By Najeeb Khan
General elections are scheduled in April-May 2009 and these elections will decide the fate of political leaders, parties, government and the country. Results of assembly elections held recently have created the confusion instead of showing clear indications that who will be at the helm of affairs. Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are two large states and results have demonstrated a fragmented verdict. Madhya Pradesh re-elected the ruling BJP Government whereas Rajasthan people voted for Congress (incumancy factor).
Although Congress succeded in forming government in Rajasthan but this party failed to clean sweap the state. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP maitained a big margin. Congress recaptured Delhi state ignoring any incumbancy effect. Likewise, BJP got re-elected in Chhattisgarh and congress failed to increase its influence in the state. Congress got majority in Mhizorum and succeeded in spreading its influence in north east.
Its true that issues are different for people in state and central elections but few issues affects both. We'll discuss these issues and their impacts on election prospects of different political parties:
1. Inflation: Price rise affects common men and it has been observed in past elections how the ruling parties lost the elections when they failed to control the escalating prices. Important factor in this regard is the efforts made by the ruling party to control it. State government generally blame price rise for the wrong economic policies of the Central Government. However, they can not escape from their responsibilities. State Govt. can atleast help to lower prices of few commodities by lowering the taxes.UPA government is trying hard to keep inflation under control and has been successful in its efforts by adopting different measures. Luck is also in its favour as the fuel prices in International market has dipped to $35 per barrel from $ 146. Fuel prices have their influence on prices of other commodities as transportation costs also increase with increasing fuel prices.
2. Fuel prices: Govt. has increased prices of petroleum and diesels several times in the past. However, it delays declaration of reduction in fuel prices to give advantage to oil companies of private and public sectors. Prices of crude oil have come down from $145 per barrel to $ 35 per barrel and govt. has once reduced prices of petroleum before declaration of state assembly election by Rs 5 per litre. It is assumed that Govt. is planning to reduce again these prices by Rs 5 on petrol. Rs 2.50 on diesel and Rs 25 on LPG cylinders to make housewives happy. It will be done before the parliament election. This shows that govt. is less concerned with people but more with the vote of the people. During NDA govt. regime, petroleum prices were immediately reduced depending on the prices in the international market. One can understand the difference of attitude between two government.
3. Terrorism: Indian people are bearing the burnt of this menace. Not only terrorism from outside but also from internal activists like naxalites. Neither UPA government nor state government supported by UPA are much concerned with Naxalite problem. They have left people to their own fate. No concrete step has been taken by UPA or its supported governments in the states.
4. Secularism: Most of the political parties that does not believe in good governance, always like to play this truimph card to sue the voters of a particular religion. However, these political parties and government have never made effort to improve the economical condition by making any real efforts to do so. Government has presumed that minorities will vote them if they just criticize the political parties who favors majority population.People are fed up of politicians who only raises issues related to minorities and issues that are not related to their social upliftment but only of minor importance like put a ban on a book that hurts feeling of a section or sending back Taslima Nasreen etc. etc.
5. Service sectors: The only commedable task that is a plus point of ruling party is to make Central Govt. employees happy by improving their service conditions and giving them a good pay hike. However, if one critically examine this aspect, gainers of this pay package are highly placed officials. Otherwise, these hikes just neutralizes the inflation and do nothing more. Teaching community is feeling unhappy as per reports. Government has failed to take any steps for improvement in education at any level.
One step taken by this government to make them happy need mention here and government needs appreciation for it. UPA government has made some reforms in income tax structure and government servants are happy with it.
8. Law and Order front: Performance of present UPA government has been dismal on law and order front. Even people don't feel safe in the capital as incidences of looting, murder, rapes are heard on daily basis.
9. Growth and Government expenditure: Government has been successful in improving growth rate though it will not be justified to give full credit to present government alone. Whatever growth increase is illustrated, this is result of not fully but partially to NDA government whose policy decisions have started paying dividends. Elimination of licences for several services has resulted in fast expansion of telecom services and reduces prices of different gadgets etc. Expension of internet is due to efforts of past government and continuation of the same policies by present government.
Based on the above analysis, it can be concluded that working of the present government has been just at par to past (NDA) government. Though this government committed blunder of withdrawal of tough law measures like POTA just to appease the minorities and that has backfired, this government has done commendable job to take country ahead on economic front. Performance of this government is as good as of the NDA government. Both the government have been on similar track and deserves their share of votes. This will ultimately facilitate way for a government that will need help of small regional parties for formation of next government.
Result: Neither Congress nor BJP would be able to get majority in next elections (May 2009) and chances are more for a hung parliament where politicians of criminal background will help one of the parties in formation of next government and will utilize power to attain their own goals.
However, awareness among people has grown at a very rapid pace and after few elections, opportunists in politics have to reconsider about their fate.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Rajasthan. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Rajasthan. Sort by date Show all posts
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Focus: 'Indian Culinary Skill Tours Beckon Foreign Foodies'
Want to combine wanderlust with a desire to sample authentic Indian dishes in traditional kitchens or scenic spots across the country? As a personal touch, you could also shop for the ingredients in some of the vibrant and bustling open-air marketplaces that India offers. All this and more could be yours for a price - thanks to the genre of culinary tourism.
Monday, July 17, 2017
Animal Trafficking Is Helping Terrorism Grow Despite Demonetisation
“United Humans Against Atrocities on Animals” was the theme of the rally, which started at Kasturba Gandhi Marg and made its first stop at the office of the resident commissioner for West Bengal at Baba Kharak Singh Marg - moving on to Bihar Bhawan in Chanakyapuri.
Monday, March 16, 2009
“We are old friends of the Left. Our views are similar”
By M H Ahssan
Even before Orissa happened, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) hadn’t got the traction it needed, with alliances tottering in the south, east and west. NDA Convenor Sharad Yadav, 61, is not too happy with the ways things are in the alliance.
In an interview with HNN, Yadav speaks of friendships outside the NDA and how the alliance still hopes to regroup. Excerpts from the interview:
How badly has Orissa hurt the NDA?
The NDA has been weakened in Orissa by what happened, but I don’t think there will be damage in other states.
Why could you not anticipate the Orissa developments?
The BJP never involved us in it. The negotiations were going on between the BJP and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). BJP President Rajnath Singh called me when it was over. That’s when I spoke to him. I was taken aback by the turn of events. I was under the impression that things would turn out fine. The BJP was dealing with this.
Does this affect the chances of your Prime Ministerial nominee?
The NDA has split in Orissa, but I don’t consider Naveen Patnaik as being out of the NDA. He will need us in the future. He has taken a big risk by choosing to fight the election on his own. His principal opponent is the Congress. The BJP-BJD combine would have got the anti-Congress vote. Now, the anti-Congress vote will be split. I am not updated about Orissa, but I know that the BJP had 18 percent of the vote there. The BJP-BJD combine was winning because the anti-Congress vote was consolidated in their favour. I can’t say if it will stay that way in the future.
Is the Janata Dal (United), the party you belong to, comfortable with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) choice of LK Advani as the prime ministerial nominee?
The announcement of Advani’s name as the prime ministerial nominee is not limited to the BJP. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had made a unanimous decision on this. First, the BJP arrived at the decision. Then, we were consulted and the final decision was taken to project Advani prime ministerial candidate.
The JD(U) is fine with it then?
I am telling you as the NDA Convenor. All NDA members have decided to support him (Advani).
Has the NDA lost momentum from the time it chose to project Advani for the top post?
The NDA hasn’t lost momentum. The NDA has won in big states in the recent assembly elections to five states. We won in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Before that, we won in Bihar, Punjab, Gujarat and Karnataka. The NDA has nine state governments. In Bihar, Punjab and Orissa, NDA constituents are running the governments. We also won in Jharkhand but the Congress manipulated its fall. The Congress has lost virtually all elections over five years, barring this time in Rajasthan and Delhi. In Rajasthan, the Congress managed to cobble a government. We have 82 MLAs there.
Are you in touch with parties that were once your friends, like Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK, for instance?
The alliances are not in shape in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, be it the NDA or the UPA. As far as the NDA is concerned, I can say that we discussed with some parties but the talks did not materialise into alliances. Barring these two states, there is an alliance everywhere. Recently, we have brought the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), headed by Om Prakash Chautala, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), headed by Ajit Singh, into our fold.
What about Babulal Marandi’s party in Jharkhand?
We are talking to him as well but it hasn’t materialised.
Are you still talking to Jayalalithaa?
No. I wouldn’t like to say anything more on this.
Is it possible that the JD(U) will have a prime ministerial nominee, given that things could change rapidly after the numbers are out?
JD(U) is in alliance with the BJP in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The JD(U) has no alliances in the other states. We will contest together in these four states and fight separately in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, for instance.
Have you made an assessment of the impact that Advani could have on the Muslim vote?
Ours is not a one-day alliance. And in Bihar, we are partners in the government. The BJP has not had a negative impact. We have conducted many pro-Muslim programmes in Bihar. No state government has done as much for Muslims in 60 years, be it for the madrasas or the teachers in madrasas. We punished the guilty in the Bhagalpur riots of 1998. We got life-long compensation for the victims. How could we have done all this without the cooperation of the BJP? They didn’t stop us. We do politics of the masses, not politics of religion.
Does the JD(U) consider itself bound to the NDA? Could this change after the election?
This is an era of coalition politics. There are two fronts. The NDA is 11 years old. We have contested four elections together. We are not in a position to form a government by ourselves. The BJP is not in a position to form its own government. No party can do it. So, we have the UPA on one side and the NDA on the other. The JD(U) and the BJP are separate parties. We have differences of thought. There are many issues on which we differ. We have various kinds of disagreements with many parties. But we are united under our common minimum programme, which we call the national agenda. The issues were settled in the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. We ran a government for six years after that.
