India Inc: Educate and Skill Rural India

Posted on July 14, 2011 by indra

Everyone, be they politicians or administrators or corporate honchos, talk of inclusive growth and equity at all platforms. I wonder if they are really in know of the real problems and interested to do something. Rural India is getting lagged behind. And the lack of quality schools and effective education system are the main reasons for it. Unlike the urban India, the rural India has failed to attract any significant private investment in education but for some experimental corporate initiatives.

Education in rural India is dependent mostly on government schools. Most of the states are trying to set up primary and secondary schools in every village, but the quality of education is still suspect. It is nowhere near what urban India is getting. Many urban centres are getting private investment in education and some of the high-end schools can be compared with the best anywhere.
The rural government schools lack the basic infrastructure such as toilets and drinking water and essential facilities, be it electricity, computer and Internet, library, and even sports for modern education. The quality teachers, who are sincere and motivated enough to learn and experiment in the art of teaching and imparting knowledge, are just missing. Spirited ones are rare in teaching community today.

Most of the schools are just a building with few rooms with a blackboard on which you can’t write eligibly. Kids still sit on floor. There is hardly any security provision to keep the equipment and accessories for aiding education safely. Teachers don’t stay in the campus and walk or cycle from distant villages. Their regular attendance is doubtful. There is hardly any agency to monitor their work and performance regularly as required for effective output. There is neither any effective incentive for good work nor penalty for not performing.

Most of the villages are not having school for carrying on the education up to class XII. And most of the families can’t afford going to a town for further schooling. Naturally those who can coach are also missing in the villages, as they don’t find it paying. Most of the parents can’t afford it. Many who can afford don’t want to do that as they expect it to be free. And who are the losers? Mostly, they constitute the lowest strata of the society for whom the government or the politicians have coined a new word BPL(Below Poverty Line).

Will the logics above be good enough to draw the attention of India Inc. that are critical of mandatory CSR to do something for just one aspect of the lives of these unfortunate rural children that can empower and light up their future. And perhaps in just ten years India Inc could not only cut down on this expenditure but can also get the returns on its investment too, if it starts today with a mission to educate and skill the rural India.

Let the corporate India take educating and skilling rural India as one-point programme. They will not only be helping inclusive growth but also build an India that they all can take pride in. In 2009, 53 million dropped out because their families couldn’t afford it or the conditions of classrooms and the arrogance of the teachers providing them with little real learning, couldn’t hold them. And most of them were the underprivileged ones.

There are some examples of the industrial and business houses doing some excellent work in rural India. Sunil Mittal group is one. Bharti Foundation has about 236 schools that are providing free quality education to underprivileged children in remote villages across India with particular focus on the girl child. There are others too. HCL’s Shiv Nadar has also initiated a similar project for rural India. But why can’t Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, Birla and the whole lot of their peers join Mittal to have a private school in each village of the country to provide quality education and skill to the future generation. India needs around six lakh quality schools in villages. Corporate India must think of taking over the existing government schools in the villages. Many states may agree for it.

Unless the rural India and particularly those from the deprived class- dalits, SC, ST, join the race for a place in higher education, India can’t improve its standard of higher education with targeted gross enrollment ratio of around 30 from the present level of 10-14. Even IITs and IIMs will not keep on getting the best of talents in the country without so many from rural India not in competition.

There can’t be any better CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) than this project of educating rural India. The project will automatically take care of other things.

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Bihar: Neglected Higher Education

Posted on July 12, 2011 by indra

Nitish Kumar has hardly done anything to contribute to and improve the higher education in the state during the years of his rule. The students’ and teachers’ indiscipline is still a major deterrent for creating an ambience for respectable academic culture to move forward for the excellence in academic performance. The caste wars still remain a dominant factor. The students are satisfied to get the certificates and degrees with fair and fowl means. The teachers instead of taking interest in developing their teaching skills keep themselves busy in institutional politics and even using the students for that.

