That's all, Your Honour!: Jan 1-7

1. A lot of political activity has taken place in Andhra Pradesh (yep, AP, not UP :) ) this week. The Chief Minister has become an expert at making tall claims about his programs. Infact, I am pretty sure he spends more money on advertisements than on the actual schemes itself! One of the schemes he tom tomed was "Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu". Leave the opposition parties and the cynics, his own ministers were clueless about this scheme. State Congress chief picked up a fight with the CM too, about this scheme. The CM promised 1 lakh private sector jobs by December. He also said the PM will give out all these letters in December. The PM hasn't come yet, but the CM's office released a statement saying about 1,01,000 jobs have been created! The Hindu carried this report which detailed how even the "youth" are confused what this scheme is about! 

Amidst this confusion, party incharge Ghulam Nabi Azad came to Hyderabad to chair the first meeting of the newly formed "co-ordination committee". Entire regional media was agog with reports on how the CM was cornered by the panel members. The deputy CM is miffed that he is being sidelined and is not being consulted. Same complaint by the PCC chief. Same complaint by many other leaders. If this does not signify dissent, then what does? 

Meanwhile, the plan is to increase current charges and increase the number of power holidays from 5 to 12 days a month for industries. And to add to these woes, two tragedies struck the state. 19 people died after they drank illegal hooch. Just 2 days after this, 24 people were taken ill in another district. These tragedies bought to the fore, the massive liquor "mafia" in the state. This article in The Hindu is a must read, to understand how this syndicate works in the state. 

And the assembly Speaker finally broke his silence. Remember the no-confidence motion in the assembly last month? 16 Congress MLAs voted against the government. As is his trademark, the Speaker tells us he will try to close this case before the budget session! This has been the gameplan of the Congress always - delay every problem to the maximum possible extent! And then rue the indecision. 

Lastly, the Obulapuram Mining case continues to haunt the government. The IAS officer who signed the file has been sent back to jail. As expected, the minister in charge at that time, Sabita Reddy is not even an accused in the case - she is just a witness (and is now the Home Minister of the state)!

2. Meanwhile, the election commission has announced elections for five states, about 10 days back. UP, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Punjab will go to elections in February. Needless to say, all eyes are on the election in UP. The english media seems to have placed all its bets on Rahul Gandhi. Various surveys are projecting various results too. Mayawati has sacked some ministers from the cabinet. This week's hot political story is that some of these ministers are joining in BJP. Parties and media picked on the BJP for this decision - specifically for inducting Babu Singh Kushwaha into the party. The BJP has specifically attacked Kushwaha when he was the minister. Mindful of the OBC votes he might bring in, the BJP took a u-turn and inducted him into the party. After a minor backlash, the party has announced that he will not be given a ticket. Kushwaha has written to Nitin Gadkari asking him to put his membership on hold till he is absolved of charges. CBI raided the offices of Kushwaha the very next day after he joined BJP. While the CBI continues to dance to the tunes of the Congress party, the next few weeks are going to see some high voltage political action.

3. If you think that BSP, SP, BJP, Congress, RLD are the only parties fighting the elections in UP, you are mistaken. The Election Commission should also be added to the list. The EC has ordered that all statues of Maywati and elephants (BSP symbol) should be covered with cloth. Apparently the statues will influence the voter it seems. This decision is absurd at many levels, but in my view is an insult to the voter. That's all, your honour! 

అదన్నమాట!: జనవరి 1-7

ముందుంది మరింత మంచి కాలం అని మన ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారు ఆ మధ్య సెలవు ఇచ్చారు కదండీ. ఈ వారం పరిశ్రమలకు ఒక వారం ప్రకటించింది ప్రబుత్వం. ఇప్పుడు నెలలో 5 రోజులు పరిశ్రమలకు కరంట్ ఇవ్వటం లేదు. ఇక మీదట నెలలో 12 రోజులు ఇవ్వరు అంట! ఇది ఇలా ఉండగా, కరంట్ చార్జీలు కూడా పెంచుతున్నారు అంట. 

