दृष्टिकोण – Indra's Viewpoint

रामायण एक लंबा गाथा काब्य है| काफी समय लगा होगा उसकी रचना में| मैं दादाजी के रास्ते चलते हुए उसका मासपारायण करता हूँ| समय समय पर कुछ प्रश्न उभर उठते हैं |

लगता है तुलसीदास जी रामायण ख़त्म करने के बाद उसे फिर से सरसरी निगाह से नहीं देखे | कुछ कथा की असंगतियाँ दिखती हैं| मैं केवल दो उदहारण दे रहा हूँ|

बालकाण्ड में पार्वती शिव से कथा सुनाने को कहती हैं और कुछ घटनाओं का जिक्र करती हैं :
बहुरि कहहु करुनायतन कीन्ह जो अचरज राम|
प्रजा सहित रघुबंसमनि किमि गवाने निज धाम ||
तुलसीदास को जब राम कैसे अपने धाम गए नहीं बताना था तो पार्वती से यह प्रश्न नहीं करवाना चाहिए था| शायद रामायण लिखने का अंत आते आते वे भूल गए पार्वती का अनुरोध|

इसीतरह लंकाकांड के आखिरी में राम विमान से लौट रहे हैं| प्रयाग में त्रिवेणी पर दान देते हैं:
पुनि प्रभु आई त्रिबेनी हरषित मज्जनु कीन्ह |
कपिन्ह सहित बिप्रन्ह कहुं दान बिबिध बिधि दीन्ह ||

कहाँ से ? बिभीषण का कोई धन तो वे लिए ही नहीं थे| बिभीषण से उसे सभी बानरों में बंटवा दिए थे | मैं तुलसीदास जी की आलोचना नहीं करता हूँ | चाहता हूँ अपने अज्ञान का अंत करना | कोई इसका समाधान करे तो अच्छा लगेगा, पर उत्तर तर्कसंगत होना चाहिए | नहीं तो मैं यह माँ लूँगा कि संपादन का समय ही नहीं मिला|

And finally they left us today early in the morning for US. With a duty to wake them up at 2.30 AM, I could hardly sleep for an hour. For me, it’s pretty usual and doesn’t cause any problem still. As such also, many a times I get up at very early hours.

The evening was really fulsome for me. I could come closer to Anvita. When I found her refusing to take any food to everyone, I tried my hand. It was a pleasure to see her jump from the bed every time I call her for taking the portion of puri and before that a piece of mango. Every child perhaps expects a personal care and loving approach. Kesav had taken his quota of Halwa prepared by his grandmother that he loves and asks for.

As an old man and a little emotional character I was trying to find out what all these kids have taken from their father, Rakesh. I was also watching Rakesh closely. Many of his ways and manners to behave in a particular situation have remained same.

I am amazed to find his love of books that’s almost similar to mine. For that matter, all the three have developed that trait. When I offered him some books from my collections that I finished reading, Rakesh picked up Gurucharan Das’s latest dealing with the Mahabharat’s characters, and Nandan Nilekani’s ‘Imagining India’. He wanted to take away one volume of the ‘Manufacturing Engineering Handbook’ too that dealt with manufacturing planning. I wish he would have done that. But the constraints of the limit of the weight of baggage prevented him to do that. His enterprise Zyom.com ‘reduces Total Product & Operations Cost for Hi-Tech electronics and Consumer goods companies, provides an innovative Lifecycle Cost approach that helps companies identify and minimize unaddressed costs,’ and works on the solutions of related problems. We all wish him success and pray for it.

Alpana as a good housewife had different tastes and priorities. But Yamuna and I loved her picking the black grams and peas that we got from Madhukarpur that would have gone waste as otherwise. We hardly take it as precaution advised by the doctor. Rakesh hardly gets involved into normal household tasks. Perhaps he has imbibed this from me. However, there is one difference and in Rakesh’s case, Alpana is working with an US company as Project Manager with a lot of responsibility and seriousness. And I am sure she will one day achieve what all I have been dreaming for years.

They left and we, two here in Noida will keep on waiting for a next visit from one of the three from US with eagerness and expectations of everything going on in ‘happy’ mode.

Rural India is undergoing a transformation. However, most of the changes are taking the people born and brought up there out of their traditional engagements. I don’t know how many of the urban intellectuals are aware of that.

Bullocks and buffaloes used for ploughing the field are disappearing. Tractors, harvesters, and now even rice tranplanters are entering rapidly due to the shortage of immigrant labour force who got engaged in their home states in NREGA scheme. It has certainly improved the productivity and loss of final produce compared to traditional harvesting.

I was amazed to learn about the use of special harvesters for potatoes and sugarcane in some states. And it’s happening even after the insane opposition of some political leaders such as Mulayam. No one can stop this from happening and neither should it happen at the cost of the improvement in productivity of farming. It improves the quality of life of the people in rural India too.
However, it will demand creation of jobs for the categories of workers, both male and female, in the rural India that used to get engaged in the traditionally manual processes of farming and other household activities. It requires a change in mindset of rural work force with certain amount of external input, as till now the offspring in the family used to go in for the family professions.

