The media and me

You can love the media, hate it, but simply can’t ignore it. Whether it be listening to the radio while driving, reading the newspapers, watching news, sports, serials, etc on TV, seeing movies in theatres, media pervades every part of our life and plays a role in shaping our views, our perceptions, our lifestyle. Whether this is good or bad I don’t know but I guess we have no choice.

I have been addicted to the newspaper since long. The Times of India gives you so much to read. They give you all the news – national, international, even city specific. If you want health tips they have it. Want to know what the celebrities are up to? Bombay Times is there.

TOI even carries a science page where new discoveries and research are reported (my personal favourite). They carry in-depth articles on important issues – SEZs, reservations, global warming, you name it they have it.

TOI has been widely criticized by many people for being a tabloid. They say it promotes crass commercialization, materialism, westernization. I remember one of our STI professors at IIMK also airing this view.

I agree TOI is commercial to the core. No other newspaper carries so many ads. They even have sponsored supplements once in a while. But what is wrong with that? Aren’t newspapers supposed to earn money? And people will only read the ads if they find the ad interesting. No one is being forced to read them.

Another criticism is that it is promoting westernization. One look at Bombay Times and you will say they are right. But again no one is forcing you to read it. It is just another way of life that they are projecting. If you don’t like it why don’t you start a new newspaper and project what you think should be the lifestyle to follow?

I flip through BT and read just the channel guide, the cartoon strips and the health page. It’s West-side Plus supplement gives me information on the state of infrastructure in the western suburbs and the initiatives being taken by citizens/ BMC to improve it. I don’t care a dime where the celebrities partied yesterday!! But I want the rest of the paper.

Every once in a while they give you something entertaining. Take for example the news about a cat which regularly catches and bus and goes to the market (don’t remember which city) or the cat which adopted a mouse or pics of Knut, the polar bear cub in a German zoo or the pic of the world’s smallest and tallest dogs. Some time ago there was an article on how dogs are being taught yoga! These are a welcome break from the daily dose of murders, rapes, allegations and counter-allegations by politicians, scams, etc.

Have loads of time and don’t know what to do? BT & Mumbai Mirror gives you loads of puzzles to keep you occupied for a few hours. They give you an entertainment guide, suggestions on what to do for the weekend, where to eat, etc. These could be handy for many.

All in all I think TOI is dam good J

I don’t watch much of TV. News channels are so repetitive. What I could read in a newspaper in 2 minutes runs on news channels for an hour. And the less said about the Serial Channels the better. The serials are utterly mindless and oh so predictable. But then millions of people do like them so it doesn’t matter to them whether I like the serials or not. They will continue to attract eyeballs for years to come. I watch only the movie channels and Discovery, NGC, History Channel. These are pasia vasool. And yes, sports sometimes. But the Indian cricket team’s consistently bad performances have killed my interest in cricket and I rarely watch the other sports.

Impending SEZ fiasco

The cancellation of the Kalinanagar SEZ and shifting of the Nandigram SEZ were just the first signs of the problems in the SEZ Policy. Soon we had a new policy restricting the SEZ size. And there is more to come.

India’s SEZ policy is another example of us trying to copy someone else’s (read China’s) model without considering the ground realities. SEZs require large contiguous tracts of land. In India this will include some agricultural land as well. There is yet no clear consensus on whether this should happen.

While in China it is easy for the government to acquire land for whatever purpose, the same is not the case in India. There will always be people unwilling to surrender their land, no matter what the price, and enough politicians eager to fuel protests. To top it all the compensation offered in not adequate in most cases.

No doubt SEZs will be beneficial for the economy but the policy needs to be fine-tuned.

Firstly the tax losses due to potential shifting of industries should be plugged. A proper mechanism is needed so that exports and sales to domestic territory are properly measured. And the area in each SEZ that can be developed for residential and commercial purposes should be restricted otherwise SEZs will turn into real estate ventures.

