The Internet has as many disadvantages as it does advantages

Internet after its discovery in 1970's has become an important source for obtaining information as well as for communication. Since then it has been used in various fields like business, education, communication, marketing, research etc. However as a coin always has two sides, internet too has both advantages as well as disadvantages.

Firstly, if we look for advantages internet has made life very easy. Students can get every desired material for their studies from internet. They can find various reference books,different ideas for their projects online. Business people have professional sites like linked-in to make and maintain their professional relationships and share business ideas.If we talk about communication various social networking sites like Facebook,Twitter help people living in different parts of world to connect with each other. People share various news from different parts and their experiences and opinion about them. They can also do video chatting with their loved ones sitting in different parts of world.One can shop online sitting at home. We can buy whatever we want by just a single click on internet.Scientist communicate with their other colleagues and share researches online.

On the other hand Internet also has as many disadvantages as advantages.Students waste their time by playing games,chatting online and sometimes they look for websites which have unsuitable data for them.People sometimes misuse internet in offices and do unnecessary chatting and do not concentrate on their work which affects company's productivity.Sometimes we think we are talking to a friendly person on social networking site but that can be a dangerous stranger.Many a times there are network and connection problems with internet which affects work.It is is also difficult for old people to understand this new technology and use it.

So, to conclude, though internet is boon in every aspect  in the present era but it has to be used with caution, care and intelligence. It is a sort of double edged sword that needs to be used carefully.

Is single party government is possible in India?

Is single party government is possible in India?

Since elections to the 16^th Lok Sabha is going on in India and what we have been witnessing is uncertainty and unpredictability in the sense that no clear cut picture is coming out that which party is able to form government at the centre.  The way the two important parties Congress and BJP are cutting each other's support and rise of the Third Front and Fourth Front  to form a non Congress non BJP government has forced us to think on a very important questions; Is any single party able to form government?  Or the trend of making coalition government will continue? The answer is more tilted towards the coalition government which once again will surely form the government at the center.

Coalition government means when no single party is able to muster clear cut majority in the parliament and formed government with the help of outside support of the political parties to form the government at the center.  Gone are the days when Indian party system was dominated by single party system i.e. congress party from (1947-1977).  It was only in 1977 the hegemony of the congress party as a ‘dominant party’, ‘catchall party’ or an ‘umbrella party’ breakdown and Janata party formed the government. Since then Indian democracy has undergone a change from single dominant congress party system to multi party and coalition governments.  What led to the breakdown of the congress party and rise of the coalition governments? 

It is the rise of the regional parties providing an alternative to congress party, over centralization of powers, fragmentation, defections, and rise of the state level political forces to represent state specific interests which led to the breakdown of congress as a natural party of governance and consequent rise of the coalition governments.

In India the era of coalition politics started in 1989 but efforts at amalgamating a political coalition at the national level were made from the days of Janata party (which formed the first non congress government at the centre in 1977) which followed by various fronts led by Janata dal in (1989, 1996, 1999), the BJP perhaps the first individual political party in 1998 which formed coalition government.

 Since then there is widely held assumption that coalition government is one of the most unstable governments because it leads to hung parliament and also posing challenges to democracy. But to refute the argument as far as coalition governments is concerned it is one of the most stable governments because it leads to deepening and widening of the democracy in the ways:

1)      Party system has dramatically transformed (breakdown of the congress as dominant party) underlying the importance of the regional parties.

2)      Regional and state level interests have been given importance which was brushed aside during the centralized planning.

3)      There has been political empowerment of historically marginalized groups and also increase in participation especially by lower castes and classes as well as women and rural voters.

4)      Coalition government work without any particular ideology. It is based on the recognition that their common goals are better served through joint rather than individual action.

5)      Coalition governments have the courage to take major policy initiatives of a kind which the government enjoying comfortable majority would not be in position to take. Some such decisions are nuclear testing, privatization and policies vis -a vis Pakistan and Kashmir, Indo- U.S nuclear deal.

6)      Parties in coalition are able to represents specific interests group and also at the same continue to maintain their distinct identities within the coalition.

