Indian Poverticians

Been kind of busy, with the financial year coming to a close, things are kind of hectic hence the gaps in putting up posts. I think I have got to you with the title, haven’t I? You guys must be wondering what the hell is a “povertician”. I have coined a new word for our ubiquitous politicians who come election time, always harps on alleviating poverty!
This word is actually a new one for the “wiktionary” – “a povertician is a politician who while claiming to alleviate poverty enriches himself with the funds to be used for poverty alleviation”.

I have been thinking of writing this post for the past four days but was not finding the time. It has actually been prompted by Jairam Ramesh’s claim that the Congress has done the most to alleviate poverty in this country! He also made a claim that the baggage of 3000 years cannot be done away with in just 60 years after independence. “Baggage of 3000 years” – that is a very strong statement – he is probably alluding to the caste system and how the lower castes were treated badly. Everything in history changes and evolves with the passage of time – so has the caste system – it was there because it worked in those days. The caste system also came about through the occupations of the particular castes – that does not mean the situation should not change today, does it? The Congress, through Nehru and Gandhi made India a secular democracy, Ambedkar was from one of the so-called backward castes – but he was the architect of our Constitution. This begs the question – who is backward? A person who is born in a “backward caste” or a person born in an upper caste but who cannot afford even one square meal a day? The Congress has run through more than 10 five year plans with socialistic implications – where did it lead us? Almost into international poverty, wherein if it had not been for Manmohan Singh going to the Bank of England in 1980 with a begging bowl and getting finance against our gold reserves – we today could have been a bankrupt nation. That one shock got us to mend our ways and turn partially capitalist – but what about the people who manage our country? Have they changed? Nope - the politicians – barring a handful, are all poverticians!

Through the decades we have seen hundreds of poverty alleviation schemes launched – but then why are the poor still poor!?! News articles declare that Party A is going to distribute free rice and Party B comes up with a plan to distribute free wheat! Whoa! What the hell are we doing? Are we trying to bribe our voters with freebies – who pays for it? The tax payer! Try writing to the various departments under the Right to Information Act and see if you can get information on the various poverty alleviation schemes and whether the money reaches the target population! You bet it doesn’t and nor will you get the information called for either. It is a well established and regularly reported fact that the PDS is a complete disaster, with bureaucrats and politicians grabbing 90% plus funds for themselves before it reaches the needy. These parasites have gobbled funds even at times of national disasters. If you ask me what a national disaster is, I would readily say the Indian political system with its hoards of poverticians!

Jairam Ramesh should look inwards and also at his political allies (politics does make strange bedmates) – do these people really believe in alleviating poverty of the masses – it could easily have been done in 60 years post independence, with the right policies and with people of integrity to execute the plans. We find the so called backward caste politicians becoming richer and richer – where does the money come from? This question is never asked to politicians by the revenue authorities – you try doing it and see what happens.

It is also a fact that a lot of industrialists have taken soft loans and declared them selves to be NPA’s by banks – to the tune of maybe Rs. 60000 crores. Again why does the law not take it’s course – delivery of justice in India happens after so much time, you would be lucky to be alive to hear the courts verdict! In any case it is the politician/bureaucrat nexus which comes to corrupt and pollute even the justice delivery system. That is why they say in India everything is available for a price, even a seat in Parliament! Remember the many cases where at times of crucial votes you have political parties claiming that their party men were offered money to vote against the government. Then these bunch of goons hide under the cloak of “parliamentary privilege”!

The only solution to get our country rid of this type of poverty alleviation schemes is to professionalize the delivery system at the grass roots level by eliminating middle men and political interference. Vocational Education of the poor and schemes for them to sell their produce should be introduced in a manner where the poor learn to live a life of dignity. Caste based politics should be banned and made a criminal offence with a jail sentence of not less than ten years and a fine of at least Rs. 10 lacs and justice to be dispensed within 30 days, so that any one indulging in such behavior will think twice before proceeding!