An Innovative approach to improve The Good Governance in India By focusing young Indian Leaders

The fate of India’ economic development is basically in the hands of two wings: elected leaders and permanent bureaucracy. They are two sides of a coin one is making policy and the other is implementing it. This is a very broad picture of a complex situation. One without other is incomplete and insignificant. Judiciary plays a key role of monitoring and sometimes providing suggestive directions to legislature and bureaucracy.

India is regarded world wide as an emerging strong country along with China. There is a reason for this. Indian economy was opened up in 1991 when our Dr Manmohan Singh was finance minister. Fortunately after that even with change of power in Delhi there were no drastic changes in economic liberalization policy. This implies a consensus on this across political parties. When Dr. Singh became prime minister pushed the country forward with greater speed on the path of economic development. Being an well renowned economist, he had clarity about the path of development the country has to take. To ensure success he took in his team Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, another renowned economist. Together they have proved to the world India’s emergence as an economically strong nation. This is the result of foresight ness and better management of the development of the country. He is not a politician but a professional turn politician. What he proved to the world is amazing. India is now moving on the road of fast economic growth to reach the destination of a developed country. Now big challenge is how to increase the momentum. Above that challenge is how to sustain it is a question that is to be deliberated on.

Before 1991, India lived in a cocoon with out any outside competition. But now the situation is just opposite. National boundaries are melting; right to information has made everyone more accountable and has brought a big constituency in cautious mode; internet has made paperless offices and unlimited access to the world of knowledge. Currently we are in a situation where no country can progress in isolation. Interconnectivity has become the norm of life. To face the new set of situations and challenges India has to mold itself accordingly to keep and enhance the current pace of economic growth. To achieve this, we have to reorient two main and basic wing of the country that plays the vital role in shaping the fate of the nation. These together are so might that they can change anything even the country at least for time being.

Permanent bureaucracy gets opportunities time to time to learn tactics, techniques and acquire knowledge on how to face new challenges from the highly competitive environment which are from inside as well outside the country and how to succeed. Training required to handle different situations are given at different levels of the service span. Though, in my opinion, they are not adequate but still such a system is in place. These opportunities provide chances to the bureaucracy to imbibe the best practices of public policy and public administration which are prevailing and are in practice worldwide and are delivering results. This helps them to reorient to meet new demands from their changed role from administrator to manager. Their exposure-inside and outside the country by means of training and different such activities - make them understand the actual reality of our backwardness in different fields in world economic and development race. These realizations compel them to act to remain competitive and provide energy and support to reorient them to face the emerging challenges. There in need to make it more comprehensive but satisfaction can be derived to a certain extent from the fact that something is better than nothing.

This is the story of one side of the coin.

But what about the other side of the coin, are there any systems in place to equip and prepare our politicians to reorient themselves to face new challenges faced by them by different factors like bureaucracy? As I see, there is no such system. Can we win the battle of developed country without such a system? A natural answer will be no and it is the truth. Now politics is leaving its old and traditional style and is adopting and using new methods e.g. use of SMS, Internet, websites, new printing mediums etc in order not to lag behind in the new competitive environment. As we are aware, the use of internet is penetrating every aspect of life including politics. President Obama’s election is a good example and the best lesson to learn for the political parties all over the world. He did a new successful experiment and it is an example to others in this field to emulate.

In my opinion, blaming our politicians- as we usually do- for bad governance, slow economic growth, high unemployment, non development of infrastructure, high corruption level, poverty, lack of basic amenities etc. without offering them any opportunity of learning and reorienting is a great injustice to them. To prove my point, I would give the example of our Prime Minister Dr Singh and his trusted lieutenant Mr Ahluwalia . They had the opportunity to upgrade their skills through relevant educations, international exposure and this is proved in their performance. There is no serious thinking under consideration to provide political leaders managerial inputs to tackle the challenges of a new seamless world. The required exposure, a few have that are their personal and family’s efforts. There is no system in place to improve the political managerial (How to run the government and party efficiently to make the country number one in the world) quality of future architects of our nation. Almost all national and regional registered parties (registered with Election Commission of India) make an all out effort to win elections to various tiers of our governance structure. But nothing is done after they are elected to enhance their capability to perform and manage better. Winning election is only the trailer of the picture. It means our picture is not going to a success, a hit. To make it a hit picture, we have to think and start something new and innovative. To equip our leaders to face new challenges and to have better coordination with bureaucracy and public and other stakeholders they need exposure of the best practices of the world in the field of party, public and economic management. To achieve this, I am suggesting a new and innovative program for the politicians of my country. Since, it is new and innovative a reputed international organization has to take the lead. I would suggest that UNDP India own this responsibility. There are great possibilities that after some time of the initiative it may be made an integral part of the activities of the political parties. A rule can be framed on this latter on. Initially to set this agenda in motion we have to take the pain.

