India will celebrate again on August 15th.

The objective of the first speech by JL Nehru was very clear and vital.
The objective of the speech each year in the same dramatic fashion from the pulpit of an ancient fort is questionable.

I think the cost of this celebration is huge and an enormous security risk. I do believe that this speech can be done from a more comfortable and easier setup through Television and Radio media.

The savings can be passed to victims of natural catastrophes and disasters of terrorism that this government is incapable to handle.

I find it sheer waste of limited resources by Prime minister and almost all chief ministers as stupid and very very unnecessary for a poor nation like ours.

Most people can watch and hear the PM on television set. What is the whole meaning of going to the fort and speaking from there with 100 shields and covers.

I will write more on this but I think we need to voice this issue of waste of resources by foolish celebrations. Celebrations of what?

The achievements of the government are quite visible when we do not have even minimum security in any city or area of the country.

Yep, a complete waste of time and money. School kids will be dragged from their beds to sit in the rain so that they can pretend to listen to the PM.

And listen to what?

I can actually predict what the old fool is going to chant. " soniaji did this, soniaji did that....thanks to madam soniaji gandhi for everything (but mostly for keeping a spineless person like me in the chair for such a long time)."

No thanks Manmohan, we would rather watch the stupid saas bahu serials than listen to your sonia chalisa.

sometimes all this public grandeur can bring a nation together. When i was a kid i was excited to watch the republic day parade. All the military might of our country made me feel proud and strong. The parades cost money but its important that we do have some sort of national celebration.

I can actually predict what the old fool is going to chant.[/b]

Yes its because of this same Old Fool that we have a sound economic policy and attracting investors. Its because of this Old Fool that every foreign company now wants to set up an office in India. Its because of this very Old fool that we are not begging for grants like some other nations(we were worse off in 1996 after the Deve gowda government).

If you dont like a person or his/her policies its ok, but dont be disrespectful just for the heck of it.
We all have our strong and weak points. He is a much better Prime Minister than Deve Gowda's and Chandarshekhar's.

Yes its because of this same Old Fool that we have a sound economic policy and attracting investors. Its because of this Old Fool that every foreign company now wants to set up an office in India. Its because of this very Old fool that we are not begging for grants like some other nations(we were worse off in 1996 after the Deve gowda government).

If you dont like a person or his/her policies its ok, but dont be disrespectful just for the heck of it.[/b]

Even if Jyoti Basu was in the FMs chair in the early nineties, the same economic policies would have been developed and implemented. You see, there was simply no choice. The IMF and the WB was breathing down our neck. (Case in point the communist government of West Bengal. If they do not liberalise they don't get the loans. Its as simple as that. So they liberlise in Bengal where they have no other option but protest in Delhi where they are not in power and hence can afford to be irresposible.) We had pawned of our gold reserves. We had nothing to fall back on. Even the Soviet Union was collapsing. Who was gonna bail us out? The financial direction was decided not in Delhi but in Washington and other European capitals (Manmohan however can be credited with developing the actual procedures.) We had no choice ( i know i am repeating myself http://www.hindustan.org/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif )

Earlier I too believed that this man had the courage because of the way he withstood opposition to the whole globalisation process. But look what he is doing now. The liberalisation process has been stalled, they are debating reservations in the private sector. And all this because of a little pressure from the left. So what is the difference between 1990s and 2006. The answer is not Manmohan but Narsimha Rao. If we have to thank anybody in the congress it is this forgotten man. If it had not been for Rao Manmohan would have wilted under pressure then the way he is doing now. We do not owe Manmohan anything.

I am not being disrespectful towards him for the heck of it. In ancient times in our country for the same crime a brahmin was to be punished more severely than the shudra (at least theoretically). The logic was that the brahmin being a more learned man should have known better than to commit a crime. Today don't you think the same analogy can be applied to Manmohan? He is a Phd and he is stalling the disinvestment process, he is allowing reservations in higher education, contemplating reservations in private sector, withdrawing anti terror laws, neglecting farmers suicides and all this in less than two years of power. I mean you can forgive Sonia for not having any knowledge of India's history, economics, or global realpolitik. But can you forgive 'Dr'.Manmohan Singh for those same mistakes? Doesn't he know these polices are going to lead the country to a disaster? If yes, then should he not resign? If no, then his degrees are not worth the paper they are typed on. We really ought to be less forgiving of such people. People who know they are committing a mistake and yet carry on for some vested interest.

