Dr. Manmohan Singh

I was still in my graduation when Dr Manmohan Singh became prime minister of India. That was the time when people of our age has started taking interest in the politics. I knew little bit of it and was learning of the happenings around the world. At that time lot many things were new to my mind. Those were formative years and we were learning the things we were not in good position to make a very clear and solid view point. More than six years have passed since then and I have been through 2 jobs between this period and traveled this country from Kashmir to Kerala, Bengal to Wagah. Today I believe that there are lot many things on which I can have informed opinions.

So Dr Manmohan Singh when he became prime minister was supposed to be the best candidate only P Chidambaram could have rivaled him at that time in fact even now there is nobody in the ruling camp even now who can rival his CV. At that time there used to be a mail in circulation that we have such a qualified PM and we are progressing well in this country. In fact after the six rule of NDA government and lot of investment in infrastructure we had started growing really fast to the tunes of 8% annualized GDP growth rate. That was the time when Sonia Gandhi was being hailed by our media as mother India and example of sacrifice. She achieved almost goddess like status in the mind of most of the people thanks to our free media controlled by rich people and Congress party. Dr Manmohan Singh's CV was mailed around the country so many time.

Soon however things started to clear themselves. He was nothing but a puppet. few years before that Lalu has used his wife as puppet to rule Bihar. This time Sonia has used this guy as puppet. Puppet or no puppet I had great admiration for this guy because he was best in the herd as far as honesty was concerned. But then honesty is not the thing that you require to rule a country of this size, it need leadership, it require guidance, it need somebody who can take a stand and who have a vision. In those days only I read Dr Kalam's book "India 2020" and this is very well written book and for a while it seemed Dr MMS is great continuation of legacy of Dr Kalam and Vajpayee as prime minister. We were happy that one visionary was replaced by another and there was always guiding light of Dr Kalam.

First shock came in the light of election of Pratibha Patil as president of the country. They put a lady from nowhere in the seat which was graced by likes of Dr Kalam, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Dr Radhakrishnan. But then we thought president is symbolic figurehead and we still have qualified PM. Moreover Dr MMS had nothing to do with election of president.But that was first step where it was evident that perhaps he is the puppet. But we believed that he will rise above all this and show the mettle, I am sorry to say nothing like that happened. he disgraced himself more and more as the time passed. he was unable to take the stand on any of the issues.

Then came 2005 and they announce NAREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme). Although I had read little bit of economics by that time but could not guess at that time that it will be most corrupt and fool-proof corrupt scheme of all time. The funds that were being invested in infrastructure development prior to that were now diverted to this scheme and as the election of 2009 came closure spending of this scheme was increased even further. As a consequence labour rates increased inflation increased but there was no proportionate increase in the productivity, in fact productivity came down. It was justified in the name of wealth redistribution which supposedly increases the productivity in the economy. But one very important factor that we ignored at that time which I came to know and understand only after reaching IIMA was that wealth redistribution will enhance productivity if it is above two basic constraints (unfortunately nobody talked about these constraints) viz. minimum level of prosperity and very skewed distribution of wealth prior to implementation if redistribution. Manmohan Singh being an economist must have known these things but still he did nothing. As the time passed we came to know that it did not reduce any poverty in last five years.

When I went for a blind trekking to an Andhra village in 2009 I came to understand the real picture. Because of NREGA people in village are getting income without work and if you want to hire them for work they simply tell you that we are getting that much without work then why should I work for the same amount of money. Moreover there was no accountability in this scheme as people were supposed to dig some ponds and this kind of things. Now if you want to verify that if some real work was going on then you visit the place. There you will not find any pond and people will tell you that it got filled up in dues period because of rains or something or they will show u some old pond. But Dr MMS let this scheme run even though inflation was running very high (and I am sure that he is not dumb not to understand this simple fact). This inflation was because of-
1. Increase in labour cost and hence decrease in productivity in agriculture
2. Increase in demand because of this money but no increase in production since now one of the basic resource became very costly (i.e. labour)
3. Increase in supply of money in the economy.

