Haryana Edition, HR_30_August_2012 :readwhere

Haryana Edition, HR_30_August_2012 :readwhere

ACCIDENTS

http://post.jagran.com/Road-accidents-in-Haryana-claimed-2592-lives-between-JanuaryJuly-1346215914

बलबीर सिंह राठी -गजल

बलबीर सिंह राठी -गजल 

हमने पूरी मेहनत करके गुलशन खूब संवारा था

छल से फल तुम को मिलने थे छलना खेल तुम्हारा था 

जब से तुम ने बाज़ी जीती बौने होते जाते हो 

उसका कद बढ़ता जाता है जो ये बाज़ी हारा था ||

जिसको सारी उमर मरोड़ा होना था बेडौल उसे 

फिर भी क्यों कहते फिरते हो वो क़िस्मत का मारा था ||

तूफानों का शौक रहा क्यों जाने सारी उमर हमें 

तब भी तूफानों से उलझे जब कुछ दूर किनारा था ||

तुम जो जहर लिए फिरते थे वो लोगों में बाँट गये 

अमृत लाकर घर घर बांटें ये सिरदर्द हमारा था ||

मुझ को इतने हंगामों से पहले कब दिलचस्पी थी 

मेरी जानिब उन आँखों का बेहद शोख इशारा था ||

यूं तो उस पर औरों ने भी हलके फुल्के वार किये 

सब से तीखा वार था उसका जो " राठी " का प्यारा था ||

MEDICINE INTOXICATION

नागर-चंदीला व अधाना गोत्र में अब होंगे रिश्ते

नागर-चंदीला व अधाना गोत्र में अब होंगे रिश्ते

Posted On August - 26 - 2012

राजेश शर्मा/राजेश नागर

फरीदाबाद के गांव भतौला में चंदीला और नागर गोत्र का पहला रिश्ता करवाने के बाद गूर्जर नेता रूप सिंह नागर व रणवीर चंदीला ताली बजाकर स्वागत करते हुए। -शिव

फरीदाबाद/तिगांव, 26 अगस्त।  समाज में मंडराते ऑनर किलिंग के मामलों में कमी लाने के लिए गुर्जर समुदाय ने रविवार को ऐतिहासिक पहल करते हुए 11 सौ साल से प्रतिबंधित गोत्रों में शादी संबंध के रिश्ते जोडऩे की अनूठी पहल की है। गुर्जर समुदाय के नागर, चंदीला व अधाना गोत्र आपस में शादी संबंध के रिश्ते नहीं जोड़ते थे। इन गोत्रों के बीच आपस में रिश्ते जोडऩे के लिए 12 अगस्त को जिले के सबसे बड़े गुर्जर बाहुल्य गांव तिगांव में महापंचायत में सहमति जताई गई थी।
इसी कड़ी में आज गांव भतौला में जिला परिषद के पूर्व सदस्य बिशन सिंह जौड़ला की अध्यक्षता में गुर्जर नेता रूप सिंह नागर के आवास पर रिश्ते संबंधों को जोडऩे की पहल करने के लिए पंचायत हुई। पंचायत में गुर्जर समुदाय के विशिष्ट लोग उपस्थित रहे, जिनकी मौजूदगी में बुढैना गांव निवासी चंदीला गोत्र के बाबू सिंह ने अपनी बेटी ज्योति का रिश्ता नवादा तिगांव निवासी नागर गोत्र के लेखराज पहलवान के बेटे जनकराज के संग जोड़ा। पंचायत ने दोनों गोत्रों के बीच जुड़े इस रिश्ते का ताली बजाकर स्वागत किया।  गुर्जर आरक्षण संघर्ष समिति के एनसीआर अध्यक्ष रणवीर सिंह चंदीला ने कहा कि इस मामले में चंदीला गोत्र ने पहल कर सहमति जताई थी। इसका निर्णय नागर और अधाना गोत्र पर छोड़ दिया गया था। गांव तिगांव में 12 अगस्त को रूप सिंह नागर की अध्यक्षता में हुई समाज की महापंचायत में इस पर सहमति जाहिर कर मुहर लगा दी गई। गुर्जर समुदाय की यह पहल समाज में मील का पत्थर साबित होगी।  गूर्जर नेता रूप सिंह नागर ने कहा कि नागर, अधाना और चंदीला गोत्र के गांव आसपास ही स्थित हैं। इसलिए इस प्रकार के प्रतिबंध वर्तमान परिवेश में कई सामाजिक दोषों को जन्म दे सकते हैं। उन्होंने कहा कि यह बहुत ही ऐतिहासिक निर्णय है।
इस निर्णय से गुर्जर समुदाय के गोत्रों के बीच सामाजिक समरसता और अधिक सृदृढ होगी। पंचायत में मौजूद लोगों ने दहेज की बढ़ती रफ्तार पर भी चिंता जाहिर करते हुए इसे कम करने की पहल करने पर जोर दिया।
इस अवसर पर पूर्व सरपंच बीर सिंह जौड़ला, राजेश नागर, अशोक नागर, तिगांव के पूर्व सरपंच प्रताप नागर, मा.रतिराम अधाना, मा.भरत सिंह नागर, उमेद सिंह अधाना, बेगराज, भीष्म पूर्व सरपंच फरीदपुर, कुलदीप सरपंच जसाना, मा. सत्यदेव नागर, इकराम पूर्व सरपंच जसाना, प्रवीण चंदीला, बीरपाल चेयरमैन, रविंद्र ब्लॉक मैम्बर, मान सिंह पूर्व सरपंच भैंसरावली, सुशील नागर जिला पार्षद, बेगराज नागर पूर्व सरपंच कबूलपुर, खड़क सिंह, जगबीर नीमका सरपंच, करतार नागर, जगत आर्य, फिरे अधाना, बीडीओ इन्द्रपाल नागर, झबरा भुआपुर, कर्नल जे.आर. अधाना, कन्हैयालाल अधाना, गूर्जर सभा के कार्यकारी अध्यक्ष ज्ञानचंद भड़ाना, डा. एम.पी.सिंह, रणवीर बिधूड़ी, जयपाल चंदीला, जिले सिंह नम्बरदार, रोहताश नागर नवादा, योगेन्द्र नागर तिगांव, अमृत नागर, बेगराज सरपंच नवादा, हसला जिलाध्यक्ष मा.सतबीर नागर, पप्पू चेयरमैन, राजेन्द्र नागर आदि मौजूद थे

