Life in the 21st Century

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After many centuries, life on this planet has arrived at the 21^st century. There may be unsettled doubts about how the universe was created or life came to exist on this planet, but a couple of things are certain; the growing population and the depleting natural resources are causing worry.

The world has been witnessing, for ages, a divide between the rulers and the ruled, or the drivers and the driven. Whether political leaders dominate the scene or the religious, is not important but what is important is that both are placed at a pedestal from where they dictate the life of citizens. In their pursuit of sustaining empires, politicians have consumed the natural resources and left the citizens in the lurch. In the pursuit of following and the dominance, the religious leaders have created windmills in the minds of individuals. There is a distinct divide in the human population of 7 billion, the divide of the interests, the conflict of thought and the polarisation of society on different parameters. How much of this global village should be integrated or united, and how much allowed disunited is the question that we must address, if we desire a comfortable world for ourselves.

We the residents of this universe, always have two questions in mind. What is the purpose of our lives, and what our position is with respect to this universe? Can we associate any relationship between our consciousness (Purusha – our being alive) and the universe (prakriti – the phenomenal realm of matter)? Sometimes we wonder if God is a reality or virtuality. He is stated to be controlling the existence and movements of stars and planets in the universe. And if He is real, then is He the single God of the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity or Islam, or the polytheist gods or deities of the Hindus. To what extent is our living guided by free will and by the laws of Karma? Some ask even deeper questions. In the realm of matter, they ask what existed before this universe, and what would follow it. And in the domain of humans, they wonder why the evolution of mind has made people more suspicious and distrustful of the others than they were before.

In the domain of matter and energy, we have other predicaments. Environment is becoming less worthy of natural living due to various reasons. Different forms of chemical and nuclear pollution, the greenhouse gas effect and above all the wasteful squandering of natural resources may bring life to a grinding halt. Our attention should be directed towards biotic resources obtained from the biosphere such as forests and their products, animals, birds, fish, flora and fauna, as well as towards abiotic or non-living resources such as land, water, air, energy, radio spectrum, underground or underwater minerals.

If population continues to rise and natural resources decline, sustenance of life may become a challenge. Large corporations, who grab natural resources for furthering business interests, cannot be expected to work for their preservation. And any solutions that they might offer for resurrection of these may only be contrary to the interests of citizens. On the other hand, the fear that resources may decline to alarmingly low level, has awakened the scientific community and the international forums like the United Nations, to look for alternatives. Scientists are improving the techniques of recycling and the advanced researchers have turned attention to the mining of materials from seabed and asteroids. But we do not see the religions with the maximum following, ie Islam or Christianity, budging an inch from their belief against population control. This standpoint of theirs, suits the political leaders driven by the vote bank politics, and they too remain silent on the population issue.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, what appeared to be succeeding was capitalism. Most of countries took the cue from this event, and pushed the throttle so that development could be carried out and wealth created at frenzied pace. Economic growth attracted attention and it was to be achieved at any cost. Global warming, food and energy crisis, ecological disorders, climatic changes are the prices we are paying for this mission. Some of us do not like this trend, but the empire builders are at it with all their might. If capitalism was merely unbridled we could live with it, but alas, it has gone to a higher level that of crony capitalism that may destroy us.

This economic model of turbocharged development and profit maximisation at the cost of personal health, family, social cohesion, environment etc is not a sustainable process. We must stop it ourselves; otherwise, the nature may oblige us. Leaders and rulers, on whom citizens depend for living, have other priorities. They are engrossed in safeguarding dynasties or building empires that should last forever. Their urge for greed is apparent from the perpetually increasing taxation that they impose or the coercion of regulations (insurances, rationing, essential utilities etc) they introduce. They promote polarisation and segmentation of the society to facilitate discrimination, and they encourage cronyism. Sometime they resort to the rule of stick to support their cause. For them, surprisingly, the issue of future sustenance of life is of no concern. They have hardly any time to think about the future of the nation.

The brunt of whatever unfolds in the future would fall in the lap of the citizens, for example the impact of the resources crunch. The financial meltdown, caused by strategically articulated mismanagement of crony corporations, sweeps citizens off the ground. The benevolently sounding term financial bailout is actually a justifiable and more or less acceptable method of diverting taxpayers’ money to the corporations. The amazing part of this story is that only large corporations having the most coveted management team suffer this catastrophe, with active participation of the government! Citizens can do no more than watch helplessly the conversion of society from capitalism to crony-capitalism.

Citizens are actually entrapped in fruitless struggle for survival. They would like to, but they are ill equipped, to bring about a change in the model of governance or in the people who are at the helm of affairs. The constitutions do not provide for mechanisms for the recall of elected representatives, and these representatives by themselves, would never include such a provision in the enacted law. Demonstrations of citizens that gather to let out steam are branded illegal or non-constitutional and are crushed by brutal force. In this case, too, the citizens suffer the brutalities, and the rulers usher out only public statements.

Old timers expect judiciary to be the saviour against all sins committed in the society. The proponents of jurisprudence expect judges to use personal wisdom on ethics and morality to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. Even the citizens hope that the judiciary will restore the rule of law. But when the guilt lies in the domain of the legislative or executive, who prevails, these or the judiciary, is a million dollar question. The relationship between the individual, society, and the three wings of governance ie the legislative, executive and the judiciary, is now as volatile as the fundamental tenets of democracy, equality, freedom and the rule of law. So whether it is a financial bailout, an unjustifiable police action or a natural calamity like the tsunami, citizens are on citizen’s own.

