What can you do with Rs100 ?

Across the globe people are deeply dissatisfied with their governments and leaders. No one buys their glib talk anymore. Here is an example why;

In the lower house of the Indian Parliament called the 'Lok Sabha', a government MP (Member of Parliament) narrated a story to glorify his leader .....

"There was a father who gave 100  Rupees each to his 3 children and asked them to buy things and completely fill up a room.

First son bought hay for 100  Rupees but couldn't fully fill the room.

Second son bought cotton worth 100  Rupees but unable to fill the room completely.

Third son bought a candle for One  Rupee and lit it up and the room was filled with light completely."

The MP added "Our Prime Minister is like the third son. From the day he has taken charge of his office, our country is filled with the bright light of prosperity"

A voice from the opposition asked "Where are the remaining 99 Rupees??

The angry elephant has now begun to run free

• Why do powerful elephants tethered by just a a slender chain remain calm, peaceful and productive?
• What allows a relatively puny man to control the giant? 
• Why does the elephant not break free which it can very easily do?

To domesticate and control the fiercest of animals, man breaks the spirit of the animal. The mahout ties the baby elephant up and no amount of resistance or opposition helps.

The calf is also beaten selectively and kept hungry for extended periods. 

At last the calf develops a fearful and submissive attitude towards its master. Any deemed act of opposition will be met with pain and torture. 

The small chain becomes a powerful psychological restraint.  The same technique used by despotic /exploitative rulers and corrupt administrators to break the spirit of the people that they rule or seek to control.

Emasculating the population, autocratic and thus arrogant rulers do pretty much what they want, even so under the guise of a democracy. Sadly this has been the case in India since past five decades.

The problem with corruption and exploitation is that it feeds on itself continuously and always spirals downward and things keep getting worse until something snaps.

Similarly when an elephant has been pushed too hard and is made to work perversely and harder just to enrich its master, its enormous patience gets exhausted. It then rebels against its  own mahout and attacks and kills him and also destroys all those structures and people directly associated with the mahout.

The noose of injustice, bad governance and exploitation by our own leaders and government has been tightening steadily but has now accelerated greatly in the recent past.  The liberalised Indian economy provides great opportunity for the development of our economy but also the perfect way for corrupt people to launder their money and bring it back into India through various front entities.

How else can one explain Mauritius with a current GDP of US$ 8 Billion investing US$ 205 Billion in a decade in India alone? So rampant and insatiable has been the greed of many of our officials and elected representative that it is open and shameless and even considered a badge of honour to be seen to be corrupt.

Like the elephant the people of India have broken their chains. They have rediscovered a true spirit thought to be long broken and dead.

On the proposed Lokpal bill, our cunning political leaders and the arrogant government still see Appu the tame elephant  which can be ignored and at worst be threatened into submission.  

The trumpeting is getting louder by the day as the elephant is walking free and unchallenged in the middle of the city, as yet unsure what to do.

The  Jan Lokpal bill need to be discussed and a broad consensus has to be evolved for an adequate and effective anti corruption solution but ignoring the writing on the wall and showing utter disdain and contempt for the people's popular expression is fraught with grave dangers.  What Anna Hazare has done is, reignited a spirit into the Indian people.  

The elephant has realised just  a bit of its immense power. It must be handled with fairness and respect that it  justifiably demands. The mahout which is the government must realise its folly and make amends and try to win back its elephant. In spite of all the provocation the elephant is merely running free and only showing its displeasure. If the politicians and the government do not respect the elephant and enrage it further, they are in real danger of getting grievously hurt if not mortally, much like the arrogant and foolish mahouts. 

The government has a few draconian laws and also enormous firepower in its police force and its para military. They believe they can bring down the angry elephant. With their finger on the trigger all they are looking is for an excuse to put down the elephant. It is not inconceivable for the politicians to engineer riots, but that may just enrage a giant herd of elephants.

History shows that evil and corrupt rulers look their strongest just before they collapse.

A Victory for Credibility.

Great personalities generate movements and phenomena million fold more powerful than they achieve as individuals. Anna Hazare is one such individual. Love him or hate him but you can't ignore Anna Hazare.