రాష్ట్రంకి ఘులాం నబి ఆజాద్ గారు వచ్చారు. పార్టి కి ప్రభుత్వానికి సమంవయం పెంచడానికి వచ్చారు అంట. ఇది అదును గా తీసుకుని, రాష్ట్ర కాంగ్రెస్స్ నేతలు అంతా ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారి ఏక పక్ష పని తీరు మీద అసహనం వ్యక్త పరిచారు. ఆజాద్ గారు అన్ని విన్నారు.. వెళ్ళిపోయారు! సాక్షాతూ ఉప-ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారు కూడా తన గోడు చెప్పుకునారు అంట. మన సంగతి ఏమో కాని, ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారి "కాలం" మాత్రం అస్సలు బాలేనట్టు గా ఉంది ! 

ఇది ఇలా ఉండగా, స్పీకర్ గారు ఏమో ఇంకా 17 ఎమ్యెల్యేలు మీద ఎలాంటి చర్యలు తీసుకోలేదు. త్వరలో తీసుకుంటారు అంట. అదన్నమాట! 

Lokpal: TV "debate" versus Parliament debate

Take a look at the below snapshot.

That snapshot is of a TV "debate" on CNN-IBN. I am sure other channels would have had such a cluttered format too. So this is not just specific to CNN-IBN. 

8 people. 19 minutes. Each argument overlapping another. In these 8 people, we don't see the anchor. Add him/her and you get 9 people in a "debate" for 19 minutes. On an average, 2.11 minutes per person.

Contrast this to the actual debate in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The above snapshot was before the debate in RS, but even the LS debate would suffice for now. 

The full uncorrected debate text in LS is here.  From pages 7256 to 7474. A total of 218 pages of debate. And the debate was for about 11 hours. Yeah, 11 hours. 

The full uncorrected debate text in RS is here. From pages 10 to 509 (with disruptions). A total of ~500 pages. And more than 12 hours. 

But our TV media wants to "debate" such serious issues in 20 minutes. With 8-10 members. And what's even more saddening is that folks forget the detailed stance of parties in the parliament debates - instead pick up one liners (that are often disrupted too!) as official party lines. What a pity!  

That's all, your honour: Dec.25-31

1. Did you know that Srinivasa Ramanujan ran away from his house at the age of 18? And more interestingly, his father wrote a letter to The Hindu giving details, so that if anyone finds him, they can report it! This letter was carried out by The Hindu last week and it was a very pleasant surprise. Take a look at the letter here. Also, The Hindu carried out a special supplement on Ramanujan and about the growth of maths in India, career opportunities in India etc. The supplement was very enlightening with even photographs of inscriptions showing old numbers. This year is being celebrated as the National year of Mathematics, commemorating the 125th birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan. Hope that more and more students will get interested in mathematics in the coming years :) . The only sore point in the whole celebrations was a speech by Kapil Sibal. Another empty promise by him - exam centric system to go. How? Please don't ask how - Sibal can only talk pompously! 

2. The Lokpal bill continues to dominate the political discussions in the country. I will write in some more detail later about how the ruling party cheated people at every stage of the bill. Last week, the bill was passed in Lok Sabha but the game changing idea of Rahul Gandhi - to give Lokpal a constitutional status was defeated in the Lok Sabha. An earlier blog gives details of that session. Next stop was Rajya Sabha. The bill was tabled only on wednesday evening in the house, and it took up discussion only thursday. Even the ally of the congress, Trinamool Congress was very unhappy about this bill. The opposition too was deeply disappointed with this bill. A total of 187 amendments were moved by TMC and the opposition parties. The government realised late into the night that the session has to end at 12am, and since there was no time, the bill was to be deferred. Opposition parties said they were ready to sit through the night, but the government said they need time to go over the 187 amendments. After a shameful ruckus orchestrated by the ruling party in the presence of the Prime Minister, the house was adjourned sine die. The Lokpal bill debate now moves on to the next session. More drama awaits us in the budget session

3. Meanwhile, the congress government in AP is spending more on ads than on actual schemes in Andhra Pradesh. And after telling us that "a year later, the state is even better", the government is now increasing power tariffs in the state. An expected increase in revenue is about Rs. 5000 crores from this increase. This is just one amongst a big list of burdenous policy of this government! And the year just began - dreaded to think what lies ahead for us! 

