INCREDIBLE INDIA !

INCREDIBLE   INDIA  !

 Dr. T. Rama Prasad

               "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex,

                and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of

                courage to move in the opposite direction."

                                                 -- E. F. SCHUMACHER

At the outset, let me make it clear that this piece of 'scribbling' is more for amusement than to indict our systems and society.  The factual input may be thought-provoking.   

We need to be proud of our motherland, India, a humongous country with very rich cultural, aesthetic and ethical values and heritage; with multiple religions,  more than a dozen major languages and numerous ethnic groups.  In a country that takes pride in its art and culture, we have become adept at ignoring its heritage. We have inherited a glorious past, with awesome achievements in the past - recent and remote.  We should be proud of our record from ancient times to the present –  ‘Vymanika Sastra’ to Indian Space Research Organisation; ‘Pushpaka vimanam’ to ‘Mangalyaan’;  Aaryabhattaato Srinivasa Ramanujam to Jagadish Chandra Bose to Vikram Sarabhai to C.V. Raman to Sundar Pichai; ‘elephant head transplantation’ to ‘pig heart & lungs transplantation’(claimed to be done by Dr. Dhaniram Baruah – 1998 – India); Vasudev’s impregnation of Devaki by ‘mantras’ to the world’s second ‘test-tube baby’ (claimed to be created by Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay – 1978 – India) --  some fictitious and some real achievements.  Several sages are hailed for their ‘contribution to science’  --  from developing ‘nuclear technology to discovering rockets and aeroplanes’ and being the ‘father of cosmetic surgery’.  It is quite another matter that we tend to unduly eulogise and glorify our past, even by creating false evidence ( http://www.thehindu.com/sunday-anchor/sunday-^anchor-grounded-^before-takeoff/article6775677.ece ). And, such pontifications make us a laughing stock.  One recent (2018) example is the utterance by the Tripura Chief Minister that the InternetYes, it is “INCREDIBLE  INDIA.”

EUPHEMISM ?

But, how had been the things going on after gaining independence ?  We made spectacular advancements in certain fields.  We had, and we still have very honest and patriotic politicians and officials.  They did, and are doing great service to the nation.  We should be grateful to them.  But that is not the entire picture.  We have not covered ourselves with glory all the way. There are black sheep as elsewhere in the world. We have shameful happenings too. Abysmal also. They dangle utopian chimeras in front of us.  ‘Incredible India’.  It is yet another in the never-ending litany of qualifications. Some of the negative things are focussed below.  And some of our patriotic Indians consider criticism of happenings in our country and its systems as blasphemous.  If it causes displeasure and wounds self-esteem, so be it.  Self-criticism is good for progress. Good governance should not just be an aspiration but an imperative for India.  India is still a democracy where debates are allowed to fly fast and furious.  Terms like nationalism, patriotism and jingoism are used according to convenience.  Should we call the order of the Supreme Court to play national anthem before a movie is screened in cinema theatres a symbol of judicial jingoism ? A judicial diktat ?

Some may be patriotic nihilists.  But no amount of spin and gloss can hide the bitter truth. There are black sheep in all the fields,  but when things go beyond a limit the credibility of everyone is in doubt.  Everyone is a suspect.  There is a credibility crisis.

BITTER  REALITIES

Ask anyone of his/her opinion about how things go on in India, in general;  about the functioning of our public and private systems, public sector undertakings, government health sector, public institutions, sordid slugfest between political parties, etc.  One is dismayed at the happenings, as they are not related to one incident or a rare lapse, but a repeatedly displayed propensity.  Not just an aberration.  Also in strictly accountable banking sector ... Multiple agencies are probing the alleged Rs.13,000 crore fraud at the State-run Punjab National Bank (2018).  Even the sports field is not sacrosanct – IPL spot-fixing scandal is an example.  Finally (July, 2015), the long arm of the law (landmark ruling of the Justice Lodha C ion) caught up with the culprits and slapped a life ban from being involved with the BCCI in any type of cricket matches, and also suspended the owners of the ‘Chennai Super Kings team’ and the ‘Rajasthan Royals team’ for two years. The Supreme Court removed the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) director from a scam case stating that the allegations levelled against him seemed to be “prima facie credible.”  An editorial in a leading newspaper termed this as an unprecedented indictment and commented that the CBI chief contributed a substantial share to the erosion of the CBI’s credibility ( http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/cbi-ranjit-sinha-unprecedented-indictment/article6622339.ece ).  And read the comment of the Editor-in-Chief of the British Medical Journal quoted under the heading “MODERN MEDICINE– the Good, the Bad and the Ugly” on this ‘home page’ (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/stoi/all-that-matters/Stop-corruption-or-other-nations-could-turn-away-Indian-doctors-Fiona-Godlee/articleshow/44372779.cms ). Why is there so much of a credibility    gap ?  

