A Nation Without People

Ten more things I hate in India

2010-02-04T13:53:00.000+05:30

When I wrote an article about the 10 things I hate about India, I was criticised by many, while others agreed. As I grow older, many more things irritate me now. I have listed 10 of them below.

However, having completed 35 years in this country, I realise how much I love this incredible India, the following irritants notwithstanding:

1. Statues

Though it is difficult to decide an order in the list of irritants, if I had to list the first one, I would say, statues exasperate me most.

Today in India, what we witness is a statue-mania.

Parties, politicians and other self-styled leaders, all want to erect a statue of their own 'leader' (I will not speak of those who erect statues of themselves, the Supreme Court can deal with them).

Once a statue is erected, the departed (or living) statuefied leader has to be garlanded periodically; for the rest of the time, the statue is forgotten, except if, for any reason, the statue needs to be removed. Then you are sure to get a riot the next day. The 'erecter' group is always ready to give his/her life for his/her 'leader'. As a result, the number of statues will only increase in the already congested streets of India.

Another problem with the statues is that they are usually ugly. When you look at ancient statues of Buddha of the Gupta or Gandhara periods, or certain Greek statues or some of Michelangelo's works, you usually experience a deep aesthetic emotion. It is not the case with the present-day statues of political leaders.

A sage who was 'deified' by his disciples told them: 'Why do you like so much to deify me, why don't you emulate me instead'. He added that 'changing your nature is more important than worshipping me'.

But true, it is easier to garland a statue than to change oneself and become a better human being.

2. Lal battis

I deeply dislike the red light gyrating on the top of the cars of 'important' officials. Why is it so important to show that one is 'important'?

India must be the one country in the world with the highest percentage of 'important' people. I personally believe that someone's 'importance' should be calculated by the service that this individual offers to the country and to society, not by the lal batti (or the siren) on her/his vehicle.

Like in many domains, these things have a tendency to become worse. At the time of Independence, the bureaucracy used to be called the Indian Civil Service. Though Jawaharlal Nehru [ Images ] in his book Discovery of India said that the service was 'neither Indian, nor civil, nor a service', at least it carried the word 'civil'. Then it became the Indian Administrative Service, an institution whose job was only to serve the administration and the government. The 'civil servants' became 'government servants'. It may seem a mere detail, but it is truly symptomatic of what has happened during the past 60 years.

For someone educated in the spirit of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, it is difficult to accept the gap (symbolised by the lal batti) between the rulers (mostly politicians or bureaucrats) and the ruled (alias the 'common man').

3. Plastic bags

I really hate plastic bags and garbage littering the streets of India. One still remembers that a few years ago during an official visit, the British queen [ Images ] remarked that India was very dirty compared to Pakistan.

Since then, things have worsened terribly. One can't blame the government for everything, though if a strict discipline with heavy fines were imposed on the public, in a short span of time, India could certainly look like a Scandinavian country. The local authorities should start installing dustbins and garbage cans in all public places and organise a speedy collection of their content.

Recently after the Pongal festival, more than 100 tonnes of garbage were left on the sands of the beaches of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The Hindu reported: 'People continued their celebrations till midnight and continued to throw plastic bottles, spoons and polythene bags'. Ironically, the reporter says: 'Most people seemed to have forgotten the ban on plastics on Marina and more than three tonnes of plastic waste was collected'.

Should this not be entered in the Guinness Book of Records?

4. Environment

It irritates me when I see so little concern for the environment in India. Let us take the rivers. Last week, a group of US green activists went to Agra [ Images ] to inspect the Yamuna behind the Taj Mahal [ Images ]; most belonged to the river cleaning foundations in the US. One of them, Ginny Harris of the Alice Ferguson Foundation involved in the preservation of the Potomac river exclaimed: 'Oh my god, you call this a river!' A number of NGOs and local activists were present. Who uses India's holy rivers as sewage outlets?

The government does not really care to find out who is using the rivers as sewage (though the present environment minister seems a bit different from his predecessors).

The soil of India is supposed to be sacred. Early January, scientists attached to the Punjab [ Images ] Agriculture University identified the reason behind the rapid spread of cancer in Punjab. Their verdict is clear: arsenic in the water is the main cause for abnormal cell growth in the human body.

The university analysed 168 ground water samples over a period of 36 months. The sampling originating from different parts of North India contained an unacceptably high quantity of arsenic.

For years, the government spoke of its Green Revolution as a miracle India should be proud of, but this type of miracle unfortunately has serious collaterals.

What saddens me more is that India has decided to align itself with the worse State on the planet in this field: China.

Why can't India discover a Middle Path between development and environment conservation? India ranks 123rd in the last Environmental Performance Index just published by a team of experts at Yale University and Columbia University; India is not shining in this domain.

5. Lavish marriages

I have nothing again marriages, having successfully gone through one myself (with an Indian), but it hurts my sentiments to see so much money and energy wasted for a ceremony which should be 'sacred'. Further, the 'outcome' of the marriage is not always proportionate with the money invested.

What shocks me is the lavishness, verging on indecency of some Indian weddings, usually in the large metros. I don't appreciate the ostentatious side of these ceremonies which is often more a showing of wealth (often borrowed), than the celebration of the union between two individuals.

Though considered a 'seasonal' industry, the Indian wedding industry has an estimated turnover of over Rs 150,000 crores; and it is growing by the year. One could argue that it creates employment, but too many people are indebted the day after; this is not healthy.

6. Reservations

Reservations were introduced in the Constitution as a temporary measure at the time of Independence to remove disparities between different 'weaker' sections of the population. It was a genuine problem, with no easy solution. Over the years, it has been politicised (especially during and after V P Singh's [ Images ] rule) and it has now become a tool for political parties to gain power.

Why should a Dalit or OBC crorepati get more support from the government in terms of quota in a university or financial incentives than a poor Brahmin? It is just unfair.

While more attention should be paid to the poorest communities in India, the only criteria to receive financial support should be strictly economic.

For this, I admire the Indian Army [ Images ] which has managed for the past six decades to remain free from the poison of 'caste' quota.

7. Nouveau riche

The nouveau riche tribe is a despicable species whether in India or elsewhere on the planet. They behave particularly badly in this country. They speak loudly and they like to show-off their newly-acquired wealth.

One understands that they had no time to invest to educate themselves, being too busy making money, but life, whether of an individual or a nation should be balanced. Culture is an essential part of any human being.

8. National Security

The concept of National Security is constantly misused by government babus to avoid transparency. Though the situation in India is far better than in China where you can be sent to concentration camps (known as laogais) for any real or fictitious breach of 'national security,' Indian bureaucrats however take refuge behind the veil of this undefined concept to escape scrutiny.

To take an example, under the RTI Act, section 8A allows exemption of information, disclosure of 'which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence.'

Tons of important documents, having nothing to do with 'national security' are withheld under this pretext. Courts will one day have to define the concept more precisely.

9. Chaotic traffic

I had listed 'traffic' in my earlier article, but things have got much worse. I wish India would learn from China how to develop proper infrastructure (without, of course, having to import the workforce from the Middle Kingdom).

The ideal State would probably be the Middle Path between Switzerland [ Images ], boringly over disciplined and chaotic free-for-all India.

10. Bt Brinjal

But again India is incredible and lovable, despite these small hitches.

Claude Arpi is a regular contributor to Rediff.com He left France [ Images ] to make India his home 35 years ago.

10 things I hate about India

2010-02-04T13:51:00.001+05:30

Many years ago a friend of mine wrote a book, The Wonder that IS India [Images ]. Both of us have lived more for than 30 years in the Land of the Bharatiyas and share a love for this nation. When he showed me the manuscript of his book, I had pointed out that his representation of India was too rosy and suggested one more chapter -- 'The Horror that is India'. I think he did.

I have the same feelings for India today: 95 per cent is good, but there are some aspects that I am still not able to swallow, even after all these years. I have listed ten of them. Even if it does not change anything, at least some of my frustrations will be released while penning them down.

Before I begin, I must first say that during a recent visit to France [ Images ], it was a pleasant surprise to see that India's image is fast changing in the West. When I left France in the early 1970s to settle in India, my family and friends considered it a shocking decision. To leave France, a 'developed' country and emigrate to the end of the world to a 'land of misery' populated 'by elephants and cobras' was unimaginable!

I was told that for a student in France today, it was of great added-value on his CV, if he had undergone training or internship in India. This 'Indian' wave has been reinforced since Mittal Steel tried to purchase Arcelor, the jewel of the French steel industry.

Though the nation has grown and matured over the last few decades, unfortunately not all domains have followed the same evolution.

Here is my list of the 10 things I still can't 'digest' about India:

1. Power cuts: While typing this article, the electricity board cut off the power supply. The reason -- a storm last night which lasted for 15 to 20 minutes. 'As a precautionary measure' the officials very compassionately disconnected vast areas from the network in the night and the following morning.

Being in rural Tamil Nadu, these officials want to protect us from broken wires due to fallen trees (it could electrocute passersby, they say). While I appreciate their reasoning, I was surprised to see that during the cyclonic rains in New Orleans last year, though thousands perished, electricity was not switched off. Indian officials will tell you that the US is a rich and developed country, not comparable to India. Where is the connection?

2. Indian babus: One could write volumes on the famous babus of India. They run one of the largest bureaucracies in the world, but have not been able to change their mindset.

A particularly bothersome aspect is that their laws often come from antiquated rules and regulations that nobody knows of. The consequence is what we call red-tapism, though for them it is 'implementing the letter, the law of the land'. But what about its spirit? In any case, the law has always to 'follow its own course'.

A few years ago, a diligent minister found hundreds such laws and regulations dating back to the British. In the era of modern technology and communications, this is preposterous.

Another aspect that irritates me about the bureaucracy is that babus never respond to letters. Probably they consider themselves to be the government's servants, not 'civil' servants and therefore find no need to reply to ordinary citizens.

3. No access to historical documents: Though a better understanding of the history of the subcontinent could be one of the keys to disentangle difficult problems such as the Kashmir [ Images ] issue, today nobody can access primary sources. They are locked away in the vaults of the Nehru Memorial Library or the almirahs of South Block.

All those who have tried to access historical documents since India's independence will tell you that till the end of babudom, one bureaucrat or another will ensure that you do not access the dusty files. Without fail, you will be courteously informed that India's security and integrity will be endangered if these precious documents are opened to the public. It is sad that Indians are not entitled to study their past (though they can always visit archives in the West to know more about India!)

4. Discrimination against the white tourist: Something particularly irritating for a 'white man' is that wherever he goes in India, he has to pay a special rate. Whether he visits the Taj Mahal [ Images ] where the 'white' tourist has to cough up Rs 750 to see the mausoleum, or a national museum, or even hotels or airlines, there is a true racial discrimination.

Rates are often ten times higher for those who have a 'white' or 'yellow' (Japanese) skin. Those who have made these rules do not understand that this policy harms India's image.

The desire to make a quick buck from the so-called rich tourists leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of the visitors who in any case would have spent their budget during the stay in India. To my knowledge, India must be the only nation in the world implementing these separate rates.

5. Paranoia about maps: Another strange thing in India is the paranoia about maps. Several years ago I visited the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. One day I was invited to the office of a local tahsildar. To my astonishment, the poor babu did not have a map of the area under his jurisdiction. He only had a vague sketch of the district. When I expressed surprise, he explained that maps were 'classified' and only the army was authorised to use them.

Is it not foolish to believe that the Chinese do not possess detailed maps of Arunachal? And what about Google Earth which is now available the world over?

One can only be surprised by this 'official' paranoia about maps. India is today a great power; technological advancements have occurred in the world during the past decades and will undoubtedly continue to occur and India has no choice but to accept them and make the best use of them.

A year ago, the Union Cabinet approved a new National Map Policy, but unfortunately, the mindset of the implementers remains the same.

