SELLING THE WRONG IDEA by Jagdish Bhagwati & Rajeev Kohli

Normally developing countries vie with each other to attract FDI in several sectors where the domestic savings and investments cannot ensure the latest technology and the robust infrastructure - both trade-related and manufacturing on its own. Gradually but slowly FDI has been permitted in India with some amount of restrictions like the maximum cap on the percentage of foreign investment, but a flood of opposition against FDI in retail has sprung up from various sections especially the constituents of UPA coalition Government at the Centre. Generally speaking the foreign direct investment is opposed on the following grounds:-

'First, there is the fear that the small 'mom-and-pop' retailers, who number in the millions will be crushed. This is a common fear when restrictions on the expansion of the larger retailers, even when entirely domestically owned, are proposed. When the Japanese restrictions on such expansion were repealed under US pressure, there was a similar fear. But little of what had been feared transpired. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General of UNCTAD, told one of us (Bhagwati) recently that when he had overseen similar Thai reform as deputy prime minister there had been widespread such fears; again they proved groundless. The same is true of China. What enables the little shop keepers to survive, even flourish?

In the absence of refrigerators and cars, most Indian customers do their shopping daily and from local stores 'down the road' or 'around the corner'. It is impossible also to establish personal rapport, which many consumers seek, with a Wal-Mart employee, the way one can with the local storekeeper.

Second, the proposed Indian reform additionally raises the traditional bogeyman about foreign direct investment (FDI) because the opening of the large stores is linked to the entry of foreign multi-brand retail grants such as Wal-Mart, Tesco and Carrefour. India today is perhaps the only developing country where the jaundiced view of FDI persists, everywhere else it has been consigned to the dustbin. In fact, most developing countries today compete to attract FDI".

If one cound recollect the days when the banking centre was computerised there was a huge opposition from the employees' unions, fearing that they would become unemployed due to the computers, but the reality is that nowadays no banking office can afford to work without the computer. Similar is the case in railway / airport reservations and also in the working of any Government or Corporate office in the country. Employment opportunities have neither fallen nor have the existing employees been thrown out of employment. On the other hand computerisation like mechanisation in other sectors has only added to the productivity and comfort levels of the workers involved in any human endeavour although individual attention is needed to maintain the specific quality or uniqueness in quality. When you speak of quality of products in large numbers there is no way of producing them unless it is done in large scale by sophisticated machines and trained manpower. Quality of work or service both at the production level and marketing level can be ensured only when large players are allowed to operate and maintain services. One reason for general opposition for FDI in retail is that small retailers will go out of job. Right now we are aware of the predicament of small farmers in regard to production of agri produce. Their operation is mostly uneconomical and they are either confronted with surplus production with uneconomical prices offered or not getting the full price for their products due to too many middle-men in the process. Similarly, the consumers may not have the variety of goods they would like to select from, and at a reasonable price. One remotest possibility at a future date could be that major players might become monopolists and corner the profits at the cost of producers and consumers. Such an eventuality can be averted by a strong democratic government at the centre and in the states.

I for one having seen the plight of both the producers and the consumers for more than four decades in the field would advocate the opening of the gates for FDI in retail during the next 10-20 years so that the Indian farmers start enjoying the latest technologies with huge investments from FDI and the retail market gets a boost-up on the lines we see normally in other developing and developed nations.

Cost-Vs-Price? OR Life-Vs-Death?

The Indian Express "From the Fields", new Delhi, Friday, November 18, 2011, reports through its correspondent Vivek Deshpande from Nagpur that 'even as political parties in Maharashtra, ruling and opposition alike, and farm activists have upped the ante for a hike in cotton minimum support price (MSP), a study of the cost-benefit ratio of cotton farming shows that there does exist a ground for immediate hike."

It's like the proverbial riddle -whether egg-first or hen-first? Is it the cost of cultivation that justifies the hiking support price or the uneconomical support price that leads to area-reduction in cotton cultivation?

Production/productivity varies from state to state mainly based on assured or protected irrigation to the farmers. In Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan irrigation is 100% for their cotton crop, while Maharashtra enjoys 7% and Vidarbha still less at 3%. Probably MSP is fixed for certain crops at the national level and the uniformity is maintained, whereas the conditions prevalent and the hardships undergone by the farmers in farming operation and crop returns differ widely from place to place. NCP leader Ajit Pawar has said at Yavatmal recently that the MSP be hiked to Rs.6,000/-. A study conducted by the Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR) has estimated that the cost of cotton production in backward regions like Vidarbha has gone up by 42% per quintal this year as compared to last year. In rupee terms, as against Rs.25,662/- it has gone up to Rs.36,359/- this year as indicated by economists A.R. Reddy and Anuradha Narala. Thus with the current MSP, the Vidarbha cotton farmer ends up suffering losses, which would certainly prove crippling for small and marginal farmers in particular. Many farm activists have claimed that cotton production has been hit this year due to erratic rains, a claim however, refuted by state officials. "A farmer with two acres of land will ideally produce up to 10 quintals with Bt cotton. And under the circumstances, he would lose Rs.7,000/- per annum at the MSP rate. That the open market prices save them from that blow, is a fact," said an official without wanting to be quoted.

The truth of the matter is that cotton farming and marketing has been thoroughly mismanaged both at the national and regional levels. Each region requires a thorough study of its local economy and the measures needed to be taken so that both the farming community in different states as well as the processing industry in the country are benefited at the end of the day. The Planning Commission in New Delhi and the Maharashtra State Planning Board at Mumbai need to study this aspect of farming economics in detail and suggest solid and viable remedies for implementation by both the Central and State Governments.

Ambitious Aim with Costly Consequence

A few decades ago higher education was not in the reach of many except for those scoring first divisions in their higher secondary exams and enjoying the loan scholarships granted by the state governments. But the scenario has changed since then and now a majority of the students with reasonable scores in the exams have started availing the educational loans made possible by the financial institutions liberally and at times vying with each other in disbursal of targeted sums in the presence of V.I.Ps.

The students are lucky to get loans for a variety of courses not only in India but also abroad. The employment opprtunities are also on the increase but not at the speed to all of them in which they are offered loans by the banks. In Tamil Nadu esp due to the efforts of Mr P.Chidambaram, the then Union Minister of Finance, the educational loans were disbursed with a vengeance. The aim was indeed praise-worthy.

Sometimes the provision is misused in such away that the undeserved too do get into the queue and the unscrupulous and mischievous staff in the banking sector has played a negative role resulting in the increase of non-performing assets (NPA) in educational loans. The latter stood at Rs 528.16 crore accounting for 5.02 % of educational loan business on June 30, 2011. There is no security required for educational loans up to Rs 4.00 lakh. Educational loans in India normally range between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 45 lakh with the repayment period being seven to 10 years. "Many students from North India pursuing engineering degrees in Tamil Nadu don't have a permanet address and it becomes difficult to track them once they complete the course" said S.N.Mishra , the convenor of State level Bankers ' Committee (SLBC) in Tamil Nadu.

There is no mechanism in the banking sector to ensure proper implementation of a scheme as usual in our delivery system. Educational loan scheme is no exception!

