Nadir of politics

I remember,  the first day of crop season were a important event in the villages. The fields after the ploughing were filled with the rain water and in the backdrop of beautiful songs, handful of ladies use to sow the rice plants in a very systematic manner. It use to be joyous occasion,playing with the mud and throwing the loose soil on each other. The loosening of soil , soaking of water is needed for the crop to take the root and mature during the next 90 days. Perhaps, symbolically the mud slinging by the political parties is also required to get the final crop. But unfortunately,it has not remain so joyful and has reached the nadir. Is politics so bad? is everything associated with politics is so stinking? I would have been the last person to believe this. But attempt to blacken even the cleanest of the breed in shuttle manner has made it look awfully and shamefully bad. The advent of television media has made the things from bad to worst. The fight for the TRPs makes every channel to move away from a constructive discussion to numerous replays of the obnoxious words which might have been deliberately coined in an election rally. The game is becoming dirtier and bitter. Politics is there ever since man started living on the earth, but it has become murkier. It was a game where, you tried to get the best of the people in your side, present brightest of your picture, convey your thinking about policy and plans. It wasn't a trait of bad mouthing and ill feeling to the extent that one start disliking a person at a personal level. From a policy baiter, it has become the race of tounge biting. Mahajanapadas of vaishali would not have imagined a democracy of this level. Are we really don't have issues to deliberate? what is your view on making a human living better? what is a better method? We can't do anything because there is no difference between our approaches. So, let's put all kind of trap and enforcing agencies, to get the a small issue. At least , this makes the political commentators to earn good amount for every sitting in the the studio. The public also has little option other than to consume irrational  arguments. The left has gone, the center has moved towards right when it comes about economic policy, Foreign policy is individual mantra, internal security is the concern of poor police constable who is truely apolitical. No matter, who is there, the game continues. The bankruptcy of policy and inability to create different and better plan has no other alternative but to speak with venom. This will create rift and polarize people but, will the last row gets his due? No!!! The meaning of politics has changed. It's a way of finding a scandal and playing tantrums with public. But do you realize , this will have a colossal damage to the nation. Let's stop it and discuss eradicating poverty, providing food, creating infrastructure and developing skill, rather than calling "Chor" and "khooni". The Ears are waiting to hear GDP numbers, unemployment index, fiscal deficit, inflation, agri growth, external aggression, taking governance to the last person...etc...would we!!!! Churning, should remove the loose soil and unearth the new soil for better tomorrow.

Rendezvous with Mars

In a country, where every parent wants to send his kid to Kota but hardly a few want to see them ending with Sriharikota, yesterday's afternoon was nothing sort of a miracle. It was another afternoon for me in the non productive corporate life but little different because of the extended holiday. However, it ended up eventually with a wonderful feeling for those scientist whose motivation is really a case study for many psychologists. They get paid minuscule, have to struggle with govt beauracracy for theirs day to day affairs and small budgets to carry on their research , have all the time alluring offers hanging up to take the mind away from the job and move offshore ; spending those countless hours in making the mission successfull is no less than a extraordinary event. I felt exceedingly proud while explaining this to my 11 year old daughter about the escape velocity, orbits , probes and life on Mars ; wondering if these are going to create some how, why factor in her mind. A scientist are born between the age of 10-15 but unfortunately the education system as well the social norms in India doesn't help to inculcate this among the kids.They get more enamoured by the geeks going to Silicon Valley and making good sum of money by writing computer codes or by those who take some common sense mangement degrees and become investment bankers. 

A welcome sign was that all political biggies were shouldering each other to congratulate the scientist. The reason for sanctioning 450 crore for this mission was difficult to digest, perhaps, some Vadra would be licking to find some more land availability for grabbing and making millions. A twist in turn was the post event discussion on why we spend this 12 Rs per Km for space exploration in the poverty ridden country. Unfortunate is that those people don't understand that we will continue to remain poor, if the science culture does not come back. Historically, our civilization was pioneer in scientific and mathematical discoveries but we lost in the midway around 12-13 th century, when we become too obsessed with non-scientific rituals and Gazni &Gauris of the outer world invaded us and started ruling both physically as well as in mind. The scientific and industrial mindset took a back seat and we were left far behind when Europian nations were going through Renaissance. The remains were collaterally and systematically damaged during the  British occupation and biggest impact was on the scientific developments. We are left much behind both in thinking as well as in ability. In the modern world, one doesnt need to have warriors of Alexandor to become world power. The scientific and economic revolution is only way to become superpower and alleviate the poverty. The one billion expenditure on space exploration in the trillion dollar economy is still too little vis a vis the national pride it brings and technological edge it provides in communication, mapping, weather observation or military capacity at home. These bring direct benefits to ordinary people. Take one recent example: a fierce cyclone that hit India’s east coast last month killed few, whereas a similar-strength one in the same spot, in 1999, killed over 10,000. One reason for the improvement was that Indian weather satellites helped to make possible far more accurate predictions of where and when the storm would hit. Otherwise, improved data on monsoon rains, or generally shifting weather patterns, can help even the poorest farmers have a better idea of when to plant crops.

When we don't mind spending 5000 crores in burning crackers on one night of Dewali, burning 10% of that on liquid propellant of rocket is simply nothing. Let's not connect it to poverty, hunger, rape, child labour and so and so forth and don't let the politicos to fight over naming it after Patel , Gandhi or Ambedkar. We are proud of our scientist and hope this will be a good step in reviving science and technology.

