Category: Blog

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Rural distress to impact economy: Survey

by Sanjay Mohan Johri May 30, 2020 No Comments

Rural distress to impact economy: Survey

with migrants making their way to villages, rural India, which has been the mainstay of the Indian economy, is now facing a double whammy—more mouths to feed and loss of livelihood. All this is bound to hit the preparedness for the upcoming kharif crop season that lasts from June to October, which is likely to affect the food production and supply chain in the long run.
Rural India accounts for two-thirds of the nation’s 1.3 billion people who account for 45% of the country’s gross domestic product. Back-to-back droughts and demonetization in 2016 had badly affected the rural economy and now migrants returning home with empty pockets because of job loss, are likely to add pressure on families.
According to one of the largest survey carried out to assess the impact of COVID 19 and the lockdown on the rural poor, it was found that majority of households have “very limited stocks of food” grown by them in the last Kharif or Rabi season. The rural households are today solely dependent on food supply through PDS. The survey covered 5100 households in 47 districts in 12 states of the Union and was carried out days after the lockdown.
It was jointly anchored by Transform Rural India Foundation, Delhi and Vikasanvesh Foundation, a development research centre based in Pune, Maharashtra and methodologically
supported by Sambodhi, a well know research firm in Lucknow. Participating NGOs were: Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN), BAIF), Action for Social Advancement (ASA), SATHI-UP, Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP),
Grameen Sahara.

The findings have raised alarm bells. While the months of peak food insecurity in most rain-fed regions are July and August, people are already experiencing food insecurity. They have begun consuming fewer items and eating fewer meals every day than similar periods in normal times, the survey points out.
The survey says “It is just a snapshot of the ‘Rural Stress’ when only 13% of migrants had returned home.” With reverse migration becoming rigorous after Indian Railways and the State Governments ensured that Shramik Specials and Roadways buses were pressed into service from different states to take them home, the real issues will surface then.
Indebtedness among rural poor is rising and nearly 30% of the respondents have already had to borrow from their kin or professional money lenders to meet subsistence costs.
There are early signs of acute distress, which are visible with all discretionary expenses on marriages or similar ceremonies are either put on hold or being cut down drastically. Their children are likely to be withdrawn from schools in 30% of the households. Households have begun depleting productive assets with many even selling even bullocks or milch animals. With only a sixth of the households reporting return of their migrant members, the workload on women has significantly increased from fetching water and fuel wood to cooking food. This drudgery shows no sign of abating.
Now, it remains to be seen whether the financial package announced by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, which focuses primarily on migrant workers with free food grain supply to all migrant laborers for next 2 months (Each worker to get 5 kgs of rice or wheat & 1 kg of chana), will bring some semblance to the rural economy. The finance minister had said eight crore migrants who do not have either central or state PDS card, will benefit from the free food grain scheme and Rs 3,500 crores will be spent on this.
As the country enters into Lockdown 4.0 and the reverse migration increasing steadily, the situation only seems to go from bad to worse, for now.

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The hullabaloo about lockdowns

by Sanjay Mohan Johri May 28, 2020 No Comments

The hullabaloo about lockdowns

Did the nationwide lockdowns since March 25, 2020 helped India curb the rapid spread of the dreaded Covid 19? This only time will tell, however, it is undeniable that at the time it seemed the best option to ensure people’s safety considering how the disease was wreaking havoc globally with even the most advanced nations staring in abyss as Coronavirus steadily decimated its victims.
But after almost three months of near global shutdown resulting in deeper economic crisis, governments have gradually started opening their economies. The government of India while observing lockdown 4.0 has also started easing restrictions to re-start economic activities and post May 31, it will take a fresh look at the strategy as there is no let up in Covid-19 crisis with cases continuing to spike menacingly figuring at 1.55 lakh and around 4,500 deaths in the country. India stands at number 10 among the wors May 28, 2020
Did the nationwide lockdowns since March 25, 2020 helped India curb the rapid spread of the dreaded Covid 19? This only time will tell, however, it is undeniable that at the time it seemed the best option to ensure people’s safety considering how the disease was wreaking havoc globally with even the most advanced nations staring in abyss as Coronavirus steadily decimated its victims.
But after almost three months of near global shutdown resulting in deeper economic crisis, governments have gradually started opening their economies. The government of India while observing lockdown 4.0 has also started easing restrictions to re-start economic activities and post May 31, it will take a fresh look at the strategy as there is no let up in Covid-19 crisis with cases continuing to spike menacingly
figuring at 1.55 lakh and around 4,500 deaths in the country. India stands at number 10 among the w
t Covid-hit nations.


