Ruminations

Where in the world is Rajdeep Sardesai?

2009-05-30T02:32:00.003+05:30

Of late. people I know speak with a lot of hatred and venom when they talk about the celebrity news anchors (I am not sure journalist is the right word). I do not watch much of TV news but of whatever I do, I feel the TV news channels are waiting for the next "big news". They do not realise that as we speak, every minute an important piece of news is happening across the country.

I find their coverage of important issues leave much to be desired. By important issues I do not mean only events that happen in Delhi and Mumbai or the other big cities of India. India as a country is not yet fully shining - where is the picture of that non-shiny part? Why does there have to be a Bollywood angle to a breaking news?

We give minute to minute updates on what is happening in Karunanidhi's house/office during the negotiations for seats - who is going in, who is going out? Believe me as these things happen, the unstoppable wheels of my country are turning and with every turn they are churning out stories worth knowing - stories that need to be aired.

Why are all these channels depending on sensatinalism and hiding behind the garb of "Public wants it". Well, quite possible. Who is going to change the public's taste?

Not Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt or Sagarika Ghose. Which TV channel covered the atrocities in Chattisgarh reported in Tehelka ? In my next post I will try and analyze a point of view that many people have put forward "Media is another industry out there to make a profit. Why single them out for dereliction of duty - if there is a duty at all"?

Are we talking in air?

2009-05-24T01:09:00.002+05:30

Jisko hindi mein bolte hain "Hawa mein baatein karna". I am strong advocate of the view that every social "kind-of" work one does should directly or indirectly make an impact on society. One cannot be talking in air about bringing about a change in society.

I am part of a team that is organizing a workshop on "Empowering the Underprivileged through Innovations". It is to be held on 24th May 2009 but this post is about something else. My friend's comment on the value of a workshop like this set my mind thinking. I did give him an impassioned and spontaneous response - maybe the response sufficed for the moment but I think I need to think about this. Are my actitivities, or to make it more generic and relevant, are our activities making a difference on the ground?

Are we just patting ourselves on the back and discussing sweet nothings in guise of conducting workshops and seminars and talks. Well, could be. Am not sure. And the fact that I am not sure is not a good thing. We should be doing our due diligence before plunging into any activity which "we think" we are doing for the society. Here are some questions I intend to ask myself and my partners next time I am involved in any activity.

i. Who are the beneficiaries? If the activity intends to benefit a particular section of society how do I intend to measure the extent of impact.

ii. How are you going to use the earnings, if any?

iii. Whom are you partnering with? Do your partners share the same view as you?

iv. How does your activity intend to maintain its impact after its tenure?

v. Are you entering a space because there is no other organization serving the need? If no, then are you doing it because your approach is different? Did you try to partner with any organization before going ahead?

I think these questions are important and really important to ensure you are on the correct path. You say?

devil lies in the details

2009-05-19T00:02:00.004+05:30

Last Saturday I attended a class on "Social Accounting & Audit". One of the aspects the lecturer mentioned was that there are many ways to quantify the social benefits spread by an organization. For example, one NGO she worked for was working with artisans. While preparing the social account for it, the social auditor saw that on an average each artisan was earning Rs 100-200 more (I am guessing monthly) due to the NGOs intervention.

Now, while preparing the social account they calculated an amount equal to Rs X where

X = A (number of artisans) * B (number of years for which social account is being stated) * C (amount of increase in arisans' income)

This resulted in a figure that was huge giving an impression that the NGO had a profound effect on the community it was working with. Whereas this may the case, there is another statistic we should consider - The relative increase in the artisans' income. How much more is the artisan earning as compared to his income without the NGOs intervention. And see how it makes a difference.

If an artisan's monthly income is Rs. 500 then a Rs 100 increase in his income would amount to a 20 percent relative increase. However, if an artisan's monthly income is Rs 5000 then a Rs 100 increase in income would translate into a 2 percent increase. A helluva difference.

So while the NGO may have earned a lot in social accounting, it may have not necessarily made the kind of change in the lives of its stakeholders as it may seem at first glance.

An example of how a CSR project should not be!!!

2009-05-17T20:23:00.004+05:30

For quite sometime I have been talking to people and writing, emphasising that innovation will have to be a vital contributing factor when you want to improve the lives of millions of people. And there are efforts and projects which do prove this point.

You have to innovate in technology, in processes, in ways to reach your target group, in ways of communicating with your target group...but sadly for every social effort which involves innovation of some kind or the other you come across tens of projects and initiatives which either smack of plain opportunism or of stale ideas.

