Privatize profit, nationalize loss

What's more shocking than intriguing in the state of government intervention for proposing to consortium of banks to increase the credit limit (read bail out) for Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines is that the same government which fails to protect the national interest of many PSUs now treads dangerously on rather an unprecedented move to create a bad precedent in the history of economic liberalization of India. Is this a proactive move or a glimpse of dirty nexus between government and corporate that has produced crony capitalism in India? Why the minister of Civil Aviation including the prime minister himself are on a hot foot to show their magnanimity for a corporate entity that has shamelessly failed to understand the business of aviation and has eventually turned into a loss making venture? The irony here is that when the national carrier Air India is bleeding so badly and the same government is apparently clueless about the turnaround strategy, what's the rationality behind this bail out plan for a private company?

Perhaps, there might be some hidden agenda behind this irrational move of government, but the larger question here is what prompts the ministers to be so idiosyncratically shameless to sing the chorus of crony capitalism in a time when the corporate entities are forgetting their fundamental responsibilities of managing a business with due diligence? In a free market, the corporates have huge freedom, irrespective of challenging government policies whatsoever untoward or nonsupporting, to run a business with dexterity and reason; however, the Kingfisher Airlines has severely failed to showcase the fundamentals of operational excellence. And the sad part is that the prime minister has expressed the concerns over faulty government policies that have affected the civil aviation industry at large. So, what the technocrat prime minister was doing till now? Was he in a slumber mode? Or had he lost his wisdom to advise the corresponding departmental ministers at least once in last seven years to take a serious cognizance of the issue?

Although this is not a so called pure bail out plan for Kingfisher Airlines, even the government's unreasonable concern for a private venture is an unwelcome move. Any corporate has its own board to advise the executives to manage the organization within the PEST (political, economic, social, and technological) ecosystem, and if the board has failed to recognize the glaring issues and lost its wit to understand the bigger picture, it's better that corporate entity should die early rather screaming for public help. In either case, the story of that corporate would be a disastrous business case which no one would like to give a sneak preview, forget about mulling over.

The usual suspect

As Anna goes lock, stock, and barrel by initiating a no-voting campaign against Congress party for Hisar by-election, the inherent intentions of Team Anna become conspicuous to public. In that it unfolds their hidden political agenda, irrespective of how loudly they deny the political aspirations in the near future. Maybe, Team Anna is testing its popularity and impact at ground zero, which would certainly prop up their confidence before launching a full-steam assault against Congress in the UP state elections.

What's more interesting here that just six months before when Team Anna launched their campaign against corruption and pressurized UPA-2 to bend to their demands and participate in the drafting committee of Lokpal, very few had any idea that an apolitical hunger strike at Jantar Mantar for bringing a frivolous Jan Lokpal draft on to the table of Parliament would snowball into a political star war.

The political angle of the strike was even more imaginable during the second phase at the Ramlila ground when various political leaders from non-Congress brigade supported Anna's campaign against corruption. The high drama ended, rather stage managed, through a purely political solution, which abruptly threw impression that a projectile pushed to a course correction at the midway of trajectory. And now that the bill is at the mercy of Standing Committee which would certainly apply its collective mind to whether the pointers raised by Team Anna appeal to the representatives.

Well before the Standing Committee take any decision on the bill in the winter session of Parliament, Team Anna in advance has started deploying pressure tactics at Hisar to vote out Congress. Now the point of confrontation here is that Anna is not apolitical, rather he has proved more ways than one that he has strong political backing to launch such campaign against Congress. This partisan attitude of Team Anna could be disastrous for their long term agenda, be it political or social.

What Team Anna could have done rather approach the public at Hisar to vote out the corrupt candidate, not the Congress candidate. As a crusader of corruption, Anna has missed the fundamentals of Gandhian values at least in the event of Hisar by-elections. Whatever be the outcome of this campaign, Anna has certainly diluted his image.

Capital Seized

Within four months of a sophisticated reconnaissance of a dry run of terror attack apparently in the same place in May 25, the terrorists finally carried out the dastardly blast near the reception entry of Delhi High Court on September 7 at 10:14 AM, reminding us a fact that the sovereignty of India can be attacked by anybody from inside or outside, and our leaders will behave in the same callous way by refraining from their accountability to the citizens of the country. How many terror strikes would be enough to really move these politicians and bureaucrats to wake up from their eternal slumber? How many times our PM and HM will read out the same rehearsed speech in the aftermath of blast to fulfill their formal protocol? How many times our HM will display his false intellectual arrogance by saying that handling terrorism with iron fist is a “complex” process? How many times the innocent citizens will pay their lives for the mistakes of our leaders who in all probability forget their responsibilities once they get elected for five years? How long the bureaucracy will bully the entire nation in the name of red tape? No one has a proper answer though to these real problems.

We all are seriously infected with a prolonged pernicious disease called “status quo”. The time is not far off from today when India will fall into hands of some destructive forces and still we will love our “chalta hai” attitude as if nothing has happened and flaunt our paradoxical great Indian resilience, an obsessive compulsive disorder that we think it's our preserved human value system.

It's the high time for citizens to wake up and demand their fundamental rights of living without fear and prejudice. Until there is no public upsurge against terrorism, our leaders will behave in the same shameless manner as they are doing now because the loss innocent citizens bear can never be felt by them. Every time a terrorist attack takes place in Delhi, the politicians, bureaucrats, law and enforcement agencies spring into a blame-game mode. The news channel keep the issue live and hot for few days and then they get back to their routine. And the real sufferers, the innocent citizens, are pushed into their own fate.

We can't tolerate this anymore. The incompetent political leaders who think can rule us for ever by devising dirty plans must understand that the Frankensteins they are devising through vote bank politics will backfire them someday. We must understand the fact that any act of terror is an attack on the sovereignty of our country and any amount of tolerance to terrorism however small should not be encouraged by any political outfit. And most importantly the security of our nation should not be bugged down by our frivolous foreign policy which has no rationality when the sovereignty our nation is at stake. Beyond the ambit of reactive measures that our forces are used to, the law and enforcement departments should act autonomously to take serious preventive anti-terrorism measures. We must act tough now.

Victory of People's Power

When Anna Hazare publicly declared his fast unto death starting August 16 on his conditions of incorporating Jan Lokpal Bill prerogatives into Lokpal Bill, many cynics including the government, political class, and self-proclaimed intellectuals thought this movement will fizzle out soon in a week or so, without considering the degree of public anguish and desperation that was still abounding in the collective public memory due to constant expose of big-ticket scams in media in last couple of years. Even the think-tank in Manmohan Singh cabinet did underestimate the consequence of apprehensive arrest of Anna and put him in Tihar Jail where the most corrupt politicians were lodged in, before he started his fast at JP Park, and this faux pas of government fueled the public anger to such a critical level that whatever tactical measures government ventured to engage in, pathetically turned out to be an absolute flip-flop. And in all those 13 days of fast, Anna's message was reverberating in every city of India and beyond the border. Millions of people came out to street to show their solidarity with Anna's anti-corruption movement and those who couldn't avail themselves physically on the street fired up their messages on social media to keep the Anna trend bolstered. The largest democracy of the world was experiencing its most testing time.

All political parties were engaged in a deja vu of tug-of-war to fish in troubled water. However, the public support was restored unconditionally in Anna's courage of conviction. Perhaps, that's the potential game-changer in this anti-corruption movement which pushed this government and other political parties to rush in to an unprecedented special session in the Parliament to arrive at a reasonable resolution on three exclusive points raised by Anna. Though there might be technical loopholes in the resolution process which would prop up government's argument in the Standing Committee for playing tricks in future, but the larger fact is that however crafty the government maybe in persuading other political parties to go askance vis-a-vis Anna's measures, they can't ignore the public anger anymore.

The precedent has been set. The transition of parliamentary democracy to a participatory democracy has taken wings. There may be many obstacles the future governments would face while passing a bill that would affect the public because India is a well-diversified society and hence incorporating the views from various civil society groups could accentuate to a greater degree of confusion.

The Anna Phenomena

Some sections of society may call it “mass hysteria”, some may call it “blackmail of government” as well, but the essence of the movement against corruption led by Anna Hazare clearly lies in the fact that when the political masters of this country fail to establish themselves as the true champions of the common causes of citizens, whether it's good governance or justice for common man, then a huge vacuum is pushed into the political silos where someone like Anna tries to fill in, not because that Anna is the only messiah of desperate citizens who are fed up with issues like corruption, but because the hidden aspirations of common man somehow strike the right chord that Anna fairly understands even without having a grandstanding political acumen. And that's the USP of Anna as a champion of causes.

There is no denying the fact that Anna's movement against corruption is people's movement which should have been driven by politicians; however, after 65 years of Independence, this political class irrespective of shades has miserably failed to connect with people's expectations from them. Eventually the hiatus between people's aspirations and political commitment has gone increasing over the years and at this juncture the fault lines have even significantly become susceptible to deficit of trust between them. In effect the people of this country have found someone objective to their imagination of a hero promising a Utopian world, which might be possible in letter without spirit, but the public mood at this point of time is even more porous to capture the rhythm that Anna has composed – a corruption-free India.