 So to conclude the argument that a coalition government is naturally unstable no longer seem to be defendable because it proved longevity and stability and the best instance for such a view is 1998 -2004 NDA government. Further at this juncture with such political uncertainty the formation of a single party government is not seems to be possible. In India with such a multi diverse society coalition will long to stay with no room for the single party.

Has SEZ Policy of India delivered? Merits and Demerits of SEZ Policy of India.

China and India’s GDP has had a phenomenal growth outperforming world’s average growth rates and other lower and middle income countries during the past whole decade and more. While China has had an annualized growth rate of above 10 percent, India has not had its growth story that terrific. China has always been a role model for India in many activities and adopting industry promotion policies such as formation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) is one of them. While the same policy has brought tremendous benefits for China and turned out to be a successful policy, the implementation and implication of the same in India has always been in doldrums and questioned.

Looking at pre-globalization period, India’s prevailing development strategy placed emphasis upon the ‘outward orientation’ of countries, with particular emphasis on exports. Export promotion was seen as an important policy for economic growth in developing countries. In this scenario, export processing zones (EPZs) had become rather popular trade policy instruments due to their catalytic role in imparting outward orientation to the economies. EPZs were seen as key instrument not only for promoting exports and earning foreign exchange but also for stimulating economic growth through additional investment, technology transfers, and employment generation. The first zone was set up in Kandla as early as 1965 followed by the

Santacruz export processing zone which came into operation in 1973.

The basic objective of setting up EPZs in India was to promote exports and foreign exchange earnings. Though the objectives of EPZs were not clearly spelt out in India until the late 1980s, in actual practice the predominant condition in selecting EPZ units had been the expected value addition component of exports. However, EPZs were criticized for their effectiveness and were plagued with controversies regarding the beneficial effects of EPZs onto the economy.

The SEZ scheme introduced by the government of India in April 2000 thus has its genesis in the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) scheme, which was introduced way back in 1965 and under the new scheme all the existing EPZs were converted into SEZs. Though SEZ policy still has confound itself in controversies and criticism, there are still some aspects which needs some attention.

SEZ policy has directly benefited economy is fallowing ways:

1.      Employment Generation: The employment effect of SEZs operates through three channels : one, SEZs generate direct employment for skilled and unskilled labour ; two, they also generate indirect employment; and three, they generate employment for women workers. The increased employment opportunities have empowered women and have made them more independent improving their relative status and bargaining power within households.

2.      Skill Formation: Formation of SEZs and new job requirements increase firm level activity whereby the labour force acquires skills from within the firm through training and learning by doing on the job. Zone units can thus directly affect the skill formation as workers are provided additional training on- and off the job. Also it involves upgrading of the education system to cater to the needs of the zone units.

3.      Attract investors: SEZs offer a highly conducive investment climate to attract FDI by making up for infrastructural deficiencies and procedural complexities that characterize developing countries. Typically, FDI brings with it technology transfer, managerial, and other skills (such as marketing and distribution), access to markets and training for staff.

4.      Technology Upgrading: SEZs attract export-oriented FDI and promote other forms of collaboration between local firms and MNCs. Global standards, low-cost competition, and advances in technology raise challenges for the SEZ units competing in global value chains. This stimulates learning and innovation which are crucial aspects of human development.

5.      Exports: EPZ exports registered an impressive growth rate over the period 1966 to 2002. EPZ exports increased in India from less than Rs.1 million in 1966 to over Rs. 97727 million in 2002. The icing on the cake comes when we compare the gross increase in exports with respect to the increase in the employment. Gross exports rose much faster than employment in these zones. As a result, exports per employee increased at the annual growth rate of 24% and a trend growth rate of 14.6%. Percentage Growth in exports in 2007-08 have been 92% over 2006-07. The overall growth of exports has been 381% over past four years (2003-04 to 2007-08).

(Source: Indian Council For Research On International Economic Relations)

6.      Manufacturing Sector: Share of manufacturing industry in the exports grew from negligible percentage in 1970 to above 6 percent in 2005.

(Sources: Ministry of Commerce, Economic Survey, ASI)

However, with all these benefits, the policy has also been seen in some black light.

