government clinics along are a bane for the citizen, coupled with lack of a serious debate by the central and state governments on the health care needs of the citizens and policies to address it.
If the most advanced nation on , US with such advanced medical care is struggling to put together a bill that addresses the health care needs of its citizen’s India is nowhere in terms of facing the challenge of addressing the health care needs of its citizens.
Various departments of the government give different statistics on the poverty levels of the country, assuming an average of 40-50% of the population that works out to 400-500 Million not having access to good (read Private) health care in the country. I guess Death is the only result for a lot of Indians who do not have access to immediate and necessary medical care in critical conditions.
To the credit of the government the “108” ambulance service responded on time and admitted the patient to the nearest multi specialty private clinic which saved his life.
The following 3 weeks are a lesson on the rising healthcare costs (clinic, doctor’s consultation and medicines) in this country (for a poor country like India).
I was sitting outside the critical care unit one night and a security guard passed by and commented “ sir you are able to provide good care for this patient, what about a poor man like me, I guess folks like us have to die in such situations”. It was a moving and sad moment.
Understaffed and ill equipped government clinics along are a bane for the citizen, coupled with lack of a serious debate by the central and state governments on the health care needs of the citizens and policies to address it.
If the most advanced nation on , US with such advanced medical care is struggling to put together a bill that addresses the health care needs of its citizen’s India is nowhere in terms of facing the challenge of addressing the health care needs of its citizens.
Various departments of the government give different statistics on the poverty levels of the country, assuming an average of 40-50% of the population that works out to 400-500 Million not having access to good (read Private) health care in the country. I guess Death is the only result for a lot of Indians who do not have access to immediate and necessary medical care in critical conditions.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Registras of Corruption
A recent experience in a Land Register office in the outskirts of Bangalore gave me an insight on how our babus are beating the computerized system.
Brokers still play a key role in getting the appontment for registering the land ( selling or buying, they have a strong influence on how fast your work gets done at the office. Going by the normal token system would make one spend a full day outside the office and the officials may trouble with queries.
For both the buyer and seller the costs of buying and selling prove to be costlier since the broker inflates the price and pockets a cool 10% of the selling price and shares the bounty with the babus.
Land registration ( Agricultural, Residential and Commercial) has been handled hap handedly since independence. Many regulations have been brought in but corruption is evident in all things related selling and buying land.
It is not more laws but more computerization of the whole process that is needed.
Brokers still play a key role in getting the appontment for registering the land ( selling or buying, they have a strong influence on how fast your work gets done at the office. Going by the normal token system would make one spend a full day outside the office and the officials may trouble with queries.
For both the buyer and seller the costs of buying and selling prove to be costlier since the broker inflates the price and pockets a cool 10% of the selling price and shares the bounty with the babus.
Land registration ( Agricultural, Residential and Commercial) has been handled hap handedly since independence. Many regulations have been brought in but corruption is evident in all things related selling and buying land.
It is not more laws but more computerization of the whole process that is needed.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Anarchy and Administration
Sometimes I feel we take false pride in being the world’s most populous democracy. We equate conducting successful elections and electing government’s sufficient reasons for declaring ourselves as successful democracy. The other equally important aspects of a democracy governance, rule and respect for law, equal opportunity are conveniently forgotten once parties come to power.
Three recent and ongoing incidents bring out the anarchy or lack of governance in the country.
1) DGP Rathore getting away from justice for 19 long years is a shame on the country’s criminal justice system. The way Rathore has used his power to systematically eliminate all opposition is a telling example of collusion between politicians and bureaucrats. Misuse of power by the politicians and bureaucrats has been a bane in this country. This lack of integrity in this two important bodies leads to weak implementation of the law.
2) I guess no other country is as insensitive to loss of human life as we are. Three train crashes on a single day with a significant loss of life talks about our disregard for human life. The reason for the crash is dense fog but our rail administrators do know that this time of the year there is fog and should have monitored the situation. If it is not fog it is due to fish plate’s removal, manual driver error or speeding, year on year rail crashes keep happening with less focus on safety. Railway ministry is a sought after cabinet position and heavily politicized and needs clean up
3) Anarchy in AP – Politicians and the student wings of their parties are taking Hyderabad to ransom with frequent calls for bandhs. They have no idea about the damage they are causing to the city’s brand, loss of revenue to business, loss of school time for children. It is very unfortunate that the state transport corporation takes a hit for all political issues. India should have a strong law to handle the cases of arson, similar to the law being planned for communal riots. Police forces are mute spectators to all this due to lack of independence.
Three recent and ongoing incidents bring out the anarchy or lack of governance in the country.
1) DGP Rathore getting away from justice for 19 long years is a shame on the country’s criminal justice system. The way Rathore has used his power to systematically eliminate all opposition is a telling example of collusion between politicians and bureaucrats. Misuse of power by the politicians and bureaucrats has been a bane in this country. This lack of integrity in this two important bodies leads to weak implementation of the law.
2) I guess no other country is as insensitive to loss of human life as we are. Three train crashes on a single day with a significant loss of life talks about our disregard for human life. The reason for the crash is dense fog but our rail administrators do know that this time of the year there is fog and should have monitored the situation. If it is not fog it is due to fish plate’s removal, manual driver error or speeding, year on year rail crashes keep happening with less focus on safety. Railway ministry is a sought after cabinet position and heavily politicized and needs clean up
3) Anarchy in AP – Politicians and the student wings of their parties are taking Hyderabad to ransom with frequent calls for bandhs. They have no idea about the damage they are causing to the city’s brand, loss of revenue to business, loss of school time for children. It is very unfortunate that the state transport corporation takes a hit for all political issues. India should have a strong law to handle the cases of arson, similar to the law being planned for communal riots. Police forces are mute spectators to all this due to lack of independence.
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