Steps to improve economy

Several steps have been taken as part of reforms for improving the economy. Today, the ‘Finance bill’ has been passed in the Lok Sabha. Firstly wealth tax on agricultural land was abolished. This a very good step. Historically, the peasant was unfairly overburdened with tax during the rules of various Islamic rulers and the British. Now he is unburdened. Even urban land which is used for agriculture will not be requiring tax. And this would apply retrospectively (from April 1993 onwards)
Another positive step was that the tax residency certificate issued by a foreign government would be accepted as proof of residency and investors can invest with ease. This has diffused much confusion for persons living outside India to invest in India. No tax in purchase of gold with cheque is another step taken.This the people would like as there is greater tendency to buy gold out of future uncertainties and general insecurity.More tax benefits like no TAN will be required for TDS(tax deducted at source) for buying or selling immovable assets. Railways will be exempted from service tax and so on.These steps will simplify business deals and give a boost to trading in the Indian economy. There is great hope for the future when these reforms come into practise.

Grief-striken People

What is common among all Indians? In other words, what is it that all Indians do, they save money for uncertainties of future. How do they invest it? There are variations in that. In the southern part of India small entrepreneurs start small enterprises. In the western most states, cooperatives had worked out well. In few states banks have reached the all of rural and urban population; banks give people loans to start industries. In the Eastern state of Bengal, the hardworking people saved their money and deposited in financial organisations which were not banks. The credulous people innocently believed that they would get large returns. But these institutions were run by frauds that had cheated the poor people. They had announced bankruptcy and they poor people lost their money. They are asking their leader to help them as they have been cheated completely. Lakhs and lakhs of families belonging to lower strata have been affected. In tears, they are asking for justice. What can be done now?Embezzlement of huge funds has caused much grief to the poor masses. These non-bank finance companies will be probed into.A regulatory body will be made. We must find a way to stop fraudulent schemes. People themselves have to become informed investors and they should not be so gullible.

Ban on bio-safety trials is not a good policy

There is lack of bio-safety studies on effects of genetically modified seeds and organisms. So government has said that for ten years no trials should be done in the field of biotechnology in India. There should be research and even if acceptable gene is found then we should introduce it. A ten year ban is going to stop all benefits which we would get from "good genes" which can be made in crops and in other living things. Right now there is no "patent" policy on biological organisms or plant genes.Just by closing our eyes to development in biotechnology is not going to make it disappear.Genetically engineered seeds or animals can enter India without our knowledge and we have no research on them to tackle that situation. We have no regulatory framework for dealing with biotechnology related projects, services and marketing of the products.Pre-cautionary outlook and issuing a ban will not help us understand the gaps and uncertainties in dealing with bio-technically engineered product.We need not think of bio engineering as a threat to our biodiversity. It may/may not help us preserve our biodiversity. The cheetah, pink headed duck or the Himalayan mountain quail can be brought back.For instance the gene of the Indian tiger can be replicated and its extinction can be prevented. We may be able to replicate the "oldest" species of the original rice crops of India which otherwise would be lost for ever. We may be able to make a crop which is resistant to pesticide and chemicals.We can make a plant which will convert chemicals in contaminated lands into biomass which would be beneficial soil. Possibilities are endless. We cannot ban it before we find the real relevance. Australian scientist have made a new genetically modified banana(with extra vitamins and iron) which they want to share with Indian scientists. Can they legally?There are different aspects in several fields. The technical, economic legal, ethical and social implications of the ban on all bio tech research has to be discussed again.Ostrich like attitude by banning all trials is not good for our future.

The pulse of the nation?

As if to stop the present government to stop from making economic reforms and get a good name, much commotion is caused by opposition in Parliament. This has been the trend in the past sessions also. Stalling reforms is bad for the economy. We need confidence of Indian and foreign investors to carry on investing in India. And this trend dilutes their faith. Already reforms have set in motion several infrastructural projects (about 27 billion dollars worth)Indian economy is driven by hardworking nature of its people in all spheres,  So they will carry on; no matter how long the government takes to make policies or abstains from implementing them.Things keep moving.
In aviation sector, investors have started coming in. Especially from the mid-east. The fuel is not subsidised any more, so it has reduced the strain on the government; it was deregulated. This has greatly reducing fiscal deficit.Foreign investment for insurance sector from 26% to 49% will bring in more wealth; only if the insurance bill is passed.There is stand off between the power sector and the coal sector. Power sector wants more coal for producing more and more electricity; and the coal sector needs reforms to send more and more coal.We have plenty of coal, mining this would require many firms. The rights to mine must be given by government judiciously, it is here we have bottlenecks. We will resolve these soon.People are benefiting from welfare schemes and are able to withstand the pressures of inflation.And this is a big achievement.

