Translate

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

US to tax carbon-rich Indian goods

Can you imagine a green house gas guzzler proposing to tax “carbon-rich” Indian goods – just proves that recession has not only hit the US economy but also the brains of the US House of Representatives! The US ranks 10th in the per capita carbon dioxide emission stakes with 22.2 metric tons per person per year whereas India ranks low down at 133 with just 1.2 metric tons per person per year. By putting in provisions to tax goods from countries that do not impose curbs on green house gas emissions, the intent of the US legislation is to target India and China whose economies do not seem to have been so badly hit by the recession. India is saying that there can be no linkage between trade and environment and that the US move smacks of protectionism which is true – as the US is trying to extract a dollar from developing countries for having over the years degraded the environment willfully. It is the classic US strategy to first take advantage and then cry foul once they realize that such issues can no longer be used to their advantage.

The biggest gas guzzlers are the record number of gas guzzling SUV’s which ply the US roads, why not stop them from running for starters. Most houses in the west and mid west of the US have been built with wood imported from the Far East by degrading the forests in those poor countries for which today a carbon tax will be levied! The maximum wasteful consumption of power is in the US, just take a look at the photograph which shows the global carbon footprint based on data collected, collated and calculated by the US Department of Energy's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), mostly based on data collected from country agencies by the United Nations Statistics Division.

The logic for imposing the tax is also a bit weird – apparently caps will be imposed on emissions from different sectors, which would result in increasing the cost of products emerging from such sectors. Similarly if other countries do not impose such caps their products will be cheaper and hence US products will not be able to compete on an equal footing! This is probably one of the biggest con being sold to the world – what does the US manufacture today apart from military goods (basically destructive), large cars, outer space machines etc – the goods used by the average Joe are all imported – just go to any store in the US and you will see what I mean. Clothes, jewelry, chocolates, food stuffs are all imported – why are they imported? Because they are way cheaper than what the US can produce them for. These guys have probably not read Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat” and why the global economy cannot but be integrated with countries having certain skills supplying their products to others and buying from other countries what they themselves cannot produce. There is no reason for the US to import goods from developing countries if they have the wherewithal to manufacture goods in adequate quantities economically enough to satisfy the demand of their own population. The US economy is a wasteful consumption based, litigious economy with companies unwilling to manufacture retail products for the fear of being sued for frivolous reasons, hence the dependence on imports. All products come with a shelf life, hence unsold products are scrapped after the sell by date, thus resulting in more waste in material as well as green house gases due to the wasteful consumption pattern.

The very idea of taxing other countries indicates that the US is probably going bankrupt financially as well as intellectually!

Shiney Ahuja and his Bail Application

I have been consciously avoiding this topic as it has been milked dry by both the visual and written media due to the perpetrator being an upcoming movie star. With the DNA forensic results out in the open, it will be very difficult to get bail as the results have conclusively proved that Shiney Ahuja’s stars and a lot else are not shining any more. Kudos to his wife for standing up for him unflinchingly, showing faith in her “Man” – but a lot of introspection would probably be required on her part to realize for herself why her “Man” has done what he did.

The bail petition which has been put up by Shiney’s lawyer talks of four grounds on which he should be granted bail – a) he has no criminal antecedents, b) hails from a good family, c) his career is at stake and he has two upcoming film shoots next month, d) consensual act cannot be termed rape. After the DNA test reports are out, there is no reason why he should be granted bail as the law should be equally applicable to all (I know it is wishful thinking in India, but still…) – the test reports conclusively prove that the act was indulged in, the injuries on both the persons prove that it was not consensual as claimed by Shiney.

Let us go through each ground for bail – no criminal antecedent – yes it is a ground for bail but not in a violent crime like rape – a first time offence indulged in violence which included violation of the victims’ human rights, specially of a person who is a domestic worker and a teenager to boot with her whole life ahead of her. This was a pre-meditated act of a person who has probably been frustrated over time – so even a first time offence should be looked at severely due to the nature of the crime. The second reason cited does not hold any legal grounds for granting bail – it is a tragedy that a good family has given birth to a person who could carry out such a bestial act! I feel sorry for the guys parents, wife and kids. The third reason granted is the most arrogant of them all – his fledgling career could suffer and he needed to complete his films. The films can go for a toss if you ask me – the producers can surely find a replacement for him – I do not know which heroine would want to act opposite such a guy knowing that the guy had recently raped a helpless domestic. The last reason has been proved invalid with the forensic report on the DNA analysis!

