Improving Transparency

One way to improve transparency and reducing black money is to start with smaller things in life--like moderating vegetable and fish markets and regulating rickshaws. Each smaller thing also requires customized solutions.

Let us look at the case of the vegetable and fish markets in our towns and villages. Now, these shops do not give any bills, and the deals made are in smaller amounts. So, what we need to do is to promote billing. But a small vendor may be uneducated and in the rush of things may not have time to write a bill. So, the simpler thing is to have pre-paid bills of rupees 2, 5, 10 & 20. Each of these bills may be commonly printed and purchased by these vendors at a cheaper price, and each of these tickets / bills might cost just 10 paise (a miniscule fraction: i.e. 1/10 of a rupee; and as of today, 1 USD = 45 rupees). So, this would be a small but steady tax flowing into the government's coffers, while the government is able to track which vendor is actually selling how much of products. Customers must be encouraged to ask for these tickets along with their purchase, and in any case the vendor adds the small cost in his/her product. An alternative would be, like in the sale of matchboxes & cinema tickets in which a small logo tag from the Excise Department is added, the bills also may contain such a tag. In the case of rickshaws too we can do similar exercise.

Every taxi driver has a turn over of not less than 600 rupees a day, because that is their break-even point. Imagine that big cities have not less than 1000 taxis. The minimum turnover without any accountability is: 600,000 each day. The taxi meters all must be fixed with a prepaid gadget. Accordingly, the driver and the passenger must be able to see in the digital meter: the distance covered in the trip and the minimum fare only. At the end of the journey the actual bill may be only through the print out with a printer fixed on the meter. Now comes the most important point. The prepaid gadget for which the driver has purchased credits will automatically lose some credits for each trip. It is more like a prepaid voucher in a cell phone. Let me explain: Driver X purchases 100 rupee credit and recharges his system. Then, at the end of the trip, the bill comes out with the details: The vehicle number; Distance traveled : 3 km; and Cost : Rupees 30. A tax of 1 percent, i.e. 0.30 paise is deducted from the prepaid credit, and the driver has a balance of Rs. 99.70 in his account. When the balance goes below 5 rupees, at the beginning of each trip the system gives a warning, and if the balance goes negative, the system refuses to switch on itself with a warning message for recharging.

We will soon notice that most road taxes can be reduced if such innovative and compulsory taxing systems are followed with minimum burden on any service provider or customer.

Transparent Communities, Transparent Government

There is so much of discussion continuing, and people planning go on fast if the anti corruption bill, known as the Lokpal Bill is not stringent enough, and if it is not passed by the parliament. I have some primary questions to be raised before we plan to stop millions being swindled. The patrons of anti-black money and anti-corruption bill need to pay attention to this.

Let us take simple two examples of two small towns in India: Raiganj, the place I worked for over 6 years; it has a population of about 150,000, and Bolpur - Santiniketan, the place of the national poet Rabindranath Tagore, and the eminent economist Amartya Sen--both Nobel laureates. The town has a population of over 250,000. Let us look at the vegetable market and the rickshaw pullers of these two towns as an example. The vegetable market in Bolpur must be having a minimum turn over of not less than 50,000 rupees a day, and Raiganj would have about 50,000 as well, because it has a bigger wholesale marketing system as well, being closer to lots of villages cultivating vegetables. So, on any given day these two towns alone have a turn over of not less than 100,000 rupees. And, believe me, never has any one asked for a bill from any of the vendor, whether it was a purchase for 10 rupees or for 1000 rupees. The maximum you would get from a bigger shop would be a small piece of paper with a scribble of the amount on it. Let us say, in a year only for 300 days these markets are open. These two towns alone make a turn over of 30 million rupees (3 crores) in royal black. Now, count the number of towns and cities in India-- you would never end up counting the the amount that goes unaccounted.

Let us look at the rickshaw pullers in these two towns. Raiganj has about 150 rickshaws on an average on road, and Bolpur has about 250 on road on any given day. Any rickshaw puller would agree that on an average they make not less than 100 rupees a day. So, 400 rickshaws x 100 rupees is equal to 40,000 a day, and 330 days of rickshaws running in a year would result in 13.3 million rupees changing hands in black. Well, no one asks a rickshaw puller to issue tickets or bills.

I have taken two raw examples, leaving aside the bigger ones to show how we promote black money at every level. This money has to be spent. Black begets more black. And that is the father of larger corruption. (Mother is the human crave for more!)

So, we must have simpler solutions. I shall explain some of them in my next blog.

Flood Struck

Natural disasters seem to chase human kind everywhere. Incessant rains started on 16 June continued till 19 June, and there was flood like situation in several parts of the State of West Bengal. According to government reports nearly a million people were affected, and at least 30 persons have died so far due to landslides, flood and lightning. On Tuesday, 21 June evening, Mr. Nasir Ateeq from Unicef Kolkata office called me and requested that I help out the coordination process. Since the need of the hour is to have a needs assessment organized immediately, I was in Kolkata on Wednesday, and helped to put a team together along with the State Inter Agency Group, Unicef, CARE, World Vision and few other NGOs. And on 23 - 24, we were in Bankura and Purba Medinipur districts of West Bengal doing Emergency Needs Assessment (ENA). By late evening of 24 June, the ENA report for distributed for wider audience and for appropriate action by partner non-profits and government.

