The failed State in trouble

The modern tragedy of India is that it is surrounded by failed states, the main being Pakistan.

Pakistan has been a classic case of "even if I bleed, it is alright as long as you are hurt" syndrome. For political reasons or otherwise, they have always raised the bogey of India as the enemy. This, despite India never having expressed any desire for expansionism in its thousands of years of history. The Pakistani rulers have whipped up such a hysteria about anti India feelings, that they spent most of their money on arms built up to thwart the purported attack by Indian Army. They have also used this as an excuse to indulge in massive destabilization of India through sniping at the border, encouraging Kashmir militancy, cross border terrorism, infiltration, spreading fake currency in the country and occassional military forays. But they forgot how to rule the country and take care of their economy. The beggers have a problem. Even if they have sufficient money, they would still like to beg. Or the day is not complete for them. Pakistan is like that. They are so used to getting doles from US, Saudi and Iran that they have forgotten how to live through their own sweat and toil. Today, Pakistan is in deep trouble economically. They have foreign exchange reserve for only 6 days. With Obama likely to be the next US President (and his views on Pakistan is well chronicled), Pakistans hay days are over. Their middle east friends have turned their back on them at last. They have come to realize that they have been feeding a snake all these years and of late, the snake has started biting them.

Last heard Pakistan has approached IMF for a financial package. The big brother IMF has promptly put umpteen number of conditions to revive the economy (by this I mean the tried, tested and FAILED policies of IMF-that is another story). The first of which is to reduce military spending considerably.

The situation is fraught with interesting possibilities for South Asia. But what baffles me is the clamour in India to support Pakistan during this crisis.

Panchathantra says "There are traditional enemies and transitionary enemies. It is alright to make friendship and help the transitionary enemies, but NEVER NEVER do it with a Traditional Enemy, for you will come to grief".

Heed the voice of the wise.

Will we grab this golden opportunity?

Why have'nt the Government reduced the Interest rates?

Inflation is not the major worry now. It is down to 10.xx% and is on its way down. The crude prices have fallen dramatically. The real concern is economic growth. When the world is facing recessionary trends, it is time for India to buckle up and take the lead in Growth. Contrary to what many believe, we can still expect to have 7% growth in 2009, which is not bad by any standards and great by current global trends where developed economies are expected to show almost nil growth.

The fundamental problem is lack of confidence. Banks are not lending to each other. Investors are vary after getting burnt. The genius trioka of economists - Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram and Ahluwalia - should be out there firing on all cylinders. But instead, the response has been very timid.

The country cries for economic and political leadership, but it is not forthcoming. What we need is,

Reduction of Fuel prices - though not desirable in the long run, we need it now to kickstart the economy

Defering the implementation of Pay Commission Report - Time to tell the babus that they either perform or perish. They cant expect to get perks without sweating it out.

Reducing interest rates by at least 2.5 basis points over a period of 2 months. This will encourage people to divert more money to stock, and less to Banks. Also, consumer spending will increase. This is required to support the manufacturing base.

Tighter regulation of Stock markets and financial institutions to protect small investor to boost his confidence.

Reduce intervention of FIIs in stock market. Let them rather invest in direct equity, for then reverse flight of capital will not happen.

Finally, fasten the integration with global economy, BUT at our terms. Today, we can dictate terms being the stronger of the lot.

Will be grab this golden opportunity?

I suspect not. For our rulers are timid

VISWA NATHAN(!)

VISWA NATHAN means Lord of the World.

Let us salute and savour this moment. For just now, Viswanathan Anand has retained his World Chess Title in a rematch with Kramnik 6.5-4.5. Now he is the UNDISPUTED CHESS CHAMPION of the World. And a very very convincing victory too.

A country starved of sporting success, this must rank as one of the best in its history.

Three cheers to the Greatest Sportsman India has produced - Vishy Anand!

What should you do with your money?

Blog is pleased to say it enjoyed a nice South Indian Deepavali holiday and as promised is back to give you some tips as to where to invest on the Lakshmi Pooja day and beyond.

I have always recommended Gold during the past few months as a good investment. Gold has an intrinsic value and is fairly secure. It is still a good place to invest, but hang on for a month before you rush to the gold shops. The Gold prices are falling as people are liquidating their Gold assets to cover their financial losses. This is likely to continue for a month more. Though i dont see the 25% fall in Gold prices as many had predicted, it can be safely assumed that the Gold will fall by 10% in November. So keep track of Gold rates in November and buy when it is around KD 5.300 - KD 5.600 per gram. This is in Kuwait. As usual, recommendation is not to buy ornamental gold, but gold biscuits or bars if you have the money. With Gold in short supply globally in the long run, you can expect the prices to revert back to the KD 7 plus per gram level by March 2009.

Real Estate is a strict no-no for now. The Real Estate prices have not fallen yet, but will definitely fall, though not to a great extend. You wont see much activity in this sector in India in the coming months. The only saving grace is the likely reduction of interest rates and the imminent fall in steel prices. These two augurs well if you are constructing a house or a commercial complex. But against this, your rental accruals are not likely to see any great appreciation and is likely to maintain the current level for a couple of years.