The Mad Gold Rush

I was having a dream today, yes it was a day dream, sitting in office. BTW, office is not a good place to even think about dream , that too when you head a thankless support function.  Fortunately, during the lunch time, I dreamt and thought lets put it across to the PM...

Dear PM ji, 

For last few months,a lot of politicians are talking about the dwindling economy of country. They now even consider us poorer than Africa because after looting for 65 years, there is hardly anything left now. It is very unfortunate that the country is through such phase in spite of having such a erudite and follower PM. However, I have a solution which came in my dream. I saw, some people in white clothes revealing to me that there is plenty of Gold underneath the well of the Parliament House. Those in white clothes had hidden it there during the Anna Andolan as they found it the safest place where even Baba cannot find.This all accrued from 2G, Coal, Commonwealth etc and enough to wipe out the poverty of this country. I hope by digging the house, the plight and sanctity of the country would be restored.

I am not sure how are you going to react to my dream but sure that you would be amused on how this information got leaked. Never-the less, we are from a country where ASI and GSI believes in the fantasy of sadhus. So, my dream should not be bizarre. If one Chief minister can send his envoy to track the Gold share then why not you.However, be careful in spreading the news, otherwise, Delhi state may also join in the hunt and send her policeman to get share for her. After all, there is no other way of growth and revenue generation left now and unearthing Gold based on my prediction is the only possible path for recovery. Also, my dream rational is correct and you don't have to find any Gadar history of 200 years to decipher this. It is from just few years of your rule. I am also fancying my chances of becoming deputy chairman of planning commission after this revelation because the position of finance minister would definitely be handed over to Sarkar as his dream is a little bigger. Let me warn you also, If Ididnt get the share, perhaps all the money will vanish after digging, so you must first decide on the ratio.Hope you will heed to my demands.

Before closing this letter, I have a piece of suggestion for you. Please don't  undermine Taliban and Babas. The country seriously needs more "madrasa" with "Asaram" as it's dean and "Nirmal Baba" as principal.

If you want to build future children, the irrational science education should be banned and these rational dreaming should be inculcated. The whole world is watching us from close doors and waiting to follow us. After all, Mark Twain had once said "India is the cradle of human race", so we should be leading light for all.

With Kind regards,

PK

( the above is not intended to hurt any religious sentiment, it is just my perspective on the mad gold rush and irrational thinking pattern without any scientific evidence)

The GOD says "Good Bye"

I am trying to sleep, rolling all over the bed, but a lot of memories of a person is not letting me...that too of someone whom I have never met so far other than on the television screen. umhhhh, the sleep would not be so beautiful anymore. Neither, the morning breakfast will be so attractive while eagerly waiting for the 9 AM classic to begin. Deep down the heart, this moment was residing in a corner for last few months. The heart was sinking in anticipation of news channels discussing and flashing breaking news of the holocast. I don't know about rest of the 1.2 billions, but I am restless. The game won't be same anymore. The inspiration is leaving the stage. Your charm has been across the generations, perhaps, you are the single brand with whom all the three generations associated themselves easily. We had not done even 10th when you bonded with your friend to create that mammoth partenership. We were busy dreaming for building our food earning career , when we saw your blood stained chin while doing duty for the country and facing the ferocious waqar. The three sixes of the leggi , made us the instant fan of yours and since then I lived along with my entire generations alongside your every breath. You were in whites or in colored, the TV screens always looked far more appealing than watching the dancing divas. No matter what was happening around and how important that was, we all would stop everything to sync with you. You had been a part of our growing up – we laughed with you, we cried with you, we celebrated your knocks and we got angry when you were given out wrongly. Every juncture of our lives has been intertwined with the memories of your incredible batting and your amazing and long career. You made watching TV in college common rooms fun and animated and made memories of office and bonding with colleagues while watching you bat worth relishing. Yes, you have created a void and a sense of emptiness which I doubt any other cricketer can fill.

I remember as a kid, when I first started understanding the game, I guess it was "83-84" series , when our team was simply murdered by the West Indian pace attack. I wondered, can't we have some one as great as Vivian!!!...you arrived on the scene by the end of that decade and heightened the imagination of whole nation. The lovely back foot drives, the mesmerizing straight drives, the beautiful lofted shots, the innovative upper cut, the silicon cover drive,the dancing down the track , and the audacious pull , you had everything a batsman would dreamt of. You represented the generation, which is the bridge between the colonial mindset generation and Gen Y. You knew how to be a champion with all humbleness. With you grew up a generation, which understood the flavor of conquering new horizons and loved touching every possible peaks. Sportsperson have come and will continue to come, might be someday some Kohli or Sehwag will break all your Everest like records too, but no one will be like you. We loved and adored you like lunatics, but you remained grounded as if carrying the load of expectation and adulation of 1.2 billion smile is nothing....the game of cricket would not be same again.......Gonna miss you SACHIN.

NaMo- The Road ahead

The temptation of understanding Modi is so venomous that even small time bloggers like me could not resist writing a piece for him. I have been following him like every other social media enthusiast and never leave an opportunity to listen to him by snatching extra hours from the allocated tv slots in the tight schedule of reality shows and saas bahu serials. 

