दृष्टिकोण – Indra's Viewpoint

Happy Birthday

Einstein in mind
Mahatma at heart
Monalisa on face
Ashoka with spirit
Be great for me to boast
We raise a sweet toast
This day so bright
For all a delight
Keep coming and coming
Take Blessing and hugging

— Dada and Dadi

“Universities in China are coming up faster than hotels in Dubai,” Watson Wyatt says. By 2010, 23 million students will be attending Chinese universities, one million of whom will be highly skilled graduate students. Even Nandan Nilekani of Infosys says, “Having just a few Indian Institutes of Technology or Indian Institutes of Management is no panacea. You need to have hundreds of them, like they have in China.” How is India in comparison to China? What all are happening in the education sector?

When I travel by road, I see a large number of professional colleges that have come up in last few years. Every Monday, I find a special pullout on education in the national newspapers full with features, full-page ads, and career planning. As a routine, Outlook, Business Today, India Today, Business World and some more come out with surveys and rankings of colleges of all over the country at this time of the year. It all says, education sector is booming and people, parents and young generation are eager to know more about the institutions. Private entrepreneurs have invaded the sector. I don’t know how many of the entrepreneurs, particularly the petty ones are genuinely interested in imparting education. As I know from a nearer distance, many don’t have any remote interest in it. The other day, I came across an ad of a so-called Institute of Space Science and Technology at Naiad offering career degrees of graduate and postgraduate level in Avionics, Space Science and Aerospace. I doubt, if the institute can do justice with the students it would admit. I wish the educationists and senior teachers could become the entrepreneurs. However, the big houses such as Ambani, Vedanta and many are also setting up institutes of professional education and also universities. Some unique projects such as Nalanda University are being pursued. India has become a hot destination for the heads of foreign universities and educational institutes too. Many collaborations of different kind from exchange programmes to joint researches are underway, though the politicians have not agreed to allow setting up of educational institutes by foreign countries. Perhaps India is now moving from the darkness of illiteracy to the brightness of knowledge.

Looking in some statistics, the education in India has come a long way. Here are some data.

1.The government plans to set up 30 new central universities, seven IITs and IIMs, 10 National Institutes of Technology, five research institutes to be called Indian Institutes of Science, Education and Research, 20 IIITs, two schools of architecture and 330 colleges in educationally backward districts. India wishes to attract 15% of students passing out of class XII (from the current 10%) into higher education by 2012, and 22% by 2017. Hatyana plans to have 1,00,000 engineers graduated every year. Andhra Pradesh is further adding into its already excessive number of engineering colleges.

2.India has at present 400 universities in the country, up from 240 in 2006. National Knowledge Commission recommended 1500 universities for India.

3.The number of private universities has risen from seven in 2006 to over 50 at present. At the end of the 10th Plan, of the total 101 deemed universities – 63 were private universities.

4.Of 17,625 colleges in the country in 2006 – 7,650 were unaided colleges and 5,750 were private-aided (private colleges receiving government grants).

5.Of 104 lakh students in higher education, over 67 lakh were enrolled in private institutions.

6.The number of engineering colleges rose to 1,478 in 2006 from 669 in 1999-2000 with an estimated 88% as private. In the same period, pharmacy institutions grew from 204 to 629 and the private sector was responsible for 94% of it. In management education, private players enjoyed a share of 64%. And the number is growing more and more every day.

7.In the period between 2000-2006, the overall share of the private sector in the growth of professional higher education institutions was 78%, while the professional education sector itself witnessed a 167% growth.

Looking at the enrolment, it has increased tremendously over the year for all levels of education, though still far behind the developed countries.

School Education: The number of students enrolled in elementary education (classes 1 to 8) is now estimated at over 13 crore, about seven times more. It was about 1.9 crore in 1951. For classes 9 to 12, the enrollment has increased from about 15 lakh in 1951 to over 3.7 crore, an over 25-fold increase.

