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Growth slips further
The cancer battle |
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Don’t pay cash
Developing tribal areas
Requiem for the telegram
Need for universal pension in India
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Growth slips further
On
a day when India reported another low in GDP growth (4.4 per cent) in a decade the country's top political parties were engaged in another round of one-upmanship. The little goodwill between the two sides that saw the Lok Sabha pass the food security and land acquisition Bills has proved short-lived. A BJP delegation went to Rashtrapati Bhavan to demand early Lok Sabha elections. Though the BJP leaders must be aware that the President has no power to recommend elections, the visit underlined the hardening of attitudes. The deepening economic crisis requires a collective effort to push reforms like the passing of the insurance and pension Bills, the Direct Taxes Code and the goods and services tax (GST), which can send the right signal to domestic and foreign investors. The blame for the slipping economic growth has to be widely shared: UPA-II’s initial policy paralysis, Pranab Mukherjee’s 2012-13 budget which introduced retrospective tax changes, the RBI's stubborn refusal to lower interest rates, a ban on mining, delays in project clearances, a hike in oil prices and a slowdown in the US and Europe. The Federal Reserve's tapering of quantitative easing has driven out foreign money, causing rupee depreciation. Instead of taking calm, calculated corrective measures, India’s political class keeps squabbling and has failed to give legislative support to the economy. The BJP that daily bemoans the fall in the rupee value has resisted measures aimed at attracting foreign investment. Much of Parliament’s time was wasted on opposing FDI in multi-brand retail. The problem of slowing growth has been compounded by needless political confrontation. “Corruption is there, has been there”, said Dr Manmohan Singh, but that cannot be a reason to disrupt Parliament. BJP leaders keep attacking him day in and day out without exercising restraint or showing respect that his office commands. Dr Manmohan Singh hits back rarely, but when he does, he hits hard. A combative Prime Minister might have strong reasons to put the BJP in its place, but this may not get his government Opposition cooperation in undertaking reforms to reverse the slide in economic growth.
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The cancer battle
Punjab
is expected to get one ‘regional cancer treatment centre’ — among 20 proposed to be set up across the country by the Centre. Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's announcement to this effect has come not a day too soon, with the state consistently reporting cancer incidence higher than the national average for years. The figures are growing nationally too. The disease, however, has not received the attention it deserves, given that today medicine has far better cures for it than two decades back. The diagnosis and treatment are, however, way too expensive for the majority of people. Setting up hospitals dedicated to cancer is an expensive proposition, a cost that can hardly be recovered from patients. That necessitates government investment. Tobacco consumption in various forms is identified as the biggest contributor to the disease among men in India, but in Punjab, particularly in Malwa, certain chemicals present in the ground water are believed to be responsible for the disease. The debate on the source of these chemicals is, however, not settled, with some blaming pollution from farms and the industry and others suspecting natural presence of harmful elements in ground water. Historically, people in Malwa had been relying more on surface water — such as stored rainwater — as there was no technology to pump out the deep ground water, which is being done at an alarming rate today. What matters immediately for prevention of cancer is not as much identifying the source of ground water pollution as providing clean drinking water to residents of the area, for it is reasonably certain that the quality of water is the culprit. The Punjab Government had launched a laudable programme to provide reverse-osmosis water filters that remove dissolved impurities in water, but it has not ensured the benefit in all affected villages. Also, as the plants installed start ageing, maintenance issues need to be addressed. Paying attention to providing clean drinking in all areas — rural and urban — and arranging cancer-specific medical help at reasonable costs would go a long way in mitigating the pain from the horrific disease.
