Shivraj Cabinet's decision to send Ayurved doctors to villages is a welcome decision.In the absence of doctors unwilling to go to rural areas it comes as a blessing in disguise .Not only would it give a fillip to the lacunae in the primary healthcare , it 'll rejuvenate Indian traditional medicine. Since these doctors will also be trained in basic allopathy , they'll be able to mange SOS too.Aditionally , it'll give employment to a lot of people .If alongwith , the proposal of M.P govt .to start a three year rural medicine programe comes through , the state can emerge as a hub forholistic medicine.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
IRRIGATION FO R GREEN REVOLUTION
The cabinet decision to renovate, strengthen and expand Tawa project canals
is a welcome step .It must be followed by a similar exerxise at Bargi.The much talked about second Green revolution is not possible without better irrigation facilities - both by having new projects as also by optimising the existing ones.
Friday, April 22, 2011
PRIVATISATION OF ELECTRICITY AND WATER IN M.P - A MIXED BLESSING ?
Giving the distribution and revenue collection aspects of electricity companies to private parties in M.P is a progressive step albeit with a rider.It should've been limited to urban areas in the first phase.The rural areas should be with the state agencies lest the private players pressurise the farmers unduly for bills.
As for water being sucked from all the rivers including Narmada to the cities and its distribution given to private companies is a dangerous step since the commodification of this life resource may
lead to undue stress among the urban poor.
As for water being sucked from all the rivers including Narmada to the cities and its distribution given to private companies is a dangerous step since the commodification of this life resource may
lead to undue stress among the urban poor.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
RUNNING IN THE SAME PLACE.
The Madhya Pradesh budget 2011-12 is somewhat of a mechanical document , conventional , more of the same thing .Though Budgets in these days of globalised economy have a limited leverage but if that is used imaginatively, it can prove critical.
On the macro economic front , there are welcome steps in enhancing the allocations to health and education in a quantum way. Likewise, there is a substantial increase for middle term initiatives in energy and agriculture. GDP has increased and the growth rate is higher than the national average. On the micro front though our per capita income is lower and with rising cost of living , disparity rises and scenarios like the farmers suicides arise.
In what ways could the MP Budget be different from the Union Budget and those of other states? A state budget ,esp. that of a developing state like MP cannot be evaluated on GDP and growth rate alone. Even the HDI indicators have to be figured in. For instance, the funds allotted for infants under the proposed Atal Bal scheme though welcome are too meager .On the other hand, with 28 % increase in revenue receipts , where was the need to borrow from market ? The plea that other states borrow even more does not hold since borrowing is O.K wherever there are more income opportunities.
Also, there is no take on governance issues - there is no benchmarking ,emphasis is only on outlays ,nothing about outcomes. There is no mention of funds lapsing - the quarterly allocation too has not worked - or for that matter the status of previous budgets’ promises. Similarly ,nothing has been done about regional disparity; nothing specific for SC / ST; Furthermore , there is precious little in the direction of promises in manifesto viz.-1 lakh jobs a year for youth ; waiving loans of farmers upto 50,000/-; parity of state govt. employees with central scales. The general impression that BJP is a party for rich businessmen / big farmers has been reinforced .This
budget is in keeping with the eternal weakness of BJP - lack of vigour & rigour ;playing to the gallery and statistical jugglery can only go so far.
Opposition too didn’t perform its role , beyond the TV bytes and one liners there has been no intelligent debate. All in all, it is more like a BahiKhaata than a vision statement which a budget is supposed to be. Conventional approach can get you conventional results .There seems to be no different model for MP than other states which means we will always be behind others. It is like running in the same place.
Monday, May 31, 2010
SPECIAL DEFUNCT SESSION
Political parties are supposed to have a vision about the state before the elections , particularly in their second innings . Thus summoning a special session one year down the second stint to chalk out a vision for the state made little sense. Besides , special sessions a re called for extraordinary reasons or emergencies. Moreover , initially it was to be of three days duration with a focus on Agriculture ; apparently , on the opposition’s demand it was extended to four days (11-14th May 2010) and made general purpose .Clearly , there was much more to it than meets the eye.
First things first - Why have a special session ? My take is that the prime motive was to negate the undercurrent of dethroning Shivraj which is gathering strength due to various reasons .That the CM’s performance has been no great shakes is borne by bad statistics and an equally bad press . The situation has been made worse by erring and tainted ministers , many of whom have managed to return with the backing of the high command even against Shivraj’s wishes and hence are stronger vis- a-vis the CM. Adding to the woes are corrupt officers who are being exposed by the dozen . Ironically, the second innings which was supposed to be smoother for Shivraj has proved to be otherwise precisely for the abovementioned reasons. To be fair to him , any CM in Madhya Pradesh can make only a marginal difference what with only two major political parties , that too with only cosmetic differences on major politico- economic issues. A CM can do well only if he has a vision, a good team of ministers and a disciplined delivery machinery in the form of officers . Sadly, on all the three counts Shivraj fares badly. A secondary basis of calling the session was to use it as a diversionary tactic from the poor performance.
