Why say 'no' to GM

There are labelling requirement in several countries which gives the consumers information on whether the food item is made using genetically modified plant genes or not.  Some countries require that the commodities which have transgenic protein traces can be labelled as they had been genetically modified in origin.Some countries require that all genetically modified products (if GM origin elements had been used in production process) have to be labelled. This is to protect the consumer in making an informed choice. Genetically modified genes cause kidney damage and liver damage and cause high mortality rates. Genetically modified plants are toxic as they were designed to keep away insects. 

What is GM? Genes of plant species are genetically modified by crossing with another species to make a stronger species which is resistant to insects(pests) and plant diseases. This increases the toxicity of the genetically modified plant several times. The genetically modified plant becomes more and more robust, and gives bigger harvests. But the consumers suffer because of the toxicity of the products.Why were such foods made? Super bugs invaded big farms and to control them became impossible. To combat the super bugs(like locusts) monster seeds were invented by genetic engineering. And thus came GM(genetically modified)crops. Instead of this we could have introduced insect eating birds and that would have been the ecologically correct  alternative. 

In India, only one GM crop has been is allowed to grow and that is 'bt cotton'. It was allowed as cotton is not used in food (as thought previously). But the cotton seed is used to extract oil which is combined in making other edible oils. Cotton seed cakes(by-products when cotton seed oil is extracted) are fed to dairy animals(cows) which give milk which has the toxic content of the GM crops. Now legislation has to be made for this. Whether we label such products as GM or not, they have GM elements in them. Even if the consumer is given a choice, is the consumer knowledgeable enough to understand what is GM ? No, he is not.It is up to the government to ban it, as it can cause damage to the health of the consumer. Now we are leaving up to the farmer to make the choice of using the genetically modified seeds or not. Farmers should debate on whether to use GM technology. Even the farming community may not be knowledgeable enough to understand the damage that GM can cause. Even consumers do not know "what is GM"; so even if we label it as GM, consumer would take it.Informed choice of labelling will not help. There is no awareness of this. Imported pickles also have corn, canola, soybean which are grown from GM seeds, and these are used in exotic urban restaurants in India.Unknowingly people are consuming GM products, without realising the potential hazards.

As it is, soy oil (which is imported) has GM elements in it. In 2006, we tried to amend the Prevention of Food Adulteration(PFA) Act of 1955 to label GM mandatory. Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 was dealt under Food Safety and Standards Authority of India(FSSAI) Bu still labelling of GM foods has not been done. After this came Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill which had said that all living modified organisms and foods derived from them had to be dealt by them. But even then GM remained under FSSAI. Food Safety Standards Regulation Act of 2011 covered even irradiated food which had to be labelled but GM was not covered(therefore labelling was not mandatory) When issue of 'bt brinjal' was discussed, it has been banned in India, but what about issue of  'bt cotton'? Whether banned or not GM has entered our food chain by' bt cotton'. Milk products like yogurt(curd)  butter, cheese, chocolate, cakes and milk sweets have GM elements in them. We have now consumed them. It is irreversible now, as we cannot reverse food chain. We must go for ecological farming for survival; and indigenous or native species can be grown and our plant gene pool should be protected. Only then India will have a future.Our indigenous (native) species of rice had special properties because of which incidence of diabetics was rare in the old times. With coming of new rice plant species, our native species have disappeared all together.We must learn more about the genetically modified genes and modify our laws to ban them; we must promote our native species of plants and make ecologically correct alternatives to control pests. Technical experts have called for ten year moratorium on field trails of genetically modified crops.The research should go on; but using the genetically modified plants should not be allowed for now.

