Ex Servicemen a Force Underutilized

With reference to the article which appeared in a national daily regarding the grave shortage of Welfare officers in nearly seventy percent districts of a leading state (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/severe-shortage-of-sainik-welfare-officers-hits-ex-servicemen-hard/articleshow/60359799.cms), it only undermines the use of a potent trained force available to the nation. Why at all do these important seats keep lying vacant in a State Government’s important department. The first and major cause that comes to one’s mind is the lack of pride in the post. An officer who has been a class one Gazetted officer; on retirement does not expect to be placed in a hierarchical post lower to the one he/she last held. In a state that has no dearth of retired   Military officers, such apathy is uncalled for.

In India, defence personnel generally join the armed forces in their late teens or in their early 20s and retire from service between the ages 35 and 48. When they retire, they are still fit for another job. Year on year the Military releases lakhs of exservicemen(ESM), at a young age with pensioner benefits. They rummage for a suitable employment in the Civvy Street and most of them finally settle into a cozy pensioners life at such an early age that even their near and dear ones ‘wonder how’! Most of these ESM are highly motivated lot and come with a skill set which can be put to use in National Development. They do not want to be a burden on the finances of the nation but need to be put to use as a positive human resource with a Star Quality called HONESTY.

There are Govt and quasi Govt agencies which do help the Exservicemen in addressing their needs for training, employment assistance and provision of soft loans to start a venture on their own. More often than not this help does not yield the desired results although there are exceptional cases where ESM have setup clusters with the help of Small And Medium Enterprise Department and have even setup Cooperative banks in semi urban areas. A number of them also get employed in police force or security agencies, or start their own. But the ratio of fruitfully employed ESM to the ones otherwise is very dismal.

What is more alarming is that the force which comes from rural core of the nation does not return to their roots in nearly half the cases. This is due to their raised aspiration levels and the changed lifestyles of the family; add to that the educational requirements of the next generation. If properly channelized the young pensioners can be the harbingers of sustainable development in the rural areas of the country.

The use of ESM in establishment of PURA( Provision of Urban Resources in Rural Areas), a dream that Dr Kalam dreamt, cannot be overlooked. This will result in  providing employment opportunities that lasts a life time. If a person is employed, he/she has access to good education, health, electronic media and other facilities for his growth. An ESM is a responsible citizen who needs to be included as a cog in the wheel to development. Making Dr Kalam’s dream a reality is no easy task but motivating the ESM to return to their roots by providing them suitable employments that gives them self-pride will help positively to resuscitate the hinterland.

Rural Reporting a Need of the Hour

“Rural India is not the priority of mainstream media by a thousand miles. So Gorakhpur is what happens when governments don't have any way to monitor poor governance by local functionaries, and when the mainstream media rarely covers public health — except when 23 children suddenly die”.

                                                                                            Nilesh Misra ( Times of India 20 Aug 2017)

        When other major hospitals in UP bought liquid oxygen directly from manufacturers like INOX or Lende Gas, why was an intermediary, Pushpa Sales, given the BRD contract for years? How was the hospital principal Rajiv Mishra's wife exercising control on his behalf? How were the doctors running a private service and even advertising it on the walls of the government hospital? Why were warnings of oxygen shortage ignored? These are the questions to which, the press needs to seek answers from the government functionaries rather than running after hyped political news that covers more than 50 percent of the print media.Imagine if this is the case from the city which is a Chief Ministers constituency, what could be condition in rural areas where there are no patrons.   This is what concerns us, the very basic sectors  Health, Education and Agriculture need to be given due importance by our press lest it wants to reach a stage of impotence. We need reporters in rural hinterland to compel agencies to  crystal gaze the impending problems of health and education  as a result of poor governance in rural areas through their stories. 