Though the days were tiring, yet I was happy that I could contribute to the welfare of the people in whatever little way I can and I could. (The image below shows the southern part of West Bengal, and the blocks affected by floods.)

Laser Sharp

The nation is obsessed with the debate on an anti-corruption bill, known as the Lokpal Bill. Under this, there will be a committee of eminent persons, outside the jurisdiction of the government, with powers to prosecute any corrupt public servant in office. The pro-Bill group, led by a social worker Anna Hazare (a male) want a stronger Lokpal (People's Guardian) who will cover all the 120 million government workers, will have the authority to investigate, prosecute and punish any corrupt person. The government, which wants the Bill, has certain reservations: a) To watch, monitor, investigate and prosecute such a large number of persons, the Lokpal will need a huge army of persons. How can we have such huge army of persons who are answerable to no one? b) The question today is about corruption in high places. So, the corruption in lower places can be controlled by strengthening existing laws, and the Lokpal can take care of corruption in high places, from the level of Joint Secretary and above, including Ministers in the Cabinet. c) Even if a system of Lokpal is made, an all such facilities such as investigating agencies are placed at the disposal of the Lokpal, since the Lokpal itself arises out of the premise that the existing persons are corrupt, how can we expect them to become pure because they are placed under the Lokpal? and, d) The Prime Minister must be except from the purview of Lokpal so that government is not destabilized and the existing Parliamentary procedures are good enough to monitor the PM. The PM can be brought within the ambit of the Lokpal once his tenure is over. This would protect the office of the PM.

I go with the government. That doesn't mean I go with the corrupt.

In Bed, not so Good

It was 7 June. I was traveling to Aminpur, a little known tribal village in the outskirts of Bolpur to meet the children and their families, because along with some friends I help for some of their education. It was a real hot day, and I was traveling on a motorcycle. Suddenly, the motorcycle began to give trouble. Soon I had to push it around until a mechanic came and got it repaired. By then I had sweat profusely, and was coughing with the sweat settling in my body. By evening I had a fever, and on 8 June it was 103 F, and I was flat in bed. A visit to the doctor revealed that I had some severe viral infection, and was put on antibiotics. The first round of antibiotics brought the fever down in 3 days, but the cough and cold continued to persist, with severe pain in back of the head. Finally, I had to start another course of antibiotics. Finally, now the fever is gone, and my plans of going to Tamilnadu for a holidays shattered, I am planning for the next round of Polio Immunization scheduled for 26 June. Hope every child gets immunized this time!

Reaching Beyond

I believe I must start regularly writing in my blog. My nephew Arul and friends Kasturi (former CRS State Rep), Shubhra (of CKS), and several other friends from USA and Europe are cursing me for not updating my blog regularly. I must get it on again, and may be spend 30 minutes each week on doing it. That should be fine.

I am now in Patna! The capital of one of the poorest states in the country. I came to give a training to a few NGO staff of UNICEF Bihar State office. The training was in community based disaster risk reduction. Co-facilitating the training led by Praveen Kumar of RedR India was really good. It was an opportunity to learn a lot in facilitation. Praveen is a star trainer in RedR India family. But he had a lot to learn from me as well.... specially in simplifying things relating to analyzing risks and risk reduction planning. I could learn from him some finer points in training skills.

Tomorrow morning... I should be flying to Delhi for a meeting with Sphere India for a discussion on a study towards mainstreaming Education in DRR programming.

"Polio" Breaks in West Bengal AGAIN !

After years of fight against Polio, and a small lull in the number of polio cases between 2006- 2009, the very first case of Polio in India has broken out in the condensed urban municipality of Howrah, just a few kilometers from Howrah railway station. This information has shocked the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Rotary International and the government itself. On a recent visit to Kulti municipality in Bardhamman district, in the outskirts of the industry rich Asansol town, I noticed that even people in urban areas are resistant to vaccinate children. The people are either "fed up" because of the numerous rounds of polio vaccinations, almost happening every second month, or they think that their child is "sufficiently immunized", or simply that they do not believe in the magic of "the two drops".

We need to fight this...together...every time... to ensure that every child is safe!

Happy New Year !

First of all, I must apologize for this long silence! My friends and well-wishers have been asking what has come off me.... Why haven't I updated my blog. Well, for two reasons I suspended my habit of writing the blog. One, the year 2010 was very hard.... and I found it difficult to say a Happy New Year ! And second, I needed a reason to be happy about.... And I found one. So, a Very Happy New Year 2011 to all my friends, benefactors, well-wishers in India, Germany, United States, Netherlands, Belgium and many other parts of the world !

