Monday, May 19, 2014
Monday, March 31, 2014
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Monday, January 13, 2014
Musical Chairs in AICC
The only ray of hope for the Congress party’s fortunes
post 2014 reflected in heir apparent Rahul Gandhi’s decision to appoint Sachin
Pilot as the State President of Rajasthan Congress on 13th January.
Just when one was hoping that the new year will see many such bold decisions, the
Congress high command went ahead and appointed Arun Yadav as the new State
president of Madhya Pradesh Congress. Arun’s father Subhash Yadav was a senior
Congress leader who also served as Deputy Chief Minister under Digvijaya Singh
in the 1990s. But everyone knew that the reason for Subhash Yadav’s rise had
more to do with him being an OBC rather than his abilities as a politician.
While Sachin is seen as a young and ambitious leader,
but he still has to please the Meenas, Jats and the OBC’s if he is to revive
the Congress from the hammering it has just received in the Assembly elections
at the hands of BJP. He also has the aspirations of Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav
to deal with, but he is relatively new to politics. Jitendra Singh is more at
ease staying in Delhi helping Rahul Gandhi as an organization man. So the field
is clear for the young Pilot to start afresh.
Arun on the
other hand is not as young as Pilot, and one hopes can spring a pleasant
surprise for the Congress in the state. But with the BJP winning for the third
time in a row, Congress is on the brink of fading out completely just like the
BJP was in Delhi during Sheila Dikshit’s regime. Adding to his problems is the
fact that the next generation of Digvijaya Singh, Kantilal Bhuria, Kamalnath is
already ready to take on the mantle. While other senior leaders like Satyavrat
Chaturvedi and Suresh Pachauri are still around. Then ofcourse he has the likes
of Jyotiraditya Scindia, Meenakshi Natarajan and Priyavrat Singh (MP, IYC
President) to deal with. Adding to this is the fact that he is not considered a
bright bet will only make the task more onerous.
It is in this backdrop that the Congress headquarters at
Akbar Road are abuzz with preparations for the prodigal son’s coronation, it
will be foolhardy to expect a major organizational change on the cards. It was
almost a year ago that Rahul Gandhi was anointed Vice President on 19th
January, 2013 in Jaipur. Though Congressmen celebrated the elevation across the
country, but little has been achieved by the Party in the past one year. It was
wiped out from the same place of his coronation within a year.
The party has little to cheer about, it won Mizoram,
lost Delhi and Rajasthan while failed to dent the BJP in MP and Chhattisgarh.
But what has had a telling blow to the morale of the party is the emergence of
AAP. A party that thrived on abusing the first family of the Congress while
accusing the UPA of being the most corrupt Govt. Despite all this, the Congress
has ended up supporting AAP to help the one year old party to power in Delhi
and fire the imagination of the people fed with the same old political parties.
There was talk of one man one post in the Congress for
the past many years. When Rahul Gandhi took over as General Secretary of the
party in 2007, many thought he will relieve a lot of senior ministers of their
dual roles who are Union Ministers as well as party office bearers. Nothing did
change, there were similar talks when he was appointed Vice President last year
but status quo remained. Hence it will be prudent on our part to assume that
the same system will still rule the roost, at least for now.
Younger faces like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitendra
Singh who enjoy full support of the incumbent President will play a major role
in the 2014 Election strategy. The usual suspects of the IYC pass outs like
Ashok Tanwar and Meenakshi Natarajan may also get some assignment since the
party has to show it promotes leaders from SC/ST and middle class families too.
This is because most of the young leaders in the party are either sons or
relatives of regional satraps of the party. The tag of dynastic rule in the
party refuses to go despite Rahul trying his best to do so since his entry into
politics in 2004.
Most General Secretaries are likely to contest Lok
Sabha elections, especially the ones who are close confidantes of Rahul.
Madhusudan Mistry who got into Rahul’s good books after a comprehensive
research on candidates in Karnataka assembly elections. But his tenure as UP in
charge has been found wanting, and he will have to contest from Sabarkantha,
Gujarat. CP Joshi is the other senior leader who is considered very close to
Rahul, but he also failed to deliver when they were wiped out of Rajasthan in
December last year. He too will have to retain his Nathdwara seat from
Rajasthan in Lok Sabha elections. Other leaders like Digvijay Singh, Gurudas
Kamat, Luizinho Faleiro, BK Hariprasad too will have to fight it out in LS
2014.
