Every government has its pet phrases. Indira Gandhi gave a call Garibi Hatao many years
back and the BJP came up with “India Shining”. The government of Sonia Gandhi-
Manmohan Singh swears by aam admi and regularly talk of “Inclusive Growth” which has
indeed become a fashionable phrase these days. All speeches, from election rallies to
speeches to the corporate sector, today include these two phrases. With allocations
running from thousands of crores for schemes allocated for the aam admi one would think
that some of the problems of the poor would have been solved, sixty years after
independence. Yet, these phrases sound hollow. This feature examines whether
government is serious about “Inclusive Growth”, what it is and how can it be tackled.


India has achieved a great deal in recent years.
Breaking the shackles of socialism that had sapped
the strength of Indian entrepreneurs, the country
has done well economically, achieving growth rates
that had hitherto seemed impossible.
However, India’s success story is marred by glaring
poverty and inequalities. It is assumed that the gap
between the rich and the poor is growing and that
India’s growth is one-sided. Any talk of growth thus
gets bogged down in the poverty debate. Even international
organisations have joined in the chorus. It has
become fashionable to talk about the poor without actually
doing anything for them. The government is leading
the chorus, with the Prime Minister advising everyone
that there should be social equality.
Historical background If problems in India were to be solved by slogans,
our government could have accomplished a great
deal. Not only would we have a “socialist pattern of
society” and “equality for all” that our Constitution
talks about, but poverty would have been banished and
India would be shining. The government of Sonia
Gandhi-Manmohan Singh has fallen into the same trap
of making fashionable noises while actually doing nothing
for the country. They now want to make growth
“inclusive”, that is, the benefits of growth should be
shared by all sections of society.
Nobody can deny that this is a noble objective. If
the country is growing, why should the rich get richer
and the gap between the rich and the poor keep
increasing? The word “inclusive” means: “not excluding
any section of society”.
The thinking is not new. Since independence, our
leaders have been obsessed—in public at least—with
the poor. They rejected the economic ideology of USA
and UK, which were both rich countries, and adopted
instead the economic model of the Soviet Union. The
idea was to achieve a socialistic pattern of society. This
was the first attempt for inclusive growth, even though
the phrase was not fashionable at that time.
The results of that misguided policy are for all to
see. In the forty years of socialism, India became one of
the poorest countries of the world. Almost 40% of the
population was pushed below the poverty line. Instead
of harnessing the Indian spirit, it destroyed it by creating
a frightful bureaucracy: Government babus controlled
everything, right from deciding how much cloth
a particular factory should produce. The economy was
marked by shortages and black economy. To buy a
scooter, for example, one had to wait for more than five
years! The achievement of years of socialism has been
rampant corruption and a total disregard for the poor.
The policy also worked against the Indian entrepreneur.
Profit was seen as a dirty word and private companies
and multinationals were seen as evil empires.
The government tried to run companies and even set up
bread and scooter factories, but only a few could do
well. The poor were left to fend for themselves. The
dominant aspiration for the middle class youth was to
get government jobs and make money on the side.
Even after the Soviet Union broke up, our country
continued its destructive economic policy. Forced by a
declining balance of payments situation in the early
nineties, the government grudgingly agreed to liberalise
and to include the Indian entrepreneur in the economic
process. In just a few years, the face of India began to
change. Companies like Infosys were born and Indian
companies began to grow with competition. In just a
few years we began to talk of a Shining India and the
world began to take Indian companies seriously. As a
result of liberalisation, today India shares space with
China as the most promising emerging market. People
became rich and the affluence began to show on the
streets as new malls and clubs opened. The newspapers
reported that an Indian, Mr Mukesh Ambani, has
become the richest man in the world, displacing the legendary
Bill Gates, who held the title for many years.
These things were inconceivable in the years of licence
raj, as the control by government babus was called.
In the meantime, politics in the country also underwent
