They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
High drama running around the country.It's my nation which suffered 20 lakh crores because of scams till this date from independence and every one should remember that these are the scams which came into light.Hongkong till 1970's was more or less same like today's India but with in 35-40 years Hong Kong has become one of the most honest nation.What happened in HongKong?
Why N.R.Narayana Murthy should attend round table conference on reforms?Why Ratan Tata accused an aviation minister?Why Nandan Nilekani became helpless? Sri sri Ravi shankar has joined the Anti-corruption movement.The loving Guru of many disciples who always talks of Love and compassion has to finally make this move for millions of poor in this nation.Every one knows that no country is completely free of corruption but the question is why is it rampant in India?
Lobbying is the biggest business in the world.Even Radia,the character artist of the present show was introduced by the former minister Ananth Kumar and she has every right to do her own business.The same with Burkha and Vir Sanghvi but why these lobbyists and journalists don't work for the public good in India?
Now comes the most important question.Why the entire nation woke up after 2 years of every thing happened and why we are shouting whether Raja should be punished or not? Is it that important to punish Raja? Is it that important to criticize these people for some time and forget every thing when some other issue comes to head lines?Are we really insane?Do we know the link between corruption and development or we are being part of this drama because of abstruse anger?
Hong Kong was one of the most corrupt nation in the world just like India now.people took to streets. The island was forced to set up an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) with functional autonomy, headed by men and women of merit, drawn from many disciplines. And it cleaned up the system. To begin with, they dismissed scores of top level cops. Today, Hong Kong is one of the most honest countries.
What's wrong with India?Can we bring Hong kong type reforms in India?A look at the structure of our anti-corruption system shows that there is not a single anti-corruption agency that is independent of the government or has the complete powers to take action.
The CVC and CAG are independent but merely recommendatory. The government often ignores their advice.
CBI has powers but is completely dependent on the government for permissions for investigations and prosecutions. CBI’s lawyers are appointed by the Law ministry and report to it as well. That is the reason why everyone demands a Supreme Court monitored CBI investigation (as is the case in 2G spectrum).
Our anti-corruption systems have inherently and intently been kept flawed. Even the Lok Pal Bill pending since 1968 falls in the same category as it is also proposed to be a recommendatory body.
Therefore, no vigilance or anti corruption body in our country is independent and final. Either an agency is recommendatory or it is vulnerable to political influences or both.
That has led to a situation where the high and mighty never get punished for corruption. There is clearly a class divide. We have police stations for the poor but CBI, CVC and CAGs for the rich with nearly NIL recovery of ill usurped wealth.
Therefore, India needs a total overhaul of the anti-corruption delivery system. We believe that the country immediately needs a statutory, effective and independent investigating and prosecuting multidisciplinary agency, paid from the Consolidated Fund and led by independent professionals searched, and not merely appointed and barred for some years from re-employment, to ward off political vagaries.
Why corruption is rampant in India?Corruption is not about bribing or being bribed.Corruption is larger than this.If an employee is not working,it is corruption and We know,how well our Government employees work in our system.With out work,being on pay scale they are bribed by us as the salary is nothing but our taxes.A voter being paid to execute his vote is also a form of corruption and every one knows how well our system works during elections!
Even Loksatta stated,"We can't blame trees(Raja) for the forest(India)". Corruption became our culture.Even we never complain about our money-lost or we never complain about the hapless happenings around us.We take entertainment out of News and we want to know whether that corrupt individual,who was unfortunately came into light was sacked from the present position.There ends the game.We all set a vicious cycle.We complain but for punishment not for prevention.Even Arun Shourie stated,"The visible Government of India keeps changing, but that invisible government of India remains completely stable".No elaboration needed.We know everything but we deliberately shut our eyes like Manmohan Singh said,"Coalition Government has its own limitations",that means he implies,'Coalition governments are protectors of corruption." If we won't feel betrayed after this statement,we are really shameless.
An excerpt from Arun shourie's interview.
Don't you think the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) also has a lot to answer for in the current situation?
I don't see the difference between the two. I feel they (the BJP and the Congress) are one party. They are jointly ruling. It is a dinner party. They meet at dinners. They meet socially. They decide on what has to be done about issues.
It is all very cooperative behaviour. They (the BJP) are shouting (for a Joint Parliamentary Committee). They know that it will kill the investigation.
A JPC will raise side issues and that is what both sides want. Because the corporates behind both sides are the same. They don't want the 2G spectrum investigation to proceed.
He questioned,"Today also the reportage is about what (former telecom minister) A Raja says, what Arun Shourie says. Is that the end of the story? I hardly read newspapers now. I just don't watch television. There is nothing to be learnt.
Why are journalists going for sound bytes? Why don't they take the documents home, study it and come to their own conclusions?"
No more evidences needed to prove our irresponsibility and the vicious cycle we set in.
Finally there is chronic problem in the way we do things.Not only in this issue but in everything.Take for example the 2G scam. To begin with, the minister was not exactly a natural choice for this important ministry. The main fixer was not somebody who can in any way be described as a public or social policy strategist, or even someone who could be remotely described as a technologist of some repute.
Many of the companies that obtained licences at throwaway prices had no proven expertise in this field and they promptly sold a part (or all) of their holdings at obscene premiums to other players even before any market was developed by them.
Recall the exemplary success of the initial spectrum auction held in the United Kingdom that every nation wanted to emulate. Well, what is worth pointing out is that the person who led the UK auction, in its design and implementation, was not a fixer, was not a civil servant and certainly not a minister.
He was a reputed professor in game theory and economics, who went back to his academic career after the successful auction.
What we need to do? I remember a scene from recent film Khelein Hum Jee Jaan sey.In that Surjaya asks a teenager,"Why you want to be a part of this revolution?".The teenager replies,"I want my foot ball ground but British occupied it and I want to send them home." Yes,every one has thier own priorities in life.Tribals don't want their land to be acquitted by Government under land acquisition act because it's unfair.
I need my things done in a proper way and I should not face any problems in getting government services because I'm paying the taxes every day,every minute.Now we need to tell them,we are watching you and we want it to be a democracy not 'demonocracy'.Martin Niemoller, a German pastor has written the poem,"First they came" during world war2 and now if we stay silent it will lead to the situation of the person in the poem.
Pick a post card/M.O(Re.1) and send it to P.M.Send an email.Sign online-petition and make your voice heard by Prime minister of India and tell him that we won't tolerate this.
Courtesy;-Arvind Kejriwal,Dr.Jayaprakash Narayan,Arun shourie,Swapan Das Gupta,Loksatta,Shubhashis Gangopadhyay,Gowtham Challur,Martin Niemoller etc.,
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Creativity to bring dignity
Yesterday,I was reading an article written by a friend and its about his courage to choose a career which is different and difficult but which can create a lot of social impact and I was yet to finish it when I received a call from my friend asking whether we can go to 'Gram Vikas', an NGO founded by Joe Mediath.I wanted to visit it always and my answer would have been 'yes' even on my wedding day.
It was an amazing trip.I didn't know that I was going to get answers to a few problems.When I visited a village in Bargarh distict some 5 months before,a diary farm-owner taught me much more than my college professors.His son taught me 'Where your passion can make u land?' but I asked them a few questions which is more system-related and they have no answers and whenever I ask people they answer "I don't know." and a few go ahead and say,"There are solutions but impractical" etc etc.,
Rural development is very important aspect which we always ignore at ground level.I certainly won't blame governments because at higher level their spending on this sector is magnanimous. We should look back to the places where 70% of our population live and in states like Odisha,it goes around 88% and 47% of people living below poverty line.Statistics say that the health and education is the costliest commodity for them.Can we do anything really? Can development be sustainable for them?
The answer is 'yes' if we have creativity and if we have dedication and its equally important to be skilled.A friend of me recently made me able to think about practicality by explaining me about the conditions in Ganjam district of Odisha.A village has been constructed in a more linear manner that the 'Harijans' live at the end of village.There is no chance of constructing bath rooms and by chance,if they construct there is no accessibility to water and no way to make them use bath rooms.I asked about the chances of community bathrooms.She said,"Its impossible" because people live with casteism circulating in their veins and its impossible to make them use community bathrooms" She finished the conversation,"we were the only family having a functional bathroom in the whole village."
For me its an upset.For me its undignified. For me its a failure.I used to tell this much before,"A newly wed-bride comes to a village and she has to go to bathroom and she won't have any accessibility to bathrooms.She has to pick a mug and run the nearest pond and hide behind the bushes and if by any chance any tress-passer comes,she stands up in an urgency and poses as she is doing nothing and most of the women in the rural areas post-pone natural calls till the sunsets because darkness brings light and lightens their burden in the stomach.It is what we have achieved in the last 63 years."
