tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28896940098054843572024-02-08T02:36:55.023-08:00Laughter is the Best MedicineOccasional humor and more by a humor-handicap!Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-32355955560885326472014-10-02T07:35:00.001-07:002015-01-11T19:09:53.707-08:00Swacha Bharat Abhiyan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Indian women are very talented. We are good at many things including making our marriages last long, even the unhappy ones. But one particular talent is controlling urge to relieve ourselves! Indian men are rather lucky in this aspect, they can relieve themselves anywhere, right in the middle of a busy market, on crowded roads practically anywhere. All they need is a short wall or perhaps even a tree stump. But we are not so privilaged. Before the advent of all the malls out there we went shopping to markets say like Chickpet, Malleshwaram, Gandhibazar in Bangalore or say Chandni Chowk, Sarojini Nagar, Lajpath Nagar in Delhi. I do not ever remember using a toilet or for that matter relieving myself ever while shopping, even if we shopped the entire day which we mostly did. For that matter I do not remember any of my family member or my girl friends I went shopping did. Pee at home, shop and get back home to pee. What an amazing talent indeed. No one speaks about it but for most women it is just part of life, something like breathing.<br />
<br />
I did not quite realize this till my solo journey on Karnataka Express when I went away to the university. Karnataka express used to be a 42 hour long journey from Bangalore to Delhi. Starting at Bangalore around 6 PM, the train used to lumber on via Hyderabad Karnataka, Maharastra, MP , UP and finally reach Delhi around noon the third day. To make things worse, the train was seldom on time. So when the train started in Bangalore, things would be clean. The bathrooms usable, there would be water in the toilets and sink and hawkers would sell something called paper-soap. It was a rather smart idea, strips of paper coated with soap which would work lather with a dash of water and the paper that was left over was to be trashed. Smart indigenous idea indeed. I loved them.<br />
The second day early morning, things would still be ok. But I figured out in my first few trips that it was good idea to wash up at day break else it could get crowded and of course dirty. But the end of the second day water could be scarce. That is when the problem started. Also by then our people in the train would have used the toilets umpteen times and would find it either dirty or lazy or simply ignorant perhaps to flush and the people sitting close to the toilets would have to endure the stench for the rest of their journey. Water which would disappear by then would just make it worse.<br />
<br />
So that is where my talent helped me. During the entire course of 42 hours, I would have used to toilets a couple of times, three times at the max. To avoid having to use the bathrooms, I did be preparing from day 0 of the journey. Eating little, and eating foods that were easy on the stomach. One day 1 of the journey, again eat little and avoid foods that made you go. Through out the journey, I would eat very little, drink very little water and sleep most of the time typically on the upper most berth. A strategy that helped a lone young south Indian girl traveling into the unkind Northern plains as much as help me avoid using the toilets. <br />
<br />
So much of strategy to just travel! But I guess most of us did that. We, as women had our own ways of coping up with the system that imposed invisible constraints, so much so that it was the norm for us. When I came to the States, one of the first things I noticed was how ubiquitous public toilets were and most of the time they were usable and had water. Women here probably do not even realize how easy their lives are, or to see it in a different way, women here most likely do not have this particular talent that we have. <br />
<br />
This particular talent has been nurtured by generations in the past. No wonder we are so good at it. Perhaps our great-grandmothers were much better than us in this respect. In my family from what I have heard from my older family members, my great grandfather (a prosperous civil servant) had a big house which survives even today albeit as five portions with four different tenants and an uncle living there. The big house has one bathroom with a big wood fire Handi to heat water but no toilets. The men obviously in those days too had no problems. They would relieve themselves when ever they felt like. But women folk of the family had to wait for the cover of darkness to go to the near by fields to relieve themselves. I shudder to think of how they could have been waiting all the way from dusk to dawn to relieve themselves and then they had to walk in the dark on unpaved paths into the fields. I wonder if they ever encountered snakes, scorpions and other scary reptiles or if they ever encountered other wild animals which were ample those days like leopard, hyena and wolves and may be tigers. What if they did? Was it just a 'normal' thing for them? Were they ever scared? they might have their own strategies to cope up with such dangers. What ever they did, they outdid us in this particular talent!<br />
<br />
To this day, there are so many homes in India without a toilet. They simply do not see the need for it perhaps because being a male centric society that it is, when men do not find it a problem to relive themselves in public there is no obvious need. Women just learn to live with the constraint. So there is no obvious need to have toilet at home or for that matter in public places like busy markets. If Indian men were a little more conscious and had the habit of relieving themselves only in toilets, I bet there would have been a lot many more toilets than what we see today. Just like they say there in the States the if men were to have babies, paid maternity leaves would have been long. It is just that since the burden of not having toilets is borne entire by women without complaints we see fewer toilets. We learn to hold our pee instead of demanding for toilets. </div>
Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-38130168460777279622014-05-19T13:12:00.002-07:002014-05-19T13:12:19.654-07:00Loksabha 2014 Part 1 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Phew! finally one of the most expensive affairs of democracy in the world has come to an end. We should thank our stars that we have a clear winner and there will be no more 'compulsions of coalition' sucking our blood.<br />
<br />
For things that I noticed this election.<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>The bitterness in the political campaign was unprecedented. Never was the bitterness against political opponents so very much in open. Name calling, mud slinging, one up-men-ship, sheer stupidity and George-Bush like 'you are with me or against me' water tight compartmentalization of opinions. We all know politics is the last game of a scoundrel but this is the nadir of being scoundrels. Was it so ugly because the top-dog was not a part of the elite either in terms of power circles like the Gandhis, V.P.Singh and Charan Singh or in terms of better education and chance at life like P.V.N and Chandrashekhar. </li>
<li>B.J.P is accused to being the force behind polarizing the electorate, but to think of it, Polarization has two faces those who were for Modi, the ones cultivated by B.J.P and then those who were against, cultivated by everybody else. Well heights of polarization and intolerance was when I saw a 'liberal' person threatening to un-friend those who 'like' Narendra Modi's page on Facebook. So those who were fighting for the cause of tolerance and 'secularism' were not tolerant enough to accept their friends for having a different like of thought.</li>
<li>'It is the Economy, Stupid!'... How Congress can be so very clueless as to what is driving the Modi phenomenon? Being a grand old political party with so many wise brains at its disposal, how could they not get it? Congress party looks locked in a shell. They thought giving our people rights is the best they could to, right to marriage, right to reading, right to urinate in public, right to eat, right to god knows what... at the end of the day it all boils down to the tangible gains people saw. 'Rights? ok, what is in there for me? My life is no different from before. The rights have not given me better roads, better education, better chance at life...Give me more.' We all know that doles and subsidies are never enjoyed by those who are supposed to on paper. Even if the right to food, employment and everything else is supposed to deliver goodies to those deserving on paper, how much of it really reaches the real beneficiaries?</li>
<li>Congress has something way too elitist about their thinking. They seem to say, 'oh! you poor people, let us feed you as long as I an available, and yes, because you are poor you should not aspire for anything else. Get your free square meal and do not ask for MORE'. Don't they know that, giving a fish to a person will feed her one day and teaching her to fish will feed her and her family for a life time? How many people, even the poorest want just food? probably no one. Every body wants more than just food. People want better life, for themselves and their children. Why else do we see poor parents moving heaven and earth, at the cost of loosing most of their merge possessions, send their children to the best schools they can afford and to colleges too? Have we not seen such people around us, our poorer cousins, our maids, our Dhobis, our vegetable vendors almost every one... So why do they do it at all? Because they hope education will lead their children to a better life they themselves can never hope for. Education enables good life. Period. So it is 'fishing' more than fish it self that people are demanding. They are demanding opportunities and an enabling atmosphere which is conducive for meritocratic rise of their children. We demand for good education, good medical-healthcare facilities and we demand for infrastructure. Simple. That should have been the focus. </li>
<li>Meritocracy! Most parties this time fielded sons and daughters of known political faces. If we accept doctor kids becoming doctors, or movie stars kids choosing acting career why not politicians grooming their kids in politics? Well the answer is still 'No'. No other profession has the kind of clout and power like Politics and no where is the bar so low as Politics either. What riles me as a common born with no famous surname is the unfair advantage the kids with famous surname have over me. Not because they are cleverer than me, or even more competent then me but because of they have a famous surname. A famous surname is good enough for a career in politics. Especially if you are a Gandhi, Congress party behaves like your bonded labor. Priyanka Gandhi who is officially a no one in the party screams out that her cousin has gone 'astray', that some one dishonored her 'martyred father' and that response from every booth in Amethi will come in full force to avenge for the dishonor of his 'martyred father'. Indeed we saw that on the day of counting when her poor brother was trailing behind his opponent for a while and then his victory margin reduced to just half of what it was last time. What is so great about the Gandhis any way? Unfortunately the only message the rise of Rahul and Priyanka sent out was that no one can aspire for the top post in Congress because it is the birth right of either of the two. It is not a coincidence that they have all but disowned P.V.Narashimharao, the man who steered the ship in its most fragile time and they have dishonored Dr.Manmohan Singh like nothing seen in history.</li>
<li>Rahul Gandhi factor. After his disastrous interview all I could see in Rahul Gandhi were his cute dimples as he stood grinning while his mother somberly spoke of the parties election rout and accepted the moral responsibility. Does he evoke any emotion in me? yes I think he is kind of cute, he is rich, privilaged, rather spoilt and he gets to do what ever he wants without ever having to answer anyone. But at 40+ years and 10 long years in politics is a long time enough even for a late bloomer to learn the ropes of the trade. With the kind of support, shelter and resources at his disposal, he still looks like lost-last bencher in school who is constantly staring out of the window and waiting for the bell to ring. Nothing in him, or nothing he has to say rings with you. Sorry this is not 1984, good looks and a Gandhi surname are not qualifications enough to become a leader of aspirational India.I heard some one say the other day that the fear of Narendra Modi lead Muslims to consolidate against his strongest opponent but the fear of Rahul Gandhi becoming the next PM consolidated the votes of all those who had ever seen his famous interview in favor of Modi!</li>
<li>The rise of the Mango people! Indeed this is an election of 'Aam Admi'. At the center of the election was a very '<i>Aam</i>'-common man, a man with no privilaged upbringing, no money, no famous surname, no English convent education, but who was cleaver enough to make the most of the opportunities he got on his way to the top. Yes Modi might not be the perfect leader but no one take it away from him that despite his humble background he was smart enough to make it to the top. We middle class admire people like him, the meritocratic rises to the top, the reason why N.R.N, A.P.J, Sir.M.V, are middle class icons. AAP too made a splash, though a disappointing one. AAP was a real democratization of Politics, it attracted a lot of young, energetic, disenchanted who would otherwise look at politics with a lot of disdain into active political participation. Many contested, many worked as volunteers and many walked up the the booths to cast their votes. But it is not Kejriwal represented AAP for me. If he did, it would be sad. Kejriwal is too pedestrian to be a leader, his constant pop-economics rant of Black Money- Swiss Banks, selling petrol at Rs38 and "Media being sold out" only made him look like a bitter anarchist. He did not come across as the leader with a plan for the country but an opportunist cribbing about one thing and everything. If AAP achieved something this elections, it is despite Kejriwal. In Punjab they were successful because they chose the right candidates to represent them.They stuck to their plank of clean and corruption free politics. That should have been the plank of AAP everywhere. With Kejriwal voicing for and against everything he had heard and being the new maker he is, he diluted the message of the party and what they stood for. Sadly this was not AAP's election. This was clearly Narendra Modi's election. But as we saw in Punjab, if Narendra Modi were to fail to deliver, next election might as well be AAP's. </li>
</ol>
</div>
Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-89134636216161046272013-09-27T15:23:00.000-07:002013-09-27T15:23:27.171-07:00Ordinance on Convicted Lawmakers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Gandhiji and B.R.Ambedkar will definitely <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>be rolling in their graves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They probably would even be sorry for what
they did, for it is going to be hard for them to see their beloved people where
we are today! Imagine Nehru speaking to Gandhi about an ordinance that that
protects convicted lawmakers from being immediately disqualified. May be in those
days it would have still made sense, after all there were many freedom fighters
convicted for political reasons. I wonder how would Ambedkar and his
constitution drafting committee react to this development. I bet they did not
in their wildest dream think of a scenario like this one. They were after all
men of honor and despite their best efforts could not envisage a scenario of
our democracy being hijacked by dishonorable men at whose helm is a man I
esteemed so much, a person who was supposed to be one of the best brains in my
profession! Sorry Dr.Singh this is indeed the last nail in the coffin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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It is not surprising that politics is the last refuge of a
scoundrel, but it is indeed surprising that they have become shameless and blatantly
so. Despite being greedy, power hungry and all that they were, there were some
ethics, a unspoken code of conduct, a certain dignity and respect towards the
electorate. After all they needed us twice every decade, sometimes<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>even more than that! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Surprisingly, it is out right stupid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They could have done it intelligently by
introduced a bill, there could have been<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pretense of a debate in the
parliament, a guise of functional democracy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No! they want to take the shortest and
quickest route even if it meant circumventing the democratic process, and of
course disregarding our esteemed supreme<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>court. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a stupid move
because you do not shoot yourself in the foot during an election year, not to
forget anti-incumbency and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a formidable
opponent with a strong track-record.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is a wonder that Congress forgot that there are educated and urban voters who
are can see through vote-bank politics who will definitely be upset by such
open disrespect to the electorate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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No wonder the Gen-Z <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>leaders
in the Congress party are openly criticizing the ordinance. Kudoos to Rahul
Gandhi , Milind Deora for calling a spade a spade. Not that they are always on
the ‘right’ side, but this time they are. For once Rahul Gandhi said something
I whole heartedly agree. This ordinance is utter nonsense. Thanks Rahul for
bringing legitimacy (you can do that, thanks to your parentage)to a point of
view so diverse from the leaders in your party. Thanks Rahul for making us the
Aaam Janta feel a little less despised. Thanks Rahul for making us, voters feel
a little more than just<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>votebank=function(caste,
religion,(money+bottle)).</div>
</div>
Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-16850121608570308492013-09-16T16:55:00.000-07:002013-09-16T16:55:30.246-07:00Masala Dosa and the purchasing power of rupee.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The other day I watched a Kannada movie called ‘Super’ by
Upendra. Like all Upendra movies, the movie had a few feel good, a few thought
worthy elements but on the whole it was stung into a very gaudy but blotchy
story piece. The element that connect this piece to the movie is the exchange
rate of a Rupee! In that movie a Rupee is equivalent to $100! Wow. So the film
makers aspire for Rupee to become so expensive. May be it an aspirational factor,
maybe there are a lot of us who think it is desirable to have an expensive
Rupee. What does that really mean in the context of recent depreciation of
Rupee?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">To begin with let us think in terms of Masala Dosa. I say
Masala Dosa, because that is one of the first things I buy as an expat on a pilgrimage
home! In 2007, the price of a Masala Dosa in say a typical Darshini in
Bangalore would cost about <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>INR 15. As
given in the table below, in terms of Dollar one Masala Dosa cost $0.41. In
2009, my next subsequent trip to India, I found that the same Masala Dosa cost
about INR 25 or about $0.61. Currently the same Masala Dosa costs about INR 50
or about $0.94.</span></div>
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<tbody>