a change. Poor governance and lopsided priorities
resulted in lame duck governments, with no political
party able to get a majority in the Parliament. As political
parties learnt the art of managing coalition governments,
they desperately searched for something that
would earn them votes. So they fell back on the past,
talking of poverty again. They found a slogan in Inclusive
Growth, that is, the challenge of including the poor
to share the fruits of development. The slogan has been
convenient, for who can deny that caring for the poor is
a bad thing?
would earn them votes. So they fell back on the past,
talking of poverty again. They found a slogan in Inclusive
Growth, that is, the challenge of including the poor
to share the fruits of development. The slogan has been
convenient, for who can deny that caring for the poor is
a bad thing?
Government Response
The title of the Approach Paper on the Eleventh
Five-Year Plan “Towards faster and more inclusive
growth” reflects the need to make growth “more inclusive”,
that is, to make benefits of employment and
income flow to those sections of society which have
been bypassed by higher rates of economic growth witnessed
in recent years. On paper, this is a very good
idea. The poor should get more employment opportunities,
coupled with better delivery distribution, to ensure
access to benefits of growth. The government woke up
to the concern of human development and the midterm
appraisal of the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-2007)
released by the Planning Commission contains nearly
100 pages on “Human Development”.
The problem lies in achieving these goals. Reports
by the Planning Commission or slogan shouting by the
Prime Minister do not result in positive results. A review
of target values reveals that in almost all indicators we
are off-track. Only for one indicator, namely, the proportion
of the population below the poverty line, our
performance is favourable.
So, is the talk of Inclusive Growth just a desperate
attempt to gather votes from the people? Or is it something
serious?
The response of the Manmohan Singh government
to achieve Inclusive Growth has been three-pronged:
1. Talk about it in all speeches and in the Planning
Commission;
2. Increase caste-based reservations;
3. Throw money in government schemes.
It is easy to see that this strategy is deeply flawed.
Talking about a problem rarely solves a problem and, in
any case, the Planning Commission is a defunct orga -
nisation. The policy of increasing caste-based reservations
has only resulted in increasing friction in society,
with different communities now demanding special status
for themselves, leading to violence on the streets.
Likewise, making budget allocations and throwing thousands
of crores of rupees in schemes that achieve little
is hardly a good way of tackling national problems.
Government Schemes:
Throwing Good Money after Bad The government frequently comes up with
schemes to show its commitment to the poor.
Usually named in Hindi to show national concerns,
these schemes have lofty goals that
Government Response
The title of the Approach Paper on the Eleventh
Five-Year Plan “Towards faster and more inclusive
growth” reflects the need to make growth “more inclusive”,
that is, to make benefits of employment and
income flow to those sections of society which have
been bypassed by higher rates of economic growth witnessed
in recent years. On paper, this is a very good
idea. The poor should get more employment opportunities,
coupled with better delivery distribution, to ensure
access to benefits of growth. The government woke up
to the concern of human development and the midterm
appraisal of the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-2007)
released by the Planning Commission contains nearly
100 pages on “Human Development”.
The problem lies in achieving these goals. Reports
by the Planning Commission or slogan shouting by the
Prime Minister do not result in positive results. A review
of target values reveals that in almost all indicators we
are off-track. Only for one indicator, namely, the proportion
of the population below the poverty line, our
performance is favourable.
So, is the talk of Inclusive Growth just a desperate
attempt to gather votes from the people? Or is it something
serious?
The response of the Manmohan Singh government
to achieve Inclusive Growth has been three-pronged:
1. Talk about it in all speeches and in the Planning
Commission;
2. Increase caste-based reservations;
3. Throw money in government schemes.
It is easy to see that this strategy is deeply flawed.
Talking about a problem rarely solves a problem and, in
any case, the Planning Commission is a defunct orga -
nisation. The policy of increasing caste-based reservations
has only resulted in increasing friction in society,
