India Unbound

"India will never be a tiger. It is an elephant that has begun to lumber and move ahead. It will never have speed, but it will always have stamina" 

When, during subprime crisis and subsequent recession in world economy, India and China performed much better that their developed counterparts, suddenly everyone started saying... this century belongs to India and China. Some went further predicting fall of USA and emergence of India and China as superpowers. But now as the world economy is recovering, there is a sense of realization that these predictions were just rhetoric. Both these so called future powers are struggling with their problems and as far as India is concerned, I am pretty sure we are not going to be even near that dream in next 3-4 decades.

But it doesn’t mean that everything is wrong with India. India is progressing at a rapid rate, size of middle class in increasing and there is hope in the air. People have started to think that there are opportunities in the country and they can make a fortune in-spite of many hurdles. Many Indians are returning to their mother land to try their luck. It won't be wrong to say that all these started with 1991 economic reforms. India Unbound tries to highlight this point only. It tries to capture the history of post-independence Indian Economy.

I have always wondered whether Nehru’s policies were practical or they were just the result of his idealism. After independence he had a mammoth task of uniting India, stabilizing democracy and instilling secularism. Whole world was looking towards India and there was no dearth of people saying that India won't survive. But Nehru proved them wrong and insured that these goals, crucial for survival of India were achieved. At that time if he chose for socialist structure and then mixed-economy, it can be justified considering India was in rule of a capitalist nation for 200 years and all the newly independent nations were implementing similar economic policies. Even intellectual class of that era was supporting government control over economy. But our failure to liberalize economy during 70-80’s cost us dearly. Lal Bahadur Shastri made some attempts to restructure Indian economy but his sad early demise pushed us back again. Indira Gandhi's failure to deliver on economic front what India needed at the time made sure that we will not be front runner in this race of economic development.  

I have always admired Indira Gandhi for her leadership, defeat of Pakistan in 1971 war and first Pokhran Test-1974. During my school days I used to think she is the best prime-minister, India has ever had. But now, Indira Gandhi symbolizes dismantling of democratic system, political corruption, nepotism, strengthening of red-tapism and destruction  of each and every avenue of free public and economic life .

We have always been taught that uniqueness of Indian society is Unity in Diversity. But this diversity has not always played a positive role. Some sections of Indian society have fallen behind in this race of development. Their success is of utmost importance for inclusive growth. As Das mentions a new middle class is rising, we can be hopeful. During license and Inspector Raj, few like Dhiru Bhai Ambani, who were able to bend law in their favour could do something. Indian bureaucracy has always opposed reforms and even now, they try to ignore the reality.  But now reforms are creating level playing field. The lines demarcating our so called elite classes are now getting blurred. There are new rules governing the game.

Gurcharan Das is Harward educated and former CEO of P&G India. This gets perfectly reflected in the book and sometimes, I feel that he hasn’t done justice with opposite ideas. But as Das himself said that this book is about his personal encounters with Indian economic system.

A lot of things have happened since this book was first published in 2000. So some ideas may feel old. Nevertheless, it is a must-read for everyone who is even slightly interested in the story of Indian economic progress. It gives us a hope ...India will rise and one day, we may become superpower in true sense. 

Reforms Vs State of Indolence

India is a country where people need to be poked to make them work, to make them think. Indolence has become part of our identity. We need PILs to get administrative works done. We need PILs to make amendments in laws. There are cases where PILs have been filed just to make the government to notice something important. And, what happens once PIL is filed? There will be hue and cry for some days and as soon as media attention is gone, we are back to our perpetual state of indolence. As soon as the matter is gone from the pages of our newspaper, we are looking for something new in those pages to discuss.

One thing that everyone irrespective of which class,caste he or she belongs, faces is corruption. Even then we need a Janlokpal movement to make us realize magnitude of corruption in the country, in our day to day lives. We need a Janlokpal movement to debate on corruption. We need a Janlopal movement to do something about this corruption. And now once this movement is out of our front pages and news feeds, suddenly the whole debate is gone. We are back to our business of criticising government, criticising this system.  I am not sure how many of us have really been motivated against corruption after this Janlokpal movement and I am talking about real motivation, not just wearing 'I am Anna' cap or 'India against corruption' t-shirts.

