Since the time NaMo has taken over as the PM each and every move has captured headlines not only in India but across the globe. Be it the camaraderie with Shinzo Abe, the hard talk on border issue with China, keeping aside differences with USA over non-issue of visa in 2005 or simply wooing the neighbours, he has charmed all. While there have been announcements - both big and small - there are some issues which have not found mention.
Relaxing UGC Rules:
A teacher shapes students for the future. During a casual chat with one of my favourites, Geeta mam, I came across this peculiar problem faced by teachers. An excellent professor who has now retired and coaches her kids cannot enroll for part-time teaching at colleges except on contract basis because of certain rules. This is because UGC rules state that only when absolutely necessary can colleges hire part-time teachers and that too with other restrictions. While post-grad colleges have the facility of part-time faculty, the same benefit is not extended to under-grad courses. Though I am not too sure how feasible it would be to tweak the rules right away, there can surely be an arrangement where teachers who have vast knowledge but for some reasons have to quit full-time teaching can teach part-time as UGC faculty. Surely there are many teachers out there with similar circumstances and their expertise can be used to teach the Gen Next. It can be started on a pilot basis in certain areas to see if can be implemented on a pan-India basis.
e-Voting:
Next comes the issue of voting. Since I became eligible, I have voted thrice. I can proudly say that I was the first person at my voting booth (at 7am sharp on all 3 occasions), sometimes even before the officials have set their EVMs. But unfortunately, I could not vote for the Lok Sabha Elections of 2014 and in all likelihood will not be able to vote for the Assembly elections on 15 October. My vote may not affect the results on an individual level but if there are at least 5000 people like me in my constituency it will make a difference as can be seen from the last Haryana Assembly elections where the winning margin was approximately the same number in 21 constituencies. There are talks about allowing citizens to vote electronically but nothing has taken shape. This facility if implemented would be of immense use to working professionals and students studying outside their home. If SEBI can implement e-voting for company resolutions (it is quite secure which I can tell from my personal experience), the government can surely implement this for its citizens who are unable to vote.
Sports:
Another area that requires immediate attention is sports. If I look at the recent performance, then the Indian scorecard looks like this-
London Olympics - Failed to bag a Gold, 2 Silvers and 6 Bronzes and was 55th in the tally
Commonwealth Games 2014 - 15 Golds, 30 Silvers and 19 Bronzes securing the 5th place in the tally
Asian Games 2014 - 11 Golds, 9 Silvers and 37 Bronzes for the 8th place in the tally.
In Asian Games even North Korea won more silvers than us taking them ahead of India. This when the population is 24.9 million against a population of 1.25 billion of India as per 2013 estimates. Such a shame for us that we cannot have a noticeable place in sports.
When Abhinav Bindra wins an individual Gold it makes headlines. Surely its a great moment but why can't we have many more Golds. There is no dearth of talent but it is the facilities that has not allowed us to excel in sports. And how can we? We hardly encourage sports other than cricket with a late but much needed ₹ 400 crore allocation for sports development in J&K, Manipur as well as training.
But what plagues our sports institutes is the people who head them. Politicians are the kings of these sporting bodies with even NaMo being the Gujarat Cricket Association chief before becoming PM. Praful Patel heads football and given his reputation of pushing Air India into losses I guess Football is going for a toss. Similarly Chess uses to be controlled by Srini who now heads BCCI and ICC directly or via proxy. We all know his alleged misdeeds. There are many others which can be visited at http://goo.gl/dR2GZ5. Even the Honorable Supreme Court, in Dec. 2013, observed that Businessmen and politicians are ruining sports and for the second time (the first being the ordinance issue), RaGa made sense when he suggested that politicians should stay out of sports. But politicians, not known to give up their fiefdoms, refuted this right away with Praful Patel openly opposing his coalition partner. Such a pity for Indian sports!! Rules need to be changed but the change makers themselves sit atop these bodies.
Recycling:
India produces a huge amount of e-waste annually. Rough estimates show that everyday 8500 mobiles, 3000 PCs and 5500 TVs are thrown away. This amounts to a total of 2.7 million tonnes of waste every year. But our recycling capacity as per the government website shows that we are well short of recycling the entire waste. 12 States together have a capacity of 296388 metric tonnes per annum and roughly 60% concentrated in states of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. The stark difference shows us what we need to do. One solution could be to encourage SEZ specially meant for recycling similar on the lines of SEZ for semiconductors in the recent budget. We could also encourage the use of refurbished phones in India. If Flipkart sends a scratched handset surely there was something wrong. Such handsets can be sold in the refurbished market. Also phones which have minor defects can be repaired and sold as refurbished. The Nokia plant in Chennai which has an uncertain fate can be used for the same with the plant being sold off to some player who gets some benefits and a middle path is worked out with Nokia regarding outstanding dues. And it is not impossible. It can help the government to fulfill its ambitious plans of providing smartphones to 25 million households ( http://goo.gl/PjjYMR) as well as the various freebies that state governments promise once voted to power. The Samajwadi distributed free laptops, Amma with her TVs and now the Shiv Sena promising tablets we can surely provide refurbished devices to rural areas instead of those cheap, low quality knock-offs.
Revamping iconic brands:
For an MBA graduate like me with Finance as the majors, I would say it is prudent to shut down loss making units. And the government is right in ordering the closure of 6 units while reviving 5 others. The government knows more than I do so I would not doubt its judgement. But instead of shutting it down and incurring ₹ 1000 crores towards VRS, the companies can be sold off on an as-is where-is basis and have an agreement with the new owners to phase out the workers gradually. The value for such companies may not be significant but there are definitely some buyers out in the market for companies like HMT Watches which have a legacy and also the Braille watch in its portfolio amongst others. There is a sense of pride in these brands as they were amongst the first Indian brands and people are ready to buy them if they are upgraded to be in sync with contemporary watches. Another company, Hindustan Motors, which has suspended operations should be privatized. The Ambassador will get a new look yet save its name.
Though I am not too sure how the above issues can be addressed, I trust NaMo to use his skills to get things done. Swacch Bharat has been in the works for many years under successive governments but none could get the hype that he created. Though he can only urge to keep our country clean it is our responsibility to implement it. Similarly it is our duty to ensure responsible growth and hopefully we achieve it sooner than later.