Even the reputed colleges such as Patna Science College, Women’s College, BN College and the engineering and medical colleges have lost its past glory. This week I got ‘India Today’ that has ranked all the colleges of arts, science, commerce, engineering, medicines and even law. I couldn’t find even a single institution from the state. I was searching for the NIT, Patna, Chanakya Law College and Chandragupta Management School in the list. Unfortunately I could find any. Is it not a shame for the state, its government and people-teachers, students and parents? I am sure that Nitish can’t build and enhance the image of Bihar with just its Litti-chokha. I don’t know if Nitish as the chief minister has ever addressed any meeting of the principals of the 100 best colleges, heard them, and appealed for improving their standard to the level of the reputed colleges of the country.

Today many colleges of arts, science, commerce and law such as Lady Shri Ram College, St. Stephen’s (New Delhi), St Xavier’s (Kolkata) or Loyola (Chennai) are looked upon by the young generation almost as equivalent to IITs and IIMs. MNCs and reputed Indian companies are visiting their campuses and offering great remuneration packages similar to IITs and IIMs. Why can’t the colleges of Bihar and all who are responsible of managing these institutes take some lessons from it?

I find a large number of proposals for setting up professional colleges on the website of the state. But hardly few have taken shape. One can understand the reason for the big industry not coming to the state as it is short of power or land acquisition may be problem. But it is difficult to perceive the reasons for the professional educational institutions not getting interested in setting up their shops in Bihar, when the students of Bihar are going to all parts of the country for getting admissions in the professional institutes and spending at least 50% more.

I wish the chief minister and the present education minister who are quite qualified persons, to appreciate the need to go into the root-causes of the problems and to find effective solutions. Perhaps the education sector in Bihar with so much of indiscipline must require ruthless actions and surgery. Let the political interferences be out and meritocracies prevail in education.

I can only appeal to Nitish Kumar to bring a revolution in education in Bihar everything else will follow. Bihar needs many Madan Mohan Malviyas. As I keep on hearing there are many black sheep in the administration causing delays and holdups. Let Nitish Kunar remove all the red tapes in the administration to encourage such people.

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Two States, Two Universities and common Mentors

Posted on July 9, 2011 by indra

It is interesting that Amartya Sen and Sugata Bose are at the helms of affairs of setting up two world class great institutions of excellence: Nalanda International University and Presidency University. While the former one is to come up near Rajgrih in Bihar, the later one will grow out of the former Presidency College, Calcutta in West Bengal. As one from Bihar and also an alumnus of Presidency College, I am looking with a great hope for the two institutes to get shape. With the age factor against me, I don’t know if I shall see the institutes bloom in its full glory.

I sometimes wonder if the two distinguished professors will prove themselves two great managers too to complete these dream projects that can shape up and change the academic culture of the eastern India and bring a pride to the whole nation.

While Nalanda International University will come up as a new campus on 1000 acres, it is not known if Presidency University will have a new campus out of Calcutta. Perhaps it will be necessary for Presidency University to move to a new campus in an appropriate location because of the space constraints in present location today. Otherwise, it will have a similar disadvantage that IIT, Kharagpur faces today.
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Academically, it will be easier for Presidency College to take shape of an University. It has already around 18 full-fledged departments of various subjects providing graduate and post graduate courses. And I hope that even after the damage caused by the leftists government, it must have some excellent faculty in each department and scaling up may not be difficult. Presidency University can also look to its alumni to assist in getting its dreams realized. I would have liked each of the department to become a full fledged school in the university, and the best of the alumni of the department from across the globe could head and help to make it world class.

In a country with $22 billion dollar worth of valuables stashed in just one temple, the fund can’t be a problem for this great cause. I wish the industrialists, alumni and also people of the country to donate generously for the fund required in making the dreams of Presidency University realized. I always look back to the example of Madan Mohan Malviya. If he could arrange the entire fund for seeing his dream shaped, why can’t it happened today in much more prosperous India of the day?

