Twenty Years of Globalization: Poverty, Hunger, Unemployment and Corruption
Government of India adopted new economic policy (NEP) in 1991. They termed this policy as a policy of liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG). Though new economic policy claimed to be the policy of LPG, but in essence this policy was mainly the policy of globalization.
Globalization and its Advocacy
Globalization is the process of integrating various economies of the world without creating any hindrances in the free flow of goods and services, technology, capital and even labour or human capital. The term ‘globalization’ has, therefore, four parameters:
(i) Reduction of trade barriers to permit free flow of goods and services among nation-states;
(ii) Creation of environment in which free flow of capital can take place among nation-states;
(iii) Creation of environment, permitting free flow of technology; and
(iv) Last, but not the least, from the point of view of developing countries, creation of environment in which free movement of labour can take place in different countries of the world.
The advocates of globalization, more especially from developed countries, limit the definition of globalization to only three components, unhindered trade flows, capital flows and technology flows. They insist on developing countries to accept their definition of globalization and conduct the debate on globalization within the parameters set by them. However, several economists in the developing world believe that this definition is incomplete and in case the ultimate aim of globalization is to look upon the world as a ‘global’ village, then the fourth component, unrestricted movement of labour cannot he left out.
Advocacy of Globalization
Advocates of globalization support their defence of globalization on the following arguments:
(i) Globalization will promote direct foreign investment and, thus, it enables developing countries to raise capital without recourse to international indebtedness.
(ii) Globalization enables developing countries to make use of technology developed by advanced countries without investments in Research and Development.
(iii) Globalization widens the access of developing countries to export their produce in the developed countries. Simultaneously, it enables the consumers of developing countries to obtain quality consumer goods, especially consumer durables, at relatively much lower prices.
(iv) Globalization introduces faster diffusion of knowledge and thus enables developing countries to raise their level of production and productivity. It, therefore, generates the momentum to reach international standards of productivity.
(v) Globalization reduces costs of transport and communication. It also reduces tariffs and thus enlarges the share of foreign trade as a percentage of GDP.
In nutshell, globalization is considered as the engine of growth, technical advancement, raising productivity, enlarging employment and bringing about poverty reduction along with modernization.
Impact of Globalization on India – Growth amidst Deepening Poverty
In terms of standards of globalization, we find pace of globalization as per its definition, we have had a fast pace of globalization of Indian economy that is integration of Indian economy with the rest of the world. This is depicted from the data, which shows that exports increased from 5.8 per cent of GDP to 14.4 per cent of GDP between 1990-91 and 2010-11. Imports increased at a faster pace from 8.8 per cent of GDP in 1990-91 to 23.1 per cent of GDP. This resulted in an increase in Balance of Trade deficit from 3.0 per cent of GDP to 8.7 per cent of GDP. Foreign investment (FDI + FIIs) increased from US$ 103 million in 1990-91 to US$ 70,139 million. In the last ten years (2000-01) foreign investment was US$ 314.6 billion. The pace of foreign investment was so fast that India has increased from negligible in 2000-11 to nearly 3.4 per cent of total global FDI inflows as on date.
But the claims of advocates of globalization have not just been proved false; rather globalization has made life miserable for masses.
FACT SHEET 1: SHOCKING UNDERNOURISHMENT
Given the fact that contribution of primary sector in total GDP has declined from 33.53 percent in 1993-94 to 22.97 percent in 2004-05, how can we imagine any better position for 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 percent of all children are underweight and 38 percent are stunted (too short for their age) and 19 percent are wasted (too thin for their height). National Family Health Survey has been conducted for three times in these 15 years, conclude that some of these indicators have actually worsened over the years.
According to National Sample Survey Organisation, nutritional intake of India is declining. NSSO says that between1993-94 and 2004-05 calorie intake in both rural and urban India has declined by 4.9 and 2.5 percent respectively. Protein intake in rural areas is down by 5 percent. More than two-thirds of rural Indians and 70 percent 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.
FACT SHEET 2: PACE OF 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 NSS 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 NSS 55th Round, it is also less than the actual pace of reduction recorded during 1970’s and 1980’s. Thus, it is ample 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% in 1993-94 to 30.5% in 2004-05 for Rural India and an increase from 34.4% in 1993-94 to 37.6% 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 less claim 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.
FACT SHEET 3: AGONY OF 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 no 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 rate of unemployment which was 7.3. percent in urban areas and 7.2 percent in rural areas (males) in the year 1999-2000 as per 55th round of NSSO, which increased to 7.5 percent 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 percent and 7.0 percent in 1999-2000 year as per 55th round of NSSO to 11.6 percent and 8.7 percent in the years 2004-05 in the urban and rural areas respectively. Between 2004-05 and 2009-10 total addition in employment has been only 2 millions as per 66th Round of NSSO.
