ఆదునిక ప్రపంచం .......తరుగుతున్న మానవత్వ విలువలు

మనిషి  ఆదునిక  ప్రపంచంలో సాధిస్తున్న శాస్త్ర సాంకేతిక పరిజ్ఞానం చూసి  ఆనందించాలో లేక  రోజు రోజుకు దిగజారుతున్న నైతిక విలువలు చూసి బాదపపడలో తెలియని స్తితి ని ఆదునిక ప్రపంచం నేడు మన ముందు ఉంచింది. ఢిల్లీ బస్సు లో జరిగిన బాధాకరమైన సంగటన ద్వరా స్త్రీల ఫై జరుగుతున్న అనాగరిక  అత్యాచారాల గురించి  మరోసారి వార్త పత్రికలో మనం చూస్తున్నాం. ఇలాంటి సంగటనలు కేవలం నగరాలకు మాత్రమే పరిమితం కాదు దేసవ్యప్తంగా ఎంతో మంది స్త్రీలు మరియు పిల్లలు లైంగిక వేదింపులకు, అత్యాచారాలకు  గురిఅవుతున్నరు కానీ వెలుగులోకి వచ్చే సంగటనలు మాత్రం చాల తక్కువ. ఇలాంటి గటనలు జరిగినప్పుడు నిందితులుకు కటినమైన శిక్ష పడే విధంగా చట్టాలు అమలుపరచడం చాల అవసరం కానీ కేవలం చట్టాలు మాత్రమే పరిష్కార మార్గాలు అనుకుంటే పొరపాటే. నిజమైన సమాజ శ్రేయస్సు  చట్టాల చేతుల్లో కంటే  సమాజం చేతుల్లోనే ఎక్కువ  వుంది. నేటి వికృత చేష్టల పాలిట ప్రధాన నిందితులు అవిచేసే వాళ్లు  కంటే  వాళ్ళు అలా పైశాచికులుగ తయారు కావడానికి దారితీసిన పరిస్తితులు అని చెప్పాలి. ఈ  పరిస్తితులకి కారణాలు వెతికితే అందులో మనం  రోజు చూస్తున్న టీవీ, సినిమా, విధ్యా విధానం మరియు సామజిక విలువలు  దగ్గరి నుంచి కుటుంబం లో పిల్లలు తల్లితండ్రులు దగ్గరి నుండి  పొందుతున్న ప్రేమానురాగాల వరకు ఇమిడి వుంటాయి . ఎవరికివారు  తమ పిల్లల పెంపకంఫై శ్రద్ధ పాటించక పొతే తిరిగి వారే  బవిష్యత్  బదితలుగ మారవలిసివస్తుంది.  నేడు ఢిల్లీలో జరిగిన సంగటన ప్రతి గల్లిలో జరగకుండా ఉండాలంటే దాన్ని అరికట్టకలిగిన శక్తీ నేటి సమాజం చేతుల్లోనేవుంది.

          

PRESIDENT OF INDIA SPEECH ON SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE FOR FOOD AND LIVELIHOOD SECURITY

This is my first visit to Punjab in my present capacity. I had indeed looked forward to being here - amongst the distinguished scientists and experts present today. This Institution is synonymous with the Green Revolution which transformed Indian agriculture, making our country self reliant in feeding its population. Today, we produce enough to spare for export and assistance to other developing countries. It is the Punjab Agricultural University that pioneered agricultural research and technology dissemination in our country - at a time in the '60s when this was a crucial need. Its scientists engaged with a sense of urgency in research, innovation and foreign collaborations. They have since developed hundreds of new strains, high yielding and robust varieties of crops and studied the management of environmental, weather and soil conditions. I congratulate the Punjab Agriculture University for its splendid contribution in the service of our nation.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the agriculture sector in India continues to be the lifeline of our people and a key factor in our economy's overall productivity. It has rightly been accorded due priority in every budget and Plan for achieving India's developmental goals. Government of India has, over the decades, introduced a variety of schemes and measures to give support to the entire agriculture sector from small farmers to large investors. Institutions and banks have been created to focus on supporting agriculture development, fixing remunerative prices and improve agricultural marketing. The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices and the Food Corporation of India have been set up to recommend Minimum Support Prices and procure grains for public stocks respectively, the NABARD and Regional Rural Banks to ensure easy and adequate credit availability, and programmes such as the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna, National Food Security Mission and National Horticulture Mission have taken the Government's outreach to the farthest and remotest regions.

Promoting inclusive growth, sustaining food security and boosting rural incomes in the country is intrinsically linked to growth in the Agriculture sector. As the Finance Minister, I had outlined a four-pronged strategy as part of the Union Budget for 2010-11 to drive growth in the Agriculture sector. The first component of the strategy was to extend the green revolution to the Eastern region of the country comprising Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa. The second component of the strategy was to reduce the significant wastage in storage as well as in the operations of the existing food supply chains in the country. The third component was to improve credit availability to the farmers, while the fourth component was to aim at providing a further impetus to the development of the food processing sector by providing state-of-the-art infrastructure and substantial fiscal incentives.