As Anna ended his fast, in his final speech he talked about electoral reforms, to bring Right to Recall, Right to Reject. And again there were debates about electoral reforms for some days on all the channels, in all the newspapers, in our discussion sessions. But as usual, it’s now gone.

This state of indolence is not only making our democracy slow, ineffective but also not allowing us to see the root causes of our problems. We are unable to understand our problems. We are ready and in most cases, we jump to support any solution which gives even a little hope.  And this is the reason for most of the problems, we are trying to cure cancer using aspirin. I support Lokpal Bill but to think that it will really remove corruption from our lives, will be foolish [1]. Everyone is talking of corruption but no one is talking of a comprehensive approach towards tackling it. No one is talking about administrative, judiciary, economic reforms which are required along with setting up a Lokpal institution.

Similarly when we talk of electoral reforms we only hear some fancy words like Right to Recall, Right to Reject, decriminalization. We never talk about what are the reasons behind these. Why criminals are entering into politics? Why criminals are seen as leaders of their castes? Why have we not come out of caste politics even after 65 years of independence? Why our representatives are not working even when they have to come to us for next election? We talk about mandating educational qualification without considering that more than 80% of our MPs are graduate. We talk of Right to Reject without even considering that even when a honest person contests, he loses election to a criminal. Why do people think that an honest person can't tackle other politicians and hence is not suited for politics? We never consider that Govinda defeated a seasoned politician like Ram Naik. We talk Right to Recall. We say that 5 year is a too long period without even considering that this is the standard term for legislature in most of the countries. We never ever consider that why it’s not working in India if it can work in other countries. Why do we never consider that a person with merely 20% votes gets elected as representative? We discuss about youths not entering into politics. We discuss about setting  a retirement age for politicians but we never talk of internal democracy in political parties. When we see that women’s representation is less in legislature, we talk of women reservation bill. When people don’t come to vote, we discuss about making voting mandatory. There is no discussion on educating people about electoral processes.

There are millions of examples in other sectors as well. We talk of solutions but only at surface level. No one dares to go into root as India is a very complex democracy. This complexity has been discussed so many times that it has become an excuse to stay away from total reforms.

We need better laws and there is no doubt about that. Considering the present condition of Indian democracy, there is an urgent need to modify our out dated laws, processes and institutions. But we also need to understand our problems with holistic approach. We also need to make people realize their importance and duties in functioning of this democracy. We need to understand that we have been given the ultimate power to decide the course of our country. Unless steps are taken keeping people in centre, no reform is going to be successful.  

Abraham Lincoln said, “Democracy is the government of the people, for the people and by the people.”

The preamble of Indian constitution starts with “WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved…”.

We need to understand that we the people of India are supreme and behave like that. We need to remember 'with great power comes great responsibility'. 

Anna, Ramdev and second freedom struggle...

Anna Hazaare is calling it second freedom struggle. Baba Ramdev is calling it his ‘Rashtadharm’ to start movement against Black Money. We all know what has happened and what is happening at present. We have seen lots of discussions on the cause and expected consequences of this movement. As the things are going by, we may get a Lokpal and a law against Black Money.

Although I support both these issues of Lokpal and black money, I have some doubts how much effective, the proposed solutions are going to be. I was having a discussion with one of my friend on Lokpal and I told him about my doubts regarding Lokpal. He said even if institution of Lokpal fails, this movement is successful in itself as it is spreading awareness about corruption. Youths are joining this movement. They are with Anna Hazare.  It’s a positive sign.

I agree but if we look back at Indian history, there is very less chance that Lokpal is going to be very effective let alone removing corruption completely. Many scams have been unearthed and consequently, many laws have been passed since independence. But, I don’t think our system has been able to punish any politician. I don’t know how Lokpal is going to change that. Lokpal has to work under the current system only and we know its speed. I don’t know how Lokpal is going to change that scenario. As proposed, it will be an independent body and proposed Lokpal bill provides sufficient cover for it not to be affected by external influences. Even then if someone is found guilty, is the current system capable enough of punishing him on time. Is there not a possibility that like all previous cases it will lost between different layers of judicial processes? And if our, proposed Lokpal system is not able to punish guilty ones on time, it’s futile to expect that it is going to affect corruption scenario drastically in coming years.

