Shikari Shambu's Machan

Law and Order in India ... crisis of credibility

2009-08-30T08:44:00.001-05:00

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Indian judiciary's crisis of credibility

Need I say anymore?

Chicago is on BBC... way to go

2009-08-17T19:33:00.000-05:00

BBC NEWS | Americas | Chicago shuts down to save money

My home city loves to take the spotlight for the wrong reasons (to be fair, there are some right reasons). Anyway, I believe the city is shutting down "non-essential" services to bridge the budget deficit. Wonder whether "non essential" services includes the entire "Lets blow everything on the Olympics," too.

Misplaced priorities?

2009-08-16T10:43:00.004-05:00

Last December while I was visiting India I was bombarded with with opinions from well heeled Indians on how the US could elect a "dimwit" like GWB twice, how wonderful Obama is/ how well he speaks, how important it is to rein in the run away health care costs and have universal health care in America. I listened to these in amusement and growing anger. Pretty much everything they brought up was applicable to India where they had a right to volunteer, vote and make a difference. So, what had they done - not voted most of the time and used that to wash their hands off the wonderful leaders' performance. While they enjoy watching US election and policy debates they don't demand or care for debates on policies that their government creates.

While I am not sure if GWB was smarter and more articulate than most Indian leaders, I am pretty sure that most these people would not know what their leaders were saying even if they were saying something sensible because of the language issue. Hindi (or, any local language) is not in fashion, "Hinglish" is. And, all said and done US electorate voted for GWB, how many of the Indian leaders were elected by the Indian electorate. Dr. Manmohan Singh was a compromise choice who never figured as a potential choice the first time around. And, let us not talk about health insurance or universal health care in India - it has never featured as an issue both with the politicians or the general public. I guess, that would not be an issue for my conversation partners. They can afford it in India. They are more concerned about their 3-6 month trips to the US visiting their children.

More recently, I brought up the topic of Universal Identity card - an ambitious project that government of India decided to launch without any discussion or policy on national identity. And, as if that was not enough they decided to install Nandan Nilekani, the former CEO of Indian IT giant Infosys, to head the initiative on the sly. And, of course, the current Infosys CEO does not feel any conflict of interest if his firm was to be chosen as the implementor. When I suggested that the hallmark of a good democracy is transparency and involvement of the citizens in developing policies that affect them the response I got was - "Do you think Dr. Manmohan Singh and Nandan Nilekani are not smart? They know what they are doing." It is not about whether they know what they are doing or whether they are smart, it is about transparency in actions and citizens involvement. Can the Government of India tell its people why Universal ID is a pressing issue, whether the existing illegal immigrants will get IDs and the estimated cost and schedule of its implementation. They have installed an implementor to head the initiative without defining the policies.

Then, there is the pesky issue of child malnutrition ( Indian malnutrition stats are worse than that of Sub Saharan Africa). Hell, that is not an issue. Instead, we take pride in the fact that we have not had any famine since we got independence while we had a few under British rule. True, that is an achievement (of sorts) but what is the point if these children are just alive but nothing else. My conversation partners where more concerned about children in Africa.

The most amusing topic was the discussion on food prices. Guess what my conversation partner used for comparison of food prices in India to that in the US to drive home the point that "food prices in India are way out of control and the poor cannot afford it" - Apple pie. Yes, I am not making it up. All that I could tell this person was - there is a reason why they say - "As American as motherhood and apple pie."

China gets a taste of India

2009-07-16T07:49:00.001-05:00

NYT: ‘Vicious’ brawl lit fuse for China riots - The New York Times- msnbc.com

For someone who grew up in India, this thing is very familiar. Now, if China was democracy like India, there will be "leaders" who will "fight to address the injustices" and make this a regular happening. And, maybe Raj Thackeray and his buddies will be able to export their brand of "leadership" to China.

NOIMBY...No Olympics In My Backyard

2009-06-17T20:27:00.002-05:00

I hope and pray that Chicago does not win the 2016 bid. The city should spend its money and resources on making it better and balancing the budget rather than creating a legacy for its mayor and line the pockets of officials and businessmen of the city and crook county.

I wish there were more like Tinish

2009-05-16T22:55:00.002-05:00

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Lone Indian voter defies mob

I happened to ask a friend of mine who lives in India whether he had voted. His response was - too much of a hassle, no candidate worth voting and effort not worth it. He, of course, is not the only one - my in-laws have only started voting after their retirement. Their story was - work required posting in different places, could not handle the hassle of making sure they were on the local electoral list etc... Of course, all of them complain about the quality of the leadership, corruption and what not...