The arrogance of people with money and some kind of clout was on display all along, with his wife claiming that her husband was a good guy and was lured into a honey trap and raped by the domestic! This was the most ridiculous reason given – she most likely was in denial – and wanted to show public support – this I can understand but in doing so she was painting her husband as the victim and the helpless violated victim as the criminal. Earlier, during interrogation in police custody, the actor allegedly broke down after the medical reports confirmed that the maid has been raped. “The maid resisted but I forced her into it. I told her that she should stay mum. I was confident that she would not tell anyone of the incident and I was ready to give her whatever she wanted to make sure that she would keep quite. I have made a grave mistake," Shiney had confessed.

In my opinion this sorry episode should be got done and over with as soon as possible with justice seen to be done and the victim compensated. This should be made a fit case for the rights of women in India – and justice should be seen to be delivered. I cannot imagine the plight of the girl – knowing India and the society we live in she will most likely be ostracized by her own people instead of being supported. Being from a poor family, it is most likely that she may be asked to withdraw her complaint for adequate monetary compensation which will be taken away by parasitic members of her family. She will most likely end up being further abused and violated by male members in the vicinity of her residence as they would probably think that she is easy taking. I am sorry if I am saying this, but it is the truth, the convoluted male mind thinks like this. Nobody talks about the rights of the victim, unless the victim comes from a good family and has the clout to demand justice – let the courts make this a show piece event and ensure that the girl gets justice and the perpetrator is punished in a way which will deter people contemplating such crimes to desist from going ahead! This could be a REAL – “reality show” with serious issues at stake

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Business of Education

It is that time of the year when children are deciding and fretting over which college to join, which course to take up, which profession should they opt for and such career deciding choices. We have probably the worlds’ largest educated population which is the envy of the world as the population is young and considered to be productive, thus supposedly giving an edge to the country. One needs to go slightly deeper into the system to find out the quality of education which is being dumped on the masses. It is a fact that the country has undergone a change from agrarian economy to a State supported manufacturing economy to the current services economy – and we have reached that stage in a very short span of 62 years post independence.

Our leaders have tinkered around with education without understanding the concept of good, productive education – rules are made and overturned time and again ad infinitum ad nauseum without having any regard to the effect of those decisions on the vast majority of students. Today there are private universities which are given deemed (or is doomed a better word) university status, completely by-passing the norms laid down by the Government for giving recognition to such Universities! With blanket approvals given for recognizing deemed universities, it appears that the Government is giving the quality of education a complete go by! The last Congress Government has given recognition to 55% of the total deemed Universities in the country! A huge number to have been accorded recognition in the past five years – was the Congress raking in money for the elections which have just taken place putting them in power? Is this the price we have paid for this government?

World over higher education has been the forte of the state not of private universities. Globally too, the private sector has seen opportunities in higher education, but there have been fewer takers in comparison to India. In the US private Universities constitute 59.4% of higher education, but only 23.2% students choose to study in these Universities. In a study by Ved Prakash, vice chancellor of the National University of Education Planning and Administration he has noted that between 2002 and 2006, deemed universities grew by a whopping 96%, in the same time span, central and state universities grew by a modest 11% and 22% respectively.

As in everything else education is also seeing a major mushrooming of corruption taking place – seats can be bought for a price – is it the cost we are having to pay for giving more disposable income in the hands of the people. India’s economic condition may be improving but its adherence to norms of acceptable social behavior seems to be going down. We have people with money sending their wards to Australia for an education, because they can afford it and their wards cannot compete in India – they get bashed up for it – and we raise a hue and a cry. Private engineering colleges which used to constitute 15% of seats in 1960, now account for over 85% according to the data furnished by All India Council for Technical Education. From a miniscule base in 1970, medical colleges in the private sector have grown by an eye-popping 900%, the private sector today accounts for more than 45% of medical colleges in the country.

A majority of these colleges are owned by politicians – with one well known politician running more than a 100 educational institutions, as per a study by Sanat Kaul in 2006. It is an open secret that the politicians allot public land to Trusts owned by them at a fraction of the land cost, build colleges and run them as commercial business enterprises – wherein the caliber of the student does not matter but the weight of his parents wallet does! The rapid growth of this sector has seen unabated increase in capitation fees – this is not because of a rise in middle class pressure or demand, but rather to the entrepreneurial activities of politicians. Unfortunately, even the Supreme Court has commented on the extent of corruption which is rampant in private universities dishing out professional courses.