<tr style="height: 14.25pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: navy; font-size: 10pt;">Purchasing power of Rupee in terms of a Masala Dosa</span></b></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 13.5pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 13.5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 130.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="174"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: navy; font-size: 10pt;">Year</span></b></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 13.5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="78"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: navy; font-size: 10pt;">$1 = INR</span></b></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 13.5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 141.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: navy; font-size: 10pt;">Cost of Masala Dosa</span></b></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border-top: none; height: 13.5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 141.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: navy; font-size: 10pt;">Cost of Masala Dosa </span></b></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.75pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 130.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="174"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">2007</span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="78"><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">37.00</span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 141.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">INR 15</span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 141.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">₵ 41</span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.75pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 130.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="174"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">2009</span></span></div>
</td>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">41.00</span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 141.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">INR 25</span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 141.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">₵ 61</span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.75pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 130.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="174"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">2013</span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="78"><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">63.00</span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 141.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">INR 50</span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 141.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">₵ 79</span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 12.75pt; mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 130.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="174"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Annual inflation</span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="78"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 141.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: red; font-size: 10pt;">27% (INR terms)</span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border-top: none; height: 12.75pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 141.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: red; font-size: 10pt;">18% ($ terms)</span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 13.5pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: none; border-left: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 13.5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 130.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="174"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Annual Depreciation</span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 13.5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.6pt;" valign="bottom" width="78"><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">12%</span></span></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 13.5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 141.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-right: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border: none; height: 13.5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 141.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.25pt; mso-yfti-irow: 7; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td colspan="4" nowrap="" style="border-right: solid black 1.5pt; border: solid windowtext 1.5pt; height: 14.25pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 471.05pt;" valign="bottom" width="628"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: navy; font-size: 10pt;">One Masala Dosa should approach $0.81 at the depreciation rate of
12% </span></b></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">At the same time, Rupee has depreciated about 12 % per
annum(roughly, it is never a straight line process, there were lots of ups and
downs, but roughly the trend) from about INR 37 for a dollar to about INR 63
right now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So if we adjust the price of
Masala Dosa in terms of depreciation, we will see that it should approach
$0.81. Which indeed it did, at current rate it is about $0.79. So <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>thinking <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of purchasing power of rupee in terms of a
Masala Dosa, currently rupee is fairly valued after all. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Sorry Upendra, INR 1 approaching $100 still appears a
distant dream, definitely when inflation in India is what it is and fiscal
deficit is what it is. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The depreciation of rupee is not to be interpreted as a
bleak development <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>either. On the one
hand imports become more expensive, so hopefully Indians buy a lot less of gold,
a lot less of the flimsy toys made in China, and petrol (may be rely a lot more
on public transportation). On the other hand our exports will become competitive
in the global markets because everything in global markets are denominated in
Dollars. Hopefully our exporters will find more buyers and earn more Dollars
improving our balance sheet. Over a period of time, if fiscal and monetary
policies are healthy, and the central government is sane, we can hopefully see
a time when<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>inflation and also Rupee
will experience some degree of stability.</span></div>
</div>
Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-48711581926891879482012-12-28T16:34:00.002-08:002012-12-28T16:34:51.532-08:00RIP brave girl...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Finally the girl who was brutalized on a moving bus bid his final farewell, she was tired and done. Rest in peace brave sister....You were not the first to go this way or the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2889694009805484357"> last</a> given the disproportionately heavy burden of crime that women face.<br />
<br />Of course we are stupid enough to elect and make leaders of people, not even competent to understand what they are saying. Apparently some great politician a few years ago complained about women wearing modern dresses and sending out an invitation to be raped! It was absurd and just went on the state how sick the guy capable of making that statement. That was not the end, but the beginning.<br />
<br />
"Women should know how much skin they should cover.”- Karnataka's Women & Child Welfare minister C. C. Patil<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
OK let us discount some minor politician, but if well educated, apparently enlightened bureaucrats say things like ....<br /> '“fashionable clothing,” like the salwar kameez is leading to number of rapes' Dinesh Reddy-Andhra Pradesh DGP<br />
.....you know you are doomed and justice cannot be expected. <br />
<br />
<br />Most so called leaders are just so paranoid about their position, that everything becomes a political conspiracy. "rapes were a conspiracy to malign the government." Mr Phool Chand Mulana Haryana Congress President. Looks like he took a leaf off Ms Mamatha Banerjee's stance in one such case in Kolkota. She went a step ahead transferring a rare police officer who managed to nab the culprits. <br />
<br />
And then there is more, women politicians who can brand a rape victim a prostitute.<br />
<br />
"They (the Park Street rape and Delhi gang rape) are totally different. The incident at Park Street was not a rape at all. It was a misunderstanding between two parties involved in professional dealing — a woman and her client," Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, MP<br />
<br />
God forbid, after going through such violation, a women should also suffer from character assassination? No wonder, most such crimes go unreported. After all cops are not only slack doing their job, but can become predators themselves.<br />
<br />
"Maan Singh, a senior sub inspector (SSI) posted at Akbarpur police station in Ambedkar Nagar, was arrested on December 14 from a hotel in Faizabad by SSP D S Yadav. The arrest came after the SSP was informed that the cop had brought the gang-rape victim from Ambedkar Nagar to the hotel and was raping her. The victim was rescued from the room after the cop was caught with his pants down. Now the rape victim has alleged that in-charge of the Akbarpur Kotwali, inspector AK Upadhyay, had also raped her." from the Times of India.<br />
<br />
This is definitely not the last straw. <br />
<br />
So it is not enough that women are unfortunate to go through such violation, they have to put up with more cognition-handicapped politicians who are brave enough to say "I don't feel any hesitation in saying that 90 per cent of the girls want to have sex intentionally but they don't know that they would be gang raped further as they find some lusty and pervasive people in the way ahead." Dharambit Goyat Haryana Congress spokesperson<br />
<br />
<br /><br />No leader worth his or her salt has come down on the crime, either by putting forward relevant legislation or by taking to task the responsible officers. On the contrary, the suggestions we have been getting include avoiding private buses at night.<br />
<br />
"They should also think that they should not go in a private bus at night...We say we got freedom at midnight but doesn't mean we can roam free around at midnight." Botsa Satyanarayana<br />
<br />
<br />
As if 9.30 PM is midnight. What about women raped in cars, fields, homes and disgustingly enough in play-school..<br /><br />
If you are a women and if you are protesting against the lack of law and order and basic safety then you must be a "pretty pretty women, highly dented and painted" according to Mr.Abhijit Mukherjee, son of honorable president of India.<br />
<br />
Then the home minister will brand you a Maoist. You cry for help and you are called a militant? "It is very easy to ask the Home Minister to go to India Gate and talk. Tomorrow Maoists may come here to demonstrate with weapons" Sushil Kumar Shinde Home Minister.<br />
<br />
Is India even a civil society? I cannot think of any other term but BARBARIC.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Come on..there is more to it, the all powerful and all notorious Khaps of Haryana who sanction honor killings, get the first prize. <br /><br />
"The meeting aims at knowing the views of various khap panchayats about the issue of lowering the marriageable age to prevent rape incidents in the state. Representatives of around 100 khaps across the state will attend the meeting to share their opinion and to present their proposals on the issue," Sube Singh Samain, spokesperson of the Sarva Khap Jat Panchayat<br /><br /><br />Not only they have violated all the unspoken rules of a civilized society, they go further every time! This time they have outdone themselves, and everybody in the race to dubious distinction. <br />
<br />
Congratulations you brutes and barbarians; It is not just Afghanistan that is lawless, India too is just as lawless. Go pick up a girl walking home from school, or even a toddler playing the park, violate her and do what you want, you did still walk away scot-free. <br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-42669122887997837152012-10-31T07:26:00.000-07:002012-10-31T07:26:14.137-07:00CA Prop 37<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The conservatives are a strange bunch. They accept and
promote the neoclassical thought saying that Americans should be ‘free to
choose’. They should be ‘free to choose’ in economics, in what they want to
produce and market. Same goes for gun control. Americans should be ‘free to
choose’ if they want to own guns, even the kind police officers do not carry
with them. American corporations are ‘free to choose’ what ever it takes to maximize profits including technology that can
cause irreversible environmental damage,
opposing the labeling of genetically modified food. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Americans are ‘free
to choose’ everything. Well when they say 'Americans' probably that automatically
excludes the American women, the sexual minorities etc. The women are not ‘free
to choose’ whether they want to carry on an unwanted pregnancy or not. Gay
people are not ‘free to choose’ whom they want to marry. So much so that two
people who are in love and want solemnize their relationship are not ‘free to
choose’ the word ‘Marriage’ to define their relationship. Other ordinary
Americans whose lives are affected because of apathetic pollution are ‘free to
choose’ to pack up their bags and leave but are not ‘free’ to ask for
damages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are not these serious flaws in the thought? If ‘Americans
are free to choose’ so should be American women, American queer community etc. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thankfully they also thought that drafting goes against the
tenet. So indeed Americans are ‘free to choose’ if they want to go and fight a
war or not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I ask for labeling of genetically modified food, I will
probably be branded a ‘tree hugger’, so I am not ‘free to choose’ what I want
to eat. The corporations that sell me food whereas are ‘free to choose’ to feed
what me what ever they can make a profit on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
CA please vote yes on the Prop 37, so that one day we are
’free to choose’ if we want to eat the GM garbage or not.</div>
</div>
Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-67532850040461066882012-08-03T14:57:00.002-07:002012-08-03T14:58:28.859-07:00Arrange Marriage or Love Marriage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Heard a celebrity scholar comment on arranged marriages on the radio. He was of the opinion that arranged marriages are unworkable in our times. The forcefulness of his argument made me sit and think. Are arranged marriages so bad? after all I have always loved love stories and of course love marriages are so exciting. But then marriages are not about love story. <br />
<br />
Let us get to the advantages of arranged marriages:<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>No dating pressure, peer pressure to have a girl/boy friend and will not have to keep looking for love if it does not happen.</li>
<li>The whole processes of looking for a soul mate is out-sourced and elder family members will do it for you.</li>
<li>People with absolutely no decision making power will end up marrying. If not for arranged marriage, they would be single.</li>
<li>'Lemons'(not to be condescending to others. I respect everybody but then our society is prejudiced and I cannot deny it) -will eventually find partners. For example darker girls being married off even if it means a large dowry. (I am dark myself, and I am happy with my skin)</li>
<li>Eventually there will be more couples and procreation will go on. Not that our species is under the threat of extinction.</li>
<li>Post marriage troubles are usually addressed by the elders. </li>
<li>Fewer compatibility issues on the grounds on of food habits, language and so on</li>
<li>Both the partners start with lower expectations. No love-rush before getting married and disappointment later on after the love-rush subsides.</li>
</ol>
Now for the disadvantage<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Arranged marriages are very expensive. The cost can be prohibitive and crush people on the fringe under the load of debt.</li>
<li>Everything goes for a price, and the natural bio-chemical attraction has no place in the market.</li>
<li>Personality mismatch. </li>
</ol>
<br />
Now for the advantages of love marriages:<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>You think you know your partner well enough and decide consciously to live together.</li>
<li> Pure bio-chemistry at play. Something inexplicable is driving the relationship and it must be strong enough to stand the test of time.</li>
<li>The feeling of being in love is unbeatable. People go berserk when they feel they are in love.</li>
<li>Love marriages unless taking the conventional wedding route can be very inexpensive.</li>
<li>Children born out of love marriages are most likely to learn more languages. They are also exposed to many more cultures and more likely to be more pluralistic. </li>
</ol>
The disadvantages of love marriages:<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Incredible amount of pressure to fall in love and find a partner and get married.</li>
<li>Complete decision making on the individual. May be a lot of pressure. </li>
<li>Pressure to find love might make people choose the wrong person.</li>
<li>'Lemons' might never be able to make it to the market.</li>
<li>Courtship can be expensive, with movies and restaurant bills to foot</li>
</ol>
To see it in a way, arranged marriages are like command and control economies and love marriages are like free market.Just like the command and control economies, arranged marriages are planned and directed by some authority above. Just the execution is left for the individuals. The match is arranged, the date and venue everything is decided by the elders of the two families and the individuals might or might not have a say in all of these. The individuals just execute the plan given from above, get married and then procreate.<br />
<br />
Whereas in the love marriage, individuals are free to choose whom they want to get married to and the way they get married to etc. They might want to have the wedding the way their parents desire but then the primary decision is all their own. That is, they decide what to do with their resource(life), and eventually execute it the way they want it. Just like free market.<br />
<br />
So, if you are above average person (financial, looks,confidence etc) then try your luck in the free market. Free market rewards the 'haves' better than 'have-not'. And chances are that you will find a partner of choice and of course experience the love-rush that can beat the most thrilling of roller coaster. Otherwise arranged marriage might not be so bad.<br />
<br />
The only take away from my thought process is that an individual should as much have a choice of going for an arranged marriage as for love marriage. Just like no one should be stopped from marrying a person they love (regardless of sex,colour, caste,creed) no one should be stopped from choosing arranged matches either. I hate it when people stigmatize arranged marriages. Not all arranged marriages are brutal and forced co-habitation of a city bred modern girl and a tribal from the Hindu Khush. <br />
<br /></div>Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-59713823130477280672011-12-15T12:35:00.001-08:002012-08-03T14:58:46.997-07:00FDI in Multi-brand retailing in India<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
Recently there was a proposal to allow foreign players in the Indian multi-brand
retailing sector which was eventually rolled back due to political pressure.
