RK's Blog

I was an MP not so long ago & I Loved those 6 Years!

2011-12-30T21:25:00.000+05:30

nAn Interesting blog by Pritish Nandy........

Everyone called me sir, not because of my age but because I was an MP.

And even though I never travelled anywhere by train during those years, I reveled in the fact that I could have gone anywhere I liked, on any train, first class with a bogey reserved for my family.

Whenever I flew, there were always people around to pick up my baggage, not because I was travelling business class but because I was an MP.

And yes, whenever I wrote to any Government officer to help someone in need, it was done. No, not because I was a journalist but because I was an MP.

The job had many perquisites, apart from the tax free wage of Rs 4,000. Then the wages were suddenly quadrupled to Rs 16,000, with office expenses of Rs 20,000 and a constituency allowance of Rs 20,000 thrown in. I could borrow interest free money to buy a car, get my petrol paid, make as many free phone calls as I wanted. My home came free. So did the furniture, the electricity, the water, the gardeners, the plants. There were also allowances to wash curtains and sofa covers and a rather funny allowance of Rs 1,000 per day to attend Parliament, which I always thought was an MP's job in the first place! And, oh yes, we also got Rs 1 Crore a year (now enhanced to Rs 2 Crore) to spend on our constituencies. More enterprising MPs enjoyed many more perquisites best left to your imagination. While I was embarrassed at being vastly overpaid for the job I was doing, they kept demanding more.

Today, out of 543 MPs in Lok Sabha, 315 are Crorepatis. That's 60%. 43 out of the 54 newly elected Rajya Sabha MPs are also millionaires. Their average declared assets are over Rs 25 Crore each. That's an awfully wealthy lot of people in whose hands we have vested our destiny.

The assets of your average Lok Sabha MP have grown from Rs 1.86 Crore in the last house to Rs 5.33 Crore. That's 200% more. And, as we all know, not all our MPs are known to always declare all their assets. Much of these exist in a colour not recognised by our tax laws. That's fine, I guess. Being an MP gives you certain immunities, not all of them meant to be discussed in a public forum.

If you think it pays to be in the ruling party, you are dead right: 7 out of 10 MPs from the Congress are Crorepatis. The BJP have 5. MPs from some of the smaller parties like SAD, TRS and JD (Secular) are all Crorepatis while the NCP, DMK, RLD, BSP, Shiv Sena, National Conference and Samajwadi Party have more Crorepatis than the 60% average.

Only the CPM and the Trinamool, the two Bengal based parties, don't field Crorepatis. The CPM has 1 correlate out of 16 MPs; the Trinamool has 7 out of 19. This shows in the state-wise average. West Bengal and Kerala have few correlate MPs while Punjab and Delhi have only correlate MPs and Haryana narrowly misses out on this distinction with one MP, poor guy, who's not a correlate.

Do MPs become richer in office? Sure they do. Statistics show that the average assets of 304 MPs who contested in 2004 and then re-contested last year grew 300%. And, yes, we're only talking about declared assets here.

But then, we can't complain. We are the ones who vote for the rich. Over 33% of those with assets above Rs 5 Crore won the last elections while 99.5% of those with assets below Rs 10 lakhs lost! Apart from West Bengal and the North East, every other state voted for correlate MPs. Haryana grabbed first place with its average MP worth Rs 18 Crore. Andhra is not far behind at 16.

But no, this is not enough for our MPs. It's not enough that they are rich, infinitely richer than those who they represent, and every term makes them even richer. It's not enough that they openly perpetuate their families in power. It's not enough that all their vulgar indulgences and more are paid for by you and me through backbreaking taxes. It's not enough that the number of days they actually work in Parliament are barely 60 in a year. The rest of the time goes in squabbling and ranting. Now they want a 500%pay hike and perquisites quadrupled. The Government, to buy peace, has already agreed to a 300% raise but that's not good enough for our MPs. They want more, much more.

And no, I'm not even mentioning that 150 MPs elected last year have criminal cases against them, with 73 serious, very serious cases ranging from rape to murder.

Do you really think these people deserve to earn 104 times what the average Indian does.

Vijaender Takhan vijaender.takhan@gmai…

30 D

Lokpal to Electoral Politics-Let's Treat The Disease not The Symptoms!

2011-12-21T19:22:00.001+05:30

As expected, Political class has hoodwinked Civil Society once again. They brought a Lokpal which they wanted - A Toothless Tiger.

I have been of the view all along & have told this in person to Team Anna too - Lokpal is no RTI. Political Class will never let it happen. Though some opposition parties paid a lip services to Team Anna, just to get some political mileage but in the end they don't want or rather can't risk an effective Lokpal.

Corruption is embedded in our Political & Electoral system where Civil Society, an euphemism for Middle Class, has stopped mattering. We brought it upon ourselves, but now is the time to change it. Here is why & how of it?

The defeat of NDA in 2004 had convinced political class that "India Shining", a middle class focused electoral theme, does not translate into votes. Consequently UPA ignored the governance & scuttled NDA era economic reforms, instead focusing on appeasing the poor & marginalized through welfare schemes and subsidies. In absence of reforms, discretion and cronyism ruled, leading to massive corruption in a semi-liberalized Indian economy. Common man suffered & was rendered helpless.

Came along Anna. Millions across the nation supported Anna's movement against corruption. Success of Anna campaign conclusively busted the MYTH, purported by political class, that "Middle class is self-centered and is indifferent to the social & national concerns". Anna movement gave people a credible platform with a hope of change and they responded.

This uprising was against the political class in general, though some opposition parties would like to wishfully believe that this angst was against UPA or Congress. Hence, it was comical to see political leaders gleefully sharing the dais with Anna at Jantar Mantar, hoping to convert the photo opportunity into vote bank arithmetic. Political parties are playing an opportunistic game, trying to ride Anna bandwagon, with no intent of bringing a systemic reforms in the current political system. The fear is that, by aligning or seeming to align with some political parties, Anna movement will loose it's credibility & effectiveness.People are looking for a fundamental change in the way our political parties & electoral systems are run. One law or bill will not bring out the desired systemic change.

Current political system is designed to be corrupt and inefficient. Political parties raise legitimate & illegitimate electoral funding from corporates & businessmen who subsequently dictate the policies of the government. With funding in place, political parties do not involve electorate in deciding the candidates unlike the primary system of USA. If the candidates are not up to the mark, which is usually the case, educated middle class chooses to abstain as they aren't involved or invested in the selection of the candidate.

Coming to candidates, many are forced or choose to buy their party ticket & later they buy their way to the electoral victory. They recover their electoral expenses & much more, through corrupt means. Even a good candidate, having been elected, has no voice of his own to represent his electorate in an assembly or the parliament. He is herded by party syndicates & whipped to vote as per opportunistic political arithmetic dictated by the party. Any dissent leads to disqualification.

This party focused & business funded political system has inherent flaws and is poised for a change. The political awakening through Anna movement presents once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take power from political parties & hand it over to the electorate. In this era of coalition politics, where TMC or DMK with less than 20 MPs control the UPA government, we need no more than 40 MPs, elected on a common platform without the help of the current party system, to change the political discourse of this nation.

Can this happen? Yes, It is imminently possible. We should create a common platform, identify and field 100 credible candidates who have spent years in public life but are loath to enter the current political system. Indian middle class has learned to communicate & organize itself through new age communication tools as is evident throughout Anna campaign. Volunteers & paid office bearers should manage the electoral campaign of these candidates. Campaign funding should be crowd sourced to avoid dependence on few money bags.

If 30 out of 100 win, political parties will be forced to rethink their political & electoral strategy. We have to prove that electoral victory can be achieved by non-corrupt means. No one likes to be corrupt, specially in the age of Lokayukta & Lokpal, but today's electoral system hinges on corruption. By showing the way through a non-corrupt electoral system, parties will be forced to adapt. After all they are the masters of guessing the popular mood!

Is Corruption the only way in Public Life?

2011-11-29T13:18:00.000+05:30

There is anecdotal evidence that if there is no corruption, India’s GDP will add 3% to it’s annual growth rate & poverty will be a thing of the past in just 5 years.

Let’s not drool over these impossibilities as corruption is not going be removed completely from our country & society, but the larger question beckons –
Is Corruption the Only Way of being in Public Life?

Corruption is all pervasive in our society & daily lives.

Poor are forced to pay officials to get their entitlements but the same poor takes bribe money to pledge his vote. May be his poverty can be his excuse to take money for vote?

Middle class is forced to pay bribe for everything from driving license to land registration but he doesn’t think twice before bribing an official to get a plan sanctioned for an extra floor in his house or getting his house tax reduced. What is his excuse?

The Rich have resources & influence to get their job done bribing or otherwise & they march ahead to their destination of success without caring for the means used to reach there. Don’t care is their excuse?

An official uses the familiar excuse of being forced to collect the bribe to pay the higher-ups in officialdom and politicians. Helplessness is his excuse?

But how about politicians? Who forces them to be corrupt?

I have asked this awkward question to many of my politician friends, some of them sitting MLAs & MPs. First they are shocked to hear such a blunt question as they don’t expect this issue to be spoken about in open. But slowly they open up and start blaming the system, primarily the elections. They lament about the large sums of money they need to spend to buy their ticket from their respective parties and huge election expenses including the money & liquor to secure the votes of poor & slum dwellers.

But, is election the only reason that they are corrupt?
Aren’t there honest politicians? In fact, there are many honest politicians & they win their seats without bribing the party or the voters. Yes, their numbers are few.

The real reason for a politician to be corrupt is his greed, like any other human being.
Politics is their profession & the only means to make money. No doubt, they work hard to get votes and many are sincere too. But most politicians have no other qualification or work experience. Most never had a job nor did they earn money from any business or profession. In fact most ended up in politics as they couldn’t study or get employment. Politics is their only source of money & they need a lot of it. They can’t make it any other way but being corrupt as there is no legitimate way of making money in the profession of politics. Expecting them to live like saints in a materialistic society may be possible but not practical.

Hence, expecting current set of PROFESSIONAL POLITICIANS to become clean & reform the system is not going to happen. While tough laws against corruption will be a deterrent, they won’t root out the corruption from public life.

We need, as in other developed countries, Professionals, who have succeeded in their respective jobs, careers & businesses, to enter public life. They need to work for their community, city & state. They need to spend years working for common man to get the acceptability & recognition. Many do, some as activists & others as thinkers or NGOs. But most of them shy away from entering political fray for fear of unknown & murky world of politics. From among these, we need to identify & promote public figures who should eventually represent us in assemblies & parliament.

Let’s hope that this momentum against corruption leads us to think differently & engage in the matters of public interest & produce “Professionals as Politicians” instead of current “Professional Politicians”.

RK Misra

Transformation call rings in Village Sonari

2011-09-29T16:43:00.001+05:30

Transforming India One Village at a Time

Sonari, 60 km from Lucknow, was like any other Indian village. And so were its youth. With practically no employment avenues available locally, boys and girls, despite having basic education, would chase their job dream by filling countless number of forms with little success and while away their time in narrow bylanes of the village. Things, however, changed four months ago when Lead India winner RK Misra, who hails from the village, started efforts to set up UP's first rural call centre.

Misra, ex-IITian , has launched the project with the cooperation of a Bangalore-based private firm, Rural Shores.

A group of 33 boys and girls, most of them intermediate pass outs, are getting computer training . By next month, they would begin getting procedural training for a project involving data entry for a political organization. These younsters will be trained & employed at Sonari by a company which has set up 10 such BPOs in the villages of Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan , Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Nitin Sharma, company's regional marketing manager, said: "The villagges youths have surprised us. They have immense potential .'' He said the youths will undergo a six week training before being recruited . During thee training, they will be given aa stipend off Rs 2,500.

The project has motivated these young - sters and brought a smile on their faces. Eighteen-year-old Mukesh Kumar paddles all the way from his village Haripalpur to reach Sonari every morning for computer class. "I had seen the computer only in shops in Lucknow but never touched them,'' Mukesh said, his eyes glued to the monitor and fingers swiftly tabbing on the keyboard. Twenty-year-old Mamta Gupta, who is pursuing graduation, feels the call centre will bring a positivee transformation in her life. "I'll can live here with my parents and also do the job,'' saaid Mamta, a resident of village Sita-Ki-Rasoi , sit uated about 5km m from Sonari.

"One needs to und erstand that even small earning holds significance for villagers" said RK Misra. "Even low but a consistent salary can change the life of rural youth here, that's what we mean by rural empowerment'' he said. But the star was not easy. The bbiggest constraint was availability of power. Sonari rarely received power for more than three to five hours everyday. At times, Sonari would be without electricity for a week or even a month. So, how would computers function under such situation.

The solution came from Gram OOrja, a Pune-based company. Gram OOrja installed solar panels on the roof-top of a two-storyed building. The panels charge 120 batteries, each of 6 volts, connected to the main UPS. But this only provides an 11-hour power backup.

Rural Shores has also installed a radio wave tower for the internet facility, which has a speed of two megabytes per second. However, company officials said the speed may not be enough for a larger workforce at the BPO. The only option then is to get the connectivity through an optical fibre.

Earlier, Misra had successfully experimented with a community dairy project on this one acre land. Villagers were given membership of the dairy where they could sell their milk produce. The dairy and the building, where the BPO is set up, will functions from the same large premises.

Next on the agenda is agriculture. "Villagers need to be convinced that conventional farming does not bring huge returns. They need to grow cash crops like banana, potato, peppermint and medicinal plants like Satawar and Artemisia,'' Misra said.

The Great Disconnect - Civil Society & Political Class

2011-08-22T19:45:00.001+05:30

Middle India - The Educated Urban Middle Class, accused of usurping more than it's fair share of the shining India & cynical towards politics, has largely been ignored by the political class. Politicians scornfully ridicule Middle India for it’s self-centric obsession & scant regard for the democratic institutions.

The failure of Middle India focused "India Shining" campaign of NDA in 2004 & effectiveness of NREGA & farm loan waivers to bring UPA back to the power in 2009 has given credence to this political belief that courting rural & poor India will yield political dividends where as Middle India can be left to fend for itself & suffer the bad governance.

Given this indifference by Middle India, which has the ability & intelligence to question, political class & bureaucracy were running amok. Corruption reached unimaginable proportions.

While ambivalent to politics, this loot by politicians & bureaucrats made middle India restless. Unfortunately, having no leverage with the political class, this resentment of Middle India remained limited to TV debates & drawing room discussions.

Along came Anna, the man with no baggage & clean image. The same middle India, which had been written off by the politicians, came out in hundreds of thousands to the utter shock & disbelief of the political class. They have no clue as to how to handle this new beast. With general elections 3 years away, unless UPA does further bungling, they are hoping that storm will blow over & they will carry on with their business of politics as usual.

Hopefully this time it will be different. This agitation has brought people from different walks of life on a common platform. With mass media, Face Book & Twitter, Middle India has learned to communicate & organize itself, which it lacked earlier.

New leaders are emerging from this movement who will TRULY represent their electorate & not be held hostage to party affiliations & whips. They will be of independent thinking who will listen to their conscience & will stand by their electorate.

Current 200+ urban Lok Sabha seats will increase in number with rapid urbanization & Middle India will become relevant again, politically.

As Mahatma Gandhi Said - "Initially they will ignore you, then they will laugh at you, then they will fight with you & finally you will win". To Middle India - It is our time & it is our battle to win. Let's march ahead.

It is Emergency like situation!

2011-08-16T15:56:00.000+05:30

Arresting Anna Hazare & other Anti-Corruption protesters was undemocratic & reminded us of the days of emergency, though UPA has officially not declared the emergency yet.

In 1975, government headed by Mrs Indira Gandhi was under pressure from JP Movement, when Allahabad High Court invalidated the election of Mrs Indira Gandhi. This was the last straw. When Government saw it'spolicies & position untenable, they resorted to the imposition Emergency, the black spot on our democracy.

Current UPA governement, which is mired in corruption charges, feels the same presseure in Anna's anti-corruption movement. The argument of law & order given by the central government is hollow at best. Arresting Anna is an act of sheer desperation by UPA.

The logic that once a bill is placed in Parliament, public has no right to protest is ridiculus & wrong in law. Public has all the right to voice it's concern & give it's suggestion at any stage of law formulation.

The very fact that government has overruled the suggestions given by the civil society members of the drafting committee is the reason behind this protest. Now asking that since the bill is already in the parliament, hence you should not protest, is beyond comprehension. If a wrong & ineffective bill is being tabled in parliament, should people not protest. The current Lokpal Bill being considered by standing committe of the parliamnet is toothless & will do little to curb corruption.

The other argument that Parliament has the authority to legislate & civil society has no role is also ridiculus. There is a feeling among common citizens that our elected representatives have failed in framing effective anti-corruption laws & governance policies.

People's tolerance & patience is wearing thin. With scams galore, people are loosing faith in government's ability to tackle corruption. Hence they have taken it upon themselves to ensure that this bill is strong & effective against corrution.

There is an all round failure of governance. Many of our ministers & MPs are lodged in jails on corruption charges. Under these circumstances it is natural for people to feel betrayed by their elected representatives. They feel that their MPs may represent them electorally but their ethos are not being represented by current political class. To me it seems the begining of an end to current ways of money & muscle politics. Anna movement has galvanized concerned citizens & educated middle class, which has found a credible leader & worthy cause to rally behind. Nation's mood has changed but unfortunately political class is still refusing to see the writing on the wall. Sooner they do, better for us all.

Morality of Anti Corruption Movement - Is this the Fight to Finish ?

2011-04-06T12:39:00.001+05:30

As the saying goes, any struggle with a strong Moral Imperative is bound to succeed.

When Mahatma Gandhi took on almighty British, he had conviction of morality & power of truth on his side. Whole nation was united & finally British had to leave. "Freedom from British" had a strong moral narrative & Gandhi ji was a perfect messenger of this narrative.

