मध्य प्रदेश के शासन का सच

15 जुलाई २०१५ को प्रधान मंत्री जी ने बड़े धूम धाम से कौशल विकास का कार्येक्रम प्रारंभ किया. अपने उद्बोधन में उन्होंने युवाओं के भविष्य की चिंता की और वो सब कहाँ जो सुनने में बहुत अच्छा लगा. इसी तारिक को निति आयोग की भी बैठक बुलाई गयी जिसमे विभिन्न प्रदेशों के मुख्यमंत्री पधारे थे. मुद्दा था राज्यों का विकास. मुझे नहीं मालूम की हमारे मुख्य मंत्री जी ने विकास के लिए क्या दर्शन रखा और वो राज्य का भविष्य कैसा देखना चाहते हैं. परन्तु कुछ तथ्य जो जनता के सामने हैं, वे कुछ और ही हाले बयां कर रहे हैं.

मध्य प्रदेश में ४० प्रतिशत बच्चे कुपोषित हैं, जिसका अर्थ ये हैं की उन्हें शारीरिक और मानसिक रूप से विक्सित होने के लिए पर्याप्त पोषण नहीं मिल रहा हैं. ये सर्व विदित हैं की यदि शारीर नहीं बढेगा तो बुद्धि भी नहीं बढेगी, और यदि ये दोनों ही नहीं हैं तो कोई भी कौशल विकास कार्येक्रम, इन बच्चो को सकुशल नहीं कर पायेगा. कुछ दिन पूर्व मध्य रदेश की एक मंत्री जी ने सार्वजनिक रूप से कहाँ की मध्यान भोजन में बच्चों को अंडा देना चाहिए परन्तु मुख्य मंत्री जी अड़े रहे की केवल शाकाहारी भोजन ही परोसा जाएगा.

आदिवासी लोग शहरी जीवन से दूर होते हैं और उन्हें शहरो में जीवन यापन करने के गुण नहीं आते. उन्हें रोज़गार युक्त बनाने के लिए सरकार उन्हें वजीफे देती हैं. परन्तु इसमें भी १२०० करोड़ का घोटाला हुआ हैं.ऐसी ही कुछ बात पिछड़ा वर्ग में भी देखने को मिला. इन बच्चो के शिक्षा का भविष्य इन छात्रवृत्ति पर ही निर्भर करती हैं. जिनके पास आधारभूत शिक्षा ही नहीं होगी, उन्हें सकुशल कैसे बनाएगी ये सरकार?

सरकारी इच्छा शक्ति की कमी का एक और उद्धरण हैं, भोपाल गैस त्रासिदी के लोगों के कौशल विकास के लिए 30 करोड़ रुपये खर्च किया गए पर जो व्यक्ति आज ३१ वर्ष का हो गया हैं, उसमे मात्र ४ माह में ऐसा क्या परिवर्तन प्रसिक्षण द्वारा लाया जा सकता हैं? जो एन जी ओ इस क्षेत्र में कार्य कर रहे हैं, उन्हें सरकार १४००० रुपये देती हैं प्रत्येक हितग्राही के लिए. साथ में यह शर्त भी हैं की ९० प्रतिशत हितग्राहियों का कौशल विकास हो और वे रोज़गार प्राप्त कर सकेगा. परन्तु यथा स्थिति कुछ और ही हैं. और इन सब के बीच व्यापम घोटाला जहाँ लोगों की भारती के लिए केवल पैसा ही कौशल हैं.

इन सभी बातों से ये बड़ा मुश्किल हैं प्रदेश को राष्ट्र की तुलना में आर्थिक रूप से खड़ा करना. प्रदेश की प्रति व्यक्ति आय ५४००० हैं और राष्ट्र की ८५०००. हम सभी चाहते हैं की हमारा युवा आगे रोज़गार पाए और प्रदेश के आर्थिक  विकास में भागीदार बने. प्रदेश बड़े तो हम सब भी आगे बढेंगे. ये केवल भ्रष्टाचार का विषय नहीं हैं अपितु प्रशासन का प्रश्न हैं. सरकार की इच्छा शक्ति प्रबल होनी चाहिए. केवल कार्येक्रम चलाने से या फोटो खिचवाने से कुछ नहीं होगा.

