Why should we encourage baking?

I have recently found a new joy in my life and wish to share it with you. It is baking. Sunday baking is starting to become a ritual that everybody is looking forward to. As soon as I clear the table and start putting pots and pans, flour and measuring spoons, there is an excitement in the air. Questions start – “what is it you are baking? “ ,“Is it high calorie? Will it have eggs? “, “How long will it take? Shall we have it for tea or as dessert after dinner?’...

One hour on and my apartment starts to smell heavenly. Two months of this and I have come to realize two things- it is a great learning experience for children.

See if you can coax your child to this wonderful world... but first, do some research- know the names of young Masterchef winners... salary paid to a patisserie chef .. Why? Believe me today’s generation is smart. They will ask you this before they even drag their eyes away from the TV.

Once you have got them interested, unknowingly, you will achieve two things- your child is going to learn patience as the bread or pastry rises in the oven, and, you will teach them ratio- okay, I agree, it would be little tough on your part to see a perfectly good cake going to be ruined because the amount of sugar or baking powder is not in right proportion. But, with practice, the children will learn fast. And it provides some “quality time” that is now in vogue.

So happy baking to you and your child. Sit down and have a homemade chocolate cake this Sunday and experience the joy of sharing time with your child.

Democracy and Pakistan

From 1947 to 1951, Pakistan as a fledgling nation did not run on the basis of a constitution. Government of India Act-1935 was the sole document that served the purpose of the constitution. After nine years the first legal constitution arrived in 1956. However the sanctity of this document proved short-lived. It was abrogated in 1958. This began the practice of accepting the intrusion of Armed Forces personnel in active politics in Pakistan. Iskander Mirza became the president with the support of General Muhammad Ayub Khan, Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, who was named chief martial-law administrator. General Ayub Khan subsequently forced him to resign and became the president himself. When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto started the movement against Ayub Khan, there happened again a breach of faith in constitution. Ayub Khan resigned and transferred the power to Chief of Army- General Yahya Khan instead of following the rule of Constitution.This also shows that constitution of Pakistan has never earned the respect that a nation should owe to this ultimate endorsement of modern democratic philosophy. It was no wonder that Yahya Khan assumed the Presidency hereafter.  In 1973 the National Assembly adopted the country's fifth constitution. In 1977, the army Chief of Staff, General Muhammad Zia Ul-Haq, imposed another military regime. The Supreme Court of Pakistan sanctioned General Zia’s overthrowing of Bhutto government on grounds of necessity. This also set the precedence since now instead of being just a one time political event, the country accepted that whenever required, armed forces can become part of decision making process in the administration of the country overthrowing the legitimate avenues established in the constitution. When in later years, direct intervention of Armed Forces in governance was curbed in accordance with the constitution, General Karamat adopted an arm twisting tactic and resigned from the post of Army Chief. General Musharraf took over and imposed another decade of military regime in Pakistan. However he learnt fast from his predecessors. This time, he validated his dictatorship under the ruse of a referendum and got himself the Presidency through election-thus legitimizing his rule.

It can be thus concluded, that democracy in Pakistan has always been subservient to Army. It may be questioned that why do people allow the army personnel to interfere and later on usurp the power. The answer lies in the social makeup of the country and the state of economy.

In 1985 when election was held under General Zia tribal leaders were 157 in number in National Assembly. Businessmen accounted for 54 elected members. Industry was dominated by a few families and private ownership. Largely using their own resources, they accounted for the major part of investment and ownership in manufacturing during the first two decades after independence. Hence it is obvious that they would want someone in power to help further their individual profits. Whenever, anyone has tried to go against these handful of wealthy class of landlords and industrialists, they have ousted him. Case in point would be Mr. Bhutto’s administration. When Zulfikar ali Bhutto continued with his economic reforms, nationalization and limiting the power of Armed Forces, he incurred the wrath of these people which eventually led to his downfall.

 Sindhis and Punjabis have always dominated the political forefront in Pakistan. Whenever a political leader emerges in Pakistan his first campaign revolves around his ancestral home and biradari. Association and identification with a clan gives the popular endorsement to his views. In this, Pakistan is quite similar to Lebanon and other Middle Eastern nation states where national identity comes second to clan allegiance. This nature of politics is also a feature of any country where literacy level is low. According to UNESCO the education scenario in Pakistan is grim. Independent sources and educational experts place the overall literacy rate at 26 per cent and the rate for girls and women at 12 per cent. The situation is more alarming in rural areas. The significant spillover effect of such low literacy is reflected in political democracy of the country. A higher literacy rate would involve more people in the decision making process and would raise the economic status. Right now it is a vicious cycle of illiteracy, poverty, unemployment, lack of cohesion and national integrity. Corruption thus colludes the ideals and ambitions of people empowered to change the course of the country. At present growth rate stands at only 3.67. On the other hand, population growth rate is a staggering 34% between 2001 and 2011. Unless literacy and population control measures are adopted stringently, the economic benefits would be lost. Critics might say that this growth is due to the influx of refugees in the last decade. However the total fertility rate is highest in Pakistan- at 3.2 it is higher than India or Bangladesh.

