There is so much is happening in the world, everyday in our lives that often raise so much concern and questions of right and wrong and yet we don’t seem to go beyond the daily news items. Life has become faster and so too our attention span. Yet, such questions don’t seem to go away. They seem to be coming back and with such frequency.

The immediate provocation for this piece of writing was a series of news items and events, legal and judicial pronouncements that disturb our deeply held beliefs and convictions. First came the German Nobel Prize winner for literature, Günter Grass. He had hidden his past association with Hitler’s army when he was just 17.Now, his autobiography reveals that dark chapter in his life and there is uproar. In a short piece in the Guardian newspaper, John Berger, novelist and critic has defined Grass and has give his own defense. That is alright.

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The recent Malegaon bomb blasts had one fall-out. The home minister, Shivraj Patil, seems to have come out poorer in the wake of Sonia Gandhi’s personal visit. So, there is dissatisfaction and now the news reports have it that Sonia Gandhi has decided to replace Patil.

So, the announcement by the PM about appointing anew foreign minister also coincides with these developments in Cabinet reshuffle. In the expected changes, there is also news about the agri minister Sahard Pawar losing his coveted portfolio.

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Govt gets panicky on price rises!

Food grains distribution to the States to be reduced!

Prices rise steeply for rice, wheat, sugar, pulses and edible oils! Sugar costs Rs.22 per kg! Wheat, sugar and milk prices contribute directly to inflation. So, desperate steps to impose restriction and other actions under the Essential commodities act. The unusual steep price rise is caused by the shortages that had been caused by decline in production as well as the entry of private players who are now stocking goods in anticipation of the price rise. This is a type of situation we have seen when there were always shortages of essential commodities.

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India needs a whole new world view! 

PM at Havana and the usual anti-American rhetoric won’t make news anymore. After 5 years of 11/11 the world today is a wholly new place!

Foreign affairs are first and foremost recognition of the global realities. To adjust constantly the emergent realities! To play the role in war and peace is a matter of our own economic strengths, past legacy and the many tangibles and intangibles too. On all these counts, India has many advantages. But our current lack of confidence in ourselves, this owing to our current leadership syndrome, is the only stumbling block!

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To make the co-operative bank network to become more efficient and compete!

To attend to the co-operative banks and to accelerate credit to the farm sector.

Yes, this was an old proposal but somehow left behind in the current fashions of economic reforms. Even now, see the neglect of agricultural development in the over-all scheme of high profile jargon about the economic reforms. Our current crop of ministers, the bright and the dull, don’t even know what they mean when they talk of economic reforms. The government, led, yes, by an economic expert or experts don’t set out in effective language what they think are the priority sectors. There is no vision, no conviction either. It is all, it seems, just a patchwork of some priorities, often driven, as seen lately, by the interests of various corporate groups! That is one reason for the sudden rush for SEZs! To the exclusion of the whole perspective, whole number of significant interest groups, perhaps the most dominant in our opinion, would be the farming sector. But unfortunately, there is no such view or vision, let alone any basic belief, or conviction!

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The new competition among the States is welcome!

Intelligent Chief Ministers can make the difference!

Economic development is now on everyone’s mind. Only fast economic growth, intelligent use of govt funds, adoption of new technologies, use of human resources, in what is often seen as the merging knowledge economy, we need knowledge workers, to earn the sort of high salaries as earned today, say in the Silicon Valley of India, Bangalore. The average age of the software engineers is now just 23! If at that age an youngster can earn Rs.18,000 per month, then it becomes the standard aspiration for other youngsters.

That is how India of the youth, the NextGen, as it is termed now set the aspiration levels high!

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