Stop-dams to store surplus rain water

One of the important inputs for profitable farming is irrigation through canals from dams and reservoirs or from underground sources. Umpteen are the ways and means by which we can store rain water for economical use during non-monsoon days, but unfortunately the successive governemnts both in the Centre and the states have been found wanting in their attempts to do the needful so far with the result most of the rain water gets drained into the ocean for ages. Construction of structures for storing rain water in several ways is one of the most important infrastructure development projects for agrarian revolution and prosperity to the farming community. A writer by name S Sheikh Abdul Khader ( Dinmani Daily, Tuesday, December 6, 2011) has emphasised the need for a series of stop dams and check dams along the river Tamirabarani in South Tamil Nadu so that the surplus rain water can be conserved for irrigaion and drinking water purposes in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts during lean days. As per his reporting the river originates from the Western Ghats (Poongulam) and runs for 120 KMs irrigating as much as 2.55 lakh acres before meeting the sea. It is a perennial river by receiving rains from both the South-West and North-East monsoons.

The author of this posting too has been advocating this idea for the last 30 years in several of his writngs on water resources of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states.

Farmers at the Receiving End?

Tirumalisai near Chennai is set to be a new satellite town that has been in the offing for quite sometime now. The idea was originally floated in 1996 keeping in mind some five villages of Tiruvallur District with 2500 acres for the purpose. But the exercise was dropped looking to the opposition from the farming community. An attempt was mde in 2001 with 1700 acres. Again in 2006 the area was reduced to 466 acres. The present government again renewed its plan to start the project in 2011 with a proposal to acquire some 311 acres from those five villages namely Tirumalisai, Kuttambakkam, Chembarabakkam, Parvadarajapuram and Vellavedu. The allegation of the farmers is that the authorities mainly of Tamil Nadu Housing Board have been falsely representing to the state government that the lands proposed for acquisition are rain-fed areas whereas they are actually irrigated paddy fields. Some 300 farmers with 2000 agricultural labourers and their families are dependent on farming. They are apprehensive of not only losing their livelihood but also getting uprooted from their households.

It is better to inspect the spot by a committee of ministers and higher officials before deciding on the proposal of setting up the satellite town on this stretch of land near Chennai.

There is no doubt that we need a town nearby to ease this situation from Chennai city but at the same time one has to be careful and sympathetic towards the concerns of the farmers. And we can hardly afford to lose the paddy fields for the sake of concrete jungles. Otherwise we may have to face another Singur-type of a situation in Tamil Nadu too.

Bottom to the Peak

I salute another Indian brain who breathed his last in Concord, Massachusetts, USA on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 after achieveing Nobel Prize in 1968 for his role in deciphering the genetic code along with two others. He was Har Gobind Khorana who rose from a childhood of poverty in India to become a world-famous bio-chemist in his times. He died at the age of 89 while his life-partner Esther Elizabeth Sibler predeceased him ten years ago "who in fact brought a consistent sense of purpose into my life at a time when, after six years' absence from the country of birth, I felt out of place everywhere and at home nowhere". Dr Khorana became an American citizen in 1966. He joined the MIT faculty in 1970 and retired in 2007 as a professor emeritus.

A genius finds a place in history invariably whether in homeland or abroad depending on his contributions to the society he belongs to or to the humanity as a whole. Let his soul rest in peace.

Unworthy World?

For Berlusconi, the powerful Italian politician as prime minister, perhaps only next to Mussolini in recent decades, his defeat or loss of majority on the floor of Parliament the other day was such an unbearable reality that he wrote on a piece of paper calling those 8 members otherewise loyal to him till then as 'traitors' who voted against him.

The world over including the famous Roman Empire, there have been traitors in our midst who take the opposite position in times of grave and adverse situation to the master or the friend in command till then and inflict injuries. The best example was that of Brutas stabbing his master Julius Caesar.

DIFFERENT STROKES for DIFFERENT FOLKS

Look at the plea of V.S.Sunder on "Kings of the Road"

"The prize for exclusivity easily goes to the roadways authorities. I shall substantiate the foregoing claim with evidence from one of the model roads in Chennai, since I am familiar with Chennai; and I am sure that the resident of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, ..., can easily identify the analogous models in her city. Consider what used to be a lazy one-lane road called 'Old Mahabalipuram Road' and is now a four-lane toll road, re-christened 'Rajiv Gandhi Salai' and often referred proudly to as the IT highway of Chennai, owing to its being liberally dotted with blue glass fronted eyesores housing offices of IT giants such as Infosys, Cognizant, Satyam. No stone has been left unturned to ensure that the BMWs and Hondas - not to mention the poor relatives churned out by Hyundai and Maruti - can zip through a distance of some 20 kilometres in half an hour. But this 'great progress' has come with a price tag.

"Consider the following illustration of what I mean:

The stretch at the north end of this road (the end closest to the city) has a 3 foot-high road divider for a continuous stretch of about 3 km. The only way to cross this road is at one of three foot-bridges, each of which involves negotiating about 45 steps, or to take your life in your hands, dash across the two halves of the road and hurdle the road divider mid-way (which option is taken by many people with a death-wish) in between occasional lulls in a traffic averaging 70-80 kmph (in an allegedly 40 kmph zone). At a busy 'Tidal Park' traffic signal, arguably one of the more crowded intersections of the city, there is no pedestrian crossing, and many roads can be crossed only if you can join a human sea coming out of the train station at the crossing and simply walk across even as another sea of cars and motor-cycles is honking-away and trying to cross the intersection when they do have a green signal! God help you if you are mobility challenged (as I am), and are not as fortunate as I am to have a car to take you zipping along for anything between 0 and 3 km, pull a U-turn, and zip along for another 3 km in the opposite direction before you can get of this 'avenue of the gods'! What should we do in order to have an inclusive society which recognises the rights of everybody to exist?" (TOI Saturday, October 8, 2011).

Such an unimaginative planning and execution for the sake of a facility to be in place!! Nobody down the line enjoys any common sense and accountability?

God help this nation!

Grand celebration of unsung Indian heroes

Hats off to T.O.I !!

It was a Sunday evening and a national holiday (October 2, 2011) to boot - and they could have all preferred to be somewhere else. But these V.I.Ps turned up because they believed in the cause that the Times Social Impact Awards sought to espouse and champion. They made it a very special occasion where Page 1 seamlessly blended with Page 3 and every other page in a newspaper.

It was a celebration of real tasks performed by India's real heroes and they - India's A-list leaders from every colour of the political spectrum from PM Manmohan Singh to L. K Advani to Sitaram Yechury, top corporate bosses (Kumar Mangalam Birla, Shashi Ruia), activists-academics (Sunita Narain, Madhu Kishwar) and artists (Dolly Thakore, Prasoon Joshi) - all came to the Taj Palace Hotel. Their presence at Durbar Hall underlined India Shining's commitment to India Invisible - a reaffirmation of the idea of India itself.

Two events of the evening will stay forever embossed in the memory, said renowned Magsaysay Award-winning social activist Ela Bhatt. "I really appreciate the concept of linking the beneficiary with the winner. It was a great gesture to make the beneficiaries give away the awards. It sort of completes the cycle," said the founder of SEWA.(TOI, Tuesday,October 14, 2011)

I have nothing to add except to again and again admire the timely and thoughtful action of the Times of India group for having acted differently.

Mismanagement cost TNEB dear

C.A.G says "Utility Failed To Add Capacity As Per Requirement: 5 Projects Missed Deadline"

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has pulled up the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board for gross mismanagement, resulting in losses running into several hundred crores. The audit report for 2009-2010, which was tabled in the assembly the other day, pointed out that as against a required capacity addition of 3,977 MW between 2005 and 2010, the state added a meager 290 MW. Five projects missed their time schedule during the period owing to improper project management. It resulted in a cost over-run of Rs 392.37 crore. Projects that failed to meet the deadlines include Bhavani Kattalai barrages II and III, which missed the target due to delay in award of work and delay in execution. The up-gradation of Sholayar and Periyar power houses, which were included in the National Electricity Plan for completion in 2006-2009, were not included in the state plan and were not taken up for implementation.