Equity - Surprisingly my recommendation is yes. I know the Sensex is steadily falling. But this is the right time to buy. Buy directly and buy solid blue chip shares with a successful track record and good management. You wont come to grief. You may have to hang on for 2-3 years, but you can expect a doubling of returns in 3 years, which at 30% plus per year is a superb investment. But beware, do not go in for mutual funds. Go by your gut feeling and pick the shares yourself.

The next option is to invest in debt instruments like Fixed Deposits in Banks. The interest rates are currently high and you will get a reasonable return, though the growth wont cover the inflation. But despite lot of Banks reporting huge losses due to fiscal profligacy, Government owned/backed banks are safe. In any case, in the current scenario, no Government can afford a Bank to go bust. So you are safe.

Why not withdraw the money as cash and keep it with you. I know you wont make it grow, but at least you dont have to lose sleep over whether it is safe! In these troubled times, able to sleep peacefully is the best you can hope for.

Deepavali

One of the brightest (literally and figuratively) festivals of India is 'Deepavali '(Diwali).

Deepavali is the correct nomenclature as it means ' a row of light'

There are different reasons attributed as to why we celebrate Deepavali. The popular one is as follows,

Narakaasura was a demon king ruling over Praagjyotishapura (the present-day Assam). By virtue of his powers and boons secured from God, he became all-conquering. Power made him swollen-headed and he became a menace to the good and the holy men and even the Gods.

The Gods headed by Devendra implored Sri Krishna who was at Dwaaraka (in the present-day Gujarat) to come to their rescue. Sri Krishna responded. He marched from the western end of the country to its eastern end, Praagjyotishapura, destroyed the huge army which opposed him and finally beheaded Narakaasura himself. The populace was freed from the oppressive tyranny and all heaved a sigh of relief.

After the slaying of Narakaasura Sri Krishna bathed himself smearing his body with oil in the early morning of Chaturdashi. Hence the invigorating vogue of taking an early morning `oil-bath' on that day.

Mother Earth, whose son Narakaasura was, requested Sri Krishna that the day be celebrated as one of jubilation. Sri Krishna granted the request and since then the tradition has continued.

Mother Earth reconciled herself to the loss of her son and knowing as she did that the Lord had punished her son for the sake of the welfare of the world. She thus set a glowing example of how one has to brush aside one's personal joys and sorrows in the interest of society.

Another legend has Deepavali being associated with Sri Rama

Deepaavali is associated with the return of Sri Rama to Ayodhya after vanquishing Raavana. The people of Ayodhya, overwhelmed with joy, welcomed Rama through jubilation and illumination of the entire capital.

In South India, Deepavali falls on Monday, 27th October 2008. The next day is Amavasya, the new moon day, auspicious for offering prayers and gratitude to the bygone ancestors of the family and invoking their memories and blessings for treading the path of right conduct. This is also the sacred occasion for the worship of Mahaa Lakshmi, the goddess of Wealth and Prosperity. The business community open their New Year's account with Her worship. In India, the stock markets open for a hour on Deepavali day, despite it being a holiday, for people to make some token trade in securities.

Deepavali wishes to all my readers. May the year ahead bring you prosperity and wealth (hope this wish comes true, as it is an ambitious one in the current global financial scenario).

Needless to say, Blog would like to see for itself all the Deepavali festivities and hence will be off on Monday. It hopes to return on Tuesday with some tips as to how to make money.

Let power come to you

In the modern world people chase success. But, this may not be the ideal way. Success should chase you, because of the kind of person you are

There are two kinds of leaders - the Hunters and the Fishermen.

The Hunter typifies those who are constantly tracking down success, but the Fishermen let success and leadership come to them.

When we are hunting, we scare the animals and they run away. We chase them down, mercilessly kill them and take them away as trophies. But Fishing is about patience, dangling the bait, attracting the fish to the bait and then let it come and nibble. It does so voluntarily.

One is about repulsion and the other is about attraction. Which do you prefer?

And how do you attract? Your personality takes care of this. People are attracted to a leader whose personality is well rounded. You need to keep on adding to the various aspects of your personality to get people come to you. This can be done through attitude and skill enhancement. Once you do that, success, influence, leadership and power will come in search of you.

Manmohan Singh ............now a failed economist also

It looks more and more that the so called phenomenal growth story of Indian Economy during the last two year has more to do with Foreign money being allowed to flow freely to buy shares of Indian companies in the Stock Market. Higher interest rates in India and less transparency in the stock market ensured an advantageous playing field for FIIs to speculate in the Indian Market.

Result - The sensex boomed, Rupee appreciated and Government showed it off as a sign of their success and an indication of the success of their economic (sic) policies. And riding the wave, Government kept quite, when they should have restricted FII investment in stock market while making them invest more in long term infrastructure development projects, as China did. This would have ensured limited reverse flight of capital.

