India's shameful paradox of plenty

It's a paradox of plenty. At a time when India ranks 67th among 81 countries in the 2011 Global Hunger Index prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute, mountains of grain continue to rot in godowns while more recently, irate farmers spilled tonnes of potatoes on the streets in Punjab. A few months ago, it was tomato farmers in Jharkhand, and then it was the turn of onion growers in Rajasthan. And if you think this is a recent phenomenon, you are mistaken. I have seen this happening for nearly 25 years now across the country at regular intervals.

Disgusting, isn’t it? Well, the visuals of food rotting speak volumes of the criminal apathy, neglect and callousness with which we, as a nation, have failed to address the shameful scourge of hunger. For a country that has the dubious distinction of having the largest population of hungry in the world — close to 320 million — and with 42 percent of children officially clubbed as malnourished, the spectacle of massive quantities of food being allowed to go waste is an unpardonable crime. What is still worse is that hunger proliferates in a country that claims to be the world’s largest democracy.

For nearly five years, procurement has hovered at 50-60 million tonnes. Someone had worked it out that if we keep a bag of grain over another, and stack 60 million tonnes in a vertical row, we could actually walk to the moon and back. With so much of surplus grain, and with unmanageable quantities of fruits and vegetables rotting by the roadside, there is no justification for growing hunger. At the same time, it is baffling to find staple food being exported while the population of the hungry and malnourished continues to multiply. No wonder, hunger continues to keep pace with economic growth.

Over the years, farming has become a big gamble. It is not only the worrisome vagaries of weather that more often than not plays havoc, farmers are also faced with a strange phenomenon — produce and perish. Take the case of Suryabhagwan, a farmer in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. This year, he voluntarily announced that he would rather work as a ‘coolie’ than undertake paddy cultivation. Already under heavy debt and knowing that another season of paddy cultivation will only add to his indebtedness, his call for a ‘crop holiday’ soon reverberated. Within weeks, the idea spread like wildfire, with the result that now more than 1 lakh hectares in the two irrigated districts of East and West Godavari lie barren.

AP is a paddy growing area. While production has been steadily on an upswing over the years, adequate market infrastructure for procurement has not been created. The result is that despite a very high production capacity, there is little space for storage. This is not only true of AP or for that matter Punjab and Haryana, the country’s food bowl, but extends to the whole country. The tragedy manifested after the initial years of the Green Revolution, when food became abundantly available. The focus then shifted away from agriculture. With public sector investment drastically falling over the past few decades, agriculture was left at the mercy of the rain gods. Protecting every single grain of food produced to feed the growing population of deprived sections never became a national priority.

While production increased, the accompanying market and storage infrastructure were not created. India does not even have the capacity to handle and absorb an excess production of 5 percent, whether it is of wheat, potato or cotton. Whatever the policymakers may say, the neglect of agriculture was deliberate. It is essentially designed to open up agriculture to private investment. Farmers have been the victims of a bigger and hidden design to push them out of agriculture. The more they produce, the more they suffer. Produce and perish, and thereby make way for corporate agriculture.

Source: Tehelka, Dec 31, 2011

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Op311211proscons.asp

Punjab makes an effort to bring environment in political discourse

The diatribe between the two major political opponents seems unending. In a build up to the impending Punjabelections, there is hardly a day when we don’t get swamped by charges and the counter-charges. While the underlying idea seems to settle political scores, there is hardly anything refreshing in the way charges are being traded.  

Claims and counter-claims notwithstanding, I came across an initiative taken by several social, religious and environmental activists and organisations, which comes as a whiff of fresh air in this murky political climate. On December 14, more than two dozen environmentally conscious groups and individuals have formed a Vatavaran ate Samaj Bachao Morcha (Save Environment and Society Morcha). So as to protect health, environment, agriculture and the society from any further deterioration, the Morcha aims at making it mandatory for the political parties to present a time bound programme to improve the state of polluted environment, water, deteriorating health and at the same time take appropriate steps to prevent farming from turning poisonous.