What a wretched system prevalent in the government? The people concerned never seemed to be serious and sincere in their work during this period. What forced them to remain inactive in taking decisions and executing them? This certainly needs to be probed so that such delay and indifference in work doesn't get replicated again and again putting the people to lot of hardships in future.

PAC attacks CAG

In an unusually sharp attack on the CAG, some Public Accounts Committee (PAC) members recently alleged that the auditor's reports were based on "fraud" and "untruth" and must be revised. According to the minutes of the eighth and ninth sittings of the PAC held on October 10, 2011 some members launched an unprecedented attack on the government auditor saying its reports were "politically motivated". The meeting was also attended by CAG Vinod Rai. Some members pointed out that Joshi "had already clarified that it would not be appropriate to draw inferences merely on the basis of some news reports" and agreed to have a future interaction with Rai and R P Singh, the former director-general who oversaw the 2G audit and who had expressed his reservations initially about assessing 2G losses

What a guess in a mess! Who is to arrive at the truth or atleast nearer to the truth? Won't it be a fun in Indian democracy if someone tomorrow proves that it was all a fallacy to calculate the loss as Rs 1,76,000 crore and the entire media hype on this was only a drama of the first order wherein a few culprits were alone tortured and not all the actors who took part in it?

God help us all!

Getting to know the abc of CAG- (The Hindu, October 25, 2011)

"Many of the criticisms of the CAG are based on ignorance, misperception and elementary error, and it seems necessary to put matters in the right perspective."

By Ramaswamy R. Iyer

I quite agree with the reasoning made by the writer in regard to the role of CAG.

"Should the CAG question policy decisions? The answer that immediately suggests itself would be "No", but consider the following hypothetical cases: (i) the financial implications of a policy were not gone into at all before the decision was made; (ii) the assessment of financial implications was quite clearly wrong; (iii) the numbers were correct but the reasoning behind the decision was specious or fallacious; or (iv) the financial implications in fact turn out to be far higher than the assessment on which the decision was made. In such cases, would it not in fact be the CAG's duty as the instrument of accountability, to comment on such a policy?

Further, if the CAG is bound by his (or her) oath of office to uphold the Constitution, can he (she) refrain from commenting on something that prima facie seems unconstitutional? If the government were to formulate a scheme or policy that selectively confers benefits from public funds on an individual or group to the exclusion of others on no stated grounds, or on grounds which seem questionable, would it not be the CAG's duty to point this out?

If the above understanding is correct, then the various activities that the CAG has been undertaking, such as propriety audit, performance evaluations, and so on, are clearly well within his ambit, as different modalities of ensuring accountability. Moreover, there are two other groounds for this understanding; century-old traditions, and international consensus.

Internationally, there are Auditors General, Comptrollers General, Audit Commissions, and other forms of what are known as Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) not only in democratic countries, but even in authoritarian systems. In India, the CAG is the SAI. There are professional organisations such as the International Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and the Asian counterpart (ASOSAI) in which the Indian SAI plays an important part, and is held in high esteem. The relevant point in the present context is that the Indian CAG has not stretched the audit function beyond the functions performed by other SAIs.

Finally, we come to the question of publicity. The CAG's reports have suffered from too little and not too much publicity. One of the major weaknesses of the Indian system is that very few of the CAG's reports are widely known, and that not all of them get discussed in Parliament. Some years ago, press conferences began to be held after the Audit Reports were placed before Parliament, and that practice continues. This is not a new departure introduced by the present CAG. If the CAG is to become more effective as an institution for the enforcement of accountability, it is necessary that Audit Reports be more widely known and discussed. The people have a right to know their contents. If, as a result of the CWG and the 2G controversies, the CAG and his reports are now better known than before, that is a very good development. If the present CAG manages to enhance the effectiveness of this constitutional institution, the country would owe a debt of gratitude to him.

At last we have got a CAG now who means business and plays an active role.

ARSENIC POISONING GANGA BELT

Over thousands of years, arsenic has been washing down from the Himalayas with the Ganga water as sediment. It remained within permissible limits and did no harm till around the 1970s. But due to deaths in the Gangetic belt caused mainly by the unhygienic pattern of water consumption and poor sanitary conditions, the government and UNICEF sank millions of tubewells. For a few years, the overall health of people no doubt improved. Unfortunately another problem set in. Indiscriminate pumping out of ground water, not only for domestic use but also for farming, saw the water table going down very fast. This in turn increased arsenic in the ground water. The result: Locals got exposed to high levels of arsenic. "In places where there is large scale withdrawal, ground water gets aerated and the arsenic compounds present in the water get degraded by the oxygen. Arsenic also has an affinity for iron, so arsenic-laced water will usually have a yellow tinge due to the presence of iron," Prof Dipankar Chakraborty, Director at the School of Environment Studies at Jadavpur University says after carrying out extensive work in the arsenic-affected parts of UP, Bihar and Bangladesh.

Man proposes, God disposes? What to do? Let the scientists find a solution to this unexpected disease and disorder in the belt.

Economy Slips for Want of Leadership?

As rightly deplored by Abheek Barman in his article in Times of India on Sunday, October 30, 2011,it isn't interest rates but absence of political leadership that is stalling growth in India at the moment. He has very interestingly referred to a dinner party attended by the bankers at a Delhi restaurant on Monday night, a group of bankers asked themselves whether RBI governor Duvvuri Subbharan would raise interest or hold rates the next morning. "The 4-2 majority was in favour of a hold. Next day rates were hiked for the 13th time in a row. Several banks and brokerages criticized the move. After all, 12 rounds of hikes hadn't tamed inflation". At MF Global, economist Anjali Verma argued, "If the RBI's objective is to stimulate growth, it becomes unclear how a repo rate hike, along with the decontrol of banks' savings rates would achieve this goal." But obviously the Bank's primary interest now is to tame inflation. And by Thursday, when food inflation numbers came in at 11% plus, ripples of worry spread out across the political system. "Higher or lower growth worries business leaders and economists. High inflation eats away at everyone's income. Prices have to cool well before elections start," said a senior Congress politician.

Dr Manmohan Singh is confronted with more and more nerve-breaking issues on daily basis like in the case of graft allegations swallowing ministers one by one in his government. "His ability to over-rule cabinet colleagues, as he did in 2010 when pushing through subsidy cuts, has weakened. And the perception that Singh stood by as his cabinet colleagues captured policy-making has definitely hurt him," writes Dubey. He further indicates that three options are being discussed: First, status quo with Singh as PM and the government muddling through second, a new PM with A K Antony or long-shot Meira Kumar as candidates, and finally, to get Rahul Gandhi into the top job.

His analysis seems to be correct and the way the Indian leadership is received and respected in international circles also points to this reality. The sooner this issue is tackled by the party and the government the better would be for this country and the economy.

Desi companies paying lesser bribes?

When it comes to companies bribing public officials when doing business overseas, India's score with 7.5 points is 19th, while China (6.5 points) and Russia (6.1 points) fared the worst at the 27th and 28th positions in ranking respectively. In this year's list, the Netherlands and Switzerland have been ranked together on top with 8.8 points each - indicating that companies from these countries were the least likely to pay a bribe while doing business abroad.. "Bribing public officials when doing business abroad is a regular occurrence," Transparency International admits.

It seems bribery is an essential ingredient of overseas business in most of the countries!