Now, when the FIIs' are liquidating their short term investments in India and running away, Government is hapless and blaming the global crisis for the rupee depreciating to less than 50 mark and sensex crashing to 9000 level. The run seems to continue unabated.

We know Manmohan Singh is a failed politician. But at least we believed the hype that he was a top notch economist. Now it seems that he is a disaster as an economist too.

This was the defining moment, for him to show what he was made of as a reputed economist. This was where he was expected to step in and show leadership, not on the nuclear deal which looks more and more murky now.

Alas! As in many other areas, he came up short even in his area of core competency. There in lies the tragedy of our country

Vishy the great

While everyone has been on cloud nine following India's destruction of Australia in the Mohali Test, another great chapter in the history of Indian Sports is unfolding elsewhere.

Viswanathan Anand has taken a commanding 4.5-1.5 lead in the World Chess Championship match with Vladimir Kramnik and needs just 2 points from 6 games to retain his crown.

Many dont understand the real significance of this. For a long long time, Chess has been totally dominated by the Russians, who controlled World Federation and ensured by hook or crook that a Russian always remains the World Champion. Whenever a worthy challenger is seen in the horizon, the Russian Chess mafia closes the ranks and virtually makes it impossible for the non Russian to succeed. This ultimately led to a split in the Chess Fraternity that saw the ludicrous situation of two sets of World Champions for a while. The unification ultimately came and Anand became the World Champion by virtue of winning the tournament designated for the purpose.

Kramnik, in pique of having lost his Crown, made snide remarks that Anand won the crown based on a tournament and not by beating him in a matchplay situation, as was the practice. This was unfair on Anand, as he can only become Champion based on the Federations diktat.

The Federation also played dirty by allowing Kramnik one more shot at the title in a match play situation when he lost the crown to Anand earlier. All in all, everything was stacked against Anand. He has to manage the dirty politics as well as play his best chess to beat a worthy opponent. Also, his form going into the tournament was not all that great. He had his worst performance in a tournament of late, which resulted in his ranking slipping from 1 to 5.

Also, the competition at the top level in the Chess world is so intense, that there is nothing to differentiate between the top 5-8. Anand has to be at his best over the 12 games to retain his World Crown.

Anand has won 3 out of the 6 games at the half way mark, and has drawn the other 3. Of the 3 wins, 2 are with Black. This is a phenomenal achievement, as winning even one game with Black at the World Championship is a rarity. Winning two consecutively is unheard of.

I have always held Vishy Anand to be the greatest sportsperson India has produced, barring none. And this reinforces my view point

Praliament Ailment

A few days back I posted on the Government ducking the Parliament by not convening the monsoon session, despite grave issues facing the nation.

Now we have the official figures. Parliament, as of date, has met only for, hold your breath, 32 (just thirty two days) in 2008. Of course the parliament is in session. Assuming that it will sit for another 2 weeks in the coming days, the total number of days it has met will be less than 50, the lowest in its history. Which means our MPs dont do anything for more than 315 days in a year. Imagine you and me working (not working) for less than 50 days in a year and getting fabulous perks. Also, one needs to understand, out of this 32 days of sitting so far, at least 10 of them have been abandondened when some party or other had stalled the parliaments proceedings. Now, you can count for yourself how much they actually work in a year. What a tragedy!

Contrast this with what was in the past. From 1951 till 1999, the parliament met for more than 100 days a year regularly. Even during 1976, the emergency period, it met for 98 days. To put things in perspective, in 1953 and 1954, it met for 137 days and in 1956, it met for 151 days, the maximum.

Since the turn of the millenium, the average days have come down drastically and has been hovering around the 50 day mark. This is inspite of an unwritten agreement between the political parties that Parliament will meet for at least 100 days.

But then what will be the value of a Politician's word if it were not to be broken?

Why should we elect MPs if they are going to play hookey?

Economy with no CRR and Zero Interest Rate

Once a Namboothiri was watching a road side circus being carried out by a family. These road side shows were common in olden days. One of the tricks was for the main acrobat in the team to first jump through a big hoopla ( or a big ring ). Then he progressively started reducing the diameter of the ring, jumping through smaller and smaller ring. When the rings started becoming really smaller, crowd enthralled and watching in pin drop silence, the namboothiri's voice was to be heard,

"smart guy! at this rate he will soon be jumping WITHOUT the ring"

(You need to know the original malayalam slang to appreciate this wisecrack fully "Midukkan. Ingane poyal viruthan valayam illathe chadumallo!").

I was reminded of this anecdote when I read the fervor with which the Central Banks the world over are slashing the CRR of the Banks and reducing the Interest Rates, almost on a daily basis.

I wonder what the Namboothiri might say,

"Great! at this rate they will soon be running the economy without CRR and at Zero interest!"

Intellect and Intelligence.

Intelligence is different from the intellect.

The intellect works within the field of the known.

Intelligence breaks off. It looks more into the spirit or essence behind an issue.

Attachment to world wide web, books, symbols, dogmas and practices has made people blind to the essence of a matter. They tend to go by hard facts, not what the facts subtely reveal. This is more like going only by what a person says without understanding the spirity in which it is said or even taking cues from things that are not said.

