Worshiping poverty

There is much to gain from poverty. In contrast to Mao's war cry in China that "power flows from the barrel of the gun", the political power in India flows from the hungry mouths. There is no better shortcut in politics than being seen fighting the war against poverty.

But in the last 66 years, the war against poverty has only added more poor to the population. This has worked well for those who reap political dividend out of the growing numbers of poor. Those concerned with questions of their bellies in variably would not ask larger questions of erosion of their collective prospect.

Therefore, it's understandable why the Sonia Gandhi lead Congress, with drum-beater Rahul Gandhi, and the "famed" economist Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are keen to thrust Food Security Act at a cost of Rs 1,30,000 crore a year on the nation. The China model of growth is naturally brushed aside by the priests of poverty temple with one single broom called "democracy with socialism". Therefore, any comparison with China is largely "thinking aloud" or day-dreaming by the "idle" academician.. 

Add another Rs 30,000 crore annually (Rs 1,50,000 crore, $ 38 billion, so far in six years) sucked in by Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which would imply that India commits over Rs 1,60,000 crore ($ 40 billion) annually in the political battle against poverty. Further add another Rs 60,000 crore ($ 15 billion), which the banks let go in bearing the cost of the loan waiver of the farmers' debts, which was pushed through to buy votes for the UPA-I. The nationalized banks had taken a body blow from this act so much so that the government had to infuse more capital into them later.   

Incidentally, projects worth Rs 1,50,000 crores ($ 38 billion) of the railways are stuck for want of funds. No wonder the railways minister Pawan Kumar Bansal yawns when he speaks on the subject of bullet trains to an audience, which is largely foreign.

He knows the money in India goes to perpetuate poverty and not to build the nation. Over Rs two lakh crore ($50 billion ) is locked into unproductive activities essentially designed to "buy" votes. They create their own web wherein the life-breath of India struggles for oxygen (investment).

Admittedly, the bullet trains would not bring the poor out of their poverty curse but the infrastructure development does lift a lot of people out of the vicious cycle. 

Thirteen years ago former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his birth day, 25th December, launched the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY). A large number of states have actually

A PMGSY road in the Puri district of Odisha which brought
in apartments amid paddy fields, while helping the villagers
to engage in a number of economic activities like
poultry farms, etc. 

been able to make remarkable changes in the lives of the poor who now engage in gainful employments through a host of economic activities.

If the rural road connectivity can give such windfall to the people in villages, one may imagine what could be the spin off if large projects are executed without waiting for years for the World Bank and Japan to sanction loans.

No wonder India's famed growth is now tottering at fiver per cent rate. "If India has to grow at eight per cent rate, the railways will have to grow at 11 per cent, which is currently three per cent. The funds have to be pumped into the railways infrastructure. It's not just desirable but unavoidable," said Mr V. K. Gupta, Managing Director, Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC).

But the money is locked in activities which buy votes. "We are going to give you legal rights for foodgrains. We have given you MGNREGA. We waived off Rs 60,000 crore of the farmers' loans," Rahul Gandhi tirelessly reminds his audience everywhere; be it Karnataka or Uttar Pradesh or Bihar.

The government would like people to believe that Food Security Bill, which would cover 67 per cent of India's population, would ensure a savings of an average Rs 4,400 in the hands of the poor, which would consequently be spent in their additional consumption.  This would spur demand!

But the government avoids mentioning that by sucking 62 million tonnes of the foodgrains out of the market, the massive price spiral and the collateral damage in inflation could starve the very engine of the growth in the end. The savings of Rs 4,400 in one hand would be outmatched by erosion of a minimum Rs 10,000 from another hand, who would not spend on their demands. So, the demand may not be spurred but spiked.

For the last four years, the high inflation has baffled all. It has left the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) clueless, while drying up credit for businesses to expand and in the end bringing down the Indian economy to its feet.