Higher education: In higher education, there has been a 70-fold increase in enrollment. In 1951 there were only 1.7 lakh students pursuing education beyond class 12. Now the number is touching 1.2 crore.

India’s education system has two drawbacks. While the country must aim to attain universal education for all Indians, the education sector must improve its quality and create socio-economic conditions so that the number of dropouts is reduced. While quality of education will improve employability, the reduction in dropouts will mean better availability even with the present facilities.

Can one day at least 5 crores of those joining the school will have higher education before starting a career for living? Can one day the recruiters from inside the country or abroad certify the quality by declaring at least 70% students out of the higher educational institutes as employable?

On June 9 last month, the HRD ministry of the government of India that Mr. Arjun Singh heads sent an order to all IITs. According to the order, 15%, 7.5% and 27% teaching positions are to be reserved for SC, ST and OBC categories respectively. And the reservations will be for the posts for lecturers and assistant professors in all subjects of science and technology. In other areas, like management, social sciences and humanities, reservations should be applied up to the professor level, the senior most position.

As reported, a very junior bureaucrat has signed the order. Can he do that on his own? For that matter, how can a bureaucrat in HRD ministry authorized to send such orders to the directors of IITs? It is an insult of the coveted IITs. If he can, there is no pont in calling IITs as institutes of national importance. Is it a way the politician minister in this country humiliates the educationists and technocrats? As the people’s representative can a minister keep on carrying out the malicious mismanagement of the institutes of, so called, national importance? Why is the minister hell-bent on spoiling these institutes that on its own strength are the only among the best of the world?

IITians must protest against this reservation of the faculty appointments in IITs. Parents of present and prospective IITians must join the protest. All young Indians must protest against the decision. How long the country goes on bearing with the silly autocratic decisions and whims of bureaucrats or ministers that are mostly taken to be in news and to please only the vested interest of some few. The people of India, particularly young and educated ones must understand and appreciate the mischievous plan to perpetually divide the Indian society with new nomenclature of ‘varnas’- SC, ST, OBC, and minority. Arjun Singh like BP Mandal and Mayawati wishes to go down in the history of the country as Messiah of the deprived class. Unfortunately, his main objective is to pull down the image of these institutes that has been earned with a lot of sacrifices and hard works of the students, academicians, teachers and statesmen. How can a sane man take such decision?

As reported, in a meeting of the Standing Committee of the IIT Council (SCIC), the directors have raised objections against the HRD ministry’s order that there should be reservations for teaching posts in the IITs. Even a number of alumni of IITs including Nandan Nilekani have spoken against this move of the ministry. However, the alumni from all over the world must make it a point to express their views against the move with an appeal to all the people of India to participate in this protest. They must get pressure exerted from all quarters that they can influence. Even CII, FICII and Assocham must come out more effectively to get the order revoked.

As I understood, the students of IITs are organizing the candlelight protest march. IITians must innovate all ways and means to get this decision revoked and see that such orders are never initiated again. Let them start with ‘Gandhigiri’ to meet the goal, but if necessary they must resort to other democratic means also. IITians must not remain deaf and dumb on this issue at least.

I wish media took it up more seriously that it took many criminal cases to get the right justice. The HRD ministry decision is more criminal and harmful for the country and its younger generation.

I have another request to the minister and the bureaucrats who have initialed the order. If they themselves are not able to understand what IITs mean for an Indian young man today, they must ask the nearest of the relative of theirs who is an alumni of IITs. Why don’t they carry on the administrative tasks so efficiently?

In the country’s education system at least, let only merit be the criteria for the teachers.

I appeal to all the readers to pass on the protest request to all the young men and women with whom they are in communication.
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PS: It is unfortunate that neither media nor students community go to protest a damaging government decision, and even the institutions surrender.

M.J. Joseph Appachan, 50, a small farmer and a high school dropout in Kerala has invented a coconut tree-climbing device, which can be used by anyone to climb a tree to pluck nuts, tap the basic ingredient of toddy, the indigenous liquor, or spray insecticides. The simple and safe device consists of two steel foot pedals connected by wires and steel pipes with which one can climb a 40-m palm in just two to three minutes. This time equals half of what one usually needs to reach the treetop.

