Life can Smile - Even in Scarcity

It was yet another rainy evening in Mumbai. As my bus stopped (or may be moved too slow) as the rush hour traffic snarled through a particular locality, I saw some hutments made on one side of the road. They were perhaps nomads who had settled there for some months. I glanced through their men, women and children who were carrying on various activities of their household. Suddenly something caught my attention. Or someone…

He was an old man, perhaps in his later 60s but looked like in his 80s; near skeleton, but had long hair with beard flowing over his clothes which were grey – all proving nothing but an abject poverty. Why did he catch my attention? Oh, there he was… He was raising both his hands up to his shoulders and smiling! Not only smiling, but he was like blessing someone! I looked in his line of sight – and I found two younger strong and obese men walking on the road. They were returning him smiles in a gesture. So the old man, who was a portrait of paucity, still had the heart to bless someone richer than himself raising both his hands like Lord Brahma and with such a broad smile! In second thoughts, I found it must be something with the way India is – here people are respected just because of their age!

Just ten meters away from him, I caught another breath stopping sight. There was a kid of about five, lying on his aaram kursi. It was an old style chair, with a reclining seat made up of cloth, which were more popular in the past as resting chairs. This chair was a small one, specifically made for children. As the boy rested on it, he was bending towards one side and watching something on the ground, may be some insects or birds. He seemed to be lost in his world, and I imagined him singing a song. Such a desolate condition of his wandering family, and yet they had cared to keep this kid entertained. On his aaram kursi the boy must be feeling like a prince! Or a baby Krishna for sure…

I also remember another scene from a traffic signal. Some street-children were playing in between doing their beggars job. At one place I saw three kids of around 5-10 years, perhaps they were siblings. One boy and one girl were decorating another girl. They had made her wear bangles in her arms, had kept a piece of clothes over her head like an anchal, had pleated her hair to look nice and balanced, and then there was something which touched my heart… The boy had found a piece of ornament (of course artificial) which is used by Indian women to put over their mang (parting of the hair). It seemed that they were playing dulhan-dulhan and the siblings were trying to decorate their youngest sister as a bride! I wondered if these kids have really dreamt of nice wedding for their sister as it happens in the homes on both sides of the roads! Still, their happiness to see their little sister look like a bride, though in whatever condition clothes and ornaments happened to be, was wonderful beyond comparisons…

When I think about it, I smile at myself. For some time I had wondered if the scenes that I witnessed told me how even the poorest of the poor in India carry part of the same culture and share similar values with the rest. I don’t think it was only this much. I think the scenes proved in front of my eyes – that Life can Smile – even in Scarcity.

(Kumar Rahul)

Whose Population Control needed?

I read a news item just now which made me search for similar reports from different newspapers. It’s about our Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad addressing the World Population Day function in New Delhi. As part of his speech, he provided two solutions for population control in India. First one was in a lighter vein, “If there is electricity in every village, people will watch TV till late night and then fall asleep. They won’t get a chance to produce children. When there is no electricity, there is nothing else to do but produce babies.” And secondly he also seriously suggested that we should promote late-marriage where boys and girls marry over the age of 30. Then he commented that Naxal problem in India was because of over-population. I wonder what would happen if we pass some of his unlearned personal opinion as government's official stand.

The Indian Express has come up with an article which is mind-blowing [Link]. It is not only brutal yet constructive in its criticism, but also is highly learned and informative. If they write newspaper articles like these, bloggers will become unemployed :)

Here it goes:

Azad’s ‘TV pill’ gives city health experts heartburn
Express News Service; First Published: 13 Jul 2009 10:45:38 AM

HYDERABAD: Even as Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad explained that his ‘family planning’ comments were in lighter vein, his Population Day speech is being seen as insensitive by many. The Minister’s remarks were the talk of the day with several regional channels dissecting his speech in discussion programmes.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, while addressing a gathering on World Population Day, advocated TV as a ‘birth control pill’. Azad said that if every village had electricity, people would watch TV till late in the night and fall asleep. “They wouldn’t get a chance to produce babies,” he said.