व्यापम का खूनी खेल

अभी तक पूरे विश्व को "व्यापम" नाम के धोकेधड़ी की जानकारी मिल गयी हैं. वाशिंगटन पोस्ट और बीबीसी ने भी इस खबर को एहमियत दी हैं. पहली बार भारतीय मीडिया पर भी २४ घंटे व्यापम छाया हैं. विगत 3 वर्षो से मध्य प्रदेश में इस मुद्दे को लेकर राजनैतिक सरगर्मी बनी हुई हैं. यदि हम भ्रष्टाचार की बात करे तो शायद हमे इस घोटाले में अन्य घोटालो से बहुत अधिक अंतर नहीं दिखेगा, परन्तु यदि आप इसके पन्ने पलटेंगे तो पायेंगे की ये केवल लालच या राजनैतिक निम्नता की बात नहीं हैं.

भारत में इसके पूर्व भी बहुत से घोटाले हुए हैं और जिस प्रकार की हमारी प्रणाली हैं, आगे भी होते रहेंगे परन्तु किसी भी घोटाले में इतने लोगों की संदिग्ध हालातों में मौत नहीं हुई हैं. ये क्या केवल साक्ष्य छुपाने हेतु लोगों को हटाया जा राह हैं या इसके पीछे की कहानी कुछ और हैं. समय समय पर प्रदेश के मुख्य मंत्री एवं उनकी अर्धांगिनी का नाम भी आया हैं और राजनैतिक गलियारों में ये माना जाता हैं की षदियंत्र के सारे तार 1 श्यामला हिल से जुड़े हुए हैं. ७ जुलाई को मुख्य मंत्री जी ने आख़िरकार कहाँ की सिबिअई से इसकी जांच कराने पर उनको अथवा उनके दल को कोई आपत्ति नहीं हैं. 6 जुलाई तक वे तथा देश के गृह मंत्री सब कुछ माननीय उच्च न्यालय के हाथ में हैं कहकर अपना पल्ला झाड़ रहे थे. ऐसा क्या हुआ २४ घंटे में या यूँ कहें की ५ मिनट के फ़ोन कॉल में की मुख्य मंत्री जी जांच के लिए मान गए.

जैसे मैंने पहले भी लिखा की ये एकमात्र घोटाला हैं जिसमे करीब ५० लोगों की मौत हो गयी हैं जो इससे सम्बंधित थे या आरोपी थे. सबकी मृत्यु साधारण नहीं हैं. अधिकांश में ऐसा लग रहा हैं की उन्हें जेहर दिया गया हैं (समाचार पत्रों के आधार पर). क्या राज़ छिपा रहे थे ये सभी. जेल में भी जितने आरोपी अभी बंद हैं उनकी सुरक्षा पर भी सवाल या निशान खड़े हो गए हैं. जो एस आई टी इसकी जांच कर रही हैं उसपर भी भेद भाव करने के आरोप हैं. एक उच्च स्तरीय आई ए एस आधिकारी पर जांच एजेंसी बहुत मेहरबान रही हैं और व्यापन के निर्देशक रहे त्रिवेदी जी ने कहाँ हैं की उन्होंने ४२ लाख रूपए दिए थे. ऐसे कई और उद्धरण हैं पक्षपात के.

