![]() ![]() There is a committee on decongestion of Delhi, one “for improving the communication network during disasters”, the Water Resources Ministry has a Task Force for Interlinking Rivers and a Special Committee on Interlinking of Rivers, there is a Committee for a draft policy on Auto Fuel Vision under the petroleum ministry and a National Transport Development Policy Committee under the transport ministry. Typically, the mix is ranged between the sublime and the surreal-for instance, there is a committee on extension of retirement age for scientists from 60 to 65, this in an economy facing a workforce bulge. Then there is the Committee for Traffic Growth, the Sreedharan Committee on Improving and Functioning Performance of Railways, the Advisory Board of Railway Finances, the Kayakalp Council headed by Ratan Tata, the Committee for revamping the PPP cell, the Technology Mission and the group for IT Vision. This was preceded by a report of the Mittal Committee on the Financial Health of Railways. On Thursday, the Bibek Debroy Committee submitted its blueprint for the revival of the Railways. ![]() With some ministries, the creation of committees is an article of faith-for instance, the Ministry of Railways. There hasn’t been a census of committees yet but informed denizens on Raisina Hill place the score between 60 and 75-and these are in addition to the institutionalised and inter-ministerial committees. The Modi Sarkar too-driven by compelling reasons and conflicting compulsions-created its share of committees. Yet problems persist and so do committees. It is often said, half in jest, that governments have appointed committees and studied every problem that India is confronted with. In May 2015, the government informed Parliament that Katoch Committee recommendations “are being examined for formulation of a Policy for Promotion of Manufacturing of Bulk Drugs”. By March 2015, India’s API imports- frontline essentials like paracetamol, metformin, ranitidine, amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, including those on WHO’s essential list-grew tenfold to over Rs 11,000 crore in ten years. In November 2014, NSA Ajit Doval underlined the “overdependence” on China. Meanwhile, share of bulk drug imports from China had nearly doubled to 40-plus per cent. Typically, the government went into review mode. ![]() In May 2013, the Katoch Committee gave its recommendations. In 2012, the government appointed a committee. In 2010-11, inexplicable deaths at clinical trials, reports of growing one-source dependence, pressure of domestic producers, and the wrath of the Parliamentary Committee on Health finally got the attention of the government. It was business/imports as usual till a decade later. India’s dependence on imports for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients-and that too from China -was worrisome, both in terms of costs and assurance. I chose the former, simply, because I wished to retain the Latin feel of it.It was early 2003 when experts first identified a trend which could mature into a problem later. You might wonder as to why I chose tædium, with the typographic ligature, instead of the English tedium, which would have been easier and more understandable. Accordingly, ad tædium is a good phrase on its own, for it keeps the negative connotation of ad nauseam and the monotonous nature of ad infinitum. And ad infinitum merely goes on forever, without end, an interminable process. Ad nauseam, for example, is an act carried out until you find yourself “nauseated,” so to speak, i.e., annoyed. Other adverbs of a similar nature, viz., ad nauseam and ad infinitum, can work however, they have their own connotations. The adverb functions as a way of describing some act or process which goes on until you find yourself completely uninterested. The phrase ad tædium is Latin for “toward or until boredom,” and is derived from the prefix -ad (as in ad hominem, ad infinitum), meaning to or toward, and the root word tædium, from which we get tedious and tedium, ultimately meaning weary or bored. Slouched in your chair, head resting between your arms, thoughts in another place, you have been listening to your professor lecturing ad t ædium, to the point that you have to evade the dryness through your imaginative daydreaming, so that now you are not even processing a word he says.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |