Food Subsidy to MP's & Misplaced Outrage

Food Subsidy to MP’s - Misplaced outrage.

Subsidizing food in parliament canteen costs the Government of India around 15 crores as per the reported RTI documents.

Let’s do a simple math. I am not even counting hundreds of parliamentary, ministerial, MP’s support staff who get benefited out of this subsidy, actually more than whom it is actually subsidized for...the members of parliament. 

A total of 790 parliamentarians from both the houses enjoying a subsidy of mere Rs.16,000/- per MP per month, does not warrant a national debate, certainly not a national outrage :-)  especially when the subsidy the government is already extending for welfare of the poor & needy is over 3,00,000 crores. 

The callous debates & subsequent outrage is disrespectful to the critical pillar of democracy too, the ‘Legislature’. 

The salary which an Indian MP gets is below his counterparts even in the neighboring Asian countries, leave alone the west. The food subsidy to parliamentarians is not just an Indian phenomenon. 

The cost of benefits to MP’s in UK costs a whopping 6.8 million pounds annually. The cost of salary & benefits to the Congress & House in USA costs over 4.5 Billion USD. India is nowhere close to those staggering numbers neither in salaries to its MP's nor in extending benefits.

  

In a country as diversified as India, the members of parliament come from varied backgrounds both socially & economically, to paint everyone with a single brush and argue is not tenable. Neither the presumption that all the MP's are corrupt and they have alternate source of incomes is factual.

One shouldn’t slight the sheer amount of time, energy, resources, mobility, travel, communication, the role of a parliamentary representative demands. Apart from the session preparation, risks of libel, loss of family time, relationship conflicts, risk of physical harm. In contrary to the general perception that an MP’s life is a bed of roses & it’s all about power and protocol benefits, there's other side of the coin too which not many are fully aware.

While all the four pillars are equally essential for a vibrant democracy, I certainly feel 'legislature' gets financially compensated enormously less. Media being a 'private pillar' of the democracy in matured democracies like ours, the media salaries are no comparison to, even Judiciary & Executive. Better financial compensation to all the leaders of these four pillars can certainly help arresting corruption, at least to a level.

I strongly believe when individuals can provide well for the general needs of their families, the greed for more is contained marginally. The aversion to risk develops through financial stability the compensation provides. Providing well for the law makers of a nation is not a bad investment, when especially good & clean governance, is what we are expecting in return.

Food subsidy is a non-issue, not just because it involves less amount of monetary burden, also because of sheer logical reasons.

We cannot compare commercial restaurant prices with the parliament’s canteen. The commercial establishment’s profit margins on food range from 100% to 1000 % depending on where you are eating. 

A cup of coffee on a street side can cost a citizen Rs.10, while the same in a 5 star restaurant can cost Rs.250. There’s no logic in comparing them with a nonprofit, non-taxed, cost to cost system of government canteens. That’s how the subsidy burden is low on the government.

On the same lines, the golf clubs, constitutional clubs, media clubs, police clubs, public sector canteens, military canteens do provide lower rates, as they work on cost to cost without profit margins & they can afford to subsidize for the benefit of their members. 

It’s purely a 'cost - price - subsidy' reward instrument & nothing to be outraged about.No one's looting anyone.

Mixing the above with welfare subsidy to the poor & needy is comparing apples & oranges. Does not make any sense.

Nevertheless, I do believe in a country like India, where there are still persisting hunger deaths, the government can conceptualize a subsidized food disbursal scheme on the lines of what Tamilnadu Government is already doing. It can be one of the solutions to provide for hungry & foodless.

- By Krishna Saagar Rao

  Spokesperson BJP

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Telangana State & Political Trade

Telangana state celebrates its first anniversary of state formation. The 29^th state of India is the outcome of six decades of struggle & sacrifice of people of Telangana. After state formation & electing TRS to power, the aspirations of the poor & deprived of this region who fought for two generations was good governance, welfare of poor, irrigation to farmlands, employment & focused elimination of poverty, apart from other emotional aspirations of self-governance and cultural identity.

However, what is to be seen & felt in the state of Telangana in the first year of TRS government unfortunately is nowhere close to the aspirations of the people of this state. In fact, Telangana State today is primarily popular for ‘Power Politics’ & it’s making quite a progress in this area.

The ruling party has led the politics of ‘shameless political migration’ with many examples over the last 12 months by successfully luring many leaders from Congress party & Telugu Desam party into its fold openly & publicly. Many times even the elected representatives. In fact an MLA of TDP is a cabinet minister in the TRS government without having to resign as MLA of his earlier party. Technically his resignation is not still accepted by the speaker of the assembly.

People of Telangana expected KCR to deliver on the promises he made during his election campaign & through his party manifesto. However, the first year looked as if KCR has dedicated most of his time to protecting his chair & strengthening his already very strong party in the state. Looks like KCR adopted ‘offence as the best form of defense’ in trying to root out TDP from the state, while the regional sentiment is still alive. The classic ‘power politics’ of India.

TDP seems to be not left behind either, with almost 5 of their MLA’s shifting over to TRS & few more in the pipeline, the Revanth's episode showcases the desperate moves by the party to survive in the Telangana region. While one can point fingers at TRS for having initiated the horse trading business in the state, it’s no excuse to follow suit no matter how politically compelled a party is.

The exposure of alleged horse trading in Revanth’s case is a shameful visual spectacle; not to mention the low level conversation between the transactors in this unethical political enterprise.

Desperate times, calls for desperate measures. But none expected this level of desperation just in the first year of a new government. TDP exhibited utter desperation which is inexplicable.

