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A PLATFORM FOR PROGRESS
SPONSOR
Catalyst for Human Development
IDCA promotes collaboration and coopera-
tion between all organizations engaged or
interested in the development of India
IDCA provides a platform for members to
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IDCA informs, inspires, and involves the
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needed for accelerating development in
India.
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sustainable development.
www.idc-america.org*logos of representative participating organization are presented
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INDIA
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Catalyst For Human Development
Printed at: Kalajyothi Process (P) Ltd, RTC X Roads, Hyderabad - 500 020 A.P., India
Editorial Coordination by P.S.Sundaram, Former Editor, The New Indian Express & Managing Editor,
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Mail: info@media india.orgPhone: 040 2340 1212 /1313Fax: 040 2340 1414
EDITORIAL TEAM
Dr. Bhamy V. ShenoyChief Editor
chiefeditor@afhd .org
Ms. Bharati KalasapudiMr. Nasy Sankagiri
Ms. Aarti IyerMr. Lakshman Kalasapudi
Ms. Padmaja AyyagariMr. Rajesh SatyavoluDr. Srinivasa Rao
Advisory BoardDr. Thoma s Abraham
Dr. Nirupam BajpaiDr. Suri Sehgal
Mr. M. ChittaranjanDr. Rao V.B.J. Chelikani
Editorial BoardDr. Abraham George
am ge orge@op tonline.net
Mr. Ratnam [email protected]
Mr. Anil [email protected]
Mr. Ram [email protected]
Mr. Balbir MathurBa lbir@Tree sforLife.org
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Dr. Raj [email protected]
Dr. Viral Acharyavac harya@londo n.edu
INDIA
Dr. Rao V.B.J. ChelikaniInternational Foundation for Human
Development (IFHD)Balaji Residency, 12-13-705/10/ABGokulnagar, TarnakaHyderabad - 500 017, A.P.India91-40-2717418991-40-55214993
USA
Dr. Srinivasa Rao,Association for Human Development (AFHD)208, Parkway Drive Roslyn HeightsNew York,11577, USA
E-mail : [email protected]
For all Communication please contact:[email protected]
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An insight into the complex problems
of develoment and an attemptto provide solutions.
Published by: Dr. Vasundhara D. KalasapudiBharati Seva SadanSrinivasanagar ColonySaluru- 535 591 Vizianagaram District, A.P. India
For Copies, Contact:
To present pe ople, ideas, news andviews periodically to readers to promote
networking a mong NGOs.
To publish peer reviewed professionalarticles on NGO movement that canpromote sustainable development andbest practices.
To disseminate information on NGO move-ment to improve communication which in
turn can catalyze human development.
To provide a pla tform for a llconcerned with sustainable develop-ment to catalyze the process of humandevelopment.
The views and opinions expressed herein by authors are not necessarily those of Catalyst for Human Development magazine, its Staff or Editor, and they assume no responsibility for them.
M I S S I O NM I S S I O N
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Catalyst For Human Development
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Catalyst For Human Development
Preface: Dr. Bhamy V. Shenoy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Agenda For The Nation - An Approach: Pushpa M. Bhargava and Chandana Chakrabarti . . . . .11-18
Manmohan's Agenda For His Unaccomplished Task: Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19-21
A Villager's Agenda For A Healthy India: Dr Satyanarayana Gavarasana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Consumer Movement - An Agenda: Dr. Bhamy V. Shenoy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23-24
Indias Development - Agenda For NRIs: Dr. Thomas Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25-26
Economic Reforms In India -
The Unfinished Agenda: Nirupam Bajpai and Jeffrey D. Sachs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27-29
Standard of Living: Jayant Sinha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30-32
State of the Planet 06: New York Conference : A Brief Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33-34
India's Interior Growth Is Slow: Jeffrey SachsInterview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Child Citizen: Ingrid Srinath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Battle Must Be Won: Shantha Sinha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37-38
Stop Child Poverty: Colin Salisbury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Sightfirst - Fighting Blindness: A P Singh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Could Our Classrooms Shape Indias Destiny?
Pratham's Revealing Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42-45
India Water Portal: Sunita Nadhamuni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46-47
Unscrupulous NGOs are Denting Movement: Rambabu V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48-49
The India You May Not Know: Krishan Khanna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50-51
Catalytic Agents: Aarti Iyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
Ahluwalia, A Powerful Social Entrepreneur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Leaders Wanted! : Dr. Srinivasa Rao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Contents
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Catalyst For Human Development
P R O F I L E S ofA U T H O R S
DR. BHAMY V. SHENOY
Dr. Bhamy Shenoy, an IIT
Mad ras grad uate with a Ph.D
in business administration
from University of Houston,
worked for Conoco in all
phases of International
Petroleum Industry for 21years from 1966 till 1987. He
took early retirement in 1987
to return to India to get
involved in India's develop-
ment. He has been partici-
pa ting in various NGO a c tivi-
ties involving consumer pro-
tection, educa tion and envi-
ronment. He contested elec-
tion twice as an independ-
ent. From 1997 till 2003 he
was involved in energy sec-
tor reform in former Soviet
union countries. He is current-ly an honorary advisor to the
national oil company in
Georgia.
CHANDANA CHAKRABARTI
A columnist and author
whose writings have cove red
a variety of fields and issues,
she is a we ll-know n c om pe re,
a communications expert,
and a p op ular spe aker. She is
also widely regarded as onehaving a comp elling sense of
social responsibility and has
played a crucial role in the
building of the C CMB, one of
the world's best-known scien-
tific institutions.
COLIN SALISBURY
Co lin Sa lisbury is the found er
of Stop Child Pove rty, and the
executive director of the
Global Volunteer Network
(GVN), an orga nization b ased
in New Zealand that c onnec ts
volunteers with communities
in need. Colin has extensivevolunteer experience both
locally and internationally
with time spent in Ecuador,
Ghana, Nepal, Papua New
Guinea, Philippines, and
Tha iland. His ba ckground in
Community Development
and achieving a Masters in
International Development
has enabled him to provide
challenging and affordable
volunteer opportunities
around the globe .
PUSHPA M ITTRA BHARGAVA
He is one of the country's
lead ing scientists, also widely
known and respected as a
writer, thinker, institution
builder, adviser to industries
and c onsultant. He c on-
ceived and built, amongstseveral major institutions, the
Centre for Cellular and
Molec ular Biology (CC MB) a t
Hyde raba d. He is regarde d
not only as the architect of
modern biology and
biotechnology in India but
also one whose nota ble c on-
tributions have covered a
wide range of human
endeavour: from history to
social analysis and the rela-
tionship between science
and a rt. He is one of thebest-known popularisers of
science and advocates of
sc ientific tem pe r in the co un-
try and has be en, throug hout
his career - starting from pre-
independent India - deeply
and intimately concerned
with a vast number and vari-
ety of important national
issues.
Authors
DR. JEFFREY D. SACHS
Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Direc tor
of The Earth Institute , Quetelet
Professor of Sustainable
Development and Professor of
Health Policy and
Management at Columbia
University. He is also Direc to r ofthe UN Millennium Project and
Spec ial Ad visor to United
Nations Sec retary-General Kofi
Annan on the Millennium
Develop ment Go als. Sac hs is
internationally renowned for
advising governments in Latin
America, Eastern Europe, the
former Soviet Union, Asia and
Africa on economic reforms
and for his work with interna-
tional agencies to promote
poverty reduction, disease
control and debt reduction ofpo or co untries, he wa s recent-
ly nam ed among the 100 most
influential leaders in the world
by Time Ma ga zine.
INGRID SRINATH
Ingrid Srinath is CEO of CRY -
Child Relief and You, India's
premier non-profit organiza-
tion working to restore the
rights of underprivileged
India n c hildren. She is a lso
Honorary Director on the
Board of CRY America.
A PGDBM from IIM Kolkata,
Ingrid worked extensively in
the med ia industry. She w as
Assoc iate Vice President w ith
Grey worldwide and
General Manager at Lowe
and later became a mem-
ber of the Consumer
Complaints Council of the
Ad vertising Sta nda rds
Counc il of India.
Ingrid joined CRY in 1998 as
Branch Manager, Mumbai
and became Director
Resource Mobilization in the
year 2000. In 2003, Ingrid was
selected as a senior
Synergos Fellow. Synergos is
one o f the lead ing organiza-
tions wo rldw ide in the field of
foundation building.