Growth initiated

Whether government makes concrete opportunities for growth or not, India is programmed for progress. Communication revolution (mobiles), better transport facilities (roads and railways) and better utilities (electricity and water) have initiated a chain of growth in India. There is a big demand for mobile phones, which in turn makes people migrate to far away places for employment; and which in turn creates greater demand for vehicles. When there are good roads, not just agricultural farms, but also poultry farms grow several times because they can transport their produce to nearby urban markets. People can get better jobs when they move to places and can send back their wages to their families in their home towns; so banking is better now.And mobile phones allows them to keep in constant touch with their homes;this expands their job prospects in far off places. Employment prospects have increased and job seekers can get better wages than ever before.There is greater and greater demand for consumer goods, as wages increase. This in turn keeps the economy growing at a greater speed. At the political front there is in-fighting and attempts to dilute issues at both the domestic front and at the international front. Government keeps busy in making election plans.But nothing will stop India from blossoming and blooming.

New Food Scheme

Now the ‘Food Security Bill’ will provide food stuffs to two-thirds of the Indian population by subsidizing grains and pulses. Five kilo grams of grains per person and one kilo gram of pulses will be given. Rice would be available at 3 Rupees per kilo gram and wheat at 2 Rupees per kilo gram. It is up to the different states how they are going to distribute the food. It is also is up to the various states to determine who is poor.
Why do we redistribute food grains? There is much inequality among the people. How did this land become this way? The hierarchy of landowners s and the poor peasantry was always there. People lived with this inequality. But now we are questioning this. And we are creating changes, so that growth is inclusive. We want to make sure that the poor get food. We do not want the poor to live with complete deprivation.
Vast India had always supported the people living in its land, because the soil was extremely fertile, the climate was warm and water was always available (in rivers, streams, canals and wells). And people were hard working agriculturalists, food was plentiful. There were only few times in history when we had famines. The population cannot grow bigger than the land that could support it. The poor died the natural death by hunger, when the rich accumulated a big amount of grains in their granaries and deprived the poor of the grains. But if the poor were all gone, then who would work to make the next harvest possible. The poor landless laborer would not have died of starvation. So redistribution of grains was done in the old times, so that the poor had some food to pull on.With mass production of food with modernization technology, we have plenty to feed all the people. And now we have made schemes for this. There will be no starvation. And there will be greater equality. So future is bright for the people of India.

Laws to tackle violence against women

The Criminal Law Amendment Bill to tackle violence against women has been passed.But so much more has to be done to change the status of women in India. For making punishment for violence does not necessarily reduce crimes. More ways will be devised by criminal minds of men who will want to exploit women who are weak and fragile.Just by passing a bill, will not be sufficient to help women.
The legal age for consent is 18 and not 16 as proposed earlier. Stalking and voyeurism are bailable when committed for the first time; after the first,they will not be bailable. If there is a gang rape or a minor is violated upon, 20 years imprisonment or lifetime imprisonment will be the punishment. Even death penalty will be given if the victim is reduced to a vegetative state. Army men cannot be accused of crime of rape and are immune from this law; this is very unfair. Marital rape has not been dealt with.Child trafficking should be made a grave violation and should be prevented.Politicians charged with rape should be prevented from running for election. When the seven hour debate was telecast live on TV, we found elected persons had lacked dedication to deal with crimes against women. The comments made by them showed how backward they are in their mindsets.The casual attitude of the legislators was highly deplorable.
Only 200 out of 540 elected members were present. Irrelevant comments made the event look like mockery. As this legislation was made, more reports of violence were coming in.One wonders, if the Indian population knows that this criminal activity will be invite strong punishment. If they knew, they would not commit it.
Empowering the women and changing of social values can reduce violence; that will take a long long time to materilize. Laws can give a small consolation to the victim, but they really cannot reduce crime rates.Minds of many men are not clean and women have to defend themselves from such men.

What holds us back?