This man is the prime minister of the country but his attitude till date is not worthy of his office (more worthy of Sonias personal assistant but that is a different topic all together). Manmohan does not deserve any respect. He is a spineless man.



We all have our strong and weak points. He is a much better Prime Minister than Deve Gowda's and Chandarshekhar's.[/b]

Really? What has he done till date as a PM to deserve such praise? Personally I think he is just as weak as the two gentlemen you have mentioned. He depends on Sonia just as Chandrashekar depended on Rajiv Gandhi or Gowda depended on Kesri. One single word from sonia and the man will be rendered persona non grata within the congress (just like poor old Natwar).

Anyway you have your point of view I have mine.

sometimes all this public grandeur can bring a nation together. When i was a kid i was excited to watch the republic day parade. All the military might of our country made me feel proud and strong. The parades cost .[/b]

The issue here is of 15th August and not 26th Jan. On independence day there are no parades just a speech by the PM. Even on 26th JAn I don't see any reason for military parades. What is the connection between display of military might and commemorating the acceptance of the constitution. Parades are essential and iam all for it but they can be held on the armed forces day. Then they can be held on an even larger scale with each regiment participating, the Navy showing off its entire fleet either at Mumbai or Kolkata or chennai and so on.

whats wrong in giving a speech from a Fort or a public place?
Money cannot be the problem for a grand country like India? We are soon going to join an elite club by sending unmanned mission on the moon. There are a million other ways to cut cost. Stop giving perks to MP's and MLA's for unnecessary foreign travel(read vacation).
Prob is we are not proud enough of our country and its resources. If you cut out the speech on 15th aug it wud just become like any other holiday.
We need the celebartions, we need the speech, we need to save money, we need to work collectively on all issues. We must multitask if we have to be a world leader.

Money cannot be the problem for a grand country like India, thats right, but its not prudent either to spend crores just for a speech, which could be done through television as very rightly said by Hindustan, in any case that silly speech will be watched by us ordinary people at home only isnt it, then wheres the need to do this drama and be lakir ke fakir, a PM like MM Singh can very well put an end to such senseless acts and spends.

One thing for sure is that Manmohan lost his image of an efficient planner as an economist to a proxy prime minister dictated and run by sonia gandhi. His speeches are not his feelings or ideas but written by a few bureacrats and congress party insiders close to sonia. His speech is to glorify the disgustingly corrupt congress party people.

I dont see any need of such speeches. Indian people know it all cos they can see it.

whats wrong in giving a speech from a Fort or a public place?
Money cannot be the problem for a grand country like India? We are soon going to join an elite club by sending unmanned mission on the moon. There are a million other ways to cut cost. Stop giving perks to MP's and MLA's for unnecessary foreign travel(read vacation).[/b]

You don't want a memorial for our martyrs but have absolutely no objection to the govt. spending crores of rupees for a speech???!!! :angry: :angry: :angry:

BTW, good posts, Anjali and Observer

Whats the need to give a speech via TV as well?
Whats the point in having a parliament when ppl dont attend and Indian public doesnt watch it on TV.

Well folks, the cost of pardhan mantri ji speaking from the terrace of a fort could have setup scholarship funds for a hundred thousand children whose fathers or parents are lost in terroristic attacks perpetrated by the forces that have been terrorizing the world for past 1300 years.

I still do not understand what was so vital and wonderful in the speech except for the purpose of entertainment.

While the sardar ji spoke to nation a poor young man in Gaya, once purified by Buddhism, had to immolate himself for injustices and poverty and nobody knows how many poor farmers must be preparing their own hanging.

nobody knows how many poor farmers must be preparing their own hanging.
[/b]

We continue patting ourselves on the back while the monthly average of farmers suicides in Vidarbha has risen to 52.



Farmers bear the cross
Sharad Joshi


POOR POLICYMAKING and an unhelpful nature appear to be heaping trouble on the farming community.

