The Daily Indian

This new found opulence is resulting in an abnormal rise in the standard of living of these farmers, which, under no circumstances, is sustainable and is the villain of peace

Prasoon S Majumdar

The unabashed urbanisation and now the Act have not only been land grabbing exercises, but these have also resulted in something that is more devastating than ever perceived — a crazy influx of cash to a group of people (mostly farmers) who have never seen that kind of money as they have always lived in utter destitution. The net result is disastrous, whose ramifications are much more than what is visible on the surface. Be it in Vasant Kunj (Delhi) or Rajarhat (West Bengal), or for that matter the farmers who sold their lands in the perimeters of Hyderabad, it is the same story everywhere. This sudden semblance of affluence is invading the otherwise serene and social milieu of rustic India, the volcanic flow of money is causing an abrupt spurt in consumerism. This new found opulence is resulting in an abnormal rise in the standard of living of these farmers, which, under no circumstances, is sustainable and is the villain of peace.

Money, even if in millions, will vanish if it is not put to entrepreneurial use or in savings. And these farmers, who are already opium-like addicted to new age glitters, will soon find it near impossible to give up same lifestyle, as ’standards of living’, once raised, cannot be brought down that easily. And once this noveau money is exhausted, none of them are literate in the least to be employed in productive ways to maintain the new acquired lifestyle. Even if they do get employed in some lowly jobs, the earnings would be hardly anything to fuel the improved lifestyle. Thereafter, they would resort to the easiest means of continuing such an addictive lifestyle, i.e. crime. A UNDP 2005 public perception survey revealed that a mere 19% of the population felt safe and 33% rated the incidence of public safety as poor and 90% of the respondents felt that public transport was not at all safe. The same report stated that Delhi alone contributed to 24.4% of all crimes within India (and along with Mumbai, contributed to 33.2% of the same). Most surprisingly, Delhi also contributes to 33.7% of all kidnapping cases and 17.6% of dowry deaths across India. Incidentally, for both Mumbai and Delhi, expansion of the cities has always been by the acquisition of lands from the adjacent villages and then by converting them into residential colonies, the same modus operandi by which land for SEZs is being grabbed today. There is another face to this problem. It is not that every village and farmer gets money. The one whose land is too far to be of any use for the city developers, unfortunately —or fortunately — doesn’t get anything, while their more ‘fortunate’ brothers, who have land nearer to the city, become millionaires overnight. This turns a villager against fellow villagers. All in all, if we term the current state of affairs as prosperity then we are at best fooling ourselves.

So am I saying that villagers should not be allowed to become rich? Not at all. On the contrary, what we urgently require is an all inclusive growth strategy where villages become economic activity zones, fuelled by new levels of educated rural youth and ornamented by all necessary types of physical and social infrastructure. Without this, prosperity would be a mirage and disaster a reality.

(Prasoon S Majumdar is Editor Economic Affairs of Planman Media)

One stock character in Tamil films is the impoverished father, usually a coolie, who saves every penny he earns for the treatment of a daughter with an ailing heart. With some help from an overdose of glycerine, every actor playing that mushy stereotype has gone full tilt at giving the lachrymal glands of the audience a thorough workout.

But if a new sweeping health insurance scheme of the Tamil Nadu government has its intended impact, such scenes of high drama could undergo a sea-change. We might see the coolie take his daughter to a private hospital and whip out a smart card by way of payment. Indeed, the scheme has the potential to revolutionise the healthcare scenario for the poor.

On July 23, Union minister for health Ghulam Nabi Azad flew down to Chennai to inaugurate the “Chief Minister Kalaingar’s Insurance Scheme for Life Saving Treatment”. The scheme covers 51 conditions, from cardiac surgeries to corrections of congenital deformities. It brings under its umbrella around 1 crore poor families. It includes 75 lakh families that of identity cards under the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Labourers-Farmers (Social Security and Welfare) Scheme 2006 or are registered with the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers Welfare Board and 11 other welfare boards. In addition, any family whose annual income is less than Rs 72,000 will automatically come under the purview of the scheme.

