The Business of Eradicating Poverty

Politicians are making generosity with public money a habit. Finance ministers keep waiving off loans, PSUs keep waiving off debt, babus keep getting pay hikes for doing nothing, and now even a political non-entity called Rahul Gandhi appears to be unhappy with P Chidambaram’s Rs600 billion largesse. Gandhi wants the waiver spread to be bigger.

Yes why not, it ain’t going from his pocket, is it? And not for a second am I saying that farmers shouldn’t be helped. Any citizen in distress should receive comfort from the government. My question: is waiver of loans the correct way to go about it? My answer: No.

By indulging in such political gimmicks all we are doing is relegating the farmer from the farmer class to the beggar class. And what makes the government think that a one-time waiver is going to prevent the farmer from assuming additional debt? Or does this and successive governments plan a similar or larger waiver every 10 years?

As for Rahul Gandhi’s demand, I have one question for the not so young leader. If you loan out a million dollars of your personal money to someone, would you so willingly waive of that amount on humanitarian grounds? Your political answer may be yes, but all of us know that you won’t do so and nor would any other politician.

That brings me to the question of are governments right in using public money for political gains? Again the answer is NO. And the waiver in this budget is just that, vote bank politics.

The Congress which always claims to be the messiah of the poor has been in power for almost 50 of the 60 years since independence. And they have shown similar largesse many a times in these 50 years in power. Then why is it that the number of poor has increased? If largesse works then shouldn’t the number of poor have declined significantly?

Indira Gandhi raised the slogan Garibi hatao (eradicate poverty) about 35 years ago. Sadly in many cases we have seen the party and its members eradicating the poor for personal gains (read real estate) and most of the times resorting to tokenism.

So when Rahul Gandhi talks of increasing the dole, it makes my blood boil. Why should I, a tax payer, fund these hair-brained, politically motivated flights of fancies of politicians, be it Rahul Gandhi or LK Advani? Tax payers do not work 12 to 14 hours a day so that political parties can keep milking the country dry for narrow personal and political gains.

It would make greater sense for politicians to use this money to build irrigation systems for farmers, teach them alternative professions that can help generate a livelihood in times when farming is not an option. Use this money for building roads, bridges, dams, airports, rail networks, the list is endless.

People can argue that these things are being done. I agree. But is enough being done? The answer again is NO.

I guess it’s time for us the commons to wake up and start asking the government to be accountable for the money that they spend, cut wasteful expenditure, stop resorting to political gimmicks, and build a nation that can compete with the best in the world.

It’s high time we stop just wearing our patriotism on our sleeves and start showing it through our actions. What say friends, are we game or are we content with things the way they are and wait for a white knight to come and save us, rather than assuming the responsibility of nation-building?

Of Crime & Criminals

If we know something is wrong and if we still do it, isn’t that equal to committing a crime? Ten of ten the answer will be yes. But when we look around us as we go about with our daily lives, the reality becomes starker that all of us are law breakers. We commit crimes and move on as if everything’s normal. That’s when I realized why we keep spouting pearls of wisdom, such as a law is meant to be broken.

For us, talking about crime is just a matter of hiding guilt and conveniently convincing ourselves that what we are doing isn’t wrong because everyone else is doing the same. The logic: two negatives equal a positive. Fight fire with fire; steel cuts steel, so I guess the way to fight crime is by committing a counter crime.

And I am not even talking about murder, rape, theft and the likes. I am talking about small things that are considered wrong but where the line between wrong and crime is invisible or at best blurred beyond recognition.

Smoking most likely kills; secondhand smoke kills. But we continue to puff away and nonchalantly blow smoke in the faces of unsuspecting bystanders. The government plans of ways to curb smoking but will not stop the manufacture and sale of tobacco products for anything that generates revenue is fine. Then why call contract killers criminals? Charge a tax and make killing legal.

Prostitution is a crime; prostitutes are criminals. But we have millions of women in the trade 99% of whom have been forced into it against their wishes. And we justify the continuance of this trade with absurd logic such as they provide an outlet to desperate souls who if they do not have this outlet could go around raping our women. To save our women, letting other women suffer is fine. I guess people who think so have the larger good of mankind in mind and are Saints. And again people who visit these sex workers are no criminals either. There we turn capitalist; if a service is available for a price, then we must make maximum use. Yeah, right!