I have written earlier about how policemen/municipal workers have to bribe their way into getting a job – they borrow heavily at usurious interest rates and have no choice but to be corrupt to pay off their loans thereby perpetuating a vicious circle. The same scenario exists in higher education but with a slightly dangerous twist. Let me explain – imagine a person who obtains 40% marks in his graduation but pays his way to a medical seat in a private University – the private University is taking a minimum of Rs. 25 lacs as capitation fees and between Rs. 2.5 to Rs. 10 lacs towards the complete course fees. After taking so much money they end up giving the student a medical degree, what happens when this “doctor” gets a job, he probably ends up operating on a kidney instead of a liver! There are enough such cases which today are seeing an increasing trend. Similarly engineering degrees can be bought for a price – so we could have bridge collapses and building collapses which could be the end result. The point I am trying to make is the poor cop or municipal worker pays his way into a job and becomes corrupt to repay his loan, but in higher education we have the corrupt getting a higher education and then coming out as a threat to society – such doctors and engineers will affect the health and lives of others! If we do not bring in control now, it will be too late. Are we becoming a nation of qualified quality professionals offering topnotch services or are we destined to be a nation of mediocre professionals offering death services instead of health services and collapsible structures instead of long lasting ones! You tell me!

Can we save Mumbai from slums

The Government in Maharashtra has done what was expected due to the forthcoming State Assembly Elections – it has extended the cut off date for slums from 1995 to 2000 and to hell with the Court Orders! Political expediency always prevails – long term solutions are way beyond the mental capacity of our leaders/dealers. By extending the cut off, we are now going to give free housing to an estimated 250000 people – at what and whose cost? Does the city have the infrastructure to support its existing population? Today we are facing a 20% water cut due to the delay in the monsoons, roads are no longer roads but a series of potholes, garbage disposal is more a headache, construction debris is dumped on the only green cover left in the city, the marshlands – with the builder-police-politician nexus turning a blind eye. So where are we heading? Why do our politicians not look for solutions which are obvious? The only reason is lucre – filthy lucre with which our so called leaders have been blinded – self aggrandizement is all that they can do! So what can we do to try and resolve the Slumbai tag for Mumbai!

Abandon Mumbai. Get out of there. It is not livable anymore. The geography of Mumbai does not allow any further expansion. Amendments to laws, more flyovers, slum demolitions, multiplexes, traffic restrictions - nothing can save Mumbai. It is a piddly little island surrounded by water with land so precious that the more you try to clean up its infrastructural problems, the demand would just as easily fill it up. There is no way you can provide affordable housing for the middle class in Mumbai - forget affordable housing for the slum-dwellers. The land is too precious for that. The average Mumbai citizen will stay in the suburbs, and travel to his office in town in the morning in the millions, and travel back in the evening by local trains and buses. Nothing can change that. Unless you take Mumbai out of Mumbai. Do to Mumbai what Noida and Gurgaon did to New Delhi. Satellite towns with facilities. Places where the offices and companies can shift to. There is no real reason why the government or any of the major private companies need to be in Mumbai city any more. The logistics of expanding Mumbai along the western line past Virar, on the central line past Thane and Kalyan and on the Harbour line, encompassing the ready and planned development of Navi Mumbai would be a lot easier than trying to solve the problems of Mumbai proper.

The only way out is to move out. Move the government out of Mumbai. Move the courts out of Mumbai. Embrace Kharghar, the upcoming city node in Navi Mumbai - supposed to be the second best designed city in India after Chandigarh. The Agricultural Produce Marketing Co-operative markets were moved out of Masjid Bunder years back, and the benefits it brought to the congestion there was huge. Stop giving people a reason to crowd closer and closer to Mumbai, and Mumbai's problems will be lessened.
Who has understood the benefits of moving out of Mumbai? Reliance, for one. Wipro. Tata Tele. Mumbai International Infotech Park. And more than a million people. What will happen to slum dwellers then? Right now, the slum dwellers are where they are because there is demand for them in the heart of Mumbai and in and around all the suburbs. The means for them to make a living are concentrated in Mumbai city. Spread it out. Do not allow any further constructions in Mumbai. Move government and all major institutions out. Spread them out beyond Panvel and Kalyan and Ambernath and Virar.

