The tough questions that AAP and its supporters need to answer

AAP has become the darling of the media. It has been on the front page of all newspapers and the prime time of all news channels for the past one month. Indeed what they have achieved in such a short span of time deserves this adulation, but I am sorry to note that coverage has been really cosmetic. Let us dig a bit deep into the phenomenon and the promise of the AAP and their performance till date.  

 

Playing to the gallery – transfer of officers

What is the first thing you do after you come to power? Transfer officers. If you have enough background on them to know that they are corrupt so as to transfer them on the first day of office then why not suspend and prosecute them? Maybe because you just are playing to the galleries and want to “show” rather than “take” action. Officers have been transferred innumerable times in this country and nothing worthwhile has come out of that. No sir, transfer of a few beauracrats does not mean action against corruption. Start from the top, send a couple of big netas to jail. The minnows will then have no courage then to be corrupt. My question is – do you have the courage to take action against them? I am hoping that you will and am watching you, like is most of the country. But if only applause is what you are looking for then other professions are better suited for the same. 

 

Socialism and subsidies – water, electricity

Socialism has failed across the world, India included. We have been the victims of various socialist experiments of the Congress party. While no person in his right mind is against special benefits for the weaker sections of the society, the problem is the delivery mechanism and targeting of these subsidies. Free water is a terrible idea. So is cheap electricity (where are the environmentalists? Can a scarce resource like water be subsidised for one sixth of the world population?) In fact, free anything is always a terrible idea. Nothing in this world is free, there is a price attached to everything, there should be a price attached to everything. You want to be fair to the customers – create fair competition and let the market forces determine the correct price of the output. What purpose will the audits serve – creating more watchdogs to oversee institutions is a recipe for more corruption.

 

Congress style – keep promising, not delivering

Congress has said “garibi hataao” for the last 65 years but hasn’t delivered. 

Your poll plank was corruption and the need to tackle the same. Great intentions but I haven’t seen anything till now to see you delivering these promises. I hope that you turn out very different than Congress on this.

 

What about issues of national importance

Your colleague’s views on Kashmir were quickly dismissed as his personal, although this is the second time in the last year that he has raked up this issue. We are surrounded by hostile countries. What happens in the event or the possibility of war? Or economic crisis? Or a national crisis? We need clarity on these issues and see your performance for at least a full term before seriously considering you for a national level role, no matter what the media says.

 

Pied Piper

AK is being called the pied piper the way people seem to be blindly following him. Remember, the story ended badly for the rats, the children and the town of Hamlin.

 

The biggest danger

You targeted corruption and then took support of the most corrupt party to come to power, your opinion poll (an elaborate cover up) notwithstanding. So what has happened? The peoples mandate was decisively anti Congress – it was divided between you and the BJP. By aligning up with the party that the people voted against, have you not gone against the very mandate of the aam aadmi you proudly represent? Your supporters will say that you had to fulfil the promises that you made and you saved the people the entire trouble of re elections. But what about your promise of action against “bhrast netas” Most of them are in the state Congress. I hope you will have the courage to take action against them.

 

Congress is happy

The nation will vote against Congress this year. The congress is happy that they have a willing partner who will take away some of this vote from their sworn opponent BJP. Now that the “Delhi Model” of a corrupt party supporting a clean party from outside has been established, many in the grand old party are dreaming the same experiment will be played out in Delhi. AAP will hope to win 20 lok sabha seats and the Congress with less than 100 seats will hope to give them and other rag tags an outside support. Keep BJP out at all costs is the strategy that the Congress has adopted and you are being used for the same, I would say willingly. There are no foes in politics, many would say. But you shouldn’t go against your “core” principals. You did claim not to be a normal political party anyway.

 

What’s the hurry

You need to deliver and then ask for a larger mandate. AK’s favourite dialogue “mai aam aadmi hu, meri koi aukaat nahi hai” seems sincere. You have made your promises, now deliver them, get experience and then ask for a national mandate. Don’t just rush into things, set your house (Delhi) in order first. We hold elections every 5 years in this country so take it one step at a time. Unless you are not sure about yourself and your backers are so worried about NaMo coming to power that they want to keep him out “at all costs” 

 

I admit that it is too early to pass judgement. They have forced both the large national parties to clean up their act, brought back the spotlight on corruption and encouraged more voter turnout in elections, the candidates now would largely be with a clean background. The expectations are high and I hope that you deliver.

 

For delivering you will need to focus on Delhi to fulfil your promises. Don’t expend your energies. We Indians are unforgiving and hate being taken for a ride.