అదన్నమాట! : డిసంబర్ 25-31

"ముందుంది మరింత మంచి కాలం" అని మన ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారు తెగ చెప్పెసుకున్తునారు అండి. కేవలం 2-12 గంటల కరంట్ కొత్త ఉంది రాష్ట్రం లో.... కాని "ముందుంది మరింత మంచి కాలం" లెండి. ఇప్పుడు ఏమో కరంట్ చార్జీలు పెంచుతారు అంట. కేవలం 5000 కోట్లు వస్తాయి ఈ పెంపు తో. అయిన సరే, "ముందు ఉంది మరింత మంచి కాలం". డిసెంబర్ నెలలో లక్ష ఉద్యోగాలకి ప్రధాన మంత్రి గారు వచ్చి మరీ ఇస్తారు అని చెప్పారు. జనవరి వచ్చింది. ఉద్యోగాలు వచ్చాయో లేదో తెలిదు, ప్రధాన మంత్రి వస్తారో లేదో తెలిదు. అయిన సరే "ముందుంది మరింత మంచి కాలం" ! ఇలా చెప్పుకుంటూ పొతే చాలానే ఉంటాయి లెండి ... ప్రస్తుతానికి ఇక్కడితో ఆపెస్తా. అదన్నమాట! 

Devil in detail - Part 2 - Lokpal bill in Lok Sabha

Yesterday, the UPA government introduced the Lok Pal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 and the Constitution (116th Amendment) Bill, 2011 

After the minister introduced the bill, leader of opposition, Sushma Swaraj rose to speak. At around the 42nd minute, she was making some calculations needed for a constitutional amendment. This was in the context of 2/3rd of 50% total strength. She arrived at the figure of a minimum of 182 members have to agree. 

Leader of the house, Pranab Mukherjee stood up at this point of time. At around the 43rd minute, he clarified that a minimum of 275 votes are needed for a constitutional bill to be passed. Minimum 275. Sushma Swaraj said she stands corrected and proceeded with her speech. 

Let's quickly see what the rule book says. 

Constitution Amendment Bills have to be passed in each House of Parliament by a special majority ie. by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of the House “present and voting”. 

It effectively means that atleast 273 members have to support the bill, and on top of that 2/3rd of those who are present in the house should support the bill. Only then can the constitution be amended. 

Now, let's see what happened at the end of the day, yesterday. 

The Constitution amendment bill (116th Amendment), 2011 was put up for vote. 251 members voted for it. The official strength of the ruling coalition is 277. After some complicated mathematical operations, we see that 26 members of the ruling coalition were missing (in which there were congress MPs too!). This government could not get the minimum required support for passing this bill, and yet is going on the overdrive to blame the BJP for "not wanting a strong Lokpal". 

Let's get into a few details in a short while. Before that, another important piece of information. 

For the past 6-8 months, Lokpal and Lokayukta was the most debated bill everywhere. Normally reticent working class also took to streets demanding a strong lokpal (though they had no idea on the details). Government, led by Kapil Sibal, screamed on top of their voice saying "Parliament is supreme."

Yesterday, the Lokpal bill was passed by voice vote. Some members demanded "division of votes" for some of their amendments. The government's numbers were only in the range of 247-251. SP, BSP, AIADMK walked out of the house because they did not like the bill and their "demands were not met". Walking out meant that the government can get this through technically. 

 BJP, JD(U), SS, CPI, CPI(M) were outrightly opposing this Lokpal bill. We still don't know what TMC was thinking. Either way, a bill that captured the imagination of so many did not even have the support of 50% of the total strength of the house. Not even 273 members supported this bill - and we are witness to the headline today - "Lokpal bill passed". 

And media screams - "History made". 

Rhetorical arguments for congress is that "BJP is against Lokpal", "Opposition is against Lokpal". Wrong. They are against this version of the Lokpal. 

Sonia Gandhi apparently said that:

BJP's asli chehra dekha hamne.this despite their commitment for constitutional status for #lokpal in standing committee

Sushma Swaraj in her speech yesterday said that the Standing committee explicitly said there should be no reservations in Lokpal. The Sonia Gandhi led government brings in this bogus of reservations in a constitutional body, and then when the opposition cries foul with this version, rhetoric flows and media laps it up? 50% reservation in a constitutional body? What next? Reservation in EC, CAG etc? Whom are we really fooling here?

