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Jack of all trades, master of none.....but I guess that is all it takes.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

One, Other, Another

Disclaimer: Apologies for the inconvenience....


Summer - Winter
There were two. One, was nice and rude. Other, was nice and rude too. One was one to Other; and Other, was other to One. And then, the magic happened. One, was fine with Other always thinking about everything other than One. He hoped that would change. It did not. Other, was happy because One treated Other as if he was the one. He assumed that would never change. It did.
Then one day, after getting tired of not being the one for Other, of just giving and giving, One decided to leave him, and find another.  He got the other to agree even though he knew that Other will always be the one in some ways, but time wasn’t the one for them to discover, the place(s) wasn’t what they should have been, and he ended it all, to start a new, a different beginning with Other. He again gave, an Ag of sorts, a band as reminder of past, a ring as binder for future, a loop as something cherished of present. He wished he had something similar. He did not.

Spring -Summer
There were two. One, was nice and rude. Other, was nice and rude too. One was now both to Other; and Other, was now both to One. And then there was Another in whom One found the one. Another was also nice and rude.  And the three found a brief moment of peace. But Other wanted an Another of his own, and thus suffered in relative misery, again and then again, letting fiction dictate his life. He still had the Ag of sorts, and through it whenever reminded of One, asked him for  help with another(s) of his life. This, One did, but this One wasn’t the one, neither was he now just one to One, he was both, just like Other was to One. And this Other did not like. He wanted One to still behave as the one, though that is something he could never himself give to One, at least not until it was too late. He wanted One to choose him over Another, though he never himself let go of his Another(s) over One. And this One decided he will do only sometimes….only sometimes, when it was absolutely necessary. For One, It was now rude for rude and nice for nice. He hoped that might not change. It did.

Winter -
Now, there are few. One, is nice and rude. Other, is nice and rude too. One is other to Other; and Other, is other to One. They are both, both to their another(s). And the ellipses stand…

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Benefits of Conditional Cash Transfers by the Government in PDS and Health.


Abbreviations:
BPL- Below Poverty Line                                    DO- District office                                          
FPS - Fair Price Shops                                      JSY- Janani Suraksha Yojana                          
PDS- Public Distribution System                                

It was the right to minimal sustenance which lead to the one of the world’s largest subsidized food distribution scheme called the Public Distribution System (PDS). India’s PDS chain after covering 4.9 Lakh FPSs and about 15-16 crores houses later; has still has not been able to deliver its promise of feeding the hungry. The reason is simple.

The only difference in the skeleton of a Market Retail Chain and PDS is that in the latter, prices are largely controlled by a body rather than market forces of Demand and Supply. Now although price control and thus cheap availability of food were the very aims of the scheme, and these by themselves were indeed noble and logical solutions to malnutrition that plagued the country, they did not require the complicated and problematical system that was put in place to achieve them.
The steps involved in running the PDS or TPDS (Targeted PDS) from the top to bottom involve demand estimation by DOs and then submission to the State head office, payment release by DO to FCI office, procurement of grains by DO through third party transporter, storage in Godown centers, issuing of goods to 
FPSs, and finally sale to consumer.


Above is just a complicated replica of public retail system which already existed in market, with all major points of action being replaced by the govt. agencies. This gives rise to following problem:
  1.  The process involves actual movement of goods towards targeted beneficiaries which is a waste since the goods are already in their reach (local markets). Availability was not the problem, lack of ability to purchase it was.
  2.  The cost of reproduction of an already existing national retail model is huge and pinching esp. because there was no need to put it.
  3.  Making a non-profit public system so convoluted was an open invitation to sporadic corruption. The leeching away of services and benefits at every step, in a system of multiple steps, resulted in failure of the scheme to reach its target.
All of the above drawbacks are either obliterated or minimized because of absence of scope of occurrence if in the PDS system, food transfer is replaced by Conditional Cash Transfer. An idea as plain as giving the cash to those who need it.

BPL counting already occurs during every census, it can be used to increase the purchasing power parity by giving cash to those who need it. Another similar methodology is ‘Near Cash Conditional Coupons’ are given which can be used to buy specific goods from local market.
In papers by World Bank economists, leaks (mostly because of missing beneficiaries or bribes paid to become a recipient) in PDS schemes have been found to be about 4 times higher than those in cash transfer schemes. 
It has already been observed that a similar scheme in health sector gave impressive results. India's Janani Suraksha Yojana is a Conditional Cash Transfer program to increase births in health facilities. JSY payment was associated with a reduction of 3.7% pre-natal deaths per 1000 pregnancies and 2.3% neonatal deaths. Now, improvements are being made to identify the target group most in need of aid.

With completion of ongoing Unique Identification drive, the whole procedure for Conditional Cash Transfer will become a very cheap, efficient and transparent. It would become easy to electronically transfer money to those who are targeted in the scheme and since there will be no movement of physical goods, it remove the problems of goods getting wasted, or perishing. Since the target beneficiaries will themselves buy the food they need, the problem of low grade goods reaching them will also end. Electronic transfers will also eliminate the any leeching by middlemen. 

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Une Stylo


PS- "UNE STYLO" (oon stee-lo) IS FRENCH FOR "A PEN"


In writing black; the ravines sad; on white landscapes unseen.
Some untold lies, unknown cries; and a fleeting memory of a companion.
A friend by pen, a coincidental name sake, someone who made the falling sands fall slow.
Standing against the blurry world, still inspires my une stylo.

It’s been so long; and it’s been so barren, achingly tiring at times;
to shift through pages, blank empty pages; waiting,for more to be written.
For more words, of heat, of ice; anything. 
for those black ravines to again flow;
Out of what has been, your long idle, teasing une stylo. 

But those unsaid words, those helpless emotions, which didn't get to ride;
not even on stuttering crippled words.
They stayed hidden, like unwritten phrases on face of a writer who suddenly ran out of ink…
With his last resort gone, there is little he can do, little he can show.
Just stare, holding in his shivering hand, an empty une stylo. 

And those hungry emotions, they devoured the insides, crawling;
a million spiders.  All trying to escape; 
And in finding none, they resort to scratching; rough, inkless scratches on paper…
Switching to the perennial ink for what had become an empty stick willow.
From the feverish, desperate scrubbing had come out blood, which now fuels this red une stylo.