2011 coming to an end but no end to our problems

Lokpal Bill is stuck in parliament. Anna Hazare, a great leader is unwell. Then there is the problem of Mullaperiyar dam. Mullaperiyar dam row spins my head and this issue blows off my thinking completely.
Then the Gita controversy is there with Russians. Then the economy of India. The economy issue also spins my head in equal measure and I loose hope.
Is there anything wrong in our thinking? Are we thinking and acting correctly?
Now come to Lokpal issue. People expect the most corrupt government in Indian history to make a law which is detrimental to its survival. How much feasible is it?
The Gita controversy now. I feel calling the Gita a blasphemy by University students is more acceptable than a Russian court passing a judgement on Gita.
The Mullaperiyar dam and the economy issue calls for a mature give and take by all the party involved every time. But given our ways for politicizing and creating a ruckus, our mind and mental make-up looses peace of mind every time you open the newspaper.
Are we too emotional? Do we want others to understand our emotions and show empathy? Is our thinking dictated by our emotions?
The year 2012 is around the corner. And I wish all the fellow bloggers a very happy new year. And I hope the new year will bring out a lot of happiness and peace to our countrymen too. For India is what I love the most and its well being my dream.

Rupee at 54 to a dollar - the lowest ever

Rupee is falling. And is loosing respect. Needless to say, it is loosing respect in India too. The inflation in prices has made it impossible for poor to buy common items. They have become so costly. The government is passing laws and amendments to laws to control economy. This method of controlling the economy is akin to saying "You marry but you shall not have sex". How can making laws control the economy? Only market forces has to control the economy. And government should encourage such steps which shall encourage market forces controlling the economy. This will give value to the rupee.
Then there is the problem of huge fiscal deficit. The government expenditure being the major factor in the deficit. Salaries and operating costs are piling up day after day and no one seem to be taking steps for this. Why should government employees loose confidence? We have profit making public enterprises contributing to the economy in a positive way. Why should we get scared of disinvestment? Disinvestment in shares of public enterprises will allow market forces to take care of deficit. If not much decrease in deficit, the fact cannot be denied that accountability will increase. This will benefit the whole of India. You and me. Everyone will benefit by the rupee.
We may also offer shares of our good performing public enterprises to non-Indians. This will keep the dollar in check. Also the modernization and better practices will come to public enterprises and the efficiency of the public enterprises will improve. 

Developing Leadership

Leaders are a rare commodity these days. We see people with narrow vision, inability to energize people and poor communication skills. Vision, energizing people and good communication are the hallmark of a great leader.
Leadership is a must in today's connected world. It is a flat world.
I was interested to know what a flat world is. I browsed the Internet for the meaning flat world. I could not visualize the meaning of what Internet said is a flat world. Then I tried to discover the meaning myself. I asked myself What is a round world? I told myself round means continuity. You give and you get back. And it continues. Then I told myself that a Flat world is where there is discontinuity. You give. The End.
The software programs Twitter stresses on leader-follower thing. So this social networking says it all. How is today's world?
Just teaching theoretical stuff on leadership development is not good enough. You need to have drills and exercises continued for many days which should force leadership into you. Everything can be developed. Even leadership can be.
What sort of exercises can develop leadership skills? Or do you believe it is an inborn trait?

Cyrus Mistry - New Tata chief

Who are Tatas? No one in India can dare to ask this question. If someone asks, then obviously you need to ask him "Can you tell me which came first, the chicken or the egg?". Because to such scoundrels, this is the only way to deal.
What does Tatas expect from Indians? JRD was clear that India should not focus on economic prosperity.  Ratan Tata was aghast with the impossibility of the politicians. He also believed in doing the right things to build wealth and power.
Cyrus Mistry is the new chief of Tatas. Ambanis must be planning their moves. For one man's loss is another man's gain in the corporate jungle.
What do you all say?

How does it matter?

I decided to stay in a hotel five star
Streching my means a bit too far
No guilt or regrets affect me
Somewhere, someone is happy with me.