6. And photographs: The paranoia is not about maps alone, it extends to photos, particularly of the sites under the Archeological Survey of India. A friend told me of her nightmarish experience while doing research in Chennai and the number of forms she had to fill to take some photos in a museum. Though one pays in hard currency, one has still to justify why one needs a particular photo. The poor researcher is looked upon as someone trying to 'steal' the national patrimony.

In contrast, a few weeks earlier, I visited the Louvre museum in Paris which receives tens of thousands of visitors every day. All of them were happily clicking away at statues, paintings, art artefacts (it is only prohibited to photograph the Mona Lisa [Images ] for security reasons) and amongst them, a great number of Indians, perhaps the most frenetic clickers. This is understandable, as they have to compensate for their frustration at home!

A French television crew told me about their adventure while trying to shoot in a fort once occupied by Rajaji (C Rajagopalachari). Before leaving Paris, they had planned a short sequence at the fort. They dutifully applied to the Indian embassy for permission. After paying a hefty Rs 5,000 they were given a stamped and signed permission. When they arrived on the spot, the local official told them: "No way, as your permission does specifically mention it, you are not authorised to shoot with a stand. You have to go to Chennai (150 km away) and get the permission duly modified. No problem, it will take you a day only!" They left disgusted, the fort will not appear in their film.

7. Politicians: The topic of politicians is an easy one. Everything appalling and more can be said of them and one will still remain below the truth. In their defense, they are part of a system which is uniquely based on votes.

To win votes, one needs money and all compromises are permissible to get the required funds 'to serve the people'. It is true the world over, but here like in many other domains India excels.

8. Neglect for the environment: Another frustrating aspect for me is the lack of care for the environment (though it has been recently improving). While Indians are the most conscious people as far as personal hygiene goes, there is very little civic awareness or concern for the environment.

Education could help (for example for disposal of garbage or plastic bags), but it is often government policies such as free electricity for farmers, incentives for asbestos sheets (one of the most carcinogenic material) or chemical pesticides which harm the environment the most.

9. Traffic: I hate the Indian traffic (with its absence of rules). Each time I return from a visit abroad, it is a terrible shock. It is difficult to comprehend how there are not more casualties on the road. A friend explained to me that the multitude of gods in India probably protect their flock. The fact is that there are no law enforcement authorities (most of the police force is busy with VIP duty).

In France and elsewhere if the cops were not around, very few would follow the traffic rules. Extremely severe punishment for breaking traffic rules has a strong dissuasive effect. Here in India, you can always get away with a few rupees.

10. Corruption: It is better to not comment.

Please allow me to add a last point: the number of 'holidays' taken for a myriad of family 'problems', (marriages, engagements, funerals, etc.), cultural, local or religious festivals (of all faiths: India is secular), then you have bandhs, hartals, riots, strikes (India is the only place in the world where the government sometimes calls for a strike), etc... The worst are 'French leaves', absolutely unknown in France.

Apart from the above, India is an incredible place and I have never regretted, even for one day, to have settled here.

Why India Needs BJP

2009-08-27T12:20:00.010+05:30

The ideology that the Bharatiya Janata Party represents and its pan Indian appeal makes it an important cog in our democracy, argues Tarun Vijay.

In a nation where most of the political parties are known by the names of their 'owners' turning the political process into a kind of family fiefdom, the existence of a party that still runs on democratic norms and represents a completely different ethos, must be valued as a need of the society. That is the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is useless to indulge in the contemporary dichotomies and scuffles that mar its current framework.

These are trivialities and have been a part of every political party, including the Jan Sangh that saw much bitter scenes involving top guns even when that was hardly as strong as its new avatar the BJP has become.

The basic question is -- do we have a future for a party that symbolizes Hindu aspirations and civilizational rejuvenation through political instruments and acts as a part of a larger saffron brotherhood that has grown stronger by each year since its emergence in 1925?

Suppose if there was no Jan Sangh or the BJP there would have been no Kashmir movement, no demands to scrap two flags and two constitutional provisions for an Indian state and abolishing two Constitutional heads system for it. Who would have taken up the cause of an invincible Indian security and carried out the Pokaran II nuclear tests while preparing for Pokaran III?

The last millennium saw the foreign attacks on Bharat that is India and the target of these barbaric assaults were essentially the Hindu population and their temples. The truncated independence should have given them the highest freedom to flower and come to their own as a free and fearless nation would have honored the great spirit of resistance that made Allama Iqbal write 'Kuch baat hai ki hasti mit-ti nahin hamaari (There is something extraordinary that we -- the civilization -- survived centuries of assaults)'.

But after the massacres during Partition/independence in Calcutta, Noakhali, Muzaffarabad and Rawalpindi, Hindus got the secular marginalization and a State apparatus that looked down at anything representing their age old-bruised ethos. That is why to uphold the dignity of being a Hindu and ensure equal attitude of the State for every citizen without any discrimination on the basis of caste or religion, the Jan Sangh was founded in 1951. The principles were unity in diversity, one nation, one culture and one people and justice to all, appeasement of none.

At the first all India session of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, its founder president Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee had said, 'India has been for centuries past the homeland of diverse people pursuing different faiths and religions. The need to preserve and respect the personal laws of such people especially in matters of religion and fundamental social obligations is undoubted. In all matters concerning the rights and duties of citizenship as such, there must be complete equality for all. We must be able to carry all sections of the people with us by creating in their minds a healthy and progressive attitude of co-operation based on true equality of opportunity and mutual tolerance and understanding. Our party's door remains open to all who believe in our program and ideology irrespective of considerations of caste and religion.'

'Our party,' he added, 'believes that the future progress of India must be based on a natural synthesis between its full economic advance and the development of mind and character of the people in accordance with the highest traditions of Indian culture and civilization. The political freedom that we have achieved will be meaningless without economic freedom. It is a tragedy that a vast country such as India, with its almost limitless resources and raw materials, should be steeped in poverty, disease, ignorance and degradation. Our party believes that without plunging the country into the vortex of violent chaos and conflict, it should be possible for us to readjust the conditions of our economic life so as to bring to an end a shameful era of exploitation and silent human suffering.'

Without mincing any words he declared, 'Our party though, ever prepared to extend its hand of equality to all citizens, does not feel ashamed to urge for the consolidation of Hindu society, nor does it suffer from an inferiority complex to acknowledge proudly that the great edifice of Indian culture and civilization, which had stood the test of thousands of years, has been built, most of all by the labor, sacrifice and wisdom of Hindu sages, savants and patriots throughout the chequered history of our motherland. We are not so mean as to forget that in this gigantic process our country came into contact and conflict with many foreign races and ideologies and our great ancestors had the courage to fashion and refashion the country's structure in accordance with new ideas and with the changed conditions of our society. If India's freedom is to be purposeful, a correct appreciation of the fundamental features of Indian culture -- the discovery of that unity in diversity, which is the keynote of her civilization -- is highly essential.'

These lengthy quotations are essential to understand the real purpose behind the BJP, which has accepted Dr Mookerjee and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya as its sources of inspiration showing the ideological path.

In pre-Partition days, the independence movement essentially drew from Hindu nationalist symbols and writings expressed through Mahatma Gandhi's Ram Rajya, Sri Aurobindo's Bhawani Bharati concept which saw India as Durga incarnate and declared Sanatan Dharma as the nationality of India, Vivekananda, Lokmanya Tilak, and Subhas Bose. They were all deeply Hindu spiritual personalities who espoused the cause of freedom, liberty, equality and democracy.

There was less ideological apartheid that we see today and newspapers like The Hindu and The Hindustan Times were not looked down just because they bore a word Hindu and parties like the Hindu Mahasabha, Ram Rajya Parishad etc were in the mainstream without experiencing any kind of 'ideological untouchability'.

It's only after Independence under the influence of Nehruvian left-to-centre policies that the assertive Hindus segment was sought to be humiliated and segregated.

In the contemporary political scene, the Congress, which once represented the federal liberal character of Hindu nationalist ideas advocating equality to all, has turned into a family oriented party where internal democratic process is completely subjugated to the wishes and whims of a supreme leader who also happens to be a family head. Except for the Communist parties and the BJP there is a hardly a party that is democratically run and controlled from the grassroot levels.

Hence, in spite of internal bickering and trivial issues cropping up, a party that was born post Independence representing a distinct ideology and programmes can only be a strengthening factor for democracy. Its amazing growth and power to rule the nation quite successfully have further added to its credibility. Those who oppose it must look at the fact sheet it has so far built -- giving India the best of the highways, an IT and technological revolution, best run states in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and above all a credible opposition that has a vast acceptability at an all India level, giving a pan India character to the polity.

The poet who wrote, 'Gagan mein laharta hai bhagwa hamara (The saffron flies high in the sky)' became the most admired prime minister, the first genuinely non-Congress one and his regime saw the best of relations with neighbours. Atal Bihari Vajpayee allowed Pokaran II, yet maintained better ties with the US, China and Pakistan without compromising on national interest.

This party has another distinct feature -- it can boast of a galaxy of national leaders who command a mass following unlike others who have none but their 'eternally elected' chiefs alone for the posters and platforms diminishing any second or third rank leadership.

And you don't have to belong to a family or a family's durbar to aspire for higher goals and posts in the party. Someone who was a village level worker and did his bit to gain acceptance could become party president and was never told, oh you don't have a particular last name hence can rise this far and no further.

Pardon me if in this context, to clarify a bit more, I recall a Q&A session I had in China where I was asked in a university by students – 'What's the use of your democracy if it can't deliver? See Bihar and Orissa and UP's rural areas and farmers suicides? We may not be having the democracy you like to ape from the West but our one party system is delivering fine.'

I was not surprised. The value of democracy can be understood only when you lose it after enjoying its fruits. I simply said, even with half filled stomachs and often self defeating noises, we prefer freedom more than a totalitarian regime guaranteeing prosperity to all.

Liberty can have no alternative. And that's exactly the most powerful factor that makes the BJP indefatigable and invincible. The party's inner core promises to rise like a Phoenix if the outer shell fails to translate the ideals it was born to achieve.

It may look a bit preposterous to say these high pedestal things when the party is making news not for some happy reasons. It is sad, but it will pass. The party is not built by those who were adherents of a family, but by those small yet strongly committed young hearts who built it on their shoulders because they shared a vision and a dream.

I have seen three generations working together, first for the Jan Sangh and then for its new avatar, the BJP. They never aspired to make it big in Delhi but from Silchar to Shimoga and Doda to Port Blair, they have been working. These workers are the strength of the party and not those who make big speeches and then wash dirty linen in the media. They must be powered and their moral needs to be boosted by a united commitment to principles leaders claim they accept.

Today these workers have emerged taller because they have lived the ideals espoused by Deen Dayal Upadhyaya who had merged his identity with the common cadre and lived by his principles through his own life's example. He gave the alternative ideology of integral humanism before the two alien ones namely capitalism and communism. That almost supplements and complements Gandhi's Hind Swarajya whose hundredth year is passing so unceremoniously in the raj of the 'Gandhis'.

It is this perfectly ideological rock of our civilisation represented by the BJP in politics that India needs fervently.

Tarun Vijay is Director, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation.

(As was published on Rediff.com )

How to Vote?

2009-03-07T11:10:00.002+05:30

The Election Commission has come up with the dates for the biggest event in the biggest democracy in the world. In response, all the political parties are in process to announce their agendas or plan of action they will follow if they win.

There is no doubt that the 'plan of action' is going to be as usual with promises of Water, Electricity, Roads, Education, Healthcare, Reservation, Economy and with a new punch word 'Terrorism' control.

As far as I can remember, there used to be 2 major parties to contest elections in the past and rest all to just support. Nowadays local parties, which were formed and had their own agenda for local development and local issues, are contesting big time. I wonder what these local parties from one zone know about the rest of India and their issues.