1.      Some argue that the high proportion of female employment implies that the creation of SEZs does not reduce the local unemployment rate. This is because prior to being employed in the SEZs majority of them were not part of the labour force.

2.      There are several reports of exploitation of women in SEZs. The vast majority of

workers in SEZ firms are young women aged 16–25 years . It is found that women are paid less than men for similar jobs and are subjected to sexual harassment and violence.

3.      Also, SEZ policy has been plagued by irresponsible planning and an inadequate land acquisition law that has lead to massive protest and local resistance in building up SEZs, which has hampered India’s growth opportunities.

SEZ Ground Realities: Is SEZ policy Delivering???

SEZ policy has no doubt given a boost t the Indian Economy but comparison of implementing SEZs in India to its successful implementation in other countries can bring out some holes in India’s SEZ Policy.

The total Land available in India is 2973190 sq. km of which 1620388 sq. km(54.5%) belongs to the agriculture land while remaining to non-agriculture based.

Total area for the proposed SEZ (FA+IP) is 1925 sq. km. which would not be more than 0.063% of the total land area and not be more than 0.116% of the total Agriculture land in India.

The stark difference is seen when the SEZ policy of India is compared to that of China, Indonesia or Thailand. India’s exports from the SEZs are 5 % of its total with India’s share in world exports stand at 1 percent. On the contrary, China’s exports from SEZs have been 23 % while that of Indonesia and Thailand is even more than 50 percent. Also, China’ exports are at 8 % of the total worlds exports. Thus if this data is considered, almost 2 % of the world exports come from China’s only 6 SEZs. As compared to India, 0.05 % of worlds export comes from India’s over 400 SEZs. HOW DOES IT SOUND??? Clearly the SEZ projects may have some sinister designs hidden under the carpet.

The reasons for this disparity can be attributed to many reasons, some of which have been cited as below:

1.      Improper SEZ policy

2.      Irresponsible planning for locating SEZ

3.      Ineffective Land Acquisition Policies

4.      Improper Rehabilitation Policy

1.      Improper SEZ Policy:

Though India has emulate path of “ export led economy” of China, the implementation has no matched the standards. In China, a very effective and appropriate policy is followed before an SEZ is established. For an SEZ to come up, a lot of discussion and debate takes place before a site is finalized. Even if finalized, these SEZs are located in specific areas suited perfectly for providing conducive environment of industries such as coastal areas, and with large sizes so as to achieve economies of scale. The land identified is usually waste land, though there has been some resistance by people at selected places. Also, these SEZs having huge areas have there own power houses, roads, rail systems, and other infrastructure facilities thereby bringing the economies of scale in an effective manner.

On the other hand, there is no policy in place for setting up of SEZs in India. To start with, there is no discussion in the parliament on the size, place, type and location of SEZs. Also, the SEZs size are too small as compared to its counterpart in China, with some even as low as 3 hectares of land.

Also, the type of industry is a problem area for SEZ’s in India. Almost 180 of the 260 notified SEZ locations till June 2008, belong to the IT/ ITES Sector. These includes industries such as IT, BPOs and KPOs. These are service industries which can even work fine in an area outside SEZ. SEZ should be a place where a large area is provided by well knit roads, rails, uninterrupted power supply to achieve economies of scale. Manufacturing industries are the units who need these kind of facilities badly in order to achieve large scales and reduce costs. Specially, industries in which production takes place in various stages and in different production houses, such an area with high level of infrastructure becomes imperative. Also, manufacturing sector providers employment to the grass root level of the society and invites other related industries to get established along with itself as it is depended on raw materials, and other services such as logistics and transportation. With most of the stress on Services, our manufacturing sector, which is the back bone of any country has taken a hit and has resulted in stunted growth of this sector.

2.      Irresponsible planning for locating SEZ

Location for establishment of SEZ is also an area of concern which has hold this policy from firing.

Going with the example in previous point, even if Service sector is to be promoted, it can be done by allocating a single SEZ to services in a given area. For example, 39 of the 56 SEZs in Andhra Pradesh belong to services sector. Also, each of these SEZs are established in a small area ranging from few Hectares to 30 hectares. Instead of dispersed SEZs, these could have been clubbed at a single place forming a large SEZ catering to only service sector in Andhra Pradesh. Likewise, similar practices could have been followed in other states. This would have solved two purposes, 1) growth of state and 2) promotion of services more effectively and efficiently.