Well, the transformation of Anna as the idol of youth power or the champion of anti-corruption movement is somewhat a choreographed version of electronic media that in all probability for a better TRP and in the name of breaking news have reduced to ghetto-blasters of pre-Independent era when message was more important than the messenger. And that message is Anna's passion for cleansing a system that has deliberately marred the aspirations of citizens. When the carcinogenic systemic corruption has affected every section of society, neither any government nor any political party has substantially attempted to address the real issues in a democracy, rather they have drifted away from the ownership and accountability that the citizens of this country often imagined a prerogative of those in the corridors of power.

Now that after 65 years of Independence, the people of this country are experiencing a deja vu of events that were a phenomenon of colonial era when the voices of people were suppressed by the highhandedness of British rulers. And the irony here is that being in the largest democracy of world, the fundamental rights of people are snapped when the whims and fancies of the government undermine the very essence of democracy. The rise and rise of Anna in the public imagination is a consequence of grave mistakes committed by the politicians of this country. Anna is no more just a popular mass leader of this country, he is a phenomenon derived by the collective conscience of a nation that's seriously experiencing a trust deficit in political leadership.

London Riots: Beyond the Logic of Racial Discrimination

Violence as the worst form of human attribute is the last resort of socially and economically suppressed people across the world. In the history of social evolution, whenever there has been a severe violence while protesting for civil rights, the intensity of violence only unearths the fact that how an otherwise neglected society was simmering under the exploitation of powerful and mighty for ages together and now that they have a legitimate chance to vent their anger, the situation has turned ugliest. No one questions those ruling class as why a particular section of society has been neglected for long and why their concerns have never been heard. In the most rhetoric form, it can be compared with the a high-magnitude earthquake that many would think an improptu reflex of earth structure, but the reality is that many decades of push and pull that controls the tectonic plate movements is only a reflection of extreme restraint that was building up a gigantic devastation below the surface. And the recent London riots only subscribe to this principle in socio-economic tectonic reactions which are often invisible on the surface but they are quite active underneath.

London is burning. Buildings and plazas are set ablaze; shops and stores are looted; rioters are engaged in running skirmishes with police; and the prime minister of UK, David Cameron, is on his most disturbing political phase of life. Everything is happening in sequence as it's scripted by the most creative black force of nature. The violence is spreading from city to city. London is seized. The worst fear is that whether it would jeopardize the security of Olympic Games scheduled for the next year.

Now that the riots have been transformed from a racial stand point to economic concerns, the Britons are in an absolute fix to understand the genesis – whether the riots are truly emotive explosion of a particular race against which police acted partisan or there is something deep inside the entire socio-economic structure that UK has adopted for centuries is finally hitting them back hard.

In the recent history of London, this is the most extensive, gruesome riot that has surpassed the boundary of racial logic and has expanded to other cities. As many television channels and newspapers paint this incident as the outcome of racial discrimination, the truth seems otherwise.

What's more intriguing is that rioters are not limited to a specific race or social group. While PM Cameron is squarely blaming on the parentage of rioters, he completely forgot the logic that how a neglected section of society for ages together was facing the brunt of bad governance and once given a chance the suppressed anger took an uncontrollable trajectory where the privileged section had to pay for the faux pas of political decisions.

Every society has its own narratives. Undermining their ethos and concerns is a dangerous proposition that the British government is facing today. A deprived society when exploited for years together, the consequence becomes dangerously devastating. And to suffice this argument sample this: According to one EU study, 17 per cent of Britain’s youth are classified as NEETs (Not in Employment, Education or Trainings), and there are over 600,000 people under 25 in Britain who have never had experienced a day of work. Can the other nations learn from the mistakes of Britain?

Stage Set for the D-Day

When India is experiencing inscrutable pain of endemic corruption in public life, the government's motive to reject a strong Lokpal Bill draft, as suggested by the civil society led by Anna Hazare, and hence table the sarkari version of the draft in the Parliament only vociferously corroborates to the fact that the UPA-II led government is sorely hoodwinking the public in the pretext of assuring a better anti-corruption draft, which, in actuality, is a bundle of safeguards for the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. The government's version of the draft precisely excludes PMO from the purview of Lokpal by suggesting a fundamentally flawed argument that if Lokpal indicts a PM in power, the functioning of the council of ministers under the leadership of PM could be an utter disastrous for the governance, which is arguably a deliberate attempt to protect the epicenter of corruption.

In last 64 years, we have noticed that how two prime ministers of the Congress party were being entangled into high level corruption and the citizens of India just turned mute spectators of political drama that entirely telescoped the people's mandate. There is nothing indispensable in this world. If certain political parties still assume that the governance at the Centre could take a toll post impeachment of PM, then there is certainly a vested party interest in restricting PM's inclusion in the Lokpal.

Similarly, excluding MP's activities in the Parliament from the ambit of Lokpal is a clear indication of providing immunity to the conduits of corruption in public office. It's no new phenomenon in Indian Parliament that horse trading and cash for question are a legitimate practice for many MPs. However, we still live in fool's paradise by providing immunity to MPs' actions in the Parliament.

Another point of conflict here is that when maximum corruption occurs at the lower rung bureaucracy, only including top bureaucrats, which is a 0.5% of the entire government officials, in the Lokpal is only an attempt to dilute the powers of a strong Lokpal. If we analyse the effectiveness of premier central socio-economic policies such as Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and NREGA at the state level, it would be quite oxymoron to exclude the lower bureaucracy from the purview of Lokpal.

And most ironically, government's proposal to provide legal assistance to the accused for hearing even before the official chargesheet is filed by the Lokpal is a gross contradiction of a sound anti-corruption bill. This will only create enormous problems for the whistle-blowers.

If after so much public outcry against corruption, the government still takes every measure to protect corrupt people in the system, it's better not to have a toothless Lokpal. And that certainly provides enough reason for Anna and his team to burn the Lokpal draft as a reflection of their annoyance against government's decision. The government should not read this public sentiment as a contempt of Parliament. Well, Anna's call for a country-wide protest against corruption starting from August 16 will certainly force this government to think twice before passing this bill and equally interesting is how the Opposition and other political parties are engaging themselves in the Parliament to hard bargain the points proposed by the civil society. The stage is all set for a high-decibel political drama. Let's wait and watch.

Politics of Price Rise

Constant price rise has seriously affected the common man in India. Every year people bear the brunt of a two-digit inflation and the government shamelessly claims that they have taken every measure to curb it. While the prime minister of our country is a noted economist, the failure of the government to check the inflation only reminds us that politics always overshadows the wisdom of intellectuals. It hardly matters how powerful intellectuals take over the top job, the compulsion of politics is more important than the welfare of a nation.

So if the debate on price rise in Parliament on Wednesday was unassumingly hot, there is nothing unprecedented in it. The Opposition always looks for an opportunity to stall the parliamentary procedures, and price rise is certainly the right topic to choose from hundred others. But the problem here is that not a single political party in this country has the right think-tank to understand the problems of people. Politics has always been the facade of bad governance, and especially in India, politics is even nastier than that. So blaming a single political party will not yield any result. The problem lies somewhere which people never know.

For instance, when there is a hike in oil prices, which may be a genuine requirement because of price rise in crude oil, the Opposition makes furor over the issue by mixing other stretched imaginations that food price will affect the poor since transportation cost will sharply go up. All false arguments and distortion of facts and nothing more than that. In reality, when the oil price rises just 5-10%, the food prices rises 50-100%. So where is the logic? Isn't this a pretext to betray people by spreading wrong message?

We understand that hike in oil price has impact on transportation cost, but that's not rational to claim that x% rise in oil price will trigger a 5x% rise in food prices. These are certainly emotive issues since they impact the life of poor people in this country; however, rise in food prices has many other parameters as well which are invisible to people. For example, illegal hoarding of food grains and vegetables is a matter of apathetic bureaucratic issue, but every year this happens so infallibly that the the nexus of traders and bureaucrats almost takes the entire advantage of price rise.

So the point here that the recent uproar in Parliament on price rise is absolutely a non-issue. Rather the government should dig deeper into the unholy nexus between businessmen or traders and bureaucrats so that a sure-shot solution can be availed to the people of this country. For that we certainly need a strong Lokpal Bill as an anti-corruption solution. The government must internalize the fact that so long as the steel frame of this country is not bridled into a strong checks-and-balances act, the price rise Frankenstein will engulf the entire system.

Delhi's Date with Slutwalk

If we look at the history of heinous crimes against women especially in Delhi, one slutwalk falls miserable low an agitation against the constant assaults against women over centuries. Some people argue whether a slutwalk can change the perverse mindset of men against women, but the logic remains so long as there is no movement against any social evil, society at large takes it for granted a birth right to tread the wrong side of the law, and hence to shake up the status quo a protest like this is essentially desired. Well, yesterday's slutwalk around the Jantar Mantar area of New Delhi if vociferously reflected something was nothing other than a bold attitude of participants towards those nincompoops of our society who fundamentally think violence against women is an indication of their chauvinism.