It is imperative that the SEZ policy must have clear guidelines on who will acquire the land – the government or the developer, how a fair price is to be determined, how those unwilling to sell are to be dealt with and how those affected can be made stakeholders. Given the situation I feel the government will have to play a role in land acquisition and also in rehabilitation. What can a private developer do if even one person refuses to sell his land? Only the govt. has the power to displace him. And it must ensure the compensation offered is fair. The policy should also contain provisions on employment to be offered to the displaced people. And all processes must be transparent enough to stand legal scrutiny.

Unless these points are taken care of the SEZs will face many hurdles

Another one

Your Personality Is

Guardian (SJ) You are sensible, down to earth, and goal oriented. Bottom line, you are good at playing by the rules. You tend to be dominant - and you are a natural leader. You are interested in rules and order. Morals are important to you. A hard worker, you give your all at whatever you do. You're very serious, and people often tell you to lighten up. In love, you tend to take things carefully and slowly. At work, you are suited to almost any career - but you excel in leadership positions. With others, you tend to be polite and formal. As far as looks go, you are traditionally attractive. You take good care of yourself. On weekends, you tend to like to do organized activities. In fact, you often organize them!

The Three Question Personality Test

Personality Test

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Your Personality Profile

You are dignified, spiritual, and wise. Always unsatisfied, you constantly try to better yourself. You are also a seeker of knowledge and often buried in books. You tend to be philosophical, looking for the big picture in life. You dream of inner peace for yourself, your friends, and the world. A good friend, you always give of yourself first.

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Quota Fire

There is no need to celebrate non-implementation of the OBC quota this year. Infact the government will be the one rejoicing. For in politics there is one maxim – implement something once and it will only benefit you for some time. Keep the issue alive and you can rake it up for elections to come. And that is precisely the reason why the UPA govt. hasn’t given the SC a proper reasoning for the OBC quota - because they want to defer implementation and keep the issue alive for some more time. And irrespective of what the courts think the quota will be implemented, maybe next year, maybe after that.

While thinking about the issue several questions come to my mind which, according to me, must be answered before we implement quotas for OBCs

Are quotas needed? If yes, at what level?

No one doubts that the govt. should strive for upliftment of people who have been economically/ socially discriminated against for centuries or have in general been backward. But is it feasible through quotas in education? I don’t think that is quite effective the way it is being implemented. Though it will give them an opportunity to study in some of the best institutions they may still not be able to make the best of it because of their background. They will not have the caliber to compete against the others. It would be better if they had been given good education since the start. But we all know what a sorry state our public education system is in. And their education, even their other needs (mid-days meals, etc), should be subsidized or preferably free.

Something like boarding schools where poor children can spend their school years would be ideal. It would take some convincing to make the parents send their children there but it is worth a try.

At post-graduate level merit should be the only criterion for admission. The govt. can continue to help the underprivileged by paying their fees, even in full.

Who should the quota be for?

Even if we agree that quotas are the only measure available the question arises who should be eligible. Should social backwardness be the criteria? Or economics should rule? A logical answer would be economic backwardness. For, a community which is really socially backward would also be economically backward. Quotas in education, etc would take care of the economic backwardness part.

For social backwardness there are other measures to be taken, awareness to be created among the others that there should be no concept of ‘socially backward’ castes, legal actions to ensure social equality. But this would ruffle the feathers of the rich and powerful upper castes that will cite interference with centuries-old religious traditions and no politician has the will to implement this. We will continue to read about killings of dalits by upper castes for years to come. Hence we have the government insisting that quotas be implemented on the basis of social backwardness because that is the easy way out.

And politics dictates that they cannot leave out the ‘creamy socially backward’ classes from this. Because, the economically backward among the socially backward do not have the capacity to use the quota.

How do we go about convincing people?

Before embarking on any new venture we measure its feasibility. What benefits will it provide? We will evolve certain criteria to measure success/ failure. And monitor the performance. If it works we will try again in future. And it will be so easy to convince anyone to invest in this venture. You have past performance to show!!!!

