ajaygoyal

President Barack Obama is being set up for failure by his economic advisors. Measures for tackling recent economic disasters have not been applied and understood properly.  The wreckage of the US and global financial system has not been cleaned, structural problems that led to its collapse not addressed and a whole new edifice is being built on this pile of broken economics.

When Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, US economists advised Russian President Boris Yeltsin in turning around a failed economy. The disaster that the US economy faces today is no different from the situation in Russia then. Some of those Bill Clinton era economic whiz kids are on Obama team now. These market reformists came up with idea of “shock therapy” and advised against all state aid, regulation or intervention and coaxed Yeltsin into a disastrous policy of crony-privatization. Within 36 months, the wealth of Russia was in the hands of two dozen people – the oligarchs – who drove the country into the ditch. Productivity slumped, joblessness reached every home, state pensions evaporated and public sector salaries went unpaid for years. All this time, the bank accounts of shady Russian politicians and oligarchs were swelling from New York to Vienna and Caymans to Fiji. US banks and auditing companies brought worst practices polished and perfected in the US to Russia. They preyed on nascent Russian capitalists and ruined their dreams before they took shape. The policy was such a disaster that according to a scientific study by Oxford university scholars, millions of Russians died in the period following these economic reforms.

Now the same economists, who were once for market-decides-all, are propagating socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor. They are handing out blank checks to billionaire executives while the middle class is withering in this economic Katrina.

1992 economic advice was the beginning of the end for Russia. Complete collapse came only six years later in August 1998 when Russia could no longer pay back its debts and declared itself bankrupt. United States is near a similar state of bankruptcy. This is when a change of the guard happened in the Kremlin albeit in ways very different from the election of Barack Obama. Vladimir Putin was everything Obama is not–a Gray cardinal, a former spy, a man uncomfortable with publicity, a dour and secretive man, yet a man of steely resolve and will. He inherited a country that was at war with the breakaway republic of Chechnya. There were massive terror strikes at the heart of Moscow. The terrorists were becoming brazen and had created an Islamist khanate within Russia. The treasury was empty and morale low. Foreign powers, including United States were rubbing their hands with glee at the collapse of Russia and its might. Not only had Russia been weakened, all of its wealth, some believe as much as half a trillion US Dollars(equivalent) in cash, had been laundered out of the country and put to work in Europe and some exotic islands around the world. Russia was on the verge of another break up. Barack Obama’s problems may be different in scale, but the United States too faces a catastrophic scenario much like the one Putin faced in 1998.

The road Putin took has received much criticism from liberal and conservative economists alike because of their inbred antipathy toward Russia. He has been accused ceaselessly of authoritarianism and worse. Yet, I believe his success since 1999 has some important lessons for Obama.

His first act was to distance Russia from the loans and advice of World Bank and IMF. The previous century had some spectacular economic and financial failures around the world, and it was rare not to find the hand of IMF behind every major disaster. Obama has hired an IMF monetary theorist as his treasury secretary. He knows didley squat about real life and real economics. Putin brought in fiscal discipline unseen in the world that earned kudos from his biggest detractors. Obama has laid out the biggest entitlement and state-spending budget in history. It will have to be paid back till second coming of Christ. Putin cut off all state funding to the private sector, and nationalized the companies where strategic interests like security or mass employment were involved. He set out to reform the legal, financial, taxation and customs framework before giving any handouts. In the end, only a handful of companies were nationalized, and the results were spectacular.  Obama is indulging in nationalization without any clear control or governance over them, leaving them in the hands of very individuals who wrecked them. Putin took over Gazprom, installed his confidantes as CEO and Chairman, and within five years the company not only stopped bleeding but became one of largest corporations in the world, with its value increasing ten fold.  Obama has placed no such control mechanisms on AIG or General Motors.

Putin did something spectacular. He cut the personal tax rate and ended all complexities associated with it by introducing a flat rate of 13 percent. Paying taxes was never easier or cheaper anywhere in the world. That’s right–Russia has had the most advanced and simplest personal taxation system in the western world for the last seven years. He undid the zealousness of the tax man, dissolved the “tax police” and allowed taxpayers to fight out the tax authorities in court. The resulting higher collection of taxes as people threw away all schemes to avoid paying taxes, allowed Putin to, for the first time in decades, finally start a flow of money into the treasury. Only then did he invest in education and medical care. Obama is neither simplifying nor lowering taxes. There is no incentive for individuals and businesses to be upfront about their social or fiscal responsibilities. Obama is throwing money at a failed system which can only breed bigger failure.

Then Putin took bold action. Oligarchs were slapped with billions in retro tax bills on the pain of imprisonment and exile to gulag. They coughed up the money. Corporate taxes were lowered and simplified and loopholes for the richest to avoid them plugged. Despite all the rhetoric on both sides of the aisle, the US tax system remains one of the most complex, cumbersome and counter productive.

Putin did not hesitate to nationalize and sell off companies that threatened the very viability of Russian state by undermining its sovereignty. Yukos oil company was nationalized, and its owners were convicted for tax evasion, money laundering and other high crimes. Obama has neither really taken over rogue financial corporations, like AIG, nor sent anyone to prison. There is no reason for people to have faith in his bluster. Expressions of frustration and anger at AIG executives who have already received in excess of $150 billion and spent it remain just that - expressions. It is not enough to just frown at someone who has lost $150 billion of tax payers’ money.

