WE NEED A GOVERNMENT…
A few like me, had a dream of a
Powerful India- a dream that took shape in 1970's and under the magical spell of Vikram
Sarabhai, the capitalist and Scientist of the country who set up COMSAT and
TERLS.
It was a realization, the nation needs strong
ideas and concepts, the vision for futuristic technology development, with
minimum lag period to commercialization. A nation cannot sustain on commerce
alone to be an economic power, needs to develop such frontier technologies that
has a global demand. It was with same mission that I set out to explore the
scientific developments in the country and bring it before the Nation that the 'Turning Point' Programme on Doordarshan, the national broadcaster had included all such notable achievements.
Earlier having been to several Research Laboratories and interacted with the scientific community from various faculties, the slumbering sleep of Indian scientific institutions over the bed of indigenisation and routine academic pursuits reduced the country to be a commercial hub than a productive nation. Yet, in few areas like Space, Chemical Technology and Nuclear Sciences India achieved self reliance by the last decade of 20th century.
With one of the largest network of Scientific and Agricultural Research Institutions and faculties, India could not develop any such frontier technologies, with a cutting edge.
We have separate budgets for Railways, yet the most priority sector, Research and Development never was looked upon with all that gravity it needed. The Parliament of India is the least informed about our scientific developments and programmes. Thus, Technology development and research projects never became a part of the budgetary explanations or debates. This led to the overlap in research projects within Scientific Laboratories and with those of Academic Institutions or Universities. The appointment of scientific personnel in key areas or the heads of departments are carried out within the closed doors of the Department of Science Technology.
Assessment of the Scientists and their promotions are based on the number of publications in the international and national journals and periodicals. The utility and the value of the technologies they developed or the number of technology transfers, worthiness of the patents in the fiscal receipts get submerged in the count of publications. A senior scientist in 20-25 years of career will have a minimum 30 to 40 publications or even a few hundred of them to the credit. Duplicity or repetitions with change in title and data analysis are never in the consideration. A scientist who writes 40 papers in a 20 year period on an average produces 2 papers a year. A paper takes minimum 10 to 15 days to format and in 11 months what quality research can be done to produce two papers?
The Scientific Research has to be brought under the purview of the parliamentary review.
2. AGRICULTURE-
India, the nation that taught the world organised and permanent cultivation, irrigation and cultivation below water level, she, by the 21st century became a graveyard of farmers. The status of the farmer and farm labourer remains the same for ages.
The worst ever governmental policy intervention was the Food Security Bill, in a country where farmers lead a life of uncertainty and insecurity. Lack of planning and policy approaches brought the farmer to the debt trap. Farmers never received any benefits of the value addition of their produce or the hike in produces. Farmers remained as an onlooker of this gruesome betrayal of the markets and the middlemen. Such policies should guarantee Farm and farmer security .
Although a Mission has been created on the reclamation of the waste land, the Government have not taken into account of the massive disaster of decay of the soil conditions of the Gangetic belt. NRSA had conducted several satellite remote sensing studies on the situation of the region as early as 1990s.
Education on Agriculture in India started in the Madras presidency in the latter half of the Eighteenth century, in the schools. Here farming was introduced as practical work for the School students. From there, today we have massive Agricultural, Horticultural, Veterinary, and Fishery educational and research Institutions including Universities.
However, farm labour and their standard of living never became a subject of extensive research or Administrative consideration. A trade that confine one to more and more impoverishment, the new generation is slowly distancing from the farm labour, in many of the states, acute shortage of farm labour and influx illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
Mismanagement and improprieties in the concept and implementation of MNREGS also will add to the resisting labour force to cumbersome farming job that will paralyze the Agricultural sector in the coming decade.
The Food Security Bill can only create additional burden to the states and wasteful duplication of administrative structures in the Distribution and management systems.The Farm Security and extension or adoption of farming in neighbouring countries can only address the food security in India. Quality of food is to be assured through such policy approaches.
3. RURAL DEVELOPMENT
From 1950 to 2013, if the entire spending on rural development was to benefit 1% of the rural India, in 63 % of rural areas would have become self sustainable economies. Rural development is a unproductive administrative concept, that has created more poverty and deprivation.Rural link roads, PMSGY, LAD programmes, and recently MNREGS all together has created such infrastructures that have no substantial relevance to the rural productivity, economy and standard of living. SLEEPING COUNTRY:-Rural India suffers under the heat and heels of ‘Administrative Terrorism’ that curtails the reach of developmental increments to the actual beneficiary, the inarticulate and helpless commoners. A large section of the administration does not need name or designation – instead only a common sign board- Mr. NO, or Ms. NO.This resulted in the deprivation, lack of trust and insecurity in the far-flung areas paving way for disintegrating ideologies to perpetuate. The helpless people caught between the state machinery and the armed cadres, are again victims of doubt. So far, no governments tried to look back into the administrative excesses, lapses and misgivings that led to the situation. Not a single administrative official has been questioned. The security expenses today, alone if spent in a rational way and a management process is set into motion, the situations will dramatically improve.Many of us have forgotten the Naxal Movement in Kerala that unleashed terror to create societal insecurity and distrust on the law and order machinery. The state governments understood the situation and this led to the gulf boom. The sudden change in the rural economy led to the erosion of Naxal movement couple with the effective intervention of the state’s law and order machinery.Creation of higher centres of learning and research should be the forerunner of economic transformation of the rural areas.WE have learnt to sleep over any conflict emerged out of policy and system failures, leaving it to the destiny in the hands of our security forces.
4. CHILD LABOUR:-
Our Law makers were careful in creating a law abolishing child labour- a carpet ban on child labour till the age of 14.The Act does not provide any scope for the 14+ to have any source of or means of earning.How can we stream line our industry, commerce and trading establishments to provide mandatory labour for 14+ age groups in the respective areas.As a vocational training or Capacity building, there need to be a proper directive for schools to have a score for jobs under any of the commercial establishment from a Kiosk to an Industrial unit.Also, it has to be made mandatory that 100 days of farm labour experience with documentary evidence and daily report is mandatory for any qualification from Higher Secondary to graduation.
5. KNOW ABOUT US:-
Sitting at 7, Race course road, the Prime Minister of India should have access to information regarding any citizen or family even at the most remote corner of Pangso, or Longsa , Tawang, or Bruini, or it be the cave dwellers- Chola Naykans in the Western Ghats.
Prime Minister having access to such information content through National Informatics Center data base, the nation will have a clear delivery mechanism, and can ensure, the increments of development and societal security reaches each and every family.