CORRUPTION

Corruption, which is jocularly said to be the DNA of our population, has percolated into all the fields -- administration, politics, education, science, arts, sports, and even medicine, army,  judiciary and religion – which stripped India of credibility.  No establishment seems to be sacrosanct. This appears to be a society that is just not intolerant but also one where impunity reigns supreme.  People think that they can get away with any crime, major or minor.  And often they do.  There are umpteen examples – small and big. Almost all seem to be tolerant of venality and even promoting corruption all around. And an offshoot of corruption is lack of frugality everywhere --  public enterprises, private sectors or homes either. It looks that we have institutionalised fiscal profligacy.  It is commonplace that we accuse each other over corrupt practices and conduct dharnaswhich just melt away in a blink. The vociferous speeches are laced with demagoguery and cheap chicanery.  Such imbroglio gives only a psychological zilch.  Government’s efforts to bring the culprits to book have often got stuck in legal quagmires.  For more on this, read under the heading “A WORLD OF CORRUPTION” on this blog.

PRAGMATIC APPROACH ?

The following news report (October 25, 2015 -- (http://www.newindianexpress.com/…/…/10/25/article3096166.ece ) is very revealing:

“ .. ANANTAPUR: Tadiparti’s TDP MLA created a flutter on Saturday when he said that he would not mind accepting bribes. He, however, immediately clarified his statement explaining that he would use the bribe amount for the development of his constituency.

“Everybody takes bribes for their selfish needs and I too will take commissions from contractors. However, I will use them for the development of my constituency,” he said, speaking to media persons here on Saturday. His justification for his decision to accept bribes was that “the government had no money for development works.”

“Several contractors approach me offering money “percentage”, but so far I have refused to accept them. Now, I will start taking commissions for use in development of Tadipatri,” he said.

He elaborated that the bribe amount should be white, in the sense that it should be in the form of DDs. “I will maintain a record of how I have spent the money,” dispelling doubts that he will use the entire money he takes as commission from contractors for development works in his constituency. .. “

This short report tells the world what volumes cannot about the deep-rooted evil.

And bribe seems to be equated to donation !

CATCH  MOSQUITOES

While the arrest of a Chief Engineer for allegedly  amassing  unaccountable property worth Rs. 1,000 crore which beat hollow the previous record of Rs. 350 crore by an IAS couple is just the tip of an iceberg (TNIE, Feb 6, 2016 - http://www.newindianexpress.com/editorials/Noida-Engineer-Tip-of-Corruption-Iceberg/2016/02/06/article3262875.ece), on a tip-off, officials caught red-handed a poor fishmonger who made a snake meat gravy for his supper at his hut and fined, under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972,  Rs. 2,000 which he can never earn to pay (TNIE, Feb 9, 2016 ).  The ‘big engineer’ was not caught for ten years while the ‘small fish vendor’ was caught and punished within ten minutes.  A job may be lost by catching an elephant but crushing a mosquito may be rewarding.  And, elephants often escape while mosquitoes always succumb.  Moral: ‘LEAVE  THE  ELEPHANTS;  CATCH  THE  MOSQUITOES’ !

And there was the news in The Hindu (May 28, 2013) that a ‘snake charmer’ who used three snakes caught by him in residential areas for his livelihood was arrested.  He may get a sentence between 3 and 7 years with a fine of Rs. 10,000 under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 for possessing the snakes.  We often see reports of action taken against petty violations like taking a ‘bribe’ of Rs. 50 or so.  Phew !  we are adept in catching mosquitoes while leaving elephants like the Chief Engineer !

CORRUPTION  ACKNOWLEDGED

          The public outcry has become so vociferous that the President of the ruling party, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi said: “Our citizens seemed to be fed up with the levels of corruption they see in public life at high levels, but equally with the corruption they have to deal with in their daily lives,”  at the Congress’ Chintan Shivir in Jaipur (TNIE, Jan.19, 2013). This is an unusual open acknowledgment of the sordid state of affairs and a serious admission that the problem is way out of hand.  But this topic may not be the poll plank at the ensuing General Elections in 2014 for obvious reasons !

The Supreme Court’s landmark judgment on October 31, 2013 directing the central and state governments to free the bureaucracy from political stranglehold is indicative of the magnitude of corrupt practices in the system.