 

Next week I will compare the credentials of NaMo vs RaGa vs AK to see who is the best man to lead the nation.

Build on the momentum – the right thing to do for the BJP

The results of the recently held state elections proved a few things beyond any doubt –

 

1.       If the elections are a referendum of who should be India’s PM then the clear winner will be NAMO.

2.       There is an anti Congress wave in the country – which party benefits from the same remains to be seen.

3.       Agenda for clean and effective governance will find a lot of takers – the emergence of AAP should be seen in this context.

4.       The coverage of the election results gave a feeling that the national media is still reserved in its acknowledgement of NAMO.

5.       Most importantly, Congress will do anything to retain power at the centre – either directly or indirectly (refer the current Delhi government).

 

Given the above it is very important for the BJP to come together strongly and project a united front to make sure that it builds on the momentum that it has generated. Unfortunately, it seems to be doing its best to shoot itself in the foot. Refer to the grand old man’s statement that the mandate refers to the good work done by the regional leaders/chief ministers. I am sure that the statement was made in some context but if you know the bias of the media, why give them a chance by making such statements?

 

Here is what the BJP should have done (and can still do) to build on the momentum –

 

1.       Call a national level meeting to celebrate the good performance in the state elections.

2.       Felicitate the state leaders in the meeting.

3.       Call the erstwhile NDA and fresh allies to join the next government.

4.       Let the national and state leaders (including Advaniji) call for making NAMO the PM of the country.

5.       Let NAMO use the forum to declare that he will not rest until he delivers a Congress (corruption) mukt Bharat.

6.       Let the cadre and supporters take an oath to say that they will not rest until the dreams of their senior leaders are fulfilled.

 

I am certain that NaMo on his own will deliver big for the BJP but if the above is done it will make the task easier and the results much better. This election is for the BJP to make into a close contest from a no contest and they seem to be doing the same. The momentum is clearly with them, it just needs some smart planning and execution to deliver a result that will leave the critics astounded.

 

As promised, next week I will write on the policies of the AAP and hope that they take a U turn from the current destructive journey that they have embarked on.

 

The year 2013 and what to expect in 2014

The last week of the year is a good time to look back and analyse the main events. I have chosen the ones that I feel are important from the point of view of the future and thus have chosen to overlook some larger events that impacted the present more than the future (like Sachin’s and Mr Tata’s retirements). Happy reading!!

 

Bharat Ratna To A Scientist

This is the highest civilian honour to be conferred to a civilian. This year it goes to our cricketing super hero Sachin and one Mr CNR Rao. He is a brilliant chemistry scientist and only the third Indian scientist (out of the 43 total awardees till date) to be honoured with the Bharat Ratna after Nobel Laureate C.V. Raman in 1954 and former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 1997.  All our scientific accomplishments have been from the distant past, it is high time to encourage scientific achievements and reclaim our lost scientific glory. I hope we have more such chances to celebrate in the future.

 

Social Awareness

This was the year of the socially active. AAP success was in a large measure due to this phenomenon. We as citizens became very aware of our rights (not so much of our obligations) and were not afraid to take to the streets to show our likes (or dislikes – as the case may be).

I am sure this will carry on the next year as well with the elections giving enough opportunity to people to remain active. I also hope that this trend continues beyond the next year as well.

 

Gold Crashed

Gold is down 30% in the international market. It is down about 20% in India because of the 10% import duty being charged by the government to discourage imports (from Rs 35,000 to 29,000). This is the highest single year decline in the price of the precious metal in the last 20 years. Expect the price to remain here or head further down the next year as well. Note – I am not a great fan of the yellow metal (I held the same view when gold was doing very well, my earlier blog “Is gold a problem or a solution”) so the same should be read in that context.

 

Mars Mission

ISRO has been one of the rare great institutions that the government has built. Our satellite launches cost a fraction of what it costs anywhere else in the world and our missile programme also derives a lot of its success from our space programme. This year we did the impossible – we are on course to send a rocket on Mars. It is a very big deal indeed (we will be the fourth country in the world to achieve this) and expect us to become very serious players in the space market. The moon mission is also under way and more glory awaits this great institution.

 

Salute The Indian Manager

This year belonged to the Indian manager. While the trend has been picking up for the last few years, it became really big this year. I am avoiding names here as there are just too many. The managerial capabilities of Indians are now well respected the world over. Our culture also plays an important role – we are tolerant and hard working by nature and are not bogged down by diversity which is common in the global workplace.

