Whether sustainability is sustainable

The view of the sustainable world as seen by the western countries is different from the idea of sustainability as visualized by the developing countries.When western nations have industrialized, they can think about sustaining for the future generations and on how to preserve the environment. But to sustain human life now, at this moment, to live and survive is sustainability agenda of the developing nations.So the same word has different meanings when used by the developed world and the developing world.
Those nations who have already advanced can think about how to reduce pollution; it is luxury that they can enjoy. We cannot enforce awarding and punishing by carbon credits etc. Carbon credits and these are just  techniques to stop the industrialization process of the underdeveloped nations.Developing and under developed nations have yet to develop and industrialize and we are stopped in our path towards industrialization.

If policies are made so that the polluter pays, then that stops development. And development is needed for growth of the nation, it is the right of the people. When facing one crisis after another, we cannot think about sustainability. No new inventions have been made to save the Earth. We still have to farm and reach the people and provide sustenance for them to survive.Providing clean drinking water is still a need which is unfulfilled. Health care is not enjoyed by vast majority of the population. Due to power shortage we are cutting down on electricity. Infrastructures like roadways and railroads do not reach all the people.At this stage, if the developed nations push the sustainability agenda, it means that they want the less developed nations to continue being poor. There is always some condition in deals made while giving aids to the less developed nations.For instance, 'we will give aid only if you do not develop your nuclear power';or 'if you buy from Iran, we will not give aid'. Development, industrialization, and bringing in new technology is being controlled by the advanced countries and the less developed nations are silenced by some remote notions like 'sustainable growth'or others like'global warming' or new words for old issues--green economy or blue economy(preserving oceans). When advanced countries have technology to use up all of resources of the ocean and have now depleted all the fish stocks, they want to subsistence fishermen of the underdeveloped world to stop fishing and save the world? Where is the logic here?The poor countries are being the held back from growth and we are all made to forget this fact.Whether it is Rio+20 or some other meet, the poor countries should be heard. They are not heard.$513 billion was pledged for energy,food security and water conservation.The poor do not have any water sources, how will they conserve? While flying high in the sky, one cannot see the ground realities.

De-valuation of the Indian Rupee

The Indian Rupee’s value has been depreciated to a very low level. The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has taken steps to stop the nose-diving Rupee. Even then, the value of the Indian Rupee against the US Dollar is becoming lower and lower and lower. RBI measures are not enough and it is  too late to recover the status of the Indian currency, the Rupee. RBI is raising the limits FII investment limit is raised to $20 billion, QFI can invest in Mutual Funds, and even ECB limits have been raised.FII limit is raised so that investors can buy more government bonds. But with lack of confidence in Indian economic policies (constantly changing) investors are scared. These ‘raising of limits’ may attract short-term investors who want to make a quick buck and leave. These measures would harm the Indian economy than help it.Equity investment from overseas can help us recover.If Foreign Direct Investment in retaling was allowed earlier, it could have helped. Now the new steps may lead to a dangerous trend. Now, government debt would depend directly on overseas investments--as they can buy government bonds. And repayment will become harder and harder. We are entering a pit of quicksand.Indian economy is most vulnerable now. Indian people are buying gold from overseas, and this is facilitated by banks. When we do this, we are driving the Indian Rupee spiraling downwards.RBI’s rate cuts cannot arrest Inflation. Controlling inflation would require a whole new set of government policies and allocation of government expenditures. Growth has been arrested by lopsided policies. Unless gross changes are made to re-work economic plans, we have tougher times ahead.

Let us keep trying

The efforts to help people whose lands have been acquired for "development" are defeated. The Calcutta High Court has actually declared the Singur Land Rehabilitation Act of 2011 as "unconstitutional and void" But there is a two month stay period on the order.The court had to decide on interpreting the government policy on one side and party declarations on the other. As per the government scheme, destitute farmers would be given 1000 Rupees per month as compensation (for 1000 farmers);3000 farmers did not receive compensations.As farmers want 2000 per month.The case was taken to court by the industrialist  who had started the factory as farmers were protesting. For last six years, these farmers have been protesting, they were "unwilling" to sell their land and their land was forcibly taken by Land Acquisition Act; and their land was taken for development of factory for making small size cars. They want their land to be returned to them; they will be moving to the supreme court for claiming their rights.The state government (West Bengal) was voted to power on this major issue--justice to the farmers and rural labourers. Will the farmers get justice? They must keep trying?

