Scamming The Nation: Is India Really The Golden Bird?

                                   

                                           

World Bank has lend a record $9.3 billion (Rs.42, 000 crore) to India in 2010. With this, the World Bank’s current India Portfolio consists of 65 active projects with a total commitment of around $19 billion (Rs.85, 000 crore). It was difficult even to imagine a whopping amount like this. The amount is invested in different projects which also include capital markets, infrastructure, social service etc.

So, World Bank has been very generous towards India in lending this humongous amount in 2010. But do we really need this much of money? Gone are the days when the writers, poets, etc would refer to India as the ‘Golden Bird’ and would lament over its poor condition. India is still a Golden Bird and India 2010 has proved that to each and every citizen. Doesn’t make any sense right? How can a country taking loans at this magnitude be called a Golden Bird?

Look at some other figures now. Let us remember top ten trends of India in 2010. The words like, Adarsh, 2G, Land Scams (in many states), CWG, IPL and many more would come to your mind. Let us now consider only 2G scam. According to sources the value of 2G scam is Rs. 1.76L Crore. It is more than the total amount given by World Bank to India, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, Vietnam, Hungary and China COMBINED in the year 2010. The experts have estimated the value of these scams could be well beyond Rs. 2,00,000 crore and this is a very conservative approach.

According to the Planning Commission of India, 27.5% was living below poverty line in 2004-05. 24% of Indian Population is considered to be very poor. Going by the estimates, the number is around 290 million. If we simply divide the scam amount by the number of financially poor, we get Rs.6900/head (or rather Rs.6900/empty stomach).

Have you read ‘Ignited Minds’ by Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam? Even if you have not, it is pretty obvious to say that: ‘Our enemy is Poverty, It is the root cause of our problems and should be the object of our fight, not our own’. One-third of world’s poor live in India. Now imagine, if our very able politicians were satisfied with their justified salary and had distributed this amount amongst poor, the poverty would have reduced marginally. Is this something too much to ask for? Forget about distribution, the culprit of these scams is not even put in jail. No money is recovered.

We saw Kasab firing on the CST and so we caught him. We put him on trial. If we know that a certain person has high (read: obvious) chances of being involved in a scam, why don’t we jail him and put him on trial? BTW, if we add the amount the government has spent on Mr. Kasab in 2010, then trust me, India would be a Golden Bird on Silver Tree of Diamond studded Platinum Fruits. But yes, we want to play fair with all, and so let us just ignore $6.5million spent on him as of Jan 2010. Let us also ignore the claims of certain people about the black money present in the Swiss bank accounts of some elite personalities. But how can we ignore such scams? Can we afford to forget it?

Guys, Golden Bird is still alive, but it is being gang raped repeatedly by the people who are involved in these scams, and many similar ones that don’t get the limelight. This is a criminal act, and the whole country should be put on trial for Criminal Negligence. Just watching a Criminal Activity without raising a voice against it, is more serious a crime..

Recapping Democracy 2010: All We Need Is Introspection

A recent report by the Amnesty International says that nearly four million people are currently living under the Taliban in north-west Pakistan without rule of law and are effectively abandoned by the Pakistani government. In the report titled, As if Hell fell on me, the Human Rights crisis in Pakistan’ the London based rights organization asked the Pakistani govt. and Taliban to comply with International Humanitarian Law. Tanseem Noorani, a former interior secretary of Rawalpindi says, “From a safe and lovely town, it has been turned into a bunker.” A senior I.P.S Officer says that during his visit to several important countries last year, the general assessment about Pakistan everywhere was expressed just in two words- a“FAILED STATE.”

In India some hardliners with a myopic vision should be wallowing over it while back home it is not a different story either. In a village in Punjab kids are having neurological problems as there is uranium in the water due to the pollution by a nearby plant. Over 25 years after the world’s worst Industrial Disaster in Bhopal, which left 15,000 dead and injured 5.7 lac people, seven get two years in jail as the Apex court diluted the charges from culpable homicide not amounting to murder, to that of rash and negligent act.

The sense of anger and outrage was felt across the world as the international media and prominent American senators condemned the verdict and the fact that the alleged “Butcher of Bhopal”, the then chairman of Union Carbide corporation, Warren Anderson‘s name did not even appear in the list of the convicted. On the contrary, Anderson was granted safe passage by the Indian govt.

A nation that cannot uphold its law, can’t maintain order either. When Anderson was virtually escorted out of India, the State abdicated its responsibility. Anderson sneered at the establishment that knelt before him.