His statement that the Naxal problem was also due to population explosion has been criticised by many. “The fight in the future and at present is between the haves and have-nots. The Naxalite movement is a result of this,” Azad said on Saturday.

As part of his speech, the Union Health Minister also advised that couples in the country should delay their marriage till the age of 30-31 so that population growth is curbed. Health experts beg to differ.

“At a time when rural India is suffering due to lack of power and basic infrastructure, it is gross insensitivity and lack of awareness on the part of the Minister to advise them to watch television in order to check population growth. This one statement mirrors the elitist attitude of the Minister,” said G Ramakrishna, who works in a Legal Process Outsourcing firm.

Azad’s dismissal of the Naxal movement as the product of an overpopulated nation has foxed many. “The Naxal movement in some States is a burning issue, which sprang out of social and economic inequities.

Azad did not make any sense when he referred to the population issue as the root cause for the differences between sections of the society,” said a Knowledge Manager in the Centre for Good Governance.

He also opined that it is politically incorrect to promise electrification to villages for the sake of watching TV, as a population control measure.

“Instead of disseminating population control awareness messages to rural areas of the country, it is unfortunate that Minister advises rural people to watch TV.

Statements like these reveal the lack of commitment of the Health Ministry to implement family planning and population control programmes in the country,” said Sarath Kumar Baral, who has worked on family welfare awareness programmes in a UNDP-funded programme.

Azad’s statement advocating late marriages for population control were not spared either. Health experts felt that delay in marriages was bad for women. Child-bearing after the age 30 would prove to be dangerous during the gestation period. “We need to strive against child marriages, there are no second thoughts about that. But delay in marriages is not advisable as stated by the Health Minister. Late marriages would result in lot of complications during pregnancy, which could sometimes be fatal,” informed Dr C V Ravi Kumar. He felt said that statements of this sort would send wrong signals to the younger generation and result in serious consequences.

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It is clear that the standard of our Union Ministers has come down drastically, while our journos are getting better. Or may be the population of unlearned politicians is increasing. I think we need some ‘selective population control’ now :) It should work in democracy.

The 100 CC Strategy – flip-flop or tactical?

Many a time I have wondered why business leaders say any particular thing in the interviews. Why do they reveal much of their business strategies? Haven’t we read the MNCs talking about their ‘India plans’ in the newsprint, or Mahindras announcing their strategy for commercial vehicles? Is it that they really think revealing their strategies would help them in some ways?

After a while I put on a little skepticism – may be they want to fool their competitors by misguiding them about their strategies; may be they just want to give a push to the falling share-prices; may be they want moral boost up for their partners or see it as an advertising strategy; or may be simply the Big Boss needs a little ego-high some times. A lot can happen – business is a bad world after all.

In 2007, Bajaj had decided to exit 100 cc segment of motorbikes. [Link]. At that time their CT 100 had done well and then Bajaj Platina was not doing bad either. But they had reasons for taking this decision. The profit margin in 100 cc segment is very low and their main competitor Hero Honda takes almost the whole cake (55% of segment in 2006). So Bajaj decided to remain only in the higher capacity segments – 125 cc and above - where their margins were higher and they had good brands like Discover and Pulsar.

But now, Bajaj has done a flip-flop and has announced to reenter the 100 cc segment [Link]. The company is launching 100 cc Discover (with DTS-Si engine) by the end of this month and it will counter 100 cc Splendor and Passion from Hero Honda.

So what happened to much hyped Bajaj strategy to focus on premium and higher end bikes only and exit the entry level 100 cc segment? Is it because the recession has eaten into the buying powers of customers who now prefer lower cost bikes? Or was the company really not able to read the markets and went on a wrong strategy which it has corrected now?