Here is an opinion with regard to the development.<br />
There are 5 stake holders in this process.<br />
<div style="margin-left: .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Ordinary
consumers like you and me</div>
<div style="margin-left: .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Ultimate
producer like farmers, small scale industries, big conglomerates like Tata,
reliance, ITC and everybody in between producing apparel, shoes, house wares,
toys, soft goods, knick knacks and everything that is typically sold in a super
market.</div>
<div style="margin-left: .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Middle
men like commission agents, and agents in the procurement chain and sellers
through the distribution chain including huge distributers, wholesalers, retailers
at various level etc</div>
<div style="margin-left: .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Foreign
owners of multi brand retailers like Bharati-walmart,Tesco, Carrefour etc</div>
<div style="margin-left: .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The
homegrown multi-brand retailers like Pantaloon (Big Bazaar, Shoppers Stop),
Tata ( Westside) etc.</div>
The proposal to allow foreign investment into multi-brand retailing
essentially means allowing stakeholder number 4 to open shops in big cities in
India. If the investor-retailer like say Walmart does not make any stupid
mistake, entering a market like India is very profitable. It makes complete
sense as the developed markets are already saturated and aging therefore cannot
offer returns the way a younger, growing, more recently prosperous ( at least
certain segments which incidentally happens to be as big as the entire
population of say Germany, Australia and United Kingdom combined) and not to
mention a more populous economy like India can offer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
For other stake holders it means, <br />
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Bigger
investment, construction of large stores like Wal-Mart in India, product
sourcing and distribution network, an array of construction including
warehouses, front end and back end operations etc.</div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Jobs
created in the scope of all the above mentioned areas and more.</div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Improving
efficiency due to scale of operations, they are just too big and their size
should allow more efficient operation.</div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Consumer
stand to gain because competitive pricing, better choice and convenience-
Imagine going to 10 different shops or going to one huge Wal-Mart.</div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Producers
stand to gain because they can bargain directly with the retailer, eliminate
middle men and therefore enjoy better price realization. Apart from better
price realization, larger and more stable order will enable the best of
producers to become more efficient and eventually more successful. If they are
indeed very efficient, they can become suppliers at the global level. I mean Wal-Mart
becoming a platform for XYZ company which is very efficient in say producing
steel tumblers to be able to sell its products in Wal-Mart all around the
world.</div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>More
investment will bring in modern supply chain management practices.
(Hindustan Unilever has done an awesome job in this regard but the scope
for improvement is enormous ) Again improving efficiency and thereby
benefits to most stakeholder. Think better management of perishables like
tomatoes. We hear price of tomatoes crashing and farmers abandoning their crops
by the truck loads on the highway. A big retailer can offer farmers offer to
buy certain quantity of produce at certain time at a set price. (contract
farming) Quite easily applicable to apparel and many other sectors. The idea is
that the producers will enjoy better price stability and fewer market gluts and
associated losses.</div>
<br />
Problem with the proposal<br />
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The
ground of operation for middlemen will gradually erode. This won’t happen
immediately but over a period of time. If the system can work better without
them they will be gradually eliminated; That is, if they are something called
'dead weight loss' neither beneficial to producers nor consumers.. But
they cannot be eliminated completely because there will always be pockets that
are not served by the big retailers.</div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The
home grown retailers will face increased competition. Because the target is the
well healed and Indian consumers are crazy about anything ‘imported’ the
concern is very real. </div>
Implication:<br />
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>If
the government wants to protect the middlemen and other supply chain
inefficiencies, they are shortchanging the other two stakeholders- the
producers and consumers. From what it looks the consumers lack the lobbying
power of the traders-middlemen and therefore loose most. Producers do not what
to irk their traders-middlemen because the competition out there is brutal.</div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The
greater lobbying would be by the existing multi-brand retailers. We know that
our home grown conglomerates are not all that fair. They are there to make
money at what ever cost. We know now that the Ambanis can bribe their way
through our political system to procure public goods at a discount. They
launder money and do everything to protect their interest. And they cannot be
held accountable judicially or legally. Same with our other conglomerates. After
all they are the chief patrons of our political elite.</div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Mom
and pop stores the protestors say are going to go bust. Well it is hard to
say. To think of it this way, the Kirana shops have been there for ages because
of a reason, convenience -they are often located in the neighborhood of the
consumer, they offer credit facility which organized retailers cannot, unless
you have a store branded credit card which obviously not everybody is eligible
for. They are very competitive in terms of price and service. They offer
personalized service and home delivery which a big box retailer can never. They
know their customers; can make drastic changes in their style of operation,
management. They are way more agile than big-box retailers. Janta Bazaars are
dinosaurs but Kiranas are still around and are doing as well as they had been
before, may be even better. On the other hand, they will never be able to offer
the kind of product assortment and choice the big retailers can offer. </div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The
political debate is just political, not technical nor economic. Election is
nearing and all our damned politicians want a piece of populist pie. They are
not worried about the 'Aam admi', they never were.</div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Have
you noticed that just because Reliance opened a huge vegetable shop (what ever
it is called 'fresh' or something, the vegetable-fruit supermarket I mean) did
not lead to the extinction of vegetable market at 9th block Jayanagar or the
vegetable vendors on the push cart. It just leads to more choices to the
consumer. If you are price conscious and quality conscious you will
probably go to reliance. If you get down a bus at 9th block and do not want to
go that extra mile you will probably buy at 9th block and if are at home and do
not care much about what you might get but do not want to step out of the house
you will buy something from the push card vegetable vendor at your door step at
a more steeper price. So they are all there very much still in business.</div>
The story here is that there is scope for everybody in the business. The pie
is huge and it is growing! Is our population slowing down any soon? No and our
wants are anything but reducing. Allowing foreign retailers means better
integration with the rest of the world and more choices for our consumers and
better price realization for our producers, yes we will see some inefficiencies
reducing. Home grown retailers will be forced to be more efficient and
middlemen will have to find something else. This is a brutal world that is not
forgiving. We all need to fight for our bread. Why should a political favorite
be given an easy life when the rest of us are working hard?<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But politics is so much about
sticking to power rather than addressing the aspirations of voters. Who can
help these self centered politicians? I wish (due regards) Anna Hazare sticks
to ‘fasting against corruption’ and stop talking as if he knew what he was
speak out against. It is indeed tragic that the proposal was withdrawn, a
sad victory of meaningless politics over meaningful economics.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-64396883099123465422009-03-03T15:22:00.000-08:002009-03-03T15:24:50.455-08:00Election 2009I was very elated when BJP was elected to rule Karnataka a few months back. For one, Karnataka has been ruled by both Congress and Janata dal, both parties did nothing worthwhile. They were both disappointing, sometimes outright stupid. On the other hand BJP was a fresh option, with promising fresh ideas and fresh ways to do things. So personally though I was unable to cast my vote, I was happy for my state and my people. May be there will be a change, a positive one. <br />Unfortunately my optimism is misplaced. There are numerous allegations of corruption like the one involving real estate lobby and the Bangalore master plan, some mining company and its gross violations, transfers for money all that were very well features of the past governments, BJP being no different. The worst part of the whole process however is the aggression of fringe Hindutva groups. <br /><br /><br />I have been a passive supporter of Hindutva, not because it appeals to me and I believe in all their ideas, but that the other voices – the voice of centre and centre-left leaves me very uncomfortable. The centre-leftish groups in India are the most vocal, followed by the Hindutva voice. Unfortunately I do not identify myself with the centre-left because for them, I being a part of majority am less worthy than a minority who votes en-block for these parties. Therefore they are not ready to listen to me, they do not want people like me to unite, they always support ideas that are in sync with their ideologies. For them, Ramayana is just a poem but Quran/ Bible is extremely holy. If a non-hindu criticise Rama, Krishna or any other mythical holy men, it is freedom of speech, human rights etc. If a Hindu criticises a non-hindu holy man, holy symbol etc, it is gross violation of minority rights. So while M F Hussain’s filthy pictures constitute an artist’s freedom of expression, Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ and Taslima Nasreen’s “Lajja” are banned because they hurt minority sentiments. So their logic here seems to be that hurting majority sentiments is fine as long as the minority sentiments are unaffected. I can see it plain and clear that there is no level playing field in India when it comes to non-Hindus vis-à-vis Hindus. As a Hindu with rights to no other land but India, as a Hindu whose forefathers withstood persecutions for being Hindus remained Hindus and paid hefty price doing so, as a Hindu who has struggled to protect the culture and civilisation for centuries, I feel extremely marginalised and threatened. <br />Reading the English language new papers like The Hindu, Asian Age, Times of India, and watching the news media based out of Delhi, my feeling of marginalisation has aggravated. I know most of these folks at JNU, ACJ who eventually populate media, are hotbed promoting this kind of thinking. In fact these institutions do not encourage original thought, curiosity and questioning; they merely promote a particular way of thought. So promoted is the idea that hurting majority is ok as long as minorities are ok. It has hence become intellectually fashionable as well. So much for the quote that hangs everywhere in JNU, “A University stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for adventures of ideas, and for the search of truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race toward ever higher objectives. If the universities discharge their duties adequately then it is well within the nation and the people” Poor Mr Nehru must be rolling in his grave. <br />There are also certain academic debates which I find rather one-sided. So how many school children even know that there are two view points on the crucial question ‘who are we?’ Aryans? Dravidan? Eastern Europeans? South Asians? Who are we? What were we before? In fact the major debate is between the Aryans as central-eastern Europeans nomads invading and destroying the Dravida-Indus Vally civilisation to build their own edifice of a civilisation; which is popularly known as ‘Aryan Invasion Theory’ or the AIT. Other the other hand there are scholars who are of the opinion that there is nothing called Aryans and Dravidans, we are all just south-Asians and everything we see today originated and grew here; it is popularly known as Out of India hypothesis. The debate is still inconclusive and we still do not have a concrete proof as to who is right. But how many of us even know about these theories as a part of our school curriculum? Not many. Are children in India learning these possibilities? No? every Indian kid only knows that Aryans were invaders and they destroyed Indus valley civilisation. Therefore a perpetual fissure between the Aryans and Dravidian is perfectly valid. What are these teachings and text books except for being divisive at best and devious at worst? Another element is the wilful ignorance of Muslim brutality on Hindus in the medieval period. As a student of History during my under-grad, I read only two lines about Jaziya, temple destruction, conquest, subjugation and conversion of Hindus. No more than that. All these indicate a lot of social turbulence between the Hindu and the non-Hindu communities, lot of blood, lot of violence but how much of it do we know as a part of structured syllabus? None. (More or less S.L.Bhyrappa’s views here, I could never agree more) Even after studying Tippu Sultan for so many many years I did not know his missionary zeal to persecute Hindus till S.L.Bhrappa’s controversy and the associated press coverage!! Is it not strange? Just that I studied the syllabus and texts prescribed by the great Bangalore University. Why should not we learn history as it happened? Instead learn politically palatable history? On the other hand tt is interesting to note that when ever the Hindutva supported academic groups comes to power, any attempt to revise school textbooks is termed as ‘saffronisation’ etc which is a well known bull crap.<br /><br /><br />The other voice I hear is the hard core Hindutva voice. I cannot even say it is Hindutva, because I have very strong reasons to believe that many people today who speak of Hindutva do not even know what they are talking about. I do not believe in hate mongering, I do not believe in orthodoxy, I do not believe that women should be confined to kitchen, I do not believe that preserving our tradition means having to dress in a particular way, I do not believe in tradition meaning not wearing lip-stick or cutting my hair. But there are fire band leaders who are interpreting Hindutva along these very particular lines. They also happened to be gifted speakers trying to hijack the Hindutva plank for their own selfish reasons. That is how controversy is created around Ram Temple, Ramsethu, which has now extended to attack on women in pubs, those wearing jeans, those wearing modern outfits! The BJP incidentally benefitted from the Ram Janma Bhoomi issue though they failed to do anything significant about it. They also abandoned Uniform Civil Code thereby enabling Mr Mohan to marry Ms Arundati aka Fiza! So my country is a secular land where Hindus can never be equal to non Hindus. They also abandoned article 370. However they resorted to eye wash action like attack against Valentine’s day, attack on women in pubs, attacking women wearing modern dresses. The valid successors of ideologues like Swami Vivekananda, Veer Savarkar they have debased themselves so much that today thy are all but just thugs waiting for their turn to make money. Of course I identify with none of these myself as a jeans wearing, pub-going, freedom loving, modern but devout Hindu with a large number of non-Hindu friends. Of course if anyone did come to me and say I better wear a Saree instead of my usual pair of jeans, I did say ‘go to hell’. <br /><br />This is pretty much who I am. So the question is who represents me better? Who will safeguard my interests? Where is the voice that speaks for me, identifies with me and understands me? I am looking for this voice which will let me know the history of my civilisation in its entirety, not only politically palatable parts, I am looking for a voice that will let me know more about the injustices and persecution my forefathers went through, I want to know what were the temples that were destroyed, what eventually happened and when, I also want to know how different Hindus were treated differently, I want to know the previous societies with all its flaws and problems. I want to know how people coped up with all those problems. It means so much to me because it answers big questions that I have about myself – ‘who am I’, ‘where did I come from?’ and ‘now that I am here, where were we before?’ I want a voice that will criticise me when I am irrational, at the same time, criticise others irrespective of their religious orientation when they are irrational. I want a voice that will not put me into disadvantage because of my religion or gender. I want a voice that will give me the reassurance that I am not marginalised and I am being heard. I want a voice that will guard my sanity, freedom, history, present and future. I want a voice that will respect me, love me and make me feel wanted for what ever I am, irrespective of my religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, etc. I want the objects of devotion to be as holy to everybody else as it is me. I want a voice that says destruction of Ramsethu amounts to damaging Hindu beliefs (ecological effects apart), I want a voice that will respect Rama the same way as it would say Prophet or Jesus. I want a voice that is blind and fair; if Rushdie’s and Nasreen’s books are to be banned, so should M F Hussain’s. On the contrary if Rushdie and Nasreen’s books are published, let M.F.Hussain be allowed to do more nudes of his choice may it be Saraswati or Madhuri who cares. But let there be level playing field. I want a voice which will tell me to be proud of being a Hindu and not be apologetic for having celebrated Dasara or Deepavali. I want a voice which did treat me more like a human being rather than a voting head. I want a voice that condemns the action of a minority chief minister disrespectful towards one of the holiest of Hindu shrines. I want a voice that will speak against the practice of government alone managing Hindu temples while Mosques and Churches are not. I want a voice that will speak against subsidising non-hindu pilgrimages abroad at the same time confiscating the Hindu temple collection. <br />These are my desires as the election dates are announced and India readies to elect another government for another five years. But what do I hear? Devil here and a deep sea there, I am stuck between these two and still searching for something to call my own; Just the two extremes and the political parties ready to squander money during elections just so they can make more later. All I see is opportunistic shameless figures, ready to be strange bedfellows just for the sake of money….Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-68304667954045311182009-01-20T10:15:00.000-08:002009-01-20T10:16:10.065-08:00SandalwoodSandalwood, or Srignadha in Kannada is so much associated with Karnataka the land, the culture and of course Kannada cinema. The state is also called the ‘citadel of Sandalwood’ or Gandhaga Gudi. It is something found in every Kannadiga Hindu homes as it is one of the most important ingredients in the process of pooja. I was indeed taken aback to read that Australia is currently the largest cultivator/producer of ‘Indian’ sandalwood. What a disgrace.<br />Historically speaking, the entire ‘spice route’ trade revolved around spices and aromatics like Sandalwood. Rich Romans coveted for exquisite Sandal fragrance along with Musk. Musk of course is long gone, we have indeed killed all the poor creatures. Musk Deers as dead as Dodo in today’s India, we who grew up post liberalisation were too late even to understand and appreciate the mention of ‘Musk’ in poems. Looks like our children will feel the same way about Sandal wood. <br />I remember, we had a couple of Sandalwood trees in our farm long back. One sombre night, smugglers chopped the trees away in minutes using an electric saw. The incident was rather surprising because we had never heard of an electric saw. Felling big trees like those meant a full day’s work, not something a few unemployed kids could think of doing. The trees were not mature enough to be harvested. The adults in the house kept cursing the smugglers, because the trees were at least 20 years from maturity. It would have probably served for the one of the daughters’ wedding! May be may be not. <br /><br />It was then that I can came to know Sandalwood was not like any other tree. My uncle had to go to the police station to register a complaint about the tree smuggling. That is because, we had reported the existence of the tree to the forest department and technically all the sandalwood trees were owned by states, that we had to inform the state about the smuggling. Hmmm. Where did all these regulations lead us to?<br />There were so many restrictions on cultivating, trading Sandalwood. Individuals could not cultivate Sandalwood with the government owning all the known trees and being the sole agency to sell the harvested trees as well. So where is the incentive for people to start investing in Sandalwood cultivation? There is none. People did not even bother to replace what ever was being stolen. This is a classical case of misplaced inceptives.<br /><br />Of late however things have slightly improved. The government of Karnataka has liberalised the cultivation of Sandalwood that is there is no need to procure license to cultivate Sandalwood, therefore enabling the possibility of large scale plantation of tree. <br />The question however is whether liberalising cultivation is just an incentive good enough to prop up production of Sandalwood even though the trade of Sandalwood has not been liberalised. It is still not convincing! Why should an enlightened democracy act like a medieval monarch demanding all the luxuries of the land unto himself? Why is that there should not be a free market for Sandalwood and it’s derivatives? If there can be a free market for Gold, Silver, Diamond why not for Sandalwood. If there is a free market, there will be certain price signals which will determine if it is worth taking the pains of growing a crop with a gestation period of 40-60 years, risking smugglers et al? If it does not look attractive, we are just good importing all of our demand from Australia, after all they still do not have smugglers and Veerappans out there. If certain investors feel they can make money in the long term and it is a good idea to be planning Sandalwood saplings, let them by all means. <br />If a market – a mandi for trade in Sandalwood is established, it would just be as commercial a crop as say coconut. What is required is not the absolute regulation of the sandalwood trade, but a framework where such a trade is seamless and fair, just like any other commodity market. What is the need for the special privilege even though the privilege does not seem to have worked out. It is time we act otherwise we might permanently loose out on the market to Australia.Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-33897142463626394832009-01-06T09:53:00.000-08:002009-01-06T09:54:07.070-08:00Food prices- Take IISecond take on the food price issue. I was just browsing through wiki and came across the documentation of the food price rise issue. Surprisingly, after all that has been said and done, the article still mentions, India and China’s middle class as one of the most important causes for the rise!! The claim has been refuted by the World Bank, FAO and other non-partisan research institutions. Not surprisingly the claim has been upheld by groups fighting for self-interest including the Renewable Fuel Association. There are a few questions that arise in the context of falling prices in the recent days. <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">1) Not long ago, analysts and consulting reports on Wall Street devoted reams and reams of paper on the commodity story. How crude oil production had peaked and how it might hit $200 (Goldman Sachs). Same with agriculture commodities, how bio-fuels especially corn based fuel was going to be the next big thing, after all with $200 a barrel crude oil, corn based bio-fuel looked very lucrative. What happened to all that? Why is crude oil having a free fall?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">2) What about the growing demand for meats in <st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>, did food demand pattern which evolves over a long period of time suddenly change that commodities are falling as well?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">3) President Bush pledged a $770 million international food aid. While the <st1:country-region st="on">US</st1:country-region> farm bill pledges $288 billion aid and subsidies to farmers in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> including those with an annual income of not more than $750,000 or ¾ million dollars! What does that mean? It is a joke being played on the international community and the developing world?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">4) Besides, <st1:country-region st="on">USA</st1:country-region> is also preventing the cheaper and more eco-friendly Brazilian sugarcane derived bio-fuels, while forcing poor African and Asian nations including <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place> to open up their markets for agricultural goods. This is clear case of the King can do no wrong; What ever be the clauses in WTO, what ever rule might the country apply on other countries, it is simply not applicable to the mighty A!!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Now for the answers</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="">1)<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">Yes Goldman Sachs et al were right when it said oil was going to hit $200. After all they were sitting on cash piles, the stock markets were weak, and emerging markets started showing signs of trouble, so how to make ridiculous profits? Play a game, not very different from that of roulette at Foxwoods! Looking to make money on assets, they started probing the commodities markets. A few reports here and there warning of dooms day scenario and upcoming incredible increase in prices was just a story they all needed. So smart fellow wrote the first report, and the analyst herd follows and lo behold, a lot of money, own and borrowed went into commodity trading. When prices kept edging up and up, those who had prophesised the price rise profited. They made a lot of money. It was self-fulfilling just like the run on a bank. The recipe is very simple… something like this</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 66pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">Buy crude on commodity exchange</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 66pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">Write reports on how crude prices will increase, create market hysteria. (Not difficult for market biggies, herd mentality, we all follow them)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 66pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">Keep buying till others start buying leading to increase in prices of the commodity already brought </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 66pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">Once the price is high enough, start selling for a profit; you created a bubble and made profits from it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 66pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">If smart you will stop right there, if not you will keep buying hoping to sell later at a even higher prices, only to loose everything</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 66pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">Because bio-fuels and crude are substitutes, demand for bio-fuels expected to go up and an identical speculative bubble forms</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 66pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">Corn and food grains are substitutes, and transmission of price hike to food grains.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB">Bingo another bubble created. This last bubble turned out to be pretty dangerous, because it affects very survival of millions across the globe. While there were food related riots in <st1:country-region st="on">Haiti</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region>, <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Pakistan</st1:country-region></st1:place> and a host of poor countries, Wall Street made profits. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB">Now what is happening now? </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB">Recession: It is incredible that these intelligent people at Wall Street are waking up to thoughts of recession so late? It is obvious that during recessionary periods the demand for crude is so much lesser given the slow down in industrial production, slow down in transportation etc. So there was bound to be a price reduction and its transmission through to food grains. Were they who wrote all these reports and created this hysteria, not aware of the impending recession? Everyone knew about the recession right in the beginning of 2007, were not we? The only question back then was when we will bottom? So the demand they were forecasting was phoney. Their ‘ceterus paribus’ could not have worked and in all probability they knew it very well. What remains is greed, to make as much as possible before it gets worse. Make as much hay when the even as the sun sets. That is what happened. Thankfully crude did not hit $200, I wonder how much the wall street made and lost just on the crude trade. Hand in glove with crude were corn and its bio-fuels. Bio-fuels naturally became the next big thing. Because corn is a food grain and most food grains are substitutes, the price bubble of corn, quickly spread into other food grains and a vast array of food products including edible oil. Unfortunately, all those people at the helm of the fiasco will naturally go scot free. They have always been unaccounted for and will remain so. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB">Increased consumption of food in emerging markets: So how did all of a sudden, folks in <st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region> started eating less and contributed to the fall in prices of food? Wonder what Wall Street Journal has to say about it </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style="">J</span></span><span lang="EN-GB">. I am still not able to believe that as recent as last week, there was an article in WSJ attributing the food price rise to emerging markets, just like <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region> in a denial mode even after its citizens were apprehended for the blatant crime in Mumbai!!! The only improvement is that they sort of acknowledge the role of bio-fuel policy as well. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB">Free Markets! What a joke. It is a situation of ‘Trishanku Swarga’ </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB">Those who want to profit will invariably do it whether it is a free market or a restricted market. Just that in a free market, it is legal to do what would probably be legally punishable in a restricted market. It is just this resignation that there are scores of people, here there and everywhere who are easily the victims for no fault of theirs that makes me feel, nothing actually matters…. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span><br /></p>Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-33929850108280200232008-12-09T07:47:00.000-08:002008-12-09T07:48:08.095-08:00Pakistan and terrorReading a respected Pakistani daily for a couple of weeks, starting with the Mumbai bomb blast, has giving me a much wider perspective about the nation and its citizens. Pakistanis are much more disadvantaged than us Indians. They do not have a functional democracy, their society is still constrained by feudal setup, politicians are even more shameless than ours and are even more corrupt. Inflation is raging high, economy in shambles and people are worried. This Bakri-id was not a good one for many of them, in fact lot many people toned down their celebrations because they could not afford to buy the animal for sacrifice. (I wonder if this is the festival for which Camels are brought down to South India from the northern parts of India and there will be routine articles in the paper about cruelty on animals and stuff..)<br />More from the captured terrorist, Like most of them he has very little education, hails from a very poor family and the easiest option for him to earn respect in society is to join these killer-organisations and pretend to be saving a religion, kill some people and gain entry into ‘paradise’. No wonder Pakistan is a hotbed of terror. One thing it has managed to export despite the global slowdown is –terrorists! The problem of the nation is so much akin to the underdeveloped tribal regions in our own backyard that is a Naxalite hotbed. So much for Jinna’s dream and so much for Iqbal’s “Sare Jahan Se Accha”; every thing ultimately remained on papers.<br />What ever the historical reasons are, for me, the whole problem of terror is due to underdevelopment, more economic than it appears. If people had opportunities to lead a decent live, ensure that their children went to school and were promised better things in life, why would they want to die a violent death? If things are just depressing, if meeting ends is tough and there are no other option but to become a foot soldier of terror earning so much more than ever possible on the right path to livelihood, why not? If only Pakistani rulers has a little more sense than their India-phobia, nipped the Frankenstein’s monster of terror in the bud, and spent the money they eventually did on public expenditure, they would have been a lot better. They have the geographical advantage. They were in the land of five rivers, the breadbasket of the sub continent. They were a smaller nation so should have been far easier to manage. They did not have as much diversity as we have. But where did they end up? And where are we today? We are in a position to inject a stimulus package and they are going around beseeching for aid. I should say it is just the misfortune of the Pakistani people.<br />I was reading Pervez Musharraf’s autobiography. One thing, like all dictators, he is an egomaniac. The book was full of I, me, me and more me. A good autobiography should never been an overdoes of Is and me’s.. All that came out of the book was the dubious glorification of Pakistani armed forces, a claim of the force being far more superior to Indian forces and of course the assertion that Mujahiddin were behind the Kargil war, even after India proved that the Mujahiddin were none other than Pakistani army regulars, with identity cards and badges. The army was indeed so great that they had to thing twice to accept the remains of their fallen soldiers. So how great can be an army that does not honour the remains of its fallen soldiers? The book was evidently an eye wash intended to keep the Pakistani people in a state of ‘imposed’ suspension of disbelief, just a continuation of school text book that speaks of Indian atrocity but does not mention the number of Prisoners of War released unconditionally by India in the aftermath of second Indo-Pak war. This is where the problem begins and may be ends- the power of Pakistani army and its generals have over Pakistani people and society. It appears Pakistani army can go a better job at governance than securing its citizens, after all they are used to it. Even if these dubious claims are discounted, why is that Pakistani army occupying such a big space in the policy-public-media domain? Army should do what it should, protect the citizens from external aggression and secure its borders. This army is more interested in creating disturbance in neighbouring countries, is unable to secure its western borders and has willingly supported extremist factions and pulls the strings ultimately. So it is like the Army deciding what to do the money with the exchequer? Buy food for the poor, build schools or buy arm and ammunitions? What could be the tendency of an institution like army? Naturally buy arms and ammunitions. Where will that lead to? Into the quagmire of underdevelopment and associated frustration, the frustration can be expressed in many ways, farmer suicides (as in the case of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh), the Naxalite movement (as in Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand) and religious extremism and related violence. Where will it lead to but here, a bloody, society marred by violence?