Over a period of time Delhi has been the most unsafe place for women. When a woman is born the fight for her survival begins simultaneously. Our feudalistic mindset has become another anathema for her tribulations. Whenever she establishes her legitimate presence our male chauvinistic society always takes it as an offense. As a pluralistic society we have failed to understand the fact that the growing violence against women is an obnoxious index of our alarmingly rising insensitivity. The more we tolerate the crimes against the women, the further we destroy the balance of social fabric. Is there any resurrection from this impending danger?

Of late the same society has sensed the urgency of a change in attitude towards the women folk. Perhaps, that's quite evident from the recent slutwalk in which the men also came forward to participate in the campaign. Now that's undoubtedly a plausible change in the male chauvinism that otherwise was centred around “I, me, and myself”. Every one is equal irrespective of gender. The message has certainly percolated down the society that the time has come now for a complete overhaul in our narrow mindset.

We must take cognizance of the fact that any advanced civil society doesn't carry room for any amount of social discrepancy. In the name of frivolous tradition and culture we can't sacrifice the tenets fundamental civil rights that are essential for our progress in a liberalized world. We must shun our conservative mindset to embrace the reality of 21st century. And I wish many such slutwalk campaigns would bring in a visible change in our attitude towards civil rights of women. Long live slutwalk!

A Weak Lokpal Bill, Finally!

India's romance with systemic corruption is well documented and widely known amongst global communities. According to Transparency International's report, truckers in India alone pay annually US$5 billion in bribes, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. India ranks 87th position amongst 178 countries as per the Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. India tops the list for black money in the entire world with almost US$1456 billion in Swiss banks in the form of black money, and our politicians still believe that a strong Lokpal Bill is detrimental to the functioning of a Parliamentary democracy. Perhaps, on that sophisticated merit, the Cabinet deliberately selected the government's version of Lokpal Bill draft (to be tabled in the Parliament) in which both PM's office and judiciary will be beyond its purview. And the fun part is when the PM himself along with his four cabinet ministers – A K Anthony, Ambika Soni, Kapil Sibal, and Jairam Ramesh – argued in favour of inclusion of PM, the majority thinks otherwise.

What it precisely indicates that our cabinet has only five honest ministers including the PM who think that any rule however draconian has hardly any adverse impact on people those are thoroughly law-abiding. And that perception is justifiably true. If we look at these ministers only one thing that pops up in our mind that they are the reflection of propriety and integrity during a period of huge trust deficit. Not all people can shape themselves to a level of honesty as these five ministers have done in their public life. Well, the larger point here is what's the next course of action for the Lokpal Bill draft? Will that Bill be approved by a majority? The singular answer to that is “yes” because the majority of parliamentarians irrespective of party politics undoubtedly believe in corruption in public places and that's the reason why after 64 years of independence India is still struggling to pass out an anti-corruption bill.

Since Anna's team is not at all happy about the government's stand on Lokpal Bill draft, it's quite rational for Anna and his team along with thousands of citizens to come down to street on August 16 once again to show their solidarity against corruption. But the moot question is whether this government will listen to the coherent voice of citizens against corruption? I doubt this agitation will bring any change in the perception of government's stand again. What has been done is irreversible and can't repaired given the fact that the majority in the government desires a softer bill, not a draconian one what Anna's team perceives. If Anna goes on hunger strike on August 16, it will be another media circus. And this will lead to chaos and eventually the government will deploy its brutal force to disperse the crowd who in all probability would like to carry out peaceful protest against corruption. We must learn to live by the reality, not by the ideals.

The cost of invading privacy

In his entire life period Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul of the world, couldn't have imagined that someday he would be grilled by a bunch of politicians, who he otherwise thought objects of buying and selling, for his empire's journalistic excesses that once he thought were the critical strengths of his media business in drawing more readers and audiences. July 19 was however an altogether different day in his life, a day that exposed his dirty tricks, unethical journalistic practices, and monopolistic business objectives. Amongst serious public scrutiny for scandals running thick around NOTW's telephone hacking practices, an internal committee of British Parliament came heavily on Murdoch's close coterie and to the surprise of world viewers the event was telecast for over three hours. At the beginning of this unprecedented media bashing, a member of an NGO could able to throw a plate of foam cake on Murdoch, which many doubt was a fabulous stage-managed orchestration by Murdoch to garner huge public sympathy at least from those viewers who still believe in scoops, sex scandals, and salacious news.

Though Murdoch started with a humble pitch by calling the day as “the most humble day of his life” he was quite sure as what he wanted to prescribe to the world audience at large. The subtext was quite understandable – irrespective of scandals embroiling News Corp Murdoch is still the emperor of world media and he will continue with that humility although many such NOTW incidents may happen in future and all those without his knowledge as he suggests to the parliamentary committee. Every time he would prefer to slap the charges on his front soldiers and explain to the world that he is ignorant of those facts, as he suggested this time that he was completely unaware of the phone hacking scandals and some senior officials kept him in blank, the fact which he knew thoroughly that nothing in News Cork does happen without his knowledge or approval.

However, the grilling experience took a dramatic mode when Murdoch dragged British PM into the soup by exposing the fact that he was told to enter through the back door. This was too serious a charge against Cameron for which he had to face internal committee for hobnobbing with scandal-hit Murdoch and his media honchos. Moreover, Cameron's decision to appoint Andy Coulson, an ex-editor of NOTW, as communication chief despite Opposition's strong disapproval dragged Cameron into serious public scrutiny. And it seems the days ahead for Cameron could be tougher.

Back to the testimony of Rebekah Brooks, the close aide of Ruper Murdoch, she presumably was quite confident about the state of affairs at NOTW during her editorship while most of these scandals erupted. She chose to admit to the mistakes committed by NOTW journalists because there was no more leg room for her to play further tricks, as Scotland Yard had enough evidences for phone hacking and bribing some section of police. Nonetheless, she tried her best to jump the charges of bribing to police by simply putting the gun on somebody else's shoulder because she knew that the gravity of charges of this kind could be more disastrous for New Corp.

Well, what if the editors at NOTW hadn't believed in such yellow journalism? Certainly, NOTW could have been a more powerful newspaper and News Corp could have acquired the BSkyB deal easily without any political opposition, and Murdoch a more powerful man than what's he today. It seems Murdoch was far from the big picture of future and this NOTW episode is a reminder of his glaring blunder in comparing media business with fast-food chain. Truth has a different meaning and probably Murdoch has learned it.

The world of untruths

We are living in a dangerous world, partly because the “manufactured uncertainty” by the high and might people of our society constantly threatens the very existence of a balanced social fabric; furthermore, if someone aspires to bring the truth to the fore, either the person is forced to keep silence or in extreme situation, if the sinister design of the power monger doesn't allow the expose, the person in all probability kisses the dust, and this conspiracy of power tussle what we experience in our daily life is the handiwork of those people who have mastered the jugglery of deception. A deception that's often painted as social reality wherein the truth that we see, hear, or speak is a concoction of grand design exclusively portrayed by the barons of power.

The surreal scenarios in our society seem more intriguing that the most astounding fictional plots. If we look at the events happening around us, only one conclusive though pops up in our mind – whether there is any amount of truth in the final verdict. Perhaps, we are not sure about that. That has been the tug-of-war among the rulers and the subjects across the world since civilization took its wing.

From politics to business to media, every center of power house has its own design to rule this world. In that lies the undecipherable mystery code that constantly endeavors to clone the diabolic program to marginalize the larger truth. On surface what it always seems a visually appealing frame capturing the most feel-good moments of human excellence, which turns out to be the most sought-after human desire for majority of the world population, is undoubtedly a spurious portrait of half-truth, the rest being a calculative transformation of lies. For a moment we forget the fact that all that shines isn't gold, it's gilding of base metals. Perhaps, this aspect of human perception becomes a perpetual key for the tyrants of society to embark upon a sinister design as how to rule the subjects in an incessant manner.

Let's have a look at the terrains of global terrorism. Leaders of all hues and shades condemn it in the toughest possible way forgetting the fact that the state of terrorism today is a handiwork of some yesteryear's leaders who during post cold war era impregnated the theory of “calculative political destabilization” in enemy countries by introducing some dreaded rouge elements of society, in that they gave birth to a dangerous Frankenstein that has been haunting this world every now and then. Over the period the hobnobbing of power circle with these rouge elements became an underlying syndrome that hardly the public could able to gauge, but at every turning point these innocent people became the victims of somebody's mistake.

Without any apprehension, the series of events starting from 1993 Mumbai blasts to 9/11 (WTC terror strike) to 26/11 (Mumbai terror strike) to the most recent 13/7 terror strike in Mumbai narrates the dangerous cocktail of ruling class and rouge elements whether they are terrorists, maoists, or small-time criminal. A spurious cocktail in which either the so called villains as portrayed by the rulers of our society or the tortured subjects who take on arms to establish their age-old angst against the ruling class has eventually intoxicated the entire society. So what's the real truth behind this dangerous game? Does anybody attempt to delve deeper into the complex aspects of this problem? The truth is we don't want this world to be free of problems because what these power mongers would do then in future. We all are living in a world of serious denial, an inherent human attribute that proposes more dangers than safe and security.

