Saturday 25 January 2014

India' Population Conundrum



Right from school days, Civics text books drill into our heads that the country's runaway population is our major problem. And the demographers, in order to show its magnitude, resort to dramatic comparisons - the most popular one being that every year we are adding the population of Australia to our overcrowded land. So whatever little progress is made gets neutralised by it. Forget metros, even small towns are bursting at the seams due to population pressure.

In seventies we had the famous 'hum do hamare do' campaign and while travelling through highways in north India, the water tanks in some nondescript villages had the graffiti 'parivaar bhi seemit, paani bhi seemit' (loosely translated it meant 'small family, less water consumption').

But somehow the country's family planning drive met with only limited success in some parts (that too mainly in urban areas), while in vast swathes (especially the infamous BIMARU hinterland) it did little to arrest the burgeoning population. The reasons ranged from policy loopholes to downright lack of political will and then of course the well entrenched patriarchal mores surrounding girl child. As a negative fallout it encouraged female foeticide and spawned a cottage industry involving doctors and diagnostic labs to carry out sex determination tests. The end result has been an  alarmingly skewed sex ratios in many states.

The coercive sterilisation tactics used during the infamous Emergency made family planning a dirty word and the political class became cagey about promoting it.

Now we have hurtled ourselves within a striking distance to overtake even the most populous nation - China, that has a land mass three times our size. The recent 'population map' of India (albeit with truncated Kashmir), going viral on Twitter, shows the magnitude of problem in a more alarming light. The population of every state seems to be on par with some of the most populous countries in the world.

Thus the country's most populous state Uttar Pradesh has a population higher than Pakistan and is on par with Brazil, which is ranked fifth in world population ranking. By the way Brazil's population is spread over a land mass that is greater than whole of India. As for Uttar Pradesh its land mass shrank a decade ago after Uttarakhand was hived off.

The next most populous state Maharashtra is on par with Mexico, ranked eleventh in world; followed by Bihar which is on par with Philippines, ranked 12 and West Bengal on par with Vietnam, ranked 13. Comrades in Bengal will be happy to know that they have one more thing in common with Vietnam.

Andhra Pradesh has a population equal to Egypt, ranked 15. Madhya Pradesh has a population equivalent to Turkey, ranked 18, while Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan are equal to Thailand, ranked 20.

Next in line comes Gujarat and Karnataka and their population equivalent of that of Italy, ranked 23. This is a comparison that Narendra Modi and his ardent followers may not be happy about.  For Gujarat strongman anything Italian reminds him of his political rivals.

Interestingly Kerala (one of few success stories in population control) has a population equal to Canada, ranked 37 in world, but the North American country has a land mass nearly three times that of India! Good news for Kabutarbaaz (human traffickers) and those moving heaven and earth to get 'kaneda' visas.

Now the population debate has been turned on its head. The term 'population explosion' is passe, now demographic dividend is the new mantra. The policy makers are now trying to make a virtue out of their failure to curb population growth. Recent census data shows that those in the 15-24 age group form more than 60 per cent of the population. They argue that if provided with right skills, they could prove to be a very productive asset. However history has shown that when it comes to planning, execution and political will, our leaders inspire little confidence. Hence there is little to look forward to the so called dividend, it will most probably prove to be a liability.

Image source: Twitter


Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Monday 13 January 2014

Khobragade Affair: My Country Right or Wrong


Now that the Devyani Khobragade has landed on the Indian shores it is time to do some strip search about the gaping cavities in reporting the event. As the episode had sparked off a major diplomatic row involving two countries the 'my country right or wrong' brand of assessment took front seat.

For Indians the arrest and later treatment of the diplomat was akin to disrobing of Draupadi. The usually measured foreign office corps was at its feverish best. As the consular official happened to be a Dalit, it sparked an adrenaline rush among the political class. Among the combative talking heads on TV studios there seemed near unanimity that Preet Bharara was the name they would prefer to see on tombstones. Amid this entire din it was forgotten that the maid Sangeetha Richards too happened to be from our shores, though like most Indians she too was a seeker of green card nirvana.