With all due intelligence, one for sure can say this time too, not a single party is capable to pull off majority and definitely going to seek support from the minnow winners, who in turn will held the government for ransom for very personal and local issues.

Indian politics has been infected with prejudice since the birth of the republic.

This is the time to re write what we will call history in a few years. Do you want to know how?

First, VOTE.

Second, Vote for a party who has presence and interests nationwide. Yes, either BJP or Congress (I).

Third, check the background of the candidate. If not sure, go to http://www.nocriminals.org to check if your candidate is clean from any criminal activity. IF find both the candidates at fault, Vote for the next clean option available.

Sounds too cheeky? Yes it may, but this the only way we can eliminate all the politicians with any criminal record out of the whole political system.

Now, if your both major candidates are clean, check their education qualifications. Choose an educated person over illiterate. Thinking caps do matter.

Next, IF your hopefuls have contested any elections earlier, check what work they did when they got the opportunity in the past. It may be college, Municipal, Panchayat or Local Assembly elections.

And to the last, IF the outcome of this whole analysis is coming just the opposite to what you have expected, do not, I repeat, DO NOT hesitate to vote for the candidate you did not like in the beginning but came out clean, educated and development friendly.

Still confused? Then I recommentd you to visit http://www.jagore.com for additional information.

This is our time to declare - CHANGE!

Say No To Criminals

2009-03-07T10:44:00.000+05:30

Mass Hysteria

2009-03-03T18:44:00.004+05:30

Despite the bad reviews and bad word of mouth, I went to watch Delhi-6 over the weekend. I loved the film. I was the only one in the group of 4 who actually liked the film and was chatting about it even after reaching home.

People, rather understanding the whole point or say all the points from the movie, just stuck on the whole Monkey Man episode and got irritated.

I am no official reviewer of Bollywood nor I find this place proper to chitchat about movies, but would love to point out the biggest strength of India which lies in its people.

Their Unity.

India never was, is and will be about individuality. It is all about the force which keeps people together. Call it family ties, social ties, commitments and devotion.

India, in the principle idea, is always about masses, the multiplicity and a multicultural, multilingual rainbow.

We love to see many people around all the day long. In buses, trains, offices, streets and even in the movies. Imagine a Indian movie dance number without unnecessary backup dancers!

Happiness grows when shared.

BUT is this togetherness always leads to any social good?

I doubt.

Sometimes it translates into mass hysteria.

Hard to control and unbelievably insane. People do things just because everyone else is doing the same. be it beating of a roadside Romeo or pick pocket, vandalizing public property, cricketing loss disappointments, death of a popular film star, communal riots or the whole Monkey Man episode of Delhi-6.

Whoever crosses the dictates of the mass comes under the hammer and feels the heat.

---

A personal experience to elaborate the whole point

---

There was a old tree in front of my childhood home in a small town in central India. One day someone sighted a snake under it and devotionally colored the stones beneath the tree in saffron. The tree died and the whole neighborhood decided to build a temple at the place where the saffron stones were placed.

First thing they did is to chop off one of the trees I planted on the same ground. The excuse was there they will have the front gate of the temple. Even people came to my house asking for money in return of the labor they did to cut that tree. They cut the tree when my whole family was out to summer vacations.

Money pooled from the colony, but it was insufficient to build a temple.

So they just prepared the basic structure of the temple which was without walls and plaster. It was just four pillars of concrete with a roof.

6 years went by.

One day on his death bed, one wise man decided to donate Rs.5,000/- to the community temple which was originally a Lord Shiva Temple, but now positioned as Lord Krishna's future home.

SO, in hopes to raise more money from the whole town, the colony people went ahead and made the city goon the caretaker of the future temple. This fellow, with more than a dozen cases filed against him in the police records, came to the colony of teachers and raised money from all over the city to finish the whole thing.

After almost 10 years since my dear tree was chopped off, there was a main gate of the temple, encroaching 2 feet on the street, without leaving any parking space for the devotees who are going to visit the temple. Also in addition, covered two more trees in the campus which gave them additional 5 feet encroachment on the street. So there was no space left in front of my house. A big branch of the 18-year-old Neem tree, which was also planted by me, was chopped of as it was coming in the ways of long view across the street for the temple.

My family told me not to utter a word against them as they are the people with whom we lived for almost 20 years.

Then they got speaker systems, which went loud every morning, evening, festival days and special occasions.

We shifted to another house.

The reason: I protested to the priest that I am sleeping at 6 AM on a holiday; your loud speaker disturbs me. Please turn it off. He got the goon of the city to threaten my life.

Reason given by the neighbors of 20 years: 6 AM is too late to sleep. Name one resident of the neighborhood who has any problems with these arrangements apart from you.

Now I heard that there was another brawl among the committee member, who lives in the neighborhood upon the usage of the loudspeakers. 3 teenage couples eloped after a musy affair which took place in the temple. 2 Kids failed examination as they were busy serving the temple full time.

I miss my childhood home.

It is up for sale.

Of the V-Day, Lovers, Culture and Bajrang Dal

2009-02-11T15:13:00.005+05:30

Hi Friends!

Here is something that I wrote last year but it is still relevent!

--------

‘Atithi Devo Bhava’, that is what Indian culture has been since the origin of the Vedas. Many festivals like Holi, Vasantotsav and Bhaguria celebrate the spirit of love and sharing. Shri Krishna’s Ras-Leela with several Gopies sends the straight messages that to love is not enough. One has to express the feelings also.

The text from Mahabharata and Ramayana, at several places, talks about marriage, affairs and seduction. Be it of Ahilya, who was seduced by Indra under a fake identity or of Droupadi, who had five sons from five different husbands or the best example of how Dhritrashtra, Pandu and Vidur were fathered by the same man. One’s mother closed her eyes while mating so Dhritrashtra was blind. The other turned pale, so Pandu was born pale. When the aide of the queens reached to finally meet the man she faced him with confidence and she got Vidhur as son.

I am not criticizing the holy text but just want to make a few points about how the Indian Culture or Bhartiya Sanskrati should be defined. Let’s just leave the seduction stories. The feeling of love and the expression of it was always encouraged in old Indian mythology.

Starting from the point where the teacher, Maharshi Valmiki took Prince Ram and his brothers to Janakpuri to contest for the Princess Sita, is one of the finest examples of how her heart was beating when Ram went ahead to hold the Dhanusha of Lord Shiva. The story of Lakshaman and Urmila is one of the best tender love stories I have ever come across. The tension and the force of love can be easily felt in the verses of ‘Panchvati’ by Maithili Sharan Gupt.

The Love story between Arjun and Subhadra, which ended in a very cool and exciting love marriage with support and blessings of Lord Krishna and the bond between Krishna and Radha, who never got married still, is one of the most beautiful examples of true love.

So what is the problem?

The only fact that lovers, young and old, students, middle class Indians are aware of a day when they can just call someone and actually can say I love you or if two adults spent sometime together in the middle of the chaos of life, is considered against Indian culture by these so called protectors of Indian Culture.

Yesterday on Valentines Day, Bajrang Dal activists, who were protesting against the celebrations at Bhopal, got their hands on some foreign tourists and painted kohl on their faces, beat them up and announced the world that how illiterate, immoral and how insulting we Indians are. We never feel the shame. We never feel sorry.

Well I asked my friends who had qualified dates about their plans to celebrate the V-Day and they pat replied about celebrating the V-Day one or two days earlier. Before someone all cracked up, with no knowledge whatsoever and brain washed by some politician shows up at gift gallery and smashes the shop in to pieces.

Moral of the story:

St. Valentine was hanged till death by Italian government ages ago because he helped lovers to get married which were illegal in those times.
Sohni-Mahiwal, Romeo-Juliet, Heer-Ranjha, Laila-Majnu, Veer-Zaara and many others in different times faced and are facing the world to make their love complete
So, be smart and have your V-Day in advance (Next Year), because these idiots are never going to learn.
Prey that they die until your kids are born, just to see how beautiful this world can be with everyone being able to show and express their love to the other.
NEVER vote for SHIV SENA and BAJRAND DAL in elections.

To The World Peace!

Why New Delhi fiddles when Lanka burns

2009-02-03T12:02:00.001+05:30

When I was in high school, the then Tamil Nadu government used to shut educational institutions for a few days as a mark of protest against the genocide in Sri Lanka . Closing down schools and colleges was supposed to be our 'strategy' of dealing with the Lankan government; our version of 'shock and awe'.

This practice continued even when I was in college. Decades later now my children are in school and as I write this piece, I understand, that the state government is contemplating closure of educational institutions on the Lankan issue. After all, habits die hard.

In the interregnum the state has been witness to several bandhs, strikes and hartals. In fact, at the last count, there has been more bandhs in Tamil Nadu for the Sri Lankan Tamils rather than for the Tamils in TN!

Needless to emphasise, the Sri Lankan Tamil issue has more or less occupied the electoral centre stage since the early eighties when the ethnic crisis erupted in that country. So has it been a part of mainstream Tamil cinema since then. Naturally it has come to occupy the collective psyche of the people of the state.

It may be noted TN is a state where political parties have grounded their appeal on the basis of regional, racial, ethnic, language and of course a separate identity. In fact, certain political parties had taken things so far as to appeal for cessation from India. But that was in the fifties.

It took the sagacious leadership of late Annadurai in the early sixties for the then unified Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to give up this call. In fact, after the Chinese aggression in the early sixties, the DMK gave up this call and pledged to work for the unity and integrity of India. This remarkable political about turn ensured that the DMK (and the breakaway groups) emerged as a potent political force in Tamil Nadu for the next five decades.

Nevertheless, even to this date certain radical groups in TN dream on and are reportedly working for a separate country for Tamils. And for this group a separate Eelam for Tamils in Sri Lanka is the first step in achieving a separate country for Tamils, which would include parts of Tamil Nadu and possibly other countries too!

Therefore, even to this date, for some the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka was meant to be an acid test to these political parties on proving their allegiance to the "cause of Tamils" -- never mind what it actually meant. After all, as someone brilliantly put it, if it is jo bole so nihal in Punjab, it is jo hyperbole so nihal in Tamil Nadu.

The root of the civil war

The Sri Lankan constitution (unlike the Indian constitution which guarantees equality to all its citizens) positively discriminates against the minority Tamil population of the island country. This is at the heart of the decades-old ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

Disagreements between the two dominant communities -- the Sinhalese and Tamils -- can be traced to the then PM Bandaranaike's declaration of the "Sinhala Only Act". This language policy is at the root of the present-day conflict and dates back to the independence of Sri Lanka in 1948. Confrontational policies adopted by both sides since then have actually pushed the country to a precipice.

This diffused situation was ripe for several armed groups to emerge and fight for their rights. One of the groups to emerge was the deadly Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. By the mid-eighties this group had virtually eliminated other major Tamil groups and emerged as the sole representative of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

This is where the plot goes awry. As a consequence of this development, many representatives of the Tamil groups ended up working with the Sri Lankan government or simply denounced violence and joined mainstream politics. Either way most of them remain opposed to LTTE's vision of an independent state.

Nevertheless, the LTTE was seen as a savior of the Tamil race at least by some in TN. So did some in the Tamil film industry, which over the years has developed a cozy relationship with the LTTE, just as Bollywood has done with the Mumbai [Images] underworld. Crucially, that blurred the distinction between the LTTE and Sri Lankan Tamils.

Using nationalistic sentiment and pandering to Sinhalese demands, successive Sri Lankan governments have been directly and indirectly party to pogroms on Tamils. Caught between a marauding Sri Lankan army on one hand and a merciless LTTE on the other, it was a losing battle for Sri Lankan Tamils right through.

As a tragic consequence of all these, several innocent Tamils were killed there and many more fled the Sinhalese-majority areas, some into neighboring India. This in short, is the sad, pathetic story of the Sri Lankan Tamils.

