The Guy in the Glass

Something interesting I came across, first a few years back and again quite recently.

When you get what you want in the struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what the guy has to say.

For it isn't your mother, or your father,
Whose judgement on you must pass,
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the guy staring back from the glass.

He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest
For he's with you clean to the end;
And you've passed your most dangerous and difficult test
If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum
And think you are a wonderful guy,
But the guy in the glass says you are a bum
If you can't look him straight in the eye.

You may fool the whole world
Down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass;
But the final reward will be heart aches and tears
If you've cheated the guy in the glass.

How this bill doesn't fit the bill

In what is being termed as India’s equivalent of the Suffrage Movement and the Maputo Protocol, the UPA Government has now promised reservation for women at each level of legislative decision-making, starting with the Lok Sabha, down to state and local legislatures in its 100-day action plan. The measure is a throwback to erstwhile Congress Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's move in 1992 to earmark 33% of all seats for women in panchayats.

If the Bill is passed, one-third of the total available seats would be reserved for women in national, state, or local governments. In continuation of the existing provisions already mandating reservations for scheduled caste and scheduled tribes, one-third of such SC and ST candidates must be women.

The proposed legislation to reserve 33.3 percent seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women was drafted first by the H D Deve Gowda-led United Front government, introduced in the Lok Sabha on September 12, 1996. Though it has been introduced in Parliament several times since then, the Bill could not be passed because of lack of political consensus.

It looks like it is incumbent on political parties to score political brownie points by using the much talked about instrument of reservations. The issue of reservations has been a thorn in the side of every government since Independence. Why? Because, it a principle that is fundamentally wrong. And in order to implement a fundamentally wrong principle, one has to devise numerous irrational laws and devices to cloak the ugly core of the principle. A lie has to be covered with other lies. That's why reservation is a thorn.

What does one do when a thorn is stuck in one's foot? He plucks it out. And when are we plucking out the thorn of reservations? At present, it only looks like the policy-makers of the nation are only bent upon driving the thorn further into the foot.

The idea of reservations originated first in attempts to correct historical wrongs. That it doesn't accomplish that in any way, only aggravates differences between different 'groups' of people is a totally different issue. The concept of reservations is now being expanded to include current perceptions of injustice to certain sections of society, more precisely that section which is made of people of a particular sex, women.

Studies have proved that competitive pressures such as trade and deregulation reduce discrimination against women in the job market. That private companies, not cosseted by the Government, tend to choose the best talent without any prejudice is also a testimony to the fact that merit begets respect and opportunity.

This Bill takes away the democratic right of 33% of the electorate (22 crore people) to elect their representatives and restricts the choice of both men and women in those constituencies. The state has no right to limit the pool of representatives available to the public to choose from. It violates the right to equality guaranteed in the constitution. This is against all democratic principles of free choice. It will lead to significant upheavals and instability in Indian polity, with MPs being forced to shuffle constituencies in almost every election. An inability to nurture their constituency and further reduce accountability is thus, what we get.
The Bill sacrifices merit and experience of seasoned law makers and will further divide the country on gender lines. It suggests a rotation system which would be determined by draw of lots, in such a manner that a seat would be reserved only once in a block of three general elections. This is a serious flaw, insofar as it mechanically provides for entry of women members to fill one-third of vacancies in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas. This subverts the democratic process which is all about free choice vis-à-vis a mechanical action/ process.
The concept of reservation is an insult to women and their capability and perpetuates gender discrimination. Moreover, there are no measures to make sure that the benefits are received by the socially backward and underprivileged women, who really need them. It is hard to imagine how a normal woman who is brilliant, patriotic and honest and has the will to bring about change would be able to benefit from this move. Going through the labyrinthine and tedious, if not only useless, procedure of party politics is not the best way of ensuring that we get motivated leaders. And how individual candidates just serve to make up the numbers is there for all to see. There are no objective criteria to prevent the elite class or “creamy layer” of women from taking undue and unfair advantage of this legislation.

India is a vast country that is multi-cultural, multi-ethic, multi-lingual and with several groups, castes, sub-castes etc. Apart from beating the drum for reservations in general, the implementation of this bill would lead to more demands from various groups and sections of society for similar representation and it would be an open invitation for politicization of the representative form of Indian democracy. It will be a death blow to representation through constituencies.

In India, a man is presumed to be superior to a woman, not because of considerations of merit of thought, but by anatomical considerations. And the enforcement of such belief-systems upon women is carried out by persuasion, blackmail, threat of physical violence and sometimes direct bodily or psychological injury. So fighting such stupid beliefs should form the core of those want to uplift conditions of women. Education and removal of old 'anti-women' concepts and strict law enforcement can make a woman walk confidently on the streets. And achieve what she wants without help or interference from any external sources. If such conditions ensue, why will women ask for reservations?