Modern Face of Illegal Insider Trading

The fallen (Galleon Group) hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajatatnam received the longest prison sentence on record (11-year term) along with a fine of $ 10 million for insider trading on Thursday (October 13, 2011), a watershed moment in the US federal government's aggressive two-year campaign to root out the illegal exchange of confidential information on Wall Street. This case will be the wake-up call for all those who want to pursue profit through corrupt means.

In keeping with the federal sentencing guidelines passed in 1987 the judgments these days are quite severe in awarding prison terms for white-collar criminals.

A similar trend in Indian democracy is preferred in the case of those civil servants who work for the self-interest of the top politicians by mortgaging their consciousness and the public interest day-in and day-out. The problem would be how to collect evidence and prosecute those individuals with long-term sentences befitting the quantum of illegal sums cornered by such persons while in office. It is possible only when the higher judiciary gains courage and concludes criminal cases in the least time-frame.

JUSTICE DELAYED OR BURIED?

It is a paradox that at all levels of the judiciary, the Government is the biggest litigant fighting the common man. A stunning example is provided by Neethivilangan, an employee of Cheran Roadways Corporation(CRC) at Cuddalore who was dismissed from service when he was 34 years old. He moved the tribunal against the dismissal order. The tribunal quashed the dismissal order and directed for reinstatement. The CRC approached the high court which refused to reverse the tribunal order in 1998. The supreme court also refused to approve his dismissal. Normally the Apex Court order means the end of a litigation. But this unfortunate employee was forced to avail another petition in the high court in 1999 after the CRC did not take him back. This round of litigation also ended when the Apex Court dismissed the CRC's special leave petition. The authorities invented a new way to defeat the second order of the apex court. Neethivilangan was reinstated in service on July 16, 2001 only to be suspended on the same evening and dismissed later. The poor man embarked on another round of litigation. This time directly before the Apex Court which advised him to file an execution petition before the subordinate courts for implementing its orders. What a remedy or punishment for this ordinary soul? The so-called execution petition is still being heard by the Cuddalore Labour Court, which is unable to settle it because the CRC management had been taking adjournments. As this is not enough, a Criminal case pending in 2006 was cited for his removal. But luckily he got acquitted from all these criminal charges too. So another round of litigation started this time challenging his second removal from service. This also ended with the Madras High Court quashing it. Though he could have been reinstated in 3 months time, the authorities have not complied with that order, instead they have preferred a special leave petition which is yet to be numbered in the Apex Court.

It is an irony that the Apex court of this country is unable to execute its own order and this had unfortunately been forcing the litigant to approach the subordinate level courts for its execution. It indeed tells volumes on the inefficiency and inadequacy of Indian Judiciary system. Now the litigant is 62 years old and throughout his career he has been fighting against the Government and its agencies. Probably he would be bestowed with justice only after he reaches the God’s abode. What a wretched system is prevailing in this country? If this is the speed of delivering natural justice, then not a single common man can hope to get justice from this legal system in 99% of the cases pending before the courts.

To top it all, one hears that the State Government of Tamil Nadu has introduced a new litigation policy that seeks to eradicate the practice of authorities preferring appeals mechanically. If the Tamil Nadu Government is serious about this well-intended policy. this should be the first case to lose from its side.

(Times of India, Monday, Octobher 10, 2011)

HOW TO OVERCOME INJUSTICE BY SURRENDERING JUSTICE?
Later in the month of August, 2011 Delhi Police received a complaint against a boy named Fakruddin that he pickpocketed a sum of Rs.200/- and had stolen an ATM card from the complainant. Although he claimed innocence, he was picked up from Okhla Mandi and sent to Tihar Jail. The Magistrate refused to release him on bail. After 9 months, he was permitted to proceed on bail on production of security for a sum of Rs.10,000/-. He was unable to produce security and hence he was sent back to Tihar Jail. The funniest part is that the boy could be convicted for a maximum of 3 months only for stealing Rs.200/- whereas he had already spent more than a year in the jail. As an intelligent guy, he later on admitted his fault so that he could be released without any further jail term because he had already been punished with 4 times of the punishment given in the statute (law) book. The actual offence in this case was not his theft but his poverty.

One can never be sure as to how our esteemed police and judiciary are going to provide justice in thousands and thousands of cases pending all over India.

Arab Spring

Road to Democracy was laid by the common citizens through a revolution in the Northern African country, namely, Tunisia on January 14, 2011 which resulted in the overthrow of 23-year presidency of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after a month-long uprising stirred by the anger at unemployment, corruption and repression.

Voters are for the first time freely electing a 217-seat assembly that will appoint a new government and then write a new constitution. (Times of India, Monday, October 24, 2011) The turnout of Tunisians exceeded all expectations, claimed the elections Chief Kamel Jendoubi. A former political prisoner standing in the queue in front of a polling booth remarked “ It is a historic day , a moment of joy and celebration”.

Another country in the same region namely Libya declared itself liberated on Sunday, October 23, after 42 years of rule by Muammar Gaddafi who was mercilessly gunned down that day.

The people of that region want liberation and freedom to rule by democratic means. Dictatorship has had never enabled the economies to overcome the issues of unemployment, corruption and inequality of incomes and wealth despite abundant natural resources and limited population in those nations.

Controlled capitalism alone can deliver the good in a disciplined democracy.

BREAKING SILENCE AFTER A WHILE (Times of India Editorial on June 30, 2011)

"He is not in silent mode. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seemingly sought to convey this message by interacting with media persons". 'What’s expected today of politicians is accessibility, transparency and accountability, as manifested in willingness to provide ready answers to people’s questions".

"Singh did well to signal readiness to be under the Lokpal’s ambit. In fighting corruption, the prime minister’s office must set an example. For, any manmade institution, it too can be vulnerable to taint. Rathen than weaken the top office, scrutiny by the Lokpal – subject to checks and balances – will make it stronger, more upright and accountable".

"Singh justifiably says combating black money, tax evation and corruption is not a one time operation. But surely more urgency is needed to push technology aided transparency in Government dealings and systemic and regulatory reform, including by curbing discretionary powers and exposing sources of political funding".

What is needed basically at this juncture is the boldness with which the highest authority of land can maintain sincerity, impartiality and uprightness even at the cost of one's own position, status and perk. Everything else will fall in place automatically. Only those individuals with such qualities of leadership will find a place in the History of India.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE UNDER SIEGE

Saturday, October 15, 2011 witnessed an unprecedented global outcry against the capitalism under practice in several democracies. The protesters launched world-wide street demonstrations against the corporate greed and biting cutbacks in a roaring action targeting 951 cities in 82 countries. The inspiration has come from America’s “Occupy Wall Street” and Spain’s “Indignants” and the people took to the streets of Sydney, Hong Kong and Tokyo as well.

It was the biggest show of power yet by a movement born on May 15 when a rally in Madrid’s central square of Puerta del Sol sparked a protest that spread internationally. The deprived world and their citizens living on the edge of poverty and unemployment have no other option except to express their anger in the form of street demonstration and to make a hue and cry on their fate. It is a testing time for the well-to-do under the garb of Financial Wizards, Corporate CEOs, mighty Media Moguls, Tinsel-world Titans, Banking Czars, Under-world Mafias which enjoy enormous clout of money power and muzzle power and which would try to keep the under privileged, the lower middle classes and the deprived groups of human beings always under their control. The exploitation of the existing access to inherited wealth, accumulated assets and manipulated values of stocks and shares in the stock market has enabled such suckers of human capital and financial assets to survive successfully. The crony capitalism has been ruling all sorts of governments on this globe through their invisible control and guidance of the rulers, the so called protectors of citizenry within their boundaries. The suppressed anger is against the existing set up and systems of governance and free market economy exhibiting their ugly face in the form of unlimited inflation, uncontrollable unemployment and chronic inequalities in the distribution of wealth. There was a time when the defects of communism over-powered these predicaments and the merits of capitalism took an upper hand resulting in the disintegration of Soviet Russia and controlled liberalisation of Chinese economy. But unfortunately the man’s greediness has become so powerful and so overwhelming that its deficiencies and defects have assumed such alarming proportions that slogans like death to capitalism and freedom to people have sprung up in countries like Philippines, Canada(Montreal, Vancauver and Toronto) too. The democracies were under seige is evident from the following statements:

“Who do you think pays the taxes” said one long time money manager. “Financial services are one of the last things we do in this country and do it well. Let us embrace it. If you want to keep having jobs outsourced, keep attacking financial services.” He added that he was disappointed that members of Congress from New York, especially senator Charles E Schumer and senator Kirsten Gillibrand, had not come out swinging for an industry that donates heavily to their campaigns. “They need to understand who their constituency is” he said.