Members from the opposition articulated their objections and reservations in good detail yesterday. They went into specifics as to why they were objecting to this version of the Lokpal bill. Subjects like minority reservations, federal structure ( here too, Kapil Sibal painted a picture that the opposition was against strong Lokayukta which was not the case!), composition, selection, removal, even age limit was discussed! 

Meanwhile, what is this fuss about giving it a constitutional status? Primarily because this was Rahul Gandhi's "game changing" idea, the government lapped it up. From the limited discussion on twitter, looks like the only advantage of having such a status is that disbanding the institution will be difficult. Either way, this is purely mis-management by the Sonia Gandhi led government. Like Sushma Swaraj said, the government's aim seems to have been to bring some version of the bill, somehow get it passed and say "We passed the bill". 

That's exactly what happened yesterday. This version of the Lokpal bill did not even get the "ayes" of 50% of the total strength of Lok Sabha. This rhetorical bluff of "opposition not supporting" is getting nauseating to hear. 

Finally our media. 

A division of votes is necessary to even introduce a constitutional amendment bill. Same voting rule applies here too. A minimum of 273 and 2/3rd of those present in the house will have to agree. Yesterday, 321 members agreed for the bill to be introduced in the house. Just for introduction. CNN-IBN journalist Pallavi Ghosh was thrilled. 

Rahul's as desired constitutional amendment bill passed

Only to realise that the vote was just for introduction. Each clause of the bill had to be voted upon. And then the true numbers came out. And then she says:

Rahul's dream shattered: no constitutional status to lokpal..govt blames bjp..politics begins

Within the hour, the media went from bill passed to bill shattered. And the politics begins! 

Central govt.'s favours to UP in one month...

#Telugu newspaper eenadu has published the list of projects/benefits showered on UP in the last one month, by the Rahul Gandhi driven central government. 

Am translating the article here, for the benefit of the non-telugu reading audience. 

• Nov.19 - a special package announced for the weavers of the state by the Union textiles minister.
• Nov.24 - a Central agricultural university to be set up in Jhansi, Bundelkhand to assist the agriculturally backward Bundelkhand region. University to be named after Rani Jhansi.
• Nov. 22 - A ministerial sub-committee was formed to study the prevention of "brain fever" deaths in about 14 districts in the Gorakhpur region. Many deaths are reported every year, but it is only this year that such a committee was set-up keeping an eye on the elections. 
• Dec.17 - In the presence of Rahul Gandhi, Vayalar Ravi announced the setting up of a Rajiv Gandhi Aviation university in Furstaganj, Rai Baireily. Rai Baireily is represented by Sonia Gandhi in the Lok Sabha
• Dec.18 - RLD leader Ajit Singh inducted as Civil Aviation minister into the union Cabinet. This move was necessiated keeping in the mind the large influence of Jat voters in western Uttar Pradesh
• Dec.22 - To woo the muslim vote bank that was tilting towards Mulayam, centre takes an urgent decision to award a 4.5% reservation in education/jobs for muslims. 
• Dec. 23 - Union Minister for steel, Beni Prasad Verma announces the setting up of a joint venture steel factory near Barabanki and Lakhimpurkheri. He signs an agreement to this effect in Lucknow. He further announces that similar ventures will come up at Jhansi, Hordoi and Mirzapur districts. 
• Dec. 23 - National status has been granted to the Sarayunpur Yojana and Sarada Sahayak irrigation projects. As part of this grant, Rs. 3124 crores have been released to these two projects. It is mandated that only one project at a time can be granted this status, but with Rahul Gandhi's influence, two projects have been given national status. 
• The food security bill is being introduced in Parliament with the Uttar Pradesh elections in mind. 

Some personal observations (some made in the local media too)

• The aviation university granted to Sonia's constituency was expected to be set-up at the old Hyderabad airport. Most of the infrastructure needed in already present at this airport. As always, Andhra Pradesh, despite sending the largest number of Congress MPs, gets sidelined. And not a whimper of protest by our MPs here. 
• AP government wants the central government to declare the Polavaram and Pranahita-Chevalla irrigation projects as "national projects". Only then will their works be speeded up. These project files are gathering dust with the central government, whilst out of the blue, 2 projects in UP are showered with Rs. 3124 crores. Perhaps we will get our national status sometime in Dec. 2013 too. All will hail Sonia and Rahul then. 
• It was neither surprising nor shocking to see that the English TV media and print media have not covered this largesse of the central government. No such list has been prepared by any channel. They are all busy hyping up Rahul Gandhi as the only saviour of Uttar Pradesh.

