The new young

From Naxalbari to the Arab Spring, our popular imagination has seen the youth as the harbinger of revolution that breaks down the bastions of privilege. How do we reconcile this with the decisive victory that modern Indian youth have handed to the BJP, whose manifesto focused on entrepreneurship rather than redistribution? I would like to argue that a large number of first-time voters, combined with fertile social and economic conditions, made for a perfect storm. On one hand, modern Indian youth are at the vanguard of a social transformation that reflects rising education, economic aspirations and participation in global culture. On the other hand, their lives are circumscribed by limited opportunities and deeply conservative social mores. So it is not surprising that a manifesto which promises to increase economic opportunities while protecting a conservative social fabric finds resonance with them.

Levels of education have risen sharply in the past decade and along with them, the aspirations and expectations of the youth and their parents. The India Human Development Surveys (IHDSs), organised by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the University of Maryland, document a striking increase in enrolment ratios in the age group of 18-22. This survey of about 42,000 households was conducted in 33 states and Union Territories in 2004-05 and then again in 2011-12, and it allows us to examine recent changes in Indian society. These surveys show that while only 25 per cent of youths aged 18 were studying in 2004-05, this proportion rose sharply to 40 per cent by 2011-12. It is well recognised that primary school enrolment is near universal now. However, the increase in enrolment at the tertiary level over the past decade is particularly striking.

Unfortunately, in spite of this rise in enrolment and vast government programmes like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, obtaining quality education remains a challenge at all levels. At the primary level, ASER surveys of about 3,00,000 children as well as smaller IHDSs show that basic skills like the ability to read a simple paragraph have not improved and even show a marginal decline over time. This has led to a crisis of confidence in government schools. In 2004-05, about 28 per cent of children aged 6-14 were in private schools; by 2012 this had grown to 33 per cent. At the college level, faculty shortages have placed a tremendous strain on established university systems, and have led to the growth of private colleges of dubious quality.

Rising parental and youth aspirations, reflected in increased enrolment and the growth of private schooling, often collide with very slow growth in employment opportunities in theformal sector. Only 28 per cent of men aged 20-29 and with a college degree had a salaried job in 2005, which had slowly grown to 33 per cent by 2012. While this change reflects the fruits of the economic growth of the past decade, it still implies that two-thirds of the young men with college degrees are unable to find a regular salaried job.

This paradox of rising aspirations and limited opportunities in the economic arena is matched in the social arena by the paradox of rising globalisation and conservative social mores. We see a growing assimilation with global culture through television and social media, but this seems to have little impact on social norms.

Exposure to television and digital media grew by leaps and bounds between 2005 and 2012. Households with a television have gone up from 48 per cent in 2005 to 62 per cent in 2012. Computer literacy has also grown, with 19 per cent of 18 to 22-year-olds having at least rudimentary computer skills in 2012, compared to 8 per cent in 2005. Nearly 18 per cent of the youth have some access to the internet, either on a computer or on a mobile phone. Growth in rudimentary English skills facilitates this integration with global culture. The proportion of 18 to 22-year-olds who can speak some English has grown from 28 per cent to 45 per cent. Those who can speak fluent English have gone up from 5 per cent to 10 per cent.

However, the integration with global digital culture has done little to change a deep-seated social conservatism. In spite of rapidly rising participation in higher education and a slower rise in age at marriage, 41 per cent of youth aged 18-22 were married in the year 2012. Moreover, arranged marriages continue to dominate — nearly 94 per cent of the married women in their 20s surveyed by the IHDS claimed to have had parental involvement in the choice of a husband. This socially embedded mindset is reflected in many different domains. For example, even in 2012, 22 per cent of the youth aged 18-22 lived in households where at least someone practiced untouchability; a further 7 per cent lived in households where it would not be acceptable to have a Dalit come into the kitchen or share utensils.

These paradoxes bring the youth movement of 2014 closer to the Nav Nirman movement of the early-1970s than the leftist youth movements of the 1960s. The Nav Nirman Andolan of 1974 was led by middle-class students from Gujarat, whose demand for corruption free governance brought down the Congress state government and was the training ground for Narendra Modi. Many lessons from this movement were incorporated in the BJP’s election strategy of 2014.  In retrospect, it is not surprising that the contrast between rapidly rising aspirations and slow growth in opportunities in the economic sector and continued conservatism in the social arena created fertile ground for a manifesto that emphasised economic opportunities along with social conservatism.

