By Pandurang Hegde
30 Jul 2009
Riding high on its return to power, UPA government is in a hurry to accelerate India's GDP. But the economist Prime Minister will have to ensure that his overambitious economic policies do not further erode the nation's environment but perform in tandem with it.
The return of the UPA government for the second term at the Centre has had positive impact on the economy as indicated by the unprecedented buoyancy in the stock market. The phenomenon of economic liberalization initiated in the first term is bound to gather momentum during the second term. With the decimation of Left parties, the present government does not have to face the roadblock when implementing its economic and fiscal policies. The only stumbling block would be the environmental legislations that hamper the faster GDP growth.
In order to address this challenge of environment v/s economic growth, the Prime Minster has picked the smartest person from his group of ministers, Jairam Ramesh as a Minister of State for Ministry of Environment and Forests with independent charge.
After taking charge, the minister said "Environmental issues would not be allowed to become the stumbling blocks to economic growth." He clarified that the statutes and Acts that are in place for protection of environment will not be diluted, but he will make the ministry more "business like" and transparent. He also emphasized that there are clear instructions from the Prime Minister that in order to rescue the country from the economic recession, it is essential to create a favorable atmosphere towards establishing infrastructural projects.
On another occasion, Jairam Ramesh said "Mrs Sonia Gandhi has told me that the Forest Conservation Act is sacrosanct. That's the Bible for me."
Obviously, the Minister for Environment will need to satisfy two bosses who have spelled out different policy guidelines, which are contradictory. Or is it a ploy to misguide the environmental lobby? Though, we will need time to assess the impact of how these policy guidelines of the party and the PM is going to be implemented, we have the past experience of the UPA to foresee the priorities in their second term.
The policies of unbridled economic growth initiated after 1991 has had negative impact on the natural resources, especially on our basic capital of soil, water and air.
The modern granaries of India are Punjab, Haryana and irrigated parts of UP that produce wheat and rice to feed the majority of the population. However soil and water in these regions are poisoned with excessive use of chemicals and pesticides. As a result people in Punjab are facing the threat of cancer epidemic.
The food that is produced from these regions and supplied for PDS (Public Distribution System) may definitely please the people and satisfy the political bosses. However, it fails to meet the nutritional needs of the majority as it lacks in micronutrients that are essential for the survival. The deeply entrenched chemical and pesticide lobby has already caused havoc with our soil and health of the citizens of India.
Similarly in the case of water, the scarcity is not only increasing but due to global warming, the country is facing the biggest challenge to supply pure drinking water. It is ironic that 99 per cent of the rivers in our country are polluted leading to destruction of the fresh water availability. The industrial units and sewage that are drained into the rivers with total disregard to the pollution control legislations are the main culprits.
The Prime Minister would like to accelerate the process of such industrialization along rivers and the coast to boost the economic growth. This will have to be achieved only through dilution and negation of environmental statutes that have already begun. The adverse impact on the livelihood of the common man and fisher folk is to be dealt with the "inclusive growth" welfare policies for the aam admi by the state.
The time has come to address the basic issue of development, to see how we generate employment while regenerating the natural resources, not destroying it. Pumping in Rs 35,000 crores towards NREGA, as well as farm loan waiver of Rs 25,000 crore may have won the elections for the UPA, but it has not contributed towards building the basic capitals of soil and water. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Environment that is supposed to be responsible for protecting these assets has become the main agency towards its destruction.
This has happened due to the overemphasis on false economic policies that negated the contribution of ecological security. The policies that have caused destruction are hailed as success in terms of generating higher GDP, but the loss of natural resources and its negative impact is hardly taken into account. We need to learn form our neighbor Bhutan, for having evolved the unique concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) instead of GDP. For them the ecological security is important for economic well being of its citizens. It follows the principle of "Ecology is Permanent Economy".
Unfortunately, for the UPA government led by the economist Prime Minister, the economy is the first priority. His assumption is - "once we are 'developed', the ecological concerns would be taken care of, there is no need to be cautious about the impact. We will borrow technology from developing countries to deal with the problem, and add to our GDP". That is a good strategy but unfortunately we cannot import the basic capital for our survival -- the soil and water!
Let us hope that while making addition to economy, ecology is not relegated to wilderness but gets a better deal in UPA's second innings.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Verdict 2009 is for Dal-Roti
By Devinder Sharma
18 May 2009
2009 parliamentary election results though varying in different states clearly indicate a preference for socially responsible and compassionate governance
NREGA programme in implementation in a Tamil Nadu village
It is not a vote for stability. This verdict is for dal-roti.
In May 2004, an angry rural protest vote had driven out an arrogant Shining India brigade. Five years later, in 2009, rural anger seems to have mellowed down. Probably for the first time, dal-roti has taken precedence over the competitive caste calculus. The rural poor certainly voted for those who gave them their daily bread. Political stability at the national level was not on their minds, it never was.
It is also not a vote for reforms. In fact, if the Congress is back in saddle it is despite the reforms. Corporate India's excitement at the verdict is obvious, but if the Congress gets swayed by a corporate-controlled media which continues to chant the reform mantra day and night, it will script its own demise.
A year back, Rs 60,000-crore farm loan waiver was announced in Budget 2008. The loan waiver was subsequently raised to Rs 71,000-crore. Before the loan waiver came, the UPA had already launched the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Promising to provide a guaranteed employment for at least 100 days in a year to an adult member of any rural household, it was launched on Feb 2, 2006 in 200 districts. In April 2008, at the insistence of Rahul Gandhi, the NREGS was expanded to cover the entire country.
Reports of corruption and misuse notwithstanding, the NREGS has certainly changed the economic profile of the landless workers. Ever since the scheme was launched, daily wage of workers have at least doubled. In Bihar, from Rs 50-60 in 2007, the daily wages have now gone up to Rs 120-130 in 2009; in Andhra Pradesh, from Rs 70-80 to Rs 140-150; in Maharashtra, from Rs 65-75 to Rs 150-180 and in Gujarat, from Rs 70-85 to Rs 150-160.
Both the NREGS as well as the farm loan waiver were strongly opposed by neoliberal economists. It is well known that the Planning Commission and the Ministry of Rural Development had initially opposed the launch of NREGS. Later, the World Bank opposed it saying that the NREGS actually created barrier for free movement of labour.
The third, and an equally important decision that has weighed heavily in favour of the ruling UPA is the quantum jump in the procurement price of wheat, rice, cotton, and also in some other crops like sugarcane, soybean, tur and arhar. It really is a significant hike, unprecedented since the days of the Green Revolution. In the past three years, wheat procurement prices have risen by a whopping 69 per cent, whereas that of rice by 61 per cent. Cotton prices have been raised by 50 per cent, from Rs 2050 a quital in 2008 to Rs 3000 a quintal in 2009.
During the NDA regime, procurement prices had remained more or less stangnant.
With wheat prices rising by approximately Rs 300 a quintal in a span of 2-3 years, Punjab and Haryana farmers had enough reasons to cheer. In Uttar Pradesh, media reports highlighted the distress sale of wheat in the absence of regulated mandis. Wheat farmers had to take their produce to neighbouring Haryana and Madhya Pradesh to realise the procurement price of Rs 1080 a quintal. If only the State government had stepped in at the right time, probably Mayawati's electoral fortunes would have been a little brighter.