The spade work for his coronation has already begun by
giving the party’s PR contract of Rs 500 crores to Dentsu India which will work
closely with Rahul’s team to make short films and advertisements to boost his
image in the public. While Burson-Marsteller will handle his social media by
creating a buzz with interesting tweets, debates on Twitter and Facebook. They
will also bring more awareness by hard selling UPA’s flagship schemes like
MNREGA, RTI, NFSB, DBT and the latest being Lokpal Bill. One can already see
younger faces like Randeep Singh Surjewala and Shoba Oza defend the party at
official press briefings.
But the work is harder than it ever was for Rahul
Gandhi. He has to convince the public which seems to be sure that UPA’s second
tenure has been full of corruption (2G, CWG, Coalgate etc) while his party has
already enjoyed the fruits of power for 10 years. He is also pitted against
Narendra Modi as a rival for the PM’s chair. Most political pundits will write
him off as a no contest against the well oiled PR machinery of BJP’s PM
candidate Narendra Modi. Perhaps Rahul too thinks that going the hi tech way
will improve his TRP amongst the public, but doing that will only make him
another follower and not a leader whom others look to follow.
The fear of Modi running away with the advantage seems
to be top most on the mind of the Congress think tank. That explains why the
sudden hurry to anoint Rahul as the supreme leader of the party and then
improve his image through seasoned PR companies. Adding to more speculation is
his sister Priyanka Vadra also attending the war room meetings of the Party.
While Rahul will be the face of the party, it will be Priyanka who will plan
the strategy for LS 2014 as the backroom operator. This will not only rejuvenate the party cadre, but will
also keep them guessing that all hope is not lost after LS 2014. Just like the
Manmohan Sonia combination, the Congress is now offering the country a brand new Rahul Priyanka
combination. The Congress may talk and advertise about its much hyped makeover, but the truth is that they only have a handful of families to share the spoils of power and be instruments of change. Only the name changes, the blend remains the same just like the grand old party.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
PM's Independence Day Speech
SALIENT
FEATURES OF PM’S INDEPENDENCE DAY SPEECH
1)
The Food Security Bill is now before Parliament and we hope it
will be passed shortly. This law will benefit 75 per cent of our rural
population and half of our urban population. Under the law, about 81 crore
Indians would be entitled to receive rice at 3 Rupees per kg, wheat at 2 Rupees
per kg and coarse grains at 1 Rupee per kg. This is the largest effort of its
kind in the whole world.
2)
We have been able to implement this law only because of the hard
work of our farmers. Our food-grain production reached a record level of 25.9
crore ton in 2011-12. The average annual rate of agricultural growth in the
11th Plan was 3.6, which is more than both the 9th and 10th Plan levels.
3)
We now see clear indications of enhanced economic prosperity in
our rural areas. In the period from 2004 to 2011, rural per-capita consumption
has increased four times faster than earlier. Rural wages have also increased
much faster in this period. MNREGA provides employment to crores of people in
rural areas.
4)
The number of young men and women going to college has more than
doubled in the last 9 years. Today, the Central government provides
scholarships to more than 2 crore children.
5)
Many new institutions have been opened in the area of higher
education. For example, 8 new IITs, 7 New IIMs, 16 new Central universities and
10 new NITs. New institutions have also been opened to boost scientific
research. Steps have been taken to attract students to the study of science and
encourage Indian scientists working abroad to return to India.
6)
About 11 crore children are being
provided afternoon meals every day in schools under the Mid-day Meal Scheme.
This programme is of immense benefit for both education and nutrition of
children.
7)
We had launched the National Rural Health Mission in 2005. The
Mission has started showing good results. Both Maternal Maternity and Infant
Mortality rates have come down sharply. A much larger proportion of children is
now born in hospitals. There has also been a large increase in the proportion
of children being inoculated.
8)
No case of polio has been detected in the country in the last
two years. We have been able to eradicate a disease which used to cause
disability to lakhs of people. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, which
provides free in-patient treatment in hospitals to our poor brothers and
sisters, now covers about 3.5 crore families.