More than 60,000 Camps to be Organized on the Day of Launch of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana on 28th August, 2014 by the Prime Minister: Estimated One Crore Accounts are Likely to be Opened

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi will formally launch Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) on Thursday, 28th August, 2014 at a function in the national capital. Besides the launch function at the national capital, simultaneous launch functions of the Yojana would also be held in the State Capitals and other major centres of the States/UTs and all district headquarters. About 76 mega functions will also be organized at prominent places throughout the country to mark the launch of Yojana which will be attended by the Union Ministers and the State Chief Ministers along with other dignitaries.              In order to mark the launch of this mega scheme, different branches of the Public Sector Banks will organize more than 60,000 camps in rural and urban areas on that day. It is estimated that about one crore accounts will be opened on this day. These camps will be successful because preparatory camps have already been organized in order to get the required information from the new account openers.             The Prime Minister had also sent about 7.25 lakhs emails to all bank officers referring to his Independent Day announcement of the PMJDY- a national mission on financial inclusion with the objective of covering all households in the country with banking facilities and having a bank account for each household. Financial literacy has been accorded priority under the PMJDY. A standardized financial literacy material has also been prepared in vernacular languages to create awareness about the Yojana. It is estimated to cover 7.5 crore households with atleast one account under this Yojana.                                     The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana lies at the core of our development philosophy ofSab Ka Sath Sab Ka Vikas. With a bank account, every household gains access to banking and credit facilities. This will enable them to come out of the grip of moneylenders, manage to keep away from financial crises caused by emergent needs, and most importantly, benefit from a range of financial products. As a first step, every account holder gets a RuPay debit card with a Rs 1,00,000/- accident cover. In due course, they are to be covered by insurance and pension products. Highlights of the scheme : 1.         The Prime Minister will launch the National Mission on Financial Inclusion named as  Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) on 28th  August, 2014.  2.         The Mission will be implemented in two phases.  3.         Phase-I from 15th August 2014 to 14th August 2015 envisages  (i) Universal access to banking facilities for all households across the country through a bank branch or a fixed point Business Correspondent (BC) within a reasonable distance (ii) To cover all households with atleast one  Basic Banking Accounts with RuPay Debit card having inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs.1 lakh. Further an overdraft facility upto Rs.5000 will also be permitted to Adhaar enabled accounts after satisfactory operation in the account for 6 months. (iii) Financial literacy programme which aims to take financial literacy upto village level.  (iv) The Mission also envisages expansion of Direct Benefit Transfer under various Government Schemes through bank accounts of the beneficiaries of.  (v) The issuance of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) as RuPay Kisan Card is also proposed to be covered under the plan. 4.         Phase-II from 15th August, 2015 to 14th August, 2018             (i) Providing micro –insurance to the people. (ii) Unorganised sector Pension schemes like Swablamban through the Business Correspondents. 5.         The major shift in this programme is that households are being targeted instead of villages as targeted earlier. Moreover both rural and urban areas are being covered this time as against only rural areas targeted earlier. The present plan pursues digital financial inclusion with special emphasis on monitoring by a Mission headed by the Finance Minister.

Govt to spend Rs 20,000 cr for mobile connectivity in villages

The government will spend Rs 20,000 crore to provide mobile connectivity in 55,000 villages, which are still untouched by wireless telephony, in the next five years, Telecom Secretary Rakesh Garg said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the first meeting of the Centre and States to deliberate on various initiatives under the Digital India programme, Garg said in the first three years the government will provide mobile connectivity to half of these villages.

“It is very important to provide mobile connectivity in all the villages. We will connect up to 55,000 villages, which do not have such a service in the next 5 years and Rs 20,000 crore has been earmarked for this,” he said.

Garg added that according to various estimates, the number of villages that do not have mobile coverage range between 42,000 to 55,000.

In 2012, Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora had told Rajya Sabha that about 57,271 villages in the country are yet to be connected with mobile services, as per the survey carried out by TERM cells of the Department of Telecommunications.

“We will connect half of these villages in the next 3 years and the remaining in two years. For this purpose the country has been divided into 5 areas and survey of villages is being done to build towers,” he said.

The Secretary said survey work has been done in North  Eastern states and is continuing in the Himalayan states, which will be followed by Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and others.

The amount of Rs 20,000 crore will come through the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF), Garg added.