PGIMS IN FINANCIAL CRISIS

Health Care Mortgaged to Corporate Sector

Health Care Mortgaged to Corporate Sector

Amit Sengupta

A FEW months back the Planning Commission of India had put its foot squarely in its mouth by claiming that the poverty line in India can be pegged at a consumption expenditure of Rs 28.65 per day. It was just one more example of how today’s ruling classes are content in distancing themselves from the harsh reality of people’s lives in most parts of the country. The Planning Commission is now back in the news with a bold new plan to refurbish health care in India. The prescription is simple --- gradually wind up the public healthcare system and hand it over to corporate hospitals! Ridiculous as this may sound, it is the essence of the Planning Commission’s Health chapter in its Twelfth Five Year Plan document.

PLANNING COMMISSION:

TRAIL OF BROKEN PROMISES

It may be argued that the Twelfth Five Year Plan document is of little consequence, as seldom do plan documents translate into any actual action by the government. One has only to look at past plan documents to understand this. The Eleventh Plan document, for example, had said: “In the last two years of the Plan, total Plan expenditure will need to rise at about 48 per cent annually. This will result in a total health expenditure of 0.87 per cent of GDP by the centre and 1.13 per cent by States in 2011---12.” Nothing but empty promises; the total public expenditure on health has stagnated at around 1.1 per cent of GDP (0.32 per cent by the centre and 0.7 per cent by states). It is significant to note that the major source of shortfall has been the meagre allocation by the central government --- just 37 per cent of what had been promised in the Eleventh Five Year Plan.

The plan document had also projected that all sub-centres (about 1,75,000) and primary health centres (PHCs --- about 30,000) would be functional by 2010, and all Community Health Centres (CHCs --- about 6,500) would be functional by 2012. Yet statistics for 2011 show a shortfall in the targets set of 17 per cent, 18 per cent and 34 per cent respectively, for sub-centres, PHCs and CHCs. It was also projected that Infant Mortality Rate (number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births) would come down to 28 by 2012. The infant mortality rate in 2011 stood at 48! One can continue enumerating the huge differences between targets set by the plan document and actual realisation, but suffice it to say that there is almost no correspondence between promise and delivery on the ground.

The consequences of poor commitment to public health are clearly visible. Two decades after neo-liberal reforms were initiated, India now lags behind Bangladesh andNepal in many health indicators --- in South Asia we only outperform Pakistan! (See Table below.)

