Declining villages in shining India

By Muralidhar Rao

Organiser,1 February, 2009

Farmers’ suicides in the country since 1997 has now touched 1,82,936 by December 2008. It seems there is no end to miseries of the farmers. So-called progressive states during the green revolution like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab are some of the worst affected states. More than two-third of rural Indians and 70 per cent in urban Indians are reporting that they don’t get a full intake of 2,700 kilo calories, defined to be a minimum norm. The percentage of people reporting that they don’t get two square meals a day is still relatively large. The levels of undernourishment and malnourishment continue to be shockingly high as per the NSSO data.
 
It is the fact that India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at the rate of 9 per cent during the year 2007-08. In the previous two years growth rate had been 9.4 per cent and 9.6 per cent respectively. Despite the fact that the world is facing deep recession, we may still achieve a growth rate of about 7 per cent. Agriculture lagging Government pats its back for the so-called unprecedented growth experience. 

What does GDP mean to an average person living in this country? If we have a look at the composition of GDP, it includes agricultural products including foodgrains, industrial products and services. On the one hand more of GDP should mean more of wheat and rice, more of cars and two wheelers and other industrial goods. It also means more of transport services, electricity, telecommunication etc. If we try to look into the factors leading to increase in GDP, we find that agriculture does not contribute to this growth experience. Whereas rate of growth of manufacturing and services had been above 10 per cent per annum, agriculture was lagging behind with an average growth of only 2.5 per cent in the last 5 years. Industry is growing almost equal to the rate of growth of GDP and growth of services surpass all limits and as such the contribution of services sector to GDP jumps from 45.80 per cent in 1997-98 to 54 per cent in 2005-06, whereas gain of services is the loss of primary sector, contribution of which dips from 26.50 per cent to 18 per cent during the same period. Consequently, per capita production of foodgrains, pulses and edible oils show a declining trend. According to Economic Survey 2007-08, availability of foodgrain per capita per day which was 458 grams in 2002 declined to 412 grams in 2006 and pulses from 35.4 grams to only 32.5 grams during the same period. Per capita availability of edible oils declined from 9.0 kilograms in 1999-00 to only 7.2 kg. in 2002-03 and after that government deemed it fit not to publish these figures in the Economic Survey. 


Consequent farmers’ suicides Farmers’ suicides in the country since 1997 has touched 1,82,936 by December 2008. It seems there is no end to miseries of the farmers. So-called progressive states during the Green Revolution like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab are some of the worst affected states. Relief package of Rs 5000 crore by the Prime Minister could not mitigate the problems of farming community of Maharashtra. This state again has crossed 4000 suicides mark for the third time in 4 years according to National Crime Records Bureau.

In all 16,632 farmers have committed suicide in the country in 2007. Sixe 2002, the annual average of suicides has increased to 17,366. Poverty and undernutrition Under these circumstances how can we imagine any better position for the poor living in rural areas? National Family Health Survey conducted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare also supports the hypothesis that vast majority of population is still reeling under poverty. The survey says that 46 per cent of all children are underweight and 38 per cent are stunted (too short for their age) and 19 per cent are wasted (too thin for their height). 

The Survey conducted three times in the past 15 years, concludes that some of these indicators have actually worsened over the years. According to National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), nutritional intake of India is declining. NSSO says that during 1993-94 and 2004-05 calorie intake in both rural and urban India has declined by 4.9 and 2.5 per cent respectively. Protein intake in rural areas is down by 5 per cent. More than two-third of rural Indians and 70 per cent in urban Indians are reporting that they don’t get a full intake of 2,700 kilo calories, defined to be a minimum norm. 

The percentage of people reporting that they don’t get two square meals a day is still relatively large. The levels of undernourishment and malnourishment continue to be shockingly high as per the NSSO data. Jobless growth The paradox of galloping growth and with deepening poverty in the country is explained by the phenomenon of jobless growth. No doubt GDP is rising and rising at a fast pace, but not enough jobs are being created. This has resulted in rising rate of unemployment in the country both in the rural and the urban areas. We note that the rate of unemployment which was 7.3 per cent in urban areas and 7.2 per cent in rural areas (males) in the year 1999-2000 as per 55th round of NSSO, which increased to 7.5 per cent and 8.0 percent in urban and rural areas respectively. Similar is the condition with regard to females where rate of unemployment increased from 9.4 per cent and 7.0 per cent in 1999-2000 year as per 55th round of NSSO to 11.6 per cent and 8.7 per cent in the years 2004-05 in the urban and rural areas respectively. 