The commercial hub Mumbai in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu being the worst have so far failed to check the spread and there are no signs of flattening the curve. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have to be blamed for under preparation besides other reasons.
Top medical expert and AIIMS Director Dr R.K. Guleria says the peak will happen till June end but we are certainly better prepared to fight the pandemic with gradual improvement in the health infrastructural facilities.
The Government of India still claims “It is perhaps due to the restraint exercised by the citizens, guided by the cautious and meticulous approach that despite being the second most populous country, the contagion has been contained to a number that is significantly lower than in many other nations”. The lockdown that came into effect on March 25 has led to minimal incidence of the pandemic.
“Bearing in mind the slowing down of the rate at which the cases were doubling, the measures that have helped and are likely to strengthen our hands further in the fight against COVID-19 merit attention”, a top government official claims.
On a day former Congress president Rahul Gandhi attacked the government that lockdown had been a failure, the Chief Economic Adviser Dr Krishnamurthy Subramanian, in an interview to NDTV, strongly defended the lockdown saying “what if we hadn’t had the lockdown, we may have had about 70,000 deaths and lakhs of cases.”
Experts argue India with 1.4 billion population can not be equated with countries like Sweden with just over one crore population or South Korea with five crores plus where better healthcare infrastructure coupled with health protocols like hand hygiene, social distancing helped them cope up with the crisis in initial days. Developed countries across the world fought the pandemic with different strategies and even US, which tops the tally of Corona pandemic both in infection and deaths, completely failed to control it.
At a time when millions of people have been displaced, businesses shuttered, educational institutions closed, hotels and restaurants shut and job losses, the lockdown looked like a problem for country’s economy but keeping in mind the available health infrastructure the government perhaps had no option but to go for it to slow down the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the poor have been hit like never before and the states and Centre were caught napping with reversef in large numbers. Pandemic is being tackled on mathematical models, which show a peak and then flattening of the curve. India is yet to witness peak – till June end hence precautions were necessary and gradual restoration of the economic activities is the only way to tackle the dual crisis.
India’s overall ‘cluster-containment’ strategy has certainly done better to possible large scale spread but states like Kerala, Rajasthan, Oddisa and Uttar Pradesh, due to their better preparedness and strategy, proved as model states in the country. Kerala based on their SARS experience flattened the curve via the creation of a contagion route map while Odisha’s susceptibility to natural disaster gave it an advantage in crisis preparedness.
The communist run government was first to open the economic activity. Rajasthan’s Bhilwara containment strategy proved as a model for others while Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest populous state, prepared well with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath forming Team-11 of top bureaucrats who guided him well to face the challenge.
It is easy to criticize any strategy but Union Health Ministry has to be complimented for preparing a strategic approach taking into account different possible scenarios – travel-related cases, local transmission of COVID-19, large outbreaks amenable to containment, and widespread community transmission of COVID-19.
As lockdown restrictions eases, economic activities begin, domestic travel resumes in a calibrated manner and hotels, restaurants open up the only thing that can hopefully help minimize the Covid-19 spread is strict adherence to health protocols. Lockdowns or not, mask, gloves, sanitizers and social distancing are the only way to beat the virus.