In Bihar, Nitish Kumar not only streamlined the law and order machinery but also focused on programmes like NREGS, Mid-Day meal, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Bihar voted for an able administrator and not for national stability. West Bengal too uprooted the Corporate driven industrial salvation. By voting for Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, West Bengal has given a clear verdict against land acquisitions in the name of development. Again, Nandigram and Singur became a symbol of the Corporate efforts to snatch dal-roti from the poor, and the people resisted. The underlying message is crystal clear: land is the only economic security for the poor millions.
In Andhra Pradesh, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy could feel the pulse of the masses, and prepared himself accordingly. Rs 2 kg rice for the poor, health insurance through the Argoaysri scheme under which the poor can get surgeries upto Rs 2 lakh free, Indiramma houses for the poor and the old-age pension scheme have paid him rich dividends. At least, 1.85 crore families living below poverty line gained from the Rs 2 kg rice scheme alone.
In addition, YSR has made heavy investments in irrigation projects, not all of which can be justified, but still has generated hope for the farming community. Free power to farmers definitely proved to be the clincher with the rural masses.
In Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh, the BJP rode back to power last December by promising Rs 2/kg rice for BPL families. Chhatisgarh's existing Rs 3/kg rice scheme which benefits 3.7 million BPL families is ready to be converted to Rs 2/kg scheme on the lines of Madhya Pradesh. In Orissa, Navin Patnaik too picked up and launched a Rs 2/kg rice scheme for the poor benefiting 55.79 lakh families. In these three States, the poverty-stricken beneficiaries of the laudable food security scheme certainly had reasons to vote for the ruling parties in the State rather than aim at national stability.
Besides making available cheap rice, MP government's popular 'Ladli' scheme wherein the government makes deposits in the bank accounts of every girl child attending school has also been able to woo voters. Under this scheme, the state government buys savings certificates of Rs 6,000 each year for five consecutive years for every girl born into a family. The girl gets Rs 2,000 after she completes the fifth standard, another Rs 4,000 after she completes the eighth standard, Rs 7,500 after she completes the tenth standard, Rs 200 a month in her eleventh standard, and a lump sum amount of Rs 1,18,000 after she enters the twelfth standard, or, alternatively, attains the age of 18 years.
In Tamil Nadu, media reports say that in the run up to the 2006 assembly elections, the DMK had announced free colour televisions; rice at Rs.2 per kg (once in power this was reduced to Re.1 a kg); two acres of land for the landless; free gas stoves and Rs.300 cash doles for the unemployed; maternity assistance of Rs.1,000 for all poor women for six months; as well as free power to weavers. Subsequently, in 2009-10 budget, Tamil Nadu has allocated Rs.2.79 billion for supply of free power to farmers and Rs.12.51 billion towards free electricity connections to huts and places of worship and subsidised connections for homes and local bodies; Rs.5 billion for free distribution of 2.5 million colour TV sets and Rs.1.4 billion for free gas stoves and connections.
The voters in Tamil Nadu certainly preferred DMK over national stability. By and large you will find that the verdict is clearly in favour of the ruling parties that provided more income and food in the hands of the poor. Providing poor with life-saving support, whether in the form of food or transfer of cash, is also an economic stimulus. Call it 'populist' or 'electoral compulsion', there is no other way to ensure inclusive growth.
18 May 2009
2009 parliamentary election results though varying in different states clearly indicate a preference for socially responsible and compassionate governance
NREGA programme in implementation in a Tamil Nadu village
It is not a vote for stability. This verdict is for dal-roti.
In May 2004, an angry rural protest vote had driven out an arrogant Shining India brigade. Five years later, in 2009, rural anger seems to have mellowed down. Probably for the first time, dal-roti has taken precedence over the competitive caste calculus. The rural poor certainly voted for those who gave them their daily bread. Political stability at the national level was not on their minds, it never was.
It is also not a vote for reforms. In fact, if the Congress is back in saddle it is despite the reforms. Corporate India's excitement at the verdict is obvious, but if the Congress gets swayed by a corporate-controlled media which continues to chant the reform mantra day and night, it will script its own demise.
A year back, Rs 60,000-crore farm loan waiver was announced in Budget 2008. The loan waiver was subsequently raised to Rs 71,000-crore. Before the loan waiver came, the UPA had already launched the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Promising to provide a guaranteed employment for at least 100 days in a year to an adult member of any rural household, it was launched on Feb 2, 2006 in 200 districts. In April 2008, at the insistence of Rahul Gandhi, the NREGS was expanded to cover the entire country.
Reports of corruption and misuse notwithstanding, the NREGS has certainly changed the economic profile of the landless workers. Ever since the scheme was launched, daily wage of workers have at least doubled. In Bihar, from Rs 50-60 in 2007, the daily wages have now gone up to Rs 120-130 in 2009; in Andhra Pradesh, from Rs 70-80 to Rs 140-150; in Maharashtra, from Rs 65-75 to Rs 150-180 and in Gujarat, from Rs 70-85 to Rs 150-160.
Both the NREGS as well as the farm loan waiver were strongly opposed by neoliberal economists. It is well known that the Planning Commission and the Ministry of Rural Development had initially opposed the launch of NREGS. Later, the World Bank opposed it saying that the NREGS actually created barrier for free movement of labour.
The third, and an equally important decision that has weighed heavily in favour of the ruling UPA is the quantum jump in the procurement price of wheat, rice, cotton, and also in some other crops like sugarcane, soybean, tur and arhar. It really is a significant hike, unprecedented since the days of the Green Revolution. In the past three years, wheat procurement prices have risen by a whopping 69 per cent, whereas that of rice by 61 per cent. Cotton prices have been raised by 50 per cent, from Rs 2050 a quital in 2008 to Rs 3000 a quintal in 2009.
During the NDA regime, procurement prices had remained more or less stangnant.
With wheat prices rising by approximately Rs 300 a quintal in a span of 2-3 years, Punjab and Haryana farmers had enough reasons to cheer. In Uttar Pradesh, media reports highlighted the distress sale of wheat in the absence of regulated mandis. Wheat farmers had to take their produce to neighbouring Haryana and Madhya Pradesh to realise the procurement price of Rs 1080 a quintal. If only the State government had stepped in at the right time, probably Mayawati's electoral fortunes would have been a little brighter.
In Bihar, Nitish Kumar not only streamlined the law and order machinery but also focused on programmes like NREGS, Mid-Day meal, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Bihar voted for an able administrator and not for national stability. West Bengal too uprooted the Corporate driven industrial salvation. By voting for Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, West Bengal has given a clear verdict against land acquisitions in the name of development. Again, Nandigram and Singur became a symbol of the Corporate efforts to snatch dal-roti from the poor, and the people resisted. The underlying message is crystal clear: land is the only economic security for the poor millions.
In Andhra Pradesh, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy could feel the pulse of the masses, and prepared himself accordingly. Rs 2 kg rice for the poor, health insurance through the Argoaysri scheme under which the poor can get surgeries upto Rs 2 lakh free, Indiramma houses for the poor and the old-age pension scheme have paid him rich dividends. At least, 1.85 crore families living below poverty line gained from the Rs 2 kg rice scheme alone.