In another judgment (December 5, 2013), the Supreme Court lamented that it was because of businessmen heading sports bodies for hockey that India could not even qualify for the next Olympics. It observed: “Sports officials are only interested in visiting foreign countries and not in promoting the game.”  This observation seems to be relevant to other fields also – academic, administrative, political, cultural, social and so on – where it is a commonplace to put personal interests before the main purpose.

Following a Supreme Court directive, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a corruption case against its former Director (2017).  And, a CBI officer who was an awardee of President’s Police Medal in 2016 is now booked on charges of bribery (2017).

“As corruption eats into crores, Army ends free ration,” is the headline of a news report (TNIE, 10.07.2017) which details about the action taken by the 7^th Pay Commission to curb corrupt practices in the Army.  We used to think that Army would be the last to be vulnerable to corruption. 

We seem to have become tolerant of venality all around.  Reading about such happenings may shake one out of his pride, complacency, stupor and indolence.

As former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher put it pithily, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”  

CORRUPTIONLESS  CULTURE

The monster of corruption is so deep rooted and well entrenched that political will or legislative compulsion alone can’t wipe it out. One can be sure that it is on the way out, when our first standard kids do not throw even a toffee wrapper on the roads, and our tenth standard students find fault with their parents for giving or taking bribes. It will be the culture and civic sense that would contain corruption, not the legislation and punishment.  Until then, we may have to live with it.  It would be a long way to go.

FOSSILISED  DEMOCRACY

Credibility is the most valuable asset for an individual, for a profession, for a business, for an organisation, for a political party, for a government or for a country.   Read the following news report and determine the level of credibility of our ‘netas’ who govern the country. “Thirteen of the 82 Members of Indian Parliament who were allotted lethal and prohibited ‘bore weapons’ (guns) have themselves declared serious pending criminal cases, including charges of murder, attempt to murder, and kidnapping” (The Hindu, Aug. 2, 2012).  And there are 162 MPs with criminal and corruption charges against them (The Hindu, Aug. 3, 2012).  Most of them may remain as venerated leaders, as ‘the law will take its own course (time)’ !  

           

Conducting a "class" for MLAs in a holiday resort (The Hindu)

It is reported that 44 MLAs from Gujarat  have been reported to be herded into a holiday resort near Bangalore to isolate and insulate them from defections and to protect them from political poaching by the opposition.  Power and principles make strange bedfellows in the Indian politics.  Show them a carrot of power and money and Presto! -- the political colour changes, but the tag line "I am here to serve the people and save the country" remains.  Natch !  Subsequent news was that the MLAs were being tutored by an expert from the Jawaharlal Nehru Leadership Institute on the past achievements of their party, on how false are the claims of the opposition party's achievements, and on how to answer the public about their mass disappearance from their State.  Further news added that Income Tax officials made a search at this resort of a room of a Bengaluru minister of the same party who stayed there at the same time which lead to a political slugfest.  (The Hindu, Aug 2 & 3, 2017).

One MLA assaulted a toll gate manager for not providng a separate VIP lane for his car.  One MP kicked and assaulted two doctors and a worker of a hospital for not attending to his mother on a priority basis (Jan 2017).   Another MP slapped and assaulted an Air India Station Manager for not issuing boarding passes when they came late (2015).   And one former MP slapped a bank manager for not giving satisfactory answers (2009).   News hit the headlines when one MP hit an Air India official with his slipper for not providing a ‘business class’ seat in an aircraft which has no ‘business class’ seats in it (all-economy seats aircraft),  and he boasted that he hit the official 25 times ! (2017).   Incredible ?

“It looks as though our democracy is fossilised as a fetish of rights, elections and governance.  The need of the hour is democratisation of democracy.”  The fact that the Election Commission had to clamp Section 144 of the CrPC in an attempt to prevent cash distribution to bribe voters and to maintain law and order in general election in April 2014 is revealing of the status of our democracy.

            It is reported (TNIE, 6 Nov 2014) that an official in the School Education Department had sold away unofficially and clandestinely brand new Samachar Kalvi textbooks from a school as scrap for Rs.4 lakh !  It is revealed that 3.5 lakh kilograms of new school textbooks mysteriously disappeared from school stores and that at least 65,000 kilograms of the books were sold to a waste paper merchant as scrap in 2011 – 12.