3.      Ineffective Land Acquisition Policies

The land acquisitions policy followed by the government is aegis old and outdated. At present, land is acquired as per ruled laid down in Land Acquisition Act (1894) which calls for amendments and reforms in the ACT. Currently, government can acquire 100 % of the lad without any clear-cut and transparent mechanism for price determination. It is in light of this acquisition policy that battles and violence in places such as Nandigram and Singur in west Bengal took place.

Loss of lively hood to farmers due to improper compensation is the major cause of such instances which should be addressed if such violence’s in future is to be avoided.

4.      Improper Rehabilitation Policy

The unconvincing and non transparent policies for rehabilitation is also a bone of contention for issues such as Nandigram. With unclear laws, role of state as middleman Brokering social justice is suspected. Also, government only safeguards land owners interests, if al all it does. However, it doesn’t consider the landless laborers into account while taking such actions.

Steps Needed

There are many steps required to make SEZs effective and efficient.

·        The most important is to rectify the SEZ policy as a whole including selection of Industries and Location for setting up a SEZs.

·        Let the SEZ developer buy the land directly

o   i.e. no intervention of govt. as mediator

o   eg. Reliance group in Maharashtra

·        Decide acquiring price on the basis of current rates in the area

o   Reliance paid Rs.45-75 lakh per hectare as opposed to Rs.2 lakh per hectare proposed by Govt.

o   Government paid above Rs 1 crore a hectare as compensation for acquiring land for building airport near Mohali, Punjab

·        Give share of acquired land in the developed area to the owners

·        Landless laborers should also be provided employment

·        Limit state’s role to acquiring condemned waste land for better tax revenue generation

·        Provide employment to affected population

Tags: Failure of SEZ policy in India, SEZ policy Advantages,  

Who will be The Next Super Power? Can China or India be a Super Power?

When we talk of a superpower nation, the first thing that comes to our mind is The United States. And to great extent, it is true. In fact it is the only superpower nation which comes to our top of mind search, with no one else coming close enough. But the world is changing fast and so is its international scenario. In these dynamic times, complacence has no room as its said, “hide sight is no excuse for foresight”.

A superpower is a country that has the capacity to project dominating power and influence anywhere in the world, and sometimes, in more than one region of the globe at a time. Four components of influence mark a superpower, Miller says: military, economic, political, and cultural. At present though USA has the upper edge in all these spheres, but other nations are fast catching up and might overtake Uncle Sam for the top slot.

Here I am talking of the two developing nations who not only have the potential but the hunger to dominate the world; INDIA and CHINA. China and India have not only shown phenomenal growth in the recent past but have emerged as one of the few strong economies of the world. But the economies are fast moving towards development and it will not be surprising if any of them surpasses The US. But only one will succeed to the top of all. Who will be it?

At present, India’s GDP stands at 1.09 Trillion Dollars, while theat of US and China are at 14.33 and 3.42 respectively. The GDP projections of WOE IMF, Oct ’08 states that in 2050 China will surpass all with a GDP of about 42 Trillion Dollars, followed by the US at 34 and India at 25 Trillion Dollars. However, GDP is not all we have to consider before passing out the verdict. There are plenty of other factors on the anvil before construing any judgment.

In the recent years, china has shown considerable improvement compared to others in almost every field. China’s International Reserves have been increasing ever since 1998 with ever increasing trade surplus which in 2007 was about $290 bn. India on the other hand has been successful in maintaining a constantly growing trade deficit which stood at $ 55 bn in 2007.

It’s not that India’s not on right track, in fact it’s in the league of top contenders for the Number 1 position. We have population of 1095 million and it’s been proved by China that people are a nations assets. Our official unemployment stands at 7.9 %, far less than that of China’s 17 %.our investment rate is 37 % of GDP as compared to US’s only 14.6 %. According to a Research released by AT Kearmey India ranks number 1 on attractive index for offshore location followed by China and Malaysia. It has emerged as leader in IT and Services with favorable labor pool, education system, English proficiency and cost advantage. Majority of billionaires from Asia Indians with 4 in top 10 richest people of the world. However, still there are many things that keep India from becoming a major power in the world.

