The ‘Sarkari Caste’

In recent days, the news cycles at the national level are pre-occupied with the Lokpal bill and the Anna Hazare movement. While the details of Hazare’s demands and the Lokpal bill are not very well understood by the masses, the movement itself managed to raise a level of awareness among the masses that we can do something to tackle corruption. If not for anything else, Hazare’s team managed to focus on one core issue ‘tackling corruption’ and synergize the public around this one issue. The main success behind lies in the ubiquity of the problem, and the simplicity of the messaging team, starting with its name ‘India Against Corruption’.

Yesterday, while lying around in bed, trying to sleep, I was thinking about other problems facing India. Surely, corruption is not the only problem facing us, there are a ton of other issues stunting the growth of India, culturally, politically and macro economically. Most of these are complex issues, with different groups of intellectuals promoting solutions suggested by different parties.

One thing stood out among these, something almost all the political parties are guilt of practicing, just like corruption. Something that every Indian knows all too well, but resigned oneself to it being the ‘reality of life’. It is ‘hereditary politics and nepotism’.

We all have known and seen the power of dynasty in politics, with the prime example of Nehru/Gandhi family, and depending on where we live, regional dynasties of the region. When this comes up for discussion among social circles or in social media, more often than not you see someone pointing out that this is not a problem at all. The usual lines go like these i) these guys still need to get elected even if they are sons and daughters of politicians, and ii) when children of movie stars become movie stars and children of doctors become doctors, yada yada yada, why can’t children of politicians become politicians themselves? iii) I don’t mind if someone is a son of politician as long as he does good work.

For the first argument ‘they still need to get elected by the people’ has no legs, for the very simple fact that elections for an MLA or an MP are still decided mostly based on the party affiliation of the candidate, which is true in almost every democracy, and the party tickets are now currently given to kith and kin of previous politicians without any regard to their ability. When a Scindia/Pilot/Owaisi vacate their seat or die, it is almost certain that the party ticket goes to another Scindia/Pilot/Owaisi if they so desire.

The second argument ‘if it is ok in other professions, why not in politics’ is a classic case of wordplay and out of context arguments. It is never ok for nepotism or hereditary succession in any field where the entrants do not have to prove themselves, so the question of ‘if it is ok other fields’ shouldn’t arise. For a doctor’s son to become a successful doctor, they need to pass a barrage of tests and college, and then ultimately they need to be good in their profession to attract patients. Being a doctor’s child still helps but the bar is high actually succeed. When it comes to acting, the bar gets to be pretty low, where an actor’s son gets breaks that others won’t and gets multiple chances of failure before they finally succeed. The bar gets a lot lower, but we still have a choice whether or not to see their movies and they still need to perform to get ahead with new movies. We have seen star sons rise up and fall, some vanish from the scenes altogether if they don’t have the stuff. Lastly, people in none of the other fields decide what goes in our country more than the elected members of parliament, and that also happens to be one field where we can raise awareness and do something about it.

I will finish the rest of the article in some time, but read this for some interesting stats about the topic.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?269931

Tryst with Destiny

Every year around this time, we remind ourselves of the sacrifices our forefathers made during the freedom struggle, and give a moment of thought on where we are going, what we can do for the nation.

When we are taking stock of the situation, I thought it appropriate to read and reread the speech made by Nehru on the day, and see to ourselves how true those ideals and goals stand even today. I am pasting the whole speech below for those interested.

Text of the Speech.

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny , and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge , not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially . At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new , when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?

That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we may fulfil the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering,
so long our work will not be over.

And so we have to labour and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart Peace has been said to be indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this One World that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.

We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell. The appointed day has come-the day appointed by destiny-and India stands forth again, after long slumber and struggle, awake, vital, free and independent. The past clings on to us still in some measure and we have to do much before we redeem the pledges we have so often taken. Yet the turning-point is past, and history begins anew for us, the history which we shall live and act and others will write about.

It is a fateful moment for us in India, A new star rises, the star of freedom in the East, a new hope comes into being, a vision long cherished materializes. May the star never set and that hope never be betrayed! We rejoice in that freedom.

The future beckons to us. Whither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.

We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be. We are citizens of a great country on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.

To the nations and peoples of the world send greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in furthering peace, freedom and democracy. And to India, our much-loved motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service.

Jai Hind.

Dwindling Dollar ... confused NRI life

Yesterday I watched a video titled Global Imbalance .. Imminent dollar crisis
although I did not agree with everything in the speech, I believed that the fall of the dollar is not a question of if, but a question of when. And also the speaker drives the point home that US economy is a net consumer, and with a continuous negative net flow for a few years, the economy is unsustainable until the dollar devalues and home production levels increase and consumption decreases.

So my thoughts veered to the possibility of the fall of dollar by 10 or may be up to 25% in the next two or three years and how it would impact the major economies of the world -- US, China and India, and more importantly how it would affect the lives of people of my ilk, NRIs, most of whom live in the US for the sole reason of superior earning power that comes with the dollar.
Impact on US: if we have to name two important aspects of street economy in the US, two things come to mind, the high use of oil and energy and the availability of cheap Chinese made goods. a 10-20% depreciation in dollar will likewise increase the cost of oil and chinese goods by the same amount. That by itself wouldn't really affect people in the middle and upper economic strata, but it would push people who are already on the edge into total poverty. This will ensue an economy that will be squeezed from the bottom and a fall in incomes coupled with higher inflation because of a weak dollar and oil prices.

The other bigger impact on US markets may be the withdrawal of chinese money in US securities because of depreciating dollar. A withdrawal of even 5% of chinese money would mean a huge credit squeeze in the markets aggravating the already grim credit situation. Where will all this lead in terms of global economy is beyond the scope of my expertise, but I know that if any of this comes true, which is likely, I can see my ability to save being reduced in the future and it also means that I would get fewer rupees for the dollar if and when I want to return to India. How do we target investments with our current savings is a scenario which needs serious thought and immediate action.

And how would a weaker dollar and stronger rupee affect India? we can't guess for the whole economy, but it will suffice to say that every export oriented industry, IT, BPO, textile and biotech will be affected leading to retrenchment and creating an unemployment crisis among the highly skilled population and also bring the salaries of employees of these industries down to a more even keel with other industries. But my gut instinct says that a stronger rupee will help not hurt the economy overall, and how is a question that awaits a detailed answer that needs further research.