Re: [Assam] From NY Times: Super Power Update?
On Aug 8, 2010, at 9:47 PM, kamal deka wrote: > Nothing is going to change unless system of governance is overhauled in India. I must commend you for your ability, unlike so many of our friends in this forum, to acknowledge reality, Kamal. To be able to acknowledge the truths, however bitter, is the first step towards finding solutions. So, what do you think needs overhauling? If it were for you to lead, what are the things you would overhaul, or reform or change? > Just look at Guwahati.Come the first monsoon showers, the entire city > routinely > grind to a halt as roads begin to resemble rivers in spate.AND YET,WE > HAVE A MINISTRY DEDICATED SOLELY TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE > CITY---HEADED BY A SUPER DUPER CORRUPT MINISTER!! > KJD > > On Sun, Aug 8, 2010 at 9:16 PM, Chan Mahanta wrote: >> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/world/asia/09food.html?_r=1&hp >> >> >> >> Meera Damore sat with her severely malnourished 1-½-year-old son, Pappu, in >> a hospital in Jhabua. More Photos » >> By JIM YARDLEY >> Published: August 8, 2010 >> FACEBOOK >> TWITTER >> RECOMMEND >> E-MAIL >> SEND TO PHONE >> PRINT >> REPRINTS >> SHARE >> >> JHABUA, India — Inside the drab district hospital, where dogs patter down >> the corridors, sniffing for food, Ratan Bhuria’s children are curled >> together in the malnutrition ward, hovering at the edge of starvation. His >> daughter, Nani, is 4 and weighs 20 pounds. His son, Jogdiya, is 2 and weighs >> only eight. >> Multimedia >> >> >> Photographs >> A Failure to Feed >> Related >> >> Times Topic: India >> Enlarge This Image >> >> Lynsey Addario for The New York Times >> Jogdiya, 2, lay with an intravenous drip in the Jhabua District Government >> Hospital as his father, Ratan Bhuria, looked after him and his 4-year-old >> sister. More Photos » >> Enlarge This Image >> >> Lynsey Addario for The New York Times >> A line outside the Fair Price Shop, a government store where subsidized food >> is sold, in the village of Ban outside Jhabua. More Photos » >> Landless and illiterate, drowned by debt, Mr. Bhuria and his ailing children >> have staggered into the hospital ward after falling throughIndia’s social >> safety net. They should receive subsidized government food and cooking fuel. >> They do not. The older children should be enrolled in school and receiving a >> free daily lunch. They are not. And they are hardly alone: India’s eight >> poorest states have more people in poverty — an estimated 421 million — than >> Africa’s 26 poorest nations, one study recently reported. >> >> For the governing Indian National Congress Party, which has staked its >> political fortunes on appealing to the poor, this persistent inability to >> make government work for people like Mr. Bhuria has set off an ideological >> debate over a question that once would have been unthinkable in India: >> Should the country begin to unshackle the poor from the inefficient, >> decades-old government food distribution system and try something radical, >> like simply giving out food coupons, or cash? >> >> The rethinking is being prodded by a potentially sweeping proposal that has >> divided the Congress Party. Its president,Sonia Gandhi, is pushing to create >> a constitutional right to food and expand the existing entitlement so that >> every Indian family would qualify for a monthly 77-pound bag of grain, sugar >> and kerosene. Such entitlements have helped the Congress Party win votes, >> especially in rural areas. >> >> To Ms. Gandhi and many left-leaning social allies, making food a universal >> right would ensure that people like Mr. Bhuria are not deprived. But many >> economists and market advocates within the Congress Party believe the >> delivery system needs to be dismantled, not expanded; they argue that >> handing out vouchers would liberate the poor from an unwieldy government >> apparatus and let them buy what they please, where they please. >> >> “The question is whether there is a role for the market in the delivery of >> social programs,” said Bharat Ramaswami, a rural economist at the Indian >> Statistical Institute. “This is a big issue: Can you harness the market?” >> >> India’s ability, or inability, in coming decades to improve the lives of the >> poor will very likely determine if it becomes a global economic power, and a >> regional rival to China, or if it continues to be compared with Africa in >> poverty surveys. >> >> India vanquished food shortages during the 1960s with the Green Revolution, >> which introduced high-yield grains and fertilizers and expanded irrigation, >> and the country has had one of the world’s fastest-growing economies during >> the past decade. But its poverty and hunger indexes remain dismal, with >> roughly 42 percent of all Indian children under the age of 5 being >> underweight. >> >> The food system has existed for more than half a century and has become >> riddled with co
Re: [Assam] From NY Times: Super Power Update?
