Congress and India

Continuing with the election theme - The FT recently published a hard-hitting opinion on why Congress deserves to lose the elections.

"There have been practically no market reforms since 2004, save for the opening of domestic civil aviation. Nothing has moved on privatisation, the reduction of government equity in banks and insurance companies, pensions, competition regulation or the administration of subsidies. Industrial tariffs have come down, but otherwise external protection has not been reduced. India remains the most protectionist large emerging market."

I don't buy this. At a time when most countries are lamenting the lack of regulation in their banking sectors, the lack of banking deregulation in India is not a good reason to vote against Congress.

I'm curious to know what others think.

Indian Elections - past and future

Ramachandra Guha presents an interesting historical account of how the Indian political system got fractured - for good and bad. I agree with a lot he says -

On the whole, these developments [diversity of political parties] are to be welcomed, as an incorporation of previously excluded or marginalised groups into the democratic process. At the same time, when aggregated up to the national level, this decentralised deepening has produced less-than-rational outcomes. For there are some issues that require a wise and far-seeing central government to handle them. The five crucial sectors here are health, education, environment, the economy, and foreign affairs...

... If one reads the newspapers of the past weeks and months, one finds that these policies are hardly discussed. Print and cyberspace alike are obsessed with which party is negotiating what kind of alliance, and with whom. Or they are speculating on the question of Kaun Banega Pradhan Mantri. And yet, feasible and effective policies in the sectors I have identified are vital to the long-term interests of India and Indians. However, in an era of multi-party coalition governments, one can be certain that we will not get them. Political negotiations will be resolutely focused on the short-term, with smaller parties asking for the most remunerative ministries in exchange for support to the ruling government. The prime minister's own working day will chiefly be taken up with massaging the egos of his fellow ministers, or of his own party members who have not yet found a place in the Union cabinet.

The West Wing

Every six months I watch some West Wing - I find it therapeutic.  It is, by far, my most favorite show!  So when someone recently called it sappy, I was surprised.  I couldn't understand how you could possibly find it sappy?  After all, it is a show on political issues featuring the inner workings of Washington.  It is funny and intelligent with great characters, powerful acting, clever dialogue and dramatic plots. 

Determined to prove this "unsappiness" I spent the better half of this Sunday afternoon watching episodes from the first season.  I wanted to validate (to myself, if nobody else) that the show was about facts, figures, issues, and debates.

However, watching the show from this slightly altered lens I can see how you can find it to be sappy; especially if you don't agree with all the viewpoints.  The writers are liberal and idealistic, and while the dialogue is incredibly clever, it is melodramatic at times.  Still, it is a personal favorite.

I always wished that someone created an Indian version of the show.  But then I was reminded that it would be very difficult to make such a version because the show would be dogged by controversy, protests and threats.  Still, I feel that a well-made, entertaining version on the Indian political system could be effective in raising awareness and increase public debate on important social and political issues.  Television is a powerful medium.  I don't mind if it is romanticized as long as it gets people to think, talk and, hopefully, act.  Maybe, I'm being sappy myself.

Links I liked

1) Food is in the news - interesting piece on the organic/slow-cooking/buying movement

2) India's finest slip fielder - and he is cute

3) The Honeymoon - what the new government should do in the first 100 days

4) Anoushka Shankar at Carnegie - I enjoyed it a lot (mind you, I don't know anything about classical music)

And if you haven't already checked out Google Reader, you should. I find it immensely useful.

A.I.G.

I resisted writing about the bonus debacle because it was a little too close to home. After all, a fair portion of our household income is paid by a TARP-financed company and some of this money generally comes in the form of a bonus. Given the personal stake, I figured I wouldn't be the most rationale commentator on this issue. Ironically, recent events and the irrationality of legislators and the press helped me clarify and solidify my own views.

Bonuses are needed. Here's why:

Yes, too many people are paid too much. But, this does not mean that the concept of a bonus is wrong. You can question the size of the payments, but it doesn't make sense to claim that no bonuses should be paid.