So the challenges for the leading political parties in upcoming election are many- fighting corruption and terrorism, reviving the economy, establishing peaceful democracy and all its ministrations and increasing the literacy rate and standard of living.

Educationists who inspire me

Jiddu Krishnamurti was born on 11 May 1895 in Madanapalle, a small town in south India. He was  adopted in his youth by Dr Annie Besant, then president of the Theosophical Society. Dr Besant and others proclaimed that Krishnamurti was to be a world teacher. In 1929, however, Krishnamurti renounced the role that he was expected to play, dissolved the Order with its huge following, and returned all the money and property that had been donated for this work. From then, for nearly sixty years until his death on 17 February 1986, he travelled throughout the world talking to large audiences and to individuals about the need for a radical change in mankind.

Jiddu Krishnamurti’s ideals on education have been controversial, to say the least. Even now with our visions of liberal education, his ideas spark debates. Some say the ideas are impractical; some argue that they cannot be practiced in a world where a student has to succeed- and by success we obviously mean material gains, power and position.

Our views of education need to be realigned to understand Krishnamurti’s philosophy. In the present formal system of education, his ideas seem impractical. He talks about a complete harmony between an individual and the society. His views on society is similar to what was said in our Upanishads-

“Samaniba Akutih Samana Hrudayani chah;

Samanamastu Vo Manoah Yathavah Susahasti” 

“The purpose of all of you; let be one; let your hearts be one; let your minds be one, by means of which all of you could be one in all respects.” 

According to Krishnamurti, the purpose of education is to bring about freedom, the flowering of goodness, that in itself shall transform the society for better.

The freedom that he speaks of is, of course, spiritual rather than political. And he says that it is the duty of the schools to nurture this freedom among the children.

He insists that schools have special places for silence- where the students can know their thoughts- not just religious chanting of mantras and meditation. The silence he speaks of is a dialogue between the subconscious mind and the conscious mind.

Krishnamurti says in his diary-

“It’s(the brain) the centre of remembrance, the past; it’s the storehouse of experience and knowledge, tradition. So it’s limited, conditioned. Its activities are planned, thought out, reasoned, but it functions in limitation, in space-time. So it cannot formulate or understand that which the total, the whole, the complete is. The complete, the whole is the mind.”

This experience of life in its totality can be complete when one experiences the nature’s beauty- because there is no logical thought, nor purpose in its majesty. It is not by accident that the schools founded by him are away from the cities, in natural surroundings. Beauty to him brings about the sensitivity that he considers essential in human nature. The natural surrounding, the beauty of a tiny flower by the road speaks about the glory and majesty of harmony and selflessness.

“From this sensitivity for the whole of existence springs goodness, love;”Krishnamurti 1964)

Lastly, Krishnamurti speaks about the nature and duty of educators. They are central in his philosophy of education; in creating a space for the child to know himself, the teachers create that positive energy that drives the process of self-knowing and self- learning forward. And thus the society at large embraces the goodness and transforms itself for the better.

In 1901, someone in Bengal desired the same for children- freedom to express thoughts and follow the path to self-knowledge. In 1921 his ideals on education manifested in Vishva Bharati University. Rabindranath Tagore had similar views about freedom- like Krishnamurti he believed that nature is the ultimate teacher. Nearness to nature in all its resplendent would lead the students to freedom of heart; this then would manifest itself in his intellect and lastly it will evolve the free will so often spoken about by Rousseau.

There is another similarity between Krishnamurti and Tagore’s ideals on education. Both of them placed profound importance on art and creative pursuits for developing sensitivity in children. There is this famous story- It goes like this- Children at Patha bhavan  used to pick flowers from trees. In doing so they would often break the branches. So Gurudev told them that they were hurting the trees and advised them to take permission from the trees before plucking the flowers. Do you imagine that the children stopped? They kept on plucking the flowers-only from now on they peeped inside Tagore’s room and say that they had already taken permission from the trees.

At Patha Bhaban the children sat on hand-woven mats beneath the trees, which they were allowed to climb and run beneath, between the classes.

Amartya Sen, a Nobel Laureate himself and a former student of Patha Bhavan, writes that at Santiniketan, the emphasis was on “self-motivation rather than on discipline, and on fostering intellectual curiosity rather than competitive excellence.” 

The philosophy of education envisaged by both these educationists is more relevant today than it was before. We need the harmony of soul and nature, of hand and mind and of teacher and taught. We cannot just add these ideas into an otherwise mechanical system of schooling and advertise ourselves as “unique”. That would never work and as always we shall blame that the ideas were impractical to start with.