LAUGHING  STOCK

          The Planning Commission,  on September 2, 2011,  in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, declared that any one earning more than Rs.25/- per day in rural areas and  Rs.36/-  in urban areas is above the poverty line and would be able to spend for food, education, health, housing, clothing, etc. (The Hindu, Sept. 23, 2011)  and hence is ineligible for the sops given to those below the poverty line (BPL)!  What a whiff of fresh air !

Sudden fall in rupee value ! Today’s price (2012):  Onion Rs.80 a kg; Beans Rs.70 a kg; Tomato Rs.50 a kg; ‘Dosa’ Rs.70 a piece; Coffee Rs.40 a cup; and so on.  So, now let us show the data of the Planning Commission and buy one kilogram of vegetables or fruits for one rupee --  carrot to cauliflower;  banana to beetroot;  mango to melon and what not! So cheap it comes.  

AMUSING   STATISTICS

We may have to bury the rap lyric – men lie,  women lie,  but numbers don’t.

           Or is it a Rip Van Winkle phenomenon -- sleeping with data collected 20 years ago !  By submission of this funny assessment to the Supreme Court, callousness is made criminal by the regime which has allowed food price inflation to spiral by 97 per cent.  Utsa Patnaik, Professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, wrote that “The Planning Commission’s laughable estimates of the ‘poverty line’ follow from a mistake in method that it made 30 years ago and has clung to ever since” (The Hindu, Sept. 30, 2011 --  http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/how-little-can-a-person-live-on/article2497773.ece ).   

                         As though to make India smile more and make other countries laugh more at India,  the Planning Commission, six months after the above announcement, further “reduced” the poverty line to Rs.28.65 per capita daily consumption in cities and Rs.22.42 in rural areas (TNIE, Mar. 20, 2012) !  Opposition parties joined hands in the Lok Sabha to slam the government on this revised definition of poverty line.  One of them said: “Shoot the poor ... give them poison ... if you want to end poverty like this” (TNIE,Mar.22, 2012).

HUMOUR  &  LAUGHTER

         The news and the statistics cited above indicate that our bureaucrats are not all wooden with red tape in the file-strewn corridors of power.  They also provide sparks of humour and sparkle of wit.  Let us thank the government for the above laughable matters which remind us that they too have a funny bone.  After all, the government is interested in the health of the citizen !  They know that laughter is the best health promoter. 

                 We provide a different type of humour.  That crores of rupees from the tax-payers’ money is guzzled up for getting long-winded reports in high-flown language from plenipotentiaries and bloated bureaucracies of the innumerable committees  and commissions constituted by the government is a different story – tomfoolery that goes on backstage and a boondoggle at its best.  We speak of social schemes  in a manner similar to how quacks at roadside Himalayan dawakhanas speak of their herbs to cure venereal diseases !  As King Canute would say, government expenditure is like waves in the ocean which can’t be pushed back.       

BABIES  FOR  SALE

A five-weeks-old healthy girl child costs Rs.50,000/-. No, it is not a joke. The half page wide headline of The New Indian Expressnewspaper of 30 July  2012 reads: “FOR  SALE:  INFANT.  PRICE:  Rs. 50K”.  The investigative news report is about the availability of a child by name Priyadarshini.  And now we have brokers, not only for kidneys, livers and surrogate mothers but also for new born babies !

732 – YEAR - OLD – INDIAN !

According to an official reply to an RTI  (‘Right To Information’) query a 732 - year - old  Pushpa  Sahu became the beneficiary of a cycle under a State welfare scheme for women (Chattisgarh, India) in 2013.  As per the Chattisgarh Labour Department, 6,231 beneficiaries of the sewing machine scheme and 1,368 beneficiaries of the cycle scheme were aged above 100 years, including the 532 – year - old Usha Jamgade  ( http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/732yearold-gets-cycle-under-welfare-scheme/article6278743.ece ).  Incredible India !

OFFICIALLY  DEAD !

     

               Saraswathy, a live and active resident of Kinathukadavu, received an official letter from revenue officials in April 2017 informing that her name had been struck off the voters’ list due to her death !  She was worried as this “official death” may make her ineligible to draw future pension amounts ! (TNIE, 17.04.2017)

UNOFFICIAL   SERVICE

            People say they were getting good veterinary care for their animals at a government veterinary hospital.  Officials say it is impossible as that hospital was locked due to unavailability of doctors.    How was that possible ?  A person was treating  animals for three months at that hospital to the satisfaction of the villagers, unofficially without the knowledge of the officials !  He is a Zoology graduate with  experience as an assistant to a veterinarian for six months.  Incredible service !!!     (TNIE, 02.08.2017)  Decades ago,  some 'compounders' (assistants to 'human doctors') used to perform surgery on human beings !