What would happen? The slum dwellers will move with the demand. Mumbai's population will move with their jobs and businesses. Land is relatively cheaper once you are out of Mumbai. Provide affordable and cheap housing in those places, and ensure that slums do not come up there - that is much easier than uprooting existing slums. For example, there are very few slums in Navi Mumbai. There are poor people there too, who work as our istriwallahs, bais and watchmen. But they have some kind of housing, and they are more or less legal. It is easier to ensure that there is no new land mafia than to try to rout the existing ones. The poor can't afford housing - but only in Mumbai. Once out of Mumbai, there are places for them to rent out, buy and live with proper planning and politicial initiative.

Face it. Mumbai will never be a Shanghai. It will not even be Mumbai. Leave Mumbai as the cultural and historical capital of Maharashtra. A place where we take our visiting guests to show them Hotel Taj, the Gateway of India, Victoria Terminus and Churchgate station. A place you visit to remember those days of pollution, traffic, slums and congestion. Let Mumbai out of its limits, let it breathe. So that millions of people - the middle classes and the slum-dwellers have a chance at something resembling a life.





Ref:BC Mathew article

Friday, June 19, 2009

US governments financial and military interventions

We have over the past few months seen some of the biggest names in corporate history biting the dust – lack of government oversight is given as one of the major reasons for the crumbling of the giants in US corporate history. Well that could be one of the reasons for sure – but was that not the beauty of it all – US democracy at its best – which meant that the businesses should run themselves and the business of government was governance! The problem with this was that the government adopted a blinkered approach to the financial sector which created more and more complex financial instruments with absolutely zero underlying to create a bubble which burst and whose aftermath is being felt by the real economy. During the growth phase of the bubble everything was hunky dory, but now the manufacturing sector is feeling the pressure. With the rupture of the financial sector there is no credit on offer to the manufacturing sector, thus the manufacturing sector is feeling the heat – who would have thought that General Motors would fold up? With a debt of US$ 175 billion (India’s forex reserves a couple of years ago were that much) the company had no choice but to file for bankruptcy with sales not picking up due to the demand downturn!

The new government under Obama is now becoming socialistic in its approach (what a turn around) and want major government financial oversight into business operations. The government over the past six months has been framing regulations to bring oversight on the operations of large firms whose excessive risk taking triggered a global economic slump. The question is whether the government can bring in the caliber of people required for oversight to operate effectively? In India we have seen that the more the oversight the greater the ingenuity of the people in working around the new regulations. We also know what this leads to – more litigation and the courts getting clogged with cases which go on for ever!

The political cost of bringing in such legislation is yet to be tested – if the US Congress passes the new oversight legislation it will a victory of sorts for Obama whose popularity has been going down since being elected. Reaction from Edward Yingling, CEO American Bankers Association “Administration’s proposal is so vast and controversial that it will be extremely difficult to enact and will produce great uncertainty in the financial markets” and that of David Hirschmann, President & CEO, US Chamber of Commerce’s Center of Capital Markets “We can’t simply insert new regulatory agencies and hope that we’ve covered our bases”. There is tremendous opposition to the new legislation and time will tell whether Obama will be able to pull off this legislative coup and the more difficult aspect of implementing the same.

In a similar vein the US government has been funding Pakistan to fight terrorism and turning a blind eye to the end use of money. The US Congress has passed a bill to fund Pakistan to fight the Taliban with no audit for end use of money – this is exactly what the Bush administration had done and India ended up facing the music with arms purchased with US funds. The question is whether the US is following a long term strategy or a short term one – history has shown that post world war II, every time the US poked it’s nose in another country it left with a bloody nose – Vietnam, Libya, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, forget the various African banana republics which its dirty tricks department has helped fund with dirty money! We have seen of late that home grown Islamic militants have started taking root in the US with two recent cases of random killings coming to the fore. If the US follows a blinkered policy of interference, they will ultimately end up self destructing – financially as well as militarily. This is because, if the US fails financially, they will probably try to use their military might to brow beat the rest of the world, which could lead to consequences which are too scary to contemplate. Obama and the US may find that killing fly’s is far simpler than trying to manage the mess which they are now creating.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Life becomes more complex for the average tax payer

The Income Tax department has in a phased manner made it mandatory for different categories of tax payers to file online tax returns over the past four years. Now it is mandatory for every individual also to file returns online. One would think that this saves paper, is eco-friendly and tax payer friendly as he now does not have to stand in an unending queue or be asked to go from one department office to another to file his tax return. It’s as simple as logging into http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal, logging in and uploading your tax return – well that’s what you thought. Till last year that is what was required of a tax payer, and the printed signed copy needed to be filed with the Income Tax Department in the ward of the assessee in his city of residence. The tax payer could get a copy of the acknowledgement stamped for hi/her record, which everyone concerned was now comfortable with. Guess what? New rules have been framed – which makes filing of your tax returns a tad more difficult.