9)
About 2 lakh km of new roads have been constructed for
connecting villages under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana. More than
37,000 km of new highways have been built, facilitating travel and trade. More
than 40 airports have been built or upgraded.
10)
In 2004, only 7 per cent
of the people had telephone connections. Today, 73 per cent enjoy this
facility. In rural areas, this figure has gone up from 2 to 40. There has been
a record addition to our capacity for electricity generation.
11) I believe that this phase of slow growth in India will not last
long. In the last 9 years, our economy has grown at an annual average rate of
7.9 per cent. This pace of development is the highest in any decade so far.
12)
Our Look East policy in respect of
10 ASEAN countries in East and South-East Asia has borne good results,
especially in economic matters.
13)
We will start work on a number of
new infrastructure projects in the coming months. This includes 2 new ports, 8
new airports, new industrial corridors and rail projects.
To boost Foreign Direct Investment, we have recently enhanced the limit of such investment in many sectors and made it easier procedurally.
To boost Foreign Direct Investment, we have recently enhanced the limit of such investment in many sectors and made it easier procedurally.
14)
Computerisation of the Public Distribution System will be
speeded up. The Mid-day Meal scheme will be reformed.
15)
We have established the National Skill Development Authority a
few months back. We will shortly launch a new scheme under which those
who have successfully acquired new skills will be given a grant of about Rupees
10,000. This scheme will benefit about 10 lakh young men and women in the next
12 months.
16)
The Multi Sectoral Development Programme for minorities has been
reformed recently. We will now implement it effectively.
17)
A scheme for offering Minimum Support Prices for minor forest
produce has been approved some days back. This will enable our tribal brothers
and sisters to get remunerative prices for the minor forest produce they
collect. We will implement the scheme expeditiously.
18)
A High Level Committee has been constituted to collect accurate
information about the socio-economic, educational and health status of our
tribal population. The report of the Committee will help us in designing better
schemes for their benefit.
19)
The Aadhaar scheme is a good
example. Under the scheme, by the end of this year, about 50 crore people will
acquire the means of proving their identity and this will bring them
convenience in their daily lives. It will also enable crores of people to avail
of banking facilities for the first time.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
National Food Security Bill: Do we really need it ?
As the debate rages over the National
Food Security Bill (NFSB), much is being written about the pros and cons of it on
social media. The question of giving subsidy remains the moot question. At a
time when the economy seems to be going through one of its worst phases, does the
UPA doling out such an expensive scheme make any sense ?
Let’s go through the basic features
of UPA-II’s most ambitious project. The Bill aims to provide 25 kg subsidized
food grain per month to 75% of rural poor and 50% of urban poor. However, the poorest of the poor will get
their 35 kg of food grain per household every month under the Antyodaya Anna
Yojana (AAY). This scheme will target approximately 80 out of the 120
crore population in our country, and will require 60 million tonnes of
foodgrain every year. While the proposed coverage and entitlement is likely to
cost the Government about Rs 1,247,247 crores in 2013-14 while other
implication will cost approximately Rs 23,800 crores per year.
The UPA-II is confident that
this scheme will fetch them electoral results as General elections loom large
next year. This of course comes under the garb of UPA being committed to its pro poor image. Congress
party managers have realized that if they are to do well in the 2014 elections,
they have to focus on rural India.
Narendra Modi and his army
are in the process of taking over the BJP dominantly. His talk of Gujarat as a
development model along with overtones of aggressive Hindutva is slowly gaining
ground. And Congress knows that it will not be able to stop the Modi wave in
urban centres. Hence the National Food Security Bill becomes all the more
important.
It’s a bit ironic when people
complain about the Government spending so much money to feed our poor. They
never seem to notice the heavy bill that Government foots to subsidize petrol,
diesel, kerosene oil and cooking gas amongst the other things for ordinary
citizens like any of us. The fuel subsidy figure for 2011-12 stood at R1,38,541
crore in FY12 and R1,61,029 crore in FY13.