When I'm finished saying this, a close-friend of mine said,"Stop the shit,when we have million other problems to solve,why do u speak about these silly things.If people have enough food to eat then only it comes out.Let's think about feeding not about the luxuries you have to provide to make them shit." I just thought,"Bath room is a luxury.What a pity!" Its really important to construct bath rooms and improve sanitation not because it can improve our position in Human Development reports but it is the only solution to reduce diseases mainly water-borne bacterial diseases.
Visiting Gram Vikas has strengthened my belief that creativity in our approach can really make development( I feel sanitation is a developmental issue) sustainable.They designed a dignified solution.Cluster of bath rooms where they have numbering to each bathroom and they number them and allot a bathroom to a family and the family takes care of that bathroom and uses them.There are several other things which they are taking care of but this appealed to me.
I don't say that this is a complete solution but this is a solution of course,lot has to be done ,even in the areas they are working.Even they said,"It takes 3 years to make people agree and construct in a village." but it doesn't mean that people's mind-set changes in 3 years.Its indeed not that easy but something is better than nothing and working hands is better than praying lips.
I dedicate this note to the 522 people who are working in 895 habitations and who are giving people a reason to smile.I salute the team of Joe Mediath sir,who are dedicated to make development sustainable.
It was an amazing trip.I didn't know that I was going to get answers to a few problems.When I visited a village in Bargarh distict some 5 months before,a diary farm-owner taught me much more than my college professors.His son taught me 'Where your passion can make u land?' but I asked them a few questions which is more system-related and they have no answers and whenever I ask people they answer "I don't know." and a few go ahead and say,"There are solutions but impractical" etc etc.,
Rural development is very important aspect which we always ignore at ground level.I certainly won't blame governments because at higher level their spending on this sector is magnanimous. We should look back to the places where 70% of our population live and in states like Odisha,it goes around 88% and 47% of people living below poverty line.Statistics say that the health and education is the costliest commodity for them.Can we do anything really? Can development be sustainable for them?
The answer is 'yes' if we have creativity and if we have dedication and its equally important to be skilled.A friend of me recently made me able to think about practicality by explaining me about the conditions in Ganjam district of Odisha.A village has been constructed in a more linear manner that the 'Harijans' live at the end of village.There is no chance of constructing bath rooms and by chance,if they construct there is no accessibility to water and no way to make them use bath rooms.I asked about the chances of community bathrooms.She said,"Its impossible" because people live with casteism circulating in their veins and its impossible to make them use community bathrooms" She finished the conversation,"we were the only family having a functional bathroom in the whole village."
For me its an upset.For me its undignified. For me its a failure.I used to tell this much before,"A newly wed-bride comes to a village and she has to go to bathroom and she won't have any accessibility to bathrooms.She has to pick a mug and run the nearest pond and hide behind the bushes and if by any chance any tress-passer comes,she stands up in an urgency and poses as she is doing nothing and most of the women in the rural areas post-pone natural calls till the sunsets because darkness brings light and lightens their burden in the stomach.It is what we have achieved in the last 63 years."
When I'm finished saying this, a close-friend of mine said,"Stop the shit,when we have million other problems to solve,why do u speak about these silly things.If people have enough food to eat then only it comes out.Let's think about feeding not about the luxuries you have to provide to make them shit." I just thought,"Bath room is a luxury.What a pity!" Its really important to construct bath rooms and improve sanitation not because it can improve our position in Human Development reports but it is the only solution to reduce diseases mainly water-borne bacterial diseases.
Visiting Gram Vikas has strengthened my belief that creativity in our approach can really make development( I feel sanitation is a developmental issue) sustainable.They designed a dignified solution.Cluster of bath rooms where they have numbering to each bathroom and they number them and allot a bathroom to a family and the family takes care of that bathroom and uses them.There are several other things which they are taking care of but this appealed to me.
I don't say that this is a complete solution but this is a solution of course,lot has to be done ,even in the areas they are working.Even they said,"It takes 3 years to make people agree and construct in a village." but it doesn't mean that people's mind-set changes in 3 years.Its indeed not that easy but something is better than nothing and working hands is better than praying lips.
I dedicate this note to the 522 people who are working in 895 habitations and who are giving people a reason to smile.I salute the team of Joe Mediath sir,who are dedicated to make development sustainable.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Time to end the scourge of corruption
Courtesy:-Lok satta News
The direct and grave indictment of the present Union Telecommunications Minister A. Raja by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) points to a staggeringly-high loss of Rs. 1.7 lakh crores to the public exchequer. This revelation comes in the wake of two other shameful scams: the gross irregularities in the Rs. 70,000 crore - Commonwealth Games (CWG) and the shameful Adarsh Housing Society scam in Mumbai, the latter being carried out invoking the sacred memory of Kargil martyrs.
This is a serious warning sign on two counts:
1. the sheer scale, scope and magnitude of corruption and the consequent loss of massive amounts to the public exchequer and
2. the involvement of politicians at the country’s highest levels.
Essentially, the CAG concluded that the Union Cabinet Minister for IT and Communications ignored advice from the PM and ministries of law and finance, the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) and allocated 2G spectrum to a select group of other-wise ineligible companies at throwaway prices. The CAG also faulted the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for its acts of omission and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for its gross violations of norms.
Distorted public debate:
Unfortunately, the public debate is at present entirely centered on whether the Union Minister A.Raja has to be sacked or retained, whether such a sacking would change the ruling coalition’s arithmetic or not and likewise. Given India’s track record, the persons involved would likely consider such a ritual ‘political sacrifice’ at the altar of media-driven and coalition-governed politics to satisfy the effervescent public attention, which would then move on to other issues.
While the immediate removal of the tainted minister is a necessary and obvious first step, we should not mistake the trees for the forest. It is imperative that all concerned and guilty persons should be suitably punished through a fast-tracked legal process, given the overwhelmingly conclusive evidence of gross irregularities, likely involving massive bribery and corruption facilitated by blatant misuse of office and abuse of authority.
Real issues must be examined:
Even more important is that we should take a step back and examine the deeper issues impacting the overall welfare of the nation and its citizens. This exercise is absolutely necessary so that not only are the guilty suitably punished, but also the losses to the public exchequer are recouped, punitive damages imposed on the guilty parties and a suitable anti-corruption mechanism is put in place to ensure that no such gross instances of gross corruption take place in the future. The root causes of political corruption must be addressed or else such incidences are bound to recur with greater severity and wreck the Indian economic growth miracle. In this context, we should examine the following hierarchy of issues, principles and priorities:
Tainted Contracts: The 2G-spectrum telecom licenses granted to a select group of favoured companies, which otherwise were totally ineligible for providing telecom services, are quite obviously ‘tainted contracts’. Media reports indicate that CAG pointed out that 12 such ineligible companies secured 85 out of 122 licenses across various jurisdictions in India, for the 2G spectrum.
Corruption, bribery and abuse of authority must be established immediately: While the irregularities in the entire process of granting licenses have been established by the CAG, an independent investigation must be carried out immediately to ensure that the corresponding corruption, bribery, abuse of office and misuse of authority too are established. This body of evidence must form the foundation for a fast-tracked criminal prosecution and punishment of all concerned persons, in both government and outside. At present, India does not have such a fast-responding and effective investigative, prosecution and judicial redressal system to fight serious corruption (see below).
Tainted contracts should be scrapped immediately: Parallel to the above investigation, the Union government should immediately undertake a comprehensive, unbiased and transparent review of the entire 2G spectrum licensing policy and process, based on the CAG’s report. Any 2G spectrum licensing contract that is established to be obtained on the basis of corruption and bribery or abuse of office and authority and in violation to the government’s norms should be declared as null-and-void; they were obtained illegally and therefore are unenforceable. Hence they should be scrapped.
Internationally, in most legal systems, transactions tainted by bribery or corruption are considered illegal and unenforceable. Even in India, in 2007, the Indian Army did not hesitate to scrap a $600 million-worth deal for 197 helicopters with Eurocopter, the world’s largest maker of civil and military helicopters (and a subsidiary of EADS, the European defence and aerospace group), following the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)’s criticism of the bidding process and illegal use of middlemen, violative of the existing policy of prohibiting middlemen in military deals. The Army subsequently went in for a fresh and open bidding process.
Spectrum, a scarce and precious national resource, belongs to us Indians: It should not be forgotten that the 2G spectrum ultimately is a scarce and precious national resource. The granting of licenses to cellular operators is merely a privilege granted by the sovereign Indian government, entirely on a discretionary and temporary basis.
