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Not by words alone Digital life certificate |
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Prize idiocy of little men
Stepping into mother's shoes!
Clean-India drive: Challenges & gains
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Not by words alone IT is a diplomatic achievement for Prime Minister Modi to secure the backing of G-20 and the OECD for his attempts to tackle the menace of black money. It was he who forcefully raised India's concerns during a session on “Delivering Global Economic Resilience” on the second day of the G-20 summit at Brisbane which later found a prominent mention in the joint communiqué. Though the two groups together represent 44 countries and 90 per cent of the world economy, their attempts to modernise international tax rules, allow automatic exchange of tax information and promote global transparency standards will have only limited impact as black money — generated through drugs, tax evasion and other illegal means — flows through illicit routes and is parked in countries where banking business thrives on secrecy and customer identity protection. Nothing short of a crackdown and sanctions against the known tax havens would work. For this political will and cooperation at the global level is lacking. India has got information on tax evaders from third countries which obtained it through immoral means. Only a small part of black money is probably kept in foreign banks. Part of it is spent on buying luxuries and assets abroad. Part of it comes back to India for investment in stock markets through the participatory note. The focus of the government, therefore, should be on controlling the generation of black money within the country by taking the help of technology, simplifying taxes, regulating real estate business, ensuring transparency and curbing its outflow through “hawala”. There is no official figure of the extent of black money in India but unofficial estimates put the amount between $446 billion and $1.4 trillion. Mr Modi might have scored some diplomatic brownie points with his performance at the international platform, but the real challenge is to adopt a multi-pronged approach to unearth black money. During the Lok Sabha elections BJP leaders had promised that every poor Indian would get Rs 15-20 lakh once black money was brought back. They will have to now live up to expectations thus aroused.
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Digital life certificate India’s
software prowess has been put to some practical use to help the large number of pensioners. Estimated to be over 125 lakh individuals, they had till now to make themselves physically present before a pension disbursing agency regardless of their being incapacitated by old age, or submit a life certificate every year in November issued by authorities specified by the Central Pension Accounting Office. The whole exercise, which at times assumed hilarious proportions, may now become a thing of the past. The Modi Government has launched an
Aadhaar-based digital life certificate called “Jeevan Pramaan” for pensioners, which is expected to make the process of pension payments hassle free. The new software application, developed by the Department of Electronics and IT, enables the recording of the pensioner's Aadhaar number and biometric details from a mobile device or computer via a biometric reading device. Key details about the identity of the pensioner, along with the date, time and biometric information can then be uploaded to a central database which enables the pension disbursing agency to directly access a Digital Life Certificate. The software establishes the pensioner being alive at the time of authentication, without his/her having to be physically present. The government promises to make the software available to pensioners at no extra cost. The facility will also be available at Common Service Centres under the National e-Governance Plan to benefit pensioners living in remote and inaccessible areas. While this move will certainly benefit the senior citizens, it will be interesting to see if linking Aadhaar will be made mandatory for drawing pension at all in the wake of the contradictory stand taken by the courts on
Aadhaar. The Supreme Court ordered the government not to link social benefits to Aadhaar in September last year, but the Bombay High Court had suggested the state government to consider linking Aadhaar to ration cards to eliminate fake cards.
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Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it. — Thomas Fuller
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The "Komagata" enquiry THE five members of the "Komagata" enquiry committee arrived at Jullundur in three batches. The first "batch" consisted of the Hon'ble Sirdar Daljit Singh only, and he arrived on Friday. The next one, which may be called the Civilian batch, consisting of Messrs. Eagan and Walmsley, arrived on Saturday. The third and the last, the Burdwan batch, for the Hon'ble Sir William Vincent is also of Burdwan, arrived on Sunday, and the inquiry was resumed on Monday. Some of the witnesses, tired of waiting at Jullundur, have gone back to their place, but will soon be returning to give evidence. It is not known how long the Jullundur sitting will last; but it is fervently hoped that the report will not be delayed longer than is necessary to judge the recorded evidence. A large section of the passengers have been put to much avoidable suffering and early relief to them would earn for Government the gratitude of the entire Indian community. An appeal for wounded Indian soldiers WHILE the brave Indian soldiers abroad are giving a splendid account of themselves winning the highest commendation from the King-Emperor downwards, it is befitting that something should be done to give them the much-needed comforts. The St. John Ambulance Association has already formed voluntary aid detachments and supplied a complete Indian General Hospital and has, organised a system for providing gifts and comforts for the troops sent abroad, British and Indian, arrangement having been made to carry boxes of Red Cross War Gifts free of freight to Bombay. The articles include flannel jackets, woollen pyjamas, pillows, towels, socks, caps, mufflers, sheets, rezais, biscuits, tea, cocoa, & c., articles of use and comfort.
