ASEAN Agreement and Kerala

There is less discussion about the ASEAN agreement although central government is very keen in the implementation of the same. In this era of extreme globalization it's a fact that nobody can survive without adaptation. India, the third largest economy in asia, also faces these problems. I am not concerned about the world as much. ASEAN agreement is very important for India's perspective since the main objective of the agreement is to compete with china. As it is a theory china is very strategic in it's movements. It had already started importing it's goods to ASEAN nations. No product from any part of the world can't stand with chinese products in terms of price. As a result with in no time china can claim a major pie in the market across the region. If India is avoiding this fact definitely we are going to regret. Our PM states this point when any discussion comes in this topic. But when we give permission to ASEAN nations to export their goods to India the interest of the farmers and small traders are going to be in stake.
South India particularly Kerala are going to witness the worst effect of it since majority of it's products produced in kerala are there in the list of the ASEAN agreement including pepper,rubber and coffee. When large scale import takes place it will attack the goods badly. Kerala farmers are already witnessing competition from ASEAN countries as well. Now a days farmers are facing bad times. Majority of them had stopped farming and migrated to gulf countries. The rest is living by putting their lives on stake. The farmer suicide had lost it news capacity in kerala. ASEAN agreement will do no good to them.
But bad weather and indiscriminate use of land are two major problems. Apart from that UPA governments proposed food security bill is another factor that paved way for ASEAN agreement. India is slowly emerging as a services hub, as a result we are not producing anything. If we Consider these as facts the ASEAN agreement is a good step froward in the right direction. By importing food and other items government can control the price hike. But government should also consider the interests of the poor farmers and small scale traders also. In kerala they already started protesting against the agreement. State and central governments should consider these issues seriously and should save farmers from suicide.
Minimum price guarantee and good subsidies are the two measures that can be taken in this regard. State policies should be infavour of farmers and also some pressure to be imposed on the centre to protect farmers of the state.

Unique Identification

I like Nandan Nilekani, just because he wrote imagining India. The old infosys guys have reached where they want to be. Murthy became a prominent personality in the world. Now it's the turn of Nilekani. He is now on a mission to identify us uniquely. Unique Idea, isn't it. He is from a background where only 1 and 0 exist. He is the authority to number all Indians. We had seen the crude form of this idea in an IDEA ad. In ancient times slaves were identified with their numbers. Slavery in it's old from do not exist now but are we free.
World has become a bunch of numbers. One can't count the array of numbers he has to remember to keep his life going, In result we all are going to become number remembering machines. Another number in addition is going to come, it is the unique identification number. Nilekani will give the new number one day. What about the Alzheimers patients. If we go on remembering the numbers India will become a country of Alzheimers patients.
Why government is thinking in this way. Instead of providing basic human needs they are behind some utopian projects, I don't see any purpose in it. In last union budget government allotted a sum of 100crore for the unique identification project. Now the latest news is that Bill Gates and Microsoft want to engage the project. Sounds good but I feel something fishing there. Infosys, Microsoft and Unique Identification Project. Clearly it's the corporatisation of the project.
I think Nilekani is a good man, he was a good corporate leader, but he hadn't lived the life of a common man, when heads a project for the people (poor people majority below poverty line) he should realize that it is important and should avoid corporatisation of the same because the lion's portion of this country do not understand the corporate language.

GST: What all you know?

f we shoot this question to a lay man what will be his reaction. I can say with damn confidence that he will simply glare at you. India is a developing country. I has got somany people living under the line of poverty. Poverty means lack of education also (by product of indian development). Being in a democratic system the majority of the people in India are suffering the disease called ill development. Some are developing not all, some are enjoying the fruits of development in fashion but some are simply watching it.
Our former primer minister once said-when we spend Re 1 for the poor only 20 paise will reach to them. He was blaming the inefficiency of the system. When we talk about all government schemes the same is happening everywhere. Take the case of prestigious projects by governments that they announce on a regular basis, always a minority knows all about it. Being unknown simply means the are not getting benefited from it. As also the policies by government- there is a vast majority of people who are unknown about it. The danger resides there, because all the policies are intended towards aam admi when they are unaware of it the virtue of the policies are lost.
Now take the case of the introduction of GST. Last central budget announced that goods and services tax will be in effect from April 1st, 2010. Former finance minister P. Chidambaram set the target time for the introduction of GST in 2006-07. After a gap of only three years government is going to introduce the new tax system. Government plans to collect the tax from it's people, but the very people don't know what is happening. How pity? Isn't it. When the European union introduced a common currency called euro they even published the details about the currency in comic books for children under the head-euro is simple. The west is more concerned about knowledge passing. Be it policy change or some big developments in the country they are eager to distribute it to all irrespective of their age and gender. But in India this is not the practice. One day government will announce a policy change, ofcourse media will carry it. Is it reaching every individual of this big country, the answer will be a big zero.
I only mean to say government should do it's public relations duty in a more fruitful way. It should be transparent and user friendly. When it comes to knowledge distribution it should depend popular media also. GST is actually a leap forward in the taxation in this country. As analysts say they need consessus of various states for the proper implementation of the new tax system. If they educate people properly through the media, they will line up behind the government and through this public opinion they can smoothly Implement the new system of taxation. After all people is considered as kings in a democratic system. By doing this government is only giving due respect to people rights.