The rise in joblessness in the urban areas should be taken as an extension of the rural displacement. Employment in the organised sector shows a decline from 172 lakh to 164.52 lakh. Much hyped organised private sector also shows only a marginal increase from 84.32 lakh to only 84.52 lakh jobs during 2002 and 2006. This clearly implies that casualisation of employment is on rise. 

Even the much trumpeted National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme could not produce any desired results. This has been conceded by Vice Chairman of Planning Commission. Poverty reduction slowing down. We witnessed a high rate of GDP growth in the post 1991 period, which is claimed to be a big argument in favour of economic reforms. But, even the most vocal supporter of economic reforms, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, also concedes that reforms have not resulted in desired level of poverty reduction and decline in poverty is less than what the government had perceived. His confession is supported by the findings of NSSO 61st Round data, which clearly speaks out that in the post reform period the pace of poverty reduction has not only been much lower than the official assessments made after NSSO. 55th Round, it is also less than the actual pace of reduction recorded during 1970’s and 1980’s. Thus, it is amply clear that the high rate of growth of GDP recorded in the post reform period has not made lives better for poor in the same proportion. Rather, in the post reform period inequalities have accentuated as shown by higher ‘Gini Coefficient’ (a measure of inequality), which shows an increase in ‘Gini Coefficient’ from 28.6 per cent in 1993-94 to 30.5 per cent in 2004-05 for rural India and an increase from 34.4 per cent in 1993-94 to 37.6 per cent in 2004-05 in urban India. Most notable is the fact that it is a reversal of the trend seen in the previous decade (1983 to 1993-94). These figures imply that poor have fewer claims on growth and rich have taken the bulk of the benefits from the GDP growth. 

These figures are not only true for all India, but are applicable for almost all states except a few. If we go on riding this high growth, pro-reform phenomenon, it is an alarming signal for times to come. Loan waiver: No solution for distress in agriculture In the Union Budget 2008-09, the government announced a scheme of loan waiver for the farmers. With subsequent extension of loan waiver, a total of Rs 70,000 crore were allocated for the purpose. But despite this scheme, condition of agriculture and poor agriculturists is still not improved. In fact this scheme is applicable to loans dispersed by the banks and other institutions only. Mostly poor farmers don’t have access to such formal institutions. The government has so far not made any effort to address the problems of the farmers like provision of cheap credit, minimum support price for most of the agricultured products and other agricultural inputs at cost effective prices.

(The writer is member of BJP National Secretary.) 

 http://pmuralidhar.blogspot.com/2009/02/declining-villages-in-shining-india.html

Rejuvenate Agriculture to Rejuvenate Village

P. Muralidhar Rao
 Dated : 08 August 2009 

According to statistics released by Centre for Monitoring Indian economy on July 28, 2009, crop production in India is expected to fall by 4.7 percent in the year 2009-10. In the year 2008-09, it showed a marginal increase of 0.3 percent. This is not the story of these two years. In the last decade agriculture sector had shown a negative growth. On an average agriculture growth has been less than 2 percent per annum. This poor performance of agriculture has resulted in fast declining share of agriculture in GDP, which went down to nearly 18 percent in 2008-09 from 45 percent in 1970-71.


Neglect of Agriculture

On the one hand government was discouraging farmers to produce food grains; it was taking its hands off agricultural development. Government expenditure on agriculture, rural development and irrigation was reduced from 27 percent in 1987 to only 6 percent now. If we take expenditure of central government on purely agriculture and allied activities, we find a meager sum of rupees 10629 crores ,which is hardly one percent of the mega budget of 10 lakh 20 thousand crores in the propose budget for the year 2009-10. Even subsidies of various kinds were withdrawn or reduced drastically. In the year 2007-08 food subsidy was reduced by rupees 3,000 crores. Government also kept on washing its hands off from its basic duty of making procurement from the farmers at minimum support price. Even minimum support price so declared was too less to cover even the cost incurred by the farmers. Under these circumstances, totally devoid of government support farmers had to face the market forces. In search of good profits they diverted towards cash crops. Area under food grain cultivation started declining. Thanks to increasing productivity total production showed a marginal increase but per capita food grain availability declined during this period.