Yet the proponents of the Womens' Reservation Bill propose to fight injustice with injustice. They are feeding the prejudices of the patriarchal sections of society by supporting such a bill. They want to plant puppets like Rabri Devi in 182 seats in Parliament and gloat over their victory in their struggle for 'equal opportunities' with men.

This bill is short-sighted, unconstitutional, undemocratic and discriminatory.

Do give it fair thought before branding me a misogynist.

(And no, I’m not exactly Lalu Prasad Yadav’s fan!)

Insanity rules? Ok!

Much as I am dejected by India's loss in the 20-20 World Cup, after our surprise elimination from the tournament we were expected to win, what bothers me much more is the way aspersions are cast on the team. What bothers me is that national dailies - which boast of having on board, the game's stalwarts and insightful columnists - run headlines like 'Team lets nation down' and 'Captain cool or captain lose?'.

The dominant reactions to the defeat seem to be one of anger and betrayal. Anger is a complicated emotion. It's not clear what causes and is caused by anger. There are broadly two methods that people employ to vent their anger. More sophisticated of these are acerbic rants, while others are unabashed physical gestures.

Let's say there are two categories of anger: personal and impersonal. The former is caused by things that have immediate relevance to you (your newspaper delivery boy is lazy) and the later by things with no or very little relevance to you (your friend's newspaper delivery boy is lazy). To be sure, this is not very well defined, but I am concentrating one one single aspect which will be clearer.

Both these angers are perfectly justifiable. The crucial difference between them is what you do about it. First there are some absolute limits on what you can do. For instance, you can't destroy the home of the newspaper boy. Within those limits, personal anger gives you more scope for action. You can fire your newspaper boy. But the impersonal anger almost never permits action. While you can urge your friend to fire his newspaper boy, you can't do so yourself.

The anger generated in many fans by Indian team's loss is impersonal. This is the case even though it may be true that the team's performances are key to many of the fans' happiness. This impersonal anger surely allows for serious criticism, but much of what we see today is unwarranted. Here is where the thin line of difference between the anger and the betrayel gets blurred. It has to be remembered: the Indian team is not responsible to its fans. (That a fan needs to stand by his team in hours of victory and defeat can be left unsaid in the current climes anyway.) This might sound sacrilegious in today's atmosphere of affected jingoism, but it is true. If the Indian team has the power to cause a fan intense shame and misery, that power is given to them by the fan. The team did not ask for it. The fan can take that power away from the cricketers if he wishes. The fact that cricketers make insane amounts of money is not germane to the issue. Neither is it correct to argue that a cricketer's basking in the glory when he does well requires him to take the obscenities thrown at him when he doesn't. The Indian cricket team does not represent India's pride. Anyone purporting to derive national glory or shame on the basis of cricket team's results is a fool. (Take note, Hero-Honda, Pepsi and others of the ilk!)

It seems to me that this whole affair is symptomatic of a disturbing trend that is emerging in India. Many of the new habits and practices are characterized by instant gratifications and even more instant disillusionment. Shortsightedness isn't just prevalent, it is rampant. Gone in the process are the balancing convictions afforded either by ancient culture, or a thorough education. This is apparent everywhere one sees. In cricket, a player is lifted to the sky after a handful of good performances and his effigies are burnt after a single bad show. Whether it is the national obsession with daily junk on television, or the eager rush to modify education to suit the immediately visible needs, what seems to drive people today is the expedience of the moment.

Does insanity rule?

Think.

Can pigs fly?

Can pigs fly? I think not. But how can I be so sure? If I’m pigheaded enough, I can start throwing pigs off a cliff and after an agreed upon number of pigs have turned to pork down below, I can say with almost certainty that porcine flight is impossible. The downside to this method is not that too many pigs are killed to prove a point, but that for believers of flying pigs, too few will have been tested before we, considered as anti-flying pig bigots, come to a conclusion. (‘The next one could have been the pig, you know.’)

Another way to prove that pigs don’t fly could be to read the scriptures, the law if you will. For instance, if those awaiting proof are believing Christians, then the tactic could be to read out Chapter 8 Verse 32 of the Book of Matthew in the Bible: “And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.” Not one pig fluttered to safety there.

The downside to this method is that it’s fundamentally stupid: to gather a fact by what’s simply mentioned in a fable, no matter how sacred and profound the fable may be, is a leap of faith not too unlike that taken by the swine mentioned above.

So what’s with all this pig metaphor? Has the swine flu over the cuckoo’s nest? Or am I reading too much into one of Floyd's most cogent creations? No, it’s just that I’ve been going mad cow trying to figure out why otherwise bright sparks have been going on and on about how abnormal it is for 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab to plead ‘not guilty’ during his ongoing trial. Why would a guilty man, they ask in that gobsmacked way that will become a look by the next fashion season, tell a court that he’s not guilty? Because, honeys, that’s what most people accused of committing crimes do: say they’re innocent.