            HILLOCK  VANISHED !

               Vanishing trick ?  Magic ? Strange things happen in our country. There is a strange allegation that a hillock right behind the camp-office of the Theni District Collector has disappeared all of a sudden.  Responding to a PIL, High Court directed the Collector to file a reply on the fate of the hillock within a month.  It is said that the hillock was of the size of about 300 feet high over an area of 160 acres.  It seems that some miscreants looted away the earth and stones over a short period of time making the terrain flat.  Should the looters be thanked for creating 160 acres of habitable land ?                                                            (http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/Ex-Cop-Wants-Hillock-Behind-Collector-Camp-Office-Traced/2016/02/11/article3271359.ece )

HIGH  PROFILE  HUMOUR

          The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raid on the office of the principal secretary of the Delhi Chief Minister (Dec 2015) for alleged corruption triggered political slugfest.  It is reported that the Chief Minister  called the Prime Minister “a psychopath”.  Reacting to this, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said that the Chief Minister suffers from “anti-prime minister mania,” it is reported.  And a Rajya Sabha member said such a search gives the CBI a “political colour,” especially so as the Supreme Court has over a series of judgments warned the CBI that it should not act as a “caged parrot” blindly obeying “his master’s voice” (The Hindu, Dec 16, 2015).

IS  THIS  ALSO  A  HUMOUR  ?

             In February, 2017 the Sure Court of India issued a contempt notice against the Calcutta High Court Judge C. S. Karnan for allegedly degrading the judiciary. In a later development, on May 4, 2017, Justice Karnan refused to undergo medical tests as directed by the Supreme Court and told the team of doctors in a written response, that he was “absolutely normal and with a stable mind.”  On the other hand, the judge ordered the Supreme Court judges to be examined by a panel of psychiatrists and to surrender their passports.  A few days later, on May 8, 2017, the high court judge Karnan issued an order sentencing the Chief Justice of India and seven other Supreme Court judges to five years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of s. 1,00,000 each under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 and the amended Act of 2015,  allegedly for “insulting him on caste basis.”  Adding to the amusement, the Supreme Court judges created history on the next day (May 9, 2017) by sentencing Justice Karnan to six months in jail for the ‘gravest form of contempt of Indian judiciary as well as judicial process.  He went underground for some time, and later caught and imprisoned.

INCREDIBLE  JUDICIARY !

               "NO,  YOUR. HONOUR !"  is the bold headline on the front page of a newspaper (TNIE, January 13, 2018).  "Perhaps, in a first in the annals of Indian judicial history, four senior Supreme Court judges publicly criticised Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra over the allocation of cases at a press conference in New Delhi on January 13, 2018.  The revolt against the Chief Justice has been months in the making when in November 2017 he declared himself as "the master of the roster" and overruled an order by Justice Chelameswar assigning a five-judge bench to look into allegations of bribes paid to senior judges in a medical college scam.  This is an extraordinary event in the history of any nation, more particularly this nation, and an extraordinary event in the institution of judiciary."

LACK  OF  CREDIBILITY

Despite assurances from the level of a police constable to that of a Central Minister for their safety,  thousands of  Northeast people fled from the southern zones for safety in August 2012, leaving their jobs and education.  Why ?  Due to lack of credibility.  The episode was due to spread of rumours, thick and fast,  (mostly through cell phones --  around 700 million Indians have cellular phones!)  that they would be attacked and killed. And our inefficient and tactless authorities facilitated the massive exodus by running special trains for them to flee ! 

In the same week, hundreds of Muslim women thronged the hospitals on the midnight of Ramzan  who applied ‘mehndi’ on their hands.  The rumour was that ‘mehndi’ caused reactions and death.  They didn’t find credibility in the assurances.  Again in the same week, there was a rumour that a new born baby in Tirupur ‘talked’ about a bad omen.  Thousands of people started breaking coconuts on public roads !  Tomorrow, again Vinayagar idols all over the country may start ‘drinking’ milk as happened a decade ago !  Paradoxically, we give credibility to the incredible !

STATISTICAL  FICTION

             On paper, everything seems to be genuine – planning, execution, accounting, results, democratic procedures, elections, technical jobs, professional dealings, and you name it. It may sound a triffle ironic, but the power honchos and the highly talented decision making bureaucratic brains are not necessarily the best or smartest people around.  Even the best planners in our set up run around in circles which is the easiest and conventional way.  We seem to have become experts in writing ‘statistical fiction’.  The much-touted achievements are part of this fiction.  Infrastructure is plagued by utter lack of well-structured and genuine reporting systems.