Under 5 Mortality Rates in South Asia

Country	Under Five Mortality Rate (Child who die before the age of 5/1,000 live births)
	1990	1995	2000	2005	2010
India	115	100	86	73	63
Pakistan	124	115	101	94	87
Sri Lanka	32	27	23	19	17
Bangladesh	143	114	86	64	48
Nepal	141	110	84	65	50

Source: World Bank Database

(http://data.worldbank.org/)

It then raises the legitimate question --- why should one be concerned about the contents of the Twelfth Five Year Plan document? The reason for grave concern is ideological --- for the prescriptions in the new plan document are ideologically motivated. For the first time, a public document to be released by the government ofIndia, proposes a road map for handing over health care to the corporate sector. In proposing such a trajectory the plan document is following in the footsteps of what neo-liberal governments have done --- often with disastrous consequences --- in other developing countries (Mexico and Colombia are prominent examples).

HEALTH SECTOR REFORMS

IN NEO-LIBERAL FRAMEWORK

Health sector reforms that are located in the neo-liberal framework follow a familiar pattern today --- be it Mexico, Colombia or India. Three decades back, the World Bank and IMF imposed several conditionalities on developing countries. The prominent among these that impacted on the health sector, was a demand that public expenditure be curtailed and user fees be imposed on public services. The decades of the eighties and nineties witnessed savage cuts on public expenditure, leading to an exponential rise in private expenses. It led to the dismantling or weakening of public health services and to the consolidation of an organised private sector that stepped in to fill the demand for health services. By the end of the nineties it had become clear that public financing of health care needed to be restored and the World Bank started advocating such restoration.

But this did not mean that the neo-liberal agenda was abandoned --- it was brought back in a different avatar. It was acknowledged that government expenditure must increase. It was also acknowledged that something had to be done fast, if large populations were to be rescued from the distress caused by a collapse of the public health system. Capital never gives up on its attempts to find a way to maximise returns. So the solution that was found was not located in a restoration of public health services. Instead, by a sleight of hand, a new opportunity emerged for capital. Government (public) expenditure must be increased, but this expansion will not be used to develop and strengthen public facilities. Instead, public money will now be pumped into the organised private sector, to whom will be handed over the responsibility of providing health care. Governments will finance but not provide care, they will become ‘managers’ of care. This is the managed care model of care that is now being promoted by neo-liberal theorists.

REFORMS

IN INDIA

The roll out of such a plan in India had its own twists and turns. The UPA-1 government, under some influence of the Left, was forced to respond to the looming crisis of health care (brought on substantially by huge cuts in health budgets in the 1990s when Sri Manmohan Singh presided over the initiation of neo-liberal reforms as finance minister) by launching the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The NRHM was designed explicitly to strengthen and expand public health facilities. The NRHM was flawed on two counts, however. It was grossly under-funded --- we have seen earlier how promised central allocation was cut by over 60 per cent. As a consequence it proved to be inadequate in fulfilling the demand for health care --- especially in the tertiary hospital sector, thereby paving the way for the emergence of an organised corporate led growth of the private sector.

The public health system stands at a critical juncture. For all its deficiencies, the NHRM has resulted in some expansion and strengthening of the public health care system. The logical step forward would have been to invest in further expansion and strengthening of this system. But for the present government, the neo-liberal logic was too difficult to resist. The first challenge that was mounted against the public system came in the form of the Rajiv Gandhi Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and similar insurance schemes in many states. Almost entirely publicly funded, these schemes provided an insurance cover for Rs 30,000 for BPL families. The catch was that institutions accredited as part of these schemes were largely private hospitals. So instead of using this substantial public investment to strengthen the public system and create long term national assets, public money was pumped into the private sector. Horror stories have now started emerging about how private hospitals have bled the RSBY and similar schemes to make money and to make a mockery of public health. In Chhattisgarh the state health department has initiated action against 22 nursing homes against which it found prima facie evidence of surgeries being done without legitimate medical reasons. It is estimated that over the last eight months, hospitals and nursing homes have claimed Rs two crore under RSBY scheme for removing the wombs of 1,800 women (Hindustan Times, August 14, 2012). Many such stories are just waiting to be uncovered in different parts of the country.