We are in desperate need of a Gas cylinder. That justifies bribing the delivery guy to ensure out of turn delivery. That’s called enterprise, I guess. And what’s so criminal about getting what one wants? By hook or by crook, what’s so crooked about it?

While driving, my goal is to reach my destination in the quickest possible time. So what’s wrong in cutting lanes, jumping red lights, and maybe on a really good day knocking down a pedestrian, cyclist, or a motor cyclist or all three? The government should have made a special lane for me. Since it hasn’t, it’s the government’s fault that I have to resort to these tactics to reach my destination as fast as I can. So I guess the government is the criminal here. And in our political masters’ understanding of democracy, the government can never commit a crime. Hence, none of us are criminals.

In short, what I am getting at is we do so many things in a day that are ethically incorrect and technically qualify as a crime that somewhere we have lost our sensitivity to doing things right even if it is going to cost us a bit. It is high time that we shed this cloak of convenience and start doing the small things right and we will see that the larger things will automatically start taking care of themselves. The logic: if we stop committing smaller acts of indiscretion then we will not think of indulging in extravagant ones. The question is, are we as a society game to give up our little luxuries for a bigger luxury—a zero crime world.

Saving Tibet Is All About Saving India

1. The issue of Tibet’s independence has been in the collective global mind-space for over six decades. The world in-principle has acknowledged China’s indiscretion and supported the right of Tibetans to be an independent people. But sadly, ride with the horses and hunt with the wolves is all the rest of the world has done. And ironically, the rest of the world feels it has done its bit for the Tibetan cause.
   
   I for one am not getting into specifics of history though it’s acknowledged fact that Tibet until the early part of the twentieth century was an independent kingdom, hidden from the eyes of the word, a la Shangri-La. So how and when did Tibet become a part of China is something even the Chinese capita-commie rulers will find hard to explain and prove.
   
   Yet, the fact that the Chinese could annex Tibet and have continued to rule this land for over decades now is a testament of how the world views China and how little value the world has for Tibetan life and values.
   
   But friends, in Tibet, the rest of the world has a lesson to learn. China is hosting the 2008 Beijing Olympics and in the name of this mega event the Dragon is busy expanding road and rail networks to Tibet and also along the territories bordering the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. So what, you will ask, for what China does within its boundaries is its concern.
   
   My question is considering what happened to Tibet would it be wise for India to wait for China to do a Tibet with Arunachal Pradesh? Skeptics can laugh at my reasoning, but make no mistake, when China does make its move, we will be forced to redefine our map to reflect an India minus Arunachal Pradesh. You can call this being alarmist, but I believe that being alarmist is better than losing India.
   
   India has supported Tibetans by letting them live in Dharamsala and by allowing them to form a Government in Exile. But what use is that help when the people have no hope of deliverance?
   
   The world has turned a blind eye to Tibet. Believe me, it will do the same if China were to attack and annex Arunachal Pradesh. And if that were to happen, our dear politicians will end up doing precious little other than playing the blame game. And Arunachal would be gone, and it’s people prisoners of an alien regime.
   
   And if that were to happen, then what would stop Pakistan from annexing Jammu & Kashmir with Chinese help. China is Pakistan’s closest ally after the United States in the global political arena. Then we will have Pakistan and Bangladesh with the help of China attacking and annexing West Bengal, Darjeeling and the North-Eastern states.
   
   So do we get the picture here? Do we see the map of an India minus all these territories? There is no point in waiting for the US and its allies, which means practically the whole of the Western world, to wake up to the designs of the Chinese and support the Tibetan cause. They will do no such thing because their economic welfare lies in the hands of the Chinese, what with even miniatures of the Statue of Liberty sold on Liberty Island being made in China. The symbol of democracy, equality, freedom, and liberty being made in a country that knows not the meaning of any of these words, let alone practice them.
   
   So dear friends, it is in the best interest of India that we Indians support the Tibetan cause, not with any noble intention of helping Tibet, but with the selfish motive of safeguarding our borders from an expansionist China and its ally Pakistan. Are we going to realize this reality or are we going to settle for selling Made in China miniatures of the Taj Mahal? That is for you my fellow countrymen to decide.

Life Simplified

I was walking on the beach, the sand tickling my feet, oblivious to the world around me, in a happy world of my own. The world was a vast expanse of nothingness, walking along the sea, water colliding with my feet and then retreating.