In today's India, divided & being exploited on social, economic & cultural ideologies, Anti-Corruption happens to be one such strong & unifying moral narrative, which evokes strong righteous sentiment among the masses. It has a convincing moral imperative which will help us to sustain this FIGHT, hopefully to the FINISH.

Like Mahatma Gandhi, in Anna Hazare we have a Man, who has the moral authority to lead this struggle & unite the nation in this fight against modern day colonizers - The corrupt Politicians, Bureaucrats & Industrialists, who have a formed a nexus & exercise a vice like grip on our psyche & life.

We, the common man, feel helpless as we see high & mighty indulge in brazen corruption & getting away without being punished. Laws have been made to suit these rulers, as was the case with the British, and we the ruled suffer in silence.

It is no surprise that leaders like Sonia Gandhi, whose writ runs large in Congress, has chosen not to act against corrupt who have brazenly looted this nation & siphoned off the loot to tax heavens for decades. We also haven't heard from the next generation LEADER of Congress on the issue of corruption. Karnataka fiasco has toppled the BJP from the moral high ground they occupied on corruption.

UPA government's tenure has undoubtedly been the MOST CORRUPT. UPA has made no sincere efforts to investigate & punish the culprits who have looted the nation. Look at Hasan Ali Khan, no action was taken by UPA for 3 years. In fact the officials who had unearthed the scam, were shown the door. CWG probe is stalled as Kalmadi has threatened to spill the beans and drag high & mighty along with him. Similarly government shielded A Raja as long as it could.

The collusion & complicity of UPA leaders in corruption is obvious. Even Swiss Ambassador has categorically said that Government of India did not ask for the details of those who have kept illegal & criminal money in Swiss Bank Accounts. We may wonder why? The reason is simple, "The Thief won't Police itself".

Finally it was COMMON Citizens like Lawyer Shanti Bhushan & Dr. Subramanyam Swamy, who filed criminal cases against powerful politicians & Supreme Court forced the hand of disgraced UPA regime to act against their corrupt colleagues.

But how long & how often can we expect citizens & judiciary to do the job of executive & legislature. The UPA government has systematically corrupted & misused the institutions like CVC & CBI, who are supposed to fight the corruption & punish the corrupt.

Sensing the nation's mood & anger, UPA is making another eyewash attempt to introduce LOKPAL BILL, which has no teeth. It can't PUNISH, only RECOMMEND. It needs permission from Politicians to Probe other POLITICIANS. It can't PROBE Prime Minister, who like our current PM may always pretend to be unaware of the CORRUPT PRACTICES of his government & cabinet colleagues. This LOKPAL BILL is a FARCE.

Proactive Citizens & Judiciary have shown to the nation that if we unite, we can defeat the Corrupt system. JAN LOKPAL Movement of Civil Society, spearheaded by Sri Anna Hazare, has a MORAL IMPERATIVE to unite & galvanize nation's conscience to get rid of this monster called CORRUPTION. While odds may seem unfavorable now, but they were unfavorable when Gandhi Ji started in 1920. Finally British left!

So lets join hands in this Anti-Corruption Drive & make it a FIGHT to FINISH!

21st March - The-Week-Gone-By - Japan Tragedy & Lessons for India

2011-03-21T16:59:00.000+05:30

I was at Lucknow airport, when I saw some news flash on TV about Japan. Having lived in Japan for 8 years, with many close friends, I was keen to know the details, but had to board a flight. Reaching Bangalore late in the night, I got to know of the massive earthquake & resulting Tsunami (A Japanese word).

Over last one week, a lot has been seen & said about "Quiet Stoicism & Resilience of Japanese People", who have braved this tragedy which is unprecedented in scale & consequences.

Japanese are most prepared of any nation, in fact the Only nation, with most sophisticated 'Early Warning System for Earthquake & Tsunami'. In fact I used to work in a Building called Kajima Intelligent Building, which was designed to withstand earthquake of this magnitude. Because of such high level of engineering & preparedness, Japan managed to limit the loss of life despite such massive Earthquake & Tsunami.

However, Nuclear Disaster has exposed the limits of man made engineering to tame & effectively use this massive source of energy, Nuclear Energy. Radioactive Elements have been all around us, in their natural form. But nature has taken care & kept them hidden miles below in earth's crust under layers of rocks to save humans from harmful effects of radiation. We, humans, have unleashed this destructive power of nature by digging & deploying these Radio Active Substances for Bombs (Hiroshima/Nagasaki) & our energy needs.

Questions are now being asked by Japanese themselves as to why Japan, the only country which suffered Nuclear Holocaust, did not look at alternate & renewable energy sources. Was there a hidden agenda or pure shortsightedness?

After all Japan, which supplies most efficient solar panels to the world, could have researched & deployed SOLAR ENERGY. Japan also sits on Geothermal Minefield, with hot springs all around, which could have been used for GEOTHERMAL ENERGY, like Iceland does. Japan could have gone for WIND ENERGY by placing Wind Turbines in Seas surrounding Japan like Denmark does or even harnessed Tidal Wave Energy.

A research & deployment by Japan of all these Renewable Energy sources could have not only benefited Japan, but our planet as a whole. Japan had technical prowess & economic wherewithal to research & deploy these options. But Nuclear option was pursued by Japan, despite huge opposition from Japanese public, because of heavy handed sales push by USA.

US companies like GE had been ahead in the Nuclear Game and were looking at virgin markets, with huge energy appetite. GE supplied most Nuclear Plants to Japan, including the troubled Fukushima plant.

GE is a leading Nuclear Power Plant Vendor in the world now, which will be supplying Nuclear Power Plants to India too.

There has been NO NEW NUCLEAR PLANT IN THE USA from 1996 due to radiation concerns & huge cost. Hence US Companies are desperately lobbying to sell ABROAD. INDIA was egged on by Nuclear Lobby in the USA and we sign NUCLEAR PACT with USA. We took this as a GIFT from Uncle Sam & proudly joined "The Nuclear Club". This access to Nuclear Technology in itself is OK, but my fear is, Whether India is capable of taming this NUCLEAR BEAST with unimaginable Destructive Power, given our careless attitude, lackluster R&D & corrupt systems.

REAL COST OF NUCLEAR POWER - Nuclear Power is not just the Very Expensive Power but also has the Most Destructive Potential. Can a country like India afford this, both from monetary & risk management perspective.

Another fear is "Too Many Foreign Vendors with no Local Expertise". We have GIFTED First 4 Mega Nuclear Power Plants to US, France & Russia with all using different & some even unproven technologies & operational procedures. Will we be able to manage this diversity & risk, given that we have capped the liability of the supplier to a pittance & operator in our own NPCL, a PSU, with limited expertise of only Indigenous Reactors.

After Japan tragedy, India, like China, Germany & many other nations, should STOP, take a hard & close look at various options, evaluate safety issues & choose the RIGHT WAY FORWARD to ensure our ENERGY SECURITY.

JAPAN incident is an eye opener and as they say - We should not waste any opportunity which arises out of a Tragedy. Hope our politicians & bureaucrats will not let the country down. This nation should fear the worst in the hands of corrupt & inept Netas & Babus.

Federalization of Indian Politics - The Contrast of "Federal BJP" & "Imperial Congress" ruled States

2010-11-28T14:08:00.000+05:30

THE WEEK THAT WASN'T - My weekly Blah Blah on issues concerning the nation..ENJOY!
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The week gone by was politically very significant in many ways. Political outcomes in 4 major states - Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka & Andhra may not seem very significant at the outset, but they are telling a much deeper story of changing POLITICAL GOVERNANCE AGENDA as to how 2 NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES are managing affairs of their STATE UNITs - Federal of BJP vs Imperial of Congress ....Read on....

While Nitish Kumar kept his CM's post by delivering on development & good governance agenda with a landslide electoral victory in Bihar, Karnataka CM, BS Yedyurappa, kept his seat by hoodwinking BJP central leadership.

On the other hand, in Andhra Pradesh, CM Rosaiah resigned & "High Command" appointed Kiran Kumar Reddy, to deliver on High Command's wish of countering YSR's legacy and his son's ambitions. Another "High Command" mandated change happened in Congress ruled Maharashtra, with Ashok Chavan shown the door, without even a whisper of dissent.

So here is the CONTRAST - BJP/NDA ruled States have STATE LEADERs running the SHOW & winning the elections, while Congress CMs are meekly following & delivering on High Command's wish.

So which model of governance is better for INDIA, FEDERAL style of BJP or IMPERIAL style of Congress.

Let's dig little deeper into the reasons for the emergence of these two opposing trends -

In Bihar, neither JD(U) nor BJP national leaders were relevant in this election. It was a Nitish show all the way. His image as a hard working CM of a development oriented government was the winning factor. Similarly, BJP state unit, under Sushil Modi, dictated the rules of the game to BJP's central leadership.

Similarly in Karnataka, BJP's central leadership, despite it's best efforts, could not persuade BSY to resign. He almost became a rebel, openly defying the leadership & finally keeping the CM's post. The reason for his confidence & defiance was simple - he had single handedly won the elections in Karnataka for BJP. BSY didn't need nor did central leaders of BJP have much appeal among the voters in Karnataka.

So, it is clear that if central leadership is not providing any electoral dividend, it is unlikely that state leadership is going to follow their diktat.

In case of BJP, gone are the days of "Atal Bihari Vajpayee & LK Advani" who had national appeal and were vote winners for the party. Today's central leadership of BJP is Delhi Centric with no grass root appeal. They are busy fighting among themselves for their territory & influence in Delhi's corridors of Power.

In absence of TOWERING NATIONAL LEADERs, STATE leaders are forced to think & fend for themselves to fight & win elections.

Which is not a bad thing after all, as this gives State Leadership a political dividend and an opportunity to run their states in a manner & policy, which will keep them in power & get them re-elected. They work hard & deliver on governance as they don't have to worry about HIGH COMMAND appointed puppet CM.

Modi in Gujarat, Shivaraj Singh in MP & Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh fought & got reelected on their own merit & development agenda, without much help from central leadership. This works well both for state leadership & people of the state, as CM comes back to power & people get good governance.

UNFORTUNATELY for CONGRESS, Gandhi family still has national face recognition & vote appeal.

Congress, over the years, has systematically worked to sideline any leader who was even remotely going to challenge Gandhis in appeal & popularity. This might have been smart strategy by Congress to keep "GANDHI Family" in-charge, but it has played havoc with Congress Ruled States & it's state leadership.

No Congress CM can be ambitious nor can he invest in his own political capital by doing good work as (s)he is unsure of his tenure as CM. He can't even take the credit for doing good work or winning the state election, as that honor is reserved ONLY for High Command. Congress CM is an appointed DUKE of the Royalty (High Command), not a LEADER of his people/state.

This explains the sorry state of affairs in Congress ruled states with no committed leadership or defined development agenda. Every CM is on a tight leash, serving his term at the mercy of High Command. He can't think long term nor can he invest into his own political capital.

However, there is one benefit of Congress style of High Command culture. You do not have CMs telling you to mind your own business like BSY did to BJP leadership. Ashok Chavan, followed the High Command's diktat like an obedient party worker as he owes his survival & stature as a politician, to Party High Command.

So which of the TWO political governance styles is better for our COUNTRY - "Federal structure of BJP" or the "Imperial culture of Congress"?

My Vote is for "FEDERAL" as it benefits people of the STATE as leadership invests into policies & governance agenda to get back to the power on their own merit.

Of course there are people like MAYAWATI - Federal & Imperial, All in One :).

RK

The Secret's Out- US & Europe Hunt Swiss accounts, how about India Dr. Singh?

2010-10-17T21:28:00.000+05:30

The Secret's Out: Can Swiss Banking Adapt to Scrutiny?

Delhi's TRYST with Washington - Did US Know & Let 26/11 happen!

2010-03-23T17:20:00.000+05:30

It is that time again, when Indian Policy Makers are working hard to to convince themselves that US is indeed India's Ally & a Friend. After all US is the OLDEST Democracy & we are the LARGEST hence our friendship ought to be natural. We seem to be MISTAKEN and FOOLED once again!

We Indian's by nature are TRUSTING people & our first instinct is to believe what is being said & promised. However we need to judge the promises against actions to decide who is our REAL FRIEND and who is just an OPPORTUNISTIC ALLY. Unfortunately our Policy Makers do not seem to follow this commonsense approach.

US has a history of rubbing India on the wrong side. The proof is for all to see - US Navy's 7th Fleet threatening India during 1971 war with Pakistan, Economic Sanctions against India post Pokharan Nuclear Tests, Funding & Equipping Pakistan's Military, US Presidents Certifying Non-Proliferation Credentials of Pakistan to continue Civil/Military aid while AQ Khan was busy in Nuke Bazaar and not supporting India's claim for a Permanent Seat in UN Security Council, the list of US's anti-India bias is very long.

The most recent manifestation of this anti-India policy of US was to declare Pakistan, a nation which promotes terror as a Strategic Policy Instrument, an Ally & Strategic Partner in the War-on-Terror Campaign. BTW, Pakistan is the the only country outside of NATO, to get this honor from US. Come to think of it, it was a natural choice, given that US & Pakistan together created Taliban, which supported & sheltered Al-Quaeda. So Pakistani's obviously knew how to track & capture these terrorists.

It is hard to believe that American Policymakers are so DUMB (I would be happy to be proved wrong) that they did all this in GOOD FAITH and were trying to protect HELPLESS PAKISTAN against BULLY INDIA. It shows that US strategic interests are aligned with US not India.

Now we have David Headley (Daood Gilani of Pakistani origin,who changed his name) , supposedly a US Spy (they now call him DOUBLE AGENT, but who knows), who under watchful eyes of US Intelligence, surveyed terror targets in India for years, attended Terror Camps in Pakistan & planned Mumbai Attacks. Even if he was a Double Agent, US would have certainly tracked & known as to what he was doing during his trips to Pakistan & India.

Only NAIVE (Indian Government) would believe that US did not know about Headley's activities in India and his terror plot. But US did not find it necessary to share this intelligence with India. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LC23Df03.html

However, our Home Minister doesn't tire in praising US cooperation post 26/11. We will need to redefine COOPERATION?

Let's analyze as to why US would not have shared the 26/11 terror plot with India, even if they knew it.

US had been trying to get Pakistan's cooperation on War-on-Terror but Pakistan wasn't playing the ball. US needed something incriminating against Pakistani establishment to make them fall in line. Headley & his associates fit the bill.

It seems unlikely (and lets hope that it is not true) that US (intelligence agencies) knowingly did not warn India about 26/11, but it certainly is a possibility. US intelligence agencies are known to have done worse, plotting against heads of states, toppling governments and supporting rebels, to pursue their own national & strategic interests.

Given the way Headley episode has been carefully planned and orchestrated, getting his confessions in plea bargain and then giving him immunity from any prosecution & deportation, it raises lots of questions and makes us wonder if US is telling the whole TRUTH.

Now, with Headley talking, heat is on Pakistan. It's no wonder that suddenly US & Pakistan are engaged in strategic dialogue now, with Pak Army chief playing the lead role.

Some of our Western Educated Intellectuals & Policy Makers would make us believe & give examples of US benevolence, such as, to let India enter the Nuclear Club. We all know that it was a simple business decision. American companies wanted to sell nuke technology to India. Now they are even pushing for "SALES without ACCOUNTABILITY" bill, named Civil Nuclear Liability Bill.

In fact, US never gave a damn about Nuclear Proliferation. They let Pakistan do it and even helped Israel develop Nukes covertly. So all this posturing about being nice & letting India have the Nuclear Deal was a stage-show to curry business favors in exchange for the Nuclear DEAL which, we were told, US so generously GIFTED India, the natural ally.

It will seem that Pakistan, not India, is a NATURAL ALLY of US as both nations have no moral qualms about using whatever means, to achieve their national & strategic objectives.

Indian Policy Makers - Please WAKE-UP and LEARN International Diplomacy before it is too late!!!

Please push hard and get Access to Headley and Prosecute him in India. He has committed Crime in & against India. Hence he must be tried in India. Remember 9/11 accused, they were all deported to US from across the world. So why would US not allow deportation of 26/11 accused. Why DOUBLE STANDARD. We also have a treaty with the US to this effect.

Use whatever means necessary, as other nations do, to make Americans fall in Line. Economic/Business Carrot & Stick approach may work best, given that American economy is not in the best of health now.

RK

Wondering - How to Deal with Pakistan ???

2010-02-15T12:15:00.000+05:30

Wondering how to Deal with Pakistan?
We lost the plot and wasted $2 Billion in aid to Afghanistan. US/UK are dealing directly with Pak on Afghanistan. India wasn't even invited for the London/Turkey summits.

Afghans LOVE India (for the help we provided) but FEAR Pakistan. FEAR is stronger emotion than LOVE.

PAKISTAN is working on a well planned strategy to control Afghanistan through TALIBAN. US/UK want to EXIT Afghanistan anyhow and letting Pak dictate the terms to bring Taliban back. Pakistan, the PROMOTER and Nerve Center of Global Terrorism, is laughing all the way, and we in India are hoping for DIVINE intervention.

India, as usual, is begging, pleading US/UK for help. We never seem to learn. Western Powers care only for their agenda.

We have to defend ourselves and need an independent strategy to deal with Af-Pak. May be we should have bombed 5th Feb Meet of JIHADIs in PoK and then negotiated a deal with Pakistan. We also need to be ready to send Troops to Afghanistan, if required. But you need Guts and Foresight to do that.

Sorely missing Strong Leadership in INDIA.

SRK Incident - A national malice of VIP Culture ?

2009-08-19T12:07:00.000+05:30

The demigod status accorded to Bollywood stars, Cricketers and popular politicians seems to reflect a mindset shaped by centuries of colonization of India. We firmly believe in 'Hero Worship' and 'VIP Status'. Many value their own status and standing by their perceived closeness to these so called VIPs and Stars.

No wonder then that these VIPs expect to be treated like Gods and see no reason to follow the rules or abide by the laws of this nation. Unfortunately, to their dismay, most other countries follow the simple philosophy of - "laws are same for all".

