Why I Chose not to vote for Modi

Many of my friends in the social media (fb, twitter and Whatsapp) discussed vigorously whenever I commented or posted something on Modi (against Modi) trying to persuade me to vote for him or at least not criticize him. When I think about it all - it feels like presenting the Big picture on what I think - here it is.

A series of "Junta Maaf Nahi Karegi" campaign targeted at Congress misrule 

followed by

Another series of "Ab ki Baar Modi Sarkar" (and this one went over the board from humourous to slapstick to farcical to pornographical - I received every type on the whatsapp circuit)

followed by

Yet another series of "Acche Din Aane Wale Hai" 

Yes, this has been a season of a very clever campaign (in the words of P. Chidambram) by the BJP - craftily building a larger than life image of their Prime Ministerial candidate Mr. Narendra Modi. I agree wholeheartedly with the Finance Minister.

And Yet when I went to vote for the Lok Sabha Elections this April - despite my deciding that this time I wouldn't vote for the Congress and despite having voted BJP already in the MP Vidhan Sabha elections (for the first time, mind you) I could not press the Lotus Button. why?

Was it an emotional decision? No. Was it long lasting loyalty? No, again. So what was it? Here is the list.

1. He stands for Nothing in Particular and for Everything in General

So what does he stand for - Development, Anti-corruption, Hindutava, Secularism, Pro Women, Nationalist what? Actually he seems to be projected as being all of them. A superman who would do everything - and that too alone. 

What is the counter of most supporters of Modi to this criticism? Surprisingly - they say

** What does Rahul Gandhi stand for? Incompetence. or

** What does Kejriwal stand for? Dharna. or

** So what, even if he is able to achieve half of this India would progress. or

** For years you have believed in Congress - now Modi deserves a chance.

And they have no compunctions in making above responses. In fact, many do not see any flaws in the above responses and those who see them resolutely ignore them.

If someone were to read the rather belatedly published manifesto of the BJP - it is a list of in-competencies of the UPA govt. which they promise to remove somehow magically.

(For those who still do not see anything wrong in the above arguments - 1. and 2. are fallacious because they skirt the issue and assume that criticism of Modi by default is support for the other two. and 3. is fallacious because we are in a way supporting hype and are admitting that there is nothing wrong in promising the moon when no one knows what you intend to do actually. 4. is fallacious because it again fails to answer the question - what am I voting for?)

2. His style is dictatorial & non-transparent
I guess that comes with being a strong administrator. He has mootably administered Gujarat quite magnificently.  Here is the catch - India is no Gujarat its a potpourri of beliefs. He has silenced opposition within and outside. 

Even his supporters accept this style of his and presents it as a strength. Only certain amount of dadagiri can get some thing done in today's India they suggest. Another try to defend a stand by vindicating the less acceptable.

The best times of Indian Growth have been times with Prime Ministers at the helm who were remarkable at running consensual government - the three examples are Mr. Narsimha Rao, Mr. Atal Bihari Bajpai and in his first term Dr. Manmohan singh. I have been uncomfortable at the prospect of a PM who would rule with an Iron fist specially when he is not known to carry clear biases.

Transparency is another issue. We know very little on his plans of how he is going to deliver on his promises - he shies away from the aggressive media and is cosy only in a format that (most probably) have been stage managed by his backroom boys and girls. He does not face difficult questions about Ram Mandir, His election spending, His stand on Gays etc.

3. He is out to become prime minster at all cost
Here is the severest reason I finally did not vote for him. He wishes to become the PM by hook or by crook - principles be damned. 

The way he treated Advani, Jaswant and Sushma are well known. He promises to free India of corruption and in the same breath includes Yedurappas and Reddy Brothers to get a rather dubious hold in the south India, while he talks of economic development but has opposed FDI in multi brand retail to woo the trader votes, While he talks of including minorities in the growth agenda and yet stands by Girirajs, Togadia and Amit Shahs. I can go on and on - the nut shell is that the BJP under him has bent over its back to accommodate anyone who has the potential of garnering votes - without any compunction or ideology to stand by.

Thats not all - the way he has managed media to cultivate a superhuman image has made me hugely suspicious of him. Someone needs to understand a simple fact - why does companies like Coke, Pepsi or HUL have 100+ crores media budgets? The answer is to earn profits. Now ask the same question about a very high pitch - high frequency all media sweep of BJP communication and there is no surprise guessing here that such propaganda has to have a ROI equation somewhere.

Thats also not all - the content of his propaganda makes his supporters believe that he is one pill treatment to every ill that India has. He will remove corruption, unemployment, will build roads, will provide uninterrupted power, cheap fuel, excellent policing (security) will take care of women and will make India Terror free. It is impossible. Simple, he doesn't mean it when he promises all this.

Let me end this with a simple fact - In the 2012 manifesto of BJP in Gujarat he promised to build five million houses in Gujarat, to make Agriculture the Biggest earner of Revenue and to make Gujarat the Textile Capital of India once again. All this was to be done in next five years that is by 2017. (Here is the story). So what do you expect the Government must have done by now to meet these ambitious targets. Check yourself. The answer is zilch - in more than a year and a half now the Gujarat Govt. has done nothing - not one house built, no policy initiative in the direction of Agriculture nor improving the Textile trade. So here you have it.

Well there is more to the story but I guess if you reached here then you get the Big Picture. So, that is why I could not make myself vote for the Modi  wave because I could simply not trust the guy. I know there is not much to trust the Congress as well (as if reading your thoughts as a reader) yet I could not vote for this guy.

Failed Crash Test !! Still Safe

Recently this news article caught my attention. It said the top five small cars of India failed crash test in the Euro NCAP test conducted in London. Many commentators lamented the lack of safety features in Indian cars that makes them less safe for driving. I wonder, if this is indeed the right position to take or even whether Indians need to worry about the results of these tests.

If we closely read about the test, its results and then the conclusions drawn by the "auto experts" of the west - it seems to me a marketing drive to sell safety airbags to Indian Manufacturers. Read this graphic detail of the article in the Gaurdian, arguing that the standard safety features will require only a few hundred dollars to the car's cost.