It is now mandatory for you to file your tax returns after having the tax payer digitally signs the same! Can you imagine the shop keepers and various sundry small businessmen getting digital signatures at a cost of Rs. 1500 odd! I think all these rules are framed so that someone makes money on the side rather than to make life easy for the common man! Just imagine the amount the certifying authorities stands to make if all the 54 million PAN card holders are asked to get digital signatures. The actual tax payers as per latest available RTI data is 31.5 million, lets say 5 million already have digital signatures, that leaves you a potential market of Rs. 39750 crores for digital signature – some politician is getting to get a massive kick back for sure. Just 10% will constitute huge numbers!

Let’s get back to the problem on hand – the new rules specify that if you do not file your returns by affixing digital signature, then the ITR-V form generated after e-filing has to be printed, filled in and signed before being mailed to Bangalore (Income Tax Department, CPC, Post Box No 1, Electronic City Post Office, Bangalore560100, Karnataka). Before the rule change, the ITR-V form had to be submitted to the income-tax office in the taxpayer's city. Just imagine! Bangalore! Looks like the department thinks that every tax payer in the country stays in Bangalore! By mailing or couriering the hard copy to Bangalore, there is no real proof with the tax payer that the department has actually received the copy! The department has clarified that the a printed, signed copy of the e-return filed along with the courier receipt would constitute proof of the return having been filed! Can you imagine – instead of setting at ease the minds of the tax payers, the new rules will end up as a cause for worry with each person who files his e-return without a digital signature and mails the proof to the Bangalore office having to worry whether the returns have actually been taken on record. As the assessee can still file physical copies of the return in the city of residence, the only safe and viable option would be to file a physical return, instead of an e-return – we would be back to the good old days.

If the department wanted to be tax payer friendly a better solution would have been for the IT department to consider the electronically filed return as the final return, with the signed copy being used for verification.

The downside of sending returns to Bangalore are too many to be enumerated – the courier could lose the return, the courier could deliver the return, but the department may not file it appropriately, any number of things could happen – the end result of which would be that the department starts sending notices to people who have filed returns to submit copies of their return again! This has happened umpteen times in the past, continues to happen with the e-TDS returns, and we will now most likely end up facing this new nightmare. Jai Ho to all tax payers! Fasten your seat belts and get ready to go on another nightmarish ride!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Recalcitrant Air Traveler

Yesterday, I was witness to a very interesting incident at Delhi domestic terminal while checking in for my Jet Airways flight to Mumbai. I was waiting in queue along with my colleague for checking in, when I noticed a Sardarji (age 60+ along with his wife) in animated conversation with the executive at the counter. All counters were getting cleared fast, but the Sardarji refused to budge.

The lady at the counter was agitated as the Sardarji had already taken a boarding pass for himself and his wife by saying that they only had hand baggage. Apparently the argument was over whether the bag the Sardarji was carrying was hand baggage or not – bag size 24”x48”x12” - this was obviously not hand baggage! The executive had noticed the bag size after issuing the boarding pass and very politely told him that he cannot take that size bag into the seating area as it would not be allowed. The Sardarji was insisting that he would take it as he had done so before (personal jet maybe!). The lady was telling him to return the boarding pass and that she would book him on to the early morning flight the next day – apparently the couple were off to Goa for the weekend. The Sardarji said that the holiday was booked only for Saturday and Sunday night, hence he had to leave the same day else it was pointless. I wonder why he would travel in the evening if it was a weekend vacation, one would travel either on a Friday evening or Saturday early morning, but anyways that was not the case here.

The subsequent ideas given by the Sardarji would have been funny, if it had not been so tragic. He tried pleading, then force, then belligerence but the young lady would not give up, and not once did she lose her temper. She was very small and pretty maybe just four feet eight inches tall, but firm and polite – she should be given an award for tough customer handling! The Sardarji walked off with the bag saying what is the worst that will happen, they won’t let me get on the flight right, he said he will take that chance; then he told her she can take the bag in get the security check done after checking in and load the bag onto the aircraft (if that had happened it would prove that security at Indian airports is lax!), then he asked for a large plastic bag, in which he would unload the luggage from the big bag and carry as hand baggage – it did not strike him that he would have to leave his bag behind, when that was pointed out he ruled out the plastic bag.