<br />At this juncture, the role of CIA and USA is conspicuous. Back during the Zia-ul-haq days the Americans had the ability of persuade Pakistani rulers, they could have used their power to act more responsibly. All they managed to do was create another fear psychosis that Russians wanted Pakistani warm waters and that India being Russian ally wanted the same. They funded these Jehadis to fight against the Northern Alliance, but could not for see what the monster – a Bhasmasura they create would do after they had attained their goal of winning the cold war? They woke up only after their ego was hurt right in their own back yard. Suddenly all their friends became their enemies. What Pakistan has started in Punjab and Kashmir never assumed importance till 9/11. So what is the price we pay for the selfish American game of promoting Jehadis and strengthening Pakistani ISI and Army? Die like flies when a young man just out of his teens sprays bullets in a crowded railway station.<br />If only people both in India and Pakistan were at the centre stage, allocating national budget to high priority issues like education and health care rather than on embarking on an arm’s race. If only we common people had our ways, and we could see things more clearly that things would have been better for both countries and for the larger world. For, common people on both sides of the Radcliff line life is but a struggle, (of different proportion though), in all its sense- economy, national security and social.Till that happen, peace and stability is just a pipe dream.Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-75271536732702443832008-12-05T09:22:00.001-08:002008-12-05T09:22:31.383-08:00Mumbai Terror 2<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-GB">Continuing from the last post….<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-GB"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-GB">The political circus continues with more resignations even as the anger of common man boils over onto the streets of Mumbai. I wish I were there at the anger march screaming my lungs out. Yes, politicians are intelligent deaf; they cannot hear things they don’t want to. So such cases we need to scream even more loudly. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-GB">Bomb blasts and such violence has become more or less a routine in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> these days, there is one every other week. It is just the casualty figures and the number of bombs that are different. So what makes the recent Mumbai episode so special that people from every walk of life just decided to take it down to the street? I am not sure. My blood always boils after such violence. But this time it was all the more frustrating because of the prolong pitched battle and hostage situation. I just feel that our country’s political system and law enforcement systems are so weak that I cannot trust them any more. Adding to my anger is the official apathy. The ‘chalta hai’ attitude. This is not the first time it has happened, this is definitely not the last time it is going to happen. So how come are our leaders so complacent? They just do not seem to be doing enough. While they have Z+ category security, we have none. When we go out of home in the morning, we never know what we are getting into. This being the case do we really need those donkeys who rule us? (The Donkey thing is copied from one of the boards held during anger march, it read “ <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> a nation of lions ruled by Donkeys) I wish our politicians were donkeys. At least they would just be stupid instead of being cold calculating profit seekers. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-GB">During all the violent incidents before the Mumbai episode, my anger would be straight at terrorists and their backers at <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region> . Now it is more direct at the Indian authorities. We know there are hoards of well trained terrorist, we know they want to kill us. We know <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region> is a failed state, it’s civilian government had very little control over its all-powerful Army and ISI. Fine those are external factors we cannot do any thing about them except be prepared for any eventuality. But what we can do is make sure our public areas are safe. Hotels, roads, hospitals, schools, collages are all safe. As it is we have enough reasons to die right from contaminated water to various diseases. We do not want a crazy maniac to add to the list. All I need is the reassurance that there is enough money, men and material being dedicated for my safety from the government coffers that I painfully pay for every March/April as a tax payer. But I am getting such a raw deal. I pay my taxes religiously, I am left to die a miserable death at the hands of a lunatic whereas our politicians, who do not work half as hard as I do, they get to use free phones, free Bunglows in Luyten’s Delhi, they get free air tickets, they get to over stay in the government Bunglows shamelessly even after the supreme court calls them shameless asking them to vacate immediately, they get Z+ security with NSG commadows following them probably even when they answer nature’s call. While I pay they enjoy. Is it so much like the feudal societies of medieval ages. Democracy here is just a farce. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-GB">I guess this is actually where my anger is bubbling from. May be this is the reason why rest of my fellow citizens are anger as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-GB">The second development is a change in political orientation. I have always been a supporter of BJP. I have admired Sri Vajapeeji and some very efficient people in his cabinet like Col. Khanduri and Arun Shourie. This time too I would have been sympathetic to the party but then the full page bloody advertisement begging for votes even as people lay there dying, was something that spoke volumes about the current leadership. They wanted to derive maximum political millage here. That was truly grouse. Now Advani just seems to be another power hungry politician at the dusk of this career trying to be the prime minister he always dreamt of. What crap! I will not get into this thing. Never. I will never vote for either BJP not Congress. Congress I have never voted for chances are that I will never vote for them even in my entire life. For all the 1.2 billion, they just need the Gandhi’s to lead them. Even if it means someone who is a Gandhi by marriage and the other is so reluctant and uncomfortable being a politician. This is what I think I need to do, much better if we all could do.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-GB"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-GB">1)</span><span style="font-size: 7pt;" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB">Demand for better service as tax payers. Government after all is just another player here and they should realise we the tax payers are their boss, not the other way round. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-GB">2)</span><span style="font-size: 7pt;" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB">Make sure our voice is heard. One great thing about American democracy is the voice. Voters demand that candidates debate each other and then they make up as to whom they did be voting for. Along with these debates there are civil society institutions, think tanks that analyse, debate and influence public policy and of course out comes in elections. Such think tanks are much helpful when media is bias and inefficient as it is in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> right now. We seriously lack such institutions. We need to build them, since building them is rather an expensive and time consuming affair, we can take some help from the blog-o-sphere. Academicians and intelligent people can express themselves here so that each one of us has a space and our collective voice be heard in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Delhi</st1:place></st1:City> . Such a voice will definitely act as a part of the checks and balance so crucial in the functioning of any democracy. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-GB">3)</span><span style="font-size: 7pt;" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB">Keep the pressure up. Lets not forget that this year alone the toll related terror related violence has been close 3000.Let us not forget everything as time goes by. Let us keep reminding it to ourselves, and keep asking question and make sure our so called leaders provide us with satisfactory answers. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span lang="EN-GB">Despite everything, I cannot but stop myself from sympathising with the Hindu right wing. After all, may be it is just the Bhajarang Dal, and people like Purohit and Sadhvi who actually care for us and wants to make a difference in our lives. They have risked their lives (if they indeed did) and they are doing something which we are not. May be supporting them is definitely not a bad idea even though I do not want them to kill anyone (except the terrorists and may be some unwanted politicians)…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-7183820260262389282008-12-02T12:10:00.000-08:002008-12-02T12:25:10.504-08:00Mumbai Terror<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" lang="EN-GB">Mumbai still continue to be on the headlines. Surprisingly, the entire thanksgiving day news cover on CNN was on Mumbai. I do not quite know what the reason behind the more than 50+ hours of coverage on a main stream American media, could be because there were American citizens involved, could be because Americans still respond very strongly to acts of terror in the post 9-11 context, or could be because they did not have any other event, covering which they could have reaped better TRP. I did not have access to BBC even if my first preference has always been BBC.<br />Now that the dust has settled, it is anger, frustration, the crippling feeling of helplessness and despair at the lives lost, orphaned children, wrecked families. Everybody is writing something of the other right from the mighty Mr. Bhachan to journalists of all hues.. from red to saffron. Including <a href="http://arunshanbhag.com/">Arun Shanbagh</a>, <a href="http://www.bigb.bigadda.com/">BigB </a> There are all sorts of articles right from those informing us about the increased TRP of news channels due to terror attacks (grouse) to those debating the position of a Muslim organisation refusing to accommodate the bodies of the terrorists. So where do we go from here?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" lang="EN-GB"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" lang="EN-GB">1)</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:7;" lang="EN-GB" > </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" lang="EN-GB">Resignation of the home minister: And finally Mr Shivraj Patil realised he is incompetent for the job as well as that resigning now with just 5 months left for his term to end, there were so much brownie points to be collected if he owns up moral responsibility and so much less to loose. Oh! Come on. We the electorate we are stupid enough to elect incompetent governments but not as stupid to see the ‘moral responsibility’ stuff. We have seen this far too often in the past. It is surprising to see how he managed to be around even with so many terror acts unfolding across the length and breadth of the country.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" lang="EN-GB">2)Pakistan :It has become a sort of ritual to blame country-region> for everything that happens here. We are tired of that as well. place st="on">Pakistan is like a monster created to keep the attention of the electorate diverted. Just like young parents do when feeding their stubborn child “oh! If you don’t finish this entire apple, I will call the monster; the monster will come and gobble you up”. So incompetent government just wants to divert our attention and we shut our mouths and refrain from asking those crucial questions. Let us not get into this whirlpool of diversion. We all know <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region> is a problematic neighbour. They have a huge, restive indoctrinated force of unemployed youth with not much prospects in life, besides the rogue ISI flush with cash from American handouts and the Islamist hardliners with their deep oil pockets will not find it difficult to get the required man powder. Fire power, they already have plenty of it. Even if the civilian government of <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region> has nothing to do with it, there are enough rogue elements to cause the harm. So what there are rogue elements everywhere, inside our own country, our own cities sometimes right in our back yard. So why start the blame game? Why don’t we stop the blame game and think about avoiding such situations in future. Who did it might be an obvious question but definitely not the most important question. The most important question is how to stop it? So <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region> card is definitely not working out here.Also, I was surprised to see Pakistani media publishing some real good pieces. So balanced were the articles that I am impressed with the media.One such here in <a href="http://www.dawn.com/2008/11/30/int16.htm">Dawn</a> Are they not the victims of poverty, power hungry politicians, opportunistic mullas and of course beneficiaries of the regular anti-India propaganda?<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" lang="EN-GB">3)Politicising the entire terror issue: So everyone wants to make the best of the situation. Don’t they? A few politicians do not want to ban SIMI because their terror acts are not strong enough. So if they end up killing more people, that’s when they can be banned according to these people. Of course the incumbent incompetent government is slower to react. They figure out they need NSG after loosing top police officials including IPS officers. Then there are disgusting full page advertisement as to whom to vote, who will be a better option when it comes to fighting terror? All these folks are of course not bothered about their own safety because they are covered with Z+ security. That means, there are competent people around then who will sacrifice their own lives to protect these folks. So they can stop bothering about their own lives, they do not have to worry about earning a living, they usually male as much to last for at least 3-4 generations (unless the lineage turns out to be extremely stupid) and they it does not matter for then as to who die. After all in a democracy it is the percentage of votes that matters not the absolute number. Let them die.. is their point<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" lang="EN-GB">4) Irresponsible politicians: Then there are people like R R Patil who think it is normal for such ‘small’ incidents to happen in big cities like Mumbai. I wonder what his reaction would be if he were to be holed up in one of the rooms there at Taj/ Oberoi; Better yet his son-daughter or a younger member of his family. Then there is Vilas Rao Deshmukh, who wants to help his aspiring son attain star-hood, takes his son and Ram Gopal Verma (Till now I had respected him for his directorial abilities, now I abhor him) to the blast site so that they could make a realistic movie! What apathy. Then there is Achutanandan the chief minister of Kerala who after being snubbed by the father of a slain soldier goes on to say,’ not even a dog would visit…’disgrace. I only hope not even a single person, let alone a dog would vote for these people in the next elections. Boot them out bloody, boot them out.Raj Thakhary and his wife, who feels all the dead were Marathis etc. We citizens did not know ‘Yama’ was partial and had a preference for Maharastrians. I only hope Raj Th.. learnt his lessons very well. He is yet another face of greedy, powder hungry b……. that populate our political system. Then there is Advani (A few days back I would not have mentioned his name with out the respectful ‘ji’ in tow, now he is just Advani) equally power hungry, instead of standing behind the country, all he wants to do is criticise the government and campaign for more votes. Well done. You bloody politicians think of nothing but your own skins, your own votes.