Then started , exploitation game by multinational corporations. Exploited by MNCs, the farmer went into severe debt. Farmers' suicides now have become a routine affair. Farmer’s insecurity got converted into food insecurity for the nation. Prices of Wheat, Rice, Pluses, Edible oils, Vegetables etc. all sky rocketed. Worst sufferer was the poor.

Cattle Wealth Ignored

We have to understand the basic characteristics of Indian agriculture. Traditionally our agriculture has never been dependent on remote resources, may it be fertilizers, pesticides or even the seeds. Basic factor which had ensured minimum dependence of agriculture on outside resources was the availability of robust and diverse bovine population. In maintaining soil fertility, local transport needs and also on field agriculture activity the cow and cattle wealth used to be a major stay. With the successive government policies, this relationship has got disturbed. Village commons have mostly disappeared. As a result, fodder needs could not be fulfilled and consequently both the number and quality of cattle wealth has declined. Ignoring the long term implications for the self reliance of the village economy, various governments also encouraged the establishment of large mechanized slaughter houses, in order to earn few dollars.

Low per capita availability of food items

Slow growth of agriculture sector has obviously affected the availability of foodgrains in the country. The net per capita food availability was 394 grams per day in 1971. This was just after the onset of green revolution in India. Exactly after 30 years, the net per capita foodgrains availability was 396 grams per day in 2001 – a princely rise of 2 grams! Currently, it is around the same figure of 400 grams per day per capita even now. In effect, for over thirty years our farm growth has merely kept pace with the population growth. This in effect sets up the debate.
Advanced countries as a norm, on a per capita basis, consume anywhere between 500 grams to 600 grams per day. In fact such healthy consumption in these countries is a supplementary to the substantial quantity of meat, fruits, vegetables and milk. On these score too at a per capita level our consumption is far below the world average and significantly below the average of the developed countries. It would seem that, we as a nation seem to have declared food self-sufficiency on virtually empty stomachs.

A reference to China is inescapable here. China, a country with approximately 1.2 times our population produces approximately 450 MT of foodgrains every year – more than double of India. Naturally this comparison with other countries blows the myth of self-sufficiency in India. Situation is no better in case of other food items. Production of pulses for instance is highly insufficient and every year country has to make heavy import of pluses. Same is the situation in case of oil seeds. So this reality explode the myth of food self sufficiency in the economy.

Other agricultural produce like sugarcane, cotton, jute, tea, coffee, rubber and even potatoes also do not show any significant increase in production.

If we try to go into the details we find that area under cultivation of major crops has been either near constant or falling over time. Foodgrains, for instance show a decline from 127.8 million hectares in 1990-91 to 123.8 million hectares in 2008-09. Pulses show a decline from 24.7 million hectares to 23 million hectares. Oil seeds so a marginal increase from 24.1 million hectares to 27.7 million hectares in the same period. Sugarcane and Cotton again show a very marginal increase. Whatever increase in production of different crops which has taken place, is due to increase in per hectare yield.
 