The time is running out for the well-to-do to realise the need for a limit to their hold on global wealth and incomes. Sooner the better.

A CALL TO LEADERSHIP

The second open letter has been addressed to India’s political leadership by a group of eminent citizens, namely, Deepak Parekh, N Vaghul, Ashok Ganguly, Jamshyd Godrej, justice Sam Variava, M Narasimham, Yezdi Malegam, Anu Aga, A Vaidyanathan, Bimal Jalan, Keshub Mahindra, Azim Premji, Nachiket Mor and Justice B.N.Srikrishna

On January 17, 2011, a group of like minded citizens deeply concerned with the state of affairs of the nation, addressed an open letter to our leaders. This letter focused on four issues: one - growing governance deficit; two - galloping corruption; third - the need to distinguish between ‘dissent’ and ‘disruption’; four - environmental challenges. The open letter received wide exposure in the public domain and was generally perceived as being timely.

The group now wishes to put forward some issues which call for urgent attention and action to make reforms effective and have a positive and perceptible impact on citizens’ day-to-day life.

First the common man is a silent spectator and sufferer due to his inaccessibility to the constitutional remedies. Several antiquated laws need to be overhauled soon to reflect contemporary realities and land, judicial, electoral and police reforms are to be put in place.

Second, the strong nexus between corporate, politicians, bureaucrats and power brokers is to be thwarted at any cost inasmuch as this is one of the greatest threats to Indian economy.

Third, even the best crafted legislation will remain on paper unless effective redressal mechanisms are devised and implemented.

Fourth, while we appreciate and support the need for environmental protection, it should be recognized that there is an impasse on environmental clearances which continue to delay several investment proposals and hamper economic growth. This dichotomy needs to be addressed in the light of the efficiency and commitment by the government agencies.

Western Ghats Unable to Sustain Fresh-water Eco-system

Several fresh water species of fish, invertebrates, dragonflies, damselflies and aquatic plants in the western ghats may soon become extinct because of water pollution from agricultural and urban sources, overfishing and invasive species. According to a study by Zoo Out-reach organization, Coimbatore and international Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN), the world’s foremost authority on threatened species, atleast 16% of the 1146 freshwater species face extinction. Globally too, fresh water fish are the most susceptible group with more than a third (37%) of the 290 species at risk.

Among the vanishing species is the Deccan mahseer (tor khudree), one of the most sought after fish in peninsular India. Over-harvesting, invasive species and pollution have led to a drastic fall in its numbers.Who is there to take care of this development and protect the species getting extinct? Is it the inevitable fate of the flora and fauna of this planet?

EXCUSE ME, ARE YOU THE PRIME MINISTER?

Hey Ram! the passenger on the London underground train, who happened to be a Indian Lady with three months old kid stumbled upon a person in formal suit who voluntarily commented on the beauty of the child. The gentleman was none other than the Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Mr David Cameron. She could not believe her eyes that she was travelling with Prime Minister of that Country in the underground train. The reason why he travelled in the tube rail was that the traffic over the ground was very busy and he wanted to reach his work place quickly and hence he travelled without any paraphernalia alongwith other commoners in the train. The author is equally stunned at the simplicity exhibited by the first citizen of the United Kingdom Government in comparison to the type of pomp and show one confronts on the streets and roads of Indian Sub Continent where even the smallest public representative tries to exhibit his/her importance in the eyes of the public.

ELECTORAL REFORMS

Government of India is planning to amend the law to disqualify those who have been accused of heinous offences and against whom trial courts have framed charges. The existing law, namely, the Representation of Peoples Act leaves a loop hole that has been adequately exploited by criminals to enter the legislation so far. The criminal cases normally drag on for decades and also result in long delays due to pending appeals against convictions.

Heinous offences listed under the proposal include Terror, Murder, Kidnapping of any form, Counterfeiting of Stamp Paper or Currency, Sexual assaults against the women, offences under the anti narcotic drugs law and sedition. The proposal also has a provision to fund the election expenses of women candidates from Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe/OBC communities whose annual income is less than Rs.5 lakh and family assets less than Rs.22 lakhs.

The author is partially happy that there is some progress in the thinking of Government of India to proceed in the direction of cleansing the political arena by making few amendments in the electoral law. The ultimate requirement will be achieved only when there are drastic amendments to the basic structure of Indian Constitution as suggested by the Author in his blog dt.4.8.2011

INDIA’S INFRASTRUCTURE IN LIMBO

Parliament's Estimates Committee has deplored that National Highways Development Scheme has suffered an all-time delay in its execution. It had strongly condemned the action of Central High Way and Surface Transport Ministry in its latest report. It is reported that National Highways Authority has taken up the work of construction of 7300 K.Ms of 4 - 6 lane roads which are supposed to connect Srinagar to Kanyakumari and Porbandar to Silchar. But unfortunately there has been consistent delay in the execution of this project. In fact it was supposed to be completed by 2009. Despite the delay, the work still remains incomplete. It is also sadly reported that even agreements for construction of 444 K.Ms have not yet been signed so far. Probably such a delay and incompetency in the execution of this work has been due to faulty planning. The estimates committee has exhorted Ministry of National High Ways and Surface Transport to delegate adequate power to the National Highway Authority of India. It is a known fact that the Ministry of Highways had already been taken to task for delay in the execution of Golden Quadrilateral road network. It is to be remembered that the quadrilateral road net work connecting Delhi-Kolkota and Chennai-Mumbai (5846 K.Ms) had to be executed by 2004.

Where is the Planning Commission? What is the P.M's Economic Advisory Council doing?

TITANS BITING DUST

Cricket Team India, the winners of the world cup a few months ago went on tour to England last month. They lost both One day and Test Series and also a T.20 game. They could not register a single win against England with a disastrous performance of losing 4 test matches, 5 one days and a T20 match. One does not know why such a collapse for world leaders all of a sudden – may be due to injury suffered by some team members, but such a debacle was never expected from great players like M.S.Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and a few others who could not unfortunately put up a better and winning performance. It is high time Sachin Tendulkar leaves the team and trains some other youngsters to take his place. Such a defeat and humiliation should not be taken lightly but a thorough review of performance should be undertaken by BCCI and corrective steps taken immediately so that the position No.1 gained by Team India could be restored as quickly as possible.

GREATER CHENNAI

The Tamil Nadu Government had decided in 2009 to create the Greater Chennai by merging Municipalities, Town Panchayats and Panchayats numbering about 46 with the Chennai Corporation. At present the newly-created Greater Chennai has 200 wards. Now at present Elections to all these (527) urban bodies - corporations to town panchayats - are going to polls in October, 2011. Now according to the present scheme of things, direct elections are being held for the posts of Mayor and the Chairman of Municipalities as it was in practice till 2006.