One is compelled to believe the maxim that "speak as if your audience consists of idiots"; and such speakers apparently abound in the UPA dispensation.

The Bihar leader Lalu Prasad Yadav was shocked to find the Tughlaq Road, where he resides in Delhi, lined up on both sides by the SUVs on which the Sarpanch and Mukhiya (village headmen) lined up to seek tickets to contest the Assembly elections recently. 

The MGNREGA helped the petty politicians in amassing wealth. It's not confined to Bihar but is a feature of India.  In a recently held conference of the Panchayati Raj at Vigyan Bhavan, the Union ministers kept staring at rural women leaders. It was not for lust but for the fact that the rural women leaders were loaded with heavy gold jewellery. "That's what the MGNREGA has done," quipped one Union minister, with lips pressed hard against each other to stifle a laughter at the state of India's policy making.

Politics in India demands "quick-fixes". It does not matter if such "quick-fixes"further fortify the temple of poverty. The analogy of the head of the ruling party being the chief priest of the temple of poverty and her son being the conch-blower may not be far off the reality.

Habits die hard and the Congress leaders would like to continue worshiping poverty in place of commissioning programmes, which can actually take out the poor from the vicious cycle of poverty. 

The power truly flows from the empty stomach of the poor.  

Narendra Modi's Manmohan dream

The distinctive feature of UPA's two avatars from 2004 till now has been about pouring of adulation in plenty for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh abroad, while Congress president Sonia Gandhi steadied the coalition ship in the domestic waters. 

But the script started weakening from 2010, as Delhi geared up to host the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. The dark underbelly of the UPA begun baring self. The corruption muck began splattering fast onto the faces of the UPA's cherished leaders. 

From 2010 onward the slide in stock of Manmohan Singh in foreign capitals and Congress' within the country have been on the lines of a rock hurtling down from the peak of a mountain.

India was central to the constitution of the Bric, now Brics, an abbreviation for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. But the recently held Durban conclave of Bricks saw Manmohan Singh cold-shouldered so much so that the head of the host nation did not bother even to have a separate meeting with the turbaned leader for whom top world leaders used to "ear up". Now, the buzz is that Indonesia is seen a better candidate than India for the Brics grouping.

The Congress had been exploiting the top standing of Manmohan Singh in foreign capitals to drum up political support. The image of an upright person, who is fountain of knowledge, had people joyously voting the Congress win 2009 elections despite odds of price rise. But the growth story since 2012 began disappointing all. 

The man who steadied the Indian economy amid the global meltdown appeared to have lost the appetite and energy to further push the India story on the growth trajectory.

The gloom spread within India and abroad too. The world had though that Manmohan Singh would give them an anchor to the global economy with a parallel of the China story. Within India, the hopes of the rising middle class had enough wings to keep flying unmindful of the hiccups. 

The BJP had largely been clueless to capitalize on the loss of face by the UPA. The party stalwart L. K. Advani, though healthy and hearty, has been past his prime for all political purposes. He blundered the election campaign of 2009 by misreading the pulse of the people and followed up with some ill-advised display of wades of notes in the Parliament only to score self goals. Gradually the BJP became a ship lost on the high sea, with no captains on board to anchor it.

Ironically, the UPA all along had been also like the BJP ship adrift on the high sea, with captains on drugged sleep, refusing to listen to the hammering of the sea waters thrust with angry waves. 

The inauguration of 2013, however, began with the roaring of a man condemned for over a decade with abuses of "mass murderer, Nazi, despot, Yamraj riding the buffalo, etc.". The man is Gujrat chief minister Narendra Modi, with his third consecutive state poll victory, and is impatient to soar high on the Indian horizon. He is emboldened enough to spread out of the Gujrat confines. He has vanquished the Congress in the state to the extent that the top leadership of the grand old party avoids to campaign against him. 

Naturally, Modi has stirred up hot debates in the Indian political discourse. In the Opposition NDA camp, his rise is like a cat having been let loose among the pigeons. The JD (U) leaders -- Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar -- wish Advani rediscover his charm fast enough. 

