22 Million Rag Pickers

Recently one of my colleagues from the U.S. traveled to Mumbai. He was very excited about the idea of traveling to India - for the very first time. He had been to Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore in the past, and in head, without googling around, had a pretty similar conception about Mumbai.

So he travels to Mumbai, and returns as a shocked man - lot of symptoms of sensory overlead . He found, Mumbai (generally India), as a place that is laden with contradictions - wealth right next to poverty, general neatness on the inside and marked with trash & garbage outside, Rolls Royce Phantom right next to Nano, dazzling malls right next to slums, fancy tall residential apartments right next one that looks like it might fall apart etc etc. Of course certain things were constant too - Traffic, Blaring Horns, Pollution, Crowd, Filth & dirt. Too much to take in and get it all processed!

Of all the things, one thing that got on his nerve was filth. Having noticing people's tendency to treat the whole city as a big garbage dump - just dump you trash where ever and when ever you want to - he made this comment. If every single denizen i.e. 22 million+ do their bit of not dumping their thing about - better yet if can they pick it all up - we will have a "spic and span" Mumbai.

Of course, great suggestion. My long explanation as to why this not possible which included people general sense of hierarchy and a place for each human in the society and inefficient government didn't make any sense to him. His view was that, Indians tend to place blame on government and democracy, and how hard it is to get anything done, but in reality the problem lies deep within each one of us. The crux of all the issues in India, from his point of view, is simple - the concept of caste and who can do what in a society.

If India were to have a government similar to that of China - efficient, authoritarian, and market oriented - the problems in India wont go away. India does not have a degree of egalitarianism that china has (i.e. no caste system and every one is equal when it comes down to religion etc) and there are ton inequalities in every single dimensions. The solution is simple, but will require leadership and political will. If executed well without losing steam, it will take one generation to wipe out what is regarded as bane of India society - Caste and Social Hierarchy!

Israel & Gaza Crisis - Unnecessary political crisis

The current Israeli-Gaza Palestinian Crisis is clearly a political crisis and it feels so unnecessary. I am not sure as to what is Israel is truly going to achieve after this offensive. What is the desired outcome? What ever it is will be long lasting? Wonder if Israeli leadership had any lesson learned from the short war with Lebanon in 2006. The July of 2006, war had the following pattern

• Hisballah (or Hezbollah) militants were aiming Katyusha rockets at northern Israeli settlements & cities
• Israel responded with massive air-strikes and artillery fire on targets in Lebanon, which destroyed quite a bit of civilian infrastructure including the Rafic Hariri International Airport
• Israel then followed through with a ground offensive
• Hezbollah engaged the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in guerrilla warfare from hardened positions. They also managed to rain down more Katyusha rockets into northern Israel while the conflict was underway. This stalemate continued for 33/34 days amid international call for ceasefire and restraint.

The outcome of that bloody summer engagement -

• 1,200 Lebanese and 158 Israelis were killed. Of the dead almost 1,000 were Lebanese civilians and 41 Israelis were civilians.

• Olmert's popularity fell to all-time low - falling to 3%. His former chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon publicly stated that Olmert should resign.

• International calls for ceasefire, with no real long lasting political solution.

• Nasrallah emerging as a hero among Arabs who look him up as some one who can stand up against Israel and US.

The Gaza incursion certainly feels like a political move rather a 'necessary for survival move'. Even though Hamas has been firing Qassam rockets at Israel, it is well known that these rockets really don't cause terrible damage and carnage. Majority of these apparently even fails to explode. Yes, it is that true these do kill innocent people and it certainly not a justified means for Hamas to express the will of the Palestinian people. However, the Israeli attack involving Artillery, Air Force etc has proved to even more lethal to the people of Palestine than the Qassam rockets. As per this report, the death toll in Gaza has crossed beyond 800 and there seems to be no let up in violence. The news articles certainly seems to suggest that the Israeli brass wants to maintain the status-quo and don't want to give any room for Hamas to regroup or smuggle more TNT/Urea Nitrate from Egypt. While this Gaza showdown might serve temporary Israeli objective, does it really achieve the real objective that every one in the world desires - Lasting Solution and Peace?

The outcome, I anticipate coming out of this conflict will be almost identical to what came out of the south Lebanon conflict. Here is a run down, what I think it will be

• 1000+ Palestinians and 20 Israelis were killed. Of the dead almost 800+ are Palestinian civilians (others perhaps Hamas) and 5+ Israeli civilians

• Olmert's popularity might notch up higher that what it is now.

• Lack of true leadership from any major players (US, Europe). International calls for ceasefire, with no real long lasting political solution

• Ismail Haniyah and other Hamas Leaders emerging as a hero among Arabs who look him up as some one who can stand up against Israel and US.