This ping pong battle went on for quite some time, and the flight was getting delayed because this couple had checked in and not yet boarded! The Jet Air executive was getting really upset but still maintaining her cool – ultimately a supervisor landed up and told them that they could not carry that size bag into the cabin. The Sardarji actually with folded hands pleaded with the executives to let them go saying “if you want to help a customer, you can, but if you want to be difficult and have this attitude, there is nothing I can do”, he also mentioned to her that she should get the most customer friendly award and would ensure she got it by writing to Jet Airways about this incident.

The situation was salvaged by his wife, who was watching from the sidelines, she came and said that after all this headache she did not want to go to Goa, and please cancel the ticket. The Sardarji told the staff to cancel the ticket, I left my observer status and walked off for my flight. This was my dose of pre-flight entertainment, I did not think that someone could be so mule headed – you come late for your flight for check-in luggage, check in with only hand baggage, try to bluff and bluster your way through, create a scene, delay hundreds of other passengers and call the staff unhelpful!

Road travel on National Highway 58

I have traveled by road in the north of India earlier – but probably did not closely observe the movement of traffic and people or you could say people and traffic – whichever way does not matter. This road takes your from Delhi to Roorkee and beyond. I had an opportunity to go there on office related work – I was told the journey takes about four and a half hours but it took almost seven. We had an elderly driver who told us six and a half to seven hours and ensured we reached within HIS estimated time of arrival. The traffic in Delhi is quite crazy with the amount of construction activity which is going on – traffic jams were common – it took us almost two hours to get out of Delhi from the airport.

It was extremely hot – upwards of 45 degrees centigrade and the car AC was barely effective. Once we reached the outskirts of Delhi and the road to Ghaziabad, we started encountering traffic which moved in the wrong direction – meaning if it is a four lane road with a road divider, one would find vehicles coming at you from ahead even though the road for oncoming traffic is open and vehicles are running on it. The first time it happened I thought it was an aberration – but as we progressed I realized that after you enter Uttar Pradesh this probably was the norm. You can observe traffic moving both ways on your side of the road as well as on the other side of the road – I kept wondering how accidents did not happen. The road are in a bad shape – probably the contractors have given up on completing the NHAI’s grandiose national highway project – especially in UP. The other thing that hits you is the “autos” – these are actually cycle rickshaws but are called “autos” and the “autos” are called rickshaws – this is the local distinction between the two forms of transport. The autos and rickshaws put together make driving a nightmare as on narrow and bad roads making any kind of speed is difficult.

Our driver was safety personified – even though he could have overtaken heavy traffic from the right umpteen times, he preferred to follow their tail thus ensuring that we reached Roorkee in seven hours (it is only 170km from Delhi) instead of five hours. Near Moradnagar we came to a stretch where we were stuck for almost half an hour because the driver refused to overtake and preferred to burn diesel waiting behind a truck. Ultimately I had to forcefully request him to take a right and go as umpteen cars had already passed us by. After he did that, and I saw the reason for the jam, a bridge was to be constructed and three horizontal sections were built across the highway and I was told that it has been like this for at least a couple of years – this is bang across the highway, thus vehicles going straight had to make a detour and vehicles coming from the side had to maneuver the potholes, people bicycles and autos leading to an ending traffic jam. Once we passed this section, we were entering proper UP, and a new sight on the roads are what are known as “jugaats” – these are home made vehicles which use a diesel generator for an engine, the engine is housed in the front in the open and it is attached to a cart with pneumatic wheels. These vehicles carry people as well as cargo and chug along the road at jogging speed – thus slowing down traffic still further – I am told these vehicles do not have reverse gear.

One actually needs to travel to interior UP to see how poor the people are, and unfortunately they have not seen better so are satisfied with what they have.

When it came to trying and getting work done, that was when we got our lesson in patience – nothing happens, you have to really push to make things happen. The standard response is “ho jayega saab, tension mat lena” – this is something we all know – but when will it happen is the question – we were there for about ten hours only within which a lot had to be accomplished. We managed to do quite a bit, but pushing, cajoling people to move – but being from Mumbai, where we expect things to happen, there we were made to wait twiddling our thumbs, but still doing what we managed itself is an achievement considering the attitude of the people.