Anna has unleashed a thunderbolt of civic indignation and touched the consciousness of the Indian masses. More incredible was that it is backed by an Indian populace which had accepted and abetted corruption as a way of existence for most of their life.


Since dawn of time, exploitation has been a reality. As can be seen in nature, a good exploiter normally the parasite exploits only to the extent that the host is able to sustain. This is not because parasites are kind they will ensure that the host cannot escape or will not die, so that the parasite can continue to feed off and exploit the host.

Unfortunately the politicians, bureaucrats, and many officials have been excessive in their exploitation and now it appears that they will destroy the very society that they have sworn to serve and protect. Many are parasitic and feel they have many hosts that they can feed off and do not mind killing off the hosts by sucking the life out of them.

A little 'baksheesh' was always considered acceptable for work done or support or advice provided. Nowadays so pandemic corruption has become that the cost of corruption is greater than the cost of genuine business, not only in monetary terms but in wasted time and resources.

It is hoped that the movement will hopefully singe the parasites, but there lurks a real danger that the seething anger is giving rise to a firestorm that may engulf both good along with the bad.
If uncontrolled, like a tsunami it will lay to waste a lot in its path.

What do Anna Hazare and his close associates like Kiran Bedi have that they have won the hearts and minds of a large number of Indians?

CREDIBILITY.

Credibility is something that the political leaders lack in spite of numerous pontificating speeches and press conferences. Everything they utter is treated with disdain and suspicion. If they cannot convince they confuse and if they cannot confuse they corrupt the system.

If all else fails they set the various government agencies to hound those who dare to question them. Prime weapon is of course the tax departments followed by numerous other agencies with unbridled power to disrupt lives and commerce.


Credibility gaps in the Government and political leadership are;

1. Government is headed by a Prime Minister who until recently was viewed with great respect and therefore of whom the whole nation has great expectations. Now charged with dereliction of duty and blatant omissions in his administration. Disappointment is high because expectations are great.
2. Government is now run by family cartels.
3. Average thirty fold increase in declared net worth of members of parliament in each term served.
4. Ostentatious lifestyle of leaders
5. Acts do not match words.
6. Zero tolerance for dissent.
7. Presence of significant number of criminals in government and political parties nurturing criminals.
8. Aggressive and overbearing in its approach
9. Making life more difficult and stressful for society. 

Credibility advantages of Anna Hazare;

1. Headed by Anna Hazare, a Gandhian who always practices what he preaches.
2. Consistent and works democratically
3. Spartan lifestyle
4. Surrounded by illustrious and highly respected and clean individuals
5. Very little assets if any at all 
6. Dignified and passive in approach.
7. Firm and consistent with deeds matching words

Only time will tell if David will win or Goliath will crush the challenger to his authority and power. At the moment Anna Hazare has the support of the people and the moral advantage, while the ruling Congress party has the political legitimacy and the brute force.

Why is the government unable to persuade the people to accept their view? Why is it that many of us are unable to get our point across and to be belived?


The important lesson to be drawn for all of us in all walks of life can be gleaned from Edward Murrow’s quote; "To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful."

Burn Out

Photo by Sanjay Kothari.    www.sanjaykothari.com      

Burnout

Complaining has become a national pastime. Though pessimism makes people appear intelligent and concerned, no complainer ever solved any problem.

People foolishly think, that merely by wringing their hands and clicking on 'likes' on social media their problems will somehow magically get solved.

People who can do anything usually do something. It seems that those who cannot do anything, usually complain. Actually, most people can actually do something, rarely try,  because they suffer from something called 'Burnout'.

What is burnout?
First reported by researchers in 1974 to describe long term unresolvable stress. Simply put 'Burnout' is the feeling of helplessness and the realisation that it is futile to even try to effect any change. 

Though there are many reasons, modern social expectations and work pressure seems to be the main culprit for burnout. Burnout produces cynical, bad tempered people who suffer from physical and emotional exhaustion. Burnt-out individuals display 80% of the same symptoms as people suffering clinical depression.