In addition, YSR has made heavy investments in irrigation projects, not all of which can be justified, but still has generated hope for the farming community. Free power to farmers definitely proved to be the clincher with the rural masses.
In Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh, the BJP rode back to power last December by promising Rs 2/kg rice for BPL families. Chhatisgarh's existing Rs 3/kg rice scheme which benefits 3.7 million BPL families is ready to be converted to Rs 2/kg scheme on the lines of Madhya Pradesh. In Orissa, Navin Patnaik too picked up and launched a Rs 2/kg rice scheme for the poor benefiting 55.79 lakh families. In these three States, the poverty-stricken beneficiaries of the laudable food security scheme certainly had reasons to vote for the ruling parties in the State rather than aim at national stability.
Besides making available cheap rice, MP government's popular 'Ladli' scheme wherein the government makes deposits in the bank accounts of every girl child attending school has also been able to woo voters. Under this scheme, the state government buys savings certificates of Rs 6,000 each year for five consecutive years for every girl born into a family. The girl gets Rs 2,000 after she completes the fifth standard, another Rs 4,000 after she completes the eighth standard, Rs 7,500 after she completes the tenth standard, Rs 200 a month in her eleventh standard, and a lump sum amount of Rs 1,18,000 after she enters the twelfth standard, or, alternatively, attains the age of 18 years.
In Tamil Nadu, media reports say that in the run up to the 2006 assembly elections, the DMK had announced free colour televisions; rice at Rs.2 per kg (once in power this was reduced to Re.1 a kg); two acres of land for the landless; free gas stoves and Rs.300 cash doles for the unemployed; maternity assistance of Rs.1,000 for all poor women for six months; as well as free power to weavers. Subsequently, in 2009-10 budget, Tamil Nadu has allocated Rs.2.79 billion for supply of free power to farmers and Rs.12.51 billion towards free electricity connections to huts and places of worship and subsidised connections for homes and local bodies; Rs.5 billion for free distribution of 2.5 million colour TV sets and Rs.1.4 billion for free gas stoves and connections.
The voters in Tamil Nadu certainly preferred DMK over national stability. By and large you will find that the verdict is clearly in favour of the ruling parties that provided more income and food in the hands of the poor. Providing poor with life-saving support, whether in the form of food or transfer of cash, is also an economic stimulus. Call it 'populist' or 'electoral compulsion', there is no other way to ensure inclusive growth.
US moving towards patenting our Holy Cow
By Devinder Sharma
26 Apr 2009
I thought the deciphering of the genetic make-up of a cow or what is scientifically called as genome should be a big news in the land of holy cows. But no, I was wrong. The news is tucked away in some corner of the newspapers, and the electronic media didn't find it worth a mention. Nor has it evoked any reaction and response, good or bad, from the scientific community, researchers, activists and the so called champions of the holy cow.
The sequencing of the cow genome, reported in the journal Science last week, is certainly a landmark development. It has taken 300 scientists from 25 countries, led by US Department of Agriculture and the National Institute of Health in the US, some six years and $ 53 million in research spending, to map and analyse the cow genome.
According to media reports, sequencing of the bovine genome began in December 2003. The breed of cattle selected for the bulk of the sequencing project was Hereford, which is used in beef production. Sequencing at lighter coverage will be carried out in additional cattle breeds, including the Holstein, Angus, Jersey, Limousin, Norwegian Red and Brahman (which is a cross with some Indian breeds).
Let us first look at some of the salient findings as reported by Associated Press (AP):
Modern cattle developed from a diverse ancestral population from Africa, Asia and Europe, that has undergone a recent rapid decrease in population size, probably due to domestication.
The genome of the domestic cattle contains approximately 22,000 genes, compared to 20,000 to 25,000 for humans.
Cattle and humans have about 80 percent of their genes in common
The organization of human chromosomes is closer to that of domestic cattle than to those of rats or mice, which are often used in lab tests of drugs intended for people.
Cattle chromosomes, like those of humans and other mammals, contain segmental duplications, which are large, almost identical copies of DNA present in at least two locations in a genome.
I can understand the excitement that the sequencing of the cow genome has thrown up for the beef and cattle industry. "The cattle industry is extremely important for US agriculture with more than 94 million cattle in the United States valued at $49 billion," said US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, in a USDA press release. "Understanding the cattle genome and having the sequence will allow researchers to understand the genetic basis for disease in domestic cattle and could result in healthier production of meat and milk while reducing producers' dependence on antibiotics."
"The domestic cattle genome sequence opens another window into our own genome," said Acting NIH Director Raynard S. Kington, M.D., Ph.D. "By comparing the human genome to the genomes of many different species, such as the domestic cattle, we can gain a clearer view of how the human genome works in health and in disease."
Fine. But what concerns me is a question that I find has been very conveniently ducked by the media, and of course by the scientists/institutes involved in the sequencing of the cow genome project. The bigger question, and politically hot, is who will own the cow genome? Who will eventually end up drawing a patent control over the cows of the world? Who will for that matter claim ownership over the holy cow?
India has some 200 million cows and 90 million buffaloes (Times of India, Aug 2004). India has 30 well established breeds of cows.
I am aware that when the first draft of the bovine genome sequence was drawn in 2004, the Bovine Genome Sequencing Project had made it freely available for use by biomedical and agricultural researchers around the globe, but after the final draft has been prepared it may not be so. We may go on worshipping the holy cow, no one will stop us from doing that, but the real control over the holy cow will probably rest with NIH or USDA.
Should we be worried?
Yes, if the past experience is any indication. Let us understand what happened in case of rice. There was an international consortium of scientists involved in studying the rice chromosomes. But when Monsanto developed the first rice genetic map, it said it will make it freely available for researchers. This did not happen in practical terms. Eventually, the Swiss MNC Syngenta which was able to map more than 99.5 per cent of the rice genome, made it abundantly clear that it will seek propreitary control. In fact, it has filed for bulk patents on rice genes. I had written then: Rice is now Oryza syngenta.
Will cow also go the rice way? Will we be soon celebrating an International Year of the Cow, to essentially give a toast to the USDA for gaining monopoly control over the bovine population of the world, including the holy cows of India?
Well, while you ponder over these questions, let me point you to a news report of the mapping of cow genome. It will provide you some more useful details.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
'Out of toilet' solutions
By Sudhirendar Sharma
18 Jul 2009
Given our cultural history equating cleanliness to distancing of 'refuse' from human habitation, many Indians are not keen on using the toilet. But then toilets offer no better solution if the municipal sewage continues to contaminate our shrinking water resources!
Fly in public toilets in India isn't breaking news, but it certainly is when one spots flies in public conveniences across Europe! There are plenty of these visible in public urinals at the Schiphol Airport, for example, and no one seems to be complaining. Interesting, none of it fly as these have been etched into the wells of the urinals. It doesn't seem a corporate logo of the pot supplier nor a familiarizing tip for east- bound travelers!
Spillage has been pervasive, till an economist resolved the malaise by etching black houseflies into the wells of the urinals. "If a man sees a fly, he aims at it." It has worked as spillage is now down by an incredible 80 percent. The behavioural economists have effectively used what they call libertarian paternalism, to bring about subtle but dramatic change in peoples' behaviour. This new breed of economists has begun to influence public policy in the west.
