MIGHTY DISGRACE

Indian Constitution has failed over 100 children in Bihar who died for want of timely medical support. Indian democracy has ruefully demonstrated that it's a system of unaccountable governance. National silence, by and large, over deaths of children has affirmed the worst fears that apathy for poor has grown by leaps and bounds. Naked medical infrastructure in Bihar, which mirrors other states as well, is a warning to all -- citizens of the country are facing a ticking time bomb in imploding health infrastructure. Extent of undernourishment among children is a hard slap on faces of policy makers who have for years written papers on socio-economic planning of the country.        

Till the last count, more than 100 children have died at one hospital in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, in a span of about a fortnight. Thick-skinned say, it's an old story, that a mystery illness kills children during the peak summer in parts of Bihar. For years, health babus have called it acute encephalitis; some even ventured to attribute deaths to toxins released by unripe Litchi. Indian Parliament found mention of the deaths, but for maligning Litchi, which is causing hardship to growers. For politicians, deaths may be mystery. But stunted policies over the years had arguably foretold these deaths.

Guess works of medical fraternity converge largely on undernourishment and lack of sanitation as principal culprits. That 44 per cent of children in Bihar are underweight lends credence to the assessments of health professionals. Spectre of filth in Bihar indeed makes the state sitting on pile of garbage. None could, thus, dispute general diagnosis that undernourishment and filth are killing the children.

But National Food Security Act (NFSA) has also completed six years in existence, guaranteeing 25 kgs of foodgrains to each family almost free. The government has been pouring over Rs 1.25 lakh crore every year, principally for the reason that the poor shouldn't suffer from undernourishment and hunger. Bihar is a state, which has been aggressively implementing the mother of all welfare programme. The obvious rationale to pump in over Rs 1.25 lakh crore each year in running the Soviet era public food distribution programme is only to fight undernourishment. Underneath, however, the programme fattens embedded vested interests, who suck the lifeblood of the country, because the political class has no spine to tell that India must stop the political business of a state funded agriculture where only few pocket gains that too in just four to five states.

Thick-skinned Bihar politicians additionally, have bared delusion that the political change in the state was just facile that only the faces changed. The dark age of 1990s had ceded the state seemingly to light at the end of the tunnel in 2005 in the state. White clad thugs hid their guns and only chanted the mantra of their castes day and night in the changed political theater of the state.  

Gargantuan corruption in Panchayat and Local Bodies, the third tier of democracy, has shown an insatiable appetite for wealth. Public service, indeed, is least of their priority. That the former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh was awestruck at jewel laden 'Sarpanch and Mukhiya' at Vigyan Bhavan and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad at the scale of SUVs lined up on Tughlaq Road in 2012 when he called meeting of such persons had bared that unbridled corruption rules at the Panchayati Raj, which was thought to be government's channel of delivery of services to people.    

NITI Aayog is the new czar of policy making in India. Bereft of genuine talent pool from socio-economic space, the policy think tank has shown masterly hunger for private resources to deal with India's critical issues. It seeks privatisation. Heir to Planning Commission, a few of the interventions of NITI Aayog have shown that it essentially seeks quick fix solutions. And, one such stroke of genius to deal with crippling health infrastructure was Ayushman Bharat -- Rs five lakh medical insurance plan for 10 lakh people in the country. 

Heavy stroke of the scheme, amplified politically, sought to to put up a facade on a dilapidated health infrastructure. It was projected as a panacea for the health needs of millions. The Centre for past two years put all efforts to popularise the scheme. That AIIMS in Patna, Bihar, and others too in various state capitals remain works progressing at snail's pace failed attention of the political leadership. That the country is acutely short of qualified doctors failed the attention of the political masters of the country. That upgradation of district hospitals has been crying needs for decades fell on deaf ears. 

Policy thrusts, indeed, was to look for solutions from within private hospitals. After education majorly slipping into the private hands, health by all accounts is firmly in grips of private enterprises. And, that profiteering is the only indisputable mantra of private enterprises suggests that the political masters have thrown the public health to the wolves. 

Bihar deaths are just warning. The poor have fallen first. Others too will be in the queue.                             

Lok Sabha elections 2019: One who beats boredom may win.

