Laptops can beat poverty !

Laptops can beat poverty!

The Prime Minister was coming! Suddenly, everyone kicked into action ……the somnolent Orissa Police, the dozing babus of the Secretariat and the paan chewing peons loitering around the corridors! The Sardar was not here to holiday! He had come to review the KBK works!

Everyone knows that the grand KBK plan has been a monumental failure with little work to show on the ground. The doomed tribals continued to starve and migrate to Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh, while crores of rupees were siphoned off. The only guys who benefited were the owners of the plush jewellery showrooms in Bhubaneswar who raked up record sales of gold and diamonds bought by happy wives of KBK officers.

Families of babus of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack used to dread a posting to the boondocks of KBK! However, since the last 6-7 years, no wife cribs that dear hubby has to rough it out in western Orissa. Everybody now drools over a KBK job! The chance of a lifetime to pillage!

However, rain did play spoilsport when the PM arrived. I can never forget the hilarious sight of the Queen hitching up his flappy trousers with his dainty fingers,as he gingerly made his way over the wet tarmac, careful not to wet them! Ah only if he had worn a chiffon designer saree!Would have made a lovely Page 3 picture!

Careful not to mouth any idiotic statements during the Sardar’s stay, the Queen suddenly became voluble after the IAF plane had taken off! He lamented the neglect of the state, forgetting that his babus have been regularly returning central funds due to their sheer inability to spend. In fact, many Central sponsored schemes had to be whittled down due to our incompetent and supremely lazy babus.

However, can’t blame the bureaucrats totally, since the dumb Vigilance watchdogs breathe down their neck and sniff a scam whenever big money is spent. Woe betide the babu who approves the expenditure! He might be locked up in Jharpada jail after a few years when the Queen needs an image boost!

Lord Jagannath saved the Queen! If only, the PM could have made it to Bolangir and Koraput, he would have been shocked to see the rampant diversion of poverty alleviation funds. The district officials lead jazzy lives splurging the funds on air conditioners, designer bathroom tiles, IBM laptops and tonnes of junk equipment in their crusade to fight poverty !

The poor continue to starve without a livelihood! I feel disgusted to see the stark images of emaciated and distressed residents who Ethiopian refugee like, quietly starve in their pitiable hutments, waiting for the mai baap sarkar. Meanwhile the overfed babus and netas zoom around in their luxurious SUVs on their mission to eradicate poverty!

The Queen should stop puckering up his flabby face and spout his fake concerns for the KBK poor. Why doesn't he stay in one of these leaky huts for a week if he wants to improve their lot? Ofcourse, I do wonder if can he ever get the time for this. Won’t banias like Anil Agarwal and the junior Ambani be disappointed if they do not find him waiting to sign MOUs at Bhubaneswar?

All KBK schemes are mired in the cesspool of corruption and the sundry government welfare schemes have miserably failed to lift the poor from their abysmally shocking poverty. I dare the Queen to prove that the lot of even 100 poor families of KBK has improved after the scheme was run.

I do not think even 50 % has been actually spent on the ground. The worse part is that the amount which was spent was wasted since useless schemes which never delivered were executed which hardly benefited the target group.

Just hear about a few success stories about the KBK plan as touted by the state government. Apparently, they formed the Sankumari VSS to protect the Podagad RF under Umerkote Range on which they spent over Rs.12 lakhs from 1998-99 to 2002-03 to carry out plantations over 170 hectares of degraded forest land.

The most ridiculous claim is that over 20 Quintals of Amla was harvested in 2001-02. How could the VSS claim success, since Amla tree would take at least 8 years to mature and yield fruits?

In the Hatapeta Nala mini watershed project an amount of Rs.37.8 lakhs was spent apparently to benefit 9 villages. But there are no figures of the pre project and post project per capita income of the beneficiaries. How do you evaluate success if you cannot compare these two sets of vital figures?

From 1998-99 to 2004-05, a total of Rs.943 crores was allotted, out of which the state claims to have spent 914 crores. Rs.169 crores is for Planning and Coordination with a major portion for roads. For plantations they spent Rs.112 crores.

As expected roads took up 169 crores! Everybody loves roads and everyone knows that KBK roads exist only in the UCs sent to the Centre. And even if they are built, they get washed away by the first monsoon showers! The best way to loot!

On development of agriculture Rs.61 crores was spent. There was measly 7 % allotment for agriculture. Developing agriculture could have stemmed the mass migration which should have been the focus all these years!

A juicy amount has been spent on plantations ……almost 13 %. The forest guys are the happiest lot since they got lots of moolah. A PCCF who has since retired used to go on his infamous KBK collection tours and return with bagfuls of cash.

There is no measuring yard for success since plantations can always fail due to drought or be lost to termites!

The KBK hoax continues and shall do so for the next 100 years, but nothing shall change for the cursed poor of these districts!