Can a middle class Indian or a poor Indian buy 36 pant-shirt suits or kurta-churidaars every year?

‘No’ would certainly be your answer. Before I come to the topic, I put another poser: Can a middle class Indian or a poor Indian afford Bvlgari spectacle frames, Monteblanc pen and Swiss luxury watch Movado? I know you will again answer in the negative.  

Let me continue with my puzzle. Here are the words of a ‘strong’ leader: "We have lived poverty and have known the pain of the poor. When someone makes fun of poor people, I feel the pain because I spent my childhood in poverty. " 

Almost at every major rally over the last two months this man has talked about his tea-vendor background and ridiculed someone as  ‘Shehzaada’, ‘Prince’ or ‘Yuvraaj’. Now, you’ve got it and I need not tell you that I am talking about BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

The above words he has uttered at his Kanpur rally today (Oct 19). At the rally he again made fun of Rahul by calling him ‘Yuvraaj’ and saying "People who are born with a silver spoon do not understand what poverty means and the pain of poor people."

But for your information, Modi gets 36 kurta-churidaars stitched every year in khadi, khadi silk and khadi linen. And, he prefers Bvlgari spectacle frames, Montblanc pens and Swiss luxury watch Movado.* Modi was not born with a silver spoon. But doesn't now he has the tastes similar to those of people born with a silver spoon? Maybe, if he comes to power we would all be able to live in luxury? 

PS: Yesterday Congress leader Digvijaya Singh told us that Gujarat has the highest per capita debt in the country.

*According to an article in The Week magazine (Sept 29, 2013) 

Datia tragedy reminds me of Anusha's words

I pay tribute to over 115 devotees who have died due to a stampede caused by rumours of bridge collapse near the Ratangarh temple in Datia, Madhya Pradesh yesterday (Oct 13).

Given the utter lack of discipline in us coupled with our mostly superficial devotion to religion and apathetic government machinery, Datia-type tragedies can happen anywhere, in fact, have happened in the past in other states also.

   

The Datia stampede reminds me of these words: 'Nothing can happen until people stand up and regulate the system.' These words were uttered by Anusha Rizvi, director of ‘Peepli Live’, a film on farmers’ suicide, when the film was released over three years ago. I had also responded to Anusha’s words with a post in this blog (‘Anusha, your’re right’) on August 14, 2010. The post is still there intact.

The Datia tragedy shows we are not ready to regulate the system.  Isn’t it surprising that in a land where numerous people in the past had done 'ghor tapasaya' for getting the blessings of god, today we are spreading rumours to break queues to have a quick ‘darshan’ of our deity? It shows our devotion to the deity is only skin deep. Shouldn't it be a serious concern for the people who always talk highly of Hindu religion and Hindu culture?  Actually, big religious festivals are used by all — petty shopkeepers, policemen, and people associated with religious institutions — to milk money from the masses' devotion for their deities.

A popular belief of Hindu religion is: ‘Kan kan mein bhagwan’. That is, God is present all around us in all things, even in the minutest particle. So, then why we waste time standing in miles-long queues for a deity’s darshan?  Isn’t it better to meditate by focusing on our deity in serene surroundings near our homes and spend the time that we waste in long queues in environment protection work.

My request to people managing religious institutions: If they are really sincere about proper management of religious institutions for the good of society, then they can seek advice of IIM passouts. I am sure that these passouts, who can do anything from selling soft drinks to managing the economy, can certainly help in preventing devotees going to heaven while they are praying their deity for good, long life on earth!

Bitter onion facts and ALL-PARTY ALLIANCE!!!

The skyrocketing onion prices have created a big hole in our pockets over the last two months. And, see what a prominent onion trader operating in the Lasalgaon market, India’s largest onion market, feels about our plight: “If prices have gone up from Rs 20 to Rs 80 a kilo, the middle class is paying hardly Rs 120 more than their average monthly spending. This should not disturb them so much.”

The Lasalgaon market is in Maharashtra’s Nashik district where 70 per cent of India’s onion trade occurs. 

The above quote is part of the cover story of THE WEEK magazine's current issue available at this link: http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?contentId=15176275&programId=1073755753&tabId=13&BV_ID=@@@&categoryId=-208261 

Some more consumer gyaan (learning) related to the onion trade conducted in the Lasalgaon market over the past few months is as follows:

• A farmer who sold his produce at Rs 3500 a quintal, his profit after paying for raw material and labour costs was only Rs 9 a kilo.
• According to a farmer activist, traders in Lasalgaon Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) alone earned more than Rs 150 crore in just four days (Aug 12–15) this year.
• According to the leader of a prominent organization, “The (onion) auctions are a farce… Once the bidding is over, the winner announces the price. The farmers have to sell their crop to him even if the price does not meet their production cost. They get beaten up if they refuse.” 