Travel by road in UP is a must for novelty tourism – I think our Tourism ministry should think about it seriously!

Money and Experience

Money has no memory. Experience has. You will never know what the total
cost of your education was, but for a lifetime you will recall and
relive the memories of schools and colleges. Few years from now, you
will forget the amount you paid to settle the hospitalization bill, but
will ever cherish having saved your mother's life or the life you get to
live with the just born. You won't remember the cost of your honeymoon,
but to the last breath remember the experiences of the bliss of
togetherness. Money has no memory. Experience has.

Good times and bad times, times of prosperity and times of poverty,
times when the future looked so secure and times when you didn't know
from where the tomorrow will come... life has been in one way or the
other a roller-coaster ride for everyone. Beyond all that abundance and
beyond all that deprivation, what remains is the memory of experiences.
Sometimes the wallet was full... sometimes even the pocket was empty.
There was enough and you still had reasons to frown. There wasn't enough
and you still had reasons to smile. Today, you can look back with tears
of gratitude for all the times you had laughed together, and also look
back with a smile at all the times you cried alone. All in all, life
filled you with experiences to create a history of your own self, and
you alone can remember them all.

The first time you balanced yourself on your cycle without support...

The first time she said 'yes' and it was two years since you proposed...

The first cry... the first steps... the first word... the first kiss...
all of your child...

The first gift you bought for your parents and the first gift your
daughter gave you...

The first award... the first public appreciation... the first stage
performance...

And the list is endless... Experiences, with timeless memory...

No denying that anything that's material cost money, but the fact
remains the cost of the experience will be forgotten, but the experience
never.

So, what if it's economic recession? Let it be, but let there not be a
recession to the quality of your life. You can still take your parents,
if not on a pilgrimage, at least to the local temple. You can still play
with your children, if not on an international holiday, at least in the
local park. It doesn't cost money to lie down or to take a loved one
onto your lap. Nice time to train the employees, create leadership
availability and be ready for the wonderful times when they arrive. Hey!
Aspects like your health, knowledge development and spiritual growth are
not economy dependent.

Time will pass... economy will revive... currency will soon be in
current... and in all this, I don't want you to look back and realise
you did nothing but stayed in gloom. Recession can make you lose out on
money. Let it not make you lose out on experiences... If you are not
happy with what you have, no matter how much more you have, you will
still not be happy.

Make a statement with the way you live your life: How I feel has nothing
to do with how much I have.

Keep Smiling.......


Culled from and e-mail fwd.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Police behavior in different situations

It is extremely sickening to see the behavior of our police force when it comes to taking cognizance / not taking cognizance of complaints based on who the complainant is. It is a fact that an ordinary citizen is made to wait inordinately for a complaint to be registered in genuine cases of theft, assault, battery, rape et al whereas if the accused or suspect is someone with either money power or well connected, then you need to see it to believe it, the way in which the cops will find excuses to not book the culprits.

Two recent cases come straight away to mind, the first one relates to the a young 7 year old girl dying of suffocation in Nitin Gadkari, a BJP MP’s motor vehicle in his residential compound in Nagpur. She apparently got locked inside the car and could not get herself out by opening the door (a bit difficult to believe in this day and age!). The incident took place when Yogita Ashok Thakre, daughter of a domestic help entered Gadkari's car while playing outside his house. Police registered a case of accidental death following a complaint lodged by the girl's father. The girl's parents had reportedly claimed that the girl had been raped before being killed. The mystery was over as the post-mortem report revealed no foul play. The cops refused to register a case of rape and murder in spite of evidence to the contrary. "There were fresh external injury marks on her body," the police officer armed with the post-mortem report said while ruling out the rape and murder theory. "Any accidental death, we investigate with a murder angle," he told newspersons at Gadkari's residence.

A Bombay High Court bench on Tuesday wondered why a case of murder was not registered earlier in the mysterious death of a seven-year-old girl in State BJP chief Nitin Gadkari's car on May 19. The observation was made by the vacation Judge Justice C L Pangarkar at Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court when public prosecutor informed him that two offences under section IPC 302(murder) and 201 had been registered yesterday in the case. Here, the Court had to intervene for the cops to register a case – why? just because the incident occurred in a powerful MP’s premises? It is amazing how our cops have still not got over the “mai-baap” sarkaar syndrome or is it that money exchanges hands at all levels to keep things under wraps?

