All Hail Anna!!

So, finally i am back after a brief hiatus. Interestingly i have a company too in  'Civil Society' who also appears to have come back from slumber (or sheaths of haplessness?), having finally realised that it's time to act not to crib in oblivion about state of the show! The face of our 'Civil Society' this time is Anna Hazare, a frail old man [considering stubborn, high handed opponents he has], but gifted with a steely will and untrammeled faith in Gandhi's methods and dreams. 

As far as the uproar and strike against corruption is concerned, it's truly justified and was long overdue. It will punch the much needed force to Lokpal Bill to get through needle bore of bureaucracy and legislative process. One just needs to look at the history of it, to understand how much necessary the strike is. The bill has lingered on for 40 years [first brought out in 1968 on the recommendation of Administrative Reforms Commission recommendation in 1966]; each time passing through committees on the pretext of scrutiny, deliberations, amendments but at the end meeting same fate. Needless to say, the real culprit is infirm resolve of governments [past and present] to let it see the light of the day. 

The draft 'Janlokpal Bill' although not a perfect panacea to Corruption, does reflect the hopes of the public from such a legislation. It definitely has much to offer in terms to lending teeth to the regime proposed draft, like the provison for Lokpal to take suo moto cognizance of the matters of corruption, provision for recovery of misappropriated amount from the culprit, independence of the institution of Lokapal in conduction investigations, but more deliberations are needed over them to align them properly in constitutional framework and governance and maintaining their essence. Hence, it justifies the demand for Joint-Drafting committee,  fortunately acceded to by regime.

On the conclusion of the hunger strike people celebrated justifiably, with slogans of "WIN FOR DEMOCRACY", "ANTI-VIRUS HAZARE CLEANED VIRUS OF CORRUPTION" and like. Well, mostly it's good to celebrate, but it's important for an Indian to realise that the flame against anti-corruption should keep on burning. after all, why do we need mammoth scams and an old man threatening to encore Potti Sreeramulu [leader who died fasting for demand of Andhra] to goad us into protest.

A vibrant functioning democracy demands people to stay on their toes for not only safeguarding their own rights but also to regulate their own elected representatives by shunning corruption in their daily lives. People seem to be happy to snuggle up to the idea that 'Ok! the job's done, now we can party!', whereas the fact is this work never ends! This tendency also explains why sometimes eminent personalities dish out reckless comments stemming out of their ignorance of the state of affairs and knee-jerk reaction. [row over comments over the Constitution]. They happily come out with banners and slogans at the opportune moment [which is definitely needed and justified and I have no problems with], but sadly recede immediately to their lavish lives as soon as things look right. If they remain half as active and do justice to their social responsibility of acting as a model to people [a cost of celebrity status one may say], this situation may not emerge in the first place. Ironically, it seems it's not only the poor who need to be made aware of their rights and duties but also the posh urban educated!

cheers 

TBS

And you thought India needed...... A Change?

Things are changing fast around us. The exacting demand for adaptation has ensured that the truth "Change is only Permanent" grows more robust in every sphere of our lives. Well, to be sure it's also true for nations. Many things are changing as far as our beloved motherland is concerned. Economy is changing (growth and structure), so are National priorities (snuggling up to Capitalism again after a whirlwind romance with Socialism, realizing that Left wing extremism has crept up too high the foot!, realizing again that Corruption is our very own age old past time!), International priorities (new found love towards US, cribbing for esteemed chairs irrespective of prices demanded, growing apathy towards venerated ideals of yesteryears in international overtures [read India's ambiguous response towards fomenting public demand for democracy in Egypt]), Sports(Indian Cricket team has started winning matches and has been hogging the top ranks!, medals raining in games, Nehawal, the wonder girl of Badminton sporting national flags around the world), Science (although recent failure on GSLV front but we are no more the 'Oh! they are a bunch of dumb!' guys in space and very much on the way for manned space flights, earning bucks by sending satellites of others, Indian figuring again in Nobel prizes!).

Seems a pretty good picture, eh? But not so long ago, I still remember the ghastly 26/11 [and very recently in mammoth 2G Scam] when along with booming terrorist guns and blazing fires the cry for changing the polity of the country was raging. It was contended that our leaders are worthless snails, too entrenched in corruption and blinded by greed to act decisively [not that they are furious cheetah either or particularly above board!]. It was said we needed a CHANGE!

Yea, sure we do need one. But, I would probably rechristen it as 'A Cleaning' or 'Formatting' like we do in our PCs when they crawl on mouse clicks, too messy to multi-task. I feel we have a perfect system installed here, technically very sound, custom fitted to our land, all that it needs is a little refurbishing.