with different communities now demanding special status
for themselves, leading to violence on the streets.
Likewise, making budget allocations and throwing thousands
of crores of rupees in schemes that achieve little
is hardly a good way of tackling national problems.
Government Schemes:
Throwing Good Money after Bad The government frequently comes up with
schemes to show its commitment to the poor.
Usually named in Hindi to show national concerns,
these schemes have lofty goals that
promise to make our
country great. But, a look
at the achievements of the
schemes show that inclusive
growth remains at
best a fashionable phrase
mouthed by politicians:
1. Pradhan Mantri
Grameen Sadak Yojna: A
scheme of the Central government,
it aimes at providing
all-weather roads to
over 65,000 unconnected
villages. It is to be
financed with half of the
cess on fuel, with an
expenditure of Rs 48,000
crore. Only a fraction of
the work has been done.
Official figures say that
44,000 km of rural roads
were constructed and another 1,46,000 km have to be
built by 2009. There are delays of implementation,
many villages still have to see any proper road, and in
many places the quality of the roads is so bad that they
are washed out every monsoon.
2. National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(NREG): The scheme aims to provide 100 days of
employment per financial year to adult members of a
rural household who are willing to do manual work.The
Rural Development Ministry estimates that Rs 20,000
crore is required for the scheme every year. Official
figures speak of the achievements in glowing terms.
However, in most places, the scheme is a classic
example of creating useless employment, that is, of digging
holes and filling them up, because the work done
is temporary. For instance, it would be much better to
impart abilities that help a poverty-stricken family to
build their economic future, rather than having a few
days of employment. Also, the labour under the scheme
should be used so that the villages actually get schools,
hospitals and roads. Yet, none of these have been made
or even planned by the policy makers.
3. National Rural Health Mission (NRHM): The aim
of NRHM is to provide assessable, affordable, accountable,
effective and reliable primary health care facilities
for the poor and vulnerable sections of the population.
Over Rs 26,000 crore has been allocated. NRHM seeks to
halve infant mortality, reduce fertility rate, maternal
mortality and prevalence of diseases and to revitalise
primary healthcare in rural India. Despite government
claims, finding an efficient and working primary healthcare
centre in a village is an exception rather than the
rule. Most rural population depends on private doctors
and even quacks. Because of government policies, doctors
do not want to serve
in rural areas and many
health centers have been
without doctors and
equipment for years. If you
see the state of rural
healthcare, you would
wonder where the massive
allocations of thousands
of crores of rupees have
gone.
4. Sarv Shiksha
Abhiyan: Highly publicised,
the Sarv Shiksha
Abhiyan aims for useful
and relevant elementary
education to all children in
the age group of 6-14
years by 2010. The government
imposed a 2% education
cess to be used for the
scheme and the Mid-day meal scheme. Government allocation
is Rs 10,393 crore. Officially, it is said that the
schemes have been a success in many districts. A large
number of poor people have started sending their children
to school. However, government schools remain a
picture of apathy. Many schools function without
teachers. Teachers are appointed and transferred on
political considerations and often go to school only to
collect their salaries. The quality of education is also
questionable. The mid-day meals are also in controversies
as newspapers regularly report bad quality of food
served in government schools.
While the intention of the above schemes is commendable,
they are marred by corruption. Little is ever
achieved. Every budget makes greater allocations and
launches new schemes but their effect on the ground is
surprisingly little. Thus, the allocations merely amount
to throwing money at problems. It is high time that the
government admitted its errors and changed track.
What can be done If government response is insincere and inadequate,
what can really be done? How can the poor of the
country be brought to share in economic growth? If
nothing is done, the friction in society will only
increase, making the country unstable.
Fortunately, the problem is not unique, and
solutions do exist, if only we care to look:
1. Encouraging private philanthropy. Multinational
companies and organisations have philanthropic
arms as a means to give back to society. Regretfully,
the government has done nothing to give a
support to such activities. The government should be