Putin let failing banks fail. He cleaned up the financial sector of crooks and scamsters. The banks that survived financed the greatest expansion of real estate in any country in the previous decade, with the exception of China. New housing blocks, office buildings and malls sprouted up in every city and town of Russia. Obama has nothing in his plan that gives any confidence that banks will lend again and that housing and real estate construction activity will continue. US banking system’s malice is intact and ready to strike again.

Putin’s actions led to a great turnaround in Russia’s fortunes and creation of a whole new middle class within seven years. But he did not go on a spending spree before he fixed the structural issues. Fortune favored him too. The War in Iraq and the antagonism of Bush administration toward the rest of the world helped jack up oil prices. Russia experienced an unprecedented windfall and Putin finally increased spending on social and infrastructure projects when the money started coming in. Even so, his fiscal discipline remained steady and steely.

The best elements of Putin’s policies were non-ideological. He was pragmatic, liberal, conservative and centrist all at the same time. They key was not to let spending get out of control, not to allow borrowing over the top and resolving inherent problems of the system before spending on them.

Obama is throwing a trillion dollars on a very sick and corrupt system. None of the problems that led the United States economy to this mess has been addressed. None of the culprits have been identified, no rogue has been punished, no one is in prison and people’s depleted faith in fair play has not been re-established. No rules have been amended, no procedures simplified. It is like putting beer in the IV drip when a patient is undergoing bypass surgery. The US financial system, its regulation, and governance have shown that it is a black hole. Obama should have waited a year before throwing money into this black hole. Crooks will be crooks – they will find ways to get away with their old unreformed habits. He should have rid the system of crooks.

As Obama’s journey begins, the outcome of his efforts might already be doomed because of their hasty nature and wrong priorities.

Meanwhile, Putin has succumbed to the old Russian tradition of corruption and arrogance. In bailing out the Russian tycoons in the current economic crisis, he has made some fatal errors – same that Obama is making. Right now Washington is adopting the worst ways of Russian governance and business, and that cannot do any good. Putin, too is adopting the worst ways of Washington again and that won’t do any good either.

I have watched Slumdog Millionaire, an Indian story directed by British director Danny Boyle three times now. Each time the theater was packed, and each time the film was met with a standing ovation (even at a film market where the room was packed with cynical film buyers).

For years I have nursed a resentment against Indian cinema, also known as Bollywood. Slumdog Millionaire is an English language film with more Hindi in it without sub titles than in a three hour Bollywood flick. Bollywood is a name given to rag-tag collection of song dance sequences with astonishing pelvic shoving and rotating movements by middle aged men and women. The songs are woven together without dialogue and story, by superstars who earn more than Bill Gates, into three hour obscenities.

Slumdog Millionaire is a profoundly moving experience. To Indians living outside India it is a film that brings great relief. We can now stop lying about India and its lightening progress and prosperity. The film has revealed the truth of Indian life as no other film or documentary has ever been able to do. The drama itself is fictional and at times flimsy, but the the frantic camera work set in real Mumbai slums, the direction, and the acting have an honesty about them unseen in Indian cinema or life. We no longer need to cling to a false image of India that is on a fictional ride to super-powerdom to feel proud as Indians. We no longer need to close our eyes and shut our minds to the unspeakable levels of poverty, crime and decay in our nation. It is equally a relief for those westerners who have pretended to buy the Indian yarn of great strides of progress so they do not step on the feelings of us Indians. Now that the truth is out in the open, it has set us free. We can genuinely feel good for what we are as Indians and what we have achieved as individuals and a civilization. But we must also truthfully and honestly embrace the naked reality of the deep malaise of the country and how irretrievably many millions of lives are being lost to poverty.

There is no undermining Indian achievement but the yarn has been spun too thin. India's status as an economic entity and a global power hangs by this thin yarn and every so often deep troubles are exposed by many small failures. In Slumdog, the film based on a novel by Indian civil servant Jayant Swaroop, we finally have an image of India that we can embrace and thus stop pretending about the non-existence of this real India.

There are more Indians living in slums than the entire population of Holland. Indians as a prosperous class are only to be found outside India where their abilities are not constrained. There are also more Indians on world's rich lists than any other developing country with such enormous poverty. We can now let go of all fake presentations on India's golden age and admit that much of the wealth that we see in the country has been criminally obtained. Wealth obtained legitimately is criminalised by a corrupt system of such depth and proportions that it has no parallels in human history. The real opportunity and some prosperity has been created by individuals despite the state. Just like the heroes of this film, prosperity comes at a high price to Indians. It requires more than good intention and effort, it needs compromises and pain no one should endure.

The star of the film Jamal and his brother Salim are what Indians call serial entrepreneurs. They constantly invent professions and expertise to get by. They represent a billion people of India where enterprise is the only way to survive. They are all trying to break through or die trying the ring fence of corruption restricting every aspect of economic life. Only a rare few ever break. Most urban poor are like Jamal, the Slumdog, who acquires knowledge through crumbs of overheard conversations and has one in a ten million shot at wealth.

I have no way of knowing how it will be received in India. I hope that the film will be welcomed and that it will be a cause of celebration and introspection.

That introspection will not come from Indian cinema. Most Bollywood movies now have one genre – superstars play the ordinary dude playing the superstar who gets the babe in the bikini. The Indian cinema had a claim to dreams for many decades. Now it has moved into indefensible territories of make-believe that can only rear corruption in young minds and distract people from a reality they need to fix. But Indian cinema is not the cause of India's problems. It is just one of the symptoms. The introspection provoked by this film must go beyond cinema.