JAYANT SINHA
Jayant Sinha is Mana gingDirector at Courage CapitalManagem ent, a globalinvestment managementfirm. At Co urag e, Sinha isrespo nsible for India
investing and assists on te ch-nology-related investments.Prior to Courage , Sinha w asa Partner in the Boston andDelhi offices with Mc Kinsey &Company, the global man-agement consulting firm.Sinha ha s a B.Tec h inChemical Engineering withDistinc tion from IIT Delhi, anMS in Energy Ma nag eme nt &Policy from the University ofPennsylvania, a ndan MBA with Distinction from
the Harva rd Business School.
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DR.
SATYANARAYANA
GAVARASANA
Born atPithap uram on
Sep tembe r 4,
1936,
Dr.Sat yanara yana no w lives in
Flora l Park, USA.
A p ostgradua te in Medicine
from Andhra Med ical College
and a Fulbright Schola r (1966),
he wa s trained in General
Surge ry in the US. He p rac tised
in Gollap rolu villag e o f East
God ava ri District a nd c onduc t-
ed a number of health camp s
in many villages. Lions Cancer
Hospital, Visakha pat nam, is his
brainchild. Dr.Ga varasana
published a number of articles
on cancer research. His cur-
rent research project is: screen
1,00,000 Andhra women for
breast c anc er including genet-
ic a na lysis.
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Catalyst For Human Development
DR. NIRUPAMBAJPAINirupam Bajpa i
is a SeniorDevelopmentAdvisor at theCenter onGlobalization
and Sustainab le Developmentof the Earth Institute atColumbia University andDirec tor o f the South AsiaProgram. Dr. Bajpai worked atthe Center for InternationalDevelopment, Kenned y Schoolof Government at HarvardUniversity from 2000 to 2002,and prior to that at the Harvard
Institute for Internationa lDevelopment from 1995 to2000. Currently, he is also anAssociate Editor of the journalAsian Economic Papers, pub-lished by MITPress. Dr. Bajpai isthe author or co -author ofnumerous articles on a varietyof issues relating to economicreforms in develop ing co un-tries.
KRISHANKHANNAKrishan Khanna
is the foundertrustee of IndiaWatch, a foun-dation which
aims to create awareness forachieving good governance& effective administration ofIndia. He is a B-Tec h inMechanical Engineering fromIIT, Kharagpur, and has spe -
cialised in ManufacturingTec hnology. With over 40 yearsof varied experience in thefields of business and consul-tanc y, he has helped in estab -
lishing various business ven-tures in the areas ranging fromtextile to steel, in both Indiaand ab road. He has also b eenon the advisory panels ofmany a company in variouscap ac ities. In rec ognition of hiswork as a technocrat, he was
awarded the National CitizenAward in the year 1995-96, bythe Government of India.
Authors
AARTIIYERAarti Iyer
is a fif-
t e e n -
y e a r - o l d
s t u d e n t
s t u d y i n ge l e v e n t h
grade at
the John Co op er Schoo l, in
The Woo d lands, Texa s. Her
first publication was a let-
ter to the e ditor in the New
York Times, when she wa s
tw elve ye a rs old . Since
then, she has written
numerous articles that
have been widely pub-
lished. She is also the stu-
dent co lumnist of the loc al
newspap er, the Villag er.
RAJATK. GUPTAA graduate in
M e c h a n i c a l
Engineering from
IITand MBA fromHarva rd Business
School, Rajat
Kumar Gupta joined Mckinsey
and Companys New York
Office in 1973 and assumed
lead ership of Scan d inavian
offices in 1981. He joined their
Chicago office in 1997 and
wa s elected Mana gingDirector of the company in
1994. He was re-elected twice
for the same post, once in
1997 and later in 2000. In
Mckinsey Worldwide Gupta
Direc ted a number of projects
aimed at helping companies
develop new products/mar-
ket strategies and is widely
experienced in consultancy
for a variety of industriesinclud ing Telec om , Energy
and Consumer goods. He is
Chairman of the Board of
Indian School of Business and
UN Assoc iat ion O f USA.
RAMBABU. VRambabu
Vankayalapat i
is a Med ia
ma rketing pro-
fessional hav-
ing nea rly two
de c ad es of f irst ha nd
exposure to the socio-
po lit ica l fab ric o f the
Indian Diaspora. A keen
observer of the happen-
ings in the country on a
day today basis, studies
the marketing trends, the
soc ial mores and themicro f inancial impa ct of
the economic reforms.
DR.THOMAS ABRAHAM
Dr. Ab raha m ha s bee n serving the NRI/PIOcommunity for the last 33 years. He served as
the first president of the Federation of Indian
Assoc iations of New York in 1976 and the
National Federation of Indian American
Associations in 1980. Dr. Abraham currently
serves as the Chairman of the Global
Orga nization of Peop le of Indian Origin (GOPIO)
which he founded in 1989 and as a Founder Board of Director
of Indian American Kerala Center in New York. Dr. Abraham
also served a s the Co -Chairma n of the fund raising cam pa ign to
institute a chair for Indian studies at Columbia University. A
ma terials sc ientist b y p rofession, Dr. Abraham is Vice President o f
Business Communications Co., a leading industry and market
resea rch firm based in Norwa lk, CT, USA.
A. P. SINGHA. P. Singh is a p racticing a ccount-
ant and tax consultant in Kolkota.
Singh served as faculty at four lead-
ership institutes and four regional
institutes, vice district go vernor,
schooling pilot program. He has
been elected to serve a two-year term as a
direc tor of The Internationa l Assoc iation of Lions
Clubs at the association's 87th International
Convention, he ld in Detroit, July 5-July 9, 2004. He
has been named Lion of the Year at the district
and multiple district levels. He is also a HeritageClub Member and a Melvin Jones Fellow.
SUNITA NADHAMUNISunita Nad hamuni is CEO o f
Arghyam Trust, a private c haritable
trust in Bangalore that funds strate-
gic efforts to enhance equity and
sustainability in access to water. A
software engineer by profession,
she lived and worked in the bay area, California
for seve ral yea rs in co mp anies like Sun
Microsystems, Silicon Graphics and Hea ltheon.
She was involved in several initiatives supp orting
development in India, including Seva, Indians for
Collective Action, Rejuvenate India Movementand American India Found ation. She is with
Arghyam since 2005.
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Catalyst For Human Development
THE response we have got for the inaugural issue of Catalyst has been far
more than we anticipated. For the second issue we want to concentrate on
the theme of National Agenda to wipe out poverty in India within the next 15
years. This is hardly a new concept. Ever since India adopted centralized planning,
every five-year plan had some kind of National Agenda embedded in it in some form
or other. But that those plans have not helped us to reach our oft-repeated goal of
"garibi hatao" is a different thing.
Each of the more than one million NGOs operating in India to tackle myriads of
India's problems also has their own individual concept of National Agenda. While
they work in their own spheres of influence to implement their pet schemes,
National Agendas will have impact on their work. Often they are implicit and only
sometimes they are explicit. On the other hand the political parties - small or big,
regional or national, secular or non-secular - have their own National Agenda. All of
them without exception claim to work for the poor while developing those National
Agendas. How often do such National Agendas actually contribute to improving the
standard of living of the poor?
One best example is that of promoting Information Technology industry which
seems to appear on the National Agendas of some parties. As Mr. Narayanamurthy
has rightly claimed, IT industry has changed the impression of foreigners about
Indians. Thanks to the export earnings of IT industry, India was able to weather the
recent increase in oil prices. Without a doubt IT industry has put India on a higher
GNP growth pattern. But has it put India on the path of reducing poverty in the short-
est span possible? Have we even started to debate this point? Yet IT continues to
be one of the highest priorities on our current National Agenda, planned or
unplanned.
In our inaugural issue we carried articles on several factors which have great
impact on our development. They are: water security, food security, energy securi-ty, health security, education and governance. Of course, one could always point
out that we left out many other factors like maintaining secularism, LPG
(Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization), environmental protection, national
security, population control, fighting unemployment, fight against AIDS, urban vs.
rural development, distribution of wealth etc.
President Abdul Kalam has been advocating the programme of Providing Urban
amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) as a National Agenda item. Despite the simplicity
of the concept, PURA is yet to capture the imagination of the people!