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Lockdown conundrum

by Sanjay Mohan Johri May 15, 2020 No Comments



Lockdown Conundrum

Migrants brave scorching heat, battle hunger to reach home
They are informal workers and backbone of the big urban economy including real estate construction sites, delivery service, restaurants, hair-saloons, plumbers, automobile mechanics and daily wage labourers working in factories. However, ever since the nationwide lockdown, announced by PM Modi on March 25, these labourers have been at the receiving end. With no shelter and food, they prefer to walk to reach their villages.
Escaping poverty, many years ago they had left their villages in search of a job and preferred to live in squalid housing in congested urban areas in different states across the country, but the lockdowns made them refugees in their ‘adopted cities’ as workplaces were shut and the country came to a grinding halt.
If you switch on to your TV screens, you will see migrants carrying their paltry belongings, holding hands of their little children or carrying them on their shoulders and some even tagging their pet animals while braving the relentless summer heat—all in a bid to reach their villages. It’s a heart wrenching sight to see their hunger-stricken gaze full of fatigue. Yes this is the state of migrants whose continuous movement on the highways is a common picture.
“Do you think we have any option but to return home because ultimately during tough times only family comes to help and you get solace there, said Rajiv, a migrant, who was trekking from Nasik, while speaking to a TV Journalist. “At least I will get food and the comfort of family in my village home”, he said.
The Central Government’s move to respond to the plight of Indian migrant workers stranded abroad is a welcome step as hundreds of them are being brought back to the country in special flights but you can’t be so apathetic to the plight of migrant population at home.
“Wanting to go home in a crisis is natural. If Indian students, tourists, pilgrims stranded overseas want to return; so do labourers in big cities. They want to go home to their villages. We can’t be sending planes to bring home one lot, but leave the other to walk back home,” comments Shekhar Gupta, founder and editor of The Print.
Clearly, a lockdown to stave off a pandemic turned into a humanitarian crisis and perhaps both the respective state governments and Center appeared to have bungled in not anticipating this exodus.
A recent study published in Economic and Political Weekly said “The imposition of the lockdown as a mea­sure to contain the exponential progression of the COVID-19 pandemic has actually hit the unskilled and semi-skilled migrant labourer the most. In the last few weeks, we have all been witness to harrowing, nerve-wrenching and bone-chilling images of the exodus of these marginal and “invisible” drivers of the informal economy of urban India.”
The Hindi belt is the main source of migrants. According to the census, four states, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh account for 50 percent of India’s total inter-state migrants. On the other side, Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana house 50% of the country’s inter-state migrants.
These shares are much higher than the share of these states in India’s total population. Interestingly, Uttar Pradesh figures in both lists – while there are people who leave it in search of livelihoods, there are also those who head for UP in search of livelihood.
Delhi and Mumbai are widely considered migrant magnets and the Census figure bears that out. According to it, migrants from other states in Delhi and Mumbai numbered 9.9 million, or almost a third of the combined population of 29.2 million in these two metropolises.
The big question today is whether these unskilled and semi-skilled migrant labourers who are returning home today would go back to their respective work-places, as there are not too many options of earning livelihood in villages and they would always be under pressure to earn.
It also come as a big opportunity for the states, if they can hold back these migrants in their native districts by offering the kind of skilled and unskilled labor work where they can earn substantial money to run their families.
In Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath has embarked upon a mammoth exercise to bring back over one million migrants stranded in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Punjab, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Nearly 1000 state roadways buses were pressed into service in this massive exercise since March 25 as there has been no clarity on the extended lockdown entering into phase 4.0 beyond May 17. Till date around 3.50 lakh migrants have returned to the state. Several special trains have already started bringing back these migrants with state government setting up shelters and Quarantine Centers to house them.
Once back in their home state, the people who have no symptoms of Covid-19 will be held in quarantine in government facilities for a fortnight until it is deemed safe for them to return to their families.
Interestingly Yogi government is now formulating a policy to provide employment to some 20 lakh migrant workers. “A policy is being framed to provide jobs to 20 lakh migrant workers through labour reforms in their villages and towns. Directions have been given to officials to prepare data from quarantine centers regarding skills of workers. With jobs guaranteeing a minimum salary of Rs 15,000 and fixed working hours will provide much needed security to the migrant labourers”, says a top government official. He further said that with these slew of measures, the UP government hopes that these migrants would not return to big magnet cities and will prefer to stay back in their native state.

 

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Learn the art of living and surviving post-Covid-19

by Sanjay Mohan Johri May 8, 2020 No Comments




Learn the art of living and surviving post-Covid-19

Dr. Sanjay M Johri

May 8, 2020

The world will have to change and adapt in the Post Covid-19 situation where perhaps it would be a new norm of “Survival of the Quickest” and not the age-old Darwin theory of “Survival of the Fittest”.
One of the biggest changes would probably be in the work sphere wherein CEO’s would have to pull up their socks and transform the stereo-typed rigid working culture. You need not have employees on rolls but go for a ‘Gig Economy’ where you hire people on project basis thus doing cost cutting while retaining the best performers. The deadwood will have to go and even mediocre performers.
Unemployment is already at an all time low with over 100 million people at a risk of losing jobs in India. In fact heavy job cuts have started happening in every sector. At least 20 industries are worst hit where there is no revenue inflow globally. Some of the worst hit sectors are: retail, travel, automotive, hospitality, transportation, restaurants, luxury products, real estate and the Live Sports industry.
Online e-tailor giants like Amazon, Flipkart and other e-Commerce portals are badly hit while the multi-trillion dollar aviation industry is at its lowest ebb where the management is working overtime to change their comeback strategy.
Hospitality and tourism sector is also one of the worst hit as hotel occupancy rates have dropped drastically. Governments will come out with new guidelines for all these sectors keeping in mind the social distancing norms, which is the key to survive this pandemic and even beyond atleast till a vaccine is not developed.
The lockdowns have made people self-reliant and now who would be interested to go to shopping malls & multiplexes when people realize that it’s better to be back to basics where the concern primarily revolves around “Roti -Kapda-Makan”( Food, clothing & shelter). While family time of staying together increased, the expenses also dropped by 60-70 percent, a big relief for middle income householders. With online streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and many channels available on your home screen, families spent quality time together, which we never did or bother to do because of other professional/social commitments in the pre-Covid times.

 

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Can we go for Internet Fasting”?

by Sanjay Mohan Johri December 28, 2019 No Comments

Can we go for Internet Fasting”?