Life in the 21^st century can take a turn towards hope or towards despair, depending on how much physical and mental strength the citizens can muster. No one can predict the future, but everyone can analyse the past and learn from it. We have to revisit the philosophic works of Chanakya, Adam Smith, Karl Marx and many others to determine what needs to be adopted and what must change. The relationship between the individuals and the society that they perceived is not the same anymore, because the society has transcended the geographic and cultural boundaries of countries. The evolving global environment places complex demands and constraints on both individuals and the governments.

The thrust of our exploration should be towards investigating and understanding the framework of interests and counter-interests, both of the individual and the nations. Only then, befitting solutions can be incorporated. It is necessary to reiterate that the major chunk of problems within a country, are created by individuals in their personal capacities and in the role that they play in the society, therefore only individuals can rectify the situation. However, in the context of cosmopolitan living, where advanced nations might use advanced nuclear and/or bio-nano technologies to emphasise their dominance, the national character needs to be strengthened to the level of deterrence.

Life in this century will be dominated by the struggle to win the race against declining resources. Whether we do it by reducing consumption, regenerating the used up resources or by finding new resources; on this planet or elsewhere, depends on our will and skill. If we fail to settle the balance between growing population and depleting resources, powerful nations would consume the weaker ones.

The Universe – of Thinkers

 A new group on LinkedIN

You do not want to miss the membership of the new group ‘The Universe – of Thinkers’ on linkedin. Members are deep thinkers and their ideas would be compiled and printed. Some of them may be requested to assist as reviewers and editors. There is no restriction to the subject, except pornography or criminal activities. So let your thoughts go wild and ask questions or give answers.

Invite like minded friends, and get connected to mikerana

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4921684&trk=hb_side_g

Financial Bailouts

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This is something, which they do not teach you at Harvard or LSE. It is financial imperialism of another kind. How the big wigs of economics and politics excel in tricks that erode a country’s economy to lead it to the brink of disaster; and how the systems learn to live with it. It appears that at the back of bailouts are politicians, corporations, lawmakers and international money manipulators, all of who work in Unison. Is bailout the beginning of an end?

A country of rich tycoons, Greece or a fashion design leader of the world, Italy, suddenly plummets from affluence to recession right in the vigil of the world, in amazingly short period. Big corporations such as Lockheed, General Motors or Chrysler kneel on their knees to beg borrow or steal, and the government comes to their help by what, in decent terms, is called bail out. When such rock solid companies who support travel all around the world and are considered more or less shock proof, tremble like a dry leaf, people ask questions. No wonder they all get the much needed, but not deserved, shot in the arms.

When financial wizards like Goldman Sach, Morgan Stanley, UK Banks, Irish Banks, Swedish Banks, Citigroup, those who are guiding billions on how to create billions, themselves crumple like a house of cards, one starts to wonder if the principles of economics are only for the books or for preaching. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage moneylenders too were subjected to this humiliation. There is something deeper here, than what meets the eyes.

The malady is even more dismaying when countries get affected. Greece, Spain and Cyprus are recent examples of failures of economy. A few decades back Russia demonstrated how ordinary citizens could be shaken from slumber by an overnight decision. It is stated, and the seniors cannot digest or forget, that just overnight, the entire life savings of people were returned to ashes, to the cost of one shoe, from a pair.

India cannot claim seclusion or protection from this event. Who knows when the firewall of illusion will crumble or the slowly ticking time bomb would detonate? The signs of deterioration have already appeared when Air India, Kingfisher Airlines, Satyam Computers, were found wanting in their accounting and auditing practices. Auditors Pricewaterhouse Coopers too were tainted. In most of the cases, the central government showed a stern attitude before melting down and helping the so-called ailing corporation. We have forgotten all, but we should not forget that something is going on behind the scenes.

These are just paltry examples from the humongous set of catastrophes around the world. We need not be too small like Cyprus or too big like Russia to fall into this trap. But one thing is certain, only rich conglomerates go through this route of routing.

Technically speaking, bailout is a term for giving loan to a company or country that faces serious financial difficulty or bankruptcy. It is strange that such a powerful instrument, a tool that can influence the country’s economy so powerfully and adversely affect people, has never been formally explained by any discipline of education, management, politics, economics or what have you. It is only when millions cry, that the others take a yawn and look at it with half closed eyes.

A bailout is latent, but certainly present

• When an investor resurrects a floundering company by buying its shares at dead low prices
• When a wealthy philanthropist converts a loss making enterprise into a so called non-profit making establishment and evades all taxes
• When the government helps a dying corporation, on the pretext that this help is needed to prevent greater socio-economic failure like millions of jobs lost

Generally, and certainly, bailout is caused by the mismanagement of a company or by collusion between interested parties that works towards achieving such failure. It stinks of inefficiency, politics, non-performance or non-governance.  Coercion by the government of diluting the subsidies, carrying out so-called financial reforms on pensions, insurances and health care etc are instruments that open the flood gates for such mismanagement.