Over the last few weeks we have seen much hue and cry over onion price rise in media and in the political arena. But hardly anyone told us about the plight of the onion farmer and how few traders monopolistic practices have created the artificial onion scarcity and consequent steep price rise.

Maybe it's due to the all-party alliance which is protecting the traders' interest in Nashik. One farmer activist points to this all-party alliance in these words: “About 90 per cent of the traders belong to the BJP; the state co-operative and agriculture ministers are from the Congress; and NCP chief Sharad Pawar is the Union agriculture minister." 

Manmohan 'marketed poverty' before Obama, but what the Gujarat 'strongman' is doing?

PM hopeful of BJP Narendra Modi recently charged PM Manmohan Singh of marketing India’s poverty before President Obama at their meeting on Sept 28. OK. Now, let's see what Modi himself is doing. Between Sept 15 and Oct 2, Modi spoke thrice (at Rewari and Delhi rallies and at a college students’ meet in Delhi) about his tea-vendor background. Isn't it marketing of Modi's humble background to touch a chord in the common man for electoral gains. Our former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri also came from a humble background.  He lost his father when he was only one. Given Shastri’s nature one doesn’t think he had ever tried to market his humble background like Modi is doing these days.

Vajpayee's statesmanship and potential PM's Congress-mukt Bharat

Noted historian and scholar Ramchandra Guha in one of his articles (link given at the bottom) narrates an example of statesmanship and political tolerance set by BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee while serving as foreign minister in the Janata Party govt in 1977. In the 1977 elections, the newly-formed Janata Party, in which BJP's erstwhile avatar Jana Sangh was merged, had trounced the Congress and formed the govt at the Centre.

When Vajpayee as Foreign Minister went to his office in South Block for the first time, he looked around, and immediately spotted a blank space on the wall. (He knew the room well, as he had often visited it as an Opposition MP.) "Panditji ki tasveer kahan gayi? (Where is the portrait of Jawaharlal Nehru that used to hang there?)." The officers present in the room remained silent. Actually, they had themselves removed Nehru’s portrait, thinking that Vajpayee who had been jailed during the 1975-77 Emergency by Indira Gandhi would detest her father Nehru. But Vajpayee commanded, "Wapas lao. Satara saal hamare videsh mantri rahe. (Bring back the portrait. He was our Foreign Minister for 17 years.) So Nehru's portrait was brought back. 

The above anecdote shows Vajpayee's magnanimity as well as statesmanship in accepting the important role Nehru played as the first PM and as Foreign Minister in building modern India. In fact, Nehru was also highly impressed by Vajpayee's oratorial skills when the latter was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1957. He had reportedly told his fellow parliamentarians that this young MP would emerge as a big leader in future. 

Now, see the contrast. Today potential PM Narendra Modi, belonging to the very party of Vajpayee, in his speeches seems to blame Nehru for all the ills afflicting the country. Young Indians also get carried away by Modi's speeches. But an impartial observer would give Nehru credit for laying the foundation of a democratic and plural India which provided an opportunity to people from backward castes, like Narendra Modi, Mayawati, and  Laloo Prasad Yadav, to develop political leadership qualities and become national leaders. 

Though Modi became a national leader by enjoying the fundamental rights bestowed upon him by the Indian democracy, he has coined the highly undemocratic slogan 'Congress-mukt Bharat' (Congress-free India). Many political leaders have great differences with BJP leaders. But nobody has ever coined the slogan 'BJP-mukt Bharat' (BJP-free India). 

I think a true democrat knows well that in a liberal society like India's anybody within the framework of law has the right to propagate his/her views or ideology. Does Modi need to be reminded of the requirement to tolerate one's opponents in a democratic polity?   

Ramchandra Guha's article is available at the following link:  

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130629/jsp/opinion/story_17049899.jsp#.UlFWctLI0mY

India needs 125 crore Lokpal Acts to fight corruption

Yesterday (Oct 5) I watched Abhigyan’s programme 'Sisayat Aur Bhrashtachar' (Politics and Corruption) at NDTV. In the programme, the young Indians appeared highly agitated to uproot corruption from India. And, the political leaders and political analysts, invited for the programme, also underlined the need to end corruption and focus on development. 