In case of Nalanda International University, I wish the teachers are paid in line with the best in the world and selected from all over the world. Each school such as the school of historical sciences and the school of environment and ecology that are starting next year must cover every aspect of the subject in different departments.

The centre and Bihar government must construct a 6-lane express way connecting the university from Patna airport and railway station, and plan a world class International satellite township with all infrastructural facilities on the periphery of the university campus. The region must remain sanitized for providing the academic ambiance.

I wish it happens faster with some Japanese or Chinese efficiency as both the countries are participating in the project. Interestingly, both the projects have a tacit support of the chief ministers of the states.

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President of RWA, Sector 41, Noida : an Extraordinary Appeal

Posted on July 7, 2011 by indra

After many months, I felt an inner urge to write this letter rather an appeal in the interest of the sector’s residents. The latest Samvada has published two entries one from the reigning President of RWA and the other from the leader of so called opposition. Before proceeding, I want to tell both of them that none of the residents feel like reading such correspondences. We have not decided to live in this sector for reading such letters. We wish to live in peace in a community with pleasing social ambience.

The incumbent executive including the president have run the RWA for many years. They have mastered the art and science to keep on winning. It doesn’t mean that the majority of the residents really love them to continue. For a change, why should not they on their own decide not to contest the election and allow new aspirants to come? I know that as per the constitution it is not required. A president may keep on winning the election and retaining the reign till end of his life like many in Arab countries. And the residents will hardly bother.

I will again appeal to all the office bearers that they on their own must discard the office after a reign of two years. I wish it should be incorporated in the constitution of the RWA and for that matter it should be universally applied. Citing example from the country’s political scenario, the communists in West Bengal kept on winning election; it didn’t mean they were liked by the people of the state and finally they were thrown out. Why should it happen in a residential complex?

I am sure every resident of the sector will love my idea and the incumbent will become more respected.

I have few more things to share with residents of the sector.

The sector is too big for fellowship to develop. RWA must divest its resources to develop each block. The block representative must be a leader good enough to organize many get-togethers to develop the necessary fellowships among 150-170 families living in that many houses. The families must know each other and in long run be of help to each other if required.

The community of the sector must be more active to make its member contribute more to the community around, such as the families and the needy persons in the village or for the people working for the sector and providing various services. It may be providing the healthcare services, skill training or education to those who can’t access and afford. With so many of wealthy people and with so much of resources, we can certainly do something to make a difference in the quality of life of those deprived ones that can be example for other sectors of Noida.

Further, as I don’t know the fate of the next election, I request the next President or the executive that come for two more things:
Please have a good library in the community centre with bookshelves lined up all along the walls to provide an impetus to the young population of the sector to join the knowledge society. Many ministries are offering various aids.

Please create some playgrounds for the kids wherever there are some vacant areas such as one in our A Block. Unfortunately Noida Authority has totally missed this aspect in its planning.

I request the executives to make the sector look a little better. Encourage for a little effort and self constraint from the residents.

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Change not Reshuffle Cabinet

Posted on July 6, 2011 by indra

I once considered all the three ministers mentioned below as very efficient and effective. SM Krishna did a wonderful job as chief minister of Karnataka. Chidambaram is very impressive if one hears him. He is effective as home monster too but perhaps he lacks humility that must come with power. I had very hopes with Manmohan Singh, but he is not brave and even though he denies he is just a lame duck prime minister. I don’t understand how he can be called democratically elected, when everyone knows that he is there as Sonia put him there. The stories below will certainly make one doubt why should these men be there still.

• During a debate in the 15-member Council on security and development, Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna read out the Portuguese delegate’s speech, instead of India’s for about three minutes before India’s envoy to the UN came forward and pointed to the Indian speech in a stack of papers in front of Krishna. Further, with mikes on, Krishna whispered to his ambassador, ‘Should I read it from the beginning?’ The ambassador said, “Yes, you can start again”.