Expect more Indians to occupy the corner offices of the global corporations in the years to come.

 

Powerful Men Can No Longer Get Away

Lalu, Asaram, Tejpal, Sen, Jignesh, Mallya, Deccan Chronicle promoters, Phaneesh, Rajat, Kahn, Berlusconi – the list is long and the charges different but the message is the same – you will be held accountable no matter how higher are you in the society. Outside India the justice was served without delay – in India we wait still for the bad apples to come face to face with their makers and then pay for their sins.

 

Presidential Activism    

Pranab Da worked hard to restore the legacy of his office. He had hard work to do specially to undo the work of his predecessor Mrs Patil (mind you, this year she finally chose to return all the gifts that she had taken home). And boy, did he deliver? Kasab and Guru (who waited for 10 years for presidential pardon) were sent to the gallows while he delayed signing the legislation protecting the tainted legislators will it was famously “torn and thrown to the dustbin” by RaGa. Great work indeed. Encore expected this year as well. May God give him the strength to do what should be done.

 

Supreme Court Activism

Thankfully the SC stepped in where the government failed. They had a lot of work to do this year as the government practically didn’t do anything at all. All the major policy decisions were shaped by the SC – rather the government worked for the fear of the apex court. We will see the more of the same next year – an incompetent government being pushed into action by an active judicial system. Reminds me of the famous lines of the Joker to Batman – when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, the result is.....

 

Time for a Political Change

The momentum is building up for the general elections next year. Change is in the air and the UPA and its constituents are feeling jittery, to put it mildly. The disastrous 10 years that Mr Singh has been the PM of the country have been the worst that I have seen – endemic corruption, systemic breakdown of public institutions, very high inflation, very low growth, no employment generation, negative sentiment in the business community, worsening fiscal situation both at the centre and the states, currency going for a toss – Mr Singh and Mrs Gandhi leave a legacy that RaGa will have to pay for by sitting in the opposition benches for the next 10 years – maybe it will also be good for him and the grand old party – they have been so addicted to power without accountability that a long “rehab” is advisable for them. This is no anti incumbency – see the incumbent state governments of Gujarat, Bihar, MP and Chattisgarh being voted back to power. This is a message to the political system that for too long the Indian voter has been taken for a ride and the time has come to change this.  

 

Disastrous Foreign Policy

If you thought the current government had a worst economic policy, you need to see the blunders in our foreign policy. The world’s second largest democracy and our natural ally the US is now cold to us. Our old friend Russia is indifferent. China is claiming larger and larger parts of our country as theirs – they even did a mini Kargil in the northeast. Sri Lanka has been driven to the open arms of China. Afganistan will be in a vacuum once the US leaves. The leader of the party who thinks for us is under trouble from extrmists in Bangladesh. The real perpetrator of Kargil is back in power in Pakistan. Maldives publicly humiliated us by unceremoniously throwing out a large Indian group out of their country. Nepal doesn’t care. The blog of Indrani Bagchi captures all this beautifully

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Globespotting/entry/2013-has-been-india-s-most-disastrous-foreign-policy-year-in-a-very-long-time

 

Although I am itching to write about the AAP’s proposed policies that will turn out to be disastrous, that will have to wait for a fortnight. Next week we will look at how the BJP is undermining itself by doing its best to lose the momentum that it generated.

Thank You

The last two weeks of the year mean different things for different people. For most of us it is a time to plan for a party – to celebrate the year gone by and welcome the coming year in high spirits (literally). For some of us (including me) it is a time for introspection – hits, misses and the plan for the next year. But it is also a time of intrigue for me as most of the western world heads for almost a 2 week holiday. I wonder how can countries practically shut down for 2 whole weeks. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the festivals responsible for this annual shutdown.  While Christmas (Santa Claus - a very good example of globalisation and a connected world – I am sure he can be recognised anywhere in the world) is widely celebrated across the world, I think Thanksgiving is equally important.

 

Thanksgiving was originally the harvest festival of the west – people celebrated a good agricultural season and thanked Gods for the same. As a festival it is celebrated across the western world, although on different dates. I find the idea behind the festival very compelling – thanking the almighty and all others who have made a difference in our lives and is one of the things that I should have added to my previous blog – what we can learn from other religions (21 Sep). Even in India various states celebrate different harvest seasons but thanksgiving as a festival concept is still uniquely western in nature.