Madan Lal Kumawat, 41solved the problem of damaged grain in the threshers. The threshers available from Punjab were not multi-grain friendly and took two-and-ahalf hours to change the fitting according to the type of grain. Kumawat has refined the process by adding six meshes of different sizes that can easily be pulled out and replaced within 10 minutes. He reduced the diameter of the rotating drum, which reduced diesel consumption by a litre for every hour it ran. An air circulation system with a fan helped separate the grain from the husk. When farmers complained that they had to climb on top of the thresher to feed the grain, he brought the mouth to a lower level. Kumawat’s thresher processes wheat, cumin seeds, mustard, millet, maize, gram, and moong. He is still improvising it to process groundnut better as farmers want it to be lightweight and not wasted as much. Kumawat sells over a dozen threshers at Rs 1.85 lakh a piece every season, and makes a profit of Rs 18,000 on each.

Raghava Gowda, 54, a schoolteacher and dairy farm owner from Murulya in Karnataka has developed elaborate milking machine (Milk Master) that can milk cows and buffaloes using a set of reciprocating vacuum pumps with a gauge, a suction assembly unit and a bubble-free gasketed milk canister to collect the milk. The suction assembly has two sub-assemblies with a set of nipples and a stainless steel plate on one side and transparent conduit pipes and a regulator valve on the other. The procedure is simple and can work with a hand pump or foot pedal, as well as with an AC and DC battery that means no human intervention during the milking. As the machine creates the effect of a calf suckling the udders, it is not only painless but also soothing for the cows. It can milch about 15 litres of milk in three minutes flat. Gowda sold his at Rs 6,000, at less than one-fifteenth of existing devices. Gowda has sold over 2,000 machines at Rs 9,000 today, in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and even Jammu and Kashmir. Interestingly, Gowda has a registered patent for his innovation, the right of which was sought for over Rs 1 crore recently by a company that wanted to market it commercially.

Arvind Patel, 54, has developed a natural water cooler-one that would not require an external energy source. The water cooler cools water to 23 degrees Celsius when the outside temperature is 44 degrees. It has a copper drum, which is wrapped in a copper coil covered with viscose cloth. An overhead tank fills water in the drum while at the same time the water passes through the coil. A connection above makes water drip on the viscose-covered coil. A tap is linked to the coil to allow one to collect drinking water. Water remains stored both in the drum and the coil. The Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA) has sold 250 units of Patel’s patented natural water cooler at Rs 25,000 a piece after buying them from a local industrialist whom Patel has given a manufacturing license. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has sanctioned an Rs 5-lakh loan to Patel to perfect the design of the one-tonne refrigerator, which requires no electricity and is targeted at farmers and small food processors.

Mujeeb Khan, 33, who hasn’t been able to walk since the age of 2 because of polio and worked to adapt cars of all makes, be it Maruti 800, Alto or Logan for the use by physically handicapped persons. Mujib now modifies the car that allows the use of either hands or feet or both, and charges between Rs 10,000- 15,000 for small cars like the lower-end models of Maruti and Alto and Rs 20,000 for bigger cars, plus a labour fee of Rs 2,000.

Mansukhbhai Patel, 54, improved the design of cotton stripping machine. The machine has brought down the cost of stripping cotton from around Rs 1 per kg to Rs 1 for 20 kg, ensuring not only quick returns for farmers but also improving the quality of processing. The main components of the machine, which costs Rs 2 lakh, are a metallic wire and a brush that work together to pluck out cotton from the cotton ball. The manual removal of cotton from the pod used to cost between Rs 10 and Rs 15 per 20 kg, with the new and improved cotton stripper, the costs have dipped to only a rupee. Patel has got both an Indian and an American patent for his research. Patel and his sons are now busy in developing a saline resistant brick, which will be useful in large tracts of Saurashtra and north Gujarat. Patel’s own enterprise, Chetak Industries at Viramgam today, along with its two sister concerns, has a turnover of over Rs 4 crore.