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" lang="EN-GB">5) What next? Now it is as important to think about clues as it is to think of ways to stop such incidents from occurring again. How do we do it? No single answer. Even as I write this, there is another bomb blast in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Assam</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Where have we come? Is this the Kali yuga that is supposed to be horrid? I have no idea. Irresponsible government action: A) After all the blood and toil, our best men on duty get to go back in BEST buses, not even air-conditioned cars bloody, they get treated with no respect and importance. I wish politicians were made to travel by BEST buses at peak hour, may be then they will realise what it is going to be like. B) Prime Minister pointing fingers at <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region> even before the operations were complete and enough evidence was at hand. Is it not stupid? Blaming another country with out enough proof? Could he not wait for a few more days, put forward compelling evidence and then pressurise <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>? C) Summoning ISI chief: What crap? Why should <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> seek to summon ISI chief? Is it not hubris? Is it the way diplomacy works? How would we feel if <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Islamabad</st1:city></st1:place> wants our RAW chief explain a bombing in some obscure tribal area? Awkward but fails to serve the purpose. Then the demarche and the list of fugitives, why don’t the politicians stop fooling us. What did we achieve with all these. Why don’t they bloody do something that will stop these bombings for ever? Why don’t they look for solutions instead of harping and haranguing? What the hell is wrong with all of them?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" lang="EN-GB">What next?<span style=""> </span>In my next post…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-13962679569593188852008-10-23T10:15:00.001-07:002008-10-23T10:15:27.883-07:00Fiscal DeficitFiscal deficit<br />Another word that seems to scare American politicians appears to be fiscal deficit. Why are they afraid? Because fiscal deficit is bad! Why is fiscal deficit bad? No idea!!!<br /><br />Some theory behind the story of Fiscal deficit; It is a common practice in economics to just state the theory, assumptions are also presented but many a times they take the back seat. So the story of the fiscal deficits begins with some such assumptions.<br />The theory says that when ever there is fiscal deficit, there will be inflation. (Therefore fiscal deficit is bad! What about the assumptions?) One of the most important assumptions behind this theory is that of full employment. Fiscal deficit leads to inflation if and only if the economy is in full employment. That is to say, all the resources, labour, capital, natural resources are already employed and there is no scope for further increase in production, will a fiscal deficit (where in the government spends a lot more than it earns) leads to a situation where too much money is chasing too few goods and there will be inflation in the economy. So what is so scary about it that Mr McCain wants to go for a balanced budget?<br />I don’t know.<br /><br />Under the conditions of the assumption, there will definitely be inflation, true. But what if the assumption is violated? In the presence of spare capacity in the economy, there is always a chance that fiscal deficit which is used to print money (monetised fiscal deficit) will lead to better utilisation of the existing capacity/resource to improve production and therefore be beneficial to the economy.<br /><br />What are the current economic conditions here in United States? Does the situation warrant a balanced budget?<br /><br />Well currently unemployment is very high. There are a lot of people wanting to work, but are finding no work. There are producers who have excellent prospects but are slowing down due to lack of credit. The propensity to consume is weak, consumer driven American economy is slipping into a recession. We might already be in the midst of a recession!! It does not take very long to get from recession to depression, a balanced budget or a budgetary surplus is just the shortest way to get there!<br /><br />So why is Balance budget good? And Ms Palin was so proud of her fiscal achievements in Alaska? Well it is alright to cut down expenditure on extra cars, fancy dinners, business class air tickets, but what about schools, what about infrastructure and what about productive expenditure? No answers I guess…<br /><br />The candidates will keep harping about balanced budgets! Please vote for us, we will give you a balanced budget and as a complimentary offer, we will give you a small piece of hell….Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-45743815309408181342008-10-23T08:39:00.001-07:002008-10-23T08:39:27.788-07:00Socialism and American PublicI have been following the election campaign here in the United States. One thing that stands out is the American public’s fear for words like ‘welfare’ and ‘socialism’! these words seems to have derogatory connotations! It is so surprising, that one presidential candidate should criticize another because his plans amount to ‘welfare’ and sounds ‘socialistic’. I don’t believe that this could even happen. Personal ideological longings apart, what is the harm in taxing those who can afford to pay and spend the money thus raised so that the less privileged could have a better life. After all the richest in this country are indeed the richest in the entire world, if they cannot part with their accumulation for the betterment of their own fellow citizens, what is the hope for the rest of the world which is evidently so much less privileged than all these people?<br /><br />The first question that arises is why do people fear ‘welfare’?<br /> The first thing to strike me is that this country made enormous gains in the past few decades from free enterprise, much more from open global trade and from low tax regime that now they are scared of higher tax rates? No not convincing enough. Liberalising health care sector, meant hardship to a lot of people but Insurance, Medical care providers, Pharmaceuticals and hospitals made a lot of money. Similarly, in financial sector, investment banks, hedge funds and those rich enough to invest a lot of money made much more money than they had ever done. Now what is the result? Who is bearing the brunt? The ordinary tax payers, small investors who lost money at the stock markets, bonds (issued by companies like Lehman) people who are being laid off left right and centre and those who brought homes at the peak...Why does ‘welfare’ scare even this subset of the population? Does not ‘welfare’ mean cheaper healthcare and cheaper education and better infrastructure for all these people? Is it not the duty of the state to ensure that its citizens can afford these basic facilities?<br /><br />Before coming to this country I strongly felt that the Indian government is not doing enough to provide healthcare and education to its population, but now I feel it is doing a much better job. Being one of the richest countries in the world and for the small population they have, this country is not taking care of those who cannot afford the expensive healthcare, or the expensive college; whereas in India, there still is something to fall back upon. However poor you are there are charitable hospitals, government run hospitals that provide somewhat inferior quality care, but do offer something which is better than nothing- total exclusion! And education in India! I studied in a government run free school, a government aided college and a government university. The cost of my entire 20 + years of education cannot be more than the fee charged for a single course in the cheapest possible university here in United States! Indeed with all the scholarships that I got, I must have made a lot more money than I paid up in fees. I am glad we do have the option to do that in India. Of course with the increasing richness, there are so many more choices than before, but competition is good for all of us. I strongly feel we have this option in India because our resource constrained Indian governments feels obligated to have ‘welfare’ in mind! The State still feels responsible for the welfare of its citizens, just that they should not be producing cars and incense sticks, but concentrate on schools and hospital.<br /><br />Why are Americans scared of ‘welfare’? The question still remains to be answered!<br />Does it have something to do with the cold war era mindset? When it was believed that ‘right’ is ‘right’ because it is opposite of ‘left’? Is it because it is so very easy to obfuscate communism, socialism into sounding similar? That reminds me of the presidential debate in JNU-2004, when a candidate from one of the smaller parties took on the task of differentiating himself from the left-backed major party candidates and did a wonderful job. May be American public needs to hear one good lecture on the topic. Though the aim of this post is not actually to differential between the two ideologies, I will try and do it in may be a few lines!<br /><br />Socialism could also be a part of a democratic ‘welfare’ state. No doubt the communism had its roots in socialism but socialism is not just communism. In a democracy, there are enough checks and balances to avoid the trap of communism. And what is wrong in providing free health care (education)? The Scandinavian governments do, the French and the British do it. They do not have to shell out $ 700-800 on their health insurance each month. They do pay higher taxes and their economic growth has been slower. But what is the use of having faster economic growth rate that just benefits the rich and leaves the underprivileged worse off? Every research that studied inequalities in the recent decades concludes that inequality has risen; so why do we need growth if it cannot benefit a majority of the population? Life in Scandinavia and Europe is much better than that of United States, is it not? Here it would not take long for a hardworking salaried taxpayer to become homeless and not afford heath care; the possibility is so much more muted in Europe.<br /><br />Communism on the other hand is a setup which seeks to establish a classless society. Everyone owns everything and everything belongs to the communes. So there is no scope for private ownership, no private enterprise, no private profits, everything is for everyone and people simply disappear never to come back. True this experiment has failed; the proof is Russia and other eastern European states. It kills enterprise, incentive to work hard and breeds a discontent and violence. True, communism and its lack of liberty scared me like hell! I even have nightmares about it. I was never as disturbed as I was when I went through George Orwell. It is scary, but it has nothing to do with welfare.<br /><br />A ‘welfare’ state can exist very well without even coming kilometres close to communism. They are successful welfare states which encourage private enterprise and private ownership of assets, have vibrant democracies and their citizens are better off that way. Why should social welfare be scrutinised under the leans of communism?<br />What ever it is the spin doctors are doing a good job of scaring the hell out of American public. The bottom line is, in our enthusiasm for certain jargons and prescription; we forget the aim of ‘society’, ‘government’ and ‘democracy’ themselves. The primary aim is wellbeing of all citizens, if all is impossible; the aim is the wellbeing of a majority of the citizens (Bentham still rules!!!) and it should always be remembered. What ever promotes the wellbeing of the majority should be promoted, cheered and accepted. What reduces wellbeing of the majority should be feared, discouraged and snubbed. It is not easy get lost in the jungle of jargons?Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-12309351477134885522008-10-03T10:18:00.000-07:002008-10-23T08:40:42.053-07:00Sarah PalinMy take on the performance of Palin in the VP debate; This is the first United States presidential election that I have been following so closely for obvious reasons- I love elections and right now I live here in United States! The election has been pretty interesting, watching out for Hillary in the beginning and now Palin. After all despites more than 200 years of independence they still have not had a woman at the helm of affairs! Where as we developing nations in south Asia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh we have all had great women politicians.<br />Hillary Clinton was fabulous. She had the right credentials, she spoke right, she had the charisma, she had her policies right, but she failed to gracefully accept the challenge posed by a rookie!! By the time the primaries were finished, she looked desperate for power which I feel was her undoing. But she is a politician any party and country should be proud of, a person who can represent the country abroad. After all, being in the white house means interacting with leader from every corner of the world. And United States could have felt safe in the hands of a person like Hillary. Well now that Hillary is not running in 2008, we will have to keep watching her.<br />On the contrary is Sarah Palin. I had not watched her interviews before, but having read about her ‘Russia close to Alaska’ statement, I was rather amused. Yes, she is spontaneous; she is the mom next door; she is cute but is she a VP material? I was very disappointed. Is this the best female candidate this entire country has to offer? Most of the times, she intelligently beat around the bush failing to answer. She was adamant that she will speak what ever she knew regardless of the question. It reminds me of a fellow in school, who used to cram two-three chapters on the previous day of the exam and end up writing only about the two chapters what ever the questions were. But she is smart enough to sound very confident, for she is a good politician-material. She knows how to strike the populist note and tried to sound the person next door. But is that enough? One person with questionable IQ and dubious judgement at top position here in this country has created enough mess that the entire world needs at least a few years to recuperate. The world is more dangerous than it was 8 years ago, economically it is more fragile than it was 8 years ago, poverty has increased, and income inequality has increased. Everyone is worried about their jobs, about their mortgages from America to Europe to India.<br />How well does Sarah Palin mean in a circumstance like this? She does not seem to understand security issues. She feels Iraq is at the heart of terror!!! So where did Bin Laden go? Did he suddenly disappear from the most-wanted terrorist list? So that means she does not even remember ‘weapons of mass destruction’ that Mr Bush was so scared of and managed to scare the entire American public with it to secure another term. Thank goodness he cannot run again. Who knows he could have said India has ‘weapons of mass destruction’ so smoke out India next. Now the faint public memory cannot even understand that the person whom they could be voting for is so unaware of the events not long ago! Again she wants to build an embassy in Jerusalem. If only American and Israelis had kept away from Palestine and parts of Jerusalem, the world would have been a far peaceful place. In the first place I really don’t understand the Israeli concept of the land being promised by God to Jews. No one has seen god promising the lands, but Israel continues to occupy disputed lands. The ultra right wingers continue to build settlements in disputed areas. What I do appreciate is their guts to settle down in a hostile region and make sure their borders are safe. Just know where to keep your enemies, neither far that they escape your sight, nor close that they can hurt. I wish India could pursue such an aggressive policy like Israel does with its neighbours. Coming back to American embassy at Jerusalem, does Ms Palin even know how dangerous a place Jerusalem could be for an American embassy? As outsiders, as foreigners who just read news papers we are so much more aware of the problems in other parts of the world which Ms Palin does not seem to know. Does that mean she does not even read news papers?<br /><br />On issues of economy, she kept on saying that tax cuts will improve the number of jobs and all the problems of the economy will be solved miraculously. Wow! Is it so simple? If it were so simple we professional economists would be out of jobs !!! One simple question is why is that after eight years of tax cuts has led the American economy into today’s quagmire? How did the jobs evaporate if tax cuts were a cure? And she kept highlighting fiscal austerity. But has it not been proved that what matters is the quality of spending than fiscal austerity and a zero based budget? Of course spending on a wasteful war is no more a good option. As I see it, there was a time when America had to spend on wars to pump prime their economy. But Iraq war proved rather different stretching too long and far more expensive to pump prime but large enough to suck crucial resources out of the economy. It is time to stop the bleeding wounds from further haemorrhage. So both measures are problematic. She fails there as well.<br /><br />Then if there is a question she could not comprehend or she did not know the answer, she just got back to something she knew a bit. Energy policy. Wow. How intelligent. I was reminded of Rabri Devi in her initial days.<br />The saddest part of Ms Palin is that despite her inadequacy, is that she subscribes to a brand of policies that has just been proved to be wrong. Free markets will never work, tax cuts will not increase jobs, market fails without the interference of government (regulatory or participatory) and there are no simple solutions to complex issues. All these have so long been proved in the academic circles but so poorly received in the policy circles. She is just in the wrong boat at the wrong time. Her lack of knowledge is only aggravated by her leaning towards free market philosophy. That’s a heady combination.<br /><br />There are a few more issues that I find rather too old-fashioned for my tastes, one is her anti-gay stance. Hey come on, gays are normal people, they need to have their own choice whether to get married or to live with each other or to get hospital visitation rights. What applies to a relationship between a man and a woman should also apply to a relationship between two men or two women. Another such issue is that of abortion rights. It is all about choice. There are people who want to have babies and there are those who would not want to. The choice should obviously be left to individuals. Spending money to promote unwanted babies will just lead to unloved and uncared for children. What life can such children look forward to? Strange when she knew her conscience will not allow her to go for an abortion; she should have at her age known better to use other preventive methods. Now what did that end up with? An infant affected by down’s syndrome, who needs to travel and keep awake at odd hours because ‘mama has to pose for a photograph’!