Bullet trains: A true necessity?

Recently there was great fuss about high speed trains. It achieved profound importance in BJP’s manifesto and then it was reiterated in the rail budget 2014-15. A hefty sum has been allocated for developing Mumbai-Ahmedabad stretch of Diamond quadrilateral project which will connect metro and growth centres with high speed trains. Critics, opposition parties and academicians have made hue and cry over the need of bullet trains in India. If bullet trains are really required?

At a time when economic growth is dwindling, inflation is persistently high and twin deficits (fiscal deficit and current account deficit) are looming over dangerous limits, such a huge investment in high speed corridor may further deteriorate the economy. Running bullet trains will come with great challenges:

-          Building separate infrastructure to support high speed rails such as laying down the new tracks, signal systems, safety standards will require huge funds

-          Land acquisition for laying the new tracks will again be a time taking and costly affair given the stringent provision of land acquisition act, 2013. A large number of people will be affected who need to be rehabilitated and resettled.

-          License raj and red tapism in India have made it difficult to start the projects. Many large scale projects are stuck due to the environment and forest clearances. Getting the clearances will be an issue to reckon with.

-          When investors’ confidence in the economy is at abysmally low, attracting them to invest in high speed trains will be a tenuous job.

No doubt, bullet trains will drastically reduce the travel time but it will be affordable only by richer strata of society. Poor will be deprived of the benefits to a large extent. It is argued by the government that high speed corridor will facilitate transport of perishable goods at faster speeds leading to less wastage which will ultimately rein in the food inflation; however, even if that’s true, developing bullet trains network is yet a far distant dream. Also, tourism industry will proliferate bringing more foreign capital to the country and hence enhancing the economy. 

Altogether, high speed trains will be beneficial; however, due to large scale investments and other concerns stated above certainly their negativities outweigh the positive outcomes. They may be considered to be a serious attempt to demonstrate India’s prowess in the world and particularly in its neighbourhood.

India with a population of 1.2 billion has largest share of world’s poorest (UN MDG 2014 report). With its largest rail network worldwide, it is still grappling to address the issue of passengers. Stations are thronged, trains are crowded; passengers still strive hard to get a seat in general bogie, ticket booking through internet is hassled, scores of accidents, safety issue for passengers especially women and modernisation are few issues of much more concern.

The country is sitting on huge demographic dividend and to reap its potential it need to invest largely in social sectors such as health and education. Therefore, though bullet trains can be a long term priority, in short and medium term the government should shift its focus to sustainable development and inclusive growth.

D day eve

Last 3 months have been very happening. Tonight, I am getting nostalgic of the quality time I have spent during last couple of months. It was the duration when I was relatively free after the civil services mains examination. There seemed hardly anything to do in general and with respect to studies in particular. It was the time when I found myself in vacuum after the tedious mains preparation and busy schedule. Especially after 8 days of mains examination, the mind was turbulent, fingers were painful and body was restless. I was desperately yearning for sigh of bliss.

A good sleep and then internet were the rescuers. First of all movies were targeted and backlog was done away with. Interestingly, I came across few people; few of them were friends who were far apart for very weird reasons, few were very special ones, yet strangers and a few new ones.  It was great spending time with them. I felt as if I have lived the life after a long time. I shall definitely cherish those moments and shall miss them. There were ups and downs; it was the time when life taught me a few lessons. It made me realise that the dear ones will always be around with open arms, be it looking for suggestions while finding yourself in topsy-turvy or be it while seeking asylum when finding self at the lowest ebb or be it hanging out when caught up in the utter despair.

It was also the time when I was the most inefficient during the course of my civils’ preparation. Even if something was important to commence, I did procrastinate it and at times simply ignored it. Books were getting dust. Nevertheless, I was very particular and determined that I cannot and I will never miss reading newspaper. And believe me it gave a great sense of satisfaction in spite of my detached attachment with the books. It was only during last few days that I have done something fruitful with respect to my interview preparation, courtesy: a very helpful friend of mine.  

Now at the eve of so called D day when I retrospect what I have done in last couple of months, I am quite happy with the events which turned up. They have obviously made a better human being out of me. Regarding results, I am neither succumbing to the unaccounted distress nor being expectant and swayed with the sanguinity because of the greater scope of uncertainty this examination carries. Whatever may be the result, I’ll be the happy lad. In any case, I will start studying with the same fervour and exuberance which I used to carry earlier for either interview or the next attempt.  