Am now bracing up for "Rahul takes on Mayawati" headlines in the media everyday till Feb.28 (that's when elections end in UP). 

The devil is in the detail - Food Security Bill

The tax payer is the most abused person in the country. 

Earn money, pay tax. Buy a vehicle, pay road tax. Buy an ice-cream, pay service tax. On all these taxes, pay more tax for "education cess". Get "fringe benefit" from your company, pay tax. If you give "fringe benefit" to employees, pay tax. And on top of your corporate tax, pay more tax for "education cess". Register your house, pay tax. Invest money, pay tax on returns from that investment. Buy goods, pay Value added tax. Buy liquor, pay tax. Essentially, pay tax when you earn and spend.  For 2010-2011, the money earned by the government of India from various kinds of taxes is Rs. 7,46,65,10,00,000/- only. Approximately Seven lakh crores. 

But the moment the tax payer actually wants better roads for which he is paying money, s/he is derided. How shameless of you to demand from an already over-burdened, over-worked government to make proper use of your money? The moment a tax payer wants to know where exactly the "education cess" is going, lectures are reeled out on how the payee is out of touch with reality and how s/he should travel to the villages to know how bad the education system is. 

TV channels shout from the roof-top - "tax payer's money being wasted", but when the "tax payer" actually comments on current affairs/politics, s/he is immediately labelled saying, "but you don't vote". Actually it works two ways - if you are not familiar with current affairs, you are derided. If you are familiar, then you are derided too! 

Rupees Seven lakh crores is what the tax payer gives the government and then s/he has to face the question - "What is it that you are doing for the country?" Embarrassing, no? Even more embarassing, when you are just expected to pay and not lament/comment on how it is being spent! 

And that's precisely what this rant is going to be. I have serious issues with how the money is being spent.abused. And because I make a contribution (though minuscule percentage) to that large tax treasury, I am taking the freedom here to vent out my complaints. And yeah, I do vote. And I did not vote for the Congress, so please to spare me the "you voted for this government, so live with it" argument. 

The picture below is a hoarding near the Jubilee Hills junction in Hyderabad. It talks about the boon to the poor - Rs.1/kg rice scheme. Apologies for the angle at which it was taken - we were on a bike and could not stop for a better angle. Nevertheless, I marked in red the important point in the hoarding, which when translated reads thus: 

"7.5 crore poor people will benefit"

See now I have a problem with this number. The census of 2011 puts the population of AP at 8.46 crores. Doing some complicated math, we can conclude that the AP government has classified a meagre 88.65% of it's population as "poor". The civil supplies minister also announced that about 25 lakh applications for a white ration card are pending. And because the Chief Minister does not want "anyone to sleep with hunger", he reduced the cost of rice from a whopping Rs.2/kg to Rs.1/Kg ! 

I sincerely apologise if my understanding is wrong, but shouldn't any self respecting government do more to bring people out of poverty than to push them into poverty? Is it wrong to expect that the policies of the government should enable more poor people to become self sufficient and grow along with the economy?  But gee - how insensitive can I get? I, the salaried class, the luxuried class - have the guts to mock the meagre 88.62% poor and their capacity to pay? How arrogant of me to actually contribute money for schemes like this and yet question their sanctity stupidity! 

And then came along the National Food Security bill. This time, I did not want to be arrogant, ill-informed, ignorant etc. And right at that point of time, much to my staggering good luck, the Editorial Director of NDTV tweets: 

"Incredible to hear Amartya Sen,Jean Dreze explain lucidly &eloquently, why India cant afford NOT to have a Food Security bill.9:30pm,Sunday"

So now I eagerly wait for Sunday to come. Now, I know that all my insensitive doubts about this massively expensive food security bill will be cleared by the panel of experts. And at the beginning of the show,  the scroll reads: 

"More children die in India at birth than in Bangladesh and Nepal."

Well, given that the population of India is much much more than Bangladesh and Nepal put together, wouldn't the actual number of children dying also be more? But we digress. The show begins, and for about 15 minutes, no concrete statistics are put out. No numbers whatsoever. The eternal rhetoric of the need to feed the poor etc goes on. And then a comment by a man from Gorakhpur. This man has a genuine complaint about nutrition in food and also the need to tackle deadly diseases like encephalitis. And the discussion veers towards health care, which has no connection to the Food security bill. 

