Covid-19 Crisis

 

Pandemic has greatly affected India. Coronavirus or Covid-19 has spread to various parts of India. Especially the UK variant ahs spread. In first wave, we had massive lockdown and India had averted massive spread. But this time, super spreader events like election rallies and religious gatherings like Kumb Mela had spread the disease very fast. The wave will subside. But casualty is immense, so many have died. When will the disease end? 

For last 15 years, India had become a "developed" country: we were exporting to less developed countries  India. But now it has changed. the medical emergency is so great that we have asked for oxygen cylinders which are urgently needed in hospitals. Number of people being treated for covid-19 is very high. Many wee not able to get into hospitals. Many die at home.

Covid 19 has changed lives

People will overcome .Many plagues have come and gone. People have suffered from the global pandemic Covid19. many have lost their livelihoods. Many have returned to their villages. Students have lost an academic year. Normal life would return only after everyone would get a vaccine. Although all were affected by this virus, many have obtained immunity. And all live in fear. It is frightening to access how the total damages the virus has caused the Indian population. Poverty and lack of medical facilities are major hurdles in the treatment of those afflicted by the pandemic. Population density of India is not increasing, it has stabilized. But the number of people was big to start with. So giving medical to this population medical facilities and livelihoods is duty of the government.

From March 22,2020, Nation wise Lockdown had given time. And arrangements were  in hospitals. And slow opening had helped too. But with a big population, these measures did not help. Urban poor were a migrant population. They quickly moved back to their place of origin, the villages. There was no stopping them, without trains and busses, they actually walked back. So free buses were provided for them. 

India is a subcontinent in the continent of of Asia

All problems in India would affect the rest of Asia and the Earth. All the skies are connected and all oceans are connected. Air pollution from India would spread to rest of world as air cannot be contained. Dumping of waste and pollution in the ocean would spread to Indian Ocean then Pacific and Atlantic oceans too.Then what would happen? Till desertification of India, waters of India would pollute the ocean. But the dust from India would rise and spread to other parts of Asia and oceans. Similar situation in other parts of world would affect India too. Its not one country that has eco- catastrophe, but whole Earth has similar problems. Health of future generations of humans is affected. Idealistic view looks good, can this be the future

We cannot undo industrialization

Thermal power plants contribute to air pollution greatly.By burning coal, electricity is generated by thermal plants. And we need more and more electricity and therefore more and more air pollution is generated. As civilization progresses, quality of life suffers. Lives are shortened. Citizens die early and therefore cannot contribute to growth of the nation.The sick citizen or the dead citizen  cannot give taxes for the growth of the nation
So state must reduce the size of cities effectively. Stop using fossil fuel for generation of electricity. We must encourage solar powered vehicles. And generating electricity from coal must be stopped paving way for solar powered electricity. But such generation can take place only about 50 years from now. So for next fifty years, pollution and more pollution. People develop lung related aliments and die early.So there is no need for programs on population control. pollution will control population. Its may end human life in India unless one uses oxygen cylinders. Agriculture as we know it uses ground water. Level of ground water table is reduced because of not being recharged.Himalayan Glaciers like Yamunotri and Gangotri would get melted at faster rate than they are made. So desertification is certain. 

To curb stubble burning in rural India

The biggest cause of  pollution is burning of farm waste. Because of lack of farm labor, farm wastes could not be collected and carted away. Government tried to impose fines on farmers who burn wastes. But nobody admits burning farm waste."we do not know who burned it" is the answer from farmers. Farmers can bury the waste and turn it into manure.
How can fining farmers help? As it is farmers survive by subsidies from government.
Supreme Court told the state government of Punjab that pollution is coming from the farms which are in Punjab(satellites show that). And that Punjab government  its a useless government if it cannot control pollution. Now its pinned on the Punjab government. Haryana government should be told this also. Solution shroud be found, blame game wont help. May be robots could be used as farm labor. to uproot stubble collect farm waste and bury waste Small robots circular ones(one foot in diameter) with spider like legs have been used to remove stubble As rural unemployment scheme guarantees benefits to the unemployed, the poor rural do not work and take the free benefits.
Only way to solve the labor problems is to industrialize farming very fast. No farm labor is available.
And why no labor is available? As there is unemployment scheme, labor can meet basic needs using the scheme, without working. We  cannot undo the scheme, as we have made with great difficulty with individual Aadhar card or bio metric card. So industrialization is the only way out. Tractors will need diesel which pollutes air and soil. More pollution, more industrialization. And march of civilization cannot be stopped
As time rolls on, pollutants harm the health of the people negatively.