BJP: Diminishing Party

In last decade, one political party which has always been marred by leadership vacuum, internal squabbles and vociferous clamours by its top leaders, is yet to see the dawn where harmony among them prevails.

Gone were the days when BJP was shining under leadership of Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Staunch supporters of the Bhartiya Janta Party are becoming nostalgic recalling those days when the party emerged as the largest political party during the General elections of 1999. After the exit of Vajpayee, the situation has changed dramatically. Since then certain events followed which shattered the prestige of the party very drastically. Their credibility being at the lowest ebb gave the UPA ample scope to be recognised as the most favourable and likeable party among Indian electorates for consecutive two years notwithstanding being involved into myriad of scams.

Due to ideological differences and involvement into communal politics, most of the BJP’s allies kept on withdrawing from the national democratic alliance. As the issues such as Ram mandir kept on resolving, the political mileage went on dwindling which was fuelling the electoral vehicle of BJP. Its leaders, due to their frivolous and trivial comments, went on losing confidence among the Indian electorates. Consequently, it is now in dearth of a leader who is widely accepted by all and can be touted as its prime ministerial candidate.

Last week, after a lot of heated discussions among the allies, Narendra Modi was finally nominated as the head of campaign committee for general elections 2014. It was followed by high level drama. LK Advani resigned questioning the ideologies of the party; the 14 years old ally, JD(U) threatened to break the alliance.

Though Mr. Modi’s image is adversely affected due to 2002 Gujrat riots, especially among Muslim fraternity, BJP has hardly any option left except to appoint him the prime ministerial candidate. No doubt, he has set an epitome of development in Gujarat. In last month, Modi had been visiting the colleges and other institutions making beautiful speeches. His speeches promise to transform India into a knowledge economy with more emphasis on e-Governance.

His ideas and intentions are very noble as for now. Soured relations with allies are a matter of concern. How Muslim community will react to his nomination is yet to be seen. But for now, ill-affected and leaderless BJP has shown confidence in him. Seed is shown; let us see how well this seed will fructify. 

Regulating Real estate sector: Need of the hour

The real estate regulation bill is in the offing and if everything goes well the bill may be passed in the Monsoon session of the parliament. Keeping in mind the last year’s parliamentary proceedings being disrupted more often than not, the prospects of the bill does not seem very favouring though it is indeed a encouraging step. In our country, where real estate sector is highly unregulated and the customers are at the mercy of developers, mere initiation of the bill might have given a glimmer of hope to the consumers and home seekers.

After the 1991 reforms, economic scenario in the country has improved drastically. As the economy was liberalized, it made available the highly paid jobs to the educated Indians. Therefore, the disposable income in the hands of middle class strata shot up exponentially. Being financial market not so established, people resorted to either Gold or real estate property for investment, hence, increasing the demand for the well-built houses and properties.

Developers and builders, on the other hand, seeking to maximize their profit took measures which kept buyers always at disadvantage. For example, as per the contract, they used to take almost entire money upfront. Though houses were allotted, constructing them and handing over the flats to customers easily took around 3-4 years. Much to the dismay of the customers, even if developers fail to deliver the flats within the stipulated time frame, there was no mechanism to address their grievances. Even as the demand rose to the staggeringly high level, developers failed to fulfill the demand as per the requirement. This led to the demand-supply mismatch and hence sky rocketing prices of the properties. Another major area of concern is the land at which flats are being built. In the past there were instances where the flats were being built over disputed lands. The gap between the contracts being signed between the parties and the flats being actually delivered is enormously large (ranging from 1-4 years). The buyers are not even aware of what happens after they throw their money in the project. Neither the developers were held accountable for any discrepancy.

The proposed bill envisages protecting the interests of the common men. There is the provision for fixing the prices based on the floor area of the flat instead of smart area (which includes lift space, stairs, garden etc.). it will help in curbing the out of control prices fixed by the builders. The bill seeks to penalize those developers who does not deliver the flats on time hence helping to reduce the demand-supply mismatch. As per provisions of the bill, the developers ought to deposit the money accrued from a project to a bank account which will ensure that money for one project cannot be used for other project without the government consent. Besides, developers need to get approval from the concerned authority, get license for the land at which they are planning the project.

Affordable housing has always been a problem not only in Urban but also in rural areas. To provide affordable housing to the BPL households, government is running schemes such as Indira Awas Yojana and Rajiv Awas Yojana for rural and urban areas respectively.

Security of the rights of the citizens be they poor or rich, is the responsibility of the state. Various schemes as discussed above and now the proposed bill are few initiatives aimed at protecting the rights of the common men. Nevertheless, there is more need to be done in this direction. Political parties must work in unison to get the bill passed as soon as possible. As the general elections are due in 2014, the bill might be a political propaganda of the ruling government. Notwithstanding, it must be passed as it is for a great cause and it will serve the interests of the mass population.

Naxalism: A problem to reckon with

Light week attack on Congress leaders and supporters by Naxalites is the manifestation of growing discontent among the Naxals’ community. Every now and then, news of naxals’ attacks hog the headlines. The nature of their rebellion nature is of grave concern and the matter needs to be contemplated thoroughly and solutions which may follow the discourse must be implemented as soon as possible.

The main reason of growing extremism is said to be lack of development in the area. But as I can see it is anti-development rather lack of development which invokes the rebellion nature among them. From tribal's perspective, extremism, terrorism and violence becomes means to attract the attention of state. Any further step taken on path of mal-development or anti-development leads to insurgency, political extremism and terrorism. Historically and culturally forest dwellers and other such communities find themselves isolated from the other part Indian population. They are illiterate and living a life which is certainly not dignified. Growing nexus between government and businessmen deprive them of their basic rights of food and shelter. Their natural habitats are destructed due to the excessive invasion and mining activities in the forests.

Though the constitution of India ensures to protect the interests of socially and economically backward classes or SC and ST community, much to the disappointment a very less efforts have taken place in this direction. There are a few measures taken by the government to address the problems of these communities, however such schemes are far from reaping the fruits in near future. Integrated action plan, backward region development programme, Forest rights act and SC & ST sub plan are among various initiatives taken by the central government in co-ordination with state government to eradicate the poverty, social backwardness and inequality from such communities.

Notwithstanding such initiatives, such communities’ are still in misery. Having lacked the development and keeping their plight in the mind, distrust and anger for the government is inevitable among them. They ventilate their anger in form of extremism and violent attacks on government institutions, employees and now politicians recently.  Had the initiatives taken by the government been implemented as they envisaged, problem of extremism could have been addressed to an extent. However, due to lack of development and growing prejudice against government, Naxalism had been festering for long and at present has evolved as a wound, the most dangerous.

In recent past, the government at both centre and state had been cautious of the problem of naxalism, nevertheless the steps taken to curb the menace had only added fuel to the fire. Take for example the worst hit regions of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh: The simplest and easiest strategy might have been: 1. to take police into action, focus the naxal hit areas and isolate their leaders. 2. Co-ordinate with governments at centre, state and district level, bring backward communities and forest dwellers into mainstream, implement plans so as to benefit them the most.  Despite well-planned strategy in the offing, Chhattisgarh government did opposite. Being least concerned of the developmental activities in the region it also deployed the civilian policemen called salwa judums to empty out the villages for the sake of mining which aggravated the situation instead.      

Central government did realise the individual rights and community rights of the forest dwelling population and passed so called the forest rights Act. This act envisaged the community participation in the development of the region, gave certain rights like collecting minor forest produce to the community. Under the act, any developmental activity needs the consent of Gram Sabha. No doubt, the initiative was a welcome step to raise the livelihood opportunities of the people living in forests. But very soon the requirement of consent from Gram Sabha proved to an obstacle for the private players in the region. Therefore, government is now planning to dilute the above act so as to benefit the private players the most at the cost of deprived sections.

Lack of consensus among the various ministries is another hindrance in taking developmental activities in the naxal affected areas. While ministry of Panchayati Raj is in favour of promoting community participation in developing the infrastructure, Ministry of Home Affairs is all opposed to developing infrastructure even. According the home ministry, as infrastructure is being targeted by the naxals, no need to develop it.  How lame is this argument!

