Some hope for reforms

I am no fan of the Left in anyway. Firstly, their loyalty lies with China. Next, they seem to be caught in a time warp – they still celebrate the October revolution even when the fall of the USSR is nearing two decades. And lastly, there is no room for flexibility with the Left in India. They are caught in ideology for far too long. Even China has dropped Communism over three decades ago and adopted market reforms in 1979. The only ray of pragmatism is shown by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee  who of course is no saint, but atleast is more practical. Alas, neither does he enjoy major popularity within the CPM due to his statements, reforms policies & his straightforwardness nor within West Bengal. The Communists have never felt so low in Bengal if we go by the results of the Zilla Parishad polls held in the not so distant past.

Some of the major reforms they have blocked in India are

• Opening up of the insurance sector for greater FDI
• Allowing change in labour laws
• Privatisation of airports ( reluctantly, they agreed to the privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports
• Opening up of the retail sector to FDI
• Reluctance to PPPs

The problem with the Left was that though  they  were giving support, they acted more like an opposition, protesting against almost any kind of reform. They didn’t give any kind of new ideas to the government. Their agitations against fuel price hikes had no effect for obvious reasons that fuel is used by middle & higher income individuals more than that of grassroots. Neither on the inflation front did they suggest anything new or could mobilise support. They have been faltering in the not so recent past.

Now that they have finally withdrawn support to the UPA, I hope that the Congress is allowed to take reforms process ahead. It has to start right NOW. Already Samajwadi Party is known for a bit of it’s pro-private sector approach and I hope they give some leeway to the FM to initiate some reforms which are long overdue.

Even Sagarika Ghose has some words for the Left. A good read relating to where the Left was never right!

Red Letter Day

On a final note, I am happy that they Atleast they put words into action. Unfortunately, they will be decimated due to this. Inflation would be more of a concern for the aam aadmi than a nuclear deal.  The BJP has simply been sidelined and it’s hypocrisy is really baseless when it has come out that they were close to signing the CTBT some years back for the N-Deal. The Deal shouldn’t be salvaged just like that & more importantly – Deal or No-Deal, the country’s image of not being able to honour it’s commitments in the global arena should be salvaged

Inflation at 11.63

The inflation rate has already crossed the 11.63% mark this day. This really pinches hard. Just today, I bought some vegetables and was wondering that money a couple of months ago would have bought me more. Even the FMCG eatables are costlier by means of lesser weights in the same packaging.

Everybody in the Parliament, Opposition & Left will be baying for P. Chidambaram’s blood but in my opinion it’s of no consequence.Why? Read on…

He can’t do much in this case, the growth that happened in the past four years was not due to him or his government even thought he may like to claim so. The growth was despite the government intervention in business, red tapism and the FM’s high taxation policies. The growth was mainly due to high global growth experienced in a lot of  developed countries & developing countries including India, Vietnam and Latin America experienced the trickle down effect. The FM and PM didn’t do anything radical that would have stimulated growth majorly – no major policy intervention, no cutting down of red tape, single window clearances. Nothing was done by the incumbent government to stimulate growth.

Now that global inflation has come to roost, the FM likes to blame the global prices. But when the FM didn’t have any hand in the growth process how can he control inflation. In my opinion, someone who’s needs to be held majorly accountable is Agriculture Minister – Sharad Pawar. Farmers are dying in Anantpur and Vidarbha, our per capita output has fallen to the level of 1970’s and this minister is more interested in Cricket than Agriculture. He has never gone to Vidarbha even once but he has gone to Johannesburg during the T20 World Cup, he has watched IPL matches and recently went to London to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the ‘83 World Cup win. He in my opinion is more to be blamed for the current agricultural crisis. Of course, agreed that that inflation basket is comprised of many other items than food – steel, oil, cement, etc; in a country like India where 75-80% of the people earn below $2 a day, the food price inflation is what matters since people do not eat steel, oil & cement ( the FM was quick to call their manufacturers and call for price controls) and this boils my blood against the Agriculture Minister.

On a final note, I think with the amount of people in agriculture, if India takes proactive steps to improve farming and the agriculture sector, we can cool not only the domestic prices but also export them, earning ForEx and making ourselves a major trading partner in the world

Is our country Secular or Sickular?