That is how the govt. should go about the OBC quota issue. First it needs to come up with a definition of OBC. Then measure what is their proportion in the population. And then prove to us why it is going to work. They have the SC/ST example to show. That is, if it has worked. The govt. still does not have any statistics on that.

How do you ensure proper implementation?

Nothing hurts more than watching someone get what he/she does not deserve. The govt. does not have any plan in place to prevent people with forged certificates from availing quotas. This has happened with SC/ST quotas for years. Politicians make money out of this so obviously they won’t choke one of their sources of livelihood. And that is what rankles the opponents of quotas.

Also to avoid opposition the quota should be implemented stage by stage by increasing seats so that the others don’t get affected. You can always argue that it is the duty of the govt. to increase seats anyways and these also should go to all, not just to quota students. But it will hurt less. And the govt should not force quotas into the private sector. It is everyone’s responsibility to strive for upliftment of the under-privileged but it should be voluntary

But it is futile to expect any one in the current political setup to think along these lines. A simple quote comes to my mind ‘A politician is a person who will take the money of the rich and votes of the poor promising to protect them from each other’. And it is absolutely true in India.

Mumbai Passport Office – A case study in operations mismanagement

If anyone wants a case study on operations improvement then there would be nothing better than the functioning of the passport office in Mumbai. You will find so many fail points. The officials there are oblivious to all the ops troubles that any manager would strive to avoid – and you don’t need an MBA degree for that. It’s all common sense. But not to the people running the passport office.

Let’s look at the various aspects of this prime example of operations mismanagement

Online Application

When my sister Tasneem and I had to renew our passports we checked out the website of the passport office. It said that you can apply online if you fall within the jurisdiction of certain office and that list included Mumbai. After filling the online application you have to turn up on the appointed day and time and submit the physical copy. No need to stand in lines. Gone are the days of standing in serpentine queues at the passport office!!! Or so it seemed. So we decided to junk the passport agent and do it ourselves. We applied online and the system said we could submit our form on Apr 19^th at 10.15 AM. Satisfied, we waited for 15 days for our ‘appointment’.

On April 19 when, after a 5 hour nightmare at the passport office, I spoke to the ‘Superintendant – Complaints’ we found out that this system was not applicable in Mumbai. He coolly told us that the new system is only for the Delhi office. ‘Zara website pe padh liya karo’ he said, ‘wahan likha hai’. That is the only time in life I have wished I was in Delhi, not Mumbai!!! I scanned the website later but haven’t been able to find this ‘fine print’ yet. Agar kisi ko mile to please bata dena. Normally forms mein fine print hota hai par hum padhte nahi. Aur yahan yeh log umeed rakhte hai ke hum pehle fine print dhoondege aur fir padhege. Crap. We weren’t the only ones fooled by this. One lady had come happily all the way from Goa because she thought this system made passport issue “DIY’.

Generation of records

For issue of the passport you have to first register (physical or online) with them and then turn up anytime after 2 days from registration for the application. In this age of IT I wonder why it should take 2 days for ‘the record to be generated’ (as the passport office put it) especially for the online application. Hence, when my sister’s application under Tatkal was rejected because they needed the full name of the parents in the form we were told to re-register online and then come back after 2 days. Their system doesn’t have any facility to make changes, not even by the person who registered.

The queue

Every day there are serpentine queues outside the passport office in the morning. People even come at 7 in the morning thinking they will be the first when the office opens at 10. Unfortunately, the agents beat them to this. No no, not the passport agents. But people who make a living by standing in line for you and trading places when the time to go inside the office comes. They charge 100-150 bucks for this. Pretty neat considering that you will save a minimum of 4-5 hours of waiting. They, ofcourse, would be sharing it with the guards who allow them to do this ‘business’.