The empirical and statistical arguments of India's growth that have been presented to the western world need to be set aside. The global financial system has failed and no one gives a fuck about India's growth rate generated by computer financial models. Even if they return, foreign handouts and speculative casino capital will not forge India's future. It will be made at home if Indians are liberated from the crushing poverty, corruption and crime. What India needs is a recognition of the dire condition in which the Indians now are. Urban and rural poor in hundreds of millions are living far below subsistence. And if they are above it, there is no cause for trumpeting their movement across this imaginary line of poverty, because that is hardly an existence either.

The least we can do is acknowledge this truth. With that alone starts the process of saving lives and building them. Nations are made of people not statistics. We, the privileged Indians, must look in the eyes of slumdog Indians and find ways to rekindle hope that they can have a shot at millions too without selling their soul to the devil. Go see the film and spare a tear for India.

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By Ajay Goyal

All omens are pointing to a depressing year ahead but we need not succumb to the dark night. We need to do something dramatic and radical to make sure 2009 is an enjoyable year. Americans have already voted in a good man as President. Now we can all do our bit to be happy even though there is grim news all around. Discount sales by department stores will not lift our spirits. We need to be proactive in finding daily joy. In no particular order, here are my suggestions:

Write a Check: If you have been wanting to give to a charity and postponing it, this is the time to give. Even if your finances are short now, you know there are people in far worse condition and critical need. When you give you get more and this is a proven fact of life.  But without expectation of a return on giving, it has never been more important or a better time to give to someone. I suggest carrying  a cheque in your pocket with a stamped envelop. When you come across a cause that moves you, do not make a mental note and promise to pay later. Write the check and drop it in the mail there and then.

Give some Time: I know from my little work in some charities that more than money they value time. The other day I was traveling with a young lady on a flight from Moscow to London.  She told me of the work she does for a charity for battered women in Oxford. I was surprised to learn from her the scale of violence against women in a place that we usually associate with great scholarship and genius but equally shocked to know how little help is available. Women like her make a big difference to many lives, more than our money ever can. There are true heroes all around us who give time for good causes. The economic condition has placed us all in situations with plenty of spare time. The fashionable benefit dinners are out of fashion anyway. Your time will be priceless and valued for those in need of a compassionate moment.

Write a Letter: When things are rough I pause and take the time to write a letter. In the most frantic moments after 9/11 when we were putting together a daily newspaper in Moscow, I wrote a letter to my kids. I have found letter writing to be most soothing and nurturing exercise for the mind. What is more, I write the letter in long hand and that slows down the pace of heart and flow of adrenaline. You may want to send that letter as an attachment to email if snail mail is not your thing but sitting down and writing a letter is perhaps the best employment of time. I am going to write one to my kids today and I cannot tell you what a wonderful stress buster it is.

Walk a holiday: Next holiday trip you book, make it a walking tour. There are many wonderful walking holidays in Italy, France, Spain, India, England and the US. If you do not like walking, take a bike tour. It is a wonderful way of mingling with local culture, feel the warmth and energy of history and nature and re charge batteries. The more tiring the holiday, the better it is for the soul. Walking and biking are cheaper than cruises or high frill vacations. Go on a religious trail in Spain, or wine tour of Tuscany, or walk the highlands in Scotland. You might find walking tours are the best investment of your time.

Do not have a party: This you know already -- the more you party the worse you will feel. The guilt after a party -- you come back, turn on the TV and see depressing news of war, death and suffering – is getting tougher to manage. Instead of going for a party and celebrating when there is nothing to celebrate, do something quite the opposite.

Read a book, watch an old film, go for a walk. Turn down party invitations and ask the hosts to send money to your favorite charity. I can tell you from personal experience, you will feel absolutely wonderful.

Outsource personal work: I have seen a surge of people seeking freelance, work from home and temp work since the economic crisis started. You can now get much more done for much less. In fact lots of pending projects and work can now be completed for a fraction of cost. Things like scanning of old photo negatives, getting a personal web site made, managing accounts can now be done with good and cheap freelancers. People are desperate for work and earnings. Be a social entrepreneur - outsource small bits of work and tasks to those who need employment.

Learn a new skill: Whether its golf or fencing, sailing or dancing, use the free time to indulge in your favorite hobby. I have always been impressed by how many Russians take painting, dancing, fencing and acting lessons in weak economic conditions. It is a wonderful way to beat the forced downtime.

Polish your language: When was the last time you read something to improve your language. It is easy, it is cheap and it has never been more important. Improve your conversation and writing skills by picking a book from local library on language.

Read a Russian Classic: After a gap of 25 years I have started reading Mikhail Sholokhov's Quiet Flows the Don again. War and Peace will be next. Russian classics are greatest treasures of mankind. They are thick too. They sooth the soul and kill tons of time.

In a lighter vein:

Go back to Windows XP: Stop cursing your Vista based computer. Buy a DOS based PC and load your own copy of Windows XP. All the pirated software is still available for windows XP. Bill Gates has retired and does not need your money. Be subversive. Do not buy Vista and join a protest group to bring XP back.

Use Mozilla Firefox: I am shocked each day to find that some people still use Internet Explorer. Download Mozilla Firefox, do not try Chrome and just stay away from Microsoft products.

Use Sun’s Open Office: I started using Open Office instead of MS Office three years ago. There is no need to pay top dollar for MS office when Open Office and Google Docs are free and far more useful.