FACT SHEET 4: DETERIORATING QUALITY OF EMPLOYMENT
Recently NSSO released report of its 66th Round. According to the report, number of casual workers increased by 219 lakhs in five years; between 2004-05 and 2009-10. On the other hand self-employed workers, mostly farmers, small and cottage industrialists and merchants have shown a decrease in their number by 251 lakh. This increase in number of casual labour is much higher than the previous rounds.
Number of salaried workers increased by only 58 lakh between 2004-05 and 2009-10; which is less than half of increase in salaried workers between 1999-00 and 2004-05. We find that casual labour as a percentage of total workforce increased to38.6 percent in rural areas and 17.5percent in urban areas in 2009-10. This was only 35.0 percent and 15.1 percent in rural and urban areas respectively. in 2004-05. It is noticeable that in even in 1993-94 casual labour constituted 35.6 percent and 18.3 percent in rural and urban areas respectively. Thus there is only a marginal decline in casual labour between 1993-94 and 2004-05 in urban areas but that trend has also reversed in 2009-10. Needless to say that casualisation of labour implies decline in incomes of workers.
Low Wages of Casual Labour
NSSO categorizes three types of wage earners. Wages of casual labour are low is evident from the fact that wages of salaried workers in rural areas was Rs 232 per day while in urban areas it is Rs 365 per day; Casual labour hired by the private sector is only Rs 93 and Rs 122 for rural and urban areas respectively. Labour hired for public (government) works was Rs 98 and Rs 86 for males and females respectively. Wages for labour hired for MNREGA was only Rs 91 and Rs 87 for males and females respectively.
Advocates of globalization and new economic policy are not prepared to believe that this policy could be wrong. They always try to boast of high rate of economic growth. It may be important to note that maximum deterioration in the quality of employment took place during the period when rate of growth was highest. Rate of growth of GDP accelerated to 8.5 percent between 2004-05 and 2009-10 and this is the period during which pace of casualisation was higher than the earlier period. Rather casual employment had dropped earlier. Normally employment should increase with economic growth. There is unanimity among economists that economic growth being experienced today is actually jobless growth because growth of employment is not commensurate with GDP growth. Whatever growth in employment had been there was limited to growth of casual labour at the cost of self employment. Not only that employment is not growing fast, employment has been shifting from regular and self employment to casual employment. In fact, period between 2004-05 and 2009-10 has been a period of growth of low paid jobs. Thus whatever increase in employment had been there it was limited to low paid casual employment. If we look at the composition of GDP over the years, we get the answer. We understand that more than half been constantly declining and has come to a low of only 14.4 percent. Whereas other sectors of the economy have been growing at the rate of 8 to 12 percent agriculture is lagging behind with zero to three percent growth rate. Growth has been limited to only a few sectors especially in the corporate entities. Even in corporate sector only a limited number is engaged in high end jobs and rest are getting low paid jobs of guards, drivers, cleaners etc. and that too as a contract labour.
FACT SHEET 5: NO RELIEF FROM CORRUPTION DESPITE GROWTH IN GDP
Recently published report by Transparency International states that transparency index of India has come down from 3.5 to 3.3 and ranking of India in terms of transparency has come down to 87 in list of 178 country. This has been mainly attributed to corruption in organising Common Wealth Games.
Ironically, the world's most corrupt countries are poor ones. Generally in rich countries we find more transparency due to compliance with law & order. This implies that with development transparency (integrity) index goes up, as institutional frame work would be put in place with regard to compliance with law and order. But contrary to international experience, in India, despite growing national and per capita income, corruption index is also growing. Progress due to genius and hard working Indian’s is being eaten away by unscrupulous politicians and bureaucrats and thus benefits of the development are not fully reaching the general public. Countries wealth is being cornered by these elements.