W(h)ither Rajiv's vision?

This was in 1987. This continuous flow of refugees from Sri Lanka pitchforked the Indian government into the conflict. It was the visionary leadership of Rajiv Gandhi who saw the emergence of India as a regional power and thereby sought to play a proactive, positive and decisive role in putting an end to this vexatious issue. The airdropping of food and medicine in June 1987 was a case in point -- India flexed its regional muscle.

This in turn led ultimately to the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord in July 1987 between Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President Jayewardene. Under this accord, the Lankan government made a number of concessions subject to certain conditions to Tamil demands, including devolution of power to the provinces, a merger of Northern and Eastern provinces and official status for the Tamil language.

India in turn agreed to play a guarantor's role by establishing order in the North and East through a peacekeeping force (IPKF). Militant groups including the LTTE, agreed initially to surrender. Later on the LTTE reneged on its commitment as its realized that the IPKF was in effect a deterrent to its plan of an independent Eelam.

While Sri Lanka brilliantly used the IPKF to settle other internal uprisings within, the IPKF would in the next two years become an unwanted force for the LTTE, Sri Lankan government and of course the Sinhalese majority. But it may be rather captivating for the reader to note that the IPKF was equally the villain of the piece in India -- for some political parties in India as well as our human rights groups.

And in the process, the IPKF, in the absence of role clarity as well as political direction suffered heavy causalities. In the withdrawal of IPKF, the vision of Rajiv of India playing the role of a regional power withered. Crucially, when the IPKF withdrew, the Sri Lankan Tamils lost.

Politics makes strange bedfellows indeed

It may be recalled that the DMK (which consistently had a soft corner for the LTTE), which was an integral part of the V P Singh-led National Front government, engineered the withdrawal of the IPKF in 1990. Subsequently, the LTTE assassinated Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 fearing that if he was re-elected he would send the IPKF back to Lanka.

Since then, the Congress party held the DMK guilty of having a hand in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. In fact, by 1997, the Congress toppled the I K Gujral-led United Front government precisely on the point that the interim report of the Jain Commission that was probing into the conspiracy angle indicted the DMK.

Mysteriously, the final report was silent on the involvement of the DMK in Rajiv's assassination. Why did the commission indict the DMK in its interim report and keep silent in the final report is one of the most intriguing aspects of Indian politics.

But more was to follow. In the next six years, that is by 2003, both the Congress and DMK forgot all this and came together to fight the elections and form the UPA government. Further, in an ironical twist, the DMK depends heavily on Congress for support to sustain its government at the state.

Either way, it is amusing to note that both the Congress and DMK travelling together on the same LTTE boat for over five years. Much as it was political expediency that brought these two parties together, convergence this long on this vexatious issue has raised the eyebrows of many political pundits in Tamil Nadu.

One is indeed flummoxed to note that the DMK that repeatedly used to swear to protect Sri Lankan Tamils has been remarkably silent on the liquidation of the LTTE as well as the attendant genocide in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the empty threat of the DMK to pull out of the UPA government has been the butt of much ridicule in TN.

The Congress knows that most of the other Dravidian parties in the UPA are hot air. Perhaps the Congress, notably the wily old fox of Indian politics Pranab Mukherjee, is fully aware of their addiction to power. Like the LTTE, these parties are least bothered about Tamils in Lanka (or India), except of course the hyperbole.

That explains why local politicians who thundered repeatedly to give their life for the LTTE and Tamil cause have not been able to give up even their government post and the perks associated with it. No wonder, cadres will commit suicide, and leaders will continue to deliver elegy in chaste Tamil.

No wonder Sri Lanka burns, Delhi deliberately fiddles. That is the power of the unspoken words of the final report of the Jain Commission.

M R Venkatesh is a Chennai-based chartered accountant. Comments can be sent to mrv@mrv.net.in

What 'business as usual' means in India

2009-01-27T17:54:00.003+05:30

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.' W B Yeats's line from his poem The Second Coming seems eerily prophetic in the present time.

Take a look at the state of India's three largest parties today. The Congress prime minister is in hospital, the first time in our history that we celebrated Republic Day without seeing or hearing from the prime minister.

Kalyan Singh, the erstwhile chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, has walked out of the BJP, to join rival-turned-friend-turned-rival-turned-friend Mulayam Singh Yadav. And in Kerala, one of the bastions of the CPI-M, the Marxists are getting ready to fight for the political career of the local party boss, Pinarayi Vijayan.

We all know that the dates of the 15th general election will be announced in about six weeks. But it is open to question if the three largest political entities are in any kind of shape to fight the polls. And what happens even if they do win? Does it mean any hope of better governance, or shall it be just business as usual? And just what does 'business as usual' mean in India?

The answer to that is the SNC-Lavalin scandal, which offers a snapshot of how things work -- or don't work -- in our country.

Readers outside Kerala have probably never even heard of SNC-Lavalin. And even readers in Kerala are probably most familiar with the name because Pinarayi Vijayan, the boss of the CPI-M's Kerala unit, may be involved -- or so the Central Bureau of Investigation reportedly claims.

Very briefly, for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the case, the Canadian firm SNC-Lavalin was awarded a contract for the renovation and modernisation of the Pallivassal, Chengulam, and Panniyar hydroelectric projects. Pinarayi Vijayan was the power minister in the E K Nayanar ministry from 1996 to 1998, and he is now apparently accused of offering undue favours to the Canadian firm. The CBI is now seeking sanction to prosecute him.

The CPI-M says the case has been cooked up by a pliant CBI to please its Congress masters in Delhi. The Congress retorts that it cannot be blamed if Pinarayi Vijayan is finally facing the music for his misdeeds. You can be sure that both sides will give the case plenty of air with the polls coming up.

Here is a suggestion: Forget about Pinarayi Vijayan's involvement and whether or not the CPI-M should sack him from his party post. Instead, take a good, hard, long look at what it says about doing business in India.

First, we never seem to get what we pay for. The total installed capacity of the Pallivassal, Chengulam, and Panniyar plants put together is 115 MW. Rs 374 crore was paid in order to increase generation of electricity. Today, after all the 'work', I am told not that a single additional MW has been added to the original figure. What has the Indian taxpayer received in exchange for his Rs 374 crore?

The issue, to my eyes, is not whether Pinarayi Vijayan was at fault or whether, as the CPI-M now alleges, the contract was signed by the concerned minister in the Congress-led A K Antony ministry, G Karthikeyan. The simple fact is that a lot of money was paid out with little or nothing to show for it.

Second, why do so many government deals always seem to carry peculiar riders attached to them? A team that included both Pinarayi Vijayan and the then Chief Minister Nayanar went to Canada in October 1996 to renegotiate with SNC-Lavalin. One of the items in the new deal was 'raising the complementary grant component of the package from Rs 43 crore to Rs 98 crore. The last component -- the grant from the Canadian aid agencies - was to be arranged by SNC Lavalin for setting up of a modern cancer hospital in Malabar.' (So says the CPI-M weekly newspaper People's Democracy.)

The construction of a cancer hospital is a good thing in itself but why on earth should it be linked to upgrading power plants? Was this a government project, or was it supposed to be an act of private charity? If the government of Kerala so desired it could have built such a cancer hospital on its own, without dragging a Canadian firm into the picture. Was any land acquired and transferred in the process?

In the event, it seems that this clause was not legally enforceable. In the welter of charges and counter-charges between the CPI-M and the Congress, only one clear fact stands out -- which is that no such hospital exists today even 12 years after the deal was struck.

Third, why is it that some third party always pops up when a government is negotiating? In the SNC-Lavalin case, we get to hear of a firm called 'Technicalia Consultants'. Based in Chennai, this was the firm that was given the contract to actually build the hospital. (Apparently, neither the government of Kerala nor SNC-Lavalin possessed the necessary expertise!) And as a result it was through Technicalia Consultants that any Canadian grants of money were to be routed.

Fourth, and last, why do cases in India drag on and on? And why do they never seem to gather speed except when one party or the other stands to gain electorally?

Why SNC-Lavalin was paid such high fees to do seemingly little? Why was an extraneous issue like a cancer hospital dragged into the modernization of power plants? And why was Technicalia Consultants, or any other third party, brought into the picture at all?

The saddest part of the whole SNC-Lavalin saga is that, with minor modifications to the details, you could probably come up with a similar scandal in several other states. The names change, parties flit in and out of power, cases are filed and forgotten -- it is just business as usual in India.

To quote from the same poem by Yeats, when we look at our politics, we can only conclude that 'The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.'

By T V R Shenoy, As published at Rediff.com on 27th Jan'09

Distinction between 'Bribe' & 'Speed Money'

2009-01-20T11:56:00.002+05:30

A businessman I met at an industry body gathering a few years ago narrated this distinction between giving a bribe and paying 'speed money'. "A bribe is payment to a government officer for doing something he should not do and speed money is payment for doing something he should." The discussion was to do with logistics in general and the specific challenges of clearing goods through the log-jammed ports.

I tried arguing, for a moment, about the greater good about not doling out speed money to keep the system clean and transparent. I gave up when I heard a senior customs official present at the gathering acknowledge that speed money had to change hands, if you did not want your products to rot at the docks or your importers to dishonour a time-bound consignment.

A week ago, the World Bank in Washington out of the blue announced it was banning IT services major Wipro from doing business with it for four years for "providing improper benefits to Bank staff". Turned out Wipro had offered New York Stock Exchange listed American Depository Receipt stock to the World Bank, "through the bank's chief information officer and staff."

Three World Bank staffers purchased 1,750 shares for approximately $72,000 at the initial public offer price, Wipro revealed after the World Bank's announcement. And quickly sought to play down the impact of the World Bank's ban on its revenues. The 'broad market', perhaps hands full with the unravelling Satyam scandal seemed to take the explanation with good stead.

So what was Wipro doling out, bribe or speed money? I would assume that like any restricted offering, which is what a Directed Share Programme ought to be, the upside was in the fact that some people could get hold of the shares as against others who did not. The price is incidental. Somewhat like getting a well-priced IPO stock in India in the primary market, with the expectation it will zoom on listing or thereabouts.

So maybe it was closer to speed money. Handing out a favourable allotment in a share offer because a good relationship will help the company in the long term. And what better way to do it than to make your customers a part of the shareholder family? Except that World Bank employees are not customers - the Bank is and it's what I would call a governmental organisation. Nor are they the equivalent of customs officials who can hold up cargo. But then that's the point, the fine line only gets finer.

On the other hand, hear Wipro's pronouncements (on its website) about unyielding integrity. "On integrity there will be no compromise...we will always act to establish the foremost standards of honesty and fairness." And another one: "Integrity is being ethical beyond doubt. It is living the law of the land in spirit. It is what will give us the confidence to stand up to any scrutiny." And so on.

Wipro chairman Azim Premji in an email communication to his employees did stand up to that scrutiny and quite aggressively at that. "Let me reaffirm that Wipro was right from a legal and as well as an ethical standpoint. We believe what we did was right and we did it in the right manner," he said.

I had a thought. What if Mr Premji had 'confessed' that Wipro had indeed provided improper benefits to World Bank staff - since no one is using the word bribes - and that he was prepared to, as key promoter and chairman of the company, face the consequences and the law of the land. Would things have spun a little differently? Maybe, maybe not. But then Mr Premji did not own up. Nor then has he sued the World Bank for slander or improper action.

To be fair, Mr Premji did not engineer a financial fraud a la Mr Raju. Second, it's possible that Mr Premji did not know who the ADR shares were being offered to. And these were mostly given off by the head of the local outpost or thereabouts. Though it's unlikely the transaction would have happened were the internal guidelines on whom to give shares to or not very clearly defined.

Which brings me back to the first point. Businessmen have clearly two kinds of rules and values, one for what they think they can't or should not do and second, what they are entitled to or at least their companies are. I am sure if you are a board member or a senior enough employee you must have heard that oft-used phrase, "We have to do this. It is right and good for the company." So the distinctions between what is illegal or unethical blur.

