Indisciplined Indians

The other day I was surfing channels when I came across an interview of SRK. He was talking about what ails our society in general, what things we need to improve on. Among these were a few acts of indiscipline which we seem to revel in.

Have you ever seen Indians make a straight line unless ordered to do so? Everywhere you see double and triple lines. We also seem to take pride in breaking lines.

We keep our houses clean but throw anything and everything in public space as if it’s a dustbin. Mindlessly we spit on the road, on other people as well. Someone even spit paan in my lift. Yuck!!!

And our road manners are absolutely fantastic. We don’t mind going into a one-way road and justify it by saying there is no traffic from the other side so it is acceptable. We park anywhere we want. If someone has to get out of the car we stop it in the middle of the road without giving a damn about the person behind us. Autos and bikes change lanes at will without a worry in the world and the poor car drivers have to look out for them. As pedestrians we think the road belongs to us. I have seen people stopping traffic because they want to cross and have no patience to wait their turn.

We don’t mind being late for meetings. We joke that the meeting is at XX.XX IST which means it’s not sacrosanct. Deadlines don’t scare us. We think we can always get them extended. Well, the joke is on us.

We do all this without any guilt, without realizing it is wrong. Has it become ingrained in our collective psyche?

Are we a nation?

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka fight over the waters of the Cauvery, Maharashtra and Karnataka have a border dispute, there is violence in Mumbai against non-Maharashtrians (specifically North Indians) & violent protests in Bihar against the violence in Mumbai, Tamil MPs threaten to quit if Indian Govt does not ‘warn’ Sri Lanka against atrocities on Sri Lankan Tamils, terror reigns in Kashmir & the North-east in the name of the ‘struggle for independence’, the list can go on.

I wonder whether India deserves to be called a country. Each state has a different language, a different culture and in some cases they loathe each other. Many South Indians (rightly?) refuse to speak Hindi, which they say has been imposed upon them. People of many other states also do not readily accept Hindi as the ‘national’ language. So as a way to get around the language problem we use English, a foreign language, to communicate. In elections regional parties get a significant chunk of the vote, which means regional issues matter a lot. All states want job reservations for ‘locals’. And I see an increasing incidence of regionalism in the last few years.

A nation has something which binds it together – a common culture, religion, ethnic composition, a sense of brotherhood, etc. Yes, there will be some people who will still practice regionalism but as long as they are a minority kept in check the nation is safe. But from what I see the only thing that binds India together is being under British rule. What commonality did the British rule give us? A common administrative system & a common hatred of British rule. A majority of Indians practice Hinduism but I see a vast diversity in the way they practice it so I don’t see it as a glue 2hich can bind this nation we call India. The glue which the British gave us may wear off soon and we must find something else.

We used to proudly say we are a country with unity in diversity. But we have to ask ourselves whether this diversity is too diverse for us to call ourselves a nation. Is regionalism slowly triumphing over nationalism?

India – a good neighbour?

We have fought wars with Pakistan and China and count them among ‘enemy’ countries. Bangladesh, which we helped liberate, doesn’t trust us. Neither do Sri Lanka and Nepal. Tiny Bhutan is the only neighbour we have good relations with. Is there something wrong with India’s foreign policy or are we so unfortunate to have troublesome neighbours who won’t behave no matter how hard we try?

Ban the Bajrang Dal

The recent violence in Orissa is just one more instance of the utter disdain the Bajrang Dal has for the law. Basically over the last few years the Bajrang Dal has been waiting for excuses to flex its muscles and terrorize the minorities into submission. I have no doubt that the Bajrang Dal cadres were the rioters’ ‘foot-soldiers’ during the Gujarat 2002.

The pattern is clear. One unfortunate event for which members of the minority community may or may not be responsible occurs, the Hindutva biggies (RSS and BJP) give the go ahead and Bajrang Dal swings into action, while the (BJP/allied) govt fiddles. Protests are raised in other parts of the country but the govt takes its own time to make things normal. In the meantime the minorities have been shown their place. This is the reason why I will never vote for BJP despite the fact that BJP/NDA has better administrative abilities than UPA and that the UPA is also no saint when it comes to communalism. I admire the progress Narendra Modi has brought to Gujarat but still loathe him from the bottom of my heart for the genocide in Gujarat in 2002. I value communal harmony more than economic betterment.

