Rejoinder on Mr. Bushs remarks on India middle class Mr. Bush is right when he is making remarks on Indian middle class. But he should not forget that there is difference between India and Bharat/ Hindustan, more then 70 percent of population is living below the poverty line in Hindustan . Here we are making efforts to present two contradictory observations.
Prosperity in India leads to food crisis: Bush Prosperity in countries like India is good but it triggers increased demand for better Nutrition, which in turn leads to higher food prices, United States President George W Bush has said. The comments come close on the heels of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice''s controversial statement that 'apparent improvement' in the diets of people in India and China and consequent food export caps is among the causes of the current global food crisis. "It also, however, increases demand. So, for example, just as an interesting thought for you, there are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. That's bigger than America. Their middle class is larger than our entire population." "And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up," he said. But lower middle class / people living below the poverty line are facing starvation deaths in India: More than 70 percent of Indias population are presenting different picture of present food crisis. This is the population of lower middle class and people living below the poverty line. The rising cost of food is forcing many families to make difficult decisions on how to spend their money. Parents are forced to cut back on what and how much food they can provide to their families, remove their children from school because they cannot afford both food and school fees, reduce spending on health, or sell key productive assets in order to cope with dire economic circumstances. These are mainly due to new economic order / impacts of globalization process. Here we are trying to present the case study of Pahariya tribe of Santal Pargana region, Jharkhand, India. This is Paharia tribe who waged first war of independence (even before 1857) against British Raj. Obviously their economy was very strong. Normally it is presumed that for better yield, one has to give more inputs. Earlier local Paharia tribe people used to take cash crops like Barbatti( it is a sort of bean),cocoon ( we are getting silk threat from it), mustered, pulses etc . Practically no inputs were required for all these cash crops. All these cash crops were grown on hill slops of Santal Pargana region. And they were prosperous and capable to fight with any external imperialist forces. Now situation has changed. Barbatti is being exported from South Eastern Countries and silk threats are coming from China. The prices of these items have not increased since more than one decade. Naturally they are forced to have starvation deaths. Here is one case of starvation death of Paharia women When the state was busy in welcoming the first visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Bokaro and Jamshedpur on 21st April,2008, hundreds kilometers far from there in a small village at Thadi under Ramgarh block of Dumka district there was mourned as one primitive tribe women, Kaiti Pujahar died of starvation She had not had anything for the last several days however the BDO of Ramgarh, Shivnaraya Yadav, had provided her Rs 5000 on April 18, but it was too late. Kaiti, a widow, has left one son and two daughters behind her. She was so unfortunate that her own son had separated himself and was residing in the same village with his own family, wife and two children. Her son, Nakul Pujhar, had been availing the facilities of red-card holders since the days of separation, as he admitted. Her son was even not helping his sisters, Surji and Reena Pujahar who were residing with her mothers. According to the villagers, when Kaiti fall sick severely last week one of the villagers Surendra Mohli, informed the local BDO, Shivnarayan Yadav, who rushed to see her on April 18 along with a doctor, Sanjay Mishra, posted at Nonihat. When I came to know about Kaiti I rushed to her village and provided her Rs 5000 immediately. Her condition was critical. The local doctor referred her to Dumka Sadar Hospital on the same day. She was admitted there, told the BDO to the media persons, adding that the administration had also assured 10 kg of rice to her immediately. Though the administration announced 10 kg rice, but it was not provided timely. Sources said that she had Rs 150 in her passbook out of which Rs 100 she had withdrawn some months back But, Kaiti could not avail the facilities provided by the administration at eleventh hours, as she died at Dumka Sadar Hospital on Monday night. Her body was sent to the village on Tuesday where her last rite is yet to be performed till the time of reporting. However, the doctors denied starvation was the cause of her death. He told the media persons that she was admitted to the hospital in critical condition. As the administration believes that it was not a starvation death, her postmortem was not done. But on the other hand, the villagers and now even her son claimed that it was starvation death. Her son, Nakul Pujahar, gives his own plea for not been able to manage foods for big family. I am a labourer. Since my earning is very limited it is hard for me to run the family smoothly, he said. And again another story:- Inflation has not only affected the common people, but also to the governments school, as mid-day meal is not being supplied to the children for the last two months in the district. Sources said that the allotment for the months of March and April has not been sent to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) resulting in district administration is unable to provide mid-day meal to 1,82,339 students studying in all the ten