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Don’t pay cash
To
begin with, the intent behind implementing the free mid-day meal in schools was to encourage attendance as well as help India's young population with some nourishment. It is in the interest of the country to ensure good health and nutrition of its children, to enhance their possible contribution to the economy when they grow up. Several studies have shown that malnutrition and poor health leads to lower educational attainment among children which leads to lower capacity to contribute to the economy. Therefore, it is bizarre that the same government which was at one time so concerned with the health and nutrition of its young would allow cash for mid-day meals under the guarantee of food security offered by the Food Security Bill. Even though cash, if food is not delivered, is a legal entitlement, cash transfers cannot help improve the nutrition of children, nor can these help in enhancing learning faculties of the child. Very often, cash transfers for children are used by adults in the family to meet their own requirements. Priorities are never in favour of a child's health in poor families. This was the thought behind serving cooked meal rather than giving ready-to-eat mixtures, as was done by the integrated child development services scheme in some states. Dry rations were given before 2003, but it did not reach every child. So a case was made out for mid-day meals. There are 6,00,000 schools, 1.5 million teachers and 40,000 supervisors. Even if 50 per cent of the staff does its duty sincerely, serving cooked, nutritious mid-day meal on a regular basis is possible. Recently, the Supreme Court absolved the teachers of the duty of supervising the cooking job in Madhya Pradesh so that they could concentrate on teaching. The purpose behind introducing the mid-day meal should not be diluted by substituting it with cash.
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A friend doesn't go on a diet because you are fat.—Erma Bombeck
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Developing tribal areas
Twelve
pallissabhas (tribal gram sabhas) in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa polled the entire 250 square km area is the sacred abode of Niyamraja, the supreme deity of the 8,000-strong Dongaria Kondh, a primitive tribe, straddling the Kalahandi-Rayagada district divide. The Supreme Court had on April 12, 2013, directed that tribal opinion be specifically sought on whether the proposed lease of a 660 ha area for a bauxite mine to feed Vendanta Aluminium Ltd's currently one million tpa alumina refinery (sought to be expanded to 6 mtpa), 40 km away at Lanjigarh, vitiated their religious and cultural rights. The state government decided that a sample poll of 12 pallisabhas located on the slopes of the proposed mining site would suffice, though others, including the Union Ministry for Tribal Affairs, hold that all the 112 or so Dongaria Kondh villages in the Niyamgiri Hills should be consulted. The exercise of ascertaining the views of the 12 selected pallisabhas individually was completed between July 18 and August 19. The near-unanimous view was that the entire Niyamgiri range was sacred and not just the area around the temple near Hundaljali dedicated to Niyamraja sited atop the highest peak and some 10 km from the proposed mine. This sacred land was the source of their religious and spiritual well-being, livelihood and water, plant, wild root and herbal resources as (hunter-) gatherers and jhum farmers. Should mining be permitted, streams would dry up and people would despair and die. Are these viable arguments or partly the product of understandable anxieties based on exaggerated notions of the consequences of mining expressed by project and ecological naysayers? Some fears are clearly wrong. Bauxite hill tops are here characteristically overlain with impervious strata that do not permit percolation. Thus rain drains down the hill slopes where some percolation takes place. The hill tops, therefore, only have a sparse forest cover. The removal of the overburden to win bauxite would thereby facilitate percolation and improve the water regime. Secondly, in the 660 ha area leased to VAL, the mining area would be smaller. Within that, the actual area mined at any one time through the mine-fill-reclaim technique may not be more than 10 per cent of the leased area which would, in fact, see continuous ecological improvement in all respects. The current slash and burn method of cultivation, on the other hand, is more damaging ecologically. Further, the current levels of education, malnutrition and health are utterly pitiable, with rampant cerebral malaria and other killer diseases, lack of easy access to potable water from distant streams, and the absence of roads and market access. Thus any external intervention, properly regulated, could be a blessing. Instead, we have relatively well-heeled outsiders and activists coming from afar, like Rahul Gandhi and Bianca Jagger and other do-gooders, striving to preserve the notion of the "noble savage", whose life at the end of the day is "nasty, brutish and short". On the orders of the Supreme Court, VAL is committed to spend 10 per cent of its profits before tax or Rs 10 crore, whichever is higher, for "sustainable development" of the area. Thus it has over the past decade spent some Rs 170 crore on developing social and economic facilities for the benefit of those living around the Lanjigarh refinery and the Niyamgiri mining site. This includes the building and running of schools, a hospital, operating mobile health vans, provision of water supply and power, setting up a self-help group for the local women and so forth. Has any critic compared this with the work done by the state-sponsored Dongaria Khond Development Agency? And what of other tribal areas in Odisha or elsewhere? Which loud-mouthed activist has lifted a finger to assist the most wretched of our people who languish in splendid isolation? What even has the State been able to accomplish? The pallisabha consultation cannot lead to sweeping diktats. Parts of Sikkim