Big cities in India have big problems

Pollution is a big problem. Air is basic need to stay alive and urban India suffers because we cannot give that basic to urban citizens. With development came cars, buses, trucks and factories. And all generated pollution. Even "stubble burning" air from rural area drifts and pollutes the air in urban India. There is no escape.
Water is the next need. With rising urban population, water could not be provided to all. And the poor suffer. They manage with few buckets of water. Because paying jobs in rural India, migration to urban area is greatly increasing.
Health hazards from communicable diseases is very high in urban areas.in urban areas, diseases spread fast/
Road accidents are very common as few observe speed limits. People drive fast ignoring the rights of the pedestrians.
Crime increases in urban area as there is lot of gap between the poor and the rich. And needs of the common man is not met with the high cost of living.
With all these problem, the longevity of life decreases. Polluted air,scarce water for the poor,omnipresence of diseases, road accidents and high crime rates make the urban life a big struggle. Longevity of urban people is reduced. There is no need for population control programs as people have untimely deaths. The. state of urban areas keeps populations lower than if we had an efficient government

Poor roads and bad drainage systems are health hazards

Roads are in bad conditions in India.Roads with pot holes or unpaved roads could have been fine for bullock carts, but for modern transport they are now inadequate. Two wheel scooters or three wheel auto rickshaws or cards or buses cannot ply on uneven roads. If they use these roads, they could easily get into accidents. And they thus are killer roads.Population is kept under control, may be. Using mobile phones while riding or driving again causes road accidents. So modernization means more accidents.
 Often in small towns and villages, drainage system have open drains which propagate mosquitoes. A whole range of diseases are caused by mosquitoes. Flies spread more diseases. Common citizen spends much money combating diseases. And life of the citizen is reduced by diseases. Government cannot get taxes from citizens with short lives. 
First proper roads are needed and drainage systems have to be developed. Otherwise people continue to have unhealthy short lives

Govenmant's Budget planning

Budget planning by government has been announced, But the plight of the people who do not have permanent job, is deplorable. On daily wages billions of people work. Even education cannot take them out of poverty. Educated persons cannot get jobs and have to work as daily wage earners. Its all very sad. All the planning done and the taxes proposed are not meaningful to the masses.
General view is that population is high. But here is no increase in population. There are as many living as before. People are producing only as many as the demise of the elderly. The quality of life has not risen As expected. The fact that India produces for for all and procures food and grains for export, is an index which shows the rise of rate of production.So there has been much improvement. People do enjoy a better standard of living, as there is variety in foods.Textile industry provides clothing for all at affordable prices. Housing is better, water and electricity is available to almost all

Air pollution in India

Air quality is very poor because use of coal in making electricity. Developed countries(like USA) dump coal in India as they do not want it. And developing countries do not know the ensuing consequences of burning of coal. For India,development means more transportation, and more transportation means more vehicles.And more vehicles which emit more carbon-di-oxide, making more pollution. 
Air is a basic need for living and when air is polluted, humans develop breathing problems and spend much on health problems; and air pollution results in untimely death.People cannot contribute to growth of the nation, when they die early
Burning of farm waste also contributes to air pollution. Farmers find labor costly and removing agricultural waste means spending on labor. To cut the costs of labor and transport of farm wastes, they burn it. This results in air pollution. The agricultural belt lies in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odissa, and West Bengal. And the air cannot cannot rise to level of Himalayan range that it can go towards upper Asia. And the fumes cannot go towards the ocean as the wind does not blow that way. As the winter approaches like right now, the air is cold and heavy and hence it hangs above the ground making it difficult to breathe.

National ID card -Aadhaar card

The Supreme Court has ruled that Aadhaar card should be only linked with the PAN card, for filing income tax and for government subsidies( for the poor). Previously, the Aadhaar card was linked to all bank accounts and to all phones. Even to book tickets on trains or book hotels to stay; or getting admissions in schools or to write an entrance exam for higher studies. Now that is not so. But the fact Aadhaar card is used to note income tax etc is itself a big deal. Now the state can look at your income tax and this was not needed as PAN card itself was doing it. And soon getting driving license and for getting passports one would need Aadhaar. Again government can oversee the activities of the individual, more than it should.
For the poor people who were dependent on government subsidies, Aadhaar card would be useful, But internet fails much of rural areas and delays subsidies. At those times, subsidies cannot be delayed due to technical problems.People depended on MGNREGA for basic needs Aadhaar is useful. Previously, "family ration card" was enough to get subsidized necessities; it was not foolproof,.
After six months the Aadhaar data must be deleted(except in court cases) Is it deleted? And who will oversee that it is deleted.
The fact that data of Indian citizens is collected by taking image of individual's iris patterns, and fingerprints is itself very intrusive. Previously before the coming of Aadhaar, only criminals were fingerprinted and now everyone is reduced to a criminal. These are important issues which have been ignored in implementation of the Aadhaar scheme. 