So far has been so good for him but what lies ahead will decide a lot of history pieces to be written in future,

- His ascendency is not similar to VP Singh or AB Bajpayee & LK Advani combo, and different in many ways. It's not only his positives of growth and progresiviness but ability to convert the negativity into positive attributes makes him different. Every move he makes or utter a few sentences ,brings a plethora of criticism from his peer group from all sides. Even though they get mesmerized by his personality , hardly any chance to mince words is left by them. The amazing part is that every such remarks translates into creating a stronger and influencing persona in him. This facet will be critical for him in the run up to 2014 elections. He will have to continue unravelling newer ways of attracting wrath of opposition and projecting himself  a stronger cult figure. 

- One of the major factor which catapult him in larger than life figure is the vacuum of leadership in country. Historically, we have been fascinated by the aura and conviction of the leaders who appeared to be internally strong. Both MMS and RG are just antithesis of this definition of  leadership.  MMS by all account is a far superior academician , has a superb legacy of leading the economic revival and a saint like honest stature. But, what he lacks is where Namo gains. The country which has a very large population of younger generation is looking for a strong leader who can give them a feeling that he will control and steer them through the tough times. The challenge now for him is to not allow RG or any other person to come up as stronger character and at the same time keep building his character and reaching to the last lost voter of the country.

- an important aspect of his personality is his ability to Orchester even the different instrument players with different style and get them to sing in chorus. He does it in a shuttle way and coup happens before anyone could realize what is going to happen next. Even though , BJP is supposedly an ideological party, many of their top leadership has their personal ambition and sailing through to the top was not a easy process. He went about this in a very systematic manner taking each step in planned way by creating first a critical mass in the nerve center and building block by block subsequently. This left others stumped and eventually all had to align in his ascendency ,including the old patriarch. In coming months, it will be crucial for him to keep his flock together because fence  sitters will be waiting for every opportunity to destabilize him in his yatra. 

- Every other person who knows Modi closely attributes his success to his organizing skills. The path now is difficult because of the scale of operation. Organising in his home turf was much easier but now he has to reach to the territories which are mostly a unknown terrain for him. He might have the strategy laid up but covering length and breadth of country will be a tough task. The crucial is creating a trusted layered structure with complete command and control of the thread which weaves this. Leveraging the reach and in disciplined way is going to decide the outcome of war.

- In spite of all the hoopla around, ultimately the magical figure of 272 still baffles him. This also is baffling the poll pundits. The gap is too big to bridge. How ultimately, this can be achieved? one option is getting the maximum where he has strength and second is getting friends where his organization is weak. Saying is easier then doing. For him, the first option seems easier in shorter run. The best way to do it by polarizing voters who are already disenchanted with incumbent. This year's election is different because there will be large number of people both in rural and urban area who are going to be first time voters and there will a large section of people without having a legacy of 80s and before that. Attracting them will be very critical because in multi cornered election a few percentage swing could convert into large chunk of numbers. 

- The most appealing factor of his personality is his confidence and maneuvering ability with deftness. He appears autocratic in body language and decision making ,which automatically is a repulsive factor for his possible allies. This makes the back room work even more significant. He needs to maintain the fine balance in public postering to keep the options of alignment open. The way he has been trying to reach out to Naidus and jaylalithas and at same time trying to build  bridges with Marandis and Yadurappas , the result could be ominous for detracters who are banking on his lack ofinclusiveness.

A lot of analyst and writers may see his progress reminiscent of the 1930s Europe but large chunk of new generation sees him differently and looks at him as a leader of vision and standing. He is not looked as fascist, no matter what picture is painted by all .The emerging India wants a poster boy who can stand , connect and have vision for country, the attributes Modi embodies. Those who have been skeptical like me are also falling in line.

Role of Media

Media has been a potent force for centuries and because of its relevance it has been the cynosure of political bigwigs ever since. The ruling class have always been worried over the fact that in a society which is overtly dominated by the silent listeners, media is the only forum though which a challenge can be imposed.Media was non existent prior to British era in a organized form till Bengal Gazette appeared as the first formal media publication. However, Even in those days media was perceived powerful and it was not afraid to expose and challenge the mightiest.  On the other hand the rulers were never shy of controlling it.Fearing that the press may present their intrigues to the public, the Governor-General  Warren Hasting imposed government censorship on Indian papers in 1781 which continued strictly till 1835. He in fact was even impeached by British parliament for this before actually being acquitted by virtue of being the ruling class. History tells us that State interference with the press did not disappear at any stage of the British rule. During the period of partition of Bengal and Boycott and Swadeshi Movement, there were severe restrictions on the media. 

This was not only the story of British raj but also else where in the world in all kind of setup. The story of nazi's Germany and Mussolini's Italy is known to all. 
Democracy , in which the sovereignty lies in the hands of the people as their elected representatives’ rule and run the country , gave media the primary role and paramount responsibility of expressing public opinion through written/spoken words. In India, the right to freedom of expression enshrined in constitution made media the essential component and fourth pillar of democracy. 

However, The oppression of the popular opinion and the restrictions on the media, in fact, go together. No political leaders accept it by heart and look for every opportunity to restrict it or control it. But whosoever has tried to control it have been finally thrown out. Congress lost in elections in 1977, immediately after emergency and censorship of media. Democracy is in so much love with free media, that it does not forgive any attempt to control or curb it.

Even though the dimension of media has changed from a hand written periodic journals and newspaper to a highly sophisticated technology with much bigger reach, the primary role has remained same. The media is the mirror of society in a democratic country as it acts as a vital link between the governing and the governed. As a matter of fact, a bold media is the most important pre requisite of a country with a democratic set up. They are the guiding light through which those governed understand the deeds of those governing.It has immense power to influence the minds of the people.As an instrument of social change, economic progress and moral development it should uphold certain values and principles.

