Democracies with a difference

As a keen observer of the US politics I find that both (one biggest and the other largest) democracies celebrate politics and the process of elections with gusto and fervor.

As in India the US electorate does vote based on race, beliefs (conservative, liberal etc), religion etc. The media in the US enjoys much more freedom but it is hard to get fair and balanced view since most media houses are openly biased towards a particular political philosophy (conservative, democratic, libertarian etc). Most of us around the world would have thought Obama would eventually win against a gaffe prone Romney representing a Republican party which fought on an openly anti-women, anti-gay and anti-immigrant platform. There was no way Romney would have won unless the white vote consolidated fully towards the Republicans but alas it was not to be. President Obama’s middle path has won him the day, his promise of not excluding anyone resonated with the aspirations of most Americans. It was hilarious to see debates on Fox news criticizing President Obama on almost all of his policies and attacking him viciously day in and a day out. In fact such strident advocacy against Obama may have pushed the rest of the electorate to vote for him.

Come back home, Indian media are good students of the government in power, they are not truly independent because of the constant fear of government using CBI as a weapon. There are exceptions like Tehelka etc but it is hard for media houses to survive taking on the government and political parties. Hence our political debates are muted. The standards are definitely improving but we have some way to go.

Elections in India are equally intense as in the US and even more colorful. Our elections are more of appealing to the emotions of the citizens (Vote for Indira Gandhi, Rajeev Gandhi, Vajpayee since they are good people etc) seeking loyalty and lacks serious debate on Health care, Education, Job creation, Foreign policy etc, it is more about parties promising something free, corruption related and some more local and peripheral issues. However Indians are more intolerant towards incumbents who seem not to have delivered on promises. There are exceptions however, today in Gujarat and Bihar Governments perform and all political parties are forced to talk about development due to the change leadership brought in by Mr. Modi and Nitish kumar.

Two exciting democracies with so much in common yet much different in how their politics are run.

Bring it on Arvind

Arvind Kejriwal revelations are no more shocking but are met with a shrug “we knew this was happening" expression. His rather indiscriminate firing has left him with no political friends. The congress, BJP, SP, BSP and everyone else are scared to death about his next revelations and are targeting him virulently. Is his model sustainable one needs to wait and see, but he certainly has a point, as he himself says his "specific charges" on Robert Vadra, Nitin Gadkari, Reliance etc and others have not yet been answered fully.

So why not launch a full scale investigation on all his charges, some dismiss saying Vadra is not guilty until proven (how can anyone be proven guilty before an investigation), others say why only Gakari why not investigate others too (first question are you clean), Reliance says their business conduct is above board. The most frustrating thing was some odd Haryana bureaucrats giving a clean chit to Vadra, it is a basically a slap on the face of the criminal-justice system and the nation.

Political-business and bureaucrat nexus is entrenched in the system and they will resist any move to break this union. This runs like a well oiled machine to the benefit of the few. Jaipal Reddy knows better, he asked Reliance a few straight questions that were uncomfortable and his portfolio has "changed".

While the above allegations of impropriety are few and far between, in general this is how the business works in the post-reforms India. Big money changes hands for all land allotments, resource allocations, approvals etc.

While i have no right to say politicians should not be business men but we should definitely ask how come (emphasis in India) in India most politicians are business men of some kind. Most of them have their businesses in real estate, education, mining, hotels etc, why, because these markets are not highly regulated and there is no entry barrier with lots of black money that can be ploughed in. Case in point Jagan Mohan Reddy, A Raja and others who have used their proximity to power to approve and allocate resources at whims and fancies.

I would say do not stop Arvind, keep bringing them on, name and shame.

Mango People in India

Robert Vadra should not forget apart from himself and the may be another 5% rich in India rest of us are all mango people. It is a country for the mango people ruled by the orchard owners (political parties). Since we are mango people he was able to go ahead and earn his riches like the rest of his ilk in the political class.

Obviously Robert Vadra did not have an idea about what his mango people comment can do in terms of damage, in the first place the banana republic he calls India as is governed by the party he belongs to and secondly same mango people have voted his party to power in 2009 and 2004.

His comments can be attributed to political arrogance which is on the rise in India. This arrogance spans across political spectrum. The feeling that they are above law makes them behave irrationally. They are aware the laws are for the “mango people”. In such a situation it is important for new political outfits like IAC to be successful to bring balance into the debate.