As to the timing , it has to be seen in the context of the changing equations within the p arty . With the new BJP president coming in and holding the first national convention in Indore , signal went around about the influence of Kailash Vijayvargiya. Add to it the impending return of Uma Bharti , the CM camp started feeling the heat. Since Shivraj himself has traditionally derived his sustenance from the proximity to the central leaders ,with others aping the formula , the reactionary forces sprung into action. To nullify any credit that Kailash might have got from the Indore meet ,old cases against him and his supporters were raked up; besides Shivraj went upto Gadkari and expressed his reservations about Uma Bharti’s return . Simultaneously plans were chalked out to carry out a major PR exercise in the name of a special session . The belief being that hype created will make it increasingly difficult for powers that be to dislodge the CM. Shivraj can take solace in the fact that he has scuttled any second in command and the new BJP president is relatively weak. Moreover , by having a paratrooper state BJP president he may buy temporary reprieve.
Coming to the content of the session - for most part , it was vague emotional sloganeering . However ,for the sake of records,70 proposals have been shortlisted , the major ones were:
1. CM drinking water scheme – laudable if implemented ; somehow enough importance is not given to providing safe drinking water which has the potential of preventing half the diseases. Andhra began a scheme under Rajshekhar Reddy to provide filtered water to every village – perhaps M. P can have a look at it.
2 . An English medium school in every block ( esp. Tribal blocks) - Its importance in the fast globalizing world cannot be overstated . The earlier it is implemented the better it is.
3. A child health and nutrition mission - it has come not a day too soon with the state reeling under malnutrition deaths
4. Infrastructure development of suburbs - this is indeed visionary provided it is taken up seriously.
5. Bar coded food coupon for Public service distribution - it could be one more step in the direction of improving the delivery mechanism provided the loopholes are thought over beforehand.
LONG OVERDUE DECISIONS
1. Shutting off Laghu Udhyog Nigam - Small scale industries need to be protected , promoted the overnment or Commision way and not as a Corporation.
2. Citizen charter to be given the legislative guarantee of Public services-
Without legal backing the charter was defunct.
SUPERFLOUS
1. Sports & Mela authorities - the existing bodies are capable if they have the right policies . However , showering disproportionate money on National Hockey squads while the state’s Vikram awardees rot is perplexing. .
2. Hospital management institute – more than that the management of the existing hospitals needs to be improved.
3. Seperate department for construction and maintainence of govt. buildings - Instead the PWD needs to be spruced up .
4. Having a masterplan for every village – Master plan of cities need to be cleared first.
5. Two and four lane roads to headquarters – this has been aimed in the previous innings too.
6. Industrial corridors – having corridors doesn’t bring industries ; execute the signed MOU’s first.
ANAMOLIES
1. Claiming to raise the GDP upto 9-10% ( from the present claimed at 8 % ) whereas in reality the existing rate is 4.8%.
2. Raise production to 5000 MW by 2013.- what about the present 9 hr power cuts in most villages.
AMBIGUITIES
1. While talking of raising the GDP , it gives no idea of how the rate of growth will be increased.
2. While talking of making Agriculture a profitable activity ,it does not tell how.
3. From where would the funds come for these schemes.
4. Not talking of the demand supply gap of electricity by 2013.
Based on the above line , the opposition Congress Party questioned the validity of it all. In fact, it refused to called it a session and termed it a symposium instead . Besides , it reminded the govt . of the eleven point action plan suggested by Abdul Kalam four years ago It included increasing per capita from 14000/- to 50000 by 2010 ; HDI ranking from 12 to 5 ; total literacy before 2012 ;re ducing poverty from 40% to near zero by 2016; empowering tribals with health care education & employment... they pointed out that the status on most of these counts was deflating. Furthermore ,not having question hour gave no space to Congress’ points on the agenda . Among other things , the opposition wanted to raise the issue of tainted ministers and corrupt officers, increased crime against women , simmerings of casteist incidences and failure of the delivery mechanism.
In any case , the litmus test for a CM’ s performance is benchmarked upon the performances of the predecessors and those of the contemporaries in other states.Is it better or worse ? Certainly not the former. Even if it were otherwise , it is highly unlikely that the BJP would be returned to power the third time. Thus the bigwigs realise it could be the last chance to bask in glory f or a long time to come - Kailash Vijaywargiya , Sumitra Mahajan , Narendra Singh Tomar or for that matter even Prabhat Jha - to name a few.