 

Come to think of it – there are multitude of people that make our lives better every day. While some of them can be thanked directly – our families, friends, colleagues, service providers and many others, most of them are working earnestly but are not in our line of sight. How about a special day for thanking them? A day spent thinking about the positives and to thank the almighty for making our lives beautiful. Although I know and fully understand that things are not perfect and lot of things could be a lot better, still there are a lot of things in our lives that we should be thankful for, as things could easily be a lot worse than they actually are. While we are formal in our approach and thank a lot of colleagues for helping us out (or not creating un necessary obstacles – as the case may be) we don’t thank our family enough (at least I don’t). Relatives are a different discussion altogether – although most of them can easily be classified as a pain in various body parts – some of them are blessings that we should be thankful for.

 

A day spent in counting our various blessings and thanking everyone for the same will indeed be a special day. For us as it would create a lot of positive energy. For the receiver of the thanks for it will make them feel special, valued and encourage them to keep doing the things that made them special in the first place. A show of sincere gratitude indeed goes a long way in keeping the “positive feedback” cycle going.

 

I think it is something that we all must do. It is definitely something I will start doing. This should be on the top of our list in the concepts and culture that we are in a hurry to copy from the west. Let us copy it and modify it for our society by adding humility to it.

 

As we head to the last week of the year I wish all readers an amazing festive season. Next week we will look at the year and 10 major events that will have a disproportionate impact in the times to come.

What I may do VS what I will never do

Life is full of choices. Come to think of it – every decision that we make is a choice between 2 or more options. Although choices make life more exciting, they also bring about the pressure and post decision stress – have we made the correct decision. The plethora of choices is not always a good thing – I always find it more difficult to make a purchase decision if there are too many options to make a choice from. Some friends have been happier to make a marriage decision (arranged marriage – a very imp one in life) by limiting their choice to five or less candidates, others have been far unhappier to look at close to 100 candidates and then realising that the 6^th one was the “better” choice!!  

 

The question that arises is – should choices always be available? Are choices always good? Maybe not. There are many things that would rather not have choices – what we can call the “negative list” these are the things that one would not do no matter how compelling the choices. For example – I cannot stay in UP although most of my relatives are there, I cannot indulge in anti national activities no matter what the payoff. Most of the moral questions should find their place in the negative list.

 

That also leaves us with another question – can one determine the choices that one can have in life? Or is it better to keep options open and then decide what is best from the available choices. In this case the negative list helps – if we don’t have to do something then the choices don’t matter.

 

The opposite of the negative list can be the “positive list” this is where we can have choices or must have choices. The positive list can be very exhaustive and may be impossible to compile. Hence it is important to have a small negative list and follow the same.

 

Problems arise when everything is fungible, including the choices in life. It is important to have goals in life and work towards achieving them and the choices that we make in the process are extremely important.  The negative list can prevent all the indiscretions that people indulge in and then the repent.

 

In the last 2 weeks there have been various reported instances of powerful men having made wrong moral decisions and having seen their lives and careers being dissected by the media. Come to think of it – how can one go wrong on these very basic moral questions? I guess it is about the choices or options available. Maybe if there was a non negotiable negative list for these people these indiscretions would not have arisen.   

 

So think through to create your own negative list and may God bless you with the power to make the correct choices.

Famous Business Rivalries

Competition is good for everyone – individuals, companies, education institutes, states and societies. It encourages one to excel in their chosen field, drives innovation and keeps everyone on their toes. The only thing to watch out here – competition should remain healthy. Classic example is the rapid strides made in the space exploration programme in the 1980’s when the USA and USSR were locked in a race to be the first one to send a man on the moon – many often lament that the progress in the space programmes has become slow after the disintegration of the USSR as there is no competition to the USA. It is also true that competition can bring out the worst in us, if the aim is to win at any cost.

 

Similarly monopolies are bad for the society, especially in business. Notice how most of the monopolies are run by the government - public transport, water and electricity supply, law and order, waste management. Monopolies emerge in the absence of competition eventually get misused as the people have no other choice but to pay the price that the monopolist demands.

Let us now look at some famous business rivalries that have spurred entrepreneurs and benefited customers over the years -

Ferrari vs Lamborghini
Enzo Ferrari founded the company in 1947 that bears his name and is famous for making mean racing machines. Ferrucchio Lamborghini was a tractor engineer who began purchasing Ferraris for personal use in the late 1950s and believed the car could become better with some modifications – suggestions that were promptly brushed off by Mr Ferrari. This led to the birth Lamborghini that competes with Ferrari in making racing cars and has benefited racing fan across the world.   