Yes, bonuses are performance-based; so,where is the performance if your company loses billions of dollars and is funded by hardworking taxpayers. But, this is not an argument against all incentive pay. This highlights a problem with the structure of the compensation packages. The base salary within the financial firms is unnaturally low in relation to comparable positions in other industries. Within a finance firm, in an annual package of $10,000 your base salary is often only $2,500. The remaining $7,500 is paid as bonus. The $7,500 is based on the company's performance and your individual performance, but also consists of an amount that would have been part of your base salary had you worked in any other industry. Moreover, the individual performance piece serves as recognition of your last year's work as well as a retention incentive for next year. Thus, in 2009, the bonus will not include any part of the company's performance, but if the individual performed well and worked 12,14,16-hour days for the majority of the year, you have to recognize their performance at some level. In 2009, bonuses should definitely be lower, but not zero. Of course, this does not apply if you lost millions of dollars as the AIG finance unit and to whom the vast majority of AIG bonuses are being paid. This is just plain stupid.

Yes, there are few open jobs, so why pay any bonus as a retention incentive, you are not going to lose people anyways. But, you will lose the best. The best and brightest will find another opportunity and you will lose them at a time when you need them the most. Even if you don't lose them you will surely demotivate them when you want them to work their hardest. You just cannot deny the motivating power of money.

I recognize that the overal imbalance needs correction and many people have been paid too much for too long a time. But, that is a different conversation.

IPL and Elections

The Indian Premier League cricket matches have been moved to South Africa. For those who don't know, the IPL is a domestic cricket league. This year the games conflicted with the national elections and due to lack of security forces to cover both events the IPL games have been moved to South Africa (yes, it is still called the Indian Premier League).

And at some level I understand the reasons. It is not completely unreasonable to expect the elections to consume most of our security forces. Also, you don't just have to provide security for every match, but also for all the practices, press conferences, promotion events etc. I mean, just imagine the reaction if Sachin or Dhoni was injured in an attack. A very scary thought!

But, it is a rather sad. A little sad that our government doesn't have the capacity to provide the needed security but sadder that recent events dictate us to even require this level of security.

On a lighter note, a friend considers venue changes for other events -

Other events that will require attention in the coming year also have alternate venues selected. Indian Idol auditions are going to be held in Bahrain, the Kala Ghoda festival has been moved to Times Square in New York and the Lakme Fashion Week is now in Yemen. Currently there are 3 cities bidding for the August 15th independence day parade including Tehran, Lima and Caracas.

While most citizens are aghast by these happening, the tourism industry is thrilled. "My hotel is already sold out for 10 days in October since they announced that the festival of Navratri will now take place in Budapest," said Miklos Groza a Budapest hotelier. "We are all eager to learn Dandiya and Garba and have begun recruiting bands to play," he added.

Land of Alagaesia

I was pleasantly surprised when a couple of you noticed the lull in my postings. I have been a little busy with work and "life", but truth be told, the lull is because I've been totally consumed by the Eragon series. While I am a huge (and I mean HUGE) fan of the Lord of the Rings, I hadn't explored the fantasy gnere until now.

The author, Christopher Paolini, was 15 when he wrote Eragon, the first book in the series (though, I suspect he had some help from his parents who are writers/editors). You sense some of the inexperience in the first novel in the writing style and character development, but the second and third novels are vastly improved.

Though the books are meant for kids, I highly recommend them if you like elves, dwarfs, dragon riders, and of course, dragons. Yes, they might seem totally ridiculous, but they are fun and I'm having a great time reading them!

Immigrants in the US

I've been thinking about what it means to be an immigrant quite a bit recently - always happens after a trip to India.

A friend pointed me to the following NYT map on the flow of immigrants in the US. It is fantastic, you have to check it out - especially the changes over time.

Promoting peace through education

Last night I attended a talk by Greg Mortenson author of "Three Cups of Tea" - a book on Greg's experiences building girl's schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The talk, like the man, had a single-minded focus - education, particularly girl's education, is the key to development, the key to fighting terrorism and promoting peace and really, the only , viable,long-term solution to promoting change. He understands the complexity and difficulty in what he is trying to achieve and seems to have the required patience. He is absolutely relentless in his message and vision and while his presentation seemed rehearsed (he speaks round the year), I couldn't help wanting to support and believe him.