Revenues also get to see phenomenal growth, thanks to growing production and incomes of rich. For example, the central government tax revenue which was only Rs.9390 crores in 1980-81 increased to Rs. 5,34, 000 crores in 2010-11, that is, 55 times in just 30 years. But non-tax revenue could increase by only 43 times in the same period. This could have increased much more had these scams not been there. Surprisingly public sector enterprises, which are blamed for their incompetence, are contributing much more to the exchequer. Telecom sector has been a house for the worst scandals, starting from former Union Communications Minister Sukh Ram to A. Raja, another Union Communication Minister
FACT SHEET 6: INFLATION AND RISING DEBT BURDEN
These scams have a direct connection with the common man's life. Lack of revenue compels the governments to go for deficit budget. In 2010-11Finance Minister planned for a fiscal deficit of nearly Rs. 4 trillions. Last year this deficit was more than Rs. 4 trillion. Such a big deficit, could be filled by government borrowing, which would increase the burden of debt on our future generations. If the government is unable to raise sufficient loans from the public(including financial institution), it has to borrow from RBI. RBI in turn would print more currency notes to finance this lending to the government. This would result in growth of money supply, which is the main cause of inflation today. Therefore it is simple one to one relationship between corruption and inflation. Had the government been able to take this amount of Rs.1.76 trillion to its kitty, scenario of price rise would have been different. Neither the government had to print additional notes nor would debt burden on future generations have increased so much.
Education and health for all still a distant dream
Some time back a law was enacted by the parliament in the name of Right to Education. It’s a known fact that as per Directive Principles of the State Policy, as enumerated in the Constitution of India the government was expected to provide for universal primary education. Even after 60 years of the promulgation of the Constitution, to implement Right to Education. This amount is only one sixth of the loss to the exchequer, due to only 2G scam.
Provision of health is the primary responsibility of the government. The government has even declared its objective to achieve health for all in Millenniun Development Goals (MDGs). But due to paucity of funds government has been taking its hands off from public health services and common man has been left to the mercy of private institutions. According to Union Budget 2010-11, a provision of only 23,530 crore has been kept for Public Health and Family Welfare. According to a rough estimate if the government spends an additional amount of Rs.30,000, reasonable health facilities may be provided for the common man. Today, 230 out of one lakh mothers die while giving birth to their child. 66 out one thousand children do not live on their 5th birthday. We can bring revolutionary changes in all these conditions, provided we win over corruption.
FACT SHEET 7: GROWTH IS ALSO NOT DUE TO GLOBALIZATION
If we are one of the fastest growing nations in the world it is not because of globalisation. If we have a look at the composition of GDP and its growth, it is dearly indicated that agriculture has been completely neglected under the influence of foreign investment. Government has reduced its expenditure on agriculture.
Budgetary allocation for agriculture has been reduced from 27 per cent in the pre globalisation era to only 6 per cent now. Contribution of agriculture has come down from more than 25 per cent to less only 14.4 per cent. Sector which has grown fastest, that is service sector, is mainly due to growth in IT, BPO sector etc. This at best can be attributed to technological factors and Indian genius. If India has emerged as a hub for medical tourism it is because of the excellent human resource in the field of medicine, surgery and other related fields. India has pushed the established centres far behind and made its position on the top on the basis of excellent service at competitive prices. No country whatsoever has ever willingly provided us with any technology with regard to space, nuclear sciences or others. It is our scientists who have made it possible. To conclude we can say nobody can stop India now to become a global superpower. What we require is a self confidence, consistent efforts to educate our people at all levels, build understanding that world needs us more than we need them.########
FS OF AANA HAZAARE – SOME FACTS AND FIGURES;
1.Making of a Anna and his limitations. 2. The team: its plusA( A back-push for Maoism, issues can be raised through public raising and not uprising of bandook, rise of middle class, grameen city develors equally active)and minus points 2. The role of middle class – active after perhaps Ramjanamboomi and anti-Reservation movements 3. Some unanswered question, rise of Medhapatekar, appearance and exit of Swami Agnivesh and Santosh Hegde, 4. The role of cyberspace and other modern techniques. 5. Organisation-less agitation v/s organization of NGO’S AND Net-working of several organizations 6. Role of Media – is the success due to media or media-frenzy a by-product of mass agitation (if the media washing its sins it had committed in the leadership of Barkhadatt, the baron of India Today, and others?)7.Is it a congress-sported agitation or a conspiracy of CONGRESS-BJP. 8. The roads ahead. 9. How should SJM should do the follow-up. 10 Some comparisons with Ramjanambhoomi, Mandal Commision and Gandhian agitationsand comparisonsof Anna with JP and Gandhi. (Vinoba Bhave )
The minus points of this agitation:
1. जब “अन्ना अनशन” ड्रामा शुरू हुआ तो कहा गया गया था कि जब तक संसद में “जन लोकपाल” पारित नहीं हो जाएगा तब तक अन्ना हजारे का अनशन चलता रहेगा. लेकिन न तो संसद में “जन लोकपाल” पारित हुआ और न सरकार ने ऐसा कोई वायदा किया कि टीम अन्ना का “जन लोकपाल” हूँ-ब-हूँ पारित कर दिया जाएगा. फिर वे कौन सी परिस्थितियां थीं जिनके चलते श्री अन्ना हजारे साहब ने अनशन तोड़ने का ऐलान कर दिया?