But if we take a pause from churning out  toppers rankers and IIT-ians and start paying attention to make the students lifelong learners, it would be these ideas that would show us the path to success and an enriched humanity.

Euro on Life Support

1999-Euro was introduced. December-2011, questions are already raised about continuing with this giant. Why it is a giant- Because Euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. The euro zone is the second largest economy in the world.

Following the US financial crisis in 2008, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed in 2009. Greece, Portugal, Iceland became forerunners in the sovereign debt crisis that is spreading like a bonfire through the states of Euro zone.

A sovereign default is the failure or refusal of the government of a sovereign state to pay back its debt in full. It may be accompanied by a formal declaration of a government not to pay (repudiation) or only partially pay its debts. In layman’s term, the government can no longer hold its own economy together and washes its hands off from the economic crisis.  (See more in Wikipedia).

A dramatic rise in the interest rate faced by a government due to fear that it will fail to honor its debt is sometimes called a sovereign debt crisis. Governments may be especially vulnerable to a sovereign debt crisis when they rely on financing through short-term bonds. They may also be vulnerable to a sovereign debt crisis due to currency mismatch if they are unable to issue bonds in their own currency.

Governments may face severe pressure from lending countries. In the most extreme cases, a creditor nation may declare war on a debtor nation for failing to pay back debt, in order to enforce creditor's rights. This then promotes the basic tenet of economy- NOTHING IS FREE.

Now it is Italy’s turn to make sure the boat that it happily climbed on, now stays afloat.

The Italian Prime Minister has declared an Austerity package to ward off the evil.

Prime Minister Mario Monti unveiled a 30-billion-euro ($40.3 billion) package of austerity measures on Sunday, raising taxes and increasing the pension age in a drive to shore up Italy's strained finances and stave off a crisis that threatens to overwhelm the euro zone.

The measures followed growing pressure for sweeping measures to restore confidence in the euro zone's third-largest economy.

In a mark of the emotional impact of the cuts, Welfare Minister Elsa Fornero broke down in tears as she announced an end to inflation indexing on some pension bands, a move that will mean an effective income cut for many retired people. And it is not easy to stay rich in a rich country….

"… the next 10 days will decide whether the euro survives or not," Emma Marcegaglia, head of Italy's main business lobby Confindustria said before the package was announced

So, what does it spell in near future- More unemployment, less money, more loans, more debts and raising inflation. This would make things like food, medicine, clothes, education costlier. Already, IATA has announced that next year this zone will face greatest air traffic crisis if the situation is not fixed.

History shows that Goliath always goes down with a lot of noise- the question is have we already heard it or is it yet to come.. Italy is now the crusader for Euro. If the austerity measures work, Euro is saved for another 3-5 years. If it fails, Euro zone goes back to what it was before- Each one to their own.

I personally see the Euro zone as a chain of iron walls coming up behind which each country mends its flaws, develops itself in whatever way possible and then gets ready to meet the world again.

Gandhiji had long ago proposed “self realization” of our villages- each one wholly sufficient in itself. Should Europe learn that lesson or wait for its doomsday or is it too early for a paranoid “sky is falling” like me to announce its obituary… The fact remains that nobody can promise a bright future right now. The world economy as we know it at present may not remain the same in the coming years.

India-Are subsidies boon or a bane

India- Are subsidies boon or a bane?

In the last two weeks, there has been a lot of cry about the raise in oil prices. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has admitted that there is a growing fiscal deficit in the country and a slowing down of the economy.

The root cause behind this is the trend of Indian government announcing and maintaining numerous subsidies.

So much so, that a 2005 article by International Herald Tribune stated that subsidies amounted to 14% of GDP. On the other hand, according to the UNESCO, India has the lowest public expenditure on higher education per student in the world. Amount of emergency infrastructure investments is still much lower. We face the brunt of it- 90% of train accidents are due to poor track maintenance rather than negligence. Our airports run on primitive forecasting systems- hence, monitoring fogs and diverting air routes is still a distant dream. India pays lowest minimum on higher education per student. The result is that we have innumerable students with a Masters degree but with limited hands- on practical experience.

A report on Central Government Subsidies, released in 2004, maintains the following objectives behind allocating the subsidies-

- remove economic distortions, thereby improving economic efficiency and growth;

- achieve redistributive objective;

- reduce budgetary burden and release precious resources; and

- improve the environment by realigning the incentive structure to favour

environmentally sound practices.

Let us then see, how well these objectives have been met with.

Removing economic Distortions- In recent times, there is the paradox of mounting stocks of foodgrains and reported starvation deaths. Foodstocks reached a peak of 63 million tonnes. in July 2002, more than two-and-a-half times the norm of 24 million tonnes. By April 2004, the stocks were down to 20 milliontonnes, still higher than the norm of 16 million tonnes for April.