A brief outline of my new and innovative idea which is in my thought process is as under:

It is basically capacity development approach in a new field in a systematic way.

Program: Preparing young and future Indian leaders for the 21st century’s challenges through building their capacity by providing them opportunity to learn the best national and international practices about party, economic and public management.

Partners: UNDP, Government of India(GoI), Election Commission of India(ECI), Institutions active in this filed, NGO working for good governance, all national and regional parties registered with ECI and national and international donor agencies.

Duration of training: Two months, one month in India and one month outside the country

(Foreign training)

Subject of training: (Changeable) Very broadly it can be divided into two categories:

Making ready for party and election management (When on holding any mandated authority)

1. How to manage political parties efficiently. What are and were the best practices and examples is this regards e.g use of internet by Mr. Obama. Lectures of past and present heads of nations and successful political performers in the field of politics and its management should be an integral part of the program.
2. How to manage elections. How coordinate with election process and associated officials. How to prevent entry and remove bad practices form the election and election. E.g. how to check malpractices in the election, how to enhance poll percentage, how to act to help in electoral rolls preparation, how to reduce election expenditure, how to prevent entry of bad characters in politics and how to promote good persons to join the etc. In this are best national and transnational best practices should be part of the program.
3. How to serve and meet the expectations of the general public and voters with limited time and resources. How to use new invented technological tools to be more successful.
4. Who are and were 20 best leaders in the world at each level of management. Their study will sharpen the acumen and the best practice of one will be the tool for others.

Making ready for the role of Government actors (MP, MLA, Minister, Mayer,--- Village head man)

1. The main focus in the role is how to make a balance among government, public, bureaucracy, party etc. It is a multidimensional task and really challenging.

2. Policy formulation, reform and its efficient and successful implementation. How to make and implement pubic policy (demand driven policy and supply driven policy): theory and practices with case studies.

3. Which are the 20 best economically performing countries in the world. Why they are performing well? What are main factors of their performance? Which leader did what, how and why and when (time of policy implementation and reform plays a major role)? It will be better if leaders’ interactive sessions are organized to make the program more effective useful and fruitful.

4. Who are and were 20 best leaders in the world who perform superb at each level of government in government official capacity. Their study will sharpen the acumen and the best practice of one will be the rule for others without experimentation.

Participants: To begin with, young leaders up to the age of 45 years should be get the chance to learn. It can be later extended to include older leaders. Every national and regional party has youth wings. In each training batch parties will nominate their young leaders up to the age of 45 years. The number will be fixed according to resources and strength of the batch with national party’s nomination more than regional one in each batch.

Financing: Whole expense on each participant can be shared: contribution by the parties (5% - token amount to make them serious towards the program and awareness generation), contribution of central government (30%) and state governments (15%) and 50% donations from donors and NGOs in the leadership of UNDP.

Key actor, Co coordinator, owner of the program: The election commission of India as all registered political parties is its clients.

Implementation strategy: There are institute doing research and imparting training in good governance. With the collaboration we can get tailor the program according to our need.

Additional benefit:

1. It is a form of the best effective political reform.
2. If such systemization is practiced in politics in a professional manner it will attract the educated youth to join politics which is not he trend now.
3. It may change the trend in reverse direction. Then choosing politics would be by design and not by default. As a result the problem of criminalization of politics will be addressed to some extent.
4. It may prove a boon to Indian politics as it aims at professionalizing the political management. It will reduce the economic wastes of money during the elections and in other activities.
5. It will bring good competitions among the politicians which may lead to over all enhancement of efficiency.
6. It will reduce the usual friction and conflict used to develop between political actors and bureaucracy.
7. It will be a model and can be implemented in other countries with similar situations.
8. It will be increasing the constituency of UNDP and enhancing the number of its supporters.

An Innovative approach to improve The Good Governance in India By focusing young Indian Leaders

The fate of India’ economic development is basically in the hands of two wings: elected leaders and permanent bureaucracy. They are two sides of a coin one is making policy and the other is implementing it. This is a very broad picture of a complex situation. One without other is incomplete and insignificant. Judiciary plays a key role of monitoring and sometimes providing suggestive directions to legislature and bureaucracy.

