How much longer should Indians suffer such fools?

This must take the cake for the most absurd statement made ever (my comments in brackets)

Defending the government's decision to raise prices of petroleum products, the Plan panel said on Wednesday it would suck money from the system and ease inflationary pressure in the long run.

"As we are raising the prices, that will pull money away from the system. That would have a softening impact (on inflation)," Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters" (Extending the same logic, the government can increase the price of every product, resulting in all the money, savings of the common man sucked out(!!!). Then no one will be buying anything, and Montek wont have to worry about inflation at all!!!!!)

Asked his views about when the inflation numbers are likely to moderate, he refused to make any guess.

"The Finance Ministry has said that if the monsoon is normal and agricultural production is good, then price pressure will decrease. But I do not want to give a forecast," the Plan panel chief said. (Well at least that is a relief. The idiot and his bosses Pranab Mukherjee and Manmohan Singh has been claiming in the last few years that inflation would come down post Kharif, which has not happened. At least tha AH is now admitting that he doesnt have a clue, which he doesnt anyway).

GOD! Why must Indians suffer such FOOLS? How much longer?

A walk in the Street recommended for our good Doctor PM

There used to be a practice of erstwhile Kings (the great ones at least like Bhoja Raja, Vikramaditya, Krishna Devaraya, Shivaji) going out incognito and mingling with the common man to get a feedback on their rule and more important to get a real feel of how life is out there in the streets.

It is sad that our current rulers live in their ivory towers protectd by Black Cat commandos. If only Manmohan Singh would swap his dress for that of a common man and go out to the streets of Delhi or to the hinterland, he will know how his economic policies have screwed up the life of the common man.

On the back of another interest hike by the RBI (the interest, which has put a heavy burden on the home loan EMIs for the middle class, we have the Rs 3 hike on Diesel prices (this is on the base price, add the excise duty and the state taxes, the real hike will be close to Rs 5) and the Rs 50 price hike on LPG cylinders. Both these are highly inflationary.

It is true that we have to reduce our subsidy burden. But contrary to what many think, we should not be cutting down on the subsidy that goes directly to the common man, but cut the subsidy given to the rich industries. The amount of subsidy given to industries by way of tax exemption and soft loans is bind boggling. And anyway the industries are the biggest loan defaulters and tax evaders. We have to target them and not the common man.

In fact the common man will be too happy to pay higher taxes provided the rich industrialists are also made to pay, and if the Government can ensure that the taxes collected are used in a judicious,transparent manner.

MMS - go out and take a walk in the street, as you used to do, before you became someone, by default.

Change or be Changed

Prior to 1990's the Indian Private Sector was unwieldy and overstaffed. They were one step ahead of the non performing Public Sector, but just. I still remember everyone's apprehensions when the Economy was opened up by Narasimha Rao (I refuse to give credit to Manmohan Singh. The story goes that P V Narasimha Rao asked his then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh to prepare a reformist budget immediately on assuming charge as PM. MMS presented a draft budget, which was 'status quo' at best. A furious PVN read the riot act, and told MMS what the Budget should contain specifically. But Congress dont want to give credit to PVN, or for that matter any PM who is not from the dynasty. Hence, they have conveniently ignored his contributions. Even MMS will be trashed in due course). We all thought then that foreign owned MNC's will storm the Indian Industrial Scenario and gobble up our existing private sector. But Indian businessmen were smarter. During 1990's, they leveraged the IT, trimmed their fat, and were lean, mean and fit when the MNC's finally landed ashore. The rest is history. They beat back the MNC challenge, while at the same time, Indian businessment transformed themselves into Indian MNC's and attacked the Overseas giants in their own market, and beating them in their own game. Today, Indian business is very competitive, albeit a little unethical.

But our politicians have not changed with time. They still have a mindset that they are the brown sahebs and they have the god damned right to do anything they want, once they get elected. Every action of theirs is not transparent, and their behaviour is rent seeking. They have forgotten that they are the servants of the people. The people were patient, but have run out of it now.

While, the people may not have turned out in great numbers for the protests by Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev, there is still an undercurrent of hostility against the politicians. If they see the writing on the wall and be proactive, it is good for them. Or else, they will be forced into change they dont like.

Why the Congress flip flop on inclusion of PM in the Lokpal Bill?

Congress has been flip-flopping on including the Prime Minister under the to be proposed Lokpal Bill, while the Civil Society is adamant that he should be included.

In fact Congress had included PM in the Lokpal Bill in their watered down version that would have gone to the Parliament, before Anna Hazare went on fast.

Contrary to what many people think, the change in mind on Congress's part has nothing to do with protecting Manmohan Singh from the 2G Scam or other Scams.

The Congress objection is based on the assumption that Rahul Gandhi shall become the PM one day, and they want to protect him at all costs. Rumours are afoot that the dynasty has much to worry about regarding Black Money stashed abroad!

M F Husain was an absconder from Justice - It is as simple as that

It is strange how Media twists the facts to suit its ideological (if any!) leanings.

Have a look at the reporting of M F Husain's death.

Keeping aside the merits of the case that he hurt the hindu sentiments by painting hindu gods nude (and never apologising for it when people expressed their resentment), the fact remains that M F Husain fled the country to avoid a non bailable arrest warrant. Which means that he was an absconder from justice!!.