If not, they fear, Modi could emerge a domineering force to stitch around an alliance of his choice where allies may not call the shorts, as had been the cases during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's NDA and Manmohan Singh's UPA rules.

Incidentally, Manmohan Singh ignited the hope globally and locally of fast growth and collective prosperity. But having abandoned the ship midway, Modi senses an opportunity to not only board it but even captain the wayward carrier. In Gujrat, Modi  appears to have given a semblance of the China story. He thinks that the Gujrat story could be of India too. 

The negativity is in plenty currently in India. "India story can not be of a five per cent growth," Manmohan Singh lamented recently. But the anguish largely is that the Manmohan Singh opera is talking of the malaise only. They have no solution in sight on why the the Indian summer faded after the initial short-lived bursts. 

Undoubtedly, India story is tottering and is gasping for breath. The ailment is policy paralysis on the back of torrents of  corruption.

But Modi claims to have the medicine to enliven the Indian summer. He has demonstrated the ills and proffered cure too. Therefore, the corporate India is falling over each other to ride on the Modi juggernaut. The message is spreading abroad too and, hence, the beeline from the US to the UK to Germany to be seen as birds who sighted the first rays of the morning. 

While the UPA story has been about two individuals playing on two turfs, Modi promises to simplify it to one entity. Two creates dichotomy, as had been the case so far with the UPA, as Manmohan Singh had been conveniently passing the buck on to the coalition compulsions for all the mucks in his regime. 

Therefore, Indian interest would be served least with such arrangements any more even though those sucked into the corruption would wish that such weak system at the top continues. 

Hence, Modi strikes the chord with so many people effortlessly, as he is seen no-nonsense, decisive and a man with purpose. In short, the people see In Modi what Manmohan Singh could not be though hoped for by millions.   

When the ship is adrift on the high sea the immediate challenge is to seek a captain who knows the waters. He has to calm down the nerves of the panic stricken passengers. Quick decisions are to be taken and the umbilical chord of corruption with the polity has to be snapped once and for all with ferocity that no blood flows through it ever again. There is none other than Modi who could take such onerous task. And he promises to answer the demands with elan and conviction.   

After nine years in the office the "reluctant" leader in light blue turban gave only fodder for imagination to the billion strong Indians. Modi has his audience already filled with enough imagination. He has pilot the safe and smooth landing of the Indian dream.   

The runway at the Ashok Rajpath awaits Narendra Modi's landing. But the weather has already become turbulent. Therefore, the landing can not be on an auto-pilot mode but would require immense manual maneuvering. 

A tale of "blood donation" & a mad man on loose

Viral fever dulls many a things. Mosquitoes enjoy envious power to dull strong people to stick to bed even in sweating summer times. In Bihar, people while away their time, with mosquitoes humming around, waiting for the elusive electricity to light the bulb and fans. 

On one such morning, while in the grip of high temperature, the phone rang quite strongly. On the other side was an unknown person apparently very anxious and worried. 

"ADM saheb shot himself accidentally, while cleaning his pistol and is critical. He needs O- blood urgently," said the voice on the other side.   

A chill went down the spine. In 1997, there were no networking websites to flash the urgent requirement. The call was made to the president of the Rotaract Club of Bhagalpur. In a small city, such clubs answered the urgent calls for help, with willing members not hesitating even for a moment to donate blood.

A year before, a beaming 26 years old member of this club's Ranchi wing was presented before us during a regional conference for having donated blood more than 50 times till then. The man was an inspiration and was truly an embodiment of "service above self", the motto of the club. The same year a doctor had bombarded me with verses of Gita when I had gone to donate blood for a middle aged woman. "You are doing the greatest service of the mankind," the doctor had announced, with so much zeal, that I wanted to do the act whenever required.

