In the run up to the upcoming general elections, India’s leading opposition party, BJP, has announced its “IT Vision” for the country. Before reading ahead, I would want you to read the IT vision at BJP’s website.

Now for the IT vision itself. I am not sure if I should call it myopic, or really far-sighted. It seems that the IT pundits who helped BJP write this vision are quite mis-informed themselves. Thus we end up with an IT vision that, IMHO, is unachievable. Let me pick out some points from it and try to explain why they are so difficult to achieve.

1.2 crore (12 million) new IT-enabled jobs in rural areas.

How, in its right mind, does the BJP believe it can create so many jobs in IT? That too in rural India, where lack of infrastructure, connectivity (road and internet), power and basic amenities are lacking. Before creating these crores of jobs, shouldn’t infrastructure issues be sorted out first?

Most IT/ITeS jobs in India currently are courtesy the US, which is now heavily coming down on outsourcing. I haven’t heard any member of the BJP come out and make noise about this protectionist attitude of the US. Neither does the BJP talk about creating indigenous demand for IT/ITeS. Unless there is demand, creating these millions of jobs is going to be a tall order.

1 crore (10 million) students to get laptop computers at Rs 10,000. Interest-free loan for anyone unable to afford it

Excellent idea. Throwing away cheap laptops seems to be the next in-thing (after throwing away free rice and ration cards). Now my question is, where are these Rs 10,000 laptops going to come from? The only laptop in this price (that I am aware of) is the upcoming Qualcomm “Kayak”, slated for launch later this year. These laptops are meant “for browsing the internet” and are connected via 3G services. Currently, only New Delhi has a working 3G service (MTNL). Is BJP planning to widen 3G services across the country as well? Sweeeeet!!! Or is this just another one of those, errmm, election promises?

Broadband Internet (2 Mbps) in every town and village, at cable TV prices (less than Rs 200/month).

Thank you thank you thank you!! I am willing to pay even 500 Rs/month for 2Mbps broadband services. But is it going to be of any use? In the IT city of Gurgaon (where I happen to live), there is a daily powercut of 3-5 hours. On a nice, hot, sweltering summer day, the powercut goes up to 8 hours (including hours in the night). If this is the power situation in Gurgaon, I wonder how it will be in small towns and villages. With such a power situation, the only use I have for the broadband internet is to use it hang my wet laundry on its wires. If India’s towns and villages need something, it is 24×7 electricity. Have a vision for giving us that!!!

Every BPL family to be given a free smart mobile phone, which can be used by even illiterate users for accessing their bank accounts.

Wait, so we had low cost rice, low cost laptops and now (drum roll) free smart mobiles. What intrigues me is this: A family is defined as being Below poverty line (BPL) if its monthly per capita consumption expenditure is below Rs. 356.35 for rural areas and Rs. 538.60 for urban areas (Source: Poverty in India on Wikipedia). Common sense dictates that if a family can only spend Rs 350 per month on living, how would it have a bank account? And if it does have a bank account, how much balance would be in that account for the BPL family to do “transactions” with on their BJP-enabled smartphones? This is not helpful, it is actually an insult to all those poor people who are barely surviving. They’ll appreciate more means of income rather than free mobile phones!!!

This idea seems to be given by the same people who made the “India Shining campaign”, that cost the BJP dearly in the last general elections. Instead of learning from its mistakes, BJP seems to be glorifying them!! Sad, sad, sad!

Government spending to be made corruption-free. A former Prime Minister had once said, “If I put Rs. 100 in the pipeline in Delhi, only Rs. 15 reach the end beneficiary.” In contrast to Congress governments’ Leaky Pipeline, the BJP’s IT Pipeline will ensure 100% benefit to people. Those who misappropriate public funds will be punished.

Whoa….corruption free government spending! A dream that does not need IT to be realized. But the BJP seems to think otherwise. I simply fail to make the connection between IT and corruption free government! Or wait, is it that because there will be IT, there will be more transparency. More transparency should ensure corruption free spending, right?