The Shiksha initiave by P&G in partnership with CRY is one such initiative. Put in one sentence "Buy P&G products and you can contribute to a child's education".

I feel buying decisions should be influenced by the quality of the product - even in cases where the product itself is the USP e.g. organic products i.e. You cannot tell a person that since you are buying eco-friendly clothes they would be a bit rough on your skin (unless that is an unaddressable product characteristic). From a business point of view too, not many would be willing to buy a product not matching his/her expectations just because it has a social aspect to it.

Coming back to this initiative. It is simple silent (lack of transparency - should I say!) on how much exactly am I contributing (real money terms) when I am buying a product. What exactly is the model of financing and contribution in this project? How much is the company paying for every Vicks Vaporub that I buy?

Where is the innovation? A company so huge and with an enviable market reach and penetration came up with this plan to contribute to the society. A plan with a condition "You help us grow and only then will we be able to give back to the society". What happened to the MBAs and other experts you have hired?

Aishwarya Mishra, then you tell us, since you are harping on innovation time and again.

Aishwarya Mishra: I do not claim that every proposal that I make will be successful or is entirely unique but at the same time I feel it will leverage the company's strengths and reach to a higher potential.

Socially relevant messages on(the wrapper)/in(the form of a booklet) your products. One may equate it to lip service but I would rank it alongwith the message on a cigarete packet idea - rather one rung above it. With the kind of sales you are having, your product reaches a huge number of households - what better way to communicate messages like cleanliness, hygiene, education than a booklet inside a waching powder packet.

Loyalty points which can be redeemed as contribution to a group of organizations or an umbrella organization like GiveIndia. Two points of importance here

a. Loyalty points are subtly (but surely) different from the contribution made by purchasing a single unit of a single product. In case of the former you are dependent on the quality of your product for the scheme and product to succeed. It is a much more engaging project and also has a much longer timeline.

b. Freedom to choose the organization to which you want to contribute.

I am sure there are many more ways in which a company can act responsibly and not just "act" responsible. Such things however happen because of the reluctance of many organizations to recognize social responsibility as an integral part of their company structure and objectives/goals. In many places, HR personnel are logically made the CSR peronnel too - whatever gave them the idea.

Bottomline, innovation and freshness of thought is the key to ensure that your company's social goals are inbuilt into the company's overall objectives and not merely superficially aligned.

RTI - Am I understanding it correctly ?

2009-05-13T07:59:00.003+05:30

I follow the India Uncut blog by Amit Varma. Frankly speaking I read it for its witty humour. A recent post however started my mind to think in another direction. I have thought about it earlier too.

Right to Information Act is a tool I can use to requisite information from a government department. Using this information I can question the government and its departments over its activities. And so it happens many times. At the same time I see another way that RTI works - I file a request for information under RTI and what happens is that one of the apparatchiks from the concerned department gets back and tries to solve the problem.

I am sure many of us have read about this auxiliary (or is it one of the primary) function of RTI. The downside that I see with this approach is that erring officials are not brought to book. So RTI in this case becomes a tool for justice for an individual and not for the society. If I file a request for information asking why the road in front of my house has not been repaired, promptly the municipal authorities will run a road roller in front of my house - and so on for any other street for which an RTI request was filed. With municipalities and their limited resources, its a no-brainer to guess where all the road repair budget will go.

At this point of time, I am reminded of an article I read in India Together. It talked about this explosion in the number of RTI applications and how the number could increase more rapidly once it is possible to file one online.

My point - Is it better to ensure that RTI is used to bring systemic changes rather than used as a tool to coerce people into doing partial work.

Compassion or Domain Expertise ?

2009-03-22T12:34:00.004+05:30

This post, like many others, has been long overdue. I faced the question at many forums where I was discussing. Last December, I was at a conference on Social Entrepreneurship in Chennai and I heard Anshu Gupta of Goonj speak informally to a group of participants gathered around him. He repeatedly emphasised the importance "just doing it". He said a lot of us just keep waiting for that perfect moment when we can make the plunge and advised those listening to him against over-planning. Over-planning, he said, kills a lot of unproven ideas and is also, many a times, an obstacle to initiate. There was a lot of talk about various financing and exit options at the conference and in that context he also told us that if you have the passion, venture capitalists will just follow. I thought about what he said and wanted to write my opinions but...(procrastination!).

