Category: Politics

Our PM, Mr. Manmohan Singh, recently turned eighty. Given his active role in the country over the last two decades, there is little doubt that he bears a lot of responsibility for India’s current state. His recent (rare) address to the nation, though very much in character, was a rather poorly delivered speech. I don’t mean to imply that we need fiery rhetoric, but how about some passion and conviction in the speech? Mr. Manmohan Singh comes across as a “boring” bureaucrat, when in reality what India badly needs today is truly inspirational leadership.

In a country where 65% of the population is below the age of 35, it’s quite ironic that the man in charge of steering our unwieldy country is more than twice the age of most people in the country. Meanwhile, the main opposition party is led by Mr. Advani who is well into his 80s, and still harboring prime ministerial ambitions. While it may be unfair to discriminate on the basis of age, in the case of Mr. Manmohan Singh, his job performance is a serious concern. In the case of Mr. Advani, he has been unable to rally the rest of his party behind him, and is struggling in a battle for supremacy with his fellow aspirants.

Given this state of our two major parties, one can’t help but wonder why in a country with so many young people, no capable youngsters devoid of family connections rise to the top of our political arena.

Click here to read the rest of the article in The Economic Times

The movement that captured the imagination of the nation has now officially broken into two factions. One led by Arvind Kejriwal firmly believes the there is no option to achieving Lokpal but to fight electoral battles. The other faction led by Anna himself wants to continue and remain an independent anti-corruption, civil society movement.

A political party backed by Anna would have posed a formidable challenge to many of the existing parties. But Anna clearly lacked the motivation or the wherewithal to take the plunge. So after months of dilly-dallying and flip-flopping, to the utter dismay of many youngsters, he decided that he does not want to be a part of any political outfit whatsoever. Clearly, he is uncomfortable with electoral politics, and when it came down to it, he chose to follow his heart which lies firmly in social activism.

There is no question that civil society pressure groups with no political leanings or affiliations are a critical asset to any vibrant democracy. But what sort of an un-affiliated pressure group can Anna claim to have with the likes of saffron-clad Baba Ramdev, Kiran Bedi who is eager to work with the “less corrupt” and General V.K. Singh who has plenty of personal scores to settle with the current government, on his new team?

Social activism is a commitment to one or more causes that can often span several years and sometimes an entire lifetime. In the world of social activism, unlike in electoral politics, there are no immediate wins and definitely no losses. There are scores of activists who have shown commitment to several causes but have never been able to achieve their goals.

Click here to read the rest of the article in The Economic Times

Another day, another scam. Vociferous denials from the ruling side. Obstructionist chest thumping from the Opposition. Parliament comes to a standstill. No debate. The ruling party discreetly plans for an adjournment while trotting out its litany of suave, smiling, smooth talkers on TV to feign innocence and accuse the opposition of preventing a debate.

The Coal-gate scam is a perfect example of how bad the state of our politics is today. What makes this scam unique is that it appears that the UPA, the BJP and several other parties are equally culpable when it comes to corruption. The BJP wants no discussion whatsoever. Their central demand is that the PM should take responsibility for this scam and resign. Clearly, the BJP is caught in a “pot calling the kettle black” predicament and any attempt to allow a discussion in Parliament is sure to leave them as exposed as the UPA. It would be prudent not to “paint all parties with a broad brush” but sadly there is little to choose from among these parties. The coal scam confirms that no party was in favor of an auction. Why bother with an auction when you can dole out the country’s resources to your friends in the business world?

What is the punishment for denying the people of this country an open debate on this scam? Who is going to investigate this case? How long will it be before justice is delivered? What use is an investigation by the CBI which is directly under the control of the government? When the ruling coalition and the country’s major political opposition are both involved in the country’s largest ever scam, what options are we left with? A special investigative team, perhaps? Don’t you long for the elusive Lokpal which was so deftly scuttled by all our political parties?

Click here to read the rest of the article in The Economic Times

“Anna must find and support good candidates in the next election.” This seems like a sentiment doing the rounds among many who supported the anti-corruption struggle and are now disillusioned or uncomfortable with the plans of the IAC movement to launch a new political party. While this goal of finding these elusive good candidates is idealistic, it is also very naive, unless it is executed in conjunction with the formation of a new party.

The reality today is that while the current political parties have their share of dubious characters who get elected, they also have among them individuals who fit the “good candidate” profile. But the problem is that every such candidate ultimately belongs to a political party (independents are a non-existent or rare breed) and is subject to the diktat of the party high command. Swami Vivekananda said, “Give me 100 men of steel will and I will change the world.” If these men of steel were our elected MPs, they would have been stifled and crushed by the weight of their party high command.

Our political system today has limited value for “individual goodness” because ultimately, it is the party high command that holds the cards. For instance, the so-called good candidate might promise the Lokpal bill but the party high command might not support it. In other words, there is only so much that good candidates can do for you because they control hardly anything when it comes to decisions of their party. Our PM, Mr. Manmohan Singh, is a perfect example of this malaise at the heart of our political system. Despite being viewed as personally being “good,” under his leadership, India has had the most corrupt government in its history!