Scope is always there to ask a fundamental question of why do we even need a
National Agenda at all when there are already innumerable pressing problems
which require immediate attention? It is easy to list out all of them which are pre-
venting India from becoming a developed country and wiping out poverty in the
shortest possible time. But do we have the organizational capabilities required to
fight on all the fronts to solve the hundreds of problems at a time? This is where we
need to learn lessons from modern management. Strategic management has clear-
ly showed that by culling the most critical success factors from a long list of prob-
lems and concentrating on the short list, it is easy to achieve the management
goals. This is what we as a country should now attempt in order to develop a
National Agenda and then get behind it irrespective of our differences. NGO move-
ment can play a significant role in such a project.
Dr Bhamy V. Shenoy
Preface
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AS far as we are aware, as of now,there is no agenda available forthe nation on a) the life styles and
quality of life we wish to achieve, b)
our assets and liabilities / problems, c) the value sys-
tem that is important to us and d) a strategy for achiev-
ing the desired life styles, using our assets wisely and
optimally.
Such a strategy would require a holistic approach of net-
working at all levels and not a segmented course of action.
In the absence of such an agenda, it is understandable that
our political parties, policies and actions are orientedtowards retention of power. Their concerns and abilities are
not optimally utilised due to the lack of availability of an
appropriate, comprehensive, people-oriented, carefully
conceived and workable agenda for the nation which would
enable them to focus their attention on constructive work.
The ultimate objective of an agenda for the nation should
be to present a blueprint that would allow us to utilise our
assets for overcoming stumbling blocks - the problems.
We believe that to meet the above
objectives we must state the princi-
ples for defining the destination, i.e., the life-styles
and the quality of life for various sectors, that we wish
to achieve, identify the countrys assets, identify its
problems, determine the problem-hierarchy for priori-
tising problem-solving and devise strategies to reach
our destination.
We also need to state the desirable values and the kind
of citizens we wish to produce, and state the criteria for
assessment of success.
The three steps we consider important
for eventually being able to define our
destination with precision are given on
the next page.
The life-styles envisaged would need to be different for
people residing in different places, such as villages and
metropolitan areas. For example, while there may be a
need for multi-storeyed buildings in metropolitan cities,
should we encourage them in our villages? Each kind of
place and thus the life-style suitable for it should offer
certain specific advantages so that people have a rea-
sonable choice.
The places for which we would need to envisage dif-
ferent life-styles have been classified into four cate-gories: rural, tribal, semi-urban and urban. Working
out in detail the desirable life-styles for each of these
above categories would need a separate exercise.
Therefore, we have stated below only the principles and
basic needs.
Classification of people in semi-urban and urban areas
into sub-groups will need to be done as has been done
for rural or tribal areas.
The facilities to be provided for education, health
and/or housing etc for various categories and sub-
groups will obviously be different for each. For example,
sources of water supply and its treatment for human con-
sumption would not only be different for each but will also
depend on the location. Thus water tapped from moun-
tain springs may not need further treatment. Villages
would not require multi-storeyed housing, unlike urban
areas. Medical and health-care facilities would also nec-
essarily differ from category to category. Therefore, both
qualitative and quantitative details (e.g. minimum resi-
dential space per person) should be worked out sepa-rately.
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Catalyst For Human Development
Agenda
Agenda For The Nation
- An ApproachPUSHPA M. BHARGAVA, CHANDANA CHAKRABARTI
Need for AnAgenda
Approach
Defining
Destination
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Catalyst For Human Development
Step 2: Basic and some specific functional needs of various categories of people
People
Rural Tribal
Basic needs :EducationHealthHousingWaterPowerConnectivity(with urbanareas)
Farming sector(farmers, farm labour)
Specific functional needs :Additional employment avenues for farmers and their families;Value addition to the produce of farmers; Assured irrigation and quality power;A fair price for the farm produce; Prevention of unfair competition in imports;Prevention of exploitation of farm labour.
Basic needs :Education, Health,Housing, Social justice, Water, Power,Connectivity (with urban areas)
Artisans, techniciansand other professionals
Village businessmenand landlords
Gove rnmental a nd other institutional staffand others from outside the village
Specific functional needs :Prevention of displacement to be done through informed consent andappropriate compensation; Ma intenance of traditional rights;Active involvement in mana gement of tribal areas in a wa y that triba l andcountry interests are jointly maximised; Appropriate measuresto prevent exploitation of triba ls' ignoranc e, innocence a nd trust; Integrationof tribal laws (e.g. in regard to marriage) with the national legal codes, fol-lowing discussion and consensus.
Semi-urban(to be worked out as forrural and tribalcategories)
Urban(to be worked out asfor rural and tribal
categories)
Satisfaction of basic needs
Satisfaction of specific functional needs that would differ from group to group
Rural Tribal Semi-Urban Urban
Principles
Satisfaction of intrinsic, normal human urges such as creativity
Step 1: Principles
Step 3 :State means of satisfying the
following Intrinsic normal, human
urges, for each category;
*Creativity, *Curiosity,* Participation in
community activities,* Continuous
learning and * Exploration of the world
beyond.
As of today no
other country in the
world has the
assets that we have, such as:
Natural Assets (seven geo-climatic
zones, vast coastline, water bodies,
rainfall, sunlight, forests, minerals,
land and animal and plant biodiver-
sity);
Human Assets (scientific manpower,
technological manpower, high-level
expertise in virtually all other areas
of human endeavour, traditional
and indigenous knowledge carriers
and greatest human diversity in
large number of young people);
Man-made Assets (science, tech-
nology, green revolution, white revo-
lution, information technology,
space, atomic energy, DNA technol-
ogy, defence technology, institu-
tion-building, drug revolution and
infrastructure in every sector); and
Social Assets (ancient culture, histo-
ry, variety, art, handicrafts, music,
dance, family setup, closeness of
social relations, social bonding, tra-
ditional values, tradition of hospitali-
ty, largest working democracy
in the world and constitutional
strengths).
Agenda
Our Assets
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The problems that
stare us in the face
are listed below in 36 categories:
1.Governance (improper choice of
peoples' representatives; lack of
transparency and right to informa-
tion; lack of accountability; lack ofprofessionalism (e.g. in civil servic-
es), corruptio; inadequate electoral
laws and systems; need to reor-
ganise our civil services; inadequa-
cies in true empowerment of our
Panchayats and need for effective
decentralisation at all levels)
2.Education (low percentage of the
educated;lack of appropriate edu-
cation; problems with curricula; syl-
labi, text-books; teaching method-ology and assessment up to high
school; lack of equal opportuni-
ties; commercialisation; inafford-
ability and low average quality of
higher education (which would lead
to lack of quality leaders in the next
few years)
3.Water (very little emphasis on
water conservation; pollution of
water bodies; indiscriminate and
uncontrolled use of underground
water and emphasis on mega and
long-term projects and not on local
and inexpensive solutions)
4.Power (inadequate captive power
generation; renewable energy
sources virtually untapped; trans-
mission losses and power thefts
and lack of a sustainable pricing pol-
icy)
5. Corruption at individual and
organisational levels (readiness to
pay bribe and readiness to accept
bribe; corruption in systems; such as
health; education; transfers; admin-
istration)
6.Healthcare (inadequate; inaccessi-
ble and/or unaffordable primary;
secondary or tertiary healthcare;
ineffective management of certain
common ailments such as malaria,TB, AIDS and water-borne diseases;
inadequate and inefficient preven-
tive health measures such as immu-
nisation; infant mortality and inade-
quate preparedness for dealing with
emerging diseases)
7.Sanitation
8.Agriculture (low productivity, lack of
additional employment; e.g. through
food processing industry, biotechnol-
ogy; control of multinationals over
seeds and agrochemicals; exces-
sive use of agrochemicals; inefficient
and inadequate public distribution
system; lack of use of indigenous
technologies and materials; organic
agriculture being overlooked and
inadequate water and power avail-
ability)
9.Housing (how much minimum
space required; what kind of housing
and what materials to use in con-
struction)
10.Transport (inadequate public
transport system, inadequate roads
and related infrastructure; inade-
quate planning; specific transport
problems in urban/metropolitan
areas; satellite townships; small
urban areas; semi-urban areas and
villages and safety aspects)
11.Justice (delayed and unaffordable)
12.Pollution (air; water and under-
ground)
13.Deforestation
