Bitter onion facts and ALL-PARTY ALLIANCE!!!

The skyrocketing onion prices have created a big hole in our pockets over the last two months. And, see what a prominent onion trader operating in the Lasalgaon market, India’s largest onion market, feels about our plight: “If prices have gone up from Rs 20 to Rs 80 a kilo, the middle class is paying hardly Rs 120 more than their average monthly spending. This should not disturb them so much.”

The Lasalgaon market is in Maharashtra’s Nashik district where 70 per cent of India’s onion trade occurs. 

The above quote is part of the cover story of THE WEEK magazine's current issue available at this link: http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?contentId=15176275&programId=1073755753&tabId=13&BV_ID=@@@&categoryId=-208261 

Some more consumer gyaan (learning) related to the onion trade conducted in the Lasalgaon market over the past few months is as follows:

• A farmer who sold his produce at Rs 3500 a quintal, his profit after paying for raw material and labour costs was only Rs 9 a kilo.
• According to a farmer activist, traders in Lasalgaon Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) alone earned more than Rs 150 crore in just four days (Aug 12–15) this year.
• According to the leader of a prominent organization, “The (onion) auctions are a farce… Once the bidding is over, the winner announces the price. The farmers have to sell their crop to him even if the price does not meet their production cost. They get beaten up if they refuse.” 

Over the last few weeks we have seen much hue and cry over onion price rise in media and in the political arena. But hardly anyone told us about the plight of the onion farmer and how few traders monopolistic practices have created the artificial onion scarcity and consequent steep price rise.

Maybe it's due to the all-party alliance which is protecting the traders' interest in Nashik. One farmer activist points to this all-party alliance in these words: “About 90 per cent of the traders belong to the BJP; the state co-operative and agriculture ministers are from the Congress; and NCP chief Sharad Pawar is the Union agriculture minister." 

Manmohan 'marketed poverty' before Obama, but what the Gujarat 'strongman' is doing?

PM hopeful of BJP Narendra Modi recently charged PM Manmohan Singh of marketing India’s poverty before President Obama at their meeting on Sept 28. OK. Now, let's see what Modi himself is doing. Between Sept 15 and Oct 2, Modi spoke thrice (at Rewari and Delhi rallies and at a college students’ meet in Delhi) about his tea-vendor background. Isn't it marketing of Modi's humble background to touch a chord in the common man for electoral gains. Our former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri also came from a humble background.  He lost his father when he was only one. Given Shastri’s nature one doesn’t think he had ever tried to market his humble background like Modi is doing these days.

Vajpayee's statesmanship and potential PM's Congress-mukt Bharat

Noted historian and scholar Ramchandra Guha in one of his articles (link given at the bottom) narrates an example of statesmanship and political tolerance set by BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee while serving as foreign minister in the Janata Party govt in 1977. In the 1977 elections, the newly-formed Janata Party, in which BJP's erstwhile avatar Jana Sangh was merged, had trounced the Congress and formed the govt at the Centre.

When Vajpayee as Foreign Minister went to his office in South Block for the first time, he looked around, and immediately spotted a blank space on the wall. (He knew the room well, as he had often visited it as an Opposition MP.) "Panditji ki tasveer kahan gayi? (Where is the portrait of Jawaharlal Nehru that used to hang there?)." The officers present in the room remained silent. Actually, they had themselves removed Nehru’s portrait, thinking that Vajpayee who had been jailed during the 1975-77 Emergency by Indira Gandhi would detest her father Nehru. But Vajpayee commanded, "Wapas lao. Satara saal hamare videsh mantri rahe. (Bring back the portrait. He was our Foreign Minister for 17 years.) So Nehru's portrait was brought back. 

The above anecdote shows Vajpayee's magnanimity as well as statesmanship in accepting the important role Nehru played as the first PM and as Foreign Minister in building modern India. In fact, Nehru was also highly impressed by Vajpayee's oratorial skills when the latter was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1957. He had reportedly told his fellow parliamentarians that this young MP would emerge as a big leader in future. 