Now that several ineligible companies were granted these licenses through acts of bribery, corruption, abuse of authority and office, the corresponding 2G spectrum has to be taken back by the government. It can be handed over in the interim to the BSNL, a hugely credible and successful public sector telecom company, for ensuring the smooth continuation of cellular/mobile phone operations. This top-tier redressal arrangement would guarantee that, we, the ordinary consumers are not inconvenienced and do not lose out on the present and easily-accessible cellular phone services. This spectrum can be subsequently allotted to various operators, de-novo, through a transparent, proper licensing process that benefits the consumers as well as the public exchequer.
Recovery of loss to the public exchequer: Simultaneously, punitive damages must be imposed on the guilty parties and the monies should be recovered from them. Towards this, all ill-gotten wealth earned through illegal means should be seized and confiscated by the government and deployed for public good.
The present law against corruption and its application suffer from several lacunae including absence of effective provisions for forfeiture of property of corrupt public servants, dilatory processes because of overload of criminal cases in courts, political control of investigative agencies, weak prosecution, and legal requirements of prior sanction of prosecution of public servants accused of corruption.
The various Committees and Commissions constituted by the State and Union Governments have reiterated the need to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 1988. The 166th Law Commission Report, the 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission’s 4th Report amongst others have made key recommendations in this context. A suitable law is urgently required to amend the PCA in order to make it more effective in fighting the menace of corruption.
In addition, a legislation is needed to eliminate multiplicity of agencies dealing with wrong doing of public servants, to strengthen the institution of Lok Ayukta and sharpen its jurisdiction, and make elected and appointed public servants more accountable.
Towards this, the Prevention of Corruption Amendment Bill (2009) has already been prepared and submitted to the AP Legislative Assembly by Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan (AP MLA). The traditional parties must act now to enact this law.
Strong anti-corruption mechanisms and institutions need of the hour: Plundering the public exchequer for private gain has been the favourite pastime of unscrupulous crooks, often in collusion with politicians and officials entrusted with the responsibility of protecting public good. This corruption disease has reached epidemic proportions in India. Our existing and regular statutory, investigative, prosecution and judicial systems are able to cope with this tidal wave of corruption.
Time for a False Claims Act in India: The False Claims Act in the US is an excellent example of innovation to prevent and detect fraud and corruption. Under this law, any person can unearth fraud or false claims (such as the ones made for organizing the Commonwealth Games), and file suit on behalf of the US against those who have falsely claimed federal funds for any procurement of goods, works or services. Such a whistleblower who files successful suits (called ‘Qai tam’ suits) can recover 15 - 25% of any settlement or judgment reached in a case if the government intervenes in the action, or up to 30% if they pursue it on their own. Private citizens thus have an enormous incentive to detect false claims and corruption and file suits. Consequently, a huge industry of unearthing false claims has sprung up, and hundreds of false claim suits are filed every year. Since then, 4000 such suits have been filed, resulting in $6 billion recovered. In addition, $4 billion was recovered in government-initiated claims. In all such cases, a person making false claim is liable to 3 times the amount of damages sustained by the government, plus a civil penalty.
It is high time we enacted similar laws providing incentive to citizens to unearth fraud and corruption. There are practical, simple, effective methods to set things right. Sensible laws and effective legal system to enforce them are crucial to prevent public fraud.
Independent and empowered Anti-corruption mechanism for India.
We need to create a strong, independent, empowered Lok Pal with adequate resources. The CVC and CBI should function within the purview of Lok Pal. The anti-corruption wing at national and local levels should be completely independent of political and partisan control. They should be under Lok Pal / Lok Ayuktas, similar to the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (IACC) created in Hong Kong in 1974. The Anti-corruption law should be tightened as recommended by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission. There should be independent prosecutors drawn from judiciary to prosecute corruption cases. Special Courts, confiscation of property and swift justice should be the essential ingredients of our anti-corruption strategy.
The recent scams and the resultant public outrage should lead to tangible institutional and legal outcomes as suggested above. Only then can India move forward, and build a strong economy and mature democracy of which we can be justly proud.
The direct and grave indictment of the present Union Telecommunications Minister A. Raja by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) points to a staggeringly-high loss of Rs. 1.7 lakh crores to the public exchequer. This revelation comes in the wake of two other shameful scams: the gross irregularities in the Rs. 70,000 crore - Commonwealth Games (CWG) and the shameful Adarsh Housing Society scam in Mumbai, the latter being carried out invoking the sacred memory of Kargil martyrs.
This is a serious warning sign on two counts:
1. the sheer scale, scope and magnitude of corruption and the consequent loss of massive amounts to the public exchequer and
2. the involvement of politicians at the country’s highest levels.
Essentially, the CAG concluded that the Union Cabinet Minister for IT and Communications ignored advice from the PM and ministries of law and finance, the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) and allocated 2G spectrum to a select group of other-wise ineligible companies at throwaway prices. The CAG also faulted the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for its acts of omission and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for its gross violations of norms.
Distorted public debate:
Unfortunately, the public debate is at present entirely centered on whether the Union Minister A.Raja has to be sacked or retained, whether such a sacking would change the ruling coalition’s arithmetic or not and likewise. Given India’s track record, the persons involved would likely consider such a ritual ‘political sacrifice’ at the altar of media-driven and coalition-governed politics to satisfy the effervescent public attention, which would then move on to other issues.
While the immediate removal of the tainted minister is a necessary and obvious first step, we should not mistake the trees for the forest. It is imperative that all concerned and guilty persons should be suitably punished through a fast-tracked legal process, given the overwhelmingly conclusive evidence of gross irregularities, likely involving massive bribery and corruption facilitated by blatant misuse of office and abuse of authority.
Real issues must be examined:
Even more important is that we should take a step back and examine the deeper issues impacting the overall welfare of the nation and its citizens. This exercise is absolutely necessary so that not only are the guilty suitably punished, but also the losses to the public exchequer are recouped, punitive damages imposed on the guilty parties and a suitable anti-corruption mechanism is put in place to ensure that no such gross instances of gross corruption take place in the future. The root causes of political corruption must be addressed or else such incidences are bound to recur with greater severity and wreck the Indian economic growth miracle. In this context, we should examine the following hierarchy of issues, principles and priorities:
Tainted Contracts: The 2G-spectrum telecom licenses granted to a select group of favoured companies, which otherwise were totally ineligible for providing telecom services, are quite obviously ‘tainted contracts’. Media reports indicate that CAG pointed out that 12 such ineligible companies secured 85 out of 122 licenses across various jurisdictions in India, for the 2G spectrum.
Corruption, bribery and abuse of authority must be established immediately: While the irregularities in the entire process of granting licenses have been established by the CAG, an independent investigation must be carried out immediately to ensure that the corresponding corruption, bribery, abuse of office and misuse of authority too are established. This body of evidence must form the foundation for a fast-tracked criminal prosecution and punishment of all concerned persons, in both government and outside. At present, India does not have such a fast-responding and effective investigative, prosecution and judicial redressal system to fight serious corruption (see below).
Tainted contracts should be scrapped immediately: Parallel to the above investigation, the Union government should immediately undertake a comprehensive, unbiased and transparent review of the entire 2G spectrum licensing policy and process, based on the CAG’s report. Any 2G spectrum licensing contract that is established to be obtained on the basis of corruption and bribery or abuse of office and authority and in violation to the government’s norms should be declared as null-and-void; they were obtained illegally and therefore are unenforceable. Hence they should be scrapped.
Internationally, in most legal systems, transactions tainted by bribery or corruption are considered illegal and unenforceable. Even in India, in 2007, the Indian Army did not hesitate to scrap a $600 million-worth deal for 197 helicopters with Eurocopter, the world’s largest maker of civil and military helicopters (and a subsidiary of EADS, the European defence and aerospace group), following the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)’s criticism of the bidding process and illegal use of middlemen, violative of the existing policy of prohibiting middlemen in military deals. The Army subsequently went in for a fresh and open bidding process.
Spectrum, a scarce and precious national resource, belongs to us Indians: It should not be forgotten that the 2G spectrum ultimately is a scarce and precious national resource. The granting of licenses to cellular operators is merely a privilege granted by the sovereign Indian government, entirely on a discretionary and temporary basis.
Now that several ineligible companies were granted these licenses through acts of bribery, corruption, abuse of authority and office, the corresponding 2G spectrum has to be taken back by the government. It can be handed over in the interim to the BSNL, a hugely credible and successful public sector telecom company, for ensuring the smooth continuation of cellular/mobile phone operations. This top-tier redressal arrangement would guarantee that, we, the ordinary consumers are not inconvenienced and do not lose out on the present and easily-accessible cellular phone services. This spectrum can be subsequently allotted to various operators, de-novo, through a transparent, proper licensing process that benefits the consumers as well as the public exchequer.