With the development of science and technology there has been a valuable addition in the range of  the electronic media and typescripts seem to have taken the centre-stage because of its spicy presentation. The TRP has become more important and sensation has overridden the investigative journalism. It has become a parallel parliament and judicial system where matters are being presented in a pre conceived and planned manner. The free wheeling approach has started melting and media from being un biased is now appeared to have political patronage and inclinations because of the business reason. The different political class appears to be controlling different groups remotely financially. The curbs are apparent in the race of money. Also, the people who are representing media today are the people from a select class. There is entry barrier created and only the suave with a public school background with very little abilities to understand the nerve of the people from ground are managing and controlling the output. The outcome is skewed and is making it irrelevant on many occasions.

The political parties who once feared media , now knows the art to control and mould it for them.The weakening of print media and growth of television media has been majorly responsible for the slide and  dilution of role.

However, there is always a silver lining round the corner. The mode of media is again changing with advent of Internet technology with its far reach and cost effectiveness. The social media is now taking over the role of guardian and conscious keeper .The internet is quickly becoming the centre of our lives, and it is safe to predict it will replace television’s key role in our homes.

There is going to be a technical convergence of all types of media through Internet but eventually, it will see the role of media strengthening with more participation and lesser influence of money and political power.

Microsoft and UPA

Share price of Microsoft went up by 10% after Ballmer announced  hanging his boot. In fact , he himself got richer by 1 billion dollar in a day.  Microsoft which has been doing so dull on wall street for last so many years has suddenly been rejuvenated.  It's time now for Manmohan to follow the suit. May be a lot of his party fellows along with him will become richer......BTw , resigning could never been so beneficial as it could be today. That is only way to stop the slide of Rupee and make the CAD positive. The fall is not economic, it is political. India story is similar to Microsoft. If Ballmer didn't let Microsoft to get into mobile technology and tap what Google  and Apple could easily do, India also not able to catch the growth engines. Microsoft relied on license cost, India also could not get out of the complex tax laws and FMs thought that is the only way to control fiscal deficit. If Microsoft didn't promote innovation, We also never thought of skill development and expanding the manufacturing base. Microsoft thought no one can match their PC programmes and India thought no matter what they do, FDI. will keep coming and India shining story will continue to sell. Dear UPA team, it's high time pl follow what Ballmer has done , Google ( NaMo) is catching up too quickly and at the same time stakeholder (India common man) is loosing too much of market valuation. By issuing bonus shares and dividends ( food bill) , you are not doing good to the capital and creating more fiscal deficit. It's time for new thinking , the stakeholder is getting anxious to get rid of you.

Sports and Coach

whenever I see a young child having some prodigious talent in Sport, I start dreaming to see him or her  donning the national cap or Jercy. But unfortunately, I am yet to see anyone close by reaching to that level....why it happens so often. Recently, I saw a boy with a strong ball control abilities and he was dribbling the football awesomely. I thought he could become a fantastic midfielder and as usual advised him to take the game seriously. After a few days, When I saw him again, it was the not the foot ball but the cricket bat in the hand. This is the irony of our country that eventually everyone gets glamorized by this sport which in first place doesn't even deserve to be called sport. Anyway, I was surprised to find him belting the ball with stupendous ease. Seems, hand eye coordination was in his genes.  Being a free speaking mentor cum coach on every topic ,Once again, I went up to him and typically gave some tips ...keep your elbow straight, play close to the body, don't play the balls which you can't reach..etc..etc...I thought this guy has potential to reach at least state level if not national level. But to my surprise ( should nt call it surprise rather routine) , after a few days when I again saw him playing , he had become even worse player and my dream of seeing him at state level got shattered. ....I always wondered , what happens to the promising talent and what is required to take them where they actually belongs to.....till a couple of weeks back ,on one of the lovely Sunday, I went to watch the movie " Bhag Milkha Bhag" with the family. There has been already a large number of reviews written on the technicality of the movie but to me, this had a lot of answers to my question. Milkha was a prodigy from beginning, he was capable of outsmarting his fellow friends from village with his natural running abilities , had to go through many difficult phases in life before landing up with a job in army. The legend would not have been created if during a training session, Milkha were not spotted by his trainer Gurdev Singh  who discovered the athlete in him. And with him was made the success story of the legendary Milkha Singh aka the Flying Sikh. His skills were latter honed by the national coach after he failed in the Melbourne. But there were two prime factors apart from his natural talent. First was his own motivation of becoming a famous athlete ( the scenes of running for milk and egg, pride of the Indian blazer, asking coach to write the world record on the paper napkin were some of the most beautifully   depicted incidences ) and second was getting the right coaches and hence the right environment to groom the abilities. Ability and motivation can take to a level but a right technical training gives the edge to become a champion.  They not only develop but does many roles including assessor, instructor, mentor, friend, chauffeur, facilitator, adviser, demonstrator, fact finder, supporter, planner, organizer and motivator. 

Last week, we saw another world class player coming up in Badminton. Suddenly, in last few years we  are witnessing a large number of champions evolving in badminton. We were never sort of talent, then why all on a sudden this sea change. The only reason is the devout called P. Gopichand. Any accolades will be too little for this gentleman who himself was a extraordinary player. 

There are some more like him , Gagan Narang for e.g is doing an excellent job at his training academy. Some old style gurus in akharah like satpal singh. 