However, in spite of such challenges, the NRHM and the public health system still survives and continues to be an eyesore for the votaries of private enterprise. Lest we miss the point, the private medical sector in India is extremely powerful and has friends in high places. Today some of them have transformed into mega corporations, combining hospital care, private insurance, clinical trials industry, and pharmaceutical services. Prominent CEOs of such corporations confidently stride through the corridors of power, populate ‘task forces’ and ‘expert’ committees and have a profound influence on public policy. It is this lobby, representing the private hospital sector --- unregulated and often promoted through government subsidies --- whose not so hidden hand is clearly visible in the draft health chapter of the Planning Commission.

GROSSLY INADEQUATE

ALLOCATION FOR HEALTH

Let us now turn to some of the specific proposals in the Planning Commission’s draft (these points have been highlighted in a press statement by the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan on August 8). It may be recalled that in the led up to the formulation of the report the Planning Commission had set up a “High Level Expert Group” to give its recommendations on how the present system could be reformed. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had also constituted different expert groups to provide inputs. Over the last year several reports from these committees had indicated various proposals which were essentially designed to strengthen the public health system. There has been uniform speculation, based on various pronouncements by the government, that public expenditure would be significantly enhanced in the Twelfth Five Year Plan period.

Yet, the Plan document now recommends increase in public expenditure on health from the present 1.02 per cent to 1.58 per cent of GDP. This is even less than the modest projections made in the Eleventh Five Year Plan, which had proposed that two per cent of GDP be spent on health. The target is not only lower than previous commitments made by the government, but much lower than a minimum of five per cent of GDP that is recommended by agencies such as the World Health Organisation. The gross inadequacy of the increase proposed has to be seen in the context that India has one of the most privatised health systems in the world. Public expenditure accounts for just 29.2 per cent of health spending in India. Of about 200 countries listed by the World Bank (2010), only 13 countries --- Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Azerbaijan, Haiti, Cote d'Ivoire, Uganda, Georgia, Yemen, Chad and Tajikistan --- perform worse than India! The following table compares India’s performance in public health care spending with global averages:

Percent Public Health Expenditure

Country/Region	Public Expenditure on Health as Percent of Total Health Expenditure
India	29.20
Average of High Income Countries	65.10
Average of Low Income Countries	38.78
Average of Middle Income Countries	52.04
World	62.76

Source: World Bank Database

(http://data.worldbank.org/)

GOVERNMENT TO

ABANDON ROLE OF

HEALTH CARE PROVIDER

What is of even greater concern is the strategy proposed for restructuring of the health system. The plan document proposes a transition from: “…..the present system which is a mixture of public sector service provision plus insurance, to a system of health care delivered by a managed network.” A clear road map for thegovernment to abandon its central role of providing health care and remain a mere ‘manager’ of health services.

The document’s vision of ‘universal provision of public health care’ includes two components. “…..preventive interventions which the government would be both funding and universally providing,” and  “clinical services at different levels, defined in an Essential Health Package, which the government would finance but not necessarily directly provide.” Thus the government would confine itself to providing a small package of services while virtually all clinical services would be opened up for the corporate private sector. The government would play the role of a ‘purchaser’ of care, and will thus finance (with public money), strengthen and bolster an already resurgent corporate sector --- a diabolical ploy to hand over the profit-making clinical services sector to corporate hospital chains, and progressively wind up the public health system.

The public health system will now be asked to compete with the private sector to attract patients. A system is envisaged where: “each citizen family would be entitled to an Essential Health package in the network of their choice. Besides public facility networks organised..… private and NGO providers would also be empanelled to give a choice to the families.” Even this truncated role of the public system is qualified by the proviso that “…..public facilities will have to be strengthened, networked, and their managers provided sufficient autonomy to purchase goods and services to fill gaps as per need.” In other words, public only in name, but incorporating larger and larger components outsourced to the private sector.

Further, the document repeatedly talks about expansion of the RSBY scheme and its vision of universal healthcare is nothing but a more expanded version of the RSBY scheme. Even the Planning Commission’s own expert group had recommended against the continuance of these insurance schemes.

IDEOLOGICAL BIAS OF

PLANNING COMMISSION

The document announces another bonanza to the corporate medical sector in the form of grants to set up hospitals and private medical colleges. It says: “Health has now been included with other infrastructure sectors which are eligible for Viability Gap Funding up to a ceiling of 20 per cent of total project costs under a PPP scheme. As a result, private sector would be able to propose and commission projects in the health sector, such as hospitals and medical colleges outside metropolitan areas, which are not remunerative per-se, and claim up to 20 per cent of the project cost as grant from the Government.” It may be noted that the only eligibility requirement is the location, and not any contribution to public health goals.

