A rich rogue nation can flaunt the will of a disparate majority. New York Times columnist David Brooks uses these words to describe the Bush government’s aggressive views on Iran. I reread the article to figure out if the columnist were talking about Iran or the US. After my second read, I realized that it indeed was Iran.
The columnist talks of how the Iranian government does not know what it is doing because there are four factions at work there. The logic being how can the US understand what the Iranians are up to when the Iranians themselves do not know what they are up to.
Then the talk veers to how the Iranians have armed the Hezbollah in Lebanon against the wishes of the UN, how they repeatedly flouted international rules by going ahead its nuclear program, and how China, India, Russia are by cooperating with the Iranians are making it difficult for the Americans to make the Iranians see their point of view.
Ah! I said to myself, that is the crux of the problem. While I was reading the article I was mentally replacing Iran with the US and found that for a country that has repeatedly ignored international voices in the name of national security, they sure are behaving like whining bullies.
Let us look at the US’s history since 1945. That was the year they dropped Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan citing the need to do so to humble an expansionist Japan. By dropping those bombs, the US became the first country to explode Atomic bombs in the world and to this day remains the only country to have done so.
Then came the Cold War era when in the name of national security, the US indulged in an arms race with the erstwhile USSR, stockpiling nuclear bombs and arms, which America continues to own to this day. But it is again a case of one rule for the King and another for the commons.
When India under the Vajpayee government conducted a Nuclear test, the US went around the world screaming murder. I think the Americans forgot that India as a country has never attacked anyone in the world, while the Americans have a history of engaging in wars (e.g., Vietnam/Afghanistan/Iraq) on fictitious grounds of national security. I guess America has a right to worry about national security but others do not.
Since America decided that Communism was bad, they unilaterally decided that it was bad for the rest of the world too. Since America feels Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a menace, it wants the whole world to concur. Since America feels that Iran is a potential threat, it wants the whole world to think so too. Since America thinks that China and India are the reason for the spike in food prices, the rest of the world has to agree. In short, the world has to see through American eyes, or opt to be blind.
I am no supporter of Iran, nor do I believe that Communism is the best thing to have happened to the world. At the same time, I do believe that for America, America has been and continues to be its single-biggest enemy.
The foolhardiness of American politicians in propagating the either you are with us or you are against us theory has caused the American people and the world at large the most grief. And American politicians, even after 60-odd years of following this policy and achieving little in terms of peace and more in terms of war, continue to walk the same path.
That forces me to think that Americans should, before pointing fingers at the Iranians and everyone else in the world, look inward. If they do so, they will realize that their problems are a result of years of their government not knowing what it is doing, but continuing to do so with foolish conviction, rather than the rest of the world knowing not what they are doing.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Want To Save India? Divide & Rule
Is India as one country in its present form a good idea? The answer is NO. Before you jump to conclusions, I am not advocating disintegration of the country. What I am proposing is India as a country with the Central government responsible for defense and foreign policy. The states will function as independent units within a larger country with their own governments setting growth plans and targets minus the Central government’s interference.
I know that most people will dismiss me as crazy, and I do not blame them for that. For the average Indian, the very idea would sound preposterous. I understand them, for all our failings we still manage to put national interest first when the country is under any external threat. Unfortunately, most Indians do not feel the need to react as one to counter external entities threatening the country internally by proxy. By that, I mean leveraging discontent within to foment trouble from the outside.
Given the size of our country, the hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects that we speak, it is no mean task to protect ourselves as one large entity, especially given the prevalent corruption. And anyways we are constantly fighting against one another for land, water, air and many such issues: a) Maharashtra is fighting the entry of outsiders; b) Maharashtra and Karnataka are fighting over who should own Belgaum; c) Chennai and Karnataka are fighting over the Cauvery waters and now the Hogenekkal Dam; d) UP and Bihar think that they are a different country and a law unto themselves; e) the North-East does not consider itself a part of India—Central neglect is the culprit here; f) Jammu and Kashmir wants to be a separate country. I can go on and on about the widespread discontent across the country.
When I look at all that is happening across the country, I find it extremely difficult to be proud of being an Indian. The question is what is there to be so proud about other than a perverse sense of jingoistic nationalism?
If we want to save India as a country, I believe that the time has come to let states be independent but part of a larger federation. The logic is that when states are independent, and are not dependent on the Center for financial aid, then they will be completely accountable for their actions and, hence, stop indulging in counterproductive activities; states will be forced to cooperate with each other to survive as island nations. When there is no Center to blame, then automatically local politicians will start seeing their bluff being called more often.