The gross mismatch between the quantum of punishment and the havoc caused has outraged the survivors who see it as a travesty of justice. Most of the survivors and their family still suffer from MBC related disease. Worse, an NGO alleges that these victims were used as guinea pigs. Hospitals conducted trials without patients’ knowledge, causing many deaths. Muslim Intellectual of the stature of MJ Akbar incisively sums up: “Justice for Bhopal is a serious issue. We treat poors as dispensable chattels whose death is meaningless in the economic calculus since there is no shortage of supply. Bhopal is a class war. If thousands of politicians, or their cousins, the nouveau rich, had died on that apocalyptic night in Bhopal, Anderson would still be in Indian jail rather than in America under protection.”

And nothing much different in Dante –Wada (Chhattisgarh) where 76 CRF jawaans are killed in one go by the Naxals/Maoists. A few days later a bus is blown up by them near Dante-Wada killing 40 people on the spot. A shaken Home Minister bemoans, “I have a limited mandate.” He wants army’s help. But at the highest level the army expresses strong disinclination to intervene. And a supine Prime Minister acquiesces. The ball is thrown back in the court of the states saying law and order is a state subject. The matter thus comes back to square one. Whatever may be, in a democracy perception becomes the operative truth. The operative truth here is, “The govt. just gives away people’s lives to naxals/Maoists. What’s the point in having this huge army if it can’t even protect people against a group of brutal fanatics?”

Comes next, the ‘Death at Dawn’ the Mangalore air crash. All the 158 occupants on board were killed. The civil aviation minister offers to resign as a matter of routine and the Prime Minister refuses to accept it ‘as a matter of routine’, or should I say Air Mishaps are a matter of routine now.

Follows closely on the heels the Jhargam train disaster in West Bengal killing hundreds of passengers and injuring and maiming many. A C.B.I. inquiry puts a cap on the matter.

In Pakistan four million people may be under the Taliban’s, in our country out of 640 districts, 120 districts are officially stated to be Naxals dominated where over large areas there writ runs. Thus we have far many million people who are living at the mercy of these insurgents.

M.J Akbar further says, “The divine right of kings is dead, it has been reborn as the secular right of an elected parliament”. In our nation the Prime Minister sits in Lok Sabha without voting rights for the seventh year running. He even complains about empty chairs at cabinet meetings. This is not because his ministers are more usefully busy elsewhere. They simply do not care. Would they have been absent from a Sonia Gandhi Cabinet meeting? Indian Politics reduced to notional ideology and devoid of accountability is suited to coalitions. If there were accountability, the D.M.K’s A. Raja would not remain in Man Mohan’s cabinet. The D.M.K’s other minister Alagiri remained missing during the budget session of parliament, government having no clue about him. Later it was transpired that he was sojourning abroad. But he still remains in the cabinet.

This is also due to an erosion of the P M’s authority. Major decisions are no longer in the domain of the PMO. They are taken by the UPA chairperson–cum-head of the national advisory council. The PMO remains a notifying agency. A captive PM then adopts a please-all-offend none policy. Compromise is a virtue in interpersonal relations. If it becomes the guiding principle of governance it may lead to disaster. The world renowned weekly ‘The Economist’s’ cannot thus be faulted when it writes, “Manmohan is the prime minister. He has no power.” Even while making its choice of Congress just before the 2009 general elections referred to him as a night watchman at the batting crease.

The Prime Minister has shown a penchant for giving extensions to bureaucrats without caring for the demoralization it causes down the line. Just after taking over as PM in May, 2004 he replaced then cabinet secretary Kamal Pandey with B.K Chaturvedi who had nearly sixty days to retire. He was given several extensions. M .K. Narayanan, NSA was given repeated extensions, and present cabinet secretary is also on two years extension. It appears that the Prime Minister has a propensity for pliable officers to form his think-tank. This is in sharp contrast to the mother-in-law of his mentor who let retire six secretaries to the government of India on the same date including L.P. Singh and L.K Jha who were her brain trusts. She did not give extensions to anyone and thus kept the bureaucratic slate neat, clean and non-controversial.

At the end of the day, one must be fair to Manmohan Singh ji .He has raised to such heights from the grass roots through sheer dint of merit. After Europe’s capitalist revolution, Napoleon came along. To institutionalize socialism in Russia, Lenin Appeared. In India to institutionalize liberalization, Manmohan appeared. His shining hour came in Narsimha Rao’s Cabinet when he introduced bold economic reforms. But this Oxford Blue reached his ceiling then too. Thus far and no far, repeat no far please. The top job is not a badge of honour but a negotiable instrument to balance the arithmetic of politics in the quest for power. The erudite professor is not cut out for that.