• A person whose name figured in the list of 50 most wanted Indian fugitives in Pakistan that was given to Pakistan was found to be living in a suburb of Mumbai. And the home minister P Chidambaram sought to play down the goof-up. “I did not prepare the list. It was prepared months ago. Just one name… whether it is the same person or two persons of same name, we have to see. “Be that as it may. If you prepare a list of 50 people, one name, assuming that we are wrong in one name, 49 are right. I don’t think we should make a big issue of it. It is possible there could be an error or there could be two people with the same name. I will go back and check,” Can any sane person take his argument? And still he is one of the best ministers.

• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his meeting with the media last week made an ‘off-the-record’ comment by about “25% of Bangladeshis being anti-India” and influenced by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)’. Can you tell a neighbor a thief even if he is one? Is Manmohan showing his age? How can a great nation bear with it?

According to a reshuffle buzz, Manmohan may drop S M Krishna. I will again impress on him to bring some from private sector. Why should not he approach NR Narayana Murthy or Sam Pitroda and Krishnamurthy or Subodh Bhargava or Shreedharan to be in his team? There may be many more and better persons known to Manmohan.

And more than that let there be a re-engineering, structural change. Create a ministry of manufacturing and drop many that are not required.

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‘Strong and Effective’ Lokpal

Posted on July 4, 2011 by indra

As expected the all party meeting called by the government to come to a consensus on Lokpal Bill failed. Naturally three hours were not good enough. But one can easily conclude few things out of the Sunday meeting.

There was a consensus on making Lokpal effective and strong.

The prime minister, his party and the government agreed that the bill must be robust enough to make Lokpal effective and strong to deter persons from corruption.

The opposition in all party meeting rightly had expected a final draft from the government, after its minister spent so much of time with the members of civil society that it intends to present in parliament in the monsoon session. However the government didn’t do that it instead presented both versions.

Perhaps now the government will prepare its final version and get it through the cabinet before putting into the parliament. The country men will come to know at that time if the government has yielded to the demand of the Anna team. Further the people will come to know only then if it really intends to create a strong and effective Lokpal.

Naturally, the debate in parliament will be fierce. However, the final result will reveal if the parliament realizes the rage of the people against the politicians and administrators or those in powerful position. Will the potential corrupt be fearful of the Lokpal that the parliament created or will they continue in the corrupt way as they are doing it now?

One thing is clear that the whole exercise of the series of meetings with the members of civil society was just a waste, as the government never wanted to give any respect to their ideas. The way the government pumped them up made all the political parties go against the civil society. It’s really bad for future. The civil society could be of a great help in more important bills such as Land Acquisition Bill or even making Food security Bill effectively implemented.

Unfortunately, right from day one, the government of Congress is biased against the Anna’s team and has branded it allied with RSS and BJP. Even if they are, there is nothing wrong in hearing them if they have some better ideas in the interest of the nation. After all we claim India as democratic country.

The government and opposition have only agreed to take up the bill in monsoon session. It would have also decided a time frame to get it implemented. I doubt. It may take many more months if not years.

Next, will Anna go for the fast and will it matter now anymore? Anna and his men will have to go to the people if the bill presented by the government is not with the right mission to eliminate corruption, and if the politicians show any inkling of perpetuating their power to manage all the bills

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Government Smart or Unscrupulous on Lokpal

Posted on July 2, 2011 by indra

Congress is trying to be smart, or perhaps unscrupulous. First Congress sidelined opposition and yielded to Anna who represents a part of India’s civil society in the face of a countrywide mass agitation. The opposition felt miserable but couldn’t do anything with civil society taking its space.

After agreeing to sit with members of civil society, it appeared pretty soon that those ministers were not very comfortable. With lot of bickering between the two parties seen on all the news channels and one boycott, India got two drafts of Lokpal Bill ready after nine sittings: one bill is that of five ministers of the government but not of the government, the other prepared by the representatives of civil society or of a section of that. Actually the members of civil society continued under a threat of being branded as uncooperative.