blocks of government run schools. The last mid-day meal the schools had received in the month of February, sources added. According to the education department reports, the much-published schemes is being run in all the 2444 schools of the district. The department would receive about 3857 quintals of rice per month for the purpose, but in absence of allotment the scheme is virtually closed for the last two months. As per the provision, the union government supplies rice and other items to the schools only for 10 months in a fiscal. After receiving last allotment in February, the schools are waiting its start in the current financial year, the reports added. The headmasters have expressed concerned over the possibility of dropout in absence of the scheme. The scheme has so far attracted the children, especially belonging to the below poverty line, towards the schools and their numbers are increasing day by day. IRONOCALLY , there is major loan component of World Bank in primary education project of India. Finally surrendering before Extremists:- Due to above mentioned emerging situations, local tribal people have very limited options left. Either to opt starvation deaths or to surrender before extremist forces. Here we are presenting a recent incidence occurred in our area. Five persons, including three police personnel, were killed in an encounter with CPI( Maoist) at Pokharia village, a Paharia dominated area, under Shikari Para block of Dumka district, Jharkhand, India on 26th April,2008. Those dead included the Officer In charge of Shikaripara police station, Shamshad Ansari. The other victims were two police personnels and a Maoist squad member, believed to be Sebastian of Dhanbad, and Kalu Dehri ( paharia) a villager of Nagalbhanga. The police nabbed an area commander and recovered sophisticated weapons and some Naxal Literature after the encounter, which lasted for five hours. Manoj Dehri ( Paharia), the arrested area Commander, is said to have controlled operations in Madhuban area of this district. . Moderator Note on this post: 1. Please, do not send your message in attachment, after formating your message you can just post it at body of mail. Any unreliable source of Attachment is the main source of virus so, please avoid to opening attachment no matter either, its sent by your dears one or else because, sometimes hacker can use mail server routing of your reliable contact and you may be loser. 2. Moderator has to convert your word's attachment's contents in HTML format to post at forum. So, its time consuming process. 3. Please, do not CC or BC or directly send any discussion messages to other Jharkhand Forum members whom you don't know. It is very possible that, they can revert you rudely and you do not like their reply; they may dont want to receive mail from you individually if you are unknown for them or just know him/her as a Jharkhand Forum member; or they dont want to receive large no of mail at their mail id etc. Thank you..
Rejoinder on Mr. Bushs remarks on India middle class
Mr. Bush is right when he is making remarks on Indian middle class. But he should not forget that there is difference between India and Bharat/ Hindustan, more then 70 percent of population is living below the poverty line in Hindustan . Here we are making efforts to present two contradictory observations.
Prosperity in India leads to food crisis: Bush
Prosperity in countries like India is good but it triggers increased demand for better Nutrition, which in turn leads to higher food prices, United States President George W Bush has said.
The comments come close on the heels of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice''s controversial statement that 'apparent improvement' in the diets of people in India and China and consequent food export caps is among the causes of the current global food crisis.
"It also, however, increases demand. So, for example, just as an interesting thought for you, there are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. That's bigger than America. Their middle class is larger than our entire population."
"And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up," he said.
But lower middle class / people living below the poverty line are facing starvation deaths in India:
More than 70 percent of Indias population are presenting different picture of present food crisis. This is the population of lower middle class and people living below the poverty line. The rising cost of food is forcing many families to make difficult decisions on how to spend their money. Parents are forced to cut back on what and how much food they can provide to their families, remove their children from school because they cannot afford both food and school fees, reduce spending on health, or sell key productive assets in order to cope with dire economic circumstances. These are mainly due to new economic order / impacts of globalization process.
Here we are trying to present the case study of Pahariya tribe of Santal Pargana region, Jharkhand, India. This is Paharia tribe who waged first war of independence (even before 1857) against British Raj. Obviously their economy was very strong. Normally it is presumed that for better yield, one has to give more inputs. Earlier local Paharia tribe people used to take cash crops like Barbatti( it is a sort of bean),cocoon ( we are getting silk threat from it), mustered, pulses etc . Practically no inputs were required for all these cash crops. All these cash crops were grown on hill slops of Santal Pargana region. And they were prosperous and capable to fight with any external imperialist forces. Now situation has changed. Barbatti is being exported from South Eastern Countries and silk threats are coming from China. The prices of these items have not increased since more than one decade. Naturally they are forced to have starvation deaths.