Another benefit of this exercise would be the end of regional parties with a handful of votes having a say in National politics. The reason: only national parties will have the right to fight Lok Sabha elections. Then we will have a government with a clear-cut majority that will not dillydally on issues of National Security as seen in the UPA coalition’s handling of the Nuclear deal.
This formula will also solve most problems caused by unbridled migration to regions that are more prosperous from regions that have failed to keep pace. With visas/permits required to work in a state other than that of birth, it will then be in the hands of individual state governments to decide whom to let into the workforce and whom to keep out. What this will do is force governments of states low down the development chain to pull up their socks, get their house in order and give development the much-needed impetus. When that happens, jobs will be created across the country, automatically eliminating the need for people to venture out of their states in search of a livelihood. I will not be surprised if the very states that oppose migration today try wooing the qualified labor force in other states.
Anyways the Indian Premier League (IPL) has shown us how parochial in mentality we Indians can be. If you ask me, the IPL has come at the right time, showing us the mirror. Even after seeing ourselves in this mirror, if we continue to live in a Fools Paradise, then generations that follow us will end up paying a heavy price—the price of disintegration. Our neighbors are working towards and waiting for the country to disintegrate. It is now for us to decide whether we want to stay ahead of the game, or grant them their wish.
I know that most people will dismiss me as crazy, and I do not blame them for that. For the average Indian, the very idea would sound preposterous. I understand them, for all our failings we still manage to put national interest first when the country is under any external threat. Unfortunately, most Indians do not feel the need to react as one to counter external entities threatening the country internally by proxy. By that, I mean leveraging discontent within to foment trouble from the outside.
Given the size of our country, the hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects that we speak, it is no mean task to protect ourselves as one large entity, especially given the prevalent corruption. And anyways we are constantly fighting against one another for land, water, air and many such issues: a) Maharashtra is fighting the entry of outsiders; b) Maharashtra and Karnataka are fighting over who should own Belgaum; c) Chennai and Karnataka are fighting over the Cauvery waters and now the Hogenekkal Dam; d) UP and Bihar think that they are a different country and a law unto themselves; e) the North-East does not consider itself a part of India—Central neglect is the culprit here; f) Jammu and Kashmir wants to be a separate country. I can go on and on about the widespread discontent across the country.
When I look at all that is happening across the country, I find it extremely difficult to be proud of being an Indian. The question is what is there to be so proud about other than a perverse sense of jingoistic nationalism?
If we want to save India as a country, I believe that the time has come to let states be independent but part of a larger federation. The logic is that when states are independent, and are not dependent on the Center for financial aid, then they will be completely accountable for their actions and, hence, stop indulging in counterproductive activities; states will be forced to cooperate with each other to survive as island nations. When there is no Center to blame, then automatically local politicians will start seeing their bluff being called more often.
Another benefit of this exercise would be the end of regional parties with a handful of votes having a say in National politics. The reason: only national parties will have the right to fight Lok Sabha elections. Then we will have a government with a clear-cut majority that will not dillydally on issues of National Security as seen in the UPA coalition’s handling of the Nuclear deal.
This formula will also solve most problems caused by unbridled migration to regions that are more prosperous from regions that have failed to keep pace. With visas/permits required to work in a state other than that of birth, it will then be in the hands of individual state governments to decide whom to let into the workforce and whom to keep out. What this will do is force governments of states low down the development chain to pull up their socks, get their house in order and give development the much-needed impetus. When that happens, jobs will be created across the country, automatically eliminating the need for people to venture out of their states in search of a livelihood. I will not be surprised if the very states that oppose migration today try wooing the qualified labor force in other states.
Anyways the Indian Premier League (IPL) has shown us how parochial in mentality we Indians can be. If you ask me, the IPL has come at the right time, showing us the mirror. Even after seeing ourselves in this mirror, if we continue to live in a Fools Paradise, then generations that follow us will end up paying a heavy price—the price of disintegration. Our neighbors are working towards and waiting for the country to disintegrate. It is now for us to decide whether we want to stay ahead of the game, or grant them their wish.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Coalition—Frankenstein Personified
The biggest and ugliest of monsters unleashed by politicians and political parties in India is the politics of coalition. Coalition, according to me, is a mechanism using which politicians subvert peoples mandate to usurp power. And all in the name of saving state and country from disintegration.