Kambel Chulai, 69: 8,000-strong Pnar tribe in the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya as well, which forsook tradition in favour of Ka Khnap-Thangbru, a modern, eco-friendly crematorium designed by this unlettered 69-year-old in Jowai. Compared to the traditional method, it is a permanent structure and consumes much less wood to burn a body. Instead of Rs 5,000, the crematorium uses just Rs 200 worth of wood to cremate a body. There is no need for electricity, and that can be a boon for rural India where in most places dead bodies are burned in the open causing ecological havoc.

Anil Kumar Gupta, a professor at the Centre for Management in Agriculture at IIM-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) can be called the hero of the grassroots innovation. Gupta and his organizations such as National Innovation Foundation (NIF), Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI), Honeybee network, and Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN) have done pioneering work for unleashing the innovative spirit of rural India. NIF now presides over a database of traditional knowledge comprising 75,000 innovations and practices from across the country, that touches almost every sphere, from transport, energy and food technology to agriculture and livestock. SRISTI has recently come out with two interesting findings:

Two Assamese brothers, Mehtar Hussain and Mustaque Hussain designed a windmill made of bamboo and tin sheets that costs just Rs 25,000 to pump water into their farm at a low cost. The windmill will now help poor salt workers of the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat draw water from the earth bed with no running costs, a relief from the huge amounts spent on fuel for diesel pumps. Another discovery is that made by a tribal of a local plant leaf in Orissa that helps ripen fruits in a natural, organic way. It will prove useful to the food-processing industry as a substitute for the chemicals that are currently used in ripening fruits.

There are many stories of the individual innovators that ‘India Today’ has brought out in its wonderful special issue. I requested my friend Popli to go through the issue and request every one to do that to know what all are happening in Innovating India.

I wish ‘India Today’ had provided the contact details of these innovators too.

Can we agree if the West says India can’t innovate?
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PS: Innovations must be covered in media. It is unfortunate that the people at large hardly come to know about the researches of our scientists and technocrats in defence and government institutions. It must come in media as it comes in US. Even US Army designates year’s best inventions

It was interesting to see and talk with the whole of family, thousands of miles away in US on its Independence Day evening. Broadband Internet has diminished the distance. The cheap and high quality web cameras have made it livelier. It appears we are sitting in one large room in two corners. While we had been seeing Emma and Bart quite frequently, today Svanik and then Keshav and Anvita also joined Emma. Anand normally they used to have a lot of fireworks on this occasion, but with large number of fires all over California, they dropped the idea of fireworks this year. It is good that the three families have come together to celebrate and enjoy the Independence Day of US. In India, on its Independence Day, we just listen to the prime minister’s speech from the rampart of the historic Red Fort and sleep in the afternoon.

Rakesh was wearing a T-shirt with a big car with external of an American flag. Unfortunately, I hardly find very many T-shirts here in India with India as a subject. I am sure it could have helped in developing a national unity. Perhaps the business community may be skeptical about its market with people in India having so varying number of identity. No one has taken initiative to develop the souvenir business that may have a lot of potential. The comparison becomes visible when we visit any place outside India.

Indo-US relation over the years has gone real positive. India was never so near to US. I remember the years when US was so near Pakistan that every Indian used to hate to take pride in US. I remember at least one name of Dulles.

Many feel it started with NDA government, while UPA wishes to take the credit more clearly with signing Indo-US Nuclear Deal. Thanks to Mulayam and his manipulative middleman Amar Singh, the Deal may come through with a new dawn in Indo-US relation.

Many a times I consider the affinity of US towards India is due to the Indian immigrants that are playing a significant role in various American technology sectors. Indians are making their presence felt in every field, be it with money power supporting Presidential candidates, or with their entrepreneurship and innovations.