I agree with Rajiv Bajaj that the company has not ‘changed’ its strategy really. May be it kept the ‘original’ strategy hidden and sent a wrong note of comfort to Hero Honda by telling that it would exist the 100 cc segment and hence Hero Honda should take it ease and become complacent. In the meanwhile they kept working on the higher-end Discover platform to come up with its variant of a 100 cc bike! Seems like a really good strategy!

I think it is also about brands. Bajaj’s Discover and Pulsar have been fairly successful bikes and have good brand names. A CT-100 from Bajaj had become to be seen as a bike for rural areas, while customers in even the semi-urban areas preferred the Hero Honda bikes for their trusted brand names and reliability. When Discover established and became to be seen as a reliable brand, it was in the interest of and convenient for Bajaj to extend the Discover brand even in 100 cc segment. I don’t think this move will erode the Discover brand.

This 100 cc Discover with DTS-Si engine will have a mileage of 80 kmph and is being promoted as ‘long distance bike’. This bike will be in the ‘premium entry-level’ segment and would fill the gap between entry-level 100 cc Platina and 135 cc Discover. The positioning and targeting of the bike seems to be alright.

Overall, I congratulate Bajaj for this tactical move. I don’t see this case of prior decision of exit and then the reentry as a strategic flip-flop. But some challenges would remain to see through that the strategy delivers results. Rest all is in the hands of customers.

(Rahul)

A Guide to Bihar Vs Bengal – History and Politics

It is said history some times gets repeated. The mystery is: which part of history will get repeated and when.

Railway Budget 2009-2010

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee presented Railway Budget 2009-10 for India on 3rd of July. While the budget has many good schemes which can be termed pro-people and non-profiteering, it also made a specific pointer in being pro-Bengal and anti-Bihar.

Extraordinary Gifts to West Bengal

Nineteen (19) new Express Trains are started in West Bengal, while some new railway tracks, a new railway Coach Factory, a Mega Power Plant, extension of Kolkata Metro, these are all provisions made particularly for West Bengal. It doesn’t end here – several of the state’s railway stations are to be improved, a special super fast Parcel Express train will run from Howrah to Delhi, a Railway run sports complex is to come up, and Railway will revive one sick-for-decades railway factory. This much has never been done for any single state of India. Earlier, the minister had shifted the ministry of Indian Railways from New Delhi to Kolkata, so that she could manage the upcoming state assembly elections well.

Punishing Bihar for Lalu

Our railway minister has also specifically made sure that Bihar loses out because it was the state from which previous Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav hailed from. So Patna has been ‘dropped’ from the list of 50 railway stations which are to be converted into world-class stations. One Diesel locomotive plant at Marhaura and one electric locomotive factory at Madhepura which were to come up as planned by the previous minister have been put on hold. If we find out what all are for Bihar in this union budget, we would get only 4 new trains to the state, an increase in frequency of three existing trains, and gauge conversions of two rail sections. To make her intentions clear, the minister announced a fact-finding analysis of last 5 year’s of performance of Indian Railways, casting doubts if Railway’s turnaround from a vehicle of loss to the most profit making ministry was really so.

UPA needs Mamata and hence her fancies are policies now

Reading the lists of new projects announced for the state of West Bengal makes us wonder if this was the railway budget of India or the state of West Bengal! 19 new express trains, one mega power plant, one new coach factory, revival of one sick factory, and the list goes on. The sole purpose behind all these ‘gifts’ to Bengal were appeasing state-based voters for the upcoming assembly elections where her party TMC will fight elections against the Left parties. The central government led by Congress gave her free hand because the party depends on her for the assembly elections. Also, Congress and Nehru dynasty would get a kind of sadistic pleasure out of punishing Lalu and people from his states, because he had accused Congress of being responsible for communal riots during last general elections.

Railway ministry has always been used for building vote banks

As such, Bengal was never starved for Railways. Abdul Gani Khan Chaudhary (from Congress) was another railway minister from WB in 80s who played the same regional card, and he brought so many project to the state and to his constituency Malda that he should be called a benchmark and a trend setter in ‘using’ Railways for creating vote-banks and making regional vote-heavens.

