Financial capital under siege once again

Image courtesy: www.thehindu.com  

Mumbai, the financial capital of India, is under siege again.  And this time, it was not bullets that were flying out of assault guns and grenades bursting in the middle of the road and war cries by so called non-state actors. The city was under siege by our own God of Rain “Indra” who was responsible for the havoc and this wasn't even the first time.  After 12 years of the first deluge, the city of Mumbai was again paralysed due to heavy rains which brought it to its knees.

What followed was a mockery of the crisis at hand: Newsrooms blaming civic agencies, advising do’s and don’ts for the people stranded  on the roads, offices and  at railway stations and enjoying yet another day  of 24 hours reporting where they are allowed to shout  and pass their judgement without analysing the ground reality.

Mumbai was always prone to water logging and this time was also not different, we have seen and witnessed numerous times in the past how heavy rains can bring thecity  to a standstill. Despite the fact that this will happen sooner than later, no one seemed to be bothered about this, till the time it happened.

We are talking about spirit of Mumbai and how people helped each other and opened their gates for unknown people to help them in time of crisis. But I am curious to know why these very people never did anything to solve the problem that beset them in the first place. Why, after 70 years of Independence, we are still stuck with problems like water logging, floods and famine?

We as citizens have no time to come out on streets and protest against so called Godman’s responsible for tarnishing the name of religion, we as citizens have no time to protest against atrocities against women, we have no time to protest against Child abuse as well! We as  citizens exercise only our right to criticise the government and blaming others for not doing their duties. 

 

How many people in India conduct candle marches to improve basic and civic amenities in the country?  How many people protest against depleting infrastructure? How many people protest ifsomeone is bothering your neighbour?

The answer is No One!

We assume that we have chosen a representative by casting our votes and this is his responsibility to rectify all around us and if he is not doing it we will choose a new representative next time.  This goes on and on, till the time we are back to square one.

So for the sake our upcoming generations lets fight: Lets fight for equal rights, fight for better civic amenities, fight against biases based on caste, colour and religion and for God sake lets fight for a better India!!!

Boys will be boys… Gender Equality anyone???

A new incident, that took the nation by storm, was when a son of a powerful politician stalked a girl in the wee hours of night when she was returning from work. The girl in question also  had a powerful father(bureaucrat)  to take her grievance public.  A normal parent may not have been able to do so, since the stalker had deep connections with the high and mighty in the corridors of power.

The complaint was filed and the culprit was out on bail in a jiffy. This caused severe uproar and we the people of India did what we do best- started an online revolution sitting in our cosy beds and chairs and commenting on the gravity of the situation and how these spoiled brats should be reined in!

Then I came across a post on FB where it was mentioned how a senior leader and colleague of the father of the stalker, advised that good kids should not venture out after a certain time. The post in question was a strong rebuttal on the statement of this leader.

We had seen the same hype and hoopla in  2012 as well and the same circus will go on and on and will not make any difference till the time we do some serious introspection and come out with ways and means to stop this nuisance.

This is NOT, contrary to what many people think, a law and order problem. The problem will persist till the time we have a different set of ideologies for girls and boys.

I do not understand why we have this notion that females have to carry the moral dignity of the entire clan on their shoulders. Till the time we do not free them from this responsibility nothing will change and we will keep on criticising the system for these kind of incidents.

Image Courtesy: https://www.globalcitizen.org//

Did we ever realise that we are the ones responsible for this creepy mentality that boys are superior than girls? Instead of reciting stories about “Rani Laxmi Bai, “Kalpana Chawla”  “Sania Nehwal” “Sarojini Naidu”, we tell them the gory details of 2012 and tell them not to venture out in the night without any male assistance.

“Change your attitude and everything will fall in place”    

Boys, you also need to understand that “No means NO” and if you still haven’t understood, please watch Amitabh Bachchan starrer “PINK”!!!

The “intolerance” debate

ImageCourtesy: http://www.quotehd.com

Everyone seems to be more than happy to join the debate on how “Tolerant" or “Intolerant", we,  as a nation, are? From Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter or chat groups,  everyone has their own version of how we as a nation are doing on tolerance levels.

All hell broke loose when, during a debate, Aamir Khan, India's famous superstar admitted that his wife was scared to live in the country.  Aamir Khan incidentally raked in more than 300 Cr on his last release, by taking pot-shots in a lighter vein on mostly Hinduism and showcased how some people in the name of religion misuse the trust and devotion of millions to capitalise on their fears.

The movie PK was good and deserved the response it got, but is there any need to create a controversy before his upcoming release? Especially so, since his movies always get a positive response from the vast majority of the masses. When his wife, who is a Hindu, quoted that she is not feeling safe in the current atmosphere, was she referring to  the growing intolerance from the current regime or she was talking from the past experiences? We all know how Mumbai felt during 26/11 or infamous Bombay blasts  in 1993. Several other noted personalities came out strongly both in favour of and against what he thought and said.