To begin with, India has 26 percent of its people below poverty line and to add to this a fifth of the population with income above the poverty line is vulnerable to receding back into poverty due to unexpected income loss and other shocks. Almost 80 percent of the people live on less than 2 $ a day and form a vulnerable part of the society. Although we claim that the ratio of poverty has come down from 53.9 percent during 1958 to 26.1 percent during 2000 but the absolute number reveals the reality which depicts that the incidence of poverty has indeed increased from 220.6 million in 1958 to 260.3 million during 2000. Nearly nine out of 10 pregnant women aged between 15 and 49 years suffer from malnutrition and about half of all children (47%) under-five suffer from underweight and 21 percent of the populations are undernourished. India alone has more undernourished people (204 million) than all of sub-Saharan Africa combined.

33 percent of the worlds illiterate live in India whereas this figure is only 11 percent in China. 80,000 of our schools are without black board and 1, 44,000 have only one teacher, yet we boast about the Sarav Siksha Abhiyan. 25 percent of the MPs have criminal record in this nation which also happens to be one of the world’s lowest voter turnouts of about 58 percent. We have 13 judges per million of population. There are 3 Crore (30 million) pending cases in our courts 25.5 millions in District & Sub-district court , 3.36 lakhs in High Court & 39,000 in Supreme Court. We have one of the lowest conviction rate just 42.4% (in 2005). Japan & Russia have 99% conviction rate.

Health care Budget of India is just 0.9% of the Gross Domestic Product while we spend loads on defense and other activities which don’t give any returns. Average amount a person spends on health care in India - $82 while in US it is $5267, just notice the gap. Yet India has become a Hub for Medical Tourism: An angioplasty that takes $50,000 in US costs just $11,000 in India. Heart Surgery costs $6000 (as against 30,000 in US) & Bone marrow transplant costs $26,000 (as against $2,50,000 in US). We have one of the largest slums of the world with over 100 million people in India living in them. In Human Development Report of 177 nations, India ranks at a poor 127th place while china is at 85^th. 60 percent of our population depends on agriculture which contributes only 22 percent in the GDP of the country. According to C Rangarajan Report, elasticity of the Agriculture sector is 0, i.e. additional input in agriculture will not generate any ore employment. Still we depend a lot on agriculture. India’s total debt stands at staggering $ 658 billion.

China on the other hand has managed to put many feathers in its cap. With GDP of $ 3.5 Trillion, it is the second most powerful economy after the US in terms of PPP (Purchasing Power Parity). It has managed to record GDP growth on double figures at 13 percent making it one of the fastest growing economies of the world. According to Goldman Sachs study, in aggregate terms, China is the fourth largest economy and may surpass the size of world’s largest economy i.e. US by 2040. It’s expected to overtake over take Japan by 2020. And there are facts to prove this.

Though t is the most populated country in the world, but somehow they have managed to put breaks on it. With its population growing at 0.61 percent, it’s placed itself at a comfortable position as compared to India who still grows at 1.56 percent annually in terms of its inhabitants. China has available labor pool of about 800 million efficient people. Per capita income of China is at healthy $ 5300 compared to India’s $ 2800 with an average inflation rate of 4.15 percent as compared to India’s average of 6.5 percent.

Savings and Investment plays an important role in the country’s growth. Higher the savings, higher is investment and thus more is the money flow in the economy. This forms the biases of high multiplier which accelerates growth. China with investment rate of 44 percent of GDP thus manages more circulation of money as compared to India’s 36 percent of GDP. Moreover, there GDP size of $ 3.42 trillion compared to India’s $1 trillion makes this some a mammoth.

Compared to the US, India and China, China’s the only one with a positive Current balance account of $ 262 billion. India on the other hand has negative current balance of $ 98 billion while deficits for the USA are staggering $562 billion, thanks to the subprime crises and the numerous bailout packages. Also, public debts of China are only 22 % of GDP compared to India’s 82 % and US’s 75 %. Total abut of debt on China is about $ 120 billion while that of India and the US is 658 Billion $ and 10.76 Trillion $ respectively.

