Issue 55 Vol III, January 15, 2008

F E A T U R E S

State of India
I would like to tell you a story. There was a father with 2 kinds of children. Some white and some black (fair and dark). He loved both of them. The white children he sent to schools gave them opportunity to see and learn dance and music and cultivate arts and sciences. The black children were expected to do agriculture, tend to cattle, and do all the things necessary to sustain life. One day a rishi (who is like a consultant) came there and the family was very hospitable to him. In return, he decided to share a secret (as consultants tend to call their advice) with them.  He said that there is a mountain – Mandara parvat – and if they churned the sea using it then amrut – nectar or elixir of life – would come out.

The children searched for the mountain and a long snake (seshu) to use it for churning. The fair siblings told the dark siblings that since the tail of the snake was long and more effort was needed they would handle that end. The innocent and trusting dark children held the head side of the snake while the white children held the tail side and churned the sea using the mountain. The snake spat venom killing several dark children. In the end, out came a pot of Amrut. Meanwhile the white children thought why we should give this to the dark brothers and consulted Vishnu to find a way of distributing amrut only to the fair children. Vishnu came in the guise of Mohini, an enchanting woman. While the dark children got intoxicated by her beauty, the white children knew Mohini was just a disguise. Mohini held two similar pots and distributed Amrut to the white brothers from one pot and liquor to the black brothers from the other.

By black or dark children I mean the tribals, the Dalits, the farmers, the labouring and working classes. I am using white and black (fair and dark) symbolically and not literally, so whatever color you may be please do not take offense.

The state of India consists of Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. For problems to be solved laws have to be made, implemented and grievances addressed. All three branches together are supposed to address people's problems. While people elect the MLAs and MPs and thus appoint the ministers who are part of the legislature, they have no direct role in appointing the Executive or the Judiciary. If people go with a grievance to the MLA s/he can't say that they wont do anything, because we appoint the MLA – they will hear the people and may even make a call to the Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO) to do something. However when you go to the MRO, they will tell in your face, don't waste our time. MRO who is part of the executive is not appointed by us and can't be removed by us. At least we can walk into an MRO office, but with the judiciary you need a law degree to approach the judge. Thus in the system of Legislature, Executive (that is supposed to implements laws by making rules and issuing orders) and Judiciary, common people can only influence the legislature as they elect and appoint it.

Thus you see that the legislature keeps offering solutions to people's problems in the form of laws. There are more than 165 welfare or reform laws made on land issue alone. Let us all applaud that. At the level of implementation, executive and judiciary, these laws are made ineffective. No matter which political party is elected, the state machinery for implementation stays the same. Thus no matter which party comes to power, people's problems which need all three branches to function properly, are not addressed. In fact the MLAs and MPs know that implementation of laws can be stopped.

Different political parties are like "Mohinis" with pleasing personality. But behind the mask of Mohini is the common driver that ensures that no matter which party is in power, the policies pursued are the same. If Shri Vishnu came as himself then he would have been recognized as someone who was with the devas (whites in the analogy), and hence had to come in a disguise to distribute the amrut. We have to see who is behind the disguise of Mohinis (political parties and state machinery) of the state.

To understand take the example of land reform laws. Every party who contested elections told the people that they’d distribute land to landless.   For this they make land reform (welfare) laws. Now he also have a law of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) which is taking land from small and marginal formers and handing over to rich, private corporations. Both are laws and have the same constitutional validity. But see the difference in their implementation. When they fist announced Land Reform laws they promised to distribute nearly 20 lakhs acres in Andhra Pradesh. In the past 30 years, since the form the 1977, only 5 lakh acres of land has been distributed to the poor and landless. In all of India they distributed less then 2% of cultivable land to the poor. This falls far short of what was promised or targeted. However in just 2 years of the SEZ Act already 1-2 lakh hectares (significant percentage of target) have been acquired and given to powerful corporations. Why was the land reform Act not implemented at the same pace? How did the SEZ Act come about in the first place? For land reforms, there was mass demand from people of India, several activists took to the streets and protested for it. There was no such demand from people for the SEZs. Yet that is the one the executive is implementing whole-heartedly. Whom did the police side? The common people seeking land reforms were fired at and even killed. Are those seeking SEZs being fired at? Which side do the police, that is part of state machinery, take – of the ordinary people or vested interests?

The entire state machinery and political system is playing the role of Mohini, distributing the amrut/nectar to a few while depriving millions. At a fast rate, in front of our very eyes, the state is transferring resources like Mohini did, to a few. Land, minerals, all our natural resources are continuously being transferred to a few at a very fast rate by the state machinery. As people working with NGOs and movements, the good we are trying to do, is diluted and even reversed by this vast resource transfer, of which we should be aware of. Behind the pleasing guise of a democracy and welfare state –ie Mohini – that supposedly cares for the people, are the Multi National Corporations, powerful Indian corporations like the Reliance and the forces of globalization that are really running the state machinery. If they came as themselves and said they were primarily for the people and not for their own self-interest, then they would be recognized easily and we wouldn't be fooled. So they come in guise of Mohini, like political parties, who know that even if pro-people and anti-people laws are made, the Executive and judiciary is there to always ensure they are selectively implemented.

—[ Ajay Kumar’s Keynote address at AID-India Conference, Dec 2007 as recalled by Ravi Kuchimanchi.
Comments, suggestions, and thoughts to:  psajay123@gmail.com, raviaravinda@gmail.com

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Increasing polarisation threatens development
Manju Singh

20th century onwards technology centric development has formed the mainstay of human development, enabling scale of economy, surging nations and population on a high growth path. The results - inequity and increasing polarization across the world due to lack of access to these very technologies and information that drove the industrial revolution leading to an increasing gap between the developed and the so called developing countries. In an effort to bridge the gap, developing countries have also by and large preferred technology led development planning.