Those against it, consider bailout as an unacceptable passing-of-the-buck to taxpayers. They consider that bail out in essence is robbing Peter, a profit contributing individual taxpayer or a company to pay Paul, a worthless establishment. They consider it better that the ill performing company fails and resurrects itself from ashes. Large-scale bailout is an instrument of consolidating power in the hands of a few in the central government. Those in favour, cite socio-economic miseries of the employees as unacceptable, particularly when the affected population is very large.

In any case, bailout is a technique of converting distributed functioning to centralised control. It must be examined with considerations of dangers of a free market’s volatility versus the dangers of socialist bureaucracy.

As elders, we have to educate our children and grand children about the volatility of stability in the country’s economics that is possible when controls are centralised, because in this case the volumes are large. The next generations must be advised about the tricks that leading financial institutes play, that include banks, insurance companies, housing loans companies, and government owned financial establishments like UTI. This is one reason why the future generations must learn to save for the rainy day. Yet the question is what mode must be adopted for savings, gold, real estate or deposits.

Financial Imperialism

Financial Imperialism [1]

Advanced nations understand that economies are best sustained by the cycle of production and destruction, and they do everything to keep this going for their countries. They are conscious of their material superiority and they work for retaining it by protecting own wealth and by acquiring that of the others. They are not very pleased with the attrition of their imperial and colonial strength of the past. To sustain this supremacy they adopt a two-pronged strategy; self-protection by innovative satellite based defence systems, and muscle flexing by deploying highly mobile lethal weapon systems at strategic locations all around the world.

Prolonged deliberations and experimentation has given them an innovative gear, the financial imperialism, which is the technique for acquiring wealth from the developing countries without physically occupying their land. Financial imperialism is steered by turning the wheel of international trade in their favour. It comprises sale of high cost weapon systems, currency control, monopolistic trade practices, import of low cost labour forces etc.

The conventional wars of the past are now out of vogue and possibly obsolete. In any case, it is expensive, cumbersome and dangerous to operate in that manner. Colonialism is not an option any more. Even peacekeeping is a risky bet. Financial imperialism is the answer. Adam Smith’s magnum opus, ‘the wealth of nations’ needs to be rewritten now with the title as ‘the wealth of other nations’.

This reincarnated form of imperialism operates through financial and political processes and uses cultural imperialism as its ally. Unlike in the physical colonisation, the subjugated citizens would perhaps never awaken to demand freedom from financial imperialism; instead, they would wither in its slavery.

This mechanism operates on the economy of the victimised country by manipulating the mindset of its political leadership and citizens. It uses political acumen to exploit the greed for money and power of political leaders. Economic experts may call financial imperialism as simple mercantilism, but they forget that there is much more politics involved in financial imperialism than in mercantilism. Financial imperialism incorporates itself by three distinct mechanisms

• Firstly, it incorporates favourable clauses in international trade agreements by the consent of the political leadership of the victim country. The local financial systems and institutions then automatically fall into place.
• Secondly, it creates a hostile environment with the bordering countries. Different forms of conflict are introduced using political connections in both of the countries, the victim and its neighbour. Cross border terrorism, is the easiest of them to inculcate. This gives the politicians of both the sides, a plausible excuse to overstate imminent threats from across the border and the need to acquire weapons and systems of cutting-edge technologies. Super-high cost weapon systems are then procured surreptitiously by both the vulnerable countries.
• Thirdly, use is made of cultural imperialism. Soft targets such as the teenagers are subjected to specially prepared soap operas that highlight the fashion and living style, which needs products produced in the advanced countries. Elderly audiences are barraged with discussions and coverage that highlight the usefulness of health or wellness products produced in the advanced countries. Travelogue is deployed highlighting even the ordinary tourist spots. In this way, the citizens are conditioned and encouraged to shop for foreign goods and services. They are enslaved voluntarily. It takes years before the citizens become aware that they are being exploited, but then it is too late to weed it out of the system. It is also too late for the domestic industry to recover from the reduced demand of their products.

This new paradigm of operations is not violent therefore; financial imperialism should be an easy battlefield to repel even with the docile nature of the Indian citizens. What use the creative, innovative and versatile mind of the Indians is if it cannot convert from being recipients of imperialism to manipulators of that game. Our advantage is that we have a large domestic consumer market, something that the others are seeking to target. One cannot direct the winds, but one can adjust one’s sails. Of course, all the systems of wealth generation ie agriculture, industry and trade must first be upgraded to high standard for this to happen.

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[1] Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is ‘the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.’ The term imperialism should not be confused with colonialism as it often is. Imperialism involves ‘the practice, the theory and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan centre ruling a distant territory’. Colonialism refers to the ‘implanting of settlements on a distant territory’.

 

On Line Education

The world is moving on and we too. India introduced information technology (IT – computers and internet) in governance and is now pressing the throttle on it. IT is already a mission critical enabler in the corporate sector. Therefore, its limping status in the world of education, particularly in the rural areas is a bit of harassment. It should quickly catch up with the others.

Drivers and Dampers

One may ask whether it is due to the lack of awareness of older teachers, lack of funds, absence of electricity, unreliability of knowledge databases that are held online, or simply lack of government initiative. The students are already using computers, internet and mobiles in day-to-day life. Unless we start using computers in schools, we will never know what we really want out of them.