Stop the Subscription: Save money and cancel the subscription of business newspapers and magazines. Stop reading newspapers all together if you can. You will save many trees. They have all been wrong on everything anyway. There is no need to allow newspapers to stoke hysteria and panic when they could have forewarned and forearmed you. They did not do that. Time to cancel your newspaper subscription. If you must, read them online.

Turn off the BlackBerry: Try switching off your BlackBerry in the evening and over the weekends. It is technically feasible and if you can bring your forefinger to bring about that much pressure on the Off button, it will bring you delight and peace.

Switch off all appliances: I did not believe it when I saw it on TV but the amount of energy consumed by TV, cable box, routers, modem, phone chargers, microwave and all the other appliances when they are hibernating is
phenomenal. Turn off the switch and just disconnect them when not in use. You will save money and save the planet.

And Finally...

Get Mad: Next time your bank, cable company, electricity or water company acts difficult, get mad with them. Post your complaints on the internet sites and demand free credit. Be polite to the call center in India (its not their fault) but otherwise just go nuts at any injustice. Firmly demand better service and cheaper rates. Send written complaints if you have been wronged. Shouting on the phone just costs you money. If they do not mend, withdraw your business. Go to all your neighbors and friends and ask them to do the same. Hurt big companies and banks. It will make you feel good.

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Monkey menace on Delhi air waves

first published at www.exchange4media.com

By Ajay Goyal

There is monkey menace in New Delhi. The primate population and its destructive antics are out of control. Half of them ravage gardens and the other half are on the airwaves of national capital’s FM radio stations. To me chatter on Delhi’s FM radio is a serious affront. Am I the only one to believe the biggest threat to north Indian culture comes from these trained primates that have seized disk jockey spots on national capital’s FM radios?

Capital’s FM jockeys make noises and attempt speaking human but what comes out is a unique new sound based on English words and no particular language. They attempt swift and breathless outpouring of English words punctuated by local slang. There is little meaning to the purpose or sequence of words. The trick is to appear to be speaking English and not actually speak it. Moreover, English being the clerical language of the country, there isn’t meant to be any thoughtfulness, emotion or sensibility in the verbal diarrhea. The result is screeching and blabbering that is offensive to any intelligent mind and educated ear.

To be fair, the stakes are high in the FM radio business. They face cut throat competition from the news magazines and national newspapers that pour a tenth of all Roget’s thesaurus in each edition. Each major feature leads off with a valiant display of intriguing, intricate and obscure words. William Shakespeare would be flabbergasted if he read some of the news and features published in Indian news magazines. All of his inventions can be found in single editions of weekly Indian magazines. This is what happens when imitation and pretension of being fluent in English reaches such silly extremes. But unlike print journalists who have the opportunity and leisure to look up an alternative to common words at thesaurus.com (no self respecting Indian journalist will use a common word when a tongue twisting replacement is only a click away), radio jockeys can only make sounds that should otherwise be filled with words. Their shows are series of woofs, whams, jumble of words and half baked sentences summarily terminating when the 70s ballad comes on.

The situation gets worse when radio jockeys have to speak “Hindustani.” Hindustani language is a Bollywood invention that was created by accident when ten drunks sang together inebriated while pissing on north Indian tradition and culture. The words are snatched from Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, English, Marathi, Bhojpuri and delivered with a fake Haryanavi accent to the national capital region’s FM listeners. More obscene and vulgar sounding the word the greater its usefulness in this Bollywood dialect. Its only purpose is to try to appear tongue in cheek and entertaining. Much like a monkey on a leash, entertainment by any means is the goal and no antic is beneath these performers. The linguistic result cannot get any lower as far as verbal expression goes.

I am certain no such insult of a language will be tolerated in Bengal or Tamilnadu or dozens of other Indian states where people have a higher degree of self respect and regard for their language and culture. In fact this purposeful destruction of native language is unique in the whole world to north India. On a drive across Europe recently I searched for local music channels and heard radio stations in six local languages. Though they frequently played American Pop, Hip Hop and Rock I could not recognize any traces of English language in the spoken words. Many of these countries have smaller population than a mid sized Indian city. Their media is not only preserving local languages but enriching it. But freedom of speech and this powerful new medium of FM radio in north India is all about destroying the last remnants of Hindi.

In the maddening “progress” of last decade in India pursuit of knowledge has been set aside for speed of its acquisition. Literacy has been elevated to the level of education and basic education to knowledge just so more people can carry higher degrees. The knowledgeable have to dig through thesaurus to appear to be intelligent because it is words and not thought that carry weight among the elite. These presenters appear a notch above literate but way below educated. These radio jocks playing with words is like monkeys playing with loaded firearms. Every so often the results are just as dramatic and destructive. The lingual garbage and wreckage is piling sky high in Delhi.

What thousand years of foreign invasions of north India by barbaric hoards, arrival of multitude of cultures, languages and art forms has not done will be accomplished by FM radio and TV within a decade. No traces of original North Indian languages or dialects in their original form will be left alive if FM radio continues in this manner. People will lose a great tradition of conversation in native languages. Hindi speaking Indians in the north are already losing their ability to express pain and emotion in their own language. The result is that people are expressing themselves physically when words can do. We are falling back into an era that must have existed before language. Sounds, gestures, exasperated sighs went for communication before the cave man had ability to communicate. With words came great civilizations such as the one of Indus valley. In the lap of Indian sub continent great thoughts and expression developed separating primate and man. A great verbal tradition developed in these lands where a linguistic crime of historic proportions is now occurring.