To conclude, a nominated prime minister ruling through a coterie of overage bureaucrats thus blocking the pipeline for emergence of fresh ideas and better strategies, health care and civic facilities in shambles, environmental degradation, failure to even detoxify the gas disaster site posing a threat to those living in the vicinity, rising crime rates, criminal justice system on the verge of collapse, corruption ruling the roost, govt. raising hands in the face of left-wing insurgency, politician-bureaucrat-criminal nexus running a parallel economy, people’s anger high on the Richter Scale as cost of living is getting exorbitant by the day, what is the ‘delivery-quotient’ of the Indian State?

A little self Introspection should provide an answer. Forget Pakistan and Taliban.

Domino Effect: Compassion, Empathy And Loads Of Change

 
                              

                        Be the change you want to see in the world – Gandhi.

This over-used but very relevant quote summarizes how we can make things better. For ourselves. For the people around us. For a community. For a nation. For the whole world.

We don’t have to start with the world or even the nation. We could start with ourselves. Something that each individual can most definitely do. Unlike service to the society this doesn’t require huge time or money investments, just the willingness to be open and honest – to create a change small or big that can tornado into a movement. A domino effect!

“A chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear sequence”

Our thoughts have a great impact on how we feel, the way we view ourselves and the way we view others. Small things we do and say or don’t do & say every moment have the power to influence and inspire others & ourselves. Even the smallest of gestures & actions can leave a lasting impression. Everything has a pay-it-forward effect: Good or bad. Consciously or sub-consciously.

Work: The best employee is one who delivers nothing he himself would not use or nothing short of the best he would want for himself.

The integrity we have and the value we place in our work reflects in a workplace. One crappy employee demoralizes the team. But one great employee doubles or increases the productivity of those around him. Work ethic + accountability + productivity + quality + perfection make a great employee. A domino effect with a potential to inspire & create.

Money: Bribe v/s Tip. Bribe is when an individual demands something more than what he delivers. Tip is when an individual receiving service offers something extra rewarding the work.

There is more of bribery than tipping because the concept is often misunderstood. Taking shortcuts is probably the root cause of all evil here. If we pledge to tip hard working service men and decide not to reward greedy officials for mediocre work without thinking of the inconvenience it may cause us, it would be a good start. A domino effect of progress & development.

Kids: The best way to get kids to do what we want is by doing it ourselves first. Kids are little, amusing, entertainment mirrors.

If we want them to treat others and us in a certain way the easiest way is to  do it ourselves than just demanding it. The most effective way to pass on values is living by our own. A domino effect of long lasting rewards & contentment.

Service: The more we do it, the more it is done by those around.

One of the reasons why a street is unclean or why people spit or pee in public is that those that don’t greatly draw from the attitude and the actions of a neighborhood. The results might be slow but persistence & consistency pay off. A domino effect of goodness & greatness.

People: It is important to treat everyone the way we’d want to be treated ourselves without any prejudice.

Every-time someone is abused or mistreated the cause could be traced back to the way the abuser himself was treated. The point here is not to give a free pass out to those who abuse others; instead it is to empathize while being emphatic. A domino effect of compassion & empathy.

Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Agnostic, Atheist – No matter what each person’s belief system is, everyone should follow this universal rule – “Treat others the way you would want to be treated”

Journalists: Puppets In Hands Of Power?

Journalism is an art practiced right since ages. Many faces that are scribed in Indian history practiced journalism – Bal Gangadhar Thilak, Subramania Bharathiar, Rabindranath Tagore to name a few. The journals published showed people the way, the right. But now, Journalism has joined the likes of religion. Everyone in power runs their own magazine and the magazine is the biography of their deeds.


Consider a state X. Let there be three parties which fights for power there. So we see that there would be three dailies, three TV channels, three FM stations and so on. To get news about the respective achievements of each party look into the respective party’s media and to know about the behind the screen activities which took place for the achievements look at the other party’s media.


So what we see in Indian politics is a complex grid of not lies but truth hidden. The hidden truth has brought out a new ideology – “Pen is mightier than the sword. Power is even mightier than pen.” This ideology survives even in this world of democracy. When the mysteries surrounding 2G spectrum were leaked, there were no news in dailies barring The Hindu to show light on it. People could never know more about the incident till the tapes were officially released by The Open. This is not the journalism we know and this is not the journalism we should know.