Yes, some institutes have adopted distance learning, but this is for reducing their permanent expenses on teacher salaries rather than for providing quality and flexible education for the students. Bright students, who fail to cross the obstacles of reservations, may be compelled to choose on line education. They could very easily do it for informal professions or vocations; areas where certification or degrees are not required. Who knows it might become a blessing in disguise. Who knows, the government may become lenient, driven by the volume of illiteracy rather than by their own initiative, in allowing examinations, certifications, valediction etc for on-line studies. But these should not become the drivers for on-line education.

One could present an argument that on-line education needs intensive investments, but if Akhilesh Yadav, the chief minister in UP can spare 1.5 million laptops for the students, where is the hitch then. Recently, there was an amusing cartoon of a female teacher coming to the CM to get the laptop battery charged, because there was no electricity in the village for many days.

How to Deploy Computers for Education

In the USA, some new initiatives have been experimented with, and with astounding success. The K-8 and K-12 programs are the online versions of education for the Kindergarten to 8^th or 12^th year of education. K-8 is a bit state oriented, but K-12 is universal. The well-recognised features and advantages of these programs are as follows

• Anyone irrespective of age or qualification can get registered
• Subjects can be selected at will, and a package created for himself by the individual
• The system is highly standardised and well regulated by the authorities
• Learning is individualised or customised for individual student, and has an individual learning plan
• Pool of certified and motivated teachers, who can operate from within the confines of their homes, is made available
• Home environment suits all, the teacher, taught and the parent. At high school level students are more independent and self-serving therefore they are serviced accordingly
• The system incorporates, in person events for social interaction, and it needs interaction with other non-computerised systems
• Students are already familiar with facebook, pinterest, twitter and other social networks. Instead of wasting time therein, time can be utilised for learning. One cannot deny that being on the networking sites delivers knowledge, even to elders.
• On-line learning may have social inadequacies, how to tackle these may be a challenge but innovation and creativity can turn it around.
• In fact, more time is available for social and sports activities because the travel times are reduced and the process of learning is optimised for efforts.
• It is certainly a workaround for the handicaps propped up by reservations

On line Knowledge Databases

If the formal education systems are to depend on the computerised knowledge databases, then it is only imperative that these databases are authenticated and certified. The domain knowledge on the databases must be prepared by a team of qualified teachers or professors through an organised process. If authentic databases are available, and interactive webinars [1] are conducted by competent teachers, probably from a central remote location, there may not remain any inhibition using computers on line for formal education.

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[1]  A webinar is a seminar conducted on the World Wide Web using the Internet, where numerous participants from all over the world can interact with the presenter as if they were all sitting in one room.

The Education Policy

Policy is the statement by the regulatory body or ministry of the government for use by all and sundry. It should be implementable, checkable and devoid of the need to revise frequently. In the absence of strict monitoring mechanisms, even the best of polices would lie dormant.

It should direct the education system for the good of the citizens and the country. It should discourage profit making by those who provide funds. Of course, reasonable profit making will not hurt anyone. It should define inclusivity targets for each level of education. If reservations are to be given their place, the politicians should lay down timeframes when reservations would stop. The policy must remain non-parochial and it should not be influenced by sectorial beliefs.

Education policy will become unwieldy if it attempts to go into the nitty-gritty of the content design, infrastructure, processes of admissions or examinations, the teaching methods or the selection of teachers. For these activities, executive bodies already exist in the country. In the past, political leaders and the executives have been accused of corruption in the recruitment of teachers, their placements, or for allotment of land for educational institutes; this speaks volumes of disinterest in the purpose of education.

In particular, the policy should lay down rules of engagement for the corporate who undertake educational ventures; what should be regulated and what kept to the discretion of the institutes.

The Core Issues in Policy

The fundamental issue in education is how to manage the large volumes for primary education, and how to fund the expensive infrastructure required for the higher education.

Doctrines and Targets – Educating is as much a political consideration as it is socio-economic. Every major change in political regime requires a relook at the education policy, particularly with two aspects in mind; inclusivity percentage and economic options such as manufacturing, agriculture or service sector.

Funding Methodology – Universal Primary Education requires mammoth funding since it must meet the conditions of inclusivity. Securing funding for this level is more difficult than for the higher levels because corporate does not see any returns from these undertakings. Charitable institutions are sporadic and temporary, and long-term dependence on them is unlikely. The policy should therefore elaborate on the rules of engagement, particularly for subsidies, taxation etc, so that funding for primary education can become win-win situation for all.

Belief System –If the government promotes itself as a secular state then it must ensure that the religious schools are restricted from tuning the young minds towards fundamentalism. A balanced view is required on the modern ethics, morality and law keeping in mind the attitudes of the modern youth. What must be encouraged and what not, must be laid down lucidly.

Polarisation – is a menace in our society, but if is allowed to influence the education curriculum or syllabuses it will bring in degradation in character for generations. Primarily these factors are religion, language, region and reservations.

Teachers – Primary education needs numerous teachers; able, noble and motivated. The policy must make provisions for recruitment of adequate teachers, with satisfactory compensations and reasonable timings for them. The role of women in teaching should not be oblivious to their role, commitments and responsibilities as mothers for their own children.

