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Showing posts from April, 2016

The Suffering Farmers

This is the second consecutive year when India is reeling under severe drought. Nearly 40% of India’s population is plagued with a grave agrarian and drinking water crises. Over 33 Crore people in 2,55,000 villages in 10 States of India are reeling under severe drought. If we add States of Bihar, Uttarakhand and Gujarat, which are also facing drought like conditions, India's population affected by agrarian and water crisis is nearly 48.27 Crore in 3,00,000 villages encompassing 300 districts i.e. almost 50% of India's 6,38,000 villages and 688 districts. Drinking water and irrigation crisis has reached even a larger magnitude. India's 91 biggest reservoirs have only close to 40% of their water storage capacity remaining i.e. 36 bcm (billion cubic metre) out of total capacity of about 158 bcm. Worst are the reservoirs in South and West India. 31 big reservoirs in the South Indian States of Andhra, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu have barely 1

Where are the jobs for youth, Shri Modi?

The Narendra Modi Government is a dispensation with a brute majority. No other Government in the past 30 years has been elected with such a clear mandate. In a Westminster form of Parliamentary Democracy, it is imperative to constantly gauge the mood of the people. 5 years is a long period for an elected Government to usher reforms, especially fulfilling the promises on which it is elected. 40 percent of that 5 year period has passed. It is time to take the stock of the Government – whether it has been able to fulfill some of its promises (40 percent atleast), whether it has been able to usher in reforms or whether it has lived up to the expectations of the people. Last May, when the Modi Sarkar completed its first year, and the Government was at its nascent stage, to give the Government a benefit of doubt, I had done a small exercise of comparing the first year of the NDA 2.0 Government with the first year of UPA Government. This time the list is long and this exercise w