There are contradictions between the BJP and the JD(U). But the people of this country are not giving a majority to any single party. So, we have to keep our differences and contradictions aside. The JD(U) has demanded, for instance, reservation for dalit Muslims and dalit Christians. The BJP has not demanded it. It is not part of the national agenda. The JD(U) wants a quota within quota for women. The BJP doesn’t. They want a temple in Ayodhya. The JD(U) says that the Ayodhya dispute has to be resolved either by the courts or by a negotiated settlement. The BJP functions according to its ideology and issues. The JD(U) has its own issues. The JD(U) and the BJP are distinct parties, just as the JD(U) is distinct from the Akali Dal and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is a part of the NDA as well.
The JD(U) deals with the BJP as a party. The JD(U) doesn’t deal with individuals.
I’m talking of a situation where the BJP fields Modi in the election campaign, say, in Bihar. What impact would that have?
In an alliance, it doesn’t matter where an individual goes to campaign. We sit among ourselves and find solutions to such things. Politics differs from state to state. The JD(U) and the BJP are aware of this. Campaigns schedules are drawn up after consultations. For instance, the JD(U) had decided not to involve celebrities in the 2004 campaign. We know where to draw the line. We know who will help us and who will harm us.
Is it likely that the JD(U) responds to a Congress or UPA invitation to join a secular front?
We are in the NDA since 11 years. The UPA is four-and-a-half years old. Are they more secular than us?
Are you in touch with the Communists?
We are old friends of the Left parties. We are constantly in touch with them. We formed a government with the Left on two occasions. We have been with the Communists for 60 years. At times we have been together, and at others we have been separate. For some time now, we have been going our ways. Our views are similar to those of the Left on many issues. On other issues, our opinion is the same as that of the BJP. Our main issues are economic, the state of the farmers, unemployment, inflation, SEZs. The SEZs they created for real estate are now defunct. We opposed the creation of SEZs. The difference is in degree of opposition. We opposed SEZs seriously. The BJP did it mildly.
Should the NDA come to power, how will it deal with terrorism and Pakistan?
The JD(U) thinks that there must be people’s involvement in these issues. Let’s take the blasts in trains, for instance. At the top, we need to strengthen the bureaucracy and the intelligence. But it is the vendors and the coolies whose lives are entwined with trains. We have to take them into confidence and mobilise them. We must give licences to vendors and tell them: look we gave you the licence. You are responsible for this much area. Your licence will be cancelled if there’s any extremist or untoward activity in your area. We must offer incentives to the coolies and food vendors in the railways stations in Delhi and Mumbai.
For instance, recent blasts in Delhi and Guwahati have been in garbage bins. There are lakhs of safai karamcharis in India. Let’s take them into confidence. People like us are not going to peep into garbage bins. The karamcharis do it. Similarly, there are 50 lakh fishermen on our coasts. In the Mumbai attack, the terrorists came by sea from Karachi. So, we need to beef up the intelligence at the top and take the people on the streets into confidence. We have to create a network of informants on the ground. We can’t deal with terrorism unless we have the people who sweat it out on our side.
Should Afzal Guru be hanged, then?
This is a stupid issue. It is of concern only to the media. I don’t want to say anything on this. There are lakhs of people going to the gallows anyway in India. The Arjun Sengupta Committee report has said that 78 percent of Indians live on Rs 20 a day. This means that a person who ought to have lived to the age of 90, is dying at 60. Those who should have lived till 60 are dying at 30. These people are on the gallows because of hunger, poverty and unemployment. That is our big worry.
What will the NDA manifesto say on this? Will you have a common manifesto this time?
We haven’t made a decision yet on our manifesto. We haven’t talked yet. Though in the past in Bihar, the JD(U) and the BJP have had separate manifestos.
Joblessness has become a vast problem now. What would you do about it?
The people who went to English schools had jobs when the market expanded. If you hadn’t known English, you wouldn’t have got a job in Tehelka. Now, the global crisis has hit the English-speaking jobholders who are being sacked. Ninety-eight percent of Indians study in regional language schools, in Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Marathi, or Gujarati for instance. They had no jobs anyway.
What will the NDA do about it?
We must put big money into agriculture. And, instead of erecting barriers, let a representative of the union government go to backward states and directly give money for, say, a thousand roads, a thousand bridges. Cement and steel factories will function. People in the backward states will get employed. If we are able to form a government, my party will focus totally on the construction sector. You can’t imagine what a boost it would give to employment. This is what we would do.
What are the other NDA priorities, should it gain power?
The next most important thing is agriculture and irrigation. The condition of our farmers and our villages has improved where water has reached. Daily wages have risen to Rs 150-Rs 200. Where the farmer is dependent on rain, there is hunger, unemployment and poverty. We must shut out everything else and see that water reaches the farms, from the small lakes, big lakes, the land and the sky. We will see how the condition of our villages and our farmers will improve with water. Let’s take the Bhakra Nangal Dam in Punjab. Water came first to the farms, and then came the schools and the roads.
Where is the water now?
There’s no shortage of water in this country. Bihar has more water than it needs, which is going into the sea. Why can’t we tap and store the water we get from the monsoon?
The JD(U) is a regional party. Many regional parties say Article 356, which imposes Centre’s rule in a state, is misused. Has the time come to repeal Article 356?
No. Article 356 must not be done away with. Circumstances force the use of Article 356 many times. In Jharkhand, they had to implement President’s Rule recently, didn’t they? Anything can happen in the states, like in Punjab in the past. Everything can be sacrificed for the unity of the nation. Article 356 is necessary. People have begun debating it because of its misuse. Now, the Centre has to think many times before imposing President’s Rule.
The sensitivity of Centre-State relations has caused India’s structure to change periodically. The BJP has now promised to create the next state, Telangana, within 100 days of coming to power. Do you think India needs more states?
States like Uttar Pradesh are unmanageable. We must divide them scientifically. We must have a national commission to look into the issue of viable states.
Will this be in your manifesto?
There is no consensus on our manifesto yet. We don’t know whether we will have a common manifesto, or individual ones.
You’ve been in public life long enough to know the corrosive effect of corruption. What do you intend to do?
India would have progressed far more were it not for corruption in every field. People are looting all the way from Delhi to the villages. Take Satyam, for instance. It’s like a man has committed a murder and gone to the police station to confess. Ramalinga Raju was about to be arrested in the US. He knew he would be gone for life. Therefore, he chose to be in an Indian prison. He would never have confessed if he hadn’t been exposed in the US. Raju thought he would suffer like the Enron chiefs. We have the intelligence wing of the finance ministry, the sales tax and income tax wings, the SEBI, and the ministry of company affairs. Have all of them become useless?
The NDA has been in government as well. How come it didn’t look into these things?
We lost. If we were strong and perfect, we wouldn’t have been blamed forever. Why did people vote for the UPA? Because we made mistakes and they taught us a lesson. We have been punished. But is accountability only for the politicians? No one else is accountable in this country. Not the judiciary, not the bureaucracy. Not one bureaucrat has been punished for the Mumbai attack, for instance. Only the political system is accountable in this country. The media is free to do what it wants. They call themselves news channels and run fiction programmes on superstition the whole day. You should call them entertainment channels. Technology has given the media such a big tool, but it is not creating a scientific outlook. Nobody is censoring the Balika Badhu serial (on child marriage).
What about judicial accountability?
Is there any system in the world where the judges decide on themselves. The judges in our country recruit their own relatives and near and dear.
Why hasn’t the JD(U) raised this?
Sharad Yadav raised the issue of former chief justice YK Sabharwal and his sons. He got Delhi demolished. We make the laws in Parliament and we find that the judiciary is making 10 laws a day over what we say in Parliament.
Are you contesting this time?
The party will take a decision on that. There is democracy only in three parties in India: the Left parties, the BJP and the JD(U). Individual writ doesn’t run here.
Even before Orissa happened, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) hadn’t got the traction it needed, with alliances tottering in the south, east and west. NDA Convenor Sharad Yadav, 61, is not too happy with the ways things are in the alliance.
In an interview with HNN, Yadav speaks of friendships outside the NDA and how the alliance still hopes to regroup. Excerpts from the interview:
How badly has Orissa hurt the NDA?
The NDA has been weakened in Orissa by what happened, but I don’t think there will be damage in other states.
Why could you not anticipate the Orissa developments?
The BJP never involved us in it. The negotiations were going on between the BJP and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). BJP President Rajnath Singh called me when it was over. That’s when I spoke to him. I was taken aback by the turn of events. I was under the impression that things would turn out fine. The BJP was dealing with this.
Does this affect the chances of your Prime Ministerial nominee?
The NDA has split in Orissa, but I don’t consider Naveen Patnaik as being out of the NDA. He will need us in the future. He has taken a big risk by choosing to fight the election on his own. His principal opponent is the Congress. The BJP-BJD combine would have got the anti-Congress vote. Now, the anti-Congress vote will be split. I am not updated about Orissa, but I know that the BJP had 18 percent of the vote there. The BJP-BJD combine was winning because the anti-Congress vote was consolidated in their favour. I can’t say if it will stay that way in the future.
Is the Janata Dal (United), the party you belong to, comfortable with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) choice of LK Advani as the prime ministerial nominee?
The announcement of Advani’s name as the prime ministerial nominee is not limited to the BJP. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had made a unanimous decision on this. First, the BJP arrived at the decision. Then, we were consulted and the final decision was taken to project Advani prime ministerial candidate.
The JD(U) is fine with it then?
I am telling you as the NDA Convenor. All NDA members have decided to support him (Advani).
Has the NDA lost momentum from the time it chose to project Advani for the top post?
The NDA hasn’t lost momentum. The NDA has won in big states in the recent assembly elections to five states. We won in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Before that, we won in Bihar, Punjab, Gujarat and Karnataka. The NDA has nine state governments. In Bihar, Punjab and Orissa, NDA constituents are running the governments. We also won in Jharkhand but the Congress manipulated its fall. The Congress has lost virtually all elections over five years, barring this time in Rajasthan and Delhi. In Rajasthan, the Congress managed to cobble a government. We have 82 MLAs there.