The crash tests in the west assumes Airbags availability as a standard safety feature in cars. No wonder, Indian small cars - all of them the basic entry versions failed. We need to understand a perspective here.

Every country has an environment of its own and hence its own needs. A small car is often the entry level car for an Indian Family that has been travelling on a much less safe two-wheeler (specially under the severe road and traffic conditions typical of India). For these families, the car takes them to a much higher levels of safety and comfort then they were used to. Quite unlike the Europe/America where the small car could be an individuals vehicle or even statement (the distinction that bikes currently carry in India).

In fact the Tata Nano was conceptualised by Mr. Ratan Tata as a safer transport than a two-wheeler for a family of 3-4. (Read this). And the day might not be far when this car while failing at more crash tests might be making lives of millions happier and safer.

So, Indians - don't worry about the crash test failure. It is another measure from another world - not relevant to us, at least currently. To those whom it matters and can afford there are better cars available with all the crash proof safety. We are evolving into safer times and lets create our own standards of safety.

Oratory is Overrated !! ?? !!

This post came out of a student recently discussing the impact of Aam Aadmi Party's evolving on the national political scene. He was of the opinion that India needed decisive leadership and only Narendra Modi could provide it.

Somewhere in the discussion I ended up making a simple statement - which I profoundly believe in. I said - "Don't misunderstand Great Oratory with great Leadership". Later I ended up ruminating about my own statement. Some thoughts.... :

Are we Indians too sentimental? Do we get aroused by speakers on the stage fervently inviting our passions to soar on issues that might be petty but have been blown out of proportion by craft oratory of the speaker on the stage. Is true leadership about getting millions to follow you? I don not possibly have clear answers to this question - as the jury is still out on this issue.


Look at a few examples :

Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates, Narayan Murthy, Aung San Suu Kyi, Ratan Tata, JRD are NOT really great examples of exemplary orators but have been undoubtedly great leaders, in the sense that they brought fundamental change and successfully delivered on objectives.

On the other hand Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, S. M. Dutta have been examples of good orators and excellent Leadership combined.

However, it is not uncommon to find that better Orators generally find themselves playing the role of arousing passion or pumping energy with their words symbolically leading, while the real work of leadership is done at the back-end by unsung heroes.

Personally, I see many people who were harbingers of real change or improvement that mattered but the credit of which is received by the more fiery or the one who has this "lead from the front style". Perceptions of course favour the Orators - people generally believe in the person leading from the front. It appears to me, that the Orator often ends up believing that he through his oratory skills is the real driver of change but in most cases the Orator ends up playing the role of a stand-up entertainer.

Would like to hear/read of your experiences/examples in the matter.

Road to Growth or to Nowhere ??

The road ministry plans to award at least 7,300 kilometres of national highways this financial year. It has fixed an internal target of 9,000 km, which is a tad more ambitious than last year’s revised target of 8,800 kilometres. This is great news as this might be the much awaited trigger for the economy to grow again. Such investments in road construction are sure to trigger all round economic activity with everything from cement, Iron & Steel, Capital equipment industry to services to labour markets getting a boost.

But wait one is suddenly reminded of the then minister Kamal Nath on the TV announcing an ambitious target of 20 KM of roads per day only to find out that we never could touch that target. And what does the data say. Last year, the ministry had managed to award road projects for only 1,933 km – 20% of what was planned for 2012-13.   The road sector saw a dramatic drop last year in the number of projects that were bid for by companies. 13 projects worth about 16,000 crore saw no takers (??##??).

To be fair to Mr. Kamalnath his announcements and later executions might not have resulted in achievements of the target but they did spur construction of roads. In 2011-12  alone 6,644-km was awarded in 2011-12 – the highest since 2004. And we have not seen a more dynamic and focussed minister in the seat after his removal from the position.

The time is running out for the UPA government but the time is changing as well. Inflation has cooled off, Oil, Gold, Silver prices are declining, worldwide demand is reducing, consumer companies are out with heavy discounts. In such an environment this boost to construction of road may the last chance that the Govt. might have to revive sentiments and improve its performance at the next year's general elections. Will the economist Sardar will have the last smile? Only time will tell.

To each, his/her two minutes of glory

Travelling is interesting because one experiences the not so routine. You could say the same for marriages in India. And no, I am not talking about a second marriage but of the ones we attend. So when you travel to attend a marriage - its a potporori of experiences.

Recently, I was at Balco participating in a marriage function of my cousin. It was the same old routine from welcoming of guests to arranging for their stay, food and conveniences. Gossips, bantering around and enjoying oneself on a forced break from work was relaxing at the least.

So what was worth writing a new post on my blog after close to a year. Human behaviour - often quite irrational. Marriage functions are a great time to get into the limelight, feel important and to help mess things up - yeah !! literally.

Here was our bridegroom all dressed up and ready to mount the horse. As far as I could observe there were about three key people responsible for the entire organisation of this particular marriage function, supported by a small team. But, come the time of reception, all and sundry starts behaving as if they are in charge - so everyone worth his salt had an advice for the organisors and the poor "dulha".

One commented - "what is going on - Baarat was supposed to leave at 5. (taunting the organisors) - "Kyu Bhai !! Kya hua aapke management ko? (smile)"

As it turned out everything was in place the ghodi, the band, the baarat but the lights (to go along with the procession) were not yet up and connected. Anyways, the self professed managers had no attention span for the real problem. Currently the lime light was on the "dulha". So the Dulha mounts on the horseback and the chain of customs started while the Dulha's sisters danced on the ear shattering rhythm of dhols. Meanwhile - one gentleman thrusted his young baby in the arms of the groom singing "beta Ghode pe baithega". The Dulha was by now a robot just executing instructions being thrown at him from all directions. Some enthusiastic friends of the groom started a dazzling display of fireworks.  Everything was as it happens in any Indian wedding (well most of it) and then the unthinkable happened.

