Rise to oppose the price rise

Livemint reports in its politics section of a certain opposition readying to take the government on the issue of price rise. I am not sure if they can rise to the occasion and make a big deal of the issue, which is hurting all of us rather seriously, while they are in such a mess. It does require some serious thought to see ourselves with a lame opposition virtually handing a free run to the government. A respite is that the the head of the government appears to be quite sensitive to people and we hope he would not let the situation out of control. Its been rather predictive and historical,  not to much of  my surprise that longer Congress rules have generally caused prices to rise and inflation has always been stroked by them.

Survival politics, lack of leadership and direction has caused such a misery which we all saw coming post Vajpayee era; succession planning was and is very much the need of the hour if we were to have a stable opposition to check the un-questioned free run of the government. Is Nagpur listening yet ??

 

Floods down south

Last week we saw unprecedented floods and vehement weather in some regions of Karnataka and Andhra. More than anything else it was the surprise factor in flooding some of the unimaginable plains, areas which are generally associated with drought. Raichur, Kurnool, Bijapur are among the driest places in these regions, so much so that I would wonder how people survived in these places during summer, it would get incredibly hot.

Right from my childhood when we would make the journey to Kerala during summer holidays, we would dread the route of Raichur since the train journey in the second class compartments during those days would be virtually intolerable with the sun blazing down the area.

I don’t ever remember in my numerous visits seeing a continuous water stream and a flowing Krishna which flows alongside Raichur or a Tungabhadra, on the bank of which Kurnool resides. Media reports that the dams released rain water without warnings and both the rivers did just the same that was expected, human encroached areas got inundated. Villages on both sides of the bank were flooded causing tremendous misery to the inhabitants.

To understand the whole sequence better let me take you to the beginning. It was during this period that I and our family were traveling. It was Dussehra time and with some leave around the corner we went off to the catchments, the western ghats, where it all began and we were treated to some great rain (a missed monsoon made it even more spectacular). It was like standing – pouring rain over long periods, on one occasion it just poured the whole night out, and on our way back a day later we saw the many crevices on the ghats making much noise with waterfalls, many small streams gushing with water, making their way down with great force. It was a something I hadn’t seen for long, and then these streams went on to bigger canals, which made their way down to join tributaries.

A striking feature that kept me concerned was that we came across the earth having caved at many points in the ghats; there were mudslides on most curves, and moreover, the water was flowing unchecked. I reckon the force with which the water came down the tributaries to the dam at Krishna & Tungabhadra took our dried up water resources department which manages these dams napping and before they realised, it should have had reached alarming levels forcing them to open the sluice gates.

We are very clearly paying for the massive vegetation destruction that has happened in these ghats which is not holding on to the rain water, and there’s no check on the small streams to hold on to this treasured resource, just some bridges built for the road to pass through above. All the while we have been neglecting the falling rain, to catch it and have it build on our water table below the ground. It’s just been the same story, the cities have not preserved the lakes to sustain the ground water table, and in the country side we have abused our rivers, depleting it.

One visit to both these towns and we can see the massive infringement and encroachment that that has happened on the banks of these rivers. A news report also mentioned of a hotel by a local MLA on the banks of Tungabhadra which had flooded the top floor, I would love to see if the hotel conformed to the Environmental Standards.

With no checks of the water flowing down our ghats where they could effectively be trapped, we are foolish to waste this precious resource when it comes to us in abundance. While we keep spending millions on drought relief which never reaches the intended; the rains most usually has caused us misery when it comes plentiful.

When it rains – it causes floods and when it doesn’t its drought – much to report on our effective use of this resource. Cynical is the last thing I want to sound; desperate and helpless is more like it to see that we have a full fledged Ministry for water resources and rivers. There are so many possibilities; a public-private initiative can certainly work wonders to preserve before it’s too long. By the way did we all note that the meteorological department had nothing to say about the rains its intensity when it happened, and when they said it was going to last a week, the rains had stopped over in the ghats.