There couldn’t have been a better and timely initiative. Punjab being the seat of Green Revolution, excessive use of chemical fertiliser and pesticides all these years has turned the soil infertile and poisonous, and at the same time leaching of chemicals into the groundwater has contaminated the water source. Political parties however have remained insensitive to the destruction wrought on the environment as a result of which deadly diseases like cancer are proliferating. Indiscriminate use of drugs and intoxicants too has played havoc with human health. A recent UNDP study had shown that as much as 74 per cent of the youth in Punjabhad consumed drugs at one stage or the other. In other words, both the soil as well as the human population has been drugged.

The Morcha’s aim is reach out to all political parties and leaders and apprise them of the growing destruction of the natural environment. It will impress upon these parties to accord environment protection highest priority in their manifestoes and in their respective governance agenda. The task does not end here. Not only the Morcha, it is also the job of every conscious citizen and voter to raise these concerns whenever they get to meet the prospective candidates or raise their voice in political rallies and meetings. Remember, you cannot leave the task of environmental protection, which is so crucial for your future generations, into the hands of a few environmentally-conscious citizens. You too have a role to play.

This is where we need to draw some lessons from Anna Hazare’s campaign for removing corruption. When a few of us had sat down in October last year planning for raising the issue of a strong janlokpal, we did not leave the task to our elected representatives. As founding members of the India Against Corruption campaign, we took upon ourselves the responsibility to fight corruption. We were hardly ten people in the beginning. Since we were determined, we were able to galvanise the nation to stand and fight for ending corruption. Similarly, you too can make an effort and make a difference.

I don't know if there are such initiatives also in the other states which are ready to go for elections. I am talking of environmental protection here. Environmentally-conscious citizens must make an effort to bring together sensitive and caring people from different walks of life, build up a charter of expectations, and then create wider awareness so as to reach the political parties. Unless people exert more pressure, environmental and social problems cannot be addressed effectively.   

You can probably start by following the activities of the Vatavaran ate Samaj Bachao Morcha, which is headed by Sant Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal. Some of the well-known personalities of the region form the advisory group, and it includes: Prof Jagmohan Singh, Dr Nirmal Singh Panjabi, Dr Bibi Inderjit Kaur, Balbir Singh Rajewal, Pishaura Singh Sidhupur, and Dr GPI Singh. The core committee comprises among others Umendra Dutt and Singh Sahib Giani Kewal Singh. This is your opportunity to save Punjab. 

Potato glut: Looking beyond the markets

The clock has turned full circle. Some 25 years ago, potato growers in Punjab were forced to plough back the standing potato crop since it was more expensive to pull out the tubers from the soil. To demonstrate their indignation, some farmers had even dumped hundreds of bags of potatoes on the streets. Such was the glut in the market, potato prices had tumbled leaving farmers in an unprecedented distress.

Potato growers in Punjabare not an isolated lot. Farmers in Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Gujarat are also faced with an unprecedented glut. Cold storages in the northern region are dumping potato by the roadside or in the nallahs to make way for fresh arrivals. The tragedy is that this year the national production is up by 27 lakh tonnes, which is an increase of 7 per cent over last years's production. In other words, it means that even a 7 per cent increase in production causes an unmanageable glut.  

The fate of potato growers is not much different from what is being felt by basmati and cotton farmers in Punjaband Haryana. In anticipation of a better price this year, based on the price realised last year, there has been a marked shift in acreage under rice to cotton, and basmati. While acreage under cotton had gone up by 19 per cent, the area under basmati increased by 15 per cent. Price of both the commodities has crashed as a result. Farmers are known to be withholding the produce waiting for the market rates to improve. This brings me to the central question. How long will farmers remain at the mercy of the markets?

Faced with a similar situation, and with no potential buyers for even last year’s harvest of paddy, farmers in East Godawari and West Godawari districts in Andhra Pradesh had gone on a crop holiday. Uncertainty of the markets has forced 90 farmers to take their own lives in the past one and a half months in Andhra Pradesh. Over-production of cotton and resulting low market prices has seen over a dozen suicides in the suicide-prone region of Vidharbha in Maharashtrain the past fortnight. Every now and then we hear reports of tomato farmers, onion growers and even mustard farmers dumping their crop by roadside somewhere or the other. 