Jai Ho...India is shining

2009-05-16T22:32:00.004-05:00

Once more everyone has been confounded by the verdict delivered by the world's largest democracy. Lucky for me, I am no expert on elections or Indian politics. I only got two posts wrong (that is about 66% of all posts on elections that I made). I did not think Dr. Shashi Tharoor would win and I did wonder aloud if "Jai Ho" would be a disaster like "India Shining". Dr. Tharoor won handsomely and "Jai Ho" continued its winning ways...this time for Congress(I) in the Indian elections.

Overall, I am glad with the outcome of the elections. I may not agree with the results but I do think it is better to have continuity for some time rather than changing governments like a heroine changing outfits during a song sequence in a Bollywood movie, it is better to have a strong mandate for a single party rather than a coalition of power hungry parties, the left parties have been left out and that Mayawati's vulgar ambitions have been trampled. So, is there anything to feel bad? Sure. I feel bad that Mumbai, my favorite city, decided that elections did not matter. 43% turnout is pretty pathetic. I thought Mumbiakars knew better - it is showing up for elections, not for candle light vigils that matter. As they say "Bad politicians are elected by good citizens who fail to vote" and "you only get what you deserve."

Shashi Tharoor wins in Kerala... Has hell frozen over?

2009-05-16T22:06:00.003-05:00

It is official. Shashi Tharoor has won the Indian elections from Thiruvanthapuram. Congratulations to him. I never expected this to happen. Now that it has happened, am I glad that it has happened? I don't know. A few days back an anonymous commenter to my earlier post "Is Shashi Tharoor eligible for ST quota?" had asked me whether I would change my views if he wins. The answer is "No." And, why should I?

I have reasonably high regard for Dr. Tharoor as a writer and a diplomat. I don't think there is enough in his resume to judge him as a leader of Indian people or a politician. He is going to have to do that, now. As Tom Hanks' character in "Saving Private Ryan" says to Private Ryan, "Now, earn it.", Dr. Tharoor has been given a mandate and now he has to earn it.

I am not sure what the voters were thinking. Is this hope triumphing over reason? Or, is it cynicism triumphing over reason? Or, is it sense and reason in action? And, have the folks in Kerala gotten over the parochial narrowness that they are known for. I, like, Dr. Tharoor am a non-resident malayalee - NRM. Unlike him I was born there and have lived there for a few years. I even did my undergraduate degree in Kerala and was referred to, at various times, as "Pandi" (since I did my schooling in Tamilnadu), "Britisher" (because, I preferred talking in English) and "Dollar" (when I started applying for masters programs in the US). Or, did Kerala fall for the "glamour" factor? Neighboring Tamilnadu always had a weakness for its movie stars. Maybe, Kerala has a weakness for its diplomats. Anyway, I do hope that what happened to Rajiv Gandhi does not happen to Dr. Tharoor. Someone once described Rajiv Gandhi's years as - "He tried to change the system. But, the system changed him."

Needed... someone with Photoshop skills @ White House

2009-05-09T19:33:00.000-05:00

White House aide resigns over NYC flyover - White House- msnbc.com

The Obama administration might have a CIO and a CTO but they seem to lack folks with Photoshop skills. I bet if they had someone with decent photoshop skills they could have avoided the NYC flyover incident and the associated ruckus. Maybe the aide who resigned might consider taking some photoshop lessons.

Is Shashi Tharoor eligible for ST quota?

2009-05-01T21:30:00.003-05:00

Ok, the title is rather provocative and figment of my imagination*. I have lot of respect for Shashi Tharoor. So, it was with some amusement, concern and disgust that I greeted the news of him standing for the Indian parliamentary elections from the south indian city of Thiruvanthapuram. He has snowball's chance in hell in making a mark, leave alone winning the constituency.

Almost all well meaning Indians of reasonable charisma and fame sooner or later decide that the way to "serve" the country is by becoming an elected representative. I thought Dr. Tharoor was smarter to fall for that (Maybe, he went off the rockers when he did not become the UN Secretary General. Or, maybe, the keralite in him caused him to reconnect with Kerala on retirement, just like a lot of Non-resident malayalis (NRM) do). For a man who has lived almost all of his entire adult life outside the country (leave alone Thiruvanthapuram) to think he can connect with the people and can fulfill the role of their representative smacks of naiveté. Dr. Tharoor does a great job of presenting India to Indians and the world from his vantage position of a native looking in from the outside. However, elected representatives need to be insiders looking out. And, no, I don't think they need to be natives.

