Tharoor and the Renaming Saga

On June 15, 2017, the erudite leader of the Congress put up a tweet claiming that most of the schemes of the NDA are actually only renamed and repackaged schemes of the UPA itself and that NDA has done nothing "game changing".

It is indeed true that the intent of the schemes remain the same. But, there are some schemes in the UPA list which are "repackaging" of the schemes started in the 70s by Indira Gandhi. Take for example the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan. I distinctly remember Total Sanitation Campaign being many decades old. And even though Mr. Tharoor is wrong in making such comparisons, I do not blame him for his bias. What I want to point out is a deeper malaise among our political leaders, even when they are as erudite as Mr. Tharoor.

We glorify policies and schemes on paper, we credit the intent while turning a blind eye on the success of their execution.

Success in education is both in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. It is easier to measure efficiency, however effectiveness can be subjective. The metrics to be tracked can be very different. For example, under the UPA, the metric to measure "success" of the sanitation scheme was the number of toilets built. This is not an effectiveness measure but that of efficiency. While, we did build toilets, it is common knowledge that they were not being used.

And that is where due credit needs to be given to the Modi government and to the PM in particular. Through his speech in the Red Fort and his communication on Mann ki Baat, PM Modi has been able to drill down the message against open defecation. I have visited the rural areas of UP recently and have witnessed the behavioural shift.

Another area where the government needs to be lauded is to have aligned the metrics more towards effectiveness than mere efficiency. The Open Defecation Free(ODF) status is being given after surveys on ground, rather than just measuring the number of toilets built. Such measure of effectiveness would definitely, in the longer term, help us lower our health burden because of open defecation.

The Ghats of Banaras

I went to see the Ganga Aarti today.
 Banaras is a strange City.  Along the Ghats one can see thousands of people looking at the evening Aarti and praying for their well being in the boat on the Ganga.  Not even 500 metres away lies the cremation Ghats.  Probably people here are so accustomed to death that even after seeing the dead burning just a few minutes ago they are able to immerse themselves in the Aarti.  Or is it that because I wasn't able to immerse myself in the religious experience that I was stuck up on this thought of living and dead?  Is it that one needs to immerse oneself in religion to forget about the ills of life?  Or is it that these people do not consider death as bad?

Oh. And It is in Banaras that you find a sadhu on the same roads as the ones where moksha is sold. 

Banaras Ke Ghat Par

एक जंगल है तेरी आंखों में
मैं जहां राह भूल जाता हूं ।
मैं तुझे भूलने की कोशिश में
आज कितने क़रीब पाता हूं ।
तू किसी रेल-सी गुज़रती है,
मैं किसी पुल-सा थरथराता हूं ।
हर तरफ एतराज़ होता है
मैं अगर रोशनी में आता हूं ।
एक बाज़ू उखड़ गया जबसे
और ज़्यादा वज़न उठाता हूं ।
एक जंगल है तेरी आंखों में ।
मैं जहां राह भूल जाता हूं ।।