दृष्टिकोण – Indra's Viewpoint

It was in the beginning of this month that Sunita Narain‘s Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) after a fresh study claimed the presence of ‘pesticide cocktail’ in 11 brands of soft drink giants Coca Cola and PepsiCo, three years after the same brands were found to have contained pesticides. The 57 samples collected from 25 manufacturing units across 12 states were a ‘cocktail of 3-5 different pesticides’ which was 24 times above the standards finalised by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Kerala banned production and sale of colas of both Coca Cola and PepsiCo; and some other states too banned its distribution in schools and hospitals.

As expected, the associations representing industry in general such as CII and FICII came out heavily against the actions of the governments. While CII President R Seshasayee considered the government action as arbitrary, avoidable and one that has caused unnecessary panic; FICCI President is going to write to Kerala Chief Minister, appealing to him to ‘please follow the due process and let the regulator substantiate the violation as per existing laws before taking action’. Will CII and FICII heads permit their grandchildren to get addicted to Colas? Are these heads of associations afraid of MNCs?

Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola did come out with big ads helping media revenue and listed out the processes adopted by them to ensure that all the key ingredients were well within the permissible limits according to the BIS and international standards. Why and what are then the cola companies afraid of? But then comes the unique part of the government action. The Health Ministry had sent a letter to the BIS to defer setting of standards till its national level expert committee met over the issue.

Narain charges that cola companies, in collusion with Health Ministry officials, had deliberately blocked the final notification of the BIS committee. Perhaps this is the way big billion dollar- companies in free economy work. And over and above, the American media including the prestigious NYT almost are giving some threatening calls that the Kerala’s action may affect FDI in negative manner. And the media is relishing the different stories from its reporters.

I have some very simple questions. Can’t all the food technologists, health specialist in India and scientists decide if the standards of BIS for ingredient contents are stringent enough to be dropped as useless? Will the MNC companies having advertising and promotion budgets running in billions raise questions about their capabilities too and or buy them, if necessary? Why can’t the cola companies write on the wrapper the nutrients’ contents in the drink? If there is no nutrient good enough for children or patients, why can’t they put it on the wrapper too? If there is no problem with these drinks, why should my cardiologist doctor ask me not to drink the drinks? Why do the American housewives not permit their children to take it?

And then comes the news that must have elated all Indians. PepsiCo, the multi-billion MNC on Monday named Indra Nooyi, 50, as its new chief executive, succeeding Reinemund, who will retire in May 2007. And all the newspapers and magazines are agog with this news. Every one is vying to prove this the achievement of India management skills. What I wonder, has the PepsiCo put a lady of Indian origin as CEO to smoothen the conflicts in India business created by another feisty lady?

And then a question crops up and confuses me. Who is serving India’s cause better- Sunita or Indra?

A handful of rice = 34,180 colas

This one character of Dwapar Era has been a very complex character to understand for many. Krishna with his thousand names has influence over all classes. Perhaps, it is difficult to associate him to a narrow identity such as a caste. His life as all Indian know has been unique. Most will love him but some- say moralists, may even hate him
Let us look at the phases of his life and his deeds;

Childhood- Krishna as kid was very friendly and helpful. He had a lot many friends of both the genders. He is strong and brave. He, even though young in age, kills many giants who were sent to murder him. He did also kill some who used to be a terror such one at Kaliadah in Yamuna. He saves the community from the fury of Indra by raising Gobardhan or taking his clans into some caves at the top of the mountain.

Romantic Youth- Krishna as a young man gets into friendship with many of the girls including one that was married. His tales of romance and music that is symbolized by ‘rash’ as dance and ‘bansi’ (flute) as musical instrument have become example of divine love. Somewhere, it may appear to be even vulgar, but with no intention of harming the consorts.

Exemplary Statesman– Krishna is shrewd, smart, and manipulative. He tolerates the abuses of Shisupal, his own close relative for hundred times, and only after that he kills him in presence of all so that it creates a lesson for others. He sends the whole army to Duryodhan, and remains alone with a condition of not using any weapon for them on Pandava side. And he wins a war for the weaker side by providing the tactical knowledge and information to the Pandavas.

