april 2006 catalyst magazine

8/9/2019 April 2006 Catalyst Magazine

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A PLATFORM FOR PROGRESS

SPONSOR

Catalyst for Human Development

IDCA promotes collaboration and coopera-

tion between all organizations engaged or

interested in the development of India

IDCA provides a platform for members to

network in person and on the internet.

IDCA informs, inspires, and involves the

community to generate necessary resources

needed for accelerating development in

India.

IDCA - where people andideas meet to promote

sustainable development.

www.idc-america.org*logos of representative participating organization are presented

Dr. Mohan JainPresident

[email protected]

Raj [email protected]

Ram [email protected]

Vivek [email protected]

Anil [email protected]

INDIA

Jay [email protected]


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Catalyst For Human Development

Printed at: Kalajyothi Process (P) Ltd, RTC X Roads, Hyderabad - 500 020 A.P., India

Editorial Coordination by P.S.Sundaram, Former Editor, The New Indian Express & Managing Editor,

Media India, atMEDIA INDIA, Hyderabad, A.P., India

Mail: info@media india.orgPhone: 040 2340 1212 /1313Fax: 040 2340 1414

EDITORIAL TEAM

Dr. Bhamy V. ShenoyChief Editor

chiefeditor@afhd .org

Ms. Bharati KalasapudiMr. Nasy Sankagiri

Ms. Aarti IyerMr. Lakshman Kalasapudi

Ms. Padmaja AyyagariMr. Rajesh SatyavoluDr. Srinivasa Rao

[email protected]

Advisory BoardDr. Thoma s Abraham

Dr. Nirupam BajpaiDr. Suri Sehgal

Mr. M. ChittaranjanDr. Rao V.B.J. Chelikani

Editorial BoardDr. Abraham George

am ge orge@op tonline.net

Mr. Ratnam [email protected]

Mr. Anil [email protected]

Mr. Ram [email protected]

Mr. Balbir MathurBa lbir@Tree sforLife.org

Mr. Yogi Patelyog i@pratha musa.org

Dr. Raj [email protected]

Dr. Viral Acharyavac harya@londo n.edu

Ms. [email protected]

INDIA

Dr. Rao V.B.J. ChelikaniInternational Foundation for Human

Development (IFHD)Balaji Residency, 12-13-705/10/ABGokulnagar, TarnakaHyderabad - 500 017, A.P.India91-40-2717418991-40-55214993

USA

Dr. Srinivasa Rao,Association for Human Development (AFHD)208, Parkway Drive Roslyn HeightsNew York,11577, USA

E-mail : [email protected]

For all Communication please contact:[email protected]

Team

An insight into the complex problems

of develoment and an attemptto provide solutions.

Published by: Dr. Vasundhara D. KalasapudiBharati Seva SadanSrinivasanagar ColonySaluru- 535 591 Vizianagaram District, A.P. India

For Copies, Contact:

To present pe ople, ideas, news andviews periodically to readers to promote

networking a mong NGOs.

To publish peer reviewed professionalarticles on NGO movement that canpromote sustainable development andbest practices.

To disseminate information on NGO move-ment to improve communication which in

turn can catalyze human development.

To provide a pla tform for a llconcerned with sustainable develop-ment to catalyze the process of humandevelopment.

The views and opinions expressed herein by authors are not necessarily those of Catalyst for Human Development magazine, its Staff or Editor, and they assume no responsibility for them.

M I S S I O NM I S S I O N


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Preface: Dr. Bhamy V. Shenoy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Agenda For The Nation - An Approach: Pushpa M. Bhargava and Chandana Chakrabarti . . . . .11-18

Manmohan's Agenda For His Unaccomplished Task: Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19-21

A Villager's Agenda For A Healthy India: Dr Satyanarayana Gavarasana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Consumer Movement - An Agenda: Dr. Bhamy V. Shenoy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23-24

Indias Development - Agenda For NRIs: Dr. Thomas Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25-26

Economic Reforms In India -

The Unfinished Agenda: Nirupam Bajpai and Jeffrey D. Sachs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27-29

Standard of Living: Jayant Sinha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30-32

State of the Planet 06: New York Conference : A Brief Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33-34

India's Interior Growth Is Slow: Jeffrey SachsInterview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Child Citizen: Ingrid Srinath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Battle Must Be Won: Shantha Sinha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37-38

Stop Child Poverty: Colin Salisbury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Sightfirst - Fighting Blindness: A P Singh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Could Our Classrooms Shape Indias Destiny?

Pratham's Revealing Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42-45

India Water Portal: Sunita Nadhamuni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46-47

Unscrupulous NGOs are Denting Movement: Rambabu V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48-49

The India You May Not Know: Krishan Khanna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50-51

Catalytic Agents: Aarti Iyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Ahluwalia, A Powerful Social Entrepreneur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Leaders Wanted! : Dr. Srinivasa Rao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Contents


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P R O F I L E S ofA U T H O R S

DR. BHAMY V. SHENOY

Dr. Bhamy Shenoy, an IIT

Mad ras grad uate with a Ph.D

in business administration

from University of Houston,

worked for Conoco in all

phases of International

Petroleum Industry for 21years from 1966 till 1987. He

took early retirement in 1987

to return to India to get

involved in India's develop-

ment. He has been partici-

pa ting in various NGO a c tivi-

ties involving consumer pro-

tection, educa tion and envi-

ronment. He contested elec-

tion twice as an independ-

ent. From 1997 till 2003 he

was involved in energy sec-

tor reform in former Soviet

union countries. He is current-ly an honorary advisor to the

national oil company in

Georgia.

CHANDANA CHAKRABARTI

A columnist and author

whose writings have cove red

a variety of fields and issues,

she is a we ll-know n c om pe re,

a communications expert,

and a p op ular spe aker. She is

also widely regarded as onehaving a comp elling sense of

social responsibility and has

played a crucial role in the

building of the C CMB, one of

the world's best-known scien-

tific institutions.

COLIN SALISBURY

Co lin Sa lisbury is the found er

of Stop Child Pove rty, and the

executive director of the

Global Volunteer Network

(GVN), an orga nization b ased

in New Zealand that c onnec ts

volunteers with communities

in need. Colin has extensivevolunteer experience both

locally and internationally

with time spent in Ecuador,

Ghana, Nepal, Papua New

Guinea, Philippines, and

Tha iland. His ba ckground in

Community Development

and achieving a Masters in

International Development

has enabled him to provide

challenging and affordable

volunteer opportunities

around the globe .

PUSHPA M ITTRA BHARGAVA

He is one of the country's

lead ing scientists, also widely

known and respected as a

writer, thinker, institution

builder, adviser to industries

and c onsultant. He c on-

ceived and built, amongstseveral major institutions, the

Centre for Cellular and

Molec ular Biology (CC MB) a t

Hyde raba d. He is regarde d

not only as the architect of

modern biology and

biotechnology in India but

also one whose nota ble c on-

tributions have covered a

wide range of human

endeavour: from history to

social analysis and the rela-

tionship between science

and a rt. He is one of thebest-known popularisers of

science and advocates of

sc ientific tem pe r in the co un-

try and has be en, throug hout

his career - starting from pre-

independent India - deeply

and intimately concerned

with a vast number and vari-

ety of important national

issues.

Authors

DR. JEFFREY D. SACHS

Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Direc tor

of The Earth Institute , Quetelet

Professor of Sustainable

Development and Professor of

Health Policy and

Management at Columbia

University. He is also Direc to r ofthe UN Millennium Project and

Spec ial Ad visor to United

Nations Sec retary-General Kofi

Annan on the Millennium

Develop ment Go als. Sac hs is

internationally renowned for

advising governments in Latin

America, Eastern Europe, the

former Soviet Union, Asia and

Africa on economic reforms

and for his work with interna-

tional agencies to promote

poverty reduction, disease

control and debt reduction ofpo or co untries, he wa s recent-

ly nam ed among the 100 most

influential leaders in the world

by Time Ma ga zine.

INGRID SRINATH

Ingrid Srinath is CEO of CRY -

Child Relief and You, India's

premier non-profit organiza-

tion working to restore the

rights of underprivileged

India n c hildren. She is a lso

Honorary Director on the

Board of CRY America.

A PGDBM from IIM Kolkata,

Ingrid worked extensively in

the med ia industry. She w as

Assoc iate Vice President w ith

Grey worldwide and

General Manager at Lowe

and later became a mem-

ber of the Consumer

Complaints Council of the

Ad vertising Sta nda rds

Counc il of India.