The government soon after the final meeting tried everything to demoralize and discredit the civil society including harassing the members of civil society through government investing agencies. Newspapers every day published something or other on Ramdev’s ill-gotten wealth. It was more than meanness. Even person such as Pranab Mukherji used bad words about the leaders of civil society. Kapil Sibal went on his mission to downgrade the civil society through articles in national dailies.

Now Congress wanted to make it something between political parties vs. civil society. Congress thought that will bring the affected class of politicians together

Surprisingly, the government after a meeting with its alliance partners has not prepared its own final draft that can be discussed with the opposition parties. It wants to place the two drafts to them and seek their views. This is to create a gap between the civil society and the opposition parties. With confusing statements from the Prime Minister who offers to include his office to be included but for the opposition of his cabinet colleagues, the government remains indecisive. The law minister and Mr. Kapil Sibal have kept on giving messy statement.

The opposition must insist on presenting a government bill in the all party meeting for discussion rather than discussing the two drafts.

It is unfortunate that the government is trying to blame civil society for all the mess it has created, whereas it would have come clean if it really wishes to have a strong and effective Lokpal to curb the cancerous growth of corruption from the system..

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PM Defends?

Posted on June 30, 2011 by indra

Unfortunately no transcript of what all went on in the first meeting of Manmohan Singh with select five editors, is available. However, his pretty long introductory note is available on Prime minister’s website that I went through and found really disgusting.

Manmohan Singh almost accuses media by his statement: ‘the role of the media today in many cases has become that of the accuser, the prosecutor and the judge.’ In a democracy and with perception of Ram Rajya as the target for good governance in the mind of the people of India, even one man can be ‘the accuser, the prosecutor and the judge’.

Unfortunately, Manmohan Singh lives in the past, and remains content with 50% score, whereas the next generation doesn’t want to get satisfied with anything less than 100%.

Manmohan’s reference to his Cambridge days reflects that:

“When I was a student at Cambridge, Sir Paul Chambers, who was then the Chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries, came and addressed us on who is a good manager, who will be considered by industry as a good manager.

He told our student group that, in an uncertain world in which we live in, if 5 out of 10 decisions that I take ex-ante turn out to be correct ex-post that would be considered as a job well done. If out of 10 decisions that I take, 7 turn out to be right ex-post that would be considered an excellent performance. But if you have a system which is required to perform 10 out of 10 cases I think no system can be effective and satisfy that onerous condition.”

Can it work in this era with severe global competition?

Perhaps, it is wrong to blame him. He has gone old. A younger leadership is a must today, be it Rahul or even Sonia Gandhi. Perhaps that’s the reason that presently most of the heads are younger persons. Persons like Manmohan can only be advisors to the prime minister, but not the prime minister or CEO himself.

Manmohan also doubts the effectiveness of CAG and committees such as JAC: “whether it is the Comptroller and Auditor General, whether it is a Parliamentary committee then they analyse post facto. They have a lot more facts which were not available to those who took the decision.” Is it not dangerous for the country that the PM have such poor notion about the constitutionally established agencies for providing the checks and balances?

Interestingly, Manmohan didn’t allow the TV channels to cover his meet with the five journalists. So when the journalists came out, the media men jumped on them with questions to know what happened. While listening to the invited journalists, I got a feeling that they were really elated by this exclusive honour to be with the prime minister and talked very high of the Prime minister’s dialogue and of even composure and the confidence shown. One thinks, he is very much in control.

Manmohan, however, have grabbed the headlines@ of all newspapers and also found a place in editorials today. It has happened, because Manmohan had after noises in press and even from his own ministers broken his silence. Otherwise it would have been a small news item somewhere in middle pages.For many, Manmohan broke his silence, but only just.. For some, Manmohan Singh failed to dispel policy paralysis fears.

Manmohan Singh agreed that his government is described as the most corrupt-ever, but he doesn’t have any magic wand to correct it. He claims, he is neither weak nor lame duck.