Modernity has mostly produced a depersonalised humanity, a society of organisations, which are directly or indirectly connected to an obscenely gigantic government. 
No individual is free to say, do or pursue what he or she wants without being challenged or obstructed by some organisation, usually a government department or organisation. Most organisations being bureaucratic in nature, over time rot and become dysfunctional. Therefore they tend to be unresponsive and significantly detached from the needs of the people they employ or are paid to serve, they become obstructive.
  

Its important to remember that in any conflict between a good individual and a bad system, the bad system always wins. This is because the faceless organisation has the resources power and time to frustrate and exhaust the individual. 


A cruel but powerful illustration of burnout can be observed in an experiment carried out by scientists on rats in a laboratory. 

In this experiment rats were placed in two different cages. 
Both cages were wired so that disturbing electricity could flow through the floor of the cage. However in first cage there existed a red lever, which, when bumped against would cause the electrical current to cease flowing. In the second cage there were no options to stop the electrical current flow by the rats.

When activated the first group of mice very quickly learnt to stop the current by bumping against the lever. They neutralised the threat having learnt how to respond. 

In the second group the mice went into a frenzy whenever the current was passed and after some time they merely lay down to await their death..

Now the group of mice were interchanged between the cages. The same current was passed. The mice that learnt of the red lever kept on trying to find solutions. Eventually this group of mice tore open the bottom of the aluminium cage and chewed and short circuited the wires and shut off the flow of the deadly current. They had developed an attitude to find solutions and survive.


 The second group even though having an option to stop the current simply lay down and waited for death rather than looking for solutions. Solutions that were there glaringly right in front of them. They were experiencing burnout.



This is why a small chain can tether a large elephant , because as a calf the baby elephant is conditioned to believe that fighting the chain is useless and the creature should stay put when the chain is fastened around its foot. Its burnout in childhood.  


The human animal is not much different and this is why organised religions take so much interest in the education of the young. Mass education often burns out children before they can even flower.

Have you noticed that many organisations phase out people after a particular age in spite of them being knowledgeable and experienced. Why? Because the system has burnt them out.
They are unable to cope with change and adapt.


Burnout results in people being defeated by indifference, incompetence etc. This could help explain why citizens are unmoved by harmful things like pollution, crime, corruption, violence and unresponsive organisations and governments etc. Once burnt-out people get emasculated and become docile and passive. 

This is why revolutions and changes are almost always initiated by young people that have not yet burnt-out. They do not know what they cannot do, so they often do the seemingly impossible or inconceivable.


Even for the not so young, there is hope, for humans are very resilient. 'The Yellow Vest Protest' revolution currently consuming France shows that, given enough provocation, passion can often be reignited even in Burnt-Out people. 

_________________

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Law and Disorder

                                                  LAW and DISORDER

India has always been an enigma not only to the world but even to us Indians

We are drowning in a sea of corruption, dysfunctional institutions, pathetic government and exhausted citizens.

How can there be so many problems and yet the country continues to be the second fastest growing economy in the world?

My theory of 'Law and Disorder' could help explain. The first part is given below.

We swear by democracy and feel proud that we are the largest one, but is our pride justified?  Why are we as a nation making rapid material progress and yet in plummeting morals?

One only has to take a look at the nation’s leaders; the composition of the 543 member ‘Lok Sabha’ the lower house of the Indian Parliament to get an idea;

• 6  members are currently lodged in jail.
• 29 members have been charged with spouse abuse.
• 7 members have been arrested for fraud.
• 19 members have more than three criminal cases pending against them.
• 119 members have been charged and being investigated for serious cases pending against them, these include, rape, murder, extortion and robbery.
• 71 members cannot get credit or loans due to bad credit histories.
• 21 members are currently defendants in various lawsuits.
• 84 members have been involved in serious offenses and have paid fines

More than 27% of our elected leaders are suspected or out on bail for major criminal offences. As per Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) an NGO 150 of the 543 parliamentarians have criminal charges against them. The leaders of the masses who have the responsibility for leading the country and for enforcing the law are themselves highly suspect.