Aadhar card or Unique Identity(UID) card

Originally Identification card was mandatory for NREGA(rural unemployment scheme) and PDS(Public Distribution System). Because leakages were found and the poor people could not get unemployment benefits or grains by distribution system..All citizens of India were forced to open bank accounts and the requisite was the Aadhar card which took the citizens iris patterns and finger prints. The reason given was that subsidies will be given to poor people for cooking gas and essential food grains when you show your Aadhar card. Then citizens were told to give these cards to open accounts. After that all had to give Aadhar card for bank accounts and   money transfers. Without supreme court orders citizens were forced to give details. Now Supreme court has said if you have given your personal data(iris pattern and fingerprints) you should have as it was not mandatory. Now already everyone has given their data and one cannot take it back. So your identity is captured  for ever and you cannot come out of it.
Its worse than Facebook or smartphone, this is the ultimate misuse of collecting individual's personal data. Around the world, only the criminal's fingerprints or iris data is collected. But not in India

Eye from sky-smart phones

SMARTPHONE.We all have it because it is a necessity. It is convenient, but it is taking away our privacy and freedom. All the connections you have are used by smartphone devices to sell you goods or services, every second. Consumerism is enforced on the people. Collection of data about our consumer activities are used to give us more choices of more consumer products. We are being sucked by quicksand. So people take control of yourself ......that is your mind.

Celebration of Facebook and dejection of facebook

Facebook was connecting everyone to everyone. But it influenced US presidential election and the Brexit referendum of UK. As quiz data from facebook was used to create profile traits and show the users those  features which would influence their minds. Its mind boggling. How we are being influenced. Facebook CEO blames it on the firm Cambridge Analytica which processed all this after taking permission from Facebook. Can they do this, where is the line of division between what we "can think on our own" to"what we are made to think"
Its computer age and when we give our data away to facebook we have given our mind away too. These are challenges to democracy. Can there be democracy with this kind of influences

Aadhar card is no more-Supreme Court has upheld the right to privacy as a fundamental right

Data of citizens's iris patterns, finger prints of whole hand and photos were collected to generate the ten digit Aadhar number and it was issued to every citizen. ..Aadhar card or UID(Unique Identity card) was made for the identity of every citizen. But as the scheme unrolled it fringed on all rights of citizens. It was needed to fill in the income tax, it was compulsory for keeping bank account and even to book bus tickets or train tickets.Before Supreme court could make a statement if it is ok to use private identity of citizen, it was enforced on the citizens,. But now the Supreme court has said it is not lawful to collect the iris patterns and fingerprints.This is because each citizen has a right to privacy. Can human beings be finger printed? It was in the pretext of giving subsidies that this Aadhar card was first promoted, but it was like an octopus clasping every activity of citizen of Indian-- tracking every move of its citizens. Since 2012, Supreme court has been postponing its decision, and the successive governments ruled over the making of the Aadhar card. they made it compulsory and griped the neck of all the citizens. But at last the collection of the data is unconstitutional. By now 95% have been fingerprinted Lets see what happens next- how will it be dismantled. 

GST or Goods and Services Tax has been introduced

From July 1 inwards there will be single tax code for goods and services. And producers do not have to pay tax at borders of every state. One tax to the central government is enough. But Indian economy functions by itself, people make things(on small scale)which other people need. And the poor work as laborers, drivers,carpenters, masons, maids, baby sitters etc etc and none are having fixed wages or recorded incomes. So how is GST going to bring "ALL" under tax scheme.
After demonetization policy implemented seven months ago, this is going to affect Indian economy in a big way. Although it is assured that in two years after GST, economy will improve, there is no guarantee. Because economic forces all around the world is going to affect India drastically.
India needs a different strategy for growth. Like we need to teach the small entrepreneurs to make products which can be exported. Fertilizers(chemical) will be provided to the farmers without tax and with subsidies. But the chemical harms the people who consume the crop used to grow on these. There is no promotion for natural fertilizers like neem or organic fertilizers like cow dung. All these is not thought through. God save us from these policies.