Afterwards, almost all railway ministers used the department to make them popular. When Madhav Rao Scindia became the railway minister, he announced two new trains connecting his own election constituency of Gwalior to Bombay and Calcutta. CK Jaffer Sharief brought a large wheel-and-axle factory to his Bangalore. When Suresh Kalmadi became railway minister, he started four new trains two/from Pune. Then Ramvilas Paswan set up a air-brake wagon workshop in Barauni. Nitish Kumar as Rail minister got three bridges made over Ganga in Bihar. And when Lalu Yadav was railway minister for 5 years, 52 new trains were started in Bihar.

Even then, all these largesse look small in comparison to what Mamata Banerjee has done in one year for her home-state this time. We could even then forgive her for all this, but can she be pardoned for what she has undone for Bihar?

Bihar after partition of Jharkhand

In independent India, Bihar was one of the states which had abundant natural resources and minerals, but had one of the poorest people. North of Bihar, which was the same one which supported Ganga civilisation, had one of the most fertile lands in India, while South of Bihar had plethora of mines and minerals under its surface. There were lots of industries particularly concentrated in the Southern part, like Bokaro, Jamshedpur, Sindri, Dhanbad, and Ranchi. But when Jharkhand was created, Bihar lost all its mineral deposits and almost all of its manufacturing industries. All that remained was agriculture.

While agriculture could still support the uneducated and unskilled workforces for the bare minimum living standards, there were hardly any opportunities left for the well and highly educated. Also, there were no opportunities in the state for the skilled workforces which could work in factories.

Bihar needs manufacturing jobs

It is said that one job created in manufacturing sector produces many others in the services sector. The job creation potential of manufacturing sector is what has given China this much progress. Could Bihar still do something? There was a silver lining. While it was very difficult to persuade private companies to set up shops in the state because when it came to financial profitability, there were many more attractive options for them, the public sector companies and government controlled enterprises could still do something. This is what the previous railway ministers were trying to do. And this is what still needs to be done.

When government comes to decide where to invest money, political clout works more than anything else. Are not almost all politicians from Maharastra big industrialists? Maharastra, the most successful states of India, along with Gujarat, is not only rich, but there are reasons for its richness, starting for the political clout its regional leaders enjoy in centre. Bihar, on the other hand was always neglected in post-independence period too. (Symbolically it produced first President of India who had no real political powers, while the state of UP which produced the first PM remained on the centre stage for beyond its fate and still gets Sonia/Rahul Gandhis’ special attention.

In Bihar, post-independence period of neglect resulted in coming up of some of the worst criminal and corrupt politicians we had ever seen in India. But after a period, people gave power in the hands of an honest government under the leadership of engineer Nitish Kumar.

Why railway is more than railway in Bihar

Each new manufacturing project coming up in the state of Bihar would be like God’s gift to the state. It is the only way to prevent heavy outward movement of Biharites from the state to industrial cities all across India. It will not only provide jobs to the poor who will now have option to become skilled and earn more, but also to the thousands of engineers and technicians from the state who pass out every year from universities all across India. Since private companies won’t be interested in investing in the state, the only way left is for the government to do so.

Since Biharites are settled in large numbers in all parts of India for livelihood, they some times face ire of regional-chauvinist violence. Every time there is such regional violence, like that happened in Maharastra or which keeps happening in Assam, our intellectuals and media ask why not Biharites be provided jobs in their own state? Even though their arguments can be seen as one with regional-lobbyist intentions, there is no doubt that we have to stop talking and start working. It is in the interest of our nation that we spread the India growth story to Bihar also, which remains one among the poorest. Still, when one ministry like railways start one project like locomotive plant, there are other regional leaders who oppose it.

History of Decline of Bihar and Rise of Bengal

Bihar has an unmatched rich historical and cultural standing. Remember Magadh empire, birth of Buddhism and Jainism, the Gupta dynasty, the Mauryan empire, the Patliputra, the world famous Nalanda and Vikramshila universities, or the Great Ashoka from Bihar who has been the greatest ruler in the history of India.