What the man wanted was proper health care, which is a perfectly genuine demand and I bet no tax payer in this country will object if the government chooses to spend on health care. The show moved on to corruption, economy blah blah, that I lost interest. I did not know anything new after the 20 minutes that I watched it. On top of this, one of the journalist on the show thinks that the food bill "guarantees free ration"! 

So, I made one more attempt. PRS Legislative site had put up the draft of the food security bill. 

Every person belonging to priority households and general households,.. shall be entitled to receive every month from the State Government,.. such quantity of foodgrains at such prices as may be specified in Schedule I .

The current Public Distribution System classifies card holders into three categories.

• Above Poverty Line
• Below Poverty Line
• AAY - Antyodaya Anna Yojana.

AAY identifies 1.5 crore poorest of the poor families in the country. And then gives them rice at Rs.3/kg and wheat at Rs.2/kg (35kgs per family). 1.5 crore poorest of the poor families means about 6-8 crore people in the country, which is about 6% of the population. 

This was in the year 2000. In the year 2011, the central government wants to increase this 5% to 46% rural and 28% urban "poor people". Is this progress? Is this what we have reduced "aam aadmi" to?

Anyways, the devil always lies in the detail. 7kgs of "foodgrain" per person. Foodgrain is defined as " rice, wheat or coarse grains or any combination thereof ". So therefore a four member family has to come up with a combination of its needs. Let's do some complicated math. 

Currently, various states (with the exception of visionary states like AP) give rice at Rs.3.50-Rs.5.50 range to BPL families. Assuming a four member family gets 21 kg of rice at Rs. 3 instead of Rs.5.50/-, they are saving a whopping 21*2.50 = Rs. 52.50 per month.  Wheat is sold at Rs.7 a kg in AP. Assuming that is the national average - there's a further saving of 7*5= Rs.35. A total of Rs.87.50 per month per family. Is our country in such dire straits that 46% of our rural population are thrilled at the prospect of saving about 3 rupees per day? Is it is not a grave setback that we are actually encouraging them to entitlements like this, and giving them false hope that this price will remain low for a long time?

The next small detail - Rs.1/kg for coarse grains. 

The average shelf life of coarse grains is limited, making them unsuitable for long-term storage and distribution under PDS. The inclusion of coarse cereals under PDS cannot be taken up as a national level programme since there is no standard variety of coarse grain. However, initiatives on the part of state governments catering to the needs of specific localities are possible.

No, those above observations are not by those wretched tax payers. It is an observation made by the planning commission, in it's 10th Five Year plan (2002-2007). Just about 10 years ago, the planning commission observed that coarse grains cannot be distributed through PDS. But this is 2011, which means another five year plan has come up. Take a look at the PDS section in 11th five year plan. No mention at all about the coarse grains. None. 

So now we have no plan on how to store and distribute the grains, but we have a bill which wants to distribute this at Rs.1/kg to 46% rural population and 28% urban population. 

A small complication here. The bill limits the subsidy to "upto 75% of rural and 50% urban population". What about my state, Andhra Pradesh then? We have a meagre 88.6% people... :( 

Now, let's take a look at the burden on the government for this hare-brained scheme. The picture of the hoarding is another example. The burden for giving rice at Rs.1/kg to 7.5 crore people is Rs.2600 crore. According to the current Food bill, it looks like about 75 crore people are the intended beneficiaries. So after doing some complicated math, we arrive at a conservative estimate of ~Rs. 26,000 crore per year. And this is with respect to subsidy on one food grain. A conservative estimate of subsidy on three foodgrains can be put at Rs. 50,000 crore. Where will this money come from, year over year? Remember the tax payer?

Phew! 

Did you think the the bill is done? No, more is yet to come. "Nutritional food to children from 6 months to 6 years, every day, free of charge." and "Nutritional food as part of mid-day meals for children from 6-14 years, except on school holidays". Remember the "education cess" you pay on top of all those taxes? The mid-day meal is partly funded through that cess. And now we have to feed children upto 6 years too. So we will need more money. Any guesses from where it will come?