Inside the Hall

At 9.30 they start allowing people to go inside Hall 1 where there are 19 counters in all. They let in so many people at a time that there is chaos. Lines inter-twine for lack of space. It reminded me of the local trains of Mumbai. Perhaps this was even worse than that. Pushing, shoving, adjusting, that’s how people have to manage. The lines of some of the counters have chairs, others don’t. I wasn’t able to figure out the reason for this.

On all the counters some info is written. But it is wrong - both the purpose of the counter as well as the time till when the counter will remain open. Many people end up standing in the wrong line and then hours of standing go waste when they have to go to the correct line, at the back of it. An example is counter 19 – Reissue under Tatkal. One of the posters on the window reads ‘Fresh/ Minor - Any Counter, Reissue – Counter 19’. And people are supposed to interpret this as Counter 19 is only for reissue of major’s passports under tatkal . For Fresh/ Minor passports under tatkal any other counter will do

Instead of this they should implement a system where everyone gets a number and can sit till his/her number is called.

Misinformation

There are boards inside which mention what documents are needed. But there are so many of them for different kinds of passports (fresh, minor, reissue) that people get confused and read the wrong one.

Nowhere have they mentioned that there is something called a scanning form which is a must for reissue application. Most people find that out in the line and the have to run to get it. Some even discover this at the counter!!!!

Rejects

Maybe half the people are turned away either for lack of some document or the other or due to some mistake in the form. They have to come back some other day and again spend hours at this place. I met a guy who had come for the third time and still they found something missing and asked him to come again. These people expect you to drop everything and spend days waiting in their office. I have never seen such unhelpful officials.

Just think about it. The daily line would be half if people knew what documents are required and how to fill the form correctly!!!!

Reworks

For every minor change in the form the superintendant’s sign is required. And they never check the whole form at one go. If they find a mistake they ask you to change it, get the superintendant’s sign and come back and then the rest of your form will be checked. Some people end up going to him 2-3 times. Hence there is a huge crowd around his table at any time. You have people shuttling between the counter they were at and his table. Such a waste if time.

People getting work done inside

I saw a couple shuttling behind the counters and the superintendants’ table. After ½ an hour they came out smiling. Obviously, they had their work done ‘inside’ while people patiently waited outside.

12.30 PM Deadline

At 12.30 they stop taking people into hall 1. So if anyone has been unlucky enough to wait outside for hours and still his turn didn’t come, well it’s his fault.

Tatkal counter

The Tatkal counter, which is just next to the Superintendant’s table, also ends up serving as the enquiry counter. Everyone who has been asked to get ‘bade saab’s sign’ first enquires there and then proceeds. People also come there for other enquiries. Hence, the processing of applications at this counter takes the longest. The consolation is that atleast the passport comes faster.

Playing to the Gallery

The Abhiash wedding and the accompanying media hype have been a real eye-opener on how the rich and the famous claim to want ‘private marriages’ but in secret crave for the media attention.

I really don’t think that Amitabh Bacchan and his family wanted it to be a private affair. If they had then the wedding would have been conducted how Aamir Khan conducted his. No, here we had the media getting all the pics, all the news. Even Aishwarya’s ‘supposed’ marriages to trees because she is a mangalik!! The media encourages superstitions by reporting such things. Even when the Bacchans visit a temple its news!!!!

And the way the Bacchans have misused their fame is disgusting. First the security provided by Mumbai police at taxpayers’ expense. Then we had the priest of Siddhivinayak Temple sending God’s blessings to Amitabh’s doorstep. Reason – Amitabh goes to Siddhivinayak once a year. Lakhs of people go there every week. Without fail. Do they have God’s blessings sent to them when they get married? Then came the visit to Lord Venkateshwara where thousands of devotees had to wait for hours because the Bacchans were paying their respects to the Lord. Here too they arrived one hour late. Which means the Lord was left without devotees for an entire hour. And then they had a private meeting with the Lord for an hour when devotees normally get a few seconds with him.

Ever since his association with Amar Singh the once affalable Amitabh has been doing such things. Seeig this grand wedding and the associated drama I have lost all respect for Amitabh.