What would India look like?

When industrialisation and modernisation transform India, there will be the affluent India and a "slum" India which would be fenced off. Affluent India will come about as the"rich" class of industrialists would make town ships for themselves; they would have their own hospitals and schools. The "poor" India would be the labourers' and workers' communities which would cater to the needs of the "rich" class. These people would have least facilities in terms of schools and medical centres. Crime rates would be high here. Whenever there is a crime, a few persons in the poor area would be arrested beaten up and made to confess even if they were not involved in crime.
Actually, this scene seems more and more like the present. Law has a different meaning for rich and the poor.If our natural resources are sold to the rich after being confiscated from the poor farmers, we are creating a "rich" society and a "poor" society.
When agricultural results are good, we can distribute to all persons. But when there is drought or famine, the rich would isolate themselves. They would import food or grow food in green houses. The poor would get few rations handed out by public welfare schemes.We must make sure that droughts do not occur; we must make sure that waters in our rivers do not dry up. Why should foreign powers build dams to stop river waters from entering our land? We must protect our land and its people.
It is a sad scene which will come true, if we fail to make our government effective and responsible.And the voice of the poor should be heard. His needs should be attended to. The poor labourers would be battling against the corporates. The government would support the corporates and all labour laws would be meaningless. The supply chain corporates would unscrupulously exploit the weak worker. How to make an ethical supply chain?

These are questions we must think about now to avoid a terrible future.

Consensus on making of the land bill

We had an ancient bill through which land was acquired by the state for making infrastructures for public good, and it was called Land Acquisition of 1894. It was outdated and a new one was made. Latest one is called Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2012. This would give new deal to the Indian farmers whose lands would be acquired by government and given to private companies which would develop it.The compensation given to the farmers would be double of the market rate. The reality is that the actual value of the land would be 500 times more the "white"market rate. Once the farmer sells it, he would never be able to buy land ever (land would be out of his reach) For the sake of industrialisation and modernisation, the government is going to acquire land. Even if the different political parties arrive at consensus, they would not be "fair" to the farmer. Farmer protests are subdued. In the state of Odissa, land for steel plant (of a Korean company) was acquired and the plant was made. People protested for months together. Now they can protest no more. A mere compensation of 20 lakhs would be paid to them and land would be taken against their wishes. The steel plant would make 20 million tonne of steel annually. And the farmers whose land it was built on will get no part of the profits. The farmers should be the"owners" of the plants., but with land snatched from them they are reduced to labourers. Is this the support they should receive from the government they had elected?The government has not made an in depth study of the situation. Even if it is aware of the situation, it does not care for the helpless farmer.It cares for industrialisation more than ever. People's rights are not recognised here, how will farmers survive? What future do they have?The land and its people are suffering.Our culture and people might disappear in the future.