Ingrid joined CRY in 1998 as

Branch Manager, Mumbai

and became Director

Resource Mobilization in the

year 2000. In 2003, Ingrid was

selected as a senior

Synergos Fellow. Synergos is

one o f the lead ing organiza-

tions wo rldw ide in the field of

foundation building.

JAYANT SINHA

Jayant Sinha is Mana gingDirector at Courage CapitalManagem ent, a globalinvestment managementfirm. At Co urag e, Sinha isrespo nsible for India

investing and assists on te ch-nology-related investments.Prior to Courage , Sinha w asa Partner in the Boston andDelhi offices with Mc Kinsey &Company, the global man-agement consulting firm.Sinha ha s a B.Tec h inChemical Engineering withDistinc tion from IIT Delhi, anMS in Energy Ma nag eme nt &Policy from the University ofPennsylvania, a ndan MBA with Distinction from

the Harva rd Business School.


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DR.

SATYANARAYANA

GAVARASANA

Born atPithap uram on

Sep tembe r 4,

1936,

Dr.Sat yanara yana no w lives in

Flora l Park, USA.

A p ostgradua te in Medicine

from Andhra Med ical College

and a Fulbright Schola r (1966),

he wa s trained in General

Surge ry in the US. He p rac tised

in Gollap rolu villag e o f East

God ava ri District a nd c onduc t-

ed a number of health camp s

in many villages. Lions Cancer

Hospital, Visakha pat nam, is his

brainchild. Dr.Ga varasana

published a number of articles

on cancer research. His cur-

rent research project is: screen

1,00,000 Andhra women for

breast c anc er including genet-

ic a na lysis.

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DR. NIRUPAMBAJPAINirupam Bajpa i

is a SeniorDevelopmentAdvisor at theCenter onGlobalization

and Sustainab le Developmentof the Earth Institute atColumbia University andDirec tor o f the South AsiaProgram. Dr. Bajpai worked atthe Center for InternationalDevelopment, Kenned y Schoolof Government at HarvardUniversity from 2000 to 2002,and prior to that at the Harvard

Institute for Internationa lDevelopment from 1995 to2000. Currently, he is also anAssociate Editor of the journalAsian Economic Papers, pub-lished by MITPress. Dr. Bajpai isthe author or co -author ofnumerous articles on a varietyof issues relating to economicreforms in develop ing co un-tries.

KRISHANKHANNAKrishan Khanna

is the foundertrustee of IndiaWatch, a foun-dation which

aims to create awareness forachieving good governance& effective administration ofIndia. He is a B-Tec h inMechanical Engineering fromIIT, Kharagpur, and has spe -

cialised in ManufacturingTec hnology. With over 40 yearsof varied experience in thefields of business and consul-tanc y, he has helped in estab -

lishing various business ven-tures in the areas ranging fromtextile to steel, in both Indiaand ab road. He has also b eenon the advisory panels ofmany a company in variouscap ac ities. In rec ognition of hiswork as a technocrat, he was

awarded the National CitizenAward in the year 1995-96, bythe Government of India.

Authors

AARTIIYERAarti Iyer

is a fif-

t e e n -

y e a r - o l d

s t u d e n t

s t u d y i n ge l e v e n t h

grade at

the John Co op er Schoo l, in

The Woo d lands, Texa s. Her

first publication was a let-

ter to the e ditor in the New

York Times, when she wa s

tw elve ye a rs old . Since

then, she has written

numerous articles that

have been widely pub-

lished. She is also the stu-

dent co lumnist of the loc al

newspap er, the Villag er.

RAJATK. GUPTAA graduate in

M e c h a n i c a l

Engineering from

IITand MBA fromHarva rd Business

School, Rajat

Kumar Gupta joined Mckinsey

and Companys New York

Office in 1973 and assumed

lead ership of Scan d inavian

offices in 1981. He joined their

Chicago office in 1997 and

wa s elected Mana gingDirector of the company in

1994. He was re-elected twice

for the same post, once in

1997 and later in 2000. In

Mckinsey Worldwide Gupta

Direc ted a number of projects

aimed at helping companies

develop new products/mar-

ket strategies and is widely

experienced in consultancy

for a variety of industriesinclud ing Telec om , Energy

and Consumer goods. He is

Chairman of the Board of

Indian School of Business and

UN Assoc iat ion O f USA.

RAMBABU. VRambabu

Vankayalapat i

is a Med ia

ma rketing pro-

fessional hav-

ing nea rly two

de c ad es of f irst ha nd

exposure to the socio-

po lit ica l fab ric o f the

Indian Diaspora. A keen

observer of the happen-

ings in the country on a

day today basis, studies

the marketing trends, the

soc ial mores and themicro f inancial impa ct of

the economic reforms.

DR.THOMAS ABRAHAM

Dr. Ab raha m ha s bee n serving the NRI/PIOcommunity for the last 33 years. He served as

the first president of the Federation of Indian

Assoc iations of New York in 1976 and the

National Federation of Indian American

Associations in 1980. Dr. Abraham currently

serves as the Chairman of the Global

Orga nization of Peop le of Indian Origin (GOPIO)

which he founded in 1989 and as a Founder Board of Director

of Indian American Kerala Center in New York. Dr. Abraham

also served a s the Co -Chairma n of the fund raising cam pa ign to

institute a chair for Indian studies at Columbia University. A

ma terials sc ientist b y p rofession, Dr. Abraham is Vice President o f

Business Communications Co., a leading industry and market

resea rch firm based in Norwa lk, CT, USA.

A. P. SINGHA. P. Singh is a p racticing a ccount-

ant and tax consultant in Kolkota.

Singh served as faculty at four lead-

ership institutes and four regional

institutes, vice district go vernor,

schooling pilot program. He has

been elected to serve a two-year term as a

direc tor of The Internationa l Assoc iation of Lions

Clubs at the association's 87th International

Convention, he ld in Detroit, July 5-July 9, 2004. He

has been named Lion of the Year at the district

and multiple district levels. He is also a HeritageClub Member and a Melvin Jones Fellow.

SUNITA NADHAMUNISunita Nad hamuni is CEO o f

Arghyam Trust, a private c haritable

trust in Bangalore that funds strate-

gic efforts to enhance equity and

sustainability in access to water. A

software engineer by profession,

she lived and worked in the bay area, California

for seve ral yea rs in co mp anies like Sun

Microsystems, Silicon Graphics and Hea ltheon.

She was involved in several initiatives supp orting

development in India, including Seva, Indians for

Collective Action, Rejuvenate India Movementand American India Found ation. She is with

Arghyam since 2005.


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THE response we have got for the inaugural issue of Catalyst has been far

more than we anticipated. For the second issue we want to concentrate on

the theme of National Agenda to wipe out poverty in India within the next 15

years. This is hardly a new concept. Ever since India adopted centralized planning,

every five-year plan had some kind of National Agenda embedded in it in some form

or other. But that those plans have not helped us to reach our oft-repeated goal of

"garibi hatao" is a different thing.

Each of the more than one million NGOs operating in India to tackle myriads of

India's problems also has their own individual concept of National Agenda. While

they work in their own spheres of influence to implement their pet schemes,

National Agendas will have impact on their work. Often they are implicit and only

sometimes they are explicit. On the other hand the political parties - small or big,

regional or national, secular or non-secular - have their own National Agenda. All of

them without exception claim to work for the poor while developing those National

Agendas. How often do such National Agendas actually contribute to improving the

standard of living of the poor?

One best example is that of promoting Information Technology industry which

seems to appear on the National Agendas of some parties. As Mr. Narayanamurthy

has rightly claimed, IT industry has changed the impression of foreigners about

Indians. Thanks to the export earnings of IT industry, India was able to weather the

recent increase in oil prices. Without a doubt IT industry has put India on a higher

GNP growth pattern. But has it put India on the path of reducing poverty in the short-

est span possible? Have we even started to debate this point? Yet IT continues to

be one of the highest priorities on our current National Agenda, planned or

unplanned.

In our inaugural issue we carried articles on several factors which have great

impact on our development. They are: water security, food security, energy securi-ty, health security, education and governance. Of course, one could always point

out that we left out many other factors like maintaining secularism, LPG

(Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization), environmental protection, national

security, population control, fighting unemployment, fight against AIDS, urban vs.

rural development, distribution of wealth etc.