Yet another struggle

For the last seven years, the local people in the state of Odisha, had lost their land to government's land acquisitions(about 2000 acres). Government had acquired the land of the local people and had given it to a foreign company.In an agro based land, steel industry is going to be set up,  ruining livelihoods of many farmers. This would make the land barren and poison the water table.A steel plant(POSCO) was to be made here with an investment of twelve billion Dollars, which the government wants.Protesters have suffered acutely in their struggle to get back their land.Many have been jailed; false accusations have been framed on the innocent people.Even if one had gone to police station to complain about an attack by criminals, one would be arrested. Such is the reign of terror. Many fresh cases are brought against the tribal persons, to keep them in jail for longer and longer terms.Police target activists and ordinary citizens to create terror; so that no one will dare to protest.In several cases the entire village has been charged with myriad charges.1400 of same village had been charged and arrested.The innocent people do not know what they have been charged for.This is not development, when people are harassed for protesting, there is death of democracy. Many times, people are labelled as criminals or Maoists. Like when in April this year, tribal population who were resisting attempts by 'Vedanta' to mine for bauxite in their Niyamgiri hills had been assaulted and imprisoned and labelled as Maoists. In January last year they were gunned down and killed after being termed as Maoists.Criminalizing the simple people does not give glory to our nation, our government and its policies.We Indians are intelligent people and participate in international forums with ease.We may take part in G20 meet and help other countries to develop but first we have to pay attention to our people, their problems, and their needs.

Pathetic state of India's workers

More than a fifteen revisions in the rates of Interest has been made by the RBI(Reserve Bank of India) to control the runaway inflation, but there is no success. The people in the lower income groups suffer hardships in meeting their daily requirements of food and clothing. In urban areas, the needs of water and electricity have been met to a great extent. But other India's growth has been arrested.Industries which had started have come to a halt--high cost of running and poor outputs. Many could not make profits to provide for their workers. The workers suffer as the economy is pressing on them.Yet, the people grin and bear it.

There are places like hill resorts where tourism industry has prospered. But the native people have become impoverished. Glocal=global+local theory works against them.Many have sold their lands at very low rates to local land sharks who have resold them to upcoming hotel industries. These land losers work as sweepers in these resorts (lands which they had once owned).When the hotel industry does not provide big profits, the salary of the sweeper is cut down to a smaller size and the worker suffers more.Here the government does not interfere. If the worker decides to strike, he might lose his job.That would be worse than now. How to bring dignity to the Indian worker is a question we will answer in the future blogs of future India.

The emerging new India

Young Indians become frustrated with faltering institutions in India and leave for foreign lands. After completing their education, they leave their homeland and daringly face new exigencies in far-off countries to which they emigrate to. Indians leave India because, they feel India cannot change for the better. Here, however we like to modernise, too many things are there which need big changes. Hindrances for modernisation are many— inadequate education system, limited job opportunities, poor  banking organisations, registration delays, corrupt  licensing authorities are some of the ordinary problems . When they cannot be changed, they  had given up and left India. They keep in touch with the older generation and make sure to provide for them monetarily. Even after the older generation disappears, they are not cut-off from their homelands. They have a need for emotional identity as Indians. They read about India and try to connect with the literary traditions of India. Many invest in Indian industries. Many help other students emerge from this land by offering scholarships and sponsoring several intelligent students to study outside India.Thus in the future,many Indians would have left the Indian soil but they would always share the ‘feeling’ of India. They would perhaps re-emerge in other soils in which they were transplanted on and make new Indias.

People--weak and strong

We are all small people who have limited knowledge of the world around us. The changes we see are few and the wisdom we gain are but scanty. Unless we read about other countries and other peoples, we cannot truly learn and understand the world. This blog is a small attempt to learn about the world around us. In India, there is much poverty; some open and visible and some hidden. Those people, who are cleaver, try to exploit the weak and the meek. The cleaver become stronger in terms of wealth and keeps the weak in a lower level. This happens everywhere not just in India and is a universal trend. The dominant people suppress the weak. This goes on and on and we cannot stop it. We expect the government to equalize the unequal distribution of wealth. And this is not possible as government cannot interfere in each one of the individual’s lives in every aspect. But we can make each citizen aware of his rights and empower the individual to protect himself. This is the role of the government—empowering its citizenry.