The initiative of bringing green revolution to Eastern India has resulted in a significant increase in production of paddy, as States in Eastern India reported additional paddy production of 7 million tonnes in Kharif 2011. The total paddy production in the country increased from 95.98 million metric tonnes in 2010-11 to 104.32 million metric tonnes in 2011-12. Mr. Robert S. Zeigler, Director General of the International Rice Research Institute in Manila lauded our achievement when he mentioned that "the most heartening aspect of India crossing the 100 million tonne rice production mark is that a major contribution has been from Eastern India". The total food grains production in the country increased from 244.78 million metric tonnes in 2010-11 to 257.44 million metric tonnes in 2011-12. To reduce wastage in storage, concrete steps have been taken by the Government to create additional food grain storage capacity in the country. Two million tonnes of storage capacity in the form of modern silos have already been approved for creation. Further, nearly 15 million tonnes of storage capacity is being created through private entrepreneurs and warehousing corporations. To enable the timely availability of affordable agriculture credit to the farmers, the target for flow of agriculture credit has been enhanced in the Union Budgets from time to time, from Rs.3,75,000 crore in 2010-11 to Rs.5,75,000 crore in 2012-13. The Mega Food Park scheme, which was introduced in the Eleventh Plan, aims at developing farm proximate state of the art infrastructure with strong backward and forward linkage in a demand driven manner. 30 Mega Food Parks are being planned for creation in this financial year.

At the present juncture, we have come a long way. The growth rate of GDP in Agriculture and allied activities in 2011-12 is 2.8 per cent which is, of course, lower than the growth rate of 7 per cent in 2010-11 but higher than the growth rates of 0.4 per cent in 2008-09 and 1.7 per cent in 2009-10.

There is however, a reality that cannot be ignored - and I take this opportunity to call upon all present here today to reflect on why, despite all these successes and efforts and despite India's overall improved economic performance, the economic viability of this sector is still a challenge. There are, even today, so many regions in our country where subsistence farmers and small farmers remain susceptible to failure, risk and desperation. Despite various programmes and schemes of Government- complemented by the efforts of the scientific and corporate community, why is it that prosperity has eluded a large part of this sector? It is ironical that although India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, value addition to this produce is just 7 per cent and processing only around 3 per cent of production. There is hardly any value addition at the farm level - and 98 per cent of farm produce is sold as it is harvested. Due to our tropical / subtropical conditions, more than 25% of production is lost during harvest and post harvest operations. We import a large amount of the pulses we consume. In the agriculturally advanced regions, there are problems of over-exploiting ground water resources and vulnerability to pests and crop diseases; over-mining of nutrient reserves has led to multi-nutrient deficiencies. Excessive use of fertilizers is taking its toll on the productivity of soil.

I recall a comment of Mahatma Gandhi which made a profound impression on me : He said, and I quote, "A farmer cannot work without applying his mind. He must be able to test the nature of his soil, must watch changes of weather, must know how to manipulate his plough skillfully and be generally familiar with the movements of the stars, the sun and the moon......"

This is a compelling reason for the Indian farmer to be provided the wherewithal that he urgently needs - the financial, technological, infrastructural, transportation and other requirements for a sustainable approach for the increased productivity that we seek.

In this context, I take this opportunity to share a few thoughts on the challenges that we must address. We need to do a re-think on agriculture in India. And we need to do this urgently to ensure food security in India. We must have in place a coherent and comprehensive policy that has synergy among its various elements. Government initiatives are of little use without efficient systems for their implementation. Equally important is the necessity for collaboration between the state and central governments on the monitoring and appraisal of various schemes. A co-ordinated and integrated approach should start at the grassroots, taking into account all the factors.

Many policies are susceptible to failure because of inaccurate feedback. Collation of information and policy integration is essential. As I am among academia and experts, I would like to suggest that we identify the priorities and act swiftly. I would put training and entrepreneurship development high in my list of items requiring urgent attention. To this I would add the task of developing and reaching appropriate technology to farmers, agriculture marketing reforms, studying the present yield gaps and methods to harvest wastelands, address wastage and overuse of fertilizers and develop simple IT tools for farmers - that are user friendly and can provide relevant and timely information relating to weather forecasts. Enhanced productivity would reduce per unit cost, enhancing the global competitiveness of our produce.

Farm mechanization, linking farms with markets and adding value at each stage will help in employment generation, entrepreneurship development, increased profits to farmers and safe and healthy food to consumers. Investments in food processing sector have multiplying benefits for all, and hence a major boost needs to be given to the processing sector. Fiscal incentives and land leasing policies of State Governments should be such that agro-processing, especially in the rural areas, becomes a lucrative option both for the farmers and the private sector.

A useful part of the re-assessment would be a mapping and indexing of crops and livestock to anticipate market demands, plan resource allocation and ensure its optimal utilisation to ensure maximum output. This would give an edge in the global market. Similarly, the agro-industry, in partnership with research institutions can plan relevant and standardised crop production and efficient agricultural supply chains, which are vertically integrated. Improved connectivity between agricultural universities and the farmers could be very beneficial for both.

Most importantly, innovation-of new varieties, technologies and methods for post harvest processes--should move up on our priority list. The percentage of GDP from Agriculture and allied activities spent on research and development must be increased from the current level of 0.6 per cent to 1.0 per cent in the Twelfth Five Year Plan.

I believe that a multi-pronged strategy involving technology development, new marketing methods, precision in farm operations and innovative policy instruments is required to ensure agricultural sustainability and food and livelihood security and I would stress the importance of due attention to modernising food storage and its distribution.