President Abdul Kalam has been advocating the programme of Providing Urban

amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) as a National Agenda item. Despite the simplicity

of the concept, PURA is yet to capture the imagination of the people!

Scope is always there to ask a fundamental question of why do we even need a

National Agenda at all when there are already innumerable pressing problems

which require immediate attention? It is easy to list out all of them which are pre-

venting India from becoming a developed country and wiping out poverty in the

shortest possible time. But do we have the organizational capabilities required to

fight on all the fronts to solve the hundreds of problems at a time? This is where we

need to learn lessons from modern management. Strategic management has clear-

ly showed that by culling the most critical success factors from a long list of prob-

lems and concentrating on the short list, it is easy to achieve the management

goals. This is what we as a country should now attempt in order to develop a

National Agenda and then get behind it irrespective of our differences. NGO move-

ment can play a significant role in such a project.

Dr Bhamy V. Shenoy

Preface


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AS far as we are aware, as of now,there is no agenda available forthe nation on a) the life styles and

quality of life we wish to achieve, b)

our assets and liabilities / problems, c) the value sys-

tem that is important to us and d) a strategy for achiev-

ing the desired life styles, using our assets wisely and

optimally.

Such a strategy would require a holistic approach of net-

working at all levels and not a segmented course of action.

In the absence of such an agenda, it is understandable that

our political parties, policies and actions are orientedtowards retention of power. Their concerns and abilities are

not optimally utilised due to the lack of availability of an

appropriate, comprehensive, people-oriented, carefully

conceived and workable agenda for the nation which would

enable them to focus their attention on constructive work.

The ultimate objective of an agenda for the nation should

be to present a blueprint that would allow us to utilise our

assets for overcoming stumbling blocks - the problems.

We believe that to meet the above

objectives we must state the princi-

ples for defining the destination, i.e., the life-styles

and the quality of life for various sectors, that we wish

to achieve, identify the countrys assets, identify its

problems, determine the problem-hierarchy for priori-

tising problem-solving and devise strategies to reach

our destination.

We also need to state the desirable values and the kind

of citizens we wish to produce, and state the criteria for

assessment of success.

The three steps we consider important

for eventually being able to define our

destination with precision are given on

the next page.

The life-styles envisaged would need to be different for

people residing in different places, such as villages and

metropolitan areas. For example, while there may be a

need for multi-storeyed buildings in metropolitan cities,

should we encourage them in our villages? Each kind of

place and thus the life-style suitable for it should offer

certain specific advantages so that people have a rea-

sonable choice.

The places for which we would need to envisage dif-

ferent life-styles have been classified into four cate-gories: rural, tribal, semi-urban and urban. Working

out in detail the desirable life-styles for each of these

above categories would need a separate exercise.

Therefore, we have stated below only the principles and

basic needs.

Classification of people in semi-urban and urban areas

into sub-groups will need to be done as has been done

for rural or tribal areas.

The facilities to be provided for education, health

and/or housing etc for various categories and sub-

groups will obviously be different for each. For example,

sources of water supply and its treatment for human con-

sumption would not only be different for each but will also

depend on the location. Thus water tapped from moun-

tain springs may not need further treatment. Villages

would not require multi-storeyed housing, unlike urban

areas. Medical and health-care facilities would also nec-

essarily differ from category to category. Therefore, both

qualitative and quantitative details (e.g. minimum resi-

dential space per person) should be worked out sepa-rately.

11


Agenda

Agenda For The Nation

- An ApproachPUSHPA M. BHARGAVA, CHANDANA CHAKRABARTI

Need for AnAgenda

Approach

Defining

Destination


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Step 2: Basic and some specific functional needs of various categories of people

People

Rural Tribal

Basic needs :EducationHealthHousingWaterPowerConnectivity(with urbanareas)

Farming sector(farmers, farm labour)

Specific functional needs :Additional employment avenues for farmers and their families;Value addition to the produce of farmers; Assured irrigation and quality power;A fair price for the farm produce; Prevention of unfair competition in imports;Prevention of exploitation of farm labour.

Basic needs :Education, Health,Housing, Social justice, Water, Power,Connectivity (with urban areas)

Artisans, techniciansand other professionals

Village businessmenand landlords

Gove rnmental a nd other institutional staffand others from outside the village

Specific functional needs :Prevention of displacement to be done through informed consent andappropriate compensation; Ma intenance of traditional rights;Active involvement in mana gement of tribal areas in a wa y that triba l andcountry interests are jointly maximised; Appropriate measuresto prevent exploitation of triba ls' ignoranc e, innocence a nd trust; Integrationof tribal laws (e.g. in regard to marriage) with the national legal codes, fol-lowing discussion and consensus.

Semi-urban(to be worked out as forrural and tribalcategories)

Urban(to be worked out asfor rural and tribal

categories)

Satisfaction of basic needs

Satisfaction of specific functional needs that would differ from group to group

Rural Tribal Semi-Urban Urban

Principles

Satisfaction of intrinsic, normal human urges such as creativity

Step 1: Principles

Step 3 :State means of satisfying the

following Intrinsic normal, human

urges, for each category;

*Creativity, *Curiosity,* Participation in

community activities,* Continuous

learning and * Exploration of the world

beyond.

As of today no

other country in the

world has the

assets that we have, such as:

Natural Assets (seven geo-climatic

zones, vast coastline, water bodies,

rainfall, sunlight, forests, minerals,

land and animal and plant biodiver-

sity);

Human Assets (scientific manpower,

technological manpower, high-level

expertise in virtually all other areas

of human endeavour, traditional

and indigenous knowledge carriers

and greatest human diversity in

large number of young people);

Man-made Assets (science, tech-

nology, green revolution, white revo-

lution, information technology,

space, atomic energy, DNA technol-

ogy, defence technology, institu-

tion-building, drug revolution and

infrastructure in every sector); and

Social Assets (ancient culture, histo-

ry, variety, art, handicrafts, music,

dance, family setup, closeness of

social relations, social bonding, tra-

ditional values, tradition of hospitali-

ty, largest working democracy

in the world and constitutional

strengths).

Agenda

Our Assets


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The problems that

stare us in the face

are listed below in 36 categories:

1.Governance (improper choice of

peoples' representatives; lack of

transparency and right to informa-

tion; lack of accountability; lack ofprofessionalism (e.g. in civil servic-

es), corruptio; inadequate electoral

laws and systems; need to reor-

ganise our civil services; inadequa-

cies in true empowerment of our

Panchayats and need for effective

decentralisation at all levels)

2.Education (low percentage of the

educated;lack of appropriate edu-

cation; problems with curricula; syl-

labi, text-books; teaching method-ology and assessment up to high

school; lack of equal opportuni-

ties; commercialisation; inafford-

ability and low average quality of

higher education (which would lead

to lack of quality leaders in the next

few years)

3.Water (very little emphasis on

water conservation; pollution of

water bodies; indiscriminate and

uncontrolled use of underground

water and emphasis on mega and

long-term projects and not on local

and inexpensive solutions)

4.Power (inadequate captive power

generation; renewable energy

sources virtually untapped; trans-

mission losses and power thefts

and lack of a sustainable pricing pol-

icy)

5. Corruption at individual and

organisational levels (readiness to

pay bribe and readiness to accept

bribe; corruption in systems; such as

health; education; transfers; admin-

istration)

6.Healthcare (inadequate; inaccessi-

ble and/or unaffordable primary;

secondary or tertiary healthcare;

ineffective management of certain

common ailments such as malaria,TB, AIDS and water-borne diseases;

inadequate and inefficient preven-

tive health measures such as immu-

nisation; infant mortality and inade-

quate preparedness for dealing with

emerging diseases)

7.Sanitation

8.Agriculture (low productivity, lack of

additional employment; e.g. through

food processing industry, biotechnol-

ogy; control of multinationals over

seeds and agrochemicals; exces-

sive use of agrochemicals; inefficient

and inadequate public distribution

system; lack of use of indigenous

technologies and materials; organic

agriculture being overlooked and

inadequate water and power avail-

ability)

9.Housing (how much minimum

space required; what kind of housing

and what materials to use in con-

struction)

10.Transport (inadequate public

transport system, inadequate roads

and related infrastructure; inade-

quate planning; specific transport

problems in urban/metropolitan

areas; satellite townships; small

urban areas; semi-urban areas and

villages and safety aspects)

11.Justice (delayed and unaffordable)

12.Pollution (air; water and under-

ground)

13.Deforestation

14.Environment (land; air and water)