 

Judicial Accountability

A unanimous cry across the country is for the need in judicial reforms. There would perhaps be not many among us common men who have not been affected in someway during our life-span on account of the lack of judicial reproach. This is more so due to the very nature of the judicial facilities being unavailable for the prohibitive nature of its approach, the mediators involved and the faith in it as a mechanism of being able to deliver justice (within a life span of course – pun intended). The time taken for justice is much better talked of as less as possible, we all know of the working hours and days our courts have (which should perhaps be amongst the lowest in the world). Like any other governmental institution, judiciary too with its archaic style of functioning and red tape(ism) is no less corrupt; ask if there’s been anyone who could skip greasing the palm of the chamber attendant even to peek into the courtroom.

It is surprising that the law-keepers themselves are unwilling to do much about the scenario. A case in point is the Election Commission, though it being a part of the executive machinery, the seniors there even at the cost of being labeled publicity mongers, made sure they were heard and got the necessary reforms carried out to ensure people faith in the functioning of the commission. As citizens, many of us are pretty certain of the fairness with which they conduct probably one of the largest democratic exercises in the world. I am bewildered as to why the judiciary has kept away from insisting similarly on these reforms. We don’t hear many of our senior judges advocating the need for these reforms and creating any public awareness to push the case. The freedom to have the corrupt officials caught red handed by vigilance commissions and the lokayukta’s (most of whom are from the judiciary themselves) have also been dealt with rather shoddily, with a  blame game on by both the sides, the judiciary says the government doesn’t give them the permission to prosecute and the government blaming the commission. Many a union law ministers have bragged publicly about these reforms with very little achieved in terms of reality.

We celebrated with much fanfare; the media and the political class made sure that they told us how we got the first Chief Justice from a stratum of the society which the political class for their convenience considers backward / reserved and such. I am not really concerned which societal sector our Chief Justice comes from as long as I get justice on time and have my belief that the system is managed well under him. We also cried with joy (the media did more so) when the high courts and apex court gave their opinion regarding cases of public importance (the gay rights; the statues and so on) but am not sure how much of those opinion were actually considered and acted on by the government though, and who remains accountable. Now we have a scenario where a judge of questionable character (though he is yet to be indicted – but his amassed wealth as reported in the media seems to tell a different story altogether) and is considered for the Apex Court, a news that is indeed scary.

Our public institutions have to be sacred, without a speck of dirt on it, beyond the scope of doubt, and if not any other institution the judiciary necessarily has to be one. As long as this continues to elude, we are no different from our neighbor in ensuring that people get away scot-free for whatever evil they’d do.

 

Austerity Drive and Business Prospect

The hullabaloo on the austerity drive initiated by the Government is such an eyewash and childishness, much to my amazement as to how does this help a sagging business climate. Business economics that I have seen working is that consumer spending leads to liquidity in the market place and stimulates the overall business environs.

Government sector being the largest amongst money collector in terms of taxes have to spend for the businesses to do well. As for ministers and high level politicos staying in five star hotels we all know that these hotels extend government rates for officials staying with them which are a fraction of the published tariffs and I hope they use these special rates. We surely can’t be expecting them to travel by general compartment for saving the cost of travel. I wonder if these stunts actually costs more for the deployment of security and intelligence measures that would need to be managed to make them happen.

Austerity drive in a generic opinion is not suspending use of commercial services but the judicial use of resources, for we all know how many convoys are used by the VIP’s when they travel; and the money they spend uselessly in the name of security and such. A walk into government institutions will ironically throw light on the wasteful use of electricity, water and such…. lets walk the talk when it comes to usage of these resources which actually costs the common man to keep the system running, and not being able to use such resources effectively where they are required to be used.

 

So much these days

I have had an unintentional break from posting and so much has happened over these days, the media hype on H1N1 Flu, which almost got us thrown out of normal life.