Here is one case of starvation death of Paharia women
When the state was busy in welcoming the first visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Bokaro and Jamshedpur on 21st April,2008, hundreds kilometers far from there in a small village at Thadi under Ramgarh block of Dumka district there was mourned as one primitive tribe women, Kaiti Pujahar died of starvation
She had not had anything for the last several days however the BDO of Ramgarh, Shivnaraya Yadav, had provided her Rs 5000 on April 18, but it was too late.
Kaiti, a widow, has left one son and two daughters behind her. She was so unfortunate that her own son had separated himself and was residing in the same village with his own family, wife and two children. Her son, Nakul Pujhar, had been availing the facilities of red-card holders since the days of separation, as he admitted. Her son was even not helping his sisters, Surji and Reena Pujahar who were residing with her mothers.
According to the villagers, when Kaiti fall sick severely last week one of the villagers Surendra Mohli, informed the local BDO, Shivnarayan Yadav, who rushed to see her on April 18 along with a doctor, Sanjay Mishra, posted at Nonihat. When I came to know about Kaiti I rushed to her village and provided her Rs 5000 immediately. Her condition was critical. The local doctor referred her to Dumka Sadar Hospital on the same day. She was admitted there, told the BDO to the media persons, adding that the administration had also assured 10 kg of rice to her immediately.
Though the administration announced 10 kg rice, but it was not provided timely. Sources said that she had Rs 150 in her passbook out of which Rs 100 she had withdrawn some months back
But, Kaiti could not avail the facilities provided by the administration at eleventh hours, as she died at Dumka Sadar Hospital on Monday night. Her body was sent to the village on Tuesday where her last rite is yet to be performed till the time of reporting.
However, the doctors denied starvation was the cause of her death. He told the media persons that she was admitted to the hospital in critical condition.
As the administration believes that it was not a starvation death, her postmortem was not done.
But on the other hand, the villagers and now even her son claimed that it was starvation death. Her son, Nakul Pujahar, gives his own plea for not been able to manage foods for big family. I am a labourer. Since my earning is very limited it is hard for me to run the family smoothly, he said.
And again another story:-
Inflation has not only affected the common people, but also to the governments school, as mid-day meal is not being supplied to the children for the last two months in the district.
Sources said that the allotment for the months of March and April has not been sent to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) resulting in district administration is unable to provide mid-day meal to 1,82,339 students studying in all the ten blocks of government run schools. The last mid-day meal the schools had received in the month of February, sources added.
According to the education department reports, the much-published schemes is being run in all the 2444 schools of the district. The department would receive about 3857 quintals of rice per month for the purpose, but in absence of allotment the scheme is virtually closed for the last two months.
As per the provision, the union government supplies rice and other items to the schools only for 10 months in a fiscal. After receiving last allotment in February, the schools are waiting its start in the current financial year, the reports added.
The headmasters have expressed concerned over the possibility of dropout in absence of the scheme. The scheme has so far attracted the children, especially belonging to the below poverty line, towards the schools and their numbers are increasing day by day.
IRONOCALLY , there is major loan component of World Bank in primary education project of India.
Finally surrendering before Extremists:-
Due to above mentioned emerging situations, local tribal people have very limited options left. Either to opt starvation deaths or to surrender before extremist forces. Here we are presenting a recent incidence occurred in our area.
Five persons, including three police personnel, were killed in an encounter with CPI( Maoist) at Pokharia village, a Paharia dominated area, under Shikari Para block of Dumka district, Jharkhand, India on 26th April,2008. Those dead included the Officer In charge of Shikaripara police station, Shamshad Ansari. The other victims were two police personnels and a Maoist squad member, believed to be Sebastian of Dhanbad, and Kalu Dehri ( paharia) a villager of Nagalbhanga. The police nabbed an area commander and recovered sophisticated weapons and some Naxal Literature after the encounter, which lasted for five hours. Manoj Dehri ( Paharia), the arrested area Commander, is said to have controlled operations in Madhuban area of this district.
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Moderator Note on this post:
1. Please, do not send your message in attachment, after formating your message you can just post it at body of mail. Any unreliable source of Attachment is the main source of virus so, please avoid to opening attachment no matter either, its sent by your dears one or else because, sometimes hacker can use mail server routing of your reliable contact and you may be loser.
2. Moderator has to convert your word's attachment's contents in HTML format to post at forum. So, its time consuming process.
3. Please, do not CC or BC or directly send any discussion messages to other Jharkhand Forum members whom you don't know. It is very possible that, they can revert you rudely and you do not like their reply; they may dont want to receive mail from you individually if you are unknown for them or just know him/her as a Jharkhand Forum member; or they dont want to receive large no of mail at their mail id etc.
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