So when SRK got the treatment of a commoner in the hands of US Immigration officials, all his friends and followers were up in arms.
One of our overenthusiastic minister even proposed a tit-for-tat strategy for visiting Americans. Our national dailies and TRP hungry News Channels ran it as the headline story for days altogether.

Lets look at the facts -
Thousands of Indians visit US every day and millions live in the US. Given the US paranoia post 9/11, many would have had similar experiences, but neither the Indian government nor the media bothered to make it an issue. But all the hell broke loose when the "Global Icon" (we may have redefine Global)was queried at Newark Airport for over an hour.

May be it is the US paranoia and strict vigil, with no VIP exceptions, which has spared US any terror attacks post 9/11.

In our VIP infested nation, which provides no-security-frisking privileges not only to the VIPs but to even their relatives, terrorists strike at will. We only pray and hope, as we can not rely on the abilities of our government and security agencies to tackle the terror.

I completely sympathize with SRK when he says that he was irritated and angry for being made to wait but the accusation of racial & religious profiling and resulting media hoopla was completely unwarranted, given the fact that even senior US lawmakers like Edward Kennedy and former Vice President Al Gore have had the similar experiences. It goes to prove that US does not believe in VIP culture, when it comes to national security. So why such hue & cry?

This shows our immaturity as a nation which can not get over our fixation with VIPs and STARs.

SRK would have done a great service to himself and the nation by reporting this incident to the media and also telling them as to how gracefully he cooperated with the US authorities who were doing their job of securing their nation. This could have sent a positive message and might have done some good to change the attitudes of our VIPs and Stars. However, by crying foul, he not only has made himself look small but also has lost an opportunity to become a Real Hero ....

I hope that our VIPs learn some lessons from our beloved former President Dr. Kalam, who despite being frisked in his own country by an US Airline staff, as per US Aviation Authority rules which are certainly against Indian Laws, just laughed away and let the matter be handled by concerned authorities.

Well SRK is no APJ...

RK

,

BJP needs to put it's house in order & do it fast!

2009-07-03T19:29:00.000+05:30

Though these are still early days but UPA (which essentially means Congress) is seemingly doing better on policy and governance front than most expected, after securing better than expected electoral mandate in May elections.

There seem to be a resolve on part of the Congress to convert this still uncertain and short of majority electoral mandate to a secure majority in 2014 by delivering on good governance and inclusive growth & development agenda. This is a well thought out plan leading to a winning electoral strategy as it appeals to both educated urban middle class (good governance & reforms) as well as rural masses (social welfare and inclusive growth).

UPA (Congress) has been very systematic and consistent about this agenda and have made their intentions known, first by way of Presidential Address and yesterday through Economic Survey report. A follow-up of this strategy and developmental agenda by way of budget provisions is expected on 6th.

I, as a citizen, am happy about it as no one can fault and argue with this approach as this is the best possible development model for India, provided they deliver on their intentions and promises given that delivery systems are in shambles and leaky.

Now coming to the political ramifications of success of this agenda. Some of my friends in Congress are so confident of their strategy (a BJP in disarray is a bonus) that they have been talking about return of pre-1977 days when Congress ruled for decades without a break.

Tome met this does not sound too good given that Congress did not do a good job of economic and social development during first 3 decades post independence. The reason for this poor performance could lie in the absence of a credible opposition and fear of loosing an election.

A credible opposition is as important as a good government to ensure that enough checks and balances are there. We all are witness to a lackluster performance of Rajiv Gandhi government despite having 3/4th majority.

Current state of affairs in BJP, though disheartening, is not unexpected. Every defeat results in heart-burns and finger pointing but this needs to come an end soon. A strong and united BJP will provided much needed checks & balances and should play the role of a constructive opposition to build it's credibility among Indian electorate if they expect to have a fighting chance of coming back to power ever again.

A Right-of-Center political formulation led by BJP will be in the best interest of the country and for the Congress too, as Congress would prefer to deal with the predictable opposition (BJP), rather than deal with the mercurial left led by unelectable comrades and regional satraps who are completely oblivious of economic and social developmental challenges facing the nation.

Let's all wish us luck and hope that BJP puts its house in order and does it fast!!

RK

Congress must not waste this mandate!

2009-05-31T17:07:00.000+05:30

I was happy to see the possibility of a stable government which is essential to provide a clear direction to our country in these times of economic uncertainty. Though my party has taken a beating in this election, but I was happy nonetheless and hoped that Congress will use this mandate to push forward the economic and inclusive development agenda, given that they will not have worry about the left and opportunistic allies.

However, the drama which unfolded prior to and during government formation is worrying me. DMK washed their dirty family linen in public and shamelessly jockeyed for ministerial births for family members. They also made brazen attempts to include inefficient ministers who had serious corruption allegations against them. Balu and Raja were amongst the worst performing ministers in the previous government. National Highway program was brought to a halt under inefficient Balu and Raja gave away GSM spectrum causing huge revenue loss to the exchequer.

I had hoped that Mr. Manmohan Singh will not relent to pressure tactics of DMK and will keep such non-performers out of the cabinet, but that wasn't to be. Raja is back with a bang in the same ministry. We all can only hope that PM will make him perform this time around.

Another disturbing aspect of this cabinet is it's dynastic nature. One in every 4 minister comes from a political family and has been accommodated to placate the father, uncle or mother. Nothing wrong in having capable MPs as ministers who happen to come from political families, but making them ministers because they come from political families certainly does not augur well for efficiency and accountability.

One family inclusion, which I am happy about, is young Agatha Sangma, daughter of NCP leader and ex-speaker Mr. P Sangma. A 28 year old becoming a minister is a good first step towards inducting young and energetic MPS into the government. As MoS in Rural Development Ministry, I sincerly hope that she performs well. I would like her pay special attention to the development of the North East and set a good example for other young MPs who aspire to become ministers.

Arjun Singh and Shivraj Patil's exclusion are certainly worth mentioning and PM must be congratulated for doing the right thing.

We hope that HRD Ministry under Kapil Sibbal will bring about fundamental change in the mindset of HRD ministry mandarins. Access and Quality continue to be the major challenges as far as Primary Education is concerned. In higher education, we have been trying to maintain the quality by controlling the supply side, which is counter intuitive in this era of open and competitive economy. Hope Foreign Universities are allowed entry to India and are encouraged to offer quality education given that huge number of our bright students struggle to go abroad for education putting tremendous financial strain to their parents.

Another area of concern has been stalled infrastructure projects. Under Kamalnath, we hope that this sector get required policy direction and time-bound delivery of infrastructure projects is ensured.

Finance ministry has got an able administrator and hopefully they will be able to push ahead with pending reforms given that left will no longer be breathing down their neck.

Judicial reforms, police reforms and internal security overhaul are other areas of concern.

Overall, Dr Singh has done a reasonable job of picking his ministers and now we look forward to results. First 100 days will give a fairly good idea on where they are headed. Lets hope they deliver and don't disappoint the electorate who have voted for a stable and performing government.

RK

Long Live Indian Democracy!

2009-05-20T15:19:00.000+05:30

Now that elections are over and we will have a stable government in place, it is a good time to do some analysis of national mood and trends - what worked and what did not work for various political parties and alliances.

First of all, I would like to talk about the victor - The Congress.
Rahul Gandhi is being credited for this victory and rightly so, as he led the campaign from the front. Everyone in Congress is celebrating the arrival of Rahul. He is being hailed as a visionary and an astute political brain. All this praise & jubilation is also a result of long wait and frustration of Congressmen, who had been waiting to offer legitimacy to Rahul's leadership and stature in the Congress party.

I wish him luck, as I believe that he is genuinely trying to bring a change in the Congress party. I would also credit him for legitimizing the genuine need for young and fresh faces in Indian politics. Though most young congressmen are sons and daughters of politicians but that's no reason to complain, they are young nonetheless. His much publicized effort to induct and promote young people in Indian politics are specially laudable as it is forcing other parties to think on similar lines.

I also congratulate Indian electorate for a brilliant performance by giving a clear mandate to a national party. By doing so, they have saved this country from vagaries of regional parties, the opportunistic political outfits disguising themselves as various fronts and alliances.

Congress however needs to look deeper and realize that this victory is not necessarily a national mandate in favor of congress but a combination of several factors, alliances and sheer luck in some cases.

Lets look at UP, which is the most talked about turnaround story of these elections. The decision to go alone was not a considered strategy but a forced consequence of SP's reluctance to part with seats. Kalyan Singh joining SP was a lucky break as minority community strategically voted for Congress in areas where Congress had winnable candidates. Rest of the congress candidates in UP could not even save their deposits. Moreover people in UP are really fed-up with SP-BSP misrule for the past 20 years. The real test will be 2012 assembly polls and I wish both national parties luck in UP as UP must be developed. Hopefully BJP would have got it's act together by then.

Bihar too was supposedly the part of the same 'Go Alone' strategy of Rahul Gandhi(though we all know that Lalu-Paswan duo forced it). No such electoral dividends accrued here, because people voted for good governance and inclusive agenda of JD(U)-BJP government.

So while Rahul is and should be given credit for working hard and leading from the front in UP (which boosted the morale of cadre and brought discipline), UP victory can not be solely attributed to 'Go Alone' strategy, as it wasn't a strategy but forced consequence.

Delhi & Rajasthan victories of Congress comes on the back of successful assembly wins in the recent past. 0-7 wipe out of BJP in Delhi is most disheartening for the only national alternative to Congress. BJP had not learned from it's defeat and mistakes in assembly polls in these 2 states and paid a heavy price. Hope they put their act together before 2014.

UPA's WB and TN victories should be attributed to allies. Rejection of left policies in WB and Mamta's Singur triumph were solely responsible. Congress just retained it's tlly of 6 in WB and in fact dropped to 8 (from 10) in TN. Vijayakanth's DMDK played a spoiler for AIADMK led alliance in TN as most anti DMK vote ended up going to DMDK. Mamata made spectacular gains in WB by cloaking 19 seats (from just 1 seat in 2004). BJP made a blunder by not being able to forge an alliance with Mamta, the erstwhile partner of NDA.

Left will be in real trouble in assembly elections in 2011, after 30 years of political supremacy in WB. This may not be a bad thing for people of WB who have suffered underdevelopment and violence by left cadre for decades now. Though Mamta too is not a good news for industrial development of WB after her tantrums in Singur.

In AP & Maharashtra, MNS and Chiranjeevi's PRP came to UPA's rescue. YSR's development and welfare schemes were also positives for Congress in AP. BJP/Shiv Sena got it completely wrong in Maharashtra by underestimating MNS effect. Their 6-0 tally in Bombay is really something to worry about.

BJP did well in MP, Gujarat, HP and Chattisgarh, primarily due to good governance of incumbent BJP governments. Though 16-10 tally in Gujarat is worrying for BJP. MP victory too wasn't very convincing. Jharkhand victory of BJP must be attributed to the mess created by Congress, RJD and JMM combine. BJP needs to really work hard to hold these states as anti-incumbency will be the main factor in all these states when they go to polls in next 4 years. Hence BJP can not count on these states for 2014 Lok Sabha elections as given.

Karnataka needs special mention as it gave maximum (19) MPs to BJP. Incumbent BJP swept the polls due to it's organizational strength and committed grass root cadre. Congress camp was chaotic with too many top leaders. Rahul effect was absent in Karnatka.

Kerala voted for UDF and LDF was routed, as they do every 5 years.

Coming to the under performers -

BJP was not able to perform to it's potential. While Congress exceeded it's own expectation on the up-side, BJP did the same on the down. BJP highlighted UPA's failures but failed to communicate their agenda effectively. This wasn't appreciated by the voters, as they did not want to take chances with the unknown. BJP did not talk enough about their progressive manifesto as well, which itself came very late. Some pre-poll incidents and speeches also hurt BJP's prospects in several constituencies, primarily in urban India. While Rahul Gandhi symbolized and projected youth agenda of the Congress, BJP could not counter it effectively.

Overall, it would seem that in the case of BJP, there was a disconnect from the expectations of the electorate. This is the second time in a row and needs serious thinking and remedial measures.

As far as other parties are concerned- Left, SP, BSP and other regional parties, this election has clearly demonstrated that only thing electorate cares for, is the DEVELOPMENT & GOOD GOVERNANCE. This is a great change in post Mandal politics of India.

Left paid for it's opportunistic politics, which believed in enjoying the power without shouldering the responsibility. This was a fitting reply to the arrogant & non-electable red brigade which controls the power strings sitting in cool comforts of Delhi while preaching supposedly pro-poor agenda.

Poor governance and under performance of BSP government in UP paid rest to the Prime Ministerial ambitions of Mayawati, who believed that being Dalit-ki-Beti is the necessary and sufficient condition for being the Prime Minister. This will be a fitting lesson to other non-performing regional Satraps of Indian politics. Similarly Lalu ji is still paying for his sins of keeping Bihar poor for 14 years.

This result has done good to our democracy and country. It showed that non performing regional outfits which survive only on caste and social engineering will not survive, while performing will be rewarded, as in the case of Bihar and Orissa. It would seem that Post Mandal caste politics is on it's last leg.

Overall, these elections are a victory for our democracy. The electorate has given a decisive verdict and expects the government to perform. Indian democracy is maturing much faster than our political parties. In all recent elections, the electorate had been wiser and has voted only on development & governance agenda. We must salute our electorate for displaying this discerning ability to make the 'Right Choice'. Our democracy is in safe hands.

Long live Indian Democracy!

CREDITs- Outlook has made this argument - Please see the link below-
http://outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20090520&fname=sugata&sid=1

"Low Voter Turn Out" - No longer an urban aberration - It reflects nation's apathy towards 'Opportunistic Politics'

2009-05-01T10:59:00.000+05:30

May-1st, The proverbial heartland of Indian democracy, UP polled just 45% in the 3rd phase of polls on 30th April. It seems that most politically active and significant state, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, is slowly but steadily loosing interest in politics.

The high profile constituency of Lucknow voted just 34.5%. I spoke with few friends and family in Lucknow, who went to vote early fearing long queues but were surprised to see empty polling booths. Second largest city of UP, Kanpur voted just 39%.

The ssituation is same in neighboring Bihar where average polling in the first 3 phases has been 44%, 45% and 49% respectively. Compare this with average 58% in 2004 Lok Sabha elections. This is despite all round praise for Nitish Kumar who brought Bihar back on developmental map of the country.

Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat which went to poll on development & good governance agenda of their respective chief ministers too failed to excite the electorate with MP polling just 45% (48% in 2004) and Gujarat 50% (45% in 2004).

Maharashtra too is averaging 45% compared with 48% in 2004. Greater Bombay (10 seats) was 43.5%, even lower than 47.5% in 2004. This is really shocking given high decibel celebrity campaigns, voter awareness programs and emotionally charged environment post 26/11.

The above trend shows that in all large heartland states of the country, voters have lost interest in elections due to their apathy towards political class, which pursues corrupt and criminal brand of politics devoid of issues which concern the average citizen.

Political parties are responsible for this apathy as they field criminals and moneybags as their candidates, as these are supposedly winnable candidates. Party loyalists on their death bed are give tickets, sons and daughters of political families are other favorites apart from cine stars and venom spitting religious blokes. These worthy souls might win the election, but political class looses the respect and confidence of genuine voter who wants to believe in democracy and cares for the nation.

Current election distinctly lacks focus and debate on pressing national issues of worsening economy,crumbling infrastructure, security threats and most importantly governance and development.

Instead of educating and informing electorate about their manifesto and development agenda, political parties are busy snapping at their opponents and digging their past. They are more interested in highlighting what their opponents have not done, rather than discussing what they will do, if elected to power.

In my opinion, media is the biggest culprit, given that people expect them to be the voice of the civil society. In the race to garner TRP ratings, they have resorted to highlighting only sensational and meaningless issues.

Late evening talk shows (they call them debates) on national news channels have become a joke where anchor seems to believe that his decibel level is directly proportional to the TRP rating of his channel. Developmental and governance agenda is rarely discussed in the media, which is obsessed with quotable quotes from Varun, Priyanka, Maya and Modi.

Media has let civil society down and has completely failed in its responsibility to highlight pressing issues and force the debate among political class.

Low voter turnout is no longer an urban educated elite phenomenon, it is a reflection of all pervasive apathy of voters across the country towards political class. This is the biggest threat to our democracy which relies on the participation of the informed electorate to choose the best among available options. People have lost faith in the elections because they don't see any merit in the process.

Political parties need to work at the grass root level, engage with the civil society, grow their cadre and practice internal democracy if they want to regain the faith and confidence of the electorate.

Media too needs to introspect and stop insulting their viewers/readers by dishing out sensational and silly make-believe stories in the garb of the news.

RK

A deafening silence on funny money - S Gurumurthy - 03-04-2009

2009-04-20T13:22:00.000+05:30

It was unthinkable six months ago. Switzerland, once a pet of Western capitalism, is now its hate object.

During World War II, the tiny nation was the common love of both the Allied and Axis powers, at war with each other. But neutral Switzerland, a friend of all since Napoleonic days, is friendless today. Its prime attraction, financial secrecy secured by law, has become its nemesis.

Germany first, France next, the US later, with the UK joining last, have, individually and together, declared a war against secret banking and tax havens like Switzerland.

It is a crusade by the West against the Swiss, says the media. Tax havens ask for no income tax from non-citizens and their banks ask no questions about their money. Modern capitalism had all along winked at secret banks and tax shelters; even nicknamed secret money ‘funny money’. But now the West chases secret money like it targets al-Qaeda.

Why this miraculous shift? The short answer: ‘financial crisis’. The Guardian of UK wrote (March 4), “European leaders grew increasingly agitated at how tax havens have fostered secrecy that has contributed to the collapse of banks the world over”. The newspaper’s Tax Gap Series estimated the unaccounted global wealth held in secret havens, including Switzerland, at $13 trillion. The annual tax evasion on the dirty fund, estimated at $255 billion was, the newspaper said, twice the global budget for poor nations. Der Spiegel, a German magazine, reported (March 3) that “Cash strapped governments around the world see the opportunity to finally put an end to bank secrecy” to access the money concealed by their nationals. It added “British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicholas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are now joining forces” and “they have set their sights on Switzerland”.