The smart set’s not only upset by Kasab’s plea of ‘not guilty’ but is also appalled that someone, an Indian to boot, is defending him. Surely, they murmur, Kasab’s (first) lawyer Abbas Kazmi would be just pretending to defend his client and actually hanging out with and helping the prosecutor to nail the bastard, right? Or Anjali Waghmare -the now done with lawyer- secretly be an accomplice in hatching a plot to plot the downfall of one of India's most 'celebrated' terrorist captive. Expectedly, the villagers with their pitchforks are baying for blood. The Islam Gymkhana in Mumbai had expelled Kazmi as he “agreed to defend the most dreaded terrorist Kasab. This is against the essence of Islam”. Will the Koran ever be used to defend terrorism again? Never! Only club rules apply. Just to prove he isn’t above loving ‘patriotic Muslims’, Shiv Senapati Balasaheb Thackeray has endorsed the Gymkhana decision.

Anjali Waghmare was done with, for her apparent inability to comply to court rules or what, one might never be able to tell. In any case, she had her house pelted with stones by a mob. I believe that Waghmare was taken off the case of her own volition and not because of the technical reason cited: because she is also representing a 26/11 victim, she couldn’t be defending Kasab. Hmm. If a lawyer is seen to be professional enough to keep her personal views about a terrorist outside the court and defend him, why is prosecuting and defending the accused in two separate cases such a legal taboo?

So what about the pigs? Well, ‘Is Kasab guilty?’ is as tough a question to answer as ‘Can pigs fly?’ But according to the law, that secular scripture we bow to whenever it suits us, you need to jump through a set of agreed-upon hoops before effectively proving that Kasab is a guilty man. It doesn’t matter a bacon-nibbling rat’s ass if it seems obvious to you and me that Kasab’s a mass-killer who brought India to its knees. A good defendant can upset all expectations by arguing that the prosecutor’s evidence simply doesn’t add up. That’s his job. And that’s what makes a trial in this country legit and not an ‘Off with their heads!’ procedure.

And what about us(who the "usses" really are is open to debate)? Are we being so kind in showing our magnanimity to the 'poor' old fellow who showed just how vulnerable India is? Or are we just procrastinating the inevitable in order to prove just how pro-Tiananmen we are, in the current scheme of things?

We, in my humble opinion as I might add here, are like a pig in the middle, caught between what has been a rigid and redundant labyrinth of procedures and a compulsion to prove how we, as a nation, are prone to bootlick that phrase called 'democracy'. The general opinion(the democratic opinion, if it can be called that) is that Kasab is a mass murderer without even hinting at the literal meaning that his name connotes. Yet, we continue to act like young hypocrites at the DU. I wouldn't want to, but given to my tendency of digressing, I shall. The HT City 'reported' recently that young men joining the DU were planning attend their first few days at college in big, swanky cars and NOx guzzling superbikes, or 'Boy's Toys', as you might like to call them. The concerned females accepted that this does manage to attract their attention, afterall, name and fame corrupt anyone. But she(the individual in question) was quick to add that she would turn down-pretty nonchalantly at that- any proposal if she were to learn that the guy didn't "own" the car/bike but had bought it to impress her. Wanting to hang Kasab without a trial, after we're all human, and yet giving him a fair chance to prove he's not guilty. Fair and square? Surely.

I want Kasab to hang. I hope Kasab will hang. That’s why I’m so keen the trial is conducted quarantined from the pandemic hoopla surrounding it. That’s also why I don’t want the prosecution to screw things up.

Till then, pig it!

Of Bootfluenza and the Fourth Estate

Mr. Shoe is gaining in popularity as a political missile. Mr. Shoe might have been thrown-in to 'meet' people before. But in his new found avatar, Mr. Shoe has caught the imagination of the media and the public alike. Suppressed grievances are brought to the fore by giving Mr. Shoe some air!

Feeling helpless? Go chuck him at someone! After Muntazar Al-Zaidi bootslapped Bush, Mr. Shoe in flight has become the weapon of the powerless.

Compared to a bullet or a bomb, the shoe is as harmless as a flower(only as long as your olfactory nerves are jammed!). Its impact is mild, its range is limited(no stilettos please). It is the common man’s weapon or missile where ever or whenever his shoe pinches. There are times when even pebbles or stones may not be readily available, unless you have hidden them in your pocket, to be used against political adversaries as a part of advance planning. But the shoe is there under one’s foot always ready to fly, if lobbed by the wearer as an impromptu release of ire. Indeed, Mr. Shoe has grown in eminence!

There is a time and place for everything. For the shoe throw, the venue of a press conference, attended by a dignified authority or person seems appropriate. In the present climate, shoe throwing has become a winsome gesture, a stunt that surely wins some (un)deserved publicity. Afterall, it takes quite a lot to remove your footwear and bear those pungent heavens while your footwear lies close to the cynosure of the public assembly!