2. अगर ऐसा करना ही था तो उसी वक़्त अनशन तोड़ने का फैसला क्यों नहीं लिया गया जब प्रधान मंत्री और समूचे विपक्ष ने उनसे अनशन तोड़ने का अनुरोध किया था? लेकिन उस वक़्त ऐसा नहीं किया गया. अब जब सारे दल खुल कर सामने आ गये और सब ने एक सुर से टीम अन्ना के जन लोकपाल को नकार दिया तो अनशन समाप्त करने का ऐलान कर दिया गया जबकि सुबह ही अन्ना ने कहा था कि वे अभी चार-पांच दिन और अनशन कर सकते हैं.
3. Annarepeated said that I will end the fast unto death but will not leave this Ramleela Grounds until and unless the bill is passed, but within minutes he left the place to the hospital and not reiterated his previous promise of coming back after treatment.
4. जनता को ये जानने का हक है कि भ्रष्टाचार मिटाने के नाम पर उसके अरमानों और सपनों का सौदा किसने किया है? क्या अन्ना, केजरीवाल, भूषण या किरण बेदी इसका जवाब देंगे और उस सौदेबाज़ को जनता के सामने लायेंगे?
कल जब अन्ना जी अपना अनशन तोड़ेंगे तो उन्हें ये गारंटी लेनी ही होगी कि अब देश से भ्रष्टाचार समाप्त हो गया है, क्योंकि ऐसा उन्होंने और उनकी टीम ने देशवासियों से कहा था कि ये लड़ाई देश से भ्रष्टाचार समाप्त करने के लिए हो रही है. अगर अन्ना ये ऐलान नहीं करते हैं और ये जिम्मेदारी नहीं लेते हैं तो यह आज़ादी के बाद देश की जनता से सबसे बड़ा छल होगा!!!! ---अमलेन्दु उपाध्याय: लेखक राजनीतिक समीक्षक हैं। http://hastakshep.com के संपादक हैं. संपर्क-amalendu.upadhyay@gmail.com----
Iv The role of cyberspace and other modern techniques. Between the last NDA government and the current UPA government, we have probably experienced a continuity of the most intense degree of corruption that this country has ever witnessed. The outcome of the ‘Anna Hazare’ phenomenon allows the ruling Congress to appear gracious (by bending to Anna Hazar’s will) and the BJP to appear pious (by cozying up to the Anna Hazare initiative) and a full spectrum of NGO and ‘civil society’ worthies to appear, as always, even holier than they already are.
5. Most importantly, it enables the current ruling elite to have just stage managed its own triumph, by crafting a ‘sensitive’ response (ably deployed by Kapil Sibal) to a television media conjured popular upsurge. Meanwhile, the electronic media, by and large, have played their part by offering us the masquerade of a ‘revolution’ that ends up making the state even more powerful than it was before this so called ‘revolution’ began. Some people in the corridors of power must be delighted at the smoothness and economy with which all this has been achieved. Hosni Mubarak should have taken a few lessons from the Indian ruling class about how to have your cake and eat it too on Tahrir Square,
6. We have been here before. Indira Gandhi’s early years were full of radical and populist posturing, and the mould that Anna Hazare fills is not necessarily the one that JP occupied (despite the commentary that repeatedly invokes JP). Perhaps we should be reminded of the man who was fondly spoken of as ‘Sarkari Sant’ – Vinoba Bhave. Bhave lent his considerable moral stature to the defence of the Internal Emergency (which, of course, dressed itself up in the colour of anti-corruption, anti-black marketeering rhetoric, to neutralize the anti-corruption thrust of the disaffection against Indira Gandhi’s regime). And while we are thinking about parallels in other times, let us not forget a parallel in another time and another place. Let us not forget the example of how Mao’s helmsmanship of the ‘cultural revolution’ skilfully orchestrated popular discontent against the ruling dispensation to strengthen the same ruling dispensation in China.
7. These are early days, but Anna Hazare may finally go down in history as the man who - perhaps against his own instincts and interests – (I am not disputing his moral uprightness here) - sanctified the entire spectrum of Indian politics by offering it the cosmetic cloak of the provisions of the draft Jan Lokpal Bill. The current UPA regime, like the NDA regime before it, has perfected the art of being the designer of its own opposition. The method is brilliant and imaginative. First, preside over profound corruption, then, utilise the public discontent against corruption to create a situation where the ruling dispensation can be seen as the source of the most sympathetic and sensitive response, while doing nothing, simultaneously, to challenge the abuse of power at a structural level.