Recently I saw a TV debate where someone from the Bajrang Dal was making a pathetic attempt to justify the Orissa massacre by blaming the Christians. His justification was the Christians were forcibly converting people in Kandhmal by giving money and false promises. But the shocker came when I overheard a senior, respected lawyer I personally know (I won’t name him) say the same thing (Recently when Tatas decided to relocate Nano to Gujarat he was all praise for Narendra Modi and said ‘Modi 5-6 musalmanon ko maarega magar Gujarat ka progress karega’). I was tempted to tell him how flawed his logic is but stopped short as he had not addressed me. I felt like screaming out that if one wrong justifies another then even the recent bomb blasts are justified. I have no doubt many of those who took part in them have at some time been wronged against, most probably by the Bajrang Dal and its ilk. Why then do you arrest those who planted the bombs and let those who raped and killed in Kandhmal go scot-free?????????

This brings me to the question – is the Bajrang Dal’s accusation of forcible conversions correct? I can refute their allegations on 2 counts. Firstly if you are a believer, no one and nothing can coerce you to change your faith. Not money. Not false promises. The only reason why conversions take place is because the person does not believe in his original religion. So why do Hindus convert? I blame the Hindu caste system for that. If I am treated badly in my religion and my intrinsic belief in the religion is not strong I will definitely convert. I would have no second thoughts about that. Neither did millions of Dalits when Baba Ambedkar showed them the way to Buddhism. So I think the conversions are justified. If Bajrang Dal wants to stop conversion of Hindus to other religions they must lobby to do away with the caste system.

The other reason I feel Bajrang Dal has no locus standi in the Orissa matter is that those who converted are tribals and not Hindus. Though proponents of Hindutva and even our censuses include tribals in Hindus it is factually incorrect. Tribals do not worship Rama or Krishna. Nor do they share other beliefs of Hindus. The are nature worhippers. They have their own customs, traditions, way of life and religion. Hinduism is not some all-encompassing religion which can be defined to include anyone who does not practice one of the major religions of the world (Islam, Christianlity, Jewism, Buddhirsm, etc)

Hence I feel that Bajrang Dal and all such other organisations (whichever ideology they profess) need to be banned outright. Such organisations are a potent threat to India if they are allowed to thrive. There must be justice for all. Stop all people who spread hatred. Selective justice will not do. Remember that victims create more victims. More Bajrang Dal atrocities will create more Muslim terrorists and the actions of these terrorists will drive more Hindus towards the Bajrang Dal.

To beat your enemy, know your enemy

Some time back Manmohan Singh said that the biggest threat to India’s security is from within not without. And how right he was!!! In the last 1-2 months India has suffered serial bomb blasts by Islamic terrorists and assaults on police by the Naxalites. And we hear nothing but meaningless statements by our politicians about who was behind it (that a no-brainer) and that we will deal with it firmly. But none has the answer to the question - how do they plan to deal with these faceless enemies?

To deal with any enemy you have to understand him. Who is he? Why is he against you? What does he really hope to achieve by hurting you? What gives him strength? What are his weaknesses? Who are his allies and supporters and why are they on his side?

I doubt our government has given a thought to all this. It has only one way of dealing with terrorists and naxalites - our security forces. But only use of force is a counterproductive strategy. And the reason is that the enemy comprises several elements. You must deal with each of them in a different manner. And force must be used only on a select few. I would say the enemy comprises 3 elements - people who have a genuine grievance against you, those who are there for the money and the power and those who really really believe in the ‘cause’ and will stop at nothing to get at you.

1) Those who have some grievance against you (the ‘cause’ is only a mask) – These comprise the majority of your enemy. Maybe you took their land away. Or your security forces killed their near and dear ones. Or looked the other way when goons like Narendra Modi did so. Or maybe they think you discriminate against them in some way or other. Whatever the reason may be the way to tackle them is to reach out to them and try to redress their grievance (whether real or imaginary). Deal firmly with the landlords who exploit the landless. Put the rioters behind bars. Sensitize your security forces to deal with such issues. And more importantly see to it that such events do not happen again. It will ensure more people don’t become terrorists/ naxalites. If you don’t do this more and more people will continue to turn to terrorism. You eliminate a 100. Tomorrow there will be a 1000 more. Also try to see to it that the hardliners don’t get a platform to espouse their cause.

One thing that must be done urgently is to free the security apparatus from the clutches of politicians. This would be the single biggest step towards solving the problem.

2) The mercenaries – They are there for the money. They have nothing else to earn a living. They start with the criminal world and progress into terrorism. They may also sympathize with the ‘cause’. So for them it serves 2 ends. To take care of these people eat away at the incentive they have. Have tough punishments for them in place. Try to improve the employment opportunities and social environment so that lesser people turn into criminals.

3) Those who really believe in the cause – You can’t do much about this type. They have been brainwashed. For them killing you is their only aim in life. The way to deal with them is to isolate them. Wean away the others in their group (types 1 & 2). And when you get them you will have to put them away for good.