Over the last few decades of intense development strategy implementation, desired effects are yet to be seen. What we have instead are pockets of development! Inequities across the world are increasing and global trade policies led by developed countries push liberalization of developing and least developed economies for widening markets and in many cases also widening the development gap, while the development planners are still strategising to “Make Poverty History”.

Last quarter of 20th century observed Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) bringing in dynamic changes across the world. Internet revolution made information accessible through super highways across the boundaries of nations bringing in probably for the first time ‘equal’ access opportunity. A cross section of development planners sees development of ICTs as the answer to all woes of inequity in development.

Is this optimism misplaced? The question remains to be answered.

The information revolution driven by Internet in the late eighties saw emergence of a new economy appropriately termed the ‘Knowledge Economy’ with boundaries between countries and continents becoming easily accessible in the virtual world. The last decade has seen development planners led by multilaterals initiating research for building understanding on use of ICTs for enabling development process in developing countries. At the same time this period also saw the emergence of innovative use of ICTs in enabling communities to take the first few steps towards becoming active participants in the development and governance processes. India led this process as the world observed development of such initiatives in South Asia and Africa. Development agencies showed considerable excitement even though there were mixed results in the pilot project undertaken, which followed initial research, based on the information/services need assessment identified by the research.

ICTs are being claimed as the most effective tool in the global fight against poverty and under-development. It is claimed that ICTs if harnessed to its potential could lead towards the ‘next big step’ to bridge the yet increasing gap between haves and have-nots .They believe that information centers providing Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) along with enabling access to good governance, health care, education and employment could be tools to bridge the development gap in the same way as Public Call Office (PCO) booths had done and changed the face of telecommunication during mid eighties in India. However a look at the research studies points out stark contrast against the claims and suggests that ‘thrill’ could be premature.

Infrastructure and technology centric drive for enabling access occupies centre-stage in ICT enabled development planning; realtime benefits to communities have faced severe neglect in all major projects. The question on viability of such interventions emerges large for proponents of ICT enabled development. Assessments taken up by independent agencies have pointed out that many such initiatives have a very high ‘cost of ownership’ such that the goods being provided become un-economical. The backdrop of this analysis has been dominated by issues of cost of connectivity, hardware interface and software interface, in the process focus on content, services and costing has suffered.

Claims and counter claims made on the “right” model of ICTs for development have unfortunately left out the core issue of bringing community into the development planning process which has remained a gap even before coming of ICTs centered development models. Development approach of ‘one size fits all’ has been probably the major reason for continued neglect of participation of developing communities.

There is an urgent need to have some pre-planned technological intervention to make Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) work towards enabling communities to renegotiate their development paradigm in the current context. The process may be initiated through a series of workshops aimed at identifying priorities, analyzing technologies and enabling communities to specify their ICTs requirements and evolve learning’s for stakeholders. This would certainly enable communities to participate in the core of development planning and process.

[The writer is a Senior Fellow, Council for Social Development, Southern Regional Centre, Hyderabad, India. She can be reached manjusinghajm@gmail.com]

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A Healthy Life Style and Longevity
Sawraj Singh

A study carried out by the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council in England has just been released and shows that the most important factor for living longer is a healthy living style. The research was done in the county of Norfolk between 1993 and 2006. The study concluded that exercising, not drinking too much alcohol, eating enough fruit and vegetables, and not smoking can add up to 14 years to your life.

The results of the study are very significant because under the influence of the consumerist Western culture, modern medicine has ignored the simple facts that moderation and a healthy life style are the most important factors in maintaining good health. There is too much emphasis on taking pills and following rigid and complicated diet and exercise regimens rather than simple measures that can help the people to modify their life styles.

The study involved people who were between the ages of 45 to 79. They were mostly white and were from different strata of life. They did not have cancer or heart problems. Based upon the results of the study, the Public library of Science Medicine suggests that many could increase their life span through simple changes.  A point was awarded for each of the following:

• Not currently smoking

• Consuming between one and 14 units of alcohol per week (the equivalent of between a half of a glass and seven glasses of wine)

• Eating five servings of fruits and vegetables each day

• Not being inactive

Not being inactive meant either having a sedentary occupation and taking half an hour of exercise a day or simply having a non-sedentary job.

Those with four points were significantly less likely to have died over the period than those with none and a 60 year old with a score of zero had the same risk of dying as a 74 year old with the full four points.  Professor Kay-TeeThaw, who led the research, said, “We’ve known that individually, measures such as not smoking and exercising can have an impact upon longevity, but this is the first time we have looked at them altogether,” and “We also found that social class and BMI (body mass index) really did not have a role to play. It means a large proportion of the population really could feel health benefits through moderate change”.

The most important impact was the reduction of deaths from cardiovascular diseases. Those scoring zero were five times more likely to die from these diseases than those scoring four. There was also a relationship between score and cancer deaths. Even with known diseases, those with serious conditions did better the higher they scored than those who scored lower.

Health activists welcomed the study. It is clear that the influence of the consumerist culture has thoroughly commercialized modern Western medicine. The simple modifications which can easily be carried out by average people have been under-emphasized and the complex measures and medicines that generate more profit have been promoted.  The trends in medicine will also follow the general trends in the World. The dominant Western concepts are facing a strong challenge from the Eastern concepts. The East always promoted moderation and a healthy life style as the main pillars of good health.

[Sawraj Singh M.D. F.I.C.S. Chairman, Washington State Network for Human Rights]

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