But the chill did go down the spine when heard of the requirement of O- blood group. This is a rare group and people are hard to find. It was more depressing for another reason, that only one member in our club had this group. He was our little elephant, than man pursuing bachelors in engineering, weighing about 100 kg but selfish of the highest order.

The little elephant was all what the club was not meant for. He reminded that the motto "service above self" was an idealistic assertion only.

Still, the life had to be saved and for that perceptions had to be overcome for making the best efforts. So, I made an immediate call to the little elephant, telling him what I was told, and explaining that he was the only one who could be of any use.

"I can donate the blood but you need to speak to my father to take the permission," the little elephant said. His father was an engineer in the telecom department. There was no time for arguments and so another call went for his father.

"How dare you call me for blood of my son. Don't even think of this," said the telecom engineer before slamming the phone.

The little elephant was informed of the denial of the permission and followed by lots of calls known to me who could have launched into search of a willing person with O- blood.

After an hour, the elephant, apparently reminded by his conscience that he had been a member of a club known for social service, called to say that he could donate blood if somebody could come near home to accompany him. This was a relief. So, I informed the ADM's man about my efforts in the last one hour and the circumstances under which the little elephant had agreed to answer the emergency call.

The next morning the phone rang again, sounding a little angry, when the viral fever was still at its peak and refusing to subdue against strong antibiotic dose. The man on the other side was the father of the little elephant.

"So, you squeezed blood out of the body of my son. His health has deteriorated and is now bed-ridden. Doctors say his kidney is in serious trouble," he blasted. Threats in plenty followed, with firm swearing that strong action would follow.

I recalled the Ranchi man with over 50 blood donations. He never mentioned that his kidneys ever failed after donating the blood for needy people. 

A day after, a friend called to meet him up urgently. He was waiting in his varanda with a copy of a prominent Hindi newspaper.

"Bhagalpur aspatal mean zabran khoon nikalne ka sansani khej mamla (sensational case of forcible blood extraction)". The headline was screaming at the top of the page, with full details inside along with serious allegations against me. This was my first encounter with a newspaper. The news report had clearly not taken my version. (A decade after the incident I chose to become a journalist myself.)

This is a scandalous news item. We will need to do something and the first thing is to find out who this reporter is, said my friend. An hour later, he got the phone number of the reporter, who when asked to explain his report, claimed that he had gone by the version of the little elephant and his father. The virtue of cross-checking the facts appeared not to have been in his profession. 

A day late, another report appeared in the same newspaper with the reporter's byline; again making the sensational claims but this time he did include one line from my side that the claims were wrong. For three days the newspaper ran the stories and after that it apparently lost the interest. In the meantime, it was found that the reporter was a relative of the little elephant. That time I was not aware that there was something called "paid news".

After the newspaper lost the interest on its own, the father of the little elephant took over, knocking at the doors of the superintendent of the police, the district magistrate. But he did not have any luck at any of these places where the officials told him of the virtues of blood donation and its dire needs. Still, not losing hope, he knocked at the local political leaders but with no avail. At last he made an audacious attempt to petition the leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly but a local leader explained him the whole story and thus his last attempt too failed to get me punished for extracting blood from his son's body.

The phones were ringing quite frequently and it had lost its power of surprise. In one such call, the little elephant appeared on the other side. "I am closing the chapter. There is no point pursuing it further, as the police will take money from you and me too," he said.

The little elephant had closed the chapter. My viral fever had gone by then but was drained equally. 

In the midst of all the drama, the ADM's man had called. He had called to thank.

"The ADM saheb died of his wounds. He was being taken to Patna and on the way he passed away."     

(The incident took place in 1997 but it explains how cancerous the paid news is in the media.)

The awakening

Thirty years after Indira Gandhi gave NABARD, P Chidambaram promises to give financial wings to the women to fly to their real freedom. The “all women” bank is much more than what it’s being taken for by a large number of people. It's about means to becoming part of society in true sense, which otherwise is handicapped, standing on one leg, with other being crippled. 