India is, arguably, a most lucrative market for tools addressing boredom. A large chunk of population essentially looks bored. Technological advancement added with increased mobility appears to have made the populace more prone to boredom. Irony of the day is the pervasive boredom amongst children; they seem bored even of their parents, teachers and friends. The political space in no way can remain immune to such an all embracing boredom.

SPARKS continue to fly in the last leg of five and a half weeks long elections for the 17th Lok Sabha. Longevity of electioneering has sapped principal generals of political outfits eying seat of power in New Delhi. Boredom has struck poll watchers too. Cues of trends from any source command premiums. With few fence sitters, polarized populace has only scales to climb. That May 23 isn't far away is a relief. Yet, an imminent verdict on perceptions -- held and formed -- could well be pounding millions of hearts.

History at times appears repeating. The 2014 Lok Sabha elections were held five years ago. But it has more immediacy than five years of the BJP led NDA governance. A little attempt to refresh memory of last general elections could well just demonstrate the stark similarities. 

A bus driver flips through phone to catch news.

Principal theme of 2014 polls was Narendra Modi bashing. Principal theme of 2019 elections remains Narendra Modi bashing. Intensity of Modi bashing was electrifying in 2014. In 2019, it's no less intense. The theme, indeed, shaped political vision and philosophy of BJP baiters of a multitude of political outfits. The Congress, principal foe of the BJP, wore the blanket of Modi hatred before the people. The cloak remains unchanged. 

The BJP yearned to fight elections around Modi. The Opposition obliged. So, the central narrative of 2019 Lok Sabha elections is the choice before the people -- Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi or someone from amongst regional satraps. Size of an opponent does make one grander. Modi, thus, delights in rivalry with the Congress. 

RAHUL Gandhi has given a full account of his world views in past one and a half decades. From a reluctant politician, Gandhi has graduated to a combative politician, clutching onto an issue and sticking with it to fan out noise. He appears more confident than earlier. That he's interacting with media more often is a sign worth noting. 

That politics is an art, however, hasn't struck Gandhi in last 15 years. He's largely a boring politician. That he would appeal to an audience, which is already in a firm grip of boredom, is a hope, which leans heavily on the wall of improbable. His father, Rajiv Gandhi, was an equally boring person thrust onto the political upheaval board by chance. He could win popular endorsement once was for an overwhelming sympathy vote for her mother who had fallen to bullets of terrorists. 

Modi in a stark contrast is an entertainer. He's an artist. He entertains. He can force subjects of entertainments by the drop of hat. His entertainment bouquet is deep and rich. And, he has perfected the art of political entertainments in a state where it's daunting to engage people in public meetings. People in Gujarat largely don't have contempt for time. 

Entertainment demands full scripts. Story in parts don't appeal to the mass. Issues in elections are indeed multi-layered scripts. Largely, they're academic, and they gain popular acceptance when people have immediacy with them. Also, people in India are largely fearful -- of fate. They would shudder at smallest signs of fear. That political outfits continue to rile them by stoking bogey of "reservation in danger" is a case worth noting. Rumour mongering by the WhatsApp factory too scares people easily.

But people do connect with issues when presented in their entireties. Agrarian distress, specter of unemployment and social discords are indeed issues of grave nature. A layman too can decipher major issues affecting the masses. A few who hammer out solutions are hailed as leaders. Gandhi hasn't yet crossed that bridge. 

All that Gandhi could think of was another dole -- Rs 72,000 annual to about five crore poorest of the poor. His prescription to issues of serious discourses betrayed bankruptcy of ideas. This robs him off desired credibility to occupy the high office.

Rahul Gandhi doesn't yet have scripts to win elections. He can't entertain either. His sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, however, has shown hints that she could be an entertainer, while requiring a rigorous training in coming years. But she has the potential to take the stage. 

India is also much changed from times of 1990s. Demographic

Mohan Balmiki in Rampur said, he'll vote for Modi

changes coupled with mitigated electoral thuggery have largely turned regional caste and identity satraps into political pygmies in national elections. People since 1998 have gradually been converging for a coherent mandate to back stable government at the Centre. For about 21 years, people of India have pushed likes of HD Deve Gowdas to the margins of national politics. 

Entertaining tribe amongst regional satraps is also fast becoming extinct. They have been robbed off entertainers like -- M Karunanidhi, J Jayalalitha, Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bal Thackerey and Devi Lal. Their successors are plastic imitations. Mamata Banerjee is an exception.    