PAN card will be linked with Aadhar card

Income tax is filled using PAN car. And Aadhar care uses bio-metric data(iris pattern and fingerprinting) to  document citizens. Linking the two will be mandatory from next assessment year. Making Aadhar card is against law as only criminals can be finger printed and the individuals' rights are important in a democracy.Moreover government has not taken care to make sure that there is no data leak..The firms making the Aadhar card are themselves private and not government's organization. Government has given some parts of Aadhar data to foreign governments. People are suffering in India because of unjust policies make by government.No regard for privacy of citizens and haphazard policies deny citizens of India their basic rights.

Achievements and failures

India has launched 104 satellites from a single launch pad last week. Indian scientists at ISRO are highly capable and have developed so much sophistication that that they have no parallel. Indian mind in modern era has contributed much to the development of science. This is because education has reached the masses and the potentialities of individuals has been realized. What ever the conditions may be the scientist's achievements have to appreciated. Not just these scientists, Indian engineers all over the world are working hard to make life better for all
It has become a custom to associate India with extreme poverty, over-populated cities, terrible pollution and so on. But the reality that Indian mind is brilliant is not at all publicized. Even if it is not know or popularized, Indians are fine scientists, engineers, doctors teachers and excel in all professions. Urban India did very well.
Rural India is not doing well. Not enough schools for the common person. Rural employment schemes like MGNREGA are failures.  While given chance of good school, Indians achieve great deal, nation's development scheme like the MGNREGA have failed to a great extent. Infrastructure created like roads and wells are not good enough to be used. There are leakages because of which the poor are not benefiting from the schemes. Industrialization of farms has not taken place. Thanks to the climate, enough crops are produced to support the population of India. And many agricultural products are exported too

Can demonetization lead to digitization

When it was announced that upto 2.5 lakhs of Rupees can be deposited in each account.. "Jan Dhan" accounts of the poor got 2.5 lakh deposits.. That means that their employers had given then this money to be chagned to new currency. But this was a trap.  What amount of money is being deposited in banks is noted by taxation department. And those with more than their capacity are being questioned.. Along with bio-metric tracking by Aadhar IDs which linked to bank accounts, present government seeks to rule over the lives of Indian people.Using technology government wants to make sure that  all individuals are equally poor(devoid of liquid money) But the common Indians do keep money in form of gold. And the government wants to stop that by raiding people's homes and track gold too. But Indians will find a way to hide that too. So demonetization has been an unsuccessful exercise as controlling people's wealth is indeed impossible. As all humans, Indian seem to want to earn and hoard wealth. Can human nature be changed? No it cannot be no it cannot be.

Dedemonetization of the Rupee notes 500 and 1000

Giving "poor"persons rights does not mean ruination of the economy. The Prime Minister introduced demonetization of the Indian currency. The 500 and 1000 Rupee notes are are of no value now. In their place new 2000 Rupee notes are now exchanged by the banks for 50 days(from November 9 till December 30). After that the old notes have no value. This was meant to end corruption and black market. But new markets are being created now. The banner of " for the poor people" is now adversely affecting the people. "Garib log" means the "poor people" but how can you categorize people like that? Farmers are given 25000 Rupees in their accounts so that they can buy seeds. But before this news reaches them the "sowing time" is over. Not all farmers have accounts and not all can demand their dues. What about other occupations? Workers, service-men--plumbers,electricians, masons, artisans,traders, push-cart vendors, rickshaw pullers and so many other skilled and semi-skilled person? Not all are having bank accounts. They are paid for their work in cash and now nobody can be paid as the old currency is no longer valid.
Equalizing  is not just possible just by snatching away money. The Prime Minister says that we are becoming a cashless economy, we are only becoming cashless beings.

A great leader passed away

The state of Tamil Nadu had a fine leader who looked after the welfare of the masses. She was Chief Minister Jayalalita. She had died yesterday at the age of 68. She had been elected six times and had a 35 year old political career. She had taken great efforts to get drinking water to the people. She had tried hard to get electricity to all. She had made mid-day meals scheme successful in schools. She had provided scholarships to girl students. She helped those who came to her seeking help. Now people of Tamil Nadu mourn her death