Hence if onion prices are so high its not a surprise for me. It is very logical consequence of policies adopted by our scholar PM Mr MMS. But then why to blame him All decisions are taken at Ms Sonia Meno's home at 10 Janpath influenced by corrupt and sycophant people who deposit the share of Meno family in swiss bank accounts so that there is no doubt in the mind of people regarding the clean image of first family.

Then came series of corruption and scams. Now if you are man of action then you keep silent and do your work which says it all, but if you don't take any action and keep mum it is confirmation of your puppet status. Even then Dr MMS kept quite. Comonwealth games came and we were ashamed in front of whole world. These are the times when a nation try to showcase itself on international stage but we showed what nobody want to show.

Economic Reforms:
What we know today as economy reforms are not actually economic reforms carried out in a thoughtful manner. These are the changes that we were forced to make by IMF and World Bank during crisis of 1991. We were forced to open our economy to international market. It is the sheer size of the country that we escaped that otherwise so many other states have gone in deeper crisis after that and became banana republics. Had Dr MMS been such a good economists he might have brought those changes when he was deputy chairman of planning commission and governor of RBI (only man to have seen both bodies), but as we know he did not in fact it was after his tenure at planning commission that crisis of 1991 happened. Our fiscal deficit crossed 10% of our GDP at that time and credibility ratings of the country went down.

After so many efforts government of Vajpayee brought this deficit under some control but again in his rule deficit is rising and it is already at the level of 8%. In fact falling credibility of Indian economy is reflected in the weakening currency. And here it is even more important to note that rupee is falling now already against a weak dollar. Still nobody at the top level seems to be concerned about the future of the country. MMS government is busy in defending Mr Q in Bofors rather than bring him and other offenders to book. For this government there is very special reason to defend Mr Q because if he is brought to book danger of first family of corrupt India to be exposed is higher, if that happens then danger of Corrupt party (Congress) falling apart is even more serious, because that family make the nucleus of this whole corrupt system. If nucleus is hit atom is supposed to fall apart and that is what they are saving, THE NUCLEUS.

Real danger for this country is that if people like Dr MMS choose to be puppets what will happen to common man. However alternative fact might be he is expert puppet and reached this level of puppetry by playing the perfect puppet.

India, Please wake up

Eleven days ago, activist Anna Hazare, in the heart of India’s capital, started a fast unto death until the Government agreed to an anti-corruption bill that had been lying around for 42 years. Governments had come and gone without giving it a serious thought. The Jan Lokpal bill was what one could call the second automatic step a democracy like India was supposed to take after the Right to Information Act (RTI). That a 72 year old man had to stay empty stomach for 90 hours, in Delhi’s harsh sun to make it happen was a shame. The legislation should have been serious about it. The opposition should have taken note of it. As expected, the moment Hazare went on strike, Advani and the likes came out in support. Question: Why was this not taken up by the opposition in the parliament earlier? If BJP was serious about a bill of this stature and believed in the merits of it, why was this not taken up when NDA was in power? After all, a draft, open for discussion, existed then, too. But then it is a party based on an ideology that can be explained in a single, four letter word frowned upon by C Programmers: Null.

Now about Hazare but a bit of history first. Ambedkar, after India’s independence, had called upon the nation to reject Gandhian methods like Civil Disobedience and non-cooperation, simply because those methods do not have a place in a land ruled by a constitution. But here we had a bill that the politicians, combined across those in opposition and those in power, had a, sort of, silent consensus on not bringing it up even in a draft-form. And it is that unsaid pact that made Anna Hazare do what he did. Maybe Ambedkar would have approved of that? Now that Hazare’s 90 hour fast has accomplished what 42 years could not, let us allow the Constitution to take it from here.

The day when the agitation was at it’s peak, I had the good fortune of sitting at office and working for Chetan Bhagat's 'Mera Neta Chor Hai' campaign. I saw “Anna Hazare” climb up and become a “Trend” in twitter. At it’s peak, there were about 60 tweets about Anna in 20 seconds. That is phenomenal. Then there was this email circulated with a phone number where you could give a missed call to, if you supported Anna Hazare’s fasting. I do not know what happened next. How and where did that call, a missed call at that, made a difference, I have absolutely no idea. But is this all what we ever wanted to do against corruption?