This Conference on Sustainable Agriculture for Food and Livelihood Security is, therefore, an important opportunity for stakeholders to review the current overall approach and, develop an updated, comprehensive strategy to accelerate agricultural growth and further strengthen national food and livelihood security in India

I also take this opportunity to convey my best wishes to the students and faculty for success in all their endeavours in years to come.

With these words, I have the pleasure to formally inaugurate this conference.

Jai Hind

Irom Sharmila----Brave woman

Irom Sharmila, Manipur's 'Iron Lady', on Monday completed 12 years of protest demanding repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). On an indefinite fast, Sharmila, who is force-fed through the nose to keep her alive began her fast till death after ten persons, including a boy who received the national bravery award, were shot dead in an alleged encounter with Assam Rifles personnel at Malom near Imphal airport on November 2, 2000. A newspaper columnist and social worker then, Sharmila, went on fast on November 5 that year demanding repeal of AFSPA. She was arrested a day later and charged with attempt to commit suicide.

She is force fed at a government hospital at Porompat where the ward, she is in, has been converted into a jail. Sharmila has received several global awards and several prominent personalities from different parts of the country have visited her in support of her demands. 

The demands of Sharmila is not only a genuine cause but also the whole grievances of north east people especially those from areas declared as disturbed.

According to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), in an area that is proclaimed as "disturbed", an officer of the armed forces has powers to:

* Fire upon or use other kinds of force even if it causes death, against the person who is acting against law and order in the disturbed area for the maintenance of public order, after giving such due warning

* To arrest without a warrant anyone who has committed cognizable offences or is reasonably suspected of having done so and may use force if needed for the arrest.

Depending on Jeevan Reddy commission govt promised to amend the act and ensure 'humane' nature of act, but the promises became an eye wash measures and the act is still being enforced in the following states:
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland , Tripura and Jammu & kashmir.

AGRARIAN UNREST

India is seventh largest country with an area of around 33 lakh sq.Km and second largest in population with nearly 121 crore people.Our huge population is mostly dependent on domestic agriculture production for  food security.During  initial years of our independence we were dependent on food aid from foreign countries(mostly form U.S.A),but with in one decade we moved near to self sufficient.India proved herself the brave and hard working nature by achieving self sufficiency, in food, when entire world was thinking about final stages of India.This spectacular achievement can be attributed to our great Indian farmers led by versatile administrators of that time(founding fathers of India).

This victory in agriculture would have least possible if our farmers couldn't put their sweat in our mother land. So, the person who made us self sufficient and who is feeding our belly is nothing but our brave farmer.It would be difficult for me to describe the greatness of our farmer, he is the person who is feeding entire population in spite of many challenges in cultivation.The real servants of society are not those who are in front pages of news paper but are those from soil of rural India.

But, during recent past our great warrior is struggling himself to ensure nation self sufficiency.The person who is feeding us is finding difficult to feed himself and starving his stomach.The reasons can be trace out to the following to the best of my knowledge.

* Vagaries of monsoon.
* Nature fury(cyclones etc)
* Irrigation facilities.
* Degradation of land.
* Fertilizer subsidies
* Ever increasing population.
* Failure of Govt policies like NREGA.
* Costly credit.
* lack of mechanization and scientific management.
* No proper remuneration to produced output.
* Bad procurement network.
* Lack of warehousing facilities
* Lack of cold storage chains.
* Loop holes in PDS.
* Hoarding and future trading.
*Policy paralysis in Govt.

Indian economy is gamble of monsoon, the right time arrival of monsoon decides the fate of agriculture which in turn decides the fate of entire economy.The recent events proved again how the vagaries of monsoon impacting the Indian agriculture.The deficit in rainfall during june, july months led lacks of acres of land to leave fallow.In some parts  of Andhra  pradesh the Kharif season started too lately in the month of august instead of June.So, harvest is slightly delayed  and likely to happen during November and December.But, when farmers are about to reap the crop the  Neelam cyclonic effect taken it's fury on coastal areas of Tamil nadu and Andhra pradesh by destroying nearly 14 lakh acres in AP alone(nearly 50 people died in this calamity).All together the late monsoonal rains and the Neelam cyclone ensured southern India farmer with huge loss and unrecoverable damage.

India is well equipped with good river systems having perennial Himalayan rivers on northern part of India and monsoonal river systems on central and southern part of India.Having plenty of water resources still many parts in India are struggling for water because of lack of irrigation management.Every year millions of cusecs of water is flowing into sea over Ganga, BrahmaPutra and, Gadavari. The river inter-linking project which was proposed to join northern perennial rivers with southern non-perennial rivers ensures unirrigated areas with irrigation facilities,but this project is facing it's own scientific hurdles and social challenges and finally emerged as unimaginable project.The construction of many other nation importance dams also became questionable with day by day uprising opposition on the grounds of  environmental rights, tribal rights, regional politics, and challenges posed for mitigating problems of displaced.

Thanks to green revolution , it has played great role in achieving self sufficiency by introducing high yielding vaarities(HYV) of seeds and usage of synthetic fertilizers. This HYV seeds requires good irrigation facilities, so the introduction of this seeds was restricted to areas where irrigation facilities are already available and where irrigation facilities can be provided easily.So,it mainly concentrated in Punjab, haryana, western central india,some patches of eastern coastal India.The green revolution is restricted to certain parts only.The uncovered areas left with low or no productivity while the covered areas ensured with high productivity with the usage of HYV and fertilizers.But, over the due course of time the green revolution covered areas are facing problem of land degradation because of unsustainable exploitation of land with excessive dose of nitrozen-fertilizer and pesticides.The implementation process of fertilizer subsidy also motivating farmer to use it unscientifically. Now we are at cross roads to take up second green revolution to cover entire India with sustainable usage of synthetic materials in harmony with land fertility.