        Journalists are proving to be couch potatoes and reporters from the field are no longer finding satisfaction in their work. Indeed there is no rivalry between the field reporters & those on the desk just because the reporter earns his bread & stays free while reporting from urban beat. Reporters seldom spend nights  in the rural areas just because it isn’t sought for by the news agencies , until & unless it’s a report that leads to propaganda which further leads to increased circulation & TRP. Most of us do know where the city's waste goes, and how it is collected, but is waste collected in a village, and where does it go? Well, nowhere. A filth time bomb is ticking away in rural India because lifestyles are changing there and the same chips packets and water bottles and other urban non-biodegradable waste is choking the landscape. One visit to any rural Govt School or PHC (Primary Health Centre) will give so many stories that the reporter can publish for better governance in the hinterland.

         The issues prevailing in rural India and suggested measures to improve standards of living are never pondered by the journalist since they are focused on the cities and find easy controversies to be reported. Inclusive development to provide urban amenities in rural areas through prompt reporting will help maintain the social structure of the country and reduce migration of rural masses to urban areas in search of better lifestyle. Appropriate rural reporting will improve the standard of living amongst the poor rural population through voluntary campaigns such as community participation and entrepreneurship.

         Shadow reporting of any grant or aid from the Govt or any international NGO to various health agencies working in India has been a challenge & the journalists also don’t find it interesting enough. The press needs to rekindle the faith of all agencies and prove to be a cog in the wheel to success rather than a spoke in the wheel that puts a stop to the success. Isn't it time to shed the mainstream media bias and embrace  watchdog journalism that informs the public about goings-on in institutions and society, especially in circumstances where a significant portion of the public would demand changes in response.

GATLIN the BOO merang ! Are we a Sport ?

Gatlin, 35, clocked 9.92 seconds as he beat second-placed compatriot Christian Coleman and legendary Jamaican Usain Bolt, who was third. Bolt, 30, was unable to secure a 20th global gold in his final individual 100m race before retiring.

Gatlin, who has served two doping bans, was booed before and after Saturday's World Championship final at London Stadium, and when he was presented with his medal. In 2001, when he was still at college, Gatlin was given a two-year suspension for taking a banned amphetamine. He successfully argued this was because of medication he took for attention deficit disorder and was allowed to return to competition after a year. Then, in 2006 - having won the 100m and 200m double at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki - he tested positive again, this time for testosterone. Gatlin was banned for eight years, avoiding a lifetime ban in exchange for his co-operation with doping authorities. This suspension was halved to four years on appeal. But the crowd at London Stadium booed before and after Saturday's World Championship when Gatlin was presented with his medal. Even the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) chief Lord Sebatian Coe aired his views saying  "I'm not eulogistic that someone who has served two bans has walked off with one of our glittering prizes."

It's not Gatlin's fault in any way that he proved his mettle. He played by the rules laid down by WADA [the World Anti-Doping Agency] that allow him to return. The IAAF reinstated him and allowed him to compete. Bolt had no problem with Gatlin competing and later winning the race which was to be the Grand Finale to a glittering career of Usian Bolt; he remains the grand sportsman that he is but the reaction from the crowd & Lord Coe is indeed worth reviewing. Gatlin won the bronze medal at London in 2012 [Olympics] and no-one said a word. It was only when he started to challenge Bolt after 2015 it became an issue. Booing of Gatlin was surely “disrespectful to the sport" as remarked by Gatlin’s father.

The point to ponder is; what drew such reaction from the crowd. Are we not human enough to forgive faults or are we such hero worshippers that we can’t see our hero fading away? Can we forget the un-fateful day on 13 March 96 at Eden Gardens Kolkatta when the fans got unruly and hurled abuses at the Srilankan Cricket team since their heros were at the point of surrender and finally the match referee Clive Lloyd awarded the match to Srilanka. Next day the crowd did apologise and over the next few days, Concern for Calcutta an NGO placed half-page advertisements in newspapers with a single word, “Sorry”, printed in 400-point size across the space.  In an arena where sportspersons display their spirit does the crowd have the right to display their disdain and not allow an athlete to ever prove his/her mettle as if a final verdict has been passed against their participation. Are we sport enough to participate, even as an audience ? 

