A mail from a dear friend woke me from my slumber. The mail simply said:
ABHI
IF you keep a blog then update it!!!
And I did realize that it has been quite some time that I was away from blogging. Well, I should rather say that I had mastered the art of postponing things. Within no time, Today becomes tomorrow and tomorrow becomes never. Then, suddenly on a working-long-weekend-Eid, the command came from my boss that I need to go to Patna for a meeting and here I am up at 38000 ft, with my laptop, keyboard and fingers working in sync, without a cell call or FB alert or Intercom command disturbing the chain of thoughts!!
The newspaper, the official airline, (it can be only Air India and none else), provides has stories on the austerity drive launched by the Government and every Tom, Dick and Harry columnist is taking potshots at the move. Well, it was a move that was loaded against the word go. Like the one which says that we can fly Air India only. My Patna visit has to have a night over as there are no return AI flights to Delhi in the evening. And since I have no desire to spend the night in Patna, I am forced to travel to Ranchi by night train and have Jharkhand review meet there and catch the afternoon flight back to Delhi. So much for austerity.
And the fuss over Business Class and Economy Class has other classic apsects that no one notices. Government books all its tickets through Balmer laurie, the sarkaari travel agency. And these guys excel in booking full fare tickets. So if you dont check, a 5000 buck Delhi-Mumbai will cost 15000 bucks with these guys. I remember last month, I had gone to Vietnam for WITFOR 2009. These guys gave me a 59000 Rs Economy Class ticket. My other colleague who had booked the tickets through a regular travel agency travelled on the same flights on a 40000 Rs Business Class ticket!!!
By the way, this trip, these guys did something more funny. My office had asked them to book me for Hanoi, Vietnam. Hanoi airport is called Noi Bai Airport and there is no airport called Hanoi. So these guys booked me for Vientaine, which is actually the capital of Laos. I had no clue as noone noticed this blunder, even the Ministry of Civil Aviation, authorised to allow non AI travel allowed me to travel on Thai airways on a flight going to Vientaine, Laos for a conference happening in Hanoi, Vietnam. I even crossed the immigration gate with a Visa for Vietnam and ticket for Laos. Only in Bangkok, when I realized that my colleague has a morning flight and my flight was only in the afternoon, I asked the Thai Airways counter if they could put me also on the morning flight. They said there are no morning flights. I said, there is and 682, is the flight my colleague is travelling on. Pat came the reply, that 682 goes to Hanoi. I said, so am I, and then she gave me the shocking news that actually I was flying to Vientaine, Laos and that too without a Visa and would have surely got declared a persona non grata and deported back by the next flight. Fortunately, I could get the Vientaine legs cancelled and get a fresh ticket for Hanoi by the morning flight and attend the conference.
So Austerity drives need to look at the larger picture. otherwise we will get mired by the Twitter Chatter which jumps to conclusion on hearing the Cattle word. If it is cattle, it got to be derogatory and insulting to the entire human civilization, without realizing what the cows - holy or otherwise - think of we looking down upon cattle. Anyways, such stories will make the twitter man wiser. He should consider himself lucky that most of these morons have not read his classic - A Great Indian Story - else he could have been called Anti Gandhian - for his Mango Yatra take and other interpretations from the anecdotal history of modern India.
Anyways, these stories and chatter will continue. The stewardess is asking me to shut down electronic devices and close the trays and sit up for landing. So this story comes to an end, thanks to AI.
Till then lets think of more austerity measures!!!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Great Minds!!!