As I mentioned earlier India is rich country in human resources but at the same time this richness itself leading to poverty because of mismanagement of resources.The ever increasing population generating huge work force but to absorb this huge work force Indian Industry and service sectors has it's own limitations.So, out of total work force 65-70% of work force depends on agriculture and it's allied activities.The actual demand of work force for Indian agriculture sector is well below than 10% .This phenomenon leading to disguised unemployment in this sector. Children may be burden to any one else but not to mother, Agriculture is taking care of it's children and giving space to all by splitting herself into small and further small land holdings. These small land holdings are coming against to the scientific management of crops.The small land holding farmers are not able to adopt new mechanisms and the costly credit driving them into debt trap which is primary reason for all farmer suicides in India.

On par with all these hurdles the research and development in Agriculture sector is also not upto the present requirements. The investment rates in bio-technology and genetic engineering is at it's minimum in India. The developments of transgenic plants are yet to indigenize and reach the stage of commercial benefit. The plight of cotton growers in India is the best example to appreciate the science and technology role in developing BT cotton seeds.The gap between Agriculture university and farmers is huge in India. This gap is leaving our warrior unaware of scientific methods, in cultivation methodologies, which is leading to unviable economic practice to farmer.

In spite of all these hurdles our farmer is coming to market with a hope to sell his produce at a rate which will compensate i/p cost and little margin of profit. But, this is the juncture where small and marginal farmers are getting cheated by middle men.The middle men are those who are micro financiers and procurement agents in rural India.With their credit system farmer is compelled to sell his produce at throw away prices immediately after the harvest is over. In fact the farmer will get competitive price if he manages to store the produce at least for the next quarter,but he is not allowed to do so bcz of policies of middle men.

Every year on an average basis Indian farmer is producing around 240-250 million tonnes of food grains out of which around 84 million tonnes are procured by Food Corporation of India(FCI) and remaining procured by market players. Out of 80 or 84 MT with FCI, it has proper storage facilities to store only for around  60 MT, the remaining stored out side godowns, under the sun, out of which narly 6.5 MT are being maintained with unscientific measures.Because of lack of storage facilities considerable lot of grain is getting rotted. the problem is there in cold storage chains also which is leading to wastage of perishable vegetables and fruits.

The Public Distribution System(PDS) was universal PDS at least in papers till 1997, after this year PDS converted into targeted PDS which led to too much of misappropriation in food grains. There were many families left out of Anthyodaya anna yojana, which is part of targeted PDS, who are really deserved of it.On one side the PDS is struggling with poor quality of food grains and the other side with inefficient management of fair price shops(FPSs) and it's network mechanisms.Moreover the food grains offered by PDS are mainly rice and wheat, but there are many villages in India where the staple food of the people being maize and millets. Many people even from above the poverty line are desperate to have access to PDS for subsidized food grain. Identification of households who are eligible for BPL status, a qualification to get entitlement for PDS services, has been highly irregular and diverse in various states. The recent development of Aadhar cards has taken up this challenge of solving the problem of identification and distribution of PDS services along via Direct Cash Transfers.In this cash transfer schemes proposals also there were certain limitations, born out of Indian culture, clearly raised by noble laureate Amartya Sen.

In addition to all these the self interests of millers are driving the crucial farm produce to hoarding and future trading which is one of the factor in rise of food inflation in India.

The last but the most important one to address these problems is Govt policies which is facing policy paralysis because of insecure govt. There are problems in agriculture which govt also can't help anything and at the same time there are many where govt can mitigate the problems  to a large extinct especially in the management of PDS and subsidies to fertilizers..

Finally in this modern world after achieving scientific temper in human civilization and administration, our innocent farmer still continuing to pray for lord Varuna and goddess soil for their holy Karuna which is a pathetic story.

We may live without machines and computers but can't be lived without food.please be aware of  the state of our food donor and act in cohesion for his development.As rightly said by A. P. J Abdul Kalam and Y.S Rajan in "India 2020", I firmly believe that India has every capability to lead the entire world if we maintain our resources in a proper way.    

JAI JAWAN...JAI KISAN

   

 

PROS AND CONS OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN INDIAN RETAIL MARKET

 The govt of India proposed 51% foreign direct investments(FDIs), in retail sector, which became most controversial with the big hungama  conducted by major opposition party(BJP),Mamata Banerjee,Leftists and many other regional parties across India.Many of the political parties are opposing this move based on their political grievances.Many of the people are also opposing this move out of fear that it will ruin the local retailers, this fear factor is just because of little knowledge and inability to analyze FDIs nature(Nature of FDIs demands to have little knowledge on economics which obviously a frustrating factor for common people like us).This fear factor is being aggravated by opposition parties successfully.In this regard i would like to give you some pros and cons, of FDIs, based on arguments raised by protesters and supporters.