Our forefathers were wise enough to realize that our country needed a secular, democratic and egalitarian society given that India had Pluralism in her every breath. The country was too fragile to attacks of hegemony of any single element that constituted its colorful fabric. This system that they installed in here also allows enough latitude for the hope to emerge that from the same countrymen, these principles will nurture leaders who will show the way for change as and when required. Principles of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Secularism, Democracy are necessary assurances and encouragement to be unique and spread uniqueness; they are necessary for a place where the people don't ask religious leanings when disasters stare at face, the Christians and Muslims celebrate Diwali and Hindus Christmas and Id, where men and women greet each other and dance to the patriotic tunes without bothering who is who. We need to clean the ill of corruption that has shrouded the light of these ideals and not at all need to disown them!

We need not look very far to ascertain what would have been life without such a system. Our siamese twin Pakistan provides us much valuable lessons here. We need to look at the way a man was shut up when he raised the voice for a little tolerance for religious differences. Punjab governor Salman Taseer was the face of religious tolerance and civility that was cruelly smothered into silence. Whole of the country was laughing a barbaric laugh at the plight  of raped civility and tolerance for dissidence! The liberals of the land, the enlightened were too afraid to raise their voice and concerns for this dangerous transformation of the society into a rabble of fundamentalists and killers! When such things happen, what hope is left for a nation? Will its system ever allow any Saviour to rise from the rubble and to erect the edifice again? Don't we need a system like our very own to harbor a hope for the future? I bet every true Pakistani will beg to agree! 

Pakistan, a country which was born with a parochial plan for future needs a Saviour now. It needs leaders who can deliver by silencing the fundamentalists and spreading the liberal ideals even at the greatest of costs. The people need to realize that it's Hope that can sail countries through the rough not Hate. They need to embrace their own countrymen like brothers and sisters rather than killing them. Tolerance only makes religion richer and live longer not only on lands, but also most importantly in the hearts of people. It makes their followers better human beings and place heaven like. Prayers for our siamese twin and its issues!!

cheers

TBS

All about Protectionism!

Protectionism is hogging the paparazzi around the world. Every other country is trying to keep away the wolf of recession by resorting to what seems to be the panacea of all economic ills and sins! Countries are secretly indulging into it and at their hypocritical best slinging mud on each other for committing the most heinous crime of free trade regime. 

Protectionism is an economic policy pursued by the countries in certain conditions wherein they shut down the doors for foreign goods and services and try to nurture their own by providing succor in various forms like subsidies for production and export, practising liberalisation, removing export tariffs and like. Various instruments in the hands of countries practising it are: Tariffs, Anti-Dumping Legislation, Export Subsidies, Import quotas, Administrative Barriers, Direct Subsidies, Exchange Rate manipulations. Sounding too many economic jargon? well .. it's got to be as the theme of writeup says but i will keep restraining myself from spilling over too many such nasty words!

Now, what I wish to draw your attention to is the last instrument: Exchange Rate manipulations. It is being talked about in the name of 'Currency Wars', the jargon first mouthed by the Brazilian President. It's actually the quest of countries to keep their currencies UNDERVALUED. Now you might think how humble and meek of them to do so! But hang on, in international trade, as much as in many other things in life, ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD! Keeping the currency undervalued means one dollar can buy more of their currency and hence their exports are cheaper in the international markets and hence are more sought after by the consumers. [Aren't humbleness and meekness virtue?] So,countries which rely on exports heavily for their economic growth [like China] are doing all to keep their currency the most genteel of them all. Well, consumers (developing or developed countries') want products. Last thing they bother about is the country of their make[unless obviously there's is someone like our own Bapu goading them to relinquish any things attached with a foreign name]. But, it does hurt the developed countries to have mammoth trade deficits with developing countries, both on economic grounds and self esteem and not to mention that it makes them insecure about their fragile dominance in rapidly changing world. 

Some countries especially China have these aggressive export policies that keep on promoting their export at not so nominal costs in domestic economy. In China there's raging inflation and the government is hard pressed to take corrective actions, but still the Renminbi remains meek. China has been accused of practising unfair monetary policies and distorting the international trade by many countries including the US, India. Such policies force other countries (Brazil, Argentina for their agricultural exports) to follow suit in order to protect their exports and hence jobs at home, economic growth from being crippled. I wonder China's eternal dream seems to be making every human on the planet a consumer of Chinese goods. At once, the flashes of me searching souvenirs in Perth come up when I found EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE China made! (God! was I mucking around in Beijing?). Same was true for all other shops I happened to visit there. 

Having said all that, it needs to be admitted that Protectionism ain't bad completely. It is very much needed for a fledgling economy to stand on it's feet and compete with the grown ups around. Every country including the US [the hallowed pilgrimage of Capitalism and Free Trade] have practised it at some point in the past and obviously now. Protectionism is the only solution to:

• Protect Jobs (and save the country from total collapse) in the time of Recession
• For Public Good (as in case of WTO approved protectionist measures for developing countries)
• For letting economy become Self reliant

India practised Protectionism after Independence to allow the non-existent Indian industries to have a solid base so that country is not heavily banked on imports and indigenous industries can hope to compete with the best in the world in coming future; like it finally was allowed to do in 1991. So, in a way Protectionism was the first step towards Globalisation. How ironical! The US did it in pre-Regan era and is doing now. In the trying times of recession every country needs to offer some level of protection to indigenious industries to keep them from crumbling down. It's their right!