Those who take such strategic decisions to lower the standards on radio have their own perverted rationale. India is after all a largely illiterate nation and no mass media business can thrive by having an elitist attitude. Education, knowledge and thinking are now privileges enjoyed by few and fewer. Most people simply have no time in their grinding lifestyles to apply their minds to anything other than fight to earn bread. These radio channels, like much of Bollywood, mellow this pain of existence and do not burden people with thought. This rationale is lowering the quality of content on north Indian cinema, TV and radio and corrupting national psyche.

But this rationale is wrong. The Indian civilization has been built on the ability of these illiterate folk to carry deep thought through ages and pass it on through verbal rendition. Great philosophy, poetry and prose were passed to successive generations verbally.  Eventually Sanskrit and other scripts developed and enabled those original words of wisdom to be written and preserved for eternity. But the value of spoken word and its trusteeship among the Indian masses is the greatest achievement of our civilization. As we lose our languages, we lose a part of our civilization. FM radio stations of Delhi are carrying out this destructive task with vengeance and it must be stopped. The monkey belongs in the jungle and human in seats of wisdom. The two have grown apart for good reason. There is no need to swap job profile with the ape to let our culture fall to the primate.

Challenges for Indian Cable News

first published at www.exchange4media.com

By Ajay Goyal

 It is said that everything that could have been said about the role of cable news TV in coverage of Mumbai terrorist attacks and aftermath has been said already, just not by everyone. I do not believe the discussion has reached a dead end. The debate over the role of media needs to move to a deliberative and mature arena with a constructive aim. Mumbai attacks have exposed fatal weaknesses in our six decade old political and administrative system and hysterical desperation in our young cable news media. Neither provides much comfort, calm or confidence and both have demonstrated painful incompetence.

 We understand that cable news organizations are not bound to act in national interest. Their role is to report and provoke in manner they themselves see appropriate, operate within self imposed limits and play a role they themselves define. Primary driver of their profession is business interest. However their manner of stoking passions, spreading rumor, lie and hysteria pits such channels against the viewing community and society at large thereby hurting their commercial interests. A change for better is therefore in their self interest. Process of change can only start with recognition of failures in the face of challenges.

 The challenges and opportunities for TV news are unique and unprecedented. There are no parallels to Indian news market anywhere in the world. No other country can claim such numbers and variety of cable news channels in so many languages. Millionaire proprietors or owners of news channels are celebrity anchors. Unfortunately the events post Mumbai 26/11 have brought home sad realization that it is not something we can be proud of. There is a yawning talent gap between these pioneers of cable news that remain at helm as anchors and their journalists and newsreaders. It points to egomaniacal station owners that believe in their own star quality to pull viewers. There are murmurs that some keep the quality of production and news coverage cheap and low to outshine their own colleagues. It is said that loyalty and sycophancy are valued above professional qualities, costs are cut while benefits are showered on owners and their favourites in news channels. Indian cable news network competition is clash of a handful of self anointed news titans who all lost some gloss during the Mumbai crisis. If they can notice the anger and disappointment with political leadership, surely they have not failed to notice utter contempt from the public towards their cable news channels. It might be time for some to step aside if they cannot give up God complex.

 There is little doubt that the cable news coverage of Mumbai attacks cannot be termed journalism. I do not believe channels deliberately tried to cause communal division, strife, mass anger or violence. That would be giving too much credit to the intelligence and ability of those who plastered themselves in front of cameras when the attacks began. Some are inviting sympathy for their troubles; others are obstinate that they performed an important duty. I do not believe there was a strategy or design to their onscreen conduct. They were emotional wrecks at best, clueless morons at worst. And that is not very different from the political class and its actions and reactions.

 Hysterical screaming into camera, dragging unsuspecting bystanders by collars to give opinions, breathless repetition of unverified news is not journalism. I have doubts about the literacy levels of some news anchors and reporters who will find it hard to get jobs in call centers to inform or manage credit card crises. They were supposed to inform the whole nation of a mega disaster. They were lost for words when simple and easy narration of facts would have done nicely. When nation sought some grace and maturity, we got disgraceful insanity. Production rooms melted under pressure. There were contradictions between headers, news tickers, screen images and narration by anchors and journalists. It got worse when screens were often split in three. Each TV channel acquired split personalities and madness ensued.

 Those familiar with the workings of newsrooms could see this new multibillion cable news industry melting in the heat of first crisis.

 The state of cable news and political dysfunctionality are symptomatic of general chaos in our society. If politicians and news titans had demonstrated some contrition and a willingness to learn lessons, seek help and improve their conduct we could have some hope. Instead we are seeing sympathy seeking, holier than thou declarations, invocation of constitutional rights with a sly sense of satisfaction at improved viewer ship and ratings. Moreover, cable news has tasted blood. The mass agitation and public anger with shake up in the central and state governments have give the news channels a false sense of power. With general election round the corner news channels will only enhance their shrill attacks on politicians. Desperate economic times mean they have to seek advertisement monies from political parties and politically inclined business houses. Blackmail could ensue and image of all media could be tarnished.

 All this means that those who have no hope in Indian politicians can have even lesser hope in the all powerful and omni live cable news.

 There is another way. It might appear counter intuitive but there are examples of conscientious journalism littered all over print media and those are the lessons to learn. State owned DD news conducted itself admirably. Public participating in discussion forums on DD displayed a gravitas that cable news seems unable to find. That reservoir of dignified TV presence is just around the corner and waiting to be found. Cable news can conduct a great social and national service without sacrificing its business interests by refusing to cater to and provoke the lowest common denominator. It can also set standards in transparency, corporate governance and accountability that it demands of politicians.