 India’s retail sector is already opened for indigenous operators(major participants being reliance,Aditya Birla group,Tata group,Pantaloon Retail,K Raheja Group,Piramal Group,Bharti-Walmart(a joint venture)). There is no logic in keeping foreigners out. Entry of foreign players means more competition, improved supply chain efficiencies and better offerings for consumers and, most likely, better prices for farmers. This concept already proved in the area of telecom and software sectors successfully . In telecom sector the entry of Vdafone didn't end the business of BSNL,Tata and other perhaps Indian players are sharing major market Airtel being predominent. In software services the entry of Microsoft,IBM and many other foreign companies didn't end the business of Infosys,TCS and many other Indian companies instead this sector has created hundreds of small and marginal s/w companies,became financially good source of employment to lakhs of people and also emerged as one of the major source to raise forex to Govt of India.Same hungama conducted by the then contemporary opposition to curtail entry of service sector in 1991,but ultimately time proved what is right and what is wrong.

Same concept would definitely successful in retail market also if the proposed FDIs bill is implemented with strong determination. Let us see the features of proposed bill and their +ve and -ve sides.

Some Important feature:
 1) FDIs can not move into any prat of a state without prior-permission of state govt  even though the central govt permitted it.

  2)Can't be accepted in any city where population is less than 10 lakh.

  3)Even in cities with more than 10 lakh population also foreign players needs     permission

   4)50% Investment has to be spent on development of infrastructure.

   5)3 years lock-in period.(Govt is trying to reduce this,but it should not be reduced at any cost)

Indian govt has ensured enough provisions to safeguard the interests of kirana shops, farmers and small manufacturers by imposing conditions (on foreigner retailers) such as domestic sourcing norms, entry at the discretion of States and permission to operate in cities with a population of 10 lakh or more. Investment has to be made to create back-end infrastructure such as cold storage chains(crucial for food processing sector) which would be a great help for farmers belongs to horticulture and vegetable growers.In fact Govt already allowed 100% FDIs in food processing and cold-storage but this scheme didn't attract investments since retail sector is totally closed.

So, with the above restrictions on one side and the competent Indian corporate on the other side it would hardly possible for any foreign player to monopolize the market.It only can give good competition to Indian players and will reduce the gap between production cost and consumer market cost of commodities.To sustain this competition all these companies has to start procurement directly from farmer by bifurcating middle men(who are one of major exploiters of farmer). Here the worst impact is on middle men and the primary benefit is to farmer since he will get fair price on per with market.Farmers will get some relief than the present but they won't get rid of all the problems since the agrarian unrest is not only linked up with middle men but also depends on erratic monsoon,lack of mechanization and scientific management,degraded land due to green revolution,irrigation facilities,illiteracy of farmer and disguised unemployment.With the latter reasons productivity is getting effected and by the former reason remunerative price rate is getting effected, all put together breaking the backbone farmer.

This middle men layer consists of small money lenders(costliest credit) and procurement agents(in some villages money lender himself is a procurement agent)  . In India we have nearly 6 lakh villages and each village contains 5-6 middle men on average and each person would provide direct employment to max of 10-15 members on seasonal basis,then  the total number put together 5.76 crore people.Out of this people the direct labor to middle man are also agriculture labor,they would get their work farm land, but the remaining 36 lakh people will feel the worst impact of the policy for initial period, later on they will find different work depending on their skill set(most of these people migrated to urban ares in case of China).

China and many other third world countries have opened up their market many years before.we can well compare ourselves with China in this regard since it is issue regarding consumer market,both countries have large consumer market. Any company would like to stay in larger markets either foreign or domestic person, this made China to reap the FDIs successfully.China opened it's economy in 1992 and utilized the technological advancements and Forex brought in by foreign players and emerged as major exporter in retail market.The status of international standard to their consumer product is gift given by healthy competition between foreign and domestic corporate people.China gradually lifted it's cap on FDIs to zero.Even after 20 years of it's reforms still local entrepreneurs are dominant with large market share than foreign players like Walmart and Tesco.

Walmart was rejected by local retailers in some cities of USA. Entering into any city of USA is very possible to Walmart since it is domestic player in USA, but same thing is not possible in case of India since walmart or any other foreign company not belongs to the category of domestic player.It has limitations and permissions to expand it's business as per proposed FDI norms. 


Responses from different sections of society: 

Strong protesters:

BJP: They are totally against to this policy since:

1) Initiator is Congress

2)Highly interested in protecting corporate interests.

3)Part of vote bank politics(Interested in mid term elections).

Mamata Banerjee: Against to it, she became so popular on this issue by posing instability to govt.

It would be highly difficult to analyze her stand because her interests and words change from time to time.Her party's( trinamool congress) election manifesto supported this move.When a journalist questioned about the manifeso she replied him that "it is a print mistake".


Communist parties: Opposing the move.

They interested in govt to handle everything.they don't like if anything going out of govt clutches as it is their basic ideology.This principle will work when we have Prime Minister to an attender(total of executives(these people are main) and bureaucrat) with optimum level  of honesty and integrity which we can't expect at these times.

Regional parties: some are supporting(generally part of UPA ),some are opposing (generally from NDA except Trinamool Congress).

Strong supporters:

  1)Most of UPA members since they are coalition partners of congress

  2)Majority of economists

      

The reasons are only political and vote bank politics.Frankly speaking we have some politicians with cabinet rank in many states who don't  know even how FDIs benefit in reducing the burden of Current deficit in the shorter run and trade deficit in the longer run.This is the sorry state of our political affairs today.Under this kind of circumstances we can't expect smooth process of these kind of policies.