I don’t know how many of the leftist leaders are having their children in USA. But for those with their children in USA, the country becomes the second most important one after one’s own country.

Let me also celebrate the Day with all Indians in USA and wish peace and prosperity for that nation.

Mother Dairy has started charging Rs 25 per litre of full cream milk from today. It was charging Rs 24 till yesterday. How much does it pay to the milk producers at the rural collection centers? As I understand the producers don’t get anything more than Rs 10-12 for a litre of milk.

Some aspects of inflation are difficult to understand for every one. The rise in the prices of rice and wheat or other grains after the harvest time is only because of hoarding, be it by the farmers, traders, mill owners or the government. One can very well understand with so small a holding, the farmers can’t hoard. Farmers are always under the pressure to sell the produce just after the harvest to clear all the credits from the moneylenders or shopkeepers. The farmers are not very much united too to press their issues with the traders or the government authorities. On the other hand, the traders, shopkeepers, and mill owners do hoard as they have resources and because of the cartel increase the prices when they wish to make money. It is only for the government to find a way out to control the tricks of profiteering if the appeal for unethical price hikes fails.

Just few days back, the traders were not lifting the potatoes in Agra. Farmers were ready to sell at any price. But today, even the outlets of Safal, a unit of Mother Dairy is selling potatoes at over Rs 10 per kg, when the mandi price is between Rs 3 to 8 per kg. How much should be the transportation and handling cost? How much must be the margins? Farmers or producers are neither responsible nor getting any share of the price being charged from the consumers.

The price rise of food items that are produced sufficiently in the country is certainly not due to the global price rise. Transportation cost, which can be claimed as increased because of the fuel price can’t be that high with any rational costing.

I don’t understand two other steps of the government- one related to increase of the export duty of Basmati rice and the second is the ban on production of ethanol from molasses. Is the government doing that to provide cheaper basmati rice to the rich men of the country? Can the production of ethanol cause shortage of sugar? Perhaps the policy gets distorted because of some other reasons.

And as I understand, the rise of the prices of steel and cement contribute quite a bit in increase in inflation rate. The government has failed miserably in facilitating the increase of the production capacity of both the items in the country. The country’s per capita consumption of both the items is extremely low. Many firms have committed setting up new steel plants with 193 MOUs with various states for planned capacity of around 243 million tones and total proposed investment of over Rs 5.14 lakh crore. But in last four years the companies have failed to start the work on the project because of the policies of the governments both state and central, and its red tapes and agitation of the locals. Posco, Tata, and Arcelor Mittal are still running around to get the project started. Is there no role of the government- the state and central? Can blaming each other for the hold ups satisfy them? In the same way, the cement industry has announced a massive expansion of 110 million tonnes and has even ordered the plants. Should not the government see the execution of the projects that would have avoided shortages and price rise?

However, the impact of the inflation on the monthly grocery budget is annoying with the prices of pulses, cooking oil, and even cooking gas shooting up. What is the use of mandi declaring the price of Arhar dal at Rs 34 a kg, if it is available at nothing less than Rs 50 at any outlet, be it organized retail or shop in the neighbour?

Why are the prices of cooking oil so high when Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, the country’s largest milk co-operative and brand owners of ‘Amul’ says, “Butter is an anti-inflationary product and inflation has no direct effect on its input costs.” And it is not planning to increase the price of butter. Why can’t others follow?

Unfortunately, there is hardly any interest in reducing or maintaining the prices through various cost cutting techniques, as the only motive of business today is to keep the profit at maximum.

Unfortunately, the price once increased never comes down significantly.

Inflation has become global phenomenon. Grumbling can only cause cardiac problem. We are to learn to live with it.Indian housewives know it best.