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Prize idiocy of little men Nevertheless, the Congress is going ahead with its own celebrations that will eclipse the dishonest official “tamasha”, with an international audience and hundreds of millions of Indians to remember him with affection and pride. His greatest contributions were to establish India as a democracy, safeguard its diversity through secular policies and build the base for development and modernisation. He had his failures too; but the balance was hugely positive. India will remain a democracy and plural society, despite all its flaws because of the foundations laid by Nehru despite the narrow, divisive, exclusive, communal, caste-bound, fascist and chauvinistic challenge of the RSS and Parivar and its Hindutva philosophy, a political credo that bears no relationship to Hinduism. Modi and Mohan Bhagwat should read “Discovery of India”. The one cardinal error the Congress has committed is to have sent out invitations designating Nehru as “Pandit”, that appellation of caste and exclusiveness. Why he styled himself “Pandit” is a mystery as he was no casteist. Let that term be dropped for ever. Caste is a curse, though many still cling to it. The much-awaited Cabinet reshuffle was a routine affair. Manohar Parrikar’s appointment as Defence Minister filled a gaping vacuum while Suresh Prabhu will make a good Railway Minister and bring some integrity and imagination to the Cabinet. Some alleged criminals were also inducted. Ram Shankar Katheria faces allegations that his gradation mark-sheet was forged. In Mumbai, the Fadnavis Cabinet has been sworn in. But it is a minority government and much instability can be expected. Modi is away on another foreign tour. In Myanmar he pleaded for connectivity with and beyond Myanmar and promised to “Act East” instead of “Looking East”. But he has shown no awareness of India's Moreh-Tamu-Kalewa road link or Guwahati international airport and international air cargo terminal. Both are fine India-built projects but monuments to apathy, incompetence, lack of coordination and the colonial nature of the current NE establishment that can and will achieve nothing. The Kaladan inter-modal road-cum-waterway is going the same way. It is nearing completion but there is little word of how it is to be operated. All previous governments are equally responsible. The special CBI court in Mumbai investigating the alleged Sohrabuddin and Prajapati murder cases by Amit Shah has permanently exempted him from personal appearance in the trial court until charges are framed, unless specifically so directed by the court. Shah has repeatedly got exemption over some nine months on account of his political work, which is election management for the party. So does justice wait for the Big Boss? Contrast this with the Tehelka case. Tarun Tejpal was arrested, summoned to Goa and detained with common felons on a contested charge of rape. Bail was denied on the ground that he would interfere in the course of justice or might abscond. Finally, bail was granted after many months on account of his mother's illness. But all airports and land exit routes were closed lest he ran away. Is Amit Shah, an accused murderer, a less powerful man? Has justice fled? Modi's post-holocaust 2002 broadcast said that those who sought peace must desist from seeking justice. Is this what we are witnessing while we await Nanavaty’s report? Justice has most often been unduly delayed because due process has become a device to dodge the law, with official and judicial connivance. Punishments are light, if awarded. L.N Mishra was murdered by Congress hit-men because he knew too much about corruption going on in high places to which he had been made party. The judgment is to be delivered on December 8 — 14 years after the event. The effort has been to shield the guilty. One silver lining last week was the award of life sentence to five military personnel for false encounters at Machil in J&K in 2010, describing the three innocents murdered as foreign militants. This heinous crime was to claim rewards and promotions. Justice has been delivered. But this must be followed by the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in J&K and the Northeast with the proviso that it would be reimposed for two months at a time if there are fresh terror attacks. Army objections should not be entertained and civil orders must be final. We have to rebuild trust, with the approaching elections offering opportunity for new beginnings, with those opposing and obstructing elections being detained for blatantly flouting the Constitution. Finally, it is clearly time to remove the chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Lalitha Kumaramangalam, for remarking that love jihad is not worth talking about and has been blown out of proportion by media hype. A Hindu girl and Muslim boy in Kerala, on the run for 11 months for “committing” love jihad, have finally decided to come out in the open and stand their ground against Hindutva hoodlums, with the offer of CPM protection. Has the State abdicated? “Love jihad” is illegal and unconstitutional and a gross violation of the right to privacy, human rights and gender rights. Its Hindutva advocates have never loved or been loved and have turned love into an object of communal hate, shame and anti-nationalism. This garbage has been silently blessed by Modi, whose own attitude to women is well known. Lalitha Kumaramangalam is best retired as Chair of the NWC for being the woman-hater she has shown herself to be.