We need a far-sighted multi-pronged strategy to tackle this monster that confronts us today.

Archaic tax laws

India’s tax regime seems to be stuck in a time warp. The more the government tries to reform it the more complicated it becomes and the outcome leaves a lot to be desired. There are a multitude of exemptions with their corresponding pre-conditions which provide enough loopholes to enable unscrupulous people to take advantage of them. Exemptions are meant to protect the poor/ weak whether they are individuals or companies or to encourage activities which are desirable. But in most cases the exemptions are availed either by the wrong people or they continue well beyond their intended life. Here are some examples of these instances

Charitable institutions
A noble thought indeed. Why should charitable institutions which are meant to serve society at large be made to pay tax? Afterall they are non-profit making organisations. Whatever money they make is given back to society. Seems fair enough. But look at the kind of organisations claiming to be ‘charitable’. I was amused to read the other day that BCCI is a charitable organisation. It made a profit of hundred of crores of rupees from the IPL. What charity has it done? And Mr Lalit Modi has the audacity to claim they should not be taxed as all the money will be distributed to the state associations. What convoluted logic!!! By that logic companies also should not be taxed as they distribute the profits to shareholders :D

Agriculture
Agricultural income is exempt from tax. It does not matter whether the farmer has one acre of land from which he ekes out a hand-to-mouth existence, and would fall in the exemption limits, or he has hundreds of acres around which he drives a Merc. There is absolutely no reason why a large farmer should not be made to pay tax yet no politician today has the guts to tax the big farmers simply because they would lose votes.

Income tax holiday
Industries got tax breaks in their initial years which is understandable. What is not acceptable is that even after they have grown into some of India’s largest and most profitable companies they clamour for the tax breaks to be continued. An example is IT companies. Their attitude is akin to the reservation policy. One you get it you don’t want to lose it. Incidentally they are at the first to say there should be no reservations in private sector.

DTAA
The big daddy of all tax anomalies. While the objective is right the implementation is totally flawed. Alongwith the foreign investors who ‘should’ be given tax breaks to invest in India we have many Indians taking advantage of these provisions. Firstly, there are Indian corporates who set up subsidiaries in tax havens like Mauritius and transfer money there. Then these subsidiaries invest in India and it is called FDI!!!! Then there are our politicians and businessmen who bring back their ill-gotten black money to India through a long chain of transactions involving Swiss banks and other crooks of the world. Then they either earn tax-free profits or sell their investments to the Indian promoters (read themselves) at a loss. And behold. The money is now white in the hands of the Indian promoter.

These are just a few instances. But look at these and you know why these loopholes won’t go away. Their beneficiaries are sitting right there in parliament

Truly a great opposition

The opposition parties in India are so predictable. They will criticize each and every decision taken by the govt. Take for instance the recent price hike in petro-products. Opposition parties wasted no time in calling press conferences to show their ‘sympathy’ for the common man who will be ‘unnecessarily’ burdened with the hike which is a result of failure of the govt!!!!! Sadly, they will win votes for this when infact they should be penalized for waste of petro-products in calling those press conferences. Think of how much energy could have been saved. The BJP stalwarts in Delhi and Indore went one step further. They protested on horseback and bullock-carts. I felt so sorry for those poor animals when I saw them on TV burdened with the weight of more people than they can carry. Where was PETA?

Coming to the current instance I do not see any way out for the central govt. other than raising prices. It reduced central taxes also. It is the state govts who now levy a majority of the tax on petro-products. And most of them didn’t reduce taxes. Ms Mayawati even went to the extent of holding a press conference to announce that she wouldn’t lower taxes. And reiterated that the centre was solely to blame. What irks me is that no one offered any alternate way out. If you don’t like something offer an alternative course of action. Don’t jus criticize.

Another instance is the 123 agreement. We are faced with a huge shortage of power which is only going to worsen going forward. Nuclear power can only add trickles to the flood we are in need of but atleast it will help.

If this is going to remain the state of affairs then I do not see much hope for our country. Ofcourse we will prosper despite our politicians but I think the rich will become richer and the poor will remain where they are.

Shameful Day for Cricket

The turn of events in the 2^nd Aus-Ind test has left even a non-enthusiast like me disappointed and fuming. There are 2 issues which rankle me – the gross umpiring ‘errors’ and Ricky Ponting’s behaviour during Dada’s dismissal and the punishment meted out to Bhajji.