Oh yes, when we struggling here to find out the exact meaning of the truth, the global media baron Murdoch who once proclaimed bringing truth to the public domain is the ultimate gimmick of media is now facing the music for his ultimate truth seeking shenanigans that he deployed to unearth anything and everything at the cost of ethics. For him truth has an altogether different definition that understands the logic of business expansion by not exposing the truth, but by twisting the truth to such a proportion that can attract more readers and audiences to his media products.

Back home, the scandal-tainted government is pushing hard to subvert the truth by restricting public access to information in the pretext that right to information for certain domains of governance could jeopardize the security of nation. In that move lies the vested interest of political class that always desires to be above law irrespective of all wrong reasons. The noose tightens against the truth.

How much is too much?

Has India learnt anything from the frequent terror strikes in Mumbai? A question that everyone raises to the political leaders of this country. Every time when a terrorist attack occurs, the political leaders try to assuage people by assuring them a safe and secured future and propose a variety of advance security measures that never gets implemented. And the so called resilient and high-spirited people forget everything as if nothing has happened and get back to work day after, in that those people not only display their inherent compulsions but also to a large degree of indifference to the events around them.

Especially, Mumbai's tryst with terror attacks is not nascent, close to two decades these people have been suffering from the scourge of terror, and the financial hub of the nation always bears the brunt of political opportunism in this country. After each terror strike when some political parties show extreme fascism by boycotting the pluralistic nature of our society and declare a head-on war against terror, the other political parties pretend to be savior of democratic principles and go soft apparently on an extremely complex subject. In that tug of political war only the innocent people suffer.

Immediately after 26/11, the Union Home ministry suggested to act upon a series of crucial security measures including creation of a national counter-terrorism center and decentralized quick reaction teams, but literally after two-and-half years, the proposal is still shuttling between political whims and fancies of centre and state, and for sure no one knows how long this drama will continue. It seems there is no political urgency for internal security of this country. How many assaults India will bear before these political leaders wake up from the slumber? Why are they so insensitive to those people for whom they are enjoying the luxury of life? The public anger is fermenting vigorously and that will never subside until and unless these politicians act coherently to ensure a safer tomorrow.

Troubles Mounting on Murdoch

In my earlier post Next is what, Mr Murdoch? I attempted to logically reach at a point from where one can quite easily predict the future of Rupert Murdoch's media business especially in the UK. And today it's not much uncomfortable to conclude that the spiraling troubles for Murdoch are yet not over. With stringent opposition from the Opposition Labor party in the British parliament, Murdoch's bid to take over the direct-to-home broadcasting company BSkyB seems to be futile and a difficult business proposition. The mounting political pressure, growing public anger, and continued legal battle against News International's involvement in phone hacking scandals have taken a serious toll not only on the Murdoch's future plan to acquire monopoly on the DTH broadcasting business, but also they have visible affected the existing print media business of NewsCorp in the UK.

As the facts are emerging, News International's other two leading newspapers the Times of London and The Sun are facing a hostile environment in the aftermath of News of the World's shutdown. Even the media baron Murdoch himself is not sure about the future of News International, given the legal cases against NOTW. What seems to be quite predictable that Murdoch's big-ticket broadcasting business expansion in the UK along with the existing print media would brace up for inking another sensational headline “Thank You & Goodbye For Ever” for British readers.

Well, News Corp might look for potential buyers to sell out their media empire in the UK and they can also execute that with extreme business sense, but what's the learning for world's number one media baron Murdoch? When will he internalize the fact that though sensational, salacious headlines are the easier baits to multiply readership, the methods deployed to bring them on to front page only decide whether those headlines carry a timeless stamp? Media is a tricky business and Murdoch has of late started introspecting this.

Terror Strikes Back Maximum City

Once again the barbarous terrorists in their usual demonic style have attacked Mumbai through serial blasts at three places proving the fact that Indian intelligence agencies are nowhere close to intercept their brutish design in destabilizing the nation. Why Mumbai has been the soft target of bloody terrorists time and again? Count this: 1993, 2003, 2006, 2008, and 2011, and probably no one knows how many dates will add up to this malignant list in future? When will the government wake up from the slumber to understand the gravity of situation? Why does India pusillanimously tolerate these terror attacks and put the nation into demented shame? When will the political leaders of this country feel the profound pain of innocent citizens? Or these repugnant acts of terrorists will agonize the citizens for go?

Every time a terrorist attack takes place in Mumbai, the politicians, law and enforcement agencies, and media spring into action and start displaying their momentary heroic act to serve the victims and eventually the anger of people subsides, and some duplicitous opinion makers thrash out their false intellectual formulations, citing “Mumbaikers are truly resilient and they can get back to track soon forgetting everything as a virtual nightmare”. And Mumbaikers unmistakeably behave that way repeatedly on all these trying periods to live in a false sense of humility by bearing the brunt. Perhaps, that's the reason as to why Mumbai has been a regular soft target of terror strikes in last two decades.

These terrorist attacks must not be trivialized by the rhetoric of media. We can't undermine the priceless life of any citizen. Every act of terror is an attack on the sovereignty of the nation and should be strictly condemned. We must understand the fact that a terror strike is an indication of our serious security failure. We must act tough now, no lip service.

Cabinet reshuffle or coalition compulsion

The much-awaited, big-ticket cabinet reshuffle that the prime minister once created disproportionate hype in media circle has finally ended in a jocular political musical chair trivia, nothing exciting or forward looking given a poll-bound government three years down the line. What our prime minister was initially claiming that the rejig could weed out the non-performers and tainted ministers has eventually sent a message that political and coalition compulsions outweigh the merits of reshuffling and probity in governance.

In the same vein, he once again painted him a subdued follower of a political leadership who neither has vision nor tact in managing the most complex political coalition with iron fists. Every time when political crisis lambasts governance, we hear a well-rehearsed cliché – coalition dharma. But the moot question here is how long this coalition dharma would mar the future of an emerging democracy? No one has a legitimate answer to this. The problem here is that either this government has a serious fear psychosis against the present scenario or there is something serious flaw in the political leadership in this country, both ways the Congress party is a loser.

Well, if cabinet reshuffling is a prerogative of the prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh has given a blatant disservice to the nation in terms of subjugating to the political compulsions. As the prime minister, he could have endorsed to inducting a couple of brilliant technocrats like Montek Singh Aluwalia to his cabinet through lateral entry or he could have infused some capable young leaders by entrusting them with certain major responsibilities. On both fronts, he failed to achieve that. When inflation, corruption, decelerated FDI, and subsided industrial growth have plagued the macro economy of this country, as a renowned economist he has deliberately overlooked at them and simply accommodated changes a layman can perceive in the current political turmoil.

On the contrary if we believe that the cabinet reshuffle is a give-and-take gesture between the prime minister and the chairperson of UPA II, then the latter has completely failed to understand the complex political war that would quite predictably bring disastrous to the future prime minister of the Congress party, Mr Rahul Gandhi, on many counts. Primarily Ms Sonia Gandhi has failed to understand is the pulse of the nation. If at all she has played a role in advising the prime minister to marginalize his wisdom, then she has restored some inheritance of loss for her son Rahul.

For a poll-bound government, the primary political compulsions do not comprise appeasing the present coalition elements, rather it's the high time to restore the faith of common man in overall governance. Beyond stringent political compulsions there are plenty of ordinary issues those have extraordinary impact of the next elections. Nonetheless, both Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi have failed to perceive the truth and showed their naivety again.

Next is what, Mr Murdoch?

After the logical demise of the News of the World (NOTW), the scandals of phone-hacking that once tapped the private conversations of the most powerful figures of Britain, including the royal families and former prime minister Gordon Brown, have again erupted fresh tremors in the political circle of Britain. Regardless of Rupert Murdoch's fire-fighting damage control exercise, the British press has started attacking the modus operandi of NOTW journalists that how these shoddy reporters could able to hack into phones of all and sundry without the knowledge of law and enforcement agencies. Although the last editorial of the tabloid that candidly expressed the concerns of public: "Phones were hacked, and for that this newspaper is truly sorry... There is no justification for this appalling wrong-doing. No justification for the pain caused to victims, nor for the deep stain it has left on a great history," the ghost of reporters' wrong-doings is haunting Murdoch's media empire.

What's more damaging to the current turbulent situation that Scotland Yards, the premier intelligence agency of UK, has come out with fresh allegations that some unidentified people were deliberately trying to sabotage its huge investigation process by plotting distracting reports in the press. Now the big question of the moment is whether Murdoch could be able to manage the crisis and instill confidence in the British government to realize his biggest ever dream – taking full control of British Sky Broadcasting from a 39% stake? Even British prime minister David Cameron, a pro-Murdoch, has openly demanded the resignation of Rebekah Brooks, the CEO of News International. If this happens, it could be a huge blow to Murdoch's ego. As the Sunday Telegraph reports, Rebekah, who is a protegee of Murdoch, could know about the illegal hacking and bribing to police since she was the editor of the tabloid from 2000 to 2003, it could be a difficult proposition for Murdoch to have the cake and eat it too.

As British media have vociferously started exposing NOTW's scams, the Opposition Leader Ed Miliband has demanded that the government's decision on the News Corporation's proposal to take full control of BSkyB to be referred to the Competition Commission. This will seriously affect Murdoch's BSkyB expansion plan.