14.Environment (land; air and water)
15.Management and/or prevention
of certain disasters (flood /
drought / famine, inappropriate and
ineffective relief measures and
diversion of resources allotted for
the purpose; industrial disasters
and prevention of accidents)
16.Employment (exploitation in unor-
ganised sector (wages, working
hours, healthcare etc.); exploitationin organised sector (unemployment,
mal-employment, child labour, delin-
quent children in urban areas and
gender bias)
17.Social Security (inadequate crop
insurance; inadequate health insur-
ance and evil of begging in certain
parts of the country)
18.Population growth
19.Resource generation: (lack of
exploitation of the full potential of
tourism; inadequate efforts towards
increase of productivity and provi-
sion of additional (not alternative)
employment and value addition in
the agricultural sector and no policy
for prevention of wastage of
resources)
20.Group specific problems: (trib-
als / scheduled castes / backward
classes)
21.Terrorism
22.Crime
23.Inequities: regional (deliberate
creation; lack of will to reassess
them); sectoral (lack of a common
and effective minimum wage;
based on the principle of equity)
and inequitable (social) distribution
of productive assets)
24.Status of women: (lack of educa-
tion; financial dependence even
amongst those who earn; little role
in decision-making; denial of free-
dom of expression; lack of leisure;
far too much labour and time spent
on daily chores (e.g, collection of
firewood; water); unequal pay; gen-
der-biased customs; values and
attitudes (dowry, devdasis); sexual
harassment; crime against women
(dowry deaths); physical abuse; lit-
tle emphasis on reproductive
health; inadequate nutrition; bias
against girl child (e.g. in respect of
nutrition and education); female
foeticide and infanticide and inade-
quate representation in public andelected bodies)
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25.Lack of enough opportunities for vertical
(social-strata-wise/access-to-facilities-wise)
and horizontal (area-wise) mobility
26. Lack of an appropriate scientific & R & D
Policy
27. Lack of proper industrial policy (no definitionof the roles of private and public sector; privatisa-
tion of public sector and incursion of MNCs;
including takeover of Indian companies; that is
destroying autonomy)
28.Lack of ethics and of national interest in the
industrial sector (public and private)
29.Short-changing national interest through new
patent laws; and our commitment to TRIPS
and WTO
30.Lack of national commitment to values
31.Lack of a sense of social responsibility and
civic sense amongst individuals; in the gov-
ernment and in the private sector (spitting in
public; smoking in public; easing in public (no or
few public toilets), lack of cleanliness (individual;
house; workplace, public place); littering; inade-
quate garbage disposal system; inadequate
and/or inappropriate waste disposal (including
human waste) system, lack of awareness of traffic
and road safety and lack of awareness of prob-
lems (of village and slum dwellers) on the part of
urban residents)
32.Lack of accountability: (social; professional and
financial) individual; institutional; governmental)
33. Mediocrity in all walks of life (lack of emphasis
on excellence; professionalism and quality; lead-
ing (for example) to exports rejection)
34.Lack of general awareness (of reliable and vali-
dated information) amongst people in regard to
Geography; History; nutrition; hygiene; causes of
diseases (water borne, contagious,infectious like
AIDS, TB, malaria); creative traditions like music;
art, dance, folklore; science; scriptures; literature
(in one's own language and in other languages);
successful people in various areas of human
endeavour; natural phenomena and their causes
(rain, weather, day and night,eclipses, earth-
quakes, heat, light, electricity, magnetism); origin
of our universe and of man; customs of groups
other than our own and products of technologywork; (radio, TV, telephone, mobile phone, refrig-
erator, heater)
35.Lack of scientific temper (belief in supernatural,
superstitions; miracles; godmen)
36.Biases: The identity we seek (religious;commu-
nal;linguistic; regional; customs-based; caste and
other social sub-divisions-based and importanceof the above in choosing friends and mates).
[The relationship of the problems mentioned above is
shown inChart I - Interlinkage of Problems
(See page 15]
Our priorities in regard to solv-
ing "problems" would be a)
good governance, b) elimination of
corruption, c) provision of adequate water of the
required quality, depending on the use, d) making
the country self-sufficient in energy so that it does-
n't limit development and e) provision of adequate
and appropriate education.
1. Electoral reforms:
1.1 Ensuring implementation of the
2003 Supreme Court judgement on
what should be declared by any
contestant for a Parliament or State Legislature
seat; ensuring that no one whose honesty; integri-
ty and probity is under doubt is nominated by any
political party for election to the Parliament or
State Legislature;
1.2 Provision of a negative vote on the ballot paper -
that is: for saying that no one out of those whose
names appear on the ballot paper, is suitable for
election;
1.3 Evolution of a mechanism for representation in
important elected bodies, of those who lose by a
defined margin; (for example, the Rajya Sabha
could be made more representative from this point
of view, by a constitutional amendment); and
1.4 Government funding of election expenses for can-
didates who satisfy certain criteria, strict imposi-
tion of a ceiling on expenses, and setting up of a
mechanism to ensure that the ceiling is observed.
2.Good governance:
2.1 Unambiguous and workable definition of roles of MPs,
MLAs, members of other elected bodies, and bureaucracy;
2.2 Stoppage of grants to MPs and MLAs;
2.3 Reorganisation of civil service, professionalisation, ratio-
nalisation of recruitment policies (for example, permitting
certain proportion of lateral recruitment); mid-service
tests for promotion;
Agenda
Priorities ToSolve Problems
The Stategy:Some Points
of Action
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Chart I
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2.4 Decentralization (for example, approval of house plans
and/or permission for construction of houses could be
granted by a qualified architect or the village
Panchayat);
2.5 True empowerment of local self-Governments, such as
the Panchayats (for example, in respect of financial
powers, and the powers to select and appoint the
secretary of the Panchayat), making use of the exten-sive and admirable work done in the area by
Lok Satta of Hyderabad;
2.6 De facto depoliticisation of elections to Panchayats as
required by constitution;
2.7 Information packages for Panchayats that would enable
them to claim their rights and discharge their obligations
effectively;
2.8 Straightening out and computerization of land records;
2.9 Providing a system for transparency in land deals and
contracts, remembering that they, along with construc-
tion activity, are important conduits for corruption and
black money;2.10 Establishing linkages with and making optimal use of
socially sensitive, reasonable and responsible private
sector, NGOs, and professional organizations;
2.11 An appropriate bill for representation of women in all
public and elected bodies;
2.12 Strategy for safeguarding the legitimate interests
and rights of tribals, and making optimal use of their abil-
ities and traditions (for example, in respect of conserva-
tion of biodiversity);
2.13 Ensuring that the cost of Governance is less than, say,
one-third of the revenues generated;
2.14 New strategies for raising resources for development,
such as promotion of tourism, and increasing productiv-
ity and providing additional employment (e.g.
through food processing, horticulture such as production
and export of orchids through tissue culture in States like
Arunachal Pradesh which has over 600 varieties of
exquisite and exclusively Indian orchids, and export of
high quality fruits and vegetables that are virtually unique
to India) in the agricultural sector;
2.15 Judicious use of resources (for example, the high
NPAs of banks have been largely avoidable);
2.16 Equitable regional and social distribution of productive
assets;
2.17 Workable and equitable system of accountability,
reward and punishment;
2.18 Restructuring/reorientation/consolidation of social wel-
fare programmes for maximizing benefit to target popu-
lation;
2.19 Propagation and implementation of the concept of
Citizens Charter, and setting up a mechanism to
ensure that the provisions of the Citizens Charters are
followed;
2.20 Elimination of corruption, remembering that India was
virtually corruption-free even till the 1960s (taking thefirst step in this direction by, for example, preparing and
disseminating widely in all regional languages a compre-
hensive list of corrupt practices in all sectors -
Governmental and non-Governmental);
2.21 Appropriate legislation giving a citizen the right to
information, with a clear statement of what would be
classified information, why and for how long;
2.22 Setting up policies for protection of human rights;
2.23 Value-orientation in industry;2.24 Containment of the widely recognized malicious influ-
ences of multinational corporations;
2.25 Planning of satellite cities and towns;
2.26 Ensuring quality in services and products;
2.27 Good public relations and publicity of our products and
achievements round the world (for example, through our
missions which have not fared well so far in this respect);
2.28 Institutionalization of dissent;
2.29 Regulation of disinvestments of PSUs;
2.30 A viable policy for the maintenance of environment and
ecology; and
2.31 A viable policy for balanced and sustainable growth,recognizing the crucial role of agricultural sector in such
a policy.
3. Education:
3.1 Schools (up to high school) to be run by local
self-Government.
3.2 Upgrading of Government schools to the standard of
good private or public schools and revision of salaries of
teachers of Government schools;
3.3 No transfer of school teachers (this would automatically
cease if the appointments are made by the local self-
Governments such as the Panchayat, the Panchayat
Samithi or the Zilla Parishad);
3.4 Propagation and, later, implementation of the idea of
neighbourhood schools, (like the Lysees in France);
3.5 Development of appropriate curriculae and syllabi,
keeping in mind the value system to which we are com-
mitted;
3.6 To improve the finances of the Government-run schools;
the Government should be committed to pay to such
schools an amount per child which should be equivalent
to the fees charged in good private schools in the area
(the Government could consider ensuring that the
school fees is the same for the Government and the pri-
vate or public schools excepting residential schools);
3.7 To evolve a strategy so that schools become the focus
of community activity in rural or semi-urban areas
(appropriate facilities for such use of a school should be
provided);
3.8 A rational language policy that would recognise the role
of the mother tongue as well as of English in the process
of learning, in creativity, and in overall human develop-
ment [while recognizing the prime importance of the
mother tongue, we would not want to create in the coun-
try two classes based on the opportunity for acquiring
fluency in English which is today, virtually, the interna-tional language];
Agenda
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AgendaChart II
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Catalyst For Human Development
Agenda
3.9 Review of the examination system which today only
tests rote memory and not understanding or knowl-
edge; and
3.10 To evolve a strategy for improving the quality of high-
er education at universities and professional colleges
(e.g., a recruitment policy that would prevent in-breed-
ing through an independent testing organisation like
the ETS in USA);4. Energy:
4.1 A strategy for meeting energy requirements of the
country;
4.2 Energy plantations (social forestry);
4.3 Local generation of power (for example, wind power,
hydel power, biogas power);
5. Water:
5.1 Careful, objective and professional review of the proj-
ect of connecting rivers;
5.2 Rain-water harvesting (implementable strategies); and
5.3 Regulation of the use of underground water;
6. Health:6.1 Strategy for effective rural medical and health care; a
part of a three-tier strategy for national medical and
health care, with the first two tiers (primary and sec-
ondary health care) being predominantly in the public
sector, and the third tier (tertiary health care) being pre-
dominantly in the private sector (a strategy that would
recognize that for the first tier, primary healthcare, we
may not need medical graduates at this stage of
development, and alternative, viable and tested mod-
els are available);
6.2 Documentation and assessment of traditional prac-
tices (for example, in respect of plant-based drug for-
mulations);
6.3 Formulation of a rational drug policy (for example, con-
trol of formulations and elimination of spurious drugs);
6.4 Emphasis on ethics in medical practice [for example,
an ethical code has been worked out by the organisa-
tion, MARCH (Medically Aware and Responsible
Citizens of Hyderabad) for hospitals, nursing homes,
diagnostic centers and medical practioners, and is
being subscribed to by a substantial number of such
organisations and individuals in Hyderabad, A.P.);
6.5 Elimination of spurious doctors (we need to state who
may practice medicine, including alternate therapies);
and
6.6 A workable strategy for waste disposal all over the
country.
7. Increasing production and productivity in the agri-
cultural sector:
7.1 Additional employment and remunerative prices of the
produce in the agricultural sector;
7.2 Seed business to be made our own (Indian) business
to prevent foreign control of our agriculture which, if it
transpires, will make us lose our freedom de facto;
7.3 Strategy for self-sufficiency in food for the growingpopulation;
7.4 Prohibition of imports that would affect the farm sec-
tor (reimposition of quantitative restrictions);
7.5 Decentralization of food procurement and distribution;
and
7.6 Documentation, assessment and optimal utilization
of indigenous agricultural practices such as organic
agriculture which can be a major source of export
earning (an inventory of such validated practices isavailable with Dr Anil Gupta of Indian Institute of
Management, Ahmedabad, who has also set up an
organisation for this purpose).
8. An appropriate and forward-looking science and
technology policy;
9. International agreements and patents:
9.1 New and appropriate patent amendment bill that
would safeguard our national interests;
9.2 Work towards revising the provisions of WTO,
TRIPS, UPOV and other international agreements
that relate to trade, that severely compromise the
interests of the developing countries; and9.3 Full use of the existing provisions in the above agree-
ments to our advantage.
10.Defining life-styles to optimize the effect of steps
mentioned in the above nine sections:
10.1 To define life-styles for various segments of our
society.[The network of Action Points mentioned below are
shown inChart II - Action Flow Chart.
See Page -17] I
This article is an abridged version of a larger write-up.
Full version is posted on web.www.afhd.org.
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INDIA'S Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is steadily
moving forward with an unswerving determination to
complete his unfinished task of 1991 when he was
the country's Finance Minister under P.V.Narasimha
Rao. The educated and thinking people still cherish his
initiatives then to revolutionise Indian economy and
bring the nation back from the brink of bankruptcy and
set it on a course that made it one of the world's fastest-
growing economies.
No sooner he took over the reins of India as Prime
Minister in May 2004 than he picked up the threads of
the unaccomplished job of his earlier stint.
Will Singh's relentless march take him to the destina-
tion with flying colours? What are the country's priori-
ties and prospects of growth under the leadership of the
first-ever Sikh Prime Minister, an acknowledged econo-
mist?
In a freewheeling interview, he spoke recently to Rajat
K. Gupta of McKinsey's Stamford office, USA, on his tar-gets to pull the country out of the morass of poverty,
ignorance and disease. Frank and outspoken, Singh
does not agree that he is anywhere near the goal 22months after assumption of office.
"We need to go a long, long way. We should move for-
ward fast in areas to stimulate economic growth and
also to ensure that this accelerated economic growth
really benefits the poorest segments of our society. We
need a growth rate of about 7 to 8 percent per annum,
sustained over a period of the next 10 to 15 years. We
need to underpin that growth by strong performance of
our agriculture, strong performance of our physical and
our social infrastructure. These are our key priorities,"
he avers.
The excerpts below give us an insight into Manmohan
Singh's national agenda to take India forward in the next 5
to 10 years.
RKG: The reform process must also incorporate labor
reform. I wonder how you feel about that, especially since
labor has to be retrained and redirected in many ways for
the economy to become more productive.
PM: First of all, we must make a distinction. When we talk
about labor reforms, we are essentially talking about 10 per-
cent of our labor force, which is accounted for in the so-
called organized sector. Outside this 10 percent, for the 90
percent we are a completely flexible labor market. The nor-
mal laws of the market take precedence. Even within this
organized sector, the problem is most acute in the public
sector. In the private sector, most people tell me that they
can find ways and means of working out voluntary agree-
ments with the trade unions, whereby necessary labor flex-
ibility can be introduced. In the public sector, we have rigid
laws, and therefore there is this problem.
Extreme rigidities in the labor market, inflexibility of the
labor market, is not consistent in our achieving our goals in
a world where demand conditions are changing so fast,
technological conditions are changing so fast. But there are
limitations for the time being. We don't have a broad-based
consensus in our coalition for me to assert that I can move
forward in a big way. But I do recognize that we should take
credible action. Our colleagues who are in government in
West Bengal do appreciate the need for labor market flexi-
bility. It is my task to carry conviction to our Left colleagues
in Delhi. I haven't given up and I am confident that when all
things are considered I think the reform will have more
broad-based support. Our coalition today represents nearly
70 percent of the Indian electorate, so we may be slowmoving, but if we build a consensus, that will be far more
Manmohans Agenda For His
Unaccomplished Task
Manmohans Agenda
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durable than any other mechanism that I know of.
RKG: How will the government generate employment,
particularly in the light of making sure there are enough jobs
for the youth coming into the workforce?
PM: Jobs have to be created in all sectors of our econo-
my. Agriculture still accounts for 60 percent of our laborforce, and I believe that we will need a second green revo-
lution to
increase production and productivity, and in the process, I
hope, we will create more jobs. But essentially over a peri-
od of time, our salvation lies in getting people to move out of
agriculture. Services today account for 50 percent of our
GDP.
There are lots of people who tell me that services cannot
move far ahead of what's happening in manufacturing, and
that worries me-this imbalance. I feel we have to do a lot
more on manufacturing because, ultimately, services
respond to what's happening in the production sector.So outside agriculture, in manufacturing and services, we
must create a lot more jobs. But that also means that we
must ensure that our systems of general education and
technical education are in line with the job requirements that
a more modern manufacturing and a more modern services
sector would require. We have to walk on two legs. We have
to create conditions in which manufacturing and services -
the economy outside agriculture - move and move fast
enough. And at the same time the working force that is avail-
able must have skills which will fit the kind of jobs which will
be in demand.
RKG: What is the government doing to promote India as a
manufacturing base, especially agribusiness and food pro-
cessing, which must be important?
PM: Agribusiness and food processing are important partsof modernizing our economy, of modernizing our agricultureand moving into a phase where a more modernized agricul-ture helps not only farmers but also helps consumers. Now,I've talked to a large number of producers-people fromHindustan Lever and others-and they've been telling mewhat India needs most is a unified food law. We have just
now prepared the bill, and it will be introduced in parliament.The other thing to move forward on this front is that we musthave electricity in our rural areas, we must have cold-stor-age facilities. We have, for the next four to five years, a veryambitious plan to expand the availability of electricity to all ofour villages. I hope that that should bring about a new revo-lution in the handling of agribusiness.
RKG: We have seen uncontrolled urbanization in manyparts of the world, which really does not improve the stan-dard of living. What is the plan to promote truly effective, pro-ductive urbanization as, by necessity, the rural population
moves toward the urban centers?
PM: Our urban areas need a lot more attention in terms ofinvestment. In my Independence Day speech last year, Ipointed out that already about 30 percent of India's popula-tion lives in cities. In states like Maharashtra, 40 to 45 per-cent of the population is in urban areas. I expect over thenext 10 to 15 years that we will move to a situation whereabout 50 percent of our population will be in urban areas.We need new strategies to look at urban transportation sys-tems, urban management of solid wastes, new seweragesystems.
This itself would require Herculean efforts of investment, butI don't believe that resources will be a constraint. Our statis-ticians now tell me that our savings rate has shot up in thelast couple of years to about 27 to 28 percent of our GDP.And also we are a country where the proportion of youngpeople to total population is increasing. All demographerstell me that if we can find productive jobs for this young laborforce, that itself should bring about a significant increase inIndia's savings rate in the next five to ten years. If our sav-
ings rate goes up, let us say, in the next ten years, by 5 per-cent of GDP, we would have generated the resources forinvestment in the management of this new urban infrastruc-ture that we need in order to make a success of our attemptat modernization and growth.
RKG: What is India doing to make sure that its economicsuccess continues, by building on both the primary-education system and the higher-education system? Related tothat is health. The government spends very little on healthand health infrastructure.
PM: You are right. As a nation, we should be doing more inboth health and education. But our total expenditure onhealth, public and private, does not compare unfavorablywith other Southeast Asian countries-about 6 percent ofGDP. But the mix between the public and private spendingis excessively in favor of private spending. Our publicexpenditure on health is less than 1 percent of GDP. Thereare neglected areas where the public sector has a majorresponsibility: for primary health care, rural health care. Ourambition, which we have set out in our Common MinimumProgram, is for the next four or five years to raise the publicspending on health as a proportion of GDP to at least 2 per-cent.
With regard to education, I think at the top we have an excel-lent superstructure. The IIMs and IITs, the regional engi-neering colleges have served us well. But ultimately, if theeducational pyramid is not right there are limits to gettingdividends. Therefore we are making, for the first time, themost determined effort to ensure that all our children-partic-ularly children coming from disadvantaged families, particu-larly the girl child-in the next four or five years have the ben-efit of minimum primary schooling. But that will generatedemand for upgrading the quality of our secondary schools.We have not given that much attention toward upgrading
our secondary-school system, and that is our next step.After what we have done in the last one year, primary edu-
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cation is well looked after. What we have now in place is asystem which will ensure that all our children who are ofschool-going age are in primary school. But the secondary-school system will require a major effort, and it worries me.
And as far as the system of higher education and researchis concerned, I appointed, under Sam Pitroda, a knowledgecommission to look at what needs to be done, where weare, and where we ought to be. In the next one or two years,the knowledge sector will receive our attention to the extentthat it deserves. I do recognize that India has to be the cen-ter, the hub of activity as far as the knowledge economy isconcerned. We don't want to miss the chance.
RKG: May I ask a somewhat difficult question? Wheneverpeople discuss India, everyone can talk articulately aboutthe changes that are needed. But in the end, the pace ofimplementation and actual results often lag behind. Thereisn't that kind of action bias that you would like to see in thecountry. Do you agree, and what are you doing to change this?
PM: I think you are right, but one must understand that eco-nomic policy and decision making do not function in a politicalvacuum. It takes a lot of time for us to take basic decisions.And furthermore, because we are a federal set-up, there are alot of things that the central government does, but there aremany things, like getting land, getting water, getting electricity-in all these matters the state government comes in, the localauthority comes in. . . From a political-management point ofview, we cannot do without being a federal system.I am think-ing of identifying areas where we need big thrusts forward. Forexample, steel is one sector where we are thinking aboutinvesting large amounts of money. It is my intention to set upa mechanism which would bring about a convergence in whatthe state governments do and what the central governmentdoes: a group of dedicated officers to work together to ensurethat our three-tiered system of government does not becomea bottleneck. I
(Courtesy Mckinsey Quarterly 2005)
Manmohans Agenda
EDUCATION - GIFT FOR A LIFETIME
NORTH South Found ation (NSF) has been enc ourag ing exce llenc e in education for nea rly twodec ades now. The Found ation has 17 chapters in the various states of India and has provid-ed over 2,500 college scholarships to impoverished but ac ademically endowed youth. SomeNSF alumni scholars have a lrea dy begun o ther programs to he lp those among the p oor go tocollege if they are excelling in ed uca tion.
In the US and Canad a, the Foundation encourag es excellence a mong NRI children by con-ducting annual ed ucational contests. Spanning over 70 reg iona l centers, these c ontests coverthe essentials of spelling, vocabulary, math, geograp hy, essay writing, pub lic spea king and brain
bee, with pa rtic ipa nts rang ing from grade 1 through grad e 12.
Ac ademica lly, NSF contests offe r numerous benefits. Many NSF participants have achieved topplaces in other mainstrea m c ompetitions in the US. NSF winners have a lso b een accep ted atrenowned colleges in the country. More importantly, these c ontests help c hildren improve theircommunication skills, boost their self-confidence and instill in them a sense of compassion andgiving for their not-so-fortunate counte rparts.
The Foundation also awa rds a Role Model Awa rd, the Vishwa Jyothi, to the most deserving sec -ond generation NRI youth to showc ase huma n values and ac ad emic excellence to the c hildrenof the Indian American comm unity.I
NNORTHORTH SSOUTHOUTHFFOUNDAOUNDATIONTION
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Catalyst For Human Development
Ihave had the advantage of living in two villages, FloralPark, NY 11001-1205, USA and Gollaprolu - 533 445,East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, India which gave
me the privilege to work as a doctor in both the countries.
During the course of my professional career spanning fifty
years, more than 1,00,000 persons were examined in my
Gollaprolu clinic, at health camps, cancer detection and
chronic disease camps held in villages of Srikakulam,
Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari Districts
of Andhra Pradesh and also in the US. Can Gollaprolu vil-
lage ever be like Floral Park village?
Gollaprolu has no running water supply
that is safe to drink unlike Floral Park.
Water analysis report is supplied to all
the households in Floral Park. I have not seen a report on
the quality of drinking water in Gollaprolu. Many years ago,
when Lions Club of Pithapuram conducted an Eye Camp in
Gollaprolu, the ophthalmologist in charge of the Eye Camp
demanded an analysis of water that was going to be used
at the camp, as he did not want the risk of post-operative
infections of the eye. To everyone's surprise, the water
showed harmful bacteria and we did bring chlorine treated
water from Kakinada Municipality. A health camp was held
in a village adopted by Bhagavatula Charitable Trust many
years ago. Water samples from the village wells were sent
for analysis. The water analysis report showed diarrhea
causing bacteria. The report was sent to the District Medical
and Health Officer for action. He had to order chlorination of
the drinking water wells in all the villages surrounding the
health camp site. A villager's agenda for a healthy India
starts with provision of safe drinking water.
In Gollaprolu, the sweepers were up
every morning and on the job of sweep-
ing the village roads. But they usually bypass some houses
without collecting the garbage deposited in cement bins,
unless someone alerted them. Trash collection in Floral
Park was done twice a week, without an alert. No one is
allowed to pile up garbage in front of their houses in Floral
Park but in Gollaprolu, it is a different matter altogether.
