Power crisis in Bihar

Let me present some data before I begin.

Population (million)
India                = 1210
Bihar               = 0103
Patna              = 0006
Rest of Bihar   = 0097

Total Installed capacity of Power generation (MW)
India                                                    = 172000
Bihar's share                                        = 001695
Actual supply                                       = 000677
Emergency services and Patna's share   = 000600
Rest of Bihar                                        = 000077

Per capita terms (MW/million)
India                       = 142.1
Bihar's share           = 016.5
Actual supply          = 006.5
Patna                      = 100.0
Rest of Bihar           = 000.8

India/ Rest of Bihar = 178

Right then, take a deep breath, drink some water or may be blur out the 'f' word. If you still can't digest it, see a doctor. Rest of Bihar (8% of India) is 178 times more deprived than an average Indian and you say we are backward.

Electrification is one thing but providing electricity a completely different one. Electricity is one of the most basic infrastructures required to start any business/industrial establishment and so no jobs, no growth, no development. I won't go on on this topic, we all are aware.

I will tell you an incident of Bhagalpur (3rd largest district in Bihar).

Some 8-10 years back, the power scenario was less than 1 hour per day for around 1 month or so. A group of people staged non-violent protest infront of the electricity department. The protesters were shut up in a warehouse and beaten up badly. The incident was widely reported and out of nowhere there was electricity for more than 12 hours the next day.

This March, same scenario, no electricity, no water. Without any prior announcement of bandh, an organised protest started all over the city at around 10 am. The two buildings of the electricity departments, 2 jeeps and 8 motor cycles were set ablaze by the violent mob. The aam aadmi supported the bandh. Administration was caught unprepared and could do nothing but watch. The incident was widely reported and out of nowhere there was electricity for more than 12 hours the next day.

Questions?

1. Where did the electricity suddenly come from ?
2. What precedent does "the sense of victory through undemocratic means" set forth ?
3. Why was the administration unable to sniff such widespread organised action coming up ?
4. Why the hell is 8 % of Indian population 178 times deprived ?

This answers one grave question though - "Why do the Biharis migrate to other states ?"

Growth is painful

Ask the teenager about growing wisdom tooth. Ask a chubby guy about growing belly. Ask the middle class family about growing budget. Ask the poor parents of a growing daughter. Ask the parents of growing disabled child. Ask the poor man about growing prices. Ask the slum of a growing city. Ask the rivers and forests about propulation growth. Ask the nature about industrialiasation. Ask the humanity about growing intolerance. Growth is invariably accompanied by unavoidable evils that leads to pain. Why do we want growth then ?

You need to mine aluminium or build a dam so you decided to clear up some thousand hectares of forest land. Take the tribals out of forest, give them homes and work in a town and education for their kids. You call this development. Let us see who are happy ? The MNC which got the project, the bureaucrat that gave the clearances, government which can boast of growth. Who bears the pain - the atmosphere which would have more CO2 at its disposal, the biodiversity, the tribals whose community is completely broken and identity is lost. Right, this was a happy case scenario when the tribals get what they are promised. Reality- 10 % of the tribals die in the process of opposing such projects, political bodies use the opportunity to gain political mileage but do actually nothing. 30 % of them join the naxals. 60 % make up for the slums and work at construction sites.

Growth is accompanied by inflation. Growth is for the rich but inflation is for the marginal. The big corporates earn huge profits, where does the money go ? To the rich shareholders, hefty bonuses to the CEOs and nothing to the aam aadmi. The rise in prices of basic goods and services affects the aam aadmi and not the corporates.There is growth in prices of grains and vegetables but why is the farmer still poor ? Because the grain and vegetable has changed some 10 hands in between the farmer and the consumer and those 10 hands(business) made all the money.

India has been growing at more than 8 % (average) since the last 6-7 years. I can see urbanisation but not without slums and increased crime. I can see the stock market booming, the FIIs making money but only at the loss of the retail investor. I can see the rich guy travelling on subsidised petrol but 60 % agricultural lands are still unirrigated and monsoon dependent. I can see hill city Lavasa coming up but i cannot see more than 5 MBBS doctors in Dantewada (population of 70 Lakhs). I saw green revolution and India attain food sufficiency but i still see India as the most malnutritioned country. I see Ambani topping Forbes list but I still see India low on human development index.

It is the crisis of growth. Growth is painful !

Sailing against the wind

My name is Raman lal(49). I work as a police constable in Delhi. My salary is Rs 5500 per month. I also get certain articles of day to day use worth around Rs 1000 per month and certain other benifits.

Given the privileged policeman job I am in I had numerous opportunities to earn more but I have never taken a bribe in my entire career while my co-workers make Rs 200 on an average daily. Senior babus donot treat me well because of my integrity and usually i get a field posting. I thank God that i have been able to sustain field pressure and strain even at this age. It is also sad that people look towards any policemen with suspicion and so towards me. Although it hurts, i try to remain friendly and calm. Sometimes I have to do a continuous 12 hour shift, sometimes a night shift, and sometimes on festivals but i have handled all this well during my 20 years of service.

