The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 30

The International News Weekly EDIT
08
February 02, 2018 | Toronto
The
w w w . canadianparv asi. c o m
Publisher & CEO
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Editor (India)
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Rajinder Saini
Meenakshi Saini
Gursheesh
Kshitiz Dalal
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Bashir Nasir
editor@canadianparvasi.com
sales@canadianparvasi.com
Budget 2018-19: Balancing
populism with economics
The Budget is finally out and to put it simply, Mr. Jaitley
did not disappoint. In fact, a majority of it was along
expected lines. Most importantly, as promised, the governmentmanaged
to do a commendable job of balancing
economic populism with prudent economics. However,
as is always the case, the good did come with a tinge of
bad. It was a no-brainer that the Budget would focus on
the agricultural sector after BJP's electoral performance
in rural Gujarat. Mr. Jaitley went a step further and, in a
major departure from the past, began his Budget speech
with the government's plan for the farming community.
He unveiled a litany of measures in line with the government's
aim of doubling farmer incomes by 2022.
First, the Budget allowed for setting the minimum
support price (MSP) at 1.5 times the production cost for
kharif crops. Even though this support to farmers will
help increase their incomes, there are two questions that
need to be asked. Will the effect of this jump in MSP be inflationary?
Also, will it take away the incentive to reduce
production costs? The answer to both of these questions is
probably in the affirmative. Only time will tell if the move
has any such negative externalities for the economy, but
the government should be prepared with commensurate
remedies to tackle the eventuality.
The second significant move on the agricultural front
has been a push to boost agri-business activities across
the country and improve agricultural markets. Allocation
has been doubled for enhancing food processing and
specialised agro-processing networks from Rs 700 crores
to Rs 1,400 crores. The government has also decided to follow
a cluster-based approach for stimulating agricultural
production. Further, in a bid to formalise agricultural
markets, the 470 Agriculture Produce Market Committee
(APMC) promoted markets would be connected to
the e-nam market platform and over 22,000 rural agricultural
markets would also be developed. These are positive
moves to remove the middle man and ensure farmers receive
the bulk of the prices paid by the consumer.
However, the e-nam platform is still in its formative
stage and its performance has not been adequately
tested. A bulk of the sale of agricultural products is still
done through commission agents and it is doubtful that
the practice will be done away with any time soon. On
the other hand, the development of agri-business clusters
provides a viable solution to formaliseagricultural markets.
The gains from all of these measures, however, can
only be expected in the long-run.
Another major highlight of the budget has been its
focus on the social sector. Healthcare and education received
their fair share of budgetary focus. In fact, Mr.
Jaitley took pride in announcing the "world's largest
healthcare programme" that would provide Rs 5 lakhs
per family per year for medical reimbursement under
National Health Protection Scheme for around 10 crore
families across India. This is a positive move by the government
towards universal health coverage in the future.
As for education, digitalisation of education and training
of teachers was given a boost.
No roof for patients at AIIMS,
scores brave cold in the open
Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi : Fouryear-old
Aashirvaad Kumar
has had the hole in
his heart fixed by the doctors
at the All India Institute
of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS), the country's
premier government-run
research and referral hospital,
but he is still trying
to the fix the hole over
his head to find a shelter
in the national capital's
chilling winter.
The reason? He is back
in Delhi four months after
his heart surgery for
consultation and is unable
to find a shelter to
brave the bitter chill.
This is because the
night shelters near the
hospital are completely
packed. But his grandfather
finally found a space
for him and his mother
near the gate of the AI-
IMS Metro Station gate
-- where scores of other
patients and their attendants
are huddled.
Grandfather Mahendra
Singh, covering his
face with a blanket and
pointing towards Aashirvaad,
told IANS: "We
came here some days ago
for some medical checkups.
But we cannot find
a shelter to protect ourselves
against the winter
nights. So we spend the
night here."