With the result many persons from Gollaprolu were treated
for Malaria, Filariasis and Dysentery. One does not have to
look far to determine the source of these infectious dis-
eases. Sanitation in the villages should be on the agenda
for a healthy India.
A great amount of my time is spent trying
to teach methods as to how to prevent
infectious diseases, manage chronic dis-
eases and maintain healthy eating
habits. I also emphasize the value of physical exercises and
yoga to my patients and their families. There are no practi-
tioners of Preventive Medicine in Gollaprolu nor in the US.
Preventive Medicine Clinic in every village should be on the
agenda for a healthy India.
Sitting in a village gives one an opportu-
nity to review the medical practices pre-vailing in India. The rich do go to
Hyderabad for treatment for curable
chronic ailments but the poor could not afford costly surger-
ies. Assuming that every one, including the poor and the
rich, had universal health insurance in India, the poor would
not be denied the required costly surgery. Janraksha or a
community-based Health Insurance Scheme launched by
the Government of India is a good start. Health Insurance
for every villager is a must and it should be high on the
agenda for a healthy India.I
A Villagers Agenda
For A Healthy IndiaDR. SATYANARAYANA GAVARASANA
Villagers Agenda
Safe DrinkingWater
Sanitation
PreventiveMedicine
Clinic
HealthInsurance
For Villagers
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Catalyst For Human Development
Consumer Agenda
OF the one million or more Non-governmentalOrganisations (NGOs) in India, those involved directly inconsumer movement today may not be more than one thou-
sand at best. This estimate is based on surveys conducted
from time to time. Of the thousand Voluntary Consumer
Organizations (VCOs), no more than one hundred may be
active in terms of taking up consumer causes seriously and
sincerely on a regular basis. Of them, not more than 25 may
have an annual budget exceeding Rs. 10 lakh. On the whole,
the total amount spent by these consumer organizations is
less than Rs. 50 crore. Ten prominent amongst them may
account for 90% of that total amount. These statistics are
adequate enough to show that the Consumer movement inIndia has a long way to go to be in a position to play a signif-
icant role in consumerism.
It was after the passage of 1986
Consumer Protection Act (CPA), there
was a spurt in the number of voluntary
consumer organizations (VCOs). Few
VCOs existed before 1986 trying to build consumer move-
ment both at the state and national levels. Some of them
were quite prominent like Consumer Guidance Society of
India (CGSI) started in 1966, Consumer Education and
Research Center-1978 (CERC), Voluntary Organization in
Interest of Consumer Education-1983 (VOICE), Consumer
Unity and Trust Society-1983 (CUTS -Jaipur and Kolkatta),
Common Cause (Delhi), Akhil Bharat Grahak Panchayat
(Pune), Mumabi Grahak Panchayat etc. Despite unending
suffering of the consumers both in rural and urban areas,
none of them could emerge as a strong force to usher in a
dynamic and vibrant consumer movement in the country.
In early nineties, several VCOs were formed in large and
small cities of India to promote the implementation of the
Consumer Protection Act. The Act was a powerful weapon to
fight the injustices perpetrated on the consumers by the pub-
lic and private sector companies. It was a progressive legis-
lation passed by the Parliament par excellence. In the begin-
ning, some farsighted judges with vision understood the spir-
it behind the CPA. They gave quick and far reaching judg-
ments not only against the erring private sectors but even
against the officials in the government for not serving the pub-
lic cause.
National conventions of VCOs were held to create a com-
mon platform to identify pressing consumer problems and to
put pressure on the government to bring about systemic
reforms. Just at that time foreign funds started to support
some of the prominent VCOs. This occasioned formation of
many state level federations of consumer organizationsespecially in states like West Bengal, Tamilnadu, Kerala,
Rajasthan and Orissa and in the formation of an exclusivegroup call Consumer Coordination Council (CCC).
Coordination Council was a good idea. But it did not pro-
duce the expected results. Today it has just 50 members and
yet its biannual national conventions attract more than 1000
consumer activists. But the consumer movement itself start-
ed to lose steam as the VCOs' activities slowed down and
efforts at setting up a common platform for all consumer
organizations did not succeed. This was also partially
brought about by public failure to make full use of the CPA
due mainly to lack of proper training to officials in charge of
implementation of the CPAand paucity of funds for enforcing
the Act. And the Parliament took a lot of time to bring aboutthe needed amendments to make the CPA more effective.
One of the towering leaders of India's Consumer move-
ment was Mr. H. D. Shourie of Common Cause. Endowed
with a good comprehension of a powerful consumer move-
ment, his series of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) helped
bring about massive reforms in the consumer redressal sys-
tem.
CERC under the stewardship of Manubhai Shah, besides
starting a testing lab at Ahemadabad, took up individual and
collective consumer complaints. VOICE led by Dr. Sri Ram
Khanna also established a testing lab in Delhi and took up
consumer grievances. CUTS, which operated simultaneous-
ly from Jaipur and Kolkatta, quickly spread its wings to foreign
countries under the leadership of Pradeep Mehta and took
up issues of global nature. All the three were successful in
building professionally-managed consumer organizations
and also to attract foreign funding.
From the beginning one strategic error committed know-
ingly or unknowingly by India's consumer movement was to
depend upon government handouts or foreign funding.
Consumer Welfare Fund is a classic example. A true con-
sumer movement should not depend upon government
doles. Eventhough to build any movement funds are
required, a genuine and principle-inspired cause will never
suffer for want of funds.
Many consumer activists believe that
by having newer and stricter laws and
the public sector continuing to own
and manage companies, consumers
will be better served. They have still not realized that the best
friend of consumers is competition and not the benevolence
of government or the public sector. Not only consumer com-
plaints against Indian Airlines have declined today dramati-
cally but the price for air travel has also come down. If the
Indian sky were to be ruled only by Indian Airlines as it wasthe case in the 80s, no laws or redressal system or VCOs
Consumer Movement
- An Agenda
NeedDynamic
Movement
BHAMY V. SHENOY
Competition
Best Friend
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Catalyst For Human Development
Consumer Agenda
would have been able to help the consumers. On the other
hand, Indian railways, still in the public sector, has shown only
marginal improvements.
In the automobile sector, thanks to less government involve-
ment, consumers have a wide range of choice to buy scooters
and cars with less complaints.
No government involvement in the Cable TV industry from
the beginning has helped rapid growth of the industry. But this
is also a classic example of how the private business can
exploit the consumers when their action is not regulated prop-
erly. In several places, Cable operators have formed informal
cartels and acted like mafias, stalling competition.
If the government had not allowed com-
petition in telecom sector, India would
have continued to have the distinction of
one of the lowest telephone densities as
well as the costliest telephony in the world. Banking sector,
which is dominated by the public sector, has been slow to
reform and not able to make full use of the information technol-
ogy. It was nationalized on the plea of assisting the poor. Today
it is the most decentralized and private enterprise of Self-Help
Groups and micro financing units promoted by the NGO move-
ment which are able to help the poor and not the nationalized
banks! Employee Unions of the public sector banks are fierce-
ly fighting against any effort of the government to reform them
and privatize. But there is no countervailing fight by millions of
consumers of these banks who are poorly served. Consumer
movement has not even recognized this as a problem.
Public Distribution system (PDS), a relic from the Second
World War, has remained a sacred cow for all political parties.
It is because they have a share in the PDS pie and exploit the
subsidies. The same is true with the huge subsidies doled out
to consumers of kerosene and LPG. Irrational pricing and mis-
directed subsidies of petroleum products is resulting in the gov-
ernment losing a whopping Rs. 42,000 crore per year. Avibrant
consumer movement could have fought this issue aggressive-
ly to bring about reforms.
A noted consumer activist Mr. Desikan,
the chief architect of the Federation of
Tamilnadu Consumer organizations, has
started a petroleum testing lab inChennai a step in the right direction to detect petroleum adul-
teration. But that is unlikely to stop massive diversion of subsi-
dized products. It is not that the government is not aware of the
enormity of the problems. Unfortunately those who rule today,
despite their best intentions, are unable to implement the right
policies since their political survival depended on continuing
these subsidies or irrational pricing scheme or not privatizing
the inefficient public sector. Those below the poverty line could
be served far more efficiently and at less cost through a coupon
system as showed by an NGO, Mysore Grahakara Parishat or
high tech smart card as proposed by the planning commission.