 There is a great yearning for leadership in all spheres of national life. Political leadership can follow if others occupying bully pulpit can set higher, greater standards first. Some news channels will inevitably take the low road. But such exceptional crises and dangers provide rare opportunities for rising high and going above and beyond. Cable news and its breadth and depth have endowed it with great power. Indian print journalism has been a great force in the formation of Indian democracy and in this challenge to the country cable news has inherited that mantle. The future of country can be defined by responsible journalism that challenges and provokes by calling on higher sense and dignified sensibilities of people.

In the last ten days in India and on way through Dubai I have met ten young men with whom I had some length of conversation. They are all desperate to leave India and go abroad. One has worked for a while in Kenya in sub human conditions in a steel mill. He wants to renew his contract so he can go back. If he cannot, he would risk his life like tens of thousands of Punjabi Sikh boys who run the “donkey” to migrate illegally through sea or land routes to Europe.
A Goan tax driver has worked in scorching Omani desert for six months. He will go back too. More educated boys aim for migration to Australia or Canada. Semi-educated one’s will take any chance to go to the gulf. Most of them would go anywhere.
I have not spent much time in India last two decades but I have been thinking Indians are now so optimistic about the economic future and life here that whey would want to stay at any cost. Clearly that is not the case.
Jobs are few and far between. Salaries are low. It is hard to make a living and impossible to make savings. The financial crisis will undo the gains of last decade but even the best of financial years did not even touch most Indian lives.
The quality of life has gone down in every aspect of life since I left the country. So there is Little or no equal opportunity, expensive and useless education, few jobs, fewer decent jobs and all public sector work divided on caste lines.
All the men I have spoken to, none showed any concern for the hard life, risks, security, exploitation, war and disease in Africa and gulf. It is still better there than here they said. That is pretty grim.
It is easy to see why it is so. India is a massive and ravaged failure and these young people see no hope of a better future, prosperity and happiness for themselves. Those who stay do so because of inability to migrate. Punjabi and Kerala boys are amongst the most gutsy fellows in India and the migration rates are highest among them. Those who have the most chances of making a life here are the one’s leaving.
Political and industrialist’s kids get away for expensive higher education in the US, UK and Australia. If there is money in the family a great future of success, luxury and comfort awaits them here. They can travel freely and at will. Their condition is an anomaly and they ( and I ) are as alien to India as lifestyles of wall street investment bankers to slums of Mumbai. What they get to do says nothing about India and yet they are the one’s who say everything for India. Smallest minority of Indians has polished and spun India’s image as a country rocketing into 21st century poised to leave the developed world far behind. For years those reports have given me joy and comfort and they still do. Every story of each Indian’s success brings me satisfaction. But this is a chimera. India is not poised for anything. Its young people are without hope and the only common condition in the country is tiredness and desperation. India is sustained by acceptance of fate. Those who take what they get and ask for little else are the most plentiful in India. Indian kids have to put in superhuman efforts just to make it to medical or technical schools. Fierce competition brings early failure and resignation. There are too many Indians and too little opportunity going around. Land plots have been cut and divided so many times that farmers have become landless. Urban migration peaked forty years ago and it has continued since then. There is no work in villages and no jobs in cities. There are no dreams anywhere and no opportunity to pursue anything greater than the bare least.

Yes India is full of Indians that have never had a dream of leaving their families and they see nothing wrong with the country, that are satisfied with their lot, are grateful for their life, are pleased with their chances and would be shocked if told that someone makes such a sweeping statement in their name. I am sure they all mean to stay in the land of promise that will be a super power by 2020 with a right to hoist an Indian flag on all homes without paying a bribe or breaking a law and its just that I keep bumping into all the exceptions.

What Indians must do, what India must do

Indians are asking what we can individually do, what can our politicians do and what we as a sovereign nation can do to prevent massive and ghastly terror attacks from happening again.

In great crises great solutions must emerge through proper intellectual discourse. Crises offer opportunities to look at reality and truth and a sense of urgency that Indians have lost by delusions of grandness and Pyrrhic success.

I believe we should stop referring to our politicians and elected officials as leaders. There is no true leadership in India. Our political class is filled with power hungry and greedy individuals that are incapable of grappling with the issues and problems India needs to tackle. They are way out of their depth and most of them are so busy looting the country they have no time for governance. They have come to public life to enrich themselves and not serve us. Those who are in power or come to it through shenanigans, calculations and horse trading cannot be expected to do any good.

Indians must find within themselves and around a new set of selfless  individuals that are willing to serve. Leadership is a great virtue and we have skipped a generation without them. The challenges and threats to India are real and enormous and Indians have shown themselves able to make supreme sacrifices. I feel that if we search and show will to acknowledge truth and honesty many new people will emerge that will set aside all personal interest, ego and greed and commit themselves to serving India.

Over the years Indians have sent some truly undeserving people into parliament. Soon there will be general elections. Indians will have to vote for the right people with values and principles rather than choose on party, caste, religious lines or trivial issues. For this to happen not only new activists and social workers must come into political process but also join hands and renounce the politics of greed.

India’s upper house of parliament that is the back door for unelected ruling class to take reigns is a national embarrassment. Film actors, mediocre sportsmen, industrialists,writers and career politicians have found a way to rule India by proxy through this upper chamber. They must resign and in the next general election , people should demand a change to how this upper house is elected.