Global Scenario of Food Insecurity 

Prices of traditional food grains like wheat, corn and rice have been rising globally. According to FAO data on food prices, cereal price index increase 121 in 2006 to 274 in June 2008. The major factor behind increasing prices of food grains is historic decline in the production of food grains all over the globe. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has also cautioned that world production of wheat would be only 142 million tonnes by the year 2008, which is 10 percent less than the production in the year 2007. Situation of rising prices has been made even worse by constantly rising international price of crude oil. The price of crude oil reached up to 147 $US per barrel, which later tumbled down to about 39$US per barrel. Constantly rising prices of crude oil prompted various countries to shift their crop pattern such that the land previously been used for food grains production is now being used for bio fuel. Apart from this food products are also being used for extracting ethanol. In the year 2006-07, US utilized 20% of its corn production for extracting ethanol. It is believed that by the year 2016, US would be utilizing 32 percent of its corn production for producing ethanol. In the light of rising prices of crude oil US has set target for itself for producing 25 billion gallons of bio fuel in the next 10 years. Europe has set a target of 5.75% of its diesel needs to be fulfilled from plants by the year 2010.The China is extracting ethanol not only from corn but even from wheat and rice. Experts believe that this tendency will increase further. Even UN believes that United States of America and European Union are both responsible for this sudden international food crisis, as these nations have reduced their production of food grains in order to produce more bio fuel. These countries have started shifting their land in favour of bio fuel plants.

Increase in Food Imports

As noted earlier, production of food grain per capita has being going down in the country in the last few years, necessitating large scale import of food grain. For instance in five years from 2002-2003, 2007-08 India's population increased by 8 percent, whereas food grains production could increase by merely 5 percent. But more disturbing is the fact that the country had to imports food grain, especially wheat at extra ordinarily exorbitant price. Whereas farmers were being paid only 850 per quintal by the government procurement agencies, later in the same year wheat was imported at effective price of rupees 1300 to 1600 per quintal. Of late the government realised the importance of paying reasonable price to the farmers, that it could procure 230 lakh tones of wheat. As the result of sound wheat procurement, a reasonable buffer stock would be maintained, resulting in stabilization of food prices in the country. To make available food to the masses at the reasonable prices, we need to maintain reasonable level of buffer stock, which in turn could be ensured by making sufficient procurement.

Thus we can conclude that in view of danger of declining food grain availability at global level looming large, solution lies in protecting our agriculture in general and encouraging food grain production in the country in particular.We also need to take notice of mass scale migration to big cities, whole young population deserting the villages in search of livelihood. Remunerative agriculture can only arrest this trend. For achieving this objective we need to take bold and imaginative policy initiatives like provision of agriculture credit at 3 percent. We also need to protect our farmers from private money lenders. Availability of fertilizers at cheap prices and subsidy scheme for organic fertilizers would also be helpful. Provision of cheap electricity, sufficient availability of irrigation, subsidized seeds etc. should not be taken as a matter of grace. In fact this all should be treated a emergency measures to keep agriculture alive in this country. Even the schemes like NREGP would not be able to provide long term solution towards sustainable employment.

Rejuvenation of agriculture and agri based rural industrialization are the twin solutions to address the challenges of food security and vibrant village life.

http://pmuralidhar.blogspot.com/2009/08/rejuvenate-agriculture-to-rejuvenate.html

Poverty reduction needs ample will and innovative approach

P Muralidhar Rao

Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to express pleasure and honour for having been provided an opportunity to attend and address this ICAPP Conference on Poverty Alleviation in Kunming- the capital of Yunnan Province of china. I wish to congratulate Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese Government for hosting such an important meeting on a very crucial subject confronting Asia.

The leadership of my Party, my country and its leadership accords top priority to poverty alleviation. Various Schemes and projects including various forms of subsidies are provided to combat this challenge. My country is a democracy with universal adult franchise and a rainbow of political parties- which has helped us in calibrating the opening of our economy and also has provided with scope to come up with various innovative schemes and campaigns in the form of state interventions so as to have the poverty reduced progressively.
How ever, this challenge (poverty) still exists in its worst form. India still has more than 456 million people (41.6 % of the total population) living below poverty at or below $1.25 per day. A lot more needs to be done in this regard.

At the global level, there is a clear shift of growth towards Asia which is visible and perceptible. Unwavering slant is in favor of Asia. Long dark times of dependence and diffidence are noticeably over. World growth dominated by the west is now becoming more balanced.

If this situation is carefully handled and the socio -economic policies are creatively crafted on the basis of balanced vision and maturity – the 21st century may become Asia’s century in terms of growth and development. 

Poverty Definition Debate

There is a debate about the definition of poverty going on various levels. Different agencies and individuals have tried to define poverty in their own ways. And this makes it difficult to gauge the extent or even the approximate figure. Periodic changes in the definition of the poverty line makes the issue even more complicated. It is obvious that in the absence of a uniform statistical measure of poverty, alleviation programmes cannot be meaningful.

