Singapore – all is not lost, just yet!

On the way back from Singapore after a three day trip attending Impact Investment Conference, currently transiting Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport and writing this piece in the 4+ hour layover. The conference per se was eventful in terms of meeting some really bright people operating in this space as well as some potential investors whom I hope to excite more on the Model Village Plan, but it is another aspect of the trip that am writing here on – there is something about Singapore that continues to unsettle me...

Singapore, we all know has a rich history behind it on how a laid back fishing village metamorphosed into a vibrant international hub of trade and travel – a success story that has been stupendous and continues to be so. However, the model of this success has been based on an extremely controlled environment and we all know controlled environment would require equally extreme amount of energy and effort to maintain status quo or order. I will take up the scientific aspect of this extreme order and it's issues some other time – here, I would talk about a simple and loveable thing we all do – a stroll in the greens, one that I took on the NUS (National University of Singapore) campus last evening...it was around 11pm when I decided to take it – this was in fact the first time in over a dozen visits to Singapore, I decided not to go downtown and do some shopping! Maybe, and thankfully so, I was growing wiser with the years being added to me!

Nevertheless, I was not to be surprised with what I saw during the walk – in the few kilometers I decided to devour on the campus, I was struck with the sterility of the environment – not so much by the usual things we know Singapore by, that is by the lack of litter and general cleanliness but more by things like the grass on the ground by the sidewalk grew a uniform inch and a half throughout the few kilometers I walked, as if it had been threatened and intimidated not to grow a fraction extra beyond inch and a half! Even more surprising was that the big trees that lined both sides of the road across the NUS campus seem to have decided not to shed a single leaf! Throughout the few thousand meters that I walked on the road that were lined by numerous large and beautiful trees, there was not a single dead leaf on the road, or on the sidewalk or on the grass by the sidewalk! As if the trees too were told to behave and not shed their clothing, eh ;), aka leaves in public and only shed them on a scheduled frequency that is when the cleaners turned up to broom the roads, sidewalks and the grass on the sides! Strange as it may seem, but Singapore seems to have taught its flora to live up to its image of order and cleanliness it exudes – I came back to my room bewildered as to how they are able to manage this mass scale intimidation! That alas will remain a mystery...

However, just when I had almost given up on the place, yet again, as one that was the among the few sterile places on earth, I saw a ray of hope when I was about to check out of the in campus residences – at around 4am this morning, whilst checking out from the Prince George's Park's residences in the NUS campus, I was shocked to see a stray dog running about merrily – albeit with a distinct streak of fear on its face and it's demeanor, with its tail firmly placed between it's legs – as if it was being prowled upon by the Order Brigade of Singapore for blasphemy. Whilst we both were shocked to see each other, that is the dog and me, I for one was also pleasantly reminded of what we are used to seeing back home in plenty, and was for a moment, just one precious though was feeling so at home – a truly priceless moment indeed – one that reminded me of a famous ad of the credit card company on things money can't buy! The stray canine and its vulnerable antics left me with some hope for Singapore! Hopefully, not all is lost, just yet!

Fog-Murphy Effect!

Fog as I knew had interesting effects on different things…whilst, so far I had known a handful of aspects of it namely that it slows down traffic on a chilly morning and can cause an occasional pile up of vehicles as well as disruptions to airline operations and of course the mysterious aspect of fog we see in Bollywood to depict romance, drama, suspense and horror!!

But then, there are some other aspects of fog that come into play in active collaboration with Murphy’s Law!! For the uninitiated, the Murphy’s Law states, “if anything can go wrong, then, it will go wrong”, and possibly “in the worst possible way” that is, if the circumstances are favorable for it!! And this is what fog delivers – the favorable circumstances for helping Murphy out!

Of all things that fog affects, I forgot that it also had tremendous impact on operations of Indian Railways – so much so that Indian Railways not only stop the trains but also start acting in slow motion.

