Madhushala is easily the most well read hindi poetry of modern times. Only bhakti poets like Tulsidas, Surdas, Kabir achieved greater popularity. With Madhushala, Harivansh Rai Bachhan introduced Rubaii to Hindi readers. Rubaii is a quatrain where the first, third and fourth lines rhyme with each other while the second line does not.
Here I share audio/video editions of Madhushala sung by Manna De and Amitabh Bachchan.
Manna De Part1 (First few lines in Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s own voice)
New York Times tells us of the Davis Cup final that was never played. In 1974, South Africa and India advanced to the final of the Davis Cup. The final was to be played in Ellis Park, Johannesburg where the crowd would have been segregated with just a very small section near the top reserved for nonwhites, including Indians. But the Indian government boycotted the final in protest of South Africa’s system of apartheid.
Economist summarizes World Bank’s new comparative study on poverty reduction in Brazil, China and India. India’s performance is by far the worst. Two snippets from the Economist:
“And government interventions in India are extraordinarily perverse. People in the poorest fifth are the least likely to have any kind of ration card (the key to public handouts), whereas the richest fifth are the most likely to”.
“India had both growth and social policies, yet did worst because its policies in fact did rather little to help the poor. With its caste system, and bad state schools, India may be a more unequal society than the numbers alone suggest”.
And the preamble of our Constitution says we are a socialist democratic republic.
The Chinese government announced today its target to reduce its carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 compared to 2005 levels. The number (40-45%) looks quite ambitious, at least to Times of India. It says:
“China has announced that it will cut emissions by a drastic 40-45 per cent compared to 2005 levels by the year 2020. The pledge, which
is far ahead of the promises made by the United States, is also expected to cause jitters in New Delhi and raise questions about the efficacy of the India-China deal on the issue”.
But ToI has got it completely wrong. Here is why:
Carbon intensity (ton/$) is defined as tons of Carbon dioxide emitted per dollar of GDP. Reduction in carbon intensity is driven more by growth in GDP than by efforts to reduce overall carbon emissions. As an economy grows, its carbon intensity declines (except for petro-economies like in the Middle-East). It doesn’t take any special effort. The decline is faster when the GDP growth is faster, as it is in China. So, what matters for climate outcomes is the numerator, while in practice, it is the denominator that drives the carbon intensity values we observe in data of last three decades.
The reality of China’s new climate commitment can be guaged from the fact that Carbon intensity of Chinese economy has already gone down by 45% between 1990 and 2006 even as its per capita emission more than doubled and total emission increased 2.3 times. In comparison, India’s carbon intensity is already 40% less than China’s even when India is poorer. India has not reduced its carbon intensity significantly over last 2-3 decades, but our total emissions are less than a third of China and have grown at a much slower pace over this period in both absolute and per capita terms.
In effect, China is not promising anything and India should not feel pressured to follow in its footsteps. I am sure the world understands it even if Shaibal Dasgupta of ToI does not. Amazing! Our largest newspaper has this level of understanding of the climate issue.
Amitabh Bachan recites Prasoon Joshi’ poem on 26/11. The poem is in blank verse but effectively expresses the frustrations of the common man at the usual platitudes that follow every such incident: those about India’s resilience, spirit, courage and the ability to move on. I like it.