On the eve of Good Friday, five more farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra's Vidarbha, taking the farmer suicides in this region, since June 2005, to 443. On December 10, 2005 the Maharashtra Chief Minister announced a special package for the `suicide-affected districts' of Vidarbha. At the same time, the State government declared void all loans given by unregistered private moneylenders. The consequence: The monthly average of suicides in the Vidarbha region jumped up to 52.

The Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), a pro-UPA outfit, has called for the resignation of the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar. It is inexplicable why the VJAS exonerates the Chief Minister and his Deputy. It holds the Minister for Agriculture at the Centre responsible for the suicides on the ground that he denied farmers an equitable price for the cotton and promoted the Bt cottonseeds.

FARMERS' DESPARATION


A charge-sheet that would hardly stand scrutiny. Nevertheless, the VJAS has raised a significant point. Every time there is a Railway accident killing 40-50 passengers, there is a demand for the resignation of the Railway Minister. Not even in the days of the British Rule were the farmers driven to desperation on this scale.

Even post-Independence the epidemic of suicides is unprecedented. It is quite reasonable to expect that Mr Sharad Pawar, who hails from Maharashtra, and remote-controls the government in Maharashtra, to take a cue from his leader, Ms Sonia Gandhi, and resign his agricultural portfolio.

The UPA Government has a soft corner for the co-operative sector. In the recent past it has made available thousands of crores of rupees to re-structure the sector that has proved to be inefficient and corrupt. Now, the government is trying another experiment with the ostensible purpose of improving the performance of the primary co-operative societies. Since credit stringency is said to be one of the reasons for the farmer suicides, the Government is experimenting with a scheme called `Village Banking'. The model has apparently been tried successfully in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra where some 43 Village Banks are supposed to be working.

The scheme permits the village primary societies to accept deposits to improve their liquidity, and give loans to farmers without waiting for sanction from higher levels. No one can complain about that. The fact remains that the people managing the village primary societies have poor credentials and record of integrity. It is more than likely that the money deposited will not be accounted for properly. The job of the secretary of the primary society will become a prized post and command a premium.

The Prime Minister has often proclaimed that the second green revolution would be a technological revolution. Recently, India entered into an agreement with the United States for promoting technological development of agriculture. The Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) are supposed to be the major instruments of promoting science and technology in the agricultural sector. India has 578 rural districts and 529 of them have KVKs.

But, on the ground, most KVKs are in a deplorable state. The KVKs were allotted almost exclusively on the basis of the political pull the beneficiaries had. An inquiry into the allotment of the KVKs, would produce startling results.

As if all this were not enough, the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Ms Medha Patkar went on an indefinite hunger strike to oppose raising the height of the Narmada dam. She called off her fast after 21 days on the Supreme Court empowering the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to resolve the dispute. The Court also warned that construction would be stopped if rehabilitation was inadequate. The facts about the rehabilitation are very clear. In the first round, a large number of displaced people accepted cash compensation and moved away to do farming elsewhere or get into other trade/business. Had this continued, by now all the displaced people would have been settled more or less satisfactorily. Then the NBA proposed that the displaced be given land equivalent to what they had lost. This was also done, and the affected person were also given cash assistance for bringing the land under cultivation, and for constructing houses. To the extent possible, those living in one village were settled together. These new villages were provided electricity, water supply, and school; indeed they become the objects of envy for farmers in villages not displaced.

Now, the dispute is not about settling those originally displaced but their third generation. Many of the younger generation are apparently not happy about getting agricultural land and are, in fact, demanding urban plots near Vadodara and Ahmedabad.

Meanwhile, as a result of the agitation by the Khedut Samaj in Gujarat, the waters of the Sardar Sarovar have been let out through the safety tunnel into the main canal making the once drought stricken areas of Saurashtra and Kutch lush and green.

GLOBAL WARMING


Farmers, facing a variety of man-made problems, may now be up against nature too. For, global warming is expected to raise temperatures across the world by 3 per cent, causing large-scale drought and its consequences. Those responsible for this are the affluent countries and the rich urban sections in developing nations. The disastrous impact is to be borne by the rural and the poor people.

As the proverb goes, for the rural people, "It never rains, it pours." In the last monsoon, it did not rain in most parts. Now, it is pouring trouble.

(The author is Founder, Shetkari Sanghatana and Member of Rajya Sabha. He can be contacted at sharad.mah at nic.in)

Source The Hindu - Business Line