The young participants and some political leaders felt that enacting new laws and the Lokpal Act is a sure shot remedy to end corruption. However, JD(U) leader Sabir Ali felt that we already have very good laws which if implemented sincerely can remove corruption. I totally agree with Ali's views. However, I would like to add one thing here that if the Lokpal Act is considered a necessity then one Act won't do. Actually we all 125 crore Indians must enact our individual Lokpal Acts not to abet or indulge in corruption. 

A solid support for this argument is that recent poll surveys have shown that only a minuscule percentage of respondents consider corruption to be a poll issue. The C fore survey, published on Sept 19, 2013 in the Hindustan Times (HT), revealed that only 7% Delhiites consider corruption to be a poll issue. Similarly two earlier all-India poll surveys, conducted by the HT and The Week magazine, put the percentage of respondents concerned over corruption at 10 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively. So, corruption does not bother us much unless we are participating in a TV debate, or unless Anna Hazare sits on a dharna at Jantar Mantar or Ram Lila Maidan. For the anti-corruption movement to succeed, the young participants in Abhigyan's programme must abhor corruption in real life by not following themselves and also preventing their parents from treading the chai-paani route while dealing with the govt machinery. 

Regarding the political class's role in ending corruption, I strongly support the view expressed by NCP leader B P Tripathi in the programme, that all political parties must join hands to design effective ways to end corruption. This will ensure continued mass awakening and fight against participation cutting across castes, religions, and regions. 

In the programme, discussion also veered to development as a poll issue. I feel development is an issue which suits every politician for two reasons. (a) By undertaking development works a politician can fulfil the expectations of his/her electorate and can keep winning elections for a long time. (b) Any development work involves granting contracts worth crores of rupees, and it’s a godsend for the corrupt among the political lot to mint money.

An important but largely ignored aspect is the quality of development works.  Are we or our leaders concerned enough to ensure that we really get the expected return in terms of quality for the tonnes  of money being devoured by development works? Perhaps nobody is concerned. The reason: The masses have enough on their plate in the form of personal and family issues, and the rampant chai-paani culture makes even the honest among politicians/babus to look the other way when quality is compromised in development works. 

In this regard no govt is different irrespective of its political hue. For example, take the case of Delhi. An impartial quality and cost audit of the public works being carried out by MCD departments (controlled by BJP) and Delhi govt departments (controlled by Congress), will reveal same instances of unnecessary cost escalations, and lack of proper supervision leading to substandard quality in the works. So, our precious financial resources are not being used to construct buildings and infrastructure for 'sadiyon ke liye' though a company claims to produce cement for building 'imarats sadiyon ke liye'.

Another example on quality concerns comes from a story carried by The Week magazine few months back. The story reported that according to an NGO, Rahul Gandhi's economic package for Bundelkhand has allegedly been turned into a money spinner for the corrupt. Crores have reportedly been made through fake vouchers in the names of dead people, fake bills, non-transparent contracts and sub-standard works. It is alleged that among fake bills, earthmovers with fake registration numbers are mentioned, and scooters and motorbikes are represented as tractors used for digging to create rain harvesting structures.

Wish media devote due attention to the quality of development works as these are financed by budgets whose deficits are spiralling.

Good days ahead for Indian economy?!?!?!

Doubt and surprise, symbolized by the symbols ? and !, will be anybody’s reaction to this headline, considering India’s low GDP, a weak Rupee, and a rising current account deficit (CAD). But the following points, presented in an analysis on NDTV Profit by Raghu Kumar, co-founder of the broking company RKSV, may remove your doubt. 

1. The Indian stock market has outperformed the US stock market and those of BRICS countries. See how the stock index of these countries has appreciated over the past five years (2008-2013):

• India     – 45.04%
• USA      – 35.81%
• Russia   – 35.02%
• China    – 7.37%
• Brazil    – 4.55%

1. The BSE index for the Indian IT sector, which accounts for 25 per cent of India's exports, has appreciated a huge 38 per cent this year so far, an indicator that India's IT exports may rise in future. 
2. With the recovery of US economy India will see more FDI flowing from the US investors and thus helping the govt meet its target of bringing the current account deficit below $70 billion (3.9 per cent of GDP).
3. India’s annual GDP growth rate, which has declined from 9 per cent to 4.4 per cent over the past 5 years, is expected to rise to 5.6 per cent for 2013-14, according to IMF estimates if FDI inflows and IT exports increase.

Let's wait for the next few months to see whether's Kumar's analysis hits the bull's eye.  

Raghu Kumar’s article is available at the following link:

http://profit.ndtv.com/news/economy/article-why-indian-economy-is-primed-to-boom-now-328208?pfrom=home-otherstories