I had the opportunity to meet Dr Vijay Kelkar today who is in Kohima for having discussions as part of his assignment as Chairman of 13th Finance Commission. It was a pleasure to meet a renowned economist and thinker like him. Spending around 45 minutes gave me a feel of his knowledge, understanding and thoughts. Just a few hours in Kohima, and he was quite aware of the real issues facing Nagaland. I was impressed with his views on the need of having land survey and land records in Nagaland. He was quite correct that it is a must for dispute resolution as without any records, it might create a problem. Infact it already is, specially in urban areas where growing economy and population is making land a scarce and expensive commodity. He could not understand as to why we dont have land survey and proper records. I tried to explain him by giving reasons like the Mughals and the Brithish never did this for Nagaland as they did elsewhere in the country. And then when the State was born, in 1963, protection of land systems and customary practices was made a part of Article 371 A over which only Nagaland Assembly could legislate. However, we have not come up with our own Land Regulation Act or a Tenancy Act and that affects the land tenure system greatly. Even not having land records and land documents has greatly harmed the economy as people cant access loans and credits from banks!! This is actually sad. And then there is the question of equity. Without proper land records no one knows who owns how much land!! It is common knowledge that there are individuals and families who own more than thousands of acres of land!!! And some people dont have any land. This has led to an egalitarian society getting feudal overtones!!!
Dr Kelkar also asked about the Community participation in the social set up of Nagaland. He was greatly impressed when I told him how village affinities work very strongly and people spend time, energy and resources for the welfare of the villages they belong to. I gave him examples from my experience of Mokokchung, and how Engineers, Doctors and bureacrats of a village called Mopungchuket contribute ideas and finances for the village planning and development. This aspect of Naga society is unique and truly remarkable. However, there is an aspect of favoritism that comes in as those villages who have officers to help them out keep prospering and the villages who have been backward and do not have gazetted officers to help them out keep on suffering as there is no one to push their cases. Anyhow, there should be a system to ensure the element of fairness so that in the name of village and community affinities, we do not openly and brazenly adopt unfair means at the cost of other villages and communities!!!
We discussed many aspects including Naga political problem. More on that later. Overall it was a pleasure to meet this great man.
Dr Kelkar also asked about the Community participation in the social set up of Nagaland. He was greatly impressed when I told him how village affinities work very strongly and people spend time, energy and resources for the welfare of the villages they belong to. I gave him examples from my experience of Mokokchung, and how Engineers, Doctors and bureacrats of a village called Mopungchuket contribute ideas and finances for the village planning and development. This aspect of Naga society is unique and truly remarkable. However, there is an aspect of favoritism that comes in as those villages who have officers to help them out keep prospering and the villages who have been backward and do not have gazetted officers to help them out keep on suffering as there is no one to push their cases. Anyhow, there should be a system to ensure the element of fairness so that in the name of village and community affinities, we do not openly and brazenly adopt unfair means at the cost of other villages and communities!!!
We discussed many aspects including Naga political problem. More on that later. Overall it was a pleasure to meet this great man.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Babu Bashing
Being part of the Government has its pluses and the minuses. Very often I wonder as why we in the Government are largely unable to meet the aspirations that people have from us. What I hate most about my profession is being referred to as Babus!! I remember how I used to revolt when my grandmother used to call me 'Babu' rather than my nickname 'Bobby' during my annual summer visits to my village in Azamgarh, UP. Today when the media refers to Government officers (IAS) as Babus, I feel miserable. Atleast grandma's Babu was with love and affection. Media and people by large call us Babus with contempt and ridicule. May be they are justified and rightly so. There are lots of expectations from us and do we actually do justice to what people expect or what is just and fair!!
Very often I feel, we dont and we are unable to. We do have our reasons for the same. Our favorite blame guy is who else, the politician. In 99% of the cases it is true that we do take irrational and illogical decisions on account of politicians. We do explain the wrongs to the politicians and in most cases we are over ruled. Why do the politicians over rule us. Privately most of them agree to our views but they have compulsions for what they do. What are these compulsions and why do they do all that they do.