Backbone of any country is its manufacturing sector. Manufacturing sector not only provides necessary employment to people, but also generate the necessary foreign earnings for the nation. China has a thriving manufacturing sector which makes it the number 1 choice to be a super power. With an Industrial Production growth of 22 percent, it has left its competitions far behind in this field. India’s complacency of 7.9 percent growth in industrial production and USA’s dismal 3.2 percent has added to the gap created. No wonder why we see “ Made In China” tag on all the goods we buy.

The main driving force for China is its stable political structure and sound policies. The best example being the SEZ policy that China has implemented. India on the other hand has not even able to mend the basics of this policy since it emulated in 2000, almost a decade back. Still we have low production zones, land acquisition disputes like Nandigram and low capacity utilization. The conducive environment that the Chinese Government provides to its industries has not been replicated in India.

Thus China, with a literacy rate of 91 percent and just 10 million people below the poverty line and its growing economic clout certainly seems to overtake US in no so far future to be the new super power in the world. And if some of the predictions by research companies are right, we might see a change in the world political and economic system in about next 20 years.

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Is Poverty relevant for Growth? / Relevance of Poverty in Growth

Factors Related to Growth of a Economy/ Country

Below Poverty Line (BPL), the three words of a hell. We rarely spare a thought for those living Below the Poverty Line and what life means to them. Government claims that number of such people and families is decreasing slowly, and yes it is, BUT very slowly. These are the people who just get below that a dollar a day, sleep empty stomach and get lost in the over a billion crowd of India.

India has made notable progress in terms of income and human poverty reduction over the decades, particularly in the 1990s. In spite of this, one third of the population is still below the poverty line. In addition, a fifth of the population with income above the poverty line is vulnerable to receding back into poverty due to unexpected income loss and other shocks. The challenges of reducing income poverty for this huge mass of population and creating employment opportunities for them are enormous. There are also big challenges in reducing human poverty and enhancing capability. There are a number of factors related to growth of a country. Poverty affects and effect growth in a major way.

Labor being the main asset and income source of the poor, there is a need for creating enabling environment for the poor to get more remunerative employment. Policies need to be adopted to raise productivity and returns to labor in both agriculture and non-agriculture sectors. Conditions need to be created through upgrading the skill levels of the unskilled labor to facilitate their participation in the dynamic non-farm activities and increasing their access to non-agricultural employment. 

Joseph Stiglitz in Globalization and its Discontents, page 5: “despite repeated promises of poverty eradication made is the last decade of the 20^th century; the number of people living in poverty has actually increased by almost a hundred million. This has happened simultaneously as the world income actually increased by an average of 2.5 % annually”.

Checking the government’s Data, India has roughly 50 Million Tons of food grains laying unused, the cost of storing which is about Rs 11,000 crore per annum, which is about Rs 2200 per ton. This is ignoring the wastage and pilferage costs. To feed 200Million BPL population on an average of 8 KGs per month per person, we have enough stock for TWO and HALF Years and still there are millions who die every year due to hunger and destitution.

To realize the country’s growth potentials, there is a need for increasing investment through raising domestic public and private savings and generating more external resources. Also in particular, there is also a need for upgrading the stock of infrastructure to support diversification of production, raise productivity, expand trade, provide basic services and reduce poverty. There are many parameters on which poverty depends such as education, agriculture, employment level, dependence on agriculture, etc. These have been discussed as below:

Poverty Index

When people like Lakshmi Mittal, Azim Premji, Anil and Mukesh Ambani have successfully placed themselves within the 100 richest billionaires of the World in the Forbes listing, India has also placed herself as the 48th poorest nation with 31.4 percent value in the Human Poverty Index (HPI). Barbados tops the rank in the HPI among the developing countries with a value 2.5 percent. According to the report 16 percent of the population still remains and live with out having sustainable access to improved water resources and there is a probability at birth for 15.3 percent of the population of not surviving to the age of forty. Hence poverty index is important for the growth.