Almost all the pseudo secular media are using the word 'living in exite', 'was keen to come back' , 'injustice meted out to him' ................bla bla bla

The truth is that M F Husain did not respect the law of the land. If he had conviction in his argument of freedom of expression, he should have faced the courts and got a favourable verdict. He also had the fortune of having a very favourable Government at the Centre that would have ensured his safety. But he chose to cock a snook at the law and constitution of our country. The Government, instead of rescinding his passport, and asking for his repatriation, chose to keep mum and finally he accepted a Qatari citizenship. How Qatar can give citizenship to an absonder from justice is a  moot point. And unlike many great artistes, M F Husain did not die in penury. He was immensely rich and led a comfortable life till the end.

I have always held that Indian laws have to be enforced strictly for us to be a world power. If Husain had been brought back and asked to face the court (irrespective of the judgement), that would have made sense. 

It is immaterial if he was a great painter or not (the jury is out on that, but let us say that he was a talented, successful painter).

What we have is a case where a guy accused of a crime, fleeing the country and claiming that he is being victimised, and everyone else supporting his claim.

This is ludicrous.

Nishkama Karma

I was talking to someone on 'Nishkama Karma' yesterday and he was very skeptical about the whole concept. He, who belongs to the new generation, just could not understand how one can work without anticipating rewards. Much explanation from my side convinced him a bit but not wholly. I had to assure him that one has to work without expecting any returns, and the returns will come in due course.

I have been doing 'Nishkama Karma' in Muscat for nearly 8 months, and today was rewarded big through the award of a major contract when I least expected it , which reinforces my faith in the concept.

So all of you out there "Do your duty diligently and with passion. Do not work with an aim to be rewarded immediately. Rewards will follow, though you may have to wait for it.'

The great thinkers who gave us these wonderful concepts were indeed wise.

Branding losing its relevance?

Throughout the second half of the last century, Branding was used as the product differentiator. Most of the products were manufactured in house, with very limited outsourcing. This ensured that the Firms could tweak the product features to match the Brand perception. Thus Merc was known for its style and engineering perfection, Nikon for its unmatched quality of the Camera, and Sony for its vivid picture quality.

But with increase in competition leading to thinner margins, Organizations took the easier route of outsourcing to keep the price tag competitive. This resulted in many leading brands becoming marketing organizations rather than manufacturing organizations. The products were manufactured in remote China or Vietnam or Korea to leverage the cost advantage. The joke is that a IBM Laptop is made 100% in China and the only thing American about IBM is its brand name on the Laptop. Well! even that embedded logo is made in China!! This is true of all the other Computer manufacturers and products manufactured by organizations in other sectors.

The brands started losing control over their product features and process advantage, leading to them being forced to market the product based on Product features than on Brand equity, built over a period of time. Thus we have a scenario where consumers buy a laptop based on the product features like RAM, HDD capacity, Processor, Screen Resolution etc than on whether it is manufactured by HP, IBM, Compaq or Dell. Their refrain was "Well, it doesnt make any difference what the brand is, as all of them are manufactured by the Chinese".

The same is true of the Automobile industry. Toyota lost its competitive advantage of producing cars of quality, when they failed to control the quality at their outsourcing units forcing them to recall millions of vehicles and plunging the company into deep trouble. Many of the leading car manufacturers have a history of vehicle recall to replace defective parts, all of them outsourced.

The move to outsource non critical component manufacturing has started to bite the leading brands, as consumers are quite unwilling to pay a premium for a differentiation that actually do not exist.

So we are back to the pre branding era, where all products were commodities.

Midnight Madness

Why did Congress and UPA swooped down on Baba Ramdev in the middle of the night but allowed Anna Hazare to take the fast to its logical end? Surely, Baba Ramdev was not resorting to violence?

This is because the cause which Baba Ramdev was fasting for hit the Congress where it hurts most - Sonia and Rahul - who and their cronies are at the top of the list of black money hoarders having accounts in Swiss Banks. The Government will do anything to protect their interests.

Baba Ramdev has a huge following, that is essentially lower middle class in nature and hindu. This is not the western biased, candle light protesting so called pseudo secular 'intelligentia' whos is dumb. This is the real India, that is burdened with high inflation and struggling to make both ends meet. This mad action by the Government is bound to have serious repurcussions. Frankly, would the Government have dared to do something similar if it were a fast organized by a Christian Priest or an Imam? Look at the weak kneed response of the Government to the sedition speeches made in Delhi publicaly by the Kashmir separatists?

The Government is taking the Hindus for granted. We are seeing the first signs of Hindu consolidation in Kerala, and it has already happened in Gujarat. Maybe, just maybe, yesterdays high handedness of the Govenment might result in the law of unintended consequences coming into play and lead to a change in the mindset of the people.

Let us wait and watch how the scenario unfolds. 

Congress Fascism?

"If we are scared of Baba Ramdev, he would have been in jail by now" - Digvijya Singh was quoted as making such a statement by the leading TV channels.

Does this mean that Congress will put everyone whom they see as a threat in Jail irrespective of whether there is a case against them or not?

If this is not Fascism, then what is?