You cannot make something out of nothing. That is if you have some soup in the cauldron, you will get soup in the ladle. If you have nothing in the cauldron, you will get nothing in the ladle. Why India is not growing is a puzzle. We have many educated people who want to move out of India. Why? Nothing seems to work here. Numerous policies and tall talk of foreign investments cannot create growth. New forces are being infused into old country. But when there is less capital than that is needed for industries, and when the people are not willing to take risks by investing in the market and when money is being tucked away as gold assets, we cannot do much by making laws. An economic solution is not present. We do not have enough economic resources to keep up with the global market.No matter what is done, stagnation persists. Political climate affects economic progress decisively . People do not have faith in leaders or their whimsical comments. Why is it that all the policies are not making a positive change?
RBI has cut rates by 0.25% right now to check inflation. In the last session of Parliament many Bills were passed to improve the financial status of India (or in the hope). For example:

Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill 2012,
Unlawful Activities (prevention) Amendment Bill2012,

Enforcement of Security Interest-Recovery of debts laws Amendment Bill 2011,

Companies Bill 2012,
Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill 2011
It will take a long time for these to take effect on the market which will hopefully uplift us.Only when we become economically powerful, we have a say as a strong nation.

Education and Poverty

Instead of making huge schemes which give only immediate relief from poverty, we must think about making poverty disappear completely.There is attempt to erase open poverty by making social welfare schemes. Government has to spend its precious resources where it is urgently needed for proper growth of the society. We must immediately tackle failed institutions like schools of formal learning. Educated persons can get good jobs. And all parents try their very best to educate their children to the highest possible level. All believe that the path way to move out of poverty is through education. All parents send their children to school every day. Government had made a policy by which students up to class 8 cannot be failed or detained due to poor scores. ACER(to access impact of education) scores reveal that students who had studied up to class 8 could not do simple arithmetic or write a logical sentence. Government schools had failed in teaching the next generation which cannot get passed class 9 examinations due to lack of skills in reading, writing and arithmetic. This is because the government teachers have permanent jobs and they did not come to school regularly; they have never taught faithfully. Stricter norms by government were made so that student’s scores can be improved. Teachers had to keep scores of student in portfolios and registers for each term, so that improvements could be made. But students knew that they will not be failed or detained and did not study properly. Teachers had to spend more time in tabulating scores that in teaching. Learning outcome was nil. Parents who were illiterate or first generation literates cared a lot about this. When they had realised that their children were not learning in government schools, they switched them to private schools whose fees were exorbitant;or they got private ’tuition teachers’ for extra teaching their children. This was a big strain on the parents but they were willing to take it. They are so full of hope and they are aspiring for a better status for their children. By making weak educational institutions, government has failed its people. By knowing the need of the average persons, government can solve poverty and other evils in Indian society.  We can offer low-cost private education to the poor or good teachers in government schools. What they need are good teachers who can teach and improve the lives of their students and their families. When all get good education, there will be equality. This would eventually solve the inequalities of society on the long run. Indian children or willing to learn and wanting to learn and are capable of learning but the conducive environment (good teachers) has to be provided. Eventually poverty will be eradicated by concerted efforts which can be made by literate population, with gainful employment.

As per statistics, there is a 37.2% increase in private school enrolment over base line in 2005. This is same in states of Karnataka, UP, and Rajasthan. In state of Bihar drop outs 13.1 % in 2005 (children of age 6 to 14) as compared to 5.7% in 2008; and 20% have moved on to private schools from public schools.It is hopes and aspirations that parents have that will make India's future bright.  

Protecting our people

We should care for our people. In comity of nations, our status does not depend on eulogistic speeches, it depends on how we protect our citizens.Not protecting our fishermen in our coastal areas has caused a big blow to us. Just as farmers need protection from foreign powers to carry on cultivation(in our borders) our coastal fishermen need protection which our coast guards can give. GPS monitoring of fishing vessels is urgently needed. Our fishermen need SMS alerts to warn them of dangers. If this is not done, then Indian people will remain vulnerable. When our coastal  people are killed by a foreign navy, it is meant to provoke us.We cannot go on tolerating this sort of provocation.We are being attacked and we are not even aware of that.

Our media can go on blabbering about who said what about whom. But media cannot write about the state of our fishermen. So there is no one to pay for the news about missing fishermen. We become aware of the biggest blunders long after they were committed. We can read about them as history. Do we know 'what the does the foreign media think of India?' Why were two murderers of fishermen treated like heroes while they escaped court trails in India?