<br />She is always pitching in for the mom-next door image, contrasting and characterising her fresh-ignorance with that of the seasoned long time Washington-ers. Unfortunately her parenting skills are not great either. Her teenage daughter is pregnant, the way she brings her infant son for all photo-ops is sad. So where does Sarah Palin fit in?<br /><br />I just imagine Sarah Palin facing gutsy politicians like Mayawathi, Jayalalitha or for that matter Mamatha Banerjee. (Sonia Gandhi again is rather too coached!!! just like Palin) Agreed that politics is a different ball game in India, but these ladies are no-no-brainers. They know what it is to be where they are; they are astute, well informed and are great spin doctors. No wonder they survived in the male bastioned Indian political fiefdom. Will Sarah Plain hold upto them? The Answer is pretty clear. Sarah Palin fails to fit into the jigsaw puzzle .Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-1427347443726889682008-09-18T16:41:00.000-07:002008-10-23T08:41:14.283-07:00Greed and the credit crunchThe fairy tale ended for Lehman brothers! Such a sad ending indeed, just the way Elliot thought it would ‘not with a bang but with a whimper’. My heart does bleed to see big brands going belly up, but bleeds harder to see once well paid, employees cast away overnight. It is funny that there was a job posting for a ‘quantitative specialist’ at Lehman on public job sites as late as 15th September. Does this say anything about the disconnect between the top and the grass root levels in the company? Or is it that some HR who was not well versed with the status of the company scheduled an automatic re-posting of the job! What ever it is, it is sad. For me it is sad because Lehman was so big, so big that I always dreamt of being able to work, after all I am a brand-o-phile. I love big brands, brands that command respect, recall value and command a following. (Somehow I don’t like coke-a-cola, even though the brand meets all these criteria)<br /><br />So there it goes Bear and Sterns, Lehman, Meryl Lynch, all of them big investment banks.<br /><br />So how they did they all come about it? McCain and Obama say they were greedy corporations and we should not be sympathetic to them when they fall prey to their own greed. Interesting, I wonder if they ever held stocks in any of these banks! They were greedy no doubt, but what does it boils down to? These banks are not some machines, some faceless creatures greedy for more; they were owned by stockholders, investors like you and me, very human indeed. So why did these banks grow greedy? Because investors demanded they do, else they would be prone to hostile takeovers, and the top management would loose their jobs. So they do everything to maximise profits. After so many complex theories about behaviour of firms and managers, it all still boils down to profit maximisation.<br /><br />Look at Goldman; it is no doubt the strongest of all the investment banks (now that only two remains) It is fundamentally solid, its competitors have been wiped out, so their revenues and business opportunities will definitely improve. Most importantly they are good in what ever they do. They have the best of brains and they keep exporting their brains to all branches of the industry. They still eked out a profit during such turbulent times, their revenues grew, but. But their stock prices are falling in the stock markets because of lack of confidence on part of the investors. So people like me and you are selling Goldman shares faster than there is buyer for the same. So what are we as a group of investors doing, pressurising a firm to make huge profits, a modest profit is no good.<br /><br />It is at such points that the firms are forced to take irresponsible risks after all, higher the risks higher will be the gains. The unlucky ones though will loose the bet and the lucky ones get away with it. Lehman proved to be unlucky. So whose greed are we to blame? I did say the investors, and the whole capitalise system that has an unshakable faith in the magic of markets and the invisible hand!!!<br /><br />The second point is the greed of individuals. The whole crisis started with the housing markets when people started buying one, two, three and god knows how many houses on mortgages on the belief that the values of the houses will keep increasing and that they will be able to pay the mortgage every month. Bad planning and extremely risky behaviour and the banks encourage such behaviour by lending crazy to such customers. So they went belly up first, took with them mortgage lenders like Country-wide( they should thanks their stars that BofA brought them, otherwise they did be out there on the street long time back) Indymac and later Bear & Sterns, Lehman and Meryl Lynch!<br /><br />It now threatens the whole system.<br /><br />My only question is how legitimate is the accusation of McCain and Obama that investment banks were greedy and they deserved to die? It is a sort of judgement debated in G.B.Shaw’s Doctor’s Dilemma! But how far is it acceptable?<br />The greedy millionaire investor in a rich custom made suit might what be in the minds on Obama and McCain as they speak of greedy corporation, but it is not a very narrow view? Were not we at fault, as individuals, as customers, as greedy investors, as a part of financial markets? Did we not invest in products we hardly knew but someone told would maximise our returns? Did we not buy additional houses because we though housing prices will go up and it will earn us a quick buck? So how should we blame? Ourselves? Or should be start searching for a scapegoat? Like say Lehman now that it is gone. If there were no buyers for pricey homes, no one would have built it much less sold it! If there were no buyers for risky securities, there would have been no securitisation, no subprime and Lehman would still be nearing their 200th anniversary. (You never know they still might, I cant believe they are gone, I still feel they will come out of Chapter 11, to occupy the office space they have leased till 2033!!!)<br /><br />So who is the root of all these mess? For me, it is us, collectively, our collective greed to make the extra buck over everyone else. So we all should learn our lessons alright.<br /><br />The lesson is frightfully simple. Never stretch beyond limits. Never go after investments that claim to double your investment in six months, or even 2 years. Anything that earns a little over inflation should be the bet. Those expecting beyond this should be ready to burn their finger in choppy waters and not whine about ‘greedy corporations’, ‘regulatory failure’ or ‘government intervention’. It is ‘us’ who needs to learn a lesson rather the ‘greedy’ corporations. If not for us, there would be no greedy corporations!Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-70641757645217725662008-09-12T08:48:00.000-07:002008-10-23T08:44:08.659-07:00Religion and SecularismRespected journalists like <a href="http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Sep122008/editpage2008091189414.asp">Mr Kuldip Nayyar </a>should not be writing irresponsibly as in the case of this article. How can he wonder why Orissa government has not been dismissed by the central government? Does this not go against the very spirit of democracy? Why should the central government act against a legitimately elected popular state government?<br />There are problems every where, economic, communal, political etc. The only thing we can we proud of today is our robust democratic set up, which has survived all onslaughts. Efforts indeed should continue to strengthen the process and make sure all our voices are heard. People who ardently support ‘secularism’ (as they themselves define!!) should remember that as religious communities, Hindus are fighting retain their own identity amidst the extremist Islam and well funded strategic ‘harvesting of souls’ of Christianity. ‘Secularism’ would have mattered to all Indic-religions be it Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism, Animism etc had it been a level playing field, which it is not. Let mongers of ‘secularism’ figure out that it is definitely not intellectually fashionable to call for secularism, while ignoring how sadly people practicing ancient Indian religions are being treated in their own country, no vote banks, no subsidies on pilgrimage, no money flowing from abroad, no muscle power, no bargaining power but a helpless and discontented set of people. The fire that burns deep within is what had led to the Ram Janma Bhoomi Movement, now the Amarnath Movement and violent spin-offs of the same discontent is the violence in Orissa; the more educated but equally discontented set of people end up commenting on the internet, just like me. After all, every article echoing ‘secular’ ideas attract hundreds and thousands of such comments. In short there is discontentment every where. If there has to be communal peace, concerns of the larger population should be addressed before blowing the bugle of ‘secularism’. There cannot be peace without people practicing Indic religions finding a political voice addressing their concern. It is a pity that such a fragile space is occupied by hate mongers like Praveen Togadia and likes.<br /><br />How else would any community feel when their people are killed mercilessly by some mentally unsound group of people trying to establish a medieval Caliphate that no longer exist that make their women wear tonnes and tonnes of clothing but feeds them feebly?<br /><br />How else would any society feel when their people are killed by instruments of missionaries for having questioned their practice of conversion?<br /><br />How else would the society feel, when a distant European nation (Italy) summons the diplomatic attaché to lodge a protest the violence against ‘Christians’? What right do they have? Just because a women born in Italy is pulling the political strings in India does not give Italy the right to question us. Besides are not Christians in India, Indians firsts and their religious identity comes a distant second? Why should their religion become their primary identity? What right has Italy to bestow Indian Christians a primary identity of their religion?<br /><br />What else how any society feels when Hindus are persecuted everywhere in the very subcontinent, in Bangladesh, in Pakistan and now even in Nepal where as minorities in India are a pampered lot?<br /><br />How else should those Sindhi and Punjabi refugees and more recently Kashmiri pundits feel who were forced to abandon their homes and everything they had but their lives to start afresh else where as paupers? Is it that their fight and their sacrifices are not of any value today?<br /><br />Then there is an old pope, a holy man, may his soul rest in peace, who comes to India and declares that they need to harvest more Hindu souls to please his Abrahamic god, which is unable to bless people who believe in other forms of god!!<br /><br />Then the missionaries point out that caste system in India is a bane and they need to convert everyone to create a homogeneous society. But paradoxically a Dalit after conversion becomes a Dalit Christian not just a ‘Christian’, so he goes to different church and gets his son-daughter married to other Dalit Christians and what else gets a Dalit Christian cemetery to wait for the judgement day. How did his social status improve by conversion?<br /><br />Then there are tribal population. They are told that when they convert to Christianity and they wear the crucifix, no wild animals will attach them, no disease will harm them. Being gullible they do convert, but will their live improve significantly? No. The conversions just effective tear the tribal fabric of society. After all tribal societies are more favourable to women than is the main stream society; they don’t stifle their infant daughters or burn their daughter-in-laws. They live in harmony with the forests, an eco-friendly way of life, unlike us in the main stream society. Their indigenous knowledge base is far more exhaustive than what we perceive. These conversions are resulting in nothing but destruction of a balanced society, making enemies of brothers. Adding fuel to the fire is the well greased funding of such missionaries who in the name of hospitals, education indulge in conversions?<br /><br />How should a society respond to such challenges? How should a multi cultural and multi religious society deal with the onslaught of mono-cultural Abrahamic religions?<br />How should we make sure that our religious space is well guarded? And we still have the liberty to remain as multi-cultural as possible? If we are to remain secular, we should be allowed to remain as multi-cultural as we have been through ages, worshiping hundreds of gods and believing that we can worship any of the millions of gods in any of the millions of ways but still be able to attain salvation, unlike the secularists who seem to support sections promoting a ‘one-god, one-way of worship and that is my way’ kind of religions.<br /><br />In this light the reaction to Godhra, Mumbai riots, Amarnath Movement, Orissa violence are all different expression to the same feeling of insecurity, discontent. The need of the hour is a sane but brilliant voice to address such grievance. In the early 20th century, decades of imperialistic contempt for Indic religions and social fabric had translated into feelings of insecurity and inferiority, leading to similar social milieu. Back then Swami Vivekananda, a brilliant man grew to be the voice of the majority, motivated the society and instilled a sense of pride that they so much lacked. That is what we need today, Swami Vivekananda ver. 0.2; a brilliant voice, who cannot only convince the world that we are good just the way we are, but instils in us a sense of pride, and be our voice. A person much beyond the considerations of political equations and vote banks who understands the seething discontentment and is capable of channel the discontentment into something constructiveKannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-48500466658266838032008-08-22T14:54:00.001-07:002008-08-22T15:32:17.556-07:00SIMI and IndiaIn recent days, i have been following the aftermath of Surat bomb bast case. Though i am not the one to keep track of such investigations, the frequency and the scale of such occurrences and a successful investigation has kept my interest in the case. <br />Three things actually surprised me. <br /><br />1) The efficiency of Gujarat police. What Delhi police, Andhra police, Maharastra police,Rajasthan police and Karnataka police could not do, Gujrat police did it in the matter of days. May be it all boils down to the political will, not how intelligent the police men are. After all, police men in other states are just as smart and work as hard.. Why is that only Gujarat police were successful in nabbing the culprits. It is no surprise that the terrorists had grown so audacious after the repeated failure of police to nab them, that they very well stayed back home in Gujarat!!!So it boils down to political will.<br /><br />2) Contrasting to the political will in Gujarat is Lalu prasad yadav and Mulayam singh yadav. They went on to say that SIMI the organisation behind the blasts should not be banned! How strange that mainstream politicians are defending an organisation with terrorist history and under surveillance.It happens only in India. What extent politicians actually go in order to safe guard their vote banks. <br /><br />3)It is the psyche of the terrorists themselves.How can a man who's very father was treated in the hospital just a few days back bomb the very same hospital. What was he thinking of the hospital while he looked after his sick father? Memorizing the floor plan of the hospital, contemplating which corner is better to hide a bomb, pattern of crowd movement in and out of the hospital?? How can any possible human being think of something like that? also those guys want to establish a khalipat no national boundaries, they want to convert all Hindus. How gullible their minds must be to be encapsulated in medieval times? How can they even come to think like that? What makes them think like that? What makes them so powerful? Gosh.. cannot believe it at all.<br /><br />With all the questions all i can think of is how dangerous such people could be. <br />And what rings in my mind is 'Dharmo Rakshati Rakshita ha'... Who ever protects the Dharma, the Dharma protects them and who ever tries to ruin the dharma, will be ruined. I wonder when such people who are always trying to ruin Dharma will be ruined.Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-30295397618659427842008-08-11T17:52:00.000-07:002008-10-23T08:45:03.417-07:00The first Olympic goldIts party time!!! And finally India managed the first Olympic gold in an individual category. The entire credit should go to Abhinav Bindra. We as honest tax payers need not gloat about the gold! After all all sort of babu's blow up our hard earned money and nothing remains for actual sports persons. Well that's the reality. Lets accept it... Its truth. Probably the ratio of medal to contingent is the smallest in case of India; Almost half the contingent made up of babus and only one may be two medals.. its probably worse than Somalia!<br /><br />The biggest disappointment.. and the story that even made it to Wall Street Journal is the disgraceful absence of Indian Hockey team. What a pity. We are not representing our national game in Olympics! Even though we have had fine players like Dhanraj Pillai, Ashish Ballal..they were all wasted. I still remember the scene on TV, Pillai's outburst and his men returned home triumphant Busan Asiad.<br />Here in the USA, sports and sportsmanship is appreciated, funded, encouraged. That's what keeps them up on the medals tally despite having about a fifth of India's population. If only things would improve in India. If only all our hard earned money that the tax man pinches off our purse reached the actual sports people. It cant be that the worlds second most populous country lacks in quality athletes.. if we can produce cricket stars we can definitely produce hockey stars, track and pool stars.. If only we could gather our act and do something about our ailing sports.