Special Teacher's Day in Bangalore

.. for all Loksatta Members.

Loksatta Members meet with Dr. JP on Saturday, Sept 5th at 9AM

Venue : Inner Ring Road, Domlur Flyover - Behind Nandhana Restaurant

More info at www.loksattakarnataka.org

What does it mean to "Own and Lead the Party?"

how about:

• being able to ask questions about our promises?
• having direct response from the leader of the party?
• your criticism and the response being put on public domain ?

Few weeks ago a friend of mine told me he is not sure if Loksatta is any different from other parties and whether we really understand the issues and offering realistic solutions. I asked him to put this thoughts on paper and send it to us.  

Few days later I was pleasantly surprised to get an email response from Dr. JP and the entire conversation posted on loksatta.org for the benefit of everyone.  It is indeed gratifying to see our leader take the time to respond to concerns in a detailed fashion. 

Thank you Dr. JP for being transparent and forthcoming.  for being accessible to all members.

See this link on loksatta.org site 

some excerpts from the response:

Dear Keshav,

 

Thank you for your email on Lok Satta’s agenda and commitments. As you said, we share the same concerns, and therefore I accept your criticism in that spirit, and offer my comments and perspectives briefly.

 

First, we must recognize that access to quality education is the greatest guarantor of human dignity and opportunity to fulfil human potential. India’s failure in this sector is appalling when compared to any other large, modern society with aspirations to global power or economic prosperity. The issue is only partly linked to resources. We certainly need more money, but even more important is the way we deploy resources. Public institutions are not a panacea, but abdication of the state is unpardonable and unacceptable in a civilized society.

 

We are not guaranteeing equality of outcomes, nor are we assuring equality of opportunity in every minute detail. But the least we should, and can, do is to ensure that the minimum acceptable quality of education is available to even the poorest children, and there are minimum levels of learning attained by every child.

 

In order to accomplish this goal, we require investment, public-private partnership, independent evaluation and sample-testing, competition, choice, parent control, and a host of other mechanisms. Even now public expenditure per child at school in AP is of the order of Rs 10,000 per annum. While it is not vast, it is by no means an insignificant sum relative to our per-capita income and the purchasing power of rupee.

 

Lok Satta has a fairly comprehensive approach to school education, and the details are available on the web. Briefly, we need to convert the existing so-called primary schools (two-room, two-teacher, neighbourhood facilities) into play schools for 3-6 years age group, and build/ promote decent schools with 5-10 class rooms and teachers for every 5000 or so population. We have now about 60,000 primary schools. Instead we will have 60,000 play schools and about 15,000 decent primary schools with proper monitoring and support, and free public transport where necessary. A strong inspection mechanism, random sample testing, parental monitoring, and focus on communication and language, civic education, arithmetic and environment will be integral to primary schools.

 

Similarly, there will be a good quality high school – public or private – available to every 10,000 – 20,000 population, with integration of 11th and 12th grades (Intermediate) with the school. The school will become the hub of the community, and the point of convergence for many services.

 

Your critique overstates the cost of infrastructure. The truth is, to build about 5000 high schools, we need a capital cost of Rs 5000 crore, which is under 5% of the state’s annual expenditure. The state even now spends about Rs 12000 crore annually on education alone! Money is not the key constraint. Political will, meaningful reform to create the right kind of incentives, and sustained public and media attention are the real constraints.

 

Regarding weightage to rural and poor students, there are always going to be challenges. But we need to move from the present quotas to weightages, and from caste-based affirmative action to means-based support. The problem of targeting can be addressed by applying criteria like parental education and the kind of school the child goes to, both of which are verifiable. The issue should be seen in the larger context of cracking the complex, zero-sum-game problem of reservations as practiced now without adequate benefits to society.