If Manmohan would have formed a drafting committee with main opposition parties and come out with a strong Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare would not have appeared on the scene. If Manmohan would have taken some positive steps to seize or bring back the black money stashed in foreign banks or got an ordinance on the issue, Ramdev would not have grown as menace for him requiring police action of that scale on common people in midnight.

If Manmohan is not lame duck, will the forthcoming cabinet reshuffle exhibit it? Can he appoint some real efficient ministers, some even from outside the Congress such as NR Narayana Murthy? After all he was picked up for ministry as outsider. If Manmohan was innovative, he could have reengineered the portfolios and administration to leave back his lasting contribution.

Unfortunately, Manmohan is neither proactive nor he has any priority; otherwise he would have focused to get some really urgent bills such as the Land Acquisition one passed. This single bill is holding back the development of the country. Hundreds of projects have remained on paper for years with no land to proceed. If Manmohan would have been efficient, the sectors such as infrastructure= power, road, or healthcare and education would have been on booming.

Further, why could he not address the nation instead of talking with select five? Why can’t he instead of blaming opposition call them for a national debate? The nation would have loved to see a debate between him and Advani on national issues as it happens in US. With extensive penetration of TVs, it would have cleared the confusion from the minds of a large number of people.
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@‘No magic wand to banish corruption’, ‘Can’t return to licence permit raj, have a police state’, ‘My govt is being termed most corrupt ever’, ‘Buck stops with me’, and…

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A Discarded man, also a Prime Minister

Posted on June 29, 2011 by indra

“Today is the 91st birth anniversary of PV Narsingha Rao, one of most learned among the prime ministers of India who laid the reform in economic policies that has made the country respected globally? However, the country expressed it through just a small ad in just one national daily. Does it not reflect on Manmohan and his character?”

After putting the above entry on Facebook, I tried to do some research. Rao was perhaps the most learned prime minister after Nehru. He was a great linguist. “His mother tongue was Telugu and had an excellent grasp on Marathi. In addition to eight Indian languages, he spoke English, French, Arabic, Spanish, German, Greek, Latin and Persian.”

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I was surprised to find why Rao selected Manmohan Singh in a recent column in Times of India. “Rao wanted a non-political reformer at the centre of decision-making, who could be backed or dumped as required.” interestingly in one entry on Face book I have suggested the same for the forthcoming reshuffle.

Rao didn’t only get the Indian economy on fast track with many reforms, and gave the direction to the country’s foreign policy because of his experience of foreign ministry. Even in the political turmoil after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Rao managed to go for the full five years.

But why was he humiliated by Sonia clan? The simple answer: Rao didn’t keep Sonia in picture when he became prime minister. Why would have he done that?

One thing is but sure. Rao came from an ordinary rural family. Rao didn’t create a bank balance even good enough to lead a good life. He never promoted any of his offspring though he had a big family. H

Congress all these years had been a party of sycophants. Sitaram Kesari was another buffoon who might have conspired against Rao. After the death of Narsinhgha Rao, even as dead prime minister, he didn’t get the due respect. His body was not taken to Congress headquarter in Delhi. Is it not the meanness of the highest order of the persons responsible in Congress Party, and more so of Manmohan Singh who happened to be the prime minister, if not elected at least appointed, by then?

Manmohan Singh and his ministers keep on spending money of the exchequer on a large number of full page multi-colour advertisements from various ministry and government organizations on the birth and death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi. Does it not happen only to please Sonia Gandhi? Goddess Sonia never asks a question about this wastage in this country of millions of poor.

Do Sonia and Rahul consider that Rajiv has contributed more than PV and LB? How can the people of India keep on tolerating these dynastic extravaganzas?

However, party celebrations or ads will not make one bigger or one without that less relevant for the country.