www.bgverghese.com
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Stepping into mother's shoes! It was not only in academics that I literally stepped into my mother's shoes when this year I was awarded a Gold Medal for standing first in the entire Panjab University in my Bachelor of Honours in English from MCM DAV College for Women. My mother, then barely 20 and a student at the famous St Bede's College, Shimla, too had topped Himachal Pradesh University in her graduation and got a Gold Medal and a Bedian Ring. Apart from the similarities the two of us share academically, we both are fond of felines. At our home, four or five cats can be seen playing at any time much to the discomfiture of some sceptics. We have an uncanny resemblance and when friends of my mother turn up at our home, they often comment that I am an exact replica of my mother as she was in her college days. It was actually a surprise incident that made me step into my mother's shoes. A fitness freak, she had brought a new pair of shoes to re-start jogging at the Sukhna Lake to shed a few kilos that she had put on. As she prepared to go for her new routine, she found that the shoes did not fit in. I at once volunteered to try one and these well fitted on my feet. I at once made an impromptu announcement that I was now stepping into my mother's shoes. That has further strengthened the bond between two of us. As we go to the Sukhna Lake for a walk, we share everything and have turned out to be best friends. You may call it telepathy or love, but both of us can immediately understand each other’s feelings and share an inseparable bond. My belief was strengthened when while climbing narrow stairs at a coaching institute, I slipped a few steps and hurt my elbow. Almost at the same time, my mother called up on my mobile to enquire about my well-being. Cutting the long story short, now for many years, I have stopped going to shoe stores to buy a new pair of footwear for myself. She brings the footwear which is one size below her shoe size and I gladly step into her shoes!
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Clean-India drive: Challenges & gains
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachch Bharat sanitation programme on October 2 , 2014. It was a befitting tribute to the Father of the Nation who was concerned about sanitation issues. After the Shimla Conference in May 1945 got over, Gandhiji went to the nearby quarters and started discussing the problem of poor conditions of latrines with the residents. The ashram at Wardha was set up to teach poor people to build a sanitary environment. He used to teach the people saying, “If you go to defecate in the open, then dig a small pit, do the job and cover it with the excavated soil.” This was a unique idea of sanitation in those days. The proposed sanitation programme will reframe the social and economic face of India and prove to be a great game changer. Sanitation has a direct link with the spread of communicable diseases which are prevalent in India. As a matter of fact, the initiative “Health for All by 2000 A.D” flopped because an effective sanitation programme was not launched simultaneously. The basic cause of frequent epidemics in India is insanitation. The country can attain Health for All by October 2, 2019, if the programme is implemented in totality. Quality of life Living in an insanitary environment, like poverty, degrades the quality of human life and it is a curse and a social stigma as well.Therefore, the accomplishment of the Total Sanitation Programme (TSP) will improve the living standard of the poorest of the poor on the one hand and improve the Human Development Index (HDI) of India on the other. Presently, India is positioned 134 in the UN’s HDI. Poverty is less painful if one gets a chance to live in a sanitary environment. In fact, a sanitary environment is the basic necessity of human life like air, water and food for its aesthetic and psychological development. That is why we say, “Cleanliness is next to godliness”. If India ensures total sanitation by 2019, our stock will rise in the comity of nations. This important programme was totally neglected in the past and one should give full marks to Narendra Modi for caring about this basic necessity of human life and giving it top priority in his future programme of developing India. Up to the 1960s, carrying human excreta as head load was the worst social stigma. Now open defecation has taken its place. Women go for nature’s call at night in the open and they are frequently molested and even raped. The coverage for use of in-house sanitary latrines varies from state to state, depending upon the percentage of BPL families. According to the proposed Swachh Bharat scheme, the government will build individual toilets in 1.04 crore households and 5 lakh community/public toilets in urban areas. Around 8.8 crore toilets