Fine: I believe that every individual is free to express his own views whether it is positive or negative, despite his social standing in the society. One of our fundamental rights is that anyone and everyone is free to express his/her opinion on and no one can deny him this right. 

Yes, this IS a tolerant country where you can mock Hindu gods and still rake in money and Yes this IS an intolerant country where you are not free to speak what you are actually feeling. The radicalisation of religion in any form is not good for any civil society.

The hype and hoopla created by this statement was uncalled for, unnecessary and unwarranted by any standards. Let’s work towards a society where religion and opinion are not at loggerheads and people have other things to do rather than fighting on statements and triggers to disrupt communal tolerance. 

The e-commerce space: Reality or Fluke

1997-2000 was a period in which stock prices of the companies working in internet and technology sectors, specially in western countries, soared. The stocks were highly overvalued, responsible for creating an image that the companies are making huge profits. It appeared that anyone with an idea could get funds to create an internet based company and transform it into a billion dollar enterprise. And then the bubble burst!

It was in 2001-02 that the investors lost approximately a Trillion Dollars and the great American dream finally crashed. Since the period was witnessing only the beginning of the internet arena in India, we were mostly insulated from the severity of the issues that were created as  a result globally!

Today with more than 300 million internet users in India, the internet penetration is still a long way to go. The internet population is around 19% and there is still very very little penetration except in Urban and Semi Urban areas.  India’s first advent of e–commerce came with IRCTC, which allowed passengers to book tickets online which led to easing the congestion on railway stations and became the first real success! Soon major airlines started offering tickets online.

Though online shopping in one format or another, was present since 2000 but the real popularity came when retailers like Flipkart, Fashionandyou, Bigshoebazaar (later yebhi.com) started offering huge discounts and in a way re-launched online shopping in India.  Afterwards other portals like Amazon, eBay and several others joined the chorus.

Today anyone can log in and purchase anything from a needle to home appliances, clothes to jewellery, etc. with an option to return if not satisfied. The portals surprisingly   are attracting huge investments from venture capitalist and moreover are getting valuation beyond anyone’s imagination.

High profile people like Ratan Tata in his individual capacity are investing in such ventures and indirectly endorsing this model.  The only hitch/confusion with the model is the huge price differential as compared to organized offline retail model. This makes the offline model suffer and is causing unfair comparisons. Secondly authenticity of the products also poses a very serious problem.

The only issue is whether this is a viable situation? The huge discounting that is leading the numbers will end sometimes, but by then the shift to online medium would have caused irreparable loss to the offline retail, with huge losses and closures. Once the discounting stops, will people actually use the online model? Or is it that we are in for a huge correction, as they say in the stock markets and on the verge of another dot com bust??? This is a thought provoking question!!!

Make in India Campaign of the Government...

When the current Prime Minister talked about the need to create a programme to boost manufacturing in India, it was seen as just yet another speech from the Red Fort from yet another politician to pacify people who were reeling under tremendous pressure from slowdown in the Indian economy. 

After 3 months of the announcement, DIPP organised a workshop that was attended by the PM along with his cabinet and several state Chief Secretaries to showcase the seriousness of his commitment towards making India a self-reliant country in the manufacturing domain.

The major objective of this initiative is skill enhancement and job creation in 25 important sectors including Automobiles, IT and Railways.  The initiative aims to increase GDP and revenues from taxation as well as  creating an impact of Indian craftsmanship on the world.

To propel this initiative, foreign equity caps in various sectors has been increased by the government along with the validity of license which has been increased to 3 years.  The FDI in Defence sector was increased from 26% to 49 % to decrease the military imports so that companies would find it easy to invest in this particular sector. India is amongst the largest buyer of Military equipment’s in the world.

Companies like Spice, Huawei, Hitachi, etc. have shown their inclination and committment to invest in India.   It is predicted that approximately 300 million people will join India's workforce between 2010 and 2040 and the country requires 10 million jobs every year to accommodate the work force. It is perceived that this initiative by the Prime Minister will be able to generate approx. 100 Million Jobs by 2022. 

The move if strategically implemented, will not only augment the purchasing power but also help in reducing poverty and curbing brain drain. For this the major policies needs to be overhauled like ease of doing business, single window clearance, ease of policies, and the most important issue is to curb red tapism. I am glad that the Government is "Walking the talk" and trying to create a policy framework that will make a difference in how India attracts FDI. 

The vision, if correctly implemented, can once again put India on the world Map as one of the most competitive manufacturing markets in the world. With more than 120 Crore people in the country, the median age of India's population  is 28, than that of  China and Japan at 37 and 44  respectively, according to data from global market research firm Euromonitor. The "make in India" campaign has the potential to harness the capabilities of this huge population and offer "gainful employment" to the employable. If rightly channelized, this campaign has the potential to become PM's secret  weapon for the next election.

The Great Indian Circus...

Since December 2012, The Indians are everywhere: Infact the eye candy of the international media on several issues first it was brutal and unfortunate gang rape case of Nirbhaya, then Life of PI in Oscars and again the inhuman cowardly act of rape of a 5 year old in Delhi.