Death of a tabloid

The ending was unusual, unsavory, and unpredictable, in that the largest selling tabloid of the world - The News of the World - sent a precise message to the world of news that sleazy, sensational, and sadistic news may draw millions of eyeballs, but when it comes to the scrutiny, the ethics can overpower the truth. For that all truths that are seemingly exaggerated by media are not alone truth, they are cocktails of motives, vested interests, and business strategy. If Rupert Murdoch's sensational tabloid The News of the World (NOTW), even after 168 years in print, can face an infamous death, then the rest of the media fraternity can imagine how dangerous it could be to trespass into the privacy of people, whether they are celebrities, criminals, or sex-workers. Not all scoops, exposes, and populist news can spindle money and power for long, these news categories have a shelf life, often defined by the tolerance index of a state and, especially in a democracy, a common man can even bring down the entire empire of a news business, if he or she thoroughly understands the power of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of the nation.

NOTW was altogether a different tabloid that chiefly anchored on yellow journalism for faster growth and public acceptance. Soon it became a purveyor of titillation, sex scandals, and criminal news, which quickly attracted the attention of neo-literates because for them it was the cheapest tabloid that could satiate their perverted mentality being living in otherwise an extremely conservative society. And NOTW had gotten its success formula and it replicated it vigorously and mindlessly. What NOTW practiced it its news gathering operation was never obliged to journalistic ethics. Whether it's about exposing the sexual escapade of politicians or sports persons, or drug addiction of royal scion, the ethics always took a back seat.

Perhaps, this tabloid was harping so much on scoops that the methods deployed in bringing truth to the front was a costly proposition that even the shrewdest media baron like Rupert Murdoch could fail to understand in his commitment to exposing the truth. The closure of this tabloid was as dramatic as ever in the aftermath of a phone hacking scandal. A private investigator deployed by NOTW allegedly hacked into the phone of murdered British teenager Milly Dowler, which probably interfered with the police investigation and caused huge distress to the girl's parents and this event took an enormous toll on the revenue generation of the paper. Subsequently the scandal even deepened when the tabloid allegedly hacked into the phones of families of soldiers killed in action. The piling revenue loss, public rejection, and court cases forced Murdoch to finally put a full stop along the scandalous journey of the oldest tabloid on July 10, 2011 making the last headline on the front page - "Thank You and Goodbye."

The disgraceful doping

The nexus is deeper, dirtier, and dangerous. From sports authorities to coaches to athletes to chemists, the vicious circle of doping has driven them crazy. If few seconds of glory, as sports authorities imagine, can transform a struggling, unknown athlete to a super hero in front of the world audience, what's the heck in achieving that limelight, be that sparklingly temporary in the public memory, the dispensers of athletes' destiny never shy away from confronting the the limits of human endeavour through whatever means. The charm of steroids has caught them all like a Viagra-fortified penis that drives a porn artist to an earth-shattering orgasm, which visually seems so delectable, but in reality it's all that debilitated manhood, hung phlegmatically from the abdomen in a state of disgrace.

Perhaps, that's the reason why Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic games, who sternly denounced "the intrusion of politics into sports, the increasingly venal attitude towards championship, the excessive worshipping of sport, which leads to a belief in the wrong values, chauvinism, brutality, overworking, overtraining, and doping." In that what he predicted in 1923, the recent infamous doping scandal in India and around the world has eventually corroborated to his wisdom.

Why do people in general and athletes in particular love to tread the path of short-cut to glory? Why don't they understand that a forged winning is anyway more disgraceful than losing? How long, if possible at all, they can sustain their false glory by resorting to such disdainful practice like doping? Probably, the athletes are swept away by the illusion that winning a couple of awards even by fraudulent means can make them eternal heroes in society, but that idea of being the best player in any sports event can't justify the fact that “excellence is the prerogative of a flawed notion”.

A steroid can't sustain the performance of an athlete for long. A new athlete will born one day who with the mandate of practice and determination can prove that the steroids are as temporary as the existence of a bubble, and in that split second of formation and burst, the life of a forged winner will be vanished into thin air. A society, a federation, or a nation can't survive on the false notion of fragile glory, which in the next moment strips off the victory by the revelation of truth.

One should understand that sports are not confined to the realm of athletic excellence and the winning of trophies and medals, rather they are integral part of human journey towards social excellence. And in every human excellence there is no place for unethical practices that mar the greatness of sporting spirit. Whether one wins or not the spirit of a sportsperson should not be riddled with the evils of human greed. And certainly a dangerous proposition like doping is but the manifestation of a sick mentality, not the valour of a true sportsperson.

MSM Imbroglio

What's most pathetic and shocking that the health minister of our nation doesn't have an iota of knowledge about the glaring difference between a disease and a deliberate human choice, and in that reflects his century-old ignorance, which he, with all his constitutional capability, is trying to disseminate to public rather in a ludicrous manner. And before he could able to understand the scale of damage he has already created to his ministry and himself as well, the LGBT community, media, and public in general rebuffed to his intellectual bankruptcy.

Now the big question is what prompted Mr Azad to display his latent ignorance to the public at large? Why did he stated so categorically about “men having sex with men” is a practice of developed country and this is a “disease” and “unnatural” act which has finally found its place in India? What it indicates that Mr Azad is absolutely clueless about “homosexuality” and its social dynamics. He has rather lifted off the lid from his “Pandora's box” of infinite insanity.

And more interesting fact is that after this faux pas he again committed another outrageous blunder on a backtrack diplomacy, by stating that he was not supposedly talking about “MSM” as a disease, rather it was intended for “HIV”. What a crap? He doesn't even know HIV is not a disease, it's a virus. Why then with such bundle of ignorance in his mind he is still holding the post of health minister? This is the sordid state of political leadership in our country. Anybody can be a political leader and a minister as well irrespective of his or her education, knowledge, intelligence, and other necessary leadership skills, so long as he or she has mass followers because that's the only mandatory requirement in a democracy.

When the apex court of our country has already abrogated Section 377 two years back to decriminalize homosexuality, the health minister still lives in his cocoon of feudal mindset. Mr Azad certainly needs to unlearn his mental darkness and must take some lessons on sex education before going back to his job, else his portfolio is undoubtedly going to be shifted to some most desirable candidate in the next cabinet reshuffle.

A nation of stupefying contrast

When forty per cent of the world's severely malnourished children under five are living in India, the treasure trove of Sree Padmanbha Swamy temple in God's own country Kerala refuses to bow down, as the counting goes on, the cumulative wealth reaches well above Rs. 100000 crore, a figure that can put shame to statistics to many national socio-economic schemes combined together. If this wealth is directed towards our national Food Security Act and NREGA schemes, it will almost meet the target. It can even serve the Centre's education budget for over two-and-half years

Shocking. Shamefully shocking. What's even more appalling that no leader in this country has courage to take a stand on the moral high ground that at least a part, if not all, of this huge wealth can be utilized for socio-economic development of underprivileged people. Forget about taking a stand, all political parties, irrespective of ideologies, don't have an iota of courage to come out with a single suggestion as how this filthily accumulated wealth over centuries can be of immense national importance, if streamlined in a constructive manner.

Sree Padmanbha Swamy temple is not the only centre of godly riches. Tirupati comes second with a staggering wealth of Rs. 42000 crore. And this scene goes with many other famous temples in India. The gods and god-men in this country live a royal life like their mundane representatives, the political masters, who in all probability love to accumulate wealth in their lifetime for generations together. And the gullible citizens just vexatiously listen to these facts and forget its significance in the next moment. Perhaps, that's the reason why Indians are still suffering socially and economically even after 64 years of independence.

When will these people awake and fight for their rights? Is there any resurrection for them? Or will they still lead the life of a subject as they experienced during Raj? When so much wealth is being accumulated in various temples and lying unused, why not then the Government of India comes out with a rational measure to utilize the wealth for nation building? What does stop all these people in high places to become change agents in this 21st century? Do they still have the fear for unknown or fear from losing the mandate? How long this political diplomacy and faith-based politics will play havoc to the lives of billions of people?

This is the high time to move beyond the ambit of mass faith. We must internalize the fact that such massive unused wealth in famous temples can be invested in various exciting financial schemes and the profits can be used for sustainable development. In that both gods and their people will leverage the benefits. Shall we think beyond the tradition? Or shall we wait for another intervention from the Supreme Court to act right?

Rath Yatra: The Festival of Universal Brotherhood

Every year in Puri, Orissa, millions of people come from different parts of India and abroad to witness the grandest religious festival – Rath Yatra – in which Lord Jagannath along with his two siblings brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra take a nine-days sojourn to their aunt's house widely know as Gundicha Temple, in that comes out a unique message to this world of extreme diversity that the universal brotherhood still defies all isms, and if someone, with true spirit, engages himself or herself can even transform this world into a better place to live in.

The sea of humanity that spreads over three kilometers long Grand Road starting from Lord Jagannath Temple to Gundicha Temple reflects a manifestation of human belief system, maybe, on devotional ground, and that trust in itself speaks a volume about how social inclusiveness irrespective of caste, creed, gender, economic status can bind millions of hearts to a single democratic principle that all are equal under the sun. But in an extremely divisive world the message doesn't percolate down and stays valid for go. Somewhere we fail to understand that our ego and ism are more dangerous to the coexistence of social diversity.