Wrong! The moot point here is that IT simply enables for sharing of information. I am not sure if the government is so willing to share its spending information. And if it is, might I suggest implementation of a system that shows me where my tax money was spent. I am sure a lot of the tax paying class would appreciate knowing how and where its money was spent. Simply saying x and y crores were spent on road development will not do. I want to know which exact roads were built using that money, and if they are any good (at least the roads here in gurgaon are trashy, to say the least).

If there is no political will (which hasn’t been present in the last 60 years) for reducing corruption, how will IT make any difference?

Citizens will have a simple 1-800 BSNL Toll Free Number, which will be accessible 24×7x 365 days of the year, to contact their Member of Parliament.

And what would be the response? I am sorry, but the MP you are trying to call is too busy dozing off in the Parliament. Or wait, how about this, “the MP you are trying to reach is too busy creating traffic jams with his 10 car cavalcade”. Or this, “the MP you want to reach is busy blowing off taxpayer’s money in some foreign country”. If I contact my member of parliament and tell him that there is 8-10 hours of daily powercuts, water shortages, bad broken roads, no security, excessive inflation(the government says it is 0.11%, my vegetable vendor and grocer seem to disagree and increase prices every week), will he do something to improve the situation? BJP itself, by disrupting parliament proceedings hundreds of times has shown that it has utter disregard for the taxpayer’s money. However much its vocal leaders may shout, disruption of a constitutional machine like the parliament costs dearly to the taxpayer, not only in terms of the money wasted, but also in terms of wastage of valuable time that could be used to discuss important issues.

Oh, and even if there were a 1-800 toll free number, how does that guarantee accountability? How will Mr. L.K Advani be accountable for his work in his constituency? How will Ms. Sushma Swaraj be held accountable for not fulfilling those promises that she screams out on TV channels? We need accountability, we need politicians to be answerable to people who are paying for their daily bread and butter with their hard earned money.

What BJP needs in its IT vision is a simple statement: We will provide a report card for each of our MPs online, where people can openly say that their elected leader is not doing his/her job. where people can hold its elected representatives accountable in full public view, where politicians will have no place to hide after they make rosy promises and get elected.

Give us accountability, BJP. Not bullshit!

Author’s Notes:
1.The author hold no favour/bias towards any political party. This article is not written with any political motivations, but with a simple idea to show what the country really needs!
2. Hateful/vengeful/biased comments are not welcome. Please spew out your hatred somewhere else.

Middle-east is up in flames again. Israel has been bombing the living daylights out of Gaza for nearly 10 days now. Palestine (read Hamas) on its part has kept launching missiles into Israel for a lot more than ten days.

Now I am not someone who lives in the middle-east.I am someone who lives in a country that has an equally hostile neighbour who is more inclined to have a war rather than recognize the terrorists present on its soil, let alone take action on it. But let us come back to the present situation in Gaza.

For the last 9 days, I have heard messages(via TV and newspapers)  from a lot of Israeli leaders and a lot of Palestinian leaders, even some Hamas leaders. A lot of these have been focused around two statements.

1. A disproportionate use of force by Israel.

2. Attacks will not stop till rocket fire stops from Gaza.

I am not going to discuss either of these. If you want that, go watch CNN/BBC and you will find leaders and citizens on both sides doing the same.

What I make out from all those discussions is, neither side wants peace. So in such a situation, how does one broker peace?

To have peace, there needs to be a dialog between Israelis and Hamas. That brings up the first question. Accountability. Israel and its government are open to the international community. The international community can put all the pressure it wants on Israel, but who talks to the terrorists? Palestine currently is ruled by the Fatah party, but Gaza has been overpowered by the more radical Hamas. Who makes sure that Hamas will do what it promises on a negotiating table? I mean, would you believe the word of an organization that fires rockets aimed at civilians, and then hides behind civilians when the army comes knocking?

This is probably an issue we cannot get around. For the last 60 years, there is little trust between the Israelis and the other middle-eastern countries. This mistrust is not going to vanish overnight.

Here is a solution I propose. Let Israel immediately stop all attacks on Gaza and show that it is the more responsible of the two parties. In addition to this, let Israel open the borders leading in to Gaza to let humanitarian aid, food and medicines to get in. This should “ideally” be followed by Hamas stopping rocket attacks on Israel. If Hamas is really so worried about people of Gaza, let it show that it is equally committed to maintaining a state of peace so that life is restored to normalcy for normal citizens.