Indian media along with their western counterparts created a huge hoopla around the first and the latest issue and it was covered across the world and even the Prime Minister had to answer some awkward questions on his trip to Berlin on safety and deteriorating law and order situation in the country. 

While I am totally in favour of the harshest punishment for the molesters and rapists, I fail to understand why this sudden attention towards India and why renaming Delhi as the Rape capital of the country. These heinous crimes are taking place all over the country and infact across the world. Still I am flummoxed by the gravity of the international attention on these issues.

After contemplating for several days (yes I require some time to think and come to some conclusion, I am not Einstein) I figured out that people in western countries and even small APAC minnow countries can tom tom about women rights and safety per say of the women.

Here are some facts from the report by amnesty international which will open our eyes:

• Women aged between 15 and 44 years of age are more at risk of experiencing rape and domestic violence than cancer, motor vehicle accidents, war and malaria (World Bank, 1993).
• At least one in every three women, or up to one billion women, have been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in their lifetimes. Usually, the abuser is a member of her own family or someone known to her (L Heise, M Ellsberg, M Gottemoeller, 1999).
• Up to 47% of women report that their first sexual intercourse was forced (WHO, 2002).
• Up to 70% of female murder victims are killed by their male partners (WHO, 2002).
• In 2003, at least 54 countries had discriminatory laws against women (UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, 2003).
• 79 countries have no (or unknown) legislation against domestic violence (UNIFEM, 2003).
• Marital rape is recognised specifically as a crime in only 51 countries as far as information was available (UNIFEM, 2003).
• Around 20-70% of abused women never told another person about the abuse until being interviewed for the study by World Health Organisation (WHO, Geneva, 2002)

Compiled from Amnesty International resources

The data clearly shows that the condition is somewhat the same everywhere and finger pointing on one particular country is not fair.

I am not for a single moment saying or trying to justify the action of some of the perverts who are responsible for these acts and am a firm believer of capital punishment to stop this nuisance. What I am trying to tell you is that because of some perverts you cannot categorize the entire country into the same bracket.

India is number 10 in the top 10 countries with the highest crime rates, US and UK top the list followed by Germany France and Russia and this is the first time that I am somehow relieved to find India at the last in hierarchy.

We have ups and down in our personnel lives and so has a country, but as a true citizen we need to fight back against those who are trying to sabotage the reputation of our motherland just to feel superior.

Again I feel that the need of the hour is not to criticize but to enforce strict laws and to sensitize the people to improve not only their attitude towards women but about society in general. The need of the hour is not to take advantage of the situation for political/social ambitions but to come up with a real solution to increasing crimes against women.

I hope that people, especially those living out of India, should mind their own business and start cleaning their acts rather than criticizing India and its people. 

Divisive Politics and Indian Leaders

Before speaking for or against the divisive politics in the country one must find out the reason as to why Divisive politics in India is a favorite tool for the Politicians to create their niche in politics.

Our politics today is totally identity based and is divisive. In the early years after Independence, we used to cast our votes in elections. These days, we vote for a caste. This growth of identity-based politics has been promoted by two factors, or so the experts say.

The first was formation of states based on language or linguistic States which gave a boost to linguistic identities and led to a certain extent to the erosion of a national identity. The second was that our democracy was reduced to a quota based country. And this increased and is increasing to grounds such as caste, community, religion, etc.

Before Independence the society was divided on the basis of four “Varnas” and some people in this country still believe that they have upper hand if they belong to one or two particular “Varnas”. This segregation of society was practiced throughout the country without any protest and the people accepted this as part of their culture.

India, the very formation of the country was based on divisive politics when Pandit Nehru and Lord Mountbatten agreed in consent with Jinnah to divide the country to form two separate states i.e. India and Pakistan. This very formation of the two states was the root cause that gave birth to the idea of divisive politics.

Both the national and regional parties in the country used this tool of divisive politics to enhance their support base in the country and further divided the people on caste and religious basis.

We all are people living in separate states rather then living in a single country. Democracy is raped by politicians every single day in Bihar and UP in the name of caste and society; Andhra has 80% reservation for the local people; to get a taxi permit in Chennai, Tamil is a must; and yet no one has ever bothered to raise their voice against this division.

Instances like Sikh riots in Delhi after the brutal killing of the former Prime Minister from Congress had shown that the very ruling party which is today vocal in protesting against Shiv Sena and MNS was responsible for killing of hundreds of innocent Sikhs.

The main opposition party of this country was responsible for the grave divide between Hindus and Muslims just to take political mileage. Leaders like Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler, Narendra Modi, LK Advani and HKL Bhagat were never booked by the law.

The Law and Judiciary should book all the people responsible for divisive Politics in the country. The law should be equal for all the leaders and political parties and there is no point in only focusing on Balasaheb or Raj or single out Maharashtra. There is not a single instance in this country where any leader was brought to justice for using divisive politics and Balasaheb is not going to be an exception.