Recovery of loss to the public exchequer: Simultaneously, punitive damages must be imposed on the guilty parties and the monies should be recovered from them. Towards this, all ill-gotten wealth earned through illegal means should be seized and confiscated by the government and deployed for public good.
The present law against corruption and its application suffer from several lacunae including absence of effective provisions for forfeiture of property of corrupt public servants, dilatory processes because of overload of criminal cases in courts, political control of investigative agencies, weak prosecution, and legal requirements of prior sanction of prosecution of public servants accused of corruption.
The various Committees and Commissions constituted by the State and Union Governments have reiterated the need to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 1988. The 166th Law Commission Report, the 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission’s 4th Report amongst others have made key recommendations in this context. A suitable law is urgently required to amend the PCA in order to make it more effective in fighting the menace of corruption.
In addition, a legislation is needed to eliminate multiplicity of agencies dealing with wrong doing of public servants, to strengthen the institution of Lok Ayukta and sharpen its jurisdiction, and make elected and appointed public servants more accountable.
Towards this, the Prevention of Corruption Amendment Bill (2009) has already been prepared and submitted to the AP Legislative Assembly by Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan (AP MLA). The traditional parties must act now to enact this law.
Strong anti-corruption mechanisms and institutions need of the hour: Plundering the public exchequer for private gain has been the favourite pastime of unscrupulous crooks, often in collusion with politicians and officials entrusted with the responsibility of protecting public good. This corruption disease has reached epidemic proportions in India. Our existing and regular statutory, investigative, prosecution and judicial systems are able to cope with this tidal wave of corruption.
Time for a False Claims Act in India: The False Claims Act in the US is an excellent example of innovation to prevent and detect fraud and corruption. Under this law, any person can unearth fraud or false claims (such as the ones made for organizing the Commonwealth Games), and file suit on behalf of the US against those who have falsely claimed federal funds for any procurement of goods, works or services. Such a whistleblower who files successful suits (called ‘Qai tam’ suits) can recover 15 - 25% of any settlement or judgment reached in a case if the government intervenes in the action, or up to 30% if they pursue it on their own. Private citizens thus have an enormous incentive to detect false claims and corruption and file suits. Consequently, a huge industry of unearthing false claims has sprung up, and hundreds of false claim suits are filed every year. Since then, 4000 such suits have been filed, resulting in $6 billion recovered. In addition, $4 billion was recovered in government-initiated claims. In all such cases, a person making false claim is liable to 3 times the amount of damages sustained by the government, plus a civil penalty.
It is high time we enacted similar laws providing incentive to citizens to unearth fraud and corruption. There are practical, simple, effective methods to set things right. Sensible laws and effective legal system to enforce them are crucial to prevent public fraud.
Independent and empowered Anti-corruption mechanism for India.
We need to create a strong, independent, empowered Lok Pal with adequate resources. The CVC and CBI should function within the purview of Lok Pal. The anti-corruption wing at national and local levels should be completely independent of political and partisan control. They should be under Lok Pal / Lok Ayuktas, similar to the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (IACC) created in Hong Kong in 1974. The Anti-corruption law should be tightened as recommended by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission. There should be independent prosecutors drawn from judiciary to prosecute corruption cases. Special Courts, confiscation of property and swift justice should be the essential ingredients of our anti-corruption strategy.
The recent scams and the resultant public outrage should lead to tangible institutional and legal outcomes as suggested above. Only then can India move forward, and build a strong economy and mature democracy of which we can be justly proud.
Monday, September 27, 2010
JOY OF GIVING
The following is an email I received in IofC-Odisha google groups from a friend.His name has resemblance with min but of course,he is a bit ahead of me in maturity of thoughts.Thanq Arbind for a wonderful mail and hope you don't mind for pasting it here.
There is slight ambiguity regarding the time he told about the death of Mother Teresa and Diana but don't get into details of that.
More than a year and a half has passed since the deaths of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana. Yet, their lives remain clear in our memory. And for good reason, for there is much we can learn from them. For example, their deaths remind us how a person is remembered.
We can learn from them and experience the joy of giving. To do so, we need not be as heroic. There is no need to travel to some distant land or search out the less fortunate. All we need do is awaken, to become aware of those around us. Every encounter is an opportunity to give. Our siblings, spouse, children, friends, relatives, co-workers, boss, customers, and all those we meet will gratefully accept our gifts. The gifts I'm referring to are spiritual in nature and, therefore, do not have any costs.
Sometimes we forget how much we have to offer. For example, though tired of waiting in line at the bank, we can offer the stressed-out bank teller a warm smile and the gifts of patience and understanding. We have the power to uplift her spirit and make her day! At home or in the office, our words of encouragement can plant the seeds of confidence in the minds of our children and co-workers.
You say, your younger brother/sister has used your mobile and there is nothing you can do about it? Well, don't fret; there is something you can do. You can give her the gift of acceptance, unconditional love. You see, all through life we are told to conform to the standards of others, instead of being accepted for whom we are. It starts with mommy and daddy, then it's our teachers and peers, followed by our supervisors in our workplace. Even our boy and girlfriends (and later our spouses) get into the act! It seems as if everyone is telling us what to do and how to think. No wonder people hunger for a little acceptance. Speaking of hunger, it takes more than food banks to feed the hungry. It also takes spiritual gifts, such as acceptance.
There are many more gifts that we can give. For instance, the gift of interest .What do you imagine is the worst thing we can do to someone? It is not to hate them, but to be indifferent toward them, to display no interest.You can offer your seat while travelling in a public transport or in side a waiting room or bus stop & you will receive gratitude in the form of smile. If someone were to hate you, it may be because of envy. Hatred, then, is an expression of interest. Imagine what it would be like if no one had the slightest interest in you. That would hurt! Our gift of interest can help satisfy the craving for attention. Ironically, it is only after we express our interest in others that we can learn how interesting they are!
Still another gift is that of recognition. There are more people starving for recognition than there are starving for food. Why is praise so sought after? Because, like gold and diamonds, it is rare and hard find. Can you remember how many times you were frustrated because your achievements and efforts went unrecognized? We can stop frustrating others by bearing the gift of recognition. Since praise is free, let's offer it freely, but it has value only when it is sincere.
The greatest gift we have to offer is that of time, for time is the stuff life is made of. As our only nonrenewable resource, it is precious. What greater way of expressing love, than by devoting time to those we care about and those in need? Walt Whitman, the poet, expressed it this way, "Behold, I do not give lectures or a little charity. When I give, I give myself." When we give to our friends, we draw them closer. When we give to our enemies, we change them into friends.
The deaths of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana remind us of our own mortality. It's almost as if they were whispering, "The time to give is now." Or, as Marcus Aurelius wrote in the second century, "Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still yours."
Let's do it-who know KAL HO NA HO!
love&prayer
Arbind
There is slight ambiguity regarding the time he told about the death of Mother Teresa and Diana but don't get into details of that.
More than a year and a half has passed since the deaths of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana. Yet, their lives remain clear in our memory. And for good reason, for there is much we can learn from them. For example, their deaths remind us how a person is remembered.
We can learn from them and experience the joy of giving. To do so, we need not be as heroic. There is no need to travel to some distant land or search out the less fortunate. All we need do is awaken, to become aware of those around us. Every encounter is an opportunity to give. Our siblings, spouse, children, friends, relatives, co-workers, boss, customers, and all those we meet will gratefully accept our gifts. The gifts I'm referring to are spiritual in nature and, therefore, do not have any costs.
Sometimes we forget how much we have to offer. For example, though tired of waiting in line at the bank, we can offer the stressed-out bank teller a warm smile and the gifts of patience and understanding. We have the power to uplift her spirit and make her day! At home or in the office, our words of encouragement can plant the seeds of confidence in the minds of our children and co-workers.
You say, your younger brother/sister has used your mobile and there is nothing you can do about it? Well, don't fret; there is something you can do. You can give her the gift of acceptance, unconditional love. You see, all through life we are told to conform to the standards of others, instead of being accepted for whom we are. It starts with mommy and daddy, then it's our teachers and peers, followed by our supervisors in our workplace. Even our boy and girlfriends (and later our spouses) get into the act! It seems as if everyone is telling us what to do and how to think. No wonder people hunger for a little acceptance. Speaking of hunger, it takes more than food banks to feed the hungry. It also takes spiritual gifts, such as acceptance.
There are many more gifts that we can give. For instance, the gift of interest .What do you imagine is the worst thing we can do to someone? It is not to hate them, but to be indifferent toward them, to display no interest.You can offer your seat while travelling in a public transport or in side a waiting room or bus stop & you will receive gratitude in the form of smile. If someone were to hate you, it may be because of envy. Hatred, then, is an expression of interest. Imagine what it would be like if no one had the slightest interest in you. That would hurt! Our gift of interest can help satisfy the craving for attention. Ironically, it is only after we express our interest in others that we can learn how interesting they are!
