Subsidies Must Go To History Books

It is believed that the man speaks his mind. As a Finance Minister, it was believed that he is the only Finance Minister in independent India who knows what he does and he does what he knows. But those were the golden moments of this man when he was sheltered and protected by Narshimha Rao as Prime Minister. Gone were the days. He speaks less now because of his orphanism but even today, whenever, he gets free hand, he speaks his mind.

He spoke again without getting noticed by many especially media experts when he shouted openly against all who are saviors of poverty. I call them saviors of poverty because they make policies which are helping poor to remain poor. Popular policies are keeping the poor deprived for centuries. This has to be understood by the policy makers as well as citizens. West Bengal is very right example. So Manmohan Singh, Indian Prime Minister spoke in clear terms. He said what is hurting Indian growth. He said what is needed.

"Subsidies not reaching the poor": Manmohan Singh said.

I think we spend far too much subsidies in the name of equity, with neither equity objectives nor efficiency objectives being met," Singh said while speaking at the golden jubilee celebrations of the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG).

Conveying the clear message of unlearning past, he said, "I think we need a new wave of creative thinking on these issues. Old ways of thinking have run their course." As a Prime Minister, he may not have time and support to carry out administrative and policy reforms, but he feels these needs for the development of the nation.

Singh regretted that "mixed economy' often becomes "mixed-up economy" and called for adopting new middle path for development that combines the efficiency consideration of the market with the equity considerations of the liberal economy." It is an open education for all communist way of thinkers that old ways are not going to serve humanity in 21st century. We have to find new ways.

Manmohan Singh admitted that the experiment with "mixed economy" in the early decades of independence had been disappointing. The country was unable to achieve growth more than 4% for decades. This happened when Industrialization and Automation through Electronics were at the peak all over the world. The nations which followed competitive and capitalist policies were the winners. India remained the losers and was satisfied to maintain its poverty.

Today we are spending 1 lac crores on subsidies and if they are not serving purpose, we must find the ways and means to divert this wastage. Manmohan Singh proposes to give focused attention in agriculture sector and energy sector issues. Energy sector is still worth talking but he wastes the time of the nation and its people when he tries to convince that such an approach was also necessary to address the major concerns pertaining to rural-urban divide and interregional imbalance. For that we need to focus on many other important issues.

Government needs to take some hard stand on issues pertaining to eradication of poverty. The careless talking and exposition of frustration by government agencies and that too Prime Minister is demoralizing for the people of this great nation. Prime Minister must do things which he can do. And certainly he would like to see subsidies disappearing from developed India.

We need to unlearn old ways fast to catch up with the new things are being developed everyday.


Take Hard Decision in Lighter Moment!

Time To Look Within

In India, it is almost a fashion to abuse Hinduism on the name of secularism while on the other hand, protect Muslims and other religions on the name of minority. This might have been good philosophy in the last century when people were happy to get their basic rights. But this is not the case in 21st century. Are you satisfied with your basic rights? I say no, no way. Basic rights are the thing of past. People want their basic amenities and basic privileges to grow and prosper and be happy.
Last week when Muslims protested and wasted their time to protest against Taslima, one of them who dared to write things for Muslims, I felt the miseries of deprived communities. Even leaders make use of the weak emotions to fulfill their own aspirations at the cost of growth. But it must be understood by all educated and informed people that you can never be rich by keeping even deprived and fools poor. (This is my researched statement.) West Bengal and Indian governments have to realize this. They can not keep deprived poor for long just because they are not well informed and emotional. Indian government has lost its credibility when keep focusing on trivial issues.

Similar was the case in Sudan, just over a week ago it was hard to imagine how the international reputation of the Sudanese government could sink any lower.

Accused of sponsoring the killing and rape of hundreds of thousands of its own people in Darfur and then of blocking the peacekeepers who might protect them - barely a week passed without a threat of sanctions or a new UN resolution.
But thanks to the Gillian Gibbons saga, Sudan has managed to transform its public image from pariah state to something approaching a laughing stock. Wisdom prevailed at last. But the sequence of events must be of interest to all educated Indians.

Sept: Gillian Gibbons's class votes to name a teddy bear Muhammad
25 Nov: She is arrested for allegedly insulting Islam's Prophet
27 Nov: Gordon Brown says efforts are being made to release her
28 Nov: Mrs Gibbons is charged with insulting religion and inciting hatred
29 Nov: A Sudanese court finds her guilty of insulting Islam and sentences her to 15 days in prison and deportation
30 Nov: Angry protesters in Khartoum demand a harsher sentence
1 Dec: Two British Muslim peers press Sudanese officials to pardon her
3 Dec: Mrs Gibbons is pardoned by Sudan's president and freed from prison

Gillian should never have been arrested in the first place, let alone held in jail - she had done nothing wrong says Inayat Bunglawala Muslim Council of Britain

In the name of people and their emotions, shrewd leaders are making their way to the top like 19th and even 20th century but in this era of pure democracy as Imran Khan of Pakistan said once, people need better and sensible leaders to take futuristic decisions.

The mob demanding the execution of Gillian Gibbons — for allowing her seven-year-old pupils to name a teddy bear Mohammed — may have been government prompted. In any case, it represents the latest example of one type of Islamist aggression. Most Muslim-majority countries have rules against insulting the Islamic prophet — most notoriously, clauses 295 and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code. Islamists capriciously use such laws as a weapon to hound free-thinking Muslims and non-Muslims. And I feel that Muslims leaders are doing this at the cost of the growth of Muslim communities.

In 2002, for example, 105 people were killed in riots in Kaduna, Nigeria, following the publication of an article suggesting Mohammed would have approved of a beauty contest. These incidences across the world, including what happened in West Bengal, are the shame for civilized society. Mobs are howling for the death of Taslima Nasreen, the Bangladeshi author critical of Islam. If India has to developed, it has to learn to respect intelligence. It may be true that India can be ruled by not so intelligent people but can not be run without it. Statements coming out of the West, from the Salman Rushdie affair in 1989, to the Danish cartoons, to Pope Benedict's speech in 2006, have inspired multiple violent eruptions.

These Incidents point to two of the deepest problems in modernizing Islam. One is permitting freedom of speech concerning Mohammed, the Koran, and other aspects of religion. The other concerns the right of Muslims to leave Islam. These twin transitions must be accomplished for Islam to leave its current backward and oppressive situations.

The way Hinuds have been marginalized in their own nation, it is not good for anyone who respects democracy. But thanks to the broad heart and social brought up of Hindus, the country like India, China and others are growing astronomically. We all need to take a lesson or two from emerging events. This is the time of consolidation. This is the time to look within.

Can this informed world be made fool like this at the cost of their basic amenities? Why do not we move from our basic right to basic amenities? Indians need to look within. All deprived people across the world need to look within. All those people who feel emotional about growth of deprived and poor should look within. This is the time to act not just react.

Take Hard Decision in Lighter Moment!