By media accounts there were 9 umpiring errors during the match and the Indians were at the receiving end of all of them (barring one). Of these I have seen only the crucial dismissals of Dravid and Ganguly. And they both look gross errors. Especially the way Ganguly was given out. The umpire gave him out based on what Ponting had to say. It was as if Ponting was the umpire!!! The fact that Ponting could say that the catch was clean when replays show otherwise just proves to what extent the Aussies will go to win a match. Utterly despicable and dishonest behaviour. The commentators kept saying such errors happen and that we have the benefit of technology, the umpires don’t. Bullshit. The umpires can always ask the 3^rd umpire. Especially in a situation like in today’s match they should have used it. It was their duty. That this might also not have helped is an entirely different matter. Even when Andrew Symonds’ stumping was referred to the 3^rd umpire, he was given not out by the 3^rd umpire (who incidentally was an Australian) when television replays showed he was out (the same technology was used by the 3^rd umpire to give him not out). This is the Aussie sportsmanship and honesty.

Then there is the issue of alleged racial comments made by Bhajji against Symonds. Firstly there is no proof of the same. It will be interesting to see what proof the ICC has to show us. Secondly, racist slurs have been a part of the Aussies’ cricket lingo for long. Why have they never been punished? Till the Aussies were the masters of sledging there were no rules against it. When others caught up with them rules have been enforced. And selectively at that. No doubt Bhajji should be punished if he made those comments, but show us the proof. And punish all who err. Rules should be for everyone.

All-in-all it was a sad day for cricket.

Withering City

Mumbai, the city of dreams and of opportunities, the ‘Numero Uno’ city of India till a few years back, the future financial hub of Asia according to some, is stagnating. While other cities like Delhi, Banglore, Pune, are moving ahead by leaps and bounds Mumbai continues to live in the stone age with roads full of potholes, public transport which is so cramped that if animals were transported this way PETA would raise a stink, and filth and encroachment all around.

I keep reading about how other cities have been slowly improving. But it had not prepared me for the shock I got when I went to New Delhi last week for a conference. The infrastructure there is so vastly superior to that in Mumbai. Flyovers dotted the entire stretch of road from the airport to my hotel in Green Park, and all the way to the conference in Pragati Maidan. Further, the roads were 3-5 lanes on each side with proper footpaths and even had side-roads. So wide were the roads that even where the work for Metro phase-2 was going on there was still enough road left for cars to cruise along and there was also some greenery at the sides at many places. In Mumbai we have only a few roads which can match these – the Western and Eastern Express Highways and some small stretches in Sounth Mumbai!!!!

The roads in Delhi were so clean; in comparison Mumbai’s roads are filthy and full of potholes and encroachments, besides being narrow. If only Delhi could improve its law and order situation it would be the city to live in. During 3 days of reading Delhi newspapers there were 7-8 rape cases reported and even a survey which revealed that 80% of women of Delhi feel unsafe even in malls :-O . Even the general law and order situation is said to be bad with everyone linked to some politician or babu and hence having a license to get away with breaking the law.

I think the difference is due to 2 factors – one that Delhi is the National Capital and has a separate government of its own, and that somehow the people there must have shown less apathy to the city’s development than Mumbaikars do (consequently the politicians know they must do some work atleast). Whatever failings Sheila Dikshit might have I think she deserves credit for doing something for the city’s development during the last few years she has been in power. Otherwise this transformation would not have been possible.

In Mumbai the governance system is in shambles. We have multiple agencies doing the same work and they can conveniently blame each other for the lapses. An example is roads where BMC, MMRDA and MREDC all do some work or rather don’t do any, and then blame the others for it. Land development again is controlled by BMC, MMRDA and MHADA. If someone wants to learn how to play passing the buck then please go to Mumbai’s administration.

The corruption in the BMC is so rampant and the hold of the builders, contractors and the goons on the police and administration so strong that it seems to be a herculean task to get anything done right. The only thing the BMC ever does is either dole out more and more FSI to builders or de-reserve land meant for public amenities for private developers. They allowed the development of mill land without the city getting much out of it. We lost a golden opportunity to get some public space. The argument of the mill land owners that the land is theirs so they should have freedom to do whatever they want is a sham. The land was sold to them at low rates in early 1900’s for a purpose – to put up textile mills. If they are not using it for that purpose the land should revert back to the government with some compensation being paid to them.

There is one thing these people are shielding behind – a total lack of transparency and accountability. For example we never get to know how road contracts are being awarded, what are the responsibilities of the contractor, whom do we contact in case the work is not being done properly, etc. Ideally for each work a sign should be put up beside each site mentioning the name of the contractor, how much has the contract been awarded for, what are the timelines within which the work must be completed and who in the BMC is responsible for supervising whether the work is being done properly. So many times I have seen roads dug up with no made progress for days and shoddily made roads which crack in a few days and present another opportunity to award a repair contract to someone. There is absolutely no system of accountability.