One of the self professed managers of the marriage announced that it was time to go - so he ordered the ghodiwala to move immediately. The ghodiwala brought the ghodi forward, little realising that someone not far ahead was lighting a fire cracker. The colours from the cracker erupted, dazzled the ghodi  and the poor animal was taken by surprise. It ducked back and voila - for a moment an earthquake happened - the poor groom was shocked to find himself on the ground narrowly escaping the horse's foot. He was sharp enough to move away quickly and everyone around instinctively saved his/her scull and then started looking for the groom as if he was a hidden treasure.

All consultants triggered into action - in every possible direction. One went to the dulha and enquired whether he was hurt and then thanked God that he wasn't. Another went to the Ghodiwala and blasted the poor man "Tu kya kar raha tha?" Another prompted - "Lagta hai, Nai ghodi le ke aaya hai". The Ghodiwala retorted - "ye phataka (fire cracker) itna paas kyu challate ho?"

Suddenly our managers received someone else to target. "Ye kaun phatake chala raha hai". Obviously the friends of the groom were quiet and for a few seconds a sort of witch-hunt for the person who was managing the firecrackers, erupted. After a few seconds of worthless search one of them declared "Ab koi phatake nahi chalana" (no more firecrackers).

In the meanwhile the true managers of the event (no pun here) had already helped the Groom mount the horse again - while the animal was still fidgety. I felt the drama was over and I was to be utterly surprised on what followed. Another manager a saree clad lady this time arrived on the scene and announced it will not be proper for us to use the Ghodi (what if she repeats the performance) - the shaken dulha agreed. Immediately the consultants fired instructions - bring a car. 

Immediately a car with the driver was pulled into the scene - The Groom was safely lodged in the secure environs of the car. One of the real managers suggested that the fire crackers (which were now  a waste due to the diktat) be also lodged in the hood of the car as they cannot just be left on the roadside. To me, it looked like a fair idea, but as luck would have it - another saree clad - self professed - consultant offered an unsolicited - NO. I looked at her dumbfounded in utter disbelief as she explained the reason - "dikki bahut garam ho jaati jai - dulhe ki gaadi mein phatake mat rakho"  (It gets hot in the hood - lets not take the risk of keeping crackers in the same car carrying the groom). The poor friends of the groom carried the fire crackers in another car a few meters away.

So you thought its time to get over with the procession - no, our electrician (actually the original reason for the delay) was not yet up with his task. And all possible kind of managers now were in charge. Every minute one of them travelled to the Electrician ranting about the delay, his lack of professionalism, asking how much time more will it take and then concluding that he was incompetent. (Thanks !!). Seven people went through this drill in 5 minutes and by the time 8th arrived - the electrician went off the hook and told me (don't know why) "Babuji mujhe dus minute chain se kaam karne do - Abhi light chaloo ho jaayegi". I smiled helplessly and encouraged him to continue. But by then - someone had trigged the angry old man inside the groom's father - he arrived on the scene - went through the unavoidable drill of inspection, investigation and then became emotional. He almost took his shoe in his hands and wanted to hit the electrician. The real managers decided  that it was time for the procession to leave - lights be damned. I decided that things cannot get more comical than this. And to my fantabulously utter amusement - I was wrong.

The procession must have moved a 25 odd meters when one of the well meaning -  enthusiastic friend of the groom stopped the car. He noticed that because of a last minute change from Horse to the Car - there was no decoration on the car. He went and brought along with him a flower decorator and they started decorating the car. I was genuinely pleased to notice the friend's initiative and was soon horrified to realise that the enthu friend did not notify anyone of his plans. As a result the first half of the procession moved another 10-15 meters before they realised that the "crux of the matter" is not following them.

All hell broke loose - all managers travelled back the entire 15 meters to the car and in sequence blasted the poor friend decorating the car. He looked at me helplessly and I smiled back equally helplessly. In one of the communication skills session - I was told empathetic listening was the most important skill in life. At that moment I wondered - did he go through such a situation to realise such a profound concept, or the lack of it actually.

The MBA in me turned in its grave and I addressed the problem with some ruthless efficiency. I ordered the driver "Drive" - The car started moving. I gestured the driver to go very slow. He was experienced - he understood. All managers looked at me with an air of "I was about to say the same thing - who are you?" but then their stress melted and they also started walking (they could not walk slow and that helped). The groom's friend was puzzled but smiled as I ordered his entire team to join him in the decorating while the car kept moving at the same lazy pace.

Now I turned to the set of (self appointed) managers - it looked like if they were not given occupation they might actually start managing things around everywhere. I requested one of them to take the parents of the groom to the reception place as the procession was getting late and many guests might have already arrived. He looked at me - probably deciding whether to accept orders from me - I quickly added, "you see, uncle aunty ko aap hi mana sakte hai". He smiled immediately. He took off with an air of definiteness.

I moved to a second one - "sirji aapko ek bahut Important kaam dena hai". He looked at me with an air of a mentor - "haan Bolo". I said - "Please ensure that the Baraat reaches on time - so please allow these dancing friends just half an hour. No more". I was feeling ridiculous as I utttered these words. The baraat was already an hour late going by the schedule. And I was waiting for him to explode with anger. But to my utter surprise he responded - "Sure thing. Don't worry. Leave that to me." I patted the MBA inside me - you are not yet dead.

I reached out to a third one - far more confident this time. "My dear you got to stick to the Dulha. Whatever happens - don't leave him. See he has already had this accident with the ghodi. Now its your responsibility that nothing goes wrong with him." As expected, he felt proud that he was chosen for the job. He started briskly towards the car.

By now, I was automatically in charge (!!!). A few said - "Kuch kaam ho to bolo - I shall handle it" Frayed nerves cooled down and the procession was on its way. We reached the venue approx two hours late by schedule (which, I realised later, was the right time. The real managers had created the schedule to account for people's tendency to get late. LOLss). The event went well (accept for the unexpecetd rains - which I guess God decided that He shall also pull a leg or two) and later everyone congratulated everyone else that despite so many problems they helped the event to be concluded well.

As I was travelling back to Indore - with my family members in deep sleep - I wondered. Why are human beings this way?? Whether be it family, profession, society, governance - we complicate matters ourselves by weaving an intricate web of insecurities, logic, alternatives and uninformed fears. While we believe in teamwork, our behaviours are actually quite opposite to its tenets in general. But then where would comedy be - if this does not happen.

