Where is our Julian

Julian Assange with all the wrong he has purportedly committed is a hero. Perhaps an anti-hero who had the courage to take on the might of the US and the Western world and exposed damning evidence on serious stuff like war crimes and silly banter that takes place in the diplomatic circles. His fight for freedom will be a long drawn affair, hopefully good sense will prevail upon the European Union and the UK to let him go to Ecuador.

I like Julian because we lack such courageous folks in our media. Media houses in India are hardly independent most of them cultivate some party or political leader. Less said about our TV anchors they keep throwing softballs as tough questions to our politicians and bureaucrats. TV debates during prime time are laughable. Some of them like Arnab Goswami and Rajdeep are vociferous and just about that.

I would say that the best investigating journalist in India is Government's own CAG. I doff my hat to Mr. Vinod Rai for taking on the government. He may be wrong on some points but he does have a view. Natural resources allocation should be based on sound policy and not based on whims and fancies of politicians.

RTI has thrown some heroes who have taken up issues with the government and were successful; some of them were eliminated since they were asking uncomfortable questions. Now the government has come up with whistle blower protection act. Will it help.

We need hundreds of Julian's in India, we need an exposure daily, and there should be tremendous pressure on the political class to reform themselves. There should be electoral reforms and cap on election spending.

But is it doable, they have tarnished a person like Anna, they created confusion in the minds of people to start suspecting Anna's movement. They are a dangerous lot and the only way we can get an upper hand on them is to expose their underhand dealings. Let there be a hundred Julian’s in Indian media.

Super Power or Super Hype

While our cities are broken and untidy we can see some glimmer of development on a couple of well done streets, up market localities and swanky malls. These pockets of relative excellence make believe the city dwellers that one day we will be a developed country. At least a façade we create in our mind and this is what our politicians keep telling us, India will be the next super power, investors around the world are going gag about our growth story and all is good with our politics and economic policies. India is definitely shining for our politicians; we can have a look at their asset declarations with the election commission. Their assets are growing.

All the India shining story becomes desperation once we move out of the cities into the rural settings, this is where 70% of the country lives. It is India shaming in these unattended parts of the country. I keep going back to my village often and return as quickly discouraged.

Most of our villages are stuck in a time capsule. They cannot progress since they are invisible to the government. Dilapidated school buildings, dis-interested and de-motivated populace looking for government succor for existence and nothing called Infrastructure in these villages. Most elections are about how our politicians will bring panchayat raj, gram swaraj etc to villages and create a utopian land where our farmers will be producing lots of food with lots of cattle and making lot of money. This is one more façade they create in our minds. There is abject poverty in our villages and it is far from utopian images we have in our minds. Only film makers and politicians manage to create an image otherwise.

We should ask our bureaucrats and ministers to spend time in our villages; they will suffer from malaria, diarrhea and exhaustion due to lack of clean drinking water, electricity and flies.

So when our TV anchors and media talk about stock market high and dips, FDI and other fancy stuff let us give a thought to our fellow citizens in villages nothing of this is going to impact them or at least has till now. They need basics roads, electricity and their children should go to school. There is no plan on how we will get kids from villages to cities and industries to make them productive. A lot of youth and middle age men and women are wasting their productive years in our villages, desperate and disappointed.

Let us stop the hype about being a super power and get our basics right, create a civilised existence for ourselves.

Revamp the Railways

Ever try to book a train ticket with Indian Railways, go to a counter or on the internet I promise it will be a painful experience. Being the monopoly Railways treat passengers with contempt. There is nothing like customer service and no concern for passenger’s travails. At their counters there will be long winding queues with passengers waiting patiently for their turn. All of them carry a piece of paper containing their travel information, the officer on the other side who is supposed to guide and advise the passengers will behave as if he is doing a favor by issuing a ticket.

Even more frustrating will be booking a ticket online, the online portal is unresponsive and excruciatingly slow. I am sure Railways management is aware of this but not doing enough to upgrade the hardware and software, why the delay no one knows. There are allegations that the online system is rigged to favor agents. This should be investigated.

All in all for the Railways passengers go to it and seek service so go and take a hike this is the quality of service I will give you is the attitude.
Having said that there is no doubt IR operates a complex network carrying over 30 million passengers and 2.8 million tons of freight daily. This institution literally carries India and does a phenomenal job with the available resources and constraints. But should that be the reason for lack of customer care and safety focus by the Railways.

The recent accident at Nellore which consumed 50 lives is a case in point, such incidents happen quiet frequently and we wait for the next one to happen. There is a real need to look at the passenger safety by the Railways. It is almost like it is ok for an accident to happen we get away with an ex-gratia payment of 5 lakh per victim.
Recently Jairam Ramesh said that Indian Railways is the largest open toilet in the world, this is known for ever, what is the Railways doing about it. They still want 5 years to make all the passenger compartments fitted with bio-degradable toilets. When will they stop carrying passengers like cattle?

IR may be providing the most economical fares in the world per/km of travel, we are a poor country etc but that cannot be a reason for the lack of safety, hygiene and customer service.

The enormous assets possessed by IR should be put to good use, capital should be raised using these resources and passenger amenities and safety improved. A large and prospering Indian middle class will pay higher charges for a decent service.
Finally a general compartment should not mean making passengers seat on wooden benches. IR should move on from their age old British definitions and provide more comfortable facilities for all passengers.

IR should be revamped to reflect a modern and prospering India not like a beaten up and depressing institution.