While no one is against giving
subsidized food grain to the poor, the question remains whether this is the
only way to feed them. Did UPA-II have no other option or did it take the easy
way out. Everyone in the system prefers temporary and convenient solutions rather
than permanent ones. Because doing that is not just an uphill task, but will
also expose the babu-politician nexus that has led to these loopholes getting way
too big for any Government to fix.
The first glaring issue that
comes to mind is “do we really need to procure so much food grain”. And even if
we do, where will we store it. On an
average, India wastes food grains and farm produce Rs. 54, 000 crores annually.
If we go by the claims of Indian Oilseeds and Produce Export Promotion Council
(IOPEPC), our country loses close to 21 million tonnes of wheat alone every
year. This amount is as much as a continent like Australia produces. And the
reason for this wastage is lack of storage and distribution facilities.
This is corroborated by Tariq Anwar, Minister of State for
Agriculture and Food Processing Industries. In his reply to a question in Lok
Sabha, Anwar admitted that losses of agricultural produce are worth nearly Rs
50,000 crores every year. This
includes 30% of our total fruits and vegetables produce, which are lost due to
lack of cold storage facilities. The same for food grains, 30% is lost through
our Public Distribution System because of storage constraints. Anwar also
added that as of July, 2012, India’s total storage capacity was around 70.5
million tonnes. But the Government procured food grains amounting to 80.5
million tonnes. The minister admitting to 10 million tonnes of food grain being
wasted on record.
India’s premier warehousing agency,
Food Corporation of India itself admits India lost 79 million tonnes, or nine
percent of total wheat produced over a four-year period from 2009 to 2013. And that’s
13% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) being wasted due to limitations of our
storage and supply chains. According to
a study by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2009, India also loses
21 million tonnes of vegetables and 12 million tonnes of fruits every year. Reason,
lack of cold storage facilities.
If we talk about storage facilities
in India, our estimated infrastructure can hold upto 29.7 million tonnes in
various cold storages across the country. But we have a cold storage
requirement that’s twice the present number at 61.1
million tonnes. Realizing the need for urgent attention, a National Centre for
Cold Chain Development has also been created to promote and develop cold chains
for perishable items like fruits and vegetables. Private partnership is being encouraged
through Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) scheme.
If our Government focuses
more on creating infrastructure for storage of the hard work of our farmers, we
can aim to feed millions without actually putting so much pressure on the
Government exchequer. The 21 million tonnes of food grains that are wasted
every year can feed one-third of the people proposed to be covered under the National
Food Security Bill (NFSB).
A report on India’s Public Distribution System (PDS)
claimed that in 2005, 58% of the food grains from Central stock did not reach
the end consumer. Mainly due to non transparency and unethical practices that
gives the PDS a bad name. That explains Union Food Minister's helplessness at the PDS way back in 2009, when he said he was not happy with the way this system is being handled. If we can spend just a fraction of the money proposed
under the Bill on plugging the loopholes in our PDS. It will ensure that we can
feed another one-third of the remaining population under the scheme. We all know it’s easier said than done, but
someone has to bell the cat. This will
go a long way in exposing the corrupt in our system. Bring in people from
various walks of life like the Government did with UID and revamp the system.
That would leave the last
one-third of the people left, bringing down the budget of this scheme to somewhere
near Rs. 4,15,000 crores. Also the required procurement of food grains will go
down to approximately 20 million tonnes. The Government is making efforts to
curb misuse of PDS. Digitization of this
scheme is to be done in 12th Five year plan 2012-17. States and UT’s
like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry, Chandigarh and Delhi have already completed this
work while rest are working towards it.
What we also need to do is to
create simple yet effective methods to ensure we make the most of our produce
that just goes waste. We need to educate our farmers and encourage the well off
ones. The leaders of our agrarian society need to take charge and help build
storage facilities with the help of state governments. The Non Renewable Energy
ministry can be roped in to provide subsidy and practical schemes to help our
villages use solar power for longevity of their produce. Local entrepreneurs need to be given that
confidence and help to create small manufacturing units. Where the local farmer
can sell his produce, and the local businessmen can create packed products like
powder, paste, oils, perfumers and cosmetics etc. which gives a longer shelf
life to the same goods.