Under the Digital India programme, the government will initially spend Rs 69,524 crore on various IT and telecom projects. It has identified broadband and mobile networks as the key growth pillars under Digital India.

Champagne socialist

Richard Attenborough, who after a distinguished stage and film acting career in Britain reinvented himself to become the internationally admired director of the monumental Gandhi and other films, died on Sunday. He was 90. Until the early 1960s, Attenborough was a familiar actor in Britain but little known in the US. In London he was the original detective in Agatha Christie’s play The Mousetrap. On the British screen, he made an early mark as the sociopath Pinkie Brown in an adaptation of Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock (1947). But it was not until he appeared with his friend Steve McQueen and a sterling ensemble cast in the 1963 war film The Great Escape, his first Hollywood feature, that he found a transatlantic audience.
That performance established him in Hollywood and paved the way for a series of highly visible roles. He was the alcoholic navigator alongside James Stewart’s pilot in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), a survival story about a plane crash in the desert. He won back-to-back Golden Globe Awards for best supporting actor: first in The Sand Pebbles (1966), also starring McQueen, set during China’s civil war in the 1920s, and then in the whimsical Doctor Dolittle (1967), playing Albert Blossom, a circus owner, alongside Rex Harrison as the veterinarian who talks to animals. In The Chess Players (1977), by the renowned Indian director Satyajit Ray, he was a British general in 19th-century India. Years later Attenborough became known to a new generation of filmgoers as the wealthy head of a genetic engineering company whose cloned dinosaurs run amok in Steven Spielberg’s box office hit Jurassic Park. But for most of Attenborough’s later career, his acting was sporadic while he devoted much of his time to directing.
Gandhi (1982), an epic but intimate biographical film, was his greatest triumph. With the little-known Ben Kingsley in the title role, the film traces Mohandas K. Gandhi’s life as an Indian lawyer who forsakes his job and possessions and takes up a walking staff to lead his oppressed country’s fight for independence from Britain through a campaign of passive resistance, ending in his assassination. Among the film’s critics were historians, who said it contributed to myth-making, portraying Gandhi as a humble man who brought down an empire without acknowledging that the British, exhausted by World War II, were eager to unload their Indian possessions. Nevertheless, Gandhi was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won eight, including best picture, best director, best cinematography, best original screenplay and best actor (Kingsley).
Attenborough brought the film to fruition after a 20-year battle to raise money and interest often reluctant Hollywood producers, one of whom famously predicted that there would be no audience for “a little brown man in a sheet carrying a beanstalk.” (Attenborough ended up producing it himself.) Attenborough mortgaged his house in a London suburb, sold works of art and, as he put it, spent “so much money I couldn’t pay the gas bill.” No one expected it to recoup its $22 millioncost, but it wound up earning 20 times that amount.
After Gandhi came a 1985 adaptation of A Chorus Line, Michael Bennett’s musical about Broadway hoofers. It was a misfire — a faithful but uneasy translation to film. Attenborough had more success with Cry Freedom! (1987), a stirring look at the friendship between the anti-Apartheid fighter Steve Biko (Denzel Washington) and a journalist (Kevin Kline) in South Africa in the 1970s. Five years later, after a hiatus from directing, Attenborough returned with what was largely considered to be his biggest flop: Chaplin, a long, sprawling biography of the silent film star Charlie Chaplin. Like many of Attenborough’s movies, the story of Chaplin, the lowly born clown who defied the odds by achieving world renown, celebrated courage and endeavour. “All my work questions the establishment, authority, intolerance and prejudice,” he said.
Yet his life was entwined with the establishment. He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1967. He was knighted in 1976, made a baron in 1993 and given a seat in the House of Lords. He was variously chairman of the British Film Institute, Channel Four Television, Capital Radio and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. If his heroes were those who challenged institutions from without, he sought to effect change from within. He was credited with inspiring Diana, Princess of Wales, whom he coached in public speaking at Prince Charles’s urging, to start her campaign against land mines. In his maiden speech in the House of Lords, he criticised the government for neglecting the arts. Christopher Hart, writing in The Sunday Times in London, called him “an ennobled Champagne socialist of the old school, a mass of good causes and inconsistencies.”
Richard Samuel Attenborough was born in Cambridge on August 29, 1923, the eldest son of Frederick Attenborough, an Anglo-Saxon scholar who became the principal of University College, Leicester, and his wife, Mary, a writer who crusaded for women’s rights and took in Basque and German refugees. The Attenboroughs adopted two Jewish sisters who had arrived in Britain from Berlin in September 1939, too late for them to be sent safely to relatives in New York.
He returned to directing in 2007 with Closing the Ring, a romantic drama starring Shirley MacLaine. But the prospective film that had come to preoccupy him almost as much as Gandhi, a biography of Tom Paine, remained unmade at his death. In 2008, in collaboration with his longstanding associate Diana Hawkins, he published an autobiography, Entirely Up to You, Darling. The book chronicles  a full and eventful life. But it ends with the death of his daughter and granddaughter in the 2004 tsunami, and his regretting the time he never spent with them. “Work,” he wrote, “always took precedence.

