Blistering Heat

We have had a blistering summer in Muscat. The high humidity adds to the discomfort.

Even the pigeons are affected, as the picture taken by me today shows. The black pigeon patiently waits his turn, while his friend has a sip from a swimming pool

Wanted - Non performers, with ability to swindle to head important posts with the Government of India

I know I have been quiet on this blog for a while.

When the Government lurches from one crisis to another or from one colossal stupidity to another then words fail, because of the futility of it all.

We have a tragic situation today. But for the fact that it takes India to abysmal depths, not seen even during the worst days of 1990's, one can even laugh at the absurdity of what is unfolding in front of us.

We have a Planning Commission, that has planned for 60 years and ensured that 60% of India's population still defecates in the open (forget about the health hazards, just imagine the indignity of having to defecate in the open - but who cares), spends RS 35 lakhs for 2 toilets in its headquarters. Even taking in the argument that these toilets shall have 20 seats in total, it still works out to a whopping Rs 1.75 lakhs per seat!!!. And this at a time, when the nation has been asked to tighten its belt. Instead of pulling the Dy Chairman up, our Cabinet found time to joke about it, with a Cabinet Minister requesting Montek to allow him to use the toilet, and Montek, with a smirk, telling him that he has to wait, as there is a big queue!!. And everyone having a good laugh over it.

"What did the Prime Minister say when the news about Planning Commission Toilet Scandal reached him?"

"Oh! Shit"

That is the same response of Indians these days when they hear their Ministers open their mouth.

There is a saying that 'No news is good news'. These days Indians wake up with a prayer that no Minister opens his mouth about a policy issue, for it is sure to hit the common man below the belt - whether it is Petrol prices, diesel prices, airline, railways, inflation, rupee devaluation etc etc......

We have a PM who has been a spectacular failure on all fronts.............And everyone wants him to be shifted to the Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

We have a FM who has taken the economy to depths..............He wants to become the President.

We have a Defence Minister who ensured our Army is unprepared and under whose watch a honest Army Chief was harassed to no end. The less said about the loot in defence procurement, the better.............and the powers that be in Congress wants him to be the President.

We have a Speaker, who travelled to 42 countries since 2009..........why a Lok Sabha Speaker should travel to 42 countries is beyond me............and she wont mind being the President.

We have a undercooked, juveline, low IQ, escapist idiot who lead Congress to spectacular defeats in Bihar, UP and all the elections it fought under him..............and Congress wants him to be the PM

We have a Home Minister, who blatantly rigged the polls last time around, and used his legal skills to ensure the case didnt come up for trial for the past 3 years (and thus seeing to it that it wont affect his tenure as HM). An added qualification is that he facilitated lakhs and lakhs of crores of loot through 2G Scam, Maxis Deal and what not.....................and he just wont resign and go owning moral authority.

We have a Railway Minister who is not even bothered to attend Cabinet Meetings............and our nincompoop of a PM cant even make him attend one.............and Rail accidents after rail accidents happen.

We have a Planning Commission Dy Chairman who feels it is alright for a family to earn Rs 28-32 per day and he is no longer poor............. and our PM wants him to be the FM

We have Rangarajan, Chairman of PMs Economic Advisory Council, who shamelessly tells the media, at the height of protests about Petrol hike, that Government should increase Diesel and LPG prices too...........and the PM is pushing for him to be the next FM, in case he cant get Montek through.....

And above all, there is the Super PM, who is not accountable to anyone, but who enjoys so much clout that even the Monarch despots in some of the oil rich countries pale in comparison to the powers she has..........and she uses the powers, not for common good, but to ensure she moves up from being the 4th richest politician to the first..............and she doesnt even earn a salary other than the MP salary!!!

And the person who is supposed to be the guardian of our constitution........the President...........is a disgrace..................she is busy travelling to all the exotic places in the world like Mauritius, Seychelles............at taxpayers expense, without any remorse, on the guise that these trips will improve bilateral relationship and bring aid to our country....................it is fine as long as it doesnt bring AIDS to the country!!

The Great Indian Tragedy

Two decades of Economic Reforms has helped discount at least one theory. It was always claimed by the proponents of Economic Reforms (they do even now!!) that liberalization and globalization would result in higher GDP Growth and the benefits would 'trickle down' to the common man. While the first part has come true, the second part has proved to be a mirage chased by the common man. His life has become more miserable as the higher GDP growth has brought with it higher inflation, while his plight has remained the same. Added to this, our country's fate has become so interwined with those of the decaying western economies, that a default by Greece leads to stock market crash and rupee devaluation in India. We hardly have any trade with Greece, and there is no reason why our economy should react to Greece defaulting, for being financially indisciplined.

The problem is that we have failed spectacularly to develop any core competency during the two decades of reforms, unlike China, which has focussed on low cost manufacturing ability, and has forced the high wage western companies to shift the manufacturing base to China. We can point fingers at the intolerent communist regime, but one needs to admit that China has indeed leveraged its strength.

India had the opportunity to be the IT focal point of the world and also a great financial hub. But we were content to be mediocre. Despite the earnings of the IT sector, one has to admit that our IT sector hardly created anything worthwhile, and they were none better than Chinese, using Blue Collar Engineers to produce programs based on low grade specs. No great IT discoveries were made in India. And the less said about developing ourselves as a Financial/Services hub the better.

The saddest part is that, despite evidence to the contrary, and with the economy in doldrums, we are still talking only about opening up the insurance, retail etc rather than on creating long term assets. In short, we are replaying the tape of the 1990s, that is a proven failure.

There is no informed debate about how to build the nation, either by the UPA or by the NDA, or by any of the Regional parties. The politics of corruption, mud slinging and one upmanship has ensured that we have missed the bus to take global leadership once again.

What a tragedy!!!