My problem has been my expectation to see some fast transformation and achievement. Last time Ashok came here enroute to Vadodara after visiting our village during Holi, I asked him regarding if the NREGs is effectively functioning there. His reply was in negative. Basically, nothing worth mentioning is happening, neither it is serving the purpose of the people for it was meant. Last week, I read a detail report about the NREGs in Outlook Business. The NREGs is failing to provide much-needed livelihoods and community assets as desired by those who perceived the scheme. Unfortunately, now it is the people right in the villages who are involved in rampant corruption. The beneficiaries require education about their rights. NGOs, media, and dedicated officers must monitor it by building foolproof, transparent system.

Another recent decision of the Bihar government to develop self-contained maha-Dalit colonies in every panchayat across the state, which would have a house, built on four decimal land for every such family, a school, a hospital, a park and drinking water facilities on “gairmazrua (government)” land, was really heartening. The maha-Dalits includes Mehtar, Halkhor, Dom, among others, constitute about 40 per cent of the total Dalit population in the state. And their condition still remains pitiable. I wish this is not an announcement with election in mind but a genuine endeavour to help the deprived through empowering them.

However, the most worrying part for me was the report that Bihar is among the states where the level of corruption is still “alarming”. The “India Corruption Study 2007”, brought out by NGOs Transparency International India (TII) and Centre for Media Studies (CMS), found that about one-third of Below Poverty Line (BPL) households in the country bribed officials to avail a total of 11 services – from police to PDS. Is it not shameful?

But many individuals from Bihar working on as missionary make one happy and proud of them. In the wonderful special issue of ‘India Today’ on 50 pioneers of change, Amitabh Srivastava has four such stories. Here are those four persons:

1.Deepak Kumar is a murder convict and has served a 14-year jail sentence for killing an influential co-villager over a property dispute. But he is changed man now. Deepak Kumar has set up a residential, 15-roomed English-medium Deendayal Kushepremi Central School up to Class VII with eight teachers and more than 365 students-most of whom are poor.

2.Abhyanand, the Additional Director-General of Police, Bihar Military Police is a legendary personality by now. His Super 30- a free IIT-JEE coaching institute for 30 select youngsters from underprivileged families in rural Bihar has created a model for emulation. This year, everyone from the Super 30 group made the grade in what is widely believed to be one of the toughest and most competitive entrance examinations in the world. Abhyanand for reason unknown will not be teaching any more in Super 30. But as reported, Abhayanand has another mission now. He ” will now expand the concept of Super 30 and pick underprivileged Muslim students and train them for competitive exams”. Is it not a wonderful mission?

3.Veena Devi, 35, a widow, is serving her second-term as mukhiya (panchayat chief) of the Loharpur Panchayat of Nawada district. She was one of the four women village heads who shared the dais with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at a national convention of Panchayati Raj last year. There hasn’t been a single case filed against anyone since Veena was elected for her second term. In fact, she has persuaded everyone in her Panchayat not to take their differences to a police station.

4.Prabhat Shandilya and his Magadh Jal Jamaat have so far revived more than a dozen abandoned water sources including Saryu talab in Gaya, created a few new ones, and most importantly infused in the residents of several parched villages of Gaya the need to conserve water and to sustain the water table. Prabhat remains unwilling to step into the spotlight. Late in 2006, the 8-km-long water channel from Maanpur to Nanouk village was desilted bringing water to 32 tanks of the area. In 2007, it was the turn for unclogging the 11-km-long Vanshi Nallah. Shandilya and his men are presently busy clearing up the 28-km-long water channel that runs from Chapardah to Thaneta village.

5.Kaushilendra, the 2007 batch topper of the IIM, Ahmedabad, and the son of a college demonstrator in block town of Ekangarsarai in Nalanda district that is the vegetable bowl of Bihar has become a vegetable vendor “to earn money and ensure quality prices to farmers and quality product to citizens”. Kaushilendra owns today 50 carts that are selling vegetables in “right measurement and right rate”. Will Kaushilendra be able to sustain his spirit? Will he become the vegetable king of India? Perhaps, the answers are not known, but Kaushilendra has started in a revolutionary manner. I wish Kaushilendra expanded his business model with rural malls serving as hubs on the pattern of ITC’s Choupal Sagar on the GQ and East-West corridor expressway. He can promote organic food business too saving chemical and earning more price.