This question comes to my mind following the reversal of the order to give 100 acres of land to the Amarnath Shrine board(SASB). While the idea was to give the land to house pilgrims on a temporary basis given the hostile weather and roads to Amarnath, some people “fighting/standing up” for Kashmir feel that it would change the demographics of Kashmir following which the order was revoked.

The point of my post is

1)Didn’t the demographics change when around 400,000 Kashmiri Pandits left the valley in the wake of militancy. Where are the Hindu rights then?What about Buddhists and Sikhs who lived in the valley before the wake of militancy in the fag end of 1980s

2 )Any party in India if it appeases to Muslim and Christian communities apparently is “secular” ( Congress, PDP, NCP, SP, DMK CPM,etc.) but if any party or group parades nationalism on it’s sleeve or says that it is pro Hindu is branded communal and every small mistake/misdeed is magnified and subject to maximum scrutiny and judgment by the media( for ex:the murder of Gandhi, any bandh call by Bal Thackrey or the Gujarat riots).

One of the worst part of the whole story is that more media scrutiny is given to bandh call by the BJP & VHP and it evokes a debate on CNN-IBN, but when the Commies had more successful “Bharat Bandhs” and the very regular strikes in their bastions of WB and Kerala, the media simply refuses to debate much into the Bandh’s.

Having said all this, the threats given by the BJP to choke supplies to the valley was very lame and pathetic. This is not expected of a National party and is not a way to govern or protest by any means.

What a Cracker

Chak de India! What a match. Kudos to Dhoni and Company for giving India the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup and great doses of cricket. And they did all this without the “Big Three” of Dravid, Sachin and Ganguly. I can still listen to crackers bursting an hour after the match.

As for today’s match, it was a real close finish. Just 5 runs short. And the match was almost lost hadn’t it been for the miserable shot played by Misbah-Ul-Haq. Even though I had a gut feeling all along India would win the match, it just went off when Misbah tried to play the unconventional shot off Joginder Sharma. Luckily, the field placement was intelligent throughout the match and the cup went to the team which history has always favored.

One of the good things about this series has been that the team has played more cohesively and more unitedly. And the real huge improvement in the Fielding department. The Imran Nazir run out did display the great improvement that has come into the department since the last series against England. Batting has been average( against Pak and SA) to world class( against Australia) and bowling of Shreesanth has been inconsistent. Of course, not to mention Agarkar who almost gave away the first match against Pakistan. Not the kind of bowling one would expect from a 200 match veteran.

Bowling should remain a source of concern especially before the big home series against Australia coming up in a few days. Hope they improve soon. All the best to Dhoni and Co. for the upcoming series. And once again, Chak De India!

Updates on my life

At last I got the mood to write a blog post. Haven’t blogged or written anything since I have come to Mumbai/Bombay.

Life has come a full circle this year and has changed from the kind of life I lived in Hyderabad. Hyderabad was more relaxed, Mumbai’s life is constantly moving. I didn’t have any plans for the future when I was in Hyderabad. In Mumbai, I have decided that I Shall be writing CAT and other MBA entrance exams this year. And yes, for a change I am studying very seriously. Also, myThird Year of B.Com begins and I have decided to take life more seriously. Have seriously played too much fool with life!!!

Didn’t get to roam around much in Mumbai and it’s historical places. Yes, went to Navi Mumbai on 31st December. Found the roads and the city to be much better than Mumbai. It’s cleaner, lacks slums and is seriously very well planned.

Helmets are a must

A simply amazing pic and a relevant post from this link wrt helmets. Even though I don’t like usage of religious symbols, this one hits the nail on the head and does a good job of conveying the message.( Tagged under humour too)

Back to blogging

At last I sit down to make  blog post on my blog after leaving from Mumbai. I always used pubic computers for t he first 4 months and later hardly sat on the web. Just a week ago, I got the internet connection.

As for the city I have shifted to, Mumbai is entirely different from Hyderabad. It for one is more paradoxical than than Hyderabad. There are too many contrasts in Mumbai. For ex :  the poverty and the opportunities, the top class residences in South Mumbai and slums adjoining then( worth crores of Rupees), the speed at which the city functions and the lazy Public work departments,etc…..

Mumbai is much dirtier than Hyd, more corrupt and the PWD is very slow. However, it is a safer city for women, a city that values time and has a better mindset than Hyderabad.

All in all, to be short; I like Mumbai( when did I like Hyderabad ) inspite of it’s many problems.