We are a family of 8, my parents, my wife Laxmi, my daughters Geeta(21), Gayatri(18), Gauri(15) and my son Ghanshyam(11). We had decided to educate our children and take care of all their needs even when my earnings were little. Laxmi has managed our minuscule budget in an efficient way. I remember 8 years back when i brought her a new saaree on Deepawali, she was in tears and told me to return it. She said - "When you have not had a new shirt since last 5 years how can i have a new saaree." We ensure that our children get new clothes every Deepawali.

Ghanshyam and Gauri go to the secondary school, Gayatri and Geeta go to the women's college. Geeta will complete her graduation this year and then we will get her married. Laxmi has been able to save Rs 1.5 lakh and I arranged Rs. 6 Lakh through premature withdrawal of my PF benifits - a total of Rs. 7.5 Lakh. We have been looking for a brahmin(of our caste) bridegroom for Geeta but have had little success. A graduate brahmin with a Rs 5000 per month job demands a dowry of Rs. 8 Lakh. I cannot spend all on Geeta's marriage, I have to think about Gayatri and Gauri too. Hopefully we will be able to find a fitting groom for Geeta.

My father has diabates and blood pressure, he is bed-ridden. I being a government employee my family has free access to all the government hospitals. Though the conditions are not well at the city hospital we can afford only this. My mother has been nursing for him patiently all these years even when she herself is quite old.

I have faith - everything will be fine. God has been graceful to us all these years, he will continue to shower his blessings on my family. My only prayer is that my integrity doesn't budge in our adversity.

I have to go with the flow, the system is corrupt !

Corruption is a evil that perpetuates through the veins of the government, the private organisations, the media and almost all of us. From the street police charging Rs 1 from a flower vendor to multi billion dollar scams, corruption is present in all forms and sizes. Over the years it has adapted to the changing environment. From the era of welfarism and licence raj to the era of liberalisation and arbitrary environment clearances and stoppages, corruption charts its own way. Today corruption has become an accepted reality. But isn't it we who have accepted this reality.

The impact of corruption is huge. It stalls inclusive development, undermines social progress, undercuts the confidence of citizens in fairness of the government institutions, erodes rule of law, distort competitive conditions, discourages investment, fosters black market economy, raises new security threats(and this is not an end to it). It sucks through the nation's wealth and values thereby destroying the socio-economic fabric facilitating the powerful and rich to become more and more rich and the poor and marginalized more poor. What is more alarming today in the context of India today is corruption has spread through the judiciary, armed forces and media as well. Even the top corruption watchdog of India - the central vigilance commission is not free from it.

What are the reasons for corruption ? The obvious blame is on the system, isn't it ? The dark reality is that the real cause of corruption lies within us. It is we the people who either out of fear or out of greed act in a manner that leads to corruption. We take unfair advantage over the weaker others, it is we who butter the managers for promotions, it is we who avoid the tax by bribing the IT official, it is we who buy from the black market, it is we who pay the bribes, moreover it is we who form the system. The value system of the society is continuously getting eroded and this acts as a catalyst in the spread of corruption.

The only way corruption can be contained is through integrity of leadership, improved governance, government accountability and most of all active public involvement. It is we who make the system, it is we who elect the system, it is people from among us who give and take bribes. The power lies with us. We can make a hundred anti-corruption laws but corruption obeys the Darwin's theory of evolution. It adapts and finds a way out. Before independence we had the British, after independence we had the licence raj and after liberalisation we have the regulatory bodies. The membrane has never been impermeable.

It is the spirit of law that matters and it is we the people who can make or degrade our own society, our own country. We are lucky to be in a democratic country that gives us the freedom to discuss these issues openly, otherwise who would have thought of a mega billion dollar scam coming to the fore in China ? We need to appreciate the basic human rights that we enjoy, at the same time we should also respect rights of the marginalized. We must not use our relative economic supremacy to gain an unfair advantage over others.

Few of us know that the Indian constitution provides a strong ammunition to the Indian people to fight corruption - The Right to Information Act. It takes Rs. 30 to file an RTI application and find out the details of the money being spent by the MP of your city. Aren't we lucky. It's time the gen-next realizes its responsibility. We have the ballot, we have the RTI, we make the government and we can chose to hold them accountable. All we need to do is to re imbibe the lost values. Its high time we the educated and we the advantageous realized - "Yes, we can"

On a lighter note, here are the three laws of Incorruptibility:

1. Incorruptibility index = f(distraction coefficient), where distraction coefficient is directly proportional to progress.

2. Batman's incorruptibility index is 0.

3. Incorruptibility index of any person is always greater than that of a Batman.

What's your Corruptibility Index ? I am the Batman :P