Earth Day--its meanings for us

The ecology of Indian subcontinent has constantly been changed by human habitations. The native species have been replaced by crops and fruit trees in rural areas. Landscapes have been transformed by cultivation--for instance hills have been changed into terrace cultivation farms, valleys and slopes have been used for tea cultivation and so on. Canals have been cut to irrigate fields and courses of rivers have been changed. But most drastic changed have been initiated by building of dams and water reservoirs which reduce the flow of the rivers.Ground water has been depleted and we may have major water crisis soon.Border countries which are aggressive have built dams in their lands which would stop river flow to India.
In urban areas forest department has proven to be a dysfunctional organisation. Native species of trees have been constantly disappearing. In cities like New Delhi, efforts are taken to maintain some greenery, but rules are never followed. The rule that 6 feet of land should be left around a tree is never followed by government or by private organisations. Delhi Preservation of Tree Act 1994, Section 24(1) says that no nails will be hammered into trees; but trees are used as advertising poles with road signs on them. Anyone cuts down trees as nobody is punished for cutting down trees. Along with trees disappear the native species of birds squirrels bats butterflies and other native woodland creatures(monkeys, deer, bears etc) For the making of housing projects trees are cut down. Entire urban population prospers by exploiting resources from rural India.For urban India the rural population produces food for consumption, wood for furniture and labour from its population. This cannot go on for ever. There are limits to its resources. Ecological crisis is looming(water scarcity) overhead.By upsetting the ecological diversity(trees and animals) we have sown the seeds to our own end.Wild animals have been replaced by dogs, monkeys,cats and rats(these spread diseases). Only strong birds like the crow, parrot and pigeon survive while sharing habitats with humans.The myna, the Indian cuckoo(koel) mourning dove, the bee eater, humming bird,  the wagtails and innumerable others have disappeared; only the hen is still abundant.Soon we will have no trees for making furniture as we never planted saplings while cutting down one.... Without these birds and trees, life would not be beautiful. This is because we had failed to listen to forest department which is promoting growing of trees, we had only raised multi storey flats.

Criminals in city

Commonly, helpless women and children are brutalised by criminals in urban India. Police do not care and refuse to register cases when victims approach them. This is intolerable. Protests are going on in the capital against the government which is doing nothing to improve the police systems. Ineffective socialisation and alienation of individuals have made many into psychologically ill rapists. The law can control this but the police infrastructure is an inefficient system. The media can take a pro-active role, but it just reports. Neighbourhood watch can help but nobody bothers to get involved. May be political élite is adding fuel to the flame. People are frustrated and protesting on social issues gives them an outlet to their feelings. The truth is that the government is not working honestly to prevent such crimes. Police does not care for the people; for it cares to please the politicians and takes orders from them. Criminals do not fear law, as they care least for well being of women or children. Women and girl child become victims of criminals as they are weak and cannot defend themselves. Decadent culture has come about ---no institutions which shape our value system work here. It is animal society. How to make it into a human society? It is puzzling how a traditional society like ours has become hostile to the women and the girl children.What would be the future be like without womenfolks?

Preserving our lands

Indiscriminate development of industries in India could turn Indian subcontinent into a polluted land. So"no go" areas were established and conserved as ecological sensitive zones. They were not opened for activities like mining, factories, housing sites, thermal power plants etc. One such zone is a strip of land 60,000 km in the "Western Ghats" of peninsular India.When this was proposed by the "Gadgil Committee" it had to face stiff opposition as three fourths of the land was closed for development as this land included plantations and habitations. So the Ecological Sensitive Area under Environmental Protection Act of 1976 was to be altered by the "Kasthurirangan Committee" This new committee proposed to protect only 90% of the hills of Western Ghats should come under the protected area. That is 4156 villages lie within the zone and the villages have a say in "development" of the area as per the green law. The people should be given choice on whether there should be hydro project there. But are the people really aware of the consequences of the project to make that decision?There will be no ban on hydroelectric projects. 30% of the water in proposed dams should be allowed to flow in the natural path; so that previous ecological life forms(fishes) could be preserved. Environmental clearances will be needed for all projects.There will be total ban on mining industries and those mines which already have licenses will be allowed to mine till their licensed time is over.Efforts are taken for keeping the ecological diversity and for preservation of the land. Animals like lions are reintroduced in forest preserves. A data base has been made for keeping a record of the plant growing in this ecologically diverse area. 589 plant species have been identified belonging to this area.There are few issues like the state of Kerala has its own data base which is not shared with others like state of Tamil Nadu or Karnataka state. Plants grow naturally in all states, we cannot say "this is our plant". Knowledge of the herbs and plants of  medicinal value must be shared with all. There are new issues like the state of Gujarat does not like the" lion" to be introduced in forests of Maharashtra state.When we are one nation, preserving the native species is our national goal and local issues should not divide us.