PS: I don't think just because his initials are ST (scheduled tribe) gives his any advantage. And, the constituency where he is contesting is not a reserved constituency.

Imagine Jaswant Singh as a Gurkha....hahaha...

2009-04-25T20:02:00.003-05:00

Elections in India is always an interesting affair. It is a theatre of the absurd. So, chalk this one under that.

I believe Jaswant Singh, the former external affairs minister, who accompanied terrorists to Kandahar to release them in exchange for the hijacked Indian Airlines plane in Dec 1999, is standing for elections from the heart of Gorkhaland - Darjeeling. Yes, you got it right - a federal ministry from the largest democracy accompanied the terrorists and released them to put an end to the hijacking. That must constitute bravery. I bet the brave Gurkhas need someone as brave as Jawant Singh amidst them. Ahem...Or, maybe the BJP thinks Jaswant can develop some nerves of steel if he is amidst the Gurkhas.

Which way?

2009-03-20T14:59:00.001-05:00

The two big buys that Tata motors did seem to be on two ends of the quality/ reliability spectrum. Wonder which way they will move under the Tatas.

Got a raise... while unemployed

2009-03-12T09:30:00.003-05:00

I finally got a raise... my first raise in 2+ years. It came through the unemployment insurance check courtesy the Federal Additional Compensation Program. There in lies the irony. Ever since I started working for a startup in the fall of 2006 I had not gotten a raise. In fall of 2007 I was told that they were putting a formal evaluation and pay cycle scheduled to go into effect in Feb 2008 and all adjustments would happen then. Come Feb 2008 I was told that the company has not met its goals so while they would like to give me a raise they can't. There was no official communication. My manager kept the discussion about it alive till June of 2008. Then, I realized that this was never going to happen.

Is "Jai Ho" the new "India Shining"?

2009-03-06T11:36:00.001-06:00

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Jai Ho 'cost Congress $200,000'

They say nothing succeeds like success. I bet that is what Congress-I (Do we have variants with all 26 letters? Not yet.) is hoping. I guess they are hoping that the feel good factor of "Jai Ho" will translate into electoral victory. However, it is quite possible that this might be the new "India Shining."

During the last elections the rival BJP launched a polished, feel good, rah-rah campaign highlighting how things have changed for the better. Little did they expect that the campaign title would boomerang. The english only title was considered a great example of the issues with the developments that had happened - only the educated elite were getting the benefits. I am not sure how well this stuck with the public the end result was BJP did not win enough to form the next government.

So, will "Jai Ho" be the sound of "selling out to the west" or "poverty porn" or just a "fantasy that only happens in Bollywood movies." BTW, does Slumdog qualify as Bollywood movie? I think so. The theme is even though the guys made it are not.

Aiyo rama it is not Valentine's day but Pink Chaddi day

2009-02-12T10:26:00.004-06:00

I love this one - very creative. I hate the morality ~~police~~ goons. Sri Ram Sena is nothing but a bunch of thughs who have banded together and branded themselves.

It is interesting that all issues in India seem to have Ram as the common thread – Ram janmabhoomi, Ram sethu and Sri Ram sena. I always though Ram as the national mythological hero was a bad choice. They say he is the “Adarsh Purush” (ideal man). Is he really? First, he blindly follows his parents order. Then, he kills Vali by deceit for Sugreeva. And, finally, decides to go with the masses and doubt his wife’s chastity. So, what is so “ideal” about these actions?

I wish it was Krishna who was the national mythological hero. In him you have a “rock star” – favorite of women (note: I did not say he was a womanizer), good with the flute (did Ram have any talent. He sounds like a whiner to me), inspiring leader (he got Arjuna to drink his “kool-aid” ) and shrewd tactician (how many times did he pull tricks to win the game?). I bet he would have seen the humor in the “Pink Chaddi” campaign. Hell, he probably would have had a collection of pink chaddis:).

Separated

2009-02-03T16:30:00.001-06:00

The New Year got off to a rough start for me. I returned from a month long vacation (half of it was unpaid and the rest was all the vacation days that I had shored up for this trip to India) to work to find that I have no work. My boss (the CTO) of the company told me that due to financial difficulties the company was going through another round of layoffs. Since they had decided to stop all IT initiatives they did not need someone to define and manage IT initiatives.