The crusade against Swiss banks was started by Germany in early 2008 when its intelligence bribed — bribed? Yes — an informant in LGT Bank in Liechtenstein and got a CD containing the names of some 1,500 tax dodgers, and raided half of them, who were its citizens. It also offered, free of cost, the names of citizens of other countries. Many accepted the offer gratefully.

Thereafter, in the third quarter of 2008, Germany pressed the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to blacklist Switzerland for protecting tax dodgers.

Switzerland is an OECD member and twothirds of the Swiss speak German. Yet Germany couldn’t care less. Soon, France joined Germany. “We want to put a stop to tax havens”, thundered Sarkozy.

At the preparatory G20 summit in Berlin early February, European leaders vowed to launch a globalcrusade against tax havens at the G20 meet in London, said the Irish Financial News. Europe’s anger was explicit in its refusal to allow the Swiss plea to be presented before the G20 in London.

The US moved even more menacingly. On February 18, the US Inland Revenue threatened the largest Swiss bank, UBS, with a lawsuit — that would have bankrupted it — unless the bank disclosed the names and accounts of some 300 American tax dodgers. A frightened UBS forthwith surrendered the secret data to the US before the account holders could stall it by a Swiss court order. Later, the Obama administration told the US Senate that it would bring laws to prise open the world’s most secretive tax havens.

At this point the UK joined the crusade.

Switzerland wilted under the pressure. Spiegel wrote that, for generations, the Swiss had held bank secrecy as “not negotiable”, and added that it was “no longer” so. The magazine quoted Swiss finance minister Merz as saying that they would have “to compromise”. The Swiss justice and foreign ministers, the magazine reported, had hinted that the country might have to stop protecting tax dodgers.
Subsequently, a nervous Merz met Gordon Brown on March 14 with a deal to prevent any move in G20 to blacklist his country. The deal was that Swiss banks would adopt the bank transparency rules of OECD countries. Brown claimed that it was “the beginning of the end of banking secrecy”. Yet, the US is pressing ahead with a law to punish banking secrecy.

When the crusade of the West against Swiss banks is succeeding, here Dr Manmohan Singh and his government, instead of celebrating, seem to be worried at their success. Three bits of evidence expose the Congress-led government’s not-so-well-hidden worry. First, when Germany’s finance ministry offered the LTG bank secret data to any country that needed it, the government would not ask for it despite reports that it contained some 100 Indian names. When in April last year, L K Advani wrote to Manmohan, requesting to him to ask Germany for the data, the then finance minister responded evasively.

Transparency International noted India’s “stoic silence over the issue” and that it “has not approached the German government for the data’’ (Economic Times, May 25 2008]. More, the revenue secretary in Delhi has reportedly advised the Indian ambassador in Berlin not to push Germany for the details as Germany might not like it – clear proof that the government is scuttling, not getting, the details.
Second, when, in the G20 preparatory meeting at Berlin, Germany and France were threatening to blacklist Swiss and other secret tax shelters, India’s silence at Berlin was deafening.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the PM’s righthand who, along with Dr Rakesh Mohan, represented India at Berlin, did not utter a word in support of Germany and France. India, a principal victim of banking secrecy, should have been leading the war cry against it. But it did not even morally support those waging the war.

Third, when on Sunday last L K Advani told Manmohan Singh that India should join in the G20 effort to break banking secrecy, the PM did not respond. The spokesperson of the Congress Abhishek Singhvi responded that G20 was not the forum for that, being blissfully ignorant of the fact that it was a main agenda of G20 meet. In fact just ahead of the meeting, Sarkozy had threatened to walk out unless the G20 decisively acted against secret banks and tax havens.

No need to strain further to understand Manmohan’s compulsions. The fear that drove the ruling family to abort the 1987 probe into Indian monies secreted abroad is still evident. But Advani’s threat to turn the recovery of Indian wealth secreted abroad an election issue has got the PM and his party off guard. The party has blundered, saying G20 is not the forum, when it is precisely that. Now the prime minister cannot remain silent. He has to do something. At least make a show of doing. But can he? QED: Dr Manmohan Singh stands between the devil and the deep sea — between his party and L K Advani.

Secret Indian Wealth Aboard - S Gurumurthy -02-04-09

2009-04-20T13:10:00.000+05:30

Switzerland has been accused of giving shelter to black money and there has been a lot of inflow of such wealth from India and other countries of the world.” This is not L K Advani, on election mode, speaking last Sunday, but the Swiss ambassador to India briefing the media in Delhi last year.

The occasion was the 60th anniversary of Indo-Swiss Friendship Treaty. Admitting that Indian black money gets hoarded in his country, he added that the new law in Switzerland would, not stop it, but control it “up to a certain limit”.

The Swiss diplomat authentically answers the first of the FAQs, that is, whether a lot of Indian money is really stashed away in Swiss banks. Swiss banks are not the only secret destination. There are 37 such shelters in the world, says US Inland Revenue. The secret owners of the secreted monies operate in secrecy — venal businessmen, corrupt politicians, public servants, drug lords, and criminal gangs like the D-company. The slush monies are the financial RDX for terror, besides weapons of mass destruction of national and global finance. That there is secret money is no more a secret. Only the amounts and persons are secret. But how much of India’s stolen wealth could be stashed in Switzerland? Specific estimates of this later. Before that, here is a sideshow, but a relevant one.

In the late 1980s, at the behest of The Indian Express, while investigating the Reliance scam, I had attempted to trail the Indian monies secreted abroad. In the course of the probe, I had contacted Fairfax,a US investigative firm, to uncover the Indian wealth stashed abroad. Impressed by their skills, I persuaded the Government of India to engage the firm for the task. Fairfax agreed to work for a slice of the black wealth uncovered by them as fee.

According to Swiss sources then, the Indian money secreted in Swiss banks was some $300 billion. That was enough to excite Fairfax to go for the kill. But, soon my efforts landed me in jail on March 13, 1987, when the CBI arrested me on charges that later turned out to be bogus, but were enough to stop the probe. The whole nation knew then that the real reason why rulers struck was their fear that the probe had targeted the Bofors payoff and secret money of the ruling family abroad. Rajiv Gandhi, who was the prime minister then, moved honest and bold civil servants like Vinod Pandey and Bhure Lal out of the probe and eventually sacked V P Singh who, as finance minister then, had authorised the efforts.

The chain of events that followed led to corruption emerging as the major issue in the 1989 polls in which Rajiv Gandhi, who had wiped out the opposition in 1984 elections, was defeated, and V P Singh became the prime minister. But there is a great lesson in these developments that often goes unnoticed. And that is, the way the bold national interest initiative to unearth the Indian black wealth abroad was aborted clearly confirmed that the ruling family was mortally afraid of any probe into secret money abroad. This fear haunts the family-led Congress party even today. That is why the 1987 episode is relevant now.

Now back to the main story.
Illicit money is the dirty outcome of modern capitalism. But, after 9/11, the US realized that not just the buccaneers in business, but Osama bin Laden could also hide his funds in secret havens and use them to bomb the world. Campaigns against dirty money as high security risk commenced with the path breaking research done by Raymond W Baker, a Harvard MBA and a Brookings scholar. He published his research as a book Capitalism’s Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free- Market
System.

The book was published in 2005. This set off intense debate in the US as the exposure linked dirty business and dirty money with terror and national security.
Raymond Baker had estimated, using authentic data, tools and reasons, the dirty wealth secreted in banks at $11.5 trillion to which, he found, one more trillion was being added annually. He added that in the process the West was getting an annual bounty of $500 billion from the developing countries, India included.

Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a global watchdog headed by Baker to curtail illicit money flows, has recently brought out detailed estimates of the black wealth hoarded in secret havens from different countries. GFI research shows that during the period 2002 to 2006, annually $27.3 billion was stashed away from India, making a total of $137.5 billion for the five-year period. That is, in just five years, Indian wealth amounting to Rs 6.88 lakh crore has been smuggled out of India. This gives a clue as to how much Indian money would have slipped out of India in the last 62 years, particularly during the Nehruvian socialist regime when the income tax (97.5 per cent) and wealth tax (almost equal to the income earned on investments) together constituted double the income earned.

It is undisputed that the Nehruvian socialist model forced huge sums out of India. So the amount of Indian black wealth secreted away in the last 60 years — estimated at from $500 billion (Rs 25 lakh crore) to $1400 billion (Rs 70 lakh crore) — does not seem to be wide off the mark. Economists call it flight of
capital. This is the people’s money stolen from them.

See the consequence even if part of it is brought back. A portion of it would make India free from all external debts which is now over $220 billion; India will transform into an economic superpower; some 10 or 15 Indian rupees could buy a US dollar which today 50 Indian rupees cannot; a litre of petrol on our roadside would cost Rs 15 or even less, against today’s 50 plus; the cost of imports in rupee terms would be down to a third or half; India’s entire infrastructure needs can be funded; India will become so energy efficient and cost competitive that exporters may need no sops at all; India will lend to — not, as it does now, borrow from — the world; Indian housing can be funded at affordable cost; rural poverty can be wiped out... The list is endless. But, then, is it possible to bring back the secreted monies? What are the roadblocks to such efforts?

Continued …

Congress deserves to lose India’s elections - Financial Times - London

2009-04-16T15:37:00.000+05:30

An Article in Financial Times of London

By Razeen Sally
Published: April 15 2009 21:55 | Last updated: April 15 2009 21:55

Indians will from Thursday begin heading to the polls in a month-long election for a new government. The Congress party is standing on the record of the government it has led since 2004. But polls are taking place when the Indian economy has taken a sharp turn for the worse, in a climate of global economic crisis. This exposes the do-nothing, zero-reform record of Manmohan Singh, prime minister, and his government. More generally, it lays bare India’s huge reform gaps and its brittle, decaying institutions. Finally, it deflates the “India hype” peddled by smooth-talking upper-caste politicians, ambassadors, businessmen, management consultants and some academics.

A word about India hype. It highlights high-end services, and now manufacturing sectors, with their globalizing, world-beating companies. But it overlooks reform deficits in agriculture, services and manufacturing. It talks of “Chindia”, the notion that India plays in the same league as China as an emerging superpower – which is pure myth. Not least, it glosses over the record of the present Congress-led government.

There have been practically no market reforms since 2004, save for the opening of domestic civil aviation. Nothing has moved on privatization, the reduction of government equity in banks and insurance companies, pensions, competition regulation or the administration of subsidies. Industrial tariffs have come down, but otherwise external protection has not been reduced. India remains the most protectionist large emerging market.

Worse, there has been reform backsliding and reversal. Fiscal restraint, written into law in 2003, has been thrown to the winds. Now, with an economic downturn, the consolidated government deficit is projected to rise above 10 per cent of gross domestic product. Funding for much-needed infrastructure projects will suffer. Controlled pricing of petroleum products was reintroduced in 2008. Off-budget expenditure has increased significantly, especially through populist measures to support rural employment and the energy sector.

The government’s response to the present global economic crisis was to introduce further market-distorting restrictions, including higher tariffs, anti-dumping duties and assorted non-tariff import barriers.

Finally, the Congress party entered the general election campaign with pledges to expand its hugely wasteful rural employment guarantee programme and increase food subsidies.

The government has squandered the boom years, left the country more vulnerable to malign global economic conditions and compromised prospects for a healthy recovery. But Manmohan Singh and his “dream team” have been given an easy ride: they have escaped blame, especially outside India. The conventional excuse is that their hands are tied by Sonia Gandhi and her Congress coterie, and by coalition politics.

This explanation just does not wash. Mr Singh has impeccable academic credentials and is by all accounts incorruptible. He deserves credit for his performance as finance minister in the 1990s – although credit should also go to Narasimha Rao, then prime minister, who took the tough decisions.

But Mr Singh has proved a hopeless decision-maker as prime minister. Sadly, he proves the rule that academics should generally be “on tap” but not “on top”.

The whole reform programme relies on the prime minister himself. Mr Rao and A.B. Vajpayee proved their mettle, despite heavy political constraints. Mr Singh has failed; he should bear much of the blame. The Congress party does not deserve to be re-elected and the dream team does not deserve to continue in office. An alternative BJP-led government may do better if it has a decisive leader with a core of able reformers. It will not if its leader follows the dictates of short-term opportunism and messy coalition politics.

Nevertheless, the failures of the Congress-led government should be put into a larger institutional context. The Indian state, led by a venal political-bureaucratic elite, remains unreformed. State institutions – the political class, political parties, parliaments, the bureaucracy, the judiciary – have got worse at both national and state levels. Since the late 1980s, “stealth” reforms have taken place outside the state. But India cannot be expected to grow fast with such shaky foundations. The upshot is that much-needed market reforms cannot continue to skirt round the reform of the state itself. Politically, that is the hardest nut to crack.

The writer is director of the European Center for International Political Economy

RK Walks the Talk - Enters active Politics - Joins BJP

2009-04-01T14:26:00.000+05:30

RK Misra, founder of Change India, has always been advocating that educated civil society must engage and align with the political class to remain relevant and meaningfully contribute to the issues of policy and governance.

Following his own advice and conviction, RK decided to enter active politics and has decided to join BJP on 21st March in Bangalore in presence of Mr. Arun Jaitley & Mr. Ananth Kumar, National General Secretaries of BJP.

RK firmly believes that to get competent and committed political leaders, we, the educated civil society, must align with the political parties and give them the confidence that GOOD candidates too are winnable because the middle class, youth and working professionals will come out and support the good candidates. This will motivate political parties to give tickets to honest and committed individuals, who are genuinley interested in public service and good governance.

"Failure of governance and lack of development are the two most important issues which our elected representatives and bureaucrats need to focus on. But if educated people who understand and are concerned about these issues do not engage with the political class, they will continue with the vote bank politics of caste, religion, favours and appeasement.This is the primary reason for me to join active politics", said RK Misra.

He added, "we have chosen parliamentary democracy system of government and are proud of being the largest democracy. An educated and well informed civil society making the right choice of political leadership is the foundation of a robust democracy. Unfortunately, given the much maligned image of our political class, educated civil society has chosen to stay away and disengage, which is unfortunate. We need to have role models among our political leaders, which our educated civil society can look upto and engage with, and I hope to work towards this objective."

"There is no ideal option in today's political system but I chose BJP for it's Nation First approach and focus on development and good governance, both during NDA rule and in the states run by BJP and their allies. I will work towards making BJP more inclusive and acceptable to all the sections of our society. I will strive to regain respect and admiration for our political class with utmost sincerity and commitment", added RK Misra.

RK can be reached at rk@changeindia.in

Don’t Just Vote, Make it Count - Become the SWING VOTER

2009-03-19T11:09:00.000+05:30

There is a myth that the Educated Civil Society, being small in numbers, can not influence the electoral outcome. Consequently majority of us are not motivated to engage with the political class. Many of us abstain from voting because we believe that we are too small in numbers to change the ways of Indian politics.

However, a closer analysis will reveal that in this age of coalition politics, with so many parties and candidates, victory margins are very small. In fact, most MPs in urban centers win by margins of just few thousand votes.

4 out of 7 seats in Delhi were won by narrow margins in 2004 Lok Sabha elections - New Delhi – 12784, South Delhi-16005, Delhi Sadar – 15974 & Karol Bagh 37,629. Mumbai also had similar figures, 3 out of 7 seats were won by less than 25,000 votes - Mumbai South-10246, Mumbai – South Central-22188, Mumbai North Central – 13,329.

This is not true only for Metro, even smaller cities across the country have witnessed similar trends. Victory margin in Kanpur was just 5,638 votes, Nashik – 15,058 votes, Ranchi -15,421 votes, Allahabad – 28,383 votes and Bangalore North – 30,358 votes.

Another myth is that Indian politics is decided by rural India. Hence issues relevant to the city dwellers and educated civil society are of no relevance to political parties as they do not need urban votes to come to power. The fact is that 2009 Lok Sabha will have 120+ MPs (out of 543) from Urban Areas.

Just concluded delimitation of constituencies has dramatically increased the number of urban constituencies, which will further grow as India urbanizes. 120 is a huge number, given the coalition politics where Mrs. Mayawati, with potentially 50 MPs, will have the real possibility to stake the claim for Prime Minister’s post.

We also need to note that in 2009 elections we have more than 10 Crore First Time Voters, majority of them in urban areas. Compare this with the vote difference between two national parties, Congress and BJP in 2004 Lok Sabha Elections, just 98 Lakh votes of total 38.99 crore votes polled.

In 2004 Lok Sabha polls BJP got 22.2% and Congress – 26.7% of the total votes polled – 38.99 crores (58%) of total 67.15 crore registered voters.

ELECTIONs-2009 are DIFFERENT in many ways. Post 26/11 people are willing to get out and get counted. We have the real opportunity to MAKE A DIFFERENCE, this time around. So how do we do it?

Each major party and candidate have their own committed vote bank based on ideology, caste, religion, region or language which they nurture and hold by giving sops, favours, appeasement and promises.

However, during the elections, what all political parties need and fear the most are the SWING votes, which usually decide the winner. This number is not very large, specially in urban areas and presents an opportunity for educated civil society to come together and elect the candidate and party of their choice.

It is certainly not difficult to bring together 10,000-25,000 educated people in each urban parliamentary constituency as SWING VOTE BANK, who will vote based on the issues of “Good Governance & Economic Development”. If this happens, these ‘Educated Swing Votes’ will make every political party reach out to them and ask for their issues to be included in their agenda.

Now the question is, how do we organize these educated people, analyze & interact with major candidates/party and make an informed decision to VOTE with a real possibility of having a winner of our choice.

Use of technology will make it possible, Obama has shown it working. We are technology savvy and quick to adapt.

"Change India" –www.changeindia.in, has created a CHANGE platform, which you can join by sending an SMS - START CHANGE to 575758.