GST: Awareness is a must

The UPA government is going to impose the goods and services tax from April 1st, 2010. The proposal for the same came in 2006-07 budget by the then finance minister chidambaram. In net effect the government has 7 months left before the introduction of GST. There are views that this is not practial since introduction of a major thing needs proper preparation. In the case of GST which is not done properly.
I think before the introduction of GST government should encourage the awareness about it through the media. As India is recording good frowth rate and is going to become a gaint in the economic scenarion of the world this is the high time to introduce GST.
There is less euphoria sice the topic is not discussed in the media, and awareness about it is very less among the public. Therefore I plead to take initiative in this regard-in this complex world information is wealth.

All issues cannot be resolved overnight; But

If the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt.
People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.
Cicero

All lights are off and the Budget show is over. Before the great deal, once in a financial year, expectations were pretty high. FM just watched it over his round glass and neglected it. But he made some indications in his speech, only time will tell the exact meaning of those words and suggestions.
Is the budget so bad? A lound no is the answer. Everyone will agree, considering the adverse situations prevailing all over the world, that the budget 2010 is very important regarding the fate of the country. Naturally expectations were also high. After the budget speech Panob Mukherjee said that every issues can not be resolved overnight. Everything will take it's own time to get resolved. Market reacted in a negative manner to the budget. (Share market always reacts drastically to changes even if it is very small, even the FM was also shocked by it's reactions). The budget was more people oriented. The rail budget also had the same 'face value'. This clearly indicates that the central government headed by UPA is more focussed on people, especially the people they call aam admi.
In the budget script right from the beginning more concentration was on the infrastructure development. The second topic in the speech was agricultural reforms. Consequent to the announcements related to infrastructure and agriculture Indian markets showed some activity. Infrastructure development is a big issue need government attention so also agriculture. During the second part of the budget speech finance minister announced the allotments to social welfare projects. Altogether the budget spoke the language of common man which the corporates didn't understand.
India is the youngest country in the world. We have 55 crore youth residing here. Youth, as they say, is the most vibrant time of a man, full of passion, novel ideas and above all they are ready to work. All they want is some motivation. But in India they lack is the opportunity. It is the duty of the state that it should provide appropriate medicines to its people to fulfill their dreams. In this more complicated world knowledge is power, otherwise information is wealth. One who gains knowledge is the most powerful man in the world. One gets knowledge through education hence education should be the top priority to every government. But the union budget failed to address the issue properly. Of course there are suggestions, but it always happens and nobody cares. Education loans should be more liberalized. It should be interest free, more relaxed paper work, less traveling for the student and the parents. More relaxation to the terms for the students below the poverty one and some more consideration for the deserved one among them. Through proper lobbying from government only this will happen.
The next big thing is agriculture reforms. Climate change and attitudinal change are the major factors which adversely affects the agriculture sector of the country. The proposed food security bill is a major step in this regard. But some more serious steps should be taken to tackle this menace. China is thinking ahead in this context and they had already started steps to address the issue which will become a major concern for all the countries in the world in the future. Government should ensure the safety of the corps by implementing proper insurance schemes. Irrigation and power power supply to the rural india should be the main priority, these issues should be take care of in the proposed infrastructure development projects.
Another issue which needs proper care is the health care sector. The price of life saving medicines are increasing on a daily basis. Rural india is striving from lack of health care facility. Treatment is a kind of huge burden on them. Actually they are dying because they have no money to afford the treatment. Some rural insurance schemes should be implemented to overcome the problem. Subsidy should be given to the poor (poor should be determined based on their earning capacity)
There are no major proposals in the Budget to address these issues but these are the burning issues in the country and government should consider these also when they take issues into consideration.