Government has now become aware that our people matter.India matters.Government was totally engaged in making itself successful for next elections. And cause of protection of our citizens was absent in their agenda.This is a sad state of affairs.But Italians do not take us seriously. Our envoy in foreign capitals should keep informing us about our image there.They have failed in their duty.
The identity of India must be guarded. Ethnic origin is retained even after generations of Indians had migrated  and had settled in foreign lands. We must care for people of Indian origin, because they are still known as Indians.These are simple truths which matter.
.

A Bill to protect Indian women

A group of minister of government have finalized draft of anti-rape bill. It will be placed before the cabinet. Anti-sexual assault bill will be passed soon. It must be passed before March 22 to become law.This law will make acid attacks, voyeurism and stalking non-bailable offences.These laws have been made to protect women; the real protection is empowerment. When there is grave poverty, all other rights are negated. A poor women stands no chance; her rights disappear when she has to face men who are working in positions higher than her. Poverty must be eradicated before we can enact laws which would give rights to women.The age of consent has been reduced from 18 to 16.Legal age for marriage is 18( minimum age). Being a traditional society, this does not make any sense. This means that female children that young will be given choices. Are they ready mentally to make that choice? These laws are made to give legal protection, but they are not protecting.This would negate child rights given by 'Protection of Child against Sexual Offences Act' passed in 2012. It would be negating Juvenile Justice Act. No child of 16 would understand what is an "informed consent" This could lead to more crimes against the female child.Emotional development of the child is being sacrificed. There is already need for change in it.First the child has to be protected by law, because it is the child which becomes a woman.What is morally incorrect cannot become legally correct. But we are promoting what is legally correct as if it is morally correct.What happened to our culture and traditions which do not allow this "age of consent" legislation.We are not promiscuous.Just enacting law cannot protect women; patriarchal mindsets have to change so that women achieve better status in society. Women must shake free of superstitions and traditional mindsets; the change should start from within women themselves.

The Great Escape

It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood movie—two criminals escape prison. The escapists want to look like ‘A-team’ perhaps; out conning the diplomats? Two Italian marines who had murdered Indian fishermen were held in judicial custody in India. On promise that they will return after casting their votes in their elections, they were allowed to go to Italy. They were to return as they are awaiting trial in Indian Court; but the criminals did not return to India after voting in Italy. India cannot be taken for granted, as they presume. Italians will learn that India is a powerful nation and not just a any third world country who need not be taken seriously. What is the meaning of going back on word given? If criminals are sent out with a promise of return, promise must be honoured, it is made between diplomats of the two countries.

Italy must listen to Indian courts. It did not. So Italy is still struck in backward mindsets? Have they no idea that this is 21^st Century.  They will be taught lessons in modern history by international organisations.Excerpts from this blog published in February last year under the title "Human Life is Precious" is given below:
 

Two Indian fishermen who were fishing off coast of Kerala in Southern India were shot dead by Italian marines five days ago. The marines have been charged of murder. The Indian police had arrested them and had taken them into custody. They have been now sent to 15days of remand as this is what is done till court hearing takes place. This has aroused the local people and protests are going on. They want justice to be done when lives of fellow Indians were lost for no reason.

What is most hurtful is that is our simple fishermen’s lives so cheap that foreign marines take it as fun to shoot them? They had said they had thought these fishermen "looked like pirates"; for these marines, travelling in high seas, a game of “let’s shoot Indian pirates for target practice” was full of fun. Is value of human life so cheap? Do Indians look so so small that couple of lives was nothing to these marines?
Our status in the comity of nations is determined by how well we conduct ourselves in international conventions. It is also determined by how well our people are treated by outsiders.

We Indians have adopted to world culture; and we work as engineers, doctors, and managers, all over the world. We want to be respected. All people need respect, however big or small. We Indians are highly educated people, and we know our rights well. Guarding our Honor is very important to us. We want human dignity. We should to be treated like fellow human beings, and not as any animal—shooting down fishermen! It is outrageous!