It is a healthy sign that there is an intense debate in our country to have a wider definition. I don’t consider it as a conflicting effort but in my opinion its aim is to enlarge the definition to grasp the changing ground realities. With the opening of our economy the level of ambition and also the levels of people’s aspirations have grown multifold. So the urge to include certain basic needs of the people suffering from poverty in to the frame work seems to be logical. A consensus building exercise for a near uniform approach to poverty estimation may be useful.

There is another aspect that needs to be kept in mind. And that is Asia is young people’s continent. Number of youth in the population of Asia is much more than compared to any other continent. This underlines the need to have more avenues and opportunities for these young citizen’s to unleash their youth power. This also means more; food, resources, energy and consumable items are required. In India population below 35 years of age constitutes more than 70% of Indian population. Coupled with young population, another unique characteristic of Asia in general is existence of family as a unit. We largely are family centric people. And family centric societies world over are saving societies. Asia is a saving continent with abundant social capital & trust- critical for development. It is with this background that we are discussing poverty alleviation. 

The Suresh Tendulkar committee of the Planning Commission of India has reviewed the present methodology for measuring poverty and has suggested major changes for the future.. Multi dimensional poverty index (MPI), the new measure of global poverty developed by Oxford poverty and Human Development Initiative with UNDP support has also discussed the same. These efforts have to be welcomed and pursued to the logical end.

Asian Political leadership should take initiative to come with enlarged and more appropriate definition of poverty suitable to our realities. Similarly we will have to understand the meaning of growth in our context. Western model of growth that leads to inequality and dislocation will have to be replaced by a bi-podal model that includes agriculture and informal sector into growth engine so as to enhance and improve the capacity to reduce the poverty by creating sustainable employment.

Presently in India for example If we look into the composition of growth we find that though India experienced a very fast growth but this was confined to non agriculture sector and informal sector. They have been laggards. The growth is mainly, driven by services sector. Informal or unorganized sector contributes 92% of our workforce while only 8% are in organized sector. Hence, it is important to focus on skill development and productivity of this vast majority of people to improve their standard of living. Education is also an area that needs our focused attention. Primary education and its universalisation is high on our agenda, but dropouts are still a challenge. Gross enrollment at around 11% in 2004-05 was below global average of 23.2%.

Health sector has its own challenges. Children with mal nutrition is a major concern facing India. A large number of children don’t have access to nutritious food and immunization. Women are also worst sufferers on this count.

Unshackling the informal Sector

Informal sector has tremendous potential that can be unleashed by providing micro-credits. Small credits without collaterals can change the destiny of our huge population. The experience in this regard in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India is exemplary. This has established beyond doubt that they too are (1) efficient in fact more efficient at times, and (2) they are more trust worthy.

It is up to the political leadership with adequate will and innovative approach in designing the products and policy frame work suitable to the needs of this section of society to really make on impact on poverty reduction front.

Speculative Trends in the present Growth Model

While working for growth we have to be aware of speculative capital propelled growth. In today’s world speculation has created fluctuations that at times are shocking. These shocks have created hardships for the common man and poor people. This speculative trading has led us to a position where trade in goods is very less as compared to trade in capital. This has severe consequences for our physical resources and the poor. To meet this challenge we have to evolve a consensual regulatory approach.

The same spirit should also reflect while handling the trade – negotiations at the international level which have serious implication for farmers and other people in conventional occupations – in their livelihood and life style as well.

Last not least is the challenge of Terrorism. It threatens the stability and hence the poor of Asia has a very big stake in peace and stability. we just can’t ignore it.

Before I finish, let me convey the appreciation and best wishes from the highest leadership of my party -Sh.Nitin. Gadkari, national President, Sh. L.K. Advani, Chairman, Parliamentry Party, Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition and Sh. Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition. Rajya Sabha to the organisers-ICAPP, Hosts - CPC (International Department) and the Government of China for successfully organising this event on very important subject.