I have a reason to be happy. In December 2010 I worked hard to start an SMS based early warning alert system for India that could be sent out in some of the regional languages as well. And we succeeded ! On 1 Jan 2011, I could inaugurate and test the system through unicode technology in five Indian languages (Hindi, Bangla, Nepali, Tamil and Telugu) other than English. The English services began on 1 July 2010.

The second success came by way of my support to some of the Self Help groups of women in parts of Uttar Dinajpur district, around Raiganj. Since these women's groups had been dropped from support by Social Welfare Insititute, the animators of these groups asked me several times to help them and guide them. And I am glad to announce that there are now about 80 women's groups who are a well-knit unit, and I am supporting them personally for the remuneration of some of the field staff, and with technical support from a friend's non-profit. The groups have registered themselves with a Trade License, so that their products can be sold in the open market. I am absolutely proud of the activities and work of lady animators like Mrs. Jayanthi Pramanik and Mrs. Anita Roy.

The third success is on the way.... But I am not going to tell that in this! Wait for the next blog.

Vagabond

The last months since May 2010 have gone quickly, with pains, burdens, relief and a sense of humor. The months passed all too quickly, without writing much in my blog through the year. But the year also gave me opportunity to explore myself. Two great things I learnt really make sense to my life. I had left South India while barely I was touching 16, after reading for several years about the plight of the people in the North, in the states of Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. At that time I just wanted to "do something" for them. Over the years, specially in late 90's and early part of this decade I was being sucked into systems that focused on administration. I remember still very well how I had dreamed to be a mendicant going around assisting people to regain their dignity. I have done all that and much more, from positions of power and influence. But, the higher I grew, the farther I was pushed from people. I am not sure if this the tragedy of working for the people!

The last months have brought me back into LIFE! I travel. Travel a lot.... I travel in passenger trains to reduce the cost of travel, like any other ordinary mortal, I travel in public jeeps and buses, I do not grumble about lost time, I leave early, I talk to people to understand their pains, I offer them helping hands. And whenever I am not giving a training or not having someone invited me, I ensure to be in a over-night bus or train. And so I get a place to sleep! Waaw! In the process, the first of my learning is about the vanity of space. There is so much of scam and scandal going on in the country relating to occupying land. Well, all this is vanity! All that you will have is a space of 6 ft x 2 ft for about 90 years or so on this earth, if you live long.

The second learning is beginning to dawn on me. How important is religion set against the poverty, vulnerability and hunger of people that I see all around. Or, I would place it this way. How much is my religion and religiosity relevant to the needs of the poor? To put it plainly, what is more important among the two? It is beginning to hurt. I have lived long enough immersed in religion. (I do not question faith. Faith is perfect.) But what has my religion done to the poor to lift them out of their bondage in spite of all the wealth and resources it owns? Has it done at all? Yes, it has. Could it have done better? A lot more. Did my organized religion come in the way of me doing more for the poor? True. There is a clog....a huge one.

Obama is Here

For the convenience of all my friends in the U.S.A., your President Barack Obama is here in India. He arrived on Saturday morning Indian time, in the financial capital of India, Mumbai and then moved on to Delhi for meetings with the President and Prime Minister of India. Statistically speaking:

• The President's entourage included over 240 businessmen from the U.S. The U.S. government
• This is the longest that the U.S. President has stayed outside the United States in a single country!
• He signed business deals worth over 10 billion USD, which is expected to create 54,000 jobs in the U.S.
• In Mumbai he stayed at the Taj Hotel which was attacked during the Mumbai terrorist attack.
• The U.S. has removed controls on India for transfer and use of dual-use nuclear technology (which means, nuclear technology and products that can be used for both energy and nuclear weaponry)
• Several Indian defense related organisations have been removed from the export controls of the U.S. so that these organisations can trade with U.S. companies
• The President announces that, India has emerged as a key player in the globe, against hitherto remarks, "India is emerging as a global player".
• An U.S. navy ship, several navy boats, armed men, 8 dogs, and of course the Air Force One, the presidential cadillac were all brought from the U.S. besides the unprecedented air, navy and ground security given by the Indian government.
• Cost of the entire travel: according to media reports, it is 900 crores per day x 3 days. In other words, the U.S. government spent 240 million dollars each day, and so over 750 million dollar is said to have been spent on the President's visit to India.
• He also announced that the U.S. would support India's bid to have permanent membership in the UN Security Council.
• He mentioned that "safe havens in Pakistan for terrorists" must be dismantled, and refused to internationalize the Kashmir dispute bringing cheers to the Indian media.

No one knows, exactly how much did India spend on the President's visit.

Let us end this post on a lighter note. Lot of people in Mumbai and Delhi visited the airports to see the Air Force One. When they were asked why they were so interested in the hi-tech plane, one of them said, "because his Presidential carrier has been better than his career" as President. Another joke says: President Obama will never visit Bangalore. Because, it says, "those buggers in Bangalore will force him to outsource even his presidency, that too at $ 10 per hour!"