इस बार नहीं
इस बार जब वो छोटी सी बच्ची मेरे पास अपने खरोंच ले कर आएगी
मैं उसे फू-फू कर के नहीं बहलाऊंगा
पनपने दूंगा उसके टीस को
इस बार नहीं
इस बार जब मैं चेहरों पर दर्द लिखा देखूँगा
नहीं गाऊंगा गीत पीड़ा भुला देने वाले
दर्द को रिसने दूंगा, उतरने दूंगा अन्दर गहरे
इस बार नहीं
इस बार मैं न मरहम लगाऊँगा
न ही उठाऊंगा रूई के फाहे
और न ही कहूँगा कि तुम आँखें बंद कर लो, गर्दन उधर कर लो
मैं दवा लगाता हूँ
इस बार नहीं
इस बार जब उलझनें देखूँगा, छटपटाहट देखूँगा
नहीं दौडूंगा उलझी डोर लपेटने
उलझने दूंगा जब तक उलझ सके
इस बार नहीं
इस बार कर्म का हवाला दे कर नहीं उठाऊँगा औज़ार
नहीं करूंगा फिर से एक नयी शुरुआत
नहीं बनूँगा मिसाल एक कर्मयोगी की
नहीं आने दूंगा ज़िन्दगी को आसानी से पटरी पर
उतरने दूंगा उसे कीचड में, टेढ़े-मेढ़े रास्तों पर
नहीं सूखने दूंगा दीवारों पर लगा खून
हल्का नहीं पड़ने दूंगा उसका रंग
इस बार नहीं बनने दूंगा उसे इतना लाचार
कि पान की पीक और खून का फर्क ही ख़त्म हो जाए
इस बार नहीं
इस बार घावों को देखना है
गौर से
थोडा लम्बे वक़्त तक
कुछ फैसले
और उसके बाद हौसले
कहीं तो शुरुआत करनी होगी
इस बार यही तय किया है
Bihar’s per capital electricity consumption, at 75 kilowatt-hour (kWh), is the lowest in India and far below the national average of 613 units according to a recent report titled Energy Injustice.
This is not unusual; Bihar falls below the national average on almost all indices of development and wellbeing. Yet the disparity between Bihar and the rest of India is way too high when it comes to electricity consumption and access to electricity. Consumption is more than 8 times lower in Bihar than the rest of India. Less than 10% households have electricity connection in Bihar and only 3% of farmers use electricity for irrigation. Half of the villages are yet to be electrified and even in urban areas, people pay Rs. 10-12/unit to private power generators to get 24 hours power supply.
Low consumption of electricity is not just a symptom of Bihar’s underdevelopment; it is a cause. Lack of power makes every economic activity–farming, agro-processing, manufacturing, service provision, education– uncompetitive; a hassle. I firmly believe that improving electricity supply will give a boost to Bihar’s economy like no other single intervention will. We need massive investments in electricity sector in Bihar; the returns will be very high.
In 1876, AP Mcdonell, in his ‘Report on Food-grain Supply of Bengal and Behar’, recorded average rice yield to be 1000 to 1200 kg/hectare (ha) in Tirhut and 500 to 1700 kilograms/ha in Champaran (average being 979 kg/ha) in a good year. He reported double cropped area to be 30-32% of cultivated land (cropping intensity of 1.3-1.32). In some tappas of Champaran, cropping intensity was as high as 1.62. One hundred and thirty years later, in 2006—when the population pressure on land has increased five folds, most (84%) still cultivators and agricultural laborers just as in 1876; two-third of land has been brought under irrigation; and chemical fertilizers and hybrid seeds have become common—average rice yield is almost the same in these parts of Bihar, barely higher. Cropping intensity, now at around 1.4, has not increased by much either[1].
I want to know why.
According to Agriculture Census 2000-01, two-thirds (64.34%) of the 11.6 million land holdings in Bihar are smaller than 2000 sq. meters (i.e. 0.5 acres). These sub-half acre holdings account for nearly 20% of the total cultivable area in the state and their average size is just 760 sq. meters (0.19 acres). I wonder how the rice-wheat cropping system, predominant in Bihar, can be sustained on such stamp sized plots.
Elsewhere smallholders are diversifying to high value crops and crop based activities (like dairying) to eke out a living off their tiny plots. But that does not seem to be happening in Bihar. Here rice-wheat system continues to dominate agriculture. Rice-Wheat cropping on such small plots, with yields as low as they are in Bihar (rice+wheat<4 tons/ha), cannot provide enough food or employment. These 7.5 million smallholder families must be supplementing their incomes from other activities–like working in others’ fields and migrating to villages and cities of other states of India–just to survive. If so, then the claim that 3/4th of the working population in rural Bihar is employed mainly in agriculture becomes suspect. It may still be true, but it definitely requires closer scrutiny.
The Economist says it’s working. Rural job guarantees faring well. India’s grand experiment with public works enjoys a moment in the sun.
Tushaar Shah argues in an Op-ed in Times of India that replacing NREGS with a cash transfers program is a bad idea. NREGA is self-selecting while a cash transfer program will be completely hijacked by the rich and the connected. Cash transfers is a flawed alternative to NREGS.