Our leadership is also hopeful, this endeavor would help in evolving the consensus and also a common strategy to realise the dream of poverty alleviation. Lastly, I personally thank one and all.


http://pmuralidhar.blogspot.com/2010/09/poverty-reduction-needs-ample-will-and.html

Gita unites India - a historic day for us

THE TIMES OF INDIA
20 December 2011

Tarun Vijay

When I congratulated Laluji, Mulayam Singhji, Sharad Yadavji, Mahtabji along with the Congress leaders Arun Kumarji and Pawan Bansal ji with our stalwarts like Joshiji and Hukum Dev Narayanji, in a media briefing in Parliament yesterday, mediapersons were surprised. They all spoke in one voice against the ban on the Gita in Russia and I said that such national issues should not be a matter of concern for any single party or organization. It involves us all Indians and it’s a great day for us that the Gita issue was taken up so vigorously by all, cutting across party lines with the sole exception of the Left.

It was not just a Hindu issue. The honour of the nation and its people, the civilizational heritage of India and the cultural ethos that gave the world its best gift in the form of the Gita, the ultimate message of karma, pluralism and universal values for a noble society, was at stake. And hence it was a day when India rose in one voice, as one people and one culture.

Let the chroniclers write this day as a golden day in our history when all differences were deleted to express solidarity for the Gita, the book of India.

The anguish and the angst of the people of India on the move to ban the Gita in Russia was best expressed by Lalu Prasad, Sharad Yadav, Mulayam Singh and Arun Kumar Vundavalli in the Lok Sabha on December 19.

It was such a historic occasion that the entire house immediately took up the issue raised by a senior BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab. He said through a special mention: “The religious rights of the Hindus in Russia should be protected. Curiously, the State Prosecutor had referred the scripture to Tomsk State University for an expert examination. This university is not qualified as it lacks Indologists who study history, culture, language and literature of the Indian subcontinent. As this case is inspired by religious bias and intolerance from a majority religious group in Russia, I would like to urge upon the government to impress upon their Russian counterpart so that their right to practise their religion and belief is upheld. The Gita does not preach hatred. Indian embassy in Moscow should intervene through diplomatic channels immediately.”

Lalu Yadav demanded a discussion and stern action against the Russian authorities. Murli Manohar Joshi and Harin Pathak supported and voiced serious concern. The uproarious scenes followed when members demanded a discussion and the Speaker had to adjourn the house till 2pm with a promise to allow the discussion. Mulayam Singh was first to rise to the occasion brilliantly and he said: “The Gita is a universal book accepted by the world which guides to be a better human being and work for the good of the society. It’s a classic that teaches honesty and how to lead a sacred life. Gandhiji used to read the Gita daily and most of his speeches were based on the teachings of the Gita. He wanted to build our nation on the message of the Gita. But the government has not taken the Gita seriously and all parties will accept this fact. The government has not taken any step to propagate the Gita among the people of the nation. I request the parliamentary affairs minister to make this government take steps to so that teaching the Gita from the primary classes to the university level in this country becomes a possibility. Chairperson madam, please do something so that he students of our country begin studying the Gita. Once this happens, the dream of Gandhiji would be realized and the people would understand the core message of the Gita making a better nation. All should condemn whatever the attorney in Siberia has said about the Gita. I appeal that the entire house must condemn that statement (against the Gita)."

The inimitable Lalu Prasad said: “Insulting the Gita is insulting Krishna. A big conspiracy is being hatched against Lord Krishna. Politicians base their life inspired with the message of the Gita. The Parliament is on and still no word has come from the government on the issue of banning the Gita in Russia. Government is keeping a silence. We wouldn’t tolerate this. We condemn this incident on behalf of the whole House. We will not tolerate this (ban on the Gita). We will take revenge of this insult and punish (the government) too if they don’t take any action. Recently, the Prime Minister had gone on a Russia tour. Did he speak to them about this matter? All that we want to say is that we won’t tolerate the insults to Lord Krishna. Bol Shri Krishna Bhagwan ki jai.”