Today, power has definitely driven off journalism to back seat. Monarchy is back but it is in disguise under the mask – none other than democracy itself. We are animals ruled by a lion. This is definitely a jungle. We are nodding our heads to the lion’s orders; if we do not act now, we will definitely be a prey to the lion soon.
A lighter moment:


Politician of today goes to Politician of yesterday’s house.


Politician of today: Your house is lavish. How did you manage the finance?


Politician of yesterday: You see a bridge there?


Politician of today: Yes.


Politician of yesterday: I built this house from the money funded for it.


Now it’s Politician of yesterday’s turn to visit Politician of today.


Politician of yesterday: Your house is much bigger than mine. How did you manage?


Politician of today: You see a bridge there?


Politician of yesterday: No.


Politician of today: I built this house with the funds of that bridge.


Though they were late, journals of yesterday at least showed us what was happening. But now we will never be able to know the truth until a party which has had a big loss over an endorsement reveals the mask of the party with gains. So in our jungle a game is being played and even the journalists have taken sides. It’s time we understand our right – The right to information. At this age of Google, anyone can write and importantly they can be heard enough. So let’s shout for the revival of Journalism.


Journalism definitely is an art to be preserved and to save its dignity, “Let truth alone triumph”.

The Real Indian Problem: Indian Issues Or Indian Mentality?

That day the topic of discussion decided by a group-including me-was “The PROBLEM of India”. Immediately after the topic was revealed I heard people around me talking about poverty, unemployment, corruption, population, pollution, terrorism, eve-teasing, lack of infrastructure, illiteracy and eventually I accepted that the list was never-ending. But then by paying a little more attention I figured out that the discussion was about the PROBLEM and not PROBLEMS of India. And this omission of letter ‘S’ from the topic of discussion made me ponder a little deeper rather than just skimming the surface.

Digging deep into the statistics of Indian poverty, around 35% of Indian population (officially) falls below the international poverty line however at the same time, roughly 13 to 17% in America, around 15% in Japan, 22% in United Kingdom and 13% in Germany; population is living below poverty line. Americans attained independence in 1776 and Indians in 1947, now, considering the difference in the percentage of population below poverty line and the years as an independent nation, even after only 60 years of independence India is an emerging threat not only to the emerging economies but even to United States and other developed and powerful nations.

Despite the shortcomings, we have acknowledged 8.8% growth so far and are marching optimistically towards a double digit growth rate; Indian stock exchanges are bullish as if there was never any recession in the world, Bugatti launched a 16 crore car in the Indian market, apparently they saw in us the buying potential and everyday a new company is entering into Indian market. But then where lays the problem? If everything is optimistic and positive then where is India falling short?

The problem is in Indians themselves, i.e., the thinking process, the way we Indians comprehend the happenings around. A lot of protest were organized against the manipulation and embezzlement of funds for CWG 2010 games held in India. Now the question is if it was not them and if it was you and me dealing with funds, what were the chances of manipulation? If it was not the present politicians say, Lallu Yadav and Mayawati, would we not have tried our level best to save the chair for ourselves? If it was not the forced terrorist, just you and I going through the miseries of life that forced them to take up on the path of terrorism in order to feed ourselves and our family?

We waste a lot of our time watching shows on television, shows like Rakhi ka Insaaf and Bigg Boss. But how would we react to a similar situation where two males are in love, or when a transgender walks up to you seeking help? How many of us studying in reputed business schools thought of opening our own business houses in order to provide employment to others? We have learned a phrase since childhood “Each one – teach one.” But how many of us actually thought of going out of our way of actually implementing this into action?

It is not about the government, not about the education system, not about social ethical codes; it’s about how we perceive India. How many times have we heard somebody saying “Ye India hai, yahan sab chalta hai” (this is India, everything is OK here) or how many times have we ourselves said “India ka kuch nahi ho sakta” (no good can happen to India). India is us and we are India, the sooner we understand this the better it is for us and the nation. The solution to most of our problems lies within ourselves and our outlook. A simple change in our own mindset will change how we look at our nation, and how others related to us look at our nation. 

That is how we spread the 6 letter word, change. So next time when somebody would ask about the problem/problems of India, I would smile and say I have no problem! What about you?

Did Arundhati Roy Incite Rebellion??