Now, see the contrast. Today potential PM Narendra Modi, belonging to the very party of Vajpayee, in his speeches seems to blame Nehru for all the ills afflicting the country. Young Indians also get carried away by Modi's speeches. But an impartial observer would give Nehru credit for laying the foundation of a democratic and plural India which provided an opportunity to people from backward castes, like Narendra Modi, Mayawati, and  Laloo Prasad Yadav, to develop political leadership qualities and become national leaders. 

Though Modi became a national leader by enjoying the fundamental rights bestowed upon him by the Indian democracy, he has coined the highly undemocratic slogan 'Congress-mukt Bharat' (Congress-free India). Many political leaders have great differences with BJP leaders. But nobody has ever coined the slogan 'BJP-mukt Bharat' (BJP-free India). 

I think a true democrat knows well that in a liberal society like India's anybody within the framework of law has the right to propagate his/her views or ideology. Does Modi need to be reminded of the requirement to tolerate one's opponents in a democratic polity?   

Ramchandra Guha's article is available at the following link:  

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130629/jsp/opinion/story_17049899.jsp#.UlFWctLI0mY

India needs 125 crore Lokpal Acts to fight corruption

Yesterday (Oct 5) I watched Abhigyan’s programme 'Sisayat Aur Bhrashtachar' (Politics and Corruption) at NDTV. In the programme, the young Indians appeared highly agitated to uproot corruption from India. And, the political leaders and political analysts, invited for the programme, also underlined the need to end corruption and focus on development. 

The young participants and some political leaders felt that enacting new laws and the Lokpal Act is a sure shot remedy to end corruption. However, JD(U) leader Sabir Ali felt that we already have very good laws which if implemented sincerely can remove corruption. I totally agree with Ali's views. However, I would like to add one thing here that if the Lokpal Act is considered a necessity then one Act won't do. Actually we all 125 crore Indians must enact our individual Lokpal Acts not to abet or indulge in corruption. 

A solid support for this argument is that recent poll surveys have shown that only a minuscule percentage of respondents consider corruption to be a poll issue. The C fore survey, published on Sept 19, 2013 in the Hindustan Times (HT), revealed that only 7% Delhiites consider corruption to be a poll issue. Similarly two earlier all-India poll surveys, conducted by the HT and The Week magazine, put the percentage of respondents concerned over corruption at 10 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively. So, corruption does not bother us much unless we are participating in a TV debate, or unless Anna Hazare sits on a dharna at Jantar Mantar or Ram Lila Maidan. For the anti-corruption movement to succeed, the young participants in Abhigyan's programme must abhor corruption in real life by not following themselves and also preventing their parents from treading the chai-paani route while dealing with the govt machinery. 

Regarding the political class's role in ending corruption, I strongly support the view expressed by NCP leader B P Tripathi in the programme, that all political parties must join hands to design effective ways to end corruption. This will ensure continued mass awakening and fight against participation cutting across castes, religions, and regions. 

In the programme, discussion also veered to development as a poll issue. I feel development is an issue which suits every politician for two reasons. (a) By undertaking development works a politician can fulfil the expectations of his/her electorate and can keep winning elections for a long time. (b) Any development work involves granting contracts worth crores of rupees, and it’s a godsend for the corrupt among the political lot to mint money.

An important but largely ignored aspect is the quality of development works.  Are we or our leaders concerned enough to ensure that we really get the expected return in terms of quality for the tonnes  of money being devoured by development works? Perhaps nobody is concerned. The reason: The masses have enough on their plate in the form of personal and family issues, and the rampant chai-paani culture makes even the honest among politicians/babus to look the other way when quality is compromised in development works. 