8. I have studied the draft Jan Lokpal Bill carefully and I find some of its features are deeply disturbing. I want to take some time to think through why this appears disturbing to me.
9. The draft Jan Lokpal bill (as present on the website Indiaagainstcorruption.org) foresees a Lokpal who will become one of the most powerful institutions of state that India has ever known. It will combine in itself the powers of making law, implementing the law, and punishing those who break the law. A lokpal will be ‘deemed a police officer’ and can ‘While investigating any offence under Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, they shall be competent to investigate any offence under any other law in the same case.’
10. The appointment of the Lokpal will be done by a collegium consisting of several different kinds of people – Bharat Ratna awardees, Nobel prize winners of Indian origin, Magasaysay award winners, Senior Judges of Supreme and High Courts, the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the Chief Election Commissioner, and members of the outgoing Lokpal board and the Chairpersons of both houses of Parliament. It may be noticed that in this entire body, only one person, the chairperson of the Lok Sabha, is a democratically elected person. No other person on this panel is accountable to the public in any way. As for ‘Nobel Prize Winners of Indian Origin’ they need not even be Indian citizens. The removal of the Lokpal from office is also not something amenable to a democratic process. Complaints will be investigated by a panel of supreme court judges.
11. This is middle class India’s dream of subverting the ‘messiness’ of democracy come delightfully true. So, now you have to imagine that Lata Mangeshkar (who is a Bharat Ratna), APJ Abul Kalam (Bharat Ratna, ex-President and Nuclear Weapons Hawk) V.S. Naipaul (who is a Nobel Prize Winner of Indian Origin) and spectrum of the kinds of people who take their morning walks in Lodhi Garden – Supreme Court Judges, Election Commissioners, Comptroller & Auditor Generals, NHRC chiefs and Rajya Sabha chairmen will basically elect the person who will run what may well become the most powerful institution in India.
12. This is a classic case of a privileged elite selecting how it will run its show without any restraint. It sets the precedent for the making of an unaccountable ‘council of guardians’ something like the institution of the ‘Velayat e Faqih’ – a self-selected body of clerics – in Iran who act as a super-state body, unrestrained by any democratic norms or procedures. I do not understand what qualifies Lata Mangeshkar and V.S. Naipaul (whose deeply reactionary views are well known) to take decisions about the future of all those who live in india.
13. The setting up of the institution of the Lokpal (as it is envisioned in what is held out as the draft Jan Lokpal Bill) needs to be seen, not as the deepening, but as the profound erosion of democracy.
14. I respect the sentiment that brings a large number of people out in support of the Jan Lokpal Bill movement. but I do not think there has been enough thought given to the implications of the provisions that it seeks to make into law. In these circumstances, one would have ordinarily expected the media to have played a responsible role by acting as a platform for debate and discussion about the issues, so that we can move, as a society, towards a better and more nuanced law. Instead, the electronic media have killed the possibility of any substantive discussion by creating a spectacle. It is absolutely imperative that this space be reclaimed by those who are genuinely interested in a serious discussion about what corruption represents in our society and in our political culture.
15. Clearly, there is a popular rage, (and not confined to earnest middle class people alone) about the helplessness that corruption engenders around us. But we have to ask very carefully whether this bill actually addresses the structural issues that cause corruption. In setting up a super-state body, that is almost self selecting and virtually unaccountable, it may in fact laying the foundations of an even more intense concentration of power. And as should be clear to all of us by now, nothing fosters corruption as much as the concentration of unaccountable and unrestrained power.
16. I am not arguing against the provision of an institution of a Lokpal, or Ombudsman, (and some of the provisions even in this draft bill – such as the provision of protection for whistle-blowers, are indeed commendable) but if we want to take this institution seriously, within a democratic political culture, we have to ask whether the methods of initiating and concluding the term of office of the Lokpal conforms to democratic norms or not. There are many models of selecting Ombudsmen available across the world, but I have never come across a situation where a country decides that Nobel Prize winners and those awarded with state conferred honours can be entrusted with the task selecting those entrusted with the power to punish people. I have also never come across the merging of the roles of investigator, judge and prosecutor within one office being hailed as the triumph of democratic values.
17. Nothing serves power better than the spectacle of resistance. The last few days have witnessed an unprecedented choreography of the spectacle of a united action. As I type this, I am watching visuals on Times Now, where a crescendo of cheesy ‘inspirational’ music strings together a montage of flag-waving children speaking in hypnotic unison. This kind of unison scares me. It reminds me of the happy synchronized calisthenics of the kind that totalitarian regimes love to use to produce the figure of their subjects. And all fascist regimes begin by sounding the tocsin of ‘cleansing’ society of corruption and evil.