SHARIF GONE; IS A COUP POSSIBLE ?

     Mr Sharif, who was serving as prime minister of Pakistan for a record third time, was less than a year away from becoming the first in Pakistani history to complete a full term in office. He served as prime minister from November 1990 to July 1993 and from February 1997 until he was toppled in a bloodless coup in October 1999. This time the Supreme court of Pakistan killed the dream and repeated history.. Nawaz Sharif has resigned as prime minister of Pakistan following a decision by the country's Supreme Court to disqualify him from office. The ruling came after a probe into his family's wealth following the 2015 Panama Papers dump linking Mr Sharif's children to offshore companies.He was the 18th prime minister of Pakistan. Not a single one of the 17 prime ministers that preceded him have completed their full term in office. The once Ex Prime minister who was once denied landing in Pakistan and forced to return into exile in 2007 may now not be allowed to fly out of the country.  With the geopolitical scene not being in favour of  the  terror haven even Saudi may not grant him exile.

Will Pakistan Face a Coup Again ?

     Pakistani Army has a considerable political clout and the political parties in Pakistan are not yet in a position to challenge the militarys grip over internal affairs. Over the years, Pakistans military has begun to manipulate the national narrative as well. It has moved from a military inc. to a media inc. and defines the local view of people regarding India, which certainly doesnt paint India amicable. As the Pakistani Polity is inherently weak, demonstrated by the military coups, a tough decision to put an end to terrorist camps and along with it solving of border dispute is next to impossible without militarys approval. The Pakistani identity is based on the idea of hatred towards India. As remarked by a scholar, the discourse is shaped by the trinity of "Allah, Army & America". To put an end to terrorism, the radicalisation must be stopped and thus the Pakistani military will lose its card of shaping regional politics through terror groups.

      Politics in Pakistan is very unpredictable. But at the moment it does not look like a coup is in the wings. Simply because the military does not want to come in front again when it can  rule in proxy. Staging a coup means automatic stoppage of US aid, both civil and military, and also various other sanctions/suspensions form other countries/organizations. For a country which needs regular foreign grants, which is not worth it any more. Moreover, the army is tied up in FATA with terrorists and on the eastern border with India. They can ill afford to divert resources to run the entire country.

Politically and socially - a coup works against any progress Pakistan. Indeed even for India it makes most sense that there is a stable and progressive neighbor since a stable and progressive society will mean  better economics in the region.

     So what would be best for India would not be a military coup in Pakistan but rather the influence of the military to wane in political matters (which seems unlikely in the near future). The coup, if it happens, may  be militarily headed because it is the only institution in Pakistan that has the capability to pull it off and cling onto it as well right now. The likelihood of this coup is, like most things Pakistani, is 

UNPREDICTABLE. 

Palestine hubbub to hush-hush

A senior Israeli interlocutor once told a visiting Indian External Affairs Minister some time ago that New Delhi treated Tel Aviv like a “mistress” – by keeping the bilateral relationship away from the public gaze.

Till last year, India abstained in a resolution, at Human Rights Council in Geneva; submitted by Palestine and the Organisation of Islamic Countries, for a probe by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into alleged war crimes by Israel during the 2014 Gaza offensive. India’s arguments for abstaining for the last three years have been the reference to the ICC, since India is not a party to the Rome Statute, which set up the world judicial body. In line with its voting records, India voted in favour of four other resolutions criticising Israel, including those on the expansion of settlements and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, what happens after the Modi visit to the Indian stance is anyone’s guess.