Lesson for Israel, US and world leaders - The end can NEVER justify the means. It is impossible to solve a problem by military means that certainly results in violence, death, anger, frustration, etc. This leads to more fiery emotions and nullifies reasoning. Without rational reasoning, one cannot arrive at a meaningful and intelligent solution to this conflict

Here is some Gandhian ism for dummies on ends and means

• Violence breeds violence.

• Pure goals can never justify impure or violent action.

• They say the means are after all just means. I would say means are after all everything. As the means, so the end.

• If we take care of the means we are bound of reach the end sooner or later.

ALL world leaders - especially Israeli and Arab Leaders should spend a day NOW reading and contemplating about the principals espoused in this book - My experienced with the truth.

It is not time for displaying reactionary emotions and "might is right" (WW I, WW II, and on and on) approach. History has taught us that this approach has never worked in the past. So the good forward thinking would suggest it never will. So why waste time today on an approach that surely has no scope for leading to any long-lasting solutions. It sure beats me!

India's New Year Resolution #1 - Fight Corruption

Thanks to the global financial squeeze, the bold talk of India becoming a superpower etc has been put on temporary hold. While there is no doubt that India as a country has performed spectacularly well since the opening up of economy under the able leadership of Narashima Rao and Manmohan Singh c 1991. However, there is still a long road ahead before one can start comparing the strength of India against other developed nations. In my opinion the most important thing that India and Indians should try to achieve in 2009 is to take the first step towards fighting corruption - Tooth and Nail.

Corruption! Tackling this is the critical thing that needs to happen in 2009 and beyond. In my opinion the root of corruption lies in the very essence of the democratic process - Elections. In India it is common knowledge that bribery is involved in buying votes. Here is a recent story from NDTV on M.K.Stalin bribing voters. Here is another one from 2005. The opening statement reads - The Election Commission of India has issued an Order today on the violation of Model Code of Conduct by Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav, President, Rashtriya Janata Dal, by distributing money to the people in Patna District on December, 18, 2004. What transpired - Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav is Minister in charge of Indian Railways

While law exists against this practice (Section 123(1) of the Representation of the People Act 3 1951 and Section 123 of the RP Act 1951) it is for all practical purposes - meant to be broken. So given all this - How can one assert that the elections in India are generally fair and sound. IT IS NOT. So claims that India is worlds largest democracy etc is all farse because it seems certainly reasonable to conclude the result of most of the elections in India is in fact predetermined by - Which political party can bribe the most. If you disagree, comment as to why this is not the case.

Well....Who is to blame for this mess? Folks cast blame on the great Indain leaders of the past. But it is all in the past. We dont have time machine to go back and fix (assuming the leaders did mess it up). But then is there a solution? Long ago it certainly felt like it was TN Seshan. It seems like he is now forgotten into oblivion. There seems to be NO one who is as courageous as TN Seshan who could stand up and clean up the system. This is a shame for a country of 1 billion!

On the topic of Elections and voting, I recently spoke to some IT people in Bangalore after the massive JD Rally that messed up quite a few people. The folks I spoke to were fuming in anger because it took them 8 hours to get from point A to B and that it messed up their 'routine' schedule. So I asked them if anyone from the group would vote for JD after all. The majority voice was - No one had voted in a long time. So, how can the middle class - the educated elite - vent and crib that politicians are doing what ever they want and when ever they want. Of course, it makes sense - these politicians are not answerable to these educated elites. There was not a single person who voted for JD. But then it turns out, the folks I spoke to are not native Karnataka people. They had moved from other parts of the country - like Delhi, UP, etc. So it turns out moving the voter registration from A to B is such a pain that these floating middle class population don't even bother to vote. Plus there is an attitude - how will my single vote change things. Plus who will stand in line with those auto wallas, laundry wallas, maid servants etc.

On the topic of political parties being able to organize such a massive rallies - How does they manage to organize such a large gathering? Where does the money for the logistics that involves thousands of the people come from? Unlike the US, it is certainly not individuals contributing small sums of money for "Change". So where does all the crores or Rs. (million of $) coming from to organization such large scale events. The answer lies EVERYWHERE. I took a ride on the outer ring road (I think) going towards Bangalore airport. Right in the middle of a spanking new concrete Fly over - a POT HOLE. I asked my friend - how did a pothole manged to find it way here in a concrete flyover. His answer - Infrastructure Corruption. The scheme is very simple - The politician doles out contract, the contractor simply kickback a tidy sum (some of which of course used for organizing massive rallys). Of course, that is only to get the contract. Once the contract is in place, the contractors job is to bribe the whole hierarchy (from the top to the office attendant) to get the project moving forward. After all the poor contractor still need to make his margin right? (Check this new item on Private players in Infrastructure) So where does that money come from - POTHOLES.

So, I think is an excellent new year resolution to start with. Because with out this I find it extremely difficult for India and Indians to move forward and be counted as peers of China, South Korea, Singapore etc. After all, we do need to thump our chest and show the rest of the world what we can truly achieve eih?