It is true that the citizens of this country have been subjected to corruption of the highest magnitude. In the long list of scams, the scandals can only be differentiated by the sheer amount of money involved. In that, let us not stay oblivious to the sins we have ourselves committed: Paying that little extra money for the electricity connection, that bribe for getting a gas connection, the monies we end up paying, at various traffic signals to various traffic cops, the thinking that a crime is not a crime until we are caught — Those lines only look good on T-Shirts. The moment we pay a bribe of Rs.200 to a traffic cop for a crime that attracts a fine of Rs.500, we lose the right to complain and be dismayed about the system and the corruption rampant in our Government. In that light, I ask you this — How many of those tweeters that day who made up for the “Anna Hazare” trend would not pay a bribe to the traffic cop? How many of those who swore by Anna Hazare that day would actually make a conscious attempt to follow the law of the Indian Union? I had to bribe lot of govt officials when i was planning to start a construction company in Bangalore. But that was 2 years back. Here’s the thing: Unless those who constitute what Nandan Nilekani calls the Demographic Dividend, those who are educated and literate, those who are driving the GDP of the nation to new heights, do their bit by educating themselves of their duty as citizens, I am afraid, posting status messages at Facebook, holding hands at Jantar Mantar and lighting candles at India Gate would be of no avail.

And accomplishing that, after being used to the petty crimes we all audaciously commit or have committed in the past, would not be an easy task or a stroll in the park. It would drive us way out of our comfort zone (as it rightly should) but until we do that, very less can be accomplished and guess what, we may be left out of this all, expecting people like Anna Hazare to fight for us.

Hidden inside a 72-year old man’s revolt is an attempt to wake up our conscience. Please don’t expect him to fight our battles, really. Start with yourself.

Any Orphanage looking for support in Kerala?

It's been a hard task for us to manage the children at our places. Right now, Since we have more social commitment these days, we are thinking in a different channel so that inmates of other orphanages also get our support. we are looking for an orphanage that can be supported financially and operationally. The relevant part of the request below


We set up and run volunteer programs in partnership with and support of local organisations and are currently seeking a partner organization that operates a well run and organized orphanage in India (Kochi) whom we can support to help expand and improve their operation. We have a funding package available to support an orphanage that would benefit from the supply of additional skilled personnel, trained volunteers, and funding. We would supply experienced long term staff, funds to cover each volunteer and additional funding to supply project equipment and materials for the projects the volunteers were assisting with. There may also be additional fundraising opportunities though our charitable trust. We are only interested in organization or institutions that have long term aims, have already achieved successes in their aims, are looking to expand their work and are looking for a partnership of 5 years minimum. Volunteer projects may include childcare, basic education, construction, sports and others.




Kindly mail me at tony@tune4.com or you can also mail at contact@malayalamplantations.com if anyone knows about any well run orphanage in Kerala that deserves operational and financial support.

Lessons from cricket world cup

It’s great to be a world beater in cricket. Now let’s make that happen in the more important sphere of nation building. If a bunch of a few dozen Indians can bring so much success, victory and joy to the entire nation, why can’t the millions of other hard working people involved in nation building do the same? They can, but we have a few lessons to learn from our success in cricket.

Cricket in India has followed a capitalist design. Its run by a private company called BCCI and in spite of all the many allegations of poor corporate governance, on balance, you have to give it to them that they have delivered for India. Admittedly, BCCI has been lucky.....in that cricket has always been a loved sport in India. But they have also played a role in making cricket successful. They’ve invested in building cricket infrastructure.....today Indian stadia are amongst the best in the world. Now let’s come to the players. They are paid handsomely! Not like in the past when a Sunil Gavaskar had to work for the Indian Railways or SBI and earn his living even while he played for India for glory. Today, BCCI makes it worthwhile for crickets to stay focused on their cricket; it pays an annual “salary” to the players which is between Rs 25 lacs and Rs 1 crore per annum depending on the category of player. The training budgets are handsome too.....a foreign coach and his entourage cost a fair amount of money.