Still another gift is that of recognition. There are more people starving for recognition than there are starving for food. Why is praise so sought after? Because, like gold and diamonds, it is rare and hard find. Can you remember how many times you were frustrated because your achievements and efforts went unrecognized? We can stop frustrating others by bearing the gift of recognition. Since praise is free, let's offer it freely, but it has value only when it is sincere.
The greatest gift we have to offer is that of time, for time is the stuff life is made of. As our only nonrenewable resource, it is precious. What greater way of expressing love, than by devoting time to those we care about and those in need? Walt Whitman, the poet, expressed it this way, "Behold, I do not give lectures or a little charity. When I give, I give myself." When we give to our friends, we draw them closer. When we give to our enemies, we change them into friends.
The deaths of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana remind us of our own mortality. It's almost as if they were whispering, "The time to give is now." Or, as Marcus Aurelius wrote in the second century, "Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still yours."
Let's do it-who know KAL HO NA HO!
love&prayer
Arbind
Saturday, September 11, 2010
I wanted to write about 2 issues,which have lot of significance but we don't really understand.Both are different from each other.
I'm taking a course of YES+ and today is the second day of 3 days course.After the long kriya,the teacher who came from Kolkata said,"Just imagine,how the world would have been if every one in this world have this state of mind(Calm,peaceful)."This statement made me aware of today's date-September 11(9/11).The day which changed the course of this world and almost demolished two nations and affected many other nations.
Last time when I was visiting Bakul foundation,I clicked a photo and it is the photo which I published here.There was a dialogue in Vedam,a telugu film-"People fight in the name of religion because they don't understand each other's language.Some call Him Allah,Some call Him Jesus,and a few call Him vishnu etc.,"If each other understand other's language,there will be no problems and the common language among all is silence,but it can't be possible to be silent all the time so we should go for patience or say,tolerance but there is a limit to it even.So,what can be the solution?
Solution is Love.4 worded solution but it has lot of meaning.Love includes understanding,respect and every thing.Personally,I believe God is omni-present but I don't believe in "Idol-worship" but if some one asks me bend down before an idol,I immediately do it not for the sake of that idol but I respect the other persons belief who asked me to do so.I wish a muslim in his tradition paying complete respect to the words because I love(try to) the human being and I respect his belief too.
Can't we develop this trait,love.Why we fight on unnecessary after-death hell and heaven in turn turning the present earth into hell.I won't believe religion is greater than humanity and I trust,Love is equivalent to all forms of God.
I often hear people saying doing kriya or some yoga is spirituality.I have reservations with this.I have seen people who are extremely spiritual but they don't perform any of this acts.They always try to love everyone and I believe spirituality is a process of understanding and implementing love.
Second thing I want to write about is Creativity.I dont want to write much about this in this blog but definitely I'll write about this significant issue.For now,I want to publish a few photographs
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
India needs new politics
India is adrift. Worrisomely adrift. This is not because of any widespread social unrest or destabilising economic problems. Discontent in society there certainly is. Grievances due to the country’s unbalanced economic growth there certainly are and they are mounting. But the lack of direction is primarily due to the stagnant state of Indian politics. There is no soaring sense of purpose, fresh vitality and inspirational energy visible in any segment of the political spectrum, including in the two main national parties — Congress and BJP. Making matters worse for the country is their growing mutual antagonism, which is set to create a storm in the monsoon session of Parliament.
Discussing the state of regional parties is unnecessary in this context because, significant though they are in their respective states, they do not critically determine the health of national politics. Discussing the state of the two communist parties is also not pertinent here. Their national footprint and influence have both shrunk enormously, mainly due to the fossilisation of their ideology. Their future looks bleaker than the present. The socialist movement, once a persuasive voice and a powerful factor in Indian politics, has all but vanished. Can there be a sadder commentary on its disappearance than the near-total absence of a suitable commemoration, in 2010, of the birth centenary of its greatest leader, Dr Rammanohar Lohia? How effortlessly we have forgotten one of the most original political thinkers in independent India.
What is truly worrisome is the state of the two national parties. Outwardly all seems well with the Congress and the government it heads. UPA II is stable. Dr Manmohan Singh has become the third longest occupant of the office of Prime Minister. Not a small achievement. It is also a tribute to the quickly acquired political expertise of Sonia Gandhi. Her authority is unlikely to be challenged by anybody within her own party, something which was not true even in the case of Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. However, in spite of all these pluses, the calm in the Congress and its government is suggestive of stagnation, not the strength, self-confidence and sagacity needed to take the nation forward, rapidly and in the right direction.
Efforts of UPA II to normalise relations with Pakistan are leading nowhere, mainly because of India’s overdependence on American mediators. Pakistan’s shrewd rulers are trying to strike their own anti-India bargain with the US, stuck as the latter is with its needless and hopeless military occupation of Afghanistan. India’s gains in normalising the situation in the Kashmir valley, which were the outcome of the farsighted efforts of both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr Singh (in UPA I), have been largely frittered away by UPA II due to inattention. There is lack of consensus within the Congress and the government on how to deal with the menace of Maoism. And there is no big and enthusiasm-creating action to walk the government’s laudable talk on inclusive development. This cannot be done, as ample examples from history caution us, merely by launching yet another poverty alleviation programme by spending thousands of crores of rupees. What is needed is firm and sustained action against corruption, inefficiency, unaccountability and bureaucratic insensitivity, which are responsible for the abysmal failure of most government-funded anti-poverty schemes. Besides distorting India’s development, corruption is also poisoning the very lifeblood of India’s democratic institutions, including the judiciary. Sadly, there is no real and credible outrage over corruption in Political India. The BJP’s recent conduct in Karnataka and Jharkhand shows that it has no energy or intent left to retrieve what was once its biggest USP: its attempts at probity in public life.
There is a dichotomy today between India’s stagnant politics and vibrant society. The vibrancy and vitality are most visible in India’s young population — not only the rich but also the poor, not only in urban areas but also in villages. However, the political and governance establishment seems woefully unresponsive to their aspirations and ambitions. This is evident from the fact that no political party is articulating the agenda of thorough-going political and governance reforms, without which all talk of “inclusive development”, “social justice”, “education and health for all”, “zero tolerance towards terrorism and Maoism”, etc. are meaningless. The only party that is talking about political reforms, with specific ideas, is Lok Satta in Andhra Pradesh, led by Dr Jayaprakash Narayan. It is still small and struggling, but nevertheless a ray of hope.
India today needs not just new leadership, but new morality-based politics. This new politics will have to discard old habits of conduct and old ways of thinking, which have compelled even the good people in our parties to become prisoners of myopic and sectional considerations. It should muster the courage and understanding needed to fight corruption, and thereby reinvigorate all the institutions of democratic governance. It must eschew misuse of government agencies for partisan ends. It should also be committed to creating national consensus on all major national challenges, including the two inherited from history — disputes with Pakistan and China — which are sapping India’s energies and hindering its rise in Asia and the world.
Is new politics possible? Remember, stagnation is always an invitation to start new attempts.
Courtesy: Indian Express
Discussing the state of regional parties is unnecessary in this context because, significant though they are in their respective states, they do not critically determine the health of national politics. Discussing the state of the two communist parties is also not pertinent here. Their national footprint and influence have both shrunk enormously, mainly due to the fossilisation of their ideology. Their future looks bleaker than the present. The socialist movement, once a persuasive voice and a powerful factor in Indian politics, has all but vanished. Can there be a sadder commentary on its disappearance than the near-total absence of a suitable commemoration, in 2010, of the birth centenary of its greatest leader, Dr Rammanohar Lohia? How effortlessly we have forgotten one of the most original political thinkers in independent India.
What is truly worrisome is the state of the two national parties. Outwardly all seems well with the Congress and the government it heads. UPA II is stable. Dr Manmohan Singh has become the third longest occupant of the office of Prime Minister. Not a small achievement. It is also a tribute to the quickly acquired political expertise of Sonia Gandhi. Her authority is unlikely to be challenged by anybody within her own party, something which was not true even in the case of Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. However, in spite of all these pluses, the calm in the Congress and its government is suggestive of stagnation, not the strength, self-confidence and sagacity needed to take the nation forward, rapidly and in the right direction.