The US saw India as a petulant child refusing to accept defeat after a football match. They wondered how Indians could condone exploitation of a maid and a breach of labour laws and push for diplomatic immunity for such gross violations. When will they learn to treat their underclass humanely? The US media's selective amnesia over Obama government’s scramble to grant CIA contractor Raymond Davis diplomatic immunity would make Orwell proud. Barely a couple of years ago in Pakistan, Davis had killed two persons and the US had pulled all stops to get him out of Pakistan jail. They cared two hoots about respecting Pakistani law. Some immunities are indeed more equal and can even get away with murder!

For Khobragade the honeymoon with Indian media is fading. So far they were willing to play knights in shining armour for her, but in the ensuing media glare some of her skeletons too tumbled out. Hence some scribes have now trained their guns at the dubious purchase of her flat in Adarsh  housing society, which is embroiled in a scam of monumental proportions. In the coming days she and her father will be witnessing the media’s much feared needling prowess.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Friday 3 January 2014

AAP Effect: Brooms' Point of View


We have always been looked down upon by all Indians as we are involved in keeping surroundings clean, something that figures very low in their priority list. And it shows when you take a stroll down the streets and bazaars of the country. 

Though we have become redundant in the West due to technological advances and scientific methods of garbage collection and disposal, in India we continue to be the front line weapon of the hapless civic workers and housemaids, whose status in the society is no better than ours.

There are many superstitions associated with us. It’s considered inauspicious if we happen to be the first thing people see in the morning. We are supposed to get attached to the house where we sweep, hence if people are moving house, they don’t take us along. And of course there are long standing beliefs linking us with witchcraft (those scrawny evil creatures with long nails supposedly use us to fly!), which spans many cultures and religions.

So when Aam Aadmi Party decided to make us their election symbol we all were quite literally 'swept' off our feet. Political parties in order to show their sympathies towards working class had eagerly chosen symbols such as plough, hammer, sickle etc. But they never touched the lowly broom even with a barge pole. Because those who wielded us belong to lowliest of the low category among workers, what is politely called 'unroganised sector'. AAP decided to make us their symbol as we denoted 'dignity of labour'.

We saw AAP partymen with amusement. They were a youthful lot and seemed like a bunch of a college troupe enacting a drama on freedom struggle, because they were always seen with Gandhi topi. But in order to steer clear from the derogatory connotations it had acquired in independent India, they had mein hoon aam aadmi printed on it.

It was indeed thrilling to feel the soft touch (unlike civic worker's weather beaten hands) of techies, former IAS officers, bankers, IITians, lawyers, B-school alumni and members from all walks of Indian society, who wielded us with pride, as if we were swords. At AAP rallies we began having a pride of place.

All this gave us a heady feeling, but we were little edgy about the party's future. Most of the partymen had cut their political milk teeth with India Against Corruption movement. But organising an agitation and going through the rough and tumble of elections was something as starkly different as playing Farmville and wielding the actual plough. Moreover the party did not have the blessings of the patriarch of anti-corruption crusade - Anna Hazare. He saw politics as an irredeemable cesspool and was disinclined towards joining it.

Media saw AAP as an airy fairy group of trollers who would never make a splash beyond the confines of social media and coffee shops. This dismissive attitude continued till some opinion poll findings in the run up to Delhi assembly elections began trickling in. Even then Arvind Kejriwal's move to contest against incumbent chief minister Shiela Dikshit was seen as tad ambitious, if not foolhardy.

The rest they say is history and the resulting power shifts after the election verdict catapulted AAP into Delhi's gaddi, albeit as a minority government. Now for them the new challenge is of running an accountable government. It calls for a different skill set and there are umpteen examples in Indian politics of parties and leaders who had came to power on reformist platform and street battles, but proved total misfits when it came to governance.

How AAP will perform as a government is in the realm of speculation and not for lowly creatures like us to comment on. We leave this to the rarefied world of TV studios to do the honours. But AAP's one-year long road to electoral politics is indeed dotted with many milestones. It did prove that elections can be fought using shoestring budget and clean money. It is possible to groom a bunch of self made leaders, who don't have pedigree, caste or money power wired in their DNAs. All this was against the grain of how Indian politics was being practiced and shook off the man on the street's from his sab chor hain mental stupor vis-a-vis politics and politicians.

Lastly our chests puff up with pride for the fact that we too are part of this 'sweeping' reform in a humble way and hope this would somehow improve the living conditions of those who wield us to make a living.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat