Prime Minister hinted a re-think on Kashmir in his interactions with party leaders.

Prime Minister hinted a re-think on Kashmir in his interactions with party leaders.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs a meeting with a delegation of opposition parties from Jammu and Kashmir. (PTI Photo)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi comments mark a departure from his three earlier statements since the outbreak of unrest following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani last month.

For one, efforts are being taken to provide a healing touch by acknowledging the protesters in the Valley as “part of us, our nation”. It could be a conscious attempt to dilute the hyphenation between young protesters and peace-loving people.

Blaming Pakistan and separatists for instigating protests in the Valley has lent credence to the shrill jingoistic discourse on Kashmir but did little to contain the spread of violence with every killing in the Valley.

At a rally in Madhya Pradesh on August 10, Modi spoke of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s path of “Insaniyat, Jamhooriyat and Kashmiriyat” , but in the same breath, blamed “a handful of misguided people” for “hurting” Kashmir’s great tradition.

At the all-party meet in New Delhi two days later, he talked about the “pain felt by all of us” irrespective of whether it was a civilian or security personnel, injured or killed, adding that “to spread the myth that this is a public agitation is far from the truth”.

The reference to the unrest in Kashmir in his Independence Day speech was marked by an escalation of rhetorical hostility with Pakistan over brutalities in Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Monday’s remarks by the Prime Minister, therefore, signalled a change in New Delhi’s assessment of the situation in Kashmir. His appeal to opposition parties to convey to the people in Kashmir his distress over the loss of lives of “our youth”, security personnel and police could be the first step towards bridging trust deficit in the Valley.

Source hindustantimes

Now only a miracle can salvage the GST Bill from the thicket of opportunistic politics.

Forget GST; press ahead with good governance

Source — By FPJ Bureau | Dec 16, 2015 12:18 am 

Now only a miracle can salvage the GST Bill from the thicket of opportunistic politics. Obstructionism seems to be winning over wider national interest. Admittedly, divisive politics is an integral part of all democratic systems but rival politicians are not expected to scupper progress at the altar of intense and unthinking partisanship. Tragically, what we have seen in the last few weeks is the unreconstructed childishness and pique elevated to the status of a considered policy by Rahul Gandhi. The de facto boss of the opposition Congress is just not ready to offer constructive cooperation to the ruling party even on matters of wider national interest. It is lost on him that the GST was proposed by the UPA. It is lost on him too that the government has virtually accepted the three conditions his party had raised for cooperating in passing the historic tax reform. In retrospect, it appears that the three conditions were laid in the belief that the government would stand firm and would not yield on any of them. But the government called the Congress bluff, more or less giving in on the points raised by the main Opposition. Taken by surprise by the extent to which the government was willing to ensure that the GST Bill was passed in the current session, the Congress per force resorted to other peripheral issues to stall Parliament. As was seen in the last couple of days, after it realised that it was counter-productive to stall Parliament on the National Herald court case against the Gandhis and a few others, a new excuse was cited each day to create shindy in Parliament. It was only the tenacity and firmness of the Lok Sabha Speaker, Sumitra Mahajan, and the fact that the government had a clear majority in the House, which has enabled it to function near-normal. In the Rajya Sabha, the so-called House of the Elders with such wise men like former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as its members, it has been bedlam from the word go. The presiding officers seem helpless before the Congress members who come determined to disrupt the proceedings. In this backdrop, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s fears that this session too might turn out to be a complete washout are not unfounded. Frankly, we have a feeling that so long as Rahul Gandhi is not made to realise by someone wiser than him that his antics might result in further marginalisation of the Congress he might persist with his obstructive, destructive politics. The claim that he was prevented by the RSS to enter a famous temple in Assam was found to be false, with the head priest saying that they were waiting for the great man at the temple gate for nearly four hours but he never showed up.

But it is for the PM to find ways around Rahul’s obstructionism. If the numbers minus the Congress still not add for the GST constitutional amendment, Modi should proceed without the GST with other doable reforms. Necessity being the mother of invention, the government must be run and run well for the larger public good with or without further constitutional amendments and even new laws. Implementing the existing laws firmly and honestly too can prove productive. And reforms, wherever possible, with executive action must be proceeded with. The nation cannot be allowed to be held hostage by the immaturity and childishness of one person. The opportunity to grow at a faster rate is now. The world oil prices are at a historic low, so are commodities, giving India a golden opportunity to grow at a faster rate, particularly when China is hit by excessive capacities and shrinking exports. Happily, even the manufacturing sector is beginning to show an upward movement. Should the government become the effective catalyst for private sector growth, which it is always expected to,  there is no reason why we cannot register eight-nine percent growth this year, especially when the public sector infrastructure projects have once again got going.