Education Level:

Education happens to be the least a government can provide to its citizens, else the cost of not providing education will me much more dearer to a government and the nation’s future. Education level has a direct impact on the economic progress of the country and thus there are many reasons to find a link between education and economic growth. Few of the most basic reasons are:

1.      Intelligent electorate choice: The first this an educated man would do is to stop voting for uncommitted, uneducated goons behind the grab of statesmen.

India, which is plagued by the mafiya and the gunda raj and who have direct linkages with the politics makes sure that light of education doesn’t fall upon these masses so as to keep them in dark. This enables them to muster votes of the uneducated by alcohol, money or power. There is a growing distress in the educated population of the country who form the minor part as compared to the large pool of uneducated vote bank. The feeling that their vote won’t make any difference in making an intelligent electorate choice deters them from the pooling booths, thus making matters worse.

Standard of Living: Rise in Standard of living has been directly linked to the level of education. High growth and rapid progress is not possible in  a society whole population is not literate. If people with education earn more than those without, shouldn’t the same be true of countries? If not the rate of change of output per hour worked, at least the level of output per hour worked in a country, ought to depend on the educational attainment of the population. If spending on education delivers returns of some sort, in much the same way as spending on fixed capital, then it is sensible to talk of investing in human capital, as the counterpart to investing in fixed capital. The process of education can be analysed as an investment decision.

Health and Poverty

"The biggest enemy of health in the developing world is poverty." Kofi Annan

Health issues are directly related to poverty. Poverty creates ill-health because it forces people to live in environments that make them sick, without decent shelter, clean water or adequate sanitation. As per the data provided in the human development report, the total infant mortality rate for India is 67 deaths/1,000 live births and the maternal mortality ratio is 540 per 100,000 live births. Due to various causes also 93-children/ 1000 live births die before they reach the age of five.

Malnutrition And Relationship With Poverty

Malnutrition has long been recognized as a consequence of poverty. It is widely accepted that higher rates of malnutrition will be found in areas with widespread poverty. Malnutrition is the result of marginal dietary intake compounded by infection.

It is estimated that nearly 30% of infants, children, adolescents, adults and elderly in the developing world are suffering from one or more of the multiple forms of malnutrition, 49% of the 10 million deaths among children less than 5 years old each year in the developing world are associated with malnutrition, another 51% of them associated with infections and other causes. 

Poverty declined during the 90s to below 30 per cent, especially in the country’s rural areas. But this impressive record hides the uncomfortable fact that 193 million people are still poor and await a change in their fortunes. Poverty has declined mainly because of better economic growth, improvement in real wages and the spread of poverty alleviation programmes. 

Per Capita Income, Poverty and Growth

It is a fact that richer the people, lesser will be the poverty, and higher will be per capita income. This fast is bolstered by the fact that within India, states which have higher per capita income have lover poverty as compared to states whose per capita incomes are lower. According to the Indiastat.com, per capita income of Punjab is highest with about $6000 while that of Bihar is at about $3000. Correspondingly the poverty in Punjab is about 5 percent of its population while that of Bihar, it is at 40 percent. At the same time growth rates of these states depict the same story. Poverty ridden state has a growth rate of only about 1 percent while growth rate of Punjab stands at about 3.2 percent. This shows a clear picture of Poverty: i.e. lesser the poverty, higher is the growth and higher is the per capita income. Higher per capita income means better standard of living.

Poverty and Savings

Savings are very important in a nations economic growth and development. Higher savings leads to higher investment and thus higher circulation of money into the economy. This leads to a higher multiplier effect thereby nudging the growth up. However, if the population is living in destitution, they won’t have enough money to sustain their basis needs leave apart the savings.

If we look at the past trend of India, as and when poverty has decreased, savings have increased. In 1991, we had 45 percent of our population below poverty line and our savings were meager 20 percent with the country growing at the Hindu Growth Rate of 3 percent. With the decrease in poverty  to 26 percent below poverty line and stress on savings by the government our savings rates have risen to 37 percent in 2007 in simultaneous with the growth of 8 to 9 percent.  

The above were the factors that affect growth centered at poverty.

Poverty is relevant to growth big time.