A few weeks ago a similar topic arose during a class for a course that I attend at CSIM. A senior participant voiced his opinion that many of the youngsters today are charged up to do "something" and go full steam into opening an NGO or joining an NGO without understanding the social sector. This results in half-baked or misled efforts and may also leave the person disillusioned with the dynamics of the sector.

So what do you think? Is success in social development sector all about compassion or does it also depend on actual hardcore knowledge and processes?

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish - Rashmi Bansal

2009-03-19T09:08:00.006+05:30

This post is late by two weeks. However, here it goes. Rashmi Bansal is more famous as the IIM -A graduate who founded JAM magazine. The book was commissioned by Center for Innovation Incubation and Entreprenership (CIIE) @ IIM-A and supported by the Wadhwani Foundation known for the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN).

"Stay Hungry Stay Foolish" is the famous concluding line of Steve Jobs's commencement speech at Stanford in 2005. The book profiles 25 IIM-A grads who took the entreprenerial path. The book has been intelligently divided into three sections based on the kind of entreprenerial ventures undertaken by the people featured or the phase in their life when they took the plunge.

I like Rashmi's disarming and original writing style where she tries her best to bring out the feelings these people had. She uses Hindi phrases effectively to achieve this. While reading the book I realized that these people faced similar predicaments and apprehensions when they wanted to quit their comfort zones and reach out for their larger calling. In that respect, at the end of each entrepreneurs story is a section of advice from the horse's mouth.

Some of the recurring points that I noticed were

Do not quit. Some of the most successful ventures came after near hopelessness.
Trust and understanding between the founding team members. Here, many also stress that without hurting the notion of equality, one person has to lead the team.
Experience on the ground is important. You can sit in the classroom and try and prepare yourself for D day. But nothing prepares you for your brush with reality better than reality itself.
You do not necessarily have to start big. You have to make a plunge at some point of time.

In the book you will find people behind some of the most enterprising companies like Sanjeev Bikchandani of naukri.com, Narendra Murkumbi of Renuka Sugars, Vijay Mahajan of Basix, Venkat Krishnan of Give India and many many more. At the end of the book you will feel happy and proud knowing more about these people.

I am also happy to see that many of these organizations work in the field of education, financial inclusion.

How to change the world by David Bornstein

2009-02-22T16:15:00.011+05:30

Finished reading the book How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas by David Bornstein a couple of days back. The book was given to me by CSIM(Center for Social Initiative and Management) as part of joining kit for the SEOP (Social Entrepreneurship Outlook Program) course. I was wary of the book because of its title which sounded on the lines of "How to get rich" and "How to make friends". So I was out of town for a couple of days and decided to start reading it. It is a book worth reading and, no, it not exactly on the lines of the "get rich" type of books.David delves into the experiences of Bill Drayton, Ashoka (the organization he founded) and Ashoka fellows to explore the field of social entrepreneurship. What I like about the book is that the it realises that there is no magic potion for an entrepreneur or more specifically a social entrepreneur. Keeping this in mind, the author travels across countries and meets social entrepreneurs working in diverse fields, under diverse conditions - type of government being just one of them. Stories of these Ashoka fellows is interspersed with chapters where the author tries to find a thread connecting social entrepreneurs and make for an interesting read. I would recommend the book for even those who are just plainly interested in reading a good book.The parts that I particularly like - Bill Drayton's life and his meticuloous approach to selecting fellows, James Grant and his tenacity, Fabio Rosa and his willingness to

"...make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;...."

Readers who may not have heard about Jeroo Billimoria, Joe Madiath, Gloria de Souza will really like their stories and appreciate their contribution to Indian society. Coming to wanna-be social entrepreneurs, again, the book does not claim to be a Do it yourself guide to Social Entrepreneurship but the patterns it discovers in organizations and individuals working in the social development sector are compelling. I would have liked to see more stories on projects/ideas that could not take off. It really helps put things in perspective instead of painting a hunky dory picture of light at the end of the tunnel. At the same time I feel there are occassions where committed individuals have not let failures affect them and hence we do not see Fabio Rosa's efforts go in vain (because of the government of the day).

Do read it.

Social Issues in Business Standard Weekend

2009-02-14T23:30:00.003+05:30

What I am doing here could very well have been done on FaceBook but I needed to shrug off my laziness towards writing and get on with some stuff that I have been procrastrinating for long.

Today's Business Standard featured a couple of articles on social issues/people

The main story - Yes, we can?, was about young Indians who were doin some exemplary work in the society. Really worth a read. Make sure you read about Dr Sunitha Krishnan. Her travails before she could bring about change. The artcile also covers the Jaago Re initiative.