Indians should also demand that all those who have been in Indian public life for more than thirty years should now renounce public office because they have all been given their chances. We have had enough of them. They have weakened and destroyed this country by their cult politics. They have failed. If they have
something to offer they should serve, make social change and mentor new leaders. They have no other usefulness and the longer they continue in public life the greater harm they cause.

India should rethink whether it should be governed by a system that gives more chances to illiterate thugs than selfless intellectuals.

Indians must take a stand against corruption. Hundreds of instances of obscene sums of money being given to politicians have been exposed. Bribe giving and taking is rampant. Indians should vow not to pay bribes anymore. We suffer enough and we can suffer more. A collective stand against bribe giving is necessary. We are robbing our nation and our children’s future if we keep getting our basic rights by paying for them.

There is more to do. Indians must go beyond the exercise of vote. India is in dire social morass. The attitude toward girl child is a national shame. Indians cannot call themselves civilized if girl foetuses are destroyed in such wanton way.

The excesses of rich in dowry giving, over the top weddings are causing resentment in India. The ill earned money is being spent in “in your face” manners and it must stop. Indians should go back to virtues of simplicity and generosity and not grandiose posturing.

The policies of Indian politics have taken a leaf from British divide and rule. The reservation system in Indian schools and jobs is not affirmative action. It is negative and destructive action that is dividing this country and causing deep hurt. India must phase out all reservations within a decade and guarantee free education to all children and young people instead. All jobs must be available without any discrimination. Indians have to take a stand on this issue and if they do not, they are calling for the nations destruction within this century.

The role of Indian bureaucracy and public sector must be lowered and then completely phased out from Indian public life and commercial spheres within decades. The corrupt and inept people that have been supposed to build our infrastructure and run it have failed. Government must be rededicated to security, infrastructure, education, environmental protection, protection of farmlands and provision of basic health care. The enormous waste of India should come to an end and people should be given a chance to manage their lives since government has so clearly failed.

As Indians, we must do more. We can clean the few square yards around us. We can stop and dead end the caste system. Here and now we must not expect the lower casts to do small jobs. If we do not like cleaning our own toilet then we should build the one that flushes and brush it twice a day with a glove on. I have been doing it for twenty years and it has not hurt or lowered me.Western leaders, stars and celebrities do it. Gandhi did it so can we. If there is no water loo then we should learn to wipe. That is how change starts. Indians should treat themselves and each other as humans and build millions of restrooms and toilets around the country so the first distinction between man and animal can be made.

We can start driving in straight lines and not honk.

We can turn down the volumes at business establishments that call themselves temples.

We can pick that trash, put it in a bag and not spit on the wall. If there is no bag, we can invest in hanging one. If the municipality will not collect it lets gather the community to do it and incinerate it.

Indians need to go back to the basics of a civic sense, community building, responsibility and decency in public conduct before we make demands for a better nation to be delivered to us.

As to terrorists and an end to terror, there is something the nation must do even if it means risking war. We can no longer sit back and watch as Pakistani agencies train and indoctrinate individuals to destroy in this manner. First, we must have a policy of deterrent internally in India. There is no place for terror in a democratic society. A family that breeds a terrorist will pay the price, terrorists should know. For generations thereafter, terrorists should know they will condemn their kin to a life of fear and poverty, prosecution and possibly persecution if they carry a terror act. That is the greatest deterrent. They can choose their virgins in heaven or leave hell for their families here on earth.Their homes where they were bred and brought up must be destroyed and assured that even the safety of a slum in Mumbai, with a tag on front “this family bred a terrorist” will be a great luxury if they kill others.

As for Pakistani agencies and the terror leaders hiding there, India needs to identify and seek out these individuals and undertake lethal action much like being taken by US security forces in Pakistan. Commando unites, local militia and hi-tech warfare need to be deployed to eliminate those who have designed and implemented Mumbai terror attacks in India.  If Pakistan is willing to give the perpetrators to Indian law enforcement then India must institute special courts to prosecute those who commit acts against humanity. If they do not not then justice must be delivered sharp and swift, with precision and certainty and a promise that each time you hurt one of us, we will bring justice to your door step wrapped in 21 grams of explosive. They will be mindful to ever hug a loved one again because they will risk them and their household and community and country if they hurt India again.

Where have all the Issues Gone?

Watching last two weeks of Election campaign on TV it is easy to be confused. Is this election, termed most important since World War II, anything more than Joe the Plumber and his taxes? What about all of the other issues? Is US electioneering so mindless and narrow? Answer is, not at all. Taxation is the burning issue or the day but all the rest is not forgotten.

Nearing the end of their campaign, Democratic and Republican candidates are saying nothing they have not said a thousand times before. But as they hit the airwaves with their stump speeches, interviews, comic routines at Saturday Nigh Live, late ight talk shows and jokes it is easy to miss what lies beneath. By the way, there three more “other party candidates” in this election. Ralph Nader is running, again. He is the man credited with really defeating Al Gore by taking away a serious chunk of independent votes. No one cares but here are the three:

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Third_party_U.S._presidential_candidates_hold_debate

Back to issues. The two leading candidates are like a multi-layered cake. Voters have to decide which one of the cakes they fancy. For two years and more Americans have seen these cakes baked. The bottom layer biscuit is of party affiliations. Democrats and republicans differ on fundamental issues and unless candidates have seriously broken rank with party, their party affiliation is the biggest part of their political DNA.

