1 Friends, I do not understand what is wrong with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), instead of targeting and going after drug peddlers and drug traffickers, that are arresting users, who are found with small quantity drugs. Over the weekend they arrested TV star Bharti Singh and her husband Harsh, when they were raided and in their house NCB found tiny quantity (about 90 grams) of drug (ganja), an interrogation both admitted the drug is for their personal consumption. They were arrested and Saturday night and produced before Magistrate on Sunday, who sent them to judicial custody till 14th Dec 2020. Now if you go by law, it defines up to 1Kg of ganja as small quantity and 20 Kg and above as commercial quantity. For small quantities, the punishment could be up to a year or fine of Rs 1000 or both. If a person is found with commercial quantity, he/she can be jailed for 20 years, if convicted. Their bail plea is filed and will be heard today.
It seems that NCB is going after many celebrities after Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case, where it was alleged that drugs were supplied to him by his girl friend and her brother. Now it has become habit of NCB to arrest some celebrity on drugs related case, which leads to news item and they get free publicity. I do not think they will arrest any member of general public for the petty offence, like possession of tiny of drugs, and even if they arrest it does not become a news item, from where they can get free publicity.
2 All over the world, LONGEVITY has gone up and mortality rates have gone down, thanks to the use of advance medicine that makes nothing is impossible. In India alone, more than 35% of population is comprised of people over 65 years of age. Around the world the component of senior people is on the rise. However nothing else has been changed from the retirement age to liveable conditions for seniors. We have a long way to go before we acknowledge these changes.
In most Asian countries, ageing is familial thing. It is often expected and understood that subsequent generations are expected to take care of seniors. In most case it works out well, since families are large and they can all contribute to look after their children and elderly. For seniors, who become dependent generally feel one problem, sometimes they feel, that they are not finding the respect and they crave for independence, hence some seniors chose to stay independently. In countries like India where social security is not there, and only govt employees get pension, other seniors have to compromise on their lifestyle post retirement.
The problem in other parts of the world is somewhat different. Think of population as an inverted triangle, where seniors at the top broader portion while employed work force is somewhere in the narrow space. This means fewer employed people are now paying for a greater number of seniors in the form of social security. Some developed countries are also now finding difficult to finance social security benefits for seniors, which is reflection on their economy, and talks of cutting social benefits seniors are already being discussed in many countries.
There is one simple way to solve this problem and that is by pushing up the retirement age by a decade or so. This will guarantee that more cash flows into the economy. This way seniors will have a large amount of time before they go in for retirement and its alternative. But this type of arrangement may not be possible in India, as we have large young work force, and delayed retirement may affect their job prospects. Let us hope that Indian policy makers realise this and develop a framework by which retirement age can be raised slowly ever year or so. And after that if seniors want they can continue to work on contractual/consulting assignments, provided openings are available.
Waiting for your views/comments/feed backs.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
23rd November 2020