Climate change will hit food security

— By Bharat Jhunjhunwala | Sep 05, 2015 12:09 am 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his resolve to help Island countries of the Pacific Ocean face climate change. The melting of glaciers due to global warming is expected to lead to an increase in the level of water in our oceans. This will lead to some islands completely being submerged into the ocean. Modi is also slated to join hands with President Obama on the issue of global warming during his coming visit to the United States. These steps taken by Modi are both timely and welcome. But there is a much more urgent problem lurking in our backyard that needs attention much before the global action plan is worked out.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that global warming will increase the number of extreme climate events such as floods, droughts and cyclones. The rainfall pattern is likely to become more variable too. Few days of intense rain followed by long periods of droughts are likely to take place even though average rainfall may remain the same. The average temperature in India has risen by 0.6 degree Celsius in the last century. It is expected to increase by 2.4 degrees by the year 2100. What we will face will be four times the increase in present century compared to what we have seen in the last century.

The impact of climate change will be more severe on rain fed agriculture. Crops like bajra, corn and ragi are cultivated in large tracts of the country. I have lived for a few years in Rajasthan. Often there are good rains at the time of sowing followed by long dry spells such that the farmer only harvests the straw at the end of the season. Climate change will hit at rain-fed agriculture majorly. Farmers in these areas will demand facilities of irrigation such as from canals. Crops in irrigated areas will also come under pressure. It is predicted that there will be a reduction in winter rains. Long spells of no rains in the monsoons will increase the demand for irrigation for paddy as well. There will be an increase in demand for irrigation in all the seasons.

The availability of water, on the other hand, will reduce. It is predicted that there will be less snowfall in the hills. That will lead to less flow into the rivers during the summers when the demand for water is the highest. Greater variability in the rainfall pattern will lead to less recharge of groundwater aquifers. Continuously drizzling water for a number of days enables large amounts of water to seep into the earth. One gush of heavy rainfall, on the other hand, provides less time for the water to seep into the earth. Most water flows into the rivers and into the sea. Our efforts to control flood have also led to less recharge of aquifers. Previously flood waters used to inundate large tracts of land and water used to seep into the aquifers. Now we have built embankments along many rivers which prevent the spread of flood water. As a result, groundwater level is fast reducing in most areas of the country.

The availability of water for irrigation will be further reduced due to evaporation from large storage reservoirs like Bhakra and Tehri. A study of 12 large reservoirs in the United States predicted that evaporation loss will increase by nine percent in the next century. The loss is likely to be more in our warmer climate. We are faced with a double whammy. The demand for irrigation will increase while availability of water for irrigation will reduce.

Climate change will also have global political implications for us. Warmer temperatures will be mildly positive for colder countries of Europe and North America; while it will be hugely negative for tropical countries like India which means that developed countries will be able to produce larger quantities of food grains while our production may decline. We had to go with a begging bowl to Washington in the sixties for supply of food grains under the United States’ PL 480 programme. A similar situation may be created yet again. Thus climate change will affect sovereignty.

We need to make changes in our agriculture and water policies to face these multiple challenges arising from global warming. The indigenous varieties of food grains like paddy and wheat are more resistant to climate variations. We had abandoned these varieties in favour of High Yielding Varieties to augment our food production in the wake of the food crisis of the sixties. We will have to retrace our steps. We must encourage farmers to grow traditional varieties even though the production may be less. The farmer is willing to make this change. He wants to insulate himself from the vagaries of weather. His problem is that he cannot make his ends meet if the production is less. Therefore, we must put in place a system of incentives for growing indigenous varieties. We must adopt water conservation measures such as drip irrigation so that we can grow same amount of grains with less water. Once again the problem is that of price. The farmers do not have the income or the incentive to invest in drip irrigation systems. This requires increase in price and provision of incentives.

We are consuming large amounts of water for growing water-intensive crops like grapes, sugarcane, and red chillies that are often produced for export. We pack our scarce water into these crops and export our water to foreign countries. There is a need to assess the availability of water in each block of the country and put restrictions on growing of crops that consume more water than is available. Farmers make tens of irrigations in dry areas of Gulbarga and Jodhpur to grow grapes and red chillies. This must stop.

Our water policy also needs reconsideration. Present policy is to make large reservoirs like Bhakra and Tehri and store monsoon water for use in the summers. As told above, this is leading to huge losses due to evaporation. Instead, we must store water in groundwater aquifers. We must remove all embankments along the rivers and let the flood waters spread over large areas so that the aquifers are recharged. We must build villages on mounds and houses on stilts so that loss of life is minimised during floods. Prime Minister Modi must be congratulated for putting global warming on the agenda in his talks with foreign countries. But one does not lecture about the need to buy a new fire engine when one’s house is on fire. Modi must first make policies to insulate India from global warming. Only then would his interactions with other countries be credible.

Author was formerly a Professor of Economics at IIM Bengaluru

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