It is a known fact that just as the family follows the head so do the masses follow the leaders. What the leaders project in terms of values and conduct is what the masses emulate.


This is what a large majority of our political leadership has done and continues to do. 
Why rob a nation when you can hijack it ? Increasing criminalisation of politics has permitted many unsavoury characters to hijack the nation and become the law unto themselves. Worse they have now perched themselves above the law and largely protected from investigation and prosecution, because they now control the law and order machinery.

Here are some reasons;

The political parties have sold out.

It is well known that the nominations for each candidate fielded for elections by each political party is made mainly on the basis of the highest bidder in closed auctions. This is the rule rather than the exception. As per the statement made by the chief election commissioner the average price to be paid by a candidate for securing a party nomination is Rs 5 Crores (US$ 1.1Million)

If huge money has to be spent to just get into the race for elected office, then what chance does an ordinary citizen without deep pockets or gang of goons have? Some brave or foolhardy individuals who do try to buck the system and dare to contest are threatened and sometimes killed for daring to enter the fray.

Here is a shameful example; After the Supreme Court passes embarrassing strictures against a serving union minister on a serious offence, the prime minister elevates these indicted people from rank of minister of state to full cabinet minister.

The 'Democratic' political process

On an average voting turnout is only 50% with the winning candidate securing no more than 17% of the total votes.  Majority of the middle class people do not vote.

The politicians and elected leaders.

Votes are purchased by spending obscene amounts of money and on an average each candidate has to spend Rs 10 Cr or US$s 2.25 Million).

If one is not particular about things like ethics, integrity, patriotism etc then becoming a successful politician is the most promising career nowadays. The return on investment can be phenomenal.

These elected leaders do not view their office as that of serving the people but to enrich themselves using whatever means available to them in the shortest possible time. After all elected office is an unstable position. Many elected representatives have borrowed heavily or have demanding backers and supporters whose expectations must be met.

These investor politicians set out to recoup and seek a return on the investments they or their supporters have made.

Many of the top winners of the aggressive and often violent race to office become ministers etc and head the various ministries. Starting with the Secretary all staff downwards are expected to generate a fixed target of money to be paid to the minister.


Here targets are strict and while rewards can be a plum posting and an opportunity to earn more illicit money. Any failure to achieve the targets means a punishment posting or worse framed or entrapped on grounds of some trumped up charges. A promising career of a bureaucrat can be destroyed by a mere whim or snap of the fingers.


Here management is tight and practices followed results will put many management gurus to shame. The results almost always exceed targets.

Unfortunately these management practices are not to provide good governance, or enhance the quality of life of the citizens but to merely make the entire chain of government management starting with the honourable minister or other elected representative right down to the not so lowly clerk /peon rich. They can get their share only by getting the protection and patronage of their political master or organisational senior.


Now if all these people which represent our elected leaders, appointed officers and majority of the government are engaged in all this hard work of generating money for the predators higher in the food chain, do you honestly believe they have time for governance.


It is only when a colleague is deprived of his perceived share or cut of the loot, or someone else wants to muscle in and demand some share of the spoils is that the truth is allowed to emerge. A political liability is sometimes put up for the slaughter.

We cannot all politicans and bureaucrats with the same colour. There are also good people, however the environment is too inhospitable for such good people and their percentage in the total population is shrinking rather alarmingly.

The media thrives on sensationalism and will briefly headline the crimes only to relegate them to the inner pages within a few days and forget all about it in a couple of weeks. They then jump on the next scandal of which there are umpteen, all waiting to be exposed by rival politicians and leaders at the right time. These disclosures or leaks are not to serve the cause of justice but to finish off rivals.

Democracy is the act of ruling oneself so as not to be ruled by others.


It is your solemn duty to understand your rights and responsibilities and to exercise them judiciously if you want a better future for yourself and your children. Awaken and become socially and politically active. Support good, competent and capable people who will put our nation’s interests above their own.

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If you  do not wish to belong to the hordes who merely grumble. Then you may consider joining one of several new political parties that seek to rebuild India on a clean plank.