Not in India though, where relentless efforts to transform public behaviour offer exciting photo opportunity to foreign tourists only. With more than 60 per cent of Indians lacking access to toilets, most open spaces are veritable public conveniences. As no one gets implicated for violating public space, easing in public seems a democratic decree. It is shocking revelation that some 50 per cent of rural households revert to open defecation even after possessing toilets.
There is an element of truth in what Nobel Laureate V S Naipaul wrote following his travel in India, almost half a century ago. In his travelogue An Area of Darkness, published in 1964, Naipaul had argued that most Indians suffer from claustrophobia 'once inside an enclosed toilet'. Naipaul had even wondered at the society's 'collective blindness about the practice, arising out of the fear of pollution and perhaps an innate belief that they are the cleanest people in the world'.
These observations have not been reasoned into sanitation programs, though our cultural history clearly equates cleanliness to distancing of 'refuse' from human habitation. Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, whose sulabh movement remains a historic milestone in sanitation, argues that cultural transition from 'being in the open' to 'coming into the closet' will be slow and painful. Pathak reluctantly accepts that toilet has only been an essential part of the solution. With more than 60 per cent of Indians lacking access to toilets, most open spaces are veritable public conveniences. It is shocking revelation that some 50 per cent of rural households revert to open defecation even after possessing toilets.
Rural Sanitation
The sanitation coverage among rural households has increased from 21.9 percent in 2001 to 27.3 percent in 2004 and has more than doubled since then to 63.91 per cent (of 2001 Census households) as on May 20, 2009. The total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) is one of the eight flagship programmes of the Government. TSC projects have been sanctioned in 593 rural districts of the country at a total outlay of Rs. 17,885 crore with a Central share of Rs. 11,094 crore. Since 1999, over 5,56 crore toilets have been provided for rural households under TSC. A significant achievement has also been the construction of of 8.71 lakh school toilets and 2.72 lakh Anganwadi toilets. With increasing budgetary allocations and focus on rural areas, the number of households being provided with toilets annually has increased from only 24,41 lakh in 2002-03 to 98.7 lakh in 2006-07.
It is an irony that toilet has remained centrepiece in country's sanitation program with an elusive aim to make the countryside free of squatting by 2012. History is unlikely to be rewritten so soon, given the fact that Rs. 6,240 crore spent through the Total Sanitation Campaign during past six years has only caused minor stir. With little change in peoples' attitude, toilet coverage has remained an exercise in number crunching with as many users slipping out of it.
Clearly, signing up toilet-subsidy cheques doesn't take us any close to ending this shameful legacy. Understanding individual's psychology and inferring why a person behaves in a certain manner may be crucial to correcting undesirable mannerism. However, sociologists argue that in matter of public hygiene, orientalism has contributed to public apathy. Lackadaisical policy making has further contributed to it by reaffirming the belief 'we are like that only'.
No wonder, squatting and micturition hasn't been frowned upon. Even Mahatma Gandhi could hardly succeed in using humiliation as a tool to question one's perceived assumptions, despite insisting that anyone joining his ashram had to first clean toilets. Conversely, however, public apathy towards squatting has remained secular; never did it trigger any class or caste strife in matter of appropriating public space for conducting private action.
Therein lies the strength of squatting as an inviolable social practice! In living their lives in perpetual visibility, squatters actually render themselves invisible to the state. Howsoever humiliating, squatters seem convinced that private act of waste elimination in 'public' ensures as purified a body as of those who perform the act in the privacy of a toilet. It is the technology of plumbing that has drawn distinction between two seemingly similar body functions.
One is not suggesting squatting as a human right but the glaring paradox is that we do get horrified at the sight of a squatter but have resigned acceptance of a sewage laden river. Does a toilet not offer an exaggerated sense of personal purity at an incredible cost to natural systems like rivers and lakes? Given the irreparable state of the municipal sewage treatment system, it will be horrific to find millions of squatters joining the streamlined technology of waste disposal!
The Planning Commission gives an unnerving jolt: some 4-5 lakh children below the age of 5 die every year of waterborne diseases. But nowhere does this piece of statistics suggest that all deaths are caused by the scourge of open defecation. Nor is cumulative elimination of waste through inefficient sewage infrastructure ever implicated, because it challenges the notion of personal purity, political authority and state capitalism. The toilet remains inconclusive solution!
With its extensive paraphernalia the toilet makes unreasonable demand on increasingly scare public resource - water, which limits its spread. Applying libertarian paternalism to India's sanitation enigma would favour transforming 'informal squatter islands' into permanent municipal spaces where individual waste will get managed in a way that produces subjectivity than shame. The state's role will then be limited to aesthetically managing such islands.
18 Jul 2009
Given our cultural history equating cleanliness to distancing of 'refuse' from human habitation, many Indians are not keen on using the toilet. But then toilets offer no better solution if the municipal sewage continues to contaminate our shrinking water resources!
Fly in public toilets in India isn't breaking news, but it certainly is when one spots flies in public conveniences across Europe! There are plenty of these visible in public urinals at the Schiphol Airport, for example, and no one seems to be complaining. Interesting, none of it fly as these have been etched into the wells of the urinals. It doesn't seem a corporate logo of the pot supplier nor a familiarizing tip for east- bound travelers!
Spillage has been pervasive, till an economist resolved the malaise by etching black houseflies into the wells of the urinals. "If a man sees a fly, he aims at it." It has worked as spillage is now down by an incredible 80 percent. The behavioural economists have effectively used what they call libertarian paternalism, to bring about subtle but dramatic change in peoples' behaviour. This new breed of economists has begun to influence public policy in the west.
Not in India though, where relentless efforts to transform public behaviour offer exciting photo opportunity to foreign tourists only. With more than 60 per cent of Indians lacking access to toilets, most open spaces are veritable public conveniences. As no one gets implicated for violating public space, easing in public seems a democratic decree. It is shocking revelation that some 50 per cent of rural households revert to open defecation even after possessing toilets.
There is an element of truth in what Nobel Laureate V S Naipaul wrote following his travel in India, almost half a century ago. In his travelogue An Area of Darkness, published in 1964, Naipaul had argued that most Indians suffer from claustrophobia 'once inside an enclosed toilet'. Naipaul had even wondered at the society's 'collective blindness about the practice, arising out of the fear of pollution and perhaps an innate belief that they are the cleanest people in the world'.
These observations have not been reasoned into sanitation programs, though our cultural history clearly equates cleanliness to distancing of 'refuse' from human habitation. Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, whose sulabh movement remains a historic milestone in sanitation, argues that cultural transition from 'being in the open' to 'coming into the closet' will be slow and painful. Pathak reluctantly accepts that toilet has only been an essential part of the solution. With more than 60 per cent of Indians lacking access to toilets, most open spaces are veritable public conveniences. It is shocking revelation that some 50 per cent of rural households revert to open defecation even after possessing toilets.