In modern world, especially in the internet era, it is easy for a Manager to depend more on intellect than on intelligence. He gets attached to the data and information available at the click of a mouse, and tends to make decisions based on it without applying his intelligence. In the bargain what is lost is the ability to understand the spirit behind any issue.

This is precisely what happened to Naresh Goyal and Jet Airways. Applying the intellect, the decision taken to sack 1900 employees was correct. But if he has applied intelligence, he would have realized that it is not in the spirit of building a world class airliner, that is essentially service oriented and dependant on people to maintain its quality. Instead of sacking, if he had called them in and requested all of them to tighten their belt to tidy over the difficult period, the employees would have happily done so. Instead, today, he has eroded his brand equity, credibility and goodwill so much so that he will find it tough to get quality people to join his organization in the future.

The history of India is replete with instances of intelligence taking precedence over intellect. Like many other things, intellect domination is what we have imported from the West as part of Globalization.

What the hell were Auditors and Credit Rating Agencies doing?

What the hell were Auditors and Credit Rating Agencies doing all these years?

This is the question that comes to the fore while following the current global financial market meltdown.

Remember Enron and its auditors, the famous Arthur Anderson. Arthur Anderson was guilty by association and in fact aided and abetted the Enron management to commit a fraud on the shareholders and public at large. Arthur Anderson had to pay a heavy price for it, for they were asked to disband their operations.

I cannot accept that the Auditors of these Banks, both internal and external, were totally ignorant of what was happening all these years. If they were aware, then why didnt they bring it out to the open. The Auditors have a responsibility to the Shareholders, as it is the AGM that approves their appointment.

Similar question can be asked of the Credit Rating Agencies. These agencies, who are supposed to evaluate periodically the risk associated with the operations of the Financial institutions, did not reduce the credit ratings despite being aware of the risks involved in the business. Hence they are also guilty by complicity.

I have always held the belief that the Audit Firms, the Credit Rating Agencies and the ISO Certifying Agencies are not above board. They can never give a honest opinion as their bills are being footed by the very firms they are supposed to do a due diligence of. Imagine the Sales Tax inspectors salary being paid by the Shop owners (not formal salary, they do get regular monthly income anyway from shop owners and that is another story). In this scenario, can you expect them to penalize the shopkeepers for Sales Tax evasion.

It is time that the fee of the Auditors, Credit Rating Agencies etc are born by a Government Funded independant department. Or else, situations like the current one will crop up again and again.

Politicians insomnia

Insomnia is a contagious disease.

First it was the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had a bout of insomnia when he found he couldn't sleep over a terror suspect Hafeez was arrested in Australia.

Now, it is the turn of his ally, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Karunanidhi.

Expressing anguish over the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils, Karunanidhi said: "The future of Tamil race has become a question mark. I am unable to sleep, whenever I think of it. Let us save the Tamil race and its honour. Let us avoid the racial genocide in Sri Lanka at whatever price."

Is he aware that the whole of Tamil Nadu is unable to sleep, not because of the reason Karunanidhi cited for his insomnia, but because there is 8-9 hours power cut, of which at least 4 hours is in the night. In many areas power is switched off from 10pm to midnight and in some other areas it is from 3 am to 6 am?

If only our esteemed leaders (sic) lose some sleep about affairs concerning the ordinary citizen, the country will be a much better place to live in.

Doesn't Democracy mean majority opinion?

In an interview to the Canadian daily National Post, Sri Lankan army chief Lt.Gen.Sarath Fonseka said,

"I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and,

1. we treat them like our people
2. being the majority of the country we will never give in and we have the right to protect our country
3. We are also a strong nation. They(minorities) can live in this country with us, but they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things." (Emphasis mine)

Now, can you imagine the Indian Army Chief, or anyone for that matter, making such a statement in India and getting away with it?. In a democratic set up, it is the majority opinion that counts and hence it is the majority interest that should have precedence over others. But in India............................................ ????

Value of Integrity

Prahlada the Asura was then emperor of all the three worlds, conquered by the power of his integrity.

As it always happens, Indra becomes jealous of Prahlada’s power and feels shaky – there is the threat of losing his throne to someone like the mighty Asura. For the throne of Indra belonged to the man who had the highest character, who performed the most difficult austerities.

Indra assumes the form of a Brahmin and goes to Prahlada and serves him as a disciple, with the desire to learn from him the secret of his success. Prahlada tells him his success comes from his following the noble teachings of wise men. However, Indra still continues to serve Prahlada and eventually the Asura emperor, pleased with the devotion shown and the service rendered, asks his disciple to ask for a boon, not knowing he is Indra. Initially Indra refuses politely, saying that all his desires have been fulfilled.

But when Prahlada insists, he asks: “If you are pleased with me, Emperor, please give me your character, your integrity.”

Prahlada is shaken by the request, but he grants the boon since he had offered it: after all, that is what a man of integrity does. Indra accepts the boon and goes away.