15.Management and/or prevention

of certain disasters (flood /

drought / famine, inappropriate and

ineffective relief measures and

diversion of resources allotted for

the purpose; industrial disasters

and prevention of accidents)

16.Employment (exploitation in unor-

ganised sector (wages, working

hours, healthcare etc.); exploitationin organised sector (unemployment,

mal-employment, child labour, delin-

quent children in urban areas and

gender bias)

17.Social Security (inadequate crop

insurance; inadequate health insur-

ance and evil of begging in certain

parts of the country)

18.Population growth

19.Resource generation: (lack of

exploitation of the full potential of

tourism; inadequate efforts towards

increase of productivity and provi-

sion of additional (not alternative)

employment and value addition in

the agricultural sector and no policy

for prevention of wastage of

resources)

20.Group specific problems: (trib-

als / scheduled castes / backward

classes)

21.Terrorism

22.Crime

23.Inequities: regional (deliberate

creation; lack of will to reassess

them); sectoral (lack of a common

and effective minimum wage;

based on the principle of equity)

and inequitable (social) distribution

of productive assets)

24.Status of women: (lack of educa-

tion; financial dependence even

amongst those who earn; little role

in decision-making; denial of free-

dom of expression; lack of leisure;

far too much labour and time spent

on daily chores (e.g, collection of

firewood; water); unequal pay; gen-

der-biased customs; values and

attitudes (dowry, devdasis); sexual

harassment; crime against women

(dowry deaths); physical abuse; lit-

tle emphasis on reproductive

health; inadequate nutrition; bias

against girl child (e.g. in respect of

nutrition and education); female

foeticide and infanticide and inade-

quate representation in public andelected bodies)

13


Agenda

Problems


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14


25.Lack of enough opportunities for vertical

(social-strata-wise/access-to-facilities-wise)

and horizontal (area-wise) mobility

26. Lack of an appropriate scientific & R & D

Policy

27. Lack of proper industrial policy (no definitionof the roles of private and public sector; privatisa-

tion of public sector and incursion of MNCs;

including takeover of Indian companies; that is

destroying autonomy)

28.Lack of ethics and of national interest in the

industrial sector (public and private)

29.Short-changing national interest through new

patent laws; and our commitment to TRIPS

and WTO

30.Lack of national commitment to values

31.Lack of a sense of social responsibility and

civic sense amongst individuals; in the gov-

ernment and in the private sector (spitting in

public; smoking in public; easing in public (no or

few public toilets), lack of cleanliness (individual;

house; workplace, public place); littering; inade-

quate garbage disposal system; inadequate

and/or inappropriate waste disposal (including

human waste) system, lack of awareness of traffic

and road safety and lack of awareness of prob-

lems (of village and slum dwellers) on the part of

urban residents)

32.Lack of accountability: (social; professional and

financial) individual; institutional; governmental)

33. Mediocrity in all walks of life (lack of emphasis

on excellence; professionalism and quality; lead-

ing (for example) to exports rejection)

34.Lack of general awareness (of reliable and vali-

dated information) amongst people in regard to

Geography; History; nutrition; hygiene; causes of

diseases (water borne, contagious,infectious like

AIDS, TB, malaria); creative traditions like music;

art, dance, folklore; science; scriptures; literature

(in one's own language and in other languages);

successful people in various areas of human

endeavour; natural phenomena and their causes

(rain, weather, day and night,eclipses, earth-

quakes, heat, light, electricity, magnetism); origin

of our universe and of man; customs of groups

other than our own and products of technologywork; (radio, TV, telephone, mobile phone, refrig-

erator, heater)

35.Lack of scientific temper (belief in supernatural,

superstitions; miracles; godmen)

36.Biases: The identity we seek (religious;commu-

nal;linguistic; regional; customs-based; caste and

other social sub-divisions-based and importanceof the above in choosing friends and mates).

[The relationship of the problems mentioned above is

shown inChart I - Interlinkage of Problems

(See page 15]

Our priorities in regard to solv-

ing "problems" would be a)

good governance, b) elimination of

corruption, c) provision of adequate water of the

required quality, depending on the use, d) making

the country self-sufficient in energy so that it does-

n't limit development and e) provision of adequate

and appropriate education.

1. Electoral reforms:

1.1 Ensuring implementation of the

2003 Supreme Court judgement on

what should be declared by any

contestant for a Parliament or State Legislature

seat; ensuring that no one whose honesty; integri-

ty and probity is under doubt is nominated by any

political party for election to the Parliament or

State Legislature;

1.2 Provision of a negative vote on the ballot paper -

that is: for saying that no one out of those whose

names appear on the ballot paper, is suitable for

election;

1.3 Evolution of a mechanism for representation in

important elected bodies, of those who lose by a

defined margin; (for example, the Rajya Sabha

could be made more representative from this point

of view, by a constitutional amendment); and

1.4 Government funding of election expenses for can-

didates who satisfy certain criteria, strict imposi-

tion of a ceiling on expenses, and setting up of a

mechanism to ensure that the ceiling is observed.

2.Good governance:

2.1 Unambiguous and workable definition of roles of MPs,

MLAs, members of other elected bodies, and bureaucracy;

2.2 Stoppage of grants to MPs and MLAs;

2.3 Reorganisation of civil service, professionalisation, ratio-

nalisation of recruitment policies (for example, permitting

certain proportion of lateral recruitment); mid-service

tests for promotion;

Agenda

Priorities ToSolve Problems

The Stategy:Some Points

of Action


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15


Chart I

Agenda


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16


2.4 Decentralization (for example, approval of house plans

and/or permission for construction of houses could be

granted by a qualified architect or the village

Panchayat);

2.5 True empowerment of local self-Governments, such as

the Panchayats (for example, in respect of financial

powers, and the powers to select and appoint the

secretary of the Panchayat), making use of the exten-sive and admirable work done in the area by

Lok Satta of Hyderabad;

2.6 De facto depoliticisation of elections to Panchayats as

required by constitution;

2.7 Information packages for Panchayats that would enable

them to claim their rights and discharge their obligations

effectively;

2.8 Straightening out and computerization of land records;

2.9 Providing a system for transparency in land deals and

contracts, remembering that they, along with construc-

tion activity, are important conduits for corruption and

black money;2.10 Establishing linkages with and making optimal use of

socially sensitive, reasonable and responsible private

sector, NGOs, and professional organizations;

2.11 An appropriate bill for representation of women in all

public and elected bodies;

2.12 Strategy for safeguarding the legitimate interests

and rights of tribals, and making optimal use of their abil-

ities and traditions (for example, in respect of conserva-

tion of biodiversity);

2.13 Ensuring that the cost of Governance is less than, say,

one-third of the revenues generated;

2.14 New strategies for raising resources for development,

such as promotion of tourism, and increasing productiv-

ity and providing additional employment (e.g.

through food processing, horticulture such as production

and export of orchids through tissue culture in States like

Arunachal Pradesh which has over 600 varieties of

exquisite and exclusively Indian orchids, and export of

high quality fruits and vegetables that are virtually unique

to India) in the agricultural sector;

2.15 Judicious use of resources (for example, the high

NPAs of banks have been largely avoidable);

2.16 Equitable regional and social distribution of productive

assets;

2.17 Workable and equitable system of accountability,

reward and punishment;

2.18 Restructuring/reorientation/consolidation of social wel-

fare programmes for maximizing benefit to target popu-

lation;

2.19 Propagation and implementation of the concept of

Citizens Charter, and setting up a mechanism to

ensure that the provisions of the Citizens Charters are

followed;

2.20 Elimination of corruption, remembering that India was

virtually corruption-free even till the 1960s (taking thefirst step in this direction by, for example, preparing and

disseminating widely in all regional languages a compre-

hensive list of corrupt practices in all sectors -

Governmental and non-Governmental);

2.21 Appropriate legislation giving a citizen the right to

information, with a clear statement of what would be

classified information, why and for how long;

2.22 Setting up policies for protection of human rights;

2.23 Value-orientation in industry;2.24 Containment of the widely recognized malicious influ-

ences of multinational corporations;

2.25 Planning of satellite cities and towns;

2.26 Ensuring quality in services and products;

2.27 Good public relations and publicity of our products and

achievements round the world (for example, through our

missions which have not fared well so far in this respect);

2.28 Institutionalization of dissent;

2.29 Regulation of disinvestments of PSUs;

2.30 A viable policy for the maintenance of environment and

ecology; and

2.31 A viable policy for balanced and sustainable growth,recognizing the crucial role of agricultural sector in such

a policy.