Fasting is always said to be a great thing to maintain good health as you give rest to your biological system. Even fasting during nine days of Navratra by Hindus or for a month long Ramzaan by Muslims though both because of religious belief provide a kind of detoxification to your body. Basically it is good to get away from your routine and do things differently. An idea just struck to me today “Can we go for Internet Fasting”? The way people in the country in general faced repeated “Internet shutdown” following CAA -NRC-NPR protest and deteriorating Law and Order situation literally nationwide during the last week forced the authorities shutdown the internet in most of the places. Srinagar we know is already witnessing Internet shutdown for past Six months with no sign of relief & perhaps longest ever in any of the country globally. It is however a different story that Internet shutdown has brought digitally linked online operations to a halt affecting business in terms of crores of rupees and making people harassed for their day to day work in Modi’s Digital India. Leave it to government to decide if it can find ways to delink digital services so that business to the tune of crores does not get affected. It is important to mention that nation wide protest in Hongkong did not have any internet shutdown after IT industry there reacted fiercely to any such suggestion from the government. “Any such restrictions, however slight originally, would start the end of the open internet of Hong Kong, and would immediately and permanently deter international businesses from positing their businesses and investments in Hong Kong,” Such restrictions, which would cost the society huge business opportunities and social costs, would not deter nor stop determined users from accessing their desired services. Are we looking to “ruin our economy, social fabrics and our core values of freedom and free flow of information,” a top politician there is stated to have warned the government. Let’s hope Indian Police authorities and government in general look into these considerations though “mindless working” should not see any change as they are least bothered about such a ban in Kashmir valley till date. No doubt it is a fact practically every Indian is today immersed in his/her smartphones while commuting, at the office, engrossed in e-mails, doing searches online or on Instagram . At home, they may even feel uneasy if they are not connected to the Internet. Surely the kind of addiction to Social Media we all have these days Internet Fasting could be an answer to shift to some productive work hoping there will be Internet Shutdown if not for longer duration then on the eve of Friday Prayers or may be two days since Indian Police believes Internet will help rioters cause Law & Order problem. The nation-wide uncertainty we are likely to witness in time to come , it is better we adapt to newer situation fast and observe two days Internet Fasting in a week. It is better we develop habit of overcoming with our addiction to Social Media and devote time to do something creative. For sure no one knows “Fridays-Saturdays” Internet shutdown becomes a reality as weekly market closure. I found more and more people getting increasingly worried about their addiction to the Internet and for them “Internet fasting” by deliberately spending time offline seems a better option. There have been instances when people who were hooked up to internet for 12 hours a day experimented with Internet Fast for almost a month. They made it a rule to check e-mails only twice a day, organized face to face interaction with the other people. Interestingly such people have found more time, could concentrate better, and had a general feeling of well-being. I met a senior colleague of myself who had been addictive to social media but decided to take a break. “I found engaging myself with friends in person and sharing our experiences was more enjoyable. “Unlike those bits of information on the Internet, real-life experiences make us fully engage all five senses, and because of that, we could learn something from those experiences,” “In addition, we can never be content with ourselves as long as we are dependent on the approval of others. I now feel I’ve regained the power to take control of my life—a life that had previously been dominated by the Internet.” he said. About 5.20 Lakh children are believed to suffer from Internet addiction in a South East Asian Country. As an experiment this summer, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry there plans to offer “Internet fasting camps,” where young people commune with nature. “Children with little real-life experience can easily harbor illusions that the online world is all there is,” Higuchi said. “I hope children have experiences in the real world that touch their hearts and discover that there are many other choices in the world besides the Internet.” Some companies in Japan have made Internet fasting part of their operations. The company which manufactures and sells household items, removed personal computers from individual workers’ desks in addition, it minimized e-mail communications and instead increased the number of face-to-face meetings

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Covid leaves journalists, media houses in the lurch

