Happy New year to you and to all the citizens of India.
2018 is the most crucial year for the political leadership, Union government and also for many states before the general elections of 2019.
In 2018, the challenges will be very complex both in the global front and also in the domestic front.
With every passing day, we are adding to the list of challenges. At the same time, there are many serious issues which are hurting the common man very badly.
Sir, as citizens of India, seek your kind attention with a request, please address some of the following challenges or at least share your plans which are time-bound so that citizens can feel comfortable.
Factual Position:
Between 2017 and 2018, there is an addition of about 20 million people and about 20 million animal population. I understand there is also a reduction in some population due to natural reasons, but the requirements of growing population are different than people those are leaving this world.
Looking forward to the following basic challenges are:
1.FOOD and NUTRITION SECURITY: Do we have enough affordable food and feed to ensure the minimum nutritional requirement for all? India needs about 20 million of additional food to meet the need of the growing population. How much additional food and feed we will produce this year?
One on the side we can claim godowns are full, the fact is 30% of Indians and 50% of children of India, you may call future of India, are suffering for hunger and malnutrition. So any claim that we have enough food has no meaning.
Unfortunately, we have not seen any agriculture and food security policy of the government at last so many years. Can we expect agriculture policy this year to address this fundamental needs of any society to address the farmer's distress and consumers inflation? Please share your agriculture and food security Plans so that private capital also support your efforts in making India food secure.
Farmers Income and agro-based enterprises are all linked to government policies. Growing imports and reducing exports is a clear message that people prefer to important that produce locally even for local consumption. Food inflation will remain the biggest political challenge.
Without a clear and visible road-map, no one can contribute to this huge challenge. So, please release your Agriculture and Food Security Road-map in 2018.
2. WATER CONSERVATION: To produce more food, we need more water and more land. How much more water we will save this year to meet the need for agriculture, drinking purpose and other requirements?
India is one of the countries where water harvesting is the least. It is important that we make water harvesting a national mission and every person must cut down their water requirements without compromising on hygiene. There must be a mission to design water-saving technologies which can be used by every individual. We have water wasting technologies like RO. Can we have a better option like normal reliable filters which takes care of water wastage and deliver hygienic and safe water?
Can we expect some major water conservation plan in line with “Toilets Campaign”?
3.EDUCATION: How many schools we will create this year to address the need of the growing population? Do we have any plans to meet the requirements?
Where are the teachers? Education is fundamental to democracy, civic sense and law & order in society. Do we have properly trained teachers to take care of educational needs of the society? India wanted to produce teachers for the world market, but where are the plans to ensure proper teachers to student ratio. Is there any plan to ensure quality teachers in the country to develop responsibly and educate citizens. We can use IT technology and mobile to reach the students, but where are the teachers who can address the queries of the students.
Cost of Higher Education: The cost of professional education is so high that no student after paying so much cost for education will ever think to serve the society because his first and foremost duty is to recover all the cost plus interest to ensure payment of educational loads. This is a very bad policy for a country like India. Cost of professional education must be controlled if we want to serve mindset to develop in society.
Please also share your plan for quality teachers training in this country.
4.GOVERNANCE and EMPLOYMENT: Sensible governance can create better socio-economic order. Vibrant markets will create entrepreneurs and innovation. There are many laws which are killing the entrepreneurial spirit in the country in the name of the regulation. Why so many approvals and inspections are required in this country. Is this ease of doing business. We trust our inspectors more than our entrepreneurs. Why there is no transparency in inspection and testing systems in the country. Why citizens are not told how many inspections were done and what was the outcome of the work done by so many inspectors. Still, people are suffering due to adulterated foods, bad medicines, and poor education quality.
lease show us one department where due to inspection, things have improved and that sector is producing world-class products, consumers are happy and there is no allegation of corruption.
The recent Fire in Mumbai Pub is just one example of corruption in all related departments dealing with people and establishments.
How many laws and procedures will be reviewed this year to minimize the overheads due to paperwork and corruption on enterprises. Creation of new enterprises will create new jobs. In the present regulatory regime and governance system, it is difficult for start-ups to ensure meaningful engagement of the youth of India. The current governance structure will only create more demand for MNREGA like schemes?
5.HEALTH CARE: Health is wealth and without proper nutrition and without proper healthcare no country can ever become a developed nation. Per capita GDP is a fictitious number in a real sense when 50 to 60% population suffer from health-related disorders.
Balanced nutritious food availability is the first step in good health. We must ensure this. The way our food supply and food security plans are managed, I don’t see any hope that load on health management system will ever be less.
The cost of healthcare is increasing and accessibility is also going down. We must encourage health for all in every institution and establishment so that rest of the society can use public healthcare facilities.
Let Corporates we allowed to create their own medical and education facilities under CSR to support the needs of their own employees and their families. If they want they should be allowed to extend the same to the other members of society. Education and healthcare policy must address this and with less procedural hurdles.
6.LAW and ORDER: How many police personnel will we add to ensure law and order? This is a growing challenge. Can’t we think of involving civil society in law and order?
Why RWA and local community groups cannot be allowed to meditate and take a decision in ensuring law and order in Civil cases in their area like issues related to parking, wine shops, local disputes, etc. The local bodies must place their decisions and reasons behind the decisions in public forum. A website of the city or local police station can be created to ensure that all disputes are addressed by local bodies and police can just guide them, if required.
An innovative approach is required to address these law & order issues in civil matters so that crime rates can be controlled and pressure police can be reduced and they can only handle criminal cases.
7.DELAYED JUSTICE: In criminal and civil cases, there must be an attempt to deliver faster judgments. Why the government cannot create more courts and fill all the posts of judges so that people can focus on their work and help in creating GDP. Investors and small entrepreneurs lose hope in timely judgment. They reduce investments to avoid inspectors and prefer not to hire more people because who will address their complaint in a time-bound manner if any. What should be the per capita budget to ensure justice, please share your thoughts?
8.PUBLIC TRANSPORT: It is sensible to run few empty buses than to have traffic jams all the time of roads in cities. Training of drivers and conductors of public transport is must to develop faith in public transport systems. All cities with more than 1 million population must have a public transport system and every car owner must contribute to parking charges which should subsidize public transport facilities. There must be premium small capacity for public transport facilities which should be one-third of the price of petrol consumed in cars for the same distance. This will create jobs and also reduce traffic congestion.
Sir, 2018 will be a crucial year before the national election of 2019. There are many expectations of your leadership in 2018. I know these are huge tasks but someone must address these issues in the public interest. This will be the test of leadership as well in the eyes of citizens of India.
I wish you all the best for the challenging tasks in 2018.
With best regards,
Vijay Sardana
Citizen of India
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