18. When four Bombay page three worthies, Rishi Kapoor, Prithwish Nandy, Anupam Kher, Anil Dharker conduct a shrill inquisition (as they did on the Newshour on Times Now) against two co-panelists, Meenakshi Lekhi and Hartosh Singh Bal simply because they were not sounding ‘cheerful and celebratory’ (Anupam Kher even disapproved of their ‘body posture’) I begin to get really worried. The day we feel self-conscious and inhibited about expressing even non-verbally, or silently, our disappointment in public about a public issue, is the day when we know that authoritarian values have taken a firm hold on public discourse.
19. Having said this, lets also pause to consider that it’s not as if others have not been on hunger strike before – Irom Sharmila has been force fed for several years now – but I do not see her intransigence being translated into a tele-visually orchestrated campaign against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The
20. The current euphoria needs to be seen for what it is – a massive move towards legitimizing a strategy of simple emotional blackmail – a (conveniently reversible) method of suicide bombing in slow motion. There is no use dissenting against a pious worthy on a fast, because any effort to dissent will be immediately read as a callous indifference to his/her ‘sacrifice’ by the moral-earnestness brigade. Nothing can be more dangerous for democracy. Unrestrained debate and a fealty to accountable processes are the only means by which a democratic culture can sustain itself. The force of violence, whether it is inflicted on others, or on the self, or held out as a performance, can only act coercively. And coercion can never nourish democracy.
21. Other issues have been overlooked: No space for BT, seed bill, fdi in retail and others like rti etc,Finally, if, as a society, we were serious about combating the political nexus that sustains corruption – we would be thinking seriously about extending the provisions of the Right to Information Act to the areas where it can not currently operate – national security and defence; we would also think seriously about electoral reform – about proportional representation, about smaller constituencies, about strengthening local representative bodies, about the provision of uniform public funding for candidates and about the right to recall elected representatives. These are serious questions. The tragedy that we are facing today is that the legitimate public outrage against corruption is being channeled in a profoundly authoritarian direction that actually succeeds in creating a massive distraction.
22. In all the noise there has been a lot of talk about cynicism, and anyone who has expressed the faintest doubt has been branded as a cynic. I do not see every expression of doubt in this context as cynicism, though some may be. Instead, I see the fact that those who often cry hoarse about ‘democratic values’ seem to be turning a blind eye to the authoritarian strains within this draft ‘Jan Lokpal Bill’ as a clear indication of how powerful the politics of cynicism actually is.
23. I hope that eventually, once the din subsides, better sense will prevail, and we can all begin to think seriously, un-cynically about what can actually be done to combat the abuse and concentration of power in our society.Allow me to pick and choose my revolutions. I am not celebrating at Jantar Manta tonight. Good night. Shuddhabrata Sengupta
24.
II THE ROLE OF CYBER SPACE AND NETIZENS:
1. The World of Netizen sand Cyber SpaceLThe Hindu: Hyderabad, August 28, 2011,
2. Search engine Google produces 29 million results when a query is made by entering Anna Hazare’s name, while Sonia Gandhi’s name yields a little below 9 million results.
3. A page created in the Facebook on Anna Hazare has been liked by 3.64 lakh users against UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s page which has 57, 291 likes.
4. An account created in the name of ‘Support Anna Hazare fast against Corruption’ attracted 1.45 lakh likes. There is also a Facebook page ‘I hate Anna Hazare’ and it has been liked by 4,137 users.
5. Mr. Hazare video from Tihar jail compound, recorded by Kiran Bedi, has nearly 1.6 lakh views in YouTube so far and was rated as the second most viewed video of this month in Indian news and politics category.Number one slot was occupied by a video uploaded by an Indian on US debt crisis.
6. Currently, SMSes containing words Anna Hazare or Corruption are the most circulated in the messages, according to web to mobile Free SMS service providers.
7. Nisha Parekh, vice president (international operations), SMS Country which runs 160by2.com, said out of 5 to 5.5 million SMS they handle everyday, nearly 1.5 million are messages related to Anna Hazare or corruption.
8. “We expect it to be around 3.5 million SMSes (Sunday) with regard to Anna Hazare ending his fast,” Parekh told PTI.
9. The social activist, finally, broke his fast on Sunday after Parliament’s decision to refer three of his demands -- citizen’s charter, inclusion of lower bureaucracy and creation of Lokayuktas through Lokpal bill -- for Standing Committee’s consideration.