One prime reason is money. Yes money. Unfortunately Democracy is a luxury and someone has to foot the bill for this luxury. Our democratic processes of elections are pretty expensive. It is common knowledge that anyone contesting Assembly or Parliament Elections has to spend a few crores to be anywhere near an outside chance to win elections. There might be a few exceptions but more than 95% of elections are won by people who spend crores. No one joins politics these days out of love for the nation or for a sense of service and dedication to the society. Those days ended with the end of the British rule when professionals like Gandhi, Nehru, Bose et al quit lucrative careers to join politics. Today people who dont get into Engineering, Medicine, Law, Civil Services, Teaching or any decent profession join politics. Having a criminal background can mean a fast track growth in this profession. Then they spend millions in contesting elections which are rather unpredictable. Huge investments can go awry. Even if one wins the election, one does not know if one will end up in the ruling party. Even if one is on the right side of the fence, not every one becomes a minister. If one becomes a minister, it is not sure if one will be able to get a portfolio that is regraded lucrative. Given the low probabilty of success in this field, those who get an opportunity want to make the most of it - recover their investments, make provisions for future elections and most of all find jobs or contracts for their thousand odd workers - who have families to feed and lives to live. In many ways they are forced to be corrupt and take illogical and irrational decisions. The bureacrats are supposed to check this. But for their own weaknesses and greed, they play along with the politicos and we get the government that we have. Corrupt and Non Performing!!
What then. Whats the solution. One can be State funding of elections and strict laws that check the criminal elements joining politics. This will create a situation when even professionals and well meaning people without money or muscle can think of joining the political profession. People do want clean men but we hardly give them a choice. Once such well meaning people join the Government, bureacrats will also fall in line as they will not have any excuses or alibis for their own acts of commission and omission.
We do need this. Lets think over and do this. It is definitely better than Babu Bashing!!!!
Very often I feel, we dont and we are unable to. We do have our reasons for the same. Our favorite blame guy is who else, the politician. In 99% of the cases it is true that we do take irrational and illogical decisions on account of politicians. We do explain the wrongs to the politicians and in most cases we are over ruled. Why do the politicians over rule us. Privately most of them agree to our views but they have compulsions for what they do. What are these compulsions and why do they do all that they do.
One prime reason is money. Yes money. Unfortunately Democracy is a luxury and someone has to foot the bill for this luxury. Our democratic processes of elections are pretty expensive. It is common knowledge that anyone contesting Assembly or Parliament Elections has to spend a few crores to be anywhere near an outside chance to win elections. There might be a few exceptions but more than 95% of elections are won by people who spend crores. No one joins politics these days out of love for the nation or for a sense of service and dedication to the society. Those days ended with the end of the British rule when professionals like Gandhi, Nehru, Bose et al quit lucrative careers to join politics. Today people who dont get into Engineering, Medicine, Law, Civil Services, Teaching or any decent profession join politics. Having a criminal background can mean a fast track growth in this profession. Then they spend millions in contesting elections which are rather unpredictable. Huge investments can go awry. Even if one wins the election, one does not know if one will end up in the ruling party. Even if one is on the right side of the fence, not every one becomes a minister. If one becomes a minister, it is not sure if one will be able to get a portfolio that is regraded lucrative. Given the low probabilty of success in this field, those who get an opportunity want to make the most of it - recover their investments, make provisions for future elections and most of all find jobs or contracts for their thousand odd workers - who have families to feed and lives to live. In many ways they are forced to be corrupt and take illogical and irrational decisions. The bureacrats are supposed to check this. But for their own weaknesses and greed, they play along with the politicos and we get the government that we have. Corrupt and Non Performing!!
What then. Whats the solution. One can be State funding of elections and strict laws that check the criminal elements joining politics. This will create a situation when even professionals and well meaning people without money or muscle can think of joining the political profession. People do want clean men but we hardly give them a choice. Once such well meaning people join the Government, bureacrats will also fall in line as they will not have any excuses or alibis for their own acts of commission and omission.
We do need this. Lets think over and do this. It is definitely better than Babu Bashing!!!!
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