The second point, about spreading awareness among youths and common junta about corruption is no doubt a very valid point. It’s the first time we have seen such a large demonstration against corruption in years. But it’s another thing to take part in demonstrations and it’s totally different to practice that in real life. Can we say for sure, youths who are motivated to take part in this movement are going to refrain themselves from any corrupt activity? Is this movement going to motivate common people to stand up against corrupt activities in their day to day life? Some may say that I am expecting too much, but if the movement doesn’t motivate people to go against corruption in their day to day lives, then this awareness is of no use. We all know about scams and black money. So, just to tell about these should not be understood as spreading awareness against corruption.

Unless and until we take stand against corruption in our day to day lives, I don’t think any law or institution is going to abolish the corruption completely. Corrupt people will find some or other way to bend the laws. To say that we are corrupt because system is corrupt, is just an excuse to turn away from our responsibilities. There is an urgent need to change the whole social structure against corruption. If that is not done, I don’t think Annaji’s second freedom struggle is going to be successful. 

Dear Mr. Prime Minister

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

You don't know me. Like most of our countrymen, I am just an aam-adami. An aam-adami, using whom you have come to power. An aam-adami towards whom all of your policies are directed or at least you say so.  An aam-adami who seriously doesn't care about politics. An aam-adami who is so busy with his day to day problems that he seldom thinks about you and your policies. Frankly speaking, I seriously don't give a damn about who is in power, who is governing the parliament. Through our (me and people like me) cumulative experience, I can say that whatever you do in the parliament, our life is going to get harder and harder. We have understood this fact and we live by that. 

I never wrote to you before and I am not sure what good this letter is going to do to you. Nevertheless, here I am, writing a letter to you. Now, when I am writing, I will try to collect my thoughts, ideas. I will try to be short and precise but you know that I am not as learned as you are and we aam-adamis have a tendency to be blunt when it comes to express our emotions. So please bear with me. 

When you took power, your credentials and spotless image were publicised far and wide by your party and colleagues. As far as your credentials go, no one has ever doubted you. I can tell you from my experience, people like me will die to get a resume like you. I will also like to say that people like me had accepted your neat and clean image. Although I can't be sure of others, but somehow I could never take you in the role of a prime minister. And now when you are in your second term, my doubts are being validated. 

Mr. Prime Minister, I am sorry to say, but in my opinion you never acted like a prime minister. I don't understand the complexities of a PM office but one thing which I understand and which is one of the basic defining qualities of a Prime Minister is that he should be a leader. He is supposed to lead his government and his country. But from the very first day you never acted like a leader. You were never able to control your colleagues, your party, government and its supporters. In the first term you were with the Left, which in its entire life has done nothing except oppose anything that is good for the aam-adami. I can understand that it was a political compromise but you were supposed to reign them. But like all other instances, you failed. In your own government, Arjun Singh created a controversy which I am sure you didn't approve of, if I am right considering your statement in various newspapers, yet again you failed to control your colleague. You became the first prime minister in whose tenure, there were two poles of power at the national level. It doesn't take a PhD from Oxford to understand that all practical decisions were being taken from 10 Janpath Street. 

Nevertheless, you came to power for the second time. I thank to my countrymen whom I never ever understood. And this time, you thought that you would break all the limits. You came in power using slogans for aam-adami and here again, we are seeing what is happening with the aam-aadami. Some of us forgot what onion tastes like. You had started NRGEA as the flagship programme of your government. But I don't need to say anything, as you must have read the world bank report. So much for aam-adami. But, no this was not enough. We all talk about corruption and to some extent we have accepted that as a part of our life. But I think your government has under taken to break all the limits. I don't need to mention all these scams. We all know. So much for a good, prime minister !