So, here I am looking for a new job. A recruiter that I talked to mentioned that I should not use "eliminated" or "layoff" as they have negative connotations. Instead, he suggested, I should use "separated." Well, "separated" it is even though it does not change the reality. Someone else told me that averaging 2 yrs at a job does not sit well. True. I would not hire someone who changes jobs every two years. And, in the first 8 years of my work I was a sucker for the newest technology. I changed jobs every two years to work on the latest thing. In the last 10 years it has been the economy and the companies who have been prompting my job changes. One company that I worked for kept laying off people every 3 months that I finally quit after being there for 6 rounds of layoffs; the other decided consulting was not for them; the next two failed (one of them managed to sell themselves before it went under)

Someone once asked me - "How long can a 'start-up' call itself a 'start-up'?" I had no answer for that one. My former employer has been in business for 3 years and is down by $35MM. In B-school they said investors look for 3x3 or 5x5 returns (i.e. 3x returns in 3 years etc...) I bet this is not what they had in mind. Anyway, what do you call a 'start-up' that is in this state? Wind-down.

Back to the job hunt.

Bangalored is so passe... Why not get Bengalured?

2009-01-29T14:54:00.003-06:00

I am not sure when the word (can you even call it a word) "Bangalored" first made appearance (according to Wiktionary it was in 2003). It is at least about five years old. Now, I have no issues with the word. But, I realize that we need a new word for all the Indians and non-Indians who have decided to give Indian sub-continent a try. How about "Bengalured"? It even has the new name for Bangalore in it.

Bengalured (verb)
Simple past tense and past participle of Bengaluru.
Relocated to Bengaluru, or India (or, any improbable location) in search of new opportunities.

James Matthew is onto something

2008-11-18T21:10:00.005-06:00

James Matthew runs a heating and cooling company in the Chicagoland. No big deal. There are a number of desis running their own business. Every year around September I get a mailer from his company about the Fall specials he has for furnace/humidifier cleaning. The mailer is thing of beauty. It has the colors of the Indian flag on it including the chakra. I am not sure how James got my name and address (maybe there is a desi mailing list). Anyway, smart move. So, after about four years of getting this mailer and not trying out the service, I decided to give it a try. I called James and he came (a bit late but a lot better than the three hour window that you have to live with Comcast or ComEd. Maybe, he was just trying to keep this Indian theme going). Turns out James is of Indian origin but was not born in India, nor did he grow up in India. And, he has only been to kerala twice.

I want to believe that James has different mailer for different nationalities he targets. And, even if he does not he has managed to do something that the Indian government has failed to do - promote brand India.

High Rate of H-1B Visa Fraud says BusinessWeek

2008-10-13T15:17:00.004-05:00

High Rate of H-1B Visa Fraud - BusinessWeek

So, where is the news? What is new? The article is written in such a way that it makes you think that the companies using the H1-B program the most (i.e. Indian companies) are the ones most responsible for fraud without making explicit claims or citing evidence.

The story for H1-B folks being paid less than market rate is often quoted but hard to substantiate. The market rate is not a single figure but a range and I bet every one of these H1-B folks fall within the range. The companies that employ H1-B folks benefit financially without having to resort to lower wages. Most H1-B folks tend to amass their vacation for one large vacation trip. That makes it easy for companies to plan for their absence. Quite often these vacations happen between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when majority of the companies do not have any major initiatives happening. Then, there is the wait for "green card" which makes these folks bonded laborers to these firms without having to sign such an employement contract. And, finally, there is the Social Security taxes that these folks contribute but may not see unless they become a citizen and Social Security program is still solvent.

So, who is being had, by whom?

Smoking ban will paint the town(s) red...literally

2008-10-02T09:38:00.001-05:00

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Indian ban on smoking in public

This is a great idea for the cops to make some extra money on the side (not that they did not have options to do it). I also think this will make people switch to domestic alternatives like chewing tobacco with betel leaves. Hey, smokeless tobacco is big business worldwide. Altria (i.e. Philip Morris in its new avatar) recently bought UST Inc. (US Tobacco).

Yet another bomb blast...what is the big deal?

2008-09-14T08:53:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, it was Delhi's turn. Not that it never had its chance before. And, nor did it have to wait for too long. Every time a bomb goes off (these days it seems to be a few at the same time. Can we call that "progress?”) the reactions are pretty much the same.