Returning back to potato in Punjab, in the past few days, newspapers are again full of reports of the massive potato glut that is forcing farmers to dump the harvested crop on roads. Saddled with 2.5 lakh tonnes of unsold harvest from the previous season, and in anticipation of a bumper crop this fortnight, the market has slumped. Against Rs 800 per quintal last year, farmers are able to realise merely Rs 100-150 this year. Such steep fall in prices has brought gloom in the potato belt.  

Twenty-five years, and nothing seems to have changed for farmers. I still recall the then Chief Minister Darbara Singh providing Rs 5-crore for setting up cold storages. Over the years, with steady investment the number of cold storages has increased to 500 plus. If cold storages alone could have addressed the problem, potato growers would have been a happy lot all these years. On the contrary, farmers are reluctant to lift the stored potatoes from the cold storages because of the highly uneconomical prices prevailing in the market.

Nearly 20 lakh quintals of potatoes are lying in cold storages. 

Following the newspapers over the years, I find quite a large number of editorials suggesting the way out from an unmanageable glut. Invariably, all editorials make three suggestions: provide additional cold storage space; encourage public/private investment for processing potatoes into chips and French fries; and finally some setting up plants for manufacturing vodka. I don’t blame the editorial writers alone, agricultural economists too haven’t looked beyond. They would obfuscate the issue by throwing in economic vocabulary that practically means little new.

Let us analyse these suggestions. Cold storages have been set up not only in Punjab but across the potato belt in northern India. Setting up more cold storages would certainly not help the farmers realise a better price at a time of glut. I have seen farmers being served legal notices by the owners of cold storages to lift the stored potatoes. A number of times I find farmers prefer to let the stored harvest lie in the stores than to sell it knowing well that it is not worth it.  

Increase processing facilities for making chips and French fries is a suggestion that finds many takers. Not many realise that the market for potato chips is already over-saturated and many popular brands have vowed out. Market for French fries is also limited because many big retail chains actually have been importing frozen potato fries, whose import is allowed as per the WTO norms. Setting up a few vodka plants however seems to a suggestion made more out of jest than any seriousness. In any case, a vodka manufacturing plant would not require any big quantity that can make a significant difference to the production.

When the going gets tough, irate farmers invariably fall back upon the government for help. Potato farmers for instance have time and again met the Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and have been asking for government’s help in selling 20 lakh tonnes of potatoes lying in cold storage. Cotton farmers on the other hand are demanding a higher procurement price. Surprisingly, no one has demanded big retail companies like Reliance Fresh and Bharti to purchase the surplus potato. Probably farmers are aware that big retail is only a fair weather friend. The question therefore is there any way to ensure that farmers remain insulated from the vagaries of the markets?

I have three suggestions to make. First and foremost, there is an urgent need to strengthen market intelligence. It is time to prepare a crop map for the country. It has to be based on the nation’s requirements as to how much of a particular crop is what the country needs. Department of Agriculture, State marketing agencies and the Growers Association must collaborate to go into mapping the production potential and monitor the area sown under the crops based on the production potential and what can be handled. An alarm needs to be sounded when the area sown exceeds the permissible limit thereby ensuring farmers do not bring any more area under the same crop. This must be accompanied by a vigorous campaign to educate farmers not to go in for monocultures. Multiple cropping must be encouraged so that farmers are able to reduce dependence on one crop, and thereby reduce risk. 

And finally, each state must set up a State Farmers’ Income Commission, which works out the monthly assured income package a farmer must receive based on production and irrespective of whether he is able to find a market or not. 

Foreign capital based economy does not translate into more welfare for the people

Chakravarthi Raghvan drew my attention to a very important issue that most of us find it very difficult to decipher. We therefore tend to accept what is being told to us. I am talking of the relationship (or difference) between GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and GNP (Gross National Product). Many of us use the acronyms inter-changeably or as if they are synonyms. He wrote: "Those moaning and bemoaning failure of the government to push through 100 percent FDI in retail trade, equating more FDI with more growth and 'welfare' (Financial Times has both a news report and comment), might look at the Paul Krugman blog on difference between GDP and GNP in such cases as the Irish example, where Foreign investor based economic growth (GDP) actually did not translate into welfare for ordinary Irish (GNP)." 