Providing the people basic amenities like drinking water, a home to stay, food, education and health can only be the remedy for the ill affected region. Taking them into the mainstream will surely boost up their confidence in the government and emanate them of prejudice they have been carrying since decades against the government. The initiatives taken by the government must be further strengthened instead of diluting them due to the crony capitalism prevalent in the country. Due process of law and rule of law should be established. Their human rights must be respected and violations must be prevented.  

Naxalism has been a huge problem to reckon with. It not only affects just the regions affected by it but the country as a whole. Naxal affected areas are region which has enormous untapped potential consisting of country’s most abundant mineral rich belts. Keeping the interests of the communities in the region in the mind if such areas are developed and exploited in a well-planned manner, it will indeed boost the Indian economy. The need of the hour is the concerted effort by all central, state, district and panchayat level governments in addressing the problem of Naxalism.   

ITC: few changing aspects

Right since independence, focus of Indian state is economic development, establishment of democratic values and social transformation. The preamble of Indian constitution has ensured to all of its citizens social, economic and political justice. Technological developments over the last few decades have significantly improved upon the conditions of the every strata of Indian society especially BPL households. Most revolutionary among them being, Information Technology and Communications which has rarely left any aspect of our life untouched. It has helped to breach the inequalities among socially backward people by promoting social mobility. Through IT intervention people are getting better benefits out of government schemes which has improved their status and helped them lead a dignified life.

Economically, communication and IT based solutions are being considered as panacea for all our difficulties. Government has taken several measures to realise the untapped potential of India’s demographic dividend through initiatives such as internet based education and skill development programme. National e- governance programme of Govt. of India envisages providing IT based infrastructure to provide efficient public delivery system, eradicate rampant corruption, promote transparency and induce accountability in government servants.

Keeping in mind the substantial contribution of services sector in general and ITC sector in particular to the India’ GDP, government is promoting IT parts throughout the country which in turn will generate the employment opportunities for the vast majority of unemployed working population. Various initiatives like core banking solutions and spread of ATM network has achieved the target of financial inclusion to a very large extent. It has made disposable money available to poor and therefore, improving their economic condition while averting them from falling into debt trap in hands of moneylenders.  

In the Political sphere, IT and communication sector has made many contributions ranging from generating public opinion and enabling community participation to promoting good governance. Many political leaders are striving hard to woo the voters through their social networking pages. Better transparency is holding them accountable to the supreme power of democracy: The people. Through Google hangouts and video conferencing political leaders are indulging into wide ranging discussions with general public.

Many politicians as well as political parties are active these days at sites such as Facebook and twitter. Right from UPA, BJP and even PMO have their accounts at these sites. They are also maintaining account managers for such sites. Social networking is said to be decider for polls’ results in near future. Politicians who are active at social networking sites are expected to be the most beneficiaries in coming general elections.

No doubt, with the advent of information technology, public delivery system has improved significantly both access wise and efficiency wise. Computerization has reduced the ghost accounts and multiple accounts. People are benefited and mobilized to higher strata. ITC though has been beneficial in many aspects has taken its toll on social and cultural fabric of our country. People prefer birthday and anniversaries greetings over internet rather sending them through traditional means like post, calls and messages. The expression of love and affection is gauged by number of likes and comments on Facebook and Twitter pages. Modern means of communications have replaced the older ones which in turn has reduced the affection between people. No doubt, disposable income with marginalized people has increased exponentially; however, it has resulted into the persistent inflation leaving the Indian economy into shambles.

Being active on networking sites and accompanied claims of better performance in elections are based on very rudimentary arguments. Those who are active on internet are either not active politically or even if they are they constitute a small fraction of population. Just about 60% voters turn out in elections is mostly from lower class or lower middle class which have very little access to internet or not at all. Most of the netizens (active on internet) in India club their election day’s holiday with weekends and plan a trip instead of voting. Though initiatives have been taken to provide internet connections in rural area, the performance on this front is merely dismal.
Good quality infrastructure and better connectivity are essentials of a healthy economy. Community participation is a essential prerequisite of a democracy. Though it is a good sign that educated people are showing interest in Indian politics, their effect on elections through social networking is far distant dream. A lot is yet to be done. ITC can be a handy tool in invoking people's interest in the politics. A socially, economically and politically just and equitable system is the need of hour to take India ahead in race with other developed and developing nations. 