The leaders of the government wag their fingers say something like "... this cannot break our resolve... we are committed to being secular...we will catch the perpetrators." They used to blame the "foreign hand" and ISI. That has reduced a bit these days since we no longer need to "import" this expertise but have managed to develop a large pool of well-trained resources with local and foreign expertise.

The leaders of the various political parties point fingers at each other, blame it on "minority" / or, "majority" appeasement, failure to implement anti-terror laws like POTA/TADA or, the implementation of it as the cause.

The leaders of the police claim almost immediately that they have strong/ vital leads. Now, don't ask how they who were totally clueless about the blasts suddenly have strong leads to solve it.

The media expresses outrage, sheds crocodile tears, and waits for the next big thing to increase their circulation or rating. And, the people carry about their daily lives as if this is something they expect in regular intervals.

Why is it that there is no sustained effort at all levels (from individual citizens to the leaders of the government) to tackle the problem head-on? Or, have we succumbed to the "karma" concept and think that we "deserve" this? Unless people of all walks of lives and political colors take to the streets and make an issue of this and keep it sustained there will be no political will. The politicians are so wrapped in figuring out how to complete the current term and possibly win the next term that they do not care a bit about the country or its citizens. The law and order establishment does things to the bidding of their political masters. So, little wonder that those "strong leads" do not resolve the case in the next five years. And, if they manage to "solve" then the judgment is still reserved. As for the media, they will only focus on stuff that bring them revenue/ ratings - things that keep the interest of the public for long time. Little wonder why cricket is discussed and shown a lot more than anything of importance to the society and the nation.

Our Internet site will be available... intermittently

2008-08-27T12:43:00.001-05:00

I have been trying to access the website of FirstandSecond.com, which bills itself as India's biggest bookstore over the last 24 hours. The darn site has been down for "Technical Upgradation." I have never seen a technical upgrade take an online business offline for a whole day. And, they have the chutzpah to suggest "...use this opportunity to take a break from net surfing..." I guess someone forgot to tell them that the reason they want people coming to their site is to buy (and, not just surf) and while their site may be down the rest of the Internet is available (and, that includes that of their competitor(s) like Landmarkonthenet). Imagine Amazon being down for 24hours back in 1995 or 1996. I bet it was unacceptable even then. I guess, even the Internet moves at the slow pace of Indian Stretchable Time.

I am no user experience expert but the quality of the user interface and content on most Indian sites is lamentable. It is as if their "must have" list consists of - scrolling text and flashing images. And, the "nice to haves" are fly-out images and pop-ups/pop-unders. Compare rediff.com with yahoo or msn, it is as if rediff is stuck in 1996. Someone once remarked "...India is an assault on your senses... all senses... all the time." The Indian websites seem to be an assault on your sensibilities when they are up.

Corporate websites of IT services providers seem to be the best of the lot. And, even here, there seems to be a correlation between the quality of the site and the amount of revenues earned from abroad. I am not saying that the site quality is allowing them to generate more revenues. The greater the interactions with firms and people in other geographies the greater the incentive to put something better out.

It is participation that counts... yeah right!

2008-08-24T11:37:00.004-05:00

About four years back, when I was in B-school, a classmate of mine did a class paper on relationship between populations, economic factors to Olympic medals. The outlier in his analysis was India, which has a large population, and decent PPP GDP. This analysis pretty much confirms it.

There is certainly a lot to cheer about India's performance. For the first time an Indian won an Olympic gold in an individual event. And, Indian performance in the 2008 Beijing Olympics bettered its performance in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. 56 years is an awful long time. The lessons from Beijing are clear - In India, it is better to get the government out of the way to make progress. Unlike China, Indian government has an impeccable record of screwing up things. Take the case of field hockey. The team did not even make it to the Olympics. Of course, that did not stop them from sending four coaches to Beijing to "observe."

Let us hope that good sense prevail, the Government gets out of the way, the corporations and media step in to create a better talent pool and Abhinav Bindra remains a player in shooting and not a player in politics as a member of Rajya Sabha. Being nominated to Rajya Sabha is no honor for someone like Bindra. It will do good for everyone to remember that... "We are all fools, in different subjects."

Race and religion...comparing India to the US

2008-08-17T09:47:00.002-05:00

It is often said that the United States has a very clear separation between state and religion, and it has made great strides in overcoming racial inequality. And, often the comment about India is that it is mired by caste and religion. But, what does this mean to an average person in both places.