Industry needs to be
encouraged to be a part of this storage revolution. It has to be an all
inclusive package pushed by the Government, where all resources are harnessed
in the best manner possible. Farmer gets good rates and full payment of his
agricultural produce. Local entrepreneurs can value add to it by creating goods
and products for middle/urban class and make a name for themselves in cities. The big industry names need to tap these local
brands and create their national chain across the country. Industry needs to be convinced that the only way forward is when they walk hand in hand with our farming community.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Swamy and the Mahatma
Janta Party President Subramaniam Swamy has definitely made a case for a Hindu Rashtra that would have surpassed the dreams even of the most rabid Hindu fanatic. He of course argues vehemently in favour of removal of Article 370 and resettlement of retired army personnel in J&K. Perhaps what learned Dr Swamy seems to forget is that this was one of the planks in which the BJP rode to power at the height of it's Ram Mandir campaign in the nineties. All of us know what happened to the noisy pro Hindutva agenda during the NDA regime. None of these issues were taken up, instead hard core terrorists were released who are still killing innocents in India from across the border. Preponing general elections once again showed how the NDA failed to feel the pulse of the people and their India Shining Campaign was a reflection of why the UPA came to power in 2004.
Well this would make one wonder as to why am I equating the NDA's fortunes with Dr Swamy. The purpose is to just reiterate that the people of India have consistently rejected such ideas which are too extreme in nature. Mr Swamy is right when he says that despite 800 years of Mughal rule, India still remained 75% Hindu. That is because if the inherent nature of our country, we reject anything that is forced upon us. The NDA lasted for 6 years not because it pursued an aggressive pro Hindu agenda, but because Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave it a moderate and practical look to the Govt.
In the first Election manifesto (1977), the Janata Party, had declared: "The Janata Party is dedicated to the values and ideals of Gandhiji. It is dedicated to the task of building a democratic state in India, drawing inspiration from our rich heritage, and the noble traditions of our struggle for independence". In other words, the Janata Party's ideology is to foster democracy in all its dimensions, economic, political, social and cultural. This has to be done by learning from our ancient history and the Freedom struggle; within the Gandhian framework."
Now the President of the same Janta Party says Article 370 should be scrapped. And if that was not enough to wake up Gandhiji in his heavenly abode, Dr Swamy wants to remove the Masjid from Kashi and another 300 Masjids from India. It was the same Mahatma Gandhi who was against the creation of Pakistan and was even ridiculed for calling Pakistanis his brothers and sisters. His frustration was obvious in one of his last speeches. On the eve of his last fast on 12th January, 1948 Mahatma said " I yearn for heart friendship between the Hindus, the Sikhs and the Muslims. It subsisted between them the other day. Today it is non existent. It is a state no India patriot worthy of the name can contemplate with equanimity".
Janata Party also wants to create a society with a political government powerful in its legitimate domain and minimal elsewhere, a government that governs but does not dabble in business, arts, media, justice, religion and piety. Now how would one justify the ideals of a political party with the suggestions made by Dr Swamy. Is not removal of Masjids dabbling in religion, and creating a Hindu Rashtra against the very ideals his party is striving for. Let me quote the Mahatma again to drive home the point. He said "A votary of Ahimsa cannot subscribe to the utilitarian formula (of the greatest good of the greatest number). He will strive for the greatest good of all and die in the attempt to realise the ideal".
Of course illegal migrants from Bangladesh remains a sticky issue and both Govt's of India and Bangladesh are trying to sort the issue. But the whole talk of annexing parts of Bangladesh is a bit far fetched. Will we not have the same problems that the Bangladesh Govt is facing. Then who will provide security and funds to keep those lands under our control. Will that not give rise to more extremism and tension in the region. Is it really worth it ? Mahatma said "Hindus, if they want unity among different races, must have the courage to trust the minorities".
And one can't help but remember he famous quote "practice what you preach". If Dr Swamy couldn't help but bring home a "Muslim" son in law, then he sure has a long way to go to convince others. It is not aimed at bringing disrespect to anyone including Dr Swamy, but with his flights of fancy, he sure has forced some to think of Indians as Hindus and Muslims and of course Sikhs. I would like to end with another small line from Mahatma again. He said " I cannot picture to myself a time when all mankind will have one religion". Maybe Dr Swamy needs to give more attention to the Mahatma's teachings.
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