The other one was a piece on Reema Nanavaty of SEWA -Threadwork of expression . By the way she is Ela Bhatt's daughter-in-law and an ex-IAS officer.

Argument for the sake of argument

2008-12-30T14:25:00.004+05:30

I read Hindu's editorial opining on the election results in Jammu & Kashmir. I have been reading the newspaper for quite some time now and after reading the editorial I felt that the author of the piece had some pre-formed ideas and he would have given them whatever be the result of the elections. E.g. the way in which the article tries to talk the reader into thinking that hardliners do not exist (or in negligible number at worst) among the voters, seems childish. Quoting from the article

Hindutva chauvinism hasn’t paid off despite the seemingly dramatic improvement in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s fortunes, which have taken its tally from just one seat in 2002 to 11 now. Claims that the BJP has ridden a communal tide in Jammu are empirically unsustainable. First, it must be recalled that the ultra-right Jammu State Morcha broke away from the BJP on the eve of the 2002 Assembly election.

About PDP, the article says

The party found that its hopes of emerging as the principal political voice of the Kashmir region have been thwarted, even though it secured the backing of the rank-and-file of the Jamaat-e-Islami. Winning 21 seats compared with 16 in 2002 is less impressive than it might seem. After all, in the 2004 Lok Sabha election the PDP was ahead in 25 Assembly segments.

So what is the point, you ask? Well, the point is refusal even by a newspaper (which is supposed to even hold its own opinion stand the test) to look at election results objectively and accepting the fact that a section of the population in J&K is polarized in terms of their attitude towards relation between the state and the religion (and I am not talking about any particular religion).

Just when I was discussing this point with a friend, I read the editorial in Business Standard (the day after) and there were signs of respite. The author was cognizant of the fact that the population in the state is not homogenous when it comes to its expectations. Simply put

It might be a mistake to read into these developments a rejection of sentiment in the Kashmir valley for “azaadi”; but it should be obvious that they reflect greater acceptance of current reality and the need to deal with it on its own terms.

An editorial is meant to show as many sides to the story as possible rather than interpreting a development through one's colored glasses.

Same mistake again and again

2008-12-27T21:51:00.001+05:30

Karpoori Thakur, a former Chief Minister of Bihar, in Bihar Vidhan Sabha during the zero hour.

“I am pained to say that after reminding the officers time and again, this small repair work of the embankment was not done. The result is that the embankment has breached between 75 to 78 km and almost all of Saharsa district is under a sheet of water. The situation is horrifying there and the district administration or the engineers of the Irrigation Department have not done what they should have done in the situation. Rome was burning and Nero was playing his flute and this is what this Government is doing.”

To get things in perspective, this statement was made in 1984. Read the complete article at IndiaTogether.

Dharavi, Mumbai

2008-12-22T18:56:00.001+05:30

Economist's report on India's primary education scene

2008-12-18T11:48:00.001+05:30

Things like these make the government go......

2008-10-16T23:26:00.002+05:30

"We never thought about that".

I was reading the Deccan Chronicle and the City section greeted me with this really amusing piece of news "Smoking ban raises gutkha sales". Its like trying to save the drowning man by pushing his head down (if the analogy does not amuse you, the comments section is always open).

Decisions like these were the reason behind an earlier post where I had questioned the umpteen number of government decisions which either were not thought through fully or lacked rationale.

Even this decision of banning smoking in public places comes with its share of idiosyncracies, not to mention the yet-to-be-seen enthusiasm behind implementing it. In my opinion the taxes on all tobacco products should be prohibitively high and there should be strict curbs on their points of sale. I am sure the idea behind this ban is not just to save the non-smokers from passive smoking but also to deter the smokers from doing so.

Poverty - How do we understand it

2008-10-15T12:08:00.006+05:30

Sometimes the freedom to do anything is the greater binder of all. Such is predicament I face now when I can write just about anything even remotely connected with a given topic. So here I set out to write about Poverty. I myself am wondering what shape this discussion will take place.

The subject for this year's edition of Blog Action Day is P O V E R T Y. So many times we have heard poverty as a word and poverty alleviation/eradication as an aim that these are almost taken for granted as a perennial activity. At the outset, let us admit it, a blog is more a potent medium for collaboration, information sharing and gathering support and ideas as compared to than a force that will bring about change at the grassroots level.

Some of us will have to go to these “poor places” and smell the coffee (or glue!). Unless we realize what is it to be poor we cannot even start thinking about what exactly is bad about being poor. This superficial approach may also result in some well-intentioned among us coming out with ideas on the lines of the “Let them eat cake” advice for the poor peasants of France.