FINALLY THE SUCCESS OF THIS MOVE IS POSSIBLE ONLY WHEN IT SERVES THE PURPOSE OF MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY BY DEVELOPING FOOD PROCESSING INFRASTRUCTURE .STRONG DEDICATION IS REQUIRED FROM GOVT SIDE TO PERSUADE INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS AND BRING TO INDIA WITHOUT CHANGING MENTIONED RESTRICTIVE PROVISIONS.


Sources:

http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/chinese-retailers-give-global-giants-run-for-money/article2681679.ece?textsize=small&test=2
 
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article3946087.ece
 
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/mamata-other-states-will-toe-west-bengals-line-on-fdi/article3942978.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3897906.ece

http://swaminomics.org/?p=623 




  

 

Subsidies of crude oil is ment for rich.....not for poor

                            
It he wake of the recent increase in petrol prices and India’s growing fiscal deficit situation, it is important to understand why diesel prices should also be revised upwards.
For several decades, India has been subsidising the price of diesel. But in recent years, both the global environment and the Indian economic scene have undergone substantial changes.
Despite this, many economic policies, such as the heavy subsidy on diesel prices, have remained unaltered over the period,this needs serious reconsideration.
For ex:  in the last six years, the average growth rate of crude oil prices (based on the Indian basket) has been at 13.5 per cent.
During the same period, however, the average value of diesel under-recoveries, as a percentage of fiscal deficit, stood at 14.6 per cent!
Similarly, between 2009 and 2010, when global oil prices fell by more than 21 percentage points, diesel under-recoveries as a percentage of fiscal deficit fell only by 13 percentage points.
What is wrong in subsidising diesel?
It is vital to understand that subsidies are associated with two important (negative) economic fallouts, besides many others.

First, a subsidy of any kind involves a disincentive to use the subsidised good or service efficiently as they have been obtained cheap.
Second, the government can finance a subsidy only by expanding its fiscal deficits. In the process, scarce resources are transferred from a private party (tax-payers) to the government.
It is well documented that owing to the absence of a profit motive in government spending, such resource transfers leads to decreased productivity.
Revision in diesel prices, no doubt, would entail temporary displeasure, and resistance from the pubic and political parties. But it would only help the country’s cause to keep political interest aside, and focus on the economic benefits.
In the name of shielding the economy from fuel price volatility, the government is exposing future generations to tougher times. It is time people realise this fact.
The Government may also want to look back at the heavily resisted policy shifts in the 1990s that has created a lot of positive changes in the Indian economy.


source: some statistics has been taken from frontline and economic survey of india.

definitions:
fiscal deficit : government's total expenditures minus the revenue that it generates
diesel under-recoveries: the amount of money that is being given away by govt refineries to corporate refineries in the name of subsidies.

Prime minister of India----speech on recent policy changes.

My dear brothers and sisters,

I am speaking to you tonight to explain the reasons for some important economic policy decisions the government has recently taken. Some political parties have opposed them. You have a right to know the truth about why we have taken these decisions.

No government likes to impose burdens on the common man. Our Government has been voted to office twice to protect the interests of the aam admi.

At the same time, it is the responsibility of the government to defend the national interest, and protect the long term future of our people. This means that we must ensure that the economy grows rapidly, and that this generates enough productive jobs for the youth of our country. Rapid growth is also necessary to raise the revenues we need to finance our programmes in education, health care, housing and rural employment.

The challenge is that we have to do this at a time when the world economy is experiencing great difficulty. The United States and Europe are struggling to deal with an economic slowdown and financial crisis. Even China is slowing down.

We too have been affected, though I believe we have been able to limit the effect of the global crisis.

We are at a point where we can reverse the slowdown in our growth. We need a revival in investor confidence domestically and globally. The decisions we have taken recently are necessary for this purpose.

Let me begin with the rise in diesel prices and the cap on LPG cylinders.

We import almost 80% of our oil, and oil prices in the world market have increased sharply in the past four years. We did not pass on most of this price rise to you, so that we could protect you from hardship to the maximum extent possible.

As a result, the subsidy on petroleum products has grown enormously. It was Rs. 1 lakh 40 thousand crores last year. If we had not acted, it would have been over Rs. 200,000 crores this year.

Where would the money for this have come from? Money does not grow on trees. If we had not acted, it would have meant a higher fiscal deficit, that is, an unsustainable increase in government expenditure vis-a-vis government income. If unchecked, this would lead to a further steep rise in prices and a loss of confidence in our economy. The prices of essential commodities would rise faster. Both domestic as well as foreign investors would be reluctant to invest in our economy. Interest rates would rise. Our companies would not be able to borrow abroad. Unemployment would increase.

The last time we faced this problem was in 1991. Nobody was willing to lend us even small amounts of money then. We came out of that crisis by taking strong, resolute steps. You can see the positive results of those steps. We are not in that situation today, but we must act before people lose confidence in our economy.

I know what happened in 1991 and I would be failing in my duty as Prime Minister of this great country if I did not take strong preventive action.

The world is not kind to those who do not tackle their own problems. Many European countries are in this position today. They cannot pay their bills and are looking to others for help. They are having to cut wages or pensions to satisfy potential lenders.

I am determined to see that India will not be pushed into that situation. But I can succeed only if I can persuade you to understand why we had to act.