एक महतवपूर्ण बात जिसपर अभी सामाजिक या राजनैतिक चर्चा जोर नहीं पकड़ रही हैं वह हैं की जिन लोगों को लाभ पहुचने की कोशिश की गयी हैं वे सब कही न कही आर एस एस अथवा बीजेपी से जुड़े हैं. यदि आप इतिहास उठाकर देखेंगे की जितने भी फासिस्वादी नेता अथवा संगठन रहे हैं उन्होंने हमेशा पूरी प्रणाली को अपने रंग में रंग दिया हैं (हमारे यहाँ भागुअकरण हो रहा हैं). जो व्यक्ति २२-२३ वर्ष की आयु में सरकारी नौकरी में घुसा दिया जाएगा, वह जीवन भर उसी आदर्श को अपनाएगा जिसने उसे ये नौकरी दी हैं. हमारे प्रदेश में डॉक्टर, शिक्षक, पंचायत अधिकारी, पटवारी, लेकाधिकारी, आप नाम लीजिये और उस नौकरी में धन्द्लेबाज़ी  की गयी हैं क्यूंकि ये सभी परिक्षये व्यापम द्वारा करवाई गयी. ये किसी भी राष्ट्र और समाज के लिए घटक हैं. भारत की पहचान उसकी विविध्ता हैं, धर्मं, जाती, भाषा, खानपान, रंग, वर्ग, सभी में अंतर हैं परन्तु अनेकता में ही एकता हैं. यदि हम केवल एक ही धर्म या विचारधारा के लोग चाहते हैं, तो यह अब संभव नहीं हैं.

व्यापन घोटाले ने एक पूरी पीड़ी को बर्बाद कर दिया हैं. आज मध्य प्रदेश का कोई भी युवा डॉक्टर, शिक्षक, पटवारी काम पर निकलता हैं तो लोग उसे घृणा और तिरस्कार की दृष्टि से देखता हैं. और वही दूसरी ओर जो मेधावी छात्र थे वे पुरे प्रणाली से आज उदसीन हैं. आज का युवा "जुगाड़" की भाषा सीख रहा हैं, न की मेहनत की.

समय आ गया हैं की हम समाज के रूप में जागृत हो और अपनी चेतनाओ का उपयोग करे. हो सकताहैं हम वर्तमान सत्ताशील दल के मतदाता हैं परन्तु आँख देखि मक्खी भी कैसे निगले.
जागृत हो! संवेदनशील हो!

Juxtaposition of Facts and Fallacies

A leading Hindi newspaper carries a picture today of the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh clicking selfies with young girls and the caption below it reads that he was running form one place to another to get these selfies. Recently the Prime Minister of India urged the citizens of India to go for Selfies with Daughters and post it on the micro blogging site Twitter and on Facebook so as to promote girl child. After the Prime Minister went on air in his "Mann Ki Baat" with the idea of selfies, the government agencies took on the task that it becomes the number one trend on Twitter and claimed that world over this initiative has been appreciated. While this was going on, a young Bollywood actress and TV personality was hounded on the same SM platform for questioning the motive of the Prime Minister and she had to then write an open letter where she talked about issues beyond "selfies".
Another program launched with much fanfare has been the Digital India Program where the government wants people to be connected and avail the services of Internet so as to ease their lives. If one visits the website of this program, they will find that the main objective is to integrate various government departments and common man. Mr Prime Minister wants to harness the possibilities of digital technology for the well being of the nation and its citizens.
The reason that I talk about these two programs is because both are somewhere inter linked and somehow wants to give an impression to the common man that all is well. These initiatives sound positive, touch your emotional chords and you find 2 percent of the population jumping on to the various social media platforms and overwhelming us with their selfies and comments. If you belong to the other 5 percent which finds all this hogwash and want the government to really work on the ground and get its priorities right, then you are in for some good abusing and calling names (if you happen to be  a twitterati or a Facebookian).
I as a women and a tax paying citizen of the country has some serious reservations regarding the portrayal of these important issues. Selfie was something which started as a trend for the glamorous and the famous to share some candid moments with their fans & followers. Mr Prime Minister went a step ahead and shared some of his selfies with leaders all over the world. Our Chief Minister followed suit and now instead of putting his pictures with girl child on posters he clicks selfies with them. If the government thinks that by putting the hashtag of Selfies with Daughter they will be able to uplift the situation of girls in the country, they are living in a fools paradise. And if the Chief Minister of a state does so it seems as of there is an identity crisis which there should not be. A state which has the highest number of rapes and crimes recorded for the past so many years, a selfie seems more like a slap. Digital India is a good initiative though this very party criticized Mr Rajiv Gandhi and his team when they came up with the idea of computerizing all the departments. The question is how they go about Digitizing India and what is the time limit set. If our Chief Minister had rather given desktops to the girls and initiated a free website where they can access books in Hindi, the girls would be empowered.
We do not want the government to start changing the society and how it thinks especially for girls, because that is something which we ourselves have to do, but Yes we want the government to govern. It has to be strict with the perpetrators of hate and violence towards girls. It has to be equally stringent with its set of Ministers who come out with atrocious statements against women. It has to take electricity and roads to the people so that people can access computers and internet.
The basic is that the government has to get it's priorities right. If our Chief Minister is unaware of ground realities or what we the citizens want, I on behalf of my fellow citizens can give him some pointers.
1. Co-ordiantion between the various departments so that the same work is not handled by many.
2. Clean drinking water.
3. Uninterrupted power supply without voltage fluctuations.
4. Roads without pitfalls.
5. Promises that can be fulfilled in a given time frame.
And the list continues.
PS: If we can hear you Mr Chief Minister for once being honest about the VYAPAM Scam, it will be good for everybody's health.