I am not being naive here to say Indian businesses are the only ones who pay speed money and palm it off as legitimate business expenses when clearly it is not, even from an accounting perspective. But I do find it amusing that every other businessman who has bashed Satyam publicly knows fully fell that Satyam only represents the worst of balance sheet excesses. And of course fraud.

Here is an aside which I am sure some know. Several businessmen have told me privately since l'affaire Satyam erupted that in India (or perhaps anywhere else for that matter) you do not accept your financial follies, at least publicly. Two businessmen from fairly large companies said to me: "We are not saying what he did was right. But Ramalinga Raju was an idiot to have confessed."

The only unfortunate moral of the story is that do what you have to do but don't get caught. And if you do, then leap up in righteous indignation! Or better still, find the right definition or phrase for what you are doing. And, like speed money, wait till that phrase gets institutionalised. And till then, whatever else happens, just don't confess.

By Govindraj Ethiraj as published on Rediff.com on 20th Jan 2009

The Pride of Being Currupt

2009-01-17T11:53:00.002+05:30

Raju need not fear ostracism once he's out - society will embrace him.

A friend in Washington told me that Indians working in the World Bank and International Monetary Fund began to swagger around with a new bounce to the step and a gleam in the eye when the Rs 64-crore (Rs 640-million) Bofors scandal broke.

'We are in the big league now' they gloated. 'Not your chota-mota stuff!' The Rs 7,136-crore (Rs 71.36 billion) Satyam fraud must have them bursting with pride.

Size is a national obsession. Indians have stashed away more than anyone else -- a noble $1,456 billion -- in Swiss banks. We thrive on superlatives. Even Jawaharlal Nehru rejoiced in the Suratgarh farm being "the biggest farm in Asia".

A policeman claimed during the nineties' spate of kidnappings in Calcutta he could identify the kidnappers from the ransom demanded.

A crore (Rs 10 million) meant impressive Delhi criminals; a few lakhs suggested dehati gangs in Bihar; a measly thousand or two indicated local street-corner toughs. "Boys who extort Durga Puja chanda" he said contemptuously.

A double-column newspaper heading reflected another aspect of the complex.

'Grandpa Dawood celebrates in Pak' reported with no hint of criticism that 'champagne corks popped' and 'hundreds of kilos of pedas' were distributed in Karachi, Dubai and Mumbai to celebrate the birth of India's most wanted fugitive's grandson.

I shouldn't imagine any Mumbaiker refused either the bubbly or sweets. For that matter, Delhi and Mumbai society hostesses would probably scratch out each other's eyes for the honour of lionising Ibrahim Dawood at their parties if he ever appears in India.

Similarly, the poor might flock to gaze on Charles Sobhraj; the rich will fall over each other to shake his hand. As someone said of Britain's royal family, our heroes are famous for being famous.

Fame is the spur, never mind for what, bearing out Wilde's aphorism that 'the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about'.

The frequency with which the phrase 'world famous' is used implies we live not for ourselves but for the world. Even in remote towns Indians frankly confess to absurd doings like eating dahi while turning somersaults in the air to make the hallowed Guinness Book of Records.

A R Rahman put it nicely when he said, "Indians are crazy about Oscars". Slumdog Millionaire would be far more enjoyable if the Oscar judges enjoy it.

Indira Gandhi was uncharacteristically out of tune with this mood when she wanted tax evaders to be ostracised. She must have known that people admire and envy a leading member of a prominent industrial family who pays no tax.

Sir Biren Mookerjee was thought to be inept when the tax people threatened to seize some of the grounds of his Calcutta mansion.

Mrs Gandhi wasn't the only premier with a blind spot. V P Singh's prescription to force corrupt Indians to migrate showed he had no idea that half the population would happily call itself corrupt to escape foreign exchange and travel restrictions.

'India's Enron' has done India proud. It doesn't lead the fraud pecking order with WorldCom (Rs 43,650 crore or Rs 436.5 billion) or Xerox (Rs 29,100 crore or Rs 291 billion) but the real Enron lags behind with only Rs 2,866 crore (Rs 28.66 billion) missing.

Our Byrraju Ramalinga Raju has also beaten the flamboyant daredevil of the derivatives who gambled away the world's oldest merchant bank. Nick Leeson's fun and games cost Rs 346 crore (Rs 3.46 billion) less than Raju's creative accounting.

The pujas and representations by his friends confirm Raju need fear neither ostracism nor forced emigration once he's out. Society will clasp him to its bosom.

Reports say he chatted 'for several hours' with fellow Andhra jailmate, Kosaraju Venkateshwara Rao, former chairman of Hyderabad's Krushi Bank, who allegedly duped depositors of nearly Rs 32 crore (Rs 320 million) and fled to Bangkok.

What did they talk about? Raju may have said that Rs 32 crore was peanuts. "Even Global Trust went under for Rs 812 crore (Rs 8.12 billion)!" Also, that 8,300 Krushi depositors were nothing to write home about since Satyam's 53,000 employees and their dependents probably account for 424,000 jobs.

Rao wondered why Raju, with offices from Toronto to Calgary and Parsippany in New Jersey to Santa Clara in California, hadn't run, like three Satyam colleagues.

'The government runs faster' Raju replied. Bangkok is a hop, step and jump away, but India established diplomatic relations with Costa Rica and sent an ambassador to get Dharma Teja.

Foreign isn't safe. Look at poor Akshay Vishal in America! "Besides, how will anyone know one has refused VIP treatment (even if it wasn't offered), turned spiritual and reads Buddhist books if the Indian media doesn't have access?

As published on Rediff.com, written by Sunanda K Datta-Ray

A Nation Without People

2009-01-10T12:41:00.004+05:30

Thanks to the petroleum-truckers strikes the whole nation was almost came to a screechy halt. Fuel pumps were low on inventory waiting for government to cut costs further so that they will buy cheaper fuels to sell on cheaper prices.

Alas! There were no cuts and fewer fuels when it all happened.

Well... for the first time since the local Indore city transport, which is considered as a model for many cities including Delhi, launched, I got a chance for a ride! (My bike went dry!)

It was a small ride and a funny one too. It has only been over two years since the Atal City Transport, named after the great leader of our times, Atalji, has started in the city. But looking at the buses one cannot decide if it is two years old or twenty!

It had big windows, without glasses, wet seats, due to overnight rains, broken holders for standing crowd.

You say... this is India... everything is broken here... They cannot give us the European facilities... They this... They that... Government is all crap... blah blah blah!

I resist.

When the buses first ran in the city, they were beautiful and up to the international standards.

Narrow streets and the residents were not used to these beautiful monsters running right between them.

If by chance there was an accident, people not just beat up the driver... BUT hurled stones at the bus and broke all the glasses.

IF there is some tension in the city, the first thing came under fire were these buses.

People tore off all the advertisements or the radium showing route on the buses to see if it comes out clean.

People also enjoyed calligraphy all over the bus inside out.

It is a matter of pride to have some part of the public property as a privet possession and showing it off.

My friends... do you really think government is responsible for this mess?

No.

It’s us. The proud people of India who say India is great and developing and we do not have international facilities.

How you expect the government to take care of each glass of the bus that you broke for personal pleasure. They gave us a system which is almost became a lifeline to the city over the 'Nagar-Seva-killing-bus' horrors.

We do not break the windows of our house in protest if the food is burned in the kitchen.

If this is our city, we must preserve what we have.

If this is our country, we must do the same for it in the same way.

And if not... call it A Nation Without People.

Pathetic tale of services sector in India

2009-01-06T14:07:00.004+05:30

'A customer is the most important visitor on our premises; he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. -- Mahatma Gandhi

Computerization is the latest mantra of bankers, both in the private and public sectors.

Never mind that most times computers don't work. The rest of the time, bankers don't. And when they do work, they work at cross-purposes leaving customers completely exasperated. And from time to time they also employ their other weapon: a strike.

Try depositing a cheque at, purchase a draft from or deposit cash in a bank; you would know what I mean. Remember, these are routine matters that the banks are supposed to handle day in and out. God forbid, if you have to handle some stray cases of foreign remittances or expect some other exotic services from banks!

No wonder, every time after his monthly visit to his bank my aged father, a retired banker himself and a Gandhian -- who never believed in violence all his life, tells me -- "I need to shoot these guys!"

The most obnoxious part in the entire exercise is that bank employees often join us in our ranting about the abysmal quality of services. Little do we realize that in the process they claim a co-victim status when they are in effect responsible for the mess in the first place?

Should you think that you could get things rectified by lodging a complaint with a superior on the dismal state of affairs, you are sadly mistaken. Most of the superiors would invariably in some meeting or out of town. One wonders whether it is a ruse to run away from ground zero.

Once we often chided our nationalized banks for the poor quality of services. Then came foreign banks and private banks in India. The whiff of fresh approach to banking brought about by these organizations flattered to deceive.

While the nationalized banks have learnt to bill virtually for every 'service' provided by these new generation banks (the only thing banks do not charge their customers is for the air you breath and water you drink inside their premises), the latter have learnt the art of providing abysmal service and getting away with it.

In effect, the lines that separated the nationalized and the private banks, between Indian and foreign banks and between the old and the new generation banks have become increasingly blurred. In the process, the Mahatma's quote about customers -- that used to be displayed so prominently in the main business hall of banks -- has become a mockery.

Incompetence compounded by negligence

According to Indian system of governance, kings, along with their senior ministers, used to travel incognito in their kingdom to get a first hand feel of governance. On most occasions, they realized that most of their well-laid plans, policies or programs were laid to waste by some callous officer responsible for implementation.

This idea, though it may sound outlandish in modern times, is perhaps more effective than the best laid systems for quality control, supervision and public relations. I am sure that a visit to a branch by a chairman, incognito, would actually tell him the poor quality of service dished out by his bank that it is a classic case of incompetence compounded by negligence.

All with a grimace

Let me hasten at this point in time to add that this piece is in essence not about bank and bankers, alone. In fact, this is true of India’s entire services sector. The reference at the outset, to banks, merely provides a context to the overall discussion.

Cellular service providers, insurance companies -- especially health insurance, vehicle service stations, annual maintenance contracts, mutual funds and other such service providers have one thing in common with our banking sector: obnoxious quality of services. In fact, most times it is non-existent.

Usually, signals provided by our cellular companies are so poor that often one feels that it would be better to send homer pigeons rather than talk on cell phones. Ditto with vehicle maintenance. Credit card service providers make you wonder if the great robber barons are still well and alive even in the 21st century.

If you think you could get your claims on medical insurance settled as easily as the agent warranted, you are wrong. Remember, complying with the fine print is the most difficult thing on earth.

And in a medical emergency -- you usually end with two choices -- tackling the imperial demands of the insurance company or taking care of the ill. Usually we end up with the latter. And if you think you can complain later, invariably the official would be inaccessible.

Sometimes, such officers are out for training; sometime, overseas too. One wonders why anyone would want to train someone who is already doing an excellent job at obfuscation.

In effect, in most cases one cannot walk into the office of these service providers and expect that they would deliver what they themselves had warranted. And given the modern trend in management, most of the components of services are outsourced -- including receipt of complaints -- making a mockery of the concept of ownership and responsibility!

In the alternative, one could often get to see some kids (usually aged in their early twenties), completely oblivious of even the fundamental operations of the organizations they represent, manning these vital desks.

The idea of posting a kid is obviously a well-thought out strategy -- you lose even your fundamental right to protest. The net consequence of all this is that we can only grimace.

If you assume all these are products of incompetence or negligence you are mistaken. I am sure some may disagree, but given the pathetic levels of services we suffer, one is indeed at liberty to assume that perhaps these organizations just don't care. Providing services is merely a ruse.