will be built in rural areas and a majority of these are to be provided in individual households. The total sanitation programme includes programmes that are to be executed under the umbrella programme. Steps towards total sanitation Provision of 100 per cent sewerage and a drainage system in all urban towns together with innocuous disposal or recycling of the finally treated effluent for irrigation with a total ban on discharge into the drains or rivers. An effective sewerage and drainage system forms the backbone of urban sanitation. There is need for 100 per cent solid waste management, both in urban and rural areas and recycling of the final waste product. Around 100 per cent coverage of rural households and slum areas with sanitary latrines. All the open areas in urban and rural communities will be either paved or grassed. All the streets to be paved with concrete blocks or paver blocks. There should be zero tolerance to dumping or littering of solid waste matter (mostly paper and plastic matter) in open spaces, both in urban and rural areas. It should be the same for stagnation of sullage or any other waste water in urban or rural areas. There should be daily sweeping of streets, roads or public places both in rural and urban areas. The vacant plots should be provided with boundary walls and kept neat clean and green. Each element is more important than the other. The accomplishment of this programme by 2019 is an onerous task and will require huge amount of funds. Execution of the TSP will be done by the state agencies. The Central Government will only facilitate and monitor the progress of the programme with partial funding. Therefore, it will be appropriate if the Centre prepares a blueprint and then calls a meeting of state chief ministers to hand over the blueprint to them to prepare rough cost estimates. Considering the amazonian size of the project, it will be essential to set up a separate ministry to prepare a financial and administrative model and give a go-ahead to the states to implement this programme by October, 2019. The first year should be used for financial planning, preparing technical sanction of the project and acquisition of land. The remaining four years should be used for execution under the watchful eye of the Central ministry, with the mechanism of monitoring and course corrections. Financial challenges Since the Total Sanitation Programme or TSP, covers the length and breadth of the country. It is bound to face serious financial and administrative challenges. India has 4,041 towns of varying sizes, with population varying between 20,000 to 15 million. Besides this, towns are expanding disproportionately because of an accelerated process of rural migration to urban areas. Presently, 98 per cent towns have been provided with partial sewerage, drainage and water-supply systems only. We have to include the cost of the water supply system because the success of the sewerage system depends upon providing a water supply network carrying 135 litres per capita per day. Providing latrines in 80 million BPL households at a cost of Rs 1,2500, per unit will require an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore for which the families may not be ready to pay individually. BPL families, at best, can agree to meet 25 per cent of the cost. Waste collection system Solid waste collection system and its innocuous disposal/recycling leaves much to be desired. Presently, very few cities have scientifically designed disposal plants and upgradation of the whole system needs considerable investment. The cost of paving of streets is still higher. In Haryana, 90 per cent village streets have been paved with concrete blocks. So the cost of providing all these services with 100 per cent coverage is monumental, if not colossal. Basically, the provision of these basic services is a state subject. The treasuries of most of the states are empty and they are surviving on loans and central grants and are unable to upgrade these services or fast-track them. The private-public partnership or PPP model is already failing and has become dicey because of the capricious attitude of the consumers not to pay the toll tax or service charges, whereas the government is heavily banking on it. Taking the middle path A middle path needs to be explored. The government has already set up the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, which provides funds to upgrade the urban services to the states on equity basis and that too for limited number of bigger towns like Patna. Therefore, the only way left for the states is to arrange funds from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and other donor agencies. Arrangement of required amount of funds will be a herculean task and requires great financial acumen and prudence in order to meet this challenge. The Government of India, in an affidavit to the Supreme