<br />A couple of questions here. Mr Gill.. the tough cop, who has troubles keeping his pants up (remember Ropan deol bajaj) was at the helm of hockey administration despite the simmering angst of players that was expressed in public as well. Why was he there till he was sacked after the selection for money episode...What better can we expect from such a team? Nothing ... Therefore memorable performances has been far and few in between and Indian hockey is a pale shadow of itself..<br /><br />The second question. Mr.Suresh Kalmadi.. He had been at the top of Indian Olympic Committee ever since i can possibly remember. Looks like Mr.Kalmadi has no other business than being a sports babu.He could be very clean and honest given his Air-force background but what about results. He had been promissing more medals in every games.. only to our disappointment. So where is the accountability? Nowhere to be seen. So Mr. Kalmadi gets to hang around and hog the lime lights for the Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010.. (Yeah! that probably his achievement indeed... getting the Commonwealth Games to India; we have to foot a hefty bill too) But what about finding, polishing and presenting the sporting gems India has the potential to produce?<br />No answers.<br /><br />The questions remain. If only there was something like IPL for Hockey and a Chak De like victory could come true....If dreams could come true..Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-11739781040238254882008-07-25T07:04:00.000-07:002008-07-27T08:11:25.044-07:00Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-59295944019980771122008-07-22T16:08:00.000-07:002008-10-23T09:07:01.968-07:00The Great Indian Growth StorySo the Indian economy did clock 9% growth according to the FM, so what does it mean? it means the stock market will recover slightly, the FIIs will again pour some of their excess money, pro-reform economists will keep screaming for more reforms so that the economy can break the barrier of 10%+..Things will just go on as usual. What difference will it make if the economy grows at 10% ,20% or more to the common man? I feel it is nothing. And there can be no better example than India right now. I am not a left-winger nor a right-winger.. i am just a believer in Bentham's law ..greatest good of the greatest numbers....So is that happening with all the growth and stock market boom? The answer is a clear no.<br /><br />A vast majority of Indian population still live in conditions that renders figures like per capita income, poverty line useless in assessing well-being. The indicator that is more meaning full is more basic like consumption of food, nutrition, life-span, child-maternal mortality, employment, then of course gender dimension (after all neglecting half the population is a sin).<br />It puzzles me to see stock market getting such a wide media coverage ..especially in the new-papers calling themselves 'economic'...I am more than convinced that because of this coverage, majority of the new-paper reading population corelate economy to stock markets. There is obviously a co-relation, not to deny it. But then is not the economy much more than the stock market? Far from dalal street, economy should be much more related to the people far and away breaking their backs to feed themselves and their families? The stock market! If there were to be a record of how many individuals profited from activities in stock market and how many institutions especially FIIs profited, i m sure it how skew the balance in favour of FIIs solidly. I have seen more people kill themselves after having lost heavily in stock markets than people who invest there to make up for their retirement funds.. Simple enough. Its uncharted territory for a vast majority. In the latest meltdown, many of my friends have lost their hard earned money. They invested at the wrong time, (despite my warnings!!!I keep myself away from a bull market!!!) and they are not alone. They will have hundreds of small investors along with them. The pity is your bank fails, the government will pay you back your money, you loose at the stock market, its gone.. just gone in the useless bits of paper...I wish it were as clear.<br />All said and done stock market and horse race has far too many things in common than economy and stock market. The same is the case in the great US of A!!! I m surprised how the Wall street gets to have its way. They are profit monger of the worst kind. In a bull market, they want the government and the regulators out... they always scream for reforms-free markets-magic of invisible hands-etc.. but at the smallest signs of trouble they expect the Fed-Federal government to pitch in! its like heads i win, tails you loose! Come what may they will still be around and make money!Unfortunately this is what a financial sector led economy goes through.<br /><br />Its true that Indian financial economy still has a long way to go. I am glad it has. After are we still don't have something called sub-prime mortgages! (we do have the commercial micro credit which is almost the same but much better regulated than sub-prime stuff but micro credit has its own pitfalls!)<br />So what is the real economy saying right now?<br />Firstly, consumption of food: Has reduced in the past few years, more rapidly after 2003-04.<br />Nutritional status: Though no famine-starvation related death, there is wide-spread malnutrition.<br />Poverty : actually much more than what the planning commission estimates using an archaic formula.(they are intelligent enough to fool us by over-estimating the reduction in poverty levels)<br />employment: most recent data.. no significant increase in employment.<br />That means Indians are not eating well and are more vulnerable to ill-health and malnutrition,more Indian kids are malnourished, people are not getting jobs, they don't have access to PDS food, so what is the celebration about the growth and the stock market hitting 20k, or even 50k.. if course if it hits 50k, Mukesh Ambani and likes will still be able to build grand structures for homes... import the latest of cars,gadgets, wear cloths designed by french designers, throw grand parties, host wedding celebrations in palace of Versailles...and keep thinking of innovative ways to blow up their burdensome money-bags!! But what about us? what about our domestic servants? what about people in villages who still have to travel far often on dusty roads in moving shacks of vehicles for schools, hospitals and live on less than Rs 300 per month per person.<br />When i work on the Indian data, i feel frustrated with myself and my creed. What are we trying to do.My blood boils the very minute i hear reforms!!<br />Yes we do need reforms.. what kind of reforms? Introducing universal coverage under PDS (greater good of the greater number here there are more under nourished than are affluent who will anyway abhor the idea of buying insect infested, rat bitten PDS food, and there will be a self selection; but if food is that much more affordable to those who would not buy from markets, they would be better for sure) Make sure that all food and civil supplies department is completely computerised and stocks are never diverted to open market. Also issuing ration should be redone perhaps linking it with individuals to generate some kind of unique number skin to Social Security Number in the US. With the availability of bio-metric technology, it is not difficult today to undertake such an exercise. After all India is the back office of the whole world, and has the expertise in processing that kind of huge data. So that one person is not given a hundred ration cards as in the case of Delhi is not repeated. Is this asking for too much? If the government can handout Rs 60,000 crores to farmers, it can definitely be more liberal with respect to the nutritional adequacy of its citizens.<br />After food comes education. Why not spend more on education? Establish more primary schools, more colleges, more world-class universities? I doubt if Bangalore University still has a functional computer lab with broadband Internet access! It was not there not a long time back when i was a student there. I am sure its not much different now. I wonder if young men in the cyber parlours that have mushroomed in every corner of Indian cities know much beyond emails, orkut and pornography. (Regardless of the city and cyber centre, the machines are full of bugs from the pornographic websites!)...There is a huge body of information that is up-to-date that we can harness to make ourselves better, more competitive and have better prospects.<br /><br />Reforms for me means just these for now. If any thing, universal health coverage is the other most important matter that requires urgent attention.. the rest may go to hell.. Let the government get out of Maruti Udyog, useless Air India, Indian, and Ashoka Hotels and all such stupid ventures, But realise its obligation to its citizens are more basic, not the stock markets and cell phones, but food, water, education and health.<br />I wish our politicians had a commitment, even a small wish to make a difference. But pity they are just the same as G.B.Shaw called them!Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-84109964645317477532008-07-06T13:07:00.000-07:002008-10-23T08:45:55.427-07:00Independence day and partiotismThis was the Independence day long week end! So the media was full of themes related to patriotism etc..After reading all those pieces, i started wondering what patriotism means to me? What makes me a patriot? Why should i be a patriot?<br /><br />Patriotism is a difficult idea to define. If i call myself a patriot, so will a naxalite deep in the jungles of Andra Pradesh, so will a devoted RSS worker somewhere in India, so will a soldier who is fighting a meaningless war somewhere in Kashmir. But are our ideas the same? Definitely no.. our ideas of patriotism is as different as is apples from pears. Patriotism just like Bhagat Singh can be claimed to their own by people of all political colours!<br />If i look at all these ideas of patriotism, each one is true in that particular context. So what is it for me?<br />Is patriotism limited to standing for the national anthem? hoisting flags? or is it something greater?<br /><br />For a long time patriotism was for me more of such symbols. Flags, the national anthem, hating Pakistan (which i feel is ingrained as a necessary symbol of patriotism after learning Jan Gan Man!!!).As i grew older, my ideas went on to mature from these symbols to love and appreciation of my country. Our democracy, our fundamental rights even if we manage to forget our fundamental duties most of the time..<br /><br />Now in the prime of my adult life, i feel patriotism today is about doing our duties to the nation, contribute in a small way to the betterment of our country, Not that i need to be a rocket scientist or a civil servant, but being myself. I can do a difference. Just by doing something like not dirtying our roads, being responsible when using our public transportation, not dirtying up our buses and trains.. and biggest of all, Stop complaining about our corrupt system, pothole ridden roads, and not resigning to the 'nothing can change India'<br />After having come across Atlantic ocean, i figure out, my India can still hold its head high. The United States being the oldest and most powerful democracy is not free from flaws. Only 40% vote to elect their president, the candidates spend millions and millions on campaigning, there are poor and homeless, the system has its own problems, the income inequality and the liberal gun laws which makes the frustration of being poor even more dangerous. And of course on the more bread-butter level of life, there are traffic jams, there are frauds on scales we can never imagine (think of bear and sterns & Enron)<br />On the contrary in India, we are so many people, it is definitely not easy for the machinery to be up and running with so many of us, so many of us not even bothering to pay taxes, so many of us just trying to make ends meet, so many of us having no access to medical and health facilities as well as education, employment and at times food. The number of starvation deaths have gone down (even if malnutrition prevails on a large scale.) We have a decent infrastructure given our resource constraint...our sound constitutional right, All these make me hold my head high up in the air.Make me proud of our country.<br /><br />What pains me the most is our ability to appreciate such good things in our country, our culture, our heritage,our religion,our values...if we are to appreciate it and cherish it, is there any better patriotism than that?Kannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889694009805484357.post-82343289317467655152008-06-05T06:12:00.000-07:002008-10-23T08:46:14.597-07:00The blame game of global food crisisWe all know that the prices of food stuff has increased in a past few months.. especially since <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Feb</span>, it has started hitting our wallets. I was surprised the other day when i has to get a bag of rice for close to $27!! <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">that's</span> crazy what will we eat if its gonna be this expensive??<br />And Mr. Bush the favorite whipping boy the press went on to say that increase in demand from India and China has lead to the increase in the prices..Poor fellow he is no economist to say something like this. He will repeat what the American media has been harping for some time now..Even respected news papers like Wall Street Journal published a string of articles blaming India and China for causing the pain in their wallets. How silly. Are there no economist with wall street journal?? After reading so many pieces over a period of time i started questioning my own judgement, the chances that my belief that the causes of food price raise is else where going wrong was slim, very slim; But how can still stick on get my daily dose of news from a questionable publisher who has been churning our unsubstantiated news over and over <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">again</span>? Should i still stick on to the journal?? Well since we have subscribed for a long period (we got an excellent deal on that) i decided to keep it.<br />Nevertheless i did send out a letter to the editor. Now that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">FAO</span> has refuted the hypothesis that India-China are behind the price raise, may be the American media will try and investigate the actual causes and try and pin it down.<br />This reminds me of The Economist and its coverage of Fidel Castro's letter last year criticizing American corn based bio-fuel policy.. I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">don't</span> often look <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">up to</span> to Mr.Castro but on this issue, he is saner than most of those who ought to have been...<br /><br />Here is what i wrote to wall street journal on the issue of India- behind the food price increase!!!<br /><br /><br />Sir/Madam,<br /><br />It is extremely unfortunate that the recent food price inflation is wrongly being attributed to India (China). The line of argument that is being pursued is that the burgeoning Indian middle class is fueling the price rise by changing their dietary pattern in favor of meats because of increasing wealth. It is even more unfortunate that a reputed journal like yours is also supporting the claims on a regular basis, almost in every article published on the issue. The argument is flawed on the following counts.<br />1) Indian dietary pattern is distinctly different from its western counterpart ;Where as in the West, meat has always been the center piece of the meal – the main course with cereal preparations, vegetables being the side dish, It is exactly the opposite in case of Indian meals. Rice/Wheat (others cereals as well) is the main course with meats and vegetables being on the side. The concept of eating just meats for meals is unknown in most parts of India for most of the population.<br />2) The idea of President Bush (also Ms Rice and various journalists working for your esteemed journal) that the Indian middle class being comparable to the whole of American population and thus is responsible for the increase in food prices is based on this above mentioned faulty premise. It is like drawing conclusion about a pear based on the data of an apple.<br />3) Despite the growth story, the so called prosperity of the nation, Indian nutritional standards remains poor. A large section of the population is still able to afford only food good enough to keep the body and soul together.<br />4) According to latest report of National Sample Survey Organization on household expenditure, the average monthly consumption of cereal is well below 12 kilograms per person, per month. It is as low as 9 kilograms for the lowest expenditure group, given that cereal still remains the mainstay of the Indian diet, many a times they are also the only nourishment one gets.<br />5) The commodity import data of India also shows that there has not been a step up in the imports of food grains so as to make a difference to the global prices. It shows that the import of bulk consumption goods (food) for the year 2006-07 was about Rs 14889.61 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">crore</span>, not very high from 14,120.05 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">crores</span> during 2003-04. The figure includes imports (thereby the demand) for commodities like cereal preparation, pulses, rice, sugar, wheat vegetable oils and other cereals. In real terms it translates into Rs 4223.044 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">crores</span> for the year 2006-07 and Rs 4266.907 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">crores</span> (base year 1986-87/consumer price index for agriculture labor). That is the imports during the year 2003-04 were marginally higher than that of the year 2006-07. Indian’s demand for food is more or less still dictated by the weather conditions rather than the upward mobility of a consumerist society.<br /><br />6) While more than half the expenditure of rural households and close to 40% of the urban households was food related, just about 2.3% of it in urban and 4% of it is attributed to egg, poultry, fish meats and meat products. In comparison, 4% of it in urban and 6% in rural areas was on vegetables. This seems to indicate preference for vegetables over non-vegetarian food productsKannada Cuisinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01966083828177889178noreply@blogger.com0