Computers and Internet – Although there is general proliferation of computers and internet in the society, there is still a large scope in deploying these technologies for education. In fact, there is no uniformity in how computers and internet are deployed in different schools, colleges and universities. Things are left to the fancy of individuals who show some knowledge of the subject. Conservative or fearful approach to information technology will hamper the optimisation that we could achieve in resource utilisation of teachers, facilities, and other aspects that require funding. The catch is that the knowledge imparted through these devices should be authentic, well paced, creative and not addictive. It should reduce the student’s burden on time, travel and expenses.

Meetings and Conclaves

The process of policymaking is important as well. Who makes these policies, what processes are followed for this exercise. The forums and conclaves, one could call them meetings, seminars or anything else, are generally attended by a lop-sided gathering. In official meetings, one sees the presence of corporate. In commercial seminars, business partners are present. The representation from administrators and teachers is generally scanty. The press is always present.

Participants of these high-level meetings are unaware of the grass root level issues and difficulties therefore their priorities are skewed. In one such meeting for primary education, a representative of the tribal area asked the logic for attaching proofs of residences for the tribal students in different forms, when such a document is not available in general. Another representative demanded the answer for charging the computers with electricity in remote villages where it was not available for days. And decision makers, were planning to introduce more automation in education at the remote schools!

Those attending such meetings have personal axes to grind, mangers looking for ease of implementation, intellectuals wanting to promote a certain subject, businesspersons looking at profit making avenues and regulator too thinking about joint ventures with the corporate. Speakers overstress a particular aspect as if their experience is more relevant and their recommendation just the perfect fit. The official seminars suffer from the authoritative attitude of those in the chair and hours are wasted for recording minutes of the meetings. Seminars, if commercial, have no standard method of submitting findings and proposals to the authorities. Imagine if hundreds of such conferences are conducted with hundreds of viewpoints, how a policy can be drafted.

The Direction of Meetings

In policy meetings, four issues are generally discussed, content, infrastructure, teachers and methods. Executive thinking of the government focuses on increasing the number of schools, conducting training on teaching methods, formulating innovative syllabi and improving the system of admissions and examinations as the props to good education. They are dead right. It is just that these are details not guidelines. The crux of the educational challenge is not merely dealing with the numbers or techniques, but the question whether our system is able to deliver to the society, individuals with the required traits of character and the ability to perform professionally.

Rich and the Poor

Citizens are tagged as rich or poor with reference to the shared socio economic conditions in the society. Three classes are prevalent namely upper, middle and lower class. That, in India we spread them into seven classes namely billionaires, high, upper middle, middle, lower middle, low and Below Poverty Line (BPL) implies that the rich and poor divide has grown to enormous proportions.

Somewhere in the centre of this dispersion, India has the middle class. The big social story in the 1980s and 1990s was the swelling of this middle class. This segment includes prosperous farming families, and the urban professional, administrative and business elite who benefited from 40 years of government protection and training. This increasingly vocal middle class wants good quality of professional education for their children with guarantee for technical and professional careers.

In the context of rich and poor, the following remarks are relevant

• Majority of India’s population continues to live in villages that have few public amenities.
• Wealth distribution in India is uneven. Top 10 percent earns 33 percent of the country’s income. The top one percent includes people assessed as the wealthiest in the world. They are seen at the comfort resorts and shopping malls of the world capitals, present there for business, pleasure or advanced medical care. Their children attend the most exclusive private schools in India and abroad.
• The middle class, who makes up between 15-25 percent of the population, has a compelling need to depend on lower classes for domestic and general help, so that can pursue their own careers.
• The Indian society depends so heavily on domestic help that it is futile to imagine anyone working for eliminating this social evil. It is an evil because the workers live in inhuman conditions in slums, and have practically no avenues for improving their life style.
• A significant minority of the population, about 200 Million, lives below the India defined poverty line. This population somehow manages to survive at subsistence level, unemployed or underemployed. It suffers from a variety of health problems.
• The overall per capita income of India remains among the lowest in the world. The World Bank estimates that 33 percent of the global poor now reside in India.

Below Poverty Line (BPL)

Poverty is a state where one lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money for personal use. Governments look at poverty from two angles. Absolute poverty or destitution is the situation where basic human needs like drinking water, food, clothing, shelter and health services are not available. Relative poverty refers to comparison of one individual with another. It influences the psyche of the individuals.

From government’s viewpoint, and this is the same in most countries, a monetary threshold is defined to indicate the level of absolute poverty. This number, set in local currency, is the level of earning below which the individual is considered poor. He is said to be living below the poverty line. BPL index was revised from Rs 26 to Rs 32 per person per day, in 2011. [1] BPL does not imply that anyone earning a bit more than Rs 32 per day is rich. It also does not mean that the social welfare schemes are applied only to the individuals below the BPL threshold. Such interpretations appear in forum discussions from time to time but are untrue and diversionary.

World Bank has defined the BPL threshold in USA as USD 1.25 per person per day, which is not much different from the Rs 32 in India. These numbers are to be compared based on purchasing power parity (PPP) and not by straightforward currency conversion. For example if  USD 1.25, can fetch 1 litre of milk in USA and in India the cost of one litre of milk is Rs 40, then the PPP equivalent of USD 1.25 would be Rs 40 and not Rs 70. PPP is a fundamental economic principle used for comparing the purchasing power of individuals belonging to different countries.