We raised the price of diesel by just Rs. 5 per litre instead of the Rs 17 that was needed to cut all losses on diesel. Much of diesel is used by big cars and SUVs owned by the rich and by factories and businesses. Should government run large fiscal deficits to subsidise them?

We reduced taxes on petrol by Rs. 5 per litre to prevent a rise in petrol prices. We did this so that the crores of middle class people who drive scooters and motorcycles are not hit further.

On LPG, we put a cap of 6 subsidised cylinders per year. Almost half of our people, who need our help the most, actually use only 6 cylinders or less. We have ensured they are not affected. Others will still get 6 subsidised cylinders, but they must pay a higher price for more.

We did not touch the price of kerosene which is consumed by the poor.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You should know that even after the price increase, the prices of diesel and LPG in India are lower than those in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

The total subsidy on petroleum products will still be Rs. 160 thousand crores. This is more than what we spend on Health and Education together. We held back from raising prices further because I hoped that oil prices would decline.

Let me now turn to the decision to allow foreign investment in retail trade. Some think it will hurt small traders.This is not true.

Organised, modern retailing is already present in our country and is growing. All our major cities have large retail chains. Our national capital, Delhi, has many new shopping centres. But it has also seen a three-fold increase in small shops in recent years.

In a growing economy, there is enough space for big and small to grow. The fear that small retailers will be wiped out is completely baseless.

We should also remember that the opening of organised retail to foreign investment will benefit our farmers. According to the regulations we have introduced, those who bring FDI have to invest 50% of their money in building new warehouses, cold-storages, and modern transport systems. This will help to ensure that a third of our fruits and vegetables, which at present are wasted because of storage and transit losses, actually reach the consumer. Wastage will go down; prices paid to farmers will go up; and prices paid by consumers will go down.

The growth of organised retail will also create millions of good quality new jobs.

We recognise that some political parties are opposed to this step. That is why State governments have been allowed to decide whether foreign investment in retail can come into their state. But one state should not stop another state from seeking a better life for its farmers, for its youth and for its consumers.

In 1991, when we opened India to foreign investment in manufacturing, many were worried. But today, Indian companies are competing effectively both at home and abroad, and they are investing around the world. More importantly, foreign companies are creating jobs for our youth -- in Information Technology, in steel, and in the auto industry. I am sure this will happen in retail trade as well.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The UPA Government is the government of the aam aadmi.

In the past 8 years our economy has grown at a record annual rate of 8.2 per cent. We have ensured that poverty has declined much faster, agriculture has grown faster, and rural consumption per person has also grown faster.

We need to do more, and we will do more. But to achieve inclusiveness we need more growth. And we must avoid high fiscal deficits which cause a loss of confidence in our economy.

I promise you that I will do everything necessary to put our country back on the path of high and inclusive growth. But I need your support. Please do not be misled by those who want to confuse you by spreading fear and false information. The same tactics were adopted in 1991. They did not succeed then. They will not succeed now. I have full faith in the wisdom of the people of India.

We have much to do to protect the interests of our nation, and we must do it now. At times, we need to say "No" to the easy option and say "Yes" to the more difficult one. This happens to be one such occasion. The time has come for hard decisions. For this I need your trust, your understanding, and your cooperation.

As Prime Minister of this great country, I ask each one of you to strengthen my hands so that we can take our country forward and build a better and more prosperous future for ourselves and for the generations to come.

Jai Hind.

Motivational quote

Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it - John Maxwell

Motivational Quote

Take chances, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave – Mary Tyler Moore

poverty is a big demon in the world

Among all the 6.96 billion people, around half of the people are reeling under severe poverty . These people are starting their day in search of feeding their belly at the end of the day. If we think, why these people are struggling even for food while this world contains the capability of feeding all, our mind will land on some disparities which were created by our ancestors. These disparities arose out of class conflicts in different  societies. Anthropogenic , cultural, geographical, economical factors have played crucial role in dividing people into different groups. Over the years together when civilization is flourishing the exploitation of minority  of people over majority of people has been reached it's peak. The 40% of population has been enjoying the luxury and making the wealth to be concentrated leaving 60% of population in poverty. The disparity of rich and poor has been disrupting the balanced cycle of economy and ecosystem which in turn will give adverse affects in near future.   

THE FATE OF OUR BACKBONE

         We, the people of India, completely dependent on agriculture sector  for ensuring self sufficiency in feeding our huge population. India is equipped with 121 crore population and also in the progress to get the first place of most populated countries in near future. The major challenge that we are going to face is nourishing our huge population.Today out of 121 cr population 70% of population involved in agriculture and allied activities and almost all of them are small and marginal farmers and labour workforce.But, paradoxically the share of agriculture, which is feeding 70% of population, in GDP is 14.2%(2010-2011). when 100 people involved in country's progress 70 members are remunerated with Rs 14 and 30 members are compensated with Rs 86. This scenario creating a big barrier between agri and non-agri earnings.The govt of India also showing stepmother attitude towards agriculture.
 