                                      “Lies, damned lies and statistics.”

                             --   Benzamin Disrael

HORRIFIC CRIME  OF  RAPES

People say they were getting good veterinary care for their animals at a government veterinary hospital.  Officials say it is impossible as that hospital was locked due to unavailability of doctors.    How was that possible ?  A person was treating  animals for three months at that hospital to the satisfaction of the villagers, unofficially without the knowledge of the officials !  He is a Zoology graduate with  experience as an assistant to a veterinarian for six months.  Incredible service !!!   Decades ago,  some 'compounders' (assistants to 'human doctors') used to perform surgery on human beings !

Yatra naryastu puiyante ramante tatra Devata  (Gods make their home where women are honoured).   This is how we reflect upon our glorified past and boast of the respect we give to our women.  But not a single day passes without the news of a woman being raped or a girl baby (born or yet to be born) being killed.  For more on this subject, read under the headings  “ON  RAPE,  rhetoric must meet reality”  and “CREATING  A  BABY  &  KILLING  A  BABY”  on this ‘home page’.

Crime and violence are touching new heights in India.  Thomson Reuters Foundation Survey (2011) adjudged India as the “fourth most dangerous country in the world for women to live in.”  Women tourists  abroad are sometimes advised against going to India as though they would promptly be set upon  by gangs of priapic assailants as soon as they land !

           There is no dearth of laws to ensure the safety of the citizen.  Only their implementation leaves much to be desired.  Responsibility is scattered and the punishment for violation of norms takes too long and is too mild to be a deterrent.  

It seems that our society is full of ruffians whose leitmotif of cruelty descends on the weaker group of women and children mercilessly. As a society, we need to introspect on our repeated failure to prevent such criminal depravity which stained our moral fibre and standing.  Legislation alone does not seem to curb the recurring barbaric and heinous acts which continue to hang our heads in shame and deprive our claim to be called a civilised progressive society.

The following quote tells what volumes cannot.   Education is not just to get marks, it is the moral values.

“We have never stopped sin by passing laws;  and in the same way we are not going to take a great moral ideal and achieve it merely by law.”

                                                                                                              --  Dwight Eisenhower

SPURIOUS  STUFF

We can’t be sure even as to whether an antibiotic capsule contains a medicine or chalk powder !  Spurious drugs are marketed widely in the world.  What is shameful for us is that,  according to WHO, 35 per cent of the world’s spurious drugs are produced in India – worth nearly Rs.4,000 crore,  which is about 20 per cent of the domestic pharmaceutical business.  A study revealed that the quality of some batches of packaged water was worse than the ordinary tap water.  And so also is the quality of several items in the market.

INDIAN WOMEN  PREFER  GIRL  BABIES  !!

            What takes the cake for the ingenious discovery is about the gender preference of Indian women for their progeny.  Look at this news (TNIE, Oct.11, 2011):  “According to the latest report of the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Gender Issues, 75 % of Indian women prefer to have girl babies.”  Then, -- you guessed right -- why are we crying hoarse against female foeticide, female infanticide, illegal identification of sex of the unborn children and illegal abortions ? And why the child sex ratio is at its lowest since Independence (919 females per 1000 males in the age group 0-6 years according to latest statistics released by the government on April 30, 2013 /  767 girls to 1,000 boys in some districts of Uttarkhand) ? Hypocrisy of  bureaucracy ! One of the victims is baby Afreen, a three-month baby girl, who died on April 10, 2012  due to battering and biting by her -father who wanted a “boy and not a girl.”

              Real statistics and the happenings expose the continuing discrimination against the girl child in our society. The phenomenon of “disappearing” women in India is due to the despicable attitudes and practices that guarantee that girls will not be born and that if they are, their health will not be taken care of adequately.  In the election season where rhetoric is the king, this subject of “killing” women is not even a blip on the horizon though eloquent and loquacious voices are heard on “empowerment” of women !  McGlobalkinsey Report says that economy will not gain by reducing the number of women.

                                                        “More loving and more lovely are the girls.

                                                         Crave for daughters who always care for you more than sons.

                                                         Celebrate every event connected with girls.”

                                          --T. Rama Prasad

SALARIED   HOUSEWIFE !