I was amazed yesterday when Alok, who manages the farming in village, expressed his desire about starting a poultry farm and plantation in big way. It’s a real welcome change in the mindset in a land where even the persons from landless rural community are no more interested in keeping cattle and making it a business.

The changing rural India requires a different type of assistance. As the landholding is getting reduced with every new generation, the farming as profession may not sustain the livelihood of the family engaged solely in it. The scientists and experts are expected to suggest ways and means for making a good living out of two-three acres of land. How long will it remain viable with new hybrid seeds and chemical fertilizers or with right combinations of commercial and traditional crops, be it floriculture or horticulture or even premium priced organically grown products with sufficient demand and market? I am sure no government can solve the problem by just increasing the subsidy on the inputs or the minimum support price of the produce.

Additional earnings by some of the members of the households can only make a difference.

Another way of creating employment can come out of skill training and encouraging entrepreneurships. Unfortunately, even after the tremendous growths in the use of machines in farm and appliances at home, the rural kids are not ready to getting engaged into the business of servicing the equipment. The farmers mostly depend on someone in the nearby town for the repair and services. India Inc must encourage the setting up of the service centres and facilities in the rural areas to cater to the local requirements.

A lot of employment can also come from rural housing, if innovative entrepreneurs of private sector get into the business. It’s a myth that rural India can’t afford modern houses and business clusters. However, it requires a frugal engineering and construction processes suiting to the local requirements using the locally available raw material and manpower.

A special national drive is necessary to study in detail and report on creating job opportunities in rural India depending on the local strength and requirements. All management schools and agricultural universities may take up the task through summer projects to cover all the six lakh villages in India. And a team of teachers and experts can consolidate the final recommendations.

There are already successful models of the efforts made by some like Percy Burnevik, former non-executive Chairman of ABB Ltd, the power and automation giant company, through Do Bear Production Unit, where 50 dalit women produce teddy bear and earn about Rs 150 for a doll. Almost all the daughters-in-law coming in village can be the potential candidates who can participate in the drive. Some like Sulekha can easily become an entrepreneur herself for various types of activities after suitable training and engage many.

Let the policy makers and every one wishing to see a better rural India start planning on the line of successful models and create the engagement for the different categories of people living in the rural India. And that only can bring prosperity and banish the poverty.

Rakesh, my eldest son, came from US to attend a marriage in Patna and combined it with some his business related work in Hyderabad. The marriage was on July 9, and he was to leave Patna for Hyderabad on July 10 for business meetings that were fixed well before he left US.

He was to leave for Patna from Delhi in the evening on July 8 as per schedule. It was late on July 7 that he came to know of the July 10, strike. In Noida, I did not know about it. As the protesters these days go to any extent to stop the operation of flights, railway trains, and even the vehicles on roads, our relatives in Patna advised for changing the travel plan. Rakesh spent few hours in fixing up the changed plan and made us all worry too. Will Lalu, Ram Bilas or for that matter all the political leaders who very often call these strikes or Bandhs as they call it, appreciate the difficulties and mental agonies of people affected in many ways by the rogue followers who manage these bandhs? Who should take the responsibility of the incidents of violence? Will Lalu and Ram Bilas justify their bandh supporters raining lathis on vehicle owners and shopkeepers who defied the bandh?

And then Rakesh had to take a flight on July 9 itself for Hyderabad via New Delhi without attending the marriage of his sister-in-law. Rakesh reached Patna around 8PM on July 8 and returned to Patna airport by 12 noon on the next day without attending the marriage and any other function. He had to leave behind his wife and kids in Patna.

And all the mess was due to the strike called by Lalu=Paswan against the price rise in the country. Interestingly, he had already seen one on July 5, when he arrived in Delhi in early morning on July 5. Fortunately, as it was in Delhi, he could come to Noida without any problem.

Leaders of Bihar have learnt the nitty-gritty of managing the bandhs in effective manner so that no sane person dares to come out from his house in a bandh perhaps from the masters of the art in the neighbouring state. Democracy allows only willing participation in protests. It never gives a license to resort to violence and threat to make others participate in a protest. Why should not the party resorting to violence in the democratic protests be banned? Why should the students be stopped from going to their schools and the poor workers to their works and the patients even critical ones are not allowed to go to hospitals?
I don’t know what Lalu and Paswan would have advised his sons if they get involved in such a situation. I and many feel aghast against the riding prices. But has any bandh that caused inconveniences to millions of people and loss of many types yielded any result? Is a check on the price rise their intention? Are not they showing their strength in this election year to their vote banks and trying to embarrass the state government?

K Subramanayam has very rightly called these bandhs as acts of terror similar to one carried out by the Naxalites in the country.

Why should not the political leaders innovate a peaceful way of protest without causing the loss to individuals or the nation? If these leaders try to copy everything that US does, why can’t they follow the same for democratic protests too?