India's challenges--a lesson to all

When Earth is a spaceship, we have divided it into  compartments called countries;and we have tried to isolate ourselves engrossed with our internal affairs. The reality is that we have global problems like global warming, tsunami, giant hurricanes, earthquakes which are out of our control. And then we all have man made problems like poverty, lack of water and electricity,lack of employment, and lack of human rights every where. So the problems which are covered in this blog are not just India's, but those which are present in all countries  in different forms. Those topics explored concern all countries for example, land acquisition is rephrased as 'eminent domain' elsewhere.Every where economic conditions are impacting people's standards of living.In India, unequal distribution of wealth and opportunities have brought about society always at war with itself. Much time is wasted in seeking solutions to these challenges and therefore pace of development is reduced.The same may be visible in another form elsewhere.

We can spend only so much of our resources in poverty alleviation, then we have to spend resources on education, research and development, on defense, on making infrastructures and so on.When the population is very high, there will be inequality and we cannot overcome such big hurdles. Education is what we spend for the future, we need to make the next generation capable of handling newer exigencies which they would be facing in the years to come. When we reduce our defence, our status in the comity of nations is diminished, so we cannot cut down on that.We have come far from life in the jungle, we need very good super highways and roadways, good railroads, best airports and good ports. These infrastructures will be developed soon. With good sources of minerals like iron etc, and many finest engineers, we just have to put the two and two together.

We know how to maintain good relation s with other countries. We are bringing about computerisation and e-governance in Bhutan and Mauritius. Even right now we are going to  share  electricity with our neighbour Pakistan which has big shortage of power.It is this spirit of sharing we must keep our spaceship Earth in peace.  

Venus in Transit

Living on planet Earth feels like living in a spaceship;another planet just zoomed by, that was Venus.The Planet Venus was between the Earth and the Sun on June 6 this year. Venus looks like a small white dot gliding across the face of the Sun.Last time it was in this position in 2004. This event happens in pairs. Next time, this will occur in 2117 and 2125. The transit happens in pairs, with the transits separated by eight years. It is with events like this we know the estimated distance between the Earth and the Sun. You can calculate the distance from Sun to Earth by using trigonometry,when you are able to see the event like this from two places in the Earth.Then you can also find the size of the Solar System this way.It takes 225 Earth days for Venus to go around the sun once.Venus has orbit closer to the Sun and it travels at a speed of 35.2 km per second around the Sun.It is because of the inclination of the orbit that we are able to see the transit clearly. From Sun rise in the morning till 3 in the afternoon, we were able to see the transit from India. What would India be like next time the Venus Transit occurs. We will be a great nation, we would be the most intelligent and the most caring people among all of the Earth dwellers. That is our wish, hope and prayer for future India and future Indians.

Re-engineering trade and commerce

Measures have been announced with the view of improving Foreign Trade policy midst an environment of global uncertainties. Commerce Ministry has a five year plan drawn out. India's export grew 21% in 2011-12,up to 303.7  billion dollars.To make bigger export targets, the ministry will be making more concessions.There is an interest subvention scheme (which had ended in March 2012), but it will be extended to another year;2% interest subsidy will be given to industry till March 2013.Now, the benefits under Technology Up gradation Fund Scheme(TUFS) or Status Holder Incentive Scheme (SHIS)  which have not been avialed can be taken to another business of the same company.SHIS will allow imports of capital goods for technology.Domestic manufacturer can import capital goods at zero duty.For procurement of goods now,the Utilization certificates for importing will be duty free and transferable.The extension of 2% interest subsidy will be for coverage for labor incentive sectors like toys, sports goods agricultural products and garments and so on.Even green products will be covered.Green technology products will extended to cover sixteen new products like solar cells, wind turbines, water treatment plants and electronically controlled vehicles and so on. This will give a boost to the green products industry.Market diversification schemes like Focus Market Scheme(FMS) seven new markets have been added; they are  markets of Austria, Myanmar, Netherlands, Ukraine, Morocco and Uruguay.Under Market Access Schemes, buyer seller meets will be organized, and exhibitions arranged. To ensure connectivity, exporters will need not make requests to banks for Bank Export Realization Certificate. So many any incentives have been announced. We are ready to export, so is the world ready to buy?  