10. Ten days ago, the 16by2 handled 1.34 lakh SMSes on Anna Hazare and the figure reached 2.6 lakh on Saturday.
11. 160by2 has 13.3 million registered users, who use the site for sending bulk SMSes.
12. Currently, Anna Hazare and Corruption are the two most used words in messages sent via Way2Sms, another SMS service provider.
13. “Messages containing the words ‘Anna Hazare’ and ’Corruption’ have been delivered close to 13.5 million unique mobile subscribers in last 5 days via our way2sms,” V V Raju, CEO of Way2SMSsaid.
14. He said along with social networking portals, users are largely using way2sms to express their support to Anna Hazare’s campaign against corruption and in the last 5 days, they observed close to 3 million people using the word ‘Anna Hazare’ in their messages. I
VI.THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN THIS AGITATION:
1. EVEN IT MAY BE HERESY: This time around, I have to say that the print media has acted (upto now) with a degree of restraint that I think is commendable. Partly, this has to do with the different natures of the two media. If you have to write even five hundred words about the Jan Lokpal bill, you run out of platitudes against corruption in the first sentence (and who can speak ‘for’ corruption anyway?) and after that you have to begin thinking about what the bill actually says, and the moment you do that, you cannot but help consider the actual provisions and their implications. On television on the other hand, you never have to speak for more than a sound-byte, (and the anchor can just keep repeating himself or herself, because that is the anchor’s job) and the accumulation of pious vox-pop sound bytes ‘against corruption’ leads to a tsunami of ‘sentiment’ that brooks no dissent.
III. SOME PLUSPOINTS OF THE AGITATIONS:
1. There are several reasons to show the goodness of this agitation. One man is arguing that “The timing also seems to be impeccable for reasons apart from TRP. India Inc. was facing a credibility crisis and the crisis had managed to drag the office of the most iconic representative of the lot – Dr. Manmohan Singh into every dreadful business. And then every representative of India Inc. seemed to be at the receiving end of the crisis – corporate houses to media icons. From Kashmir to Tamil Nadu – Manipur to Chattisgarh – people in the margins seemed to be mobilizing themselves trying to take their fights into their own hands. Mere cricket was not enough. A more serious national diversion was required – a diversion that would also help in subverting the multiple simmering discourses on democracy.”
2. What is the evidence for any of these claims? Give me any event, and I can guarantee you that I will cook up a conspiracy scenario (of the kind that Shuddha and Bobby do) with circumstantial ‘evidence’ of this nature. Our discomfort at certain kinds of mobilization cannot and must not become a reason for us to pass off that discomfort in rhetorical claims about the mobilization s agitation. (mass hysteria of the sort)
3. Electoral reform! And who will contest the elections, dear Shuddha? The same lot who from the Right to Centre to Left have now distinguished themselves by their service to corporate capital and their fleecing of the public exchequer? Here you almost begin to sound like a bourgeois policy-maker (or political theorist) advising saner and more responsible methods. I am also surprised that you find the threat to democracy coming from a movement that makes its demands to the government and the parliament, and makes them in the most peaceful, non-violent manner possible! After all, it is the parliament and the political parties that will have to draft the Bill (or give the draft the final shape) and pass it in parliament. What can be more democratic than that? For even the people behind the current draft of the bill know that this cannot but go through a period of negotiation, scrutiny and democratic debate, if the Bill has to become law.
1. I think it is also important to underline that for many years now, in India at least, issues have been posed outside the domains where formal politics takes place. Think of all the important issues that have been raised over the last two decades: the question of land acquisition, mass displacement of populations, nuclear energy, communalism and the anti-communal struggles, Right to Information, Forests Rights Act…none of these issues, have either been raised or even debated in parliament except under mass pressure. Was there even a squeak from the worthies of Left and Right who populate the parliament and legislatures, each time the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam was raised? Was there a squeak when innumerable villages and towns like Harsud and Tehri, drowned for the sake of the luxurious consumption of the metropolitan middle classes? So, your sudden faith in the system and its democracy, and your claim that only those who contest elections can be really ‘representative of the people,’ really surprises me.