Lets shift our focus back

Writing a post after a hiatus of six odd months. I also write at The CH Edge as a part of faculty team of CH EdgeMakers. So this is my opinions blog and on issues related to career and MBA Entrance, you shall find me writing at The CH Edge.

My last post was on Corruption. Little did I know at that time that it will turn out to be so insightful. As if as a trigger the floodgates opened soon after. Scam after scam - 2G, Radia Tapes, Balwa, DB realty, Amar Singh Tapes etc. Anna Hazare phenomenon happened, some really high profile arrests happened and today everyone in the media is looking for more dough on a new scam that they can break out.

But wait, what happened to so many other issues that were hot just before all hell broke loose on corruption. Ask yourself what was hot topic just ten months ago?? Thinking?? And may be you can't remember.

What happened to the India growth story? We becoming a financial superpower in the next few decades? Why are the stock markets suddenly cautious? Why do columnists no longer swear by the India shining buzz? Why has FDI in India been declining stubbornly? Have we been derailed?? By whom? for what??

Here is the answer : Yet again, we have got our priorities wrong as a country. Allow me to explain. Corruption is a big problem our country faces but it is not our biggest problem. A bigger problem is a non-functional system of Governance. Too much focus on eradicating corruption paralyses the system further. Uncertainity grows and hence risk in the environment increases. India can ill afford such an environment - specially because there are hardly any global drivers to growth. We need to take broad based Growth as our top agenda. Nothing should deviate us from that focus. Not even an Anna Hazare who ironically is a man with his heart in the right place.

So, you would ask should we overlook corruption? My answer, quite surprisingly, is yes - at least for the time being. Here is why? Corruption has many roots - one is pure & raw greed. But there are others - Poverty, Inequality of Opportunities  and competitive jealousy are some more reasons.

While corruption generating out of pure greed is detestible and need to be dealt with, with iron gloves, others are better handled by focusing and ensuring broadbased growth that leads to widespread prosperity.

Today many walk down the road of crime and corruption because they are forced into it by the basic need and desires of dignified living. Soon they experience the weak and ineffective system and hence they are emboldened to accumulate wealth by all means without fear of law. Check out the number of petty thiefs and small time goondas/politicians who became rich & happening in a few years in most growing cities of our country to understand what I mean.

Some more are compelled to follow corrupt practices simply out of frustration - because opportunities are less and these opportunities also are not fairly distributed. Ask a person who wants to do business honestly, or a job aspirant who wants to bag the job on his/her merit - and you would know what I mean.

Finally, the onslaught of capitalism has waged a new war amongst the huge middle class of India. A war of matching and outdoing each other in lifestyle. I run two education institutes in my town. In our coaching business we came across a student (his father a respected Govt. officer in Hoshangabad) who stole cycle of a fellow student from the parking lot and sold it to a very reputed and old business of cycles in Indore. The guy in question was anxious but not remorseful. The pressures of metro lifestyles and its demands on today's youngsters lead them to such corruption of mindset.

Corruption due to greed generally will be found in the top echeleons of Govt & business quite removed from ground level day to day realities of middle class life - witness all those involved in the 2G scam or the Commonwealth games scam. These people do not care for anything but wealth - not even their reputation.

But this corruption in all its extent is less of an issue to the common man on the ground. He is affected severely by the day to day bribes that he has to pay at traffice signals, sarkari offices, tax offices and muncipality offices. These cases of corruption largely belong to the later categories. Not every policeman is happy taking bribes - but he/she is driven into it because of a thanklessly hard grind of a job that pays just enough to subsist - not to prosper. Further, today his/her job does not even give them the respect that it deserves.

My simple suggestion is that most of these other kinds of corruption is better addressed by spreading prosperity. If policemen gets paid handsomely - there would be many who would not accept bribes. And hence a more long term and permanent solution to widespread corruption is widespread prosperity. Sadly our enthusiasm to root corruption out may be the reason this prosperity may be delayed. Hence the title of my post - Lets shift our focus back to where it should be : Broadbased Growth.

Lets again start discussing and implementing reforms - What happened to the Direct Tax Code(DTC), or the Goods & Services Tax (GST), Lets reform the Police and Governance, Lets move on decontrol of diesel, lets focus on building infrastucture, lets implement UID quickly & effectively, lets focus on more institution building like that of the RBI, SEBI, IRDA, TRAI etc. Aggressive reforms, better governance will bring growth, generating employment and ground level prosperity. This in itself will bring down corruption. A corrupt but functional and growing system is better than a clean but paralysed one.

A Lost Nation

This post was triggered by this innocent mail from one of my students

Sir, i want to know your views regarding corruption in CWG (Common Wealth Games).

I read that a lot corruption is happening in CWG? like
1:Renting a chair for Rs 8400.
2:Renting a 100 litre refrigerator for Rs 42000.
3:Buying a roll of tissue for Rs 4100.
4:Renting a treadmill for Rs 10 lakh.

sir,is it a reality that such kind of corruption is happening.
If India is unable to host CWG well...sir it would be a really shame for our country..


DO u think India did right in hosting CWG despite the fact that we lack infastructure to host such big event???

Got me thinking and Googling - here are some randomly organised results (brace yourself for a long post)

*****
Chattisgarh government decided to grant exploration and mining rights in a dozen iron ore-rich pockets in Hahaladdi to a Rs one-lakh firm with zero experience (later quashed by the courts). The underlying method is that such companies would sell the mining rights at obscene profits to real mining companies. Who will be the beneficiary - well !! if someone goes deep one shall invariably find the same officials/politicians who awarded the rights in clear violation of rules/laws.

(Source - TOI)

******
The mining scam in Karnataka could easily be worth Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 2.5 billion) says Justice Santosh Hegde, the state's Lokayukta, who has been investigating the scam for the past three years.



The scale of corruption is of a magnitude that India has not witnessed, he says. Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has recently admitted that 35 lakh (3.5 million) metric tonnes of iron ore have gone unaccounted for. Let us not just sit back and think that is the entire extent of the scam.

(Source - rediff)

******
MP CM Mr. Chouhan is now in the eye of a storm over an alleged Rs 100-crore land scam in Indore. Ever since an anti-corruption court in Indore on April 6 ordered the Lokayukta to register a case and probe the allegations against his Commerce & Industry Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, regarded as Chouhan's second-in-command. He is accused of clearing the sale of a plot of land owned by the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) while he was mayor in 2004.


The IMC had leased out the three-acre plot in downtown Indore to Dhanalaxmi Chemicals for 30 years in 1980. It is alleged that Vijayvargiya had presided over the sale of lease to Nanda Nagar Credit Cooperative Society headed by his lieutenant and MLA Ramesh Mendola for Rs 1.28 crore while the prevailing market price was more than Rs 65 crore. Mendola was a member of the mayor-in-council of the IMC. It is alleged that since the industry was a mere tenant, it had no right to sell the lease, nor was the IMC empowered to sanction it.

(Source - IndiaToday.in)

**************
The biggest corporate scam in India has come from one of the most respected businessmen.

Satyam founder Byrraju Ramalinga Raju resigned as its chairman after admitting to cooking up the account books. His efforts to fill the "fictitious assets with real ones" through Maytas acquisition failed, after which he decided to confess the crime. With a fraud involving about Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion), the epicenter of the fraud has just achieved bail after incarceration of more than a year and half.

(Source - rediff)

********************
The Telgi case is another big scam that rocked India. The fake stamp racket involving Abdul Karim Telgi was exposed in 2000. The loss is estimated to be Rs 171.33 crore (Rs 1.71 billion), it was initially pegged to be Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 bilion), which was later clarified by the CBI as an exaggerated figure. In 1994, Abdul Karim Telgi acquired a stamp paper license from the Indian government and began printing fake stamp papers.
Telgi bribed to get into the government security press in Nashik and bought special machines to print fake stamp papers. Telgi's networked spread across 13 states involving 176 offices, 1,000 employees and 123 bank accounts in 18 cities.

(Source - rediff)

**************************
‘Mr Lalit Modi has had a trail of failed ventures and defaults till four years back but has a lifestyle now that includes a private jet, a luxury yacht and a fleet of Mercedes S class and BMW cars all acquired in the last three years.

(Source - Economic TImes)

**************

Actually I can go on and on and on and on....................... and then we have this current one (or has it already gotten stale) the Common Wealth Shame.

Where am I headed? We have become a country in the grips of the corrupt. A system that is Corrupt down to the last bone. And what's happening in the name of common wealth games is just one more in the series of ever larger, ever more brazen, ever more engulfing - an all encompassing corruption personifying an increasingly hollow nation with those millions of honest people - helplessly living through a maze of paying 10-20 rs. through everyday street level corruption.

So friends, the issue is much beyond the Common Wealth Games. No we did not commit any error in taking the responsibility to conduct them. And given the Indian spirit of getting things done - I have a hunch that they will be successfully conducted. Yeah !! I really believe that. The issue is that we are fast turning into a country where your very survival is going to depend on how many politicians, goons and Policeman are you networked with (read - how many of them are greased by you). And how do you grease their palms by just being another in the chain - use corrupt means, dodge taxes, corner deals illicitly or simply encroach in public/pvt. properties. Which means your growth will be restricted by the strength of determination to remain honest. The more honest you remain - the more rare your breed - and the more difficult for you to grow beyond what you are.

"Come on, it can't be that bad. I know of so many people who are honest in our country. " Some of you would protest.Yeah !! I also know quite a few. Most of them are not even in the mainstream of this country's affairs - keep aside they having some power to make a difference. The rare few in the establishment who try to initiate cleansing are conveniently sidelined into obscure corridors pushing papers. Tax officials, auditors, anyone "sarkari" when they visit you or check your books they assume a minimum percentage of evasion - even when your books appear to be perfectly in order. And so if everything is in order you are supposed to pay the bottom of the inverted pyramid rates (of bribe - if you did not already guess it). Nobody believes you if you claim that everything that you earn is reflected in your balance sheet. You will often get that coy smile and an irreverent - "Aisa thodi hota hai" (It does not happen in this manner).

According to an estimate the Indian black economy is 40% of our GDP. Economic Times estimates "If black money is declared by individuals or corporate houses as income, it becomes legal and would be taxed at 30%. If all the estimated black money is declared, it could generate a tax revenue of Rs 7,50,000 crore for the government! This is more than total tax collection at Rs 6,41,000 crore for 2009-10. Kumar puts the potential tax revenue figure much higher at around Rs 10,00,000 crore." The burden on the common man - honest tax payers will probably reduce by upto 80% if we are able to wipe out corruption in all its form. Ambitious??? OK !! Reduce corruption to less than half of current levels and still the common man is looking at a substantially better life.

So why does it not happen? Surely there are well meaning people who want to cleanse the rot. The problem is that the cancer of corruption is far too wide and deep, even in the Indian psyche, that small steps would not matter, neither would big action matter. Nothing short of a revolution will help this scenario. What would be the shape of this revolution - Economists have already named it - "The Third Generation Reforms".

Notice that in all cases that I listed above and in those I did not list - the villain of the case finally went unpunished. Media raked up the issue - it was fed to the masses - villain arrested/resigned/cornered, enquiry commissions, committees, investigation teams etc. appointed, and then suddenly the whole issue goes out of the media. Agencies move on to next cases and the fleeting public memory is fed with another scandal, another person/organisation. The question that faces us is what happened to the earlier cases.

There are reasons to believe that what happens is that all relevant parties right from the investigation teams, to the police to various politicians will probably be managed (read bribed) and so they will all connive to use dilatory techniques taking one step at a time, till the time an entire issue is washed out of public memory. Quietly then, toothless charges are framed, a sham courtroom drama happens which if needed can be extended infinitum and the guy in question will be released of all charges.

Yeah !! all too familiar. Whats wrong?
First, the corruption in police. Police would first like to avoid registering cases and when they do, the investigation done is sloppy. Second, slow pace of executing so many thousands of cases piling up with the judiciary.

Proactive reforms in these two critical components is probably the only way for our vibrant and functioning democrcy. Thats our last hope - the Third generation of reforms.

Reforms in policing would mean to train and motivate personnel in police to enable them to develop competence of conducting copy book investigating; paying the police force better, equipping them better with physical and conceptual infrastruture; increasing transparency by computerising police operations and  making available to public, concrete information on status of all cases/complaints registered; and to catch the lazy, slothful and corrupt from the forces and to weed them out - forget punishing them, simply retire them with all there retirement benfits - there punishing will cost the exchequer more.

Judiciary needs to be galvanised into ensuring that it includes speed as an equally important parameter to other tenets of justice. Actually it appears that in India - the speed of judicial system is poor more because of slow and sloppy investigation and meandering techniques of the legal fraternity. There might be administrative bottlenecks as well - but computerisation and online dissemination of information should help that.

I would simply end this piece by a very thoughtful quote from J Mulraj

The India story keeps looking good except for the sorry state of governance. Leading tennis players have not been paid past dues, and are threatening to boycott the CWG, yet the OC has the money to pay Rs 4000 for a toilet roll! (Several of its deals include a return of the asset after a 15 day use; one hopes the same is not the case for the toilet paper). BJP MPs are protesting rampant corruption in the mid day meal programme, and pointing to the 'unfit for human consumption' food given to school children; yet there is a surplus of foodgrain rotting in open fields for want of storage. There is enough money to hike MPs who walk out half the time from their job, but not enough to keep India in defence preparedness. The only aircraft carrier we have is inadequate and we haven't bought a major gun since the Bofors purchase. This abysmal governance is the key risk factor. Otherwise, as Aamir Khan would sing, aaaaaal is well

I hope the Government is listening and may be they will do something about it.

Indian Rupee has a Symbol - Big deal?

This is bound to be a small post. However, the start (for me) was a really interesting one. I have been thinking of writing on this new symbol that our currency just got. And almost two weeks later when I could sit down and log in to blogger - Voila - a new reader on the blog had this comment.

It's great..really great job..!!

Looking forward to read more from you esp. on "our Indian Rupee sign" ...!!

So I guess it must be a good omen. Here we go

Rupee has a new symbol. Period.
I have been told by everybody that I should be proud of this because
1. We are only the fifth country to have a symbol after USA, Europe, Japan and Britain.
I wonder do we count anywhere close to these countries as an economy. May be we are expected to, in about a couple of decades - but proud we must be of having a symbol. phew!!

2. We might suddenly be recognised globally because soon keyboards will carry this new symbol.
I wonder whether people in general and media in particular realise that the symbol has to go through a unicode committe before it is accepted and recognised globally. Only after that will our Govt. be able to mandate hardware manufacturers to carry the symbol in their produce.
However, enthusiasts have already found out ways to type it - find here if interested.

3. Because it is touted as a positive step towards India becoming a financial super power.
Alas, I wonder - will we ever get over with our fascination with symbolism, hyperbole and overtly optimistic beliefs. Yes for all I write here - I am a firm believer in India's future. But for god's sake - someone tell me how a symbol for our currency is a step towards economic supremacy. Its a pathetic argument.

The truth is - achieving Global recoginition would require the Rupee to be a strong currency - something in whose inherent strength the citizens of this world have firm belief. Try purchasing something in exchange of the Indian Rupee in a country outside India and you would know that we are not even a few miles in reach of such a position. Our currency is not even fully convertible - so imagining that it could soon become a reserve currency for the world is plain wishful thinking. Even with all its woes the American Dollar, The Euro, The Pound and the Yen are far stronger and are expected to remain so for a decade or more, that is assuming the Indian Govt. continues to reform and is able to aggressively correct its economic mess.

The timing of the announcement, even if inadvertantly, was sublime. The country was reeling under the pressure of inflation exacerbated by deregulation of petrol prices and the Govt. seemed to be on the defensive with a very comprehensive "bandh" called by the opposition parties. Suddenly with the launch of the new symbol the country seem to be have galvanised. The media suddenly forgot all discussion about inflation. Govt. received a welcome breather. The foolish common man of India (courtsey the film "Wednesday") was fooled again into believing that his and his country's time is about to change. No sir, nothing like that is happening. A few weeks from now - it will be business as usual and the Rupee symbol will have to be incorporated in the CBSE text books for next year and forgotten. Period.

Ps.

BTW I think the symbol is rather cool. Simple, Indian as well as western, manages to remain a currency symbol as well. Kudos to Shri D Udaya Kumar, our homegrown IITians to come up with this simple and brilliant symbol. I sincerely hope that his design finally becomes a household symbol across the earth.

Finally, A Big Bang Reform

On 25th of this month (june 2010) the Indian Govt. took a major step forward in reforming the Indian Economy. It freed petroleum prices from all regulation and indicated its intention to do so for diesel as well. That's not all, it increased diesel prices by Rs. 2 a litre, LPG by Rs. 25 a cylinder and even increased the kerosene prices, long untouched from price hike. Read the details here.

Now opposition parties have a real issue to thrash the Government on. This statement sounds derisive of the opposition parties and yet there are real short term implications which are worrisome. Inflation, which has stressed the lives of common person on the street in the last several months, will flare up further. in fact this decision would result in price rise of a fairly universal nature affecting everyone including the middle class voter of this Govt. who had been benefited the most in the recent decade of reforms and Globalisation. If so, why did the Govt. take this step and risk facing ire of its vote bank? Why this shift (by no means a sudden one) from a long held policy of managed fuel prices? further, why am I happy about this decision?


First a quick reminder of the situation. According to CRISIL the oil PSUs were projected to lose Rs 74,300 crore on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost in FY10-11. The current hike in prices would recover Rs. 25,000 crores and would still leave a gaping hole of close to Rs. 50,000 crores to be subsidised by the Govt. Just for the sake of argument if the Central Govt. were to subsidise this fully - this adds three fourth of percentage point to its fiscal deficit. So here is one compelling reason for the Government to seal a leakage which was showing signs of going out of hand.


But wasn't this always the case, and the Govt. has been dealing with it in this way, unique only to us, Srilanka and Bangladesh, in this entire world. So why take the risk now?

Lets check another side of the picture - it is interesting to note that fuel prices are high in India because of its federal structure as well. Read this informative piece to get the complete picture - but in nut shell what it says is that state Governments levy a VAT of between 20% to as much as 35% on petrol. (In MP this happens to be one of the highest at 35%). On an average the central plus state taxes are equivalent to 40% of the price you pay for every litre of petrol, with the lion's share going to the state Govt. Further, what this means is that a price hike in fuel prices gets amplified at the state level, filling the coffers of the state govt., and creating a villain out of the central of Govt.
This is not all. Sales tax or VAT accounts for over 60% of the aggregate taxes of states, a good percentage of this comes from the levy on fuels. What this means is that states are heavily dependent for their revenues on taxes from fuels as they are unable to generate resources from where they should - levy of fee on services provided to citizens (but then that would be unpopular - isn't it?). In other words then - the Central Govt. when subsiding the fuel prices in part subsides the state Govts as well for their mismanaged administration.

What the central Govt. has done is that they have become a one time big villain now and then have left the states to defend themselves in future. Soon the media will start training its guns on state governments like Andhra Pradesh, MP and Tamil Nadu asking why are citizens paying such high taxes on petroleum. Better still Mr. Murli Deora has already asked the state Govts. to reduce taxes so as to mitigate the problems of people on the prices front. So the heat will soon turn towards the state Govt. Can you see why the opposition parties aren't creating half the "hulla" - of what they would on much more trivial matters. Well if you did not guess it already, most state Govts. belong to parties in the opposition at  the centre.

And then there is the ubiquitous connection between policy making in India and the Ambanis. Half a decade back the Big bro entered Petroleum retail trying to create a presence in the entire value chain of its flagship petroleum businesses. Many of us would remember the fate of the Reliance petrol pumps across the country which had to close shop (temporarily, it now turns out). I wrote this piece way back in May 2006. Little was I aware that I was so bloody insightful. I of course do not know this for sure - but why does my gut tell me that the connection is far too easy not to make out? So here is the story of why the government might have bitten the the proverbial bullet.

However, I am happy with he decision. Yes, I know what I am talking about. After lots of deliberation I bought a mid-sized car three years back - a delight to drive and a monster at the petrol pumps (I pay almost 5+ Rs. a KM to drive it on old prices of petrol). Little did I knew that Dr. Manmohan singh's govt. will stop sharing the cost. :)


What makes me happy is that on a macro front this is a step in the right direction. The monstrous and pointless subsidy on automobile fuels is a structural anomaly in the economy. Let me explain. When Central Govt. subsidises fuels - who pays the cost? The taxpayers (I am tempted to write - honest taxpayers). While most profligate consumers of petrol are not these honest taxpayers. So indirectly the Govt. is making you and me pay for these consumers (including the Govt. which is the single most profligate consumer of petrol). My very modest parents purchased their first car and ran it just over 60,000 KM in ten years. I am sure that if you are reading this you can relate many of their ilk. They have been paying for these subsidies for years now.

What decontrol has done is that it will make people pay for their usage. Simple. This can pave the way to reduced deficits for the Govt. (as they will not pay the subsidy at least not to this extent) which will result in two welcome developments for the honest tax payers - further rationalisation of taxes (read reduced tax rates) and a stronger rupee, both of which will help the "Aam Aadmi" in the long run. This Govt. is only two years into this tenure - they might be expected to reap some of the benefits by the end of this tenure, by which time the new Direct Tax Code might also become a reality. Cool. :) So while inflation would happen - I get a feeling that the step will also make the middle class more able to pay the higher costs.

What about the pain during the transition? Well, one of my profs at the IIML said way back in 1996 - that is a cost of past sins. But my take is that the decision is positive to the Indian economy in the long run.

The Best Teacher - An anecdote

Received this mail from my school time friend - Ajay. Could not resist putting it up here. If you have anything to do with the business of education don't miss it. If you have nothing to with the business of education - still don't miss it. Thanks Ajay for Sharing.
- Akash
*****************************

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big 'F' at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around..'

His second grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.'

His third grade teacher wrote, 'His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest, and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken.'

Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class.'

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself.. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume.. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, 'Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to.

After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her 'teacher's pets..'

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck w ith it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honours. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, 'Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.'

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back.. She said, 'Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you.'

Goof up again or is it something else....

Govt. came up with an ordinance on the issue simmering between the IRDA and the SEBI over who of the two should be regulating the ULIPs (Unit Linked Insurance Plans). Here is the news. Govt. has decided to take the IRDA side. Now that's puzzling and curious - everything the ordinance, its logic and its timing.


First a background -

ULIPs are considered/treated as Insurance in India  however they are sold as investments. Meet an insurance seller and they would start telling you how the ULIP will multiply your money and save tax - no one is really interested in telling you that its an insurance first.


To Mutul Funds, which are pure investments and have nothing to do with Insurance ULIPs are a competition.


One does not need to be an expert to see that in India, Mutual Funds (MF) are a better regulated and hence more transparent industry than Insurance. A MF manager has to inform investors about the way money in a fund has been invested. Recent improvements in regulation has stripped MF mangers of the ability to charge entry loads and commisions for their agents to be charged to their customers. On the other hand we very rarely come to know of what is being done to our money invested in the ULIPs. It is a well known fact that the upfront charges that a ULIP customer ends up paying are plainly ridiculously high. Further ground reality is that the agent of the Insurance company often misleads the customer on these charges and their real impact on their investment.

Recently SEBI asserted that the ULIPs should also comply with the rules and norms of SEBI as it was basically an investment product and hence deserves to be regulated by SEBI. IRDA took strong obejections. The question is currently subjudice whether SEBI's interpretation holds.

I am not an expert in investing - but common sense tells me that - SEBI had a strong case. ULIPs are an investment option wrapped in the garb of insurance. In fact read this excellent piece by Dhirendra Kumar making a case for stripping ULIPs' returns of their tax free status as well.

The ordinance by the Govt. makes the legal case in the court irrelevant. What it has effectively done is that it has prevented the court to pronounce its stand on the question. Why the hurry? Why this ordinance just a few days before the court hearing on the matter was due. And why in favour of ULIPs?

Obviously there are political compulsions - a fairly large number of investors are invested in ULIPs, Quite large numbers of them are unsuspecting middle class retail investors in search of future security, lured by attractive looking returns. Most of these were confused in the ongoing debate wondering whether they made a mistake committing themselves to the ULIPs. This pronouncement would make them feel comfortable as they would again see others buying ULIPs as they did earlier. For Insurance companies it will be business as usual. This would not rock the boat - so to say for the Govt. An ordinance timed now obviously means that even Govt. senses the possibility that the court might accept the logic of SEBI's orders.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying ULIPs are useless products - but they have been packaged to misguide. It has a upfront cost heavy structure which makes them strictly a very long term option. Mutual funds are a far better option for an investor. Further, the ULIPs (read insurance companies) are opaque in their operations.  And, all said and done, a normal investor can, with just a little bit research, invest in MF at substantially lesser cost and achieve almost the same, if not better, returns.
 
Strictly from policy making view - Govt. seems to have snubbed the better regulator. There is a strong case for investors to be encouraged to choose MFs over ULIPs (or bringing ULIPs closer to MFs in their operations & sales) and some help from regulators would have been a good idea. Govt. seems to have taken a technically administrative view that IRDA is for insurance and have ignored the basic premise in the issue - that of ULIPs not really being an insurance.
 
SEBI although lost this round but did great service to common investors. Now IRDA will have to be more watchful and proactive - as they will be watched by everyone with great interest. My take is that IRDA will be pushed into reforming Insurance industry to make it more transparent and responsible.
 
My problem however, is that is this just another case of incompetent goofup by the Govt. or there is more behind the scene games?

Complacent scepticism : the Indian way of life?

"Mummy, Aaj school nahi Lagega - Bahut bada accident ho gaya hai. 1000 se jyada log mare hai" (Mom, Today there will be no school - there has been a big accident. More than 1000 people died)

Horrible but true. This was my first reaction to the news of "Bhopal Gas Leak Tragedy", which reached us through the morning newspaper (you see there were no 24/7 News Channels & no inetrnet).

I was twelve then - a boy who was secretely happy that he wouldn't have to go to school. As the realisation of more than 15000 death that fateful tragic night sinked in - its real impact distilled deep down in my conscience. I grew up to feel ashamed of that first reaction of mine.

I feel more ashamed today when - 26 long years after - eight accused have been convincted. One would expect to feel cathartic on finally listening to the news of the convictions. But what in this world would explain that the tragedy was presented to the court by the CBI (no less) as "culpable homicide not amounting to murder", "Gross Negligence" and "Causing death by Negligence". Ok. You convicted them - yeah you did - and awarded them what? A two year sentence to each of them from which they recieved an immediate bail for a ludicrous 25000 rs. each. The company was fined a princely sum of - hold your breath - Rs. 5 lakhs.

Should there be some difference between a car accident which killed a couple of people and a poisonous gas leak that led to 15000+ deaths, a generation of children with congenital defects (which might run in their clan for all we know), polluted air, water & soil; people with damaged psyche which can possibly never be addressed properly?

Here is an idea - the kith and kin of victims should run a truck over these eight convicted and then should fight a 26 year long case with their families finally getting convicted for "culpable homicide not amounting to murder" punishable by a maximum of two years that too bailable for laugably low amounts of deposit.
No I am not going to blame this on our system, weak CBI, corrupt politicians or even not to the excruciatingly slow pace of justice delivery. That a lot of "analyst" will do. What is important for us to ponder upon is how does all these happen in our country so easily? How do we the citizens allow this to happen? My take - the culture of "Complacent Skepticism".

Look around yourself - dusty, poorly built roads, corruption scandals one after the other - be it beautification of city or be it a housing project for people, Forests being cut, encroachments increasing, IAS officers and politicians amassing disproportionate (the word is really modest) amount of wealth, goons becoming politicians, even ministers. Wealthy are mighty - they can get away with practically anything. The size and depth of rot increases horrendously with every new scandal being unearthed. Also those involved in the scandals become increasingly more brazen as they cruise through case after case, not even bruised - in some cases - actually stronger than ever before.

The formula is simple - become thick skinned (read "without any ethics"), drag the issue till the media gets bored of carrying it any further, possibly buy the investigating agency/officers, use shrewed lawyers to entangle the courts in dilatory tactics, either let the case continue for decades or better still simply buy your way out of the charges or at best to the simplest possible conviction which can then be appealed against further - till then you are out on bail on a miniscule part of your ill gotten crores.

And what do we do about it? Everytime one such accident, scandal, negligence, corruption is unearthed - what is the typical reaction? Well the one I hear most now a days is "Kuch Nahi Hoga - yeh India hai". Absolute and total - the scepticism. Then when actually nothing happens for some time the reaction is "See !! I told you." Yes - we are amazingly complacent - almost smug - in the knowledge that we had predicted the outcome accurately. And so the life goes on.

If all these is happening around us with such impunity - we are the ones who are responsible. We get the systems we deserve, we get the rulers we deserve and we get the life we deserve. Our inaction, quiet tolerance of everything wrong around us, big or small, is alone responsible.

So friends speak up. And make it a habit to speak up everytime. As always I am asking for too much. But it really is time to ask for every bit of that too much. Please.

A rare gem

Received this poem through mail - Author not known to me. But worth sharing, Beautiful thought.

I was shocked, confused, bewildered

As I entered Heaven's door,

Not by the beauty of it all,

Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven

Who made me sputter and gasp--

The thieves, the liars, the sinners,

The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade

Who swiped my lunch money twice.

Next to him was my old neighbor

Who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought

Was rotting away in hell,

Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,

Looking incredibly well.

I nudged God, 'What's the deal?

I would love to hear Your take.

How'd all these sinners get up here?

God must've made a mistake.

'And why is everyone so quiet,

So somber - give me a clue.'

'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock.

No one thought they'd be seeing you.'

JUDGE NOT!!

Remember...Just going to a place of worship doesn't make you

religious any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.

Every saint has a PAST...

Every sinner has a FUTURE!