          Every aspect of public administration throws up its own idiocies, reminding us of a ‘great’ ruler of yore, Mohammad Bin Tughluq.  Here is an example of the lyrical stupidity of governance.  Recently (Sept. 2012) the Ministry of Women and Child Development (The Minister of State, Krishna Tirath) proposed the formulation of a bill through which a certain percentage of a husband’s salary would be compulsorily transferred to his wife’s bank account as a “salary” for all the domestic work she performs for the family.  Thank God, the minister did not go to the extent of mentioning the cost for each of the services provided by a housewife  --  kitchen work, cleaning the house, washing clothes, housekeeping, childbearing and catering to the ‘biological needs’ of the man in her husband !

OUR  SNAIL  PACE – rickshaw rides in an aviation age

Not long ago, our neighbouring country, China was on the same platform with us.  Now  the ‘Land of Dragons and Emperors’ is dizzyingly zooming past us (even literally - the over 300 kmph high-speed trains make the distance of 1,318 km between Beijing and Shanghai under 5 hours) in all fields in pursuit of first-world status.  What a credibility !  China made tremendous strides in its space programme also and sent ten astronauts to space.  We were on an equal footing five years ago, but now they are very much ahead of us. Of course, we can’t compare with the US where ‘Boeing Co’s CST 100 Starliner’ spacecraft is being made ready (2016) to take travellers from Florida to ‘International Space Station’.  The  cost  for a ride on this commercial spacecraft will be 58 (fifty eight) million US dollars !

When shall we demonstrate our rise and efflorescence to dazzle others ?    To match with them would amount to day-dreaming for us, with all our rickety systems. There were grand plans in the garb of uplifting the poor.  The rich seems to  have become richer,  the poor poorer. We have a long way to go – miles to go !  Of course no system is without its share of glitches.  

And we aspire to become a Singapore.  They think of tomorrow while we think only of today.  The ministry for environment in Delhi declared 135 km along a river in Uttarakhand as an eco-sensitive zone and the State government immediately passed a resolution against it, and huge constructions and projects cropped up along the river bank.  Then the heavy downpour was followed by floods, crumbling of all the structures, devastation and deaths which went into the record books.  We don’t think of tomorrow.  Ill planning.  Vested interests.  Due to this, we had disastrous damage due to floods in Mumbai in 2005, in UP, Bihar and Odisha in 2011, in Rishikesh in 2013 and now in Chennai in 2015.  How can we have smart cities and a smart country like Singapore ?

            Justice delayed, justice denied.  Snail-paced systems are not uncommon in our country, even in the judicial system.  In 2014,  the Delhi High Court granted divorce to an 85-year-old man after a legal battle of 32 years that ruined all the hope of resuming a married life.  Due to delay in justice and denial for an abortion, a minor-aged rape victim had to give birth to an unwanted child in Bareilly.  It is no wonder that the common man loses his faith in the justice dispensation system.

And, while about 30 million cases are pending in various courts across the country,  our learned judges could find enough time to "enforce" patriotism through "JANA GANA MANA" in cinema halls and "VANDEMATARAM" in schools, offices and factories !  INCREDIBLE  INDIA !!!

GOOD  WORK  by the judges

All the same,  to be fair to the judges, it must be said that Indian judges perform better than their counterparts abroad.  The entire Supreme Court -- nine judges sitting together -- decides on 81 cases a year,  while an Indian judge -- a munsif or a Supreme Court judge -- decides on 2,600 cases a year  ( http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/waiting-for-justice-27-million-cases-pending-in-courts-4500-benches-empty/story-H0EsAx4gW2EHPRtl1ddzIN.html ).

Kudos to the District Court Judge, S. B. Vasthramath in Karnataka who made headlines today (TNIE, July 10, 2018) by speedily sentencing a man who killed his wife to life imprisonment within 13 days of the crime !  He also sentenced another man to life imprisonment just 11 days after the murder of his wife.  He also ordered a compensation of Rs. 1.14 crore to the families of 14 people killed in a motor vehicle accident within 18 days.  If all the judges act as fast as Vasthramath,  the crime rate would drastically come down, and it changes the thinking that one can drag on legal proceedings for a very long time and finally get away with any crime in India.

OUR  NOISE,  consistently inconsistent

Of course, we make a lot of noise about progress and plans.  We conduct rallies, walks, campaigns, meetings and celebrations on the special ‘annual days’ and forget about all that for one year and re-enact the drama next year.  All the theatrical activity dissipates quickly, much like the fizzling out of the effervescence from a soda bottle. Hackneyed political gestures are common – planting saplings, inaugurating various welfare schemes,  garlanding statues, laying foundation stones, and the like.  One who follows up these acts would see the great farcical dimensions.  They remain as grand political schemes.  Grand pronouncements make no sense when the rhetoric does not meet reality.  The farce of the activity would be reckoned as all-out satire.  The grim reminder of the poor state of rural India as revealed by the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC – 2015) should come as a reality check for those who talk of India’s unbridled growth, and arrival on the global stage as a superpower.

