India corruption, torture, poverty and poor education
October 1, 2012
A dam was approved in 2008 with budget of Rs 7,777 crores. Now, the cost has escalated to Rs 13,000 crore. A probe has exposed rampant financial irregularities in the project. I say, let private companies build dams and operate them on profit.
BJP MP Ajay Sancheti got irrigation project contracts worth RS 1,350 crore in 2007-08 via a non-existing company. Ajay is a close aide of Nitin Gadkari, who refused to expose irrigation scam
A RTI activist sought information on illegal sand quarrying in Visakhapatnam, India. he was beaten up by the sand mafia.
Human Rights Watch says that the Indian parliament should enact the Prevention of Torture bill. The government should take steps to implement its provisions, including ending all torture and ill-treatment by security forces and prosecuting those responsible.
Torture is common in India’s police station, but Indian government does not care. The rich and powerful are NOT tortured in India. They use lawyers and bribes. Only the poor and weak are tortured in India. No one cares about them. Indian government shows little respect for human life and dignity. Reference.
India is stepping up its space program with a higher budget, the launch of a new satellite and a proposed mission to Mars. The country’s space agency ISRO will attempt ten space missions by November 2013. The ISRO has plans for 9 space missions in next year. Though ISRO’s budget is less than one-tenth that of NASA’s, it has increased every year since the early 2000s, jumping from $591 million in 2004 to 2005, to $1.3 billion in 2012 to 2013.
Indian Air Force is purchasing 22 combat helicopters for US $ 1.4 Billion.
I say, in India many farmers use bullock carts to plough land; many rickshaws are human driven. How are space programs or fancy helicopters more useful than removing poverty?
India has one of the highest taxes in the world. Instead of spending billions of dollars used on space programs, if India reduced taxes, businesses would grow; unemployment will be lesser.
Of course, if taxes are reduced, politicians will not be able to beat their chests about their achievements in international conferences; reducing taxes means fewer bribes and fewer sticks to keep citizens under control.
Indian education is poor. So students desirous of a better education are now studying online with their own efforts. e.g. khanacademy, edx, etc. Most students don’t have a good online internet connection to view these videos. Many students lack the motivation to study something on their own. So only a small percentage of students is benefitting from these online courses currently. The Indian government should remove all taxes on broadband internet connections to allow spread of eduction. Broadband connection should be treated as a necessity like food, water, electricity, etc.
Indian government continues to buy food from farmers, when existing food is getting rotten due to lack of storage space.
It is because of wastages like this one, India has high deficit inspite of having high taxes.
Buy physical gold and silver to protect yourself. If you cannot touch it, you don’t own it. Exit all paper investments including ETFs, stocks, PF, PPF, NSC, etc. See coming economic collapse.
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