There's only one entertainer. He's Narendra Modi. On May 23, people would deliver verdict whether he could go on with his show for another five years. The showman has script and measure of doses to release on times to help people battle their boredom.  

Minimum Income Guarantee: Plot to handcuff India

A fortnight ahead of first ballots to be cast, Congress president Rahul Gandhi unveiled script to thrust his party at the centerstage of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. With promise of Rs 12,000 a month for five crore poor, 20 per cent of the total poverty stricken households, Gandhi ushered in a Rs 3.60 lakh crore annual package to blunt the march of BJP's mascot Narendra Modi. In the absence of repackaging of subsidy programmes, currently implemented worth  Rs 7 lakh crore, Gandhi is arguably calling for freezing nearly 40 per cent of India's total annual Budget to stay politically relevant. 

ONLY a few days ago, Congress' poll wizardry in unleashing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wrapped up her Ganga yatra. Ensconced in a customized boat with necessary comforts, she sought to rekindle the old touch of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. But crowd hungry television crews struggled to find thronging mass of people during the course of yatra. The political voyage was scratchy and revealing. The verdict within the Congress was evident, that the magical touch of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is suspect. 

The Opposition grand alliances in parts of the country have shown contempt for the Congress. Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, holding the turf of Uttar Pradesh, found no merit in giving lease of life to the Congress in the state where the grand old party is in prolonged vegetative state. Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) would not yield an inch to the Congress, which is gasping for breath in the state. The Congress remains a baggage on the back of Lalu Prasad's heirs in Bihar. Regional satraps' shunning Congress robbed the main Opposition party of the political depth to claim the status of a challenger of the ruling BJP.

Former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian in the 'Economic Survey (2016-17)' floated the idea of universal basic income. Early this year, he followed his idea with a book -- Of Counsel: The challenges of the Modi-Jaitely economy -- publicly lobbied for political acceptance of the idea of universal basic income (UBI). 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi seemingly has no appetite for doles of universal nature. His statecraft is embedded in targeted welfarism. That he shunned the proposal for a universal farmer income support for small and marginal farmers with an annual cost of Rs 75000 crore is a definitive illustration. So, Modi didn't fall for Subramanian's welfarism prescription, which in some forms are being implemented in China, Germany, Canada, United Kingdom and elsewhere. 

THE Congress has principally been slammed by party sympathisers for failure to come out with a narrative to counter Modi. The Congress stayed the course of Modi the person bashing all five years. Sympathisers were rightly alarmed, for knowing well that Modi thrives on negativism. And, consequently, Rahul Gandhi clutched on the Subramanian straw to stay relevant in the elections.

Union Minister Arun Jaitely has said that the NDA government currently is running subsidy programmes worth Rs 7 lakh crores. The annual Budget size of India is about Rs 24 lakh crore. So, Rahul Gandhi's dole could take the subsidy burden to about Rs 11 lakh crore, accounting for almost 40 per cent of the national resources. That the question on how would additional Rs 3.60 lakh crore be mobilized was left unanswered by Gandhi on expected line. That the inflationary impact and the consequent mortal blows to economy weren't worth shedding light by the Congress leadership was also on predictable line. Answers to details would rob the magic of Congress' political art of revisiting 'Garibi Hatao' slogan.

Former vice chairman of NITI Aayog Arvind Panagaria, the only economist worth mentioning in the Modi dispensation for first three years, has reasoned that universal basic income or its any variant would only mean that there would be no incentive for work. All those earning less than Rs 12,000 a month would find incentivized to stay home. The government will pay for their leisure. Agriculture could be denied farm labour. The informal sector's labour cost could go up punitively. That the Congress is brewing a recipe to make India more lazy arguably isn't an outlandish claim.         

One doesn't need to be an economist to know that there's no scope for India to expand its resources by additional Rs 3.60 lakh crore imminently. That makes it incumbent that the resources being earmarked for infrastructure upgrade -- rail, road and port -- would face the axe. The spiral effect of mortally wounding developmental resources would unleash wave of employment for the educated youth. 

INDIA evidently can ill afford the political expediency of a political outfit scrounging for survival tricks. Economists must come out of their closets to unequivocally condemn Congress' recipe for economic disaster.    