India is regarded world wide as an emerging strong country along with China. There is a reason for this. Indian economy was opened up in 1991 when our Dr Manmohan Singh was finance minister. Fortunately after that even with change of power in Delhi there were no drastic changes in economic liberalization policy. This implies a consensus on this across political parties. When Dr. Singh became prime minister pushed the country forward with greater speed on the path of economic development. Being an well renowned economist, he had clarity about the path of development the country has to take. To ensure success he took in his team Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, another renowned economist. Together they have proved to the world India’s emergence as an economically strong nation. This is the result of foresight ness and better management of the development of the country. He is not a politician but a professional turn politician. What he proved to the world is amazing. India is now moving on the road of fast economic growth to reach the destination of a developed country. Now big challenge is how to increase the momentum. Above that challenge is how to sustain it is a question that is to be deliberated on.

Before 1991, India lived in a cocoon with out any outside competition. But now the situation is just opposite. National boundaries are melting; right to information has made everyone more accountable and has brought a big constituency in cautious mode; internet has made paperless offices and unlimited access to the world of knowledge. Currently we are in a situation where no country can progress in isolation. Interconnectivity has become the norm of life. To face the new set of situations and challenges India has to mold itself accordingly to keep and enhance the current pace of economic growth. To achieve this, we have to reorient two main and basic wing of the country that plays the vital role in shaping the fate of the nation. These together are so might that they can change anything even the country at least for time being.

Permanent bureaucracy gets opportunities time to time to learn tactics, techniques and acquire knowledge on how to face new challenges from the highly competitive environment which are from inside as well outside the country and how to succeed. Training required to handle different situations are given at different levels of the service span. Though, in my opinion, they are not adequate but still such a system is in place. These opportunities provide chances to the bureaucracy to imbibe the best practices of public policy and public administration which are prevailing and are in practice worldwide and are delivering results. This helps them to reorient to meet new demands from their changed role from administrator to manager. Their exposure-inside and outside the country by means of training and different such activities - make them understand the actual reality of our backwardness in different fields in world economic and development race. These realizations compel them to act to remain competitive and provide energy and support to reorient them to face the emerging challenges. There in need to make it more comprehensive but satisfaction can be derived to a certain extent from the fact that something is better than nothing.

This is the story of one side of the coin.

But what about the other side of the coin, are there any systems in place to equip and prepare our politicians to reorient themselves to face new challenges faced by them by different factors like bureaucracy? As I see, there is no such system. Can we win the battle of developed country without such a system? A natural answer will be no and it is the truth. Now politics is leaving its old and traditional style and is adopting and using new methods e.g. use of SMS, Internet, websites, new printing mediums etc in order not to lag behind in the new competitive environment. As we are aware, the use of internet is penetrating every aspect of life including politics. President Obama’s election is a good example and the best lesson to learn for the political parties all over the world. He did a new successful experiment and it is an example to others in this field to emulate.

In my opinion, blaming our politicians- as we usually do- for bad governance, slow economic growth, high unemployment, non development of infrastructure, high corruption level, poverty, lack of basic amenities etc. without offering them any opportunity of learning and reorienting is a great injustice to them. To prove my point, I would give the example of our Prime Minister Dr Singh and his trusted lieutenant Mr Ahluwalia . They had the opportunity to upgrade their skills through relevant educations, international exposure and this is proved in their performance. There is no serious thinking under consideration to provide political leaders managerial inputs to tackle the challenges of a new seamless world. The required exposure, a few have that are their personal and family’s efforts. There is no system in place to improve the political managerial (How to run the government and party efficiently to make the country number one in the world) quality of future architects of our nation. Almost all national and regional registered parties (registered with Election Commission of India) make an all out effort to win elections to various tiers of our governance structure. But nothing is done after they are elected to enhance their capability to perform and manage better. Winning election is only the trailer of the picture. It means our picture is not going to a success, a hit. To make it a hit picture, we have to think and start something new and innovative. To equip our leaders to face new challenges and to have better coordination with bureaucracy and public and other stakeholders they need exposure of the best practices of the world in the field of party, public and economic management. To achieve this, I am suggesting a new and innovative program for the politicians of my country. Since, it is new and innovative a reputed international organization has to take the lead. I would suggest that UNDP India own this responsibility. There are great possibilities that after some time of the initiative it may be made an integral part of the activities of the political parties. A rule can be framed on this latter on. Initially to set this agenda in motion we have to take the pain.

A brief outline of my new and innovative idea which is in my thought process is as under:

It is basically capacity development approach in a new field in a systematic way.

Program: Preparing young and future Indian leaders for the 21st century’s challenges through building their capacity by providing them opportunity to learn the best national and international practices about party, economic and public management.

Partners: UNDP, Government of India(GoI), Election Commission of India(ECI), Institutions active in this filed, NGO working for good governance, all national and regional parties registered with ECI and national and international donor agencies.