The best part of this bill is yet to come:

"In case of failure to supply the entitled quantities of foodgrains or meal ... such persons shall be entitled to receive food security allowance from the concerned State Government,... as may be prescribed by the Central Government."

So there you go - these people will be paid money if they cannot be given food grains. And it has not yet been decided how much! So we have no clarity on how we will distribute coarse grains and how much money will be given in case of failure to distribute. Now obviously, you can't give them 52 rupees in lieu of the 21kg rice they are entitled to.  The amount will be atleast 3 times - which means you dole out Rs.150 per family. And more importantly, central government will decide how much the state government will pay - can there be a bigger incursion on the federal freedom? Ohh no wait - this provision will enable Rahul Gandhi to go into opposition ruled states and say "Your state govt. is not spending the money our central govt. is giving". 

The Food security bill also provides for nutritional food for pregnant women and lactating mothers. While this aspect is appreciable given the number of deaths at birth, the argument that many of us are trying to make is that such schemes have to reach those who are in actual need of it. Not this "One size, fits all" category. This bill also gives a provision for feeding destitute and starving people, two meals a day. 

So we now have a conservative estimate of Rs.50,000 crores plus no estimates on nutritional food, meals for destitute and on the money to be disbursed. We also have no clue on the guidelines to identify this 75%, 46%, 50%, and 28% population. Some well meaning folks peg the bill at about 2,00,000 crores too. Official estimates vary from Rs. 22,000 crores to Rs. 1,15,000 crores. From the contrived logic of this blogpost, we can atleast conclude that the 22,000 crore number is a total myth! 

So what is the solution? 

• Revitalisation of Agriculture
• Procurement, Storage and Movement related interventions
• Reforms in TPDS

No no, those are not my ideas. In the last 2 pages of the bill, the drafters have enlightened us with this supreme gyan. The think we have to invest more in agriculture infrastructure. Man, where would we have been without such brilliant guidance. 

Unfortunately, that dreaded state of Gujarat shows us the solution. They have already done these exact same things the drafters of this bill think should be done. Since it is a sin to emulate anything that happens in Gujarat, I guess we will be stuck with rhetorical bills like these only.

Thankfully, Chief Ministers like Jayalalitha and Narendra Modi have already objected to the bill saying it infringes upon the economic freedom of the states. Jayalalitha also is believed to have said that this bill creates a lot of confusion too. As we can see above, a mere look at the provisions is throwing up so many combinations, no wonder leaders feel this is confused. 

At a time, when we should be talking of progress, we seem to be taking pride in the exact opposite. There are many basic questions that arise out of schemes like NREGA, FSB etc. Even members of Parliament are complaining about the ill-effects of schemes like NREGA and yet we do not want to take any corrective measure whatsoever. 

We need better debates. We need better dissemination of information. Not mere rhetoric or random observations like this. Thankfully, the bill will not immediately become law. It has to be introduced in Parliament, then has to go to standing committee and then will come back to the Cabinet. That buys us atleast 3 months. 

Ohh and before I forget, can you imagine the scope of corruption in such a hare-brained scheme? Can you imagine the amount of pilferage? Can you imagine the clamour for being classified in that 75%? Can you imagine the loss to the exchequer when there will be a food grain shortage and money disbursement will start? And in case you forgot, you fund that exchequer. Your money will be abused, and you will just remain a mute spectator. 

The tax payer is the most abused person in our country. 

"It is a bill that guarantees..."

A very quick post. Just to share the awesome in-depth understanding that some TV journos have. This time, from NDTV. 

Sonia Singh runs a weekly show, "Your Call" on NDTV. Last week, the topic was about the Right to Food Bill (we will talk in detail about this bill later). 

The Indian media likes to show that the people of this country are ignorant on many matters. So NDTV interviews a whopping 3 people to ask them if they know about the Right to Food bill. 

And while asking the third person - the knowledgeable NDTV reporter asks " Do you know anything about the Right to Food bill. It is a bill that guarantees an individual the right to free ration". 

A reporter who is woefully ignorant of the "Right to food bill" is asking citizens of this country whether they "know anything at all" about this bill. And NDTV plays the video; the anchor then sports a smirk and goes to ask a Nobel Laureate "what is your immediate reaction?".  To those unsuspecting citizens, Right to Food bill doesn't give "free ration". It gives subsidized ration. More details later. 