This defines their stance on right to buy and carry guns, on progressive taxation ( rich pay more), on health care, on education, on immigration, on illegal migrants, on social security and so on and so forth.

Each candidate picks advisors as he progresses through the primaries gathering upto a thousand people who write every word of every speech and vet every statement to ensure it is candidates own true position. His views are questioned on each subject, brought under tough scrutiny by pundits and media and candidates make a layer and put it on the cake in the make.

Here is how two candidates differ on issues. It is important to note that they won't be candidates if they did not find centrist positions on the most divisive issues. So what they say they believe is a moderate sauce on what they really believe. I will try and decipher their belief systems in no particular order:

If you take it too serious: Here are the candidates on issues, according to the New York Times.
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/issues/climate.html

Lets Play 270

The US Presidential election is game called 270. This is how it works. There are strong democratic states, fanatic Republican states, weak blue and red states and then completely unpredictable states where two years into campaigning more than 10 percent people still have not made up their mind. The “undecided” factor to my mind is one of the most ridiculous aspect of American politics. From South Korea to Galapagos, from Canadian Igloos to Australian outback – I think everyone has made up his mind. But not these ten percent Americans – still torn by the unusual mix of this race.

Anyway, this is how 270 works : Just click on this page and it will be all clear : NPR election map.

Pre-election polls mean nothing in this election. There could be a wave and landslide favoring Obama and it could easily go the other way because the election can be tripped by a few small counties in the swing states. There are signs however that McCain might even lose some of the staunch Red states. I think it is pointless to speculate because we will find out Tuesday night two days from now. I just like this interactive map that shapes the strategy and tactics of two campaigns that have spent over $ 1 billion so far. All together, this election including the primaries would have cost no less than $2 billion but that is a small cost for democracy. If it works.

Joe the Plumber & McCain the Candidate

Early in a blog I wrote that I compare productivity and economic future of a country based on how its plumbers work. And when I lavished praise on American plumbers to demonstrate my faith in America’s future, I did not have Joe the Plumber in mind. Joe Wurzelbacher became a Paris Hilton like superstar when John McCain named him no less than a dozen times at his final debate with Barack Obama. Since then, they have gotten stuck with him like a log in a swamp. Unlicensed Plumber Joe cannot drain the swamp of McCain campaign. At a major campaign rally someplace in battlegorund American John McCain asked for Joe the Plumber to stand up. He did not.  Like a true bad plumber he was a no show when the pipes had burst. John McCain’s badly leaking campaign is way beyond a plumbing fix and Joe was a no show. He is busy building his own career in show business. 

That is one of the worst wastes of America. Everyone is a showman and that is the primary profession of choice when people can do so much more productive. Some people should just stay with plumbing. But since there is no caste system in America there is no limit on who gets to be the Brahmin and talk Sanskrit. Joe the Plumber, Wolf the Cobbler, Bill the Butcher, Mika the Stripper, Chris the Cleaner, Sean the Trash Collector, Rush the Pimp, Lou the Prison Guard, Tom the Teacher and Jon the Juggler – they are all pundits. The number of people who can get on TV without flinching and say something instantly smart to capitalize their two seconds of fame is just staggering. And they are good ! Campaigns are about talking but here you have a whole nation of talkers that all see themselves as prophets. 

If Barack Obama is accused of messiah complex ( which I think is unfair, the man looks fully grounded in reality and humility) John McCain thinks he is entitled to be President. Perhaps this is why he has run this campaign in an erratic manner without ever mastering any of the issues. He never dwelt in detail on any of the big questions like the economic meltdown. He just held threatened to hold his breath till they passed a stimulus package. They did not lot and he exhaled.

He demonstrated a feisty grit throughout the campaign but a lot of it looked like bad tempered cockiness. He looked like school yard bully who was 72 years gray. That is a sad sight because it gives a sense of graying senility. He did not think he owed an explanation or understanding of what real shape America was in and how it was going to come out. He placed all bets on Joe the Plumber. The campaign was all about him — and Joe — not about million of Americans who are suffering as never before. He, the 72 year old self styled maverick, had an air that the Presidency was his due and the other candidate (”that one”) was a little thorn in his way. In treating his opponent with contempt he might have alienated a large number of voters. With his negativity and trash-talking vice-president pick Sarah Palin he pulled in the lunatic fringe of conservatism closer while pushing away right thinking, self respecting decent people. He made an awful and dangerously bad choice in picking Palin who seems qualified to be running a motel town in Nevada and no more. That point has been obvious to everyone but Jimmy the Illiterate White Evangelical Southern Farmer buying his fourth Uzi submachine gun before a black man becomes president of the United States and before hordes of former Chicago slaves invade Mississippi. That vote, Palin has confirmed but little else.

John McCain has demonstrated enormous energy for a 72 year old man. His courage is heroic. The man is made of great stuff, no doubt. But he had an opportunity to lift the whole campaign up and position himself as the symbol of stability, calm, heroism, poise & respect. Instead he descended into the sewer with his campaign. He hired worst political assassins of Republican party to attack Obama relentlessly. All he had to do was play Roosevelt or Reagan. In times of crises people would have voted for a grandfatherly figure with gravitas and humor. But he had an unhinged eagerness in him that scared people. The man who was accusing Obama of “naked ambition” was without clothes himself.

John McCain is not a lesser man, he is a giant among men. He is just a worse candidate. The better candidate will win.