And A Saviour of Humanity- However, the best contribution of Krishna to humanity is what he conveyed through ‘Bhagwad Gita’. There can’t be anything better than that to get a salvation. And today the whole intellectual world all over the globe recognizes that.

But what a natural end! As a commoner, he dies pierced by an arrow of an hunter in a distant forest.

And I was really excited, when I read in ‘The Times of India’ editorial, “He (Krishna) may be said to embody the essence of Indian managerial talent because no matter how adverse the situation he has to deal with he’ll come up with an out-of-the-box solution”.

Yesterday, I was at my advocate friend’s place. As usual, he showed me a piece of writing where he had denounced the relation of Krishna with Radha. It is all up to an individual’s interpretation. One can take positive and the other a negative one for the same.

India wishes to be a leader in the ‘Knowledge Economy’. But here is the status through some statistics.

Rs 920 gross expenditure on R&D for every citizen (Rs 2,612 in China and Rs 46,751 in the US)

Rs 116 cr royalty and licence fee for patents received by India in 2004 (Japan’s Rs 72,964 cr)

119 R&D researchers per million people in India (China has 663)

Rs 13,200 cr India’s high-tech exports in 2004 (Japan exported worth Rs 5,76,340 cr, China Rs 7,50,842 cr)

231 patents granted to India by the US Patent and Trademark Office in 2001(China got 298)

Rs 14,800 cr exported from the pharmaceutical sector in 2003-04. India ranks fourth in the world, and accounts for 8 percent of world production

3.72 India’s score in innovation (4.74 for China)

11,076 articles in scientific and technical journals published by India in 2001 (20,978 by China)

2.61 India’s score on the World Bank’s Knowledge Assessment Index (4.21 for China)

15 nuclear reactors with an installed capacity of 3,087 MW constitute 2.8 per cent of India’s total energy production (20 per cent in the US, and 78 per cent in France)

2% India’s share of 55 satellites launched between 2001 and 2005, compared to China’s 9%

125 of the Fortune 500 companies have research bases in India (400 in China)

13 the number of successful space launches till now (The US 424 and China 52 (1981-1999)

2,378 biotechnology patent applications were filed in India between 1995 and 2003

Rs 13,250 cr India’s allocation for the Department of Space in the Tenth Five-Year Plan. NASA, by comparison, was allocated Rs 9,52,718 cr in the 2006-07 US Budget alone

32 Internet subscribers for every 1000 people (73 in China). India has only 0.6 broadband subscribers per 100 people (16.5 in China).

–From ‘India Today’

India will soon have three more institutes in Kolkata, Pune, and the other in Punjab similar to IISc, Bangalore. However, the education and industry must emphasise on innovations. Only through innovations, India can take a lead.

Read
PM’S INDEPENDENCE DAY SPEECH, 2006

It is heartening to hear and read that the exhaustive poll conducted across 19 states with over 14,000 samples covering a large section of rural India by CNN-IBN and Centre for Studies of Developing Societies (CSDS) found you as the most popular chief minister in the country. As the report goes on, ‘Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was Number 1 after being elected in November last year, and the honeymoon period continues for him – he is still at Number 1.’

There are some more good media reports. The Central Road Transport and Highway Minister T. R. Balu, on Friday, acknowledged that things had vastly improved in Bihar since the NDA government assumed power in the state; and there was no complaints of any disruption in the construction of roads due to road mafia.

And finally, we heard and read mentions of Bihar in the President’s Independence Day address right in the beginning. “In the agriculture and farming sector, more than doubling the productivity of Rice and Wheat in areas near RP Channel-5 in Bihar has been achieved through the TIFAC mission using innovative integrated farming and marketing methods. These results have spread to many areas through people’s efforts and are applicable to the whole of Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and other areas, which have similar agro-climatic conditions. These regions could be transformed into the granaries of India ”

However, I keep on looking for good news from Bihar with a microscope very day in a hope to some great happenings as the media gives from other states, I get disheartened. Perhaps, we shall have to wait for more time.

I am certain with persons like NK Singh in State’s Planning Commission the things to change soon. I have few suggestions. You can follow a little different but useful path.