Fear, anguish and terror shake us up

Bomb blasts which went off today in our IT city, Bangalore.Terror shook us all up. When terror strikes in our cities in guise of bombs in public places, it fills us(citizens) with anguish. Some of our elected elite make this anguish into political capital. Our politicians play the ”blame game” This bomb went off “near the office of this party”, so it is the opposition who planted this. The media would immediately blame on the religious group which propagates terror. This would give direction to the public anger. The true sufferers are the victims who were rushed to the hospital. Their pain would not be heard. Neither media nor the leaders act concerned. Disaster management is poor and victims get medical help late, although medical care was given. Media wants a story and it swung into action. Care for the victim is more important than gathering  news.  This is sad. As this shows how much unorganised, emergency services are. If we want to call ourselves a developed nation, we must care for our citizens. Neither economic power nor military prowess determines our status in the comity of nations; but our care and sympathy for our citizens determines our status. Our spirit is not harmed by violent attacks and we carry on with our daily lives peacefully.

How to become stronger

To keep peace, we need to build our army and increase our defence equipments. Although we do not want war, we have to arm ourselves, so that our interests are protected. If we do not have strong defence forces, we would be taken for granted. Strong neighbouring countries would not respect our borders and would take over our lands. May be stronger nations in our borders would dam our rivers and deprive us of our natural resources. We share aquifers with our neighbours and they may siphon our ground water and make our lands dry.It is for these reasons for which we need to protect ourselves and build our armed forces. We can spend more on our welfare schemes and education policy, but instead we spend on our defence facilities. We had planned expenditure of Rupees 193407 crores in the year 2012-13; and for 2013-14, we will spend 203672 crores. As the percentage of our national expenditure, expenditure is lower. How we spend our allocated resource is important. The actual expenditures always surpass the recommended limits. If the ministry of defence reprioritises the expenditures, we will fare better. We must rework our bureaucracies of army, navy and air force units. We need to reduce manpower and increase skilled engineers as military surveillance is modernised now. We must spend more on research so that we can manufacture our own defence equipments without buying from outside the country. Tactical Communication Systems can be made better with innovations. Having better technology is better than having more men; by this logic, we must make our defence sector stronger. We must protect our country and its resources by spending on defence. And to avoid war we must let our neighbours know that we are very very strong.

We are a great nation

Increased connectivity has caused a big spurt of growth in India. It is fast becoming a global power for it has all resources needed for development. What level of development we have depends on how we see it. Our nation has become “risk society” approaching post modernism. Many nations develop their military force to increase their clout. India has command as democracy bringing industrialisation to a predominantly agricultural economy. We have the largest number educated persons. That is a big achievement. Because conditions was always present in India to produce largest educated population.  That is itself a big success and nobody can measure that. We know that we have the will to learn and we will succeed. Increased computerisation has brought together the students in the universities who are linked by "Knowledge Network". Increased use of mobiles has boosted our economic sector bringing vast increase in communications. Potentials are immense---how we can grow with the present level of technology. Computerisation of various government organisations have brought them together as they communicate by emails. People have more connection with the government: everyone has a PAN card, Aadhar identity and better access to information .Social security schemes for free food or loans for education or loans for starting a small firm is now easily possible. Government can function better with increased computerisation. For example we have land records which are computerised and can be accessed by municipalities. We can pay our electricity bills our income taxes and our property tax by "on line"facility. It is now that we have become a well connected nation. Diverse opinions and political climate do keep murmuring and this only reflects that we are a vibrant democracy with constant debates and conflicts. We are a fine example for all developing nations. We can bring development to other developing nations as Indians teach as easily as they learn. We do not have a military strategy to become a super power but we believer in the ‘will power’ of the Indian people who will do well in future Earth.

Ever-present Student Unrest

 It is the police who are creating fear, hatred, and despair. Environment of contentment is just not present. Peaceful living is not possible when we see despair all around us. A student was killed while he was protesting in the state of West Bengal. And the reason for his death is given as “accidentally dashed his head against a lamp post” But it was police brutality which had killed him. There is much behind all this as the student was protesting against the ruling political party. This episode makes a mockery of our democracy.  Police are listening to their political overlords. Why should politics enter college campuses? Students must be keep themselves with studies and not enter politics. Police brutality is never questioned. Why? Too many powers are given to the politician who orders the police. Politicians are not concentrating on improving our economy, but causing such heinous events. Speeches on economy are meaningless when the reality is dreadful. Can we really improve the conditions of the people?