Rural Sanitation
The sanitation coverage among rural households has increased from 21.9 percent in 2001 to 27.3 percent in 2004 and has more than doubled since then to 63.91 per cent (of 2001 Census households) as on May 20, 2009. The total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) is one of the eight flagship programmes of the Government. TSC projects have been sanctioned in 593 rural districts of the country at a total outlay of Rs. 17,885 crore with a Central share of Rs. 11,094 crore. Since 1999, over 5,56 crore toilets have been provided for rural households under TSC. A significant achievement has also been the construction of of 8.71 lakh school toilets and 2.72 lakh Anganwadi toilets. With increasing budgetary allocations and focus on rural areas, the number of households being provided with toilets annually has increased from only 24,41 lakh in 2002-03 to 98.7 lakh in 2006-07.
It is an irony that toilet has remained centrepiece in country's sanitation program with an elusive aim to make the countryside free of squatting by 2012. History is unlikely to be rewritten so soon, given the fact that Rs. 6,240 crore spent through the Total Sanitation Campaign during past six years has only caused minor stir. With little change in peoples' attitude, toilet coverage has remained an exercise in number crunching with as many users slipping out of it.
Clearly, signing up toilet-subsidy cheques doesn't take us any close to ending this shameful legacy. Understanding individual's psychology and inferring why a person behaves in a certain manner may be crucial to correcting undesirable mannerism. However, sociologists argue that in matter of public hygiene, orientalism has contributed to public apathy. Lackadaisical policy making has further contributed to it by reaffirming the belief 'we are like that only'.
No wonder, squatting and micturition hasn't been frowned upon. Even Mahatma Gandhi could hardly succeed in using humiliation as a tool to question one's perceived assumptions, despite insisting that anyone joining his ashram had to first clean toilets. Conversely, however, public apathy towards squatting has remained secular; never did it trigger any class or caste strife in matter of appropriating public space for conducting private action.
Therein lies the strength of squatting as an inviolable social practice! In living their lives in perpetual visibility, squatters actually render themselves invisible to the state. Howsoever humiliating, squatters seem convinced that private act of waste elimination in 'public' ensures as purified a body as of those who perform the act in the privacy of a toilet. It is the technology of plumbing that has drawn distinction between two seemingly similar body functions.
One is not suggesting squatting as a human right but the glaring paradox is that we do get horrified at the sight of a squatter but have resigned acceptance of a sewage laden river. Does a toilet not offer an exaggerated sense of personal purity at an incredible cost to natural systems like rivers and lakes? Given the irreparable state of the municipal sewage treatment system, it will be horrific to find millions of squatters joining the streamlined technology of waste disposal!
The Planning Commission gives an unnerving jolt: some 4-5 lakh children below the age of 5 die every year of waterborne diseases. But nowhere does this piece of statistics suggest that all deaths are caused by the scourge of open defecation. Nor is cumulative elimination of waste through inefficient sewage infrastructure ever implicated, because it challenges the notion of personal purity, political authority and state capitalism. The toilet remains inconclusive solution!
With its extensive paraphernalia the toilet makes unreasonable demand on increasingly scare public resource - water, which limits its spread. Applying libertarian paternalism to India's sanitation enigma would favour transforming 'informal squatter islands' into permanent municipal spaces where individual waste will get managed in a way that produces subjectivity than shame. The state's role will then be limited to aesthetically managing such islands.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Development at discretion of MPs
By Sudhirendar Sharma
23 Jun 2009
Since its launch in 1993, the MPLAD scheme has remained controversial amid charges of corruption and inefficiency; still the new government wants to increase the annual allocation from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore.
It is a baggage that the congress-led ruling alliance finds it tough to disown and a parliamentary privilege that the honorable members would not like to surrender. Raising the annual allocation under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore can only please the members, ideological differences can wait. The fact that the proposal has been pushed ahead of the Supreme Court’s judgement on petition challenging the scheme is somewhat disturbing.
Ever since it was launched by the Narasimha Rao government in 1993, the scheme has remained controversial on account of charges of corruption and inefficiency. Aimed at discouraging defections, the scheme has been widely believed to be a political incentive funded out of the exchequer. If the sting operation that had caught seven MP’s seeking bribes for doling out contracts under the scheme on December 20, 2005 has been any indication, the scheme has lived up to its dubious origin.
The origin of MPLADS
The MPLAD scheme was announced on November 23, 1993 by the then PM, P.V. Narsimha Rao after opposition MPs demanded that all MPs should be given equal resources to undertake development projects in their areas since areas represented by opposition members remained backward. The MPs also mentioned that the central planning authority was not able to provide a regional perspective for planning development, so the MPs should be given the authority and funds to recommend development projects in their areas.
Initially, a token amount of Rs.5 lakhs per MP was fixed, which was increased to Rs.1 crore in 1994, and again raised to Rs.2 crores from December 1998. Initially, the Ministry for Rural Development was the monitoring agency, but since 1994 the Ministry for Statistics and Programme Implementation has been the nodal agency monitoring the scheme. The scheme has guidelines about works that can be undertaken, like there should be ‘locally felt needs’ and ‘durable capital assets’ being created.
Nothing seems to have changed since! Conversely, it may have worsened as the ongoing review of the scheme in several states by the Comptroller & Auditor General reflects. From delayed commissioning of works to diversion of funds and from irregular payments to siphoning of resources, the scheme is a veritable menu on corrupt practices. MPs in Andhra Pradesh have gone a step further, parking as much as Rs 64 crore in fixed deposits to earn interest. The list of violations seems endless!
The UPA government’s resolve to enhance allocation under MPLADS seems a throwback to the days of the benevolent feudal landlord who would dole out favors to please the selected few.
Can a scheme that has been full of flaws, both in design as well as in its execution, be effectively regulated? The Minister of Statistics and Program Implementation Shriprakash Jaiswal has gone on record to argue that corruption in most public transactions is inevitable. This clearly means that neither is corruption a crime nor a sin that cannot be accepted as a social reality. It must therefore be doubted if the Parliament can frame effective regulations to keep corruption by its fraternity under check!
The flip side of the story is that strict regulation will only bring further decline in fund utilisation. CAG has already reported that some 60 per cent of the provisionary amount never gets spent for the purpose it is meant, indicating that the scheme has not been seriously pursued by most members. What purpose does the scheme serves when its beneficiaries are unwilling on its effective execution?
In several States, CAG has cited factors like insufficient and late disbursal of funds, sanctioning of inadmissible works, a large number of works lying incomplete, lacunae in work inspection and inadequacy of monitoring mechanism in MPLAD scheme.
Even where the money has been utilised, it is doubtful whether the money was utilised for the sanctioned purpose. Also, the work undertaken is generally of poor quality, at times in violation of the guidelines of the scheme, and not necessarily catering to local needs.
Although a review of the MPLAD Scheme has been recommended several times, governments have not taken steps to prevent misuse of thousands of crores of public money.
The UPA government’s resolve to enhance allocation under MPLADS seems a throwback to the days of the benevolent feudal landlord who would dole out favors to please the selected few. And it contravenes the ruling alliance much appreciated recent decision to bar its elected members from using their erstwhile feudal titles like ‘raja’. It doesn’t make sense to refrain the members from using feudal titles while vesting public funds with them to further discretionary powers contained therein.
It goes without saying that within the constitutional framework the role of legislature is to frame pro-people policies and to ensure effective utilization of public resources for generating public goods, and not indulge in actual execution of works. The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution had found design flaws in suggesting that MPLADS be discontinued as it isn’t consistent with the spirit of federalism and encroaches on areas under Panchayati Raj institutions.