The question everyone asking today is whether the speech made by Arundhati Roy at a seminar in Delhi amounts to sedition or not. The Indian judiciary, though, certainly believes that it does amount to sedition and this is why a local court, on the petition of Sushil Pandit- who alleged that Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a separatist of Kashmir, and Roy made anti-India speeches at a conference on “Azadi-the Only Way” on October 21- directed the Delhi Police to book Roy and five others under sedition.

The Delhi Police followed the orders of the court and booked them under sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between classes), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of peace) and 505 (false statement, rumour circulated with intent to cause mutiny or offence against public peace).

Arundhati Roy since then has been defending her speech by saying she had only opined that Kashmir has never been an integral part of India and even Indian government accepts this fact. I wish things were as simple as she explained in her defense. Having read the entire transcript of her speech I can say for sure that had it been only about her Kashmir remarks, she would still be able to escape charge (there is nothing seditious about her remarks on Kashmir). However there is much more to her speech than what it seems prima facie.

After reading the whole speech I certainly think the local court took the correct decision.

First of all let us understand what sedition in India is. According to section 124A of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) sedition embraces all the practices whether by word or writing which are calculated to disturb the tranquility of the State and lead an ignorant person to subvert the Government. Mere criticism of the government does not amount to sedition, if it was not calculated to undermine the respect for the government in such a way so as to make people cease to obey it and so that only anarchy follows.

It defines the offense of sedition as follows: “Sedition. Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine”. But Explanation 3 says “Comments expressing disapprobation of the administrative or other action of the Government without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not constitute an offense under this section”.

The law clearly explains if anybody tries to bring or attempt to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government established by law in India, he or she should be punished for sedition.

Arundhati Roy was speaking in the seminar to an audience which was largely anti-India except some. Among the speakers of the seminar were separatists from Kashmir including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Dr. N. Venuh- a separatist from Manipur, Malem Ningthouja-  a separatist from Nagaland, SAR Geelani- a lecturer in Delhi University who was accused in the Parliament attack but later set free, Harcharanjit Singh- president of Dal Khala and a Khalistan supporter- and many other anti India elements.

Obviously the people present there including Arundhati Roy, who had an anti India ideology, made an anti India speech at that seminar. But let me, specifically, describe what Arundhati exactly said on that day.

First, she urged all anti India elements like Naxalites- who wish to over throw the Indian state by the use of power- and Khalistani, Manipuri, Naga and Kashmiri separatists to form an alliance to actually fight or initiate a civil war against India. I quote her speech,

“But the reason that I said what we need to do is to deepen this conversation is because it’s also very easy for us to continue to pat ourselves on the backs as great fighters for resistance for anything whether it’s the Maoists in the forests or whether it’s the stone pelters on the streets— but actually we must understand that we are up against something very serious and I’m afraid that the bows and arrows of the Adivasis and the stones in the hands of the young people are absolutely essential but they are not the only thing that’s going to win us freedom, and for that we need to be tactical, we need to question ourselves, we need to make alliances, serious alliances…”

By saying so she tried to justify the violence that has been taking place in the form of stone pelting in Kashmir and she also promoted the violence committed by the Naxalites. She was actually trying to incite the people to take up arms against the Indian state.

She further says and I quote her,

“There should be deep solidarity between the struggles in Manipur, the struggles in Nagaland, the struggle in Kashmir, the struggle in central India and in all the poor, squatters, the vendors, all the slum dwellers and so on.”

Here she is again trying, through her speech, to unite all anti India elements and urging them to forge an alliance or to come under a single platform in order to fight against the government.

Analyze her speech carefully and you will know what her real intentions are. The speech suggest initiating a civil war. If we pause and look at the violence committed by Naxalites in the last five years then an RTI reply by the Home Ministry says, “Naxal violence has claimed the lives of over 10,000 civilian and security personnel in the last five years with significant rise in the number of killings in Left-wing extremism-hit States. Out of a total of 10,268 casualties between 2005 and May 2010, 2,372 deaths have been reported in 2009 as against 1,769 in 2008 and 1,737 in 2007.”

Can Arundhati Roy justify these killings committed by the Naxals?

The speech made by her in the seminar was not only highly objectionable but also amounts to sedition for which she has, rightly, been booked. To be fair to Roy, perhaps she wasn’t aware of the fact that she had crossed her limits while giving her speech but this in no way can justify what she said in the seminar. Yes indeed it is nothing but sedition. Period...