Nothing is going to change unless system of governance is overhauled in India. Just look at Guwahati.Come the first monsoon showers, the entire city routinely grind to a halt as roads begin to resemble rivers in spate.AND YET,WE HAVE A MINISTRY DEDICATED SOLELY TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY---HEADED BY A SUPER DUPER CORRUPT MINISTER!! KJD On Sun, Aug 8, 2010 at 9:16 PM, Chan Mahanta wrote: > http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/world/asia/09food.html?_r=1&hp > > > > Meera Damore sat with her severely malnourished 1-½-year-old son, Pappu, in a > hospital in Jhabua. More Photos » > By JIM YARDLEY > Published: August 8, 2010 > FACEBOOK > TWITTER > RECOMMEND > E-MAIL > SEND TO PHONE > PRINT > REPRINTS > SHARE > > JHABUA, India — Inside the drab district hospital, where dogs patter down the > corridors, sniffing for food, Ratan Bhuria’s children are curled together in > the malnutrition ward, hovering at the edge of starvation. His daughter, > Nani, is 4 and weighs 20 pounds. His son, Jogdiya, is 2 and weighs only eight. > Multimedia > > > Photographs > A Failure to Feed > Related > > Times Topic: India > Enlarge This Image > > Lynsey Addario for The New York Times > Jogdiya, 2, lay with an intravenous drip in the Jhabua District Government > Hospital as his father, Ratan Bhuria, looked after him and his 4-year-old > sister. More Photos » > Enlarge This Image > > Lynsey Addario for The New York Times > A line outside the Fair Price Shop, a government store where subsidized food > is sold, in the village of Ban outside Jhabua. More Photos » > Landless and illiterate, drowned by debt, Mr. Bhuria and his ailing children > have staggered into the hospital ward after falling throughIndia’s social > safety net. They should receive subsidized government food and cooking fuel. > They do not. The older children should be enrolled in school and receiving a > free daily lunch. They are not. And they are hardly alone: India’s eight > poorest states have more people in poverty — an estimated 421 million — than > Africa’s 26 poorest nations, one study recently reported. > > For the governing Indian National Congress Party, which has staked its > political fortunes on appealing to the poor, this persistent inability to > make government work for people like Mr. Bhuria has set off an ideological > debate over a question that once would have been unthinkable in India: Should > the country begin to unshackle the poor from the inefficient, decades-old > government food distribution system and try something radical, like simply > giving out food coupons, or cash? > > The rethinking is being prodded by a potentially sweeping proposal that has > divided the Congress Party. Its president,Sonia Gandhi, is pushing to create > a constitutional right to food and expand the existing entitlement so that > every Indian family would qualify for a monthly 77-pound bag of grain, sugar > and kerosene. Such entitlements have helped the Congress Party win votes, > especially in rural areas. > > To Ms. Gandhi and many left-leaning social allies, making food a universal > right would ensure that people like Mr. Bhuria are not deprived. But many > economists and market advocates within the Congress Party believe the > delivery system needs to be dismantled, not expanded; they argue that handing > out vouchers would liberate the poor from an unwieldy government apparatus > and let them buy what they please, where they please. > > “The question is whether there is a role for the market in the delivery of > social programs,” said Bharat Ramaswami, a rural economist at the Indian > Statistical Institute. “This is a big issue: Can you harness the market?” > > India’s ability, or inability, in coming decades to improve the lives of the > poor will very likely determine if it becomes a global economic power, and a > regional rival to China, or if it continues to be compared with Africa in > poverty surveys. > > India vanquished food shortages during the 1960s with the Green Revolution, > which introduced high-yield grains and fertilizers and expanded irrigation, > and the country has had one of the world’s fastest-growing economies during > the past decade. But its poverty and hunger indexes remain dismal, with > roughly 42 percent of all Indian children under the age of 5 being > underweight. > > The food system has existed for more than half a century and has become > riddled with corruption and inefficiency. Studies show that 70 percent of a > roughly $12 billion budget is wasted, stolen or absorbed by bureaucratic and > transportation costs. Ms. Gandhi’s proposal, still far from becoming law, has > been scaled back, for now, so that universal eligibility would initially be > introduced only in the country’s 200 poorest districts, including here in > Jhabua, at the western edge of the state of Madhya Pradesh. > > With some of the highest levels of poverty and child malnutrition in the > world, Madhya Pradesh