There are advantages and disadvantages in merging this suburban municipal bodies to the Greater Chennai. The proximity of these settlements on the boundaries of Chennai Corporation would stand to gain by the efforts of Greater Chennai with the help of Government of Tamil Nadu. There is no doubt that the volume of work in terms of cleaning of roads, collection of garbage & sewage, creation and maintenance of public park and garden, provision of drinking water, laying of good and motorable all weather roads, construction and maintenance of sewage lines and rain water drainage, proper lighting and control of traffic on major roads as well as junctions would increase on a massive scale. All these tasks will certainly entail an extra-ordinary amount of money, man power and mechanization. All these things will get reflected in the form of expectations and efforts of Councillers elected to the Corporation. The co-ordination of both officials and elected representatives as well as the co-ordination among the line departments would be needed for developing a clean and green Chennai.

Remember the earlier attempts made by the British Administration during pre independence days to allow self rule to the Indian citizens in the form of municipal administration. The Rippon Building near Central Railway Station in Chennai is a standing testimony to this phenomenon wherefrom all the city seniors did take pains to develop Chennai Metro from the beginning of 20th century.

ANNA CENTENARY LIBRARY

Thanks to the efforts of Kalaignar Karunanidhi who took extra interest in creating a world class library in the City of Chennai by spending nearly 200 crores of rupees. It may be remembered that this library was inaugurated on September 15, 2010. This being the biggest library in South Asia has 9 floors and six lakh books on a plinth area of 3.75 lakh Sq.Ft wherin about 1200 persons can be accomodated at a time. On an average 1500 persons are visiting this library and the number goes to 2200 during holidays. Even after one year of its inauguration the library’s manuscript section and digital library section are not yet ready for use. People are apprehensive whether this library would become another self-sustaining unit or not. The computerisation of the library is still incomplete and the amount of expenditure needed to run satisfactorily and maintenance would involve lakhs of rupees every month.

It is to be seen whether the present state government would pay adequate attention and extend financial support to maintain it in the name of the DMK founder Sri C.N.Annadurai.

CHINA’S PARTY VERDICT ON 90TH ANNIVERSARY: MAO DID IT ALL WRONG

In line with the aim and aspirations of China’s leaders three great things were announced on the eve of 90th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party:
1) China opened the World’s longest cross sea bridge spanning 42 K.Ms built over 4 years at a cost of 1.5 billion Euro Dollars. Jiaozhou Bay bridge links eastern port city of Qingdao to Huangdao island.
2) World’s longest natural gas pipeline was also operationalised from the China-Kazakhstan border to Turkmenistan. The 8700 KM long pipeline is designed to provide stable gas supply for atleast 30 years, powering the booming industrial zones in Shanghai, Gunagzhou and Hongkong.
3) A high-speed bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai which will take under five hours was flagged off on Thursday, zipping at 300kph (capable of 350 kph). China has the world’s longest high-speed rail network.

China thinks big and does bigger things - Hats off to Communist Leaders. Despite massive population and comparatively poverty ridden society, the Government is bent on doing and improving things. They find pleasure in setting world records and achieving these heights – take any sector for that matter – be it Sports and Games, Production of Steel, Cement, Road and Rail Infrastructure, Navy & Army, Industrial growth and productivity.

He might be the founding father of the People’s Republic of China, but the economic policies Mao Ze Dong followed have few takers today in the Communist Party of China(CPC) which believes “he did it all wrong”. In fact as it celebrates its 90th anniversary, the party says Mao’s ways resulted in “chaos in entire society” and it was a policy crafted out of the lessons learnt from his failures that have put China on a path to economic glory.

The CPC now attributes its success in stirring economic development in China in the past three and half decades to economic reforms propounded by Mao’s successor Deng Xiaoping, and its ability to learn from past failures. “Mao did it all wrong because he tried to develop the economy in a revolutionary way,” Xie Chuntao(Xie), Vice Director of the Party History Department, said, Xie said “Mao told his collegues in Yan’an (his home province) that the Party must let the masses to supervise the Government. He then began his way of implementing democracy, which resulted in chaos in the entire society” Bold admission and announcement indeed!!

The CPC, which had its ups and downs in its 62 year uninterrupted rule of China, will turn 90 on Thursday and is currently carrying out a massive campaign to revitalize itself by recreating its past spirit. Xie said the liberalized atmosphere brought in by Deng has made CPC take decisions with objective reality.

GANDHI AND HIS FOLLOWERS

Gandhi Jayanthi was celebrated as usual on October 2, 2011 all over India. The main function was in Raj Ghat, Delhi where alongwith the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh, the senior leader of B JP Mr.L.K.Advani too paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi. Simultaneously Mr.Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat paid a visit to Porbandar in Gujarat the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi. He visited Keerti Mandir, the actual birth place of Gandhi and participated in inter-religious prayer and inaugurated Gandhi Smrithi Bhavan situated in Chowpathi grounds, Porlbandar. On the internet Mr.Modi stated, he is proud of being a son of the soil of Gujarat, the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi who transformed the world. He also exhorted the people to buy the Khadi products by which one could help the poor in ameliorating their condition as advocated by Mahatma Gandhi. He further stated that by buying Khadi cloth one could really pay a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.

We are glad that Mahatma has found the supporter and sympathizer even in the midst of the political opponents hailing from RSS camp.

LET GOOD SENSE PREVAIL

As on Saturday, October 1, 2011, Tamil Nadu witnessed 8 custodial deaths since AIADMK Government ascended to power on May 16, 2011. The aged parents of K.Muthu were seen grieving outside the mortuary of the General Hospital where they had to pick up the body of their only son who died in police custody at Virugambakkam. It was a sight that can hardly be forgetten. It seems everything is lost for the parents. K.Muthu from Cuddalore with Kollywood's dream came to Chennai to die in the hands of Police after being chased and nabbed by them on the allegation that he alongwith one Hameed had stolen 25 sovereign of gold and Rs.12,000/- cash from a City Hotel.

“Police excesses have become rampant in TN. Unless the Police personnel in uniform are tried for murder, they will not change. (P,Pugalenthi, Advocate)

“Muthu fled his home when he was 17 years old, to become an actor. Failure, distress and poverty drove the youngster to petty crime. Police said Muthu and Sahul Hameed used to enter hotels and steal valuables from guests.”

Let the police be human in their approach. Let them not create criminals by their actions and ruin the life of some elderly couples as it happened in this case.

FOUND: BACTERIA THAT CAN CONVERT CARBON INTO FOOD

(Times of India, Saturday, September 3, 2011)

It is a matter of pride and joy that Scientists have identified some mysterious organism in the dark depth of the ocean which they believe are converting Carbon Dioxide into a form useful for life. The bugs, which the Scientists call ”twilight” microbes, could be the missing link of global carbon cycle as they are found turning inorganic carbon into useable food some 2625 feet below the ocean surface, Live Science reported.The job of capturing carbon – crucial to sustaining life on earth – is usually carried out by plants that use sunlight as energy. But light does not penetrate below 656 feet of ocean, so plants can’t do this job. To survive, living cells must convert carbon dioxide into molecules that can form cellular structures are to be used in metabolic processes, the scientists said.

Simple, single-celled organisms called archaea that often live in extreme conditions were thought to be responsible for much of the dark ocean’s carbon fixation. But there was evidence that archaea could not account for the total amount of carbon fixation going on there.“Our study discovered specific types of bacteria and their likely energy sources that may be responsible for this component of the dark ocean carbon cycle” said study author Ramunas Stepanauska.