The administration is actually opposed to further development of the city. And it makes sense given they have proved incompetent to handle the current development. The expansion of Mumbai port is being opposed on the grounds that it will lead to more congestion. Well, the solution is to go out and build a better transport network rather than oppose the expansion!!!!

Another problem plaguing Mumbai is encroachments. And the politicians like Kripashankar Singh who consider them their vote banks and stall every effort to evict them. So first we had pre-1991 encroachments regularized. Then 1995, 2000 and now our CM has gone a step ahead and plans to make it 2006. Why don’t they just declare that anyone in the country is free to come to Mumbai and encroach anywhere upto 2050 (after which a further extension will be considered favourably). It will save so much of time wasted in deliberating the issue every time even when we know the outcome. To give you an example when airport expansion was underway a minister opposed rehabilitation of slums which had encroached on AAI land and said “The slums will remain here; you can shift the airport elsewhere”

Then there is the filth. Travel on Harbour Line and you will wonder whether this is the city which dreams of being world class. Slams surround the tracks at many places (without doubt they have some politician protecting them) and you have mounds of litter on both sides. It is not just the poor who litter. People throw things out of trains/ buses as if the tracks/ roads are a waste bin. Then you have people spitting ‘paan’ and ‘tambaku’ anywhere and everywhere without looking where they are and who it lands on as long as it is not them or their own house.

And finally there is apathy. No one has time to right any wrong being done, no time to raise a voice. We have had an instance of a rape happening in a train while fellow passengers simply looked on!!! People litter the roads and we simply look on. Rules are broken rampantly and we simply look on helplessly.

I do not accept the argument that since Mumbai is an island there is less scope for expansion and hence it keeps getting more cramped. Common, Vashi and Kandivli today are equidistant from CST/ Churchgate and still people prefer Kandivli to Vashi. And we may have had the trans-harbour link coming up years ago if the administration felt connectivity was such an issue. It has more to do with the mindset than with distance. Where there is a will to grow a city will find a way to do it.

The people of Mumbai need to wake up otherwise their beloved city will continue its slump downwards. Forget Shaghai, it won’t even find a mention in the good cities of India, leave alone the world.

We have a thousand Haneefs

India had no right to make the brouhaha it did about the detention of Haneef in Australia. Here we have thousands of people lodged in our jails waitng for a trial, many even waiting for a chargesheet to be filed against them. Recently one of the bomb blasts accused was acquitted after spending many years in jail. Where is our media when their lives are being wasted without reason?

You cannot deny that Australian legal system functions much better than the one in India. Haneef would have eventually been freed (very soon in all probability). Instead of throwing stones at others we need to first put our house in order.

Selective Justice

The sentencing of Sanjay Dutt brings an end to the saga of India’s worst terror attack. Though it took 14 long years, it is commendable that for once our system managed to punish the guilty (agreed that the main conspirators are still freely roaming, most probably in Pakistan). Whether Sanjay Dutt deserved 6 years in jail or not is also open to debate but this is the first instance where I think there are no allegations against the police or judiciary of partiality or bungling up.

Which makes one think – why can’t other high profile cases be dealt with similarly. Set an example for all. Why is justice being delivered selectively?

Remember the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the 1992 post-Babri riots and the recent 2002 Gujarat carnage? It is 23 years since the 1984 riots. Have the guilty been brought to book? No, some of them sit in parliament today. Then, there can be no denying that the 1992 Mumbai riots were the trigger for the bomb blasts. True, one wrong cannot be righted by another wrong. But both those wrongs should be punished. Only then can the system be called just. But no government has had the political will to make any progress on this. It is a politicl minefield for them and unfortunately even the judiciary seems to have been reluctant to take suo moto action in these cases. And forget about those responsible for the 2002 genocide in Gujarat being punished. If RSS has its way it would happily make that person the Prime Minister of India. So much for justice. Till the time law is applied selectively there will always be dissent amongst those who were denied justice, and I am pretty sure more terrorists will be born. So there is no need to rejoice over the sentencing in th bomb blasts case. On the other hand we need to worry about the repercussions of this 'Selective Justice'

Mumbai meets its Waterloo

It wasn’t 26/7 but it surely washed away BMC’s claims of being prepared for the monsoons. More importantly it put a serious question mark on Mumbai’s dreams of being the next financial hub. A city which shuts down many times during a year can in no way be a financial hub.

The BMC claims helplessness against heavy rains but that is all hogwash. They say where there is a way there is a way. And the major obstacles that stand in the way of Mumbai’s dreams are lack of accountability and transparency and most of all a lack of will to do what it takes.