Bihar has a huge human resource. Can we not ensure that all of them are skilled in one or the other trade? Can we not use the excellent masons, carpenters, electricians, and other technicians to train our children in the age group of 10-16 years if we can’t have 100% trade training for these boys through it is because of capacity constraints there? Can’t the government start a set of skill awards at paanchayats, blocks, and district levels for the artisans and for those who part with their skills with the younger population freely? Unlike other states, can’t Bihar lead the country by having a large number of high standard trade training schools with capacity that will be sufficient to take all the children of age between16-18 that wish to get into them? If necessary, educational pre-qualification must be relaxed for children of craftsmen’s community.

Can you not ask each of your DM to take initiative for an education hub in their district head quarters? They are smart and young enough to do this work all on their own. They can create a campus. They can contact industrial houses to have quality schools including some for specialized trade training. Some of the facilities such as playgrounds, conference hall, and laboratories can be common to cut down the cost. Can’t these DMs be the PMs of their districts as you once told them? Can’t they be kept to head the district for all the time you wish? Why can’t their performance be judged by some development parameters of their districts such as all the central projects of ‘Bharat Nirman’ or ‘Sarv Shiksha Aviyan’? Why can’t there be a strong competition between the DMs of districts for various achievements?

If agriculture sector is the strength of Bihar, why can’t the farmers be encouraged to go for ‘contract farming’ for established corporate if it cuts out the unscrupulous intermediaries? Let the farmers prosper.

Bihar must market the advantages of cheap labour to the investor. However, you are to ensure the employment flexibility. Investors are also scared of Bengal type trade unionism or maphia in industry. Can you isolate the investors from them? Why can’t Bihar focus on labour ecosystems that attract investment and in turn create jobs?

‘Business World’ has come out with ‘The TeamLease Labour Competitiveness Survey’. Unfortunately, Bihar ranks at the bottom. Very soon ‘India Today’ will publish the rankings of different states on varying development parameter. Will your ministers ensure improvements over the rankings?

You are fortunate to have access to all successful developmental projects. Your ministers and officers can follow them. But one thing is sure unless they are really ambitious, they can’t bring about a perceptible change in Bihar.

Can your government decide on 10 major projects that your government will like to be remembered for and that it is sure of completing in next 4 years so that we can gauge its performance?

On this day when I have gone 67, my wife hands over a packet of gift at 4AM, when I quietly left bed and came to sit with my laptop. I am overjoyed, but show only my humility. Why do we not say what is the truth?

And I start the day with my Bhagawat Gita’s selected slokas meant to keep one healthy. I surf and find a news item. Someone had been ahead of me.

I wished once to create a website for my village ‘PIPRA’- a typical and remote in Bihar with no electricity and metalled road even after 59 years of independence. I started writing the history of the village as I have heard from the old people there. But someone has scored over me. HANSDEHAR has gone on web before someone could help me in getting ‘Pipra’ uploaded. And this is the way rural India is moving forward to have access to everything happening in the outside the small places.

Can I not see Handehar as my PIPRA and be satisfied?

But why do I require a website? Perhaps, these website can display the name and cellular phone numbers of skilled people in the village so that those needing them can contact them. It will certainly improve the useful employment of those who can’t live in towns and cities because it means expenses on self. It shall also improve the quality of life in rural areas.

India’s worst concerns and the best of achievements relate to education. Present education system that has great institutions such as IITs and IISc has produced some unique results. When we look at the primary schools, particularly the governments ones in rural India, we get the shock of our life. And that is the biggest concern. Many feel the education system must change to suit the present requirement of the nation. And its quality must improve to meet the need of the knowledge sector that India plans to excel at.

Statistics below will highlight many different aspects of the education in India.