Shripad Naik launches Comprehensive Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India

The Union Minister for Tourism Shri Shripad Naik here today launched the Comprehensive Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India (STCI) for Accommodation, Tour Operators and Beaches, Backwaters, Lakes & Rivers Sectors. Speaking on the occasion the Minister said, his Ministry is committed to develop tourism in India based on the principles of sustainability, minimizing the carbon footprints. Government has ensured that strategies for development of tourism are not in conflict with the environment and have minimal negative impact. Shri Naik urged all the stakeholders in the Tourism industry not to over-exploit natural and other resources for short-term gains. He said, when we talk about sustainability we should not only talk about conservation of resources but also our culture and heritage. The authors of the STCI have adopted a comprehensive approach. The principles of the Sustainability as has been elaborated earlier include conservation of water, energy, culture, heritage, revival of ancient architecture, involvement of communities, protection of wildlife and non- exploitation of women, children and weaker sections. Shri Naik said, the exercise of implementation of Sustainable Tourism Criteria must be all inclusive. The criteria must be implemented for success by all of us together - the hoteliers, the tour operators, the tourists, the opinion makers, the media, the community leaders and members. The Ministry would like sustainability criteria to be implemented on voluntary basis based on the principles of providing incentives. Referring to the priority of the Union Government, the Minister said, tourism development is one of the five major priorities of our Government led by Shri Narendra Modi. He said, the Prime Minister sharing his vision had stressed upon the need for development of tourism, neighborhood cleanliness and conservation of resources for the economic development of the nation. The Finance Minister as part of the common vision of our Government in his Budget Speech has made special allocation of Rs. 900 crore for development of five new tourism circuits, development of pilgrimage centers, archeological sites and heritage cities. He said, the issue of sustainability assumes greater significance in context of India as we support one fifth of the population of the world with only 2.3 percent land mass available. Shri Naik urged all the stakeholders in the Tourism Industry to be eco-sensitive and adopt the Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India and do business for long-term benefits with the objectives of creating employment, generating national income, preserving our cultural & natural heritage, enhancing the status of women and underprivileged and facilitating growth of a more just and fair social order. Later, Shri Naik also inaugurated the Sensitization Workshop for the stakeholders on STCI wherein panel discussions were held. Both the initiatives are part of activities/programmes that have been taken up by the Ministry of Tourism for completion within the 100 days of the incumbent Government. Deputy Director for Sustainable Development of Tourism, UNWTO Ms. Sofia Gutierrez, President of the Development Alternative, Mr. George C. Varughese, leaders of Tourism Industry and experts in the field participated in the two events. Ministry of Tourism constituted a Steering Committee with representatives from all the 14 sectors of the tourism and hospitality industry of India to formulate the Sustainable Tourism Criteria. The Committee has since finalized the Comprehensive STCI. These are the guiding principles and minimum requirements that any tourism business for State Governments should aspire to reach in order to protect and sustain India’s natural and cultural resources, while ensuring development of tourism in India are not in conflict with the environment and have minimal negative effect. Sustainability is imperative for all tourism stakeholders and must translate from words to actions.