The other case is the one involving MP Padamsinh Patil in the contract murder of Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar, his cousin, in 2006. Mr. R.R. Patil the ex-State Home Minister, had given a clean chit to Mr. Padamsinh Patil in a case of murder while at the same time running a crusade against poor bar dancers on the grounds that the moral fiber of the youth was getting polluted. What can be more polluting than being a protector of murderers when one has the power to use or abuse. As the saying goes power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely! The motive for the revenge was apparently revenge for exposing corruption and malpractices in one of Padamsinh’s sugar cooperatives.

Now that the truth is finally coming out all the patrons are now saying that “the law will take it’s course” – they do not realize that if they had stood for law and done the right thing at the right time, the law would have already taken its course and justice would have been seen to be done the way it is supposed to be done. This just shows that politics does not throw up any permanent friends just permanent interests – the chief amongst them being self interest. So when the political wind blows in the right direction you could be a friend, else an unknown figure!

All this exposes the role of the cops in no uncertain terms – they all kowtow to their political masters, there is no one who has the guts to stand up to the political bosses and say that they will do the right thing. Mayawati in UP has shown how vindictive a politician can be by mass transferring bureaucrats and cops in all constituencies where she lost in the recent parliamentary elections! The need of the hour is to de-link the services – civil (IAS), police(IPS) and foreign (IFS) from political control – the appointments should come with a fixed tenure having responsibility and authority clearly defined so that these people can work without fear or favor. In fact the law should be made such that any of these bureaucrats caught in corruption should be severely punished and seen to be punished so that at least in the near future people will think twice before indulging in mal-practices.

Population migration and its consequences

The curry bashing of Indian immigrants has consumed thousands of column inches in various newspapers already with no end in sight to the travails of our citizen-students in Australia. I have already written in an earlier post what I think of the Aussies – I have painted them with one brush – which may not be fair to do so, but in the heat of the moment that is what I thought. Since then I have had time to ponder over a whole spectrum of issues which these episodes have thrown up. Let us start with why do Indians have to go to Australia to study and the profile of those going to study there.

It is a known fact that Australia has waived the necessity of foreign students undergoing the mandatory English language proficiency test (TOEFL, etc) required to be taken for students going to say UK or USA. The Australians have done this so that they can compete unequally in the education market to woo students from the US & UK markets to Australia – one less exam to clear you see! The Aussies want the money but not the students – quite a paradox don’t you think? In which case they could have run correspondence courses for the same university degrees on offer – they could then have got the money as well as avoided the race violence taking place today! It is very sad to see the Aussies making a business of education, inviting people who cannot speak their language and then have their citizens violating their paying guests civil rights again and again – with the local authorities doing nothing about it!

This leads us to the question why and which of are our citizens are going to Australia to study? I have answered a part of this question above – English proficiency having been waived, one less exam to pass! The type of people who are going to Australia are those with money, whose parents do not mind spending that money to avoid the cut throat competition for engineering/medical seats in India. These are the people who are choosing the easy way out! They do not want to compete in India, do not want to go to the US/UK because proficiency in written/spoken English is a must, hence Australia with its quality of life promise and slightly cheaper education is a no-brainer choice for our no-brainers! If money could buy you an education and a way of life with peace of mind thrown in, then I guess our students in Australia would have been it! Unfortunately that is not how the system works!

The waiver of proficiency in English has resulted in our students reaching an English speaking nation without the basic tool to communicate effectively, as a result these students end up sticking to their own kind and not mixing with the locals. The Aussies by nature are garrulous and out-going and find the Indian behavior a bit stand offish – how can one be surprised by that. With global recession thrown in and the popular myth that the Indians are grabbing all available jobs because of their skill and low cost – we have a recipe for racial violence.

The best part of all this was when a right wing politician in Maharashtra recently protested to the Prime Minister, requesting him to take up cudgels on behalf of our citizens with his counterpart in Australia. This was a bit too much for me to digest – as this same politician was going hammer and tongs at north Indian migration into Mumbai for jobs – farcical! comical! I leave it to you to decide! What is the difference? - the Aussies are protesting the fact that they fear Indians may take away their jobs and do not know the language to boot – same goes for people migrating into Mumbai, these people do cheap labor and do not know the local language. The only stark difference is that people who go to Australia pay good money and contribute to the economy for just going there, but in the case of north Indians they come with the intention of finding jobs as their own state cannot provide them the jobs, and end up proliferating slums with the active connivance of our politicians.