Remember, most of these are manned, managed and run by well-educated Indians. And most economists, oblivious of all this, assume that India will be a service powerhouse in the next few decades. Wonder whether they have ever been on the receiving end of these services.

Sivaganga, the pilgrimage centre

I began with the poor services of banks. Let me return to the latest bug that seems to have hit the nationalized banks -- a mandatory pilgrimage to Sivaganga. Yes, Sivaganga, the constituency of the former finance minister P Chidambaram. Most readers may be aware that for the past couple of years, virtually every bank opened a branch in Sivaganga.

Those who already had branches there contrived to open an ATM, or -- as the joke goes -- a second cash counter. And for this non-event full page advertisements are inserted (don't worry, we footed the bill) in national dailies and the entire top management descends on Sivaganga to ensure that the function is a grand success.

The obvious intention of the bankers is to please political masters and move to greener pastures! Perhaps, such use of national resources for personal aggrandizement is not within the definition of corruption in India. But definitely it is within the definition of customer service for our bankers.

In the process little do bankers realise that Sivaganga is one of the hundred districts -- and the only one in Tamil Nadu -- named by the Radhakrishna committee that went into farm distress in India.

Wonder where is the need for such intensive and extensive banking in Sivaganga which is under extreme economic duress!

For improving their quality of services, some banks have hit upon the idea of a getting a new logo, so as to give the impression of having acquired a new image to the general public.

A visit to such banks is enough for one to be deflated. After all, old habits cannot be cured with a new logo. But bankers are a mere reference point to the manner in which our services sectors function.

Most of them -- there are, of course, some exceptions -- invent innovative reasons for non-performance and negligence.

We, the people of India, as customers continue to suffer in silence. Obviously, we are aware that you are a victim of my poor service as much as I am of yours. No wonder all of us collectively have decided that nothing can be done at an individual level, and individually understood that at a collective level, nothing can be done.

The author is a Chennai-based chartered accountant. Comments can be made at mrv@mrv.net.in

Are we a Racist Nation?

2008-12-31T17:02:00.001+05:30

They will always deny and never ever accept the fact that Indians, in fact, are the biggest racist in the whole world.

Before you jump to any conclusions and close this window, my friend, you must know the definition of racism.

Discrimination of any human being, based on color, cast, creed and race is called racism.

In my growing years in this country, I was taught about how Gandhiji stood beside all the untouchables and how he called them with a new name, Harijan. They also taught us that it was Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who stood up for the human rights in front of the whole community and system.

We don't have Achuts (untouchables) or Harijans as distinguished as they used to be in those days when these great men fought.

Finally, for good and better, they succeeded and now we have a society which provides equal importance and opportunities to anyone who has the skills, guts and will to make it big.

BUT, it is over?

No I say!

Discrimination... Huh?

While they were teaching us about how Harijan are normal people, outside the school we learned so much about people who were not untouchables but had something distinct about them.

He is a Bihari Bhaiya.... be aware… don't mix with him.

He is a Kadhi Bhau... Marathi... don't trust

He is a Sindhi... they are always dirty

He is a Gujju... be aware

He is an Anna... have you seen how he eats?

He is a Sardar... laugh at him!

She is from Delhi... may be 14 but I bet she is not a virgin!

He is..

She is..

Stop it guys!

This is not done.

This is our very own sick mentality which gives boost to the big stage players like Raj Thakare or even biggest threats like terrorists.

On the top of it, reservation quota system in government jobs and education only widens this gap.

They said 'Divide and Rule' was a policy of British when they ruled in India, now my I ask, what is the difference?

Equal Opportunities. One Nation.

Jai Hind!

Lead India: An Initiative from Times of India

2008-12-26T12:36:00.001+05:30

This is what we all need!

World: At The Edge of WW-III

2008-12-22T14:09:00.001+05:30

Warnings are flying high and Pakistan is under threat from US and India and rest of the world, or it seems so.

UK PM Gordon Brown went to Pakistan, told them to curb the terrorism; Kasab is Pak resident and gave them $6 Million to help the cause.

May I ask these UK and US governments that do they ever ask for the expenditure slip from Pakistan as where and how the money given to the waiting-to-go-bankrupt nation is used?

Mullah Omar, Al-Qaeda No.2, says, US, India, Russia and Israel are the biggest enemies of Islam and who supporting its cause oath to take them down.

India is resilient to these threats as we know we can definitely crush Pakistan to bits if ever a war comes in question.

As for the allies, Russia will come to help so do US and UK, without any options. China will remain vigilant but will not interfere as it has to look forward to its economy and will take no chances in spoiling the curry.

NOW, If India attacks Pak, the Islamabad will be handed over to the Army or say the militants and terrorists, who will then have access the Nuke arsenal.

Pak will have the joint support of all the 40 Muslim nations who supported the Bhutto's Nuke program. Virtually, the third world war will begin here and now.

This is what terrorist want.

They want India to announce war against Pak.

What happened at Mumbai or keeps happening in all over India has only one purpose that is to pressurize the Indian government from the people and announce a war.

A Certified War.

On the face of national security, Pak will nuke India on its face throwing the nation almost 50 years back.

This step will never benefit India as a nation.

US, UK, Russia and other nations have accepted about Kasab's Pak connection and telling Pak to accept it.

Pak with its nuclear arsenal is now in the same situation as was Afghanistan and Iraq.

Iran, the friend-turned-opponent of India, now has started singing in a different tune altogether.

You ask why India is not going all attacking.

Hope you got the answer.

You ask how long we have to bear more attacks.

As long as they do not kill more US nationals here.

You ask, is there any end to it?

YES there is. BUT for that one have to wait for Pakhtunistan, Sindh and Pakistan to redraw their maps on the world.

Wait. US will attack Pak. One day or the other.

As they said, all roads lead to Rome...

...All terrorism connections lead to Pakistan.

Havens have mercy!

What's New About It?

2008-12-18T10:28:00.001+05:30

Politicians are spoiling, terrorists are striking, citizens are boiling, and humanity is bleeding. So what’s new about it??

Stock market is fluctuating for a variety of reasons: Petroleum Prices, New President, Bailout possibilities, Bailout denial, War Clouds. So what’s new about it?

There is more skin on show in what is understood to be Textile Fashion Shows. So what’s new about it?

One more boy fell into the bore well ditch at some place in India. I privately wonder why this sort of trouble only strikes boys and not a single girl child has ever fallen into such a trap. May be girls are helping their mothers even in that age, may be there are fewer girls as compared to boys, may be boys are a pampered lot and allowed to wander. So what’s new….

In Africa and many other parts of the world more people are suffering from hunger this year. So what’s new…..

Entities with housing assets are being bailed out, developers are being bailed out, automakers are being bailed out; all these have their country cousins like farmers, craftsmen, weavers, artisans, shopkeepers, small entrepreneurs, who do not figure in any bail outs. So what’s ….

Money is pouring in for the baby whose father got killed in terror attack in Bombay. There are many babies who are orphaned in violence in many parts of India. Some such babies fall into hands of unscrupulous elements. So what’s….

There is a new college in the town. On the opening day, there are speeches about spreading the light of knowledge. Classes begin and soon fizzle out due to flimsy reasons. Students need not come to college, attendance is provided by accommodating teachers under management supervision. Every one settles in to a convenient routine in which other colleges operate. So what’s …

News ain’t new any more! The above list could well a very long one.

So what’s new about it?

Development: The Mantra of Success in Politics

2008-12-15T17:00:00.002+05:30

Congratulations!!!

Local Assembly Elections for 5 states in India came and gone. We voted. We voted with almost 70 percent average to show the power of democracy. When results came, it was evident that people are more awake now than they used be in the old times.

The madness, the single dimensional approach and extremism are giving way to a revolutionary idea of growth and development.

As we call this nation a young country with 70% of the population comes under 'Youth' umbrella, this is bound to happen. The restless youth has got the way to unleash it's frustration in that 2x2 voting area.

No sensational issues created or raised by the political parties have affected the voters of these states.

The only thing mattered was Development.

This is the most positive sign any democracy can show. Stick to the idea of growth.

BJP led Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in to a waste facelift.

BUT it never took the responsibility of safety and development in Rajasthan.

Congress' win in Rajasthan, Delhi and Mizoram are the sheer signs of a develop hungry nation.

The metal is needed.

Bravo Voters!

Cheers!

PS: Politicians please pay attention: Make this your mantra for success: Development.

12 steps to shock-and-awe Pakistan's economy

2008-12-11T10:41:00.002+05:30

R Vaidyanathan

I did not anticipate the huge response my inbox received for the articleslamming Pakistan. Many of those who wrote in have sought concrete steps to tackle the Terror Central.

The terror attack on world citizens at Mumbai has created revulsion and outrage all over the world. It is imperative that India seize the opportunity provided to destabilise Pakistan.

A stable Pakistan is not in the interest of world peace, leave alone India. Army controls the country and owns its economy.

A significant portion of its GDP is due to army-controlled entities (See: Military Inc - Inside Pakistan's Military Economy, by Ayesha Siddiqa; OUP; 2007). One can easily say that Pakistan economy and its Army/ISI are synonymous.

Unless this elementary fact is internalised, we are not going anywhere. This implies we should stop talking of a stable Pakistan since a stable Pakistan means multiple attacks on many more cities of India by that rogue organisation ISI, which is the core of the Pakistan Army and the heart of Pakistan's economy.

Let us not even assume that Zardari is in control. Poor man -- he did not trust his own investigators to probe his wife's assassination -- he wanted Scotland Yard to do the job. Now he blabbers that if his investigators are satisfied, then he will initiate action against terrorists sitting inside Pakistan.

Periodically, the Pakistan Army likes to present some useful idiots (as Lenin would have called them) as elected representatives and we swoon over such events.

India should take the following steps to destabilise the economy of Pakistan:

1. Identify the major export items of Pakistan (like Basmati rice, carpets, etc) and provide zero export tax or even subsidise them for export from India. Hurt Pakistan on the export front.

2. Identify the major countries providing arms to Pakistan and arm twist them. Tell Brazil and Germany (currently planning to supply massive defense items to Pakistan) that it will impact their ability to invest in India. Tell Germany that retail license to Metro will be off and other existing projects will be in jeopardy.

3. Incidentally, after the arrival of Coke and Pepsi in China, the human rights violations of China are not talked about much by US government organs. Think it is a coincidence? Unless we use our markets to arm-twist arms exporters to Pakistan, we will not achieve our objectives.

4. Tell American companies that for every 5% increase in FDI limit for them, their government needs to reduce equipping Pakistan by $5 billion. That is real politics, not whining. Let us remember that funds are in desperate search of emerging markets and not the other way about. Let us also remember that international economics is politics by another name.

5. Create assets to print/distribute their currency widely inside their country. To some extent, Telgi types can be used to outsource this activity. Or just drop their notes in remote areas.

6. Pressurise IMF to add additional conditionality to the loans given to them or at least do not vote for their loans.

7. Create assets within Pakistan to destabilise Karachi stock market - it is already in a shambles.

8. Cricket and Bollywood are the opium of the Indian middle classes. Both have been adequately manipulated/ controlled by the D-company since the eighties. Chase the D-company money in cricket/ Bollywood and punish by burning D-assets in India instead of trying to have them auctioned by the IT department when nobody comes to bid for it.

9. Provide for capital punishment to those who fund terror and help in that. We have the division in the finance ministry to monitor money laundering, etc. It is important that terror financing is taken seriously and fully integrated into money laundering monitoring systems and this division is provided with much larger budget and human resources. And it should coordinate with RAW.

10. Encourage and allow scientists/ academicians/ elites of Pakistan to opt for Indian passport and widely publicise that fact since it will hurt their self-respect and dignity. There will be a long queue to get Indian passports -- many will jump to get our passport -- since they will not be stopped at international airports. It is rumoured that Adnan Sami wants one. Do not give passports to all -- make it a prized possession. Let it hurt the army- and ISI-controlled country. This one step will destroy their identity and self-confidence.