Click here to read the rest of the article in The Economic Times

Every five years, when it’s time to elect the new President of the India, there is needless muscle flexing and show of strength that eventually fizzles out and amounts to nothing. This time seems to be no different. The UPA has settled on Pranab Mukherjee, while the opposition is still in the hunt for a candidate of its own. Thankfully, former President Abdul Kalam refused to take the bait and seems to have survived with his reputation intact. He knew better than to fall prey to a losing cause when he had already served a creditable stint as the President.

The President of India is largely a ceremonial post and nobody refutes that. Most people can barely name our past Presidents (barring probably APJ Abdul Kalam) because in the last few decades, none of them have really had a lasting impact on the country. Sadly, the post of President is generally considered a retirement appointment. Someone who is a safe bet, should it ever come to a crisis of any sort, is often the choice, Pratibha Patil, being a prime example. Plucked from virtual obscurity, she was rewarded with the Presidency for her blind loyalty to the Gandhi family. After several foreign tours with friends and family, she is now headed towards a safe and comfortable retirement. In short, her stint has been a complete waste of taxpayer resources with absolutely nothing to show for it except for a controversy surrounding her post-retirement home. Despite being the first woman President, she has far from proven to be an inspirational figure or a role model of any sort. The irony is that she is hardly to blame because her landing the post is a reflection of the state of our democracy and politics more than anything else.

Click here to read the rest of the article in The Economic Times

The Coal-gate saga, the “scam du jour,” is fast being lost like every other scam, as the media revels in motives, allegations and counter allegations. In the midst of this, the most revealing piece of news on the Coal-gate saga was the pronouncements made by Mr. P.C Parikh, former Coal Secretary, who was at the center of all the action when these decisions regarding the coal allocations were made.

“I had written to the PMO way back in 2004 that coal blocks should be given through an auction. But the policy has been implemented now in 2012 and till date, not even a single coal block has been allocated through auction. The government lost a lot of money by giving coal mines using the existing system.” Mr. Parikh said that the committee was always under tremendous pressure from MPs, state governments, ministries and other players to allot coal blocks. “Any system which is based on a subjective decision is open to pulls and pressures, and this is precisely what happened,” he remarked.

These statements reveal several serious flaws in our current system. Firstly, there is way too much left to the discretion of those in power. The bulk of our scams can be traced down to ministers using their discretion to make decisions that are often arbitrary. The reality of coalition politics is that the PM could feign helplessness if the likes of Raja chose to do as they please. It’s hard to argue that a tough, no-nonsense PM would make a huge difference as opposed to an affable, yet purportedly clean PM.

Click here to read the rest of the article in The Economic Times

Aamir Khan’s recent episode of Satyamev Jayate seems to have created quite a furore in the medical community. The India Medical Association (IMA) have accused Aamir of unfairly targeting them and have demanded an unconditional apology from him. They have threatened to boycott his program and also his films.

The controversy surrounding this program follows a very familiar pattern. For example, from the time the anti-corruption movement was started by Anna Hazare and his team, one common refrain was,  “You can’t paint all politicians with a broad brush and say that everyone is corrupt.” The fact is no one ever said that. The other common refrain was, “You can’t end corruption with one law — the Lokpal Bill” The fact is, once again, no one ever made such a claim. The need of the hour is that you have to start somewhere.

The same holds true for Aamir’s exposé on the medical profession. I saw the program and I thought that Aamir had done a wonderful job of putting the show together. There was absolutely nothing in the episode that said that all doctors are bad or corrupt. It highlighted the fact that there is growing corruption in the medical profession and something needs to be done to at least curb, if not put an end to, this malaise. In a developing country like India, the government needs to play its part in ensuring that its citizens, especially the poor, have adequate, affordable healthcare.

 Click here to read the rest of the article in The Economic Times

Mr. Jairam Ramesh had referred to himself as Shikhandi a year back, when faced with attacks for land acquisition for various projects. “I had become Shikhandi in Environment and Forest Ministry,” he had said. But his comment went relatively unnoticed. A year later, Shikhandi is back but this time in the center of a political storm of seemingly epic proportions. What is also back is the indefatigable Team Anna, this time armed with scores of documented evidence of corruption against fifteen ministers including the PM himself. While unleashing a barrage of allegations, Mr. Prashant Bhushan said that the PM was being used like “Shikhandi.” He meant that the Congress party was using the PM’s personal credibility and honesty as a “smoke screen” while indulging in seriously corrupt practices behind the scenes. Not surprisingly, there has plenty of chest-thumping, especially from the UPA, about the reference to “Shikhandi” to describe the PM. In fact, this entire episode has been replete with Bollywood-style melodrama. First, the allegation from the relentless Team Anna. Then, the counter allegations from the UPA combined with innuendos about cracks in Team Anna. And finally, the punchline from the PM himself (“I will give up my public life if allegations are proved against me….). What is missing now are signs of a filmy happy ending!

Firstly, we need to thank Mr. Bhushan for putting Shikhandi on the map and giving us a quick refresher on one of our great epics (Justice Katju should have something to cheer about?). I asked at least five highly educated people about Shikhandi and all of them confessed ignorance. A couple of those who hail from the south with limited knowledge of Hindi did a quick mental pattern match for similar sounding terms and wondered if it was some kind of “Shikanji!” (lime juice). So much for the pervasive power of our mythological metaphors.

Click here to read the rest of the article in The Economic Times