I was curious to know how is he substantiating his statement. I looked at Paul Krugman's blog and found it very fascinating. Under the caption Irish Pfizer Smiling, he writes: "Ireland, you see, is a country with an extraordinary amount of foreign-owned capital; this means that gross national product, the income of Irish residents, is substantially smaller than gross domestic product, the income generated in the country. We normally focus on GDP, because it’s easier to measure accurately, but in Ireland’s case this can be misleading — because the gap between GDP and GNP has been widening." It means that the more foreign capital flowing into your country does not translate into welfare of the people, as measured by GNP. In other words, what Chief Economic Adviser to Prime Minister, Kaushik Basu, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and a horde of other neoliberal economists are saying in support of FDI in multi-brand retail, as if it is going to be the panacea for all economic ills, is simply incorrect. 

Krugman illustrates with a diagram that tells us how the Irish GDP has been steadily going up in 2011, but the GNP is not keeping pace. He says: "The slump has been deeper, and the recovery even less apparent, when you look at GNP -- which is what matters to the Irish -- rather than GDP. What's going on here? As I understand it, the recent rise in Irish exports is largely a matter of capital-intensive multinationals -- especially pharma -- ramping up Irish production. This is good for GDP, but generates very little income for Irish residents, so that GN doesn' gain." Thank you Krugman for explaining it so simply and clearly (for those who would like to look at the blog post, here is the link: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/irish-pfizer-smiling/).

To know how does GDP compare with GNP, I tried searching on the net. Here is what I found: GDP vs GNP http://www.diffen.com/difference/GDP_vs_GNP I will try to decipher the complex web in one of my future blog posts. 

Corporate lobbying gaining strength in India

Some days back, Dainik Bhaskar published one of my tweets. I wrote: “Wal-Mart has spent Rs 52-crore between 2007 and 2009 on lobbying. Will Wal-Mart tell us how much it spent on the Prime Minister’s office?” A few days later, I noticed the BJP leader Shanta Kumar asking the same question.

Crores of rupees have been spent over the past few years by some of the big multinational corporations to seek an entry into India. What may appear to be economic decisions taken by the government often turn out to be the result of intense lobbying by foreign companies. Besides Wal-Mart Stores, the coffee shop giant Starbucks, which runs a global chain of coffee shops, has been lobbying in Indiaseeking 100 per cent FDI in single brand retail. As per a disclosure statement it made before the American Senate, the company had spent more than Rs 1-crore in the first 6 months of 2011, for “market opening initiatives in India.”

Starbucks efforts have borne fruits. Finally, the govt has approved 100% FDI in single-brand retail.

Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s biggest multi-brand retail chain, had told the US Senate that it had lobbied for “discussions related to India’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).” In addition to Rs 52-crore spent between 2007-1009, the company had also incurred Rs 6-crore in the first 3 months of 2010 for the same purpose. In other words, crores of rupees are being spent by foreign companies to influence public policy and the decision making process. Not many of us know that the debate we see on the television or the articles we see in support of the foreign companies are often supported with lobbying money.

At a time when the American and European economies are faced with a recession, at least a dozen Corporate giants are lobbying hard to seek an entry into India. These include Wal-Mart, Starbucks, and financial services major Morgan Stanley, New York Life Insurance and Prudential Financial. The financial services companies have already gained with the approval granted to 100 % FDI in single-brand retail. In addition, technology companies Intel, chemical giant Dow Chemical, pharmaceutical major Pfizer, telecom companies AT&T, Alcatel-Lucent are also engaged in intense lobbying.

Lobbying is a legal activity in America. The companies are therefore required to inform the US Senate about such activities by submitting quarterly disclosure reports. In India, where lobbying is so far not legally recognised, but the industry and business houses have formed association and federations which primarily are engaged in lobbying with the government. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Punjab, Haryana, Delhi Chamber of Commerc are basically lobbying groups. You would have noticed that the CII and FICCI have also been actively supporting the entry of Big box retail into India.