Duration of training: Two months, one month in India and one month outside the country

(Foreign training)

Subject of training: (Changeable) Very broadly it can be divided into two categories:

Making ready for party and election management (When on holding any mandated authority)

1. How to manage political parties efficiently. What are and were the best practices and examples is this regards e.g use of internet by Mr. Obama. Lectures of past and present heads of nations and successful political performers in the field of politics and its management should be an integral part of the program.
2. How to manage elections. How coordinate with election process and associated officials. How to prevent entry and remove bad practices form the election and election. E.g. how to check malpractices in the election, how to enhance poll percentage, how to act to help in electoral rolls preparation, how to reduce election expenditure, how to prevent entry of bad characters in politics and how to promote good persons to join the etc. In this are best national and transnational best practices should be part of the program.
3. How to serve and meet the expectations of the general public and voters with limited time and resources. How to use new invented technological tools to be more successful.
4. Who are and were 20 best leaders in the world at each level of management. Their study will sharpen the acumen and the best practice of one will be the tool for others.

Making ready for the role of Government actors (MP, MLA, Minister, Mayer,--- Village head man)

1. The main focus in the role is how to make a balance among government, public, bureaucracy, party etc. It is a multidimensional task and really challenging.

2. Policy formulation, reform and its efficient and successful implementation. How to make and implement pubic policy (demand driven policy and supply driven policy): theory and practices with case studies.

3. Which are the 20 best economically performing countries in the world. Why they are performing well? What are main factors of their performance? Which leader did what, how and why and when (time of policy implementation and reform plays a major role)? It will be better if leaders’ interactive sessions are organized to make the program more effective useful and fruitful.

4. Who are and were 20 best leaders in the world who perform superb at each level of government in government official capacity. Their study will sharpen the acumen and the best practice of one will be the rule for others without experimentation.

Participants: To begin with, young leaders up to the age of 45 years should be get the chance to learn. It can be later extended to include older leaders. Every national and regional party has youth wings. In each training batch parties will nominate their young leaders up to the age of 45 years. The number will be fixed according to resources and strength of the batch with national party’s nomination more than regional one in each batch.

Financing: Whole expense on each participant can be shared: contribution by the parties (5% - token amount to make them serious towards the program and awareness generation), contribution of central government (30%) and state governments (15%) and 50% donations from donors and NGOs in the leadership of UNDP.

Key actor, Co coordinator, owner of the program: The election commission of India as all registered political parties is its clients.

Implementation strategy: There are institute doing research and imparting training in good governance. With the collaboration we can get tailor the program according to our need.

Additional benefit:

1. It is a form of the best effective political reform.
2. If such systemization is practiced in politics in a professional manner it will attract the educated youth to join politics which is not he trend now.
3. It may change the trend in reverse direction. Then choosing politics would be by design and not by default. As a result the problem of criminalization of politics will be addressed to some extent.
4. It may prove a boon to Indian politics as it aims at professionalizing the political management. It will reduce the economic wastes of money during the elections and in other activities.
5. It will bring good competitions among the politicians which may lead to over all enhancement of efficiency.
6. It will reduce the usual friction and conflict used to develop between political actors and bureaucracy.
7. It will be a model and can be implemented in other countries with similar situations.
8. It will be increasing the constituency of UNDP and enhancing the number of its supporters.

Problem No.-One of India: - Population Explosion / Unwanted population growth

In India the root cause of almost all problems, faced by the country, is unwanted population growth and population explosion. Mostly Indians (Majority) do not know what ills of the population explosion are. All developmental activities are being covered by the very fast growing population.
To make every Indian citizen aware regarding this utmost importance issue. A“POPULATION EXPLOSION AWARENESS PROJECT” should be launched in India without any delay.
Project brief: In this project, a collaboration of Govt. of India, State Govt. and International agencies like UN, UNDP, WHO, UNICEF, UNPFA, USAID, UNAIDS, UNFEM, CEDPA, DFID, WORLD BANK, ADB, IMF be formed.
What we need to do in this project, we will have to make it a mass eye catching project. Basically we will make aware the citizens by organizing meetings at all levels by involving politicians.
At village level meeting under the village Headman (Pradhan) should be organized along with all villagers.
At block level we should involve MP, MLA of the area and Block Pramukh &members (BDC)
At district level District Panchayat (Zila Parisad) Chairman should head the meeting. All MP, MLA, members of panchayat should participate actively in the meeting.
The CEO of the project at district level should be the District Magistrate/DC. And at division level CEO should be the divisional commissioner.
At state level –a high power committee should be formed in the leadership of Hon`ble State Chief Minister, who will have a monthly meeting for monitoring & evaluation of the project.
At National level –a high power committee should be formed in the chairmanship/ leadership of the Hon`ble Prime Minister of India. There should be a quarterly meeting of the committee with all CMs & Chief Sec. of the states to achieve quality implementation of the project.
By involving the Election commission of India & state election commissions, we can send strong messages to all political parties throughout the country, over this national issue. For proper publicity we will have to engage print & electronic media a bigger way.
This project is utmost need of the country, which needs heed at all level without any further delay.
Resident Coordinator UN India can play a catalytic role in framing and launching the project with the immediate effect.