17,189 colleges and universities in India (4,182 in the US)

93,000 elementary schools with computers in India (1,10,000 in the US)

19% primary schools in India with single teachers

25% schools with electricity in 2004, compared to 21% in 2002

76% primary and secondary schools with drinking water in 2004, up from 71.9% in 2002-03

87% schools in villages out of a total of 9,00,000 schools in India in 2004

70% schools with pucca buildings in 2004

5,00,000 become doctors in India every year (1.5 m in China which produces the largest number)

9,070 doctoral degrees awarded in 2005 (42,700 in the US but 6,000 in China)

3,50,000 engineers produced annually (6,00,000 in China)

8,00,000 complete MBA every year (2,00,000 in the US)

5.7m school teachers in India (2.2 m in China)

1:41 the teacher-pupil ratio in primary schools in India (1:21 in China)

400 medical colleges in India (125 colleges in the US)

2,00,000 science degrees are awarded every year (6,00,000 in China)

73% literacy rate in India among males (95% among males in China)

Among women literacy rate is 47.8% in India (86.5% in China)

13 m children do not attend school in India according to an SRI-IMRB survey

16% out of 3,00,000 children between 6 and 14 years study in private primary schools in villages

25% government primary school teachers in India are absent from their work annually

10,500 students studied at the world’s first university at Takshila in 700 BC

9.9 m students enrolled in various colleges across the country

It clearly shows where India lacks.

Read India — the land of people’s power

Anand requests me write about myself on the occasion of my 67 th birth date. And while I look back down the memory lanes, I get immense happiness. I have sweet memories, particularly the unimaginable love and affection that I got from my elders. I remember how sweet were the great old ladies- my great grandmothers. They imbibed in me a perennial interest for Bhojpuri folk songs. They had a rich memorizing capacity and could sing for hours songs meant for all occasions. That may be the birth of a child, different functions in marriage, grinding of wheat or rice making, or even rice transplantation, or beginning of rain and cultivation. I vividly remember my childhood routine till I was in the village and they were alive. After my dinner on a winter night, I used to slip in their quilt and request them to sing or narrate story till I slept.
My great grandmother (aunty of my grand father) was a child widow. She led a pious simple life as ‘sadhuain’ (female saintly person). It was a strictly vegetarian kitchen; even boiled rice was not cooked. The ladies were to take a bath before they could enter kitchen. Rule of untouchably was in force. Her rulings in all household affairs were the final. My grandfathers used to respect everything she said. And she was not educated in formal sense.

I still remember her sitting with me in her lap as a child near the main door facing the village lane. She would request every one whom she thought educated enough, to teach me. She would request him to write something on my slate that I can copy or learn. Perhaps that was the only way, as per her, to educate me in that village in those days.

My great grand mother and not the grand mother came with my youngest uncle and me first time to Birlapur near Calcutta when my grandfather thought we must leave the village for proper education. I remember her concern about our safety. It was end 1947 – a period just after the independence. Rumours of riots and forthcoming attacks used to trouble all of us through the night. We used to move inside the residences of some known persons that were inside the company boundary wall and so considered safe. And then gradually she convinced my grandfather to send us back to our village.

I grew under the affectionate care of my great grand mother, as my mother was living in my maternal village to take care of her parents. I used to carry out all her orders and she used to be very happy. I shall like to talk of one thing of those days. The water of the wells in the village was so hard that the housewives could not cook lintel properly. After rains, on her instructions I used to bring water in small utensils from the pond near the canal. Perhaps my uncle used to show hesitancy, so I used to get a lot of praise from her.

Perhaps, I learnt many things unknowingly from my great grandmother that I feel proud of today. She influenced my life perhaps the most, though my grand father was responsible for every thing that I could attain in my life.

This is just about the way I grew. Today all the children are in US and after some years perhaps the family may not have anything in India for them. But my writeups, if stored and saved, may remind them their place of origin and the background.

Read The President’s ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON THE EVE OF 60TH INDEPENDENCE DAY

553 m metric tonne of oil equivalent was India’s energy consumption in 2003(1,410 m metric tonne for China).

100 m mobile phone users in India in 2006 (194.5 m in the US in 2005)

Rs 1,81,000 cr is what India attracted in FDI till 2004 (China received Rs 11,39,000 cr)

71 days and 11 procedures are required to start a business in India (just 5 days and 5 procedures in the US)

Rs 14,862,000 cr was the total purchasing power of Indian households in 583 districts and 100 urban centres in 2003, almost twice the 1999 figure of Rs 7,634,000 cr

576 bn passenger km were covered by the Indian Railways in 2004-5 (571 bn by the Chinese railways)

264 hours taken to prepare and pay taxes by an Indian enterprise (325 in the US)

33 is India’s Gini Index, a measure of income inequality on a scale of zero (perfect equality) to 100 (perfect inequality). At 41,45 and 59, it is higher for the US, China and Brazil, respectively

Rs 1.5 lakh is today the per capita income in India (Rs 19.4 lakh in the US). Thus an average family of four in India brings home Rs 6.1 lakh annually.