The sky was bereft of clouds. The land was vacant as far as the eye could gaze. Time immaterial, deeds did not matter. The world inside me was swaying to the tune of the sea. I was one with the universe, no care in the world, free and footloose.

I did not think who I was; I did not bother about what I was; life had a completely different meaning. There were no planes to catch, no money to be made, no people to tend…life was one huge state of bliss.

The world hadn’t decided that we are here to create, achieve, and possess. The world hadn’t created God and so nothing was forced in the name of God. The mind was always meditative, one with the universe.

The tongue hadn’t tasted salt, the stomach knew no hunger. The mind was pure, the thoughts clear. There was no untruth, love meant not procreating. Home was where night fell; each individual in isolated splendor.

Sleep was sans dreams. No demons to be fought within or without. It’s a life of peace, the state of nirvana that I lived. And death was not feared for I know not what it means. For I lived without passion for life that afterlife was not of concern.

There are no devils. For when the mind is tranquil devils have no place to drop anchor. Keeping your mind occupied to keep Satan away is living life in fear of losing life. Why fear of losing something that I do not own. All fears arise from the fear of losing, then why strive to own.

Analyze This

Research is a hot space today. Everyone from companies to the common man is basing decisions on research; decisions ranging from which toothpaste to use to when to buy or sell property. And companies operating in the research space are raking it in big time. And it’s an ever evolving process as the beauty of research findings is it can always be disputed or proved wrong at a later date by another research study.

The Americans have been good at this for decades and the Indians in their new found liking for everything American are clued on to the idea. And I am not saying this in a negative sense; even I love all good things American.

So much so that even kids base their demands for all things from pencils to computer games on research. A friend’s son recently wanted a particular brand of shoes citing research which said that if worn they facilitate height gain. Wow I said to myself, the guy can barely get his foot into a shoe on his own, but knows what brand to buy. That’s the power of research.

And what’s funny is a large quantum of research generally tends to flow in one direction. The stock markets are the biggest example of this trend. When the market is doing well every research house worth its salt will recommend a BUY even on loss-making companies with the logic that it is likely to make a turnaround in the near term. And this logic will be backed by a string of hypothetical assumptions which read far-fetched but are difficult to dispute. It’s just one of those things.

However, what amazes me is the regularity with which research houses want us to buy shares of companies that are quoting at $25 as they have a target price of $40 a share. My question to analysts is where were they when this share was trading at $5? The company is the same, its business is the same, and it would have talked of its growth plans back then. So what prevented them from discovering value then? Or is it that they bought at $5 and now recommend it at $25 so that they can make that extra $20 at our cost?

And these same research houses will recommend a SELL on the same stocks the moment the market tanks. So are we to believe that the fundamentals of a sound company are hostage to the fickle sentiments of the market? Or is it that by imploring us to SELL they are creating a buying opportunity for themselves and their friends? I leave it to you, the readers, to analyze this.

Talking of research reminds me of a study that I read a few years ago that advocated the use of tissue paper in the crap room over water for better hygiene reasons. I subscribed to that and in less than two days ended up with a sore butt. The reason: it takes some getting used to. And by the time I got used to it came another study which said that water was a better option. Moral of the story, research poured water over my sore butt.

In short, the point I am trying to make here is research is important but at the end of the day commonsense should prevail. And that is something we are all gifted with. It’s a different matter that most of us seldom choose to heed its call.

The Rape Of Mumbai

Mumbaikar or not, that seems to be the question on everyone’s lips these days not only in the city of dreams but across the country. I am no Raj Thackeray fan nor do I align myself with any political party. But I do believe that the question of should the uncontrolled migration be allowed to continue needs to be addressed as in yesterday.

I can see politicians and people from other parts of the country jumping to wring my throat at my wish to get the question addressed. I can hear voices of freedom of movement, and the constitution being thrown at me.

But that does not answer my question of whether migration should continue unabated?

My answer to that question is an emphatic NO. The reason: every city--its infrastructure, legal system, ability to provide effective governance--is capable of supporting a certain number of people. And when the limit is breached, we are increasingly looking at chaos, anarchy, corruption and all the other ills that go with lawlessness.

I understand that people will flock to where they can earn a livelihood. And of late politicians are increasingly flaunting this argument to support mass exodus from villages to cities such as Mumbai. And believe me these politicians do not give a damn of the Constitution or of peoples’ rights.