THANKS®ARDS

(HEERA LAL)
heeralalpcs@yahoo.co.in

Problem No.-One of India: - Population Explosion / Unwanted population growth

In India the root cause of almost all problems, faced by the country, is unwanted population growth and population explosion. Mostly Indians (Majority) do not know what ills of the population explosion are. All developmental activities are being covered by the very fast growing population.
To make every Indian citizen aware regarding this utmost importance issue. A“POPULATION EXPLOSION AWARENESS PROJECT” should be launched in India without any delay.
Project brief: In this project, a collaboration of Govt. of India, State Govt. and International agencies like UN, UNDP, WHO, UNICEF, UNPFA, USAID, UNAIDS, UNFEM, CEDPA, DFID, WORLD BANK, ADB, IMF be formed.
What we need to do in this project, we will have to make it a mass eye catching project. Basically we will make aware the citizens by organizing meetings at all levels by involving politicians.
At village level meeting under the village Headman (Pradhan) should be organized along with all villagers.
At block level we should involve MP, MLA of the area and Block Pramukh &members (BDC)
At district level District Panchayat (Zila Parisad) Chairman should head the meeting. All MP, MLA, members of panchayat should participate actively in the meeting.
The CEO of the project at district level should be the District Magistrate/DC. And at division level CEO should be the divisional commissioner.
At state level –a high power committee should be formed in the leadership of Hon`ble State Chief Minister, who will have a monthly meeting for monitoring & evaluation of the project.
At National level –a high power committee should be formed in the chairmanship/ leadership of the Hon`ble Prime Minister of India. There should be a quarterly meeting of the committee with all CMs & Chief Sec. of the states to achieve quality implementation of the project.
By involving the Election commission of India & state election commissions, we can send strong messages to all political parties throughout the country, over this national issue. For proper publicity we will have to engage print & electronic media a bigger way.
This project is utmost need of the country, which needs heed at all level without any further delay.
Resident Coordinator UN India can play a catalytic role in framing and launching the project with the immediate effect.

THANKS®ARDS

(HEERA LAL)
heeralalpcs@yahoo.co.in

Health-care tourism is real brother of IT which brought India on Global map as a strong country

.
Healthcare tourism is real brother of IT which brought India on Global map as a strong country



Developing Healthcare-Tourism in India can be next challenge like IT. India has all required resources and competitive advantages: 1) Lowest cost. 2) Minimal waiting time. 3) Availability of all procedures 4) Vibrant and varied culture. 4) Availability of well established and international standard tourist facilities and expertise. 5) Availability of international standards medical facilities and expertise. 6) Well established export promotion council, marts and networks for the assistance.

To systematize and promote this industry through cluster approach, Government of India need to constitute a healthcare tourist development authority (HTDA). It must be headed by a renowned successful officer of cabinet secretary rank. Its prominent members should be joint secretary rank officer from the Ministry of Health, Tourism and Commerce, who will be in charge for this in their respective ministries. The secretary’s role of the authority should be with the secretary tourism. All leading medical corporate and groups, hotel associations and export promotion councils are to be made member of the authority. To start the first cluster, task force has found a suitable and central place in the national capital region (NCR) - Greater Noida. Both the Noida and the Greater Noida authority are involved in developing international standard facilities for the national and international businesses. In Greater Noida, an international airport is proposed. It is well connected to Agra and Rajasthan which are the renowned tourist places and well connected through air, rail and road routes. All major medical, hotel and export councils are situated in the NCR and required infrastructure facilities are up to the mark.