by Sanjay Mohan Johri December 28, 2019 No Comments



Covid leaves journalists, media houses in the lurch


Dr. Sanjay M Johri

Jun 10, 2020

Corona pandemic has come as a double whammy for the media industry. It has crippled the business model of print and electronic media thus affecting circulation, which in turn has led to widespread job loss. At least this is how the management is justifying the lay-offs, salary cuts and leave without pay for employees. 
However, experts believe 
that the big Daddies in the media are using the pandemic ‘as an opportune time for the media houses, which were waiting to trim the staff and remove deadwoods.’ Meanwhile, some of the journalists have accused that performance was never the criteria because there had not been a complaint against them and removal was sudden. “I am one who had raised voice along with others against management’s dictatorial attitude and was shunted out,’ a senior journalist said. 
You name a top media house and you will find from The Times Group, Hindustan Times Media Limited, the Indian Express Group, Business Standard Limited , New Indian Express and the Quintillion Media Private Limited, which runs the website The Quint to leading channels like Aaj Tak,; News Nation – the media persons either lost jobs or went in for heavy pay cuts. 
The Times of India in Kerala laid-off seven reporters (three in Thiruvananthapuram, two in Kozhikode and one each in Malappuram and Kannur respectively) and three desk editors. Ironically these employees were asked on a WhatsApp call by the HR and the Assistant Resident Editor to tender their resignations for personal reasons. The Times Group paywalled E Papers of all its English titles — The Times of India, The Economic Times and Mirror —on 15 May, 2020. The Economic Times cut jobs in Kochi, Chandigarh and Kolkata on 6 May. 
For journalists it is definitely a testing time as jobs are scarce, especially in the traditional print/electronic space, while for the media management it is equally turning to be a tipping point as they are putting their heads together to come up with a new business model that would help them survive. Shekhar Gupta, editor-in-chief and chairman, The Print, and a veteran journalist says “Big Daddies” are in trouble because of their dependence on advertisement. 
Explaining media economics through his YouTube Channel presentation Gupta further adds, ‘One should try and understand the business model as to how much these organizations depend on advertising.’ Look at the leader in the industry, The Times of India, which sells the most number of English newspapers in the world. Even after being the largest organization, its turnover is just over Rs 10,000 crore. In 2018, its profit was Rs 681 crore. This profit is minuscule compared to the market leaders in other industries. Even Havells, a fairly new electronics company, makes a larger profit than the The Times of India, and this has consequences. 
A newspaper like The Times of India has 48 pages in its metro editions like Delhi and Mumbai. The newspaper is sold for around Rs 5 and about 40 per cent is taken by distributors. The media organisation gets around Rs 2.40. Now, each page costs Rs 0.25 to print and printing 48 pages costs Rs 12. A very conservative cost of paying employees and news agencies etc is Rs 3. So if newspapers are produced at Rs 15, how are they sold at Rs 5 and how is profit still generated? The answer is ad revenue. 
Since Samir Jain of Times of India based the company’s business model on ad revenue, it has become the industry’s standard. His company became the market leader and everyone had to follow his model to survive. Newspapers are sold cheaper and cheaper, and revenue is earned from ads. The Hindu does not follow this model and has kept the newspaper price high, Gupta points out. 
The situation is equally bad for English TV news channels if not worse as most of them run in losses. They are either subsidized by Hindi channels or they are not run for profits but for some other reasons. News channels are very cheap, so they are even more dependent on ad revenue than newspapers. A channel subscription is Rs 2 or 3 a month, whereas a single newspaper costs more than that. 
Advertisers primarily use entertainment and sports channels to show their products/services and hence a very small chunk is left for news channels. Then distributors take a large share of the ad revenue. This leaves news channels small and unprofitable and they are hit very hard when businesses cut their advertising budget. 
So the question arises, who are running these channels and how they can sustain it? The answer is not so simple. Most media houses are gradually being managed by mining barons, real estate owners who either acquired a media property or diversified their business for political gains. Based on the ad revenue model when the economy is good, the flaw in it doesn’t show but when the downward spiral begins the structures start collapsing, Mr. Gupta points out. 
Speaking about the digital portals he said, “This industry is an even more extreme version of print newspapers and news channels. Here, the reader doesn’t pay anything at all. The organization is solely dependent on ads. Distributors like Facebook and Google take most of the ad revenue and a very small fraction is left for the organization. The model cannot work and companies who have adopted these will be most stressed at these times. This business model is broken.” 
Good articles have to be paid for and people in the West are realizing this. Even in India, The Hindu focuses on quality and doesn’t keep cutting their prices. In fact, Hindu has consistently raised the price of their newspaper and yet has done very well. 
So what’s the solution? Post-Covid, media houses will have to come up with a new revenue model that should be subscription based primarily in the digital space, which newspapers like Washington Post and New York Times have done way back and as a result are not facing the double whammy even though their circulation has declined during this pandemic. 
 

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Internet shut down vs democratic show down?

by Sanjay Mohan Johri December 23, 2019 No Comments

Internet shut down vs democratic show down?

December 19, 2019 was a black day in the history of the capital of the largest state in the country—Uttar Pradesh—as rampaging crowds thronged Lucknow’s streets in protest of the Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA). Their violent dissent was a blot and so was the government move banning Internet services (perhaps for the first time in several parts of the state) from that day onwards. While violent protests still continued albeit in other parts of the state but Digital Activity came to a standstill for almost a week in 21 districts where Internet services were suspended.

This brings us to a pertinent question: Will India’s aspiration in general & premier Narendra Modi’s vision of Make in India, in particular, to make the country a digital leader be realized if disruption in the Internet services become so common in the name of Law and Order and other sensitive issues in the country? Does it look a reality if we find that 67% of the world’s documented shutdowns have taken place in India!