Coalition politics is the single-most corrupt political practice prevailing in the world today, more so in India. I guess only Italians can claim to be more experienced in this art of governance of convenience; now we know why the Congress is leading the way. I know that politicians will immediately cite the Constitution and the Law of the land, stating that such politics is legally permissible.
It is legal is something that all of us know and we as a nation are suffering because of this legality is also something that all of us know. Sadly, I do not know if any of us citizens of this democratic country can do anything to put this coalition genie back into the bottle other than voting any one party to power.
That again is like asking for a miracle in a country where politicians and religious leaders have managed to fracture the thought processes of people to a level of great minuteness that in the 21st century when science and technology have made giant advances, we are busy dividing the nation on the basis of caste, religion, and geography.
Thanks to coalition politics, we now have hundreds of thousands of parties in the country who manage to secure a few seats each and then enter the political ring for their pound of flesh. So what we now have are governments in power that are rendered impotent by selfish individuals following different ideologies driven purely by personal greed.
Cases in point are the UPA government at the center and its predecessor the NDA. If we are to look at the working of the UPA government over the past four years, it is evident that nine of the 10 decisions taken have been motivated by the pressures of coalition and/or appeasing vote banks or whatever is left of them post all the fragmentation. That dear friends, is a sad reflection of what our political class has come to be over our 60-plus years of independence.
I know that people will cite the list of achievements since independence. To them I say, that we have managed to achieve so much in spite of political impotency is more of a tribute to the resilience and enterprise of our people than the result of government planning and political will.
Any country where a hand full of MPs elected from just two of our 28 states and 7 union territories manage to derail the plans of a government by holding it to ransom, claiming that they represent the thought process of the entire nation, is testimony of the failure of coalition politics.
I can understand people coming together to do good for the country, to take the country forward. But when political parties start coming together with the sole aim of keeping their rivals in the Opposition, then I believe that the country’s political process has failed and politicians have wronged the very voters who entrusted them with the task of nation building.
Finally, when these same political parties lose elections, they start saying things like our opponents misled the voters, which is akin to rubbing salt on the raw wounds of the electorate. The reason: politicians are directly calling voters i.e., you and me Idiots. Subverting the mandate and then calling the very people who gave that mandate Idiots can only happen in a great democracy like India.
In times like these, I am left wondering if we still are a Democracy or have we mutated into Coalicracy, an ugly breeding of Democracy and Coalition politics. I think the time has come for voters to realize the futility of giving fractured mandates. If we cannot think on those lines, then at least we need to find a way of preventing politicians from entering marriages of convenience where getting a divorce does not even require the mandatory period of separation.
Coalition politics is the single-most corrupt political practice prevailing in the world today, more so in India. I guess only Italians can claim to be more experienced in this art of governance of convenience; now we know why the Congress is leading the way. I know that politicians will immediately cite the Constitution and the Law of the land, stating that such politics is legally permissible.
It is legal is something that all of us know and we as a nation are suffering because of this legality is also something that all of us know. Sadly, I do not know if any of us citizens of this democratic country can do anything to put this coalition genie back into the bottle other than voting any one party to power.
That again is like asking for a miracle in a country where politicians and religious leaders have managed to fracture the thought processes of people to a level of great minuteness that in the 21st century when science and technology have made giant advances, we are busy dividing the nation on the basis of caste, religion, and geography.
Thanks to coalition politics, we now have hundreds of thousands of parties in the country who manage to secure a few seats each and then enter the political ring for their pound of flesh. So what we now have are governments in power that are rendered impotent by selfish individuals following different ideologies driven purely by personal greed.
Cases in point are the UPA government at the center and its predecessor the NDA. If we are to look at the working of the UPA government over the past four years, it is evident that nine of the 10 decisions taken have been motivated by the pressures of coalition and/or appeasing vote banks or whatever is left of them post all the fragmentation. That dear friends, is a sad reflection of what our political class has come to be over our 60-plus years of independence.
I know that people will cite the list of achievements since independence. To them I say, that we have managed to achieve so much in spite of political impotency is more of a tribute to the resilience and enterprise of our people than the result of government planning and political will.
Any country where a hand full of MPs elected from just two of our 28 states and 7 union territories manage to derail the plans of a government by holding it to ransom, claiming that they represent the thought process of the entire nation, is testimony of the failure of coalition politics.