Soon Prahlada sees a dazzlingly lustrous being emerging from his body and leaving him. When Prahlada asks him who he is, the being tells him that he is Sheela [Integrity], and he is leaving him because Prahlada has given him away. “I shall now happily live,” Sheela adds, “in the Brahmin to whom you have given me away.”

Soon Prahlada sees another radiant being emerging from his body. Asked who he is, the being introduces himself as Dharma: virtue and righteousness. After Dharma too leaves him, telling him he is going to join Integrity to live in the body of the Brahmin since he, Dharma, lives only where Integrity is.

Prahlada then finds another effulgent being emerging from him, this time Satya, Truth, and then another, Vritta, Uprightness, and then yet another Bala, Strength, all leaving him one by one to live in the Brahmin, following Integrity.

Following Bala, it is a splendorous goddess that emerges from Prahlada’s body and when asked she tells him she is Shree, the goddess of wealth, prosperity, good fortune and all else that is auspicious.

Shree tells Prahlada that she had on her own come and begun living in his body, but now she had no choice but to leave him, because she always followed Integrity, Virtue, Truth, Uprightness and Strength.

She also tells him the Brahmin was none other than Indra, Indra has robbed him of his Integrity and where Integrity is not, there can be no Dharma, no Truth, no Morality, no Strength and no wealth, prosperity or good fortune.

“dharmah satyam tatha vrttam balam chaiva tathapyahamsheelabhoota mahaprajna sada nastyatra samshayah.” - Mahabharata 12.124.62

The moral of the story is that if a man without integrity achieves prosperity, it would soon leave him since Shree cannot stay where there is no Integrity. It can also be summed up as:

Sheelam pradhanam purushe. Integrity is the most important virtue in man.

10,000 hits and going strong

I remember watching Sunil Gavaskar score his 10,000th Test run by guiding the Pak Spinner Ijaz Fakhi to the third man and was thrilled.

Felt something similar to that sensation when this blog crossed 10,000 hits yesterday, coincidentally on a pournami day.

Next target - 25,000

Make the MP's accountable

The priorities of the political parties leaves much to be desired.

Take the case of Tamil Nadu. All the MP's from Tamil Nadu, belonging to both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, have threatened to resign protesting against,

NOT the non availability of central power to mitigate the hardship caused to common man due to 9 hour power cut,

NOT the high levels of inflation which has made day to day life miserable for the ordinary people

NOT the poor allocation of funds for infrastructure development

NOT the failure of the Capital Markets that have wiped of 50% of the assets of the common investor

NOT the various measures of the Centre Government that affects the common man

BUT in support of the Srilankan Army's attack on Tamilians in Srilanka. Now, these Srilankan Tamilians are citizens of Srilanka and just as we object to Pakistan interfering in Ksahmir, any intervention in the Srilankan Tamils cause will be an interference in that countries internal affairs.

The MPs are elected by the TAMILIANS IN TAMIL NADU to address THEIR PROBLEMS. They have no right to RESIGN FROM THE HOUSE when the issue on hand is that of a foreign nation.

I am not saying that we, as a nation, should not take up the issue of the unfortunate tamil civilians in Srilanka. We definitely should, within the framework of international diplomatic rules, take up the issue either bilaterally or through a multilateral forum like UN.

But that doesn't give the TN political parties to adicate their responsibilities towards the common man of Tamil Nadu. There is a simple way to stop this nonsense. Derecognize all these parties. Also, any MP who resigns should be asked to reimburse all the benefits he has got as an MP till the last elections in which he/she was elected apart from asking to bear the expense for the bye election that is unwantedly burdened on the common man. Why should, you and me, the tax payers pay for these guy's lunacy and political opportunism?

It is time we make them understand the meaning of the word 'Accountability'

Round Up

Round up ..................

CRR reduced by 1.5 base points. It will inject liquidity into the system, alright. But what does it do to the inflationary pressure? Government increased the CRR and Repo rate drastically a couple of months back to contain inflation. The inflation situation has not changed much. Then, going by the logic Government used sometime back, the current revision should put pressure on inflationary tendencies.

I thought the whole idea of having stock market was to allow the market dynamics to act on the equity market. Government did not take any steps when FII's converted the Stock market to a Casino a few months through undesirable short term investments. Everyone knew the stock markets were over heated. That was the time for Government to intervene, protect the small shareholders by putting a cap on FII gambling. But instead the Government basked in reflected glory, claiming that SENSEX at 20000 was indicative of the success of reforms bla bla bla......... Now? When the sensex came crashing down to 11000, mainly due to panic selling by FIIs, Government stepped in to artificially boost the SENSEX. For whom does the bells toll? It definitely doesn't toll for you and me, the common man.

A month has passed since the last round of terrorist bombings...............and nothing has happened. It is almost as if the Government knew that people are so indifferent so as to forget all these terrorist acts in a couple of days. The incompetent nincompoop of a Home Minister still continues facilitating the next terrorist attack.