Take for example the US election of 2008. It has been said by more than a few that having an African American candidate shows the strides US has made in overcoming racial inequality. Some have even gone on to say that having an African American as the president would mean racial inequality is a thing of the past. But, is it truly so. Every day I take the public transport (the "El") to work. I often observe how the seats get filled on the "El." It is a study of people's prejudices. Invariably, seats next to African Americans are the last to be taken. I bet statistical analysis of the sample will show that this is not a random phenomenon.

In India, we have had at least one "untouchable" President but even I would not say that everyone in India is treated equal. However, I do know that rarely will people avoid certain seats on the public transport because of the caste of the other person. This is because often there is no way to determine the caste of the other person from their physical attributes.

So, you have a group of people in the US who on a day to-day basis see and feel some form of prejudice against them even when they are not directly interacting with the other party (and, see less or no prejudice when they are interacting directly with the other party). And, in India, you have groups of people who may not see any prejudice until they are directly interacting with the other party.

Now, you may argue that I am mixing race and caste. I think that is just arguing over the use of right words. I guess what I am trying to say is people everywhere feel at ease with people who look and act like them.

When it comes to religion, both India and the US are secular states. Yet, their approach to secularism is quite different and the results have been quite different (Just compare the number of religion related clashes/ incidents). Are the results different because of the approach? I don't know. I would argue that the people in the US practice a good number of religions/ beliefs. It may not be the same as in India but in terms of percentages they might be in the same league.

For a nation, that professes separation of state and religion US is obsessed with religion. The candidate's religion/ beliefs are a key part of their candidature. Barrack Obama has gone to great lengths to prove that he is a Christian (and hide his middle name - Hussein). The only religious holiday in the country is Christmas and you will see the state spending lot of money to decorate the city and buildings for this holiday. Compare this with India where there have been Muslim presidents, Christian Chief Ministers (Governors), the state has holidays for pretty much every possible religion (I call India - Bumper Holiday Nation) and the state does not spend money decorating buildings for any religious holiday.

So, what makes Africans still move to the US in search of opportunities even when African Americans make noise about the inequality and US has a lot less race/caste and religion related incidents than India? I think the law, the rules and their implementation is a clear and consistent in the US. So, while not everyone agrees with it, it has enough "buy-in." As for religion, in the US, for the most part, the state does not involve itself with religion even if its subjects feel strongly about their beliefs. In India, the state is involved in religion trying to "balance" the differences in numbers. And, when there is not enough to go around for everyone, state's effort to "balance" based on race/caste and/or religion results in everyone feeling that they have been cheated out of fair deal.

Economics of Conversions

2008-07-31T11:26:00.002-05:00

Religious conversions | The moment of truth | Economist.com

It is alternately amusing and alarming to read the simplistic views magazines like The Economist put out regarding conversions and castes. Or, the simplistic approach pushes their viewpoint. At least, when it comes to India and conversions there are a lot more. Simply put when there is not enough to go around for all giving benefits to a few based on their religion or caste is going to cause issues.

I do not understand why religious conversions where prosthelization is involved is not considered as dangerous as racism. After all, it comes from the belief that "my religion/ faith is better than yours. And, you are damned unless you convert to mine."

As for India, the government's effort at "secularism" has caused polarization of religions/ faiths. How you may ask. There is religion based voting districts, economic reservations. In all these, the people who practice the majority religion and the small minority religions that do not feel the need to market themselves or assert their superiority are given a raw deal. And, to add insult to injury the government controls/ appoints people to religious institutions of majority religion when they do not even monitor the source of funds for others.

Ultimately, one cannot deny the "economics of conversion." The folks who are converting (at least the majority of them) are not converting because they had the same epiphany that Marc Schleifer, mentioned in the article, had. They are trying to find their way out of oppressing economic circumstances they are in due to social (caste) or economic (access to opportunities) or both. Unfortunately, they realize a little later that the social (caste) issues cut across religion. In India, you have separate Dalit (what you generally classify as "untouchable") Christian churches in a class/ caste less religion. Christians in Kerala and Mangalore take pride it telling everyone that they were high caste Hindus before conversion. The reason most of these high caste Hindus converted was again social oppression.

I remember reading an article by Germaine Greer who questioned Mother Theresa's charity. If the poor need to give up their faith to be saved what is so magnanimous about it. That was her question. I think the answer is we are all animals - our sense of self-preservation is better defined than our sense of belief/ faith/ religion etc...