A  MIX  OF  PRINCES  &  PAUPERS

          In India, we have an amusing economic mix of warp and weft (some, of course, due to flaws in statistics).  We have private affluence amid public squalor. On one hand, we think of fighting growing obesity in Indian children;  on the other,  we are aghast to read the headline statement of the Prime Minister of India (The Hindu, Jan. 11, 2012) that 42 per cent of Indian children are under-nourished and underweight  (Hunger and Malnutrition – HUNGaMA – report by the Naandi Foundation),  despite the projected impressive growth in India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in recent years !!

We have a mix of lows and highs --  India ranks 6^thin the number of billionaires per country.  It is also home to 1/3^rd of the world’s extreme poor  --  some mendicants starving to death and some cloistered aristocrats sipping single malts like Glenfiddich and blends like Denwar while savouring coveted delicacies like  caviar-topped pizza at Qube, the restaurant in Delhi’s Leela Palace Hotel.  For more on this subject read under the heading “A MIX OF PRINCES & PAUPERS” on this blog.

Indian diamantaire , Nirav Modi has been on the run.  He is wanted in India for an alleged Rs. 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud.  As on June 18, 2018, it is not known where he is on this planet.

We can go on and on till the cows come home on this subject, but after reading the above write-up, what do you think about the credibility of India ?  Can we pass off these happenings as insignificant stray incidents or aberrations which are unduly magnified and projected?  It is for the public to judge.  Let us wishfully think that it is ‘yes’.   In airports and tourist places I had seen tourism promoting billboards put up by the authorities (for the credulous !) with the inscription: “INCREDIBLE  INDIA” --  I  could not  agree more !

Postscript:

Most of this was written before May 16, 2014 when the results of the ‘General Election’ of 2014 were announced;  before the ‘Modi wave’  ensured a historic and astounding rise of Modi to the Prime Minister post;  before the ‘Modi Tsunami’ almost demolished the ‘opposition’ parties.  The tectonic nature of the shift in Indian politics was not even dreamt by the most optimistic.  Modi seems to have won the hearts of many of the country’s 814.5 million voters by articulating with unidimensional focus on  DEVELOPMENT and credibility of the nation (through tornado-like campaign involving 400 rallies and 3 lakh kilometres of travel).  Now, he has to ride a cart with 2 wheels -- one with capitalism and another with socialism; one with secularism and another with religious fanaticism; one with urban aristocrats and another with have-nots in the vast rural hinterland.  The biggest challenge for him is to 'course-correct' the nation through radically correcting the "status quoists" in the political and bureaucratic arena without attracting protests which is not easy.  With massive mandate in his pocket he can do to some extent whatever his wisdom dictates. The path is paved with thorns, though.  It won’t be a cake walk in Rajya Sabha.  Let us see how the rhetoric meets the reality.  Let us see how the “Incredible India” changes over the next five years.  

                                                                                                                  ---   Dr. T. Rama Prasad
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FIVE  YEARS  LATER ... the morning of  23.05. 2019

          Counting of votes would be done today (23.05.2019) for the 'General Election of 2019'.   Probably by this evening the result would be out.   Never in the history of India was there an election campaign which was so bitterly fought with tremendous sensation and drama as of now.

          The fierce fight is over ... the 'kingmaker' sitting on the cot is going to declare the winner today (23.05.2019).

          Bury your hatchets ... don't extend the fight to the Parliament.   Please cooperate with each other and do something good for the 'COMMON  MAN'  sitting on the cot.

                                                           --  Dr. T. Rama Prasad

24.05.2019

The results are out.  Political pundits thought that it would be a hung parliament or a coalition government with nobody getting the majority to form a government on their own.  That's mathematics ... Modi and Shaw proved that elections are not mathematics, they are about chemistry.  It is a phenomenal victory bulldozing all the opposition and reducing the Congress to ruble ... Rahul Gandhi has chosen to step down from the top post in the party.  Consequently, dramatic political changes are unleashed.  Let us see how things would take shape with the brute majority of the BJP.

THIS  IS  AN  ABRIDGED  TEXT  OF  MY  'SCRIBBLING'.      The full text would be posted later.                --  T. Rama Prasad