Next time I stayed in a filthy hell
Below my dignity and below my level
No shame and nothing affects me
Somewhere, someone is happy with me.

This time I decided to sit still
With lots of patience and tonnes of will
No bother and no problems for me
Somewhere, someone is happy with me.

Twelfth Five Year Plan

The five year plans were started during the Nehru era. Based on erstwhile USSR five-year planning. There is a division under Central Government called Planning Commission headed by Deputy Chairman(Planning Commission). The Deputy Chairman reports to the Prime Minister. Currently, Montek Singh Ahluwalia is the Deputy Chairman.

The Approach Paper for the twelfth Five-Year plan has been made after consultation with about 950 civil society bodies and after getting responses in facebook.com. The twelfth Five-Year plan has been criticized for focusing on GDP growth. The core issue of poverty and inclusive growth of all sections of Indian society has not been taken care of.

Now, firstly planning is done by the government in a communist setup. India currently is neither communist nor capitalist. A department like Planning Commission cannot just be wished away. Even though Planning Commission serves the aspirations of would be IAS officers by supplying Yojana magazine, this is not the purpose for which Planning Commission exists. It has to plan meticulously and plan for the poor as USSR would have done. Doing so is the duty of Planning Commission. It has failed to do so.

The focus is on increasing GDP of India and expecting that growth in GDP will result in removal of poverty.  The growth in GDP is being planned by increasing market of India. The argument of UPA govt. is, the increase in GDP will give funds to other plans like employment guarantee and food security and thereby poverty can be eradicated. Here, one must not forget that only a fraction of money meant for poor actually reaches them.

As far as I am concerned the poor are undernourished. The farmers have been isolated from the rest of the society. They are given free/subsidized electricity and are allowed to sell at a fixed minimum price. This  makes the farmer lazy and ignorant and is not involved with the market. A plan giving direct support to the undernourished and to poor farmers is the call of the day. They need to be directly helped.

Whatever be it, the government at the center wants to wash its hands off most of the well established systems. Agreed that Planning is planning and no action is guaranteed, but the least expectation was that Planning should not have been so arrogantly purposeless.

Brother

People moving slowly, so it seemed
And I walking along, as if in a dream
Twenty years of togetherness will go away
My brother's leaving;his career, his own way.


Separation is not easy, it is a pain
Expecting his return soon will be in vain
He is looking at his future; that's fair
I too must do the same; should take care.

Gandhiji - Birth Anniversary

Today is October 2. The birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. A national holiday.

Needless to say Gandhiji was born in Porbandar on October 2, 1869. Every Indian knows it  by heart. Also there is no need to mention that Gandhiji said "Truth and non-violence are my weapons".

It may be necessary for interested Gandhians or those who want to follow Gandhigiri in their personal life as to what Truth and non-violence may mean. Of course I have no idea as to what Gandhiji meant by those two words and I have learnt Gandhism from school textbooks only.But having a great respect for the great leader and being an accomplished blogger it may interest a few visitors to my site as to what truth and non-violence means to me.

The easier one first. Non-violence. I read in the papers what Baba Ramdev said before he began his protest fast in Delhi. He said,"I create no fear. I have no fear". I have absolutely no idea in what context he was talking. But the statement attracted me. I began to wonder. Then after a few minutes I realised that to me non-violence is "I create no fear. I have no fear.". It made logical sense. If you are non-violent you do not have to fear. You do not kill anyone or pain anyone. So you are free from fear. And secondly you do not create fear. Because you believe in it.

Truth. Truth is a difficult one. It may have meant God to Gandhiji. God is truth. Makes sense. Assuming it is true, then I look out for what God meant to Gandhiji. There is another thing that Gandhiji said. He said, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness.". So maybe being clean is Truth. Quite a far fetched one!!

Anyway when talking of cleanliness it is important to talk about excreta. Human excreta. How do you handle it in your mind. My advise is excrete thoughts of excreta. Do not think about it. Just let it go as you do in the toilet.