Any festival that may look symbolic on surface has even a deeper meaning. However, the relevance of Rath Yatra has a wider impact on our social life. Rath Yatra spreads the message of secularism, universal brotherhood, and social harmony. On this occasion devotees of all caste, religion, and belief system come together to witness the splendor of a grand social congregation. Perhaps, that's the reason as to why this festival is widely observed across the world.

An idea can change your life

Ideas are free; they're like strands of sperm lying idle in the scrotum of a man, absolutely inane until and unless they find a chance to unite with an ovule to chart out a subtle transformation into an embryo inside the womb of a woman, who in all probability promises to take every precaution to protect the fetus till it grows into a full-fledged baby, ready to be delivered in due course. The anecdote, on the surface, may sound bit queer and weird, but the fact remains every idea that gets germinated in the vacuum of somebody's mental space is even more trivial than the existence of a strand of sperm.

Any average literate person can suggest thousands of ideas, which many would find seriously exciting and of extreme significance with reference to their applicability in human society; nonetheless, if someone asks them whether they can realize the intended benefits at large, probably the respond would be unequivocally imbecilic. Why do then people anxiously accentuate on the formation or garnering of ideas, even quite sporadically, by harping on a false notion of changing this world for once and all? Aren't we really becoming too itching about an uncertainty that has a rare chance of occurrence with its projected impact until all the preconditions somehow converge or made to work in tandem as per the plan? Or are we seriously dwelling on a phenomenon that certainly has overreaching consequence?

Well, let's stick to the principle that any and every great idea can transform this world to even a much better place to live in, but the moot question here is whether that idea can be hatched by itself to deliver the desired benefits? Never. It certainly needs scores of other factors – time, effort, and money - which contribute to the incubation of a raw idea. Eventually when all preconditions are met, an idea converts to an exciting piece of product, which can provide profound benefits to the person who owns it.

So what it boils down to the fact that ideas are certainly exciting so long as there is somebody to metamorphose them into great products with continuous support, and for that someone needs the desired skill, scale, discipline, and devotion. That's why the top global institutes like MIT, Bell Labs, and NASA are not just idea givers, rather they are, to the core, staunch idea incubators, which in all possibility, have the desired caliber, capability and scale to transform an idea into a world-class technology. And they are doing it as well. Unfailingly.

Before winding up let me cite here one interesting example on how a weird idea for a nondescript technology start-up becomes a matter of exciting technological innovation for one of the best technology companies in which they could able to foresee the future of virtual teleportation. For that the company even didn't hesitate to invest to the tune of Rs. 1000 millions. Well, by now it's quite clear what it makes to hatch an idea that can change your life. Nevertheless, not just an idea alone can!

Google+: A measured blitzkrieg on Facebook's popularity emergence

When Google selectively launched its most secretive social networking project Google+ (Google Plus) on Tuesday (June 28) to a select list of users for field testing, a group of technology cynics hardly inhibited from writing off the Google's innovation success, at a stage when the God even can't decide the fate of a newborn. And they argued that the new adventure of Google to take over the social media domain, especially to outshine Facebook, could be another silent whimper that once it experienced with Buzz and Wave. Wrong. Forthrightly unacceptable. At least, there is a degree of rationality to every cynicism, not a smoky ideological wall that imprudently swirls into the cynics mind at the slightest provocation of status quo.

Well, the world is changing faster than expected and so is the innovation. Facebook maybe the standard lead of the league in social network market, but that doesn't necessarily imply that its market monopoly will be eternal. Or no new player can emerge out of demand. Let's understand that the current market leaders in social media such as Facebook and Twitter are designed on a tack-on fashion, rather than highly loosely-coupled pieces integrated together, which would enable faster mutually inclusive experience, an attribute that's unambiguously desired for social networking to mix-n-match various social groups; nonetheless, Google+ has judiciously charted out an exclusive architectural marvel to outpace the competitors. And that's not just below the skin, it's quite evident from the out-of-the-box designing skills as well – the Circles+ is an attempt to address this issue that allows users to drag-and-drop friends in to different social circles.

What's even more exciting is Google+ Sparks, which enables its users to share content, both textual and multimedia, amongst different interest groups. Since Google is sitting on the global information basket, it's quite logical for Google to identify social interest-centric content even with extreme precision. Add to that the photos and group video chat. It's just beyond the periphery of standard sharing – any user can simultaneously manage and edit multimedia.

Moreover, Google+ treads a little further on the mobile apps integration. With Android, you can automatically upload the photographs and videos to your system, which can be shared to select groups next time you log on to your computer. The assortment of advance features that Google+ promises to offer, well, if not eat out the popularity of Facebook immediately, but certainly will outshine it one day, and that's not quite far off from now.

Indians Outshine Americans in Math and Logic

There has always been a tug of war between various opinion leaders or image magicians who shape international image building of Indian IT professionals in the USA; nonetheless, GILD, the professional social networking platform that combines social gaming with career advancement, has recently released results of a first ever major international study comparing American and Indian software developers at least in key programming and language communication skills, based on over 1 million tests taken by nearly 500,000 developers.

And the good news, of course on record now, is that Indians outshine US developers in math and logic, two of the core skills desired by US technology companies such as Oracle, Salesforce.com, and eBay. However, Americans clearly lead the world in web programming skills, valued by companies such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Well, given the analysis, it clearly indicates that Indians have less chance of exploring the opportunities in new-age technology companies.

According to the study, Indian developers outscore US developers on analytical skills like math and logic by 11%; on the contrary US developers outperform Indian counterparts on mainstream programming languages including C (8%), JAVA (9%), SQL (9%), and in web programming languages 53% higher scores on advanced PHP and 27% higher on advanced HTML. Moreover, US developers are 33% better skilled than Indian counterparts at English communication skills, which is fundamentally a valid case, as English is not the first language of Indians.

Well, the skill rivalry among Indian and American developers though marks some glaring askance in web programming skills, the exciting proposition that drives back home some brownie points lies in the fundamental skills such as Math and Logic, which often differentiate one between a good programmer and great programmer.

Moreover, US tech companies which outsource their software development projects to Indian tech companies will now be in a better position to deliberate upon the type of developments before signing their contracts, and it's equally an opportunity for Indian developers to take up the challenge and outshine their US counterparts at least in the next such international survey conducted by GILD.

They need solace

Their hallucination laden eyes surreptitiously aspire for certain degree of surrealistic survival, yet the soul inside them rests as sangfroid as pristine glittering dewdrops settled on semi-awakened leaves of grass on a winter morning. They are shackled with myriad of social restrictions, yet they are unbridled from the bustles of life. Look closely into their drowned eyes and you would fail to understand the epicenter of their pangs. They never resurrect from the abysmal depth of intoxication that haunts them every now and then on a sinusoidal trajectory, sometimes high and sometimes low. The reference here doesn't necessarily borrow a cue from a typical Hindi movie sequence, rather it reflects the stark narratives of profound sufferings of millions of drug addicts those unfortunately allured into this world of delusion by the agents of death – drug mafias, traffickers, subdued western hippie culture, and inefficacious state administration – at every turning point of human civilization.

What's more enigmatic and perplexing is the social response to these people. Yet in the midst of cavernous psychic ensnarement, their singular plea for resuscitation bounces back from the deaf ears of many insensate people like us who in all probability though believe to tread on the human spirit of connection, but here deliberately choose to turn a blind eye to the state of dastardly victimization. What's more disturbing is when the iron fists of state machinery multiply their bereavement through various tactics of harassment. Their sorrows never subside.

What's essentially required here is a human touch to the terrible psychological wounds that these victims carry along their tormented journey for which everyone of us is a passive culprit for not embracing their problems that initially stem from depreciated emotional support of family members. We as family members ignore some serious symptoms of emotional imbalance that these drug addicts exhibit before their initiation into this dark journey. We are so engrossed in our self-centered passion for individual excellence that a minor human aberration of a near and dear one is even looked down upon. When the delicate problem snowballs into an enormously dangerous proliferation, we feel the heat and by then a minor behavioral issue of an individual gets transformed into a larger social predicament. Can we be little vigilant and considerate as a fellow human being to such slender issues that grapple the entire humanity? They just need little but genuine consolation.

Customer service with empathy

Why do many customers feel cheated during their post-sell engagements with customer service departments? Why do many leading brands fail to achieve their projected loyalty even though they carry some great market competitive features? In the ambit of customer service, the one aspect that makes or breaks the long-term loyalty of customers largely depends upon how the service reps engage with customers to provide them unique personal solutions. A customer buys a product with great expectations that if in future the product requires necessary service he or she should avail it with unconditional support, although a rider or two can be well managed.

What makes a customer extremely unsatisfied is the gross uncaring attitude of the customer service department, which in all probability facilitates a resolution process in a more mechanical manner. Though the resolution technically addresses the issues of the customer, the human psychological bonding with the product receives a letdown. Here the company fails to leverage the long-term loyalty factor that most satisfied customers believe could be a pivot to the repeat business of the company.