 As a founding-member of the Non-aligned Movement (NAM), India saw itself as a champion of all oppressed, colonised people, and its commitment to the Palestinian cause has had been unwavering. Along with its large Muslim minority, India did not want to antagonize its relations with the Arab world. Until now India’s stance at the U.N. has been an irritant in Indo-Israeli relations, with Tel Aviv frustrated that close bonds had not resulted in any change in the stance on Palestine

Even former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee’s government, which invited Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to India in 2003, did not amend India’s voting record at the U.N. The year Sharon came to New Delhi (2003) marked a watershed moment in the history of the India-Israeli relations. Diplomatic relations had been elevated to full ambassadorial level only a decade earlier. While both countries established relations soon after Israel’s creation, India kept them low key, with only a small Israeli consular office operating out of Mumbai. But given Sharon’s controversial record, no senior Indian official attended his funeral.

India’s Minister of External affairs in 2007 had mentioned that "India's support to the Palestinian cause had not wavered," He mentioned that India supported a "negotiated solution resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united states of Palestine within secure and recognised borders living side by side at peace with Israel as endorsed in the Roadmap and UN Security Council Resolutions 1397 and 1515." The minister had referred to the humanitarian contribution that India had made to the Palestinian people who were "coping with multiple challenges". Together with the Palestine National Authority, India was working on several developmental projects, including a cardiac hospital in Gaza, a school in Abu Dis (recently raided by Israeli forces in Apr 2017) and an IT Centre at the Al Quds University( Inagurated by Sushma Swaraj in Jan 2016). 

The Jewish state had been created in 1948 and its sovereignty recognised by most of the world's countries. But as soon as the guns fell silent in 1967, Israel, in direct contravention of international law, began building illegal settlements for its citizens on land it does not own. In 1953, Israel committed the most notorious reprisal massacre in the West Bank against the village of Qibya, where 45 houses were blown up and at least 69 Palestinians were killed.  Fifty years ago, the state of Israel shocked the world when it seized the remaining Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights, and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, in a matter of six days. In a war with Egypt, Jordan and Syria, known as the 1967 War, or the June War, Israel delivered what came to be known as the "Naksa", meaning setback or defeat, to the armies of the neighbouring Arab countries, and to the Palestinians who lost all what remained of their homeland. The Naksa was a continuation of a prior central event that paved the way for the 1967 war. Nineteen years earlier, in 1948, the state of Israel came into being in a violent process that entailed the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

In the 1967 War, Israel took control of the shaded areas of the Egyptian Sinai, Syrian Golan Heights, and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

The rest of the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, housing some 5.1 million Palestinians, remain under Israeli military control under the pretext of security. Their lives have been dictated by hundreds of military checkpoints, a colour-coded permit system, and a Separation Wall that has divided families. In sum, Israel's prolonged occupation creates a situation of serious human rights violations and unbearable living conditions, in which communities and individuals see no other option but to relocate.

On paper, India remains friendly to the Palestinians and to Mahmoud Abbas, who New Delhi calls the "president of Palestine", not of the Palestinian Authority. However, his visit to India in May was low-key and the declaration India made in support of a two-state solution notably failed to mention East Jerusalem as Palestine’s future capital.

India isn’t going to lead an Israeli-Palestinian peace process, as being done by Sweden by placing its envoy; send troops to Syria or confront Iran as the U.S. does. Its stance on these issues has no practical effect, which   gives it the freedom to be friends with everyone. Modi visited arch-enemies Saudi Arabia and Iran last year, and now he has landed at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Will India continue its support to the cause of Palestine ……… Only time will tell !!!

KANDLA TO CHABAHAR AND ONWARDS TO BIG MARKETS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said on Monday that Kandla port in Gujarat will soon be connected with Iran’s Chabahar port, which will give a boost to India’s international trade and place the Indian port firmly on the global map. India Ports Global Pvt. Ltd (IPGPL) will develop and operate the Chabahar port. IPGPL is in the process of setting up two container berths and three multi-cargo berths there. Chabahar Port in Iran, which is located to the west of Gwadar Port in Pakistan is being developed and used jointly with Iran. And based on the Chabahar Port, we are also making our very own roadway and railway (in Iran) to join Iran and Afghanistan, without really having to join or touch Pakistan