 

Regarding healthcare, free and universal care is both necessary and eminently feasible. Please refer to Lok Satta’s detailed documents on healthcare – ‘Public-Private Partnership’ and ‘Towards a national health service’. All these have been costed, and together they will constitute less than 2% of GSDP. Again money is not the key constraint. The design of the system, incentives, and cost-effectiveness are the challenges. You will find many details in Lok Satta Party literature (www.loksatta.org).We are opposed to the AP government’s Arogyasree precisely for the reasons you have stated – that it will bankrupt the state without improving the health of the people. Lok Satta’s primary focus is on primary and family care, and nutrition and immunization are integral parts of primary care.

 

Lok Satta has been persistently opposing wasteful, populist, expensive measures, and has repeatedly supported painful measures to enchance revenues or reduce subsidies. Our opposition to expensive lift irrigation projects like Pranahita-Chevella, loan waiver to farmers, free power, free television sets, Rs 2000 every month to families, and Arogyasree are very well known. All these are expensive and ineffective in meeting our challenges. Similarly, we are the lone party in India to support increase of fuel prices (petrol and diesel) and oppose farmers’ loan waiver. All these are mere illustrations of Lok Satta’s commitment to fiscal prudence.

I deeply appreciate your concerns. I am sure you will find that your concerns are more than adequately addressed in the overall approach and policy framework of Lok Satta. My speech in the Assembly on the AP Budget, which is available on the Youtube amply illustrates the responsible and innovative approach of Lok Satta.

 

Let us continue the debate. Meanwhile, all of us need to act together to help transform India. Some minor differences are bound to persist. But the challenge is to avoid the ‘narcissitm of small differences’ and focus on the goals we all believe in.

 

With warm regards

Jayaprakash Narayan

Traffic, Rain, 500+ Attendees, 170 Questions and overwhelming support for Loksatta in Bangalore

Press Note on Dr. JP's Bangalore Meeting on 17th July

Dr. JP: We require new politics for a new generation of Indians!

Delivering the key note address to a gathering at the  Kalyana Mantapa in Koramangala, Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) of Lok Satta Party urged the people to work together to create a political transformation in the country.  India requires a new politics for a new generation. The 500 seating in the hall was overflowing with people comprising youth, men and women and senior citizens, some having to sit uncomfortably in passageways. 

The introductory address given by Dr. Ashwin Mahesh, editor India Together and member of AbiDe Taskforce, said Dr. JP cannot be introduced as a statesman or a politicians as this would not cover a range of other possibilities that he can do. Three things he has noticed in course of his long association with Dr. JP is his respect for politics and that it represents a way of giving voice to aspirations of people, he being a national person and he fact that he is touched by human suffering at a very personal level. His work as a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC) and his contribution to the drafting of the Right to Information (RTI) legislation is scarcely recognised.

Initiating his address Dr. JP thanked the audience for their overwhelming presence inspite of it being a working day in Bengaluru, in the midst of bad weather and peak traffic. The diversity of people that have come show the resilience of all people for a change. When India got independence in 1947, it constituted 2% of global GDP. This dropped to 1% in 1991 and by 2009 has only recovered enough to reach the 2%. But the potential of India is to reach 18-20% of global GDP, second only to China. However, to make this happen first world economy cannot be sustained by third world politics. In the present state of affairs, politics will derail the economy.

Dr. JP brought out the five challenges faced by India today

* Abject poverty

* Poor education system

* High degree of centralisation in administration

* Endemic corruption

* Political parties today are captive of feudal families

JP recollected that India can boast of more leaders during the independence period than any other country. But today the finest in India are moving away from political engagement. True politics is a noble endeavour and we cannot shun it. Afterall Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela were also politicians. It has to be redefined as new politics for a new generation of Indians. He urged people to contribute to this in varying degrees depending on their commitments. 

He emphasised that Lok Satta is eagerly looking for leaders. Bengaluru which has shown the way forward to the world in important sectors, can also bring out leaders to transform politics in the state!

The interactive session following the address saw an overwhelming response. There were more than 170 written questions from the

audience and the volunteers had a tough time managing time. The interactive discussion touched upon a wide range of topics, including the National ID project, caste based reservations, leadership in LSP and  analysis of recent elections in A.P.

Dr. Meenakshi Bharath concluded the meeting by urging the attendees to become part of new politics for the new generation.