Whenever something happens, your party workers, your colleagues and some of us, start talking about your clean image, your honesty, your credentials, your resume. But Mr. Prime Minister, after all this, I can't say that your image is clean. Mr. Prime Minister, India is a country where having a degree from Oxford doesn't work. A person in a village sitting on a cot, can also give you some good advice regarding politics. So please ask your friends and your colleagues to stop boasting of your credentials and spotless image. Mr, Prime Minister, whenever something happens, I don't want to listen from you that nothing happened under my knowledge. Please, and when I say please, I sincerely say so, start acting like a leader. For gods sake, you are the Prime minister of India. You need to come and take responsibility of your government. You need to be leader. You need to control your colleagues. 

And in the end….Although in Indian politics we always take meaning of opposition in the literal sense, even then I would suggest you just try to learn something from Atal Bihari Bajpayee, Nitish Kumar and your die-hard enemy Narendra Modi. I am not going to say about their policies, what they did for the country. But one thing I can say for sure, they are better leaders than you. It’s not like that they governed with an ideal class of party workers, ministers and colleagues, but they were able to control them. They always came and took responsibility when something happened. They never said, “I wasn't aware of this and I will comment after seeing documents.”

Yours Sincerely,

An aam-adami

Kashmiri people should understand.. "Bhukhe pet bhajan nahin hota"

Kashmir has been a very hot issue recently. All these stone pelting, human right violations, killing of youths, atrocities by armed forces, all party delegations, demand of azadi, protection of Kashmiriyat have been all over the news.

But before writing anything, I would like to ask few questions....
Why the hell we hear all the bad news from Ghati(Kashmir valley) only? Why is there no problem in Jammu and Laddkah region? (may be because Hurriyat and other such leaders have influence only in valley)
What have they got after this stone pelting and long protests? What Kashmiri people have got after so many years of violence, protests? (only destruction of industry, infrastructure and killing on many innocent people--who don't care whether Kashmir is azad or not, whether Kashmir is in India or in Pakistan, their only concern is to arrange some money for their living ).
If made a independent nation will Kashmir be able to live peacefully considering, it is surrounded by Pakistan and China and its strategic important in any war in south-asia? Will it be able to defend itself if Pakistan or China attacks in future?
What about Jammu and Laddakh region? Do people of Laddakh and Jammu want to be part of any such Kashmiri nation? (I have serious doubts about it, given the situation of Kashmiri pandits and attitude of Kashmiri leaders towards these regions)

I understand that the situation in Kashmir is complex or have been made complex by various involved parties. There have been human right violations by armed forces. But its easy to write flashy articles about human right violations and Azadi . Its easy to discuss Azadi and Kashmiriyat, when you are sitting in AC and have a 30-40K computer with you. (Most of the articles about Kashmiriyat, Azaadi,popular on internet are written by Kashmiris who either are in abroad or in very comfortable parts of India.) Do they really understand the pressure on common people and armed forces present in Kashmir? (I would ask them who are writing such articles what they would do in these situations?)

There are criminal proceedings going on against many officers. Its not like for Kashmiri people that they are living under some British rule. They have all their rights and in some cases, special rights (article 370 and all). They live in India, a democratic country. If there is any problem, that can be solved under this democratic framework. Focus should be on making common people's life better not on making it a hell with protests and killings.

Those who are asking for Kashmir Azadi...what the hell are they thinking? Can Kashmir survive on its own? Does Kashmir have the capacity under these conditions to be sovereign state and maintain diplomatic relationships with other nations? All these Hurriyat conference and Arundhati Roy type of people...do they really care about Kashmiri people? The situation is much much better in Indian Kashmir than the so called Azad Kashmir (pakistan occupied Kashmir). I would like to ask to the so called Kashmiri leaders.. do they really represent the whole Kashmir? They don't have any support in Jammu and Laddakh region. They just want to create controversies and use this for their personal benefits. They have their children studying in abroad and they try to close schools and colleges in Kashmir.