3. Education:

3.1 Schools (up to high school) to be run by local

self-Government.

3.2 Upgrading of Government schools to the standard of

good private or public schools and revision of salaries of

teachers of Government schools;

3.3 No transfer of school teachers (this would automatically

cease if the appointments are made by the local self-

Governments such as the Panchayat, the Panchayat

Samithi or the Zilla Parishad);

3.4 Propagation and, later, implementation of the idea of

neighbourhood schools, (like the Lysees in France);

3.5 Development of appropriate curriculae and syllabi,

keeping in mind the value system to which we are com-

mitted;

3.6 To improve the finances of the Government-run schools;

the Government should be committed to pay to such

schools an amount per child which should be equivalent

to the fees charged in good private schools in the area

(the Government could consider ensuring that the

school fees is the same for the Government and the pri-

vate or public schools excepting residential schools);

3.7 To evolve a strategy so that schools become the focus

of community activity in rural or semi-urban areas

(appropriate facilities for such use of a school should be

provided);

3.8 A rational language policy that would recognise the role

of the mother tongue as well as of English in the process

of learning, in creativity, and in overall human develop-

ment [while recognizing the prime importance of the

mother tongue, we would not want to create in the coun-

try two classes based on the opportunity for acquiring

fluency in English which is today, virtually, the interna-tional language];

Agenda


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17


AgendaChart II


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18


Agenda

3.9 Review of the examination system which today only

tests rote memory and not understanding or knowl-

edge; and

3.10 To evolve a strategy for improving the quality of high-

er education at universities and professional colleges

(e.g., a recruitment policy that would prevent in-breed-

ing through an independent testing organisation like

the ETS in USA);4. Energy:

4.1 A strategy for meeting energy requirements of the

country;

4.2 Energy plantations (social forestry);

4.3 Local generation of power (for example, wind power,

hydel power, biogas power);

5. Water:

5.1 Careful, objective and professional review of the proj-

ect of connecting rivers;

5.2 Rain-water harvesting (implementable strategies); and

5.3 Regulation of the use of underground water;

6. Health:6.1 Strategy for effective rural medical and health care; a

part of a three-tier strategy for national medical and

health care, with the first two tiers (primary and sec-

ondary health care) being predominantly in the public

sector, and the third tier (tertiary health care) being pre-

dominantly in the private sector (a strategy that would

recognize that for the first tier, primary healthcare, we

may not need medical graduates at this stage of

development, and alternative, viable and tested mod-

els are available);

6.2 Documentation and assessment of traditional prac-

tices (for example, in respect of plant-based drug for-

mulations);

6.3 Formulation of a rational drug policy (for example, con-

trol of formulations and elimination of spurious drugs);

6.4 Emphasis on ethics in medical practice [for example,

an ethical code has been worked out by the organisa-

tion, MARCH (Medically Aware and Responsible

Citizens of Hyderabad) for hospitals, nursing homes,

diagnostic centers and medical practioners, and is

being subscribed to by a substantial number of such

organisations and individuals in Hyderabad, A.P.);

6.5 Elimination of spurious doctors (we need to state who

may practice medicine, including alternate therapies);

and

6.6 A workable strategy for waste disposal all over the

country.

7. Increasing production and productivity in the agri-

cultural sector:

7.1 Additional employment and remunerative prices of the

produce in the agricultural sector;

7.2 Seed business to be made our own (Indian) business

to prevent foreign control of our agriculture which, if it

transpires, will make us lose our freedom de facto;

7.3 Strategy for self-sufficiency in food for the growingpopulation;

7.4 Prohibition of imports that would affect the farm sec-

tor (reimposition of quantitative restrictions);

7.5 Decentralization of food procurement and distribution;

and

7.6 Documentation, assessment and optimal utilization

of indigenous agricultural practices such as organic

agriculture which can be a major source of export

earning (an inventory of such validated practices isavailable with Dr Anil Gupta of Indian Institute of

Management, Ahmedabad, who has also set up an

organisation for this purpose).

8. An appropriate and forward-looking science and

technology policy;

9. International agreements and patents:

9.1 New and appropriate patent amendment bill that

would safeguard our national interests;

9.2 Work towards revising the provisions of WTO,

TRIPS, UPOV and other international agreements

that relate to trade, that severely compromise the

interests of the developing countries; and9.3 Full use of the existing provisions in the above agree-

ments to our advantage.

10.Defining life-styles to optimize the effect of steps

mentioned in the above nine sections:

10.1 To define life-styles for various segments of our

society.[The network of Action Points mentioned below are

shown inChart II - Action Flow Chart.

See Page -17] I

[email protected]

This article is an abridged version of a larger write-up.

Full version is posted on web.www.afhd.org.


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19


INDIA'S Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is steadily

moving forward with an unswerving determination to

complete his unfinished task of 1991 when he was

the country's Finance Minister under P.V.Narasimha

Rao. The educated and thinking people still cherish his

initiatives then to revolutionise Indian economy and

bring the nation back from the brink of bankruptcy and

set it on a course that made it one of the world's fastest-

growing economies.

No sooner he took over the reins of India as Prime

Minister in May 2004 than he picked up the threads of

the unaccomplished job of his earlier stint.

Will Singh's relentless march take him to the destina-

tion with flying colours? What are the country's priori-

ties and prospects of growth under the leadership of the

first-ever Sikh Prime Minister, an acknowledged econo-

mist?

In a freewheeling interview, he spoke recently to Rajat

K. Gupta of McKinsey's Stamford office, USA, on his tar-gets to pull the country out of the morass of poverty,

ignorance and disease. Frank and outspoken, Singh

does not agree that he is anywhere near the goal 22months after assumption of office.

"We need to go a long, long way. We should move for-

ward fast in areas to stimulate economic growth and

also to ensure that this accelerated economic growth

really benefits the poorest segments of our society. We

need a growth rate of about 7 to 8 percent per annum,

sustained over a period of the next 10 to 15 years. We

need to underpin that growth by strong performance of

our agriculture, strong performance of our physical and

our social infrastructure. These are our key priorities,"

he avers.

The excerpts below give us an insight into Manmohan

Singh's national agenda to take India forward in the next 5

to 10 years.

RKG: The reform process must also incorporate labor

reform. I wonder how you feel about that, especially since

labor has to be retrained and redirected in many ways for

the economy to become more productive.

PM: First of all, we must make a distinction. When we talk

about labor reforms, we are essentially talking about 10 per-

cent of our labor force, which is accounted for in the so-

called organized sector. Outside this 10 percent, for the 90

percent we are a completely flexible labor market. The nor-

mal laws of the market take precedence. Even within this

organized sector, the problem is most acute in the public

sector. In the private sector, most people tell me that they

can find ways and means of working out voluntary agree-

ments with the trade unions, whereby necessary labor flex-

ibility can be introduced. In the public sector, we have rigid

laws, and therefore there is this problem.

Extreme rigidities in the labor market, inflexibility of the

labor market, is not consistent in our achieving our goals in

a world where demand conditions are changing so fast,

technological conditions are changing so fast. But there are

limitations for the time being. We don't have a broad-based

consensus in our coalition for me to assert that I can move

forward in a big way. But I do recognize that we should take

credible action. Our colleagues who are in government in

West Bengal do appreciate the need for labor market flexi-

bility. It is my task to carry conviction to our Left colleagues

in Delhi. I haven't given up and I am confident that when all

things are considered I think the reform will have more

broad-based support. Our coalition today represents nearly

70 percent of the Indian electorate, so we may be slowmoving, but if we build a consensus, that will be far more

Manmohans Agenda For His

Unaccomplished Task

Manmohans Agenda


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20


durable than any other mechanism that I know of.

RKG: How will the government generate employment,

particularly in the light of making sure there are enough jobs

for the youth coming into the workforce?

PM: Jobs have to be created in all sectors of our econo-

my. Agriculture still accounts for 60 percent of our laborforce, and I believe that we will need a second green revo-

lution to

increase production and productivity, and in the process, I

hope, we will create more jobs. But essentially over a peri-

od of time, our salvation lies in getting people to move out of

agriculture. Services today account for 50 percent of our

GDP.