Now, imagine after a hearty meal arguably at one of the best places a city can offer you look forward to a journey back home in an overnight train on a cold wintery night – the image that it conjures up is one that is of bliss as you would cuddle up on a train’s berth wrapped in a warm blanket with the gentle rocking motion of train journey and the contentment of a hearty meal setting you up for a good sleep! Then, reality dawns at dusk when fog comes climbing down from the heavens and gets into active collaboration with Murphy and conjures up a perfect nightmare, you least imagined! And, the train you were hoping to make your home for the night suddenly disappears in the fog and doesn’t arrive on time and then the fog starts taking its toll on judgment of staff manning the Indian Railways – they decide to announce to public that the delay is for about two hour only and then they do these announcements six times over through the night leading to an overall delay of nine hours!! With the delay announcements coming at regular intervals, your sweet dream of a night turns into a nightmare which is all but over by the end of all the announcements and a new dawn is dawning with the fog still holding fort strongly. With the visibility about three meters, you weigh your options and decide that since the train is not in sight and the dream of a night is lost, you can perhaps take a flight back home knowing well that fog has similar effects on flights as well but hope remains strong as you decide and take the plunge and book the flight forgetting well that Murphy is working overtime to keep you amused! After a sleepless and cold night in a railway waiting room, you decide to take a ride on an auto rickshaw to the airport again in the fog with visibility a tad better at about ten meters! After a numbing cold ride of half an hour or so you reach the airport hoping you quickly get the ticket that was booked and get into the warm environs of the airport, you are again in for surprise as Murphy has taken a fast train to the airport and set the plot for you much to your chagrin. The fog’s effect on railway has had a rub-off on the airport as well – your flight is in the afternoon (as that’s the only flight available to be booked online) and you reach the airline counter with the ticket on your mobile only to find that there is no one manning the counter – then, you go to other airline counters to find the status of their flights – interestingly, there are staff in all airline counters except at the counter of the airline where your ticket is booked!! And by this time, you want to hunt down Murphy before he does further damage!! You decide to take another flight, and of the three other airlines, two are choc-a-bloc and the third one has seats but is not sure whether it will fly and if at all it will, it will be delayed and be airborne only by the time your airline too perhaps will be airborne. So, you decide to wait till the time there is clarity on the new airline’s flight and when it gets clear that this new airline would perhaps fly on time and you decide to buy the ticket, you find out that its sold out!! Murphy, you *&@^##*^!!! Finally, you hang your boots and go back to your airline’s counters hoping to find that it is open now but that’s not to be and after waiting in the cold for good two hours you see some people behind the counter and you try and shout out at them and they indicate from behind two glass walls of the counter in sign language that they do not have the keys to open the counter!! Can you beat that???? Another 20 minutes pass by and someone quietly turns up with the keys and they open the counter and you quickly show the ticket on your mobile (which is by now on the last legs of its battery’s life!!) – they quickly switch on the systems only to realize their network is down and therefore can’t issue a ticket to you! Wow!!! Then, as a afterthought they decide to help you out and give you a handwritten airline ticket – so much for living in the age of technology, you get handed over a parchment with your name and flight number with airline stamp and that’s your new age ticket! You move quickly to the airport entrance only to be stopped again by the security chap who says that you cannot enter the airport as your flight is not on the display screen and you can only enter two hours prior to the flight, which was still two hours away! Woooow!!! You go back to the airline counter and ask for help and thankfully he comes up with a brilliant idea – buy an airport visitor’s pass and along with the ticket you can enter (as otherwise you cannot enter with the baggage) and you finally enter the airport. By now you feel you have landed on the Moon and are triumphantly about to announce to the world, “One small step for the guy who let you in the airport, but a giant leap for you!” What an achievement!! Kudos!!!

Finally, your miseries seem to be over as you head straight to the restaurant to find that there is some free Internet on WiFi on offer at this airport and you get hooked on to it right away, order some coffee (to stay awake!!) and get down with work and penning this piece…its been nearly 16 hours since I landed in Lucknow railway station last night to catch the train and 5 since I reached the airport – though the fog and Murphy have not given up yet (and my flight is still 2 hours away), a good day at the village yesterday (Thawar, 40kms from Lucknow) and the taste of Tunday Kebabs over dinner last night will keep me going I guess!

Supreme stupidity or is it a convoluted political game under play?

What’s common between the Congress, RJD, Amar Singh & BSP? Well, you may say they are some of the most corrupt political units that this country has ever seen – though this truly is one commonality, they now have the dubious distinction of teaming up to put together a weak Lokpal draft via the Parliamentary Standing Committee. This collaboration even between some bitter foes (such as the Congress and BSP) is understandable because of the former commonality they share aptly described in a well-known Hindi saying, “chor-chor mausere bhai” which loosely translates to “all thieves are brothers in arms”! Each of these outfits and/ or their heads/ members have been involved in multiple scams and are being investigated and would do better without a strong Lokpal in place.