But, we also do know that doing what's best for oneself doesn't necessarily lead to the commons good. (remember the Commons Dilemma?) Hence, the trick lies in reining in the Protectionist tendencies a little to allow for those actions which ensure that the world economy also does weather the crisis because the fate of each country's economy is intertwined with that of the world's. G20 summit recently tried to bring the developed and developing on a common ground but couldn't succeed. The developed countries need to show leadership  and take the developing economies with them in coming up with a common monetary policy which not only supports the growth of single entity but more importantly ensures the deliverance of the world economy as well.

cheers
TBS

A message from Tunisia

Recently, the power of the people and particularly the youth accomplished one of the most awaited goal of the Arab world by overthrowing the autocratic, corrupt and seemingly unassailable regime of Mr. Ben Ali. It is a reminder of the fact that the government is for the people not the other way round and when government fails to perform its duty, it needs to go.

Democracy has hitherto being an elusive thing for the Arab world as most of the nations are still ruled by autocratic regimes; rulers too cold to venture out of their kingly palaces to work for the people, too tenacious of their power and to say the least are subservient to the interests of the erstwhile colonizing countries or the West. There is large scale poverty, unemployment and lack of basic amenities. Lack of democratic system has ensured that the corrupt system remains entrenched to the core and the general plight of the people continues to deteriorate. This story is shockingly true for countries like Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, Algeria, Libya. Even as this is being written, people in many of these countries are getting inspired to encore the events of Tunisia in their lands. There is incoming news of youth in Yemen shouting for abdication of power by the autocracy hogging the galleries of power for 30 years.

Tunisian revolution was the outcome of smoldering discontent of the public. Right from the self immolation of the educated unemployed Tunisian youth things moved quite fast and spun out of the control of the government. It was really shameful for the country that an educated youth, instead of channeling his capabilities for nation building, had to kill himself in desperation. It betrayed the kind of mess Tunisia was into. 

A particularly interesting facet was the role played by the social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube. the people could sustain the momentum of the movement and mobilize themselves. they efficiently used the new technology of internet to usher in the modern ideals of democracy to their land. It also rings in the fact that the internet in general and social networking revolution in particular has bestowed immense power in the hands of public to organize themselves, and effect the changes they wish.

But, given the overthrow of the rule accomplished, the Tunisians have a momentous and arduous task of setting in place a democratic system on which they can rest their hopes for a bright future. They need to prove before the world that the momentum is still very much there and it's continuously directed towards nation building. It is imperative in order to save their country from falling into the hands of another corrupt rule without democratic set up and dangers of civil wars. The Tunisians should take a lesson from the Indian struggle of independence particularly events post independence when the Indians showed grit to enforce the ideals of constitution throughout the territory of India, reigning in wayward princely states and establishing democracy on firm ground. Indian government, on the other hand, should express its solidarity with them as has been our national tradition throughout the national struggle to support any quest for democracy, independence.

In the whole episode the international community had, to an utter dismay, very less to vouch for. No country raised a strident support for the cry of ailing Tunisian junta. US, particularly, could have voiced a support for them and gained much confidence from the future Arab leaders: THE ARAB YOUTH. It would have helped bridging the gap between the US and the Muslim world as the current feeling of revolution is rife across the middle-east. Instead it chose to remain silent praying that the puppet rule of the West remains intact.

Better start now than never, the international fraternity, particularly the US, EU and other developing countries should support the Tunisian people in their endeavor. The UN should ensure that a transparent system is properly placed in the country to set it on the path of progress. International pressure should be mounted on the other autocratic regimes to mend their ways lest they meet the same fate. After all, when were they most vulnerable to change than now?

Finally, it can be said that Tunisia has shown the path for the rest of the Arab fraternity towards new modern political order, an order which is needed for meeting the challenges of the new century and improving their quality of life. Not just in prayers, the Arab brothers this time need to look west towards Tunisia for solutions and inspiration.

cheers
TBS

The bystander begins!

So here are the first words the bystander writes....realizing that this activity (blogging) has already become and stopped being the buzz word of town (i realized this while struggling to assign a name for my creation here as most of the names coming to a novice blogger's mind were already taken!).

Wishing to make it a short crisp beginning i look forward to air my imagination in this space and also to ventilate the joy, apprehensions, sorrow, frenzy, terror, hope and like emotions all around me which i happen to capture with my deft eyes...as that's what a bystander does the best isn't it?

cheers
TBS