Growth and Good Governance

When there is good governance in states in the union of India, there is much growth. Good governance can come about when there is coordination between the institutions and the people running them. Firstly, politicians have to be committed to the goal of good governance and they have to make sure that the bureaucracy under them is functioning smoothly; secondly they have to make sure sufficient funds are allocated in different organisations under them; and thirdly, they have to make sure that the funds reach the people. The results are not seen immediately, not within the next election. Only in retrospect we can judge good governance because the resultant growth comes much later.For the benefits to reach the people, and for the average voter to mature and realize the resultant growth would take a long long time.

However some trends can be seen. If there is private investment in growth, there is corruption. There is really no way to avoid it. The theory is that, if there is healthy competition in procurement and  in allocation of projects, there will be less corruption. But this always does not work here.Influence of power changes the way open competition adopts to Indian exigencies.No amount of vigilant media can expose the incongruity in the effect of power in private investments.

 Can we really measure growth and development? Literacy rates rise if there is prosperity. Infant mortality or public health cannot be measured and cannot reflect growth. There are correlations; like higher school attendance occurs when there is reduced crime rates.Few states which have industrialised show poor health index for the people.There is 99% literacy in one of the states, but crime rate is very high in the same state. Can wealth be used as an index of progress of the people? There are states where male population has migrated to different parts of the world and is remitting wealth to their respective families; so they are wealthiest. But the wealth generated is not result of progress within the state. People as individuals are create wealth for themselves and the country.Some states which are far away from New Delhi, are doing very well. Because they do not expect anything from the union government, and carry on with development within their state by themselves. With less dependence on approvals and funds, they can perform well. With good leaders, many states have evolved good governance; when leaders have found a solution to protection of property rights with good land records(computerized); where tax rates are regularised; where there is increased tax compliance because of simple methods of e-filing; where wage regulation gives the option to make deals with workers; where employment has been generated.Those states which have incorporated greater computerisation in their bureaucracies have greater chance of prospering. Greater computerisation can bring about transparency efficient and speedy implementation of policies. The option to opt out of corruption is present now.Let us take it.

Do we have bio-security?

Every year many foreign pests and disease causing germs enter our country bringing loss of plant and livestock species. Transgenic species pose risks.The losses caused by them are more than which missiles or bombs can cause. Weeds like ‘parthenium’ have entered India and are causing lung ailments among the people. Bird flu is causing diseases in poultry farms. We must take care of plant health, animal health and marine health. So a Bill has been introduced in our Lower House to provide for an Authority for prevention, control, eradication and management of diseases from outside India. The Bill tries to bring together plant protection animal health and marine resources (diseases in fishes) under agricultural bio-security. Parasites infesting imported birds and fishes kill our native species.Because of freedom to export and import and diversification of agriculture, new species have been brought to India. Native species which were disease resistant have been lost. Out break of diseases can endanger our nation.Genetically modified species bring their own kind of insecurity. Proper management of risks is needed  before introduction of foreign plants in India. Wheat rust is a disease that came from outside India.The loss of health of plant species leads to major agricultural losses. There is pest risk analysis done by our stationsWe need to watch for bio-terrorism.Someone may introduce a disease causing agent in our country affecting our entire population. If dangerous diseases are introduced here, we may have to face major disasters. We must safeguard ourselves from hidden dangers. In a lab, we must investigate plant and animal species brought from outside before allowing them to enter India.We have Directorate of plant protection quarantine and storage stations and animal quarantine stations. We have the duty to inform the government if any new organism has entered our country.We must try to control by post entry quarantine. Agricultural Bio-security Amendment Bill has been passed in lower house(LS)But implementation is the most important aspect of this law. If we are not taking care of this security now, our future is in danger.

Are we safe?