The other major political drama unfolding at home is with the other party… whew! how did they manage to get themselves into such a rut? The think tank seems to be bent upon ensuring that they would be no challenge to the ruling party for much time to come and all the good work they had managed to do so far, lost in so little time. It seems it will be a long while before they get their act together; that is if they get it together… !

All this while there is some-one who is silently and surely ensuring that there would be no alternative to him to lead the government.

Seth Godin in his blog http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/08/thanks-for-leading.html, very conventionally points out from his book Tribes,

Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead.

The scarcity makes leadership valuable. If everyone tries to lead all the time, not much happens. It’s discomfort that creates the leverage that makes leadership worthwhile.

In other words, if everyone could do it, they would, and it wouldn’t be worth much.

It’s uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers.
It’s uncomfortable to propose an idea that might fail.
It’s uncomfortable to challenge the status quo.
It’s uncomfortable to resist the urge to settle.

When you identify the discomfort, you’ve found the place where a leader is needed.

If you’re not uncomfortable in your work as a leader, it’s almost certain you’re not reaching your potential as a leader.

His observations have come so true in this case.

 

Murali – The Actor

Malayalam Actor Murali passed away late evening on 6th August 2009. An epitome of acting Murali crafted his own niche at a time when popular cinema was consumed by the over presence of two superstars. To get noticed and present powerful performances within the limited scope available as a character actor did require some serious and sustained effort.

It has been a tragic time to have lost a fantastic story teller in Lohitdas and none too different Rajan P Dev during the same time. It will take some effort for contemporary artists to live upto the standards these three gentlemen achieved in Malayalam Cinema.

 

Uniform

Have you noticed the new police recruits at Bangalore? My office is situated very close to the office of the Asst. Commissioner of Police which is a sprawling campus off Millers Road, and across the street there’s a small darshini where we often break for a cup of tea. This place is frequented by the local police staff, and one can very usually find the constables, new recruits, police – drivers, and not so regular Sub Inspectors there. The special tea in this darshini is among my favorite tea available in Bangalore.

Well, so this note is about the newly recruited cops at the Constable levels. We see some extremely well built; height above the 5’7” standards, youngsters, who in due course will form the fresh breed of policemen. Most of them are from rural areas, exude the nervousness of being in a large city, but have a sparkle in their eyes of having landed a cops job. Yet, the striking feature that one gets to notice among them is their dress; their khakhi uniform; their cap, which probably was designed some few decades ago (I did not check the history – but am sure like the Indian Penal Code which was coined before Independence for sure and is yet to be updated), and this feature separates them.

I mean, you have a city which has evolved over the years, and the economy which has grown over so much with the advent of all that can be called the latest, whilst the policemen and the system that need to guard the city and keep the law in order have just got frozen in time. I have not surveyed the morale of the new recruits to find what they thought of their uniforms, (though it would be an interesting HR assignment to do) but I am fairly certain that the very look and feel doesn’t tell you much of being proud of their appearance. The uniform is an indispensable part of our work that conveys a sense of pride and bestows accountability and responsibility to the job one is supposed to carry out. It is symbolic of the state of mind of the person who wears it and needs to reflect the culture of the system for which it is worn.

The uniform issue I guess is not limited to the new recruits but is more or less applicable to most among the junior level of cops. Whereas, the mid to senior brass would manage to wear some very decently designed clothes on duty, due to their State Police Academy or IPS tag. The decision makers like very often have kept the best for themselves and conveniently choose to forget the story down the line.

A lot of tax payer’s money is given to the home department and considerable amount I gather would probably be needed to spend on maintaining the law and order. The very fabric in its true essence is not offered to the people wearing the law on their sleeve, leaving much to be desired to find a vibrant force in action to take challenges faced in the wake of rapid urbanization. I need to be affirmed of the confidence of this newly recruited constable to whom I can walk up-to and he needs to complement the value that the department has added to him than just carry something he brought along himself. We need a force which relates to the public at large, feels comfortable in what they wear, and take pride in what they do, and not necessarily be related through the media featured top cop who has a take on all that happens in city with just a morality stick in his hand.