Efforts of UPA II to normalise relations with Pakistan are leading nowhere, mainly because of India’s overdependence on American mediators. Pakistan’s shrewd rulers are trying to strike their own anti-India bargain with the US, stuck as the latter is with its needless and hopeless military occupation of Afghanistan. India’s gains in normalising the situation in the Kashmir valley, which were the outcome of the farsighted efforts of both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr Singh (in UPA I), have been largely frittered away by UPA II due to inattention. There is lack of consensus within the Congress and the government on how to deal with the menace of Maoism. And there is no big and enthusiasm-creating action to walk the government’s laudable talk on inclusive development. This cannot be done, as ample examples from history caution us, merely by launching yet another poverty alleviation programme by spending thousands of crores of rupees. What is needed is firm and sustained action against corruption, inefficiency, unaccountability and bureaucratic insensitivity, which are responsible for the abysmal failure of most government-funded anti-poverty schemes. Besides distorting India’s development, corruption is also poisoning the very lifeblood of India’s democratic institutions, including the judiciary. Sadly, there is no real and credible outrage over corruption in Political India. The BJP’s recent conduct in Karnataka and Jharkhand shows that it has no energy or intent left to retrieve what was once its biggest USP: its attempts at probity in public life.
There is a dichotomy today between India’s stagnant politics and vibrant society. The vibrancy and vitality are most visible in India’s young population — not only the rich but also the poor, not only in urban areas but also in villages. However, the political and governance establishment seems woefully unresponsive to their aspirations and ambitions. This is evident from the fact that no political party is articulating the agenda of thorough-going political and governance reforms, without which all talk of “inclusive development”, “social justice”, “education and health for all”, “zero tolerance towards terrorism and Maoism”, etc. are meaningless. The only party that is talking about political reforms, with specific ideas, is Lok Satta in Andhra Pradesh, led by Dr Jayaprakash Narayan. It is still small and struggling, but nevertheless a ray of hope.
India today needs not just new leadership, but new morality-based politics. This new politics will have to discard old habits of conduct and old ways of thinking, which have compelled even the good people in our parties to become prisoners of myopic and sectional considerations. It should muster the courage and understanding needed to fight corruption, and thereby reinvigorate all the institutions of democratic governance. It must eschew misuse of government agencies for partisan ends. It should also be committed to creating national consensus on all major national challenges, including the two inherited from history — disputes with Pakistan and China — which are sapping India’s energies and hindering its rise in Asia and the world.
Is new politics possible? Remember, stagnation is always an invitation to start new attempts.
Courtesy: Indian Express
Thursday, August 5, 2010
FOURTH NATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK
LADENGE! JITENGE! WE WILL FIGHT! WE WILL WIN!!
3rd Announcement for the
FOURTH
NATIONAL CONVENTION
ON
THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK
6-8 AUGUST, 2010,
Venue: Meera Bhawan, Rourkela, Orissa
Dear friends,
The Steering group of the Right to Food Campaign1 invites you and your organization to the fourth National Convention on the Right to Food and Work, to be held in Orissa from 6-8 August 2010.
This convention, convened by the Right to Food Campaign, is extremely significant in the current context where the Government on the one hand is increasingly eroding people’s control over their livelihoods and resources while on the other, promising to enact a National Food Security Act that guarantees food security for all. With spiraling food prices and widespread drought experienced across the country last year, pushing people further into hunger and poverty, the principle of universality in food entitlements must be established in an urgent manner. The draft National Food Security Act proposed by the government, in fact falls far short of any such guarantee and even erodes entitlements that already exist.
The right to food for all can only be realised if water, land and forests are not diverted from food production and people's control over these resources is safeguarded. The Government has to be forced to make a commitment that nobody goes to sleep hungry. Further, with such high levels of malnutrition as in India, food security must be understood to mean “nutritional” security and not just access to cheap food grains.
It is in this backdrop that we want to discuss issues related to the question of people's right to food that are of concern to our campaign.
The Convention will be held over three days and will be a mix of plenary sessions and parallel workshops. The discussions on the first day will focus on issues related to determinants of food security and hunger. The second day will focus on the National Food Security Act, entitlements and government schemes. On the last day we have a plenary on addressing the issue of access to the Right to food in areas of Conflict including in areas where struggles against displacement are taking place. The Convention will end with a Rally and public meeting. Please find and attached the detailed programme.
Pre Conference Preparation: Please consider organising meetings, workshops and conventions at the district/state level on these issues in advance of the national convention. This would facilitate better involvement of local groups and grassroots organisations at the national convention. Participating organisations are also invited to bring their campaign material (e.g. reports, posters, exhibitions, etc.) for circulation or display at the Orissa convention.
Parallel Workshops and Stalls/Exhibitions: The organizing committee in Orissa is planning on having some exhibitions on issues such as children’s right to food, foods of the forest, sustainable agriculture and so on. In case you are interested in putting up a stall or exhibition, please let us know by the 26th of July, so that necessary arrangements can be made.
There is also a proposal to set up a stall with local foods from different areas, for instance the Karnataka campaign will display some “ragi” recipes. Please let us know if you would be able to contribute to this.
Below is a list of workshops that have been finalized until now. In case, you have any suggestions for other workshops and are willing to co-ordinate workshops on other issues, please let us know by the 26thof July. The programme committee will review all such suggestions and see if they can be included.
Venue: The venue is Meera Bhawan, opposite Rourkela Railway Station, Rourkela, Orissa. The place of stay for participants would be Amar Bhawan, which is 100 meters away from Rourkela Railway station. The meeting venue (Plenary meeting / Large meeting) which is Meera Bhawan which is around 50 meters away from railway station and same distance from Amar Bhawan.
Registration Fee: All participants would be expected to pay Rs. 50 per day making it a fee of Rs. 150 per participant for the conference registration. This would take care of lodging, boarding and the conference kit for the participants.
Donation: The campaign also welcomes any other donations that you can send will be most helpful. All participants are expected to make their own travel arrangements. Kindly book your tickets well in advance. And kindly intimate us about your participation as it will help us plan for the convention.
We request you to share news of this convention within your organization and with other interested organizations/
National Campaign Contacts: The Right to Food Campaign secretariat at 011-2649 9563. mobile: 9560923178 (Deepika) righttofood@gmail.com , check the campaign website (www.righttofoodindia.
Orissa Contact Persons:
Convenor of the Orissa Organising committee of Fourth National Convention: Mr. Prafulla Samantary "Prafulla Samantara" <psamantary@rediffmail.com>
Coordinator Working group of Organising Committee: Bidyut Mohanty bidyut.mohanty@gmail.com, Phone: +91-9437025326;
Rourkela Organiser: Mr. Abul Kalam Azad, Email: disharkl@yahoo.co.in, Phone: +91-9437049329.
URGENT: Please send confirmations of participation to righttofood@gmail.com, bidyut.mohanty@gmail.com and disharkl@yahoo.co.in
Looking forward to meeting all of you at Rourkela, Orissa!!!
In solidarity,
Steering group of the Right to Food Campaign
We are,
Annie Raja (National Federation for Indian Women), Anuradha Talwar (New Trade Union Initiative), Arun Gupta& Radha Holla (Breast Feeding Promotion Network of India), Arundhati Dhuru and Sandeep Pandey (National People’s Movement of India), Ashok Bharti (National Conference of Dalit Organizations), Anjali Bhardwaj, Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey (National Campaign for People’s Right to Information), Asha Mishra and Vinod Raina (Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti), Colin Gonsalves (Human Rights Law Network), Kavita Srivastava (People’s Union for Civil Liberties), Mira Shiva and Vandana Prasad (Jan Swasthya Abhiyan), Paul Diwakar (National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights), Subhash Bhatnagar (National Campaign Committee for Unorganized Sector workers), Jean Dreze (Former support group and Allahabad University), V.B.Rawat (Former support group and Social Development Foundation)
For more information, please contact
Kavita Srivastava (0141-2594131 or 09351562965),
Dipa Sinha (09650434777)
Deepika (9560923178)
Sejal Parikh (09560266167)
Mr. Abul Kalam Azad (9437049329)
Secretariat - Right to Food Campaign
C/o PHRN
5 A, Jungi House,
Shahpur Jat, New Delhi 110049.
India
Website: www.righttofoodindia.org
Email: righttofood@gmail.com
Phone - 91 -11 -2649 9563
FOURTH NATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK
LADENGE! JITENGE! WE WILL FIGHT! WE WILL WIN!!
3rd Announcement for the
FOURTH
NATIONAL CONVENTION
ON
THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK
6-8 AUGUST, 2010,
Venue: Meera Bhawan, Rourkela, Orissa
Dear friends,
The Steering group of the Right to Food Campaign1 invites you and your organization to the fourth National Convention on the Right to Food and Work, to be held in Orissa from 6-8 August 2010.