Large stocks of foodgrains raise the subsidy bill through increased handling and

carrying costs along with the losses. Besides, withdrawing such large quantities from the market also results in rising open market prices of foodgrains, neutralizing much of the consumer benefits that the subsidy provides. There are severe regional imbalances in the operation of the entire food subsidy scheme, as FCI’s purchase operations are mainly confined to five areas – Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and now Chhattisgarh. The implication for the present policy of purchase is that farmers of only a few States get the entire farmers’ subsidy. A large percentage of these farmers are not even poor.

This scenario is related to the third objective as well- Improving the environment- Due to the over emphasis on rice and wheat in subsidy schemes, the regional and local crop diversification is at its minimum. Hence, even in a drought prone area like Telengana, instead of growing drought resisting crops, farmers are forcing themselves to grow these water- guzzling crops like cotton, wheat and rice. The result- In the ten year period between 1997 and 2006 as many as 166,304 farmers committed suicide in India. If we consider the 12 year period from 1995 to 2006 the figure is close to 200,000.

The rising farmer suicide rate has a direct link with social as well as economic factors in the region. Small and marginal farmers make up a chunk of the farmer population that has got no benefits from the government.

Now comes another major chunk in India’s budget allocation- Apart from food, fertilizer and petroleum subsidy, which are directly incurred and administered by the Central Government, there are numerous poverty alleviation schemes funded by the Centre but administered

through lower level governments. These are Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS). They are

not necessarily commodity-specific, but involve subsidized loans to vulnerable sections for specific purposes or projects benefiting the poor.

Four major programmes, namely Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and Rural Housing Scheme (RHS) account for 98 per cent of the budgetary allocation on the six CSS of the Ministry of Rural Development in the current financial year.

Majority of the backward States, where the CSS of Ministry of Rural Development are most needed,  have performed relatively poorly in terms of the three criteria. This includes Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh.

I now present some statistics, according to UNICEF for “mera Bharat mahan:

1. Under 5 mortality rate in 2010 is 63/1000

2. Total literacy is 63%

3. % orf population using improved sanitation facilities- urban and rural stands at 54 and 21 respectively.

4. % of central government expenditure 2000-2009 allocated to health is a meager 2%.

5. % of central government expenditure 2000-2009 allocated to education  is only  3%.

India is ranked at 134 in Human Development Index. Vietnam, Iraq, Indonesia is placed at 132, 128 and 124 respectively.

The argument as given by the government is that it has to bear the burden of the social debt to subsidize the basic necessities and also spend more on social projects as no private sector would do anything in non profitable options. But the question remains that why, even after 52 years, such enormous subsidies would be required. In any country, there is always an effort by the government to honor the deadline set for such subsidies. They are supposed to be an incentive to becoming self-sufficient. In India, the ground reality is very different- here, subsidies spawn corrupt, decadent generation after generation whose objective remains same- to remain poor as it is more lucrative because this constitutes the “vote bank” that our politicians exploit in every election.  These subsidies should be targeted at the poor people and in improvement of village economy. But statistics prove otherwise. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry, logging and fishing employed 60% of the total workforce in 2007, whereas they accounted for only 16.6% of the GDP (same year). The two most important areas of human development index- health and education- both suffers due to lack of fund.

The economic crisis escalated by such subsidies is- The projected fiscal deficit of 2009 has been put at 10.3% of our GDP. The consolidated debt-GDP ratio is estimated at 76.6 per cent in 2009-10 compared to 61.0 per cent in 1995-96 and 70.6 per cent in 2000-01. Remember Greece- if we follow that crisis, we should all be on red alert- most of all our “populist” government- “garibon ka sarkar.

It is high time that the administrators and policy makers accepted a paradigm shift in their policies. Frankly, 52 years of populist policies and vast gap between implementation and allocation of funds have, in fact, crippled India. Indian politicians and those in government now have a dual responsibility- one to its country and another to its international commitments. India has long been lobbying for entry into Security Council along with Brazil. However, both these countries have put impediments to global development. In 2007, a high-level meeting aimed at salvaging sputtering global trade talks collapsed on Thursday as the United States and the European Union fell out with India and Brazil over plans to slash agricultural subsidies and tariffs. The failure of the talks appears to have defeated the strategy of bringing together the United States, Europe, Brazil and India - a grouping known as the G-4 - to resolve major differences before turning to the entire membership of the WTO, which comprises 150 countries. Even though, I do not assume that U.S.A is a benevolent God distributing wellness for the world, I do believe that if you wish for leadership, then you have to set examples to follow. Sadly, in India, there is no longer any true leader – all are petty politicians looking after their own objectives. So the development of the country ends at slogans like “India rising”, “ Mera Bharat Mahan” etc.

Rain Water Harvesting