I am sure this situation is quite true for most states, and is the state of the junior cops all over the nation. Post 26/11 attacks, there were many discussions on having reforms in State Police Departments and their functionality. It’s a year approaching now, and probably would not be very untrue to find that a file would not have moved a place yet.

Cynicism apart, a case in contention is the BMTC, the city bus service, a very accountable service that has managed to get its staff relate well to the city population in general. It took some time for them to realise that they were there to make sensible business transporting people and survive in the business. While the home department and the decision makers there are yet to mean law to be their business.

 

I am willing to Pay!

Well, its not that we have much option when the government decides to increase the price of fuel.  It is much to the whims and that they say its based on oil market movements, yet, I am willing to pay. But let the money be put into the better use of the purpose that they are claimed to be used, and not to cover up for the arbitrary losses that the so called public sector enterprises gobble up in the name of correcting their balance sheets.

A look into the business operations of the hyped navratnas, or elephantine companies like the state air carrier and the oil companies and it is evident to see the usage to betterment of their babu-dom than efficiency and better use of resources. So much so that the very concept of accountability doesn’t creep into them, and you will have the nonsensical, unreasonable unions of these companies actually playing the labour welfare trump card and justifying many of the wasteful expenditures that they indulge in.

Its high time that the markets decide the price of any commodity and / or the business operations make them accountable for their fate. We are no different when we cry hoarse on over protectionism measures announced by countries to protect their interests. Why the double talk? If I am willing to pay; let me get the worth of it.

 

Governing Technocrat

These are troubled times. The stock market is yet to stabilize with all the beating it took the last year. Business assignments are tough to find, existing clients have not yet opened out their intention on further assignments & newer opportunities have become increasingly challenging to spot. The rains are playing truant. Its almost the end of June, and in a -raining at the drop of the hat- city like Bangalore, this month we have hardly had 4 days of rain. Yes, so all around there’s been an air of desperation.

To such a morning we all woke up to the newspapers screaming of the appointment of Mr. Nilekani by the Govt to head the Unique Identification Programme. Its such a heartening news to hear, not because we heard of this project (this project was due atleast 5 years ago); but to the fact that our PM has shown yet again seriousness on governmental issues. We all are most used to new schemes being announced, new commissions being drawn, new plans being laid out. However with Mr. Nilekani,  accepting this role, convinces us the masses that he will do whatever it takes to get the project doing. I am sure Mr. Nilekani would not have decided stepping out of Infosys unless he would have put forth his conditions of engagement. How many of the many such other projects can we be sure of being managed this way? It is quite wishful thinking the Government now decides to engage more of such people to lead our developmental framework. We all know how badly we need some serious revamping of our judicial system.

This move comes in after we saw the successful intervention in riddling Satyam of its trouble atleast partially, and it bolsters our hope of developmental governance, it looks like we have an able leader who is finding his way out to be accountable to the people who have given him the mandate.

 

MJ

With June 25, 2009 coming to an end, a chapter got closed, with the news of MJ’s death. Located far away from our  world, during the heavily regulated times of information / music & video’s being available to us; he had represented the liberal times to come. Reflecting on those earlier times I am startled and stunned how we as a nation accepted then to have a single channel being beamed across our TV’s in 85’s and 90’s by the maai-baap Doordarshan and the babus there deciding on the content we were to watch. Never ever do I remember having seen a performance being aired of his. And he was considered one of the best entertainers in business then. His music was path breaking then and is so relevant even today.

With his music, his dance, and the gaiety in his entertaining performances MJ symbolised the arrival of a new generation which then grew up from Color TV’s to HDTV’s, DVD’s and then YouTube. Troubled in his life for reasons best known to him, curtains came down on legendary entertainer, and the undisputed king of pop.