Internationally, lobbying is a major activity. According to Wikipedia, currently around 15,000 Brussels-based lobbyists (consultants, lawyers, associations, corporations, NGOs etc.) seek to influence the European Union’s legislative process. Some 2,600 special interest groups have a permanent office in Brussels. In America, lobbyists target the US Senate, US House of Representative and the State legislatures. There were some 17,000 lobbyists registered in Washington DCalone in 2007. This clearly tells us how corporate lobbying is writing the economic policies of the American and European governments. The economic decisions are in reality not based on what the people require, but how much the business houses can invest in influencing policy decisions.

It is therefore important for us to also know how much money has been spent by companies on influencing the Prime Minister’s office and also on parliamentarians. After all, it is our future that is at stake. #   

Read also: The world of lobbyists, Deccan Herald.
http://bit.ly/rA4o95                                                                          

The Slap that failed to shake the nation

The day Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar received ‘the slap’ I and Sharad Joshi were speaking at a national conference of farmers in Haridwar. A little after lunch, Swami Ramdev walked in to take his seat on the dais and expressed his apologies for being late. He said he was late because he had got busy responding to media questioning on the thappad.

The moment he gave out the news of the ‘the slap’ there was a round of applause. I think the clapping and cheering that followed was louder than the applause any one of us had received during and after our presentations. Meanwhile, the stream of messages on my mobile seemed never ending. My twitter too was flooded with congratulatory messages. I am aware that howsoever we may strongly condemn the incident, which was the politically correct thing to do, the fact remains that there was a sense of jubilation all around.

For a country reeling under an unprecedented price rise, corruption and economic policies that benefit only 1 per cent of the population, ‘the slap’ was an expression of the simmering anger and increasing frustration. While the more daring have picked up the gun (in the Maoist-affected areas) against the inequalities being continuously perpetuated with impunity, the liberal and the educated in the urban centres too are getting restless. I agree with Shobha De when she says ‘this is not about Sharad Pawar. He just happened to be the man at the receiving end of the most recent slap’.

It certainly could have happened to anyone, including the Prime Minister.

Blame for being politically incorrect, but the self-righteousness and ‘we know what we are doing’ kind of approach that ruling party politician exhibit day in and day out smacks of arrogance. The tu-tu-main-mainthat follows daily on the TV shows have turned into the biggest soap operas where the spokesperson of all political parties simply try to outwit the other to establish his/her shirt is cleaner than the other’s. Not realising that every prime time TV show actually helps build up the disgust and anger against the political class.

Not only the politicians, even the economists and the specialists who are regulars on the TV shows behave like the committed voters like the people political parties bring in to listen to leaders at political rallies. They know what is expected of them, and they deliver it faithfully. I am sure if they were to be ferried to a Congress rally, they would shout Congress Zindabad.  The next time, if the BJP is in power, you can expect them to shift gears and not shy from raising BJP Zindabad slogans. Similarly, in the studio they know what is expected from them, and deliver it faithfully to get their fifteen seconds of fame. It is very rare to see an expert on a TV show who speaks from conviction and is basing his analysis on ground realities.   

Nevertheless, returning back to food inflation, for several years now Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Food & Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar have been setting fresh deadlines for bringing down inflation. Chief Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister Dr Kaushik Basu too has been making statements which have little relevance to the realities and which clearly show that his finger is not on the right nerve. Certainly people are fed up and except for the media no one takes these deadlines seriously. They know that the leaders are hiding their inability to stem the rot in the system and are refraining from a crackdown against the stockist, black marketers and speculators.

Roughly a year back, I remember when I was asked by the media to respond to the UPA government's latest claim that food prices will ease by April. Although food inflation has risen to 17.87 per cent for the week ending Feb 20, 2010, Kaushik Basu was quoted as saying that the food price have come down, and the high inflation is because of the base effect. Analysts said that the April harvest would be crucial, and the pressure on inflation will ease after the new crop flows into the markets. 

I made it clear that food inflation will not ebb after April. In fact, I went a step ahead and said that any strong government, if it wasn't faced with the compulsions of coalition politics, would have removed the Food & Agriculture Minister by now. He deliberately makes statements that have helped raise the prices of sugar and made India pay through its nose for wheat imports. The UPA therefore cannot wait any longer. It must get rid of Sharad Pawar, and you will see the prices coming down. I wasn’t wrong. Even Sonia Gandhi had reportedly told a group of visiting farmers and activists that she is helpless when it comes to agriculture.   

