Atrocity against a woman

A woman was allegedly stripped and forced to walk around naked while her husband was severely beaten up for opposing 'local goons' in Andryan village of Jehanabad area near Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh (India). The couple was forced to go through this ordeal by Shanti  Swarup and his associates on June 24, 2014 after they objected to trees being uprooted from their fields and damaging of their hut by the accused.

In my view the instant justice would be to parade the accused naked in the streets of the same village in addition to the legal punishments possible under the law even though this suggestion would  amount to Arabian way of handling the culprits.

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Power plants hit by outdated rules

One of the reasons for higher tariff being charged to the power consumers by private / public power suppliers in this country is directly attributed to the delay caused by several formalities imposed by several government agencies which in turn lead to higher cost of interest borne by those companies.

Companies have to seek 90 clearances during construction and 53 clearances while starting operations. Besides, compliance reports have to be filed on 1982 counts, nearly half of which attract imprisonment for failure.

Wonderful scenario for power business in this country! Who and when is to correct this milieu for  a better atmosphere in attracting business in future?

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Do away with plan panel

The moment the new BJP-led government took over power in the centre in May last I was toying with the idea of disbanding the monstrous Planning Commission with no utility whatsoever in the existing scheme of things. It should have done its home work and engage itself as a planner for perspective plan and guide the different ministries for effective annual plans being projected along with annual budget every year. But the way it proliferated itself without any constitutional backing but indulging in decision making in a major way at the government of india level was something beyond its jurisdiction.

Luckily  Mr.  AJAY CHHIBBER the Director general, Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) also seems to have a similar opinion on this plan panel  (TIMES OF INDIA, JUNE 25, 2014). He too says "the Planning Commission in its current form and function is a hindrance, not a help to India’s development… it is not easy to reform such a large ossified body and it would be better to replace it with a body that is needed to assist states in ideas, to provide long-term thinking and help in reforms"

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Cement cos raise prices in south

Cement companies have jacked up prices by Rs 60-100 per bag(each bag is 50 kg) in the four southern states in the past week (TOI, June 23, 2014).

Such a hike all of a sudden without explaining the reason or justification is bound to affect seriously all those construction activities using cement. It is an essential commodity used by small to big players in the real estate business. The prices were already high compared to rates prevalent in the North India. There is a strong belief that these manufacturers had formed a cartel and imposed their price rises arbitrarily enjoying the oligopoly conditions in this sector.

We need to have a strong and effective mechanism at the government to check their moves and ensure auditing of their cost calculations for the last ten years justifying such extraordinary MRP for all these years. 

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75% households in Chhattisgarh state have no toilets

 The recent rape and brutal murders of two young girls in Badaun, UP State has caught the  international attention. It is learnt that 75% households in Chhattishgarh do not have access to private toilets at home.

Nine out of ten girls in rural areas face harassment while they are on the way to relieve themselves in open fields and thickets in country side.

A report reveals that 41.59 lakh households rely on open areas, as only 80,000 odd households have access to public toilets. Even in the capital city of Raipur, majority of 8.61 lakh households have no toilet facilities. Only 31% of the households (2.67 lakh) in the city have access to toilets within their premises.

Is there any planning to set right this trend in the near future, no one knows. Unless the state government takes up this issue in all seriousness and puts forward a time-bound programme for execution this curse is bound to get a bad name for the state for ever.

Waste to Wealth

During 2013 as much as 175 million tonnes of fly ash were produced in india - from factories, power plants and sponge iron plants - out of which only 56 percent of it was used as raw material. In Chhattisgarh only 27 percent of 24 million tonnes  it produced could be recycled for other uses, much less than national average.

Why delay in doing some good work? I exhort my fellow officers and the popular Chief Minister to take up this job on priority if possible.

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Econo-politician's tenure as P.M came to an end

Dr  Man Mohan Singh, a Prof. Of Economics was so lucky that he became the Prime Minister of India gradually progressing in the ladder of life. 

