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.
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