The real use of the BPL indicator is to enable head-count of people earning less than this number. If this head-count reduces, the government can be pleased with its performance and even boast about it in international forums. Yet, it would be more gratifying, if this threshold could at least be revised upwards every year, negating the effect of inflation.

Additional Poverty Indicators

Poverty manifests itself not only in the earnings but also in the disposable income of the individual. If citizens are consuming a major chunk of their wages on health care, the definition of BPL must change. Health related factors such as life expectancy, child mortality (not infanticide) and malnutrition indicate the level of poverty. The alarming issue with poverty is the poverty cycle ie some of its effects become the cause of further poverty. For example, deteriorating health in the slums due to shameful sanitary conditions erodes a breadwinner’s earnings and pushes individuals deeper into poverty.

In 2010,

• The National Crime Records Bureau estimated that about 200 thousand farmers committed suicide since 1997
• In the global hunger index, India ranked 66^th among the 88 countries surveyed
• The Family Health Survey-III found the prevalence of anaemia as 80 per cent in children, 70 per cent in pregnant women and 24 per cent in adult men

Above Poverty Line (APL)

Given the varying number of dependent children in a poor family, it may be worthwhile assessing poverty at the family level. Welfare benefits, if these are entitled per member basis, there may be tendency to have more children. But if benefits are pegged at the family level, large families may be discouraged. Large families become a burden on the individual as well as on the society.

At least one more indicator ie Above Poverty Level (APL) can be proposed. At the present level of consumer price index (CPI), a sum of Rs 5,000 per family of four members per month, may be enough to make both ends meet. APL index could then be pegged at Rs 10,000. Families falling in the band of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 could be considered reasonably self-sustaining. What it means is that all families surveyed as falling below BPL would be entitled to grants and subsidies of all types for food, shelter and health, whereas those in the band Rs 5000-10000 will get only subsidies but not grants. There is an implicit disincentive for families of more than four members in this scheme.

Introduction of APL may appear to be unmanageable, but it is not. Surveys and data collection for APL can be synchronised with that for the BPL. There is yet another fear to be dispensed with. Categorising the population based on BPL and APL, should not be deemed to be polarising the society. In effect this is probably a good method to deliver benefits proportional to the level of poverty, and achieve social equality. The BPL and APL lists must be monitored closely, every five years, to remove those who override the threshold, and bring in others who deteriorate in their financial status.

Empowerment is the Key [2]

People above the designated BPL or even those above the proposed APL cannot be said to be living in comfort. Sustenance and living in a dignified manner, is more than just the food intake, which is the basis of the BPL formula.

The government must empower citizens to become breadwinners. It should regulate the environment in a way that clothing, housing, health care and entertainment are available to an average citizen, without bending over backwards. Simultaneously, it should remove the burden from the citizens, of arranging basic facilities like clean drinking water, electricity, gas for cooking, sewage disposal and mandatory travel for work. According to surveys, almost 50 percent of the Indian population needs augmentation of income to sustain an average life. This is not the only reason yet one of the significant ones, that corruption is seen as a source of income. And how do we ensure that individuals do not keep migrating from one level of poverty to another and vice versa.

One ingenious way of lessening the burden on the poor is by organising recycling of used items, formally. This is done in foreign countries in a variety of ways. While NGOs can continue with their contributions in this area, the government could encourage businesses to establish collection and distribution chains for recyclable items. Used clothes, utensils, containers, furniture items, medicines etc could be redistributed through this chain. The government will have to allow sale of used items without levying taxes, since no value addition is carried out while selling second hand items.

In December 2012, the ruling party ignited a vicious debate by announcing direct bank transfer of cash to the beneficiaries of welfare schemes. While this appears to be a positive step since it obliterates the intervening pilferages, the opposition called it as vote bank politics. They highlighted the inadequacy that in the absence of a stable social security system and the non-existence of bank accounts for villagers, the allocated money would simply land up in suspense accounts, and from there it will vanish.

History is the witness that polarisation of society based on wealth cannot be eliminated, yet we can certainly improve things if we find answers to the following questions

• Can poverty be eliminated by educating the citizens, without having adequate opportunities for entrepreneurship or employment
• Should we continue to give subsidies, loans and grants to the poor instead of empowering them
• Will our inclination towards reservation deliver something that it has not done in 65 years

Wake up Call to Coming Generations

It has become a grim necessity that the modern generation moves towards what we can call informative interaction on the social media. They should indulge in discussions with the others to learn how the advanced countries are tackling the problem of the rich and poor divide, and what exactly the public does in this regard. What psychological and social obligations must be owned by the rich towards the poor, and the miserable poor?

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[1] When the second 5-yearly plan was presented, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia asked Nehru a seemingly naive question, ‘who will be the beneficiary of these plans’. It was this question, which prompted the government to define the term BPL. BPL was defined for a basket of items that constitute the required calories of nutrition required by an individual. Two reports define this number, Arjun Sengupta commission on unorganised enterprises (77 percent of Indians live on less than Rs 20 a day) and Suresh Tendulkar report (41.8 percent of rural households live below poverty line)

[2]  On a question by CNN/IBN television, ‘what she would do in India if she was made the prime minister’, Oprah Winfrey during her 2012 visit of India, considered education as the most significant direction for empowerment of the Indian masses. She further added that she was not suggesting that this is what the present government of India should do.