These three political parties and one independent MP (Amar Singh, who was Congress’ Man Friday for getting it across the magic number in the no-confidence motion during UPA-1’s tenure) were the only supporters of Standing Committee’s weak Lokpal draft. In the Standing Committee, it seems, even a minority can push through their agenda as these people (Congress, RJD, Amar Singh & BSP) represented only 13 of the 30 members of the Standing Committee whereas majority of members gave dissent on one item or another, yet the Standing Committee adopted a watered down Lokpal! Interestingly, three Congress MPs too gave dissent on the Standing Committee’s version of Lokpal – specifically, on exclusion of Group C employees – Meenakshi Natarajan who is known to be close to Rahul Gandhi suddenly decided to put in the dissent in the last minute!

Clearly, the draft Lokpal adopted by the Standing Committee is a dud – of the three things Prime Minister assured in a letter to Anna back in August, only one has found its way into the Standing Committee’s Lokpal i.e. the Lokayuktas shall be adopted by states – the other two, namely, Citizen’s Charter as well as inclusion of Group C government employees are not part of the Lokpal. Clearly, Team Anna and rest of the nation have strong reasons to have felt cheated. And when Team Anna expressed this in public, the Standing Committee Chairman, Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “I am not surprised? If any changes including comma or full stop had been made to their Jan Lokpal Bill, they would have reacted in the same way." So, to Mr. Singhvi, non-inclusion of Citizen’s Charter as well as exclusion of Group C employees are “commas” or “full stop” that are of no consequence! Mr. Singhvi, this statement of yours shows your arrogance, a hallmark of Congress!

Also, what Anna said about that someone higher than the Prime Minister has had a hand in dilution of the Lokpal provisions and he has perhaps rightly pointed at Rahul Gandhi for it as Mr. Singhvi doesn’t have it in him to do it on his own and this is evident from the last minute volte-face to exclude Group C employees from the Lokpal ambit. You would now say, if Meenakshi Natarajan who is close to Rahul baba dissented on Standing Committee’s draft, then, how can Rahul baba be behind the dilution of the Lokpal draft. What we have here is perhaps a convoluted political game under play….read on!

There are two possibilities: (1) the government and more so Congress is supremely stupid in not learning from its past hooplas and is ready for full-fledged confrontation again or (2) the government/ Congress is playing a dangerous game to test waters to see if the people will back Team Anna this time around as well and if people rally around Team Anna again – based on this, they will calibrate their response which will be in “proportion” (as we have in many theorems in math and science) with the response Team Anna gets this time around from people. For instance, if the people rally hard around Team Anna, then, the government perhaps will agree to the key recommendations of Jan Lokpal and if people’s response to Team Anna is ok/ good, then the government will throw in a few concessions and if people’s response to Team Anna is lukewarm, then the government will pushback on Team Anna’s demand. The government and more so Congress knows that people’s response to Team Anna’s call shall in all likelihood be ok/ good or massive – in such a situation, to save government’s face the tactic that the Congress would adopt would be for Rahul baba to intervene and save the day by offering these “proportionate” concessions to Team Anna – this would help Congress launch Rahul baba to national political scene as the savior of Jan Lokpal in a run-up to some big elections coming up in 2012 as well as kill Team Anna’s accusations against Rahul and put Team Anna’s movement on the sidelines. Could this be the real reason for the last minute u-turn by the Standing Committee to exclude Group C employees from the ambit of Lokpal/ and note of dissent by Meenakshi Natarajan (Rahul’s close aide) so that it could be offered as concession by Rahul baba when push comes to shove with Team Anna??

So which one of the above two possibilities it is? The next few days will unfold this secret for us…

Regardless, one thing is very clear that this government and particularly Congress is playing games with the country – so, its time for Team Anna to take up the cause again which has started today at Jantar Mantar and this time it will be a all-out showdown as this comedy (or as flavor of the season goes, this Dirty Picture ;)) of a government has gone on for far too long…it is time for change!

A slap of democracy!

What’s all this brouhaha about the slap that was felt across the political class?
Is it manifestation of public anger?
Or is it a publicity stunt?