When the conditions are fast changing on the surface of this planet and the life-giving and life-sustaining factors and resources are depleting fast, there is no other way visible or foreseeable in the distant or instant future except to discover soon the alternatives to water, air, fuel, fire, food and fibre. This carbon-fixing bacteria is one such invention man-kind can boast of for the present. Kudos to the untiring effors of scientists!!

DEATH PENALTY NEEDED OR NOT?

Of late, there is a heated debate going on in the country as to whether our society should still insist on capital punishment as the highest penalty for the accused person convicted of heinous crimes. In terror deaths, some of the accused persons have been sentenced with death penalty by trial court and upheld by Apex Court viz., Supreme Court of India. In some of the cases even the President of India rejected the mercy petition of the accused persons awaiting execution. It is a fact that the said penalty has been removed from the statute in many countries at the moment and maximum penalty they have contemplated under the law is life imprisonment.While the affected parties at the receiving end are forcibly arguing for the execution of accused persons without any further delay, on the other hand a few intellectuals, NGOs and the elite of the society are not in favour of executing people under any circumstances. The News paper reports (Times of India, Sunday, September 4, 2011) contain the following headline.

“ Apex Court again dwells on Capital Punishment as Deterrent “

Admitting the U.P.Government appeal, a bench of Justices Markandey Katju and C.K.Prasad said: “we are prima facie of the opinion that this falls in the category of rarest of the rare cases in which death sentence should have been given.Here in this case one Alok Varma known for gambling, drinking and kidnapping brutally killed his wife and four children aged between 2 and 10 years. It was also alleged that the man had a lurking doubt about her fidelity. Similarly, in another case, the supreme court had admitted a petition seeking imposition of death penalty on 7 persons who brutally killed a young couple – Manoj and Babli inJune, 2007 for marrying in defiance of the khap panchayat in Haryana’s Karora village.While it is true that 'eye for eye' is not a modern concept on the subject of legal prudence, deterrance alone can bring sense to the perpetrators of heinous crimes brutally committed even in the midst of uncotrollable rage. I for one would therefore advocate the existence of such capital punishment to those convicts after their confirmation by the apex court on solid and sound grounds proved beyond an iota of doubt. Mercy application before the Governor and the President needs to be disposed of within a period of two months and the execution carried out within a month thereafter with a view to avoiding complication and pressure in future from various quarters on ground or other.

NAGAR SURAAJ CAMPAIGN

Dr.Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh State initially introduced and implemented an annual campaign in the name of “Grama Suraaj” for the last several years. Looking to the declining sympathy and support to his political party viz., BJP in the urban areas, he has announced a new scheme in July 2011 in the name of 'Nagar Suraaj' campaign. He intends to start this campaign from December 18, 2011, on the day of Guru Ghasidas Jayanthi. It will go upto December 24, 2011. He is planning to visit personally several municipal wards in urban areas and listen to the problems of town dwellers and solve them. His plan is to introduce Saraswathi Cycle Distribution scheme to the girl students studying 9th & 10th classes from the BPL families including those from SC & ST communities. Dr.Raman Singh will address civic problems like power supply, drinking water, sanitation, school, Anganwadi, fair price shops social security, old age pension, National Health Insurance Scheme, Building construction, Registration of births & deaths and other general basic needs of the urban dwellers. Information will also be gathered on the maintenance of water tank, roads, drainage along with education, health and mutation of land records, Licenses and No Objection Certificates. He also intends to make plans and formulate programmes for implementation of civic amenities in these areas. It may be noted that there are 168 Towns with 3084 Wards for whom the selected Government employees will be deployed in this campaign.

Apart from stock-taking on different aspects and tasks of civic administration, the head of the government and his government machinery are expected to get enlightened on future course of action. Let us wish them all the best. Such campaigns will bear no fruit unless the machinery is dedicated to the task at hand.

Delay in filling the Vacant Posts in Government

Employer:

1) Government of Tamil Nadu - Department of Fisheries Development -

vacancy 476 posts

Mr K.A. Jeyapal, the minister in charge of the Department assured the House while passing the demand for grant to his ministry on Monday 12, 2011

2) Government of Tamil Nadu - Department of Animal Husbandry -

Vacancy 2864 posts

Mr N.R.Sivapati, the minister-in-charge of the Department assured the House while passing the demand for his ministry 0n Monday 12, 2011

3) Demand of the students pursuing the certificate courses in Industrial Training Institutes of Tamil Nadu ( 65 in the government sector and about 600 in the private sector) is to fill up the posts of the Training Instructors lying vacant for the last 11 years in government ITIs. The situation in the private ITIs is still worse for want of basic infrastructure needed for training.

We don't know what prevented the DMK government in filling up such posts for the last several years. How sincere or insincere the governments are in their functioning is clear from such statements.

NIC and its Utility

The National Integration Council of India met in Delhi on Saturday, September 10, 2011 presided over by the Prime Minister and attended by the central ministers, the chief ministers and others. The prominent absentees were the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat. Was there any design and planning behind this decision? It is obvious that economic and political considerations were uppermost in the minds of these popular and real achievers in the field of governance in their respective states.

It however reflects on the working style of the union governemnt and utility of such a national forum for the state governments. Only the time will reveal and media will make a study and give an analysis of such a development at this juncture in India.

Road Accidents on Highways

The State Crime Records Bureau has reported that during 2011 on an average 44 people have died everyday in road accidents compared to 27 people in 2006 in the State of Tamil Nadu. Similarly the number of registered vehicles in the state went up by almost 40% in the last five years from 82.2 lakh to 1.32 crore in 2010. The road width or the condition of roads has hardly registered an increase or improved simultaneously and proprtionately to the extent required. The result is chaotic development on the roads with no effective control by any agency. A glance at the behaviour of drivers of vehicles on the Chennai-Bangalore Highway or Chennai-Madurai Highway would clearly justify such a statement. All the slow-moving heavy vehicles move mostly on the right-lane of the road or the way they like with the result the fast-moving vehicles try to overtake from left or right the way they like with a speed that would only lead to an accident. Speed-limits? - there is no one to follow the prescribed limits. All the cars move or rush on the highways in not less than 100-120 KMs per hour. Maddening speed leading to deaths for worthless reasons! On city roads the noice pollution is terrible in contrast to total no-horn principle being followed in developed societies. In our banana republic the greatness of a man lies in violating the traffic rules with impunity. God help this nation!

Higher Education -a Mockery of Government or People?

It is heartening or disheartening, as you feel, to note that atleast 3 out of 10 of 10.73 lakh seats in Engineering Colleges are lying vacant. A National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) study says Engineering services are a $40 billion opportunity for India by 2020, but only one in 4 of the 4,00,000 graduates passing out of the 3,200 Engineering Colleges every year is employable. Worse, only 3 out of 10 of the teaching faculty is competent and qualified. India Today reports that Nivedita Institute of Management and Technology in Murshidabad (U.P) has only four students on its roll. "Some Colleges exist only on paper to get Government Grants. We have started an enquiry against 127 colleges which did not submit their admission lists" (N. Prabhu Dev, Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University).

What are we aimimg at? To squarely squander our scarce resources in the name of higher education? Earlier bachelor degrees in arts and science disciplines were found in plenty without assuring employment for several decades. Dignity of labour suffered at the hands of these graduates and now it is the turn of engineers and other professionals to remain unemployed after spending precious time of their adulthood and hard-earned incomes of their parents.