In The Anatomy of an Internet Blackout: Measuring the Economic Impact of Internet Shutdowns in India, the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), a Delhi-based think tank, has noted that at a time when India was leveraging a generative technology like the Internet to boost its economy, the rising number of communications shutdowns “epitomizes the difficulties on the pathway to realizing India’s digital ambitions”.

In 2016, the UN declared that access to the internet is a human right—the resolution emphasized that “the same human rights that people have offline must also be protected online”. “People sometimes think that banning Internet only means that people cannot stream stand-up comedy or order a pizza online. But for a lot of people, the internet has become a very vital way to connect them to their professional and personal lives”.

It’s really concerning that the powers-that-be in the world’s largest democracy decided to shut down internet services thereby cutting off its citizens from communication at least in the virtual time space. This has severely impacted the common man, who has become dependent on digital services. It literally feels like losing a limb. “Does the internet shutdown even work to bring down incidents of violence or is there another way?” one cannot help but ask.

All those who did not have broadband /Wi-Fi and were completely dependent on data services on their mobile felt completely frustrated.  Education is now inextricably linked to the internet. Most of the online transactions like: Google Pay, paytm and other App-based functions could not be used. Indeed education is only one casualty of the repeated internet shutdowns. The humanitarian and emotive impact is far greater.

For women, the smart phone has become a tool to assuage safety concerns and provide a means to alert their loved ones or the authorities in times of uncertainty. Imagine the ongoing shutdown in Kashmir and its cascading effect.

The internet today is not only a platform where dissent can be registered meaningfully, creating a democratized space cutting across distinctions of caste, class and gender in an unprecedented way, but also directly affects the lives and livelihoods of citizens. In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India, it is a lot more. Many of the schemes rolled out by the government are linked to the internet. Many of them use digital payment options. So obviously an Internet blackout means most of their socio-economic existence is threatened or stalled. Further, given that every hour Google receives more than 2.3 lakh search queries shows how much people rely on the Web for information gathering today.

Internet shutdowns simply cut off these channels of information for teachers, students, researchers, entrepreneurs, etc. So, shutdowns that last over months can literally paralyse almost all sectors in the region.

For instance, the Ayushman Bharat scheme, which provides subsidized medical care in government hospitals, depends on the internet—several subsidy payments are made electronically. Even availing of rations now relies on biometric authentication. It impacts people who are the most vulnerable.

Internet now is not a privilege rather it has become a basic need. At the end of the day, the biggest takeaway is like silencing people’s voices.

When a country like India is aiming to become a $5-trillion economy and wants to anchor the growth on its information and communication sector, Internet shutdowns send the wrong signals to investors and consumers. With India’s e-commerce sector poised to touch $150 billion by 2020, it makes business sense to leave the Web as open as possible.

 

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Surpassing dark clouds, i did reach my silver lining…!

by Sanjay Mohan Johri November 28, 2019 No Comments

Surpassing dark clouds, i did reach my silver lining…!