It is unfortunate that the economy failed miserably during the regime of UPA II under the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh assisted by another leading Economist M.S.Ahluwalia as the head of the Planning Commission and capable lawyer-politician P.Chidambaram, as the Finance Minister. The macro economic parameters like unemployment, inflation, black money etc had thoroughly shaken up the confidence of common man and are crying for alternative approaches in terms of policies and their execution in an effective manner. The money scandals at the apex level have ruined the aspirations of the vocal and volatile middle class very badly.

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India to overtake China’s Centenarians’ count

Crossing the century mark is all set to become common for India’s growing population.
A Landmark UN report on “ageing in the 21st century,” says India is at present home to between 11,000 and 20,000 centenarians . But this number is all set to rocket to anywhere between 1.5 Lakh and 6.2 Lakh by 2050.
The report brought out jointly by United Nation’s population Fund “UNFPA “ and Help Age International, says India will beat China hands down in the number of centenarians . China is expected to have 2.62 Lakh persons aged one hundred or over by 2050. Globally, the number of centenarians is projected to increase to 3.2 million in 2050.
The maximum life span refers to the largest number of years lived by any individual that has been confirmed on the basis of actual data.
The UN says this number increased from 103 in 1798 to 110 years in 1898, 115 years in 1990, and 122.45 years in 1997, when the French woman who held the record died.

Tug of war between state government and the rice millers in C.G

It is a known fact that justified or unjustified delay on the part of state government in Chhattisgarh State in settling practical difficulties and issues with the State Association of rice millers has resulted in revenue losses to the exchequer year after year.

The present impasse has arisen on account of the following factors:

The millers have stopped lifting the balance five lakh metric tonnes of paddy procured during 2012-13 on the ground that it has become unfit for milling, although the government has made it compulsory for lifting by the millers by sending









 instructions to the collectors through a circular.

2)  secondly the government has issued orders for reserving the milling capacity of each miller in a district compulsorily for six months.

3).  On realising the mood of the millers not to lift the damaged paddy on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls, the government kept quiet for a while. But soon after the elections the government has issued orders for compulsory lifting and milling which has put the millers in a fix.

4)  The millers are not in a mood to oblige the state government whereas the present procurement will come to an end only on June 30, 2014.

5). The paddy of 2011-12 which remained un-lifted were sold to the millers as cattle feed after floating tenders in the meanwhile on the instructions of the central government. This paddy (about 40 thousand tonnes) was purchased at the rate of Rs 1080 per quintal  during 2011-12 but it was now sold at the rate of Rs 700 per quintal only causing enormous loss to the state.

6).  The millers are complaining that the remaining quantity of paddy is in damaged condition. On the testing of paddy in private mills the recovery of rice is only 30 kilos as against the standard recovery of 67 kilos. Even there,  90 percent of rice recovered is found spoiled. The government doesn't seem to be serious about the testing facility even now unfortunately.

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Tamil Nadu's GDP

Tamil Nadu's GDP has been dropping for the past few years. It's growth rate rose from 10.8 per cent in 2009-10 to 13.12 in 2010-11. Since then it has been downhill -- 7.42 per cent in 2011-12 and now the drop to 4.14, below the national average in 2012-13. This is also the lowest rate the state recorded since 2005-06. Agriculture slowed with a negative growth rate of 12 p.c and manufacturing fell to - (minus)1.3 p.c. What a progress despite the hard work put in by the present chief minister in the last three years? Look at other states vis a vis this state!

Bihar.             -20.8 per cent in 2011-12.      24.9 p.c in 2012-13

Maharashtra - 7.1 p.c.                                   7.1 p.c

Punjab.         - 5.9 p.c                                     5.2 p.c

A.P.               - 7.8 p.c.                                    5.0 p.c

Power problem has affected the manufacturing and services sectors which are the backbones of the state.

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