Toxic Facts and Dirty Politics

So far 'People' were left to the mercy of these Minister Babus, now even the Environment looks in shaky hands. State Pollution Control Board is a regulatory authority that controls the quality of air and water, approves the locations for the industries, conducts inspections or determines effluent standards for waste. No industry can be set up without prior permission from SCPB, yet in June 2006, there were 2672 highly polluting industries as per Central Pollution Control Board. How do these industries get away, leaving millions living in these cities vulnerable?

The information culled from a Right to Information(RTI) Act has revealed the serious lacunae in the functioning of these SCPBs and blatant violations of SC guidelines in the qualification of the SCPB chairpersons to the extent of appointing a 10th standard pass. Heads such as these with no requisite knowledge or technical know how in the field of environment have taken charge for monetary gains and power status. Political parties choose their favourites for such deemed positions,leaving hundreds of deserving scientists and engineers to do menial jobs at SCPB. Such gross violations can prove to be so fatal for the Environment and people residing in these states.Industries producing toxic wastes are given a 'go ahead' without any check on the various hazards to the environment.The increased political meddling is creating hurdles in responding to merging environmental problems. There is no proper implementation of environmental standards and norms that must be followed at the grassroot level. Environmental laws look better in the books, more and more reports of people dying of diseases caused by high levels of pollution in the air, contaminated food and water is alarming. But these pot-belly netas abide by 'Ignorance is Bliss' policy and unfortunately these Men in White will attain enlightenment when disasters like in Uttrakhand strike. Well, Nothing happens until a disaster, nor after.

Mid Day Crisis

With 1 of the largest school feeding programme's in the world turning provider with an eclectic mix of insects every passing day, one is left wondering whether these insects are a part of the meal(menu) or what.The "mid day crisis" is now proving to be a handful.The meal scheme,1 of the flagship initiatives of the government in the country,has hit a low recently with news of negligence and corruption surrounding it.

As per various sources,the food served out to  the children of government and aided schools,is not fit to eat.Lack of structural and monitoring measures has been cited as the problem.It is being alleged that funds for the scheme are siphoned off by people in charge, with no one to monitor the situation.

Reports are provided year after year of the successful working of the scheme whereas the facts prove otherwise.With school  authorities hiring different agencies to implement the scheme in their schools, lack of funds is definitely having a detrimental effect.

The meal scheme intends to not only provide hot and nutritional meal to school children but also to keep up their enrollment in these government institutions.A healthy mind houses only in a healthy body, and for this to happen the scheme needs more care.

Underrated Bureaucracy:A cause for concern

Underrated Bureaucracy:A cause for concern

As per various sources, the recent suspension of an IAS officer has again raised concerns over the efficacy of a civil servant and the control the ministers exercise over them.The IAS officer has been suspended,apparently on charges of trying to create communal tension in the society ,though it is being argued that this decision has been taken purely out of personal interests, by the ruling party.

An honest and courageous officer, she had been in a constant tussle with the sand mafia of the region since her appointment and was determined to bring the culprits to justice.She had led a crackdown on unauthorised mining in the district and got over two dozen FIRs registered against those involved in illegally removing sand.Special flying squads were formed by her to stop the raging menace along a couple of rivers in the state.

The suspension, after all of this good work done by the officer,leaves a lot of questions unanswered .

How effective can the civil society be if their work continues to be interrupted by politicians with vested interests?

What impact will such suspensions have on other civil servants waging their own battle against crime?

Should the government have powers, such as this of suspension, at their disposal or should there not atleast be a legal procedure involved with proper evidence,before relieving a top officer of his charges?

Bureaucracy has again been underrated and a lot is at stake.Hopefully the officer will be reinstated soon and we can continue to dream of a better India.

Zero Poverty!

Three years of Physics still helps me to faintly remember what Zero Gravity is. If Zero Gravity is weightlessness, so possibly Zero Poverty would be Poor-less-ness. Few years down the line, according to the esteemed estimate of the Planning Commission, there will not be a single poor in India.We will experience Poor-less-ness or Zero Poverty without any specialized instruments or scientific equipment. We just need to religiously swear by the findings of the Planning Commission. Even then, how does India manage to achieve such a challenging feat so quickly and with commendable speed, despite the high food price inflation, rising cost of the privatized medical care,utilities (Petrol, Electricity, gas),education, higher levels of unemployment? May be a single question mark wouldn't be enough. Going through the article in The Hindu by Prof Emeritus, JNU, Utsa Patnaik distresses one to the various statistical anomalies and its wider implications on the growth of this country. The Planning Commission which boasts of the best economists under its one roof has embarrassed us with claims of grossly unrealistic levels of 13.7 percent of poverty in urban areas and 25.7 percent in rural areas using monthly poverty lines. The logically incorrect estimation method the Commission continues to use,will in another four years eliminate Urban poverty to zero and rural poverty to 12 percent.This will be the case regardless of any rise in actual deprivation and intensification of actual poverty.

We should also know what is wrong with the Planning Commission's method of Estimation which is far from ground reality. How does it err in its calculations? The Commission in practice gave up its own definition of poverty line which was applied only once in 1973-74. The Poverty line is supposed to be derived on the basis of current spending level which will allow the population to maintain the same standard of living in terms of the nutrition after meeting all non-food costs.Also applying the price indexation which does not capture the actual rise in the cost of living over long periods.Not venturing any further into the Economics, but would like to question the very basic idea of such ignored reality?  A very good example that can be given on this spurious method goes like this : "a school child knows that if last year's percentage of students passing the annual examination is to be compared to this year's percentage, the pass mark should be the same. The school principal quietly lowers the pass mark if say, 50 to 40 and then claim that the performance of the school has improved because 80 per cent of the students are recorded as passed this year at the clandestinely lowered mark. If at the same mark of 50 we find that 70 per cent of students have passed this year ,we are justified in saying the performance. Now if the school is allowed to do the same every time and lower the pass mark time and again , it will eventually achieve the 100 per cent pass and Zero failure." Same goes with the official poverty lines.Why is there such dishonesty in counting the Poor or living in this delusional world of Zero Poverty?? Why do we want to live under the false belief or estimate, that poverty has declined when the actual story tells something totally different.. Poverty is soon going to disappear from India even though in actual reality it may be very high and worsening over time. Is it all the dirty game of politics? To marginally blind the voter and ink his hand with different party colour.

It is imperative to find ways of rectifying such mistakes. Accountability not just from the ministers but from organisations such as these, need to be devised. One possible way of reducing poverty could be the effective implementation of schemes which are eaten by the ministers and still give an impression of stomach-full of its population.Truth will make its way, However!