           

Lok Sabha elections: Wilting caste factor

BETWEEN cheerleaders and naysayers of Indian airstrike against Pakistani terror bases following Pulwama attack lies firming up of electoral narrative, that nationalism is pushing casteism to the margins. With two surgical strikes in BJP's arsenals, the Opposition undeniably has an uphill task to steer public discourse back to issues affecting the masses. Lok Sabha elections, beginning 40 days from now, is pregnant with possibilities to change the future course of Indian politics.

CASTE swept through the political narrative in 1990s. Social justice juggernaut, with firm grip by 1980s, succumbed to mutation within a decade. Personal aspirations of regional political satraps took higher flights on deepening of caste faultlines. The Congress, indeed, commanded caste rainbows in its belt for long, but with a pan-India appeal. The Congress yielded space in state after state to caste leaders soon after the VP Singh led Janata Dal imploded with the might of inner contradictions. Narendra Modi led BJP delivered first mortal blows to caste satraps in 2014 by riding on aspirational plank. The 2019 Lok Sabha elections promises to show if the caste satraps could clutch on to prevailing arithmetic to live another day in Indian politics.

Demography is fast changing. A vast chunk of Indian youth have few recollections of contemporary political history. Growing expanse of education and access to climb social and economic ladders deny alibi to lament lack of opportunity. Nearly 25 crore of Indian electorate are said to be in age group of 18-25. This chunk rubs shoulders in educational and professional institutions with peers of a cross-section of castes. That may be blunting caste consciousness as well. Besides, shrinking of employment opportunities along with a largescale expansion of access to educational institutions are taking the shine out of charm of reservation bogey. The principal anchor of caste satraps could possibly be adrift on high sea. Additionally, family proprietorship of caste based political outfits also ensured that they remained stuck in the narrative of 1990s. 

THREE decades are too long a period to milk the same plank. Satraps aged and passed batons to their offspring. Original proponents toiled hard amidst the masses. Their offspring grew up in comforts. Satraps were grounded. Offspring show up at stages. Satraps lorded over a large base of peers. Offspring have few.

Messrs Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad, Om Prakash Choutala, Kansi Ram, Ram Vilas Paswan, and others have faded. They indeed passed batons to their respective heirs. Likes of Akhilesh Yadav, Tejaswi Yadav, Ajay Choutala, Mayawati have reaped gains of last gust of legacies of satraps. They stuck to old plank, and refused to evolve with times. Consequently, they were struck with full might of fast changing demographic profile. Paswan, indeed, survived, but only for reason that he he read the changing weather well to clutch onto season's flavor.       

A few other remnants of 1990s, which include the likes of H D Kumaraswamy, stay alive with the power of arithmetic in Indian politics.

Yet, a few of social justice campaigners who branched out of caste satraps remain potent till days by perfecting social welfarism. Navin Patnaik and Nitish Kumar aren't caste satraps, but couched in all pervasive welfarism suited to their turfs abundant with poverty.  

Electoral rise of the BJP and Congress would undeniably shrink spaces for casteist political outfits. Not that the BJP and Congress aren't embedded in caste arithmetic, but they stitch broader equations with national narratives. People haven't also shunned casteism in their preferences. Socially caste is arguably more explicit. But political import of caste identities in electoral politics is evidently wilting with emergence of strong leadership at the national level.

That a few of the chief ministers -- Kamal Nath, Devendra Fadanvis, Manohar Lal Khattar, Raghubar Das, Arvind Kejriwal, Vijay Rupani -- come from electorally insignificant caste groups demonstrate that the fast changing demography and their aspirations are guiding Indian politics to an altogether new territory.    

Emergence of nationalism on the back of popular fatigue and angst against terror strikes in the country could possibly deliver the knock out punch to already weakened caste politics. The youth, particularly, has explicit aversion to status quoism. What passed on as fatalistic sense of resignation is not popularly accepted. That India struck against sources of terrorism is an undercurrent sweeping through the youth yearning for a collective catharsis from mortal blows of status quoism. 

RISK takers, indeed, are rewarded. A Modi led BJP has a rare opportunity to push electoral caste into oblivion. Rahul Gandhi led Congress could also draw a sense of relief, that the lost turf to caste satrap is up for grabs sooner.