There are no dearth of talent in this country, what they lack is right motivation, direction and facility. Individuals like Gopichand can do a lot but to have lasting impact and to make this structured we need more number of financially strong corporates to come up and give these champion makers to function properly. We could end up with many Saina and sandhus in all sports. And not all talents will get lost in absence of right direction.

आज़ादी

हटाकर ग़ुलामी भी उन्होंने,

जश्ने आज़ादी ना  देख पाए,

दिला आज़ादी तो चले गए वो ,

 हम मुकम्मिल जहाँ भी न बना पाए, 

चोटें तो लगी होंगी उनको ,

 सूखे घाव ही जिंदा किये हमने ,

दर्द उन्हें तो गैरों ने दिए , 

 हमने तो  जख्म अपने को दिए, 

कुर्बानियों में थे उनके ख्वाब , 

तामील उन्हें हम न कर पाए,

सरहद पर मरने वालों को, 

एक आँशु भी हम न दे पाए, 

भूख , गरीबी और लाचारी , 

यही हमारी यारी है ,

प्राचीर लाल किले की , 

कहती यही कहानी है ,

कुछ अपने किये वादों की तकमील तो कर दो ,

कुछ उनके ख्वाबो को तब्दील भी कर दो,

----- प्रकाश 

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely...

The adage is quite old but its relevance is ageless. The past week has clearly reflected how the politicians have become absolutely corrupt by virtue of the absolute power bestowed on them through constitution. Every effort to remove this absolutism has been thwarted with complete disdain. Lokpal has not been allowed for so many decades and all the political group has covertly disliked it and colluded to not allow it happen in spite of a free nation together asking for it. Every word is silenced and khemkas and Durgas  of this world get their wings clipped if they try to play with the absolute power. The reason is our political system has become close to monarchy in feigned way. The only difference from monarchy is that this system has group of monarchs. If one looks at the demography of politicians, all the new clans are the younger faces of the older generation. There are hardly a new family or individual joining the politics, rather new breeds are not allowed to prosper. Kejriwals are made to meet their own death by the use of this absolute power. The same media which was doing everything to highlight them and earn TRPs is now blocking every bit of news , why? they also have to survive in this absolutism. After all , this is also run by the people who have to survive and feed their family, so bonhomie has to be there with power. All the new generation of politician have the same genes, so how can one expect them to be different? be it congress or RJD or Shiv Sena or DMK or SAD or SP or any one , the replacements are not coming from any where other than the family? how this can be different from monarchy? Even those kins who had taken profession in films and sports, are coming back to politics. Just to keep the absolute power remaining absolute.

Even when Apex courts orders not to allow the convicts to come to parliament, they huddle to fight it out. How can some body be above them? It's not just the issue of ego, it is an effort to keep the flag flying and let all corruption going on profusely without any control. The biggest spade which these group is trying now to change the RTI act to keep themselves out of its clutches. If the political parties, use govt funds and property why should they remain private? If one gets the relief for political donation in Income Tax act, why this relief is not made public ? A political party is suppose to serve the people than what is issue in disclosing how they are getting the money and where they are spending? As a citizen of country, every one has right to see this balance sheet details. After all, we all are stake holders. But , no this entire club thinks differently. The histrionics they perform on various stages is just to keep people divided and making them away from the core issue. All have joined together to block this quietly and fourth pillor has also become silent. Political parties says if they come under the ambit of CIC, they would not be able to function? I do agree, they would nt be able to , otherwise they will have to explain the 41 minute episode. And if deeds of parrot is asked to be divulged, this could have serious consequences. So dear apex court, they will neither allow the parrot to be freed, nor the RTI to be enforced and over and above if by chance you have convicted one of them, then there should be provision to convert them to saints with unabated corruption.

We are monarchs and we believe in absolute power !!!!!!

Will social media play spoil sport or it will remain just a buzz?

Having developed the habit of looking at the twitter and FB every once in a while and by virtue of having a large of number of friends or those whom I follow, there are always some interesting one liners  or sarcastic cartoons freshly available in the plate. With political atmosphere hotting up ever since Namo been projected as PM candidate, the social media is abuzz with political satires. Every second it is throwing up some thing or other. does it really reflect the mood of nation ? will it have the same impact what potentially it could have ? There were days when elections were fought on rallies, posters, slogans and freebies. And people responded to these traditional election tools used by politicians and the political parties. But in last few elections, it is being perceived that traditional method is getting obscure and modern technology is replacing this traditional mode to woo voters. Even the surrogate method of advertising onTV & radio is also appearing outdated. 

A report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and IRIS Knowledge Foundation suggest that there would be nearly 160 constituencies which will be highly impacted by social media , 67 medium impacted, 60 low impacted and 256 with no impact . Without getting into the details of methodology, this impacting  figure seems quite big and perhaps reason why the politicians who even cannot login to twitter are opening the twitter and FB accounts and getting on with hangout.  The "likes" and "followers" are becoming the barometer of their popularity. Social media seems to facilitate direct communication between unknown voters and creating heroes and villains in a matter of seconds.

As per a estimate there are close to 80 L FB users in India. Even if large no of them could be fake or in genuine people or sleeping users, the number is significant and represents a larger middle class. most importantly even if they don't go to polling stations, they have the power to create an opinion as they form the critical mass of society. Initially, everyone thought though social media has role to play,

but it doesn’t and it cannot guarantee transforming the same into turnout on polling day; same what used to be the case with election rallies. 