have been declared sacred. Some today want all of Uttarakhand above Rishikesh to be treated as a sacred territory. Many rivers, mountains and lakes in India are sacred to one community or the other. Are all these to be declared out of bounds? The Supreme Court has declared that the mineral and other natural resources are national assets held in trust by the government. The tribal people have an entitlement to surface minerals but cannot claim exclusive overall rights. Nevertheless, the Dongaria Kondhs can demand that they be treated as stakeholders in the land acquired and in the stream of future benefits - the regulations regarding which are being improved under the new Land Acquisition and Resettlement Act, upgraded provisions regarding the assessment of the net present value of forests, and enhanced norms for corporate social responsibility that were first set out in the seminal Samantha judgement in 1996 relating to the transfer of a mining lease from the public to the private domain in a Fifth Schedule Area near Vishakapatanam in Andhra. Hopefully, the Ministries of Environment and Forest and of Tribal Affairs will jointly advise the Supreme Court accordingly. The sacred site atop the Niyamgiri range and its immediate surroundings should be protected and honoured. But the rest of the Dongaria Kondh abode should be opened for development of tribal welfare alongside national development, through VAL in this particular case, or any other corporate, PSU or the State elsewhere. The nation needs bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper and other minerals, well-conceived water storages and diversions, power plants, rail and road connectivity, ports and social development in these back-of-beyond regions that the Maoists are taking over on account of callous neglect and lack of development. The government also needs to move forward briskly with project clearances on the basis of due diligence so that procedural delays do not stall progress. Laws and rules too must not apply retrospectively if India is to be a credible investment destination for anybody. Likewise, the debate on GM agro-development, especially in its application to GM foods, cannot be cocooned in special interests and dogma as has been the case in India. The report of the Technical Expert Committee on GM crops was apparently published without the knowledge or consent of R.S Paroda, representing the agriculture and plant genetic resource discipline. A whole host of other national and international scientists associated with BT development have strongly criticised the expert panel for expounding narrow and short-sighted views that inhibit if not endanger the country's future food security. The Food Security Bill has been passed with amendments that should satisfy the states. However, feeding the hungry must ultimately come from increased production and job creation to combat unemployment through infrastructure development at higher levels of skill and remuneration that lift India out of poverty. Nostalgia, fanned by latter-day Luddites, is not the way forward. What is sacred - sentiment or a richer life for the most
wretched? www.bgverghese.com
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Requiem for the telegram The announcement of the end of the telegram churned my heart with nostalgic yearnings, as it did the hearts of so many of my generation. On a wall in my house, lost among the dozens of paintings that crowd around it, is a framed telegram. It is dated 4 Sept 1943 and reads: “Message from enemy sources suggests Hari Singh alive and well. Postal confirmation follows.” That momentous telegram ended two long years of torment, of uncertainty and suspense as to whether my father was alive or dead. There have been other equally momentous telegrams marking most of the climatic moments of my life. My selection for the NDA, my results, both in my graduation and postgraduation and the award of my doctorate degree, the announcement of the birth of my nieces and my nephew, the acceptance of my first book for publication — were all announced through telegrams: pieces of paper that I could hold in my hands, messages that I could read over and over again and relive the feelings that had flooded through my heart when I had first received them. I could not have done this with a phone call or an e-mail. Of course, it could be argued that a print-out of an e-mail could serve the same purpose, but even those who advance this argument, would be doing so half-heartedly. It is natural for me to feel a strong sense of loss at the demise of an invention, which played such an important part in my life. At the same time, I am pragmatic enough to admit that the telegram had died a long time before the official pronouncement of its death. The internet and the mobile phone killed it years ago. There is no arguing that these two inventions have tremendous advantages over the telegram — how else could they have supplanted it? But there is one other reason why I mourn the passing away of the telegram: it gave me my favourite author, Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was a war correspondent during the Spanish Civil War and all his dispatches were sent through long telegrams in the language that came to be called 'telegraphese'. Of sheer necessity, this 'language' used simple sentences and eschewed all extra words, especially unnecessary adverbs and adjectives. Legend has it, that when he returned to civilian life, Hemingway decided to try and make a career as a writer of fiction. He wrote a number of short stories and then got an appointment with Charles Scribner. Unfortunately, on the train to New York, someone stole the briefcase in which he was carrying his manuscripts. He still had three days before his appointment. He used this period to rewrite the stories. Because he was racing against time, he relapsed into a style strongly influenced by 'telegraphese'. Not only did he get the publishing contract, he also went on to win the Nobel Prize for his style. In the years to come, I wonder if someone is likely to win a Nobel Prize for a style influenced by SMSes and posts on
Facebook.