an enabler, rather than sponsor of schemes that just
[ COVER STORY ]
4 Janaury 2008 THE COMPETITION MASTER
encourage corruption. A coalition of companies that are
working in similar fields needs to be made. Delivery will
be more efficient. It is time that India’s managerial
expertise is used in social areas.
2. Public Private Partnerships (PPP): In India, PPP
is surprisingly absent, even though India has many
companies and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs)
willing to work with the government. The government
can form coalitions with those companies that have a
proven record of taking up social activities. Instead of
implementing schemes through leaking government
machinery, they can be implemented through honest
and transparent organisations. But, this initiative is
missing in India.
3. Economic reform. If a little economic reform
could result in our economic growth jumping to over 9%
per annum now, it shows that the answer lies in more
liberalisation and more reform. Yet, successive governments
have not been able to give a support to reforms,
perhaps because of the fear of losing control. Even the
present government, which is widely seen to be progressive,
has failed on making the desired policies that
would liberate the Indian spirit.
4. Harnessing Religion. India is one of the most
religious countries of the world. Great amounts of
money are offered in millions of temples across the
country. If one just adds the contributions made in the
big temples like Tirupati, Golden Temple and Vaishno
Devi, we would come at a staggering figure of over Rs
1000 crore. Nobody knows where this money goes, and
religion has been silent in the fields of education,
female infanticide and health services. In that respect,
our religion has been an utter failure. Accountability in
use of funds of all religions has to be made mandatory.
They should be encouraged to start free schools for
girls, educate the people about health and hygiene, and
to start rehabilitation programmes for the poor. In
many other countries, religious organisations have provided
support systems for the poor and have helped
guide the movement of money from the rich to
the poor. If such a conduit
exists, much of the problem
of inclusive growth
can be solved.
5. Focused and Better
governance. A major
shortcoming in including
the poor in development
is the lack of governance.
Our institutions—the
police and judiciary, for
example—seem to exist
only for the rich. It is difficult
for the poor to get
a case registered or to
fight it out in the courts. Unless governance is
improved, the poor will continue to be marginalised.
Yet, the government that claims to be for aam admi
continues to fight battles of no consequence, such as
trying to control AIIMS or sending notices to Amitabh
Bachchan. When governance becomes this narrow, it is
useless to talk of including poor in the development
process.
6. Investment in infrastructure. It is said that
Indians suffer the acts of their mediocre leaders. This is
true of the present government also. The government
should provide proper infrastructure and security and
leave the rest to people. Yet, the infrastructure in our
country is pathetic in almost all spheres. Investment in
infrastructure would have a multiplier effect and boost
the entire economy, pulling the rich and the poor.
7. Learn from successful countries. A look at the
map of the world shows that the countries that are leading
on all HDI indices have achieved equality by implementing
a series of policies that have encouraged
human development. We also have world-renowned
people like Amartya Sen, who has done remarkable
work on poverty. The government fails to learn from
other countries, or even involve its own people for
development. Is it surprising that Indians can work and
make a name in all other countries except their own?
The country must now show the same level of
dynamism and innovation in tackling basic
health and education inequalities as it has displayed
in global technology markets. This was
stated in the Human Development Report (HDR) 2005.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
reviews show that while there has been an overall
progress globally, many individual countries are not
making the progress needed to achieve the MDGs by
2015. The Human Development Report 2005 argued
that extreme inequality is a brake on achieving the
MDGs and wider human development goals.
The Report warns that
some of the most highly
visible globalisation ‘success
stories’, including
China and India, are failing
to convert wealth creation
and rising incomes
into more rapid progress
on the social indicators.
The Report points out that
at a lower level of income
and with far lower growth,
Bangladesh has overtaken
India in its progress on
some of the c r i t i c a l
Development Goals.