Are you in touch with parties that were once your friends, like Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK, for instance?
The alliances are not in shape in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, be it the NDA or the UPA. As far as the NDA is concerned, I can say that we discussed with some parties but the talks did not materialise into alliances. Barring these two states, there is an alliance everywhere. Recently, we have brought the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), headed by Om Prakash Chautala, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), headed by Ajit Singh, into our fold.
What about Babulal Marandi’s party in Jharkhand?
We are talking to him as well but it hasn’t materialised.
Are you still talking to Jayalalithaa?
No. I wouldn’t like to say anything more on this.
Is it possible that the JD(U) will have a prime ministerial nominee, given that things could change rapidly after the numbers are out?
JD(U) is in alliance with the BJP in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The JD(U) has no alliances in the other states. We will contest together in these four states and fight separately in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, for instance.
Have you made an assessment of the impact that Advani could have on the Muslim vote?
Ours is not a one-day alliance. And in Bihar, we are partners in the government. The BJP has not had a negative impact. We have conducted many pro-Muslim programmes in Bihar. No state government has done as much for Muslims in 60 years, be it for the madrasas or the teachers in madrasas. We punished the guilty in the Bhagalpur riots of 1998. We got life-long compensation for the victims. How could we have done all this without the cooperation of the BJP? They didn’t stop us. We do politics of the masses, not politics of religion.
Does the JD(U) consider itself bound to the NDA? Could this change after the election?
This is an era of coalition politics. There are two fronts. The NDA is 11 years old. We have contested four elections together. We are not in a position to form a government by ourselves. The BJP is not in a position to form its own government. No party can do it. So, we have the UPA on one side and the NDA on the other. The JD(U) and the BJP are separate parties. We have differences of thought. There are many issues on which we differ. We have various kinds of disagreements with many parties. But we are united under our common minimum programme, which we call the national agenda. The issues were settled in the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. We ran a government for six years after that.
There are contradictions between the BJP and the JD(U). But the people of this country are not giving a majority to any single party. So, we have to keep our differences and contradictions aside. The JD(U) has demanded, for instance, reservation for dalit Muslims and dalit Christians. The BJP has not demanded it. It is not part of the national agenda. The JD(U) wants a quota within quota for women. The BJP doesn’t. They want a temple in Ayodhya. The JD(U) says that the Ayodhya dispute has to be resolved either by the courts or by a negotiated settlement. The BJP functions according to its ideology and issues. The JD(U) has its own issues. The JD(U) and the BJP are distinct parties, just as the JD(U) is distinct from the Akali Dal and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is a part of the NDA as well.
The JD(U) deals with the BJP as a party. The JD(U) doesn’t deal with individuals.
I’m talking of a situation where the BJP fields Modi in the election campaign, say, in Bihar. What impact would that have?
In an alliance, it doesn’t matter where an individual goes to campaign. We sit among ourselves and find solutions to such things. Politics differs from state to state. The JD(U) and the BJP are aware of this. Campaigns schedules are drawn up after consultations. For instance, the JD(U) had decided not to involve celebrities in the 2004 campaign. We know where to draw the line. We know who will help us and who will harm us.
Is it likely that the JD(U) responds to a Congress or UPA invitation to join a secular front?
We are in the NDA since 11 years. The UPA is four-and-a-half years old. Are they more secular than us?
Are you in touch with the Communists?
We are old friends of the Left parties. We are constantly in touch with them. We formed a government with the Left on two occasions. We have been with the Communists for 60 years. At times we have been together, and at others we have been separate. For some time now, we have been going our ways. Our views are similar to those of the Left on many issues. On other issues, our opinion is the same as that of the BJP. Our main issues are economic, the state of the farmers, unemployment, inflation, SEZs. The SEZs they created for real estate are now defunct. We opposed the creation of SEZs. The difference is in degree of opposition. We opposed SEZs seriously. The BJP did it mildly.
Should the NDA come to power, how will it deal with terrorism and Pakistan?
The JD(U) thinks that there must be people’s involvement in these issues. Let’s take the blasts in trains, for instance. At the top, we need to strengthen the bureaucracy and the intelligence. But it is the vendors and the coolies whose lives are entwined with trains. We have to take them into confidence and mobilise them. We must give licences to vendors and tell them: look we gave you the licence. You are responsible for this much area. Your licence will be cancelled if there’s any extremist or untoward activity in your area. We must offer incentives to the coolies and food vendors in the railways stations in Delhi and Mumbai.
For instance, recent blasts in Delhi and Guwahati have been in garbage bins. There are lakhs of safai karamcharis in India. Let’s take them into confidence. People like us are not going to peep into garbage bins. The karamcharis do it. Similarly, there are 50 lakh fishermen on our coasts. In the Mumbai attack, the terrorists came by sea from Karachi. So, we need to beef up the intelligence at the top and take the people on the streets into confidence. We have to create a network of informants on the ground. We can’t deal with terrorism unless we have the people who sweat it out on our side.
Should Afzal Guru be hanged, then?
This is a stupid issue. It is of concern only to the media. I don’t want to say anything on this. There are lakhs of people going to the gallows anyway in India. The Arjun Sengupta Committee report has said that 78 percent of Indians live on Rs 20 a day. This means that a person who ought to have lived to the age of 90, is dying at 60. Those who should have lived till 60 are dying at 30. These people are on the gallows because of hunger, poverty and unemployment. That is our big worry.
What will the NDA manifesto say on this? Will you have a common manifesto this time?
We haven’t made a decision yet on our manifesto. We haven’t talked yet. Though in the past in Bihar, the JD(U) and the BJP have had separate manifestos.
Joblessness has become a vast problem now. What would you do about it?
The people who went to English schools had jobs when the market expanded. If you hadn’t known English, you wouldn’t have got a job in Tehelka. Now, the global crisis has hit the English-speaking jobholders who are being sacked. Ninety-eight percent of Indians study in regional language schools, in Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Marathi, or Gujarati for instance. They had no jobs anyway.
What will the NDA do about it?
We must put big money into agriculture. And, instead of erecting barriers, let a representative of the union government go to backward states and directly give money for, say, a thousand roads, a thousand bridges. Cement and steel factories will function. People in the backward states will get employed. If we are able to form a government, my party will focus totally on the construction sector. You can’t imagine what a boost it would give to employment. This is what we would do.
What are the other NDA priorities, should it gain power?
The next most important thing is agriculture and irrigation. The condition of our farmers and our villages has improved where water has reached. Daily wages have risen to Rs 150-Rs 200. Where the farmer is dependent on rain, there is hunger, unemployment and poverty. We must shut out everything else and see that water reaches the farms, from the small lakes, big lakes, the land and the sky. We will see how the condition of our villages and our farmers will improve with water. Let’s take the Bhakra Nangal Dam in Punjab. Water came first to the farms, and then came the schools and the roads.
Where is the water now?
There’s no shortage of water in this country. Bihar has more water than it needs, which is going into the sea. Why can’t we tap and store the water we get from the monsoon?
The JD(U) is a regional party. Many regional parties say Article 356, which imposes Centre’s rule in a state, is misused. Has the time come to repeal Article 356?
No. Article 356 must not be done away with. Circumstances force the use of Article 356 many times. In Jharkhand, they had to implement President’s Rule recently, didn’t they? Anything can happen in the states, like in Punjab in the past. Everything can be sacrificed for the unity of the nation. Article 356 is necessary. People have begun debating it because of its misuse. Now, the Centre has to think many times before imposing President’s Rule.
The sensitivity of Centre-State relations has caused India’s structure to change periodically. The BJP has now promised to create the next state, Telangana, within 100 days of coming to power. Do you think India needs more states?
States like Uttar Pradesh are unmanageable. We must divide them scientifically. We must have a national commission to look into the issue of viable states.
Will this be in your manifesto?
There is no consensus on our manifesto yet. We don’t know whether we will have a common manifesto, or individual ones.
You’ve been in public life long enough to know the corrosive effect of corruption. What do you intend to do?
India would have progressed far more were it not for corruption in every field. People are looting all the way from Delhi to the villages. Take Satyam, for instance. It’s like a man has committed a murder and gone to the police station to confess. Ramalinga Raju was about to be arrested in the US. He knew he would be gone for life. Therefore, he chose to be in an Indian prison. He would never have confessed if he hadn’t been exposed in the US. Raju thought he would suffer like the Enron chiefs. We have the intelligence wing of the finance ministry, the sales tax and income tax wings, the SEBI, and the ministry of company affairs. Have all of them become useless?
The NDA has been in government as well. How come it didn’t look into these things?
We lost. If we were strong and perfect, we wouldn’t have been blamed forever. Why did people vote for the UPA? Because we made mistakes and they taught us a lesson. We have been punished. But is accountability only for the politicians? No one else is accountable in this country. Not the judiciary, not the bureaucracy. Not one bureaucrat has been punished for the Mumbai attack, for instance. Only the political system is accountable in this country. The media is free to do what it wants. They call themselves news channels and run fiction programmes on superstition the whole day. You should call them entertainment channels. Technology has given the media such a big tool, but it is not creating a scientific outlook. Nobody is censoring the Balika Badhu serial (on child marriage).
What about judicial accountability?
Is there any system in the world where the judges decide on themselves. The judges in our country recruit their own relatives and near and dear.
Why hasn’t the JD(U) raised this?
Sharad Yadav raised the issue of former chief justice YK Sabharwal and his sons. He got Delhi demolished. We make the laws in Parliament and we find that the judiciary is making 10 laws a day over what we say in Parliament.
Are you contesting this time?
The party will take a decision on that. There is democracy only in three parties in India: the Left parties, the BJP and the JD(U). Individual writ doesn’t run here.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Reeling Under Heat Waves: What's Going On With India’s Weather?
Until now, India's smog problem has curbed extreme temperatures. But that could be about to change.
On May 19, India’s all-time temperature record was smashed in the northern city of Phalodi in the state of Rajasthan. Temperatures soared to 51℃, beating the previous record set in 1956 by 0.4℃.
India is known for its unbearable conditions at this time of year, just before the monsoon takes hold. Temperatures in the high 30s are routine, with local authorities declaring heatwave conditions only once thermometers reach a stifling 45℃. But the record comes on the back of an exceptionally hot season, with several heatwaves earlier in the year. So what’s to blame for these scorching conditions?
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
'TALE OF DUAL SHAKSHI', SREE AND JAIPUR CONNECTION
After Sakshi Dhoni, wife of Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, hit headlines for her photos with Vindoo Dara Singh, one more Sakshi is in the limelight for all wrong reasons.
Jaipur girl Sakshi Jhala, a lady friend of Sreesanth, has figured in the IPL spot fixing probe for the simple reason that she is close to tainted cricketer and was gifted a latest model of Blackberry mobile phone by him. The Delhi police, probing the spot fixing case, have seized the mobile phone which the cops feel Sreesanth bought with money earned from bookies.
Monday, April 01, 2013
From Weaver To IAS Officer To MP!
At a time when politics is dominated by money, muscle power and political legacy, Arjun Ram Meghwal’s life presents an interesting contrast. Initially a weaver, he went on to become an IAS officer and then a Member of Parliament.
“I was born in a traditional weaver family of Kismidesar village (Bikaner), where any student of my age hardly goes to school. During my school and college days I used to weave to support my family and my education,” says Meghwal.
Meghwal got married when he was in Class 7. After marriage, he continued his studies and graduated in Arts (BA) & Law (LLB) from Sri Dungar College, Bikaner (Rajasthan). What’s more he managed to do his postgraduation from the same college.
“My father had strictly warned that he would not allow me to continue my studies further if I failed in any of my exams. It was a very tough time for me because there was no environment to study at my place. But I worked hard and managed to complete my studies,” he says. Along with his job, he started preparing for competitive exams to land in a government job.
Not a path of roses
He got into Indian Post and Telegraph Department as a telephone operator. While working as a telephone operator, he also pursued his LLB degree while helping his father at the same time. He also fought and won the elections for the post of General Secretary of Telephone Traffic. Meghwal puts forth, “This was a great opportunity for me to understand the relation between policies and politics. I attended many State-level meeting which gave me a good exposure.”
The career journey
In spite of clearing the written examination, he failed in the interview for Rajasthan Administrative Services. He was shocked as he had been confident of clearing the interview. But he did not give up. He gave a second attempt with strong determination to succeed. He cleared it and got selected for State industrial services. Following this, in 1994, he was recruited as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan. He reached the peak, when he was promoted to the Indian Administrative Services and worked as District Collector of Churu district.
As he received immense respect from people, he felt that they looked up to him as a role model and expected him to play an even greater role. Politics was just the platform to serve this purpose. He took the final leap in 2009, when the Bharatiya Janata Party offered him a ticket for Lok Sabha from Bikaner region. He won. His ambition is to serve the people to the best of his ability. “I consider this a new beginning and I still have miles to go in the service of people,” he concludes.
Monday, July 20, 2015
Cricket’s 'Indian Premier League' Is In Deep Trouble?
 |
| By Aamir Khan in Mumbai |
The IPL was born in 2008 as the new, bright, exciting face of 21st-century cricket. The great empire game, traditionally played over five days and where around 30% of all matches end in no result, was metamorphosing into a showbiz extravaganza.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
How RSS Heavily Invested On 'Elections 2014 And NaMo'?
Just in case you think Elections 2014 are all about Narendra Modi deciding his own destiny, here’s another thought: the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is as much invested in his campaign as Modi’s own team in Gandhinagar and the BJP’s headquarters in Delhi. You may think of the RSS as those guys in khaki shorts doing morning exercises with lathis, but an article in a business weekly talks of an RSS "IT blitzkrieg" in the next general elections.
Among other things, the newspaper says the RSS has got hold of a huge database of 11.5 million Delhi voters, and has started accumulating volunteers to take on the NaMo campaign online and offline. Not only Delhi, but the Sangh plans to cascade its efforts to other states.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
India Elections 2009: performances and opportunities
By Najeeb Khan
General elections are scheduled in April-May 2009 and these elections will decide the fate of political leaders, parties, government and the country. Results of assembly elections held recently have created the confusion instead of showing clear indications that who will be at the helm of affairs. Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are two large states and results have demonstrated a fragmented verdict. Madhya Pradesh re-elected the ruling BJP Government whereas Rajasthan people voted for Congress (incumancy factor).
Although Congress succeded in forming government in Rajasthan but this party failed to clean sweap the state. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP maitained a big margin. Congress recaptured Delhi state ignoring any incumbancy effect. Likewise, BJP got re-elected in Chhattisgarh and congress failed to increase its influence in the state. Congress got majority in Mhizorum and succeeded in spreading its influence in north east.
Its true that issues are different for people in state and central elections but few issues affects both. We'll discuss these issues and their impacts on election prospects of different political parties:
1. Inflation: Price rise affects common men and it has been observed in past elections how the ruling parties lost the elections when they failed to control the escalating prices. Important factor in this regard is the efforts made by the ruling party to control it. State government generally blame price rise for the wrong economic policies of the Central Government. However, they can not escape from their responsibilities. State Govt. can atleast help to lower prices of few commodities by lowering the taxes.UPA government is trying hard to keep inflation under control and has been successful in its efforts by adopting different measures. Luck is also in its favour as the fuel prices in International market has dipped to $35 per barrel from $ 146. Fuel prices have their influence on prices of other commodities as transportation costs also increase with increasing fuel prices.
2. Fuel prices: Govt. has increased prices of petroleum and diesels several times in the past. However, it delays declaration of reduction in fuel prices to give advantage to oil companies of private and public sectors. Prices of crude oil have come down from $145 per barrel to $ 35 per barrel and govt. has once reduced prices of petroleum before declaration of state assembly election by Rs 5 per litre. It is assumed that Govt. is planning to reduce again these prices by Rs 5 on petrol. Rs 2.50 on diesel and Rs 25 on LPG cylinders to make housewives happy. It will be done before the parliament election. This shows that govt. is less concerned with people but more with the vote of the people. During NDA govt. regime, petroleum prices were immediately reduced depending on the prices in the international market. One can understand the difference of attitude between two government.
3. Terrorism: Indian people are bearing the burnt of this menace. Not only terrorism from outside but also from internal activists like naxalites. Neither UPA government nor state government supported by UPA are much concerned with Naxalite problem. They have left people to their own fate. No concrete step has been taken by UPA or its supported governments in the states.
4. Secularism: Most of the political parties that does not believe in good governance, always like to play this truimph card to sue the voters of a particular religion. However, these political parties and government have never made effort to improve the economical condition by making any real efforts to do so. Government has presumed that minorities will vote them if they just criticize the political parties who favors majority population.People are fed up of politicians who only raises issues related to minorities and issues that are not related to their social upliftment but only of minor importance like put a ban on a book that hurts feeling of a section or sending back Taslima Nasreen etc. etc.
5. Service sectors: The only commedable task that is a plus point of ruling party is to make Central Govt. employees happy by improving their service conditions and giving them a good pay hike. However, if one critically examine this aspect, gainers of this pay package are highly placed officials. Otherwise, these hikes just neutralizes the inflation and do nothing more. Teaching community is feeling unhappy as per reports. Government has failed to take any steps for improvement in education at any level.
One step taken by this government to make them happy need mention here and government needs appreciation for it. UPA government has made some reforms in income tax structure and government servants are happy with it.
8. Law and Order front: Performance of present UPA government has been dismal on law and order front. Even people don't feel safe in the capital as incidences of looting, murder, rapes are heard on daily basis.
9. Growth and Government expenditure: Government has been successful in improving growth rate though it will not be justified to give full credit to present government alone. Whatever growth increase is illustrated, this is result of not fully but partially to NDA government whose policy decisions have started paying dividends. Elimination of licences for several services has resulted in fast expansion of telecom services and reduces prices of different gadgets etc. Expension of internet is due to efforts of past government and continuation of the same policies by present government.
Based on the above analysis, it can be concluded that working of the present government has been just at par to past (NDA) government. Though this government committed blunder of withdrawal of tough law measures like POTA just to appease the minorities and that has backfired, this government has done commendable job to take country ahead on economic front. Performance of this government is as good as of the NDA government. Both the government have been on similar track and deserves their share of votes. This will ultimately facilitate way for a government that will need help of small regional parties for formation of next government.
Result: Neither Congress nor BJP would be able to get majority in next elections (May 2009) and chances are more for a hung parliament where politicians of criminal background will help one of the parties in formation of next government and will utilize power to attain their own goals.
However, awareness among people has grown at a very rapid pace and after few elections, opportunists in politics have to reconsider about their fate.
General elections are scheduled in April-May 2009 and these elections will decide the fate of political leaders, parties, government and the country. Results of assembly elections held recently have created the confusion instead of showing clear indications that who will be at the helm of affairs. Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are two large states and results have demonstrated a fragmented verdict. Madhya Pradesh re-elected the ruling BJP Government whereas Rajasthan people voted for Congress (incumancy factor).
Although Congress succeded in forming government in Rajasthan but this party failed to clean sweap the state. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP maitained a big margin. Congress recaptured Delhi state ignoring any incumbancy effect. Likewise, BJP got re-elected in Chhattisgarh and congress failed to increase its influence in the state. Congress got majority in Mhizorum and succeeded in spreading its influence in north east.