670 m share transactions are held every day on BSE and NSE, compared to 3,450 m in the US on Nasdaq and NYSE

Rs 7,85,000 cr the value of India’s forex and gold reserves (Rs 43,00,000 cr for China)

2% loans written off in India, compared to 20% in China

Rs 25,60,000 cr market capitalisation of stock exchanges in India in 2005 (Rs 36,30,000 cr in China)

Rs 1,86,000 cr worth of India’s service exports in 2004, up from Rs 21,400 cr in 1990, an 870 per cent rise. For China, it was Rs 2,90,000 cr in 2004, up from Rs 26,700 cr in 1990, a 1,080 per cent rise.

65.8% of GDP was India’s total debt in 2004 (38.1% for the US and 70.7% of GDP for France)

3 motor vehicles per km of road in India (36 in the US and 48 in Russia)

334 number of airports in India (14,883 in the US) AAI handles 59 m passengers annually, Atlanta airport alone serves 80 m

5,58,000 sq km was the total land under irrigation in India in 2003 ( 5,45,960 sq km in China)

From ‘India Today’

We keep on comparing India’s performance and attainment with China. Perhaps in present context, India can’t do what China has done and achieved. But for us, it is prudent that we keep on reminding our politicians and bureaucrats the gap between China and India. May be one day they realize to work in more coherent manner. Many and me too believe that it is possible to attain the growth rate quite comparable to China if our mindsets are tuned for attaining that.

One thing but sure if we can prosper that too fast those at the bottom most of the ladder of the society will not allow us to live peacefully for very long.

Business Week has published a full feature today ‘An Awakening In Bihar’– How one rural school helps prepare poor youths for the Indian Institutes of Technology. I feel so happy after going through it.

I have written about these missionaries in my blog, and I feel this is some thing that must be emulated in every state of India and in all the cities and villages. There can’t be any better affirmative action than this one.

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On August 15, 2006 it will be the 59 th anniversary of India’s Independence. Though 59 years are nothing big for a country as big as ours, let us look at India through some statistics:

India has the world’s largest electorate- 671 m voters in 2004 with 322 m female.

4,663 the total number of elected Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha representatives. Britain has only 643 MPs.

283 assembly elections held in India apart from 14 general elections

8% women’s representation in the 14th Lok Sabha, while 34 per cent of India’s 3.5 million village legislators are women

India’s largest in size parliamentary constituency is Ladakh with 1,73,000 sq km. The largest in the world, Kalgoorlie in western Australia, is 22,55,000 sq km.

58.07% of eligible Indian voters cast their ballot in the 2004 general elections (64 per cent in the 2004 US presidential elections).

2 independent MPs in the 14th Lok Sabha, compared to 37 in the first

6 the number of times both the Congress and the Janata Dal have split. The Communist Party of India has split only twice.

3.37 m voters in Outer Delhi parliamentary constituency, the largest number in the world.

93 amendments in the Indian Constitution, compared to 27 in the US Constitution in 217 years.

12.83% of members between the ages of 25 and 40 in the 14th Lok Sabha. The first Lok Sabha was younger, with 25.85% in the same age group.

14th Lok Sabha has 134 MPs with criminal backgrounds. The first Lok Sabha had none.

147 postgraduate Lok Sabha MPs in 2004, compared to 85 in 1952

—-From ‘India Today’

What do these statistics of a 60-year old democracy tell us? We are certainly huge. We conduct our election using electronics voting machines that perhaps US also doesn’t do. But should we worry more for the increasing number of criminals in Lok Sabha or should we celebrate the increasing number of postgraduates? Should we feel bad about the very frequent amendments in constitution, perhaps because of easier process?