While all these pioneers are trying to set examples for the others in the state to participate in the development of the state, unfortunately, Lalu’s clan is happy with the gift from the sycophants of his party. Can’t there be some fast track courts as one for the dons-turned-politicians for politicians-turned-billionaires?

Last week had been hectic with the politics on Indo-US Nuclear Deal. It was a warlike coverage in media-particularly leftist politicians firing all ammunitions based on technical to emotional reasons against the deal, and the imminent journalists and columnists writing in favour of the Deal. Inder Malhotra, Shekhar Gupta, Vir Sanghvi, Rajdeep Sardesai, Prem Shankar Jha, K Subrahmanyam, and many others have been writing the lead articles in different newspapers and magazines. In a lead article, ”Why The World Backs The Deal’, Jerome Bonnafont, France’s ambassador to India wrote, “The Indo-US nuclear deal constitutes an unprecedented global offer made to India by the international community. France, Russia, the US, and many other countries, could help India accelerate the development of its civil nuclear programme without undermining India’s sovereign choices while conforming to international rules on non-proliferation.”

Congress was quiet. BJP kept on challenging the government to go ahead.

As it stands, Congress seems to have agreed to save Man Mohan Singh from his embarrassments at G-8 meet and allow him to go ahead on the Deal. Man Mohan Singh confidence is clearly up. Surprisingly, Sonia had been pretty miser in words and vague in favour, perhaps to keep the door for the leftists open. On the hand, the leftists have issued the ultimatum, ‘Going for the deal means withdrawal of support’. However, the leftists have not threatened any voting to pull down the government. Congress is already wooing Mulayam to keep the number. Many negotiators are working overtime. Amar Singh as usual considers himself the Krishna in this Mahabharat between the Man Mohan and Prakash. Karat is very shrewdly heating at Man Mohan rather than the Congress that Sonia heads and leads. Even politicians like Ajit Singh have started talking in favour. Shiv Sena has openly talked in favour of the deal.

As it appears, Man Mohan Singh will ask its negotiators to go ahead. Leftists will withdraw its support. But the government may continue till the general election in normal course. Even if Congress had agreed with the leftists and not gone for the Deal, the leftists would have certainly withdrawn its support before the election. It couldn’t have gone to the election while supporting the government. To them, the Deal is a better excuse for withdrawal of support for the visible consumption of voters. Sonia must accept this truth. The leftists are not the right choice as bedfellows.

To me, the Deal is a necessity to keep India in the community of scientific research and technology. India can’t keep itself isolated and think of becoming a super power or alleviate the poverty. It hardly matters if one day in distant future, India breaks the agreement in the interest of the country and gets a sanction again. It must be able to buy uranium or for that matter work together with the developed countries for any cutting edge technology or material as others biggies can. It must be able to develop its own technologies and sell its resources freely. With China as a shrewd rival, India must become strong.

In emerging scenario, no developed country worth name can do without India. It’s potential for growing as an important economy makes the nations keep it on its side. They find it more comfortable to work with India. It gets reflected in the remarks made by many heads of the countries and their leaders.

Unfortunately and historically, the biggest enemies of India had been from inside the country. India must develop its own strength and set a tradition of working in national interests with confidence. The politicians must shun short-term goals and anti-people motives. I wish the people of India could understand these black sheep working for vested selfish interest to remain as their rulers.

India has nothing much to lose by going for the deal. It must cross all the steps cautiously but fast enough to receive the uranium supplies soon to avoid the existing nuclear power plants from starving and new plants to meet the time frame. It will be the test of India’s diplomacy. India is to see who ultimately are causing delays.

Let Sonia not be afraid of BJP exploiting the deal for electoral gains, neither of the leftists who are hardly of any help in pushing the country ahead. Soniaji! Be fearless, don’t go by the advices of the sycophants in the party, show the steely resolve to make the country great.