Women Empowerment in India

                 

Despite the facts that India has a strong written Constitution proclaimed being for equality and welfare of the women ,barbaric and savaging practices still continue to haunt women I form of female foeticide , Child Marriage, Child Labour , Dowry, rape, sexual harassment, pornography, etc. The condition of the Indian Widow is quite deplorable as she is despised by her family as well by society. Deprived of basic amenities and necessities, she is forced into prostitution by culprits who walk around her with a roving eye.

Marriage has become a profitable business which puts the bride on the debit side and groom on credit side. In the name of dowry, thousands of women are married, disfigured or burnt alive. One should learn from Nisha Sharma of Noida (U.P), who had the guts to get her prospective groom and in laws behind bars for making mind-boggling dowry demands.

What women needs is social, political, economical, cultural, educational, psychological and physical empowerment in form of security and good health. Various laws have been formed but not implemented. Supreme Court still has thousands of cases pertaining to women which remain either pending or unresolved. Stringent laws should be made and implemented as done in Middle East countries. Those who torture the women, physically or mentally should be subjected to rigorous imprisonment.  Rapists should be hanged till death. Capital punishment should be enforced upon those who murder the women. Women should get access to primary education and health care. Women too should be equally paid. Government should ensure those women forks are equipped with at least basic knowledge of computers. Good job opportunities, education, scholarships for brilliant girl student from economically weaker background are provided.

Women are the pivotal point of familial universe. She is synonymous with nature and sustaining life. A nation’s progress and prosperity can be judged by the way it treats its women folks. Therefore men must rise to the occasion. They must respect the fact that women are equal part in life.

  

The very issue of women empowerment arises because of stark reality that women are still marginalized and sidelined from mainstream as a use and throw commodity. The indeclinable gender has disfigured the very face of humanity. This discrimination originates well before the birth of a girl and is sustained through her womanhood. In India, which is the world largest democracy, women constitute nearly fifty percent of the total population. India is also an agrarian economy where land, the main source of sustenance is connotatively associated with women.

 A peep into history will provide names of stalwarts who stood for the cause of women’s emancipation. Adi Shankaracharya, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar etc are just a few names worth mentioning. But a handful of good willed people alone would not be able to build the foundation for women’s emancipation. The women themselves have to come forwards empowerment irrespective of their class, cast, creed or religion women should draw inspiration from empowered women like Indra Gandhi, Sarajini Naidu, Kiran Bedi, Ashwaria Rai, lata Mangeshkar and many more

Even though the position of women in Vedas and Upanishads was put on a high pedestal to that of Mother or Goddess, her condition in reality was not that satisfactory. The Manusmriti views women as a precious being to be protected first by her Father, then by Husband and later by Son. In modern times men have substituted precious being with a precious commodity has is to be possessed, utilised and thrown away.

India needs better and strategic Punishment System

Many at times, courts have been in dock for partial judgments and for the acquittal of accused that either belonged to a rich background or had a political clout. Take the examples of Jessica Lal’s murder case or Zahira Sheikh’s case to cite a few. However, even if some judgments are against the odds and the powerful, it still sometimes doesn’t provide much conviction.

 Talking of the hunting of endangered dear by Salman khan and Nawab of Pataudi; the prosecution of the case against the celebrities gave publicity to the crime which was for its benefit. The case made the people aware of the fact that murder of animals protected by law is no longer regarded as innocent fun but will land one jail and a heavy fine as well. It has been a commendable action taken by the police and the court of law.  

   However there have been some reservations about the penalties imposed by the trial court. They should be given more latitude in the form of punishment the can inflict. Putting eminent men behind bars for longer periods deprive them of fulfilling their obligation towards society as well as earning a living. Heavier fines, confiscation of weapons they own and imposing life time bans on hunting would have been more appropriate. Instead of sentencing an actor to seven years of imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 Rs, the judge could have given the culprit Rs 70 lakh as fine, confiscated his jeep, guns and ammunitions and one month in imprisonment; it would have solved the purpose better.

 Thus judges, while giving a judgment should consider the culprit and his background and not merely rely on the laws and judgments laid in constitution always. This will help in strategic punishment which will be more effective and appt.