The BMC claims that Mumbai’s drainage system is capable of draining only 40 mm per hours and if it rains more than that flooding is inevitable. And if it rains during high tide time then even that 40 mm will not drain into the sea. Infact as the images of 30/6 show sea water will flood the city and people can actually fish as they did at Milan Subway on 306 (This was one refreshing sight thanks to Star News)

This begs the question why haven’t we done anything to remedy this. One obvious answer is to increase the capacity of the drainage system. But the BMC says that would take too much money and it is not feasible spend so much just prevent 3-5 days of flooding each year. Hello!!! Do these people understand economics? Each day of flooding means an economic loss of hundreds of crores of rupees which would be prevented if people were able to reach their workplaces. This more than compensates the cost of overhauling the drainage system.

And even if the drainage system cannot be widened have they ever thought of installing high capacity pumps which might be able to draw water through it at say 2-3 times the normal flow and pump it far away into the sea. Ofcourse this would also necessitate throwing the water either far out into the sea or towards the eastern or northern side of the city so that it is not directly against the flow of the sea. I am not an engineer but am pretty sure such a system can be designed. Yes it will involve buying high capacity pumps and require huge power but this is the least expected of a wannabe financial hub.

The other issue is of flooding in many areas even when there is a little bit of rain. Obviously here the problem is that either the water is not able to reach the drainage system or the drains are clogged. Now each a lot of money is spent on declogging the drains. When does this work start? In end of May. Excellent, just when the rains are to arrive. And where is all the silt kept? Just besides the manhole to dry so that when it (unexpectedly) rains the silt is again washed into the very drains it was removed from. How naïve can they get L

So if you are incapable of removing the silt why not prevent it from going into the drain. Well, to BMC’s credit it did try. It banned thin plastic bags which are a major culprit. But it failed miserably in implementing the ban. As a result these bags are back in circulation and must be finding their way into the drains as before. Here I must admit we, the citizens, are the real culprits.

Another problem is open manholes. BMC simply is unable to procure good quality manholes so they break often. And when the manholes do manage to bear the traffic they are stolen. Either way you will find many open manholes which citizens are able to avoid in normal weather but when everything is under water there is no way you can spot them.

Then there are poorly made roads and pavements which give way easily during the rains and make the ordeal of navigating the roads even tougher. Does BMC ever fine those who did that shoddy work? Yeah, I might be doing so but then it gives the contract to (shoddily) rebuild those roads to the same people. You should see the newly built roads and pavements in the suburbs. Even after spending much more time than is really needed to make them the finishing is so poor that you would be inclined to withdraw the engineering degree or whatever those people have obtained.

There are so many simple things which can be done to make life easier for Mumbaikars during the rains. Though the Met Dept fails miserably at giving the next day’s forecast I believe it is very much capable of giving an accurate prediction of rains for the next 1-2 hours. If only a medium was made available for them to get the forecast across to the people. The trains are the lifeline of Mumbai. Surely some system can be designed to prevent flooding on the tracks (like pumps). And the clogged drains, manholes and poor roads can also be taken care of easily. It won’t cost them a single paisa more. Only the BMC officials will have to stop filling their pockets and put their foot down for once. Just watch how the quality of work would improve.

Frankly it all is a matter of will which the administration has failed to show time and again.

Water and Gas

A very pertinent article pointing out how the priorities of developed and developing countries differ and why they should work together to save mother earth

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/LEADER_ARTICLE_Death_By_Water/articleshow/2041744.cms

LEADER ARTICLE: Death By Water
14 May, 2007 l 0009 hrs ISTlARUN MAIRA

The hottest issue on the planet this summer is climate change by global warming. Several reports have put the issue on the front burner - Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, Nick Stern's assessment of the economic impacts of climate change, and the IPCC's exhaustive analysis of its causes and potential solutions. Leaders must act with haste because they may already be too late. Indian Parliament took up the issue on May 8.

The heightened pressure for action is creating political fissures. The industrial nations acknowledge they have created the problem. While they enhanced their economic might, they overused and misused resources, building a huge stack of green-houses in the earth's atmosphere.

To which, these nations say, the developing nations dare not add any more and therefore must now find new technologies and new ways to develop their economies. "The truth about climate change policy", writes Lawrence Summers, "is that deve- loping countries are where most of the action must be". Their economies are growing and using more energy and natural resources (albeit more frugally than the rich nations when they grew) and in the process many millions are rising out of poverty. In fact, faster economic growth rather than direct assistance to the poor is the mantra that economists like Summers preach. So what is the way out now?

The reality is that climate change is everybody's problem, whosoever caused it. Both rich countries and developing ones will have to change policies and adopt new technologies. While asking their citizens for support to stop further damage to the environment, western leaders ask them, 'What is the world you want to bequeath your grandchildren'? Such an appeal is too far out for India's masses.