Far from legitimizing a flawed scheme, the government should honor its constitutional obligation of strengthening the three tiers of democracy. Building a community centre or a bus shelter by an MP only weakens the foundation of elected democracy and erodes peoples’ faith in it. And, continues persistence with a flawed scheme only exposes the hidden intentions of the government at the cost of it’s much acclaimed ‘aam aadmi’ image.'
There is one way in which a semblance of order can be brought about in this widely rubbished scheme – divert allocation under MPLADS to NREGA
It will be erroneous to assume that public memory is short-lived on matters of corruption in high offices of the government. On the contrary, public perception on the scheme remains undeterred as a vast majority firmly believes that the discretionary annual fund has perpetuated corruption ever since MPLADS was launched in 1993? Ironically, the members haven't let them down either!
However, there is one way in which a semblance of order can be brought about in this widely rubbished scheme – divert allocation under MPLADS to NREGA with an added obligation for each of the MP’s to play supervisory role in monitoring its effective utilisation within their respective constituencies. Over Rs 7,500 crore of public money is currently at stake every year, which is slated to increase to whopping Rs 20,000 crore should the present proposal get through.
23 Jun 2009
Since its launch in 1993, the MPLAD scheme has remained controversial amid charges of corruption and inefficiency; still the new government wants to increase the annual allocation from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore.
It is a baggage that the congress-led ruling alliance finds it tough to disown and a parliamentary privilege that the honorable members would not like to surrender. Raising the annual allocation under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore can only please the members, ideological differences can wait. The fact that the proposal has been pushed ahead of the Supreme Court’s judgement on petition challenging the scheme is somewhat disturbing.
Ever since it was launched by the Narasimha Rao government in 1993, the scheme has remained controversial on account of charges of corruption and inefficiency. Aimed at discouraging defections, the scheme has been widely believed to be a political incentive funded out of the exchequer. If the sting operation that had caught seven MP’s seeking bribes for doling out contracts under the scheme on December 20, 2005 has been any indication, the scheme has lived up to its dubious origin.
The origin of MPLADS
The MPLAD scheme was announced on November 23, 1993 by the then PM, P.V. Narsimha Rao after opposition MPs demanded that all MPs should be given equal resources to undertake development projects in their areas since areas represented by opposition members remained backward. The MPs also mentioned that the central planning authority was not able to provide a regional perspective for planning development, so the MPs should be given the authority and funds to recommend development projects in their areas.
Initially, a token amount of Rs.5 lakhs per MP was fixed, which was increased to Rs.1 crore in 1994, and again raised to Rs.2 crores from December 1998. Initially, the Ministry for Rural Development was the monitoring agency, but since 1994 the Ministry for Statistics and Programme Implementation has been the nodal agency monitoring the scheme. The scheme has guidelines about works that can be undertaken, like there should be ‘locally felt needs’ and ‘durable capital assets’ being created.
Nothing seems to have changed since! Conversely, it may have worsened as the ongoing review of the scheme in several states by the Comptroller & Auditor General reflects. From delayed commissioning of works to diversion of funds and from irregular payments to siphoning of resources, the scheme is a veritable menu on corrupt practices. MPs in Andhra Pradesh have gone a step further, parking as much as Rs 64 crore in fixed deposits to earn interest. The list of violations seems endless!
The UPA government’s resolve to enhance allocation under MPLADS seems a throwback to the days of the benevolent feudal landlord who would dole out favors to please the selected few.
Can a scheme that has been full of flaws, both in design as well as in its execution, be effectively regulated? The Minister of Statistics and Program Implementation Shriprakash Jaiswal has gone on record to argue that corruption in most public transactions is inevitable. This clearly means that neither is corruption a crime nor a sin that cannot be accepted as a social reality. It must therefore be doubted if the Parliament can frame effective regulations to keep corruption by its fraternity under check!
The flip side of the story is that strict regulation will only bring further decline in fund utilisation. CAG has already reported that some 60 per cent of the provisionary amount never gets spent for the purpose it is meant, indicating that the scheme has not been seriously pursued by most members. What purpose does the scheme serves when its beneficiaries are unwilling on its effective execution?
In several States, CAG has cited factors like insufficient and late disbursal of funds, sanctioning of inadmissible works, a large number of works lying incomplete, lacunae in work inspection and inadequacy of monitoring mechanism in MPLAD scheme.
Even where the money has been utilised, it is doubtful whether the money was utilised for the sanctioned purpose. Also, the work undertaken is generally of poor quality, at times in violation of the guidelines of the scheme, and not necessarily catering to local needs.
Although a review of the MPLAD Scheme has been recommended several times, governments have not taken steps to prevent misuse of thousands of crores of public money.
The UPA government’s resolve to enhance allocation under MPLADS seems a throwback to the days of the benevolent feudal landlord who would dole out favors to please the selected few. And it contravenes the ruling alliance much appreciated recent decision to bar its elected members from using their erstwhile feudal titles like ‘raja’. It doesn’t make sense to refrain the members from using feudal titles while vesting public funds with them to further discretionary powers contained therein.
It goes without saying that within the constitutional framework the role of legislature is to frame pro-people policies and to ensure effective utilization of public resources for generating public goods, and not indulge in actual execution of works. The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution had found design flaws in suggesting that MPLADS be discontinued as it isn’t consistent with the spirit of federalism and encroaches on areas under Panchayati Raj institutions.
Far from legitimizing a flawed scheme, the government should honor its constitutional obligation of strengthening the three tiers of democracy. Building a community centre or a bus shelter by an MP only weakens the foundation of elected democracy and erodes peoples’ faith in it. And, continues persistence with a flawed scheme only exposes the hidden intentions of the government at the cost of it’s much acclaimed ‘aam aadmi’ image.'
There is one way in which a semblance of order can be brought about in this widely rubbished scheme – divert allocation under MPLADS to NREGA
It will be erroneous to assume that public memory is short-lived on matters of corruption in high offices of the government. On the contrary, public perception on the scheme remains undeterred as a vast majority firmly believes that the discretionary annual fund has perpetuated corruption ever since MPLADS was launched in 1993? Ironically, the members haven't let them down either!
However, there is one way in which a semblance of order can be brought about in this widely rubbished scheme – divert allocation under MPLADS to NREGA with an added obligation for each of the MP’s to play supervisory role in monitoring its effective utilisation within their respective constituencies. Over Rs 7,500 crore of public money is currently at stake every year, which is slated to increase to whopping Rs 20,000 crore should the present proposal get through.
Child labour -- The ugly side of American agriculture
By Devinder Sharma
12 May 2009
Child labour in American Agriculture? You must be kidding!
That's exactly what I thought when I first heard about it. I mean I had never even visualised that American agriculture could employ children on the farm. All the reports/studies and the stories we had heard about American agriculture always talked about big machines, big business, sophisticated technologies, and of course monumental agricultural subsidies. Exploiting children as farm labour, some as young as 10 years of age, has never been talked about in the international media. At least, I had never read about it.
At the ongoing WTO negotiations, the US and Europe have often accused India of employing children in agriculture and industry, and some countries have used the social clause (a non-tariff barrier) to stop exports of carpets for instance from India. We have been often accused of turning a blind eye to the curse of child labour. As a nation, I agree, we need to hang our head in shame for not being able to send these children of a lesser god to schools, and instead force them into labour because of poverty. For any nation, whether it is a developed or a developing economy, those exploiting child labour cannot and should not be pardoned.