Its true that issues are different for people in state and central elections but few issues affects both. We'll discuss these issues and their impacts on election prospects of different political parties:
1. Inflation: Price rise affects common men and it has been observed in past elections how the ruling parties lost the elections when they failed to control the escalating prices. Important factor in this regard is the efforts made by the ruling party to control it. State government generally blame price rise for the wrong economic policies of the Central Government. However, they can not escape from their responsibilities. State Govt. can atleast help to lower prices of few commodities by lowering the taxes.UPA government is trying hard to keep inflation under control and has been successful in its efforts by adopting different measures. Luck is also in its favour as the fuel prices in International market has dipped to $35 per barrel from $ 146. Fuel prices have their influence on prices of other commodities as transportation costs also increase with increasing fuel prices.
2. Fuel prices: Govt. has increased prices of petroleum and diesels several times in the past. However, it delays declaration of reduction in fuel prices to give advantage to oil companies of private and public sectors. Prices of crude oil have come down from $145 per barrel to $ 35 per barrel and govt. has once reduced prices of petroleum before declaration of state assembly election by Rs 5 per litre. It is assumed that Govt. is planning to reduce again these prices by Rs 5 on petrol. Rs 2.50 on diesel and Rs 25 on LPG cylinders to make housewives happy. It will be done before the parliament election. This shows that govt. is less concerned with people but more with the vote of the people. During NDA govt. regime, petroleum prices were immediately reduced depending on the prices in the international market. One can understand the difference of attitude between two government.
3. Terrorism: Indian people are bearing the burnt of this menace. Not only terrorism from outside but also from internal activists like naxalites. Neither UPA government nor state government supported by UPA are much concerned with Naxalite problem. They have left people to their own fate. No concrete step has been taken by UPA or its supported governments in the states.
4. Secularism: Most of the political parties that does not believe in good governance, always like to play this truimph card to sue the voters of a particular religion. However, these political parties and government have never made effort to improve the economical condition by making any real efforts to do so. Government has presumed that minorities will vote them if they just criticize the political parties who favors majority population.People are fed up of politicians who only raises issues related to minorities and issues that are not related to their social upliftment but only of minor importance like put a ban on a book that hurts feeling of a section or sending back Taslima Nasreen etc. etc.
5. Service sectors: The only commedable task that is a plus point of ruling party is to make Central Govt. employees happy by improving their service conditions and giving them a good pay hike. However, if one critically examine this aspect, gainers of this pay package are highly placed officials. Otherwise, these hikes just neutralizes the inflation and do nothing more. Teaching community is feeling unhappy as per reports. Government has failed to take any steps for improvement in education at any level.
One step taken by this government to make them happy need mention here and government needs appreciation for it. UPA government has made some reforms in income tax structure and government servants are happy with it.
8. Law and Order front: Performance of present UPA government has been dismal on law and order front. Even people don't feel safe in the capital as incidences of looting, murder, rapes are heard on daily basis.
9. Growth and Government expenditure: Government has been successful in improving growth rate though it will not be justified to give full credit to present government alone. Whatever growth increase is illustrated, this is result of not fully but partially to NDA government whose policy decisions have started paying dividends. Elimination of licences for several services has resulted in fast expansion of telecom services and reduces prices of different gadgets etc. Expension of internet is due to efforts of past government and continuation of the same policies by present government.
Based on the above analysis, it can be concluded that working of the present government has been just at par to past (NDA) government. Though this government committed blunder of withdrawal of tough law measures like POTA just to appease the minorities and that has backfired, this government has done commendable job to take country ahead on economic front. Performance of this government is as good as of the NDA government. Both the government have been on similar track and deserves their share of votes. This will ultimately facilitate way for a government that will need help of small regional parties for formation of next government.
Result: Neither Congress nor BJP would be able to get majority in next elections (May 2009) and chances are more for a hung parliament where politicians of criminal background will help one of the parties in formation of next government and will utilize power to attain their own goals.
However, awareness among people has grown at a very rapid pace and after few elections, opportunists in politics have to reconsider about their fate.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
'Yatra Politics': Will Raje Repeat 'The Feat' In Rajasthan?
Ten years on, faced with the task to revive the sagging fortunes of the party, Raje is out to repeat the feat. This time her yatra, which will cover 33 districts and more than 13,000 kilometres, is christened Suraaj Sankalp Yatra – good governance tour. The similarities between the two yatras are limited: the venue, Chaarbhuja, a religious town in Rajsamand district, and the time of the launch, the month of April when farmers usually remain free.
However, the challenge this time round could be much bigger for the royal. And most of it does not have to do with the Congress – the latter took out a copycat Sandesh Yatra in a hurry to pre-empt her, Sandesh Yatra, and is already dispirited with the lacklustre response from the electorate. It’s also not about the challenge within for the chief minister’s job. BJP national president Rajnath Singh has made it clear in unequivocal terms that she “is the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate” in the coming elections.
A significant threat to the party’s prospects this time around is party rebel Kirori Lal Meena, a sworn detractor of Raje. The independent MP from Dausa constituency, Meena began his yatra much before the BJP and the Congress and has so far conducted more than 60 successful public meetings in the state. After assessing the public mood, Meena recently announced launch of PA Sangma’s National People’s Party (NPP) in Rajasthan and has announced that he would field candidates in all 200 constituencies.
“Both Congress and BJP are looting the people. The aim of my political tours is to provide people friendly governance,” says Meena adding menacingly that he would ensure Raje never came back to power. Meena was part of Raje’s Parivartan Yatra in 2003 but things fell apart once BJP won the election. Meena says he did not like Raje’s style of functioning and parted ways with the party in 2008.
The BJP has reason to worry about his threat. The tribal leader has sway over 10 constituencies of the state and played a pivotal role in BJP’s defeat in 2008 elections by taking away six assembly seats from the saffron party’s kitty. If other known dissenters of Raje within the BJP such as Ramdas Agarwal and Ghanshyam Tiwari join hands with Meena, she could find the going the tough. Both have distanced themselves from the Sankalp Yatra and Tiwari has had his own roadshow, Dev-Darshan Yatra recently. BJP sources, however, inform that such an alliance is unlikely.
Raje, however, seems ready for all the challenges. Accused of being condescending towards ordinary people in her earlier tenure, she seems to have toned down her royal airs a lot. She even rode on the bike of a party worker during her tour in the tribal belt of Dungarpur district recently. Political analysts observe repeating 2003 should not be difficult for her because she still has appeal among people and the Congress has not done enough to ward off the slowly building anti-incumbency sentiment. She will have her eyes on the youth, who are frustrated at the lack of job opportunities.
What will work in her favour is the support from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Both shared an uncomfortable relationship earlier and not many in the Sangh Parivar outfit were happy at her elevation as the party’s chief minister candidate. Raje has addressed that issue with changes in her core team. It includes people from the RSS too.
Will she repeat the feat of 2003? Well, many here believe she has an even chance.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
India’s moral police getting out of hand
By M H Ahssan
It says something for Indian society that the colour which was all pervasive on Valentine’s Day was not pink, associated with love and softness, but khaki, which stands for the police whose attitude to citizens is generally marked by force, callousness, and not unusually brutality. On February 14, the day when the idea of love is exalted, the police in all states were ordered to be out in strength to stop vigilante groups from harassing young men and women who desire to make their mutual affection public. Several such groups had given advance notice of their intention. Thankfully the day passed without incident by and large. But in states where it did not — notably Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana — the police did little to redeem themselves. In Karnataka, they looked the other way when a young Mangalore girl committed suicide after being harassed by a fanatic Hindu group for being seen in the company of a Muslim boy.
In a flagrant instance of dereliction of duty, the local superintendent of police later told a television channel that apprehending the culprits could have brought on a communal situation. The state home minister also turned his face away. In Pune in Maharashtra, hoodlums associated with the Shiv Sena forced a girl to “marry” a donkey — a perverse thought clearly meant to detract from the dignity of the victim. In Rajasthan, the police took their cue from the chief minister and used force to scatter youngsters doing nothing more objectionable than offering each other flowers as a token of affection. In Haryana, a police official beat up a young woman and her friend inside her home after making an unauthorised and wholly illegal entry. Later the police took the plea that he had entered a private home in order to protect its owner!
All of these are disturbing signs, and show how far we are yet from the idea of respecting individualism and democratic norms in the social sphere even as we profess to be a political democracy. Vigilante groups were tolerated by the authorities in Karnataka and Maharashtra, which are thought to be progressive states, and in towns such as Bengaluru, Mangalore and Pune which are commonly used to advertise India’s modernity in the age of ether. It took spunky action by a hastily formed civil society outfit to stop the Hindutva-oriented Sri Ram Sene in its tracks. Their ingenious plan was simplicity itself — the dispatch of piles of pink-coloured female underwear to shame the leader of the SRS.
In Rajasthan and Haryana, it was the police that became the vigilantes. Seen in conjunction with the recent pub incident in Mangalore — where young women were physically assaulted by SRS goons — it becomes clear that the parading of so-called cultural norms was essentially a means to keep women from asserting their autonomy as individuals — in effect, keeping them in burqa, not unlike a repetition of what the Taliban are doing in Swat in Pakistan. Because Hindutva forces were in the forefront in the ugly pub episode and the Valentine’s Day disturbances, a communal tint is also lent to the actions of the culture-warriors.
It says something for Indian society that the colour which was all pervasive on Valentine’s Day was not pink, associated with love and softness, but khaki, which stands for the police whose attitude to citizens is generally marked by force, callousness, and not unusually brutality. On February 14, the day when the idea of love is exalted, the police in all states were ordered to be out in strength to stop vigilante groups from harassing young men and women who desire to make their mutual affection public. Several such groups had given advance notice of their intention. Thankfully the day passed without incident by and large. But in states where it did not — notably Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana — the police did little to redeem themselves. In Karnataka, they looked the other way when a young Mangalore girl committed suicide after being harassed by a fanatic Hindu group for being seen in the company of a Muslim boy.