Before we go further into this discussion, I would like the reader to just take a 20 second break and think of what he thinks poverty really is.
What is the first visual that comes to your mind when given the word poverty? Do you think of slums and the small dingy homes on both sides of the byline? Do you think of poor kids removing the day’s pickings from their noses? Do you think of a raging drunkard full of expletives? Does your mind go BLANK? Anyone with decent writing skills and even a decent experience of the world will be able to take this harangue on and on – to no avail. Poverty means different things to different people – irrespective of which side of the “poverty line” you may be on. Having said that, would it be wrong to expect that if you are reading this you are most probably on the safer side of the poverty line?
I am assuming you have completed the 2o second exercise on poverty mentioned a few lines before. If you have not, I would recommend you do that. Make it 60 seconds if you see a lot of things coming to your mind or even if nothing is coming.
Okay, now what does poverty mean to me. Poverty to me implies “lack of opportunity”. Just yesterday I started reading Will Durant’s A Story of Philosophy. In the starting pages he talks about two schools of thought and illustrates them through difference in Rousseau and Nietzsche’s perception of nature and equality of man. Rousseau says “By nature all men are equal, becoming unequal by class-made institutions. That law is the invention of the strong to chain and rule the weak”. Nietzsche, on the other hand opines, “By nature all men are unequal, that morality is an invention of the weak to limit and deter the strong”.
I mention this here because there is a section of people which believes that poverty is not at all our problem. It is their problem and let them handle it. After all they have landed themselves in this situation– either by their own doing or by birth. My point is, yes, they have landed themselves in this situation and yes it is their responsibility to redeem themselves. My question is “Are they being given the rightful opportunities to redeem themselves?” Will we be comfortable with the hoi polloi “fighting” for their opportunities on the streets? My case therefore is, people being born poor, is not the problem. A rich man can lead himself to poverty. But do we have the means in place for the poor with the talent, the will and the wherewithal to cross the poverty line?
Now, coming to relative perceptions of poverty. Poverty is not absolute – governments’ definition of the poverty line, though not useless, is useful from a macro-economic and statistical point of view. A unemployed boy roaming the streets of a slum is poorer than a boy working at a tea-shop who in turn is poorer than the boy going to a government school with no labs who in turn is poorer than you or me who are poorer than a subset of you and me who go to schools with organic food and horse riding. Point being, eradicating poverty is not an atomic task in itself. There are layers that have to be dealt in their own way.
Poverty is one of the prime links in the vicious chain of societal problems – others being population explosion, hygiene and sanitation, employment, environment, crime. Breaking this chain requires that we develop a reasonable understanding of the chain. The monster of poverty cannot be dealt-with in isolation.
I attended the induction program for Teach India initiative yesterday. Mujib Khan, of Bhoomi, said something simple but which hit the point. He said on your first visit to the slum you will only see the dirt and grime and will most probably be more focused on taking care of yourselves rather than focusing on the surroundings and its details. Subsequently, you will start observing “life” in a slum. Do the kids go to the school, is the school capable of teaching kids, what is the main source of income for people there, what is the main source of entertainment, what is the law and order situation, what is the spread of various income groups and many such questions. Therefore, to understand poverty we really need to see it at close quarters. A lower middle class government employee who cannot afford to send this deserving daughter to medical school is also suffering from poverty. We really need to understand that poverty is not just limited to “lack of food”. It is the “lack of opportunity”.
What can be done and what is happening for poverty eradication at individual, organizational and governmental levels? I am sure I cannot make an exhaustive list but I will try to write on the general trends.
1. Whenever an individual is able to spare time from this daily rigmarole, he is able to think about things around him and spare a thought for them. Many parts of the world today are enjoying the “best of times” and individuals here are able to spare time, money and effort to think about those who are still facing the “worst of times”. I see such an interest on the rise in my country, India where the buoyant economy has allowed many youngsters to think about the not so fortunate.

2. Corporate organizations are realizing the fact that people who are not rich are still people – they are, therefore, targeting those at the Bottom of Pyramid (BoP, yawn!). Companies like ITC are realizing that helping the not so fortunate need not necessarily be a part of their CSR efforts but can actually be a vaiable business model.

3. People/individuals are also realizing that helping the disadvantaged is not a loss making proposition, by default. Today there we have a huge interest generated in social entrepreneurship and a lot of companies being founded on this principle. E.g. Green Mango working out of Hyderabad (http://greenmango.co.in)

4. Governments are talking about eradicating poverty (as ever). Some proactive ones have actually gone to the extent of working towards it. The Andhra Pradesh state government has particularly done some great work. It is currently a microfinance hotspot in India.