11. Discourage companies from India from investing in Pakistan, particularly IT companies, till Pakistan stops exporting its own IT (international terrorism).

12. In all these, it is important that we do not bring in the domestic religious issues. The target is the terror central, namely Pakistan, and if there are elements helping them here then they also should be punished -- irrespective of religious labels. If Pakistan is dismantled and the idea of Pakistan is gone, many of our domestic issues will also be sorted out.

Will the Indian elite go for the jugular or just light more candles and scream at the formless/ nameless political class before TV cameras?

It is going to be a long haul and may be in a decade or so, we can find a solution to our existential crisis of being attacked by barbarians from the West. We need to combine strategy and patience and completely throw to the dustbin the 'Gujral Doctrine' by that mumbling prime minister about treating younger brothers with equanimity. The doctrine essentially suggests that if we are slapped on both the cheeks we should feel bad that we do not have a third cheek to show.

He, according to security experts, seems to have dismantled our human intelligent assets inside Pakistan, which has resulted in the gory death of thousands of Indian citizens in the last few years.

Such is our strategic thinking in this complex world since our political class is not adequately briefed and the elite don't think through issues. Better to be simple in our talks and vicious in our actions rather than the other way.

Hopefully, this November attack will create a new vibrant India capable of taking care of its own interests.

The author is professor of finance and control, Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, and can be contacted atvaidya@iimb.ernet.in. The views are personal and do not reflect those of his organisation.

Under license from www.3dsyndication.com.

Published at Rediff.com on 11th Dec. 2008

8 things India Inc, govt must do against Pakistan

2008-12-10T13:31:00.003+05:30

By R Vaidyanathan

The three-day-long terror strike on the country's financial capital was devastating in terms of its reach and impact. It has left Corporate India badly shaken and the elites numb.

It is no more about bombs being thrown at bus stations or trains getting blasted. It is no longer about only Nagpada or Govindpuri residents losing limbs and lives. Terror has now climbed up the value chain.

As the new age entrepreneur Kiran Majumdar Shaw told a Bangalore newspaper, "So far, the terrorists targeted common people. Now the society's elite, the business sector, is the target. What happened in Mumbai is a loud wake-up call for all of us to do something to protect ourselves."

Corporate India did not bat an eyelid when Mumbai train blasts took place, or when Sarojini Nagar was burning on a Diwali day, or Hyderabad was weeping two years before.

But today, every corporate captain is angry, and so are the celebrities who people Page 3 of newspapers, due largely because the attacks on the three top hotels were directly aimed at those who frequent these places, for business or pleasure (contrast this with the scant coverage of the carnage at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, for example, where commoners were involved).

All the same, the bleeding-heart liberals would be back to their routine ways after a few days. They will lament that the captured terrorist has not been given his favourite food and not allowed to watch TV or use his cell phone; they will say his human rights are violated. Just wait for the chorus.

Of course, this time it will be between Page 3 and the jholawalas(activists) and that should be an interesting match to watch, but that's another story.

In the last ten years, not a single session of any seminar sponsored by the CII or Ficci or business/general journals has focussed on terrorism. When this writer once broached the importance of talking about it, a senior business captain said it is for the government to deal with.

Many of those seminars gave importance to Musharraf and now Zardari, as if they are going to provide any solution when they are a part of the problem.

Now, at least, terrorism is being realised as a problem facing the country.

Let us summarise what the real situation is and what the corporate sector should do if we are serious in fighting terrorism on our soil.

1. Recognise and treat Pakistan as a terrorist state. The state policy of Pakistan is terrorism and their single-point programme is to destroy India. This needs to be internalised by every business baron including the owners of media.

2. Now, the elite of Pakistan are more angry, since India is growing at 7% and they are given CCC rating and stiff conditions for borrowing from the IMF.

Many an academic from that country, who I have met in global conferences, has openly lamented that nobody talks about Indo-Pak relations anymore, but only Indo-China or Indo-American, etc. They want to be equal but they are in deep abyss.

3. Pakistan is the only territory in the world where an army has a whole country under its control. This is an important issue since studies have found that a large number of corporates in Pakistan are ultimately owned by the Fauji Foundation (FF), Army Welfare Trust (AWT) Bahria Foundation (BF), Shaheen Foundation (SF) all owned by different wings of armed forces (See paper presented by Dr Ayesha Siddiqa-Agha on 'Power, Perks, Prestige And Privileges: Military's Economic Activities In Pakistan' in The International Conference on Soldiers in Business -- Military as an Economic Actor; Jakarta, October 17-19, 2000).

Hence, do not try to think of Pakistan without its army, irrespective of who rules that country temporarily and nominally. At least 70% of the market capitalisation of the Karachi stock exchange is owned by the army and related groups.

4. There are three groups in India, who are obsessed with friendship with Pakistan. One is the oldies born in that part before partition and who are nostalgic about the Lahore havelis, halwas and mujras. The second is the Bollywood and other assorted groups, who look at it as a big market. The Dawood gang has financed enough of these useful idiots. The third is the candle light holding bleeding heart liberals (BHLs) who cannot imagine India doing well without its younger brother taken care of.

All three have been proved wrong hundreds of times, but they are also opinion makers. Shun them, avoid them and ridicule them.

5. We should categorically, unambiguously, unequivocally boycott Pakistan in all aspects for a decade or more. Be it art, music, economy, commerce, or other hand-holding activities. That army-controlled state has to realise that it has done enough damage to global civilisation.

More than 100 acts/attempts of terror recorded in the world since 9/11 have had their roots in Pakistan. More than 40% of the prisoners in Guantanamo are Pakistanis.

6. We should recognise that it is our war and nobody in the world is going to wage it on our behalf. What the Americans are thinking, or what the Britishers are going to do, will not help. A determined country should have a sense of dignity and independence to fight its war.

We should stop interviewing leaders from that country who mouth the same inanities that "you have not produced any proof." The Government of India should perhaps create a museum of proof between India Gate and North Block.

I am amazed that a country of a billion is required even to furnish proof. If one-sixth of humanity says that the terrorist state of Pakistan is the root cause of global terrorism -- it is factual. Let us not fall into the trap of providing proof to the culprits.

7. We should realise that a united Pakistan is a grave threat to the existence of India. Hence, we should do everything possible to break up Pakistan into several units. This is required to be done not only for our interest, but for world peace.

8. We have made a grave blunder by suggesting in the international fora that "Pakistan is also a victim of terror." That is a grave error and it will haunt us for decades. They are perpetrators and our government is in deep illusion if it tries to distinguish between organs of power in that country thinking it is like India.

There is only one organ, namely its army (with ISI as a sub-organ) in that country, which owns and controls at least 70% of the GDP in that country.

If we want the world to treat Pakistan for what it is, then we should start practising it. Always call it the 'terrorist state of Pakistan' and never have any illusion that it is going to be any different.

If corporate India, including electronic/ print media, starts practising this, we should see results in a few years. Are the elites listening?

Under license from www.3dsyndication.com.

Published at Rediff.com on 10th December 2008

A New Nation Awaits... Are we ready?

2008-12-05T00:19:00.004+05:30

Stop Complaining.

Wipe your tears, wash your face and stand up. Look into the mirror.

No!

Don't take me wrong. I am not asking you to just forget what had happened to us in the past or to neglect what these bunches of shitheads are going to do in the future or not minding the political verses coming out from Delhi, Washington or Islamabad.

Just Stop Complaining.

You say the political system of India sucks.

Check your options.

Is there any plan B?

NO!

So who made the plan A anyways?

We did!

If we ourselves made a plan which seemed okay half a century ago, don't you think we either fix the loopholes or prepare and practice plan B for the time being and see if it works?

Wondering? Curious? Thinking of me as a lunatic who is suffering from insomnia due to the recession period?

I am not the one if you think.

Here!

As everyone says, we need to fix the current internal political structure; here we have a master example waiting for us to be adopted. Read on...

As President-elect Barack Obama prepares for inauguration day, his closest advisors and appointees are being put into place. The most recent announcements include Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense and Janet Napolitano as Secretary of Homeland Security.

The decision to keep Gates in the Secretary of Defense position was likely the most controversial, but it spoke volumes to those looking for balance and bipartisan cooperation in the new administration. Gates was appointed by current President George W. Bush, and while he is a registered independent, his service in government has been predominantly conservative. He inherited three wars – war on terror, war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan – but is now charged with “responsibly ending the war in Iraq through a successful transition to Iraqi control,” according to Obama.

Obama’s vision for an Abraham Lincoln-like “team of rivals” cabinet is well underway, but many point out not to look for many more rivals in key positions.

Hey! What was that?

Can we buy the copyrights for the same trick and try it at home?

It is like if Congress comes into majority in India, the main opposition, BJP will handle one key department in the government or vice versa.

Let’s see it by example: IF BJP and allies win the next election, they will let Manmohan Sing or P Chidambaram handle the Finance Ministry!

OR IF Congress and allies win, they will name L.K. Adwani as their Home minister or Defense minister or Foreign Minister or IT or Infrastructure or Food minister!

(Railways should always be remain with Lalu, at least for 10 years, one guy who made some decent profit, run extra trains and laid new tracks.... work in progress!....... Come on don't be prejudiced!)

This way, the opposition parties together will work on putting their full efforts in making the one department in government they got the best in the nation so to seek majority in next elections!

This way, they will waste less time on walkouts and opposing and criticizing the majority all the time.

This way, they at least get to do something for what they are sent to the parliament.

Ah! Another beautiful clause that I can think of now is that, if there is any party comes up with allies and supporting MPs (MLAs if it is a state level thing), and gets the majority, all the supporting parties and MPs/MLAs must sign on an agreement that they will not withdraw their support or held the government hostage threatening to pull the support causing the government fall or re-elections.

THIS clause, my friends must be introduced.

Re-Elections or instable government causes the nation dearly in terms of economics. (Education too... As government school teachers go on election duty in different villages leaving their pupils behind! They count the votes too!)

The money of poor which is supposed to be used for the betterment of lives of millions of people is wasted in a momentary decision of a fool, who has decided to withdraw the support.

Like the idea?

Think will work?

I know! you are as confused as John McCain was when he thought about whom did Bush really vote for!?! LOL!

Plan B: ADOPT THE US POLITICAL STRUCTURE!

For India's first elections under the new constitution, the candidates for the Rashtrapati Bhavan are:

- Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam - Independent people's choice nomination

- Ratan Tata - Independent Candidate

- L. K. Advani - BJP Candidate

- Rahul Gandhi - Congress Candidate

- Mayawati - Justtocheckifthereareanymorefoolsremaininthiscountry

- Uma Bharti - ??? Some kind of elections right? I participate!

You know guys, this way we can show the actual acceptance and weight of these politicians to themselves!

So whom are you voting for in the listed candidates for the President of India?

Is Baar Nahin

2008-12-01T23:47:00.004+05:30

A poem by Prasoon Joshi on Mumbai Attacks:

Is baar nahin

Is baar jab woh choti si bachchi mere paas apni kharonch le kar aayegi

Main usey phoo phoo kar nahin behlaoonga

Panapney doonga uski tees ko

Is baar nahin

Is baar jab main chehron par dard likha dekhoonga

Nahin gaoonga geet peeda bhula dene wale

Dard ko risney doonga,utarney doonga andar gehrey

Is baar nahin

Is baar main na marham lagaoonga

Na hi uthaoonga rui ke phahey

Aur na hi kahoonga ki tum aankein band karlo,gardan udhar kar lo main dawa lagata hoon

Dekhney doonga sabko hum sabko khuley nangey ghaav

Is baar nahin

Is baar jab uljhaney dekhoonga,chatpatahat dekhoonga

Nahin daudoonga uljhee door lapetney

Uljhaney doonga jab tak ulajh sake

Is baar nahin

Is baar karm ka hawala de kar nahin uthaoonga auzaar

Nahin karoonga phir se ek nayee shuruaat

Nahin banoonga misaal ek karmyogi ki

Nahin aaney doonga zindagi ko aasani se patri par

Utarney doonga usey keechad main,tedhey medhey raston pe

Nahin sookhney doonga deewaron par laga khoon

Halka nahin padney doonga uska rang

Is baar nahin banney doonga usey itna laachaar

Ki paan ki peek aur khoon ka fark hi khatm ho jaye

Is baar nahin

Is baar ghawon ko dekhna hai

Gaur se

Thoda lambe wakt tak

Kuch faisley

Aur uskey baad hausley

Kahin toh shuruat karni hi hogi

Is baar yahi tay kiya hai

... Prasoon Joshi

How a Soilder Dies and a Politician laughs...