In a flagrant instance of dereliction of duty, the local superintendent of police later told a television channel that apprehending the culprits could have brought on a communal situation. The state home minister also turned his face away. In Pune in Maharashtra, hoodlums associated with the Shiv Sena forced a girl to “marry” a donkey — a perverse thought clearly meant to detract from the dignity of the victim. In Rajasthan, the police took their cue from the chief minister and used force to scatter youngsters doing nothing more objectionable than offering each other flowers as a token of affection. In Haryana, a police official beat up a young woman and her friend inside her home after making an unauthorised and wholly illegal entry. Later the police took the plea that he had entered a private home in order to protect its owner!
All of these are disturbing signs, and show how far we are yet from the idea of respecting individualism and democratic norms in the social sphere even as we profess to be a political democracy. Vigilante groups were tolerated by the authorities in Karnataka and Maharashtra, which are thought to be progressive states, and in towns such as Bengaluru, Mangalore and Pune which are commonly used to advertise India’s modernity in the age of ether. It took spunky action by a hastily formed civil society outfit to stop the Hindutva-oriented Sri Ram Sene in its tracks. Their ingenious plan was simplicity itself — the dispatch of piles of pink-coloured female underwear to shame the leader of the SRS.
In Rajasthan and Haryana, it was the police that became the vigilantes. Seen in conjunction with the recent pub incident in Mangalore — where young women were physically assaulted by SRS goons — it becomes clear that the parading of so-called cultural norms was essentially a means to keep women from asserting their autonomy as individuals — in effect, keeping them in burqa, not unlike a repetition of what the Taliban are doing in Swat in Pakistan. Because Hindutva forces were in the forefront in the ugly pub episode and the Valentine’s Day disturbances, a communal tint is also lent to the actions of the culture-warriors.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Congress Will Face Tough Battle In 'New Year' With Thorns
With the rout in the year-end assembly elections, Congress has been left looking at the bottom of the barrel ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, with Narendra Modi breathing down its neck.
It was all bouquets for Rahul Gandhi at the beginning of the year when he was made the Congress Vice President at the Jaipur Chintan Shivir but there is nothing much to show for him as 2013 comes to a close.
The party now has to decide whether to project him as its prime ministerial candidate when the AICC meets in more than a fortnight.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Will This Election See Higher Turnout After 'Poll Tamasha'?
ANALYSIS While an increased turnout in Assembly elections is not an indicator of the same in Lok Sabha elections, aggressive campaigning points toward a higher turnout in this poll.
If the pattern of turnout in the Assembly elections held over the last couple of years are of any indication, the turnout in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections should significantly increase. Almost all the Assembly elections held in different States between 2012-13 witnessed a higher turnout compared to those held in previous years.
Monday, April 08, 2013
Now, Online 'God Will Bless' At Your Doorstep
On a similar trip to Karni Mata Temple in Rajasthan, (the famous rat temple) in September 2011, where Mall waited patiently in the queue to offer prasad to the deity, it struck him that in reality visiting temples is an arduous task for many. He realized that if the process of getting prasad became easier, there would be several takers. Returning home, he talked to his friends about it. The response he got was positive and he decided to start an online business of delivering prasad.
“I thought of easing the temple visit experience. I cannot bring a temple to people but I can bring blessings from temples in the form of sweets,” says Mall, Founder, Online Prasad. Since business was just at the initial planning level, he visited a few religious congresses to talk to people about the idea to get a first-hand understanding of people’s willingness and interest to source it online. “People got so excited that a few placed orders immediately. The company had not even started. I had not thought about the price points.”
In January 2012, he launched Online Prasad, self-funded through personal savings, which he believed would thrive on the back of religious sentiment. All this while Mall still held a job as a senior analyst at Bain & Company which he left in April last year, after starting Online Prasad.
Good deeds
When Online Prasad started taking orders, they had one temple (Rani Sati Temple) in their catalog. However, Mall’s frequent visits to temples across India brought four more to his venture by April 2012. “We have a tie-up with sweet vendors at each temple, who offer prasad to the deity and then send it by courier to the client,” Mall explains.
Currently they have a network of 16 temples across seven states in their ambit. Online Prasad also has a couple of persons posted at each temple (which are in their catalog) who, when an order is confirmed by the front team, deliver the prasad through courier after offering it to the deity. Apart from this, at a few temples, they also have a tie-up with priests to offer the sweet to the deity and then send it to the devotee who has placed the order.
Online Prasad uses the service of GharPay—another startup, which handles payment collections on behalf of the company they service before delivery of goods—to collect money from customers who confirm orders. “Ghar Pay has a transparent working style and we needed a service like this as many customers were not comfortable paying through debit card,” Mall says. Each delivery of prasad from any temple listed on their website, costs `501 for 500 grams.
In the first couple of months, delivering prasad was a challenge for the venture owing to the perishable nature of sweets. “With a little tweaking here and there in the packaging, we manage to keep sweets fresh for a longer time,” Mall explains. Uttam Dadhich, a priest at Balaji Temple in Salasar, Rajasthan and owner of a sweet shop, offers prasad at the temple once he gets an order confirmation from Online Prasad. He says sweets are packaged in a manner that they remain fresh for 15-20 days.
More than divine grace
In August 2012, Online Prasad joined The Morpheus, a Chandigarh-based accelerator that works with startups. Morpheus infused additional capital of `5 lakh of equity stake in the company. “We joined hands with Goonjan as we liked his idea and realized he was executing his plans well. The business idea made sense for The Morpheus as we thought religion is the most viral business in India,” says Sameer Guglani, Co-Founder, The Morpheus.
Guglani says he had advised Mall to go on a pilgrimage and visit as many temples, which he affirms Mall does consistently. “This resulted in gradually expanding his network of temples.”
Mall divulges little about his growth plan for Online Prasad. “This is a new business and not many people have done anything like this. So there is no road map yet and we are learning while experimenting,” he confesses.
Mall believes plans do not work in a startup and are prone to spontaneous changes given the nature of a nascent company. As of now he is happy with the customer response and the repeat orders he gets.
“We are getting known by word of mouth as this is an interesting service we are providing. People love to tell others that they ordered prasad of a particular temple from home.” Sanjay Agarwal, a resident from Bihar, has ordered prasad from seven to nine temples through Online Prasad. He says that barring the first delivery, his transactions were smooth and satisfactory.
“I placed an order after seeing their banner at one of the temples in Kodarma, Jharkhand. The order came in 10 days time but the box was open and it had only two sweets,” Agarwal remembers. However, when he informed them about the delivery, he got another package of sweets, in a couple of days.
“I can say it was from the temple I had ordered from as I have been there earlier and the sweets tasted just the same,” says Agarwal.
Growth metrics
The website sees daily traffic of 1,500-2,000 unique visitors, says Mall, and this figure goes down on some days. According to web information company Alexa, a California-based subsidiary of US-based e-commerce giant Amazon, which tracks traffic of websites globally, the portal ranks 222,176 globally and 25,219 in India.
Inevitably, the number of orders climb during festivals like Navratri, Janmashtami and New Year. “During Basant Panchami, the number of orders increase from 40 a month to more than 70,” Dadhich says.
Mall looks content when he tells us he has delivered prasad to almost all corners of India, except the Andaman and Lakshadweep islands. He has also received orders to gift prasad to relatives of customers living in Dubai and Singapore.
“This is a business which will always work in India given the number of temples we have and the opportunity it creates for us,” says Mall. Not surprising, as India is a land of religious fervor.
Friday, April 19, 2013
CJ REPORT: 'A WILDLIFE DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN'
Mukundra Hills of Kota in Rajasthan and some of its adjoining areas have been notified as a tiger reserve. It would be called Mukundra Hills tiger reserve ( MHTR). It doesn’t have any tiger, though.
Interestingly, the Rajasthan government okayed the reserve without the “ recommendation” by National Tiger Conservation Authority ( NTCA), a mandatory provision under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, as amended in 2006.
Section 38 ( V) ( 1) of the Act says, “ The state government shall, on the recommendation of the NTCA, notify an area as a tiger reserve.” Besides lacking proper recommendation, the area selected for the MHTR, around 150 km away from Ranthambhore, is very poor in prey base. Even if tigers are translocated there from Ranthambhore, as the forest department proposes, it would be difficult for them to survive.
On December 15, 2010, Rajesh Gopal, NTCA’s member secretary, had written a letter to the state forest department agreeing in principal the latter’s idea of developing Mukundra tiger reserve. However, it was incumbent on the state government to get its project weighed by the NTCA board before the latter officially recommended to the state for the notification, sources pointed out.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
COMING SOON: A LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL IN RAJASTHAN
The proposal to establish a Legislative Council (Upper House) in Rajasthan got a shot in the arm as the Union cabinet has cleared the state’s proposal. The state assembly had passed the resolution to create Legislative Council in April 2012 after the state cabinet cleared the resolution the same month. So far, the desert state as has only one House.
Now, the proposal would be sent to the Parliament in the form of a bill. The bill has to be passed in the Lok Sabha (lower house) and the Rajya Sabha (upper house) of the Parliament by a two-third majority for the council to form. After clearance from the Parliament, Rajasthan will become seventh state to have a Legislative Council.
Monday, June 13, 2016
What The Modern “Right To Die” Debate Can Take Away From This 3000-Year-Old Indian Religion?
On June 9, a law allowing patients with terminal illnesses to end their lives with help from a physician came into effect in California, opening conversations about whether human life should be prolonged against the desire to die peacefully and with dignity.