 
       After our independence federal govt introduced land reforms to distribute land to poor and downtrodden from jamindars and govt land but these reforms ensured no distribution and completely failed bcz agriculture is a state subject and the initiator of these reforms was center govt . Almost all states showed o% interest to implement land reform schemes except west bengal and kerala. After land reform schemes the major scheme was green revolution. Green revolution is one which made us self-sufficient but at the same time the mismanagement of green revolution made our agriculture fields infertile(bcz of over usage of fertilizers and pesticides) and it has widened the gap between one region to other region by restricting this scheme to some particular areas only. The areas which have not seen the green revolution have been fighting for their self recognition today(Telangana, Vidarba, some parts of central India and whole of north eastern states). After this, i feel the major initiative was the present MGNREGA(Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) which played a crucial role to bring the UPA govt again to helm of Indian affairs. This NREGA programme   has guaranteed the rural people with minimum of 100 days work per year. This is a very good initiative and everyone has to appreciate this initiation but the implementation of this programme has been carrying unproductive work and it made labour resources costlier and scarce to farmers. The nature of this programme inculcating laziness to work force.

     The recent price hike of crude oil and nitrogen,phosphorus and potassium compounds in the global market has raised the input cost for agriculture to sky. In addition to all these our farmers have been facing problems of monsoon vagaries also and there is no proper system to maintain drought and floods.

     With all these constraints Indian brave hearted tiller continuing his duty and completing the harvest with good production. But, the post harvested output has been looted by millers and middle men. Government also supporting the middlemen with it's funny export policies. At the end of every financial year farmers are being left with nothing and the little growth of agriculture sector is being stashed away to corporate people. This is a vicious cycle that existed in our present society. This vicious cycle should eradicated from the grassroots.To eliminate this menace i can suggest the following structural changes.
              1. The land reforms should be re-implemented with full dedication in all India level and the responsibility of implementing this reforms should be vested with a separate body with honest bureaucrats controlled by union govt and the recommendations of this body shall be binding on part of state govt.
              2.The green revolution strategy should be extended to uncovered ares and the practice of this scheme should redesign in harmony with ecosystem by promoting organic manure,bio-fertilizers with minimum usage of synthetic fertilizers.
              3. Irrigation facilities should be provided equally to all regions. For this purpose the interlinking of northern perennial rivers to the south non-perennial rivers should be given more attention.
             4. well processed seeds and subsidized fertilizers should be given with proper regulated distribution systems.
             5.The middlemen system in the procurement of agriculture output should be abolished strictly.
             6. Godowns and cold storage linkages should be increased.
             7.Global and domestic markets should be monitored on regular basis.
             8. Agriculture research institutes should be updated with modern infrastructure and the allocation for R&D in agriculture in annual budget should be increased.
             9. Gap between farmer and agricultural universities should be reduced.

         The tiller, who tills the land for feeding the entire country, is now starving his belly. It is every Indian responsibility to protect our farmer for well-being of the whole nation. As a son of farmer i have given my understanding here. I am inviting you to share your knowledge regarding this issue. Please discuss about this topic with your family members and colleagues and with other members when situation favors. I hope this way we can promote awareness and stimulate everyone to support the life of our nation.        

 

             

PLEASE RESPECT WOMEN

    I am not able to understand whether human civilization is flourishing with noble values or plunging into evil by continuing atrocities and sexual molestation against women and children. These inhuman activities have become very common and regular to every society(economically developed, developing, underdeveloped) with varying level of crime nature.women in Arab countries are suffering from different forms of deprivation, stringent and ruthless punishment like stone on to death for crimes like adultery, but punishment for the same crime committed by men is not in cope with of women punishment .

    The recent events which hurt me a lot was taken place in Bangalore and Guwahati. In Bangalore a France diplomat charged under sexual molestation against his own daughter on the report given by his own wife. And in Assam around fifteen persons attacked on a 17-year-old girl outside of a bar in full public view was an example for our shamelessness where all people around that incident were watching the event out of fear and one local media channel started video recording of that brutal sexual molestation instead of stopping them, latter when media persons were asked about recording, they replied that they did it in the interest of public.Do they behave like so, if that girl is their own sister or relative. This is the sorry state of our media behavior and they killed the essence of journalism with that irresponsible answer. These kind of incidents we can notice on news paper on regular basis around the world.With one or other reason women is always being victimized in the hands of men.

    I have cited only few examples just to indicate the culture that we are inculcating in our next generations. All together we are ruining our social structure instead of preserve and flourish it.


       WE ARE NOT DESERVED PEOPLE TO CLAIM OURSELVES AS CIVILIZED UNTIL UNLESS WOMEN BEING RESPECTED IN THE SOCIETY WITH SACRED FEELINGS.

Geopolitics: Siachen Glacier

         Siachen Glacier:  Located in karakoram range of Himalayas, Extreme cold temperatures

    The conflict of siachen can trace back to 1984 when India took the control of whole glacier including three main passes sia la, bilafond la, gyong la by pushing back the Pakistan troops to the ridges of it. This area was controlled by neither of them prior to 1984 but pak initiated to occupy it tactfully but failed with indian military operation known as megdhoot and settled down at saltoro ridge(other side of siachen) while most  of the area was being under India.This is the highest battle ground of world and soldiers are getting died in nature fury of frostbite and snow avalanches instead of war, recentlyt on 7th of this month pakisani army outpost was buried under snow avalanche by taking away around 120 lives. On the other side thousands of crore has been spending for maintenance by either sides which is highly unproductive expenditure. Both countries are still fighting with poverty and developmental issues, instead of wasting huge amts of money that to at the cost of human lives both countries should try to resolve the issue diplomatically.