5. The Right to Information Act of the Indian Government is allowing people to question the governmental organizations on many fronts.

6. Penetration of Information Technology and Communications in hitherto unexplored geographical territories is enabling people to make use of information to their benefit. E.g. Access to latest crop prices and weather forecast for farmers.

TOI's Teach India Campaign in 3 more cities

2008-10-05T18:05:00.003+05:30

The Times of India has extended its Teach India initiative to three more cities - Hyderabad, Lucknow and Jaipur. I too have applied to be a volunteer. Let us see how it goes. I would strongly suggest to apply too if you have some time to spare and the will to make a difference.

Government! Popular - May Be; Populist - Has To Be

2008-10-04T05:00:00.003+05:30

We keep on wondering when will our governments stop being populist and appeasing and start governing. Livemint summarises our predicament really well while commenting on the increase in income ceiling for creamy layer of Other Backward Classes.

[LiveMint: Article here]
In an election season, are populist measures by government a surprise? They are not, but their brazenness certainly is.

Among a slew of decisions taken by the Union cabinet on Friday, the decision to raise the income ceiling of the creamy layer for other backward classes (OBCs) from Rs2.5 lakh per year to Rs4.5 lakh stands out.

What is its impact? It widens the net of OBCs who can avail benefits of reservation in Central educational institutions. But it does so in an iniquitous way. After this cabinet decision, chances are very high that richer and better-off OBCs will now capture the benefits meant for those who are poorly endowed. Clearly, social justice has little to do with this.

It is also subversive, in a subtle way, of various judicial decisions that limit the scope of reservations. The trick is not to increase the percentage of reservation, but to redefine the criteria of reservation. The electoral arithmetic is clear, but its welfare impact is not.

Education as a qualifying criterion for a politician

2008-10-02T05:08:00.007+05:30

I remember a discussion I was a part of a couple of weeks ago. I was playing the part of the lone non-smoker in a group of smokers. I do not remember how this discussion started.

Image courtesy: irancartoon.com

One of us said, "Politicians should educated if they have to perform their functions properly". Most of us however, were debating with ourselves on the right solution. Should education be made mandatory for all politicians who fight elections? Are educated politicians better than uneducated ones? Do portfolios like agriculture need a Harvard educated MBA or a farmer at their helm. Or does any person with a knack of pulling the right strings qualify?

At times we thought there are many politicians who bring an elitist view into a ministry and fail to understand the ground realities. Like the case where politicians gifted cows to distressed farmers in Vidharba and created an example of the proverbial white elephant. At the other end of the spectrum are politicians who think online desecration of a revered leader is avenged by vandalizing an unsuspecting internet cafe.

We have educated politicians like Jagdish Tytler, Kamal Nath and Narendra Modi who are accused of inciting and abetting communal violence. We also have grass roots politicians like Shibu Soren who take money to vote in parliament.

But, let us not digress from the topic - Should formal education be made mandatory for politicians? This issue has another offshoot which is important nevertheless. How do we set the minimum limit for education. How do we deal with exceptions - people who are not educated but know how to run a country. How do we deal with those who pass the sieve because they are educated? Does education actually help solve the problems of a country? Or does it hinder free thinking by putting blinders? Does it require a business management graduate to turn around a perenially sick organization like the Railways? Or does it merely require common sense along with clear thinking and a strong will?

Can we do with a finance minister without a financial background? Do we need an intelligence expert to be our home minister or do we need an empathizing yet strict leader?

Our debate in the smoking group did not reach a convincing conclusion. We were left with a lot of doubts about the need to education to run the country well.

A hearty Welcome to Sajjanpur !

2008-10-02T04:33:00.005+05:30

Just finished watching the movie. And I have only one question, 'What is wrong with the movie?' I liked it!

The plot is quite simple. Shreyas Talpade, plays the part of Mahadev who aspires to be a novelist. But lack of good plots and avenues force him to take up the job of a letter writer in his village, Sajjanpur. It is a 'hot' job in Sajjanpur where the majority is illiterate.