They are anxious about their conditions here and now - their jobs, their incomes, and inflation in prices (especially of food). They are also concerned about nutrition, health, and education of the children they already have - not their grandchildren to come. For Indians, in cities and villages, the urgent environmental issue is not the dwindling of polar ice and Himalayan glaciers. It is the water that is no longer flowing in their taps (if they have them), their dwindling rivers and ponds, and the falling water table. For them, water for drinking, cooking, sanitation, and growing food, and not greenhouse gases, is the urgent environmental issue.

The environment (and climate) is a global system. Like God (for the believers), it touches people everywhere. As with God, we must make our connections to the environment and climate in our own ways. Therefore, if we want the issue of climate change to unite and not divide us, we must be free to approach it in ways that matter to each of us, so long as the solutions we find do not prevent others from obtaining theirs.

Delhi's government is struggling to find water for its citizens. It is appealing to neighbouring states that are also strained to find water for their own towns and farmers. Many other Indian states are quarrelling with each other for dwindling water sources which they share. Even in Florida, southern Australia, and western USA - all rich regions of the world - access to water has become a divisive issue between communities and states.

India must take a lead in finding solutions to the global environmental crisis. Indian leaders will need the support of the country's people to make the policy changes required. Issues must be framed appropriately to make the right emotional connections when support is required for tough decisions. For many in India and elsewhere in the developing world, the environmental crisis is immediately and mostly about water. It is not so much about energy and emissions - which form the core of the climate change agenda in western minds.

Therefore, while 'climate change' may be the right way to represent the environmental crisis to people in developed countries, water must take centre stage to win more support from India's masses. Climate change may sound a bit up in the air to people struggling to have water here and now. In fact, the problem of global governance, according to political scientist Robert Dahl, is that decisions about issues like global trade and global warming are being taken by clubs of global elites who are not sufficiently connected with the masses in their own countries.

No doubt, India and China will have to address issues of energy and emissions. Solutions to these problems along with solutions to the water crisis will require innovations and investments. Capital to fund these innovations must flow to developing countries from the developed countries that have accumulated the capital as they grew their economies by processes which, they admit, have damaged the environment.

The rich should consider it their moral responsibility to provide financial support to developing countries on issues concerning global warming - and not adopt a typical financier's approach. Finally, because India, the world's largest democracy, must take the lead in finding practical solutions, its leaders (and the global elite) must consider that sustainable livelihoods and water (along with energy) matter as much or more to its people than abstractions of climate change and economics.

The writer is a management consultant.

Some logic at last

Much has been said in the past few months about the flaws in the Mandal Commission’s conclusion that 52% of India’s population is OBC. For the first time someone has made an attempt to defend it. The writer is SS Gill, member-secretary, Mandal Commission. Read the article at

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/Counting_caste/articleshow/2019868.cms

SS Gill takes pains to elucidate how the Mandal Commission identified indicators of social backwardness, most of which were economic indicators. He claims the sample was adequate and representative and hence correctly identified the Backward Castes. He then justifies using the 1931 census data to identify their percentage in the population by arguing that the proportion of various groups in the Indian population should have more or less remained the same. So once OBCs have been identified on the basis of ‘objective’ criteria their proportion can then be extrapolated from the 1931 census. Simple!!! But flawed!!

The Mandal survey was carried out in 1978. 30 years have gone by since then and Indians’ average income and standard of living has risen. Many of the castes would no longer qualify as OBC on the basis of the same criteria used by the Mandal Commission.

The second objection of anti-quota protestors is that quota, if any, should be for backward people and not backward castes. The creamy layer of the backward castes should be excluded and by the same logic backward people of the ‘forward’ castes should be eligible for the quota. Neither Mandal Commission nor the Govt. has an answer to this

Now this is news!!!!

A French bulldog feeds a 2-week old baby Bengal tiger, which was rejected by its mother at Shirotori zoo in Japan. The dog is nursing the baby tiger as if it were his biological mother


2 brothers


2 roosters play with a rubber ball in Shenyang, China. They regularly play with the ball ever since the owner found it 3 months ago

Nimra, a one year old cat, sits with her kittens and seven chicks in Amman. Nimra has been taking care of the chicks after their mother's death a month ago

US Hypocricy

"With two carrier strike groups in the Gulf, we're sending clear messages to friends and adversaries alike," – Dick Cheney says in an apparent warning to Iran.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/05/11/cheney-warns-iran-with-_n_48248.html

These kinds of statements will just give more ammo to the hardliners in Iran. Cheney is a fool if he thinks this will intimidate Iran into backing off on the nuclear stand-off.