There are lots of people who tell me that services cannot

move far ahead of what's happening in manufacturing, and

that worries me-this imbalance. I feel we have to do a lot

more on manufacturing because, ultimately, services

respond to what's happening in the production sector.So outside agriculture, in manufacturing and services, we

must create a lot more jobs. But that also means that we

must ensure that our systems of general education and

technical education are in line with the job requirements that

a more modern manufacturing and a more modern services

sector would require. We have to walk on two legs. We have

to create conditions in which manufacturing and services -

the economy outside agriculture - move and move fast

enough. And at the same time the working force that is avail-

able must have skills which will fit the kind of jobs which will

be in demand.

RKG: What is the government doing to promote India as a

manufacturing base, especially agribusiness and food pro-

cessing, which must be important?

PM: Agribusiness and food processing are important partsof modernizing our economy, of modernizing our agricultureand moving into a phase where a more modernized agricul-ture helps not only farmers but also helps consumers. Now,I've talked to a large number of producers-people fromHindustan Lever and others-and they've been telling mewhat India needs most is a unified food law. We have just

now prepared the bill, and it will be introduced in parliament.The other thing to move forward on this front is that we musthave electricity in our rural areas, we must have cold-stor-age facilities. We have, for the next four to five years, a veryambitious plan to expand the availability of electricity to all ofour villages. I hope that that should bring about a new revo-lution in the handling of agribusiness.

RKG: We have seen uncontrolled urbanization in manyparts of the world, which really does not improve the stan-dard of living. What is the plan to promote truly effective, pro-ductive urbanization as, by necessity, the rural population

moves toward the urban centers?

PM: Our urban areas need a lot more attention in terms ofinvestment. In my Independence Day speech last year, Ipointed out that already about 30 percent of India's popula-tion lives in cities. In states like Maharashtra, 40 to 45 per-cent of the population is in urban areas. I expect over thenext 10 to 15 years that we will move to a situation whereabout 50 percent of our population will be in urban areas.We need new strategies to look at urban transportation sys-tems, urban management of solid wastes, new seweragesystems.

This itself would require Herculean efforts of investment, butI don't believe that resources will be a constraint. Our statis-ticians now tell me that our savings rate has shot up in thelast couple of years to about 27 to 28 percent of our GDP.And also we are a country where the proportion of youngpeople to total population is increasing. All demographerstell me that if we can find productive jobs for this young laborforce, that itself should bring about a significant increase inIndia's savings rate in the next five to ten years. If our sav-

ings rate goes up, let us say, in the next ten years, by 5 per-cent of GDP, we would have generated the resources forinvestment in the management of this new urban infrastruc-ture that we need in order to make a success of our attemptat modernization and growth.

RKG: What is India doing to make sure that its economicsuccess continues, by building on both the primary-education system and the higher-education system? Related tothat is health. The government spends very little on healthand health infrastructure.

PM: You are right. As a nation, we should be doing more inboth health and education. But our total expenditure onhealth, public and private, does not compare unfavorablywith other Southeast Asian countries-about 6 percent ofGDP. But the mix between the public and private spendingis excessively in favor of private spending. Our publicexpenditure on health is less than 1 percent of GDP. Thereare neglected areas where the public sector has a majorresponsibility: for primary health care, rural health care. Ourambition, which we have set out in our Common MinimumProgram, is for the next four or five years to raise the publicspending on health as a proportion of GDP to at least 2 per-cent.

With regard to education, I think at the top we have an excel-lent superstructure. The IIMs and IITs, the regional engi-neering colleges have served us well. But ultimately, if theeducational pyramid is not right there are limits to gettingdividends. Therefore we are making, for the first time, themost determined effort to ensure that all our children-partic-ularly children coming from disadvantaged families, particu-larly the girl child-in the next four or five years have the ben-efit of minimum primary schooling. But that will generatedemand for upgrading the quality of our secondary schools.We have not given that much attention toward upgrading

our secondary-school system, and that is our next step.After what we have done in the last one year, primary edu-

Manmohans Agenda


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21


cation is well looked after. What we have now in place is asystem which will ensure that all our children who are ofschool-going age are in primary school. But the secondary-school system will require a major effort, and it worries me.

And as far as the system of higher education and researchis concerned, I appointed, under Sam Pitroda, a knowledgecommission to look at what needs to be done, where weare, and where we ought to be. In the next one or two years,the knowledge sector will receive our attention to the extentthat it deserves. I do recognize that India has to be the cen-ter, the hub of activity as far as the knowledge economy isconcerned. We don't want to miss the chance.

RKG: May I ask a somewhat difficult question? Wheneverpeople discuss India, everyone can talk articulately aboutthe changes that are needed. But in the end, the pace ofimplementation and actual results often lag behind. Thereisn't that kind of action bias that you would like to see in thecountry. Do you agree, and what are you doing to change this?

PM: I think you are right, but one must understand that eco-nomic policy and decision making do not function in a politicalvacuum. It takes a lot of time for us to take basic decisions.And furthermore, because we are a federal set-up, there are alot of things that the central government does, but there aremany things, like getting land, getting water, getting electricity-in all these matters the state government comes in, the localauthority comes in. . . From a political-management point ofview, we cannot do without being a federal system.I am think-ing of identifying areas where we need big thrusts forward. Forexample, steel is one sector where we are thinking aboutinvesting large amounts of money. It is my intention to set upa mechanism which would bring about a convergence in whatthe state governments do and what the central governmentdoes: a group of dedicated officers to work together to ensurethat our three-tiered system of government does not becomea bottleneck. I

(Courtesy Mckinsey Quarterly 2005)

Manmohans Agenda

EDUCATION - GIFT FOR A LIFETIME

NORTH South Found ation (NSF) has been enc ourag ing exce llenc e in education for nea rly twodec ades now. The Found ation has 17 chapters in the various states of India and has provid-ed over 2,500 college scholarships to impoverished but ac ademically endowed youth. SomeNSF alumni scholars have a lrea dy begun o ther programs to he lp those among the p oor go tocollege if they are excelling in ed uca tion.

In the US and Canad a, the Foundation encourag es excellence a mong NRI children by con-ducting annual ed ucational contests. Spanning over 70 reg iona l centers, these c ontests coverthe essentials of spelling, vocabulary, math, geograp hy, essay writing, pub lic spea king and brain

bee, with pa rtic ipa nts rang ing from grade 1 through grad e 12.

Ac ademica lly, NSF contests offe r numerous benefits. Many NSF participants have achieved topplaces in other mainstrea m c ompetitions in the US. NSF winners have a lso b een accep ted atrenowned colleges in the country. More importantly, these c ontests help c hildren improve theircommunication skills, boost their self-confidence and instill in them a sense of compassion andgiving for their not-so-fortunate counte rparts.

The Foundation also awa rds a Role Model Awa rd, the Vishwa Jyothi, to the most deserving sec -ond generation NRI youth to showc ase huma n values and ac ad emic excellence to the c hildrenof the Indian American comm unity.I

NNORTHORTH SSOUTHOUTHFFOUNDAOUNDATIONTION


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22


Ihave had the advantage of living in two villages, FloralPark, NY 11001-1205, USA and Gollaprolu - 533 445,East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, India which gave

me the privilege to work as a doctor in both the countries.

During the course of my professional career spanning fifty

years, more than 1,00,000 persons were examined in my

Gollaprolu clinic, at health camps, cancer detection and

chronic disease camps held in villages of Srikakulam,

Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari Districts

of Andhra Pradesh and also in the US. Can Gollaprolu vil-

lage ever be like Floral Park village?

Gollaprolu has no running water supply

that is safe to drink unlike Floral Park.

Water analysis report is supplied to all

the households in Floral Park. I have not seen a report on

the quality of drinking water in Gollaprolu. Many years ago,

when Lions Club of Pithapuram conducted an Eye Camp in

Gollaprolu, the ophthalmologist in charge of the Eye Camp

demanded an analysis of water that was going to be used

at the camp, as he did not want the risk of post-operative

infections of the eye. To everyone's surprise, the water

showed harmful bacteria and we did bring chlorine treated

water from Kakinada Municipality. A health camp was held

in a village adopted by Bhagavatula Charitable Trust many

years ago. Water samples from the village wells were sent

for analysis. The water analysis report showed diarrhea

causing bacteria. The report was sent to the District Medical

and Health Officer for action. He had to order chlorination of

the drinking water wells in all the villages surrounding the

health camp site. A villager's agenda for a healthy India

starts with provision of safe drinking water.

In Gollaprolu, the sweepers were up

every morning and on the job of sweep-

ing the village roads. But they usually bypass some houses

without collecting the garbage deposited in cement bins,

unless someone alerted them. Trash collection in Floral

Park was done twice a week, without an alert. No one is

allowed to pile up garbage in front of their houses in Floral

Park but in Gollaprolu, it is a different matter altogether.

