LET THE TAMASHA BEGIN!

Its election time in India folks!   Who are you going to vote for this time?   Does it really make a difference?   Does it even matter if you vote or dont?    That depends on how you look at the issue, and where your own interests lie.

Major Issues:  What are the major election issues in India, this time around?   Well, the comfort zone of “terrorism” is no longer inviting and safe.   It may, infact, give negative returns.   Economics has overtaken all other considerations, and come on to  the forefront of political battles, that lie ahead.   And jobs, the least glamorous, but the most relevant issue affecting dozens of millions of Indians is now uppermost in the minds of the electorate.   Of course, how much of a “mind” the electorate has, is a different matter altogether, given the voting patterns in the past elections!

The Challenges:  The change of guard in America has also changed the old equations for the Indian ruling classes.   The Indian political elite will definitely miss the indulgence of the Bush administration, towards the various sins of omission and commission merrily committed by the Indian elite.   Having enjoyed a jolly ride for eight long years thus, adjusting to the new realities of the changed situation, is not going to be easy for the Indian rulers.

Compounding  their problems is the current economic crisis in the United States, and elsewhere.   Job opportunities in the U.S. for the Indian middle classes are fast drying up.   And a reverse flow of expatriates back to India, after losing their jobs abroad, has begun.   The new American administration has, inevitably perhaps, come out with legislation to protect the American workers, and industry.   Outsourcing of jobs to other countries at the cost of the local labor, and employing aliens ignoring equally qualified locals would be penalized now.   As it so happens, the majority of the jobs outsourced by American companies go to India;  and naturally, now India has to suffer the most on account of these new laws.   Having enjoyed  free lunches for a long time practically, the Indian establishment is now forced to address the long standing issues that remain unresolved even fifty seven years after Independence-Poverty, Unemployment, Illiteracy,  Diseases, Corruption etc., etc., etc.!

Immature Electorate:  On its part, the Indian electorate has rarely displayed the kind of maturity and common sense expected of it in its approach to voting in national elections, in the past.   Political Parties have almost always succeeded in diverting people’s attention with frivolous and even stupid issues, and away from the real issues.   But this time around, the politicians may not have it so easy.   Primarily, on account of the increasingly precarious job situation.   With industry and businesses laying off employees by the hundreds, practically every week, on account of the economic situation(what else), the increasing number of jobless makes it more complicated for the political classes to come up with a neat and  winning combination of promises and slogans, that have invariably paid dividends in the past.

At this point of time, it is difficult to predict the result of the election.   But the election itself should offer an insight into the minds of the Indian electorate, and the public at large.   Has the Indian electorate grown up?   Has it matured?   Has it developed the capacity of seperating the chaff from the grain?   Has it developed the ability to see through the politician’s empty promises?   Has it, at last, learned to recognize the real issues that affect its interests like poverty, unemployment, health, education etc.?   Or has it not learnt anything from its past experience and continues to labor under illusions and delusions?   Does fatalism still play a prominent role in decision making of the Indian electorate?   These, and many more questions will be answered soon.  

Conclusion:  To be fair,  the Indian voter, does not have much of a choice.   All the major political parties have been tried, tested, and found to be wanting.   And the new and smaller parties do not have the necessary fire power or the horse power to reach the goal post!  

Whatever the outcome of these elections, the winning party or combine may end up cursing their luck in winning the elections, given the developing economic crisis that is likely to hit India squarely in the coming months, if not weeks.  

LET THE TAMASHA BEGIN!

View expressed above are author’s personal.

OH AMERICA!

The current economic crisis in the West, has exposed some of the home truths about the supposed superiority of their system, a combination of ‘free elections’ and ‘free markets’.   America is  a case in point.

The first Presidential Election in the United States was held in the year 1789, more than 220 years ago!   And since then , there have been about 56 elections.   A record!   Even though the American electorate has not had much choice, with only two parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, to choose from.   And the Spoils System and crony Capitalism, being abiding features of the American landscape, the electorate’s freedom to choose, may not have much meaning.   Because they end up getting the same soup, with a different garnish!

Where America has done creditably well, perhaps, is, in tackling and overcoming, by and large, the problems of poverty, illiteracy, health, etc.   Even here, dissenting voices would tell us that there is a lot of hidden poverty in the United States, that a good percentage(some say 20%) of Americans cannot read, and that the American Health Care system is in the grip of the Pharmaceutical Companies, or the mafia, if you please.   But rightly or wrongly, America continues to attract all and sundry.   The steady stream of success stories thrown up by the system, successfully masks the unpalatable aspects of American life and times.

The unbroken chain of 56 elections in America in the past 220+ years, has cemented the image, in the minds of the people at large, of a system and a state that gives its citizens the right to choose and change their leadership every four years.    But the trained eye cannot fail to discern, that, behind the choice of the citizens, is the guiding hand of the mass media that practically hustles(?) the citizens into predetermined positions, that serve the interests of the powers that be.   It may, perhaps, be unfair, to compare the western mass media to a sheep dog that herds the flock(electorate) at the command of its Master(establishment).   But the influence of the mass media over the people’s choice in politics or fashion cannot be overestimated.

Coming back to the economic crisis, one would imagine that the true strength of a system lay in its ability to give its best in times of crisis.   At a time when it is needed most.   Does this hold good for the system of capitalism and free markets in America?   Right now the American Government is busy pumping in dozens of billions of dollars to prop up the crumbling edifices of the Big Business, that were once the pride of America, without realising, or rather, bothering about the fact, that its actions practically amount to nationalizing these Corporations.

The American establishment would have us believe that these measures are necessary under the circumstances, and that they are temporary, and that even if such actions result in majority Government ownership of these companies, it does not amount to nationalization!

The position of the American Government is unenviable, and its response to the situation, pathetic.   Is this the best the American system can come up with after nearly 225 years of Democracy, Freedom, Liberty, Education, and what not?   Where have all the whiz kids gone?   The products of the great American educational Institutions- Harvard, Stanford, Wharton?   And what about the so called Think Tanks?   At other times, read better times, these captains of free speech and intelligent thinking occupy the centerstage of political and economic discourse, dishing out their invaluable wisdom, by the ladlefuls.   (Do ‘invaluable’ and ‘ladleful’ go together?)  

It is, perhaps, time for the American establishment and the people, to clinically examine the inherent shortcomings of their system, and rejig the same, to allow for genuine dissent, and not the in-house variety, and to have the courage to introspect.

Come to think of it, one of the major reasons why America is in trouble, could be, that they have been too busy teaching others how to run their systems, and in the process, neglected their own!  May be its time for the Americans to look inward, and re-learn how to run their own system!

View expressed are author’s personal.

My Word!

Hypocrisy is a common trait among human beings.   It is neither region, religion, nor color specific.  Though the degree and proportion of it may vary from place to place, and time to time.

The scheduled auction of Mahatma Gandhi’s personal effects by the auction house, Antiquorum in New York on Friday, the 6th of March, has exposed Indian hypocrisy to a worldwide audience.

Gandhi’s philosophy of non violence and religious harmony is yet to be accepted by the majority of Indians in letter and spirit.   Especially in his home state of Gujarat, that has seen recurring incidents of violence over time, reaching genocidal proportions in 2002 in Godhra.   Religious strife in India is taking newer and more dangerous forms, imperilling the very stability of the state.

The Indian Government wants the personal effects of the Mahatma, that include his spectacles, a pair of leather sandals, etc., repatriated to India.   It is examining various ways in which to accomplish this, including the legal option.

The key question to answer for the Government of India is, whether it has a list of all such artefacts of national and historical value, in the possession of foreign individuals and institutions;  and if so, what efforts it has made so far to get them back to India.   It does not do any credit to India’s image if the Government were to be seen making noises whenever such an incident occurs, only to lapse into amnesia once the issue is resolved, either to its satisfaction, or otherwise.  

Meanwhile Mr.Otis, the ‘owner’ of the artefacts under contention, has made an offer to the Indian Government to return the items to India, gratis, provided the Government does something practical to reaffirm its committment to the ideals of the Mahatma, like making higher allocation for education, and generally to do something for the poorest of India.  

While one would not venture into the issue of Mr.Otis’ sincerity in this matter, it is a fact that the Indian Government has put itself in a unenviable position on account of its less than enthusiastic approach to issues of national heritage, that is evident in so many other aspects of its functioning.

Views expressed here are personal ones of the author.

THE GULF DOOM!

Is it the end of the Gulf Boom?   Is it time to write the obit of the Gulf Boom?   By all available indications, yes!   A regular stream of expatriates is returning to India and other countries of the Third World, with broken dreams in their suitcases.

The lucky ones are those that have already made their pot of gold, and have to look for a job in their country, more for an occupation than for subsistence.   The unlucky ones are those that had borrowed money to chase their dreams, and have now to go back to their places and face the moneylenders.   It is a tragedy being played out across the Indian subcontinent, and some other countries in the less developed world.

So how do we rationalise this tragedy?   Who do we hold responsible for this unfolding tragedy?   The Government, the Citizens, fate, circumstances?   On balance, it would appear that the Governments and their citizens are responsible in almost equal measure, with the scale tilting slightly towards the Government.

One of the simple and abiding truths of life is, when you depend on others for anything, you are risking your own interests, and putting yourselves at the sweet mercies of the others.   The overdependence of countries like India on overseas jobs to take care of their unemployed millions has now boomeranged on them, and it may be only a matter of months before the deluge of returning for good expatriates delivers a body blow to their already wobbling economies.

It is an undeniable fact that Governments in many of the less developed countries like India, Pakistan, Philippines, etc., have taken the easy way out to deal with the unemployment problem by encouraging their citizens to migarate to the Gulf and other prosperous destinations, instead of making concerted efforts to fulfil their basic responsibilities towards their citizens.   What’s more they get cheap foreign exchange by way of remittances from the expatriates.   On their part, the citizens of these countries have also not bothered to fight for their rights in their own land.   Rather, they have taken the easy way out by taking up jobs abroad, than traverse the rough road of activism to bring about responsible governance in their own countries.  

So long as the going was good, neither the Governments, nor their citizens bothered about the implications of their respective actions or inaction.   But all good things have to come to an end.   And so it is with the Gulf Boom.

What now?   Increase in unemployment, social tensions, religious strife, political instability, economic chaos, crimes etc., etc.   We are in for some pretty tough times ahead.   It is a scary scenario alright!

On the brighter side, this situation offers both the Governments and the citizens of the affected countries, to ponder over their past mindless conduct, and their penchant to skirt chronic problems, and to finally put their collective heads together and find solutions for the exploding problem of the Gulf Doom.   And if that happens, there may yet be a chance to escape the worst consequences of this developing tragedy.

Views expressed above are the personal ones of the author.

My Word!

The British Prime Minister is visiting the United States of America to meet with the new occupant of the White House, Mr.Barack Obama.   And both the countries have reaffirmed their ’special relationship’ after the first meeting of the two leaders.  

However, an undercurrent of tension could be discerned between the two traditional allies (especially  in rogue ventures)!   Also the kind of brotherhood evident between their predecessors, Mr. Tony Blair and Mr. George Bush was clearly missing here.

The British are  concerned by the seemingly protectionist tone and tenor of recent American Trade Policies, in the wake of the economic meltdown, for example the Be American, Buy American type of exhortations and stipulations, aimed at American Companies, especially those receiving Government fiscal and monetary support.

It would be interesting to see what sort of changes may come about in  this ’special relationship’ in the coming weeks.