Test Match 1 over........... It is sad to see the decline of 1) the team that was winning everything in its way for a decade. Australia is in a situation where India was a while ago. They just do not seem to have the bowling firepower to take 20 wickets; 2) India's much vaunted middle order not dominating anymore along with the visible decline of Anil Kumble. What should have been a fight between 2 strong teams going hammer and tongs to win is turning out to be a damp squib, with both afraid to lose.

Turning a blind eye to treason

First it was Kashmir, now it is Assam.

The Kashmiris have been raising pro-pakistani slogans, raising Pakistani flags at the same time indulging in anti national activities for quite a while now.

The Government has been soft on this for fear of alienating the Muslims. Any other country with an iota of self respect would have come down on anti national activities, that amounts to treason, with a heavy hand.

Instead we allow the Geelanis and Arundhathi Roys to abuse our Country with impunity.

Now the disease has spread to the far east. The Bodos in Assam is locked in a fight with illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, all Muslims, for a while now. With the tacit support of the Congress party and others like Ram Vilas Paswan, these illegal migrants, who have no right to be in our country by any logic, recently attacked the Bodos and Indian army by raising, listen, 'Pro Pakistani' slogans.

Again, what does our Government do? Absolutely nothing. There is more platitudes by way of how we should not alienate the minority community.

This has nothing to do with religion. This has to do only with national security. The fact that someone belongs to a particular community doesnt give them the right to commit treason and indulge in anti national activities. A message should be sent clear and loud that this will not be tolerated but will be put down.

It is such a crying shame that Congress party, that claims to have got independance from the British, should now be accused of being guilty by complicity to all these activities that subvert the nation.

Gandhiji insisted that the Congress be disbanded once India got independance. But none paid heed to him. He and other freedom fighters must be squirming in their graves.

Blank mind

An off day. Mind is blank.

Back tomorrow

Small is not beautiful

One of the finest advices I have got when I was a fresh MBA aspiring to become an entrepreneur was from my young Visiting Faculty, Ravikumar who was a IIM(A) graduate.

"Raja, when you want to start a new venture, start something big. Never start something small. Many people think it worthwhile to start something small and then hoping that it will grow into a big venture. This is a myth as the dynamics of a small venture is totally different from the dynamics of a big venture. Also, the hassle once has to go through to start something small and big are the same. But more importantly, if something goes wrong with a big venture, the stakes of the stakeholders like financial institutions, partners and other suppliers are so high, that they just cannot afford to let you go down. But if you are small, they will be quick to cut the losses and move away."

I was reminded of this in this current financial crisis. When the small income individuals borrowed to set up a houes and couldnt pay the mortgage, the US Government turned a nelson eye on them, and let them be evicted. No one even shred a little tear for these poor individuals. But when the big guns like Goldman Sach, Merryl Lynch etc started going broke, the Goverment was quick to announce a bail out package of $ 700 billion. Bail out whom? Rich, greedy bankers who were less than prudent but who recklessly played around with investors money.

Small is not beautiful after all!

Parliament undermined

In an earlier post, I had written about the systemmatic destruction of the democractic institutions by the political parties, especially Congress. Why single out Congress? Because they have ruled this country for all but 8 or the 60 years, and hence cannot avoid being criticized more than the others.

We claim ourselves to be the largest democracy in the world. Democracy do not mean just electing MPs, some of whom become Ministers and do exactly what they please. It means that the elected representatives meet in the august house of Parliament regularly, discuss and debate issues of national importance and put their collective wisdom into taking appropriate decisions through law making.

Our Parliament normally sits thrice a year. The budget session in February, the monsoon session in June and the winter session in November. But has anyone noticed that the Parliament has not had a proper sitting for a long time?

When the Left parties withdrew the support and opposed the N-deal, the Government hastily called a brief session during monsoon to get the confidence vote and promptly adjourned the house sine die. Maybe for the first time in the history of modern india (barring the emergency perios) the monsoon session has not been held. This also means that the Parliament is not due to meet till the winter session in November, a long gap of 7 months!

So many issues of critical nature has come up during the period,

1. Global Financial meltdown
2. High inflation which has affected the common man badly
3. Stagnant economic growth
4. Liquidity bottlenecks
5. Monsoon failure in many parts of the country
6. The atrocious levels of power cuts in Tamil Nadu
7. Stock market crashing
8. N-Deal
9. Critical internal security resulting from terrorist attacks and religious riots
10. Jammu riots and the resultant Kashmir turmoil
11. Singur/Nano issue

...................the list is endless.

And what does the lawmakers in general and the ruling UPA in particular do. They dont convene the Parliament, but instead play hookey. Even the opposition is not clamouring for a Parliament session.

This does not augur well for our democracy.

As the blog enters the second year

Exactly one year back, I blogged for the first time. I was toying with the idea for at least six months prior to that and had kept January 1st, 2008 as the deadline to start my blog. I didnt have a foggiest of idea as to how to blog, where to host it and what it should contain.

It was on the afternoon of 9th October 2008 that I decided at the spur of the moment (as is always the case with major decisions in my life, which are never planned in advance but done spontaneously) to look out for free hosts to blog and to somehow post my first blog. Thus was born 'Raja's World'.