The entire House cheered him. (I am quoting them as I heard them or got uncorrected copies, hence I will stand corrected if anyone brings any discrepancies to my notice)

Sharad Yadav eloquently said: “The issue affects millions of people. The government must take some immediate action to change the illogical decision (of banning the Gita). This is the wish of the people of this nation.”

Arun Kumar Vundavalli (Congress, Andhra) gave a scholarly speech on the importance and the universal message of the Gita for the good of entire mankind. He quoted many shlokas of the Gita in chaste Sanskrit to the delight of all. Shri Satpal Maharaj (Congress, Uttarakhand) was chairing the proceedings and he also, from his chair, quoted many Gita shlokas to drive home the message of humanity as described in the Gita. Hukum Dev Narayan (BJP) in his impressive presentation demanded that the house must pass a unanimous resolution condemning the Russian decision to ban the Gita.

The stunned and speechless Talibanised seculars saw this unity with awe and would like to see some politics in it. Some even floated the idea that it’s the Yadav unity taking over Hindu solidarity. I beg to differ strongly. It’s the quintessential Hindu spirit, the Indian core values that cannot be submerged under any tsunami. Why should any single organization or ideology be allowed to speak and act singlehandedly on such issues? Let us differ on thousands of issues, on policies, programmes and actions, but there must remain some issue that binds us all as Indians and that factor would be the defining one for our tricolour and the Constitution.

If any classic can be truly termed as the best gift of India to the world, it’s the Gita. Vinoba Bhave wrote a wonderful book on the Gita in Marathi, called Geetai meaning Mother Gita, and it’s as popular in every Maharashtrian household as Tulasi’s Ramcharitmanas is in the Hindi world. It’s ironical that when the controversy was making headlines all over, our Prime minister was in Moscow and he didn’t broach the subject with the highest authorities there. Millions across the globe, all religionists and races, have read the Gita. The greatest minds ever born on this planet were inspired by its contents.

 

 http://tarun-vijay.blogspot.com/2011/12/gita-unites-india-historic-day-for-us.html

Bail out weavers, says BJP

Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party national president, Nitin Gadkari on Friday assured weavers of a special package to bail them out from a web of miseries once his party comes back to power.

Addressing a huge gathering of party workers and supporters at Dharna Chowk at the culmination of the three-day hunger strike by BJP national secretary P Muralidhar Rao on the plight of the weavers, Mr Gadkari said the BJP was for waiver of the debts of weavers and free supply of power to handloom workers.

This would materialise only if the party is voted back to power, he said and added the weaver community is left in the lurch and it needs all possible support. The handloom workers were extended a fair deal of support only during the NDA rule.

The BJP national president came down heavily on the UPA government for worsening the condition of weavers, farmers and tribal communities. The wretched conditions they were languishing is owed mainly to the economic policies of the UPA, Mr Gadkari said.

Stating that the handloom workers should be given due importance in the implementation of welfare measures, he said both sericulture as well as the handloom sector should be given the much needed fillip through effective marketing measures.

The handloom sector received a major blow because of a drop in exports while imports were flooding the domestic markets, leaving little margins for the handloom workers who were desperate to eke out a bare living.

Taking a dig at the UPA government for its bid to redefine poverty by putting all those earning more than Rs 32 a day above the BPL bar, he said it would affect even the weavers and the farm workers.

Mr Gadkari said that the party leaders, who were genuinely with the people, would merit consideration for the party tickets during the next elections. The party had a separate machinery to make out who all were in the midst of the people fighting for their cause and who were not.

The BJP leader was all praise for Muralidhar Rao for his attempt to draw attention at the national level to the plight of the weaver community through his protest. He wanted the initiative to continue further in the State until the conditions in which the weavers were living is improved at least a bit.

Mr Muralidhar Rao ended his fast with a glass of fruit juice offered by some handloom workers in the presence of Jaya Jaitly, MP Balbir Punj, Purushottam Bhupala, Nirmala Sitaraman and Tumbi Radha Krishnan, and others.

Earlier, the State BJP president Kishan Reddy made a scathing attack on the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy saying that he knew the least about the issues of the weavers and hence subjected them to neglect. 

Muralidhar Rao

 http://www.thehansindia.info/News/Article.asp?category=5&subCategory=1&ContentId=26143