Indian Budget- More of a Tradition

The annual Indian budget is out and media discussions are rife about what the government did right and where it could have done better. Political parties are reacting on the predicted lines. I too have my reservations and analysis of this year’s budget. What does this budget mean for the aam aadmi? Do budgets really matter for the common man anymore or for that sake, does the industry take the budget as seriously as before?

            Post 1991, every passing year shows that the Annual Budget is more of a tradition now than a serious financial statement. With markets being deregulated price control is not a major issue and decisions regarding excise duty, import tariffs, subsidies are taken all the year round. Fiscal policy is a major part of the budget where this time the entire tax system has been handled in the old way though promises of gargantuan nature were made before polls and budget by the present BJP government. Though GST was anathema for BJP in the past, it has embraced it enthusiastically now which is “interesting”. How subsides and welfare program spending will be handled is a tricky question which has not been answered substantially by the Finance Minister.

            29 schemes have been allotted 100 crores each which does not make sense as the amount is too small for these projects and there is no roadmap regarding the source of revenue.

            However my biggest concern is the amount given for infrastructure. 27600 crores have been earmarked for various projects. Somewhere the land mafia influencing the budget seems high. Even during the UPA regime, money was misspent and projects took longer than required which escalated the costs. The priority for the government should be to see that implementation of these projects is on time and there are no sidekicks passed out.

            Another allocation which is beyond comprehension is the amount allocated for building the iron statue of Vallabhai Patel. 200 crores have been allocated for this. It was the pet project of the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr Narendra Bhai Modi for which he also collected iron from all over the country. Now why does the government want to spend so much of the tax payer’s money on such a project and allocate just 100 crores for women safety is beyond logic.

            Similarly 100 crores have been allocated for a survey to be done on inter linking the rivers. We have had many committees and sub committees on this issue, therefore having another survey costing 100 crores is insane.

Making MNREGA more practical and financially viable is a good initiative of the government. Asset creation is a must for these welfare schemes because mere handouts will not lead to poverty alleviation.

If we talk about the state of Madhya Pradesh in this budget, then we find that much has not been given to our state. If just take the railways, we find that we have the lowest railway network of 16.67 km/ 1000 sq kms whereas the national average is 24 kms. We have been kept out of the Golden Quadrilateral which was a NDA program. Similarly our road network is also very poor at 110,000 kms where our neigbouring state Maharashtra which is smaller in size has 250,000 kms of roads. Though we have BJP both at centre and in our state, we have not been given the status of privileged state. We have 21 percent tribal population which is the highest in the country, highest IMR and MMR rate (poor roads is one of the cause for these rates to be high) among other poor indicators.

Budgets have become more of a tradition and less of an important financial statement because it lacks government vision. Policies of the government are not clearly spelt out. Political will is the most important thing for this country which is somehow lacking.