Government plans more cancer centres, three in MP

Dr Harsh Vardhan opens linear accelerator at Indore Cancer Foundation

The government has planned 20 new advanced cancer treatment facilities across the country (one in each state) over the next few years to meet the rising burden of the disease. For Madhya Pradesh, the Centre has planned a new State Cancer Institute (SCI), along with two Tertiary Care Cancer Centres (TCCC). Announcing this at a press conference at Indore today, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister, said that annually 11 lakh new cases of cancer are detected in India. Of the 2.9 million cancer patients at present in the country, about 6.06 percent are in Madhya Pradesh. The three facilities planned for MP are: Vidisha district hospital, GR Medical College, Gwalior, and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur. The first two are to be TCCCs while the one at Jabalpur would be a SCI. Each 50-bedded TCCC will be part of an existing government hospital with well equipped and functional departments of Medicine, Surgery, Gynaecology, ENT, Pathology and Radiology. The Union Health Ministry will provide one-time support of up to Rs 45 crore to each TCCC, including up to 30 percent for construction and renovation, The Health Minister said that the government will also set up 20 SCIs across the country in the short term future, one of which will come up in Jabalpur. The total cost of each will be Rs 120 crore, of which the Centre will contribute 75 percent. In all, 50 such institutes are planned in the country over the long term. “Each SCI will be the apex institution in the state for cancer related activities. It will provide outreach services, diagnosis and referral treatment, develop treatment protocols and increase the human resource availability”, Dr Harsh Vardhan said. In the morning, Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurated a brand new, indigenously developed Linear Accelerator at the Indian Institute of Head and Neck Oncology, a project of the Indore Cancer Foundation Charitable Trust. Named the “Siddharth-3 Linear Accelerator”, it has been gifted by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology. “This is in tune with our determination to deal with the rising incidence of non-communicable diseases,” the Minister said. He said that the government is planning a massive, nation-wide cancer screening programme on the occasion of National Cancer Awareness Day which falls on November 7 annually. “Our government has already launched a massive consciousness drive against tobacco which is a known carcinogen. There are many others left to be identified and for this intensive research is necessary”, the Minister said. The inauguration programme was attended by the Lok Sabha Speaker, Smt Sumitra Mahajan, the Health Minister of MP, Dr Narottam Mishra, the MP of Indore, Ms Savitri Thakur, the Collector of Indore, Shri Aakash Tripathi, and others. Dr Harsh Vardhan praised the work of Dr Digpal Dharkar, the Honorary Secretary of the Indore Cancer Foundation. “He has organised more than 200 free camps for cancer detection in and around Indore and performed over 2,500 operations. Dr Dharkar stands out as an exception to the trend of doctors leaving villages for the glamour of big city hospitals,” he said.

Govt to pump extra money for rural toilets for Swachh Bharat by 2019

Union Minister for Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri Nitin Gadkari has said that he has prepared a Cabinet note for considerable enhancement of monetary support for building different categories of rural toilets in the country to achieve the goal of sanitation for all by 2019. Speaking at a National Workshop on Sanitation and Drinking Water here, the Minister said, for individual household latrines the amount will be raised from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000, for school toilets Rs 54,000 will be given instead of Rs 35,000. Similarly for Anganwadi toilets, the amount will be now Rs 20,000 in place of Rs 8,000 and for Community Sanitary complexes, the amount proposed is Rs 6 lakh from the existing Rs 2 lakh. Shri Gadkari also said that construction of toilets in rural areas will be delinked from MGNREGA. He called for fast decisions and sought support of all sections of society to achieve the goal of open defecation free India in the next four and half years. He also urged the State Ministers and Senior officials attending the workshop to work in the spirit of cooperative federalism to achieve the dream project of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to build Swachh Bharat by 2019. Shri Gadkari underlined the need for quality works and suitable low cost effective technologies for toilets to last upto thirty to forty years. To address the problem of drinking water especially in those 17,000 habitations having problems like arsenic, excessive fluoride, heavy metals and other pollutants, the Minister said that a new scheme will be launched in the next two months to address this issue and it will be resolved on a war footing level. Speaking on the occasion, the Secretary. Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri Pankaj Jain said that Prime Minister Shri Modi has personally expressed anguish in his Independence Day speech and expressed the commitment of his Government to achieve ‘Swachh Bharat’ by 2019 as a tribute to the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by eliminating the unhealthy practice of Open Defecation. He said, by 15th of August 2015 every school in India will have separate toilets for boys and girls. Shri Jain said that IEC can play an important role in spreading the message of toilets in every rural habitation and appealed to the Corporate to chip in a big way for this purpose. In his address, the noted scientist Dr R.A.Mashelkar said, the innovative ideas should not remain only ideas, but must be put into practical use for rejuvenation of India. He said, speed, scale and sustainability are three key factors of innovations and by translating them into usable products, the face of rural India will be changed. Dr Mashelkar said, Innovation and not Imitation should be the buzzword and he added that Indian problems need India specific solutions and not western imitations.