Costs of health--top priority

For our apex court, the needs of the average citizen are primary. The Swiss pharma company which tried to win patent protection for its cancer drug “Glivec” could not. So the cancer patients can afford to buy the drug. This drug was used to treat chronic myeloid leukaemia and it costs Rupees 150000 while its generic equivalent costs only Rupees 9600. Now we are recommending less costly generic versions and thereby making essential drugs affordable for the average citizen. This is a big achievement for the people who have been a fighting a war against pharma industries to “evergreen” its patents to make big profits. The pharma lobby wants to make profits at the cost of the people and wants to call it minor changes in the original drugs as “innovations”; and it wants Patents Act to support its multimillion dollar domain. If allowed to make its own patent the rich pharma companies will not allow small companies from making much cheaper generic versions. But our Supreme Court recognises this; it wants to give people less costly drugs so that they can afford to buy it. It is with this view that the case of the Swiss company was seen, and the company’s plea for patent was rejected promptly.   

India is demonstrating that affordability of drugs is urgent for basic health for common people. We must keep in mind that health of the people is most important. We are able to resist 'lobbyism' tactics of multimillion pharma companies while framing our policies.

Landmark Decision for Protecting Environment

A giant step was taken to protect environment when the Supreme Court gave its judgement ordering a fine of one hundred crores Rupees as compensation for environmental pollution caused by a copper smelting plant in India’s southernmost tip. The lower court had given orders to close the plant, but the big fine was awarded by the Supreme Court  so that it acts as a deterrent. The principle that the “polluter pays” is upheld, and this is an important landmark judgement. The plant was not ordered to closed down as it would mean loss of livelihood to 1300 persons working in it. Within three months, the privately owned plant will have to pay the fine. One hundred crores would be deposited in bank as fine( paid to state's pollution control board)and its interest would be used to combat ravages caused by pollution.

Three days ago there was another gas leak at the same plant. The state government is about to take measures to stop it; and Supreme Court has given the state’s pollution control board permission to take action against the plant. The plant had a two million tonne a year capacity, but that does not negate the fact it was causing much much pollution to the entire coastal area. Only the 'fine' of one hundred crore Rupees is not the end. There will be more 'fines' slapped as per violation of “green laws” This is just the start. By these measures, we will be able to keep a check on those polluting industries which care least for environment while making huge profits.Facories must be able to send out clean water as they emit waste water into the sea or river.They should be held responsible for any pollution they cause, and the health of the water body should be measured constantly.

Aspirations of developing nations

The idea behind meeting of developing nations is that they will be able to help each other. When we depend on Western countries for trade and commerce, we have a feeling that we will be exploited. There cannot be equal relations between uneven partners. So when egalitarian forces are involved in progress and technological transfers, there will be no exploitation; this is the reason we make friends with countries like ourselves. BRICS is an outcome of that feeling. But all the developing countries are having problems internal functioning. They have yet to overcome their domestic economic exigencies. Global trade is not easy as we have no ways to expand. In the previous centuries, overseas colonies gave space to expand economies. Now there is an end to that trend. We have challenges which are different from the rest. We have to import oil, and we are importing at a cheaper price than before. But same exigencies are not faced by others have other import-export troubles. We have competition from our immediate neighbours who can easily outgrow us; this is a threat to our growth. All of us have some common problems like, we have worry about leaderships.
 The strongest (China) is bigger in having the largest monetary resources. So it would be able to contribute more to the bank (BRICS development Bank). Questions arise on 'who will invest' and 'how much'.Instead of meeting once a year, members can meet twice a year. Not just leaders but the finance ministers of all countries can meet, foreign ministers can meet and bureaucrats can meet to teach each other. Business councils can meet more often. There will be a special “think tank” to discuss common issues on development. We must know how to deal with international monetary and financial systems (recession, global slow-down etc). We must discuss global issues and we have to set up an integrated market for trade and investment, so that we can all do well. We must make business links. Cooperation can work wonders for us. We must discuss macro-economic issues, so that we can develop ourselves fast.Each of have our unique exigencies and very very  different needs, but all are determined to progress. Instead of having a bleak view “where are we heading towards” we must have a positive outlook and we must take concrete steps to progress.