The caste factor will continue, the religion are here to stay, the free meal and loan waivers will continue to attract voters but all those who have been born after 80s and happen to be some how or other connected to social media will have impact on 2014. And ,back of their mind political trending topics on social media will have impact like the ads on the TVs have on children. No matter how much one ignores or keeps himself away, the brand developed through media makes us compulsive buyers. The impact might be felt less in rural areas which still has lesser smart phone penetrations but urban and middle class cannot be away from the # pappy vs # Feku debate. Most importantly, they are the perception creators to those who resides in rural areas if they happen to be connected to the roots. The branding is a chain reaction and works on word of mouth.

If nothing, the trend on social media sites for controversial statements, court verdicts on famous cases, scams, corruption will have major impact on voting patterns. However, it's not the number of likes or followers but impact of communication will determine the end result. A lot of people prefer to read , keep quite and form their opinion and don't press like button immediately or start writing comments....they are hidden opinion makers.

Mid-day murder in the name of Meal

The  wails of women is most heart-rending when heard from a distance but when one sees her banging her head against the mound of earth under which her son has been buried , it becomes difficult to stop even the stone-hearted person from crying. The scenes were horrific and shameful, one would feel himself living in the age when human kind was just transgressing from jungle man to member of civilized society . There were close to 25 children buried in the same premises where they were supposed to be blossomed into flowers. we saw it 1000s of Kms away from this place but sequence of events were disgusting. The unfolding of mechanism of facilities in education and health has left many questions to be answered. The primary schools and health care in the remote areas are just on the papers and in no circumstances can be called even the facilities. A school is running in a 20 ft * 15 ft room  with having facilities of meals which are made from poor quality rice and rotten vegetables . Needless to mention the quality of other ingredients of meal with hardly any supervision in cooking . teachers reported to the school on their mercy and supply chain of the food articles are controlled by a bigger nexus of politicians , babus and those who are lucky few to be involved in this.  There is hardly any health facility in vicinity and primary health care is in mess in absence of even basic facilities and doctors. Reaching to the nearest basic hospital is like climbing the mount everest. is it very far from sub-Sahara conditions? we are talking about the heartland of our country, having the most fertile agriculture land and most dense population. Why are we still living in these conditions and allowing such situations to happen? Is it only the political class to be blamed for this or the whole society has conspired for this. Where is the root ? policies, politics or practices which are mostly corrupt. 

Policies - what is the rational of providing schools which is governed by teachers whose salaries are not even adequate to survive his own families? why he would work with sincerity when his own survival is a question mark? Why don't we think while drafting such policies which is just around providing the bare minimum and no method of self sustenance  and every opportunities of drainage of resources?  

Politics - why do we get allured by the political parties on the eve of election with such freebies and happy accepting and in return agreeing to press the button. Why don't we ask for self governance?why we allow ourselves to be controlled by a bunch of people who have no business to get into our lives and ruin it?

Practices- why don't we raise our voice ?why should we allow a corrupt practices to take place? why do on the first instance we praise those people who have made money out of corruption ?why do we accept this social evil in first place. All those who are amassing wealth by abusing us and the system needs no mercy and must be socially boycotted.

 The answer to all questions is not so simple but not very difficult either. There is need of change at all level else the breaking news will keep coming in, remains a discussion point for some time till the next one comes in.

Being socialist is compulsive emotion in Indian democracy

Congress party is going agog about the Food security bill so much so that it could not wait for even monsoon session to begin, which is not even a fortnight away. For the bills such as women reservation and lokpal, it always countered that they need to go through the parliamentary process but didn't even  blinkered to pass the ordinance on food security. This BRAHMASTRA they were holding for the eve of elections. They find it equally potent and election certainty as MANREGA and loan waiver scheme proved to be in 2009.It doesnt matter what the country will eventually pay for this generosity!!!

The problem is the people sitting in opposition also cannot oppose this vehemently as they are also compulsive socialite. Everyone knows this 1.25 lakh crore or 65 Mt of food grain would be huge burden to the government exchequer in years to come but who will raise the voice? let the country see its dooms day, we will continue to toe the socialist line because this brings votes. Those who understands this will not stand in the voters queue and those who only understand "do time ki roti"  will hardly bother for the fiscal deficit, will have a reason to press the button of the election machine. 

Unfortunate part is ,we live in democracy where everyone has equal rights and no matter who is their leader, it's their duty to give free virtues and make their constituency continue to look ugly  and convert them to languid from laborious. By speaking my mind out, I would be perhaps bracketed as one who doesn't have to fight a election so ...can write this . But dear left, and right and centrist.....can't you stand up for the sake of the future of this country? doesn't this intrigues your mind? who is going to pay for it? no one likes poverty but there are other methods to remove poverty. Not by providing freebies, but making people skillful, providing opportunities to learn, earn and grow. These will not only give them rice but will give them chicken, meat, fish, egg, milk, fruit and whatever they want to.Am I sounding capitalist ?. It s close to 70 yrs since independence and we cannot blame the Britishers any more for killing our industries, it's we and our similar policies which is leaving us way behind the rest.

This is only going to fill up the already full pockets of FCI babus. I read that FCI is going to recruit some 11000 additional employees to rollout this plan. One thing is assured there will be 11000 lesser poorer people in this country and so will be some wealthy farmers , who will open food granaries to sell their grains and store with themselves. We already have a inefficient food distribution system on which a book can be written and still it will be incomplete. 