As always too many resolutions were made in typical Shivraj style making their implementation very difficult. All in all , they appeared to be unrealistic and distorted. Perhaps if Chauhan had studied Maths too alongwith philosophy , his pronouncements would’ve made greater sense. To top it, opposition’s absence made the session meaningless. In sum , it has proved to be a bad idea badly executed. Rather than extending CM’s stay , it might hasten his exit instead.
First things first - Why have a special session ? My take is that the prime motive was to negate the undercurrent of dethroning Shivraj which is gathering strength due to various reasons .That the CM’s performance has been no great shakes is borne by bad statistics and an equally bad press . The situation has been made worse by erring and tainted ministers , many of whom have managed to return with the backing of the high command even against Shivraj’s wishes and hence are stronger vis- a-vis the CM. Adding to the woes are corrupt officers who are being exposed by the dozen . Ironically, the second innings which was supposed to be smoother for Shivraj has proved to be otherwise precisely for the abovementioned reasons. To be fair to him , any CM in Madhya Pradesh can make only a marginal difference what with only two major political parties , that too with only cosmetic differences on major politico- economic issues. A CM can do well only if he has a vision, a good team of ministers and a disciplined delivery machinery in the form of officers . Sadly, on all the three counts Shivraj fares badly. A secondary basis of calling the session was to use it as a diversionary tactic from the poor performance.
As to the timing , it has to be seen in the context of the changing equations within the p arty . With the new BJP president coming in and holding the first national convention in Indore , signal went around about the influence of Kailash Vijayvargiya. Add to it the impending return of Uma Bharti , the CM camp started feeling the heat. Since Shivraj himself has traditionally derived his sustenance from the proximity to the central leaders ,with others aping the formula , the reactionary forces sprung into action. To nullify any credit that Kailash might have got from the Indore meet ,old cases against him and his supporters were raked up; besides Shivraj went upto Gadkari and expressed his reservations about Uma Bharti’s return . Simultaneously plans were chalked out to carry out a major PR exercise in the name of a special session . The belief being that hype created will make it increasingly difficult for powers that be to dislodge the CM. Shivraj can take solace in the fact that he has scuttled any second in command and the new BJP president is relatively weak. Moreover , by having a paratrooper state BJP president he may buy temporary reprieve.
Coming to the content of the session - for most part , it was vague emotional sloganeering . However ,for the sake of records,70 proposals have been shortlisted , the major ones were:
1. CM drinking water scheme – laudable if implemented ; somehow enough importance is not given to providing safe drinking water which has the potential of preventing half the diseases. Andhra began a scheme under Rajshekhar Reddy to provide filtered water to every village – perhaps M. P can have a look at it.
2 . An English medium school in every block ( esp. Tribal blocks) - Its importance in the fast globalizing world cannot be overstated . The earlier it is implemented the better it is.
3. A child health and nutrition mission - it has come not a day too soon with the state reeling under malnutrition deaths
4. Infrastructure development of suburbs - this is indeed visionary provided it is taken up seriously.
5. Bar coded food coupon for Public service distribution - it could be one more step in the direction of improving the delivery mechanism provided the loopholes are thought over beforehand.
LONG OVERDUE DECISIONS
1. Shutting off Laghu Udhyog Nigam - Small scale industries need to be protected , promoted the overnment or Commision way and not as a Corporation.
2. Citizen charter to be given the legislative guarantee of Public services-
Without legal backing the charter was defunct.
SUPERFLOUS
1. Sports & Mela authorities - the existing bodies are capable if they have the right policies . However , showering disproportionate money on National Hockey squads while the state’s Vikram awardees rot is perplexing. .
2. Hospital management institute – more than that the management of the existing hospitals needs to be improved.
3. Seperate department for construction and maintainence of govt. buildings - Instead the PWD needs to be spruced up .
4. Having a masterplan for every village – Master plan of cities need to be cleared first.
5. Two and four lane roads to headquarters – this has been aimed in the previous innings too.
6. Industrial corridors – having corridors doesn’t bring industries ; execute the signed MOU’s first.
ANAMOLIES
1. Claiming to raise the GDP upto 9-10% ( from the present claimed at 8 % ) whereas in reality the existing rate is 4.8%.