A similar yet different conversation has been taking place in India for the past several years, but in reverse.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Rural distress, urban greed: Interview with Gandhian Anupam Mishra
By M H Ahssan
Gandhian and environmental activist Anupam Mishra has watched closely the ability of local communities to build and sustain ingenious systems for life-support and resource management. He has also watched the state usurping those resources. In this interview, he discusses what happens when, in the race to modernity, the autonomy and rights of the people are abandoned, the rights of ownership are vested only with the government or corporations, and all resources become capital to be exploited
Anupam Mishra, who has spent decades in the field of environment protection and water conservation, analyses the collapse of our water management systems, the growing rural-urban divide, and the failures of government policy on water. Winner of the Indira Gandhi National Environment Award, Mishra has been associated with the Gandhi Peace Foundation since its inception. He has authored two books on traditional water management and water harvesting systems in India, titled Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab (Ponds are Still Relevant) and Rajasthan Ki Rajat Boonde (The Radiant Raindrops of Rajasthan). Here he talks about the relevance and need for a community-driven water management system.
You have spent so many years working on water management at the grassroots. What do you consider the most daunting problem in the water sector today?
Acute shortage of water is the most daunting problem facing both rural and urban populations today. Nature still gives us as much water as it always did, but in the last 10 years our water management system has collapsed. We have stopped collecting water.
In rural areas, traditional methods of collecting water in talaabs (reservoirs) could have helped the situation, but the problem has been compounded by the fact that today there is greater water usage. Therefore, greater demand for water. We have changed our cropping patterns and introduced crop varieties that require more water.
When urban areas first came up they were self-sufficient and able to meet their own water needs. It is said that Delhi once had 350 big talaabs and many smaller ones that recharged groundwater during the monsoons. There were also 17 streams in Delhi, all of which recharged the Yamuna. Today, these streams have become nullahs (drains).
The problem started when land began gaining importance over water. Waterbodies were filled up and replaced by housing complexes and shopping malls. Out of the 350 talaabs, we are left with only five or six today. Whatever little water we once got from surface runoff has gone. All the roads in urban areas are paved; we don’t even leave enough space around trees! As a result, groundwater recharge rates have dropped drastically.
Today, both urban and rural areas suffer water shortages. But if there is a water shortage in a metro like Delhi people can afford to buy water. If there is a shortage of water in rural areas, or if waterbodies become polluted because of industries, villagers have to travel 10-15 km from their villages to access water. Most of Delhi’s migrant population constitutes villagers from Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan who have been uprooted from their homes because of acute water shortages.
What should be the policy on water distribution in rural and urban areas?
Nature dictates such policies. Our lifestyles should be based on the amount of water we have. For example, because the Konkan belt is water-rich it can afford to grow rice. Similarly, water-stressed areas should grow jowar and bajra -- crops that are discarded these days as they are considered the poor man’s diet.
The Bhakra dam was built in the hope that it would change the face of agriculture in our country. But it will only last for around 100-200 years, after which it is bound to silt up. When that happens the people of the state will have to once again shift from growing rice and wheat to growing bajra and jowar.
Nature keeps sending us reminders that what we consider to be development may not after all be development in the real sense. For example, Mumbai was considered a developed city until rains lashed the city in July 2005. Before that happened, people were not even aware of a river named Mithi in Mumbai. Now that it has wreaked havoc in the city we all know about it.
Similarly, there were once around 17-18 streams in Delhi, something that no one knows about today. High-rise buildings and malls have taken their place. It will take something like the Mumbai floods to bring back the memory of these streams.
Technological advances made in the recent past only help us distribute water, not collect it. Water will always have to be collected traditionally. Even a city like Mumbai relies on talaabs to meet its water needs. These talaabs are not located within the city but in the surrounding areas. Had there been a few talaabs within the city much of the floodwaters would have drained into them.
We have very few options. Demand for water in a populous city will be greater, so more spaces should be left for groundwater recharge. If this space cannot be accommodated within the city then politicians must ensure that space is made available in the surrounding areas.
Are the poor being deprived of their water rights?
Government policies seem to suggest that only the poor pollute. Slum evictions at Yamuna Pushta were carried out with this as the reason. Documentaries on pollution in the Yamuna all carry vivid pictures of dhobis washing clothes by the river. But the dhobis are washing the clothes of the entire city! It is not just the poor dhobi who is polluting the Yamuna, it is the entire city. Water from affluent colonies like Vasant Vihar in Delhi is probably more polluted, if not treated, than water from slum areas. Although there are treatment plants in Delhi they either do not function at all or do not work to full capacity.
The slums at Yamuna Pushta are now being replaced by the Akshardham temple and the Commonwealth Sports Complex. These development projects will pollute the Yamuna far more than the slum-dwellers ever would have.
There is a growing trend towards drawing water from water-rich areas of the country and making money out of it. Tankers go into these areas, lure residents with monetary benefits, and install tubewells in their localities. The tanker operators get maximum benefit out of such ventures; the residents lose out on their water resources only after a while. All the tankers that operate in Delhi have their water sources in the surrounding areas.
What are the grassroots reactions to vested interests in the water sector?
Today the reaction is one of surrender, not resistance. For years now our agricultural policies have been such that farmers are encouraged to sell their agricultural land to industrialists. In rural areas that border cities, vast tracts of agricultural land are being sold for short-term economic gain. For example, areas around Delhi like Noida and Ghaziabad were once agricultural areas. Urban expansion has always taken place on agricultural land.
Who suffers and who gains as a result of this?
In the long-term it is the farmer who suffers because his livelihood is taken away. The industrialists and builders gain in the short-term. Builders can build high-rises but they do not have access to any permanent source of water supply. The water that is available today for a small rural population will have to meet the needs of an expanding urban population with a much greater demand for water. A time may come when this water may no longer be available to anyone. After all, water that has been harvested in rural areas cannot match urban greed.
Can you suggest ways to counter this?
The paradox of our times is that when the government tries to save the environment, it ends up plundering it. For example, all industrial units operating in Delhi were asked to close down and were relocated to the surrounding areas. These are areas where farmers have invested in their talaabs for years to meet the needs of the villages. When industries are relocated to these areas they draw water from the talaabs, thereby depleting and polluting the water resources.
The Tarun Bharat Sangh has done some very good work in rainwater harvesting in Alwar district, Rajasthan. But land in those areas is now being sold to upcoming industries. Soon the government will designate it an industrial area. We can already see evidence of this in Bhiwani (Alwar), where water that was harvested for use by the villagers will now be drawn by industrialists and housing complexes. There is no doubt that the relocation of industries in Delhi will improve Delhi’s environment, but what about the environment of the surrounding rural areas? A comprehensive policy must be evolved so that both urban and rural areas can co-exist in a healthy environment.
Is privatisation of water distribution systems an option?
The government seems to have become resigned to the view that the tasks it has been incapable of performing will be better performed by private institutions. A good example of this is the privatisation of Delhi’s bus fleet. The private buses that were introduced did not serve the people any better. If anything, commuters face harassment every time they board a bus. They have no option but to accept these buses as their only means of transportation.
If this incompetence and inefficiency is reflected in water supply, the situation will become worse. I do not feel confident that there will be no flaws or fallacies in water privatisation.
What according to you is the alternative to privatisation of water utilities?
There was a time in our country when the ability and sensibilities of the people served to build and furnish ingenious and pragmatic life-support systems and systems for resource management; the lives of the people were fully integrated in them. But with the passage of time, the state usurped their resources. In the race to modernity, the autonomy, self-reliance and rights of people were abandoned. Ownership of resources and the rights of ownership were vested only with the government, and all resources became capital to be exploited.
There is an example of the time when there was hardly any distance between state and society. The Chandel kings once ruled Bundelkhand (part of present Uttar Pradesh). From 219 AD-1105 AD, 22 generations of kings built 22 big talaabs. Jagatraj, son of King Chattrasal, heard about some buried treasure, which he got dug up. When his father learnt of this he was extremely annoyed. But the deed was already done. So the king decided to use the treasure to do good. He ordered his son to renovate the old talaabs built by the Chandel kings before him. Also, to build some new ones. It took 22 generations to use up all the treasure. These 22 talaabs in Bundelkhand are testimony to the good fortune of a society that used its fortune to make its people fortunate.
If the government today is incapable of managing the country’s water resources or distributing it efficiently, it will only be a matter of time before private companies claim their own stake in this market. After all, no society can function in a vacuum. But if governments can evolve an effective water management system by involving resident welfare associations and making bhagidari systems more meaningful, then the power to manage water may well remain in government hands. Should the government fail to do this, private companies will play their role in the water market, leading to serious conflicts in urban areas.
How can community participation help ensure an efficient water management system in the country?
Community participation is important not only to ensure efficient water distribution but also at the decision-making level. At this level it is the communities that know what their requirements are and what needs to be done.
There is an ancient story about four brothers -- Kuran, Buran, Sarman and Korai. They rose early to go to their fields to till the land. Kuran’s daughter would come with lunch in the afternoons. One day, on her way to the fields, the girl stumbled on a sharp stone. In pain and anger she hit her scythe against the stone. As soon as she did this, the stone turned to gold. The girl picked up the stone, rushed to the fields and told her family what had happened. Kuran knew that the news would soon reach the king and that the precious gold would be taken away from them. So he decided it would be better to go and tell the king the whole story. But the king did not take away the gold; instead he asked Kuran to invest it in doing good -- to build talaabs.
It’s difficult to say whether this is a true story or legend. But in the Patan region of Madhya Pradesh there are four big talaabs named after the four brothers. In 1907, experts visiting the region recorded the story from scores of people. An on-site inspection of the four big talaabs identified one named after Sarman. It was so huge that it had three different villages on its banks; the talaab linked all three villages. It is remembered as Sarman Sagar.
Because of local communities and their tradition of building talaabs and harvesting water, even today, low rainfall does not necessarily mean drought.