Whatever it may be, it certainly is oozing frustration from within the society we live in for if it were a publicity stunt, there were a 100 other ways to attract attention than to travel 30kms to slap a cabinet minister!

It’s a pity that this government is not only blind and deaf, it is dumb too to not have seen this coming and continues to be in denial and is forking out ridiculous reasons to why this happened ranging from BJP’s Yashwant Sinha’s warning of violence because of price rise to Anna’s anti-corruption movement….if Yashwant Sinha’s statements had this effect, then, BJP should have come to power in 2009 or we did not need an Anna to campaign against corruption and Sinha could have well replaced him!! On the other hand, if it were Anna’s movement that led to this, then, it is even more important for this government to wake up lest its too late and Anna takes up cudgels against the government again as Jan Lokpal is looking like a pipe dream right now and the government continues indulging in a smear campaign against team Anna! If Anna does start again, then, the movement can potentially take a shape that would perhaps look like an Egypt or Syria or Libya or Yemen!

Will the government take cognizance of the crisis that is looming or will it still wish it away as it has done so far? Going by its reaction so far, this does not seem to be the case and as usual the government still thinks it can fool all the people all the time!

On a lighter note, I read on the internet someone saying, now that a Sikh (Harvinder) has slapped a Maratha (Pawar), to bring about parity, it is only fitting that a Maratha now slaps a Sikh (Manmohan Singh)!! Hope it does not have to go as far as that but with the current dispensation at the center it may not be entirely unthinkable sentiment.

The fact remains that while most of us explicitly would want to publicly condemn what happened yesterday, but in some corner of our hearts we all rejoiced and thanked Mr. Singh (Harvinder not Manmohan!!) for his action.

A better outcome of this episode would be if Manmohan Singh uses the powers vested in him as the Prime Minister of this country to slap a few of his colleagues into toeing a line that is truly for the good of this country!

That slap would be the one that is far more resounding than this one and would be remembered by history as game changing one in India’s polity. Amen!

And, will the comedy go on?

What’s happening Mister Prime Minister? Looks like you want to go on with every blooper of your government without any remorse let alone taking any action that would demonstrate your resolve to root out corruption – it seems that your optimism stems from an old fact that we Indians have very short memory and therefore, you are so encouraged to look away each time a skeleton tumbles down from your cabinet!

The first noticeable skeleton that tumbled down from your cabinet was that of the 2G scam that implicated your cabinet minister of telecom whom you defended to begin with but then eventually gave up when defending any further would have meant hara-kiri for UPA2. If that wasn’t enough, you appointed a new cabinet minister for telecom who came out with a statement that there was no 2G scam and it was all a fertile imagination of the CAG! But then, your own CBI contradicted it stating there was indeed a 2G scam. The bloopers did not stop there and after a few more half-skeletons that fell off of your cabinet (Kalmadi, Adarsh et al), came Anna’s Jan lokpal movement and there too your cabinet continued to maintain the envious track record of bloopers galore and the result was that you and your cabinet were made to eat humble pie albeit after much damage had been done to you and your government’s credibility. And, we thought now you and your cabinet must’ve learnt the lesson! But alas, that was not to be and skeletons continue to tumble out of your cabinet and the recent public sparring between two of your cabinet ministers shows that your cabinet is not just creaking but is in tatters and will fall apart unless an overhaul is done rather quickly. This time around the matter is much more serious than ever before – these are two senior cabinet ministers at war – it is the PM Vs the PC this time – no, it is not you at war with your cabinet colleague, it is Pranab Mukherjee Vs Palaniappan Chidambaram! Actually, it is not really the fight between PM and PC that is of any consequence as was and is made out to by the media and then the photo op of kiss and make up that was staged for the public by PM and PC! What was and is of consequence is that PC told you Mister Prime Minister (when he was the finance minister in January 2008) to close the chapter of sale 2G licenses at dirt-cheap prices, which the previous telecom minister (Raja) had so brazenly conducted when PC could have easily overturned Raja's decision! And this is what PM’s ministry highlighted in a note to PM’s office – heck no, it was not your ministry writing a note to your office – it is Pranab Mukherjee’s ministry’s note to your office of March 2011! PM’s ministry had written a note to the PMO stating that had PC taken timely action, thousands of crores that were swindled could have been averted! These correspondences between PC and PM with the PM and PMO points towards either of the following:

1. You were resigned to the fact that thousands of crores may have been swindled, which is why you did not bat an eyelid when PC wrote the letter back in Jan 2008 to forget about the possible scam and you actually went with his judgment to forgive and forget the matter.