One such party is ‘ Professionals Party of India’ www.ppi.net.in   hoping to woo large numbers of the 250 million middle class who reside mainly in urban India. As per Asian development bank projections based on current trends India's middle class will grow to 840 million people by the year 2026. PPI is betting on it's value based clean politics approach to attract this hitherto politically dormant base.

PPI is already present and active in 10 cities.  Candidates do not have to pay any money to get nominated if they are found to possess the right moral fibre with good capability and commitment.

Since candidates will attract mainly middle class votes on basis of merit they will not need obscene amounts of money and their low cost high impact campaign will be funded by PPI.
Candidates will be educated and groomed  by a group of eminent experts in a number of fields over a minimum period of 3 years. This will prepare the chosen candidates to discharge their role as responsible members of the Indian parliament of a new India.

Remove Bullying and Destroy Corruption.

School bullies rob younger and weaker children of whatever catches their fancy, be it their lunch, toys or money. The weak and timid merely surrender whatever they have to avoid a beating or other forms of torment.
The situation is not much different for the majority of the people, for they are weak and the bullies are the bureaucrats and political leaders. In this notorious brigade one can also include police officials, teachers, purchase officers, inspectors etc in most institutions.

Not all are bad but the bullies form a dominant majority.

Nowadays no social interaction is complete without a reference to corruption.
Everyone protests and I am flooded with emails asking us to protest and support Anna Hazare etc. Everyone expects that this social activist’s efforts at getting the right legislation passed by parliament after 42 years will free us from the heavy yoke of our own government's corruption. While this is a significant move, it is sadly just a minuscule step in putting the evil genie of corruption back into the lamp. Talk s cheap and assuages our feeling of guilt that while we complain we do nothing. Well conceived strategies and plans implemented sincerely by committed people only will yield results.
Here are some thoughts on the analysis and some proposed solutions if carried out by the second wave of mass protests led by people like Mr. Hazare will solve a lot.

________________________________________

People love to attack the symptom rather than the disease. The root cause of the disease of corruption, is the massive number of laws vesting dangerous punitive powers in almost every officer in the government. Even the junior-most officer can put in jail any member of the public with a snap of their fingers. Another root cause is the ability to obstruct normal personal, social and business life. The harried citizens have to spend huge resources of money and time in legal fees, bribes and the courts to prove their innocence or to get what is rightly due to them as envisaged in our constitution.


To make matters worse there is no system to redress complaints of the people. Where and to whom can the frustrated and exhausted citizen turn to?
In addition to throwing the legal book at citizens , many government officials cruelly leverage the media to their advantage and hammer the oppressed people by issuing malicious statements in the newspapers and television about the person being charged with some offense or the other.
Often destroying reputations and lives thoughtlessly, the media's focus unfortunately has shifted from providing balanced news to entertainment, and nothing entertains more than the whiff of scandal.


Preventing corruption is better than trying to cure it. Here are some ways to mitigating the menace of corruption;

1. Reduce discretionary and instant punitive powers of individual officers by 95%.
2. Introduce an effective system to redress complaints of the citizens and this should form part of the senior officers duties and action taken must be open to public scrutiny.
3. Various and relevant trade associations, guilds and organisations working in tandem with the various bar councils review ALL laws over the next five years and withdraw, modify or add laws that are needed. More than 70% of the laws are irrelevant or outdated and unduly complex and sometimes even convoluted.
4. Introduce universally that unless genuine and valid objections are raised applications to government departments and officers will be deemed to be automatically sanctioned for most routine things.

Reduce the powers of government and other officers to bully, that is to act arbitrarily to arrest people, shut down businesses, etc for most matters and instead follow a system of due process of law. The offender should be given a notice and permitted to defend themselves.

It must be appreciated that bullies are impatient people and pursue instant gratification. Deny them this right to bully, harass, obstruct and destroy and most of the frivolous or mischievous cases of harassment will die a natural death.

True, a few offenders may escape the net of the law but surely a countless more innocents will also escape the harassment of corrupt officials.