Human right violations are black spots in any democratic framework. The perpetrators should be punished severely. But considering the pressure on armed forces, terrorism and situations in Kashmir...this can not be base for Azadi. China and Pakistan will never let the Azad Kashmir survive peacefully.
Those who talk about KASHMIRIYAT.... where was your kashmiriyat when kashmiri pandits where displacesd? Why no one talks about their problems? (because it wont give them publicity and media attentions)

Indian government should really do something for betterment of Kashmir people at ground level. Big economic packages are not going to help the state. The influence of these pseudo Kashmiri leaders and intellectuals should be eradicated. Common Kashmiri should be informed about their truths, so that they can not misguide people to carry on their selfish activities.

Some people think that they can fulfill the Maharaja Hari Singh's vision of making Kashmir a neutral state like Switzerland. In 1947, when conditions were favorable, it couldn't be made possible, then I think every sane person understands that this is like daydreaming now. As a person who is interested in history and love to read about it, I personally would have preferred this situation- Kashmir.... a neutral state between India and Pakistan, Paradise on earth. But thats not the situation. What is done in the history, is done. Our only way should be forward, betterment of common people's lives. We haven't invented time machine yet, where we can go back in past and change history.

There is saying in Hindi... "Bhukhe pet bhajan nahin hota"...so without any economic development, to talk about azadi is useless and foolish. All these people who are protesting for Azadi...should understand the truth and work towards progress of Kashmir. Because of their protests, the booming tourism industry is in disarray for again. All schools and colleges are closed. Who are they hurting?... Kashmiri people....the common Kashmiri people.

After all these protests,even if they get Afganistan type azadi, of what use will it be? ( that too, only by a handful of selfish people who uses this as their instrument, is wanted )

you and i in this beautiful world - I

You and i in this beautiful world,
You and i in this beautiful world,
green grass....blue sky in this beautiful world.

Whenever I heard this jingle, I always imagined myself traveling in some hilly region without any destination, alone, seeing-exploring each scenery, feeling everything that can be felt....

But the question is... "Is the world around us so beautiful where you can live happily... beautifully?? "

I will say it all depends on our choices. What we chose to think,to do makes us happy or unhappy. We may complain about opportunities, facilities, conditions... which may be true for some situations, but in the end it is our choices which make the world around us as we feel it. Conditions may be bad, facilities may not be found, opportunities may be lost but there is always a way to make you happy, to make this world beautiful.
So like me, don't imagine a beautiful world in living alone in some hilly region or leaving everything to explore something new. I am pretty sure there are many things in our day to day life which are worth exploring, enjoying. Actually these small-small things have the power to make our world beautiful, happy. Search for these things and make this world beautiful.

Why is SINGLE there???

When we click on someone's name or picture on orkut to see his/her profile, we find that some very important information related to that person are shown below his/her picture...1.) Name 2.) Gender 3.) City 4.) Country and there is one more 5.) relationship status. Now consider that Orkut and sites like this are called social networking sites. So Orkut thinks that these five things are most important(that's why they have been highlighted below your picture) to know by someone about you when you are going to make contact with someone online.
Now keeping in mind that Orkut is a social networking site, lets think about these five most important(as Orkut thinks) bits of information. I suppose we all agree that name is really most important thing about any person to be known by others who are socially active even in the least possible degree. So I think the place of name below the profile pic is justified. Even then I don't understand why people write some fancy names and leave others in a mental state where they struggle hard and use all online resources to figure out about the identity of the person.
Now if we consider the city and country, we can say that their place is also justified because we all want to know about the place of the person with whom we are making contact online. After that comes the Gender of the concerned person. I think it's very natural for us to have curiosity about the gender as we will decide our way of communication in that way. As we Indians try to use a very formal language with females, it helps. With this it also helps us in deciding the way we put our PJs during chats.
I think out of those five highlighted things, I have been able to justify the place of four. But what surprises me is the presence of relationship status. Why is that needed there? There can be many other important information that can be highlighted, like profession. But why Relationship Status?




Everyone can explain this in their own way. I will not impose my explanation to you. But put your explanation in comments. I think it will be interesting to see how it is explained by junta....