There is tremendous resistance to Liberalization, Privatizationand Globalization (LPG) by Indian NGO movement in general
and consumer movement in particular. What we should readily
accept is that competition alone will help consumer interests.
Promoting competition should be number one item on the agen-
da of the consumer movement in India.
In industries like power sector or sectors
like stock exchanges and telecom, where
consumers can easily be taken for a ride,
there is a need for specialized adminis-
trative agencies with judicial powers like
Electricity Regulatory commission, SEBI, TRAI etc. Unless civil
societies take interest in the working of these agencies and act
as watchdogs, they will be ineffective as has been happening
in the developed countries. Consumer movement should take
active part in the deliberations of these bodies. VCOs should
build professional organizations with expertise to play an effec-
tive role.
It is because of an inefficient judicial sys-
tem, CPA was adapted as an antidote.
The Consumer movement should take
up as a national agenda to completely
revolutionize the judicial system. Justices
like Michael F. Saldanha, the former High Court judge of
Karnataka, have shown how they were able to have minimum
or no pending cases. We often state that justice delayed is jus-
tice denied. But there is no pressure to reform the judicial sys-
tem. To implement the above agenda, it is imperative that there
should be a strong consumer movement with more than 10 mil-
lion members across the country.
Will India be able to produce the right leadership to develop
an organization which can attract 10 million members? The
answer to this question lies in the class rooms and that is where
we need to concentrate all our attention.I
ReformBanking
Irrational
Subsidies
Statuory
Regulatory
Agencies
Speedy
Judicial
Reforms
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Catalyst For Human Development
Agenda For NRIs
PEOPLE of Indian origin (PIO) constitute a global
community of over 22 million people. It has beenestimated that, PIOs living outside India has a combinedyearly economic output of about $250 billion, about onethird of the GDP of India. Whether they come from Africa,Asia, the Americas, Australia, the Caribbean or Europe,they are Indians in body and spirit. Almost all of themmaintain their Indian cultural traditions and values. Theyseem to have meaningfully integrated in their countrieswithout losing their ethnic identity.
As a first step toward bringingIndian communities together, theIndian American community,under the leadership of theNational Federation of Indian
American Associations, took the initiative to organize theFirst Global Convention of People of Indian Origin inNew York in 1989. The triggering point for the globalIndian community to come together was, when an elect-ed Indian dominated government in Fiji was thrown outby a military dictator in 1987. At the First Global
Convention, the major issue of concern to everyone washuman rights violations, be in Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad,South Africa, Sri Lanka, U.K. and or in the U.S.A. with"Dot Buster" issue. The Global Organization of People ofIndian Origin (GOPIO) was formed at this convention tohelp in networking Indian communities and take upissues such as human rights violations of Indians aroundthe world. GOPIO filed petitions at the UN and a concert-ed effort was made to fight these issues.
The first global convention of peo-ple of Indian origin, Indian - domi-
nated parties were elected to
power in Fiji, Guyana and Trinidad. South Africa has sev-
eral Indians as ministers in the government. The late Dr.Chheddi Jagan, of Guyana, Mr. Basdeo Panday ofTrinidad and Mr. Mahendra Chaudhry of Fiji who went onto become the President and Prime Ministers of theirrespective countries.
The last decade also saw PIOs becoming enormouslyrich, thanks to the information technology revolution.Although many of them left India with a meager amountof a few dollars or pounds in their pocket, with their ded-
ication and hard work they became successful in theWest and in particular the USA, Canada, U.K. and otherEuropean countries. Now our community is growing inlarge number in Australia and New Zealand. The PIOpopulations in all these countries are expected toincrease in this decade. Therefore, PIO communitieshave important roles to play in all these countries.
Development Initiatives by NRIs/PIOsMeanwhile non-governmental organizations (NGOs) werelaunched in the US, Canada, Europe and countries in the
Middle and Far East to promote education, health careand developments including water management, ruraldevelopment and self help programs. NRIs and PIOs areincreasingly supporting several NGOs in India in a rangeof developmental, educational and social programs.
Till the middle of 1970s, theGovernment of India did not takeany interest in non-Resident
Indians (NRIs), a definition which was given by theReserve Bank of India when they wanted the Indianbanks to attract NRI deposits. In the 1980s, former Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi invited a few NRIs to come back to
Indias Development- Agenda For NRIs
DR. THOMAS ABRAHAM
Need ForMobilizing The
Community
Role For GovtOf India
ChangingObjectives
North America (Mostly USA & Canada) 3.2 Million
South America (Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Surinam, Jamaica, etc.) 1.6 million
Europe (U.K., Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, etc.) 2.5 million
Africa (South Africa, Mauritius, East African countries, etc.) 2.5 million
Middle East (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc.) 3.5 million
Far East & South East Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, etc.) 3.5 million
Pacific Island (Fiji, Australia, New Zealand) 0.7 million
Srilanka and Nepal 4.5 million
Total 22.0 million
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Catalyst For Human Development
Agenda For NRIs
India to help in development of some core sectorsincluding telecommunications. In the 1990s, with eco-nomic liberalization by Narasimha Rao - Dr. ManmohanSingh team, an impetus was provided for NRIs/PIOs to
become more active in the Indian scene.
Also, in the year 2000, a High Level Indian DiasporaCommittee chaired by Dr. L.M. Singhvi, set up by thegovernment of India to look into the issues of NRIs andPIOs and to explore avenues of opportunities forNRIs/PIOs to help India. The Vajpayee administration inJanuary 2002 accepted some of the recommendationsand later, the Govt. of India organized the first PravasiBharatiya Divas (PBD) in New Delhi in January 2003followed by three more such meetings in the month ofJanuary in New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad in 2004,'05 and '06 respectively.
Indian government also decidedto provide dual nationality toNRIs/PIOs. The IndianParliament passed a legislation togrant dual citizenship toNRIs/PIOs in December 2003
and again in 2005. The dual citizenship card wasissued officially at the PRB-2006 in Hyderabad. Thiswill help to bring 22 million people of Indian origin livingoutside India closer to India. It will help to mobilize pro-fessional and financial resources of NRIs/PIOs for
India's development. Also, it is of great sentimental val-
ues to PIOs/NRIs living outside India to feel that theyare now part of Mother India.
Indian Govt. is now going a step further to grant vot-
ing rights for Indian citizens living outside India in theAssembly and Parliamentary elections provided theyare in the constituency at the time of elections. This willmake NRIs feel full participants in India's developmen-tal activities.
GOPIO had campaigned forthis new ministry similar to the
Ministry for Overseas Chinese in China. Prime MinisterManmohan Singh fulfilled this demand in 2004. Thenew ministry has been organizing the annual PBD.However, we see a bigger role for MOIA in reaching outall those NRIs/PIOs who could contribute to India'sdevelopment. The ministry also should work withgroups such as GOPIO and other organizations to moti-vate more NRIs/PIOs to take active interest in India inall areas of investment, business, technology transfer,development and charitable activities. There should beseparate cells in MOIA to promote each of these activ-ities.
In 2002 GOPIO.Connect acts was also created as acatalyst to help NGOs in India and outside to promotetheir activities as well as to provide exposure to moreNRIs and PIOs. I
Ministry OfOverseas
Indian Affairs(MOIA)
GOPIO.connect
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Catalyst For Human Development
Economy
IN response to a fiscal and balance of payments cri-sis in1991, India launched a program of economic
policy reforms. The program consisting of stabiliza-
tion-cum-structural adjustment measures was put in
place with a view to attaining macroeconomic stabili-
ty and higher rates of economic growth. Some
rethinking on economic policy had begun in the early
1980s, by when the limitations of the earlier strategy
based upon import substitution, public sector domi-
nance and extensive government control over private
sector activity had become evident, but the
policy response was limited only to
liberalizing particular aspects ofthe control system. By con-
trast, the reforms in the last
decade-and-a-half in the
industrial, trade and
financial sectors,
among others, have
been much wider
and deeper.
As a consequence,
they have con-
tributed more mean-
ingfully in attaining
higher rates of growth.
India has gone through
fifteen years of her
reform process. Hence,
an assessment of what
remains on the reform agenda
is in order. Five different govern-
ments have been in office since the
early 1990s - the Congress government
which initiated the reforms in 1991, the United Front
coalition (1996-98) which continued the process, the
BJP-led coalition which took office in March 1998 and
then again the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) from October 1999 through May 2004 and fin