2. On 30th January this year, when many of us were participating in a largish demonstration in Delhi demanding the release of Binayak Sen, precisely on that day a huge demonstration was held on this issue of the Jan Lokpal Bill. The fact that all the usual suspects like us were there at the Binayak Sen demonstration, meant that there were innumerable others, not the usual suspects, who were there at this other rally. Yes, some people could have been in both places, but by and large, the presence at the two rallies was very different. And there was no ‘media-simulated mass hysteria’ at that point. If Arnab Goswami and Times Now (and other TV channels) have now picked up the issue, that can be read as trying to appropriate a movement that was gathering strength independently of them. (By the way, it is also instructive to see the anger of the demonstrators at India Gate against Barkha Dutt in the video posted by Anirban in a comment on Shuddha’s post.) And if one looks at the cast of characters who have been associated with the mobilization, there are many (including Anna Hazare himself) who have been working tirelessly in villages and towns across the country. And while I hold no brief for Anna Hazare or the others, to reduce the entire movement to a media-simulated, anti-political middle class urge is to completely misread the signs
3. The current movement, to me, is only a sign of the fact that there is no faith any longer in any of the institutions of parliamentary democracy among large sectors of the Indian population. Increasingly, their issues emerge through those whom you and Mehta dismiss as the ‘self-appointed representatives of the masses’. Indeed, I fear that if movements of this kind are also dismissed, and with the political class long out of reckoning, there is really no other option that the large masses of people will be left with except to support non-democratic Maoist-type outfits. I cannot help recalling here the long debate on Maoism that we had on Kafila where I had, among others, argued about the efficacy of democratic struggles in stalling many an SEZ project. Not one of those struggles Shuddha, had the prior permission of the state and its certification of being led by a “legitimate elected representative” of the people. They were democratic struggles nevertheless, at least in my sense of the term.
Mass movements throw up their own leadership, and sometimes the pulse of the masses is sensed by a charismatic leader. To de-legitimize this phenomenon by claiming the formal electoral process as the only reflection of democracy is to limit democracy to its most formal liberal procedural version. I think we need to remember that the Right to Information Act itself, is a product of a movement which has indeed gone far beyond the confines of a purely liberal provision and has invited some of the most violent reprisals from those whose corrupt practices it affects. People have been killed – often with the connivance of political parties and their leaders – for using the provisions of the RTI. These people have no other recourse but work with ‘self-appointed’ leaders – usually a term deployed by power for those who have not received the official stamp of approval by the state. FS OF AANA HAZAARE – SOME FACTS AND FIGURES;
1.Making of a Anna and his limitations. 2. The team: its plus and minus points 2. The role of middle class – active after perhaps Ramjanamboomi and anti-Reservation movements 3. Some unanswered question, rise of Medhapatekar, appearance and exit of Swami Agnivesh and Santosh Hegde, 4. The role of cyberspace and other modern techniques. 5. Organisation-less agitation v/s organization of NGO’S AND Net-working of several organizations 6. Role of Media – is the success due to media or media-frenzy a by-product of mass agitation (if the media washing its sins it had committed in the leadership of Barkhadatt, the baron of India Today, and others?)7.Is it a congress-sported agitation or a conspiracy of CONGRESS-BJP. 8. The roads ahead. 9. How should SJM should do the follow-up. 10 Some comparisons with Ramjanambhoomi, Mandal Commision and Gandhian agitationsand comparisonsof Anna with JP and Gandhi. (Vinoba Bhave )
The minus points of this agitation:
25. जब “अन्ना अनशन” ड्रामा शुरू हुआ तो कहा गया गया था कि जब तक संसद में “जन लोकपाल” पारित नहीं हो जाएगा तब तक अन्ना हजारे का अनशन चलता रहेगा. लेकिन न तो संसद में “जन लोकपाल” पारित हुआ और न सरकार ने ऐसा कोई वायदा किया कि टीम अन्ना का “जन लोकपाल” हूँ-ब-हूँ पारित कर दिया जाएगा. फिर वे कौन सी परिस्थितियां थीं जिनके चलते श्री अन्ना हजारे साहब ने अनशन तोड़ने का ऐलान कर दिया?
26. अगर ऐसा करना ही था तो उसी वक़्त अनशन तोड़ने का फैसला क्यों नहीं लिया गया जब प्रधान मंत्री और समूचे विपक्ष ने उनसे अनशन तोड़ने का अनुरोध किया था? लेकिन उस वक़्त ऐसा नहीं किया गया. अब जब सारे दल खुल कर सामने आ गये और सब ने एक सुर से टीम अन्ना के जन लोकपाल को नकार दिया तो अनशन समाप्त करने का ऐलान कर दिया गया जबकि सुबह ही अन्ना ने कहा था कि वे अभी चार-पांच दिन और अनशन कर सकते हैं.
27. Annarepeated said that I will end the fast unto death but will not leave this Ramleela Grounds until and unless the bill is passed, but within minutes he left the place to the hospital and not reiterated his previous promise of coming back after treatment.
28. जनता को ये जानने का हक है कि भ्रष्टाचार मिटाने के नाम पर उसके अरमानों और सपनों का सौदा किसने किया है? क्या अन्ना, केजरीवाल,
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