I hope my compulsive vote catcher pseudo socialistic leaders would have given a little bit of thought on it...how will you get this much of grain? how it is going to be distributed and who is going to bear the 1.25 l crores? 

don't forget with 4 % growth rate, our coffers are going to be emptied much faster and we will still have many other subsidies to take care....

I am not against the poor but against any freebie, why not focus to improve competitiveness of nation rather than taking a step backward. The repercussions will be too huge. 

Rupee becoming sr citizen - an economic issue described by non economist

The fall in Indian rupee which has been steepest in the decade has been very exposing and warning signal to the economic policy being followed over last two decades. Though it has not been a isolated phenomenon but 9.1% fall in second quarter has left many  person pondering on why this is happening at a fast pace and what is going to happen next. The other asian currencies like bhat , peso, won, singapore doller , malysian ringgit have also lost 5.8, 5.6, 2.7 , 1.9 and 2.5 percentage respectively during the same time but rupees slide has been the steepest. Many of the well known columnist and big economist are putting it aside as a short term phenomenon, but as a commenteter  and primary student of economics , to me, this needs deeper thoughts.If our economy is so brittle that a statement of  Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke that the central bank may moderate the pace of quantitative easing later this year and end the stimulus by mid-2014 , can lead to such a fall,then it is leaving us very vulnerable.

 The economists are attributing it to the withdrawal of U.S. stimulus Programme in wake of strengthening of their economy and  China's cash crunch, there is bigger question on how long our economy will be so much dependent on US economy. In pure economics theory, America's have been   printing billions of dollars after the economic crisis which means more liquidity and hence should have lead to inflation there but reality is that no inflation resulted. May be a weak Europe economy and not so good emerging markets have still kept the faith intact in US treasury but Where these money has gone? obviously, it has been routed to emerging markets like India. But was is it in form of FDI? No, mostly FII which is a easier route to fly back. Even in those conditions , Indian economy is not thought to be attractive as investment destination because of the basic weakness in the government policy which has not been able to tap this easy opportunity. The Indian currency suffered from more outflows than other emerging Asian currencies in the recent global markets rout due to worries about a record-high current account deficit as well. Our energy import bill is a known issue, but why do we import so much of gold and why govt is doing so little on this front. Neither, their is effort to do something extraordinary on the energy side nor there is effort to discourage people from putting their money in dead asset like gold. Last Friday, finally govt woke up to do something on gas pricing to give some impetus to increase domestic production. But this cannot be a very long term solution as we cannot meet our consumption from only domestic production. We need alternate solution . By giving easy money to the people in form of  energy subsidy, we are not only straining the fiscal deficit and hence lesser money for infrastructure development, it is leading us to do more borrowing and the result is inflation. The key is how do we control this populist political economics which is indirectly influencing the health of the country. We need more money to go into infrastructure project and less on importing the oil and subsidizing to get votes. 

why we are not able to attract the FDI in the core sectors? Why the govt doesn't have policy to improve the manufacturing base?  The reason for current account deficit is not only import but less export also. Even after so many years of economic liberalisation having taken roots, we have not been able to do much on manufacturing. Only sector which has done something is service sector, especially the software export and BPOs. They could flourish because they didn't need govt support and our country had some inherant strength to do well in these sector. However, the area such as manufacturing which essentially needs skill development,  infrastructure, proper govt statutory and taxation environment has not got any support . The result is we hardly do any export of manufactured goods other than clothes and gems &jewElaries   and heavily import most of the engineering and electronic equipment from abroad. This brings  much pressure on the currency. we need to make our fundamentals strong like Korea and do drastic changes in enabling manufacturing led growth otherwise just on mere speculation  of unrealistic return from Us treasury, the money market will behave erratically bringing more strains to the exchequer and we continue to struggle in the vicious cycle of high fiscal deficit, low growth, high inflation, high current account deficit and ultimately a poor country.