A Polarized Society

If one is asked to put a finger on the most critical challenge facing the country, one might fluctuate between population, education, corruption or poverty. While these might be the obvious subjects of scrutiny, the underlying cause of concern that should not be missed is the ill famed tendency ie non-congruence of opinions of individuals. Little do our citizens realise that un-necessary arguments only defer and delay action. We may hold individual subjective opinions, but we should not fail to converge. An even bigger issue is that after joint decision is taken, commitment does not come from those who held an alternate opinion. While free and independent thinking can sprout fantastic ideas, agreements alone can bind them into decision and actions. This is the essence of team spirit and coordinated decision-making.

What causes this free for all attitude, possibly our mind-set that is driven by traditions, culture and beliefs. India is heavily polarised by multiple individual parameters, such as state boundaries, linguistic bands, wealth inequalities, caste distinction, generations’ gap, political ideologies and other similar dimensions. One should distinguish a polarised society from a diversified society. Being diversified is a positive happening, whereas being polarised is an Achilles heel. If this is understood by the present and future generations, diversity could be used as an instrument to harmonise polarisation.

Society is polarised inadvertently by the prolonged behaviour of people driven by narrow-minded considerations. Parameters that promote fragmentation of the society could be any but the following are some whose impact is glaring. India is lucky that the internationally disliked parameter of discrimination, the colour of skin, has not plagued this country, as yet. Hopefully it will not. If left unchecked, these polarisation tendencies could shatter the nation and plunge it into the dark alleys of sectors, clans or bands, of the Stone Age.

An individual may find himself belonging to one or more classes as listed below. His propensity to hold balance depends on how his mind has been tutored.

• Power circles              (Representatives, opposition, capitalists, officials)
• Regions                         (Regional biases eg Delhi versus Assam)
• Languages                    ( 30 minutes in a group, sub-groups are formed)
• Religions                      (Minorities moving towards majority)
• Prosperity levels      (Reservations acting as damper to prosperity)
• Castes                            (Inter-caste marriage is a taboo)
• Social alienation       (The misery of physically or mentally impaired, HIV etc)
• Migration status       (Labour class, tribals and villagers versus city dwellers)
• Gender grouping      (Lopsided laws)
• Women’s quota         (Tricking in favourable people inside the parliament)

This polarised framework is a challenge that needs to be tackled by suitable conditioning of minds. Education at different levels and its application to real life can contribute effectively for achieving de-polarisation. While different segments of the society are making efforts for becoming a united nation, a specific example of rural youth is worth mentioning. In December 2012, youth of a village in the Eastern Indian took a vow to marry only outside the caste, and their parents had to give in to this collective decision.

Predicting or Directing – India’s Future

It is always challenging to predict the future, more so when it is done for the future of a large and diverse country, like India. Sometimes we brood over the past and cherish the changes that we have seen since India’s independence. But our complacence turns into anxiety when we think about the future of our children or grandchildren. What kind of life is in store for them? What kind of character and personalities we expect them to possess? In that celebrative year of 2047, when India completes its 100 years of independence, would our 5^th generation be at par with the developed countries? Or would it be slipping backwards?

The Indian 5^th Generation is a book that ventures into this vision. It tries to monitor the present trends in politics, economics, social environment and external factors without preconceived notions or biases. Will the current downward trend in people’s character continue, or will it be reversed by the youth. Who will prevail, the overwhelming old politicians or the younger ones who are better equipped to misgovern. It examines everything in the perspective of moving on from poverty to prosperity, and this is its primary aim. It recommends improvements in attitudes and beliefs so that the citizens of tomorrow can stand firm in the face of competition or dominance from the others. It puts forwards ideas that can place India on the high pedestal of spiritual domain for other to emulate, while staying in consonance with the modern philosophies on life.

This is certainly not a book to show a rosy virtual picture, nor does it take a cynical attitude to lead you to loom into gloom. Corruption, criminalisation, population, poverty are not easy nuts to crack, yet if we can sneak into the causes and effects in these evils, we may find the right directions to overcome the impediments.

If political stability prevails, and governance improves, India should be centrifuging out of the whirlpool of poverty. If people improve their skills and attitudes, India may even be catapulted out of her typecast of a developing country. Who, in India, does not want India to be rid of its BRICS tag, of being an emerging economy, and be at par with developed countries? But if the successive governments continue to search for petty niches to impose fresh taxes, or reduce subsidies to overcome the governance failures, lasting wealth cannot be created. They need effective measures to create wealth, not necessarily innovative. If our systems continue to perform with inertia, the gorge between the poor and rich would widen. The current indications point to this possibility. The caucus of self-centred politicians, spineless executive branch of the government, profit seeking corporate and the lethargic judiciary, are putting in their best to bring us knocking at the doors of economic subjugation.