Mean while Robert Vadra should start seriously working for the cause of mango farmers in the country. India perhaps produces the best quality mangoes in the world but our farmers are not able to make money due to middle men, lack of storage infrastructure and inability to export. I am sure Robert can use his good offices to do something good here for the mango men in India.

Crony Capitalism and crooks

IAC (Arvind kejriwal) has come out with allegations of corruption against Robert Vadra. Given, he is not guilty until proven but the way Congress and Cabinet ministers lined up to defend Vadra raises suspiscions on the deals he had with DLF. Vadra joins the long list of politicians and political families who have benefited from their connections. Mr. Vadra is yet to respond to the allegations except for some feeble facebook notes. Will be there be an investigation on the specific charges?

Incidentally there is one Jagan Mohan Reddy who has done a something similar but atleast created some physical enterprises, he too blatantly exploited his father's position to strike mindboggling deals with business men. Then there are A. Raja, Kani, Suresh Kalmadi and others who basically moved money across borders etc. Most of them are under trail and not guilty but only the guillible will believe otherwise.

It will be interesting to see what more news Arvind is going to dish out, next is Maharastra and some of the politocos must be praying it is not them.

Dont be afraid of all things foreign - they will go back ayway

First there is 2G and then Coalgate and multiple other scandals UPA 2’s world was falling apart. Policy inaction, faltering growth along with unbending food inflation was putting pressure on the government. To wriggle out the prime minister has played the only card he has left – reform card. It is not about reforms actually it is about getting out of the pressure created by the ongoing scandals. Deflect attention and create a debate within the country so that the focus is elsewhere. Dr. Singh has already achieved that and he can breathe easy. He also manages to retain his reformer economist title.

The opposition is in playing to the script and “opposing” FDI. Do they know if money is not pumped into the aviation sector (read private) our airlines will be dead. With unrealistically high fuel tax and landing charges in major metros airline business is only for the chivalrous. Of course the government instead of taking responsibility for creating a positive policy environment for domestic aviation has opted for the easy way out of opening up FDI in aviation. Anyway no foreign airline is in a hurry to put money in the Indian aviation sector. It will be a while before a billion dollars is invested in the Indian aviation sector by outsiders. So one need to worry about FDI in aviation.

FDI in retail – no one knows what is the end result of such foreign investments. There are studies which suggest both ways (good and bad). The focus is on farmers and small traders. Farmers are anyway not doing well in this country from the times we know. They continue to be tools in the hands of politicians who promise them heaven in the name of gram swaraj ( basically our villages are caste and sect divided with pathetic infrastrcuture and no hope, their existence is hell even now. So will FDI make their existence even worser, I am not sure. But I know one data point that 40% of the produce in the country is wasted due to lack of proper infrastructure ( cold storage, transportation etc), so if someone else is ready to help us why not ? if we had the wherewithal to do it why have we not done it till now ?

Small traders –mom and pop stores I guess will be impacted as per data (Walmart has been driven out of New york recently). Walmart is not hugely successful out of the US anyway. By that logic can they occupy India – if that is the fear. I think after the initial euphoria dies down it will be just another shopping place. They will wind up and go back since their “Every day low price” will not be low enough for most Indians, we will still throng to our weekly trade bazaars to buy stuff.

So open up and let the money come in.

Robbing Peter to Pay itself

Government has increased the diesel rates and will be rationing cylinders to control its subsidy out go. It is some action by a government struggling to get things going. The increase in diesel will impact food prices and transport costs which are bad for the common man already reeling under high food inflation for about 4 years now. Rationing of gas cylinders may be justified since the real poor do not use gas for cooking purposes and there is a rampant misuse by the high and mighty as revealed in a recent report (MP Naveen Jindal's home got 369 refills last year and many others).

Having penalized the citizen it is governments turn to set its house in order. What are its plans to reduce expenditure, will the M.P’s and Legislators’ voluntarily reduce their office perks,will the government stop giving free cars and fuel to its officers who often misuse the service for personal needs. When will it stop giving free money to Air India for its “revival” (Dream liner or not Air India will bleed money). Actually when will Government sell “Air India” to save future money. There are other corporations like “ITI” , “HFC” and other companies which government keeps investing at a loss. Finally when will it make from the natural resources it is giving away to M.P's and cronies and make money for itself and the communities.

The aspects of making money through sell off’s , higher tax collection and optimizing its spend should go hand in hand, government is focusing on the easier thing of robbing peter to pay itself.

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.