Women- The Punching Bag for All

 

The past couple of years we are hearing more and more stories of atrocities against women. Gang rapes, murders, creating MMS have become part of everyday life. Recently there was this case of Badayun where 2 sisters were raped, hanged to death by upper caste people of the village involving a police man. If these horrific incidences were not enough for us women, we now have our elected representatives asking their men o rape and kill us. Tapas Pal, a celebrated actor of Tollygunj and a 2 time MP of TMC was recorded on camera asking his men to rape and kill women who were Communist sympathizers. In the Badayun case, Akhilesh Yadav asked a female journalist smilingly whether she was raped or not? His father a thespian of politics went a step further and said boys made mistakes and rape was one of them. Babulal Gour, an octogenarian, 8 time MLA from Madhya Pradesh and the current Home Minister of the state is known for his derogatory statements against women. The latest being that women are responsible because of the clothes they wear & men who rape do not inform the police before doing this. The Home Minister of Chhatisgarh echoed his thoughts. A Goan minister is against women going to pubs and drinking. He wants them to stop wearing short dresses. And if all of this was not enough we have a BJP leader O P Dhanker promising Harayanvi men that he will get them Bihari brides if they bring BJP to power in the state.

All these men and their statements are not one off. We can see them regularly mirrored in our everyday lives when constitution gives us the right education but the society takes away our right to apply this education and earn for ourselves. Laws have been made but the implementers of these laws are the perpetrators of such horrors in the society. Women leaders who sit on the citadel of power by breaking norms in the past, now do nothing more than paying lip service. There are agitations, gheraos, fact finding missions, corpus funds, new schemes but no stringent action is taken against any of these men by any political parties.

The thought that comes to mind with regards to these moronic statements is that is our society really so regressive? Are our elected representatives really so insensitive? Are political compulsions so strong that a trail blazing leader like Mamta Banerji does nothing? Is political will so low? Is the divide in the society so wide that women are used as means of destruction?

Over the years we have continuously seen political parties advocating education for girls, bringing them into jobs, giving them representation in elections and reservations in Panchayats. But has all this helped the cause of women at large? Are the leaders echoing what the society really thinks? In my city of Bhopal women have the liberty of moving out for their education and jobs but they are not secure.

Is there a solution to all this? Discussions, seminars, symposiums on gender equality, women emancipation talks about creating awareness in the society, sensitizing the boys, giving self defense courses to our girls, more stringent laws are some of the measures. Yes they all work but we also need to set an example of our leaders. Tapas Pal has a wife and daughter, both in public life and quite liberal. Babulal Gour’s daughter in law is a Mayor, Akhilesh Yadav’s wife is a two time MP. Ehat does this all reveal that it is fine to further the careers of the women of their families mete out Talibanise acts for women in general. Leaders and political parties have to take tough decisions and we women need to come together to fight for our cause.

“Hindi” Diktat for Social Media

Language is a means of communication, where one person wants to get his thoughts across to another. In 1947 when India got freedom from the Brits, Hindi was chosen as the “Rashtriya Bhasha” , not only because it was spoken by a vast  majority but also to come out of colonial hangover. In recent days, the newly elected Modi government came out with a diktat that Hindi is to be used for social media interactions by all the state governments. Next day it said that only Hindi speaking states should be doing this. But if we go through the tweets of M.P. CM, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, we find that he too is not following this absurd diktat.

Why this order is absurd has to be understood on many levels. In spite of Hindi being the declared national language, we all know that our country does not have a national language.

Secondly it is only Northern India for which Hindi is the first language. For the rest of us we have our mother tongue as the first language & many amongst us have learnt Hindi from Hindi films, songs and TV serials, therefore using this language does not come easy.

Thirdly pitting one language against the other is the recipe for disaster. When non Hindi speaking people are asked to use English, however pathetic they might be at it, they do not mind but when asked to speak Hindi, they rebel (Tamil Nadu is a good case study). English in India is a language that kinds people together.

Fourthly, it is important to be proud of one’s language but practicality always wins over nationality. Youngsters want to learn English because the one’s with the knowledge of English stand a much better chance of getting a job than a Hindi speaking or any regional language speaking person.

Mr. Modi using a translator while meeting international leaders & delegates is a smart move and he should continue with using Hindi but asking common man to do so is not fair.