Gandiji was a great leader. I wonder whether he would have been happy with the state of affairs in our country. I doubt it.

Google's 13th anniversary - Successful entrepreneurship

The Google story teaches us how an idea can churn millions of dollars.
The best time for entrepreneurship is during the college days. Ideas are fresh. Enthusiasm is at the peak. So what if you do not have ideas of market, so what if you are ignorant of banking; the enthusiasm takes over and all that is needed is an understanding venture capitalist.
Any attempts to be an entrepreneur after landing up in a job is equivalent to being a traitor to one's current employer. It makes more financial sense to work in synergy with the current employer than attempt a jump into entrepreneurship.

Anant Pai's birth anniversary - 17th September

It will not be complete to understand the growth of Indian education system without acknowledging the contribution of Shri Anant Pai (Uncle Pai to children).
I was an avid reader of Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle comics. I was fortunate to participate in a quiz competition organised by him and win the first prize. He spoke to all the children between questions. He was against the 3 R of Indian education system. Reading,wRiting and aRithmetic. He was deeply interested in the growth of personality of children.
This is a day to remember not only Uncle Pai but also Tagore, S.Radhakrishnan, Vivekananda and all such known and unknown souls who reformed our society in ways obvious and not so obvious.
What do you have to say about Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle ? And what about Partha? Is it still around?

9/11 - 10 years over. USA emerges strong.

What are the lessons India can learn from USA?
I feel India should become more federal. States should have more power in economy, law and order, education and other areas. Being in Delhi, I feel this need more because there is a confusion between state and center. I really do not know about other states, how independent they feel.
Do you feel corruption is the main issue? Is it federalism which is what is needed?
One thing I feel is opposition to any stream of thought will always be there. If a person opposes me does not mean he is my enemy. I should take it as a credit that he has considered my view and still feels he has much more relevant points in his favor.

Krishna Janmashtmi - Message on Action and no focus on results

Yesterday was Krishna Janmashtmi. Krishna's birth anniversary. Krishna is a beloved God of Hindus and is widely regarded and respected. His upadesha of Gita to Arjuna is a very practical advice.To all his devotees it is instruction from Krishna as to how action should be performed.

In our daily talk we talk of percentages. 30% of work has been completed. My son has scored 85%. The neta is demanding 10% commission. And more . . .

What is 100 %? 100% is the result, the objective, what you aim for, what is correct . . .

When we speak in % terms, are we not speaking, looking at results expected? Yes we are. Speaking in percent basis is speaking and concentrating on results. Especially speaking in percent of a future thing is speaking in terms of results.

So talking in percent terms of a job to be done in future, of a assignment to be completed, of a deal to be undertaken are all focussing on results .

The ultimate formula I was looking out for - the formula of UNITY (एकता)

I was searching and searching for over two years as to what causes unity. India desperately needs this.

It was yesterday. I saw the pledge to be taken on the occasion of Sadhbhavna divas. Sadhbhavna divas is today. 20th August. Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary. Two words from the pledge to be taken made it clear as to what is unity. The two words struck me so hard that I wondered why this did not strike me earlier.

What are the two words? The two words are emotional oneness.

My dear fellow bloggers, emotional oneness is UNITY. Rajiv Gandhi, the great visionary saw the importance of it. We all need to be emotionally one. Happy together. Sad together. Angry together. Disgusted together. Surprised together. As together as possible. As much as possible.

If Marathi feels happy with Anna Hazare, then the people of Arunachal Pradesh also need to be happy.
If Tamilian is sad with mid-day meal program, then a Kashmiri also needs to be sad.
If we have emotional oneness, we have unity. This has to be spontaneous. But I feel, we can cultivate this habit gradually too. 

Power of your company

According to Parkinson's law "Work expands to fill the time available for it."

This means if time available increases, work increases. In other words work/time is constant. This is nothing but power.

You can determine the power of your company from this formula. If time available is more and work is less and your organisation demands unnecessary work then it means that the power of your organisation is less.