7/27/2019 NFDA - Dealing With Mass Fatalities

1/3july 20, 2013 vol xlviII no 29 EPW Economic & Political Weekly4

LETTERS

Ever since the first issue in 1966,

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It succeededEconomic Weekly(1949-1965),

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gave EPW the reputation it now enjoys.

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C Rammanohar Reddy

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Issn 0012-9976

Dr KSK

KS Krishnaswamy was, together withM N Srinivas and V K R V Rao,among the foremost intellectuals in

social sciences in Karnataka and India. Peo-

ple like Dr KSK who retired from the Re-serve Bank of India (RBI) as deputy gover-

nor are rare and it is well worth remember-

ing them because it enriches all of us and

sets an example for the young to emulate.

He was one of the earlier Indian stu-

dents to study in the UK at the time of

Independence. He returned to India and

except for a stint as the executive direc-

tor of the Economic Development Insti-

tute of the World Bank, worked in India

throughout. He was one of a small group

that included the likes of I G Patel, Arun

Ghosh and K N Raj who were associated

with the start of the planning process in

the Planning Commission in the 1950s.

He then moved back to the RBI. In all the

positions he held, he served with a quiet

distinction. All economic policymakers

have a lot to learn from him on how to

communicate with non-economists on

economic matters. This he did by using a

convincing, simple, clear language to in-

terpret the assumptions, descriptions ofthe economic system and the logical

conclusions emerging from all that. Over

the years I certainly benefited from his

razor-sharp mind and crystal-clear prose.

The idea of a centre like the Centre for

Budget and Policy Studies (CBPS) in Ban-

galore was in the air from 1995 onwards,

and it took a few years to take shape.

Dr KSK was part of this ideation process.

Between 1998 and 2008, he was chair of

the academic council ofCBPS. He regu-

larly met our colleagues, read their re-

ports, presided over a large number of

meetings, and in his gentle, soft way, did

a great deal to improve the quality of the

reports and papers we prepared. CBPS

owes a big debt of gratitude to Dr KSK.

His last book, Windows of Opportunity,

a kind of intellectual autobiography, was

completed a few years earlier and CBPS

is proud that he used our office facilities

while writing this book. His discussion of

the dilemmas he faced in the devaluationof the rupee in the 1960s brings out the

core of ethical values that underlay all

his work. His discussion of his childhood

days brings to mind the charm of Malgudi.

Dr KSKhad a strong moral sense of what

was right, and this permeated his econom-

ic reasoning. His work therefore encom-

passed issues of poverty on which he

edited a volume for the Sameeksha Trust the unfashionable area of income distribu-

tion, and of course both planning models

and monetary policy. After his retirement

from the RBI and his shift to Bangalore,

where he lived very simply with his wife

Madura, he made important contributions

to the thinking on decentralisation, work-

ing closely with Ramakrishna Hegde and

Abdul Nasir Sab in the 1980s. Along with

L C Jain he reviewed the functioning of

that brief system in a report that is today

hard to find. The insights he brought out

have much relevance even today.

I was fortunate in having a long associa-

tion with Dr KSK. He knew my father who

had worked with him in the Planning

Commission in the 1950s. He had grown

up in Kadur along with my mother-in-law,

Kamakshmi, of whom he was very fond,

and he knew my wife Poornima from

birth. After his retirement from the RBI,

and his return to Bangalore, we met often.

I learned something from each meeting.He had a quirky sense of humour. I recall

an invitation one day for a drink. This was

unusual, so I asked why. He twinkled: To

celebrate 40 years of diabetes!

In his passing, I have lost a mentor,

CBPS a generous friend, and the econom-

ics profession a keeper of our collective

conscience. He was no believer in religion

and ritual. But a gentle soul like him can

only be in a better place.

Vinod Vyasulu

Bangalore

Indias Growth Story

EPW has published an interesting ar-ticle by R Nagaraj (Indias DreamRun, 2003-08, 18 May 2013) and a very

incisive editorial (The Faltering Econo-

my, 15 June 2013). It needs to be noted

that empirical/statistical research has to

tell the long story on growth; short stories

may lead to missing the woods for thetrees. The long story was told in the

pages of EPW by Dongre and Hatekar

7/27/2019 NFDA - Dealing With Mass Fatalities

2/3Economic & Political Weekly EPW july 20, 2013 vol xlviII no 29 5

LETTERS

Web Exclusives

The following articles have been uploaded in the past week in the Web Exclusives section of

the EPW website. They have not been published in the print edition.

(1) Clothing Garment Workers in Safety: The Case of Bangladesh Rashmi Venkatesan

(2) Atrocities Against Dalits: The Pabnava Incident Ratnesh Katulkar

(3) Whist le-blowing in the Wind Srinivasan Ramani, Stanly JohnyArticles posted before 6 July 2013 remain available in the Web Exclusives section.