This convention, convened by the Right to Food Campaign, is extremely significant in the current context where the Government on the one hand is increasingly eroding people’s control over their livelihoods and resources while on the other, promising to enact a National Food Security Act that guarantees food security for all. With spiraling food prices and widespread drought experienced across the country last year, pushing people further into hunger and poverty, the principle of universality in food entitlements must be established in an urgent manner. The draft National Food Security Act proposed by the government, in fact falls far short of any such guarantee and even erodes entitlements that already exist.
The right to food for all can only be realised if water, land and forests are not diverted from food production and people's control over these resources is safeguarded. The Government has to be forced to make a commitment that nobody goes to sleep hungry. Further, with such high levels of malnutrition as in India, food security must be understood to mean “nutritional” security and not just access to cheap food grains.
It is in this backdrop that we want to discuss issues related to the question of people's right to food that are of concern to our campaign.
The Convention will be held over three days and will be a mix of plenary sessions and parallel workshops. The discussions on the first day will focus on issues related to determinants of food security and hunger. The second day will focus on the National Food Security Act, entitlements and government schemes. On the last day we have a plenary on addressing the issue of access to the Right to food in areas of Conflict including in areas where struggles against displacement are taking place. The Convention will end with a Rally and public meeting. Please find and attached the detailed programme.
Pre Conference Preparation: Please consider organising meetings, workshops and conventions at the district/state level on these issues in advance of the national convention. This would facilitate better involvement of local groups and grassroots organisations at the national convention. Participating organisations are also invited to bring their campaign material (e.g. reports, posters, exhibitions, etc.) for circulation or display at the Orissa convention.
Parallel Workshops and Stalls/Exhibitions: The organizing committee in Orissa is planning on having some exhibitions on issues such as children’s right to food, foods of the forest, sustainable agriculture and so on. In case you are interested in putting up a stall or exhibition, please let us know by the 26th of July, so that necessary arrangements can be made.
There is also a proposal to set up a stall with local foods from different areas, for instance the Karnataka campaign will display some “ragi” recipes. Please let us know if you would be able to contribute to this.
Below is a list of workshops that have been finalized until now. In case, you have any suggestions for other workshops and are willing to co-ordinate workshops on other issues, please let us know by the 26thof July. The programme committee will review all such suggestions and see if they can be included.
Venue: The venue is Meera Bhawan, opposite Rourkela Railway Station, Rourkela, Orissa. The place of stay for participants would be Amar Bhawan, which is 100 meters away from Rourkela Railway station. The meeting venue (Plenary meeting / Large meeting) which is Meera Bhawan which is around 50 meters away from railway station and same distance from Amar Bhawan.
Registration Fee: All participants would be expected to pay Rs. 50 per day making it a fee of Rs. 150 per participant for the conference registration. This would take care of lodging, boarding and the conference kit for the participants.
Donation: The campaign also welcomes any other donations that you can send will be most helpful. All participants are expected to make their own travel arrangements. Kindly book your tickets well in advance. And kindly intimate us about your participation as it will help us plan for the convention.
We request you to share news of this convention within your organization and with other interested organizations/
National Campaign Contacts: The Right to Food Campaign secretariat at 011-2649 9563. mobile: 9560923178 (Deepika) righttofood@gmail.com , check the campaign website (www.righttofoodindia.
Orissa Contact Persons:
Convenor of the Orissa Organising committee of Fourth National Convention: Mr. Prafulla Samantary "Prafulla Samantara" <psamantary@rediffmail.com>
Coordinator Working group of Organising Committee: Bidyut Mohanty bidyut.mohanty@gmail.com, Phone: +91-9437025326;
Rourkela Organiser: Mr. Abul Kalam Azad, Email: disharkl@yahoo.co.in, Phone: +91-9437049329.
URGENT: Please send confirmations of participation to righttofood@gmail.com, bidyut.mohanty@gmail.com and disharkl@yahoo.co.in
Looking forward to meeting all of you at Rourkela, Orissa!!!
In solidarity,
Steering group of the Right to Food Campaign
We are,
Annie Raja (National Federation for Indian Women), Anuradha Talwar (New Trade Union Initiative), Arun Gupta& Radha Holla (Breast Feeding Promotion Network of India), Arundhati Dhuru and Sandeep Pandey (National People’s Movement of India), Ashok Bharti (National Conference of Dalit Organizations), Anjali Bhardwaj, Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey (National Campaign for People’s Right to Information), Asha Mishra and Vinod Raina (Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti), Colin Gonsalves (Human Rights Law Network), Kavita Srivastava (People’s Union for Civil Liberties), Mira Shiva and Vandana Prasad (Jan Swasthya Abhiyan), Paul Diwakar (National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights), Subhash Bhatnagar (National Campaign Committee for Unorganized Sector workers), Jean Dreze (Former support group and Allahabad University), V.B.Rawat (Former support group and Social Development Foundation)
For more information, please contact
Kavita Srivastava (0141-2594131 or 09351562965),
Dipa Sinha (09650434777)
Deepika (9560923178)
Sejal Parikh (09560266167)
Mr. Abul Kalam Azad (9437049329)
Secretariat - Right to Food Campaign
C/o PHRN
5 A, Jungi House,
Shahpur Jat, New Delhi 110049.
India
Website: www.righttofoodindia.org
Email: righttofood@gmail.com
Phone - 91 -11 -2649 9563
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Nationalism vs Regionalism.
Note:-Every opinion in this post is purely personal and no statement was written intentionally and I'm sorry if my words hurt anyone.You need not to consider anything as I'm not an intellectual and I'm only a jejune. I apologize for all the grammatical mistakes and every point here(besides from opinions) has source and I can provide that source.
In India, an average district is bigger than 85 nations in the world(in terms of population).Uttar Pradesh would have been the 5 th largest nation in the world if it had to be a nation
Today I got a learning opportunity to hear some veterans and hear them debating on "With out a strong regional identity there can be no strong national identity" I really admire Telegraph's idea of organizing a debate as I completely believe that discussion and debate are very important in successful functioning of democracy.Its a pleasant experience to hear speakers who respect other's view, even though, its a sensible topic.
Its a topic where lot of homework is needed and I admire Jatindar Nayak, who had made a few quick points like,"Arbitrary administrative division is not acceptable so language is taken as a marker to divide states." Its very key point because there is no problem in creating new states or keeping the states intact.Formation of new states is neither cataclysmic nor it can be a panacea but it should be addressed constitutionally and genuine markers should be identified.We can't take development as a marker as it is rampant in India and language can't be marker any more as almost every major language(Leaving Hindi) have a separate state now.The problem of identifying markers should be addressed constitutionally.The most important point he made is about "Vacuum being created" (This vacuum is occupied by violence(naxals etc,) ) because of over-centralization of power.If I am not wrong, this point was put-forth by Dr.Jaya prakash Narayan(Former national advisory council member,present MLA of Andhra Pradesh,ex-IAS officer) in some meeting before 5/6 months and many of Jatindar ji's ideas seem to be taken from Dr.J.P's paper.
Another interesting speech was given by Swapan Das Gupta and the most interesting point he made is that national identity and state identity are negotiable and his example of person aged 100 years ,who was born in India and presently living in Bangladesh has three identities of being an Indian,Pakistani and Bangladeshi.But he missed out everything in democracy is negotiable and we should turn all negotiations into win-win outcomes.
I couldn't understand Sitakant Mohapatra, who made points regarding Partition of Bangladesh and the failure of Soviet union.He was unable to make any peculiar,genuine points. when we observe the history of US, and its way of forming states and all that,we can't really appreciate his view.A benefit of doubt is there that may be I was unable to understand him or he is not understandable.
Dr.Nivedita Mohanty,the first speaker of the evening who made a few points regarding Odisha's history and most contradictory statement," Odisha would have gone the way of A.P if our forming fathers didn't take measures." I dont think A.P is different from Odisha or Odisha has advantage over A.P. I am not an A.P chauvinist and what matters more for me is this nation's development as a whole and some times I feel,I love Odisha more than my birth-state but her idea and her point shocked me .Whether she made her home work rightly? Her track record and bio-data was quite impressive and no one expects such an infectious statement form a person of her stature.Madam, can you tell me the specific details which made you to speak this line. Don't see it as an A.P problem as Telangana issue is on board presently.Unfulfilled potential nurtures differences and it will lead to different type of problems and almost every state in India is in this pathetic condition including Odisha and you feel Odisha has the advantage because of its forming pattern,I have no say but let me tell you with the policies like Rs.3/ Kg.rice and other dirty policies,Odisha and Andhra are in the way of bank-ruptacy.(I dont know much about Odisha budget patterns but out of common sense and as I'm observing A.P budget patterns I can say this that these are not goo policies).