Gandhian and environmental activist Anupam Mishra has watched closely the ability of local communities to build and sustain ingenious systems for life-support and resource management. He has also watched the state usurping those resources. In this interview, he discusses what happens when, in the race to modernity, the autonomy and rights of the people are abandoned, the rights of ownership are vested only with the government or corporations, and all resources become capital to be exploitedAnupam Mishra, who has spent decades in the field of environment protection and water conservation, analyses the collapse of our water management systems, the growing rural-urban divide, and the failures of government policy on water. Winner of the Indira Gandhi National Environment Award, Mishra has been associated with the Gandhi Peace Foundation since its inception. He has authored two books on traditional water management and water harvesting systems in India, titled Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab (Ponds are Still Relevant) and Rajasthan Ki Rajat Boonde (The Radiant Raindrops of Rajasthan). Here he talks about the relevance and need for a community-driven water management system.
You have spent so many years working on water management at the grassroots. What do you consider the most daunting problem in the water sector today?
Acute shortage of water is the most daunting problem facing both rural and urban populations today. Nature still gives us as much water as it always did, but in the last 10 years our water management system has collapsed. We have stopped collecting water.
In rural areas, traditional methods of collecting water in talaabs (reservoirs) could have helped the situation, but the problem has been compounded by the fact that today there is greater water usage. Therefore, greater demand for water. We have changed our cropping patterns and introduced crop varieties that require more water.
When urban areas first came up they were self-sufficient and able to meet their own water needs. It is said that Delhi once had 350 big talaabs and many smaller ones that recharged groundwater during the monsoons. There were also 17 streams in Delhi, all of which recharged the Yamuna. Today, these streams have become nullahs (drains).
The problem started when land began gaining importance over water. Waterbodies were filled up and replaced by housing complexes and shopping malls. Out of the 350 talaabs, we are left with only five or six today. Whatever little water we once got from surface runoff has gone. All the roads in urban areas are paved; we don’t even leave enough space around trees! As a result, groundwater recharge rates have dropped drastically.
Today, both urban and rural areas suffer water shortages. But if there is a water shortage in a metro like Delhi people can afford to buy water. If there is a shortage of water in rural areas, or if waterbodies become polluted because of industries, villagers have to travel 10-15 km from their villages to access water. Most of Delhi’s migrant population constitutes villagers from Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan who have been uprooted from their homes because of acute water shortages.
What should be the policy on water distribution in rural and urban areas?
Nature dictates such policies. Our lifestyles should be based on the amount of water we have. For example, because the Konkan belt is water-rich it can afford to grow rice. Similarly, water-stressed areas should grow jowar and bajra -- crops that are discarded these days as they are considered the poor man’s diet.
The Bhakra dam was built in the hope that it would change the face of agriculture in our country. But it will only last for around 100-200 years, after which it is bound to silt up. When that happens the people of the state will have to once again shift from growing rice and wheat to growing bajra and jowar.
Nature keeps sending us reminders that what we consider to be development may not after all be development in the real sense. For example, Mumbai was considered a developed city until rains lashed the city in July 2005. Before that happened, people were not even aware of a river named Mithi in Mumbai. Now that it has wreaked havoc in the city we all know about it.
Similarly, there were once around 17-18 streams in Delhi, something that no one knows about today. High-rise buildings and malls have taken their place. It will take something like the Mumbai floods to bring back the memory of these streams.
Technological advances made in the recent past only help us distribute water, not collect it. Water will always have to be collected traditionally. Even a city like Mumbai relies on talaabs to meet its water needs. These talaabs are not located within the city but in the surrounding areas. Had there been a few talaabs within the city much of the floodwaters would have drained into them.
We have very few options. Demand for water in a populous city will be greater, so more spaces should be left for groundwater recharge. If this space cannot be accommodated within the city then politicians must ensure that space is made available in the surrounding areas.
Are the poor being deprived of their water rights?
Government policies seem to suggest that only the poor pollute. Slum evictions at Yamuna Pushta were carried out with this as the reason. Documentaries on pollution in the Yamuna all carry vivid pictures of dhobis washing clothes by the river. But the dhobis are washing the clothes of the entire city! It is not just the poor dhobi who is polluting the Yamuna, it is the entire city. Water from affluent colonies like Vasant Vihar in Delhi is probably more polluted, if not treated, than water from slum areas. Although there are treatment plants in Delhi they either do not function at all or do not work to full capacity.
The slums at Yamuna Pushta are now being replaced by the Akshardham temple and the Commonwealth Sports Complex. These development projects will pollute the Yamuna far more than the slum-dwellers ever would have.
There is a growing trend towards drawing water from water-rich areas of the country and making money out of it. Tankers go into these areas, lure residents with monetary benefits, and install tubewells in their localities. The tanker operators get maximum benefit out of such ventures; the residents lose out on their water resources only after a while. All the tankers that operate in Delhi have their water sources in the surrounding areas.
What are the grassroots reactions to vested interests in the water sector?
Today the reaction is one of surrender, not resistance. For years now our agricultural policies have been such that farmers are encouraged to sell their agricultural land to industrialists. In rural areas that border cities, vast tracts of agricultural land are being sold for short-term economic gain. For example, areas around Delhi like Noida and Ghaziabad were once agricultural areas. Urban expansion has always taken place on agricultural land.
Who suffers and who gains as a result of this?
In the long-term it is the farmer who suffers because his livelihood is taken away. The industrialists and builders gain in the short-term. Builders can build high-rises but they do not have access to any permanent source of water supply. The water that is available today for a small rural population will have to meet the needs of an expanding urban population with a much greater demand for water. A time may come when this water may no longer be available to anyone. After all, water that has been harvested in rural areas cannot match urban greed.
Can you suggest ways to counter this?
The paradox of our times is that when the government tries to save the environment, it ends up plundering it. For example, all industrial units operating in Delhi were asked to close down and were relocated to the surrounding areas. These are areas where farmers have invested in their talaabs for years to meet the needs of the villages. When industries are relocated to these areas they draw water from the talaabs, thereby depleting and polluting the water resources.
The Tarun Bharat Sangh has done some very good work in rainwater harvesting in Alwar district, Rajasthan. But land in those areas is now being sold to upcoming industries. Soon the government will designate it an industrial area. We can already see evidence of this in Bhiwani (Alwar), where water that was harvested for use by the villagers will now be drawn by industrialists and housing complexes. There is no doubt that the relocation of industries in Delhi will improve Delhi’s environment, but what about the environment of the surrounding rural areas? A comprehensive policy must be evolved so that both urban and rural areas can co-exist in a healthy environment.
Is privatisation of water distribution systems an option?
The government seems to have become resigned to the view that the tasks it has been incapable of performing will be better performed by private institutions. A good example of this is the privatisation of Delhi’s bus fleet. The private buses that were introduced did not serve the people any better. If anything, commuters face harassment every time they board a bus. They have no option but to accept these buses as their only means of transportation.
If this incompetence and inefficiency is reflected in water supply, the situation will become worse. I do not feel confident that there will be no flaws or fallacies in water privatisation.
What according to you is the alternative to privatisation of water utilities?
There was a time in our country when the ability and sensibilities of the people served to build and furnish ingenious and pragmatic life-support systems and systems for resource management; the lives of the people were fully integrated in them. But with the passage of time, the state usurped their resources. In the race to modernity, the autonomy, self-reliance and rights of people were abandoned. Ownership of resources and the rights of ownership were vested only with the government, and all resources became capital to be exploited.
There is an example of the time when there was hardly any distance between state and society. The Chandel kings once ruled Bundelkhand (part of present Uttar Pradesh). From 219 AD-1105 AD, 22 generations of kings built 22 big talaabs. Jagatraj, son of King Chattrasal, heard about some buried treasure, which he got dug up. When his father learnt of this he was extremely annoyed. But the deed was already done. So the king decided to use the treasure to do good. He ordered his son to renovate the old talaabs built by the Chandel kings before him. Also, to build some new ones. It took 22 generations to use up all the treasure. These 22 talaabs in Bundelkhand are testimony to the good fortune of a society that used its fortune to make its people fortunate.
If the government today is incapable of managing the country’s water resources or distributing it efficiently, it will only be a matter of time before private companies claim their own stake in this market. After all, no society can function in a vacuum. But if governments can evolve an effective water management system by involving resident welfare associations and making bhagidari systems more meaningful, then the power to manage water may well remain in government hands. Should the government fail to do this, private companies will play their role in the water market, leading to serious conflicts in urban areas.
How can community participation help ensure an efficient water management system in the country?
Community participation is important not only to ensure efficient water distribution but also at the decision-making level. At this level it is the communities that know what their requirements are and what needs to be done.
There is an ancient story about four brothers -- Kuran, Buran, Sarman and Korai. They rose early to go to their fields to till the land. Kuran’s daughter would come with lunch in the afternoons. One day, on her way to the fields, the girl stumbled on a sharp stone. In pain and anger she hit her scythe against the stone. As soon as she did this, the stone turned to gold. The girl picked up the stone, rushed to the fields and told her family what had happened. Kuran knew that the news would soon reach the king and that the precious gold would be taken away from them. So he decided it would be better to go and tell the king the whole story. But the king did not take away the gold; instead he asked Kuran to invest it in doing good -- to build talaabs.
It’s difficult to say whether this is a true story or legend. But in the Patan region of Madhya Pradesh there are four big talaabs named after the four brothers. In 1907, experts visiting the region recorded the story from scores of people. An on-site inspection of the four big talaabs identified one named after Sarman. It was so huge that it had three different villages on its banks; the talaab linked all three villages. It is remembered as Sarman Sagar.
Because of local communities and their tradition of building talaabs and harvesting water, even today, low rainfall does not necessarily mean drought.
Monday, February 16, 2015
IPL-8 Auction: Yuvraj, Karthik And Mathews 'Top-3' Buys
Left-hand all-rounder Yuvraj Singh and wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik were sold for big bucks in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction held on Monday ahead of the eighth season.
Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews and Indian leg-spinner Amit Mishra also fetched big money in the auction.
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