This is the time for us to stop and contemplate. The next elections are just about a year away. In the run up to the elections, the ruling coalition must explain what they achieved in the last 10 years of its rule, and the opposition should highlight what they did not. The progress must be described with percentages and not with absolute numbers, since this way the context and relevance is lost. Is it enough to say that we built four bridges when actually one hundred were required? Is it worthy to flip-flop the arguments that Indian economy is isolated from the world, when it shows resilience and back track to blame the global economy when our own planners and executers fail. It is ridiculous to hear leaders changing their stands on the drop of a hat. They undermine their own stature. While the ruling party may blow its trumpet about progress, the opposition should not lag behind in explaining the negative directions in which the country was dragged into, and give their solutions; so that the citizens are aware.

The country was amazed to hear the remarks after the 2013 budget that the Finance Minister was treading on a tight rope and did a great job formulating the budget in a precarious economic situation in the country. As citizens, we ask a simple question. What prevented the government to take the country out of the precarious situation that they have been harping about for the last 10 years? The fact may be that the FM had no elbowroom to play with. He had to create wealth, so he could not present a citizen friendly budget, in the year preceding the elections. If the opposition wants to capture the centre stage, it has to demonstrate internal unity, able and charismatic leadership and a well-crafted manifesto. Their handicap is that they cannot show performance, because they are not in charge of systems.

But political clans, is only one side of the story, albeit it may be the most influencing one. The citizens have an equally significant role to play. They must barge through the impervious firewalls of communications that the ruling party has painstakingly built around itself, and oppose oppression. Elections are important because they give us a chance to change the leaders. But what use this change is if the newcomers are similar or worse. In the times of coalition, individuals matter little because in the end, sustenance of power overshadows any promises made during elections. It is for the citizens to get educated and develop abilities to choose a representative who is not a turncoat. We will have to devise systems that change the basic attitudes of both the citizens and the rulers.

All must understand where we stand and where we are headed. And this understanding must be factual, not virtual as displayed by the media. Even with the illusion of progress claimed by the three generations after independence, India stands at all-time low governance. Who or what brought it to that state is irrelevant. Hindsight criticism is futile and unacceptable. The important thing is to find remedies and solutions for the future. Those who want to do something about it do not know where to start. Others are lazy. Those who initiate concrete actions on the ground are dissuaded by the systems, processes and leaders in place. Yet, these are not legitimate excuses for handing over a ram-shackled country to our grandchildren.

Citizens of our vintage, the first three generations, have the experience of what is different now, compared to the pre-independence days, the days of the Raj. This comparison and appreciation is vital and it should be used to set directions for the future, before this wisdom is buried in the grave. But alas, their knowledge is ignored as being irrelevant. A completely different class of individuals have hijacked everything that is connected with making policies or executing governance. And above all, systems have become so complicated that even minor changes require major politics.

Yet this inertia cannot be allowed to impede progress or to suspend initiative. Youth have to take charge. In a country of 1.21 billion, where 50 percent are below the age of 25, and 65 percent below 35, the onus is in their lap, by default. The older generations must guide, but they must not insist. The youth must find ways to incorporate the ancient wisdom into the future policies. This tussle is going to be interesting. This book may help.

Budget – Once in 2 Years

February is ­important month one in our lives, because not only it is the onset of the spring but also the month when government unfolds plans for its earnings and expenditures for the forthcoming year. To some it brings joy, and to others, increased commitments and liabilities. On the quiescent flow of life, budget ushers in ripples and turbulence, and one wonders why should this event be repeated every year. Could this budget frequency not be reduced to once in two years?

In a period of 12 months, the month of January could be the most significant one in our lives. For the government, it means shutting down all policy making and focusing on collecting data for the annual financial statement, the budget. For departments, it involves frantic spending for ‘consuming’ the allocated budget, even on unwanted stuff. ‘Use it or lose it’ is the tempo for the month of January. Even with the best of efforts, many portions of the allocated budget remain unspent, and these amounts lapse. One wonders, what happens to the budget calculations if there are unrealized gaps in earnings and expenses.

To the executive, it means cutting off external communications for the fear that some ideas may be leaked out in the public domain, when actually they are reserved for the privileged cronies. Financial decisions are kept pending for the fear that mistakes may be made, due to misconstrued perceptions. Post budget as well, the government’s attention remains turned towards getting the budget passed and then communicating the allocations to departments and states. In other words, at least two months in the span of every financial year, the systems go inert, around the budget presentation event.

A parallel and seemingly unconnected activity that goes on is the preparation and execution of the 5-yearly plans. The Planning Commission is Prime Minister’s baby, whereas the budget Finance Minister’s. Who of the two, interacts with the achievers on the ground is anybody’s guess, but it is certain that both these plans are not congruous. If we aggregate the numbers of five budgets with the parallel running 5-yearly plans, one would be awestruck by the variations. Ministries and state governments are at loggerheads about the conflicting approaches outlined in the plans and the budgets.

In the financial period of one year, given the slow pace of development, and lethargic decision making there is not much sense in conducting budget related activities that last two months. All that it does is pushing people at breakneck speeds in one or two months, and spending the rest of time in lethargy. The idea of presenting the budget once in two years may be a good option and worth considering. This will allow everyone the time and space required for planning and execution. Israel has tried this approach successfully, and they are no doubt wise planners and executers. There are not many variations in the defense or railway activities, which stipulate revised planning every year. Moreover, why the direct taxes should be revised every year; upsetting the investment plans of individuals. Why should people be confronted with new rules on insurances, banking etc every year?