2. PC was incompetent as the Finance Minister in 2008 and could not prevent loss to the exchequer, which he was in the know (evident from his letter to you) when clearly he could have prevented it easily but chose for some stupid reason not do so.

3. PC was involved with Raja to push through the sale of 2G licenses at throwaway prices for some benefit to himself and therefore he casually but purposefully wrote to you asking to treat the matter as closed!

From the possibilities above, I would look at the second and third possibilities first – the second possibility looks very unlikely knowing well that PC is a very well read and competent person with Harvard degree under his belt and therefore his incompetence is very difficult to digest. Therefore, third option is the most likely reason and yet you and all of media decided to ignore this and focus on the matter as a fight between PM and PC, well deflecting the main issue! Kudos to you!! However, your luck may run out here as the matter is under Supreme Court’s consideration just as are all matters relating to governance in your tenure as PM – be it the 2G scam, the CVC appointment (rather the mis-appointment!), the black money issue et al that you and your government decided to not act upon, this time too looks like SC shall decide and set in motion the appropriate action (I am deliberately not using the word judgment here as off late the judiciary is increasingly doing what the executive should be doing!). Whilst, from options 2 and 3, it is evident that regardless of which between the two it was, PC is unfit of the position he is holding currently in your cabinet.

Now then coming to the first option in the end, this one looks like an obvious as you have always given the impression of helplessness to all things going wrong around you – first (during Raja’s action) it was the compulsion of coalition and now with PC, I wonder what you will call it if the SC decides to act against PC?

What will be the compulsion this time for not having acted in 2008 and then again in 2011, Mister Prime Minister? Or would you still come up with a new story and rest your hope again on India's propensity to forget?

And, will this comedy go on?

I think not – for your discomfort, change agents such as Anna are taking root that would not let you push your optimism too far. Anna’s movement has put you and your government on notice – please pass the Jan Lokpal or be ready to get Jan boot in the next election and the curtain raiser of this bitter pill will be evident to you hopefully in the by-elections taking place in Hisar in a few days.

This is one comedy we do not want to see any further!

A breakthrough or a façade...or am I high on cynical juices??

Looks like the government has been shamed to act…
So, do we have a breakthrough or is it a façade?
The meeting of team Anna and the government has two versions…
A version of government and one of team Anna!
Team Anna says that in the meeting, the government has agreed to most of the provisions of Jan Lokpal bill except: (1) inclusion of lower bureaucracy, (2) appointment of Lokayuktas in the states and (3) instituting citizen’s charter – in the meeting, team Anna has been given to believe that rest of the provisions of Jan Lokpal is acceptable to the government! Not that these three provisions are not important – they certainly are!
However, very interestingly the government’s version of the meeting with team Anna is curt as usual – the statement just said the meeting was good and government will make its stand clear by morning!
So, is it a breakthrough or is it another façade the government is building?
Or am I running high on cynical juices! ☺
The effect of times we are living in, I guess…

Hope in a moment of despair: Protest march from India Gate to Parliament, Aug 17, 2011

What a protest march it was that started from India Gate and went through the heart of the capital to Jantar Mantar and culminated at the Parliament...
India of all walks of life was there…
A sea of youth peppered with toddlers to octogenarians…
Friends holding hands, classmates from schools and colleges – all chanting slogans egging on each other
An old man, nearly in his nineties walking with a stick in one hand and the tricolor in the other – anger writ large on face but hope kindling in his heart…
A man with his son on his shoulder dressed up in tiny army fatigues…
A family of five including a father, mother, a toddler and the grandparents, holding a placard that summed up the mood, “the corrupt are roaming around freely or are sitting pretty in the Parliament and Anna is in jail!”
This is the irony of today’s India and the anger of public was palpable…
But the beauty of it all was that the anger never manifested in even a tiniest act of aggression let alone an act of violence through out the walk…in fact, the march exuded only peace and hope!
The police was amused into submission by slogans like, “ yeh andar ki baat hai, police hamare saath hai! ☺”
So proud to be part of this march and this movement…the hope will live on to see tomorrow.
A tomorrow that will bring a promise of change and a better India!
Jai Hind!