We have all international facilities related to tourism, medical and commerce. Export mart is already successfully working in Noida. It is internationally well know because Export mart organizes international trade fairs frequently. We have to associate different export councils to attract foreign visitors for the medical care. It is highly probable that if a visitor is coming for commercial activities and if he finds international treatment at a relatively cheaper rate nearby, he would prefer it. In this indigenous entrepreneurs and councils can play a good role in motivating and convincing them. It will help them also as visitor will get a feel of human touch and it will bring them closure which will ultimately increase their commercial activities too.
The Medical, Health and Family welfare ministry is the central to all ideas. It has to establish a formal system for international standard accreditation. It must crate a formal authority in side the ministry in the leadership of joint secretary who is member of HTDA. This newly created authority has all leading medical groups and hospitals as its members. They already have started such business on their own. They will provide all needed information and facilitate and participate in the clusters. Non Resident Indian
(NRI) can be a large clientele to begin with. Once they will get the satisfactory and cheap treatment of their expectation comparable to US and other developed country, not only will they convince their relatives who are doctors to work in India but also they will act as link for the foreigner friends for their medical treatment in India. It is proven fact as Dr. Reddy got tasted success in this line. The income level of all foreign return doctors will go up as they will find good business in the cluster and their visiting time waste and discomfort will reduce. This will act as catalyst in bringing back the NRI doctors. We have competitive advantage cost wise in almost all procedures as compared to other countries particularly Thailand. Thailand is slightly more costly than us as per the data available. By combining commercial, tourism and medical activities we can increase our competitiveness greatly. If a foreigner is coming for commercial purpose for two days he would like to visit some tourist places nearby and some health related activities. As per data, average visit time is about a week. In a week all three activities can be accommodated very successfully. If it is made possible the medical cost will be too low as compared to other countries. There are so many other such potent places like Greter Noida- Calcutta, Mumbai, and Chennai to name a few.
It will be a cluster managed by tourism ministry. Tourism ministry has overseas marketing offices in many countries e.g. Los Angeles, New York, Canada, Paris, UK, Germany, Australia, China, Singapore, Japan, South Africa, Dubai, Netherlands, Italy, Germany. Through these offices we can launch a marketing campaign highlighting different advantages. We will directly or through NRI associations approach target groups after conducting a study for this. The main role of tourism ministry will be coordination, facilitation in cluster development and marketing.

A central high level high authority - healthcare tourism development authority (HTDA) is to be constituted to control, monitor, and take care of day-to-day business. It will have experienced members both pubic and private and related to all three ministries. The Greater Noida is the most suitable place in all respect to start with. After the development of this first cluster we will develop at other place like Calcutta. Chennai, Mumbai taking the advantage of experience of this place. A similar authority will to be formed at state level to find suitable places for the clusters. Mind-set at state level will start changing with the formation of such authority and it will greatly help to HTDA. The HTDA will provide the required directions and guidance to state authorities and it will work in close coordination with them. At state level environment building is the first priority. This will be achieved by forming sate level authority. We have to develop suitable and special staff required for this. We have to ensure the visitors don’t feel that they are in hospital rather they feel that they are with and in their family to spend their holidays. We will not treat them a patient but rather our esteem and highly valuable guests. With this mind-set we will surely ensure success. The Greater Noida authority has all expertise and famous for to develop the basic facilities as per the need of all three ministries and others of international level. Now India is in limelight worldwide because of its impressive growth. This is a favorable situation for the market development. With this cluster all three ministries will benefit so they have their own interest. To have a strong and required coordination we will create authorities at central and state level. It will be a private cluster facilitated by GoI and state governments. It will be another successful PPP with a major role by the private actors.

Health-care tourism is real brother of IT which brought India on Global map as a strong country

.
Healthcare tourism is real brother of IT which brought India on Global map as a strong country



Developing Healthcare-Tourism in India can be next challenge like IT. India has all required resources and competitive advantages: 1) Lowest cost. 2) Minimal waiting time. 3) Availability of all procedures 4) Vibrant and varied culture. 4) Availability of well established and international standard tourist facilities and expertise. 5) Availability of international standards medical facilities and expertise. 6) Well established export promotion council, marts and networks for the assistance.

To systematize and promote this industry through cluster approach, Government of India need to constitute a healthcare tourist development authority (HTDA). It must be headed by a renowned successful officer of cabinet secretary rank. Its prominent members should be joint secretary rank officer from the Ministry of Health, Tourism and Commerce, who will be in charge for this in their respective ministries. The secretary’s role of the authority should be with the secretary tourism. All leading medical corporate and groups, hotel associations and export promotion councils are to be made member of the authority. To start the first cluster, task force has found a suitable and central place in the national capital region (NCR) - Greater Noida. Both the Noida and the Greater Noida authority are involved in developing international standard facilities for the national and international businesses. In Greater Noida, an international airport is proposed. It is well connected to Agra and Rajasthan which are the renowned tourist places and well connected through air, rail and road routes. All major medical, hotel and export councils are situated in the NCR and required infrastructure facilities are up to the mark.

We have all international facilities related to tourism, medical and commerce. Export mart is already successfully working in Noida. It is internationally well know because Export mart organizes international trade fairs frequently. We have to associate different export councils to attract foreign visitors for the medical care. It is highly probable that if a visitor is coming for commercial activities and if he finds international treatment at a relatively cheaper rate nearby, he would prefer it. In this indigenous entrepreneurs and councils can play a good role in motivating and convincing them. It will help them also as visitor will get a feel of human touch and it will bring them closure which will ultimately increase their commercial activities too.
The Medical, Health and Family welfare ministry is the central to all ideas. It has to establish a formal system for international standard accreditation. It must crate a formal authority in side the ministry in the leadership of joint secretary who is member of HTDA. This newly created authority has all leading medical groups and hospitals as its members. They already have started such business on their own. They will provide all needed information and facilitate and participate in the clusters. Non Resident Indian
(NRI) can be a large clientele to begin with. Once they will get the satisfactory and cheap treatment of their expectation comparable to US and other developed country, not only will they convince their relatives who are doctors to work in India but also they will act as link for the foreigner friends for their medical treatment in India. It is proven fact as Dr. Reddy got tasted success in this line. The income level of all foreign return doctors will go up as they will find good business in the cluster and their visiting time waste and discomfort will reduce. This will act as catalyst in bringing back the NRI doctors. We have competitive advantage cost wise in almost all procedures as compared to other countries particularly Thailand. Thailand is slightly more costly than us as per the data available. By combining commercial, tourism and medical activities we can increase our competitiveness greatly. If a foreigner is coming for commercial purpose for two days he would like to visit some tourist places nearby and some health related activities. As per data, average visit time is about a week. In a week all three activities can be accommodated very successfully. If it is made possible the medical cost will be too low as compared to other countries. There are so many other such potent places like Greter Noida- Calcutta, Mumbai, and Chennai to name a few.
It will be a cluster managed by tourism ministry. Tourism ministry has overseas marketing offices in many countries e.g. Los Angeles, New York, Canada, Paris, UK, Germany, Australia, China, Singapore, Japan, South Africa, Dubai, Netherlands, Italy, Germany. Through these offices we can launch a marketing campaign highlighting different advantages. We will directly or through NRI associations approach target groups after conducting a study for this. The main role of tourism ministry will be coordination, facilitation in cluster development and marketing.

A central high level high authority - healthcare tourism development authority (HTDA) is to be constituted to control, monitor, and take care of day-to-day business. It will have experienced members both pubic and private and related to all three ministries. The Greater Noida is the most suitable place in all respect to start with. After the development of this first cluster we will develop at other place like Calcutta. Chennai, Mumbai taking the advantage of experience of this place. A similar authority will to be formed at state level to find suitable places for the clusters. Mind-set at state level will start changing with the formation of such authority and it will greatly help to HTDA. The HTDA will provide the required directions and guidance to state authorities and it will work in close coordination with them. At state level environment building is the first priority. This will be achieved by forming sate level authority. We have to develop suitable and special staff required for this. We have to ensure the visitors don’t feel that they are in hospital rather they feel that they are with and in their family to spend their holidays. We will not treat them a patient but rather our esteem and highly valuable guests. With this mind-set we will surely ensure success. The Greater Noida authority has all expertise and famous for to develop the basic facilities as per the need of all three ministries and others of international level. Now India is in limelight worldwide because of its impressive growth. This is a favorable situation for the market development. With this cluster all three ministries will benefit so they have their own interest. To have a strong and required coordination we will create authorities at central and state level. It will be a private cluster facilitated by GoI and state governments. It will be another successful PPP with a major role by the private actors.

“How to increase the income of small and marginal farmers of India”

An innovative project on
“How to increase the income of small and marginal farmers of India”

India is an agricultural country. About 70% of Indian populations are either farmers or involved in some agricultural related activities and still they are dependent on agriculture for their bread and butter. Of these, about 70% are small and marginal farmers with small and marginal holdings. Small and marginal farmers grow staple crops for their food needs. They don’t have large landholdings to increase their income by pursing commercial farming. Now question is how do they increase their income with their small land holdings? They can’t increase their land area or acres. However we wish to increase their income in current situations. These two things are contrary and look difficult to achieve together. But we know ‘there is will there is way’ and we can help them in such contradictory situations if we desire to do so.
The global warming has also affected the crops in many ways e.g. by changed rain timings and quantity. So they are facing irrigation problem and their crops are devastating. Indian farmers are under danger and we have to mitigate it. Plants and trees are the natural pills and the simplest obvious cure without any side effect. If farmers take pledge to grow threes then they can reduce the effect of global warming to a greater effect. To achieve this mission, farmers need large land holdings and small farmers’ land is not even sufficient to grow staple food to meet their food need. Then where do they cultivate plants? We have to find the solution of this problem.
In the light of above explained situation, our main issue is the availability of lands for plantation. We have the solution of this problem. The farmers can plant on the “boundaries” of their lands. In India, lands holdings of farmers are divided into small shapes of different sizes. Each boundary is clearly located for each land in revenue land records. In absence of these boundaries disputes arises. To avoid any such conflict, it is mandatory for the revenue department officials to demarcate each boundary line of every plot or land very clearly in accordance with revenue manual. To make and to give shape to the boundaries, boundaries are made of soils. Boundaries made of soil also help in irrigating the crops grown on the land. These boundaries are not used for any purpose. Thus, these boundaries are the right place for plantations in the current circumstances. It is empirically proved that on boundaries we can plant without affecting the regular crop yields. There are a variety of plants and trees which ripe in 6-7 years and give a handsome money to the farmers when they sell it. Its maintenance is easy. This initiative of the farmers will reduce the affect of the global warming and it will increase the income of small and marginal farmers. And it will also improve the economic conditions of more than 50% Indian farmers. Theses 50% farmers are backbone of Indian economy. In turn, we can say this project will make Indian economic backbone strong.
The next step is how to implement this project. This is the most difficult part of the whole idea. On implementation part, we have to be very cautious otherwise its fate would be same as we met in the past in all such types of projects. The main steps in this project:
1. How to make it farmers project: In each village we have to provide/give some basic information and knowledge about the project. Though most of the farmers are having expertise how to grow trees but updating them, and telling new and modern techniques of plantations will help a lot in making the project successful. Above all, we have to convince the farmers how they will earn money and how they will become rich without any additional inputs, financial burden and investment. We will tell them that government is doing fix deposit in your name with a minor difference- it is in kind not in cash. What they require is time investment and care. Time investment is not a problem with Indian farmers. They have plenty of time to invest. To accomplish this we have to train them properly at block level and in turn they will train other villagers as per the need. At the village level, we will develop volunteers out of these trained farmers and they will serve as employees of the project in that village. If we were able to convince the farmers that it is their fix deposit with 6-7 years maturity period and in this period their money will become 200 times. The project will be 100% success because they will find it their own project rather than regarding it as government project. The money of fixed deposit will be given by the government in the form of training, know-how, updating and free plants supply.
2. We have to supply the plants free or at very nominal cost just to make them feel its importance. It may be if they get free then they don’t realize its value. We can do this very easily. At block level, with the help of some farmers, we need to develop one or more plants nurseries according to requirements. We will collect demands of different types of plants of farmers’ village wise. For this, we can get land voluntarily or on rent with the big farmers. Seeds are highly cheap. The technical person to grow nurseries, we will get from different sources e.g. private nurseries, trained and experienced gardeners and retired personnel from horticulture and forest department at district level. One main feature will be that we will get many devoted farmer volunteers without any difficulty at all levels. Based on my field experience, I am sure they will involve happily as volunteer. To save it form governments administrative jargons and corruptions, it should be implemented by NGOs under the direct supervision of Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDMs) with the help of local horticulture and forest officers and personals who will act as per the direction of SDM. In this way, we will involve the SDMs in developmental activities. The main roles of SDM will be to coordinate, monitor and facilitate in order to get the desired results in collaborations with NGOs and farmers. This will be a new approach with the direct involvement of the most effective officers of the field. This will be a trend breaking as SDMs are not directly involved in developmental activities in some state like UP.
3. In this multi-year project to start with it should be implemented in a block in the first year. After getting success in a block we should implement in all blocks of a district in the second year. And after the success in the district it can be implanted in whole state in the third year. One more option is that it could be started from the most backward districts to reduce the cost.
4. In my opinion, this project has the same potential like Bangladesh micro financing project which got noble prize as it is a public (Janta) project. Here public refers all farmers excluding the richer and the richest who constitute about the 70% of Indian population.
5. One main reason of failure of projects is that beneficiaries (clients) don’t able to appreciate the benefits for which it is designed. As a result, they don’t regard it as their own project. Rather they regard that government (principal) has imposed on them. If we analyze we find that principal- client effect is the main cause of the failure of the projects. The alignment of project provider and beneficiaries are not the same. So, projects don’t get due place and importance in the mind of the beneficiaries. In this project the main point which is addressed is how to make it a public project instead of government projects. To make farmers think it their own and to take its ownership.
Above is the very brief outline of the projects. The detail project will lead to a very minute documentation of each step who will do what and how. To get the support of local officials we have to collaborate with the government of India and the state governments.
Yours truly,
HEERA LAL (P.C.S.)
Deputy Housing commissioner,
U.P. Housing &Development Board,
Kamla Nagar, Agra (U.P.) INDIA, Mobile: +919412493734
Email: heeralalpcs@yahoo.co.in,
Current location: Pursuing Executive Master of Public Administration at Maxwell School of Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA.
Apartment no. 220; Building No.2; Nob Hill Apartments;
121, Lafayette Road; Syracuse, NY, USA; ZIP -13205
315-395-0291(Mobile) 315-214-5558(Residence)