From here, Shyam Benegal weaves a river like story that along its course takes digs at almost every aspect of Indian life. I cannot call it a satire because it is not scathing. But humour has been used to temper the disappointment|despair caused by the state of affairs. Be it the surge in the number of religious gurus in TV, or the as yet unstemmed organ trade, or the adption of mobile phones, or widow marriage, or the candidature of eunuchs, or the capitalisation|criminalisation|regularisation of elections, or the prevelance of superstitions|customs, the tiff between two generations, the SEZ policy and the not-so-convincing resettlement|rehabilitation|compensation policy, migration to urban areas - Shyam Benegal has covered it all.

He has ensured that he does not make it too filmy by making the ending of every sub-plot happy. He also shows us what is happening around us through the eyes of his protagonist but never goes to the extent of making a hero out of him. Reminded me of Laxman's Common Man. On the one hand he shows how marriage of a widow leads to honour killing, on the other he shows a eunuch being a successful politician. The balance in his story and the detail in his direction is impeccable. The one point that could have stopped it from endearing itself with the audience was the north india based story setting and language dialect. People who are not even remotely familiar with the colloqiual usage of the language may find it hard to appreciate the humour based on language and local customs.

Sans this aspect, I do not see anything lacking in the movie. All the actors perform well. Shreyas and Amrita do not disappoint. A good movie!

Nine on nine by Nandita C Puri

2008-09-03T23:36:00.005+05:30

I finished reading this book in a day. No no, its not too big a feat. I wanted to redeem the points that I had earned on my Citibank Account and this book was one of options. I ordered it and the book has been sitting pretty in my cupboard for quite sometime. The fact that the writer was the wife of actor Om Puri made me even more skeptical - you know these books written by the not so famous spouses of the supposedly famous ones.

But a day of boredom made me pick the book up and I have not regretted. A good read in my opinion. The book is a collection of nine short stories and one lazy day is enough to finish reading it.

All the stories are centered around women - particularly urban women. Thankfully, I feel, there has not been needless male bashing. Stories have been set up in various

backgrounds - here I see a bend towards stories set in a Bengali backdrop.

A few features of Puri's stories. Some of them have this suspense or climax factor to deliver the punch of the story. The first story titled "Arranged Marriage" is based in a Marathi household. It is definitely among the best of the nine. Another feature of her stories is the way she peppers the stories with vernacular words to give a feeling of belonging and realism. It works at times. At times it is overused.

There is another good story "Pages from Indulata Debi's diary". The female protagonist feels about her relationship with her estranged husband thus

Marriage had not been a rosy experience for her but she was determined to save it at all costs. 'It is better to deal with one wolf than to be left at the mercy of a whole pack'

Puri is also not very keen on giving every story a definite ending leave aside a happy one. I like this style because in real life too, each story does not really have an ENDING as such. Overall a good buy and a steal if you have enough points in your Citibank Account

Dear Friend

2008-09-02T00:04:00.001+05:30

Spotted this mail when I was cleaning up my inbox. Do not ask me why I put it here.

Dear friend,

I am Micheal Harni A former government official of Liberia. Following the exit of president Charles Taylor of Liberia from power under a West African brokered peace agreement, led by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo he was granted asylum by the Nigerian Government. In my position as the Financial Secretary to the President and close confidant, I left for Nigeria in his Entourage.

My country has been engulfed in Protracted Civil war with rebels controlling some parts of the country. During the war, President Taylor disbursed large sums of Monies to buy the loyalty of the entire cabinet,and I can say with all modesty that I was one of the Chief Beneficiaries of this disbursement. This is aside from monies I used my official position to acquire while in office. Since we relocated to Calabar, Southern Nigeria all has been well,but with the recent indictment of former President Taylor by the war crime tribunal sitting in Sierra Leone and confirmed reports of a dedicated fund by the American Government to capture him in order to face war crime charges have now decided to leave the country. Presently I have funds totaling United State $15,000,000. (Fifteen Million US Dollars) Which I intend to move oversea for investment and spend the rest of my life there with my family.

This transaction is risk-free as all local arrangement has been made.If you are prepared to assist to work with me I require the following:

Your Full Name and Address:

Your Telephone:

As Compensation for your assistance you will retain 15% of the Total sum, While 5% will be mapped out for local and International expenses. Though we are not known to each other, I strongly believe that through this transaction we would be able to forge a mutually beneficial relationship between us, now and in the future.

Finally, the success of this transaction will depend to a great extent on mutual trust, secrecy and Confidentiality from you.

I await your response by email: micheal.h876@gmail.com

Best Regards,
Micheal Harni.

Need a technical volunteer

2008-08-07T17:58:00.003+05:30

I write on a group blog, Think Change India.