Very importantly, the team gets the adulation of the country. The captain is put to a grind, but when he emerges victorious, is treated like God. The ace batsman is in fact called God! Of course, the cricketers slog their butt off. But they’re more than adequately compensated for it. It’s a capitalist model.....the winner takes it all. If you’re not good enough, you are dumped. It’s no different in the film &music business. Those who give hits are held sky high; those who deliver flops are dumped into the deep oceans. It’s ruthless and though this builds stress in the system, it propels us faster than any other model. In contrast, look at our Olympics and Commonwealth Games infrastructure. It’s totally Government run and it rots.

Here are just three things to focus on:

1) Let’s empower the babus: Firstly, let’s pay them market salaries. The Cabinet Secretary is the senior-most babu in the country.....the CEO of the country or the captain of the team in a way (we’ll come to the political masters later). Let’s agree to treat him as one. Given his qualifications, his experience and the importance of his job, lets pay him a salary of Rs 5 crores per annum.....with an add-on bonus of another Rs 5 crores if he were to achieve certain pre-set goals. Let’s give him a free hand in choosing his team. Let’s empower him with decision making powers......Let’s set goals for him; let’s demand results. The Cabinet Secretary will report to the Cabinet....which will work as the Board of Directors providing strategic direction and approving the strategy of the CEO, but not interfering on a day to day basis. Remember the Constitution wants it this way too.....it provides for a separate executive and a separate legislature (at present however, the politicans are both law makers as well as executives). Running the country will be the CEO’s job. Making laws will be the job of the Cabinet and Parliament. So deciding whether 2G spectrum should be governed by the principle of “revenue maximization” or not will be decided by the cabinet. But executing that decision flawlessly will be handled by the CEO. All parts of the Executive (CBI, Election Commission, RBI, Enforcement Directorate, I.Tax dept etc) will report to the CEO.....not to the politicians.
2) Let’s make changes in our politics: There are two major things to clean up. First is the corruption and second, the poor governance standards (time taken for decision making, execution of decisions etc). To clean up the first, let’s make provisions for funding the election process. Lets provide a special cess (I know people will groan at this!) to fund elections. But I am not saying we add to the tax burden. Instead, the present education cess should be removed and replaced with the election cess.....after all, if we take care of the elections, we would have taken care of education and other priority areas as well. Also, let’s pay the law makers well. The PM must be paid a salary of Rs 5 crores per annum as well with an annual bonus structure as decided by the Parliament. All cabinet ministers must be paid suitably....so that they don’t get the impression that they are doing the nation a favor. This will encourage good people to make a living out of politics. The job of politicians as mentioned earlier is to make laws for the country; not to run the executive function. To clean up the second, let’s make changes in the election rules. Coalition politics is here to stay; so let’s recognize this reality. Coalitions must largely be pre-poll ones. If a pre-poll alliance wins, that’s how it should stay for 5 years. If it does not win a majority, post-poll coalitions can be allowed; but all coalition partners are duty bound to stick together for 5 years (except in truly unique circumstances). This needs more debate but let’s have that debate.
3) Lets provide the right environment: As citizens, lets cheer the high performers and let’s boo out the poor ones. But let’s not get negative. Let’s not stone the houses of our leaders when they lose a match once in a while. No once can ever be successful 100% of the time. Even Dhoni has only won 62% of the matches as captain. Most importantly, let’s not be cynical. Let’s not mock our politicians and babus. If anyone feels he is better suited, let him join the process; rather than stay out and crib.

But for all this to work, we also need a responsible media. I differ from many in what role media should play. In my mind, the role of media is to transform a society. To encourage progressive thinking in the country; not merely reflect the mood of the people; Media has to lead the nation. If the society is orthodox, media must force it to become modern. Media has to be in the vanguard of progress. It must be a catalyst to build the mood. It must help separate the chaff from the grain. It just cannot be venal; nor can it become a power broker. It has a very important role to play in a democracy. And let it not misuse it.

The real truth is that we can repeat in nation building what we have achieved in cricket. Provided.....we show the same zeal and hunger for a win. Can we do it???
Comeon India.