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Need for universal pension in India In
India people are living longer and enjoying better living conditions than ever before as a result of increased life expectancy and medical advancements. Unlike previously, in recent times the function of the family as a primary care-giver to the aged has undergone a transformation due to structural changes -- both internal and external, most importantly to the nuclearisation of family. As a result, care of the elderly has been neglected. And, the elderly themselves, due to lack of financial awareness and financial resources, given India’s growth performance, have not been able to plan for a steady income stream for old age. There are two types of elderly people, broadly, in the country –pensioners and non-pensioners. The pensioners, especially younger ones, given that the retirement age varies from 52 years to 65 years, generally compete for employment at nominal salaries in the private sector to remain productive, relevant and busy. Therefore, the government could consider raising the retirement age as life expectancy has increased to 66 years in 2010. And if longevity is increasing, is the mandatory retirement age of less than 65 years desirable? This is especially applicable for defence, semi-defence and police forces where fresh recruitment is not forthcoming and shortage of manpower is a usual refrain after every untoward incident. The government could also consider offering re-employment opportunities to retirees to take advantage of their rich experience. Illustratively, in some institutions like the World Bank and the IMF, normally all retirees are retained, within the organisation as consultants. Non-pensioner elderly It is the non-pensioner elderly (NPE), mainly hailing from the non-organised sector and accounting for nearly 90 per cent of the elderly, who deserve attention. The NPE normally do not stop working until health compels them. Many elderly continue to render useful services to the family in terms of day care of family property and young children. Further, many elderly are also responsible for the upbringing of dependents. On the basis of a sample survey undertaken by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in seven states (Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal) during 2011, the work participation rate was found to be as high as 39 per cent for elderly males and 11 per cent for elderly females. The health services in our country are not focused on elderly who suffer from a mixed burden of diseases like cardio-vascular illnesses, circulatory diseases, cancer, arthritis, hyper tension, osteoporosis, communicable diseases, high blood pressure, kidney problems, vision problems, diabetes, rheumatism, and locomotive and digestive disorders. In general, according to the UNFPA, 2012 all elderly suffer from similar problems, except in case of memory loss which seems to be impacted more by wealth. The prevalence of some diseases of the elderly does have a residence bias. Illustratively, arthritis is more prevalent among rural elderly while hypertension, diabetes and heart diseases are more prevalent among the urban elderly. In India, mental health deficits are generally not acknowledged while elderly commonly face dementia and depression which manifests itself in unique ways. Available estimates indicate that about 0.2 per cent of the elderly population suffer from mental illnesses. And, then, the elderly generally also require home care mainly because of illness related to confinement. According to available statistics, only about 91.2 per cent of males, and 89.1 per cent of females, irrespective of rural/urban residence, are mobile, implying that nearly 8-10 per cent of the elderly population is confined either to bed or home and need special care. As medical expenses are directly related to ageing, many a time health issues of the elderly are neglected in favour of the general household expenditure. The NPE are generally in poor health condition due to lack of financial resources, an inefficient public health system, unavailability of health services, lack of gerontologists and unaffordable medical help. A number of studies have established that the elderly, when employed and busy, tend to live healthier and longer. Interestingly, in many foreign countries there are interesting employment opportunities for the elderly in different occupations where elderly can volunteer to offer services free of cost. Illustratively, the elderly volunteer to become tourist guides in the Kennedy Center for Arts in Washington DC. This keeps them busy, entertained as well as provides them with the feeling of social relevance. In India, something similar already happens in temples where elderly regularly perform voluntary service. Similar voluntary opportunities for the elderly, who would be willing to volunteer to work for enhancing social welfare, should also be encouraged in India. Economic implications Ageing has important economic