In this regard no govt is different irrespective of its political hue. For example, take the case of Delhi. An impartial quality and cost audit of the public works being carried out by MCD departments (controlled by BJP) and Delhi govt departments (controlled by Congress), will reveal same instances of unnecessary cost escalations, and lack of proper supervision leading to substandard quality in the works. So, our precious financial resources are not being used to construct buildings and infrastructure for 'sadiyon ke liye' though a company claims to produce cement for building 'imarats sadiyon ke liye'.

Another example on quality concerns comes from a story carried by The Week magazine few months back. The story reported that according to an NGO, Rahul Gandhi's economic package for Bundelkhand has allegedly been turned into a money spinner for the corrupt. Crores have reportedly been made through fake vouchers in the names of dead people, fake bills, non-transparent contracts and sub-standard works. It is alleged that among fake bills, earthmovers with fake registration numbers are mentioned, and scooters and motorbikes are represented as tractors used for digging to create rain harvesting structures.

Wish media devote due attention to the quality of development works as these are financed by budgets whose deficits are spiralling.

Good days ahead for Indian economy?!?!?!

Doubt and surprise, symbolized by the symbols ? and !, will be anybody’s reaction to this headline, considering India’s low GDP, a weak Rupee, and a rising current account deficit (CAD). But the following points, presented in an analysis on NDTV Profit by Raghu Kumar, co-founder of the broking company RKSV, may remove your doubt. 

1. The Indian stock market has outperformed the US stock market and those of BRICS countries. See how the stock index of these countries has appreciated over the past five years (2008-2013):

• India     – 45.04%
• USA      – 35.81%
• Russia   – 35.02%
• China    – 7.37%
• Brazil    – 4.55%

1. The BSE index for the Indian IT sector, which accounts for 25 per cent of India's exports, has appreciated a huge 38 per cent this year so far, an indicator that India's IT exports may rise in future. 
2. With the recovery of US economy India will see more FDI flowing from the US investors and thus helping the govt meet its target of bringing the current account deficit below $70 billion (3.9 per cent of GDP).
3. India’s annual GDP growth rate, which has declined from 9 per cent to 4.4 per cent over the past 5 years, is expected to rise to 5.6 per cent for 2013-14, according to IMF estimates if FDI inflows and IT exports increase.

Let's wait for the next few months to see whether's Kumar's analysis hits the bull's eye.  

Raghu Kumar’s article is available at the following link:

http://profit.ndtv.com/news/economy/article-why-indian-economy-is-primed-to-boom-now-328208?pfrom=home-otherstories

Should we take a lenient view of Arvind Kejriwal?

The following is an excerpt from my email written to India Against Corruption about a year ago following Arvind Kejriwal’s decision to join politics. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was not formed then.

“I think we can effectively challenge a system from outside. Once we become part of the system, we become prone to do compromises on our stated principles or agenda for surviving in that system." 

In the above excerpt the term system implies to politics. Over the past few months, I have noticed many compromises by AAP which may be OK according to the phrase ‘All is fair in love and war’ but are not in tune with the politics of principles which AAP professes to follow. Here are some examples:

1. AAP has been publicizing two sets of contradictory poll   survey data through huge flex posters hung over many foot bridges (a violation of traffic rules) in Delhi and in small posters behind many autos. A discerning person would question the authenticity of this data as no name of the agency which conducted these poll surveys has been given. The data details are follows:

The following are the Delhiites choices for Delhi CM following the Nov 2013 polls:

(i) Arvind Kejriwal      41% 

(ii) Sheila Dikshit         20% 

(iii) Vijay Goel             14%

The following are the Delhiites choices for a particular party's govt following the Nov 2013 polls:

(i) AAP        46% 

(ii) BJP        29% 

(iii) Cong     25%

The obvious contradiction in the above two sets of data is that more people want Sheila to be CM than those who want the Cong to form govt in Delhi. How can it be possible? 

2. On Sept 10 last, the Hindustan Times carried a picture of  Arvind Kejriwal campaigning inside a Delhi Metro coach. Delhi Metro doesn’t allow photography, marketing or campaigning inside its coaches.