But I see no reason why America, the world's biggest economy, and which never gets tired of preaching us about the social cost of child labour, be using children in its own heavily mechanised farms. This ugly face of American agriculture had remained hidden from public glare all these years.
How many children are employed in American agriculture? Well, there are about 2 to 2.5 million farm worker families in the United States, most of them are migrating from one county to another, and carry their children along. A large number of these children have to work on the farms to enable these families to survive. An average migrant family in a medium wage category does not earn more than US $ 16,000 a year. The pressure on children to work therefore is great. No wonder, about 65 per cent of these children drop out from schools, and never return for formal education.
According to David Strauss, Executive Director of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, a lot of the children working on the farms suffer from pesticides poisoning and injuries from machines. They live under stress, perform all the dangerous jobs on the farm, and also aspire to go to school like other children. David Strauss was talking to Michael Olson on The Food Show radio programme on child farm labour (http://www.metrofarm.com/).
David said that around this time (this programme was broadcast last week) thousands of families are packing up and moving up north from south Texas. They will be working in the crop fields in summers and up to November, and their children too would be accompanying them. Child labour is particularly severe in Texas, California, Washington, Michigan, North Carolina, and the Midwest. "Agriculture is the most dangerous place for children," he says.
I can understand about the children of farmers working on the farm. This happens everywhere, including India. I wouldn't however approve of it. The reason being that these children need to be like other children, go to school and go for higher education before opting for farming, if need be. But the children of migratory workers cannot be placed in the same category. David says that some of these children are made to work till midnight after they come back from the school, and often work 70-80 hours a week. This is really treacherous.
The US is following an outdated 1938 labour law that does not prohibit children below the age of 14 to work on the farms. Interestingly, while children below 14 are not supposed to be employed in offices, educational institutions or industries, there is no such regulation for children in agriculture. The Association for Farmworker Opportunity Programs is fighting for regulating child labour in agriculture and is trying to create more awareness about this hidden and ugly underbelly of American agriculture.
Most of these migratory workers come from Mexico. Some come from Latin America, Africa and I know many Indian and Pakistani families who work on the farm. That should make it obvious for you to know why the US doesn't care about child labour in agriculture. So much for a country that believes in ethnic equality and does not believe in racial discrimination.
12 May 2009
Child labour in American Agriculture? You must be kidding!
That's exactly what I thought when I first heard about it. I mean I had never even visualised that American agriculture could employ children on the farm. All the reports/studies and the stories we had heard about American agriculture always talked about big machines, big business, sophisticated technologies, and of course monumental agricultural subsidies. Exploiting children as farm labour, some as young as 10 years of age, has never been talked about in the international media. At least, I had never read about it.
At the ongoing WTO negotiations, the US and Europe have often accused India of employing children in agriculture and industry, and some countries have used the social clause (a non-tariff barrier) to stop exports of carpets for instance from India. We have been often accused of turning a blind eye to the curse of child labour. As a nation, I agree, we need to hang our head in shame for not being able to send these children of a lesser god to schools, and instead force them into labour because of poverty. For any nation, whether it is a developed or a developing economy, those exploiting child labour cannot and should not be pardoned.
But I see no reason why America, the world's biggest economy, and which never gets tired of preaching us about the social cost of child labour, be using children in its own heavily mechanised farms. This ugly face of American agriculture had remained hidden from public glare all these years.
How many children are employed in American agriculture? Well, there are about 2 to 2.5 million farm worker families in the United States, most of them are migrating from one county to another, and carry their children along. A large number of these children have to work on the farms to enable these families to survive. An average migrant family in a medium wage category does not earn more than US $ 16,000 a year. The pressure on children to work therefore is great. No wonder, about 65 per cent of these children drop out from schools, and never return for formal education.
According to David Strauss, Executive Director of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, a lot of the children working on the farms suffer from pesticides poisoning and injuries from machines. They live under stress, perform all the dangerous jobs on the farm, and also aspire to go to school like other children. David Strauss was talking to Michael Olson on The Food Show radio programme on child farm labour (http://www.metrofarm.com/).
David said that around this time (this programme was broadcast last week) thousands of families are packing up and moving up north from south Texas. They will be working in the crop fields in summers and up to November, and their children too would be accompanying them. Child labour is particularly severe in Texas, California, Washington, Michigan, North Carolina, and the Midwest. "Agriculture is the most dangerous place for children," he says.
I can understand about the children of farmers working on the farm. This happens everywhere, including India. I wouldn't however approve of it. The reason being that these children need to be like other children, go to school and go for higher education before opting for farming, if need be. But the children of migratory workers cannot be placed in the same category. David says that some of these children are made to work till midnight after they come back from the school, and often work 70-80 hours a week. This is really treacherous.
The US is following an outdated 1938 labour law that does not prohibit children below the age of 14 to work on the farms. Interestingly, while children below 14 are not supposed to be employed in offices, educational institutions or industries, there is no such regulation for children in agriculture. The Association for Farmworker Opportunity Programs is fighting for regulating child labour in agriculture and is trying to create more awareness about this hidden and ugly underbelly of American agriculture.
Most of these migratory workers come from Mexico. Some come from Latin America, Africa and I know many Indian and Pakistani families who work on the farm. That should make it obvious for you to know why the US doesn't care about child labour in agriculture. So much for a country that believes in ethnic equality and does not believe in racial discrimination.
Earth Day Resolve: Close Five Food Giants, Save Water
By Devinder Sharma
22 April 2009
I am sure many of you would have wondered why the newspapers are suddenly talking about the environment -- global warming, rivers drying up, Olive Ridley turtles, coming water wars of the future -- and so on, and that too in the midst of the heat and dust of the election campaigns. Well, it took me a few minutes to realise that today -- April 22 -- happens to be the Earth Day.
So today is Earth Day. Thank God, the Earth has at least one day to itself, even if it is only on paper !
A Washington-based news report World over, rivers are drying up caught my attention. Not that we didn't know it, but still let us see what the researchers are saying: The flow of water in the world's largest rivers including India's Ganga, has declined over the past half century, with significant changes found in about a third of the big rivers. The reduction in inflow to the Pacific Ocean alone was about equal to shutting off the Mississippi river. The annual flow into the Indian Ocean dropped by about 3 per cent, or 140 cubic kilometers.
Quoting a study published in the May 15 edition of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, the report goes on to say: Among the rivers showing declines in flow, several serve large populations. These include the Yellow River of northern China, the Ganga in India, the Niger in West Africa and the Colorado in the southwestern United States. The study also showed that the Colorado, a lifeline of the southwest United States, won't be able to provide all of water promised to millions who rely on it for their homes, farms and businesses.
Very well said. And that makes me wonder how stupid we can be when we promote unsustainable solutions like inter-linking of rivers to address the issue of river water going waste at a time when bulk of the country is starved of water and remains dependent upon rains as the only source of fresh water supplies. At a time when the glaciers are melting and the rivers drying up, to suggest an investment of Rs 1,20 lakh crores for linking the rivers was something I could never fathom. But knowing that the lobby groups have their own axe to grind, and academicians are always keen to provide oil to such lobbies, all I could do was to make my voice felt at some platforms.