Just to make sure each side is sticking to its commitments, let there be teams made of Arabs and Israelis watching over both sides. This should make sure there are enough independent observers to ensure all remains well.

If this works, all will be happy. In theory it will.

In practice, there are loads of questions for this experiment. Below are some of them:

1. Accountability - Can a terrorist organization like Hamas be trusted to stop being itself?

2. What if this doesn’t work? What if Hamas fires a couple of rockets? Should Israel have the right to start the military offensive again.

3. How does one make sure this cease fire brings a lasting resolution and not just a small period of calm?

All I hope is that Israel ends this offensive very soon. For sake of all those civilians who are holed up in Gaza. Israel is doing this for its citizens who live under a threat of rockets from Gaza. Let it not create a similar circumstance of those living in Gaza.

Peace. That is all the middle-east region needs. 

Raj Thackerey, Chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has been reported as missing by the citizens of Mumbai for the last 3 days. Here is a description:

Raj Thackeray is the founder and president of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (Maharashtra Renaissance Party), which is a regional party in the state of Maharashtra in India. He is especially known for his constant tirade against North Indians residing in Maharashtra. He has led several “violent” movements to ensure Mumbai is freed from North Indians. He is about 5ft5 in height and wears glasses.

It has been three days since Mumbai has been under siege from terrorists. Mumbai has yet to hear anything from this self-proclaimed saviour of the city and the caretaker of the “Marathi Manoos”. The usually vocal leader is in hiding when he should be out on the streets, when he should be asking the MNS cadres to line up outside hospitals and donate blood. People who can go out and break people’s bones at his speeches can surely donate blood and help if he asks them to.

And yet, Raj is missing.

Help Mumbai today to find Raj Thackeray. He is missing when his city needs him most!!

The UPA government succeeded in winning the trust vote in Parliament, but June 22, 2008 would go down in the annals of Indian democratic & parliamentary histories as one of the saddest days. The reason: MPs flaunting crores of Rupees in cash that is claimed to be given to them as a bribe to stay out of the trust vote. Whether these allegations are true or not is a story for another day. The Indian democracy looks like it needs an overhaul, and soon.

Let us take the story back to 1947 when India had just got its Independence, and the founding fathers of our nation were huddled in a room discussing the constitution of our nation. The most important question they had was, how to model a democratic environment in India? At that time there were only two major democracies that were successful, American democracy & the British democracy.

Now the American democratic system is a complex one. The US Congress, which is essentially like the Indian Parliament has senators who are elected representatives of the people. However, the US President is directly elected via a separate electoral process. The President then appoints his (there have been no female presidents in the USA yet) cabinet of secretaries similar to the cabinet of ministers appointed in India. Now this is a complex democratic system, where the President can stay in his post even if his party is out of majority in the congress.

The other democracy was the British democracy. This system had two houses, the House of Commons & the House of Lords. Representatives in the House of Commons are elected representatives of the people and those in the House of Lords are appointed representatives. Then of course, there is the Queen.

As is clear from the above explanation, the Indian democratic system is a spin-off from the British democratic system. We have two houses of Parliament, Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha. Even their names are plain translations of their British counterparts. But what our founding fathers missed out was, that it is not such a simple model to scale.

India is a diverse country. Even the Indian Constitution acknowledges this diversity of cultures, regions and religions in India. However, it is this diversity that is being exploited by politicians and political parties of the day to their profit.

Let me pull up some statistics from the last general elections held in 2004(data from Election Commission’s report on 2004 elections).

1. Number of participating political parties : 230
2. Size of electorate (eligible voters) : 67,14,87,930
3. Voter turnout : 58.07%
4. Number of candidates : 5435

It gets more interesting now..