I can understand people coming together to do good for the country, to take the country forward. But when political parties start coming together with the sole aim of keeping their rivals in the Opposition, then I believe that the country’s political process has failed and politicians have wronged the very voters who entrusted them with the task of nation building.
Finally, when these same political parties lose elections, they start saying things like our opponents misled the voters, which is akin to rubbing salt on the raw wounds of the electorate. The reason: politicians are directly calling voters i.e., you and me Idiots. Subverting the mandate and then calling the very people who gave that mandate Idiots can only happen in a great democracy like India.
In times like these, I am left wondering if we still are a Democracy or have we mutated into Coalicracy, an ugly breeding of Democracy and Coalition politics. I think the time has come for voters to realize the futility of giving fractured mandates. If we cannot think on those lines, then at least we need to find a way of preventing politicians from entering marriages of convenience where getting a divorce does not even require the mandatory period of separation.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Forget Living, We Love Existing
From the time we are born we sleepwalk though life. And when I say we, it’s me included. Until the time we learn to speak and walk, we are curious of things that adults attach no importance. Once, we learn to speak and walk, we become no better than adults. That my dear friends is where as a kid, you and I experience corruption for the first time; the corruption of thought.
In an average lifespan of 60 years, we may end up doing a billion things. We may have a trillion thoughts. And most thinkers, sages blame our miseries on these very thoughts. But not one of us ever pauses to understand why they say so.
My wife the other day was describing conversations that she had with or heard fellow passengers have in Mumbai local trains. At the end, I realized that all they did was crib about people, complain of what they want but couldn’t have, and moan of what life should have been and what life has become. After listening to her, I had just one question—isn’t there anything in life that people appreciate and I am not talking about ownership. She looked at me, thought for a minute, and agreed that most conversations were vents of dissatisfaction than appreciation of life.
That is what I meant by corruption of thought. These thoughts are not there with us when we are born, but we pick them along the way hearing people communicate, seeing people behave. We take immense pleasure in running others down either in their presence or behind their backs. The person who is being targeted feels hurt, but will do the same thing to someone else he doesn’t like.
In all the cribbing and complaining, what we do not realize is the small joys of life that we end up not appreciating until we die. How many of us can name a bird other than a crow that flies past? How many of us know the many species of ants that exist? How many of us bother to find out the names of the various species that roam the earth? How many of us stand to admire a rainbow? How many of us take pleasure in a tree that blooms and admire the falling leaves in winter? How many of us have the time to appreciate the mountains that surround us and protest their breaking in the name of development? And how many of us pause to thank God for what we have, rather than visit temples to ask for what we don’t?
Then to say that life is not worth living means that we haven’t understood the true essence of life; that of learning to appreciate and enjoy nature, of being happy with what we have, and striving to live harmoniously with one another. Until then, we always will just exist, let living be damned.
In an average lifespan of 60 years, we may end up doing a billion things. We may have a trillion thoughts. And most thinkers, sages blame our miseries on these very thoughts. But not one of us ever pauses to understand why they say so.
My wife the other day was describing conversations that she had with or heard fellow passengers have in Mumbai local trains. At the end, I realized that all they did was crib about people, complain of what they want but couldn’t have, and moan of what life should have been and what life has become. After listening to her, I had just one question—isn’t there anything in life that people appreciate and I am not talking about ownership. She looked at me, thought for a minute, and agreed that most conversations were vents of dissatisfaction than appreciation of life.
That is what I meant by corruption of thought. These thoughts are not there with us when we are born, but we pick them along the way hearing people communicate, seeing people behave. We take immense pleasure in running others down either in their presence or behind their backs. The person who is being targeted feels hurt, but will do the same thing to someone else he doesn’t like.
In all the cribbing and complaining, what we do not realize is the small joys of life that we end up not appreciating until we die. How many of us can name a bird other than a crow that flies past? How many of us know the many species of ants that exist? How many of us bother to find out the names of the various species that roam the earth? How many of us stand to admire a rainbow? How many of us take pleasure in a tree that blooms and admire the falling leaves in winter? How many of us have the time to appreciate the mountains that surround us and protest their breaking in the name of development? And how many of us pause to thank God for what we have, rather than visit temples to ask for what we don’t?
Then to say that life is not worth living means that we haven’t understood the true essence of life; that of learning to appreciate and enjoy nature, of being happy with what we have, and striving to live harmoniously with one another. Until then, we always will just exist, let living be damned.
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