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Saturday, May 22, 2004

What was that again, Sam...

Last week I heard Sam Pitroda speak. I was in the same room as him. To me it was a big deal. You see it was Sam who made me choose Communications Engineering as my undergrad major. In 1987, when I was going off to college I had great dreams about the Telecom revolution that Sam and his people would usher. And, I wanted to be one of his people, ushering this revolution.

During my college years I increasingly started questioning the appropriateness of "appropriate technology". The Telecom revolution did not happen for another ten years. And, when it happened it was not because of Sam and his team but the market. While Sam and his team did bring some progress, their progress and "appropriate technology" was rendered irrelevant by the rapid adoption of mobile telephones in India. Today, getting a land line in India is as difficult as it was ten years back but nobody cares any longer because they can get a cellphone in a jiffy. In fact, the mobile phone adoption has reduced the demand for land lines.

So, it was interesting to see Sam get on the podium and say how he got sick of the previous govt. claiming credit for all the advancements that he and Rajiv Gandhi brought, that he got on a plane to India to campaign against the govt. and let the "truth" be known. And, he again mentioned "appropriate technology".

I am inclined to say - "Sam, thanks for nothing". But, I think the man is well intensioned. However, "appropriate technology" is all BS. The market is unforgiving. If there is a machine that can do the job of ten people, the machine will and should win. Even if it means that ten people are without a job. And, it will win over a machine that employes five people.

The job of the government is to help people create opportunities for themselves and not provide handouts. Just because we have a large popluation we cannot create "aapropriate technologies" that will employ people. Such half steps will amount to nothing in the competitive market.

A smarter democracy - don't fool yourself

There was an article on The Times of India online which said India was a smarter democracy because the election results had proven everyone wrong. Just because you have been proved wrong does not make others smarter.

Consider this
1) The country still is one of the most illiterate in the world. Yes, there is almost no other place in the world where illiterates can overcome the litterates elect the government.

As some BJP guy remarked - "This is what happens if you let the illiterates vote". True. But, the solution is not removing the voting rights of illiterates but reducing the number of illiterates. Here the BJP minister Dr.MM Joshi's policies did not help. Here is a guy trying to subsidize post graduate specialized learning at the expense of primary education.

If you are concerned about primary education in India, consider supporting CRY http://www.cry.org or Asha for Education http://www.ashanet.org/

2) The percentage of people who voted was the lowest. A smart democarcy is a democracy where people participate.

3) Here is how we fare against other democracies on the Global Integrity Report

No more Italian au pair

Some one I know sent me an email titled - 'No more Italian au pair'. And, he is not Indian. So, that is the story of the rest of the world. They will in public say that India is thinking of selecting an Italian woman as the Prime Minister, but in private they are glad that they are not in India or an Indian.

Anyway, now that Sonia's premiership melodrama has been laid to rest I think I should move on. But, not before making some comments on the press and people's reactions.

For those who did self immolation - good riddance. Darwin's theory at work.
For those who tried but failed - what a loser. You could not do even this.

And, for those who called Sonia's act selfless (some media even compared it to Jesus H Christ - the crown of thorns etc...). Sonia herself said she did not want the premiership because she was "pained" by the reaction from the BJP. So, by avoiding the premiership she was avoiding the pain. One could say that it was her selfish reason to avoid pain.

As Richard Bach said in one of his book - 'Everyone who mattered, everyone who did something for the world, all have been selfish souls, no exceptions' (paraphrased).

In fact, it would be great if we all remain selfish but remembered Confucius saying - "Don't do to others as you would not have them do to you."

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Sonia mania

Just when I think India can't surprise me further, I am proved wrong. And, often it is the wrong kind of surprise.

In the last few days I have seen various reasons put forward for having Sonia as PM. Here are some (not in order of stupidity)

1) "Vasudaiva Kutumbakam" (excuse my spelling) - It means "Whole world is a village", we are all global citizens etc... So, she can be the PM. Hey, how about Saddam - at least, he has experience governing a country with diverse groups of people. Or, maybe Maggie Thatcher - she is retired,available and has an increadible record on hte economic front.

2) She is as Indian as any other Indian - If you over look the fact that she became a citizen in 1983 about 15 years after her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi. And, became a congress party after her husband's killing and when she was thrust into the leadership position.

3) The mandate was for her - Never mind that India does not have a direct democracy like US, or the fact that Cong I actually showed a drop in the %age of votes polled (BJP did too).

4) She and her children are so beautiful - Wonder what that has to do with running a country. Whoever calls Priyanka beautiful must have poor eyesight.

When will we realize that the nation is not the personal/ family property of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

India Votes and what a tamasha...

So, the election results from the worlds largest democracy is in. And, it has confounded all, including the people who voted (I think).

The masses have spoken - the downtrodden, often forgotten masses. So, have the lazy public sector workers. They want handouts. Who cares about competitiveness etc...

But, one can't balme just them. How can you expect the common man to make sacrifices when the govt. size and spending continue to spiral, when govt. policy favors subsidizing graduate and post graduate learning in favor of private education.

It is interesting that in states where the state govt. took a tough line against its employees they were voted out. Eg

1) Kerala - where AK Anthony took a hard line
2) Tamilnadu - where the mercurial "amma" fired its employees

Unfortunately, Naidu's loss can only mean that he was spaced out in cyberspace. Allowing MNCs to water their lawns when farmers are committing suicide because of drought sounds pretty dot com-ish.