The thrower may be pardoned, if lucky, or if the social or political gap between the thrower and the person targeted is wide enough for a show of magnanimity. Or the law may take its course. But the thrower is amply compensated by the publicity netted. The shoe throw requires no skills; no training. The shoe need not even hit the person. But its direction should leave no one in doubt about the person intended as victim.

Some say demand for easily removable shoes has increased, after the recent events. Those wearing boots no longer tie the lace, to save time when a throw is needed. Suspicions about the inclusion of the up-to-the-minute "shoe-a-thon" as the shoe-stopper in the 2010 CW Games are rife!

The next parliament may legislate on the issue of the shoe. America should ban the sale of easily-removable-and-throwable shoes for not every President is as adept at dodging Hush Puppies(and other concerns) as Bush. For attending functions where dignitaries are present, people may be required to leave their shoes outside before entering the premises. Do we not remove footwear when entering temples and certain marked areas, even though there is no law but only convention?

I don’t say shoes have not been hurled at each other by people earlier. But what makes it sensational are the personalities, occasion, context, issue involved etc. There is a time and place for every thing. Changes in these can create sensations. Throwing a shoe on a common man walking on the road is no great event. Who cares?

The shoe industry may undergo drastic changes in the light of the shoe throw politics. The design, weight, color and many other parameters may need attention.

In the past, rotten eggs, tomatoes, pebbles, paper weights, books, cups, bottles, plates and anything which can be lifted and thrown have been used as projectiles. But the shoe throw is different. Oiling the wheels of this much-acclaimed endeavour are sites like www.shoeandawe.com which choose to pay homage to those great men-at-"arms".

Here the shoe is used as a symbol of religious or political dislike and hatred. The contrast between the humble shoe and the ambitious throne it wants to occupy makes for much publicity. Above all there is the surprise element involved. It should be most unexpected and sudden. Some applaud the feat in private, while condemning it openly. Media display it as if it were a heroic deed!

It is an insult to the intellegentsia to equate shoe-throwing with democracy. At best, these shoe chuckers are attention-seeking individuals. They give bad name to the virtue of.

While it might be true that the ban on Jagdish Tytler owes its existence to everyone's recent interest in a certain someone's shoes, this embrace of vigilante justice is an extremely dangerous trend and one which is truly unbecoming of a healthy democracy. A true democracy hinges on the dictum of public opinion formed not as after-effects of a shoe-gate but of the analysis carried out by free-thinking men. Politicians should be wary of commiting atrocities not because they fear being hit by a shoe in public but because they should fear being exposed and excommunicated from the entire politcal setup.

If the journalist who threw his size-nine Reebok at the Home Minister was just an ordinary citizen who took such action on one of Delhi’s streets then perhaps it could be argued that he simply has no decency. But for a news reporter to take such action is a matter that should be condemned. That he chose to use shoes over words, forgetting that journalism does not debate and communicate using violence and vulgarity is an insult to the profession of journalism and an indicator that the nature of journalism has been misunderstood.

These words are not in defense of Chidambaram; they come in defense of our culture that does not approve of such behavior. These words are for defending the profession of journalism that is beginning to suffer from a lack of professionalism. A journalist is expected to voice his concerns by posting pithy, quick witted questions, aimed at facilitating cognitive thinking. However this journalist, who today has the right to ask questions and to hold a politician responsible and remind him of his lies, decides not to do that; he decides that shoes were powerful than words, reason and argument, as this is some people’s idea of democracy. No civilized society can forgive this way of expressing disapproval in a democracy.

If it is a sign of the times, then it is time to change! This again is a case of wrong means to reach the right ends. Can we change? What would you do if you were in Jarnail Singh's shoes?

Ponder.

Au revoir!

Make sense of this.

Wars of the future: Part 1

So, it is about time I wrote something that makes sense to the usual human. Now, that could mean anything. Varies from person to person. But again, we're NOT getting into the nuances of the ever-so esoteric theory of relativity.

With the kind of turmoil the world is in right now, one wonders if what we've seen until now is really it. Because of the global greed crisis, the writing is firmly on the wall for those who till now thought walls were only what formed edges of alleys on the street. South

Asia is up in flares owing to insanely inane individuals who claim to be God's-own-soldiers. America keeps going on acting like the world's Messiah while a bloody storm continues to brew, courtesy Columbian and Mexican druglords. Africa continues to rue its tumultuos existence. China, for all its burgeoning economic growth doesn't have what is needed to be called a truly progressive nation. Take a trip to Dongtan if you might and you'll notice that China in essence is a poor country.

Astronauts and cosmonauts are fighting over toilet paper and gym equipment at what is farcically called the 'International' Space Centre while people who have their feet-firmly-on-the-ground are dying.

Call me a cynic all you want, but I do foresee a greater peril. History is testimony to the fact that there is always a series of events that lead to a great global event and there is just a tiny pinprick that gives vent to all that build-up(fathom the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, for instance). Terrorism(or narcoterrorism), economic warfare, regional conflicts, religious strife and energy driven crises, any of these, in my opinion could prove to be the roots of a world endangering conflict between nations, if and when there is one.

In context to the present scenario, the focus for now would be on economic wars.

Economic warfare is as old as traditional warfare and, throughout time, economic wars have been waged to secure financial gains. Economic wars are marked by continuity and they are known in times of peace as well as during war. Chief among the economic wars witnessed between Europe and the United States was the disagreement over the Siberia gas pipeline. There has also been an economic war between the United States on one hand and China and Japan on the other. The conflicting interests of the economies of the USA and the USSR played a significant role in the Cold War.

There are various weapons employed in economic warfare, including sanctions, boycotts, customs barriers, monopolies, mergers and marine piracy. Economic defence means confronting any external threat, while economic offensive to destroy and corrupt economies include dumping, the manipulation of drug wars and counterfeit money, and money laundering. With the knowledge that instances of terrorism and political imbalance can cause grave danger to the stock exchange, nations could(read: have been) plotting crises.

Economic wars, like traditional ones, are based on surprise, deceit and espionage in order to acquire information about the enemy, and involve the fast transfer of information. In the 21st century, economic wars are taking on a new form, depending more on advanced technologies and modern communication. With military conflict an unpopular and unrealistic option, espionage will centre more on the economic power of the state and the economic activities of large companies and institutions. Experts anticipate that the future of nations in the coming decade will depend on the intelligence of their spies and the ability of their business people to master the art of espionage in the world of economics and business.

Owing to the widespread of technology, computers are used as an effective tool; destructive programs and viruses are used to destroy the enemy and intelligence bodies manipulate stock markets to destroy the economies of their targets. Internet is the greatest tool for perpetrators of economic destruction. Resources indicate that 95 per cent of large US companies use economic intelligence and that the United States has started to spy on all international communications in an attempt to serve its economic interests and those of its allies. A small but intriguing example is the impending threat that China's treasury offers to America with its tacit warning of playing foul with all the money it has in its coffers.

A fundamental area of concern for economies the world over is resources(or energy) and their utilisation. The coming times might see restriction of trade of basic elements of the industry which could lead to the crippling of entire economies. Disputes over energy have potential great enough to be cause for a convoluted catacylsm.

All in all, an economic war might not seem to be a very romantic concept but it does have a latent capability to cause nations to cross swords.

Just my two cents. A lot more to come. Stay tuned!

The Eclipse

When I find out all the reasons
Maybe I'll find another way
Find another day
With all the changing seasons of my life
Maybe I'll get it right next time
An now that you've been broken down
Got your head out of the clouds
You're back down on the ground
And you don't talk so loud
An you don't walk so proud
Any more, and what for..

That is the tune I've been humming to, these past few days.
Does anyone else wake up with almost the same tune in his/her head every day of the week, or with any tune at all, or is it just me?

Anyway, the frivolity of exam taking has almost ended, with just one more pebble left to be thrown into the clever crow's glass(or flask, I care not!). Water never tasted better. I know, I sound wasted.
These were two and a half weeks of lessons well learnt, if you know what I mean.
Quite unexpectedly, Machine Drawing, not my forte by any stretch of imagination turned out to be my best paper. Well, my best could be your worst, but we're not divulging into the nuances of relativity.

Hmm, no more dawdling.
Its no point commenting on the political leadership, or rather, the lack of it in the country. Newspaper editorials and the news channels are doing well enough to highlight the platitude and alibis being showered in abundance by the 'peoples' representatives'. The internet in its own right is doing good at this too, with every alternate blog baying for the politicians' blood.
I can't help but say that the legislatures should finally stop displaying this schadenfreude aimed at us, as the German who lives across the street would have loved to put it.

By the way, Panache '08, our multimedia quizzing event was organised some time back. Panache is where you get to taste the heady cocktail of fun and work. Here's a look at the credit roll:

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=q2q6SqEqEYk

Eagerly looking forward to the latter half of this month.
Home never felt better.
Ginger Prince is finally back in action. Now we know where the volleys are going!

Adios!

P.S. For all those How I Met Your Mother fans out there, S04E09 is a must watch.

Get-up-and-go!

Warning: Continue only if your brain is in its right place. Seriously!
Thug.. thug.. thug.. and the fan comes to a whining halt as does everything else with no electricity.. no fuel.. no power..

Our world is heading towards a severe energy crisis due to our desperate need to consume more energy than can be produced. While we all are aware that the energy we use is not limitless, we continue to take it for granted. Gas, power, oil, even water has limited availability. Nevertheless, we are unprepared for the energy crisis that will inevitably occur. The responsibility is not only the governments, but every man, woman, and child.

Gas and oil prices have already skyrocketed, and as each day dawns, they are getting closer to extinction. There are some misinformed people who believe the energy crisis is a myth. Burying one's head in the sand when the hunter is hot on your heels should be left to the ostrich! The prices have been rapidly escalating over the course of the past five years, due to an increase in demand and the decline of energy resources specifically- crude oil supply problems, rapidly escalating demand for energy, energy pricing policies, oil import quotas, lack of incentives to invest in domestic energy facilities, and depletion of domestic oil and gas reserves to name a few.

In this post however, I wouldn't indulge in the unneeded act of adding a few more strokes to the already dark picture that has been painted so many times by so many. I would prefer to point out what could, no SHOULD be done.

The right energy policy for a nation must aim to satisfy energy needs of current and future generations of all citizens in an affordable manner without adverse impact on the environment. In today's world, mere domestic availability of a particular fuel may not ensure access of modern energy services to all. A nation requires a range of resources in the entire energy supply chains--primary energy, financial capital, material and human capabilities for development and manufacture of relevant technological systems, and logistical infrastructure for delivery--to make available useful energy to its citizens at affordable costs over a long period of time.

An energy policy aimed at long term affordability, clean environment, sustainability and security must be centered on a wide mix of renewable energy options- solar, wind, small-hydel, biomass and others. Wide mix of renewables is necessary to ensure reliability of supplies and avoid possible fallout of dependence on single option like bio-fuels. Therefore, to begin with, India must change its energy strategy towards one that places the highest priority on renewable energy by committing huge resources for up-scaling infrastructure for manufacture and supply of technologies for production of electricity, heat and other end-use energy from solar, wind, biomass and small-hydel resources. Agreed, setup of a coal powered power plant is atleast 20 times cheaper than that of a wind powered one, but with careful planning and skillful management it can be ensured that in the long run, the alternative sources prove to be profitable along with taking care of the crisis part.

State support must be provided to build dispersed infrastructure in rural areas for delivery and maintenance of these systems. Systems based on clean coal and natural gas, given their current domestic availability and low capital cost respectively, can play stopgap role in the transitory phase until delivery infrastructure based on renewables is put in place.

Meanwhile, research on newer sources of energy must carry on. The microbes that churn out inexpensive bio-fuels and bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol should not be left alone to the confines of PhD papers locked up in stacks of dusty files in some corner of the laboratory store rooms.

In addition to changing energy supply mix, drastic end-use and life-style changes that cut down energy use will be necessary. Examples are: new urban planning with homes closer to offices, excess public transport capacities, and promotion of local markets and local materials to avoid long distance transport. But these changes cannot come by market economics alone. Governments need to intervene now to make them economically attractive in the future.

To sign off, energy crisis is a common problem. It needs an even handed solution. Any strategy should be thoroughly taken into account. The energy and food crisis is a threat to domestic and international political and economic system. If the crisis is not resolved, world wide recession is imminent. There is a need to devise short, mid and long-term strategies particularly by developing countries like India to absorb the skyrocketing prices and ensure a bright future.

Hasta la Vista!

Nuking the Indian 'Democracy' !

Ask Ebenezer Scrooge(of "A Christmas Carol" fame for the uninitiated) about the Indian Democracy, and he would say "Bah! Humbug!"

Democracy, or as I call it(at least in India's context), a demo-of-craziness, is defined by the dictionary as a form of government in which sovereign power resides in the hands of the people who exercise their voting powers to elect officers to represent them. Because a majority can win a vote in a democracy, it is has been commonly argued that majority rule can lead to a "tyranny of the majority", which isn't entirely incorrect!

India is democracy, but the meaning of democracy in India is entirely different. It stands for:

D- Demonstration- of power, wealth and omnipresent inefficiency.
E- Elitist rule- however the basic idea of the Indian democratic constitution is, government of the people for the people and by the people. How far the definition stands true in practice we know better. I don’t know to what extent the people of India are sovereign.
M- Militancy- on the name of secession-ism, separatism, independence and above all democratic rights.
O- Oligarchy- power in the hands of few and transfer of power among the family.
C- Caste-ism- one word that ensures political gains in the so-called secular country like India.
R- Reservation – incompetent people at work.
A- Authority without responsibility.
C- Corruption- part of everyone’s life.
Y- Yearning eyes for equality and justice.

With the government recently losing its majority when the Left parties withdrew support to it for pushing the deal without their consent after promising them that it would not do so, a free-for-all has broken out to muster numbers for and against the confidence vote, mainly by BUYING support. On display is crass political opportunism and rampant corruption.

Over the past 10 days, India's Parliament has been suddenly reduced to a political bazaar or auction-house, I daresay.

The ruling coalition has launched a poorly concealed drive to win over MPs through promises of ministerial positions and support for petty regional agendas, and outright bribery. In perfect retaliation, the opposition, primarily the BJP and the BSP, has been trying to match the ruling coalition, by poaching on the defection-prone SP and winning over undecided parties and independents.

What really hurts the interests of you, me and the entire country at large is that such parties, factions or individuals have no positions on matters such as foreign policy and security issues. But they can be persuaded to vote one way or other for reasons that have nothing to do with the content of the issue at stake.

Besides horse-trading and unethical deals, the present political contention has two particularly murky and unsavoury aspects which could really leave the country reeling in these turbulent times.
First, the government has made the democratic political process play hostage to the whims and fancies of powerful corporate interests. The SP is trying to extract mileage from its support to the UPA by lobbying for changes in important policies and personnel, which would favour the Anil Ambani group, to which it is closely tied. To counter this lobbying, Mukesh Ambani earlier this week met Prime Minister Singh and other top government leaders.
The second unsavoury aspect of the present political tug-of-war is the extraordinary importance that politicians with a criminal background have come to acquire in the crude numbers game. Six MPs, belonging to different parties, and currently in prison as convicts or under trial, may well determine the government’s fate. Several parties are trying to woo them with all kinds of promises in what is widely seen as a despicable show of cynicism. Imagine!

Now I have two issues.
First, I fail to understand why we need "simple" majority to form a Government? Is it just because its the "simplest" way out? Is it because its just impossible to get a bunch of people together who think alike? Why fifty percent? What makes us think that 271(+1) people who in any case have been put together in God knows what way can count for the entire population?
Second, isn't the entire coalition ideology pulling us back?
A Monologue is when one person talks. A Dialogue is when two persons talk. And a "Catalogue" is when all talk and no one listens!
Unfortunately, we have a Catalogue of parties(the kind of which you get at a mobile store when you're out buying a mobile phone !)
A coalition govt of parties with similar ideologies before the polls is good for the nation.
Unfortunately, in India, the coalition alliances mostly happen post polls. Parties that went tooth and nail against each other end up as friends to gain power and fleece the public. Parties that claim themselves Secular are the most communal and play dirty caste politics to gain votes.

In my humble opinion, no matter how the debate over the nuke deal plays out, and whether the deal goes through during the present term of the U.S. Congress or not, the bitter domestic political contention centered on it has exposed the seamy side of India’s much vaunted democracy and has indeed 'nuked the Indian Democracy'. It shows that India has failed to evolve healthy norms of party practices and democratic functioning and, along with decent parliamentary conventions. We have elections, yes, and by and large they are free and fair. But democracy is about more than periodic elections or winning a parliamentary vote with a manufactured majority. The entire electoral procedure has been reduced to a mere game of numbers!

Pray!

The Indian soldier- Lost in the sands of time, is he?

They justified the cause for which Daddy might give up his life
It's been so long, so long a time, still I miss Daddy at night..

At the eastern end of the Rajpath, looming over the festivities, come every January, is the massive shape of India Gate, a triumphal arch 40 metres high, bearing the inscription "To the Dead of the Indian Armies who fell and are honoured in France and Flanders, Mesopotamia, East Africa and Gallipoli". Beneath are the names of 85,00

0 soldiers who died for the British Empirein the First World War. For anyone raised on Kipling's tales of the Raj, the names alone stir the blood: 3rd Skinners Horse, Rajput Light Infantry, 129th Baluchis, 13 Frontier Force Rifles; and the military ranks, subedars and sepoys and havaldars; and above all, the names of the men - distinctively Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and British. As I walk past the hallowed gateway this fine summer evening, I wonder why India's numerous patriots are so silent when it comes to honouring their soldier. Why is there never any public clamour for a national memorial for the soldier? Where do our leaders and people vanish on Remembrance Day (yes, we do have one on January 30)? These are just some of the questions that come to my mind as But it rained rings in my ears and sends that dreaded chill down my spine.

Honouring servicemen is a time-honoured tradition in most countries of the world. In Britain, November 11 is traditionally Remembrance Day. The erstwhile Soviet Union lost over 20 million men in the Second World War, or the 'Great Patriotic War' as the Soviets called it. Every town and city has its war memorial and as a part of a touching tradition, the first visit of all couples after their marriage ceremony is to the war memorial. Each year, on the last Monday in May, the United States celebrates Memorial Day. Memorial Day has traditionally been a day of remembering the many heroes who lost their lives during the Civil War and other wars in which the United States has been involved. People visit cemeteries, war memorials and monuments to the many soldiers, sailors and airmen who were lost in action and lay flowers at these sites in their memory. There is, of course, no dearth of such memorials and statues in other countries as well.
Snap back to reality. India has fought many wars since Independence and lost many jawans, sailors and airmen in them. A few questions cloud my mind as I try to recollect in vain, the name of the street in New Delhi where India's war memorial built after Independence is situated. How many streets, flyovers, tunnels, ports or airports have been named after India’s war heroes?

Everyone knows the answers to these questions. Shamefacedly, we have to admit that our concern for the jawan vanishes the day the action is over and he returns to the barracks. The country makes much of its armed forces before and during a battle, not afterwards. It is an unfortunate fact that except for those put up by the soldiers themselves in army cantonments; there are no monuments in memory of jawans even in the nation's capital. All you have is figures of the leech-like politicians gracing every alternate corner and that I-know-you-hate-me-but-I'm-the boss smile staring into your face from a decent ten feet or more!