Imagine, India making a massive investment to build a network of canals to link all the rivers, only to find that by the time the canals come into operation the rivers have gone dry. Of course, you don't have to worry because the economists will tell us this is one public investment that will stimulate the economy in downturn, and the GDP will grow. The Prime Minister will tell us how India is managing to keep its growth figures upward of eight per cent at times of a global meltdown. What he will not tell us is that the heavy investment his government (or successive governments) made on linking the dry rivers was actually a futile exercise, and stupid economics.
This also brings me to the related aspect of water shortage that is being felt all over. I don't have to present you the figures once again, you have read it time and again. Interestingly, the other day someone from the ITC group of companies in a public lecture explained how the company was trying to educate the household help, the part time women workers who come to your house every morning/evening to clean the utensils and mop up the floor, on how to save water. As part of their Corporate Social Responsibility, ITC was trying to do its bit. What an innovative effort, you would say. I wonder if the ITC follows the same prescription in the chain of hotels it runs !
But is there a way out? Can we really find a solution to the water crisis, which as some people predict, would lead to future wars?
I can suggest a simple solution. Extraordinary times they say, require extraordinary decisions. The simple solution that I have been thinking about needs extraordinary decision. I mean a tough political decision, and you have the answer to much of the water woes the world is faced with.
The Economist (Aug 27, 2008) states: Five big food and beverage companies -- Nestle, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch and Danone -- consume almost 575 billion litres of water a year, enough to satisfy the daily water needs of every person on the planet.
Wouldn't it make sense if we were to close down these five companies. Now hold on, before you think I am going mad, think again. Closing these five companies will not result in more hunger. Closing these five companies will only mean that a few of us will be deprived of their products, nothing more than that. This will also enable us to seek suitable change in our unsustainable lifestyles that is harming the Earth.
All I am saying is close down these five companies. Give them a bailout package. If we can give a stimulus package to banks/insurance companies involved in financial frauds and irregularities, why not to these water guzzlers? After all, we have only one Earth to protect and preserve.
Ask these companies to close their shop. Or how long will we go on making fool of ordinary people by telling them to conserve water at the time of washing utensils or while brushing their teeth (I am certainly not against this kind of education and awareness) but why are we not willing to hit where it needs most? Why do we refrain from taking tough political decisions in favour of the masses? If the world really needs water, and water is the lifeline as we all know, than I think we should be willing to call for some hard decisions.
Extraordinary times, require extraordinary decisions.
On this Earth Day, let us take a resolve. We want to protect the Earth, and our future needs. The Earth needs water, and we need a vibrant Earth. No price is bigger than protecting the Earth. Even if it means pulling down the shutter on world's five big food and beverage companies.
The Earth will then be a much better place to stay.
22 April 2009
I am sure many of you would have wondered why the newspapers are suddenly talking about the environment -- global warming, rivers drying up, Olive Ridley turtles, coming water wars of the future -- and so on, and that too in the midst of the heat and dust of the election campaigns. Well, it took me a few minutes to realise that today -- April 22 -- happens to be the Earth Day.
So today is Earth Day. Thank God, the Earth has at least one day to itself, even if it is only on paper !
A Washington-based news report World over, rivers are drying up caught my attention. Not that we didn't know it, but still let us see what the researchers are saying: The flow of water in the world's largest rivers including India's Ganga, has declined over the past half century, with significant changes found in about a third of the big rivers. The reduction in inflow to the Pacific Ocean alone was about equal to shutting off the Mississippi river. The annual flow into the Indian Ocean dropped by about 3 per cent, or 140 cubic kilometers.
Quoting a study published in the May 15 edition of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, the report goes on to say: Among the rivers showing declines in flow, several serve large populations. These include the Yellow River of northern China, the Ganga in India, the Niger in West Africa and the Colorado in the southwestern United States. The study also showed that the Colorado, a lifeline of the southwest United States, won't be able to provide all of water promised to millions who rely on it for their homes, farms and businesses.
Very well said. And that makes me wonder how stupid we can be when we promote unsustainable solutions like inter-linking of rivers to address the issue of river water going waste at a time when bulk of the country is starved of water and remains dependent upon rains as the only source of fresh water supplies. At a time when the glaciers are melting and the rivers drying up, to suggest an investment of Rs 1,20 lakh crores for linking the rivers was something I could never fathom. But knowing that the lobby groups have their own axe to grind, and academicians are always keen to provide oil to such lobbies, all I could do was to make my voice felt at some platforms.
Imagine, India making a massive investment to build a network of canals to link all the rivers, only to find that by the time the canals come into operation the rivers have gone dry. Of course, you don't have to worry because the economists will tell us this is one public investment that will stimulate the economy in downturn, and the GDP will grow. The Prime Minister will tell us how India is managing to keep its growth figures upward of eight per cent at times of a global meltdown. What he will not tell us is that the heavy investment his government (or successive governments) made on linking the dry rivers was actually a futile exercise, and stupid economics.
This also brings me to the related aspect of water shortage that is being felt all over. I don't have to present you the figures once again, you have read it time and again. Interestingly, the other day someone from the ITC group of companies in a public lecture explained how the company was trying to educate the household help, the part time women workers who come to your house every morning/evening to clean the utensils and mop up the floor, on how to save water. As part of their Corporate Social Responsibility, ITC was trying to do its bit. What an innovative effort, you would say. I wonder if the ITC follows the same prescription in the chain of hotels it runs !
But is there a way out? Can we really find a solution to the water crisis, which as some people predict, would lead to future wars?
I can suggest a simple solution. Extraordinary times they say, require extraordinary decisions. The simple solution that I have been thinking about needs extraordinary decision. I mean a tough political decision, and you have the answer to much of the water woes the world is faced with.
The Economist (Aug 27, 2008) states: Five big food and beverage companies -- Nestle, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch and Danone -- consume almost 575 billion litres of water a year, enough to satisfy the daily water needs of every person on the planet.
Wouldn't it make sense if we were to close down these five companies. Now hold on, before you think I am going mad, think again. Closing these five companies will not result in more hunger. Closing these five companies will only mean that a few of us will be deprived of their products, nothing more than that. This will also enable us to seek suitable change in our unsustainable lifestyles that is harming the Earth.
All I am saying is close down these five companies. Give them a bailout package. If we can give a stimulus package to banks/insurance companies involved in financial frauds and irregularities, why not to these water guzzlers? After all, we have only one Earth to protect and preserve.
Ask these companies to close their shop. Or how long will we go on making fool of ordinary people by telling them to conserve water at the time of washing utensils or while brushing their teeth (I am certainly not against this kind of education and awareness) but why are we not willing to hit where it needs most? Why do we refrain from taking tough political decisions in favour of the masses? If the world really needs water, and water is the lifeline as we all know, than I think we should be willing to call for some hard decisions.
Extraordinary times, require extraordinary decisions.
On this Earth Day, let us take a resolve. We want to protect the Earth, and our future needs. The Earth needs water, and we need a vibrant Earth. No price is bigger than protecting the Earth. Even if it means pulling down the shutter on world's five big food and beverage companies.
The Earth will then be a much better place to stay.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)