"I am accustomed
to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when
awake."
—Rene Descartes (French,
1596-1650)
Word
for the day
Platitude (n)
A flat, dull, or trite remark, especially one uttered as if it were
fresh or profound.
Malice
towards none
Does the social status
accorded to any of the following people need to be reviewed?
(a) N. R. Narayan Murthy
(b) Anna Hazare
(c) Akhilesh Yadav
(d) Sonia Gandhi
First random
thought this morning
In past couple of decades we have seen a material rise in contemptuous
remarks against various deities, revered religious scriptures, practices and
institutions. Some of these may be coming from the rise in awareness about the
malpractices prevalent in the religious practices and institutions. But
certainly easy access to religion does also have a role to play in breeding of
this contempt.
Expecting someone, who knows Krishna only from TV serials, to have
same devotion as someone who has been breathing Krishna consciousness for years
would be too much to ask.
If someone walks 300kms from Rishikesh to Kedarnath and Badrinath
through dense forest and arduous hilly terrain, reverence occurs naturally to
him. Air dropping at temple might not have that impact.
See the part in whole, and whole in parts
Continuing from where I left it last month (see here), I would like to point out that many of the recent
measures taken by the government have been analyzed as socio-political steps
that could potentially have serious negative implications for the Indian
economy.
It feels terribly sorry to
discover that many of the armchair economists and financial experts are so
disconnected from the ground realties. These experts have been analyzing events
and policy decisions piecemeal on standalone basis, whereas most of these steps
are natural, logical and essential extensions of a series of positive
developments in past two decades.
Demonetization was one such case
in point. A number of reputable experts took no time and minced no words in
terming it a monumental disaster. My assessment after travelling to hinterland
was diametrically opposite (see here). In hindsight I feel fortunate to have relied on
what I saw rather than what I heard and read.
The shakeup in the animal product
industry is yet another case in point. A number of experts are codenaming the
move as purely political (some are even terming it religious bigotry). the
general view seems to be that it will lead to massive job losses. Some experts
have estimated the economic loss in trillions of rupees.
In my view, this is clearly a case
of political and personal prejudices overriding the professional judgment.
I sincerely believe that the move
could have just created a multibillion dollar business opportunity that may
significantly uplift living standards of people engaged in one of the most
derided profession.
As per the government records
"India has the world’s largest population of livestock and is world’s 5th
largest producer of meat."
"India's livestock sector has
continuously provided structural support to the rural economy as an important
vocation for rural population, next only to crop raising. On account of
favourable socio economic factors such as changing eating habits, higher
purchasing power, urbanization, increasing health consciousness towards protein
rich diet, there has been increase in demand for meat and the sector has gained
importance in terms of contribution to income, employment and forex
earnings." (see here)
But unfortunately, the sector has
remained mostly unorganized and has miserably failed to realize its full
potential. In FY14, export of meat contributed less than 1.5% to India's total
exports. The conditions in which meat trade is done are seriously sub-human.
The social status of butchers and meat sellers is amongst the lowest in
society.
If this business gets organized
like other food processing businesses like dairy, ready to eat packaged food,
etc., with the help of better capital, technology and market access, this could
metamorphose the lives of millions of families engaged in the business. To
understand what I am trying to say - just close your eyes and imagine your
neighborhood meat shop as a fully air-conditioned kiosk with a large
refrigerator, selling animal produce in nicely sealed packets with no foul odor
bothering vegetarians like me....to continue
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