2. Raise production to 5000 MW by 2013.- what about the present 9 hr power cuts in most villages.
AMBIGUITIES
1. While talking of raising the GDP , it gives no idea of how the rate of growth will be increased.
2. While talking of making Agriculture a profitable activity ,it does not tell how.
3. From where would the funds come for these schemes.
4. Not talking of the demand supply gap of electricity by 2013.
Based on the above line , the opposition Congress Party questioned the validity of it all. In fact, it refused to called it a session and termed it a symposium instead . Besides , it reminded the govt . of the eleven point action plan suggested by Abdul Kalam four years ago It included increasing per capita from 14000/- to 50000 by 2010 ; HDI ranking from 12 to 5 ; total literacy before 2012 ;re ducing poverty from 40% to near zero by 2016; empowering tribals with health care education & employment... they pointed out that the status on most of these counts was deflating. Furthermore ,not having question hour gave no space to Congress’ points on the agenda . Among other things , the opposition wanted to raise the issue of tainted ministers and corrupt officers, increased crime against women , simmerings of casteist incidences and failure of the delivery mechanism.
In any case , the litmus test for a CM’ s performance is benchmarked upon the performances of the predecessors and those of the contemporaries in other states.Is it better or worse ? Certainly not the former. Even if it were otherwise , it is highly unlikely that the BJP would be returned to power the third time. Thus the bigwigs realise it could be the last chance to bask in glory f or a long time to come - Kailash Vijaywargiya , Sumitra Mahajan , Narendra Singh Tomar or for that matter even Prabhat Jha - to name a few.
As always too many resolutions were made in typical Shivraj style making their implementation very difficult. All in all , they appeared to be unrealistic and distorted. Perhaps if Chauhan had studied Maths too alongwith philosophy , his pronouncements would’ve made greater sense. To top it, opposition’s absence made the session meaningless. In sum , it has proved to be a bad idea badly executed. Rather than extending CM’s stay , it might hasten his exit instead.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
PUBLIC SERVICE OR SELF SERVICE ?
Cabinet meetings held every Tuesday in Madhya Pradesh somehow never get the notice they deserve. Whereas the fact is that critical decisions are taken in them matter of factly.
The meeting held on 25 th May was no different. Though most o f the decisions were of a routine nature two ma jor ones were - alloting 8.48 h ectare land to the Bhopal Hospital Trust and the other subsiding Registration fee of the housing societies of elected members . While the former could do with a bit of investigation the latter is downright misuse of power. Yet another decision - that to reduce the precondition for miminum land for colonising has been put on hold - perhaps too many decisions regarding land could've attracted unwarranted attention. However , that didn't deter them from alloting land to one of their affiliated bodies- the Sewa Bharti in Bina. Public service is being converted to self service.
The meeting held on 25 th May was no different. Though most o f the decisions were of a routine nature two ma jor ones were - alloting 8.48 h ectare land to the Bhopal Hospital Trust and the other subsiding Registration fee of the housing societies of elected members . While the former could do with a bit of investigation the latter is downright misuse of power. Yet another decision - that to reduce the precondition for miminum land for colonising has been put on hold - perhaps too many decisions regarding land could've attracted unwarranted attention. However , that didn't deter them from alloting land to one of their affiliated bodies- the Sewa Bharti in Bina. Public service is being converted to self service.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Jambooree on Narmada
The Second Narmada River Festival held from 21st to 23rd March turned out to be a Jamboree of sorts. The inaugural edition of this biennial event two years ago held great promise in that it was based on an excellent idea - that of having a holistic approach to
Narmada.
In the intervening period not much was followed up on ground except setting up an office
and putting a few hoardings and some minor events. Besides, there was this unseemly
controversy regarding the land beiong allotted to it just before the elections and hasty
reteat when it courted public controversy. Moreover , it being overtly saffron makes it
lopsided . Furthermore ,a mere token represntation of foreign delegates takes the sheen away from the international tag. All in all , it appears to act as the safety valve for the simmering opposion to the non- sus tainable development taking place a round Narmada.
Once again it rounded off with great promises like documenting the art and culture of
Narmada region, having a river ambulance , in volving Parikramawasis for environmental conservation etc. but given the fa ct that the pronouncements of the past have not seen the light of the day not many take them at the face value. To sum , it appears to be a
constituency building exercise for some rootless politicians and a PR event for others.
Narmada.
In the intervening period not much was followed up on ground except setting up an office
and putting a few hoardings and some minor events. Besides, there was this unseemly
controversy regarding the land beiong allotted to it just before the elections and hasty
reteat when it courted public controversy. Moreover , it being overtly saffron makes it
lopsided . Furthermore ,a mere token represntation of foreign delegates takes the sheen away from the international tag. All in all , it appears to act as the safety valve for the simmering opposion to the non- sus tainable development taking place a round Narmada.
Once again it rounded off with great promises like documenting the art and culture of
Narmada region, having a river ambulance , in volving Parikramawasis for environmental conservation etc. but given the fa ct that the pronouncements of the past have not seen the light of the day not many take them at the face value. To sum , it appears to be a
constituency building exercise for some rootless politicians and a PR event for others.
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