With the result many persons from Gollaprolu were treated

for Malaria, Filariasis and Dysentery. One does not have to

look far to determine the source of these infectious dis-

eases. Sanitation in the villages should be on the agenda

for a healthy India.

A great amount of my time is spent trying

to teach methods as to how to prevent

infectious diseases, manage chronic dis-

eases and maintain healthy eating

habits. I also emphasize the value of physical exercises and

yoga to my patients and their families. There are no practi-

tioners of Preventive Medicine in Gollaprolu nor in the US.

Preventive Medicine Clinic in every village should be on the

agenda for a healthy India.

Sitting in a village gives one an opportu-

nity to review the medical practices pre-vailing in India. The rich do go to

Hyderabad for treatment for curable

chronic ailments but the poor could not afford costly surger-

ies. Assuming that every one, including the poor and the

rich, had universal health insurance in India, the poor would

not be denied the required costly surgery. Janraksha or a

community-based Health Insurance Scheme launched by

the Government of India is a good start. Health Insurance

for every villager is a must and it should be high on the

agenda for a healthy India.I

[email protected]

A Villagers Agenda

For A Healthy IndiaDR. SATYANARAYANA GAVARASANA

Villagers Agenda

Safe DrinkingWater

Sanitation

PreventiveMedicine

Clinic

HealthInsurance

For Villagers


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23


Consumer Agenda

OF the one million or more Non-governmentalOrganisations (NGOs) in India, those involved directly inconsumer movement today may not be more than one thou-

sand at best. This estimate is based on surveys conducted

from time to time. Of the thousand Voluntary Consumer

Organizations (VCOs), no more than one hundred may be

active in terms of taking up consumer causes seriously and

sincerely on a regular basis. Of them, not more than 25 may

have an annual budget exceeding Rs. 10 lakh. On the whole,

the total amount spent by these consumer organizations is

less than Rs. 50 crore. Ten prominent amongst them may

account for 90% of that total amount. These statistics are

adequate enough to show that the Consumer movement inIndia has a long way to go to be in a position to play a signif-

icant role in consumerism.

It was after the passage of 1986

Consumer Protection Act (CPA), there

was a spurt in the number of voluntary

consumer organizations (VCOs). Few

VCOs existed before 1986 trying to build consumer move-

ment both at the state and national levels. Some of them

were quite prominent like Consumer Guidance Society of

India (CGSI) started in 1966, Consumer Education and

Research Center-1978 (CERC), Voluntary Organization in

Interest of Consumer Education-1983 (VOICE), Consumer

Unity and Trust Society-1983 (CUTS -Jaipur and Kolkatta),

Common Cause (Delhi), Akhil Bharat Grahak Panchayat

(Pune), Mumabi Grahak Panchayat etc. Despite unending

suffering of the consumers both in rural and urban areas,

none of them could emerge as a strong force to usher in a

dynamic and vibrant consumer movement in the country.

In early nineties, several VCOs were formed in large and

small cities of India to promote the implementation of the

Consumer Protection Act. The Act was a powerful weapon to

fight the injustices perpetrated on the consumers by the pub-

lic and private sector companies. It was a progressive legis-

lation passed by the Parliament par excellence. In the begin-

ning, some farsighted judges with vision understood the spir-

it behind the CPA. They gave quick and far reaching judg-

ments not only against the erring private sectors but even

against the officials in the government for not serving the pub-

lic cause.

National conventions of VCOs were held to create a com-

mon platform to identify pressing consumer problems and to

put pressure on the government to bring about systemic

reforms. Just at that time foreign funds started to support

some of the prominent VCOs. This occasioned formation of

many state level federations of consumer organizationsespecially in states like West Bengal, Tamilnadu, Kerala,

Rajasthan and Orissa and in the formation of an exclusivegroup call Consumer Coordination Council (CCC).

Coordination Council was a good idea. But it did not pro-

duce the expected results. Today it has just 50 members and

yet its biannual national conventions attract more than 1000

consumer activists. But the consumer movement itself start-

ed to lose steam as the VCOs' activities slowed down and

efforts at setting up a common platform for all consumer

organizations did not succeed. This was also partially

brought about by public failure to make full use of the CPA

due mainly to lack of proper training to officials in charge of

implementation of the CPAand paucity of funds for enforcing

the Act. And the Parliament took a lot of time to bring aboutthe needed amendments to make the CPA more effective.

One of the towering leaders of India's Consumer move-

ment was Mr. H. D. Shourie of Common Cause. Endowed

with a good comprehension of a powerful consumer move-

ment, his series of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) helped

bring about massive reforms in the consumer redressal sys-

tem.

CERC under the stewardship of Manubhai Shah, besides

starting a testing lab at Ahemadabad, took up individual and

collective consumer complaints. VOICE led by Dr. Sri Ram

Khanna also established a testing lab in Delhi and took up

consumer grievances. CUTS, which operated simultaneous-

ly from Jaipur and Kolkatta, quickly spread its wings to foreign

countries under the leadership of Pradeep Mehta and took

up issues of global nature. All the three were successful in

building professionally-managed consumer organizations

and also to attract foreign funding.

From the beginning one strategic error committed know-

ingly or unknowingly by India's consumer movement was to

depend upon government handouts or foreign funding.

Consumer Welfare Fund is a classic example. A true con-

sumer movement should not depend upon government

doles. Eventhough to build any movement funds are

required, a genuine and principle-inspired cause will never

suffer for want of funds.

Many consumer activists believe that

by having newer and stricter laws and

the public sector continuing to own

and manage companies, consumers

will be better served. They have still not realized that the best

friend of consumers is competition and not the benevolence

of government or the public sector. Not only consumer com-

plaints against Indian Airlines have declined today dramati-

cally but the price for air travel has also come down. If the

Indian sky were to be ruled only by Indian Airlines as it wasthe case in the 80s, no laws or redressal system or VCOs

Consumer Movement

- An Agenda

NeedDynamic

Movement

BHAMY V. SHENOY

Competition

Best Friend


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24


Consumer Agenda

would have been able to help the consumers. On the other

hand, Indian railways, still in the public sector, has shown only

marginal improvements.

In the automobile sector, thanks to less government involve-

ment, consumers have a wide range of choice to buy scooters

and cars with less complaints.

No government involvement in the Cable TV industry from

the beginning has helped rapid growth of the industry. But this

is also a classic example of how the private business can

exploit the consumers when their action is not regulated prop-

erly. In several places, Cable operators have formed informal

cartels and acted like mafias, stalling competition.

If the government had not allowed com-

petition in telecom sector, India would

have continued to have the distinction of

one of the lowest telephone densities as

well as the costliest telephony in the world. Banking sector,

which is dominated by the public sector, has been slow to

reform and not able to make full use of the information technol-

ogy. It was nationalized on the plea of assisting the poor. Today

it is the most decentralized and private enterprise of Self-Help

Groups and micro financing units promoted by the NGO move-

ment which are able to help the poor and not the nationalized

banks! Employee Unions of the public sector banks are fierce-

ly fighting against any effort of the government to reform them

and privatize. But there is no countervailing fight by millions of

consumers of these banks who are poorly served. Consumer

movement has not even recognized this as a problem.

Public Distribution system (PDS), a relic from the Second

World War, has remained a sacred cow for all political parties.

It is because they have a share in the PDS pie and exploit the

subsidies. The same is true with the huge subsidies doled out

to consumers of kerosene and LPG. Irrational pricing and mis-

directed subsidies of petroleum products is resulting in the gov-

ernment losing a whopping Rs. 42,000 crore per year. Avibrant

consumer movement could have fought this issue aggressive-

ly to bring about reforms.

A noted consumer activist Mr. Desikan,

the chief architect of the Federation of

Tamilnadu Consumer organizations, has

started a petroleum testing lab inChennai a step in the right direction to detect petroleum adul-

teration. But that is unlikely to stop massive diversion of subsi-

dized products. It is not that the government is not aware of the

enormity of the problems. Unfortunately those who rule today,

despite their best intentions, are unable to implement the right

policies since their political survival depended on continuing

these subsidies or irrational pricing scheme or not privatizing

the inefficient public sector. Those below the poverty line could

be served far more efficiently and at less cost through a coupon

system as showed by an NGO, Mysore Grahakara Parishat or

high tech smart card as proposed by the planning commission.