“For each eligible family, the insurance company will provide a biometric card and the family can get free, high quality treatment either from government or private hospitals,” VK Subburaj, Tamil Nadu health secretary, explains to TDI. “The spending for treatment related to cancer, road accident injuries, kidney diseases and heart conditions is increasing rapidly,” he points out, adding that in half a dozen government hospitals in the state, cardiac surgeries are done free of cost. However, hundreds of patients are perpetually on the waiting list.

Says Mr Subburaj: “Availability of cardiologists and specialists in other diseases in government hospitals is very low. The treatment for congenital heart diseases in newborn babies costs Rs 1 lakh. Given our current strength, we can perform only 400-450 such surgeries every year. So annually, 2,000 to 3,000 children have to wait to be operated. To clear the backlog, last year we did 2,900 surgeries under a private-public arrangement at an expense of Rs 18 crore.”

He adds: “For heart ailments among elderly people, we give Rs 25,000 but getting this amount is a cumbersome process. This new comprehensive insurance scheme will be of great help in avoiding all these problems.” The health insurance scheme will cover one crore families, which will add up to approximately 4 crore people. For a block of four years, they can get medical treatment up to Rs 1 lakh. This card, to be made at a cost of Rs 200, will carry a photograph of the family head and fingerprints of all the members. “We have created a network of 200 speciality hospitals, which includes government hospitals,” Mr Subburaj says.

He also adds: “Hereafter, a government hospital which does free surgeries can get the cost reimbursed from the insurance company. This is one way of revenue generation.” The fund collected from insurance will be utilised for the development of the medical facility.

The contract has been bagged by Star Health and Allied Insurance Company for a final rate of Rs 469 per family as premium, which includes the biometric card cost for each year for a period of four years. The Tamil Nadu government will pay a premium amount of Rs 517 crores to the insurance company.

Amy Winehouse’s father Mitch has revealed that the singer wanted to have a baby with ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil but was shattered when could not conceive.

He said that her daughter’s poor health stopped her from having a baby.

“She was desperate to have children with Blake and she told me they were trying but they couldn’t. Thank God!” Contactmusic quoted him as saying.

He also added that the troubled singer had quit drugs on her eight-month Caribbean break and conquered her bulimia, and also regained health which could help her conceive now.

Mitch said: “Now her body is in full working order again she’d love to be a mum.”

Congress President Sonia Gandhi today noted with concern the problem of poor attendance of party MPs in Parliament and hoped that corrective action will be taken with the party electing its state convenors.

“Now that the state convenors have been elected, I hope that the problem of poor attendance in both Houses will be rectified,” she said addressing a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) here.

Taking exception to the absence of members, she said, “Our chief whips have a tough task mobilizing all of you on crucial occassions. This reflects poorly on us and does little justice to those who have voted us to represent them here.”

Noting that there is a large number of ministers from Congress Party, Gandhi said expectations and demands from constituencies have increased and asked the ministers to give time and be of assistance to MPs.

She also asked the ministers to visit party offices and interact with party functionaries when they travel within the country.

Gandhi said the party is planning a series of training sessions for the MPs and asked the members particularly the first timers to regularly participate in Standing Committees and Consultative Committees.

The Party President asked the members to familiarize themselves with the policies and programmes of the government and see that they are properly implemented.
“We have been given a decisive mandate and people expect us to fulfill their aspirations,”
Gandhi said.

Addressing the CPP, Gandhi dwelled on several other issues.

She hailed the election of Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and said it reflected the party’s “steadfast commitment to women empowerment”.

Gandhi felt that the Budget has set into motion implementation of many of the pledges the party had made to the people during the Lok Sabha elections.

Noting the budget has substantially increased allocations in key areas despite difficult fiscal environment, she said, “the challenge ahead will be to ensure that these enhanced allocations lead to improved outcomes and make a tangible difference to the daily life of Aam Admi.”

Gandhi mentioned setting up of a delivery monitoring unit in PMO and an independent evaluation office as “proof” of the party’s determination to ensure that government spending has an effective and visible impact.

After long-drawn speculations, Yahoo! and Microsoft have come together to forge a formidable alliance in Internet search and advertising space that will challenge the dominance of market leader Google.

The ten-year agreement would see both the companies coming together in the search arena and sales activities related to search advertising.