However, a few days after the thappad incident, I was expecting some visible changes in the way Agriculture Minister has been operating. But nothing seems to have changed. It is business as usual for Sharad Pawar. In the midst of the logjam over FDI in retail, he said: “The critics are overlooking the fact that the policy’s main objective is to enhance the financial ability of the farmers who are responsible for the produce. If the farmers’ produce is directly lifted from the fields, with them receiving higher remuneration for it, why should there be any objections?” he asked. “It has always been my endeavour to address farmers’ interests.”

This is simply untrue. There is no empirical study that details the benefits that have accrued to farmers from big retail. Nor did Sharad Pawar or for that matter his Cabinet colleague Anand Sharma has held any wider public discussions on the subject. Somehow, ministers have increasingly begun to believe that once they have elected they have the right to do anything in the name of ‘inclusive growth’. The problem is that if the people protest outside parliament, the media chastises them saying street protests cause inconvenience. If parliamentarians protest inside, it is the wastage of public money. How and where people express their dissent?     

            

And this brings me to another burning issue that many felt was an ‘unhealthy' and 'undemocratic' trend. I am talking of the spate of editorials on Jarnail Singh's bold initiative a few years back of hurling his shoe at Mr P Chidambaram, the Home Minister. I am aware that it will be politically incorrect to admire the trajectory the shoe took. But notwithstanding what our political leaders (and the so called enlightened media) believe, the fact remains that the nation is finding it a simple way to express their anger. After all there has to be an outlet for a deep-rooted anger and disgust. If democracy provides no avenues for people to voice their concern, people will eventually find other ways to make their voice heard.     

If shoe hurling and ‘the slap’ is undemocratic, is committing suicide democratic? In the 2004 general elections (correct me if I am wrong), the then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Mr Chandrababu Naidu witnessed a piquant situation when a farmer stood up in a political rally being addressed by him and drank pesticide. He died before he could reach the hospital. Imagine, if he had instead thrown his chappal at Mr Naidu. It would have caused commotion in the crowd, and more attention to the cause for which he eventually died.

Not only in Andhra Pradesh, farmers all over the country have tried to send a strong political signal by taking their own lives. Over the years, when all democratic norms failed to draw attention, they took their own lives. By committing suicide they actually delivered what should be seen as a powerful statement. They failed here too. The world's largest democracy did not take notice. Since 1997, the National Crime Records Bureau tells us that over 2.5 lakh farmers have committed suicide.

I always thought that suicide was an undemocratic tool being used by the voiceless to make their voice heard. But what puzzles me is that why none of the political parties are taking it up as if it was a question of life and death (which you will agree, it is). After all, people are taking the extreme fatal step as an expression of their anger. I always wondered why the enlightened media, which can depute some 450 journalists to cover the Lakme Fashion show, or send an army of reporters and cameramen to cover the IPL cricket in South Africa (as if it is a Mahabharata battle), are not even moved to take up the issue of farmers committing suicide. 

Come to think of it. Wasn't it undemocratic on the part of the politicians as well as the media (which never tires of telling us that it is the Fouth Estate) to ignore human suffering in the crop fields? Media has no regrets when the farmer took their own lives but it certainly would have been furious and "want these perpetrators to be booted out of society" if they had instead thrown shoes. Imagine if the 2.5 lakh farmers had not died but instead flung their chappals/jutis, wouldn't it have been a more civilised form of angst?

Please do not get me wrong. I am not advocating throwing shoes to be a democratic form of dissent. But at the same time, I want you to think, and think deeply, as to why this democracy finds nothing disturbing when farmers kill themselves in order to draw the attention of powers that be to their plight. Such arrogance and indifference in a people’s democracy can’t go on for long. “The slap’ and the chappalcannot be simply dismissed as the work of a mentally unstable person. It is an expression of growing anger among the masses. Let us not wait for an Arab spring to force the Indian democracy to truly respond and represent the people. It is a question of the forgotten 99 per cent. #

An edited version of this article appeared in Tehelka magazine, Dec 10, 2011.
Slaps, shoes and suicides http://bit.ly/tu7vOH