Performance(seats contested) :-
1. National Parties - Contested 1351 Won 364 Percentage 26.94%
2. State Parties - Contested 801 Won 159 Percentage 19.85%
3. Registered(unrecognized) Parties - Contested 898 Won 15 Percentage 1.67%

Performance(% of votes polled):-
1. National Parties - 62.89%
2. State Parties - 28.90%
3. Registered(unrecognized) Parties - 3.96%

The one factor I’ve left out here are the independent candidates, as I wanted to focus more on the parties. If you see the percentages of seats won, the numbers of national & regional parties are quite close (26.94% as compared to 19.85%). Now see the number of votes polled in favor of these parties and the huge gap becomes visible - national parties have 35% more votes polled for them as compared to the regional parties!!

Now for some data on the parties who were key players in the confidence vote held yesterday:

1. INC - Our ruling party, the congress that also heads the UPA with the maximum number of seats. Their 2004 elections stats are the best of the lot : Contested 417 Won 145 Votes% 26.53%
2. BJP - The main opposition party, also heads the NDA (now defunct alliance ) that was in power before 2004. Their election stats: Contested 364 Won 138 Votes% 22.16%
3. Left Parties (CPI + CPM) - They were comrades in arms of the UPA till the 123 dance began. Then pulled out support and caused the confidence vote to happen. Their combined stats : Contested 34(CPI) + 69(CPM) Won 53 Votes% 7.07%

So effectively, a set of parties who have polled only 7% of the vote managed to destablize the government. But this has happened before as well, parties that have a small vote share have time and again proven their mettle at destablizing governments.

The question now is, should these parties even be in the parliament?

The stature of a political party (national/state) is decided by its presence in states and also by the number of constituencies where it is fielding it candidates. This is the reason why parties like CPI, CPM and BSP are classified as national parties and not regional/state parties. But if detailed numbers are seen, their voting percentages are strong in only a handful of states and very weak in most others(as also apparent by the overall percentages). A national party, by definition, should be one that represents the interests of the nation and not a particular state. Consider the data for BSP(Bahujan Samaj Party) in this regards:

Classification - National
Stats - Contested 435 Won 19 Win% 4.37% Votes% 5.33%
Seat division by state - Uttar Pradesh - 19

So, all 19 seats that BSP won were in UP. Even though it clearly represents only one state, the 2004 election commission report lists it as a National Party!

Most of the parties sitting in the Parliament today have no concern about the nation. Parties like TRS(demanding a separate Telangana state), BSP(it won all its seats only in one state), JMM(demand for a separate Jharkhand that has now been granted) and so on, are all regional parties. Even the CPI + CPM have won seats only in 5 states. It is the INC(Congress) & BJP who have won seats in more than 10 states & UTs.

For the last 10 years, Indian Parliament has seen one coalition after another. Be it the NDA, UPA or whatever, coalition politics seems to be the way forward for our democracy. But is it a healthy way forward?

The whole point of electing a party to power is that the masses believe in the party’s manifesto, and want it to implement the same. A coalition puts restrictions on parties implementing their manifestos. This was clear during the rule of the BJP led NDA, and now during the Congress led UPA, where smaller parties who have the critical 20 odd seats hold the government to ransom. And if the government does not yield to their demands, they withdraw support from the government, leaving the nation to witness desecration of the holiest institution of democracy, the parliament.

The nations progress will be slowed down if we allow coalition politics to rule the roost. Hence, I propose a radical, yet simple solution.

Only parties that have over 10% of national vote share in an election should be allowed to contest elections for the Parliament. Of course, independent candidates should still be allowed, but parties who have representation of one/few states should be limited to playing at the state level only. This will ensure that India has stable governments who are able to rule by their party’s agenda, and the Indian public has a clear choice when they go to vote at the general elections. As of 2004, there were an average of 10 candidates per constituency. If what I suggest here is implemented, there will be two candidates from national parties, and the others independents. This will make the choice of the electorate much simpler.

What this will also do is give India a clear direction when it comes to issues of foreign policy, financial policy, home affairs & defense policy. Also, it will ensure that a government lasts for its full term, and that parliamentary sessions are productive. With a stable, single party government, Indian democracy will finally be the voice of the nation that it serves.

“MNS Mob fury!!”, “Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan for ST Status”, “BJP workers force down shutters, block highways”

These are just some of the headlines from our newspapers and news channels. Each headline representing some or the other political/social group holding a state or the nation at ransom to have their demands met. So are we turning from a peace loving, democratic nation to one that is ruled by hooligans of political parties?