There is no man-power planning - at any level or at any government organisation - of technical personnel needed for India's development, be it the requiremnt of the craftmen, diploma holders or engineers. The Planning Commission of India is not aware of such a need. State governments are not bothered about the quality or quantity requirements of different categories of work-force and technocrats over a period of time. The result is that there is a mushroom growth of technical and engineering colleges disproportionate to the actual requirements of the society and the industry. Shortage of specific categories is felt by the employers but the over-supply of unwanted number of engineers is a national waste.

Interest Rates Chased by Inflation?

On being questioned whether the middle-class consumers and the employeds feel better or worse-off in the last 12 months, many of them drawing different scales of pay anything between Rs.10,000/- and 80,000/- per month feel let down by the spiralling inflation and high interest rates ensured by Reserve Bank of India. Any amount of income a middle-class family earns has lost its real value in terms of purchasing power in the market. A heavy or huge amount of currency notes in the hands of consumers give no guarantee to meet the routine expenses like EMIs for housing and vehicles, insurance premium and consumption of required quantity of vegetables and fruits, dairy products and protein foods. Education and health care are mostly not in the reach of the middle-class. The latter is hard-pressed for meeting all these expenses in view of the interest rate hikes caused by the monetary policy routinely announced by the RBI and the fiscal deficits resorted to by the Government of India with the commercial borrowings (both domestic and foreign) from time to time.

How to cut this vicious cycle? When the public debt including foreign debt exceeds the GDP like in the case of Greece, the economy is bound to collapse, with unmanageable levels of unemployment and rising costs of essential commodities and services. Unless the Government, the RBI and the full-time practising economists come around and chalk out the short-term plan, a medium term strategy and long term measures immediately without any lapse of time, the things are going to take a worse turn sooner or later.

India's External debt has crossed forex kitty for the first time in seven years. At the end of March 2011, external debt stood at $305.9 billion (17.3% of GDP) recording an increase of $44.9 billion or 17.2% over the end March 2010 level on account of significant increase in commercial borrowing, short-term credits, bilateral and multilateral borrowing. Bank borrowing from RBI touched Rs.1.04 lakh crore on Thursday - the last day of the quarter (cash crunch revealed). Demand rose as the money markets prepared for a week-end, followed by the US holiday on Monday.

Convention Wins

As a matter of fact, Europe has always held the top IMF job, while the World Bank's top post has always gone to an American as a part of convention dating back to the creation of IMF and World bank after World War II. A good convention followed by the mighty powers, although this time the developing and some of the developed ones in other regions tried to grab the position in IMF for their ministers like in the case of Singapore, Mexico and India. The latter didn't try seriously knowing very well that Montek Singh Ahluwalia was over-aged although he was eagerly working for it.

The 24-member Board of the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 elected French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde as the new Managing Director of the global lender with the solid support of major emerging powers such as Brazil, China and Russia.

AWAITED AWAKENING

India has made rapid progress both in politics and economics since Independence. Constitutiion of India has enabled peaceful and fruitful elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies in the last six decades. Several political parties both at the national and regional levels have sprung up as an alternative to the Indian National Congress which mainly fought for India's Independence. India has stood as one nation in times of emergency both on the borders and within the country. Initially the Government of India under the leadership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and subsequently under different other Prime Ministers laid more emphasis on centralised planning through the Planning Commission of India in the form of Five Year Plans. Under the leadership of Sri P.V.Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister, the economy was liberalised, the foreign capital was allowed to flow freely as also the imports of capital goods and consumer goods and similarly the export-base was widened. One could never easily ignore the change that has taken place since early 1990's.

All the same economic growth has widened the gap between the rich and the poor and the millions of people living below the poverty line have increased tremendously in numbers over these years. It is however heartening to note that the increase in the sheer strength of middle class and their purchasing power is a phenomenon to reckon with. With the onset of Information Technology and its Revolution, the reach of the common man and the educated class has registered a phenomenal growth. The social net-working as also the knowledge of the individuals has multiplied several times. The sweep of the print and electronic media is so deep and wide that each and every piece of news or event gets the immediate attention of the citizens all over the nation. As the days pass by, the vulnerability of the rulers and the government functionaries is visible beyond barriers. Some of the senior ministers in the Government like Mr. A.K. Antony are compelled to acknowledge the advent of Transparency Revolution as the editorial of the Times of India proclaimed on Friday June 10, 2011. The editor has correctly judged the movement of Civil Society headed by Mr. Anna Hazare as a significant development at present and called for greater probity on the part of the Government to redeem itself. We should also agree with the editor that this time the anti-corruption movement may be more successful due to the rise of middle class.

Inflation Challenging the RBI too?

Mr. K.C. Chakrabarty, the Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told the media the other day that RBI did not possess a majic wand to tame inflation. The monster inflation refuses to bow before the RBI despite 10 upward revisions of key policy rates in the last 18 months.

If monetary and fiscal policy measures are found wanting to contain such a monster, the Government of India and the State Governments are certainly required to take a holistic approach for this purpose. Inflation could be caused by rising input costs for agriculture, manufacturing, construction and service sectors. The input costs in turn could be influenced by other general economic goods and services needed for production of those original inputs. Each one is chasing the other and who does it first is immaterial, It is however quite necessary to break the viscious circle so that cost-push inflaction doesn't become a permanent cause of inflation in future. The common man is affected mostly by the basic consumer goods, namely, food grains and sugar, pulses and oils, vegetables and fruits, fuels such as petrol and diesel. Of late, the food inflation is so severe that the common man and especially the urban consumers are badly hit and worried. This is the reason why the Government has recently recognised the need for compiling a separate food inflation index. The double digit inflation mainly caused by such food inflation refuses to come down on subsequent periods despite the concern expressed and action mooted by the economic advisors and agencies attached to the Government. Normally, when the inflation index is announced and commented upon favourably on a weekly basis, the public seem to take it with a sense of of satisfaction, but actually the initial figures obtaining soon after basic period can't take away and indicate the actual impact already registered and the prices pushed above the common man's reach.The supply side of inflationary pressures in agriculture sector is to be watched carefully and remedial measures launched and executed by the Governnment from time to time so that the general inflation is kept under control.

Kaliyuga Avatar - 2: Uncrowned King of Millions

It seems that the secret chamber of "Bhagwan" Sri Sathya Sai Bai is found to have contained a massive cash amount of Rs.11,56,47,049.50, some 98 Kgs of gold jewellery and 307 Kgs of silver ornaments inside the three room mandir.

Godman actually turned out to be a gold-and-silver-minded man. It seems several foreign devotees had donated boxes of sweets, chocolates and other eatables to Baba in addition to the golden idols of Lord Krishna and other deities. He used to sleep on the silver cot embedded with gold ornaments. The plates, glasses and other articles used by him were also made of gold and silver. It is also reported that only a few of the high profile devottees had an opportunity to have dinner with Baba.

It appears Baba was having a real good time and lavish life, thanks to his devotees and followers. Normally, Godmen are saints supposed to have moderate living conditions. The way this Baba had accumulated wealth and stored it in his abode literally throws a challenge to the faith and confidence exhibited by his own devotees. Such a phenomenon would only indicate the childhood ambition and craze for such worldly things the Baba must have undergone as a child. After all a human being is subject to all sorts of human desires whether a brahmachary / bachelor or a family man. It is still more amazing that the high profile VIPs both from the national capital, like the Prime Minister, the Chairperson of UPA and from other centers like the Governor of the State, the Chief Minister and other VIPs rushed to the Baba's ashram on his death. These VIPs were not perhaps aware of the living style of this Baba before they landed for mourning. Atleast the VIPs are supposed to know the whereabouts of such a Godman before paying homage to him so that the public would not entertain any wrong impression about those VIPs as well.