What really prevents companies alike to strike a concordance with customers is the overuse of statistical parameters by managers to showcase the senior management that our maths are right; we are well ahead of our competitors. But that's not an absolute corollary. A management preview of a quality report has really nothing to do with the quality that customers desire. Each customer has a specific reason to be satisfied for the same technical issue. Here what differentiates great customer service from better customer service is the empathy of service reps. No one denies the fact that certain statistical parameters cannot be overlooked, but simultaneously, we must not forget the broader service angle.

An empathetic rep has great persuasive skills. While addressing the issues of the customer, an intelligent rep can garner a slew of critical information which in turn can be used to enhance the satisfaction level of other customers as well. This opens up an arena for innovative service delivery. Companies need to bring in this culture in their customer service departments. However, many service providers rarely open up to a shift in the cultural paradigm. And that becomes a dangerous proposition for long term strategy.

Why only few customer service providers have achieved the laurels of exemplary customer service is an indication of specifics they not only follow but they transform them into an organizational culture that transcends from batch to batch uninterruptedly.

Do we really need a Lokpal Bill?

Why India is so frenzied about drafting a draconian Lokpal Bill that some self-proclaimed protector of this nation claim this could become a panacea for all corruptions taking place in this country? Why are we so obsessed with a theory that has never practiced anywhere in other parts of the world to wipe out corruption in any form? Okay, let's stick to this proposition that we would have the toughest Lokpal Bill passed in the Parliament and soon it could be implemented. So, what's the guarantee that the people who would be in the panel of Lokpal are incorruptible? Who can in this country ascertain that the law can't be transmuted into a dangerous Frankenstein? What if the corrupt people in this country resort to newer jugglery to flounder with the legal loopholes in the law itself? There are many unanswered questions though in the ambit of architecting the severest anti-corruption law, the lawmakers may end up in a trap from where living in democracy could be synonymous to living in a fascist country. But the problem here is much deeper and complex. What we vociferously argue that corruption is systemic is even a flawed premise in a country like India where corruption is a manifestation of chronic symptoms of a genetically mutated disease that transcends generation to generation through our blood over many centuries. In a country where peons to prime ministers and from daylabourers to CEOs, everyone has his or her moment of temptation to relish the forbidden fruit of corruption, a mere law could be as farcical as spelling out an abracadabra to beguile the gullible.

Any strong law can't act as a deterrent to a lawbreaker. For a one-time or habitual lawbreaker, law of the land has any sense if he or she is insensible and doesn't possess fundamental human virtues. And specifically Indians are fundamentally devoid of virtues because of a series of anthropological reasons. Maybe, it sounds bizarre to a billion-plus hypocrites, but the truth is that we all are corrupt. As one leading television anchor puts it in a different way: “We all are naked in this bath.” That's why corruption is so rampant in India. Corruption has metamorphosed into a symbiotic attribute of Indians. Our high-flying aspirations, shortcut to fame, and quick-tricks to riches have made us insulate to the simple virtues of life. For us greed is the index of our prosperity and calibration for success. Anytime a person attempts to flirt with corruption thinks that it's like a one-night stand and can be managed within a commitment to fidelity towards spouse and then starts the danger of unbridled fission reaction. Can we transform ourselves in this war of inhibition? Can we, at least for once, refrain from this law of temptation? If we don't, no law, however draconian, in this world can prevent anybody from breaking the law of the land.

Building India at the cost of Bharat

The conflict is poignant, the exploitation is downright. India has started rampaging Bharat in a more unrelenting manner ever than before. From Niyamgiri to Dhinkia and from Jaitapur to Bhatta-Paursal, the war of land acquisition has finally turned ugliest. Farmers and landholders brutalized, state went berserk on agitators, many fled away from their ancestral homes, and many were killed in the tug of war between India and Bharat. How long will this desperate war continue? And for what reason? Why is that every time the people of Bharat are stripped off their marginalized property to help build a modern India? Why is that they turn victims in every episode of development that they never relish its fruits? Why is that the modern India becomes so callous in exploiting the resources of Bharat? Perhaps, nobody has a rational answer to all these queries, but the fact remains that every time India makes a visible progress, the farmers, the tribal people, and the poor people living in JJ colonies become the inevitable sacrificial lambs. Because these people are helpless, gullible, and maybe have no access to power.

Let's look at how Posco with support from the state administration of Orissa tries to destroy the livelihood of thousands of betel farmers by offering them a miniscule compensation. Calculate this: a normal betel farmer earns somewhere between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 20,000 a month from an acre of land whereas the onetime compensation for the land hovers around Rs. 250,000. Is this justified? Now the moot question is if the same farmer who can earn the compensation amount within a year or two from a perennial crop, why would he settle for such a lower amount? Moreover, given spiraling inflation, the same farmer can achieve even higher returns from the crop in future. Isn't this a clear exploitation of gullible farmers? Is there any future dividend even Posco will skyrocket its profit margin once production gets started? No. Everybody from state administration to company board will forget the fact that the plant which is built on thousand acres of land was once an economical, social, and emotional storehouse of thousands of farmers. And if this huge economic progress has been possible couldn't have been materialized without the utter sacrifice of these farmers or local people. No one does care how a piece of Bharat metamorphoses into an enlightened India in such a short span and some elites of that modern India will take credit for what they never had sacrificed even few moments of their life.

How long this exploitation will continue? When will the growing hiatus between Bharat and India be put on a reverse gear? Here we are forgetting a glaring fact that so long as we continue exploiting Bharat, we are pushing India to a stage of unsustainable development where progress would be there, but without sustained prosperity.

Where is the country heading for?

India as nation is losing its glory on many fronts, be it governance, economy, or social dynamics. The recent high-drama eviction of Ramdev from Ramlila ground is an indication of how the government has reduced to a helpless bunch of irresponsible leaders who don't understand the statecraft, forget about running this country. What's more disturbing is the way political leaders are hobnobbing with gurus, babas, and other popular figures in this country has created vacuum in the integrity and sophistication of politics. Politics that was once reserved for the most elite class of society has become a vocation of anybody and everybody irrespective of their social strata and perhaps that's the primary reason as to why both politics and politicians have not only lost their grip on the governance of this nation but also lost their shine over the years.

Now if the recent government at the centre is helplessly firefighting the burning issues such as corruption, black money, anarchy, and brewing social revolutions like the Annas and Ramdevs are resorting to, it's because the political leaders in the past had paved the way of vote bank politics as a major tool to win elections term after term, forgetting the fact that the future generation would face the repercussions of their mistakes. Why UPA II is the most vulnerable government at the centre today is not because of any drawback in Dr. Manmohan Singh, rather it's the consequence of cumulative blunders committed by heads of Congress party over last many decades.

Corruption and black money are not recent phenomena. They have been smuggled into politics and governance since independence because heads of political parties presumed that running a national political party and winning subsequent elections need huge amount of funding thus opening avenues for corrupt practices. Then vested interest sections like business houses, religious groups, and other minority groups started lobbying in politics that founded the emergence of corruption at high places and then cascaded down to lower echelons in the government departments eventually engulfing the entire system what we now connote this as systemic corruption.

We can't entirely blame the current UPA II for the anarchy that has crept into the governance of nation. What has happened today is a consequence of continuous degradation of political ideologies. There was a time when Nehru and Shashtri maintained an extremely sophisticated aura around the highest position of this country, their successors diluted that exclusiveness through their personal alliances with some elements of society, maybe for winning popularity or other personal reasons, and that practices have organically inherited to party leaders.

Let me cite some examples to substantiate my hypothesis. In the recent past, our Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh flew down to Puttaparti for tendering last tribute to Saibaba, and by doing this he has grossly violated the protocol of his position. Similarly, last week our Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee rushed to airport to welcome Ramdev. What's prompting these ministers to commit mistakes after mistakes? Is it their naivety or adaption of party ideologies? Whatever be the reason, they are making glaring blunders and creating bad precedents for the future generation.

Finally, politics has lost its elitism, and that's the prime reason for anarchy in a parliamentary democracy. Democracy doesn't promote the theory that popularity is the necessary attribute of leaders, rather it's their value system, calibre, intellectual level, vision, honesty, commitment, and empathy for people, which in turn portrait them as great leaders.

India doesn't need popular politics. To win elections, political parties are fielding popular figures such as actors, sports persons, religious leaders, criminals, and the likes without considering their leadership attributes. This mix of mindless inclusiveness has degraded politics. What we really need are great leaders with commitment for nation building. Now national politics need a complete overhaul in terms of party ideologies and leadership qualities. Anybody listening?

An Open Letter to Prime Minister – Part II

Dear Mr Prime Minister,

India is the largest democracy of the world, it's not a monarchy or autocracy where the excess of government can be tolerated by its citizens without blinking an eyelid. What happened on June 4 midnight at Ramlila ground, New Delhi not only reflects the extreme brutality of police forces and atrocities on innocent women, children and old people, but at the same time it exposed the collective base mentality of a government (read a bunch of diehard sycophants of a political dynasty) towards the universal democratic principles that once upheld by the forefathers of our Constitution. It's not only shocking that over five thousand police forces swarmed into action at the midnight to evict a yoga guru who just two days before the incident received a red carpet welcome by the cabinet ministers of this country, but it's equally deplorable that this kind of miscalculated action by your government landed you in a situation where you again committed a glaring blunder by admitting to the fact that “the excess of police action was though unfortunate but unavoidable as there was no alternative” and subsequently lost your credibility as the prime minister of this country.