The MNS rioting in Mumbai is a classical example of a political party deriving valuable vote bank mileage from its violent acts. When Maharashtra goes to elections next, Mr. Raj Thackerey would harp on his successes in making the life of the average Mumbai resident no less than hell. Yet the voting public would cheer, rather than condone, such acts. Who knows, it may even win him a substantial number of votes! After all, we Indians are known to forgive our politicians very quickly. Absolution is very cheap in our country.

The Gujjar agitation was a complete case in contrast. Without any direct political backing, a community led by a retired Army Colonel held the whole of Rajasthan and North India in its grip for a whole month. The reason, they wanted to be given reservation in the ST(Scheduled Tribe) quota. Roads and railways were blocked, with agitators damaging railway tracks to make sure rail traffic was disrupted till their demands were met. The Indian Railways incurred losses to the tune of millions of rupees. Now that the agitation is over, and the Gujjars have been promised of a special reservation quota, will the goverment send the Gujjars and their leaders a bill for the losses they caused? Naa, that won’t happen. Its not the government money, it is the taxpayers money that is laid to spoil. Our leaders sat in silence as several thousands of people had their lives affected with regional and national strikes!! And yet we forgive, forget and move on. What a great nation we are!!!

The most recent case is of the BJP & VHP calling a nation-wide bandh(strike) today. There are reports of protesters blocking road and rail traffic. The nation is being held to ransom again. People who earn their livelihood on a daily basis will go home with no money and no food to feed their families. Yet the political parties will gloat in their success at holding the entire nation at gunpoint!

So I ask, are we turning into a nation of rioters and hooligans?

There is one, and only one way to stop this menace. Make those responsible of such agitations to pay up! Ask MNS to pay up for every taxi its workers destroyed, ask Mr. Bainsla to pay those millions of rupees the Indian Railways lost due to the agitation he led, ask the BJP and VHP to pay up for the destruction and damage it has caused to property across the nation.

And while we are at it, send them bills for the lakhs of man-hours wasted by the police in controlling their crowds. Time that could have been spent in making our roads and our lives safer.

Some political leader, some political party needs to find its spine and take such action. But wait, is there any political party in India that HAS a spine in the first place?

George Lucas, in his movie Star Wars III made a very potent observation, in the form of a dialogue. I find it really apt as a closing quote to this post

So this is how democracy dies, with a thunderous applause

Pakistan is on the brink of another civil war after its prodigal daughter & the preferred candidate for the Prime Minister’s post, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27. Her killing came as a shock not only to Pakistan, but to the western world that was counting on Bhutto for a smooth transition of power from Musharraf to a democratically led government.

Bhutto’s demise has changed a lot of equations in Pakistan. Though it has ensured her party’s victory in the next general elections, whenever they happen.

(more…)

Mr. Karat is at it again. After giving the UPA government some breathing space on the Indo-US nuclear deal in November, the left has put a stick in UPAs wheels a day after the parliament concluded its winter session. This time around though, the warning was much more direct.

(more…)

Justice it seems, has been sent off to exile. At least in the Indian state of Gujarat, where the current chief minister has thumped his chest at a pre-election rally justifying the police encounter of Sohrabuddin and his wife. Sohrabuddin was under suspicion for terrorist activities for a while before he was killed by the cops in what was a staged encounter. His wife was also killed by the police in the same encounter. The fight for justice for this family is currently on in the Supreme Court.

Narendra Modi thinks otherwise. For him, justice was delivered on the day Sohrabuddin was encountered by Gujarat’s finest. And the crowds cheer and applaud for him. Read the story on Modi’s election speech at NDTV’s website.

The bigger question stands, are we turning into a nation that is more inclined towards vigilante justice?

(more…)

It has been a long time since the Indo-US nuclear deal is doing backflips on both ends of the world, and it appears that it could possibly end out as a damp squib. Much credit must go to the communist lobby in India. Communism is now dead in the country that gave birth to it, and China has adopted a more liberal form of communism so that it doesn’t get left behind in a fast growing world. The acceptance of globalization in China is a big indicator of the declining world belief of communism. (more…)