He threw out one statistic that stuck with me - In 2000, there were 800,000 boys in school in Afghanistan (not sure how they got the number). Now, there are 7.2 million children, including 2 million girls - apparently the largest increase in school enrollment ever.

Now, I know that enrollment in school is not everything; you need to worry about teacher and student absenteeism, the level of instruction, the actual curriculum, etc etc. But, it is a start right?

Boom De Ya Da

A friend recently commented that this blog has been pretty serious recently - what she really meant is that it has been pretty depressing. That is kind of odd actually, because if you know me, you know that I am an eternal optimist...and quite happy about it :)

In the spirit of staying more true to my nature, here is commercial that made me smile -



Link via hoopyfrood.org

Indian Climate Solutions

A fantastic idea and a great story of travel through 2,100 miles from Chennai to Delhi to film inspiring, home-grown energy innovations.

Check out Indian Climate Solutions. Their premise -

In India, a nation of creativity, diversity and dynamism, inspirational climate solutions already exist in pockets, demonstrating significant co-benefits for the economic, social and environmental welfare of the country. They are however poorly documented, analysed and communicated in general. To avoid a replication of efforts (reinventing the wheel), and to convince governments, businesses and communities to take action, these success stories need to be shared widely. India is a nation open to new ideas, with a strong intelligence, deep spirituality and profound respect for the natural world. As such, we, the Indian youth, believe that India can take a leadership role on climate change, for its own welfare and security as well as for that of the world as a whole.a fantastic idea and a great story!

Remember, when the buying stops, the killing can too!

A lot of things in life are counter intuitive. Many Jain families buy and release birds on anniversaries, bdays, etc. This act makes it economically viable for people to capture birds so that they can release them and capture them again and on and on. The unsaid truth in this trade is that for every wild caught bird that reaches the pet shop, nine will have died in the process. Thus in order to get "punya" for releasing one wild bird we get "paap" for killing 9 wild birds!

We must question why the bird was in the cage in the first place! Only when we stop "releasing" captured birds, will they stop being captured! In India, it isnt easy bringing people involved in illegal wildlife trade to book and in many cases is very dangerous for the people (most of whom are volunteers) who bring such things to light. But the least we can do is help spread the word and stop this senseless cruel practice.

Just Billu

The best Indian blogs are deeply satirical and I understand why. Humor is the best coping mechanism when there are so many nonsensical things happening around you. I already find myself becoming more sarcastic and cynical after spending just two weeks in Bombay.

The reason for my latest bout of cynicism...the controversy surrounding the title for SRK's latest movie - Billu. The film was initially called Billu Barber. But then the Salon and Beauty Parlor's Association complained that the term "barber" is derogatory and producers should instead use the terms "hairdresser" or "stylist". SRK relented to avoid further controversy and agreed to remove "barber" from all hoardings.

This is not the only ongoing name controversy. You also have objections around the use of "dog" in "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Shiv" in "Shiv Vada Pav" (a BMC scheme that provides carts to hawkers is under attack because Shivaji's name is attached to vada-pav).

Just think about all the time and money being spend on getting the wording right. How can you not find this funny (and tragic)!

Books on India

Today at Crossword (my favorite Bombay bookstore) I picked up India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha. I realize that if I were actually living in Bombay I probably would never have read this book. We NRIs choose our own attachments to India, and mine is books. A majority of the books I read, whether fiction, non-fiction, contemporary or historical, tend to be related to India in some way.

I thought I would share some recent favorites -

Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh

The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga

In Spite of the Gods - Edward Luce

The Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh (yes, again)

Feel free to send me recommendations. Currently, I am especially interested in books on India written by Indians.

6 months

What a difference six months makes. I am struck by the current mood in Bombay and how different it is compared to just six months ago. July seems like such a long time ago. In many ways, it was a long time ago - before Lehman, AIG, 26/11, and Satyam. Compared to optimism six months back, circumspection is the cry today. All talk revolves around survival and finding a way to get through the next year or two (depending on how pessimistic you are).

Luckily, July was also before Obama. Everyone seems to be riding their hopes on him. While I share their enthusiasm, I am skeptical - I don't think there are any quick fixes, the problems just seem too big.