Coke vs Pepsi
The oldest and the most followed rivalries in business history. Coke was launched in 1886 and Pepsi was born 12 years later. Since then they have been in serious competition with one another across the world and have spurred product innovations and many interesting ad campaigns in the process.  

Microsoft vs Apple vs Google
Microsoft virtually monopolised the PC market with Windows and was way ahead of Apple till the launch of the IPOD, IPAD and the IPHONE – the founders of both the companies had opposite ideas on how the computing industry should evolve – both the founders were famous dropouts and it did not help that that windows was not suited to run on Apple computers. Microsoft totally missed the move from PC to smart phones and Google capitalised with its famous Android operating system for phones. The rivalry has now shifted to Apple vs Google with Microsoft a distant third in the smart phone OS market. While the verdict is still not out, the loss of Steve Jobs may prove to be a major disadvantage for Apple in this battle.  

Ford vs General Motors
Ford was founded in 1908 and General Motors 5 years later. The founders of both the companies and their successors took different paths to build the company but the rivalry still continues a century later.

Visa vs Mastercard

Both Visa and Mastercard are global payment gateways. Financial institutions issuing debit or credit cards tie up with them and issue cards that carry their logo with one of the above. The competition between that has ensured that the transaction charges remain low and the list of the outlets accepting card payments keeps going up and the transactions become secure with each passing day. 

 

So keep the competitive juices flowing and supporting your favourite company. After all, it is for us consumers for whom these business rivalries have been on for centuries and will continue well into the future.

 

The title for the next weeks blog is being kept a secret and will be unveiled soon (next week, actually).  

Gyan aur Dhan (Knowledge and Wealth)

We worship both the goddesses of wealth (Maa Lakshmi) and the goddess of knowledge (Maa Saraswati) to seek their blessings. Their photo with Lord Ganesh sitting between them is a common feature in the puja ghar of most Hindu households. I thought it would be interesting to see how gyan and dhan compare to each other.

 

Gyan or Knowledge has been sought after and desired by the Indian society for time immemorial. Even today our society respects a person with knowledge more than the wealthy. Dhan or Wealth is being sought after only recently – till 20 years ago the rich were generally looked at with suspicion – most of the villains in the movies were the rich people. Ostentatious display of wealth was also looked down upon. The lakhpatis and crorepatis were hard to spot and had to be pointed out in a crowd. Now wealth is celebrated and displayed rather openly in everyday life. So Knowledge gets you respect, wealth gets you envy.

 

Knowledge is ever lasting  - unless you are unfortunate enough get a rough knock on your head and lose everything – one more popular scene in the movies. Wealth is more temporary in nature – there are many stories of rich people becoming poor in a very short span of time. Knowledge is permanent, wealth not.

 

Knowledge can lead to wealth. Wealth need not lead to knowledge – on can be wealthy but not necessarily knowledgeable. Similarly one can be knowledgeable but not necessarily wealthy.

 

Wealth is easy to measure. We can exactly know how wealthy we are and estimate the wealth of others (except in Delhi where the entire city looks like made up of crorepati residents). Knowledge is difficult to measure, as someone said – the more we learn the more we realise how ignorant we are. And it is not a talent that people normally compete for – you will hardly hear “I want to be more knowledgeable than you are”.

 

Knowledge and wealth are not mutually exclusive – they are known to co exist, more so in today’s world of IT where good ideas can get popular almost instantly and lead to great amount of wealth. However it would suffice to say that if you don’t have knowledge, you will not be able to retain wealth. Those with knowledge can also hope to recover the wealth they have lost due to an unfortunate event.

 

Wealth can be got by illegitimate means –short cuts are generally the faster way to accumulate ill gotten wealth. Knowledge can only be gathered by the hard way – continuously keeping at it for a long time daily.

 

Knowledge is difficult to pass on to the next generation – unless they are suitably disposed. Wealth is easily inherited from the previous generations, although staying wealthy may not be so easy if one is not capable of handling the same.

 

Both also have similarities – the possessors of both cannot rest. One cannot have too much knowledge or too much wealth – it becomes a lifelong passion to gather more of it every day. Also the attainment of these can easily lead to pride and arrogance – qualities to watch out for as they invariably lead to a downfall of an individual.

 

From the point of view of desirability – knowledge is better, in its pursuit many have stumbled upon great riches. Many have also discovered that wealth or the worldly pleasures are unnecessary distractions.

  

As for me, I am more in favour of attainment of knowledge. I will end the blog with a prayer to both the goddesses to bless the readers so as to maintain a fine balance in our lives. Next week I will take the readers through some famous business rivalries which have benefited the society.