Leakage of development funds.

Leakage of development funds.

 

Your report, " Rajiv was right: only 16p of re reaches poor" (TOI,15/10) is a severe indictment of Indian state's social sector investment strategy. Writing recently in the New York Times, Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman said " How did F.D.R. manage to make a big government so clean ? A large part of the answer is that oversight was built into New Deal programmes from the beginning. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), in particular, had a powerful,independent "division of progress investigation" devoted to investigating complaints of frauds. This division was so diligent that in 1940 when Congressional sub-committee investigated the WPA it couldn't find a single serious irregularity that the division has missed".

 

The billions of dollars that have been pumped into the US economy by its government in the last one year to stimulate US economy and it is being monitored more diligently than before. Earl Devaney, who heads stimulus monitoring board, is setting up the most complex government website in history which will enable journalists and citizens to monitor every dollar that comes from the government coffers. " The website will unleash a million citizen IGs (Inspectors-General", says Mr.Devaney. The Indian government should follow this example. India has many people of unimpeachable character who can head such a system and one of the software companies in India could be assigned to set up the same. This is more urgent than anything else that the government of India is doing just now as social sector spending is almost Rs.200,000 crore now. Without proper monitoring mechanism, tax-payers money would go to the corrupt politicians and bureaucracy rather than to the intended recipients, the poor.

 

One wonders whether dole in the form of 100 days of work is the best solution to poverty ? Is it not possible to devise another strategy of empowering people with skills which will enable them to earn their living ? It has been well-said that it is better to teach fishing than give fish.

 

October 20,2009.

****           

 

Human rights and discrimination.

Human rights and discrimination.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) of USA wants India to take a lead in
proclaiming caste as a form of discrimination (TOI,15/10). It is not
clear what purpose will be served with that acceptance by India.
Indian constitution has already proclaimed social,economic and
political equality in its preamble and it has taken measures to uplift
scheduled castes and tribes. Of course, Indian society and the Indian
state have to take further measures to fulfill the constitutional
mandate to bring about complete equality. However, one would like to
know what the US government has done to stop discrimination to Native
Americans and African-Americans and how far the government has been
able to eradicate discrimination. Why US should not be a role model in
this area? How far discrimination against non-Muslims, non-Sunny
Muslims and women been eradicated in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the
most favoured countries of USA ? Without proper answers to these
doubts the HRW and Human Rights Council look like tools to defame
India.

October 15, 2009.

****

The Mahatma exposes hypocrisy on his birthday.

The Mahatma exposes hypocrisy on his birthday.

Mahatma Gandhi exposed the hypocrisy of his followers on his 140th
birth anniversary. His name has become a brand name for simplicity,
honesty, empowerment of the poor and the villages, dignity of man and
dignity of labour, truth and non-violence. However, his followers use
his name for other than what he stood for. He has become an icon of
worship, not to be followed but to be used to further their own
interest.

A descendent of Gandhiji sells his name to a luxury fountain pen
manufacturer to get money for his private foundation, of course, named
after the Mahatma. A minister twitters that there should not be a
holiday on Mahatma's birthday, immediately after coming from a luxury
hotel where he was waiting for his bungalow to be ready. The head of
the country goes with an entourage of 100 people to visit his birth
place and places of pilgrimage when the country is under a drought and
the government is supposed to be on an austerity drive.( Later, it is
clarified that the expenditure by the entourage would not be spent by
the government.) To top it all, the central government has named the
NREGA ( National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) after him where
thousands of crore of rupees are being spent to assure 100 days of
work in a year which has been summed up by a recent headline in a
newspaper, " Centre's job plan falls prey to corruption, 40% of funds
siphoned off". It appears that Gandhiji has been made an accomplice in
their game of money and power.

The Mahatma stood for the empowerment of the poor (sarvodaya – welfare
of all and anthyodaya – unto the last) and self-reliant villages.
After 62 years of independence, majority of villages have no
electricity, no roads, no primary schools, no primary health-care
centres, no water for agriculture or for drinking purpose, women and
children have to walk long distances for a few hours to fetch water,
and no employment. India's villages have 60 percent of the population
and produce 18 to 20 percent of GDP – one can imagine the poverty in
the country. Villagers flock to the cities in search of work and stay
in slums. People are being given fish instead of being trained in
fishing. People are being made dependent on the powers-that-be with
doles and subsidies, even TV sets, not independent with vocational
education and training to stand on their own legs. Is this Gandhiji's
India ?

October 6,2009.

*****