Court on September 9, this year, (PIL for Clean Ganga project) has stated that it will take 18 years to implement the total sanitation project in 118 identified towns and 1,650 panchayats and will require Rs 5,1000 crore for the purpose. It is not known what view the Supreme Court will take but the implementation period of 18 years is not digestible. Going by this figure, the total cost of covering 4041 towns and 4 lakh villages will be a whopping Rs 35 lakh crore. Administrative glitches Most towns have been provided with partial sewerage systems but very few have well-designed sewage treatment plant (STPs). STPs and outfall channels carrying treated waste water will require use of public land. Acquisition of public land is a problem because of stringent provision of the new Land Acquisition Act. So timely acquisition of land is a big challenge for the administration. In market areas, the land between the shopping line and the edge of the road has considerable width and paving this area involves huge cost. Theoretically, shopkeepers should pave this area because they use this land for the sake of their customers. One does not know if they will agree to pave the entire width. The situation in residential areas is almost similar with the difference that the width can be grassed instead of being paved. Therefore, the state government will have to formulate a policy that can be implemented in this regard. Likewise, the state government will have to pass an order to direct plot holders to ensure 25 per cent completion of their plots within a specified period so that the vacant plots do not become dumping grounds for solid waste and growth of wild plants. Location of solid waste-management plants is a difficult task. Seeking environment clearance from the state environment authority is not as problematic as is dealing with protests from villagers. A proper and clean technology and a method for degradation and recycling of solid waste has not been developed so far in India. Existing plants emit unbearable foul smells during the rainy season and on the windy days.You can feel this nuisance by standing at Karnal bypass in Delhi during the rainy season. The problem in bigger cities is all the more intractable as the space for dumping solid waste at existing locations is reducing day by day because the recycling process has not been taken up simultaneously. The experiment of using solid waste for power generation has not met with desired success. Location of new solid waste plants at the outer periphery requires long-distance transportation. The process of composting solid waste at the source in bigger houses (350 sq metres or more) has not been initiated yet. Recycling technology for paper and plastic waste too has not been developed so far. Execution of projects of sewerage, drainage, solid waste management, and providing sanitary latrines in Haryana is done by different government agencies like municipal corporations, Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and Department of Panchayats. It will be expedient to set up an authority at the state headquarters. The Managing Director of this authority should be a senior IAS officer, with a team of senior engineers and administrative officers at the state level. This authority will be entrusted the job of coordinating the work with departments concerned for timely execution of the project and also to distribute funds to different executing agencies and provide monitoring feedbacks to the ministry. Nuts & bolts of sanitation drive
Cost of cleanliness The Rs 1.0 lakh crore programme was launched on October 2, 2014 (Gandhi Jayanti). Toilets will be built with private sector investment. Focus areas include better solid waste management facilities for over 30 crore people across 4,041 cities by 2019. The government is exploring ways to to merge this mega project with existing welfare programmes such as MGNREGA and Backward Region Grant Fund. A budget of
Rs 1 lakh crore will provide Rs 62,000 crore for urban areas and Rs
38,000 crore for rural areas. The government is banking heavily on private sector investment, through the PPP model. According to Census 2011, out of 6.7 crore urban households, 12 per cent, i.e. 80.4 lakh defecate in the open. About 36 per cent population is covered under the sewerage system and 37 per cent have in-house septic tanks. The proposed
Rs 1.0 lakh crore sanitation programme is devoted to providing sanitary latrines, covering all the households in the country and improving solid waste management facilities in urban areas. — The writer is a former Engineer-in-Chief, Haryana. At present, he teaches civil engineering in Manav Rachna University, Faridabad, Haryana.
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Nehru’s
IT is common to hear about sons stepping into their father's shoes but rare to hear about a daughter stepping into her mother’s shoes.