Sony shows off some of its latest HDTV technology

Kevin Miller, a contributing editor for CNET, was recently invited to Japan by Sony for a weeklong trip to show off some of the company's new HDTV technology. Among the highlights were Sony's new 4K by 2K projector, the SRX-R220, its new line of Bravia, and the XBR flat panel LCD HDTVs, a new proprietary wireless HDMI technology, called Bravia Wireless Link, and some updates on its new OLED displays.

Sony demonstrated its new Bravia XBR8 series televisions, due stateside this fall, adjacent to Samsung's LN-T4681F and Pioneer's PDP-4280HD from 2007. Kevin said that "the blacks on the new XBR8 series look to be the best of any LCD that I have seen to date by a good margin." Sony chalks up those deep blacks to its Triluminous technology, which utilizes LEDs that can be dimmed independently across the screen, instead of the standard fluorescent backlight that remains constantly turned on. Sony also exhibited what the company calls Motionflow Pro, a step up from its standard MotionFlow technology available on current models like the KDL-46W4100. We expect to review the XBR8 models as soon as they're available.

Coming closer to reducing the tangle of cords often associated with modern home entertainment systems, Sony also showed off its wireless HDMI technology. This will allow users to house their components in a closed cabinet, eliminating the need to run several wires through the wall to the television. The specification currently only supports 1080i though, although Sony is working on a 1080p version.

Lastly and probably the coolest item on Kevin's itinerary was all the OLED goodness. While Sony has a 11-inch model on the market, the XEL-1, priced at a whopping $2,500, it plans to invest $220 million in 2009 to further bring down the price and to develop larger screen sizes. Eventually the company wants to integrate the displays into "rolled goods, like window shades that drop down, covering your window to turn [it] into a TV."

We could see ultrathin OLED displays used in a number of applications. How about animated advertising on the side of skyscrapers, sans the low-res neon light bulbs, similar to what's seen in the movie, Bladerunner? Or what about digital, animated clothing, a built-in monitor for your office desk, or a flexible video-esque newspaper that can be folded and snugged into your pocket?

Clearly the possibilities are endless--but what do you think? Will this technology catch on (if the price comes down) and really revolutionize our lives, or is this just more hype from Sony?

Apple homes in on iPod-iPhone remote control

Apple is working on an application aimed at letting people remotely control iTunes in the home via their iPod Touch or iPhone, according to a report on MacRumors.com.

The application is described in information included with the iTunes 7.7 pre-release version that was made available to developers on Thursday.

According to the MacRumors report, the application will "presumably" allow people to play back their iTunes audio with the help of Wi-Fi.

The report offers these details from the developers pre-release version, based on the "Read Me" area of the iTunes installer:

Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod touch with software version 2.0 or later. Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home--a free download from the App Store.

Such an application would add momentum to Apple's unveiling of its iPhone software development kit in March.

nakia music express

its a cool and nice phone

in one word i just love to have it

General
2G Network GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900
GSM 850 / 1800 / 1900 - US version
Announced 2007, August
Status Available. Released 2007, October

Size
Dimensions 103.8 x 44.7 x 9.9 mm, 44.8 cc
Weight 71 g

Display

Type TFT, 16M colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 31.5 x 41.5 mm

- Downloadable themes
Ringtones
Type Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3, MP4, WMA, AAC, video tones
Customization Download
Vibration Yes

Memory
Phonebook 2000 entries, Photocall
Call records Yes
Card slot microSD (TransFlash), up to 8GB, hotswap, buy memory
- 30 MB internal memory

Data
GPRS Class 32
HSCSD Yes
EDGE Class 32, up to 177 kbits
3G No
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB

Features
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML (Opera mini)
Games Snake II, Music Guess, Towerbloxx, order now
Colors Red, Blue, Pink, Black
Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, video(QCIF)

- Java MIDP 2.1- Stereo FM radio with RDS- MP3/MP4/AAC/eAAc/WMA player- 3.5 mm AV jack- Nokia sensor- Nokia mobile search- World Clock II- Converter II- T9- Stopwatch- Built-in handsfree- Voice memo/commands

Battery
Standard battery, Li-Ion 860 mAh (BL-4CT)
Stand-by Up to 300 h
Talk time Up to 5 h 20 min

iphone

Introducing iPhone 3G. With fast 3G wireless technology, GPS mapping, support for enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and the new App Store, iPhone 3G puts even more features at your fingertips. And like the original iPhone, it combines three products in one — a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device with rich HTML email and a desktop-class web browser. iPhone 3G. It redefines what a mobile phone can do — again.