Dimshri Mukhiya, a
resident of Darbhanga in
Bihar, is suffering from
some nervous disorder
and is unable to walk
or even stand. Now the
street outside the hospital
has become her permanent
abode.
"I have been getting
treatment at AIIMS for
over the last two years,"
she said. "And due to me,
my husband Pradeep,
who was a good farmer,
has become a labourer."
"When we were in our
village, we never slept on
the streets, but for the
last two years we had to
brave all this," she said.
Mukhiya and her
husband too are sleeping
under the open sky with
plastic sheets over their
blankets for added protection.
Asked why she was
using plastic sheets, she
replied: "Due to the dew
and the rain, the blanket
Four-year-old Aashirvaad Kumar has
had the hole in his heart fixed by
the doctors at the All India Institute
of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the
country's premier government-run
research and referral hospital, but
he is still trying to the fix the hole
over his head to find a shelter in the
national capital's chilling winter.
gets wet but the plastic
sheet saves it from that."
Several patients,
along with their attendants,
were found sleeping
at the bus stop near
the hospital's gate.
The Delhi government
has opened four
night shelters near AI-
IMS, one even in the subway
connecting AIIMS
and Safdarjung Hospital
across the road. Mobile
toilets have been stationed
outside the night
shelters, but this IANS
correspondent could not
find a single attendant
manning them.
Enqiries revealed that
all the night shelters are
packed by 9 p.m.
Lokendra, a resident
of Baghpat in Uttar
Pradesh, said: "By the
time we got free from the
hospital, all the night
shelters were full."
Lokendra, a daily
labourer, said that he
had arrived in the city
for his wife's treatment.
"My wife has some intestine
problem and I had
to come here for better
treatment," he said.
The AAP government's
Delhi Urban Shelter
Improvement Board
(DUSIB), while announcing
its Winter Action
Plan on December 15,
2017, said it is running
251 shelters -- 83 of them
housed in permanent
buildings and 113 operating
out of porta-cabins.
Fifty-five temporary shelters
in tents have also
been put up for the winter
season.
Although the Board
claims that the night shelters
can accommodate
close to 20,000 people,
only about 10,000 homeless
people are using
them. The Delhi government
has also announced
that it will serve breakfast
of "tea and rusk" till
the end of January to
those occupying the night
shelters.
The DUSIB said that
to bring the homeless
to the night shelters, 20
rescue teams have also
been pressed into service
and will be doing
the rounds every night.
They can be contacted
by citizens who want to
report on the homeless
by dialling a 24X7 control
room number (011-
23378789/8527898295/96)
and a "Rain Basera" mobile
application.
To check the effectiveness
of the DUSIB
helpline, the IANS correspondent,
who was accompanied
by Sunil Kumar
Aledia, Executive
Director of the NGO Centre
for Holistic Development,
clicked the picture
of a man sleeping in the
open at AIIMS' gate No. 1
and shared it on the Rain
Basera app. But even after
30 minutes, no rescue
team arrived to take that
man to any of the nearby
shelters.
To the contrary, the
status of the complaint
was shown as closed after
30 minutes.
Thousands of people
in the national capital
are still forced to live
on the streets of the
city. According to a 2014
DUSIB survey, the number
of homeless in Delhi
is 16,000, while various
NGOs estimate that the
number may run up to
100,000 or more.
"At least 40,000 homeless
people have died between
January 1, 2004,
and December 31, 2017,"
Aledia said.
He also said that in
the first two weeks of
January, over 50 people
have died. In December
last year alone, over 200
people have died in Delhi.
The Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) and the Congress
have earlier attacked
the Arvind Kejriwal
government over the
deaths of the homeless
people in the city.
Delhi BJP unit chief
Manoj Tiwari has accused
Chief Minister Kejriwal
of being insensitive,
while city Congress
chief Ajay Maken has
accused the government
of not taking any steps
to provide them help or
relief.
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