The decline of Bihar started when Muslim invasion under Muhammad Bin Bakhtiyar Khilji destroyed Magadh kingdom, burnt down Nalanda and Vikramshila universities, and massacred thousands of Buddhist monks in 12th century. Again Bihar rose under the rule of Sher Shah Suri – one of the brilliant Muslim rulers, and maintained under Mughal emperor Akbar. And then, Bengal’s rise was Bihar’s loss…

With the decline of Mughal rulers, Bihar passed under the rule of Nawabs of Bengal. This medieval period under Nawabs of Bengal brought anonymity for Bihar. Though this was the period when Bihar produced the last Sikh Guru – Guru Gobind Singh – one of the greatest sons of India.

After the battle of Buxar in 1764, British East India Company obtained diwani rights over Bihar along with Bengal and Orissa. From here after, Bihar remained a part of the Bengal Presidency of the British Raj. This period of anonymity remained till 1912 when Bihar was made a separate province by the British. Bengal on the other hand gained because Calcutta was the Capital of British Raj (until 1911).

While the capital of Bihar is the same Patna which was earlier the Pataliputra – the capital of the great Magadha Empire, and has unmatched bright past, the capital of Bengal Calcutta or Kolkata, rose mainly because the British Raj made it its capital! In the past, all lands that are named as Bengal were part of the Magadh empire. A very bright part in the history of Bengal was during the Pal Empire, the capital of which was again Pataliputra.

While Kalidasa the greatest poet ever, lived during the Gupta Empire (Kalidasa meaning servant of Goddess Kali, which the Bengalis worship like no other in this world), the Gupta empire had its capital in Pataliputra or Patna. On the other hand, Bengal produced, of course in much recent past, Rabindra Nath Tagore whose English-inspired surname tells all the success that he achieved, though we know he was a great poet. I can go on. The history of decline of Bihar and rise of Bengal also tells us what all that is wrong in India. We lost our soul to make muscles. Centres of pride of our heritage are in humiliating conditions while those created by the British are being appeased.

This history makes us wonder how Bengal has been eclipsing Bihar in the recent past. The need of this chapter from history was needed because if politicians like Mamata Banerjee have slightest chauvinist feelings, they need to be shown how hollow is their pride.

Bengal’s problems are indigenous – politics and work culture

To think that all problems of West Bengal will be solved if two manufacturing projects can be shifted from Bihar to Bengal is naïve. West Bengal sits over plethora of defunct industries which became sick due to the communist sponsored trade union politics and red tapism. The state has championed in inculcating a work culture in factories which itself is a sure shot to disaster. And to top it, the entire state comes to halt every time a bandh is organised to protest something and everything. The problems of Bengal are unique. And solutions have to come indigenously.

West Bengal has many options for taking its poor out of poverty-line. From petrochemical industries to mines to sea ports – the advantages towards creation of a developed Industrial state are many. It is not heavily dependent on government’s support to promote industries; in fact govt interventions are what have harmed the industry. Bihar, on the other hand has very limited options for creating a manufacturing base – and railway is one among the few.

Politics should be kept out of Union Budget and Prime Minster is responsible

The decision of our Railway Minister to put the two railway projects in Bihar on hold is not only partial and political in nature, but also is plain regionalism. It is sad to see that each union ministry works in isolation and according to the fancies of the individual minister, while our super-economist Prime Minister sits in comfort. There already have been demands by state of Bihar for the status of a special state, so that development works can be done with priority. A healthy and developed Bihar is very much needed for a prosperous India – but neither our PM nor our central government is looking any serious about creating a way towards a brighter Bihar.

Can we expect the central government not to do any more harm to the state if it can’t do something positive?

One India – One Nation – Say no to Regionalism

Cicero said this in ancient Rome, 42 BC: “

A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not traitor, he speaks in the accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their garments, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared."

(Rahul)