2008-12-01T22:17:00.002+05:30

A nightmare has come to an end. Or is it?

Mumbai attacks have shaken the whole world.

Politicians are throwing resignations all around. Some are giving unnecessary statements.

Maharashrta CM has taken his actor son Reitesh Deshmuck and director Ram Gopal Verma with him to his first briefing by NSG commandos in the TAJ Hotel.

Sanjay Nirupam gave an interview to Al Jazira's English Channel and came out laughing to the media waiting for him.

Abbas Naqavu from BJP said the women in lipstick who lit candles are protesting against the government and are no different from the separatist working in Kashmir.

Ex. Home minister, Shivraj Patil regarded these attacks as normal incident paid with his post at home ministry with the statement.

Kerela CM who visited the NSG Martyr Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan's house was shown the door by the brave soldier’s father.

Pakistan says we are not responsible. Zardari asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to "resist striking out at his (Pakistan's) government should investigations show that Pakistani militant groups were responsible for the attacks". The most noticeable point here is the words: Pakistani militant groups were responsible!

Not the government, mind you!

So don't you think one should go in and eliminate all the terrorist camps around Pakistan? AND this must be done with the support of Pakistan Army. A joint force must take over and show the terror groups the hell.

US is sending Rice to cool off India. Government is taken over by Sonia Gandhi, who is deciding who remains and who leaves. L K Advani and Modi are singing the tunes of a mass intelligence failure, as if they were very successful in Kargil in their times.

People of Mumbai and India have this habit of returning to their day-to-day life after any terrorist incident and politician calls it the spirit of the city.

How long this spirit will be the display of strength or rather the shameful display of our forgetfulness?

This is not done guys.

We know it all... people are not be fooled anymore.

On this very occasion, just please let me know of this missing person called the 'Mumbaikar' and 'Marathi Manoos', the great one and only 'MNS Chief' Mr. Raj Thakare. Please post his whereabouts in the comments section here.

The only thing visible through these events is evident. People have refused to buy the tactics of the politicians to play this incident down. All the action which is taken is nothing but a drama from the government.

Worldwide communities are loathing the nation with anger and regarding it as the country which has covered it political and leadership cowardice as a forgetful and peaceful nation.

We, the people of this nation, are not going to forgive anyone who ever thinks us weak and tries to torn it down.

We stand united.

India stands united in the faces of Kirkire, Unnikrishnan, Kamte or the other 20 faceless Myrtier we know or do not; we are standing tall and know how to reply.

Not anymore.

Enemy... Be warned!

Destiny of People and Power of Silance

2008-11-26T16:50:00.002+05:30

Yesterday, all the drum beating of the political candidates came to a halt as the Election Day is now less then 24 hours away in Madhya Pradesh in one phase straight.

No exit poll surveys this time.

No tall claims by any political party for favorable good winds this time.

No one is clearly stating victory or defeat.

The reason is simple.

Voters, who matter the most in a constitutional process, are silent. They are not uttering a word. This silence is deafening.

Voices of the voters or the people who choose the government were very vocal in the last elections. It was a storm which blew away the Dig Vijay Singh led Congress government. But this time the subtlety of people is a matter of jokes among a few guys I met with.

One friend told me that it is a matter of national laughter that how the most corrupt state government ever led by Dig Vijay, when came into opposition, is calling the BJP a bluff and starting a debate on the issues of corruption only since last year.

No one in the state has forgotten the horrid times he gave to the common man. Be one from the MSEB, MSRTC, Semi-Government Organizations and even students.

Congress has such weak memory. OR better, Rahul has no idea what he is promoting here! This makes me wonder that if I ever get to meet him, what he will say after hearing my remarks. He is dude without a doubt.

Now, let’s talk about the people who are not saying anything.

The reasons are many and the biggest as follows:

1. The Global Recession period has hit hard to everyone. People all around want stability. Trying to figure out what exactly is happening around.

2. The fear of change has seeped in each individual. As the pink slip mayhem continues, people in government jobs fear forced VRS and alteration in temporary jobs offered by the government in the rural areas.

3. People are now thinking over the main issue raised by the Congress - Corruption. Everyone is unable to figure out how it hit them. It is unlike the last time when it was the motto of the government to suck every drop of blood of the people.

4. Fear! What if they said something for one party and the other came to power as no one is certain.

BUT the common man will speak.

He will speak loud enough to be echoed till Delhi.

The day is tomorrow.

Go Vote.

It's Karma.

It's Destiny.

A tale of greed and hungry child...

2008-11-21T18:38:00.005+05:30

The prime job for any government is betterment of life for all the nationals. Be it of countrymen or the noble royalties.

In India the major challenge for governments is to get the tribes to education. If this happens, some bigger challenges such as the child labor will be solved automatically. Needless to say that, all the big think-tanks know about it and are working on it with many means.

Let's see the depth to it. Any child, who goes to work is mainly does so for the basic means as earning bread for the day.

Bang on the spot: Government offered food. The mid-day meal scheme in India is actually a success. Thought the Wheat, Dalia and Rice promised for them from the government is already sold to the neighboring state which declines any support from the northern states. So what an ironically sweet way of revenge from the both sides, they eat all the food intended from the mother state, and here we smile for our cleverness of how we sold them the wheat for Rs. 6/- per KG which was intended for Rs. 1.50/- per KG for poor and will be sold to the common man in that state for Rs. 12/- Per KG.

Ha Ha Ha!

No food at school on some days! It’s okay as they at least get food 18-20 days a month, one time.

Government is so great. They do so many things for us. Like see... They even introduced this Employment Guarantee Scheme.

All we have to do is to go to the local contractor, who has got the contract for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna after bribing who's who at the capital, and make rode to connect our village to the main road.

This guy will give job to ten people; the registers will note attendance of 20 people. Approval will be given by the Sarpanch of the village, and the contractor will get the money in 7 days. The money will then be distributed. The Contractor will have his share of 7 workers; Sarpanch will get his share in next 7 days for 3 workers, after keeping the money for 10 days in the bank account for the interest, the contractor then give the money to the workers.

So, in principal, the work which is done on day one will be redeemed to the worker after almost 20 days or even more.

To make ends meet during this period, the worker will go to Sarpanch or the Contractor who will give them money as loan with 3-5% interest.

They are the nice guys. They take care of the people who work under them.

And yeah, government is doing its part.

You know, the country is so big that it is so hard for the government to keep a check on every Sarpanch or Contractor.

And roads?... If we make them permanent, they won't need any repairs every six months, and the people won't get more work.

See...

Vote from a common man!

2008-11-12T16:24:00.003+05:30

Elections time again.

I am going to cast my vote to a party I would consider lesser corrupt than the other.

Nobody is clean here... isn't it?

So I thought why not make an assessment paper on Indian Politics from the views of a common man.

Okay, so state government of Madhya Pradesh is ruled by BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) for last five years. They won in the last elections because the Digvijay Sing led Congress-I government did the following thins: (Or why I voted for BJP in the last elections)

1. The semi government institutions were told to look else where for findings and salaries. My Mother is a teacher in a semi government school; her colleagues are the people who got affected by this decision the most. Imagine a person with a monthly take home salary of Rs. 5500/- to 7500/- is suddenly changed to mere Rs. 1500/- to 2500/-. The whole economics of a small town with as many as 4 semi government institutions would have been after this decision from the government!

We all, who religiously voted for congress in earlier elections giving Digvijay a 10 Year term at Bhopal, chose BJP.

2. When Chattisgarh came into existence, no division plan formed by Digvijay Singh. The power plants which generated electricity for the entire state were now in another state. Digvijay failed to convince his party member and Chattisgarh CM Jogi to give electricity on affordable rates. This led to a dark age when small towns and villages got electricity as much as 2-4 Hours a day. This was a disaster. Many MSEB workers got beaten up by angry mob of farmers and students.

Result: After Semi-government employee families, it was time for farmers, students and MSEB employees to vote against Congress.

3. Once there was MP State Road Travel Corporation. It was in big trouble with heavy loan. Again, CH got the share of buses and refused to take the loan burden percentage over it. In following months, the whole department came to a halt. A major government public transport corporation sank without a trace. SRTC was preceded by small crampy buses, which overload commuters like cattle and had no respect for them whatsoever. In MP 4 districts, Khergone, Dhar, Jhabua and Barwani have no rail network. The only way to travel is by road.

As the SRTC closed and employees were denied any compensation, they also voted against Congress.

If here we excuse the rest of the political issues such as corruption, roads, water and poverty, we had enough reasons to fight back.

Dear oh dear... did that bet worked?

Yeah... kind of!

People from Semi government organizations got airier.. part payment of their salary deducted by Diggi... got full salaried status back and will get the reaming amount if chosen for another term.

We have some more electricity time now as some dams have come up with electricity which was sold outside the state by Congress government.

No Buses YET... but will have a railway line soon inside.. I know it is a central government job but initiatives are important.

One can see the infrastructure boom in the city of Indore. Now we have four-lane roads, city transport buses, less polluting city vans, many flyovers and better facilities.

Here... My vote goes to BJP in hopes for another good innings to finish what they have started.

Of renaming Indore to Indur (in Marathi)

2008-11-12T12:50:00.006+05:30

Ah... Started reading today's newspaper. Indore's Marathi's which are about 10% in population of the city, want that the name of the city must be changed to 'Indur' on the lines of Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangaluru (Bombay, Poona, Calcutta, Madras and Banglore previously).

What an idiotic suggestion.

Indore is where I was born... Indore is where I live and Indore is what my identity.

Dear Marathi Manus of Indore,

Please mind your own business. Do not cross the line. Do you know, when you people go to Maharashrta for looking for new opportunities, you are also considered as outsiders and bhaiya log.

I have met many such people who left Maharashtra after going there for job from Indore, even though they were Marathis...

So better shut the fuck up and live in peace.

Death of a youth...

2008-10-21T15:28:00.002+05:30

Radar-less-ness, Restlessness, the struggle within...

A feeling of anger with self and world...

Why I am becoming anti social personal with each passing day?

Just day before yesterday, MNS activists beat up students who went to Mumbai to attend the Railway entrance exam. Just because the center has appointed Mumbai as their national center thousands of students reached the city just to give the exam and return their homes.

One kid died... He was the only son to his parents...

Answer them Raj.

Every Marathi is answerable to them... can't they listen the cries of the mother who lost her only son?

MNS attacked the students in the name of their being North Indians and they are making Mumbai a slum and destroying the Marathi culture.

I just do not understand the fact that how a North Indian can destroy one of India's greatest cultures?

Is being practicing one's own culture is destroying other culture?

On the top of it, MNS say all the Hindi speaking people must leave Maharashtra.

What the F***?

Does Raj have the static about how many Marathis are leaving outside Maharashtra?

AND why the President has not called emergency in the state?

IF all the people residing in the Hindi speaking states geather in throwing out all the Marathi's from rest of India, will Raj protect and shelter them?

This is India... gone to the dogs.