“Tough times don’t last, but tough people do.And I’ve been through some tough times,and I know a lot of people can recall tough times,and maybe are going through some tough times right now,but they don’t last.” — Alonzo Mourning Born in the lap of luxury with a silver spoon in their mouth the rich and pompous often fail to experience the vagaries of nature. They remain sheltered from adversaries and hence life for them turns chaotic as they steer forward. More often than not an upbringing of high standards is not enough to make one battle ready.
Life for these people can be downright difficult at times. It is a no holds barred fight that can punch you and beat you down. Having seen problems at different levels from close quarters, life for me has never been easy. Repeated suffering , failures and setbacks of different nature have been my soulmates.
But like they say in Hindi – Bhagwan Ke Ghar ,Der Hai Andher Nahi. God has been great enough to give me strength and helped me rise like a phoenix.
I vividly remember the evening of August 13, 1980 when I got the biggest shock of my life when I felt all my dreams had reached its dead end at the age of 20.
I had just joined Asia’s biggest Drug Research Institute CDRI as Junior Research Fellow. I had been diagnosed with Bone Tumor in my right knee and malignancy was not ruled out.
Orthopedic Surgeons asked me to get the knee operated immediately as Tumor was growing and could break the knee plate.
By now I was already a patient suffering from Glaucoma in both eyes barely managing to maintain it with drugs. I have struggled for years to get adjusted with the only drug available in India which caused constriction in eyes after inoculating drops for two hours which had to be used four times a day.
My miseries had trebled given my sisters’ marriage was due in November later that year and all responsibility was on my shoulder. I went for surgery immediately and as luck would have it the tumor was “Benign”. It took me six months to get back on my feet again. I had quit my CDRI Researcher job since I had offer from India’s premier news agency, the PTI to join as Journalist. I was in for a turning point in my life. From Scientist to Journalist . I thought a tough time has passed.
But you can’t change destiny. Life had even tougher times for me in the years ahead.
I skidded off my scooter and broke the other knee and dislocated my shoulder. As a science student I always knew the angle and not the impact matters in such road mishaps. This hence goes on to cause a bad fracture and I was forced to be on bed for another six months with a plastered limb and chest. I was completely dependent on others for my daily routines. My God here too turned out to be my guiding light.
My better half was always on my side but it took quite a toll on her to strike a balance between work and taking care of my day to day needs. With some love, care and support from nears & dears I was back on my feet again.
When I started thinking that life will now sail smoothly at 28 I was father to a baby girl. There was joy and merriment at home. The responsibility of parenthood was looming large on mind. I suddenly started feeling a sense of pride in bringing home my little embodiment of Lakshmi, but there was another bout of bone tumor waiting to haunt me.
A tumor of the size of a guava was detected. While the talk of malignancy and amputation did not seem to stop, doctors had their wonder weapon Cryosurgery something unheard of in 1990s medical science parlance. The technique is such that special gas freezes and kills cancerous tissues at temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius . A 10 member team of top surgeons from prestigious King George Medical College performed the marathon six hour surgery to save the limb.
God once again was kind to me as pathology of the excised tissue came out to be benign though of high grade. The limb was saved. “We knew a Journalist (Reporter in my case) should have his limb otherwise how would he run around & our focus was to save your limb though the odds were stacked against him”, said elated surgeons after a biopsy report ruled out malignancy.
This time recovery process was longer since doctors took all precautions of periodical check-up and strictly warned me not to be involved in any kind of adventure since bony tissues had been grafted.
By now life had become like that clichéd Bollywood one liner – Picture Abhi Baaki Hai Mere Dost.
Ten years later I slipped in my court yard and broke my Tail Bone and the hip joint got defused . Life and aches and pains have been two inextricable entities. I avoid pain killers because they don’t work and are often harmful for human health.
Diabetes , Hypertension and Cholesterol are these days considered Royal Diseases so how can I be away from these.
I will be turning 58 and God has been kind to me as well wishes from my family and friends have helped me in my voyage on my chosen path. As a journalist who boasts of a three decade plus body of work I still work 18 hours a day , enjoy a good position and have a never ending desire to experience life one moment at a time. Of my two kids my daughter is a Network Engineer ( Canadian Citizen ) and Team Leader in Deloitte (London) & Son In Law an Electrical Engineer with Blackberry London .
Son is a Professor in Economics & International Affairs and wife, a perfect partner.
Pushing past difficulties and surmounting adversities, especially in the face of very trying times, is a monumental undertaking.
To add to that, if you have the regular stresses of everyday life like repeated medical problems, financial crisis, domestic concerns among others, it can be trying.
What makes me happy is that I have been able to weather life’s many storms. Haven’t I ?
Cheers …
(Dr Sanjay M Johri )

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STOP HATING YOURSELF FOR EVERYTHING

by Sanjay Mohan Johri November 28, 2019 No Comments

STOP HATING YOURSELF FOR EVERYTHING

 
Time goes by pretty fast, doesn’t it? The dusk of every passing year settles and we look forward to the dawn of new year and hope we will have a great year ahead with lots of promises for everyone. January feels like just yesterday, where has the year gone? Don’t you think we need to introspect how the year has been and what we wish to do the next year. I always believe setting personal goals for myself, the family and my work place I like to look back and see all the wrongs I have done and how I can better myself. I find each passing year highly satisfying with ups and down as everyone witnesses. For 40 years of my professional career, I never asked any of my friends for personal favours but I made promises to help poor families to the extent I could. These people have been an integral part of my life; my successes & failures and they made sure to keep me and my family happy by virtue of their loyalty. I always thought I have to pay them back as they struggled for their Roti, Kapda & Makan and always looked up to me. Last few years brought cheers for each one of them and I will always remain indebted to my friends who helped me in my efforts. The poor people had been deprived of some basic amenities and comforts of life and I am happy I could bring smiles on their faces by doing my bit. We had been thinking of raising a Girl Child and giving her best education and finally we succeeded in getting her admitted in one of the best schools. Am happy that she is doing well in her studies and we take pride we have adopted for her basic needs including the all important education. To work for a social cause is something which brings lot of satisfaction and pride and such issues are always on top of my agenda. I am indebted to the almighty god for sending this opportunity to us and we are happy as each one in the family had this desire to contribute. On family front Tanushree & Abhishek (Daughter & Son-in-Law) moved from Canada to London to explore Europe on their respective assignments while Son Deepanshu continued to strengthen himself in Economics and International Affairs as a Professor and proved he is a prolific writer too. He has made deep inroads in academics and gained strength in his current assignment with Jindal University. Better half Sadhna continued in her role as Counselling Specialist in family welfare under the Government of India’s National Health Mission. Currently she is in Consultants role and year by year has proved her worth in the organizations she has served under USAID projects. The year 2018-2019 was an amalgamation of both happy and sad memories as Chachiji, the last one in the older generation in my family and Mummy Ji ( mother-in-law) left us for their heavenly abode. May their soul rest in peace. I continue to struggle with my diabetes, Hypertension, pain in knee joints & tail bone as a result of fractures and eyes due to Glaucoma but I have learnt how to live with all these pains. There is no point complaining because I am satisfied with all the blessings that I already have. Professionally I find myself stronger as I took up regular teaching and happy that my mentoring to a 