Also of concern are recommendations that public health facilities will have “flexibility” to raise their own finances. The Plan document says: “Tertiary care facilities would have an incentive to generate revenues if they are provided an autonomous governance structure, which allows them flexibility in the utilization of self-generated resources within broad policy parameters laid down by the Government”. There are several ways in which such flexibilities can be misused, including in the form of levying of user charges and arrangements with private entities that seek to extract benefits that conflict with the public health goals of public institutions.

The ideological bias of the Planning Commission’s report is clear when it says: “A pure public sector delivery system involves funding a large public sector health system, with little incentive for the service providers to deliver a quality product.” Such an assertion flies in the face of global evidence that the best performing health systems are those that are publicly financed and where health care is provided by the public sector. Neighbouring Sri Lanka has been long held as an example of such a system, where over 90 per cent of in-patient care and over 50 per cent of out-patient care is provided by the public sector. Mortality and morbidity rates in Sri Lanka are far better than in India, in spite of the country having a lower per-capita GNP. In contrast, the United States, provides ‘choice’ between public and private providers but is by far the worst performing health system among all developed countries, in spite of spending over eight per cent of GDP on health care.

As we have noted earlier, the Planning Commission’s draft chapter on health for the Twelfth Five Year Plan is a clear ideological assault on the very notion of public health. The dangerous formulation in the Planning Commission’s draft must not be allowed to go through. It is understood that the Ministry of Health has expressed serious reservations regarding the Planning Commission’s document. How these differing positions within the government play out will also indicate whether policy is formulated by the parliament and executed by ministries, or whether the Planning Commission enjoys powers to veto the will of the people.

Deceit From the Ramparts of Red Fort

Deceit From the Ramparts of Red Fort

G Mamatha

ADDRESSING the country from the ramparts of Red Fort on the 65th anniversary of independence, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “We are committed to the economic, social, political and educational empowerment of SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities. Apart from effective implementation of all existing reservations for them, we have announced major scholarship and development programmes for their benefit.  I am happy to say that we have been able to persuade the private sector to some extent to take affirmative action to ensure that these sections of society get a fair share of employment in industry and trade.”

According to a newspaper report (The Hindu, July 2, 2012), nearly half of the teaching positions for SCs and STs in Central Universities still remain unfilled. The data provided by the government of India in December 2011 to an RTI query, reveals that 48.5 per cent of posts in these two categories in 24 Central Universities were vacant during 2010-2011.  It also says that, “For the year 2010-211, the total backlog in SC category at the entry-level position of lecturer was 341 out of 740 required posts. Thus, 46 per cent of these posts were unfilled. In the ST category, 197 or 53 per cent of posts were vacant out of the required posts of 369. Over 84 per cent of posts for Readers in the SC-ST category were vacant in 2010-2011. And, over 92 per cent Professor’s positions in these categories are vacant.” Reaching up the ladder to the ranks of Reader and Professor, the proportion of dalits gets all the more dismal. Our prime minister, it appears is a man who can be easily satisfied. Or should we infer that he is ignorant of facts? Hitch is, he is neither, but wants to benefit by keeping us ignorant. How else can one have the audacity to talk about the 'effective implementation of all existing reservations' despite all these statistics contradicting such statements?

The prime minister has said that he is happy to have persuaded the private sector 'to some extent to take affirmative action to ensure that these sections of society get a fair share of employment in industry and trade'. One doesn’t know the results of such persuasion. In its election manifesto, UPA-2 has not talked about persuasion and gentle nudges, but promised to enact legislation for providing reservations in private sector. Three years of failure to enact such a legislation does not earn remorse from the prime minister but earns self-praise by indulging in word jugglery! It wants to sugar-coat its betrayal towards dalits with sweet terms as 'persuasion' of the private sector. Never in the history of this government was it able to persuade the private sector to act for social good. Not in the times of rising prices to release the food grains they had stocked. Not in framing tax rules as the Vodafone anecdote reveals. Nor in the way the bankrupt Kingfisher airlines is being dealt with.