India's central role

Now India has a central role at the world stage. US defence secretary has visited India because US and India to must cooperate to prepare world for new power order. India has friendly relations with Afghanistan, and US want to use India in negotiating settlements with Afghanistan. Even if the US leave Afghanistan, it will not leave Asia, and improving relations with India is a way to increase its sphere of influence to stay on in Asia. US is also moving its navy(60% of entire navy) from Pacific to the Indian Ocean. And this would counter check power of China. So now we have a common issue; that is freedom to navigate and carry on trade in South China Sea.Previously, we were told by China not to come to South China Sea. But with the friendship with US, we will be able to negotiate use of the South China Sea for  navigation(going through) purposes. India has the important role in making friends with two big powers, and not getting involved in power tactics of either one. And we are maintaining very good ties with China too. In Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, Chinese leader described relations with India as most important relationship in the Twenty first century. The good spirit of Indian leaders—past and present--- has made our role an important one.

Making modern infrastructures

Big plans are being made by our Ministers now. Whether they would work out or not depends on the changing the structures of our organisation and the speedy implementation of the plans.There are going to be new airports in Mumbai, Goa, sea-ports in states of  Andra Pradesh and West Bengal, and a bullet train from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. Infrastructures are important for the growth of the economy is obvious. How to make infrastructures fast is the question. New projects have been announced. More power plants to generate electricity will be made. If concrete measures are not taken, to make speedy movement of files and streamlining of procedures, they will be delayed. CAG reports that there have been there have been unrealistic budgeting and insufficient pre-budget scrutiny of schemes. And these misappropriations have resulted in under-utilisation of funds and at some others depletion of funds allocated. At the end of the financial year, they make up statement indicating poor planning, execution, and total mismanagement. Expenditures were made up, as indicated by big spending  at the last quarter of the financial year.Generally, expenditures are over-estimated to seek supplementary grant. On last accounting day of the financial year, there is much activity to “show” expenditures. Budgetary control has to be strengthened. Supplementary allocation of funds should be made by reassessment, after showing correlation between expenditures and resulted anticipated. Revenue loss cannot be estimated. Irregularities in concessions and exemptions cannot be assessed. Without good procedural framework, and re-structured organisations, making of projects for infrastructures is futile. Thus pushing through projects will not help.
Gap is widening from planning stage to implementation stage. Our ministers go on planning, and results will be dealt with by another regime (party) after the next elections. So there is no commitment in planning itself. And many of the ambitions are not realisable. Plans are flawed; cost of ticket of a bullet train would be more than cost of air-fare for the same distance. Then where is the need of the super fast train? To make ultra modern airport, we need land. There are unresolved issues like land acquisition, and land bill is still pending in the Parliament.Environmental clearance is stalled because of policy paralysis. Proposals are there for new airports in second tier cities.Are we making castles in the air?

To preserve India

India is rich in bio-diversity. Many specific forests like the western Ghats have rare species of birds and wood land creatures which cannot be found in such variety anywhere around the world.24% of land here has 7% of recorded species on Earth.The CHIPCO movement has helped in the reforestation of the Himalya’s foothills, because it was people's movement. Herbs become extinct as forests vanish into pastures and fields.

Land use must be planned to preserve forests.40% of the land is used for agriculture. And it is increasing as demand for food increases.In less land more foods can be grown.

There are serious threats to preserving the environment in India. Strict environmental laws should be enacted, so that industries treat the wastes and not dump it in the rivers.Rivers must not get polluted with human wastes. Recycling of sewage can be done; urban areas must not grow so big that we cannot maintain sanitation facilities well. Satellite towns can grow but not into huge metros in which waste management plants cannot be made easily.  
In the name of religion polluting the river should be avoided. Awareness and removal of superstitious beliefs are important. Government says that by the year 2020, river Ganges will be pure and free of pollution.Government or legislation cannot help  in keeping our holy rivers clean.Each individual must be aware of the damage that we do, we must realise the consequences of our acts (cremating bodies along side river to attain salvation is not a correct belief). Government can only help to some extent, people must themselves know what is correct and what is not.If we really respect and love our holy river, we must each try to keep it clean.