It is Women's Day today and Indian women are wondering "are we safe" How to make us more safe?What is wrong with our society? Can we really celebrate women's day when there is so much tension in our minds? How quickly can we bring about changes in this patriarchal society? A generation or two, may be.Empowering women is our main goal now;women must form associations and join self-help groups and give confidence to each other. More cases of crimes against women is reported now. So we are more aware now then ever before.Neither new law nor police force by itself can give higher status to women. Women must aspire for a better status.Society must change for that.

Loan waivers for farmers

In the year 2008, loans which farmers had in banks were waived. The government paid towards the loans, so that the farmer is not pressurised. But this waiver helped the rich farmers and did not help the eligible farmers. Now, five years after, it is found out that the money did not reach those for whom it was meant for.The government had given Rupees 71000 crores so that farmer's debts can be waived. There were gross irregularities in 20% of the cases seen so far. Of the 90,0000 bank accounts seen so far, in 20,000 cases, benefits were given to ineligible beneficiaries. Some borrowers used the funds to buy jewellery. Sometimes the banks in view of attaining targets, allowed cheap loans to buy non-farm assets. Those who were responsible for not verifying or not certifying properly will be questioned. Many banks encouraged their customers to 'show' as if they were marginal farmers, to avail/claim the waiver of loans. They were reducing their farmed lands to show this.It is time for the truths to come out.What claims were made and for whom? Bank chairmen are now made to make a list of eligible persons for loan waivers.

The reason (for investigating this) is that, there is possibility of recovering benefits from the ineligible persons. We can find out who the real farmers who were denied loans or waivers and help them. Who are those officers who allowed fraudulent claims?

There is possibility that records were fudged, so that the rich farmers benefited more. With so many farmers committing suicide, it is about time we examined what are the irregularities and who are those denied benefits. So many farmers are selling their organs in their body( like kidney) in order to get free themselves of the loans. No matter how hard they try, they fall into deep debt traps.Farming is proving to be a profession which will not give profits. If more farmers opt out from farming, then how will people get food????Future is a question mark.

The unknown India

There is the unknown India which newspapers and magazines do not report about. Only the 'news' from the metros(major cities) seem important and all others seem irrelevant. So large parts of India is still unknown the modern reader. Newspapers bring to attention the problems of the people--their distress, their protests, their aspirations.Whole of rural India is unrepresented in our periodicles.Unrepresented India comprises of tribals(adivasis), farmers, dalits, and minorities. Some states like the Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab are nearby the national capital and are covered well by reporters. 'News' from many far away states like Mizoram, Assam, Sikkim and Nagaland cannot be found in any of the periodicals or newspapers.Then there are some states like Tamil Nadu, Andra Pradesh and Karnataka who feel unrepresented and ignored. Many regional states feel that the central ruling power is ignoring their problems. They know that their feelings, aspirations and  affiliations are ignored. For example, the torture of  ethnic minority in our neighbouring country is an issue which the people of the deep southern state wants the Indian government to know. But  the central government  trivialises the issue altogether. The local newspapers, TV channels and magazines of the state reflect their voices; but these voices are not heard outside the state.

When will 'news' from remote areas matter? When tribal people, land less farmers revolt, they are heard. For example,farmers are standing in water(in rivers) to protest against dams.Their causes are ignored.When farmers do not produce enough and prices of vegetables rises high, then their plight comes to light. Then, nothing is done as the farmers cannot become an united group. Same holds true of tribal populations who are protesting against land acquisitions. Their causes are never heard. News are just not reported as if they do not matter. In depth coverage is just not done.Only name sake reporting is done--a single line in 'news channel'

We do not know 'how to present the 'news' or 'how to make good quality comments'. We need correct perspective for that. We only see how the 'news' affects us. But these 'news' affect all of us because our nation's progress is our people's progress.Shallow reporting is highly insufficient.The common people's plight is not covered, while corporate interests are fully covered.Many times stories are planted to provide credibility to interests of the corporate firms.  For example, conflicts over natural resources is presented in a different viewpoint. Struggle between the capital wielders and labour is shown differently. This kind of misrepresentation will bring about more disillusionment and more public unrest in the future times to come. To know ourselves, we must know our India, the entire India.