Currently we are on the lookout for VOLUNTEERS with a background in CSS, WordPress and building websites. This is what the notice says:

TC-I is looking to build a new and better website for its readers. If you have a background in CSS, WordPress and building websites and are willing to volunteer to help please email info@thinkchangeindia.org.

The email address is there above. In case you are shy :-), you can mail me at aishmishra@thinkchangeindia.org

When a Tree Shook Delhi

2008-08-02T14:23:00.005+05:30

I read the book a few weeks back. It is a good book, one which generates a lot of emotion - emotions of the kind that one is normally filled with after reading a book or watching a movie with social issues and/or messages.

The book authored by Manoj Mitta and H S Phoolka deals with the 1984 Sikh riots. This is the first book that I have read about the carnage that followed the assassination of the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs Indira Gandhi. She was killed by her own "Sikh" bodyguards - it was an act to avenge Operation Blue Star - an operation in which the army stormed the Golden Temple at Amritsar to flush out militants holed up inside.

[While I was reading on the internet for more information - to ensure as unbiased a view as possible, I discovered a chronology: Khalistan Movement - Operation Blue Star - Indira Gandhi's assassination - Anti Sikh riots - Operation Black Thunder]. Do let me know if you see a scope for correction or addition]

The book traces the events starting with the killing of Indira Gandhi and the government-led massacre of Sikhs that followed. The book carries with it a good amount of credibility because (as the book itself says and I believe)

H S Phoolka, spearheaded the struggle for justice for carnage victims right from the beginning. Legal journalist Manoj Mitta served as catalyst to the cause by exposing cover-ups at critical stages.

It is a must read for everyone because:

It is a book that can be trusted. Written by two eminent people, it forms a good starting point to further your read on this topic.
It exposes the not-so-pleasant underbelly of Indian government machinery. It takes into consideration the loads of damning evidences that surfaced when Nanavati commission, which was asked to investigate the 1984 riots, started working.
It dispels any myth of Government's clean image. The complicity of the government of the day was starkly evident. People who chose to hear their conscience were straight-jacketed in one way or the other.

It also makes us think that we, as citizens of India, are not automatically guaranteed security by the government of the day. We, the largest democracy, are not the makers of the government but are at its mercy. We should inculcate the habit of questioning the decision of the government and not just resign ourselves to the fait accompli handed down to us.

Concluding this post, some of the links that I came across while reading on the internet are here:

http://lawandotherthings.blogspot.com/2007/11/when-tree-shook-delhi.html
Also, a very good blog

http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/jun/03spec.htm
A rediff special on 20 years of Operation Bluestar

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Army/History/1970s/Bluestar.html
Bharat Rakshak, a group of websites about the Indian Armed Forces

Such is life!

2008-06-29T11:08:00.004+05:30

Time and again I tend to go back to thinking about the "politicians" in our country. I am fully aware that every time the word is mentioned most of us develop a feeling of skepticism, cynicism, suspicion and despair. I include myself in that majority, though I would like to believe that I am more reasonable.

There are umpteen instances of capricious politicians - in power or otherwise - taking steps that do not display a hint of cerebrality. Be it diverting much-needed funds towards unimportant projects or ensuring that a child rescued from child labour actually gets to study. Be it giving cows to farmers suffering in Vidharba or fighting over reservation for women in Parliament just to install a proxy in the ladies' place - without generalising.

Another example is the closing down of dance bars in Maharashtra. Indiatogether features a book excerpt - Karma Sutra: Essays from the Margin by Rajendar Menen - based on the lives of dance girls.

The candidness of the girls brings us face to face to with the hardships of life. Citing moral reasons the government has pushed these girls towards a greater moral/physical hazard - prostitution. I am not a supporter of bar girls but I do oppose the move to impose restrictions which are nothing but decisions that have not been thought through.

Which brings us to the question of how should our leaders be elected and are there ways to stop them handing down populist and at times purely whimsical fait accompli?

What is good for us?

2008-06-26T01:35:00.004+05:30

Almost everyday we hear of China completing projects with the same speed at which MPs in our country rush to the well of the Parliament. Be it completing the first railway line to Tibet or building the Three Gorges Dam or something as recent as deploying an army of Janitors; In India we have examples of the jinxed Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, the mothballed Enron project or the Iran Pakistan India pipeline.

My query is: What is lacking in our current leadership OR is it something in the Chinese leadership that has gone amiss?

PS: I am already expecting replies on the lines of - "You do not talk about the Delhi Metro Rail or the Golden Quadrilateral" or "You do not talk about summary trials and execution of offenders in China".