In my first post I had written,

"What can you expect in this blog? A wide range of topics ranging from current affairs to management to music to sports - critically analyzed.Raja's world will make you think and will create a network of people having differing viewpoints. I may not agree with you all the time nor you with me. But we will definitely respect our right to disagree."

One year and 269 Posts later, the time is ripe to take a rain check on my commitments to you.

A wide range of topics ranging from current affairs to management to music to sports - critically analyzed - I am sure I have kept my word on this. I have looked far and wide, have tackled current issues and have looked well back into the past to give you a wide range of topics, with my own cryptic analysis.

Raja's world will make you think - You have to tell me whether I made you think. I have a feeling I did, over the past few months.

and will create a network of people having differing viewpoints - This has not happened to the level I expected. The number of hits during the first year was around 9700 odd, which is not bad,considering my deliberately not linking my blog to the other blogs or blog networks. It has been my desire to keep it limited to a small circle and that is how it has remained. Maybe this needs a relook. I thought the comments section will make you interact with each other. It hasn't happened.

I may not agree with you all the time nor you with me. But we will definitely respect our right to disagree - It has been the policy of this blog not to edit or delete any comments, unless it is in extreme bad taste. And it has stayed that way. Fortunately, I never had to use my editorial prerogative to monitor comments, for all of you have been very mature while making logical comments.

It has been a long journey. 269 posts in 365 days!. There were days when I had struggled to find a topic to post. There were days when I just didnt want to post. There were days when I was very sick. But I have hung on. I have dug deep evertime I am stuck for ideas, for I had made a commitment to my readers, who though small in number opened my blog in anticipation. I did not want to disappoint them.

This blog would not have completed one year but for you - my readers. This blog gets 25-35 hits per day, which works as a fuel to keep me going. Let me thank you all for coming back day after day to read this blog. Please give your feedback and suggestions for improvement in the comments column.

This blog starts its second year coincidentally on 'Saraswathi Pooja day' or 'Vidyarambham day'.

May the Goddess Saraswathi give me the strength to carry this forward. I pray to her to keep my thinking clear, put words on my finger tips while I type and to ensure that I say only the right things all the time.

ONE YEAR COMPLETED

THIS BLOG COMPLETES ONE YEAR TODAY

Vanity and a name

I am highly right brained, which means I have a photographic memory for faces, but when it comes to remembering names, I am hopeless.

After my graduation in 1984, I was doing my MBA at the Calicut University Campus. Our department was adjacent to the Examination wing and the local Bank. Since Victoria College, where I graduated from, was under the Calicut University, I use to get a stream of ex classmates and batchmates, who come to the University, either to submit examination forms or to apply/collect Provisional/Degree Certificates. Since all of them knew I was doing my MBA, they used to walk in straight to the Department and solicit my help in getting this done faster in the respective departments.

One day, a lean young fair boy walked in to meet me. I knew the moment I saw him that he was my Classmate, but I plumb forgot his name. I welcomed him expansively and asked him what he was doing in the campus. He had come to apply for his Provisional Certificate and wanted me to go with him to the Certification wing. Happy to oblige, I went with him. All the while my mind was working overtime to remember his name (anyone who had this experience of having trouble remembering something will know the feeling of restlessness one has at these times). We went to the Certification wing, who gave us a Form to fill and asked us to proceed to the State Bank of Travancore counter to pay the necessary fee as a Challan.

On the way to the bank, we met our MBA classmates. Already 30 minutes had passed and I was talking non stop to my Degree classmate without once mentioning his name while he was calling me Raja frequently. I was using the common generic usage 'you', 'ningal', 'mashe'. When my MBA friends accosted me, I saw an opportunity to find out this guys name and introduced them to my Degree classmate. When it was time to introduce this guy to them, I casually turned by back, hoping that he will do so himself, and in the bargain I will know his name. But to my amusement, this guy just said, me and rajan were at Victoria together and went on to talk about other issues.

Now I was getting desperate. We went to the Bank, and to my horror, he thrust the Challan form in front of me and asked me to fill, claiming that it would be better if I were to do it as I have more experience in the matter. Now I was in a soup as the first was the name of the student.

Still proud to admit that I have forgotten his name, casually, I asked him " Can you spell your name for me, as I don't want to make a mistake?"

He was silent for a while and with a strange look, said softly " R.....A....M.....A......N"

I wished that the earth will break into two and swallow me, as, to ask the spelling of such a common name sounded so ridiculous. To say I was embarassed is an understatement.

Raman was very quiet after that. Maybe he thought I was a poor friend or that I was just being snobbish. After submitting the application, he vanished from my life forever.

I learned a valuable lesson that day and have since never hesitated to admit things I dont know or remember.

Delhi Syndrome

Ever heard of Stockholm Syndrome?

Stockholm Syndrome describes the behavior of kidnap victims who, over time, become sympathetic to their captors. The name derives from a 1973 hostage incident in Stockholm, Sweden. At the end of six days of captivity in a bank, several kidnap victims actually resisted rescue attempts, and afterwards refused to testify against their captors.