3. "5 saal ki gudiya ko bachaya" (He saved a five-year-old innocent girl). Kejriwal used this sentence below his picture on posters at the back of three-wheelers. Adjacent to this picture there was a picture of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who was blamed for the rising crimes against women. I found it in bad taste that Kejriwal, who claims to be a selfless leader, is asking votes in the name of a five-year-old innocent rape victim. 

As AAP has limited resources to counter the huge poll campaigns of Congress and BJP, we may overlook the above diversions of AAP from the principles-based politics. But I think this the beginning of compromises which may grow once AAP becomes a player to reckon with in Delhi politics. 

A silver lining from Mumbai

I begin with my following comment published yesterday (Sept 26) on the NDTV website on a news item:

Salute to Vaishali Mhaskar, Rahul Rai and seven other Mumbaikars for living up to the high morals for which India is traditionally respected. Hope we the masses and our politicians learn from these selfless souls and start giving importance to morality, which we direly need to cleanse public life.

The news was about a Reader’s Digest a survey conducted in 16 cities worldwide to measure the level of people’s honesty in these cities. While Finnish capital Helsinki came out as the world's most honest city, our own Mumbai was declared second-most honest city in the world. Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, proved to be the least honest.

For the survey, researchers left 192 wallets in parks, near shopping malls and on sidewalks, in 16 cities in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. Each wallet contained a cell phone number, a family photo, coupons, business cards and the equivalent of 50 dollars in cash.

Overall 90 (47 per cent) of 192 wallets were returned. In Helsinki, 11 out of 12 wallets were returned, and Mumbaikars returned 9 of the 12 wallets. Two of these Mumbaikars, as mentioned in my comment, were Vaishali Mhaskar and Rahul Rai.

However, some of my fellow netizens did not find anything great in this survey and made fun of it through these comments: 

• Good joke!
• Ha ha ha , 1st April is still far away , Indians and honest , i say NEVER ....
• When people are busy making money through corruption, where is the necessity to steal wallets!!!!!!
• If you lose your wallet don't expect it back by this survey, Indians and honesty are two opposite poles. If you don't believe it leave your wallet in one of the locals.

Despite the above comments, I feel common Indians try to behave honestly and are ready to help each other if they are able to keep themselves aloof from the political and bureaucratic machinations. I give two personal examples:

1. Sometimes I travel in a normal auto-turned-into a passenger share auto for a short distance, with each passenger paying Rs 10. One day I was sitting alone in that auto, and the young driver was waiting for two more passengers. Then a child came and wanted to travel by that auto. The driver thought he won’t be able to pay Rs 10, so he refused to take him. A little later when the two remaining passengers got into the auto, the driver rued refusing  the child. So he went looking for the child to whom he now seemed giving a ride for less fare or even for free. However, he could not find the child. So, he started the auto but on the way he expressed his regret for refusing the child. Then one of my fellow passengers, a youth in his mid 20s, consoled the driver, 'Yeh ahmiyat ki baat hai ke tumhe tumhari galti ka ehsaas ho gaya’. (It’s important that you have realized your mistake.) Since both the driver and my fellow co-passenger were young, I think for India not all has been lost yet. 
2. For the last 15 years, a physically challenged lady is a regular fixture on the pavement in our colony in the morning. I often extend her small monetary help. Sometimes it happens that she doesn’t turn up for days together. So, when I meet her after the interlude, I give a little more money than my usual daily offering. And, the next day when I try to give her some money, she refuses to take it, saying “Kal apne diya  tha” (You helped me yesterday.)  Doesn’t this physically challenged lady, with nobody to look after her, have a honest realization that as she has already received  a lump sum amount, so she is not entitled to get more money from me for the next few days? 

     Wish our politicians and bureaucrats also have such honest  realization about caring for the money which the masses earn  the hard way and of which they are the custodians.

   

    The NDTV news is available on the following link:

    http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/mumbai-named-world-s-  second-most-honest-city-study-424053