Boycott of PK and some fundamental questions

Banning of PK is a retrograde step. It is against freedom of expression. I do not want to see it removed from theatres. Now coming to similar cases, so was banning of Vishwaroopam in TN and The Da Vinci Code in a lot of states when they released. How was that not against freedom of expression? The then TN govt said it cannot control law and order if Vishwaroopam releases. I respect "Emadhu islaamiya sagotharargalin unarvugal". At the end, the final version was cut to satisfy 5.5% of TN population(or actually a dozen ppl). 

Some serious questions arise out of these incidents.

1. As much as minorities have emotions to tend to, don't majority have too?
2. Does the state react to people's sentiments or to the degree of violence that stems from people sentiments?
3. If a state can't assure law and order, why wasn't it removed and Governor's rule imposed? (btw this goes to states if banning PK too)
4. Does 5.5% of population voting as a block becomes more politically significant than 80% of population that votes variably according to it's subgroups?
5. If the above is true, does one fundamental right exercised once in five years have the potential to hold in hostage the other fundamental rights of the majority through the rest of the years?


By this I do not mean to hurt my friends who follow other faiths.
I do not want their sentiments to be hurt also.
I do not want them to see being marginalized in the society.
I do not want to see them being stereotyped as 'those who vandalize if not respected'.

But I want them to understand, that the above factors have been created by few individuals who declare themselves to be representatives of their groups.
I want them to understand that if they do not shun these individuals then the whole community gets the blame.

To the Hindu far right (Bajrang Dal, Hindu Maha Sabha, VHP),
Can you guys please stop acting as if you are living in the 9th century?!
We know what to take out of a movie seriously and what to be left at the theatre hall.
A majority of this country's population was born after the Constitution of India came into existence. We live in The Republic of India and not Hindu Rashtra.
We grew reading our Preamble and Fundamental rights. 
Democracy and pluralism are the two best things that could've happened to India.


To the moral high ground liberal main stream media analysts,
You guys are anyway hopeless and
1. Your minority appeasing commentary confounds me to this day.
2. The idea of crushing the majority to compensate for something that happened in the past is the worst thing to happen in a secular democracy.

The fact that we will be wishing all our friends a happy 2015 in couple of days and yet still haven't figured out how to be a plural tolerant society is a shame on us.

The road ahead for AAP

They came, they saw and they have failed. It happens.

'Welcome to Indian democracy', said 50.5 crore voters on 16th May 2014 in the most emphatic way possible. The Aam Admi party was expected to win between 4 to 10 seats before the elections started and they have won 4, all in Punjab. The more telling fact is that they didn't win even a single seat in Delhi, the place they had their only presence in govt. Winning 4 seats in Punjab is a cause for jubilation as they can easily build on this to consolidate in the state but losing Delhi has left many a supporter and AAP member confused and disappointed.

A lot would be said about how Kejriwal caused his own down fall by resigning from Delhi in 49 days and the leadership contesting from suicidal varanasi and amethi instead of established bases. I would in fact add the 49 days of govt to the debacle list but that's up for debate. Putting the blame on these things actually just ignores some deep systemic flaws present within the organization. To me, the former list of debacles are mainly the result of these systemic flaws and unless rectified, will prove to be severely detrimental to the organization and the cause it stands for.

The most important day for any organization is its day of inception. And AK made the biggest mistake on the day he formed AAP.Till that day, he was running a highly successful anti corruption movement, India Against Corruption(IAC). Something went wrong when IAC transformed to the AAP. For any organization to be successful, there are 4 aspects that need to be in sync with each other. 1. the party agenda, 2. the leadership's vision 3. the expectations of the party workers/members 4. the actual work being done.

IAC was highly successful only because all these 4 aspects were in sync. The movement's agenda was to eradicate corruption, the leadership's vision was to end corruption by finding facts, the public joined the movement for the very same cause and to support them and the implementation was very good in the org exposing the list of people behind corruption with records and facts. The members knew what they wanted of the movement and the movement was doing it successfully. When AAP was formed, it was no more a movement.

These 4 aspects of the organization of AAP were never in sync.

1. Party agenda
A political party fights elections not just to eliminate the bad leaders in the democracy but also to run the country. Nobody knows the agenda of AAP except that it is anti corruption and anti FDI. And the problem is, one doesn't even know if every senior leader of AAP endorses this agenda leave alone the other members. As it turned out, after 49 days of Delhi govt and from its speeches, the party is leftist. Nothing wrong but did the members or the people know about it?

 2. Leadership's vision
AK, until then was perceived as an honest man who just wanted to eradicate corruption. As soon as he formed a political party he had created such huge expectations, that people started perceiving the leader in him from their own ideas of honest leader. People knew AK the anti corruption crusader but nobody knew AK the administrator or leader. Nobody knows the leadership's vision even today. What is Kumar Vishwas's idea on increasing power generation? What is Manish Sisodia's opinion on controlling inflation? Prashant Bushans... ok better let's not ask for his opinions. What is the vision of the party leadership on agriculture, farm loans, expanding manufacturing, increasing jobs? The leadership seems to point out the flaws in the system but doesn't have concrete solutions to any of these.

3. The expectations of the party members

Since 1 and 2 were virtually absent, there was a policy vacuum. A lot of people questioned it and some still blindly follow it but none of them have got answers. The members wanted to know what is the plan of the party for the next 2 years, the elections and the next 5 years. AAP had not spelt it out. As long as 1&2 were vague, the organization at grassroots level did not have a direction and nobody was going to vote AAP to power.

4. The implementation of ideas 
Aah this is the favorite topic of every AAP basher out there. When AAP decided to fight LS elections, what did it have against Narendra Modi's BJP?  BJP had Modi's 12 years of Guj. governance and Vajpayee's legacy embracing almost every aspect of national governance. AAP had only 49 days of dramatic governance to show. Those 49 days could only be described as 'tughlaqish'. I can take a complete blog post on the list of mistakes on those 60 days but to summarize it, 'you don't win 27 seats, then again ask for people's opinion for forming coalition with congress and then ditch them in 49 days'. The word 'decisiveness' was absent in AAP's dictionary. Well,when there is no vision, where can there be decisiveness to achieve it?


Also for this elections, AAP missed the people's mood completely. Here was AAP talking about CPI being not left enough, increasing subsidies, nationalizing some industries and anti FDI while over 15 crore of the electorate was born after the license raj was abolished and India embraced globalization. The CPI itself was out of fashion on the national scene by 2009 LS elections. And AAP's agenda for this elections was to break the system and start from scratch?!! That's the biggest joke of this election. Well AK, you can't repair a flight in air by stopping it. If you don't like the pilot, you just can't keep shouting that he's bad. You need to know how to fly it and also the passengers' destination and safely reach there.

The way forward

Setting these systemic deficiencies right is the way ahead. The party leadership needs to sit down with the rest of the organizational setup and decide upon  aspects 1 and 2 of the organization. What is the agenda of the party in the 21st century where the common man wants deliverable governance. What is the vision of the party leadership apart from a corruption free govt? Discuss these things. The organization from the top leadership to the grassroot level member needs to be clear on message and be on the same page at all times. It needs to come up with an action plan for the next 5 years and a long term vision for the country and individual states. It needs to participate in public debates and allow people to know of its agenda and plans. It needs to understand people's pulse and the needs of the people and try to come up with solutions. More importantly, can it please bring in some experts in different fields with widespread experience? Moral high ground is not going to solve problems, only intellectuals with great ideas can.

Policy making is not a one way traffic but a two way traffic between the leadership and the people. AAP needs to show it's mettle in fighting corruption at grassroots level. The aam aadmi cares more about corruption affecting him directly like at police stations, ration shops, registrar offices and tehsildar's office than that happening at ministerial level. AAP still has public goodwill and imagination. It might not win elections initially, but it stands for something that the people can ill afford to lose.

Right now, AAP is like Penicillin. It is necessary to have in stock and use it in times of need but can't be had as staple diet unless it change completely. All the best.

My two cents...

This article is written at a time when I am taking loans in rupees and paying in dollars. It just pains me so much that because of the govt's short sightedness I need to spend more of my currency for mere survival. Coming directly to the point, the issue of depreciating rupee is of concern not only to me but to most of fellow country men. There have been economic advisory meetings, there has been interviews with Standard and Poor's representatives, RBI governor, our own 'Mum'mohan singh and Pranab Mukherjee. There have been discussions about policy paralysis with respect to current world economic scenario as well as in essential service sectors like Retail and Aviation. With all due respect to all those economic experts whose thoughts would be of much value, I really feel they miss the whole picture here. Let's look at the scenario.

The bulk of our foreign exchange comes from export of software and other IT enabled services.And a major chunk of the reserves go in buying oil from the international market for our needs. The consumption of oil and related products by India is only increasing and that too exponentially. When our consumption increase obviously our foreign exchange reserves are going to drain out. Considering the Eurozone crisis and Barack Obama's tilt towards discouraging outsourcing of jobs from America it is too much for the IT and ITeS sectors to compensate for the outflow of cash.

Atleast Dr. Singh has accepted the fact that amendments need to be made from inside and not in external policies. A one off loosening of law against the Vodafone acqusition tax issue is neither going to solve the problem nor going to bring back enormous investors confidence on India. It seems the decision making machinery runs on the time frame of coalition politics and not on economic implications. Having a coalition partner like TMC is like having a prosthetic leg that is full of infections. Of course its gonna lift you for the time being while forming the government but is definitely going to kill you in the long run. The announcement of FDI in retail and the later withdrawal coupled with the bad timing of the vodafone decision are standing examples. If you have decided on an issue, you shouldn't go back on it due to coalition pressures.

Next comes the aviation sector. If the AI-IA merger is anything to go by, IAS officers aren't necessarily great managers or CEOs in today's market. The lesser it is talked about the better. Combined with promotion of poor business  models in new green field airport projects and revenue curtailing taxation from all departments it is only bleeding the airlines of the little foreign exchange they have. Kingfisher is already packing all its suitcases to leave. To sum up the plight of this sector, 'The govt hasn't understood the industry and the industry hasn't understood the market'.

Now these things will take a long time to clean up and therefore the revenue stream will continue to be plugged in terms of forex. Coming to the most critical part, spending of forex reserves by oil companies is never gonna reduce. If this is the biggest hole in the tank the only way to keep the tank full is by plugging the hole and not by trying to add temporary hose pipes. All the decisions taken now are like hose pipes with limited input. The only solution to this is for us to reduce the dependance on oil. How long are we going to continue importing oil from whatever the rates the OPEC countries sell? We have to face the problem and fight it head on. Instead of spending so much on subsidies the govt can start with investing in future energy research. We just can't wait for the westerners to develop each and every technology that we need and expect them to give it for free. We have the need now and we need to do it now. Diesel and petrol based public transportation system must slowly be phased and replaced with hybrid and other clean energy based systems. Hybrid and electric vehicle technology must be publicised and its importance explained at every possible stage. Investment in renewable energy must be increased exponentially and for god's sake be given to private sector and not public sector.

There will be lobbies against the aforementioned points from different sectors.  To start with, most political parties will be against FDI in retail and the big auto industry will be against the shift towards renewable energy when Ashok Leyland, Daimler, Navistar, Mahindra, Tata etc have just recently invested hell a lot of money here. The solution is to work with them, and give incentives like a promise of  minimum market atleast by the govt to buy the new technology that had come up with.

 After all these scams and licking of coalition boots, this is the only way out. Attending G20 meets and heading ASEAN, BRICS and lobbying for a permanent seat in Security Council is just going to bring reputation and not respect and results. For the latter to happen, the govt needs to be stern and innovative in its policies and decisions and all the way.

Retirement plans for the Big 3 and an Insurance Scheme to Indian cricket

I start writing this article as India enters into the 5th day of the Adelaide(an achievement by itself). Throughout the England and Australian tours, the stalwarts of Indian batting have been ruthlessly asked questions both on and off the field. With around 37,00o test runs between them, people might say all three in their own way have the right to play the Adelaide test and I wouldn't question that. But this cannot continue forever. And if all three are going to retire from Test cricket in 6 months time, its nothing less than a nightmare for Indian cricket.

The talks of seniors mentoring the junior players and helping in smooth transition is rubbish to say the least. Virat Kohli is the only junior batsman on tour to have played with the seniors. Giving small tips in the nets during practice is fine but when will people like Rohit Sharma, Rahane or for that matter any other fringe batsman get used to it or gain experience? It just so happens that the highest run getter, the second highest run getter and the master of second innings rescue are in the same team and at similar stages of cricket life. It means that if all leave at the same time(which is a very good possibility) there will be a huge gap left. It means one of them has to sacrifice himself for the common good of the team. It means the game comes first and then the individual.

Even after this series if none of them retire, its a plague. If the three like playing cricket and still have some left in them, this is their last chance. Retire from int'l cricket one by one. Spend the next one year in the domestic circuit. Play the Ranji, Duleep and Irani trophy. Play matches with the budding cricketers and share your experiences and knowledge there. Teach them in building partnerships and innings while playing along with them. Give them a sense of security that 'the place up there' is where I come from and let me help you now reach there. Spend time in their dressing room. Show them the spirit and hunger. This is the place you learnt everything. Give back something to the alma mater, i.e the domestic circuit. This will go a long way in instilling confidence amongst the youngsters as well as they will get to know a lot before entering the circuit. This is the only way I see a smooth transition of the team in the next couple of years. The best retirement plan that the three can get and the best insurance that team India can get.

And this is the last and best chance to do it. 2 years of home test cricket. No better chance. the scenario is atleast one must retire immediately after this series and atleast one must stay for the next one and a half years. It is in the best interests of Team India that they are doing it. I would like to finish with one last word to the readers. Don't fight on who should retire first. They know better.

The story of a prosperous family

This is the story of a man who started his life in the green meadows of England sowing seeds of sport, spirit and class. As his crop grew popular, he went to different parts of the world to introduce the crop and see how it grows. Let us see its growth in different regions carefully.

First when it was introduced in the Australian outback, the seeds of sport and class grew well and had a bumper crop of class for almost 20 years from 1928 to 1948, thanks to a great worker from there.

Then the man took it to the Indian Subcontinent and the Carribean. The crop's growth in the subcontinent was curious. Once in a while there was a good crop but it couldn't feed the whole bunch. In the Carribean a different breed of the crop grew. Though one can't say that the species of Class was a regular crop here, sport and spirit grew in abundance with a cross breed of ruthlessness. It was the 1970s.

The Australians weren't far behind in understanding the advantages of this crossbreeding and soon used it to maximum effectiveness. In the mean time the old man gave birth to a son, whom the neighbors liked very much and everybody started playing with him. But never was the Old man forgotten. He was always respected wherever he went. Then in the Sub-continent suddenly there was bumper crop in India. In the late 1970s and 1980s both father and son grew in strength and stature through out the world finding excellent workers to work for them.

The advent of 1990s saw the family prosper with some of the best servants of the world to come and work in their fields. The Australian workers tried to cross breed more of ruthlessness to the crop and reaped rich well into the first decade of the new millenium. Meanwhile, the Subcontinental fields saw bumper harvest year after year thanks to some meticulous and hard workers.

At the start of the new millenium the old man became a grand father with a grandson being born in the family. The grandson was playful, enjoyable and much more attractive. In the mean time the Indian station of the old man grew richer and richer and the old man was pleased to see it. The grandchild was given a royal reception in 2008 and it grew with the attention of all the local servants. Slowly the servants started serving the father and the new child and forgot the importance of the old grandfather. As some of the best servants from Australian household retired the father was better served by the Sub-continent or to be precise India.

Came 2011. The father gave the Indian servants a prize for their hard work. But the little 4 year old child still attracted the servants. Instead of taking day off and serve the grand father from next day, the servants played with the child continuously. Then when they got tired, the grand father was completely forgotten. The new servants who grew up with the child, found it difficult to match the discipline and patience of the grand father. And so today on 13th Aug 2011, the grand father left India for his home in England.

The grandfather is Test cricket, the father ODI cricket and the 4 year old child T20(to be precise IPL)

Hope the family comes back to India soon....

Education to become a farmer

"India's economic growth is 8% this fiscal", " The IT industry is really the growth engine of our economy", "Manufacturing sector contributes to the bulk of employment and it will remain our priority", " We want to be the factory of the world". These are some of the common headlines apart from scams and bomb blasts (though I don't find the difference between the two seriously) one sees these days. When I go to a village and ask a farmer what is your son going to do, " My son will become an engineer. When he finishes +2, I will sell this land for his studies" is the reply. From his point of view it is the best way of life. According to them the logical conclusion of education is becoming an engineer or doctor and to earn more money.

But in the process everybody forgets the basic necessity of mankind. Food. I am proud to say that India is an agrarian economy. But India is slowly losing this tag. I see land conversion on around country side. Recently there was a protest in Ooty calling for setting up an IT Park in Nilgiris district. Won't you guys leave even that place. What are we going to do if all land is used up for manufacturing and service sector and nothing for agriculture? So here is a thought that I feel will take care of food security as well as ensure literacy and improve standard of living in the country side of India.

An agricultural university with practical curriculum and ample future. Today's agricultural universities mostly do research in genetic modification, biotech etc but never focus on practical issues faced by farmers. A two year degree course in agriculture for future farmers. Here is the curriculum. A course in fruit sciences and vegetable sciences. Another course in crop sciences. Then a course on soil sciences and geology. These are the basic courses that is needed by all. Apart from these a course on environmental sciences is important in today's context.

Other subjects that are important include irrigation methods. People don't understand and practice modern irrigation methods which is very important. A course on modern farming practices and machineries is also very important. A course on fertilizers would do a world of good to them. There maybe electives in horticulture farming, spice and plantation crops which can be chosen by the students according to the farmland they own. Last and most important, a course on marketing which is a necessity to any farmer. The last semester can be given as a project work that can be used to design new machines and mechanisms or farming methodologies from their learned concepts and past experiences. A stipend amount can be given to the student during the course completion phase.Though there are courses in some of these subjects, it is not for farmers. It is only for researchers, microbiologists and biotech engineers.

Instead of 'Vayalum Vaazhvum' and 'Kisaan ghar' programmes, if these programmes are introduced, It would reach the farmers better and as well as there is a higher probability of people retaining their agricultural lands for farming and lead to rural growth. Why do people come to city? In search of better opportunities and standard of living. If this could be brought to villages then the urban-rural divide will reduce as well as ensure food security and inclusive growth.

The story of the great Indian T2O game

The format is considered the shortest. The event is considered the most flamboyant of all. The brand is considered the costliest of all sporting events. It has achieved in recognizing cricketing talent. Not for India, but for outsiders. The tournament that gave recognition to the talent of Sohail Tanvir, Shaun Marsh, Albie Morkel etc, the tournament that brought back to form players like Dilshan, Kevin Pietersen, the tournament that gave a new lease of life to Gillie, Warnie, Haydos etc, failed miserably in finding local talent. One must remember that the 1st T20 World Cup was won before the advent of IPL.

So what has IPL done to Indian cricket? The already rich cricket board became richer. People from different regions got to see atleast one international level event being hosted by a city nearby for a month.

When Modi was given the task of starting a desi T20 league that could throw away the slowly establishing ICL, his main aim was reach and money and not cricket. So he went the same way as the most popular sporting league event in the world. The English Premier League(EPL). But one must understand that though EPL is the most popular league the national team has won only one World Cup in the long history. That doesn't matter to football fans. National level matches happen occasionally, either the World Cup or Qualifiers or the Euro Cup. Fans have seen loads of club football and are devoted to it much more than to national football. They've grown up enjoying these.

But that is not the case in cricket. For ages we have seen only national and international tournaments at that level and never club tournaments. Also had every team been under the respective state associations, cricket would have taken centre stage and not money. But Modiism isn't about that. Its about extravagance, glamour, money and entertainmant rather than cricket. In what was supposed to be the pitch that should be under spot light, the dugouts and parties became the centre piece and the cricketing part just an add-on but a necessary one. Money ruled the roost.

Also cricket has other aspects of it that needs to be looked into. For example, in the sub continent the pitches will be flat, dusty and the grounds rather small. So the kind of cricket that one plays here is different from the one that he plays Down Under or the Carribean. In a format that is already a batsman's heaven, flat and dusty pitches add more voes to the bowlers. They fail to bring out the best possible talent in the circuit as a batsman is not tested fully and a bowler is let down by the wicket. For example, the Chennai pitch for the CSK-RR match this season was a belter. More than 400 runs scored on a day may be good for entertainment but not for the sport. So there is no point complaining about the T20 debacle.

Including 4 foreign players in a team should be instrumental in mentoring the young players in the team. But from all the three editions of IPL it is clear that the foreign players have been largely responsible for a team's victory.

Case in point is M.Vijay. The day before he had a 400 run opening stand with Abhinav mukund in a Ranji league match. The next day he opened batting for India along with Sehwag against Australia and scored a brisk 40 and 33. This was in India. An year later he scored an audacious 127 against RR that followed another match winning 79 against RCB in IPL-3. But apart from the 48 against Afghanistan, he was struggling in all other matches in the carribean. Definitely his test performances show that he is of international material but he hasn't been exposed to international conditions. This is a very important element.

We have a flamboyant domestic extravaganza that has cricket as a part of it. We don't have proper domestic T20 league like KFC T20 league in Australia. Only when cricket takes centre stage, can we blame that inspite of IPL our players sucked.