There is tremendous resistance to Liberalization, Privatizationand Globalization (LPG) by Indian NGO movement in general

and consumer movement in particular. What we should readily

accept is that competition alone will help consumer interests.

Promoting competition should be number one item on the agen-

da of the consumer movement in India.

In industries like power sector or sectors

like stock exchanges and telecom, where

consumers can easily be taken for a ride,

there is a need for specialized adminis-

trative agencies with judicial powers like

Electricity Regulatory commission, SEBI, TRAI etc. Unless civil

societies take interest in the working of these agencies and act

as watchdogs, they will be ineffective as has been happening

in the developed countries. Consumer movement should take

active part in the deliberations of these bodies. VCOs should

build professional organizations with expertise to play an effec-

tive role.

It is because of an inefficient judicial sys-

tem, CPA was adapted as an antidote.

The Consumer movement should take

up as a national agenda to completely

revolutionize the judicial system. Justices

like Michael F. Saldanha, the former High Court judge of

Karnataka, have shown how they were able to have minimum

or no pending cases. We often state that justice delayed is jus-

tice denied. But there is no pressure to reform the judicial sys-

tem. To implement the above agenda, it is imperative that there

should be a strong consumer movement with more than 10 mil-

lion members across the country.

Will India be able to produce the right leadership to develop

an organization which can attract 10 million members? The

answer to this question lies in the class rooms and that is where

we need to concentrate all our attention.I

[email protected]

ReformBanking

Irrational

Subsidies

Statuory

Regulatory

Agencies

Speedy

Judicial

Reforms


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25


Agenda For NRIs

PEOPLE of Indian origin (PIO) constitute a global

community of over 22 million people. It has beenestimated that, PIOs living outside India has a combinedyearly economic output of about $250 billion, about onethird of the GDP of India. Whether they come from Africa,Asia, the Americas, Australia, the Caribbean or Europe,they are Indians in body and spirit. Almost all of themmaintain their Indian cultural traditions and values. Theyseem to have meaningfully integrated in their countrieswithout losing their ethnic identity.

As a first step toward bringingIndian communities together, theIndian American community,under the leadership of theNational Federation of Indian

American Associations, took the initiative to organize theFirst Global Convention of People of Indian Origin inNew York in 1989. The triggering point for the globalIndian community to come together was, when an elect-ed Indian dominated government in Fiji was thrown outby a military dictator in 1987. At the First Global

Convention, the major issue of concern to everyone washuman rights violations, be in Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad,South Africa, Sri Lanka, U.K. and or in the U.S.A. with"Dot Buster" issue. The Global Organization of People ofIndian Origin (GOPIO) was formed at this convention tohelp in networking Indian communities and take upissues such as human rights violations of Indians aroundthe world. GOPIO filed petitions at the UN and a concert-ed effort was made to fight these issues.

The first global convention of peo-ple of Indian origin, Indian - domi-

nated parties were elected to

power in Fiji, Guyana and Trinidad. South Africa has sev-

eral Indians as ministers in the government. The late Dr.Chheddi Jagan, of Guyana, Mr. Basdeo Panday ofTrinidad and Mr. Mahendra Chaudhry of Fiji who went onto become the President and Prime Ministers of theirrespective countries.

The last decade also saw PIOs becoming enormouslyrich, thanks to the information technology revolution.Although many of them left India with a meager amountof a few dollars or pounds in their pocket, with their ded-

ication and hard work they became successful in theWest and in particular the USA, Canada, U.K. and otherEuropean countries. Now our community is growing inlarge number in Australia and New Zealand. The PIOpopulations in all these countries are expected toincrease in this decade. Therefore, PIO communitieshave important roles to play in all these countries.

Development Initiatives by NRIs/PIOsMeanwhile non-governmental organizations (NGOs) werelaunched in the US, Canada, Europe and countries in the

Middle and Far East to promote education, health careand developments including water management, ruraldevelopment and self help programs. NRIs and PIOs areincreasingly supporting several NGOs in India in a rangeof developmental, educational and social programs.

Till the middle of 1970s, theGovernment of India did not takeany interest in non-Resident

Indians (NRIs), a definition which was given by theReserve Bank of India when they wanted the Indianbanks to attract NRI deposits. In the 1980s, former Prime

Minister Rajiv Gandhi invited a few NRIs to come back to

Indias Development- Agenda For NRIs

DR. THOMAS ABRAHAM

Need ForMobilizing The

Community

Role For GovtOf India

ChangingObjectives

North America (Mostly USA & Canada) 3.2 Million

South America (Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Surinam, Jamaica, etc.) 1.6 million

Europe (U.K., Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, etc.) 2.5 million

Africa (South Africa, Mauritius, East African countries, etc.) 2.5 million

Middle East (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc.) 3.5 million

Far East & South East Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, etc.) 3.5 million

Pacific Island (Fiji, Australia, New Zealand) 0.7 million

Srilanka and Nepal 4.5 million

Total 22.0 million


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Agenda For NRIs

India to help in development of some core sectorsincluding telecommunications. In the 1990s, with eco-nomic liberalization by Narasimha Rao - Dr. ManmohanSingh team, an impetus was provided for NRIs/PIOs to

become more active in the Indian scene.

Also, in the year 2000, a High Level Indian DiasporaCommittee chaired by Dr. L.M. Singhvi, set up by thegovernment of India to look into the issues of NRIs andPIOs and to explore avenues of opportunities forNRIs/PIOs to help India. The Vajpayee administration inJanuary 2002 accepted some of the recommendationsand later, the Govt. of India organized the first PravasiBharatiya Divas (PBD) in New Delhi in January 2003followed by three more such meetings in the month ofJanuary in New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad in 2004,'05 and '06 respectively.

Indian government also decidedto provide dual nationality toNRIs/PIOs. The IndianParliament passed a legislation togrant dual citizenship toNRIs/PIOs in December 2003

and again in 2005. The dual citizenship card wasissued officially at the PRB-2006 in Hyderabad. Thiswill help to bring 22 million people of Indian origin livingoutside India closer to India. It will help to mobilize pro-fessional and financial resources of NRIs/PIOs for

India's development. Also, it is of great sentimental val-

ues to PIOs/NRIs living outside India to feel that theyare now part of Mother India.

Indian Govt. is now going a step further to grant vot-

ing rights for Indian citizens living outside India in theAssembly and Parliamentary elections provided theyare in the constituency at the time of elections. This willmake NRIs feel full participants in India's developmen-tal activities.

GOPIO had campaigned forthis new ministry similar to the

Ministry for Overseas Chinese in China. Prime MinisterManmohan Singh fulfilled this demand in 2004. Thenew ministry has been organizing the annual PBD.However, we see a bigger role for MOIA in reaching outall those NRIs/PIOs who could contribute to India'sdevelopment. The ministry also should work withgroups such as GOPIO and other organizations to moti-vate more NRIs/PIOs to take active interest in India inall areas of investment, business, technology transfer,development and charitable activities. There should beseparate cells in MOIA to promote each of these activ-ities.

In 2002 GOPIO.Connect acts was also created as acatalyst to help NGOs in India and outside to promotetheir activities as well as to provide exposure to moreNRIs and PIOs. I

[email protected]

Ministry OfOverseas

Indian Affairs(MOIA)

GOPIO.connect


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27


Economy

IN response to a fiscal and balance of payments cri-sis in1991, India launched a program of economic

policy reforms. The program consisting of stabiliza-

tion-cum-structural adjustment measures was put in

place with a view to attaining macroeconomic stabili-

ty and higher rates of economic growth. Some

rethinking on economic policy had begun in the early

1980s, by when the limitations of the earlier strategy

based upon import substitution, public sector domi-

nance and extensive government control over private

sector activity had become evident, but the

policy response was limited only to

liberalizing particular aspects ofthe control system. By con-

trast, the reforms in the last

decade-and-a-half in the

industrial, trade and

financial sectors,

among others, have

been much wider

and deeper.

As a consequence,

they have con-

tributed more mean-

ingfully in attaining

higher rates of growth.

India has gone through

fifteen years of her

reform process. Hence,

an assessment of what

remains on the reform agenda

is in order. Five different govern-

ments have been in office since the

early 1990s - the Congress government

which initiated the reforms in 1991, the United Front

coalition (1996-98) which continued the process, the

BJP-led coalition which took office in March 1998 and

then again the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance

(NDA) from October 1999 through May 2004 and fin

april 2006 catalyst magazine

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