"It's a man made disaster or nature made? -

"It's  a man made disaster or nature made? - lot of uncomfortable visuals in media, many questions but do we have the answer? sure many explanations . I am not a environment expert but have little to say. I happened to be in UT just a day before this catastrophe happened and should thank lord from providing me a little sense to come back and not continuing with the original plan otherwise, I might have been also languishing in some lap of God waiting for the Demi earth gods to come and rescue. Now,when I seat and imagine what I saw in mad tourist rush, there is little doubt the present Himalayan disaster is man-made. The Himalayan watersheds have witnessed unprecedented deforestation for long and forest areas have been diverted for a host of activities including agriculture, urbanisation and infrastructure projects such as hydropower. Curiously, I found out from some internet sources is that the total forest cover in the Indian Himalayas will be reduced by 32% (of the value in 1970) by 2100. This was quite visible everywhere. Forest were being cut to make double lane highways, uncluttered hotels, restaurants and everything else which is just to destroy the calamity. Even the most basic class room teaches that forest slow down the speed of rain and prevent soil erosion - the precursors of landslides and floods. Besides, vegetation by evapotranspiration stops nearly 30-40% of rainwater from falling to the ground, thereby significantly reducing run-off. Writing was on wall everywhere, but aren't we all avoiding these just thinking I am not going to be the one gone be effected. Himalayan ecosystems had been throwing warnings in past few years, we can expect faster melting of glaciers; frequency of floods in Himalayan rivers will only increase in the coming years. I could see big billboards everywhere : "plots available, you can have holiday homes " . Aren't we playing with nature? Expanding human settlements and urbanization are vulnerable to extreme hydrological events in the Himalayan watersheds. We cannot stop tourism as source of income for locals and joy for outsiders, but aren't some one should think on how to control this uncontrolled human influx in the name of rising religious pilgrimages, consumerism, bigger spending power of the general masses. The mountains which were the source of spiritual carnation have transgressed into massive congregation of neo rich and unmindful individuals. While one cannot undermine aspirations of the local people and their economic activities, lack of enforcement of land use control laws on the part of local governments and officials cannot be wished away. Use of reinforced cement concrete and replacing traditional wood-stone masonry in the Himalayan highlands are likely to induce the heat and will definitely has impact on regional temperature. where is the balance between growth and peace? add to it is mad rush for hydropower. One doesn't need to be a civil engineer to predict the result of making 70 dams in this region. These are easily the potential sources of land degradation, slope weakening and destabilization. Most downstream damage in floodplains is caused by dams and barrages, which release large volumes of water. Huge people influx has necessitated construction of new roads and their widening, a direct reason for landslides. While I drove down the mountain, everywhere one can see cheap accommodation have mushroomed alongside river banks where Neither laws of construction science nor civil regulations have been followed. The result is the washing away of such buildings. Who is going to control it? if we not , such things will continue and days are not far off when even much bigger disasters will follow. We must comprehend the limits of the carrying capacity of Himalayan ecosystems. Controls and law enforcement across the board are a must. Can this be left to the political will? No, this is hardly there in this country. Geology and ecology is alien word for them. the locals, NGOs, self help group needs to come up. we need to get over the greed and bring some sense in the madness. I saw a news being flashed,where a big political lady explaining the reasons for this disaster - "because Devi temple was moved to create space for a dam, Lord shiva got angry and has let this turmoil to happen." Well, those with religious bend might agree in unison, but can that be cause? It's a man made disaster , nature has only reacted. High time we all should stand together to save our spiritual land. Economics doesn't augers well for the humankind especially in these areas. ....... Prakash"

Mail habits

The digital world has created poor communication habits. Email is a productivity killer and usually a distraction from tasks that actually matter. people often copy multiple people on emails to get it off their plate. This distracts everyone else by creating noise against the tasks they’re trying to accomplish and is a sign of laziness. If you receive an email where many people are CC'd, do everyone a favor by BCCing them on your reply. If your email chain goes beyond two replies, it’s time to pick up the phone. Increase your productivity by scheduling a call.....hope my friends in the corporate world understands this.

Work for goal not for time.

isn't 9-5 a Very traditional concept ?When we are not standing In a assembly line and adding some pieces then why we continue to measure ourself with 9-5 presence. For that matter why this formula should be there for my kids going to school, doctors spending time in hospitals and so and so forth. Neither it bring happiness to individual nor it improves the productivity. This puts everyone just feeling that he is not important rather his presence is only which is required and take everything as routine. The autonomy factor is lost. A freedom to come and leave has higher potential to improve output, learning and efficiency.

One should himself feel why he is sitting on his desk and the reason should be enough motivating to continue doing so.
He or she should be passionately doing it and owning it . This leaves any chance of distrust between superior and junior. Based on the work , one should himself decide when to start and how long to seat to meet the deadlines.
Let them do it in the ways they see fit.
Happiness and productivity is linked to trust. I believe even the school children will learn more if they are freed from this culture.

Can we change this tradition? I know some of the modern companies and schools are doing it but in a very shuttle way...cannot it be done in full fledged way. Let me decide how long I will take to finish the job assigned to me and I won't mind doing it beyond defined hours without any pressure...is it possible!!!

Entrepreneurship and Creativity in teaching

I have been an ardent fan of Apple for long..but always ponder what on this earth stopped us from creating such things. Apple started in 1976, TCS is there since 1968, Infy is also of the same generation since 1988... And so are the other IT companies. Apple employs just close to 75000 people whereas Infy has more than 1.5 l and TCS is whopping 2.7 l. apple has revenues in tune of 155 billion whereas Infy is nearly 7 b and TCS has 10 b USD. With such comparisons, how does Modi’s and Rahul baba claims that we have superior manpower? The fact of the matter is that, we are naive. We are just followers; slaves who can work in a defined way of working, lowly paid slaves with abysmally low creativity level and can only provide low end services and feel happy blowing our own trumpet. Whatever the graduates our colleges are producing doesn't have the appetite and mindset to really create new technology. We can only survive at the bottom of the pyramid as hourly basis wage earners......dear leaders of the country, do you have any vision to bring change in the colonial mindset and revamp the education system . I would dream to see a Microsoft, oracle, apple , SAP being created in India and we not just remain the developers and testers and just being happy earning a few dollars in US and transferring back to the Indian account with 55 multipliers :( :(

दरवाजे की हर दस्तक पर
तू ही तो दिखता है
हर सुबह की रौशनी में
कोई आया लगता है

मगर इन पथराई आँखों में
अब तू एक तसवीर ही है ,
बस याद ही पास है ....

सुख गयी हैं ये दो पोखर
नहीं मिलती इसे कोई धारा,
बस उन राहों को ताक रही
कभी तो जिंदा होंगी तुम्हारी यादें ...

बिखरें पड़े हैं मालों के मोती
कभी तो लायेगा तू धागे ,
कभी पिरोयेगा तू माला
कभी सजाएगा तू मंदिर

मिला भले ही तुझे नया मंदिर
नए फूलों का साथ मिला
मगर जिस मिटटी से बना तू फूल
सूख गयी है वो मिट्टी