Balancing Act of an Extremist!

We need more such people! How many Indians were actually fully aware of a ministry called Ministry of Environment and Forests?

Irrespective of allegations that he is anti-development and accusations like he is staunch opponent of Maharashtra, Jairam Ramesh has truly given a well-balanced clearance.

The proposal was to set up and run 9900-MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in Maharashtra. The green signal came with 35 stringent conditions and safeguards, out of which 23 specific conditions would have to be fulfilled within a year's time. A comprehensive biodiversity plan has to be prepared. A monitoring committee of outside experts and institutions would have periodical reviews.

And this is certainly not an isolated instance of his tough and much-needed action. Clearance for second airport for Mumbai has its share of roller coaster rides, endangering Congress' alliance with NCP. He has done good job in letting people know what is Ministry of Environment and Forests all about.

Some of the lobbyists and people with vested interests say the minister is an extremist. Others felt he is perpetually overreaching. But fact remains that he has brought about change in the thought process of businessmen, industrialists and general public.

Gone are the days when big industrial groups could get away with their sins and environmental blunders.

Without sounding very optimistic, this is a decent and reasonably good phase as far as environment management by government is concerned.

It would be necessary to go ahead on fast lane of development with matching measures on preservation of nature!

Relevance of Bihar and Nitish Kumar!

So why is Bihar important to India? What is significance of Bihar's overall development? Answers are self-explanatory.

First and foremost it is 3rd largest by population. Almost 85% of the people live in villages. And more importantly 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India. The land is fertile. Bihar has significant levels of production for mango, guava, litchi, pineapple, brinjal, and other vegetables in India.

Bihar was the state of lowest GDP per capita in India for many years. Despite being great center of education historically & home to ancient universities, the literacy rate is below 50%.

Bihar's image suffered a lot because of lack of law and order along with caste based politics.     

There was a time, not in distant past, when being Bihari was enough to invite indignation, insult and even hatred in some cases.

On a brighter note, there is remarkable economic revival driven by good and clean administration by a person called Nitish Kumar with the help from BJP. The old timer entertainer Lalu Prasad seems to be irrelevant. Ironically even Rahul Gandhi cannot produce any results for Congress! 

Today Nitish Kumar would comfortably continue his rein to have better law and order, improved administration and a new influx of industry in second term as CM. For a change a Modi of BJP - Sushil Modi is not in any controversy and would also remain to serve as deputy CM possibly.

This spells good news for India as a nation. Along with Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, AP the two important states UP and Bihar should also progress.     

We would require every state developed and happy to succeed as a country!

Congress, Corruption and Control

How does one react to recent events? A Chief Minister of one the most important states is out of job. A Union Cabinet Minister had to leave despite the coalition blackmail his party indulged in. Two associates of the IOA Chief are arrested!

So does this mean finally there is beginning of the end for evil of corruption in India? We cannot conclude that, however somewhere there is a good way of commencement of the biggest overhaul and clean-up operation in history of India.

The value of the telecom scam alone is estimated by the CAG by various methods goes up to Rs 1,70,000 crore. The inquiry in to both Aadarsh scam and CWG shame is still not finished.

Wall Street Journal based on a report by Washington D.C. research group Global Financial Integrity on 17 Nov 2010 says India lost $462 billion in illicit and unaccounted assets from 1948 to 2008 as a result of tax evasion, corruption, bribery and other financial crime.

That money could have been used to have a 'tax less' budget for 30 years! And there could not have been need to get loans from World Bank and IMF.

The opposition is doing its best to corner Congress-led government. And rightly so! Sometimes I wonder in all these events, how come PMO did not act swiftly & avert consequences.

This does not necessarily mean BJP and other parties are clean. Cancer of corruption has spread everywhere. Congress is targeted more simply because it in power for more number of years!

Nobody can question personal integrity and character of PM, however fingers are pointed towards role of PMO increasingly. Supreme Court's intervention is the case in point.

People demand that CBI should be made autonomous and free of political interference. There is no political will to do so. 

Media bashing is common but media played an important role in all these instances of exposing frauds. Lets continue this struggle against the system.

India's place in International Politics

Not long back India was characterized as a country of poor people, snake charmers, saints, and the holy places among other things. Today there is drastic change in that point of view. This is a combined result of good economics, free press, democratic process in place and mostly secular environment.

Now Mr. Obama is visiting and there is mixed air of anticipation. Some say he is no good for us, based on previous experience. Others feel he can do wonders! Howsoever difficult it might be to digest but the realty is that this is a unipolar world with U.S. being in driver’s seat for a long, long time to come.  

 

The rise of India is well chronicled these days. The progress made in Infrastructure, agriculture, managing the foreign exchange reserve is good. There is scope for the improvement. But the situation is better than a time in 1991 when there was a need to use gold reserves for meeting the need of the hour. This along with fact that we are strong and one of the largest democracies, one sixth of the human race on planet earth, strategically located in an important place in South Asia increases the importance. 

On the flip-side there are long-standing issues such as J & K problem, Naxalism and Inflation to be resolved. 

There are two most important relationships, which will play a significant role in shaping the stature of India on world stage. Those are Indo-Pak and Sino-Indian relationships. These are the problems of nearly 60 years that are sooner solved the better. Obviously this will require a lot of good statesmanship and leadership measures on part of India leaders. 

 

The boundary problem with China is moving towards the solution very, very slowly but steadily. Again this will require good and mature thinking on part of both the countries. The relationship of India with China is of special significance because ultimately this involves two competitors- dragon (China) and the elephant (India). Whether this turns out to be not competition but co-operation and possible collaboration from economic and trade point of view between two countries is something to watch out for in forthcoming 15 years.   

  

India-Russia relationship and India-Japan relationship are also important for the fact that Russia is considered as our friend from last 50-odd years. The defense, trade, support at U.N. are important factors in case of Russia. In case of the other the attitude of Japan towards India was not encouraging in past. But the new Prime Minister of Japan has high hopes for transforming the India-Japan relationship. Recent visit of PM Manmohan Singh was very positive. 

 

All in all, forthcoming years will play a crucial role in the process of emergence of India as a responsible Nuclear Power, as fastest growing economy and a true world power. We will hope for the best.