The target should be to get around 30,000 people in each of the constituencies across 25 cities of the country, accounting for around 60-80 MPs. Details of the candidates/parties will be shared via SMS and website and a deserving consensus candidate will be decided using a web & sms POLL.

We can make a BIG impact in the next Lok Sabha election and hold our winners accountable.

‘Choice is Ours’. Opportunity is NOW, as nation wants to bring a CHANGE in our political system.

Coalition ‘Tamasha’ – Are Two National Parties Losing the Plot ?

2009-03-13T14:45:00.000+05:30

Tumkur (Bangalore) - 12th March-2009, The launch of Third Front.

This could be one of the most important and decisive day for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. It may be the first step towards our suffering in the hands of Opportunistic Coalition, conveniently disguised as the 3rd Front. This is a group of desperate political parties, with no ideological commonalities, coming together with only one agenda – how to control Delhi and serve their own vested interests.

Most comically, every constituent of the so called Third Front has a prime ministerial candidate. It seems the only reason, these parties are coming together, is the chair of the Prime Minister. Left being the only possible exception, as they have mastered the art of enjoying power without sharing the responsibility.

Left parties are a desperate lot, having been thrown out of power by UPA and with a real prospect of loosing heavily in West Bengal & Kerala. They are at the forefront of this Third Front ‘Tamasha’. Left leaders are accumulating frequent flier miles at an alarming rate running from one state capital to the other, begging regional satraps to put together this ragtag coalition with no common ideology or an agenda for the governance.

Both national parties and their respective coalitions, namely NDA and UPA, may not get enough seats to form the government on their own on May – 23rd. If so, this so called Third Front, whose constituents have mastered the art of opportunistic politics, will come to power and take this nation downhill.

This is not the first time that we are faced with such a dire situation. We have a short memory, and history may be about to repeat again.

In 1977, a coalition in the name of the “Janata Party” came to power but it disintegrated in just 2 years despite people’s disdain for congress and Mrs. Gandhi for imposing the emergency from 1975 to 1977. She was back in power in 1979 with a majority.

1984 was the last time when this nation gave a clear mandate to a national party when Rajeev Gandhi came to power with an absolute majority on a sympathy wave in the wake of the assassination of his mother, Mrs. Indira Gandhi. But he was done in by the Bofors scandal and his confidant, Mr. VP Singh.

1989 saw our first experiment with the coalition politics. Mr. VP Singh, who became the prime minister in a coalition government, ended up creating unimaginable social unrest in the name of “Mandal and Mosque”. He also succeeded in bringing the nation to the “Brink of Bankruptcy”. VP Singh was defeated and now long gone, but we are still suffering the scars of “Mandalization of Indian Politics”. We also had to pledge our Gold to avoid the payment default to international lenders, due to the economic mismanagement of Mr. VP Singh and his coalition partners in the preceding 2 years.

1991, people were fed-up and they gave congress the mandate to rule. Mr. Narasimha Rao ran the government and initiated economic reforms. The period from 1991-1996 was reasonably stable except for the episode of JMM being bribed to buy their loyalty to support the congress government.

1996, the nation again suffered the unstable coalition governments. We endured 3 Prime Ministers in 2 years including Mr. Devegowda who was ousted before he could settle in the power seat. Mr. I K Gujral followed as he was no threat to anyone and he departed without doing much, as was expected from him. Ms Mayawati brought down Mr. Vajpayee’s government when he lost the no-confidence motion by just one vote.

1999, people, fed-up with the coalition drama, gave NDA, led by Mr. Vajpayee, a decisive mandate. He ran a successful coalition government. This was the first time after 1989 that a coalition government completed full 5 years and credit goes to Mr. Vajpayee’s statesmanship and acceptability among the NDA partners.

2004, it was "India Shining" which got NDA out. But this time UPA coalition government had to use the crutches of the wily left parties. All through, left played truant and held the government to ransom. They enjoyed the trappings of power without sharing the responsibility of governance. This coalition did more harm than good as governance, development and reforms took a back seat while the government was busy managing coalition partners.

As we can see, ragtag coalitions have not worked in this country but unfortunately since 1977, we have to suffer them after every 5 year stint of a stable government. We seem to be heading in the same direction this time around too. But Indian electorate, especially the so called educated middle class seems to be apathetic and blissfully unaware of the looming danger.

But why only blame the electorate? What choices does he have?

I feel the blame for this dire situation lies with the National Parties too. They have been steadily loosing their vote share (BJP had 22.2% and Congress 26.7% in 2004 election) and they may loose even more this time around. But national parties have done precious little to stem this decline.

They have behaved like regional parties raking up emotional and religious issues, which no longer pay dividends. They practice dynastic and caste politics fielding candidates based on their caste and religion. They are devoid of a national agenda, a slogan which will appeal to the majority of this nation. They have no fresh ideas. They do not have role models who will appeal to the youth and the middle class.

National parties have failed to acknowledge the fact that the economic resurgence of India has created a class of society, a large potential vote bank, which believes in the politics of good governance & development. Since national parties do not have what appeals to this class of society, they have chosen to ignore them.

This has alienated their largest potential vote bank – the Middle India, 40 Crore strong and growing, which is educated, secular and wants good governance. This Middle India has lost faith in the current political class and thus have chosen to disengage. This explains the shrinking vote share of the national parties as they are not adding any new voters and at the same time they can not compete with the regional parties which survive and thrive on opportunistic local agenda including caste, region and religion.

Whichever of the 2 national parties chooses to reform itself and is able to engage with this Middle India by having an agenda and role models who appeal to them, will have the last laugh. If they don’t, soon they may no longer remain national parties.

The possible setback in 2009 elections may make them deliberate on a strategy to engage Middle India. Lets hope that having lost the plot, old thinking politicians of national parties will make way for the new generation with new political ideas and ideologies, which will appeal to the 40 Crore strong Middle India. That’s the only route to survival for the 2 National Parties.

I have seen traces of this realization in the BJP and am witness to their openness to engage with the 'Middle India.' Lets hope and pray that this tribe grows and succeeds, both within the BJP and the Congress, as "India Deserves Better"!

RK

Economic & Governance Blunders of UPA

2009-02-23T16:20:00.000+05:30

Some of us always knew and said this in various forums, but excessive focus of our finance minister to stock markets high and intoxication of masses with imaginary wealth kept the lid tightly closed on the can of worms of economic mess which UPA government has led us into.

I am no economist and I do not run a businessman anymore, but I interact with various sections of the society, political leaders, business friends and most importantly, the common man. I can feel the state of despair and hopelessness among masses, educated elite and business community. We all are worried about our economic future, if we have one left.

Recently I came across several articles by eminent economists, industrialists and opinion makers and it will be worthwhile for us to analyze the current situation and evaluate UPA’s performance. This is crucial evaluation as we head in to the polls in the coming months .

We hope that you read these articles and give your comments.

Outlook – Economy : Report Card – ‘How A slips to B Minus’

Book of Blunders – Pratap Bhanu Mehta – UPA squandered the opportunity to deliver on good governance

The Inertia of Motion - Outlook

No Head for Numbers – Rajeev Chandrasekhar – Rajya Sabha MP and Chairman FICCI

5 most IMPORTANT issues for Election-2009

2009-02-19T20:59:00.000+05:30

To choose your 5 most important issues for Elections-2009 please go to http://www.changeindia.in - Change India has access and has put-in resurces to work with and make these issues the agenda of 2 national parties - BJP and Congress.

My 5 most important issues for Elections-2009 are Economy, Terrorism, Rural Poverty, Infrastructure & Reforms.

Economy -
UPA inherited a boom economy from NDA and all the hard work and reforms during NDA regime yielded 4 years of unprecedented economic growth. UPA did not make use of this unprecedented opportunity to reduce revenue and fiscal deficits, create a safety net for unorganized sector and given a thrust to infrastructure.

Unfortunately none of this was done. Now we are in an unprecedented global economic slowdown with fiscal deficit reaching around 12% of GDP (Center & States Combined) and we have no money left to pump prime the economy without causing a debt trap. UPA has completely mismanaged the economy and wasted the golden opportunity it had.

Terrorism/Border Security-
UPA's record on terrorism and border security has been a disaster and we need not say much about this area. Intelligence agencies have become puppets in the hands of politicians to spy on opponents, defense agencies do not act on intelligence inputs, no one is held accountable (I have not hard of any official being fired or suspended post 26/11, of course Home Minister was a non-entity anyway) and weak laws have made it impossible to punish terrorists.

Rural Poverty -
NREGA scheme, a good initiative has failed miserably with only 16 days of actual work being provided where money was spent for 100 days worth of work. This is as per the CAG report - a Government of India oversight institution. NREGA anyway is just a temporary measure to give rural poor some work of digging some pits and ponds, just to keep them alive. No effective steps have been taken by UPA to revive rural economy to provide long term sustainable employment and non-agri income generation opportunities in rural India.

Infrastructure -
NDA had visionary infra initiatives of Golden Quadrilateral and NHDP programs in road sector. Telecom reforms, airport and port privatization were the most visible infra initiatives of NDA.

UPA slowed all these programs. GQ is still incomplete. In fact a 'very capable' Minister of Surface Transport has changed 5 Chairmen of NHAI in last 2 years as they did not (could not) comply, since NDA had drafted NHAI act, which does not allow the minister to do what he feels like (?), so he tried changing Chairmen and when that also did not work, he just stopped the work.

Compare this with Mr. Khanduri (NDA Minister), the cleanest politicin you will ever come across and a task master. He was Mr. Vajpayee's choice.

We all know what UPA ministers have done in Telecom. Selling precious GSM spectrum at throw away prices to their favorite companies. 3G is still a dream.

JNNURM was a good initiative to improve urban infrastructure, but here again UPA miserably failed in delivery. No effective oversight mechanism was put in place.

Political/Economic/Judicial Reforms -
UPA has not been able to carry out any reforms, economic or political. They blamed left for economic reforms but there was no desire to do anything on political reforms either. Congress's own leader Mr. Veerappa Moily has drafted a wonderful report on administrative and political reforms but it just remains that, a report.

Judicial reforms are a crying need. Crores of court cases are pending, judges have come under suspicion and we have executive and judiciary clashing so very often. This is not a healthy situation. No party or coalition has spoken openly about this, but we must address this issue.

I give my VOTE to BJP/NDA for this election.

Mr. Advani is the most experienced leader in the country today. He is simple, approachable and is willing to listen. He has grass root understanding of the country, acquired over 70 years of political activities. He has visited and interacted with the people from every nook and corner of the country to understand our nation of great complexity and diversity.

All BJP/NDA Chief Ministers (Gujarat, MP, Orissa, Bihar, Chattisgrah, Uttarakhand & Rajasthan) have done great development work with good governance in their respective states and have got re-elected (except Rajasthan where in-fighting let BJP down).

BJP has internal democracy where even Mr. Advani can be questioned. There is no high command culture and there is no sycophancy. You don't need to be loyal to a family to be recognized nor do you have to have a fancy surname to become a leader.

Though chaotic at times (all democracies are chaotic as all are allowed to express their opinion), BJP/NDA had done a great job during their 5 year tenure from 1999-2004. They brought about visionary ideas (GQ, Privatization, PGSY, River Linking, Telecom & Insurance Reforms) and implemented them with vigor and sincerity. They lost in 2004 because of their city centric election campaign and poor electoral alliances.

So for me, it is BJP/NDA this time.

RK

We Must Engage with the Political Class to Remain Relevant

2009-02-19T20:54:00.000+05:30

It is a common belief that 'Educated Civil Society' no longer matters to politicians and policy makers.

Outpouring of public anger post 26/11 in the form of rallies, marches and candle light vigils highlighted the frustration and helplessness of educated middle class. Unfortunately such protests are neither sustainable nor do they provide long term solutions to problems and issues facing our nation.

Failure of governance and lack of development are the two most important issues which our elected representatives and bureaucrats need to focus on. But if people who understand and are concerned about these issues do not engage with the political class, they will continue with the vote bank politics of caste, religion, favours and appeasement.

We have chosen parliamentary democracy system of government and are proud of being the largest democracy. Over past 60 years we have evolved as a robust democracy, which many nations of the world can only hope for. We just need to peep into our neighbourhood to realize as to how fortunate we are to have enjoyed a credible and popular democracy from our birth as an independent nation, except for a brief period of emergency during 1970s.

Democracies depend upon citizen’s participation, to make an informed and collective choice every few years to choose their leaders and the governments which they hope and believe will serve them with honesty and sincerity.

An educated and well informed citizen making the right choice is the basic tenet of a robust democracy. Unfortunately, given the much maligned image of our political class, educated civil society has chosen to stay away from exercising this fundamental right. While we criticize them, we don’t want to be even remotely engaged with the politics or political leaders.

This is the reason why political class ignores the educated civil society and focuses on rural, urban poor and marginalized sections of the society. Politicians entice these sections with favours, appeasement, money and muscle power. They become the vote banks, based on caste, religion, region and language.

This has resulted in a chicken & egg situation. Since we don’t like the current day politicians, we do not engage in the political process. But since we don’t engage in the political process we don’t get politicians of our choice. This vicious circle needs to be broken.

It is obvious that politicians would care only for those who vote for them. Disengaging has only done us harm by producing criminals and thugs as politicians. Time has come for us to engage with political class and make our VOTE count.

Let’s start not just engaging but aligning. If we align with a party or a candidate and assure them of our vote, they will be happy and willing to look into our concerns and issues.

We often hear that educated people are so few that their vote won’t matter. This is a myth.

Post delimitation, 2009 Lok Sabha will have 120 urban constituencies (out of a total of 543), which decide their winner by a margin of just few thousand votes. So a determined and informed educated middle class, voting as a block based on issues of governance and development, will become the swing vote bank, which will be courted by every party. So lets not underestimate the power of SWING VOTE of determined educated civil society.

More on SWING VOTE in the Next Article.

Don’t Just Vote – Make it Count - 'Become SWING VOTE Bank '

2009-02-19T19:31:00.001+05:30

There is a myth that the Educated Civil Society, being small in numbers, can not influence the electoral outcome. Consequently majority of us are not motivated to engage with the political class and even abstain from voting because we believe that we are too small in numbers to change the ways of Indian politics. However, a closer analysis will reveal that in this age of coalition politics, with so many parties and candidates, victory margins are very small. In fact, most MPs win by margins of just few thousand votes.

Another myth is that Indian politics is decided by rural India. Hence issues relevant to the city dwellers and educated civil society are of no relevance to political parties as they do not need urban votes to come to power. The fact is that 2009 Lok Sabha will have 120 MPs (out of 543) from Urban Areas. Just concluded delimitation of constituencies has dramatically increased the number of urban constituencies, which will further grow as India urbanizes. 120 is a huge number, given the coalition politics where Mrs. Mayawati with potentially 50 MPs will have the real possibility to stake the claim for Prime Minister’s post.

We also need to note that in 2009 elections we have more than 10 Crore First Time Voters, mainly in urban areas. Compare this with the vote difference between Congress and BJP in 2004 Lok Sabha Elections – 98 Lakh.

ELECTIONs-2009 are DIFFERENT in many ways! Post 26/11 people are willing to get out and get counted. We have the real opportunity to MAKE A DIFFERENCE, this time around.

Each major party and candidate have their own committed vote bank based on ideology, caste, religion, region or language which they nurture and hold by giving sops, favours, appeasement and promises. So during the elections, what all political parties need and fear most are the SWING votes, which usually decide the winner. It is not difficult to bring together 25,000-50,000 educated people in each parliamentary constituency as SWING VOTE BANK, who will vote based on the issues of “Good Governance & Economic Development”. These ‘Educated Swing Votes’ will make every political party reach out to them and ask for their issues to be included in their agenda.

Now the question is, how do we organize these educated people, analyze & interact with major candidates/party and make an informed decision to VOTE with a real possibility of having a winner of our choice.

Use of technology will make it possible, Obama has shown it working. We are technology savvy and quick to adapt.

"Change India" has created a CHANGE platform, which you can join by sending an SMS - CHANGE to 575758.

Our target will be to get around 50,000 people in each of the constituencies across 25 cities of the country, accounting for around 80-100 MPs. Details of the candidates/parties will be shared via SMS and we will also interact with the candidates. Decision will taken via an sms POLL to VOTE for the CANDIDATE/PARTY of our choice.

We can make a BIG impact in the next Lok Sabha election and hold our winners accountable.

‘Choice is Ours’. Opportunity is NOW, as nation is UNITED and wants to bring a CHANGE.

Indian Religious Minorities – Puppets in the hands of political parties

2008-10-14T18:18:00.000+05:30

This morning, I was amused to see the front page of newspapers with UP Chief Minister Mrs. Mayawati proudly proclaiming to be the savior of minorities. She was flanked by minority community leaders and clergy who seemed equally happy and excited.

Few pages further I saw one full page advertisement by UP government (with tax payers money) detailing what all her government has done for minorities during her 4 tenures as Chief Minister of UP. The advertisement which detailed Crores of rupees spent on Haj, Madarsas, grants for daughter’s marriage and many such schemes which I found were noble but only transactional in nature, designed for short term gratification and favours. Similar advertisements were routinely published before elections by previous SP government headed by Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav in the past years.

There was no mention of any long term and sustainable scheme or project which will result in transformational change. There was no scheme to impart quality education which would result in job opportunities for minority students nor was there any mention of setting-up of any industry in a minority dominated area which will provide them with jobs. Ironically, another news pf the day on the same page is that Mrs Mayawati has withdrawn the land allocated to Rail Coach Factory which could have provided jobs, in a minority dominated area, to settle score with Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.

No wonder, despite all these tall claims and Crores down the drain, minority community in UP is among the poorest in the country. Off late UP has also been designated as the nerve centre of most terror attacks in the country. Militants and anti-social elements prey on illiteracy, poverty and insecurity of minority communities.

I found the photo opportunity perfectly alright from a politicians view point, who has mastered the art of playing with minority sensibilities for electoral gains, but was wondering as to how community leaders and clergy fall for these tricks time and again.