Which brings me to the issue of who is right on the nuclear weapons issue? As much as I admire so many aspects of American society today and abhor the regressive Arab society, I am very uncomfortable with the US foreign policy and its self-arrogated role of policeman of the world.

When the US and other nuclear powers continue to hold their nuclear weapons it is downright unfair of them to expect others not to pursue the same. Every country, no matter what kind of regime is there, has the right to defend itself and pursue all means for the same. The US has no right to ask Iran or North Korea to abandon their weapons programs, leave alone India and Pakistan. And why is it quiet about Israel’s weapons. Just because it is an ally?

A related issue is the US’s doublespeak on freedom, human rights and democracy. No one should be fooled into believing that the US believes in upholding these. The only thing US foreign policy strives for is US interests which, frankly speaking, is what every country should strive for. And in keeping with this policy the US has ignored human rights violations by allies (Israel being the prime example) and has plotted against democratically elected governments which were anti-US (lots of examples here incl. many South American leftist govts.). It has also propped up and tolerated autocratic regimes friendly to itself. Don’t forget that the US supported Saddam and Iraq up to the Gulf War just because he was anti-Iran. The irony is that Saddam was a dictator and in Iran there was a popular regime which, though not elected, had the people’s support. What was Iran’s crime? That it had thrown out an unpopular ruler who was friendly to the US and put in place a dispensation which was anti-US (what else can you expect if you were the biggest supporter of the unpopular ruler). And we can’t forget it’s misadventure in Afghanistan which has fuelled Islamic terrorists and its continued support for autocratic Pakistan (incl. threatening democratic India with a warship in the 1971 war. Thank God the Russians thwarted them)

The US can say whatever it wants but it doesn’t care a fig about others, it only cares for its self interest. Unfortunately it takes a short-term view on securing its interests and those actions return to haunt it later.

India is no saint on these fronts but I will write about that some other time.

Media's Folly

Today's ET carries an article '166.5 MV - That's Centre's Generous Contribution to help state tide over 6000 MV shortfall'. It calls this an irony and the amount of electricity offered 'ridiculous'.

Hullo!!! Are other states supposed to cut their share of power just because Maharashtra has ignored power for years and according to reports it doesn't look like it is taking it seriously now either. The progress on new power plants in Maharashtra is very slow.

Sometimes the Media in trying to make an article 'sensational' ends up giving a completely wrong picture

Should industries be given free land?

An MLA in Karnataka has once again accused Infosys of being hungry for land. This is an issue which rears its head every once in a while but no one has a solution for it.

The rationale for giving land free or cheap to industries is that once they set up shop they will create employment in that area and also brings other benefits too. The project will not be feasible if they have to pay market prices for the land.

The main argument against this is that years later when the area has developed these companies can sell it off at exorbitant rates thus turning them into real estate companies!! Just look at the mills in Mumbai which got land for free. Today their promoters have shut shop and are selling the land for hundreds of crores. Is this fair? Certainly not.

The solution is to lease the land, not give it away. It can be a long term lease renewable at the option of the company as long as it operates there. No sub-lease rights allowed. Companies will argue that the money they put in to develop the land will go waste if they decide to shift out. To take care of that we can have a clause whereby the property will be sold and the company will get the development cost plus interest from the sale proceeds and the government keeps the rest. Fair enuff.

Another allegation by politicians is that some companies ask for more land than they think is required. Politicians say the state should not be giving land for recreational facilities et al which companies like Infosys provide to the employees. How come they forget all the facilities they have the state provide for them? Also the company may be asking for more land keeping in mind future expansion plans. What if the govt. doesn’t give more land then? It is better to take it all at once. In this case the company should reveal its future plans in advance. It can be given the extra land then with a provision that if it does not develop it as originally envisaged then it will revert back to the government.

Powerless Maharashtra

For years now Maharashtra has been facing a power crisis. The government (whichever party is in power) only makes noises about it but does precious little. They are still pinning their hopes on restarting the Dabhol project which has been a white elephant for long. Agreed an asset has been built and you should try to utilize it. But not if it is going to cost you more over the years than if you build a new plant with coal as the fuel.

But through all this Mumbai has been kept insulated. Though Mumbaikars like me rejoice at this it is blatantly unfair to the rest of Maharashtra. What sin has the rest of Maharashtra committed? I’m sure that if this goes on for some more time there will be major protests against it.

If this goes on it will further weaken Maharashtra attractiveness to industries. Already TN, Gujarat and others are either snapping at its heel or have overtaken it as far as new investments are concerned. It would be sad to see it go the way of West Bengal if things don’t improve.