Phone
Make a call by tapping a name or send a text with the intelligent keyboard.
iPod

Enjoy music and video on a widescreen display and shop for music with a tap.
Internet
Browse the real web, get HTML email, and find yourself with GPS maps.

Home Screen Phone Mail
Safari iPod SMS
Maps with GPS iTunes App Store
Calendar YouTube Photos + Camera
Stocks, Weather, Notes Calculator

5 Tricks to Keep Fit

Recently the weather is changing so unexpectedly that many people around me got flu symptoms and find it quite difficult to recover. I was preaching this 5 tricks to keep fit so often that I decided to write it on the Internet to share with my fellow readers.

I understand that different people have different physical body shape or background, that’s actually the first trick to look at when talking about keeping fit. Some people gain weight easily due to genetical heredity, somebody the other way round. This affects how we look and how we weight. In the chinese traditional saying, there are ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ body types. For ‘yin’ people, they feel cold easily, sometimes their hands and feet are so cold no matter how much clothes they put on. (This is also related to the personal characteristics, ‘yin’ people are most of the time relax and easy-going. But this is out of topic of this post.) For ‘yang’ people, you can say the other way round, they’re hot tempered, warm body and sweat easily. Different body types should look for different diet.

This lead to the second trick - Diet. There are many websites talking about diet, especially for people who wants to loss weight. I’m not a professional doctor, so I’m not going into details here. (If you’re interested, please go to this webpage for further detail: http://www.diet.com/tracking/index_c.php?id=1611 ) But for people with different physical shape, diet can be a critical part to stay healthy and fit. As mentioned, ‘yin’ people feel cold easily, so try to avoid cold drinks or cold food like ice-cream. For ‘yang’ people, deep fried stuff is the killer. (I know, it is really difficult to cut your favorite food, I’m not saying that you should stop eating these food forever, anyhow you need to give yourself a treat.) But it is a matter of persistence.

Persistence, our third trick. As we all know, cutting the food we love is like taking my life away sometimes… (You’re right, I love eating and sometimes can hardly cut those ‘attractive yummy little snacks’. That’s where you can see how fragile our mind can be.) I think to be persistent, especially regarding how to lose weight or how to keep fit, it is better tell your plan to your friends and family so they can give you the support you need. On the other hand, you must remind yourself how good to be healthy and look great all the time. Set a target, e.g. not to fall sick during the flu season or lose 5 lbs. in a month, etc. If you achieve your goal, maybe then you can give yourself a little treat. This will keep you motivated.

Metabolism rate is another trick to help you achieve your plan to keep fit. As we all know, metabolism rate is the mystery dominating our body shape and recovery rate, too fast or too slow is not the best to us, but how to keep it at a steady rate? Sleep and exercise are the keys. Without sleep or rest, our metabolism will slow down, causing us to gain weight easily. According to research, it is better that we have 6 hours of sleep every day, the best before 12 as our kidney can cooperate to cleanse the body. Exercise can make our metabolism goes faster, so as to burn extra calories. Another research saying that 2 hours per week of exercising is the best duration.

Last but not least, have a yearly body check. It is always a good idea to know your body and how it changes over time. If you want to master it, you have to understand it. As you know, some skinny people do have a high cholesterol rating! Afterall, it is also a good time to have a free consultation with the doctor regarding some tips on keeping fit!

Hope the above 5 tricks to keep fit can help you to stay out of flu and influenza during this hard season. If you need more detail, you can check the following link: http://www.diet.com/tracking/index.php?id=1611