Minorities in post independence India have become an easy target of political parties who manipulate them as puppets for their electoral gains without a scant regard or concern for their well being. It makes me wonder if minority community will ever take note of such political manipulation and get out of the stranglehold of such pseudo secular political parties to devise their own socioeconomic development agenda.

This article tries to analyze this aspect and how it can be achieved -

The minority mind is suffering from triple whammy - anxiety, fear and denial.

Given the spate of terror attacks across the world resulting in a perceived fundamentalist tag, minority community is in the grip of anxiety and fear.
Minority youth is anxious about him being seen with suspicion by his friends and colleagues. On the way back from one of my college campus talks in Bangalore, one MBA student accompanying me hesitatingly asked whether society and industry will judge him on his merits and qualification or he will face the fundamentalist tag and discrimination. This was a rude shock to me. I felt sad for this young boy. I could imagine the state of his mind and anxiety he is living with.
I tried to counsel him by inquiring if he had ever faced any such discrimination at college or during job interviews, to which he said no. But to my surprise he mentioned that this was the prevalent feeling among minority community youth. He also mentioned that this was widely held view, not-refuted by community elders and religious leaders.

Another incident was narrated by a friend where he tried to refute some provocative and unsubstantiated statements by the clergy during a discourse at a place of worship. He was counseled by his colleagues and friends to keep quiet or else he may be harmed. He changed his place of worship after this incident.

This is a worrying situation. Educated youth living in anxiety and fear are an easy target for fundamentalist forces.

Minorities anywhere in the world are concerned about their identity and security and tend to stay together. They feel security in numbers. It is human nature. Hence, it is the responsibility of majority community to take minority community into confidence and give them a sense of security and belonging.

Another worrying fact is a state of suspicion & denial among the minority community.

It might be entirely true that none of the recently arrested youth are terrorists and we must not label them as terrorists till proven guilty.

At the same time when a mother, whose son has not visited the family for six years claims on national television flanked by her lawyer and clergy, that her son can not be a terrorist, it may not be true either. As a mother she genuinely believes in her son’s innocence but what message is being conveyed to the minority community and nation at large by huge presence of clergy who have no knowledge and interest in her son and are not even invited as per the lawyer. What are they trying to prove by their presence?

How about the incident where country’s most respected clergy showed-up to claim the bodies of two slain boys (let’s not call them terrorists till proven guilty) who were killed in an encounter at Jamia Nagar. Usually it is the family members and relatives who claim the bodies. This was followed by the offer of legal help from the university where these boys studied. Indian constitution does provide for legal help to those who can not afford it. What is university trying to prove by this offer of help?

There are conspiracy theories doing rounds already. Given the above, minority community has got the stamp of approval and is compelled to believe that it was a fake encounter with religious undercurrents and they can not get a fair trial.
Now, even the most transparent investigation and subsequent trial, if it results in conviction of these boys, will make the minority community feel that it has been wronged. The result, many more youth will be motivated to join fundamentalist forces. Where will this end?

This is not to say that fake encounters do not happen or police is fair and transparent, but proclaiming judgment by community and clergy even before trial is no solution either.

No solution to a problem can be found till we accept that there is a problem. Community leaders and clergy need to shoulder this responsibility and educate youth.Community leaders need to push political parties for better education and job opportunities for youth rather than electoral goodies of grants and sanctions.
Minorities need to evolve their own socioeconomic development agenda without political parties
No political party in India seems to be genuinely concerned about minority welfare and development. They all pay lip service and are guided by electoral calculations. No political party or leader has formulated a long term transformational agenda for minority development. Sooner minorities realize this, it is better for them.

Recently Congress made a big deal about Sacchar Committee report, but forgot to note that findings of the report are the result of its own policies and prejudices as it has governed the country for most of its post independence years.

As far as specific development policies and measures targeted towards minorities, no populist measures or appeasement policies from political parties will help as they will be scrapped or changed by the next government.

In an era of coalition politics where political parties make tall promises just to come to power, minorities themselves need to evolve their socio-economic development agenda which must be arrived after national debate and consensus. This should be a development agenda and not a religious agenda, which should be presented to all political parties and implemented in a bi-partisan fashion for its sustainability and effectiveness.

Another important aspect which minorities need to focus on is leadership.
As long as minorities continue to vote based on political rhetoric and pseudo-secular promises, their lot will not improve, as has been proven in the past 60 years. Like everyone else, they should vote on the development agenda of the political parties as over all development is going to benefit all. All political parties are opportunists and care only for votes. It’s the case across the world.
Minorities need to develop their own leadership. It should be popular leadership not religious or political leadership. It should be developmental leadership not divisive leadership. No political party in India has minority leadership of national stature and significance. Some are mere show-pieces and some are political opportunists.

A popular minority leadership focused on development is the best guarantee for minority welfare and development.

A confident majority is the best custodian of minorities’ interests
Minorities can not feel secure in a nation where majority feels deprived and is unsure of continuity of its majority status. History has taught us this lesson in pre-war Germany. A confident majority is the best custodian of minority interests.

Majority too needs to introspect.

India has a long history of peaceful coexistence of majority and minority communities. We have history of benevolent Mogul Emperors, not only preserved but also promoted religion and rituals of majority community. Any form of exclusive ideologies and religious supremacy leads to chaos and disaster in society.
We are a big and diverse nation, with a large poor and hungry population, which deserves a dignified quality of life. At the same time we are surging ahead with high economic growth to claim our rightful place on the high table in the community of nations.

We all need to work towards this national goal rather than burning places of worship, inducing religious conversions and planting bombs to kill innocent citizens in the name of religion. No religion can pardon such atrocities and those who indulge in such acts do not understand the religion.

Public Policy Forum - Creating Opportunities for Inclusive Growth

2008-08-27T15:14:00.000+05:30

“Enhancing Participatory Public Policy Making”

Jamia Millia Islamia and Times Foundation Initiative

Excerpts from speech by R K Misra on 12th August, 2008
Creating Opportunities for Inclusive Growth –A case Study in Integrated Rural Development

R. K. Misra began his talk by asking the audience to define the term “Rural”. Some members defined it as being synonymous with poverty. Mr. Misra agreed that majority of the people in Indian villages are living in poverty. So, the question that needs to be tackled is, what is that one factor in our rural economy that leads to our rural population remaining poor throughout their lives? The plausible answer is: all of them are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood .There is a close correlation between rural areas, agriculture and poverty.
Mr. Misra explained how the rural population in India is by and large dependent on agriculture as a result of which the majority of people living in rural areas are poor. He pointed out that in the year 1947 the population of India was around 345 million and stands at around 1.1 billion now. In 1947, approximately 80% of the population lived in the villages, whereas around 60% of the population still lives in our villages.
Mr. Misra continued to note the contradictions persisting in the Indian economy. He said that the agricultural land which used to support 275 million people in 1947 is supporting 660 million now, which is a 2.5 fold increase. Even after factoring in the productivity gains, economic dependence of rural population on agriculture is excessive. While the Indian economy has made impressive gains, the share of agriculture in our GDP in 2006-07 has come down to less than 20% from approximately 80% in 1947. This means that recent economic growth and resulting job opportunities have only been created in the non-agricultural sectors of the economy, primarily the industries and off late the services sector. Unfortunately, these new job opportunities are not available to rural population due to their lack of education and the required skills.
Mr. Misra pointed out that the “Trickle Down” economic theory will not work for India’s rural poor as they do not have required skills to benefit from country’s economic resurgence which is driven primarily by growth in industry and service sectors.
Getting uneducated & unskilled rural folks to migrate and work in urban growth centres (where employment opportunities are available) is not a solution as most of them do not have required skills and end-up doing manual labour which earns them meagre amounts. This amount may be enough for two square meals but it certainly can’t afford them any urban comforts and amenities i.e. shelter, sanitation and potable water. They end-up becoming slum dwellers. In villages at least they have roof over their head and clean air/water.
Public policy experts have been trying their best to increase the income of the people in the rural areas by providing subsidies for agriculture and related inputs. However, irrespective of money spent on these efforts, rural poverty will remain as agriculture income alone can not sustain rural population even with much higher productivity levels given meagre land holdings of farmers in most of the states. Various efforts such as khadi and cottage industries have not been successful due to lack of forward integration, such as branding and marketing.
So how does one make the rural economy self sustaining?
Mr. Misra pointed out that there is a need to find non-agriculture based alternate income generation opportunities in and around villages where these people reside. There is a need to look at local skills, if any, and devise various projects based on these skills to supplement agricultural income without rural population having to leave their villages. Local skill development could be undertaken in the areas of handlooms, handicrafts, community dairy, poultry farming, bee-keeping, fishery, piggery, food processing, community farming of cash crops and through other related income supplementing opportunities.
Financial inclusion by way of micro-finance or bank loans is an integral part of this strategy as it provides the rural population a credit history and removes them from the clutches of local money lenders and brokers who siphon-off a majority of their entitlement from various government schemes and loans.
Mr. Misra elaborated by highlighting one such Integrated Rural Development Project of “Community Dairy Farm” which he calls the Rs. 1 Crore model. This is a 2 year pilot project being conducted in Sitapur District of Uttar Pradesh. The aim of this project is to make this village Panchayat (comprising of 9 villages) economically self-reliant by supplementing their current agricultural income.
The pilot Dairy will have high-yielding cows/buffalos owned by individual farmers but managed collectively at a common “Dairy Farm” to ensure quality feed, cattle health care & insurance, calf rearing and breed management. As farmers get comfortable and learn dairy business, they will have the option of managing their cattle on their own as per prescribed norms.
Mr. Misra said that funding for the project is being provided by way of micro-finance while specialized training to farmers will be imparted by the state government’s dairy department. This project is a Public Private Partnership project with the full support and involvement of the state government. The Government of Uttar Pradesh has approved this ‘Dairy Farm Project’ and has launched a ‘Dairy Farm Scheme’ with the necessary budgetary support for any farmer who wants to start this business anywhere in the state.
Apart from dairy, fishery, piggery and bee-keeping, Jathropa (bio-Diesel) plantation on fallow land and community farming of cash crops with assured purchase agreements with food processing companies are also part of this project. Private sector companies are being approached to provide water and sanitation, solar lighting and many other facilities as part of their CSR initiatives.
Apart from providing alternate income generation for farmers of these villages, the pilot project has also looked into the issues of youth unemployment. Every Quarter 10 youth (18-25 years) from these 9 villages, who have no or very little education are being given vocational training with assured employment in retail, hospitality and BPO industries earning anywhere between Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 12,000 per month. Their lives have changed. They are spreading the word and attracting other youth to this initiative. Please visit http://www.unnatiblr.org/
Coming to children & students, Mid May Meal Scheme and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan has increased enrolment in government schools but quality of education has not improved. Efforts to improve quality of education in the Government schools in these villages are being made by way of training and motivating teachers and providing hostel facilities for the students so that they have conducive and hygienic environment to study to effectively compete with their urban counterparts. Hostel facility with dedicated teaching staff and warden is necessitated as children of illiterate parents do not have family support or help with their education, which is most vital. Please Visit http://www.aimforseva.org/
We hope to have a ‘Model Village’ which is economically self-sustained in 2 years time. The model is simple and replicable and is being executed in a ‘Public Private Partnership’ Mode. We will keep you all updated on the progress.

How do we "Change India"

2008-02-29T14:41:00.000+05:30

Change India Movement - Join Now - www.changeindia.in

I have been very concerned with the repeated failure of governance mechanisms and inefficient delivery systems under successive governments both in the states and at the center. This results in anguish & frustration of populace, manifesting itself in so called anti-incumbency factor every 5 years during general elections which results in removal of incumbent government.

The hopes are raised time and again with each new government promising clean and efficient administration but the story repeats every five years or earlier during mid-term election.

Something is fundamentally wrong. No government or political party can be so naive to knowingly plan and work towards its removal at the end of its 5 year term. So it may be argued that despite good intentions and best efforts (exceptions notwithstanding), governments in India repeatedly fail to deliver on their promises.

Could there be systemic problems and inefficiencies which are so entrenched that a complete new thinking and approach is needed to bring efficiency, transparency and accountability in our governance and delivery systems. I BELIEVE SO!!

My discussions with the top leadership of our national parties have also confirmed this view. During our discussions we agreed that a NEW THINKING & APPROACH is needed.

We also agreed that our youth, educated working professionals and middle class is disillusioned with the political establishment and is extremely frustrated with the repeated failure of governance and delivery mechanisms. They have lost faith and as a mark of protest they have disassociated themselves from political process and have even stopped exercising their franchise. This number is around 20 crores and growing. Of total 67 Crore registered voters, only 38 Crore voted in the last general election in 2004.

Last general election saw one national party getting just 23% and other 26% of polled votes. Imagine if even 30% of the above disillusioned voters had voted for any of the above parties, they could have been in majority and formed the government on their own.

As nations produces more and more educated, affluent and working professionals, voting population reduces. Political parties are concerned about this fact as their vote bank is shrinking and they can not afford to let this growing population move away from democratic process. But they do not know as to how to engage and motivate this growing population. Hence they tend to ignore this section of our population as we are vocal, have opinion and ask questions.

This is also the section of society which got excited about Lead India and its potential. Lead India has raised their hopes and expectations.

Our nation is at an inflection point of long term growth and prosperity and we need to put appropriate policies, delivery systems & monitoring processes in place to make sure that we reform our political and governance systems and do everything right to achieve this long term growth resulting in prosperity for all.

As an outcome of our discussions and brainstorming we conceived an organization which not only has PAN-INDIA REACH and APPEAL, but also has grass root input and support in identifying, taking-up and solving issues. This will have a cascading effect and we will have a potent and powerful organization in due course. Given our brand and access, we will find acceptance and recognition from common man, educated working professional, government authorities and political leadership. In the process we will make a difference and hopefully transform the nation.

How do we reach this 20 Crore students, working professionals and middle class families, who have desire but no means to collectively voice their views, opinions and concerns and take-up “Social Entrepreneurship and Political Change Initiatives”. They are groping with “HOW TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE' & “Where to Start” kind of questions.

Given the proliferation of information technology, most of them are connected by one common thread - Internet & Mobile. These tools are very important to reach, connect, enroll and convey our message to them, numbering 200 million and growing.

We have created a scalable and dynamic Web & Mobile SPACE - called CHANGE INDIA (www.changeindia.in), where these people will -

ONE - Be the Change AGENTs
1. Register, opine, discuss, debate and analyze various issues of local/national interest

2. Take 3 most pressing issues/projects in each city/District and show time bound results/resolutions by working in close cooperation and partnership with all stake holders in a PPP model

3. Identify and borrow best practices of Governance and Delivery across district/states and work with local authorities to implement them

TWO- Bring Together DOERS
We will provide space for various social entrepreneurs, activists, NGOs and advocacy groups to host, promote, seek funds and popularize their ideas, concepts, projects and organizations on www.changeindia.in . This will give our members a ready shelf of ideas, projects and social entrepreneurship avenues.

THREE- Make a Policy Impact
1. Conduct surveys, polls on topical issues and policies and publish these in major media - print and electronic and become an advocacy group for what our members feel should be the right choice/course/issues.

2. We will interact with and involve our national leadership, subject matter experts and media to discuss and endorse these views and issues. This will keep us current & relevant in influencing policy matters.

FOUR - Create Self Sustaining Eco-System

We will have individual supporters, corporate affiliates and institutional support groups for this movement as many of them find our initiative very apt and exciting and in-line with their Social/national responsibility objective. Huge interest has already been generated and continues to grow.

FIVE- I Will Make A Difference

The above brings us to our most important objective, empowering individuals through collective voice and making them count in the democratic process.

Once they realize that their views and opinions have a logical destination and are reaching policy makers, they will be encouraged to register as voters and potentially exercise their franchise.

If so, this becomes the most important aspect of our movement, where we bring Our Target Audience in the mainstream of democratic process and try to make a difference.

Regards,

R K Misra

India of My Dreams-Rural Employment

2008-01-26T23:53:00.000+05:30

India’s GDP is growing at close to 9% and is expected to reach 10%.
India overtook Japan this year in the number of billionaires, with 36 billionaires worth a total $191 billion while Japan's 24 billionaires were worth $64 billion. This is good news!!

But please also note that majority of our population lives at less than Rs. 20 per day, mostly in rural India. Benefits of growth and prosperity are not reaching rural India.

Majority of our rural population is dependent on agriculture for its livelihood, however share of agriculture in India’s GDP has declined from 59% in 1950-51 to 20% in 2005-2006. Agriculture can no longer provide sustainable livelihood for our rural population.

We need to provide non-agricultural jobs in rural areas.

Local skills based self employment in cottage industries should be encouraged through PPP using Microfinance. With high economic growth and proliferation of service industries (Telecom, Retail, Finance, Security and other support services), our cities are starved of trained man-power in skilled and semi-skilled categories, while our rural youth is unemployed and frustrated. We need to fill this demad-supply gap.

Vocational training to educated and semi-educated rural youth in collaboration with industry with reasonable assurance of job opportunity will bridge this gap.

We have embarked upon one such initiative in Rajasthan under Rajasthan Mission on Livelihood using PPP involving local industries. This initiative has shown a good promise and needs to be replicated.

Institutional Micro credit to marginal farmers in rural areas needs urgent attention.

Farmer suicides have been linked to repeated failure of crops coupled with burden of high interest loan from local lenders. Micro finance schemes have shown great promise and need to be encouraged.

Agricultural productivity should be improved and more land should be brought under cultivation by implementing sustainable irrigation projects urgently.

Farmer must get fair price for his produce through Input Cost based Procurement Price (ICPP) in place of current MSP.

Easy credit facilities and crop insurance schemes should be effectively administered.

Honest & efficient implementation of various rural welfare & employment generation schemes such as Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), National Rural Employment Generation Program (NREGP). 74th amendment should be implemented in its true spirit.

Please read and give your comments..Rural India is in need of urgent attention..

Lead India with RK Misra

2008-01-26T14:18:00.000+05:30

I have a DREAM – The India of My DREAMS - Primary Education

2008-01-18T00:13:00.000+05:30

I was very young, 11 years. My parents were shifting from one small town to another small town in UP and I had to change my school, mid-session. I spent summer vacation at my paternal village, in Sitapur district and went to local village school till my admission in town school got finalized. It was around 15 months, when I got to see the REAL VILLAGE school. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Our Pundit ji and Munshi ji (we had 2 teachers) used to come from nearby villages and were usually late by 1-2 hrs as they used to finish their morning agriculture/cattle chores before they started for the school. Old cycles used to be the culprits at times. Nearest puncture fixing shop was 1.5 Kms away. Many-a-times, one of us would go to the shop to get the puncture fixed and we really enjoyed this task as it gave us the day off from the school. We scheduled to reach school just before closing time, which was usually decided based on the shadows or someone going to our house and check our old clock, we did not have many in our village.

We hardly had 3-4 hrs of study during which we (one of the students) was made to read a chapter from the book, some math sums and finally national anthem before we left for our homes. We wrote on TAKHTIs (black wooden writing pads) which were made to shine with soot (from Dibiya – Kerosin lamp) mixed with oil rubbed on TAKHTI with DAWAAT (bottle) which had KHADIYA (chalk solution).

Well, it may sound like a nostalgic story from early 20^th century, but this was 1975. I am not that old J.

Recently I visited my village and there was a lot of change. We had brick school building, paper note books, pens, pencils and kids looked happy as in good old days. Master jis (still only 2, though sanctioned strength is 4) were coming on motorcycles and had mobile phones. I was also told that there is a concept of mid-day meal but is not a regular affair. No one knew much about it and was not keen to talk about ‘Prdhan ji’ for fear of some future problems.

However what had not changed was the number of hours spent on teaching kids – just 4-5 hrs. Quality and means of education hadn’t changed a bit. Did someone say PC’s in the class room? No where near that. This bothered me a lot.

How can we think of competing with the best in the world when most of India is still primitive in imparting the basic education. Government takes solace in the enrolment numbers and money spent on mid-may meal schemes, but do we have any measure of qualitative improvement in our primary education.

It is India’s biggest scare of 21^st century. We are creating an army of unemployable youth which will see so much wealth around him. Will he sit quiet?

A country of one billion plus, growing at more than 9% does not even have basic educational aids and tools to educate its young. Teachers are unable to teach as they have not even been exposed to modern teaching methods. There are no mid-career training programs nor is there any monitoring. Absenteeism is rampant and most village schools are under-staffed.

Where will we get qualified professionals to run our factories, write our software, run our power plants, treat our patients and build our dams. This is alarming.

Money does not seem to be a problem. My discussions with the government officials and bureaucrats always point towards the deficiencies in the delivery systems and poor governance, not lack of funds.

We need grass root efforts and awareness to sensitize our rural population about the seriousness of the issue and ensure that local village folks with the help of authorities and NGOs try and improve the quality and delivery mechanisms.

I would like to hear the comments and suggestions.

Read on…"I have a Dream" Series..will continue..

India begins with “I” – i.e. ME….

2008-01-06T22:52:00.000+05:30

There is so much wrong but "NO ONE" is doing anything about it..sounds familiar...??

We all hear this on our daily life. Any meeting, party, casual chat or discussion about nation and society starts with the familiar cynical complaints about various issues and problems facing the nation and how come ‘NO-ONE’ is doing anything about it.

This got me thinking – Who are we talking about – this ‘NO ONE’...who is he? The politician, bureaucrat, judge, journalist, common man... you, ME... This article is trying to demystify this ‘NO ONE’ Character...

Many of my friends and colleagues often complain and look frustrated about so many things going wrong while nothing is being done to rectify and no one seems to be bothered. They also mention about the good experience they had when they lived or travelled outside India and how everyone followed the rules and did their bit of social and civic responsibility. Majority of them seem to have good intentions and some are even willing to do their bit but do not know where to begin. They feel so overwhelmed with the problems that they can not think of a starting point.

They think of ‘WHOLE SOLUTION’ and feel helpless without realizing that ‘WHOLE is made of PARTS’.

As we engage in the discussion and when I ask them as to what are they doing to solve these problems, most of them draw a blank. The common refrain is “WHAT CAN ONE MAN DO” or “I AM DOING MY PART BY PAYING MY TAXES”. I agree with both the statements and but they are only partially true.

Yes, it is true that one man can not solve all the problems – say removing corruption from society or educate every child or fix all broken roads, but ONE MAN can still do lots of SMALL THINGS and if each of this ONE MAN does these SMALL THINGS, the SUM-TOTAL will be very LARGE.

To understand as to ‘WHAT THIS ONE MAN CAN DO’, lets begin by asking some simple questions -

How often do we call our local municipality office to inform them about a leaking water pipe wasting precious drinking water?

Do we ask our maids as to if and where do their kids go to school?

Do we stop to take care of an accident victim and take him to the hospital or we just ignore for fear of being questioned by police?

Do we bother to interfere when we see an eve teasing incident or just ignore it for fear of confronting the offending party?

Have we ever advised a car owner whose kids throw empty chips packets on the road from a moving car?

Do we volunteer to clean our neighbourhood park or add to the mess by dumping our own garbage in the corner of the park?

The list can go on and on....

These are just some examples of our social and civic responsibilities which we encounter and mostly ignore in our everyday life?
Can we call ourselves responsible citizens if the answer to the above questions is 'NO'.

All of this and more can be done by this ‘ONE MAN’ –

I will illustrate this with one real life example -

Our local government school has implemented Mid Day Meal, which is mandatory as per central government directive. On a casual visit we noticed that 2 out of 3 teachers were involved in cooking the meals, where as some kids were helping them with cutting of vegetables etc. Further inquiry revealed that the cook who is paid only Rs. 600 by the government has refused to work for such a paltry sum and since it is mandatory to provide mid-day meal, teachers had no option but to cook meal which took more than 30% of their working hours. We called the cook and promised her extra Rs. 1,400 per month. We also hired one cleaning helper to make sure that teachers and students do not waste their time in cooking meals. All this was done from community donations and is working very well for past one year.

Now lets look at this ‘ONE MAN’, who is he??

It is ‘YOU’, it is ‘ME’, it is ‘US’... this is the power of this ‘ONE MAN’ which can change this nation.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you want”.

Just imagine, if we all start doing these small acts of our responsibility towards our society, our nation, how nice things will look around us.

I hope this article will get you thinking. I look forward to your comments.

Please visit this space again for more on this ‘ONE MAN’...to be continued...

NATIONAL PRIORITIES - Inclusive Growth (Urban-Rural Divide), Essential Services (Health & Education for Poor) & Growth (Infrastructure)

2008-01-06T22:47:00.000+05:30

NATIONAL PRIORITIES - Inclusive Growth (Urban-Rural Divide), Essential Services (Health & Education for Poor) & Infrastructure

1. Inclusive Growth – Rural-Urban Divide

India’s GDP is growing at close to 9% and is expected to reach 10%. India overtook Japan this year in number of billionaires, with 36 billionaires worth a total $191 billion while Japans 24 billionaires were worth $64 billion. This is good news!! But please also note that 77% of our population (836 million people) lives at less than Rs. 20 per day, mostly in rural India. Benefits of growth and prosperity are not reaching the rural India.

Majority of our rural population is dependent on agriculture for its livelihood, however share of agriculture in India’s GDP has declined from 59% in 1950-51 to 20% in 2005-2006. Agriculture can no longer provide sustainable livelihood for our rural population.

SOLUTIONS –
We need to provide non-agricultural jobs in rural areas. Local skills based self employment in cottage industries should be encouraged through PPP. With high economic growth and proliferation of service industries (Telecom, Retail, Finance, Security and other support services), our cities are starved of trained man-power in skilled and semi-skilled categories, while our rural youth is unemployed and frustrated. We need to fill this demad-supply gap.

Vocational training to educated and semi-educated rural youth in collaboration with industry with reasonable assurance of job opportunity will bridge this gap. We have embarked upon one such initiative in Rajasthan under Rajasthan Mission on Livelihood using PPP involving local industries. This has shown a good promise.

Institutional Micro credit to marginal farmers in rural areas needs urgent attention. Farmer suicides have been linked to repeated failure of crops coupled with burden of high interest loan from local lenders. Micro finance schemes have shown great promise and need to be encouraged.

Agricultural productivity should be improved and more land should be brought under cultivation by implementing irrigation projects urgently. Farmer must get fair price for his produce through Input Cost based Procurement Price (ICPP) in place of current MSP.

Easy credit facilities and crop insurance schemes should be effectively administered. Honest & efficient implementation of various rural welfare & employment generation schemes. 74th amendment should be implemented in its true spirit.

2. Essential Public Services for the Poor - Education & Health

Educated & Healthy population is a prerequisite to sustain high growth rate of any economy. Given our high economic growth rate, with share of services and industry in our GDP reaching 80%, we have a historic opportunity to provide gainful employment and respectable livelihood to each of our employable adult.

Unfortunately, majority of our population is UNEMPLOYABLE, because they are not suitably educated and lack required skills.

70% of our population is rural, dependent on agriculture. Education will provide them with an alternate means of employment. Sadly education is accorded a low priority in rural India due to the need for helping hands with daily chores of agriculture. Lack of infrastructure and poor quality of teachers has compounded the problem.

Efficient implementation of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan & Mid Day Meal Scheme with effective monitoring using DISE (District Information System for Education) should improve the situation.
Quality and affordable health care for poor should be made a national priority. We spend just 1.2% of our GDP on health care. Our Public Health System is inefficient and has lost its credibility. This is in urgent need of revival and resurrection. Our poor can not afford private healthcare.

Subsidized Universal Health Insurance for poor should be accorded high priority.

3. Infrastructure is Essential for Virtuous Growth Cycle – PPP is the way to go

Rapid economic growth must be an essential part of our national strategy since it is only in a rapidly growing economy that we can expect to raise the incomes of the masses sufficiently to bring about a general improvement in living conditions. With sustained economic growth rate of 8-9% and population growing at 1.5% per year, the real income of the average Indian would double in ten years.

Infrastructure has become a major constrain and is threatening to impede our economic growth. The matter has acquired extreme urgency and calls for a substantial increase in the allocation of public resources for infrastructure sector. However, public resources alone may not be sufficient.
The private sector has a critical role to play in achieving the objective of faster and more inclusive growth. This sector accounts for 70% of the total investment in the economy. Given the huge investment requirement in infrastructure sector, private participation is critical and must be encouraged.

Government should device appropriate policy framework, dispute resolution mechanisms and MCAs (Model Concession Agreements) which would encourage private investment in infrastructure. Success of private participation in Telecom and National Highways should strengthen the case for a mutually beneficial Public Private Partnership Model in infrastructure.

Media Reports - R K Misra

2007-10-13T12:15:00.000+05:30

Please READ me as Editor of Times of India - Page -2 - October - 12 - 2007
Also other Lead India Articles इन September-October - 2007 (Page-2)
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOI/navigator.asp?Daily=TOIBG&login=default&AW=1192273973640

Use of Plastic improves durability of Bangalore Roads - Sep - 2006
http://bangalorebuzz.blogspot.com/2006/09/plastic-paves-way-for-it-bt-roads.html

Bangalore is getting Bangalored - Indian Express - June - 26, 2006
http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=69947

Mayor is unhappy with Misra inspecting the roads of Bangalore -political undertones - March - 2006
http://www.deccanherald.com/Archives/mar182006/city2050162006317.asp

What’s irritating the city’s IT industry - Indian Express - Oct - 30, 2005

http://bangalorebuzz.blogspot.com/2005/10/whats-irritating-citys-it-industry.html

Stand-Off between Industry and Karnataka Government - The Hindu - Business Line - Sep-16, 2005
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/09/16/stories/2005091601590300.htm

Adopting a lake in the neighbourhood - July - 2005
http://bangalorebuzz.blogspot.com/2005/07/adopting-lake.html

Who will address 5 Most Impotant Issues for Election 2009 - My VOTE goes for BJP/NDA

2007-10-13T12:09:00.001+05:30

To choose your 5 most important issues for Elections-2009 please go to www.changeindia.in - Change India has access and has put-in resurces to work with and make these issues the agenda of 2 national parties - BJP and Congress.

My 5 most important issues for Elections-2009 are Economy, Terrorism, Rural Poverty, Infrastructure & Reforms.

Economy -
UPA inherited a boom economy from NDA and all the hard work and reforms during NDA regime yielded 4 years of unprecedented economic growth. UPA did not make use of this unprecedented opportunity to reduce revenue and fiscal deficits, create a safety net for unorganized sector and given a thrust to infrastructure.

Unfortunately none of this was done. Now we are in an unprecedented global economic slowdown with fiscal deficit reaching around 12% of GDP (Center & States Combined) and we have no money left to pump prime the economy without causing a debt trap. UPA has completely mismanaged the economy and wasted the golden opportunity it had.

Terrorism/Border Security-
UPA's record on terrorism and border security has been a disaster and we need not say much about this area. Intelligence agencies have become puppets in the hands of politicians to spy on opponents, defense agencies do not act on intelligence inputs, no one is held accountable (I have not hard of any official being fired or suspended post 26/11, of course Home Minister was a non-entity anyway) and weak laws have made it impossible to punish terrorists.

Rural Poverty -
NREGA scheme, a good initiative has failed miserably with only 16 days of actual work being provided where money was spent for 100 days worth of work. This is as per the CAG report - a Government of India oversight institution. NREGA anyway is just a temporary measure to give rural poor some work of digging some pits and ponds, just to keep them alive. No effective steps have been taken by UPA to revive rural economy to provide long term sustainable employment and non-agri income generation opportunities in rural India.

Infrastructure -
NDA had visionary infra initiatives of Golden Quadrilateral and NHDP programs in road sector. Telecom reforms, airport and port privatization were the most visible infra initiatives of NDA.

UPA slowed all these programs. GQ is still incomplete. In fact a 'very capable' Minister of Surface Transport has changed 5 Chairmen of NHAI in last 2 years as they did not (could not) comply, since NDA had drafted NHAI act, which does not allow the minister to do what he feels like (?), so he tried changing Chairmen and when that also did not work, he just stopped the work.

Compare this with Mr. Khanduri (NDA Minister), the cleanest politicin you will ever come across and a task master. He was Mr. Vajpayee's choice.

We all know what UPA ministers have done in Telecom. Selling precious GSM spectrum at throw away prices to their favorite companies. 3G is still a dream.

JNNURM was a good initiative to improve urban infrastructure, but here again UPA miserably failed in delivery. No effective oversight mechanism was put in place.

Political/Economic/Judicial Reforms -
UPA has not been able to carry out any reforms, economic or political. They blamed left for economic reforms but there was no desire to do anything on political reforms either. Congress's own leader Mr. Veerappa Moily has drafted a wonderful report on administrative and political reforms but it just remains that, a report.

Judicial reforms are a crying need. Crores of court cases are pending, judges have come under suspicion and we have executive and judiciary clashing so very often. This is not a healthy situation. No party or coalition has spoken openly about this, but we must address this issue.

So I give my VOTE to BJP/NDA for this election.

Mr. Advani is the most experienced leader in the country today. He is simple, approachable and is willing to listen. He has grass root understanding of the country, acquired over 70 years of political activities. He has visited and interacted with the people from every nook and corner of the country to understand our nation of great complexity and diversity.

All BJP/NDA Chief Ministers (Gujarat, MP, Orissa, Bihar, Chattisgrah, Uttarakhand & Rajasthan) have done great development work with good governance in their respective states and have got re-elected (except Rajasthan where in-fighting let BJP down).

BJP has internal democracy where even Mr. Advani can be questioned. There is no high command culture and there is no sycophancy. You don't need to be loyal to a family to be recognized nor do you have to have a fancy surname to become a leader.

Though chaotic at times (all democracies are chaotic as all are allowed to express their opinion), BJP/NDA had done a great job during their 5 year tenure from 1999-2004. They brought about visionary ideas (GQ, Privatization, PGSY, River Linking, Telecom & Insurance Reforms) and implemented them with vigor and sincerity. They lost in 2004 because of their city centric election campaign and poor electoral alliances.

So for me, it is BJP/NDA this time.

RK

Lead India Home Page

2007-10-12T00:06:00.000+05:30

Visit LEAD INDIA Home Page - http://lead.timesofindia.com/default.asp

to know more about LEAD India and vote for your favorite candidate...

About Myself

2007-10-10T01:27:00.000+05:30

I have been an entrepreneur for most of my professional career.
I founded and acquired three technology businesses, raised venture funds and made successful exits.

In late 2005, I took time off from corporate role to advise entrepreneurs, invest as an Angel Investor and work in Public Policy Domain with various government and industry organizations.

Education -
IIT Kanpur - 85-89 (B Tech.)
Tokyo University - 89-91 (MS)

Professional -
Kajima corporation - Tokyo(91-95)

Entrepreneurial -
96-98 - Tekelec India - Subsidiary of Tekelec USA - http://www.tekelec.com/

98-01 - Acquired Tekelec India, Renamed as Tenet Technologies

2001 - Raised PE from Citi Corp, NY

2003 - Sold Tenet to Hughes (which was acquired by Flextronics and subsequently KKR)

2005 - Took Time off from corporate roles

Other Ventures/Investments –
99-00 - India's first Travel Portal – Traveljini, which was sold to - ICICI Ventures

2006- Organic food business - http://www.sresta.com/

2007 - A DELI venture - http://www.mycitydeli.com/

2006 ~ Few Other Technology/Alternate Energy Ventures

Industry & Government -
Founder Trustee – SAHYOG – Indian Council for Public Private Partnership (ICPPP)

CII- South – Co-Chair - Infrastructure & Convener– SUMINFRA-2007

Member – Empowered Committee on Infrastructure – Govt. of Karnataka

Advisor – Rajasthan Mission on Livelihood, Govt of Rajasthan

Charitable Initiatives –
Charter President – Rotary Bangalore IT Corridor (Dist – 3190)

Founder Trustee - Pragati Charitable Trust - An Environment Conservation Initiative

3 most important challenges facing the nation

2007-10-10T00:14:00.000+05:30

3 Most Important Challenges for the country –

1. Inclusive Growth – Urban Rural Divide
India’s GDP is growing at close to 9% and is expected to reach 10%. India overtook Japan this year in number of billionaires, with 36 billionaires worth a total $191 billion while Japan's 24 billionaires were worth $64 billion. This is good news!! But please also note that 77% of our population (836 million people) lives at less than Rs. 20 per day, mostly in rural India. Benefits of growth and prosperity are not reaching the rural India.
Majority of our rural population is dependent on agriculture for its livelihood, however share of agriculture in India’s GDP has declined from 59% in 1950-51 to 20% in 2005-2006. Agriculture can no longer provide sustainable livelihood for our rural population.

SOLUTIONS –
We need to provide non-agricultural jobs in rural areas. Local skills based self employment in cottage industries should be encouraged through PPP. Micro Finance has been a major success in many parts.Agricultural productivity should be improved and more land should be brought under cultivation by implementing irrigation projects urgently. Farmer must get fair price for his produce through Input Cost based Procurement Price (ICPP) in place of current MSP. Easy credit facilities and crop insurance schemes should be effectively administered. Honest & efficient implementation of various rural welfare & employment generation schemes. 74th amendment should be implemented in its true spirit.

2. Essential Public Services for the Poor - Education & Health

Educated & Healthy population is a prerequisite to sustain high growth rate of any economy. Given our high economic growth rate, with share of services and industry in our GDP reaching 80%, we have a historic opportunity to provide gainful employment and respectable livelihood to each of our employable adult.
Unfortunately, majority of our population is UNEMPLOYABLE, because they are not suitably educated and lack required skills.
70% of our population is rural, dependent on agriculture. Education will provide them with an alternate means of employment. Sadly education is accorded a low priority in rural India due to the need for helping hands with daily chores of agriculture. Lack of infrastructure and poor quality of teachers has compounded the problem.
Efficient implementation of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan & Mid Day Meal Scheme with effective monitoring using DISE (District Information System for Education) should improve the situation.
Quality and affordable health care for poor should be made a national priority. We spend just 1.2% of our GDP on health care. Our Public Health System is inefficient and has lost its credibility. This is in urgent need of revival and resurrection. Our poor can not afford private healthcare. Subsidized Universal Health Insurance for poor should be accorded high priority.

3. Infrastructure is Essential for Virtuous Growth Cycle – PPP is the way to go

Rapid economic growth must be an essential part of our national strategy since it is only in a rapidly growing economy that we can expect to raise the incomes of the masses sufficiently to bring about a general improvement in living conditions. With sustained economic growth rate of 8-9% and population growing at 1.5% per year, the real income of the average Indian would double in ten years.
Infrastructure has become a major constrain and is threatening to impede our economic growth. The matter has acquired extreme urgency and calls for a substantial increase in the allocation of public resources for infrastructure sector. However, public resources alone may not be sufficient.
The private sector has a critical role to play in achieving the objective of faster and more inclusive growth. This sector accounts for 70% of the total investment in the economy. Given the huge investment requirement in infrastructure sector, private participation is critical and must be encouraged.
Government should device appropriate policy framework, dispute resolution mechanisms and MCAs (Model Concession Agreements) which would encourage private investment in infrastructure. Success of private participation in Telecom and National Highways should strengthen the case for a mutually beneficial Public Private Partnership Model in infrastructure.

Is Parliamentary System or Presidential System of Government better for India –

2007-10-09T23:50:00.000+05:30

Lets first understand as to why do we need to change the system of government –

I can think of 3 possible reasons –

Incompetent and Criminals as Ministers & MPs –
Due to lack of party democracy and transparent system of choosing party candidates, we get incompetent and criminal elements as MPs, who end-up running the nation.

Paralysis of Governance–
Basic requirement of Parliamentary System of Governance is the consensus between Executive and Legislative which is often missing in the era of coalition politics, hence there is a paralysis of governance as very little legislative works get done.

Frequent Elections –
Since days of absolute majority are over, coalitions are put together for opportunistic reasons rather than ideological similarities. Many parties get the benefit of being in power without being accountable by providing outside support and thus holding the nation to ransom with not even 10% seats in legislature.

Possible solutions–
I believe a HYBRID SYSTEM which is a combination of Presidential System and Parliamentary Systems would be more appropriate.

When France went through a long period of unstable coalition governments, in 1958 they changed from parliamentary System to so called Semi-Presidential System of government.
Within a decade, French political parties, once unwilling to cooperate and form stable coalitions, began to coalesce into a workable system with coalitions that supported not only prime ministers, but also presidents.

The French hybrid system functions more smoothly when the majority party in parliament is also the party of the President, but this needs not always be the case. However, the French system has sometimes resulted in a situation of cohabitation, whereby the separately elected President may face a Prime Minister and majority party in the legislature from a party different than his own (which occurred in 1993 and 1997).

The term hybrid generally refers to a system with a separately elected President who shares executive power with the Prime Minister. The President usually has the constitutional power to select the Prime Minister.

For political reasons, Presidents generally appoint leaders of the ruling coalition to the post of Prime Minister, although they are not required to do so constitutionally. The President nominates the Prime Minister and selects his own cabinet, over which he presides. The President, his cabinet and attending bureaucracy initiate and draft most legislation.

The French President, like some others in hybrid systems, has some areas where his power is well defined, such as in the conduct of foreign affairs. The day to day running of the government is, however, left to the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Legislation & Bills -
'A way to avoid paralysis of governance resulting from coalition politics'
Bills can be introduced by the individual members, the executive and the government (the Prime Minister and the cabinet). However, the introduction of executive initiated bills takes precedence over member bills.

The executive sets the agenda in the legislature and can call for a package vote, which forces all or none of the pieces in a package of legislation to be passed.

The executive can make any bill it initiates result in a motion of censure if rejected, which dissolves the parliament.

The President can by-pass the legislature by taking a proposed bill directly to the public through a national referendum. If a majority of voters support the bill, it becomes law without any input from the legislature.

Crisis Resolution - Stability & Frequent Elections

Unlike in a parliamentary system, the legislature in France cannot force the resignation of the President. Rather, the President may dissolve the parliament’s Lower House, the National Assembly (but not the upper house, Senate). Further, the President appoints, and can remove the Prime Minister, who is effectively the head of the cabinet and legislature. Similar to the parliamentary model, the National Assembly can also force the government (the Prime Minister and legislative leaders) to resign by passing a motion of censure.

Thus, in the French model, while the Prime Minister is vulnerable to removal from both the legislature and the President, the President cannot be removed prior to the end of his/her electoral term.

This situation has the potential to combine the possible negative aspects of both presidential and parliamentary systems, leading to conflict and deadlock. As in a parliamentary system, party discipline is encouraged, as deviation would potentially bring down the majority party and its Prime Minister. At the same time, party discipline may discourage cooperation with the President, paralyzing the policy-making process.

The prospect of non-cooperation with the president due to party allegiance is tempered by the fact that the President can dissolve parliament and/or remove the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is encouraged to play a balancing role, as he or she must maintain the confidence of both the President and the legislature.

Please give your comments and suggestions ....

Times of India - Feature (R K Misra) - Road Less Travelled

2007-10-09T23:44:00.000+05:30

Here's the article (ToI.BLR.2007.0904.Pg02) for folks who missed it

Road less travelled

IN THE running As the deadline for nominations for Lead India nears, we profile some entrants
Swati Anand TNN

Rajendra Kumar Misra (42) is not one for conventional choices. After graduating from IIT-Kanpur in 1989, he refused a P-G scholarship in USA. Instead, he was one of the 25 students from 18 countries chosen to pursue Master of Engineering in Infrastructure and Transport Planning and Management from Tokyo University.

"Pre-internet USA wasn't exciting,'' he shrugs. "I was intrigued and impressed by Japan's culture and successful economic development model.'' After P-G, he joined Kajima Corporation, Japan's largest infrastructure development organisation. "Despite World War II, Japan became the world's second largest economy in 60 years and perfected inclusive growth and equitable wealth model of capitalism.'' Misra imbibed Japanese culture and work ethics. But he was bothered by the negative business image that the Japanese had of India. "I felt the itch to return to India,'' he recalls.

And against criticism from friends, Misra made unconventional choice No. 2: to prove entrepreneurs can pursue dreams in India.
In 1996, Misra founded Tekelec India, a telecom design and software company, and acquired its US parent two years later and renamed it Tenet Technologies. US-based CitiCorp invested in Tenet in 2001 and in 2003 Tenet merged with Hughes, which was acquired by Flextronics.

" I hated to be an armchair critic. My friends and colleagues complained about problems around us. While some had ideas how to fix problems, none had the conviction, commitment, time or financial independence to take the next step.'' Misra wanted to lead by example.

Thus came unconventional choice No. 3: he quit Flextronics in 2005 and got involved with various public policy initiatives around the public private partnership (PPP) model.
When Bangalore's poor infrastructure brought a faceoff between IT industry and political leadership in 2004, Misra convinced the government about the PPP model and assured private participants about government's commitment. "We delivered India's first set of community-based PPP road projects by developing four-lane roads in Bangalore's congested IT corridor -- 20 km at a cost of Rs 25 crore funded on a 50:50 model by government and users.'' Misra is now a PPP regular and a member of the state's Empowered Committee on Infrastructure.

"If I win Rs 50 lakh, I'd start a low interest microfinance venture for families that will put the money into entrepreneurial activities. It's better to teach a man to fish than give him one.''

Would Mahatma be a political force in today's context ?

2007-10-09T23:36:00.000+05:30

In the history of post independent India, NOW is the time when the Mahatma, a true leader and social reformer, will be the most potent political force.

India of TODAY is a nation of YOUNG. More than 50% of our population is below 25 years of age. The youth of today is ambitious, responsible and proud be an Indian. He wants to be relevant and be counted. He is looking for an identity and ideology.

Who should he/she look up to?

Unfortunately our political leadership has been self serving and in the process dividing the nation on regional, religious and caste basis. They have failed to enthuse and inspire our youth. Only vested interests, political dynasties and anti-social elements are attracted to politics as a profession for obvious reasons.

Our youth have stopped believing in the political process and are resigned to the fact that things are not going to change. Most do not even vote because they feel that there is very little to choose from among the candidates as they all belong to the same discredited political class.

Mahatma Gandhi, a great leader and uniting force for the nation, was respected as he kept the nation’s interest above his own, which is missing in today’s political context. He scarificed his personl life and material comfort to serve the nation.

The Mahatma would be able to enthuse and inspire the youth of today, who is responsible and willing to contribute but has become disenchanted and disillusioned.

How do we create Modern Day Mahatma ??

5 Contentious Issues - Reservation, SEZs, Disinvestment, Sting Operations Terror Laws

2007-10-09T23:25:00.000+05:30

My Views on these issues –

1. Reservation-
I am against current reservation policy.
Reservation was a well meaning Affirmative Action by State to bring about socio-economic change for underprivileged sections of the society. However, now it has become a vote gathering tool for all political parties.
The situation has become so bad that every caste wants to be included in the list of underprivileged castes. It has become a race to the bottom now. It is really sad.
Our reservation policy has divided this nation on caste and religious lines. Merit has taken a back seat and we are producing unqualified professionals in the name of social justice. This will impede national progress and hamper economic growth.
Poverty has no caste and hence reservation should be based on income criteria. Reservation should be limited to education alone and applicable only to the first generation in any family. Having provided access to quality education through reservation, employment should be provided only on merit or else we will become a nation full of unqualified, under performing mediocre. Imagine being operated upon by an unqualified doctor or board a flight piloted by a sloppy captain.

2. PSU Disinvestment -
I am in favor of selective disinvestment on a case-to-case basis.
I see no merit in government running bakery shops, selling vegetables or managing hotels. However it would be unwise if we let private monopolies dictate terms in areas of national and strategic importance where geopolitical factors are in play and market forces do not operate effectively.Every PSU should be evaluated on the following parameters before taking a disinvestment decision – 1. Is the PSU operating in an area of national interest or strategic importance – space, defense, strategic infrastructure etc.2. Is the PSU helping market competitiveness and restricting private monopolies.3. Is the PSU serving a constitutional obligation where no alternate means are available.
If the answer to all the above is YES, then we should not disinvest and must support the PSU.
1. Provide short term financial support to bring it back to health, in case of sick PSUs.
2. Give incentives to attract talent to effectively compete with private enterprises.
3. Reduce political interference and appoint a professional board to run the PSU.
4. Accord operational autonomy (Navaratna status) for effective decision making.

3. SEZs -
I am against land grabbing by in the name of SEZ.
I also do not support small SEZs – few strategically located large mega SEZs should be encouraged.
SEZ policy was meant to encourage private enterprise by way of fiscal and tax incentives to invest in long term infrastructure and attract global investment and industries.
However SEZs have become a historical land grab opportunity for private businesses with help of the state governments where state forcibly acquires fertile land for private profit, depriving farmers of their livelihood and dignity, in the garb of serving national interest.
SEZs, as small as 25 acres, are mushrooming in every nook & corner. It is hard to imagine as to what kind of strategic infrastructure and facilities can a 25 acre SEZ provide. It is nothing but duty exempt cheap land for the developer and tax free heaven for companies who would simply relocate to these so called SEZs.
This is a short sighted approach and needs a mid-term course correction. A better approach would be to follow China (Shenzen) or UAE (Dubai) model and promote Mega Multi-product or Specialized SEZs using PPP model in suitable locations and make concerted efforts to attract global investment. A PPP model will ensure that fair and equitable benefits accrue to all involved and national interest is served.

4. Sting Operations -
I am in favor but ethical norms must be followed.
Press is the fourth pillar of our democracy and investigative journalism is an integral part of any free and democratic society. As history stands witness, a lot of public good has been served and democratic institution have been strengthened due to courageous and hard hitting investigative journalism by few brave hearts – whether it was Iran-Contra affair or Tehelka episode. Investigative journalism has the power to change the governments and alter destiny of nation states.
Investigative journalism puts fear in the hearts and minds of corrupt and powerful. They are made accountable and face consequences of their actions and misdeeds.
However, now sting operations are being carried out to sensationalize trivial issues and to settle corporate and political rivalries. In modern day commercial journalism where TRPs and Eyeballs have become success mantras, common sense and ethical values have taken a back seat.
This is in bad taste and people will not approve of it. It is in the best interest of the press to desist from meaningless and motivated sting operations.

5. Tougher Laws to Tackle Terrorism –
Yes they are needed, but security agencies need to be sensitive in their application. It is tough call.
Laws are made to be implemented in letter and spirit and to deliver justice. Unfortunately it does not always happen in real life. Tougher terror laws are supposed to deter people from committing an act of terror or joining a terrorist organization due to fear of harsh punishment. Unfortunately religious terrorism is ingrained in faith and hatred for which terrorists are willing to sacrifice their lives. Fear of punishment or even death may not be an effective deterrent for many.
On the other hand, it is very likely that knowingly or unknowingly innocent citizens end-up on the wrong side of the law. Tougher laws make them suffer in silence with no recourse to justice. In the process they end-up alienating from the mainstream and an easy recruitment target for the terrorist organizations.
It is a tough call. Better intelligence network, sensitizing our security agencies and humane implementation of terror laws is the only possible solution.

My motivation to Lead India

2007-10-09T13:58:00.000+05:30

We are in the 60th year of our independence. India is experiencing unprecedented economic growth with GDP growing at around 9% and expected to grow even faster while we race towards the US$ 1 Trillion GDP. We are in the fastest growing region of the world, Asia, and have become the fourth largest economy in Asia.

Economic superpowers are wooing our nation and we have acquired a strategic role in world bodies. Whether it is Doha round of WTO negotiations, Davos economic summit, regional groupings such as ASEAN or world bodies like World Bank or UN, India is able to put its views across meaningfully and the world is listening. This is really a great time and opportunity for our nation and we must use this to bring our millions out of abject poverty and hunger and provide them with the means to lead a dignified life.

We are a young nation with more than 50% of our population below 25 years of age. This is providing us a huge demographic advantage in a fast graying world of developed economies. Even among large emerging economies of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China), India has a demographic advantage as our productive population will continue to grow till 2050 while others will decline.

However this is a double edged sword. If we are able to harness the energy and youth of our young adults in a productive manner by providing them education and gainful employment, we will achieve greater economic strength. But if we fail, the disgruntled youth that is uneducated and unemployed will become the bane of society and a drag on our economy.

Current political system and coalition politics is taking a toll on our democracy. Executive is held hostage to a fragmented legislature. Parties with just 10% MPs decide the national agenda and hold the nation to ransom. This is unsustainable. We educated and successful Indians have a responsibility and need to take matters of the nation seriously and do our bit to improve the situation.

I have been an serial entrepreneur and I strongly believe in intellectual and entrepreneurial abilities of our youth. However lack of opportunities, risk capital and guidance are the main constraints.

I am one of the few lucky Indians who got the best education and a highly successful professional career which gave me financial independence and opportunity to retire from a professional career at the early age of 40. I always wanted to utilize my knowledge, skills and resources for the betterment of society and nation.

Public Policy interventions and Public Private Partnership are the areas of my interest.
I have been involved with various public and industry bodies where I have been able to positively influence public policy matters and their efficient implementation.

Public Policies related to governance are in need of urgent attention. Capacity building and efficient delivery mechanisms are the need of the hour, to keep our economy growing at the current rate. Our systems and processes for social welfare schemes, education, health care and infrastructure are extremely inadequate and inefficient with multiple layers and leakages.

It is my desire to further my interest and passion in the domain of public policy intervention and I believe LEAD INDIA is the most suitable platform for professionals like me who have the skills and knowledge and are keen to make a difference.