(Structural Breaks in Indias Growth,

2 April 2005). The oft-repeated proposition

of a sluggish Hindu Rate of Growth hav-

ing a structural break in the 1980s was

rebutted and it was shown that the period

of 1950 to 1980, later much despised by

the reformers, was one with the statis-

tically significant break from the previ-ous 50-year period of the 20th century.

As Nagaraj rightly points out, protago-

nists of policy paralysis (who often blame

it on the pressures of a democratic polity)

are wrong in their short-term diagnosis

too. In fact, the Indian growth story is

one of five to six year cyclical ups and

downs since the 1990s and this is indeed

indicative of the limitations in the drivers

of growth in pushing a sustained rate.

The narrow base of the levers of growth

could be one main reason for this.

More economic reforms ignoring the

distributive aspects may not break this

cyclical pattern of booms and busts.

Mihir Rakshits view that the Indian slow-

down is largely independent of the global

economic slowdown is pertinent here.

It appears that for a higher sustained

economic growth, we need an alternative

paradigm of more mass-based growth

rather than worrying about the paralysis

of reforms which can, at their best, per-haps create another boom before a bust.

R Mohan

Thiruvananthapuram

Leapfrog toConscious Capitalism

In his interesting article (From TrickleDown to Leapfrog, EPW, 15 June2013), Frederic Landy proposes a subsidy

scheme for dry land farmers growing

organic food. This is a good idea but its

objective can also be achieved by involv-

ing the private corporate sector. In the

United States, the Whole Foods Compa-

ny is gaining importance among con-

sumers because of its emphasis on or-

ganic food. The chief executive officer of

Whole Foods, John Mackey, and a business

management professor, Raj Sisodia have

written a path-breaking book entitled

Conscious Capitalism. That book pro-

vides insight into how the private sectorcan create socially and environmentally

optimal goods. In India too, there are

enlightened private sector people and

non-governmental organisations who

have been promoting organic food. One

such organisation is the Bharatiya Agro

Industries Foundation (BAIF) near Pune,

established by a Gandhian, the late

Manibhai Desai. Relevant state govern-

ment agencies can provide a partnershipwith such organisations and help dry land

farmers in growing organic food effi-

ciently. Conscious capitalism has a ca-

pacity to create a win-win situation

without relying entirely on the monopo-

lies of the state schemes which are in-

fested with well-known moral hazards.

Chandrashekhar G Ranade

Washington DC

Dealing with Mass Fatalities

The recent flash flood, cloudburstsand landslides in five districts ofUttarakhand pose serious questions about

our preparedness to deal with mass

fatality in India. Management of dead

bodies in a proper and dignified manner

is one of the most difficult aspects of dis-

aster response. Despite several disasters,

the government still does not have a policy

or standard operating procedure for

dealing with dead bodies or any fatalityinfrastructure preparedness plans.

In its absence, the government is con-

sulting the holy men in Uttarakhand re-

garding mass cremation and proper ritual.

Corpses have been lying for days in the

sun and rain but forensic teams for tak-

ing photos of the bodies and DNA sam-

ples were sent after almost a week!

It is high time that the government

should learn from this disaster and pre-

pare a mass fatality infrastructure prepar-

edness policy. The policy should focus on

operational procedures for body recovery;

storage of bodies; body identification

and medico-legal investigation protocol;

funeral services and final disposal of

mass fatalities; and providing family as-

sistance. Considering Indias divergences,

ethnic and religious sensitivities should be

addressed appropriately.

Anant Kumar

Ranchi

Cars and Womens Safety

In their detailed article Can We Reducethe Rate of Growth of Car Ownership?(EPW, 8 June 2013) Ghate and Sundar

have rightly pointed at the alarming rate

with which the ownership of cars is grow-

ing in the country. It is not purely economic

reasons for which people are increasingly

buying cars today. I would like to point out

that the safety and security of the women

is another factor which is contributing to

this growth in car ownership.

The availability of public transport, as

said by the writers, in the cities is not

just low, it is often very unsafe for women

to travel in them. Women are often

molested, groped and face other forms of

physical and verbal abuse inside buses and

trains making public commute quite un-

pleasant. There is also the lack of safety

between home or office and the nearest

boarding place. Even if security is (mar-

ginally) increased in the buses and trainsand around the boarding points, the

roads/streets leading to the home(s)

largely remain unsafe.

Those who can afford car(s) would

thus like to avoid public transport and

use cars for their commute.

Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and

Kolkata contributed a mammoth 33.23%

of the total crimes against women in

2012, according to the National Crime

Records Bureaus 2012 report. It is no

coincidence that these are the cities with

maximum car ownership as the article

has mentioned.

Lalan Bhagat

New Delhi

7/27/2019 NFDA - Dealing With Mass Fatalities

3/3

LETTERS

july 20, 2013 vol xlviII no 29 EPW Economic & Political Weekly6

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