I am reminded of Stockholm Syndrome when I read or hear responses of Politicians and Pseudosecularists to Islamic terrorism in India. Everytime a terrorist attack takes place, there is a race to justify the actions of the terrorists by invoking Babri Masjid, Post Godhra riots, Police atrocities, human rights violations and Hindu right wing activism. The victim becomes the perpetrator and the people who indulges in terrorism is made out to be the victim. We have seen this in Kashmir (despite the state getting 10 times more central funding than Bihar and enjoying a much higher per capita allocation of resources than any one else in India, and despite the Kashmiris openly being anti national, instead of telling them to either fall in line or face the music, we continue to pamper them). And we are seeing it with our handling of the muslim community. People might argue that the whole community is not responsible, but only a select few. But that doesnt hold water. The community as a whole has been loudly silent on condemning the bombings. They are guilty by complicity. A parallel can be drawn with the Sikhs in 1980s. Frankly, they had more grievances than the Muslim Community. But the moderates in the community were sane enough to isloate the extremists and finally peace and prosperity returned to Punjab. Our muslim brethren can take a leaf out of the Sikhs.

But I am digressing from the main point. Our Government, Politicians and Pseudo secularists have time and again gone out of the way to pamper the Muslim community by offering more sops every time a bomb explodes. It is not anyones fault that Muslims have the lowest literacy rate amongst most of the communities and the muslim women are the least educated. The community leaders thrive on illetaracy. The ghettoisation of muslims is by choice in a way. It is not for want of opportunities. A district was carved out in Kerala in late 60s for muslims - Malappuram. After 4 decades, and despite only Muslim MPs and MLAs, who always had power, representing the district, the district still languishes in all economic parameters and survives only on the remittances from lowly paid unskilled workers in Gulf. And today, despite the prosperity brought in by Gulf Money, the district is the nerve centre of extremist activity and a threat to the security of the state and the nation.

Enough of Kid Gloves. Let us not become prisoners of Stockholm Syndrome (we may have to call it 'Delhi Syndrome'). Let the Government show there is an iron fist under the kid gloves. Any terrorist is a bully. And all Bullies are cowards. Or else they wont plant bombs in crowded places and walk away. They do it because they know they can get away with it and they are safe. Let us stop being a soft state. Let us get tough. Enough is enough.

My beautiful town will never be the same again

My native place Palghat is a sleepy town. It has rarely seen a communal riot other than in the TV, has a sizeable tamil muslim population and Palghat people by nature are extremely docile. This serene agrarian town lives in a pace of its own, slow and tedious. Hardly ambitious, the average Palghat guy is pleasant to be with and utterly selfless.

One never had to preach religious harmony to them, as it comes naturally to them.

But things have changed. A visit to my family deity, Manappulli Kavu, during Navarathri festival came as a shock to me. First, I had to park my car a little away as there was a police barricade. As if that was not bad enough, there was heavy security in and outside the small temple. Bags and mobiles were not allowed, nor were even small packets. The policemen were polite and almost embarassed to ask us to leave the bags in his custody, as if even asking us to do it was sacrilege (that is the kind of people we are). They explained patiently that there was a security threat to the temple from Muslim extremists. Once inside, I could see a visible drop in the number of devotees, as many prefered to stay back rather than go through the security hassle. For them, a visit to the temple situated amidst paddy fields, just off the road, was a routine uncomplicated affair. People just walked across and prayed in peace, at their own terms and pace.

And those devotees who were there, as also the vendors, were seething. They were blaming the Muslim community squarely for the situation. They were still polite about it but definitely angry that their sleepy and peaceful world has been shattered.

The long hands of terrorism has reached even my beautiful, sleepy town. Things will be never the same again. And there in lies the tragedy of India.

Of check posts and wastage

Random thought from India............

Travelling from Palghat to Coimbatore, the long serpentine line of Lorrys waiting at the Sales Tax Check Post in the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border sickened me. The check post is a nerve centre of corruption, hardly brings any revenue to the government and doesnt do a bit to discourage tax evaders. The only thing it does is to delay the transit time of important goods across the country, burns lots and lots of fuel, adds to the cost of logistics which is ultimately passed on to the customer and also creates avoidable traffic snarls. It takes 17 days for a truck to travel from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Imagine this truck carrying apples. What will be the loss due to Apples getting rotten? But who cares? The checkpost postings is a big mafia operation with a Sales Tax employee having to pay at least 20 lakhs rupees to get a 12 month posting in Walayar. This money goes up to the ministers. And the employee has to recover this 'investment' and make a tidy profit in one year. Any wonder this despicable system continues to exist. Why cant we have a uniform sales tax that allows people to transport materials from one part of the country to another? As things stand now, for transportation of goods, it is more like Kerala and Tami Nadu are two different countries, rather than being part of the same Country. What price National Integration! But who cares? The powers that be are more worried about nuclear deal than look at issues that can be solved in a jiffy at the micro level. Many such micro level removal of inefficiencies will result in overall prosperity of the country.