I have problems with K.B.Singhji's opening statement that Odisha is rich in H.R( For God's sake can you tell me about the source of this information or is this a comparison with other poor states).Another statement,"Even though 100 constitutional amendments were done we never touched the basic structure of constitution" .He said it as our achievement or our positive point but I feel its wrong and not touching it is a mistake and I dont completely agree with not touching the basic structure.What about 73 and 74 amendments( a way to district governments) and what about 100 presidential rules in the last 48 years.Isn't it a failure of our federalism. He qouted subash chandra bose "A government which can't be strong can't deliver effectively and K.B singh said,"Strong hand can come from central hand only".Subash Chandra Bose who was the muncipal commisioner of Calcutta appointed by Chitranjan Das would have never said this statement in K.B.Singh's context because S.C.Bose created history by being a municipal commisioner when he was in the jail too(until he was shifted to Aligarh jail) and how could he make this statement? Subash Bose was a supporter of local self-governements.K.B.Singh ji's admiration of Vallabhai is really required but I have problem with his other statements.
S.R.Pattanaik is good.He is only one who quoted about technology and the need of congruence between centre and states and he pointed out the government's failure because of political interventions. and he is the one who stressed on individual identity and crisis and his pointing about congruence is an important one.
A few questions were unanswered or neither touched like,"How to tackle the problems like sharing natural resources like water between the states?What can be the pragmatic approach to handle issues like kosala and Telangana?"
"How to handle the over-centralization of power ? Don't they think that the power should be decentralized as it is erratic now?Especially in the last 60 years ,never an issue from Union/concurrent list has been shifted to state list? whats the reason?
Nothing about article2,article3,article 254,article 356 was touched and I think its essential as a constitutional and political glimpse is essential as it is not a philosophical issue.
Over all,I rate this debate as average one( even though I enjoyed the evening) and the topic is really an issue which is going to govern this nation's future in the coming 20/30 years.Its good that a process of dialogue and debate has been started and personally I believe its time to shift to the third tier of federalism that is district governments and I really appreciate this idea put-forth by Dr.Jayaprakash Narayan,who is my child-hood hero. As Malcolm Gladwell says in 'Tipping point' that every thing starts at a moment but it takes time to reach tipping point and I'm waiting for that tipping point as we can address every problem constitutionally and can fulfill our potential.In this process,we should not forget that education and politics have no substitute.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Education Education Education
Today,I wake up to an article which provided the statistics mostly of Andhra pradesh state.Of course,I don't think that other states except Tamil Nadu,Kerala ,Pondicherry are different from this and I'll be surprised if they are really different .All we have now is thesurveys conducted by central government and HRD ministry.I stopped believing Government Surveys and Government methods from the time I accompanied my mother in a program of 'Akshar Sankranthi'(evening school for adults), an initiative by Andhra pradesh Government to curb illiteracy.Teachers used to teach drunkards and all they teach about is signature as we consider that a person,who knows signing is a literate and we take it as a benchmark and believe me, its horrible.Functional literacy in India has never crossed 35%(Our Census says literacy percentage is 64%)
Earlier I posted about these conditions but I was not clear enough to make certain firm conclusions.Now I try to make them.Education should not come very cheaply.I don't mean that education should be in reach of only middle class and rich as it is in India in now.It should be universalized but at the same point,it should not be deprived of quality.The study says,"As many as 5774 primary schools in Andhra Pradesh do not have even a single teacher and there are as many as 3193 schools with less than ten students in each. " The more shocking is that as many as 399 schools with not a single teacher have more than 100 students each and 1562 schools have less than five students each.
By now,you would have understood where the things really went wrong? In Andhra Pradesh, as of now there are 56963 schools with 27 lakh students on rolls and 111000 teachers and whats the use of this many schools? Provide public transport facilities to the students at free of cost and make them come to schools.Especially,Andhra Pradesh can do this as it has good Public transport system.In other states, we have to search for alternatives but still its possible.As per the study and my idea, there is only requirement of 20000-250000 schools in Andhra Pradesh and we need to keep teacher-pupil ratio 5:100 .Its important to provide quality education.As I remember,Rajiv mission reports are most stunning.Even a 7 class student in Andhra Pradesh is unable to solve basic Mathematics that is addition and subtraction not even division and multiplication and where we are heading? God knows.China,being an autocratic nation providing universal education to all.Even they are recruiting Indian teachers to teach English for their children and we wish to become an economic power but we have no will.Its reality.
Andhra Pradesh State could spend only Rs.400 crore of the Rs.1100 crore earmarked for Sarva Siksha Abhiyan last year as it could not contribute its share for the Centrally-sponsored scheme. The State will in all probability utilize only Rs.600 crore of the Rs.1800 crore available under the Sarva Siksha and Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyans this year. This is a main concern because Andhra Pradesh is a capable(I believe every state in India has its role to play but AP has flowing funds and possible economy)as its Budget is above 1 lakh crores and if a State like it can't act with strategy particularly on education,how can other states be?
I wonder and it will be a pleasant surprise if any one can prove me that conditions are different in other states of India as I know that Delhi is no different from other parts even though it is the capital.
Believe me,we can change this as every one must be knowing of Scandinavian and Vietnam revolutions and everything is available in this nation except teachers, who love teaching.I'm not a pessimist and I have a valid point to make this allegation as Governments made teachers as clerks and I dont know what's the fun in forcing the teachers to make clerical jobs.Clerks come at a cheaper rate and already we have nurtured enough unemployment in this nation to make them more cheaper(Many people have an illusion that we are able to provide employment to all and its irrational and invalid)
No more allegations and coming to the point,Private-Government bonding should be encouraged.NGO's should be encouraged and Education body should be made an independent,autonomous,constitutional body.Read it again! Its possible ."Common schooling" was proposed by Kothari commission in 1960's and now,its time to propose "Quality schooling" ideas.No need to increase number of schools but there is a need to improve quality of schools.No one in the world has discovered a substitute for Politics and Education and statistics speak of our horrible condition in both the issues.If we can't act in the coming 10 years,there will be no chance to act as we are in highly competitive world and we will be lagging behind for ever.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Bharat Bandh in Bhubaneswar
Courtesy:-
The facts and ideas in this post are collected from several political party websites and also from newspapers.I thank them and my friends, who helped me in capturing the photos.
Today, Opposition parties announced Bharat Bandh, and it is supported by almost entire opposition parties of country. The call for Bharat Bandh is in protest against price rise of all the petroleum products –
- Petrol – 3.73 Rupees per liter
- Diesel – 2.00 Rupees per liter
- Kerosene – 3.00 Rupees per liter
- L.P.G. – 35 Rupees per Cylinder
Infact as per government words, it cannot afford subsidies on petroleum products, thus it has deregulate price control on Petrol; on diesel right now government is still bearing 1.39 paisa subsidy, which will gradually ends; on kerosene government is still giving sixty percent subsidy and on L.P.G. government is passing 225 Rupees subsidies on every cylinder. As per words of Prime Minister subsidies on Kerosene and L.P.G. will be continue.
Another side;-
There is a need to subsidize diesel consumption by public road transport systems and the Railways.
Its known that public road transport systems consumed about 500 crore liters and the Railways about 250 crore liters of diesel a year. If the Government extended a subsidy of say Rs.10 per liter consumed by these two major transport systems, the burden on the exchequer would not exceed Rs.7500 crore, hardly 10 percent of the Rs, 74000 crore subsidy the Government is extending as of now.
Government subsidy policy has been ad hoc, arbitrary and irrational, Government should provide fixed subsidy on both kerosene and LPG. The Government could bring down kerosene consumption and the subsidy burden on it by supplying solar paneled LED lamps to the poor. It could promote mass transport by buses with excise duty relief.
The Government should promote public transport by extending diesel subsidy and by undertaking capital works in urban areas. Such a policy will minimize the burden on the common person and contribute to economic growth. The Government should realize that people go in for their own vehicles because the public transport system in India is in a shambles.
A few leaders(very few) are taking the above ideas to the prime minister and Finance minister where others are being involved in worst traditional politics which yields no betterment.
To raise objection, in a democracy, everybody have right but by force to make others part of your objection is not a democratic move, moreover when anybody don’t want to become part of it as they will have to bear the financial lose, plus by no mean bandh will solve the purpose except political parties, which will gain media headlines and bandh call for support of common people will ironically grind common people and private businessmen as both will lose their one day revenue.
In today’s time, opposition parties to protest against government policies or scheme in old style by call of bandh is destructive as far business is concern and economy is concern, rather they should debate on a platform with government concerned minister defend their objection and make them speechless plus pass on their suggestion, so that it is implemented instead roaming in street making noises and closing down private business forcibly.Now the most worst view of our traditional politics,which has short term objectives to show dominance and strengthening its vote-bank politics.Here I am publishing a few photos,we have captured in Bhubaneswar which depicts the callousness of worst traditional politics
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