They, dear friends, are just saving their own skins. Otherwise why is it that people of the ilk of Amar Singh, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh, Abu Azmi, Kripashankar Singh—the list is endless—not touching upon the core reason of why are people from states across the country flocking into Mumbai.

The reason why people are rushing to cities such as Mumbai is lack of employment opportunities, governance, water, electricity, law and order and such issues in their villages and towns. And who is responsible for providing these facilities in the towns and villages across the country? It is that of the very politicians who now are fighting for the right of people to migrate.

To me it is shameful on their part that they are unable to take care of people in their own constituencies and are now forcing them on a city that is already overburdened and where people are reduced to live like sardines in a can.

Today these politicians are advocating the right of people to migrate. And a time will come in the near future when Mumbai will run out of place where slums can be built. At that time I have no doubt that these very politicians will advocate the rights of migrants to forcibly enter and occupy homes of Mumbaikars claiming right to a roof over the head.

Can Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mr. Amar Singh answer a few questions? Lalu ruled Bihar for 15 years and if he is the champion of the oppressed as he claims to be, then why is it that he did not create employment opportunities for residents of Bihar? Mulayam was in power in UP. And Amar Singh was his advisor. Then why didn’t he see to it that the government created enough jobs for the people of the state?

I am sure that these leaders will have no answers to my query. But I am sure that they will find a way to term me anti-national for raising valid but sticky queries.

For the problem of migration to stop, the country needs political will. The will to create opportunities that will allow businesses to flourish across the country. That will create jobs and opportunities. When that happens, migration will automatically stop.

I do not think that people coming from anywhere in India to cities like Mumbai love the thought of living in abject poverty and squalor. They do so because they have no option back home. But that does not mean that people should be allowed to just climb into trains and buses and swamp cities.

So the option is clear and the onus lies with the Political Class. Instead of trying to divide people for narrow, near-term political gains, these men in Khadi, or should I say synthetic Khadi, should work towards national progress. That will automatically stop this problem of migration.

But the question is do politicians have the will, and ever important, the decency to put personal gains aside and work for the betterment of India. As of now, the answer is NO. And that is a sad testament of a country--rich in culture and heritage—that is increasingly looking to the world like a bride decked up but nowhere to go.

Waiting to Exhale

Life feels like it's stuck in a bottle. What happened to freedom...freedom to do what one wants, freedom to think and behave the way one wants?

Freedom sounds good but where is it to be found? Freedom of speech, thought... seems like a mirage. Administered in doses at the whims and fancies of others, I am let out of the bottle once in a while just to be bottled again.

Life seemed so different when in college... the world was there to conquer and life was raring to break free. Then life took another turn... I made choices and chugged along those chosen paths. Twenty years on, life looks, feels different. Things that made sense back then don't anymore.

Twenty years have zipped past and I have a lot to show for the time gone by. A house, a family, money in the bank. Yet why do I feel bankrupt emotionally? I have everything yet seem to have nothing. There is a vacuum. And there is nothing else.

If given a chance and the time gone by would I do things differently? I don't know. I may , I may not.

There should be more to life than the routine. One has to feel the excitement of walking on new roads, taking unknown turns... free from dependence while taking decisions, freedom to take those decisions minus the variables attached.

I know all will say that's ridiculous. Maybe so, but is walking on chartered waters the meaning of life? We claim to reward genius, innovation, the ability to do the same things differently. But do we really do so? Can I turn my life 360 degrees without being called selfish? I don't think so.

You will say that's life. I ask is this how life is supposed to be? Who decided that we are part of a larger gameplan? I may have taken a path in life back then, but why am I forced to walk those same paths day after day? Don't I have the liberty to change things around without being accused of treachery, selfishness, cruelty?

We formed laws to create order. But did we want laws to rule out lives? You can do this as it is legal. You can't do this because it is illegal. And I am not talking about wanting to blow up people or steal or maim. Is life one never-ending treadmill on which once you climb, you can't get down?
Nothing makes sense anymore. Living in the moment is fiction. In life we end up living other peoples' lives, dreams... and in the process lose our sleep and the dreams turn into nightmares. Is this life? My thoughts may sound bizzare to most of you, but can most deny having such thoughts. Yes, most may feel comfortable locking the genie back in the bottle..I don't.

I am just Waiting to Exhale.