You maybe getting me wrong if you think that honouring your soldier is confined to just naming your neighbourhood park or the roads in your city in his hounour. But, it surely is a way of reminding you of the great sacrifice they have made, giving up the years of their prime for the safety of you and me. Spare a thought for their families, many of them still waiting with that flicker of a hope to see their sons and fathers and brothers just once more. The men have not only defended their country bravely, but are always prepared to lay down their lives for its independence. In return, they ask only that they and their families not be forgotten in times of peace.

But sadly, like in many other things, we tend to be fickle in our love and devotion for the jawan. For every soldier who lost his life, thousand others also fought just as bravely. And what about those who laid down their lives in lost causes? What about the many prisoners of war still struggling for a morsel in Pakistani jails? On what basis do human rights activists (the most ignorant and hypocritic men of all) claim justice for the terrorists and let our soldiers go to dogs?

The people who have been waiting for their families ten years ago are now older, others must be dead. As I them on television as a backdrop to the token talks, I felt even more helpless as I recalled the wrinkled face of one Mr. Datta, a next door neighbour of mine. Imagine you were the father and someone knocked on your door and told you that your son was dead, and that they had attended his cremation and condolence meeting. What would you do?
A certain Major A.K. Venugopal’s story is more or less similar. At the end of the 1971 Indo-Pak war the family was informed that he be presumed dead. Sometime later his wife wrote to the commanding officer saying that if her husband was cremated with full military honours his ashes should be sent to her. Amazingly, she got the urn only one year after the request. No one believed it. Tangible proof was missing. Major Venugopal’s brother, A.Venugopal, an ex-warrant officer, was incredulous at the blatant absence of credibility. “After an officer dies there are a number of his men who are prepared to accompany his cortege to his home, and the government does not incur any extra expenditure. Later, however, we were told about his whereabouts. Obviously someone was trying to save his skin.”

If the treatment meted out to our heroes and martyrs is bad, the fate of those who serve silently and then retire is worse. Nowhere in the world are ex-servicemen treated as indifferently as they are in this country.

Today, the country stands silent. Not one political party has included the return of our POWs in its manifesto. Why? Have our defense personnel become pawns? Why hasn’t a single government delegation gone to  Pakistan? What have our various ambassadors done?

What about public opinion? Do we care? Are defense scams all that the Armed Forces are about? And are we more interested in scoring points over our neighbour rather than trying to get back what is ours – the war hero? Does not the irony of this phrase hit us in the face anymore?

Hold on to that last drop of oil!

As you dedicate Wish you were here to oil, for once, I dont envy my parents for being the ones earning all the buck!

The month that is soon-to-be-gone now, has just given us a glimpse of what lies in store, an oil price-hike, so not supported by a decent pay-hike.Political constraints have prevented this from happening for some time now, but there always had to be some point of inflexion, forcing the Government take the dreaded decision. A doubling in oil prices would surely have many other inflationary effects: increasing the cost of heating oil and aviation fuel, plastics, chemicals, as well as raising the material costs of all firms (which would likely be passed onto consumers).

But, what is, or rather, are the major reasons behind oil becoming dearer ?
You are the reason. And me. And everybody who buys gas or petroleum products. Supply and demand, that's the name of the game. We demand tons of oil so up goes the price. Works like that in all markets and the markets rule. Always have. Always will. While the supply has remained static, or better put, shrunk there is an ever increasing demand largely from China and India.

However, there are other factors too that have contributed to this meteoric rise in oil prices.Rampant price speculation. People bid for oil in the future, expecting the price to go even higher as demand rises and production decreases. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.The weak dollar. A weaker dollar buys less oil, so prices per barrel rise. Global uncertainties dont help the common man's cause either.

I see a silver lining though. As the Hindustan Times reported, in Australia, hundreds of kilometres of cycleways are being used more than ever before, in a bid to save money on higher fuel costs. In America, the planet's biggest gas guzzler people are already figuring out ways to cut down on fuel consumption. Energy saving products ranging from CFL light bulbs to hybrid cars have started to find there way to the top of the average buyer's list (God knows why Chidambaram doesnt like the new Hybrid Civic?!). Pink Floyd would be happy to see the Reva sing Coming back to life. Where the environmental-friendly 'sham' didnt work, spiralling oil prices surely has.Curbing demand rather than increasing supply seems to be the more logical and viable route to take.

Now, the big BUT, like with every theory you start finding workable. Will we, here in India do anything about it on our part? Are you prepared to shun you 8-cylinder guzzler for the puny Reva? Can our white-collared gentry even think of using a cycle? Will the urban finally take to the bus, or even the BRT for that matter? Will you take that not-so-long walk to the market to get your daily rations?
Or will we just wait like sitting ducks for the unsustainably high prices to significantly dampen demand and thus, lower the prices?

Ponder.

Ciao!