Many studies have exposed the nonchalant attitude of the private sector towards employing dalits and the role that caste plays in private sector employment. The book,Blocked by Caste: Economic Discrimination in Modern India, edited by Sukhadeo Thorat and Katherine S. Newman, throws light on some of these aspects. It says, “the people who hold privileged position within large organisations develop a sense that a certain kind of person is especially effective in their roles, leading many managers to favour potential recruits who are socially similar to themselves, a process that Kanter (1977) has termed ‘homosocial reproduction’. Conversely, employers hold stereotypes about certain out-groups as being unsuitable for employment.” It further says, “This field experiment study of job applications observed a statistically significant pattern by which, on average, college-educated lower-caste and Muslim job applicants fare less well than equivalently qualified applicants with high caste (HC) names, when applying by mail for employment in the modern private-enterprise sector. The only aspect of family background that was communicated in these applications was the applicant’s name, yet this was enough to generate a different pattern of responses to applications from Muslims and Dalits compared to those from HC Hindus. These were all highly-educated and appropriately qualified applicants attempting to enter the modern private sector, yet even in this sector, caste and religion proved influential in determining ones job chances.”

The prime minister in his speech said, “We are committed to the economic, social, political and educational empowerment of SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities.” The following table showing the differences in development indicators between SCs and other social groups, even after 65 years of independence, will indicate the hollow intentions of this government and the party heading it, which incidentally ruled the country for most of the post-independent years.

Indicators	SCs	All groups
Literacy (%)	63.5	72
Malnutrition among Women (BMI<18 .5=".5" nbsp="nbsp" o:p="o:p">

41.2

33

Underweight Children (%)

47.9

39.1

Pucca Housing (%)

38.3

66.1

No Toilet Facility (%)

65

49.2

Electricity for Domestic use (%)

61.2

75

IMR ( per 1000 live birth)

66.4

50

U5MR ( per 1000 live birth)

88.1

74.3

Under 5 mortality rate

Child Immunisation (%)

39.7

43.5

Incidence of Poverty (Rural)

20.6

14.9

Incidence of Poverty (Urban) 

25.3

14.5

Source: India – Human Development Report 2011: Towards Social Inclusion, Institute of Applied Manpower Research, Planning Commission

The extent to which dalits are 'empowered' in our country can be understood from the simple fact that they are denied access even to police stations and face immense difficulties to lodge FIRs. And even those 'empowered' dalits who 'dare' to lodge a complaint/file a case, can least expect justice to be delivered. According to the government itself, the conviction rate for the cases of atrocities on SCs and STs is between 3 to 8 per cent, while pendency of such cases in courts is 80 to 90 per cent. And trust, these are taken straight from the horse's mouth. Mukul Wasnik, the minister for social justice and empowerment, himself made this statement in the background of the recent judgement on the Bathani Tola massacre, where 21 dalits were killed and the convicts were freed.

What to speak of the 'low-level' police or the magistrate, when the government itself shamelessly violates its own laws. It is not making the stipulated allocations for the sub-plans for SCs and STs (to be allocated in proportion of their population). Even in this budget it had allocated just 7 per cent (against the mandated 16.5 per cent for SC sub plan). In spite of this, the prime minister, an eminent economist, has got the courage to talk about 'economic empowerment' of dalits! With his excellency, the master making his intentions clear, can we expect the humble courtiers to act differently? Unsurprisingly, credit disbursements to dalit entrepreneurs had dropped by 33.8 per cent in the last financial year, according to data released by the RBI.

If someone thinks that the prime minister is a sober character, think again. Despite all his inactions (or rather actions towards exclusion), he courageously promises the country that the 'best is yet to come'. For this, he places his belief on the youth. Let us hear directly from him. “We are a young nation. More importantly, we are a nation of young people. Once unleashed, the energy of our youth will drive India onto a new growth path”. Sarcasm?

Yes, in the youth in whose energy the government does not want to invest. For whom the government does not want to take the responsibility of providing quality education, for whom as the tales of our recent Olympic heroines/heroes show, the government is not interested in providing them with facilities to practice their sports. And for the children, whom the government does not want to feed by universalising the public distribution system and allows them to die malnourished. In those children who are made to stand separately in humiliation during the assembly and their lunch boxes checked before they entered their classes, their hair cut, just because they are from the unprivileged sections in the society. It is these malnourished, uneducated, unemployed youth that the government is producing in our country but wants their energy to drive the country on a growth path. Surprisingly, the president of the country had a warning for his government: 'if the concerns of the youth are not catered properly they might take to...paths'.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his government and party would do well to remember that apart from the present Gandhis who are in their fold, there was another who was called Mahatma and whose name they are exploiting. He once said, “An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching”. Forget about walking the talk, the UPA government is not even limping or crawling. If it doesn’t, of course the people are waiting for an opportunity to force it to walk – out of office.