Society stands on two legs. Men and women constitute the two legs. A nation is made of societies. India story except for the last one decade has been that of a nation running on one leg. The other leg is sluggish and laggard for being not put to use for centuries. In a sense, India had been marching ahead with a self-imposed disability.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram has taken two distinct steps to bring the “other leg” to its full vigour. First is an all women bank and secondly a Rs 1,000 crore fund of women safety. Together they address key concerns of women – financial exclusion and lack of security. In the absence of financial inclusion and a sense of security, hoping women to enjoy their freedom is a mere day-dreaming.

Not only India, a host of countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Arab world, whole of Africa, claim to firmly stand on their feet; but with one leg largely crippled and paralyzed. Consequently, they all present a picture of refusing to wake up from their medieval age slumber.

Bangladesh is a case in contrast. The youngest nation led by two powerful women alternatively has been able to open large windows of awakening and development. While the Shahbag movement is ruling full steam, there is a clear sense that the youth there is hitting the Jihadi wall quite hard. The day the wall is brought down the region will surely breathe a new air of moderation and reason. If that happens, we shall reserve our congratulations for the powerful woman Prime Minister of Bangladesh – Sheikh Hasina.

Women can bring around revolution. There had been a number of revolutions, which were in nature of nations caught in implosion. But the one brought about by women invariably take the nations forward.

India’s Late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi too had seeded revolution for food security through green revolution. A revolution needs fuels of all kinds – human resources, technological breakthroughs and interventions, financial outreach, etc.

Thirty years back Gandhi gave India NABARD (National Bank for agriculture and rural development). This intervention triggered India’s robust agricultural march. Now India’s agriculture not only feeds more than a billion mouths but earns foreign exchange through export of foodgrains.

Another thirty years later since Gandhi’s deeds, Chidambaram promises to give financial wings to the women to fly to their real freedom. The “all women” bank is much more than what it’s being taken for by a large number of people.

However, Chidambaram’s measure has come a little late. Three years ago, the government had launched the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) as Aajivika. The programme was based on setting up of a financial institution, with a corpus of over Rs 9,000 crores, to give support after support to women self help groups (SHGs). This, however, did not materialize. Predictably, the Aajivika too did not take off in the true sense.

But the Finance Minister has made some amends. The proposal to set up India’s first ever state owned bank by the women and for the women, with an initial support of Rs 1,000 crore, could just give a fresh lease of life to Aajivika.

The proposed “women all” bank is supposed to lend mostly to women and women-run businesses, which supports women SHGs and women's livelihood, that employs predominantly women, and that addresses gender related aspects of empowerment and financial inclusion.

The financial weakness has seen the women led SHG movement largely confined to four southern states -- Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnatka. These states largely benefit from the Central government’s annual funds for NRLM (RS 39,000 crore for 2012-13 but actually spent Rs 26,000 crore).

In the absence of financial support and lack of collateral to claim loans for the livelihoods activities, women in North and eastern parts of India have hardly gained from the government scheme for livelihoods mission (Aajivika).

Currently, India has about 25 lakh SHGs headed by women. They in all engage three crore women. The government is targeting to expand the SHGs from the current 25 lakh to 60 lakh in five years. The government hopes that seven crore women would engage in SHGs in five year’s time. So, the government is actually looking ahead to just double the strength and participation.

It’s here the proposed “all women” bank fits in the picture of India attempting to empower women. Such a bank nonetheless is neither novel nor first. The Pandiyan bank was the first “all women” bank launched in 1947 but later merged with Canara bank.

Thus, such a bank may over a period of time have the potential to transform Indian society and the nation too. It’s worth noting the contribution of women in heralding stability to Indian polity. The stable governments of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Gujrat, Tripura, Delhi, owe a lot to women, who vote in a large numbers outnumbering their male counterparts.

So, the story may just be unfolding.