Diesel deregulation: Boon or Bane

A couple of days back, UPA government decided to bite the hardest bullet when it decided to deregulate the diesel in phased wise manner based on the recommendations of Kelkar committee report which recommended reducing the subsidy burden gradually for sustained economic growth.

Criticised for long for being deterrent to take important policy decisions, some recent announcements such as direct cash transfer scheme, FDI in multibrand retail and to name a few,  have tarnished the government’s ‘not doer’ image to a large extent. Few of them have even forced people to roads to protest against. Capping the subsidized cylinder to just six a year per household (though recently increased to nine per household) was one step which has met with objections from all the factions of society, NGOs and political parties etc.

Going further, in its bid to reduce the subsidy burden and succumbing to the continuous pressure from oil marketing companies which were facing under recoveries for long, Government has finally decided to let OMCs raise the price of diesel as and when they find it appropriate. Till now except LPG, Kerosene and Diesel all other petroleum products were priced under import parity pricing mechanism and hence were deregulated.

Deregulation of diesel: Boon or bane?

Diesel, an important fuel, is also considered backbone of the economy. In its wide ranging usages diesel is consumed for both commercial and domestic purposes. How increasing diesel prices and eventually deregulation will help economy?

• To give a fillip to agricultural production and in absence of irrigation facilities government decided to subsidize diesel as it was the only fuel used by farmers to run their pump sets which in turn irrigated their parched lands. Being universally subsidized it benefited both rich and marginalised farmers. Phasing out subsidies on diesel will decrease the subsidy burden of the government. Though the marginalised farmers will have to pay more for buying the diesel, they would be compensated through direct cash transfer to their bank accounts for the same.  
• Rationalizing subsidies mean more disposable income with the government which it can invest for human capital formation through its social sector programmes such as NRHM and RTE etc. which in turn, will benefit the economy.
• Other flagship programmes for social welfare such as MNREGA, Rajiv Awas Yojna, and Indira Awas Yojna etc. can be financed by the government in better way once its subsidy burden is reduced.
• After deregulating petrol, sale of diesel cars soured up sharply. Diesel being dirtier fuel, its large scale consumption would have further compounded to the global warming problem. As diesel and petrol will eventually cost more or less same people will again turn to petrol driven cars and thus reducing the threat to the environment which means less damage due to environmental disturbances like cyclones and tsunamis.  

It is true that raising the diesel prices will eventually lead to the benefits for the government; however, it is common people who will have to face the repercussions, if any, due to the government’s such action. Let us see, how?

• In India, transportation and railway freight is run by diesel mostly. Increasing diesel prices will affect the transport services adversely whose effects will be visible in form of increased prices of commodities i.e. inflation. As Indian economy is already witnessing sustained and persistent inflation for last few months, another blow in form of hike in diesel prices would have been the last thing it had imagined for.
• Though government is terming its direct cash transfer scheme a ‘game-changer’ where govt will transfer the subsidies and other benefits directly to the beneficiaries’ Aadhaar enabled bank accounts, poor distribution of Aadhaar cards might be a hurdle in implementation of the scheme. The marginalised farmers, who will have to pay more for consuming diesel, will be worst affected due to increase in diesel prices because they would be deprived of the subsidies and due to not owning an Aadhaar card might not be entitled to the benefits of the direct cash transfer scheme simultaneously subjecting them to the economic stress.
• There had been incidents galore where people used subsidized kerosene to adulterate with diesel and run their vehicles. Problem of adulteration will be further looming large over the consumers owing to the increased prices of the diesel.    

For any nation, regular reforms are needed. Recent initiatives of government were much needed reforms per se.  Any scheme of any law will not be effective until its implementation is taken care of diligently. Schemes as such are not good or bad, it’s their implementation which makes people suffer or enjoy its benefits. If the loopholes are assiduously breached and enforcement is taken care of mindfully, direct cash transfer would definitely be true game changer and increasing diesel prices or for that matter any such scheme would certainly help India emerge as the economy which is resilient, progressive and sustaining.