implications in terms of labour supply, consumption patterns, investment, cross-border capital flows, fiscal balances and private saving. In countries, where the provision of public pensions increases, the need for private savings and need to privately hoard wealth declines. To cater to the rising elderly population, the government has been undertaking pension reforms. The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority was established in 2003 and has been making efforts to improve social security in India. Despite such efforts, and introducing a New National Pension Scheme that includes “Swavalamban”, and launching extensive financial education programme, pension penetration is low and restricted generally to those who have retired from the organised sector. In India with the setting up of an Insurance and Regulatory Authority in 1999, life insurance companies have increased from one, LIC, to 24 but penetration is still low, around 4 per cent by some estimates. The government needs to consider a focused policy for the elderly in terms of their relevance, contribution to society, medical requirements and shelter homes, given the changing family structure. The elderly, in the twilight zone of their life, generally neglected and ignored, have to compromise on many aspects of their living, including health, as traditions of the ancient Indian culture are fading away. As modern medicine is expensive, general and traditional medicines for the elderly could be considered for distribution through fair price shops (FPS) at reasonable prices. In view of the severe health problems that our elderly face and given that Aadhar cards have been prepared, the distribution of special foodgrains or cereals for the elderly could be considered through the network of more than 5,00,000 FPS. There is also a need to have hygienic and appropriate old age homes for the elderly where special care, medical assistance and shelter could be provided on a long-term basis. In many countries of the West, like the US, specialised home care for the elderly is assured by the authorities at highly subsidised rates. In India, where traditional family support is rapidly eroding, the elderly could have community and day care centres to meet their needs for counselling, meals, networking, outreach, recreation, and medical and any other support, as is extended by the government in countries like Hong Kong, Australia and Canada. Universal pension As majority of the elderly in the country are dependent, and considered as a financial burden on the family, their self-esteem, health and general well-being are low. Therefore, to give them a sense of relevance and feeling of important participants of nation building, the government could consider universal pension and insurance coverage (UPIC) for citizens above a certain threshold of age, say 60 years. The government already extends small pension to 1.7 crore elderly living below the poverty line (BPL).Assuming, based on population statistics, that the non-BPL elderly citizens of India above 60 years, are 8 crore and if a UPIC of about Rs. 6,000 per annum is awarded to each of them, then the annual fiscal implication of this measure at Rs.48,000 crore would be nearly half of the food subsidy in 2013-14 and nearly one fourth of the projected cost of the Food Security Bill. These computed costs of UPIC are an overestimate, since these have not been adjusted for the existing retirees drawing pension from the government or the public sector and need not be considered for UPIC. And this fiscal cost could be shared between the Centre and states. As females live longer than males, UPIC would eventually empower women too. UPIC would also usher in efficiency in expenditure management as some elderly people are responsible for catering to dependents, for basic necessities of a household. In recent years, given technological innovation in the country, including Aadhar card, the government could consider the use of banking channel for direct benefit transfers (DBT) as there are instances of pilferage when pensions/benefits to the elderly are made through intermediaries. The use of DBT will lend popularity to bank accounts, make them useful to a wider population and result in achieving higher financial inclusion too. To help the elderly, the government should consider partnership with the private sector, NGOs, religious institutions, insurance companies and medical facilities more effectively. UPIC would instil confidence and self-esteem in the elderly along with imparting a sense of social security as well as economic relevance. This will help the elderly to live their last few years, fulfilled and with a sense of satisfaction of having successfully toiled for their country and having achieved recognition for the same. This effort will enhance the general welfare of our society, benefits outweighing the costs. The writer is the RBI Chair Professor of Economics, IIM Bangalore. The views are personal.
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