What your government has done in this incident not only reflects the naivety of statecraft, but also it corroborates to the fact that the collective knowledge of your cabinet on the fundamental rights of citizens empowered by our Constitution is null and void. This is a dangerous proposition for a parliamentary democracy. No amount of argumentation however powerful can justify the brutality of police forces on innocent, unarmed, sleeping women and children that these critical mass can be dangerous to the law and order situation of the capital city of India by immaturely drawing a parallel between Babri masjid incident and an unfounded similar dangerous situation that maybe lurking in the hindsight of your government. No, Mr Prime Minister, this argument doesn't hold any water in the current scenario. What your government has done here to the democratic fabric of this country is irreparable. No amount of apology even from all ranks and files of your cabinet including you can't repair the humongous loss that it has done to the families of victims in this police atrocities.

Mr Prime Minister, there are scores of alternatives to handle the worst dangerous situation even with grace and within the ambit of democratic principles. The Ramlila ground incident is a murder of democracy, which you can't understand it, forget about acknowledging the blunder because you are not an elected representative of people of this country, rather a representative of a dynasty for political convenience. Perhaps, that's the prime reason as to why political compulsions have always overshadowed your intellect and conviction during national crisis whether it's all-pervasive political corruption or crushing of democracy in the recent event. It's still live in public memory when you justified systemic corruption as “coalition dharma” and “political mandate” can even wash away the democratic sins like “horse-trading in the Parliament.” No parliamentarian can claim such immature, unconstitutional statement.

Mr Prime Minister, it won't be quite surprising to notice another emergency during your tenure given the uprising of civil society against systemic corruption and black money issues that have entangled your government in deep soup, and subsequently you will give the same lame excuse that “though this is unfortunate but unavoidable as we don't have an alternative” a cliché that you have got by your heart to fire it whenever condemnations on your actions from public or political parties loom large.

Sir, we are living in 21st century, not in an era of colonial rule where all actions, however dangerous or anti-human or antagonistic, of a ruler stand legitimate. People of India are not subjects of British Raj. We are living in a vibrant democracy where every citizen has fundamental rights to lead his or life with human dignity and grace. Any excess by the government is extremely deplorable and condemnable. As head of the government, you must first oblige to the democratic principles and the Constitution of India, and then probably you can discharge your duty as a prime minister. If you fail to uphold the democratic principles, people of this country will not hesitate to consider you a man of no reason.


Yours sincerely,

An honest citizen

Midnight murder of democracy

History has been repeated, rather in a more dastardly manner. What could be condemned as the worst incident in a democracy is on the contrary not only a blot on democracy, but also the worst form of inhumanity executed by a government. What's happening in this country? When people of this country come out in unison to protest peacefully against corruption and black money, the government doesn't hesitate to use barbaric police force to fire teargas at innocent people to destroy the movement. What happened at Ramlila ground, New Delhi, on the midnight of June 4 is a clear indication of the darkest episode of democracy. Five thousand police force cracked down on Ramlila ground and evicted Ramdev in brutal manner and the worst part is that the policemen assaulted women and children while they were taking rest in midnight. Is it a democracy or a nation ruled by rouges?

When the government is acting like nincompoops to fight against hardened terrorists despite all hard evidence, the same government is behaving like a medieval, brutal force against its own citizens to perish peaceful movements against corruption and black money. Can we call it a democracy where the basic tenets of democracy have miserably failed by its dispensers? What it clearly indicates that the government in power is a bunch of corrupt politicians who have stashed hordes of black money in foreign country and perhaps that's the primary reason what compels them to wipe out any kind of serious movement against corruption and black money.

The fear psychosis of the government is finally noticed by the public as how they are helplessly behaving in the most undemocratic manner to mar a peaceful protest, which is a fundamental right of every citizen in a democratic country. And the sad part is that a cabinet minister justifies the brutal action of police force on the innocent protesters and idiosyncratically reasons it as a lesson for all and sundry. What a duductive logic? This government after committing such unethical act against humanity and fundamental rights of citizens in a democratic nation doesn't have moral right to rule this country.

Social Media Trends

Every netizen has his or her bit of experience with social media. Some two years back when people were increasingly emphasizing on real-time search and information distribution, the marketing agencies and brand builders pitched in to optimize the benefits of social space and then started a much calibrated social media monitoring which proved that social media is not just a fad, rather it's a social technology revolution to understand the marketplace and consumers in an effective way. Time has changed. The same cynics who argued that social media is all fun and and no business have now taken a u-turn and are diehard proponents of social media integration with every business.

Well, social media dynamics are as nimble as social changes in a consumer world. Finally, the physical and virtual world of people have converged. The people who are more active in social space have turned to social media technologies to manifold the results. It's not too far from today when every democratic debate could emerge from aggressive social media discussions. With every new trend in social media, the community influence on businesses will be paramount. And the winners are certainly the ones who stay relevant to the social media trends. Well, let's have a look at some of those trends.

1. Privacy is a word of the past
With younger generations taking on to a non-hypocritical stand on personal choices, social media will enable this trend in a much bigger way. Increasingly people will accept personal exposes on social media. Beyond sharing likes, dislikes, wishes, opinions, and personal information, people will be tempted to share their most secret episode of their life. What it eventually would produce complex personal information that would help businesses personalize their products and services. For example, a survey on the length of a condom, which of course has a direct relationship with manhood, is still considered hush-hush in our society; however through social media the personal revelations would pour in, which in turn would help condom manufacturing companies to innovate better and more effective products.

2. Information portability
It will be a thing of past to view just Facebook trends on Facebook. What's more interesting would be to experience a composite trends across all social media. An OpenID would act as a passport to import all relevant information from various social media spaces and throw up to the expectations of viewers.

3. Real-time search
Gone are the days when we depended heavily on webcrawller logic to get stale search results indexed few days before. Today, Google's social search capability provides real-time information. With advance algorithms, Google can enable users to avail relevant yet timely information to enhance search experience.

4. Content aggregation
Content is king and still this statement is relevant today. Will upsurging social networks and exponentially increasing online profiles, the amount of online content is being generated at huge speed. Like content syndicates, the content aggregation will see a paradigm shift. And the most important fact is that how the content will be aggregated and how will it be presented to the end users will make or break the business.

5. Virtual reality
With platforms marrying each other at a breakneck speed, the end users will experience a more powerful applicability of social networking sites. Thanks to innovative technologies like 3-G, GPS mapping, mobile integration, all these will bring in an altogether new dimension not only to social relations but also to business relationships in long run. And the sad part is that your privacy is gone and you are exposed to million scrutiny.

6. Market influencer
TRP and ABC reports are a thing of the past. When advertising agencies claimed the number of eye balls directly influence the spend pattern of consumers, the social media has gone further to prove that viewership per se has really anything to do with sales, it's now the niche segmentation of viewership that really makes a significant differentiator. In fact, if we go by the market influential tactics, the feasibility of a sale only happens when the right customer receives the information. Advertising through TV or newspapers maybe as relevant today as was in past, but what really matters is that how the consumers internalize the facts propagated through advertising. The social media in turn has bring in breakthrough techniques to influence consumers in a larger way. The peer reviews, Google analytics, social trends, and various monitoring mechanisms have developed a sense of trust in consumers' mind.

7. Consumers' verdict
What's relevant today is how your peers perceive it. That has been a trend written on rock. Consumers now before buying any product take a deliberate preview of the product and its user ratings. If a product doesn't ferry well in user ratings, it's perceived that either the product is not worth purchasing or it's a sub-standard product. Imagine the verdict of consumers which will drive the business of tomorrow.

8. Social media as a service
So. what's next after SaaS, PaaS, and CaaS? Certainly, it's SmaaS or social media as a service that will define how SMEs which can't afford to full-range SM services of their own bank upon this new trend. Beyond fad, SmaaS will bring in new opportunity for businesses to expand their reach and brand positioning. And the SmaaS providers will see a complete new business opportunity along the evolution of social media technologies.

9. Crystal gazing
Everyone likes a bit of predictable future. What's relevant today might be hugely irrelevant tomorrow. Be it social trends, spending patterns, consumer behaviors, or marketing shenanigans, the future of social media largely depends on every aspect of consumer acceptance to change. Behind this lies innovative technologies to understand the implications of consumer reactions and bring about necessary logical changes in the usability of social technologies. That said, the gamut of social media will notice an array of visible changes on consumer usability and technology facilitation. Thus, the future will evolve from how consumers look at social media today and what they expect from the providers.

10. A marriage of social convenience
Social media and digital media will soon converge to open a newer platform for consumers. Digital divide will be dissolved sooner than latter. The elite technologies that specific sections of our society normally use will be available to all and sundry. Because social media will help reduce the class structure and evolve a paradigm shift in digital experiences that once was exclusive to top echelons of society. Thanks to the evolution of social media technologies that have brought people from all ranks and files to the same platform on a reasonably similar involvement.