Non-polluting energy like solar power or wind power for generation should replace coal and natural gas, if we want our India to remain clean in the future.  Energy efficient Green Economy as proposed by Brazil can be brought about in India by controlled growth and awareness of the our citizens.

Environment day

Economic crisis is caused by political crisis but there are other more serious threats to India--we have the biggest crisis---ecological crisis. Smallest creatures have biggest effect on us. The native bird species of India had been our pest control specialists for centuries, but now several have become extinct. Farmers have started using pesticides to control pests on the crops.Increased use of pesticides have made the water tables contaminated by chemicals. Through pumps and motors we draw from the water table for drinking purposes.This has led to an increase in incidence of cancers all over India. We have poisoned our land and water by using chemicals in agriculture.To save native species of India, just releasing stamps will not help, concrete steps must to taken to reintroduce bird species and start organic farming. Deforestation must be stopped. Many herbs mentioned in our vedas were available in forests, they are lost for ever now.Loss of forests has led to erosion of top soil.If top soil is gone, then no farming can be done.Clouds are attracted by land with dense trees; because of loss of green cover, there is less rainfall now. No rains means no water would refill our water tables. Trees are crucial for our survival.Measures for afforestaion must be taken, and ecosystems must be revived by reintroduction of native fauna and flora.

Trying to change

There are attempts to bring change in political climate in India through active participation of civil society. But the educated elite should play a role in this. We are going through harsh times; there is price rise of all basic foods, all consumer items; costly fuel, scarce housing, high transport cost and so on. We can see clearly that all this is due to lack of governance and mismanagement of national resources by the political elite.The sad state of the political structure is the cause for our economic lag;gross mismanagement of national wealth,lack of proper policies and total inefficiency are the makings of the present government.The present government has no idea of the gross loss to the nation, and is concerned with its own survival in the next election. The nexus between the political elite and the corporate giants has led to rise of the super rich class at the cost of the loss of resources of the country. We are trying to restore the country by bringing in new leadership who will be able to tackle the power of the political elite.And we cannot conjure up a leader or a movement immediately, but we are trying to unite the people under a religious saint, for a start. He is in the forefront along with civil society leader;he is trying to give a concrete expression to the mood of the country. There are hindrances to the progress of the people and corruption in government is just one of them. We must identify the other hindrances and we must bring together the educated elite of the country. What are the educated elite who could provide leadership and give expression to the anguish of the people doing? Watching perhaps.

Will patchwork on tax policy re-work economy?

Markets are spiraling downwards, fiscal deficit is going up and investors are very scared. The economic state of the country is not so good; growth as anticipated is not taking place. Retrospective amendments were made to enable government to tax those cases for as long back as 1963, but now new announcements have been made to amend the amendments. It has been announced that income tax department will not reopen cases in which tax assessment proceedings had been finalized before April 1, 2012. Old cases will not be re-examined or reopened for the purpose of tax. This is a relief to the investors from overseas.Soon the Central Board of Direct Taxes will send a circular to clarify this. However large transactions which took place for the last six years will be examined and it will be made sure that they do not escape the tax net.  Another form of relief for investor came when it was announced that tax won’t be deducted at every level of distribution, as previously done (from distributer to reseller to retails to customers).No multi level tax deduction for software is a big relief. To control the number of disputes, it was clarified that all cases need not go to court and can be settled then and there. With fiscal measures, the government is not able to fight inflation, and the rupee is being devalued day after day. There are cuts in interest rates, may be that will reduce inflation. But there won’t be further cuts. The fact is that there is no growth in farm or factory outputs. Economists have given up. The confidence of the people is at the lowest, with domestic investments, everyone is buying gold to save themselves. Rising fuel cost is also brining stress to the average Indian who is being strangulated by economic trends.GDP growth rate is 5.3% for the last quarter(Jan-March2012) while it was 9.2% same time last year. That can mean no salary hikes. With cost of living being high, people have controlled their expenditures by not buying consumer items; and this further stagnates the economy. In all sectors, growth is curtailed, construction, transport, trade, insurance, real estate and services.Changing policies to amend "retrospective" ones confuses the people.Bad political moves to amend policies have ruined our economy.Technocratic economists are urgently needed to explain to us what is going on in the sphere of economy and how to mend it.