The more recent media leak of AP CM’s audio conversation with the nominated MLA Stephenson is more scandalous. While the authenticity of the tape is still a question, it does raise many critical questions which TDP need to answer.

It’s imperative that all political parties inclusive of TDP & TRS need to revisit their core ideologies and the central objectives of their parties. Going by the way political trade is being executed in this state, the democracy & its spirit are the biggest victims.

Remembering Shri Vajpayee and the episode of losing NDA government during a no confidence motion with one vote, showcases the strong ideological leadership of BJP to not even attempt political trade in the direst circumstances. While this high value centered politics was not too long ago, the current & immediate future of this kind of value centric politics looks bleak in the present political environment, especially in the State of Telangana.

A party in power to consistently work towards eliminating & decimating the opposition parties, and parties in opposition to primarily oppose & unsettle the party in power, to solely reacquire power is against the basic tenets of democracy. For a functional democracy, existence of real opposition is as important as the party in power. Intolerance towards all opposition, amounts to signs of dictatorship and that’s not the Indian system of governance.

It’s quite shameful that these incidents happen even after 70 years of independent India. A clear proof that the Indian democracy & the spirit of our constitution are certainly deteriorating steadily. 

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Himalayan tragedy & Human learning

The 7.9 scale earth quake has woken us up all over again. I hope atleast momentarily, If we were rejoicing the human achievements over nature, or shall we call it the abuse of the nature ? 

While the earth quake is a natural phenomenon of tectonic plate shifts, the subsequent human deaths is certainly self made. The so called civilized world has seen many quakes such as these & some even bigger, I wonder if we have learnt anything from even this one ?

How many other animal species do you think have died from this earthquake, I don't think many in the wilderness, except few which might have been domesticated and caged in homes & zoos. Even if they were, the numbers can never be compared to that of the human loss. That's the fact. 

We have built our own coffins. We call it progress, growth, technological advancement. We feel quite safe until we are shaken out of this false comfort & arrogance. The smart human that we are, we rose from the ground too high into the sky. We use materials which insulate us from the nature outside to create our own climate indoors, mostly at the nature's expense [read carbon emission]. We build homes with steel & mortar for strength, which can't even stand 20 secs of nature's test. We even claim that we own technology to beat massive earthquakes, may be we do. However, the nature does not pick & choose, where & when to strike. There's plenty more to our arrogance than what can be recounted in this piece of writing, one needs to simply look around to find it. 

Human learning counts. It can save more lives, atleast in the future. If only we even start to realize the sheer temporariness of our material accomplishments, our farcical notion, that we are in control of nature. Our petty selfish endeavors & our regression in the name of progress. 

If at all we move towards nature, instead of moving away. If only we could love more than hate. If only we respect what we already have, than be greedy to have more...nature will be more forgiving to human, like it is to other species on earth.

We are human. An evolving low emotional, high thinking, fragile species. What makes me smile is that even after the regular utter defeat by all forms of nature, we still turnaround & say we are on the top and in control. 

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* * The author Krishna Saagar Rao is the Official Spokesperson of BJP / Strategist & Author. You can reach him at : krishnasagarrao@gmail.com * * 

Goose & the golden egg - The net neutrality tangle in India.

Net neutrality is a debate now in India. It was a debate in USA 10 years ago when Comcast initiated regulation of internet for it's subscribers. 10 years time in the internet age is a century in real time. Nevertheless, the same issue comes to haunt India today.It validates my strongly supported view that India is around 10 years behind in the internet market game, in comparison to USA.

As long as internet was used just for checking emails & connecting with peers, the telecom companies & Internet service providers were happy with the internet rentals. However, when they started seeing the big money the online stores are making through their medium & spectrum for which, the telecom companies are paying a fortune, the devil's out in the open.

All businesses work with profit motive.That's the founding principle, so we can't hold anything against the telecom companies. However, is the timing of the telecom companies proposal right ? Is TRAI right in even thinking about it ? & formulating a concept note to circulate 20 questions for feedback generation.

Statistically just about 12% of Indian population has internet access & hardly 3 to 4% at the speeds one can actually do any real time transactions. Broadband is still at a metro, urban & IT park phenomenon. It's estimated only around 2% of the entire cell phone users access internet through their phones, and very negligible percentage of them actually use the internet on their phones for any valuable transactions, except general browsing.

Bringing in regulated & paid site access at this time, where the internet is just about taking off on a steep crest, is surely a bad timing. TRAI should understand the collateral damage this move can cause, if they were to allow telecom companies to  'pay & use' restrictions on select websites. The advantages & revenue aspirations are short lived, the damage is deep and profound.

For starters, if telecom companies can package, bundle, sell regulated site packages to it's subscribers at this early stage of internet growth in India, it will not just dampen the new entrants into this new economy, but also keep away millions of prospect entrepreneurs who would want to do business online, millions of prospect application builders who can contribute their tech might professionally, millions of prospect employees of these sunrise online businesses & a whole lot of ancillary companies which thrive on this unconventional and evolving trade.

Finally the Digital India dream of our prime minister to connect thousands of Indian villages through high speed broadband connectivity for value addition, to impact the bottom of the pyramid shall remain a distant dream. If this greedy and untimely proposal of the telecom companies is cleared anytime now, the internet growth engine will slow down for sure.

It's a bad idea for even the telecom companies to try killing the golden goose at this early stage, it always pays to collect the golden eggs.

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- By Krishna Saagar Rao

** The Author is the official spokesperson of BJP, an organizational strategist & an author.**