Chabahar port allows India to have access to major Afghanistan cities like Kabul, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandhar. which directly allows Afghanistan to be less dependent on Pakistan (a troublesome neighbour) for Indian product as Chabahar port bypasses Pakistan directly. On Iranian side India can directly access International North South Trade Corridor (INSTC) to reach its goods to Europe. This route is 40% shorter and 30% cheaper than current sea route (currently sea route via Red sea to Suez canal is used for trade and transportation). Chabahar corridor could bring down cost and time of cargo trade to Europe by about 50%. The port is connected to Iranian existing highways which are linked to Zaranj in Afghanistan which further connects to 218 km Zanranj-Delaram highway constructed by India in 2009 at cost of Rs 600 crore. So ultimately it is a lifeline for landlocked country like Afghanistan to boost its trade and regional connectivity to International market and ensure its economic growth. IRCON International will set up a railway line at Chabahar to move goods right up to Afghanistan. Indian companies would set up a range of industries from aluminum smelter to urea plants in the region. State-owned NALCO ( National Aluminum Corporation) will set up an aluminum smelter while private and co-operative fertilizer firms are keen to build urea plants.

At present, Pakistan does not allow India to transport through its territory to Afghanistan.  It would be absurd to consider India’s investment in Chabahar port as just a strategy to counter China’s influence in Central Asia. To have diplomatic and trade relations with Central Asian countries is important for India as well. But the problem has been the Pakistan’s approach. It was either Pakistan or Iran, through which India can reach to Central Asia via Afghanistan.

Chabahar port will make way for India to bypass Pakistan in transporting goods to Afghanistan using a sea-land route.The route primarily involves moving freight from India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia. The objective of the corridor is to increase trade connectivity between major cities such as Mumbai, Moscow, Tehran, Baku, Astrakhan etc. More or less CPEC ( China Pakistan Economic Corridor) will help only PAK & China but Chabahar has potential for other countries also. Keeping its importance in mind it would not be wrong to say Chabahar Port run by India will be as successful as CPEC. The success of Gwadar would depend on stability in Pakistan and the success of Chabahar can be maximized with a stable Afghanistan.

Solar Solution To Power Problem In Rural Africa An Inspiration For India

     More than 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity; 71 million in Kenya and Tanzania alone. Without any other options, these citizens are forced to either go without power or use kerosene, an expensive and oftentimes dangerous fuel that pollutes the air and creates fire hazards. But there is a solution that could bring affordable electricity to unserved and underserved populations while growing the local economy: pay-as-you-go solar.

     In a "pay-as-you-go" (PAYG) business model, a company essentially rents consumers a solar home system that comes with a battery, a charge controller, a solar panel, LED bulbs and a mobile charger. Basic systems have enough power to charge phones and lights, and larger ones could power small appliances like radios or TVs. Consumers use basic mobile phones – widespread in East Africa – to make payments on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

     Through this model, companies can minimize the cost of collections by automating the receipt of payments, while remote rural customers get immediate access to basic electricity without having to take out a loan. A grid expansion project, while it may provide power to bigger appliances, can take years and significant investment to reach a rural or low-income community.

     PAYG entrepreneurs now service about 500,000 households in Kenya and Tanzania, but they represent only four or five companies, most of which are owned, managed and financed by foreign investors. This is a missed opportunity—both for citizens and for local businesses. However, local commercial banks are still not lending to these businesses because of the perceived risk of this new model. As a result, local entrepreneurs can’t access the capital they need to get started. Public finance from development finance institutions (DFIs) like the African Development Bank, Green Climate Fund or KfW could play a key role in growing the PAYG solar industry.

      DFIs have long relationships and active lines of credit with banks throughout Kenya and Tanzania, so they can spur commercial banks to make debt capital available in the local currency to entrepreneurs. Their involvement could include providing guarantee schemes or lines of credit to local banks, channeling investments through impact investors, or investing in PAYG companies’ marketing and distribution strategies, among other initiatives.