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Rural India Needs Creation of Jobs

Posted on June 28, 2011 by indra

The increased yield over the years (that may not compare anywhere with China) and good minimum support price have made many young men in rural India aspiring for better life. They are finding solutions to the problems such as power where the government fails. They are getting installed solar plates and some even are going for diesel generators for getting electricity for domestic use. Cooking gas is replacing cooking on traditional cow dung cakes fast, as the number of cattle have reduced drastically because of tractors. Even Harendra, who works in Noida for us bought a small cylinder and stove for his wife who lives in his village. It’s easily available too locally. Biomass such as paddy husk has become another source of power generation.

I liked the new but growing spirit of entrepreneurship that is getting contagious in Rural India. The ownerships of some 10 harvester combines by the young men in my village, Pipra, amply show the risk that they are ready to take by investing about Rs 15 lakhs in each of these machines from Punjab. They are getting business minded. They are going out for business not only to the villages around, but they even take the machine to far distant places to MP where the wheat crop gets ready a little earlier. As I could learn from the driver who took us to Varanasi in his M&M’s Balero, some middlemen are engaged in finding business for the harvesters. They take their share.

Interestingly, I found one JCB earth moving machine parked this time in the village. On enquiry I was told, it goes for rental in road building work that is going on all over in the state.

I did also found a number of passenger vehicles of all models, though Mahindra’s SUVs are more popular, parked in and around the village. They were all for rental. Today one can rent and call any vehicle at any time just by a call from his cell phone.
My village of about 2500 population is having two rice mills of a ton per hour capacity that require somewhat high investment in the range of Rs. 25 to 30 lakh or more based on capacity. One of the mills that have come up in co-operative under the government scheme is using power from a prime mover that is partly run on the gas generated from paddy husk the by-product of the rice mills. The third mill is coming up. I wish these mills could run to its full capacity. It requires capital on credit and certain amount of training in business and marketing aspects.

But I saw all these entrepreneurial aspirations only in so-called upper categories of rural households. For the households traditionally dependent on menial work, the job opportunities are shrinking fast at least in the rural areas that I am acquainted with because of mechanization. There is hardly any agricultural work that goes on for the whole year for any menial worker. A maximum of one or two persons get engaged in some affluent families for household work including that of taking care of cattle if any. Only paddy transplantation and weeding still remain as manual, but as it is happening in Punjab perhaps the machines will very soon replace these also. Some significant rural innovations, such as one by integrating a hydraulic cylinder in the trailer trolley of a tractor for tilting it to download its content, are also are being indigenously developed.

Interestingly, the owners are not using the locals as the operators of the harvesters. A group of three persons comes from the machine manufacturers of Punjab well in advance in the harvesting seasons, get the machine ready, run it for the season, cover it and go away to return in next season.

With a little preplanning, the government sponsored MNREGA could have provided useful employment to some more unemployed youth. But MNREGA can’t be called an employment in real sense.

I wish the government could create a ‘women creativity centre’ in each village. The centre could provide training in various skills that help self employment and could double as a common workplace too. The traders and main manufacturers can outsource certain work that can be easily done in rural area and collected for marketing. But it can happen with only some external assistance may be from some NGOs. It’s necessary as one hardly finds any local leadership for such activities.

Unfortunately, the persons of different castes are still not getting into some trades because of social taboos and traditions. I remember how my aunty didn’t allow the extra milk to be sold through milk collection centre. And even today she will not be ready to grow vegetable for selling in market. A barber will not like to be a tailor and vice versa.

I wish the government brings certain change in the curricula and makes it compulsory to learn at least two employable trades before passing out class 10 from the village school. Every rural school, if necessary, can run in two shifts for developing various skills. For example, the country produces around 4 lakh commercial vehicles. That generates employment for at least 8 lakh skilled drivers of heavy vehicles. Has the country provided for training the number? Why can’t it be done in the villages to make the young men employable?

The government, management schools and NGOs must focus on finding ways and means to increase the opportunities of useful employment in rural India and making the young men and women employable along with the formal education.

Let me assert that as on today, whatever is happening in the rural India creating employment is mostly in spite of the government. Creating employment will be the biggest challenge as well as opportunity to take the country ahead and speed up the growth rate too.

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