Hail Indian Media. 

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/your-call/your-call-with-amartya-sen-and-jean-derez/218809?pfrom=home-topstories 

Listen from 4:55 - 5:00 and laugh your hearts out! 

Update on Dec.21 - I sent a mail and Sonia Singh replied. 

The reporter made a mistake, we have informed him and corrected it on the show repeat. Not sure about the smirky smile, will try to correct that as well. Thank you for pointing it out.

I replied back asking her for the updated video and also why they were judgmental in the show. No reply on that yet. 

Rahul Dravid's speech

There were many times I wondered what will be going through the mind of players when they are idle on the field :). And yesterday, I got my answer. And I can vouch that it cannot get any better than this. Rahul Dravid's speech at the Bradman Oration was making rounds, and at the end of the speech he had this to say:

"Before I conclude, I also want to talk briefly about an experience I have often had over the course of my career. It is not to do with individuals or incidents, but one I believe is important to share.

I have sometimes found myself in the middle of a big game, standing at slip or  even at the non-strikers end and suddenly realised that everything else has vanished.

At that moment, all that exists is the contest and the very real sense of the joy that comes from playing the game.It is an almost meditative experience where you reconnect with the game just like you did years ago, when you first began. When you hit your first boundary, took the first catch, scored your first century, or were involved in a big victory.

It lasts for a very fleeting passage of time, but it is a very precious instant and every cricketer should hang on to it."

Actually I am doing great injustice to his fascinating speech by just quoting his conclusion right at the beginning itself. But since it answered one of the basic questions I had in my mind, I wanted to mention it first :). 

We all know the greatness of the player called Rahul Dravid. His record speaks for itself. 36 centuries, 13,000 test runs, 10,000 ODI runs (that too in a format he is accused of being slow!!) is a record that many cannot achieve even in their dreams! However, this speech he delivered yesterday gave us an insight into his brilliant thoughts about the game and what greats like him think about it. 

First, he talks about the inspiring stories of cricketers who come from remote places and gives a short glimpse into the team's dressing room and tells us that 15 different languages could be spoken in that one room. While all of us were deriding the impact of television, he explains to us how it played a major role in taking the game to the masses and erasing the "princely" tag attached to it forever. And he also explains how the increase in revenue helped stabilise the life of many cricketers (international and first class). 

The striking aspect is his positive tone throught the speech. We have heard the cacophony on TV studios and instant judgements by journalists on whether test cricket is "dying" etc. Rahul Dravid devotes an entire section in his speech to talking about this aspect. We heard it from TV "experts" before, but when he says there is too much cricket and hence a spectator-fatigue, it is time for concerned authorities to sit up and take note. And I liked the way he talks about how the audience at the stadium is very important to the player, and why the audience is not just about generating revenue. It gave me delight to hear him say that a cheering crowd amplifies their resolve to perform well. And I particularly feel good because me along with friends went to watch a test match recently and cheered our throats out :). 

His thoughts about the future of the cricket needs to be taken seriously. We need to hear more from the likes of Dravid, Kumble, Sachin, Laxman etc on this game. Not from Arun Lal and Sanjay Manjrekar! 

Right at the beginning, he derides how loosely the words "war", "battle" are used when referring to cricket, which at the end of the day is a sport and not a battlefield. This speech should also make the media realise how fallacious their usage of such words is. He was speaking at their National War Memorial and had this to say:

This building, however, recognises the men and women who lived out the words – war, battle, fight - for real and then gave it all up for their country, their lives left incomplete, futures extinguished

How true, and how dignified of him to actually make a mention of this and bring the media back home to it's feet. 

Also notice how he says "Cricketing world will watch" instead of saying "World will watch". After all, cricket is actively played in just 9 countries. But then as usual our media won't learn right? Their headline - "World will watch India-Australia series" ! 

Anyways, let's not digress :). This entire speech here, is a must read for all cricket lovers. It has honesty written all over it. It gives us a glimpse of the thought process of a man who has given Indian cricket a lot of treasure. After he retires, am sure we will come up with many "Is X the next Dravid" when X scores a couple of centuries at No. 3 position in tests. But we, who have been fortunate to have seen him exhibit his art, know there will be no other Dravid. Thank you Rahul Dravid :)