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The Postman – Dakiya Dak Laya …

by Sanjay Mohan Johri November 28, 2019 No Comments

The Postman – Dakiya Dak Laya …

Ask any youngster today has he heard about Indian Postman ..( Dakiya – as the postman is referred to in Hindi) ? The famous yellow colored Post Card or light blue Inland Letters & Money Orders ? They will give a blank look.

In the era of WhatsApp, Email and private courier services that offer overnight trackable deliveries , it will be perhaps difficult for us to explain to this generation what yesteryears Postman ( Dakiya) meant for us.
They might find it amusing that khaki clad Postmen jauntily rode around on bicycles, and the trring of their bells drew us out of homes to check if the mailman had anything for us. We have not forgotten a popular song, Daakiya daak laaya, sung by Kishore Kumar & featured Rajesh Khanna as the beloved postman in the film Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein.
There was a time, not too long ago, when the khaki-clad postman with his satchel bursting with postcards and letters was the most popular visitor to any residential area including the rural india
Besides delivering telegrams to anxious recipients, and letters to families awaiting news from loved ones, the Daakiya, , was also privy to the secrets of many families, often having to read out letters to many of his illiterate customers.
The postman was a beloved figure in literature and popular culture too. In a short story by the chronicler of small-town India, RK Narayan, a postman held out on delivering bad news to a family so that a joyous wedding could go on without a glitch.
In any case, khaki wasn’t always the colour postmen donned. Even the design of postal uniforms has changed several times over the years with earlier mailmen wearing dhotis and turbans. In a book titled The Post Office of India and its Story, published in 1921, author Geoffrey Clarke wrote how the uniform was a badge of honour for most postal employees. “It adds a certain amount of dignity to him and, like the soldier, he is the better man for having a distinctive badge of office,” Clarke says.
“There [wasn’t] any uniformity even in each circle about the uniforms supplied by Government. In one town red coats and blue turbans were seen, in another khaki coats and nondescript turbans, while the men who supplied themselves with uniforms presented at times the most extraordinary appearance. The pattern of postmen’s uniform has now been standardized for each circle….” He added.
In his book, titled Typical Pictures of Indian Natives (1897), Frank Morris Coleman wrote:
“The familiar ‘rat-tat’ of the English postman is unknown in India, possibly because there are no knockers, and in many cases no doors. But we hear in its stead the remark of the butler, as he brings us our morning dak or English mail. ‘Chitti hai…Government provides the men with a good serviceable blue dungaree uniform, and a waterproof cape during the monsoon. Sandals are worn more often than boots, and, when the rains arrive, the trousers are exchanged for knicker-bockers.” In some parts of India, it was common to see postmen dressed in turbans and crisp dhotis. Over the years, the dhotiwas abandoned for trousers and the turban gave way to Nehru caps. Now, if the latest proposal goes through, India’s postmen may soon sport baseball caps.
Today the present day generation gets an interaction with Postman only when his/her Passport is delivered because Passport Office has made it a rule that Passport will be delivered through Speed Post and by Postman only.
History reveals The Indian Post Office started its service on 1 April 1774. It started with a bang but gradually got replaced with other technological advances & the day is not far when the postman will only be remembered through novels and films..
There was a time when letter was the only means of communication between people. However, in this age of Internet, everyone wants to communicate at lightning speed. Amidst the flurry of texting, tweeting, online chatting, whatsapping; the art of letter writing seems to be disappearing..though writing a letter was full of emotions as you used your feelings while writing letters through pen.
Ram Niwas my Postman friend for 25 years claimed his was a weird job as the people used to hug you on getting good news and blame you for bad news.. However with the advent of the internet, the jobs at the post office have reduced in an assorted manner. Today, the post office only survives on official works, and it won’t be long when the postman will be extinct from the society, Ram Niwas said with disappointment in his eyes. He has put in 30 years plus service with Indian Postal Department.
Collection of postal stamps is certainly part of a philanthropy but an excursion or museum on Postman , his life and Postal and telegraphic services in last 150 years might interest present day generation