“In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers,” the two firms said in a statement today.

As part of the deal, Microsoft would acquire an exclusive ten-year licence to Yahoo!’s core search technologies. This would also allow the software giant to integrate Yahoo!’s search technologies into its existing platforms including Bing, Microsoft’s newly launched search engine.

Yahoo! would be compensated by Microsoft through a revenue sharing agreement on traffic generated on Yahoo!’s network of both owned and operated and affiliate sites.

“Microsoft will pay traffic acquisition costs (TAC) to Yahoo! at an initial rate of 88 percent of search revenue generated on Yahoo!’s O&O sites during the first five years of the agreement,” the statement noted.

Google has more than 60 per cent share in the search market.

Since early 2008, Microsoft had been pursuing an alliance with Yahoo! and even came up with over USD 44 billion takeover plan, which did not materialise.

“This agreement comes with boatloads of value for Yahoo!, our users, and the industry, and I believe it establishes the foundation for a new era of internet innovation and development.

“… this deal will help us increase our investments in priority areas in winning audience properties, display advertising capabilities and mobile experiences,” Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz said.

Moreover, the partnership would boost the prospects of Bing.

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said the agreement would provide Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, the scale necessary to more effectively compete, attracting more users and advertisers.

Asserting that the partnership would provide a “viable alternative to advertisers,” the statement said they would no longer have to rely on one company that dominates more than 70 per cent of all search.

“With the addition of Yahoo!’s search volume, Microsoft will achieve the size and scale required to unleash competition and innovation in the market, for consumers as well as advertisers,” it added.

Once the agreement is fully implemented, Yahoo! expects that it would provide a benefit to annual GAAP operating income of about USD 500 million and capital expenditure savings of about USD 200 million.

Yahoo! anticipates that the pact would also result in a benefit to annual operating cash flow of nearly USD 275 million.

“This deal fits the long-term strategic direction of Yahoo! to remain the world’s leading online media company and Carol Bartz has the full and unanimous support of the Yahoo! Board behind this deal,” said Yahoo! Chairman Roy Bostock said.

Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke is looking forward to squaring up against Andrew Flintoff and predicted the England all-rounder would have to end his last Test series on a losing note.

The burly Lancastrian, who will retire at the end of the ongoing Ashes, is struggling to be fit for the third Test at Edgbaston after playing a crucial role in England taking a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Clarke said England would do the right thing in pursuing with Flintoff following his brilliant performance in the second Test at Lord’s.

“He’s an amazing player and has been for a long time, I’m not disappointed that I won’t have to face him after this series again in Test cricket,” said Clarke.

“It’s always a contest. I hope Andrew is fit and ready to go and can finish the series, he certainly deserves that.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd posted a forecast-beating 152 percent rise in profit, boosted by its takeover of Punjab Tractors and strong sales of utility vehicles, but said a weak monsoon was a concern.

India’s top utility vehicles and tractor maker said there were signs in data and output of a return of consumer confidence. Its utility vehicles sales rose 28.5 percent during the quarter to 48,720 vehicles from a year earlier.

Power firm NHPC Ltd will kick off a $1.25 billion IPO next week in the first share sale by a state company since the Congress party’s unexpectedly strong re-election in May spurred investor hopes for pro-market reforms.

Despite opposition from labour groups and leftist parties, the government is forecast by some watchers to offload roughly $5 billion a year in state shares, which could hearten a bond market worried about fiscal responsibility but do little to address a yawning deficit and $90 billion borrowing plan.

Sony and Sharp’s third straight quarters of losses underscore the challenges they face in flat TV market as they struggle to compete with Samsung Electronics and other South Korean rivals benefiting from a weaker won.

Nintendo Co Ltd reported a sharp fall in quarterly profit as sales of its Wii game console lost some steam and the stronger yen took a toll. It reiterated its forecast for profit to fall for the first time in four years.

Talks between between India’s Bharti Airtel and South Africa’s MTN that could eventually lead to a full merger of the two firms have not been finalised yet, an Indian government minister said on Thursday.

“No sir,” Corporate affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said in a written reply to a question in parliament on whether the deal had been finalised or signed.